CITIZENS AND SOLDIERS.

59

probabilities, of large ventures and small returns, of mistaken investments, of unpropitious bargains. You know perfectly well that trade-life witnesses something of this sort every day; and does not life in its broader field testify to the same truth? If war ever again should visit this island,—and who can say how soon we may be called upon to fight for our very existence ?—should you feel quite comfortable in the thought that men were paid to defend you, if you could not in the stress of danger handle a weapon yourself? Would you say at such a moment as that, 'Wife, children, parents, the enemy is approaching, our town may soon be attacked, but I shall not attempt to defend it or you, for in paying my taxes I have done all that can be expected of an Englishman?' You could not speak in that language then, and you have no right to use it now. Better and wiser would it be for you to throw aside all arguments of that nature, and to join a Rifle Brigade tomorrow."

We do not hesitate to affirm that the Saturday Half-holiday, like the Early Closing Movement, is a subject national, we had almost said cosmopolitan, in its interest. For the holiday would form one noble barrier against a tide of evil which threatens to overwhelm us. The frightful incubus of toil must be removed. The millions of England's sons who are now groaning under the slavery of Mammon-worship must gain their freedom-that freedom which the

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A NATIONAL INTEREST.

future welfare of society demands, and which is compatible with its present interests. The exigencies of the time seem especially to call for such liberty. Every man may ere long be required to take a direct part in the defence of his country; every man should be prepared for such a contingency. The Saturday Half-holiday would combine, with all its other advantages, an opportunity for rifle practice, of which a large army of young men would gladly avail themselves.

It has been declared by men, who on such matters speak with professional authority, that in future wars the heroic struggles between man and man which form such a striking feature of the Homeric poetry, are likely to be resorted to once more, and that, both on sea and land, physical prowess, and that strength of nerve and limb by which men were wont to conquer in the olden time, will be the main instruments of Whether this be true or no, there can be no question that the health of the country, and especially of the young men and women who will be the progenitors of the next generation, is assuredly a national interest. If the national strength degenerate, it follows that the kingdom will decline. If the wealth

success.

and commercial prosperity of the land can only be purchased by that sickening and destructive toil which must produce eventually a worn-out and emasculated race, it were better far to pause at once in the career of gain; better even to return, if that

COMMERCE NOT UNFRIENDLY TO HAPPINESS. 61

were possible, to the simple life of an agricultural and pastoral people. What matter is it how many thousands of pounds we make, compared with how we make them?" Happily, however, there is no necessity for a measure so desperate as this. Commerce does not demand its victims, nor is the highest commercial success incompatible with the freedom and happiness of the men through whose aid that success has been achieved. Englishmen have a great deal of work in them, and an energy which is unconquerable. See to it that the enjoyment of their labour is not turned to sorrow by the thoughtlessness or avarice of capitalists; that their energy is not overcome by the weight of useless and oppressive toil; and there need be no fear that this country will fail in maintaining its commercial status.

The Half-holiday, if, as we have shown, it can be pleaded for on national grounds, will evidently prove a benefit to society the more widely it is extended. There is not one of us who will not be more or less affected by a boon which gives to a large mass of our countrymen the hope and opportunity of becoming better men in body and in soul, in their social relations, in their position as citizens of a great country.

And here it may not be unfitting to remark, that the way in which one portion of our subject dovetails with another is so striking, that the arguments we may urge in one portion of this Essay, are almost

62

OLD SAWS AND MODERN INSTANCES.

equally applicable to another portion. In proving, for instance, that employers would gain by the concession, we prove indirectly the advantages of the holiday to the employed. In viewing the boon from a national' stand-point, as we have just done, we show its physical advantages to the workers, and the benefit it offers to society; and when we prove the tendency of the Saturday Half-holiday to promote Sabbath observance, we shall be aiming a blow also at Sunday trading, although that subject will demand a separate and careful investigation. The whole question is in truth indivisible, although, for convenience and method, it may be needful to part it off into sections. But to return to our subject.

In pointing out some other ways in which the Saturday Half-holiday will benefit society, our remarks will have the advantage of being extremely obvious, perhaps, also, the disadvantage of being somewhat tame and trite. The simple utterance of an obvious truth must, however, always be attended with this drawback. No "elegant dressing" will convince us of anything which a number of simple statements cannot make equally obvious. If, then, the reader complain of want of novelty, let him remember that there is no way of burnishing up old truths like acting upon them," and that "duty is done truisms.' upon

When we say that the Half-holiday will benefit * "Claims of Labour," p. 259.

THE BRAMBLE ORDER.

63

society, we mean that it will benefit the individuals of which society is composed. If society could be represented as countries are upon a globe, or if it could be mapped out like a man's skull, it might be possible, by lineal indications, to show the effect of such a movement as we are advocating. This would be a help to some minds. When Tabitha Bramble was told that the thunder had soured two barrels of beer in the cellar, she could not comprehend how the thunder could get there, when the cellar was double locked; and the good lady strictly ordered her housekeeper not to throw the sour beer away, till she had "seen it with her own eyes." Scarcely less foolishly unreasonable are the demands made by living men and women of the Bramble order, to have a palpable proof of what can be better felt and appreciated than But though, happily, the effects of the Saturday Half-holiday are not invisible, it is chiefly by inference that we can show the benefit it offers to society at large.

seen.

However, though we cannot prove our position by pointing to so much gain in one town arising from the Half-holiday, and so much loss suffered from the want of it in another, we shall be able to add something to what has already been stated, which will increase the force of our argument.

And, first of all, we may legitimately infer, from the good effect produced by early closing, that a boon so similar in character will produce a like result, for