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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Organizing and Building Up the Sunday School, by 
+Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Organizing and Building Up the Sunday School
+       Modern Sunday School Manuals
+
+Author: Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
+
+Release Date: January 24, 2011 [EBook #35050]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ORGANIZING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Emmy, Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic
+text by _underscores_.
+
+
+MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUALS
+
+Edited by Charles Foster Kent in Collaboration with John T. McFarland
+
+ORGANIZING AND BUILDING UP THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+By JESSE LYMAN HURLBUT
+
+[Illustration]
+
+          NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS
+          CINCINNATI: JENNINGS & GRAHAM
+
+
+
+
+          Copyright, 1910, by
+          EATON & MAINS
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                             PAGE
+     I. The Historic Principles Underlying the Sunday School
+           Movement                                             7
+    II. The Constitution of the Sunday School                  14
+   III. The Necessity and Essentials of a Graded Sunday
+           School                                              21
+    IV. The Grading of the Sunday School                       30
+     V. The Departments of the Graded Sunday School            37
+    VI. The Superintendent                                     46
+   VII. The Superintendent's Duties and Responsibilities       53
+  VIII. The Associate and Department Superintendents           63
+    IX. The Secretary of the Sunday School                     69
+     X. The Treasury and the Treasurer                         75
+    XI. Value of the Sunday School Library                     81
+   XII. The Management of the Library                          91
+  XIII. The Teacher's Qualifications and Need of Training      98
+   XIV. The Training and Task of the Teacher                  105
+    XV. The Constituency of the Sunday School                 113
+   XVI. Recruiting the Sunday School                          122
+  XVII. The Tests of a Good Sunday School                     129
+        Appendix                                              135
+
+
+
+
+PREFATORY
+
+
+IN the preparation of this volume the purpose was to supply a convenient
+handbook upon the organization, the management, and the recruiting of
+the Sunday school, to be read by those desiring information upon these
+subjects. But after the larger part of the work had been prepared a
+desire was expressed that the method of treatment be so modified that
+the volume might be employed as a text-book for classes and individual
+students in the department of teacher-training. It has been the aim of
+the author not to alter the work so materially as to render it unfitting
+for the general reader; and with this in view the series of blackboard
+outlines for the teacher, and the questions for the testing of the
+student's knowledge, have been placed at the end of the book. In the
+hope that both the reader and the student may receive profit from these
+pages the book is committed to the public.
+
+                                           =JESSE LYMAN HURLBUT.=
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+THE HISTORIC PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL MOVEMENT
+
+
+1. =Magnitude of the Sunday-School Movement.= At the opening of the
+twentieth century the Sunday school stands forth as one of the largest,
+most widely spread, most characteristic, and most influential
+institutions of the Anglo-Saxon world. Wherever the English race is
+found the Sunday school is established, in the Mother isle, on the
+American continent, at the Cape of Good Hope, and in Australasia. In the
+United States and Canada it has a following of fourteen million members,
+representing every religious denomination. Its periodical literature has
+a wider circulation than that of any other modern educational movement.
+It touches every class of society, from the highest to the lowest; and
+its largest membership is found among the young, who are of all ages the
+most susceptible to formative forces. It is safe to say that this
+institution has exerted a powerful influence upon the majority of the
+men and women of to-day, and is now shaping the character of millions
+who will be the men and women of to-morrow.
+
+2. =A Modern Movement.= Great as it appears in our time, the Sunday
+school is comparatively a modern institution. Undoubtedly, the germ of
+it can be traced back to that source of all the religious life of the
+civilized world, the Hebrew people. The elemental principle of the
+Sunday school is possibly to be found in the prophetic guilds before the
+Exile, and the schools of the Jewish scribes after the Restoration. The
+great Bible class of Ezra (Neh. 8) was not unlike a modern Sunday
+school. Yet as an organized institution the Sunday school began with
+Robert Raikes, the philanthropist of Gloucester, England, who on one
+Sunday in 1780 called together a group of street boys in a room on Sooty
+Alley, and employed young women to teach them the rudiments of reading
+and religion. If Raikes had not happened to be the editor of the town
+newspaper, and in constant need of copy, his Sunday school might soon
+have been forgotten. But from time to time he published concerning it
+paragraphs which were copied into other papers and attracted attention,
+so that the Sooty Alley Sunday school became the parent of a vast
+progeny throughout the United Kingdom and beyond the seas. No
+institution then in existence, or recorded in church history, suggested
+to Robert Raikes either the name or the plan. Both arose out of his own
+good heart and active mind. But since his day both the name "Sunday
+school" and its plan of working have been perpetuated, and every Sunday
+school in the world is a monument to Robert Raikes, the editor of
+Gloucester.
+
+3. =A Lay Movement.= It is a significant fact that the first Sunday
+school was established not by a priest, but by a private member of the
+Church of England, that its earliest teachers were not curates, nor
+sisters, but young women of the laity, and that throughout its history
+the movement has been directed and carried forward, in all lands and
+among nearly all denominations, by lay workers.[1] This is noteworthy,
+because in the eighteenth century, far more than in our time, the
+teaching of religion was regarded as the peculiar function of the
+clergy, and lay preaching was frowned upon as irregular. The earliest
+Sunday school may have been preserved from churchly opposition by its
+own insignificance; or it may have won the favor of the clergy by the
+fact that all its pupils at the close of the morning session were
+regularly marched to church. Whatever the cause may have been, it is
+certain that under a providence which we must regard as divine, both in
+its beginning and throughout its history, the Sunday school, although a
+laymen's movement, has received favor, and not opposition, from the
+clergy and the Church.
+
+4. =Unpaid Workers.= It has been stated that Raikes paid the young women
+who taught in his Sunday school a penny for each Sunday. But as the
+movement went onward the conductors and teachers were soon giving their
+service freely; and this has been the prevailing rule throughout the
+world. There are a few Sunday schools wherein a curate or assistant
+pastor is the superintendent, and a few mission schools that employ a
+salaried teacher who works through the week as a visitor; but it may be
+asserted that the world-wide army of Sunday-school workers lay upon the
+altar of the Church their free-hearted, unpaid offering of time, study,
+and effort. This has been and is a noble, a self-denying, a splendid
+service; but it has also been a potent element in the progress of the
+movement. Those who would establish a school, alike in the city and on
+the frontier, have not been compelled to wait until funds could be
+raised for the salary of a superintendent and teachers. If only churches
+rich enough to pay for workers had established Sunday schools in our
+country, the Sunday school as an institution would not have advanced
+westward with the wave of population. And not only has the unpaid
+service aided the growth of the movement, it has also added to its moral
+and religious power. The pupils and their parents have recognized that
+the teachers were working not for pay, but from love for their scholars
+and their Saviour; and that love has imparted to their message a power
+all its own.
+
+5. =Self-supporting.= The Sunday school has been from the beginning and
+even now remains in large measure a self-supporting movement. It
+everywhere involves expense for furniture, for teaching requisites, for
+song books, for libraries; but for the most part the money to meet these
+expenses has been contributed in the school, among its own members, and
+not by the church. Instances are on record, even, where the church, in
+former times, charged and received rent for the use of its property by
+the Sunday school! Such short-sighted practice has been rare, but
+multitudes of churches have found the Sunday school a source of far
+greater profit than expense. In other words, those who have done the
+work of the school have also paid its bills, and many families that have
+received its benefits have been exempt from its burdens. It is
+noteworthy, however, that this condition is passing away, that churches
+are awakening to their responsibility and opportunity, and are giving to
+the Sunday school that liberal support which its work requires and
+deserves. In the ratio of investment and return, no department of the
+church costs so little and rewards so richly as an efficient Sunday
+school.
+
+6. =Self-governing.= As a result of being self-supporting, the Sunday
+school has also been a self-governing institution. Paying its own way
+and asking no favor, it has been almost everywhere an independent body,
+accepting no outside authority. It has grown up almost unrecognized and
+unnoticed by the churches. Fifty years ago scarcely one of the
+denominations, great or small, gave the Sunday school recognition as an
+integral part of its system. Little attention was paid to it in the
+ruling body of the local church. It chose its own officers, obtained its
+own teachers, made its own rules, and for its teachings was responsible
+to no ecclesiastical authority. It was generally an ally to, but
+independent of, the church. In this respect a gradual change has taken
+place. Its relations are now much closer, its position is defined; and
+the institution is sanctioned and supervised by the church.
+
+7. =Self-developing.= The system of the Sunday school has been evolved
+without guidance or control from any human authority. It has been from
+the first self-organizing, and has been also self-developing. Some might
+consider the form which it has taken accidental; but it is better to
+regard it as providential. The men and women who laid the foundations
+of the Sunday school were building under a divine direction of which
+they were unconscious. Working apart from each other, on both sides of
+the sea, and separated by wilderness and prairie, everywhere they
+established an institution under the same general principles, and with
+substantial unity in its plans. Perhaps one cause for its unity of
+method is that it arose in the midst of the Anglo-Saxon race, a people
+which has instinctive tendencies toward law, system, and organization.
+If it had started among a Latin people, where men, and not systems,
+rule, there might have been a different form of organization, with
+different aims, with different titles for officers, in every province.
+But throughout the English-speaking world, which is the habitat of the
+Sunday school, the institution bears the same name. Its principal or
+conductor is called a superintendent--cumbrous though the title may
+be--and its working force are known as teachers.
+
+8. =Bible Study.= The most prominent trait in the Sunday school of the
+present is that it has become the most extensive movement for
+instruction in the Sacred Scriptures that the world has yet seen. All
+these millions of members, young and old, are engaged in the study of
+one book--the Holy Bible. Many of these millions, indeed, study the
+Bible superficially, unintelligently, with narrow interpretations and
+crude methods; yet in the Sunday schools of the lowest type as well as
+of the highest some portion of the Bible every week is brought to the
+scholars' attention. That the Bible is so generally known and so widely
+circulated, that the demand for this ancient book warrants the printing
+of more than ten million copies every year, is due more to the Sunday
+school, with all its defects of method, than to any other institution.
+This concentration of attention upon the Bible has grown gradually in
+the Sunday school. In the eighteenth century Sunday school, both of
+England and America, religious instruction was only one of its aims; and
+it was instruction in the catechism and forms of worship rather than in
+the Bible. But by slow degrees the Bible came more prominently to the
+front, until now the Sunday school is everywhere the school with one
+text-book. He who surveys the Sunday school through the inner eye
+beholds it on one day in each week covering the continent with its
+millions of students, all face to face with some portion of the great
+text-book of religion. The thoughtful observer will reflect that a
+people whose children and youth come into weekly contact with the living
+word will not wander far from the path of righteousness.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[1] An exception is to be noted in the Sunday schools of the Roman
+Catholic Church, where most of the teachers belong to religious orders.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+
+The general characteristics of the Sunday school, as they have gradually
+developed during its long history, must be considered in any plan for
+organizing and conducting an individual school. The institution should
+be studied both ideally and practically: practically, to ascertain what
+the Sunday school has been and is now; yet ideally, with a view to
+developing its highest efficiency and largest usefulness. Such a plan
+for the specific Sunday school may be called its constitution. It is
+desirable to have the constitution in written or printed form, but it is
+not necessary. There is no more complete system than the government of
+Great Britain, yet it has no written constitution; and Mr. James Bryce
+has shown us in America that the instrument known as the Constitution of
+the United States by no means represents our own actual method of
+government. In every nation there is an unwritten law, wrought out of a
+people's consciousness, which is more imperative and enduring than any
+parchment scroll or printed form.
+
+The general principles to be maintained in establishing and developing a
+Sunday school are the following:
+
+1. =Aim.= The primary aims of the Sunday school are religious
+instruction, character-development, and effective service. It is not to
+teach history, nor science, nor sociology, but religion; and not merely
+to impart a knowledge of religion to the intellect of its pupils, but,
+infinitely more important, to make religion an effective force in the
+life of the individual scholar. As a Christian institution, in the
+definition given by one of its greatest leaders,[2] "The Sunday school
+is a department of the Church of Christ, in which the word of Christ is
+taught, for the purpose of bringing souls to Christ, and of building up
+souls in Christ." If it be in connection with a Jewish synagogue or
+temple--as are some of the best Sunday schools or Sabbath schools in our
+land--it is for the purpose of instruction in the faith of the ancient
+fathers, and of making their teachings live again in the men and women
+of to-day. A true religious education, such as the Sunday school seeks
+to give, will include three aims: (1) knowledge, (2) character, (3)
+service. There must be an intellectual grasping of the truth; a
+character built on the truth, out of faith in God, and the life of God
+inspiring the human soul; and service for God and humanity. The Sunday
+school seeks to develop not only saints in fellowship with God, but
+workers for God, who shall strive to realize on earth the kingdom of
+God, not seeking to be ministered unto but to minister. There have been
+centuries in the past when the Christian ideal was the cloistered saint,
+living apart in communion with God. But that was a pitiably incomplete
+conception of the perfect man. In our age we have the larger ideal of
+saintliness with service; and to promote this should be the aim of every
+Sunday school.
+
+2. =Method.= To attain its aim the Sunday school employs the teaching
+method. The Sunday school is not, as some weak-minded people have called
+it, "the nursery of the church." Nor is it, as it has been named, "the
+Bible service"; for, although it holds a service, it is more than a
+service. It is not--or should not be--a gathering of groups, large or
+small, where silent hearers listen to sermonettes by little preachers,
+miscalled teachers. It holds a service imbued with the spirit of
+worship, yet worship is not its central purpose. It should have music,
+but it is not primarily a service of song. It should be pervaded by an
+atmosphere of happiness, but mere enjoyment is not its object. The
+Sunday school is a _school_: and the very word shows that its aim is
+instruction and character formation, and its method is that of teaching.
+For the work of a Sunday school the essentials are three:
+
+(1) There must be the living teacher who is fitted to inspire, to
+instruct, and to guide. His part is not merely to pour knowledge into
+his pupils, but to awaken thought, to guide the search for truth, to
+call forth expression in character and in action.[3]
+
+(2) There must also be the scholar who is to be taught. It is his part
+in the process of instruction not merely to listen and to remember, not
+merely to receive impressions, but to give expression to the teaching,
+in life, in character, in influence, and in service. The true
+effectiveness of the teaching in the Sunday school will be shown by the
+reproductive power of the truth in the life of the scholar.
+
+(3) There must be a text-book in the hands of both the teacher and the
+pupil. In any school for religious instruction one book will of
+necessity stand prominent, that great Book of books which records the
+divine revelation to man. The Sunday school may teach history,
+geography, institutions, doctrines, literature of the Bible, but these
+only as a framework or a foundation for the education of the heart into
+a personal fellowship with God. This character-molding, faith-impelling
+force is the divine truth taught in the Bible through the experiences
+and teachings of patriarchs, prophets, priests, psalmists, sages, and
+apostles, and above all by the words and life and redemptive work of the
+Master himself. And the subjects of study in the Sunday school need not
+be limited to the text of Scripture. There may be extra-biblical
+material for the teaching of character and service; and all this should
+be open to the Sunday school.
+
+3. =Relation to the Church.= However independent of the church
+organization the Sunday school may have been in its beginnings, and
+however self-dependent some union Sunday schools may of necessity be in
+certain churchless regions, the general fact is established that the
+Sunday school as an institution belongs to the church, is under the care
+of the church, has a claim upon moral and financial support by the
+church, should be a feeder to the membership of the church, and should
+gratefully accept the supervision of the church. It should regard itself
+and be recognized by all as in many ways the most important department
+of the church.
+
+4. =Government.= All power must be under direction, and the mighty
+energies of the Sunday school especially need a wise, strong guidance.
+In the general management of the Sunday school two elements should be
+recognized: (1) the rights of the workers and (2) the authority of the
+church.
+
+(1) It must ever be kept in mind that the Sunday school is an army of
+volunteers. Its workers are men and women who of their own accord give
+to the school without compensation their gift of service. Those who make
+such a contribution to the success of the Sunday school should certainly
+have a voice in its management.
+
+(2) But it is not to be forgotten, on the other side, that the Sunday
+school is not superior to the church, nor independent of it, but
+subsidiary to it; hence the church should be able to exercise some
+control over the school if such control shall ever be needed. For
+example, in the choice of a superintendent, who is the executive officer
+of the school, the ruling body of the local church and the working body
+of teachers and officers should unite. No one should undertake to
+conduct a church Sunday school unless he thus has the definite assurance
+that his teachers are with him, and that his church is officially
+supporting him.
+
+5. =Officers.= Little need be said here on this subject, for it is one
+with which every worker is familiar.
+
+(1) There must be a leader, or manager, the executive head of the
+school, who is universally styled the superintendent. If we were
+organizing a new institution, and not describing one already world-wide
+and with officers already named by common usage and consent, we would
+prefer that the executive of the Sunday school receive the title of
+Principal or Director; but the somewhat awkward word Superintendent is
+settled upon him, and will remain.
+
+(2) There must also be an assistant superintendent, or more than one, as
+the size of the school may demand. The better title is associate
+superintendent, as is now given in the larger number of well-organized
+schools. The superintendent should have the privilege of nominating his
+own associates or assistants, the nominations to be confirmed by the
+board of teachers and officers.
+
+(3) There will be a secretary, with such assistants as he may require,
+to be nominated by the secretary and confirmed by the teachers.
+
+(4) There will be a treasurer, to care for the funds, and to disburse
+them as ordered by the board of teachers, or the Sunday school as a
+whole.
+
+(5) Lastly, but most important of all, there must be the working force
+of instructors, the faculty of the institution, its teachers, who should
+be carefully chosen. The pastor, as well as the superintendent, should
+have an active voice in their call, since they are his coworkers in the
+religious instruction of the congregation.
+
+6. =Membership.= In the conception of a Sunday school, both ideal and
+practical, the constituency for which it is established must be
+considered. As has been noted, it was originally for children only, and
+only for children who were destitute of home training, and outside of
+church relationship. The earliest Sunday schools were what are called
+in England ragged schools, and in America mission schools. But in the
+noble evolution of the movement the Sunday school constituency has been
+vastly enlarged; and now it is recognized that the Sunday school is for
+all ages and all classes. It should embrace the young and old, the
+ignorant and intelligent, the poor and rich, the sinner as well as the
+saint. The Sunday school which fulfills its mission to society will
+welcome all the world.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] Bishop John H. Vincent.
+
+[3] For qualifications and functions of the teacher see Chapters XIII
+and XIV.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE NECESSITY AND ESSENTIALS OF A GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+
+1. =The Necessity of Grading.= As the result of the gradual and unguided
+evolution of the Sunday school through a century or longer, most schools
+are now divided in a vague way into certain departments, generally known
+as the Primary, or Infant Class; the Youths Department, or Boys and
+Girls; and the Adult Department, or Bible Classes. Many who have charge
+of schools such as these regard them as graded, and so report them. But
+the mere naming of departments does not constitute a graded school.
+Whoever studies the ungraded or loosely graded Sunday school will
+perceive in it certain evils which can be removed only by a thorough
+system of grading, maintained faithfully through a series of years. Some
+of these conditions which make the graded Sunday school an absolute
+necessity are the following:
+
+(1) _The School as a Whole._ The close observer, looking at the entire
+school, notes first of all that its gains and its losses in membership
+are at the extremes of its constituency. It is the normal condition for
+the gains to come in the Primary section; for the little children in
+families are attracted to the school or brought there by older children.
+There is almost invariably a constant increase in this department,
+requiring frequently the organization of new classes in the grade
+above, among the younger boys and girls. But, on the other hand, there
+is a constant loss of older scholars. In most schools, at the age of
+fourteen, in what is known as the early adolescent period of life, the
+pupils, for one reason or another, begin to drop out, and few enter to
+take their places. Almost every school is thus growing at the bottom and
+dying at the top. The Primary classes are full, but the classes of those
+above fourteen years are usually small--two large boys here, three
+yonder. And although girls continue in the school more frequently than
+boys, there will appear the same conditions--some large classes of girls
+and young women, but others where discouraged teachers are sitting down
+with one, two, or three pupils. Six or eight years ago these same
+classes came out from the Primary Department, each with eight or ten
+pupils; now they are mere skeleton classes, barely alive, and threatened
+with dissolution. Every earnest, thoughtful superintendent would rejoice
+to find some plan that will guarantee large classes of young people
+between sixteen and eighteen years of age, for this is the most vital
+period in the life of the individual. Such a plan is proposed in the
+graded system.
+
+(2) _The Condition of the Classes._ Fixing the attention upon the
+several classes, the critic of the school system notes three unfavorable
+conditions:
+
+(a) There is the inequality in the size of classes, to which reference
+has already been made. When classes come together by accident, pupils
+bringing their friends, or new members joining whatever classes they
+please, some classes of boys or girls will inevitably be too large for
+good government or good teaching, and others will be too small to
+create any enthusiasm, either in the teacher or the pupils.
+
+(b) There is also an inequality in the ages of pupils in the same class.
+A class may include one pupil or two pupils sixteen years old, and
+others as young as ten, or even nine years; some who during the week are
+in the high school, and others who can scarcely read the verses assigned
+to them.
+
+(c) Where these inequalities of numbers and ages exist there is a lack
+of that class spirit which is an essential element of power in a
+well-ordered Sunday school. Every class should be a unit, with a strong
+social bond; but this ideal cannot be realized when there are in the
+class two or three youths in the noisy, assertive, self-conscious stage
+of early adolescence, and others who are several years younger. Nor can
+there be a proper social bond in a class with only two or three members.
+They are likely to be irregular in attendance, to find excuses for
+absence or for leaving the school, until at last the discouraged teacher
+and the listless scholars together drop out of sight.
+
+For the correction of these evils of inequality in numbers and in ages,
+and of this lack of class spirit, the only successful method is to grade
+the school, and resolutely to keep it graded.
+
+(3) _Difficulties of Administration._ The difficulties which confront
+the superintendent in the management of an ungraded school are many and
+great.
+
+(a) The first and ever-present difficulty is in obtaining teachers for
+new classes. The constant growth of the Primary Department is his
+perennial perplexity. To relieve the congestion in the crowded Infant
+Class its older pupils must be brought into the main school, and
+teachers must be found for them. The superintendent is always seeking,
+and often seeking vainly, for new teachers.
+
+(b) Another difficulty is found in the attempt to transfer scholars from
+one class to another. No matter how much out of place a pupil may be, it
+is almost impossible to transfer him to another class without incurring
+the displeasure of the teacher, the scholar, or the scholar's family.
+And however overgrown or ill-assorted a class may have become, to divide
+it is a delicate task, almost sure to cause ill feeling. Also, when
+there arises the need of a teacher for a new class just emerging from
+the Primary Department, the natural plan would be to combine some of the
+skeleton classes in the other departments, and thereby release a teacher
+for service with the new class. But the superintendent who attempts this
+plan finds that almost invariably it results in some of the older
+scholars leaving the school because their teacher is taken from them.
+
+2. =The Essentials of a Graded School.= Briefly stated, the essentials
+of a graded Sunday school are the following:[4]
+
+(1) _Departments._ The graded Sunday school is organized in certain
+distinct groups, of which the most important, for our present purpose,
+are the Primary, Junior, Intermediate, and Senior Departments. To these
+will be added the Beginners and Adult Departments when the subject comes
+up for a complete treatment. Each of these departments should have, if
+possible, a separate room; but if these rooms cannot be provided in the
+building, the pupils should be seated by departments in the different
+parts of the one room. Perhaps it may be assumed that there is a
+separate room for the Primary Department; then let those who have most
+recently come from the Primary be seated on the right block of seats;
+the Youths or Intermediate in the middle; and the Senior classes on the
+left block, or vice versa. The younger classes of the department should
+have the front seats, the older those in the rear, in regular gradation.
+The school may be arranged in the order shown in this diagram:
+
+
+    +---------------------------------------------+
+    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|
+    ||  OLDER    |  |FOURTH YEAR |  |FOURTH YEAR ||
+    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|
+    |                                             |
+    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|
+    ||   OLDER   |  | THIRD YEAR |  | THIRD YEAR ||
+    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|
+    |                                             |
+    ||YOUNG WOMEN|  |SECOND YEAR |  |SECOND YEAR ||
+     +-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|
+    |                                             |
+    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|
+    || YOUNG MEN |  | FIRST YEAR |  | FIRST YEAR ||
+    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|
+    |  SENIORS      INTERMEDIATES      JUNIORS    |
+    |                                             |
+    |         +-----------------------+           |
+    |         |        PLATFORM       |           |
+    +---------+-----------------------+-----------+
+
+(2) _Classes._ The number of classes should be fixed for each
+department, and their relationship established, so that when a group of
+scholars is promoted to a higher grade in the same department, or in the
+next department, they do not enter as classes, but as individuals; not
+to form new classes in the department, but to be placed in classes
+already formed. This plan will keep the classes in the Senior Department
+always full, and avoid the unfortunate skeleton classes of the ungraded
+school. It will also impress upon the pupils the importance of faithful
+work.
+
+(3) _Promotions._ There should be annual and simultaneous promotions
+throughout the school. One Sunday in the year should be set apart as
+Promotion Sunday; and on that day all promotions should be made. Those
+who are to be advanced from the Intermediate to the Senior Department
+are called out by name and placed in their classes, which are not new
+classes, but old classes replenished with new members. These promotions
+will vacate the seats of the Fourth Year classes in the Intermediate
+Department. But these seats will at once be filled by the Third Year now
+becoming the Fourth Year, and taking their seats; the Second Year pupils
+becoming the Third Year; and the First Year the Second Year. The First
+Year of the Intermediate Department will be left vacant, to be filled by
+promotion of the Fourth Year in the Junior Department, and the moving up
+of classes to the year above in the same department; and the First Year
+of the Junior Department will be filled by promotion from the Primary
+Department.
+
+(4) _Teachers._ As groups of scholars pass either from one grade or from
+one department to another there must also be a change of teachers. This
+constitutes the crux of the entire system, and in its inception is apt
+to prove the most formidable obstacle in grading the school. The pupils,
+however, are accustomed to a system of promotions in the day school, and
+expect to leave their teachers when they change their grades; but many
+of the teachers in the Sunday school, not being trained under the
+system, dislike to lose their scholars, and show their dissatisfaction
+in ways that affect their pupils. This difficulty must be overcome by
+tact and an appeal to unselfish motives; teachers must consent for the
+sake of the common good to give up their old classes and take new ones
+which begin in the department. The teacher may remain in the grade and
+receive a new class each year as his pupils advance to a higher grade;
+or he may remain with the class and advance until the pupils pass from
+their former department to a higher one, as from Primary to Junior, from
+Junior to Intermediate, and from Intermediate to Senior. He should then
+return to a new first year's class in his own department and lead it
+through the course. If any teacher asks, "Why cannot I go with my class
+into the Senior Department?" the answer is that if the plan be permitted
+for one it must be recognized for all; and in the Senior Department
+there will follow an increasing number of classes, with a relatively
+diminishing membership in each class. The scholars also need the
+inspiration of contact with different teachers. Furthermore, the teacher
+who is adapted to the Junior or Intermediate Department is rarely a
+suitable teacher for Senior scholars. Hence there is need of a careful
+assignment of teachers no less than of pupils. Therefore, to maintain a
+graded school the pupils must change teachers when they change
+departments.
+
+(5) _Lessons._ There should be graded lessons for each department. If a
+graded system be followed in the school, as it should be, with different
+subjects, text-books, and lessons for each department, giving to the
+entire school a regular, systematic, progressive curriculum, this
+requisite will be met. If, however, the uniform lesson for all the
+school be followed, as at present is still the case in many Sunday
+schools, the graded teaching must be given in the form of supplemental
+lessons, taught by the head of the department where it has a separate
+room, or by the teacher if the departments must be assembled in one
+room. In some form the graded teaching is an absolutely essential
+requisite of the graded school. Most schools, when once thoroughly
+graded, will realize the need of the next step in the evolution of the
+institution--lessons graded in subjects as well as in methods for the
+several departments.
+
+(6) _Basis of Promotion._ The question is often asked, "Should
+promotions be made on the basis of age, or as the result of
+examinations?" The examination system may be regarded as desirable in
+the Sunday school, but there are as yet few schools where thorough
+examinations can be rigidly insisted on as a part of the school system,
+and promotions invariably made to depend upon standing. A school which
+meets only once a week, for a session of less than an hour and a half,
+and with but one lesson period of forty minutes or even less, cannot
+maintain the same strictness in its standards as the public school.
+Moreover, new scholars are continually entering the schools, and, while
+most of them begin at the foot of the ladder in the Primary Department,
+yet others enter at various ages and in various grades. Any system of
+promotion based merely upon acquirement attested by examination is sure
+to become in many instances a meaningless form when applied to the
+Sunday school. Yet acquirements and examinations need not be ignored in
+the graded Sunday school. There may be certain ages at which the pupils
+shall by right pass from a lower grade to a higher. But it may also be
+arranged that pupils who are exceptionally bright, well-informed, and
+studious can be promoted a year in advance of their classmates by
+passing examination. Let the examination be given in writing to all the
+pupils, and let all be urged to take it; with the promise that those who
+pass will be promoted, even though they be less than the required age.
+But let it also be understood that failure to pass the examination will
+not keep the student for more than one year from promotion. In other
+words, the examination may well be made the door through which earnest
+students may pass on, and so keep abreast of their equals in training
+and ability.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[4] For a more complete statement, see the volume of this series on The
+Graded Sunday School in Principle and Practice, by Dr. H. H. Meyer.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE GRADING OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+
+The question is often asked, "How may an ungraded Sunday school be
+placed on a graded basis?" The work may seem simple, and easy of
+accomplishment, but when it is undertaken difficulties arise which must
+be intelligently and tactfully met.
+
+1. =The Difficulties.= If all our Sunday-school teachers were trained
+educators, accustomed to the methods of the public school, they would
+see at once the advantages of the graded system, and heartily enter into
+it. But most of our teachers are untrained, and their range of vision
+often fails to reach beyond their own class and their immediate
+environment. The relation between teachers and scholars is personal
+rather than official; and on both sides the personal equation often
+complicates the problem. In every school there are a few teachers who
+are so strongly influenced by their feeling for their pupils that they
+fail to recognize the needs of the school. There are also scholars,
+especially in the sentimental early adolescent age, who are unwilling to
+leave their teachers when promotion is offered to them. But unless the
+change of teachers is maintained the graded system will utterly fail to
+benefit the school; it will be graded in name only, and not in fact.
+This part of the program must be carried through, even though it may
+cost the school the loss of a teacher or two teachers and their
+scholars.
+
+2. =The Remedy= for this difficulty is only to be found in carefully
+considered action by presenting the necessity and value of the plan so
+clearly that the teachers as a whole will fully understand it,
+appreciate its importance, and heartily accept it. The grading should
+not be attempted upon the mere fiat of the superintendent, nor on the
+vote of a bare majority of the workers. The teachers must recognize the
+self-sacrifice which it requires, and must make that self-sacrifice
+generously, giving up their scholars for the general good. The possible
+objections of the scholars are more easily overcome, for they are
+accustomed in the public schools to promotions with change of teachers,
+and readily accommodate themselves to the same system in the Sunday
+school. Thoughtfulness and kindness, with time, will soon remove the
+hindrances from the path of the graded school.
+
+3. =The Method of Grading.= The school may be graded in either of two
+ways, the gradual or the simultaneous method.
+
+(1) In the gradual method the superintendent, with the concurrence of
+the teachers, may announce that after a certain date all promotions will
+be made in accordance with the graded system, leaving the classes as
+they are until the time for promotion arrives. Then promote from Primary
+to Junior, from Junior to Intermediate, and from Intermediate to Senior,
+according to the principles of the graded school; and in four or five
+years, if the system be maintained, the result will be a school fully
+graded in all its departments.
+
+(2) In the simultaneous method of grading, the plan must be carefully
+matured, and general coöperation of all assured. The following plan has
+been tested in more than one school, and found to work successfully:
+
+(a) Let a careful committee be chosen to arrange the details of grading.
+The committee should consist of teachers acquainted with the scholars as
+far as may be practicable, and should, of course, include the
+superintendent. They should also take an abundance of time for their
+work.
+
+(b) Obtain the ages of all the scholars between eight and eighteen years
+of age, and, approximatively, the ages up to thirty. Let this list be
+made quietly by each teacher for his or her own class. It may be
+desirable not to inform the pupils for what purpose the enrollment is
+made. Instances have been known where scholars have understated their
+ages, hoping thereby to remain with favorite teachers.
+
+(c) Let the committee go over the lists and assign the scholars to
+classes according to age and acquirement. In some degree social
+relations should be considered, so that each class may be as far as
+practicable a social unit. In the Intermediate Department boys and girls
+should be in separate classes, and not more than six or eight pupils
+should be placed in one class. No announcement of the assignment of
+scholars to classes should be made until the day fixed for the
+reorganization of the school. It will be a good plan to prepare a map or
+chart of the schoolroom, with the place proposed for each class
+indicated upon it.
+
+(d) On the day appointed, after the opening exercises, first let the
+seats or rooms set apart for the Senior Department be vacated; and then
+let the roll be called according to the new list. "Class No. 1, Senior
+Department. Mr. A----, with the following scholars." As their names are
+called let them take their places, until the list of classes and
+scholars in this department is filled. Next vacate the seats assigned to
+the Intermediate Department, and let these teachers and pupils take
+their places; then the Junior Department, according to the same plan.
+The Primary Department can be graded by its superintendent or teacher
+without aid from the committee.
+
+Let it be understood that every scholar must take the place assigned to
+him at the time when his name is called; and that only for an important
+reason can an assignment, when once made, be changed. In a large school
+there will be found a few cases where the committee has made a mistake,
+even with the greatest care; and these mistakes should be rectified, but
+not until the pupils have taken their new places temporarily in the
+scheme of the school.
+
+4. =Advantages of Thorough Grading.= Many benefits will follow from the
+proper organization of the school; and their value will be increasingly
+apparent as the system is maintained through a series of years.
+
+(1) _Appearance._ It is the testimony of every superintendent and pastor
+who has graded his Sunday school that the appearance of the school is
+greatly improved by the graded system. The older scholars are assembled
+in one body, instead of being scattered throughout the room; scholars
+of the same size and age are brought together in classes. The school
+will also actually seem larger than it was before the grading.
+
+(2) _Order._ The order of the school will be more easily maintained. The
+big boys and the giggling girls, both at the self-conscious, awkward
+age, will be in a new environment, no longer the leaders over smaller
+and younger pupils, but in classes by themselves, and with
+responsibilities appealing to their self-respect.
+
+(3) _Social Relations._ It will be a benefit to the scholars of each age
+to be associated in groups of the same period in life, with the same
+interests and similar mental acquirements. Many scholars will find their
+new associations more congenial than their former ones in the ungraded
+classes, where older and younger people have been brought together. The
+class will now become, far more than it was before, a social power.
+
+(4) _Teaching Work._ In the ungraded class, with older and younger
+pupils together, the teacher met with his greatest difficulty in finding
+a common ground of interest. In the graded class, with pupils of uniform
+age and equal intellectual understanding, the teaching can be better
+adapted to the needs of the pupils.
+
+(5) _Incentive to Interest._ The prospect of promotion awakens an
+interest in the classes. Each scholar looks forward to the time when he
+will attain to a higher grade with its enlarged privileges.
+
+(6) _Obtaining Teachers._ The grading of the school greatly aids in the
+solution of the ever-present problem of obtaining new teachers, (a) The
+graded school requires a smaller number of teachers than the ungraded
+school, since it provides for the consolidation of skeleton classes in
+the Senior Department. This sets at liberty a number of experienced
+teachers for service in other grades. (b) Whenever a new class comes
+from the Primary Department, a teacher is already at hand in the Junior
+Department whose class at the same time has advanced to the Intermediate
+Department. The teacher goes year by year with his class until it leaves
+the department, and then he returns to a new class beginning the studies
+of the same department. (c) After the results of a teacher-training
+class are available there will always be trained teachers waiting for
+classes.
+
+(7) _Leakage Period._ The young people between fifteen and twenty years
+of age constitute the "leakage period,"[5] when they are in great danger
+of drifting away from the school. They will be held to the school far
+more firmly if they have before them the prospect of membership in large
+classes of young people, with social opportunities, and club life, so
+popular with youth at the early adolescent age. It has been clearly
+shown by practical experience that an organized Senior Department, with
+large classes kept full by regular reinforcement from the Intermediate
+Department, will maintain itself and hold its members, while skeleton
+classes of the young people constantly tend to disintegration.
+
+The well-organized, completely graded Sunday school possesses such
+evident and great advantages that it is certain to be established
+wherever thorough and efficient religious instruction is sought. The
+sooner it comes, and the more faithfully it is maintained, the better it
+will be for the church of to-day and to-morrow, and the more quickly and
+effectually will the grave problems of our modern civilization be
+solved.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[5] Dr. A. H. McKinney, in After the Primary--What?
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+THE DEPARTMENTS OF THE GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+
+=General Scheme.= The four departments essential to a graded Sunday
+school, whether large or small, have already been named by anticipation.
+But it is necessary to give to the subject a closer consideration, and
+to add the names of other departments which are needed either as
+departments or subdivisions in the school. Following the analogy of the
+secular schools, the great divisions of a Sunday school may be named as
+Elementary, Secondary, and Advanced or Adult. The Elementary Division
+will include the Cradle Roll, Beginners, Primary, and Junior, taking the
+scholar up to twelve years of age. The Secondary Division will include
+the Intermediate and Senior Departments, also the Teacher-training
+Class, and will embrace the scholars between twelve and twenty years of
+age. The Advanced or Adult Division will include all the classes wherein
+the average age is above twenty years, including the Home Department.
+Beginning with the youngest children, the departments of a thoroughly
+organized school are the following:
+
+1. =The Cradle Roll.=[6] This should include all the little ones in the
+families of the congregation who are too young to attend the school.
+Their names, in large lettering, in plain print rather than script,
+should be recorded upon a list, framed and hung upon the wall in the
+Primary room. A separate card catalogue should be kept of the names
+alphabetically arranged, with ages, birthdays, parents' names, and the
+street address of each family. Every effort should be made to keep the
+list complete; children should inform their teachers of new little
+brothers and sisters for the Cradle Roll; the pastor in his visitation
+should take their names and report them; and the teacher or conductor in
+charge of the Cradle Roll should occasionally visit every family on the
+list. Whenever gifts are made to the pupils of the school, as at
+Christmas or on birthdays, toys and dolls for the little ones of the
+Cradle Roll should not be forgotten. In a small school the care of the
+roll and the visiting of the families may be assigned to the Primary
+superintendent; but in a large Sunday school it will call for a special
+conductor, and recognition as a separate department. Let no one suppose
+that this is an unimportant, sentimental matter. The Cradle Roll,
+maintained as it should be, will awaken interest in every family having
+a name inscribed upon it, and in due time will lead many little feet to
+the Sunday school.
+
+2. =The Beginners Department.= At about three years of age the little
+children should be brought to the school, and be regularly enrolled as
+attending members, their names being now taken from the Cradle Roll.
+They should remain in the Beginners Department from the age of three to
+that of six years--the Kindergarten period in the public school. Here
+they should be told simple Bible and nature stories, without effort to
+place the stories in chronological order; for children of this age have
+only a faint conception of the sequence of events. They may be taught
+simple songs, marching exercises, etc. It is a mistake, however, to give
+them much, if any lessons, to tax the memory, beyond a few short
+sentences of the Bible and verses of children's songs. If they can meet
+in a room by themselves, with their own teacher, it will be better than
+to have them in the Primary room; for the work in this grade should be
+constantly varied, and the stories very brief, in order not to weary the
+little ones. If they must meet in the room with the Primary children,
+they should sit by themselves as a separate section, and not with their
+older brothers and sisters.
+
+3. =The Primary Department.= This department should be the home of
+little children between six and eight or nine years of age. They should
+remain in it until in the day school they have begun to read. Boys and
+girls may be placed in the same classes, which should be for those six
+years old, seven years old, and eight years old, respectively. With each
+year their seats should be changed, indicating their promotion from the
+lower to the higher classes. In this department the simpler stories of
+the Bible and other helpful stories adapted to the grade should not only
+be told but taught, and the children expected not only to learn but also
+to tell them. The Twenty-third Psalm, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten
+Commandments, a few other selected passages of Scripture, and some
+standard hymns of the Church should be memorized.
+
+In many well-organized Sunday schools both the Cradle Roll and the
+Beginners class are recognized as subdivisions of the Primary
+Department, and are under the direction of the Primary superintendent.
+
+4. =The Junior Department.= This department will care for the children
+from the ages of eight or nine until the full age of twelve; except that
+boys or girls who are especially advanced in intelligence may be
+promoted upon examination at eleven years. In a very small Sunday school
+all the pupils of this department may form one class, provided they can
+have a room by themselves. If they must meet with the rest of the
+school, they may be organized either in two classes, one of boys, the
+other of girls. If, however, the number of scholars will admit, it is
+far better to place the pupils in separate classes for boys and girls,
+with different classes for each year of the period. To scholars of the
+Junior grade the great characters and events of Bible history should be
+taught in their order; also the most important facts about the Bible,
+and in a simple form the lands and localities of the Bible. In churches
+which use a catechism this should constitute a part of the teaching in
+the Junior Department, for at this period the child's verbal memory
+attains its greatest strength.
+
+5. =The Intermediate Department.= Here the pupils are from twelve to
+sixteen years of age. The classes should be small, generally of six boys
+or girls, never more than eight. This period in life is known as early
+adolescence, and calls for careful direction by wise teachers. In the
+Intermediate Department the great biographies of the Bible should be
+studied, either as the regular or the supplemental lessons; also the
+heroic lives of leaders in the history of the Church, of foreign
+missionaries, and of men and women who have labored in the home fields.
+Boys and girls in this stage of life are instinctively hero-worshipers,
+and before them should be set high ideals of character and service.
+Special effort should be made in leading the scholars to personal
+consecration to Christ and to union with the Church; for if the great
+decision be not made before the age of sixteen is reached, there is
+great danger that it will never be reached. But that decision should
+include more than a formal profession. It should embrace a full
+surrender to the will of Christ, an inward, conscious spiritual life, an
+aim for completeness of Christian character, and especially a
+willingness to work for God and humanity. Youth is a season of ardor and
+of energy, a period of lofty ideals and noble endeavor. All those active
+powers of the youthful nature should be guided into channels of
+usefulness. The true twentieth century disciple of Christ is not one who
+lives alone feasting his soul on God, but one who stands among his
+fellow-men, eager to aid in the world's betterment.
+
+6. =The Senior Department.= This is the preferable title, although some
+organized schools call it the Young People's Department, and restrict
+the word Senior to the classes of fully adult age. Still others call it
+the Assembly, and give it an organization independent of the Sunday
+school.[7] The age of entrance should be sixteen, except with some who
+in stature and mind are mature beyond their years. It is imperative, as
+we have already seen, that at the door of this department the young
+people should leave their former teachers, and should not form new
+Senior classes, but as individuals enter classes already established.
+This department includes the members of the school between sixteen and
+twenty years of age; not that members of classes must necessarily leave
+them at twenty, but that men or women above that age entering the school
+should rather join the Adult Department. The classes may be as large as
+the arrangement of rooms will allow; larger where each class can have a
+separate room, which is the ideal plan. Generally, young men and young
+women should be in separate classes. The teacher of a young men's class
+should be a man whose character will inspire the respect and win the
+fellowship of his class. The teacher of the young women's class will
+generally be a lady, although often men have been successful teachers of
+young women.
+
+In this department the classes should be organized, each with its own
+officers, chosen by the members; and the class should be consulted when
+a teacher is to be appointed, although the voice of the class in the
+decision should be advisory and not mandatory. Especial attention should
+be given to the social activities of this department. Each class should
+have its own gatherings, classes of young men and women should meet
+together occasionally, and a Senior Reception should be held at least
+annually to promote acquaintance among the members. The interest of the
+young people should also be enlisted in some definite form of service
+for the church or the community.
+
+7. =The Teacher-Training Department.= The most promising young people,
+both men and women, should be selected at sixteen years of age--the time
+of promotion into the Senior Department--and should be organized as the
+Teacher-training or Normal Class. The best teacher obtainable should be
+assigned to this department. Often in the high school or some near-by
+college, a scholarly, Bible-loving instructor may be found who is
+willing to give a part of his time to the equipment of teachers for the
+coming generation. A text-book should be chosen from among those
+approved by the International Teacher-training Committee. No person
+should be admitted to this class who is not willing to give some time
+during the week to the study of the course. While the rest of the school
+may be studying the regular lessons, whether graded or uniform, this
+class should be at work with the teacher-training text-books. There
+should be thorough instruction with examinations looking toward a
+certificate of work done, such as the International Teacher-training
+diploma.[8] The course may cover two, three, or four years; and new
+members may be placed in the class at the opening of each year, to begin
+at the point where the class is studying, and to remain until they shall
+have completed the entire course. In a properly graded school after a
+few years there will be a class graduating from and a class entering the
+Teacher-training Department each year.
+
+This department should also include a Reserve Class, consisting of those
+who are ready to act as substitutes for absent teachers. If the uniform
+lessons are followed, the Reserve Class should study the lesson a week
+in advance of the school. Into this class the graduates of the
+Teacher-training Class should be placed, to remain until classes are
+ready for them in the school.
+
+In some schools the Teacher-training and Reserve Classes do not form a
+separate department, but are two classes in the Senior Department. But
+it is the better plan in a large school to establish the
+Teacher-training Department, with its own officers, thereby adding to
+its prestige in the school.
+
+8. =The Adult Department.= This will include all who are above the age
+of twenty years. It is the judgment of advanced leaders in Sunday-school
+work that at twenty years those who have belonged to Young People's
+classes in the Senior Department should leave them for the Adult
+Department. Otherwise, the Senior Department in a few years will cease
+to be a place where young people of sixteen and eighteen years feel at
+home. In the Adult Department men and women may meet together as members
+of the same class, unless there arise a demand for separate classes and
+the numbers enrolled justify the division. In conducting these classes
+two forms of instruction have been found to be successful: (1) the
+colloquial method of teaching, the class studying and discussing the
+lesson together under the guidance of the leader; and (2) the lecture
+method, the teacher being the principal speaker, but always admitting
+questions and answers on the subject suggested by the lesson. Classes in
+this department may be allowed to choose their own courses of study,
+provided (1) that the subjects and methods are in line with the general
+aim of religious education, and not merely secular science or history;
+(2) that the courses of successive years have some sequence, and are not
+chosen in a haphazard, accidental manner. The Adult Department under
+wise direction should promote a large, intelligent, broad-minded,
+philanthropic type of Christian character in the church and the
+community.
+
+9. =The Home Department.= This department, like the Cradle Roll at the
+other extreme of the Sunday-school constituency, is composed of people,
+both young and old, who cannot be present at its sessions, but are
+interested in its work, and willing to give some time to its studies. In
+every community there are such people--aged or infirm men and women,
+invalids, mothers unable to leave their offspring, commercial travelers,
+and people who live too far from the school to attend it. These are
+organized into the Home Department, furnished with the literature of the
+school, study its text-books, make their report of work done, and send
+their contributions to its support through the Home Department
+superintendent or visitor.[9]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[6] This department is now named in Sunday schools of the Protestant
+Episcopal Church, and some others, the Font Roll, or Baptismal Roll.
+
+[7] Suggested by Dr. J. H. Vincent.
+
+[8] For full information concerning Teacher-training, courses,
+examinations, and diplomas, write to the State Secretary of Sunday
+School Work, or to the office of the International Sunday School
+Association, No. 140 Dearborn Street, Chicago.
+
+[9] For plans of the Home Department, address the Secretary of the State
+Sunday School Association, or Dr. W. A. Duncan, Syracuse, New York, who
+is recognized as the founder of this system.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE SUPERINTENDENT
+
+
+1. =His Importance.= Several years ago, the president of the New York
+Central Railway was called upon by a legislative committee to explain
+the system of signals employed upon the railroad for the protection of
+passengers. He gave a detailed statement, answered every question, and
+then made this remark: "However perfect the system may seem to be, there
+must always be a man to work it; and in the final analysis more depends
+on the man than on the plan."
+
+That which is true in every human organization is especially true in the
+Sunday school: its success depends not on a constitution, whether
+written or unwritten, but upon a man. In the Sunday school that man is
+the superintendent, who not only works the plan, but also generally
+plans the work. Given an efficient superintendent, an efficient school
+will usually be developed; for the able man will call forth or will
+train up able workers. Hence the first and greatest requisite for a
+successful Sunday school is that the right man be chosen as
+superintendent.
+
+2. =His Appointment.= The selection of the superintendent should be the
+task not only of the officers and teachers in the Sunday school, but of
+the entire church, for every family in the congregation has an interest
+in his appointment. The pastor should be consulted, and should give
+diligent attention and time to the search for a superintendent, not
+merely because he may be presumed to know his constituency, but more
+especially because out of all the church the superintendent is to be his
+most important helper. The election of the superintendent should be made
+by the workers in the school, its board of teachers and officers, and
+its action should be formally confirmed by the ruling board of the local
+church. No man should hold the office of a superintendent who fails to
+receive the approval of the church of which the school is a part. He
+should know that in his appointment the school, the church, and the
+pastor all unite.
+
+3. =His Term of Office.= He should be chosen for a term of one year; but
+may be reëlected for as many terms as appear expedient. Frequent changes
+in the management of the school will tend to destroy the efficiency of
+its work. But whenever the great interests involved in the religious
+education of an entire church or community require a new superintendent
+the change should be made, even though sympathy be felt for the one set
+aside. The institution must not be sacrificed to save the feelings of
+the man.
+
+4. =His Qualifications.= It is important to consider the qualifications
+of an ideal superintendent, remembering, however, that all these
+qualities are rarely to be found in one man. We must set before us high
+ideals, not expecting that they will always be fully realized, yet ever
+seeking to attain them as far as may be possible in this imperfect
+world. The following are the most important qualifications for a
+superintendent; some of them are essential, all are desirable:
+
+(1) _Moral Character._ The Sunday school undertakes to train the young
+in character; therefore he who stands as its responsible head must
+possess a character worthy of admiration and imitation. His life must
+honor, and not dishonor, his profession. It is possible for a man whose
+work for an hour on Sunday is in behalf of the gospel so to live in his
+family, in business, and in society as to work for six days against the
+gospel, and more than undo all his efforts for good. The leader in such
+an uplifting movement as the Sunday school must have clean hands and a
+pure heart. What Saint Paul wrote of a bishop he would have written of a
+Sunday school superintendent: he must have "a good report." In the
+well-known painting of the Emancipation Proclamation may be seen
+standing at the right hand of President Lincoln the Secretary of the
+Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, who once said, "A man in my position must not
+only seem right, but be right; and not only be right, but seem right."
+So will every one say of the Sunday-school superintendent.
+
+(2) _A Devout Believer._ The superintendent's character should be
+irradiated with the fine glow of a Christian faith. He should be one who
+has seen the heavenly vision and unto it has not been disobedient; one
+whose spirit has been kindled by the Divine Spirit burning like a fire
+within; one who is himself a Christian man, longing to lead other men
+into fellowship with the Father through Jesus Christ the Son.
+
+(3) _A Working Church Member._ We have already learned that the Sunday
+school is not a society or an institution standing alone. It is a
+branch of the church, and one of the most important branches. The normal
+growth of the church depends in large measure upon the Sunday school,
+and the support of the Sunday school comes, or should come, from the
+church. The superintendent who endeavors to do his duty to his scholars
+will strive to lead them to Christ and into active membership and
+service in the church. Therefore, he himself must be a professed, loyal,
+and effective member of the church. His name should not only stand upon
+its roll, but his heart should also be enlisted in its behalf.
+
+(4) _A Bible Student._ The Sunday school is the school with one
+preëminent text-book; and of that Book the superintendent should be a
+diligent student. His work is executive and not instructional; yet he
+must supervise the teaching, and this supervision he cannot rightly give
+unless he is familiar with the course of study. He should study the
+lesson of each department, perhaps not as thoroughly as the teachers in
+the department, but sufficiently to maintain acquaintance with their
+work. And he should master not only the specific lessons of the
+immediate course before his school, but also the Book as a whole.
+
+One successful superintendent gave as a secret of his power to make his
+school, both teachers and scholars, willing to do whatever he asked, "I
+never expect my teachers or scholars to do anything that I am not ready
+to do myself. Before I ask them to bring their Bibles I bring mine. When
+I asked my school to be ready on the following Sunday to repeat in
+concert the Nineteenth Psalm, I committed it to memory during the week,
+and when the time came spoke the words with the school." Only that
+superintendent who himself loves the Bible, and studies it, can have a
+true Bible school.
+
+(5) _An Able Executive._ The Sunday school is like that vision seen by
+the prophet Ezekiel, a system of wheels within wheels, all endowed with
+life; and the master of the mechanism directing its motion is the
+superintendent. Moreover, each of these living wheels in the
+Sunday-school machine is a volunteer worker, who may at any moment drop
+out of his orbit. To hold together these varied elements, to combine
+their movements, to guide each in his own sphere, to compass the common
+purpose through all the forces working as one, requires a wise brain and
+a skillful hand. The superintendent should have a plan for the school,
+with details throughout for every emergency; he should be ready to
+assign to every worker the task for which he is best fitted; he should
+be able to work with others, not merely to command others; and he should
+be a leader whom others will follow, not by the might of an
+overmastering will, but by the magnetism of an attractive personality.
+He should never forget that with others as well as with himself service
+in the Sunday school is not compulsory but voluntary, that his
+associates lay on the altar their free-hearted, unpaid labor; and that
+such workers cannot be commanded, although by tact and wise generalship
+they may be led to accomplish the most difficult tasks.
+
+(6) _Sympathy with Youth._ The superintendent's office will bring him
+into relations with youth during all its stages, from early childhood
+through the entire adolescent period. He must be able to see life and
+the world through the eyes of a little child, of a growing boy, and of a
+young man. The sympathy which he needs is not a compassionate feeling
+_for_ youth, but a feeling _with_ youth, an ability to put himself in
+its place; to feel as young people feel, and to understand why they act
+as they sometimes do. This sympathy will impart a love for young people,
+such a love as will enable him to be patient with their foibles and
+faults, to exert a powerful influence over them, and to keep before them
+noble ideals of character and service.
+
+(7) _Teachable Spirit._ No matter how much the superintendent knows, or
+thinks he knows, he should hold his mind open to new knowledge. He
+should be on the alert for new ideas, from the periodicals, from books,
+and from his fellow workers, in conversation, at conventions and
+institutes; not that he may inflict every new method upon his school,
+but that out of many methods he may select the best. When Michael Angelo
+was past eighty-five years old, and almost blind, he was found one day
+beside an antique torso which had recently been dug out of the ground,
+bending over it, and carefully pressing his fingers upon its surface.
+When asked what he was doing, he answered, "I am learning"! The masters
+in every department of work are never too wise nor too old to learn.
+
+If a man can be found who possesses all these seven traits of character
+and temperament, the school which can secure him for its superintendent
+will be fortunate indeed. And the superintendent who thoughtfully reads
+the catalogue of qualifications, and feels that in some of them he is
+lacking, may by divine grace and his own will working together make
+progress toward the goal of becoming an ideal superintendent.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+THE SUPERINTENDENT'S DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
+
+
+The superintendent has been found, has been chosen, and is in his
+place--what are the prerogatives and the duties of his office? These may
+be considered under three classes: (1) His general duties. (2) His
+duties during the week. (3) His duties in the session of the school.
+
+1. =General.= (1) _Supervision._ It is his right to supervise and direct
+the work of the school without interference as to details from the
+teachers, the officers of the church, or the pastor. The pastor may be
+the admiral of the fleet, directing the general movements of the sea
+campaign; but the superintendent is the captain of the ship, through
+whom orders are to be given to all on board.
+
+(2) _Selection of Teachers._ He should have the chief word in the choice
+and appointment of teachers, but in the choice he should obtain the
+concurrence of his pastor; and their election should be made upon the
+superintendent's nomination by the teachers and officers.
+
+(3) _Assignment of Scholars._ He should possess the final authority in
+the assignment of scholars to classes, in any changes from class to
+class, and in promotions from lower to higher departments. In these
+responsibilities he may be greatly aided by an associate superintendent,
+to whom his authority may be delegated.
+
+(4) _Program of Services._ It is the superintendent's prerogative to
+plan and direct the services of the school session. It may be the part
+of wisdom for him to consult with the musical director or organist in
+the selection of hymns, but it is the superintendent's right to choose
+and to announce them, in common with all parts of the program.
+
+(5) _Support._ He is entitled to a loyal support from all his fellow
+workers; but if he is tactful he will take them into his confidence,
+will present his plans for their consideration, and will not attempt
+important reforms or changes without their concurrence.
+
+2. =Week-day Work.= He is the superintendent of the Sunday school for
+seven days in every week; and will find much work to be done between the
+sessions. His week-day duties will include some that have already been
+mentioned.
+
+(1) _Program._ Before he comes to the school he should invariably
+prepare a well worked out program for each session. It is a good plan to
+have a large blank book, in which two pages opposite each other are
+assigned to the session for the day. Every hymn should be selected in
+advance and noted in its place; every announcement to be made should be
+written; the outline of a lesson review, if one is to be given, should
+be indicated; and space should be left for memoranda of miscellaneous
+matters which may need attention. This program should be laid upon the
+desk, so that if for any reason the superintendent should be out of his
+place upon the platform an associate can go forward without delay.
+
+(2) _Lesson Study._ In schools where the uniform lesson is still
+followed in all or most departments, the superintendent should make
+himself thoroughly acquainted with the lesson for the coming session. As
+has been intimated, he should be prepared for any work expected of his
+teachers and scholars. He should be ready after the class study to give
+a practical summary of the teachings in the lesson, in a crisp,
+well-outlined talk, which will be aided by a blackboard illustration.
+And in the increasing number of schools which are employing graded
+lessons, not uniform in the departments, the superintendent should have
+at least a general knowledge of the subjects studied in each department.
+The more thoroughly the superintendent fills his own mind and heart with
+the truth, the more efficiently will the truth be taught in his school.
+
+(3) _Social Duties._ The superintendent should know all his teachers,
+and, as far as possible, his scholars also. If it be practicable for him
+to visit teachers at their homes, the visitation will greatly increase
+his influence and his usefulness. If in his own home, or in the parlors
+of some family in the congregation, a social gathering of the teachers
+and officers can occasionally be held, it will add to the social power
+of the school. And in the social relations much can be accomplished
+before and after the church service, the school session, the prayer
+meeting, and the other gatherings of the congregation. There are
+superintendents who keep before them up-to-date lists of the classes,
+and by study of faces during the school session, with judicious inquiry,
+are able to call large numbers of the scholars by name. Such greetings
+will strengthen the superintendent and heighten the loyalty of the
+school.
+
+(4) _Seeking Workers._ In nearly all Sunday schools there is a constant
+need of helpers, to fill the places of withdrawing or absent teachers;
+and the work of supplying the demand generally falls upon the
+superintendent. He may find relief in the work of an associate
+superintendent, as will be seen in the next chapter. Both the
+superintendent and his associate should always be on the alert for new
+teachers and for new scholars. As the builder in stone looks at every
+fragment of rock, to see where it will best fit into his wall, so the
+whole-hearted superintendent studies every individual in the parish, to
+find exactly the place he may fill in the school, as an officer, a
+teacher, or a scholar; and not infrequently his search will be rewarded
+by a treasure.
+
+(5) _Cabinet Meetings._ The superintendent should confer frequently with
+the several heads of departments, and with all the officers; talking
+with them freely about his own plans, and learning theirs, for the
+welfare of the school. It is not necessary that these cabinet meetings
+should be formal, having a secretary and a record. They may be held
+occasionally, for a few minutes after the session of the school, or as a
+social evening at a private house.
+
+(6) _Special Days._ He should keep a calendar of special occasions in
+the school year, such as the Sundays set apart for temperance and for
+missions, Easter, Children's Day, Rally Day, Decision Day, Christmas,
+Promotion Day, and other notable events. Weeks in advance of each
+occasion--in the case of some of them even months in advance--he should
+begin to consider what special exercises should be held, what
+preparation is needed, and who can best supervise the plans. For a
+fortnight before Children's Day or the Christmas celebration, many
+Sunday schools are in a turmoil of confusion, and lessons abandoned,
+simply because the superintendent did not take thought in sufficient
+time.
+
+(7) _The Convention._ The Sunday-school work of the Christian world is
+now thoroughly organized in international, state, county, and town
+associations. Each school finds itself a part in a mighty movement; and
+it is the duty of the superintendent to see that his school takes its
+place in the Sunday-school army. He should see that in the institute and
+the convention his school is well represented; and if at all possible he
+should attend these gatherings, and be active in them. Many a worker who
+for most of the year is alone, burdened with perplexities, has been
+refreshed, has found his vision enlarged and his plans improved, by
+conference with other workers, and by listening to experienced
+specialists.
+
+3. =His Duties in the School Session.= (1) _Present Early._ He should be
+at his post, if possible, from twenty minutes to half an hour before the
+opening of the school. However early he may arrive, he will probably
+find a group of children there in advance of him; and they will behave
+better if his eye is on them, especially if his glance is kind, and with
+it is a hand-shake or a word of recognition. The early superintendent
+will often be surprised to find how much business in the interest of
+the school can be transacted before the session.
+
+(2) _Open Promptly._ With his program ready, he should begin the session
+exactly on the minute, and should carry out every item according to the
+plan. If for any reason the superintendent is not at the desk when the
+moment for the opening arrives, the associate or first department
+superintendent should be empowered to call the school to order and begin
+the opening service.
+
+(3) _Conduct Program._ The superintendent should conduct the general
+program of services; although it is advisable to recognize the associate
+and others, by calling upon them to take some part in the opening or
+closing services. A superintendent whose methods were always well chosen
+was wont once in each month to invite some official or prominent member
+of the church, who was not an attendant upon the school, to be present,
+sit upon the platform, and offer the prayer at the opening of the
+session. This kept the leading members of the church in closer relation
+to the school.
+
+(4) _During the Lesson._ As a general principle, the superintendent
+should remain at his desk during the lesson period; but to this rule
+frequent exceptions will be made. The supply of substitutes for absent
+teachers, and the assignment of new scholars to classes, belong to the
+field of the associate superintendent.
+
+(5) _Lesson Review._ In the Sunday schools which still follow the
+uniform system of lessons, studying the same portion of Scripture in
+all, or nearly all, the grades of the school, the superintendent should
+give a brief practical summing up of the practical points in the lesson;
+but this review should not exceed five or six minutes in length. If the
+pastor possesses the gift of terse, crisp speaking, this practical talk
+may be given by him. In the schools adopting the graded courses of
+lessons this review should be given in each department by the department
+superintendent. Here again the adaptation to the point of view and needs
+of the pupils of each grade can be made much more effective than in the
+ungraded school.
+
+(6) _Closing._ The superintendent should so carry out the program as to
+close the session at the time appointed. An hour and a quarter is as
+long as is profitable for the school; and everything that needs to be
+done can be brought into that space. Often much time is lost by
+unnecessary delays between the numbers on the program.
+
+4. =Miscellaneous Duties.= Here are a few general suggestions, hints,
+and "don'ts" for the superintendent, briefly stated:
+
+(1) _Notebook._ Let the superintendent remember to obtain that notebook,
+to keep it at hand, and to make use of it. Some pages at the end of the
+book might be reserved for special suggestions gathered from books,
+periodicals, and meetings.
+
+(2) _Quiet._ Let him be careful not to make much noise during the
+session, but to set an example--which will soon be felt--in favor of
+quiet and orderly conduct. It is not at all certain that he needs a bell
+for calling attention; but if he uses one, let it be a little, gentle,
+quiet bell, held in the hand as a signal, and never rung vociferously
+or repeatedly. Said a new superintendent as he tested the bell on
+Saturday before assuming office, "What a magnificent bell this would be
+for calling missionaries home from India!" But he never used it in the
+school. One of the best superintendents of a generation ago was widely
+known as "the silent superintendent." He was not deaf nor dumb, but his
+manner was noticeably quiet, and his large Sunday school was always in
+perfect order.
+
+(3) _Early Lesson._ Let the opening service be short, so that the lesson
+period--which is the important part of the program--may be reached while
+the teachers and scholars are fresh and the air of the room is pure.
+
+(4) _Use the Bible._ If a Scripture lesson is read by the superintendent
+and school responsively, it should be from the Bible upon the desk or in
+the hand of the leader, and not from a lesson quarterly. Encourage the
+use of the Bible as a text-book and for reference. If the superintendent
+always brings his own Bible, he can appeal to his teachers and scholars
+to follow his example. With regard to the Scripture reading in the
+opening service, it is the judgment of many thoughtful superintendents
+that even in a school following uniform lessons the reading should not
+be the lesson for the day, but a devotional portion of Scripture,
+perhaps a selection from the Home Readings of the week. It is a good
+plan for the first reading of the lesson for the day to be by the
+teacher and the class together.
+
+(5) _Lesson Period._ No interruption should be allowed to break into the
+time assigned for class study, except under imperative necessity. The
+teacher and the class should hold that period sacred to united study,
+without being diverted from their task by secretary, librarian,
+superintendent, or pastor. Said Bishop Vincent once, "I would like to
+have suspended from the roof of the Sunday-school hall a series of great
+glass half-globes, one for each class, to be dropped down over the
+class, and kept there during the time reserved for the study of the
+lesson!"
+
+(6) _Speakers._ A visitor should rarely be invited or allowed to address
+the school; never, unless the superintendent has sufficient knowledge to
+be sure that he will speak briefly, interestingly, and pointedly. Before
+the uniform lesson concentrated the studies of the Sunday school it was
+the custom to invite almost any visitor to speak to the school; and many
+were the wrongs inflicted upon the boys and girls in those good old days
+by dull, loquacious Sunday-school orators. But almost everybody now
+understands that the Sunday school is a working institution, and its
+work must not be interrupted.
+
+(7) _Self-control._ There will be times when the superintendent will
+need to be on guard over himself; times when he feels depressed, or
+melancholy, perhaps a little cross. If he yields to his natural
+impulses, the school will soon perceive the state of his nerves, and
+some scholars may even endeavor to add to his trials. At such times, let
+him watch over himself mightily, and resolve, no matter how he feels, to
+"keep sweet," to speak gently, and to look cheerful.
+
+(8) _The Aim._ Lastly, one purpose should ever stand before the
+superintendent, and should be the constant object of his endeavor--to
+lead all his scholars into a personal, vital relation to Jesus as the
+Christ, to bring them into union with the church, and to inspire them to
+enter upon active Christian service.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE ASSOCIATE AND DEPARTMENT SUPERINTENDENTS
+
+
+1. =The Necessity.= In every Sunday school there is need of an officer
+to aid the superintendent and to take his place when absent. Even in a
+small school the supervision can be more thorough and the teaching more
+efficient, if some one is at hand with authority to relieve the
+superintendent of minor details, and give him freedom for the general
+management. And in a large school assistants to the superintendent are
+an absolute necessity, for each department becomes in itself a school.
+There is need, therefore, of a general assistant to be the chief of
+staff to the superintendent, and, in a large and well-organized school,
+of a special assistant in each department.
+
+2. =Titles.= Until recently, the assistant superintendent in most Sunday
+schools was merely one of the teachers named to take the place of the
+superintendent when absent, but with no duties when the head of the
+school was present. In the complete organization that is now becoming
+general, the office has been renamed, and its functions distinctly
+assigned. The chief assistant to the superintendent is now generally
+called the Associate Superintendent, a higher title for his important
+and regular duties. The chief of each department in the Sunday school is
+generally called Department Superintendent, that is, Primary Department
+Superintendent, Senior Department Superintendent; and each department
+superintendent has the same relation to his department that the
+associate superintendent holds to the school.
+
+3. =Appointment.= The associate superintendent should be nominated by
+the superintendent and confirmed by the board of teachers and officers.
+When two candidates are nominated for the office of superintendent, and
+one obtains a majority, it is not wise to elect the minority candidate
+as associate superintendent, unless he is entirely acceptable to the
+newly chosen superintendent. The chief executive of the school should
+not be compelled to find next to him a rival, who may be an uncongenial
+worker, to carry out plans with which the latter may not be in accord.
+In order to possess freedom in his policy the superintendent should
+choose his own chief helper; but he should receive the confirmation of
+his choice from his fellow workers in the school. The same plan of
+nomination and confirmation should be followed in the choice of the
+department superintendents. The associate and the department
+superintendents should constitute the superintendent's cabinet, to be
+called together often for consultation upon the interests of the school.
+
+4. =Duties of the Associate Superintendent.= (1) _Not a Teacher._ Unless
+the school be small, with less than a hundred members, the associate
+superintendent should not at the same time be the regular teacher of a
+class. He will find other work to occupy his time, both before and
+during the session of the school. He may, however, hold himself ready to
+act as substitute for an absent teacher.
+
+(2) _Deputy Superintendent._ If for any reason the superintendent is
+absent, his place should be taken promptly by the associate
+superintendent. It should also be understood that if at the moment of
+opening the school, or at any point in the general service, the
+superintendent is not on the platform, the associate shall act as his
+representative, without the slightest reflection upon the
+superintendent's administration, the two being regarded in their work as
+one.
+
+(3) _Providing Substitutes._ One definite duty of the associate
+superintendent should be to provide substitutes for absent teachers,
+relieving entirely the superintendent from that burdensome and
+perplexing task. The teachers should permit no ordinary hindrance to
+keep them from their classes, for no one can fully supply the place of a
+true teacher in the regard of the scholars. But when a teacher finds it
+necessary to be absent he should make strenuous endeavor to find a
+substitute; and if unable to secure one, should notify, not the
+superintendent, but the associate; and before the lesson period the
+associate should have a supply ready.
+
+If the school has been properly graded it will include a
+Teacher-training Class; but under no circumstances should the associate
+take one of its members as a supply teacher, even for one Sunday. This
+class should remain untouched by the demand for teachers until its
+members have completed the prescribed course. If there is a Reserve
+Class, substitutes should be called from it in some order, preferably
+alphabetical, so that the same members will not be taken too
+frequently.
+
+Where the Sunday school is held in the afternoon or at noon, the
+associate can generally provide for needy classes by watching at the
+morning service for possible teachers. If he is compelled to look for
+them in the Adult or Senior classes of the school, he should be present
+early, and if possible obtain his supplies before the opening of the
+school. If the associate superintendent has done his work, when the
+lesson begins, every class will have a teacher seated before it, ready
+for the Bible study. He should never wait until the time for opening the
+lesson to see what classes need teachers, and then undertake to obtain
+them by interrupting the teaching in three or four classes and calling
+for volunteers, while the classes without teachers are listlessly
+waiting, and valuable time is lost from the half-hour of the lesson
+period. All this work should be done before the lesson, and, if
+possible, before the opening of the school.
+
+(4) _Assignment of New Scholars._ Another duty of the associate
+superintendent is to meet new scholars and assign them to classes. For
+this work he should be present early, meet the scholars as they come,
+learn who the new scholars are, write down names, places of residence,
+ages, parents' names, why they come; and prepare material for the card
+catalogue under the secretary's care. Scholars bringing new members, and
+teachers into whose classes they may come, should introduce them to the
+associate superintendent, who should at once take charge of them. No new
+scholar below the grade of Senior should choose his own class, although
+his desire to be with friends should be considered, so far as it will
+not interfere with the established system of classification. Some large
+graded schools have a temporary class to which new pupils in the
+Intermediate and Junior grades are assigned for a few sessions until
+their permanent place can be fixed.
+
+(5) _Detailed Supervision._ There are also minor duties wherein the
+associate superintendent can be of great service. While the
+superintendent is at the desk directing the general exercises, his
+associate may be upon the floor, quietly observing the condition and
+needs of the school. He can note where Bibles, song books, or lesson
+quarterlies are needed, and can see that they are distributed without
+interrupting the service. He can also give quiet attention to the order
+of the school, calling to their duty boisterous, talking, or inattentive
+scholars. For the superintendent to stop in announcing a hymn or reading
+the Scripture, to rebuke some disorderly or thoughtless pupil, breaks
+into the service and mars its dignity. The associate superintendent can
+accomplish the desired result at the right moment by a light step and a
+gentle word.
+
+(6) _Chief of Staff._ In a word, the associate superintendent should be
+the chief of staff to the executive head of the school, his eyes, ears,
+and hand; possessing full acquaintance and accord with his plans, and
+carrying them out in his name; informing and advising him, yet careful
+of criticism; avoiding all that would hinder, and aiding in all that
+would make his management successful. He can divide the labor, and
+relieve his chief of some of the most perplexing and trying details,
+leaving him free to watch over the general interests of the school.
+Whoever can fulfill such a service is an invaluable worker, and should
+be held in high honor.
+
+Many of the duties named above may be in the sphere of the department
+superintendent, who should be in his section what the associate
+superintendent is to the school.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+THE SECRETARY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+
+1. =Importance.= The secretary of the Sunday school is an officer of far
+greater importance than is generally supposed. In too many schools some
+youth in the adolescent period is made secretary, merely to keep him in
+the school, without consideration of his capacity and adaptedness to the
+office. As a result of an unsuitable appointment, the minutes of the
+teachers' meetings are incomplete, the registry of the classes is
+neglected, and the true condition of the school cannot be ascertained.
+If by any good fortune or by a more careful choice an able and faithful
+secretary takes his place, at once a new impulse is felt by the school.
+The superintendent, the teachers, and even the scholars will realize
+that energy, accuracy, and thoroughness count for much in the work of
+this department. They will appreciate faithful service, and will
+themselves respond to its influence.
+
+2. =Qualifications.= The ideal secretary of a Sunday school should
+possess the following characteristics:
+
+(1) _A Business Man._ He should possess the instincts of a man of
+business, being willing to work, systematic in method, and thorough in
+care of details.
+
+(2) _Regular in Attendance._ He should make the Sunday school his
+business on Sunday, with a fidelity equal to that which he manifests
+toward his vocation through the week. His regularity should also
+embrace promptness, coming in advance of the hour; for much of the
+secretary's work may be done before the opening of the service.
+
+(3) _Good Writer._ He should be able to write legibly, and possess skill
+in framing sentences correctly, and in writing them plainly, without
+unnecessary flourishes.
+
+(4) _Quick Mental Action._ His mental processes should be sufficiently
+rapid for him to set down an ordinary motion, presented in a public
+meeting, without requiring it to be repeated or written out by the
+mover. An able recorder will promptly express in the minutes the form of
+a motion or the spirit of a speech, thereby saving much time in the
+meeting and much space in the report.
+
+(5) _Quiet Manner._ The secretary should watch the program and do his
+work without interrupting it. He should never appear among the classes
+during prayer, during the reading of Scripture, or while a speaker is
+addressing the school. Only under urgent necessity should he come to a
+class in the lesson period, and in that case only at its beginning.
+During intervals in the service, or during the singing, he may find it
+needful at times to pass among the classes; but he should do this
+necessary work quietly, without distracting the attention of the school.
+
+(6) _Courteous Conduct._ His bearing should always be that of a
+gentleman, refined and courteous, thoughtful of others and patient
+toward all; a manner enabling him to win the friendly aid of every
+teacher, upon whom the accuracy of the class record must depend.
+
+Whoever can be found, in the school or the community, possessing these
+qualities, or approaching them, should be chosen as secretary of the
+Sunday school, whether man or woman. Often a young woman, accustomed
+through the week to business methods, becomes an efficient secretary of
+the Sunday school.
+
+3. =Appointment.= The secretary should be elected by the board of
+officers and teachers. As he is not merely an assistant to the
+superintendent, but an officer of the school, it is not necessary that
+he should receive a nomination from the superintendent. His term of
+office should be one year, with as many reëlections as will promote the
+good of the service.
+
+4. =Assistants.= In almost any school the secretary will need an
+assistant, whom he should nominate, subject to confirmation by the board
+of teachers and officers.
+
+5. =Department Secretaries.= In a graded Sunday school there should be
+an assistant secretary for each department, who may be one of the
+teachers, or in the Senior and Adult grades, one of the scholars. He
+should take the records of the classes in the department and transmit
+them to the secretary of the school. But the secretary is responsible
+for the records of the entire school, and should see personally that the
+record of each department is complete.
+
+6. =Duties.= The work of the secretary may be classified as follows:
+
+(1) _Record of Meetings._ As secretary of the board of teachers and
+officers, he should be present at all business meetings and make a
+careful record. Every motion should be stated clearly, with the names
+of its mover and its seconder, and the action taken. A statement should
+be given of every committee appointed, its purpose, and the names of its
+members. All committees should be expected to present written reports,
+however brief. A concise summary of each report, in a few sentences, or
+a single clause, should appear in the minutes of the meeting at which
+the report is presented; and the report itself should be filed for
+reference in case it should be needed. A committee once named is on the
+minutes, and cannot be ignored nor forgotten until its report has been
+presented and adopted, and the committee has been formally discharged.
+For example, it is not sufficient for the committee on the Christmas
+entertainment to hold the entertainment; it must afterward report that
+the entertainment was held on a certain date; must have its report
+adopted, and receive its discharge. It should be the duty of the
+secretary from time to time to call for reports of committees named in
+the minutes of previous meetings, to insist that a report be rendered,
+and that some action be taken upon it.
+
+(2) _Record of the School._ In every well-ordered Sunday school the
+secretary summarizes in writing the attendance in each department, the
+total attendance, the number of new scholars, and other items to be
+preserved, including the weather, which may sometimes account for a
+small attendance; also a comparison with the record of the same Sunday
+last year. This report should be read to the school by the secretary at
+the call of the superintendent, or posted before the school; and it
+should also be recorded in a book which will contain the statistics of
+the school through a term of years.
+
+(3) _Records of Classes._ The secretary and his assistants should
+prepare the books in which the class record of attendance is recorded.
+The name of each scholar should be given correctly and fully (for
+example, not "F. Jones," but "Frederick Jones"). The secretary should
+see that the record of attendance for each Sunday is accurately kept. He
+will need to give special attention to classes where substitutes take
+the place of absent teachers, and to see that the record for the day is
+not neglected. As often as the arrangement of the class books requires
+the rewriting of the names of the scholars, he should transcribe the
+list, always writing every name in full. In looking through the class
+lists he should note the names of those who have been absent for a
+series of sessions, and should report them to the superintendent, for
+consideration and for investigation of every habitual absentee. If these
+scholars can be visited, many of them may be retained in the school.
+
+(4) _Records of Scholars._ In addition to the record in the class books,
+another record should be kept of every member of the school, including
+every officer, teacher, and scholar; a card catalogue, each name upon a
+separate card, and all the cards filed in alphabetical order. The card
+for each scholar should give besides his name the date of his entrance
+to the school, either the date of his birth or his age at
+entering--approximative, if above eighteen years; his residence, with
+street and number in a city; parents' names; class to which he is
+assigned; his relation to the church or congregation, and any other
+important facts. The card should contain the record of every promotion,
+and its date; of any changes in residence, and other details, so that it
+becomes a reliable and complete history of each individual in the
+school. In many schools the birthday of each member is kept upon the
+record, and is recognized by sending a birthday card. If a scholar or
+teacher leaves the school the fact is recorded, and the card is then
+taken from the regular catalogue and filed permanently in the list of
+"former members."
+
+(5) _Literature of the School._ The secretary should be in charge of the
+literature used by the school, its text-books, lesson-quarterlies, and
+other periodicals. He should see that the literature is ordered in full
+time, should receive it, keep it in his care, and attend to its
+distribution. The particular text-book for each grade is fixed by the
+superintendent; and the secretary should receive from him direction as
+to the lesson helps for each grade.
+
+(6) _Correspondence._ The secretary should conduct all correspondence in
+behalf of the school or of the teachers as a body, unless for a special
+purpose the chairman of a committee be in charge of correspondence
+relating to his work.
+
+The secretary who with the aid of his staff undertakes to do all the
+work that rises before him will not find his task a light one. But his
+department carried on with vigor will greatly promote the success of the
+Sunday school.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+THE TREASURY AND THE TREASURER
+
+
+1. =In the Early Sunday School.= A study of origins has shown that in
+the earliest Sunday schools in America, as in England, provision was
+made for the payment of officers and teachers. In the first schools
+established in and near Philadelphia, each paid teacher had charge of
+what would now be considered a department, and the practical teaching
+was given under his direction by scholars, who were called monitors. But
+in a new country, where the settlements were small and the people mostly
+poor, the system of paid teachers soon passed away, and the schools were
+carried on by voluntary and unpaid workers. It was fortunate for the
+American Sunday school that in its beginnings it required but little
+money. For the place of meeting any chapel or schoolhouse or settler's
+cabin would serve. The literature was exceedingly meager--a few
+Testaments and spelling books, and generally these were brought by the
+teachers and scholars. When the earliest lesson books were published,
+they were not quarterlies, nor annuals, to be thrown away after one
+using, but were studied year after year. The largest item of expense was
+the library; and as this was an institution for the entire neighborhood,
+the families willingly contributed toward it. Not until the Sunday
+school had become thoroughly founded did the question of its financial
+support arise as a problem.
+
+2. =In the Modern Sunday School.= As the Sunday school advanced in
+position, in influence, and in better methods of work, its expenses
+naturally increased. Now, in the opening of its second century, its
+financial requirements are far greater than they were even a generation
+ago. It asks for special and suitable buildings, with rooms and
+furnishings adapted to the educational needs of its several departments;
+for a periodical literature suited to teachers and scholars of every
+grade, and requiring to be renewed every year; for an organ or
+piano--often for several, with an orchestra added; for an equipment of
+song books different from those in the church service; for
+entertainments and gifts at Christmas, and a day's outing for all in the
+summer; for libraries containing popular books for the scholars and
+helpful works for the teachers in their work. The demands of a large and
+growing Sunday school, in city or country, are great, but in nearly all
+congregations the funds for the support of the Sunday school are
+obtained with less effort than those for any other department of church
+activity, and in this liberality the Christian people show their wisdom
+and insight.
+
+3. =Practical Ways and Means.= The methods of financial support for the
+Sunday school are exceedingly varied. The simplest plan is through a
+regular weekly contribution in the classes. Where attention is given to
+the collection, and an appeal is occasionally made in its behalf, the
+school will generally obtain the funds needed for its own support. When
+the special need arises for the purchase of a piano or a library, some
+entertainment may be held which will by its profits swell the receipts.
+The objection to these methods, which are almost universal, is that they
+appeal to self-interest, and fail to educate the members of the school
+in true liberality. It is for _our_ school, _our_ piano, _our_ library,
+that the appeal is made and the money is contributed. The scholars
+should be taught to give to the cause of Christ and his gospel, and not
+merely to interests from which they themselves are to receive a reward.
+
+4. =The Ideal Way of Giving.= The more excellent way is for the church
+in its annual estimate of expenses to include a fair, even liberal,
+allowance for the Sunday school, and at intervals through the year pass
+over to the treasury of the Sunday school the funds appropriated, to be
+expended according to principles and regulations provided. Then let
+every officer, teacher, and pupil in the school, from the Adult
+Department to the Primary, and even to the Beginners, make his own
+weekly offering to the church. Most church schools contribute to the
+cause of foreign missions; but there is equal reason why they should
+give to all the general benevolent objects for which the church receives
+an annual collection. This plan would unite the church and the school
+more firmly, would avoid multiplying and conflicting objects for which
+funds are raised, and, best of all, would train every child in the
+Sunday school to systematic giving upon the true gospel principle, which
+is "not to be ministered unto, but to minister."
+
+5. =The Sunday-School Treasurer.= The work of the treasurer is very
+different from that of the secretary; yet the two offices are often held
+by one person. In that case they should be regarded as distinct
+positions; the election to the two offices should be separate, and not
+at the same time for one person as secretary and treasurer. At every
+business meeting a separate report should be presented for the two
+departments, and the treasurership should not be regarded as a branch of
+the secretary's work. If the plan outlined in the last paragraph be
+adopted as the method of providing for the financial needs of the Sunday
+school, it might be well to choose the treasurer of the church as
+treasurer of the Sunday school, thus giving unity to the financial
+administration of the entire organization.
+
+6. =The Treasurer's Work.= This will require a person who is known as
+careful in accounts, as well as honorable in all his dealings.
+
+(1) _His Charge._ All the funds of the Sunday school should pass through
+his hands. If money is raised for any purpose, or a money-making
+entertainment is held, the treasurer should take charge of the receipts
+and pay the bills. For this purpose he should be ex officio a member of
+all committees required to receive and disburse funds.
+
+(2) _Bank Account._ Except in small and remote places, the treasurer
+will find it desirable to keep an account with a bank in behalf of the
+school, and deposit therein all moneys received. Under no circumstances
+should he deposit Sunday-school funds as a part of his own private
+account, but should keep separate accounts as an individual and as
+treasurer.
+
+(3) _Reports and Vouchers._ At each meeting of the governing board of
+the school he should present a statement of the condition of the
+treasury, with exact mention of all moneys received and paid since the
+last meeting; and for every payment he should show a receipt or voucher,
+and on it the "O. K." or approval of some qualified person who knows
+that it is correct.
+
+(4) _Bills._ He should receive all bills against the school, and should
+inform himself concerning them, in order to be able to answer any
+questions raised by members of the board. He should present at the
+meeting a statement of all the unpaid bills on hand, with a forecast of
+bills expected, and obtain a vote of the board upon each bill that is to
+be paid.
+
+(5) _Checks._ It is desirable to pay bills as far as possible with
+checks, as the check will often serve as a receipt; and the receipted
+bills should be filed together for reference.
+
+(6) _Audits._ An Auditing Committee should be appointed, to examine the
+accounts of the school from time to time, and always when the treasurer
+completes his term, alike whether he is reëlected or gives place to a
+successor. This committee should either present a written report, or
+should sign their names to the treasurer's report, with the indorsement,
+"Audited and found correct."
+
+Most of the above recommendations, perhaps all of them, state the
+methods that would be followed by any intelligent, businesslike
+treasurer. But in the continent-wide area of the Sunday school, of
+necessity, not all treasurers are intelligent or experienced in business
+methods; and there are doubtless many who may profit by these
+suggestions.
+
+(7) _Study of Benevolent Interests._ One of the most important duties of
+a treasurer in a modern Sunday school is to study the different
+charitable objects that present themselves to the school, decide upon
+their merits, and then present them understandingly to the members of
+the school, with a view to eliciting their interest and training them in
+the spirit and habit of intelligent giving. This important task raises
+the treasurership out of mere mechanical service, and constitutes it one
+of the directing forces in the school.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+VALUE OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL LIBRARY
+
+
+1. =The Library of the Past.= Until quite recent times the Sunday-school
+library was understood to be a collection of books, mainly of an
+entertaining character, kept in the school, distributed at its sessions,
+and read by the scholars, for enjoyment rather than for instruction.
+Such a library was regarded as an essential of the Sunday school.
+However small or however poor the school, it must have a library. Books
+were scarce, and desirable books were high in price. There were no free
+public libraries, and few circulating libraries. The library was
+regarded as the principal attraction of the school, and it drew the
+scholars. Many children attended two Sunday schools in order to obtain
+each week two library books. The books were read by all the family; and
+in many homes the Sunday-school library furnished most of the reading
+matter. The literature may not have been of the highest grade, but, with
+all its defects, the Sunday-school library of the past was a useful and
+valuable institution.
+
+2. =Its Decline in the Present.= In recent times, and especially in
+well-settled and cultured communities, the Sunday-school library has
+lost much of its importance. Very many schools have closed their
+libraries; and in the schools continuing their use only a small
+proportion of the scholars obtain books. Inquiry has shown that in
+cities and suburban towns a school of two hundred members will include
+not more than thirty who make use of the library. When the library is
+closed scarcely any complaints from the scholars are heard; nor is the
+closing of the library followed by a loss of scholars. Publishing houses
+which formerly issued fifty new books each year, especially for
+Sunday-school libraries, have entirely abandoned this branch of
+business. It cannot be maintained that the Sunday-school library for the
+entertainment of the scholars now holds a prominent place, or is a
+factor of success, in the best American Sunday schools.
+
+3. =Causes of Decline.= It is not difficult to find reasons for this
+present lack of interest in the Sunday-school library. Books are now far
+more abundant than they were formerly. They are sold cheaply, and are to
+be found in almost every home. The periodical literature in circulation
+to-day is apparently a hundredfold greater than it was two generations
+ago. Every city and almost every town has its public library. Many
+schools are furnished with free libraries. Readers can scarcely find
+time for the books and magazines that are open to them. Moreover, the
+Sunday school now stands in such recognized honor and power that it no
+longer needs the old-time library as a bait for scholars. The library
+for mere recreation does not readily fit into the general scheme of
+education in the modern Sunday school. Then, too, the educational work
+of the school demands such an outfit of books and periodicals, renewed
+each year, that the additional expense of the library is a heavy burden.
+Sharp criticism is passed upon the quality of the books in most
+Sunday-school libraries, as being almost wholly stories, and stories of
+a cheap and commonplace character, many of them absolutely injurious.
+The conducting of the library is often found to interfere with the order
+and work of the school. These are among the causes which have led to
+disuse of the library in many Sunday schools.
+
+4. =The Uses of a Good Library.= Notwithstanding the objections to the
+Sunday-school library, its neglect by many scholars, and its abolition
+in many schools, the fact remains that the majority of Sunday schools
+still retain the library, and claim that it is needed. There are even
+places where the Sunday-school library holds its own constituency in
+competition with the town library; and in small villages the Sunday
+school supplies most of the books in circulation. The principal claims
+made in behalf of such a library are the following:
+
+(1) _Family Needs._ Every family needs good reading matter. The books
+that interest the young generally interest the old also. People who
+would be at a loss to select a book from the shelves of a public library
+will read the book brought to them from the Sunday-school library. The
+reading of the library-book fills leisure time on Sunday afternoons and
+on long winter evenings.
+
+(2) _Moral Influence._ While most Sunday-school books as literature are
+open to criticism, yet in the realm of ethics they generally present
+high ideals. The characters depicted in them may not be symmetrical, but
+on the whole they are earnest and upright. Youth admires heroism; and
+the personalities portrayed in popular Sunday-school books are
+generally heroic, even though they may be unduly emotional. The boys who
+are picked up by the police in railroad centers, armed for fighting
+Indians or robbing trains, generally carry an assortment of cheap
+novels, but they are not from Sunday-school libraries. If the criterion
+be ethics and not literature, most Sunday-school books will stand the
+test.
+
+(3) _Aid to the School._ As has been already suggested, the original aim
+of the library was to attract scholars to the school. In many places
+this influence is no longer needed; but there still remain communities
+where scholars are obtained and families are interested by means of the
+library. And it is an open question whether if the library had advanced
+step by step with the other departments of the school, if the same
+attention had been given to the supply and management of the library as
+has been given to the educational work, if the right books had been kept
+upon its shelves, and advanced methods had been sought in their
+distribution, the library of the Sunday school might not still be a
+vigorous and successful institution.
+
+5. =Principles of Selection.= If the governing board of the school
+decides that a library for general reading by the scholars is desirable,
+the question at once arises as to what principles shall determine the
+selection of books. A few of these principles may be stated:
+
+(1) _Variety._ The library should represent more than one department of
+literature. So general is the taste for stories that the tendency will
+be inevitable to overload the library with works of fiction. Therefore
+special care should be given to include in it the lives of great and
+good men--heroes, statesmen, explorers, leaders of the church, and
+missionaries. All of these present life on its romantic side, and may be
+found written in an entertaining manner. Upon the shelves should also be
+placed history and science--not in many-volumed treatises for scholars,
+but in popular books for young people. In fact, there are few
+departments of a good public library which may not properly be included
+in the library of the Sunday school, especially in places where the
+school is expected to supply the reading matter for the community.
+
+(2) _Popularity._ Merely to place books on the shelves of a
+Sunday-school library will not insure the reading of them. This library
+aims to be emphatically a circulating library. Its books are not for
+show, but for use; and their place to be seen is not on the shelves of
+the library-room, but in the homes of the scholars and teachers. It is
+absolutely essential that no book be placed in the library unless it is
+sufficiently interesting to be taken out and read, for an unread book is
+worse than useless in the Sunday-school library. Although its principles
+be as sound as the Ten Commandments, if it be dull it must be condemned.
+Students may be willing to plod through an uninteresting book because it
+is profitable, but ordinary readers, especially youthful readers, will
+turn from it. Books should not be purchased because they are good, or
+because they are cheap; nor, on the other hand, should they be chosen
+only because they are popular; yet an interesting, popular quality
+should be an absolute requirement in every book placed upon the library
+shelves.
+
+(3) _Literary Quality._ Books are influential teachers, and a style like
+that of Hawthorne or Eliot will unconsciously mold the language of those
+who read it. On the other hand, the habitual readers of the slang in the
+comic paragraph of the newspaper will talk in a careless and inelegant
+manner. Of course, all books should be excluded from the library which
+deal in low, profane, or immoral language, without regarding the
+specious plea that such describe life as it is. We do not need to learn
+the language of the slums to know life; and, as one writer has said, we
+do not want a realism that can be touched only with a pair of tongs. The
+best pirate story in the English language is one that is without an oath
+from cover to cover,[10] and we would not exclude it from the
+Sunday-school library. Let us seek for writers whose expression is
+direct, smooth, and cultured. The Sunday school in its literature as
+well as its teaching should lead upward toward refinement of taste.
+
+(4) _Moral Teaching._ The ethical standard of every book in the
+Sunday-school library should be of the highest. Not that every paragraph
+should end with the application like the _Hæc fabula docet_ of Æsop's
+fables, or that the characters in a story should be of a "goody-goody"
+kind, or that none but good people should appear upon the page. There
+must be some shadows in the perspective that the light may stand in
+contrast. But in no case should wrong, or sin, or the doubtful
+moralities of modern society be made attractive. Moral problem stories,
+in which the boundary lines of right and wrong conduct are crossed and
+re-crossed until right seems wrong, and wrong seems right, should have
+no place. "Should love stories be admitted?" Not if the element of love
+enters as the dominant thought of the book. A story should not be
+forbidden because there is a pair of lovers in it; but it should not be
+accepted if the book shows no higher motive than to set forth their
+passion. Books should be sought that will inculcate a noble manliness
+for young men and a noble womanliness for young women, and there are
+such books in numbers sufficient to fill the library shelves.
+
+(5) _Christian Spirit._ It is not required that every book should set
+forth and illustrate a spiritual experience. It may be religious without
+preaching religion. But the morals it inculcates should be founded upon
+the gospels and inspired by faith. It should be reverent in its
+treatment of the Bible, of the church, and of the ministry. A book or a
+story designed to weaken belief in the Scriptures as records of the
+divine will, or holding the church up to scorn, or showing a minister as
+its villain, should be kept out of the Sunday-school library. Criticism
+or discussion of the Bible, of the church, and of the ministry has its
+place, but its place is not in the Sunday school. The Sunday school is
+distinctively a religious and a Christian institution, and the
+atmosphere of the Christian religion should pervade its library.
+
+6. =The Coming Sunday-School Library.= Another library of a higher type
+than that designed for the reading and recreation of the scholars is now
+arising to notice in many advanced Sunday schools, and is destined to
+become the Sunday-school library of the future, either supplementing the
+library of the past or taking its place. It is the library which is to
+the Sunday school what the college library is to the college, a workshop
+equipped with tools for the use of the teacher and the scholar. It will
+be at once a reference library, containing the best Bible dictionaries,
+cyclopedias, expository works, and gospel harmonies, open at certain
+times for the use of students; and also a lending library of books upon
+the Bible, upon the Sunday school, upon teaching, upon religion, upon
+character, and upon the varied forms of social service which are now
+calling for workers, and will call yet more imperatively in the coming
+years. The books for this library must be chosen with wisdom; for they
+should represent the results of the best scholarship, yet be expressed
+in language that the nonprofessional reader can understand; and many of
+them must be for the scholars, who are of all ages and all degrees of
+intelligence. Those of the Primary Department should be able to find in
+such a library the stories of the Bible told in such a fascinating
+manner that a child too young to read them may listen to them with
+interest, and picture-books illustrating the events, the people, the
+dress, and the landscape of the Bible. It should be planned to meet the
+needs of every grade in the Sunday school, and to aid every teacher and
+every scholar; and when established it should be made effective in the
+educational work of the school. Just as in the secular school and the
+college students are sent to the library with directions as to the books
+they will need, so in the Sunday school teachers will be able to counsel
+their scholars and to give them week-day work, so that the teaching will
+be more than the talk of the teacher; it will embrace the results of
+searching on the part of the scholar. Under the system of uniform
+lessons the use of such a library was well-nigh impracticable, because
+every class would need the same books at one time. But the uniform
+lessons are being rapidly displaced by the graded system, giving to each
+grade its own series of lessons; and this method, requiring different
+books for each age in the school, will open the way for reference work
+and study in the library. The time is at hand when such a working
+library will become a necessity in every well-organized school.
+
+7. =The Public Library and the Sunday School.= It would seem that
+wherever the public library is free, available, and well conducted some
+arrangement might be effected whereby the Sunday-school libraries could
+be united with the public library. This would lessen expense and
+difficulty in management, would avoid the unnecessary reduplication of
+copies of the same books, and would give to the scholars at once a wider
+selection and the advantage of the open shelf. In more than one town
+this has been accomplished. The Sunday schools have transferred all
+their libraries to the public library, to its enlargement, and with no
+loss of members to the schools. Some Sunday schools in cities have been
+recognized as branch stations of the public library, giving them the
+benefit of frequent changes in the equipment of books, which at regular
+intervals are selected from the store of the public library by the
+library committee of the school. The working library for teachers and
+scholars, proposed in the last paragraph, in many places might be
+established in the public library, wherever the schools in the community
+will unite to show that it is needed, to name the books required, and to
+make it practically useful.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[10] R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+THE MANAGEMENT OF THE LIBRARY
+
+
+1. =Library Committee.= For the selection of books, whether in the
+reading library for scholars or the working library for teachers and
+scholars, a wise, intelligent, and careful committee should be chosen,
+and should be maintained in permanent service. The pastor and the
+superintendent should be ex-officio members of this committee, but it
+should also include some other persons sufficiently acquainted with
+books to pass upon their merits, and willing to give time, inquiry, and
+thought to the library. There may be schools fortunate in possessing
+librarians who devote themselves to the selection of books, as well as
+to the care of them; and in such schools the library committees will
+find their labors lessened. No book should be admitted to the library
+without examination and approval by the committee.
+
+(1) _Purchase of Books._ The simplest method for finding books is far
+from being the best method. It is to have a quantity of books--a hundred
+or more at one time--sent by booksellers on approval. This method
+involves hasty examination, and generally results in obtaining many
+useless, worthless books intermixed with a few good ones. The better
+plan is for the committee, first of all, to be supplied with catalogues
+from reputable publishers of books for children and young people, and
+also books on religious and biblical education; next to read carefully
+the reviews of books in these departments as given in the best literary
+and religious periodicals; then, to send only for such books as they
+judge will be desirable, receiving them on approval. Every book should
+not only be looked at, but read; and if at all doubtful read by more
+than one member of the committee. In some Sunday schools there is placed
+at the door a library box, in which may be deposited the names of books
+desired by members of the school. Lists of approved books are published
+by various houses and societies; and the catalogues of a few good
+Sunday-school libraries will aid committees. The library committee must
+scrutinize closely all donations of books offered to the library, and
+resolutely decline every book that is unsuitable, even at the risk of
+offending the donor. The Sunday-school library room must not be turned
+into a mausoleum for dead volumes. The committee must also beware of
+bargains offered by some booksellers who would unload upon Sunday
+schools their left-over and unsalable stock. That which costs little is
+generally worth less. The Sunday school must obtain only books that will
+be read and are worth reading.
+
+(2) _Frequent Additions._ The usual method is to use the old library
+until its best books are either worn out or lost, and then to make a
+strenuous effort at raising money for the purchase of an entirely new
+collection. But the better plan is to add a few carefully selected books
+each month to the library. To examine at one time two hundred volumes is
+an impossibility, and in so large a purchase many undesirable books are
+sure to be included. It is not difficult to select after careful
+examination ten books each month, and thereby keep the library always at
+a high grade of excellence. With each purchase a slip describing the new
+books might be printed, and distributed to the school, thus keeping the
+library constantly before its patrons.
+
+2. =The Librarian.= There is a close analogy between the work of the
+librarian in the public library and that in the Sunday school. For the
+public library everywhere a specialist is sought, one who knows books,
+can select them wisely, and can aid seekers after literature in their
+reading. The Sunday school needs just such a librarian, and all the more
+because the scholars cannot select from the open shelf, but must guess
+at the quality of a book from its title in the catalogue. It has been
+noticed that wherever a Sunday-school library is successful in holding
+the interest of the scholars there is found with it a librarian adapted
+to his work and devoting himself to it. We notice the characteristics of
+a good librarian in the Sunday school:
+
+(1) _A Bookman._ He is a lover of books, acquainted with them, and
+interested in good literature. His work is more than to distribute
+books: he should aid, sometimes supervise, their collection.
+
+(2) _A Business Man._ He is practical, orderly, and systematic in his
+ways of working; with a plan for his task, and fidelity in accomplishing
+it.
+
+(3) _Gentle in Manner._ Opportunities will be frequent for the librarian
+to clash with the scholars on the one hand, or with the superintendent
+upon the other. With one he may appear arbitrary, with the other
+disorderly, his work sometimes breaking into the program of exercises.
+He should be pleasant toward all, uniform in his dealings, and attentive
+to the general order of the school.
+
+3. =His Assistants.= In most schools one assistant, in large schools
+several assistants, will be required by the librarian. He should
+nominate them, subject to the approval of the governing board of the
+school; and should require of them regular and prompt attendance, and
+attention to their work in the library. It is very desirable that the
+business should be so arranged as to allow the librarians to take part
+in the opening devotional service with the school, and not to be at work
+arranging books while others are at prayer.
+
+4. =The Management of the Library.= This involves four processes: the
+collection, the assignment, the distribution, and the return of the
+books.
+
+(1) _The Collection._ The books can easily be collected without
+interfering with the order of the school, if the library window is near
+the entrance to the building, and the scholars as they enter leave their
+books at the library. This is the method employed in most schools.
+
+(2) _The Assignment._ How to enable each scholar to choose his book
+introduces one of the three problems in library management. The plan
+generally followed is to supply each scholar with a card bearing a
+number which represents the scholar. He selects from the catalogue a
+large assortment of books, and writes their numbers upon his card: the
+librarian assigns the scholar any one of the books selected, crosses it
+from his list, and upon another list marks the number of the book
+opposite the number of the scholar. The weakness of the plan is in the
+fact that the scholar has no means of learning from the catalogue what
+books are desirable; and a book desired by one may be entirely
+undesirable to another. Theoretically the scholar has the whole
+catalogue from which to choose; practically he has no choice, except the
+suggestion in the titles of the books. The open-shelf plan cannot be
+established in the Sunday school, for the room is usually too small, the
+time of the session is too brief, and the work of the school too
+important to allow interruption.
+
+In some graded Sunday schools another plan is pursued, taking from the
+scholar all choice, but assigning to each grade books of certain
+numbers, all printed upon the card of the scholar, any one of which
+books he may receive at any time during his stay in the grade, but each
+of which will fall to his lot but once. This plan demands a library of
+books carefully selected, and as carefully fitted to each grade in the
+school. But this method is apt to be unsatisfactory to the scholars, who
+have their own preferences among the books. The difficulties in
+assigning books, and disappointments of scholars in failing to obtain
+the books desired, is a frequent cause for the disuse of the library;
+and this problem has not as yet been fully solved.
+
+(3) _The Distribution._ This takes place at the close of the school, and
+brings in the second problem of library management. The books may be
+brought to the classes by the librarians, and distributed by the
+teachers; each scholar's book being indicated by his card placed within
+it. This method often causes confusion; scholars being dissatisfied
+with their books and leaving their classes press around the library.
+Sometimes they exchange books with each other. This is a simple plan as
+far as the two scholars exchanging are concerned, but sure to make
+trouble in the record of the librarian. Or each class may be dismissed
+in turn, and obtain its books at the library window while passing out.
+But this plan causes a congestion of scholars at the library, and also
+requires much time. To manage the distribution of books demands a strong
+will, coupled with a gentle manner in maintaining the library rules.
+
+(4) _The Return._ The theory of the Sunday-school library is that each
+scholar will bring his book back after a week or two weeks. But boys and
+girls--sometimes older scholars also--are apt to be careless. Books are
+exchanged between scholars, are loaned from one home to another, are
+forgotten, and are lost. And the books lost most readily are frequently
+those that are most sought for by the scholars. How to induce scholars
+invariably to return their books constitutes the third problem of
+library management. In many schools the percentage of lost books is
+exceedingly large. The librarian should do his utmost to reduce the loss
+to a minimum. To this end a few suggestions may be given:
+
+(a) Record of Scholars. Every scholar's name and address, with his
+library number, should be kept on record in the library; and every
+effort should be made to make the record conform to all changes in
+residence.
+
+(b) Record Sheet. The library should contain a record sheet, showing
+the number of every book issued, and the number of the scholar receiving
+it; to be canceled when the book is returned. This will show who is
+responsible for every book out of its place from the library.
+
+(c) Fines. A fine should be assessed upon the scholar for every book
+kept over time; and notice sent to the scholar at his home when a fine
+has become due.
+
+(d) Rewards. Scholars should be paid a reward, perhaps of ten cents for
+each book, if they can succeed in tracing and finding any book which has
+been out of the library two months or more. These plans, or others, may
+lessen, but no plan will entirely remove, the evil of books lost to the
+library through neglect or a worse crime.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+THE TEACHER'S QUALIFICATIONS AND NEED OF TRAINING
+
+
+While the superintendent in the school is the moving and guiding
+intelligence, the pulse of the machine, the teacher in the class is the
+worker at the anvil, or the loom, or the lathe, for whom all the plans
+are made, and upon whom all the success depends. In the warfare for
+souls he is on the picket line and at close range, fighting face to face
+and hand to hand. The sphere of his effort is small, that group gathered
+around him for an hour on Sunday, but in that little field his is the
+work that counts for the final victory. His task requires peculiar
+adaptedness, supplemented by special training.
+
+1. =His Qualifications.= There are on the American continent not less
+than a million and a half Sunday-school teachers, who give to the gospel
+their free-will offering of time, and toil, and thought. They are not
+like civil engineers or the majority of public-school teachers,
+graduates of schools that have given them training for a special
+vocation. In every respect they are laymen, engaged for six days in
+secular work, and on one day finding an avocation in the Sunday school.
+Yet there are certain traits, partly natural and partly acquired, which
+they must possess, if they are to find success in their Sabbath-day
+service.
+
+(1) _A Sincere Disciple._ The Sunday-school teacher must be a follower
+of Christ, not merely in profession but in spirit. He is one who has met
+his Lord, has heard and has obeyed the call, "Follow me." He enlisted in
+the grand army of which Christ is the Commander, before he received his
+assignment to the army corps of the Sunday school, and his fidelity to
+the department is inspired by his deeper loyalty to his Lord. It is
+eminently desirable that the Sunday-school teacher should be a member of
+the church; but it is imperative that he should be a disciple of Christ.
+
+(2) _A Lover of Youth._ By far the largest proportion of scholars in the
+Sunday school, perhaps nine tenths, are under twenty-five years of age.
+Therefore, with few exceptions, the teachers must deal with young
+people; and youth at all its stages is not easy to understand and to
+manage. Moreover, the fact that not only the teachers, but to a large
+extent the scholars, are volunteers enters into the problem. Pupils
+attend the week-day school and submit to a teacher's rule because they
+must, whether their teachers are acceptable or are disliked. But the
+rule in the Sunday school is not the law of authority; it is the law of
+persuasion. The teacher who cannot draw his scholars, but repels them,
+soon finds himself without a class. In all teaching sympathy, or the
+coördination between the interest of the teacher in the pupil and of the
+pupil in the teacher, is a strong factor in success; but in the Sunday
+school it is an absolute necessity by reason of the voluntary element in
+the constitution of the Sunday school. That mystic power which will
+combine uncongenial spirits, and fuse the hearts of teacher and scholar
+into one, is love. Let the teacher love his scholars, let him see in
+each pupil some quality to inspire love, and the battle is half won.
+Love will quicken tact, and love and tact together will win the complete
+victory.
+
+(3) _A Lover of the Scriptures._ Whatever the Sunday school of to-morrow
+may become, the Sunday school of to-day is preëminently a Bible school.
+There are tendencies in our time which may in another generation render
+the Bible less prominent, and introduce into the Sunday school studies
+in church history, in social science, in moral reform, in missions,
+perhaps in comparative religion, or in some other departments of
+knowledge. But as yet the great text-book of the school is the Holy
+Scriptures. The volume should be in the hand of every teacher and of
+every scholar during the school session; and the teacher, especially,
+must study it during the week. If all of the Bible that he knows is
+contained in the paragraphs assigned for the coming lesson, and the rest
+of the book is sealed to his eyes, he will be a very poor teacher. He
+needs to have his mind stored with a thousand facts, and to have these
+facts systematized, in order to teach ten; and the nine hundred and
+ninety which he knows will add all their weight to the ten which he
+tells.
+
+(4) _A Willing Worker._ The teacher's love for Christ, for his scholars,
+and for his Bible is not to expend itself in emotion or even in study;
+it is to find expression in efficient service. A task is laid upon him
+which will demand much of his time and his power of body, mind, and
+spirit. He must be ready to meet his class fifty-two Sundays in the
+year: on days of sunshine and days of storm; when he is eager for the
+work, and when he is weary in it; when his scholars are responsive, and
+when they are careless; when his fellow workers are congenial, and when
+they are anti-pathetic; when his lesson is easy to teach, and when it is
+hard. He must be regular in his service, not turned aside by
+opportunities of enjoyment elsewhere; and he must give to it all his
+powers and all his skill. Work such as this can be sustained only by an
+enduring enthusiasm, a devotion to the cause; and therefore the teacher
+must have his heart enlisted as well as his will.
+
+As a Sunday-school teacher, then, four harmonious objects will claim a
+share in his love: his Lord, his scholars, his Bible, and his work.
+
+2. =His Need of Training.= For two generations it was supposed that any
+person fairly intelligent, without special equipment, was fitted to be a
+Sunday-school teacher. There are found no records of training classes in
+Sunday-school work earlier than 1855, when the Rev. John H. Vincent
+began to gather young people and train them for service in his Sunday
+school at Irvington, New Jersey. The seed of his "Palestine Class" grew
+into the "Normal Class"; and by 1869 there were in a few places classes
+for the teaching of teachers in the Bible and Sunday-school work. It is
+not remarkable that Sunday-school teacher-training should be delayed so
+long after the organization of the first Sunday school, when it is
+remembered that in America the first Normal School for secular teachers
+was not founded until 1839. The Chautauqua movement, begun in 1874, gave
+a strong impetus to Sunday-school teacher-training; the state
+associations and denominational organizations took up the work; and now
+teacher-training classes are to be found in every state and province on
+the American continent. The thoroughly graded school includes in its
+system a class for the training of young people who are to be teachers.
+
+It is late in the day to inquire why the Sunday-school teacher needs
+training; but the question is often asked, and the answers are ready:
+
+(1) _The General Principle._ All good work involves the prerequisite of
+training. Especially is this true of teaching; and there is a reason why
+the principle holds with regard to the Sunday-school teacher even more
+directly than with the secular teacher. While the subjects of teaching
+are vitally important, relating to character and efficient service, the
+time for teaching is short, less than an hour each week, in contrast to
+the twenty or twenty-five hours in the week-day school. To make an
+impression in so short a teaching period, with such long intervals
+between the lessons, demands that the teacher be one who possesses
+exceptional fitness for his work, and this superior fitness cannot be
+obtained without special and thorough training.
+
+(2) _The Teacher's Responsibility._ All-important as is the work of
+religious teaching, for which the Bible is the chief text-book in the
+church, there is but one institution in our time charged with that
+mighty duty, and that is the Sunday school. The Bible is rarely taught
+in the home, which should be the first place for teaching it; it is only
+incidentally taught in the pulpit, of which the aim is not so much
+instruction as inspiration. Practically all the teaching of the Bible
+now devolves upon the Sunday school, and the Sunday school only. If the
+Sunday schools of the world for one generation should fail to teach the
+word of life, the knowledge of that word would well-nigh cease. And the
+one person charged with that task, the one on whom the responsibility
+rests, is the Sunday-school teacher. He who is intrusted with so great a
+work, and upon whose fidelity the work depends, must have a proper
+equipment; and that equipment presupposes training.
+
+(3) _The Demand of the Age._ We are living in an intellectual age,
+unparalleled in the history of the world. The boundaries of knowledge in
+every direction have widened, and in each realm the search is deeper and
+more thorough. Such wealth has been added through recent investigations
+to the store of Bible knowledge that most commentaries, expositions, and
+introductions of the past have now but slight value. Another exceedingly
+important realm that has been added to the domain of knowledge is that
+of child study, but recently an unexplored field, now open to every
+reader. In such a time as this the teacher who would impart the contents
+of the Bible to the young must have eyes and mind opened. He must know
+the results of modern investigation in the Scriptures and in the nature
+of those whom he teaches. His pupils are under the care of trained and
+alert specialists through the week; they must receive instruction from
+well-taught minds in the Sunday school.
+
+(4) _The Teacher and His Class._ The peculiar relation already referred
+to as existing between the Sunday-school teacher and his class presents
+another incentive to training. His relation is not like that of the
+secular teacher, who speaks with authority, and can command attention
+and study. The teacher in Sunday school cannot require his scholars to
+learn the lesson; the authority of the parent is rarely employed to
+compel home study; and as a result most of our scholars come to the
+Sunday school unprepared. This is not the ideal or the ultimate
+condition, but unfortunately it is still the real condition in at least
+nine out of ten Sunday-school classes. This condition makes the demand
+upon the teacher all the greater. Because his scholars are unprepared he
+must be all the better prepared. He must be able to awaken and arouse
+his pupils; he must inspire them to an interest in the lesson; he must
+so teach as to lead them into knowledge of the truth and a desire to
+seek it for themselves. Anyone can teach the scholar who is eager to
+learn; but to teach those who come to the class unprepared and careless,
+to send them away with a clear-cut understanding of the lesson, and an
+awakened intelligence and conscience--all this, under the conditions of
+the Sunday-school teacher's task, and in his peculiar relation to his
+scholars, requires not only ability, but also thoroughly trained
+ability.
+
+In view of all these considerations, it is not surprising that at the
+opening of the twentieth century the demand of the Sunday schools
+everywhere is for better teaching, and for teachers who have themselves
+been taught and are able to teach others.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE TRAINING AND TASK OF THE TEACHER
+
+
+1. =The Training Needed.= Many faithful workers in the Sunday school
+realize their need of preparation; but, while conscious of unfitness,
+they have no clear conception of the equipment which they require. What
+are those fields of knowledge which should be traversed by one who has
+been called to teach in the Sunday school? They comprise four
+departments: (1) the Book, (2) the scholar, (3) the school, and (4) the
+work.
+
+(1) _The Book._ We have already noted that the Sunday school is
+differentiated from other systems of education in the fact that it uses
+mainly but one text-book, the Holy Scriptures. For that reason the
+teacher must first of all acquaint himself as thoroughly as possible
+with the contents of that wonderful volume. He should be a twentieth
+century Bible student; not a student or a scholar according to the light
+of the Middle Ages, or the seventeenth century, or even of the first
+half of the nineteenth century; for in all those periods the aims, the
+methods, and the scope of Bible study were different from those of the
+present time. He who is to teach the Bible successfully to-day must have
+some knowledge of the Bible in the following aspects:
+
+(a) Its Origin and Nature. He must have a definite idea of how the
+sixty-six books of Scripture were composed, written, and preserved;
+and, as far as may be known, who were their authors.
+
+(b) Its History. The Bible is, more than anything else, a book of
+history, containing the record of a people who received the divine
+revelation and preserved it. The divine revelation cannot be taught nor
+comprehended unless the annals of that remarkable people, the
+Israelites, be first read and understood. Therefore biblical history
+should be the first subject to be studied by the teacher in the Sunday
+school. The leading facts and underlying principles of that unique
+history must be understood; not in an outline of minute details, but as
+a general landscape, in which each lesson of the Bible will take its
+place.
+
+(c) Its Geographical Background. The Bible brings before us a world of
+natural features which remain--seas, mountains, valleys, and plains; a
+world of political divisions which has passed away; its empires,
+kingdoms, and tribal relations; and cities and towns, some of them now
+desolate, others in poverty and in ruin. The teacher who is to instruct
+his pupils must be able to see those abiding elements, and by the aid of
+his historical imagination to reconstruct those that have changed. He
+must make that ancient world of the Bible roll like a panorama before
+the eyes of his mind.
+
+(d) Its Institutions. Upon every page of the Bible are stamped pictures
+of manners, customs, institutions, forms of worship, that are unfamiliar
+to our Christian, Anglo-Saxon, modern world. The teacher must become
+familiar with this local color of another civilization, and enable his
+class to see it through his eyes.
+
+(e) Its Ethical and Religious Teaching. In the past, and until a
+generation ago, the Bible was studied only for its doctrines. It was
+generally treated as one book, all written at once and by one author;
+its history, biography, institutions, were passed over as unimportant;
+while every sentence was searched for some light upon theology. From the
+Bible, by assorting and grouping its texts out of every book, a system
+of doctrine was constructed; and the mastery of this system with its
+proof-texts was regarded as the principal work of the Bible student.
+That method of Bible study has justly fallen into disuse among modern
+scholars. The Bible is now looked upon as a record of life rather than
+as a treasury of texts. Yet its stream of ethical, religious, and
+spiritual teaching must be found and followed by the student who is to
+teach the truth; and the doctrines revealed through the Bible should be
+regarded as a necessary part of his training.
+
+(2) _The Scholar._ One book must be studied closely by the teacher, and
+that is his pupils. During the last thirty years human nature in all its
+stages, as child, as youth, during adolescence, and in maturity--especially
+in the earlier periods--has been investigated as never before. The
+student in our time can enter into the results of special study upon
+these subjects. He needs to know what the best books can give him of
+child study and mind study; and to supplement book-knowledge in this
+department with watchful eyes and close thought upon the traits which he
+finds in his own scholars.
+
+(3) _The School._ The teacher in the Sunday school needs to understand
+the institution wherein he is a worker. The Sunday school is like the
+week-day school, yet unlike it; and the teacher must be able to
+appreciate at once what he can follow and what he should avoid in the
+methods of the secular school. The history of the Sunday-school
+movement, its fundamental principles, its organization, officers,
+methods of management, and aims--all these are in the scope of the
+teacher's preparation.
+
+(4) _The Work._ Whether on Sunday or on Monday, a teacher is after all a
+teacher, and the laws of true teaching are the same in a Sunday school,
+in a public school, and in a college. The application of those laws may
+vary according to the ages of pupils, the subjects of instruction, and
+the aims of the institution, but the principles are unchanging. Those
+enduring principles of instruction are well understood, are set down in
+text-books, and can easily be learned by a student. There are successful
+teachers who know these principles by an intuition that they cannot
+explain; but most people will save themselves from many mistakes and
+comparative failure by a close study of modern educational methods.
+
+In some way knowledge in all these four great departments of training
+should be obtained by the teacher, if possible, before he enters upon
+his task; but if he has missed earlier opportunities of preparation he
+must acquire this knowledge even while he is teaching. The outlines of
+such a course of study should be given in the training class for young
+people; and such a training class should be regarded as essential to
+every well-organized school.[11]
+
+2. =The Teacher's Task.= All the preparation briefly outlined in these
+last paragraphs is only preparatory to the work which the teacher is to
+do in his vocation. The task set before the teacher is fourfold:
+
+(1) _As a Student._ The studies named above are not completed when the
+teacher has passed out of the training class with a certificate of
+graduation. The public-school teacher who ceases to study after
+finishing the course of the normal school is foredoomed to failure. The
+training class or the training school has only outlined before the
+teacher the fields to be traversed, and shown him a few paths which he
+may follow. He who has undertaken to teach a group of scholars, whether
+in the Beginners Department, the Senior Department, or any grade between
+them, must continue his studies, in the Bible, in the specific course of
+graded lessons which he is teaching, and in general knowledge; for there
+is no department of thought or action which will not bring tribute to
+the teacher, to be turned into treasure for his class. The Sunday-school
+teacher must ever maintain an open mind, a quick eye, and a spirit eager
+for knowledge. His accumulation will prove a store upon which to draw
+for teaching; and even that unused will give its weight to truth
+imparted to his class.
+
+(2) _As a Friend._ The teacher is more than a student dealing with
+books; he is a living soul in contact with living souls. If the most
+masterly lesson teaching in the realm of thought could be spoken into a
+phonograph, and then ground out before a class, it would fail to teach,
+for it would utterly lack the human element. Knowledge counts for much
+in teaching, but personality counts for far more. If a teacher is to be
+successful he must have a close relationship with his class. They must
+know him, he must know them, and there must be a common interest, nay, a
+common affection, between the two personalities of teacher and pupil. He
+must be a friend to each one of his scholars, schooling himself, if need
+be, to friendship; and each of his scholars must be made to realize that
+his teacher is his friend. This personal affection need not always be
+stated in words. The teacher who constantly assures his scholars that he
+loves them will not be believed as readily as the one who shows his love
+in his spirit and his acts, even though he may refrain from affectionate
+forms of speech.
+
+(3) _As a Teacher._ Teaching requires more than the possession of an
+abundant store of information upon any subject. He is not a teacher who
+simply pours forth upon the ears of his pupils an undigested mass of
+facts, however valuable those facts may be. The true teacher after large
+preparation assorts his material, and selects such matter as is
+appropriate to his own class. This he arranges in a form to be readily
+received, thoroughly comprehended, and easily remembered. He comes
+before his class with the fixed purpose that every pupil shall carry
+away with him a knowledge of the lesson, and shall not forget it. He
+must awaken the pupil's attention; for talking to an inattentive group
+of people accomplishes no more than preaching to tombstones in a
+graveyard. He must obtain the coöperation of the pupil's interest, and
+induce him to think upon the subject. He must call forth from his pupil
+some expression of his thought in language, for one is never sure of his
+knowledge until he has shaped it into words; and that which the pupil
+has stated he is much surer to remember than that which he has merely
+heard. Teaching, then, involves (1) selection of material, (2)
+adaptation of material, (3) presentation of truth, (4) awakening
+thought, (5) calling forth expression, (6) fixing knowledge in the
+memory.
+
+(4) _As a Disciple._ It is the teacher's task not only to impart to his
+scholars valuable information about the Bible, about God, about Christ,
+and about salvation; but, far more than imparting an intellectual
+knowledge, to bring the living word into relation with living souls, to
+inspire a fellowship of his pupils with God, to have Christ founded
+within them, to make salvation through Christ their joyous possession.
+Nor is his work as a working disciple accomplished when all his scholars
+have become Christians in possession and profession, and members of
+Christ's Church. By his example and his teachings he should lead them to
+efficient service for Christ in the church, in the community, and in the
+state. There is work for every member in the church, and work for
+everyone possessing the spirit of Christ in the community. Whatever may
+have been the type of a saint in the twelfth century, or in the
+sixteenth, or even in the early nineteenth century, in these stirring,
+strenuous years of the twentieth century the disciple of Christ is a man
+among men or a woman among women, active in the effort to make the world
+better, and to establish in his own village, or town, or ward of the
+city, the kingdom of heaven on earth. To inspire his scholars for such
+labors, and to lead them, is the supreme opportunity and work of the
+teacher.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[11] For detailed methods and plans, see the volume of this series on
+The Training of Sunday School Teachers.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+THE CONSTITUENCY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+
+1. =Relation to the Community.= The Sunday school is a temple built of
+living stones; and the quarry from which they are taken in the rough, to
+be cut and polished for their places in the building, is the entire
+community in which the school is placed. In our time, more than ever
+before, the reasons are imperative why special study should be given to
+the community from which the school must draw its members. Certain
+principles of administration will become apparent when once the field is
+carefully considered.
+
+(1) _Constituency Adjacent._ The population from which a given Sunday
+school draws its members must be generally that immediately around it.
+Some teachers and scholars may come from a distance, but even in this
+age of convenient transit by trains and trolley cars, it is found that,
+taking the church building as a center, the constituency of the Sunday
+school in a city is mostly within a radius of half a mile, and in the
+country within a mile. Throughout that sphere of influence the church
+should look well to the population, should know its proportionate
+elements, as far as possible should come into acquaintance with the
+families, and should plan to win, to evangelize, and to hold all its
+natural following.
+
+(2) _Membership Representative._ Upon general and almost invariable
+principles, the Sunday school should represent all the elements of the
+population within its environment. If it be a residence section with
+isolated houses, each containing but one family of well-to-do people,
+the church is apt to be a family church, and a large Sunday school must
+not be looked for, since large mansions rarely contain large families.
+If, on the other hand, the neighborhood be populous, characterized by
+varied strata of society--a few rich, a goodly number fairly prosperous,
+and a greater mass of wage-earners, yet the section as a whole American
+and not foreign in its civilization--then a flourishing, active, and
+growing Sunday school should be expected. And it should embrace all
+these elements, the rich, the middle class, and the wage-earners, in the
+proportion which each bears to the community as a whole. If the school
+in such a population be small, or if it be composed exclusively of one
+class, whether it be the so-called better class or the mission class,
+there is a serious error in its policy. The true Sunday school should be
+representative of all the elements in the population. It is both a crime
+and a blunder to limit the efforts of a Sunday school to one class of
+society: a crime, because such a school leaves multitudes around it to
+perish; and a blunder, because the effort results in an anæmic,
+dwindling, dying institution.
+
+(3) _Methods Adapted._ Almost every community, whether in city or in
+country, possesses some traits peculiar to itself. There may be two
+towns ten miles apart, one the wealthy residential suburb of a city, the
+other a settlement surrounding a great factory. The population of these
+two places will be in marked contrast, and the methods of Christian
+work successful in one will utterly fail in the other. One street or
+avenue in a city may mark the boundary line between family churches and
+mission churches. Within ten minutes' walk of each other may stand two
+churches of the same denomination, yet so utterly apart in spirit as to
+possess nothing in common but name. It is possible that each of these
+two organizations might learn something from the other, and might do
+their Master's work better by a closer community of interest and
+feeling. Yet it would be a mistake to introduce into either church all
+the plans that are successful in the other; or to reject in one Sunday
+school any method because it has proved a failure in another and a
+different field. The work of each church and Sunday school must be
+adapted to the population from which its membership is to be drawn.
+
+2. =The Changing Population.= One of the most imperative questions
+confronting the gospel worker, both in the church and the Sunday school,
+arises from the constant changes taking place in our population. In the
+cities we see stately churches, once thronged, now well-nigh desolate,
+while their walls echo to the tread upon the sidewalk of a churchless
+multitude. In front of a fine old church, where once millionaires
+worshiped, the writer has often passed a news-stand upon which are for
+sale newspapers in seven different languages. And too often one finds
+that the churches of a generation ago have been turned into low
+theaters, or torn down, giving place to stores and office buildings. The
+general principle may be laid down, that a church in the city almost
+never lives more than one generation in the same building and with the
+same character. After thirty years as the very longest period, if it is
+to retain its members, it must follow them in the march up-town; or if
+it is to retain its location and still hold a congregation it must seek
+an absolutely new constituency, and to this end must transform its
+methods of work. Nor are these migrations of population confined to the
+city. The towns and villages are governed by the same law of change. A
+village, once the seat of quiet homes, is suddenly turned into a factory
+town, with a new and strange population. The farms on country roads,
+abandoned by the families that formerly tilled them, are occupied by
+foreigners of alien speech and manners. The building of a railroad will
+open new towns, and at the same time will make more than one deserted
+village. These changes in population must be considered in their
+relation to the work of the Sunday school. The movement will be
+characterized by varied traits in different places.
+
+(1) _A Growing Population._ The change may be that of a healthy growth
+in population, making the community a desirable place for a church and a
+Sunday school. Such a development is constantly taking place in the
+newer portions of a city, whose population is moving from the center to
+the rim; or it may be noted in suburban towns, as facilities of
+transportation bring new residents from the metropolis; or it may appear
+in villages springing up on the line of a railroad, where home-seekers
+are settling and building habitations. Leaders in church and
+Sunday-school work must watch these growing centers, and provide wisely
+for their religious needs. It will not suffice to wait for these
+newcomers to build their own churches and organize their own Sunday
+schools. Most of them are taxed to the utmost in building or buying
+their own homes, and will scarcely realize their need until the habit of
+neglecting worship has become fixed, and their children grow up without
+religious education. The old and strong churches must extend a hand to
+the settlers, must preëmpt church sites at the very beginning, must help
+to erect chapels, for a time must supply workers, and must set the
+current of the new settlement Godward and churchward. The reward of
+their labor and their liberality will not long be delayed.
+
+(2) _A Declining Population._ There are places where the population has
+lessened, making the work of the Sunday school increasingly difficult
+and its results meager. It may be in the city, where business has
+crowded away the dwellers of other years, as in the lower end of
+Manhattan Island in New York. There tall office buildings and warehouses
+stand on sites formerly occupied by churches, but no longer needed, now
+that almost the only residents are the janitors and their families,
+living on the roofs of the towerlike temples of trade. But oftener the
+region of the declining population is found in the country. Villages
+once prosperous have gradually lost their inhabitants. In places where
+three or four churches, each with its Sunday school, were formerly well
+supported, there is now scarcely a constituency for one. Yet all these
+churches, though decayed and dying by inches, are still maintained; and
+each church still houses a discouraged Sunday school, attended by a
+faithful few, but with no hope of growth and an imminent peril of
+extinction. If loyalty to a denomination could give way to love for the
+kingdom of Christ, these might be consolidated into one church and one
+Sunday school for all the community. We venture the prophecy that before
+the twentieth century comes to its close this will be throughout the
+American continent the accepted settlement of the question. May its
+fulfillment be not long delayed! In the meantime these decayed but still
+enduring Sunday schools and churches in a community should seek for
+peace and friendship, not emphasizing the points of doctrine or of
+system that differ, but those that agree, and striving to maintain the
+unity of the spirit in a bond of love.
+
+(3) _A Population Changing Socially._ A serious problem often arises,
+not from a decline but from a change in the social condition of the
+population within the sphere of the church. The downtown church may have
+been forsaken by its former members, but people of another class, and in
+greater numbers, have taken their places. The mansions have become
+boarding houses, flats and apartment houses have arisen, while the
+thronged sidewalks, and the children playing in the streets, are
+evidence that the material for members of the church and the Sunday
+school is greater than before. True, the new inhabitants are of a
+different social order from the old, clerks and porters instead of
+merchants, employees instead of employers, working people in place of
+the leisure class. The fact that the social level of the neighborhood
+may be regarded by the worldly-minded as lower than formerly does not
+lessen its need of the gospel, nor render it less promising for
+Christian work. The church should look upon its field with unprejudiced
+eyes, should have an understanding of the time; should be alert to see
+and to seize its opportunity; and should change its methods with its
+changed constituency. The field must not be abandoned; it must be
+cultivated, and new forms of tillage will bring forth abundant harvests.
+
+(4) _An Alien Population._ The most perplexing of all social problems
+arises when immigration has swept into the district surrounding the
+church a tide of people whose birth and speech are foreign, supplanting
+and in large measure driving out the native population. There are
+sections in our cities where the signs on the stores are all Bohemian,
+or Polish, or Yiddish; where an English-speaking church would remain
+absolutely empty, though thousands throng the streets. It may be that in
+such conditions gospel work under American methods can no longer be
+maintained; and a removal may be necessary. But even in the most
+unpromising fields this conclusion should not be hastily reached. We
+spend large sums in sending missionaries to the lands from which some
+strangers come; should we not embrace opportunities of evangelizing
+these at our own door? There are difficulties, but they are not nearly
+as insuperable as those in foreign fields. These foreign-born or
+foreign-descended children sit beside our own in the public school;
+should we shut them out from our Sunday schools? In less than a
+generation millions of these boys and girls will be as thoroughly
+American as our own children. When we consider the question of
+abandoning any field on account of its foreign population, let us widen
+our horizon of thought to embrace the future as well as the present, and
+then form our conclusion concerning the duty of the Sunday school to the
+community.
+
+3. =Practical Suggestions.= A few hints, some of them already given, may
+summarize the practical side of the subject:
+
+(1) _Study the Field._ The Sunday school must live not in the past, but
+in the present, with a clear vision of the future. It must not only
+cherish a loving memory of its field as it has been, but understand
+thoroughly what it is, and what forces are shaping it for the future.
+The leaders in each Sunday school working for itself, or preferably
+those conducting the Sunday schools of a neighborhood working unitedly,
+should ascertain the nationality, religious condition, and church
+relations of every family in the district; and not only of every family,
+of every individual who may have a room in a boarding house. Each
+political organization knows the residence and party proclivities of
+every voter in the district; and the churches may learn from the
+politicians practical lessons upon the best methods of work.
+
+(2) _Cultivate the Field._ Since the scholars must come to the school
+from the population around it, they should be sought, brought in,
+taught, and evangelized, with all the energy and wisdom which the church
+possesses. And not only the scholars, but also, in large degree, the
+teachers must be home-born and home-taught; therefore the Sunday school,
+to be successful, must train up workers from its own constituency.
+
+(3) _Provide for all Elements._ By diligent and constant effort the
+school should be made representative of all ages, of all classes, of all
+sections, and as far as practicable of all races found in its community.
+
+(4) _Adapt Methods._ If a former constituency has removed from the
+field, and a new population has surged in, the new element must be
+looked upon as the constituency of the school. Its needs must be
+recognized, however different they may be from the needs of the past;
+and plans must be formed to meet those needs, whatever transformation of
+the school the new plans may involve.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+RECRUITING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+
+1. =Necessity.= The aspiration for advancement is natural and noble; and
+therefore every member of the Sunday school who is interested in its
+welfare, whether officer, teacher, or pupil, desires it to increase in
+membership, and to spread its benefits as widely as possible. But the
+recruiting of the Sunday school is not only desirable, but necessary. It
+is found that in every school there exists an outflow as well as an
+inflow of members. If in certain departments, as the Primary, new
+scholars are constantly enrolled, in other departments, as the older
+grades of the Intermediate and the Senior, there is as constant a
+dropping out of members from the school. It has been estimated that in
+most Sunday schools from twenty to twenty-five per cent of the
+membership changes annually, so that the average period of a teacher or
+scholar in the Sunday school is less than five years. There are some who
+remain longer, but others who are members for even a shorter time. Upon
+the average, every school is a new school once in four or five years. If
+one fifth of the school leaves every year, there must be an equal number
+enter it, to keep the school at its normal size. But any institution
+dependent upon the maintenance of a constituency, whether it be a
+periodical, a life-insurance association, or a Sunday school, begins to
+decline when its number remains stationary. The health and life of the
+school, therefore, require a constant renewal of its membership. The
+school must have new blood, or it will soon be impoverished and in time
+die.
+
+2. =The Losses from the School.= Before the presentation of plans for
+winning new scholars comes the vital question of holding the scholars
+already on the roll; for the condition of leakage has a close relation
+to growth or decline. If the causes of the leakage can be ascertained,
+and the drain can be stopped, we shall be materially aided in our effort
+to enlarge the school.
+
+(1) _The Search in the School._ Careful notation should be kept of the
+grades from which scholars are lost, or which are below a normal
+membership; and equally careful inquiry should be made as to the cause
+of the decline, and methods to correct it should be sought. Is it in the
+Primary Department, which should be the most rapidly growing department
+in the school? Is it in the Junior or Intermediate Department, where
+there ought to be a steady increase, even if it be slow? Is it in the
+Senior Department? Here there is great danger of losses, especially
+among young men. Is it not possible to find why they leave the school,
+and what will induce them to remain? Perhaps the school is deficient in
+the Adult Department. Must it be admitted that the Sunday school is for
+children only, and that as soon as its members become men and women
+their departure from the school is to be expected? The investigation
+should be more than general, ascertaining what departments are suffering
+loss; it should be personal, including the name and grade of every
+scholar who has ceased to attend for a definite period; and as far as
+possible the reason for his leaving the school.
+
+(2) _Following up Absentees._ A systematic plan for watching over the
+membership of the school should be instituted and vigorously maintained.
+For example, in some schools a report of every absentee is made by the
+secretary to the superintendent. On Monday morning each teacher receives
+by mail the list of his absent scholars, with a request to send in
+writing, as soon as practicable, the cause of absence for each one. In
+many schools this work of looking after the absentees is performed by
+paid visitors--a good plan, but not so good as for the teacher to come
+into personal touch with his own scholars. A business firm watches over
+its customers, and endeavors in every possible way to hold them. The
+Sunday school which can maintain its grasp upon its members has the
+problem of growth already half solved.
+
+3. =Characteristics of a Growing School.= The strongest force in
+recruiting the Sunday school is to be found in the character of the
+school itself. The merchant must have his shelves stocked with
+attractive goods if he expects customers. In order to obtain scholars
+there must be a good school.
+
+(1) _Efficient._ The school should maintain high educational standards;
+should be thoroughly graded in all its departments, with suitable
+lessons for each grade; and should have organized classes for young
+people and adults. The thoroughly good school will rarely lack for
+scholars.
+
+(2) _Attractive._ The school should be attractive as well as efficient.
+Its meeting place should be cheerful and airy, with suitable furniture
+and apparatus, above ground, and not a damp, dingy basement. It should
+have enjoyable exercises, like a school, yet not too severely like a
+public school. It should greet new members heartily, make them feel at
+home, and cultivate acquaintance with them. There should be an animating
+spirit of loyalty and love for the school; a devotion which will inspire
+active effort in its behalf. Around the school should be the atmosphere
+of a happy home.
+
+(3) _Prominent._ Among the activities of the church the school should
+stand forth prominently. It should be kept in mind that, as the
+neighborhood furnishes the constituency of the school, so the school
+furnishes the members for the church. In our time three fourths of the
+accessions by profession of faith come from the Sunday school. The
+school should be held in honor as the principal source of supply to the
+church membership. If the audience room is large and imposing, and the
+Sunday-school room is inferior and unattractive; if the pulpit and the
+choir are amply supported while the school receives a narrow sustenance,
+however great the prosperity of the church its duration will be brief.
+The Sunday school must stand in the foreground, and not in the
+background, if the church is to grow; and the growing church should have
+a growing Sunday school.
+
+(4) _Special Occasions._ Throughout the Sunday-school year occur days
+which should be recognized, as breaking the monotony of the regular
+exercises, and as attractive features of the school. Such are Christmas,
+Easter, Children's Day in June, Rally Day in the fall, and Decision Day,
+when the net is drawn for discipleship in behalf of the church. Some
+superintendents look upon these occasions as burdensome, but with
+careful preparation and an attractive program they will add to the
+interest of the school, while in no wise detracting from the efficiency
+of its educational work. An occasional social entertainment for the
+school, or for each department in turn, and an outing day in the summer,
+will strengthen that _esprit de corps_ or animating spirit of the school
+which is its strongest drawing power in attracting new members.
+
+(5) _Special Helps._ There are communities where certain methods may
+avail more than elsewhere. A well-conducted Sunday-school library, no
+longer needed in many places, may be of great value in villages where
+there is no public library. A reading room, social hall, and gymnasium
+may constitute the church a home for young men whose dwelling places may
+be in close tenement houses. Young men are in saloons, and young women
+are in amusement parks, who might spend their evenings under the healthy
+influence of the church if places were provided. These plans and other
+features of the institutional church will need careful and wise
+administration if they are to do good and not harm; but in many places
+they will minister to the success of the school and the church, and also
+to the uplifting of the community.
+
+4. =Reaching Beyond the School.= Thus far in this chapter we have
+considered the school rather than the field. One of the chief tasks of
+the Sunday school, however, is to reach out and lay hold of all the
+inhabitants, both young and old, in the area of its influence. The
+following active measures have proved effective in reaching the people
+and winning them to the school.
+
+(1) _Advertise._ The school should be kept before the community in every
+legitimate way. Merchants tell us that the secret of success is first to
+have salable goods, and then to advertise them; and the same principle
+applies to the Sunday school. Printer's ink should be used liberally,
+but wisely. Only neatly printed, attractive matter should be employed.
+Invitation cards, leaflets, programs of special services, a little
+periodical devoted to the school, a year book containing the school
+register, and many other forms of advertisement will help to inform the
+neighborhood that the school is at work and is ready to welcome new
+members.
+
+(2) _Invite._ Every officer, teacher, scholar, and parent should
+consider himself a committee to speak to others about the school, and to
+invite his friends and acquaintances to attend it. The little children
+should ask their playmates, boys and girls in school their classmates,
+young men their shopmates, young women their associates. No printed
+paper can have a tenth of the power possessed by the living voice and a
+hearty hand-shake. It is assumed that the invitation is given only to
+those who are not already attached to any church or school. All possible
+care should be taken to maintain a fraternal spirit, and not to build up
+our own wall by pulling down another.
+
+(3) _Visit._ The field belonging to the school should be bounded
+definitely, and should be thoroughly and systematically canvassed. It
+should be divided into districts, and each district assigned to a
+visitor and a committee, who should know who may be included in the
+proper constituency of the school. For this work many schools and
+churches employ a paid visitor or a deaconess; and none can surpass the
+zeal or fidelity of many who enter upon such a vocation. But the schools
+which cannot afford professional workers include some teachers and some
+adult scholars who can give a portion of their own time to the same
+task. An organized class of men might be named which grew into over a
+hundred members through persistent work by a simple plan. A lookout
+committee, after careful inquiry, would report the names and addresses
+of men eligible for membership. Then the members in order and by
+appointment, in groups of two, called upon each candidate, formed his
+acquaintance, and invited him to the class. Sometimes thirty or forty
+men would call, but in time almost every man visited yielded to the
+friendly social influence, became a member, and soon after a worker for
+the class.
+
+5. =A Danger.= A caution may be needed with reference to all these plans
+of recruiting the school. Advertising may be carried to the excess of
+becoming sensational. Invitations may be pressed upon scholars in other
+schools. The effort for increase may degenerate into unfriendly rivalry.
+A good plan may work evil when worked in a selfish spirit. And a
+too-rapid growth is sure to be unhealthy. The late B. F. Jacobs said,
+"God pity the Sunday school that gets a hundred scholars at one time!" A
+quiet, steady, diligent, persistent effort for the school will be of
+permanent benefit, rather than a spasm of enthusiasm.
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+THE TESTS OF A GOOD SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+
+In the United States more than a hundred thousand Sunday schools are in
+session every week. Some of them are very good, many are only moderately
+efficient, and some are poor in every respect. The question arises, what
+constitutes a good Sunday school? Is it possible to establish some
+standard of measurement by which the rank of any Sunday school can be
+fixed? In such a standard there must be several factors, for the points
+of excellence in Sunday school are not one, but many. It is the aim in
+this closing chapter to ascertain the criteria or the tests of a good
+Sunday school. The statement of these tests involves the summing up and
+in some measure the repetition of much already given throughout these
+pages.
+
+1. =Representative Character.= The first test of a Sunday school is
+found in its relation to the community around it. The Sunday school is
+not a bed of exotic plants, dug up from their native soil, potted and
+protected in a conservatory. It is an outdoor garden wherein are
+cultivated the flowers and fruits that are indigenous to the region. A
+true Sunday school is a group of people drawn out of the larger world
+around it, and representing every element in that world, both as regards
+social life and age. If it represents the rich and the prosperous only,
+it is not a good school, unless the neighborhood is unfortunate in
+containing only such people. If it is a mission school for poor people
+in the midst of a self-supporting population, it is not a good school.
+If it includes few members above sixteen, and none above twenty-five
+years of age, it is not a good school, for it should embrace all ages
+from the infant to the grandfather. The school which is to stand on the
+roll of honor is one that fairly represents its constituency.
+
+2. =Organization.= Another requirement for a good school is that it be
+well organized as a graded school. There may be Sunday schools which
+make up by their spirit for what they lack in system; yet the exceptions
+are few to the rule that in Sunday-school work organization is essential
+to success. It is true that machinery creates no power; there is nothing
+in a constitution and by-laws to make an institution successful. It is
+the efforts of living men and women that bring to pass results. But
+organization directs and economizes power; so that, other elements being
+equal, the graded school quickly becomes the best school. We have
+already seen that a graded school is one with departments defined, with
+the number of classes in each department fixed according to the needs of
+the school, with promotions at regular periods, based either on age or
+examination or merit, or on all three factors in combination, with
+lessons graded according to the departments, and, as its most important
+element, with a change of teachers when the pupil is promoted from a
+lower to a higher grade or department. The graded system is not easy to
+establish; it requires firmness and tact in the authorities, and a
+self-denying spirit on the part of teachers; but it will abundantly and
+quickly repay all it costs in effort and sacrifice, and it is an
+essential in a really good Sunday school.
+
+3. =Order.= A good school is orderly, yet it is not too orderly.
+Everybody is in place at the proper time. At the minute, and not a
+minute later, the superintendent opens the school. If he rings a bell,
+it is a gentle, musical one, held up by the leader as a signal and
+scarcely sounded. There is not more confusion than at the opening of any
+other religious service. Only one service is conducted at a time;
+singing is worshipful, just as well as prayer, and the Scriptures are
+read thoughtfully and reverently. No officers are rushing up and down
+the aisles during the services; no loud calls are made for order; yet
+there is a suitable quietness when quietness is desirable. A good school
+is never disorderly, yet it cannot be said that the best school is
+always the most orderly. Occasionally one sees a Sunday school where
+order has gone to the extreme of repressing all enthusiasm, where the
+program is too finely cut and too thoroughly dried, where the mechanism
+moves with the precision of the lockstep in a state prison. The ideal of
+the Sunday school is not that of the French minister of education who is
+reported to have stated that he could look at his watch and tell at that
+minute what question was before each class in every school in France!
+
+4. =Spirit.= For lack of a more definite term we call the next
+characteristic of a good Sunday school its spirit. In any successful
+school one feels rather than finds a peculiar and individual atmosphere.
+Every member, from the superintendent to the Primary scholar, manifests
+an interest in the institution; an interest of blended love, loyalty,
+enjoyment in it and enthusiasm for it. There is a social spirit in each
+class and in the school as a whole. Its members do not meet as
+passengers in a railway station, each one wrapped up in his own business
+and watching for his own train. They all have their individual
+friendships and social relations, yet a bond unites them all as members
+of one Sunday school. This peculiar _esprit de corps_, an interest in
+the institution, is a strongly marked feature in every progressive
+Sunday school.
+
+5. =Educational Efficiency.= The Sunday school is in the world with a
+definite work--religious education. Its religion will be based on the
+Old Testament and kindred literature in a Jewish school; it will be
+based on both the Old and New Testament and supplemental literature in a
+Christian school; but whether Jewish or Christian, its work is the
+teaching of religion, as contained in the living Word, and illustrated
+by the lives and teachings of the heroes of the faith. The true test of
+a Sunday school is the answer that it can give to the question, "Does it
+teach the vital religious truths of the race so as to develop individual
+character and efficiency?" That is its task, and by its success in
+accomplishing it each school is to be judged; not by the splendor of its
+building, or the exactness of its machinery, or the enthusiasm of its
+members. The thirty or thirty-five minutes devoted to the lesson is the
+supremely important period in every true Sunday school. The time is
+often bound to be all too short for teaching divine truth, and printing
+it upon mind and memory so deeply that all the studies and pleasures of
+the six days between the two Sundays will not cause the teaching to
+fade. Yet the time is as long as the ordinary teacher (or preacher) can
+hold attention to one subject, and therefore in most classes it is
+sufficient. Toward that half hour of teaching, therefore, all the
+energies of the school, of the training class, home study, teachers'
+meeting, gradation, government, should be turned. For the vital aim of
+the Sunday school is the eternal message of God to men through men, so
+that men and women of the Christ spirit and character may be developed.
+
+6. =Character-Building.= The first task, therefore, of the Sunday school
+is to teach the Word, but that teaching is only a means to an end, and
+that end is greater than mere intellectual knowledge--it is the building
+up of a complete character. This is more than "bringing souls to
+Christ," or leading them into church membership. If the sole aim of the
+Sunday school was to compass the salvation of the scholar and to
+surround him with the walls of a church, then we might safely dismiss
+our scholars when they have passed through a crisis of conversion and
+entered the church door. But the Sunday school is to do more than save
+its scholars from sin. It is to train them in the completeness of a
+Christian character; and such a character involves not only personal
+righteousness but also service for God and humanity. Its aim is not to
+take people apart out of the world, but to set them in the world,
+equipped for work in making the world a Christian world, and thereby
+establishing on earth the kingdom of heaven. The measure by which the
+Sunday school accomplishes such a work as this, constitutes the final,
+crucial test of its success.
+
+It cannot be said that any one of these six essentials of a good Sunday
+school stands supreme. They do not march in Indian file; nor are they to
+be set one against another in a comparison of values. These traits of a
+complete Sunday school should rather be regarded as one of the New
+Testament writers describes the traits of a complete character, in that
+familiar yet only half-understood passage, "As in the harmony of a
+choral song, blend with your faith the note of energy, and with your
+energy the note of knowledge, and with your knowledge the note of
+self-mastery,"[12] through all the eight aspects of the Christian; so
+let these six essential elements be combined to form that noble
+institution, the ideal Sunday school.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[12] 2 Pet. 1. 5-7.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE AND REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+
+I. THE HISTORIC PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL MOVEMENT
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Mag.=
+  2. =Mod.=
+  3. =Lay.=
+  4. =Unp. Wor.=
+  5. =Sel.-sup.=
+  6. =Sel.-gov.=
+  7. =Sel.-dev.=
+  8. =Bib. stu.=
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+To what race in the world does the Sunday school mainly belong?
+
+What are some of the lands in which it is found?
+
+What does the circulation of its literature show?
+
+What influence is the Sunday-school movement exercising upon the world?
+
+How many salient traits of the Sunday school are named in this chapter?
+
+What are those traits in the order named?
+
+To what race can the ancient germ of the Sunday school be traced?
+
+What institutions among that people contained the elemental principle of
+the Sunday school?
+
+What gathering similar to a Sunday school is described in the Bible?
+
+Who was the founder of the modern Sunday school?
+
+In what place, and what year, was the first Sunday school held?
+
+What aided to make this institution known?
+
+Was the first Sunday school established under direction of the clergy or
+the laity?
+
+Has the clergy, or the laity, been the more prominent in the work of the
+Sunday school throughout its history?
+
+What has been the attitude of the church toward this institution?
+
+What has been stated concerning the compensation of the teachers in the
+earliest Sunday school?
+
+Was the plan of paying teachers for their services continued?
+
+Are the majority of Sunday-school officers and teachers now paid for
+their services?
+
+What has been the effect of this condition, of unpaid service, upon the
+growth of the Sunday-school movement?
+
+How has this condition of voluntary, unpaid work affected the moral
+influence of the Sunday school?
+
+How have the expenses of the Sunday school in most places been met in
+the past?
+
+How are such expenses met in the best schools at the present time?
+
+How has the self-support of the Sunday school in the past affected its
+government?
+
+What is the present share of the church in the government of the school?
+
+What forces have directed the development of the Sunday school as a
+movement?
+
+What fact in its origin largely accounts for the unity of method in the
+Sunday school?
+
+What is the text-book studied in the Sunday school?
+
+What has been the influence of the Sunday school in behalf of the Bible?
+
+
+II. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Aim.= Rel. ins. (1) Kn. (2) Ch. (3) Ser.
+  2. =Meth. Tea.= (1) Teach. (2) Sch. (3) Text-b.
+  3. =Rel. Ch.= Bel. ch. Ca. ch. Sup. ch. Feed. ch. Sup. ch.
+  4. =Gov.= (1) Rights of teach. (2) Auth. of ch.
+  5. =Off.= (1) Sup. (2) Assoc. sup. (3) Sec. (4) Treas. (5) Fac.
+  6. =Mem.= All ag. all clas.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+What is a Sunday-school constitution?
+
+What is the difference between an ideal and a practical plan?
+
+Are all constitutions written?
+
+What six points should be provided for in the constitution of the Sunday
+school?
+
+What should be the aim of the Sunday school?
+
+State the definition of the Sunday school as given by Dr. Vincent.
+
+What three elements are involved in a true religious education?
+
+What difference may be noted between the Christian ideals of the past
+and of the present?
+
+What method does the Sunday school employ in its work?
+
+What are the three essentials in the working of a school?
+
+What does the Sunday school seek to accomplish in its pupils?
+
+What text-book is generally used in the Sunday school?
+
+Why is this book taught so widely?
+
+May material outside of this book be employed in teaching?
+
+What is the relation between the Sunday school and the church?
+
+Why is some government needed in the Sunday school?
+
+What two elements should be recognized in the management of the school?
+
+Name the officers of the Sunday school.
+
+Who should constitute the members of the school?
+
+
+III. THE NECESSITY AND ESSENTIALS OF A GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Nec. Gra.= (1) Sch. as wh. (2) Cond. cla. (a) Ineq.
+       siz. (b) Ineq. ag. (c) Lac. cl. sp. (3) Dif. adm.
+       (a) Obt. tea. (b) Trans. sch.
+  2. =Ess. Gra.= Sch. (1) Dep. (2) Fix. num. cla. (3) Ann.
+       sim. pro. (4) Ch. tea. (5) Gra. Less. (6) Bas. pro.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+Into what departments are most Sunday schools divided?
+
+Why does not the mere division into departments constitute a graded
+Sunday school?
+
+In what department is the school growing most rapidly?
+
+From what departments does the school lose its pupils?
+
+What is often the condition of classes for young people of fifteen years
+and older?
+
+What inequalities may be noted in the classes of an average Sunday
+school?
+
+What spirit is apt to be lacking in the school?
+
+What two great difficulties are met by the superintendent of an ungraded
+school?
+
+Sum up the six difficulties or defects which will be removed in a
+measure by grading the school.
+
+Name the six essentials of a thoroughly graded Sunday school.
+
+Draw a diagram representing the manner of seating the departments of a
+Sunday school.
+
+What is meant by a fixed number of classes in each department of a
+graded school?
+
+How should promotions be made from one department to another?
+
+Why should not teachers accompany their classes when the pupils are
+promoted from one department to another?
+
+What kind of lessons should be taught in the different departments of
+the school?
+
+Should promotions be made on the basis of age, of merit, or as the
+result of examination?
+
+Why cannot examinations in the Sunday school maintain the same standards
+as those of the public school?
+
+
+IV. THE GRADING OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Diff.=
+  2. =Rem.=
+  3. =Meth.= (1) Grad. (2) Simul. (a) Com. (b) Ag. sch.
+       (c) Ass. sch. (d) Ro-ca.
+  4. =Adv. Thor. Gra.= (1) App. (2) Ord. (3) Soc. rel.
+       (4) Tea. wk. (5) Inc. int. (6) Obt. tea. (7) Leak.-per.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+What is the greatest difficulty to be met in grading a Sunday school?
+
+What is the remedy for this difficulty?
+
+What are the two methods of grading an ungraded school?
+
+How may a school be graded by the gradual method?
+
+What are the four steps to be taken if a school is to be graded by the
+simultaneous method?
+
+What is to be done when scholars are unwilling to receive promotion?
+
+Name seven advantages of the graded school.
+
+Wherein does the graded school differ in appearance from one ungraded?
+
+How is order maintained more easily in the graded school?
+
+How does grading influence the social relations of the scholars?
+
+Why is teaching easier in the graded school?
+
+How does the graded Sunday school increase the interest of the pupils?
+
+Why is it easier to supply teachers in the school after it has been
+graded?
+
+What is meant by "the leakage period" in the scholars of the Sunday
+school?
+
+How does the graded school hold the scholar in the school?
+
+
+V. THE DEPARTMENTS OF THE GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Cradle Roll.= (1) Members. (2) Catalogue. (3) How
+       obtained. (4) Gifts. (5) Management. (6) Value.
+  2. =Beginners Dep.= (1) Ages. (2) Teaching. (3) Meeting
+       place.
+  3. =Primary Dep.= (1) Ages. (2) Classes. (3) Lessons.
+  4. =Junior Dep.= (1) Ages. (2) Classes. (3) Lessons.
+  5. =Intermediate Dep.= (1) Ages. (2) Classes. (3) Lessons.
+       (4) Special aim. (5) Christian character.
+  6. =Senior Dep.= (1) Name. (2) Ages. (3) Classes.
+       (4) Teachers. (5) Organization. (6) Social life.
+  7. =Teacher-Training Dep.= (1) Members. (2) Teacher.
+       (3) Studies. (4) Requirements. (5) Aims. (6) Reserve
+       class.
+  8. =Adult Dep.= (1) Members. (2) Classes. (3) Methods.
+       (4) Courses of study.
+  9. =Home Dep.= (1) Need. (2) Plan.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+What are the four principal departments of an ordinary Sunday school?
+
+In this chapter how many departments are described?
+
+What are the names of these departments?
+
+What department includes the names of the youngest children? Wherein
+does this department differ from most of the other departments? How
+should the list of its members be kept? How may names be obtained for
+it? What privileges should be given to the members of this department?
+What are the benefits of this department to the school?
+
+What is the name of the second department? What ages should it embrace?
+What should be the exercises in this department? How should these
+pupils be seated in the school?
+
+What is the third department named? What ages should it include? How
+should it be organized? What lessons should be taught in it?
+
+What is the fourth department? What are the ages of its pupils? How may
+they be classified? What lessons should be taught to them?
+
+What is the fifth department? What ages does it include? How should the
+classes be formed? Why should small classes be the rule in this
+department? What lessons should be taught? What should be a special aim
+of teachers in this department? What type of Christian character should
+be sought?
+
+What is the sixth department? What other names are applied to it? What
+ages should it include? What requirement should be made of those
+entering this department by promotion? How should the classes be
+organized? Who should teach in this department? How may the social
+spirit be cultivated?
+
+What is the seventh department? Who should be included in its
+membership? Who should be sought as the teacher? What condition should
+be required of its members? What studies should be followed? How should
+the course be conducted? What other class should also be connected with
+the Teacher-training Department? How shall this class be conducted?
+
+What is the eighth department? Who should be included in it? What are
+the two methods of instruction in this department? What courses of study
+should be taken?
+
+What is the ninth department? Who constitute its members? What care and
+help should be given to these people? What should be expected of them as
+members of the school?
+
+
+VI. THE SUPERINTENDENT
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Imp.= (N. Y. C. R. R.).
+  2. =Appt.= Tea. ch. past.
+  3. =Ter. Off.= One ye.
+  4. =Qual.= (1) Mor. char. (2) Dev. bel. (3) Wor. ch.
+       mem. (4) Bib. stu. (5) Ab. exec. (6) Sym. you.
+       (7) Tea. spi.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+What illustration from a railroad will show the importance of the
+superintendent?
+
+How should the appointment of the superintendent be made? Who should
+unite in the selection? How long should be his term of office?
+
+What are the traits named for an ideal superintendent?
+
+What should be his moral character? Why is such a character necessary in
+his office? What story of a statesman illustrates this?
+
+In what respects should the superintendent be a believer in the gospel?
+
+Why should he be a member of the church? What is his duty to the Bible?
+How may the superintendent influence his school to follow his requests?
+
+What should be his qualifications as an administrator or executive?
+
+What trait in relation to the young should he possess?
+
+What should be his mental attitude toward knowledge, especially
+knowledge of methods?
+
+What story is told of a great sculptor?
+
+
+VII. THE SUPERINTENDENT'S DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Gen.= (1) Sup. (2) Sel. tea. (3) Ass. sch. (4) Prog.
+       ser. (5) Sup.
+  2. =We.-d. Wor.= (1) Prog. (2) Les. stu. (3) Soc. dut.
+       (4) Seek. work. (5) Cab. meet. (6) Sp. d. (7) Conv.
+  3. =Dut. Sch. Sess.= (1) Pre. ear. (2) Op. pr. (3) Con.
+       pro. (4) Dur. less. (5) Les. rev. (6) Clos.
+  4. =Misc. Dut.= (1) N. B. (2) Q. (3) E. L. (4) Us. B.
+       (5) Les. per. (6) Sp. (7) Sel.-con. (8) Aim.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+Into what three classes may the duties of the superintendent be divided?
+
+What are his general duties and prerogatives in relation to the school?
+
+What are his duties through the week?
+
+What social duties should he endeavor to fulfill?
+
+How may he obtain teachers and workers?
+
+What is the purpose of cabinet meetings?
+
+How may the superintendent be ready for special occasions in the
+Sunday-school year?
+
+What is his duty toward conventions and associations of workers?
+
+What are the duties of the superintendent during the session of the
+school?
+
+What suggestions are given concerning the conducting of the program of
+the school?
+
+Who should review the lesson?
+
+Name some miscellaneous hints concerning his work.
+
+How may he have a quiet, orderly school?
+
+How may he promote the use of the Bible as a text-book by teachers and
+scholars?
+
+What rule should be kept with reference to the lesson period?
+
+Under what conditions should visitors be allowed to address the school
+during the regular session?
+
+What suggestion is made concerning self-control?
+
+What aim should be kept before the superintendent and the school?
+
+
+VIII. THE ASSOCIATE AND DEPARTMENT SUPERINTENDENTS
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Nec.= Gen. asst. Dept. asst.
+  2. =Titles.= Asso. sup. Dep. supt.
+  3. =App.= Nom. sup. Conf. tea. "Minor. cand."
+  4. =Duties.= (1) Not tea. (2) Dep. sup. (3) Prov. sub.
+       (4) Assig. new sch. (5) Detail. sup. (6) Ch. st.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+What is the need of an assistant to the superintendent in the Sunday
+school?
+
+What two classes of assistants are required in an organized school?
+
+What titles should be given to these officers?
+
+How should the associate superintendent be chosen?
+
+Why should the superintendent possess the right to nominate the
+associate superintendent?
+
+Should the associate superintendent be at the same time a teacher in the
+school?
+
+When should the associate take charge of the school?
+
+How should substitutes be obtained for teachers who are absent?
+
+What class should not be called upon to furnish substitute teachers, and
+why?
+
+What class will supply teachers in a properly graded school?
+
+How, when, and where should the teachers be obtained?
+
+When should supply teachers be ready and in their places?
+
+What is the work of the associate superintendent with reference to new
+scholars?
+
+Should new scholars select their own classes?
+
+What part may the associate take during the general exercises of the
+school?
+
+What military title might properly be given to the associate
+superintendent? Wherein does this title apply to him?
+
+Give a summary of the six duties performed by the associate
+superintendent.
+
+
+IX. THE SECRETARY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Imp.=
+  2. =Qual.= (1) B. M. (2) R. A. (3) G. W. (4) Q. M. A.
+       (5) Q. M. (6) C. C.
+  3. =App.=
+  4. =Assts.=
+  5. =Dep. Secs.=
+  6. =Dut.= (1) R. M. (2) R. S. (3) R. C. (4) R. S.
+       (5) L. S. (6) C.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+Who is frequently and unwisely chosen as secretary of the Sunday school?
+What are the results of such a choice?
+
+What results follow from an efficient secretary?
+
+What six qualifications are named for the ideal secretary?
+
+What traits of a business man should he possess?
+
+What should be his principle with regard to regular attendance? What
+also should be included in his attendance?
+
+Wherein should the secretary be a good writer?
+
+What should be the traits of his mental action?
+
+What exercises in the school should never be interrupted by the work of
+the secretary? Should he ever come to a class while the lesson is being
+taught?
+
+What should be the behavior of the secretary?
+
+How should the secretary be chosen?
+
+How long should be his term of office?
+
+How should the assistant secretary be appointed?
+
+What are department secretaries, and who should be appointed to this
+position?
+
+What seven duties are named for the secretary and his assistants?
+
+What record should be kept of business meetings?
+
+What are his duties with reference to reports from committees?
+
+What weekly record should be kept of the attendance in the school?
+
+What are the duties of the secretary with regard to the records of class
+attendance?
+
+What general catalogue of the members of the school should be kept? How
+should this record be arranged?
+
+What is the duty of the secretary with regard to the literature used in
+the school?
+
+How should the official correspondence of the school be conducted?
+
+
+X. THE TREASURY AND THE TREASURER
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Early S. S.= Light expenses.
+  2. =Modern S. S.= Large expenses. Objects.
+  3. =Practical Ways and Means.= Methods. Objections.
+  4. =Ideal Way.= Allowance. Subscriptions. Benefits.
+  5. =S. S. Treasurer.= Relation to secretary.
+  6. =Treasurer's Work.= (1) Charge. (2) Bank account.
+       (3) Reports and vouchers. (4) Bills. (5) Checks.
+       (6) Audits. (7) Study of benevolent interests.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+Why was little money required by the early Sunday schools? Wherein was
+this fact fortunate for the schools?
+
+Why are the expenses of the Sunday school greater than they were in the
+early years?
+
+What are the principal expenses of a modern Sunday school?
+
+What are the methods of supplying funds for the Sunday school in most
+places?
+
+What is the objection to these methods?
+
+What is the ideal method of supporting the Sunday school? Under this
+plan what should be expected of the members of the school? What are the
+advantages of this plan?
+
+Should the same person act as secretary and as treasurer? In that case
+what principles should be observed?
+
+What kind of a person should be chosen as treasurer?
+
+What funds should be placed under his charge?
+
+Where should he keep the money of the school? How should this bank
+account be conducted?
+
+What reports should the treasurer present, and where should he present
+them?
+
+How should all payments of the treasurer be authorized?
+
+What should be done with bills against the school?
+
+In what form is it desirable to make payments for bills?
+
+How and when should the accounts of the treasurer be audited?
+
+What service can the treasurer render to the school in relation to
+benevolent interests?
+
+
+XI. VALUE OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL LIBRARY
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Lib. Pas.=
+  2. =Dec. Pres.=
+  3. =Cau. Dec.=
+  4. =Uses. G. Lib.= (1) Fam. ne. (2) Mor. inf. (3) Aid
+       sch.
+  5. =Prin. Sel.= (1) Var. (2) Pop. (3) Lit. qual.
+       (4) Mor. tea. (5) Ch. sp.
+  6. =Com. S. S. Lib.=
+  7. =Pub. Lib. & S. S.=
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+Why was the library important to the school in the earlier times?
+
+What are the facts regarding the decline of the Sunday-school library in
+recent times?
+
+What causes are assigned for the decline of the Sunday-school library?
+
+How are books more accessible now than in former times?
+
+Why is the library no longer needed to draw pupils to the school?
+
+How does the present educational aim of the Sunday school affect the
+interest in the library?
+
+What criticism is made upon the books in most Sunday-school libraries?
+
+How does the management of the library often interfere with the order of
+the school?
+
+What three benefits are named from a well-conducted Sunday-school
+library?
+
+How does the library in many places aid the school?
+
+What four principles should guide in the selection of books?
+
+What classes of books should be in the library?
+
+Why must the books be popular and interesting?
+
+What should be the literary standard for books in the Sunday-school
+library?
+
+Should love stories be admitted?
+
+What moral standards should be maintained?
+
+What is meant by the Christian spirit in the Sunday-school library?
+
+What kind of a library should be sought for in the educational work of
+the Sunday school?
+
+How may the use of such a library be promoted in the school?
+
+How may the public library be made useful to the Sunday schools in a
+city or town?
+
+
+XII. THE MANAGEMENT OF THE LIBRARY
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Lib. Com.= (1) Pur. bks. (2) Freq. add.
+  2. =Libr.= (1) Bkm. (2) Bus. m. (3) Gen. man.
+  3. =Asst. Lib.=
+  4. =Man. Lib.= (1) Coll. (2) Ass. (3) Dist. (4) Ret.
+       (a) Rec. sch. (b) Rec. she. (c) Fin. (d) Rew.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+Who should choose the books for the Sunday-school library?
+
+What should be expected of the library committee?
+
+Why should a large purchase of books at one time be avoided?
+
+How may the committee learn of new books?
+
+How should donations of books be regarded?
+
+What are the advantages of small additions at frequent times?
+
+Who should be sought for the Sunday-school librarian?
+
+How should the assistant librarians be chosen?
+
+What plan should be followed in collecting the books returned to the
+library by the scholars?
+
+What are some plans for choosing books?
+
+What difficulties are met in the choice of books by scholars?
+
+How should the books be distributed?
+
+What are the difficulties met in the return of books by scholars?
+
+How may the loss of books be avoided?
+
+How may lost books be traced and brought back?
+
+
+XIII. THE TEACHER'S QUALIFICATIONS AND NEED OF TRAINING
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Qual.= (1) Sin. dis. (2) Lov. you. (3) Lov. ser.
+       (4) Wil. work.
+  2. =Nec. Train.= (1) Gen. prin. (2) Tea. resp. (3) Dem.
+       ag. (4) Tea. cla.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+Why does the work of the Sunday-school teacher require special
+qualifications?
+
+What four qualifications are named as requisite?
+
+What should be the relation of the teacher toward Christ?
+
+What should be his attitude of mind and heart toward young people? Why
+is this attitude necessary?
+
+What should be his relation to the Bible?
+
+What is required of him as a worker?
+
+When did training for Sunday-school teachers begin in America?
+
+What have been various stages and periods in the movement for
+teacher-training?
+
+What four reasons are named why the Sunday-school teacher should receive
+training?
+
+How does the shortness of the time and its weekly meeting of the Sunday
+school relate to the training of the teacher?
+
+How does the teacher's responsibility make his training necessary?
+
+What does this age demand of teachers?
+
+Why does this age make special demands upon Bible teachers?
+
+In what condition of mind with regard to the lesson do most of our
+scholars come to the Sunday school?
+
+Why does the condition of the scholar require preparation on the part of
+the teacher?
+
+
+XIV. THE TRAINING AND TASK OF THE TEACHER
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Train. Nec.= (1) Book. (a) Or. nat. (b) Hist.
+       (c) Geog. back. (d) Inst. (e) Eth. rel. tea.
+       (2) Schol. (3) Schoo. (4) Work.
+  2. =Tea. Tas.= (1) Stu. (2) Fri. (3) Tea. (4) Dis.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+What are the four departments of teacher-training?
+
+What in the Bible does the teacher need to know?
+
+What does he need to know about his scholars?
+
+What does he need to know about the school?
+
+What does he need to know about teaching?
+
+What are the four departments of the teacher's task?
+
+What has he to do as a student?
+
+What may he do as a friend?
+
+What is required of him as a teacher?
+
+What is his work for his class, as a disciple of Christ?
+
+
+XV. THE CONSTITUENCY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Rel. to Com.= (1) Const. adj. (2) Mem. rep.
+       (3) Meth. adap.
+  2. =Chang. Pop.= (1) Gro. (2) Dec. (3) Ch. soc.
+       (4) Ali.
+  3. =Prac. Sugg.= (1) St. fi. (2) Cul. fi. (3) Pro.
+       f. all ele. (4) Ad. meth.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+What kind of a temple is the Sunday school?
+
+Whence must come the members of the school?
+
+What duty does the school owe to the population around it?
+
+Of what should a Sunday school be representative?
+
+What elements in a mixed community should enter into the Sunday school?
+
+What methods should be sought in localities where the traits and needs
+of the people differ?
+
+What fact regarding the population of our country brings great problems
+to the church and Sunday school?
+
+Give some instances of the effect of changing population upon churches.
+
+How often are churches generally compelled to change their constituency?
+
+What are some causes of the changed conditions in cities and country
+places?
+
+What should be done in growing communities?
+
+What are the conditions, and the remedy for them, in a declining
+population?
+
+How may a population change socially while increasing numerically?
+
+What is the duty of a Sunday school in changing communities?
+
+When may a church or a Sunday school rightly abandon its field?
+
+What is the first duty of the Sunday school in relation to its field?
+
+What is its duty to the population in its field, wherever the population
+can be reached?
+
+What elements in the population should be provided for in the plans and
+efforts of the school?
+
+
+XVI. RECRUITING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Nec.=
+  2. =Los. fr. Sch.= (1) Sear. in sch. (2) Foll. abs.
+  3. =Char. Gro. Sch.= (1) Eff. (2) Attr. (3) Prom.
+       (4) Sp. occ. (5) Sp. hel.
+  4. =Reach. Bey. Sch.= (1) Adv. (2) Inv. (3) Vis.
+  5. =Dang.=
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+Why is it not only desirable but necessary to seek for increase in the
+membership of the Sunday school?
+
+What is the percentage of change in Sunday schools annually?
+
+For what should search be made in the school?
+
+How may the absentees from the school be looked after?
+
+What traits in a Sunday school will naturally draw to it scholars?
+
+Why should the Sunday school be made a prominent feature in the church?
+
+What are some special occasions in the year to which attention should be
+given?
+
+What special methods of building up the school may be employed in
+certain localities?
+
+How may the school be advertised?
+
+What are some advantages in a personal invitation?
+
+What plans for the visitation of the field are suggested?
+
+What caution should be given concerning methods of recruiting the Sunday
+school?
+
+
+XVII. THE TESTS OF A GOOD SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Rep. Char.=
+  2. =Org.=
+  3. =Ord.=
+  4. =Sp.=
+  5. =Edu. Eff.=
+  6. =Char.-buil.=
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+What is meant in the title of this chapter?
+
+How many tests or criterions are here named?
+
+What are these tests?
+
+What is meant by the representative character of a Sunday school?
+
+Why is organization necessary to constitute a good school?
+
+What is included in a graded school?
+
+To what extent is order a requisite?
+
+How may the demand for order be carried to excess?
+
+What is "spirit" in a Sunday school?
+
+What constitutes efficiency in Sunday-school work?
+
+For what purpose is the teaching and work of the Sunday school?
+
+What is included in the building of a character, as an aim of the Sunday
+school?
+
+How should these tests or traits be viewed?
+
+What illustrative passage is given from the New Testament?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+Text uses both Sunday School and Sunday-School.
+
+Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
+
+Page 71, "5" changed to "6" (6. =Duties.=)
+
+Page 85, "useles" changed to "useless" (useless in the Sunday-School)
+
+Page 109, "(1)" changed to "(2)" ((2) _As a Friend._)
+
+Page 147, "be" changed to "he" (should he present them)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Organizing and Building Up the Sunday
+School, by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
+
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Organizing and Building Up the Sunday School, by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut.
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Organizing and Building Up the Sunday School, by 
+Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Organizing and Building Up the Sunday School
+       Modern Sunday School Manuals
+
+Author: Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
+
+Release Date: January 24, 2011 [EBook #35050]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ORGANIZING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Emmy, Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='center'><span class="smcap"><b>Modern Sunday School Manuals</b></span><br />
+
+<b>Edited by Charles Foster Kent in</b><br />
+<b>Collaboration with John T. McFarland</b><br />
+</div>
+<h1><span class="smcap">Organizing and Building<br />
+Up the Sunday School</span></h1>
+
+<div class='author'>By JESSE LYMAN HURLBUT<br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 132px;">
+<img src="images/i-005.png" width="132" height="175" alt="Emblem" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class='center'><br /><br /><br />
+NEW YORK: EATON &amp; MAINS<br />
+CINCINNATI: JENNINGS &amp; GRAHAM<br />
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='copyright'>
+Copyright, 1910, by<br />
+EATON &amp; MAINS<br />
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents">
+<tr><td align='right'>&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>I.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>The Historic Principles Underlying the Sunday School Movement</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>II.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>The Constitution of the Sunday School</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>III.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>The Necessity and Essentials of a Graded Sunday School</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>IV.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>The Grading of the Sunday School</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>V.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>The Departments of the Graded Sunday School</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>VI.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>The Superintendent</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>VII.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>The Superintendent's Duties and Responsibilities</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>VIII.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>The Associate and Department Superintendents</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>IX.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>The Secretary of the Sunday School</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>X.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>The Treasury and the Treasurer</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XI.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>Value of the Sunday School Library</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XII.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>The Management of the Library</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XIII.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>The Teacher's Qualifications and Need of Training</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XIV.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>The Training and Task of the Teacher</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XV.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>The Constituency of the Sunday School</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XVI.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>Recruiting the Sunday School</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XVII.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>The Tests of a Good Sunday School</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>Appendix</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>PREFATORY</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the preparation of this volume the purpose
+was to supply a convenient handbook upon the
+organization, the management, and the recruiting
+of the Sunday school, to be read by those desiring
+information upon these subjects. But after the
+larger part of the work had been prepared a desire
+was expressed that the method of treatment be so
+modified that the volume might be employed as a
+text-book for classes and individual students in the
+department of teacher-training. It has been the
+aim of the author not to alter the work so materially
+as to render it unfitting for the general reader;
+and with this in view the series of blackboard outlines
+for the teacher, and the questions for the
+testing of the student's knowledge, have been
+placed at the end of the book. In the hope that
+both the reader and the student may receive
+profit from these pages the book is committed to
+the public.</p>
+
+<div class='sig'>
+<span class="smcap"><b>Jesse Lyman Hurlbut.</b></span><br />
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>I</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>THE HISTORIC PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL MOVEMENT</div>
+
+
+<p>1. <b>Magnitude of the Sunday-School Movement.</b>
+At the opening of the twentieth century the
+Sunday school stands forth as one of the largest,
+most widely spread, most characteristic, and most
+influential institutions of the Anglo-Saxon world.
+Wherever the English race is found the Sunday
+school is established, in the Mother isle, on the
+American continent, at the Cape of Good Hope,
+and in Australasia. In the United States and
+Canada it has a following of fourteen million members,
+representing every religious denomination.
+Its periodical literature has a wider circulation
+than that of any other modern educational movement.
+It touches every class of society, from the
+highest to the lowest; and its largest membership
+is found among the young, who are of all ages the
+most susceptible to formative forces. It is safe to
+say that this institution has exerted a powerful
+influence upon the majority of the men and women
+of to-day, and is now shaping the character of
+millions who will be the men and women of to-morrow.</p>
+
+<p>2. <b>A Modern Movement.</b> Great as it appears in
+our time, the Sunday school is comparatively a
+modern institution. Undoubtedly, the germ of it
+can be traced back to that source of all the religious
+life of the civilized world, the Hebrew people.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>
+The elemental principle of the Sunday school is
+possibly to be found in the prophetic guilds before
+the Exile, and the schools of the Jewish scribes
+after the Restoration. The great Bible class of
+Ezra (Neh. 8) was not unlike a modern Sunday
+school. Yet as an organized institution the
+Sunday school began with Robert Raikes, the
+philanthropist of Gloucester, England, who on one
+Sunday in 1780 called together a group of street
+boys in a room on Sooty Alley, and employed
+young women to teach them the rudiments of
+reading and religion. If Raikes had not happened
+to be the editor of the town newspaper, and in
+constant need of copy, his Sunday school might
+soon have been forgotten. But from time to time
+he published concerning it paragraphs which were
+copied into other papers and attracted attention,
+so that the Sooty Alley Sunday school became the
+parent of a vast progeny throughout the United
+Kingdom and beyond the seas. No institution
+then in existence, or recorded in church history,
+suggested to Robert Raikes either the name or
+the plan. Both arose out of his own good heart
+and active mind. But since his day both the
+name "Sunday school" and its plan of working
+have been perpetuated, and every Sunday school
+in the world is a monument to Robert Raikes, the
+editor of Gloucester.</p>
+
+<p>3. <b>A Lay Movement.</b> It is a significant fact
+that the first Sunday school was established not
+by a priest, but by a private member of the Church
+of England, that its earliest teachers were not
+curates, nor sisters, but young women of the
+laity, and that throughout its history the movement<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
+has been directed and carried forward, in
+all lands and among nearly all denominations, by
+lay workers.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> This is noteworthy, because in the
+eighteenth century, far more than in our time, the
+teaching of religion was regarded as the peculiar
+function of the clergy, and lay preaching was
+frowned upon as irregular. The earliest Sunday
+school may have been preserved from churchly
+opposition by its own insignificance; or it may
+have won the favor of the clergy by the fact that
+all its pupils at the close of the morning session
+were regularly marched to church. Whatever the
+cause may have been, it is certain that under a
+providence which we must regard as divine, both
+in its beginning and throughout its history, the
+Sunday school, although a laymen's movement, has
+received favor, and not opposition, from the clergy
+and the Church.</p>
+
+<p>4. <b>Unpaid Workers.</b> It has been stated that
+Raikes paid the young women who taught in his
+Sunday school a penny for each Sunday. But as
+the movement went onward the conductors and
+teachers were soon giving their service freely; and
+this has been the prevailing rule throughout the
+world. There are a few Sunday schools wherein a
+curate or assistant pastor is the superintendent,
+and a few mission schools that employ a salaried
+teacher who works through the week as a visitor;
+but it may be asserted that the world-wide army
+of Sunday-school workers lay upon the altar of
+the Church their free-hearted, unpaid offering of
+time, study, and effort. This has been and is a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+noble, a self-denying, a splendid service; but it
+has also been a potent element in the progress of
+the movement. Those who would establish a
+school, alike in the city and on the frontier, have
+not been compelled to wait until funds could be
+raised for the salary of a superintendent and
+teachers. If only churches rich enough to pay for
+workers had established Sunday schools in our
+country, the Sunday school as an institution would
+not have advanced westward with the wave of
+population. And not only has the unpaid service
+aided the growth of the movement, it has also
+added to its moral and religious power. The pupils
+and their parents have recognized that the teachers
+were working not for pay, but from love for their
+scholars and their Saviour; and that love has
+imparted to their message a power all its own.</p>
+
+<p>5. <b>Self-supporting.</b> The Sunday school has been
+from the beginning and even now remains in large
+measure a self-supporting movement. It everywhere
+involves expense for furniture, for teaching
+requisites, for song books, for libraries; but for the
+most part the money to meet these expenses has
+been contributed in the school, among its own
+members, and not by the church. Instances are
+on record, even, where the church, in former times,
+charged and received rent for the use of its property
+by the Sunday school! Such short-sighted
+practice has been rare, but multitudes of churches
+have found the Sunday school a source of far
+greater profit than expense. In other words, those
+who have done the work of the school have also
+paid its bills, and many families that have received
+its benefits have been exempt from its burdens.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+It is noteworthy, however, that this condition is
+passing away, that churches are awakening to their
+responsibility and opportunity, and are giving to
+the Sunday school that liberal support which its
+work requires and deserves. In the ratio of investment
+and return, no department of the church
+costs so little and rewards so richly as an efficient
+Sunday school.</p>
+
+<p>6. <b>Self-governing.</b> As a result of being self-supporting,
+the Sunday school has also been a
+self-governing institution. Paying its own way
+and asking no favor, it has been almost everywhere
+an independent body, accepting no outside
+authority. It has grown up almost unrecognized
+and unnoticed by the churches. Fifty years ago
+scarcely one of the denominations, great or small,
+gave the Sunday school recognition as an integral
+part of its system. Little attention was paid to it
+in the ruling body of the local church. It chose
+its own officers, obtained its own teachers, made
+its own rules, and for its teachings was responsible
+to no ecclesiastical authority. It was generally an
+ally to, but independent of, the church. In this
+respect a gradual change has taken place. Its
+relations are now much closer, its position is defined;
+and the institution is sanctioned and supervised
+by the church.</p>
+
+<p>7. <b>Self-developing.</b> The system of the Sunday
+school has been evolved without guidance or control
+from any human authority. It has been from
+the first self-organizing, and has been also self-developing.
+Some might consider the form which
+it has taken accidental; but it is better to regard
+it as providential. The men and women who laid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+the foundations of the Sunday school were building
+under a divine direction of which they were
+unconscious. Working apart from each other, on
+both sides of the sea, and separated by wilderness
+and prairie, everywhere they established an institution
+under the same general principles, and with
+substantial unity in its plans. Perhaps one cause
+for its unity of method is that it arose in the
+midst of the Anglo-Saxon race, a people which
+has instinctive tendencies toward law, system, and
+organization. If it had started among a Latin
+people, where men, and not systems, rule, there
+might have been a different form of organization,
+with different aims, with different titles for officers,
+in every province. But throughout the English-speaking
+world, which is the habitat of the Sunday
+school, the institution bears the same name. Its
+principal or conductor is called a superintendent&mdash;cumbrous
+though the title may be&mdash;and its working
+force are known as teachers.</p>
+
+<p>8. <b>Bible Study.</b> The most prominent trait in the
+Sunday school of the present is that it has become
+the most extensive movement for instruction in
+the Sacred Scriptures that the world has yet seen.
+All these millions of members, young and old, are
+engaged in the study of one book&mdash;the Holy Bible.
+Many of these millions, indeed, study the Bible
+superficially, unintelligently, with narrow interpretations
+and crude methods; yet in the Sunday
+schools of the lowest type as well as of the highest
+some portion of the Bible every week is brought
+to the scholars' attention. That the Bible is so
+generally known and so widely circulated, that the
+demand for this ancient book warrants the printing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+of more than ten million copies every year, is
+due more to the Sunday school, with all its defects
+of method, than to any other institution. This
+concentration of attention upon the Bible has
+grown gradually in the Sunday school. In the
+eighteenth century Sunday school, both of England
+and America, religious instruction was only one of
+its aims; and it was instruction in the catechism
+and forms of worship rather than in the Bible.
+But by slow degrees the Bible came more prominently
+to the front, until now the Sunday school
+is everywhere the school with one text-book. He
+who surveys the Sunday school through the inner
+eye beholds it on one day in each week covering
+the continent with its millions of students, all
+face to face with some portion of the great text-book
+of religion. The thoughtful observer will
+reflect that a people whose children and youth
+come into weekly contact with the living word
+will not wander far from the path of righteousness.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p>
+<h2>II</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL</div>
+
+
+<p>The general characteristics of the Sunday school,
+as they have gradually developed during its long
+history, must be considered in any plan for organizing
+and conducting an individual school. The
+institution should be studied both ideally and
+practically: practically, to ascertain what the
+Sunday school has been and is now; yet ideally,
+with a view to developing its highest efficiency
+and largest usefulness. Such a plan for the
+specific Sunday school may be called its constitution.
+It is desirable to have the constitution in
+written or printed form, but it is not necessary.
+There is no more complete system than the government
+of Great Britain, yet it has no written
+constitution; and Mr. James Bryce has shown us
+in America that the instrument known as the
+Constitution of the United States by no means
+represents our own actual method of government.
+In every nation there is an unwritten law, wrought
+out of a people's consciousness, which is more
+imperative and enduring than any parchment scroll
+or printed form.</p>
+
+<p>The general principles to be maintained in
+establishing and developing a Sunday school are
+the following:</p>
+
+<p>1. <b>Aim.</b> The primary aims of the Sunday school
+are religious instruction, character-development,
+and effective service. It is not to teach history,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
+nor science, nor sociology, but religion; and not
+merely to impart a knowledge of religion to the
+intellect of its pupils, but, infinitely more important,
+to make religion an effective force in the
+life of the individual scholar. As a Christian
+institution, in the definition given by one of its
+greatest leaders,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> "The Sunday school is a department
+of the Church of Christ, in which the word
+of Christ is taught, for the purpose of bringing
+souls to Christ, and of building up souls in Christ."
+If it be in connection with a Jewish synagogue or
+temple&mdash;as are some of the best Sunday schools
+or Sabbath schools in our land&mdash;it is for the
+purpose of instruction in the faith of the ancient
+fathers, and of making their teachings live again
+in the men and women of to-day. A true religious
+education, such as the Sunday school seeks to
+give, will include three aims: (1) knowledge,
+(2) character, (3) service. There must be an
+intellectual grasping of the truth; a character
+built on the truth, out of faith in God, and the
+life of God inspiring the human soul; and service
+for God and humanity. The Sunday school seeks
+to develop not only saints in fellowship with God,
+but workers for God, who shall strive to realize
+on earth the kingdom of God, not seeking to be
+ministered unto but to minister. There have been
+centuries in the past when the Christian ideal was
+the cloistered saint, living apart in communion with
+God. But that was a pitiably incomplete conception
+of the perfect man. In our age we have the larger
+ideal of saintliness with service; and to promote
+this should be the aim of every Sunday school.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p>
+<p>2. <b>Method.</b> To attain its aim the Sunday school
+employs the teaching method. The Sunday school
+is not, as some weak-minded people have called
+it, "the nursery of the church." Nor is it, as it
+has been named, "the Bible service"; for, although
+it holds a service, it is more than a service. It
+is not&mdash;or should not be&mdash;a gathering of groups,
+large or small, where silent hearers listen to
+sermonettes by little preachers, miscalled teachers.
+It holds a service imbued with the spirit of worship,
+yet worship is not its central purpose. It
+should have music, but it is not primarily a service
+of song. It should be pervaded by an atmosphere
+of happiness, but mere enjoyment is not its object.
+The Sunday school is a <i>school:</i> and the very
+word shows that its aim is instruction and character
+formation, and its method is that of teaching.
+For the work of a Sunday school the essentials
+are three:</p>
+
+<p>(1) There must be the living teacher who is
+fitted to inspire, to instruct, and to guide. His
+part is not merely to pour knowledge into his
+pupils, but to awaken thought, to guide the
+search for truth, to call forth expression in character
+and in action.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>(2) There must also be the scholar who is to
+be taught. It is his part in the process of instruction
+not merely to listen and to remember, not
+merely to receive impressions, but to give expression
+to the teaching, in life, in character, in influence,
+and in service. The true effectiveness of the
+teaching in the Sunday school will be shown by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+the reproductive power of the truth in the life
+of the scholar.</p>
+
+<p>(3) There must be a text-book in the hands
+of both the teacher and the pupil. In any school
+for religious instruction one book will of necessity
+stand prominent, that great Book of books which
+records the divine revelation to man. The Sunday
+school may teach history, geography, institutions,
+doctrines, literature of the Bible, but these only
+as a framework or a foundation for the education
+of the heart into a personal fellowship with God.
+This character-molding, faith-impelling force is the
+divine truth taught in the Bible through the
+experiences and teachings of patriarchs, prophets,
+priests, psalmists, sages, and apostles, and above
+all by the words and life and redemptive work of
+the Master himself. And the subjects of study in
+the Sunday school need not be limited to the
+text of Scripture. There may be extra-biblical
+material for the teaching of character and service;
+and all this should be open to the Sunday school.</p>
+
+<p>3. <b>Relation to the Church.</b> However independent
+of the church organization the Sunday school may
+have been in its beginnings, and however self-dependent
+some union Sunday schools may of necessity
+be in certain churchless regions, the general fact
+is established that the Sunday school as an institution
+belongs to the church, is under the care of
+the church, has a claim upon moral and financial
+support by the church, should be a feeder to the
+membership of the church, and should gratefully accept
+the supervision of the church. It should regard
+itself and be recognized by all as in many ways
+the most important department of the church.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>4. <b>Government.</b> All power must be under direction,
+and the mighty energies of the Sunday
+school especially need a wise, strong guidance.
+In the general management of the Sunday school
+two elements should be recognized: (1) the rights
+of the workers and (2) the authority of the church.</p>
+
+<p>(1) It must ever be kept in mind that the
+Sunday school is an army of volunteers. Its
+workers are men and women who of their own
+accord give to the school without compensation
+their gift of service. Those who make such a
+contribution to the success of the Sunday school
+should certainly have a voice in its management.</p>
+
+<p>(2) But it is not to be forgotten, on the other
+side, that the Sunday school is not superior to the
+church, nor independent of it, but subsidiary to
+it; hence the church should be able to exercise
+some control over the school if such control shall
+ever be needed. For example, in the choice of a
+superintendent, who is the executive officer of the
+school, the ruling body of the local church and
+the working body of teachers and officers should
+unite. No one should undertake to conduct a
+church Sunday school unless he thus has the
+definite assurance that his teachers are with him,
+and that his church is officially supporting him.</p>
+
+<p>5. <b>Officers.</b> Little need be said here on this
+subject, for it is one with which every worker is
+familiar.</p>
+
+<p>(1) There must be a leader, or manager, the
+executive head of the school, who is universally
+styled the superintendent. If we were organizing
+a new institution, and not describing one already
+world-wide and with officers already named by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+common usage and consent, we would prefer that
+the executive of the Sunday school receive the
+title of Principal or Director; but the somewhat
+awkward word Superintendent is settled upon him,
+and will remain.</p>
+
+<p>(2) There must also be an assistant superintendent,
+or more than one, as the size of the
+school may demand. The better title is associate
+superintendent, as is now given in the larger
+number of well-organized schools. The superintendent
+should have the privilege of nominating
+his own associates or assistants, the nominations
+to be confirmed by the board of teachers and
+officers.</p>
+
+<p>(3) There will be a secretary, with such assistants
+as he may require, to be nominated by the
+secretary and confirmed by the teachers.</p>
+
+<p>(4) There will be a treasurer, to care for the
+funds, and to disburse them as ordered by the
+board of teachers, or the Sunday school as a whole.</p>
+
+<p>(5) Lastly, but most important of all, there must
+be the working force of instructors, the faculty of
+the institution, its teachers, who should be carefully
+chosen. The pastor, as well as the superintendent,
+should have an active voice in their call,
+since they are his coworkers in the religious
+instruction of the congregation.</p>
+
+<p>6. <b>Membership.</b> In the conception of a Sunday
+school, both ideal and practical, the constituency
+for which it is established must be considered.
+As has been noted, it was originally for children
+only, and only for children who were destitute of
+home training, and outside of church relationship.
+The earliest Sunday schools were what are called<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+in England ragged schools, and in America mission
+schools. But in the noble evolution of the movement
+the Sunday school constituency has been
+vastly enlarged; and now it is recognized that the
+Sunday school is for all ages and all classes. It
+should embrace the young and old, the ignorant
+and intelligent, the poor and rich, the sinner as
+well as the saint. The Sunday school which fulfills
+its mission to society will welcome all the world.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p>
+<h2>III</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>THE NECESSITY AND ESSENTIALS OF A GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL</div>
+
+
+<p>1. <b>The Necessity of Grading.</b> As the result of
+the gradual and unguided evolution of the Sunday
+school through a century or longer, most schools
+are now divided in a vague way into certain
+departments, generally known as the Primary, or
+Infant Class; the Youths Department, or Boys
+and Girls; and the Adult Department, or Bible
+Classes. Many who have charge of schools such
+as these regard them as graded, and so report
+them. But the mere naming of departments does
+not constitute a graded school. Whoever studies
+the ungraded or loosely graded Sunday school will
+perceive in it certain evils which can be removed
+only by a thorough system of grading, maintained
+faithfully through a series of years. Some of these
+conditions which make the graded Sunday school
+an absolute necessity are the following:</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>The School as a Whole.</i> The close observer,
+looking at the entire school, notes first of all that
+its gains and its losses in membership are at the
+extremes of its constituency. It is the normal
+condition for the gains to come in the Primary
+section; for the little children in families are
+attracted to the school or brought there by older
+children. There is almost invariably a constant
+increase in this department, requiring frequently
+the organization of new classes in the grade above,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+among the younger boys and girls. But, on the
+other hand, there is a constant loss of older scholars.
+In most schools, at the age of fourteen, in what
+is known as the early adolescent period of life,
+the pupils, for one reason or another, begin to
+drop out, and few enter to take their places.
+Almost every school is thus growing at the bottom
+and dying at the top. The Primary classes are
+full, but the classes of those above fourteen years
+are usually small&mdash;two large boys here, three
+yonder. And although girls continue in the school
+more frequently than boys, there will appear the
+same conditions&mdash;some large classes of girls and
+young women, but others where discouraged
+teachers are sitting down with one, two, or three
+pupils. Six or eight years ago these same classes
+came out from the Primary Department, each
+with eight or ten pupils; now they are mere
+skeleton classes, barely alive, and threatened with
+dissolution. Every earnest, thoughtful superintendent
+would rejoice to find some plan that will
+guarantee large classes of young people between
+sixteen and eighteen years of age, for this is the
+most vital period in the life of the individual.
+Such a plan is proposed in the graded system.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>The Condition of the Classes.</i> Fixing the
+attention upon the several classes, the critic of the
+school system notes three unfavorable conditions:</p>
+
+<p>(a) There is the inequality in the size of classes,
+to which reference has already been made. When
+classes come together by accident, pupils bringing
+their friends, or new members joining whatever
+classes they please, some classes of boys or girls
+will inevitably be too large for good government<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+or good teaching, and others will be too small
+to create any enthusiasm, either in the teacher or
+the pupils.</p>
+
+<p>(b) There is also an inequality in the ages of
+pupils in the same class. A class may include
+one pupil or two pupils sixteen years old, and
+others as young as ten, or even nine years; some
+who during the week are in the high school, and
+others who can scarcely read the verses assigned
+to them.</p>
+
+<p>(c) Where these inequalities of numbers and
+ages exist there is a lack of that class spirit which
+is an essential element of power in a well-ordered
+Sunday school. Every class should be a unit,
+with a strong social bond; but this ideal cannot
+be realized when there are in the class two or
+three youths in the noisy, assertive, self-conscious
+stage of early adolescence, and others who are
+several years younger. Nor can there be a proper
+social bond in a class with only two or three
+members. They are likely to be irregular in
+attendance, to find excuses for absence or for
+leaving the school, until at last the discouraged
+teacher and the listless scholars together drop out
+of sight.</p>
+
+<p>For the correction of these evils of inequality in
+numbers and in ages, and of this lack of class
+spirit, the only successful method is to grade the
+school, and resolutely to keep it graded.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Difficulties of Administration.</i> The difficulties
+which confront the superintendent in the
+management of an ungraded school are many and
+great.</p>
+
+<p>(a) The first and ever-present difficulty is in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+obtaining teachers for new classes. The constant
+growth of the Primary Department is his perennial
+perplexity. To relieve the congestion in the
+crowded Infant Class its older pupils must be
+brought into the main school, and teachers must
+be found for them. The superintendent is always
+seeking, and often seeking vainly, for new teachers.</p>
+
+<p>(b) Another difficulty is found in the attempt
+to transfer scholars from one class to another.
+No matter how much out of place a pupil may be,
+it is almost impossible to transfer him to another
+class without incurring the displeasure of the
+teacher, the scholar, or the scholar's family. And
+however overgrown or ill-assorted a class may
+have become, to divide it is a delicate task, almost
+sure to cause ill feeling. Also, when there arises
+the need of a teacher for a new class just emerging
+from the Primary Department, the natural
+plan would be to combine some of the skeleton
+classes in the other departments, and thereby release
+a teacher for service with the new class.
+But the superintendent who attempts this plan
+finds that almost invariably it results in some of
+the older scholars leaving the school because their
+teacher is taken from them.</p>
+
+<p>2. <b>The Essentials of a Graded School.</b> Briefly
+stated, the essentials of a graded Sunday school
+are the following:<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>Departments.</i> The graded Sunday school is
+organized in certain distinct groups, of which the
+most important, for our present purpose, are the
+Primary, Junior, Intermediate, and Senior Departments.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
+To these will be added the Beginners and
+Adult Departments when the subject comes up
+for a complete treatment. Each of these departments
+should have, if possible, a separate room;
+but if these rooms cannot be provided in the
+building, the pupils should be seated by departments
+in the different parts of the one room.
+Perhaps it may be assumed that there is a separate
+room for the Primary Department; then let those
+who have most recently come from the Primary
+be seated on the right block of seats; the Youths
+or Intermediate in the middle; and the Senior
+classes on the left block, or vice versa. The
+younger classes of the department should have
+the front seats, the older those in the rear, in
+regular gradation. The school may be arranged in
+the order shown in this diagram:</p>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/i-029.jpg" width="500" height="386" alt="diagram" title="" />
+</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Classes.</i> The number of classes should be
+fixed for each department, and their relationship
+established, so that when a group of scholars is
+promoted to a higher grade in the same department,
+or in the next department, they do not
+enter as classes, but as individuals; not to form
+new classes in the department, but to be placed
+in classes already formed. This plan will keep
+the classes in the Senior Department always full,
+and avoid the unfortunate skeleton classes of the
+ungraded school. It will also impress upon the
+pupils the importance of faithful work.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Promotions.</i> There should be annual and
+simultaneous promotions throughout the school.
+One Sunday in the year should be set apart as
+Promotion Sunday; and on that day all promotions
+should be made. Those who are to be
+advanced from the Intermediate to the Senior
+Department are called out by name and placed
+in their classes, which are not new classes, but old
+classes replenished with new members. These promotions
+will vacate the seats of the Fourth Year
+classes in the Intermediate Department. But these
+seats will at once be filled by the Third Year now
+becoming the Fourth Year, and taking their seats;
+the Second Year pupils becoming the Third Year;
+and the First Year the Second Year. The First
+Year of the Intermediate Department will be left
+vacant, to be filled by promotion of the Fourth
+Year in the Junior Department, and the moving
+up of classes to the year above in the same department;
+and the First Year of the Junior Department
+will be filled by promotion from the Primary
+Department.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>Teachers.</i> As groups of scholars pass either
+from one grade or from one department to another
+there must also be a change of teachers. This
+constitutes the crux of the entire system, and in
+its inception is apt to prove the most formidable
+obstacle in grading the school. The pupils, however,
+are accustomed to a system of promotions
+in the day school, and expect to leave their
+teachers when they change their grades; but many
+of the teachers in the Sunday school, not being
+trained under the system, dislike to lose their
+scholars, and show their dissatisfaction in ways
+that affect their pupils. This difficulty must be
+overcome by tact and an appeal to unselfish
+motives; teachers must consent for the sake of
+the common good to give up their old classes and
+take new ones which begin in the department.
+The teacher may remain in the grade and receive
+a new class each year as his pupils advance to a
+higher grade; or he may remain with the class and
+advance until the pupils pass from their former
+department to a higher one, as from Primary to
+Junior, from Junior to Intermediate, and from
+Intermediate to Senior. He should then return to
+a new first year's class in his own department and
+lead it through the course. If any teacher asks,
+"Why cannot I go with my class into the Senior
+Department?" the answer is that if the plan be
+permitted for one it must be recognized for all;
+and in the Senior Department there will follow
+an increasing number of classes, with a relatively
+diminishing membership in each class. The scholars
+also need the inspiration of contact with different
+teachers. Furthermore, the teacher who is adapted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+to the Junior or Intermediate Department is rarely
+a suitable teacher for Senior scholars. Hence
+there is need of a careful assignment of teachers
+no less than of pupils. Therefore, to maintain a
+graded school the pupils must change teachers
+when they change departments.</p>
+
+<p>(5) <i>Lessons.</i> There should be graded lessons
+for each department. If a graded system be
+followed in the school, as it should be, with different
+subjects, text-books, and lessons for each
+department, giving to the entire school a regular,
+systematic, progressive curriculum, this requisite
+will be met. If, however, the uniform lesson for
+all the school be followed, as at present is still
+the case in many Sunday schools, the graded
+teaching must be given in the form of supplemental
+lessons, taught by the head of the department
+where it has a separate room, or by the teacher
+if the departments must be assembled in one
+room. In some form the graded teaching is an
+absolutely essential requisite of the graded school.
+Most schools, when once thoroughly graded, will
+realize the need of the next step in the evolution
+of the institution&mdash;lessons graded in subjects as
+well as in methods for the several departments.</p>
+
+<p>(6) <i>Basis of Promotion.</i> The question is often
+asked, "Should promotions be made on the basis
+of age, or as the result of examinations?" The
+examination system may be regarded as desirable
+in the Sunday school, but there are as yet few
+schools where thorough examinations can be rigidly
+insisted on as a part of the school system, and
+promotions invariably made to depend upon standing.
+A school which meets only once a week,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+for a session of less than an hour and a half, and
+with but one lesson period of forty minutes or
+even less, cannot maintain the same strictness in
+its standards as the public school. Moreover, new
+scholars are continually entering the schools, and,
+while most of them begin at the foot of the ladder
+in the Primary Department, yet others enter at
+various ages and in various grades. Any system
+of promotion based merely upon acquirement
+attested by examination is sure to become in
+many instances a meaningless form when applied
+to the Sunday school. Yet acquirements and
+examinations need not be ignored in the graded
+Sunday school. There may be certain ages at
+which the pupils shall by right pass from a lower
+grade to a higher. But it may also be arranged
+that pupils who are exceptionally bright, well-informed,
+and studious can be promoted a year
+in advance of their classmates by passing examination.
+Let the examination be given in writing
+to all the pupils, and let all be urged to take it;
+with the promise that those who pass will be
+promoted, even though they be less than the
+required age. But let it also be understood that
+failure to pass the examination will not keep the
+student for more than one year from promotion.
+In other words, the examination may well be
+made the door through which earnest students
+may pass on, and so keep abreast of their equals
+in training and ability.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p>
+<h2>IV</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>THE GRADING OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL</div>
+
+
+<p>The question is often asked, "How may an
+ungraded Sunday school be placed on a graded
+basis?" The work may seem simple, and easy of
+accomplishment, but when it is undertaken difficulties
+arise which must be intelligently and tactfully
+met.</p>
+
+<p>1. <b>The Difficulties.</b> If all our Sunday-school
+teachers were trained educators, accustomed to the
+methods of the public school, they would see at
+once the advantages of the graded system, and
+heartily enter into it. But most of our teachers
+are untrained, and their range of vision often fails
+to reach beyond their own class and their immediate
+environment. The relation between teachers
+and scholars is personal rather than official; and
+on both sides the personal equation often complicates
+the problem. In every school there are a
+few teachers who are so strongly influenced by
+their feeling for their pupils that they fail to
+recognize the needs of the school. There are also
+scholars, especially in the sentimental early adolescent
+age, who are unwilling to leave their teachers
+when promotion is offered to them. But unless
+the change of teachers is maintained the graded
+system will utterly fail to benefit the school;
+it will be graded in name only, and not in
+fact. This part of the program must be carried
+through, even though it may cost the school<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+the loss of a teacher or two teachers and their
+scholars.</p>
+
+<p>2. <b>The Remedy</b> for this difficulty is only to be
+found in carefully considered action by presenting
+the necessity and value of the plan so clearly that
+the teachers as a whole will fully understand it,
+appreciate its importance, and heartily accept it.
+The grading should not be attempted upon the
+mere fiat of the superintendent, nor on the vote
+of a bare majority of the workers. The teachers
+must recognize the self-sacrifice which it requires,
+and must make that self-sacrifice generously, giving
+up their scholars for the general good. The possible
+objections of the scholars are more easily overcome,
+for they are accustomed in the public
+schools to promotions with change of teachers,
+and readily accommodate themselves to the same
+system in the Sunday school. Thoughtfulness and
+kindness, with time, will soon remove the hindrances
+from the path of the graded school.</p>
+
+<p>3. <b>The Method of Grading.</b> The school may be
+graded in either of two ways, the gradual or the
+simultaneous method.</p>
+
+<p>(1) In the gradual method the superintendent,
+with the concurrence of the teachers, may announce
+that after a certain date all promotions
+will be made in accordance with the graded system,
+leaving the classes as they are until the time for
+promotion arrives. Then promote from Primary to
+Junior, from Junior to Intermediate, and from
+Intermediate to Senior, according to the principles
+of the graded school; and in four or five years,
+if the system be maintained, the result will be a
+school fully graded in all its departments.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(2) In the simultaneous method of grading, the
+plan must be carefully matured, and general
+co&ouml;peration of all assured. The following plan has
+been tested in more than one school, and found
+to work successfully:</p>
+
+<p>(a) Let a careful committee be chosen to arrange
+the details of grading. The committee should
+consist of teachers acquainted with the scholars
+as far as may be practicable, and should, of course,
+include the superintendent. They should also take
+an abundance of time for their work.</p>
+
+<p>(b) Obtain the ages of all the scholars between
+eight and eighteen years of age, and, approximatively,
+the ages up to thirty. Let this list be
+made quietly by each teacher for his or her own
+class. It may be desirable not to inform the pupils
+for what purpose the enrollment is made. Instances
+have been known where scholars have
+understated their ages, hoping thereby to remain
+with favorite teachers.</p>
+
+<p>(c) Let the committee go over the lists and
+assign the scholars to classes according to age and
+acquirement. In some degree social relations
+should be considered, so that each class may be
+as far as practicable a social unit. In the Intermediate
+Department boys and girls should be in
+separate classes, and not more than six or eight
+pupils should be placed in one class. No announcement
+of the assignment of scholars to classes
+should be made until the day fixed for the reorganization
+of the school. It will be a good plan to
+prepare a map or chart of the schoolroom, with
+the place proposed for each class indicated upon it.</p>
+
+<p>(d) On the day appointed, after the opening<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
+exercises, first let the seats or rooms set apart
+for the Senior Department be vacated; and then
+let the roll be called according to the new list.
+"Class No. 1, Senior Department. Mr. A&mdash;&mdash;,
+with the following scholars." As their names are
+called let them take their places, until the list
+of classes and scholars in this department is filled.
+Next vacate the seats assigned to the Intermediate
+Department, and let these teachers and pupils
+take their places; then the Junior Department,
+according to the same plan. The Primary Department
+can be graded by its superintendent or
+teacher without aid from the committee.</p>
+
+<p>Let it be understood that every scholar must
+take the place assigned to him at the time when
+his name is called; and that only for an important
+reason can an assignment, when once made, be
+changed. In a large school there will be found
+a few cases where the committee has made a mistake,
+even with the greatest care; and these mistakes
+should be rectified, but not until the pupils
+have taken their new places temporarily in the
+scheme of the school.</p>
+
+<p>4. <b>Advantages of Thorough Grading.</b> Many
+benefits will follow from the proper organization
+of the school; and their value will be increasingly
+apparent as the system is maintained through a
+series of years.</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>Appearance.</i> It is the testimony of every
+superintendent and pastor who has graded his
+Sunday school that the appearance of the school
+is greatly improved by the graded system. The
+older scholars are assembled in one body, instead
+of being scattered throughout the room; scholars<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
+of the same size and age are brought together in
+classes. The school will also actually seem larger
+than it was before the grading.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Order.</i> The order of the school will be
+more easily maintained. The big boys and the
+giggling girls, both at the self-conscious, awkward
+age, will be in a new environment, no longer the
+leaders over smaller and younger pupils, but in
+classes by themselves, and with responsibilities
+appealing to their self-respect.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Social Relations.</i> It will be a benefit to
+the scholars of each age to be associated in groups
+of the same period in life, with the same interests
+and similar mental acquirements. Many scholars
+will find their new associations more congenial
+than their former ones in the ungraded classes,
+where older and younger people have been brought
+together. The class will now become, far more
+than it was before, a social power.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>Teaching Work.</i> In the ungraded class, with
+older and younger pupils together, the teacher
+met with his greatest difficulty in finding a common
+ground of interest. In the graded class, with
+pupils of uniform age and equal intellectual understanding,
+the teaching can be better adapted to
+the needs of the pupils.</p>
+
+<p>(5) <i>Incentive to Interest.</i> The prospect of promotion
+awakens an interest in the classes. Each
+scholar looks forward to the time when he will
+attain to a higher grade with its enlarged privileges.</p>
+
+<p>(6) <i>Obtaining Teachers.</i> The grading of the
+school greatly aids in the solution of the ever-present
+problem of obtaining new teachers, (a) The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+graded school requires a smaller number of teachers
+than the ungraded school, since it provides for
+the consolidation of skeleton classes in the Senior
+Department. This sets at liberty a number of
+experienced teachers for service in other grades.
+(b) Whenever a new class comes from the Primary
+Department, a teacher is already at hand in the
+Junior Department whose class at the same time
+has advanced to the Intermediate Department.
+The teacher goes year by year with his class until
+it leaves the department, and then he returns to
+a new class beginning the studies of the same
+department. (c) After the results of a teacher-training
+class are available there will always be
+trained teachers waiting for classes.</p>
+
+<p>(7) <i>Leakage Period.</i> The young people between
+fifteen and twenty years of age constitute the
+"leakage period,"<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> when they are in great danger
+of drifting away from the school. They will be
+held to the school far more firmly if they have
+before them the prospect of membership in large
+classes of young people, with social opportunities,
+and club life, so popular with youth at the early
+adolescent age. It has been clearly shown by
+practical experience that an organized Senior
+Department, with large classes kept full by regular
+reinforcement from the Intermediate Department,
+will maintain itself and hold its members, while
+skeleton classes of the young people constantly
+tend to disintegration.</p>
+
+<p>The well-organized, completely graded Sunday
+school possesses such evident and great advantages
+that it is certain to be established wherever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+thorough and efficient religious instruction is
+sought. The sooner it comes, and the more
+faithfully it is maintained, the better it will be
+for the church of to-day and to-morrow, and the
+more quickly and effectually will the grave problems
+of our modern civilization be solved.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p>
+<h2>V</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>THE DEPARTMENTS OF THE GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL</div>
+
+
+<p><b>General Scheme.</b> The four departments essential
+to a graded Sunday school, whether large or
+small, have already been named by anticipation.
+But it is necessary to give to the subject a closer
+consideration, and to add the names of other
+departments which are needed either as departments
+or subdivisions in the school. Following the
+analogy of the secular schools, the great divisions
+of a Sunday school may be named as Elementary,
+Secondary, and Advanced or Adult. The Elementary
+Division will include the Cradle Roll, Beginners,
+Primary, and Junior, taking the scholar up
+to twelve years of age. The Secondary Division
+will include the Intermediate and Senior Departments,
+also the Teacher-training Class, and will
+embrace the scholars between twelve and twenty
+years of age. The Advanced or Adult Division
+will include all the classes wherein the average age
+is above twenty years, including the Home Department.
+Beginning with the youngest children, the
+departments of a thoroughly organized school are
+the following:</p>
+
+<p>1. <b>The Cradle Roll.</b><a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> This should include all the
+little ones in the families of the congregation who
+are too young to attend the school. Their names,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
+in large lettering, in plain print rather than script,
+should be recorded upon a list, framed and hung
+upon the wall in the Primary room. A separate
+card catalogue should be kept of the names alphabetically
+arranged, with ages, birthdays, parents'
+names, and the street address of each family.
+Every effort should be made to keep the list
+complete; children should inform their teachers of
+new little brothers and sisters for the Cradle Roll;
+the pastor in his visitation should take their
+names and report them; and the teacher or conductor
+in charge of the Cradle Roll should occasionally
+visit every family on the list. Whenever
+gifts are made to the pupils of the school, as at
+Christmas or on birthdays, toys and dolls for the
+little ones of the Cradle Roll should not be forgotten.
+In a small school the care of the roll and
+the visiting of the families may be assigned to the
+Primary superintendent; but in a large Sunday
+school it will call for a special conductor, and
+recognition as a separate department. Let no
+one suppose that this is an unimportant, sentimental
+matter. The Cradle Roll, maintained as
+it should be, will awaken interest in every
+family having a name inscribed upon it, and
+in due time will lead many little feet to the
+Sunday school.</p>
+
+<p>2. <b>The Beginners Department.</b> At about three
+years of age the little children should be brought
+to the school, and be regularly enrolled as attending
+members, their names being now taken from
+the Cradle Roll. They should remain in the
+Beginners Department from the age of three to
+that of six years&mdash;the Kindergarten period in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+public school. Here they should be told simple
+Bible and nature stories, without effort to place
+the stories in chronological order; for children of
+this age have only a faint conception of the sequence
+of events. They may be taught simple
+songs, marching exercises, etc. It is a mistake,
+however, to give them much, if any lessons, to
+tax the memory, beyond a few short sentences of
+the Bible and verses of children's songs. If they
+can meet in a room by themselves, with their own
+teacher, it will be better than to have them in
+the Primary room; for the work in this grade
+should be constantly varied, and the stories very
+brief, in order not to weary the little ones. If
+they must meet in the room with the Primary
+children, they should sit by themselves as a
+separate section, and not with their older brothers
+and sisters.</p>
+
+<p>3. <b>The Primary Department.</b> This department
+should be the home of little children between
+six and eight or nine years of age. They should
+remain in it until in the day school they have
+begun to read. Boys and girls may be placed in
+the same classes, which should be for those six
+years old, seven years old, and eight years old,
+respectively. With each year their seats should
+be changed, indicating their promotion from the
+lower to the higher classes. In this department
+the simpler stories of the Bible and other helpful
+stories adapted to the grade should not only be
+told but taught, and the children expected not
+only to learn but also to tell them. The Twenty-third
+Psalm, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments,
+a few other selected passages of Scripture,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+and some standard hymns of the Church should
+be memorized.</p>
+
+<p>In many well-organized Sunday schools both
+the Cradle Roll and the Beginners class are recognized
+as subdivisions of the Primary Department,
+and are under the direction of the Primary
+superintendent.</p>
+
+<p>4. <b>The Junior Department.</b> This department will
+care for the children from the ages of eight or
+nine until the full age of twelve; except that boys
+or girls who are especially advanced in intelligence
+may be promoted upon examination at eleven
+years. In a very small Sunday school all the
+pupils of this department may form one class,
+provided they can have a room by themselves.
+If they must meet with the rest of the school,
+they may be organized either in two classes, one
+of boys, the other of girls. If, however, the number
+of scholars will admit, it is far better to place
+the pupils in separate classes for boys and girls,
+with different classes for each year of the period.
+To scholars of the Junior grade the great characters
+and events of Bible history should be
+taught in their order; also the most important
+facts about the Bible, and in a simple form the
+lands and localities of the Bible. In churches
+which use a catechism this should constitute a
+part of the teaching in the Junior Department,
+for at this period the child's verbal memory attains
+its greatest strength.</p>
+
+<p>5. <b>The Intermediate Department.</b> Here the
+pupils are from twelve to sixteen years of age.
+The classes should be small, generally of six boys
+or girls, never more than eight. This period in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+life is known as early adolescence, and calls for
+careful direction by wise teachers. In the Intermediate
+Department the great biographies of the
+Bible should be studied, either as the regular or
+the supplemental lessons; also the heroic lives of
+leaders in the history of the Church, of foreign
+missionaries, and of men and women who have
+labored in the home fields. Boys and girls in
+this stage of life are instinctively hero-worshipers,
+and before them should be set high ideals of
+character and service. Special effort should be
+made in leading the scholars to personal consecration
+to Christ and to union with the Church; for
+if the great decision be not made before the age
+of sixteen is reached, there is great danger that
+it will never be reached. But that decision should
+include more than a formal profession. It should
+embrace a full surrender to the will of Christ, an
+inward, conscious spiritual life, an aim for completeness
+of Christian character, and especially a
+willingness to work for God and humanity. Youth
+is a season of ardor and of energy, a period of
+lofty ideals and noble endeavor. All those active
+powers of the youthful nature should be guided
+into channels of usefulness. The true twentieth
+century disciple of Christ is not one who lives
+alone feasting his soul on God, but one who stands
+among his fellow-men, eager to aid in the world's
+betterment.</p>
+
+<p>6. <b>The Senior Department.</b> This is the preferable
+title, although some organized schools call it the
+Young People's Department, and restrict the word
+Senior to the classes of fully adult age. Still
+others call it the Assembly, and give it an organization<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+independent of the Sunday school.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> The
+age of entrance should be sixteen, except with
+some who in stature and mind are mature beyond
+their years. It is imperative, as we have already
+seen, that at the door of this department the
+young people should leave their former teachers,
+and should not form new Senior classes, but as
+individuals enter classes already established. This
+department includes the members of the school
+between sixteen and twenty years of age; not that
+members of classes must necessarily leave them at
+twenty, but that men or women above that age
+entering the school should rather join the Adult
+Department. The classes may be as large as the
+arrangement of rooms will allow; larger where each
+class can have a separate room, which is the ideal
+plan. Generally, young men and young women
+should be in separate classes. The teacher of a
+young men's class should be a man whose character
+will inspire the respect and win the fellowship of
+his class. The teacher of the young women's class
+will generally be a lady, although often men have
+been successful teachers of young women.</p>
+
+<p>In this department the classes should be organized,
+each with its own officers, chosen by the
+members; and the class should be consulted when
+a teacher is to be appointed, although the voice
+of the class in the decision should be advisory and
+not mandatory. Especial attention should be given
+to the social activities of this department. Each
+class should have its own gatherings, classes of
+young men and women should meet together
+occasionally, and a Senior Reception should be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
+held at least annually to promote acquaintance
+among the members. The interest of the young
+people should also be enlisted in some definite
+form of service for the church or the community.</p>
+
+<p>7. <b>The Teacher-Training Department.</b> The most
+promising young people, both men and women,
+should be selected at sixteen years of age&mdash;the
+time of promotion into the Senior Department&mdash;and
+should be organized as the Teacher-training or
+Normal Class. The best teacher obtainable should
+be assigned to this department. Often in the
+high school or some near-by college, a scholarly,
+Bible-loving instructor may be found who is willing
+to give a part of his time to the equipment of
+teachers for the coming generation. A text-book
+should be chosen from among those approved by
+the International Teacher-training Committee. No
+person should be admitted to this class who is
+not willing to give some time during the week to
+the study of the course. While the rest of the
+school may be studying the regular lessons,
+whether graded or uniform, this class should be
+at work with the teacher-training text-books.
+There should be thorough instruction with examinations
+looking toward a certificate of work done, such
+as the International Teacher-training diploma.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>
+The course may cover two, three, or four years;
+and new members may be placed in the class at
+the opening of each year, to begin at the point
+where the class is studying, and to remain until
+they shall have completed the entire course. In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+a properly graded school after a few years there
+will be a class graduating from and a class entering
+the Teacher-training Department each year.</p>
+
+<p>This department should also include a Reserve
+Class, consisting of those who are ready to act as
+substitutes for absent teachers. If the uniform
+lessons are followed, the Reserve Class should study
+the lesson a week in advance of the school. Into
+this class the graduates of the Teacher-training
+Class should be placed, to remain until classes are
+ready for them in the school.</p>
+
+<p>In some schools the Teacher-training and Reserve
+Classes do not form a separate department,
+but are two classes in the Senior Department.
+But it is the better plan in a large school to establish
+the Teacher-training Department, with its own
+officers, thereby adding to its prestige in the school.</p>
+
+<p>8. <b>The Adult Department.</b> This will include all
+who are above the age of twenty years. It is the
+judgment of advanced leaders in Sunday-school
+work that at twenty years those who have belonged
+to Young People's classes in the Senior
+Department should leave them for the Adult
+Department. Otherwise, the Senior Department
+in a few years will cease to be a place where young
+people of sixteen and eighteen years feel at home.
+In the Adult Department men and women may
+meet together as members of the same class, unless
+there arise a demand for separate classes and the
+numbers enrolled justify the division. In conducting
+these classes two forms of instruction have
+been found to be successful: (1) the colloquial
+method of teaching, the class studying and discussing
+the lesson together under the guidance of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>
+the leader; and (2) the lecture method, the teacher
+being the principal speaker, but always admitting
+questions and answers on the subject suggested by
+the lesson. Classes in this department may be
+allowed to choose their own courses of study,
+provided (1) that the subjects and methods are
+in line with the general aim of religious education,
+and not merely secular science or history; (2) that
+the courses of successive years have some sequence,
+and are not chosen in a haphazard, accidental
+manner. The Adult Department under wise direction
+should promote a large, intelligent, broad-minded,
+philanthropic type of Christian character
+in the church and the community.</p>
+
+<p>9. <b>The Home Department.</b> This department, like
+the Cradle Roll at the other extreme of the Sunday-school
+constituency, is composed of people, both
+young and old, who cannot be present at its sessions,
+but are interested in its work, and willing
+to give some time to its studies. In every community
+there are such people&mdash;aged or infirm men
+and women, invalids, mothers unable to leave their
+offspring, commercial travelers, and people who live
+too far from the school to attend it. These are
+organized into the Home Department, furnished
+with the literature of the school, study its text-books,
+make their report of work done, and send
+their contributions to its support through the Home
+Department superintendent or visitor.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>VI</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>THE SUPERINTENDENT</div>
+
+
+<p>1. <b>His Importance.</b> Several years ago, the
+president of the New York Central Railway was
+called upon by a legislative committee to explain
+the system of signals employed upon the railroad
+for the protection of passengers. He gave a detailed
+statement, answered every question, and
+then made this remark: "However perfect the
+system may seem to be, there must always be a
+man to work it; and in the final analysis more
+depends on the man than on the plan."</p>
+
+<p>That which is true in every human organization
+is especially true in the Sunday school: its success
+depends not on a constitution, whether written or
+unwritten, but upon a man. In the Sunday
+school that man is the superintendent, who not
+only works the plan, but also generally plans the
+work. Given an efficient superintendent, an efficient
+school will usually be developed; for the able
+man will call forth or will train up able workers.
+Hence the first and greatest requisite for a successful
+Sunday school is that the right man be chosen as
+superintendent.</p>
+
+<p>2. <b>His Appointment.</b> The selection of the superintendent
+should be the task not only of the
+officers and teachers in the Sunday school, but of
+the entire church, for every family in the congregation
+has an interest in his appointment. The
+pastor should be consulted, and should give diligent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+attention and time to the search for a superintendent,
+not merely because he may be presumed to
+know his constituency, but more especially because
+out of all the church the superintendent is to be his
+most important helper. The election of the superintendent
+should be made by the workers in the
+school, its board of teachers and officers, and its
+action should be formally confirmed by the ruling
+board of the local church. No man should hold
+the office of a superintendent who fails to receive
+the approval of the church of which the school is a
+part. He should know that in his appointment the
+school, the church, and the pastor all unite.</p>
+
+<p>3. <b>His Term of Office.</b> He should be chosen
+for a term of one year; but may be re&euml;lected for
+as many terms as appear expedient. Frequent
+changes in the management of the school will
+tend to destroy the efficiency of its work. But
+whenever the great interests involved in the religious
+education of an entire church or community
+require a new superintendent the change should be
+made, even though sympathy be felt for the one
+set aside. The institution must not be sacrificed
+to save the feelings of the man.</p>
+
+<p>4. <b>His Qualifications.</b> It is important to consider
+the qualifications of an ideal superintendent,
+remembering, however, that all these qualities are
+rarely to be found in one man. We must set
+before us high ideals, not expecting that they will
+always be fully realized, yet ever seeking to attain
+them as far as may be possible in this imperfect
+world. The following are the most important
+qualifications for a superintendent; some of them
+are essential, all are desirable:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>Moral Character.</i> The Sunday school undertakes
+to train the young in character; therefore
+he who stands as its responsible head must possess
+a character worthy of admiration and imitation.
+His life must honor, and not dishonor, his profession.
+It is possible for a man whose work for
+an hour on Sunday is in behalf of the gospel so
+to live in his family, in business, and in society
+as to work for six days against the gospel, and
+more than undo all his efforts for good. The
+leader in such an uplifting movement as the Sunday
+school must have clean hands and a pure heart.
+What Saint Paul wrote of a bishop he would have
+written of a Sunday school superintendent: he
+must have "a good report." In the well-known
+painting of the Emancipation Proclamation may be
+seen standing at the right hand of President
+Lincoln the Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P.
+Chase, who once said, "A man in my position
+must not only seem right, but be right; and not
+only be right, but seem right." So will every
+one say of the Sunday-school superintendent.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>A Devout Believer.</i> The superintendent's
+character should be irradiated with the fine glow
+of a Christian faith. He should be one who has
+seen the heavenly vision and unto it has not
+been disobedient; one whose spirit has been kindled
+by the Divine Spirit burning like a fire within;
+one who is himself a Christian man, longing to
+lead other men into fellowship with the Father
+through Jesus Christ the Son.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>A Working Church Member.</i> We have already
+learned that the Sunday school is not a
+society or an institution standing alone. It is a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
+branch of the church, and one of the most important
+branches. The normal growth of the church
+depends in large measure upon the Sunday school,
+and the support of the Sunday school comes, or
+should come, from the church. The superintendent
+who endeavors to do his duty to his scholars will
+strive to lead them to Christ and into active
+membership and service in the church. Therefore,
+he himself must be a professed, loyal, and effective
+member of the church. His name should not only
+stand upon its roll, but his heart should also be
+enlisted in its behalf.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>A Bible Student.</i> The Sunday school is the
+school with one pre&euml;minent text-book; and of that
+Book the superintendent should be a diligent
+student. His work is executive and not instructional;
+yet he must supervise the teaching, and
+this supervision he cannot rightly give unless he
+is familiar with the course of study. He should
+study the lesson of each department, perhaps not
+as thoroughly as the teachers in the department,
+but sufficiently to maintain acquaintance with their
+work. And he should master not only the specific
+lessons of the immediate course before his school,
+but also the Book as a whole.</p>
+
+<p>One successful superintendent gave as a secret
+of his power to make his school, both teachers
+and scholars, willing to do whatever he asked,
+"I never expect my teachers or scholars to do
+anything that I am not ready to do myself. Before
+I ask them to bring their Bibles I bring mine.
+When I asked my school to be ready on the following
+Sunday to repeat in concert the Nineteenth
+Psalm, I committed it to memory during the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
+week, and when the time came spoke the words
+with the school." Only that superintendent who
+himself loves the Bible, and studies it, can have
+a true Bible school.</p>
+
+<p>(5) <i>An Able Executive.</i> The Sunday school is
+like that vision seen by the prophet Ezekiel, a
+system of wheels within wheels, all endowed with
+life; and the master of the mechanism directing
+its motion is the superintendent. Moreover, each
+of these living wheels in the Sunday-school machine
+is a volunteer worker, who may at any moment
+drop out of his orbit. To hold together these
+varied elements, to combine their movements, to
+guide each in his own sphere, to compass the
+common purpose through all the forces working
+as one, requires a wise brain and a skillful hand.
+The superintendent should have a plan for the
+school, with details throughout for every emergency;
+he should be ready to assign to every
+worker the task for which he is best fitted; he
+should be able to work with others, not merely
+to command others; and he should be a leader
+whom others will follow, not by the might of an
+overmastering will, but by the magnetism of an
+attractive personality. He should never forget that
+with others as well as with himself service in the
+Sunday school is not compulsory but voluntary,
+that his associates lay on the altar their free-hearted,
+unpaid labor; and that such workers
+cannot be commanded, although by tact and wise
+generalship they may be led to accomplish the
+most difficult tasks.</p>
+
+<p>(6) <i>Sympathy with Youth.</i> The superintendent's
+office will bring him into relations with youth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+during all its stages, from early childhood through
+the entire adolescent period. He must be able to
+see life and the world through the eyes of a little
+child, of a growing boy, and of a young man.
+The sympathy which he needs is not a compassionate
+feeling <i>for</i> youth, but a feeling <i>with</i> youth,
+an ability to put himself in its place; to feel as
+young people feel, and to understand why they
+act as they sometimes do. This sympathy will
+impart a love for young people, such a love as
+will enable him to be patient with their foibles
+and faults, to exert a powerful influence over them,
+and to keep before them noble ideals of character
+and service.</p>
+
+<p>(7) <i>Teachable Spirit.</i> No matter how much the
+superintendent knows, or thinks he knows, he
+should hold his mind open to new knowledge.
+He should be on the alert for new ideas, from the
+periodicals, from books, and from his fellow
+workers, in conversation, at conventions and institutes;
+not that he may inflict every new method
+upon his school, but that out of many methods
+he may select the best. When Michael Angelo was
+past eighty-five years old, and almost blind, he
+was found one day beside an antique torso which
+had recently been dug out of the ground, bending
+over it, and carefully pressing his fingers upon its
+surface. When asked what he was doing, he
+answered, "I am learning"! The masters in every
+department of work are never too wise nor too
+old to learn.</p>
+
+<p>If a man can be found who possesses all these
+seven traits of character and temperament, the
+school which can secure him for its superintendent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+will be fortunate indeed. And the superintendent
+who thoughtfully reads the catalogue of qualifications,
+and feels that in some of them he is lacking,
+may by divine grace and his own will working
+together make progress toward the goal of becoming
+an ideal superintendent.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p>
+<h2>VII</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>THE SUPERINTENDENT'S DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES</div>
+
+
+<p>The superintendent has been found, has been
+chosen, and is in his place&mdash;what are the prerogatives
+and the duties of his office? These may be
+considered under three classes: (1) His general
+duties. (2) His duties during the week. (3) His
+duties in the session of the school.</p>
+
+<p>1. <b>General.</b> (1) <i>Supervision.</i> It is his right to
+supervise and direct the work of the school without
+interference as to details from the teachers, the
+officers of the church, or the pastor. The pastor
+may be the admiral of the fleet, directing the
+general movements of the sea campaign; but the
+superintendent is the captain of the ship, through
+whom orders are to be given to all on board.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Selection of Teachers.</i> He should have the
+chief word in the choice and appointment of
+teachers, but in the choice he should obtain the
+concurrence of his pastor; and their election should
+be made upon the superintendent's nomination by
+the teachers and officers.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Assignment of Scholars.</i> He should possess
+the final authority in the assignment of scholars
+to classes, in any changes from class to class, and
+in promotions from lower to higher departments.
+In these responsibilities he may be greatly aided
+by an associate superintendent, to whom his
+authority may be delegated.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>Program of Services.</i> It is the superintendent's
+prerogative to plan and direct the
+services of the school session. It may be the part
+of wisdom for him to consult with the musical
+director or organist in the selection of hymns, but
+it is the superintendent's right to choose and to
+announce them, in common with all parts of the
+program.</p>
+
+<p>(5) <i>Support.</i> He is entitled to a loyal support
+from all his fellow workers; but if he is tactful he
+will take them into his confidence, will present
+his plans for their consideration, and will not
+attempt important reforms or changes without
+their concurrence.</p>
+
+<p>2. <b>Week-day Work.</b> He is the superintendent of
+the Sunday school for seven days in every week;
+and will find much work to be done between the
+sessions. His week-day duties will include some
+that have already been mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>Program.</i> Before he comes to the school he
+should invariably prepare a well worked out program
+for each session. It is a good plan to have
+a large blank book, in which two pages opposite
+each other are assigned to the session for the day.
+Every hymn should be selected in advance and
+noted in its place; every announcement to be made
+should be written; the outline of a lesson review,
+if one is to be given, should be indicated; and
+space should be left for memoranda of miscellaneous
+matters which may need attention. This
+program should be laid upon the desk, so that if
+for any reason the superintendent should be out
+of his place upon the platform an associate can
+go forward without delay.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Lesson Study.</i> In schools where the uniform
+lesson is still followed in all or most departments,
+the superintendent should make himself thoroughly
+acquainted with the lesson for the coming session.
+As has been intimated, he should be prepared for
+any work expected of his teachers and scholars.
+He should be ready after the class study to give
+a practical summary of the teachings in the lesson,
+in a crisp, well-outlined talk, which will be aided
+by a blackboard illustration. And in the increasing
+number of schools which are employing graded
+lessons, not uniform in the departments, the
+superintendent should have at least a general
+knowledge of the subjects studied in each department.
+The more thoroughly the superintendent
+fills his own mind and heart with the truth, the
+more efficiently will the truth be taught in his
+school.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Social Duties.</i> The superintendent should
+know all his teachers, and, as far as possible, his
+scholars also. If it be practicable for him to visit
+teachers at their homes, the visitation will greatly
+increase his influence and his usefulness. If in his
+own home, or in the parlors of some family in
+the congregation, a social gathering of the teachers
+and officers can occasionally be held, it will add
+to the social power of the school. And in the
+social relations much can be accomplished before
+and after the church service, the school session, the
+prayer meeting, and the other gatherings of the
+congregation. There are superintendents who keep
+before them up-to-date lists of the classes, and by
+study of faces during the school session, with
+judicious inquiry, are able to call large numbers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+of the scholars by name. Such greetings will
+strengthen the superintendent and heighten the
+loyalty of the school.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>Seeking Workers.</i> In nearly all Sunday
+schools there is a constant need of helpers, to fill
+the places of withdrawing or absent teachers; and
+the work of supplying the demand generally falls
+upon the superintendent. He may find relief in
+the work of an associate superintendent, as will
+be seen in the next chapter. Both the superintendent
+and his associate should always be on the
+alert for new teachers and for new scholars. As
+the builder in stone looks at every fragment of
+rock, to see where it will best fit into his wall,
+so the whole-hearted superintendent studies every
+individual in the parish, to find exactly the place
+he may fill in the school, as an officer, a teacher,
+or a scholar; and not infrequently his search will
+be rewarded by a treasure.</p>
+
+<p>(5) <i>Cabinet Meetings.</i> The superintendent should
+confer frequently with the several heads of departments,
+and with all the officers; talking with them
+freely about his own plans, and learning theirs,
+for the welfare of the school. It is not necessary
+that these cabinet meetings should be formal, having
+a secretary and a record. They may be held
+occasionally, for a few minutes after the session
+of the school, or as a social evening at a private
+house.</p>
+
+<p>(6) <i>Special Days.</i> He should keep a calendar of
+special occasions in the school year, such as the
+Sundays set apart for temperance and for missions,
+Easter, Children's Day, Rally Day, Decision Day,
+Christmas, Promotion Day, and other notable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
+events. Weeks in advance of each occasion&mdash;in the
+case of some of them even months in advance&mdash;he
+should begin to consider what special exercises
+should be held, what preparation is needed, and
+who can best supervise the plans. For a fortnight
+before Children's Day or the Christmas celebration,
+many Sunday schools are in a turmoil of confusion,
+and lessons abandoned, simply because the
+superintendent did not take thought in sufficient
+time.</p>
+
+<p>(7) <i>The Convention.</i> The Sunday-school work of
+the Christian world is now thoroughly organized
+in international, state, county, and town associations.
+Each school finds itself a part in a mighty
+movement; and it is the duty of the superintendent
+to see that his school takes its place in the Sunday-school
+army. He should see that in the institute
+and the convention his school is well represented;
+and if at all possible he should attend these gatherings,
+and be active in them. Many a worker who
+for most of the year is alone, burdened with
+perplexities, has been refreshed, has found his
+vision enlarged and his plans improved, by conference
+with other workers, and by listening to
+experienced specialists.</p>
+
+<p>3. <b>His Duties in the School Session.</b> (1) <i>Present
+Early.</i> He should be at his post, if possible,
+from twenty minutes to half an hour before the
+opening of the school. However early he may
+arrive, he will probably find a group of children
+there in advance of him; and they will behave
+better if his eye is on them, especially if his glance
+is kind, and with it is a hand-shake or a word of
+recognition. The early superintendent will often<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+be surprised to find how much business in the
+interest of the school can be transacted before the
+session.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Open Promptly.</i> With his program ready,
+he should begin the session exactly on the minute,
+and should carry out every item according to the
+plan. If for any reason the superintendent is not
+at the desk when the moment for the opening
+arrives, the associate or first department superintendent
+should be empowered to call the school to
+order and begin the opening service.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Conduct Program.</i> The superintendent
+should conduct the general program of services;
+although it is advisable to recognize the associate
+and others, by calling upon them to take some
+part in the opening or closing services. A superintendent
+whose methods were always well chosen
+was wont once in each month to invite some
+official or prominent member of the church, who
+was not an attendant upon the school, to be
+present, sit upon the platform, and offer the prayer
+at the opening of the session. This kept the
+leading members of the church in closer relation
+to the school.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>During the Lesson.</i> As a general principle,
+the superintendent should remain at his desk
+during the lesson period; but to this rule frequent
+exceptions will be made. The supply of substitutes
+for absent teachers, and the assignment of
+new scholars to classes, belong to the field of the
+associate superintendent.</p>
+
+<p>(5) <i>Lesson Review.</i> In the Sunday schools
+which still follow the uniform system of lessons,
+studying the same portion of Scripture in all, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+nearly all, the grades of the school, the superintendent
+should give a brief practical summing up
+of the practical points in the lesson; but this
+review should not exceed five or six minutes in
+length. If the pastor possesses the gift of terse,
+crisp speaking, this practical talk may be given
+by him. In the schools adopting the graded courses
+of lessons this review should be given in each
+department by the department superintendent.
+Here again the adaptation to the point of view
+and needs of the pupils of each grade can be
+made much more effective than in the ungraded
+school.</p>
+
+<p>(6) <i>Closing.</i> The superintendent should so carry
+out the program as to close the session at the
+time appointed. An hour and a quarter is as
+long as is profitable for the school; and everything
+that needs to be done can be brought into
+that space. Often much time is lost by unnecessary
+delays between the numbers on the program.</p>
+
+<p>4. <b>Miscellaneous Duties.</b> Here are a few general
+suggestions, hints, and "don'ts" for the superintendent,
+briefly stated:</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>Notebook.</i> Let the superintendent remember
+to obtain that notebook, to keep it at hand,
+and to make use of it. Some pages at the end of
+the book might be reserved for special suggestions
+gathered from books, periodicals, and meetings.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Quiet.</i> Let him be careful not to make much
+noise during the session, but to set an example&mdash;which
+will soon be felt&mdash;in favor of quiet and
+orderly conduct. It is not at all certain that he
+needs a bell for calling attention; but if he uses
+one, let it be a little, gentle, quiet bell, held in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+hand as a signal, and never rung vociferously or
+repeatedly. Said a new superintendent as he tested
+the bell on Saturday before assuming office, "What
+a magnificent bell this would be for calling missionaries
+home from India!" But he never used
+it in the school. One of the best superintendents
+of a generation ago was widely known as "the
+silent superintendent." He was not deaf nor
+dumb, but his manner was noticeably quiet, and
+his large Sunday school was always in perfect order.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Early Lesson.</i> Let the opening service be
+short, so that the lesson period&mdash;which is the
+important part of the program&mdash;may be reached
+while the teachers and scholars are fresh and the
+air of the room is pure.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>Use the Bible.</i> If a Scripture lesson is read
+by the superintendent and school responsively, it
+should be from the Bible upon the desk or in
+the hand of the leader, and not from a lesson
+quarterly. Encourage the use of the Bible as a
+text-book and for reference. If the superintendent
+always brings his own Bible, he can appeal to his
+teachers and scholars to follow his example. With
+regard to the Scripture reading in the opening
+service, it is the judgment of many thoughtful
+superintendents that even in a school following
+uniform lessons the reading should not be the
+lesson for the day, but a devotional portion of
+Scripture, perhaps a selection from the Home
+Readings of the week. It is a good plan for the
+first reading of the lesson for the day to be by the
+teacher and the class together.</p>
+
+<p>(5) <i>Lesson Period.</i> No interruption should be
+allowed to break into the time assigned for class<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+study, except under imperative necessity. The
+teacher and the class should hold that period
+sacred to united study, without being diverted
+from their task by secretary, librarian, superintendent,
+or pastor. Said Bishop Vincent once,
+"I would like to have suspended from the roof of
+the Sunday-school hall a series of great glass half-globes,
+one for each class, to be dropped down
+over the class, and kept there during the time
+reserved for the study of the lesson!"</p>
+
+<p>(6) <i>Speakers.</i> A visitor should rarely be invited
+or allowed to address the school; never, unless the
+superintendent has sufficient knowledge to be sure
+that he will speak briefly, interestingly, and pointedly.
+Before the uniform lesson concentrated the
+studies of the Sunday school it was the custom
+to invite almost any visitor to speak to the school;
+and many were the wrongs inflicted upon the boys
+and girls in those good old days by dull, loquacious
+Sunday-school orators. But almost everybody
+now understands that the Sunday school is
+a working institution, and its work must not be
+interrupted.</p>
+
+<p>(7) <i>Self-control.</i> There will be times when the
+superintendent will need to be on guard over
+himself; times when he feels depressed, or melancholy,
+perhaps a little cross. If he yields to his
+natural impulses, the school will soon perceive the
+state of his nerves, and some scholars may even
+endeavor to add to his trials. At such times, let
+him watch over himself mightily, and resolve, no
+matter how he feels, to "keep sweet," to speak
+gently, and to look cheerful.</p>
+
+<p>(8) <i>The Aim.</i> Lastly, one purpose should ever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+stand before the superintendent, and should be the
+constant object of his endeavor&mdash;to lead all his
+scholars into a personal, vital relation to Jesus as
+the Christ, to bring them into union with the
+church, and to inspire them to enter upon active
+Christian service.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p>
+<h2>VIII</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>THE ASSOCIATE AND DEPARTMENT SUPERINTENDENTS</div>
+
+
+<p>1. <b>The Necessity.</b> In every Sunday school there
+is need of an officer to aid the superintendent
+and to take his place when absent. Even in a
+small school the supervision can be more thorough
+and the teaching more efficient, if some one is at
+hand with authority to relieve the superintendent
+of minor details, and give him freedom for the
+general management. And in a large school
+assistants to the superintendent are an absolute
+necessity, for each department becomes in itself a
+school. There is need, therefore, of a general
+assistant to be the chief of staff to the superintendent,
+and, in a large and well-organized school,
+of a special assistant in each department.</p>
+
+<p>2. <b>Titles.</b> Until recently, the assistant superintendent
+in most Sunday schools was merely one
+of the teachers named to take the place of the
+superintendent when absent, but with no duties
+when the head of the school was present. In the
+complete organization that is now becoming general,
+the office has been renamed, and its functions
+distinctly assigned. The chief assistant to the
+superintendent is now generally called the Associate
+Superintendent, a higher title for his important and
+regular duties. The chief of each department in
+the Sunday school is generally called Department
+Superintendent, that is, Primary Department<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+Superintendent, Senior Department Superintendent;
+and each department superintendent has the
+same relation to his department that the associate
+superintendent holds to the school.</p>
+
+<p>3. <b>Appointment.</b> The associate superintendent
+should be nominated by the superintendent and
+confirmed by the board of teachers and officers.
+When two candidates are nominated for the office
+of superintendent, and one obtains a majority, it
+is not wise to elect the minority candidate as
+associate superintendent, unless he is entirely
+acceptable to the newly chosen superintendent.
+The chief executive of the school should not be
+compelled to find next to him a rival, who may
+be an uncongenial worker, to carry out plans
+with which the latter may not be in accord. In
+order to possess freedom in his policy the superintendent
+should choose his own chief helper; but he
+should receive the confirmation of his choice from
+his fellow workers in the school. The same plan
+of nomination and confirmation should be followed
+in the choice of the department superintendents.
+The associate and the department superintendents
+should constitute the superintendent's cabinet, to
+be called together often for consultation upon the
+interests of the school.</p>
+
+<p>4. <b>Duties of the Associate Superintendent.</b> (1)
+<i>Not a Teacher.</i> Unless the school be small, with
+less than a hundred members, the associate superintendent
+should not at the same time be the regular
+teacher of a class. He will find other work to
+occupy his time, both before and during the session
+of the school. He may, however, hold himself
+ready to act as substitute for an absent teacher.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Deputy Superintendent.</i> If for any reason
+the superintendent is absent, his place should be
+taken promptly by the associate superintendent.
+It should also be understood that if at the moment
+of opening the school, or at any point in the
+general service, the superintendent is not on the
+platform, the associate shall act as his representative,
+without the slightest reflection upon the
+superintendent's administration, the two being regarded
+in their work as one.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Providing Substitutes.</i> One definite duty of
+the associate superintendent should be to provide
+substitutes for absent teachers, relieving entirely
+the superintendent from that burdensome and
+perplexing task. The teachers should permit no
+ordinary hindrance to keep them from their classes,
+for no one can fully supply the place of a true
+teacher in the regard of the scholars. But when
+a teacher finds it necessary to be absent he should
+make strenuous endeavor to find a substitute; and
+if unable to secure one, should notify, not the
+superintendent, but the associate; and before the
+lesson period the associate should have a supply
+ready.</p>
+
+<p>If the school has been properly graded it will
+include a Teacher-training Class; but under no
+circumstances should the associate take one of its
+members as a supply teacher, even for one Sunday.
+This class should remain untouched by the demand
+for teachers until its members have completed the
+prescribed course. If there is a Reserve Class,
+substitutes should be called from it in some order,
+preferably alphabetical, so that the same members
+will not be taken too frequently.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Where the Sunday school is held in the afternoon
+or at noon, the associate can generally provide
+for needy classes by watching at the morning
+service for possible teachers. If he is compelled
+to look for them in the Adult or Senior classes of
+the school, he should be present early, and if
+possible obtain his supplies before the opening of
+the school. If the associate superintendent has
+done his work, when the lesson begins, every class
+will have a teacher seated before it, ready for the
+Bible study. He should never wait until the time
+for opening the lesson to see what classes need
+teachers, and then undertake to obtain them by
+interrupting the teaching in three or four classes
+and calling for volunteers, while the classes without
+teachers are listlessly waiting, and valuable time is
+lost from the half-hour of the lesson period. All
+this work should be done before the lesson, and,
+if possible, before the opening of the school.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>Assignment of New Scholars.</i> Another duty
+of the associate superintendent is to meet new
+scholars and assign them to classes. For this
+work he should be present early, meet the scholars
+as they come, learn who the new scholars are,
+write down names, places of residence, ages, parents'
+names, why they come; and prepare material
+for the card catalogue under the secretary's care.
+Scholars bringing new members, and teachers into
+whose classes they may come, should introduce
+them to the associate superintendent, who should
+at once take charge of them. No new scholar
+below the grade of Senior should choose his own
+class, although his desire to be with friends should
+be considered, so far as it will not interfere<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+with the established system of classification. Some
+large graded schools have a temporary class to
+which new pupils in the Intermediate and Junior
+grades are assigned for a few sessions until their
+permanent place can be fixed.</p>
+
+<p>(5) <i>Detailed Supervision.</i> There are also minor
+duties wherein the associate superintendent can be
+of great service. While the superintendent is at
+the desk directing the general exercises, his associate
+may be upon the floor, quietly observing the
+condition and needs of the school. He can note
+where Bibles, song books, or lesson quarterlies are
+needed, and can see that they are distributed
+without interrupting the service. He can also give
+quiet attention to the order of the school, calling
+to their duty boisterous, talking, or inattentive
+scholars. For the superintendent to stop in
+announcing a hymn or reading the Scripture, to
+rebuke some disorderly or thoughtless pupil, breaks
+into the service and mars its dignity. The associate
+superintendent can accomplish the desired
+result at the right moment by a light step and a
+gentle word.</p>
+
+<p>(6) <i>Chief of Staff.</i> In a word, the associate
+superintendent should be the chief of staff to the
+executive head of the school, his eyes, ears, and
+hand; possessing full acquaintance and accord with
+his plans, and carrying them out in his name;
+informing and advising him, yet careful of criticism;
+avoiding all that would hinder, and aiding in all
+that would make his management successful. He
+can divide the labor, and relieve his chief of some
+of the most perplexing and trying details, leaving
+him free to watch over the general interests of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+school. Whoever can fulfill such a service is an
+invaluable worker, and should be held in high
+honor.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the duties named above may be in the
+sphere of the department superintendent, who
+should be in his section what the associate superintendent
+is to the school.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p>
+<h2>IX</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>THE SECRETARY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL</div>
+
+
+<p>1. <b>Importance.</b> The secretary of the Sunday
+school is an officer of far greater importance than
+is generally supposed. In too many schools some
+youth in the adolescent period is made secretary,
+merely to keep him in the school, without consideration
+of his capacity and adaptedness to the
+office. As a result of an unsuitable appointment,
+the minutes of the teachers' meetings are incomplete,
+the registry of the classes is neglected, and
+the true condition of the school cannot be ascertained.
+If by any good fortune or by a more
+careful choice an able and faithful secretary takes
+his place, at once a new impulse is felt by the
+school. The superintendent, the teachers, and even
+the scholars will realize that energy, accuracy, and
+thoroughness count for much in the work of this
+department. They will appreciate faithful service,
+and will themselves respond to its influence.</p>
+
+<p>2. <b>Qualifications.</b> The ideal secretary of a Sunday
+school should possess the following characteristics:</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>A Business Man.</i> He should possess the
+instincts of a man of business, being willing to
+work, systematic in method, and thorough in care
+of details.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Regular in Attendance.</i> He should make the
+Sunday school his business on Sunday, with a
+fidelity equal to that which he manifests toward<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+his vocation through the week. His regularity
+should also embrace promptness, coming in advance
+of the hour; for much of the secretary's work may
+be done before the opening of the service.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Good Writer.</i> He should be able to write
+legibly, and possess skill in framing sentences
+correctly, and in writing them plainly, without
+unnecessary flourishes.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>Quick Mental Action.</i> His mental processes
+should be sufficiently rapid for him to set down
+an ordinary motion, presented in a public meeting,
+without requiring it to be repeated or written out
+by the mover. An able recorder will promptly
+express in the minutes the form of a motion or
+the spirit of a speech, thereby saving much time
+in the meeting and much space in the report.</p>
+
+<p>(5) <i>Quiet Manner.</i> The secretary should watch
+the program and do his work without interrupting
+it. He should never appear among the classes during
+prayer, during the reading of Scripture, or
+while a speaker is addressing the school. Only
+under urgent necessity should he come to a class
+in the lesson period, and in that case only at its
+beginning. During intervals in the service, or
+during the singing, he may find it needful at
+times to pass among the classes; but he should
+do this necessary work quietly, without distracting
+the attention of the school.</p>
+
+<p>(6) <i>Courteous Conduct.</i> His bearing should always
+be that of a gentleman, refined and courteous,
+thoughtful of others and patient toward all; a
+manner enabling him to win the friendly aid of
+every teacher, upon whom the accuracy of the
+class record must depend.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Whoever can be found, in the school or the
+community, possessing these qualities, or approaching
+them, should be chosen as secretary of the
+Sunday school, whether man or woman. Often a
+young woman, accustomed through the week to
+business methods, becomes an efficient secretary of
+the Sunday school.</p>
+
+<p>3. <b>Appointment.</b> The secretary should be elected
+by the board of officers and teachers. As he is
+not merely an assistant to the superintendent,
+but an officer of the school, it is not necessary
+that he should receive a nomination from the
+superintendent. His term of office should be one
+year, with as many re&euml;lections as will promote
+the good of the service.</p>
+
+<p>4. <b>Assistants.</b> In almost any school the secretary
+will need an assistant, whom he should
+nominate, subject to confirmation by the board of
+teachers and officers.</p>
+
+<p>5. <b>Department Secretaries.</b> In a graded Sunday
+school there should be an assistant secretary for
+each department, who may be one of the teachers,
+or in the Senior and Adult grades, one of the
+scholars. He should take the records of the
+classes in the department and transmit them to
+the secretary of the school. But the secretary is
+responsible for the records of the entire school,
+and should see personally that the record of each
+department is complete.</p>
+
+<p><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads '5'">6</ins> . <b>Duties.</b> The work of the secretary may be
+classified as follows:</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>Record of Meetings.</i> As secretary of the
+board of teachers and officers, he should be present
+at all business meetings and make a careful record.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
+Every motion should be stated clearly, with the
+names of its mover and its seconder, and the
+action taken. A statement should be given of
+every committee appointed, its purpose, and the
+names of its members. All committees should be
+expected to present written reports, however brief.
+A concise summary of each report, in a few sentences,
+or a single clause, should appear in the
+minutes of the meeting at which the report is
+presented; and the report itself should be filed
+for reference in case it should be needed. A committee
+once named is on the minutes, and cannot
+be ignored nor forgotten until its report has been
+presented and adopted, and the committee has
+been formally discharged. For example, it is not
+sufficient for the committee on the Christmas entertainment
+to hold the entertainment; it must
+afterward report that the entertainment was held
+on a certain date; must have its report adopted,
+and receive its discharge. It should be the duty
+of the secretary from time to time to call for
+reports of committees named in the minutes of
+previous meetings, to insist that a report be
+rendered, and that some action be taken upon it.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Record of the School.</i> In every well-ordered
+Sunday school the secretary summarizes in writing
+the attendance in each department, the total
+attendance, the number of new scholars, and
+other items to be preserved, including the weather,
+which may sometimes account for a small attendance;
+also a comparison with the record of the
+same Sunday last year. This report should be
+read to the school by the secretary at the call of
+the superintendent, or posted before the school;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
+and it should also be recorded in a book which
+will contain the statistics of the school through a
+term of years.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Records of Classes.</i> The secretary and his
+assistants should prepare the books in which the
+class record of attendance is recorded. The name
+of each scholar should be given correctly and
+fully (for example, not "F. Jones," but "Frederick
+Jones"). The secretary should see that the record
+of attendance for each Sunday is accurately kept.
+He will need to give special attention to classes
+where substitutes take the place of absent teachers,
+and to see that the record for the day is not
+neglected. As often as the arrangement of the
+class books requires the rewriting of the names of
+the scholars, he should transcribe the list, always
+writing every name in full. In looking through
+the class lists he should note the names of those
+who have been absent for a series of sessions,
+and should report them to the superintendent, for
+consideration and for investigation of every habitual
+absentee. If these scholars can be visited,
+many of them may be retained in the school.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>Records of Scholars.</i> In addition to the
+record in the class books, another record should
+be kept of every member of the school, including
+every officer, teacher, and scholar; a card catalogue,
+each name upon a separate card, and all the cards
+filed in alphabetical order. The card for each
+scholar should give besides his name the date of
+his entrance to the school, either the date of his
+birth or his age at entering&mdash;approximative, if
+above eighteen years; his residence, with street
+and number in a city; parents' names; class to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+which he is assigned; his relation to the church or
+congregation, and any other important facts. The
+card should contain the record of every promotion,
+and its date; of any changes in residence, and
+other details, so that it becomes a reliable and
+complete history of each individual in the school.
+In many schools the birthday of each member is
+kept upon the record, and is recognized by sending
+a birthday card. If a scholar or teacher leaves
+the school the fact is recorded, and the card is
+then taken from the regular catalogue and filed
+permanently in the list of "former members."</p>
+
+<p>(5) <i>Literature of the School.</i> The secretary
+should be in charge of the literature used by the
+school, its text-books, lesson-quarterlies, and other
+periodicals. He should see that the literature is
+ordered in full time, should receive it, keep it in
+his care, and attend to its distribution. The particular
+text-book for each grade is fixed by the
+superintendent; and the secretary should receive
+from him direction as to the lesson helps for each
+grade.</p>
+
+<p>(6) <i>Correspondence.</i> The secretary should conduct
+all correspondence in behalf of the school or
+of the teachers as a body, unless for a special
+purpose the chairman of a committee be in charge
+of correspondence relating to his work.</p>
+
+<p>The secretary who with the aid of his staff
+undertakes to do all the work that rises before him
+will not find his task a light one. But his department
+carried on with vigor will greatly promote
+the success of the Sunday school.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p>
+<h2>X</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>THE TREASURY AND THE TREASURER</div>
+
+
+<p>1. <b>In the Early Sunday School.</b> A study of origins
+has shown that in the earliest Sunday schools
+in America, as in England, provision was made for
+the payment of officers and teachers. In the first
+schools established in and near Philadelphia, each
+paid teacher had charge of what would now be
+considered a department, and the practical teaching
+was given under his direction by scholars, who
+were called monitors. But in a new country, where
+the settlements were small and the people mostly
+poor, the system of paid teachers soon passed
+away, and the schools were carried on by voluntary
+and unpaid workers. It was fortunate for the
+American Sunday school that in its beginnings it
+required but little money. For the place of meeting
+any chapel or schoolhouse or settler's cabin
+would serve. The literature was exceedingly
+meager&mdash;a few Testaments and spelling books, and
+generally these were brought by the teachers and
+scholars. When the earliest lesson books were
+published, they were not quarterlies, nor annuals,
+to be thrown away after one using, but were studied
+year after year. The largest item of expense was the
+library; and as this was an institution for the entire
+neighborhood, the families willingly contributed toward
+it. Not until the Sunday school had become
+thoroughly founded did the question of its financial
+support arise as a problem.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>2. <b>In the Modern Sunday School.</b> As the Sunday
+school advanced in position, in influence, and in
+better methods of work, its expenses naturally
+increased. Now, in the opening of its second
+century, its financial requirements are far greater
+than they were even a generation ago. It asks
+for special and suitable buildings, with rooms and
+furnishings adapted to the educational needs of its
+several departments; for a periodical literature
+suited to teachers and scholars of every grade, and
+requiring to be renewed every year; for an organ
+or piano&mdash;often for several, with an orchestra
+added; for an equipment of song books different
+from those in the church service; for entertainments
+and gifts at Christmas, and a day's outing
+for all in the summer; for libraries containing
+popular books for the scholars and helpful works
+for the teachers in their work. The demands of
+a large and growing Sunday school, in city or
+country, are great, but in nearly all congregations
+the funds for the support of the Sunday school are
+obtained with less effort than those for any other
+department of church activity, and in this liberality
+the Christian people show their wisdom and insight.</p>
+
+<p>3. <b>Practical Ways and Means.</b> The methods of
+financial support for the Sunday school are exceedingly
+varied. The simplest plan is through a
+regular weekly contribution in the classes. Where
+attention is given to the collection, and an appeal
+is occasionally made in its behalf, the school will
+generally obtain the funds needed for its own
+support. When the special need arises for the
+purchase of a piano or a library, some entertainment
+may be held which will by its profits swell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
+the receipts. The objection to these methods,
+which are almost universal, is that they appeal to
+self-interest, and fail to educate the members of
+the school in true liberality. It is for <i>our</i> school,
+<i>our</i> piano, <i>our</i> library, that the appeal is made
+and the money is contributed. The scholars should
+be taught to give to the cause of Christ and his
+gospel, and not merely to interests from which they
+themselves are to receive a reward.</p>
+
+<p>4. <b>The Ideal Way of Giving.</b> The more excellent
+way is for the church in its annual estimate of
+expenses to include a fair, even liberal, allowance
+for the Sunday school, and at intervals through
+the year pass over to the treasury of the Sunday
+school the funds appropriated, to be expended
+according to principles and regulations provided.
+Then let every officer, teacher, and pupil in the
+school, from the Adult Department to the Primary,
+and even to the Beginners, make his own weekly
+offering to the church. Most church schools contribute
+to the cause of foreign missions; but there
+is equal reason why they should give to all the
+general benevolent objects for which the church
+receives an annual collection. This plan would
+unite the church and the school more firmly, would
+avoid multiplying and conflicting objects for which
+funds are raised, and, best of all, would train every
+child in the Sunday school to systematic giving
+upon the true gospel principle, which is "not to be
+ministered unto, but to minister."</p>
+
+<p>5. <b>The Sunday-School Treasurer.</b> The work of
+the treasurer is very different from that of the
+secretary; yet the two offices are often held by
+one person. In that case they should be regarded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+as distinct positions; the election to the two
+offices should be separate, and not at the same
+time for one person as secretary and treasurer.
+At every business meeting a separate report should
+be presented for the two departments, and the
+treasurership should not be regarded as a branch
+of the secretary's work. If the plan outlined in
+the last paragraph be adopted as the method of
+providing for the financial needs of the Sunday
+school, it might be well to choose the treasurer of
+the church as treasurer of the Sunday school, thus
+giving unity to the financial administration of the
+entire organization.</p>
+
+<p>6. <b>The Treasurer's Work.</b> This will require a
+person who is known as careful in accounts, as
+well as honorable in all his dealings.</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>His Charge.</i> All the funds of the Sunday
+school should pass through his hands. If money
+is raised for any purpose, or a money-making
+entertainment is held, the treasurer should take
+charge of the receipts and pay the bills. For this
+purpose he should be ex officio a member of all
+committees required to receive and disburse funds.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Bank Account.</i> Except in small and remote
+places, the treasurer will find it desirable to keep
+an account with a bank in behalf of the school,
+and deposit therein all moneys received. Under
+no circumstances should he deposit Sunday-school
+funds as a part of his own private account, but
+should keep separate accounts as an individual and
+as treasurer.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Reports and Vouchers.</i> At each meeting of
+the governing board of the school he should present
+a statement of the condition of the treasury,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+with exact mention of all moneys received and
+paid since the last meeting; and for every payment
+he should show a receipt or voucher, and on it the
+"O. K." or approval of some qualified person who
+knows that it is correct.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>Bills.</i> He should receive all bills against the
+school, and should inform himself concerning them,
+in order to be able to answer any questions raised
+by members of the board. He should present at
+the meeting a statement of all the unpaid bills
+on hand, with a forecast of bills expected, and
+obtain a vote of the board upon each bill that is
+to be paid.</p>
+
+<p>(5) <i>Checks.</i> It is desirable to pay bills as far as
+possible with checks, as the check will often serve
+as a receipt; and the receipted bills should be filed
+together for reference.</p>
+
+<p>(6) <i>Audits.</i> An Auditing Committee should be
+appointed, to examine the accounts of the school
+from time to time, and always when the treasurer
+completes his term, alike whether he is re&euml;lected
+or gives place to a successor. This committee
+should either present a written report, or should
+sign their names to the treasurer's report, with the
+indorsement, "Audited and found correct."</p>
+
+<p>Most of the above recommendations, perhaps all
+of them, state the methods that would be followed
+by any intelligent, businesslike treasurer. But in
+the continent-wide area of the Sunday school, of
+necessity, not all treasurers are intelligent or experienced
+in business methods; and there are doubtless
+many who may profit by these suggestions.</p>
+
+<p>(7) <i>Study of Benevolent Interests.</i> One of the
+most important duties of a treasurer in a modern<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+Sunday school is to study the different charitable
+objects that present themselves to the school, decide
+upon their merits, and then present them
+understandingly to the members of the school, with
+a view to eliciting their interest and training
+them in the spirit and habit of intelligent giving.
+This important task raises the treasurership out of
+mere mechanical service, and constitutes it one of
+the directing forces in the school.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p>
+<h2>XI</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>VALUE OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL LIBRARY</div>
+
+
+<p>1. <b>The Library of the Past.</b> Until quite recent
+times the Sunday-school library was understood to
+be a collection of books, mainly of an entertaining
+character, kept in the school, distributed at its
+sessions, and read by the scholars, for enjoyment
+rather than for instruction. Such a library was
+regarded as an essential of the Sunday school.
+However small or however poor the school, it
+must have a library. Books were scarce, and
+desirable books were high in price. There were no
+free public libraries, and few circulating libraries.
+The library was regarded as the principal attraction
+of the school, and it drew the scholars. Many
+children attended two Sunday schools in order to
+obtain each week two library books. The books
+were read by all the family; and in many homes
+the Sunday-school library furnished most of the
+reading matter. The literature may not have been
+of the highest grade, but, with all its defects, the
+Sunday-school library of the past was a useful and
+valuable institution.</p>
+
+<p>2. <b>Its Decline in the Present.</b> In recent times,
+and especially in well-settled and cultured communities,
+the Sunday-school library has lost much
+of its importance. Very many schools have closed
+their libraries; and in the schools continuing their
+use only a small proportion of the scholars obtain
+books. Inquiry has shown that in cities and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
+suburban towns a school of two hundred members
+will include not more than thirty who make use
+of the library. When the library is closed scarcely
+any complaints from the scholars are heard; nor
+is the closing of the library followed by a loss of
+scholars. Publishing houses which formerly issued
+fifty new books each year, especially for Sunday-school
+libraries, have entirely abandoned this
+branch of business. It cannot be maintained that
+the Sunday-school library for the entertainment of
+the scholars now holds a prominent place, or is a
+factor of success, in the best American Sunday
+schools.</p>
+
+<p>3. <b>Causes of Decline.</b> It is not difficult to find
+reasons for this present lack of interest in the
+Sunday-school library. Books are now far more
+abundant than they were formerly. They are sold
+cheaply, and are to be found in almost every
+home. The periodical literature in circulation to-day
+is apparently a hundredfold greater than it
+was two generations ago. Every city and almost
+every town has its public library. Many schools
+are furnished with free libraries. Readers can
+scarcely find time for the books and magazines
+that are open to them. Moreover, the Sunday
+school now stands in such recognized honor and
+power that it no longer needs the old-time library
+as a bait for scholars. The library for mere recreation
+does not readily fit into the general scheme
+of education in the modern Sunday school. Then,
+too, the educational work of the school demands
+such an outfit of books and periodicals, renewed
+each year, that the additional expense of the
+library is a heavy burden. Sharp criticism is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
+passed upon the quality of the books in most
+Sunday-school libraries, as being almost wholly
+stories, and stories of a cheap and commonplace
+character, many of them absolutely injurious. The
+conducting of the library is often found to interfere
+with the order and work of the school. These
+are among the causes which have led to disuse of
+the library in many Sunday schools.</p>
+
+<p>4. <b>The Uses of a Good Library.</b> Notwithstanding
+the objections to the Sunday-school library, its
+neglect by many scholars, and its abolition in
+many schools, the fact remains that the majority
+of Sunday schools still retain the library, and
+claim that it is needed. There are even places
+where the Sunday-school library holds its own
+constituency in competition with the town library;
+and in small villages the Sunday school supplies
+most of the books in circulation. The principal
+claims made in behalf of such a library are the
+following:</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>Family Needs.</i> Every family needs good
+reading matter. The books that interest the young
+generally interest the old also. People who would
+be at a loss to select a book from the shelves of a
+public library will read the book brought to them
+from the Sunday-school library. The reading of
+the library-book fills leisure time on Sunday afternoons
+and on long winter evenings.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Moral Influence.</i> While most Sunday-school
+books as literature are open to criticism, yet in
+the realm of ethics they generally present high
+ideals. The characters depicted in them may not
+be symmetrical, but on the whole they are earnest
+and upright. Youth admires heroism; and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
+personalities portrayed in popular Sunday-school
+books are generally heroic, even though they may
+be unduly emotional. The boys who are picked up
+by the police in railroad centers, armed for fighting
+Indians or robbing trains, generally carry an assortment
+of cheap novels, but they are not from
+Sunday-school libraries. If the criterion be ethics
+and not literature, most Sunday-school books will
+stand the test.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Aid to the School.</i> As has been already
+suggested, the original aim of the library was to
+attract scholars to the school. In many places
+this influence is no longer needed; but there still
+remain communities where scholars are obtained
+and families are interested by means of the library.
+And it is an open question whether if the library
+had advanced step by step with the other departments
+of the school, if the same attention had
+been given to the supply and management of the
+library as has been given to the educational work,
+if the right books had been kept upon its shelves,
+and advanced methods had been sought in their
+distribution, the library of the Sunday school
+might not still be a vigorous and successful institution.</p>
+
+<p>5. <b>Principles of Selection.</b> If the governing board
+of the school decides that a library for general
+reading by the scholars is desirable, the question
+at once arises as to what principles shall determine
+the selection of books. A few of these principles
+may be stated:</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>Variety.</i> The library should represent more
+than one department of literature. So general is
+the taste for stories that the tendency will be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
+inevitable to overload the library with works of
+fiction. Therefore special care should be given to
+include in it the lives of great and good men&mdash;heroes,
+statesmen, explorers, leaders of the church,
+and missionaries. All of these present life on its
+romantic side, and may be found written in an
+entertaining manner. Upon the shelves should also
+be placed history and science&mdash;not in many-volumed
+treatises for scholars, but in popular books
+for young people. In fact, there are few departments
+of a good public library which may not
+properly be included in the library of the Sunday
+school, especially in places where the school is
+expected to supply the reading matter for the
+community.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Popularity.</i> Merely to place books on the
+shelves of a Sunday-school library will not insure
+the reading of them. This library aims to be
+emphatically a circulating library. Its books are
+not for show, but for use; and their place to be
+seen is not on the shelves of the library-room, but
+in the homes of the scholars and teachers. It is
+absolutely essential that no book be placed in
+the library unless it is sufficiently interesting to be
+taken out and read, for an unread book is worse
+than <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'useles'">useless</ins> in the Sunday-school library. Although
+its principles be as sound as the Ten Commandments,
+if it be dull it must be condemned. Students
+may be willing to plod through an uninteresting
+book because it is profitable, but ordinary readers,
+especially youthful readers, will turn from it.
+Books should not be purchased because they are
+good, or because they are cheap; nor, on the other
+hand, should they be chosen only because they are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+popular; yet an interesting, popular quality should
+be an absolute requirement in every book placed
+upon the library shelves.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Literary Quality.</i> Books are influential
+teachers, and a style like that of Hawthorne or
+Eliot will unconsciously mold the language of those
+who read it. On the other hand, the habitual
+readers of the slang in the comic paragraph of the
+newspaper will talk in a careless and inelegant
+manner. Of course, all books should be excluded
+from the library which deal in low, profane, or
+immoral language, without regarding the specious
+plea that such describe life as it is. We do not
+need to learn the language of the slums to know
+life; and, as one writer has said, we do not want
+a realism that can be touched only with a pair of
+tongs. The best pirate story in the English language
+is one that is without an oath from cover to
+cover,<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> and we would not exclude it from the
+Sunday-school library. Let us seek for writers
+whose expression is direct, smooth, and cultured.
+The Sunday school in its literature as well as its
+teaching should lead upward toward refinement of
+taste.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>Moral Teaching.</i> The ethical standard of
+every book in the Sunday-school library should be
+of the highest. Not that every paragraph should
+end with the application like the <i>H&aelig;c fabula docet</i>
+of &AElig;sop's fables, or that the characters in a story
+should be of a "goody-goody" kind, or that none
+but good people should appear upon the page.
+There must be some shadows in the perspective
+that the light may stand in contrast. But in no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+case should wrong, or sin, or the doubtful moralities
+of modern society be made attractive.
+Moral problem stories, in which the boundary lines
+of right and wrong conduct are crossed and re-crossed
+until right seems wrong, and wrong seems
+right, should have no place. "Should love stories
+be admitted?" Not if the element of love enters
+as the dominant thought of the book. A story
+should not be forbidden because there is a pair of
+lovers in it; but it should not be accepted if the
+book shows no higher motive than to set forth
+their passion. Books should be sought that will
+inculcate a noble manliness for young men and a
+noble womanliness for young women, and there are
+such books in numbers sufficient to fill the library
+shelves.</p>
+
+<p>(5) <i>Christian Spirit.</i> It is not required that
+every book should set forth and illustrate a spiritual
+experience. It may be religious without preaching
+religion. But the morals it inculcates should be
+founded upon the gospels and inspired by faith.
+It should be reverent in its treatment of the Bible,
+of the church, and of the ministry. A book or a
+story designed to weaken belief in the Scriptures
+as records of the divine will, or holding the church
+up to scorn, or showing a minister as its villain,
+should be kept out of the Sunday-school library.
+Criticism or discussion of the Bible, of the church,
+and of the ministry has its place, but its place is
+not in the Sunday school. The Sunday school is
+distinctively a religious and a Christian institution,
+and the atmosphere of the Christian religion should
+pervade its library.</p>
+
+<p>6. <b>The Coming Sunday-School Library.</b> Another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
+library of a higher type than that designed for the
+reading and recreation of the scholars is now
+arising to notice in many advanced Sunday schools,
+and is destined to become the Sunday-school
+library of the future, either supplementing the
+library of the past or taking its place. It is
+the library which is to the Sunday school what the
+college library is to the college, a workshop equipped
+with tools for the use of the teacher and the
+scholar. It will be at once a reference library,
+containing the best Bible dictionaries, cyclopedias,
+expository works, and gospel harmonies, open at
+certain times for the use of students; and also a
+lending library of books upon the Bible, upon the
+Sunday school, upon teaching, upon religion, upon
+character, and upon the varied forms of social
+service which are now calling for workers, and will
+call yet more imperatively in the coming years.
+The books for this library must be chosen with
+wisdom; for they should represent the results of
+the best scholarship, yet be expressed in language
+that the nonprofessional reader can understand;
+and many of them must be for the scholars, who
+are of all ages and all degrees of intelligence.
+Those of the Primary Department should be able
+to find in such a library the stories of the Bible
+told in such a fascinating manner that a child
+too young to read them may listen to them with
+interest, and picture-books illustrating the events,
+the people, the dress, and the landscape of the
+Bible. It should be planned to meet the needs of
+every grade in the Sunday school, and to aid
+every teacher and every scholar; and when established
+it should be made effective in the educational<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
+work of the school. Just as in the secular school
+and the college students are sent to the library
+with directions as to the books they will need, so
+in the Sunday school teachers will be able to
+counsel their scholars and to give them week-day
+work, so that the teaching will be more than the
+talk of the teacher; it will embrace the results of
+searching on the part of the scholar. Under the
+system of uniform lessons the use of such a library
+was well-nigh impracticable, because every class
+would need the same books at one time. But the
+uniform lessons are being rapidly displaced by the
+graded system, giving to each grade its own series
+of lessons; and this method, requiring different
+books for each age in the school, will open the way
+for reference work and study in the library. The
+time is at hand when such a working library will
+become a necessity in every well-organized school.</p>
+
+<p>7. <b>The Public Library and the Sunday School.</b>
+It would seem that wherever the public library is
+free, available, and well conducted some arrangement
+might be effected whereby the Sunday-school
+libraries could be united with the public library.
+This would lessen expense and difficulty in management,
+would avoid the unnecessary reduplication
+of copies of the same books, and would give to
+the scholars at once a wider selection and the
+advantage of the open shelf. In more than one
+town this has been accomplished. The Sunday
+schools have transferred all their libraries to the
+public library, to its enlargement, and with no
+loss of members to the schools. Some Sunday
+schools in cities have been recognized as branch
+stations of the public library, giving them the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+benefit of frequent changes in the equipment of
+books, which at regular intervals are selected from
+the store of the public library by the library committee
+of the school. The working library for
+teachers and scholars, proposed in the last paragraph,
+in many places might be established in
+the public library, wherever the schools in the
+community will unite to show that it is needed, to
+name the books required, and to make it practically
+useful.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p>
+<h2>XII</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>THE MANAGEMENT OF THE LIBRARY</div>
+
+
+<p>1. <b>Library Committee.</b> For the selection of
+books, whether in the reading library for scholars
+or the working library for teachers and scholars,
+a wise, intelligent, and careful committee should
+be chosen, and should be maintained in permanent
+service. The pastor and the superintendent
+should be ex-officio members of this committee, but
+it should also include some other persons sufficiently
+acquainted with books to pass upon their merits,
+and willing to give time, inquiry, and thought to
+the library. There may be schools fortunate in
+possessing librarians who devote themselves to the
+selection of books, as well as to the care of them;
+and in such schools the library committees will find
+their labors lessened. No book should be admitted
+to the library without examination and approval
+by the committee.</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>Purchase of Books.</i> The simplest method
+for finding books is far from being the best method.
+It is to have a quantity of books&mdash;a hundred or
+more at one time&mdash;sent by booksellers on approval.
+This method involves hasty examination, and generally
+results in obtaining many useless, worthless
+books intermixed with a few good ones. The
+better plan is for the committee, first of all, to be
+supplied with catalogues from reputable publishers
+of books for children and young people, and also
+books on religious and biblical education; next to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+read carefully the reviews of books in these departments
+as given in the best literary and religious
+periodicals; then, to send only for such books as
+they judge will be desirable, receiving them on
+approval. Every book should not only be looked
+at, but read; and if at all doubtful read by more
+than one member of the committee. In some
+Sunday schools there is placed at the door a
+library box, in which may be deposited the names
+of books desired by members of the school. Lists
+of approved books are published by various houses
+and societies; and the catalogues of a few good
+Sunday-school libraries will aid committees. The
+library committee must scrutinize closely all donations
+of books offered to the library, and resolutely
+decline every book that is unsuitable, even at the
+risk of offending the donor. The Sunday-school
+library room must not be turned into a mausoleum
+for dead volumes. The committee must also beware
+of bargains offered by some booksellers who
+would unload upon Sunday schools their left-over
+and unsalable stock. That which costs little is
+generally worth less. The Sunday school must
+obtain only books that will be read and are worth
+reading.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Frequent Additions.</i> The usual method is to
+use the old library until its best books are either
+worn out or lost, and then to make a strenuous
+effort at raising money for the purchase of an
+entirely new collection. But the better plan is to
+add a few carefully selected books each month to
+the library. To examine at one time two hundred
+volumes is an impossibility, and in so large a
+purchase many undesirable books are sure to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+included. It is not difficult to select after careful
+examination ten books each month, and thereby
+keep the library always at a high grade of excellence.
+With each purchase a slip describing
+the new books might be printed, and distributed
+to the school, thus keeping the library constantly
+before its patrons.</p>
+
+<p>2. <b>The Librarian.</b> There is a close analogy between
+the work of the librarian in the public
+library and that in the Sunday school. For the
+public library everywhere a specialist is sought, one
+who knows books, can select them wisely, and
+can aid seekers after literature in their reading.
+The Sunday school needs just such a librarian,
+and all the more because the scholars cannot
+select from the open shelf, but must guess at the
+quality of a book from its title in the catalogue.
+It has been noticed that wherever a Sunday-school
+library is successful in holding the interest of the
+scholars there is found with it a librarian adapted
+to his work and devoting himself to it. We notice
+the characteristics of a good librarian in the
+Sunday school:</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>A Bookman.</i> He is a lover of books, acquainted
+with them, and interested in good
+literature. His work is more than to distribute
+books: he should aid, sometimes supervise, their
+collection.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>A Business Man.</i> He is practical, orderly,
+and systematic in his ways of working; with a plan
+for his task, and fidelity in accomplishing it.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Gentle in Manner.</i> Opportunities will be
+frequent for the librarian to clash with the scholars
+on the one hand, or with the superintendent upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+the other. With one he may appear arbitrary,
+with the other disorderly, his work sometimes
+breaking into the program of exercises. He should
+be pleasant toward all, uniform in his dealings,
+and attentive to the general order of the school.</p>
+
+<p>3. <b>His Assistants.</b> In most schools one assistant,
+in large schools several assistants, will be required
+by the librarian. He should nominate them, subject
+to the approval of the governing board of the
+school; and should require of them regular and
+prompt attendance, and attention to their work in
+the library. It is very desirable that the business
+should be so arranged as to allow the librarians
+to take part in the opening devotional service
+with the school, and not to be at work arranging
+books while others are at prayer.</p>
+
+<p>4. <b>The Management of the Library.</b> This involves
+four processes: the collection, the assignment, the
+distribution, and the return of the books.</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>The Collection.</i> The books can easily be
+collected without interfering with the order of the
+school, if the library window is near the entrance
+to the building, and the scholars as they enter
+leave their books at the library. This is the
+method employed in most schools.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>The Assignment.</i> How to enable each scholar
+to choose his book introduces one of the three
+problems in library management. The plan generally
+followed is to supply each scholar with
+a card bearing a number which represents the
+scholar. He selects from the catalogue a large
+assortment of books, and writes their numbers
+upon his card: the librarian assigns the scholar any
+one of the books selected, crosses it from his list,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
+and upon another list marks the number of the
+book opposite the number of the scholar. The
+weakness of the plan is in the fact that the scholar
+has no means of learning from the catalogue what
+books are desirable; and a book desired by one
+may be entirely undesirable to another. Theoretically
+the scholar has the whole catalogue from
+which to choose; practically he has no choice,
+except the suggestion in the titles of the books.
+The open-shelf plan cannot be established in the
+Sunday school, for the room is usually too small,
+the time of the session is too brief, and the work
+of the school too important to allow interruption.</p>
+
+<p>In some graded Sunday schools another plan is
+pursued, taking from the scholar all choice, but
+assigning to each grade books of certain numbers,
+all printed upon the card of the scholar, any one
+of which books he may receive at any time during
+his stay in the grade, but each of which will fall
+to his lot but once. This plan demands a library
+of books carefully selected, and as carefully fitted
+to each grade in the school. But this method is
+apt to be unsatisfactory to the scholars, who have
+their own preferences among the books. The
+difficulties in assigning books, and disappointments
+of scholars in failing to obtain the books desired,
+is a frequent cause for the disuse of the library;
+and this problem has not as yet been fully solved.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>The Distribution.</i> This takes place at the
+close of the school, and brings in the second
+problem of library management. The books may
+be brought to the classes by the librarians, and
+distributed by the teachers; each scholar's book
+being indicated by his card placed within it. This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+method often causes confusion; scholars being dissatisfied
+with their books and leaving their classes
+press around the library. Sometimes they exchange
+books with each other. This is a simple plan as
+far as the two scholars exchanging are concerned,
+but sure to make trouble in the record of the
+librarian. Or each class may be dismissed in turn,
+and obtain its books at the library window while
+passing out. But this plan causes a congestion of
+scholars at the library, and also requires much
+time. To manage the distribution of books demands
+a strong will, coupled with a gentle manner
+in maintaining the library rules.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>The Return.</i> The theory of the Sunday-school
+library is that each scholar will bring his
+book back after a week or two weeks. But boys and
+girls&mdash;sometimes older scholars also&mdash;are apt to be
+careless. Books are exchanged between scholars,
+are loaned from one home to another, are forgotten,
+and are lost. And the books lost most readily are
+frequently those that are most sought for by the
+scholars. How to induce scholars invariably to
+return their books constitutes the third problem
+of library management. In many schools the
+percentage of lost books is exceedingly large. The
+librarian should do his utmost to reduce the loss
+to a minimum. To this end a few suggestions
+may be given:</p>
+
+<p>(a) Record of Scholars. Every scholar's name
+and address, with his library number, should be
+kept on record in the library; and every effort
+should be made to make the record conform to all
+changes in residence.</p>
+
+<p>(b) Record Sheet. The library should contain a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+record sheet, showing the number of every book
+issued, and the number of the scholar receiving it;
+to be canceled when the book is returned. This
+will show who is responsible for every book out
+of its place from the library.</p>
+
+<p>(c) Fines. A fine should be assessed upon the
+scholar for every book kept over time; and notice
+sent to the scholar at his home when a fine has
+become due.</p>
+
+<p>(d) Rewards. Scholars should be paid a reward,
+perhaps of ten cents for each book, if they can
+succeed in tracing and finding any book which
+has been out of the library two months or more.
+These plans, or others, may lessen, but no plan
+will entirely remove, the evil of books lost to the
+library through neglect or a worse crime.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CH_XIII" id="CH_XIII"></a>XIII</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>THE TEACHER'S QUALIFICATIONS AND NEED OF TRAINING</div>
+
+
+<p>While the superintendent in the school is the
+moving and guiding intelligence, the pulse of the
+machine, the teacher in the class is the worker
+at the anvil, or the loom, or the lathe, for whom
+all the plans are made, and upon whom all the
+success depends. In the warfare for souls he is
+on the picket line and at close range, fighting
+face to face and hand to hand. The sphere of his
+effort is small, that group gathered around him
+for an hour on Sunday, but in that little field his
+is the work that counts for the final victory. His
+task requires peculiar adaptedness, supplemented
+by special training.</p>
+
+<p>1. <b>His Qualifications.</b> There are on the American
+continent not less than a million and a half Sunday-school
+teachers, who give to the gospel their
+free-will offering of time, and toil, and thought.
+They are not like civil engineers or the majority
+of public-school teachers, graduates of schools that
+have given them training for a special vocation.
+In every respect they are laymen, engaged for six
+days in secular work, and on one day finding an
+avocation in the Sunday school. Yet there are
+certain traits, partly natural and partly acquired,
+which they must possess, if they are to find success
+in their Sabbath-day service.</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>A Sincere Disciple.</i> The Sunday-school<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
+teacher must be a follower of Christ, not merely
+in profession but in spirit. He is one who has
+met his Lord, has heard and has obeyed the call,
+"Follow me." He enlisted in the grand army of
+which Christ is the Commander, before he received
+his assignment to the army corps of the Sunday
+school, and his fidelity to the department is inspired
+by his deeper loyalty to his Lord. It is
+eminently desirable that the Sunday-school teacher
+should be a member of the church; but it is imperative
+that he should be a disciple of Christ.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>A Lover of Youth.</i> By far the largest proportion
+of scholars in the Sunday school, perhaps
+nine tenths, are under twenty-five years of age.
+Therefore, with few exceptions, the teachers must
+deal with young people; and youth at all its stages
+is not easy to understand and to manage. Moreover,
+the fact that not only the teachers, but to
+a large extent the scholars, are volunteers enters
+into the problem. Pupils attend the week-day
+school and submit to a teacher's rule because they
+must, whether their teachers are acceptable or are
+disliked. But the rule in the Sunday school is
+not the law of authority; it is the law of persuasion.
+The teacher who cannot draw his scholars, but
+repels them, soon finds himself without a class.
+In all teaching sympathy, or the co&ouml;rdination between
+the interest of the teacher in the pupil and
+of the pupil in the teacher, is a strong factor in
+success; but in the Sunday school it is an absolute
+necessity by reason of the voluntary element in the
+constitution of the Sunday school. That mystic
+power which will combine uncongenial spirits, and
+fuse the hearts of teacher and scholar into one,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+is love. Let the teacher love his scholars, let him
+see in each pupil some quality to inspire love,
+and the battle is half won. Love will quicken
+tact, and love and tact together will win the complete
+victory.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>A Lover of the Scriptures.</i> Whatever the
+Sunday school of to-morrow may become, the
+Sunday school of to-day is pre&euml;minently a Bible
+school. There are tendencies in our time which
+may in another generation render the Bible less
+prominent, and introduce into the Sunday school
+studies in church history, in social science, in
+moral reform, in missions, perhaps in comparative
+religion, or in some other departments of knowledge.
+But as yet the great text-book of the
+school is the Holy Scriptures. The volume should
+be in the hand of every teacher and of every
+scholar during the school session; and the teacher,
+especially, must study it during the week. If all
+of the Bible that he knows is contained in the
+paragraphs assigned for the coming lesson, and the
+rest of the book is sealed to his eyes, he will be
+a very poor teacher. He needs to have his mind
+stored with a thousand facts, and to have these
+facts systematized, in order to teach ten; and the
+nine hundred and ninety which he knows will add
+all their weight to the ten which he tells.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>A Willing Worker.</i> The teacher's love for
+Christ, for his scholars, and for his Bible is not
+to expend itself in emotion or even in study;
+it is to find expression in efficient service. A task
+is laid upon him which will demand much of his
+time and his power of body, mind, and spirit.
+He must be ready to meet his class fifty-two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
+Sundays in the year: on days of sunshine and days
+of storm; when he is eager for the work, and when
+he is weary in it; when his scholars are responsive,
+and when they are careless; when his fellow
+workers are congenial, and when they are anti-pathetic;
+when his lesson is easy to teach, and
+when it is hard. He must be regular in his service,
+not turned aside by opportunities of enjoyment
+elsewhere; and he must give to it all his powers
+and all his skill. Work such as this can be sustained
+only by an enduring enthusiasm, a devotion
+to the cause; and therefore the teacher must
+have his heart enlisted as well as his will.</p>
+
+<p>As a Sunday-school teacher, then, four harmonious
+objects will claim a share in his love: his
+Lord, his scholars, his Bible, and his work.</p>
+
+<p>2. <b>His Need of Training.</b> For two generations it
+was supposed that any person fairly intelligent,
+without special equipment, was fitted to be a
+Sunday-school teacher. There are found no records
+of training classes in Sunday-school work earlier
+than 1855, when the Rev. John H. Vincent began
+to gather young people and train them for service
+in his Sunday school at Irvington, New Jersey.
+The seed of his "Palestine Class" grew into the
+"Normal Class"; and by 1869 there were in a
+few places classes for the teaching of teachers in
+the Bible and Sunday-school work. It is not
+remarkable that Sunday-school teacher-training
+should be delayed so long after the organization
+of the first Sunday school, when it is remembered
+that in America the first Normal School for secular
+teachers was not founded until 1839. The Chautauqua
+movement, begun in 1874, gave a strong<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
+impetus to Sunday-school teacher-training; the
+state associations and denominational organizations
+took up the work; and now teacher-training classes
+are to be found in every state and province on the
+American continent. The thoroughly graded school
+includes in its system a class for the training of
+young people who are to be teachers.</p>
+
+<p>It is late in the day to inquire why the Sunday-school
+teacher needs training; but the question is
+often asked, and the answers are ready:</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>The General Principle.</i> All good work involves
+the prerequisite of training. Especially is
+this true of teaching; and there is a reason why
+the principle holds with regard to the Sunday-school
+teacher even more directly than with the
+secular teacher. While the subjects of teaching are
+vitally important, relating to character and efficient
+service, the time for teaching is short, less than
+an hour each week, in contrast to the twenty or
+twenty-five hours in the week-day school. To
+make an impression in so short a teaching period,
+with such long intervals between the lessons, demands
+that the teacher be one who possesses
+exceptional fitness for his work, and this superior
+fitness cannot be obtained without special and
+thorough training.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>The Teacher's Responsibility.</i> All-important
+as is the work of religious teaching, for which the
+Bible is the chief text-book in the church, there
+is but one institution in our time charged with
+that mighty duty, and that is the Sunday school.
+The Bible is rarely taught in the home, which
+should be the first place for teaching it; it is only
+incidentally taught in the pulpit, of which the aim<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
+is not so much instruction as inspiration. Practically
+all the teaching of the Bible now devolves
+upon the Sunday school, and the Sunday school
+only. If the Sunday schools of the world for one
+generation should fail to teach the word of life,
+the knowledge of that word would well-nigh cease.
+And the one person charged with that task, the
+one on whom the responsibility rests, is the Sunday-school
+teacher. He who is intrusted with so great
+a work, and upon whose fidelity the work depends,
+must have a proper equipment; and that equipment
+presupposes training.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>The Demand of the Age.</i> We are living in
+an intellectual age, unparalleled in the history of
+the world. The boundaries of knowledge in every
+direction have widened, and in each realm the
+search is deeper and more thorough. Such wealth
+has been added through recent investigations to
+the store of Bible knowledge that most commentaries,
+expositions, and introductions of the
+past have now but slight value. Another exceedingly
+important realm that has been added to the
+domain of knowledge is that of child study, but
+recently an unexplored field, now open to every
+reader. In such a time as this the teacher who
+would impart the contents of the Bible to the
+young must have eyes and mind opened. He must
+know the results of modern investigation in
+the Scriptures and in the nature of those whom
+he teaches. His pupils are under the care of
+trained and alert specialists through the week;
+they must receive instruction from well-taught
+minds in the Sunday school.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>The Teacher and His Class.</i> The peculiar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+relation already referred to as existing between the
+Sunday-school teacher and his class presents another
+incentive to training. His relation is not like
+that of the secular teacher, who speaks with
+authority, and can command attention and study.
+The teacher in Sunday school cannot require his
+scholars to learn the lesson; the authority of the
+parent is rarely employed to compel home study;
+and as a result most of our scholars come to the
+Sunday school unprepared. This is not the ideal
+or the ultimate condition, but unfortunately it is
+still the real condition in at least nine out of ten
+Sunday-school classes. This condition makes the
+demand upon the teacher all the greater. Because
+his scholars are unprepared he must be all the
+better prepared. He must be able to awaken and
+arouse his pupils; he must inspire them to an
+interest in the lesson; he must so teach as to lead
+them into knowledge of the truth and a desire to
+seek it for themselves. Anyone can teach the
+scholar who is eager to learn; but to teach those
+who come to the class unprepared and careless,
+to send them away with a clear-cut understanding
+of the lesson, and an awakened intelligence and
+conscience&mdash;all this, under the conditions of the
+Sunday-school teacher's task, and in his peculiar
+relation to his scholars, requires not only ability,
+but also thoroughly trained ability.</p>
+
+<p>In view of all these considerations, it is not
+surprising that at the opening of the twentieth
+century the demand of the Sunday schools everywhere
+is for better teaching, and for teachers who
+have themselves been taught and are able to
+teach others.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CH_XIV" id="CH_XIV"></a>XIV</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>THE TRAINING AND TASK OF THE TEACHER</div>
+
+
+<p>1. <b>The Training Needed.</b> Many faithful workers
+in the Sunday school realize their need of preparation;
+but, while conscious of unfitness, they have
+no clear conception of the equipment which they
+require. What are those fields of knowledge which
+should be traversed by one who has been called
+to teach in the Sunday school? They comprise
+four departments: (1) the Book, (2) the scholar,
+(3) the school, and (4) the work.</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>The Book.</i> We have already noted that the
+Sunday school is differentiated from other systems
+of education in the fact that it uses mainly but
+one text-book, the Holy Scriptures. For that
+reason the teacher must first of all acquaint himself
+as thoroughly as possible with the contents of
+that wonderful volume. He should be a twentieth
+century Bible student; not a student or a scholar
+according to the light of the Middle Ages, or the
+seventeenth century, or even of the first half of
+the nineteenth century; for in all those periods the
+aims, the methods, and the scope of Bible study
+were different from those of the present time.
+He who is to teach the Bible successfully to-day
+must have some knowledge of the Bible in the
+following aspects:</p>
+
+<p>(a) Its Origin and Nature. He must have
+a definite idea of how the sixty-six books of
+Scripture were composed, written, and preserved;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
+and, as far as may be known, who were
+their authors.</p>
+
+<p>(b) Its History. The Bible is, more than anything
+else, a book of history, containing the record
+of a people who received the divine revelation and
+preserved it. The divine revelation cannot be
+taught nor comprehended unless the annals of that
+remarkable people, the Israelites, be first read and
+understood. Therefore biblical history should be
+the first subject to be studied by the teacher in
+the Sunday school. The leading facts and underlying
+principles of that unique history must be
+understood; not in an outline of minute details,
+but as a general landscape, in which each lesson
+of the Bible will take its place.</p>
+
+<p>(c) Its Geographical Background. The Bible
+brings before us a world of natural features which
+remain&mdash;seas, mountains, valleys, and plains; a
+world of political divisions which has passed away;
+its empires, kingdoms, and tribal relations; and
+cities and towns, some of them now desolate,
+others in poverty and in ruin. The teacher who
+is to instruct his pupils must be able to see those
+abiding elements, and by the aid of his historical
+imagination to reconstruct those that have changed.
+He must make that ancient world of the Bible
+roll like a panorama before the eyes of his mind.</p>
+
+<p>(d) Its Institutions. Upon every page of the
+Bible are stamped pictures of manners, customs,
+institutions, forms of worship, that are unfamiliar
+to our Christian, Anglo-Saxon, modern world. The
+teacher must become familiar with this local color
+of another civilization, and enable his class to see
+it through his eyes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(e) Its Ethical and Religious Teaching. In the
+past, and until a generation ago, the Bible was
+studied only for its doctrines. It was generally
+treated as one book, all written at once and by
+one author; its history, biography, institutions,
+were passed over as unimportant; while every
+sentence was searched for some light upon theology.
+From the Bible, by assorting and grouping its
+texts out of every book, a system of doctrine was
+constructed; and the mastery of this system with
+its proof-texts was regarded as the principal work
+of the Bible student. That method of Bible study
+has justly fallen into disuse among modern
+scholars. The Bible is now looked upon as a record
+of life rather than as a treasury of texts. Yet its
+stream of ethical, religious, and spiritual teaching
+must be found and followed by the student who
+is to teach the truth; and the doctrines revealed
+through the Bible should be regarded as a necessary
+part of his training.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>The Scholar.</i> One book must be studied
+closely by the teacher, and that is his pupils.
+During the last thirty years human nature in all
+its stages, as child, as youth, during adolescence,
+and in maturity&mdash;especially in the earlier periods&mdash;has
+been investigated as never before. The student
+in our time can enter into the results of special
+study upon these subjects. He needs to know
+what the best books can give him of child study
+and mind study; and to supplement book-knowledge
+in this department with watchful eyes and
+close thought upon the traits which he finds in
+his own scholars.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>The School.</i> The teacher in the Sunday<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
+school needs to understand the institution wherein
+he is a worker. The Sunday school is like the
+week-day school, yet unlike it; and the teacher
+must be able to appreciate at once what he can
+follow and what he should avoid in the methods
+of the secular school. The history of the Sunday-school
+movement, its fundamental principles, its
+organization, officers, methods of management, and
+aims&mdash;all these are in the scope of the teacher's
+preparation.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>The Work.</i> Whether on Sunday or on
+Monday, a teacher is after all a teacher, and
+the laws of true teaching are the same in a
+Sunday school, in a public school, and in a
+college. The application of those laws may
+vary according to the ages of pupils, the subjects
+of instruction, and the aims of the institution,
+but the principles are unchanging. Those
+enduring principles of instruction are well understood,
+are set down in text-books, and can
+easily be learned by a student. There are successful
+teachers who know these principles by an
+intuition that they cannot explain; but most people
+will save themselves from many mistakes and
+comparative failure by a close study of modern
+educational methods.</p>
+
+<p>In some way knowledge in all these four great
+departments of training should be obtained by the
+teacher, if possible, before he enters upon his task;
+but if he has missed earlier opportunities of
+preparation he must acquire this knowledge even
+while he is teaching. The outlines of such a course
+of study should be given in the training class for
+young people; and such a training class should be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
+regarded as essential to every well-organized
+school.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>2. <b>The Teacher's Task.</b> All the preparation
+briefly outlined in these last paragraphs is only
+preparatory to the work which the teacher is to
+do in his vocation. The task set before the teacher
+is fourfold:</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>As a Student.</i> The studies named above are
+not completed when the teacher has passed out
+of the training class with a certificate of graduation.
+The public-school teacher who ceases to
+study after finishing the course of the normal
+school is foredoomed to failure. The training class
+or the training school has only outlined before the
+teacher the fields to be traversed, and shown him
+a few paths which he may follow. He who has
+undertaken to teach a group of scholars, whether
+in the Beginners Department, the Senior Department,
+or any grade between them, must continue
+his studies, in the Bible, in the specific course of
+graded lessons which he is teaching, and in general
+knowledge; for there is no department of thought
+or action which will not bring tribute to the
+teacher, to be turned into treasure for his class.
+The Sunday-school teacher must ever maintain an
+open mind, a quick eye, and a spirit eager for
+knowledge. His accumulation will prove a store
+upon which to draw for teaching; and even that
+unused will give its weight to truth imparted to
+his class.</p>
+
+<p>(<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads '1'">2</ins> ) <i>As a Friend.</i> The teacher is more than a
+student dealing with books; he is a living soul<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
+in contact with living souls. If the most masterly
+lesson teaching in the realm of thought could be
+spoken into a phonograph, and then ground out
+before a class, it would fail to teach, for it would
+utterly lack the human element. Knowledge
+counts for much in teaching, but personality counts
+for far more. If a teacher is to be successful he
+must have a close relationship with his class. They
+must know him, he must know them, and there
+must be a common interest, nay, a common
+affection, between the two personalities of teacher
+and pupil. He must be a friend to each one of
+his scholars, schooling himself, if need be, to friendship;
+and each of his scholars must be made to
+realize that his teacher is his friend. This personal
+affection need not always be stated in words. The
+teacher who constantly assures his scholars that he
+loves them will not be believed as readily as the
+one who shows his love in his spirit and his acts,
+even though he may refrain from affectionate
+forms of speech.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>As a Teacher.</i> Teaching requires more than
+the possession of an abundant store of information
+upon any subject. He is not a teacher who simply
+pours forth upon the ears of his pupils an undigested
+mass of facts, however valuable those facts
+may be. The true teacher after large preparation
+assorts his material, and selects such matter as is
+appropriate to his own class. This he arranges
+in a form to be readily received, thoroughly comprehended,
+and easily remembered. He comes before
+his class with the fixed purpose that every
+pupil shall carry away with him a knowledge of
+the lesson, and shall not forget it. He must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
+awaken the pupil's attention; for talking to an
+inattentive group of people accomplishes no more
+than preaching to tombstones in a graveyard. He
+must obtain the co&ouml;peration of the pupil's interest,
+and induce him to think upon the subject. He
+must call forth from his pupil some expression of
+his thought in language, for one is never sure of
+his knowledge until he has shaped it into words;
+and that which the pupil has stated he is much
+surer to remember than that which he has merely
+heard. Teaching, then, involves (1) selection of
+material, (2) adaptation of material, (3) presentation
+of truth, (4) awakening thought, (5) calling
+forth expression, (6) fixing knowledge in the
+memory.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>As a Disciple.</i> It is the teacher's task not
+only to impart to his scholars valuable information
+about the Bible, about God, about Christ, and
+about salvation; but, far more than imparting an
+intellectual knowledge, to bring the living word
+into relation with living souls, to inspire a fellowship
+of his pupils with God, to have Christ founded
+within them, to make salvation through Christ
+their joyous possession. Nor is his work as a
+working disciple accomplished when all his scholars
+have become Christians in possession and profession,
+and members of Christ's Church. By his
+example and his teachings he should lead them
+to efficient service for Christ in the church, in
+the community, and in the state. There is work
+for every member in the church, and work for
+everyone possessing the spirit of Christ in the
+community. Whatever may have been the type
+of a saint in the twelfth century, or in the sixteenth,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
+or even in the early nineteenth century, in
+these stirring, strenuous years of the twentieth
+century the disciple of Christ is a man among
+men or a woman among women, active in the
+effort to make the world better, and to establish
+in his own village, or town, or ward of the city,
+the kingdom of heaven on earth. To inspire his
+scholars for such labors, and to lead them, is the
+supreme opportunity and work of the teacher.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p>
+<h2>XV</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>THE CONSTITUENCY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL</div>
+
+
+<p>1. <b>Relation to the Community.</b> The Sunday
+school is a temple built of living stones; and the
+quarry from which they are taken in the rough,
+to be cut and polished for their places in the
+building, is the entire community in which the
+school is placed. In our time, more than ever
+before, the reasons are imperative why special
+study should be given to the community from
+which the school must draw its members. Certain
+principles of administration will become apparent
+when once the field is carefully considered.</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>Constituency Adjacent.</i> The population from
+which a given Sunday school draws its members
+must be generally that immediately around it.
+Some teachers and scholars may come from a
+distance, but even in this age of convenient transit
+by trains and trolley cars, it is found that, taking
+the church building as a center, the constituency
+of the Sunday school in a city is mostly within a
+radius of half a mile, and in the country within
+a mile. Throughout that sphere of influence the
+church should look well to the population, should
+know its proportionate elements, as far as possible
+should come into acquaintance with the families,
+and should plan to win, to evangelize, and to hold
+all its natural following.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Membership Representative.</i> Upon general
+and almost invariable principles, the Sunday school<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+should represent all the elements of the population
+within its environment. If it be a residence section
+with isolated houses, each containing but one
+family of well-to-do people, the church is apt to
+be a family church, and a large Sunday school
+must not be looked for, since large mansions rarely
+contain large families. If, on the other hand,
+the neighborhood be populous, characterized by
+varied strata of society&mdash;a few rich, a goodly
+number fairly prosperous, and a greater mass of
+wage-earners, yet the section as a whole American
+and not foreign in its civilization&mdash;then a flourishing,
+active, and growing Sunday school should be
+expected. And it should embrace all these elements,
+the rich, the middle class, and the wage-earners,
+in the proportion which each bears to
+the community as a whole. If the school in such
+a population be small, or if it be composed exclusively
+of one class, whether it be the so-called
+better class or the mission class, there is a serious
+error in its policy. The true Sunday school should
+be representative of all the elements in the population.
+It is both a crime and a blunder to limit
+the efforts of a Sunday school to one class of
+society: a crime, because such a school leaves
+multitudes around it to perish; and a blunder,
+because the effort results in an an&aelig;mic, dwindling,
+dying institution.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Methods Adapted.</i> Almost every community,
+whether in city or in country, possesses some
+traits peculiar to itself. There may be two towns
+ten miles apart, one the wealthy residential suburb
+of a city, the other a settlement surrounding a
+great factory. The population of these two places<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
+will be in marked contrast, and the methods of
+Christian work successful in one will utterly fail in
+the other. One street or avenue in a city may
+mark the boundary line between family churches
+and mission churches. Within ten minutes' walk
+of each other may stand two churches of the same
+denomination, yet so utterly apart in spirit as to
+possess nothing in common but name. It is
+possible that each of these two organizations might
+learn something from the other, and might do
+their Master's work better by a closer community
+of interest and feeling. Yet it would be a mistake
+to introduce into either church all the plans
+that are successful in the other; or to reject in
+one Sunday school any method because it has
+proved a failure in another and a different field.
+The work of each church and Sunday school must
+be adapted to the population from which its
+membership is to be drawn.</p>
+
+<p>2. <b>The Changing Population.</b> One of the most
+imperative questions confronting the gospel worker,
+both in the church and the Sunday school, arises
+from the constant changes taking place in our
+population. In the cities we see stately churches,
+once thronged, now well-nigh desolate, while their
+walls echo to the tread upon the sidewalk of a
+churchless multitude. In front of a fine old
+church, where once millionaires worshiped, the
+writer has often passed a news-stand upon which
+are for sale newspapers in seven different languages.
+And too often one finds that the churches
+of a generation ago have been turned into low
+theaters, or torn down, giving place to stores and
+office buildings. The general principle may be laid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
+down, that a church in the city almost never lives
+more than one generation in the same building
+and with the same character. After thirty years
+as the very longest period, if it is to retain its
+members, it must follow them in the march up-town;
+or if it is to retain its location and still
+hold a congregation it must seek an absolutely
+new constituency, and to this end must transform
+its methods of work. Nor are these migrations of
+population confined to the city. The towns and
+villages are governed by the same law of change.
+A village, once the seat of quiet homes, is suddenly
+turned into a factory town, with a new and strange
+population. The farms on country roads, abandoned
+by the families that formerly tilled them,
+are occupied by foreigners of alien speech and
+manners. The building of a railroad will open
+new towns, and at the same time will make more
+than one deserted village. These changes in
+population must be considered in their relation to
+the work of the Sunday school. The movement
+will be characterized by varied traits in different
+places.</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>A Growing Population.</i> The change may be
+that of a healthy growth in population, making
+the community a desirable place for a church and
+a Sunday school. Such a development is constantly
+taking place in the newer portions of a city,
+whose population is moving from the center to
+the rim; or it may be noted in suburban towns,
+as facilities of transportation bring new residents
+from the metropolis; or it may appear in villages
+springing up on the line of a railroad, where home-seekers
+are settling and building habitations.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
+Leaders in church and Sunday-school work must
+watch these growing centers, and provide wisely
+for their religious needs. It will not suffice to
+wait for these newcomers to build their own
+churches and organize their own Sunday schools.
+Most of them are taxed to the utmost in building
+or buying their own homes, and will scarcely
+realize their need until the habit of neglecting
+worship has become fixed, and their children grow
+up without religious education. The old and strong
+churches must extend a hand to the settlers, must
+pre&euml;mpt church sites at the very beginning, must
+help to erect chapels, for a time must supply
+workers, and must set the current of the new
+settlement Godward and churchward. The reward
+of their labor and their liberality will not long be
+delayed.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>A Declining Population.</i> There are places
+where the population has lessened, making the
+work of the Sunday school increasingly difficult and
+its results meager. It may be in the city, where
+business has crowded away the dwellers of other
+years, as in the lower end of Manhattan Island
+in New York. There tall office buildings and
+warehouses stand on sites formerly occupied by
+churches, but no longer needed, now that almost
+the only residents are the janitors and their
+families, living on the roofs of the towerlike
+temples of trade. But oftener the region of the
+declining population is found in the country.
+Villages once prosperous have gradually lost
+their inhabitants. In places where three or four
+churches, each with its Sunday school, were formerly
+well supported, there is now scarcely a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+constituency for one. Yet all these churches,
+though decayed and dying by inches, are still
+maintained; and each church still houses a discouraged
+Sunday school, attended by a faithful
+few, but with no hope of growth and an imminent
+peril of extinction. If loyalty to a denomination
+could give way to love for the kingdom of Christ,
+these might be consolidated into one church and
+one Sunday school for all the community. We
+venture the prophecy that before the twentieth
+century comes to its close this will be throughout
+the American continent the accepted settlement of
+the question. May its fulfillment be not long
+delayed! In the meantime these decayed but
+still enduring Sunday schools and churches in a
+community should seek for peace and friendship,
+not emphasizing the points of doctrine or of
+system that differ, but those that agree, and
+striving to maintain the unity of the spirit in a
+bond of love.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>A Population Changing Socially.</i> A serious
+problem often arises, not from a decline but from
+a change in the social condition of the population
+within the sphere of the church. The downtown
+church may have been forsaken by its former
+members, but people of another class, and in
+greater numbers, have taken their places. The
+mansions have become boarding houses, flats and
+apartment houses have arisen, while the thronged
+sidewalks, and the children playing in the streets,
+are evidence that the material for members of the
+church and the Sunday school is greater than
+before. True, the new inhabitants are of a different
+social order from the old, clerks and porters instead<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+of merchants, employees instead of employers,
+working people in place of the leisure class. The
+fact that the social level of the neighborhood may
+be regarded by the worldly-minded as lower than
+formerly does not lessen its need of the gospel,
+nor render it less promising for Christian work.
+The church should look upon its field with unprejudiced
+eyes, should have an understanding of the
+time; should be alert to see and to seize its opportunity;
+and should change its methods with its
+changed constituency. The field must not be
+abandoned; it must be cultivated, and new forms
+of tillage will bring forth abundant harvests.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>An Alien Population.</i> The most perplexing
+of all social problems arises when immigration has
+swept into the district surrounding the church a
+tide of people whose birth and speech are foreign,
+supplanting and in large measure driving out the
+native population. There are sections in our cities
+where the signs on the stores are all Bohemian,
+or Polish, or Yiddish; where an English-speaking
+church would remain absolutely empty, though
+thousands throng the streets. It may be that in
+such conditions gospel work under American
+methods can no longer be maintained; and a
+removal may be necessary. But even in the most
+unpromising fields this conclusion should not be
+hastily reached. We spend large sums in sending
+missionaries to the lands from which some strangers
+come; should we not embrace opportunities of
+evangelizing these at our own door? There are
+difficulties, but they are not nearly as insuperable
+as those in foreign fields. These foreign-born or
+foreign-descended children sit beside our own in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
+the public school; should we shut them out from
+our Sunday schools? In less than a generation
+millions of these boys and girls will be as thoroughly
+American as our own children. When we consider
+the question of abandoning any field on account of
+its foreign population, let us widen our horizon of
+thought to embrace the future as well as the
+present, and then form our conclusion concerning
+the duty of the Sunday school to the community.</p>
+
+<p>3. <b>Practical Suggestions.</b> A few hints, some of
+them already given, may summarize the practical
+side of the subject:</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>Study the Field.</i> The Sunday school must
+live not in the past, but in the present, with a
+clear vision of the future. It must not only
+cherish a loving memory of its field as it has been,
+but understand thoroughly what it is, and what
+forces are shaping it for the future. The leaders
+in each Sunday school working for itself, or preferably
+those conducting the Sunday schools of a
+neighborhood working unitedly, should ascertain
+the nationality, religious condition, and church
+relations of every family in the district; and not
+only of every family, of every individual who may
+have a room in a boarding house. Each political
+organization knows the residence and party proclivities
+of every voter in the district; and the
+churches may learn from the politicians practical
+lessons upon the best methods of work.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Cultivate the Field.</i> Since the scholars must
+come to the school from the population around it,
+they should be sought, brought in, taught, and
+evangelized, with all the energy and wisdom which
+the church possesses. And not only the scholars,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
+but also, in large degree, the teachers must be
+home-born and home-taught; therefore the Sunday
+school, to be successful, must train up workers
+from its own constituency.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Provide for all Elements.</i> By diligent and
+constant effort the school should be made representative
+of all ages, of all classes, of all sections,
+and as far as practicable of all races found in its
+community.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>Adapt Methods.</i> If a former constituency
+has removed from the field, and a new population
+has surged in, the new element must be looked
+upon as the constituency of the school. Its needs
+must be recognized, however different they may be
+from the needs of the past; and plans must be
+formed to meet those needs, whatever transformation
+of the school the new plans may involve.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p>
+<h2>XVI</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>RECRUITING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL</div>
+
+
+<p>1. <b>Necessity.</b> The aspiration for advancement is
+natural and noble; and therefore every member of
+the Sunday school who is interested in its welfare,
+whether officer, teacher, or pupil, desires it to
+increase in membership, and to spread its benefits
+as widely as possible. But the recruiting of the
+Sunday school is not only desirable, but necessary.
+It is found that in every school there exists an
+outflow as well as an inflow of members. If in
+certain departments, as the Primary, new scholars
+are constantly enrolled, in other departments, as
+the older grades of the Intermediate and the
+Senior, there is as constant a dropping out of
+members from the school. It has been estimated
+that in most Sunday schools from twenty to
+twenty-five per cent of the membership changes
+annually, so that the average period of a teacher
+or scholar in the Sunday school is less than five
+years. There are some who remain longer, but
+others who are members for even a shorter time.
+Upon the average, every school is a new school
+once in four or five years. If one fifth of the
+school leaves every year, there must be an equal
+number enter it, to keep the school at its normal
+size. But any institution dependent upon the
+maintenance of a constituency, whether it be a
+periodical, a life-insurance association, or a Sunday
+school, begins to decline when its number remains<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
+stationary. The health and life of the school,
+therefore, require a constant renewal of its membership.
+The school must have new blood, or it
+will soon be impoverished and in time die.</p>
+
+<p>2. <b>The Losses from the School.</b> Before the
+presentation of plans for winning new scholars
+comes the vital question of holding the scholars
+already on the roll; for the condition of leakage
+has a close relation to growth or decline. If the
+causes of the leakage can be ascertained, and the
+drain can be stopped, we shall be materially aided
+in our effort to enlarge the school.</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>The Search in the School.</i> Careful notation
+should be kept of the grades from which scholars
+are lost, or which are below a normal membership;
+and equally careful inquiry should be made as
+to the cause of the decline, and methods to correct
+it should be sought. Is it in the Primary Department,
+which should be the most rapidly growing
+department in the school? Is it in the Junior or
+Intermediate Department, where there ought to be
+a steady increase, even if it be slow? Is it in the
+Senior Department? Here there is great danger
+of losses, especially among young men. Is it not
+possible to find why they leave the school, and
+what will induce them to remain? Perhaps the
+school is deficient in the Adult Department. Must
+it be admitted that the Sunday school is for children
+only, and that as soon as its members become
+men and women their departure from the school
+is to be expected? The investigation should be
+more than general, ascertaining what departments
+are suffering loss; it should be personal, including
+the name and grade of every scholar who has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
+ceased to attend for a definite period; and as far
+as possible the reason for his leaving the school.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Following up Absentees.</i> A systematic plan
+for watching over the membership of the school
+should be instituted and vigorously maintained.
+For example, in some schools a report of every
+absentee is made by the secretary to the superintendent.
+On Monday morning each teacher receives
+by mail the list of his absent scholars, with
+a request to send in writing, as soon as practicable,
+the cause of absence for each one. In many schools
+this work of looking after the absentees is performed
+by paid visitors&mdash;a good plan, but not so
+good as for the teacher to come into personal
+touch with his own scholars. A business firm
+watches over its customers, and endeavors in
+every possible way to hold them. The Sunday
+school which can maintain its grasp upon its
+members has the problem of growth already half
+solved.</p>
+
+<p>3. <b>Characteristics of a Growing School.</b> The
+strongest force in recruiting the Sunday school is
+to be found in the character of the school itself.
+The merchant must have his shelves stocked with
+attractive goods if he expects customers. In order
+to obtain scholars there must be a good school.</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>Efficient.</i> The school should maintain high
+educational standards; should be thoroughly graded
+in all its departments, with suitable lessons for
+each grade; and should have organized classes for
+young people and adults. The thoroughly good
+school will rarely lack for scholars.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Attractive.</i> The school should be attractive
+as well as efficient. Its meeting place should be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
+cheerful and airy, with suitable furniture and
+apparatus, above ground, and not a damp, dingy
+basement. It should have enjoyable exercises, like
+a school, yet not too severely like a public school.
+It should greet new members heartily, make them
+feel at home, and cultivate acquaintance with them.
+There should be an animating spirit of loyalty and
+love for the school; a devotion which will inspire
+active effort in its behalf. Around the school
+should be the atmosphere of a happy home.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Prominent.</i> Among the activities of the
+church the school should stand forth prominently.
+It should be kept in mind that, as the neighborhood
+furnishes the constituency of the school, so
+the school furnishes the members for the church.
+In our time three fourths of the accessions by
+profession of faith come from the Sunday school.
+The school should be held in honor as the principal
+source of supply to the church membership. If the
+audience room is large and imposing, and the
+Sunday-school room is inferior and unattractive; if
+the pulpit and the choir are amply supported while
+the school receives a narrow sustenance, however
+great the prosperity of the church its duration will
+be brief. The Sunday school must stand in the
+foreground, and not in the background, if the
+church is to grow; and the growing church should
+have a growing Sunday school.</p>
+
+<p>(4) <i>Special Occasions.</i> Throughout the Sunday-school
+year occur days which should be recognized,
+as breaking the monotony of the regular exercises,
+and as attractive features of the school. Such are
+Christmas, Easter, Children's Day in June, Rally
+Day in the fall, and Decision Day, when the net<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
+is drawn for discipleship in behalf of the church.
+Some superintendents look upon these occasions as
+burdensome, but with careful preparation and an
+attractive program they will add to the interest of
+the school, while in no wise detracting from the
+efficiency of its educational work. An occasional
+social entertainment for the school, or for each
+department in turn, and an outing day in the
+summer, will strengthen that <i>esprit de corps</i> or
+animating spirit of the school which is its strongest
+drawing power in attracting new members.</p>
+
+<p>(5) <i>Special Helps.</i> There are communities where
+certain methods may avail more than elsewhere.
+A well-conducted Sunday-school library, no longer
+needed in many places, may be of great value in
+villages where there is no public library. A reading
+room, social hall, and gymnasium may constitute
+the church a home for young men whose dwelling
+places may be in close tenement houses. Young
+men are in saloons, and young women are in
+amusement parks, who might spend their evenings
+under the healthy influence of the church if places
+were provided. These plans and other features of
+the institutional church will need careful and wise
+administration if they are to do good and not
+harm; but in many places they will minister to
+the success of the school and the church, and also
+to the uplifting of the community.</p>
+
+<p>4. <b>Reaching Beyond the School.</b> Thus far in this
+chapter we have considered the school rather than
+the field. One of the chief tasks of the Sunday
+school, however, is to reach out and lay hold of
+all the inhabitants, both young and old, in the
+area of its influence. The following active measures<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
+have proved effective in reaching the people and
+winning them to the school.</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>Advertise.</i> The school should be kept before
+the community in every legitimate way. Merchants
+tell us that the secret of success is first
+to have salable goods, and then to advertise them;
+and the same principle applies to the Sunday
+school. Printer's ink should be used liberally, but
+wisely. Only neatly printed, attractive matter
+should be employed. Invitation cards, leaflets,
+programs of special services, a little periodical
+devoted to the school, a year book containing the
+school register, and many other forms of advertisement
+will help to inform the neighborhood that
+the school is at work and is ready to welcome
+new members.</p>
+
+<p>(2) <i>Invite.</i> Every officer, teacher, scholar, and
+parent should consider himself a committee to
+speak to others about the school, and to invite
+his friends and acquaintances to attend it. The
+little children should ask their playmates, boys and
+girls in school their classmates, young men their
+shopmates, young women their associates. No
+printed paper can have a tenth of the power
+possessed by the living voice and a hearty hand-shake.
+It is assumed that the invitation is given
+only to those who are not already attached to any
+church or school. All possible care should be
+taken to maintain a fraternal spirit, and not to
+build up our own wall by pulling down another.</p>
+
+<p>(3) <i>Visit.</i> The field belonging to the school
+should be bounded definitely, and should be thoroughly
+and systematically canvassed. It should be
+divided into districts, and each district assigned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
+to a visitor and a committee, who should know
+who may be included in the proper constituency of
+the school. For this work many schools and
+churches employ a paid visitor or a deaconess; and
+none can surpass the zeal or fidelity of many who
+enter upon such a vocation. But the schools
+which cannot afford professional workers include
+some teachers and some adult scholars who can
+give a portion of their own time to the same
+task. An organized class of men might be named
+which grew into over a hundred members through
+persistent work by a simple plan. A lookout
+committee, after careful inquiry, would report the
+names and addresses of men eligible for membership.
+Then the members in order and by appointment,
+in groups of two, called upon each candidate,
+formed his acquaintance, and invited him to the
+class. Sometimes thirty or forty men would call,
+but in time almost every man visited yielded to
+the friendly social influence, became a member,
+and soon after a worker for the class.</p>
+
+<p>5. <b>A Danger.</b> A caution may be needed with
+reference to all these plans of recruiting the school.
+Advertising may be carried to the excess of becoming
+sensational. Invitations may be pressed upon
+scholars in other schools. The effort for increase
+may degenerate into unfriendly rivalry. A good
+plan may work evil when worked in a selfish spirit.
+And a too-rapid growth is sure to be unhealthy.
+The late B. F. Jacobs said, "God pity the Sunday
+school that gets a hundred scholars at one time!"
+A quiet, steady, diligent, persistent effort for the
+school will be of permanent benefit, rather than a
+spasm of enthusiasm.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p>
+<h2>XVII</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>THE TESTS OF A GOOD SUNDAY SCHOOL</div>
+
+
+<p>In the United States more than a hundred
+thousand Sunday schools are in session every week.
+Some of them are very good, many are only
+moderately efficient, and some are poor in every
+respect. The question arises, what constitutes a
+good Sunday school? Is it possible to establish
+some standard of measurement by which the rank
+of any Sunday school can be fixed? In such a
+standard there must be several factors, for the
+points of excellence in Sunday school are not one,
+but many. It is the aim in this closing chapter
+to ascertain the criteria or the tests of a good
+Sunday school. The statement of these tests involves
+the summing up and in some measure the
+repetition of much already given throughout these
+pages.</p>
+
+<p>1. <b>Representative Character.</b> The first test of a
+Sunday school is found in its relation to the
+community around it. The Sunday school is not a
+bed of exotic plants, dug up from their native soil,
+potted and protected in a conservatory. It is an
+outdoor garden wherein are cultivated the flowers
+and fruits that are indigenous to the region. A
+true Sunday school is a group of people drawn out
+of the larger world around it, and representing
+every element in that world, both as regards social
+life and age. If it represents the rich and the
+prosperous only, it is not a good school, unless the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
+neighborhood is unfortunate in containing only
+such people. If it is a mission school for poor
+people in the midst of a self-supporting population,
+it is not a good school. If it includes few members
+above sixteen, and none above twenty-five years
+of age, it is not a good school, for it should embrace
+all ages from the infant to the grandfather. The
+school which is to stand on the roll of honor is
+one that fairly represents its constituency.</p>
+
+<p>2. <b>Organization.</b> Another requirement for a good
+school is that it be well organized as a graded
+school. There may be Sunday schools which make
+up by their spirit for what they lack in system;
+yet the exceptions are few to the rule that in
+Sunday-school work organization is essential to
+success. It is true that machinery creates no
+power; there is nothing in a constitution and by-laws
+to make an institution successful. It is the
+efforts of living men and women that bring to
+pass results. But organization directs and economizes
+power; so that, other elements being equal,
+the graded school quickly becomes the best school.
+We have already seen that a graded school is one
+with departments defined, with the number of
+classes in each department fixed according to the
+needs of the school, with promotions at regular
+periods, based either on age or examination or
+merit, or on all three factors in combination, with
+lessons graded according to the departments, and,
+as its most important element, with a change of
+teachers when the pupil is promoted from a lower
+to a higher grade or department. The graded
+system is not easy to establish; it requires firmness
+and tact in the authorities, and a self-denying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>
+spirit on the part of teachers; but it will abundantly
+and quickly repay all it costs in effort and sacrifice,
+and it is an essential in a really good Sunday school.</p>
+
+<p>3. <b>Order.</b> A good school is orderly, yet it is
+not too orderly. Everybody is in place at the
+proper time. At the minute, and not a minute
+later, the superintendent opens the school. If he
+rings a bell, it is a gentle, musical one, held up by
+the leader as a signal and scarcely sounded. There
+is not more confusion than at the opening of any
+other religious service. Only one service is conducted
+at a time; singing is worshipful, just as well
+as prayer, and the Scriptures are read thoughtfully
+and reverently. No officers are rushing up and
+down the aisles during the services; no loud calls
+are made for order; yet there is a suitable quietness
+when quietness is desirable. A good school is
+never disorderly, yet it cannot be said that the
+best school is always the most orderly. Occasionally
+one sees a Sunday school where order has
+gone to the extreme of repressing all enthusiasm,
+where the program is too finely cut and too thoroughly
+dried, where the mechanism moves with the
+precision of the lockstep in a state prison. The
+ideal of the Sunday school is not that of the French
+minister of education who is reported to have
+stated that he could look at his watch and tell at
+that minute what question was before each class
+in every school in France!</p>
+
+<p>4. <b>Spirit.</b> For lack of a more definite term we
+call the next characteristic of a good Sunday
+school its spirit. In any successful school one feels
+rather than finds a peculiar and individual atmosphere.
+Every member, from the superintendent to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
+the Primary scholar, manifests an interest in the
+institution; an interest of blended love, loyalty,
+enjoyment in it and enthusiasm for it. There is
+a social spirit in each class and in the school as a
+whole. Its members do not meet as passengers in
+a railway station, each one wrapped up in his own
+business and watching for his own train. They
+all have their individual friendships and social
+relations, yet a bond unites them all as members
+of one Sunday school. This peculiar <i>esprit de corps</i>,
+an interest in the institution, is a strongly marked
+feature in every progressive Sunday school.</p>
+
+<p>5. <b>Educational Efficiency.</b> The Sunday school is
+in the world with a definite work&mdash;religious education.
+Its religion will be based on the Old Testament
+and kindred literature in a Jewish school;
+it will be based on both the Old and New Testament
+and supplemental literature in a Christian school;
+but whether Jewish or Christian, its work is the
+teaching of religion, as contained in the living
+Word, and illustrated by the lives and teachings
+of the heroes of the faith. The true test of a Sunday
+school is the answer that it can give to the question,
+"Does it teach the vital religious truths of the
+race so as to develop individual character and
+efficiency?" That is its task, and by its success
+in accomplishing it each school is to be judged;
+not by the splendor of its building, or the exactness
+of its machinery, or the enthusiasm of its members.
+The thirty or thirty-five minutes devoted to the
+lesson is the supremely important period in every
+true Sunday school. The time is often bound to
+be all too short for teaching divine truth, and
+printing it upon mind and memory so deeply that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
+all the studies and pleasures of the six days between
+the two Sundays will not cause the teaching
+to fade. Yet the time is as long as the ordinary
+teacher (or preacher) can hold attention to one
+subject, and therefore in most classes it is sufficient.
+Toward that half hour of teaching, therefore,
+all the energies of the school, of the training class,
+home study, teachers' meeting, gradation, government,
+should be turned. For the vital aim of the
+Sunday school is the eternal message of God to
+men through men, so that men and women of the
+Christ spirit and character may be developed.</p>
+
+<p>6. <b>Character-Building.</b> The first task, therefore,
+of the Sunday school is to teach the Word, but that
+teaching is only a means to an end, and that end
+is greater than mere intellectual knowledge&mdash;it is
+the building up of a complete character. This is
+more than "bringing souls to Christ," or leading
+them into church membership. If the sole aim
+of the Sunday school was to compass the salvation
+of the scholar and to surround him with the walls
+of a church, then we might safely dismiss our
+scholars when they have passed through a crisis
+of conversion and entered the church door. But
+the Sunday school is to do more than save its
+scholars from sin. It is to train them in the
+completeness of a Christian character; and such a
+character involves not only personal righteousness
+but also service for God and humanity. Its aim
+is not to take people apart out of the world, but
+to set them in the world, equipped for work in
+making the world a Christian world, and thereby
+establishing on earth the kingdom of heaven. The
+measure by which the Sunday school accomplishes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
+such a work as this, constitutes the final, crucial
+test of its success.</p>
+
+<p>It cannot be said that any one of these six
+essentials of a good Sunday school stands supreme.
+They do not march in Indian file; nor are they
+to be set one against another in a comparison of
+values. These traits of a complete Sunday school
+should rather be regarded as one of the New
+Testament writers describes the traits of a complete
+character, in that familiar yet only half-understood
+passage, "As in the harmony of a choral song,
+blend with your faith the note of energy, and with
+your energy the note of knowledge, and with your
+knowledge the note of self-mastery,"<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> through all
+the eight aspects of the Christian; so let these six
+essential elements be combined to form that noble
+institution, the ideal Sunday school.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>APPENDIX</h2>
+
+<div class='chaptertitle'>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE AND REVIEW QUESTIONS<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></div>
+
+
+<h3>I. THE HISTORIC PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL MOVEMENT</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Mag.</b><br />
+2. <b>Mod.</b><br />
+3. <b>Lay.</b><br />
+4. <b>Unp. Wor.</b><br />
+5. <b>Sel.-sup.</b><br />
+6. <b>Sel.-gov.</b><br />
+7. <b>Sel.-dev.</b><br />
+8. <b>Bib. stu.</b><br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>To what race in the world does the Sunday school
+mainly belong?</p>
+
+<p>What are some of the lands in which it is found?</p>
+
+<p>What does the circulation of its literature show?</p>
+
+<p>What influence is the Sunday-school movement exercising
+upon the world?</p>
+
+<p>How many salient traits of the Sunday school are
+named in this chapter?</p>
+
+<p>What are those traits in the order named?</p>
+
+<p>To what race can the ancient germ of the Sunday
+school be traced?</p>
+
+<p>What institutions among that people contained the
+elemental principle of the Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>What gathering similar to a Sunday school is described
+in the Bible?</p>
+
+<p>Who was the founder of the modern Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>In what place, and what year, was the first Sunday
+school held?</p>
+
+<p>What aided to make this institution known?</p>
+
+<p>Was the first Sunday school established under direction
+of the clergy or the laity?</p>
+
+<p>Has the clergy, or the laity, been the more prominent
+in the work of the Sunday school throughout its history?</p>
+
+<p>What has been the attitude of the church toward this
+institution?</p>
+
+<p>What has been stated concerning the compensation of
+the teachers in the earliest Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>Was the plan of paying teachers for their services continued?</p>
+
+<p>Are the majority of Sunday-school officers and teachers
+now paid for their services?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>What has been the effect of this condition, of unpaid
+service, upon the growth of the Sunday-school movement?</p>
+
+<p>How has this condition of voluntary, unpaid work
+affected the moral influence of the Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>How have the expenses of the Sunday school in most
+places been met in the past?</p>
+
+<p>How are such expenses met in the best schools at the
+present time?</p>
+
+<p>How has the self-support of the Sunday school in the
+past affected its government?</p>
+
+<p>What is the present share of the church in the government
+of the school?</p>
+
+<p>What forces have directed the development of the
+Sunday school as a movement?</p>
+
+<p>What fact in its origin largely accounts for the unity of
+method in the Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>What is the text-book studied in the Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>What has been the influence of the Sunday school in
+behalf of the Bible?</p>
+
+
+<h3>II. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Aim.</b> Rel. ins. (1) Kn. (2) Ch. (3) Ser.<br />
+2. <b>Meth. Tea.</b> (1) Teach. (2) Sch. (3) Text-b.<br />
+3. <b>Rel. Ch.</b> Bel. ch. Ca. ch. Sup. ch. Feed. ch. Sup. ch.<br />
+4. <b>Gov.</b> (1) Rights of teach. (2) Auth. of ch.<br />
+5. <b>Off.</b> (1) Sup. (2) Assoc. sup. (3) Sec. (4) Treas. (5) Fac.<br />
+6. <b>Mem.</b> All ag. all clas.<br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>What is a Sunday-school constitution?</p>
+
+<p>What is the difference between an ideal and a practical
+plan?</p>
+
+<p>Are all constitutions written?</p>
+
+<p>What six points should be provided for in the constitution
+of the Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>What should be the aim of the Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>State the definition of the Sunday school as given by
+Dr. Vincent.</p>
+
+<p>What three elements are involved in a true religious
+education?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>What difference may be noted between the Christian
+ideals of the past and of the present?</p>
+
+<p>What method does the Sunday school employ in its
+work?</p>
+
+<p>What are the three essentials in the working of a school?</p>
+
+<p>What does the Sunday school seek to accomplish in its
+pupils?</p>
+
+<p>What text-book is generally used in the Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>Why is this book taught so widely?</p>
+
+<p>May material outside of this book be employed in
+teaching?</p>
+
+<p>What is the relation between the Sunday school and
+the church?</p>
+
+<p>Why is some government needed in the Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>What two elements should be recognized in the management
+of the school?</p>
+
+<p>Name the officers of the Sunday school.</p>
+
+<p>Who should constitute the members of the school?</p>
+
+
+<h3>III. THE NECESSITY AND ESSENTIALS OF A GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Nec. Gra.</b> (1) Sch. as wh. (2) Cond. cla. (a) Ineq. siz. (b) Ineq. ag. (c) Lac. cl. sp. (3) Dif. adm. (a) Obt. tea. (b) Trans. sch.<br />
+2. <b>Ess. Gra.</b> Sch. (1) Dep. (2) Fix. num. cla. (3) Ann. sim. pro. (4) Ch. tea. (5) Gra. Less. (6) Bas. pro.<br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>Into what departments are most Sunday schools
+divided?</p>
+
+<p>Why does not the mere division into departments constitute
+a graded Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>In what department is the school growing most rapidly?</p>
+
+<p>From what departments does the school lose its pupils?</p>
+
+<p>What is often the condition of classes for young people
+of fifteen years and older?</p>
+
+<p>What inequalities may be noted in the classes of an
+average Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>What spirit is apt to be lacking in the school?</p>
+
+<p>What two great difficulties are met by the superintendent
+of an ungraded school?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Sum up the six difficulties or defects which will be removed
+in a measure by grading the school.</p>
+
+<p>Name the six essentials of a thoroughly graded Sunday
+school.</p>
+
+<p>Draw a diagram representing the manner of seating
+the departments of a Sunday school.</p>
+
+<p>What is meant by a fixed number of classes in each
+department of a graded school?</p>
+
+<p>How should promotions be made from one department
+to another?</p>
+
+<p>Why should not teachers accompany their classes when
+the pupils are promoted from one department to another?</p>
+
+<p>What kind of lessons should be taught in the different
+departments of the school?</p>
+
+<p>Should promotions be made on the basis of age, of
+merit, or as the result of examination?</p>
+
+<p>Why cannot examinations in the Sunday school maintain
+the same standards as those of the public school?</p>
+
+
+<h3>IV. THE GRADING OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Diff.</b><br />
+2. <b>Rem.</b><br />
+3. <b>Meth.</b> (1) Grad. (2) Simul. (a) Com. (b) Ag. sch. (c) Ass. sch. (d) Ro-ca.<br />
+4. <b>Adv. Thor. Gra.</b> (1) App. (2) Ord. (3) Soc. rel. (4) Tea. wk. (5) Inc. int. (6) Obt. tea. (7) Leak.-per.<br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>What is the greatest difficulty to be met in grading a
+Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>What is the remedy for this difficulty?</p>
+
+<p>What are the two methods of grading an ungraded
+school?</p>
+
+<p>How may a school be graded by the gradual method?</p>
+
+<p>What are the four steps to be taken if a school is to be
+graded by the simultaneous method?</p>
+
+<p>What is to be done when scholars are unwilling to receive
+promotion?</p>
+
+<p>Name seven advantages of the graded school.</p>
+
+<p>Wherein does the graded school differ in appearance
+from one ungraded?</p>
+
+<p>How is order maintained more easily in the graded school?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>How does grading influence the social relations of the
+scholars?</p>
+
+<p>Why is teaching easier in the graded school?</p>
+
+<p>How does the graded Sunday school increase the
+interest of the pupils?</p>
+
+<p>Why is it easier to supply teachers in the school after
+it has been graded?</p>
+
+<p>What is meant by "the leakage period" in the scholars
+of the Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>How does the graded school hold the scholar in the
+school?</p>
+
+
+<h3>V. THE DEPARTMENTS OF THE GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Cradle Roll.</b> (1) Members. (2) Catalogue. (3) How obtained. (4) Gifts. (5) Management. (6) Value.<br />
+2. <b>Beginners Dep.</b> (1) Ages. (2) Teaching. (3) Meeting place.<br />
+3. <b>Primary Dep.</b> (1) Ages. (2) Classes. (3) Lessons.<br />
+4. <b>Junior Dep.</b> (1) Ages. (2) Classes. (3) Lessons.<br />
+5. <b>Intermediate Dep.</b> (1) Ages. (2) Classes. (3) Lessons. (4) Special aim. (5) Christian character.<br />
+6. <b>Senior Dep.</b> (1) Name. (2) Ages. (3) Classes. (4) Teachers. (5) Organization. (6) Social life.<br />
+7. <b>Teacher-Training Dep.</b> (1) Members. (2) Teacher. (3) Studies. (4) Requirements. (5) Aims. (6) Reserve class.<br />
+8. <b>Adult Dep.</b> (1) Members. (2) Classes. (3) Methods. (4) Courses of study.<br />
+9. <b>Home Dep.</b> (1) Need. (2) Plan.<br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>What are the four principal departments of an ordinary
+Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>In this chapter how many departments are described?</p>
+
+<p>What are the names of these departments?</p>
+
+<p>What department includes the names of the youngest
+children? Wherein does this department differ from
+most of the other departments? How should the list of
+its members be kept? How may names be obtained for
+it? What privileges should be given to the members of
+this department? What are the benefits of this department
+to the school?</p>
+
+<p>What is the name of the second department? What
+ages should it embrace? What should be the exercises in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>
+this department? How should these pupils be seated in
+the school?</p>
+
+<p>What is the third department named? What ages
+should it include? How should it be organized? What
+lessons should be taught in it?</p>
+
+<p>What is the fourth department? What are the ages of
+its pupils? How may they be classified? What lessons
+should be taught to them?</p>
+
+<p>What is the fifth department? What ages does it include?
+How should the classes be formed? Why should
+small classes be the rule in this department? What lessons
+should be taught? What should be a special aim of
+teachers in this department? What type of Christian
+character should be sought?</p>
+
+<p>What is the sixth department? What other names are
+applied to it? What ages should it include? What requirement
+should be made of those entering this department
+by promotion? How should the classes be organized?
+Who should teach in this department? How may the
+social spirit be cultivated?</p>
+
+<p>What is the seventh department? Who should be
+included in its membership? Who should be sought as
+the teacher? What condition should be required of its
+members? What studies should be followed? How should
+the course be conducted? What other class should also
+be connected with the Teacher-training Department?
+How shall this class be conducted?</p>
+
+<p>What is the eighth department? Who should be included
+in it? What are the two methods of instruction
+in this department? What courses of study should be
+taken?</p>
+
+<p>What is the ninth department? Who constitute its
+members? What care and help should be given to these
+people? What should be expected of them as members
+of the school?</p>
+
+
+<h3>VI. THE SUPERINTENDENT</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Imp.</b> (N. Y. C. R. R.).<br />
+2. <b>Appt.</b> Tea. ch. past.<br />
+3. <b>Ter. Off.</b> One ye.<br />
+4. <b>Qual.</b> (1) Mor. char. (2) Dev. bel. (3) Wor. ch. mem. (4) Bib. stu. (5) Ab. exec. (6) Sym. you. (7) Tea. spi.<br />
+</div></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>What illustration from a railroad will show the importance
+of the superintendent?</p>
+
+<p>How should the appointment of the superintendent be
+made? Who should unite in the selection? How long
+should be his term of office?</p>
+
+<p>What are the traits named for an ideal superintendent?</p>
+
+<p>What should be his moral character? Why is such a
+character necessary in his office? What story of a statesman
+illustrates this?</p>
+
+<p>In what respects should the superintendent be a believer
+in the gospel?</p>
+
+<p>Why should he be a member of the church? What is
+his duty to the Bible? How may the superintendent
+influence his school to follow his requests?</p>
+
+<p>What should be his qualifications as an administrator
+or executive?</p>
+
+<p>What trait in relation to the young should he possess?</p>
+
+<p>What should be his mental attitude toward knowledge,
+especially knowledge of methods?</p>
+
+<p>What story is told of a great sculptor?</p>
+
+
+<h3>VII. THE SUPERINTENDENT'S DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Gen.</b> (1) Sup. (2) Sel. tea. (3) Ass. sch. (4) Prog. ser. (5) Sup.<br />
+2. <b>We.-d. Wor.</b> (1) Prog. (2) Les. stu. (3) Soc. dut. (4) Seek. work. (5) Cab. meet. (6) Sp. d. (7) Conv.<br />
+3. <b>Dut. Sch. Sess.</b> (1) Pre. ear. (2) Op. pr. (3) Con. pro. (4) Dur. less. (5) Les. rev. (6) Clos.<br />
+4. <b>Misc. Dut.</b> (1) N. B. (2) Q. (3) E. L. (4) Us. B. (5) Les. per. (6) Sp. (7) Sel.-con. (8) Aim.<br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>Into what three classes may the duties of the superintendent
+be divided?</p>
+
+<p>What are his general duties and prerogatives in relation
+to the school?</p>
+
+<p>What are his duties through the week?</p>
+
+<p>What social duties should he endeavor to fulfill?</p>
+
+<p>How may he obtain teachers and workers?</p>
+
+<p>What is the purpose of cabinet meetings?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>How may the superintendent be ready for special
+occasions in the Sunday-school year?</p>
+
+<p>What is his duty toward conventions and associations
+of workers?</p>
+
+<p>What are the duties of the superintendent during the
+session of the school?</p>
+
+<p>What suggestions are given concerning the conducting
+of the program of the school?</p>
+
+<p>Who should review the lesson?</p>
+
+<p>Name some miscellaneous hints concerning his work.</p>
+
+<p>How may he have a quiet, orderly school?</p>
+
+<p>How may he promote the use of the Bible as a text-book
+by teachers and scholars?</p>
+
+<p>What rule should be kept with reference to the lesson
+period?</p>
+
+<p>Under what conditions should visitors be allowed to
+address the school during the regular session?</p>
+
+<p>What suggestion is made concerning self-control?</p>
+
+<p>What aim should be kept before the superintendent
+and the school?</p>
+
+
+<h3>VIII. THE ASSOCIATE AND DEPARTMENT SUPERINTENDENTS</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Nec.</b> Gen. asst. Dept. asst.<br />
+2. <b>Titles.</b> Asso. sup. Dep. supt.<br />
+3. <b>App.</b> Nom. sup. Conf. tea. "Minor. cand."<br />
+4. <b>Duties.</b> (1) Not tea. (2) Dep. sup. (3) Prov. sub. (4) Assig. new sch. (5) Detail. sup. (6) Ch. st.<br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>What is the need of an assistant to the superintendent
+in the Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>What two classes of assistants are required in an organized
+school?</p>
+
+<p>What titles should be given to these officers?</p>
+
+<p>How should the associate superintendent be chosen?</p>
+
+<p>Why should the superintendent possess the right to
+nominate the associate superintendent?</p>
+
+<p>Should the associate superintendent be at the same
+time a teacher in the school?</p>
+
+<p>When should the associate take charge of the school?</p>
+
+<p>How should substitutes be obtained for teachers who
+are absent?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>What class should not be called upon to furnish substitute
+teachers, and why?</p>
+
+<p>What class will supply teachers in a properly graded
+school?</p>
+
+<p>How, when, and where should the teachers be obtained?</p>
+
+<p>When should supply teachers be ready and in their
+places?</p>
+
+<p>What is the work of the associate superintendent with
+reference to new scholars?</p>
+
+<p>Should new scholars select their own classes?</p>
+
+<p>What part may the associate take during the general
+exercises of the school?</p>
+
+<p>What military title might properly be given to the
+associate superintendent? Wherein does this title apply
+to him?</p>
+
+<p>Give a summary of the six duties performed by the
+associate superintendent.</p>
+
+
+<h3>IX. THE SECRETARY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Imp.</b><br />
+2. <b>Qual.</b> (1) B. M. (2) R. A. (3) G. W. (4) Q. M. A. (5) Q. M. (6) C. C.<br />
+3. <b>App.</b><br />
+4. <b>Assts.</b><br />
+5. <b>Dep. Secs.</b><br />
+6. <b>Dut.</b> (1) R. M. (2) R. S. (3) R. C. (4) R. S. (5) L. S. (6) C.<br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>Who is frequently and unwisely chosen as secretary of
+the Sunday school? What are the results of such a
+choice?</p>
+
+<p>What results follow from an efficient secretary?</p>
+
+<p>What six qualifications are named for the ideal secretary?</p>
+
+<p>What traits of a business man should he possess?</p>
+
+<p>What should be his principle with regard to regular
+attendance? What also should be included in his
+attendance?</p>
+
+<p>Wherein should the secretary be a good writer?</p>
+
+<p>What should be the traits of his mental action?</p>
+
+<p>What exercises in the school should never be interrupted
+by the work of the secretary? Should he ever come to a
+class while the lesson is being taught?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>What should be the behavior of the secretary?</p>
+
+<p>How should the secretary be chosen?</p>
+
+<p>How long should be his term of office?</p>
+
+<p>How should the assistant secretary be appointed?</p>
+
+<p>What are department secretaries, and who should be
+appointed to this position?</p>
+
+<p>What seven duties are named for the secretary and his
+assistants?</p>
+
+<p>What record should be kept of business meetings?</p>
+
+<p>What are his duties with reference to reports from
+committees?</p>
+
+<p>What weekly record should be kept of the attendance
+in the school?</p>
+
+<p>What are the duties of the secretary with regard to the
+records of class attendance?</p>
+
+<p>What general catalogue of the members of the school
+should be kept? How should this record be arranged?</p>
+
+<p>What is the duty of the secretary with regard to the
+literature used in the school?</p>
+
+<p>How should the official correspondence of the school be
+conducted?</p>
+
+
+<h3>X. THE TREASURY AND THE TREASURER</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Early S. S.</b> Light expenses.<br />
+2. <b>Modern S. S.</b> Large expenses. Objects.<br />
+3. <b>Practical Ways and Means.</b> Methods. Objections.<br />
+4. <b>Ideal Way.</b> Allowance. Subscriptions. Benefits.<br />
+5. <b>S. S. Treasurer.</b> Relation to secretary.<br />
+6. <b>Treasurer's Work.</b> (1) Charge. (2) Bank account. (3) Reports and vouchers. (4) Bills. (5) Checks. (6) Audits. (7) Study of benevolent interests.<br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>Why was little money required by the early Sunday
+schools? Wherein was this fact fortunate for the schools?</p>
+
+<p>Why are the expenses of the Sunday school greater
+than they were in the early years?</p>
+
+<p>What are the principal expenses of a modern Sunday
+school?</p>
+
+<p>What are the methods of supplying funds for the
+Sunday school in most places?</p>
+
+<p>What is the objection to these methods?</p>
+
+<p>What is the ideal method of supporting the Sunday
+school? Under this plan what should be expected of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>
+members of the school? What are the advantages of this
+plan?</p>
+
+<p>Should the same person act as secretary and as treasurer?
+In that case what principles should be observed?</p>
+
+<p>What kind of a person should be chosen as treasurer?</p>
+
+<p>What funds should be placed under his charge?</p>
+
+<p>Where should he keep the money of the school? How
+should this bank account be conducted?</p>
+
+<p>What reports should the treasurer present, and where
+should <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'be'">he</ins>  present them?</p>
+
+<p>How should all payments of the treasurer be authorized?</p>
+
+<p>What should be done with bills against the school?</p>
+
+<p>In what form is it desirable to make payments for
+bills?</p>
+
+<p>How and when should the accounts of the treasurer
+be audited?</p>
+
+<p>What service can the treasurer render to the school
+in relation to benevolent interests?</p>
+
+
+<h3>XI. VALUE OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL LIBRARY</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Lib. Pas.</b><br />
+2. <b>Dec. Pres.</b><br />
+3. <b>Cau. Dec.</b><br />
+4. <b>Uses. G. Lib.</b> (1) Fam. ne. (2) Mor. inf. (3) Aid sch.<br />
+5. <b>Prin. Sel.</b> (1) Var. (2) Pop. (3) Lit. qual. (4) Mor. tea. (5) Ch. sp.<br />
+6. <b>Com. S. S. Lib.</b><br />
+7. <b>Pub. Lib. &amp; S. S.</b><br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>Why was the library important to the school in the
+earlier times?</p>
+
+<p>What are the facts regarding the decline of the Sunday-school
+library in recent times?</p>
+
+<p>What causes are assigned for the decline of the Sunday-school
+library?</p>
+
+<p>How are books more accessible now than in former
+times?</p>
+
+<p>Why is the library no longer needed to draw pupils to
+the school?</p>
+
+<p>How does the present educational aim of the Sunday
+school affect the interest in the library?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>What criticism is made upon the books in most Sunday-school
+libraries?</p>
+
+<p>How does the management of the library often interfere
+with the order of the school?</p>
+
+<p>What three benefits are named from a well-conducted
+Sunday-school library?</p>
+
+<p>How does the library in many places aid the school?</p>
+
+<p>What four principles should guide in the selection of
+books?</p>
+
+<p>What classes of books should be in the library?</p>
+
+<p>Why must the books be popular and interesting?</p>
+
+<p>What should be the literary standard for books in the
+Sunday-school library?</p>
+
+<p>Should love stories be admitted?</p>
+
+<p>What moral standards should be maintained?</p>
+
+<p>What is meant by the Christian spirit in the Sunday-school
+library?</p>
+
+<p>What kind of a library should be sought for in the
+educational work of the Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>How may the use of such a library be promoted in the
+school?</p>
+
+<p>How may the public library be made useful to the
+Sunday schools in a city or town?</p>
+
+
+<h3>XII. THE MANAGEMENT OF THE LIBRARY</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Lib. Com.</b> (1) Pur. bks. (2) Freq. add.<br />
+2. <b>Libr.</b> (1) Bkm. (2) Bus. m. (3) Gen. man.<br />
+3. <b>Asst. Lib.</b><br />
+4. <b>Man. Lib.</b> (1) Coll. (2) Ass. (3) Dist. (4) Ret. (a) Rec. sch. (b) Rec. she. (c) Fin. (d) Rew.<br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>Who should choose the books for the Sunday-school
+library?</p>
+
+<p>What should be expected of the library committee?</p>
+
+<p>Why should a large purchase of books at one time be
+avoided?</p>
+
+<p>How may the committee learn of new books?</p>
+
+<p>How should donations of books be regarded?</p>
+
+<p>What are the advantages of small additions at frequent
+times?</p>
+
+<p>Who should be sought for the Sunday-school librarian?</p>
+
+<p>How should the assistant librarians be chosen?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>What plan should be followed in collecting the books
+returned to the library by the scholars?</p>
+
+<p>What are some plans for choosing books?</p>
+
+<p>What difficulties are met in the choice of books by
+scholars?</p>
+
+<p>How should the books be distributed?</p>
+
+<p>What are the difficulties met in the return of books by
+scholars?</p>
+
+<p>How may the loss of books be avoided?</p>
+
+<p>How may lost books be traced and brought back?</p>
+
+
+<h3>XIII. THE TEACHER'S QUALIFICATIONS AND NEED OF TRAINING</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Qual.</b> (1) Sin. dis. (2) Lov. you. (3) Lov. ser. (4) Wil. work.<br />
+2. <b>Nec. Train.</b> (1) Gen. prin. (2) Tea. resp. (3) Dem. ag. (4) Tea. cla.<br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>Why does the work of the Sunday-school teacher require
+special qualifications?</p>
+
+<p>What four qualifications are named as requisite?</p>
+
+<p>What should be the relation of the teacher toward
+Christ?</p>
+
+<p>What should be his attitude of mind and heart toward
+young people? Why is this attitude necessary?</p>
+
+<p>What should be his relation to the Bible?</p>
+
+<p>What is required of him as a worker?</p>
+
+<p>When did training for Sunday-school teachers begin in
+America?</p>
+
+<p>What have been various stages and periods in the
+movement for teacher-training?</p>
+
+<p>What four reasons are named why the Sunday-school
+teacher should receive training?</p>
+
+<p>How does the shortness of the time and its weekly
+meeting of the Sunday school relate to the training of
+the teacher?</p>
+
+<p>How does the teacher's responsibility make his training
+necessary?</p>
+
+<p>What does this age demand of teachers?</p>
+
+<p>Why does this age make special demands upon Bible
+teachers?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In what condition of mind with regard to the lesson
+do most of our scholars come to the Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>Why does the condition of the scholar require preparation
+on the part of the teacher?</p>
+
+
+<h3>XIV. THE TRAINING AND TASK OF THE TEACHER</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Train. Nec.</b> (1) Book. (a) Or. nat. (b) Hist. (c) Geog. back. (d) Inst. (e) Eth. rel. tea. (2) Schol. (3) Schoo. (4) Work.<br />
+2. <b>Tea. Tas.</b> (1) Stu. (2) Fri. (3) Tea. (4) Dis.<br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>What are the four departments of teacher-training?</p>
+
+<p>What in the Bible does the teacher need to know?</p>
+
+<p>What does he need to know about his scholars?</p>
+
+<p>What does he need to know about the school?</p>
+
+<p>What does he need to know about teaching?</p>
+
+<p>What are the four departments of the teacher's task?</p>
+
+<p>What has he to do as a student?</p>
+
+<p>What may he do as a friend?</p>
+
+<p>What is required of him as a teacher?</p>
+
+<p>What is his work for his class, as a disciple of Christ?</p>
+
+
+<h3>XV. THE CONSTITUENCY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Rel. to Com.</b> (1) Const. adj. (2) Mem. rep. (3) Meth. adap.<br />
+2. <b>Chang. Pop.</b> (1) Gro. (2) Dec. (3) Ch. soc. (4) Ali.<br />
+3. <b>Prac. Sugg.</b> (1) St. fi. (2) Cul. fi. (3) Pro. f. all ele. (4) Ad. meth.<br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>What kind of a temple is the Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>Whence must come the members of the school?</p>
+
+<p>What duty does the school owe to the population
+around it?</p>
+
+<p>Of what should a Sunday school be representative?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>What elements in a mixed community should enter
+into the Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>What methods should be sought in localities where the
+traits and needs of the people differ?</p>
+
+<p>What fact regarding the population of our country
+brings great problems to the church and Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>Give some instances of the effect of changing population
+upon churches.</p>
+
+<p>How often are churches generally compelled to change
+their constituency?</p>
+
+<p>What are some causes of the changed conditions in
+cities and country places?</p>
+
+<p>What should be done in growing communities?</p>
+
+<p>What are the conditions, and the remedy for them, in
+a declining population?</p>
+
+<p>How may a population change socially while increasing
+numerically?</p>
+
+<p>What is the duty of a Sunday school in changing communities?</p>
+
+<p>When may a church or a Sunday school rightly abandon
+its field?</p>
+
+<p>What is the first duty of the Sunday school in relation
+to its field?</p>
+
+<p>What is its duty to the population in its field, wherever
+the population can be reached?</p>
+
+<p>What elements in the population should be provided
+for in the plans and efforts of the school?</p>
+
+
+<h3>XVI. RECRUITING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Nec.</b><br />
+2. <b>Los. fr. Sch.</b> (1) Sear. in sch. (2) Foll. abs.<br />
+3. <b>Char. Gro. Sch.</b> (1) Eff. (2) Attr. (3) Prom. (4) Sp. occ. (5) Sp. hel.<br />
+4. <b>Reach. Bey. Sch.</b> (1) Adv. (2) Inv. (3) Vis.<br />
+5. <b>Dang.</b><br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>Why is it not only desirable but necessary to seek for
+increase in the membership of the Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>What is the percentage of change in Sunday schools
+annually?</p>
+
+<p>For what should search be made in the school?</p>
+
+<p>How may the absentees from the school be looked
+after?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>What traits in a Sunday school will naturally draw to
+it scholars?</p>
+
+<p>Why should the Sunday school be made a prominent
+feature in the church?</p>
+
+<p>What are some special occasions in the year to which
+attention should be given?</p>
+
+<p>What special methods of building up the school may
+be employed in certain localities?</p>
+
+<p>How may the school be advertised?</p>
+
+<p>What are some advantages in a personal invitation?</p>
+
+<p>What plans for the visitation of the field are suggested?</p>
+
+<p>What caution should be given concerning methods of
+recruiting the Sunday school?</p>
+
+
+<h3>XVII. THE TESTS OF A GOOD SUNDAY SCHOOL</h3>
+
+<div class='bbox'><div class='center'><b>BLACKBOARD OUTLINE</b></div>
+
+<div class='list'>
+1. <b>Rep. Char.</b><br />
+2. <b>Org.</b><br />
+3. <b>Ord.</b><br />
+4. <b>Sp.</b><br />
+5. <b>Edu. Eff.</b><br />
+6. <b>Char.-buil.</b><br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>REVIEW QUESTIONS</b></div>
+
+<p>What is meant in the title of this chapter?</p>
+
+<p>How many tests or criterions are here named?</p>
+
+<p>What are these tests?</p>
+
+<p>What is meant by the representative character of a
+Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>Why is organization necessary to constitute a good
+school?</p>
+
+<p>What is included in a graded school?</p>
+
+<p>To what extent is order a requisite?</p>
+
+<p>How may the demand for order be carried to excess?</p>
+
+<p>What is "spirit" in a Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>What constitutes efficiency in Sunday-school work?</p>
+
+<p>For what purpose is the teaching and work of the
+Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>What is included in the building of a character, as an
+aim of the Sunday school?</p>
+
+<p>How should these tests or traits be viewed?</p>
+
+<p>What illustrative passage is given from the New
+Testament?</p>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> An exception is to be noted in the Sunday schools of the Roman
+Catholic Church, where most of the teachers belong to religious orders.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Bishop John H. Vincent.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> For qualifications and functions of the teacher see <a href="#CH_XIII">Chapters XIII</a>
+and <a href="#CH_XIV">XIV</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> For a more complete statement, see the volume of this series on
+The Graded Sunday School in Principle and Practice, by Dr. H. H.
+Meyer.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Dr. A. H. McKinney, in After the Primary&mdash;What?</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> This department is now named in Sunday schools of the Protestant
+Episcopal Church, and some others, the Font Roll, or Baptismal Roll.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Suggested by Dr. J. H. Vincent.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> For full information concerning Teacher-training, courses, examinations,
+and diplomas, write to the State Secretary of Sunday School
+Work, or to the office of the International Sunday School Association,
+No. 140 Dearborn Street, Chicago.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> For plans of the Home Department, address the Secretary of the
+State Sunday School Association, or Dr. W. A. Duncan, Syracuse, New
+York, who is recognized as the founder of this system.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> For detailed methods and plans, see the volume of this series on
+The Training of Sunday School Teachers.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> 2 Pet. 1. 5-7.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3>
+
+<p>Text uses both Sunday School and Sunday-School.</p>
+<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p>
+
+<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Organizing and Building Up the Sunday School, by
+Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Organizing and Building Up the Sunday School
+       Modern Sunday School Manuals
+
+Author: Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
+
+Release Date: January 24, 2011 [EBook #35050]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ORGANIZING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Emmy, Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic
+text by _underscores_.
+
+
+MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUALS
+
+Edited by Charles Foster Kent in Collaboration with John T. McFarland
+
+ORGANIZING AND BUILDING UP THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+By JESSE LYMAN HURLBUT
+
+[Illustration]
+
+          NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS
+          CINCINNATI: JENNINGS & GRAHAM
+
+
+
+
+          Copyright, 1910, by
+          EATON & MAINS
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                             PAGE
+     I. The Historic Principles Underlying the Sunday School
+           Movement                                             7
+    II. The Constitution of the Sunday School                  14
+   III. The Necessity and Essentials of a Graded Sunday
+           School                                              21
+    IV. The Grading of the Sunday School                       30
+     V. The Departments of the Graded Sunday School            37
+    VI. The Superintendent                                     46
+   VII. The Superintendent's Duties and Responsibilities       53
+  VIII. The Associate and Department Superintendents           63
+    IX. The Secretary of the Sunday School                     69
+     X. The Treasury and the Treasurer                         75
+    XI. Value of the Sunday School Library                     81
+   XII. The Management of the Library                          91
+  XIII. The Teacher's Qualifications and Need of Training      98
+   XIV. The Training and Task of the Teacher                  105
+    XV. The Constituency of the Sunday School                 113
+   XVI. Recruiting the Sunday School                          122
+  XVII. The Tests of a Good Sunday School                     129
+        Appendix                                              135
+
+
+
+
+PREFATORY
+
+
+IN the preparation of this volume the purpose was to supply a convenient
+handbook upon the organization, the management, and the recruiting of
+the Sunday school, to be read by those desiring information upon these
+subjects. But after the larger part of the work had been prepared a
+desire was expressed that the method of treatment be so modified that
+the volume might be employed as a text-book for classes and individual
+students in the department of teacher-training. It has been the aim of
+the author not to alter the work so materially as to render it unfitting
+for the general reader; and with this in view the series of blackboard
+outlines for the teacher, and the questions for the testing of the
+student's knowledge, have been placed at the end of the book. In the
+hope that both the reader and the student may receive profit from these
+pages the book is committed to the public.
+
+                                           =JESSE LYMAN HURLBUT.=
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+THE HISTORIC PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL MOVEMENT
+
+
+1. =Magnitude of the Sunday-School Movement.= At the opening of the
+twentieth century the Sunday school stands forth as one of the largest,
+most widely spread, most characteristic, and most influential
+institutions of the Anglo-Saxon world. Wherever the English race is
+found the Sunday school is established, in the Mother isle, on the
+American continent, at the Cape of Good Hope, and in Australasia. In the
+United States and Canada it has a following of fourteen million members,
+representing every religious denomination. Its periodical literature has
+a wider circulation than that of any other modern educational movement.
+It touches every class of society, from the highest to the lowest; and
+its largest membership is found among the young, who are of all ages the
+most susceptible to formative forces. It is safe to say that this
+institution has exerted a powerful influence upon the majority of the
+men and women of to-day, and is now shaping the character of millions
+who will be the men and women of to-morrow.
+
+2. =A Modern Movement.= Great as it appears in our time, the Sunday
+school is comparatively a modern institution. Undoubtedly, the germ of
+it can be traced back to that source of all the religious life of the
+civilized world, the Hebrew people. The elemental principle of the
+Sunday school is possibly to be found in the prophetic guilds before the
+Exile, and the schools of the Jewish scribes after the Restoration. The
+great Bible class of Ezra (Neh. 8) was not unlike a modern Sunday
+school. Yet as an organized institution the Sunday school began with
+Robert Raikes, the philanthropist of Gloucester, England, who on one
+Sunday in 1780 called together a group of street boys in a room on Sooty
+Alley, and employed young women to teach them the rudiments of reading
+and religion. If Raikes had not happened to be the editor of the town
+newspaper, and in constant need of copy, his Sunday school might soon
+have been forgotten. But from time to time he published concerning it
+paragraphs which were copied into other papers and attracted attention,
+so that the Sooty Alley Sunday school became the parent of a vast
+progeny throughout the United Kingdom and beyond the seas. No
+institution then in existence, or recorded in church history, suggested
+to Robert Raikes either the name or the plan. Both arose out of his own
+good heart and active mind. But since his day both the name "Sunday
+school" and its plan of working have been perpetuated, and every Sunday
+school in the world is a monument to Robert Raikes, the editor of
+Gloucester.
+
+3. =A Lay Movement.= It is a significant fact that the first Sunday
+school was established not by a priest, but by a private member of the
+Church of England, that its earliest teachers were not curates, nor
+sisters, but young women of the laity, and that throughout its history
+the movement has been directed and carried forward, in all lands and
+among nearly all denominations, by lay workers.[1] This is noteworthy,
+because in the eighteenth century, far more than in our time, the
+teaching of religion was regarded as the peculiar function of the
+clergy, and lay preaching was frowned upon as irregular. The earliest
+Sunday school may have been preserved from churchly opposition by its
+own insignificance; or it may have won the favor of the clergy by the
+fact that all its pupils at the close of the morning session were
+regularly marched to church. Whatever the cause may have been, it is
+certain that under a providence which we must regard as divine, both in
+its beginning and throughout its history, the Sunday school, although a
+laymen's movement, has received favor, and not opposition, from the
+clergy and the Church.
+
+4. =Unpaid Workers.= It has been stated that Raikes paid the young women
+who taught in his Sunday school a penny for each Sunday. But as the
+movement went onward the conductors and teachers were soon giving their
+service freely; and this has been the prevailing rule throughout the
+world. There are a few Sunday schools wherein a curate or assistant
+pastor is the superintendent, and a few mission schools that employ a
+salaried teacher who works through the week as a visitor; but it may be
+asserted that the world-wide army of Sunday-school workers lay upon the
+altar of the Church their free-hearted, unpaid offering of time, study,
+and effort. This has been and is a noble, a self-denying, a splendid
+service; but it has also been a potent element in the progress of the
+movement. Those who would establish a school, alike in the city and on
+the frontier, have not been compelled to wait until funds could be
+raised for the salary of a superintendent and teachers. If only churches
+rich enough to pay for workers had established Sunday schools in our
+country, the Sunday school as an institution would not have advanced
+westward with the wave of population. And not only has the unpaid
+service aided the growth of the movement, it has also added to its moral
+and religious power. The pupils and their parents have recognized that
+the teachers were working not for pay, but from love for their scholars
+and their Saviour; and that love has imparted to their message a power
+all its own.
+
+5. =Self-supporting.= The Sunday school has been from the beginning and
+even now remains in large measure a self-supporting movement. It
+everywhere involves expense for furniture, for teaching requisites, for
+song books, for libraries; but for the most part the money to meet these
+expenses has been contributed in the school, among its own members, and
+not by the church. Instances are on record, even, where the church, in
+former times, charged and received rent for the use of its property by
+the Sunday school! Such short-sighted practice has been rare, but
+multitudes of churches have found the Sunday school a source of far
+greater profit than expense. In other words, those who have done the
+work of the school have also paid its bills, and many families that have
+received its benefits have been exempt from its burdens. It is
+noteworthy, however, that this condition is passing away, that churches
+are awakening to their responsibility and opportunity, and are giving to
+the Sunday school that liberal support which its work requires and
+deserves. In the ratio of investment and return, no department of the
+church costs so little and rewards so richly as an efficient Sunday
+school.
+
+6. =Self-governing.= As a result of being self-supporting, the Sunday
+school has also been a self-governing institution. Paying its own way
+and asking no favor, it has been almost everywhere an independent body,
+accepting no outside authority. It has grown up almost unrecognized and
+unnoticed by the churches. Fifty years ago scarcely one of the
+denominations, great or small, gave the Sunday school recognition as an
+integral part of its system. Little attention was paid to it in the
+ruling body of the local church. It chose its own officers, obtained its
+own teachers, made its own rules, and for its teachings was responsible
+to no ecclesiastical authority. It was generally an ally to, but
+independent of, the church. In this respect a gradual change has taken
+place. Its relations are now much closer, its position is defined; and
+the institution is sanctioned and supervised by the church.
+
+7. =Self-developing.= The system of the Sunday school has been evolved
+without guidance or control from any human authority. It has been from
+the first self-organizing, and has been also self-developing. Some might
+consider the form which it has taken accidental; but it is better to
+regard it as providential. The men and women who laid the foundations
+of the Sunday school were building under a divine direction of which
+they were unconscious. Working apart from each other, on both sides of
+the sea, and separated by wilderness and prairie, everywhere they
+established an institution under the same general principles, and with
+substantial unity in its plans. Perhaps one cause for its unity of
+method is that it arose in the midst of the Anglo-Saxon race, a people
+which has instinctive tendencies toward law, system, and organization.
+If it had started among a Latin people, where men, and not systems,
+rule, there might have been a different form of organization, with
+different aims, with different titles for officers, in every province.
+But throughout the English-speaking world, which is the habitat of the
+Sunday school, the institution bears the same name. Its principal or
+conductor is called a superintendent--cumbrous though the title may
+be--and its working force are known as teachers.
+
+8. =Bible Study.= The most prominent trait in the Sunday school of the
+present is that it has become the most extensive movement for
+instruction in the Sacred Scriptures that the world has yet seen. All
+these millions of members, young and old, are engaged in the study of
+one book--the Holy Bible. Many of these millions, indeed, study the
+Bible superficially, unintelligently, with narrow interpretations and
+crude methods; yet in the Sunday schools of the lowest type as well as
+of the highest some portion of the Bible every week is brought to the
+scholars' attention. That the Bible is so generally known and so widely
+circulated, that the demand for this ancient book warrants the printing
+of more than ten million copies every year, is due more to the Sunday
+school, with all its defects of method, than to any other institution.
+This concentration of attention upon the Bible has grown gradually in
+the Sunday school. In the eighteenth century Sunday school, both of
+England and America, religious instruction was only one of its aims; and
+it was instruction in the catechism and forms of worship rather than in
+the Bible. But by slow degrees the Bible came more prominently to the
+front, until now the Sunday school is everywhere the school with one
+text-book. He who surveys the Sunday school through the inner eye
+beholds it on one day in each week covering the continent with its
+millions of students, all face to face with some portion of the great
+text-book of religion. The thoughtful observer will reflect that a
+people whose children and youth come into weekly contact with the living
+word will not wander far from the path of righteousness.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[1] An exception is to be noted in the Sunday schools of the Roman
+Catholic Church, where most of the teachers belong to religious orders.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+
+The general characteristics of the Sunday school, as they have gradually
+developed during its long history, must be considered in any plan for
+organizing and conducting an individual school. The institution should
+be studied both ideally and practically: practically, to ascertain what
+the Sunday school has been and is now; yet ideally, with a view to
+developing its highest efficiency and largest usefulness. Such a plan
+for the specific Sunday school may be called its constitution. It is
+desirable to have the constitution in written or printed form, but it is
+not necessary. There is no more complete system than the government of
+Great Britain, yet it has no written constitution; and Mr. James Bryce
+has shown us in America that the instrument known as the Constitution of
+the United States by no means represents our own actual method of
+government. In every nation there is an unwritten law, wrought out of a
+people's consciousness, which is more imperative and enduring than any
+parchment scroll or printed form.
+
+The general principles to be maintained in establishing and developing a
+Sunday school are the following:
+
+1. =Aim.= The primary aims of the Sunday school are religious
+instruction, character-development, and effective service. It is not to
+teach history, nor science, nor sociology, but religion; and not merely
+to impart a knowledge of religion to the intellect of its pupils, but,
+infinitely more important, to make religion an effective force in the
+life of the individual scholar. As a Christian institution, in the
+definition given by one of its greatest leaders,[2] "The Sunday school
+is a department of the Church of Christ, in which the word of Christ is
+taught, for the purpose of bringing souls to Christ, and of building up
+souls in Christ." If it be in connection with a Jewish synagogue or
+temple--as are some of the best Sunday schools or Sabbath schools in our
+land--it is for the purpose of instruction in the faith of the ancient
+fathers, and of making their teachings live again in the men and women
+of to-day. A true religious education, such as the Sunday school seeks
+to give, will include three aims: (1) knowledge, (2) character, (3)
+service. There must be an intellectual grasping of the truth; a
+character built on the truth, out of faith in God, and the life of God
+inspiring the human soul; and service for God and humanity. The Sunday
+school seeks to develop not only saints in fellowship with God, but
+workers for God, who shall strive to realize on earth the kingdom of
+God, not seeking to be ministered unto but to minister. There have been
+centuries in the past when the Christian ideal was the cloistered saint,
+living apart in communion with God. But that was a pitiably incomplete
+conception of the perfect man. In our age we have the larger ideal of
+saintliness with service; and to promote this should be the aim of every
+Sunday school.
+
+2. =Method.= To attain its aim the Sunday school employs the teaching
+method. The Sunday school is not, as some weak-minded people have called
+it, "the nursery of the church." Nor is it, as it has been named, "the
+Bible service"; for, although it holds a service, it is more than a
+service. It is not--or should not be--a gathering of groups, large or
+small, where silent hearers listen to sermonettes by little preachers,
+miscalled teachers. It holds a service imbued with the spirit of
+worship, yet worship is not its central purpose. It should have music,
+but it is not primarily a service of song. It should be pervaded by an
+atmosphere of happiness, but mere enjoyment is not its object. The
+Sunday school is a _school_: and the very word shows that its aim is
+instruction and character formation, and its method is that of teaching.
+For the work of a Sunday school the essentials are three:
+
+(1) There must be the living teacher who is fitted to inspire, to
+instruct, and to guide. His part is not merely to pour knowledge into
+his pupils, but to awaken thought, to guide the search for truth, to
+call forth expression in character and in action.[3]
+
+(2) There must also be the scholar who is to be taught. It is his part
+in the process of instruction not merely to listen and to remember, not
+merely to receive impressions, but to give expression to the teaching,
+in life, in character, in influence, and in service. The true
+effectiveness of the teaching in the Sunday school will be shown by the
+reproductive power of the truth in the life of the scholar.
+
+(3) There must be a text-book in the hands of both the teacher and the
+pupil. In any school for religious instruction one book will of
+necessity stand prominent, that great Book of books which records the
+divine revelation to man. The Sunday school may teach history,
+geography, institutions, doctrines, literature of the Bible, but these
+only as a framework or a foundation for the education of the heart into
+a personal fellowship with God. This character-molding, faith-impelling
+force is the divine truth taught in the Bible through the experiences
+and teachings of patriarchs, prophets, priests, psalmists, sages, and
+apostles, and above all by the words and life and redemptive work of the
+Master himself. And the subjects of study in the Sunday school need not
+be limited to the text of Scripture. There may be extra-biblical
+material for the teaching of character and service; and all this should
+be open to the Sunday school.
+
+3. =Relation to the Church.= However independent of the church
+organization the Sunday school may have been in its beginnings, and
+however self-dependent some union Sunday schools may of necessity be in
+certain churchless regions, the general fact is established that the
+Sunday school as an institution belongs to the church, is under the care
+of the church, has a claim upon moral and financial support by the
+church, should be a feeder to the membership of the church, and should
+gratefully accept the supervision of the church. It should regard itself
+and be recognized by all as in many ways the most important department
+of the church.
+
+4. =Government.= All power must be under direction, and the mighty
+energies of the Sunday school especially need a wise, strong guidance.
+In the general management of the Sunday school two elements should be
+recognized: (1) the rights of the workers and (2) the authority of the
+church.
+
+(1) It must ever be kept in mind that the Sunday school is an army of
+volunteers. Its workers are men and women who of their own accord give
+to the school without compensation their gift of service. Those who make
+such a contribution to the success of the Sunday school should certainly
+have a voice in its management.
+
+(2) But it is not to be forgotten, on the other side, that the Sunday
+school is not superior to the church, nor independent of it, but
+subsidiary to it; hence the church should be able to exercise some
+control over the school if such control shall ever be needed. For
+example, in the choice of a superintendent, who is the executive officer
+of the school, the ruling body of the local church and the working body
+of teachers and officers should unite. No one should undertake to
+conduct a church Sunday school unless he thus has the definite assurance
+that his teachers are with him, and that his church is officially
+supporting him.
+
+5. =Officers.= Little need be said here on this subject, for it is one
+with which every worker is familiar.
+
+(1) There must be a leader, or manager, the executive head of the
+school, who is universally styled the superintendent. If we were
+organizing a new institution, and not describing one already world-wide
+and with officers already named by common usage and consent, we would
+prefer that the executive of the Sunday school receive the title of
+Principal or Director; but the somewhat awkward word Superintendent is
+settled upon him, and will remain.
+
+(2) There must also be an assistant superintendent, or more than one, as
+the size of the school may demand. The better title is associate
+superintendent, as is now given in the larger number of well-organized
+schools. The superintendent should have the privilege of nominating his
+own associates or assistants, the nominations to be confirmed by the
+board of teachers and officers.
+
+(3) There will be a secretary, with such assistants as he may require,
+to be nominated by the secretary and confirmed by the teachers.
+
+(4) There will be a treasurer, to care for the funds, and to disburse
+them as ordered by the board of teachers, or the Sunday school as a
+whole.
+
+(5) Lastly, but most important of all, there must be the working force
+of instructors, the faculty of the institution, its teachers, who should
+be carefully chosen. The pastor, as well as the superintendent, should
+have an active voice in their call, since they are his coworkers in the
+religious instruction of the congregation.
+
+6. =Membership.= In the conception of a Sunday school, both ideal and
+practical, the constituency for which it is established must be
+considered. As has been noted, it was originally for children only, and
+only for children who were destitute of home training, and outside of
+church relationship. The earliest Sunday schools were what are called
+in England ragged schools, and in America mission schools. But in the
+noble evolution of the movement the Sunday school constituency has been
+vastly enlarged; and now it is recognized that the Sunday school is for
+all ages and all classes. It should embrace the young and old, the
+ignorant and intelligent, the poor and rich, the sinner as well as the
+saint. The Sunday school which fulfills its mission to society will
+welcome all the world.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] Bishop John H. Vincent.
+
+[3] For qualifications and functions of the teacher see Chapters XIII
+and XIV.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE NECESSITY AND ESSENTIALS OF A GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+
+1. =The Necessity of Grading.= As the result of the gradual and unguided
+evolution of the Sunday school through a century or longer, most schools
+are now divided in a vague way into certain departments, generally known
+as the Primary, or Infant Class; the Youths Department, or Boys and
+Girls; and the Adult Department, or Bible Classes. Many who have charge
+of schools such as these regard them as graded, and so report them. But
+the mere naming of departments does not constitute a graded school.
+Whoever studies the ungraded or loosely graded Sunday school will
+perceive in it certain evils which can be removed only by a thorough
+system of grading, maintained faithfully through a series of years. Some
+of these conditions which make the graded Sunday school an absolute
+necessity are the following:
+
+(1) _The School as a Whole._ The close observer, looking at the entire
+school, notes first of all that its gains and its losses in membership
+are at the extremes of its constituency. It is the normal condition for
+the gains to come in the Primary section; for the little children in
+families are attracted to the school or brought there by older children.
+There is almost invariably a constant increase in this department,
+requiring frequently the organization of new classes in the grade
+above, among the younger boys and girls. But, on the other hand, there
+is a constant loss of older scholars. In most schools, at the age of
+fourteen, in what is known as the early adolescent period of life, the
+pupils, for one reason or another, begin to drop out, and few enter to
+take their places. Almost every school is thus growing at the bottom and
+dying at the top. The Primary classes are full, but the classes of those
+above fourteen years are usually small--two large boys here, three
+yonder. And although girls continue in the school more frequently than
+boys, there will appear the same conditions--some large classes of girls
+and young women, but others where discouraged teachers are sitting down
+with one, two, or three pupils. Six or eight years ago these same
+classes came out from the Primary Department, each with eight or ten
+pupils; now they are mere skeleton classes, barely alive, and threatened
+with dissolution. Every earnest, thoughtful superintendent would rejoice
+to find some plan that will guarantee large classes of young people
+between sixteen and eighteen years of age, for this is the most vital
+period in the life of the individual. Such a plan is proposed in the
+graded system.
+
+(2) _The Condition of the Classes._ Fixing the attention upon the
+several classes, the critic of the school system notes three unfavorable
+conditions:
+
+(a) There is the inequality in the size of classes, to which reference
+has already been made. When classes come together by accident, pupils
+bringing their friends, or new members joining whatever classes they
+please, some classes of boys or girls will inevitably be too large for
+good government or good teaching, and others will be too small to
+create any enthusiasm, either in the teacher or the pupils.
+
+(b) There is also an inequality in the ages of pupils in the same class.
+A class may include one pupil or two pupils sixteen years old, and
+others as young as ten, or even nine years; some who during the week are
+in the high school, and others who can scarcely read the verses assigned
+to them.
+
+(c) Where these inequalities of numbers and ages exist there is a lack
+of that class spirit which is an essential element of power in a
+well-ordered Sunday school. Every class should be a unit, with a strong
+social bond; but this ideal cannot be realized when there are in the
+class two or three youths in the noisy, assertive, self-conscious stage
+of early adolescence, and others who are several years younger. Nor can
+there be a proper social bond in a class with only two or three members.
+They are likely to be irregular in attendance, to find excuses for
+absence or for leaving the school, until at last the discouraged teacher
+and the listless scholars together drop out of sight.
+
+For the correction of these evils of inequality in numbers and in ages,
+and of this lack of class spirit, the only successful method is to grade
+the school, and resolutely to keep it graded.
+
+(3) _Difficulties of Administration._ The difficulties which confront
+the superintendent in the management of an ungraded school are many and
+great.
+
+(a) The first and ever-present difficulty is in obtaining teachers for
+new classes. The constant growth of the Primary Department is his
+perennial perplexity. To relieve the congestion in the crowded Infant
+Class its older pupils must be brought into the main school, and
+teachers must be found for them. The superintendent is always seeking,
+and often seeking vainly, for new teachers.
+
+(b) Another difficulty is found in the attempt to transfer scholars from
+one class to another. No matter how much out of place a pupil may be, it
+is almost impossible to transfer him to another class without incurring
+the displeasure of the teacher, the scholar, or the scholar's family.
+And however overgrown or ill-assorted a class may have become, to divide
+it is a delicate task, almost sure to cause ill feeling. Also, when
+there arises the need of a teacher for a new class just emerging from
+the Primary Department, the natural plan would be to combine some of the
+skeleton classes in the other departments, and thereby release a teacher
+for service with the new class. But the superintendent who attempts this
+plan finds that almost invariably it results in some of the older
+scholars leaving the school because their teacher is taken from them.
+
+2. =The Essentials of a Graded School.= Briefly stated, the essentials
+of a graded Sunday school are the following:[4]
+
+(1) _Departments._ The graded Sunday school is organized in certain
+distinct groups, of which the most important, for our present purpose,
+are the Primary, Junior, Intermediate, and Senior Departments. To these
+will be added the Beginners and Adult Departments when the subject comes
+up for a complete treatment. Each of these departments should have, if
+possible, a separate room; but if these rooms cannot be provided in the
+building, the pupils should be seated by departments in the different
+parts of the one room. Perhaps it may be assumed that there is a
+separate room for the Primary Department; then let those who have most
+recently come from the Primary be seated on the right block of seats;
+the Youths or Intermediate in the middle; and the Senior classes on the
+left block, or vice versa. The younger classes of the department should
+have the front seats, the older those in the rear, in regular gradation.
+The school may be arranged in the order shown in this diagram:
+
+
+    +---------------------------------------------+
+    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|
+    ||  OLDER    |  |FOURTH YEAR |  |FOURTH YEAR ||
+    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|
+    |                                             |
+    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|
+    ||   OLDER   |  | THIRD YEAR |  | THIRD YEAR ||
+    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|
+    |                                             |
+    ||YOUNG WOMEN|  |SECOND YEAR |  |SECOND YEAR ||
+     +-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|
+    |                                             |
+    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|
+    || YOUNG MEN |  | FIRST YEAR |  | FIRST YEAR ||
+    |+-----------+  +------------+  +------------+|
+    |  SENIORS      INTERMEDIATES      JUNIORS    |
+    |                                             |
+    |         +-----------------------+           |
+    |         |        PLATFORM       |           |
+    +---------+-----------------------+-----------+
+
+(2) _Classes._ The number of classes should be fixed for each
+department, and their relationship established, so that when a group of
+scholars is promoted to a higher grade in the same department, or in the
+next department, they do not enter as classes, but as individuals; not
+to form new classes in the department, but to be placed in classes
+already formed. This plan will keep the classes in the Senior Department
+always full, and avoid the unfortunate skeleton classes of the ungraded
+school. It will also impress upon the pupils the importance of faithful
+work.
+
+(3) _Promotions._ There should be annual and simultaneous promotions
+throughout the school. One Sunday in the year should be set apart as
+Promotion Sunday; and on that day all promotions should be made. Those
+who are to be advanced from the Intermediate to the Senior Department
+are called out by name and placed in their classes, which are not new
+classes, but old classes replenished with new members. These promotions
+will vacate the seats of the Fourth Year classes in the Intermediate
+Department. But these seats will at once be filled by the Third Year now
+becoming the Fourth Year, and taking their seats; the Second Year pupils
+becoming the Third Year; and the First Year the Second Year. The First
+Year of the Intermediate Department will be left vacant, to be filled by
+promotion of the Fourth Year in the Junior Department, and the moving up
+of classes to the year above in the same department; and the First Year
+of the Junior Department will be filled by promotion from the Primary
+Department.
+
+(4) _Teachers._ As groups of scholars pass either from one grade or from
+one department to another there must also be a change of teachers. This
+constitutes the crux of the entire system, and in its inception is apt
+to prove the most formidable obstacle in grading the school. The pupils,
+however, are accustomed to a system of promotions in the day school, and
+expect to leave their teachers when they change their grades; but many
+of the teachers in the Sunday school, not being trained under the
+system, dislike to lose their scholars, and show their dissatisfaction
+in ways that affect their pupils. This difficulty must be overcome by
+tact and an appeal to unselfish motives; teachers must consent for the
+sake of the common good to give up their old classes and take new ones
+which begin in the department. The teacher may remain in the grade and
+receive a new class each year as his pupils advance to a higher grade;
+or he may remain with the class and advance until the pupils pass from
+their former department to a higher one, as from Primary to Junior, from
+Junior to Intermediate, and from Intermediate to Senior. He should then
+return to a new first year's class in his own department and lead it
+through the course. If any teacher asks, "Why cannot I go with my class
+into the Senior Department?" the answer is that if the plan be permitted
+for one it must be recognized for all; and in the Senior Department
+there will follow an increasing number of classes, with a relatively
+diminishing membership in each class. The scholars also need the
+inspiration of contact with different teachers. Furthermore, the teacher
+who is adapted to the Junior or Intermediate Department is rarely a
+suitable teacher for Senior scholars. Hence there is need of a careful
+assignment of teachers no less than of pupils. Therefore, to maintain a
+graded school the pupils must change teachers when they change
+departments.
+
+(5) _Lessons._ There should be graded lessons for each department. If a
+graded system be followed in the school, as it should be, with different
+subjects, text-books, and lessons for each department, giving to the
+entire school a regular, systematic, progressive curriculum, this
+requisite will be met. If, however, the uniform lesson for all the
+school be followed, as at present is still the case in many Sunday
+schools, the graded teaching must be given in the form of supplemental
+lessons, taught by the head of the department where it has a separate
+room, or by the teacher if the departments must be assembled in one
+room. In some form the graded teaching is an absolutely essential
+requisite of the graded school. Most schools, when once thoroughly
+graded, will realize the need of the next step in the evolution of the
+institution--lessons graded in subjects as well as in methods for the
+several departments.
+
+(6) _Basis of Promotion._ The question is often asked, "Should
+promotions be made on the basis of age, or as the result of
+examinations?" The examination system may be regarded as desirable in
+the Sunday school, but there are as yet few schools where thorough
+examinations can be rigidly insisted on as a part of the school system,
+and promotions invariably made to depend upon standing. A school which
+meets only once a week, for a session of less than an hour and a half,
+and with but one lesson period of forty minutes or even less, cannot
+maintain the same strictness in its standards as the public school.
+Moreover, new scholars are continually entering the schools, and, while
+most of them begin at the foot of the ladder in the Primary Department,
+yet others enter at various ages and in various grades. Any system of
+promotion based merely upon acquirement attested by examination is sure
+to become in many instances a meaningless form when applied to the
+Sunday school. Yet acquirements and examinations need not be ignored in
+the graded Sunday school. There may be certain ages at which the pupils
+shall by right pass from a lower grade to a higher. But it may also be
+arranged that pupils who are exceptionally bright, well-informed, and
+studious can be promoted a year in advance of their classmates by
+passing examination. Let the examination be given in writing to all the
+pupils, and let all be urged to take it; with the promise that those who
+pass will be promoted, even though they be less than the required age.
+But let it also be understood that failure to pass the examination will
+not keep the student for more than one year from promotion. In other
+words, the examination may well be made the door through which earnest
+students may pass on, and so keep abreast of their equals in training
+and ability.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[4] For a more complete statement, see the volume of this series on The
+Graded Sunday School in Principle and Practice, by Dr. H. H. Meyer.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE GRADING OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+
+The question is often asked, "How may an ungraded Sunday school be
+placed on a graded basis?" The work may seem simple, and easy of
+accomplishment, but when it is undertaken difficulties arise which must
+be intelligently and tactfully met.
+
+1. =The Difficulties.= If all our Sunday-school teachers were trained
+educators, accustomed to the methods of the public school, they would
+see at once the advantages of the graded system, and heartily enter into
+it. But most of our teachers are untrained, and their range of vision
+often fails to reach beyond their own class and their immediate
+environment. The relation between teachers and scholars is personal
+rather than official; and on both sides the personal equation often
+complicates the problem. In every school there are a few teachers who
+are so strongly influenced by their feeling for their pupils that they
+fail to recognize the needs of the school. There are also scholars,
+especially in the sentimental early adolescent age, who are unwilling to
+leave their teachers when promotion is offered to them. But unless the
+change of teachers is maintained the graded system will utterly fail to
+benefit the school; it will be graded in name only, and not in fact.
+This part of the program must be carried through, even though it may
+cost the school the loss of a teacher or two teachers and their
+scholars.
+
+2. =The Remedy= for this difficulty is only to be found in carefully
+considered action by presenting the necessity and value of the plan so
+clearly that the teachers as a whole will fully understand it,
+appreciate its importance, and heartily accept it. The grading should
+not be attempted upon the mere fiat of the superintendent, nor on the
+vote of a bare majority of the workers. The teachers must recognize the
+self-sacrifice which it requires, and must make that self-sacrifice
+generously, giving up their scholars for the general good. The possible
+objections of the scholars are more easily overcome, for they are
+accustomed in the public schools to promotions with change of teachers,
+and readily accommodate themselves to the same system in the Sunday
+school. Thoughtfulness and kindness, with time, will soon remove the
+hindrances from the path of the graded school.
+
+3. =The Method of Grading.= The school may be graded in either of two
+ways, the gradual or the simultaneous method.
+
+(1) In the gradual method the superintendent, with the concurrence of
+the teachers, may announce that after a certain date all promotions will
+be made in accordance with the graded system, leaving the classes as
+they are until the time for promotion arrives. Then promote from Primary
+to Junior, from Junior to Intermediate, and from Intermediate to Senior,
+according to the principles of the graded school; and in four or five
+years, if the system be maintained, the result will be a school fully
+graded in all its departments.
+
+(2) In the simultaneous method of grading, the plan must be carefully
+matured, and general cooperation of all assured. The following plan has
+been tested in more than one school, and found to work successfully:
+
+(a) Let a careful committee be chosen to arrange the details of grading.
+The committee should consist of teachers acquainted with the scholars as
+far as may be practicable, and should, of course, include the
+superintendent. They should also take an abundance of time for their
+work.
+
+(b) Obtain the ages of all the scholars between eight and eighteen years
+of age, and, approximatively, the ages up to thirty. Let this list be
+made quietly by each teacher for his or her own class. It may be
+desirable not to inform the pupils for what purpose the enrollment is
+made. Instances have been known where scholars have understated their
+ages, hoping thereby to remain with favorite teachers.
+
+(c) Let the committee go over the lists and assign the scholars to
+classes according to age and acquirement. In some degree social
+relations should be considered, so that each class may be as far as
+practicable a social unit. In the Intermediate Department boys and girls
+should be in separate classes, and not more than six or eight pupils
+should be placed in one class. No announcement of the assignment of
+scholars to classes should be made until the day fixed for the
+reorganization of the school. It will be a good plan to prepare a map or
+chart of the schoolroom, with the place proposed for each class
+indicated upon it.
+
+(d) On the day appointed, after the opening exercises, first let the
+seats or rooms set apart for the Senior Department be vacated; and then
+let the roll be called according to the new list. "Class No. 1, Senior
+Department. Mr. A----, with the following scholars." As their names are
+called let them take their places, until the list of classes and
+scholars in this department is filled. Next vacate the seats assigned to
+the Intermediate Department, and let these teachers and pupils take
+their places; then the Junior Department, according to the same plan.
+The Primary Department can be graded by its superintendent or teacher
+without aid from the committee.
+
+Let it be understood that every scholar must take the place assigned to
+him at the time when his name is called; and that only for an important
+reason can an assignment, when once made, be changed. In a large school
+there will be found a few cases where the committee has made a mistake,
+even with the greatest care; and these mistakes should be rectified, but
+not until the pupils have taken their new places temporarily in the
+scheme of the school.
+
+4. =Advantages of Thorough Grading.= Many benefits will follow from the
+proper organization of the school; and their value will be increasingly
+apparent as the system is maintained through a series of years.
+
+(1) _Appearance._ It is the testimony of every superintendent and pastor
+who has graded his Sunday school that the appearance of the school is
+greatly improved by the graded system. The older scholars are assembled
+in one body, instead of being scattered throughout the room; scholars
+of the same size and age are brought together in classes. The school
+will also actually seem larger than it was before the grading.
+
+(2) _Order._ The order of the school will be more easily maintained. The
+big boys and the giggling girls, both at the self-conscious, awkward
+age, will be in a new environment, no longer the leaders over smaller
+and younger pupils, but in classes by themselves, and with
+responsibilities appealing to their self-respect.
+
+(3) _Social Relations._ It will be a benefit to the scholars of each age
+to be associated in groups of the same period in life, with the same
+interests and similar mental acquirements. Many scholars will find their
+new associations more congenial than their former ones in the ungraded
+classes, where older and younger people have been brought together. The
+class will now become, far more than it was before, a social power.
+
+(4) _Teaching Work._ In the ungraded class, with older and younger
+pupils together, the teacher met with his greatest difficulty in finding
+a common ground of interest. In the graded class, with pupils of uniform
+age and equal intellectual understanding, the teaching can be better
+adapted to the needs of the pupils.
+
+(5) _Incentive to Interest._ The prospect of promotion awakens an
+interest in the classes. Each scholar looks forward to the time when he
+will attain to a higher grade with its enlarged privileges.
+
+(6) _Obtaining Teachers._ The grading of the school greatly aids in the
+solution of the ever-present problem of obtaining new teachers, (a) The
+graded school requires a smaller number of teachers than the ungraded
+school, since it provides for the consolidation of skeleton classes in
+the Senior Department. This sets at liberty a number of experienced
+teachers for service in other grades. (b) Whenever a new class comes
+from the Primary Department, a teacher is already at hand in the Junior
+Department whose class at the same time has advanced to the Intermediate
+Department. The teacher goes year by year with his class until it leaves
+the department, and then he returns to a new class beginning the studies
+of the same department. (c) After the results of a teacher-training
+class are available there will always be trained teachers waiting for
+classes.
+
+(7) _Leakage Period._ The young people between fifteen and twenty years
+of age constitute the "leakage period,"[5] when they are in great danger
+of drifting away from the school. They will be held to the school far
+more firmly if they have before them the prospect of membership in large
+classes of young people, with social opportunities, and club life, so
+popular with youth at the early adolescent age. It has been clearly
+shown by practical experience that an organized Senior Department, with
+large classes kept full by regular reinforcement from the Intermediate
+Department, will maintain itself and hold its members, while skeleton
+classes of the young people constantly tend to disintegration.
+
+The well-organized, completely graded Sunday school possesses such
+evident and great advantages that it is certain to be established
+wherever thorough and efficient religious instruction is sought. The
+sooner it comes, and the more faithfully it is maintained, the better it
+will be for the church of to-day and to-morrow, and the more quickly and
+effectually will the grave problems of our modern civilization be
+solved.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[5] Dr. A. H. McKinney, in After the Primary--What?
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+THE DEPARTMENTS OF THE GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+
+=General Scheme.= The four departments essential to a graded Sunday
+school, whether large or small, have already been named by anticipation.
+But it is necessary to give to the subject a closer consideration, and
+to add the names of other departments which are needed either as
+departments or subdivisions in the school. Following the analogy of the
+secular schools, the great divisions of a Sunday school may be named as
+Elementary, Secondary, and Advanced or Adult. The Elementary Division
+will include the Cradle Roll, Beginners, Primary, and Junior, taking the
+scholar up to twelve years of age. The Secondary Division will include
+the Intermediate and Senior Departments, also the Teacher-training
+Class, and will embrace the scholars between twelve and twenty years of
+age. The Advanced or Adult Division will include all the classes wherein
+the average age is above twenty years, including the Home Department.
+Beginning with the youngest children, the departments of a thoroughly
+organized school are the following:
+
+1. =The Cradle Roll.=[6] This should include all the little ones in the
+families of the congregation who are too young to attend the school.
+Their names, in large lettering, in plain print rather than script,
+should be recorded upon a list, framed and hung upon the wall in the
+Primary room. A separate card catalogue should be kept of the names
+alphabetically arranged, with ages, birthdays, parents' names, and the
+street address of each family. Every effort should be made to keep the
+list complete; children should inform their teachers of new little
+brothers and sisters for the Cradle Roll; the pastor in his visitation
+should take their names and report them; and the teacher or conductor in
+charge of the Cradle Roll should occasionally visit every family on the
+list. Whenever gifts are made to the pupils of the school, as at
+Christmas or on birthdays, toys and dolls for the little ones of the
+Cradle Roll should not be forgotten. In a small school the care of the
+roll and the visiting of the families may be assigned to the Primary
+superintendent; but in a large Sunday school it will call for a special
+conductor, and recognition as a separate department. Let no one suppose
+that this is an unimportant, sentimental matter. The Cradle Roll,
+maintained as it should be, will awaken interest in every family having
+a name inscribed upon it, and in due time will lead many little feet to
+the Sunday school.
+
+2. =The Beginners Department.= At about three years of age the little
+children should be brought to the school, and be regularly enrolled as
+attending members, their names being now taken from the Cradle Roll.
+They should remain in the Beginners Department from the age of three to
+that of six years--the Kindergarten period in the public school. Here
+they should be told simple Bible and nature stories, without effort to
+place the stories in chronological order; for children of this age have
+only a faint conception of the sequence of events. They may be taught
+simple songs, marching exercises, etc. It is a mistake, however, to give
+them much, if any lessons, to tax the memory, beyond a few short
+sentences of the Bible and verses of children's songs. If they can meet
+in a room by themselves, with their own teacher, it will be better than
+to have them in the Primary room; for the work in this grade should be
+constantly varied, and the stories very brief, in order not to weary the
+little ones. If they must meet in the room with the Primary children,
+they should sit by themselves as a separate section, and not with their
+older brothers and sisters.
+
+3. =The Primary Department.= This department should be the home of
+little children between six and eight or nine years of age. They should
+remain in it until in the day school they have begun to read. Boys and
+girls may be placed in the same classes, which should be for those six
+years old, seven years old, and eight years old, respectively. With each
+year their seats should be changed, indicating their promotion from the
+lower to the higher classes. In this department the simpler stories of
+the Bible and other helpful stories adapted to the grade should not only
+be told but taught, and the children expected not only to learn but also
+to tell them. The Twenty-third Psalm, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten
+Commandments, a few other selected passages of Scripture, and some
+standard hymns of the Church should be memorized.
+
+In many well-organized Sunday schools both the Cradle Roll and the
+Beginners class are recognized as subdivisions of the Primary
+Department, and are under the direction of the Primary superintendent.
+
+4. =The Junior Department.= This department will care for the children
+from the ages of eight or nine until the full age of twelve; except that
+boys or girls who are especially advanced in intelligence may be
+promoted upon examination at eleven years. In a very small Sunday school
+all the pupils of this department may form one class, provided they can
+have a room by themselves. If they must meet with the rest of the
+school, they may be organized either in two classes, one of boys, the
+other of girls. If, however, the number of scholars will admit, it is
+far better to place the pupils in separate classes for boys and girls,
+with different classes for each year of the period. To scholars of the
+Junior grade the great characters and events of Bible history should be
+taught in their order; also the most important facts about the Bible,
+and in a simple form the lands and localities of the Bible. In churches
+which use a catechism this should constitute a part of the teaching in
+the Junior Department, for at this period the child's verbal memory
+attains its greatest strength.
+
+5. =The Intermediate Department.= Here the pupils are from twelve to
+sixteen years of age. The classes should be small, generally of six boys
+or girls, never more than eight. This period in life is known as early
+adolescence, and calls for careful direction by wise teachers. In the
+Intermediate Department the great biographies of the Bible should be
+studied, either as the regular or the supplemental lessons; also the
+heroic lives of leaders in the history of the Church, of foreign
+missionaries, and of men and women who have labored in the home fields.
+Boys and girls in this stage of life are instinctively hero-worshipers,
+and before them should be set high ideals of character and service.
+Special effort should be made in leading the scholars to personal
+consecration to Christ and to union with the Church; for if the great
+decision be not made before the age of sixteen is reached, there is
+great danger that it will never be reached. But that decision should
+include more than a formal profession. It should embrace a full
+surrender to the will of Christ, an inward, conscious spiritual life, an
+aim for completeness of Christian character, and especially a
+willingness to work for God and humanity. Youth is a season of ardor and
+of energy, a period of lofty ideals and noble endeavor. All those active
+powers of the youthful nature should be guided into channels of
+usefulness. The true twentieth century disciple of Christ is not one who
+lives alone feasting his soul on God, but one who stands among his
+fellow-men, eager to aid in the world's betterment.
+
+6. =The Senior Department.= This is the preferable title, although some
+organized schools call it the Young People's Department, and restrict
+the word Senior to the classes of fully adult age. Still others call it
+the Assembly, and give it an organization independent of the Sunday
+school.[7] The age of entrance should be sixteen, except with some who
+in stature and mind are mature beyond their years. It is imperative, as
+we have already seen, that at the door of this department the young
+people should leave their former teachers, and should not form new
+Senior classes, but as individuals enter classes already established.
+This department includes the members of the school between sixteen and
+twenty years of age; not that members of classes must necessarily leave
+them at twenty, but that men or women above that age entering the school
+should rather join the Adult Department. The classes may be as large as
+the arrangement of rooms will allow; larger where each class can have a
+separate room, which is the ideal plan. Generally, young men and young
+women should be in separate classes. The teacher of a young men's class
+should be a man whose character will inspire the respect and win the
+fellowship of his class. The teacher of the young women's class will
+generally be a lady, although often men have been successful teachers of
+young women.
+
+In this department the classes should be organized, each with its own
+officers, chosen by the members; and the class should be consulted when
+a teacher is to be appointed, although the voice of the class in the
+decision should be advisory and not mandatory. Especial attention should
+be given to the social activities of this department. Each class should
+have its own gatherings, classes of young men and women should meet
+together occasionally, and a Senior Reception should be held at least
+annually to promote acquaintance among the members. The interest of the
+young people should also be enlisted in some definite form of service
+for the church or the community.
+
+7. =The Teacher-Training Department.= The most promising young people,
+both men and women, should be selected at sixteen years of age--the time
+of promotion into the Senior Department--and should be organized as the
+Teacher-training or Normal Class. The best teacher obtainable should be
+assigned to this department. Often in the high school or some near-by
+college, a scholarly, Bible-loving instructor may be found who is
+willing to give a part of his time to the equipment of teachers for the
+coming generation. A text-book should be chosen from among those
+approved by the International Teacher-training Committee. No person
+should be admitted to this class who is not willing to give some time
+during the week to the study of the course. While the rest of the school
+may be studying the regular lessons, whether graded or uniform, this
+class should be at work with the teacher-training text-books. There
+should be thorough instruction with examinations looking toward a
+certificate of work done, such as the International Teacher-training
+diploma.[8] The course may cover two, three, or four years; and new
+members may be placed in the class at the opening of each year, to begin
+at the point where the class is studying, and to remain until they shall
+have completed the entire course. In a properly graded school after a
+few years there will be a class graduating from and a class entering the
+Teacher-training Department each year.
+
+This department should also include a Reserve Class, consisting of those
+who are ready to act as substitutes for absent teachers. If the uniform
+lessons are followed, the Reserve Class should study the lesson a week
+in advance of the school. Into this class the graduates of the
+Teacher-training Class should be placed, to remain until classes are
+ready for them in the school.
+
+In some schools the Teacher-training and Reserve Classes do not form a
+separate department, but are two classes in the Senior Department. But
+it is the better plan in a large school to establish the
+Teacher-training Department, with its own officers, thereby adding to
+its prestige in the school.
+
+8. =The Adult Department.= This will include all who are above the age
+of twenty years. It is the judgment of advanced leaders in Sunday-school
+work that at twenty years those who have belonged to Young People's
+classes in the Senior Department should leave them for the Adult
+Department. Otherwise, the Senior Department in a few years will cease
+to be a place where young people of sixteen and eighteen years feel at
+home. In the Adult Department men and women may meet together as members
+of the same class, unless there arise a demand for separate classes and
+the numbers enrolled justify the division. In conducting these classes
+two forms of instruction have been found to be successful: (1) the
+colloquial method of teaching, the class studying and discussing the
+lesson together under the guidance of the leader; and (2) the lecture
+method, the teacher being the principal speaker, but always admitting
+questions and answers on the subject suggested by the lesson. Classes in
+this department may be allowed to choose their own courses of study,
+provided (1) that the subjects and methods are in line with the general
+aim of religious education, and not merely secular science or history;
+(2) that the courses of successive years have some sequence, and are not
+chosen in a haphazard, accidental manner. The Adult Department under
+wise direction should promote a large, intelligent, broad-minded,
+philanthropic type of Christian character in the church and the
+community.
+
+9. =The Home Department.= This department, like the Cradle Roll at the
+other extreme of the Sunday-school constituency, is composed of people,
+both young and old, who cannot be present at its sessions, but are
+interested in its work, and willing to give some time to its studies. In
+every community there are such people--aged or infirm men and women,
+invalids, mothers unable to leave their offspring, commercial travelers,
+and people who live too far from the school to attend it. These are
+organized into the Home Department, furnished with the literature of the
+school, study its text-books, make their report of work done, and send
+their contributions to its support through the Home Department
+superintendent or visitor.[9]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[6] This department is now named in Sunday schools of the Protestant
+Episcopal Church, and some others, the Font Roll, or Baptismal Roll.
+
+[7] Suggested by Dr. J. H. Vincent.
+
+[8] For full information concerning Teacher-training, courses,
+examinations, and diplomas, write to the State Secretary of Sunday
+School Work, or to the office of the International Sunday School
+Association, No. 140 Dearborn Street, Chicago.
+
+[9] For plans of the Home Department, address the Secretary of the State
+Sunday School Association, or Dr. W. A. Duncan, Syracuse, New York, who
+is recognized as the founder of this system.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE SUPERINTENDENT
+
+
+1. =His Importance.= Several years ago, the president of the New York
+Central Railway was called upon by a legislative committee to explain
+the system of signals employed upon the railroad for the protection of
+passengers. He gave a detailed statement, answered every question, and
+then made this remark: "However perfect the system may seem to be, there
+must always be a man to work it; and in the final analysis more depends
+on the man than on the plan."
+
+That which is true in every human organization is especially true in the
+Sunday school: its success depends not on a constitution, whether
+written or unwritten, but upon a man. In the Sunday school that man is
+the superintendent, who not only works the plan, but also generally
+plans the work. Given an efficient superintendent, an efficient school
+will usually be developed; for the able man will call forth or will
+train up able workers. Hence the first and greatest requisite for a
+successful Sunday school is that the right man be chosen as
+superintendent.
+
+2. =His Appointment.= The selection of the superintendent should be the
+task not only of the officers and teachers in the Sunday school, but of
+the entire church, for every family in the congregation has an interest
+in his appointment. The pastor should be consulted, and should give
+diligent attention and time to the search for a superintendent, not
+merely because he may be presumed to know his constituency, but more
+especially because out of all the church the superintendent is to be his
+most important helper. The election of the superintendent should be made
+by the workers in the school, its board of teachers and officers, and
+its action should be formally confirmed by the ruling board of the local
+church. No man should hold the office of a superintendent who fails to
+receive the approval of the church of which the school is a part. He
+should know that in his appointment the school, the church, and the
+pastor all unite.
+
+3. =His Term of Office.= He should be chosen for a term of one year; but
+may be reelected for as many terms as appear expedient. Frequent changes
+in the management of the school will tend to destroy the efficiency of
+its work. But whenever the great interests involved in the religious
+education of an entire church or community require a new superintendent
+the change should be made, even though sympathy be felt for the one set
+aside. The institution must not be sacrificed to save the feelings of
+the man.
+
+4. =His Qualifications.= It is important to consider the qualifications
+of an ideal superintendent, remembering, however, that all these
+qualities are rarely to be found in one man. We must set before us high
+ideals, not expecting that they will always be fully realized, yet ever
+seeking to attain them as far as may be possible in this imperfect
+world. The following are the most important qualifications for a
+superintendent; some of them are essential, all are desirable:
+
+(1) _Moral Character._ The Sunday school undertakes to train the young
+in character; therefore he who stands as its responsible head must
+possess a character worthy of admiration and imitation. His life must
+honor, and not dishonor, his profession. It is possible for a man whose
+work for an hour on Sunday is in behalf of the gospel so to live in his
+family, in business, and in society as to work for six days against the
+gospel, and more than undo all his efforts for good. The leader in such
+an uplifting movement as the Sunday school must have clean hands and a
+pure heart. What Saint Paul wrote of a bishop he would have written of a
+Sunday school superintendent: he must have "a good report." In the
+well-known painting of the Emancipation Proclamation may be seen
+standing at the right hand of President Lincoln the Secretary of the
+Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, who once said, "A man in my position must not
+only seem right, but be right; and not only be right, but seem right."
+So will every one say of the Sunday-school superintendent.
+
+(2) _A Devout Believer._ The superintendent's character should be
+irradiated with the fine glow of a Christian faith. He should be one who
+has seen the heavenly vision and unto it has not been disobedient; one
+whose spirit has been kindled by the Divine Spirit burning like a fire
+within; one who is himself a Christian man, longing to lead other men
+into fellowship with the Father through Jesus Christ the Son.
+
+(3) _A Working Church Member._ We have already learned that the Sunday
+school is not a society or an institution standing alone. It is a
+branch of the church, and one of the most important branches. The normal
+growth of the church depends in large measure upon the Sunday school,
+and the support of the Sunday school comes, or should come, from the
+church. The superintendent who endeavors to do his duty to his scholars
+will strive to lead them to Christ and into active membership and
+service in the church. Therefore, he himself must be a professed, loyal,
+and effective member of the church. His name should not only stand upon
+its roll, but his heart should also be enlisted in its behalf.
+
+(4) _A Bible Student._ The Sunday school is the school with one
+preeminent text-book; and of that Book the superintendent should be a
+diligent student. His work is executive and not instructional; yet he
+must supervise the teaching, and this supervision he cannot rightly give
+unless he is familiar with the course of study. He should study the
+lesson of each department, perhaps not as thoroughly as the teachers in
+the department, but sufficiently to maintain acquaintance with their
+work. And he should master not only the specific lessons of the
+immediate course before his school, but also the Book as a whole.
+
+One successful superintendent gave as a secret of his power to make his
+school, both teachers and scholars, willing to do whatever he asked, "I
+never expect my teachers or scholars to do anything that I am not ready
+to do myself. Before I ask them to bring their Bibles I bring mine. When
+I asked my school to be ready on the following Sunday to repeat in
+concert the Nineteenth Psalm, I committed it to memory during the week,
+and when the time came spoke the words with the school." Only that
+superintendent who himself loves the Bible, and studies it, can have a
+true Bible school.
+
+(5) _An Able Executive._ The Sunday school is like that vision seen by
+the prophet Ezekiel, a system of wheels within wheels, all endowed with
+life; and the master of the mechanism directing its motion is the
+superintendent. Moreover, each of these living wheels in the
+Sunday-school machine is a volunteer worker, who may at any moment drop
+out of his orbit. To hold together these varied elements, to combine
+their movements, to guide each in his own sphere, to compass the common
+purpose through all the forces working as one, requires a wise brain and
+a skillful hand. The superintendent should have a plan for the school,
+with details throughout for every emergency; he should be ready to
+assign to every worker the task for which he is best fitted; he should
+be able to work with others, not merely to command others; and he should
+be a leader whom others will follow, not by the might of an
+overmastering will, but by the magnetism of an attractive personality.
+He should never forget that with others as well as with himself service
+in the Sunday school is not compulsory but voluntary, that his
+associates lay on the altar their free-hearted, unpaid labor; and that
+such workers cannot be commanded, although by tact and wise generalship
+they may be led to accomplish the most difficult tasks.
+
+(6) _Sympathy with Youth._ The superintendent's office will bring him
+into relations with youth during all its stages, from early childhood
+through the entire adolescent period. He must be able to see life and
+the world through the eyes of a little child, of a growing boy, and of a
+young man. The sympathy which he needs is not a compassionate feeling
+_for_ youth, but a feeling _with_ youth, an ability to put himself in
+its place; to feel as young people feel, and to understand why they act
+as they sometimes do. This sympathy will impart a love for young people,
+such a love as will enable him to be patient with their foibles and
+faults, to exert a powerful influence over them, and to keep before them
+noble ideals of character and service.
+
+(7) _Teachable Spirit._ No matter how much the superintendent knows, or
+thinks he knows, he should hold his mind open to new knowledge. He
+should be on the alert for new ideas, from the periodicals, from books,
+and from his fellow workers, in conversation, at conventions and
+institutes; not that he may inflict every new method upon his school,
+but that out of many methods he may select the best. When Michael Angelo
+was past eighty-five years old, and almost blind, he was found one day
+beside an antique torso which had recently been dug out of the ground,
+bending over it, and carefully pressing his fingers upon its surface.
+When asked what he was doing, he answered, "I am learning"! The masters
+in every department of work are never too wise nor too old to learn.
+
+If a man can be found who possesses all these seven traits of character
+and temperament, the school which can secure him for its superintendent
+will be fortunate indeed. And the superintendent who thoughtfully reads
+the catalogue of qualifications, and feels that in some of them he is
+lacking, may by divine grace and his own will working together make
+progress toward the goal of becoming an ideal superintendent.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+THE SUPERINTENDENT'S DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
+
+
+The superintendent has been found, has been chosen, and is in his
+place--what are the prerogatives and the duties of his office? These may
+be considered under three classes: (1) His general duties. (2) His
+duties during the week. (3) His duties in the session of the school.
+
+1. =General.= (1) _Supervision._ It is his right to supervise and direct
+the work of the school without interference as to details from the
+teachers, the officers of the church, or the pastor. The pastor may be
+the admiral of the fleet, directing the general movements of the sea
+campaign; but the superintendent is the captain of the ship, through
+whom orders are to be given to all on board.
+
+(2) _Selection of Teachers._ He should have the chief word in the choice
+and appointment of teachers, but in the choice he should obtain the
+concurrence of his pastor; and their election should be made upon the
+superintendent's nomination by the teachers and officers.
+
+(3) _Assignment of Scholars._ He should possess the final authority in
+the assignment of scholars to classes, in any changes from class to
+class, and in promotions from lower to higher departments. In these
+responsibilities he may be greatly aided by an associate superintendent,
+to whom his authority may be delegated.
+
+(4) _Program of Services._ It is the superintendent's prerogative to
+plan and direct the services of the school session. It may be the part
+of wisdom for him to consult with the musical director or organist in
+the selection of hymns, but it is the superintendent's right to choose
+and to announce them, in common with all parts of the program.
+
+(5) _Support._ He is entitled to a loyal support from all his fellow
+workers; but if he is tactful he will take them into his confidence,
+will present his plans for their consideration, and will not attempt
+important reforms or changes without their concurrence.
+
+2. =Week-day Work.= He is the superintendent of the Sunday school for
+seven days in every week; and will find much work to be done between the
+sessions. His week-day duties will include some that have already been
+mentioned.
+
+(1) _Program._ Before he comes to the school he should invariably
+prepare a well worked out program for each session. It is a good plan to
+have a large blank book, in which two pages opposite each other are
+assigned to the session for the day. Every hymn should be selected in
+advance and noted in its place; every announcement to be made should be
+written; the outline of a lesson review, if one is to be given, should
+be indicated; and space should be left for memoranda of miscellaneous
+matters which may need attention. This program should be laid upon the
+desk, so that if for any reason the superintendent should be out of his
+place upon the platform an associate can go forward without delay.
+
+(2) _Lesson Study._ In schools where the uniform lesson is still
+followed in all or most departments, the superintendent should make
+himself thoroughly acquainted with the lesson for the coming session. As
+has been intimated, he should be prepared for any work expected of his
+teachers and scholars. He should be ready after the class study to give
+a practical summary of the teachings in the lesson, in a crisp,
+well-outlined talk, which will be aided by a blackboard illustration.
+And in the increasing number of schools which are employing graded
+lessons, not uniform in the departments, the superintendent should have
+at least a general knowledge of the subjects studied in each department.
+The more thoroughly the superintendent fills his own mind and heart with
+the truth, the more efficiently will the truth be taught in his school.
+
+(3) _Social Duties._ The superintendent should know all his teachers,
+and, as far as possible, his scholars also. If it be practicable for him
+to visit teachers at their homes, the visitation will greatly increase
+his influence and his usefulness. If in his own home, or in the parlors
+of some family in the congregation, a social gathering of the teachers
+and officers can occasionally be held, it will add to the social power
+of the school. And in the social relations much can be accomplished
+before and after the church service, the school session, the prayer
+meeting, and the other gatherings of the congregation. There are
+superintendents who keep before them up-to-date lists of the classes,
+and by study of faces during the school session, with judicious inquiry,
+are able to call large numbers of the scholars by name. Such greetings
+will strengthen the superintendent and heighten the loyalty of the
+school.
+
+(4) _Seeking Workers._ In nearly all Sunday schools there is a constant
+need of helpers, to fill the places of withdrawing or absent teachers;
+and the work of supplying the demand generally falls upon the
+superintendent. He may find relief in the work of an associate
+superintendent, as will be seen in the next chapter. Both the
+superintendent and his associate should always be on the alert for new
+teachers and for new scholars. As the builder in stone looks at every
+fragment of rock, to see where it will best fit into his wall, so the
+whole-hearted superintendent studies every individual in the parish, to
+find exactly the place he may fill in the school, as an officer, a
+teacher, or a scholar; and not infrequently his search will be rewarded
+by a treasure.
+
+(5) _Cabinet Meetings._ The superintendent should confer frequently with
+the several heads of departments, and with all the officers; talking
+with them freely about his own plans, and learning theirs, for the
+welfare of the school. It is not necessary that these cabinet meetings
+should be formal, having a secretary and a record. They may be held
+occasionally, for a few minutes after the session of the school, or as a
+social evening at a private house.
+
+(6) _Special Days._ He should keep a calendar of special occasions in
+the school year, such as the Sundays set apart for temperance and for
+missions, Easter, Children's Day, Rally Day, Decision Day, Christmas,
+Promotion Day, and other notable events. Weeks in advance of each
+occasion--in the case of some of them even months in advance--he should
+begin to consider what special exercises should be held, what
+preparation is needed, and who can best supervise the plans. For a
+fortnight before Children's Day or the Christmas celebration, many
+Sunday schools are in a turmoil of confusion, and lessons abandoned,
+simply because the superintendent did not take thought in sufficient
+time.
+
+(7) _The Convention._ The Sunday-school work of the Christian world is
+now thoroughly organized in international, state, county, and town
+associations. Each school finds itself a part in a mighty movement; and
+it is the duty of the superintendent to see that his school takes its
+place in the Sunday-school army. He should see that in the institute and
+the convention his school is well represented; and if at all possible he
+should attend these gatherings, and be active in them. Many a worker who
+for most of the year is alone, burdened with perplexities, has been
+refreshed, has found his vision enlarged and his plans improved, by
+conference with other workers, and by listening to experienced
+specialists.
+
+3. =His Duties in the School Session.= (1) _Present Early._ He should be
+at his post, if possible, from twenty minutes to half an hour before the
+opening of the school. However early he may arrive, he will probably
+find a group of children there in advance of him; and they will behave
+better if his eye is on them, especially if his glance is kind, and with
+it is a hand-shake or a word of recognition. The early superintendent
+will often be surprised to find how much business in the interest of
+the school can be transacted before the session.
+
+(2) _Open Promptly._ With his program ready, he should begin the session
+exactly on the minute, and should carry out every item according to the
+plan. If for any reason the superintendent is not at the desk when the
+moment for the opening arrives, the associate or first department
+superintendent should be empowered to call the school to order and begin
+the opening service.
+
+(3) _Conduct Program._ The superintendent should conduct the general
+program of services; although it is advisable to recognize the associate
+and others, by calling upon them to take some part in the opening or
+closing services. A superintendent whose methods were always well chosen
+was wont once in each month to invite some official or prominent member
+of the church, who was not an attendant upon the school, to be present,
+sit upon the platform, and offer the prayer at the opening of the
+session. This kept the leading members of the church in closer relation
+to the school.
+
+(4) _During the Lesson._ As a general principle, the superintendent
+should remain at his desk during the lesson period; but to this rule
+frequent exceptions will be made. The supply of substitutes for absent
+teachers, and the assignment of new scholars to classes, belong to the
+field of the associate superintendent.
+
+(5) _Lesson Review._ In the Sunday schools which still follow the
+uniform system of lessons, studying the same portion of Scripture in
+all, or nearly all, the grades of the school, the superintendent should
+give a brief practical summing up of the practical points in the lesson;
+but this review should not exceed five or six minutes in length. If the
+pastor possesses the gift of terse, crisp speaking, this practical talk
+may be given by him. In the schools adopting the graded courses of
+lessons this review should be given in each department by the department
+superintendent. Here again the adaptation to the point of view and needs
+of the pupils of each grade can be made much more effective than in the
+ungraded school.
+
+(6) _Closing._ The superintendent should so carry out the program as to
+close the session at the time appointed. An hour and a quarter is as
+long as is profitable for the school; and everything that needs to be
+done can be brought into that space. Often much time is lost by
+unnecessary delays between the numbers on the program.
+
+4. =Miscellaneous Duties.= Here are a few general suggestions, hints,
+and "don'ts" for the superintendent, briefly stated:
+
+(1) _Notebook._ Let the superintendent remember to obtain that notebook,
+to keep it at hand, and to make use of it. Some pages at the end of the
+book might be reserved for special suggestions gathered from books,
+periodicals, and meetings.
+
+(2) _Quiet._ Let him be careful not to make much noise during the
+session, but to set an example--which will soon be felt--in favor of
+quiet and orderly conduct. It is not at all certain that he needs a bell
+for calling attention; but if he uses one, let it be a little, gentle,
+quiet bell, held in the hand as a signal, and never rung vociferously
+or repeatedly. Said a new superintendent as he tested the bell on
+Saturday before assuming office, "What a magnificent bell this would be
+for calling missionaries home from India!" But he never used it in the
+school. One of the best superintendents of a generation ago was widely
+known as "the silent superintendent." He was not deaf nor dumb, but his
+manner was noticeably quiet, and his large Sunday school was always in
+perfect order.
+
+(3) _Early Lesson._ Let the opening service be short, so that the lesson
+period--which is the important part of the program--may be reached while
+the teachers and scholars are fresh and the air of the room is pure.
+
+(4) _Use the Bible._ If a Scripture lesson is read by the superintendent
+and school responsively, it should be from the Bible upon the desk or in
+the hand of the leader, and not from a lesson quarterly. Encourage the
+use of the Bible as a text-book and for reference. If the superintendent
+always brings his own Bible, he can appeal to his teachers and scholars
+to follow his example. With regard to the Scripture reading in the
+opening service, it is the judgment of many thoughtful superintendents
+that even in a school following uniform lessons the reading should not
+be the lesson for the day, but a devotional portion of Scripture,
+perhaps a selection from the Home Readings of the week. It is a good
+plan for the first reading of the lesson for the day to be by the
+teacher and the class together.
+
+(5) _Lesson Period._ No interruption should be allowed to break into the
+time assigned for class study, except under imperative necessity. The
+teacher and the class should hold that period sacred to united study,
+without being diverted from their task by secretary, librarian,
+superintendent, or pastor. Said Bishop Vincent once, "I would like to
+have suspended from the roof of the Sunday-school hall a series of great
+glass half-globes, one for each class, to be dropped down over the
+class, and kept there during the time reserved for the study of the
+lesson!"
+
+(6) _Speakers._ A visitor should rarely be invited or allowed to address
+the school; never, unless the superintendent has sufficient knowledge to
+be sure that he will speak briefly, interestingly, and pointedly. Before
+the uniform lesson concentrated the studies of the Sunday school it was
+the custom to invite almost any visitor to speak to the school; and many
+were the wrongs inflicted upon the boys and girls in those good old days
+by dull, loquacious Sunday-school orators. But almost everybody now
+understands that the Sunday school is a working institution, and its
+work must not be interrupted.
+
+(7) _Self-control._ There will be times when the superintendent will
+need to be on guard over himself; times when he feels depressed, or
+melancholy, perhaps a little cross. If he yields to his natural
+impulses, the school will soon perceive the state of his nerves, and
+some scholars may even endeavor to add to his trials. At such times, let
+him watch over himself mightily, and resolve, no matter how he feels, to
+"keep sweet," to speak gently, and to look cheerful.
+
+(8) _The Aim._ Lastly, one purpose should ever stand before the
+superintendent, and should be the constant object of his endeavor--to
+lead all his scholars into a personal, vital relation to Jesus as the
+Christ, to bring them into union with the church, and to inspire them to
+enter upon active Christian service.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE ASSOCIATE AND DEPARTMENT SUPERINTENDENTS
+
+
+1. =The Necessity.= In every Sunday school there is need of an officer
+to aid the superintendent and to take his place when absent. Even in a
+small school the supervision can be more thorough and the teaching more
+efficient, if some one is at hand with authority to relieve the
+superintendent of minor details, and give him freedom for the general
+management. And in a large school assistants to the superintendent are
+an absolute necessity, for each department becomes in itself a school.
+There is need, therefore, of a general assistant to be the chief of
+staff to the superintendent, and, in a large and well-organized school,
+of a special assistant in each department.
+
+2. =Titles.= Until recently, the assistant superintendent in most Sunday
+schools was merely one of the teachers named to take the place of the
+superintendent when absent, but with no duties when the head of the
+school was present. In the complete organization that is now becoming
+general, the office has been renamed, and its functions distinctly
+assigned. The chief assistant to the superintendent is now generally
+called the Associate Superintendent, a higher title for his important
+and regular duties. The chief of each department in the Sunday school is
+generally called Department Superintendent, that is, Primary Department
+Superintendent, Senior Department Superintendent; and each department
+superintendent has the same relation to his department that the
+associate superintendent holds to the school.
+
+3. =Appointment.= The associate superintendent should be nominated by
+the superintendent and confirmed by the board of teachers and officers.
+When two candidates are nominated for the office of superintendent, and
+one obtains a majority, it is not wise to elect the minority candidate
+as associate superintendent, unless he is entirely acceptable to the
+newly chosen superintendent. The chief executive of the school should
+not be compelled to find next to him a rival, who may be an uncongenial
+worker, to carry out plans with which the latter may not be in accord.
+In order to possess freedom in his policy the superintendent should
+choose his own chief helper; but he should receive the confirmation of
+his choice from his fellow workers in the school. The same plan of
+nomination and confirmation should be followed in the choice of the
+department superintendents. The associate and the department
+superintendents should constitute the superintendent's cabinet, to be
+called together often for consultation upon the interests of the school.
+
+4. =Duties of the Associate Superintendent.= (1) _Not a Teacher._ Unless
+the school be small, with less than a hundred members, the associate
+superintendent should not at the same time be the regular teacher of a
+class. He will find other work to occupy his time, both before and
+during the session of the school. He may, however, hold himself ready to
+act as substitute for an absent teacher.
+
+(2) _Deputy Superintendent._ If for any reason the superintendent is
+absent, his place should be taken promptly by the associate
+superintendent. It should also be understood that if at the moment of
+opening the school, or at any point in the general service, the
+superintendent is not on the platform, the associate shall act as his
+representative, without the slightest reflection upon the
+superintendent's administration, the two being regarded in their work as
+one.
+
+(3) _Providing Substitutes._ One definite duty of the associate
+superintendent should be to provide substitutes for absent teachers,
+relieving entirely the superintendent from that burdensome and
+perplexing task. The teachers should permit no ordinary hindrance to
+keep them from their classes, for no one can fully supply the place of a
+true teacher in the regard of the scholars. But when a teacher finds it
+necessary to be absent he should make strenuous endeavor to find a
+substitute; and if unable to secure one, should notify, not the
+superintendent, but the associate; and before the lesson period the
+associate should have a supply ready.
+
+If the school has been properly graded it will include a
+Teacher-training Class; but under no circumstances should the associate
+take one of its members as a supply teacher, even for one Sunday. This
+class should remain untouched by the demand for teachers until its
+members have completed the prescribed course. If there is a Reserve
+Class, substitutes should be called from it in some order, preferably
+alphabetical, so that the same members will not be taken too
+frequently.
+
+Where the Sunday school is held in the afternoon or at noon, the
+associate can generally provide for needy classes by watching at the
+morning service for possible teachers. If he is compelled to look for
+them in the Adult or Senior classes of the school, he should be present
+early, and if possible obtain his supplies before the opening of the
+school. If the associate superintendent has done his work, when the
+lesson begins, every class will have a teacher seated before it, ready
+for the Bible study. He should never wait until the time for opening the
+lesson to see what classes need teachers, and then undertake to obtain
+them by interrupting the teaching in three or four classes and calling
+for volunteers, while the classes without teachers are listlessly
+waiting, and valuable time is lost from the half-hour of the lesson
+period. All this work should be done before the lesson, and, if
+possible, before the opening of the school.
+
+(4) _Assignment of New Scholars._ Another duty of the associate
+superintendent is to meet new scholars and assign them to classes. For
+this work he should be present early, meet the scholars as they come,
+learn who the new scholars are, write down names, places of residence,
+ages, parents' names, why they come; and prepare material for the card
+catalogue under the secretary's care. Scholars bringing new members, and
+teachers into whose classes they may come, should introduce them to the
+associate superintendent, who should at once take charge of them. No new
+scholar below the grade of Senior should choose his own class, although
+his desire to be with friends should be considered, so far as it will
+not interfere with the established system of classification. Some large
+graded schools have a temporary class to which new pupils in the
+Intermediate and Junior grades are assigned for a few sessions until
+their permanent place can be fixed.
+
+(5) _Detailed Supervision._ There are also minor duties wherein the
+associate superintendent can be of great service. While the
+superintendent is at the desk directing the general exercises, his
+associate may be upon the floor, quietly observing the condition and
+needs of the school. He can note where Bibles, song books, or lesson
+quarterlies are needed, and can see that they are distributed without
+interrupting the service. He can also give quiet attention to the order
+of the school, calling to their duty boisterous, talking, or inattentive
+scholars. For the superintendent to stop in announcing a hymn or reading
+the Scripture, to rebuke some disorderly or thoughtless pupil, breaks
+into the service and mars its dignity. The associate superintendent can
+accomplish the desired result at the right moment by a light step and a
+gentle word.
+
+(6) _Chief of Staff._ In a word, the associate superintendent should be
+the chief of staff to the executive head of the school, his eyes, ears,
+and hand; possessing full acquaintance and accord with his plans, and
+carrying them out in his name; informing and advising him, yet careful
+of criticism; avoiding all that would hinder, and aiding in all that
+would make his management successful. He can divide the labor, and
+relieve his chief of some of the most perplexing and trying details,
+leaving him free to watch over the general interests of the school.
+Whoever can fulfill such a service is an invaluable worker, and should
+be held in high honor.
+
+Many of the duties named above may be in the sphere of the department
+superintendent, who should be in his section what the associate
+superintendent is to the school.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+THE SECRETARY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+
+1. =Importance.= The secretary of the Sunday school is an officer of far
+greater importance than is generally supposed. In too many schools some
+youth in the adolescent period is made secretary, merely to keep him in
+the school, without consideration of his capacity and adaptedness to the
+office. As a result of an unsuitable appointment, the minutes of the
+teachers' meetings are incomplete, the registry of the classes is
+neglected, and the true condition of the school cannot be ascertained.
+If by any good fortune or by a more careful choice an able and faithful
+secretary takes his place, at once a new impulse is felt by the school.
+The superintendent, the teachers, and even the scholars will realize
+that energy, accuracy, and thoroughness count for much in the work of
+this department. They will appreciate faithful service, and will
+themselves respond to its influence.
+
+2. =Qualifications.= The ideal secretary of a Sunday school should
+possess the following characteristics:
+
+(1) _A Business Man._ He should possess the instincts of a man of
+business, being willing to work, systematic in method, and thorough in
+care of details.
+
+(2) _Regular in Attendance._ He should make the Sunday school his
+business on Sunday, with a fidelity equal to that which he manifests
+toward his vocation through the week. His regularity should also
+embrace promptness, coming in advance of the hour; for much of the
+secretary's work may be done before the opening of the service.
+
+(3) _Good Writer._ He should be able to write legibly, and possess skill
+in framing sentences correctly, and in writing them plainly, without
+unnecessary flourishes.
+
+(4) _Quick Mental Action._ His mental processes should be sufficiently
+rapid for him to set down an ordinary motion, presented in a public
+meeting, without requiring it to be repeated or written out by the
+mover. An able recorder will promptly express in the minutes the form of
+a motion or the spirit of a speech, thereby saving much time in the
+meeting and much space in the report.
+
+(5) _Quiet Manner._ The secretary should watch the program and do his
+work without interrupting it. He should never appear among the classes
+during prayer, during the reading of Scripture, or while a speaker is
+addressing the school. Only under urgent necessity should he come to a
+class in the lesson period, and in that case only at its beginning.
+During intervals in the service, or during the singing, he may find it
+needful at times to pass among the classes; but he should do this
+necessary work quietly, without distracting the attention of the school.
+
+(6) _Courteous Conduct._ His bearing should always be that of a
+gentleman, refined and courteous, thoughtful of others and patient
+toward all; a manner enabling him to win the friendly aid of every
+teacher, upon whom the accuracy of the class record must depend.
+
+Whoever can be found, in the school or the community, possessing these
+qualities, or approaching them, should be chosen as secretary of the
+Sunday school, whether man or woman. Often a young woman, accustomed
+through the week to business methods, becomes an efficient secretary of
+the Sunday school.
+
+3. =Appointment.= The secretary should be elected by the board of
+officers and teachers. As he is not merely an assistant to the
+superintendent, but an officer of the school, it is not necessary that
+he should receive a nomination from the superintendent. His term of
+office should be one year, with as many reelections as will promote the
+good of the service.
+
+4. =Assistants.= In almost any school the secretary will need an
+assistant, whom he should nominate, subject to confirmation by the board
+of teachers and officers.
+
+5. =Department Secretaries.= In a graded Sunday school there should be
+an assistant secretary for each department, who may be one of the
+teachers, or in the Senior and Adult grades, one of the scholars. He
+should take the records of the classes in the department and transmit
+them to the secretary of the school. But the secretary is responsible
+for the records of the entire school, and should see personally that the
+record of each department is complete.
+
+6. =Duties.= The work of the secretary may be classified as follows:
+
+(1) _Record of Meetings._ As secretary of the board of teachers and
+officers, he should be present at all business meetings and make a
+careful record. Every motion should be stated clearly, with the names
+of its mover and its seconder, and the action taken. A statement should
+be given of every committee appointed, its purpose, and the names of its
+members. All committees should be expected to present written reports,
+however brief. A concise summary of each report, in a few sentences, or
+a single clause, should appear in the minutes of the meeting at which
+the report is presented; and the report itself should be filed for
+reference in case it should be needed. A committee once named is on the
+minutes, and cannot be ignored nor forgotten until its report has been
+presented and adopted, and the committee has been formally discharged.
+For example, it is not sufficient for the committee on the Christmas
+entertainment to hold the entertainment; it must afterward report that
+the entertainment was held on a certain date; must have its report
+adopted, and receive its discharge. It should be the duty of the
+secretary from time to time to call for reports of committees named in
+the minutes of previous meetings, to insist that a report be rendered,
+and that some action be taken upon it.
+
+(2) _Record of the School._ In every well-ordered Sunday school the
+secretary summarizes in writing the attendance in each department, the
+total attendance, the number of new scholars, and other items to be
+preserved, including the weather, which may sometimes account for a
+small attendance; also a comparison with the record of the same Sunday
+last year. This report should be read to the school by the secretary at
+the call of the superintendent, or posted before the school; and it
+should also be recorded in a book which will contain the statistics of
+the school through a term of years.
+
+(3) _Records of Classes._ The secretary and his assistants should
+prepare the books in which the class record of attendance is recorded.
+The name of each scholar should be given correctly and fully (for
+example, not "F. Jones," but "Frederick Jones"). The secretary should
+see that the record of attendance for each Sunday is accurately kept. He
+will need to give special attention to classes where substitutes take
+the place of absent teachers, and to see that the record for the day is
+not neglected. As often as the arrangement of the class books requires
+the rewriting of the names of the scholars, he should transcribe the
+list, always writing every name in full. In looking through the class
+lists he should note the names of those who have been absent for a
+series of sessions, and should report them to the superintendent, for
+consideration and for investigation of every habitual absentee. If these
+scholars can be visited, many of them may be retained in the school.
+
+(4) _Records of Scholars._ In addition to the record in the class books,
+another record should be kept of every member of the school, including
+every officer, teacher, and scholar; a card catalogue, each name upon a
+separate card, and all the cards filed in alphabetical order. The card
+for each scholar should give besides his name the date of his entrance
+to the school, either the date of his birth or his age at
+entering--approximative, if above eighteen years; his residence, with
+street and number in a city; parents' names; class to which he is
+assigned; his relation to the church or congregation, and any other
+important facts. The card should contain the record of every promotion,
+and its date; of any changes in residence, and other details, so that it
+becomes a reliable and complete history of each individual in the
+school. In many schools the birthday of each member is kept upon the
+record, and is recognized by sending a birthday card. If a scholar or
+teacher leaves the school the fact is recorded, and the card is then
+taken from the regular catalogue and filed permanently in the list of
+"former members."
+
+(5) _Literature of the School._ The secretary should be in charge of the
+literature used by the school, its text-books, lesson-quarterlies, and
+other periodicals. He should see that the literature is ordered in full
+time, should receive it, keep it in his care, and attend to its
+distribution. The particular text-book for each grade is fixed by the
+superintendent; and the secretary should receive from him direction as
+to the lesson helps for each grade.
+
+(6) _Correspondence._ The secretary should conduct all correspondence in
+behalf of the school or of the teachers as a body, unless for a special
+purpose the chairman of a committee be in charge of correspondence
+relating to his work.
+
+The secretary who with the aid of his staff undertakes to do all the
+work that rises before him will not find his task a light one. But his
+department carried on with vigor will greatly promote the success of the
+Sunday school.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+THE TREASURY AND THE TREASURER
+
+
+1. =In the Early Sunday School.= A study of origins has shown that in
+the earliest Sunday schools in America, as in England, provision was
+made for the payment of officers and teachers. In the first schools
+established in and near Philadelphia, each paid teacher had charge of
+what would now be considered a department, and the practical teaching
+was given under his direction by scholars, who were called monitors. But
+in a new country, where the settlements were small and the people mostly
+poor, the system of paid teachers soon passed away, and the schools were
+carried on by voluntary and unpaid workers. It was fortunate for the
+American Sunday school that in its beginnings it required but little
+money. For the place of meeting any chapel or schoolhouse or settler's
+cabin would serve. The literature was exceedingly meager--a few
+Testaments and spelling books, and generally these were brought by the
+teachers and scholars. When the earliest lesson books were published,
+they were not quarterlies, nor annuals, to be thrown away after one
+using, but were studied year after year. The largest item of expense was
+the library; and as this was an institution for the entire neighborhood,
+the families willingly contributed toward it. Not until the Sunday
+school had become thoroughly founded did the question of its financial
+support arise as a problem.
+
+2. =In the Modern Sunday School.= As the Sunday school advanced in
+position, in influence, and in better methods of work, its expenses
+naturally increased. Now, in the opening of its second century, its
+financial requirements are far greater than they were even a generation
+ago. It asks for special and suitable buildings, with rooms and
+furnishings adapted to the educational needs of its several departments;
+for a periodical literature suited to teachers and scholars of every
+grade, and requiring to be renewed every year; for an organ or
+piano--often for several, with an orchestra added; for an equipment of
+song books different from those in the church service; for
+entertainments and gifts at Christmas, and a day's outing for all in the
+summer; for libraries containing popular books for the scholars and
+helpful works for the teachers in their work. The demands of a large and
+growing Sunday school, in city or country, are great, but in nearly all
+congregations the funds for the support of the Sunday school are
+obtained with less effort than those for any other department of church
+activity, and in this liberality the Christian people show their wisdom
+and insight.
+
+3. =Practical Ways and Means.= The methods of financial support for the
+Sunday school are exceedingly varied. The simplest plan is through a
+regular weekly contribution in the classes. Where attention is given to
+the collection, and an appeal is occasionally made in its behalf, the
+school will generally obtain the funds needed for its own support. When
+the special need arises for the purchase of a piano or a library, some
+entertainment may be held which will by its profits swell the receipts.
+The objection to these methods, which are almost universal, is that they
+appeal to self-interest, and fail to educate the members of the school
+in true liberality. It is for _our_ school, _our_ piano, _our_ library,
+that the appeal is made and the money is contributed. The scholars
+should be taught to give to the cause of Christ and his gospel, and not
+merely to interests from which they themselves are to receive a reward.
+
+4. =The Ideal Way of Giving.= The more excellent way is for the church
+in its annual estimate of expenses to include a fair, even liberal,
+allowance for the Sunday school, and at intervals through the year pass
+over to the treasury of the Sunday school the funds appropriated, to be
+expended according to principles and regulations provided. Then let
+every officer, teacher, and pupil in the school, from the Adult
+Department to the Primary, and even to the Beginners, make his own
+weekly offering to the church. Most church schools contribute to the
+cause of foreign missions; but there is equal reason why they should
+give to all the general benevolent objects for which the church receives
+an annual collection. This plan would unite the church and the school
+more firmly, would avoid multiplying and conflicting objects for which
+funds are raised, and, best of all, would train every child in the
+Sunday school to systematic giving upon the true gospel principle, which
+is "not to be ministered unto, but to minister."
+
+5. =The Sunday-School Treasurer.= The work of the treasurer is very
+different from that of the secretary; yet the two offices are often held
+by one person. In that case they should be regarded as distinct
+positions; the election to the two offices should be separate, and not
+at the same time for one person as secretary and treasurer. At every
+business meeting a separate report should be presented for the two
+departments, and the treasurership should not be regarded as a branch of
+the secretary's work. If the plan outlined in the last paragraph be
+adopted as the method of providing for the financial needs of the Sunday
+school, it might be well to choose the treasurer of the church as
+treasurer of the Sunday school, thus giving unity to the financial
+administration of the entire organization.
+
+6. =The Treasurer's Work.= This will require a person who is known as
+careful in accounts, as well as honorable in all his dealings.
+
+(1) _His Charge._ All the funds of the Sunday school should pass through
+his hands. If money is raised for any purpose, or a money-making
+entertainment is held, the treasurer should take charge of the receipts
+and pay the bills. For this purpose he should be ex officio a member of
+all committees required to receive and disburse funds.
+
+(2) _Bank Account._ Except in small and remote places, the treasurer
+will find it desirable to keep an account with a bank in behalf of the
+school, and deposit therein all moneys received. Under no circumstances
+should he deposit Sunday-school funds as a part of his own private
+account, but should keep separate accounts as an individual and as
+treasurer.
+
+(3) _Reports and Vouchers._ At each meeting of the governing board of
+the school he should present a statement of the condition of the
+treasury, with exact mention of all moneys received and paid since the
+last meeting; and for every payment he should show a receipt or voucher,
+and on it the "O. K." or approval of some qualified person who knows
+that it is correct.
+
+(4) _Bills._ He should receive all bills against the school, and should
+inform himself concerning them, in order to be able to answer any
+questions raised by members of the board. He should present at the
+meeting a statement of all the unpaid bills on hand, with a forecast of
+bills expected, and obtain a vote of the board upon each bill that is to
+be paid.
+
+(5) _Checks._ It is desirable to pay bills as far as possible with
+checks, as the check will often serve as a receipt; and the receipted
+bills should be filed together for reference.
+
+(6) _Audits._ An Auditing Committee should be appointed, to examine the
+accounts of the school from time to time, and always when the treasurer
+completes his term, alike whether he is reelected or gives place to a
+successor. This committee should either present a written report, or
+should sign their names to the treasurer's report, with the indorsement,
+"Audited and found correct."
+
+Most of the above recommendations, perhaps all of them, state the
+methods that would be followed by any intelligent, businesslike
+treasurer. But in the continent-wide area of the Sunday school, of
+necessity, not all treasurers are intelligent or experienced in business
+methods; and there are doubtless many who may profit by these
+suggestions.
+
+(7) _Study of Benevolent Interests._ One of the most important duties of
+a treasurer in a modern Sunday school is to study the different
+charitable objects that present themselves to the school, decide upon
+their merits, and then present them understandingly to the members of
+the school, with a view to eliciting their interest and training them in
+the spirit and habit of intelligent giving. This important task raises
+the treasurership out of mere mechanical service, and constitutes it one
+of the directing forces in the school.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+VALUE OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL LIBRARY
+
+
+1. =The Library of the Past.= Until quite recent times the Sunday-school
+library was understood to be a collection of books, mainly of an
+entertaining character, kept in the school, distributed at its sessions,
+and read by the scholars, for enjoyment rather than for instruction.
+Such a library was regarded as an essential of the Sunday school.
+However small or however poor the school, it must have a library. Books
+were scarce, and desirable books were high in price. There were no free
+public libraries, and few circulating libraries. The library was
+regarded as the principal attraction of the school, and it drew the
+scholars. Many children attended two Sunday schools in order to obtain
+each week two library books. The books were read by all the family; and
+in many homes the Sunday-school library furnished most of the reading
+matter. The literature may not have been of the highest grade, but, with
+all its defects, the Sunday-school library of the past was a useful and
+valuable institution.
+
+2. =Its Decline in the Present.= In recent times, and especially in
+well-settled and cultured communities, the Sunday-school library has
+lost much of its importance. Very many schools have closed their
+libraries; and in the schools continuing their use only a small
+proportion of the scholars obtain books. Inquiry has shown that in
+cities and suburban towns a school of two hundred members will include
+not more than thirty who make use of the library. When the library is
+closed scarcely any complaints from the scholars are heard; nor is the
+closing of the library followed by a loss of scholars. Publishing houses
+which formerly issued fifty new books each year, especially for
+Sunday-school libraries, have entirely abandoned this branch of
+business. It cannot be maintained that the Sunday-school library for the
+entertainment of the scholars now holds a prominent place, or is a
+factor of success, in the best American Sunday schools.
+
+3. =Causes of Decline.= It is not difficult to find reasons for this
+present lack of interest in the Sunday-school library. Books are now far
+more abundant than they were formerly. They are sold cheaply, and are to
+be found in almost every home. The periodical literature in circulation
+to-day is apparently a hundredfold greater than it was two generations
+ago. Every city and almost every town has its public library. Many
+schools are furnished with free libraries. Readers can scarcely find
+time for the books and magazines that are open to them. Moreover, the
+Sunday school now stands in such recognized honor and power that it no
+longer needs the old-time library as a bait for scholars. The library
+for mere recreation does not readily fit into the general scheme of
+education in the modern Sunday school. Then, too, the educational work
+of the school demands such an outfit of books and periodicals, renewed
+each year, that the additional expense of the library is a heavy burden.
+Sharp criticism is passed upon the quality of the books in most
+Sunday-school libraries, as being almost wholly stories, and stories of
+a cheap and commonplace character, many of them absolutely injurious.
+The conducting of the library is often found to interfere with the order
+and work of the school. These are among the causes which have led to
+disuse of the library in many Sunday schools.
+
+4. =The Uses of a Good Library.= Notwithstanding the objections to the
+Sunday-school library, its neglect by many scholars, and its abolition
+in many schools, the fact remains that the majority of Sunday schools
+still retain the library, and claim that it is needed. There are even
+places where the Sunday-school library holds its own constituency in
+competition with the town library; and in small villages the Sunday
+school supplies most of the books in circulation. The principal claims
+made in behalf of such a library are the following:
+
+(1) _Family Needs._ Every family needs good reading matter. The books
+that interest the young generally interest the old also. People who
+would be at a loss to select a book from the shelves of a public library
+will read the book brought to them from the Sunday-school library. The
+reading of the library-book fills leisure time on Sunday afternoons and
+on long winter evenings.
+
+(2) _Moral Influence._ While most Sunday-school books as literature are
+open to criticism, yet in the realm of ethics they generally present
+high ideals. The characters depicted in them may not be symmetrical, but
+on the whole they are earnest and upright. Youth admires heroism; and
+the personalities portrayed in popular Sunday-school books are
+generally heroic, even though they may be unduly emotional. The boys who
+are picked up by the police in railroad centers, armed for fighting
+Indians or robbing trains, generally carry an assortment of cheap
+novels, but they are not from Sunday-school libraries. If the criterion
+be ethics and not literature, most Sunday-school books will stand the
+test.
+
+(3) _Aid to the School._ As has been already suggested, the original aim
+of the library was to attract scholars to the school. In many places
+this influence is no longer needed; but there still remain communities
+where scholars are obtained and families are interested by means of the
+library. And it is an open question whether if the library had advanced
+step by step with the other departments of the school, if the same
+attention had been given to the supply and management of the library as
+has been given to the educational work, if the right books had been kept
+upon its shelves, and advanced methods had been sought in their
+distribution, the library of the Sunday school might not still be a
+vigorous and successful institution.
+
+5. =Principles of Selection.= If the governing board of the school
+decides that a library for general reading by the scholars is desirable,
+the question at once arises as to what principles shall determine the
+selection of books. A few of these principles may be stated:
+
+(1) _Variety._ The library should represent more than one department of
+literature. So general is the taste for stories that the tendency will
+be inevitable to overload the library with works of fiction. Therefore
+special care should be given to include in it the lives of great and
+good men--heroes, statesmen, explorers, leaders of the church, and
+missionaries. All of these present life on its romantic side, and may be
+found written in an entertaining manner. Upon the shelves should also be
+placed history and science--not in many-volumed treatises for scholars,
+but in popular books for young people. In fact, there are few
+departments of a good public library which may not properly be included
+in the library of the Sunday school, especially in places where the
+school is expected to supply the reading matter for the community.
+
+(2) _Popularity._ Merely to place books on the shelves of a
+Sunday-school library will not insure the reading of them. This library
+aims to be emphatically a circulating library. Its books are not for
+show, but for use; and their place to be seen is not on the shelves of
+the library-room, but in the homes of the scholars and teachers. It is
+absolutely essential that no book be placed in the library unless it is
+sufficiently interesting to be taken out and read, for an unread book is
+worse than useless in the Sunday-school library. Although its principles
+be as sound as the Ten Commandments, if it be dull it must be condemned.
+Students may be willing to plod through an uninteresting book because it
+is profitable, but ordinary readers, especially youthful readers, will
+turn from it. Books should not be purchased because they are good, or
+because they are cheap; nor, on the other hand, should they be chosen
+only because they are popular; yet an interesting, popular quality
+should be an absolute requirement in every book placed upon the library
+shelves.
+
+(3) _Literary Quality._ Books are influential teachers, and a style like
+that of Hawthorne or Eliot will unconsciously mold the language of those
+who read it. On the other hand, the habitual readers of the slang in the
+comic paragraph of the newspaper will talk in a careless and inelegant
+manner. Of course, all books should be excluded from the library which
+deal in low, profane, or immoral language, without regarding the
+specious plea that such describe life as it is. We do not need to learn
+the language of the slums to know life; and, as one writer has said, we
+do not want a realism that can be touched only with a pair of tongs. The
+best pirate story in the English language is one that is without an oath
+from cover to cover,[10] and we would not exclude it from the
+Sunday-school library. Let us seek for writers whose expression is
+direct, smooth, and cultured. The Sunday school in its literature as
+well as its teaching should lead upward toward refinement of taste.
+
+(4) _Moral Teaching._ The ethical standard of every book in the
+Sunday-school library should be of the highest. Not that every paragraph
+should end with the application like the _Haec fabula docet_ of AEsop's
+fables, or that the characters in a story should be of a "goody-goody"
+kind, or that none but good people should appear upon the page. There
+must be some shadows in the perspective that the light may stand in
+contrast. But in no case should wrong, or sin, or the doubtful
+moralities of modern society be made attractive. Moral problem stories,
+in which the boundary lines of right and wrong conduct are crossed and
+re-crossed until right seems wrong, and wrong seems right, should have
+no place. "Should love stories be admitted?" Not if the element of love
+enters as the dominant thought of the book. A story should not be
+forbidden because there is a pair of lovers in it; but it should not be
+accepted if the book shows no higher motive than to set forth their
+passion. Books should be sought that will inculcate a noble manliness
+for young men and a noble womanliness for young women, and there are
+such books in numbers sufficient to fill the library shelves.
+
+(5) _Christian Spirit._ It is not required that every book should set
+forth and illustrate a spiritual experience. It may be religious without
+preaching religion. But the morals it inculcates should be founded upon
+the gospels and inspired by faith. It should be reverent in its
+treatment of the Bible, of the church, and of the ministry. A book or a
+story designed to weaken belief in the Scriptures as records of the
+divine will, or holding the church up to scorn, or showing a minister as
+its villain, should be kept out of the Sunday-school library. Criticism
+or discussion of the Bible, of the church, and of the ministry has its
+place, but its place is not in the Sunday school. The Sunday school is
+distinctively a religious and a Christian institution, and the
+atmosphere of the Christian religion should pervade its library.
+
+6. =The Coming Sunday-School Library.= Another library of a higher type
+than that designed for the reading and recreation of the scholars is now
+arising to notice in many advanced Sunday schools, and is destined to
+become the Sunday-school library of the future, either supplementing the
+library of the past or taking its place. It is the library which is to
+the Sunday school what the college library is to the college, a workshop
+equipped with tools for the use of the teacher and the scholar. It will
+be at once a reference library, containing the best Bible dictionaries,
+cyclopedias, expository works, and gospel harmonies, open at certain
+times for the use of students; and also a lending library of books upon
+the Bible, upon the Sunday school, upon teaching, upon religion, upon
+character, and upon the varied forms of social service which are now
+calling for workers, and will call yet more imperatively in the coming
+years. The books for this library must be chosen with wisdom; for they
+should represent the results of the best scholarship, yet be expressed
+in language that the nonprofessional reader can understand; and many of
+them must be for the scholars, who are of all ages and all degrees of
+intelligence. Those of the Primary Department should be able to find in
+such a library the stories of the Bible told in such a fascinating
+manner that a child too young to read them may listen to them with
+interest, and picture-books illustrating the events, the people, the
+dress, and the landscape of the Bible. It should be planned to meet the
+needs of every grade in the Sunday school, and to aid every teacher and
+every scholar; and when established it should be made effective in the
+educational work of the school. Just as in the secular school and the
+college students are sent to the library with directions as to the books
+they will need, so in the Sunday school teachers will be able to counsel
+their scholars and to give them week-day work, so that the teaching will
+be more than the talk of the teacher; it will embrace the results of
+searching on the part of the scholar. Under the system of uniform
+lessons the use of such a library was well-nigh impracticable, because
+every class would need the same books at one time. But the uniform
+lessons are being rapidly displaced by the graded system, giving to each
+grade its own series of lessons; and this method, requiring different
+books for each age in the school, will open the way for reference work
+and study in the library. The time is at hand when such a working
+library will become a necessity in every well-organized school.
+
+7. =The Public Library and the Sunday School.= It would seem that
+wherever the public library is free, available, and well conducted some
+arrangement might be effected whereby the Sunday-school libraries could
+be united with the public library. This would lessen expense and
+difficulty in management, would avoid the unnecessary reduplication of
+copies of the same books, and would give to the scholars at once a wider
+selection and the advantage of the open shelf. In more than one town
+this has been accomplished. The Sunday schools have transferred all
+their libraries to the public library, to its enlargement, and with no
+loss of members to the schools. Some Sunday schools in cities have been
+recognized as branch stations of the public library, giving them the
+benefit of frequent changes in the equipment of books, which at regular
+intervals are selected from the store of the public library by the
+library committee of the school. The working library for teachers and
+scholars, proposed in the last paragraph, in many places might be
+established in the public library, wherever the schools in the community
+will unite to show that it is needed, to name the books required, and to
+make it practically useful.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[10] R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+THE MANAGEMENT OF THE LIBRARY
+
+
+1. =Library Committee.= For the selection of books, whether in the
+reading library for scholars or the working library for teachers and
+scholars, a wise, intelligent, and careful committee should be chosen,
+and should be maintained in permanent service. The pastor and the
+superintendent should be ex-officio members of this committee, but it
+should also include some other persons sufficiently acquainted with
+books to pass upon their merits, and willing to give time, inquiry, and
+thought to the library. There may be schools fortunate in possessing
+librarians who devote themselves to the selection of books, as well as
+to the care of them; and in such schools the library committees will
+find their labors lessened. No book should be admitted to the library
+without examination and approval by the committee.
+
+(1) _Purchase of Books._ The simplest method for finding books is far
+from being the best method. It is to have a quantity of books--a hundred
+or more at one time--sent by booksellers on approval. This method
+involves hasty examination, and generally results in obtaining many
+useless, worthless books intermixed with a few good ones. The better
+plan is for the committee, first of all, to be supplied with catalogues
+from reputable publishers of books for children and young people, and
+also books on religious and biblical education; next to read carefully
+the reviews of books in these departments as given in the best literary
+and religious periodicals; then, to send only for such books as they
+judge will be desirable, receiving them on approval. Every book should
+not only be looked at, but read; and if at all doubtful read by more
+than one member of the committee. In some Sunday schools there is placed
+at the door a library box, in which may be deposited the names of books
+desired by members of the school. Lists of approved books are published
+by various houses and societies; and the catalogues of a few good
+Sunday-school libraries will aid committees. The library committee must
+scrutinize closely all donations of books offered to the library, and
+resolutely decline every book that is unsuitable, even at the risk of
+offending the donor. The Sunday-school library room must not be turned
+into a mausoleum for dead volumes. The committee must also beware of
+bargains offered by some booksellers who would unload upon Sunday
+schools their left-over and unsalable stock. That which costs little is
+generally worth less. The Sunday school must obtain only books that will
+be read and are worth reading.
+
+(2) _Frequent Additions._ The usual method is to use the old library
+until its best books are either worn out or lost, and then to make a
+strenuous effort at raising money for the purchase of an entirely new
+collection. But the better plan is to add a few carefully selected books
+each month to the library. To examine at one time two hundred volumes is
+an impossibility, and in so large a purchase many undesirable books are
+sure to be included. It is not difficult to select after careful
+examination ten books each month, and thereby keep the library always at
+a high grade of excellence. With each purchase a slip describing the new
+books might be printed, and distributed to the school, thus keeping the
+library constantly before its patrons.
+
+2. =The Librarian.= There is a close analogy between the work of the
+librarian in the public library and that in the Sunday school. For the
+public library everywhere a specialist is sought, one who knows books,
+can select them wisely, and can aid seekers after literature in their
+reading. The Sunday school needs just such a librarian, and all the more
+because the scholars cannot select from the open shelf, but must guess
+at the quality of a book from its title in the catalogue. It has been
+noticed that wherever a Sunday-school library is successful in holding
+the interest of the scholars there is found with it a librarian adapted
+to his work and devoting himself to it. We notice the characteristics of
+a good librarian in the Sunday school:
+
+(1) _A Bookman._ He is a lover of books, acquainted with them, and
+interested in good literature. His work is more than to distribute
+books: he should aid, sometimes supervise, their collection.
+
+(2) _A Business Man._ He is practical, orderly, and systematic in his
+ways of working; with a plan for his task, and fidelity in accomplishing
+it.
+
+(3) _Gentle in Manner._ Opportunities will be frequent for the librarian
+to clash with the scholars on the one hand, or with the superintendent
+upon the other. With one he may appear arbitrary, with the other
+disorderly, his work sometimes breaking into the program of exercises.
+He should be pleasant toward all, uniform in his dealings, and attentive
+to the general order of the school.
+
+3. =His Assistants.= In most schools one assistant, in large schools
+several assistants, will be required by the librarian. He should
+nominate them, subject to the approval of the governing board of the
+school; and should require of them regular and prompt attendance, and
+attention to their work in the library. It is very desirable that the
+business should be so arranged as to allow the librarians to take part
+in the opening devotional service with the school, and not to be at work
+arranging books while others are at prayer.
+
+4. =The Management of the Library.= This involves four processes: the
+collection, the assignment, the distribution, and the return of the
+books.
+
+(1) _The Collection._ The books can easily be collected without
+interfering with the order of the school, if the library window is near
+the entrance to the building, and the scholars as they enter leave their
+books at the library. This is the method employed in most schools.
+
+(2) _The Assignment._ How to enable each scholar to choose his book
+introduces one of the three problems in library management. The plan
+generally followed is to supply each scholar with a card bearing a
+number which represents the scholar. He selects from the catalogue a
+large assortment of books, and writes their numbers upon his card: the
+librarian assigns the scholar any one of the books selected, crosses it
+from his list, and upon another list marks the number of the book
+opposite the number of the scholar. The weakness of the plan is in the
+fact that the scholar has no means of learning from the catalogue what
+books are desirable; and a book desired by one may be entirely
+undesirable to another. Theoretically the scholar has the whole
+catalogue from which to choose; practically he has no choice, except the
+suggestion in the titles of the books. The open-shelf plan cannot be
+established in the Sunday school, for the room is usually too small, the
+time of the session is too brief, and the work of the school too
+important to allow interruption.
+
+In some graded Sunday schools another plan is pursued, taking from the
+scholar all choice, but assigning to each grade books of certain
+numbers, all printed upon the card of the scholar, any one of which
+books he may receive at any time during his stay in the grade, but each
+of which will fall to his lot but once. This plan demands a library of
+books carefully selected, and as carefully fitted to each grade in the
+school. But this method is apt to be unsatisfactory to the scholars, who
+have their own preferences among the books. The difficulties in
+assigning books, and disappointments of scholars in failing to obtain
+the books desired, is a frequent cause for the disuse of the library;
+and this problem has not as yet been fully solved.
+
+(3) _The Distribution._ This takes place at the close of the school, and
+brings in the second problem of library management. The books may be
+brought to the classes by the librarians, and distributed by the
+teachers; each scholar's book being indicated by his card placed within
+it. This method often causes confusion; scholars being dissatisfied
+with their books and leaving their classes press around the library.
+Sometimes they exchange books with each other. This is a simple plan as
+far as the two scholars exchanging are concerned, but sure to make
+trouble in the record of the librarian. Or each class may be dismissed
+in turn, and obtain its books at the library window while passing out.
+But this plan causes a congestion of scholars at the library, and also
+requires much time. To manage the distribution of books demands a strong
+will, coupled with a gentle manner in maintaining the library rules.
+
+(4) _The Return._ The theory of the Sunday-school library is that each
+scholar will bring his book back after a week or two weeks. But boys and
+girls--sometimes older scholars also--are apt to be careless. Books are
+exchanged between scholars, are loaned from one home to another, are
+forgotten, and are lost. And the books lost most readily are frequently
+those that are most sought for by the scholars. How to induce scholars
+invariably to return their books constitutes the third problem of
+library management. In many schools the percentage of lost books is
+exceedingly large. The librarian should do his utmost to reduce the loss
+to a minimum. To this end a few suggestions may be given:
+
+(a) Record of Scholars. Every scholar's name and address, with his
+library number, should be kept on record in the library; and every
+effort should be made to make the record conform to all changes in
+residence.
+
+(b) Record Sheet. The library should contain a record sheet, showing
+the number of every book issued, and the number of the scholar receiving
+it; to be canceled when the book is returned. This will show who is
+responsible for every book out of its place from the library.
+
+(c) Fines. A fine should be assessed upon the scholar for every book
+kept over time; and notice sent to the scholar at his home when a fine
+has become due.
+
+(d) Rewards. Scholars should be paid a reward, perhaps of ten cents for
+each book, if they can succeed in tracing and finding any book which has
+been out of the library two months or more. These plans, or others, may
+lessen, but no plan will entirely remove, the evil of books lost to the
+library through neglect or a worse crime.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+THE TEACHER'S QUALIFICATIONS AND NEED OF TRAINING
+
+
+While the superintendent in the school is the moving and guiding
+intelligence, the pulse of the machine, the teacher in the class is the
+worker at the anvil, or the loom, or the lathe, for whom all the plans
+are made, and upon whom all the success depends. In the warfare for
+souls he is on the picket line and at close range, fighting face to face
+and hand to hand. The sphere of his effort is small, that group gathered
+around him for an hour on Sunday, but in that little field his is the
+work that counts for the final victory. His task requires peculiar
+adaptedness, supplemented by special training.
+
+1. =His Qualifications.= There are on the American continent not less
+than a million and a half Sunday-school teachers, who give to the gospel
+their free-will offering of time, and toil, and thought. They are not
+like civil engineers or the majority of public-school teachers,
+graduates of schools that have given them training for a special
+vocation. In every respect they are laymen, engaged for six days in
+secular work, and on one day finding an avocation in the Sunday school.
+Yet there are certain traits, partly natural and partly acquired, which
+they must possess, if they are to find success in their Sabbath-day
+service.
+
+(1) _A Sincere Disciple._ The Sunday-school teacher must be a follower
+of Christ, not merely in profession but in spirit. He is one who has met
+his Lord, has heard and has obeyed the call, "Follow me." He enlisted in
+the grand army of which Christ is the Commander, before he received his
+assignment to the army corps of the Sunday school, and his fidelity to
+the department is inspired by his deeper loyalty to his Lord. It is
+eminently desirable that the Sunday-school teacher should be a member of
+the church; but it is imperative that he should be a disciple of Christ.
+
+(2) _A Lover of Youth._ By far the largest proportion of scholars in the
+Sunday school, perhaps nine tenths, are under twenty-five years of age.
+Therefore, with few exceptions, the teachers must deal with young
+people; and youth at all its stages is not easy to understand and to
+manage. Moreover, the fact that not only the teachers, but to a large
+extent the scholars, are volunteers enters into the problem. Pupils
+attend the week-day school and submit to a teacher's rule because they
+must, whether their teachers are acceptable or are disliked. But the
+rule in the Sunday school is not the law of authority; it is the law of
+persuasion. The teacher who cannot draw his scholars, but repels them,
+soon finds himself without a class. In all teaching sympathy, or the
+coordination between the interest of the teacher in the pupil and of the
+pupil in the teacher, is a strong factor in success; but in the Sunday
+school it is an absolute necessity by reason of the voluntary element in
+the constitution of the Sunday school. That mystic power which will
+combine uncongenial spirits, and fuse the hearts of teacher and scholar
+into one, is love. Let the teacher love his scholars, let him see in
+each pupil some quality to inspire love, and the battle is half won.
+Love will quicken tact, and love and tact together will win the complete
+victory.
+
+(3) _A Lover of the Scriptures._ Whatever the Sunday school of to-morrow
+may become, the Sunday school of to-day is preeminently a Bible school.
+There are tendencies in our time which may in another generation render
+the Bible less prominent, and introduce into the Sunday school studies
+in church history, in social science, in moral reform, in missions,
+perhaps in comparative religion, or in some other departments of
+knowledge. But as yet the great text-book of the school is the Holy
+Scriptures. The volume should be in the hand of every teacher and of
+every scholar during the school session; and the teacher, especially,
+must study it during the week. If all of the Bible that he knows is
+contained in the paragraphs assigned for the coming lesson, and the rest
+of the book is sealed to his eyes, he will be a very poor teacher. He
+needs to have his mind stored with a thousand facts, and to have these
+facts systematized, in order to teach ten; and the nine hundred and
+ninety which he knows will add all their weight to the ten which he
+tells.
+
+(4) _A Willing Worker._ The teacher's love for Christ, for his scholars,
+and for his Bible is not to expend itself in emotion or even in study;
+it is to find expression in efficient service. A task is laid upon him
+which will demand much of his time and his power of body, mind, and
+spirit. He must be ready to meet his class fifty-two Sundays in the
+year: on days of sunshine and days of storm; when he is eager for the
+work, and when he is weary in it; when his scholars are responsive, and
+when they are careless; when his fellow workers are congenial, and when
+they are anti-pathetic; when his lesson is easy to teach, and when it is
+hard. He must be regular in his service, not turned aside by
+opportunities of enjoyment elsewhere; and he must give to it all his
+powers and all his skill. Work such as this can be sustained only by an
+enduring enthusiasm, a devotion to the cause; and therefore the teacher
+must have his heart enlisted as well as his will.
+
+As a Sunday-school teacher, then, four harmonious objects will claim a
+share in his love: his Lord, his scholars, his Bible, and his work.
+
+2. =His Need of Training.= For two generations it was supposed that any
+person fairly intelligent, without special equipment, was fitted to be a
+Sunday-school teacher. There are found no records of training classes in
+Sunday-school work earlier than 1855, when the Rev. John H. Vincent
+began to gather young people and train them for service in his Sunday
+school at Irvington, New Jersey. The seed of his "Palestine Class" grew
+into the "Normal Class"; and by 1869 there were in a few places classes
+for the teaching of teachers in the Bible and Sunday-school work. It is
+not remarkable that Sunday-school teacher-training should be delayed so
+long after the organization of the first Sunday school, when it is
+remembered that in America the first Normal School for secular teachers
+was not founded until 1839. The Chautauqua movement, begun in 1874, gave
+a strong impetus to Sunday-school teacher-training; the state
+associations and denominational organizations took up the work; and now
+teacher-training classes are to be found in every state and province on
+the American continent. The thoroughly graded school includes in its
+system a class for the training of young people who are to be teachers.
+
+It is late in the day to inquire why the Sunday-school teacher needs
+training; but the question is often asked, and the answers are ready:
+
+(1) _The General Principle._ All good work involves the prerequisite of
+training. Especially is this true of teaching; and there is a reason why
+the principle holds with regard to the Sunday-school teacher even more
+directly than with the secular teacher. While the subjects of teaching
+are vitally important, relating to character and efficient service, the
+time for teaching is short, less than an hour each week, in contrast to
+the twenty or twenty-five hours in the week-day school. To make an
+impression in so short a teaching period, with such long intervals
+between the lessons, demands that the teacher be one who possesses
+exceptional fitness for his work, and this superior fitness cannot be
+obtained without special and thorough training.
+
+(2) _The Teacher's Responsibility._ All-important as is the work of
+religious teaching, for which the Bible is the chief text-book in the
+church, there is but one institution in our time charged with that
+mighty duty, and that is the Sunday school. The Bible is rarely taught
+in the home, which should be the first place for teaching it; it is only
+incidentally taught in the pulpit, of which the aim is not so much
+instruction as inspiration. Practically all the teaching of the Bible
+now devolves upon the Sunday school, and the Sunday school only. If the
+Sunday schools of the world for one generation should fail to teach the
+word of life, the knowledge of that word would well-nigh cease. And the
+one person charged with that task, the one on whom the responsibility
+rests, is the Sunday-school teacher. He who is intrusted with so great a
+work, and upon whose fidelity the work depends, must have a proper
+equipment; and that equipment presupposes training.
+
+(3) _The Demand of the Age._ We are living in an intellectual age,
+unparalleled in the history of the world. The boundaries of knowledge in
+every direction have widened, and in each realm the search is deeper and
+more thorough. Such wealth has been added through recent investigations
+to the store of Bible knowledge that most commentaries, expositions, and
+introductions of the past have now but slight value. Another exceedingly
+important realm that has been added to the domain of knowledge is that
+of child study, but recently an unexplored field, now open to every
+reader. In such a time as this the teacher who would impart the contents
+of the Bible to the young must have eyes and mind opened. He must know
+the results of modern investigation in the Scriptures and in the nature
+of those whom he teaches. His pupils are under the care of trained and
+alert specialists through the week; they must receive instruction from
+well-taught minds in the Sunday school.
+
+(4) _The Teacher and His Class._ The peculiar relation already referred
+to as existing between the Sunday-school teacher and his class presents
+another incentive to training. His relation is not like that of the
+secular teacher, who speaks with authority, and can command attention
+and study. The teacher in Sunday school cannot require his scholars to
+learn the lesson; the authority of the parent is rarely employed to
+compel home study; and as a result most of our scholars come to the
+Sunday school unprepared. This is not the ideal or the ultimate
+condition, but unfortunately it is still the real condition in at least
+nine out of ten Sunday-school classes. This condition makes the demand
+upon the teacher all the greater. Because his scholars are unprepared he
+must be all the better prepared. He must be able to awaken and arouse
+his pupils; he must inspire them to an interest in the lesson; he must
+so teach as to lead them into knowledge of the truth and a desire to
+seek it for themselves. Anyone can teach the scholar who is eager to
+learn; but to teach those who come to the class unprepared and careless,
+to send them away with a clear-cut understanding of the lesson, and an
+awakened intelligence and conscience--all this, under the conditions of
+the Sunday-school teacher's task, and in his peculiar relation to his
+scholars, requires not only ability, but also thoroughly trained
+ability.
+
+In view of all these considerations, it is not surprising that at the
+opening of the twentieth century the demand of the Sunday schools
+everywhere is for better teaching, and for teachers who have themselves
+been taught and are able to teach others.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE TRAINING AND TASK OF THE TEACHER
+
+
+1. =The Training Needed.= Many faithful workers in the Sunday school
+realize their need of preparation; but, while conscious of unfitness,
+they have no clear conception of the equipment which they require. What
+are those fields of knowledge which should be traversed by one who has
+been called to teach in the Sunday school? They comprise four
+departments: (1) the Book, (2) the scholar, (3) the school, and (4) the
+work.
+
+(1) _The Book._ We have already noted that the Sunday school is
+differentiated from other systems of education in the fact that it uses
+mainly but one text-book, the Holy Scriptures. For that reason the
+teacher must first of all acquaint himself as thoroughly as possible
+with the contents of that wonderful volume. He should be a twentieth
+century Bible student; not a student or a scholar according to the light
+of the Middle Ages, or the seventeenth century, or even of the first
+half of the nineteenth century; for in all those periods the aims, the
+methods, and the scope of Bible study were different from those of the
+present time. He who is to teach the Bible successfully to-day must have
+some knowledge of the Bible in the following aspects:
+
+(a) Its Origin and Nature. He must have a definite idea of how the
+sixty-six books of Scripture were composed, written, and preserved;
+and, as far as may be known, who were their authors.
+
+(b) Its History. The Bible is, more than anything else, a book of
+history, containing the record of a people who received the divine
+revelation and preserved it. The divine revelation cannot be taught nor
+comprehended unless the annals of that remarkable people, the
+Israelites, be first read and understood. Therefore biblical history
+should be the first subject to be studied by the teacher in the Sunday
+school. The leading facts and underlying principles of that unique
+history must be understood; not in an outline of minute details, but as
+a general landscape, in which each lesson of the Bible will take its
+place.
+
+(c) Its Geographical Background. The Bible brings before us a world of
+natural features which remain--seas, mountains, valleys, and plains; a
+world of political divisions which has passed away; its empires,
+kingdoms, and tribal relations; and cities and towns, some of them now
+desolate, others in poverty and in ruin. The teacher who is to instruct
+his pupils must be able to see those abiding elements, and by the aid of
+his historical imagination to reconstruct those that have changed. He
+must make that ancient world of the Bible roll like a panorama before
+the eyes of his mind.
+
+(d) Its Institutions. Upon every page of the Bible are stamped pictures
+of manners, customs, institutions, forms of worship, that are unfamiliar
+to our Christian, Anglo-Saxon, modern world. The teacher must become
+familiar with this local color of another civilization, and enable his
+class to see it through his eyes.
+
+(e) Its Ethical and Religious Teaching. In the past, and until a
+generation ago, the Bible was studied only for its doctrines. It was
+generally treated as one book, all written at once and by one author;
+its history, biography, institutions, were passed over as unimportant;
+while every sentence was searched for some light upon theology. From the
+Bible, by assorting and grouping its texts out of every book, a system
+of doctrine was constructed; and the mastery of this system with its
+proof-texts was regarded as the principal work of the Bible student.
+That method of Bible study has justly fallen into disuse among modern
+scholars. The Bible is now looked upon as a record of life rather than
+as a treasury of texts. Yet its stream of ethical, religious, and
+spiritual teaching must be found and followed by the student who is to
+teach the truth; and the doctrines revealed through the Bible should be
+regarded as a necessary part of his training.
+
+(2) _The Scholar._ One book must be studied closely by the teacher, and
+that is his pupils. During the last thirty years human nature in all its
+stages, as child, as youth, during adolescence, and in maturity--especially
+in the earlier periods--has been investigated as never before. The
+student in our time can enter into the results of special study upon
+these subjects. He needs to know what the best books can give him of
+child study and mind study; and to supplement book-knowledge in this
+department with watchful eyes and close thought upon the traits which he
+finds in his own scholars.
+
+(3) _The School._ The teacher in the Sunday school needs to understand
+the institution wherein he is a worker. The Sunday school is like the
+week-day school, yet unlike it; and the teacher must be able to
+appreciate at once what he can follow and what he should avoid in the
+methods of the secular school. The history of the Sunday-school
+movement, its fundamental principles, its organization, officers,
+methods of management, and aims--all these are in the scope of the
+teacher's preparation.
+
+(4) _The Work._ Whether on Sunday or on Monday, a teacher is after all a
+teacher, and the laws of true teaching are the same in a Sunday school,
+in a public school, and in a college. The application of those laws may
+vary according to the ages of pupils, the subjects of instruction, and
+the aims of the institution, but the principles are unchanging. Those
+enduring principles of instruction are well understood, are set down in
+text-books, and can easily be learned by a student. There are successful
+teachers who know these principles by an intuition that they cannot
+explain; but most people will save themselves from many mistakes and
+comparative failure by a close study of modern educational methods.
+
+In some way knowledge in all these four great departments of training
+should be obtained by the teacher, if possible, before he enters upon
+his task; but if he has missed earlier opportunities of preparation he
+must acquire this knowledge even while he is teaching. The outlines of
+such a course of study should be given in the training class for young
+people; and such a training class should be regarded as essential to
+every well-organized school.[11]
+
+2. =The Teacher's Task.= All the preparation briefly outlined in these
+last paragraphs is only preparatory to the work which the teacher is to
+do in his vocation. The task set before the teacher is fourfold:
+
+(1) _As a Student._ The studies named above are not completed when the
+teacher has passed out of the training class with a certificate of
+graduation. The public-school teacher who ceases to study after
+finishing the course of the normal school is foredoomed to failure. The
+training class or the training school has only outlined before the
+teacher the fields to be traversed, and shown him a few paths which he
+may follow. He who has undertaken to teach a group of scholars, whether
+in the Beginners Department, the Senior Department, or any grade between
+them, must continue his studies, in the Bible, in the specific course of
+graded lessons which he is teaching, and in general knowledge; for there
+is no department of thought or action which will not bring tribute to
+the teacher, to be turned into treasure for his class. The Sunday-school
+teacher must ever maintain an open mind, a quick eye, and a spirit eager
+for knowledge. His accumulation will prove a store upon which to draw
+for teaching; and even that unused will give its weight to truth
+imparted to his class.
+
+(2) _As a Friend._ The teacher is more than a student dealing with
+books; he is a living soul in contact with living souls. If the most
+masterly lesson teaching in the realm of thought could be spoken into a
+phonograph, and then ground out before a class, it would fail to teach,
+for it would utterly lack the human element. Knowledge counts for much
+in teaching, but personality counts for far more. If a teacher is to be
+successful he must have a close relationship with his class. They must
+know him, he must know them, and there must be a common interest, nay, a
+common affection, between the two personalities of teacher and pupil. He
+must be a friend to each one of his scholars, schooling himself, if need
+be, to friendship; and each of his scholars must be made to realize that
+his teacher is his friend. This personal affection need not always be
+stated in words. The teacher who constantly assures his scholars that he
+loves them will not be believed as readily as the one who shows his love
+in his spirit and his acts, even though he may refrain from affectionate
+forms of speech.
+
+(3) _As a Teacher._ Teaching requires more than the possession of an
+abundant store of information upon any subject. He is not a teacher who
+simply pours forth upon the ears of his pupils an undigested mass of
+facts, however valuable those facts may be. The true teacher after large
+preparation assorts his material, and selects such matter as is
+appropriate to his own class. This he arranges in a form to be readily
+received, thoroughly comprehended, and easily remembered. He comes
+before his class with the fixed purpose that every pupil shall carry
+away with him a knowledge of the lesson, and shall not forget it. He
+must awaken the pupil's attention; for talking to an inattentive group
+of people accomplishes no more than preaching to tombstones in a
+graveyard. He must obtain the cooperation of the pupil's interest, and
+induce him to think upon the subject. He must call forth from his pupil
+some expression of his thought in language, for one is never sure of his
+knowledge until he has shaped it into words; and that which the pupil
+has stated he is much surer to remember than that which he has merely
+heard. Teaching, then, involves (1) selection of material, (2)
+adaptation of material, (3) presentation of truth, (4) awakening
+thought, (5) calling forth expression, (6) fixing knowledge in the
+memory.
+
+(4) _As a Disciple._ It is the teacher's task not only to impart to his
+scholars valuable information about the Bible, about God, about Christ,
+and about salvation; but, far more than imparting an intellectual
+knowledge, to bring the living word into relation with living souls, to
+inspire a fellowship of his pupils with God, to have Christ founded
+within them, to make salvation through Christ their joyous possession.
+Nor is his work as a working disciple accomplished when all his scholars
+have become Christians in possession and profession, and members of
+Christ's Church. By his example and his teachings he should lead them to
+efficient service for Christ in the church, in the community, and in the
+state. There is work for every member in the church, and work for
+everyone possessing the spirit of Christ in the community. Whatever may
+have been the type of a saint in the twelfth century, or in the
+sixteenth, or even in the early nineteenth century, in these stirring,
+strenuous years of the twentieth century the disciple of Christ is a man
+among men or a woman among women, active in the effort to make the world
+better, and to establish in his own village, or town, or ward of the
+city, the kingdom of heaven on earth. To inspire his scholars for such
+labors, and to lead them, is the supreme opportunity and work of the
+teacher.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[11] For detailed methods and plans, see the volume of this series on
+The Training of Sunday School Teachers.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+THE CONSTITUENCY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+
+1. =Relation to the Community.= The Sunday school is a temple built of
+living stones; and the quarry from which they are taken in the rough, to
+be cut and polished for their places in the building, is the entire
+community in which the school is placed. In our time, more than ever
+before, the reasons are imperative why special study should be given to
+the community from which the school must draw its members. Certain
+principles of administration will become apparent when once the field is
+carefully considered.
+
+(1) _Constituency Adjacent._ The population from which a given Sunday
+school draws its members must be generally that immediately around it.
+Some teachers and scholars may come from a distance, but even in this
+age of convenient transit by trains and trolley cars, it is found that,
+taking the church building as a center, the constituency of the Sunday
+school in a city is mostly within a radius of half a mile, and in the
+country within a mile. Throughout that sphere of influence the church
+should look well to the population, should know its proportionate
+elements, as far as possible should come into acquaintance with the
+families, and should plan to win, to evangelize, and to hold all its
+natural following.
+
+(2) _Membership Representative._ Upon general and almost invariable
+principles, the Sunday school should represent all the elements of the
+population within its environment. If it be a residence section with
+isolated houses, each containing but one family of well-to-do people,
+the church is apt to be a family church, and a large Sunday school must
+not be looked for, since large mansions rarely contain large families.
+If, on the other hand, the neighborhood be populous, characterized by
+varied strata of society--a few rich, a goodly number fairly prosperous,
+and a greater mass of wage-earners, yet the section as a whole American
+and not foreign in its civilization--then a flourishing, active, and
+growing Sunday school should be expected. And it should embrace all
+these elements, the rich, the middle class, and the wage-earners, in the
+proportion which each bears to the community as a whole. If the school
+in such a population be small, or if it be composed exclusively of one
+class, whether it be the so-called better class or the mission class,
+there is a serious error in its policy. The true Sunday school should be
+representative of all the elements in the population. It is both a crime
+and a blunder to limit the efforts of a Sunday school to one class of
+society: a crime, because such a school leaves multitudes around it to
+perish; and a blunder, because the effort results in an anaemic,
+dwindling, dying institution.
+
+(3) _Methods Adapted._ Almost every community, whether in city or in
+country, possesses some traits peculiar to itself. There may be two
+towns ten miles apart, one the wealthy residential suburb of a city, the
+other a settlement surrounding a great factory. The population of these
+two places will be in marked contrast, and the methods of Christian
+work successful in one will utterly fail in the other. One street or
+avenue in a city may mark the boundary line between family churches and
+mission churches. Within ten minutes' walk of each other may stand two
+churches of the same denomination, yet so utterly apart in spirit as to
+possess nothing in common but name. It is possible that each of these
+two organizations might learn something from the other, and might do
+their Master's work better by a closer community of interest and
+feeling. Yet it would be a mistake to introduce into either church all
+the plans that are successful in the other; or to reject in one Sunday
+school any method because it has proved a failure in another and a
+different field. The work of each church and Sunday school must be
+adapted to the population from which its membership is to be drawn.
+
+2. =The Changing Population.= One of the most imperative questions
+confronting the gospel worker, both in the church and the Sunday school,
+arises from the constant changes taking place in our population. In the
+cities we see stately churches, once thronged, now well-nigh desolate,
+while their walls echo to the tread upon the sidewalk of a churchless
+multitude. In front of a fine old church, where once millionaires
+worshiped, the writer has often passed a news-stand upon which are for
+sale newspapers in seven different languages. And too often one finds
+that the churches of a generation ago have been turned into low
+theaters, or torn down, giving place to stores and office buildings. The
+general principle may be laid down, that a church in the city almost
+never lives more than one generation in the same building and with the
+same character. After thirty years as the very longest period, if it is
+to retain its members, it must follow them in the march up-town; or if
+it is to retain its location and still hold a congregation it must seek
+an absolutely new constituency, and to this end must transform its
+methods of work. Nor are these migrations of population confined to the
+city. The towns and villages are governed by the same law of change. A
+village, once the seat of quiet homes, is suddenly turned into a factory
+town, with a new and strange population. The farms on country roads,
+abandoned by the families that formerly tilled them, are occupied by
+foreigners of alien speech and manners. The building of a railroad will
+open new towns, and at the same time will make more than one deserted
+village. These changes in population must be considered in their
+relation to the work of the Sunday school. The movement will be
+characterized by varied traits in different places.
+
+(1) _A Growing Population._ The change may be that of a healthy growth
+in population, making the community a desirable place for a church and a
+Sunday school. Such a development is constantly taking place in the
+newer portions of a city, whose population is moving from the center to
+the rim; or it may be noted in suburban towns, as facilities of
+transportation bring new residents from the metropolis; or it may appear
+in villages springing up on the line of a railroad, where home-seekers
+are settling and building habitations. Leaders in church and
+Sunday-school work must watch these growing centers, and provide wisely
+for their religious needs. It will not suffice to wait for these
+newcomers to build their own churches and organize their own Sunday
+schools. Most of them are taxed to the utmost in building or buying
+their own homes, and will scarcely realize their need until the habit of
+neglecting worship has become fixed, and their children grow up without
+religious education. The old and strong churches must extend a hand to
+the settlers, must preempt church sites at the very beginning, must help
+to erect chapels, for a time must supply workers, and must set the
+current of the new settlement Godward and churchward. The reward of
+their labor and their liberality will not long be delayed.
+
+(2) _A Declining Population._ There are places where the population has
+lessened, making the work of the Sunday school increasingly difficult
+and its results meager. It may be in the city, where business has
+crowded away the dwellers of other years, as in the lower end of
+Manhattan Island in New York. There tall office buildings and warehouses
+stand on sites formerly occupied by churches, but no longer needed, now
+that almost the only residents are the janitors and their families,
+living on the roofs of the towerlike temples of trade. But oftener the
+region of the declining population is found in the country. Villages
+once prosperous have gradually lost their inhabitants. In places where
+three or four churches, each with its Sunday school, were formerly well
+supported, there is now scarcely a constituency for one. Yet all these
+churches, though decayed and dying by inches, are still maintained; and
+each church still houses a discouraged Sunday school, attended by a
+faithful few, but with no hope of growth and an imminent peril of
+extinction. If loyalty to a denomination could give way to love for the
+kingdom of Christ, these might be consolidated into one church and one
+Sunday school for all the community. We venture the prophecy that before
+the twentieth century comes to its close this will be throughout the
+American continent the accepted settlement of the question. May its
+fulfillment be not long delayed! In the meantime these decayed but still
+enduring Sunday schools and churches in a community should seek for
+peace and friendship, not emphasizing the points of doctrine or of
+system that differ, but those that agree, and striving to maintain the
+unity of the spirit in a bond of love.
+
+(3) _A Population Changing Socially._ A serious problem often arises,
+not from a decline but from a change in the social condition of the
+population within the sphere of the church. The downtown church may have
+been forsaken by its former members, but people of another class, and in
+greater numbers, have taken their places. The mansions have become
+boarding houses, flats and apartment houses have arisen, while the
+thronged sidewalks, and the children playing in the streets, are
+evidence that the material for members of the church and the Sunday
+school is greater than before. True, the new inhabitants are of a
+different social order from the old, clerks and porters instead of
+merchants, employees instead of employers, working people in place of
+the leisure class. The fact that the social level of the neighborhood
+may be regarded by the worldly-minded as lower than formerly does not
+lessen its need of the gospel, nor render it less promising for
+Christian work. The church should look upon its field with unprejudiced
+eyes, should have an understanding of the time; should be alert to see
+and to seize its opportunity; and should change its methods with its
+changed constituency. The field must not be abandoned; it must be
+cultivated, and new forms of tillage will bring forth abundant harvests.
+
+(4) _An Alien Population._ The most perplexing of all social problems
+arises when immigration has swept into the district surrounding the
+church a tide of people whose birth and speech are foreign, supplanting
+and in large measure driving out the native population. There are
+sections in our cities where the signs on the stores are all Bohemian,
+or Polish, or Yiddish; where an English-speaking church would remain
+absolutely empty, though thousands throng the streets. It may be that in
+such conditions gospel work under American methods can no longer be
+maintained; and a removal may be necessary. But even in the most
+unpromising fields this conclusion should not be hastily reached. We
+spend large sums in sending missionaries to the lands from which some
+strangers come; should we not embrace opportunities of evangelizing
+these at our own door? There are difficulties, but they are not nearly
+as insuperable as those in foreign fields. These foreign-born or
+foreign-descended children sit beside our own in the public school;
+should we shut them out from our Sunday schools? In less than a
+generation millions of these boys and girls will be as thoroughly
+American as our own children. When we consider the question of
+abandoning any field on account of its foreign population, let us widen
+our horizon of thought to embrace the future as well as the present, and
+then form our conclusion concerning the duty of the Sunday school to the
+community.
+
+3. =Practical Suggestions.= A few hints, some of them already given, may
+summarize the practical side of the subject:
+
+(1) _Study the Field._ The Sunday school must live not in the past, but
+in the present, with a clear vision of the future. It must not only
+cherish a loving memory of its field as it has been, but understand
+thoroughly what it is, and what forces are shaping it for the future.
+The leaders in each Sunday school working for itself, or preferably
+those conducting the Sunday schools of a neighborhood working unitedly,
+should ascertain the nationality, religious condition, and church
+relations of every family in the district; and not only of every family,
+of every individual who may have a room in a boarding house. Each
+political organization knows the residence and party proclivities of
+every voter in the district; and the churches may learn from the
+politicians practical lessons upon the best methods of work.
+
+(2) _Cultivate the Field._ Since the scholars must come to the school
+from the population around it, they should be sought, brought in,
+taught, and evangelized, with all the energy and wisdom which the church
+possesses. And not only the scholars, but also, in large degree, the
+teachers must be home-born and home-taught; therefore the Sunday school,
+to be successful, must train up workers from its own constituency.
+
+(3) _Provide for all Elements._ By diligent and constant effort the
+school should be made representative of all ages, of all classes, of all
+sections, and as far as practicable of all races found in its community.
+
+(4) _Adapt Methods._ If a former constituency has removed from the
+field, and a new population has surged in, the new element must be
+looked upon as the constituency of the school. Its needs must be
+recognized, however different they may be from the needs of the past;
+and plans must be formed to meet those needs, whatever transformation of
+the school the new plans may involve.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+RECRUITING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+
+1. =Necessity.= The aspiration for advancement is natural and noble; and
+therefore every member of the Sunday school who is interested in its
+welfare, whether officer, teacher, or pupil, desires it to increase in
+membership, and to spread its benefits as widely as possible. But the
+recruiting of the Sunday school is not only desirable, but necessary. It
+is found that in every school there exists an outflow as well as an
+inflow of members. If in certain departments, as the Primary, new
+scholars are constantly enrolled, in other departments, as the older
+grades of the Intermediate and the Senior, there is as constant a
+dropping out of members from the school. It has been estimated that in
+most Sunday schools from twenty to twenty-five per cent of the
+membership changes annually, so that the average period of a teacher or
+scholar in the Sunday school is less than five years. There are some who
+remain longer, but others who are members for even a shorter time. Upon
+the average, every school is a new school once in four or five years. If
+one fifth of the school leaves every year, there must be an equal number
+enter it, to keep the school at its normal size. But any institution
+dependent upon the maintenance of a constituency, whether it be a
+periodical, a life-insurance association, or a Sunday school, begins to
+decline when its number remains stationary. The health and life of the
+school, therefore, require a constant renewal of its membership. The
+school must have new blood, or it will soon be impoverished and in time
+die.
+
+2. =The Losses from the School.= Before the presentation of plans for
+winning new scholars comes the vital question of holding the scholars
+already on the roll; for the condition of leakage has a close relation
+to growth or decline. If the causes of the leakage can be ascertained,
+and the drain can be stopped, we shall be materially aided in our effort
+to enlarge the school.
+
+(1) _The Search in the School._ Careful notation should be kept of the
+grades from which scholars are lost, or which are below a normal
+membership; and equally careful inquiry should be made as to the cause
+of the decline, and methods to correct it should be sought. Is it in the
+Primary Department, which should be the most rapidly growing department
+in the school? Is it in the Junior or Intermediate Department, where
+there ought to be a steady increase, even if it be slow? Is it in the
+Senior Department? Here there is great danger of losses, especially
+among young men. Is it not possible to find why they leave the school,
+and what will induce them to remain? Perhaps the school is deficient in
+the Adult Department. Must it be admitted that the Sunday school is for
+children only, and that as soon as its members become men and women
+their departure from the school is to be expected? The investigation
+should be more than general, ascertaining what departments are suffering
+loss; it should be personal, including the name and grade of every
+scholar who has ceased to attend for a definite period; and as far as
+possible the reason for his leaving the school.
+
+(2) _Following up Absentees._ A systematic plan for watching over the
+membership of the school should be instituted and vigorously maintained.
+For example, in some schools a report of every absentee is made by the
+secretary to the superintendent. On Monday morning each teacher receives
+by mail the list of his absent scholars, with a request to send in
+writing, as soon as practicable, the cause of absence for each one. In
+many schools this work of looking after the absentees is performed by
+paid visitors--a good plan, but not so good as for the teacher to come
+into personal touch with his own scholars. A business firm watches over
+its customers, and endeavors in every possible way to hold them. The
+Sunday school which can maintain its grasp upon its members has the
+problem of growth already half solved.
+
+3. =Characteristics of a Growing School.= The strongest force in
+recruiting the Sunday school is to be found in the character of the
+school itself. The merchant must have his shelves stocked with
+attractive goods if he expects customers. In order to obtain scholars
+there must be a good school.
+
+(1) _Efficient._ The school should maintain high educational standards;
+should be thoroughly graded in all its departments, with suitable
+lessons for each grade; and should have organized classes for young
+people and adults. The thoroughly good school will rarely lack for
+scholars.
+
+(2) _Attractive._ The school should be attractive as well as efficient.
+Its meeting place should be cheerful and airy, with suitable furniture
+and apparatus, above ground, and not a damp, dingy basement. It should
+have enjoyable exercises, like a school, yet not too severely like a
+public school. It should greet new members heartily, make them feel at
+home, and cultivate acquaintance with them. There should be an animating
+spirit of loyalty and love for the school; a devotion which will inspire
+active effort in its behalf. Around the school should be the atmosphere
+of a happy home.
+
+(3) _Prominent._ Among the activities of the church the school should
+stand forth prominently. It should be kept in mind that, as the
+neighborhood furnishes the constituency of the school, so the school
+furnishes the members for the church. In our time three fourths of the
+accessions by profession of faith come from the Sunday school. The
+school should be held in honor as the principal source of supply to the
+church membership. If the audience room is large and imposing, and the
+Sunday-school room is inferior and unattractive; if the pulpit and the
+choir are amply supported while the school receives a narrow sustenance,
+however great the prosperity of the church its duration will be brief.
+The Sunday school must stand in the foreground, and not in the
+background, if the church is to grow; and the growing church should have
+a growing Sunday school.
+
+(4) _Special Occasions._ Throughout the Sunday-school year occur days
+which should be recognized, as breaking the monotony of the regular
+exercises, and as attractive features of the school. Such are Christmas,
+Easter, Children's Day in June, Rally Day in the fall, and Decision Day,
+when the net is drawn for discipleship in behalf of the church. Some
+superintendents look upon these occasions as burdensome, but with
+careful preparation and an attractive program they will add to the
+interest of the school, while in no wise detracting from the efficiency
+of its educational work. An occasional social entertainment for the
+school, or for each department in turn, and an outing day in the summer,
+will strengthen that _esprit de corps_ or animating spirit of the school
+which is its strongest drawing power in attracting new members.
+
+(5) _Special Helps._ There are communities where certain methods may
+avail more than elsewhere. A well-conducted Sunday-school library, no
+longer needed in many places, may be of great value in villages where
+there is no public library. A reading room, social hall, and gymnasium
+may constitute the church a home for young men whose dwelling places may
+be in close tenement houses. Young men are in saloons, and young women
+are in amusement parks, who might spend their evenings under the healthy
+influence of the church if places were provided. These plans and other
+features of the institutional church will need careful and wise
+administration if they are to do good and not harm; but in many places
+they will minister to the success of the school and the church, and also
+to the uplifting of the community.
+
+4. =Reaching Beyond the School.= Thus far in this chapter we have
+considered the school rather than the field. One of the chief tasks of
+the Sunday school, however, is to reach out and lay hold of all the
+inhabitants, both young and old, in the area of its influence. The
+following active measures have proved effective in reaching the people
+and winning them to the school.
+
+(1) _Advertise._ The school should be kept before the community in every
+legitimate way. Merchants tell us that the secret of success is first to
+have salable goods, and then to advertise them; and the same principle
+applies to the Sunday school. Printer's ink should be used liberally,
+but wisely. Only neatly printed, attractive matter should be employed.
+Invitation cards, leaflets, programs of special services, a little
+periodical devoted to the school, a year book containing the school
+register, and many other forms of advertisement will help to inform the
+neighborhood that the school is at work and is ready to welcome new
+members.
+
+(2) _Invite._ Every officer, teacher, scholar, and parent should
+consider himself a committee to speak to others about the school, and to
+invite his friends and acquaintances to attend it. The little children
+should ask their playmates, boys and girls in school their classmates,
+young men their shopmates, young women their associates. No printed
+paper can have a tenth of the power possessed by the living voice and a
+hearty hand-shake. It is assumed that the invitation is given only to
+those who are not already attached to any church or school. All possible
+care should be taken to maintain a fraternal spirit, and not to build up
+our own wall by pulling down another.
+
+(3) _Visit._ The field belonging to the school should be bounded
+definitely, and should be thoroughly and systematically canvassed. It
+should be divided into districts, and each district assigned to a
+visitor and a committee, who should know who may be included in the
+proper constituency of the school. For this work many schools and
+churches employ a paid visitor or a deaconess; and none can surpass the
+zeal or fidelity of many who enter upon such a vocation. But the schools
+which cannot afford professional workers include some teachers and some
+adult scholars who can give a portion of their own time to the same
+task. An organized class of men might be named which grew into over a
+hundred members through persistent work by a simple plan. A lookout
+committee, after careful inquiry, would report the names and addresses
+of men eligible for membership. Then the members in order and by
+appointment, in groups of two, called upon each candidate, formed his
+acquaintance, and invited him to the class. Sometimes thirty or forty
+men would call, but in time almost every man visited yielded to the
+friendly social influence, became a member, and soon after a worker for
+the class.
+
+5. =A Danger.= A caution may be needed with reference to all these plans
+of recruiting the school. Advertising may be carried to the excess of
+becoming sensational. Invitations may be pressed upon scholars in other
+schools. The effort for increase may degenerate into unfriendly rivalry.
+A good plan may work evil when worked in a selfish spirit. And a
+too-rapid growth is sure to be unhealthy. The late B. F. Jacobs said,
+"God pity the Sunday school that gets a hundred scholars at one time!" A
+quiet, steady, diligent, persistent effort for the school will be of
+permanent benefit, rather than a spasm of enthusiasm.
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+THE TESTS OF A GOOD SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+
+In the United States more than a hundred thousand Sunday schools are in
+session every week. Some of them are very good, many are only moderately
+efficient, and some are poor in every respect. The question arises, what
+constitutes a good Sunday school? Is it possible to establish some
+standard of measurement by which the rank of any Sunday school can be
+fixed? In such a standard there must be several factors, for the points
+of excellence in Sunday school are not one, but many. It is the aim in
+this closing chapter to ascertain the criteria or the tests of a good
+Sunday school. The statement of these tests involves the summing up and
+in some measure the repetition of much already given throughout these
+pages.
+
+1. =Representative Character.= The first test of a Sunday school is
+found in its relation to the community around it. The Sunday school is
+not a bed of exotic plants, dug up from their native soil, potted and
+protected in a conservatory. It is an outdoor garden wherein are
+cultivated the flowers and fruits that are indigenous to the region. A
+true Sunday school is a group of people drawn out of the larger world
+around it, and representing every element in that world, both as regards
+social life and age. If it represents the rich and the prosperous only,
+it is not a good school, unless the neighborhood is unfortunate in
+containing only such people. If it is a mission school for poor people
+in the midst of a self-supporting population, it is not a good school.
+If it includes few members above sixteen, and none above twenty-five
+years of age, it is not a good school, for it should embrace all ages
+from the infant to the grandfather. The school which is to stand on the
+roll of honor is one that fairly represents its constituency.
+
+2. =Organization.= Another requirement for a good school is that it be
+well organized as a graded school. There may be Sunday schools which
+make up by their spirit for what they lack in system; yet the exceptions
+are few to the rule that in Sunday-school work organization is essential
+to success. It is true that machinery creates no power; there is nothing
+in a constitution and by-laws to make an institution successful. It is
+the efforts of living men and women that bring to pass results. But
+organization directs and economizes power; so that, other elements being
+equal, the graded school quickly becomes the best school. We have
+already seen that a graded school is one with departments defined, with
+the number of classes in each department fixed according to the needs of
+the school, with promotions at regular periods, based either on age or
+examination or merit, or on all three factors in combination, with
+lessons graded according to the departments, and, as its most important
+element, with a change of teachers when the pupil is promoted from a
+lower to a higher grade or department. The graded system is not easy to
+establish; it requires firmness and tact in the authorities, and a
+self-denying spirit on the part of teachers; but it will abundantly and
+quickly repay all it costs in effort and sacrifice, and it is an
+essential in a really good Sunday school.
+
+3. =Order.= A good school is orderly, yet it is not too orderly.
+Everybody is in place at the proper time. At the minute, and not a
+minute later, the superintendent opens the school. If he rings a bell,
+it is a gentle, musical one, held up by the leader as a signal and
+scarcely sounded. There is not more confusion than at the opening of any
+other religious service. Only one service is conducted at a time;
+singing is worshipful, just as well as prayer, and the Scriptures are
+read thoughtfully and reverently. No officers are rushing up and down
+the aisles during the services; no loud calls are made for order; yet
+there is a suitable quietness when quietness is desirable. A good school
+is never disorderly, yet it cannot be said that the best school is
+always the most orderly. Occasionally one sees a Sunday school where
+order has gone to the extreme of repressing all enthusiasm, where the
+program is too finely cut and too thoroughly dried, where the mechanism
+moves with the precision of the lockstep in a state prison. The ideal of
+the Sunday school is not that of the French minister of education who is
+reported to have stated that he could look at his watch and tell at that
+minute what question was before each class in every school in France!
+
+4. =Spirit.= For lack of a more definite term we call the next
+characteristic of a good Sunday school its spirit. In any successful
+school one feels rather than finds a peculiar and individual atmosphere.
+Every member, from the superintendent to the Primary scholar, manifests
+an interest in the institution; an interest of blended love, loyalty,
+enjoyment in it and enthusiasm for it. There is a social spirit in each
+class and in the school as a whole. Its members do not meet as
+passengers in a railway station, each one wrapped up in his own business
+and watching for his own train. They all have their individual
+friendships and social relations, yet a bond unites them all as members
+of one Sunday school. This peculiar _esprit de corps_, an interest in
+the institution, is a strongly marked feature in every progressive
+Sunday school.
+
+5. =Educational Efficiency.= The Sunday school is in the world with a
+definite work--religious education. Its religion will be based on the
+Old Testament and kindred literature in a Jewish school; it will be
+based on both the Old and New Testament and supplemental literature in a
+Christian school; but whether Jewish or Christian, its work is the
+teaching of religion, as contained in the living Word, and illustrated
+by the lives and teachings of the heroes of the faith. The true test of
+a Sunday school is the answer that it can give to the question, "Does it
+teach the vital religious truths of the race so as to develop individual
+character and efficiency?" That is its task, and by its success in
+accomplishing it each school is to be judged; not by the splendor of its
+building, or the exactness of its machinery, or the enthusiasm of its
+members. The thirty or thirty-five minutes devoted to the lesson is the
+supremely important period in every true Sunday school. The time is
+often bound to be all too short for teaching divine truth, and printing
+it upon mind and memory so deeply that all the studies and pleasures of
+the six days between the two Sundays will not cause the teaching to
+fade. Yet the time is as long as the ordinary teacher (or preacher) can
+hold attention to one subject, and therefore in most classes it is
+sufficient. Toward that half hour of teaching, therefore, all the
+energies of the school, of the training class, home study, teachers'
+meeting, gradation, government, should be turned. For the vital aim of
+the Sunday school is the eternal message of God to men through men, so
+that men and women of the Christ spirit and character may be developed.
+
+6. =Character-Building.= The first task, therefore, of the Sunday school
+is to teach the Word, but that teaching is only a means to an end, and
+that end is greater than mere intellectual knowledge--it is the building
+up of a complete character. This is more than "bringing souls to
+Christ," or leading them into church membership. If the sole aim of the
+Sunday school was to compass the salvation of the scholar and to
+surround him with the walls of a church, then we might safely dismiss
+our scholars when they have passed through a crisis of conversion and
+entered the church door. But the Sunday school is to do more than save
+its scholars from sin. It is to train them in the completeness of a
+Christian character; and such a character involves not only personal
+righteousness but also service for God and humanity. Its aim is not to
+take people apart out of the world, but to set them in the world,
+equipped for work in making the world a Christian world, and thereby
+establishing on earth the kingdom of heaven. The measure by which the
+Sunday school accomplishes such a work as this, constitutes the final,
+crucial test of its success.
+
+It cannot be said that any one of these six essentials of a good Sunday
+school stands supreme. They do not march in Indian file; nor are they to
+be set one against another in a comparison of values. These traits of a
+complete Sunday school should rather be regarded as one of the New
+Testament writers describes the traits of a complete character, in that
+familiar yet only half-understood passage, "As in the harmony of a
+choral song, blend with your faith the note of energy, and with your
+energy the note of knowledge, and with your knowledge the note of
+self-mastery,"[12] through all the eight aspects of the Christian; so
+let these six essential elements be combined to form that noble
+institution, the ideal Sunday school.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[12] 2 Pet. 1. 5-7.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE AND REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+
+I. THE HISTORIC PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL MOVEMENT
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Mag.=
+  2. =Mod.=
+  3. =Lay.=
+  4. =Unp. Wor.=
+  5. =Sel.-sup.=
+  6. =Sel.-gov.=
+  7. =Sel.-dev.=
+  8. =Bib. stu.=
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+To what race in the world does the Sunday school mainly belong?
+
+What are some of the lands in which it is found?
+
+What does the circulation of its literature show?
+
+What influence is the Sunday-school movement exercising upon the world?
+
+How many salient traits of the Sunday school are named in this chapter?
+
+What are those traits in the order named?
+
+To what race can the ancient germ of the Sunday school be traced?
+
+What institutions among that people contained the elemental principle of
+the Sunday school?
+
+What gathering similar to a Sunday school is described in the Bible?
+
+Who was the founder of the modern Sunday school?
+
+In what place, and what year, was the first Sunday school held?
+
+What aided to make this institution known?
+
+Was the first Sunday school established under direction of the clergy or
+the laity?
+
+Has the clergy, or the laity, been the more prominent in the work of the
+Sunday school throughout its history?
+
+What has been the attitude of the church toward this institution?
+
+What has been stated concerning the compensation of the teachers in the
+earliest Sunday school?
+
+Was the plan of paying teachers for their services continued?
+
+Are the majority of Sunday-school officers and teachers now paid for
+their services?
+
+What has been the effect of this condition, of unpaid service, upon the
+growth of the Sunday-school movement?
+
+How has this condition of voluntary, unpaid work affected the moral
+influence of the Sunday school?
+
+How have the expenses of the Sunday school in most places been met in
+the past?
+
+How are such expenses met in the best schools at the present time?
+
+How has the self-support of the Sunday school in the past affected its
+government?
+
+What is the present share of the church in the government of the school?
+
+What forces have directed the development of the Sunday school as a
+movement?
+
+What fact in its origin largely accounts for the unity of method in the
+Sunday school?
+
+What is the text-book studied in the Sunday school?
+
+What has been the influence of the Sunday school in behalf of the Bible?
+
+
+II. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Aim.= Rel. ins. (1) Kn. (2) Ch. (3) Ser.
+  2. =Meth. Tea.= (1) Teach. (2) Sch. (3) Text-b.
+  3. =Rel. Ch.= Bel. ch. Ca. ch. Sup. ch. Feed. ch. Sup. ch.
+  4. =Gov.= (1) Rights of teach. (2) Auth. of ch.
+  5. =Off.= (1) Sup. (2) Assoc. sup. (3) Sec. (4) Treas. (5) Fac.
+  6. =Mem.= All ag. all clas.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+What is a Sunday-school constitution?
+
+What is the difference between an ideal and a practical plan?
+
+Are all constitutions written?
+
+What six points should be provided for in the constitution of the Sunday
+school?
+
+What should be the aim of the Sunday school?
+
+State the definition of the Sunday school as given by Dr. Vincent.
+
+What three elements are involved in a true religious education?
+
+What difference may be noted between the Christian ideals of the past
+and of the present?
+
+What method does the Sunday school employ in its work?
+
+What are the three essentials in the working of a school?
+
+What does the Sunday school seek to accomplish in its pupils?
+
+What text-book is generally used in the Sunday school?
+
+Why is this book taught so widely?
+
+May material outside of this book be employed in teaching?
+
+What is the relation between the Sunday school and the church?
+
+Why is some government needed in the Sunday school?
+
+What two elements should be recognized in the management of the school?
+
+Name the officers of the Sunday school.
+
+Who should constitute the members of the school?
+
+
+III. THE NECESSITY AND ESSENTIALS OF A GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Nec. Gra.= (1) Sch. as wh. (2) Cond. cla. (a) Ineq.
+       siz. (b) Ineq. ag. (c) Lac. cl. sp. (3) Dif. adm.
+       (a) Obt. tea. (b) Trans. sch.
+  2. =Ess. Gra.= Sch. (1) Dep. (2) Fix. num. cla. (3) Ann.
+       sim. pro. (4) Ch. tea. (5) Gra. Less. (6) Bas. pro.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+Into what departments are most Sunday schools divided?
+
+Why does not the mere division into departments constitute a graded
+Sunday school?
+
+In what department is the school growing most rapidly?
+
+From what departments does the school lose its pupils?
+
+What is often the condition of classes for young people of fifteen years
+and older?
+
+What inequalities may be noted in the classes of an average Sunday
+school?
+
+What spirit is apt to be lacking in the school?
+
+What two great difficulties are met by the superintendent of an ungraded
+school?
+
+Sum up the six difficulties or defects which will be removed in a
+measure by grading the school.
+
+Name the six essentials of a thoroughly graded Sunday school.
+
+Draw a diagram representing the manner of seating the departments of a
+Sunday school.
+
+What is meant by a fixed number of classes in each department of a
+graded school?
+
+How should promotions be made from one department to another?
+
+Why should not teachers accompany their classes when the pupils are
+promoted from one department to another?
+
+What kind of lessons should be taught in the different departments of
+the school?
+
+Should promotions be made on the basis of age, of merit, or as the
+result of examination?
+
+Why cannot examinations in the Sunday school maintain the same standards
+as those of the public school?
+
+
+IV. THE GRADING OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Diff.=
+  2. =Rem.=
+  3. =Meth.= (1) Grad. (2) Simul. (a) Com. (b) Ag. sch.
+       (c) Ass. sch. (d) Ro-ca.
+  4. =Adv. Thor. Gra.= (1) App. (2) Ord. (3) Soc. rel.
+       (4) Tea. wk. (5) Inc. int. (6) Obt. tea. (7) Leak.-per.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+What is the greatest difficulty to be met in grading a Sunday school?
+
+What is the remedy for this difficulty?
+
+What are the two methods of grading an ungraded school?
+
+How may a school be graded by the gradual method?
+
+What are the four steps to be taken if a school is to be graded by the
+simultaneous method?
+
+What is to be done when scholars are unwilling to receive promotion?
+
+Name seven advantages of the graded school.
+
+Wherein does the graded school differ in appearance from one ungraded?
+
+How is order maintained more easily in the graded school?
+
+How does grading influence the social relations of the scholars?
+
+Why is teaching easier in the graded school?
+
+How does the graded Sunday school increase the interest of the pupils?
+
+Why is it easier to supply teachers in the school after it has been
+graded?
+
+What is meant by "the leakage period" in the scholars of the Sunday
+school?
+
+How does the graded school hold the scholar in the school?
+
+
+V. THE DEPARTMENTS OF THE GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Cradle Roll.= (1) Members. (2) Catalogue. (3) How
+       obtained. (4) Gifts. (5) Management. (6) Value.
+  2. =Beginners Dep.= (1) Ages. (2) Teaching. (3) Meeting
+       place.
+  3. =Primary Dep.= (1) Ages. (2) Classes. (3) Lessons.
+  4. =Junior Dep.= (1) Ages. (2) Classes. (3) Lessons.
+  5. =Intermediate Dep.= (1) Ages. (2) Classes. (3) Lessons.
+       (4) Special aim. (5) Christian character.
+  6. =Senior Dep.= (1) Name. (2) Ages. (3) Classes.
+       (4) Teachers. (5) Organization. (6) Social life.
+  7. =Teacher-Training Dep.= (1) Members. (2) Teacher.
+       (3) Studies. (4) Requirements. (5) Aims. (6) Reserve
+       class.
+  8. =Adult Dep.= (1) Members. (2) Classes. (3) Methods.
+       (4) Courses of study.
+  9. =Home Dep.= (1) Need. (2) Plan.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+What are the four principal departments of an ordinary Sunday school?
+
+In this chapter how many departments are described?
+
+What are the names of these departments?
+
+What department includes the names of the youngest children? Wherein
+does this department differ from most of the other departments? How
+should the list of its members be kept? How may names be obtained for
+it? What privileges should be given to the members of this department?
+What are the benefits of this department to the school?
+
+What is the name of the second department? What ages should it embrace?
+What should be the exercises in this department? How should these
+pupils be seated in the school?
+
+What is the third department named? What ages should it include? How
+should it be organized? What lessons should be taught in it?
+
+What is the fourth department? What are the ages of its pupils? How may
+they be classified? What lessons should be taught to them?
+
+What is the fifth department? What ages does it include? How should the
+classes be formed? Why should small classes be the rule in this
+department? What lessons should be taught? What should be a special aim
+of teachers in this department? What type of Christian character should
+be sought?
+
+What is the sixth department? What other names are applied to it? What
+ages should it include? What requirement should be made of those
+entering this department by promotion? How should the classes be
+organized? Who should teach in this department? How may the social
+spirit be cultivated?
+
+What is the seventh department? Who should be included in its
+membership? Who should be sought as the teacher? What condition should
+be required of its members? What studies should be followed? How should
+the course be conducted? What other class should also be connected with
+the Teacher-training Department? How shall this class be conducted?
+
+What is the eighth department? Who should be included in it? What are
+the two methods of instruction in this department? What courses of study
+should be taken?
+
+What is the ninth department? Who constitute its members? What care and
+help should be given to these people? What should be expected of them as
+members of the school?
+
+
+VI. THE SUPERINTENDENT
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Imp.= (N. Y. C. R. R.).
+  2. =Appt.= Tea. ch. past.
+  3. =Ter. Off.= One ye.
+  4. =Qual.= (1) Mor. char. (2) Dev. bel. (3) Wor. ch.
+       mem. (4) Bib. stu. (5) Ab. exec. (6) Sym. you.
+       (7) Tea. spi.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+What illustration from a railroad will show the importance of the
+superintendent?
+
+How should the appointment of the superintendent be made? Who should
+unite in the selection? How long should be his term of office?
+
+What are the traits named for an ideal superintendent?
+
+What should be his moral character? Why is such a character necessary in
+his office? What story of a statesman illustrates this?
+
+In what respects should the superintendent be a believer in the gospel?
+
+Why should he be a member of the church? What is his duty to the Bible?
+How may the superintendent influence his school to follow his requests?
+
+What should be his qualifications as an administrator or executive?
+
+What trait in relation to the young should he possess?
+
+What should be his mental attitude toward knowledge, especially
+knowledge of methods?
+
+What story is told of a great sculptor?
+
+
+VII. THE SUPERINTENDENT'S DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Gen.= (1) Sup. (2) Sel. tea. (3) Ass. sch. (4) Prog.
+       ser. (5) Sup.
+  2. =We.-d. Wor.= (1) Prog. (2) Les. stu. (3) Soc. dut.
+       (4) Seek. work. (5) Cab. meet. (6) Sp. d. (7) Conv.
+  3. =Dut. Sch. Sess.= (1) Pre. ear. (2) Op. pr. (3) Con.
+       pro. (4) Dur. less. (5) Les. rev. (6) Clos.
+  4. =Misc. Dut.= (1) N. B. (2) Q. (3) E. L. (4) Us. B.
+       (5) Les. per. (6) Sp. (7) Sel.-con. (8) Aim.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+Into what three classes may the duties of the superintendent be divided?
+
+What are his general duties and prerogatives in relation to the school?
+
+What are his duties through the week?
+
+What social duties should he endeavor to fulfill?
+
+How may he obtain teachers and workers?
+
+What is the purpose of cabinet meetings?
+
+How may the superintendent be ready for special occasions in the
+Sunday-school year?
+
+What is his duty toward conventions and associations of workers?
+
+What are the duties of the superintendent during the session of the
+school?
+
+What suggestions are given concerning the conducting of the program of
+the school?
+
+Who should review the lesson?
+
+Name some miscellaneous hints concerning his work.
+
+How may he have a quiet, orderly school?
+
+How may he promote the use of the Bible as a text-book by teachers and
+scholars?
+
+What rule should be kept with reference to the lesson period?
+
+Under what conditions should visitors be allowed to address the school
+during the regular session?
+
+What suggestion is made concerning self-control?
+
+What aim should be kept before the superintendent and the school?
+
+
+VIII. THE ASSOCIATE AND DEPARTMENT SUPERINTENDENTS
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Nec.= Gen. asst. Dept. asst.
+  2. =Titles.= Asso. sup. Dep. supt.
+  3. =App.= Nom. sup. Conf. tea. "Minor. cand."
+  4. =Duties.= (1) Not tea. (2) Dep. sup. (3) Prov. sub.
+       (4) Assig. new sch. (5) Detail. sup. (6) Ch. st.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+What is the need of an assistant to the superintendent in the Sunday
+school?
+
+What two classes of assistants are required in an organized school?
+
+What titles should be given to these officers?
+
+How should the associate superintendent be chosen?
+
+Why should the superintendent possess the right to nominate the
+associate superintendent?
+
+Should the associate superintendent be at the same time a teacher in the
+school?
+
+When should the associate take charge of the school?
+
+How should substitutes be obtained for teachers who are absent?
+
+What class should not be called upon to furnish substitute teachers, and
+why?
+
+What class will supply teachers in a properly graded school?
+
+How, when, and where should the teachers be obtained?
+
+When should supply teachers be ready and in their places?
+
+What is the work of the associate superintendent with reference to new
+scholars?
+
+Should new scholars select their own classes?
+
+What part may the associate take during the general exercises of the
+school?
+
+What military title might properly be given to the associate
+superintendent? Wherein does this title apply to him?
+
+Give a summary of the six duties performed by the associate
+superintendent.
+
+
+IX. THE SECRETARY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Imp.=
+  2. =Qual.= (1) B. M. (2) R. A. (3) G. W. (4) Q. M. A.
+       (5) Q. M. (6) C. C.
+  3. =App.=
+  4. =Assts.=
+  5. =Dep. Secs.=
+  6. =Dut.= (1) R. M. (2) R. S. (3) R. C. (4) R. S.
+       (5) L. S. (6) C.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+Who is frequently and unwisely chosen as secretary of the Sunday school?
+What are the results of such a choice?
+
+What results follow from an efficient secretary?
+
+What six qualifications are named for the ideal secretary?
+
+What traits of a business man should he possess?
+
+What should be his principle with regard to regular attendance? What
+also should be included in his attendance?
+
+Wherein should the secretary be a good writer?
+
+What should be the traits of his mental action?
+
+What exercises in the school should never be interrupted by the work of
+the secretary? Should he ever come to a class while the lesson is being
+taught?
+
+What should be the behavior of the secretary?
+
+How should the secretary be chosen?
+
+How long should be his term of office?
+
+How should the assistant secretary be appointed?
+
+What are department secretaries, and who should be appointed to this
+position?
+
+What seven duties are named for the secretary and his assistants?
+
+What record should be kept of business meetings?
+
+What are his duties with reference to reports from committees?
+
+What weekly record should be kept of the attendance in the school?
+
+What are the duties of the secretary with regard to the records of class
+attendance?
+
+What general catalogue of the members of the school should be kept? How
+should this record be arranged?
+
+What is the duty of the secretary with regard to the literature used in
+the school?
+
+How should the official correspondence of the school be conducted?
+
+
+X. THE TREASURY AND THE TREASURER
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Early S. S.= Light expenses.
+  2. =Modern S. S.= Large expenses. Objects.
+  3. =Practical Ways and Means.= Methods. Objections.
+  4. =Ideal Way.= Allowance. Subscriptions. Benefits.
+  5. =S. S. Treasurer.= Relation to secretary.
+  6. =Treasurer's Work.= (1) Charge. (2) Bank account.
+       (3) Reports and vouchers. (4) Bills. (5) Checks.
+       (6) Audits. (7) Study of benevolent interests.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+Why was little money required by the early Sunday schools? Wherein was
+this fact fortunate for the schools?
+
+Why are the expenses of the Sunday school greater than they were in the
+early years?
+
+What are the principal expenses of a modern Sunday school?
+
+What are the methods of supplying funds for the Sunday school in most
+places?
+
+What is the objection to these methods?
+
+What is the ideal method of supporting the Sunday school? Under this
+plan what should be expected of the members of the school? What are the
+advantages of this plan?
+
+Should the same person act as secretary and as treasurer? In that case
+what principles should be observed?
+
+What kind of a person should be chosen as treasurer?
+
+What funds should be placed under his charge?
+
+Where should he keep the money of the school? How should this bank
+account be conducted?
+
+What reports should the treasurer present, and where should he present
+them?
+
+How should all payments of the treasurer be authorized?
+
+What should be done with bills against the school?
+
+In what form is it desirable to make payments for bills?
+
+How and when should the accounts of the treasurer be audited?
+
+What service can the treasurer render to the school in relation to
+benevolent interests?
+
+
+XI. VALUE OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL LIBRARY
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Lib. Pas.=
+  2. =Dec. Pres.=
+  3. =Cau. Dec.=
+  4. =Uses. G. Lib.= (1) Fam. ne. (2) Mor. inf. (3) Aid
+       sch.
+  5. =Prin. Sel.= (1) Var. (2) Pop. (3) Lit. qual.
+       (4) Mor. tea. (5) Ch. sp.
+  6. =Com. S. S. Lib.=
+  7. =Pub. Lib. & S. S.=
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+Why was the library important to the school in the earlier times?
+
+What are the facts regarding the decline of the Sunday-school library in
+recent times?
+
+What causes are assigned for the decline of the Sunday-school library?
+
+How are books more accessible now than in former times?
+
+Why is the library no longer needed to draw pupils to the school?
+
+How does the present educational aim of the Sunday school affect the
+interest in the library?
+
+What criticism is made upon the books in most Sunday-school libraries?
+
+How does the management of the library often interfere with the order of
+the school?
+
+What three benefits are named from a well-conducted Sunday-school
+library?
+
+How does the library in many places aid the school?
+
+What four principles should guide in the selection of books?
+
+What classes of books should be in the library?
+
+Why must the books be popular and interesting?
+
+What should be the literary standard for books in the Sunday-school
+library?
+
+Should love stories be admitted?
+
+What moral standards should be maintained?
+
+What is meant by the Christian spirit in the Sunday-school library?
+
+What kind of a library should be sought for in the educational work of
+the Sunday school?
+
+How may the use of such a library be promoted in the school?
+
+How may the public library be made useful to the Sunday schools in a
+city or town?
+
+
+XII. THE MANAGEMENT OF THE LIBRARY
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Lib. Com.= (1) Pur. bks. (2) Freq. add.
+  2. =Libr.= (1) Bkm. (2) Bus. m. (3) Gen. man.
+  3. =Asst. Lib.=
+  4. =Man. Lib.= (1) Coll. (2) Ass. (3) Dist. (4) Ret.
+       (a) Rec. sch. (b) Rec. she. (c) Fin. (d) Rew.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+Who should choose the books for the Sunday-school library?
+
+What should be expected of the library committee?
+
+Why should a large purchase of books at one time be avoided?
+
+How may the committee learn of new books?
+
+How should donations of books be regarded?
+
+What are the advantages of small additions at frequent times?
+
+Who should be sought for the Sunday-school librarian?
+
+How should the assistant librarians be chosen?
+
+What plan should be followed in collecting the books returned to the
+library by the scholars?
+
+What are some plans for choosing books?
+
+What difficulties are met in the choice of books by scholars?
+
+How should the books be distributed?
+
+What are the difficulties met in the return of books by scholars?
+
+How may the loss of books be avoided?
+
+How may lost books be traced and brought back?
+
+
+XIII. THE TEACHER'S QUALIFICATIONS AND NEED OF TRAINING
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Qual.= (1) Sin. dis. (2) Lov. you. (3) Lov. ser.
+       (4) Wil. work.
+  2. =Nec. Train.= (1) Gen. prin. (2) Tea. resp. (3) Dem.
+       ag. (4) Tea. cla.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+Why does the work of the Sunday-school teacher require special
+qualifications?
+
+What four qualifications are named as requisite?
+
+What should be the relation of the teacher toward Christ?
+
+What should be his attitude of mind and heart toward young people? Why
+is this attitude necessary?
+
+What should be his relation to the Bible?
+
+What is required of him as a worker?
+
+When did training for Sunday-school teachers begin in America?
+
+What have been various stages and periods in the movement for
+teacher-training?
+
+What four reasons are named why the Sunday-school teacher should receive
+training?
+
+How does the shortness of the time and its weekly meeting of the Sunday
+school relate to the training of the teacher?
+
+How does the teacher's responsibility make his training necessary?
+
+What does this age demand of teachers?
+
+Why does this age make special demands upon Bible teachers?
+
+In what condition of mind with regard to the lesson do most of our
+scholars come to the Sunday school?
+
+Why does the condition of the scholar require preparation on the part of
+the teacher?
+
+
+XIV. THE TRAINING AND TASK OF THE TEACHER
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Train. Nec.= (1) Book. (a) Or. nat. (b) Hist.
+       (c) Geog. back. (d) Inst. (e) Eth. rel. tea.
+       (2) Schol. (3) Schoo. (4) Work.
+  2. =Tea. Tas.= (1) Stu. (2) Fri. (3) Tea. (4) Dis.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+What are the four departments of teacher-training?
+
+What in the Bible does the teacher need to know?
+
+What does he need to know about his scholars?
+
+What does he need to know about the school?
+
+What does he need to know about teaching?
+
+What are the four departments of the teacher's task?
+
+What has he to do as a student?
+
+What may he do as a friend?
+
+What is required of him as a teacher?
+
+What is his work for his class, as a disciple of Christ?
+
+
+XV. THE CONSTITUENCY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Rel. to Com.= (1) Const. adj. (2) Mem. rep.
+       (3) Meth. adap.
+  2. =Chang. Pop.= (1) Gro. (2) Dec. (3) Ch. soc.
+       (4) Ali.
+  3. =Prac. Sugg.= (1) St. fi. (2) Cul. fi. (3) Pro.
+       f. all ele. (4) Ad. meth.
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+What kind of a temple is the Sunday school?
+
+Whence must come the members of the school?
+
+What duty does the school owe to the population around it?
+
+Of what should a Sunday school be representative?
+
+What elements in a mixed community should enter into the Sunday school?
+
+What methods should be sought in localities where the traits and needs
+of the people differ?
+
+What fact regarding the population of our country brings great problems
+to the church and Sunday school?
+
+Give some instances of the effect of changing population upon churches.
+
+How often are churches generally compelled to change their constituency?
+
+What are some causes of the changed conditions in cities and country
+places?
+
+What should be done in growing communities?
+
+What are the conditions, and the remedy for them, in a declining
+population?
+
+How may a population change socially while increasing numerically?
+
+What is the duty of a Sunday school in changing communities?
+
+When may a church or a Sunday school rightly abandon its field?
+
+What is the first duty of the Sunday school in relation to its field?
+
+What is its duty to the population in its field, wherever the population
+can be reached?
+
+What elements in the population should be provided for in the plans and
+efforts of the school?
+
+
+XVI. RECRUITING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Nec.=
+  2. =Los. fr. Sch.= (1) Sear. in sch. (2) Foll. abs.
+  3. =Char. Gro. Sch.= (1) Eff. (2) Attr. (3) Prom.
+       (4) Sp. occ. (5) Sp. hel.
+  4. =Reach. Bey. Sch.= (1) Adv. (2) Inv. (3) Vis.
+  5. =Dang.=
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+Why is it not only desirable but necessary to seek for increase in the
+membership of the Sunday school?
+
+What is the percentage of change in Sunday schools annually?
+
+For what should search be made in the school?
+
+How may the absentees from the school be looked after?
+
+What traits in a Sunday school will naturally draw to it scholars?
+
+Why should the Sunday school be made a prominent feature in the church?
+
+What are some special occasions in the year to which attention should be
+given?
+
+What special methods of building up the school may be employed in
+certain localities?
+
+How may the school be advertised?
+
+What are some advantages in a personal invitation?
+
+What plans for the visitation of the field are suggested?
+
+What caution should be given concerning methods of recruiting the Sunday
+school?
+
+
+XVII. THE TESTS OF A GOOD SUNDAY SCHOOL
+
+BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
+
+  1. =Rep. Char.=
+  2. =Org.=
+  3. =Ord.=
+  4. =Sp.=
+  5. =Edu. Eff.=
+  6. =Char.-buil.=
+
+
+REVIEW QUESTIONS
+
+What is meant in the title of this chapter?
+
+How many tests or criterions are here named?
+
+What are these tests?
+
+What is meant by the representative character of a Sunday school?
+
+Why is organization necessary to constitute a good school?
+
+What is included in a graded school?
+
+To what extent is order a requisite?
+
+How may the demand for order be carried to excess?
+
+What is "spirit" in a Sunday school?
+
+What constitutes efficiency in Sunday-school work?
+
+For what purpose is the teaching and work of the Sunday school?
+
+What is included in the building of a character, as an aim of the Sunday
+school?
+
+How should these tests or traits be viewed?
+
+What illustrative passage is given from the New Testament?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+Text uses both Sunday School and Sunday-School.
+
+Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
+
+Page 71, "5" changed to "6" (6. =Duties.=)
+
+Page 85, "useles" changed to "useless" (useless in the Sunday-School)
+
+Page 109, "(1)" changed to "(2)" ((2) _As a Friend._)
+
+Page 147, "be" changed to "he" (should he present them)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Organizing and Building Up the Sunday
+School, by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #35050 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35050)