Part 12 (1/2)

”And which, all things considered, is the greatest work, do you think?”

asked Rollo.

”The Coliseum may have cost the most labor,” said Mr. George, ”but the Great Eastern is far above it, in my opinion, in every element of real greatness. The Coliseum is a most wonderful structure, no doubt; but the building of an iron s.h.i.+p like the Great Eastern, to be propelled by steam against all the storms and tempests of the ocean, to the remotest corners of the earth, with ten thousand tons of merchandise on board, or ten thousand men, is, in my opinion, much the greatest exploit.”

”At any rate,” said Rollo, ”the Coliseum makes the finest ruin.”

”I am not certain of that, even,” said Mr. George. ”Suppose that the Great Eastern were to be drawn up upon the sh.o.r.e somewhere near London, and be abandoned there; and that then the whole world should relapse into barbarism, and remain so for a thousand years, and afterwards there should come a revival of science and civilization, and people should come here to see the ruins of the Coliseum, and go to London to see those of the great s.h.i.+p, I think they would consider the s.h.i.+p the greater wonder of the two.”

”I think they would,” said Rollo, ”if they understood it all as well.”

”They could not be easily made to believe, I suppose,” said Mr. George, ”that such an immense structure, all of iron, could have been made, and launched, and then navigated all over the world just by the power of the maze of iron beams and wheels, and machinery, which they would see in ruins in the hold.”

”Uncle George,” said Rollo, ”what curious bricks the Romans used!”

So saying, Rollo pointed to the bricks in a ma.s.s of masonry near where they were standing. These bricks, like all those that were used in the construction of the building, were very flat. They were a great deal longer and a great deal wider than our bricks, and were yet not much more than half as thick. This gave them a very thin and flat appearance.

Instead of being red, too, they were of a yellow color.

These bricks had not originally been used for outside works, but only for filling in the solid parts of the walls, and for forming the arches.

But the stones with which the brick masonry had been covered and concealed having been removed, the bricks were of course in many places brought to view.

After looking about for some time, Rollo found a brick with two letters stamped upon it. It was evident that the letters had been stamped upon the clay in the making of the brick, while it was yet soft. The letters were P. D.

”Look, uncle George!” said Rollo; ”look at those letters! What do you suppose they mean?”

”That is very curious,” said Mr. George; and so saying he proceeded to examine the letters very closely.

”They were evidently stamped upon the brick,” he said, ”when it was soft. Perhaps they are the initials of the maker's name.”

”I mean to look and see if all the bricks are stamped so,” said Rollo.

So Rollo began to examine the other bricks wherever he could find any which had a side exposed to view; but though he found some which contained the letters, there were many others where no letters were to be seen.

”Perhaps the letters are on the under side,” said Rollo. ”I mean to get a stone and knock up some of the bricks, if I can, and see.”

”No,” said Mr. George; ”that won't do.”

”Yes, uncle George,” said Rollo; ”I want to see very much. And besides, I want to get a piece of a brick with the letters on it, to carry home as a specimen.”

”A specimen of what?” asked Mr. George.

”A specimen of the Coliseum,” said Rollo.

”No,” said Mr. George; ”I don't think that will do. They don't want to have the Coliseum knocked to pieces, and carried off any more.”

”Who don't?” asked Rollo.

”The government,” said Mr. George; ”the pope.”