Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1915-09-10


'OZZUOLT
covered with the beautiful yachts of
the fashionable folk who made Baiae,
just beyond, the most noted resort, as
corrupt as it was noted, for the in
valids and fashionable idlers of Rome.
There were famous springs here,
which attracted the sick from many
quarters, and it is said that the an
cient name came from the sulphurous
stencil which they emitted. Puteoli
is no longer a fashionable watering
place, but from other causes the same
name might be applied to the mod
ern Pozzuoli.
Yet here we can lock upon many of
the things which st. Paul saw; the
sea itself, fresh and clean as ever;
the encircling hills, no less beautiful
in their spring greenery than on that
spring day when Paul sailed within
their encircling arms. We can even
see the II piers of the great mole
which stretched far out into the bay,
within whose shelter vessels anchored,
one the Alexandrian grain ship on
which Paul had arrived Today we
can see the ruins of the temple of
Scraps, or the splendid marketplace
as it is now thought to be, which
very likely was in its pristine glory
when Paul landed.
Tens of thousands of travellers from
many lands sail into the famous har-
Dor Of Naples every year, but COM
paratively few Of them realize how
near they are to the footsteps Of st.
Paul, and how, after a short trolley
ride from the city, they can plant their
feet where he trod.
Let us take the electric car from
Largo Vittoria, where the beautiful
park, Naples famous promenade and
Rotten Row, begins; park that
stretches for nearly mile along the
water front. Soon, however, we get
beyond the fashionable quarters and
the innumerable hotels. The car makes
its slow way through slummy re-
gion where the air Is rent with the
raucous cries for which noisy Naples
is famous and the nose Is assailed by
more than the seventy odors of Co.
logne.
Tunnel Under Posilipo.
Shortly tunnel Is reached under
the green hills of Posilipo, tunnel
almost as ancient as Naples itself,
for it was dug by the Romans to
avoid the steep climb over the precip-
itous tufa rocks of Posilipo. Seneca,
we are told, grumbled at the dust and
darkness and the odor of this tunnel,
and they have not been improved since
his day. The noise is deafening from
the chatter of horses hoofs, the pat
ter of herds of goats, the grinding tor
ture of the electric car wheels, and
above all the brazen threats of the Ne
apolitans who urge on their donkeys
with an indescribable noise, guttu-
raj and grating, which seems to come
from the innermost parts of their anat-
omy. Imagine all this noise, dupli-
Gated and reduplicated by the resound-
ing arches of the tunnel, and one can
have some idea of the grotto that
leads him to Pozzuoli, the ancient Pu-
teoli of st. Paul.
Another slum awaits us at the other
side of the grotto, followed by vine-
yards and orange groves and truck
farms, until, after ride of four or
five miles, the last part of which
affords glorious views of the bay and
its islands, which never lose their
charm, we at last find ourselves in an
other slum, more hopeless than any
we have yet seen on the way, and find
that we have at last reached the old
Puteoli, and that the electric car
leaves us but q few steps from the
spot where the great apostle must
have come ashore.
The immediate surroundings Of the
great pier where st. Paul landed are
as filth as any other part of Pozzuoli.
lndescribable old hays leer at us from
the doorways; ragged and dirty chill
dren, wholly unacquainted with the
use Of a pocket handkerchief, swarm
hi Ouiu 10. OCNtldl
boats are drawn up on the shore, and
little church, called St. Pauls Chap
ell, stands Immediately behind the an.
cent mole.
The modern pier, built over the an
cient mole, is truly magnificent one
of solid cut stone, which runs far out
into the sweet, clean water, and by
going out to the far end we get be.
yond the reach of the importunate
tout. If one can forget the approaches
to the pier, he can here enjoy the en-
chanting scenery of sea and shore
while his mind is stimulated by mem
cries of the mighty past.
But the volcanoes have brought
blessings as we'll as curses, for the
ash which they pour forth becomes in
a few years a soil Of almost incredi.
bic fertility, like the volcanic soil of
the Yakima valley on our own Pacific
coast '-->,-
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