The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1909-03-13
SUNDAY OBSERVANCE.

There has been decided tendency lately toward
better observance of the Sunday i'll the west than
obtained in the early days. The tendency has met
with some opposition from quarters which are ell
titled to considerations though it is evident the
opponents of Sunday observance do not understand
the matter 1t is insisted that no harm can come
to a man from attending baseball game or the
theater Sunday. Perhaps the men who talk
thus are honest and sincere; maybee the recreation
afforded does them good. But that does not neces-
sarily mean that Sunday amusements are to be
commended The logical conclusion if we grant
the cOntention of the advocates of Sunday amuse-
ments, is that business would be as profitable on
Sunday any other day of the week; groceries
and dry goods sold on the Sabbath would produce
much profit, and to proft-seekers it would fur
nish species of amusement quite as entertaining
as the theater the baseball game When we read
of the countries which have horse races, theaters
and games of all sorts on Sunday we are likely to
think that this is a free Sunday; we neglect to
think of the picture as it is, We overlook the fact
that in these countries the Sunday is as filled with
toll for the worker it is of amusement for those
who have that day for rest and recreation.
In our modern. complex civilization. there is
some work that must be done OH Sunday; have
to perishable goods, take care of the sick and
injured but should be taken that the neces-
sary things are not encroached upon by the I'M
necessary. And it should be plain that others can
not be condemned to work for amusement
Sunday if we are to escape work ourselves The
one thing which should be remembered if we lay
aside the injunction of our Lord to remember the
Sabbath day and consider the matter solely as
H. L., a.
an open Sunday for amusements unless we have an
open Sunday for business, too. and that very soon
And an open Sunday for business means all open
Sunday for work. If the people as "a whole want
to maintain the day of rest i'll seven, the only
way to maintain it is to guard jealousy the Sun
day observance taught by the Christian church
We cannot have Sunday amusements without fore
ing labor upon those who furnish it. And that is
not what Sunday is for. Ralph Waldo Emerson
says:
1.-TWO inestimable advantages Christianity has
given First, the Sabbath the jubilee of the
whole world, whose light dawns welcome alike into
the closet of the philosopher, into the garnet of
toll, and into prison cells, and everywhere suggests
even to the vile, the dignity of spiritual things
Let it stand forevermore temple which new love-
faith new sight shall restore to more than its
splcndor to mankind. And, secondly the institu-
ton of preaching-the speech of man to men--es-
sentially the most flexible of all organs of all
forms
The observance of Sunday as day of rest is
the safeguard which those who, work have to
guarantee to them the one day of rest in seven.
Let us put aside the superficial reasoning that no
harm come from the theater or baseball game
on Sunday 1t is delusion. A free Sunday is
one wherein all may from the ordinary occu-
pations the worker, the business man, the actor
and the baseball player. If we condemn one class
to work for another's amusement, the time will
come when the whistles of the factories Will
blow on Sunday morning at the same hour as on
the other six days of the week The history of the
world proves our contention that work performed