The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-11-24
Letter from Dr. EKOge.
(For the Dlsnatch.l

MeSSrS. EGltOrS,-l thlDk gOod deal OF
surprise and regret was excited in the minds
of some of the best people in this commu-
nifty by your editorial in Saturday mornings
Dispatch entitled "Suuday AmuSementS."
1t is prob ,hly the FIRST instance in which
Richmond editor or a Virginia newspaper
suggested the propriety of making the Sab
bath more Of holiday than is the custom
in our Commonwealth. and Of abating the
seriousness with which it is generally OBJ
served.
None of the reasons adduced in favor of
the proposed change seem to be particularly
cogent.
Our population has not become 80 dense,
either in city or country, as to impose on our
people "decided need for the reiavigora-
ton which comes from the pleasures of
scenes and excursions beyond the smoke Of
their houses" nor has there been any such
uuduly rigid observance of the Sabbath
among us as to demand q "more relaxing
and inspiring" mode OF keeping the day
than was customary With our fathers.
Neither do the illustrations you cite in
favor of the proposed change seem TO be
specially happy.
If New Orleans gets its inspiration from
" France. Spain, and the Mississippi river"
you admit that the better part Of the people
there censure the extravaganza resulting
from that inspiration; and the better part
of the people there BY no means agree with
you that the large population which makes
Sunday day Of recreation find innocent
enjoyment in so doing, for they are so tho
roughly convinced by actual observation Of
the contrary that for years they have been
laboring, and ! am happy TO say with good
IA Slhh1fh
which they know has been injurious to the
highest interests Of that community.
You say New York has broken through
the old restraints, and is demanding new
Sunday; but you must have noticed how
men of all creedS in that city are protesting
against the innovation as inimica to moral
ity, to Intelligence, aud even to the material
prosperity of the city.
1t is true, as you state, that in some por.
tons of Europe the laboring population pass
their Sundays in relaxation as we'll as rest !;
urch-people having their hours for devo-
| ton, and spending the remainder of the
day in recreation; but l cannot agree with
you that they do it "happily." We do not
want the continental mode of observing
Sunday introduced into this country. Neither
do those who have had the very best oppor-
tunity of studying the influence of the con-
tinenta mode on public morals wish 1t.
The American people are too eXcitable,
too prone to intemperance, when assembled
in great crowds upon a Sunday converted
into day Of festirity, 10 maintain the self
control, and decorum, and regard for law,
which are to be found in places Of popular
resort in the old countries. Several large
meetings have been held by the very flower
Of the German population in New York,
one Of them in the Cooper Institute, at
which resolutions were adopted commend.
| ing the American mode OF observing the
| Sabbath, and not the continental, as some
of the strongest guarantees Of free institu-
tons, as wholesome check on licentious-
ness and dissipation, and as preventive of
the pauperiSm and crime which must under.
mine and ultimately destroy the liberty of
any people"
The truth is, whenever the Sabbath is de-
voted to the high and holy purposes for
which God gave lt-yiz., as day in which
immortal men, freed from secular cares and
the fIivolities Of the world, may find time
of preparation for the world of rest, and
purity, aud peace, of which the Sabbath is an
emblem then all the subordinate and Incl.
dental blessings which the Sabbath brings
are secured but when these higher ends
cease to be regarded, then the social and do.
nestle advantages of the day are ultimately
lost.
Moreover, it is great mistake to infer
that the religious Use of the day robs it of its
cheerfulness and makes it one of austerity
and gloom. The Sabbath is the door mans
richest heritage-thc only day the hard.
driven laborer has for the enjoyment of bis
home-whep, with the dust OF toll removed
and clearly clothed, he can In company With
bis family 60 to the house of God and bring
bis mind and heart 10 contact with those
truths which inyigorate the one and purify
the other, and then gather them around his
! table and fresde for that domestic commu-
Mon which the poor appreciate no less than
the rich
Sunday excursions and Sunday festivities
do not give him the repose or the refresh.
ment be needs to prepare him for the tolls of
the week, and his experience will teach bin
that when he spends the day reIigiousy he
spends it most cbeeIfuily and protitaby, so
far az this life is concerned, to say nothing Of
its bearing on life immortal
II has long been characteristic of the peo-
pie of Richmond that they pay to the Sab.
batha marked reverence, and observe it with
a dccorum which is often commented on by
strangers. Aud the young men of Rich
mond, as happen to know, often decline to
join Sunday excursions because they Gnd