The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1861-06-27
The Church and the Tavern.
BY LAURIE TODD.

In the year 1903, when Louis the XVI. was
beheaded, and the French Revolution was in full
blast, 1 was a thorough-going radical. With
seventeen more of our club, / was marched under
3 guard of the King officers, and lodged in Edin-
burgh jail. After a summary hearing, | got lib
erty to banish myself, and accordingly took pas
sage in the good ship Providence, and landed at
New York in June, 1894. / was then in my
twenty-second year. When the ship cast off
from the wharf in Scotland, and swung round
with the breeze, my father stood Upon the shore.
He waived a last adieu, and exclaimed, :. Re-
member the Sabbath day. / arrived at New
York on a Saturday, and the next day being the
Sabbath, at 9 o'clock, A. NJ. three young men of
our company called at my lodgings;
Where are you going TO day ?' they inquired.
"To the church" [ replied.
We have been ten weeks at sea our health
requires exercise. Let us walk out to-day, and
go TO church next Sabbath" they replied.
Said l, you may go where you please, but I'll
go to church ; the last words L heard from my
father were, Remember the Sabbath day - and
had L no respect for the Fourth Commandment,
L have not yet forgotten his last advice"
They went to the fields, / went to the church /:
they spent forty or fifty cents in the tavern L
put a one penny bill in the plate at the morning,
afternoon and night service-total, three pence.
They continued going into the country, and in
process of time the landlady's daughter and the
landlady's niece would join their company. Then
each company hired a gig, at two dollars a day;
wine, CAKE ana Ice cream on the road nifty cents
each dine at Jamaica, one dollar each. They
got home at 8 o'clock, P NJ, half drunk, and
having been caught in a thunder shower, their
coats, hats and mantles were damaged fifty per
cent. They rose the next morning at 9 O'Clock,
A NJ, with sore heads, sore hearts, muddy boots,
and an angry conscience, besides twelve dollars
lighter than when they started. 1 went to church,
rose at 5 O'Clock, A. NJ; head sound, heart light,
bone refreshed, conscience quiet, and commenced
the labors of the week in peace and plenty. They
were all mechanics some OF them could earn
twelve dollars a week. My business, that of a
wrought nail maker, was poor the c1a-naiI ma
chimes had just got into operation, which cut
down my wages to a shaving. With close appli-
cation L could earn only FIVE dollars and fifty
cents per week. Never mind, at the end of the
year, my Sabbath-riding ~shipmates had fine coats
and hats, powered heads md ruffled shirts but 4
had one hundred hard dollars piled in the corner
of my chest. Having lived fast they died early.
Nearly forty winters are past, and forty sum-
mers ended. since the last was laid in the Potters,
or some other field while I, having received from
my Maker a good constitution, (and common
sense to take care of it,) am as sound in mind,
body and spirit, as I was ON this day ffty-six
years ago. when first l set my foot on shore, Gov
erneur's Wharf, New York. Besides, it's a fact,
for which my family can vouch, l have been only
ONE day confined to my house by sickness during
that period
Now, Mr.. Printer, 1 dare say you think with
me, that the church on the Sabbath is better than
the tavern and the fields for the laboring man.
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