Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-08-16
BEECHER ON THE SUNDAY CUES
TION.
His views ON the New England Observ-
ancc.


The following is from Henry Ward Beech
er novel Of Norwood in the New York
Le.{ger Ii Is worth all inconveniences
arising from the occasional overactiOn of
New England Sabbath observance to obtain
the full flavor Of New Eugland Sunday
But for this, one should have been born
there should have found Sunday already
waiting Tor him, and accept it with implicit
and absolute conviction, as if it were law of
nature, in the same way that night aud day,
summer and winter, are parts Of nature.
He should have been brought up by parents
who had done the same thing as they were
by parents even more strict, if that were
possible; until, not religious persons pecu
liarly, but everybody-n0t churches alone,
but society itself and all its population,
those who broke IL as much as those who
kept it-were stained with the color OF sun
day Nay, until nature had adopted it, and
laid It's commands on al birds and beasts,
on the sun aud winds, aud upon the whole
atmosphere SO that without much imagiua-
tion, one might imagine, in a genuine New
England Sunday of the Connecticut river
valley stamp, that God was still on that day,
resting from all the work he had created and
made and thar all his work rested with
him
Over all the town rested the Lord peacel
The saw was ripping away yesterday in the
carpenter shop, and the hammer was noisy
there The anvil makes no music to-day,
Tommy Taft buckets and barrels give forth
no hollow humping sound. The mill is
silent-ouly the brook continues noisy.
Listen In yunGer pine woods what a cav
Ing Of crows Like an echo, in a wood still
more remote, other crows are answering
Z = g44vr al
De they think, because they have black
coats On, that they arc parsons, and have
right to play pulpit with all the pine trees
Nay The birds viii not have any such
monopoly, they are all singing, and singing
altogether aud no one cares whether his
/ song Fushes across another OF not Larks
and robins, blackbirds and orioles, sparrows
and biuebirds, mockinc catbirds, and wrens
were furrowing the air with such mixtures,
as no other day but Sunday, when all arti-
/ fetal and human sound cease, could ever
| hear Every now and then the bobolink
seemed impressed with the duty Of bringing
I these iancing birds into regularity and
/ ike a country singing master, he flew down
] the ranks, singing the parts himself in
sualchcs, aS II TO stimulate and help the
/ laggards. In vain Sunday IS the bird
/ day, and they viii have their own Democrat
( ic worship
/ There was no sound in the village street
/ Look either way-uot 4 vehicle, not a hui
I man being The smoke rose up soberly and
1 quietly, as if it said 1t Is Sunday. Tie
| leaves on the great elm hung motiouless,
/ elitierug in the dew, as if they too, ike the
4 people who dwelt under their shadow were
/ waiting for the bell to ring for meeting.
Bees sung and few as usual, but honey bees
/ have q Sundayway with them all the week,
and could scarcely change for the better on
I the seventh day
/ But oh, the sun It had sent before and
/ cleared every stain out Of the sky. The
/ blue heaven was not dim and low, as on
/ secular days, but curved and deep, as if on
/ Sunday 1t shook off all incumbranee which
/ during the week had lowered and hattened
I it, and sprang back to the arch and symme-
I try Of dome. All ordinary sounds caught
| the spirit Of the day The shutting of the
1 door sounded twice as far as usual. The
rattle or The bucket in the neighburs' yard,
no longer mixed with the heterogeneous moi
ses seemed a new sound. The hens went
1 silently about, and roosters er0wed in psalm
tunes. And when the first bell rung ma
ture seemed oyerjoyed to find something
Z that it might do without breaking Sunday
aud rolled the sound over and over, and
! pushed it through the air, and raced with il
over the field and hill, twice as far as on
week davs