THE LORD'S DAY OBSERVANCE SOCIETY
SIR,—The campaigns of the Lord's Day Observance Society are not intended as jokes, though " A Spectator's Notebook " suggests that they are. I am glad that you recognise the arguable nature of ordinary com- mercial theatres on Sundays, but when you say that we deprive the troops of Sunday entertainments, you go sadly adrift. What are the facts? At Worcester and at Dover and at Tunbridge Wells the concerts were definitely advertised to and for the public, with charges for admission. At Dover, it is true, the revue was to be given by an all-Forces cast, but it was not intended only for the Forces. The matter of the charity in the background was not, and is not, the fundamental issue at stake. You do not seem to recognise that the Entertainments Act of 5932 A.D. specifically deprives of legal status Sunday variety and dramatic presentations, white at the same time making permissible certain other forms of entertainment. Why the promoters openly attempted to defy a reasonable law by obtruding variety items and drama into their programmes is worthy of closer investigation by responsible members of the Press. In any case, the law is not so obsolete as popular fancy imagines. Sunday belongs to the English tradition, and comes to us invested not only with Divine authority, but with a profound purpose. The principles which govern it ought not to be handed over to caprice, even in the name of freedom, for a greater than freedom is integrity, and less than both is license.—Thanking you,
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