Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1867-08-14
THE CHRONICLE.
Beecher on the Sunday Ques-
tIOn-Hls Views on the New
England Observance.

EnSld4u Ak.
The following is from Henry Ward
Beecher's novel of Norwood" in the
New York Ledger: Itis worth all the
Inconvenience arising from the eccs-
sional oYersction to Obtain the full fla
vor of a New England Sunday. But for
this, one should have been Eern there;
should have found Sunday alresdy
waiting for him, and accept it with inn
plicit and absolute convictionU - If il
were q law of nature, in the same way
that night and day, summer and win
ter, are parts of nature. He should
have been brought up by parents who
had done the anne thing ; q they BY
parents ever more strict, if that were
possible; until, not religious persons
peculiarly, but everybody-not church
es alone, but society itself and all It's
population, those who broke it al much
as those who keptit-were stained with
the color of Sunday. Nay, until nature
had adopted it, and laid its eommsnas'
on all birds and beasts, ON the sun and
winds, and upon the whole atmosphere
SO that, without much imagination one
might imagine, IN q genuine New Eng
land Sunday of The Connecticut river
valley stamp, thatGod was still on that
day, resting from all the work he had
created and made, and that all his work
rested with himl
Over all the town rested the Lords
peacel The saw was ripping away yes
terday in the carpenters shop, and the
hammer was noisy there. The anvil
makes no music to-day Tommy Taft's
buckets and barrels give forth no hol-
low sound. The mill is silent-only
the brook continues noisy. Listen i
In yonder pine woods what a cawing OF
crows Like an echo, IN q wood still
more remote, other row are answer
ing. But sven 9 crows thoat to day is
musical. Do they think, because they
have black coats on, that they are par.
SONS, and have q right to play pulpit
with all the pine trees! Nsy. The
birds will not have any such monopoly.
they are all singing, and singing alto
gether, and no one cares whether his
son rushes across another's or not
Lsfks and robins, blackbirds and or.
oles, sparroWs and bluebirds, hooking
catbirds, and! Wrehs were furrowing the
air with such mixtures, IS no other day
but Sunday, when ali artificial and hui
man sound cease, could ever hear
Every now and then the bobolink
seemed impressed with the duty OF
bringing these jangling birds into reg
uIsrity; and ike q country singing
master, he few down the ranks, sing
ing the parts in snatches, as if 70 sbmu,
late and halp the iaggArds. In Eainli
Sunday is the birds day, and the will
have their own Democratic worship.
There was no sound in the village
street. Look either Way-not o vebi-
Gle, not q human beingl The smoke
rose soberly and quietly, As if i sale:
1t is Sunday. The Leaves on the great
elms hung motionisss1 gfttering in the
dew, as if they TOO, IKE the people who
dWelt under their shadow, were wait.
ing for the bell 10 ring for meeting
Bees sung and few as usual, but honey
bees have a Sunday with them all the
week, and could scarcely change for
the better on the seventh day,
But oh, the sun. It had sent before
and cleared every stain out Of the sky.
The blue heaven YVES not dim and low,
as on secular days, but curved and deep,
as if on Sunday it shook ofsn incum.
brance which during the week had
lowered and lattened it, and sprang
back to the arch and symmetry Of
dome. All ordinary sounds caught the
spirit of the day. The shutting of the
door sounded twice as far as usuals-
The rattle Of the bucket in the ueigh-
bors' yard, no longer mixed with the
heterogeneous noises, seemed q new
sound. The hens moved silently about,
and the ROSTERS crowedin psalm tunes.
And when the first bell RUG, nature
seemed oyerjoyed to find something 1t
might do without breaking Sunday.
and rolled the sound over and over,
and pushed it through the air, and
raced with it oYer the field and hill.
twice as far as On week days.