Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1893-02-18

and orphanage, while 100000 people
clapped their hands, and there was n
"Ha! Ha" wide us Rome and deep as
perdition The corpscs of that arena
were put on n cart or dragged by a
hook through what was called the
Gate of Death. What an excitement 1t
must have been when two combatants
entered the arena, the ono with sword
and shield and the other with net and
spear. The swordsInan strikes Mt the
man with the net and spear; he lodges
the sword, and then filings the net over
the head of the swordsman and jerks
him to the floor of the arena, and the
man who flung the net puts his foot on
the neck of the fallen swordsman, and,
spear in hand, looks up to the galleries
as much rs to say: "Shall let him up,
or shall l plunge this spear into his
body until he is dead?" The audience
had two signs. either of which they
might give. If they waved their flags,
it meant spare the fallen contestant
II they turned their thum BIS down, 1t
meant STAY him.
Yet it was far from being monotone
OF sport for there was Il change of pro-
gramme in that wondrous Colosseum.
| Under strange and wonderful ma
chincry, beyond anything of modern
| invention, the floor OF the arena would
begin to rock and roll and then give
away, and there would appear n lake
of bright water. and on its banks
trees would spring up rustling with
foliage, and tigers appeared among the
| iuneles, and armed men would come
forth and there would be tiger hunt.
Then on the lake in the Colosseum,
armed ships would float and there
would be sea fight. What fun! What
lots of fun. When pestilcncc came, in
order to appease the gods, in this COL
lesscum sacrifice would be made and
the people would throng that great am
phitheater, shouting: 1.-The Christians
10 the wild beasts, ''and there would be
cracking of human bones in the jaws
OF leoninc ferocity.
But all this was to be stopped. BY
the outraged sense of public dcccncy?
No There is only one thing that has
ever stopped cruelty and sin, and that
is Christianity. and it was Christianity,
whether you like its form or not, that
stopped this massacre of centuries. One
dav. while in the Colosseum, Roman
victory was being celebrated, and 1OO,-
900 enraptured spectators were looking
down upon two gladiators in the arena
stabbing and slicing each other to
death, an Asiatic monk by the name OF
Tclemachus was so overcome by the
cruelty that he leaped from the gallery
into the arena and ran in between the
two swordsmen, and pushed first one
back and then the other back and
broke up the contest. OF course, the
audience was affronted az having its
sport stopped, and they hurled stones
at the head of Telemachus until he fell
dead in the arena But when the day
was passed and the passions of the peo-
pie had cooled off, they deplored the
martyrdom of the brave and Christian
Tclemachus, and, as result of the
ovcrdone cruelty, the human sacrifices
of the Colosseum were forever abolished.
What good thing, say you, that
such cruelties have ceased My friends,
the same spirit of ruinous amusements
and OF moral sacrifice is abroad in the
world to-day, although it takes other
shapes Last summer in our country
there occurred scene OF pugilism on
which all Chri stendom looked down,
for saw the papers on the other side
of the Atlantic ocean giving whole col
umns of it. VIII some one tell me in
what respect that brutality of last sum-
mer was superior to the brutality of
tae Roman Colosseum? In some re-
spOcts it was worse, by SO much as the
nineteenth century pretends to be more
rnerciful 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 n
half dozen lines of newspaper, II
reported at all, and now it takes the
whole side of a newspaper to tell what
transpired between the first blood
drawn by one loafer and the throwing
up of the sponge by the other loafer,
~ IN NV bhO - ANNAe9 ava
the newspapers give only what the peo-
pie want, and when newspapers put
carrion on your table it is because you
prefer carrion. The same spirit of
brutality is seen to-day in many an
ecclesiastical court when minister is
put ON trial. Look at the countenances
of the prosecuting ministers, and, not
in all cases, but in many cases, you will
find nothing but diabolism inspires
them.
In the worldly realms look at the
brutalities of the presidential election
eight years ago. Read the biographies
of Daniel Webster and Alexander II.
Stephens and Horace Greeley and
Charles Sumner and Lucius Quintius La
mar and James G. Blaine, and If the story
of defamation and calumny and scan