Washington sentinel., 1899-05-13
ENGLAND.
SUNDAY IN LONDON.
NeaO Century Req e1O.

NeW Century ReO e1O.
When the shops are shut, the Londoner
feels like fish out of water, and behaves
as such. His whole soul, consciously
orunconsciously, is wrapped up in money
making and money spending, and
Sunday is a disagreeable break in this
absorbing pursuit. It is not because the
theatres and music halls are closed that
we feel dull on Sunday. How many
times a week, nay, a month, does the
average person go to place of enter.
tainmentr The fact the matter is that.
for us as people, commerce is the one
resource, the one object on which we
concentrate all our energies, thoughts.
and aspirations. While this is so, how
can Sunday be anything but dull?
If I were ask, d to classify the
inhabitants of London on any given
Sunday, l should divide them into
three main groups-peTsons who at
tend a place of worship. persons
who do not, and persons who attend
public houses; or, in other words, the
religious, the irreligious, and the inebri-
ate. have the felicity, myself to live
opposite hospital where hymns and
homeopathy appear to be the predomi-
mating elements: homeopathy, presum.
ably during the week, and hymns on
Sunday. What the effect OF the former
treatment may be l am not scientific
enough to say, Dut, as a student OF
human nature, | am exceedingly sorry
for the patients during the application
! OF the latter. AS a type OF our first, or
religious class Of Sabbatarians, therefore
let us take the hymn singing hospital
nurse. AS a representative OF the sec.
ond, or irreligIous class, let me suggest
a bachelor doctor OF my acquaintance.
His opinion, as have frequently heard
him express it, is that in the name of
religion 'anv damned noise' about the
streets is tolerated, and he classes peo-
pie who hold any religious views, all
and singular. under the comprehensive
title OF psalm singing humbugs." Our
third, or inebriate, group may be fit.
tinglY exemplfed by the bar loaier
His external characteristics are, fear,
too we'll known to need description.
He is OF the populace, whose graver
self, as Matthew Arnold says. likes
bawliDg, hustling, and smashing; and
whose lighter SELL beer" All these
three classes Of people appear to me,
each in their respective manner and
degree, to contribute to the dead weight
OF dullness and depression which
oppresses us in London on a Sunday
II is true there is a minority OF people
who have other resources and interests
than h 1mus, music halls or beer, and
are thus able to avoid, or to rise above,
the prevailing eHnHi OF the Sabbath. 1t
| is true, also, that there are other con-
current reasons for the depressing
atmosphere OF the Metropolis on that
day; hut the chief cause is. surely, the
| purItanical character of our national
conception of religion. The existence
OF the minority just referred to, like a
ray OF sunlight in dungeon, only serves
to deepen the surrounding gloom.
Many orthodox British matrons shrink
with horror at the sight ol a Sunday
paper, forgetting (bless their innocent
tIons are mainly produced on Saturday;
while on Monday morning they devour
with aviuitv the sensational columns in
their own pet daily, the production OF
which kept Fleet Street and its purlieus
busy the day before Nor are these
| good danes averse, as a rule, to
travelling by train or omnibus on Sunday
| a-t, -. g-sN - r.H
chapel at a distance. Certainly,
there is nothing in Scripture forbidding
recreation on the Lords Day, but the
British Pharisee has no notion Of holl
ness apart from gloom. and he therefore
imagines that he cannot keep the
Sabbath holy but by stalking to church
in black coat and top hat, and depriv-
ing himself and his family OF all the
innocent pleasures Of life on the only
day, probably, in which they are free to
enjoy them, But not only has he thus
improved on the sacred text. He has
become so blinded and led astray by his
own emendations that he has ended by
completely falsif ing his original. We
all know to our cost, the regulation
| ounOdy uluueE IN an EukllSu nOuSSnOlds
the subsequent torpor Of the afternoon,
and the maddening boredom OF the
interminable evening. The British
Pharisee would on no account iorego
his roast beef, wit all its stodgY acces-
sories. on his return from church. With
head bowed Onward on the back Of the
next pew. he has been unctuously
repeating, after the parson, the words
THY manservant nor thy maidservant,
nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that IS
within thy gates" while all the time his
cook, at home, has been Shaving the
whole morning to prepare the most
elaborate meal OF the week, and his
| coachman. perhaps, is driving up ana
down IN the rain, waiting for him to
come out Of church This is how the
British Pharisee interprets the fourth
Commandment; this is how he blesses
the seventh day and hallows il.
The PEACE CRUSADE.
+ Daily GyaPhis.-London April 76.
There may be differences OF opinion