SUNDAY IN SCOTLAND

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 April 1937, Page 13

SUNDAY IN SCOTLAND

NO MERE MATTER OF WOR'DS

Scotland’s Sabbath has been unchanged by modern ideas, says PatTick Grimley in the “Sunday Express.” Recently a young Scots ship’s steward obeyed an order of a tribunal of the Free Presbyterian Church' of Scotland to place his kirk before his job, because his steamer left Stornoway for the mainland on a Sunday. Rigid adherence to a moral code set up four centuries ago is strongest in the Highlands and Hebrides, hut even in the cities of Scotland the Sabbath is solemnly observed. In Glasgow on the Sabbath cinemas, theatres,, public-houses and billiard saloons are closed, and only a few restaurants and small shops in the suburbs are open.

Scots who want a pint of hitter must cross the Border, and there is an alcoholic invasion of England every Sunday morning all along the boundary between the two countries. In Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh no games are allowed in municipal parks, courts or courses. No charity film shows are allowed, but permission is sometimes given for charity concerts to be held in cinemas on Sunday evenings.

Fishing fleets remain in Scottish ports from Saturday till midnight on Sunday.

Sunday excursions by train or omnibus were rare till after the war.

Strong protests against excursions have been made repeatedly from church pulpits. In many districts in the Highlands visitors have been refused food and refreshments. Ministers in Fort William recently protested against excursion trains entering or leaving the town during hours when church services were being held. The railway company has granted their request that trains should enter and leave before or after services.

In the Highlands and Isles, where the Free Presbyterian Church is strongest, many people will not cook, bring in fuel, shave, clean shoes, or hire cars or motor-boats on Sunday. Children and aged men and women walk ten miles over rough roads and sodden tracks to and from church twice on the Sabbath rather than accept. a fide in a car or bus. In the city many members of the Church walk miles, although tramcars and buses pass them on the way.

The Church also condemns bazaars, sales of work, social meetings, whist drives, football, cricket, golf, badminton, boxing, dramatic clubs and rambling. Whistling and singing songs on the Sabbath are strictly forbidden. The only reading allowed on Sunday to members of the Free Presbyterian Church are the Bible, books of sermons, and religious works.