'-.'■;' ■ ; ■ i i. hePrleseul^t. vS' 'idavScbooP -:r LAnrmm".-: ' P 'E' BURROUGHS - OOT 4 1917 BV 1520 .B8 1917 Burroughs, Prince Emanuel, 1871-1948. The present-day Sunday school The Present-Day Sunday SchooVv^"''' '''^ ^ i OCT 4 1917 Studies in Its Organization \^f/ , ^ and Management ^'^^^l^ffM Vi^ By P. E. BURROUGHS, D.D. Author of**Win7nng to Christ — A Study in Evangelism t** *'Old Testament Studies —A Class Book;' etc. New York Chicago Toronto Fleming H. Revell Company London and Edinburgh Copyright, 19 1 7, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY New York: 158 Fifth Avenue Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W. London : 2 1 Paternoster Square Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street Introductory. THERE IS no more spiritually hopeful phase of the work of the Kingdom during the last few years than the noteworthy advance in interest and efficiency in the Sunday School. For several generations the Sunday School has suffered because of inefficient organization, inefficient grading, and inefficient teaching. Par- ticularly has it suffered from lack of intelligent and skillful pastoral leadership. The Sunday School Board has done much to advance the movement toward greater efficiency in teaching, and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary which inaugurated a lectureship on the Sunday School, and afterwards a chair in the Seminary curriculum, has done much toward the training and equipment of pastors. The ideal of the Sunday School and Sunday School efficiency has undergone a great transformation. There has arisen a demand in every quarter for better methods and more effective work. The Sunday School without proper organization and without high teaching ideals is coming rapidly into dis- repute, and pastors who take little interest in the Sunday School are failing to achieve the highest results possible to them. Introductory. The volume before us, written by Rev. Prince E. Burroughs, enters the field of Sunday School activity at a most opportune time. Dr. Burroughs has studied the Sunday School at close range. He has had a thorough pastoral ex- perience in teaching, not only in the Sunday School but in teaching the leaders. He has a fine sense of the value and importance of organ- ization and system. He has presented to us in the pages which follow an admirable study of the whole range of Sunday School organization. The book ought to be in the hands of every pastor and every superintendent and every Sunday School teacher and worker. Many have had a partial view of the requirements in Sun- day School work. An increasing number have mastered the problem, and a much greater number have had a longing for efficiency which they have been unable to acquire. The discussion given by Dr. Burroughs will go a long way toward supplying them with the treatment of the various phases of the Sunday School which they need. I rejoice that he has written the book and believe it will have a career of great use- fulness. Louisville, Ky. E. Y. Mullins. Preface "^HE chapters in this book have grown out of a series of lectures and studies originally prepared for the students in Sunday-School Pedagogy in the Southern Baptist Theological Semi- nary, Louisville, Kentucky. The chair of Sunday- School Pedagogy was temporarily vacant during the session, 19 14- 191 5, and the writer was asked by the president and faculty to lead the class in one quar- ter's work, the quarter in which Sunday-school or- ganization with its related subjects was to be studied. , Whatever contribution the leader may have made to that group of elect students numbering more than one hundred men and women, they made to him far larger contribution and brought him under an en- during sense of obligation. Growing out of that study and experience, the whole question of modern graded organization came to possess an added in- terest. Realizing that right principles of manage- ment and proper methods and plans of organization constitute the basis of success in the high spiritual mission of the Sunday school, the writer has pursued further studies in these lines, by practical observation of successful Sunday-school work in various parts of the country, by conferences with workers in many states, and by the reading of some of the valuable literature issuing from the press in ever-increasing abundance. This book is the result. The tendency of the day and the demand of Sunday-school workers is in the direction of special- Preface ized treatment. We ask for books which treat the special segment of the Sunday school in which we are working, which deal with the immediate problems which we face in our special sphere. The writer hails this tendency with joy and recognizes in it one of the marks of the new educational day. While we thus emphasize and develop special tasks and separate departments, we yet do well to maintain with care the integrity and unity of the school as a whole. The writer beheves that there will always be a place and a mission for the treatment which gives such survey of the general organization of the school as will enable every worker to see the work of other workers in right perspective, and as will make possible an adequate and intelligent conception of the problems and work of the school in the wide sweep of its service. The books listed as " References " at the close of various chapters are selected from among many as being of special value to the student or the general reader. The books cited are, of course, written by authors who occupy various view-points and the books are mentioned only because they treat helpfully the particular subject under discussion. It is a pleasure to acknowledge indebtedness to books and workers, especially my own associates, even beyond such recognition as it has seemed possible to make in these pages. Special mention must be made of the helpful service of Dr. B. W. Spilman and Professors L. P. Leavell and J. M. Price, who read the book in manuscript and made valued suggestions. P. E. B. Nashvilhy Tenn, Contents Introductory Studies I. A Proper Rating for the Sunday School ii IL A Proper Designation . . .21 Studies in Grading III. Grading the Sunday School . . 28 IV. Problems of Grading . , * 38 V. Some Advantages in Grading . 47 Studies in the Departments VI. The Cradle Roll . VII. The Beginners' Department . VIII. The Primary Department IX. The Junior Department . X. The Intermediate Department XI. The Senior Department XII. The Adult Department . XIIL The Home Department . * 55 e 64 • 73 . 84 . 100 • 113 . 129 . 139 Contents Studies in Administration XIV. The Pastor in the Sunday School 145 XV. Officers of the Sunday School . 154 XVI. The Training of Teachers . .165 XVII. The Organized Bible Class . .174 XVIII. Holding and Recruiting Pupils . 185 XIX. Sunday-School Architecture . 195 XX. Missions in the Sunday School . 207 Introductory Studies A PROPER RATING FOR THE SUNDAY SCHOOL A FIRST problem which we face in dealing with the Sunday school concerns its place in the general educational program. How shall we estimate the Sunday school ? What rating shall we give it ? How does it rank among the forces and agencies which make for moral and religious progress ? The answer which we give to these ques- tions will have its bearing upon all questions and policies in Sunday-school work. When, a while ago, one of the great modern Sun- day-school publishing houses was being organized and launched the question arose as to what should be the name of the new institution. When it was suggested that the nam.e should be '• Sunday-School Board," there was an arching of brows and a signif- icant shrugging of shoulders. It was plainly asserted that the Sunday school had not attained such stand« ing in the educational world or such dignity among kindred institutions as to justify the proposed project in bearing its name. Would it not minify the new movement to have it bear the name of the Sunday school ? The wise men who had the movement in II 12 The Present- Day Sunday School hand promptly replied that if such was the attitude of the public mind towards the Sunday school, if such was the popular estimate of the Sunday school, there was need of a reckoning and a new appraise- ment. Hence they named the new institution the Sunday-School Board. This Board has become an institution of commanding influence and power and as forecast in the thought of its founders has made substantial contribution to the new estimate of the Sunday school which more and more marks the thinking of the present time. When the first chair of Sunday-School Pedagogy established in a theological seminary in this country was in contemplation, the question naturally arose as to its proper designation. It was gravely suggested that to use the phrase Sunday school in connection with the proposed chair would put it at some disad- vantage in contrast with the chair of Theology or Homiletics or other chairs. The far-seeing men who were arranging for the new chair declared that if such was the estimate of the young preachers coming up from our churches and such their attitude towards the Sunday school, something was seriously wrong. And so the chair was styled the chair of Sunday- School Pedagogy. These incidents fairly open to us the question which we face, what rating shall we give to the Sunday school? Is it essentially a big institution or a little one? We can only indicate in outline the answer to these questions. We may consider first the light shed on this ques- Introductory Studies 13 tion by the membership enrolled in the Sunday school. Certainly we would lay no undue emphasis upon numbers here or elsewhere. But any school may feel pride in its enrollment and the number of adherents upon whose support any institution may reckon is a factor in its proper appraising. According to the best available information, fifteen millions of people, in round numbers, are enrolled in Sunday-school membership in this country. Accus- tomed as we are coming to be to immense numbers, these figures are difficult to grasp in their real signifi- cance. Fifteen millions in the Sunday-school army of this country alone ! And under normal conditions upwards of twelve millions are enrolled in the Sunday school in other parts of the earth. A grand total of 28,701,489 in the Sunday schools of the world! The Sunday-school army is larger than the armies of the Entente Allies or of the Central Powers in the great European war. Three hundred thousand Sunday schools, with more than two and a half millions of teachers ! And this immense enrollment consists not simply of children. It is estimated that within ten years the organized adult class movement has brought a million and a half men and women into the Sunday school. With the modern attitude towards the child and the modern view of the value of the child, we will hardly reckon the presence of the adult in the Sunday school as of more consequence than the presence of the child. But it does add something to the dignity of the Sunday school to recall that unnumbered thou- 14 The Present-Day Sunday School sands of men and women in all walks of life think it worth while to attend this school. It has been asserted with some confidence that more people attend this teaching service of the church than attend the preaching service. It would of course be impossible to verify such statement. In some quarters it would be instantly accepted as true, while in other quarters it would be immediately chal- lenged. So be it; the fact that approximately as many people sit at the feet of the teachers as wait upon the ministry of the preachers is an all but start- ling fact. Practically within a century the Sunday school has grown from the most meager beginnings to an insti- tution held in honor by all men, attended by thirty millions of people, served by upwards of three millions of men and women and numbering a constituency practically as large as the combined congregations of all the preachers in the world. The numbers enrolled, indicating the far-reach of Sunday-school power, do not constitute the chief basis of our estimate of the place of this institution, but such numbers must be taken into account in our final reckoning. We may get a further hint as to the dignity of the modern Sunday school by considering the immense publishing interests which have been created by the Sunday school to meet its own demands. Among all the larger denominations throughout this and other countries, the Sunday school has produced pub- lishing houses of commanding proportions and of Introductory Studies 1 j* vast commercial strength. The writer is thinking of one such pubhshing house which began a few dec- ades ago with scant resources and which, measured by its income-making power, is now reckoned well into the millions of dollars. This one case can be in a measure duplicated in many sections. In Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Dayton, Richmond, Cin- cinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville, and other centers, these publishing interests set to serve the Sunday school are to be found. While hundreds of thousands and even milHons have been contributed to Christian colleges and seminaries, these vast publi- cation interests have for the most part grown without appeals for gifts, relying almost wholly on the patron- age of the Sunday schools. Here again we would not lay undue stress, but the coming of these vast commercial interests to buttress the Sunday-school cause and their production by the Sunday schools must count as an element in reckon- ing the place of the modern Sunday school. Closely connected with the above consideration is the body of literature which is being annually pro- duced for the Sunday school. It is estimated that the papers distributed in the Sunday schools have a wider circulation and reach more people than the combined weekly denominational press of the country. The Advanced Quarterly issued for the schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church has reached a circula- tion of more than a million. A similar periodical issued by the Sunday-School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention has a circulation of 600,000. This l6 The Present-Day Sunday School will serve to give some idea of the amount of litera- ture which is being produced for the Sunday school. Bishop James Atkins of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, recently declared that if the literature distributed during the past five years in the Sunday schools of this country were bound in i2mo. volumes and placed side by side in usual library fashion the shelf required would reach from Nashville, Tennessee, to New York City. Seventeen denominational and four independent publishers in the United States and Canada report a total annual circulation of 348,- 149,040 copies of periodical literature. In addition to the above, it is estimated that 5,000,000 copies of text-books dealing with the International Graded Lessons have been issued. An institution which produces literature of such quantity, and we may add of such quality, and dis- seminates that literature among the most plastic and receptive people in the land is not to be lightly regarded. The place and power of the Sunday school may also be seen in its influence on the distribution of the Bible. When the Sunday school was slowly finding its way under the leadership of Robert Raikes and others in England during the latter part of the eighteenth century, a small but powerful coterie of scoffers residing principally in Paris, France, were laying plans for a final onslaught on the old Book. They would discredit and utterly destroy the Bible. Voltaire, their leader, declared with superb confidence that within one century the Bible would be an extinct Introductory Studies 17 book ; men would read the musty old volume as they read ancient Latin and Greek literature in order to study the outworn and outgrown ideas and theories of ancient religionists. These scoffers knew not that even in their own day an institution was coming into being which would help to belie their prophecies and thwart their plans. The proposed century has passed. Is the Bible extinct? During the century in which the Bible was to die, two Bible societies alone, the British and For- eign Bible Society and the American Bible Society, printed 400,000,000 copies of the Scriptures. These two societies alone printed enough Bibles to furnish one to every family among the sixteen hundred mil- lions of the earth. During the year 19 15, a year un- favorable to Bible distribution because nearly half of the world was at war, these two societies produced twenty-one millions of copies of the Bible. The American Bible Society is said to be six months be- hind with its orders for Bibles. The Gideons have placed 340,000 Bibles in the guest rooms of American hotels. The Bible is to-day away and beyond the "best seller." Rev. W. J. McGlothhn, LL. D., Professor of Church History in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, gives it as his opinion that more Bibles were sent out during any one month in the year 191 5 than were pro- duced during the first fifteen centuries of the Chris- tian Era. These figures which indicate the remarkable spread of the Bible in our day only faintly indicate the power l8 The Present-Day Sunday-School wielded by the old Book on the commercial, civic, and religious life of the world. No undue claim is made here, as none needs to be made, for the Sunday school as an agency in this won- derful development. The Sunday school has beeu both the cause and the effect of this movement for Bible study. But he would be bhnd indeed who could not see that a chief element in this development is the modern Sunday school. A consideration of the place which the Sunday school holds in our modern educational system will aid us in getting a proper estimate of its place in the life of our day. By gradual processes the educational plans of our people have shifted. In our free democ- racy and because of the genius of our institutions it is not possible for state schools to teach the Bible in any real way. Our plea must be for religious teach- ers rather than for teachers of religion in our state- owned schools. The Bible may be read, and many contend that, under proper conditions and with proper limitations, it should be read, in our state schools. Surely none can seriously contend that the Bible shall be taught as a text-book in such schools. The com- plex conditions and organization of our modern Hfe render it difficult, if not impracticable, for the average home to impart systematic and continuous instruction in the Bible. The religious home will keep the Bible in the center and read it at the family altar, but it can hardly be expected to teach worthy educational courses in the Bible. If then the Bible is not to be taught in the public school, and if the home cannot Introductory Studies 19 well cany the burden of Bible teaching, this vast responsibility is left largely to the Sunday school. In the temple of popular education the Sunday school is a chief pillar. In the relation which the Sunday school sustains to the church, in the contribution which the Sunday school makes not only to the well-being, but the very existence, of the church, we may get a further view of its real significance. We are told, and told so often that most of us have come to believe it, that some eighty-five per cent, of our church members come out of the Sunday school. It would probably be difficult to verify such figures, and yet every ob- serving person must know that they represent a sub- stantial and altogether vital fact. A denominational leader, now a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, puts it thus : " If the Sunday school were to go out of business my church would be cut in half in fifteen years ; in thirty years my church would be practically dead." While we have sought to give some tangible evi- dences of the power of the Sunday school, we are aware that the best evidences of such power are not tangible and can never be set down in figures. This institution lifts hundreds of thousands of souls up into the presence of God each Sabbath day. The light and warmth of sacred worship and Scripture truth kindle hearts, and these thousands face the duties and service of the days which follow with more strength, fuller confidence, and higher motives. Un- counted thousands of men and women who no longer 20 The Present-Day Sunday School attend this school, and perhaps never will do so again, live upon a higher plane, love more and serve better, because in other and plastic years they went to Sun- day school. References : Frost, ** The School of the Church — Its Preeminent Place and Purpose." %\,\^. Cope, " The Modern Sunday School and Its Present-Day Task "(Chapter I). ^1.15. n A PROPER DESIGNATION THE Sunday school is a many-sided institu- tion, and renders such varied service, there can be little wonder that it has been diffi- cult to agree upon a designation for it which can be generally accepted. In late years there has been marked disposition to discuss this question of a proper designation and the tendency seems to be towards divergence rather than towards unity of view. The designations most commonly urged for use in connection with this institution for the religious in- struction of our people are five in number : The Sun- day School ; The Bible School ; The Church School ; The Teaching Service of the Church ; and The School of Religion. The earliest and most widely accepted designation is " Sunday School." In the days of Robert Raikes and other early founders, this school was significantly called the " Sunday school." It met on Sunday and was doubtless the only school of any consequence which did so. Institutions frequently get their names from some immediate condition or attending circum- stance. They frequently outgrow their early desig- nations and many institutions carry names which are manifestly inadequate. It is but true to say, how- ever, that there is frequently a fine accuracy in the 21 22 The Present-Day Sunday School apparently chance appellations which grow into use, and that such appellations often manifest remarkable persistency. Sunday, as the day on which the school meets, as the day which symbolizes the central thought of revelation and redemption, Sunday, the day which supplanted the Hebrew Sabbath, the day on which our Lord rose from the dead, Sunday, lends itself to distinguish this school from other schools. As it was in the earlier years, so it is still, the school is the *' Sunday " school and is yet the only school of con- sequence which meets exclusively on that day. Verily, ours is the Sunday school. It deals with the things which, while they concern all the days, yet are divinely meant to find special emphasis on Sun- day, " the first day of the week." Like the day whose name it bears, this school concerns itself with God and with His inspired Word, with the things which, having preeminence on this first day of the week, pour their influence and power down through all the days of the week. The phrase Sunday school accomplishes one end for which all names should be given ; it does effectu- ally distinguish this school from other schools. No one is in doubt as to what institution is intended when he hears concerning the Sunday school. Only one institution in the world can be meant by this designation. This title has persisted for more than a hundred years and has attained such wide use that it will be difificult to supplant it. While the phrase does effectually distinguish our school from others, Introductory Studies 23 it does not adequately describe its nature and mission. No one would claim that it is entirely satisfactory or sufficiently comprehensive. Those who use this designation, and doubtless those who would incline to advocate its use, are ready to grant its inadequacy. The designation, " Bible School," has much in its favor and has naturally found earnest advocacy. In this case the name of the text- book rather than the day of meeting lends itself to distinguish this school from other schools. Is this phrase altogether adequate? We do, in- deed, teach the Bible and are more than content that the Bible shall be our only text-book. But do we not do more than teach the Bible, and do we not teach more than the Bible in order to really teach the Bible ? The authoritative and original teaching of Jesus can hardly be altogether imitated by His present-day followers, but it may at least be suggestive as to what is to be expected in the school of His church. At the close of His career, His pupils may or may not have known much more of Scripture facts and history than when He began His teaching. An ordinary examination or test might not have disclosed any marked increase in Scripture knowledge. His effort was to interpret God in the Scriptures rather than simply to teach the Scriptures. He loved and taught truth as He found it in the Scriptures — He led men afield for the discovery of truth, using the Scriptures as source-book, and finding truth hidden away in all realms of nature and life. While His pupils indeed 24 The Present- Day Sunday School may not have known much more Scripture than when He began to teach them, they did know the Scriptures more deeply and more luminously. Jesus led them to the Scriptures for a knowledge of the truth and He also led them to the Scriptures for illustration and enforcement of the truth. A lover of truth, a discoverer of truth, a teacher of truth, our Lord cited the Scriptures to prove and illustrate the truth, but was careful in the end to rest His plea not only on His own authority, not only on the authority of the Book, but also on the appeal of the truth it- self. Is it not the end of our school to teach truth, to teach religion, to bring to a vital and saving knowl- edge of God in Christ, while we teach the Bible as the means of accomplishing these ends ? May we not be in a way faithful and persistent in teaching the Bible, and yet fail to teach the deep-down truth which lies far beneath the surface, the truth which has in it the breath of life ? While our school is in- deed a Bible School, it is much more. It has been suggested that " Bible School " does not immediately and sharply distinguish our school from other schools ; that there are other Bible schools, other educational institutions in which the Bible is the supreme text-book ; that some of these bear the name " Bible School" while others have distinctive designations of their own. The suggestion may have some weight, but it must be conceded that when the church school is called the Bible school, th^rQ is little probability in these days that one's Introductory Studies 25 meaning will fail to be clear. The church school is now the one outstanding institution which exists ex- clusively for the teaching of the Bible. Efforts have not been wanting to place other literature in the curriculum of the school alongside of, if not on a par with, the Bible. The designation, " Bible School," is a challenge to every such effort and a standing plea for the Bible as the supreme and ex- clusive text-book in this church school. " The Church School " or " The School of the Church " is a happy descriptive phrase and at first was perhaps not intended to be more. But the designation is so satisfactory and so comprehensively defines the nature and mission of the school that it has come to enjoy increasing favor. Here, not the day of meeting nor yet the text-book, but the church as the source of authority lends itself to distinguish the school. The Northern Baptist Convention has passed resolutions recommending its use and there are signs that it may come into more general favor. Ours is the school which is the chief agency of the Christian church in carrying on its work of teaching. It finds its authority, its message, its support, and its ultimate end in teaching in the realms of the church. Certainly the school may exist apart from any given organized church ; it may precede the church and later lead to the establishment of the church ; but in essence and fact our school is, under any conditions, properly the school of the church. Its ultimate aim is broadly to instruct in the things which stand central in the idea of the church. The nature of the 26 The Present-Day Sunday School obligations thus imposed on the school and the fruitage which it may properly be expected to bear are discussed with rare insight and marked helpful- ness in the book, " The School of the Church/' by Rev. J. M. Frost, LL. D. The phrase, " Teaching Service," is hkewise advo- cated as descriptive rather than as a name. It is a happy description of our school, setting it out as in some sense coordinate with the service for preaching which has had so large relative emphasis. Our school is the service of the church in which teaching is es- pecially emphasized as over against the preaching service in which the preaching of the Word is magni- fied, or the prayer-meeting which is distinctively a service of prayer. The school is not to be regarded as an adjunct or merely as an activity of the church. It is the church engaged in the high service of teaching the Word of God. " The School of Religion " is advocated in certain quarters as a proper designation for our institution. The Union Theological Seminary in New York City conducts a special model Sunday school which serves the Seminary Community and which offers training for prospective workers. This school is called " The School of Religion." This is a significant and com- prehensive designation for our school whose mission is to develop the deep and varied elements of the re- ligious life. Being a school of religion and dealing with the finer elements of the spiritual life, this school stands distinct from other schools in its mission, its nature, and its methods. Introductory Studies 27 Other titles have been urged and yet others will be urged. This growing concern as regards the desig- nation is only one of the many indications that this school is being taken more and more seriously. It is noteworthy that in all of these designations the idea of ** school " somehow appears. Whatever else the Sunday school may be, it is basally and pri- marily a school. However widely it may differ in spirit and method from other schools, it is yet a school. It is set to teach and train in the realm of the soul. It may achieve abundant success in its highest ends without making marked contribution to mental or intellectual life. This school has suffered much at the hands of workers who, failing to grasp these basal distinctions between this and other schools, have hastened indiscriminately to introduce into this school plans and methods which have been success- fully used in other schools. Happy the Sunday- school worker who, in the midst of the rush and whirl which so largely mark all the life of our day, has strength and grace quietly to sift the chaff from the wheat, to separate between the methods which may properly serve in the church school and those which are useful only in other institutions. Studies in Grading III GRADING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL APPILY, it seems no longer necessary to make lengthened argument in favor of grading the Sunday school. Grading is a law of education. God has graded our pupils for us and we merely discover and fall in with the lines which God has drawn. Grading in the Sunday school is no longer a theory. It is no longer an experiment. It has been thoroughly tested in widely different sec- tions and under many conditions. Some rules which have been laid down in connection with grading have proven unwise, some methods which have been pro- posed have not been practicable, but grading itself stands out in clear hght as a demonstrated educa- tional law and as an essential in the best Sunday- school efforts. While the modern movement for grading had its beginnings many decades ago, it is only within the past twenty years that serious efforts have been made to introduce grading practically and generally into the Sunday school. The Sunday school is, in the nature of the case, a conservative institution. It moves, and probably ought to move, slowly in mak- 28 Studies in Grading 29 ing changes. The transition time when the school is passing from the old order to the new, from types of organization which had been in vogue for a cen- tury to a new order of organization, and from the Uniform to the Graded Lessons, is necessarily a some- what difficult and trying time. Grading in the Sunday school implies (i) graded pupils, (2) graded lessons, (3) graded teachers, (4) graded worship, and (5) regular promotion. Pupils must be grouped in classes according to their need, their capacity, and their development ; lessons adapted to meet the growing needs of these class groups must be selected ; teachers especially trained to deal with the groups must be chosen and trained ; even the worship must be graded to meet the varying needs of unfolding hfe ; while regular promotion of course is essential. It will be readily seen that grading in this broad sense involves a wide and varied development and calls for a program which will require both time and patience for its full fruition. The superintendent and workers who grade their school on Sunday and expect to see fruits from the grading the next Sun- day will probably see fruits of various kinds, but they will hardly see the ripened educational fruits which they ought to be seeking. The generally approved plans for organization fol- low closely the natural divisions of human life and fall in with established plans in general education. The Elementary Division (Birth to twelve). The Secondary Division (Thirteen to twenty). The Adult Division (Twenty-one and up). 30 The Present- Day Sunday School Nature leads in bringing to maturity through two well-recognized stages of growth, childhood and ado- lescence. The Elementary Division of the Sunday school embraces all the years of childhood. The Secondary Division, corresponding to what in usual educational nomenclature is called Secondary Educa- tion as conducted in the High School and Academy embraces the years from thirteen to twenty. The Adult Division, as the name indicates, embraces the adults of the Sunday school. The Elementary Division embraces four Depart- ments : The Cradle Roll (Birth to three). The Beginners' Department (Four and five). The Primary Department (Six to eight). The Junior Department (Nine to twelve). The Cradle Roll consists of the little children from birth to three years of age who cannot attend the ses- sions of the school. Their names are appropriately exhibited on the Sunday-school wall. The children are remembered on their birthdays and at other suita- ble times. They should be especially remembered at Christmas in any distribution of gifts, and in connec- tion with sickness or other crucial seasons. The writer recalls one signal instance in which Cradle Roll workers brought a young father and mother to Christ and to church membership. This has been done times without number. He must be blind indeed who does not see what a varied and blessed ministry is possible during these early years. Full leaflet litera- Studies in Grading 31 ture on the Cradle Roll may be secured from the de- nominational publishing houses. The Beginners' Department includes the children four and five years of age. These do not read ; they do not attend school ; they have much in common, and can be conv^eniently grouped by themselves. The Primary Department includes children from six to eight years of age. There seem to be good reasons for grouping these ages together. Now the children go to school ; they have some touch with the outside world ; they are learning to read and can perform tasks assigned. The Junior Department comprises boys and girls from nine to twelve years of age. It is not difficult to see why these ages are grouped together and why boys and girls of this age constitute a somewhat dis- tinct department for management and teaching. The Secondary Division embraces two Depart- ments : * The Intermediate Department (Thirteen to six- teen). The Senior Department (Seventeen to twenty). The Intermediate Department embraces young people from thirteen to sixteen years of age, or the early adolescent period. Students of young life are not altogether agreed as to the proper age divisions 1 We follow throughout this book the age lines which have been generally accepted. There are Sunday-school workers who urge that a more natural division of pupils would call for departments somewhat as follows: Intermediate 12 to 14; Senior 15 to I'J ; Young People 18 to 2^; Adult 24 up. 32 The Present-Day Sunday School here, but for practical purposes and because the divi- sions as outlined are becoming fixed in the minds of Sunday-school workers and cast in Sunday-school literature, it will probably be necessary to let the divisions stand as they have stood for many years. The Senior Department includes young men and women from seventeen to twenty years of age. The last named age limit must be kept flexible, and promotion from this department to the Adult De- partment must be skillfully arranged. The Adult Division, which corresponds to the Adult Department, includes all ages from twenty-one up. This, in recent years, has become a notable feature of Sunday-school work. Men and women into many thousands have been brought into organ- ized classes, thus increasing Sunday-school attend- ance and widening Sunday-school influence. The Home Department includes all who cannot, or will not, attend Sunday school. These will in- clude the shut-ins and those who may be compelled to labor on Sunday. The modern Sunday school is pressing this idea of extension work in many ways — classes have their Home Department roll, depart- ments have such a roll — but it seems probable that no other method or plan will effectually supplant the now time-honored Home Department of the Sunday school. Leaflet literature may be secured on applica- tion to any of the denominational publishing houses. In accordance with the above, the usually accepted outline of Sunday-school organization stands as fol- lows ; Studies in Grading 33 The Elementary Division (Birth to twelve) : The Cradle Roll (Birth to three). The Beginners' Department (Four and five). The Primary Department (Six to eight). The Junior Department (Nme to twelve). The Secondary Division (Thirteen to twenty) : The Intermediate Department (Thirteen to sixteen). The Senior Department (Seventeen to twenty). The Advanced Division (Twenty-one and up) : The Adult Department. The Home Department. These Divisions and Departments may be thus set forth : ' Birth to 12 13 to 20 21 and upward Elementary Secondary Adult Cradle Roll . . .0-3 Beginners . . . 4-5 Primary .... 6-8 Junior .... 9-12 Intermediate . 13-16 Senior . . . 17-20 Adult .... 2i-up Home Department The full outline of organization by Divisions, De- partments, and Classes or grades would stand some- ivhat as follows : ^ * J. T. Watts, " Convention Adult Bible Classes," page 67. ' See " New Convention Normal Manual," page 19. 34 The Present-Day Sunday School The Elementary Division : Cradle Roll (Birth to three). Beginners' Department — Class I. First Grade — Age 4. Class 2. Second Grade — Age 5. Primary Department: Class 3. First Grade — Age 6. Class 4. Second Grade — Age 7. Class 5. Third Grade — Age 8. Junior Department : Class 6. First Grade Boys — Age 9. Class 7. First Grade Girls — Age 9. Class 8. Second Grade Boys — Age 10. Class 9. Second Grade Girls — Age 10. Class 10. Third Grade Boys — Age 1 1. Class II. Third Grade Girls — Age II. Class 12. Fourth Grade Boys — Age 12. Class 13. Fourth Grade Girls — Age 12. The Secondary Division : The Intermediate Department — Class 14. First Grade Boys — Age 13. Class 15. First Grade Girls — Age 13. Class 16. Second Grade Boys — Age 14. Class 17. Second Grade Girls — Age 14. Class 18. Third Grade Boys — Age 15. Class 19. Third Grade Girls — Age 15. Class 20. Fourth Grade Boys — Age 16. Class 21. Fourth Grade Girls — Age 16. The Senior Department : Class 22. Young Men. Class 23. Young Women. (More classes as needed.) The Advanced Division : The Adult Department — Class 24. Men. Studies in Grading 35 Class 25. Women. Class 26. Men and Women. (More classes as needed.) The Home Department. (As many classes as may be needed.) The above schedule does not accurately reflect the number of classes in the school fully graded by years. In the Beginners' Department only two classes are suggested, and only three in the Primary Depart- ment. In a school large enough to justify eight classes in the Junior, and eight in the Intermediate Department, the Beginners' and Primary Departments should have at least four and six classes respectively. For small schools the above schedule is, of course, impracticable. Such schools may require some modification of the following outline : Class I. Beginners — Ages 4 and 5. Class 2. Primary — Ages 6, 7, 8. Class 3. Junior Boys — Ages 9, 10, 1 1, 12. Class 4. Junior Girls — Ages 9, 10, 1 1, 12. Class 5. Intermediate Boys — Ages 13, 14, 15, 16. Class 6. Intermediate Girls — Ages 13, 14, 15, 16. Class 7. Senior Boys — Ages 17, 18, 19, 20. Class 8. Senior Girls — Ages 17, 18, 19, 20. Class 9. Adult — Ages 21, up. If the school is very small, the following plan may be practicable : Class I. Beginners — Ages 4, 5. Class 2. Primary — Ages 6, 7, 8. Class 3. Junior — Ages 9, 10, 11, 12. Class 4. Intermediate — Ages 13, 14, 15, 16. 3^ The Present-Day Sunday School Class 5. Senior — Ages 17 to 20. Class 6. Adult — Ages 21 and up. The essential principles involved in grading are not new. Before the time of our Lord the Jewish synagogue placed its pupils according to the stage they had attained in unfolding development, and sought to select Scriptural material suited to each stage. From the beginning of the Sunday-school movement, it has been customary to group pupils somewhat in accordance with their age and develop- ment. Grading, as now advocated, seeks some im- portant changes in plans long used. (i) It offers a definite basis for grouping pupils. General principles are reduced to rules in order that they may be readily applied. (2) It makes definite plans for promotion, or the passing of pupils up as they advance in years. (3) It provides for departments and divisions which facilitate the proper management and develop- ment of the school. (4) It paves the way for graded or adapted in- struction and for graded teachers who may specialize in the teaching of special ages. Properly understood, therefore, grading is not a revolution, but a natural evolution, a working out of principles and plans which, from the beginning, have been in some measure recognized in Sunday-school plans and work. Studies in Grading 3^^ References : Beauchamp, *' The Graded Sunday School." 50 cents. Hurlbut, " Seven Graded Sunday Schools." (This little book, issued in 1893, comprises a series of practical papers telling of** Seven Graded Sunday Schools." The book sheds interesting light on the early development of grading in the Sunday school.) 50 cents. Meyer, ** The Graded Sunday School in Principle and Prac- tice." 75 cents. Cope, ** The Modern Sunday School and Its Present Day Task." %\.\^. Spilman, '* The New Convention Normal Manual " (Di- vision I). 50 cents. T IV PROBLEMS OF GRADING What is the proper basis for grading ? f g ^HE object of grading is partly to place our pupils in convenient and congenial groups for teaching and partly to secure graded steps so that they may be taught in concentric circles as they advance towards maturity. This object of grading must be kept in mind as we come to con- sider the basis upon which we shall grade. In the earlier history of the Graded Sunday school, when the question of the basis of grading was yet undetermined, two methods were earnestly advocated, the grade in the public school and the age. There were evident difficulties involved in using, as a basis for grading, the pupil's public school grade. Apart from other more serious considerations, large num- bers of children leave the public school early, and hence have no public school grade. Gradually the age basis grew in favor until it has been generally accepted as the most convenient and practicable standard for the classifying of pupils. The Sunday school does not concern itself primarily with the intellect, and intellectual standards can hardly guide us here. Age is the best general clue to the child's 38 Studies in Grading 39 spiritual need and development. The age test is easily applied. This basis has been all but univer- sally adopted in this and other countries. The question was once discussed with some inter- est as to whether and when exceptions should be made in grading on the age basis. The question has proven to be academic rather than practical. The question of exceptions must, after all, be determined locally. Mr. M. S. Littlefield well insists that the class groups shall be so formed as to make social units. In grading the pupils he would take account both of age and of day-school standing. " If the pupil is older than his day-school age would indicate, his age may be made the basis of grading in the Sunday school. If the pupil is younger than those in his grade in the day school, he should always be placed in the corresponding grade in the Sunday school." It has been also suggested that physical develop- ment may be taken into account in grading as well as age and attainment. A practical observer declares that boys too tall for their age drop out when classi- fied by age and that girls too small for their age drop out when classified by size. Some large schools have found it possible to make special provision in additional classes for pupils which may not properly be graded on the age basis. How shall we grade the school ? Two methods have been advocated : to grade the school gradually and through a period of years, and to grade it all in one day. 40 The Present-Day Sunday School There are those who urge that the school would best be graded by a gradual process so as not to dis- turb its spiritual life and work. They would grade the lower departments ; they would carefully promote all pupils once a year, and they would take pains to assign all new pupils to their proper grades. It will be seen that these plans, faithfully pursued, will ulti- mately produce a graded school. This plan would naturally be favored by more conservative workers and would require for its successful use a firm and continuous administration. A more practical method, and one which seems to meet with wider favor, is to break all the old lines of organization at one sitting of the school, and grade the pupils by ages into departments and classes, as is elsewhere outlined in this book. This plan may not be really so sudden as it would seem. If it is to be successfully carried out, faithful preparation must be made. So far as possible the whole school com- munity, pupils as well as teachers, should understand what is proposed. Difficulties and objections should be dealt with and removed in advance. There is an interesting and well-verified story of a specialist who, without this needed preparation, came in and thoroughly graded a Sunday school after the most approved modern fashion. The next Sunday morning when the superintendent announced that the classes would go to their places, there was an awkward pause, a bit of hesitation, and — the classes, ignoring the new ordering of the previous Sunday, went " to their accustomed places." This is an ex- Studies in Grading 41 treme case, but it is to be feared that something akin to this has occurred all too often. Havoc may be wrought and harm immeasurable by heedless haste in the introduction of modern methods into the Sunday school. Caution may be thrown to the winds, reverence for the deep-set feel- ings of plain and earnest men and women may be forgotten, and types of organization may be hur- riedly installed which will be resented by faithful workers. Two men, both pastors for many years, talked to- gether of their long ministry. " My pohcy," said one of them, " has been to think for my people. When I saw that a thing was right and ought to be intro- duced, I proceeded to introduce it." Said the other man, " I have worked a little differently. When I wished to introduce a new method or idea, I laid off a year perhaps, sometimes five years and more, for the task. I mentioned the matter among my people and asked them to think it over and talk about it among themselves. I gave full time for my people to get together and I have never yet sought to pass any measure over the heads of a minority." The first speaker had changed pastorates on an average of once in two and a half years. The last speaker had been for nearly thirty years the honored and increas- ingly useful pastor of a growing church. When full information has been given to all work- ers about the new order, when objections have been fully dealt with and difficulties patiently removed, let the superintendent and his workers grade the school 42 The Present-Day Sunday School on paper. This is indispensable. They will place on paper, tentatively, every officer, every teacher and every pupil. When they have done this with the utmost care, they will probably wish to let matters wait for a season until all have had time to think through and pray over the newly outlined plans. Having graded the school on paper, arranged for every office, grouped every class, and foreseen as nearly as possible every emergency, they will now determine carefully the quarters of each department and the location of each class. Meanwhile the teachers should be instructed as re- gards the nature and use of the graded lessons if these have not been used before. The new lesson material should be in hand and ready for distribution on the day assigned. When all things are thus carefully arranged, the members of the school will, on a given Sunday, be asked to take their places, first, by departments, and then by classes, in the rooms or spaces assigned in advance. The whole process may be so quiet and orderly that a stranger might scarcely observe that anything unusual was happening. The author saw it so done on at least one memorable occasion. When shall we grade the school ? The graded lessons are dated to begin the year with the first Sunday in October. This, for many reasons, is a good time to grade the school. Inas- much as the graded lessons are published in quarterly installments, the school may be graded and the lessons introduced at the first of any quarter, or preferably Studies in Grading 43 the Sunday preceding the opening of the quarter. Whenever the school is graded, the last Sunday in September should be agreed upon as promotion day. How shall the school be kept graded ? This is a vital question. Here frequent difficulties arise in the effort to conduct a graded school. The officers and teachers do not always have a feeling for the grades, or an intelligent and deep-seated convic- tion of the necessity for preserving the grade and department lines. Three things seem to be nec- essary here: (i) New pupils must be assigned to their proper grades ; (2) all pupils must be promoted an- nually ; and (3) occasionally the organization must be carefully overhauled and lines clearly drawn be- tween departments and departments and between grades and grades. The superintendent may contribute to the break- ing down of grading in many effective ways. He may ignore the department lines ; he may fail to use graded school terminology ; he may overlook the use of many lessons and, because the adults are studying the Uniform Lessons, he may make those lessons the basis of his program work and of his remarks to the school. The secretary can also help to destroy the grading. He may fail to use graded school termi- nology in his reports ; he may fail to emphasize de- partment Hues in his reports; he may fail to handle the graded lesson material promptly and intelligently. What as to departmental programs and zvorship ? Shall the whole school assemble together for the opening and closing worship, or shall such depart- 4-4 The Present-Day Sunday School meats as have their own rooms conduct their own opening and closing worship? These are difficult questions, and questions upon which there is wide difference of feeling among experienced Sunday- school workers. The author is free to say that there was a time when he favored the policy of having the whole school to assemble for both opening and closing exercises. A chief reason for his position was the feeling that worship in its best development called for an assembly of all the people by families to present themselves before Jehovah. But there is no special call for such assemblage in two services one of which follows the other. During the preaching hour we have just such an assemblage of all the people by families. Possibly the fact that the Sunday school so nearly imitates, in its program, the preaching service, helps to account for the growing disposition of the Sunday-school pupils to absent themselves from the preaching service. There seem to be good reasons, pedagogically and otherwise, for permitting the departments which have their own quarters to conduct their opening and closing worship. This is especially true of the Be- ginners' and Primary Departments. If there is seri- ous question, a happy compromise would be to agree that the departments shall conduct their own closing worship after having been with the main school in the opening session. On special occasions, and very occasionally, the whole school may assemble together for the entire hour. Studies in Grading 45 What as to the teachers' meeting ? With the introduction of the graded lessons, a question arises regarding the old-time teachers' meeting which had as one of its objects the study of the next Sunday's lesson. Where each grade has its own lessons, there is, of course, no common lesson to be studied. Several things may be said in this connection. The point involved is the convenience to the teacher of having a dissertation, or possibly real help, at some hour during the week in preparation for teaching next Sunday. A chief reason for the teacher's need of such help has been in the necessity of teaching lessons which were not adapted to his class. A sufficient answer to the question raised lies in the fact that, with properly selected and adapted lessons, the teacher's difficulty is much lessened and that he can more easily make his own necessary preparation. Imagine, for example, a Beginners' teacher looking to the pastor or some other instructor for help in preparing to teach her little people the lesson on the Baby Moses. Or imagine a Primary teacher depend- ing on some man to help her prepare for her children the lesson on the Child Samuel. The case really reduces itself to this — which should determine the choice of lesson material, the conve- nience of the teachers or the needs of the pupils ? Workers who would place their own convenience before the needs of their growing pupils ought not to be teachers in the Sunday school. Are there not other ways than the study of next Sunday's lesson to 46 The Present-Day Sunday School make the weekly teachers' meeting worth while? Why not spend half of the time in the study of some teacher-training text-book and during the remaining time break up into departmental conferences in which the workers may confer as regards their common problems, or have some one teach the graded lessons by turns ? Where things are really doing in the Sunday school, and workers are facing living prob- lems, it cannot be difficult for the thoughtful pastor and superintendent to devise plans for a profitable weekly meeting of the officers and teachers. There are difficulties and problems involved in conducting a graded school. Time and patience are required in order to adjust to the new regime. Years may elapse before we walk as confidently and comfortably in the new harness as we have walked in that to which we have been long accustomed. Faith- ful care and earnest prayer will be necessary, lest in our thought for details and our attention to new problems we suffer our spiritual ardor to be cooled and lose the keenness of our desire for the best and richest spiritual growth of those intrusted to us. V SOME ADVANTAGES IN GRADING GRADING in the Sunday school is no longer a theory. The principle of grading was so natural, and the plea for grading so conclu- sive, that literally thousands of schools in every part of the land have adopted grading as the method of organization. Thus, grading has been tried under varying con- ditions and for a sufficient length of time for us to be able to determine definitely what results may be expected. We can indicate only a few of these demonstrated results. Grading has helped to solve the problem of order in the Sunday school. Orderliness in arrangement makes for order in deportment. When classes are of proper size and composed of proper groups, and these in turn are so related as to form larger depart- mental groups, the tendency to disorder, once so manifest in our schools and the source of so much distress, is materially diminished. Nor is this a matter of theory. It accords with the witness of practical Sunday-school workers everywhere. Sun- day-school field workers of wide experience observe that, in round-table discussions where teachers and local workers indicate their difficulties, the old ques* 47 48 The Present-Day Sunday School tion, *' How can we keep order ? " is much less frequently asked than formerly. Indeed the question is rarely raised at all by workers in thoroughly graded schools. The better order which we seem now to experience may be partially due to the fact that we have learned that good order and " keeping still " are not neces- sarily one and the same thing. We do not any longer make the impossible request of our little people that they keep still. We purposely plan recreational drills and marches for them. So far from asking or expecting that they shall keep still, we plan for them to move and make noises. Rever- ence and stillness are not necessarily synonymous terms. Ours is a school which deals with lives, and which looks towards normal development, and not towards abnormal repression. But the witness of many workers declares that grading has helped in real ways to solve the problem of order in the Sunday school, and their witness is strengthened by the truism that good organization tends towards good order. Grading has brought enlargement. Certainly, grading our pupils does not automatically increase their number, but grading them does open the way for such increase. This is in line with what we should expect, and is verified by wide Sunday-school experience. Our schools grow by efforts and influences which emanate within them. In a word, present pupils are the best means of securing new pupils. Grading the Studies in Grading 49 school grades and makes definite the efforts for in- creased attendance. •' Everybody bring somebody " was the old and ineffectual method. " Let the Beginners bring Beginners," " Let the Primaries build up their department," is at present the order of the day. A general census reveals the possibilities, and the several departments and classes do the rest. By common agreement, the one outstanding method of securing new pupils for the Sunday school is the religious census followed by departmental and class effort. The really large schools are all graded schools. It is not uncommon to hear of schools which number into the thousands ; indeed it is getting to be almost as common to hear of schools which number into the thousands as it was formerly to hear of schools which numbered into the hundreds. Schools of such large numbers could not be built up without grading, and if it were possible to build them up it would not be possible to manage them with effectiveness. Grading has led to increased equipment. Here again the expected has come to pass. The group- ing of our pupils into departments has led to an in- sistent demand for special departmental rooms. The great Sunday-school buildings, of which we hear on every hand, came as the direct result of grading. While these hnes are being written, there comes news of a Sunday-school house just completed with assembly rooms for each department, with thirty-six special class rooms, with pianos, blackboards, electric bell system, indeed, every modern convenience. 50 The Present-Day Sunday School Such a building ten years ago would have been as impossible as it would have been unnecessary. Grad- ing develops the need for rooms and equipment, grading provides the special pleaders for equipment — it is not too much to say that the modern move- ment for graded organization has opened the way for the remarkable developments in equipment and archi- tecture which mark our modern Sunday-school life. Grading has paved the way for accurate and scien- tific study of pupil-life. Our plans for grading, and the practical working out of these plans in multitudes of schools, has in a powerful way, perhaps not other- wise possible, impressed upon our people the fact that unfolding hfe falls into distinct periods, each of which calls for distinct treatment and special in- struction. The increasing intelligence of parents and teachers concerning these great life periods, concern- ing the differing types of pupil-life, concerning the Bible material suited to meet the needs of the vary- ing life stages, is of inestimable value, and puts Sunday-school work on planes which could hardly have been imagined a few years ago. The workers are now legion who can describe accurately the life periods and who can, with equal accuracy, tell of the Bible teaching which is adapted to each division. They know, or they are beginning to know, how to present this varying Bible material in a way to offer the specially needed spiritual food. It is not difficult to see that grading has made direct and important contribution to this significant development. Grading has paved the way for better teaching. Studies in Grading 51 This has, of course, been hinted at in all that has been said. Better order, enlarged attendance, in- creased equipment, scientific pupil-study, these all can mean but one thing, more and better teaching. Grading has meant the grading of teachers as well as of pupils. Grading the school has opened the way to a study of teachers with a view to determine whether they were rightly placed. Many faithful teachers have failed because they were not rightly fitted into the work. One adapted to Primary work and capable of large usefulness in that department has failed because somehow she has found a place in the Senior Department. A young man who would do excellent work with Junior boys has failed because he was put to teach young men. And thus the story goes. A pastor bears this significant testimony. He knew vaguely that among his teaching force he had many round pegs in square holes. He did not see how the situation could be remedied and his workers rearranged. When the school was graded, the prob- lem was easily solved. The whole question of placing teachers and officers was open. A careful study of the teachers, earnest conferences with them as to their preferences, resulted in such rearrangement of the teaching force as relieved many points of diffi- culty and immensely increased the efficiency of the school. One worker, utterly incompetent and un- suitable as a teacher, became an efficient department secretary. In a word, the workers who had originally taken their places in haphazard fashion were now 52 The Present-Day Sunday School placed with painstaking care. These rearrangements were made in the process of grading and reorganiza- tion, but similar changes can be made with compara- tive ease in any graded school, whereas they might be practically impossible in the old ungraded order. Grading has, of course, made largest contribution to good teaching by opening the way for the use of graded lessons, the selection of Bible material especially adapted to the pupils to be taught. In- deed, the demand for such lessons and such teaching was a prime element in the movement for grading. Many schools have passed on to the exclusive use of graded lessons. A yet larger number of schools use graded lessons in the elementary departments. In the construction of what we have come to know as the Uniform Lessons, the principle of grading is to be more fully recognized and these lessons promise to become in some real sense graded lessons. Grading paves the way and creates demand for the graded workers' library. The Sunday-school library has long been a means of useful service to the com- munity. The type of books supplied has not always been above criticism, though it must be admitted that, in general, the books selected have not been beneath the average of the character and teaching of the schools themselves. The development and growth of public libraries of various kinds has had inevitable bearing on the Sunday-school library. Many of the public libraries, desirous to minister in the largest way to the needs of the whole community, are quite willing to supply books which may be Studies in Grading j'q suggested by pastors, superintendents and teachers. Under proper conditions, the pubUc hbrary may be induced to send suppHes of books at certain intervals to the Sunday school for distribution among its pupils. Whatever may be the future of the general Sun- day-school hbrary, and the author frankly believes that there will always be a place of usefulness for such library, there can be no question regarding the value of a graded workers' library. Books are coming from the press with amazing rapidity, touching every de- partment and every phase of Sunday-school work. Teachers and officers must have these books. But many choice workers are not able to buy them. It is not fair or just to ask the workers to purchase these books for themselves. The church ought to supply these books, and when the question is prop- erly presented the church can usually be easily in- duced to meet this need. A half dozen books for workers in each of the eight departments of the Sun- day school, with two or three dozen selected general volumes on various phases of religious education, could be purchased for a comparatively small sum, and such selection of books would make a good nucleus which might be indefinitely increased. It is to be doubted whether a similar investment anywhere else in the realm of Sunday-school equipment will bear so large fruitage as this investment in selected books for the workers in the school. Finally, grading the Sunday school contributes directly to accurate and painstaking evangelistic efforts. In the ungraded school it is somewhat diffi- 54 The Present-Day Sunday School cult to locate the lost pupils, and graded evangelistic appeals are not practicable. We have defined clearly what we may expect in the way of evangelistic effort and results in each of the departments. The annual promotion of the pupils brings up this question of evangelism at intervals and seems to challenge work- ers to faithful effort in seeking the salvation of the pupil who is making rapid strides towards the life periods in which conversion is increasingly difficult. The various departments offer to the pastor or superintendent the opportunity to present just the instruction and appeal which is appropriate for that particular section of the school. Many grateful workers bear witness to the valued help which has come to them in their evangelistic efforts through the grading and departmentizing of the Sunday school. Studies in the Departments VI THE CRADLE ROLL THE Cradle Roll ministers to the needs of children from birth to about three years of age, and seeks to bring the blessings of the church to the homes in which these little ones live. About 3,000,000 babies come annually into North American homes. The world's average birth rate is said to be 70 a minute, 4,200 an hour, 36,792,000 a year. The Cradle Roll is the medium through which the church extends loving and helpful ministry to the homes where the children are to be found. The object in view is not simply to secure the child for the Sunday school when he is old enough to attend ; it is not merely a sentimental expression of interest in babies ; it is a needed and practical effort to influence the home during a period when parental hearts are especially approachable and when parents may be kept away from public worship. The forms which this ministry may take are many and blessed. The denominational publishing houses furnish a variety of helpful leaflet literature. 55 56 The Present-Day Sunday School These houses furnish also all necessary Cradle RoU supplies, such as the beautiful wall roll for the names of the babies, membership, birthday, and other needed, cards and certificates. " A birthday book by months, a calling book by streets, and a membership book alphabetically arranged, will simplify the records of a large Cradle Roll. Promptness and regularity in de- tails are essential." It is, of course, impossible to secure accurate statistics showing the status of Cradle Roll work. Mrs. Mary Foster Bryner, writing in 1914, states that "the present enrollment is over 1,000,000 in more than 44,000 Cradle Rolls." According to Mrs. Bryner the five largest Cradle Rolls reported during 191 3-1914 were: * St. Paul's Church, Halifax, N. S 865 First Christian Church, Portsmouth, Ohio .... 800 Earlscourt Methodist Church, Toronto, Ontario . . 743 Grand Avenue Methodist, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 617 First M. E. Church, Brazil, Indiana 453 We can only indicate briefly some of the lines of service which lie open to Cradle Roll workers. (i) They may aid the pastor in securing the needed oversight and shepherding of homes in the congregation. The wise pastor sees, in the Cradle Roll, the Home Department, and similar agencies, a source of relief in the ever-increasing pressure of modern pastoral life. (2) The Cradle Roll workers may carry needed » Article on Cradle Roll, " Encyclopedia of Sunday Schools and Religious Education," page 313. Studies in the Departments 57 instruction to young parents as regards the care and training of young children. From the ftist day of the child's life, he begins to form habits both physical and mental which will affect all the later years. During this infantile period, before the child comes into the Sunday school, there is a development of interests and a bent given to character which is be- yond words. Among the most interesting of the ex- periments and discoveries made by modern students of child life are those relating to budding instincts and the baneful effects in case natural instincts are repelled and thwarted. As always in such cases they have begun their experiments with lower animals. Bagley and Colvin point out the interesting fact that a young perch placed in a vessel of clear water con- taining small minnows instinctively darts at the minnows and devours them. This is true whether or not the perch ever saw minnows before. If be- tween the perch and the minnows a glass partition is set in place, the perch still for a time follows the in- stinct to dart at his natural prey. Constantly thwarted and suffering pain in the attempt, the perch will gradually cease his efforts. If the glass is re- moved, it will still refrain from attack upon the minnows. The instinct has perished because it has been thwarted. It is pointed out that a chick, raised on tin, or some solid surface, where it cannot indulge its native instinct to scratch, will quickly lose the instinct and will not later in any natural way develop it. Prof. Walter S. Athearn quotes Spalding as telHng of a 58 The Present-Day Sunday School gosling brought up in a house away from all water. When it was taken to water it refused to go in, and when thrust in it made haste to scramble out again. The native instinct for water and for swimming had perished from disuse. It is well known that young dogs, if prevented from indulging the instinct to bury bones, will soon lose the instinct altogether. The important lesson thus illustrated is that little children have budding instincts, the best gifts of a kind heavenly Father, which, if repelled or neglected, may perish. The holiest of all tasks of young parents is to guide and nurture and develop the fine native impulses to kindness, reverence, obedience, faith, and prayer, which will enrich life and character in all the coming years. Cradle Roll workers may render an inestimable service by helping parents in their study of these problems and by guiding them through helpful literature, through lecture courses, conferences and parents' meetings. (3) The Cradle Roll workers may, in tactful ways, aid the home in the solution of many practical prob- lems. What pictures on the wall or in the hand will please and bless little children ? What are suit- able prayers for the little ones ? What stories are to be told to the httle children and where may such stories be found ? How shall the religious life of the growing child be nurtured ? These and multitudes of similar questions are being asked in every home where there are little children. The pastor and the church may extend practical help through the Cradle Roll. Through this medium the church may send its Studies in the Departments 59 messages and teach its lessons concerning the vital importance in character building of the Cradle Roll years. How much and how rapidly the little child learns I We are told that the child learns more in its first two years than in any other ten years of its life. *' When a small child falls and hurts himself, do we not frequently hear the nurse trying to distract his attention from his own injury by arousing his sense of anger towards the object which has been the cause of his hurt? * Naughty floor to hurt baby. Nurse will slap the naughty floor.' The baby begins to forget his hurt in his interest in what is being said. ' Baby hit the naughty floor himself,' suggests Nurse. It is extraordinary, when we come to think about it, how frequently the small child is taught self-control in these early days by this method of revenge — a method which is untrue in itself and also calls out undesirable instincts in the child. It hardly seems necessary to criticize such a method in detail ; to refer to it at all in this connection is enough to ex- pose not only its weakness, but also its harm." * (4) Especially should the Cradle Roll workers master the question of nursery plays and the general questions of nursery equipment. Play, which was formerly considered a more or less harmless method of working off surplus energy, has, in these latter days, come to be recognized as an educational factor of the first moment. " The thing that most needs to be understood about play is that it is not a luxury but a necessity. It is not simply something that a child » Edith E. Read Mumford, " The Dawn of Character," page 79. 6o The Present-Day Sunday School likes to have ; it is something that he must have if he is to grow up. It is more than an essential part of his education ; it is the law of his growth, of the process by which he becomes a man at all." * (5) The aim of the Cradle Roll, as of all other departments of Bible-school work, is to draw towards God and to make some practical contribution to the spiritual life of the home. A young surgeon, whose name is coming to be known beyond the borders of his own state, was swept with interest in his profession, and was drifting away from church life. He walked into the pastor's study one day and said, " What is this which they call the Cradle Roll ? This has come along since my Sunday-school days." Desirous of know- ing what was in the mind of his visitor, the pastor said, " Well, what of it, what do you know about it? " Then the young professional man told a simple story which might be duplicated many times over. " I know this about it. A while ago the baby came to my home. The little fellow seemed to be a gift from God and my heart was filled with a sacred reverence and a tenderness which I had not felt before. Your Cradle Roll women came down to my home and said they wanted the baby's name to put on the Cradle Roll of the church — they would pray for the baby every day and remember him in sick- ness and on his birthdays. Sometimes when I drive by your church, I slow down a bit and say to myself, * Joseph Lee, in "The Encyclopedia of Sunday Schools and Re- ligious Education," page 799. Studies in the Departments 6l * My baby's name is on the walls of that church somewhere, and those people pray for my baby every day.' Well, pastor, not to detain you further, I have forgotten God and have wandered far from the church. I just dropped in this morning to say that I renew my vows and promise anew to live the Chris- tian life." A young father and mother came one Sunday morning to unite with the church. The mother carried a babe in her arms. A few days later, the pastor called at the man's business place. " I would like to know," he said, " how you and your wife were led to become Christians. I have often thought of you and have prayed that you might be saved, but somehow I had not seemed to find the oppor- tunity to speak to you on the great question." Then came the story simply told : the man had been im- mersed in business and his wife had been drawn away into worldliness ; when the baby came the Cradle Roll workers had come to the home and by prayer and conversation had interested the mother in holy things. One day when the man went home, his wife met him at the door, told how with the guidance and help of the Cradle Roll women she had sought forgiveness and light, and then they knelt together beside the sleeping babe while he too sought God's favor. The Sunday-School Council of Evangelical De- nominations has adopted and the Executive Com- mittee of the International Sunday-School Associa- tion has approved the following : 62 The Present- Day Sunday School Standard for the Cradle Roll The church and Sunday school may assist in the religious nurture of little children in the home and insure their future membership in the Sunday school. To this end, it is desirable : 1. To keep in touch with the children and parents, by: (a) Organizing a Cradle Roll of children from birth to three or four years of age, with a superintendent and any needed as- sistants. (b) Recognition of membership in the Sunday school, a public roll and an accurate, permanent record of names, birthdays, parents' names and addresses. (c) Public promotion not later than the fourth birthday to the Beginners' class or de- partment. 2. To make definite provision for the child's early religious nurture, by : (a) Suggesting to parents appropriate stories, prayers, songs or simple lessons pre- paratory to the Beginners' Lessons, and furnishing helpful literature when nec- essary. (b) Furnishing appropriate and simple pre- liminary instruction and a sympathetic teacher for the Cradle Roll Class, if there is one in the Beginners' Depart- ment. (c) Mothers' or Parents' Meeting or Classes, in which topics concerning the early training of children shall be considered, and by providing a home hbrary for their use. Studies in the Departments 63 3. To provide for social contact between Sunday school and home, by : (a) Visits, messages and invitations for special days. (b) Recognition of birthdays. (c) A Cradle Roll Day annually. (d) An occasional social affair for parents and children. References : Sudlow, "The Cradle Roll Department." 35 cents. Mumford, " The Dawn of Character." $ i . 20. Israels, " The Child." (Offered free by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York.) The following books will be helpful for those wish- ing to make a general study of pupil life and of the teaching process : Kirkpatrick, " Fundamentals of Child Study." ^1.25. Weigle, ** The Pupil and the Teacher." 60 cents. Forbush, " Child Study and Child Training." ^i.oo. Athearn, "The Church School." $1.00. Gregory, "The Seven Laws of Teaching." 50 cents. Trumbull, "Teaching and Teachers." $1.25. Weaver, "The Religious Developmentof the Child." $1.25. Home, "The Philosophy of Education." $1.50. Nelson's " Encyclopedia of Sunday Schools and Rehgious Education." 3 vols. $15.00. Leavell, " The New Convention Normal Manual " (Division II). 50 cents. VII THE BEGINNERS' DEPARTMENT "^HE Beginners' Department includes pupils four and five years of age. The Beginners' Pupil. — The Beginners constitute a distinct group in the Sunday school. They need special care and training ; and this care and training, in order to be effective, must be pains- taking and intelligent. (i) As is implied in his name, the Beginner is really a beginner. He is beginning to find himself in the larger world. Hitherto the home has been his world ; now he is moving in Vv^ider circles. He is possibly going to the kindergarten ; he is making excursions, sometimes alone and sometimes under proper escort, into streets and avenues and roads which once lay beyond his world. He is entering on the long path of school life, a little timid shrink- ing stranger, sensitive and easily frightened. How little he knows, how small his stock of ideas and ex- periences, how limited his vocabulary ! Gentle must be the hand that molds these tiny sensitive children ; patient and sympathetic must be the nature which deals with them. (2) The Beginner must learn chiefly by absorp- tion. His whole wondering being is hungry. This hunger constitutes the teacher's opportunity. He is 64 Studies in the Departments 65 now impressionable as he will not be again in the later years. He must not be asked or expected to memorize — that will come in due time. He will learn, but without conscious effort. Bits of Bible Verses and Bible stories, all simplified and made easy and told again and again, these will furnish nurture for his mind and heart. Tints in the walls, tones in the voice, atmosphere and environment, these with all things which touch the child's life must be guarded with sacred care. (3) The Beginner is susceptible of real education. The growth of the department indicates the fuller and more intelligent appreciation of the educational oppor- tunities offered in the early years of the child's life. Workers in this department must, until this modern appreciation comes to fuller growth, labor under the difificulty of feehng that their work is hardly rated at its full value by the general church community. A right estimate of the importance of their own tasks, a proper emphasis upon the work they are doing, and such faithful and intelligent service as will bear fruit in the lives of the little ones entrusted to them, will help to speed the day when this department will be counted, as it deserves to be, one of deep and far- reaching importance. Children of younger years who may chance to come with older brothers and sisters are not to be put into this department to be cared for or enter- tained. The workers here face serious tasks. They may play some ; they may entertain ; the casual observer might fail to note the deeper purposes ; but 66 The Present-Day Sunday School these workers are serious, and they are engaged in the serious business of laying foundations for all future moral and spiritual development. Organization. — This department will call for a superintendent, who will have general charge ; teachers, one for each class of six or eight pupils ; pianist, as the department should have its own piano ; secretary-treasurer. If the department is large, care- takers to help the children with their wraps, and other helpers may be needed. It is felt that young women from the Senior Department, or in the early adult years, make especially ready and responsive workers with Beginners, and that, besides rendering valuable service, these young women may at the same time receive training for future and larger serv- ice in dealing with children. Equipment. — The comparative newness of this department, and the slowness with which architec- tural changes can be made, account for the fact that so few suitable and special rooms are equipped for Beginners. The coming years promise marked im- provement here. It is every way desirable that the Beginners shall have a separate room. It is unfortunate in the ex- treme that these little ones of four and five years must so often be placed in the room with Primary children. They call for different care and for an entirely different program. The room should, of course, be easily accessible, as for tiny little bodies ; well-lighted, with low windows, with softly tinted walls, beautiful and restful. This room should adjoin Studies in the Departments 67 the Primary room, but should be separated from it by soHd walls. A separate cloak-room with ap- propriate furniture is needed for hats and wraps. Among the needed furnishings we may mention : (i) A piano. The type of music needed is im- possible without it, and the children will need it for their games as well as for their songs. (2) Suitable chairs of proper height. These are not expensive and, besides pleasing the children, are essential to the best work. Chairs for children four years of age should be ten inches high, while those for children of five years may be twelve inches in height. (3) Small low tables. These may be built in the form of an open square so that the teacher may con- veniently direct the work. (4) Blackboards. These may be the revolving boards which enable the superintendent or teacher to prepare work which is to be shown at a given time ; or perhaps better, they may be built into the wall and brought low so that, when occasion arises, the children themselves may use the chalk. (5) A chest or box for the various materials used in the department. This should be provided with lock and key. (6) Pictures. Suitable pictures on the wall, hung low so that the children can see and touch them, may be educational factors of no mean value. The fol- lowing, along with others, may be regarded as ap- propriate : The Madonna pictures, especially The Sistine Madonna, by Raphael ; The Holy Night, by Corregio ; and The Infant Samuel, by Reynolds, 68 The Present-Day Sunday School Lesson Material. — Happily the International Les- son Committee and the publishers have largely solved this problem which once so distressed workers in this department. The Beginners' Course in the Inter- national Graded Lessons is generally acceptable and is widely used. Commencing with October, it takes account of the year's advancing seasons and its festival days. The Course is based on the child's needs as determined by long and sympathetic study. A glance at the themes for the first year is sufficient to indicate the nature of these lessons. Themes for the First Year I. The Heavenly Father's Care. II. Thanksgiving for Care. III. Thanksgiving for God's Best Gift. IV. Love Shown Through Care. V. The Loving Care of Jesus. VI. God's Care of Life. VII. Our Part in the Care of Flowers and Birds. VlII. Duty of Loving Obedience. IX. Love Shown by Prayer and Praise. X. Love Shown by Kindness (to Those in the Family Circle). XI. Love Shown by Kindness (to Those Out- side the Family). The story is practically the sole reliance of the teacher of Beginners. As I write, there lies before me this word from the mother of a Beginners' child : "She is a story fiend. She is never satisfied, no matter how long the story nor how many I read. Nor does it make any difference how often the story is told/' Studies in the Departments 69 The Program. — It is desirable that Beginners shall meet in their own room and have their own exercises, meeting in the larger school assembly only occasion- ally, on Rally Day and other special days. The program will be simple and flexible, involving fre- quent changes, as children of four and five years are capable of attention for only brief periods. The leader will have in mind a definite outhne program from which she will depart when necessity arises. Entertainment is not the main object, though it is necessary to entertain. Formal instruction is not practicable. A certain spiritual nurture and a body of impressions which will be basal in all future growth and conduct are easily possible. Mary Foster Bryner offers the following : ^ Suggested Outline of Program {One Hour) Keep early comers busy. Be ready to start on time. Quiet Music, Opening Song and Greeting, Prayer, Praise, Short Memory Verses and Offering (usually marching). Fifteen minutes. Welcome to new pupils and visitors, Birthday or Cradle Roll Service or general singing. Five minutes. Circle Talk and Rest Period. Fifteen minutes. New Lesson Story and Expression. Fifteen minutes. Folders distributed. Good-bye Message, song and prayer, wraps put on, and orderly dismissal. Ten minutes. 1 Mary Foster Bryner, «* The Elementary Division Organized for Service," page 44. JO The Present-Day Sunday School The Sunday-School Council of Evangelical De- nominations has adopted and the Executive Com- mittee of the International Sunday-School Associa- tion has approved the following : Standard foir the Beginners' Department The Standard for a Beginners' Department is that which it is possible for a child to become during the years of four and five. What the child becomes manifests itself in conduct. Conduct /. The conduct of the Beginner may manifest: 1. Love, trust and reverence for God. 2. Association of the Heavenly Father with daily hfe. 3. Right behavior. 4. Love for God through prayer, praise, and effort to please Him. 5. Love for others through acts of helpfulness. Aims //. To realize these ends in conduct the child must have : 1. A knowledge of the power of God, to give love, protection, and care. 2. A consciousness of God as his Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ as his friend. 3. Ideals of right conduct. 4. Opportunities for worship. 5. Opportunities for helpfulness. Studies in the Departments 71 Means ///. As means for realizing these ends, provisions should be made for : 1. Religious instruction and religious experience suited to the child of Beginners' age, se- cured through : (a) The use of Beginners' Graded Lessons. (b) The story method and informal conversa- tion with pictures and objects. (c) Contact with nature. 2. An environment which fosters reHgious feeling, secured by : (a) Providing a separate room (curtained or screened place, where room is not available). (b) Making the room or corner attractive, homelike and childlike ; light and well ventilated ; appropriate in color and decoration. (c) Furnishing chairs suitable for little chil- dren (preferably arranged in a circle). (d) Adequate materials for teacher and chil- dren. (e) Having a separate program for the entire session where room is available. 3. Opportunities for self-expression secured through : (a) Worship in song, prayer, offerings and Bible verses. (b) Conversation, retelHng of stories, and hand-work. (c) Self-control in Sunday school. (d) Deeds of kindness possible for little chil- dren. 72 The Present-Day Sunday School 4. Teachers qualified by nature, training and re- ligious experience ; that is, teachers who (a) Possess a sympathetic understanding of child-life. (b) Have a personality attractive and helpful to children. (c) Seek frequent contact with little children in their home, school and play hfe. (d) Are graduates or students in a Training Course, a Community Training School or a School of Principles and Methods. (e) Are continuing their specialized training in a Graded Union or by the reading of one specialization book a year. (f ) Lead a sincere Christian Hfe. 5. Children of similar interests and limitations grouped into a Beginners' class or depart- ment. (a) Comprising children four and five years of age. (b) Having a teacher or superintendent and assistants. (c) Promoting children about six years of age to the Primary Department on annual promotion day. References : St. John, " Child Nature and Child Nurture." 50 cents. St. John, '* Stories and Story Telling." 50 cents. Harrison, " A Study of Child Nature." $1.00. Bryant, "How to Tell Stories to Children." ^i.oo. Dubois, "The Point of Contact in Teaching." 75 cents. Mumford, " The Dawn of Character." ^1.20. Danielson, "Lessons for Teachers of Beginners." 75 cents. Bryner, " The Elementary Division Organized for Serv- ice." 50 cents. VIII THE PRIMARY DEPARTMENT THIS department includes children six, seven, and eight years of age. Formerly it was customary to place all pupils up to eight or ten years of age in the " infant class." During the years from 1870 to 1880, the word " infant " was displaced by the word " primary " and we began to have the Primary class and lessons, and the Primary Department. About 1895, ^ separa- tion began to be made between the younger children and those of real Primary age, and we came to have the Beginners' Department and the Primary Depart- ment. Special Supplemental Lessons for the Begin- ners, Primary and Junior Departments were author- ized by the International Sunday-School Convention in Denver, Colorado, in 1902. The Supplemental Lessons served a good purpose and paved the way for the present Graded Lessons. The Primary Pupil. — Without stressing unduly the differences which mark off the Primary pupil from the Beginner and the Junior, we may yet say with con- fidence that Primary children constitute a distinct group. They are different from the Beginners and they are different from boys and girls of the Junior Department. (i) The Primary pupil lives in a larger world than 73 74 The Present-Day Sunday School his little brother in the Beginners* Department. He goes, not to kindergarten, but to the public school. He is beginning to read — a thing of vast significance to the teacher. His ever-widening touch with life and the enlarging sphere of his experiences enable him to receive and appreciate much Bible teaching which would have been impossible for him in the preceding period. (2) Not only does the Primary pupil live in a larger world, but he is himself a better developed personahty than the Beginner. Watch the typical Primary pupil in association with his httle Beginner friend. He feels himself vastly larger and wiser and will frequently assume responsibility for tlie care and even the instruction of his younger friend. Note a group of Beginners coming into a room with Primary pupils and see the looks and attitudes of the Primary children towards them. Children grow with marked rapidity during the period from four to nine years of age. Professor Athearn finds that the child increases thirty-two per cent, in weight and thirteen per cent, in height during the Primary period. As the body grows, so also does the mind, the vocabulary, and the whole range of mental and spiritual experience. The teacher of Primary pupils will need to study the best books which treat this age and she will wish to study with discriminating care her own pupils. It is difficult to say whether there is greater danger of over- estimating these children or of treating them as if they were less in capacity and development than they are. Organization. — This department will require a Studies in the Departments 7^ superintendent, who may be also a teacher, a suf- ficient number of teachers for classes of six or eight pupils, a pianist and a secretary-treasurer. Other helpers with various ofifices may be added as needed. If the Beginners and the Primary children must meet in one room, the same general officers may suffice for both departments, though in all matters of enroll- ment, reports, and, as far as possible, in general care, teaching, and handling, the department Hnes should be kept clear. After a brief joint session, let a screen set the Beginners off to themselves and let them be cared for in accordance with their nature and needs. Workers here will bear in mind that " the supreme aim of the Sunday school is to develop to the utmost the religious life of every pupil." Equipment. — This department should, by all means, have a room of its own. This room should be on the first floor, ample in size, bright and attractive. (i) A piano. This is needed for the music and for the marches, and adds much to the department. (2) Little chairs, slightly larger than for the Be- ginners. White chairs, with all other colors blending and soft, are to be preferred. If the department can- not have tables, each teacher will arrange her class in a semicircle and will sit where she can almost touch any member of the class. The chairs should be twelve to fourteen inches in height. (3) Tables, at least one for each class. These should be about twenty-five inches in height. They are sometimes built semicircular, so that the children can sit around the outside while the teacher occupies 76 The Present-Day Sunday School the inside space. If the teacher prefers to stand, tables of ordinary build may well be used. (4) A teacher's desk with a drawer provided with lock and key. (5) Blackboards, preferably built into the wall and coming down within twenty inches of the floor. (6) A chest with lock and key for crayon, eraser, and all materials used in the department. (7) Pictures, both for the walls and for teaching the lessons. For the walls such pictures as " The Na- tivity," by Hoffman, " The Finding of Moses," by Delaroche, " The Good Shepherd," by Plockhorst, are suitable. For more elaborate furnishings, the reader will con- sult special books on the Primary Department. Lesson Material. — During the two years in the Be- ginners' Department, the child has learned concern- ing God as a loving, protecting, providing Father. During the Primary period he studies a wider range of Bible stories and learns more fully about God's love and care. Especially is he to go further and learn concerning duties to God and to all of His creatures. The following topics for the first year Primary, which appear in the list of the International Graded Les- sons, will suggest the type of stories and teaching suitable for Primary pupils. Themes for First Year Primary L God the Creator and Father. II. God the Loving Father and His Good Gifts. III. God's Care Calling Forth Love and Thanks. IV. Love Shown by Kindness. Studies in the Departments 77 V. God's Best Gift. VI. God the Protector. VII God Rescuing from Sin. VIII. God the Giver of Life on Earth and in Heaven. IX. God Speaking to a Child. X. Speaking to God in Prayer. XI. Worshipping God. XII. Pleasing God by Right-Doing. XIII. God's Loving Kindness. A Review of the Year. The Primary child is still hungry for the story. Here, as in the Beginners' Department, the story is the teacher's chief reliance in teaching. Dr. G. Stanley Hall says, " Let me tell the stories and I care not who writes the text-book." Prof. Wilham James is quoted as saying, " Good story-teUing is the best intellectual qualification of the teacher." Laura E. Cragin suggests, as regards the stories suitable: « These little ones are interested in natural objects, and especially living creatures, so nature stories should be given them. Active and restless them- selves, stories of action hold their attention most suc- cessfully. All stories given them should be simple, concrete, teaching but one truth." The Program The following is given as a typical formal program : * /. Opening Service of Worship {10 minutes). I . Quiet music to call the school to order. " The Melody in F " by Rubinstein. 1 Marion Thomas in « The Encyclopedia of Sunday Schools and 'Religious Education," page 819. 78 The Present-Day Sunday School 2. Song Sentence by Piano. " Enter Into His Gates With Thanksgiving." 3. Bible Responses by Superintendent and Pupils. This is the house which the Lord hath made ; We will rejoice and be glad in it. — Psalm 118 : 24. I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. — Psalm 122 : 1. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, And into his courts with praise. — Psalm lOO : 4. 4. Song. " With Happy Voices Singing." (From Hymns of Worship and Service for the Sun- day School.) With happy voices singing, Thy children, Lord, appear ; Their joyous praises bringing In anthems sweet and clear. For skies of golden splendor, For azure rolling sea, For blossoms sweet and tender, O Lord, we worship thee. And shall we not adore thee, With more than joyous song, Nor live in truth before thee, All beautiful and strong ? Lord, bless our weak endeavor Thy servants true to be, And thro' all life, forever, To live our praise to thee. 5. Prayer, closing with the Lord's Prayer. 6. Prayer Response. ** Hear my prayer, O Lord, and keep me in all my ways. Amen. Amen." (From Carols.) Studies in the Departments 79 //. General Exercises {10 minutes). 1. The Offering Service. (a) The offering presented. (b) Offering verses recited. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father. — James I : 17a. Freely ye received, freely give. — Matt. 10 : 8. God loveth a cheerful giver. — 2 Cor. g : 7. (c) Offering Prayer, or Prayer Song. 2. The Birthday Exercises. (a) The birthday offering presented. (b) The birthday song. (c) The birthday prayer. ///. Class Work and Lesson Teaching ( jo minutes). 1. Review of lesson taught the preceding Sun- day and drill of memory verses, or a cor- related lesson taught. 2. The new lesson taught in first, second, and third year classes. 3. Hand-work. IV. Closing Exercises {10 minutes). 1. Brief review by the superintendent of the lessons taught by the class teachers. 2. Closing prayer, or song. 3. Notices and dismission of pupils. The Sunday-School Council of Evangelical De- nominations has adopted, and the Executive Com- mittee of the International Sunday-School Associa- tion has approved, the following : 8o The Present-Day Sunday School Standard for the Primary Department The Standard for a Primary Department is that which it is possible for a child to become during the years six, seven and eight. What the child becomes manifests itself in con- duct Conduct /. The conduct of the Primary child may manifest : 1. Love, trust, reverence and obedience of God the Father and Jesus Christ the Saviour. 2. Recognition of the Heavenly Father in daily life. 3. Love for God through worship. 4. Love and reverence for God's Book, God's Day and God's House. 5. Increasing power to act in response to ever- enlarging ideas of what is right and de- sirable. 6. Increasing spirit of obedience and helpfulness. 7. Increasing power to give love and forget self in social relations. Aims II. To realize these ends in co7tduct the child must have : 1. A knowledge of God in His love, care, might and power to give help and guidance. 2. A consciousness of God as the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ the Helper and Saviour. 3. Experience and training in worship. 4. Happy associations with God's Book, God's Day and God's House. Studies in the Departments 8l 5. Instruction concerning what is right and wrong, proper examples, and opportunities for choosing the right. 6. Opportunities for helpfulness. 7. Opportunities for play and service in coopera- tion with others. Means ///. As means for realizing these ends, provisions should be made for : 1. Religious instruction and religious experience suited to the children of Primary age, se- cured through : (a) The use of Primary Graded Lessons. (b) Graded Primary Supplementary Lessons when Uniform Lessons are used. (Some denominations recognize only Graded Lessons.) (c) The story method, with pictures, black- board, and illustrative material. (d) Graded correlated Missionary instruction. (e) Graded correlated Temperance instruction. 2. Worship which expresses the child's religious feehng, secured through : (a) Appropriate service of worship. (b) Reverent atmosphere and proper environ- ment. (c) The teacher's spirit and manner. (d) Contact with nature. 3. An environment which inspires order and rev- erence and is conducive to worship and work, secured by : (a) A separate room (curtained or screened place, where a room is not available), light, and well ventilated. 82 The Present-Day Sunday School (b) Attractive decorations and arrangements. (c) Comfortable chairs and class tables. (d) Adequate material for teachers and chil- dren. (e) A separate program for entire session, where a room is available. 4. Opportunities for self-expression alone and with others, secured through : (a) Worship in song, prayer and Scripture. (b) Conversation, reteUing of stories, recalling memory verses, and hand-work. (c) Giving, which includes missionary offer- ings. (d) Unselfishness, self-control and acts of service. 5. Teachers quahfied by nature, training and re- ligious experience, that is, teachers who (a) Possess a sympathetic understanding of child-life. (b) Have a personality attractive and helpful to children. (c) Seek frequent contact with little children in their home, school and play hfe. (d) Are graduates or students in a Training Course, a Community Training School or a School of Principles and Meth- ods. (e) Are continuing their specialized training in a Graded Union, or by the reading of one specialization book a year. (f) Lead a sincere Christian life. 6. Children six, seven and eight years of age grouped into class or department, according to age, interest and abiUty. Studies in the Departments 83 (a) In a small school a Primary Class separate from other classes. (b) In a larger school, a Primary Department, with a superintendent, officers, class teachers, and classes comprising not more than eight children. (c) Class groups : 1. Children approximately six years of age in first-year grade or classes. 2. Children approximately seven years of age in second-year grade or classes. 3. Children approximately eight years of age in third-year grade or classes. (d) Promotion of children from grade to grade within the department; gradu- ation from the Third Grade into the Junior Department with recognition on the annual promotion day. References : Besides the books recommended for Beginners* teachers, all of which will be helpful here, we may name : Dubois, " The Natural Way." $1.25. Lamareaux, " The Unfolding Life." 50 cents. Murray, ** Our Primary Department." 50 cents. Archibald, ** The Primary Department." 50 cents. Hervey, ** Picture Work." 25 cents. Littlefield, "Hand Work in the Sunday School." ;^l.oo. Trumbull, « Hints on Child Training." $1.25. Beauchamp, " The Graded Sunday School." 50 cents. Bryner, " The Elementary Division Organized for Serv- ice." 50 cents. IX THE JUNIOR DEPARTMENT THE Junior Department ministers to the spiritual needs of boys and girls nine, ten, eleven, and twelve years of age. The Junior Pupil. — While there is no abrupt change in the pupil as he passes from the Primary Department to the Junior Department, yet the Junior pupil is in many real ways distinct from the Primary pupil. Prof. L. P. Leavell has characterized this pupil in the following phrases : energetic, grow- ing independence, verbal memory at height, plays with the gang, great evangelistic opportunity. Miss Baldwin suggests the following marks of the Junior period : interested in reading, hero worship, habit forming period, golden memory period, geographical and historical senses, reason developing, literal- minded, a high sense of honor. Dr. A. H. McKinney in treating the Junior pupil gives a chapter each to the following subjects : " The Reading Age," " The Receptive Age," " The Memory Age," *' The Curious and Imitative Age," " The Habit Forming Age," " The Submissive and Fruitful Age." * Organization. — The officers and helpers needed in » McKinney, « After the Primary, What ? " 84 Studies in the Departments 85 this, as in other departments of the school, must de- pend on the number enrolled in the department, the conditions under which they meet, whether in a large departmental room, with class rooms adjoining, or in one corner of the crowded meeting house, and, in a measure, upon the nature and number of workers available for service here. All of the officers re- quired for the Primary Department are needed in the Junior Department with some possible ad- ditions. The classes, as in the departments already discussed, should be small, comprising six to ten pupils. Boys and girls should be in separate classes, inasmuch as they play apart and both boys and girls prefer as- sociates of their own sex. If the department has separate quarters of its own and comprises as many as sixty pupils, the organi- zation would be somewhat as follows : a superin- tendent in general charge, a pianist, a secretary- treasurer, and ten teachers. If suitable teachers can be secured in sufficient numbers, the teaching force may be somewhat larger and there may be a cor- responding number of substitute teachers. During this period class organization may be en- couraged in its simple forms. There may be a class name with a class pin ; a president, possibly the child who has for the preceding quarter made the best general record ; a secretary and a treasurer. New officers should be elected each quarter. The following class schemes, offered by the Sun- day-School Board, Southern Baptist Convention, 86 The Present-Day Sunday School Nashville, Tennessee, may be suggestive of the names and forms suitable for this department ; FIRST GRADE JUNIOR Boys 9 Years Old Name : BOYS' CADET CORPS. Colors : White, blue and orange. Motto : Busy, Cheerful, Courageous. Aim : Ready for service. Verse : Here am I, seud me. (Isa. 6 : 8.^ Song : Make Me a Channel of Blessing. Girls 9 Years Old Name: WILLING WORKERS. Colors : White, green and orange. Motto : Work to Win. Aim : To do the best I can, where I am, with what I have for Jesus Christ, to-day. Verse : Do with thy might what thy hands find to do. Song: Lifetime is Working Time, or, We'll Work till Jesus Comes. SECOND GRADE JUNIOR Boys ID Years Old Name : BLESSING BEARERS. Colors : Navy, yellow and white. Motto : Carry Untold Blessings. Aim : To make the world better. Verse : A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. Song : Keep the Heart Singing all the While. Girls 10 Years Old Name: BUSY BEES. Colors: Gold, white, and blue. Motto : Bending Every Effort. Aim : Give every flying minute something to keep in store. Verse : The night cometh when no man can work. Song : Work for the Night is Coming. Studies in the Departments 87 THIRD GRADE JUNIOR Boys II Years Old Name : LOYAL SOLDIERS. Colors : Dark blue, red and white. Motto : Fight the Good Fight of Faith. Aim : To obey the King's commands. Verse : Put on the whole armour of God. Song : Loyalty to Christ. Girls II Years Old Name : Colors : Motto : CHEERFUL HELPERS. White and yellow. For Others. Aim : To lend a helping hand. Verse : Be not weary in well doing. Song : Make Me a Channel of Blessing, FOURTH GRADE JUNIOR Boys 12 Years Old Name : KING'S SONS. Colors : Red, green and yellow. Motto : On Business for My King. Aim : To walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. Verse : Thou art a son ; if a son, then an heir, (Gal. 4:7.) Song : I'm a Subject of the King of Kings. Girls 12 Years Old Name : KING'S DAUGHTERS. Colors : White, gold and purple. Motto : In His Name. Aim : To please Him. Verse : Teach me thy ways, O Lord. 27:11.) Song : I'm the Child of a King. (Psalm Equipment. — The ideal arrangement for this de- partment is a commodious, attractive, well-lighted department room with a separate room for each class. The furnishings will include ; 88 The Present-Day Sunday School (i) A piano, which is quite as needful here as in the earher departments. (2) Suitable chairs. If the classes cannot have tables, the combination chair and desk makes a happy compromise. If the department has no class rooms, but must do its work in one room, the combination chair is fairly suitable. (3) Tables. Apart from the fact that tables are essential in manual and other expressional work, they serve well in forming a nucleus about which each class may become a social group. Some Junior teachers have preferred a table built in a semicircle, the teacher sitting inside of the circle. A simple substitute, which makes possible any necessary ex- tension of the class, is to place two tables parallel with each other, leaving the teacher free to ob- serve and direct the work as may be needed. The tables should be about twenty-eight inches in height, and need not be more than twenty-four inches in width. (4) A teacher's table or desk. (5) Blackboards. A large blackboard built into the wall for the assembly room, and reversible boards for each class. (6) A chest large enough to contain all teaching materials, preferably one for each class. (7) Pictures for the walls and for teaching. Miss Baldwin suggests the following pictures as especially suitable for the walls of the Junior Department.* » Maud Junkin Baldwin, " The Juniors : How to Teach and Train Them," page 36. Studies in the Departments 89 Christ Among the Doctors (Hoffman). The Angelas (Millet). The Last Supper (Da Vinci). The Sistine Madonna (Raphael). Christ and the Rich Young Ruler (Hoffman). Sir Galahad (Watts). Daniel in the Lions' Den (Riviere). Moses with the Tables of the Law (Raphael). Lesson Material. — The clear defining and setting out of this department has been a belated develop- ment. When Dr. McKinney issued his book on this department in 1904, he called it " After the Primary, What?" in order to have a title with which the public would have some acquaintance. The whole world now knows the Junior. Lesson material adapted to the Junior also came slowly. The first real step was the Supplemental Lessons, issued in 1902. Happily we now have the International Graded Lessons for all departments in the Sunday school. " Whatever lesson system is adopted, the story method is used here as in the younger grades. This is the last period in which the story makes the main appeal ; in these years all the great stories of the Old and New Testament should be presented." Such stories serve the double purpose of feeding the hungry spirit of the child and of furnishing a basis for intelli- gent hearing of Bible preaching in all the after years. As illustrating the kind of Biblical material suitable for the Junior period, we give below the outline of the International Graded Lessions for the Junior Department. 90 The Present-Day Sunday School Graded Series — Junior Course (Grades 4 to 7. Approximate ages: Nine, ten, eleven, twelve years.) Ai7n of the Course 1. To awaken an interest in the Bible, and a love for it ; to deepen the impulse to choose and to do right. 2. To present the ideal of moral heroism ; to reveal the power and majesty of Jesus Christ, and to show His followers going forth in His strength to do His work. 3. To deepen the sense of responsibility for right choices ; to show the consequences of right and wrong choices ; to strengthen love of right and hatred of wrong. 4. To present Jesus as our example and Saviour ; to lead the pupil to appreciate his opportunities for service, and to give him a vision of what it means to be a Christian. Material for the First Year I. Stories of the Beginnings. Lessons i to 7. II. Stories of the Three Patriarchs. Lessons 8 to 20. III. The Story of Joseph. Lessons 21 to 26. IV. Stories of Moses and of His Times. Lessons 27 to 39. V. Stories that Jesus Told. Lessons 40 to 48. VI. The Journeys of Moses. Lessons 49 to 52. Material for the Second Year I. Stories of the Conquest of Canaan. Lessons i to 8. II. Opening Stories of the New Testament. Les- sons 9 to II. Studies in the Departments 91 III. Incidents in the Life of the Lord Jesus. Les- sons 12 to 28. IV. Early Followers of the Lord Jesus. Lessons 29 to 35- V. Later Followers of the Lord Jesus. Lessons 36 to 43. VI. Stories of the Judges. Lessons 44 to 52. Material for the Third Year I. The First Three Kings of Israel. Lessons I to 18. II. The Divided Kingdom. Lessons 19 to 35. III. Responsibility for One's Self, Neighbor, and Country. Lessons 36 to 39. IV. The Exile and the Return. Lessons 40 to 48. V. Introduction to New Testament Times. Lessons 49 to 52. Material for the Fourth Year I. The Gospel of Mark. Lessons i to 26. II. Studies in the Acts. Lessons 27 to 39. III. Winning Others to God. Lessons 40 to 47. IV. The Bible, The Word of God. Lessons 48 to 5 2. The Program If it is possible for the Juniors to have their own assembly room, they should have a separate program. Graded worship is needed as well as graded lessons. With a separate departmental program of worship and teaching and training, a rounded development is possible in this department. Those who lead in pubhc prayer should remember that they lead rest- less children in their petitions. Let the prayers be brief and definite and withal reverent. Make much of the great hymns of the church. Let these be 92 The Present-Day Sunday School memorized in considerable numbers. Get the pastor to ask the boys and girls of the department to sing one of these great hymns occasionally in the worship service. Elizabeth Williams Sudlow, in her little book, " All About the Junior," suggests that the program for Juniors should be built about the following four things : Worship, Instruction, Fellowship, and Busi- ness, with items somewhat as listed below. The essential elements in the Junior program would be thus somewhat as follows : I. Worship (15 minutes). 1. Singing. 2. Bible-reading (responsive or in concert). 3. Prayer. 4. Offering (reverent and worshipful). II. Instruction (35 minutes). 1. The day's lesson. 2. Supplemental and hand-work. 3. Special teaching (as temperance and missions). 4. Occasional opportunity to confess Christ. III. Fellowship (10 minutes). 1. Birthday recognition. 2. Welcome to returning pupils. 3. Welcome to new pupils. 4. Welcome to visitors. IV. Business (15 minutes). 1 . Marking records (church attendance, etc.). 2. Distribute papers and library books. 3. Make necessary announcements. 4. Benediction and soft music (pupils march- ing out by classes). Studies in the Departments 93 What should a child at various stages have learned in the Sunday school? In a conference of repre- sentative workers led by Mrs. J. Woodbridge Barnes, the following outline was agreed on as an answer to this important question : " Years 3-5 : Bible stories including the life of Christ ; children's prayers ; simple commandments ; simple Bible verses ; simple Beatitudes ; verses, exer- cises and songs on giving, temperance, and missions; church hymns. " Years 6-8 : Bible stories including the Hfe of Christ; the Lord's Prayer; Commandments con- tinued ; Bible verses ; the Beatitudes ; giving, temper- ance, and missions ; church hymns ; the Twenty-third Psalm. "Years 9-12: Bible stories including the hfe of Christ; the Lord's Prayer; the Ten Commandments; Bible verses ; the Apostles' Creed ; giving, temperance, and missions ; church hymns ; names of the Apostles; the Books of the Bible ; Bible geography." The following Standard, offered by the Sunday- School Council of Evangelical Denominations, is also recommended by the Executive Committee of the International Sunday-School Association : Standard for a Junior Department The standard for a Junior Department is that which it is possible for a pupil to become during the years 9, 10, II and 12. What the pupil becomes manifests itself in con- duct. 94 The Present- Day Sunday School Conduct L The conduct of a Junior pupil may manifest : 1. Love and loyalty to God the Creator and Father, and to Jesus Christ as daily Companion, Guide and King. 2. Acceptance and public confession of Jesus Christ as his Saviour. 3. Reverence, love, praise and thanksgiving through worship. 4. Right choices and decisions in increasing numbers. 5. Acts in accord with ideals of moral heroism. 6. Habits of church attendance, daily Bible study, daily prayer and systematic, in- telligent giving. 7. Growth in a life of service to others. 8. An unselfish and cooperative spirit in social relations. Aims //. To realize these ends in conduct ^ the pupil must have : 1. Knowledge of God in His creative and sustaining power, and of Jesus Christ in His power and majesty. 2. Personal knowledge of Jesus Christ as his Saviour. 3. Experience and training in worship. 4. Such acquaintance with the lives of heroes of the faith as will make him feel the attractiveness and value of right be- havior. Studies in the Departments 95 5. Knowledge of Bible content and related facts of geography and history. 6. An understanding of what is meant by a Christian life for a Junior child. 7. Opportunities for service. 8. Ample opportunity for social contact under guidance. Means ///. As means for realizmg these ends^ provision should be made for : I. Religious instruction and rehgious ex- periences suited to this stage of moral and spiritual development, secured through : (a) The use of Junior Graded Lessons. (b) Graded Junior Supplemental Les- sons, when Uniform Lessons are used. (Some denominations rec- ognize only Graded Lessons.) (c) Special studies in the Life of Christ in the last year of the Junior period. (d) A combination of the story, reci- tation and question methods in teaching, with use of Bible by pupils, and suitable hand-work. (e) The use of pictures, blackboards, maps and other illustrative ma- terial. (f) The memorization of Scripture and church hymns related to the lesson text. 96 The Present-Day Sunday School (g) Frequent competitive map, mem- ory and Bible drills between classes. (h) Graded correlated Missionary in- struction. (i) Graded correlated Temperance instruction. 2. Worship which expresses feelings and as- pirations possible to a Junior child, secured through : (a) Appropriate service of worship. (b) Reverent atmosphere and proper environment. (c) The superintendent's spirit and manner and the teacher's rev- erent participation in the service. 3. An environment which inspires natural, reverent worship, is conducive to orderly study and work, secured through: (a) A separate room (curtained or screened place, where room is not available), light, and well ventilated. (b) Separated classes during lesson period (partitions, curtains or screens). (c) Attractive decorations and ar- rangement. (d) Comfortable chairs and class tables, (c) Adequate materials for teachers and pupils. (f) A separate program for entire session, where a room is avail- able. Studies in the Departments 97 4. Stimulation through incentives and re- wards, in order that right actions may become habitual, secured by : * (a) Credits given for (i) Regularity, (2) Punctuality, (3) Systematic giving, (4) Daily Bible reading and study, (5) Memory work, (6) Neatness and completeness in hand- work, (7) Church attend- ance. (b) Departmental Honor Roll. (c) Class banner. (d) Department motto, such as *' Be ye doers of the Word." (e) Teacher's example and helpful- ness. (f) Exhibit of pupil's work. 5. Opportunities for self-expression in con- duct, individual and social, secured through : (a) Worship in hymn, prayer and Scripture. (b) Participation in class or depart- ment drills. (c) Doing required hand-work. (d) Giving to the local church, mis- sions and benevolences. (e) Departmental and individual acts of service. (f) Signing the temperance and anti- cigarette pledge. (g) Frequent social gatherings. * The " Six Point System of Marking," which in some sections has come into general use, is to be preferred. 98 The Present-Day Sunday School (h) Entering into church member- ship. 6. Teachers quaHfied by nature, rehgious ex- perience and training, that is, teachers who (a) Possess a sympathetic understand- ing of the experiences, interests, needs and possibilities of Junior boys and girls. (b) Meet the need of these pupils for Christian adult companionship in every-day life. (c) Live, worship and work in har- mony with all that is desired for the pupils. (d) Are graduates or students in a Training Course, a Community Training School or a School of Principles and Methods. (e) Are continuing their specialized training in a Graded Union or by the reading of one special- ization book a year. 7. Pupils of nine, ten, eleven and twelve years of age grouped into classes or a department, according to age, sex, in- terest and ability. (a) In a small school, a class of boys and a class of girls, separated from other classes. (b) In a larger school, a Junior De- partment with a superintendent, officers, class teachers, and classes comprising not more than eight pupils. Studies in the Departments 99 (c) Class groups : 1. Pupils approximately nine years of age in first-year grade or classes. 2. Pupils approximately ten years of age in second-year grade or classes. 3. Pupils approximately eleven years of age in third-year grade or classes. 4. Pupils approximately twelve years of age in fourth-year grade or classes. (d) Promotion of pupils from grade to grade within the department ; graduation from the fourth grade into the Intermediate De- partment, with recognition on the annual promotion day. References : McKinney, *' After the Primary, What ? " 60 cents. Baldwin, " The Juniors : How to Teach and Train Them." 50 cents. Sudlow, ** All About the Junior." 50 cents. McKinney, " The Child for Christ." 60 cents. Burroughs, " Winning to Christ — A Study in Evangelism." 50 cents. Kennedy, *' Our Boys and Girls." 75 cents. McKinney, "Our Big Boys." 60 cents. Forbush, " The Boy Problem." 50 cents. RafFety, ** Brothering the Boy." 75 cents. Beauchamp, " The Graded Sunday School." 50 cents. Bryner, ** The Elementary Division Organized for Serv- ice." 50 cents. THE INTERMEDIATE DEPARTMENT THE Intermediate Department includes young people thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and six- teen years of age. The departments of the modern Sunday school follow closely the great natural periods of life as these are discovered and defined by psychologists. The two steps by which nature leads to maturity are childhood and adolescence. Each of these periods covers about twelve years. Each falls into three divisions. Thus we have early childhood, up to six years ; middle childhood, six to eight ; later child- hood, nine to twelve. Likewise we have early ado- lescence, thirteen to sixteen ; middle adolescence, seventeen to twenty ; and later adolescence, twenty- one to twenty-four. Setting apart the first three years of the child's life as the period of infancy, we have : Early childhood . . 4 and 5 years of age . Beginners' Dept. Middle childhood . . 6, 7, 8 Primary Dept. Later childhood . . 9, 10, 11, 12 . . . . Junior Dept. Early adolescence . 13, 14, 15, 16 ... . Intermediate Dept. Middle adolescence . 17, 18, 19, 20 . . . . Senior Dept. The Intermediate Pupil. — The pupil who enters the Intermediate Department is turning into a new and more or less distinct life period. In the organization of this department, the Sunday school has recognized and sought to meet the challenge of adolescence. 100 Studies in the Departments loi Practically all ancient religions took account of the changes and developments which mark the begin- nings of adolescence and signalized this period in some way. This is in some sense the period of phys- ical and intellectual and spiritual rebirth, a time of awakening and growth into the larger self. It has come to be called the period of storm and stress. Leaving the shores of childhood, the Intermediate boy moves off towards the shores of manhood. He is neither child nor man, though he may partake largely of the nature of both child and man. He needs above all things a strong, wholesome, inspiring personality to walk with him through these difficult years. Organization. — This department should have a superintendent, teachers for classes of ten to fifteen pupils, a pianist, and a secretary-treasurer. Large departments will need other special workers. As in the Junior Department, so also in the Inter- mediate Department, boys and girls should be in separate classes. Thus we avoid that self-conscious- ness which the young people feel in the presence of each other. As is suggested above, the classes should usually range in number from ten to fifteen, though in the nature of the case this must depend somewhat on local conditions. Men should teach boys and women should teach girls. There are evident reasons for this. Boys hold men as their ideals and models. The man who has not altogether forgotten the experiences of his own youth, the man who is normal and wholesome can 102 The Present- Day Sunday School minister to the growing adolescent boy as no woman can minister. And this applies equally to women as teachers of girls. The woman who knows, as only a woman can know, the heart of a girl, the woman who is fine and rich in life and spirit can minister to the adolescent girl as no man could minister. And yet insistence upon this point may easily be carried too far. Where men of the type described above cannot be secured to teach boys, let competent women assume the task. There are doubtless condi- tions under which some good man will make the best available teacher for a class of girls. Intermediate and Senior pupils require somewhat more care and flexibihty in their grading. Younger pupils can usually be assigned to classes on the age basis without question. Age is still in the higher departments the usual and the most convenient basis of grading. Mr. M, S. Littlefield reminds us that the social instincts of this period are strong and that, as the gang spirit reaches its height during early ado- lescence, the class should be made a normal social unit. " Every effort should be made to group to- gether youth in the class who belong together in every-day life ; usually the age forms a normal basis for grouping." The real object of grading is to group together pupils who live in the same world of life and interest. This is especially vital in the early adoles- cent period. If it seems desirable to make exceptions to the accepted age basis a good corps of workers in the department can easily handle the exception on the individual basis. Studies in the Departments 103 Class organization assumes more commanding im- portance during this period. In all educational effort, adolescent pupils are being given enlarged recognition and wider freedom. Not until we reach the Adult Department does the organized class reach its high- est stage of autonomy and self-direction, but within proper limits and under needed restraints the organ- ized class may serve well the needs of the Interme- diate pupil. Messrs. Arthur Flake and L. P. Leavell, in a little booklet on organized classes, suggest the following class schemes for the Intermediate Department : FIRST GRADE INTERMEDIATE Boys 13 Years Old Name : VOLUNTEER BAND. Colors : Red, white, blue and gold. Motto : Know ; give ; go. Aim : To serve Him in needy places. Verse : Here am I, send me. Song : I'll be a Volunteer, or, Here ami, Send Me. Girls 13 Years Old Name : QUEEN ESTHERS. Colors : Light blue and gold. Motto : Esther 4 : 14, last clause. Verse : Neither count I my life dear. Song : Take My Life and Let it be Consecrated, ete. SECOND GRADE INTERMEDIATE Boys 14 Years Old Name: VALIANT KNIGHTS. Colors : Red, blue and green. Motto : Nothing Unholy, Unkind, Untrue. Aim : To suffer hardship as a good soldier. (2 Tim. 2:3.) Verse : Put on the whole armour of God. (Eph. 6:13.) Song : Yield Not to Temptation. 104 The Present-Day Sunday School Girls 14 Years Old Name : ALWAYS READY CLASS. Colors : "White aud yellow. Motto : Those that Were Ready, Went In. Aim : To enter every open door of service. Verse: I say unto you, "Watch." Song : When Jesus Comes to Reward His Servants. THIRD GRADE INTERMEDIATE Boys 15 Years Old Name : S. O. L. CLASS. Colors : Orange and white. Motto : Serving others loyally. Aim : To exalt the Sun of Righteousness. Verse : I am among you as one that serveth. Song : Sunlight. Girls 15 Years Old Name: KING'S MESSENGERS. Colors : Red, white and gold. Motto : The King's business requireth haste. Aim : To run and not be weary. Verse : As thou hast sent me, so I have sent them. (John 17 : 18. ) Song : Speed Away. FOURTH GRADE INTERMEDIATE Boys 16 Years Old Name ; "V. I. S." CLASS (Valiant in Service). Colors : Red, white and black. Motto : Quit you like men. Aim : Diligent in business, serving the Lord. Verse : Strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Song : Yield Not to Temptation. Girls 16 Years Old Name : DAUGHTERS OF RUTH. Colors : Light blue and gold. Motto : Working or gleaning, as He bids. Aim : To do cheerfully the duty of to-day, however humble. Verse: Where hast thou gleaned to-day? (Ruth 2:1.) Song : Bringing in the Sheaves, Studies in the Departments ib^ Intermediate pupils have a growing desire to serve, and this desire should be encouraged and utilized. Local conditions must, of course, determine the nature of the activities which the department or the classes shall undertake. The following report of service rendered will indicate what departments and classes may do.* Department Activities : Supphed fruits for hospitals by each member bring- ing one or two pieces at a time. Gathered magazines for Home for Crippled Chil- dren. Exchanged magazines among members of the department. Raised money for Parish Fund by fair. Gathered magazines for sailors on the Mission Yacht Association in New York. Gave Parents' Social annually. Gathered, prepared, and sent post-cards to Ellis Island. Made clothing for hospital out of material supplied by hospital. Dressed dolls and made scrap-books for the Home for Crippled Children. Dressed dolls and sent books and toys to children at Ellis Island. Sent barrel of surplus material to a Southern Home. Sang at hospitals and for shut-ins. * " The Encyclopedia of Sunday Schools and Religious Education," page 564. io6 The Present-Day Sunday-School Sent surplus literature to foreign lands. Distributed invitation to Sunday school. Distributed literature in foreign languages. Gave two surprise gifts to the church — a hymn tablet and a dozen new hymnals. Class Activities : Provided ice water for the summer Prayer Service. Sent delicacies and flowers to a member of the class who was ill eight months. Made comfort bags. Took charge of all Special- Day Programs for the school. Sent missionary box to Pine Ridge Agency Indians for Christmas. Sent flowers and plants to sick members and to hospital. Gave a splendid dinner and birthday party to one of their members who scarcely knew what a party was. Subscribed for missionary magazine which is used in their fortnightly meetings. Gave money to buy food for a needy family. Gave a " can social " just before Thanksgiving. Received eleven dollars and sixty-nine cans of fruit and vegetables. The day before Thanksgiving they packed twenty-two baskets. It took five hours' work with a dray to make this distribution to twenty-two families. Equipment. — This department should have an as- sembly room with suitable class rooms opening into Studies in the Departments 107 it. Perhaps in no other period are separate class rooms so much needed. These pupils are preemi- nently in the self-conscious age. Moreover, they ought now to be trained to offer audible prayer and otherwise to give such expressions of worship as must be impracticable apart from the quiet and seclusion of the class room. The combination chair and desk is generally pre- ferred to tables with chairs in the department. No reasonable expense should be spared in making the Sunday-school quarters of the Intermediates attract- ive and convenient. Lesson Material. — It is generally conceded that the study of great Bible characters ministers better than any other study to the needs of the Intermediate pupil. " The deepening and enlarging life of this period calls for a type of lesson which shall make a distinct appeal to the new sense of selfhood and, the new sense of hunger for a personal ideal." Many of the pupils in this department will have become Chris- tians if faithful efforts have been made in the earlier departments, and these young Christians should have such Bible teaching as will minister to their growth in vision and faith. Many of the denominations are utilizing the opportunities of this period for giving instruction in the doctrines and practices of the church. Temperance and missions should have especial emphasis during this period. Intermediate pupils in a peculiar way require teachers of deep piety, of commanding personality, men and women who will walk with them along life's io8 The Present-Day Sunday School way confirming their faith, steadying their purposes, and enriching their hves. The fine passage from PhilHps Brooks on preaching is quite as appHcable to teaching : " Preaching has in it two elements, truth and personahty. Neither of these can it spare and still be preaching. The truth must come really through the person, not merely over his lips, not merely into his understanding and out through his pen. It must come through his character, his affec- tions, his whole intellectual and moral being. I think that, granting equal intelligence and study, here is the great difference which we find be- tween two preachers of the Word : the Gospel has come over one of them, it has come through the other." As illustrating the kind of lesson material suitable for the Intermediate period, we give below the out- line of the International Graded Lessons for the Intermediate Department. Graded Series — Intermediate Course (Approximate ages of pupils : Thirteen to sixteen years.) Aim of the Course 1. To influence all the youth, who have not previously made the decision, to accept and confess Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour. 2. To lead to the practical recognition of the duty and responsibility of personal Christian living, and to organize the conflicting impulses of life so as to develop habits of Christian service. Studies in the Departments 109 Outline of the Material First Year I. Leaders of Israel — Biographical Studies in the Old Testament, with the Geographical and Historical Background. Lessons I to 39. n. Religious Leaders in North American History. Lessons 40 to 48. in. Temperance Leaders in North American His- tory. Lessons 49 to 52. Second Year (Biographical Studies) I. Introductory : Jesus the Leader of Men. Les- sons I to 5. II. Companions of Jesus. Lessons 6 to 21. TTT T- ^ r-L. ' ..• T J \ Lessons 22 to 42. III. Early Christian Leaders. | Lessons 22 to 31. j^ j John the Baptist. Lessons 43 to 52. ( Later Christian Leaders. Lessons 32 to 39. V. Alexander Mackay — A Modern Missionary Leader. Lessons 40 to 52. Third Year (The Life of the Man Christ Jesus) I. Jesus Entering upon His Life Work. Les- sons I to 13. II. Jesus in the Midst of Popularity. Lessons 14 to 26. III. Jesus Facing Opposition and Death. Lessons 27 to 39. jY j The Teachings of Jesus. Lessons 40 to 52. I David Livingstone. Lessons 40 to 52. Fourth Year (Studies in Christian Living) L What it Means to be a Christian. Lessons I to 13. no The Present-Day Sunday School II. Special Problems of Christian Living. Lessons 14 to 26. III. The Christian and the Church. Lessons 27 to 39. IV. The Word of God in Life. Lessons 40 to 52. Program The making of programs is a fine art which calls for practice and training. We hear much insistence upon variety in programs. This variety does not mean that the general structure of the program is to be continuously changing. There may be advan- tage in using continually the same general outline while the needed variety is secured by endless re- adjustments and adaptations. Supposing that the Intermediate Department is permitted to have its own opening and closing ex- ercises, a privilege upon which Intermediate workers will probably more and more insist, the following items similar to those mentioned for the Junior pro- gram will need to have place. 1. Worship (15 minutes). Singing, Bible-reading, prayer, etc. 2. Instruction (35 minutes). Teaching the lesson of the day, expressional work, supplemental instruction in temper- ance and missions. 3. Fellowship (10 minutes). Reference to absentees, sickness or distress, birthdays, returned pupils, pupils who have recently confessed Christ, etc. Studies in the Departments ill 4. Business (10 minutes). Make announcements, distribute papers, take offering, mark pupils, etc. 5. Worship (5 minutes). Standard It will be observed that for the Intermediate and Senior Departments we give no standards. The standards used in the former years have been gener- ally discredited and discarded. The basis upon which they were formed has been called in question, inas- much as they dealt with methods rather than prin* ciples, and thus largely failed in real teaching value. The Sunday-School Council of Evangelical Denomi- nations, which in some sense represents the religious denominations of America in their Sunday-school work, has made some progress in the erection of standards. Standards for the Elementary Depart- ments and for the Adult Department have been erected, and are presented in this book in the chap- ters on these various departments. Committees from the Sunday-School Council are at work on standards for the Secondary Division, and it is expected that they will report their findings at the next annual meeting of the Council in 191 8. The Sunday-School Field Workers of the Southern Baptist Convention have issued " The Advanced Standard for Sunday Schools in Baptist Churches." This Advanced Standard for the Sunday school comprises special standards for all departments in- cluding the Cradle Roll and the Home Department. Class standards are given from the Junior up to the 112 The Present-Day Sunday School Adult Department. Booklet giving this compre- hensive advanced standard for the Sunday school may be secured from the Baptist Sunday-School Board, i6i Eighth Avenue, N., Nashville, Tenn. References : (See also list suggested for Junior workers.) Lewis, " The Intermediate Worker and His Work." 55 cents. Hall, " Adolescence." 2 vols. $7.50. Hall, <* Youth, Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene." (An abridgement of the superb work on Adolescence.) ;^i.50. Kirtley, " That Boy of Yours.'* $ i .00. Slattery, " The Girl in Her Teens.'* 50 cents. Slattery, "The Girl and Her Religion." ^i.oo. Flake and Leavell, '* Organized Classes in Baptist Sunday Schools." Pamphlet free on application to Baptist Sunday- School Board, Nashville, Tenn. XI THE SENIOR DEPARTMENT THIS department includes young people seventeen, eighteen, nineteen and twenty years of age. It will be hardly possible to draw a distinct age line between this and the Adult Department, though the lines in general should be kept clear. Strangely enough, this department, composed of the young people in the last formative stages, has been last of all to receive recognition and emphasis. The modern Adult Class Movement and the enthu- siasm aroused for large adult classes has all but swamped the Senior Department. Dr. Edward S. Lewis has noted this : " A common observation in a Sunday school shows a bright and blessed company of Beginners. They are crowding their room and calling for larger quarters. It is usually the same with the Primaries. There is usually inspiration here. But the Juniors show a little falling off, and the Intermediates more. There are adult classes pretty well maintained, especially of late, under the stimulus of the new movement for adults ; but the Seniors are few and far between." Special care and skill are needed in the manage- ment of pupils as they pass from the Intermediate "3 1 1 4 The Present-Day Sunday School Department. It is to be feared that these young people are all too often passed, we should hardly say " promoted/' into classes which range far beyond their age. Hurtful as this is, it is perhaps natural and possibly inevitable until we set up with clear limits and careful grading the Senior Department. Close of kin to this wrong tendency is the forming of Junior Berean, Junior Baraca, and the various " Junior " classes without careful regard for proper grouping, and without proper arrangement for pro- motions. These young people would better have class organization with names and schemes especially adapted to them. A further difficulty in keeping clear and distinct the lines of organization in the Senior Department lies in the fact that this department is rarely per- mitted to enjoy its own departmental room. With- out such room or some suitable provision for depart- mental assembly and program we will necessarily experience difficulty in maintaining distinct and clear the hnes of the Senior Department. In the chapter on " Sunday-School Architecture " the author makes plea for such special provision and in the drawings at the close of the chapter desirable departmental and class rooms for Seniors are shown. With the rapid increase of wealth in our country and the widening vision of the educational possibilities and importance of the Sunday school, it is not too much to hope that the churches will, in increasing numbers, make full provision for each department to enjoy its own sep- arate assembly and program. Studies in the Departments 115 The Senior Pupil. — Senior pupils offer certain pe- culiar conditions of which the Sunday-school teacher must take careful account. As hfe advances indi- viduahty becomes increasingly marked and there is growing necessity to give personal attention and study to each member of the class. In general, the following things may be said of the Senior pupil : (i) This is the period when the social nature de- velops and when the desire for social hfe is strongest. These are the years most frequently given to the quest of pleasure, years when the zest for amusement seems strongest. The amusement zone is a zone of peril. Amusement problems are preeminent prob- lems. Countless numbers of young people come on trouble here. How they need the companionship of noble spirits who have not lost the flavor of their youth and who can enter into the lives of immature boys and girls ! The Sunday school which has an adequate building with suitable rooms and equip- ment may minister largely to the young people in their social needs. There should be a reading room containing stationery and the varied types of liter- ature needed by the young people. This room should be open at all times. Rooms for social life should be available under proper conditions. Pro- vision for athletics can usually be arranged more satisfactorily under other auspices than the Sunday school, though some Sunday schools have entered this field. In the words of Miss Slattery, " Man, is social. He must have companionships and pleasures in ii6 The Present-Day Sunday School common with his kind. Only when physically de- ficient, mentally deformed, abnormal, does he become anti-social. This is true all through life and espe- cially true in adolescence when nature is most keenly conscious of elemental powers and passions. " The girl who loves and seeks soHtude contin- ually is ill mentally, physically, or spiritually, and needs watchful, sympathetic care, which shall dis- cover the cause of her morbidness and help her to escape from it." * (2) The Senior pupil is in the period when love between the sexes usually develops. The teacher must not overlook this fact with its varied bearing on the rounding out of the character and with its pos- sible effects on all future life. Luther A. Weigle treats with fine discernment the nature of adolescence and says in this connection : " It is true that the sex- instincts are susceptible of grave abuse, and that passion may lead to the worst of sins. Yet life has no greater spiritual force than love for one of the op- posite sex. It lifts the self above all that is carnal and gross. It makes selfishness impossible. It gains life through losing life. It brings new strength to resist temptation, and puts a new joy into work. The instinct to make a home and to Hve for one's children is sacred. It is God's revelation of His own nature within us. Too early marriages, of course, are unfortunate ; and the conditions of modern Hfe compel the young man of to-day to wait longer than his father did. Yet he is blessed who falls really in 1 Margaret Slattery, « The Girl in Her Teens," pages 62, 63. Studies in the Departments 1 1 7 love with the right girl. His time of waiting and working will be one of spiritual uplift." * (3) This is the age when doubt is most likely to appear. If in the earlier years religion has been pre- sented more as a system of dogmas than as a life which nourishes and sustains, the youth will now probably come on serious trouble. To quote the words of G. Stanley Hall, ** The gravest doubts of this kind are at first of certain miracles, the morality of some of the Old Testament heroes, and perhaps of Jehovah, or the goodness of God Himself in per- mitting suffering and sending so many to hell, special answers to prayer, the Judgment Day, etc. Later comes doubt of the Trinity and the deity of Jesus, His resurrection, supernatural birth, foreordi- nation, and immortality. Where the clay of dogma is tramped down too hard about the roots of the growing soul either the latter is arrested or else the doctrines are ruptured." ^ If, in the earlier years, things have been taught as fact and science which do not commend themselves as such to the thoughtful maturing mind, there will be danger that, in throwing overboard any worthless chaff, the good grains of faith may go also. It is usually better not to argue or antagonize. That was a wise teacher who said to the doubting pupil : " You have difificulties about the miracles and the divinity of Christ ? I have no such difficulties, but I sympathize with you. Accept what you can con- * Luther A. Weigle, " The Pupil and the Teacher," page 63,. ' G. Stanley Hall, " Adolescence," Vol. II, page 317. ll8 The Present- Day Sunday School cerning Christ. If to you He is a good man, obey and love Him as such. Gradually He will become more to you." (4) The Senior pupil is in the period when great life-decisions must be made. The question of a life calling is frequently settled before the close of the Intermediate period, but usually this decision is made during the years from seventeen to twenty. Whether direct help can be given in this time when the choice of a life-work is being made, the teacher must de- termine. Surely the wise teacher can steady the heart and strengthen the purpose to decide the ques- tion on high planes. Men and women who have passed beyond this period and are walking life's way with firm tread find it difficult to appreciate the per- plexity and difficulty which our youths feel at this point. This is the time when young men may choose the ministry as a life-calling or when young men and women may be induced to offer themselves for special service in the field of religious or moral re- form and uplift. The young man is probably imbued with the idea that God " calls " in a special way to the ministry. He may wish to know in what such call consists and how he may know whether it has come to him. He will be helped by knowing that God may make such call in simple and practical fashion. The need of the world about us and be- yond us, the possession of gifts needful for the ministry, the impressions and convictions in this matter which may be in the hearts of devout men Studies in the Departments 1 1 9 and women, these may be the means by which God will issue His call. To whom is God Hkely first to reveal His will — to the immature youth or to the mature and prayerful believers by whom the youth is surrounded ? Dr. Lewis teaches well in the following incident : * " One day, during the Boer War, a train was just starting from Waterloo Station in London, when a fine strong man, hot and breathless, leaped into a carriage and sank down into a seat, saying, * I'm called ! ' He soon fell asleep, and his fellow pas- sengers noticed that he was a fireman and was black with coal-dust and oil. When he awoke, he ex- claimed again, * I'm called.' He was one of the reserves and had got the word to join his regiment at Aldershot. He did not hesitate a moment. He did not wait even to wash himself or to put on clean clothes, but obeyed at once the call of his king. Suppose you had been trying to teach one of your boys the meaning of the call of God and to enjoin the duty of obedience thereto ; and suppose you had been in the compartment with that fireman : would you have needed to labor with the boy? Would you have had to enter into a long series of explana- tions and questions ? Or would you have but fixed his attention upon the man, his haste, his untidiness, his eagerness, and simply said, * So, my boy, your King's call has come to you ' ? " (5) The Senior pupil is assuming the burdens and * Edward S. Lewis, *' The Intermediate Worker and His Work," page 73. 120 The Present- Day Sunday School responsibilities of real life. The diversity among the pupils at this point constitutes a chief difficulty of the teacher. In the same class, it may be, will be youths who have taken <* a job " or secured a position and who walk beneath heavy burdens, youths in the high school, light-hearted and gay, and possibly also young people in the midst of college life. Certainly these various classes ought to be in groups to themselves, but this is not always practi- cable. Professor Athearn gives some suggestive and in- forming figures which may well furnish food for thought,* " Massachusetts found that 25,000 boys and girls in the state between the ages of fourteen and sixteen were not in school. It appointed a commission to ascertain the cause. The report of this commission shows that five-sixths of these boys and girls had not completed the grammar school ; one-half had not completed the seventh grade and one-fourth had not completed the sixth grade. The report also showed that to every one that goes into an occupation that is worth while, more than four enter a mill or factory, or don a mes- senger suit, or wear a cash girl's uniform. They seldom receive more than five dollars a week and they reach the height of their power before they are twenty. " Government statistics for 1907 show that in seventy-two of the seventy-eight cities in the United States which have 50,000 inhabitants, more than » Walter S, Athearn, " The Church School," pages 263, 265. Studies in the Departments 121 one-third of all the girls between sixteen and twenty years of age are at work. In thirty-six of these cities more than one-half are earning their living, and in eight cities the percentages rise as high as seventy- seven per cent, of the total number of girls. At the present time in the United States 6,000,000 women are gainfully employed. Some skilled industries depend entirely upon their labor. The girl is the future mother of the race. Her health and training should, therefore, be matters of solicitude." The teacher, both in the class and in every-day touch with his pupils, will wish to know as intimately as possible the special conditions of each pupil and will seek to make the class life minister to the needs which may exist. The teacher is not any longer, if he has ever been, chiefly an instructor, nor is the class work to be chiefly the imparting of information. These youths need strength, guidance, friendship. (6) This is an age of great energy and of possi- bilities for service. Pupils in this period are capable of the highest achievements. Luther A. Weigle tells the story well.* " Much of the world's best work has been done by young men. Napoleon was a lieutenant at fifteen, and by study made himself the master he was of the science of war. He was but twenty-four when he as- tonished the world at the siege of Toulon. Lafayette sailed to the help of the American colonies at nine- teen. Byron published his first volume at seventeen ; Bryant wrote ' Thanatopsis ' at the same age. Shelley 1 Luther A. Weigle, «« The Pupil and the Teacher," page 58. 122 The Present-Day Sunday School had published romances and poems before he was eighteen, and at that age was expelled from Oxford for publishing a tract on ' The Necessity of Atheism/ Pascal discovered geometry for himself at twelve, and at sixteen wrote a treatise on conic sections." It is a fine art to provide these young people with adequate tasks. Some one tells of a young woman, returning from college and asking her pastor to assign her to some service. The pastor, as if it were a happy thought, said, " Take as your duty the placing of flowers on the pulpit on Sunday mornings." An hour later the young woman said to her close com- panion, ** I did that when I was ten years of age and thought it was fine. I am a woman now with a col- lege education and when I come offering my life for service, I am assigned a child's task." Adequate tasks for these vigorous restless spirits are not easy to find, but find them we must if we are to serve the highest interests of these energetic and resourceful youths. (7) This is a period of special temptations. These people are coming out from the control and restraint of the home and are beginning to find themselves in the larger work of life. Young men will meet with temptation to drink, to use tobacco, to gamble, to choose evil associates. Young women will meet temptations more insidious and persistent and involv- ing more of peril than ordinarily come at other periods of life. Professor Athearn lists the conditions which make for peril at this period as follows : ' 1 Walter S. Athearn, " The Church School," page 248. Studies in the Departments 123 " Loss of connection with religious agencies be- cause of new environment. " Absorption in new work. " Financial success which tends to destroy a sense of the need of God. " The influence of non-religious companions. " The growing tendency to doubt. " The dividing of interests with many other clubs, societies, etc., which demand portions of the young people's time. " The church must overcome all these unfavorable influences and make sure that the young people do not lose their God by forgetting Him." Concerning crime and its increase during this period, G. Stanley Hall, who treats the whole subject at length and with his usual discrimination, says : ' " In all civilized lands, criminal statistics show two sad and significant facts : First, that there is a marked increase of crime at the age of twelve to fourteen, not in crimes of one, but of all kinds, and that this in- crease continues for a number of years. While the percentages of certain grave crimes increase to ma- ture manhood, adolescence is preeminently the crimi- nal age when most first commitments occur and most vicious careers are begun. The second fact is that the proportion of juvenile delinquents seems to be everywhere increasing and crime is more and more precocious." It is hardly necessary to point out the bearing of this pressure of temptation upon adolescents as it * G. Stanley Hall, " Adolescence," Volume I, page 325. 1 24 The Present-Day Sunday School affects the work of the Sunday-school teacher. A strong, wholesome teacher may supplement the efforts of the home and the school and other agencies in tiding young Hfe over the difficulties of this crucial time. (8) Growing out of all that has been said, and yet requiring special emphasis here, is the fact that young people in the Senior Department are marked by in- dependence and self-assertiveness. They are coming into a new sense of their own responsibility and im- portance. The very novelty of their dawning inde- pendence makes them more jealous of its exercise. They cannot now be managed as children nor even as boys and girls. Their individuality must be fully recognized and they must be allowed opportunity for their own choices and initiative. Herein is one of the reasons why our schools sustain such heavy losses at this time : we fail to let our plans and methods ex- pand to take account of the attitudes of these strong young people. This question is developed in the chapter on " The Organized Class " and does not re- quire further discussion here. (9) The Senior Department is the supreme oppor- tunity for training prospective Sunday-school teach- ers. Until pupils have come out of the Intermediate Department, nothing should be permitted to break the regular curriculum of their Bible study. When they enter the Senior Department, the various classes may well be permitted elective courses. So long as the whole school was studying a common lesson there were difficulties involved in permitting any depart- ment or any class to break away from the general Studies in the Departments 125 scneduie. The coming of the graded lessons and the definite effort to provide for all pupils lessons which will best minister to their present or future usefulness change this completely. There is a feeling, for which there seems to be good foundation, that, in all classes, the Sunday-school studies ought to keep close to the Bible. A large part of all the teacher-training courses now offered is devoted to the Bible. Certain portions of the Bible may be studied, or the doctrinal content, or the evan- gelistic or missionary message. Any of these hues of study offered in the training courses may well oc- cupy a Senior class for a season, or possibly even for a succession of years. Organization. — The Senior Department should be separately organized and its lines should be kept dis- tinct. Young people in this period are not adults. They represent a distinct type of life with special needs, and can best be taught and trained in a sepa- rate department. This department should have its own superintendent, who may also be a teacher, as many teachers as are needed, a secretary and treas- urer, together with such other officers as local condi- tions may seem to justify. The size of the classes may vary widely. Very large classes may gain in matters of fellowship and general interest, but they usually lose as regards real instruction. It is not necessary to have a class for each age. Young men should be in a class together, usually with a man in charge as teacher. Young women will be in classes together, usually with a woman as teacher. 126 The Present- Day Sunday School Equipment. — While a special assembly room for this department is desirable, it is probable that this ideal will not be attainable in many Sunday schools. Special class rooms are necessary in order to get the best results. In this department the classes are or- ganized and they may be expected to conduct wor- ship and carry forward a varied program of activities in addition to their regular Bible study. For discus- sion of equipment needed in Senior class rooms, see chapter on " The Organized Class." Lesson Material. — As indicating the kind of lesson material which the International Lesson Committee has deemed suitable for Senior pupils, we give the outline of the International Graded Lessons for the Senior Department. First Year I. The World as a Field for Christian Service. Lessons 1-26. II. The Problems of Youth in Social Life. Les- sons 27-39. III. The Book of Ruth. Lessons 40-42. IV. The Epistle of James. Lessons 43-52. Second Year I. The Rise of the Hebrew Nation. Lessons II. The Hebrew Monarchy and the Kingdom of Israel. Lessons 14-26. III. The Kingdom of Judah, the Exile and the Re- stored Jewish Community. Lessons 27-39. IV. Studies in Hebrew Religious Literature. Les- sons 40-52. Studies in the Departments 127 Third Year I. The Historical Background of Christianity. Lessons 1-5. II. The Eariy History of Christianity. Lessons 6-13. III. Christianity Established Among the Gentiles. Lessons 14-16. IV. The Conflict with Judaism and Paganism. Les- sons 17-26. V. The Interpretation and Defense of Chris- tianity. Lessons 27-39. VI. The Apostolic Church a Brotherhood. Les- sons 40-52. Fourth Year Introductory. Lesson i. I. The Family. Lessons 2-6. II. The Community. Lessons 7-13. III. The State. Lessons 14-19. IV. The Church. Lessons 20-26. V. The Industrial Order. Lessons 27-39. VI. Bible Spokesmen for the Kingdom of God. Lessons 40-52. Program. — The great majority of schools will of necessity combine at least all of the upper depart- ments of the Sunday school in the opening and closing exercises. Some schools will from choice combine the Intermediate, Senior, and Adult Departments for such exercises. The great Bushwick Avenue Methodist Sunday School in Brooklyn, New York, which has a separate room for each department, holds separate departmental worship throughout, both in opening and closing. This is becoming common in the larger schools. There are manifest advantages 128 The Present-Day Sunday School in this plan. Some schools have found it advisable to have the Intermediate and Senior Departments together for the program of worship and expression. Much might be said in favor of this plan. Clearly we have not gone far enough in developing and test- ing plans regarding these departments to dogmatize as to what plans are best. Probably no plan is ** best." The schools of various sizes and types will face these problems and deal with them according to local conditions, while out of the experiences of the schools certain policies and plans will gradually emerge as tested and approved. As we train workers for special departments and develop plans for coordinating instruction and ex- pression, the tendency towards special departmental programs will doubtless grow. In the Intermediate, Senior, and Adult Depart- ments individuals and classes may be largely utilized in the making of the program, especially if there is separate departmental worship. References : (See list suggested for Intermediate Workers.) Addams, "The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets." 50 cents. Slattery, "The Girl and Her Religion." $1.00 Lewis, "The Senior Worker and His Work." 55 cents. Scarborough, ** Recruits for World Conquests." 75 cents. See also books mentioned at the close of chapter on " The Organized Bible Class." XII THE ADULT DEPARTMENT THIS department includes all members of the Sunday school twenty-one years of age and up. As was suggested in connection with the Senior Department, the lines can hardly be clearly drawn on the age basis. The lines should be drawn, and clearly, between the two departments, but other considerations than mere age must be considered. The coming of men and women in great numbers into the Sunday school has made a new day. Once designed chiefly for children and composed largely of children, the Sunday school has come to be as broad as human life, ministering at every stage from the cradle to the grave. The coming of adults has brought added meaning and dignity. The children themselves, the churches, and society in general, have given the Sunday school a new and higher rating since men and women came to constitute a large part of its membership. Under ordinary conditions, this department, since it comprises all the mature mem- bers, ought to have the largest enrollment in the school. In fact some of our larger schools have as many members in this department as in any other two departments, while some schools have as many in the Adult Department as in all other departments combined. 139 130 The Present-Day Sunday School This is the last of the departments to receive at- tention and development in the modern scheme of organization. During the first hundred years of Sun- day-school history, adults constituted a negligible part in Sunday-school life. There was from the earliest beginning the historic " Bible Class " for such adults as might wish to attend. The Primary De- partment was the first to be set up in distinctness. Then came the Beginners, as it was seen that special provision must be made for the kindergarten age. Then came the Junior Department as conviction grew that boys and girls must be separated from younger children. Then came the Intermediate and Senior Departments, and last of all the Adult De- partment. A closer and more deliberate study of pupil life has brought, in some quarters, the con- viction that the age divisions between the depart- ments were not happily fixed. Various readjust- ments are suggested and advocated. For practical purposes the departmental divisions which we have suggested and which have been widely adopted in all parts of the world will suffice. Certainly individual schools will exercise the fullest discretion, while for a long time to come these generally accepted plans will probably continue. Up to sixteen years of age, or the last year of the Intermediate period, grading is on the general basis of age. From seventeen and beyond, in the Senior and Adult periods, age lines are more and more ob- scured and, while grading should be just as careful and thorough, other considerations than age must Studies in the Departments 131 have weight. Because we have in the age of the pupil a convenient basis of grading up through the Intermediate Department, the question of grading is comparatively simple up to the Senior Department. In the Senior and Adult Departments there is the same necessity for proper grading or grouping, but there is not at hand any simple rule that may be al- ways applied. Here we must group our people not only on the basis of age but also on the basis of con- geniality, of social preferences, of previous Bible training, of general needs, taking into account the proper size of the classes, the supply of teachers, and many other practical considerations. Many schools otherwise fully graded have never undertaken in any serious way to grade Senior and Adult pupils. These are thrown together in uncertain and irregular groups, or they are allowed to continue in such groups as may have been formed by chance along through the years. It is perhaps well enough that the grading movement should come up from the lower grades and departments and that it should, with due deliberation, find its way into the Senior and Adult Departments. We may look for interesting devel- opments here during the coming years. Organization. — The adults should constitute a de- partment with full organization, comprising a super- intendent, secretary and treasurer. This does not necessarily mean that the department is to have a room of its own. This is not necessary though it is desirable, as is indicated in the chapter on " Archi- tecture." Class rooms are highly desirable. This 132 The Present-Day Sunday School department will probably have its worship season in connection with the Seniors and possibly also with the Intermediates, though the present tendency is towards separate departmental worship. Indeed, one-room schools will find it necessary to hold one worship service for all departments, but this will not prevent the keeping of the departments distinct and separate. Equipment. — There would be real gain if this department might have a suitable assembly room ex- clusively for its own use. Perhaps the best that can be generally hoped for is an assembly room for the Senior and Adult Departments. In any event, separate class rooms are necessary for the best work among adults. These classes are frequently large ; they conduct at least some opening worship ; their whole schedule is such as to call for a separate room. Where such rooms cannot be secured, cur- tained spaces may be used to advantage. For dis- cussion of the equipment and furnishing needed in these classes, see chapter on " The Organized Class." Lesson Material. — The International Graded Series offers lessons from the Beginners' Department through the Senior Department. Thus far the Graded Series has not made special provision for the Adult Department though special lessons for adults are in process of preparation. Adult classes may properly pursue a wide range of studies, according to the nature and needs of the class. Irving F. Wood, who discusses the whole subject with rare Studies in the Departments 133 discrimination, has the following timely word about possible adaptations of the Uniform Lesson System.* " The system should be unhesitatingly bent, and if necessary, broken, to meet the needs of the class. Systems were made for men, not men for systems. If a class becomes interested in the discussion of a subject and wants to continue it next week, why not do so, and let next week's lesson come in as it can ? If one or more lessons ahead are relatively unprofit- able, why not drop them and put something else in their place ? A brief course on some related subject will often send a class back to the lessons with re- newed vigor and better appreciation of the general course. Most adult classes, after studying the Inter- national Uniform Lessons all their lives, are very ignorant of general Biblical subjects. Short courses on such subjects as the formation of the canon, the history of the English Bible, the Apocrypha, the de- velopment of prophecy, the relation of the synoptic gospels to each other, prophetic, wisdom, or apoca- lyptic writing, will often be as fresh as though the class were newly converted pagans. There is an amazing amount of ignorance about the Bible among excellent Bible students. Short courses on private, civic, and social Christian duties are especially fruit- ful for adult life. The International System provides lessons on temperance. Why not occasionally put in their place, or by the side of them, a lesson on political or business honesty, trying to find what it demands and what it forbids in modern life ? In 1 Irving F. Wood, '♦ Adult Class Study," page 83. 134 The Present-Day Sunday School many ways the system may well be bent to class needs, provided always arrangements are so made beforehand that all the members know what to ex- pect." The Sunday-School Council of Evangehcal De- nominations has adopted and the Executive Com- mittee of the International Sunday-School Associa- tion has approved the following Standard for the Adult Division Scope We define the Adult Division to be that part of the modern Sunday school which cares for the re- ligious education of the adult members of the church and the church community. Aims Realizing the need of a careful definition of the great purposes to be accomplished through the work of the Adult Division, we recommend that the aims of the Adult Division be stated thus, to realize : 1. In each adult life — (a) A knowledge of God's will for the in- dividual. (b) An acceptance of Jesus Christ as personal Saviour and Lord. (c) An efficiently trained Christian character. (d) The fulfilling of one's whole duty in Chris- tian service. 2. In organized capacity — the expression in serv- ice of the entire membership. Studies in the Departments 135 Means Accepting the above as a worthy statement of aims, we recommend that the following means be adopted looking to the realization of these aims : /. Organization : A. Adult Division — (a) Officers : (i) An executive head. (2) A secretary. (3) An Executive Committee, composed of the Division officers, the presi- dents of the classes and the super- intendents of departments. This committee shall be responsible to the Superintendent, the Committee on Religious Education, or other prop- erly constituted authority of the church. (b) Duties of the Executive Committee — (i) To give general direction to the work of the Division. (2) To superintend extension work among the adults of the church and of the community. B. Departments — (a) Where there are two or more of either men's or women's classes, we recom- mend their federation into a men's or women's department, with appropriate officers, committees and activities. (b) Home Department — (i) Officers: (a) A superintendent. 136 The Present- Day Sunday-School (b) A secretary. (c) Visitors from the men's and the women's classes or departments. It is desirable that each class or department should be responsible for its own field. (2) Membership: Those who for any reason cannot regularly attend the Sunday-school sessions. (3) Scope of work : To extend to the mem- bership the work in Bible study and religious training done in the Sun- day school. C. Classes — (a) Membership: (i) Permanent groups based on sex and age. (2) Temporary groups of pupils brought together for elective courses of study, such as (a) Teacher Training, (b) Mission Study, (c) Parents, (d) Church Leaders, (e) Social Service, (f) College Students. (b) Officers : President, Vice-President, Secre- tary, Treasurer, and Teacher.* (c) Committees : Executive, Devotional, Mem- bership, and Social. (d) Meetings : (i) Regular meetings in connection with the Sunday school. (2) Through-the-week meetings for busi- ness, social and educational purposes. *Fora different type of class organization which the author es- pecially commends, see chapter on " The Organized Bible Class." Studies in the Departments 137 2. Courses of Study : A. General courses on the principles underlying the Christian life in its relation with the Kingdom of God. B. Special courses for elective study groups and for the educational period in the through-the- week meetings of the classes or departments, such as (a) Teacher Training, (b) Church Leadership, (c) Parent Training, (d) Missions, (e) Temperance, (f) Community Service, (g) Local Church Problems, etc. C. Reading courses to supplement the general and special courses in reahzing the aims of the Adult Division. J. Religious Training: Recognizing the fact that the individual, to be trained efficiently, must not only know God's will, but also know how to do God's will, we recommend that a program of religious train- ing be carried out in connection with the lesson study period, such program to include (a) Training in Prayer, (b) Training in Chris- tian Conversation, (c) Training in the work of the Church. jf., A Program of Service : * To provide a plan for definite Christian service we recommend the following program : A. In the class, to — (a) Increase class membership. 1 The author believes that the organized class should adhere closely to its central task of teaching the Bible. Much of the special service outlined here may well be assigned to the young people's society. 138 The Present-Day Sunday School (b) Maintain and operate a standard organ- ization. (c) Win all members to the Christian life. B. In the local church, to — (a) Secure church attendance. (b) Provide trained workers for all depart- ments of church work. (c) Assume some definite responsibility for boys and girls. C. In the home, to — (a) Promote systematic Bible study. (b) Seek to establish family worship. (c) Encourage good general reading and the study of parental responsibilities. D. In the community, to — (a) Assume some definite social service task. (b) Cooperate with other social service agencies. (c) Promote missionary effort. References : Barclay, " The Adult Worker and His Work.'* 5 5 cents. Pell, " Our Troublesome Religious Questions." ;^i«35' Frost, " The School of the Church." ^1.15. Weaver, ** The Religious Development of the Child." $1.25. Cope, "Religious Education in the Family." $1.25. See also books mentioned at close of chapter on ** The Organized Bible Class." XIII THE HOME DEPARTMENT THIS department is designed to secure home study of the Bible and to provide Sunday- school oversight for all persons who cannot be induced to attend the sessions of the school. The Home Department is the oldest of the eight special departments offered in connection with the Sunday school. The movement had its origin early in the eighties and received special recognition at the hands of the International Convention in 1892. The names of Samuel W. Dike and W. A. Duncan are closely associated with the beginnings of the Home Department. From the beginning, the idea met with favor and the movement has spread until it has extended into all parts of the world. Miss Forbes states the objects sought through the Home Department clearly and convincingly, and thus makes the strongest possible plea for the de- partment.* " (i) To promote systematic Bible study. " (2) To encourage individual and family worship. " (3) To win its unsaved members to Christ. " (4) To enlist its members in definite lines of service. 1 Lilian S. Forbes, " The Home Department of the Sunday School," page 13. 140 The Present-Day Sunday School " (5) To develop the social side of the church life. " (6) To give permanency and direction to its work by making a department of the Sunday school. *• It emphasizes that the Sunday school is for the whole church membership and for all others, too. " It has in it the Christ idea of going after the folks. " It builds up the school and the church. " It develops the worker. " It begets mutual love and sympathy between vis- itors and visited. " It brings cheer to the darkened homes and lonely lives. " It increases the number of those who study the Bible. " It prepares parents to be helpful to their children in the preparation of their Sunday-school lessons. " It builds up the family altar. " It multiplies the pastor. " It opens homes that have been closed for many years to religious influences. " It has been the means of turning many no-service church members into strong, active Christians. " It carries missionary tracts and books into many homes." Organization. — One reason for the continued use- fulness of this department lies in the fact that it is simple and flexible in its plans and methods. A su- perintendent supervises the work and gives it gen- eral direction. Visitors divide the field among them- selves and each is charged with responsibility for a certain territory or for a certain list of names. Studies in the Departments 141 If a new Home Department is to be organized, the first step will be to secure the sample literature sent free by the denominational publishing houses, and two or three copies of any one of the published hand- books, and let the prospective workers thoroughly inform themselves as to the work proposed. The requisites usually desired embrace the following : (i) Circular literature describing the purpose and work of the Home Department. (2) An application card with pledge agreeing to give a half hour each week to the study of the Sun- day-school lesson. (3) A certificate of membership to be given to all who join the department. (4) A member's quarterly report blank (usually a specially prepared envelope) on which the member reports his record as regards Bible study and offering. (5) The Visitor's Home Class Book and quarterly report blank for the visitor on which report is made of the number in his class and the record of each member. (6) The superintendent's record book. This pro- vides for the keeping of full information regarding the department and each member in it. Special magazines are generally provided for this department, treating the Uniform Sunday-School Lessons and providing suitable reading matter. Or any treatment of the lesson prepared for adults may be used. The question sometimes arises as to whether mem- bers of the Cradle Roll and Home Department shall 142 The Present-Day Sunday School be counted in reporting the Sunday-school enroll- ment. Certainly they should be counted, as, in real- ity, they are members of the school. Any school can properly report the total number in its eight de- partments. If it seems necessary, in order to avoid possible confusion, the report may be read, " En- rollment, including Crac le Roll and Home Depart- ment," though it ough* not to be considered neces- sary to make this explanation inasmuch as the Cradle Roll children and the friends of the Home Depart- ment are as much members of the school as are those who attend its sessions. As indicating the far-reach of the Home Depart- ment, at the International Convention held in Chi- cago, June, 1914, 26,598 departments were reported with a total membership of 788,057. The International Executive Committee at New Orleans, in 191 2, recommended that Home Depart- ments should be of two grades. Grade A includes such departments as meet the ordinary requirements and in addition urge the observance of family worship, comprising Bible reading and prayer. Grade B includes only the ordinary requirement of a study of the lesson for thirty minutes. Some paragraphs taken from the article of Rev. Samuel W. Dike published in the Vermont Chro7iicle, January 9, 1885, seem almost prophetic, and even to-day fairly state the spirit of the Home Department work.* • " The Encyclopedia of Sunday Schools and Religious Educa« tion," page 529. - — Studies in the Departments 143 " Every pastor and Sunday-school superintendent has had occasion to regret that sickness, infirmity, or some other cause beyond control keeps a number of the best of his charge from active participation in the Sunday-school service. There are others, also, who do not attend any public service and who have resisted, for various reasons, all efforts to bring them into this service of the church. Sometimes one or two children only will attend out of a family. And on the borders of our parishes there are always some families who cannot be reached by any Sunday school without the greatest difficulty. These families can- not, or think they cannot, go to the church school. Something ought to be done for them. And those aged and infirm people who have perhaps been in the Sunday school most of their lives hardly ought to be left without a taste of the cherished privileges of a lifetime. " Now why not have a Home Department for these classes ? We have our Uniform Lessons and lesson quarterlies in abundance. Some of these are very well adapted to use in private study at home. The religious newspapers all have their notes on the lessons, and so do some others. . . . And then the pastor and superintendent might g^t competent persons to canvass the field and find how many could join such a department of the Sunday school to be composed of those who could not attend the public service of the school more than six times in a year, and of those who could not come at all. ** Then get as many as possible to enroll their 144 The Present-Day Sunday School names as members of the school. To make the conditions at first very few and simple, is best." THE FIRST HOME DEPARTMENT 'Twas long ago in Galilee, When Jesus taught beside the sea, He organized, as we'll agree. The world's first Home Department. And Christ Himself the leader when In loving ministry to men. He worked and talked in homes, for then Began the Home Department. The visitors ? First twelve were sent Upon this blessed mission bent, And teaching, healing as they went Throughout the Home Department. Then seventy went forth, ''two and two/' The work of visiting to do ; They came, rejoicing, to review The working Home Department. O, happy privilege ! that we May share in this sweet ministry, And help to spread from sea to sea, The blessed Home Department. — Ada Sherwood, References : Cope, ** Religious Education in the Family." $^*2.^, Forbes, " The Home Department of the Sunday School." 35 cents. Hazard, "Home Classes and the Home Department." 50 cents. Studies in Administration XIV THE PASTOR IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL THE church in all the various phases of its life and work constitutes a school of religion. The Sunday school is one of the departments in this larger school. The Sunday school is an agency of the church, one of the means by which it discharges its obligations to the community. The pastor is, of course, the pastor of the Sunday school. I. The Place of the Sunday School in the Life of the Pastor. The time was when conditions seemed to require that the work of the pastor should be largely mis- sionary and evangelistic. Such it is and must always be. But there is in our day a growing recognition of the educational element in the program of the church. Evangelism is not to receive less emphasis, but the careful and prolonged educational processes which pave the way for normal evangelism are to be more fully recognized. Not evangehsm apart from education, but evangelism for which painstaking educational efforts have paved the way and laid the foundation. The pastor of to-day finds that his church is primarily a school, an educational institu- 145 146 The Present-Day Sunday School tion, and that he is the dean. He finds this school of religion serving in the midst of a keen educational atmosphere and in a varied setting of educational institutions. He finds, as a department of this gen- eral school of religion, the Sunday school which has assigned to it by general consent the instruction of the people in the Bible. This Bible school in turn is surrounded by other schools often with severely trained teachers and high educational standards. In a word, the pastor is recognized as an educator stand- ing at the head of an institution which holds a vital place in the world of general education. In this school over which the pastor presides are enrolled probably as many people as constitute the congregation to which he preaches. On the whole, its pupils are more plastic and impressionable than the people who wait on his pulpit ministry. From within this school are to come an overwhelming majority of the converts, the ministers, the mission- aries, and the great-hearted laymen of to-morrow. As the thoughtful pastor views his parish and surveys his field, the Sunday school must loom on the horizon as a large element in his work. II. The Pastor's Place in the Sunday School. We have said that the pastor is to be the pastor of the Sunday school ; not its superintendent, not its directing head, but its pastor. He is responsible for its work and its fruitage. He may not shift or in any way evade this necessary responsibility. Here the Bible is taught, here preparation is made for Studies in Administration 147 evangelism, here the pastor's people are busy with tasks in which they need him. 1. The pastor's place in the Sunday school is a literal place. He must attend the sessions of the school. His face is always a benediction among his associates, his smile an incentive and blessing. There is not a moment during the whole program when his presence will not be welcomed and helpful. To be sure, this is the pastor's busy day and he may not think it wise to be present in the Sunday school throughout the en- tire session. It will not be misunderstood if he should slip away to his study for quiet and prayer as the hour approaches for his ministry in the pulpit. In the words of Dr. William E. Hatcher, " It strengthens a school wonderfully to have a pastor who really knows all about it, who can bridge the turbid stream, who can heal a breach, wrest victory from a scene of confusion and make things go. What a charm a man hke that will throw over the school ! " 2. The pastor has a place of oversight and general direction. He is not the executive head ; that is the superintendent's place. In the large, he is to direct and inspire, while all administration is to be in the hands of the superintendent. Here is a fine relation- ship which calls for the utmost delicacy and mutual consideration. The officious pastor who is not con- tent to leave the superintendent free in his proper sphere ; who, instead of cultivating relations of sym- pathetic helpfulness, interferes with the superintend- ent's administration, will inevitably hamper the 148 The Present-Day Sunday School work of the school. The superintendent, on the other hand, who is sensitive about his own preroga- tives, who is jealous for his own place, and who fails to set ajar the door for the pastor to come freely into the school and wield his pastoral influence, is inviting defeat. 3. The pastor should see that his school is organized for efficiency and that the best and most helpful lessons are provided. The superintendent, who is possibly a busy business man, may not be expected to be as accurately informed as regards approved methods of organization, and especially as regards lesson material and helps. However the teachers may be selected, the pastor, who of all others has the widest opportunity to observe his people and study their qualifications, should be ex- pected to advise in the matter of their selection. 4. The pastor should supervise the training of the teachers. This means also that he should call out and train those who are to become teachers. It means that he shall assume responsibility for the teaching and the training of those at present engaged in the work of the Sunday school. It does not neces- sarily mean that the pastor shall personally conduct all teacher training classes. This he may or may not do. For this work he may utilize the service of some equipped teacher engaged in general educa- tional work. The point on which we insist is that the pastor is to see that this work is faithfully done. The only way in which the pastor can make sure that pure doctrine is being taught in the Sunday Studies in Administration 149 school is to see that teachers, present and prospective, are deeply taught in the doctrines of the faith. It is not often that unworthy persons will seek a place in the Sunday school in order to propagate wrong doctrine. If they do, they must, of course, be sum- marily dealt with. But well-meaning persons may, in ignorance, teach false and hurtful doctrines " Safety first " demands that the pastor look care- fully to the doctrinal training of those who are, or may be, teachers in the church school. This whole question of teacher training will receive fuller treat- ment in a special chapter. III. The Place of the Sunday School in Pastoral Work. The pastor must carry the Sunday school on his heart in all of his pastoral work. In his round of visiting, he will be alert to catch any information which he may turn to account in the interest of the church school ; he will visit promptly any pupil who may be sick or in any special need ; he will be on the lookout for new pupils and for new teachers. If the pastor thus carries the school of the church on his heart he will not fail to make suitable mention of this work and these workers in his public prayers. More perhaps than the pastor knows, mention in his public petitions is observed and appreciated by his people. And the pastor who bears his school on his heart will find opportunities in his public ministry, both in way of announcements and in the interpreta- tion of the Word^ to magnify the teaching service. 150 The Present-Day Sunday School The pastor will wish to hold an annual installation service for the recognition and encouragement of the teachers and officers. This service will give him the occasion to say things to the workers, to the pupils, and to the whole congregation which will help throughout the whole year. The question of evangelism in the Sunday school will be discussed in a separate chapter. We must insist here that the pastor shall be always on the watch for youths whom the Lord may be calling into the ministry, missionary work or special Christian service. There are three million men and boys in the Sunday schools of America. From among this number will come practically all of the pastors, the presidents of Christian colleges, missionaries and church leaders of the future. There is something wrong with the ministry of the man who does not inspire youths to enter the ministry. It is said that three hundred and fifty students of theology, repre- senting fifty theological seminaries, were asked how many had heard sermons on the claims of the minis* try and more than half of them stated that they had never heard such sermons. IV. The Pastor's Preparation for Sunday School Work. These words coming from a well-informed and widely-observing pastor may well be pondered : " It is no pessimistic deliverance when I declare that many of our ministers, valuable in other respects, are lost in our Sunday schools. They are aliens in Studies in Administration 151 their houses ; they are destitute of fitness for service in one of the most important phases of Christian evangelization. Their commission does not seem to include any specific instruction as to the duty which belongs to them in connection with the teaching of the Scriptures to the people. This is not universally true — it may not be generally true, but I am sure that a candid study of the situation would reveal the fact that the average pastor cuts an insignificant fig- ure in the Sunday school, and that his withdrawal or death would prove a slight appreciable loss to the school." ' Unhappily, most of the pastors of the day pursued their preparatory studies in the time when the church school was not taken so seriously and when thorough courses looking to the leadership of modern Sunday- school forces were not generally offered. This de- ficiency in early training must be overcome by a study of the best literature on the modern Sunday school and religious education. Three or four of the best books on psychology, a half-dozen books on religious pedagogy, a few choice books on the Sunday school, including at least one special book on each of the de- partments, will furnish a good start, and the pastor may keep in touch with advance steps and methods by following current Sunday-school literature and reading a new book occasionally through the year. A wise worker who observes the need may present to the pastor a choice book at certain intervals. He » Dr. William E. Hatcher, « The Pastor and the Sunday School," page 21. 152 The Present-Day Sunday School may lead others to prevail on the pastor to secure the services of Sunday-school specialists or induce him to attend institutes and assemblies where the best mod- ern methods will be discussed. Perhaps the simplest and most practical means by which the pastor may secure needed preparation is for him to lead his peo- ple in the study of a good normal course for teacher training. These courses are generally so adjusted and offered that any pastor may confidently undertake to lead his workers in the study of them. In closing this chapter we cannot do better than to quote again from Dr. William E. Hatcher, whose treatment of the pastor's relation to the Sunday school constitutes an outstanding classic among books of its kind.* *' There are two almost impregnable bulwarks of safety for young Christians in our churches ; one is worship and the other work. Worship is the tie which binds us to the Lord, and work is the tie which connects us with our brethren and with the lost. If we can succeed in making our young people intelligent and devout worshippers, and inflame them with zeal to help their brethren and rescue the perishing, then we have done our utmost to save them from making shipwrecks of their faith. " This double task belongs largely to the pastor. We must not imagine that it is an undertaking free from embarrassments and heart-breaking trials. It is the most stupendous work ever committed to mortal hands. It is the thing which requires the highest * Hatcher, «• The Pastor and the Sunday School," pages 165-166. Studies in Administration 153 graces of the saintly life. It is possible only with those who walk with God." References : Hatcher, " The Pastor and the Sunday School.'* 50 cents. McKinney, '* The Pastor and Teacher Training." 50 cents. Faris, ** The Sunday School and the Pastor." 25 cents. XV OFFICERS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL OWING to the limitations necessary in this discussion, we can only mention the officers usually required in the graded Sunday school and briefly indicate their duties. The place and duties of the pastor in the church school were treated in the preceding chapter. If, as is advocated elsewhere in this book, the church appoints a Committee or Board of Religious Educa- tion charged with the duty of supervising and direct- ing all of the educational work of the church, such Committee or Board will exercise only general direc- tion, leaving the proper executive officers free to perform their several duties. I. The Superintendent. Next to the pastor he holds the most important and responsible position in the church. He may be, in ac- cordance with the time-honored custom of the Sunday school, a busy man who offers his service without thought of compensation, or he may be a salaried of- ficer giving himself wholly to the work of religious education. Such salaried officers are rapidly multi- plying in our churches, and our theological seminaries are making special provision for their training. 154 Studies in Administration ij^ I. His qualifications. It would be easy to write a chapter or even a book on the qualifications needed to make a successful superintendent. Ideal men are rarely at command and the Lord's work must usually be carried forward by faithful men and women who, with whatever shortcomings and imperfections, are willing to serve as best they can. There are, of course, some really indispensable qualities. The superintendent must sustain an unblemished reputation in all of his varied relationships. His own moral life must be blameless. No gifts, no zeal can compensate for a lack at this vital point. He must also be a religious man. His spirit, whether icy and indifferent or warm and devout, will diffuse through- out the whole school and will constitute a vital ele- ment in his influence. The superintendent must be a lover of the Book and a constant student of its blessed pages. He stands at the head of a Bible school, an institution whose aim is to teach the Word of God. It is not re- quired that he shall be a theologian, nor yet that he shall be a Bible scholar, but it is requisite that he shall himself delight in his Bible and that he shall be a diligent student of the sacred Scriptures. Many men with meager gifts and scant ability have in a fine way imparted to the teachers and the whole school something of their own fresh and joyous in- terest in the study of the Bible. The superintendent is an executive officer. He must be able to harmonize and direct. Wielding an 156 The Present-Day Sunday School authority which grows not out of his position so much as it depends upon his own personality, he must direct and develop an institution in which are varied temperaments and often conflicting interests. He leads and works in a realm where unity of spirit and purpose are absolutely necessary. These are some of the essential marks of a good superintendent. Let the church select for this high office the best man available and let the man selected make of himself the best possible superintendent. 2. His election. How shall the superintendent be chosen ? What shall be his term of office ? If there is a Committee or Board of Religious Edu- cation, such committee should nominate and, in ac- cordance with its form of government, the church should elect. This cannot be too earnestly insisted upon. The reasons cannot be fully discussed here, though they must be in the main obvious. The superintendent should be elected for a definite term, usually one year, as should all of the other officers and the teachers. This annual selection of officers and teachers opens the way for merited recognition and makes pos==ib)e such rearrangements as may seem desirable. Being elected by the church, it is the superintendent's duty to keep the church informed as to the progress, the problems and the needs of the school. He should make written reports to the church monthly and a very full report once a year. In season and out of season he should keep the Sun- day school before the church. Studies in Administration 157 3. His duties. He is to preside over and direct all the divisions of the school, with a view to securing the largest re- sults in instruction and training. His duties are very much the same whether his is a small school in one room, or a school of thousands with its divisions and departments. He is what his title implies, a super- intendent. He is not to do the work, he is to get it done. In cooperation with the pastor and his department associates, he is to take the initiative in selecting the teachers, he is to be responsible for the type of teach- ing done; he is to conduct the general assembly worship or to see that it is properly conducted by his associates ; he is to oversee all departments ; he is to lead in efforts for enlargement ; he is to see that his teachers are properly trained, and he is to look generally to the welfare and progress of the school. In order that he may render this service effectively, the superintendent needs to keep abreast of the times as regards Sunday-school methods. Happily, the literature, both books and periodicals, is now abun- dant. His reading and study must cover, in some measure, the whole range of Sunday-school thought, must deal with all the departments of the school, including the Cradle Roll and the Home Department. Besides this necessary reading, the superintendent will be greatly profited by attendance upon Sunday- school institutes, training schools and summer assem- blies. 158 The Present-Day Sunday School II. The Departmental Superintendents. These would perhaps better be called department principals, as they are not really superintendents in the full sense in which we usually use the term. It does not seem necessary or possible to define clearly the place and the duties of these officers. Much de- pends upon the size of the school and the conditions under which it does its work. In the large depart- ment, having its own quarters and conducting sepa- rately its work and its worship, the department superintendent must have a wide sphere and large freedom. Their place and their responsibility is sufficiently indicated in their title ; they are directors or superin- tendents of their special departments, charged with the care and leadership of the groups entrusted to them, always with due regard for the general super- intendent and the unity of the whole school. In the modern graded Sunday school, they carry a large measure of burden and responsibility. III. The Teachers. These stand central in the church school. Modern Sunday-school thought magnifies the worship, the training elements and other parts of the work which did not formerly receive so much emphasis. But the chief factor in this work of religious education must always be the teaching of the Bible, and the teacher must always hold central place in this school. Developments of recent years lay a heavier burden upon the Sunday-school teacher. With the use of Studies in Administration 159 the graded lessons it is more than ever essential that the teacher shall be punctual and regular in attend- ance, and with the more definite effort to teach a real educational course in the Bible it is incumbent on the teacher to be more thoroughly equipped in Bible study and in religious pedagogy for his difficult task. The Sunday school is primarily an institution set for teaching. All officers and all organization are for the purpose of securing the best possible teaching. The Superintendent inspires and guides the teach- ing and conducts his program with a view to teaching. The Teachers of course have this as their special task. The Secretary aids the teaching by keeping accu- rate records. The Treasurer contributes to teaching by seeing that all necessary expenses are promptly met, and that the school is trained to give regularly and ac- cording to the principles laid down in the Bible. The Chorister and the Pianist make contribution to the teaching by such leadership of song as creates a favorable atmosphere. The Librarian helps the teaching by seeing that the teachers are supplied with all needed reference books for their Bible study and with all needed periodical literature for the study of their special lessons. The method of selecting teachers and their relation to the general organization of the school is elsewhere treated in this book. l6o The Present-Day Sunday School IV. The Secretary. This is a most important office in the Sunday school, especially in the modern graded school. As is elsewhere pointed out, it is easily possible for the secretary to demoralize and defeat the effort to con- duct a graded school. It is a comparatively easy and simple task to keep the usual records of the school and to report these at stated times. To so keep these records as to serve the convenience and increase the efficiency of each class and to make contribution to the enlargement and efficiency of each department, as well as of the whole school, is a rarely difficult task. But just this is the opportunity of the secretary. By the intro- duction and intelligent use of the " six point system," many secretaries have wrought wonders in their schools. Moreover, the secretary can, if he has a sense of the nature and value of the teaching art, contribute largely to the work of the teacher by see- ing that needed suppHes are always at hand, and otherwise preventing needless interruptions. It is impracticable in a treatise of this kind to dis- cuss in detail the work of the secretary. Special books and periodical literature are to be had in abundance. Samples of record systems and secre- tarial supplies of all kinds will be furnished free on application to Sunday-school publishing houses. V. Departmental Secretaries. Each department must have its own secretary, and in the upper departments the classes will require Studies in Administration l6l their own secretaries. The duties of these depart- mental officers will be for their own departments what the duties of the general secretary have been to the whole school. They will keep the records and report same promptly to the general secretary. They will receive all hterature and periodicals from the librarian and distribute it in their departments. VI. The Treasurer. It has long been customary to regard this officer as merely entrusted with the duty of receiving and caring for the funds of the Sunday school. In the modern Sunday school he has come into a wider sphere. Not least among the duties of the Sunday school is to train in Christian giving. If we are to have a generation which will recognize God's ownership and human stewardship, which will honor God with the first-fruits of its increase, we must begin the training early and the Sunday school finds here a fruitful opportunity. The treasurer is the officer especially charged with this responsibility. He it is that must see, not only that the pupils give, but that they give in ways which will enrich and train. It hardly needs to be said here that the treasurer, however small the funds which he handles, should keep his books with the most scrupulous care and that he should insist upon their being audited at regular intervals, VII. The Librarian. Whether or not there is a library of books, the l62 The Present-Day Sunday School librarian should order all necessary literature and distribute it to the secretaries. He should himself be a specialist in the various types of lessons and should be able to guide the teachers in securing the lessons and lesson helps which they need. VIII. The Chorister. In all the history of Sunday-school work, singing has been a marked and helpful feature. Children especially dehght to sing. The right kind of singing is a mighty educational influence. It wonderfully quickens the heart and lifts the soul towards God. Even with children the stately old hymns of the church are immensely popular. They should be memorized. A practical worker with Juniors de- clares that children coming out of the Junior De- partment should know at least twenty of the really great hymns. The following hymns are suggested by Miss Baldwin as suitable for Junior boys and girls : * When Morning Gilds the Skies. The Son of God Goes Forth to War. All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name. Fling Out the Banner. Love Divine, All Love Excelling. Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. My Faith Looks Up to Thee. IX. The Pianist. There should, of course, be a pianist for the main ^ Mary Judkin Baldwin, " The Juniors : How to Teach and Train Them," page 51. Studies in Administration 163 school assembly. If the several departments have their furnished assembly rooms, a pianist will be re- quired for each department. X. Ushers. In nothing has the modern Sunday school made more rapid strides than in the development of methods by which the glad hand may be extended. This fine spirit of friendly greeting has doubtless contributed in large measure to the increaised attend- ance which has marked Sunday-school life during recent years. By all means have ushers, not stately deacons or stewards, but bright young men and women who will make every stranger and newcomer glad that he has come to the school. XL Classification Officer. Many graded Sunday schools have felt the need of a special officer who will classify new pupils in their proper grades, and who in general will see that grade lines are preserved and that promotion day is prop- erly observed. Large schools will require yet other officers than those here named. The school should have as many, and only as many, as are really needed. XII. The Janitor. This officer is an essential element in successful Sunday-school work. Blackboards must be kept in good condition and in proper position, erasers and crayons must be always in place ; chairs and tables 164 The Present- Day Sunday School must frequently be shifted ; many details must be cared for. If the janitor is alert and sympathetic, ready to anticipate needs, he may make large contri- butions to the work of the school. A little time given by the pastor or superintendent to the instruc- tion of this important officer might be well spent. References : " The Sunday School at Work " (Revised Edition), West- minster Press. $1.25. Nelson's " Encyclopedia of Sunday Schools and Religious Education." 3 volumes. ^15.00. Brown, " The Superintendent and His Work." 55 cents. Trumbull, " Yale Lectures on the Sunday School." $2.00. Wells, ** The Successful Sunday School Superintendent." 75 cents. Schauffler, " Ways of Working." ^i.oo. Trumbull, " A Model Superintendent." 50 cents. Lawrance, " How to Conduct a Sunday School." ;^i.35' Cope, " The Modern Sunday School and Its Present Day Task." t\.\^. Paris, Editor " The Sunday School at Work." ^1.25. (The three books last named discuss helpfully the duties of the various officers of the Sunday school.) XVI THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS IT is impossible to trace clearly the early begin- nings of the modern teacher training move- ment. It is easy to trace in the educational efforts of the Prophet Samuel, and of King Je- hoshaphat, and of the great Teacher, the seed- thought of the modern movement for popular Sun- day-school teacher training. The great developments in the Kingdom of God usually come so without observation that it is not easy to tell how they came or when or where. With the advancing tides of educational interest, with the enlarged emphasis on the Sunday school and the clearer recognition of its place in the general system of education, it was inevitable that demand should arise for the special training of Sunday-school workers. The lines of development may be traced as follows : 1824 — The American Sunday-School Union pub- lished some books on the subject, " The Teacher Taught and the Teacher Teaching." These are re- garded '• as among the first efforts in the United States to provide training for teachers." 1857 — Pastor (afterwards Bishop) J. H. Vincent organized, in Juliet, Illinois, what seems to have been the first teacher training class. 165 l66 The Prcsent-Day Sunday School 1861 — The first institutes for the training of teach- ers were held in Freeport, Illinois, and Detroit, Michigan. 1874 — Dr. Vincent began the Chautauqua Move- ment, at first known as the Sunday-School Teachers* Assembly. 1884 — The Assembly Normal Union, indorsed by the Chautauqua Assembly, issued teacher training courses and awarded diplomas. 1888 — Dr. H. M. Hamill became Superintendent of the Teacher Training Department of the Illinois Sunday-School Association. 1 90 1 — Southern Baptists under leadership of Dr. B. W. Spilman and Southern Methodists led by Dr. H. M. Hamill were the first of the denomina- tions in this country to establish departments for the training of Sunday-school teachers. 1908 — The International Sunday-School Associa- tion, in cooperation with denominational representa- tives, adopted First Standard and Advanced Standard Courses with certain agreements as to the Courses, time-limits, et cetera. 1914 — The Sunday-School Council of Evangelical Denominations, in conference and cooperation with the Educational Committee of the International Sun- day-School Association, agreed that the courses and policies outlined in 1908 were not adequate for the enlarging work of teacher training. A new outline of plans and policies for teacher training was recom- mended by the Sunday-School Council in January, 19 16, and this outline has been approved by the Studies in Administration 167 Executive Committee of the International Sunday- School Association. W/ij/ the Trained Teacher f The basal need in all of our Sunday-school work is trained teachers. Such teachers will mean the solution of many problems and the bringing in of a new day for religious education. There is serious unrest as regards the great question of lesson selec- tion. But the question of the teacher is, after all, more important than the question of lesson selection. Wise leaders will patiently work at the lesson prob- lem and will doubtless guide us in right paths. The surest and quickest remedy for the difficulties which confront us lies in the training of our teachers. The Sunday-school teacher must be trained because he deals with life. It is a law everywhere recognized that whoever deals with life must be trained, and the insistence upon training increases as the touch upon life becomes closer and more vital. The man who digs in the earth or who breaks rock on the pike may require no special training; he does not deal with life. The man who as physician or sur- geon will take life in his hands must be trained. The law of our land so declares and in no uncertain terms. The law does more, it specifies the time to be employed and the standard to be met in his prepa- ration. The man or woman who will teach in our public schools must be trained because life is to be constantly dealt with and life in its plastic periods. Because the Sunday-school teacher deals with life he must have guidance and instruction for his task. i68 The Present-Day Sunday School Such teacher touches life in the most delicate ways^ in ways which affect deeply both character and destiny. As it would be criminal for the surgeon to lay untrained and unskilled hands on men's bodies, as it would be criminal for blundering and unskilled teachers to handle hfe in our pubHc schools, so it is unthinkable that religious teachers shall without equipment and preparation assume to guide and in- struct unfolding hfe. The state guards with jealous and watchful eye the interests of its young hfe : shall our churches be less faithful and watchful than the state ? The Sunday-school teacher must be trained because he comes inevitably ijito contrast with the splendidly equipped teachers in our public school system. These children and young people whom we teach on Sun- day are five days in the week under the care of men and women who in a rare way have mastered the principles of discipline and teaching. Far be it from us to set up the same standard for our voluntary Bible school teachers as are set up for technical and professional teachers who pursue the work as a life calling. Nevertheless our pupils come to us from the hands of these equipped teachers and if by com- parison our methods appear careless and slipshod, if we Sunday-school teachers suffer seriously in the comparison, our pupils will feel it, if they do not put it into words, and our school and the mighty things for which it stands will suffer as a result. Who Ought to Study the Teacher - Training Courses ? Studies in Administration 169 1. Sunday- School Teachers. — The course is espe- cially constructed to meet their needs. It is a " Teacher " Training Course. Teachers by hundreds testify to the vision and blessing which have come to them through this normal study. 2. Prospective Teachers. — In the Senior Depart- ment of every school there are devout young people who some day may be teachers. They have now habits of study. By all means induce them to enter upon this normal work. While thus in a way com- mitting themselves to the service of teaching, they will at the same time be preparing for such service. 3. Students in our Colleges. — These young people in our schools, by reason of their superior advantages, will wield a decisive influence in the days to come. While they prepare to fill the various places which await them, let them prepare for a worthy ministry in the churches. While they learn to speak the languages of earth, let them learn to speak and to teach the language of Zion. Happily most of our denominational schools offer this normal work in whole or in some of its parts in their regular curricula. 4. All Officers of the School. — Let no one sup- pose because we talk of" teacher " training, that other officers are not included. This Normal Course has in view the school's official staff. No school can be at its best without trained officers who have full and intelligent sympathy with the teaching art. 5. The Pastor. — The colleges and seminaries are now turning out men trained for Sunday-school work. Ministers who missed this training may secure it in lyo The Present-Day Sunday School this normal study. Many successful pastors count this work worth their while. 6. All Lovers of the Bible and of the Bible School. — Many persons who are not teachers and who have no special plan to teach are finding in the Normal Courses interesting and profitable studies. Suggested Plans for Teacher Training. There are many ways of conducting classes for the training of Sunday-school teachers. It cannot be said that any one of these ways is easy. Real edu- cational work is always hard work. Easy processes bring poor results. The training of Sunday-school teachers is a difficult task and the work should be undertaken with this fact distinctly in mind. We give below some practical plans, all of which have been used successfully. 1. A special normal class meeting weekly. This has proven most generally acceptable and useful — a special class meeting weekly at its own separate hour. Sometimes the suitable hour is on Sunday, more often it is a special week-day evening which is held sacred for this purpose. This plan involves a long, slow process. The plan may be varied by holding two meetings each week. 2. A special " night school " continuing from two to four weeks. Some pastors have asked their people to set apart a special season during which they will meet each night for normal training. If such work is done for a month, real progress may be made. 3. A "day school" continuing for a week or more. Some country pastors have used this plan to Studies in Administration 171 advantage. They ask the workers to assemble each day, bringing lunches with them. They work two hours in the morning and two or three hours in the afternoon in good old school fashion. They alternate study periods and recitation periods and seek to do thorough work. 4. A normal class related to the prayer-meeting. While this is not the best, it is sometimes the best that can be done. The plan works in various ways. The normal class may simply meet before or after prayer- meeting and have no organic relation to that service. Or the pastor may use the teacher-training lesson as the subject of his discussion in the prayer- meeting and later hold a session of the class for further and more technical study. Certainly the prayer-meeting service should never lose its distinct devotional flavor. Several books in the normal courses yield themselves to such use as is here pro- posed, notably books on evangelism and doctrines, and the Old and New Testament books. 5. A normal class in the Sunday school. This must, of course, be a class composed of young people and others who are not teaching and who desire train- ing for the work of the teacher. A Baraca, or Agoga, or Berean class, or other classes in the Sunday school, may for the time being study one of the books of a normal course. A part of the usual time for recita- tion may be given to the regular lessons, and a part may be given to the normal study, or a class may for a season give itself wholly to a study of some of the books which seem to be suitable for such use. 172 The Present-Day Sunday School 6. A training school or institute. In all of the above plans, it has been assumed that the pastor or some local worker will lead and teach the teachers. The plan now proposed is that outside workers, specialists, will come and direct the work. Your State Sunday-School Secretary or other Sunday- school field worker may be induced to organize a training school to continue a week or more, such worker acting as dean of the school and arranging for a faculty of trained workers. All of these special workers are much in demand and they usually make their dates months ahead. Strike in and make your plea, whether you live in the city or in the country. Get the best man available and push the good work along. 7. The city institute for religious teachers. This is an advanced step in teacher training. It is based on the idea of a highly trained faculty, a carefully arranged curriculum and a program of work continu- ing throughout the year and from year to year. Prof. Walter S. Athearn originated this type of school and he has set forth the plans and ideals fully in his Httle book, " The City Institute for Religious Teachers." In the Foreword, Professor Athearn tells of the beginnings of this type of work which has now spread to other cities : " The first city institute organized upon modern lines with high educational ideals was established in Des Moines, Iowa, in the fall of 191 1. It cut entirely loose from the old standards, repudiated the so called standard texts, and ignored all seals, badges, and Studies in Administration 173 certificates. From the beginning it sought to do a high grade of university extension work. It has completed three years of successful school work. Forty-one church schools have been represented in its student body. Thirteen religious denominations have cooperated in this enterprise. The average attendance for each session for the entire three years has been above one hundred and fifty. The first class to complete the three years' course numbered twenty-three of the most representative citizens of the community." References : McElfresh, ** The Training of Sunday-School Teachers and Officers." 75 cents. Hamill, " Sun day^- School Teacher Training." 50 cents. XVII ^ THE ORGANIZED BIBLE CLASS CLASS organization should begin in simple form in the Junior Department and should be developed and expanded in the Intermediate and Senior Departments. The idea attains its fullest development only in the Adult Department. It has been difficult for the Sunday school to adjust itself to the new conditions resulting from the coming of large numbers of adults into its membership. Classes of adults cannot be managed and directed like classes of children. Such complaints as have arisen against organized adult classes have arisen partly because such classes have not always related themselves properly to the school, and quite as much out of the fact that the school has not expanded in its methods and ideas to give proper place to the organized class. Types of Classes. The organized classes most commonly found in the Sunday schools under a great variety of names are the following : The Young Men's Class. The Young Women's Class. The Business Men's Class. The Men's Class. The Women's Class. 174 Studies in Administration 175 The Bible Class (Mixed). Besides these, the following have been listed as suggestive of the kinds of classes which may be re- quired to meet various needs : Teacher Training Classes. College Students' Classes. Parents' Classes. Mothers' Classes. Home Study Classes. Classes for New Americans. Perils of Class Organization. ^ Organization means power, and power always in- volves possible peril. Organized classes, particularly of men, have at times shown some tendency to develop self-sufficiency and ultra-independence. It should be said that complaints of this kind seem to be less frequent and less serious during recent years than in the earlier history of the organized class movement. Organized adult classes must be ac- corded a greater measure of freedom as regards their program, the disbursement of class funds, and their activities, than can properly be accorded to younger classes. Organized classes have, on occasions, shown some tendency to drift from the central object of all Sunday- school work, which is the study of the Bible. Indeed, in very large classes it is perhaps difficult to do more than have lectures on the Scripture passages assigned for study. Class activities, social functions, athletics, are good and proper in the organized class, but all 176 l^e Present- Day Sunday School should be kept in proper relation to the basal object which is to draw people together for the study of God's Word. ORGANIZED CLASS SCHEMES Young Men Name: BEREAN. Colors : White, nile green and gold. Motto: Acts 17: 11. Verse: Search the Scriptures. (John 5:39.) Aim : To behold wondrous things out of thy Law. Song : Break Thou the Bread of Life, Lord, unto me. m Name: BARACA. Colors : Dark blue and white. Motto : We do things. Platform : Young men at work for young men, all standing by the Bible and the Bible school. Aim : To win young men to the class, to Christ, and to Christian service. Young Women Name: FIDELIS. Colors : Old gold and black. Motto : Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life. Aim : Every member of our class a Chris- tian. Verse : Daniel 12 : 3. Song: Will There be any Stars in My Crown ? Name : EUZELIAN. Euzelian is a word of Greek derivation signifying " Zeal for the good." Colors : Purple and gold. Motto : " Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord "(Rom. 12:11). Aim : To bring young women to Jesus and lead them into service. Verse: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might " (Ecc. 9 : 10). Song : "Brightly beams our Father's mercy." Studies in Administration 177 Name: PHILATHEA. Colors : Light blue and ■white. Motto : We do things. Platform: Young women at work for young women, all standing by the Bible and the Bible School. Aim : To win young women to the class, to Christ, and to Christian service. Mothers Name : T. E. L. CLASS. (Timothy, Eunice, Lois.) Colors : Nile green and white. Motto : And a little child shall lead them. Flower : White carnation. Aims: To train our children to do right; to extend our help and hospitality ; to keep in touch with the married ladies of the church ; to learn how to do the works of the church. Song: My Faith Looks Up to Thee. Training Class Name : TEACHER TRAINING CLASS. Colors : Red, white and blue. Motto : Thy word have I hid in my heart. (Psalm 119:11.) Aim : My heart in the work ; the Bible in my heart ; my mind trained for service. Verse: 2 Timothy 2:15. Song : The King's Business. Two Types of Class Organization. The earlier type of class organization, and one which has been widely used, divides class duties between officers and committees somewhat as fol- lows : (i) Officers; President, Vice-President, Secre- tary, Treasurer, and Teacher; (2) Committees; Ex- ecutive, Devotional, Membership, and Social. The duties of the officers and of the several committees are suggested by their names. Another type of organization dispenses entirely with committees, save as they may be temporarily 178 The Present-Day Sunday School appointed for special purposes, and assigns all class work and duties to the officers. The proposed or- ganization is somewhat as follows : (i) President — Management. ?2) First Vice-President — Enlargement. (3) Second Vice-President — Fellowship. (4) Third Vice-President — ReHgious Work. (5) Secretary — Records, Literature. (6) Treasurer — Finances. (7) Reporter — Publicity. (8) Teacher — Teaching Lesson. There seem to be distinct practical advantages in the last named plan, that of assigning all class work to officers. (i) This plan has the advantage of simplicity. There is a single line of assignment instead of a double line. This is especially advantageous in small classes. (2) It has the advantage of definiteness. In all cases one individual is held responsible for assigned duties. (3) It is flexible. If the class is large and its work intricate and varied, the number of officers may be increased and each officer may utilize other mem- bers as they are needed. Among well-known class movements which have used this method of organization, we may name the Berean-Fidelis and the Agoga-Amoma. Results have been eminently satisfactory. The Organized Class in Session. Let us assume that the class has met with the Studies in Administration 179 school in the opening exercises and is now at liberty to continue its unbroken session until the close of the school hour, say for fifty minutes. I. Assemble in class room (five minutes). As the members pass into the class room, the proper officer or committeeman, with his associates, extends the glad hand and helps to create a general friendly atmos- phere ; the secretary passes to the members envelopes for individual record and offering ; the librarian hands each member a Bible. II. Call to order and conduct of business, the president of the class presiding (ten minutes). 1. Prayer. 2. Written reports of committees. 3. Reception of new members. 4. Miscellaneous business. 5. Announcements. III. The lesson taught by the teacher (thirty min- utes). In harmony with the genius of the organized class, the teacher should make large use of the mem- bers in teaching the lesson. The pure lecture method is directly opposed to the theory of the organized class. IV. Benediction and parting moments (five min- utes). Informal welcome to new members, personal work, invitations to attend preaching service, confer- ences to arrange for committee meetings and to plan for other class business. The Organized Class Room. The room should be assigned to the class for its l8o The Present-Day Sunday School exclusive use. It should be furnished by the class and should be open not only on Sunday but at all times during the week. Chairs are better than other types of seats, preferably desk chairs, or chairs hav- ing the arm rest for note-making and to contain Bible and hymn-book. There should be a table for the president, a desk for the secretary, suitable racks for hats and coats, pictures and mottoes on the wall, such things as will contribute to the comfort of the class. This room, hke all other department and class rooms, should be accessible without the necessity of passing through any other room. It should be large enough to seat without crowding the largest ordinary attend- ance of the class. A supply of good Bibles, preferably the American Revised Version, sufficient in number to insure each member a Bible, involves no large expense and would seem to be almost a necessity. Building up the Organized Class, Practically all of the suggestions in the chapter on " Holding and Recruiting Pupils " will, with slight adaptation, be applicable to the work of increasing class attendance. (i) First in importance is to have a good class, a class which really ministers to the needs of the mem- bers. This is helpful in securing new members and is indispensable in holding them. (2) All classes which succeed in maintaining a large attendance give careful thought to the social life. A cordial welcome with a glad hand greeting, prompt recognition of absence and faithful attention Studies in Administration 181 in sickness, social visits to those much alone in the world, these and similar social courtesies go far towards building up a class. Besides these somewhat incidental touches, the class should study the social conditions and needs of its members and its prospective members, and seek, by regular or occasional socials, and in every way that tact and sympathy may suggest, to meet these needs. The following incident is both stimulating and suggestive : ^ " The chairman of the hustlers' committee (by invi- tation of the president of the class) rose, and, coming before the class, said he wished to give a report of the hustlers' committee for the past week. He said, * Mr. George Jones went to work Monday morning for the City Hardware Company. Being a stranger in town, our hustlers began to hustle for him the first day. Who saw Mr. Jones on Monday?' " A young man rose and said, ' I called on Mr. Jones Monday, presenting our class card of invitation, for which he thanked me.* " ' Tuesday ? ' " Another man arose and said, * I called on him Tuesday, presented our card, and he said he was much obliged.' " ' Wednesday ? ' " ' I called on Mr. Jones Wednesday. He said that two other men had called upon him this week, and he thought we were a live class.' 1 Marshall A. Hudson, " The How Book," pages 42-43. l82 The Present- Day Sunday School " ' Thursday ? ' " ' I called upon Mr. Jones Thursday. He said three men had called on him this week and he thought we must be a great class and he would be here to-day.' " ' Friday ? ' " ' Mr. Jones was very much surprised when I called on him Friday, and said he would certainly be here to-day, and he was very much pleased at the number of invitations he had received.' '• * Saturday ? ' " ' I called Saturday, and Mr. Jones said that he would either come to this class on Sunday or move out of town.' "* Well, who went to see Mr. Jones to-day?' " * I called upon Mr. Jones this morning and found him in bed, but I waited until he had his breakfast and dressed, and here he is,' said the man, as he reached down and lifted the stranger to his feet." (3) Organized classes should seek proper publicity. This can be done in a great variety of ways. Local conditions must determine the methods. Tactful ad- vertising will help. Neatly framed placards in the post-office, the hotels, the railroad stations and other public places, neatly printed cards, notices in the news- papers, announcements in the church bulletin, these and similar methods have been helpfully used. How Large Should the Class Be ? Since the coming of class organization we have seen classes attain to great numbers, far into the hun- dreds and, in some cases, passing the thousand mark. Studies in Administration 183 Thus far we do not seem to have paused to consider the principles which should determine the size of the class. Irving F. Wood discusses the question with dis- crimination : " Should the adult class aim to be as large as pos- sible, to comprehend all the adults in the church ? Should it be the adult class of the Sunday school ? I answer without hesitation, No. It is true there is a glamour about mere numbers which makes a large class, like a roUing snowball, increase in proportion to its size. There are certain cases where the strong personality of the teacher gathers a large class who would not otherwise be drawn together. Such cases are neither common nor ideal. In recent adult class movements, with machinery largely designed to mul- tiply numbers and with much emphasis on attractive features, classes of a hundred or a hundred and fifty are not unknown. The need of adult classes is so great that one hesitates to criticize them because they seem to succeed too well, but we must look upon such overgrown classes as a means to something bet- ter in the future. The experience of colleges and universities is of value for the Sunday school. These institutions, with trained teachers and all the aids which professional education can give, regard forty as about the largest size for a properly conducted class. Of course mere lecture classes may increase indefinitely. True, the adult class is not a college class, and has no * recitation/ but it has, if it is an ideal class, discussion, which Hmits the convenient 184 The Present-Day Sunday School size in much the same way. The rule is this : The ideal class will not be too large for free, individual dis- cussion. This will limit the convenient membership to forty or fifty. Above that number it is not a class, but an audience. Better six classes of twenty-five than one class of one hundred and fifty." * References : See, ** The Teaching of Bible Classes." 75 cents. Wood, "Adult Class Study." 75 cents. Gregory, ** How to Teach the Bible." 15 cents. Watts, ** Convention Adult Bible Classes." 25 cents. Hudson, " The How Book." 50 cents. Held, " The Organized Class." 50 cents. Wells, " The Ideal Adult Bible Class in the Sunday School." 50 cents. * Irving F. Wood, " Adult Class Study," page 24. XVIII HOLDING AND RECRUITING PUPILS THIS is a vital question. The Sunday school must recruit its own membership and, in the nature of the case, it must be mission- ary in its spirit. Adverse conditions are now met which were unknown two or three generations ago. The decHne in the reverent observance of the Lord's Day ; the almost innumerable attractions and diver- sions, particularly in our cities, which compete with the Sunday school ; the heavy pressure which our modern complex life puts upon all classes, even upon children ; these and other adverse conditions must be faced by the modern Sunday school and must be taken into account in its efforts to maintain its membership. Co7istant losses are inevitable. Recent investigations seem to indicate that, taking the country through, the constituency of our Sunday schools changes every four or five years. Thus, twenty to twenty-five per cent, of the pupils in the average school are lost each year. These figures may or may not be entirely accurate. At best they can be only deductions. Assuming that they are in the neighborhood of the facts, they offer food for thought. No school can long remain stationary. No school can " hold its own " save by constantly adding to its membership. 185 i86 The Present-Day Sunday School Much of the leakage is preventable. Before we consider methods and plans for securing new members, let us consider how we may hold the members we already have. A school for deficient children in Frankfort, Ky., subjects new pupils to the following test : They are asked to fill with water a tub from which the water is constantly pouring out. The child who will continue to pour water in without taking notice of its escape is considered hopelessly deficient. By this test some of our Sunday schools, it is feared, would have to be graded as hopeless. If we add fifteen per cent, annually to the membership and lose twenty per cent, we will not speedily build up a large school. " Follow-up " methods in abundance have been devised. The first step will be to locate the losses. What departments show losses and exactly what losses does each department show ? Go further : learn what grades show losses and determine the oc- casion of these losses. Accurate information here constitutes the only sane basis of efforts to deal with the problem of losses. Promptness and tact in looking up absentees is a key to success in stopping losses. Some schools have a system by which the names of all absent pupils are handed to the pastor, the superintendent and the teacher. Calls are made by these officers, the teacher calling Monday, the superintendent Tuesday, and the pastor Wednesday. Some schoolf have printed messages ready prepared and promptly mail them to absent pupils. Best of all is the living Studies in Administration 187 voice and the personal touch. Here, as elsewhere in Sunday-school work, the telephone will be used. The point to be insisted upon is that the first ab- sence may constitute a critical time and that prompt- ness and sympathy are needed to save the day. It has been found that serious losses are often ex- perienced in the later grades of the Intermediate De- partment and in the earher Senior grades. There appear to be special reasons why these adolescent youths tend to leave the Sunday school. These reasons should be carefully studied. An investiga- tion of a school which was unusually successful in holding adolescents showed the following : * (a) The school was entirely graded. (b) Much was made of the home work. (c) The classes were organized by years, as in high school. (d) There was a definite time for graduation (twenty years of age). (e) Each teacher acted as a sub-pastor, feehng a sense of responsibility for the pupils in his care. (f) Pupils graduated from the Sunday school into the Graduate or Adult Department. The conditions in this school and the successes achieved by the school lead to the obvious remark that a prime essential in holding the school constit- uency is to meet the growing needs of the pupils at every advancing stage. Make it worth while for them to come and they will come. Offer them what they need and they will come to get it. * •• The Sunday School at Work," page 345. l88 The Present- Day Sunday School It is, of course, always helpful to recognize faithful attendance. Some schools send to the home a monthly report showing the record of the pupil. Many schools have bestowed some simple token, as a Testament or Bible, for unbroken attendance through a given period of time. This may be desirable in a mission school and occasionally in other schools, though gifts of intrinsic value are a questionable expedient. Dig- nified recognition or honorable mention is better. Securing new pupils. We have seen that, in view of inevitable losses, the Sunday-school membership must be constantly re- cruited. No one method of recruiting new pupils can be said to be the best. Methods which will bring success in one school will fail in another. Methods which will arouse interest and accomplish results at one time will fail at another time. As in holding pupils already enrolled, so in securing new pu- pils, the first consideration is to have a school which, supplying vital needs, offers constant attraction. (i) Make a survey of the field. Every Sunday school should have a definite field for which it holds itself responsible. Experience shows that in cities the vast majority of Sunday- school pupils come from within a radius of half a mile of the assembly place and in the country from within a radius of a mile and a half. The definite territory for which the school is responsible should be surveyed and carefully studied. The ideal for the school is to reach every person young and old in that territory upon whom no other school can lay special claim. Studies in Administration 189 (2) Take a census of the field. A concerted movement in which all evangelical churches unite is to be preferred. With careful preparation and full cooperation, it is possible to make a house to house canvass of any given com- munity and in one afternoon secure information which will furnish an intelligent basis for recruiting efforts. In some sections this method has been used most effectively. Where it has not seemed prac- ticable to secure general cooperation, sometimes one school has sent its forces afield to take a census of its territory and has used the results obtained as a basis for gathering in new pupils. In all recruiting efforts, due regard will of course be accorded to the rights of other schools and even the semblance of proselyting will be carefully avoided. In taking a census it is customary to furnish the can- vassers blank cards somewhat as follows for securing the desired information : Name Street No. Sex? _ Church Member ? .. Age ? Attend S* S» ? Qitsrch Preference ?... Remarks : • .— ..- 1 190 The Present-Day Sunday-School (3) Advertise the school. This may be done in many ways. Let the good work and the abounding fellowship of the school speak for itself. This is the sanest and most effective of all advertising. A thoroughgoing Cradle Roll and a live Home Department contribute in practical ways to the keeping of the school before the people of the community. Vigorous organized classes help materially in this direction. Special Days are also of service in this connection. Modern Sunday schools are putting the printed page to an ever-enlarging use in keeping their claims before the public. Notices in the church bulletin concerning plans and programs are helpful. Weekly papers and many daily papers are wiUing to give space to bright news items regarding Sunday-school work. Special stationery, neat cards, printed pro- grams, may all be used to advantage. (4) Every member a recruiting agent. This is the most effective of all methods of increas- ing Sunday-school attendance. The pastor always alert in quest of new scholars, the superintendent and his fellow-officers constantly on the lookout, every teacher and every pupil seizing eagerly any oppor- tunity to urge the interests of the school, this is the highway to enlarged attendance. No printed ma- terial compares with the glad hand and the Hving voice. The pastor of the famous Methodist Episco- pal Sunday School in Brazil, Indiana, which, in a town of less than ten thousand population, is said to have a total enrollment of nearly five thousand, Studies in Administration 191 gives the following as the secret of the results achieved : * (a) Organization — thorough, compact, and com- plete. (b) Publicity — sane, sound, attractive, and orig- inal. (c) Solicitation — carrying your goods to the mar- ket as the business man solicits the retailer. (5) A hearty welcome. Those of us who feel thoroughly at home in the Sunday school may find it difficult to appreciate the feeling of those who are coming for the first time as strangers. Certain it is that a glad welcome and sympathetic handling at that time go far towards binding the newcomer to the school. Many schools have the good custom of presenting the new pupils at some time during the program in a way to make them feel that they have really " joined." (6) Special Days. The observance of special days in the Sunday school has long been used as a means of increasing the attendance. The announcement and advertising of the special occasion brings the school before the public, and the unusual program tends to attract and interest. With rare exceptions the special day pro- grams should be so arranged as not to interfere with the regular Bible lessons. Among the days most commonly observed are these: "Christmas," " Thanksgiving," *' Rally," " Go-to-Sunday-SchooV ** Decision." 1" The Sunday School at Work," page 343, 192 The Present-Day Sunday School (7) Contests and Rewards. From the earliest history of Sunday-school work these appear to have been favorite methods of secur- ing new members. Sometimes the contest is be- tween schools, sometimes between classes or depart- ments. The contest is a device of doubtful value. It often leads to rivalry which is unhealthy and sometimes to methods which are unfair. Besides, the effects of a sudden ingathering of a large num- ber of new members is rarely permanently satisfac- tory. The tides often go out as suddenly as they came in and they sometimes carry out with them material previously won. The question of rewards has already been men- tioned. A reward is at best only a stimulant to do what ought to be done. The ideal is to create the right attitude of mind and heart and to secure serv- ice for the joy of rendering service. Rewards may be used under certain conditions, provided they are not of money value and provided they are not of- fered in contests in which only one person may be successful. Dr. William E. Hatcher says a strong word on this subject : * " There is deadly mildew in the subsidiary taint. The scent of the loaves and fishes is a debasing aroma in any community. When once a school re- sorts to a selfish appeal for the improvement of its own life it has sown seeds whose obnoxious fruits » Dr. William E. Hatcher, " The Pastor and the Sunday School,' page 98. Studies in Administration 193 will never be exterminated. I do not plead for the exclusion of rewards and honors, though I dread even them — dread them when they are given not as baits to newcomers, but as gracious testimonials to the children for unusual efforts. There is in some schools the power to sanctify the secondary appeal and make it a means of grace. " I knew a school which offered a prize in gold to the one who brought in the largest number of schol- ars during the year. It was won for many suc- cessive years by the same man, a workman in a rail- road shop. He was a poor man with stinted in- come ; he had a family and rented his house and was not robust. He always appeared at the anni- versary and claimed his five dollar piece. Ah, hear the rest, it is good to tell. He held that money as an extra kindness from the Lord, too sacred in his view for common use, and always at the moment of receiving it he publicly donated it to some benevo- lent or missionary object. It was his artful method of sanctifying the reward system in the school, and it extinguished the very temptation to seek to build up the school by selfish appeals. His example was a divine contagion." As an incentive to faithful recruiting we do well to remember that the pupils which we have are for the most part the pupils which are not wholly de- pendent on us. The pupils which we have not are the pupils which need us most. The children who will of themselves attend Sunday school are, for the most part, children who would under any circum- 194 '^^^ Present-Day Sunday School stances be taught the Bible. These children come from the home of the pastor, from the homes of the deacons or elders or stewards, largely from homes where religious education will not be neglected. But the people out yonder who, left to themselves, will not attend Sunday school are almost wholly without instruction in the Bible and religion. This thought may well send us afield for new recruits in our Sun- day schools. References : Hurlbut, " Organizing and Building up the Sunday School." 65 cents. Mead, " Modern Methods in Sunday-School Work " (chap- ters 9-1 1). 60 cents. Lawrance, "Special Days in the Sunday School." ^1.35. XIX SUNDAY-SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE f I ^ HE limits of this volume render it impossible to give any extended discussion of Sunday- school architecture. But this question of housing and equipment touches so vitally the life of the school and affects so immediately all questions of organization and teaching, as to constitute it a preeminent problem which we cannot overlook. In the early history of the Sunday school, little concern was felt as to the place of meeting, and ques- tions of equipment were not seriously raised. The school usually met in a schoolhouse or in some private home. When the school began to be ad- mitted into the church building, no change was made in the building or furniture and nothing was done for the accommodation of teachers or pupils. Grad- ually men of influence began to appreciate the possi- bilities and the growing power of this service for the teaching of the Bible. Developments came slowly but surely. The erection of a new type of building in Akron, Ohio, designed to offer facilities for Sun- day-school work marked a distinct step. The new type came to be known as the Akron building and the Akron plan was widely used throughout the country. Mr. Lewis Miller is said to have conceived the plan while on a picnic with his Sunday school. 195 196 The Present-Day Sunday School As the people ranged themselves in circles on the slopes of the cup-shaped hills, the idea carne to him that a building similar to this natural amphitheater might be erected with an outer rim of rooms on the first and second floors opening into the main assembly room. Writing to a large number of practical work- ers for suggestions, he received from Bishop John H. Vincent, an honored Sunday-school leader, this word : " Provide for togetherness and separateness ; have a room in which the whole school can be brought together in a moment for simultaneous ex- ercises, and with the minimum of movement be divided into classes for uninterrupted class work." The Akron plan, with its great number of class rooms opening into the main room, provided fully for the togetherness and the separateness suggested by Bishop Vincent. The first Akron building was erected in Akron, Ohio, in 1867. The Uniform Lessons came in 1872, and by the genius of the work which they required they contributed largely to the popularity of the Akron type. The one lesson seemed to call for one assembly and the superintendent came to lay much stress on the re- view of the lesson before the whole school. The coming of the Graded Lessons and the grad- ing and departmentizing of the school has brought new conditions and different requirements. Any treatment of Sunday-school housing at the present time would differ widely from the most approved treatments, say of the late nineties. We now lay less stress on the general assembly and emphasize Studies in Administration 197 rather the assembly and worship in the departments. We can only suggest some principles for the guid- ance of those who would build wisely for modern Sunday-school work. Beauty^ utility, stability. Mr. Marion Lawrance suggests these three words as expressive of funda- mental necessities in Sunday-school architecture. The building in which the church assembles the children and their elders for the teaching of the Bible should be pleasing and restful in its lines. It is difficult to overestimate the effects in character of right types of buildings. And surely the Sunday- school house should have an eye to utility. It is to serve great practical ends, and at best it is usually inadequate to meet the demands made upon it. Nor can there be need to stress the third word and urge that the Sunday-school building should be marked by stability. The impression of strength and per- manency will go far to lend weight and dignity to all the ends for which the house stands. Building principles. What are the basal principles which shall determine the Sunday-school structure ? A generation ago the unhesitating answer would have been in accord with Bishop Vincent's idea of " togetherness and separateness " ; the demand was for a large assembly room in which the whole school might gather, and then for as many rooms as possible in which the classes might meet. The cry was *' rooms," and the schools prided themselves on the number of " rooms " they had. The best modern thought favors departmental 198 The Present-Day Sunday School quarters and lays no great stress on a large room for general assembly. The ideal arrangement would include : A room for Beginners ; an assembly room for Primaries with three or more class rooms; an assembly room for Juniors with at least eight class rooms ; an assembly room for Intermediates with at least eight class rooms ; an assembly room for Seniors and an assembly room for Adults with class rooms suitable for all Senior and Adult classes. This ideal has been attained by churches in various parts of the country, and will doubtless become widely prevalent in the coming years. If this ideal is not possible for lack of means or is not justified by the size of the school, the following might be possible : A room for Beginners ; a room for Primaries ; and a general assembly room for Juniors, Intermediates, Seniors, and Adults, with as many class rooms as possible, preference in assign- ment of class rooms being given to the Intermediates. If this seems impossible of attainment, then the fol- lowing might be within reach : A room for Beginners and Primaries with a curtain separating the two de- partments ; a general assembly room with curtained space for the Juniors and curtained class rooms for classes of the upper departments. If the present tendency to hold separate depart- mental worship is considered correct, the whole school will not need to assemble save on special occasions, as Rally Day, et cetera. Perhaps such assemblies will number a half dozen in the course of the year. For such occasional assemblies it is obvi- Studies in Administration 199 ously unnecessary that a special auditorium be pro- vided. Clearly the proper course in such case will be to use the large room fitted for the preaching service. With these guiding principles in mind, it will not be difficult by the principle of adaptation to deter- mine in any given instance what is desirable and practicable. Special attention is given to the ques- tion of departmental and class rooms in the chapters devoted to the several departments. Mr. Marion Lawrance, than whom no man discusses the subject of Sunday-school housing more sanely and more help- fully, makes earnest plea for worthy Sunday-school architecture.' " The Sunday-school room should be completely above ground to avoid dampness, defective light and ventilation, awkward stairways and other disadvan- tages. It should be, if possible, as high of ceiHng, as well equipped and attractive as the church room itself. Is there any good reason why the children of God's house should have any less favor than the chil- dren in our own homes ? Give the Sunday school an opportunity to exert its full power and prove its real value by surrounding it with conditions that lend themselves to its success." Practical Suggestions. The building committee should work out carefully and in detail the various ends which the proposed building must be expected to serve. If the building is not to be exclusively a Sunday-school house, but is to serve general church purposes, the preaching serv- * Marion Lawrance, " Housing the Sunday School," page 13. 20O The Present-Day Sunday School ice, the teaching and expressional services, social and other services must be taken into account. With these general ideas carefully worked out and thought through, the committee will wish to confer at length with the architect who has been chosen, to see how far the congregation will be able to provide for the ends which have seemed desirable. Confer- ences and compromises must bring the plans within reach of the congregation. It ought to be said here that great care must be exercised in the selection of the architect. He should be acquainted with modern church ideals, especially with modern Sunday-school methods and needs. If such an architect cannot be found at home, the committee should feel justified in going as far from home as may be necessary in order to secure just the type of man required in order to get the best results. It may be helpful to call in for counsel some Sunday-school specialist. If it seems practicable, the plans might be submitted well in advance to a number of specially trained Sunday-school workers. Patient deUberation in these early stages, when the temptation to haste is often great, will be well worth while. It is a grave responsibility to erect a Sunday- school house or a church building. Many churches are hopelessly handicapped by impossible buildings erected in haste by unheeding building committees. H. F. Evans says a timely word concerning the grounds surrounding the church building.^ 1 H. F. Evans, "The Sunday-School Building and Its Equipment," page J 6. Studies in Administration 20 1 " Attention should be called also to the necessity of surrounding our churches with artistic and well- kept grounds. Many otherwise beautiful buildings give a poor impression because of the wrong treat- ment of the grounds. The buildings are oftentimes placed too near the street, or face the street in the wrong direction. The vertical surface of the side of the building should be blended with the horizontal surface of the ground by judicious planting of shrub- bery or vines. The landscape gardener often can render great service to the committee just complet- ing a new church and Sunday-school building. Too much attention cannot be given to the impression made upon boys and girls by the buildings and grounds with which is associated their religious education." Remodelling Old Buildings. It is often possible with comparatively small ex- penditure to make vast improvements in buildings now in use. Partition walls can be built, additional rooms can be added, curtains can be provided. A careful study of the general principles herein set forth and of the requirements of the modern Sunday school will generally be a sufficient guide for thoughtful and resourceful committees. Helpful leaflet literature can usually be secured from the Sunday-School Boards or other Sunday-school agencies. References : Lawrance, " Housing the Sunday School." ^2.00. Evans, ** The Sunday-School Building and Its Equipment.** 75 cents. Beauchamp, " The Graded Sunday School." 50 cents. 202 The Present-Day Sunday School Strickland, ** Churches : Building Plans and Interior Equip- ment." (An admirable treatment, free on application to H. L. Strickland, Birmingham, Ala.) Rev. W. L. Brock, Louisville, Kentucky, has issued and offers free a pamphlet on ** How to Plan a Sunday-School House." Drawings substantially as presented below with some others by Mr. Smith appear in this pamphlet and are used by courtesy of Mr. Brock. The drawings on the following pages are largely self-explanatory. Figure i is a suggestion for a simple and inex- pensive addition to a one-room church house. Figure 2 illustrates what may be accomplished in the enlargement of a one-room house by a slightly increased outlay. Figure 3 shows an economical and yet very con- venient type of building suitable for a comparatively small church and school in the country or city. It also illustrates further what may be done in the way of remodelling a one-room house. Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the type of building de- manded by modern church and Sunday-school life. Special rooms are provided for each of the six de- partments of the school, while ample provision is made for all classes. Kitchen, banquet hall, gym- nasium, and various other rooms are provided in the basement, plans for which are not shown herein. These plans will repay careful examination. Mr. Frank L. Smith, Architect, Lexington, Ken- tucky, very kindly furnishes these drawings. The plans for the complete modern Sunday-school church house are based upon plans for buildings which have Studies in Administration 203 been erected under Mr. Smith's direction, but which are here by his courtesy amphfied and rearranged in accordance with suggestions made by the author. Fig. I. Three-room annex to rear of one-room church house. rrrrm', uuuuju: rmnm; |pRIMAPX7»| uuuouu; rrrrm I uuuuuu PRIMMIY DCPT ggJuniORuo 00 DCPTOQ COR. p.»DO R. COlffnMBtlTlbO on DLPi 00 f^^ •^ tstij&±-w^yg^ PU LP»T PRESCnr MAIM AUDITORIUM ADULT BlOUt CLASSES- JTinntt 1 1 -a_!l Fig. 2. A larger annex to rear, and projecting beyond the side walls of the main house. 204 The Present-Day Sunday School n-OOR fLAM 3 rrtAMK L. SMITH Fig. 3. Floor plan of complete Sunday-school-church house for school numbering 150 to 250. Studies in Administration 205 r bLjliliJ noTNrK.a Room neST ri-OOR Flam T»er» Fig. 4. Church building providing for modera Graded and Departmental Sunday School. 2o6 The Present-Day Sunday School i< TKKr aviA- ■ cu \»» no ntt ^cotio rioof? Plan , • • • Fig. 5. Second floor plan. First floor plan shown on preceding page. XX MISSIONS IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL f ■ ^HE aim of the Sunday school is to produce efficient Christian character. There can be 1 no Christian character without the mis- sionary impulse and spirit. There can be no efficient Christian character without a right attitude towards the task of giving Christ's gospel to a lost world. The teaching of missions is therefore not simply a needed and desirable element in the religious educa- tion offered by the Sunday school. Such teaching is essential and indispensable. Without this element in the educative process we cannot have the product which is our real goal. Charles Gallaudet Trumbull well says, " The implanting of the missionary spirit so as to give it control of the life of every pupil may fairly be said to be the chief and sole purpose of the Sunday school." While the mission study movement is of com- paratively recent origin, a rich and varied literature has been produced, covering also general methods of teaching in the Sunday school. The Sunday- School Times has issued " The Times Handbooks for Missionary Workers." The first of this series is *' Missionary Methods for Sunday-School Workers " by George H. Trull. This little volume is replete 207 2o8 The Present-Day Sunday School with practical information and gives a large number of tested plans for developing the mission spirit in the Sunday school. Assuming that missions will be given suitable emphasis in the lessons used in the various grades of the Sunday school, and that teachers will thus be led to incorporate missionary instruction into the body of their teaching, we will content ourselves here with the suggestion of plans and methods which have been successfully used in developing missionary interest. I. The Missionary Library. The old-time ungraded Sunday-school library which has no definite aim and no special goal has perhaps served its day. Public hbraries and school libraries may largely meet the needs of our youth as regards general reading. The introduction of a mis- sionary library, or the development of a missionary section in the library already established, might arouse interest and bear fruit. Such missionary library ought to fall into two distinct parts. (i) The workers' missionary library. This library should contain books on methods, such as " Missionary Methods for Sunday-School Work- ers," Trull. " Missionary Manual," Wells. " Missions in the Sunday School," Hixson. •♦ Holding the Ropes," Brain. " Fifty Missionary Programs," Brain. This workers' library should contain missionary reference books, especially such as would not likely Studies in Administration 209 be found in the private collections of the workers. These will be needed by workers in the various de- partments of the church Hfe in the preparation of papers and addresses. Any of the denominational Missionary Boards will gladly suggest a suitable list of books for this purpose. (2) The pupils' graded missionary library. In ** Missionary Methods for the Sunday School " Mr. Trull gives graded lists of books which will be sug- gestive, and the Missionary Boards will be pleased to lend help. Mr. Trull suggests books " for Readers 8 to 12," and "for Readers 12 to 16," and "for Readers 16 to 20," as well as books for various other groups. More interesting or more suitable reading for our youths than missionary biographies cannot be any- where found. •' When we remember," says Mr, Trull, " that such missionaries as Judson, Livingstone, Scudder, Martyn, and Marston were all led to the mission field through the reading of missionary literature, we can see the possibilities of good mis- sionary books." II. The Missionary Tract Rack. As supplementary to the collection of books, mis- sionary leaflet literature may be used to advantage. Racks with receptacles suitable for holding the leaf- lets may be placed in a conspicuous place in the Sunday-school room with a neatly printed invitation for their free use. Leaflet literature for this purpose may be secured free of charge on application to the 210 The Present-Day Sunday School Mission Boards. It will be necessary to make fre- quent additions of new and attractive leaflets if interest is to be sustained. The methods of getting these leaf- lets read will be similar to the methods needed in connection with the library : — occasional announce- ments, reference to special leaflets and other similar means will be required. III. The Missionary Room. Many Sunday schools have found it helpful to set apart a " missionary room," dedicating it especially to missions. This room will contain the missionary library, missionary leaflets, curios, idols, charts, maps, stereoscope, the multiplied devices for making mis- sions real and impressing young minds with mis- sionary ideas. Classes, especially from the Primary, Junior, and Intermediate Departments, may by turns be instructed in this missionary room. The initial expense of opening this room need not be great and additions can be made as means become available. The following mottoes have been suggested as wall charts in the Missionary Room and for the whole school : " The field is the world." — Matthew ij : 38. " A need, a need known, and the ability to meet that need, constitutes a call." — John F. Gaucher. ** God had an only Son, and He was a missionary and a physician." — David Livingstone, '* Jesus shall reign — but when ? " — Robert E. Speer. ** The world is my parish." — Johji Wesley. Studies in Administration 211 " Everything vital in the missionary enterprise hinges on prayer." — John R. Mott. " No interest in missions betrays either woful ignorance or willful disobedience." — Maltbie D. Babcock. " Indifference to missions is the worst kind of treason." — Henry Van Dyke. *• Prayer is worth more to the missionaries than ^o\<\r —Melville B. Cox. " Anywhere — provided it be forward." — David Livingstone. IV. Special Missionary Programs. Workers imbued with the missionary spirit will find frequent opportunity in the regular programs, whether for the whole school or for the departments, to introduce missionary instruction. Missionary hymns with appropriate introductory comments, occasional bits of missionary news followed by spe- cial prayer, will find their way naturally into any Sunday-school program. But occasions will arise, or may be arranged, when the entire program may be given to missions. Missionary hymns, mission- ary readings and addresses, letters from missionaries, interesting missionary items and missionary prayers may constitute a helpful program once a month or once a quarter. Mr. George H. Trull has rendered signal service through his little book, " Five Missionary Minutes," in which he proposes that in each weekly program five minutes be given to missions. He goes further and makes his proposal practical by suggesting a va- 212 The Present-Day Sunday School riety of helpful material and plans for use in these five missionary minutes. ^ V. Missionary Giving. We cannot do our mission work by proxy. Yet children, and older people as well, will always find the giving of money a means of lending practical help towards carrying the Gospel to the whole world. The principle which demands for every im- pression a suitable corresponding expression, calls for practical giving to missions along with in- struction in missions. The question of the educa- tional value of giving, and of directing the giving, so that the best educational results may be obtained is receiving much attention at the hands of thought- ful Sunday-school workers. Our Mission Boards and all money-gathering agencies are more and more recognizing that giving in the Sunday school is to be so directed as to get the largest educational results. There are those who feel that the church should assume the entire support of the Sunday school, and thus leave the school free to give to general church support, and to all benevolences in a way to secure the widest interest and the best training in the varied undertakings of the church and the denomination. Apart from the educational results which might be expected from systematic giving in the Sunday school, the actual results in offerings for our needy fields would be considerable. Mr. Trull points out that with fifteen miUion enrolled in the Sunday Studies in Administration 213 schools of North America, a two-cent postage stamp a week would mean an annual income of ^^15,- 600,000 for missions ; a car-fare each would mean ^39,000,000 annually for missions. " In Missionary- Methods for Sunday-School Workers " many attract- ive methods and devices are suggested for training in giving to missions. VI. Messages from Missionaries. A useful means always at hand for arousing inter- est in missions is the message from the hving mis- sionary. This message may come in the form of a letter, bringing bright bits of news fresh from the mis- sion field. Our missionaries count it a part of their work to write such letters. Better still, it may be possible to secure a visit from some missionary. His presence in the school and his message may make a deep missionary impression. There are su- perintendents who never miss an opportunity to have a home or foreign missionary in their school. Even when it is not convenient to have a letter or a visit from a missionary, it is always possible to list the name of some beloved missionary in a promi- nent way before the school, and after a word about his work to have an earnest prayer for him and for his field such as will impress the boys and girls. VII. Missionary *' Decision Day." Mr. Trumbull, editor of The Sunday- School Tijnes, declares that the day is coming when the Sunday school which has not sent some of its mem- bers to a home or foreign mission field, while at the 214 ^^^ Present-Day Sunday School same time numbering still others in its membership as volunteers pledged to go, will be ashamed and self-condemned. Sunday-school workers will do well to ponder this statement. When there is deep missionary interest and a proper missionary atmos- phere, the hearts of growing youths will be led towards mission work. The claims and the call of God for missionary recruits should be earnestly pre- sented. Whether there shall be a special day when such recruits shall be called upon to announce submission to the will of God and readiness to obey His will regarding the mission fields, or whether such calls shall be continuously and informally pressed is not a question of importance. The first and supreme need in all efforts at world evangeliza- tion is not money, but men. The mission recruits for to-morrow must come from the Sunday school of to-day. References : Trull, " Missionary Methods for Sunday-School Workers." 50 cents. *' Five Missionary Minutes." 50 cents. Hixson, *' Missions in the Sunday School." 50 cents. Brain, ''Holding the Ropes." $1.00. "Fuel for Mis- sionary Fires." 35 cents. "Fifty Missionary Programs." 35 cents. Trull and Stowell, " The Sunday-School Teacher and the Program of Jesus." 50 cents. Wells, "Missionary Manual." 35 cents. Beard, "Home Mission Handicraft." 50 cents. Diffendorfer, " Child Life in Mission Lands." 50 cents. Carver, " Missions in the Plan of the Ages." $1.25. Prinud in tA< United Statet of America 3 BIBLE STUDY REV. MARTIN ANSTEY, M.A. How to Understand the Bible An Exposition of the Method, a Demonstration of the Power, and a Revelation of the Joy of Bible Study. i2mo. cloth, net $i.oo. A book presenting seven methods of Bible study, and fur- nishing an appraisement of the respective value and spiritual fruitfulness of each. The author's attitude towards questions of inspiration, historicity, criticism, etc., is that the Bible is the unassailable revelation of the mind and will of God. WILLIAM EVANS, DP. Epochs in the Life of Chri^ By the Associate Dean of Bible Institute, Los An- geles. i2mo, cloth, net $i.oo. A series of addresses, given on Sunday afternoon to large audiences, dealing with the Birth, Baptism, Temptation, Transfiguration, Death and Resurrection of our Lord, and E resenting cogent and concrete arguments for their inviola- ility and acceptance as chief among the tenets of the Chris- tian faiths. Couched in popular language and presented in popular style. THROUGH THE BIBLE. BOOK BY BOOI^ The Book of Genesis i2mo, cloth, net goc. > The Gospel and The Acts i2mo, cloth, net $i.oo. The Books of The Pentateuch i2mo, cloth, net $1.25. "The practical and popular expositions of the Scripturef •ontained in this volume have been but slightly altered in form from that in which they were delivered to the audiences constituting the Popular Bible Classes. The aim of these ex- positions was to popularize Bible study. That this aim has been realized is evident from the fact that at seven o'clock each Friday night, from one thousand to fifteen hundred people have met together for this form of Bible study."— Preface. REV. CLARENCE EDWARD MACARTNEY The Parables of the Old Testament i2mo, cloth, net 75c. "A volume of rare interest, breaking comparatively new, un- traversed ground. The great allegories contained in the Old Testament are searchingly analyzed and griven a new sig> oificance and spiritvial interpretation." — Christian Work, BIBLE STUDY Iff' ii l l ''. ' 3 JOHN W. LIGON Pastor Christian Church. ■"~~~"~"~~^^~"~~^~~'~ Barboursvillt, Sf* Paul the Apostle ' i2mo, cloth, net $1.15. A life of the Apostle to the Gentiles, which, while fuller than the brief outlines usually followed in class instruction. is sufficiently condensed to admit of its being specially adapted to the use of busy men and women and the young people of the Church. The events and incidents^ of Paul's career are woven into a continuous narrative, furnishing a living picture of bis wonderful life as far as that life can be known. PmCHT GODDARD Jesus And the Problems of Human I^Ife. Cloth, net Soc. These discourses show the value and usefulness of the Good News of a Spiritual Realm and the Way of Salvation to any- one who has felt a desire to make that supreme adventure in faith. They set the "Good News" into its right relation with present-day thought. The Good News Of a Spiritual Realm. Paraphrased by Dwight God- dard. Second Edition. i2mo, cloth, net $1.00. An interweaving and paraphrasing of the Four Gospels, bringing out clearly the unity and reasonableness of Jesus Life and Teachings. Appropriate for devotional reading, study classes, and as a gift book to those we would like to become interested in our Lord. B. H. CARROLL, P.P. An Interpretation of the English Bihle NE W VOLUMES ADDED TO THIS SERIES The Pastoral Epistles of Paul and i and 2 Peter, Jude and i, 2 and 3 John. 8vo, cloth, net $1.75. The Book of Daniel and the Inter-Biblical Period. 8vo, cloth, net $1.75. The Four Gospels. Vol. I. 8vo, cloth, net $2.50. The Four Gospels. Vol. II. 8vo, cloth, net $2.50, The Acts. 8vo, cloth, net $2.25. James I-II, Thessalonians I and II Corinthians. Net $1.75. "These works are designed especially for class use in th« Seminary, Christian Colleges and Bible Schools, as well as t^e Sunday School. That they will make the greatest com- mentary on the English Bible ever published, is our sincere «jQnvir,tipP;"^^Ba/»*t>F* and Reflector. CHRIST 'S LIFE AND MESSAGE ALBERT L. VAIL Portraiture of Jesus in the Gospels i2mo, cloth, net 7Sc A fourfold portrait of Jesus as He stands out on the can- vas of each of the Four Gospels. The varying and dis- tinctive shadings of the four pictures, are not, Mr. Vail con- tends, a matter of accident but of Divine arrangement and design. Our Lord is thus presented in a fourfold aspect in order that His appeal to various classes of mankind might be the more manifold, FRANK E. WILSON, B.D. Contrasts in the Character of Christ i2mo, cloth, net $i.oo. Jesus Christ is still the key to the modern situation. No matter what "up-to-date" methods of reform and reclamation spring to life, the message of Christ is the one great solution of the problems confronting humanity. From this position Dr. Wilson leads his readers to a contemplation of an abid- ing Jesus, and to a consideration of many modern points o£ contact contained in His all-sufficient Gospel, WILLIAM BRUCE DOYLE The Holy Family As Viewed and Viewing in His Unfolding Minis- try. i2mo, cloth, net 75c This book covers new ground; for although separate sketches of individual members of Joseph's family abound, a study of the family^ group as a whole, — one marked with satis- factory detail remained to be furnished. This has been ably supplied. The author's work is everywhere suffused with reverence, as becometh one writing of some of the most en- deared traditions cherished by the human race. BOOKLETS DAVID DE FOREST BURRELL Auth,r ./ « ta# Gift» The Lo^ Star An Idyll of the Desert. i6mo, net 35c. An appealing story of a Shepherd's search for the Star. It is so tender, so sweet, so Chnst-like, it is sure to captivate everyorie. TALKS TO CHILDREN STUART NYE HUTCHISON Pastor First Presbyterian ' Church. Norfolk, Vm. The Soul of a Child Five-Minute Sermons to Children. Net $i.oo. Here is a volume of talks to children, well worth whilt, the talks are really to children and not simply so-called. The author has the gift of being able to select a really interesting theme, of treating it befittingly and has moreover, that rare faculty of knowing when and where to leave off in the mat- ter of application. OTIS TIFFANY BARNES Children's Objecfl Story-Sermons i2mo, cloth, net 75c. "Objects of common every-day usage are employed as texts from which helpful lessons, adapted to little children are drawn. Cannot fail to be of practical service to all having occasion to address children." — Heidelberg Teaclter. WALTER RUSSELL BOWIE, P.P. su Paur, p. e. church ' "■ Rithmtnd The Children's Year Fifty-two Five Minute Talks to Children. Intro- duction by Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin. Cloth, net $1.00. "Few men have shown greater gifts in preaching to children than the writer. The value of these sermons as helps to par- ents and Sunday School teachers, and as suggestions to min- isters, will be at once apparent." — Henry Sloane Coffin, D.D. ANNUAL S. S. LESSON HELPS By MARTHA TARBELL, Ph. P. Tarbeirs Teachers' Guide to the International Sunday School Lessons. 8vo, Dr. J. H. Jowett says: "Of very great service to Sundaj school teachers." cloth, net $1.15 (postpaid $1.25). H. Jowett says: "Of very gi achers." THE POPULAR LESSON HELP The Practical Commentary on the International Sunday School Lessons. Cloth, net 50c (postpaid 60c). R. A. TORREY, P.P. The Gist of the Lesson A Commentary on the International S. S. Lessons. )6mo. fl«i^ble cloth, net 25c. DATE DUE °fiEnii8,a.l1flll [ DEMCO 38-297