A Holy Memorial Day by Law.
By Editor
It seems strange that men of otherwise good judgment can not see that human law can not make holy a day, or, for the matter of that, anything else. There is a demand for a sacred Memorial Day. Because the day is now used by bicyclists and sporting men, J. Y. Niles, of the Grand Army, proposes to induce the national encampment to ask Congress "to change the day now called Memorial Day from the 30th of May of each year, to the last sabbath, or Lord's day, in the month of May in each year, to the end that this day of all days sacred to the survivors of the war for the Union and their widows and orphans, as well as those who have fallen, shall be more suitably and properly observed." But Memorial Day may be placed upon a sabbath or no sabbath, it will be observed only as well and as truly as men cherish a regard for its objects and associations. Law can compel its observance outwardly, but it can never create patriotism or devotion, any more than a Sunday law can create right regard for a sabbath.