The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-01-17

The world Is too much with us; late
and soon.
Getting and spending We lay waste
our powers.
Suppose YOU lived in splendid
seyen-room house and some friends
should come 10 call on YOU for
time. You would give Shem the free
dom OF the house, but all would im-
mediately realize that all rooms are
not the same at least that the great
parlor stands on by itself with dis
nifty all its own. You go in there
dressed in your best clothes and feel
ing that there is not quite the same
freedom there as there would be I'm
the dining room, but you rather like
it, You would not think Of having
your house without a parlor. II is
that which eXalts the whole. So u is
with our Sunday, II is the golden
clasp" We may be a little sitter
than on other days, but IL should not
be the stiffness OF the prisoner
hemmed i'm by restraint. 1t should
resemble the dignity Of the king. not
doing all that we have right TO do.
The question OF Christian liberty
now arises. and IL is really about this
point that the whole storm has ragged
OF late. There have been extremists
on one side and on the other. Some
have maintained this TO be "A Chris
tian country and that therefore all
who come to our shores must fall in
line with the views OF our Puritan
ancestors. All places ot amusement
are harmful on Sunday and should
be closed. On the other side are
those who maintain just as yigor-
ously that New York is a cosmopol-
itsn city and therefore should be a
wide-open town. Each party sees
only one side OF the truth. IL the
two were to. come together We would
have full-orbed view, reasonable
solution. 1t is true, as Burke says,
much as We dislike to admit it, that
"all government. indeed every human
benefit. every virtue and every pru-
dent act. is founded on compromise
and barter" Those who stand for
n strict observance of the Sabbath
forget that 10 some this would mean
much misery, because all men are
not built alike. To compel an Hitter
ate man TO read his Bible would be
robbing him of his day OF rest, while
TO others IL would mean real repose.
Those who stand for no observance
at all forget what we owe To such OBJ
seryance as We have had hitherto. it
is because many OF our citizens week
after week have maintained their re-
lations with religious institutions that
the backbone of the country has been
kept. When man or nation loses
grip OF the higher things, when the
windows of the soul are closed and
covered with cobwebs. we are pre-
pared To look for dissolution and
decay.
What, then. are We TO do? How
are we TO arrange matters so that
the benCiicent results of Sunday OBJ
servanCe shall be retained and yet
keep the day from being blue" save
Ia moral wrongdoers? Certainly not
by keeping on the books the law that
is now there. According TO the de-
cision recently rendered, practically
all forms OF innocent amusement are
prohibited, including even stereop-
ticon lectures at churches Up till
last week the law was evaded. u
will be evaded again as soon as mat
ters quiet down a little. This will
promote disrespect for all law, and
this would be more demoralizing than
liberal law. Permit me at this
point 10 say that l have no sympathy
with those who on the one side think
that driving people away from Sun
day vaudeville will drive them TO tho
saloons. | know many people in this
neighbOrhoud who attended these per-
formanccs and none has az yet taken
TO the bottle. These people are not
after all very different from our
selves. They are ordinary American
citizens Nor have | any great belief
in the wisdom OF those who think
people can be driven 10 church by
driving them out OF the Sunday thea
ire, and ii they only come TO church
because there is no other place open,
! doubt whether IL would be worth
their while 10 come. The spirit In
which one attends is everything.
The solution, then, seems TO be TO
have law in which are specified
those forms OF amusement that the
great majority OF the citizens are
agreed are harmless and which shall
not disturb the public peace or SER
iously interrupt the repOse and re-
ligious liberty OF the community. But
this is only the first step. The law
must have public sentiment behind II
or become a dead letter at tse outset.
This public sentiment should be kept
aroused by the moral teachers OF the
community as well as by the news
papers and by all good men. Wa
should then have a day which would
mean for all a day of rest, for rest
does not mean inactivity, but har-
mony. II means doing that which is
most congenial. The man who loves
his fellow men and longs for the day
when there shall be one brotherhood
on the earth and men shall have one
aspiratioS do the will OF Cod
may repair 10 the assembly of wor-
ship and renew his allegiance 10 the
old ideals; the brother who. worn
out with the toll OF the week, felt
that he needed all his time 10 re-
create himself by harmless amuse-
ment, would not be hindered. though
he might well be pitied All would
have more regard for the wcightier
Of the law