Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1893-02-16

! Gren Of those down under the hon 5 paw
wruns their hands and shrieked ont ir
widowhood and orphanage. willie 100 .0o(
people clapped their hands. and there
was ''Ha. ha,' wide as Rome and deey
as perdi6on!
The corpses of that arena We're put on
a cart or dragged by hook out through
what was called the Gate Of Death. Wha,
an excitement il must have been when
two combatants entered the arena, the
one with sword and shield and the ether
with net and spear. The swordsman
strikes al the man with the net and
spear. He lodges the sword and then
fings thenet over the head of the swords
man and jerks him 10 the floor of tne
arena. and the man who flung the net
puts his foot on the neck of the fallen
swordsman. and spear IN hand looks up
10 the galleries. as much as to say. Shall
let him up or shall plunge this spear
into his body until be is dead:'
The audience had two signs. either Of
which they might give. If they waved
their flags. it meant spare the fallen con-
testant If they turned their thumbs
down. 1t meant slay him. Occasionally
the audience would wave their flags.
aud the fallen would be let up. but that
was too tame sport for I.ost occasions.
and generally the thumbs from the gal
lerieS We're turned down. and with that
sign would he heard the accompanying
shout of Kill, Kill, XII. Kill
CRUELTY ADDED TO CRUELTY.
Yet it WAS far from being monotone
of sport for there was change of pro-
gram,ie in that wondrous Coliseum.
Under strange and powerful machin-
cry. beyond ANYTHING Of modern inven-
ton. the floor OF the arena would begin
10 rock anG roll and then give away, ard
there wouId appear a lake of bright
water. and on is banks trees would
spring up r9stling With foliage, and ID
gers appeared among the jungleS, and
armed men would come forth. and there
would bea tiger hunt. Then on the iake
in the Coliseum armed ships would float,
ana there would be sea fight What
fun What lots of fun! When pestilence
came in order to appease the gods. in
this Coliseum sacrifice would be made,
and the people would throng that great
amphtheater. shouting. The Christians
to the wild beasts" and there ;Sould be
a cracking of human bones in the jaws
Of fleonine ferocitv.
But all this was to be stopped. By TIE
outraged sense of public decency: No.
There is only one thing that has ever
stopped cruelty and sin, and tia; :
Christianity, and 1t was Christianity.
whether You like lis form or not, TIT
stopped this maSSacrc of centuries. one
day while III the Coliseum a Roman
victory was being celebrated. and 100.
600 enraptured spectators We're locking
down upon Two gladiators II he arena
stabbin2 and ,licinG eacn other to death.
an Asiatic monk of the name of Teie-
machuS was so overcome by the cruelty
that he leaped from the gallery into the
arena and ran III 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
at having their 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 pas
sions of the people had cooled off. they
deplored the martyrdom Of the brave
and Christian Telemachus. and as a re-
srltof the overdone cruelty the human
sacrifices of the Coliseum We're forever
abolished
THE SAME SPIRIT STILL MANIFESTED.
What good thing. say You. that such
cruelties have ceased. Ny friends the
same spirit of ruinous amusements and
of moral sacrifice is abroad III the void
todav. although it takes other shapes.
Last summer in our southwest there oc-
CURED scene Of puSilism on which al
ChriStendoln looked down, for !! saw the
pSperS on the other side Of the Atlantic
ocean giving whole columns Of ii. VIII
some one tell me in what respect that
brutality Of last summer was superior 10
the brutality of the Roman Coliseum: In
some respects it was worse by so much
as the 10Th century pretends to be more
merciful and more decent than the 5th
century.
That pUgilism is winning admiration
IN this country is positively proved by
the fact that years ago such collision
vas reported in half dozen lines Of
newspaper. if reported at all, and now il
takes the whole side Of newspaper 70
tell what transpired between the first
blood drawn by one loafer and the throw
ing up Of :he sponge by the other loafer,
and it is not the newspapers fault, for
the newspapers give only What the peo
PIE want, and VIXEN newspapers put car
ron or your table it is because you pre-
fer 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
liaboEsm inspires them. They let out
On one poor minister who cannot defend
himself the hon of ecciesiasticisln, and !,
the tiger OF bigotry, and the wild boar
Of jealousy, and if they can get the of
tending minister fat on is back some
one puts his feet on the neck of the over
thrown gospelizer and looks up. spear in
hand. to see whether the galleries and
would have him let rp or
tain. Apd, 10. many Of the thumbs ere
1own.
ABUSED IN LIFE; HoNoRED IN DEATH.
In the worldly realms look at the bru-
.ahdes of thepresidential election eight
7ears ago. Read the biographies Of Dao-;|
el Webster and Alexander H. Stephens
md Horace Greeley and Char1es Sumner
md Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar
md James C. Blaine, and, if the story Of
and calumny and scandaliza
ion and diatribe and scurrility and lain
,eon and billingsgate and damnable per
idy be accurately recorded, tell me in
What respects our political arena and the
lowling and blaspheming galleries that
gain and again look down upon it are
,etter than the Roman Coliseum.
When Tread a few days ago that the So
,xene court of the United States had ap-
adjourned to pay honors to
be two last distinguished men rasn-