CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 86, 11 April 1881, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of thb "Evening Mail." Sm— l entirely sympathise with the views of your correspondent " Reader " regarding the too strict observance of Sunday. Average human nature is incapable of sustaining the devotional spirit for twelve houre at a stretch, and, for my part, I fail to see how anything but good can result from spending the hours of the Sabbath in which tbe soul is not attuned to prayer and praise in such innocent, health giving recreation as the usual outdoor English games, 6i iii visiting Museums, Reading Rooms, and Public Libraries. Surely tbere can be nothing more sinful in thus beguiling the time than those methods we do actually use, such as lounging, walking, smoking, reading, talking, gossiping, and scheming, How ludicrous are tbe distinctions between lawful and unlawful ways from the ordinary Christian point of view of keeping the day sacred! Truly in this matter we strain at gnats and swallow cam el p. The buoyant, volatile spirits of youth are ever eeeking effective outlets for their superabundant energies, and the restraints im posed upou them by our present unnatural laws have very often, I believe, tbe effect of diverting them into unwholesome channels. The austere and saturnine, many of tbem mere skinfulß of cold and dry virtues, who deem all lfcugbter and noise unholy, wbo would, if they coilld, steal all the color and brightness from the face of iiature herself, are the main stumbling blocks to a healthier state of things, and unhappily society is too much under the domination of such men. It is time that the counsel of wiser and lighter hearts should prevail. Many of iis at times experience some of the penalties of attending a place of worship on a Sunday morning. After the usual service an iron custom chains us to our seats for the sermon. Then the infliction begins. How often does the preacher exhaust himself, and hiß hearers too, in the vain endeavor to reanimate the dry bones of the Kings of Israel I How often does he rain down upon us manna so stale and sour that no mortal stomach can retain it I " The hungry Bheep look up and are not fed." Released at last, might we not hope to be rewarded for a half hour's patient endurance of suffering by a game of cricket or football, in which we could shake off the effects of those crude discourses? In the old country, walking through the villages on a Sunday morning, wbat a melancholy spectacle it was to see dozens of working men lounging about the public houses waiting for the doors to open. The church and the chapel had no charms for them, and the village green and the good old English sports were on that day tabooed to them. Tbo bucolic mind turned naturally to its last resource for pleasurable eicitemftnt—beer. Matters are not quite so bad as tbat in this favored country. Yet further advances are still needful. A new country secme to me to offer a fair field for testing, experimentally, whether the extension of liberty in the direction of encouraging innocent mirth and amusement on Sunday will bave a deteriorating effect upon society. Why sbould not Nelson lead the way in this? For example, when the next cricket match fails to be played out on the Saturday, let it be continued on Sunday afternoon, and observe what comes of it— whether it leads to any disturbance or licentiousness, or to a fuller charge Bbeet at the Police Station on Monday morning. Pharisees among us will be shocked at tbe experiment. Let tbem be shocked. I am, &c, A Liberal. April 10, 1881.