The Sunday Movement in London.
An energetic attempt is to be made at the half-yearly meeting of the Shareholders of the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway to put a stop to the system of cheap Sunday excursion trains. This renewed attack upon the workingman's holiday has been carefully organized, and a circular letter has been issued, under the auspices of the Lord's Day Observance Society, calling on all zealous Sabbatarians to unite heart and hand in depriving the workingmen of London of their weekly breath of fresh air. At present they can go to Brighton and back for a very small sum, and none, perhaps, but those who are in some sense workingmen themselves can appreciate the physical benefit which they derive from the excursion. Those who contend that all Sunday traveling which has for its object only health and recreation is Sabbath-breaking, if they are allowed their own way, would condemn thousands of laboring men to pass their entire lives, without a break, in the narrow, crowded streets or festering alleys of our great city. It is needless to say that this is only the spirit of intolerance which forbids the opening of museums and picture galleries on Sunday, breaking out in a fresh place, and throwing one more difficulty in the way of those social reformers who wish to see Sunday a day of rest from labor, without being converted into an excuse for intemperance. It does not matter whether public houses are closed or not. Unless the people are provided with other ways of spending their leisure, the old tradition will prevail, and drink will be obtained by some means. It is not found that Sunday closing does really diminish intemperance. But excursion trains unquestionably have that effect; and those who desire to abolish them can only consist of that class of reasoners who prefer the means to the end; and think that so long as a man sits still all day on Sunday, does no work, goes to no place of amusement, does nothing either to cultivate his taste or benefit his health, he is in the right road, though he drinks gin from morning till night, and keeps the Sabbath holy by degrading himself below the brutes. We have no desire to see the English Sunday reformed on the Continental model. We are not advocating any system which converts Sunday exclusively into a day of pleasure. We are arguing on sanitary grounds; and our contention is that it is quite as meritorious an action to bring a man away from the slums of London on a Sunday as it is to pull an ox out of the pit. The abuse of any principle does not necessarily condemn the use. Cheap Sunday trains have their drawbacks, no doubt. They are sometimes attended by a certain amount of riot, revelry, and intoxication, which is not appropriate to the day. But the question is whether all these evils would not be multiplied twenty-fold if the people who share in them stayed at home, or spent their money in the public house.—London Standard.