Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1858-12-14
A Paris Sunday.

A Paris Sunday.
The efforts of anti Sabbath men (says the Jou
nal of Commerce) are directed to the introdu
tIon of holyday observance of sacred hours
The National Sunday League" of England, ar
corresponding organizations in this country a.
on the principle that the most plausible and e
fective mode of destroying the divine institutio
is to appeal to the love of pleasure. 1t is wei
then, to study the character and influence of th
'srecreative Sunday" to be substituted for ou
day of rest and worship. The last document {
the New York Sabbath Committee-The Sal
bath in Europe-turnishes welcome light on thi
point. The residence of the Secretary for tw
years in the Old World afforded opportunity 70
accurate information. The following extrao
will show whittier we shall drift if we give u
our Sabbath for Continental Sunday:
ga Paris Sunday has become proverbal 70
its godles,ness. Passing along its clean an,
beautiful streets, you find the cafes and restau
rants crowded with men, taking their morning
meal and reading the newspapers of the day.
Cries of fruit dealers and street-venders are eve
rywhere heard, though the needless abominatiol
of CRYING newspapers is not tolerated, even il
Paris Paviors, masons roofers, painters, al
avocations. Places of business are UNIVERSAL,
open till midday, as on other days. The whir
of cabs and omnibuses is even more constan
than during the six days of the week. hat
the curiosity to count the vehicles passing the
Industrial Palace Champs Elysees, mostly going
TO or returning from the Bois de Boulogne, IN
the afternoon of the second Sabbath in August
the grand fete day at Cherbourg when Paris
was emptied of the elite Of its fashionable soce.
ty-and found the average to be one hundred
and forty minute, or one thousand six hundred
and eighty an hour. The grand water-works at
St. Cloud and Versailles play only on Sunday.
AS the day advances the gardens of the Tuileries
and the Champs Elysees present scene OF un.
rivalled gaiety and folly. Bands of music exc.
cute lively military and operate airs. Gaudy
booths are surrounded with crowds of men, wo-
men, and children, absorbed by childish sports.
Automata too silly for the amusement OF infants
serve to delight other groups OF soldiers and
stragglers. Goat carriages and whirligigs OF
wooden horses or mimic ships divert the chill
dren and nurses. AS evening sets in the out
door concert and drinking saloons faunt their
attractions brilliant mirrors reflect the fancful
gas jets; singing men and singing women, ac-
companied by orchestras below, amuse the mul-
ttude with comic and sometimes immoral songs.
Every conceivable device for drawing the peo-
pie away from home and from God is employed.
The Cirque de PImperatrice furnishes its eques-
trian attractions and its mirth-inspiring exhibl-
tions. Adjacent public gardens are thronged
with dancers. Operatio and theatrical amuse'
ments add their seductive performances. The
whole line of the Boulevards is filed with peo-
pie seated in front of the cafes, slipping their
branded coffee, playing dominoes, or gazing at
the promenaders along the broad pavements.-
Houses and homes Gf there be such a thing,
without the name, in France) seem to be emp
tied into the streets and places of amusement,
and the city is converted into pandemonium
of folly and OF genteel or gross dissipation.
Since the accession of the reigning dynasty
Sunday labor has been suspended on the public
works in France; but | observed that the
stupendous preparation for the Emperor's fete
dsy fireworks in the Place de la Concords were
in full progress on the second Sabbath in Au-
gust, the fete occurring on the succeeding Sun
day but on Monday the Sunday workmen were
not there, either because dissipation or over-ex-
ertion compelled day of rest.
s.Such, without more of detail, is Paris Sun
day. In the light of reason, and of the Bible,
and of eternity, how does it look, and what are
its fruits? Are they not found in the thrlftless
condition of vast proletaire population, living
from hand to mouth, restless in spirit, ferocious
in temper, kept from rebellion by numerous
soldiery, or quieted by Government labor and
food9 May they not be seen in the dwarfed
stature, and pald aspect, and wretched ineffi-
cheney of the laboring classes, and in the blue
Monday records of the employers or OF the mag
istracy, the Sundays dissipation disenabling
thousands from Mondays occupations or sending
them to praise2 Can they not be traced in the
general declension of private, commercial, and
political morals, whatever cover the refinement
and high civilization of Partisan life may throw
over the uncomfortable iniquity of its social con-
dition in the loosening of conjugal bonds, the
utter loss of home day, and of all the restraints
and joys of home life; in the prevalence of god
lessness irreligion, and infdelty; and in the as
tendency of civil and spiritual despotism9 Bet.
ter would it be for Paris, for France, for the
Continent that no distinction of days were re,
cognised, and that the tide of life were to roll on
without cessation, than that the Lords day
should be thus perverted into day of sinful fol
" and universal decentralization. Ceaseless oc
cupation, with all its physical evils and its EN-
bruiting influence, would be less disastrous thar
this devotion of sacred time to goddess pleasure
e., A1tIf,nI h ia