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Papal
Rome is an enchantress!
Old as she is, she is like Niiion d'enclos,--the young fall in love with her.
You will hear next from us at Naples.
Affectionately yours, H. B. S.
From Rome the travelers went to Naples, and after visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum made the ascent of Vesuvius, a graphic account of which is contained in a letter written at this time by Mrs. Stowe to her daughters in Paris.
After describing the preparations and start, she says:--
Gradually the ascent became steeper and steeper, till at length it was all our horses could do to pull us up. The treatment of horses in
Naples is a thing that takes away much from the pleasure and comfort of such travelers as have the least feeling for animals.
The people seem absolutely to have no consideration for them.
You often see vehicles drawn by one horse carrying fourteen or fifteen great, stout men and women.
This is the worse as the streets are paved with flat stones which are exceedingly slippery.
On going up hill the drivers invariably race their horses, urging them on with a constant storm of blows.
As the ascent of the mountain became steeper, the horses panted and trembled in a way that made us feel that we could not sit in the carriage, yet the guide and driver never made the slightest motion to leave the box. At last three of us got out and walked, and invited our guide to do the same, yet with all this relief the last part of the ascent was terrible, and the rascally fellows actually forced the horses to it by beating them with long poles on the back of their legs.
