The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-04-02
cial TO The Herald and News.

Naples, ltalV.-LlttEe more than
month has passed since the destruc-
ton of MesSina. and here at Naples
the catastrophe is still uppermost in
the public mind. is still the one great
concern Of the day, to the exclusion
Of all ordinary interests and occupa-
tions. It is impossible to escape the
obseSsion of such horror, impossible
to drive away the tragic visions evok-
ed by the pictures and dispatches
which appear every morning IN the
Journals. and which are made so ter
ribly real by the constant arrival of
wounded victims and refugees. All
this was of course to be expected IN
an Italian seaport only a few hours
distant from the scene Of the dlsas-
ter, but the feature Of the situation,
which has filled me with surprise, is
the rapiditv with which preparations
are going forward for the reconstruc-
ton of the ruined cities.
To counterbalance every column Of
reading matter conSecrated to the dis
aster proper. the newspapers are
printing two devoted to the plans for
restoration. and on the streets lead
ing to and from the harbor, the am
balances and stretchers, moving IN
their sad procession toward the hospi-
tails, are passed by wagon-loads of
building material destined for the
earthquake districts, not planking for
temporary shelters, (that work has
been finished) but brick, cement and
heavy timber.
Before the cataclysm, Sicily, with
her emerald hills and glistening, snow
white cities, was veritable queen Of
islands. Today the queen is dead;
her beauty is. ashes; and already the
people cry, "Long live the queen!"
New foundations are actually being
laid while the earth still trembles,
and thus history again repeats itself,
for this same succession Of events has
been going on in Italy from time i'm
memorial. Ever since the island Of
Sicily has been known to man, it has
trembled beneath his feet, and with
it has trenbled the whole Calabrian
coast; one might imagine that this
southern extremity of Europe, this
peninsula is 50 often ikened to a
boot, IS in reality a gigantic foot,
resting on tip-toe, unstable in its
equilibrium, poised as if preparing to
begin other Journeys. Time after
time, cities in this volcanic zone have
been devastated by seismic shocks,
and as often have been promptly re-
built upon their old foundations: to
cite one of the best known instances,
Pompeii. at the moment she was bur
led by the lava and cinder Of Fesuvius
had Just recovered from the ravages
of a preceding earthquake, had bare
" finished the rebuilding of her pal
aces and temples. From Naples TO
Palermo, everywhere along the coast,
are scattered veStiges Of former catas-
trophies. some of them we'll known to
history. some of them long forgotten.
This is particularly true in Sicily
where the very railway lines are laid
on lava road-beds, where the orange
trees scatter their fragrant blossoms
upon borllders that were once molten
fire. and twine their roots among
crevices that once opened straight in
to the sulphurous bowels Of the earth.
The traveller. who ascends Aetna or
Vesuvius is confronted at every pace
by crater-mouths. perhaps extinct,
perhaps onlv dormant, by fissureS
cold and silent today, but hot and
rumbling yesterday, by frightfu eS-
coriations marking the pathways Of
former lava streams.
Everywhere the same spectacle:
Ruin. Everywhere the same warning:
Death. In the actual presence Of these
terrors, the foolhardy daring Of the
little human beings who persist IN
building their ant-like habitations up
on the slopes, becomes inccmprehensl-
bic. The enormous mountains doml-
nate the landscape, powerful and
ominous; down below, toward the
plain. man rears his palaces and cit
les, raises his monuments of brass and
marble, and justly marvels at his
own prodigious genius, but how tiny
his work all seems, how like a Lii
putian kingdom, compared with these
great stone monsters, whose heads are
lost among the clouds! How helpless