The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1893-02-17


until the clapping of the people outside
demanded that they come forth armed
to murder or be murdered. All the ar
rangements were complete, as enough Of
the cellars and galleries still remain to
indicate. What fun they must have had
turning lions without food or drink upon
an unarmed disciple of Jesus Christ!
At the dedication of this Coliseum
1900 wild beasts and 10000 immortal
men were slain, so that the blood Of men
and beast was not a brook, but river;
not a pool, but a lake. Having been in
that way dedicated, be not surprised
when tell you that Emperor Probus on
one occasion threw into that arena of
the Coliseum 1000 stays, 1000 boars and
1000 ostriches. What fun it must have
been-the sound of trumpets. the roar of
wild beasts and the groans of dying men
while in the gallery the wives and chill
dren of those down under the lions paw
wrung their hands and shrieked out in
widowhood and orphanage, while 100000
people clapped their hands, and there
was ''Ha! hal" wide as Rome and deep
as perdition.
The corpses of that arena were put on
cart or dragged by hook out through
what was called the Gate of Death. What
an excitement it must have been when
two combatants entered the arena, the
one with sword and shield and the other
with net and spear. The swordGinan
strikes at the man with the net aUd
spear. He lodges the sword and then
filings the net over the head of the swords
man and jerks him to the floor of the
arena, and the man who hang the not
puts his foot on the neck of the fallen
swordsman, and spear in hand looks up
to the galleries, as much as to say, "S!all
l 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. If they waved
their flags, it meant spare the fallen con
testant. If they turned their thullba
down, it meant clay him. Occasional
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 gal
leries were termed Down, and with that
sign would be heard the accompanyir, :
shout of Kill! Kill! KILL Kill!'
CRUELTY ADDED TO CRUELTY.
Yet it was f;g from being monotone
of sport, for tncre was change of FRO
gramme in that wondrous Coliseum,
Under stgla,e and powerful mas hin
cry, beyond anything Of modern inven
ton, the floor Of the ayena would be5ir
to rock and roll and then give away, ard
there would appear lake of brigi,
water, and on its banks trees y-0G.J
spring up rustling with foliage, AID t.
gers appeared among the juAgles, ami
armed men would come forth, and there
would be tiger hunt. Then on the lake
in the Coliseum armed ships world float,
and there would be sea fight Wha
funl What lots of fun! When pestilencc
came, in order to appease the gods, IL
this Coliseum sacrifice would be made,
and the people would throng that great
amphithe&ter. shouting, 1.-THE ChliSti.,li3
to the wild beasts~ and there would lie
a cracking of human bones in the java
Of leonint feroeity.
But all this was to be stopped. By tbs
outraged sense of public decency? No.
There is only one thing that has ever
stopped cruelty and sin, and that i
Christianity, and it was Christianity
whether you like its form or not, tia :
stopped this massacre Of centuries. One
day while in the Coliseum Roman
victory was being celebrated, and &c.,
900 enraptured spectators were looking
down upon two gladiators in the arena
stabbing and slicing each other to death,
an Asiatic monk of the name of Tcle-
machus was so overcome by the cruelty
that he leaped from the gallery into the
| arena and ran in between the two
swordslnen and pushed first one bacl;
and then the other back and broke up tbs
| contest.
| Of course the audience was affrontc1
at having their sport stopped, and ther
hurled stones at the head Of Telemachua
until he fell dead in the arena. But
when the day was passed, and the pa
sions Of the people had cooled off, the
| deplored the martyrdom of the bgayss
and Christian Telemachus, and asasz'
suit of the oycrdone cruelty the human
sacrifices of the Coliseum were foreve,
abolished.
THE SANE SPIRIT STILL MANIFESTED.
What good thing, say you, that suc3
cruelties have ceased. My friends, th,
| ,t,
of moral sacrifice is abroad In the wollt
| today, although it takes other shapes
Last summer in our southwest there oc
Cured steae of pugilism on which al
Christendna looked down, for | saw tht
papers on the other side of the Atlantic
ocean giving whole columns of 1t. vii
some one tell me in what respect tina
brutality of last summer was superior t.
the brutality of the Roman Coliseum? Ii
some respects it was worse by so muci
as the 10th century pretends to be NOR
merciful and more decent than the ST
century.
That pugilism is winning admiration
in this country is positively proved b.
the fact that years ago such collision
was reported in a half dozen lines G.
newspaper, if reported at all, and now j
takes the whole side of newspaper t;
tell what TRANSFERRED between the frs
blood drawn by one loafer and the throw
ing up of the sponge by the other loafer
and it is not the newspapers fault, fol
the newspapers give only what the PEG
pie want, and when newspapers put car
rion on your table it is because you pre-
fer carrion.
The same spirit of brutality is seen to
lay in many an ecclesiastical cour
!; when minister is put on trial. Loo
) at the countenances of the prosecutin;
ministers, and not in all cases, but il
many cases, you will find nothing blu
, diaholism inspires them. They let GU
on one poor minister who cannot defen'
himself the lion Of ecclesiasticism, AM
, the tiger of bigotry, and the wild boa
of jealousy, and if they can get the OF
, Tending minister fiat on is back som
one puts his feet on the neck of the over
thrown gospelizer and looks up. spear il
, hand, to see whether the galleries an
| ecclesiastics would have him let up 0
slain. And, 10! many of the thumbs ar