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Show -Sabbath. Ob;servaiic2 and Man Day of Lst ' Iy HON. ROBERT LUCE, I Mambar of Maaaachuaetta Legislature. f""""- ABBATII observance is a phase of tho manners and cus- Stoms of a people. That ia to say, it is the conduct tho mass of the people deem moat suited to the common wel-mmmmm wel-mmmmm frc- Different peoples have different views of it, and tho f" views of any one people change from time to time as tho conditions of life change. Since Now England Was colonized, its people havo deemed quiet, rest from ordinary occupation, better dress and better food to bo advantageous characteristics of Sunday. Sun-day. To get quiet and'rest they have by tho force of custom cus-tom and public sentiment compelled the rebellious few to amnm abstain from trade, industry, and noisy amusement. Written Writ-ten law has been merely an aid to the enforcement of custom. Custom is based on popular instinct. In this particular matter our Now England instinct is approved by hygienic experts, who hero as in all parts of tho civilized world say that health demands rest from ordinary occupation one day in seven. But the belief is not now general that rest necessarily means idleness or stagnation. Best can also be secured by chango of activity. What kind of rest will on Sunday most meet the need of any given individual depends in each case on individual circumstances. Tho man who has passed tho week out of doors can on Sunday rest most indoors. Tho man who has been under a roof all tho week may get on Sunday the most useful chango in the open. The man who cams his living with his. muscles may wisely rest them on Sunday and exercise his head. Tho brain-worker may wisely use his body yf; on Sunday. Since bodily activity during tho week is the lot of the great mass of mankind, it is the natural thing that Sunday shall for most men bo most wisely a day of brain activity reading, talking, listening. And as wo rank brain activity higher than muscle activity, wo have come to believe be-lieve Sunday occupations should bo elevating and refining. Instinctively, therefore, wo as a people frown on Sunday recreation that ia mere amusement amuse-ment or pastime, not becauso it is harmful, but because it is not helpful. Wo feel that Sunday should make us better, whether in body or mind or soul. Attendance on divine worship conduces to this, and so the church centuries ago sanctified tho Sabbath. It was not in its origin essentially a holy day. Tho commandment mado it a rest day, and said nothing about worship. The ordinances of religion now claim some of its hours, and they who yield to the claim do well. In New England the rhurch also secures general acceptance of its view that the other hours of tho day shall bo marked by quiet, peace, de-corum, de-corum, absence of toil or tumult. So long as the great body of- the pcoplo v' ask and expect that such shall bo the features of tho day, tho few havo no right to affront tho opinions and offend tho sentiments of the many by conduct thereto repugnant. What each man shall do in private is his concern. con-cern. In public ho must conform to the will of tho community if social -order is to prevail. The rightful uses of Sunday, therefore, seem to mo those that bring rest to a man according to his peculiar need, that mako him somehow 4 better, and that arc not inconsistent with tho I 0 yO mstoms of tho community in which ho dwells. 'f-Ct C't |