Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-07-07
NO DAY WILL BE
SUNDAY BY AND BY
If Workmen Cease to Use an Hour
Of the Sabbath to Pray Employers
Are Likely to Stop Giving Them
Rest of the Day for Play.

| TTtHE inhiction Of fine upon the manage
ment Of woodside Park for allowing peo-
pie to get--by paying for it--recreation there
on Sunday has brought to the fore the sub
ject OF the proper or improper use Of Sun
day at public resorts.
This whole question ls most veNatious
one; but to myriads Of people it is an alb
sorbihg one. The time still waits for some
one to speak all the words Of wisdom that
one or the other party to a controversy here
have thought Of. Is there any common
ground upon which both could meet in com
promise and both be right7 Until they can
do this both will be right.
For example, could Sunday oonceivably be
both in religion holy day and in other
things a holiday? The answer ought to be
simple enough, for It is in the facts The
simple truth is that Sunday is already this
very thing; that is, It is these two things
More than that it Is to a large extent both
things for the same people And II ought
to be.
What then Is the line OF distinction be-
tween two forms Of the same thing, namely,
Sunday recreation? Wherein is It right TO
ride through Fairniount Park in carriage
and wrong to ride on a merry go-round at
n public resort? Wherein ia It right to eat
Ice cream in a hotel dining room at
club, served by paid walters, and wrong to
have people buy It from n vender on board
walk and devour it out Of penny cones? What
is the difference between a sacred and n
secular concert, between playing piano at
home and listening to blaring bands and
hurdygurdies on an ocean pier? Is it right
for me to do the thing I merely happen to
enjoy and wrong for some one, with some
other choice, to do the peculiar thing he has
a relish for?
The answer is that either may be right
wrong. depending upon why but still
more upon how It is done. II this is the
case then the very motive and mood
prompted by which and controlled in which
one dscusses this whole Sunday problem are
the things of Importance I can think of a
whole crowd of people indulging in every
conceivable form of innocent amusement be-
ing much more righteous, both in motive and
in mood, than a certain type of sanctimonl-
Gus rcformer who would repress them out of
some regard for that sacrosanct institution
Known as the Holy Sabbath.
What Kind of an Animal Is Man?
Now, merely to hint at such a thing as
this. let alone to say It, is to be misunder-
stood And that is why the people who be-
lieve IT seldom say it. Every one knows-at
least IL they have read their Bible they
should know-that the Sabbath was made for
man and not man for the Sabbath. Which
is to say that Sunday is something that ex-
lists not for It's own sake but for purpose.
Man has been called many things, many diff
ferent kinds of anlma. but he has never
been called-and he is never called upon to
be--a sabbath-keeping animal, merely as
such or merely for the Sabbath's sake.
Furthermore, IL he uses the day at all he
will never use It rightly from compusion,
but only from choice. Not to see this Is the
mistake of so many members of the typical
average Sabbath Reform Associations There
is, as n matter of fact, no such thing as
breaking the Sabbath" in the sense they
speak of. Men cannot break it; they can
break themselves against It; but that is a
very different matter. Incidentally 1t is a
much more important one. II a man does
not use the day then he does the day no
injury; he Injuries only himself; and to urge
him, with any profit, to use 1t one must
never coerce or compel, but may only per-
suade and constrain. These are two funda-
mental, elemental principles.
Disrespect for All Holidays
Notice, am not discussing the subject of
church going. That is an important subject.
one we'll worthy of consideration in itself.
The unfortunate thing is that the subject of
Sunday rest and recreation Is practically
never discussed apart from this other sub
ject of Sunday church going That is why
the discussion so often ends in confusion.
The two things no wise identical. At
best the second is only phase or aspect of
the first. There is one point Of Importance
in this connection, however; that is that
people do use Sunday as a day for going to
church about as generally as they use any
other holiday for the purpose for which 1t
is appointed. am thinking of July 4, set
aside for patriotic practices and used solely
for picnics; of May 80, given holiday for
purposes Of patriotic memories and used al
most entirely for athletic field days; of Labor
Day. on which employees have surcease from
labor that they may foregather for purposes
of ennobng their trades-and then instead
go fishing.
Here is where so many people, the vast
multitudes, are blind to their own highest
interest In The way they are now treating
Sunday For this is primarily a holy day
and only seeondarily a holiday, If every
body went to church on Sunday forenoon /,
for one would be content to see and to help
them do any conceivable thing on Sunday
afternoon that in itself would be legitimate
any other day. But submit that they only
merit the use OF the day as a holiday from
their labor by first using Il as a holy day for
worship And speak my apprehension that
the day will not continue TO be given to work
Ing people by employers as a day of prayer
primarily II It goes on becoming only one OF
play entirely lie would be mean employer
who would not allow his people time to pray;
but they are as mean employees IT, accepting
one dav out of seven for one purpose thew