The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1882-04-08


sity of having it for the maintenance
of support, 1t would appear that this
amount would certainly meet the daily
requirements of the employee and
leave some little margin. On the other
hand it is urged that these very con-
siderations are but arguments for this
increase in wages; al provisions are
very high and this very scarcity Of
money forcing their value to a higher
rate, the laborer finds that the price
heretofore received, is inadequate to
meet his wants. Tho tendency of a
seem even when wisely regulated is
anything but desirable and often leads
to decentralization and serious results.
We do not propose to write honily
| upon one of the most noted com mand
! ments In the Bible, but rather to speak
of fact which has become conspicu-
ously noticeable both in Europe and
America, viz: The rapid decline in the
observance of the Sabbath day. This
dereliction of duty is more marked in
our large cities than elsewhere and is
largely attributable to the establish
ment of sources of attraction which
have a tendency to mislead.
The stage vies with the pulpit In con-
voking their ample audiences. Amuse-
ments of every description urge their
inviting claims upon the attention of
the people, until the popularity of re-
ligion is measured more, or less, by the
them.
1t has come to be, that the Sabbath is
regarded by many as the most lucrative
day Of the week. Speculation taking
advantage OF this day OF surcease from
business, imposes a greater largess for
sanctity, and thus frequently religious
prObity becomes n victim to the se(luc-
ton Of mammOn.
Those who are religiously inclined to
attend divine worship must needs go
arrayed In the habiliments of costly
fashion, In order to bend the knee of
hypercritical satisfaction and modern
humility. The emulation at display
bushes the brain of the artful lady and
deity the hands of the skilled mantua-
maker is piled to enable her patron to
enter upon these weekly tournaments
of fashion. Magnificent dinners, the
viands fuming from the effects of recent
heat, cumber the tables of the church
attendees, and amid couv,ly etiquette
and the RECALLING of their appetites upon
they SIMULTANEOUSLY commemorate the
feast of their blessed Master and His
disciples, who, under the effects of hard
necessity, did pluck the unhuske ed corn
from out the fields upon the Sabbath
and did eat. Yet Christianity and civ
ilization have been metaphorised as
going hand in hand and under the eyes
Of a progressive enlightenment becOm-
ing correlativcly inseparable. Pulpit
oratory reaches the climax Of impress
siveness when descanting upon the
grandeur and glories of the one, uniting
the humble charities and graces of the
other. National pride evokes the very
acme of patriotic impulses at tho liber
ties of this era, when in nearly all coun-
tries the freedom of our worship is fos-
tered and its privileges protected. The
splendid refinements Of civilization are
said to be but the retieXive effects of
the other. II this be so, and we are
prone to acquiesCc in such Il popular
verdict which of the two has borne the
effect Of thus transmitting the Lords
day into day of show and fashion
into day of ever-creating amusement;
into day when he who sermonizes
must pander to the whims of an adj.
vanced age of thinking, and combining
eloquence with dramatic act, must lend
new attractions to secure hearing.
1t becomes All interesting query as to
the cause of this striking disregard in
holding in reverence the injunction of
the sacred text. Have the requirements
of civilization overreached the demands
of simple and transformations Christian
ity? Has civilization awarded an inn
munity based upon II progression of
ideas, and society acquiesced to kind