"Studying."
Paul's mother was surprised.
"We try to keep Sunday different from other days. After this we shall understand that you are not to study on Sundays."
A little more than two weeks later, Paul came home from school.
"Sammy is a funny boy," he remarked.
Sammy is a schoolmate.
"What has he done?" inquired Paul's mother.
"Why, Sammy gets his lessons on Sunday."
Two Sundays had sufficed for the establishment of a tradition in religion so complete that a violation of it seemed grotesque.
In regard to the observance of Sunday, one household has reversed the traditional rule. The ritual characteristic of that family originated in a bachelor uncle's remark. He recalled how alluring were those books which had been forbidden him, as a boy, on Sunday, and how gray a day Sunday was because those books were proscribed. He advocated the plan of selecting certain interesting books, which would be forbidden on week-days. In other words, he would remove the ban from Sundays, and put it on the other six days. His plan was adopted. Certain delights, including several volumes of stories from the Bible, were confined to Sunday. In consequence, Bible stories are in great favor, and Sunday is a day of privilege. In that household the ritual of Sunday observance is a ritual of liberty.