Blue-grass blade., 1906-02-11
(From The Pasadena Daily News)
BLUE LAWS
AGAIN

EultOr news. VIII you permit Inc
to reply to Publicus in as brief let
ter as | can.
Publicus say there never were any
Blue Laws; they never had any ex-
istence save in the imagination of a
man who had become soured and dis
gruntled.
My reasons for not replying sooner
is that l had to send to New York to
get evidence which | knew existed,
and this is my authority.
The Blue Laws of Connecticut,
taken from the code of 1860, and the
public records of the colony of Con-
necticut previous to 1866, as printed
in a compilation of the earliest laws
and orders of the general court OF
Connecticut, and from DR.. Lewis book
on Sunday legislation; also an extract
from the constitution of civil compact
adopted by the towns of Hartford.
Windsor and Weathersfield in 1882,
showing the Biblical basis of the ~
ono leezslation. With an acco0pt
the Grseention e Kitchee,SA - =
ers in New England, and some ex-
tracts from the Blue Laws of Virginia
Copyrighted by the Truthseeker Com
pany 1885,"
Alice Morse Earle, in her interest
ing volume, THE Sabbath in Puritan
New England" writes Of the Blue
Laws Though these laws were word
ed by DR.. Peters, and though We are
Disguised to hear them SO often quot
ed as historical facts, still we must
acknowledge that though in detail not
correct, they are in spirit true records
OF the old Puritan laws which were
enacted to enforce the strict and de-
corous observance of the Sabbath,
and which were valid not only in Con-
necticut and Massachusetts, but in
other New England states. Even a
careless glance at the historical rec
ord Of any old town or church will
give plenty details to prove this"
One of the laws best known as
Connecticut Blue Law is a prohibition
of mothers from kissing their chill
dren on Sunday.
Captain Kemble of Boston, in 1856,
was kept for two hours in the public
stocks for his ''lewd and unseemly be-
havior in publiquely (their spelling)
kissing his wife on Sunday" His
wife met him upon the doorstep when
he returned from three years voy'
age, and they scandalized the neigh
bors with the warmth of their greet
ing.
A short extract of the law against
Quakers Is as follows:
Whereas, There is a pernicious
sect commonly called Quakers) who
do take upon them to change and
alter the received, laudable customs
of the churches, by denying all estab-
lished forms of worship; For proven
ton thereof, this Court doth order
and enact that every person or per
sons being convicted to be of the sect
of the Quakers, shall be sentenced to
be banished upon pain of DEATH"
AS late as 1774 the first church OF
Roxbury, Mass, fined its members for
non-attendance. In 1861 Thomas
Scott was fined ten shillings, unless
he have learned Mr.. Nortons chata-
chise by the next court"
In 1850 the legislature of Massa-
chusett passed the law that any per-
son. able In body, who shall absent
themselves from public worship of
God on the Lords Day shall pay ten
shillings fine. By the Connecticut
Code the fine was the same and the
W was not suspended till 1910. BY
the New Haven Code five shillings
was the fine for non-attendance at
church and the offender was often
punished otherwise as WELL Some
times. however. the court increased