The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-06-19
Uses Of Sunday.

The Herald hS taken the Initiative 10 ascertain
the opinions Of the clergy on the question Of sun
day evening concerts and amusements generally.
Most Of them are decidedly opposed to the limo
walton. But Rev. Sir. rockingham does not
hesitate 10 express his opinions on the subject be.
cause they differ from those Og the majority. He
is reported as saying; | am decidedly 10 favor Of
Sunday concerts, and have advocated their inau-
g~uration al my life. 1 an in favor OF opea libra
ries, Of public lectures, Of any innocent and harm
less recreation on the Sabbath that viii amuse
the popular mind, elevate the masses socially, and
dispel anxiety and care. Our present use OF sun
day / believe TO be altogether wrong. Our:
churches are too few in number. and our poor
people can no more afford 10 attend them on Sun
day than they can afford 10 attend the high-priced
opera during the week. B,sides this, the preach
ing in our churches is not good, not Of the nature
calculated 70 interest or instruct our masses;
hence our middle classes are Won't to resort 70
neutrality-suspicious., simply because no higher form
Of recreation is available 20 them. Ash just said,
they cannot frequent our churches because il is
too expensive, and whatever desire they might
have to do so il rebufied by the circumstance that
their general personal appearance is such as Is
calculated to render then presence at church I'M
pleasant and even obnoxious. The middle classes
appreciate this fact and govern themselves accord
ingly. As it Is at present. the clergy cannot reach
the poorer classes, and hence the latter must de-
pend upon some other agency for their mental re-
creation and amusement.
Again, the people to whom / refer cannot re-
main at home and enjoy their easy lounge, for
most of them are the residents of aforementioned
and have no lounges to lie upon. Hence, on Sun
day they wandeR along our streets, and unless
some Interesting entertainment is being given
under the influence Of which they may pass away
their leisure hours, they accept the conditions of
the street, and become victims TO all the tempta-
tions the streetafords. believe, in a word. that
our Sunday should be a day of feast and not of
fast, and that cur Sunday evenings should be de-
voted TO innocent and wholesome amusement. If
ministers generally had any regard for the public,
they would all indorse our Sunday-evening con-
certs. l believe it to be the duty Of the clergy to
do 60, for by attending these concerts cares are
forgotten, low tastes are elevated, and the Sabbath
regarded as a pleasure and not a bore.
My ideas upon this subject many may regard
as peculiar, and some as exceedingly radical, but,
nevertheless, L think the opinions expressed are
correct. and that the future will see them en-
dorsed by Il large majority of our people. For q
long time past our laboring classes have spent
their leisure hours on Sunday evenings in bar
rooms, where they have learned nothing; where
they have been brought in contact with riotous
and disrepntable companions where their tastes
have been gradually depraved, and where they
have begun the descent to the lowest and dreariest
avenues of vice and crime. This being the case,
l feel myself right in welcoming any form of
amusement, such as the Sunday concert, that will
divorce them from these unwholesome and deprav-
Ing nluenCcS, anu Iuat Will cause them TO leave
their cups and all their depraving associations.
have always maintained that when a man has
been to church once on Sunday he has been enough.
But, even admitting that he attends three times a
day, the time spent IN such frequent attendance
amounts to only a little more than four or five
hours, and how shall he spend the remainder of
the day? The poor man, pent up in a badly-ven-
tilated home, willingly wends his way into the
street; and which resort is it best for his man.
hood and enjoyment to frequent-the dram-shop
or the concert? The latter, beyond all question
and when the poor man does this he will better
his condition socially, mentally, physically, and
when he does this our drinking-saloon will be-
come less numerous and vice, immortality and
crime will greatly decrease.
In regard to the music which our Sunday-even-
ing concerts should furnish, my ideas are also pc
culiar. | do not think that it should be ~oratorio
music, with its somber measures and solemn
words, but music that is pleasing and graceful;
music that will charm the mind and direct it from
care; music that will find its way to the popular
heart, awaken within it all its latent passions, and
thus expand its most delicate emotions, sentiments
and sympathies; music that will arouse within
the brain and souE6f the listener upon whose ear
it falls fancies and convictions which he never ex-
perienced before, but which, the moment they are
awakened, will arouse within him new instincts
from which he may deduce the conclusion that be-
yond him there is a higher order of existence to
which, even with his limited resources and oppor-
%tunities, he may with the greatest facility attain.
Corr. Of ". Y. Golden Age.