p. 22 | The Sunday Law

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 12, 1907

The Sunday Law

While on the subject of the law and its majesty, I have in mind the old blue-law which is still on the statute-books of Maryland, covering all cases of work on Sunday. A close perusal of this law would make a good citizen feel as if he was having his liberty crimped and his mere existence put under a ban. Under this law you can't feed your chickens or your cattle on Sunday. You can't get milk from a dealer, for the dealer is not supposed to milk his cows. You can't ride on a car, for the motor-man would be working if he run the vehicle. The ice man must stay at home, the baker must not make bread; in fact, it is a question whether or not you could bake it yourself and not be liable; but the most ridiculous part of the whole statute is that if you are found guilty of any of these offenses, you must pay the penalty in two hundred pounds of tobacco, which would be about six or seven hundred dollars. Some twentieth century Maryland legislator ought to tear this leaf out of the book.—The Mt. Rainier (Md.) Weekly Review, Aug. 24, 1907.