scalding
rain, flowing lava. The earth is being turned inside out, and men are
learning what she is made of.

[ILLUSTRATION: _Bronze lampholder_: Five lamps hung from the branches
of this bronze tree. It was twenty inches high.]

POMPEII TO-DAY

Years came and went and changed the world. The old gods died, and the
new religion of Christ grew strong. The old temples fell into ruins, and
new churches were built in their places. Instead of the old Roman in his
white toga came merchants in crimson velvet and knights in steel armor
and gentlemen in ruffles and modern men in plain clothes.

Among all these changes, Pompeii was almost forgotten. But after a long
while people began to be much interested in ancient Italy. They read old
Roman books, and learned of her wonderful cities. They began to dig here
and there and find beautiful statues and vases and jewels. They read the
story of Pompeii in an old Roman book--a whole city suddenly buried just
as her people had left her!

"There we should find treasures!" they said. "We should see houses,
temples, shops, streets, as they were seventeen hundred years ago. We
should find them full of statues and rich things. Perhaps we should find
some of the people who lived in ancient days. But where to dig?"

Their question was answered by accident. At that time certain men were
making a tunnel to carry spring water from the hills across the country
to a little town near Naples. The tunnel happened to pass over buried
Pompeii. They dug up some blocks of stone with Latin inscriptions carved
on them. After that other people found little ancient relics near the
same place.

"This must be where Pompeii lies buried," the wise men said.

They began to excavate. That was about two hundred years ago. Ever since
that time the work has gone on. Sometimes people have been discouraged
and have given up. At other times six hundred men have been working
busily. Kings have given money. Emperors and princes and queens have
visited the excavations. Artists have made pictures of the ruins, and
scholars have written books about them. But it is a great task to
uncover a whole city that is buried ten or twelve feet deep. The
excavation is not yet finished. Perhaps when you are old men and women
the work will be completed, and a whole Roman city will be open to your
eyes.

But even as it is to-day, that ghost of a city is among the world's
wonders. There is the thick stone wall that goes al