Article September 21, 1899 Issue

Inducements to Churchgoers

Post Dispatch

Several churches in Philadelphia have set up "cradle rooms" as an inducement to fathers and mothers to attend divine service.

A cradle room is a nursery. The parents whose baby is too little to be left alone or to behave well in the pew, bring the child with them and leave it in charge of an attendant, taking a check therefor. It is said that this happy contrivance has increased attendance fifteen or twenty per cent.

This experiment is only a beginning. It is bound to suggest further attractions. A lunch-counter might draw the reluctant worshipers to church. The Sunday School might be made alluring by candy and fruits. That is, Santa Claus should be on hand all the year round. In a great variety of ways the churches might be filled.

Nevertheless, a lingering doubt remains whether devotion induced by any such bribes has real piety in it. At any rate, it is religion which belongs to the outside of things, not to the inner life, and the question presses, Why don't people go to church? Why is it necessary to beg and persuade? Will some wise man answer?—St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Has a Man a Right to Die?