Millie Armstrong, age 17, of Williamsport, Pa., for her question:

WHAT ARE BLUE LAWS?

Blue laws were the first printed laws of the New Haven Colony in Connecticut and were given the name because they were bound in blue paper. They were strict laws.

Today the term blue laws refers to laws designed to enforce morality as some lawmakers understand it, such as prohibiting certain types of recreation on Sunday. A man named Samuel Peters published a book called "A General History of Connecticut" in London in 1781, in which he inaccurately listed some laws that probably were never strictly enforced.

Here are some of those early blue laws: No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep house, cut hair or shave on the Sabbath day. No one shall cross a river on Sunday but an authorized clergyman. No one shall make minced pies, dance, play cards or play on any instrument of music.