Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-03-02
SUNDAY THEATRES AGAIN.


moral sense Of the community 70 work ior
the repeal Of the blue law which closes the
reputahle theatres Or Sunday. Apart rom
the irnurOptistV Of State interference 70 en-
force religious ObserVances, we pointed cut
the fact-ObviOus 20 every ooservanu iiian
-thas the opening Of the theatres on sun
6av would be an effective influence ia De
half Of morality or hte especially III INC
case Of the multitudes of young men VINO,
fov lacL, of innocent entertainment are
temnted 10 find entertainment very much
the reverse Of innocent on Sunday even
ings. o.a, o..
I1ces the U-orld forget that the churches are
oren sunday evening 70 all corners, and that =
Young man who has nothing else 70 90 c1ula
NOT ind better employment Tor his tlIAe 'hah
attending them:
The REGISTER added:
NoS6mission is charged AZ church doors;
tho seats are Tree and are just as com
Portable as those costing a dollar or TWO IN
the theatres; the church cholrS 1urnlSn as
good music as the orcnestras IN the inca
| tres: aud divine worship IS certainly ulOre
elevating than the drama.
The World should take up us dusty olole
and turn 10 that passage where IL says:
|, Remember the Sabbath day 10 keep u
/ holy"
To this the World responds;
But the Young men in question 90 not
want 10 20 10 church, and IN TACT co not
60.
Is that an argument for giving these
Young men, and others, further encour-
acement to stay away from the
Churches, aud to desecrate the Sab
bath? The World continues:
MANY Of the Churches in this city do not
hold Sunday evening services, because
such services are not attended.
But the World will hardly say that
the young man who wants to go to
Church Of a Sunday evening can
not find plenty of Churches to 90 to.
The World rather illOgically adds:
These facts sufficiently show that even If
| 10 were q proper function OF the secular
/ law. as &c Is not. 70 dragon unwilling per-
| sons into Church attendance by shutting
/ or other means Of passing the time, the
/ closing Of the theatres does not and cannot
accomplish that purpose.
May be not; neither does the closing
of the saloons. We do not know that
the secular law was framed to dragon"
ANYBODY into going TO church. As we
take il this law is simply in conformity
with that law OF Con, which commands
us to keep the Sabbath day holy. This
certainly cannot be done by fiinging the
doors Of the theatres wide open on Sun
day. There are too few people in New
York who attend Divine worship as it
is. and the Worlds plan would drive a
good many churches out Of business
altogether. VIII our contemporary
hold that this would be in the interest
Of morality and reform?" The World
continues:
The fact remains that we have many
/ thousands of people in New York who
would Ike % attend reputable theatres on
Sunday evenings. and that an unjust, Pu-
ritanical statute deprives them Of their llo-
/ erty 20 do so; that in the case OF many the
deprivation gives strength 20 vicious temp
/ tatiOns. and that in the case OF all the law,
/ which is not proper one for d purely sec
Mar State to maintain, serves 10 restrain
men and women of their just liberty and to
impose upon their lives the dictates OF
other peoples consciences.
Here again our esteemed contempora-
nv is decidedly wrong; or il it is not
wrong, wherein is the uss Of having
Sabbath day at all? 1t is the business
OF the State to prevent men from desc
Grating the Sabbath so FAR AS it is pos
s.5le. Fit is not, the World should not
protest so loudly against the Sunday
side-doors of the saloons. II the State
has no right 10 close the the tres on
Sunday it has no right TO close the sa-
looms. One is just as legitimate bust
ness as the other during the other
six days of the week and is entitled to
the same privileges. The World, how
ever, will hardly advocate open Sunday
saloons. Though, TO be consistent, il
should.
Itis fond deluslon of the World to
suppose that open Sunday theatres
would improve the morals of New York
or prevent young men, so inclined, from
INDUCING their vicious tastes. 1t
strikes the REGISTER that it would
operate just the other way. New York
does not keep the Sabbath so holy that
she needs be given special license to
break it.