DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4649#0175
156 THE SABBATH.
in due form in their own abode. On the Sab-
bath they make it a point to bathe and change
their apparel; the public offices are closed, and
the shops partially shut until mid-day; the
rulers,—as Kings or Nuwaubs,—distinguish the
day, by not receiving their courtiers and the
public visitors, as on other days. Charitable
donations are likewise more bountifully dis-
pensed from the rich to the poor on Friday.
These observances serve to convince us that
they believe in the constituted Sabbath; still
there is not that strict respect for the holy day
which could satisfy the scrupulous feelings of
a Christian; the servants are quite as much
employed on Friday as on any other day;—the
dhurzie (tailor), dhobhie (washerman), and in-
deed the whole establishment of servants and
slaves, male and female, find their work undi-
minished on the Sabbath. The ladies amuse
themselves with cards or dice, the singing wo-
men even are quite as much in request as on
other days; and all the amusements of life,
are indulged in without once seeming to suspect
that they are disobeying the law of God, or
in due form in their own abode. On the Sab-
bath they make it a point to bathe and change
their apparel; the public offices are closed, and
the shops partially shut until mid-day; the
rulers,—as Kings or Nuwaubs,—distinguish the
day, by not receiving their courtiers and the
public visitors, as on other days. Charitable
donations are likewise more bountifully dis-
pensed from the rich to the poor on Friday.
These observances serve to convince us that
they believe in the constituted Sabbath; still
there is not that strict respect for the holy day
which could satisfy the scrupulous feelings of
a Christian; the servants are quite as much
employed on Friday as on any other day;—the
dhurzie (tailor), dhobhie (washerman), and in-
deed the whole establishment of servants and
slaves, male and female, find their work undi-
minished on the Sabbath. The ladies amuse
themselves with cards or dice, the singing wo-
men even are quite as much in request as on
other days; and all the amusements of life,
are indulged in without once seeming to suspect
that they are disobeying the law of God, or