Weekly Trinity journal., 1874-06-20
THEN AND Now.

Lately l resurrected the jolliest old doc
ument from pile of papers which had
been long since abandoned to dust and
the paper moths. Twas nothing more
nor less than copy of the ancient fa-
nous and time honorod Blue Laws of
Connecticut. l read itall through twice,
and every half minute or so | felt con-
strained to stop and thank the Lord that
he didn't permit me to DO born in those
times. How would you have liked to
live, my dear young lady friend, at an
age when you were forbidden by law to
wear any lace worth more than two shil-
lings yard or bo fined by the select
man "at the rate Of three hundred pound
estate" Think of that, madam, next
time you buy silk dress SO stiff it will
stand alone and trim it with lace worth
fifteen dollars yard.
Here is another, and when we romem-
ber that the May flower folks and nearly
all those first New EnglNnders came to
America to enjoy liberty Of conscience,
" freedom to worship God" the poetess
has it, when ye remember that, this law
sounds rather queer. " No one shall be
free man or give q vote unless he be
converted or member in free commun-
ion of one of the churches allowed in this
dominion" Think Of that again know
ever and ever SO many people who wor-
ship the memory of the Pilgrim Fathers
because, forsooth, they established liberty
Of conscience. That is exactly what they
didn't do, you perceive. They came from
England, sot up their own form Of wor-
ship, and declared that everybody in tho
colony should worship their way or suffer
for it. That was liberty Of conscience
with vengeance. Those old Pilgrim
Fathers were exceedingly excellent old
gentlemen, and deserve all the credit in
the world for the good they did, but don't
let us talk about e" liberty of conscience"
in connection with them. Dear me, no |!
Believe my way or clear out--that was
their liberty of conscience.
just look at these two more, and think
if the world hasn't moved since then -
" No food or lodging shall be allowed to
u Quaker, Adamite, or other hereto. -
II any person turn Quaker, he shall be
banished and not suffered to return under
pain of DEATH" Read that and con-
trast it with our times, when the Quakers
are tho most beloved and respected Of
people, when twenty different phases Of
belief are often represented in the church.
es Of a single town, when America is nj
most wide enough for every possible hon
est and upright religious belief, reod that
and thank heaven that tho world moves.
Quakers, Baptist heretics, and many 9th
er sorts of heretics have become emf
nenty respectable since those days. And
hore's one that will make you laugh to
read it. You'd never guess that such n
ridiculous thing would come into any hui
man creatures head to mako law about
: No woman shall kiss her child on Sab
bath or fasting day" Think of having n
dear little innocent baby, with bright,
merry eyes, loving, cunning ways, and a
sweet little birdie voice, and you would
Mt dare kiss that blessed baby on Sum
day. Isn't it outrageous, abominabe,
laughable l wonder IL they thought it
was wicked to kiss baby on Sunday ?
And on fasting days, too, when you have
to pray all day long, and dare not have
anything to eat, woman was forbid by
law to kiss her child, couldn't even have
the pleasure of kissing her baby when
she came home hungry from church,
Wasn't it heathenish? ? And why did
they have a peculiar spite against wo-
ankind in the kissing business What
isn't specially forbidden is of course tac-
lily permitted, and therefore man might
kiss his baby on Sunday all he wanted to
and never word said. | wonder why
they let the father kiss his baby on Sun.
day all he plea sed, and would not
let its mother do the same can't
see for my life what was the "object and
intent" Of that law. And seeing that the
revored Pilgrim Fathers forbade moth
or to kiss her baby on Sunday, l won
der what the same jolly old chaps thought
about sparkling Sunday night? | have
been unable to discover whether that wa.
forbidden, too, or not.