Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-11-13
BLUE LAWS A MYTH.

BLUE LAWS MYTH.
Editors Times Republican: There is a
reference, which has been made a num-
Der of times of late in the Times Repub-
iican, which while of no OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
may possibly deserve correction. 1t is in
regard to the Connecticut blue laws
The now famous, or perhaps infamous,
Ordinance 49, which was recently
passed by the Grinnell city council has
| several times been compared to the
Connecticut blue laws" and in the
Monday issue of the T.-R. one writer
says: II have never doubted that the
early settlers of Connecticut were striv-
ing earnestly for the best citizenship.
but those good people have made them
selves ridiculous in the eyes of the later
generations by the way IN which they
went at it,
Now 1t is fact which is we'll known
to even the most elementary student of
colonial history that the Connecticut
blue laws" are myth pure and simple
In the first constitution of Connecticut,
adopted about 1889. most liberal poll
cy, considering the times, was inaugu-
AaNSNS eiAN 'Ibitdi ptlCIsSS
over thirty in England were reduced to
twelve.
On page 100 of Fishers Colonial His
tory" is found the following: Much
that has been written about the severity
of the penal legislation in the Connect
cut settlements is entirely mythical. The
legend of the blue laws is the inven-
ton of Samuel Peters. a mendacious
refugee. who in 1871 published in En-
gland a history of Connecticut. In
Guided in this odd medley of fact and
fiction are these grotesque enactments,
which never existed except in the imagi-
ration of the author of this book"
Professor Thwaites, of the University
OF Wisconsin, says in his book, The
Colonies" that for nearly one hundred
years the absurd fable that the New
Haven statutes were of peculiar quaint
ness and severity was accepted as his
torical truth.
In view of such authorities as these
the story of the Connecticut blue laws"
will have to be relegated to the same
limbo of unhistorical myths as William
Tell and the George Washington Ratchet
story. A STUDENT.
Grinnell, Nov. 10, 1901.
This young man has caught care
less newspaper writer in an error for
which there is no excuse. The above
result of historical research has prev
iously been published in the Times Re
publican. however, the blue laws, of |
Connecticut typify the character of |
early New England legislation ano
whether mythical or fact, will always
remain in tradition as a principle in
government universally condemned by
modern peoples. As published in these
columns, the laws of the New Haven
colony had been called blue laws in |
New York early in the eighteenth CEN
tury undoubtedly in ailusion to the |
strictness of the religious and moral !
laws and the fact that only church |
the laws of the first constitution and
code of Connecticut the death penalty |
was inflicted for the crimes of witch
craft, disappearing, idolatry, adultery,
rape, kidnapping and cursng and smit- (
ing ones parents. Also it was made
punishable by fine to play at shuttle
board, to be an idler, to lie, to swear, to
take tobacco in public places, to tarry
at tavern longer than half an hour or
later than p. m. Peters. in his trayes-
ty, followed the spirit of the old code to
more of an extreme and declared that
no one should run on Sunday or walk in
a garden or elsewhere except reverently
to and from meeting, that no woman
should kiss her children on Sunday, /
make mince pies. dance, play cards or
play on musical instrument other than
a drum, trumpet or jewsharp, that moi
minister should keep school on Sunday
and that every male should cut his hair
around according to his cap. Fact or
trayesty the "blue laws of Connecticut
will always be laughed at by future
generations.-Ed.l