The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1897-09-18
nicyolc Riding on SUNDAY.

In the current issue OF the Church
Standard protestant EpiscopaD the
Rev. DR.. Stephen d. Mcconnell, rector
OF Holy Trinity church, Brooklyn, raises
the question as to the position the Epis-
p church should assume relative to
~ riding on Sunday. He says:
Within the last five years there has
been a phenomenal increase of u door
recreation on Sunday. If this We're con-
lined to the non-Christlan portion OF the
community the question might be post
poned or dismissed. But 1t Is not, 1t
has depleted the churches, and, what Is
OF TAR greater concern, 1t has confused
the consciences of many. The extent
to Which this custom has extended is
but little realized by those to whom the
guidance of the church is %intrusted. 1t
Is probable that of a pleasant Sunday
morning 100000 bicycles run out from
New York, and a not much less number
from Philadelphia.
On a Sunday morning last autumn a
New York daily paper had its reporters
count h wheels which passed from the
cycle path to Coney Island between Z
and IL o'clock. During those four hours
nearly 100 a minute We're counted, or
nearly $4,000 in all. Nor were they rid
den. 50 far as could be seen. by rough
or goddess people, but by men and wom-
~ VIM sSChiSa ~ NC III Ho way dlllSIS
ent from the people whom one sees in
churches.
There are tens OF thousands Of men
and women who five years g We're in
h habit of attending church on Sun
day who now spend the day riding in
the country. During the same period
other out door games on Sunday have
wonderfully increased in popularity. AS
a result of 1t all, the church Is confront
al win TIM r.a yNr l., ID. ,lA l,-
FACED since h reformation.
For centuries before the reformation
the church was so potent in the affairs
of men that 1t could compel their pres
ence at public worship on Sunday,
though they might adjourn in a body
after mass to see a bear batting or to
play skittles. After the reformation, in
some regions where the authority of the
church had been broken down, there
grew up the habit of regarding the Sab
bath day with an awful reverence.
THE belief in the intrinsic sanctity of
the day was as powerful in securing the
attendance of the people at divine SER
vice as the earlier belief in the authority
of the church. In the United States the
practical effect of the Puritan Sabbath
has been beyond computation. 1t has
thus far created and almost universally
governed popular habits, customs and
NSiiNAS oilSoPPoI lSA, as IL Is, ellueT ny
scripture or by history, it has served a
good purpose.
"When the church rings her bells Of a
Sunday morning in the ears of a COM
munity of people who have knocked off
work, and whose hereditary conscience
will not permit them to play, the pews
are likely to be filled. But what is to
be expected when the conscience of the
same people, still thinking of Sunday as
a day of respite from work, does not at
all hinder them from play? Heretofore
the church's rival in the contest for the
possession of Sunday has been labor;
the time is in sight when her rival Will
be amusement.
The question Is upon us, and it Is one
which will not await the leisure of
church councils and will not be very
! much affected by even the most ponder
Gus deliverances of conventions.
we raise this question as one
of the grayest practical concern, and in
the hope that the clergy will face it In
some practical fashion,"