{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_35050/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_35050","id":"gutenberg_35050","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35050","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Teaching & Education","Sunday schools"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Emmy, Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was\nproduced from images generously made available by The\nInternet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic\ntext by _underscores_.\n\n\nMODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUALS\n\nEdited by Charles Foster Kent in Collaboration with John T. McFarland\n\nORGANIZING AND BUILDING UP THE SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\nBy JESSE LYMAN HURLBUT\n\n[Illustration]\n\n          NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS\n          CINCINNATI: JENNINGS & GRAHAM\n\n\n\n\n          Copyright, 1910, by\n          EATON & MAINS\n\n\n\n\nTABLE OF CONTENTS\n\n\n                                                             PAGE\n     I. The Historic Principles Underlying the Sunday School\n           Movement                                             7\n    II. The Constitution of the Sunday School                  14\n   III. The Necessity and Essentials of a Graded Sunday\n           School                                              21\n    IV. The Grading of the Sunday School                       30\n     V. The Departments of the Graded Sunday School            37\n    VI. The Superintendent                                     46\n   VII. The Superintendent's Duties and Responsibilities       53\n  VIII. The Associate and Department Superintendents           63\n    IX. The Secretary of the Sunday School                     69\n     X. The Treasury and the Treasurer                         75\n    XI. Value of the Sunday School Library                     81\n   XII. The Management of the Library                          91\n  XIII. The Teacher's Qualifications and Need of Training      98\n   XIV. The Training and Task of the Teacher                  105\n    XV. The Constituency of the Sunday School                 113\n   XVI. Recruiting the Sunday School                          122\n  XVII. The Tests of a Good Sunday School                     129\n        Appendix                                              135\n\n\n\n\nPREFATORY\n\n\nIN the preparation of this volume the purpose was to supply a convenient\nhandbook upon the organization, the management, and the recruiting of\nthe Sunday school, to be read by those desiring information upon these\nsubjects. But after the larger part of the work had been prepared a\ndesire was expressed that the method of treatment be so modified that\nthe volume might be employed as a text-book for classes and individual\nstudents in the department of teacher-training. It has been the aim of\nthe author not to alter the work so materially as to render it unfitting\nfor the general reader; and with this in view the series of blackboard\noutlines for the teacher, and the questions for the testing of the\nstudent's knowledge, have been placed at the end of the book. In the\nhope that both the reader and the student may receive profit from these\npages the book is committed to the public.\n\n                                           =JESSE LYMAN HURLBUT.=\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nTHE HISTORIC PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL MOVEMENT\n\n\n1. =Magnitude of the Sunday-School Movement.= At the opening of the\ntwentieth century the Sunday school stands forth as one of the largest,\nmost widely spread, most characteristic, and most influential\ninstitutions of the Anglo-Saxon world. Wherever the English race is\nfound the Sunday school is established, in the Mother isle, on the\nAmerican continent, at the Cape of Good Hope, and in Australasia. In the\nUnited States and Canada it has a following of fourteen million members,\nrepresenting every religious denomination. Its periodical literature has\na wider circulation than that of any other modern educational movement.\nIt touches every class of society, from the highest to the lowest; and\nits largest membership is found among the young, who are of all ages the\nmost susceptible to formative forces. It is safe to say that this\ninstitution has exerted a powerful influence upon the majority of the\nmen and women of to-day, and is now shaping the character of millions\nwho will be the men and women of to-morrow.\n\n2. =A Modern Movement.= Great as it appears in our time, the Sunday\nschool is comparatively a modern institution. Undoubtedly, the germ of\nit can be traced back to that source of all the religious life of the\ncivilized world, the Hebrew people. The elemental principle of the\nSunday school is possibly to be found in the prophetic guilds before the\nExile, and the schools of the Jewish scribes after the Restoration. The\ngreat Bible class of Ezra (Neh. 8) was not unlike a modern Sunday\nschool. Yet as an organized institution the Sunday school began with\nRobert Raikes, the philanthropist of Gloucester, England, who on one\nSunday in 1780 called together a group of street boys in a room on Sooty\nAlley, and employed young women to teach them the rudiments of reading\nand religion. If Raikes had not happened to be the editor of the town\nnewspaper, and in constant need of copy, his Sunday school might soon\nhave been forgotten. But from time to time he published concerning it\nparagraphs which were copied into other papers and attracted attention,\nso that the Sooty Alley Sunday school became the parent of a vast\nprogeny throughout the United Kingdom and beyond the seas. No\ninstitution then in existence, or recorded in church history, suggested\nto Robert Raikes either the name or the plan. Both arose out of his own\ngood heart and active mind. But since his day both the name \"Sunday\nschool\" and its plan of working have been perpetuated, and every Sunday\nschool in the world is a monument to Robert Raikes, the editor of\nGloucester.\n\n3. =A Lay Movement.= It is a significant fact that the first Sunday\nschool was established not by a priest, but by a private member of the\nChurch of England, that its earliest teachers were not curates, nor\nsisters, but young women of the laity, and that throughout its history\nthe movement has been directed and carried forward, in all lands and\namong nearly all denominations, by lay workers.[1] This is noteworthy,\nbecause in the eighteenth century, far more than in our time, the\nteaching of religion was regarded as the peculiar function of the\nclergy, and lay preaching was frowned upon as irregular. The earliest\nSunday school may have been preserved from churchly opposition by its\nown insignificance; or it may have won the favor of the clergy by the\nfact that all its pupils at the close of the morning session were\nregularly marched to church. Whatever the cause may have been, it is\ncertain that under a providence which we must regard as divine, both in\nits beginning and throughout its history, the Sunday school, although a\nlaymen's movement, has received favor, and not opposition, from the\nclergy and the Church.\n\n4. =Unpaid Workers.= It has been stated that Raikes paid the young women\nwho taught in his Sunday school a penny for each Sunday. But as the\nmovement went onward the conductors and teachers were soon giving their\nservice freely; and this has been the prevailing rule throughout the\nworld. There are a few Sunday schools wherein a curate or assistant\npastor is the superintendent, and a few mission schools that employ a\nsalaried teacher who works through the week as a visitor; but it may be\nasserted that the world-wide army of Sunday-school workers lay upon the\naltar of the Church their free-hearted, unpaid offering of time, study,\nand effort. This has been and is a noble, a self-denying, a splendid\nservice; but it has also been a potent element in the progress of the\nmovement. Those who would establish a school, alike in the city and on\nthe frontier, have not been compelled to wait until funds could be\nraised for the salary of a superintendent and teachers. If only churches\nrich enough to pay for workers had established Sunday schools in our\ncountry, the Sunday school as an institution would not have advanced\nwestward with the wave of population. And not only has the unpaid\nservice aided the growth of the movement, it has also added to its moral\nand religious power. The pupils and their parents have recognized that\nthe teachers were working not for pay, but from love for their scholars\nand their Saviour; and that love has imparted to their message a power\nall its own.\n\n5. =Self-supporting.= The Sunday school has been from the beginning and\neven now remains in large measure a self-supporting movement. It\neverywhere involves expense for furniture, for teaching requisites, for\nsong books, for libraries; but for the most part the money to meet these\nexpenses has been contributed in the school, among its own members, and\nnot by the church. Instances are on record, even, where the church, in\nformer times, charged and received rent for the use of its property by\nthe Sunday school! Such short-sighted practice has been rare, but\nmultitudes of churches have found the Sunday school a source of far\ngreater profit than expense. In other words, those who have done the\nwork of the school have also paid its bills, and many families that have\nreceived its benefits have been exempt from its burdens. It is\nnoteworthy, however, that this condition is passing away, that churches\nare awakening to their responsibility and opportunity, and are giving to\nthe Sunday school that liberal support which its work requires and\ndeserves. In the ratio of investment and return, no department of the\nchurch costs so little and rewards so richly as an efficient Sunday\nschool.\n\n6. =Self-governing.= As a result of being self-supporting, the Sunday\nschool has also been a self-governing institution. Paying its own way\nand asking no favor, it has been almost everywhere an independent body,\naccepting no outside authority. It has grown up almost unrecognized and\nunnoticed by the churches. Fifty years ago scarcely one of the\ndenominations, great or small, gave the Sunday school recognition as an\nintegral part of its system. Little attention was paid to it in the\nruling body of the local church. It chose its own officers, obtained its\nown teachers, made its own rules, and for its teachings was responsible\nto no ecclesiastical authority. It was generally an ally to, but\nindependent of, the church. In this respect a gradual change has taken\nplace. Its relations are now much closer, its position is defined; and\nthe institution is sanctioned and supervised by the church.\n\n7. =Self-developing.= The system of the Sunday school has been evolved\nwithout guidance or control from any human authority. It has been from\nthe first self-organizing, and has been also self-developing. Some might\nconsider the form which it has taken accidental; but it is better to\nregard it as providential. The men and women who laid the foundations\nof the Sunday school were building under a divine direction of which\nthey were unconscious. Working apart from each other, on both sides of\nthe sea, and separated by wilderness and prairie, everywhere they\nestablished an institution under the same general principles, and with\nsubstantial unity in its plans. Perhaps one cause for its unity of\nmethod is that it arose in the midst of the Anglo-Saxon race, a people\nwhich has instinctive tendencies toward law, system, and organization.\nIf it had started among a Latin people, where men, and not systems,\nrule, there might have been a different form of organization, with\ndifferent aims, with different titles for officers, in every province.\nBut throughout the English-speaking world, which is the habitat of the\nSunday school, the institution bears the same name. Its principal or\nconductor is called a superintendent--cumbrous though the title may\nbe--and its working force are known as teachers.\n\n8. =Bible Study.= The most prominent trait in the Sunday school of the\npresent is that it has become the most extensive movement for\ninstruction in the Sacred Scriptures that the world has yet seen. All\nthese millions of members, young and old, are engaged in the study of\none book--the Holy Bible. Many of these millions, indeed, study the\nBible superficially, unintelligently, with narrow interpretations and\ncrude methods; yet in the Sunday schools of the lowest type as well as\nof the highest some portion of the Bible every week is brought to the\nscholars' attention. That the Bible is so generally known and so widely\ncirculated, that the demand for this ancient book warrants the printing\nof more than ten million copies every year, is due more to the Sunday\nschool, with all its defects of method, than to any other institution.\nThis concentration of attention upon the Bible has grown gradually in\nthe Sunday school. In the eighteenth century Sunday school, both of\nEngland and America, religious instruction was only one of its aims; and\nit was instruction in the catechism and forms of worship rather than in\nthe Bible. But by slow degrees the Bible came more prominently to the\nfront, until now the Sunday school is everywhere the school with one\ntext-book. He who surveys the Sunday school through the inner eye\nbeholds it on one day in each week covering the continent with its\nmillions of students, all face to face with some portion of the great\ntext-book of religion. The thoughtful observer will reflect that a\npeople whose children and youth come into weekly contact with the living\nword will not wander far from the path of righteousness.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[1] An exception is to be noted in the Sunday schools of the Roman\nCatholic Church, where most of the teachers belong to religious orders.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nTHE CONSTITUTION OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\n\nThe general characteristics of the Sunday school, as they have gradually\ndeveloped during its long history, must be considered in any plan for\norganizing and conducting an individual school. The institution should\nbe studied both ideally and practically: practically, to ascertain what\nthe Sunday school has been and is now; yet ideally, with a view to\ndeveloping its highest efficiency and largest usefulness. Such a plan\nfor the specific Sunday school may be called its constitution. It is\ndesirable to have the constitution in written or printed form, but it is\nnot necessary. There is no more complete system than the government of\nGreat Britain, yet it has no written constitution; and Mr. James Bryce\nhas shown us in America that the instrument known as the Constitution of\nthe United States by no means represents our own actual method of\ngovernment. In every nation there is an unwritten law, wrought out of a\npeople's consciousness, which is more imperative and enduring than any\nparchment scroll or printed form.\n\nThe general principles to be maintained in establishing and developing a\nSunday school are the following:\n\n1. =Aim.= The primary aims of the Sunday school are religious\ninstruction, character-development, and effective service. It is not to\nteach history, nor science, nor sociology, but religion; and not merely\nto impart a knowledge of religion to the intellect of its pupils, but,\ninfinitely more important, to make religion an effective force in the\nlife of the individual scholar. As a Christian institution, in the\ndefinition given by one of its greatest leaders,[2] \"The Sunday school\nis a department of the Church of Christ, in which the word of Christ is\ntaught, for the purpose of bringing souls to Christ, and of building up\nsouls in Christ.\" If it be in connection with a Jewish synagogue or\ntemple--as are some of the best Sunday schools or Sabbath schools in our\nland--it is for the purpose of instruction in the faith of the ancient\nfathers, and of making their teachings live again in the men and women\nof to-day. A true religious education, such as the Sunday school seeks\nto give, will include three aims: (1) knowledge, (2) character, (3)\nservice. There must be an intellectual grasping of the truth; a\ncharacter built on the truth, out of faith in God, and the life of God\ninspiring the human soul; and service for God and humanity. The Sunday\nschool seeks to develop not only saints in fellowship with God, but\nworkers for God, who shall strive to realize on earth the kingdom of\nGod, not seeking to be ministered unto but to minister. There have been\ncenturies in the past when the Christian ideal was the cloistered saint,\nliving apart in communion with God. But that was a pitiably incomplete\nconception of the perfect man. In our age we have the larger ideal of\nsaintliness with service; and to promote this should be the aim of every\nSunday school.\n\n2. =Method.= To attain its aim the Sunday school employs the teaching\nmethod. The Sunday school is not, as some weak-minded people have called\nit, \"the nursery of the church.\" Nor is it, as it has been named, \"the\nBible service\"; for, although it holds a service, it is more than a\nservice. It is not--or should not be--a gathering of groups, large or\nsmall, where silent hearers listen to sermonettes by little preachers,\nmiscalled teachers. It holds a service imbued with the spirit of\nworship, yet worship is not its central purpose. It should have music,\nbut it is not primarily a service of song. It should be pervaded by an\natmosphere of happiness, but mere enjoyment is not its object. The\nSunday school is a _school_: and the very word shows that its aim is\ninstruction and character formation, and its method is that of teaching.\nFor the work of a Sunday school the essentials are three:\n\n(1) There must be the living teacher who is fitted to inspire, to\ninstruct, and to guide. His part is not merely to pour knowledge into\nhis pupils, but to awaken thought, to guide the search for truth, to\ncall forth expression in character and in action.[3]\n\n(2) There must also be the scholar who is to be taught. It is his part\nin the process of instruction not merely to listen and to remember, not\nmerely to receive impressions, but to give expression to the teaching,\nin life, in character, in influence, and in service. The true\neffectiveness of the teaching in the Sunday school will be shown by the\nreproductive power of the truth in the life of the scholar.\n\n(3) There must be a text-book in the hands of both the teacher and the\npupil. In any school for religious instruction one book will of\nnecessity stand prominent, that great Book of books which records the\ndivine revelation to man. The Sunday school may teach history,\ngeography, institutions, doctrines, literature of the Bible, but these\nonly as a framework or a foundation for the education of the heart into\na personal fellowship with God. This character-molding, faith-impelling\nforce is the divine truth taught in the Bible through the experiences\nand teachings of patriarchs, prophets, priests, psalmists, sages, and\napostles, and above all by the words and life and redemptive work of the\nMaster himself. And the subjects of study in the Sunday school need not\nbe limited to the text of Scripture. There may be extra-biblical\nmaterial for the teaching of character and service; and all this should\nbe open to the Sunday school.\n\n3. =Relation to the Church.= However independent of the church\norganization the Sunday school may have been in its beginnings, and\nhowever self-dependent some union Sunday schools may of necessity be in\ncertain churchless regions, the general fact is established that the\nSunday school as an institution belongs to the church, is under the care\nof the church, has a claim upon moral and financial support by the\nchurch, should be a feeder to the membership of the church, and should\ngratefully accept the supervision of the church. It should regard itself\nand be recognized by all as in many ways the most important department\nof the church.\n\n4. =Government.= All power must be under direction, and the mighty\nenergies of the Sunday school especially need a wise, strong guidance.\nIn the general management of the Sunday school two elements should be\nrecognized: (1) the rights of the workers and (2) the authority of the\nchurch.\n\n(1) It must ever be kept in mind that the Sunday school is an army of\nvolunteers. Its workers are men and women who of their own accord give\nto the school without compensation their gift of service. Those who make\nsuch a contribution to the success of the Sunday school should certainly\nhave a voice in its management.\n\n(2) But it is not to be forgotten, on the other side, that the Sunday\nschool is not superior to the church, nor independent of it, but\nsubsidiary to it; hence the church should be able to exercise some\ncontrol over the school if such control shall ever be needed. For\nexample, in the choice of a superintendent, who is the executive officer\nof the school, the ruling body of the local church and the working body\nof teachers and officers should unite. No one should undertake to\nconduct a church Sunday school unless he thus has the definite assurance\nthat his teachers are with him, and that his church is officially\nsupporting him.\n\n5. =Officers.= Little need be said here on this subject, for it is one\nwith which every worker is familiar.\n\n(1) There must be a leader, or manager, the executive head of the\nschool, who is universally styled the superintendent. If we were\norganizing a new institution, and not describing one already world-wide\nand with officers already named by common usage and consent, we would\nprefer that the executive of the Sunday school receive the title of\nPrincipal or Director; but the somewhat awkward word Superintendent is\nsettled upon him, and will remain.\n\n(2) There must also be an assistant superintendent, or more than one, as\nthe size of the school may demand. The better title is associate\nsuperintendent, as is now given in the larger number of well-organized\nschools. The superintendent should have the privilege of nominating his\nown associates or assistants, the nominations to be confirmed by the\nboard of teachers and officers.\n\n(3) There will be a secretary, with such assistants as he may require,\nto be nominated by the secretary and confirmed by the teachers.\n\n(4) There will be a treasurer, to care for the funds, and to disburse\nthem as ordered by the board of teachers, or the Sunday school as a\nwhole.\n\n(5) Lastly, but most important of all, there must be the working force\nof instructors, the faculty of the institution, its teachers, who should\nbe carefully chosen. The pastor, as well as the superintendent, should\nhave an active voice in their call, since they are his coworkers in the\nreligious instruction of the congregation.\n\n6. =Membership.= In the conception of a Sunday school, both ideal and\npractical, the constituency for which it is established must be\nconsidered. As has been noted, it was originally for children only, and\nonly for children who were destitute of home training, and outside of\nchurch relationship. The earliest Sunday schools were what are called\nin England ragged schools, and in America mission schools. But in the\nnoble evolution of the movement the Sunday school constituency has been\nvastly enlarged; and now it is recognized that the Sunday school is for\nall ages and all classes. It should embrace the young and old, the\nignorant and intelligent, the poor and rich, the sinner as well as the\nsaint. The Sunday school which fulfills its mission to society will\nwelcome all the world.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[2] Bishop John H. Vincent.\n\n[3] For qualifications and functions of the teacher see Chapters XIII\nand XIV.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nTHE NECESSITY AND ESSENTIALS OF A GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\n\n1. =The Necessity of Grading.= As the result of the gradual and unguided\nevolution of the Sunday school through a century or longer, most schools\nare now divided in a vague way into certain departments, generally known\nas the Primary, or Infant Class; the Youths Department, or Boys and\nGirls; and the Adult Department, or Bible Classes. Many who have charge\nof schools such as these regard them as graded, and so report them. But\nthe mere naming of departments does not constitute a graded school.\nWhoever studies the ungraded or loosely graded Sunday school will\nperceive in it certain evils which can be removed only by a thorough\nsystem of grading, maintained faithfully through a series of years. Some\nof these conditions which make the graded Sunday school an absolute\nnecessity are the following:\n\n(1) _The School as a Whole._ The close observer, looking at the entire\nschool, notes first of all that its gains and its losses in membership\nare at the extremes of its constituency. It is the normal condition for\nthe gains to come in the Primary section; for the little children in\nfamilies are attracted to the school or brought there by older children.\nThere is almost invariably a constant increase in this department,\nrequiring frequently the organization of new classes in the grade\nabove, among the younger boys and girls. But, on the other hand, there\nis a constant loss of older scholars. In most schools, at the age of\nfourteen, in what is known as the early adolescent period of life, the\npupils, for one reason or another, begin to drop out, and few enter to\ntake their places. Almost every school is thus growing at the bottom and\ndying at the top. The Primary classes are full, but the classes of those\nabove fourteen years are usually small--two large boys here, three\nyonder. And although girls continue in the school more frequently than\nboys, there will appear the same conditions--some large classes of girls\nand young women, but others where discouraged teachers are sitting down\nwith one, two, or three pupils. Six or eight years ago these same\nclasses came out from the Primary Department, each with eight or ten\npupils; now they are mere skeleton classes, barely alive, and threatened\nwith dissolution. Every earnest, thoughtful superintendent would rejoice\nto find some plan that will guarantee large classes of young people\nbetween sixteen and eighteen years of age, for this is the most vital\nperiod in the life of the individual. Such a plan is proposed in the\ngraded system.\n\n(2) _The Condition of the Classes._ Fixing the attention upon the\nseveral classes, the critic of the school system notes three unfavorable\nconditions:\n\n(a) There is the inequality in the size of classes, to which reference\nhas already been made. When classes come together by accident, pupils\nbringing their friends, or new members joining whatever classes they\nplease, some classes of boys or girls will inevitably be too large for\ngood government or good teaching, and others will be too small to\ncreate any enthusiasm, either in the teacher or the pupils.\n\n(b) There is also an inequality in the ages of pupils in the same class.\nA class may include one pupil or two pupils sixteen years old, and\nothers as young as ten, or even nine years; some who during the week are\nin the high school, and others who can scarcely read the verses assigned\nto them.\n\n(c) Where these inequalities of numbers and ages exist there is a lack\nof that class spirit which is an essential element of power in a\nwell-ordered Sunday school. Every class should be a unit, with a strong\nsocial bond; but this ideal cannot be realized when there are in the\nclass two or three youths in the noisy, assertive, self-conscious stage\nof early adolescence, and others who are several years younger. Nor can\nthere be a proper social bond in a class with only two or three members.\nThey are likely to be irregular in attendance, to find excuses for\nabsence or for leaving the school, until at last the discouraged teacher\nand the listless scholars together drop out of sight.\n\nFor the correction of these evils of inequality in numbers and in ages,\nand of this lack of class spirit, the only successful method is to grade\nthe school, and resolutely to keep it graded.\n\n(3) _Difficulties of Administration._ The difficulties which confront\nthe superintendent in the management of an ungraded school are many and\ngreat.\n\n(a) The first and ever-present difficulty is in obtaining teachers for\nnew classes. The constant growth of the Primary Department is his\nperennial perplexity. To relieve the congestion in the crowded Infant\nClass its older pupils must be brought into the main school, and\nteachers must be found for them. The superintendent is always seeking,\nand often seeking vainly, for new teachers.\n\n(b) Another difficulty is found in the attempt to transfer scholars from\none class to another. No matter how much out of place a pupil may be, it\nis almost impossible to transfer him to another class without incurring\nthe displeasure of the teacher, the scholar, or the scholar's family.\nAnd however overgrown or ill-assorted a class may have become, to divide\nit is a delicate task, almost sure to cause ill feeling. Also, when\nthere arises the need of a teacher for a new class just emerging from\nthe Primary Department, the natural plan would be to combine some of the\nskeleton classes in the other departments, and thereby release a teacher\nfor service with the new class. But the superintendent who attempts this\nplan finds that almost invariably it results in some of the older\nscholars leaving the school because their teacher is taken from them.\n\n2. =The Essentials of a Graded School.= Briefly stated, the essentials\nof a graded Sunday school are the following:[4]\n\n(1) _Departments._ The graded Sunday school is organized in certain\ndistinct groups, of which the most important, for our present purpose,\nare the Primary, Junior, Intermediate, and Senior Departments. To these\nwill be added the Beginners and Adult Departments when the subject comes\nup for a complete treatment. Each of these departments should have, if\npossible, a separate room; but if these rooms cannot be provided in the\nbuilding, the pupils should be seated by departments in the different\nparts of the one room. Perhaps it may be assumed that there is a\nseparate room for the Primary Department; then let those who have most\nrecently come from the Primary be seated on the right block of seats;\nthe Youths or Intermediate in the middle; and the Senior classes on the\nleft block, or vice versa. The younger classes of the department should\nhave the front seats, the older those in the rear, in regular gradation.\nThe school may be arranged in the order shown in this diagram:\n\n\n    +---------------------------------------------+\n    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|\n    ||  OLDER    |  |FOURTH YEAR |  |FOURTH YEAR ||\n    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|\n    |                                             |\n    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|\n    ||   OLDER   |  | THIRD YEAR |  | THIRD YEAR ||\n    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|\n    |                                             |\n    ||YOUNG WOMEN|  |SECOND YEAR |  |SECOND YEAR ||\n     +-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|\n    |                                             |\n    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|\n    || YOUNG MEN |  | FIRST YEAR |  | FIRST YEAR ||\n    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|\n    |  SENIORS      INTERMEDIATES      JUNIORS    |\n    |                                             |\n    |         +-----------------------+           |\n    |         |        PLATFORM       |           |\n    +---------+-----------------------+-----------+\n\n(2) _Classes._ The number of classes should be fixed for each\ndepartment, and their relationship established, so that when a group of\nscholars is promoted to a higher grade in the same department, or in the\nnext department, they do not enter as classes, but as individuals; not\nto form new classes in the department, but to be placed in classes\nalready formed. This plan will keep the classes in the Senior Department\nalways full, and avoid the unfortunate skeleton classes of the ungraded\nschool. It will also impress upon the pupils the importance of faithful\nwork.\n\n(3) _Promotions._ There should be annual and simultaneous promotions\nthroughout the school. One Sunday in the year should be set apart as\nPromotion Sunday; and on that day all promotions should be made. Those\nwho are to be advanced from the Intermediate to the Senior Department\nare called out by name and placed in their classes, which are not new\nclasses, but old classes replenished with new members. These promotions\nwill vacate the seats of the Fourth Year classes in the Intermediate\nDepartment. But these seats will at once be filled by the Third Year now\nbecoming the Fourth Year, and taking their seats; the Second Year pupils\nbecoming the Third Year; and the First Year the Second Year. The First\nYear of the Intermediate Department will be left vacant, to be filled by\npromotion of the Fourth Year in the Junior Department, and the moving up\nof classes to the year above in the same department; and the First Year\nof the Junior Department will be filled by promotion from the Primary\nDepartment.\n\n(4) _Teachers._ As groups of scholars pass either from one grade or from\none department to another there must also be a change of teachers. This\nconstitutes the crux of the entire system, and in its inception is apt\nto prove the most formidable obstacle in grading the school. The pupils,\nhowever, are accustomed to a system of promotions in the day school, and\nexpect to leave their teachers when they change their grades; but many\nof the teachers in the Sunday school, not being trained under the\nsystem, dislike to lose their scholars, and show their dissatisfaction\nin ways that affect their pupils. This difficulty must be overcome by\ntact and an appeal to unselfish motives; teachers must consent for the\nsake of the common good to give up their old classes and take new ones\nwhich begin in the department. The teacher may remain in the grade and\nreceive a new class each year as his pupils advance to a higher grade;\nor he may remain with the class and advance until the pupils pass from\ntheir former department to a higher one, as from Primary to Junior, from\nJunior to Intermediate, and from Intermediate to Senior. He should then\nreturn to a new first year's class in his own department and lead it\nthrough the course. If any teacher asks, \"Why cannot I go with my class\ninto the Senior Department?\" the answer is that if the plan be permitted\nfor one it must be recognized for all; and in the Senior Department\nthere will follow an increasing number of classes, with a relatively\ndiminishing membership in each class. The scholars also need the\ninspiration of contact with different teachers. Furthermore, the teacher\nwho is adapted to the Junior or Intermediate Department is rarely a\nsuitable teacher for Senior scholars. Hence there is need of a careful\nassignment of teachers no less than of pupils. Therefore, to maintain a\ngraded school the pupils must change teachers when they change\ndepartments.\n\n(5) _Lessons._ There should be graded lessons for each department. If a\ngraded system be followed in the school, as it should be, with different\nsubjects, text-books, and lessons for each department, giving to the\nentire school a regular, systematic, progressive curriculum, this\nrequisite will be met. If, however, the uniform lesson for all the\nschool be followed, as at present is still the case in many Sunday\nschools, the graded teaching must be given in the form of supplemental\nlessons, taught by the head of the department where it has a separate\nroom, or by the teacher if the departments must be assembled in one\nroom. In some form the graded teaching is an absolutely essential\nrequisite of the graded school. Most schools, when once thoroughly\ngraded, will realize the need of the next step in the evolution of the\ninstitution--lessons graded in subjects as well as in methods for the\nseveral departments.\n\n(6) _Basis of Promotion._ The question is often asked, \"Should\npromotions be made on the basis of age, or as the result of\nexaminations?\" The examination system may be regarded as desirable in\nthe Sunday school, but there are as yet few schools where thorough\nexaminations can be rigidly insisted on as a part of the school system,\nand promotions invariably made to depend upon standing. A school which\nmeets only once a week, for a session of less than an hour and a half,\nand with but one lesson period of forty minutes or even less, cannot\nmaintain the same strictness in its standards as the public school.\nMoreover, new scholars are continually entering the schools, and, while\nmost of them begin at the foot of the ladder in the Primary Department,\nyet others enter at various ages and in various grades. Any system of\npromotion based merely upon acquirement attested by examination is sure\nto become in many instances a meaningless form when applied to the\nSunday school. Yet acquirements and examinations need not be ignored in\nthe graded Sunday school. There may be certain ages at which the pupils\nshall by right pass from a lower grade to a higher. But it may also be\narranged that pupils who are exceptionally bright, well-informed, and\nstudious can be promoted a year in advance of their classmates by\npassing examination. Let the examination be given in writing to all the\npupils, and let all be urged to take it; with the promise that those who\npass will be promoted, even though they be less than the required age.\nBut let it also be understood that failure to pass the examination will\nnot keep the student for more than one year from promotion. In other\nwords, the examination may well be made the door through which earnest\nstudents may pass on, and so keep abreast of their equals in training\nand ability.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[4] For a more complete statement, see the volume of this series on The\nGraded Sunday School in Principle and Practice, by Dr. H. H. Meyer.\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nTHE GRADING OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\n\nThe question is often asked, \"How may an ungraded Sunday school be\nplaced on a graded basis?\" The work may seem simple, and easy of\naccomplishment, but when it is undertaken difficulties arise which must\nbe intelligently and tactfully met.\n\n1. =The Difficulties.= If all our Sunday-school teachers were trained\neducators, accustomed to the methods of the public school, they would\nsee at once the advantages of the graded system, and heartily enter into\nit. But most of our teachers are untrained, and their range of vision\noften fails to reach beyond their own class and their immediate\nenvironment. The relation between teachers and scholars is personal\nrather than official; and on both sides the personal equation often\ncomplicates the problem. In every school there are a few teachers who\nare so strongly influenced by their feeling for their pupils that they\nfail to recognize the needs of the school. There are also scholars,\nespecially in the sentimental early adolescent age, who are unwilling to\nleave their teachers when promotion is offered to them. But unless the\nchange of teachers is maintained the graded system will utterly fail to\nbenefit the school; it will be graded in name only, and not in fact.\nThis part of the program must be carried through, even though it may\ncost the school the loss of a teacher or two teachers and their\nscholars.\n\n2. =The Remedy= for this difficulty is only to be found in carefully\nconsidered action by presenting the necessity and value of the plan so\nclearly that the teachers as a whole will fully understand it,\nappreciate its importance, and heartily accept it. The grading should\nnot be attempted upon the mere fiat of the superintendent, nor on the\nvote of a bare majority of the workers. The teachers must recognize the\nself-sacrifice which it requires, and must make that self-sacrifice\ngenerously, giving up their scholars for the general good. The possible\nobjections of the scholars are more easily overcome, for they are\naccustomed in the public schools to promotions with change of teachers,\nand readily accommodate themselves to the same system in the Sunday\nschool. Thoughtfulness and kindness, with time, will soon remove the\nhindrances from the path of the graded school.\n\n3. =The Method of Grading.= The school may be graded in either of two\nways, the gradual or the simultaneous method.\n\n(1) In the gradual method the superintendent, with the concurrence of\nthe teachers, may announce that after a certain date all promotions will\nbe made in accordance with the graded system, leaving the classes as\nthey are until the time for promotion arrives. Then promote from Primary\nto Junior, from Junior to Intermediate, and from Intermediate to Senior,\naccording to the principles of the graded school; and in four or five\nyears, if the system be maintained, the result will be a school fully\ngraded in all its departments.\n\n(2) In the simultaneous method of grading, the plan must be carefully\nmatured, and general cooperation of all assured. The following plan has\nbeen tested in more than one school, and found to work successfully:\n\n(a) Let a careful committee be chosen to arrange the details of grading.\nThe committee should consist of teachers acquainted with the scholars as\nfar as may be practicable, and should, of course, include the\nsuperintendent. They should also take an abundance of time for their\nwork.\n\n(b) Obtain the ages of all the scholars between eight and eighteen years\nof age, and, approximatively, the ages up to thirty. Let this list be\nmade quietly by each teacher for his or her own class. It may be\ndesirable not to inform the pupils for what purpose the enrollment is\nmade. Instances have been known where scholars have understated their\nages, hoping thereby to remain with favorite teachers.\n\n(c) Let the committee go over the lists and assign the scholars to\nclasses according to age and acquirement. In some degree social\nrelations should be considered, so that each class may be as far as\npracticable a social unit. In the Intermediate Department boys and girls\nshould be in separate classes, and not more than six or eight pupils\nshould be placed in one class. No announcement of the assignment of\nscholars to classes should be made until the day fixed for the\nreorganization of the school. It will be a good plan to prepare a map or\nchart of the schoolroom, with the place proposed for each class\nindicated upon it.\n\n(d) On the day appointed, after the opening exercises, first let the\nseats or rooms set apart for the Senior Department be vacated; and then\nlet the roll be called according to the new list. \"Class No. 1, Senior\nDepartment. Mr. A----, with the following scholars.\" As their names are\ncalled let them take their places, until the list of classes and\nscholars in this department is filled. Next vacate the seats assigned to\nthe Intermediate Department, and let these teachers and pupils take\ntheir places; then the Junior Department, according to the same plan.\nThe Primary Department can be graded by its superintendent or teacher\nwithout aid from the committee.\n\nLet it be understood that every scholar must take the place assigned to\nhim at the time when his name is called; and that only for an important\nreason can an assignment, when once made, be changed. In a large school\nthere will be found a few cases where the committee has made a mistake,\neven with the greatest care; and these mistakes should be rectified, but\nnot until the pupils have taken their new places temporarily in the\nscheme of the school.\n\n4. =Advantages of Thorough Grading.= Many benefits will follow from the\nproper organization of the school; and their value will be increasingly\napparent as the system is maintained through a series of years.\n\n(1) _Appearance._ It is the testimony of every superintendent and pastor\nwho has graded his Sunday school that the appearance of the school is\ngreatly improved by the graded system. The older scholars are assembled\nin one body, instead of being scattered throughout the room; scholars\nof the same size and age are brought together in classes. The school\nwill also actually seem larger than it was before the grading.\n\n(2) _Order._ The order of the school will be more easily maintained. The\nbig boys and the giggling girls, both at the self-conscious, awkward\nage, will be in a new environment, no longer the leaders over smaller\nand younger pupils, but in classes by themselves, and with\nresponsibilities appealing to their self-respect.\n\n(3) _Social Relations._ It will be a benefit to the scholars of each age\nto be associated in groups of the same period in life, with the same\ninterests and similar mental acquirements. Many scholars will find their\nnew associations more congenial than their former ones in the ungraded\nclasses, where older and younger people have been brought together. The\nclass will now become, far more than it was before, a social power.\n\n(4) _Teaching Work._ In the ungraded class, with older and younger\npupils together, the teacher met with his greatest difficulty in finding\na common ground of interest. In the graded class, with pupils of uniform\nage and equal intellectual understanding, the teaching can be better\nadapted to the needs of the pupils.\n\n(5) _Incentive to Interest._ The prospect of promotion awakens an\ninterest in the classes. Each scholar looks forward to the time when he\nwill attain to a higher grade with its enlarged privileges.\n\n(6) _Obtaining Teachers._ The grading of the school greatly aids in the\nsolution of the ever-present problem of obtaining new teachers, (a) The\ngraded school requires a smaller number of teachers than the ungraded\nschool, since it provides for the consolidation of skeleton classes in\nthe Senior Department. This sets at liberty a number of experienced\nteachers for service in other grades. (b) Whenever a new class comes\nfrom the Primary Department, a teacher is already at hand in the Junior\nDepartment whose class at the same time has advanced to the Intermediate\nDepartment. The teacher goes year by year with his class until it leaves\nthe department, and then he returns to a new class beginning the studies\nof the same department. (c) After the results of a teacher-training\nclass are available there will always be trained teachers waiting for\nclasses.\n\n(7) _Leakage Period._ The young people between fifteen and twenty years\nof age constitute the \"leakage period,\"[5] when they are in great danger\nof drifting away from the school. They will be held to the school far\nmore firmly if they have before them the prospect of membership in large\nclasses of young people, with social opportunities, and club life, so\npopular with youth at the early adolescent age. It has been clearly\nshown by practical experience that an organized Senior Department, with\nlarge classes kept full by regular reinforcement from the Intermediate\nDepartment, will maintain itself and hold its members, while skeleton\nclasses of the young people constantly tend to disintegration.\n\nThe well-organized, completely graded Sunday school possesses such\nevident and great advantages that it is certain to be established\nwherever thorough and efficient religious instruction is sought. The\nsooner it comes, and the more faithfully it is maintained, the better it\nwill be for the church of to-day and to-morrow, and the more quickly and\neffectually will the grave problems of our modern civilization be\nsolved.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[5] Dr. A. H. McKinney, in After the Primary--What?\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nTHE DEPARTMENTS OF THE GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\n\n=General Scheme.= The four departments essential to a graded Sunday\nschool, whether large or small, have already been named by anticipation.\nBut it is necessary to give to the subject a closer consideration, and\nto add the names of other departments which are needed either as\ndepartments or subdivisions in the school. Following the analogy of the\nsecular schools, the great divisions of a Sunday school may be named as\nElementary, Secondary, and Advanced or Adult. The Elementary Division\nwill include the Cradle Roll, Beginners, Primary, and Junior, taking the\nscholar up to twelve years of age. The Secondary Division will include\nthe Intermediate and Senior Departments, also the Teacher-training\nClass, and will embrace the scholars between twelve and twenty years of\nage. The Advanced or Adult Division will include all the classes wherein\nthe average age is above twenty years, including the Home Department.\nBeginning with the youngest children, the departments of a thoroughly\norganized school are the following:\n\n1. =The Cradle Roll.=[6] This should include all the little ones in the\nfamilies of the congregation who are too young to attend the school.\nTheir names, in large lettering, in plain print rather than script,\nshould be recorded upon a list, framed and hung upon the wall in the\nPrimary room. A separate card catalogue should be kept of the names\nalphabetically arranged, with ages, birthdays, parents' names, and the\nstreet address of each family. Every effort should be made to keep the\nlist complete; children should inform their teachers of new little\nbrothers and sisters for the Cradle Roll; the pastor in his visitation\nshould take their names and report them; and the teacher or conductor in\ncharge of the Cradle Roll should occasionally visit every family on the\nlist. Whenever gifts are made to the pupils of the school, as at\nChristmas or on birthdays, toys and dolls for the little ones of the\nCradle Roll should not be forgotten. In a small school the care of the\nroll and the visiting of the families may be assigned to the Primary\nsuperintendent; but in a large Sunday school it will call for a special\nconductor, and recognition as a separate department. Let no one suppose\nthat this is an unimportant, sentimental matter. The Cradle Roll,\nmaintained as it should be, will awaken interest in every family having\na name inscribed upon it, and in due time will lead many little feet to\nthe Sunday school.\n\n2. =The Beginners Department.= At about three years of age the little\nchildren should be brought to the school, and be regularly enrolled as\nattending members, their names being now taken from the Cradle Roll.\nThey should remain in the Beginners Department from the age of three to\nthat of six years--the Kindergarten period in the public school. Here\nthey should be told simple Bible and nature stories, without effort to\nplace the stories in chronological order; for children of this age have\nonly a faint conception of the sequence of events. They may be taught\nsimple songs, marching exercises, etc. It is a mistake, however, to give\nthem much, if any lessons, to tax the memory, beyond a few short\nsentences of the Bible and verses of children's songs. If they can meet\nin a room by themselves, with their own teacher, it will be better than\nto have them in the Primary room; for the work in this grade should be\nconstantly varied, and the stories very brief, in order not to weary the\nlittle ones. If they must meet in the room with the Primary children,\nthey should sit by themselves as a separate section, and not with their\nolder brothers and sisters.\n\n3. =The Primary Department.= This department should be the home of\nlittle children between six and eight or nine years of age. They should\nremain in it until in the day school they have begun to read. Boys and\ngirls may be placed in the same classes, which should be for those six\nyears old, seven years old, and eight years old, respectively. With each\nyear their seats should be changed, indicating their promotion from the\nlower to the higher classes. In this department the simpler stories of\nthe Bible and other helpful stories adapted to the grade should not only\nbe told but taught, and the children expected not only to learn but also\nto tell them. The Twenty-third Psalm, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten\nCommandments, a few other selected passages of Scripture, and some\nstandard hymns of the Church should be memorized.\n\nIn many well-organized Sunday schools both the Cradle Roll and the\nBeginners class are recognized as subdivisions of the Primary\nDepartment, and are under the direction of the Primary superintendent.\n\n4. =The Junior Department.= This department will care for the children\nfrom the ages of eight or nine until the full age of twelve; except that\nboys or girls who are especially advanced in intelligence may be\npromoted upon examination at eleven years. In a very small Sunday school\nall the pupils of this department may form one class, provided they can\nhave a room by themselves. If they must meet with the rest of the\nschool, they may be organized either in two classes, one of boys, the\nother of girls. If, however, the number of scholars will admit, it is\nfar better to place the pupils in separate classes for boys and girls,\nwith different classes for each year of the period. To scholars of the\nJunior grade the great characters and events of Bible history should be\ntaught in their order; also the most important facts about the Bible,\nand in a simple form the lands and localities of the Bible. In churches\nwhich use a catechism this should constitute a part of the teaching in\nthe Junior Department, for at this period the child's verbal memory\nattains its greatest strength.\n\n5. =The Intermediate Department.= Here the pupils are from twelve to\nsixteen years of age. The classes should be small, generally of six boys\nor girls, never more than eight. This period in life is known as early\nadolescence, and calls for careful direction by wise teachers. In the\nIntermediate Department the great biographies of the Bible should be\nstudied, either as the regular or the supplemental lessons; also the\nheroic lives of leaders in the history of the Church, of foreign\nmissionaries, and of men and women who have labored in the home fields.\nBoys and girls in this stage of life are instinctively hero-worshipers,\nand before them should be set high ideals of character and service.\nSpecial effort should be made in leading the scholars to personal\nconsecration to Christ and to union with the Church; for if the great\ndecision be not made before the age of sixteen is reached, there is\ngreat danger that it will never be reached. But that decision should\ninclude more than a formal profession. It should embrace a full\nsurrender to the will of Christ, an inward, conscious spiritual life, an\naim for completeness of Christian character, and especially a\nwillingness to work for God and humanity. Youth is a season of ardor and\nof energy, a period of lofty ideals and noble endeavor. All those active\npowers of the youthful nature should be guided into channels of\nusefulness. The true twentieth century disciple of Christ is not one who\nlives alone feasting his soul on God, but one who stands among his\nfellow-men, eager to aid in the world's betterment.\n\n6. =The Senior Department.= This is the preferable title, although some\norganized schools call it the Young People's Department, and restrict\nthe word Senior to the classes of fully adult age. Still others call it\nthe Assembly, and give it an organization independent of the Sunday\nschool.[7] The age of entrance should be sixteen, except with some who\nin stature and mind are mature beyond their years. It is imperative, as\nwe have already seen, that at the door of this department the young\npeople should leave their former teachers, and should not form new\nSenior classes, but as individuals enter classes already established.\nThis department includes the members of the school between sixteen and\ntwenty years of age; not that members of classes must necessarily leave\nthem at twenty, but that men or women above that age entering the school\nshould rather join the Adult Department. The classes may be as large as\nthe arrangement of rooms will allow; larger where each class can have a\nseparate room, which is the ideal plan. Generally, young men and young\nwomen should be in separate classes. The teacher of a young men's class\nshould be a man whose character will inspire the respect and win the\nfellowship of his class. The teacher of the young women's class will\ngenerally be a lady, although often men have been successful teachers of\nyoung women.\n\nIn this department the classes should be organized, each with its own\nofficers, chosen by the members; and the class should be consulted when\na teacher is to be appointed, although the voice of the class in the\ndecision should be advisory and not mandatory. Especial attention should\nbe given to the social activities of this department. Each class should\nhave its own gatherings, classes of young men and women should meet\ntogether occasionally, and a Senior Reception should be held at least\nannually to promote acquaintance among the members. The interest of the\nyoung people should also be enlisted in some definite form of service\nfor the church or the community.\n\n7. =The Teacher-Training Department.= The most promising young people,\nboth men and women, should be selected at sixteen years of age--the time\nof promotion into the Senior Department--and should be organized as the\nTeacher-training or Normal Class. The best teacher obtainable should be\nassigned to this department. Often in the high school or some near-by\ncollege, a scholarly, Bible-loving instructor may be found who is\nwilling to give a part of his time to the equipment of teachers for the\ncoming generation. A text-book should be chosen from among those\napproved by the International Teacher-training Committee. No person\nshould be admitted to this class who is not willing to give some time\nduring the week to the study of the course. While the rest of the school\nmay be studying the regular lessons, whether graded or uniform, this\nclass should be at work with the teacher-training text-books. There\nshould be thorough instruction with examinations looking toward a\ncertificate of work done, such as the International Teacher-training\ndiploma.[8] The course may cover two, three, or four years; and new\nmembers may be placed in the class at the opening of each year, to begin\nat the point where the class is studying, and to remain until they shall\nhave completed the entire course. In a properly graded school after a\nfew years there will be a class graduating from and a class entering the\nTeacher-training Department each year.\n\nThis department should also include a Reserve Class, consisting of those\nwho are ready to act as substitutes for absent teachers. If the uniform\nlessons are followed, the Reserve Class should study the lesson a week\nin advance of the school. Into this class the graduates of the\nTeacher-training Class should be placed, to remain until classes are\nready for them in the school.\n\nIn some schools the Teacher-training and Reserve Classes do not form a\nseparate department, but are two classes in the Senior Department. But\nit is the better plan in a large school to establish the\nTeacher-training Department, with its own officers, thereby adding to\nits prestige in the school.\n\n8. =The Adult Department.= This will include all who are above the age\nof twenty years. It is the judgment of advanced leaders in Sunday-school\nwork that at twenty years those who have belonged to Young People's\nclasses in the Senior Department should leave them for the Adult\nDepartment. Otherwise, the Senior Department in a few years will cease\nto be a place where young people of sixteen and eighteen years feel at\nhome. In the Adult Department men and women may meet together as members\nof the same class, unless there arise a demand for separate classes and\nthe numbers enrolled justify the division. In conducting these classes\ntwo forms of instruction have been found to be successful: (1) the\ncolloquial method of teaching, the class studying and discussing the\nlesson together under the guidance of the leader; and (2) the lecture\nmethod, the teacher being the principal speaker, but always admitting\nquestions and answers on the subject suggested by the lesson. Classes in\nthis department may be allowed to choose their own courses of study,\nprovided (1) that the subjects and methods are in line with the general\naim of religious education, and not merely secular science or history;\n(2) that the courses of successive years have some sequence, and are not\nchosen in a haphazard, accidental manner. The Adult Department under\nwise direction should promote a large, intelligent, broad-minded,\nphilanthropic type of Christian character in the church and the\ncommunity.\n\n9. =The Home Department.= This department, like the Cradle Roll at the\nother extreme of the Sunday-school constituency, is composed of people,\nboth young and old, who cannot be present at its sessions, but are\ninterested in its work, and willing to give some time to its studies. In\nevery community there are such people--aged or infirm men and women,\ninvalids, mothers unable to leave their offspring, commercial travelers,\nand people who live too far from the school to attend it. These are\norganized into the Home Department, furnished with the literature of the\nschool, study its text-books, make their report of work done, and send\ntheir contributions to its support through the Home Department\nsuperintendent or visitor.[9]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[6] This department is now named in Sunday schools of the Protestant\nEpiscopal Church, and some others, the Font Roll, or Baptismal Roll.\n\n[7] Suggested by Dr. J. H. Vincent.\n\n[8] For full information concerning Teacher-training, courses,\nexaminations, and diplomas, write to the State Secretary of Sunday\nSchool Work, or to the office of the International Sunday School\nAssociation, No. 140 Dearborn Street, Chicago.\n\n[9] For plans of the Home Department, address the Secretary of the State\nSunday School Association, or Dr. W. A. Duncan, Syracuse, New York, who\nis recognized as the founder of this system.\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nTHE SUPERINTENDENT\n\n\n1. =His Importance.= Several years ago, the president of the New York\nCentral Railway was called upon by a legislative committee to explain\nthe system of signals employed upon the railroad for the protection of\npassengers. He gave a detailed statement, answered every question, and\nthen made this remark: \"However perfect the system may seem to be, there\nmust always be a man to work it; and in the final analysis more depends\non the man than on the plan.\"\n\nThat which is true in every human organization is especially true in the\nSunday school: its success depends not on a constitution, whether\nwritten or unwritten, but upon a man. In the Sunday school that man is\nthe superintendent, who not only works the plan, but also generally\nplans the work. Given an efficient superintendent, an efficient school\nwill usually be developed; for the able man will call forth or will\ntrain up able workers. Hence the first and greatest requisite for a\nsuccessful Sunday school is that the right man be chosen as\nsuperintendent.\n\n2. =His Appointment.= The selection of the superintendent should be the\ntask not only of the officers and teachers in the Sunday school, but of\nthe entire church, for every family in the congregation has an interest\nin his appointment. The pastor should be consulted, and should give\ndiligent attention and time to the search for a superintendent, not\nmerely because he may be presumed to know his constituency, but more\nespecially because out of all the church the superintendent is to be his\nmost important helper. The election of the superintendent should be made\nby the workers in the school, its board of teachers and officers, and\nits action should be formally confirmed by the ruling board of the local\nchurch. No man should hold the office of a superintendent who fails to\nreceive the approval of the church of which the school is a part. He\nshould know that in his appointment the school, the church, and the\npastor all unite.\n\n3. =His Term of Office.= He should be chosen for a term of one year; but\nmay be reelected for as many terms as appear expedient. Frequent changes\nin the management of the school will tend to destroy the efficiency of\nits work. But whenever the great interests involved in the religious\neducation of an entire church or community require a new superintendent\nthe change should be made, even though sympathy be felt for the one set\naside. The institution must not be sacrificed to save the feelings of\nthe man.\n\n4. =His Qualifications.= It is important to consider the qualifications\nof an ideal superintendent, remembering, however, that all these\nqualities are rarely to be found in one man. We must set before us high\nideals, not expecting that they will always be fully realized, yet ever\nseeking to attain them as far as may be possible in this imperfect\nworld. The following are the most important qualifications for a\nsuperintendent; some of them are essential, all are desirable:\n\n(1) _Moral Character._ The Sunday school undertakes to train the young\nin character; therefore he who stands as its responsible head must\npossess a character worthy of admiration and imitation. His life must\nhonor, and not dishonor, his profession. It is possible for a man whose\nwork for an hour on Sunday is in behalf of the gospel so to live in his\nfamily, in business, and in society as to work for six days against the\ngospel, and more than undo all his efforts for good. The leader in such\nan uplifting movement as the Sunday school must have clean hands and a\npure heart. What Saint Paul wrote of a bishop he would have written of a\nSunday school superintendent: he must have \"a good report.\" In the\nwell-known painting of the Emancipation Proclamation may be seen\nstanding at the right hand of President Lincoln the Secretary of the\nTreasury, Salmon P. Chase, who once said, \"A man in my position must not\nonly seem right, but be right; and not only be right, but seem right.\"\nSo will every one say of the Sunday-school superintendent.\n\n(2) _A Devout Believer._ The superintendent's character should be\nirradiated with the fine glow of a Christian faith. He should be one who\nhas seen the heavenly vision and unto it has not been disobedient; one\nwhose spirit has been kindled by the Divine Spirit burning like a fire\nwithin; one who is himself a Christian man, longing to lead other men\ninto fellowship with the Father through Jesus Christ the Son.\n\n(3) _A Working Church Member._ We have already learned that the Sunday\nschool is not a society or an institution standing alone. It is a\nbranch of the church, and one of the most important branches. The normal\ngrowth of the church depends in large measure upon the Sunday school,\nand the support of the Sunday school comes, or should come, from the\nchurch. The superintendent who endeavors to do his duty to his scholars\nwill strive to lead them to Christ and into active membership and\nservice in the church. Therefore, he himself must be a professed, loyal,\nand effective member of the church. His name should not only stand upon\nits roll, but his heart should also be enlisted in its behalf.\n\n(4) _A Bible Student._ The Sunday school is the school with one\npreeminent text-book; and of that Book the superintendent should be a\ndiligent student. His work is executive and not instructional; yet he\nmust supervise the teaching, and this supervision he cannot rightly give\nunless he is familiar with the course of study. He should study the\nlesson of each department, perhaps not as thoroughly as the teachers in\nthe department, but sufficiently to maintain acquaintance with their\nwork. And he should master not only the specific lessons of the\nimmediate course before his school, but also the Book as a whole.\n\nOne successful superintendent gave as a secret of his power to make his\nschool, both teachers and scholars, willing to do whatever he asked, \"I\nnever expect my teachers or scholars to do anything that I am not ready\nto do myself. Before I ask them to bring their Bibles I bring mine. When\nI asked my school to be ready on the following Sunday to repeat in\nconcert the Nineteenth Psalm, I committed it to memory during the week,\nand when the time came spoke the words with the school.\" Only that\nsuperintendent who himself loves the Bible, and studies it, can have a\ntrue Bible school.\n\n(5) _An Able Executive._ The Sunday school is like that vision seen by\nthe prophet Ezekiel, a system of wheels within wheels, all endowed with\nlife; and the master of the mechanism directing its motion is the\nsuperintendent. Moreover, each of these living wheels in the\nSunday-school machine is a volunteer worker, who may at any moment drop\nout of his orbit. To hold together these varied elements, to combine\ntheir movements, to guide each in his own sphere, to compass the common\npurpose through all the forces working as one, requires a wise brain and\na skillful hand. The superintendent should have a plan for the school,\nwith details throughout for every emergency; he should be ready to\nassign to every worker the task for which he is best fitted; he should\nbe able to work with others, not merely to command others; and he should\nbe a leader whom others will follow, not by the might of an\novermastering will, but by the magnetism of an attractive personality.\nHe should never forget that with others as well as with himself service\nin the Sunday school is not compulsory but voluntary, that his\nassociates lay on the altar their free-hearted, unpaid labor; and that\nsuch workers cannot be commanded, although by tact and wise generalship\nthey may be led to accomplish the most difficult tasks.\n\n(6) _Sympathy with Youth._ The superintendent's office will bring him\ninto relations with youth during all its stages, from early childhood\nthrough the entire adolescent period. He must be able to see life and\nthe world through the eyes of a little child, of a growing boy, and of a\nyoung man. The sympathy which he needs is not a compassionate feeling\n_for_ youth, but a feeling _with_ youth, an ability to put himself in\nits place; to feel as young people feel, and to understand why they act\nas they sometimes do. This sympathy will impart a love for young people,\nsuch a love as will enable him to be patient with their foibles and\nfaults, to exert a powerful influence over them, and to keep before them\nnoble ideals of character and service.\n\n(7) _Teachable Spirit._ No matter how much the superintendent knows, or\nthinks he knows, he should hold his mind open to new knowledge. He\nshould be on the alert for new ideas, from the periodicals, from books,\nand from his fellow workers, in conversation, at conventions and\ninstitutes; not that he may inflict every new method upon his school,\nbut that out of many methods he may select the best. When Michael Angelo\nwas past eighty-five years old, and almost blind, he was found one day\nbeside an antique torso which had recently been dug out of the ground,\nbending over it, and carefully pressing his fingers upon its surface.\nWhen asked what he was doing, he answered, \"I am learning\"! The masters\nin every department of work are never too wise nor too old to learn.\n\nIf a man can be found who possesses all these seven traits of character\nand temperament, the school which can secure him for its superintendent\nwill be fortunate indeed. And the superintendent who thoughtfully reads\nthe catalogue of qualifications, and feels that in some of them he is\nlacking, may by divine grace and his own will working together make\nprogress toward the goal of becoming an ideal superintendent.\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nTHE SUPERINTENDENT'S DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES\n\n\nThe superintendent has been found, has been chosen, and is in his\nplace--what are the prerogatives and the duties of his office? These may\nbe considered under three classes: (1) His general duties. (2) His\nduties during the week. (3) His duties in the session of the school.\n\n1. =General.= (1) _Supervision._ It is his right to supervise and direct\nthe work of the school without interference as to details from the\nteachers, the officers of the church, or the pastor. The pastor may be\nthe admiral of the fleet, directing the general movements of the sea\ncampaign; but the superintendent is the captain of the ship, through\nwhom orders are to be given to all on board.\n\n(2) _Selection of Teachers._ He should have the chief word in the choice\nand appointment of teachers, but in the choice he should obtain the\nconcurrence of his pastor; and their election should be made upon the\nsuperintendent's nomination by the teachers and officers.\n\n(3) _Assignment of Scholars._ He should possess the final authority in\nthe assignment of scholars to classes, in any changes from class to\nclass, and in promotions from lower to higher departments. In these\nresponsibilities he may be greatly aided by an associate superintendent,\nto whom his authority may be delegated.\n\n(4) _Program of Services._ It is the superintendent's prerogative to\nplan and direct the services of the school session. It may be the part\nof wisdom for him to consult with the musical director or organist in\nthe selection of hymns, but it is the superintendent's right to choose\nand to announce them, in common with all parts of the program.\n\n(5) _Support._ He is entitled to a loyal support from all his fellow\nworkers; but if he is tactful he will take them into his confidence,\nwill present his plans for their consideration, and will not attempt\nimportant reforms or changes without their concurrence.\n\n2. =Week-day Work.= He is the superintendent of the Sunday school for\nseven days in every week; and will find much work to be done between the\nsessions. His week-day duties will include some that have already been\nmentioned.\n\n(1) _Program._ Before he comes to the school he should invariably\nprepare a well worked out program for each session. It is a good plan to\nhave a large blank book, in which two pages opposite each other are\nassigned to the session for the day. Every hymn should be selected in\nadvance and noted in its place; every announcement to be made should be\nwritten; the outline of a lesson review, if one is to be given, should\nbe indicated; and space should be left for memoranda of miscellaneous\nmatters which may need attention. This program should be laid upon the\ndesk, so that if for any reason the superintendent should be out of his\nplace upon the platform an associate can go forward without delay.\n\n(2) _Lesson Study._ In schools where the uniform lesson is still\nfollowed in all or most departments, the superintendent should make\nhimself thoroughly acquainted with the lesson for the coming session. As\nhas been intimated, he should be prepared for any work expected of his\nteachers and scholars. He should be ready after the class study to give\na practical summary of the teachings in the lesson, in a crisp,\nwell-outlined talk, which will be aided by a blackboard illustration.\nAnd in the increasing number of schools which are employing graded\nlessons, not uniform in the departments, the superintendent should have\nat least a general knowledge of the subjects studied in each department.\nThe more thoroughly the superintendent fills his own mind and heart with\nthe truth, the more efficiently will the truth be taught in his school.\n\n(3) _Social Duties._ The superintendent should know all his teachers,\nand, as far as possible, his scholars also. If it be practicable for him\nto visit teachers at their homes, the visitation will greatly increase\nhis influence and his usefulness. If in his own home, or in the parlors\nof some family in the congregation, a social gathering of the teachers\nand officers can occasionally be held, it will add to the social power\nof the school. And in the social relations much can be accomplished\nbefore and after the church service, the school session, the prayer\nmeeting, and the other gatherings of the congregation. There are\nsuperintendents who keep before them up-to-date lists of the classes,\nand by study of faces during the school session, with judicious inquiry,\nare able to call large numbers of the scholars by name. Such greetings\nwill strengthen the superintendent and heighten the loyalty of the\nschool.\n\n(4) _Seeking Workers._ In nearly all Sunday schools there is a constant\nneed of helpers, to fill the places of withdrawing or absent teachers;\nand the work of supplying the demand generally falls upon the\nsuperintendent. He may find relief in the work of an associate\nsuperintendent, as will be seen in the next chapter. Both the\nsuperintendent and his associate should always be on the alert for new\nteachers and for new scholars. As the builder in stone looks at every\nfragment of rock, to see where it will best fit into his wall, so the\nwhole-hearted superintendent studies every individual in the parish, to\nfind exactly the place he may fill in the school, as an officer, a\nteacher, or a scholar; and not infrequently his search will be rewarded\nby a treasure.\n\n(5) _Cabinet Meetings._ The superintendent should confer frequently with\nthe several heads of departments, and with all the officers; talking\nwith them freely about his own plans, and learning theirs, for the\nwelfare of the school. It is not necessary that these cabinet meetings\nshould be formal, having a secretary and a record. They may be held\noccasionally, for a few minutes after the session of the school, or as a\nsocial evening at a private house.\n\n(6) _Special Days._ He should keep a calendar of special occasions in\nthe school year, such as the Sundays set apart for temperance and for\nmissions, Easter, Children's Day, Rally Day, Decision Day, Christmas,\nPromotion Day, and other notable events. Weeks in advance of each\noccasion--in the case of some of them even months in advance--he should\nbegin to consider what special exercises should be held, what\npreparation is needed, and who can best supervise the plans. For a\nfortnight before Children's Day or the Christmas celebration, many\nSunday schools are in a turmoil of confusion, and lessons abandoned,\nsimply because the superintendent did not take thought in sufficient\ntime.\n\n(7) _The Convention._ The Sunday-school work of the Christian world is\nnow thoroughly organized in international, state, county, and town\nassociations. Each school finds itself a part in a mighty movement; and\nit is the duty of the superintendent to see that his school takes its\nplace in the Sunday-school army. He should see that in the institute and\nthe convention his school is well represented; and if at all possible he\nshould attend these gatherings, and be active in them. Many a worker who\nfor most of the year is alone, burdened with perplexities, has been\nrefreshed, has found his vision enlarged and his plans improved, by\nconference with other workers, and by listening to experienced\nspecialists.\n\n3. =His Duties in the School Session.= (1) _Present Early._ He should be\nat his post, if possible, from twenty minutes to half an hour before the\nopening of the school. However early he may arrive, he will probably\nfind a group of children there in advance of him; and they will behave\nbetter if his eye is on them, especially if his glance is kind, and with\nit is a hand-shake or a word of recognition. The early superintendent\nwill often be surprised to find how much business in the interest of\nthe school can be transacted before the session.\n\n(2) _Open Promptly._ With his program ready, he should begin the session\nexactly on the minute, and should carry out every item according to the\nplan. If for any reason the superintendent is not at the desk when the\nmoment for the opening arrives, the associate or first department\nsuperintendent should be empowered to call the school to order and begin\nthe opening service.\n\n(3) _Conduct Program._ The superintendent should conduct the general\nprogram of services; although it is advisable to recognize the associate\nand others, by calling upon them to take some part in the opening or\nclosing services. A superintendent whose methods were always well chosen\nwas wont once in each month to invite some official or prominent member\nof the church, who was not an attendant upon the school, to be present,\nsit upon the platform, and offer the prayer at the opening of the\nsession. This kept the leading members of the church in closer relation\nto the school.\n\n(4) _During the Lesson._ As a general principle, the superintendent\nshould remain at his desk during the lesson period; but to this rule\nfrequent exceptions will be made. The supply of substitutes for absent\nteachers, and the assignment of new scholars to classes, belong to the\nfield of the associate superintendent.\n\n(5) _Lesson Review._ In the Sunday schools which still follow the\nuniform system of lessons, studying the same portion of Scripture in\nall, or nearly all, the grades of the school, the superintendent should\ngive a brief practical summing up of the practical points in the lesson;\nbut this review should not exceed five or six minutes in length. If the\npastor possesses the gift of terse, crisp speaking, this practical talk\nmay be given by him. In the schools adopting the graded courses of\nlessons this review should be given in each department by the department\nsuperintendent. Here again the adaptation to the point of view and needs\nof the pupils of each grade can be made much more effective than in the\nungraded school.\n\n(6) _Closing._ The superintendent should so carry out the program as to\nclose the session at the time appointed. An hour and a quarter is as\nlong as is profitable for the school; and everything that needs to be\ndone can be brought into that space. Often much time is lost by\nunnecessary delays between the numbers on the program.\n\n4. =Miscellaneous Duties.= Here are a few general suggestions, hints,\nand \"don'ts\" for the superintendent, briefly stated:\n\n(1) _Notebook._ Let the superintendent remember to obtain that notebook,\nto keep it at hand, and to make use of it. Some pages at the end of the\nbook might be reserved for special suggestions gathered from books,\nperiodicals, and meetings.\n\n(2) _Quiet._ Let him be careful not to make much noise during the\nsession, but to set an example--which will soon be felt--in favor of\nquiet and orderly conduct. It is not at all certain that he needs a bell\nfor calling attention; but if he uses one, let it be a little, gentle,\nquiet bell, held in the hand as a signal, and never rung vociferously\nor repeatedly. Said a new superintendent as he tested the bell on\nSaturday before assuming office, \"What a magnificent bell this would be\nfor calling missionaries home from India!\" But he never used it in the\nschool. One of the best superintendents of a generation ago was widely\nknown as \"the silent superintendent.\" He was not deaf nor dumb, but his\nmanner was noticeably quiet, and his large Sunday school was always in\nperfect order.\n\n(3) _Early Lesson._ Let the opening service be short, so that the lesson\nperiod--which is the important part of the program--may be reached while\nthe teachers and scholars are fresh and the air of the room is pure.\n\n(4) _Use the Bible._ If a Scripture lesson is read by the superintendent\nand school responsively, it should be from the Bible upon the desk or in\nthe hand of the leader, and not from a lesson quarterly. Encourage the\nuse of the Bible as a text-book and for reference. If the superintendent\nalways brings his own Bible, he can appeal to his teachers and scholars\nto follow his example. With regard to the Scripture reading in the\nopening service, it is the judgment of many thoughtful superintendents\nthat even in a school following uniform lessons the reading should not\nbe the lesson for the day, but a devotional portion of Scripture,\nperhaps a selection from the Home Readings of the week. It is a good\nplan for the first reading of the lesson for the day to be by the\nteacher and the class together.\n\n(5) _Lesson Period._ No interruption should be allowed to break into the\ntime assigned for class study, except under imperative necessity. The\nteacher and the class should hold that period sacred to united study,\nwithout being diverted from their task by secretary, librarian,\nsuperintendent, or pastor. Said Bishop Vincent once, \"I would like to\nhave suspended from the roof of the Sunday-school hall a series of great\nglass half-globes, one for each class, to be dropped down over the\nclass, and kept there during the time reserved for the study of the\nlesson!\"\n\n(6) _Speakers._ A visitor should rarely be invited or allowed to address\nthe school; never, unless the superintendent has sufficient knowledge to\nbe sure that he will speak briefly, interestingly, and pointedly. Before\nthe uniform lesson concentrated the studies of the Sunday school it was\nthe custom to invite almost any visitor to speak to the school; and many\nwere the wrongs inflicted upon the boys and girls in those good old days\nby dull, loquacious Sunday-school orators. But almost everybody now\nunderstands that the Sunday school is a working institution, and its\nwork must not be interrupted.\n\n(7) _Self-control._ There will be times when the superintendent will\nneed to be on guard over himself; times when he feels depressed, or\nmelancholy, perhaps a little cross. If he yields to his natural\nimpulses, the school will soon perceive the state of his nerves, and\nsome scholars may even endeavor to add to his trials. At such times, let\nhim watch over himself mightily, and resolve, no matter how he feels, to\n\"keep sweet,\" to speak gently, and to look cheerful.\n\n(8) _The Aim._ Lastly, one purpose should ever stand before the\nsuperintendent, and should be the constant object of his endeavor--to\nlead all his scholars into a personal, vital relation to Jesus as the\nChrist, to bring them into union with the church, and to inspire them to\nenter upon active Christian service.\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nTHE ASSOCIATE AND DEPARTMENT SUPERINTENDENTS\n\n\n1. =The Necessity.= In every Sunday school there is need of an officer\nto aid the superintendent and to take his place when absent. Even in a\nsmall school the supervision can be more thorough and the teaching more\nefficient, if some one is at hand with authority to relieve the\nsuperintendent of minor details, and give him freedom for the general\nmanagement. And in a large school assistants to the superintendent are\nan absolute necessity, for each department becomes in itself a school.\nThere is need, therefore, of a general assistant to be the chief of\nstaff to the superintendent, and, in a large and well-organized school,\nof a special assistant in each department.\n\n2. =Titles.= Until recently, the assistant superintendent in most Sunday\nschools was merely one of the teachers named to take the place of the\nsuperintendent when absent, but with no duties when the head of the\nschool was present. In the complete organization that is now becoming\ngeneral, the office has been renamed, and its functions distinctly\nassigned. The chief assistant to the superintendent is now generally\ncalled the Associate Superintendent, a higher title for his important\nand regular duties. The chief of each department in the Sunday school is\ngenerally called Department Superintendent, that is, Primary Department\nSuperintendent, Senior Department Superintendent; and each department\nsuperintendent has the same relation to his department that the\nassociate superintendent holds to the school.\n\n3. =Appointment.= The associate superintendent should be nominated by\nthe superintendent and confirmed by the board of teachers and officers.\nWhen two candidates are nominated for the office of superintendent, and\none obtains a majority, it is not wise to elect the minority candidate\nas associate superintendent, unless he is entirely acceptable to the\nnewly chosen superintendent. The chief executive of the school should\nnot be compelled to find next to him a rival, who may be an uncongenial\nworker, to carry out plans with which the latter may not be in accord.\nIn order to possess freedom in his policy the superintendent should\nchoose his own chief helper; but he should receive the confirmation of\nhis choice from his fellow workers in the school. The same plan of\nnomination and confirmation should be followed in the choice of the\ndepartment superintendents. The associate and the department\nsuperintendents should constitute the superintendent's cabinet, to be\ncalled together often for consultation upon the interests of the school.\n\n4. =Duties of the Associate Superintendent.= (1) _Not a Teacher._ Unless\nthe school be small, with less than a hundred members, the associate\nsuperintendent should not at the same time be the regular teacher of a\nclass. He will find other work to occupy his time, both before and\nduring the session of the school. He may, however, hold himself ready to\nact as substitute for an absent teacher.\n\n(2) _Deputy Superintendent._ If for any reason the superintendent is\nabsent, his place should be taken promptly by the associate\nsuperintendent. It should also be understood that if at the moment of\nopening the school, or at any point in the general service, the\nsuperintendent is not on the platform, the associate shall act as his\nrepresentative, without the slightest reflection upon the\nsuperintendent's administration, the two being regarded in their work as\none.\n\n(3) _Providing Substitutes._ One definite duty of the associate\nsuperintendent should be to provide substitutes for absent teachers,\nrelieving entirely the superintendent from that burdensome and\nperplexing task. The teachers should permit no ordinary hindrance to\nkeep them from their classes, for no one can fully supply the place of a\ntrue teacher in the regard of the scholars. But when a teacher finds it\nnecessary to be absent he should make strenuous endeavor to find a\nsubstitute; and if unable to secure one, should notify, not the\nsuperintendent, but the associate; and before the lesson period the\nassociate should have a supply ready.\n\nIf the school has been properly graded it will include a\nTeacher-training Class; but under no circumstances should the associate\ntake one of its members as a supply teacher, even for one Sunday. This\nclass should remain untouched by the demand for teachers until its\nmembers have completed the prescribed course. If there is a Reserve\nClass, substitutes should be called from it in some order, preferably\nalphabetical, so that the same members will not be taken too\nfrequently.\n\nWhere the Sunday school is held in the afternoon or at noon, the\nassociate can generally provide for needy classes by watching at the\nmorning service for possible teachers. If he is compelled to look for\nthem in the Adult or Senior classes of the school, he should be present\nearly, and if possible obtain his supplies before the opening of the\nschool. If the associate superintendent has done his work, when the\nlesson begins, every class will have a teacher seated before it, ready\nfor the Bible study. He should never wait until the time for opening the\nlesson to see what classes need teachers, and then undertake to obtain\nthem by interrupting the teaching in three or four classes and calling\nfor volunteers, while the classes without teachers are listlessly\nwaiting, and valuable time is lost from the half-hour of the lesson\nperiod. All this work should be done before the lesson, and, if\npossible, before the opening of the school.\n\n(4) _Assignment of New Scholars._ Another duty of the associate\nsuperintendent is to meet new scholars and assign them to classes. For\nthis work he should be present early, meet the scholars as they come,\nlearn who the new scholars are, write down names, places of residence,\nages, parents' names, why they come; and prepare material for the card\ncatalogue under the secretary's care. Scholars bringing new members, and\nteachers into whose classes they may come, should introduce them to the\nassociate superintendent, who should at once take charge of them. No new\nscholar below the grade of Senior should choose his own class, although\nhis desire to be with friends should be considered, so far as it will\nnot interfere with the established system of classification. Some large\ngraded schools have a temporary class to which new pupils in the\nIntermediate and Junior grades are assigned for a few sessions until\ntheir permanent place can be fixed.\n\n(5) _Detailed Supervision._ There are also minor duties wherein the\nassociate superintendent can be of great service. While the\nsuperintendent is at the desk directing the general exercises, his\nassociate may be upon the floor, quietly observing the condition and\nneeds of the school. He can note where Bibles, song books, or lesson\nquarterlies are needed, and can see that they are distributed without\ninterrupting the service. He can also give quiet attention to the order\nof the school, calling to their duty boisterous, talking, or inattentive\nscholars. For the superintendent to stop in announcing a hymn or reading\nthe Scripture, to rebuke some disorderly or thoughtless pupil, breaks\ninto the service and mars its dignity. The associate superintendent can\naccomplish the desired result at the right moment by a light step and a\ngentle word.\n\n(6) _Chief of Staff._ In a word, the associate superintendent should be\nthe chief of staff to the executive head of the school, his eyes, ears,\nand hand; possessing full acquaintance and accord with his plans, and\ncarrying them out in his name; informing and advising him, yet careful\nof criticism; avoiding all that would hinder, and aiding in all that\nwould make his management successful. He can divide the labor, and\nrelieve his chief of some of the most perplexing and trying details,\nleaving him free to watch over the general interests of the school.\nWhoever can fulfill such a service is an invaluable worker, and should\nbe held in high honor.\n\nMany of the duties named above may be in the sphere of the department\nsuperintendent, who should be in his section what the associate\nsuperintendent is to the school.\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nTHE SECRETARY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\n\n1. =Importance.= The secretary of the Sunday school is an officer of far\ngreater importance than is generally supposed. In too many schools some\nyouth in the adolescent period is made secretary, merely to keep him in\nthe school, without consideration of his capacity and adaptedness to the\noffice. As a result of an unsuitable appointment, the minutes of the\nteachers' meetings are incomplete, the registry of the classes is\nneglected, and the true condition of the school cannot be ascertained.\nIf by any good fortune or by a more careful choice an able and faithful\nsecretary takes his place, at once a new impulse is felt by the school.\nThe superintendent, the teachers, and even the scholars will realize\nthat energy, accuracy, and thoroughness count for much in the work of\nthis department. They will appreciate faithful service, and will\nthemselves respond to its influence.\n\n2. =Qualifications.= The ideal secretary of a Sunday school should\npossess the following characteristics:\n\n(1) _A Business Man._ He should possess the instincts of a man of\nbusiness, being willing to work, systematic in method, and thorough in\ncare of details.\n\n(2) _Regular in Attendance._ He should make the Sunday school his\nbusiness on Sunday, with a fidelity equal to that which he manifests\ntoward his vocation through the week. His regularity should also\nembrace promptness, coming in advance of the hour; for much of the\nsecretary's work may be done before the opening of the service.\n\n(3) _Good Writer._ He should be able to write legibly, and possess skill\nin framing sentences correctly, and in writing them plainly, without\nunnecessary flourishes.\n\n(4) _Quick Mental Action._ His mental processes should be sufficiently\nrapid for him to set down an ordinary motion, presented in a public\nmeeting, without requiring it to be repeated or written out by the\nmover. An able recorder will promptly express in the minutes the form of\na motion or the spirit of a speech, thereby saving much time in the\nmeeting and much space in the report.\n\n(5) _Quiet Manner._ The secretary should watch the program and do his\nwork without interrupting it. He should never appear among the classes\nduring prayer, during the reading of Scripture, or while a speaker is\naddressing the school. Only under urgent necessity should he come to a\nclass in the lesson period, and in that case only at its beginning.\nDuring intervals in the service, or during the singing, he may find it\nneedful at times to pass among the classes; but he should do this\nnecessary work quietly, without distracting the attention of the school.\n\n(6) _Courteous Conduct._ His bearing should always be that of a\ngentleman, refined and courteous, thoughtful of others and patient\ntoward all; a manner enabling him to win the friendly aid of every\nteacher, upon whom the accuracy of the class record must depend.\n\nWhoever can be found, in the school or the community, possessing these\nqualities, or approaching them, should be chosen as secretary of the\nSunday school, whether man or woman. Often a young woman, accustomed\nthrough the week to business methods, becomes an efficient secretary of\nthe Sunday school.\n\n3. =Appointment.= The secretary should be elected by the board of\nofficers and teachers. As he is not merely an assistant to the\nsuperintendent, but an officer of the school, it is not necessary that\nhe should receive a nomination from the superintendent. His term of\noffice should be one year, with as many reelections as will promote the\ngood of the service.\n\n4. =Assistants.= In almost any school the secretary will need an\nassistant, whom he should nominate, subject to confirmation by the board\nof teachers and officers.\n\n5. =Department Secretaries.= In a graded Sunday school there should be\nan assistant secretary for each department, who may be one of the\nteachers, or in the Senior and Adult grades, one of the scholars. He\nshould take the records of the classes in the department and transmit\nthem to the secretary of the school. But the secretary is responsible\nfor the records of the entire school, and should see personally that the\nrecord of each department is complete.\n\n6. =Duties.= The work of the secretary may be classified as follows:\n\n(1) _Record of Meetings._ As secretary of the board of teachers and\nofficers, he should be present at all business meetings and make a\ncareful record. Every motion should be stated clearly, with the names\nof its mover and its seconder, and the action taken. A statement should\nbe given of every committee appointed, its purpose, and the names of its\nmembers. All committees should be expected to present written reports,\nhowever brief. A concise summary of each report, in a few sentences, or\na single clause, should appear in the minutes of the meeting at which\nthe report is presented; and the report itself should be filed for\nreference in case it should be needed. A committee once named is on the\nminutes, and cannot be ignored nor forgotten until its report has been\npresented and adopted, and the committee has been formally discharged.\nFor example, it is not sufficient for the committee on the Christmas\nentertainment to hold the entertainment; it must afterward report that\nthe entertainment was held on a certain date; must have its report\nadopted, and receive its discharge. It should be the duty of the\nsecretary from time to time to call for reports of committees named in\nthe minutes of previous meetings, to insist that a report be rendered,\nand that some action be taken upon it.\n\n(2) _Record of the School._ In every well-ordered Sunday school the\nsecretary summarizes in writing the attendance in each department, the\ntotal attendance, the number of new scholars, and other items to be\npreserved, including the weather, which may sometimes account for a\nsmall attendance; also a comparison with the record of the same Sunday\nlast year. This report should be read to the school by the secretary at\nthe call of the superintendent, or posted before the school; and it\nshould also be recorded in a book which will contain the statistics of\nthe school through a term of years.\n\n(3) _Records of Classes._ The secretary and his assistants should\nprepare the books in which the class record of attendance is recorded.\nThe name of each scholar should be given correctly and fully (for\nexample, not \"F. Jones,\" but \"Frederick Jones\"). The secretary should\nsee that the record of attendance for each Sunday is accurately kept. He\nwill need to give special attention to classes where substitutes take\nthe place of absent teachers, and to see that the record for the day is\nnot neglected. As often as the arrangement of the class books requires\nthe rewriting of the names of the scholars, he should transcribe the\nlist, always writing every name in full. In looking through the class\nlists he should note the names of those who have been absent for a\nseries of sessions, and should report them to the superintendent, for\nconsideration and for investigation of every habitual absentee. If these\nscholars can be visited, many of them may be retained in the school.\n\n(4) _Records of Scholars._ In addition to the record in the class books,\nanother record should be kept of every member of the school, including\nevery officer, teacher, and scholar; a card catalogue, each name upon a\nseparate card, and all the cards filed in alphabetical order. The card\nfor each scholar should give besides his name the date of his entrance\nto the school, either the date of his birth or his age at\nentering--approximative, if above eighteen years; his residence, with\nstreet and number in a city; parents' names; class to which he is\nassigned; his relation to the church or congregation, and any other\nimportant facts. The card should contain the record of every promotion,\nand its date; of any changes in residence, and other details, so that it\nbecomes a reliable and complete history of each individual in the\nschool. In many schools the birthday of each member is kept upon the\nrecord, and is recognized by sending a birthday card. If a scholar or\nteacher leaves the school the fact is recorded, and the card is then\ntaken from the regular catalogue and filed permanently in the list of\n\"former members.\"\n\n(5) _Literature of the School._ The secretary should be in charge of the\nliterature used by the school, its text-books, lesson-quarterlies, and\nother periodicals. He should see that the literature is ordered in full\ntime, should receive it, keep it in his care, and attend to its\ndistribution. The particular text-book for each grade is fixed by the\nsuperintendent; and the secretary should receive from him direction as\nto the lesson helps for each grade.\n\n(6) _Correspondence._ The secretary should conduct all correspondence in\nbehalf of the school or of the teachers as a body, unless for a special\npurpose the chairman of a committee be in charge of correspondence\nrelating to his work.\n\nThe secretary who with the aid of his staff undertakes to do all the\nwork that rises before him will not find his task a light one. But his\ndepartment carried on with vigor will greatly promote the success of the\nSunday school.\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nTHE TREASURY AND THE TREASURER\n\n\n1. =In the Early Sunday School.= A study of origins has shown that in\nthe earliest Sunday schools in America, as in England, provision was\nmade for the payment of officers and teachers. In the first schools\nestablished in and near Philadelphia, each paid teacher had charge of\nwhat would now be considered a department, and the practical teaching\nwas given under his direction by scholars, who were called monitors. But\nin a new country, where the settlements were small and the people mostly\npoor, the system of paid teachers soon passed away, and the schools were\ncarried on by voluntary and unpaid workers. It was fortunate for the\nAmerican Sunday school that in its beginnings it required but little\nmoney. For the place of meeting any chapel or schoolhouse or settler's\ncabin would serve. The literature was exceedingly meager--a few\nTestaments and spelling books, and generally these were brought by the\nteachers and scholars. When the earliest lesson books were published,\nthey were not quarterlies, nor annuals, to be thrown away after one\nusing, but were studied year after year. The largest item of expense was\nthe library; and as this was an institution for the entire neighborhood,\nthe families willingly contributed toward it. Not until the Sunday\nschool had become thoroughly founded did the question of its financial\nsupport arise as a problem.\n\n2. =In the Modern Sunday School.= As the Sunday school advanced in\nposition, in influence, and in better methods of work, its expenses\nnaturally increased. Now, in the opening of its second century, its\nfinancial requirements are far greater than they were even a generation\nago. It asks for special and suitable buildings, with rooms and\nfurnishings adapted to the educational needs of its several departments;\nfor a periodical literature suited to teachers and scholars of every\ngrade, and requiring to be renewed every year; for an organ or\npiano--often for several, with an orchestra added; for an equipment of\nsong books different from those in the church service; for\nentertainments and gifts at Christmas, and a day's outing for all in the\nsummer; for libraries containing popular books for the scholars and\nhelpful works for the teachers in their work. The demands of a large and\ngrowing Sunday school, in city or country, are great, but in nearly all\ncongregations the funds for the support of the Sunday school are\nobtained with less effort than those for any other department of church\nactivity, and in this liberality the Christian people show their wisdom\nand insight.\n\n3. =Practical Ways and Means.= The methods of financial support for the\nSunday school are exceedingly varied. The simplest plan is through a\nregular weekly contribution in the classes. Where attention is given to\nthe collection, and an appeal is occasionally made in its behalf, the\nschool will generally obtain the funds needed for its own support. When\nthe special need arises for the purchase of a piano or a library, some\nentertainment may be held which will by its profits swell the receipts.\nThe objection to these methods, which are almost universal, is that they\nappeal to self-interest, and fail to educate the members of the school\nin true liberality. It is for _our_ school, _our_ piano, _our_ library,\nthat the appeal is made and the money is contributed. The scholars\nshould be taught to give to the cause of Christ and his gospel, and not\nmerely to interests from which they themselves are to receive a reward.\n\n4. =The Ideal Way of Giving.= The more excellent way is for the church\nin its annual estimate of expenses to include a fair, even liberal,\nallowance for the Sunday school, and at intervals through the year pass\nover to the treasury of the Sunday school the funds appropriated, to be\nexpended according to principles and regulations provided. Then let\nevery officer, teacher, and pupil in the school, from the Adult\nDepartment to the Primary, and even to the Beginners, make his own\nweekly offering to the church. Most church schools contribute to the\ncause of foreign missions; but there is equal reason why they should\ngive to all the general benevolent objects for which the church receives\nan annual collection. This plan would unite the church and the school\nmore firmly, would avoid multiplying and conflicting objects for which\nfunds are raised, and, best of all, would train every child in the\nSunday school to systematic giving upon the true gospel principle, which\nis \"not to be ministered unto, but to minister.\"\n\n5. =The Sunday-School Treasurer.= The work of the treasurer is very\ndifferent from that of the secretary; yet the two offices are often held\nby one person. In that case they should be regarded as distinct\npositions; the election to the two offices should be separate, and not\nat the same time for one person as secretary and treasurer. At every\nbusiness meeting a separate report should be presented for the two\ndepartments, and the treasurership should not be regarded as a branch of\nthe secretary's work. If the plan outlined in the last paragraph be\nadopted as the method of providing for the financial needs of the Sunday\nschool, it might be well to choose the treasurer of the church as\ntreasurer of the Sunday school, thus giving unity to the financial\nadministration of the entire organization.\n\n6. =The Treasurer's Work.= This will require a person who is known as\ncareful in accounts, as well as honorable in all his dealings.\n\n(1) _His Charge._ All the funds of the Sunday school should pass through\nhis hands. If money is raised for any purpose, or a money-making\nentertainment is held, the treasurer should take charge of the receipts\nand pay the bills. For this purpose he should be ex officio a member of\nall committees required to receive and disburse funds.\n\n(2) _Bank Account._ Except in small and remote places, the treasurer\nwill find it desirable to keep an account with a bank in behalf of the\nschool, and deposit therein all moneys received. Under no circumstances\nshould he deposit Sunday-school funds as a part of his own private\naccount, but should keep separate accounts as an individual and as\ntreasurer.\n\n(3) _Reports and Vouchers._ At each meeting of the governing board of\nthe school he should present a statement of the condition of the\ntreasury, with exact mention of all moneys received and paid since the\nlast meeting; and for every payment he should show a receipt or voucher,\nand on it the \"O. K.\" or approval of some qualified person who knows\nthat it is correct.\n\n(4) _Bills._ He should receive all bills against the school, and should\ninform himself concerning them, in order to be able to answer any\nquestions raised by members of the board. He should present at the\nmeeting a statement of all the unpaid bills on hand, with a forecast of\nbills expected, and obtain a vote of the board upon each bill that is to\nbe paid.\n\n(5) _Checks._ It is desirable to pay bills as far as possible with\nchecks, as the check will often serve as a receipt; and the receipted\nbills should be filed together for reference.\n\n(6) _Audits._ An Auditing Committee should be appointed, to examine the\naccounts of the school from time to time, and always when the treasurer\ncompletes his term, alike whether he is reelected or gives place to a\nsuccessor. This committee should either present a written report, or\nshould sign their names to the treasurer's report, with the indorsement,\n\"Audited and found correct.\"\n\nMost of the above recommendations, perhaps all of them, state the\nmethods that would be followed by any intelligent, businesslike\ntreasurer. But in the continent-wide area of the Sunday school, of\nnecessity, not all treasurers are intelligent or experienced in business\nmethods; and there are doubtless many who may profit by these\nsuggestions.\n\n(7) _Study of Benevolent Interests._ One of the most important duties of\na treasurer in a modern Sunday school is to study the different\ncharitable objects that present themselves to the school, decide upon\ntheir merits, and then present them understandingly to the members of\nthe school, with a view to eliciting their interest and training them in\nthe spirit and habit of intelligent giving. This important task raises\nthe treasurership out of mere mechanical service, and constitutes it one\nof the directing forces in the school.\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\nVALUE OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL LIBRARY\n\n\n1. =The Library of the Past.= Until quite recent times the Sunday-school\nlibrary was understood to be a collection of books, mainly of an\nentertaining character, kept in the school, distributed at its sessions,\nand read by the scholars, for enjoyment rather than for instruction.\nSuch a library was regarded as an essential of the Sunday school.\nHowever small or however poor the school, it must have a library. Books\nwere scarce, and desirable books were high in price. There were no free\npublic libraries, and few circulating libraries. The library was\nregarded as the principal attraction of the school, and it drew the\nscholars. Many children attended two Sunday schools in order to obtain\neach week two library books. The books were read by all the family; and\nin many homes the Sunday-school library furnished most of the reading\nmatter. The literature may not have been of the highest grade, but, with\nall its defects, the Sunday-school library of the past was a useful and\nvaluable institution.\n\n2. =Its Decline in the Present.= In recent times, and especially in\nwell-settled and cultured communities, the Sunday-school library has\nlost much of its importance. Very many schools have closed their\nlibraries; and in the schools continuing their use only a small\nproportion of the scholars obtain books. Inquiry has shown that in\ncities and suburban towns a school of two hundred members will include\nnot more than thirty who make use of the library. When the library is\nclosed scarcely any complaints from the scholars are heard; nor is the\nclosing of the library followed by a loss of scholars. Publishing houses\nwhich formerly issued fifty new books each year, especially for\nSunday-school libraries, have entirely abandoned this branch of\nbusiness. It cannot be maintained that the Sunday-school library for the\nentertainment of the scholars now holds a prominent place, or is a\nfactor of success, in the best American Sunday schools.\n\n3. =Causes of Decline.= It is not difficult to find reasons for this\npresent lack of interest in the Sunday-school library. Books are now far\nmore abundant than they were formerly. They are sold cheaply, and are to\nbe found in almost every home. The periodical literature in circulation\nto-day is apparently a hundredfold greater than it was two generations\nago. Every city and almost every town has its public library. Many\nschools are furnished with free libraries. Readers can scarcely find\ntime for the books and magazines that are open to them. Moreover, the\nSunday school now stands in such recognized honor and power that it no\nlonger needs the old-time library as a bait for scholars. The library\nfor mere recreation does not readily fit into the general scheme of\neducation in the modern Sunday school. Then, too, the educational work\nof the school demands such an outfit of books and periodicals, renewed\neach year, that the additional expense of the library is a heavy burden.\nSharp criticism is passed upon the quality of the books in most\nSunday-school libraries, as being almost wholly stories, and stories of\na cheap and commonplace character, many of them absolutely injurious.\nThe conducting of the library is often found to interfere with the order\nand work of the school. These are among the causes which have led to\ndisuse of the library in many Sunday schools.\n\n4. =The Uses of a Good Library.= Notwithstanding the objections to the\nSunday-school library, its neglect by many scholars, and its abolition\nin many schools, the fact remains that the majority of Sunday schools\nstill retain the library, and claim that it is needed. There are even\nplaces where the Sunday-school library holds its own constituency in\ncompetition with the town library; and in small villages the Sunday\nschool supplies most of the books in circulation. The principal claims\nmade in behalf of such a library are the following:\n\n(1) _Family Needs._ Every family needs good reading matter. The books\nthat interest the young generally interest the old also. People who\nwould be at a loss to select a book from the shelves of a public library\nwill read the book brought to them from the Sunday-school library. The\nreading of the library-book fills leisure time on Sunday afternoons and\non long winter evenings.\n\n(2) _Moral Influence._ While most Sunday-school books as literature are\nopen to criticism, yet in the realm of ethics they generally present\nhigh ideals. The characters depicted in them may not be symmetrical, but\non the whole they are earnest and upright. Youth admires heroism; and\nthe personalities portrayed in popular Sunday-school books are\ngenerally heroic, even though they may be unduly emotional. The boys who\nare picked up by the police in railroad centers, armed for fighting\nIndians or robbing trains, generally carry an assortment of cheap\nnovels, but they are not from Sunday-school libraries. If the criterion\nbe ethics and not literature, most Sunday-school books will stand the\ntest.\n\n(3) _Aid to the School._ As has been already suggested, the original aim\nof the library was to attract scholars to the school. In many places\nthis influence is no longer needed; but there still remain communities\nwhere scholars are obtained and families are interested by means of the\nlibrary. And it is an open question whether if the library had advanced\nstep by step with the other departments of the school, if the same\nattention had been given to the supply and management of the library as\nhas been given to the educational work, if the right books had been kept\nupon its shelves, and advanced methods had been sought in their\ndistribution, the library of the Sunday school might not still be a\nvigorous and successful institution.\n\n5. =Principles of Selection.= If the governing board of the school\ndecides that a library for general reading by the scholars is desirable,\nthe question at once arises as to what principles shall determine the\nselection of books. A few of these principles may be stated:\n\n(1) _Variety._ The library should represent more than one department of\nliterature. So general is the taste for stories that the tendency will\nbe inevitable to overload the library with works of fiction. Therefore\nspecial care should be given to include in it the lives of great and\ngood men--heroes, statesmen, explorers, leaders of the church, and\nmissionaries. All of these present life on its romantic side, and may be\nfound written in an entertaining manner. Upon the shelves should also be\nplaced history and science--not in many-volumed treatises for scholars,\nbut in popular books for young people. In fact, there are few\ndepartments of a good public library which may not properly be included\nin the library of the Sunday school, especially in places where the\nschool is expected to supply the reading matter for the community.\n\n(2) _Popularity._ Merely to place books on the shelves of a\nSunday-school library will not insure the reading of them. This library\naims to be emphatically a circulating library. Its books are not for\nshow, but for use; and their place to be seen is not on the shelves of\nthe library-room, but in the homes of the scholars and teachers. It is\nabsolutely essential that no book be placed in the library unless it is\nsufficiently interesting to be taken out and read, for an unread book is\nworse than useless in the Sunday-school library. Although its principles\nbe as sound as the Ten Commandments, if it be dull it must be condemned.\nStudents may be willing to plod through an uninteresting book because it\nis profitable, but ordinary readers, especially youthful readers, will\nturn from it. Books should not be purchased because they are good, or\nbecause they are cheap; nor, on the other hand, should they be chosen\nonly because they are popular; yet an interesting, popular quality\nshould be an absolute requirement in every book placed upon the library\nshelves.\n\n(3) _Literary Quality._ Books are influential teachers, and a style like\nthat of Hawthorne or Eliot will unconsciously mold the language of those\nwho read it. On the other hand, the habitual readers of the slang in the\ncomic paragraph of the newspaper will talk in a careless and inelegant\nmanner. Of course, all books should be excluded from the library which\ndeal in low, profane, or immoral language, without regarding the\nspecious plea that such describe life as it is. We do not need to learn\nthe language of the slums to know life; and, as one writer has said, we\ndo not want a realism that can be touched only with a pair of tongs. The\nbest pirate story in the English language is one that is without an oath\nfrom cover to cover,[10] and we would not exclude it from the\nSunday-school library. Let us seek for writers whose expression is\ndirect, smooth, and cultured. The Sunday school in its literature as\nwell as its teaching should lead upward toward refinement of taste.\n\n(4) _Moral Teaching._ The ethical standard of every book in the\nSunday-school library should be of the highest. Not that every paragraph\nshould end with the application like the _Haec fabula docet_ of AEsop's\nfables, or that the characters in a story should be of a \"goody-goody\"\nkind, or that none but good people should appear upon the page. There\nmust be some shadows in the perspective that the light may stand in\ncontrast. But in no case should wrong, or sin, or the doubtful\nmoralities of modern society be made attractive. Moral problem stories,\nin which the boundary lines of right and wrong conduct are crossed and\nre-crossed until right seems wrong, and wrong seems right, should have\nno place. \"Should love stories be admitted?\" Not if the element of love\nenters as the dominant thought of the book. A story should not be\nforbidden because there is a pair of lovers in it; but it should not be\naccepted if the book shows no higher motive than to set forth their\npassion. Books should be sought that will inculcate a noble manliness\nfor young men and a noble womanliness for young women, and there are\nsuch books in numbers sufficient to fill the library shelves.\n\n(5) _Christian Spirit._ It is not required that every book should set\nforth and illustrate a spiritual experience. It may be religious without\npreaching religion. But the morals it inculcates should be founded upon\nthe gospels and inspired by faith. It should be reverent in its\ntreatment of the Bible, of the church, and of the ministry. A book or a\nstory designed to weaken belief in the Scriptures as records of the\ndivine will, or holding the church up to scorn, or showing a minister as\nits villain, should be kept out of the Sunday-school library. Criticism\nor discussion of the Bible, of the church, and of the ministry has its\nplace, but its place is not in the Sunday school. The Sunday school is\ndistinctively a religious and a Christian institution, and the\natmosphere of the Christian religion should pervade its library.\n\n6. =The Coming Sunday-School Library.= Another library of a higher type\nthan that designed for the reading and recreation of the scholars is now\narising to notice in many advanced Sunday schools, and is destined to\nbecome the Sunday-school library of the future, either supplementing the\nlibrary of the past or taking its place. It is the library which is to\nthe Sunday school what the college library is to the college, a workshop\nequipped with tools for the use of the teacher and the scholar. It will\nbe at once a reference library, containing the best Bible dictionaries,\ncyclopedias, expository works, and gospel harmonies, open at certain\ntimes for the use of students; and also a lending library of books upon\nthe Bible, upon the Sunday school, upon teaching, upon religion, upon\ncharacter, and upon the varied forms of social service which are now\ncalling for workers, and will call yet more imperatively in the coming\nyears. The books for this library must be chosen with wisdom; for they\nshould represent the results of the best scholarship, yet be expressed\nin language that the nonprofessional reader can understand; and many of\nthem must be for the scholars, who are of all ages and all degrees of\nintelligence. Those of the Primary Department should be able to find in\nsuch a library the stories of the Bible told in such a fascinating\nmanner that a child too young to read them may listen to them with\ninterest, and picture-books illustrating the events, the people, the\ndress, and the landscape of the Bible. It should be planned to meet the\nneeds of every grade in the Sunday school, and to aid every teacher and\nevery scholar; and when established it should be made effective in the\neducational work of the school. Just as in the secular school and the\ncollege students are sent to the library with directions as to the books\nthey will need, so in the Sunday school teachers will be able to counsel\ntheir scholars and to give them week-day work, so that the teaching will\nbe more than the talk of the teacher; it will embrace the results of\nsearching on the part of the scholar. Under the system of uniform\nlessons the use of such a library was well-nigh impracticable, because\nevery class would need the same books at one time. But the uniform\nlessons are being rapidly displaced by the graded system, giving to each\ngrade its own series of lessons; and this method, requiring different\nbooks for each age in the school, will open the way for reference work\nand study in the library. The time is at hand when such a working\nlibrary will become a necessity in every well-organized school.\n\n7. =The Public Library and the Sunday School.= It would seem that\nwherever the public library is free, available, and well conducted some\narrangement might be effected whereby the Sunday-school libraries could\nbe united with the public library. This would lessen expense and\ndifficulty in management, would avoid the unnecessary reduplication of\ncopies of the same books, and would give to the scholars at once a wider\nselection and the advantage of the open shelf. In more than one town\nthis has been accomplished. The Sunday schools have transferred all\ntheir libraries to the public library, to its enlargement, and with no\nloss of members to the schools. Some Sunday schools in cities have been\nrecognized as branch stations of the public library, giving them the\nbenefit of frequent changes in the equipment of books, which at regular\nintervals are selected from the store of the public library by the\nlibrary committee of the school. The working library for teachers and\nscholars, proposed in the last paragraph, in many places might be\nestablished in the public library, wherever the schools in the community\nwill unite to show that it is needed, to name the books required, and to\nmake it practically useful.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[10] R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island.\n\n\n\n\nXII\n\nTHE MANAGEMENT OF THE LIBRARY\n\n\n1. =Library Committee.= For the selection of books, whether in the\nreading library for scholars or the working library for teachers and\nscholars, a wise, intelligent, and careful committee should be chosen,\nand should be maintained in permanent service. The pastor and the\nsuperintendent should be ex-officio members of this committee, but it\nshould also include some other persons sufficiently acquainted with\nbooks to pass upon their merits, and willing to give time, inquiry, and\nthought to the library. There may be schools fortunate in possessing\nlibrarians who devote themselves to the selection of books, as well as\nto the care of them; and in such schools the library committees will\nfind their labors lessened. No book should be admitted to the library\nwithout examination and approval by the committee.\n\n(1) _Purchase of Books._ The simplest method for finding books is far\nfrom being the best method. It is to have a quantity of books--a hundred\nor more at one time--sent by booksellers on approval. This method\ninvolves hasty examination, and generally results in obtaining many\nuseless, worthless books intermixed with a few good ones. The better\nplan is for the committee, first of all, to be supplied with catalogues\nfrom reputable publishers of books for children and young people, and\nalso books on religious and biblical education; next to read carefully\nthe reviews of books in these departments as given in the best literary\nand religious periodicals; then, to send only for such books as they\njudge will be desirable, receiving them on approval. Every book should\nnot only be looked at, but read; and if at all doubtful read by more\nthan one member of the committee. In some Sunday schools there is placed\nat the door a library box, in which may be deposited the names of books\ndesired by members of the school. Lists of approved books are published\nby various houses and societies; and the catalogues of a few good\nSunday-school libraries will aid committees. The library committee must\nscrutinize closely all donations of books offered to the library, and\nresolutely decline every book that is unsuitable, even at the risk of\noffending the donor. The Sunday-school library room must not be turned\ninto a mausoleum for dead volumes. The committee must also beware of\nbargains offered by some booksellers who would unload upon Sunday\nschools their left-over and unsalable stock. That which costs little is\ngenerally worth less. The Sunday school must obtain only books that will\nbe read and are worth reading.\n\n(2) _Frequent Additions._ The usual method is to use the old library\nuntil its best books are either worn out or lost, and then to make a\nstrenuous effort at raising money for the purchase of an entirely new\ncollection. But the better plan is to add a few carefully selected books\neach month to the library. To examine at one time two hundred volumes is\nan impossibility, and in so large a purchase many undesirable books are\nsure to be included. It is not difficult to select after careful\nexamination ten books each month, and thereby keep the library always at\na high grade of excellence. With each purchase a slip describing the new\nbooks might be printed, and distributed to the school, thus keeping the\nlibrary constantly before its patrons.\n\n2. =The Librarian.= There is a close analogy between the work of the\nlibrarian in the public library and that in the Sunday school. For the\npublic library everywhere a specialist is sought, one who knows books,\ncan select them wisely, and can aid seekers after literature in their\nreading. The Sunday school needs just such a librarian, and all the more\nbecause the scholars cannot select from the open shelf, but must guess\nat the quality of a book from its title in the catalogue. It has been\nnoticed that wherever a Sunday-school library is successful in holding\nthe interest of the scholars there is found with it a librarian adapted\nto his work and devoting himself to it. We notice the characteristics of\na good librarian in the Sunday school:\n\n(1) _A Bookman._ He is a lover of books, acquainted with them, and\ninterested in good literature. His work is more than to distribute\nbooks: he should aid, sometimes supervise, their collection.\n\n(2) _A Business Man._ He is practical, orderly, and systematic in his\nways of working; with a plan for his task, and fidelity in accomplishing\nit.\n\n(3) _Gentle in Manner._ Opportunities will be frequent for the librarian\nto clash with the scholars on the one hand, or with the superintendent\nupon the other. With one he may appear arbitrary, with the other\ndisorderly, his work sometimes breaking into the program of exercises.\nHe should be pleasant toward all, uniform in his dealings, and attentive\nto the general order of the school.\n\n3. =His Assistants.= In most schools one assistant, in large schools\nseveral assistants, will be required by the librarian. He should\nnominate them, subject to the approval of the governing board of the\nschool; and should require of them regular and prompt attendance, and\nattention to their work in the library. It is very desirable that the\nbusiness should be so arranged as to allow the librarians to take part\nin the opening devotional service with the school, and not to be at work\narranging books while others are at prayer.\n\n4. =The Management of the Library.= This involves four processes: the\ncollection, the assignment, the distribution, and the return of the\nbooks.\n\n(1) _The Collection._ The books can easily be collected without\ninterfering with the order of the school, if the library window is near\nthe entrance to the building, and the scholars as they enter leave their\nbooks at the library. This is the method employed in most schools.\n\n(2) _The Assignment._ How to enable each scholar to choose his book\nintroduces one of the three problems in library management. The plan\ngenerally followed is to supply each scholar with a card bearing a\nnumber which represents the scholar. He selects from the catalogue a\nlarge assortment of books, and writes their numbers upon his card: the\nlibrarian assigns the scholar any one of the books selected, crosses it\nfrom his list, and upon another list marks the number of the book\nopposite the number of the scholar. The weakness of the plan is in the\nfact that the scholar has no means of learning from the catalogue what\nbooks are desirable; and a book desired by one may be entirely\nundesirable to another. Theoretically the scholar has the whole\ncatalogue from which to choose; practically he has no choice, except the\nsuggestion in the titles of the books. The open-shelf plan cannot be\nestablished in the Sunday school, for the room is usually too small, the\ntime of the session is too brief, and the work of the school too\nimportant to allow interruption.\n\nIn some graded Sunday schools another plan is pursued, taking from the\nscholar all choice, but assigning to each grade books of certain\nnumbers, all printed upon the card of the scholar, any one of which\nbooks he may receive at any time during his stay in the grade, but each\nof which will fall to his lot but once. This plan demands a library of\nbooks carefully selected, and as carefully fitted to each grade in the\nschool. But this method is apt to be unsatisfactory to the scholars, who\nhave their own preferences among the books. The difficulties in\nassigning books, and disappointments of scholars in failing to obtain\nthe books desired, is a frequent cause for the disuse of the library;\nand this problem has not as yet been fully solved.\n\n(3) _The Distribution._ This takes place at the close of the school, and\nbrings in the second problem of library management. The books may be\nbrought to the classes by the librarians, and distributed by the\nteachers; each scholar's book being indicated by his card placed within\nit. This method often causes confusion; scholars being dissatisfied\nwith their books and leaving their classes press around the library.\nSometimes they exchange books with each other. This is a simple plan as\nfar as the two scholars exchanging are concerned, but sure to make\ntrouble in the record of the librarian. Or each class may be dismissed\nin turn, and obtain its books at the library window while passing out.\nBut this plan causes a congestion of scholars at the library, and also\nrequires much time. To manage the distribution of books demands a strong\nwill, coupled with a gentle manner in maintaining the library rules.\n\n(4) _The Return._ The theory of the Sunday-school library is that each\nscholar will bring his book back after a week or two weeks. But boys and\ngirls--sometimes older scholars also--are apt to be careless. Books are\nexchanged between scholars, are loaned from one home to another, are\nforgotten, and are lost. And the books lost most readily are frequently\nthose that are most sought for by the scholars. How to induce scholars\ninvariably to return their books constitutes the third problem of\nlibrary management. In many schools the percentage of lost books is\nexceedingly large. The librarian should do his utmost to reduce the loss\nto a minimum. To this end a few suggestions may be given:\n\n(a) Record of Scholars. Every scholar's name and address, with his\nlibrary number, should be kept on record in the library; and every\neffort should be made to make the record conform to all changes in\nresidence.\n\n(b) Record Sheet. The library should contain a record sheet, showing\nthe number of every book issued, and the number of the scholar receiving\nit; to be canceled when the book is returned. This will show who is\nresponsible for every book out of its place from the library.\n\n(c) Fines. A fine should be assessed upon the scholar for every book\nkept over time; and notice sent to the scholar at his home when a fine\nhas become due.\n\n(d) Rewards. Scholars should be paid a reward, perhaps of ten cents for\neach book, if they can succeed in tracing and finding any book which has\nbeen out of the library two months or more. These plans, or others, may\nlessen, but no plan will entirely remove, the evil of books lost to the\nlibrary through neglect or a worse crime.\n\n\n\n\nXIII\n\nTHE TEACHER'S QUALIFICATIONS AND NEED OF TRAINING\n\n\nWhile the superintendent in the school is the moving and guiding\nintelligence, the pulse of the machine, the teacher in the class is the\nworker at the anvil, or the loom, or the lathe, for whom all the plans\nare made, and upon whom all the success depends. In the warfare for\nsouls he is on the picket line and at close range, fighting face to face\nand hand to hand. The sphere of his effort is small, that group gathered\naround him for an hour on Sunday, but in that little field his is the\nwork that counts for the final victory. His task requires peculiar\nadaptedness, supplemented by special training.\n\n1. =His Qualifications.= There are on the American continent not less\nthan a million and a half Sunday-school teachers, who give to the gospel\ntheir free-will offering of time, and toil, and thought. They are not\nlike civil engineers or the majority of public-school teachers,\ngraduates of schools that have given them training for a special\nvocation. In every respect they are laymen, engaged for six days in\nsecular work, and on one day finding an avocation in the Sunday school.\nYet there are certain traits, partly natural and partly acquired, which\nthey must possess, if they are to find success in their Sabbath-day\nservice.\n\n(1) _A Sincere Disciple._ The Sunday-school teacher must be a follower\nof Christ, not merely in profession but in spirit. He is one who has met\nhis Lord, has heard and has obeyed the call, \"Follow me.\" He enlisted in\nthe grand army of which Christ is the Commander, before he received his\nassignment to the army corps of the Sunday school, and his fidelity to\nthe department is inspired by his deeper loyalty to his Lord. It is\neminently desirable that the Sunday-school teacher should be a member of\nthe church; but it is imperative that he should be a disciple of Christ.\n\n(2) _A Lover of Youth._ By far the largest proportion of scholars in the\nSunday school, perhaps nine tenths, are under twenty-five years of age.\nTherefore, with few exceptions, the teachers must deal with young\npeople; and youth at all its stages is not easy to understand and to\nmanage. Moreover, the fact that not only the teachers, but to a large\nextent the scholars, are volunteers enters into the problem. Pupils\nattend the week-day school and submit to a teacher's rule because they\nmust, whether their teachers are acceptable or are disliked. But the\nrule in the Sunday school is not the law of authority; it is the law of\npersuasion. The teacher who cannot draw his scholars, but repels them,\nsoon finds himself without a class. In all teaching sympathy, or the\ncoordination between the interest of the teacher in the pupil and of the\npupil in the teacher, is a strong factor in success; but in the Sunday\nschool it is an absolute necessity by reason of the voluntary element in\nthe constitution of the Sunday school. That mystic power which will\ncombine uncongenial spirits, and fuse the hearts of teacher and scholar\ninto one, is love. Let the teacher love his scholars, let him see in\neach pupil some quality to inspire love, and the battle is half won.\nLove will quicken tact, and love and tact together will win the complete\nvictory.\n\n(3) _A Lover of the Scriptures._ Whatever the Sunday school of to-morrow\nmay become, the Sunday school of to-day is preeminently a Bible school.\nThere are tendencies in our time which may in another generation render\nthe Bible less prominent, and introduce into the Sunday school studies\nin church history, in social science, in moral reform, in missions,\nperhaps in comparative religion, or in some other departments of\nknowledge. But as yet the great text-book of the school is the Holy\nScriptures. The volume should be in the hand of every teacher and of\nevery scholar during the school session; and the teacher, especially,\nmust study it during the week. If all of the Bible that he knows is\ncontained in the paragraphs assigned for the coming lesson, and the rest\nof the book is sealed to his eyes, he will be a very poor teacher. He\nneeds to have his mind stored with a thousand facts, and to have these\nfacts systematized, in order to teach ten; and the nine hundred and\nninety which he knows will add all their weight to the ten which he\ntells.\n\n(4) _A Willing Worker._ The teacher's love for Christ, for his scholars,\nand for his Bible is not to expend itself in emotion or even in study;\nit is to find expression in efficient service. A task is laid upon him\nwhich will demand much of his time and his power of body, mind, and\nspirit. He must be ready to meet his class fifty-two Sundays in the\nyear: on days of sunshine and days of storm; when he is eager for the\nwork, and when he is weary in it; when his scholars are responsive, and\nwhen they are careless; when his fellow workers are congenial, and when\nthey are anti-pathetic; when his lesson is easy to teach, and when it is\nhard. He must be regular in his service, not turned aside by\nopportunities of enjoyment elsewhere; and he must give to it all his\npowers and all his skill. Work such as this can be sustained only by an\nenduring enthusiasm, a devotion to the cause; and therefore the teacher\nmust have his heart enlisted as well as his will.\n\nAs a Sunday-school teacher, then, four harmonious objects will claim a\nshare in his love: his Lord, his scholars, his Bible, and his work.\n\n2. =His Need of Training.= For two generations it was supposed that any\nperson fairly intelligent, without special equipment, was fitted to be a\nSunday-school teacher. There are found no records of training classes in\nSunday-school work earlier than 1855, when the Rev. John H. Vincent\nbegan to gather young people and train them for service in his Sunday\nschool at Irvington, New Jersey. The seed of his \"Palestine Class\" grew\ninto the \"Normal Class\"; and by 1869 there were in a few places classes\nfor the teaching of teachers in the Bible and Sunday-school work. It is\nnot remarkable that Sunday-school teacher-training should be delayed so\nlong after the organization of the first Sunday school, when it is\nremembered that in America the first Normal School for secular teachers\nwas not founded until 1839. The Chautauqua movement, begun in 1874, gave\na strong impetus to Sunday-school teacher-training; the state\nassociations and denominational organizations took up the work; and now\nteacher-training classes are to be found in every state and province on\nthe American continent. The thoroughly graded school includes in its\nsystem a class for the training of young people who are to be teachers.\n\nIt is late in the day to inquire why the Sunday-school teacher needs\ntraining; but the question is often asked, and the answers are ready:\n\n(1) _The General Principle._ All good work involves the prerequisite of\ntraining. Especially is this true of teaching; and there is a reason why\nthe principle holds with regard to the Sunday-school teacher even more\ndirectly than with the secular teacher. While the subjects of teaching\nare vitally important, relating to character and efficient service, the\ntime for teaching is short, less than an hour each week, in contrast to\nthe twenty or twenty-five hours in the week-day school. To make an\nimpression in so short a teaching period, with such long intervals\nbetween the lessons, demands that the teacher be one who possesses\nexceptional fitness for his work, and this superior fitness cannot be\nobtained without special and thorough training.\n\n(2) _The Teacher's Responsibility._ All-important as is the work of\nreligious teaching, for which the Bible is the chief text-book in the\nchurch, there is but one institution in our time charged with that\nmighty duty, and that is the Sunday school. The Bible is rarely taught\nin the home, which should be the first place for teaching it; it is only\nincidentally taught in the pulpit, of which the aim is not so much\ninstruction as inspiration. Practically all the teaching of the Bible\nnow devolves upon the Sunday school, and the Sunday school only. If the\nSunday schools of the world for one generation should fail to teach the\nword of life, the knowledge of that word would well-nigh cease. And the\none person charged with that task, the one on whom the responsibility\nrests, is the Sunday-school teacher. He who is intrusted with so great a\nwork, and upon whose fidelity the work depends, must have a proper\nequipment; and that equipment presupposes training.\n\n(3) _The Demand of the Age._ We are living in an intellectual age,\nunparalleled in the history of the world. The boundaries of knowledge in\nevery direction have widened, and in each realm the search is deeper and\nmore thorough. Such wealth has been added through recent investigations\nto the store of Bible knowledge that most commentaries, expositions, and\nintroductions of the past have now but slight value. Another exceedingly\nimportant realm that has been added to the domain of knowledge is that\nof child study, but recently an unexplored field, now open to every\nreader. In such a time as this the teacher who would impart the contents\nof the Bible to the young must have eyes and mind opened. He must know\nthe results of modern investigation in the Scriptures and in the nature\nof those whom he teaches. His pupils are under the care of trained and\nalert specialists through the week; they must receive instruction from\nwell-taught minds in the Sunday school.\n\n(4) _The Teacher and His Class._ The peculiar relation already referred\nto as existing between the Sunday-school teacher and his class presents\nanother incentive to training. His relation is not like that of the\nsecular teacher, who speaks with authority, and can command attention\nand study. The teacher in Sunday school cannot require his scholars to\nlearn the lesson; the authority of the parent is rarely employed to\ncompel home study; and as a result most of our scholars come to the\nSunday school unprepared. This is not the ideal or the ultimate\ncondition, but unfortunately it is still the real condition in at least\nnine out of ten Sunday-school classes. This condition makes the demand\nupon the teacher all the greater. Because his scholars are unprepared he\nmust be all the better prepared. He must be able to awaken and arouse\nhis pupils; he must inspire them to an interest in the lesson; he must\nso teach as to lead them into knowledge of the truth and a desire to\nseek it for themselves. Anyone can teach the scholar who is eager to\nlearn; but to teach those who come to the class unprepared and careless,\nto send them away with a clear-cut understanding of the lesson, and an\nawakened intelligence and conscience--all this, under the conditions of\nthe Sunday-school teacher's task, and in his peculiar relation to his\nscholars, requires not only ability, but also thoroughly trained\nability.\n\nIn view of all these considerations, it is not surprising that at the\nopening of the twentieth century the demand of the Sunday schools\neverywhere is for better teaching, and for teachers who have themselves\nbeen taught and are able to teach others.\n\n\n\n\nXIV\n\nTHE TRAINING AND TASK OF THE TEACHER\n\n\n1. =The Training Needed.= Many faithful workers in the Sunday school\nrealize their need of preparation; but, while conscious of unfitness,\nthey have no clear conception of the equipment which they require. What\nare those fields of knowledge which should be traversed by one who has\nbeen called to teach in the Sunday school? They comprise four\ndepartments: (1) the Book, (2) the scholar, (3) the school, and (4) the\nwork.\n\n(1) _The Book._ We have already noted that the Sunday school is\ndifferentiated from other systems of education in the fact that it uses\nmainly but one text-book, the Holy Scriptures. For that reason the\nteacher must first of all acquaint himself as thoroughly as possible\nwith the contents of that wonderful volume. He should be a twentieth\ncentury Bible student; not a student or a scholar according to the light\nof the Middle Ages, or the seventeenth century, or even of the first\nhalf of the nineteenth century; for in all those periods the aims, the\nmethods, and the scope of Bible study were different from those of the\npresent time. He who is to teach the Bible successfully to-day must have\nsome knowledge of the Bible in the following aspects:\n\n(a) Its Origin and Nature. He must have a definite idea of how the\nsixty-six books of Scripture were composed, written, and preserved;\nand, as far as may be known, who were their authors.\n\n(b) Its History. The Bible is, more than anything else, a book of\nhistory, containing the record of a people who received the divine\nrevelation and preserved it. The divine revelation cannot be taught nor\ncomprehended unless the annals of that remarkable people, the\nIsraelites, be first read and understood. Therefore biblical history\nshould be the first subject to be studied by the teacher in the Sunday\nschool. The leading facts and underlying principles of that unique\nhistory must be understood; not in an outline of minute details, but as\na general landscape, in which each lesson of the Bible will take its\nplace.\n\n(c) Its Geographical Background. The Bible brings before us a world of\nnatural features which remain--seas, mountains, valleys, and plains; a\nworld of political divisions which has passed away; its empires,\nkingdoms, and tribal relations; and cities and towns, some of them now\ndesolate, others in poverty and in ruin. The teacher who is to instruct\nhis pupils must be able to see those abiding elements, and by the aid of\nhis historical imagination to reconstruct those that have changed. He\nmust make that ancient world of the Bible roll like a panorama before\nthe eyes of his mind.\n\n(d) Its Institutions. Upon every page of the Bible are stamped pictures\nof manners, customs, institutions, forms of worship, that are unfamiliar\nto our Christian, Anglo-Saxon, modern world. The teacher must become\nfamiliar with this local color of another civilization, and enable his\nclass to see it through his eyes.\n\n(e) Its Ethical and Religious Teaching. In the past, and until a\ngeneration ago, the Bible was studied only for its doctrines. It was\ngenerally treated as one book, all written at once and by one author;\nits history, biography, institutions, were passed over as unimportant;\nwhile every sentence was searched for some light upon theology. From the\nBible, by assorting and grouping its texts out of every book, a system\nof doctrine was constructed; and the mastery of this system with its\nproof-texts was regarded as the principal work of the Bible student.\nThat method of Bible study has justly fallen into disuse among modern\nscholars. The Bible is now looked upon as a record of life rather than\nas a treasury of texts. Yet its stream of ethical, religious, and\nspiritual teaching must be found and followed by the student who is to\nteach the truth; and the doctrines revealed through the Bible should be\nregarded as a necessary part of his training.\n\n(2) _The Scholar._ One book must be studied closely by the teacher, and\nthat is his pupils. During the last thirty years human nature in all its\nstages, as child, as youth, during adolescence, and in maturity--especially\nin the earlier periods--has been investigated as never before. The\nstudent in our time can enter into the results of special study upon\nthese subjects. He needs to know what the best books can give him of\nchild study and mind study; and to supplement book-knowledge in this\ndepartment with watchful eyes and close thought upon the traits which he\nfinds in his own scholars.\n\n(3) _The School._ The teacher in the Sunday school needs to understand\nthe institution wherein he is a worker. The Sunday school is like the\nweek-day school, yet unlike it; and the teacher must be able to\nappreciate at once what he can follow and what he should avoid in the\nmethods of the secular school. The history of the Sunday-school\nmovement, its fundamental principles, its organization, officers,\nmethods of management, and aims--all these are in the scope of the\nteacher's preparation.\n\n(4) _The Work._ Whether on Sunday or on Monday, a teacher is after all a\nteacher, and the laws of true teaching are the same in a Sunday school,\nin a public school, and in a college. The application of those laws may\nvary according to the ages of pupils, the subjects of instruction, and\nthe aims of the institution, but the principles are unchanging. Those\nenduring principles of instruction are well understood, are set down in\ntext-books, and can easily be learned by a student. There are successful\nteachers who know these principles by an intuition that they cannot\nexplain; but most people will save themselves from many mistakes and\ncomparative failure by a close study of modern educational methods.\n\nIn some way knowledge in all these four great departments of training\nshould be obtained by the teacher, if possible, before he enters upon\nhis task; but if he has missed earlier opportunities of preparation he\nmust acquire this knowledge even while he is teaching. The outlines of\nsuch a course of study should be given in the training class for young\npeople; and such a training class should be regarded as essential to\nevery well-organized school.[11]\n\n2. =The Teacher's Task.= All the preparation briefly outlined in these\nlast paragraphs is only preparatory to the work which the teacher is to\ndo in his vocation. The task set before the teacher is fourfold:\n\n(1) _As a Student._ The studies named above are not completed when the\nteacher has passed out of the training class with a certificate of\ngraduation. The public-school teacher who ceases to study after\nfinishing the course of the normal school is foredoomed to failure. The\ntraining class or the training school has only outlined before the\nteacher the fields to be traversed, and shown him a few paths which he\nmay follow. He who has undertaken to teach a group of scholars, whether\nin the Beginners Department, the Senior Department, or any grade between\nthem, must continue his studies, in the Bible, in the specific course of\ngraded lessons which he is teaching, and in general knowledge; for there\nis no department of thought or action which will not bring tribute to\nthe teacher, to be turned into treasure for his class. The Sunday-school\nteacher must ever maintain an open mind, a quick eye, and a spirit eager\nfor knowledge. His accumulation will prove a store upon which to draw\nfor teaching; and even that unused will give its weight to truth\nimparted to his class.\n\n(2) _As a Friend._ The teacher is more than a student dealing with\nbooks; he is a living soul in contact with living souls. If the most\nmasterly lesson teaching in the realm of thought could be spoken into a\nphonograph, and then ground out before a class, it would fail to teach,\nfor it would utterly lack the human element. Knowledge counts for much\nin teaching, but personality counts for far more. If a teacher is to be\nsuccessful he must have a close relationship with his class. They must\nknow him, he must know them, and there must be a common interest, nay, a\ncommon affection, between the two personalities of teacher and pupil. He\nmust be a friend to each one of his scholars, schooling himself, if need\nbe, to friendship; and each of his scholars must be made to realize that\nhis teacher is his friend. This personal affection need not always be\nstated in words. The teacher who constantly assures his scholars that he\nloves them will not be believed as readily as the one who shows his love\nin his spirit and his acts, even though he may refrain from affectionate\nforms of speech.\n\n(3) _As a Teacher._ Teaching requires more than the possession of an\nabundant store of information upon any subject. He is not a teacher who\nsimply pours forth upon the ears of his pupils an undigested mass of\nfacts, however valuable those facts may be. The true teacher after large\npreparation assorts his material, and selects such matter as is\nappropriate to his own class. This he arranges in a form to be readily\nreceived, thoroughly comprehended, and easily remembered. He comes\nbefore his class with the fixed purpose that every pupil shall carry\naway with him a knowledge of the lesson, and shall not forget it. He\nmust awaken the pupil's attention; for talking to an inattentive group\nof people accomplishes no more than preaching to tombstones in a\ngraveyard. He must obtain the cooperation of the pupil's interest, and\ninduce him to think upon the subject. He must call forth from his pupil\nsome expression of his thought in language, for one is never sure of his\nknowledge until he has shaped it into words; and that which the pupil\nhas stated he is much surer to remember than that which he has merely\nheard. Teaching, then, involves (1) selection of material, (2)\nadaptation of material, (3) presentation of truth, (4) awakening\nthought, (5) calling forth expression, (6) fixing knowledge in the\nmemory.\n\n(4) _As a Disciple._ It is the teacher's task not only to impart to his\nscholars valuable information about the Bible, about God, about Christ,\nand about salvation; but, far more than imparting an intellectual\nknowledge, to bring the living word into relation with living souls, to\ninspire a fellowship of his pupils with God, to have Christ founded\nwithin them, to make salvation through Christ their joyous possession.\nNor is his work as a working disciple accomplished when all his scholars\nhave become Christians in possession and profession, and members of\nChrist's Church. By his example and his teachings he should lead them to\nefficient service for Christ in the church, in the community, and in the\nstate. There is work for every member in the church, and work for\neveryone possessing the spirit of Christ in the community. Whatever may\nhave been the type of a saint in the twelfth century, or in the\nsixteenth, or even in the early nineteenth century, in these stirring,\nstrenuous years of the twentieth century the disciple of Christ is a man\namong men or a woman among women, active in the effort to make the world\nbetter, and to establish in his own village, or town, or ward of the\ncity, the kingdom of heaven on earth. To inspire his scholars for such\nlabors, and to lead them, is the supreme opportunity and work of the\nteacher.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[11] For detailed methods and plans, see the volume of this series on\nThe Training of Sunday School Teachers.\n\n\n\n\nXV\n\nTHE CONSTITUENCY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\n\n1. =Relation to the Community.= The Sunday school is a temple built of\nliving stones; and the quarry from which they are taken in the rough, to\nbe cut and polished for their places in the building, is the entire\ncommunity in which the school is placed. In our time, more than ever\nbefore, the reasons are imperative why special study should be given to\nthe community from which the school must draw its members. Certain\nprinciples of administration will become apparent when once the field is\ncarefully considered.\n\n(1) _Constituency Adjacent._ The population from which a given Sunday\nschool draws its members must be generally that immediately around it.\nSome teachers and scholars may come from a distance, but even in this\nage of convenient transit by trains and trolley cars, it is found that,\ntaking the church building as a center, the constituency of the Sunday\nschool in a city is mostly within a radius of half a mile, and in the\ncountry within a mile. Throughout that sphere of influence the church\nshould look well to the population, should know its proportionate\nelements, as far as possible should come into acquaintance with the\nfamilies, and should plan to win, to evangelize, and to hold all its\nnatural following.\n\n(2) _Membership Representative._ Upon general and almost invariable\nprinciples, the Sunday school should represent all the elements of the\npopulation within its environment. If it be a residence section with\nisolated houses, each containing but one family of well-to-do people,\nthe church is apt to be a family church, and a large Sunday school must\nnot be looked for, since large mansions rarely contain large families.\nIf, on the other hand, the neighborhood be populous, characterized by\nvaried strata of society--a few rich, a goodly number fairly prosperous,\nand a greater mass of wage-earners, yet the section as a whole American\nand not foreign in its civilization--then a flourishing, active, and\ngrowing Sunday school should be expected. And it should embrace all\nthese elements, the rich, the middle class, and the wage-earners, in the\nproportion which each bears to the community as a whole. If the school\nin such a population be small, or if it be composed exclusively of one\nclass, whether it be the so-called better class or the mission class,\nthere is a serious error in its policy. The true Sunday school should be\nrepresentative of all the elements in the population. It is both a crime\nand a blunder to limit the efforts of a Sunday school to one class of\nsociety: a crime, because such a school leaves multitudes around it to\nperish; and a blunder, because the effort results in an anaemic,\ndwindling, dying institution.\n\n(3) _Methods Adapted._ Almost every community, whether in city or in\ncountry, possesses some traits peculiar to itself. There may be two\ntowns ten miles apart, one the wealthy residential suburb of a city, the\nother a settlement surrounding a great factory. The population of these\ntwo places will be in marked contrast, and the methods of Christian\nwork successful in one will utterly fail in the other. One street or\navenue in a city may mark the boundary line between family churches and\nmission churches. Within ten minutes' walk of each other may stand two\nchurches of the same denomination, yet so utterly apart in spirit as to\npossess nothing in common but name. It is possible that each of these\ntwo organizations might learn something from the other, and might do\ntheir Master's work better by a closer community of interest and\nfeeling. Yet it would be a mistake to introduce into either church all\nthe plans that are successful in the other; or to reject in one Sunday\nschool any method because it has proved a failure in another and a\ndifferent field. The work of each church and Sunday school must be\nadapted to the population from which its membership is to be drawn.\n\n2. =The Changing Population.= One of the most imperative questions\nconfronting the gospel worker, both in the church and the Sunday school,\narises from the constant changes taking place in our population. In the\ncities we see stately churches, once thronged, now well-nigh desolate,\nwhile their walls echo to the tread upon the sidewalk of a churchless\nmultitude. In front of a fine old church, where once millionaires\nworshiped, the writer has often passed a news-stand upon which are for\nsale newspapers in seven different languages. And too often one finds\nthat the churches of a generation ago have been turned into low\ntheaters, or torn down, giving place to stores and office buildings. The\ngeneral principle may be laid down, that a church in the city almost\nnever lives more than one generation in the same building and with the\nsame character. After thirty years as the very longest period, if it is\nto retain its members, it must follow them in the march up-town; or if\nit is to retain its location and still hold a congregation it must seek\nan absolutely new constituency, and to this end must transform its\nmethods of work. Nor are these migrations of population confined to the\ncity. The towns and villages are governed by the same law of change. A\nvillage, once the seat of quiet homes, is suddenly turned into a factory\ntown, with a new and strange population. The farms on country roads,\nabandoned by the families that formerly tilled them, are occupied by\nforeigners of alien speech and manners. The building of a railroad will\nopen new towns, and at the same time will make more than one deserted\nvillage. These changes in population must be considered in their\nrelation to the work of the Sunday school. The movement will be\ncharacterized by varied traits in different places.\n\n(1) _A Growing Population._ The change may be that of a healthy growth\nin population, making the community a desirable place for a church and a\nSunday school. Such a development is constantly taking place in the\nnewer portions of a city, whose population is moving from the center to\nthe rim; or it may be noted in suburban towns, as facilities of\ntransportation bring new residents from the metropolis; or it may appear\nin villages springing up on the line of a railroad, where home-seekers\nare settling and building habitations. Leaders in church and\nSunday-school work must watch these growing centers, and provide wisely\nfor their religious needs. It will not suffice to wait for these\nnewcomers to build their own churches and organize their own Sunday\nschools. Most of them are taxed to the utmost in building or buying\ntheir own homes, and will scarcely realize their need until the habit of\nneglecting worship has become fixed, and their children grow up without\nreligious education. The old and strong churches must extend a hand to\nthe settlers, must preempt church sites at the very beginning, must help\nto erect chapels, for a time must supply workers, and must set the\ncurrent of the new settlement Godward and churchward. The reward of\ntheir labor and their liberality will not long be delayed.\n\n(2) _A Declining Population._ There are places where the population has\nlessened, making the work of the Sunday school increasingly difficult\nand its results meager. It may be in the city, where business has\ncrowded away the dwellers of other years, as in the lower end of\nManhattan Island in New York. There tall office buildings and warehouses\nstand on sites formerly occupied by churches, but no longer needed, now\nthat almost the only residents are the janitors and their families,\nliving on the roofs of the towerlike temples of trade. But oftener the\nregion of the declining population is found in the country. Villages\nonce prosperous have gradually lost their inhabitants. In places where\nthree or four churches, each with its Sunday school, were formerly well\nsupported, there is now scarcely a constituency for one. Yet all these\nchurches, though decayed and dying by inches, are still maintained; and\neach church still houses a discouraged Sunday school, attended by a\nfaithful few, but with no hope of growth and an imminent peril of\nextinction. If loyalty to a denomination could give way to love for the\nkingdom of Christ, these might be consolidated into one church and one\nSunday school for all the community. We venture the prophecy that before\nthe twentieth century comes to its close this will be throughout the\nAmerican continent the accepted settlement of the question. May its\nfulfillment be not long delayed! In the meantime these decayed but still\nenduring Sunday schools and churches in a community should seek for\npeace and friendship, not emphasizing the points of doctrine or of\nsystem that differ, but those that agree, and striving to maintain the\nunity of the spirit in a bond of love.\n\n(3) _A Population Changing Socially._ A serious problem often arises,\nnot from a decline but from a change in the social condition of the\npopulation within the sphere of the church. The downtown church may have\nbeen forsaken by its former members, but people of another class, and in\ngreater numbers, have taken their places. The mansions have become\nboarding houses, flats and apartment houses have arisen, while the\nthronged sidewalks, and the children playing in the streets, are\nevidence that the material for members of the church and the Sunday\nschool is greater than before. True, the new inhabitants are of a\ndifferent social order from the old, clerks and porters instead of\nmerchants, employees instead of employers, working people in place of\nthe leisure class. The fact that the social level of the neighborhood\nmay be regarded by the worldly-minded as lower than formerly does not\nlessen its need of the gospel, nor render it less promising for\nChristian work. The church should look upon its field with unprejudiced\neyes, should have an understanding of the time; should be alert to see\nand to seize its opportunity; and should change its methods with its\nchanged constituency. The field must not be abandoned; it must be\ncultivated, and new forms of tillage will bring forth abundant harvests.\n\n(4) _An Alien Population._ The most perplexing of all social problems\narises when immigration has swept into the district surrounding the\nchurch a tide of people whose birth and speech are foreign, supplanting\nand in large measure driving out the native population. There are\nsections in our cities where the signs on the stores are all Bohemian,\nor Polish, or Yiddish; where an English-speaking church would remain\nabsolutely empty, though thousands throng the streets. It may be that in\nsuch conditions gospel work under American methods can no longer be\nmaintained; and a removal may be necessary. But even in the most\nunpromising fields this conclusion should not be hastily reached. We\nspend large sums in sending missionaries to the lands from which some\nstrangers come; should we not embrace opportunities of evangelizing\nthese at our own door? There are difficulties, but they are not nearly\nas insuperable as those in foreign fields. These foreign-born or\nforeign-descended children sit beside our own in the public school;\nshould we shut them out from our Sunday schools? In less than a\ngeneration millions of these boys and girls will be as thoroughly\nAmerican as our own children. When we consider the question of\nabandoning any field on account of its foreign population, let us widen\nour horizon of thought to embrace the future as well as the present, and\nthen form our conclusion concerning the duty of the Sunday school to the\ncommunity.\n\n3. =Practical Suggestions.= A few hints, some of them already given, may\nsummarize the practical side of the subject:\n\n(1) _Study the Field._ The Sunday school must live not in the past, but\nin the present, with a clear vision of the future. It must not only\ncherish a loving memory of its field as it has been, but understand\nthoroughly what it is, and what forces are shaping it for the future.\nThe leaders in each Sunday school working for itself, or preferably\nthose conducting the Sunday schools of a neighborhood working unitedly,\nshould ascertain the nationality, religious condition, and church\nrelations of every family in the district; and not only of every family,\nof every individual who may have a room in a boarding house. Each\npolitical organization knows the residence and party proclivities of\nevery voter in the district; and the churches may learn from the\npoliticians practical lessons upon the best methods of work.\n\n(2) _Cultivate the Field._ Since the scholars must come to the school\nfrom the population around it, they should be sought, brought in,\ntaught, and evangelized, with all the energy and wisdom which the church\npossesses. And not only the scholars, but also, in large degree, the\nteachers must be home-born and home-taught; therefore the Sunday school,\nto be successful, must train up workers from its own constituency.\n\n(3) _Provide for all Elements._ By diligent and constant effort the\nschool should be made representative of all ages, of all classes, of all\nsections, and as far as practicable of all races found in its community.\n\n(4) _Adapt Methods._ If a former constituency has removed from the\nfield, and a new population has surged in, the new element must be\nlooked upon as the constituency of the school. Its needs must be\nrecognized, however different they may be from the needs of the past;\nand plans must be formed to meet those needs, whatever transformation of\nthe school the new plans may involve.\n\n\n\n\nXVI\n\nRECRUITING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\n\n1. =Necessity.= The aspiration for advancement is natural and noble; and\ntherefore every member of the Sunday school who is interested in its\nwelfare, whether officer, teacher, or pupil, desires it to increase in\nmembership, and to spread its benefits as widely as possible. But the\nrecruiting of the Sunday school is not only desirable, but necessary. It\nis found that in every school there exists an outflow as well as an\ninflow of members. If in certain departments, as the Primary, new\nscholars are constantly enrolled, in other departments, as the older\ngrades of the Intermediate and the Senior, there is as constant a\ndropping out of members from the school. It has been estimated that in\nmost Sunday schools from twenty to twenty-five per cent of the\nmembership changes annually, so that the average period of a teacher or\nscholar in the Sunday school is less than five years. There are some who\nremain longer, but others who are members for even a shorter time. Upon\nthe average, every school is a new school once in four or five years. If\none fifth of the school leaves every year, there must be an equal number\nenter it, to keep the school at its normal size. But any institution\ndependent upon the maintenance of a constituency, whether it be a\nperiodical, a life-insurance association, or a Sunday school, begins to\ndecline when its number remains stationary. The health and life of the\nschool, therefore, require a constant renewal of its membership. The\nschool must have new blood, or it will soon be impoverished and in time\ndie.\n\n2. =The Losses from the School.= Before the presentation of plans for\nwinning new scholars comes the vital question of holding the scholars\nalready on the roll; for the condition of leakage has a close relation\nto growth or decline. If the causes of the leakage can be ascertained,\nand the drain can be stopped, we shall be materially aided in our effort\nto enlarge the school.\n\n(1) _The Search in the School._ Careful notation should be kept of the\ngrades from which scholars are lost, or which are below a normal\nmembership; and equally careful inquiry should be made as to the cause\nof the decline, and methods to correct it should be sought. Is it in the\nPrimary Department, which should be the most rapidly growing department\nin the school? Is it in the Junior or Intermediate Department, where\nthere ought to be a steady increase, even if it be slow? Is it in the\nSenior Department? Here there is great danger of losses, especially\namong young men. Is it not possible to find why they leave the school,\nand what will induce them to remain? Perhaps the school is deficient in\nthe Adult Department. Must it be admitted that the Sunday school is for\nchildren only, and that as soon as its members become men and women\ntheir departure from the school is to be expected? The investigation\nshould be more than general, ascertaining what departments are suffering\nloss; it should be personal, including the name and grade of every\nscholar who has ceased to attend for a definite period; and as far as\npossible the reason for his leaving the school.\n\n(2) _Following up Absentees._ A systematic plan for watching over the\nmembership of the school should be instituted and vigorously maintained.\nFor example, in some schools a report of every absentee is made by the\nsecretary to the superintendent. On Monday morning each teacher receives\nby mail the list of his absent scholars, with a request to send in\nwriting, as soon as practicable, the cause of absence for each one. In\nmany schools this work of looking after the absentees is performed by\npaid visitors--a good plan, but not so good as for the teacher to come\ninto personal touch with his own scholars. A business firm watches over\nits customers, and endeavors in every possible way to hold them. The\nSunday school which can maintain its grasp upon its members has the\nproblem of growth already half solved.\n\n3. =Characteristics of a Growing School.= The strongest force in\nrecruiting the Sunday school is to be found in the character of the\nschool itself. The merchant must have his shelves stocked with\nattractive goods if he expects customers. In order to obtain scholars\nthere must be a good school.\n\n(1) _Efficient._ The school should maintain high educational standards;\nshould be thoroughly graded in all its departments, with suitable\nlessons for each grade; and should have organized classes for young\npeople and adults. The thoroughly good school will rarely lack for\nscholars.\n\n(2) _Attractive._ The school should be attractive as well as efficient.\nIts meeting place should be cheerful and airy, with suitable furniture\nand apparatus, above ground, and not a damp, dingy basement. It should\nhave enjoyable exercises, like a school, yet not too severely like a\npublic school. It should greet new members heartily, make them feel at\nhome, and cultivate acquaintance with them. There should be an animating\nspirit of loyalty and love for the school; a devotion which will inspire\nactive effort in its behalf. Around the school should be the atmosphere\nof a happy home.\n\n(3) _Prominent._ Among the activities of the church the school should\nstand forth prominently. It should be kept in mind that, as the\nneighborhood furnishes the constituency of the school, so the school\nfurnishes the members for the church. In our time three fourths of the\naccessions by profession of faith come from the Sunday school. The\nschool should be held in honor as the principal source of supply to the\nchurch membership. If the audience room is large and imposing, and the\nSunday-school room is inferior and unattractive; if the pulpit and the\nchoir are amply supported while the school receives a narrow sustenance,\nhowever great the prosperity of the church its duration will be brief.\nThe Sunday school must stand in the foreground, and not in the\nbackground, if the church is to grow; and the growing church should have\na growing Sunday school.\n\n(4) _Special Occasions._ Throughout the Sunday-school year occur days\nwhich should be recognized, as breaking the monotony of the regular\nexercises, and as attractive features of the school. Such are Christmas,\nEaster, Children's Day in June, Rally Day in the fall, and Decision Day,\nwhen the net is drawn for discipleship in behalf of the church. Some\nsuperintendents look upon these occasions as burdensome, but with\ncareful preparation and an attractive program they will add to the\ninterest of the school, while in no wise detracting from the efficiency\nof its educational work. An occasional social entertainment for the\nschool, or for each department in turn, and an outing day in the summer,\nwill strengthen that _esprit de corps_ or animating spirit of the school\nwhich is its strongest drawing power in attracting new members.\n\n(5) _Special Helps._ There are communities where certain methods may\navail more than elsewhere. A well-conducted Sunday-school library, no\nlonger needed in many places, may be of great value in villages where\nthere is no public library. A reading room, social hall, and gymnasium\nmay constitute the church a home for young men whose dwelling places may\nbe in close tenement houses. Young men are in saloons, and young women\nare in amusement parks, who might spend their evenings under the healthy\ninfluence of the church if places were provided. These plans and other\nfeatures of the institutional church will need careful and wise\nadministration if they are to do good and not harm; but in many places\nthey will minister to the success of the school and the church, and also\nto the uplifting of the community.\n\n4. =Reaching Beyond the School.= Thus far in this chapter we have\nconsidered the school rather than the field. One of the chief tasks of\nthe Sunday school, however, is to reach out and lay hold of all the\ninhabitants, both young and old, in the area of its influence. The\nfollowing active measures have proved effective in reaching the people\nand winning them to the school.\n\n(1) _Advertise._ The school should be kept before the community in every\nlegitimate way. Merchants tell us that the secret of success is first to\nhave salable goods, and then to advertise them; and the same principle\napplies to the Sunday school. Printer's ink should be used liberally,\nbut wisely. Only neatly printed, attractive matter should be employed.\nInvitation cards, leaflets, programs of special services, a little\nperiodical devoted to the school, a year book containing the school\nregister, and many other forms of advertisement will help to inform the\nneighborhood that the school is at work and is ready to welcome new\nmembers.\n\n(2) _Invite._ Every officer, teacher, scholar, and parent should\nconsider himself a committee to speak to others about the school, and to\ninvite his friends and acquaintances to attend it. The little children\nshould ask their playmates, boys and girls in school their classmates,\nyoung men their shopmates, young women their associates. No printed\npaper can have a tenth of the power possessed by the living voice and a\nhearty hand-shake. It is assumed that the invitation is given only to\nthose who are not already attached to any church or school. All possible\ncare should be taken to maintain a fraternal spirit, and not to build up\nour own wall by pulling down another.\n\n(3) _Visit._ The field belonging to the school should be bounded\ndefinitely, and should be thoroughly and systematically canvassed. It\nshould be divided into districts, and each district assigned to a\nvisitor and a committee, who should know who may be included in the\nproper constituency of the school. For this work many schools and\nchurches employ a paid visitor or a deaconess; and none can surpass the\nzeal or fidelity of many who enter upon such a vocation. But the schools\nwhich cannot afford professional workers include some teachers and some\nadult scholars who can give a portion of their own time to the same\ntask. An organized class of men might be named which grew into over a\nhundred members through persistent work by a simple plan. A lookout\ncommittee, after careful inquiry, would report the names and addresses\nof men eligible for membership. Then the members in order and by\nappointment, in groups of two, called upon each candidate, formed his\nacquaintance, and invited him to the class. Sometimes thirty or forty\nmen would call, but in time almost every man visited yielded to the\nfriendly social influence, became a member, and soon after a worker for\nthe class.\n\n5. =A Danger.= A caution may be needed with reference to all these plans\nof recruiting the school. Advertising may be carried to the excess of\nbecoming sensational. Invitations may be pressed upon scholars in other\nschools. The effort for increase may degenerate into unfriendly rivalry.\nA good plan may work evil when worked in a selfish spirit. And a\ntoo-rapid growth is sure to be unhealthy. The late B. F. Jacobs said,\n\"God pity the Sunday school that gets a hundred scholars at one time!\" A\nquiet, steady, diligent, persistent effort for the school will be of\npermanent benefit, rather than a spasm of enthusiasm.\n\n\n\n\nXVII\n\nTHE TESTS OF A GOOD SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\n\nIn the United States more than a hundred thousand Sunday schools are in\nsession every week. Some of them are very good, many are only moderately\nefficient, and some are poor in every respect. The question arises, what\nconstitutes a good Sunday school? Is it possible to establish some\nstandard of measurement by which the rank of any Sunday school can be\nfixed? In such a standard there must be several factors, for the points\nof excellence in Sunday school are not one, but many. It is the aim in\nthis closing chapter to ascertain the criteria or the tests of a good\nSunday school. The statement of these tests involves the summing up and\nin some measure the repetition of much already given throughout these\npages.\n\n1. =Representative Character.= The first test of a Sunday school is\nfound in its relation to the community around it. The Sunday school is\nnot a bed of exotic plants, dug up from their native soil, potted and\nprotected in a conservatory. It is an outdoor garden wherein are\ncultivated the flowers and fruits that are indigenous to the region. A\ntrue Sunday school is a group of people drawn out of the larger world\naround it, and representing every element in that world, both as regards\nsocial life and age. If it represents the rich and the prosperous only,\nit is not a good school, unless the neighborhood is unfortunate in\ncontaining only such people. If it is a mission school for poor people\nin the midst of a self-supporting population, it is not a good school.\nIf it includes few members above sixteen, and none above twenty-five\nyears of age, it is not a good school, for it should embrace all ages\nfrom the infant to the grandfather. The school which is to stand on the\nroll of honor is one that fairly represents its constituency.\n\n2. =Organization.= Another requirement for a good school is that it be\nwell organized as a graded school. There may be Sunday schools which\nmake up by their spirit for what they lack in system; yet the exceptions\nare few to the rule that in Sunday-school work organization is essential\nto success. It is true that machinery creates no power; there is nothing\nin a constitution and by-laws to make an institution successful. It is\nthe efforts of living men and women that bring to pass results. But\norganization directs and economizes power; so that, other elements being\nequal, the graded school quickly becomes the best school. We have\nalready seen that a graded school is one with departments defined, with\nthe number of classes in each department fixed according to the needs of\nthe school, with promotions at regular periods, based either on age or\nexamination or merit, or on all three factors in combination, with\nlessons graded according to the departments, and, as its most important\nelement, with a change of teachers when the pupil is promoted from a\nlower to a higher grade or department. The graded system is not easy to\nestablish; it requires firmness and tact in the authorities, and a\nself-denying spirit on the part of teachers; but it will abundantly and\nquickly repay all it costs in effort and sacrifice, and it is an\nessential in a really good Sunday school.\n\n3. =Order.= A good school is orderly, yet it is not too orderly.\nEverybody is in place at the proper time. At the minute, and not a\nminute later, the superintendent opens the school. If he rings a bell,\nit is a gentle, musical one, held up by the leader as a signal and\nscarcely sounded. There is not more confusion than at the opening of any\nother religious service. Only one service is conducted at a time;\nsinging is worshipful, just as well as prayer, and the Scriptures are\nread thoughtfully and reverently. No officers are rushing up and down\nthe aisles during the services; no loud calls are made for order; yet\nthere is a suitable quietness when quietness is desirable. A good school\nis never disorderly, yet it cannot be said that the best school is\nalways the most orderly. Occasionally one sees a Sunday school where\norder has gone to the extreme of repressing all enthusiasm, where the\nprogram is too finely cut and too thoroughly dried, where the mechanism\nmoves with the precision of the lockstep in a state prison. The ideal of\nthe Sunday school is not that of the French minister of education who is\nreported to have stated that he could look at his watch and tell at that\nminute what question was before each class in every school in France!\n\n4. =Spirit.= For lack of a more definite term we call the next\ncharacteristic of a good Sunday school its spirit. In any successful\nschool one feels rather than finds a peculiar and individual atmosphere.\nEvery member, from the superintendent to the Primary scholar, manifests\nan interest in the institution; an interest of blended love, loyalty,\nenjoyment in it and enthusiasm for it. There is a social spirit in each\nclass and in the school as a whole. Its members do not meet as\npassengers in a railway station, each one wrapped up in his own business\nand watching for his own train. They all have their individual\nfriendships and social relations, yet a bond unites them all as members\nof one Sunday school. This peculiar _esprit de corps_, an interest in\nthe institution, is a strongly marked feature in every progressive\nSunday school.\n\n5. =Educational Efficiency.= The Sunday school is in the world with a\ndefinite work--religious education. Its religion will be based on the\nOld Testament and kindred literature in a Jewish school; it will be\nbased on both the Old and New Testament and supplemental literature in a\nChristian school; but whether Jewish or Christian, its work is the\nteaching of religion, as contained in the living Word, and illustrated\nby the lives and teachings of the heroes of the faith. The true test of\na Sunday school is the answer that it can give to the question, \"Does it\nteach the vital religious truths of the race so as to develop individual\ncharacter and efficiency?\" That is its task, and by its success in\naccomplishing it each school is to be judged; not by the splendor of its\nbuilding, or the exactness of its machinery, or the enthusiasm of its\nmembers. The thirty or thirty-five minutes devoted to the lesson is the\nsupremely important period in every true Sunday school. The time is\noften bound to be all too short for teaching divine truth, and printing\nit upon mind and memory so deeply that all the studies and pleasures of\nthe six days between the two Sundays will not cause the teaching to\nfade. Yet the time is as long as the ordinary teacher (or preacher) can\nhold attention to one subject, and therefore in most classes it is\nsufficient. Toward that half hour of teaching, therefore, all the\nenergies of the school, of the training class, home study, teachers'\nmeeting, gradation, government, should be turned. For the vital aim of\nthe Sunday school is the eternal message of God to men through men, so\nthat men and women of the Christ spirit and character may be developed.\n\n6. =Character-Building.= The first task, therefore, of the Sunday school\nis to teach the Word, but that teaching is only a means to an end, and\nthat end is greater than mere intellectual knowledge--it is the building\nup of a complete character. This is more than \"bringing souls to\nChrist,\" or leading them into church membership. If the sole aim of the\nSunday school was to compass the salvation of the scholar and to\nsurround him with the walls of a church, then we might safely dismiss\nour scholars when they have passed through a crisis of conversion and\nentered the church door. But the Sunday school is to do more than save\nits scholars from sin. It is to train them in the completeness of a\nChristian character; and such a character involves not only personal\nrighteousness but also service for God and humanity. Its aim is not to\ntake people apart out of the world, but to set them in the world,\nequipped for work in making the world a Christian world, and thereby\nestablishing on earth the kingdom of heaven. The measure by which the\nSunday school accomplishes such a work as this, constitutes the final,\ncrucial test of its success.\n\nIt cannot be said that any one of these six essentials of a good Sunday\nschool stands supreme. They do not march in Indian file; nor are they to\nbe set one against another in a comparison of values. These traits of a\ncomplete Sunday school should rather be regarded as one of the New\nTestament writers describes the traits of a complete character, in that\nfamiliar yet only half-understood passage, \"As in the harmony of a\nchoral song, blend with your faith the note of energy, and with your\nenergy the note of knowledge, and with your knowledge the note of\nself-mastery,\"[12] through all the eight aspects of the Christian; so\nlet these six essential elements be combined to form that noble\ninstitution, the ideal Sunday school.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[12] 2 Pet. 1. 5-7.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE AND REVIEW QUESTIONS\n\n\nI. THE HISTORIC PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL MOVEMENT\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Mag.=\n  2. =Mod.=\n  3. =Lay.=\n  4. =Unp. Wor.=\n  5. =Sel.-sup.=\n  6. =Sel.-gov.=\n  7. =Sel.-dev.=\n  8. =Bib. stu.=\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nTo what race in the world does the Sunday school mainly belong?\n\nWhat are some of the lands in which it is found?\n\nWhat does the circulation of its literature show?\n\nWhat influence is the Sunday-school movement exercising upon the world?\n\nHow many salient traits of the Sunday school are named in this chapter?\n\nWhat are those traits in the order named?\n\nTo what race can the ancient germ of the Sunday school be traced?\n\nWhat institutions among that people contained the elemental principle of\nthe Sunday school?\n\nWhat gathering similar to a Sunday school is described in the Bible?\n\nWho was the founder of the modern Sunday school?\n\nIn what place, and what year, was the first Sunday school held?\n\nWhat aided to make this institution known?\n\nWas the first Sunday school established under direction of the clergy or\nthe laity?\n\nHas the clergy, or the laity, been the more prominent in the work of the\nSunday school throughout its history?\n\nWhat has been the attitude of the church toward this institution?\n\nWhat has been stated concerning the compensation of the teachers in the\nearliest Sunday school?\n\nWas the plan of paying teachers for their services continued?\n\nAre the majority of Sunday-school officers and teachers now paid for\ntheir services?\n\nWhat has been the effect of this condition, of unpaid service, upon the\ngrowth of the Sunday-school movement?\n\nHow has this condition of voluntary, unpaid work affected the moral\ninfluence of the Sunday school?\n\nHow have the expenses of the Sunday school in most places been met in\nthe past?\n\nHow are such expenses met in the best schools at the present time?\n\nHow has the self-support of the Sunday school in the past affected its\ngovernment?\n\nWhat is the present share of the church in the government of the school?\n\nWhat forces have directed the development of the Sunday school as a\nmovement?\n\nWhat fact in its origin largely accounts for the unity of method in the\nSunday school?\n\nWhat is the text-book studied in the Sunday school?\n\nWhat has been the influence of the Sunday school in behalf of the Bible?\n\n\nII. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Aim.= Rel. ins. (1) Kn. (2) Ch. (3) Ser.\n  2. =Meth. Tea.= (1) Teach. (2) Sch. (3) Text-b.\n  3. =Rel. Ch.= Bel. ch. Ca. ch. Sup. ch. Feed. ch. Sup. ch.\n  4. =Gov.= (1) Rights of teach. (2) Auth. of ch.\n  5. =Off.= (1) Sup. (2) Assoc. sup. (3) Sec. (4) Treas. (5) Fac.\n  6. =Mem.= All ag. all clas.\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nWhat is a Sunday-school constitution?\n\nWhat is the difference between an ideal and a practical plan?\n\nAre all constitutions written?\n\nWhat six points should be provided for in the constitution of the Sunday\nschool?\n\nWhat should be the aim of the Sunday school?\n\nState the definition of the Sunday school as given by Dr. Vincent.\n\nWhat three elements are involved in a true religious education?\n\nWhat difference may be noted between the Christian ideals of the past\nand of the present?\n\nWhat method does the Sunday school employ in its work?\n\nWhat are the three essentials in the working of a school?\n\nWhat does the Sunday school seek to accomplish in its pupils?\n\nWhat text-book is generally used in the Sunday school?\n\nWhy is this book taught so widely?\n\nMay material outside of this book be employed in teaching?\n\nWhat is the relation between the Sunday school and the church?\n\nWhy is some government needed in the Sunday school?\n\nWhat two elements should be recognized in the management of the school?\n\nName the officers of the Sunday school.\n\nWho should constitute the members of the school?\n\n\nIII. THE NECESSITY AND ESSENTIALS OF A GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Nec. Gra.= (1) Sch. as wh. (2) Cond. cla. (a) Ineq.\n       siz. (b) Ineq. ag. (c) Lac. cl. sp. (3) Dif. adm.\n       (a) Obt. tea. (b) Trans. sch.\n  2. =Ess. Gra.= Sch. (1) Dep. (2) Fix. num. cla. (3) Ann.\n       sim. pro. (4) Ch. tea. (5) Gra. Less. (6) Bas. pro.\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nInto what departments are most Sunday schools divided?\n\nWhy does not the mere division into departments constitute a graded\nSunday school?\n\nIn what department is the school growing most rapidly?\n\nFrom what departments does the school lose its pupils?\n\nWhat is often the condition of classes for young people of fifteen years\nand older?\n\nWhat inequalities may be noted in the classes of an average Sunday\nschool?\n\nWhat spirit is apt to be lacking in the school?\n\nWhat two great difficulties are met by the superintendent of an ungraded\nschool?\n\nSum up the six difficulties or defects which will be removed in a\nmeasure by grading the school.\n\nName the six essentials of a thoroughly graded Sunday school.\n\nDraw a diagram representing the manner of seating the departments of a\nSunday school.\n\nWhat is meant by a fixed number of classes in each department of a\ngraded school?\n\nHow should promotions be made from one department to another?\n\nWhy should not teachers accompany their classes when the pupils are\npromoted from one department to another?\n\nWhat kind of lessons should be taught in the different departments of\nthe school?\n\nShould promotions be made on the basis of age, of merit, or as the\nresult of examination?\n\nWhy cannot examinations in the Sunday school maintain the same standards\nas those of the public school?\n\n\nIV. THE GRADING OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Diff.=\n  2. =Rem.=\n  3. =Meth.= (1) Grad. (2) Simul. (a) Com. (b) Ag. sch.\n       (c) Ass. sch. (d) Ro-ca.\n  4. =Adv. Thor. Gra.= (1) App. (2) Ord. (3) Soc. rel.\n       (4) Tea. wk. (5) Inc. int. (6) Obt. tea. (7) Leak.-per.\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nWhat is the greatest difficulty to be met in grading a Sunday school?\n\nWhat is the remedy for this difficulty?\n\nWhat are the two methods of grading an ungraded school?\n\nHow may a school be graded by the gradual method?\n\nWhat are the four steps to be taken if a school is to be graded by the\nsimultaneous method?\n\nWhat is to be done when scholars are unwilling to receive promotion?\n\nName seven advantages of the graded school.\n\nWherein does the graded school differ in appearance from one ungraded?\n\nHow is order maintained more easily in the graded school?\n\nHow does grading influence the social relations of the scholars?\n\nWhy is teaching easier in the graded school?\n\nHow does the graded Sunday school increase the interest of the pupils?\n\nWhy is it easier to supply teachers in the school after it has been\ngraded?\n\nWhat is meant by \"the leakage period\" in the scholars of the Sunday\nschool?\n\nHow does the graded school hold the scholar in the school?\n\n\nV. THE DEPARTMENTS OF THE GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Cradle Roll.= (1) Members. (2) Catalogue. (3) How\n       obtained. (4) Gifts. (5) Management. (6) Value.\n  2. =Beginners Dep.= (1) Ages. (2) Teaching. (3) Meeting\n       place.\n  3. =Primary Dep.= (1) Ages. (2) Classes. (3) Lessons.\n  4. =Junior Dep.= (1) Ages. (2) Classes. (3) Lessons.\n  5. =Intermediate Dep.= (1) Ages. (2) Classes. (3) Lessons.\n       (4) Special aim. (5) Christian character.\n  6. =Senior Dep.= (1) Name. (2) Ages. (3) Classes.\n       (4) Teachers. (5) Organization. (6) Social life.\n  7. =Teacher-Training Dep.= (1) Members. (2) Teacher.\n       (3) Studies. (4) Requirements. (5) Aims. (6) Reserve\n       class.\n  8. =Adult Dep.= (1) Members. (2) Classes. (3) Methods.\n       (4) Courses of study.\n  9. =Home Dep.= (1) Need. (2) Plan.\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nWhat are the four principal departments of an ordinary Sunday school?\n\nIn this chapter how many departments are described?\n\nWhat are the names of these departments?\n\nWhat department includes the names of the youngest children? Wherein\ndoes this department differ from most of the other departments? How\nshould the list of its members be kept? How may names be obtained for\nit? What privileges should be given to the members of this department?\nWhat are the benefits of this department to the school?\n\nWhat is the name of the second department? What ages should it embrace?\nWhat should be the exercises in this department? How should these\npupils be seated in the school?\n\nWhat is the third department named? What ages should it include? How\nshould it be organized? What lessons should be taught in it?\n\nWhat is the fourth department? What are the ages of its pupils? How may\nthey be classified? What lessons should be taught to them?\n\nWhat is the fifth department? What ages does it include? How should the\nclasses be formed? Why should small classes be the rule in this\ndepartment? What lessons should be taught? What should be a special aim\nof teachers in this department? What type of Christian character should\nbe sought?\n\nWhat is the sixth department? What other names are applied to it? What\nages should it include? What requirement should be made of those\nentering this department by promotion? How should the classes be\norganized? Who should teach in this department? How may the social\nspirit be cultivated?\n\nWhat is the seventh department? Who should be included in its\nmembership? Who should be sought as the teacher? What condition should\nbe required of its members? What studies should be followed? How should\nthe course be conducted? What other class should also be connected with\nthe Teacher-training Department? How shall this class be conducted?\n\nWhat is the eighth department? Who should be included in it? What are\nthe two methods of instruction in this department? What courses of study\nshould be taken?\n\nWhat is the ninth department? Who constitute its members? What care and\nhelp should be given to these people? What should be expected of them as\nmembers of the school?\n\n\nVI. THE SUPERINTENDENT\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Imp.= (N. Y. C. R. R.).\n  2. =Appt.= Tea. ch. past.\n  3. =Ter. Off.= One ye.\n  4. =Qual.= (1) Mor. char. (2) Dev. bel. (3) Wor. ch.\n       mem. (4) Bib. stu. (5) Ab. exec. (6) Sym. you.\n       (7) Tea. spi.\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nWhat illustration from a railroad will show the importance of the\nsuperintendent?\n\nHow should the appointment of the superintendent be made? Who should\nunite in the selection? How long should be his term of office?\n\nWhat are the traits named for an ideal superintendent?\n\nWhat should be his moral character? Why is such a character necessary in\nhis office? What story of a statesman illustrates this?\n\nIn what respects should the superintendent be a believer in the gospel?\n\nWhy should he be a member of the church? What is his duty to the Bible?\nHow may the superintendent influence his school to follow his requests?\n\nWhat should be his qualifications as an administrator or executive?\n\nWhat trait in relation to the young should he possess?\n\nWhat should be his mental attitude toward knowledge, especially\nknowledge of methods?\n\nWhat story is told of a great sculptor?\n\n\nVII. THE SUPERINTENDENT'S DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Gen.= (1) Sup. (2) Sel. tea. (3) Ass. sch. (4) Prog.\n       ser. (5) Sup.\n  2. =We.-d. Wor.= (1) Prog. (2) Les. stu. (3) Soc. dut.\n       (4) Seek. work. (5) Cab. meet. (6) Sp. d. (7) Conv.\n  3. =Dut. Sch. Sess.= (1) Pre. ear. (2) Op. pr. (3) Con.\n       pro. (4) Dur. less. (5) Les. rev. (6) Clos.\n  4. =Misc. Dut.= (1) N. B. (2) Q. (3) E. L. (4) Us. B.\n       (5) Les. per. (6) Sp. (7) Sel.-con. (8) Aim.\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nInto what three classes may the duties of the superintendent be divided?\n\nWhat are his general duties and prerogatives in relation to the school?\n\nWhat are his duties through the week?\n\nWhat social duties should he endeavor to fulfill?\n\nHow may he obtain teachers and workers?\n\nWhat is the purpose of cabinet meetings?\n\nHow may the superintendent be ready for special occasions in the\nSunday-school year?\n\nWhat is his duty toward conventions and associations of workers?\n\nWhat are the duties of the superintendent during the session of the\nschool?\n\nWhat suggestions are given concerning the conducting of the program of\nthe school?\n\nWho should review the lesson?\n\nName some miscellaneous hints concerning his work.\n\nHow may he have a quiet, orderly school?\n\nHow may he promote the use of the Bible as a text-book by teachers and\nscholars?\n\nWhat rule should be kept with reference to the lesson period?\n\nUnder what conditions should visitors be allowed to address the school\nduring the regular session?\n\nWhat suggestion is made concerning self-control?\n\nWhat aim should be kept before the superintendent and the school?\n\n\nVIII. THE ASSOCIATE AND DEPARTMENT SUPERINTENDENTS\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Nec.= Gen. asst. Dept. asst.\n  2. =Titles.= Asso. sup. Dep. supt.\n  3. =App.= Nom. sup. Conf. tea. \"Minor. cand.\"\n  4. =Duties.= (1) Not tea. (2) Dep. sup. (3) Prov. sub.\n       (4) Assig. new sch. (5) Detail. sup. (6) Ch. st.\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nWhat is the need of an assistant to the superintendent in the Sunday\nschool?\n\nWhat two classes of assistants are required in an organized school?\n\nWhat titles should be given to these officers?\n\nHow should the associate superintendent be chosen?\n\nWhy should the superintendent possess the right to nominate the\nassociate superintendent?\n\nShould the associate superintendent be at the same time a teacher in the\nschool?\n\nWhen should the associate take charge of the school?\n\nHow should substitutes be obtained for teachers who are absent?\n\nWhat class should not be called upon to furnish substitute teachers, and\nwhy?\n\nWhat class will supply teachers in a properly graded school?\n\nHow, when, and where should the teachers be obtained?\n\nWhen should supply teachers be ready and in their places?\n\nWhat is the work of the associate superintendent with reference to new\nscholars?\n\nShould new scholars select their own classes?\n\nWhat part may the associate take during the general exercises of the\nschool?\n\nWhat military title might properly be given to the associate\nsuperintendent? Wherein does this title apply to him?\n\nGive a summary of the six duties performed by the associate\nsuperintendent.\n\n\nIX. THE SECRETARY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Imp.=\n  2. =Qual.= (1) B. M. (2) R. A. (3) G. W. (4) Q. M. A.\n       (5) Q. M. (6) C. C.\n  3. =App.=\n  4. =Assts.=\n  5. =Dep. Secs.=\n  6. =Dut.= (1) R. M. (2) R. S. (3) R. C. (4) R. S.\n       (5) L. S. (6) C.\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nWho is frequently and unwisely chosen as secretary of the Sunday school?\nWhat are the results of such a choice?\n\nWhat results follow from an efficient secretary?\n\nWhat six qualifications are named for the ideal secretary?\n\nWhat traits of a business man should he possess?\n\nWhat should be his principle with regard to regular attendance? What\nalso should be included in his attendance?\n\nWherein should the secretary be a good writer?\n\nWhat should be the traits of his mental action?\n\nWhat exercises in the school should never be interrupted by the work of\nthe secretary? Should he ever come to a class while the lesson is being\ntaught?\n\nWhat should be the behavior of the secretary?\n\nHow should the secretary be chosen?\n\nHow long should be his term of office?\n\nHow should the assistant secretary be appointed?\n\nWhat are department secretaries, and who should be appointed to this\nposition?\n\nWhat seven duties are named for the secretary and his assistants?\n\nWhat record should be kept of business meetings?\n\nWhat are his duties with reference to reports from committees?\n\nWhat weekly record should be kept of the attendance in the school?\n\nWhat are the duties of the secretary with regard to the records of class\nattendance?\n\nWhat general catalogue of the members of the school should be kept? How\nshould this record be arranged?\n\nWhat is the duty of the secretary with regard to the literature used in\nthe school?\n\nHow should the official correspondence of the school be conducted?\n\n\nX. THE TREASURY AND THE TREASURER\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Early S. S.= Light expenses.\n  2. =Modern S. S.= Large expenses. Objects.\n  3. =Practical Ways and Means.= Methods. Objections.\n  4. =Ideal Way.= Allowance. Subscriptions. Benefits.\n  5. =S. S. Treasurer.= Relation to secretary.\n  6. =Treasurer's Work.= (1) Charge. (2) Bank account.\n       (3) Reports and vouchers. (4) Bills. (5) Checks.\n       (6) Audits. (7) Study of benevolent interests.\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nWhy was little money required by the early Sunday schools? Wherein was\nthis fact fortunate for the schools?\n\nWhy are the expenses of the Sunday school greater than they were in the\nearly years?\n\nWhat are the principal expenses of a modern Sunday school?\n\nWhat are the methods of supplying funds for the Sunday school in most\nplaces?\n\nWhat is the objection to these methods?\n\nWhat is the ideal method of supporting the Sunday school? Under this\nplan what should be expected of the members of the school? What are the\nadvantages of this plan?\n\nShould the same person act as secretary and as treasurer? In that case\nwhat principles should be observed?\n\nWhat kind of a person should be chosen as treasurer?\n\nWhat funds should be placed under his charge?\n\nWhere should he keep the money of the school? How should this bank\naccount be conducted?\n\nWhat reports should the treasurer present, and where should he present\nthem?\n\nHow should all payments of the treasurer be authorized?\n\nWhat should be done with bills against the school?\n\nIn what form is it desirable to make payments for bills?\n\nHow and when should the accounts of the treasurer be audited?\n\nWhat service can the treasurer render to the school in relation to\nbenevolent interests?\n\n\nXI. VALUE OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL LIBRARY\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Lib. Pas.=\n  2. =Dec. Pres.=\n  3. =Cau. Dec.=\n  4. =Uses. G. Lib.= (1) Fam. ne. (2) Mor. inf. (3) Aid\n       sch.\n  5. =Prin. Sel.= (1) Var. (2) Pop. (3) Lit. qual.\n       (4) Mor. tea. (5) Ch. sp.\n  6. =Com. S. S. Lib.=\n  7. =Pub. Lib. & S. S.=\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nWhy was the library important to the school in the earlier times?\n\nWhat are the facts regarding the decline of the Sunday-school library in\nrecent times?\n\nWhat causes are assigned for the decline of the Sunday-school library?\n\nHow are books more accessible now than in former times?\n\nWhy is the library no longer needed to draw pupils to the school?\n\nHow does the present educational aim of the Sunday school affect the\ninterest in the library?\n\nWhat criticism is made upon the books in most Sunday-school libraries?\n\nHow does the management of the library often interfere with the order of\nthe school?\n\nWhat three benefits are named from a well-conducted Sunday-school\nlibrary?\n\nHow does the library in many places aid the school?\n\nWhat four principles should guide in the selection of books?\n\nWhat classes of books should be in the library?\n\nWhy must the books be popular and interesting?\n\nWhat should be the literary standard for books in the Sunday-school\nlibrary?\n\nShould love stories be admitted?\n\nWhat moral standards should be maintained?\n\nWhat is meant by the Christian spirit in the Sunday-school library?\n\nWhat kind of a library should be sought for in the educational work of\nthe Sunday school?\n\nHow may the use of such a library be promoted in the school?\n\nHow may the public library be made useful to the Sunday schools in a\ncity or town?\n\n\nXII. THE MANAGEMENT OF THE LIBRARY\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Lib. Com.= (1) Pur. bks. (2) Freq. add.\n  2. =Libr.= (1) Bkm. (2) Bus. m. (3) Gen. man.\n  3. =Asst. Lib.=\n  4. =Man. Lib.= (1) Coll. (2) Ass. (3) Dist. (4) Ret.\n       (a) Rec. sch. (b) Rec. she. (c) Fin. (d) Rew.\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nWho should choose the books for the Sunday-school library?\n\nWhat should be expected of the library committee?\n\nWhy should a large purchase of books at one time be avoided?\n\nHow may the committee learn of new books?\n\nHow should donations of books be regarded?\n\nWhat are the advantages of small additions at frequent times?\n\nWho should be sought for the Sunday-school librarian?\n\nHow should the assistant librarians be chosen?\n\nWhat plan should be followed in collecting the books returned to the\nlibrary by the scholars?\n\nWhat are some plans for choosing books?\n\nWhat difficulties are met in the choice of books by scholars?\n\nHow should the books be distributed?\n\nWhat are the difficulties met in the return of books by scholars?\n\nHow may the loss of books be avoided?\n\nHow may lost books be traced and brought back?\n\n\nXIII. THE TEACHER'S QUALIFICATIONS AND NEED OF TRAINING\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Qual.= (1) Sin. dis. (2) Lov. you. (3) Lov. ser.\n       (4) Wil. work.\n  2. =Nec. Train.= (1) Gen. prin. (2) Tea. resp. (3) Dem.\n       ag. (4) Tea. cla.\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nWhy does the work of the Sunday-school teacher require special\nqualifications?\n\nWhat four qualifications are named as requisite?\n\nWhat should be the relation of the teacher toward Christ?\n\nWhat should be his attitude of mind and heart toward young people? Why\nis this attitude necessary?\n\nWhat should be his relation to the Bible?\n\nWhat is required of him as a worker?\n\nWhen did training for Sunday-school teachers begin in America?\n\nWhat have been various stages and periods in the movement for\nteacher-training?\n\nWhat four reasons are named why the Sunday-school teacher should receive\ntraining?\n\nHow does the shortness of the time and its weekly meeting of the Sunday\nschool relate to the training of the teacher?\n\nHow does the teacher's responsibility make his training necessary?\n\nWhat does this age demand of teachers?\n\nWhy does this age make special demands upon Bible teachers?\n\nIn what condition of mind with regard to the lesson do most of our\nscholars come to the Sunday school?\n\nWhy does the condition of the scholar require preparation on the part of\nthe teacher?\n\n\nXIV. THE TRAINING AND TASK OF THE TEACHER\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Train. Nec.= (1) Book. (a) Or. nat. (b) Hist.\n       (c) Geog. back. (d) Inst. (e) Eth. rel. tea.\n       (2) Schol. (3) Schoo. (4) Work.\n  2. =Tea. Tas.= (1) Stu. (2) Fri. (3) Tea. (4) Dis.\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nWhat are the four departments of teacher-training?\n\nWhat in the Bible does the teacher need to know?\n\nWhat does he need to know about his scholars?\n\nWhat does he need to know about the school?\n\nWhat does he need to know about teaching?\n\nWhat are the four departments of the teacher's task?\n\nWhat has he to do as a student?\n\nWhat may he do as a friend?\n\nWhat is required of him as a teacher?\n\nWhat is his work for his class, as a disciple of Christ?\n\n\nXV. THE CONSTITUENCY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Rel. to Com.= (1) Const. adj. (2) Mem. rep.\n       (3) Meth. adap.\n  2. =Chang. Pop.= (1) Gro. (2) Dec. (3) Ch. soc.\n       (4) Ali.\n  3. =Prac. Sugg.= (1) St. fi. (2) Cul. fi. (3) Pro.\n       f. all ele. (4) Ad. meth.\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nWhat kind of a temple is the Sunday school?\n\nWhence must come the members of the school?\n\nWhat duty does the school owe to the population around it?\n\nOf what should a Sunday school be representative?\n\nWhat elements in a mixed community should enter into the Sunday school?\n\nWhat methods should be sought in localities where the traits and needs\nof the people differ?\n\nWhat fact regarding the population of our country brings great problems\nto the church and Sunday school?\n\nGive some instances of the effect of changing population upon churches.\n\nHow often are churches generally compelled to change their constituency?\n\nWhat are some causes of the changed conditions in cities and country\nplaces?\n\nWhat should be done in growing communities?\n\nWhat are the conditions, and the remedy for them, in a declining\npopulation?\n\nHow may a population change socially while increasing numerically?\n\nWhat is the duty of a Sunday school in changing communities?\n\nWhen may a church or a Sunday school rightly abandon its field?\n\nWhat is the first duty of the Sunday school in relation to its field?\n\nWhat is its duty to the population in its field, wherever the population\ncan be reached?\n\nWhat elements in the population should be provided for in the plans and\nefforts of the school?\n\n\nXVI. RECRUITING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Nec.=\n  2. =Los. fr. Sch.= (1) Sear. in sch. (2) Foll. abs.\n  3. =Char. Gro. Sch.= (1) Eff. (2) Attr. (3) Prom.\n       (4) Sp. occ. (5) Sp. hel.\n  4. =Reach. Bey. Sch.= (1) Adv. (2) Inv. (3) Vis.\n  5. =Dang.=\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nWhy is it not only desirable but necessary to seek for increase in the\nmembership of the Sunday school?\n\nWhat is the percentage of change in Sunday schools annually?\n\nFor what should search be made in the school?\n\nHow may the absentees from the school be looked after?\n\nWhat traits in a Sunday school will naturally draw to it scholars?\n\nWhy should the Sunday school be made a prominent feature in the church?\n\nWhat are some special occasions in the year to which attention should be\ngiven?\n\nWhat special methods of building up the school may be employed in\ncertain localities?\n\nHow may the school be advertised?\n\nWhat are some advantages in a personal invitation?\n\nWhat plans for the visitation of the field are suggested?\n\nWhat caution should be given concerning methods of recruiting the Sunday\nschool?\n\n\nXVII. THE TESTS OF A GOOD SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\nBLACKBOARD OUTLINE\n\n  1. =Rep. Char.=\n  2. =Org.=\n  3. =Ord.=\n  4. =Sp.=\n  5. =Edu. Eff.=\n  6. =Char.-buil.=\n\n\nREVIEW QUESTIONS\n\nWhat is meant in the title of this chapter?\n\nHow many tests or criterions are here named?\n\nWhat are these tests?\n\nWhat is meant by the representative character of a Sunday school?\n\nWhy is organization necessary to constitute a good school?\n\nWhat is included in a graded school?\n\nTo what extent is order a requisite?\n\nHow may the demand for order be carried to excess?\n\nWhat is \"spirit\" in a Sunday school?\n\nWhat constitutes efficiency in Sunday-school work?\n\nFor what purpose is the teaching and work of the Sunday school?\n\nWhat is included in the building of a character, as an aim of the Sunday\nschool?\n\nHow should these tests or traits be viewed?\n\nWhat illustrative passage is given from the New Testament?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber's Note:\n\nText uses both Sunday School and Sunday-School.\n\nObvious punctuation errors repaired.\n\nPage 71, \"5\" changed to \"6\" (6. =Duties.=)\n\nPage 85, \"useles\" changed to \"useless\" (useless in the Sunday-School)\n\nPage 109, \"(1)\" changed to \"(2)\" ((2) _As a Friend._)\n\nPage 147, \"be\" changed to \"he\" (should he present them)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"Organizing and Building Up the Sunday School: Modern Sunday School Manuals","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":36903}