The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1903-05-15

An 1nteres.inr ana instructive Article %
Timely sssjset y, Z Local Writer.

James \. David IN. W. Va. Sc. journal.
More than twenty-five years ago one
evening bright Intelligent boy handsd
me.a notesa II contained an Inquiry. IL
was from Representatives Of the.whole
school. They had heard that I had said
that It was wrong % Study school books
%. Sunday. ! give my answer "a Il was
Nxitten. them Drcemker ard, 1874. s---s
-"John, your question: comes unex.
pectedly- Asetes my expressing such
an opinion, lido not remember Il. eI-may
have said something like 1t. you Give
no reason. why you desire my opinion.
But suppcsing that you really wish to
do right, that you have been ;accustomed
to spend Sunday in pursuing your stud
les and may have some doubts As to its
being proper, are the reasons that prompt
the question and not idle curiosity, /
would give you rs answer simply yes or
no. but that would not, i think, meet
the demands. I prefer rather to place
some facts before you.
Sunday Is regarded as q day pccu-
liarly devoted to the worship of God. We
ought to worship God every day, If we
do not Sunday worship is only solemn
mockery. On Sunday we are expected
to lay aside our ordinary labor, and if
the using Of school books ON Sunday II
only continuation of our daily labor.
! do not think we do right. If we stay
away from church, II we neglect to read
the Bible, if we are prompted by spirit
of rivalry and improper ambition, and
spend the day in study. / think we do
wrong rather from the motive that
prompts us than from the mere act of
study. The acquisition of truth is al
ways right. and If we spend the day in
its acquisition we cannot be far wrong
1t is far better to study school books on
Sunday than to engage in, or listen to
the telling of lewd and vulgar stories, or
to spend the hours in play and idle talk,
or to devote them to reading the novels
that fill the pages of the secular press.
We should take the Bible as the book of
our counsel, and learn duty from it. Each
morning we should ask Gods blessing
upon US during the day, if we doubt
whether anything is right We had better
not do it. Each evening we should alone
in private examine the acts of the past
day and tell to God who knows all things
where we have been, what we have done.
and the motive which prompted us. III
said the acquisition of truth is always
right But some truths are more i'm
portant to us to know how we can be
saved than to know the distance to The
sun. The Bible teaches us the first; n
work on astronomy the second. 1t Is
vastly more important to have moral
courage enough not to swear when wei
get angry, or to refuse a glass of prof.
fered liquor when We are at fair or
show than to know the ingredients of
that liquor, and yet the knowledge of the
nstme Of the deadly poison might in
some measure act as q restraint. Now,
to close, unless We are neglecting things
more important, do not think it wrong
to study on Sunday.
However, If our parents desire MS TO
desist. we should do 80, for the child
that will not obey its father or mother
shall net prosper and is in full career to
an end of ruin and misery
This is real letter written to real
John" who was also the representative
of more than twenty other young people
ranging in ages from l2 years to 10, at
life's crossway, seeking to know the
right. have no means of knowing what
influence the letter had. j do know that
nearly every one of those young people
found wisdom to make life success.
Clarksburg, W. Va.