The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-03-01

7 CT IL was lar from OeluR q ulOuoVouo VI
sport for there was change OF programme
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 aud armsd
men would come forth, and there would be
a tiger hunt. Then on the lake in the Coils
cum armed ships would float, and there
would be a sea fight. What fun! What
lots of funl When pestilence came, in order
TO appease the gods, in this Coliseum sacri.
fee would be made, and the people would
throng that great amphitheatre. shouting.
"rhe Christians to the wild beasts" and
there would be q cracking Of human bones
in the jaws Of leonine ferocity.
But all this was to be stopped. By the
outraged sense of public decencys NO.
There is only one thing that has ever stopped
cruelty and sin, and that is Christianity, ana
it was Christianity, whether you like lts
form or not, that stopped this massacre OF
centuries. One day while in the Coliseum
100000 enraptured spectators were looking
down upon two gladiators in the arena stab
bing and slicing each other to death, an
Asiatic monk Of the name OF Telenachus
was 80 overcome by the cruelty that ne
leaped from the gallery into the arena anu
ran in between the two swordsmen and
pushed first one back and then the other
back and broke up the contest.
OF course tho audience was anronteo a1
having their sport stopped, and they hurled
stones at the head OF Telemacnus until he
fell dead in the arena. But when the day
was passed, aud the passions OF the people
had cooled of, they deplored the martyrdom
of the brave and Christian Telemachus, and
as a result OF the overdone cruelty the
human sacrifices Of the Coliseum were for
ever abolished.
What good thing, say. you. that such
cruelties have ceased. MY friends, the same
spirit of ruinous amusemeuts and OF moral
sacrifice Is abroad in the world to-day, al
though it takes other shapss. Last summer
in our southwest there occurred scene OF
pupilism on which all Christendom looked
down, for saw the papers on the other side
Of the Atlantic Ocean giving whole columns
Of it. Will some one tell me in what respect
that brutality OF last summer was SUPERIOR
to tho brutality of Roman Coliseum? In
some respects it was worse by so much as
the Nineteenth Century pretends to oe more
msrciful 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
a half dozen lines Of newspaper, il reported
at all, and now it takes the whole side OF
newspaper to tell what TRANSFERRED between
the first blood drawn by one loafer and the
throwing up OF the sponge by the other
loater, and 1t is not the newspapers fault,
for the newspapers give only what the peo-
pie want and when newspapers put carrlon
III 10 r.
r1on.
The same spirit Of brutality Is seen to-day
in MANY an ecclesiastical court when min
lister is put on trial Look at the counten.
ances of the prosecuting ministers, and not
in all cases, but in many ciseS you vui mud
nothing but diabolism inspires tham. Thsv
let out on one pour minister who cNnnot de-
fend himself the lion Of ecciesiasticiNm aud
the tiger of bigEotry, aud the wild boar OF
jealousy. and If they can get the Offending
minister fist on his back some ons puts his
feet on the neck Of the overthrown gospel.
izer and looks up, spear In hand, to sac
whether the galleries and ecclesiastics would
have him let up or slain. And, 10! many OF
the thumbs arc down.
In the worldly realms look at tbs brutal.
ties OF the presidential election eight years
ago. Read the biographies OF Daniel Web
Greeley and Charles Sumner and Luclus
Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar AMI James II.
Blaine, and II the story OF defamation and
calumny and scaudalization and distribs
and scurrility and lampoon and billingssats
and damnable perddy be accurately re-
corded, tell me in what respects our political
arena and the howiiny and blasphemlny
galleries that again and again look down
upon It are better than the Roman Coils
cum.
When I read few days ago that the Su-
preme Court Of the United States had ap.
propriately adjourned to pay honors to tho
two last distinguished men mentioned, AMI
American journalism North, South, East
and West went into lamentations over their
departure and said all complimentary
things in regard to them, asked: "Whep
did the Nation lie about these mens Was 1t
when during their life it gave them male
diction or no since their death when be-
slowing upon them bsatification?"
The same spirit Of cruelty that you de-
plore in the Roman Coliseum is seen in the
sharp appetite the world seems to have for
the downfall Of good men, and in the divorce
of those whose marital life was thought &C.
cordant and in the absconding Of bank
cashier. Oh, my friends, the world wants
more Of the spirit of LET him up" and less
of the spirit Of Thumbs down." There are
hundreds Of men in the prisons OF America
who ought to be discharged. because they
were the victims Of circumstances or have
suffered enough.
There are in all professions and occupa-
tions men who are domineersd over by
others, and whose life is struggle with
montrous opposition, and circumstances
have their heel upon the throbbing and
broken hearts. For Gods sake, Let them
upl Away with the spirit OF Thumbs
DOWN. What the world wants is 1000 men
like Telemachus to leap out OF the gallery
into the arena, whether he bs Roman
Catholic monI, or Methodist steward, or
Presbyterian elder, and go in between the
contestants. "Blessed are the psacemakera,
for thew shall be called the children OF God"
One-half Of the world is down and the
other half is up, and the half that Is up has
its heel on the half that is down. II you. as
a boss workman, or as a contractor, or as q
Bishop or as State or National official or as
q potent factor in social lite or in any way
are depressing any one, know that the same
devil that possessed the Roman Coliseum op-
presses you. The Diocletians are not all
dead. The cellars leading into the arena OF
life's struggle are not all emptied OF their
tigers. The vivissctiou by young doctors
Of dogs and cats and birds most OF the time
adds nothing to human discovery, but Is
only a continuation of Vaspasian's Coils
cum.
The cruelties OF the world generally begin
in nurseries, and in home circles, and In day
schools. The child that trans6xes hy with
a pin, or the low feeling that sets two dogs
into combat, or that builies a weak or Grip.
pied playmate, or the Indifference that
starves a canary bird, needs only to be de-
veloped in order to make first class Nero
or full armed Apollyon. It would be a
good sentence to be written on the top line
Of a chilTs book. and tt Inscription to be