AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
67 
1871 .] 
ing machine in all Naples. They do their washing with¬ 
out soap; and it is pretty much the way of the world 
every where, except in the United States, England, and 
Northern Europe. If you ever travel in Europe, carry 
your own soap. You will not find the article at the 
hotels, not even in France, unless you call for it, and 
then you will find it charged to you in the bill at a high 
price. From what I have seen of the world, and the 
way people live in difl'erent countries, I have come to 
the conclusion that soap is a great promoter of civiliza¬ 
tion. I have found that where people use soap most 
freely there is the most cleanliness, intelligence, wealth 
and virtue, and happiness and comfort in life. 
I dare say that most of you have seen pictures of Mount 
Vesuvius, a tall conical mountain, shaped like a stack of 
hay, and rising high above the Bay of Naples. At the 
base of the mountain we left our carriage and the main 
roa d, mounted our horses, and turned into a green lane 
and began the ascent. 
There was a crowd of beggars around me—holding out 
their hands and their dirty caps begging for money. 
Four of them seized my horse by the bridle, and iiad a 
fight among themselves to see which should lead it; 
three or four more wanted to hold me on, and tried to 
make me understand that I should fall off; others caught 
hold of the horse’s tail, determined to have the animal 
pull them up the mountain. They were villainous-look¬ 
ing wretches, with black beards, dirty faces, slouched 
hats, and in rags and tags. 
“ Go hack,” I said. They bawled the louder. “Clear 
out!” They begged the harder. “Bo off! Mind your 
business!” They didn't start. “I wont have you,” I 
said, hut it was clear they were determined to have me. 
I doubled up my fist, hut they didn’t mind it. I jumped 
from my horse, seized a cudgel, and was on again in a 
•twinkling. They understood that, and scampered like a 
flock of sheep ; and we went on our way peacefully up 
the mountain, enjoying ono of the loveliest views in all 
the world. It is about four thousand feet to the top. The 
entire mountain is of lava that has been thrown up from 
time to time from the interior of the earth. 
Ages ago the volcano was in action: then the lava 
ceased to boil, and the whole mountain was covered with 
vines and troes. Seventy-two years before Christ was 
horn, that brave warrior Spartacus—whom you, I dare 
sav, have read about in Homan history—made the crater 
of Vesuvius his hiding-place. 
Plutarch, the old Homan historian, tells us that there 
was only one way to get up to the crater over the rocks, 
and that Claudius posted his guards at the bottom of the 
precipice to starve out Spartacus; hut the brave spirited 
fellow and liis followers were not to he caught in that 
way, for one night they made the grape-vines into ropes, 
let themselves down the other side of the mountain, and 
were far away before Claudius knew that they had escaped. 
It was in the year 79, about 1,S00 years ago, that one 
day, about noon, the top of the mountain suddenly blew 
off—or out, oruj, just like the explosion of a steam-boiler 
—with a'fcrrible noise, and the air was filled with red-hot 
stones, cinders, smoke, and steam, that darkened the sun 
and spread over all the surrounding country. There were 
terrific earthquakes—the whole mountain rocked and 
trembled, and there were vivid lightnings and fearful 
thunderings. The cinders fell on Pompeii, a city on the 
south side of the mountain, and buried it. A river of 
molten, red-h«t lava rolled down the western side, over 
the town of Ilerculanenm, burying and destroying every 
thing in its path. Vineyards, houses, barns, wheatflelds, 
and gardens—everything that could burn was enveloped 
in flames. The whole side of the mountain was on Are. 
The lava rolled into the sea, and heated the water boiling 
hot, and cooked all the fishes ill the harbor, so that the 
next day and for weeks afterward the sea-shore was 
strewn with dead fishes already cooked for dinner 1 From 
that time to the present the fires have been constantly 
burning, and the hole in the top of the mountain has 
either been sending up columns of steam and smoke, or 
throwing up red-hot stones, or boiling over like a kettle. 
There have been nearly sixty great eruptions, besides 
numerous smaller ones. In 1822J the top of the moun¬ 
tain suddenly fell in with a loud crash, and then there 
was a furious boiling of the cauldron. For four days 
“there was a continuous shower of red-hot stones rained 
upon the surrounding country. One red-hot rock, weigh¬ 
ing four or five tons, was thrown three miles 1 The pil¬ 
lar of smoke that went up from the summit was two 
miles high, and spread out over the sea like a huge um¬ 
brella, hiding the sun and making it dark as midnight at 
noonday in Naples. When the eruption was over it was 
found that the whole top of the mountain had been blown 
away, and that a crater threo miles in circumference and 
two thousand feet deep had been formed by the action of 
the internal fire3 1 
Half way up the mountain we came to the river of 
fire. There had been an eruption a few months before, 
and this was one branch of the great stream that had 
boiled over the rim of the crater. It had cooled so that 
we could wiSk upon it, but it was still smoking and too 
hot to hold our hands in the crevices. We felt it wanning 
up our feet and crisping the soles of our boots. It was a 
stream wider and deeper than tiie Mississippi 1 Think 
of it—a red-hot river of molten rock flowing down the 
mountain, sweeping every thing before it—widening and 
spreading till tho whole mountain side—the vineyards, 
the trees, the towering pines, the earth itself—is ablaze 1 
Think how it must look at night, glowing as brightly 
as tho hottest furnace in a great iron-foundry 1 It had 
changed in color from the red-hot glow to a darkish 
brown. This was the lava; but as we approached the 
top we casie to the cinders—dry, light pieces of lava as 
large as peas or coarse gravel, that were blown out by 
the steam into tho air and had fallen around the cone. 
It is hard work to climb to the top over the cinders ; hut 
we leave onr horses at the bottom, and after much puf¬ 
fing and sweating reach the summit. A few months be¬ 
fore we should have found it a lake of fire a third of a 
mile across, with steep banks forty feet high; but it had 
cooled so that we walked down into it, and went upon 
the stony waves. We passed through thick clonds of 
smoke and over beds of sulphur, where we were obliged 
to hold our breath. We could look down into the cracks 
and see the liquid fire beneath. There was a hissing 
and roaring as the mass seethed to and fro, and a crack¬ 
ing now and then of the rocks under onr feet. We 
stopped long enough to roast some eggs for our dinner. 
It did not take long, for when w r e thrust a cane into a 
crevice it took fire as quickly as if we had put it into a 
fire blazing on the hearth. 
It was interesting to stand there—to watch the glowing 
heat, the curling smoke—to hear the low rumbling and 
thundering far beneath ns; but we felt a good deal safer 
when we were over the rim of the crater once more, and 
making onr way down the side of tho mountain. 
Aisnt Sue’s l*tiz*Ie Box. 
Now, children, I want you alt te send answers to the 
puzzles, and I propos* to give a prize every month to the 
one who sends the longest list, of correct answers. 
To give everyone of you, far and near, an equal chance, 
I will give you two months to work in ; i. e., the answers 
to January No. will bo published in March ; those to 
February puzzles in April, and so on. 
QUESTIONS, ENIGMAS, CHARADES, Etc. 
KIDDLE. 
One day my master shut me up, 
And stamped me on the hack, 
Then sent me from before his face, 
On a rcturnless track. 
I might have thought him cruel, 
But he was, in fact, a friend, 
And his own right hand safe guided me, 
Unto my journey’s end. K. 
ANAGRAMS. 
(To properly enjoy these very amusing puzzles, it is 
necessary to have a box of letters ; and I shall give as a 
prize, every month, one sot of anagram letters to the one 
whoso name is drawn by lot from those sending correct 
solutions to all the anagrams.) 
1. Minced meat. G. Stood in lace. 
2. Toes dance. . 7. Bride’s hand. 
3. Samuel Tot. 8. Heart Bolt. 
4. Been wet. 9. Gripe none. 
5. I a girl? No! 10. I’m Tom Pane. 
TRANSFORMATIONS. 
Entire, I am actively disagreeable ; behead me, and I 
am passively disagreeable; now, change my head sev¬ 
eral times, and make (1) a pen ; (2) a metal: (3) inform¬ 
ed ; (4) disposed of; (5) audacions; and (G) part of a 
ship; now behead me, and leave a state of being that 
few would fall short of. 
DOUBLE ACROSTIC. 
Scenes of carnage and war’s dreadful din, 
The fruits of onr moral corruption and sin ; 
Never to cease until the world’s at an end, 
And man never more can his brother offend. 
1. This, the papers in which most lawyers delight, 
2. With which/they will this try to prove if they can ; 
3. A small thing which Sliakspeare esteems rather 
light, 
4. Six feet, more or less, this may he for a man. 
5. A protection and guard, of fine metal cast. 
To shield from the danger of some subtle fluids, 
6. A kind of conveyance which travels quite fast, 
And is used for the transport of various goods. 
Hautboy. 
CHARABE AND DECAPITATION. 
My first does to my second wlmt my whole was intend¬ 
ed for; behead my first and use the remainder if you 
would do my second beheaded; behead my first again 
and transpose it. and you will find something that be¬ 
longs to my second entire. Jcvenis. 
divisions. 
1. Divide a piece of furniture and leave a district and 
a garment. 
2. Divide a weapon and leave a boy’s nickname and a 
bird. 
3. Divide something discordant so as to leave a vessel 
and an ornament. 
4. Divide an old woman and leave illustrious and a 
verb. 
CONUNDRUM. 
What part of the body could we easily dispense with T 
Numerical Enigma.— No. 1. 
I am composed of 7 letters : 
My 2, 5, 6, 4, is tlie main point. 
My G, 3, 7, 1, is an adverb. 
My whole wc should all avoid. n. G. 
Numerical Enigma.—No. 2. 
I am composed of 22 letters ; 
My 4,14, 6, is what many long to hear, when 10, 19, 3, 
14, makes them ask a question. 
My 22, 7, 5, 8, 18, 2, is something nice to eat, either 
raw or cooked. 
My 11, 1, 20, is a marsh. 
My 9, 13, 21, 15, 16, 17, 12, is to finish; and my whole 
is an adage. S. S. 
Answers to Puzzles in the December Number. 
Rebus No. 397. —A clean glove often hides a dirty hand. 
Charade.— Monkey. 
Correct answers received from Franklin W. Hall and 
II. C. Loomis. 
Aunt Sue’s Notices to Correspondents. — W. H. 
Morrow. Your “ first attempt is excellent ” though sim¬ 
ple, and shall he dressed up for the engraver. Let us 
have some more. 
Downset. “Good!” Back again. 
ZW- Address all communications intended for the 
Puzzle Box, to Aunt Sue, Box 111, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
401. Illustrated Rebus—GooA sentiment. 
402. Illustrated Rebus.—An old motto. 
403. Illustrated Rebus .—ffleographicaJ pnssele. 
