Hence _J. Möser_, Patr. Ph., III, 40, desired, on this account, that work in the evening should be prohibited by law. In England, not only the moral necessity, but also the economic general utility of leisure time of workmen has been defended, among others by _Postlethwayt_, Dictionary of Trade and Commerce, I, prelim. Discourse, 1751. A beautiful law, V Moses 24, 15. Only, care must be taken not to go to the other extreme, which is still more detrimental to personality. The North American ideal of 8 hours a day for work, 8 for eating, sleeping, etc., and 8 for leisure, would be injurious except to workmen intellectually very active. But the provision to be met with in many states of the Union and in the arsenal employ of the government, that in case of doubt, the work day is to be tacitly assumed as of 8 hours, has, it is said, correspondingly lowered wages. See _supra_, § 168.]
[Footnote 173-7: In India, where the institution of caste is found, nearly half the year is made up of feast days, while in rationalistic China there is no Sunday and very few general holidays. (_Klemm_, A. Kulturgeschicht. VI, 425. _Wray_, The practical Sugar Planter, 1849.) The Judaic-Christian sanctification of the seventh day is a happy medium between these two extremes. Recuperation and collectedness get their due without its costing too much to action. _Ora et labora!_ Compare _Sismondi_, N. P. II, ch. 5. Which is best, traveling on foot, to drag along all the time, or to walk decently and rest properly between times? The rest of Sunday, even leaving the work of recuperation and edification out of account, is necessary in the interests of the family and of cleanliness. The French _decadis_ accomplished materially even too little: _ils ont à faire à deux ennemis, qui ne cèderont pas, la barbe et la chemise blanche_. (_B. Constant._) Hence, an English prize essay on the material advantages of Sunday found 1,045 competitors among English working men. (Tübinger Zeitschr., 1851, 363.)]
[Footnote 173-8: Thus _Parkinson_, A Tour in America, complains that with four servants in the house, he was obliged to polish his own shoes, and with his wife and children to milk the cows, while his people were still asleep. Strange servants bringing a message, come in with their hats on. All domestics are called mister or misses. Servant maids are called "helps," and their masters, "employers." If a person at a hotel asks for a laundress, he is answered: "Yes, man, I will get a lady to wash your clothes." Similarly in _Fowler_, Lights and Shadows,... three Years' Experience in Australia. But, at the same time, it is remarkable how seldom a native born white American accepts a fee. On the other hand, Russia is the classic land of fees. There is a popular story in that country to the effect that when God divided the earth among the different nations, they were all satisfied except the Russians, who begged a little drink-money or fee in addition, (_von Haxthausen_, Studien, I, 70.) Similarly in Egypt. (_Ebers_, Durch Gosen zum Sinai, 1873, 31 seq.) The system of feeing servants holds a middle place between the modern system of paying for everything lawfully and the medieval system in which people either rob, donate or beg.]