The Cairo bulletin., 1906-09-22
THE SABBATARIAN
and his WAYS
by s. r. kISER

| many men ana women VINO COnIlnI
to cling TO the stern belief of the al
e cient Anabaptists. With these PEI
pie the Sabbath begins at the momer
the upper edge of the suns disk di
appears beyond the western hills o
Friday evening. From that time unit
sunset on Saturday they keep thei
7 Sabbath as strictly as farmers eve
may. Remember the Sabbath day t
keep it holy" is apparently the rocl
upon which their creed is founded
and being ready at all times to prov
by the Bible itself that Saturday il
the real Sabbath, that day is given Al
to pious meditation and enthusiastic
worship of the Creator
The religions zeal Of these people
sometimes takes queer forms. a goo(
duty to make AS much noise as he car
on Sunday, perhaps for the purpose
Of prociaiming to the world that his
Sabbath is past. or 1t may be 70 awake
| the devil and thus give him an oppor
/ tunity to got after those Christians
! who, according TO his belief, sin griev
ously in conducting their devotional
4 exercises on the first instead Of on tho
| seventh day Of the week A stranger
who is spending his first Sunday in
this Sahbatarian community will be
surprised when he gets mp in the
morning to hear 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 to be
one at Fort Atkinson, but there amt
been any soldiers there for so 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 third shot
is fired
What is that" inquiries the stran-
ger, Is some railroad company blast
Ing ont a cut through the rocks near
here?"
No. Them's Sahbatarians bastin
stumps with dynamite. They do that
every Sunday Youll never hear EN-
blastin at any other time Stumns II
gettin sort Of scarce, and they have
to save EN- 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 church in which members Of
another sect were wont to Worship
that he built a shed beside the sacred
edifice. some years ago. taking pains
to work upon it only on Sundays. It
was his habit to 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
that were offered up by the congrega-
tion. 1t is said that this pious man
worked for two or three seasons on his
shed, taking a whole summer for the
shingling alone He is dead now, and
Sabbatarians who are as strong in
the faith as he was are glad to believe
that his glory is great in Heaven for
the service he rendered
Square dealing. sobriety and high |
moral standards are noticeable among
the Sabbatarians of southern Wiscon-
sin They have good farms which they |
cultivate; they raise fine /
stock, and they have given useful men |
to their state and to the nation.
Their numbers. however, are grad I
ually decreasing. not that race suicide /
is to be charged against them but be- |
cause their children cannot be held |
within The prescrihes spiritual bounds /
Commercialsm is sapping the lfe
blood Of tho colony. 4 man who haa
gained prominence as a 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 il |
thus:
In these days OF business activity
and freedom of thought few men are 4
willing to sacrifice what amounts to |
more than UnefOurth 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 I
a week and finds himself at a serious /
when he goes out in the /
world This may in a measure account |
for the fact that no Sabbatarian has 1
ever grown very rich. and 1t certainly /
has a strong tendency to make the /
sons and daughters of Seventh Day 4
Baptists gradually drift away from /
what their fathers and mothers con /
sidered the true belief"
Occasionally even the strict Saba |
tartan finds Il necessary to subject his /
To- severe strains. ON a
recent FRIDAY afternoon Brother |
hudson. whose farm nestles among tho I
hills near Lake Koshonong. found that +
If was going to be impossible for him /
to get all Of his oats cut before sun
down. The grain Was dead ripe and tn 4
let II stand another day would moan 4
a considerable loss, especially if there I
happened to be a storm At six O'Clock /
be was working as hard as he could 4
and urging his hired men to do their /
best Finally. about - minutes before
sunset h. saw that il would be imUoe