The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-11-21
THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER.
Episcopal Church Congress Listens to
the Pros and Cons.

BOSTON. Nov 14-"The Sunday
Newspaper" was the topic which engaged
the attention Of a large attendance at the
session Of the Episcopal church congress
at Music hall this evening. Bishop Law
renee presided.
The first speaker introduced was the
Rev. Robert A. Holland, d. D., of ST.
Louis. He said in substance that Sunday
newspapers were as diverse as their num-
Der and no word that characterized one
would exactly describe another In a
mastery manner he showed how the
newspaper Of Inc present day was a
search.ight thrown into every hiding
place.
ITS condemnation turns crowns to
death caps. Many a rich scamp fears
it who does not fear the civil laws. He
knows not the day nor the hour when
upon some Iaison, some orgie. some swind-
ling, the newspaper VIII come as a thief
in the night and strip off his false repu-
tation and wrap him in shame that shall
burn the very lissh from his bones.
What of the day in seven called the
day of res? Shall the worlds cons nee
sleep then, or be more than eVere az. 1e?
For myself / must hold in truth 10 its
daV-a day of the SUM- and that ObSerV-
alive with light. Because il Is a holy day,
ii is also a holiday. Ii bids men feast,
not fast. The Sunday newspaper, with
out OBTAINING the few who seek the high
est heaven, saves millions Of poor souls
from listless stupor or ignorant paStimes
by drawing their interest in the worlds
daily life TO an ampler reading than work
days permit. Il is their one book; their
museum; their art gallery
The Rev. c. George Currie, d. D., pre-
ont Cd ~ N cafI in ~ T..
1T goes without saying that the secular
newspaper is one Of our most important
Institutions; il is necessary to the present
type of civilization; it Is thus indispensa-
BILE TO free government; it is so much so
that you may safely say that it is a
'quasi-divine' institution, yet the Sunday
paper occupies us exclusively. 1t throws
open the stores for us and puts us in the
midst of the markets and takes us fire.
ouently in column after column through
scenes of sin and horror 1t is hard to see
how people can justify the immediate
prefacing of their prayers and their holy
communion by partaking sacramentally
an hour before of the world. of the flesh
and of the devil through the columns of
the Sunday press"
Richard H. Dana of Cambridge. Mass
addressed the congress on The Sunday
Newspaper" For purposes of COMPARE
son, Mr. Dana said ne had obtained
twenty-one papers from the cities of Bos-
ton. New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
Chicago, Cincinnati, st. Louis, Louisville
Atlanta and San Francisco. What first
impressed him was the size of these jour
nails, the average of them being in read
ing matter alone equal to one and one
half times the contents of the new tesla
ment. The Illustrations of the papers
were for the most part crude and in
artistic. The moral effect of five of them
was bad and of twenty very doubtful
Many of the comic pictures relied on vul-
garity for their wit. Only two papers out
of the twenty-one had anything like
a serious bit Of church reading. One of
these had two columns and half headed,
Church Circles" containing an original
hymn, a short prayer or collect, and an
address, and a very good one, too, on
bravery This constituted about the
one thousandth part of the paper The
Characteristic of the Sunday papers Mr..
Dana had examined was a belfttling Of
subjects treated, as if to bring them
down to the intelligence of inferior minds
There were undoubtedly good articles here
and there on interesting topics of the day,
and occasionally we'll treated; they made.
however, in the best papers, but a small
part of the whole, and many a reader
trying to confine his attention to the best
articles alone would continually find HIM
self led into reading many things TO the
loss of his time, brains and mental self
respect.