THE BURIED CITY
"Goody! This is the day we are going to Pompeii!" cried May, as sheopened her eyes quite late next morning. "I hope father has notforgotten his promise."
"Indeed he has not!" said her mother. "We have the nicest kind of asurprise for you, but we were afraid you were going to sleep all day."
"Oh, what is it? What is the surprise, mother?" cried both littlegirls at once.
"It is something splendid, and it will last a whole week, perhapslonger," said their mother. "Each morning you shall hear about thesurprise for that day, but only for one day at a time."
"Please tell us what it is for to-day," begged Molly. "What fun itwill be to have a new surprise every day!"
"Well," said their mother, "how would you like to have a picnic dinnerto-day?"
"Oh, we should like it better than anything else we can think of!"exclaimed May. "But I thought we were going to Pompeii to-day."
"We are," said their mother. "We shall have our picnic in theprettiest place we can find in old Pompeii. People do not live in theruined city now, for the houses have no roofs. But father says theyhave the cunningest little inhabitants he ever saw. They are part ofthe surprise, so I must not tell about them now."
"Is the picnic basket ready, mother?" asked Molly. "Is it brimful ofgood things to eat?"
"Yes, everything is ready, and Pietro will take us to the station justas soon as you have had your breakfast."
After a short but very rough ride the train stopped at a smallstation, and a man called, "Pompeii!" as he walked quickly down theplatform unlocking the doors of the compartments.
As the Sunbonnet Babies stepped from the train, they expected to seethe famous ruined city, but they saw only a few whitewashedhouses which did not look ruined at all.
_Molly and May felt as if they were in another world_]
"O father!" cried Molly. "People are living in this town. This can'tbe Pompeii."
"Yes it is," said her father. "This is new Pompeii. The old city whichwe have come to see is only a short walk from here."
When they finally passed through the gate into the city, which hadlain buried more than seventeen hundred years, Molly and May felt asif they were in another world. They walked down the narrow, quietstreets, looking into the empty shops and houses, trying to imaginetwenty thousand people living and working and playing here so long,long ago. The smoking volcano not far away made them wonder what thepeople were doing when the hot ashes buried their city.
The guide said many of the people probably escaped, though some stayedto care for their homes and were buried in them. He told how a littlemother bird was found sitting on her nest, buried by the ashes. Shewould not leave the little eggs that needed her wings for protection.He told, too, how a Roman soldier had been found standing at his placeof duty when all his friends had run for safety.
Many of the streets were not wide enough for two small carriages topass, and the sidewalks were so narrow that the Sunbonnet Babies couldhardly walk side by side on them.
Molly and May thought it great fun to jump across the streets on thehigh stepping-stones which they found at every crossing. They playedthey were dainty ladies of two thousand years ago who did notwant to soil their pretty shoes.
_It was great fun to jump across the streets on thehigh stepping-stones_]
At last they came to a house where a watchdog with a rope around hisneck lay in front of the door. He looked rather fierce, but they werenot afraid, for the dog was not alive. He was only the picture of awatchdog, made by means of small black and white stones placed closetogether in the sidewalk. Just below him were two Latin words meaning"Beware of the Dog."
_The rooms all opened upon a lovely little garden andcourt_]
The outside walls of most of the houses had no openings, except thefront door, though some had small shops on each side of the door,where the owner carried on his business.
Molly and May stood behind the counter in one of these shops andplayed they were selling ripe figs to the passers-by. They wentthrough a small door into the house and found that the rooms allopened upon a lovely little court and garden, around which they werebuilt.
This house was not so badly injured as some, so it looks much asit did when people lived in it long ago. Everything has been leftalmost as it was found when the ashes were taken out. The littlegarden has been replanted with flowers and green grass.
Around the four sides of the garden there is a broad porch, andopening from the porch are living rooms, bedrooms, and dining rooms.On the walls are many pictures, which are almost as beautiful as whenthey were first painted.
While they were walking about in this lovely old house, May suddenlysaw a queer little animal. It was as green as grass, and it had a longpointed tail and four big feet.
"What can it be?" she cried.
"I think I know," said Molly. "It is one of the tiny inhabitantsmother said we should find here. I think it is a lizard. Look! Thereare two more. How fast they run! They are frightened. Poor littlethings!"
The guide gave a long, low whistle which made the little lizards raisetheir heads and listen. He whistled softly, until they had lost allfear, standing very still while the Sunbonnet Babies touchedtheir soft, green backs. Molly even lifted one up gently by its longpointed tail. But this frightened the little creature again, and itjumped so hard it left its tail hanging between Molly's fingers, whileit ran across the garden and up the wall of the porch, without anytail.
_Molly lifted up a little lizard very gently by itslong pointed tail_]
Poor Molly was now as frightened as the little lizard, for she thoughtit would surely die without its tail. But the guide said it would runaway and wait for another tail to grow, though he thought lizardsdidn't like to lose their tails.
Soon they came to the market place of the old city, and the SunbonnetBabies begged to have their picnic dinner there. It was not like anyother picnic that Molly and May had ever had. There were no trees tosit under, and they were not allowed to build a bonfire. But they madebelieve that the tall columns of the old houses were great trees twothousand years old, and they were sure Mount Vesuvius was the biggestbonfire any picnic party ever had.
Before the afternoon was over, however, the Sunbonnet Babies had seenenough of the dead city. They were glad to leave it to the timidlittle lizards, while they went to find a real house in the new cityof Pompeii where they could spend the night.
A Long Drive]
The Sunbonnet Babies in Italy Page 6