Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1907-08-07

of the "A1ua Felice," built partly upon
and partly beside the ruins of the ancient
aqueduct of Clandius; farther OH the
series OF tombs in the Appian Way The
journey was very pleasant and pictur-
esque, and just as we were nearing Naples
and caught our first sight of Vesuvius,
the rain began TO come down in torrents.
BY the aid of the ever present porters,
however, we got ourselves and our be-
longings safely into a cab and were
driven directly TO the Pension Suisse; via
Caracciola II, which is beautifully situat-
ed on the bay. We did not 60 ont in the
evening as we had to get up early the
next morning to go to Pompeii, and
fell asleep listening to the clear mellow
voices of some stree! minstrels singing
Santa Lucia" and LA Bella Napoli''
beneath my window. The next morning
we went by train TO Pompeii, arriving
about 10 O'Clock. You get out at a quaint
little station and walk about 200 PAGES
along little road to where few build
ings are clustered together-two or three
small hotels, etc, and then along shady
little lane where is the entrance 10 the
ruins-and then you bid farewell to cool
spots>until You return. AT the right Of
the entrance is a small museum contain
ing interesting objects taken from the
ruins-skulls and skeletons of meu and
animals and some casts of human corpses
as they were found. Then we went on
into the city which, to me, was interest
ing and fascinating beyond expression.
Imagine city with its streets, homes,
temples theatres, all in ruins, and not
living thing abiding there but the lizards
which run over the sun-baked walls and
crawl IN the dry fountains. The streets
are very narrow and still show i'll the
rough pavements the deep ruts worn By
the chariot wheels of those who passed
over them hundreds of years ago The
houses are of course, il the welllnown
'"Pompeian" style-built around an in
ner court-ihe ''atrium" which con-
tanned a fountain and flowers and stat
utes. In some houses the statutes are
still standing. The houses are slightly built
OF concrete-bricks and hewn stone oc-
curing only in the fascades, door-posts
or corner pillars. The wall-decorations
in many of the houses are still remarka-
bly, preserved, particularly in the "House
OF the Vettii, which is the best preserved
in the city. We visited several houses,
including the "House of the Tragic
Poet, which is represented by Bulwer
Lytton in his Last Days of Pompeii' as
the dwelling Of Glaucus. the temples of
Apollo and Jupiter, the Ampitheatre, the
Forum, the "Thermae" or Baths, and
walked through the Street OF the
Tombs." We climed up at one side
where the excavations ere still being car
ried on and secured a splendid view of
the ruined city with Nesuvius slumbering
in the background. BY this time we
were decidedly hungry and. as Pauline
expressed it "hotenough to fade away
so we went back to the hotel where we
had a delicious luncheon, sitting out on
a shady veranda and enjoying the music
of two Italian musicians who played, one
a guitar and the other a mandolin, and
sang kfairly well, too. Imagine our
anazement when we heard Whistling
Rufus played in a decidedly Italian
manner, but nevertheless very recogniz-
able. Several other American tourists
were there, and of course we all applaud
ed heartily whereupon they gave us
"Dixie," and seemed TO enjoy it almost
as much as we did We left Pompeii at
about two O'Clock and went about forty
minutes ride on the train TO Cava, and
found, according to previous arrange
ment. roomy landau waiting for us,
and we set off at once for Amalh. We
drove through the interesting old town,
which consists chiefly OF one street, about
one-half mile long with arcades on either
side and wefe soon in the open country
OH the sea coast. From then until we
reached our destination three hours and
a half later, the journey was a succession
of splendid views. The road is fine
one, cut from the face of the towering
cliffs winding between sky and sea and
follows the coast line he'entire way. We
passed many little villages, some nesting
beneath us in deep ravines and Others
seemingly ready to fall upon us from the
mountain side. The sides of many of
the mountains were covered with orange
and lemon orchards. and as the fruit was
then ripe, the effect can be better imag-
ined than described.
We were fairly beseiged large part of
the time by the notorious Italian beggars
mostly children-who ran along beside
the carriage begging for "soldi." II we
paid no attention to them at first they
would sing, that proving Of no avail they
would fash their dark eyes at us and say
feelingly: "Ah, molta bella. Signorina-
bellissimar' every beautifully. 1t
is no wonder that the Italian men are
such fatterers-just see how young they
begin Sometimes We would throw them
a few centessimi just &c get rid of them
and other times our driver, very pleas
ant old fellow, would look very fierce and