Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-03

" held in America that at Jamestown,
Va July 80, 1919, or 3l1 years ago
last Wednesday finds historians at
+achin0 more and more importance to the
event. ,,.,..d
The approach to the history OF the ohl'eo
states ordinarily has been from the plymouth
Rock angle or from the landing OF the IN
grims there in 1920, more than a year aiCer
the Virpinians had met in a representative
capacity, since most of the schoolbooks ana
histories until recently were written py We"
Esnclanders or Northerners. Now the otnef
colonial contributions to early American MS
tory are being more closely scrutlnlzeo' ana IA
this effort among historians Virginia Is taAiiis
nm increasing significance.
One fact that impreSses the researcher INTO
the beginnings of Virginia is the Puritan streak
in what in popular conception mas peeh q
Cavalier commonwealth. In this nrst legl-
lative assembly in 1919 in fact' one nnos .
puritanic tone equal to that which always mas
been associated with Massachusetts,, for the
ordinances and laws passed in Virginia at
jamestown. before the Pilgrims arrived IN
America. were strait-laced rules laid down lor
personal conduct, wearing apparel ana tne
varied activities of the colonists.
xUhat are called "blue laws" survive to this
6av In virginia from this early Puritan nm
puIsion In Arlington County witnin Hohth
n man who painted his house on SUNDAY was
arrested for working the Sabbath In VIOLA
tion of the law and convicted, but upon
anreal the conviction was oyerruled, and 1t was
hailed as a blow at Virginias blue laws
However the court did not JustlIy SUNDAY
work: the citizen won his appeal because the
court held that man who paints MS own
house on Sunday without compensation Us
workman, was not violating the law.
ITO get the historical perspective upon the
Sunday observance laws Of Virginia the
records of the jamestown assembly VIII be the
starting point and the investigator can much
more readily picture plain William Brewster rs
the TYNE of assemblyman or Burgess than the
Cavalier type In luxurious waistcoat and knee
breaches, with plumed hat and lace cuffs that
novelists often depict.
The representatives met in the church at
jamestown, no doubt as the most capacious
meeting place available, but also because they
had strong religious conviction. This latter
ass,mption is borne out by the following from
the records:
But forasmuch as mems affairs DO
little prosper where Gods service is neg
lected all the Burgesses took their places
in the choir till q prayer was said by Mr..
Bucks the minister, that 1t would please
God to guide and sanctify all our pro-
ceedings in His own glory and the good
of this plantation"
This culom of opening legislative assemblies
has prevailed from 1919 to the present, not
onIy In the individual State Legislatures but IN
the Congress Is well.
There were problems OF an economic nature
to solve and regulations for trade 70 oe Iormo-
lated and the ever-agitating question OF reia-
tions with the mother country for virginia
since it's founding In 1907, had been having
troublous times with the Virginia Company IN
London and with the King, with revisions III
the charter given to Virginia being mace as
A8n g.
ligion and morals had prominent place IN
the deliberations.
1t easily might be imagined that the acts
passed we're the work of austere Puritans IN
New England. as they covered the issues OF
public morals, attendance at worship, COM
pensation OF clergymen, education and other
social affairs, when the following ordinance Is
perused:
"All persons whatsoever upon the Sab
bath day shall frequent divine services
and sermons both forenoon and after
noon"
A fine of shillngs was provided, to be paid
to the church for failure to obey and If the
disObedient one were servant the penalty
was whipping. What would Virgnians today
think if they compelled by law to go to
church, and not only so, but go both forenoon
and afternoon"
The question instantly arises, just how Cava-
ler was and is Virginia, taking the Cavalier
as commonly understood to be a person who
has no liking for sumptuary Legislation or LOT
minute regulation of personal conduct? In
England, In 1919, when the Virginia Assembly
was meeting, the Cavaliers were battling the
Puritan movement, which, before Virginia was
20 years older, was to smash the Cavaliers
and behead their king, Charles I, and yet
here was colony, advertised as founded by
Cavaliers, passing laws stringently puritan
mic as New England could boast somewhat
lateri
THE records further show that compulsory