Mezzoni the Brigand — page 40: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

39 MEZZONI THE BRIGAND. -gance and rags, are here in juxtaposition. There is no ‘‘West End” in Naples. me ea ee ee CHAPTER IV. HELD FOR RANSOM. No traveler would care to visit Peestum but for the sake of seeing the ruins here, still extant, of Greek temples, and which form the sole attraction. The locality now contains but one miserable tav- ern, the grounds being covered with thorns and pees, and infested by snakes. A straggling, sickly population, eaten up by ae local fever and led by malaria, is a sad sight to be- hold. Even in ancient tives, when Pestum was rich and populous, it was noted for the unwholesome atmosphere which prevailed there. However, to the student of history, it is a favorite resort for a brief hour or so, no traveler pretending to sleep there or in its immediate vicinity. To those who can appreciate the simple majesty of Greek architecture, Peestum is a positive revelation, how- ever pestilential and difficult of access. Six hundred years before Christ, this city of Neptune, as its original Greek name signifies, was a capital city of — wealth and grandeur, where art and arms flourished, and its citizens reveled in the pride of life. A party had been made up with a purpose of visit- ing the temples, composed of Colonel Bray, Marion, and an American lady and gentleman, who were to be joined by Walter Hammond—making a company of five persons. They were to proceed by railroad to Salerno, and thence to go by carriage to the locality of the tem- comicbooks. woh