MECHANICS' INSTITUTE.

Auckland Star, Volume V, Issue 1391, 27 July 1874, Page 2

MECHANICS' INSTITUTE.

(To tbe Editor of the Evening St\h.) Sir, —I have been very much edified by the letter of Hy. T. in your last issue against the openina; of the library of the Mechanics' oa the Sabbath. He is a religious man, and 'views the question from his stand point. I am not a religious man. Pray let me view it from mine. Ido not say I am a bad man, for lam not. I do not steal nor swear ; I pay my debts, and wish well to every one. I am not a drunkard, though now and then I get fou and feel jolly. I mean, sir, that I am just like nineteen-twentieths of my neigh« bours : neither better nor worse. Hy. T., being a good man, knows of course that there are only few good. I say all thig only to show that, while he belongs to a very small party by his own shewing, I belong to and represent the great body of citizens. Well, sir, I don't go to Onehunga. That is sinf al I am told. I don't go to North Shore, that is sinful too. I don't go to the Domain, that is sinful too. I don't walk in the streets, that is sinful too, I won't go to Church for it does me no good ; and J deny the right of any man to compel me. I goonce in the day, in the morning, for form's sake and to please the missus, but I heat nothing that I don't already know. What am I to do on the Sunday, or the "Sabbath," if you will ? The most comfortable place I find is the parlor of the public house, for my,. own house is not comfortable, the children l squall, and I have no books. What am I; to do with myself on "Sabbath?" And when I say myself, I mean the eighteen: I others who like myself are not good, bat only what you may call decent men. Pat I me where you like and I won't engage in " pious meditation." I don't like it and I can't do it; so wherever you stick me, if you shut me up in a bottle and cork it, I will still be doing what you call "sin ;" that is I will he thinking worldly things, and so "breaking the Sabbath;" and mind I am speaking about the eighteen other decent men as well as myself. As, according to the theory of " Hy. T." and other good men, I must necessarily be " breaking the Sabbath" by thiiJaag worldly | things, might I not as well do it in improving my mind reading Macaulay in the Mechanics, as in either loafing at home or drinking at the neighbouring tap. " Hy. T." speaks of me and the likes of me as desiring to "ignore and trample upon the rights of seven-eighths of the members." lam sure Ido nothing of . the sort. If they wi3h to go to church o» loaf or engage in pious meditation at home, or even go to sleep, as hundreds do, I'm sure they are welcome for me. But I want myself to read in the library. I am not going to foroe the seven-eighths to " break the Sabbath" by reading along with me. I only want a book myself, and I am sure I will not annoy them by making any noise. If lam doing harm to myself that is my look out. and I deny their right to prevent me. "Trample oa their rights," indeed ! Why, sir, I weald not trample on the rights of a flea ; but I ask why should the seven - eighths trample on my rights ? I don't interfere with their going to Church, although I may think it a great loss of time, and that they would be better communing with nature in the fresh green fields. Thea what right have they to interfere with my going to the library on Sunday, or stigmatise my little want of an open Mechanics' as a " vile addition " to our " social evils." I am afraid, sir, that we have in this a little remnant of that priestcraft which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear, and that tbe spirit which would prevent us from reading in the library on the " Sabbath," because it would be sinful is the same that long ago put on the thumbscrew for the good of the soul of the sufferer. It is barely possible that the counter-attraction of a well* warmed, well-lighted comfortable library on Sunday might thin the attendance at Church, and that this may have something to do with the desire to circumscribe the reasonable enjoyments of the "day of rest." At all events, sir, I deny the right of " Hy T. " or any other man to prescribe to me the way in which I must spend my Sunday.—l ani| &c, A Decent Man.