n in various
branches of intellectual or artistic pursuits. A little open air
theatre, after the Greek model, would form a part of this scheme."

Even Telegraph Hill was to have its precipitate sides terraced and was
to be transformed into a park, according to the design of Mr. Burnham.
To carry out all the plans of the architect would be a large task just
now, but the citizens of the new San Francisco expect that the broad
general lines will be laid down and then in the course of time the
rest will be added.

Unexampled as was the loss of property in San Francisco the disaster
in that respect alone was converted into a permanent benefit.

No other city with the exception of Chicago ever had such a grand
opportunity of rebuilding upon a basis of permanency and beauty.

Instead of shrinking, real estate values rose rapidly and continued to
rise. Fancy figures were quoted on sites suitable for business
establishments. Structures that remained comparatively intact not far
from the old business section were leased at extremely high rates.

Instead of dooming San Francisco the double attack of fire and quake
proved a blessing. Unaccountable as it may be to many people in the
eastern states, the denizens of that part of the country had no
especial fears of a recurrence of the catastrophe. They argued that
seismic disturbances of such intensity come once in fifty or one
hundred years.

"Next time we will be prepared," was the regulation comment. The faith
of those people, their courage and their enduring hope obliterated all
doubt and crushed timidity. The watchword from the day of the disaster
was "rebuild." And generally there was added the injunction, "and make
it earthquake proof."

CHAPTER XXI.

VESUVIUS THREATENS NAPLES.

=Beautiful Italian City on the Mediterranean Almost
Engulfed in Ashes and Lava from the Terrible
Volcano--Worst Eruption Since the Days of Pompeii
and Herculaneum--Buildings Crushed and Thousands
Rendered Homeless.=

The worst eruption of Mt. Vesuvius since the days when it buried under
molten lava and ashes Pompeii and Herculaneum occurred on April 6,
1906. Almost without warning the huge crater opened its fiery mouth
and poured from its throat and fiery interior and poured down the
mountain sides oceans of burning lava, and warned 60,000 or 70,000
inhabitants of villages in the paths of the fiery floods that their
only safety was in immediate flight. From the