Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1893-03-04

Ift IA uis ~ ia 49,
swordsman, and spear in hani looks up 70
the galleries, as much as TO say, "ShaiI let
him up. or shall | plunge this spear into his
body until he is dectF'
The audience hal two signs. either OF
which they might give. II they "aveI their
flags. it. meant spare the fallen contestant
II they turned their thumbs Go.n. Il meant
slav him. Occasion ally the audienc. would
wave their flags. and the fallen would be lei
up, but that was too tame sport FOX mostoc-
casions. and generally the thumbs from the
galleries were turnei down, AMI with that
sign would tie heard rs scconpanyin, strut
Of XIII XIII XIII kiil"'
Yet 1t was far from being a monotons 0.
sport. for there was a change 0. programme
in that wonirous Coliseum. Tn1er 4 strang-
and powerful machinery. teYo11 anything
Of modern invention, the floor of the arena
would begin To ROCK AMI roll anf tten give
AWAY. and there would appear a LAKE, OF
bright water, and on is BANS trees would
spring up rustling with foliage, an tigers
appeared among the jungI4s, all armet
men would como forth, AMI there would be-
a tiger hunt. Then on the lake il tbs Colts-
cum armed ships would float, ani there
would bs "A sea fight. What fun, What
lots II fun, When pestilence came, N order
10 appease TIL. sojs. In this Coliseum a sacrl-
flee would be made, AMI the people would
,hrons that great a'nphitheatre, sho uting,
The Christians to the will beasts" and
tn re would be a cracking os human bones
in the jaws Of leonine ferocity.
But all this was to be stopped. BY the
outraged sense of public ~decency? No.
There is only one thing that has ever stopped
cruelty and sin. and that - Christianity. AMI
1t was Christianity. whether you like its
form or not, that stopped this massacre OF
centuries. One day while III the Coliseum
a Roman victory was being c,lebratel. AMI
1kt 600 onrapturpt sJpcf 4tyr- were looking
down upon two gla1lators III the arena stab
bing and slicing each other ID death, an
Asiatic monk Of the name OF Te!emachus
was SO overcome by tue cruelty that he
leaped from the gal!erg into the arena and
ran in between the two s"ordsmen and
pushed first one back and then the other
back and broke up the contest.
OF course the audience was affronted at
having their sport scoppe1, and they hurled
stones at the head o. T~elernachus until he
fell dead In the arena. But when the day
was passed, and the passions Of the people
had cooled off, they deplorei the martyrdom
Of the brave and Christian Telemachus, and
as a result OF the overione cruelty the
human sacrifices Of the Coliseum were for
ever abolished.
What a good thing. say you, that such
cruelties have ceased. Ny friends, the same
spirit of rulnous a,nusements and Of moral
sacrifice is abroad In the world to-day, al
though 1t takes other shapes. Last summer
in our southwest there occurred a s~cene.ot
puEilism on which all Christendom looked
down, for | saw the papers on the otherside
OF the Atlantic Ocean giving whole columns
Of it. Will some one tell me in what respect
that brutality OF last su nmtr was superior
to the brutality of a I;Onan Coils eum? In
some respects it was worse by SO much as
the Nineteenth Century pretends to be more
merciful and more decent than the Fifth
Century.
That pugilism is winning admiration in
this country is positively proved by the fact
that years ago such collision was reported in
a half dozen lines of newspaper, if reported
at all, and now il takes the whole side Of a
newspaper to tell What trauspired between
the first blood drawn by one loafer and the
throwing up of tho sponge by the other
lOafer, and 1t is not the newspapers fault,
for the newspapers give only what the pso-
pie want, and when newspapers put carrion
on your table it is because you prefer car
ron.
The same spirit Of brutality is seen today
in many an ecclesiastical court when a min
lister is put on trial. Look at the counten-
ances of the prosecuting ministers, and not
in all cases, but IN many cases, you will find
nothing but dlabOilSm inspires them. They
let out on one poor minister who canno de-
fend himself the lion Of ecclesiasticism and
the tiger OF biggotry, aud the wild boar Of
JCtAADuSJ. anu 4 bAOS u EcU tiC CIICillltle
minister fat on his back some one puts his
feet on the neck of the overthrow gospel
izer and looks up, spear in hand, to see
whether the galleries and ecclesiastics would
have him let up or slain. And, loymany of
the thumbs are down.
In the worldly realms look at the brutal
ties of the presidential election eight years
ago. Read the biographies Of Daniel Web
ster and Alexander H. Stephens and Horace
Greeley and Charles Sumner AMI Lucius
QuintuS CircinnatuS Lamrr an! James q.
Blaine. and if the story OF defamation ami
calumny and scan la!ization and diatribs
and scurrility and lampoon aud blllihgSyate
and .damnable perfidy be accurately re-
corded, tell me in what respects our political
arena and the hOwiln- and disappearing
galleries that again and again look down
upon it are better than the Roman Coils
cum.
When I read a few days ago that the Su-
preme Court Of the United States had APP
propriately adjourned to pay honors to the
two last distinguished men nentlouai, an
American journalism North. South. East
and West went into lamentations over their
departure and sail all complimentary
things in regard to them, / asked. when
did the Nation lie about these mem Was it
when during their lite it gave them male
dlctlon or nov since their death when be-
slowing upon them beatIticatlon>"
The same spirit of cruelty TINT you de-
plore in the Roman Coliseum Is seen in the
sharp appetite the world seems II have for
the downfall of goo men, and in the divorce
of those whose marital life was thought ac-
cordant, and in the a~bSconiing of a bauk
cashier. Oh. my frlenl l.. the world wants
more of the spirit of Let him up and less
of the spirit of Thumbs Iowa" There are
hundreds of men in the prisons of America
who ought to hs discharged. because they
were the victims Of circumstances or have
suffered enough.
There are i'll all professions aud occupa.
tons men WHO are domineerei Over by
others, and whose life is a struggle with
montrous opposition, AMI circumstances
have their heel upon the ~throoolny AMI
broken hearts. For Gods sake, let then
IN. Away with tna splrlt Of "Ihunb,
down" What tho world wants is ln10 mel
like ~Telenachus TO leap out * the CALLER,
into the arena. whether he b. a Roma
Catholic monk. or a Methodist steward, Q
Presbyterian elder. and 20 in between III
contestants. blessed are the ~peacemaksr.
for they shall be called the children % God,
One-balf Of the world i down ami m
other half Is UP. AMI the half tina Is IN ia
its heel on the half that Is DOWN. If Won. 8
n boss workman. or as a contractor. or As
Bishop. or IS a Stats or National Official. or &
a potent factor IN social lie. or in any wa
are depressing any one. know tina. the sam
| devil thar ,NoSSeSSei .h. R,1sai C1'4Sa-,, -, -,