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Sunday Recreation

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 23, 1911

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 88, No. 8.

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Sunday Recreation

The following editorial from the Waltham Evening News of Jan. 25, 1911, indicates that the editor sees some of the evils of enforced Sunday observance:—
“The Sabbath Protective League is out with its annual protest against any greater liberality in the laws governing the observance of Sunday. Apparently it is in their eyes a crime for a man or a woman who is confined in a store or factory six days in the week, to seek on the seventh such recreation as seems best as a relief from the monotony of the working-days.”
“Considerable stress is laid on the desirability of every one having one day of leisure in the week. Nobody disputes this, but there is no reason why that day should be Sunday any more than another, provided the time off comes with regularity. The Sabbath Protective League is undoubtedly actuated by the best of motives when it seeks to restrain people from doing as they please, but it shows it is not in sympathy with modern thought.”
“Educators the world over, those who interest themselves in movements for the betterment of the condition of the people, laymen and preachers alike, have arrived at the point where it is deemed folly—in some cases criminal folly—to try to force regulations on the people which are anachronisms. To force people to one's own way of thinking was once popular. Apparently it is still the belief in some quarters, but the great majority of thinking people nowadays resent any attempt to interfere with liberty of thought and action.”
“Those who advocate the letting down of the bars to permit out-of-door sports on the public playgrounds and elsewhere are not the kind of men who would be likely to advocate anything until they had become convinced of the necessity of it. There is a decided sentiment in favor of greater personal liberty, and a disposition to let each person decide for himself whether he shall or shall not do certain things on Sunday. If a person wants to play baseball, there is no reason why he should not be permitted to do so, provided he does not disturb the neighbors.”