_Lofty classical enthusiasm of David, and painful Lack of feeling
on the Part of Frank.--David, red hot with the Flow of the Past,
is suddenly confronted with the Present.--The Present dashes Cold
Water upon his glowing Enthusiasm.--The Gates.--Minor, Aeacus, and
Rhadamanthus.--The Culprits._
As they thus rested on the seats of the Amphitheatre, the classical
enthusiasm of David rose superior to fatigue, and his enthusiastic
feelings burst forth without restraint, in a long and somewhat
incoherent rhapsody about the fell of Pompeii. Full before them,
as they sat, rose Vesuvius; and they saw that which helped them to
reproduce the past more vividly, for even now the dense, dark cloud
of the volcano was gathering, and the thick smoke-volumes were
rolling forth from the crater. Far into the heavens the smoke clouds
arose, ascending in a dark pillar till they reached the upper strata
of the atmosphere, where they unfolded themselves, and spread out
afar--to the east, and the west, and the north, and the south. Some
such appearance as this the mountain may have had, as it towered
gloomily before the Pompeians on that day of days. Some such scene
as this may have appeared, only deepened into terrors a thousand
fold more gloomy, to the population of the doomed city, as they
gathered here on these seats for the last time.
Such were the ideas of David Clark; and these ideas he poured
forth in a long rhapsody, full of wild enthusiasm. At length,
however, that enthusiasm flagged, and he was compelled to stop
for want of breath.
"O, that's all very fine," said Frank, suddenly, as David stopped,
and breaking the silence which had followed his eloquent
outburst,--"that's all very fine, of course. You have a habit,
David, my son, of going into raptures over old bones and old stones,
but after all, I'd just like to ask you one question."
"What's that?" asked David, a little sharply.
"Why, this. Has this place, after all, come up to your idea?" And
Frank looked at him with very anxious eyes.
"This place?" said David. "What, Pompeii? Come up to my idea? Why,
of course it has. What makes you ask such a question as that? I
never spent such a day in all my life."
"Well, for my part," said Frank, in a very candid tone, "I'll be
honest. I confess I'm disappointed."
And saying this, Frank shook his head defiantly, and looked at all
the other boys, with the air of one who was ready and willing to
maintain his position.
"Disappointed!" exclaimed David, in an indescribable tone, in which
reproach, astonishment, and disgust were all blended together.
"Yes," said Frank, firmly, "disappointed--utterly, completely, and
tee-totally. I'll tell you what my idea was. My idea was, that the
streets would be streets, in the first place. Well, they're not
_streets_ at all. They're mere _lanes_. They're nothing more than
_foot-paths_. Secondly, my idea was, that the houses would be
_houses_. Well, they're not. They're old ruins; heaps of dust and
bricks--"
"Nonsense!" interrupted David, in indignant tones. "How could the
houses be standing after being buried for so many centuries? You
forget what a tremendous weight of ashes, and stones, and earth,
lay upon their roofs. Houses! Why, did you expect to find couches
to lie on? or chairs--"
"Well," said Frank, "my quarrel with Pompeii doesn't end here.
For, you see, even if the houses were whole and uninjured,
what would they be? Poor affairs enough. Just think how small
they are. Rooms ten by twelve. Narrow passage-ways for halls,
that'll scarcely allow two people to pass each other. The
rooms are closets. The ceilings were all low. And then look
at the temples. I expected to find stone walls and marble
columns. But what have I found? Nothing but shams--pillars
built of bricks, and plastered over to resemble marble. Do
you call that the right style of thing? Why, at home we sneer
at lath-and-plaster Gothic. Why should we admire lath-and-plaster
Greek because it's in Pompeii? Then, again, look at the Forums
--miserable little places that'll only hold about fifty people."
"Pooh!" said David; "as if they didn't know what was large enough!"
"I don't doubt that they knew it," said Frank. "But what I say
is, that if these were large enough for them, what a poor lot they
must have, been!"
"After all," said David, "Pompeii was not a great city. It was only
a small city. You expect to find here the magnificence of Rome."
"No, I don't. I merely expect to find something that'll carry out
the promise of those pictures that they make of scenes in Pompeii.
Why, there isn't anything in the whole town, except, perhaps, this
place, that looks large enough for an ordinary person to move about
in. Look at the walls--miserable things twenty feet high. Look at
the streets--only wide enough for a single cart. Look at the
sidewalks--only wide enough for a single man. The only thing in
the whole town that comes up to my idea is the Amphitheatre. This
is respectable. It corresponds with the pictures, and the descriptions
of travellers. But as to all the rest, I have only to remark that
they are, first, mean; secondly, small; and thirdly, in outrageously
bad taste."
Frank ceased, and looked steadfastly at David.
David looked at Frank, but his feelings were too strong for utterance.
His indignation at this desecration of a place that was so hallowed
in his eyes could not be expressed. He turned his face away in
silent scorn, and fixed his gaze on Vesuvius.
They waited a long time, and when at length they prepared to leave
Pompeii, it was late in the day. All the other visitors had left
long before, and they were the last in the city. They walked along
looking round them till the last, and at length reached the entrance.
Michael Angelo went off to get the carriage. They waited a little
while to take a last look, and then passed through the gate. Here
they found themselves confronted by three officials, the custodians
of the place.
One of these addressed them in very fair English.
"Messieurs," said he, "before you leave, I haf to inquire--Deed
you take anyting out from Pompeii?"
"Take anything?" said Uncle Moses, in an indignant voice. "What
do you mean?"
"A tousand pardons, sare," said the other, politely. "It ees a
formaletee. I mean de leetle stones, de pieces of steek, wood,
plastair. Ha! De reliques, de souvenirs."
He was rather an unpleasant looking man, with a very sallow face,
high cheek-bones, and a heavy goatee on the tip of his chin, which
wagged up and down as he talked in quite a wonderful way.
"Stones, sticks, plaster?" said Uncle Moses. "Course not."
The official looked intently at him, and then at the boys. After
this he conversed with his companion in Italian. These companions
were quite as unprepossessing in their appearance as himself. Then
the first speaker turned to the boys.
"You, sare," said he to Frank, in rather an unpleasant tone, "haf
you de stones or de bones?"
"Not a stone, not a bone," said Frank, smilingly. "I did take a
few at first, but I pitched them away."
"And you, sare?" said he to Bob.
"Don't deal in such articles," said Bob, with a grin--"not in my
line--not my style."
"Pardon," said the official, with a sickly smile, "but I must put
de usual interrogatoree. You, sare?" and he addressed himself to
David.
David turned pale.
He hesitated for a moment.
"Well," said he, "I believe I _have_ got a few little stones, just
two or three, you know; little relics, you know."
"Ah! ver good, ver nais," said the official, with the sunshine of
perfect content illuminating his sallow features. "And you, sare?"
he continued, turning to Clive.
"Well, yes," said Clive, "I've got a few, I believe; but they really
don't amount to anything in particular."
"O, no, not at all," said the Italian; "dey don't amount to notin;
but look you, de govairement haf made de law dat no pairson will
take no stone, nor steek, nor relique, nor bone, nor souvenir, from
Pompeii. You mus geef dem all oop."
"Why? They're only two or three," pleaded David, in a heartbroken
voice.
"So, dat is eet. Look you. Eet ees de law. O, yais. I cannot help.
Everybody will take two or tree. Very well. Ten tousand, twenty
tousand, hundred tousand come here every year, and all take away
hundred tousand pocket full. Ah, ha! See you? What den? Why, den
all Pompeii be carried away. Aha! dat great shame. Too bad, hey?
ha? You ondstand. So you sall gif dem all oop into my hand."
David and Clive remonstrated most vehemently, but the official was
obdurate. He pleaded the law. He insisted on the full restoration
of everything.
So the two lads began to disgorge, with the following result:--
1 piece of brick from the Sidewalk.
1 bit of stone, Street.
1 stucco, Basilica.
1 do. Temple Venus.
1 do. Forum.
1 do. Temple Jupiter.
1 bit of stone, Public Bakery.
1 do. Sentry box.
1 do. Wall.
1 do. Gateway.
1 do. Street Tombs.
1 do. Villa Diomede.
1 do. do.
1 bone, Sepulchre.
1 do. do.
1 package dust, do.
1 do. Villa Sallust.
1 do. do.
1 pebble, Eating House.
1 do. House of Dioscuri.
1 bit of plaster, Pantheon.
1 do. Temple Mercury.
1 do. do. Isis.
1 brick, Tragic Theatre.
1 do. Comic Theatre.
1 stone, Amphitheatre.
1 do. do.
The above is by no means a complete inventory of, the articles
produced by Clive and David, but will serve to give an idea of the
nature of that heap which was spread upon the table before the
stern officials. One by one they were turned out from the well-filled
pockets of David and Clive. Slowly and reluctantly, the two boys
turned out those precious treasures. Sadly and mournfully they laid
them on the table, under the stern, the inflexible, the relentless
gaze of the three inexorable custodians, who, to David's mind,
seemed the impersonations of Minos, Aeacus, and Rhadamanthus. Yea,
all these, and many more,--fragments from houses, bits of mosaic
stone, little chips,--all were seized, and all were confiscated.
Not a word was spoken. It was a sorrow too strong for words; and
Minos, Aeacus, and Rhadamanthus stood, individually and collectively,
inflexible and inexorable. The rueful countenances of the two
culprits excited the sympathy and pity of their companions; but it
seemed a case where no help could avail them. Frank and Bob looked
upon the scene with a strong desire to interfere in some way, and
Uncle Moses looked quite as distressed as either David or Clive.
Suddenly a new actor entered upon the scene.
It was Michael Angelo.
He came in with a quick step, started as he noticed the sadness on
the faces of his party, and then threw a rapid glance around. One
glance was sufficient to show plainly enough what had happened. He
saw the table covered with the stones and bones already described.
He saw the heart-broken expression that was stamped upon the faces
of David and Clive as they gazed upon their parting treasures. He
saw the attitude and the expression of Uncle Moses, and Frank, and
Bob, as they watched their friends.
That one glance not only explained all to Michael Angelo, but
suggested to him a course of conduct upon which he instantly
proceeded to act.
He stepped up to the aide of Rhadamanthus, and accosting him in
Italian; he spoke a few words in a low voice. What he said was, of
course, unintelligible to the boys. After these few words, Michael
Angelo then slipped something into the hand of the inexorable one.
Then he turned to the despairing boys.
"It's all right," said Michael Angelo, cheerily. "I haf explained.
You may keep de tings."
David and Clive looked up, and stared at Michael Angelo in wonder,
not fully comprehending him.
"It's all right," said Michael Angelo. "Dey onderstand. I haf
explained. You put dem back into your pocket. You sall keep de
tings. It's all right. Dey are yours now. It's all r-r-r-r-right.
All r-r-r-r-right, I say."
David and Clive still hesitated, and looked at Rhadamanthus.
Rhadamanthus gazed benignantly at them, smiled a gracious smile,
and waved his hands with the air of a judge dismissing a case.
"All r-r-right," said Rhadamanthus; "he haf explained."
This language was somewhat unintelligible. What there was to be
explained they could not imagine. If the law prohibited the carrying
off of relics from Pompeii, no amount of "explanation" could give
them a claim to their unlawful possessions. But neither David nor
Clive was at all inclined to hesitate about the legality of their
possessions, or to make any inquiries about the nature of the
explanation which had been made by Michael Angelo. It was joy enough
for them to know that the difficulty was over, and that the relics
were theirs once more.
So the pile of relics went back from that table into the pockets
of David and Clive with a rapidity that is inconceivable. Away from
their faces passed that heart-broken expression which had been upon
them; the shadows passed away from their brows, the sunshine of
joy and exultation overspread them, and they looked at Michael
Angelo in silent gratitude.
A few minutes more and they were-in the carriage.
Then David asked Michael Angelo how it was that he had changed the
stern resolve of the inexorable Rhadamanthus into such easy,
gracious, and good-tempered indulgence.
Michael Angelo laughed.
"I gif him," said he, "just one half dollar. Dat was what he wanted
all de time. Aftaire dees you know what to do. All r-r-right. Ha,
ha, ha, ha, ha!"
And Michael Angelo burst into a peal of laughter.
Upon this Uncle Moses began to moralize about the corrupt morals
of the Italian race, and went on to speak of tyranny, priestcraft,
slavery, aristocracy, monarchy, primogeniture, brigandage, and ten
thousand other things.
And the carriage rolled back to Naples.