The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1883-06-17
THE SUN, SUNDAY, JUNE II, 1883

1851
the neighborhood arc ct onco aroused, and
relief L. speedily ct hand. II poor man's
COW dies In tho village, subscription TO bay
him another L. apt to DO started by some
benevolent soul. Much pride Is taken by the
inhabitants in keeping the towns tidy and
pretty. nliteracy scarcely exists there. II
there is any. It is brought In by foreigners;
for sending children to school IL deemed al
most as necessary 90 clothing them or feed
Ing them.
But 1t is not altogether model commu-
nifty. Frequent divorce cases among the
native population show that tho morals
there are often lax. Gases Of very gross i'm.
morality are regularly reported In the local
newspapers, cases which OCCUR moro fire.
quently, in proportion to the population,
among the farming community than In tho
few large towns. Every little nelghborhood
has Its more or less atroclous scandals.
There is. however, another vice which
crops out In that community too often. 1t Is
the very mean vice OF hypocrisy, and occurs
sometimes among people who perhaps do
not themselves imagine they are guilty Of 1t.
A few Sundays ago certain Of the church.
going people OF Berkshire, who profess to
believe in tho keeping Of Sunday as q verlta-
BILE Sabbath according to the notions of the
old Puritans, went to work and succeeded In
preventing the running OF q certain passen-
ger train to point within the county. They
would not let the railroad company break the
Puritan Sabbath In that way.
But milk being produced on many OF the
hill farms Of Berkshire for sale In distant
cities. 1t is customary for the railroads tray
ersing tho county to run milk trains on
Sunday for the accommodation OF the farm
ers and their customers. OF course II 1t Is
wicked to have passenger trains whistling
through those mountains and valleys ON Sum
day, 1t Is no less wicked to run milk trains.
1t is even more wicked to run milk trains,
for they are provided for the especial pur-
pose OF enabling trade to DO carried on on
Sunday, while passengers may travel on
works OF charity or necessity; doctors 60
Ing to sec the sick, ministers to preach to
distant sinners. parents to tho rescue OF
children, and business men to get homo to
go to church with their families. A milk
train is run to help tho farmers to transact
business and make money on Sunday. They
must rise early. milk their COWS, and carry
tho cans to the stations to ship them to
customers.
All hands about the farm must do Sunday
work to get the milk of, and the teams must
| be hitched up In order that 1t may go to
market. The farmers, too, charge as much
for their milk on Sundays as on other days,
| and demand the money. Nor can the Berk-
shire dairymen say that there Is absolute
necessity for the work and tho commercial
transaction. They do not raise enough milk
to make any extraordinary difference In tho
market. They could refuse to break the Sab
bath by forwarding their limited supply with
out causing suffering anywhere. The only
harm idOne would be that they would lose the
money their Sunday milk now brings them.
Yet the Berkshire people who stopped the
passenger train took pains to Offer no oppo-
sition to the running Of the milk trains on
Sunday! They remembered the dairymen
and their desire for Sunday profits. They
wore glad enough that the milk should go
to market, for that brought money to tho
county; but when 1t came to the passenger
train, run for the convenience OF other peo-
pie, their conscientious scruples about Sun
day labor began to assert themselves.
Oh, Berkshire Puritans, what hypocrites.
what Pharisees you are!
Probably the most interesting trottin9
| Meeting ever held near New York will hepin nm