p. 9 | DRIFTING BACKWARD

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 10, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 50.

DRIFTING BACKWARD.

We hear much about the glorious prospect of the twentieth century, about the progressive culture and Christian refinement of our time, about the leadership of America in all that is great. But occasionally one steps out of the procession and calmly turns on a side-light, and every such view, by whomsoever taken, reveals a retrogression toward ancient Rome. If the view be from a religious standpoint, the trend is toward Rome; if from the platform of worldly ambition, the grand rush seems to have gone so far around the circle as to be coming up in the rear of Rome. One such snapshot is taken by the Baptist Argus, and from its description we take the following:—

America is in the adolescence of athletics. She is like a large boy who has taken the first taste of cider and feels a thrill of festive liberty. The apron strings of Puritanism have snapped, and our people are enamored of physical achievements. They are set on strenuous exploits. They insist on the biggest trusts, the fastest ships, the guns of longest range, the tallest houses, the mightiest bridges and viaducts, and the most prodigious industrial plants. They have a crying passion for bigness.

For exhibitions they rival the Romans. Their theaters, their parks, their games, their parades, and contests must be of the most spectacular and sensational order. The amateur and the professional vie with each other. The lady from the most fashionable avenue of the city goes to the Horse Show and enters the list against the most skilled jockey. That is the finest and most attractive football team which cracks the most bones and skins the most scalps. The charm of an exhibition is—well, of course in the skill displayed, but with a wonderfully rich fancy in favor of thrilling and perilous episodes. We are not yet ready for the bull fight, being for the present content to enjoy the sanguinary scenes enacted on athletic grounds, but we will after a while need our Colosseum, and our Ephesian beasts. That is the squint of the times—the trend of current events—the end toward which we are traveling.