The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-05-15
SABBATH AND
SUGAR BOILING
OPEN LETTER ON THE SUBJECT
TO THE PLANTERS BY
BISHOP WILLIS.
Urges Planters to so Arrange Their
Have the Full Day..

Bishop Willis closed his editorial
control of the Diocesan Magazine, and
his bishopric of these Islands with the
following open letter to the planters:
Dear Sirs:-My connection with
these Islands, which has extended
over a period of thirty years, being
now about to be severed in Difference
to the wishes of the House of Bishops
in the United States l crave permits
sion to address you on a subject which
appears to me to have very close and
intimate bearing upon the prosperity
of your plantations, and with them up
on the prosperity of the Islands.
l am fully aware that the subject
matter of this letter will be regarded
by many as having no bearing what
ever upon the profits of your estates,
but being myself firmly persuaded on
this point, / should fail in my duty
were l to leave the Islands without
submitting the matter to your COnsid-
Grafton, whether you accept or reject
what l now proceed to lay before you.
The subject of this letter is the prac-
tice that has been adopted in recent
years of keeping the mills grinding and
trains running on the plantations till
midnight on Saturday, and having ev-
midnight on Sunday is past.
l is perfectly true that by this ar
rangement there is apparently a cessG-
ton of labor for a seventh of the week;
but. only apparently, for though your
machinery has twenty-fOur hours rest,
your engineers, sugar boilers and 9TH
ers who attend on your machinery are
only able to secure a fraction of that
period of rest. They are thus deprived
of Godgiven period of rest which the
human constitution requires, and this
deprivation diminishes the value of
their work, and so reduces the profits
which you expect to obtain by that
very deprivation.
On the relation of the institution of
seventh-day rest to the human cOnsu-
tuition, let me quote the following pas
sage from the writings of one who has
made a study of the obligations of the
Lords Day:
Now, it is certain from the constitu-
| ton of human nature, which is God $
! handiwork, and from practical expert
| ence, that man is not capable of endur-
| ing incessant secular toll, and that he
needs periodical respite from it, and
requires spiritual refreshment, if he is
! not to degenerate physically, mentally
and morally. But although it is evil
dent from natural reason and expert
ence that some stated portion of time
ought to be set apart for the workshiI
| of God, and for the concerns of eter-
! nifty, and for the welfare of our souls
and bodies, it does not appear evident
from reason or experience, what that
portion ought to be. And here Reve-
lation comes to our aid; it tells us of
work and repose. The day Immediate
ly following the six days of creation
was set apart, or consecrated, as the
Sabbath, so called as signifying rest
! that is cessation of action up to thai
time.
The distribution of the work over siH
days, followed by the repose on the
seventh, was to infiX this grand priu.
Ciple in the mind of every human be
ing that after six days labor one day
of rest should follow God worked il
certain order that man might worl
in the same, and God rested at a GER
tain time that man might rest likewise
I'VE learn also" says Bishop Wilson
from this order of creation, that MAJ
was made not for constant and unre
lieved employment, or for earthly pur
suits chiefly, but for labor with inter
walls of repose, and in subordination t.
the glory of God. Man was formed
not for seven days toll, but for six
man was formed not for terrestrial
pursuits merely, but for the high pur
pose of honoring God, meditating OF
His works, and preparing for the en-
jOyment of Him forever. The essentia
nature of the institution obviously lie
in the proportion of time fixed by hi
beneficient and all-wise CreatOr-fOr hi
body six days labor, for his soul on
day of religious rest; and this CORES
ponds with his compound nature-hi
TIT aII Inn !,
up to the exalted and delightful office
of religion; this bodily and animal par
requiring recreation and repose. TIL
Sabbath is the spiritual badge an
charter of man."-(The Lords Day, b
the Rev Norris Fuller PIP. 299-30O)
The practical experience of thOs
who labor is in full accord with tn
principles laid down in the above pas
sage as belonging to the moral govern
ment of the world. A friend of min
who has had opportunity of ascertain
ing how your system is regarded b.
your employees writes to me:
From chemists, sugar boilers, an
engineers in FOUR might say in five
different mills, ! have it that the pres
ent system would be much improve
by closing the mill every Saturday a
u o'clock (nOon). Men strong and Wig
OrQus coming into the mill are see
gradually to fall off, able to produc
less work than formerly, necessitatin
an increase in the number of hands t
keep up the weekly output of sugar o
to suffer in the output marked fallin
off. one sugar boiler of many year
experience and certainly a tirst-clas
man in his line told me that he
ready to prove that with a stipulate
number of hands they can put on
more sugar in six months, if they clos
at II noon on Saturday, instead of a
midnight as at present, and to re-ope
at a. m. Monday, instead of at !
mid, The closing at noon on Saturday
which is observed, / believe in all fac
tories etc, in England, allowing fror
A to 6 hours for pans to cool, would en-
able the men to do all cleaning by mid
night ana feel that they have one da
of rest before them"
If the testimony here given of tn