The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-02-15

gallery the wives and children OF those
down under the lions paw wrung their
hands and shrieked out in widowhood and
orphanage,whi 100, 600 people clapped their
hf nds, and there was a "Ha, har' wide as
Rome and deep as perdition.
The corpses of that arena were put on a
Iart or dragged by hook out through
what was called the Gate of Death. What
sn excitement it must have been when two
eombatants entered the arena, the one with
sword and shield and the other with net
and spear The swordsman strikes at 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 Co
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 as to say,
'Shall | let him up, or shall plunge this
spear into his body until he is dead"
The audience had two signs, either of
which they might give. Hthey waved their
flags, it meant spare the fallen contestant.
If they turned their thumbs down, it meant
slay him Occasionally the audience would
wave their flags, and the fallen would be let
up, but that was too tame sport for most
occasions, and generally the thumbs from
the galleries were turned down, and with
that sign would be heard the accompany
ing shout of 'Killl KILL KILL KILL"
VARIATIONS IN THE CRUEL SPORT
Yet it was far from being monotone
of sport, for there was a change OF pro
gramme in that wondrous Coliseum. Under
a strange and powerful machinery, beyond
anything Of modern invention, the floor of
the arena would begin to rock and roll and
then give away, and there would appear a
lake of bright water, and on its banks trees
would spring up rustling with foliage
and tigers APPEARED among the jungles,
and armed men would come forth, and
there would be tiger hunt. Then, on the
lake in the Coliseum, armed ships would
float, and there would be sea fight. What
fllnl What lois Of funl When pestilence
came, in order to appease the gods, in
this Coliseum q sacrifice would be made,
and the people would throng that great
amphitheater, shouting, THE Christians
to the wild beastsP' and there would be a
cracking Of human bones in the jaws Of
leoniue ferocity.
But all this was to be stopped. BY the
outraged sense of public decencyf No.
There is only one thing that has ever
stopped cruelty and sin, and that is Chris
tianity, and it was Christianity, whether
you like its form or not, that stopped this
massacre Of centuries. One day while, in
the Coliseum, a Roman victory was being
celebrated and 10000 enraptured specta-
tors were looking down upon two gladia-
tors in the arena stabbing and slicing each
other to death, an Asiatic monk of the
name Of Telemachus was so overcome by
the cruelty that ne leaped from the gallery
into the arena and ran in between the two
sgOrdsmen and pushed first one back and
then the other back and broke up the con-
test
OF course the audience was aifronted 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 passions OF the people
had cooled of they deplored the martyr
dom ofthe brave and Christ ian Teiemachus,
and as a result OF the oyerdone cruelty the
human sacrifices of the Coliseum were FOR
ever abolished.
What good thing, say you. that such
cruclties have ceasedi Ny friends, the
same spirit OF rIinous amusements and of
moral sacrifice is abroad in the world today,
although it takes other shapes. Last sum
mer in our southwest there occurred a scene
of purlism on which all Christendom look
el down, FOR I saw the papers on the other
side of the Atlantic ocean giving whole
columns Oft. VIII some one tell me In what
respect that brutality of las: summer was
superior to the brutality OF the Roman
Coliseum In some respects IL was worse,
by so much as the 10Th century pretends to
be more merciful and more decent than the
fifth century.
That pugiiIsm is winning admiration in
this country is positively prOved by the
fact that years ago such collision was re
ported in half dozen lines of newspaper,
II reported at all, and now it takes the
whole side of q newspaper to tell what
transpired between the first blood drawn by
one loafer aud the throwing up of the sponge
by the other loafer, and it is not the news
papers fault, for the newspapers give only
what the people want, and when newspa-
pers put carriOn on your table it is because
you prefer carrion.
The same spirit of brutality is seen today
in many al ecclesiastical court when a
minister is put OH trial Look az the coun-
tenances Of The prosecuting ministers, and
not in all cases, bat in many cases, you will
find nothing but diabolism inspires them.
They let out on one poor minister who can
not defend himself the lion of eccesiasti-
cisn, and the tiger Of bigotry, and the wild
boar Of jealousy. and IL they can get the
offending minister fat on his 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 occle-
siastics would have him let up or slain
And, lOl many OF the thumbs are down.
VILE POLITICAL WARFARE.
In the worldly realms look at the bru-
talities Of the presidential election eight
years ago. Read the biographies of Daniel
Webster and Alexander Il stephens and
Horace Greeley and Charles Sumner and
Lucius Quiutus Cincinnatus Lamar and
/ James g. Blaine and, II the story Of defa-
nation and calumny and standardization
and diatribe and scurr.lity and lampoon and
! billingsgate and darnnable perlidy be &C
curately recorded. tell HE in what respects
our political arena and the bowling and
disappearing galleries that again and again
| look down upon it are better than the Ro
man Coliseum.
When ! read few DAYS ago that the slI-
| prerne court of the United States had ap-
/ proprately adjourned TO pay honors to the
/ two last distinguished men mentioned, and
| American journalism, north, south, east
i and west went into lamentations over their
| departure and said all complimentary
things in regard TO them. asked: When did
the nation lie about these mem Was it
when during their life it gave them male
/ dictiOn or now SINGS their death when be
slowing upon them beatifcationf
The same spirit OF cruelty that you de-
/ plOre in the Roman Coliseum is seen in the
sharp appetite the world seems 10 have Tor
the downfall Of good men, and in the di-
vOrce of those whose marital life was
/ wT.r- . a