The Newtown bee., 1888-06-01
Holy Day or Holiday.

The Sunday game of base ball ill the Glen acts as if it was an innovation that had come to stay and it is in line with Sunday trains and the growing number of Sunday amusements and occupations. which are yearly making Sunday more and more like any other day in the week. The boys who play ball in the Glen SuE- days have this extenuation that they tried to get Saturday afternoon for their sport, but, when the question of the Sat- urday half holiday was submitted by Su- perintendent Jones to the workmen of the Rubber shop, the majority refused the boys their half holiday and they take it on Sunday. There are two views of Sunday. One regards the command s'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" as literal. The day is sacred and must be devoted solely to pious uses. Work and play are for six days in the week. As the old couplet says:
 must not work,
 lmust not play,
 Upon Gods holy Sabbath day.
 This was the view of Puritan New Eng land, when Sunday was so sacred that Saturday evening was devoted to rest and meditation that it's dawn be properly welcomed. There is no question that this state of things, sustained by the pop ular sentiment of a community, secures the most quiet and peaceable Sunday possible in this wicked world. This is Sunday, the holy day. r
 Sunday, the holiday, the European in- novation into which we are drifting, looks upon Sunday as time for rest and recreation. It is no more sacred than Monday or any other day. It is day for good time, for feasting and jOllifi- cation, which License spins out to ca rousal, dissipation and pugilistic encoun- ters. This day calls for excursions, Sun- day concerts, beer gardens, Sunday trains, Sunday papers. Looked at mar rowly, it will be found that somebody or some corporation likes to encourage this sentiment, even forcing it upon the com munity, for the profit that they willreap, No one supposes that Sunday trains would be run, Sunday papers printed stores opened Sundays, if there was nc money in it. Not much! The corpor. ations have defied the strict old Sunday laws with impunity and the people flock into the breach. As the majority once limited even the distance a man might travel, Sunday, so now the majority de mand and~ make a Sunday ill which amusement is the principal idea. The moral sentiment of the community is be. ing revolutionized with regard to Sunday and yearly it's practice grows more ana more defiant of old restraints and en croachcs further. and further upon it peace and quiet.
 It is easier to state the fact than t, draw the line of right. Let every on, educate his own conscience and stand by his principles, whatever they may be whether for holy day or holiday. Sine, popular majorities rule a republic, the crowd cannot fail to set the public anl legal limits of the day. Jesus Christ sai, | that man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath for man. Sunday is no a straight jacket to be put on as re straint, but day to be used and enjoyed for r1ene's peace and betterment. The trent of ones Life currents is the touchstone Still, a day only secured by legal re straints is no better than prison Sun day. It must be the educated common consent of the majority and majorit, with the courage of it's convictions. Le us not, like Pharisees, holier than othe men in our own esteem, despise those wh regard Sunday different from ourselves nor. in that bOisterous, lawless License which is selfish ugliness embodied, disre gard the peace and rights of others. w might all, saint and sinner, well lay asid more of our selfish absorption on Sur day, whether in pew or afield and loo
 with kindly generosity to the wants an griefs of our fellows. A Sunday sacre to kindness and helpfulness would be little Heaven to us and others.