The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-06-22


The necessity of a general weekly
holiday seems Dever to have been felt,
much less to have been recognized by
law. or BY one of those customs based
on an instructive sense of convenience
hich are so much stronger than all
laws. The fact, as we have said, is an
exceedingly curious one, much more
curious than the present tendency to
make Sunday q peremptorily close day.
1t is possible that the dominion of SOL
ders had something to do with the
matter. soldiers habits becoming fixed
in wartime. and war recognizing no
holiday; and possible. too, that the one
universal work being agriculture. the
ideaa of peasants greatly influenced
their rulers. With all cultivators. work.
being regulated by the seasons, is neces-
sarIly fierce or intermittent Ill patches,
and the instructive desire is for long
holidays in slack times, as, for exam
pie. lust before harvest. rather than Tor
recurrent intervals of leisure.
Even now. and in England, the opin-
ion of laborers excuses haymaklng on
Sunday. and if the majority owned the
soil. we should see plenty OF Sunday
labor in the fields. The great cause OF
the avoidance of regular holidays was
however, we are nearly convinced.
slave labor. and the Evolutionary habits
of thought and action which slave labor
encouraged. The whole body OF the
free were determined that slaves should
work without pause-that is the only
possible explanation OF the security
ancient society felt against slave rls-
ings-aud would tolerate no plan OF
life and no social customs which seri'
ously interfered with that.
Will the present movement In favor
of Sunday as day of rest be merely
spasmodIc, or is it likely to last? We
think it likely to last. 1t has in its
favor the app oval of all the churches,
which. though often careless about the
matter for long periods OF time. have
never ceased to urge the beneficial ef-
feet of obeying the Christian tradition,
am in their own lowest as well as hlgh-
est interests, can never cease TO urge IL.
No priesthood can possibly wish either
that the external ordinances OF their
faith should be neglected, or that men s
minds should be materialiZed until
they become as indiffeleu as the
brutes. The philanthropic men oil
science. too. who will have much more
to say in the world than they have had,
will all be on the same side. some wish
lug 10 improve hygiene, which requires
periods of rest for hard workers,
and some to win from toll a time for
mental growth and cultivation which
shall not be rendered worthless by
physical fatigue. And, finally, the
masses. who are obtaining the vote, are
becoming conscious of their own inter
est. and that even ia places where
there exists positive spite against re
ligion-a very curious state OF mlnd,
which has made appearance at inter
walls all through European history,
mixing itself up, for instance, with the
revolt of the Albigenses, with the
whole history OF witchcraft, with the
Hupuenot movement. and even with
our own "LOllardry," and which mas
not been half 50 carefully studied as IL
should be. The hand-workers OF Eu-
rope will not give up the Sunday any
more when once they have fairly got 1t.
nor suffer the laws to be repealed
without which the SUSPENSION OF
toll cannot be made sufficiently
universal. Rather they Will make
the weekly rest, If anything,
a little 100 long. The movement for
doubling it has begun already, and III
England has assumed marked proper
tions. especially "a regards child-la0or.
The people have contracted a haDlt OF
counting. not the days Of toll IN week
but the hours, and Of striking OIL every
fresh hour they gain from the Situr-
DAYS stint. As they learn to use lei
sure better, they will become more im-
patient of getting their leisure in little
fractions, and will incline. as they do
already, towards claiming entire days
in winch they will be masters of their
own time.
The idea will strike many employers
as extravagant. but it is one which this
writer at least very strongly hoids'
that before another generation has risen
10 the control of affairs. the workmen
of Europe, aided, 1t may be, by new
motive force less cumbrou5 and more
manageable than steam, VIII nave
turned their present ideal, the eight
hours dav into mne-hours day. last
ing from s A. NJ. to Z. ~. and VIII
have secured in every week two SAP
batical days, the Saturday and SUNDAY.
That seems a large deduction from Ia
Dor, but science is adding to men :
force; the Saturday is already Dut
broken day, and the diminution OF
drinking as the most wasteful oil all
habits, will restore to nearly half the
families in the kingdom at least three
hours a week of extra capacity for work.
There will be no loss Of time, as the
easy adoption of the half holiday abun-
dainty proves, while the tOilers OF the
world will gain at last that command
of leisure. without which, as the great
Hebrew Egyptian would seem TO nave
foreseen. there can be no full oppor'
tunity either Of mental or spiritual ad-
vance. People nowadays will have II
that Moses was not 'inspired" in any
seusf but where did he get that notion
of giving up seventh OF a nation
time for labor in order to secure TO 1t a
time for worship and thought Was 1t
generated in his mind solely by pity Tor
the overwork of his people, when on an
earth which is like iron. aud under
sky that seems of brass, they heaped up
the massive brickwork which has sur
yived Pharoah, but has not survived the
slaves TO whom he would give no
rest ?-London Spectator.
NO NIGHT IN HEAVEN.
No night shall be in heaven: no gathering
gloom