Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1882-03-17
>Cld-Fashioned SUNDAYS

Christian people, SAYS the UItrtfOr'
CUOJWHt, eXhibit IA wide variation from
those which were in vogue in time
which tho Oldest people remember |,
the olden times there were two service
IN the sanctuary on the Sabbath, on,
in the forenoon, and one in the after
noon. IA brief recess dividing the two
The oldest Sunday School in this coun
try is said to have been establishes
since the year 1906, and Bible-classe
and prayer-meetings are Of no create
antiquity.
During the week preceding tn,
regular administration of the Lord
supper, a preparatory lecture wa
preached, but other weekly lecture.
were exceptionally irfrequent. New
England was then inhabited by far
mers, and each parish contained ;
widely scattered population with few
facilities for frequent assemblies. The
Sabbath gave them rest and society
The meeting house precincts afforded
kind Of "cXchange' for the neigh
borS who, before and between and after
"ueeting," discussed their crops
stock, politics, and whatever there wa:
Of news, while the women folks strovt
in vain to get through with the week
Iy accumulation Of gossip and chit
chat
The boys and girls had high old
times on the sly during intermission
when, haunting the horse. shed, oil
.shirnishing in the field just over the
fence, they escaped the espionage Of
parents too busy with their tongues tC
use their eyes to advantage. Oh
those molly gatherings on the meet
.ing-house steps, to watch the different
teams drive up aud discharge their
lovely and often blushing freight
Those larks behind the meeting house
and in the gallery" and back by the
stove. and on the way home with the
girls, Those firtations in the choir
behind the red curtains! There is nc
lov in the Sabbath Of these DAYS. Al
home the children learned the texts
.of Scripture and the catechism, and
quietly waited for the lightning OF
Gods c!ecting grace to strike them
:t it was SO decrecd, taking the failure
.of such lightEing-stroke unconcern,
.cdly, as If 1t must be right either way
When the Sunday school and pray
.er-meetins began to be instituted here
aud there, opposition was made by
many OF the most devout and godly
church members 10 all such inuova-
tIous. 1t is curious fact that the
early church of New England would
not tolerate the plain" reading oil
Holy Scripture Is. the reading
It without comment. They curiously
enough called it "dumb" reading
those stick!ers for tie word Of God
Il Is not twenty years since, in one OF
the prominent Congregational chur
ches OF Hartford, the reading of Scrip
ture was confined TO the forenoon
service. The long prayer was u
terror to the young. 1t must have
oceu suffered by adults as convent
cnt Kind of penance. What weari-
ness. too, its inteyminable nasal mon
otoue.
Then came, at long intervals, the
communion season, after the second
service when u.ost OF the men and
some Of the women and all the chill.
dren would 20 sadly out, leaving the
elect 10 their solemn feast. Tender
scenes We have witnessed at such times
IN the rude old sauctuaries scene:
never to be forgotten while memory
lasts. The pastors fearful cheeks ant
faItering accents. the solemn silence
in which the holy emblems were re
ceiyed. the weird, quaint music of th,
old minor tunes sung without instru
mental accompaniment and by thin
and quiyering voices. With mute
wonder and often uncon trollablt
emotion, the boy at his mothers sid,
would watch The ceremony, discern
ling it only as great and hol,
and tender sacrament of dlvln,
love that could make his mother weel
for JOY and even melt the awful cler
gyman down into a lovable human
being.
Far from the men and women o
those days was the modern notion tha
laymen are especially competent t,
impart biblical instruction, and th
modern usage which relieves the cler
" from almost all responsibility 70
the working the machinery for tn
religious education Of children. N
ruder shock can we'll be conceive,
than that which would be experienc
ed bv sandry of the good forefather
could they suddenly revisit the region
they once inhabited and especially th'
sanctuares wherein they formerl
worshipped. What with "sllps' fo
the old pews, preaching rails and desk
for inaccessible pulplts and overhun!
with sounding boards, stained glass
steam heat carpets, organs, chants, an'
other popish ceremonies, heads bowe'
in PRAYER, and no chance to 'swa1
horses" between services they woul'
be miserable indeed, and aghaSt wit
horror at our improvements.
How much are we advanced, afte
all? Men talk of greater decorum
reverence, and so on, but We canno
forget that the Sabbath of our boy
hood had a simplicity and sacrednes
that atoned for It's occasional severn
ties, and certain possibilities or steal
thy, honest fun for bright boys an'
girls such as the gradual de-sanctiti
cation of the day and the decorum 0
modern Worship utterly forbid.
The Dangers of the stock Market.