The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1895-11-07
PUCK PREAcHETH THE WORD

Anent the Sunday closing movement
inaugurated by the few and opposed b,
the many, the comment Of Puck regard
ing a similar movement in New York
and which was on Tuesday condemned al
the polls, is extremely pertinent to Yak
ina and the state of Washington at this
time. tits herewith reproduced in nearly
its entirety:
LET no man, therefore, judge you In
meat or in drink; or in respect for holy
day or OF the new moon; or OF the Sab.
bath days. "-Colossians, 2-l6.
dearly beloved, to say that the great
or number Of you be mulish is to Islander
q deserving beast of burden. Yet, since
the mule is held to be uncommonly
stupid and stubborn, II is hard to qualify
more fittingly those Of You that uphold
our so-called Sunday laws. God, in His
wisdom, endowed you with reason; and
ever since you got it you have judged
your fellow man in meat and in drink in
respect for holy days, and Of the new
moon; and of the Sabbath days. Your
wicked passion for shaping your neigh
boris morals has been the root OF more oil
the worlds evil than all your neighbour
sins. You have been wrong in your inter-
ference and you have not learned the
simplest lesson that the Gslilean fisher
man taught--the lesson of brotherly love
and gentleness and charity. II you see
your neighbor showing dangerous fond.
ness for chess or cigarettes or bicycling
or beer tthat 10, greater foundness than
you have for such) you pass law requir-
ing him to conform In those indulgences
to your own ideas Of propriety. You
have great faith in the virtue OF law.
You believe that all people would be moral
and upright, If you could only get Law
passed requiring it. That is because you
are as stupid as q mule would be IL he
were az stupid az We generally think he is.
You worship law as high thing, with all
power to coerce or to hinder the people.
You have lost sight Of the central truth
about law: that it is the product of q
small number OF people who are supposed
to voice the wishes OF all; and that, how
ever low it may fall, 1t can rise no higher
than its source.
Dear brethren, let me here remind YOU
that spiritual enlightenment never adj
vances except in disobedience of the law.
This has always been true, because 1t ID
mans way TO think he knows it oil, and
to enact laws forbidding any one to know
any more. The man who proved that the
earth moves, you will remember, did sc
in defiance OF the law. and was punishe d
for bis crime. / do not expect to swerye
You from your meddling course by show
ing you that it has always been unchris-
tian; but do expect you to reflect ser
iously when | say that your laws fol
making other people moral never did any
good. Take the man who wishes to buy
his beer fresh on Sunday. Suppose his
desire is siniul--your law restraining him
does not make his heart less black, hii
will less vicious. He lacks the spiritual
grace which prompts you to lay in your
Sunday beer on Saturday; he also lacks
an ice-box and some ice. You try te
force him to do your way, but you car
not until he has both the desire and the
ice-box, and then he will need no forcing
In the meantime you only bother him
put him to needless expense, and irritatt
him to foolish excuses. Some of you
my hearers, who are ultra radical, viii
concede that IL may not be sinful to desir,
as fresh beer on Sunday a. on Monday
''yet," you say, 'if We let beer be sold or
the Sabbath it will open the way to othel
commerce. Think q minute, dear PEG
pie. Do you really believe that 1t is YOU
law that keeps the Sabbath from becom
ing q mere weekday of work? DOM
you know that Sunday il Q day OF rest be
cause the people have learned to rest one
day in seven? Know, then, that thu
Sabbath is not only made for man, but ii
made by man. He has always moulded
II TO his will, whether it was bear baitinl
Sabbath or day Of rational rest and en-
ioyment such as we are getting to hav,
in this country. II the people are tenn
perate and decent, it is because they
wish to be 80. Your Sunday law neve
made man temperate and decent agsins
his will. And yet you procede as If thu
spiritual graces could be generated in th'
breast OF man by the tattoo OF police
mans club on his skull. On broilini
hot Sunday, some weeks ago, certain
desperate was caught In the &C. OF selling
ice to the criminals that throng the ten
ement houses OF Essex Street. Unde
your law'he was cast into q cell. Now
it Is true that your Law kept those SWEET
ering wretches from pandering TO thei
vicious Sunday appetite for ice, but yoI
neglected to show them that 1t is sinfu
to buy ice on Sunday, and SO you LEI
them rebellious and contemptous OF yo'
and your Law. As q result there 10 il
Essex Street. to-day, hundreds oil des
perate characters who would, II the.
could, buy a chunk OF ice on the Sabbath
with as little conjunction as you would
take bottle OF beer out Of yonr own ice
box. You and your laws are to blam
for this deplorable state Of affairs. Per
haps some OF you are thinking that N.
knife cuts both ways: that II public sent