News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1893-02-16

lifes struggle are not all emptied of theil
tigers. The vivisection by young doctors
of dogs and cats and birds most of the
time adds nothing to human discovery
4 4 but is only a continuation of Vespasian's
Coliseum.
:, The cruelties of the world generally be-
gin il nurseries, and in home circles, and
in day schools. The child that transfxes
, a fly with pin, or the low feeling that
sets two dogs into combat, or that DULLES
a weak or crippled playmate, or the in
, difference that starves canary bird,
. needs only to be developed in order to
make first class Nero or full armed
Apollyon. 1t would be good sentence
to be written on the top line of a childs
book, and fit inscription to be en-
broidered in the armchair of the sitting
room, and an appropriate motto for
judge and jury and district attorney and
sheriff to look at in the courthouse,
BLESSED are the merciful, for they shall
obtain mercy!'
And so the ruins of that Coliseum
preach to me. Indeed the most impress
i've things on earth are ruins. The four
greatest structures ever built are in
ruins. The Parthenon in ruins, the tenn
pie of Diana in ruins, the temple of
Jerusalem in ruins, the Coliseum in
ruins. Indeed the earth itself will yet
be pile of ruins, the mountains in ruins,
the seas in ruins, the cities in ruins, the
the hemispheres in ruins. Yea, further
than that, all up and down the heav-
ems are worlds burned up, worlds
wrecked, worlds extinct, worlds aban-
doned. Worlds on worlds in ruins!
But am glad to say it is the same old
heaven, and in all that world there is
not one ruin and never will be ruin.
Not one of the pearly gates will ever be-
come unhinged. Not one of the anne
thystine towers will ever fall. Not one
of the mansions will ever decay. Not
one of the chariots will ever be I'M
wheeled. Net one of the thrones will
ever rock down. Oh, make sure of heav-
Through Christ the Lord get ready for
residence in the eternal palaces.
NIGHT IN THE COLISEUM.
| The last evening before leaving Rome
for Brindisi and Athens and Egypt and
| Palestine went alone to the Coliseum.
There was not living soul in all the i'm
mense area. Even those accustomed to
sell curios at the four entrances of the
building had gone away. The place was
SO overwhelmingly silent 1 could hear
my own heart beat with the emotions
aroused by the place and hour. paced
the arena. 1 walked down into the dens
where the hyenas were once kept. as
cended to the place where the emperor
used to sit. climbed up on the galleries
from which the mighty throngs of peo-
pie had gazed in enchantment.
To break the silence l shouted, and
that seemed to awaken the echoes, echo
upon echo. And those awakened echoes
seemed to address me, saying: "Men die,
but their work lives on. Gaudentius, the
architect who planned this structure;
the 10000 enslaved Jews brought by Ii
tus from Jerusalem and who toiled on
these walls, the gladiators who fought
in this arena, the emperors and expresses
who had place on yonder platform, the
millions who during centuries sat and
rose in these galleries, have passed away,
but enough of the Coliseum stands to
tell the story of cruelty and pomp and
power-500 years of bloodshed."
Then, as I stood there, there came to
me another burst of echoes, which seemed
throbbing with the prayers and songs
and groans of Christians who had ex-
pired in that arena, and they seemed to |
say, GLOW much it cost to serve God in
ages past, and how thankful modern |
centuries ought to be that the persecu-
ton which Redeemed the sands of this
amphitheater have been abolished"
And then questioned the echoes, say
ing, where is Emperor Titus, who sat |
here?'' The answer came, ''Gone to |
Judgment" Where is Emperor Trajan,
who sat here?" 'Gone to judgment"
"Where is Emperor Maximinus, who sat |
here?' "Gone to judgment" "Where |
are all the multitudes who clapped and |
shouted and waved flags to let the van
quished up, or to have them slain put |
thumbs down." The echoes answered, |
Gone to Judgment" inquired, "AllF''
And they answered, GAIL"
And / looked up to the sky above the |
ruins, and it was full of clouds scurry-
ing swiftly past, and those clouds seemed
as though they had faces, and some of
the faces smiled, and some of them
frowned, and they seemed to have
wings, and some of the wings were
moongilt and the others thunder charged,
and the voices of those clouds overpow-
cred the echoes beneath. Behold, he
cometh with clouds, and every eye shall
see him."
THE LAST JUDGMENT.
And as I stood looking up along the
walls of the Coliseum they rose higher
and higher, higher and higher, until the
amphitheater seemed to be filled with all
the nations of the past, and all the nations
of the present, and all the nations of the
future, those who went down under the
paws of wild beasts, and those who sat
waving flags to let up the conquered,
and those who held thumbs down to
command their assassination, and small
and great, and emperor and slave, and
pastor and people, and righteous and
wicked, the amphitheater seeming to rise
to indefinite heights on all sides of me, and |
in the center of that amphitheater, in
stead of the arena of combatants, a great
throne stood, rising higher and higher,
higher and higher, and on it sat the
Christ for whom the martyrs died and
against whom the Diocletians plotted
their prosecutions, and waving one hand
toward the piled up splendors to the
right of him he cried, "Come, we blessed"
and waving the other hand toward the
piled up glooms ON the left of him lie
cried, depart, ye cursed"
And so the Coliseum of Rome that |
evening of 1889 seemed enlarged into the |
amphitheater of the last Judgment, and |
passed from under the arch of that |
mighty structure, mighty even in its |
ruins, praying to Almighty God, through |
Jesus Christ, for mercy in that day for |
which all other days were made, and |
that as 1 expected mercy from God l |
might exercise mercy toward others and |
have more and more of the spirit of ''Let |
him up" and less and less of the spirit of |
Thumbs DOWN.
We may not all be able to do a sum in |
higher mathematics, but there is a sum |
in the first rule of gospel arithmetic
which we all nay do. 1t is a sum in sim
pie addition: add to your faith virtue, |
and to virtue knowledge, and to knowl- |
edge temperance, and to temperance pa !
tience, and to patience goodness, and t.
godliness brotherly kindness, and to
brotherly kindness charity"
Successful Women Candidates.
The Washington Tribune reports |
among the women who were elected last |
fall: Miss Ella Gale of Groton, N. Y, |