The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1906-09-19
the SABBATkRIAH
AND HIS WAYS
by s. z. KIsER

Client Anabaptists. With these PEG
pie the Sabbath begins at the moment
tho upper edge OF the suns disk dis
appears beyond the western hills on
Friday evening. From that time unit
sunset on Saturday they keep theil
Sabbath as strictly as farmers ever
may. "Remember the Sabbath day q
keep Il holy" IL apparently the rocl
upon which their creed is founded
and being ready at all times TO prove
by the Bible Itself that Saturday II
tho real Sabbath. that day is given az
20 pious meditation and enthusiastic
worship OF the Creator.
The religious zeal OF these people
sometimes takes queer forms. A good
Sabhatarian always considers IL his
duty 10 mako as much noise as he car
on Sunday. perhaps for the purpose
Of proclalmlng 20 the world that his
Sabbath IS past. or II may be TO awake
the devil and thus give him an oppor
tunlty 20 get after those Christians
who. according 10 his belief. sin griev
ously In conducting their devotional
exercises on the first instead OF on tho
seventh day Of the week. A stranger
who is spending his first Sunday IN
this Sabbatarian community will be
surprised when he gets up in the
morning 10 hear a distant boom. such
as Is produced by the firing OF a
cannon.
"Is there a fort near here?" he asks
NO" replies his host: used 10 be
one at Fort Atkinson. but there amt
been any soldiers there for 90 years,
guess"
Presently there is another loud re
port.
There must be some big quarries
near here" says the stranger.
A minute or two later a third shot
is fred.
what Is that" inquiries the s,ran.
ger. rs some railroad company blast
ing out a cut through the rocks near
here?"
mo. Them's Sabbatarlans blastin'
stumps with dynamite. They do that
every Sunday You'll never hear 'em
blastin at any other time Stumps Is
gettin' sort Of scarce. and they have
to save 'em up for Sundays. when
other peoples goin' TO church"
II IS related OF a good old Saba.
tartan who owned a strip OF ground
near n church I'm which members OF
another sect were wont 10 worship
that he built shed beside the sacred
edifice some years ago. taking pains
TO work upon II only on Sundays. II
was his habit 10 go to work just as the
people in the little church we're be-
ginning their exercises, and zealously
he would pound away. making so much
noise that-according to his hope and
belief-the Lord might hear neither
the preachers sermon nor the prayers
that were offered up by the congrega.
ton. II Is said that this pious man
worked for two or three seasons on his
shed. taking n whole summer for the
shingling alone. He is dead now. and
Sabbatarians who are as strong I'm
the faith as he was are glad 10 believe
that his glory is great in Heaven for
the service he rendered.
Square dealing. sobrlety and high
moral standards are noticeable among
the Sabbatarians Of southern Wiscon-
sin. They have good farms which they
industriously cultivate; they raise fine
stock. and they have given useful men
to their state and to the nation.
Their numbers, however. are grad.
ually decreasing. not that race suicide
is to be charged against them, but be-
cause their children cannot be held
within the prescribed spiritual bounds.
Commerclalism is sapping the life
blood of the colony. A man who has
gained prominence as lawyer here
in Chicago and whose ancestors were
among the Sabbatarians who came
from the east many years ago TO set
tie in the near Edgerton, explains II
thus:
in these days OF business activity
and freedom of thought few men are
willing to sacrifice what amounts TO
more than one-fourth OF their time in
the purpose of emphasizing a religious
belief The Sabbatarian cannot do
business with other people on Sunday,
and he will not have dealings with
them on Saturday. He loses two days
a week and finds himself at a serious
disadvantage when he goes out in the
world This may in measure account
for the fact that no Sabbatarian has
ever grown very rich. and It certainly
has a strong tendency to make the
sons and daughters OF Seventh Day
Baptists gradually drift away from
what their fathers and mothers con.
sidered the true belief"
Occasionally even the strict Saba.
tartan finds II necessary to subject his
conscience to severe strains. On a
recent Friday afternoon Brother
Judson, whose farm nestles among the
hills near Lake Koshonong, found that
1t was going to be impossible for him
to get all of his oats cut before sun
down. The grain was dead ripe and to
let 1t stand another day would mean
a considerable loss, especially II there
happened to be storm. At six o'clock
he was working as hard as he could
and urging his hired men to do their
best. Finally, about 10 minutes before
sunset he saw that 1t would be impos
sible to finish work in the allotted
time. and in pathetic tones he cried
out:
ooh, II 1t would only cloud up lit
tie, so we couldn't see when the sun
went down, we could finish the Job yit
without no harm bein' done. "-Chica.