The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1911-05-11
How | Became an
Archaeologist
BY ARNOLD /. TINKAM
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation, 1911

gave me an unconquerable desire 10
see the Eternal City. l wished to visit
the chasm, or at least the place where
1t was, into which Quintus Curtius
leaped on horseback, the remaining pill
lars of tho temple erected to the two
beautiful strangers. Castor and Pol
lux, who watered their horses in the
forum after the battle of Lake Regillus,
and the bridge that Horatius defended
so yaliantly. There was no prospect
of my ever visiting Italy. for | had
not the means even to take me to col
| lege
But was good deal of dreamer,
and, my fancy getting fixed on my OBJ
| ject, ! couldn't turn it upon anything
else The only practical result was
resolve to save up" us children put
1T. with 4 view to getting enough mon
| ey to take me to Rome, keep me there
| long enough to get hurried view OF
what | wished to see and bring me
| back to America. aG HtEGsr
by the time / was eighteen years
old had acquired this amount. sup
| pose ! should have spent 1t in starting
| me upon a college education. but did
| not. | bought second class ticket on
n ship crossing the Atlantic and pro-
| ceeding through the Mediterranean to
Naples. remained at Naples long
| enough to visit Pompeii. then went by
rail to Rome.
AT first was disappointed in getting
into modern commercial city, but
when | struck some of the landmarks
of ancient Rome--the Pantheon. the
arches of Constantine and Titus, the
Coliseum-I was not long in forgetting
the modern in my rapture over the an
cient. When l hadA exhausted Rome
itself I was seized with u desire to
visit its environs. II had read Of the
Campagna as 1t was when covered
with farms and villas.
But by the time had seen Rome IT.
self my money was all gone. l hadn't
enough even to buy return trip ticket
| to America. / was stranded in for
eign country. What could do?
What did do? followed the genius
Of archaeology that was strong within
me. Reading notice In n newspaper
that an excavating party was to make
search for the,ruins of certain villa
some fifty miles, from the city, l hired
myself as digger to the archaeologist
In charge, went with him and dug with
the rest. In his reading he had hit
upon q description of the site, but
/ could only confirm his views by bur
rowing in the ground. In other words,
he must hunt for that for which he
was looking.
We dug three days, at the end of
which time my employer gave up the
search. Duringtthis time | put in mys
spade here and There on my own ac-
count, with no result. When the par
ty went back to Rome asked for my
pay, a few Slira. and they returned
without me. had seen a stone pro-
jecting fromsthe soil at some distance
from where,we were digging that SEEM
ed to me to have been artificially shap-
ed. and l wished to investigate 1t.
As soon as the party were gone |
began to dig about this stone found
that it restedSon another, to which it
was fixed byt mortar. This In turn
rested on ano ther. Then | came to
wall. l followed the wall for a dozen
feet and camel to an angle The top
Of the wall was, FIVE or six feet from
the SURFACE, anN / was not likely to
find anything Of value at a less depth.
dug all day, and as the evening was
coming on, someAten feet below the
surface, my spade struck something
hard. I ;huddered4 for by this time l
knew that | was liable to ruin q treas
ure. These villas Awere ornamented
with statnes. some ofNthem very beau
tiful-am every year 'they are found
had witRme a scoop and, throwing
down my Spade, began TO dig about
the hard substance with the smaller
Implement. IT. was round. In few
minutes ! uncWered!a marble head.
Had Undiscovered "a mine of mex
haustiblet gold / coukd not have been
more delighted. ,scooped away
enough earth to tellsme that I had
found asstatue Butsit was by this
time tooalate to oksany further.
threw back the loosen earth, marked
the spot. with n stake and hurried
away from the fever stricken Cam
pagna that might notibe caught there
after nightfall ufgtT
The Woodworking Invent to the ar
chaeologist who hadt conducted the
search andktold him iof my find. 1t
would have'becn. illegal for me to re-
move the tstatue Smyseif, and pre-
ferred to |proceedS under his superin-
tendence. He was.as much delighted
at my lucksas i was,myself. We start
ed at once for thethole l had dug,
removed the Goose ,earth and exposed
the marble. We could tell nothing
about 1t exceptthat the face was very
beautiful.
We dug about thee statue till we
could see that 1t was athe figure of
woman. tho drapery being ancient Ro'
man.
The archaeologist J before leaving
Romethad left wordRfor workmen to
follow, and when they arrived the
statue twas removed. 1T proved to be
Of grea value. / had tstruck the site
of the villa for which we had searched,
AAa - In