Smyrna times., 1906-06-20

conceded that the great majority OF
the citizens of this land hold to the
sacredness of the Sabbath, hence the
minority cannot in any sense be iusti
fed in adopting measures ON any pre-
text that would interfere with the
proper keeping of this holy day.
Z, Once more, the only works that
the secular law permits to be done on
the Sabbath are what it deines as
works of necessity. What are they?
The photographers thus define the
word: "The quality or state of being a
necessity, unavoidable, absol 1tely re-
quisite; inevitable, indispensable.
"These definitions are clear and far
reaching. They concern not conveD-
fence but necessity. Most people make
convenience synonomOus with ne
cessity, but it is just as sensible to
make luxuries synomous with necessi-
ties. A thing may be very convenient
on the Lords day but it cannot be said
to behence a necessity. Yet most peo-
pie who thoughtlessly plead that the
Sunday train is necessary when asked
to prove the assertion respond that it is
a great convenience, and so it may be
but that in no sense proves it to be
necessary, any more than it can be
proven that luxury is necessity.
s. 1t is almost universally admitted
that the vast majority of those who
make the Lords day a day for travel
and personal convenience do so as
matter not of necessity but of recrea-
tion and pleasure. 1t is not true of all
but it is true of the vast majority, and
it has not been contradlcted.
8. Where Sunday traffic is admitted
to be a necessity the range soon be-
comes so wide that it becomes abso-
lutely ridiculous. For example in the
beginning the Il. r asked for the
privilege of running freight trains on
the Sabbath on the ground that it was
necessary to save perishable freight.
Now so far as the present agitation is
concerned we will admit this conten-
tion but see what has happened!
Through freight trains now run over
the Delaware division loaded with
lumber and rail road ties aud all sorts
of imperishable freight. One is re-
minded by this of the fable of the ami
NAL that asked for admission of its
horns and in the end pushed In its
whole body into the room. And the
moral here is not hard to find. Little
by little these encroachments have
gone on until in many parts of our
land the churches are practically va
cant and the parks and beer gardens
and theatres are crowded. l am aware
the plea is made that this cannot af-
feet us. So far as a direct effect is con-
cerned this is true but so far as an in
direct effect is concerned it is not true.
And this plea reveals the utter selfish
ness that is the controlling factor in
many Christian lives, a thoughtless
selfishness it may be but none the less
hateful and harmful. 1t is a low form
of selfshness that deprives over a mil
lion men Of the rest and quiet of Gods
holy day to accommodate those who
are either thoughtless enough or self
ish enough to make such a form of
slavery necessary, but it is said let
those who consider it wrong to work
on the Sabbath quit, they do not have
to work for any corporation that re-
qaires it, That is not the question, it
is far deeper than that. Is it right or
brotherly or fair for me to be one of
many who will force over million
men to work on the Lords day. 1t
takes that number no matter who they
are to run these Sunday conveyances,
is it considerate or right in me to be a
party to their slavery?
| 10. There have been in many of the
papers references to the so called "Blue
Laws of Delaware" these references
are evidently an echo of what the
Chief Justice Lore is reported to have
said. But the reporter must have
drawn on his Imagination for in let.
ter to the writer the Chief Justice
says: "The interview is correct in SC
far as am quoted as saying that be.
lieved Sunday trains to be necessary.
''No one who is conversant with the
history of the case would make refer
ence to the Blue Laws of Delaware
for the reason that Delaware has nc
such laws on her statute books. The
statute laws of Delaware embody the
Ten Commandments but no one save
an anarchist or an infidel would call
these blue laws. Whenever reference
is made to the blue laws it ought to be
remembered that it means laws which
were passed by certain New England
states which laws forbade a man to
kiss his wife or children on the Sab.
bath, but there never were any blue
laws on the statute books OF Delaware.
II the laws pertaining to the Sabbath
i l.. L.. A. 4.