into every imaginable form. We had now finished the steep ascent, and the surface was nearer level; all around the ground was broken and cracked into fissures, through which roll sulphur-smoke and steam, and about the openings the ground was hot. We traversed such a surface for quite a distance, and at length arrived at the little crater.". It was now half-past three o'clock, and we had spent fifty minutes in ascending the cone. This crater is a large, irregular orifice about a hundred feet in width, looking as though it had been suddenly burst open by come escaping matter. The inside of the cavity looked white, which was probably caused by the volume of smoke or steam which rushed up with a noise like the sound of falling water, and rose to a great height above us. The morning sun cast our shadows on this rising vapor, and so magnified them that they looked like ghosts of giants coming up from the bowels of the earth. A slight sound was caused by a stone thrown into the crater, showing that the bottom was not far distant. The rocks around us were hot, and a walking-stick took fire in a crevice. There were some egg shells lying about, the remnants, probably, of some romantic traveller's breakfast, who had used Dame Nature for his cook, and Vesuvius as his kitchen. We, however, were not so provident, and contented ourselves, therefore, by finishing our early meal of food prepared by fire kindled by human hands. Leaving this place we walked to the 66 great crater.' This immense opening is perhaps a thousand feet in diameter, the sides are rough and jagged, and all around the lips of the crater the ground is full of rents and crevices. As we approached, the sulphur fumes became almost unendurable; but, led on by the awful grandeur of the place, we reached the crater's edge. Hot steam was rushing up from the unknown region of fire, which, like a mighty furnace, burns beneath the mountain, and rising high above us, was a smoky pillar a thousand feet in height, forming an immense cloud which perpetually hangs above the mountain, and is visible at a great distance. At times a strong wind blew the cloud of ris ing steam back from the place where we were standing, and revealed, for a moment, the ragged sides of the crater dimly visible to a depth of a hundred feet or so, and then the swaying mass would roll back toward us, and cover all with mist. Huge fragments of rock had fallen down the sides of the crater, and the edge was so cracked and broken that it might at any moment give way and plunge us into the seething cauldron. At intervals of a few minutes, a rambling crash came up from the bottom of the crater, echoing along the rugged sides like a peal of thunder in the distance. A heavy stone was thrown in, but the sound of it was lost. On one side of the crater rises a mass covered with smoking sulphur, to a considerable height, perhaps fifty feet; after all the rest of the party had come down from this hill of brimstone, two of us who had staid behind ascended. There we stood on the topmost peak of Vesuvius, surrounded and overshadowed with smoke and vapory clouds; far beneath us was the awful erater, boiling and thundering with hidden fire; our standing-place was hot, and the fumes of melted sulphur were almost stifling; surely it is no wonder that the tra ditions of an ignorant and imaginative people should call this place "the mouth of hell," and tell of demons who hold their nightly revels here! We obtained some beautiful specimens of sulphur of different colors and shades, and so hot at first that we could not handle them. Turning now our faces from this awe-inspiring scene, we made our way over the top of the cone, to the opposite side. The whole of the cone is one mass of rock, lava and sulphur, which has been cast up from below, and the surface upon which were now walking had been so twisted and kneaded while in a melted state, that it was hard to believe it solid rock until we trod upon it. This lava when broken, is of a grayish cast, with specks of black in it; This, however, is but one of several kinds found here. Six men were waiting with the sedanchair, at the commencement of the descent, for the pleasure of carrying me down. The steepness of the cone can be realized from the fact that I had to ride down backwards, to avoid slipping out of the chair. Down this side of the mountain stretch immense streams of old lava which have flowed from the summit of the cone to the Atrio del Cavallo, and some of the streams have found their way from this valley down the lower slopes of old Vesuvius into the surrounding country. These streams are covered with large lumps of black "scoria" and cinders, so that the lava itself is not seen on the surface. The stream nearest us was about ten or twelve feet in thickness, and more than a hundred feet in width; the lava is now old and long since cool, but one can imagine with what terrible force such a mighty river of melted stone would crush a way through any obstacle. The descent of the cone occupied but ten minutes, for the sliding of the ashes and cinders greatly accelerated our speed. After going about a mile, over old lava and rocks, we came to a foot-path leading to the left over an uneven surface of a similar character. I alighted from my chair and we followed the path for a little distance, to a place where smoke and steam were rising from the rocks, and here we saw a blood red substance pouring down in fiery cascades. It was melted lava flowing down the side of the mountain, and as we approached the heat became intense. The large streams are covered with scoria and cinders, which make a crushing noise as they move along and break on the melted lava. Sometimes huge pieces of these cinders roll down, and expose the interior of the mass in a glowing heat. The lava was flowing over an old bed, and therefore the stream was divided, as it ran on the uneven surface between the rocks. One of our guides pulled out some of the lava with his stick, as if it were melted glass; he threw this on a rock, and, while still soft, embedded a coin in it, and brought it to us on a cool piece of stone. One of our party obtained a specimen in the same manner, but the rest were content to keep at a respectful distance, as it was quite hot enough a dozen feet off, with something to screen our faces. When our specimens were cool they looked like hardened tar and sand mixed together, black and very brittle, with a glassy fracture. This part of the mountain is full of small craters and crevices emitting smoke and steam. We staid here a good while for the sight was novel and exciting. After retracing our steps to the sedanchair, we took up our line of march again, and soon arrived at the "Hermitage," a small inn or half-way house, from which the ascent is usually made. It is built upon a high, rocky ridge, between two large streams of old lava, which fill up the vallies on each side of the ridge, lie two small Alpine glaciers. It was now seven o'clock, and we stopped here to rest a few minutes. There were some people here offering for sale likenesses of the King of Naples, the Pope and others, made of lava, pressed in moulds, while in a melted state. With the addition of a donkey to our party, for the accommodation of the youngest member, we left the "Hermitage," upon a good road, which descended until we came to where the lava had destroyed it some years ago, and from this point the path led over the old lava bed, passing many small craters now extinct. In some places on the edge of the stream, were orchards, part of which had been destroyed by the terrible invaders. Behind us rose the smoking mountain, where all was desolate and sublime; where everything was marked with fire and distorted by terrible convulsions; before us the slopes of Vesuvius fell gently away to the sea, covered with luxuriant vineyards and orchards of olive and lemon trees, and dotted thickly with villages and little white villas peeping out from the surrounding foliage. The bay, far-famed for beauty, lay before us, stretching away to the Mediterranean, whose soft blue waters mingled in the distance with the azure sky. Along the shore extends the fair city of Naples, like a queen of beauty reflected in the glassy waters of the bay. And yet of what avail is all this earthly paradise, where oppression rules, and tyranny holds sway? We soon reached the paved road, and following this, the houses became more numerous, until we arrived at the village of Resina, near the ancient site of Herculaneum. We regretted the necessi Here Give! though the summons your spirit appal; above; heaven. Buffalo, N. Y. ty of passing by this interesting spot without a single glance at the buried city; but the heat was increasing as the day advanced, and our morning trip had been fatiguing, for we had been on the road two hours since leaving the Hermitage. Having therefore dismissed the men who had borne me so far upon their shoulders, we proceeded on foot to a carriage provided by our trusty guide Dominico. we found our knapsacks, white sun umbrellas, and other necessaries of Italian travel, which had been sent around the mountain the night before, from Pompeii. We drove through Portici, toward Naples, six miles distant, and saw the palace of Francis II., King of Naples, the two Sicilies and Jerusalem"! The people here seemed to be about as busily employed on Sunday as on any other day. We drove through the city of Naples to the "Hotel des Etrangers," where we had been comfortably entertained while on a men. By the time we former visit to this city. had climbed the hundred marble steps to our rooms, we felt very much inclined to spend the remainder of the day in rest, enjoying our view of the bay and trying to keep cool. GIVING IS LIVING. BY CLARA. Giving is living. Go ask of the rose Ask of the bird, why it scatters its joy, And the cruse of the widow with oil never fails. HEROINES OF THE WAR. A slight sketch was given in a recent editorial of the Repository, of Clara Bar ton, one of the brave and efficient American women who are devoting their ener gies and their lives to the humane and beautiful work of caring for the brave and unfortunate soldiers who are wounded in the battles of this war, or have been smitten by the dreadful camp diseases which scourge and decimate our noble If there be any who are de armies. serving the gratitude, praises and honor it is these brave woof the country, I here wish to preserve the history of another heroine of our war, and can do it no better than by copying an article which I find in the little Union paper called the New South, published in the heart of rebeldom, at Port Royal. It is briefly as follows: heroes and heroines "Among the many which the present war has developed, there is one now with the army of the Potomac, whose history deserves to be made conspicuous, fully justifying, as it does, the adage that "truth is stranger than fiction," and furnishing an example believed to be without a parallel in the history of the sex. "Anna Etherage, of Minnesot, was born in Detroit, Michigan, and is now twenty-three years of age. Her father was once a man of wealth, and her early youth was passed in the lap of luxury, with no wish uncared for. But misfor tune came and swept away his property, and broken in fortune and depressed in spirit, he moved to the State of Minneso ta, where he died, leaving our heroine, at the of twelve years, in comparative poverty and want. On the breaking out of the rebellion, she was visiting her age Giving is living. O, soul, count it gain, slain; then engaged in raising the 2d regiment of Michigan volunteers, and she and nine- feet three inches in height, fair complexteen other females volunteered to accom-ion, (now somewhat browned by expospany the regiment as nurses. Every other one has returned home or been discharged, but she has accompanied the regiment through all its fortunes, and declares her determination to remain with it through its entire term of service. ure,) brown hair, vigorous constitution, and decidedly good looking. Her dress. on entering into battle, is a riding dress, so arranged as to be looped up when she dismounts. Her demeanor is perfectly modest, quiet and retiring, and her habits and conduct are correct and exemplary; yet on the battle-field she seems to be alone possessed and animated with the desire to be effective in saving the lives of the wounded soldiers. No vulgar or indelicate word was ever known to be uttered by her, and she is held in the highest veneration and esteem by the soldiers, as an angel of mercy to them. She is indeed, the idol of the brigade, every man of which would submit to almost any sacrifice in her behalf. She takes the deep "She has for her use a horse furnished with side saddle, saddle bags, &c. At the commencement of a battle, she fills her saddle-bags with lint and bandages, mounts her horse and gallops to the front, passes under fire, and regardless of shot or shell, engages in the work of staunching and binding up the wounds of our soldiers. In this manner she has passed through every battle in which the regiment has been engaged, commencing with the battle of Blackburn Ford, preceding the first battle of Bull-Run, includ-est interest in the results of this contest, ing the battles of the peninsula and terminating with the battle of Fredericksburg Gen. Berry, the present commander of the brigade to which her regiment is attached, and who highly distinguished himself for bravery and gallantry in all these fights, declares that she has been under as hot a fire of the enemy as him self. "On one occasion, a soldier was torn in pieces by a shell, while she was in the act of binding up his wounds, previously received, and on many occasions her dress has been pierced by bullets and fragments of shell, yet she has never flinched and never been wounded. Her regiment belongs to the brigade commanded by the lamented Gen. Kearney, till his death, and in consideration of her dauntless courage, and invaluable services in saving the lives of his men, Gen. Kearney commissioned her as Regimental Sergeant. When not actively engaged on the battle-field, or in the hospital, she superintends the cooking at the head quarters of the brigade. When the brigade moves she mounts her horse, and marches with the ambulances and surgeons, ministering to the wants of the sick and wounded, and at the bivouac she wraps herself in her blanket, and sleeps upon the ground with all the hardihood of a true soldier. eagerly reading all the papers to which she can obtain access, and keeping thoroughly posted as to the progress of the war. She says she feels as if she stood alone in the world, as it were, and desires to do good. She knows that she is the instrument of saving many lives, and alleviating much suffering in her present position, and feels it her duty to continue in so doing. "These facts can be sustained by testimony of the highest character, and they deserve to go forth into the world to show that if England can boast of the achievements of a Florence Nightingale, we of America can present a still higher example of female heroism, and exalted acts of humanity in the person of Anna Etherage." It is a fitting place to introduce a biography of that brave and beautiful leader in the noble work of ameliorating the dire sufferings of the camp and military hospitals, FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. I quote the language of the new Cyclopedia. Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy, in 1823. She is a descendant of an old and respectable Sheffield family. Her mother is a daughter of the late William Smith, who was a Member of Parliament, and distinguished as an advocate of negro emancipation. As the youngest child of cultivated and wealthy parents, the youth of Florence moved to this work solely by patriotism Nightingale was passed under circumstances favorable to her intellectual development. Under her father's instruction she became a proficient in classics and mathematics, and a general acquaintance with science and art. She was a good musician, and became well acquainted with the modern languages, being greatly aided in this branch of study by her early visits to many parts of the continent. and philanthropy. On November 5th Miss Nightingale and her staff arrived at Constantinople, and took quarters in the barracks of the hospital at Scutari. In two days 600 wounded soldiers were sent to them from the battle of Inkerman; by the 30th of the month there were 3,000 sick and wounded at Scutari, and within six weeks 10,000 in the different hospi tals on the Bosphorus. The disorder and want of suitable arrangements of beds, food and medicine, would have appalled almost any one else; but possessing rare executive ability, as well as thorough knowledge of what was necessary, she made the hospital in a short time, a mod From early childhood, the care of the sick was her favorite occupation, and no reading possessed such attractions for her as that which treated of hospitals and other institutions for the infirm, the helpless and diseased. In her girlhood, she often visited the schools and hospitals in the neigh-el in the thoroughness and perfection of borhood of Lea Hurst, her father's residence, and subsequently the hospitals of larger towns, devoting much attention to the best of London. "At this time she was specially impressed with the necessity of an institution for training nurses. The Sisters of Charity of the Catholic church seemed to her to need a counterpart in the Protestant communion. She learned that such an institution existed on the Rhine, and in 1849 she went there to qualify herself for the work of ministering to the sick. She entered as voluntary nurse, placing herself under the care of the venerable pastor, Fleidnor, and going through a regular course of training. After six months' experience there, she returned to England, and for some time was in feeble health. In 1851, learning that the Sanitorum for invalid and infirm governesses in London, was in need of competent management, she took charge of it, and in fifteen months brought it to a far higher state of efficiency than it had ever previously possessed. its appointments. The other hospitals were made to conform to the same plan, under her direction. All this involved an immensity of labor on her part; often she stood for twenty hours in succession giving directions, but she had always a pleasant smile, or a kind word for the sick, and was almost idolized by the army. 66 She remained nearly two years in the East, suffering herself one severe attack of hospital fever, but returning to her work as soon as she could sit up. She arrived in England Sept. 6th, 1856. Her health never robust, was permanently impaired, and since her return, she has been much of the time an invalid. Her services have secured the sincerest gratitude of the British people and a world-wide renown. The queen sent her a letter of thanks, accompanied by a superb jewel; a subscrip tion of £50,000 was raised to found an institution for the training of nurses, under her direction, and the soldiers of the army, by a penny contribution, raised a sum sufficient to erect a statue to her hon"In 1854, the need of good nurses and or, which she refused to allow. Miss efficient hospital service in the Crimea, Nightingale published in 1850, a panwas painfully felt, and the exposure of phlet for the benefit of the Sanitorum, in some of the abuses connected with it, upper Harley street, entitled, the Instiaroused the attention of the whole British tution at Kaisersworth on the Rhine, for nation. A corps of voluntary female the Practical Training of Deaconesses, unnurses was proposed, and Miss Nightin-der the direction of the Rev. Pastor Fleidgale consented to go out as the superinten-ner,' and in 1859, 'Notes on Nursing.'"' dent. Forty-two ladies went with her, and fifty more soon followed. Many of these were women of high social position, Like the gush of the morning light, truth must go forward. |