"But, Ned," said the soldier, "I will teach you only on one condition." "Oh, massa," said Ned, "me much pleased learn read. What dat 'dition, massa?" "It is this," said the soldier, "that, if I teach you to read, you must teach another." Ned began to learn. As soon as he learned his alphabet, he called to another negro, “I say, Sam, you want learn read ?" 66 Ay, Ned; I no read: no buckra (white) man teach me read." 66 Well," said Ned, "if I teach you, you teach t'other nigger read." In this way the negroes went on, everyone teaching another, until a large number learned to read. The slaveholders became very angry when they got to know, and tried to put a stop to it. Finding it was all Ned's doing, they flogged him severely, till his back bled in many places. Still he continued to teach the negroes, and was punished more severely than before. His master, not knowing what to do with him, sent him to another plantation, where he set to work again, and the negroes on that plantation were taught to read too. THE BURIED CITY; OR, POMPEII PAST AND PRESENT. INTRODUCTION. "There is a power Unseen, that rules the boundless world, That guides its motion from the brightest star To the least dust of this sin-tainted mould; While man, who madly deems himself the Lord Of all, is naught but weakness and dependance.' JERUSALEM, the once powerful capital of Judea, was trodden down by the avenging march of the Roman soldiers. The glory of that great city, Nineveh, has, like a brilliant meteor, disappeared from our view. Rome, once the seat of wealth, learning, and power, is now but the shadow of its former glory. But the power, the honour, aye, and even the fame of these cities, have been tarnished by the rebellion of their inhabitants against the just commands of the King of kings; and in their magnificent ruins there is a voice which says, this was brought about not only by the devastation of war, and the destruction wrought by age, but also by terrific judgments which have visited the wicked nations of the earth by the command of heaven. Let us glance, then, in the following pages, at a city that was destroyed, ruined, and hidden from view. It was not by age, it was not by war, nor by the raging of a pestilence. It was a city engaged in the busy activity of life, given up to gaiety and folly, whose inhabitants were living as if only for this short life, that was in a few brief hours transformed into one vast sepulchre ; for Pompeii and the surrounding country of Campania became buried beneath those elements of destruction that were vomited from the crater of Vesuvius. In the following pages, I hope to describe this famous city, as it appeared in the height of its glory, the fearful calamity which befel it, and the wonderful things which have come to light since it was unburied. CHAPTER I. POMPEII AS IT WAS. POMPEII originally belonged to Greece; but, like most European countries, it afterwards became a prey to the Roman conquerors, and, at the time our story commences, it was still one of the tributaries of that mighty empire over which Titus was wielding the royal sceptre. Pompeii was situated about ten miles from Naples, in a most enchanting spot; it seemed to rise gradually from the lovely bay which sparkled at its base, and then climbed far away up the verdant slopes of Vesuvius, which towered high above, covered to its crown with the luxuriant foliage of that southern clime; a wild grandeur, almost impossible to describe, seemed to pervade this place; its rugged beauty, vast landscape, and massive vintage, together with the feathered songsters, seemed to turn the face of nature into a vast chorus of exhilarating music. "The harp of nature has ten thousand strings : Within a walk of about two miles from Pompeii, around a breezy headland lies her sister city Herculaneum; Vesuvius seemed to hover over them like a giant guardian sleeping quietly in its strength; but, alas, such a protector reminds one of the fabled wolf, which acted as protector to Romulus and Remus, likely at any moment to become their devourer, as readily as their protector. Being such a lovely spot, it became the favorite resort of the wealthiest Roman citizens; and ever and anon, as your eyes glanced up the heights, their stately villas,'in all the magnificence of their Roman architecture, could be seen peeping out from between the trees; in fact, it might be called the favourite watering place of the ancient Romans. The city was bounded by a wall of about two miles in circumference, with eight gates, by which admittance was gained. Just inside the walls was the cemetery of Pompeii; a full quarter of a mile, on both sides of the road, were long rows of tombs, some of which were ornamented in a magnificent manner. Solemn, indeed, must have been this sight to some of the frivolous passers by, as they remembered that this also must, sooner or later, be their fate. "Man goeth to his long home, and the place which knoweth him now will soon know him no more for ever." Let us pass on into the streets of the living, teeming with all the busy earnestness of every-day life; the streets are not imposing, being very narrow, so that in scarcely any of them can two chariots go abreast'; shops! shops! shops! meet one on every hand, as if the whole town were given up to commerce. Crowds of spectators are gathered around the most attractive, the nature of whose business is announced by a board somewhat resembling the signs usually placed in front of a village inn, only instead of having a lion, tiger, or bull painted on them, there was a goat, to denote that the vendor is a seller of milk; or a boy being whipped by his master, which informed the public that this was a school, in which the master did not spare the rod and spoil the child. At every vista there were sparkling fountains, throwing up their spray in the golden sunshine; the country girls stand at the corner of every street with baskets of fruit and flowers. The cafés were very numerous, where the idle loved to lounge away their days, and spend their all in extravagance, regardless of their sick and starving neighbours. If we turn up a cross street, we shall find many stately mansions, but the owners all built shops in front, by which means they gained a great part of their revenues. The houses were built for effect rather than for convenience, the main object being to strike the public with admiration. Let us glance at the house of one of the nobles, "Pansa;" it consists of two courts, one behind another, around which the house is built. Beyond these courts is a large garden, so that when the curtains are drawn, and the doors opened, passers by can see right through the house and grounds :-pictures, statues, vases, marble pillars, mosaic pavements, flowers and shrubs can be seen all conspiring to present a striking perspective. To make the view appear longer, the wall at the end is painted to represent an avenue of trees, embellished with fountains and other devices; the dining-rooms also had elaborate decorations bestowed upon them, for the ancients dearly loved the pleasures of the table, and did not fail to supply everything in beautiful style. There was one Roman who had separate rooms for each style of banquet, and having once invited 'Pompey and Cicero to a private supper, he merely despatched a message to his servant that he would dine in the hall called Apollo, which insured the preparation of a banquet worth £1,600. The ceilings were sometimes made to open, and to admit of the descent of a second course, with showers of choice blossoms, and a spray of perfumed waters, while rope dancers performed their feats over the heads of the company. Amid so much pomp and glitter, one is almost astonished to find the people were ignorant of the smallest comforts; the water, for instance, which was brought into the city from an aqueduct about eight miles distant, only supplied the fountains, from which the water was fetched, by a number of slaves kept for that purpose: Such a thing as laying it on to the dwellings seems never to have been thought of. Fireplaces with chimneys were entirely unknown; the only warmth to be had in winter was from pans of charcoal, over which the family sat shivering with cold, while the smoke curled in clouds through the apartments, spoiling statues and pictures, and |