THE SUNDAY QUESTION
THIS, like all other questions, has its ex
tremes. On the one hand stands the
old, long-faced, sour-visaged puritan, advocat
ing his " Blue Laws " as the best and only
method of governing the Sabbath. In his
opinion Sunday is to be exclusively a clay of
worship. Any secular pleasure or recreation
on that clay is desecration. When not wor
shiping, one should be either meditating or
reading Scriptural books. Everything must
be subdued and quiet. Some even claim that
it is sinful to ride to church in any kind of
conveyance. He is entirely uncompromising
in his belief, and will not hear to any more
liberal ideas.
On the other extreme stands the advocate of
the doctrine of the Personal Liberty league.
His idea is, that Sunday is to be a sort of holi
day. It is to differ from the other days of the
week only, in the fact that he is not to attend
to his usual occupation on that day, unless he
so desires. The stores, saloons, theaters, etc.,
are all to be open, and it is to be a day of plea
sure and dissipation, more than anything else.
He is to have upon him no religious restraint
whatever. This idea is somewhat new to Ameri
cans, the great majority of whom have been ac
customed to the very strict method of our early
pilgrim fathers. The Personal Liberty League
is composed principally of foreigners. They
think the civil and religious liberty of our
country entitles them to observe the Sabbath
exactly as they see fit. Much as we are oppo
sed to the "Blue Laws," we prefer them to the
chaos which these outcasts of Europe seek to
bring upon us.
These arc the extremes, and a middle ground
is pretty hard to strike. A more liberal view
should be taken, however, than that held by the
puritans, by the people of this country, and a
more liberal mode of observing the Sunday be
adopted. The old manner of observance must
be slightly relaxed. Sunday was never intended
THE FREE LANCE.
to be the day of punishment which the " Blue
Laws" make it. It is against the entire nature
of mortals to sit in a hard pew for two hours,
twice and often three times a clay, gazing at
bare walls and listening to a minister bewailing
the wickedness of his flock, and continually
warning them of eternal fire and punishment.
We think that true religion can be offered to
people in a more effective and pleasing man
ner. This, however, can be called a model
religion for some districts, especially in the
country, where if people cannot stand the
strain of a two hours' sermon, they have com
fortable homes in which to rest and content
themselves. The people are simple and quiet,
and in many respects, form a model commu
nity.
In the cities, however, it is very different.
There are thousands of men and boys who,
having worked hard all week, look forward to
some sort of change on Sunday. They live
in squalid, wretched quarters, and can find no
pleasure at home. Hence, we see large num
bers of them lounging on the streets. But
what can they find here ? A walk, a car ride,
and Sabbath-school, is about the complete list
of possible recreations of a moral nature. When
winter comes they no longer enjoy walking,
the car rides cost money, and the Sabbath
schools do not contain many of them. Thus,
you see, our present laws force men to find
amusement and change in the always ready
saloons and low dives. Let the complacent
Pharisee, who resists all change of the laws, go
himself and see the dens of vice and iniquity
to which our men and boys are driven in order,
as they say, "to keep the Seventh clay holy."
They would keep it holy by forcing wicked
ness upon a great part of our population.
In order to remedy this, let the Christian
people allow the libraries, picture galleries,
museums, concert halls, and other public places
of amusements, be opened on Sunday. There
may not be much religion in looking at a pic
ture, but it would certainly keep men from