The Washington critic., 1890-02-26

which practically deprive railway servants /
and household servants Of any Sunday AZ |
all. Granting that morning given TO
worship may quite ftly be followed by an
afternoon Of some healthy outdoor amuse-
ment In the case Of real workers, yet moth
ing can excuse the senshncss of large
parties on Sundays, or Of demand for
special trains for excursions on the river
And for the most part 1t is not the weary
brainworker or Woodworking mechanic
who demands these additional opportuu-
ties. The 10 a. m. train which runs on
Sunday from Paddington to Maidenhead is
filed II am told by the class Of people
who spend their week. days in perpetual
recreation, who go from race TO race, from
one party to another from hanging over
Hyde Park ratings to idle gossiping in
houses. That train is type of the real
peril which is ahead, viz, that Sunday
should be retained only as a holiday for
those who can afford to take one. That
the health, the happiness, the home
life Of so deserving body rs
the railway servants, should be sac
rifced to the self-indulgence of upper
class idlers Is q thing which makes one burn
with indignation. For charity's sake, for
the sake OF society as n whole, above all for
the sake OF those who have such scanty
leisure we are bound to abstain from any
recreation however lawful and tempting
people. on the other hand much might be
done to make Sunday brighter day for the
young The perpetual "rhou shalt not
which forms too large part of the dim and
haZy instruction on the subject too often
given in schools aud families is not only
wearisome and oppressive, but tends to pro
mote inevitable reactions. The distinction
between Sunday games and weekday ones,
or Sunday tunes and weekday ones, is
relic Of that hateful system which cut life
into two ahd left the thought OF Gods SER
vice out of work and play alike | should
be glad to see cricket-match on every vii
lage green on Sunday afternoons, and the
games of every institute as freely used as
| on weekdays There can be no better re-
laxations than our ordinary English games,
and it is thousand pities to prescribe them
as unfit for Sundays.
| Then, again, I'm relation to another much
controverted matter, the opening of muse
ums and picture galleries on Sunday after
| Moons, might we not hope to ret rid of the
| real difficulty of keeping the ordinary at
| tendants at work by enlisting volunteers
from the leisured classes to act as guar
dians, and so to enable thousands OF the
more intelligent Londoners to visit the Ma
| tional Gallery and the Natural History Mu-
scum on Sunday afternoons Nothing
| could be more elevating than such opportu-
mites, and to thousands who have little
cDOlce on wet SUNDAY save Vne HillIeu
one Of the public house or the street corner,
| the boon would be an inestimable one. We
| ought, as a matter of charity, to guard
| jealousy the opportunities for Sunday rest
of the great working classes, and we ought
to protest against any selfish employment
of Sunday labor. But we are most Christ
like when we are most human IN our sym
pathies, and We shall insure far more in
telligent and health-g giving use of Sunday
by promoting all reasonable recreations in
the after part of the day than by looking
askance at them or by invoking against
them an abrogated commandment of the
Jewish law.
Nothing is absolutely wrong in itself on
Sunday that is not wrong on week days,
for Sunday does not alter or modify the
great laws of right and wrong. But every
man who has real purpose in life will see
things which for himself are wrong on Sun
day because they hinder that purpose iu-
stead of setting it forward. Aud every
man who has learnt to feel for others will
feel that it is noble work for him to sacrifice
even come of his liberty in order to stem
the tide of that Sunday selishness which is
the only real Sunday desecration. And il
this attitude be maintained and extended
we shall preserve all that is essential il
our English Sunday. PrebGnda!
Eyt0n in Engiish Illustrated Naga-He.