THB ORGANIZED 
 ^SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 AXTELL 
 
 A 
 
 WORKINa 
 
 MANUAIy 
 
 FOR 
 
 OFFICERS 
 
BV 1505 .Al A972 1908 
 
 Axtell, J. W. 
 
 The organized Sunday school 
 
The 
 
 Organized Sunday 
 
 School 
 
 A Working Manual for Officers 
 
 By 
 J. W. AXTELI, 
 
 Author of 
 "The Teaching: Problem," "Gradinjf the Sun- 
 day School," "The Teacher's Hand- 
 book." "The Superintend- 
 ent's Handbook " 
 
 PHilaaelpKia, Pa. 
 
 THe Westminster Press 
 
 1005 
 
Copt- 
 right 
 
 1902 
 
 BY 
 
 J. W. 
 
 AXTEIiL 
 
TABIvi: OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Organization 9 
 
 No Occult Science— Only Common Sense — Seek- 
 ing a Blessing— About the Beginning— Division of 
 Labor — Seeking Cooperation — Two Identical 
 Rolls— Order Out of Confusion— A Sharp School 
 Contrast— Organization Defined. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Superintendent — His Prerog-atives ... 16 
 A Quasi Subordinate— An Official Burden— To 
 be Given Full Charge— Appointing Teachers- 
 All Terms for One Year— Possible Insubordina- 
 tion—An Unwelcome Dvity- An Understanding 
 Needed— His Great Prerogative. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Superintendent— His Field Work 22 
 
 Preparation and Result— The Teachers' Meet- 
 ing—The Lesson only a Part — The Meeting's 
 Make-up— An Enrolled Class— Teaching Teach- 
 ers—Now for Business— Some Live Topics- 
 Time and Place— A Neighborhood Meeting— The 
 Teachers' Council — In the Community — The 
 Stranger in Office. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Superintendent — His Home Work. ... 30 
 The Work Never Stops— A Beginning of Failure 
 —Home "Work Possibilities— Preparing the Les- 
 son—Selecting the Music— Scripture Readings- 
 Making Programs— General Planning— A Share 
 of the Best— The Open Home— Fruitful Medita- 
 tion. 
 
4 Contents 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Superintendent — Using His Helpers. 38 
 
 Getting Others to Work— Using the Pastor— Aid 
 from the Assistant — Calling on the Secretary — 
 Acting with the Treasurer — Leaning on the . 
 Teachers— A General Search. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Superintendent — A Day in the Sun- 
 day School 42 
 
 On Hand Betimes— A Prompt Sunday School- 
 As to the Beginning— A Careful Preparation— An 
 Impressive Result — A Gratifying Situation— A 
 Place for Singing— Have Plenty of Bibles— The 
 School's Text-book— A Depressing Exercise— A 
 Modern Plan Instead— Ready for the Lesson— 
 The Lesson Recitation— Just After the Lesson— 
 The Place for Annotmcements— The Secretary's 
 Report— About the Review— Wanted, Resource- 
 fulness—Not in the Nursery— What Shall the Re- 
 viewer Do ? — Beware the Visitor — The Day 
 Finished— Coming Again. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Superintendent — Special Days 55 
 
 Not Under a Bushel— But on a Candlestick- 
 Useful Ends Served— Every Sunday Special— 
 The Special Day Defined— The Communion Day— 
 DevelopingWorkers— A void Elaboration— Ready- 
 made Programs — Flexibility of Program— A 
 Maximum and a Minimum— Use Sunday School 
 Talent— A Single Aim in View— Some Special 
 Evenings. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Superintendent — Addenda 64 
 
 Women as Superintendents —The Superintend- 
 ent's Record— Ready and to Spare— The Passing 
 of the Bell— Silence is Golden— Do Not " Meekly 
 Wait "—The End of the Work. 
 
Contents 
 
 chapte;r IX. 
 
 The Assistant Superintendent 68 
 
 His Work Partly Outlined— Securing Substitutes 
 — Welcoming the Stranger — Distributing the 
 Tools— The Number of Apsistants— Both Sexes 
 Needed— Selecting the Helpers. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Sunday School Music and Its Makers 73 
 
 Bible First, Music Next— The Aid of the Instru- 
 ment—The School's Own Music— Have Plenty of 
 Books— Whether People Sing or Not— The Best 
 Type of Leader— Meaningless Music— The Adap- 
 tation of Music— The Rendering of Music— The 
 Teacher and the Singing— A Volunteer Song 
 Day— Song in Bible Readings— What Does a Song 
 Mean ?— The Precentor's Work— The Organist or 
 Pianist. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Secretary 82 
 
 An Important Officer— The School Leans on Him 
 —Guiding the Teachers— Tracking up a Pupil— 
 The Bad "Good Record "—Remedying an Evil— 
 An Up-to-date Class-book— The Scholar-bringer 
 on Duty— A Graphic Picture— Figure 1— A Much 
 Better Way— Figure 2— Caring for the Absent- 
 Finding a New Home. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Treasurer and the Sunday School 
 
 Finances 90 
 
 Is a Treasurer Needed ?— An Educational Work 
 —Two Objects in Finances— The First Considera- 
 tion—Now Take Care of Yourself —In the Church 
 Report— A Misplaced Burden — Every One to Con- 
 tribute—The Only Right Way— This Way Lies 
 Success— No Embarrassing Publicity. 
 
6 Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Sunday School L<ibrary 98 
 
 An Average Impression— The Objects of a Li- 
 brary—Let the Order be Reversed— Give Promi- 
 nence to Biography— A place for History— The 
 Demand for Fiction — A Grave Danger — Popular 
 and Demoralizing — The Goody-Goody — Take 
 Nothing for Granted — Religious Literature- 
 Teachers' Reading Course. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 The Ivibrarian lOS 
 
 A Thoughtless Selection — Serious Mismanage- 
 ment—Knowledge Necessary— A Choice OflB.cer 
 Needed— Some very Hard Work— The Librarian 
 on Duty— Before the School— The Library Bul- 
 letin. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Home Department 110 
 
 A Good Thing or a Bad Thing— Too Much is Ex- 
 pected—The People to be Reached— Those Who 
 Are Shut In— Those Who Are Shut Out— Some 
 Active Shut-outs— A Potent Obstacle Remover— 
 A Blessing or Otherwise— A Place for Hide- 
 Behinds— An Annex, not an Institution— Home 
 Department Weaknesses— A Great Good, Never- 
 theless-Strong Points Enumerated — How to 
 Make it Effective — Some Onerous Duties Ahead 
 — Regular Meetings Necessary— Restoring Old 
 Connections— Take Time to be Right. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 About the Country Sunday School 120 
 
 Not Feasible in the Country— The Modern Build- 
 ing—Difficulty of Access— Winter and Summer 
 Suspension— Meeting Financial Needs— Lacking 
 Neighborhood Stimulus— Special Rural Advan- 
 tages—The Weekly Gathering— Attention Less 
 Distracted— Very Much Alike, After All— The 
 People, not the Place— What Lies Back of it All. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 And Finally 127 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 This little book is meant to be intensely prac- 
 tical and wholly practicable. It is right out of 
 the Sunday school work-shop, and may be re- 
 garded as the transcript of an active and varied 
 Sunday school experience. It is written upon 
 request, and with the hope that it may be widely 
 usable and profitably used. There is not in 
 it all an atom of untested theory. 
 
 The Sunday school now has a rich and com- 
 prehensive literature distinctly its own, and the 
 apology for this addition to it is that the busy 
 Sunday school officer, whose reading must be 
 condensed into scattered minutes, is often some- 
 what at a loss, amid the countless rich sugges- 
 tions presented, to place his hand quickly upon 
 something clearly and immediately available. 
 
 But little will be said in these pages about 
 what the Sunday school officer should be. This 
 ground has been fully covered by scores of pens. 
 There is no need at this day to say of him, 
 let his relation to the Sunday school be what 
 it may, that he should be consecrated, as well 
 informed as may be, and wholly devoted to his 
 work. These are undebatable propositions. 
 What he should do, and how he should do it, 
 will be the burden of this message ; and if in 
 some measure the needs of a fellow worker here 
 and there should thus be met, it will be a richly 
 requited labor of love. The Author. 
 
 Nashville, Tenn, 
 
The Organized Simdav SchcoL 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ORGANIZATION. 
 
 Before taking up the work and duties of Sun- 
 day school officers in detail we must first briefly 
 consider some conditions and principles con- 
 nected with the institution for whose character 
 and usefulness these officers are to be so largely 
 held responsible. 
 
 People are accustomed to speak of successful 
 Sunda}^ school management as though it were 
 a great mystery — an occult science. It is ap- 
 parently regarded as some- 
 
 ,, . . . 1 No Occult 
 
 thmg requirmg unusual con- _ . 
 
 ditions and exceptional official 
 personnel. This is misapprehension pure and 
 simple. Sunday school management is none of 
 these things. The misapprehension grows out 
 of an overestimate of what really constitutes 
 success, an underestimate of the ability of avail- 
 able people to achieve it, and a misconception of 
 the kind of work of which it is born. Success 
 is necessarily relative, but a measure of it which 
 will justify well-considered, persistent, prayerful 
 effort is as sure as He for whom we work is 
 sure. Besides, success may be real without be- 
 ing apparent. 
 
lo The Organized 
 
 Men are undertaking ten thousand different 
 
 kinds of work every day, and in each kind of 
 
 work certain principles are regarded as applicable 
 
 and necessary. Success is 
 
 Only Common • j i^ ^i • 
 
 g recognized as altogether im- 
 
 probable, if not impossible, 
 where these principles are ignored or only in- 
 differently applied. The world has given a 
 most happy name to the science of doing all 
 things well, and that science is known as com- 
 mon sense. The trouble with much of our Sun- 
 day school management is that there is too little 
 of common sense in it. We are apt to forget 
 about practical things and practical standards 
 when we assume its responsibilities. We try 
 to achieve results without establishing the con- 
 ditions which would naturally lead to results — 
 and the outcome is unsatisfactory. In the nature 
 of the case the outcome cannot be otherwise 
 than unsatisfactory ; and in no other work simi- 
 larly directed and prosecuted would we be so 
 presumptuous as to expect to get even within 
 the shadow of a special success. 
 
 "But," says some one, "the Sunday school is 
 
 the Lord's work, and he will take care of it." 
 
 Certainly, he will take just as good care of it 
 
 as we will make it possible for 
 
 ee mg a j^j^ ^^ take; but he will not 
 
 Blessmg. ' 
 
 reward conspicuous laziness 
 
 on the part of leaders, any more than he will 
 reward manifest and persistent indifference on 
 the part of the church membership. He will not 
 substitute anything for official listlessness. He 
 
Sunday School ii 
 
 will not make our lack of method and system 
 accomplish what method and system alone, even 
 with his blessing, can be made to accomplish. 
 His blessing awaits the manifestation of dili- 
 gence in business — his business — the King's 
 business. We are especially blessed in what we 
 are and in what we do when we establish the 
 conditions which make such blessing possible. 
 
 The foundation of good Sunday school man- 
 agement lies in thorough organization, and this 
 in turn begins with the office-creating power. 
 The school must be officered 
 with the very best material at ^^°"* *^^ 
 
 . , Beginning. 
 
 hand, just as it must be 
 equipped with teachers on the same principle. 
 This is no place for the exercise of favoritism, 
 or, equally bad, a yielding to sentiment. It is 
 a place for the highest courage. It is frequently 
 a seemingly delicate matter to set aside one 
 individual and select another for a responsible 
 office, but it must be done if the work is not to 
 suffer. It is a mistake to allow any consideration 
 except the good of the school to rule in the 
 premises ; yea, it is more than a mistake — it is 
 a crime against the school. Sunday school failure 
 is due as largely to an undue yielding to senti- 
 ment as to any other cause. 
 
 The officers having been chosen, the same prin- 
 ciple holds good in their sub-appointments and 
 in the division of the work of the school in 
 their hands. This point will be more fully 
 brought out in the discussion of the personal 
 and official work of the officers. Suffice it to 
 
12 The Organized 
 
 say just here that a prindple highly promotive 
 of effective organization is the widest distribu- 
 tion of minor responsibilities compatible with 
 efficient service. The plans 
 Division jjj organization should consist 
 
 largely in getting the people 
 into responsible relation to the school, rather 
 than in manifestly "running" the institution with 
 the people as spectators.. 
 
 Popular cooperation is indispensable — it sim- 
 ply must be secured. If one plan for securing 
 it fails, another must be tried — and another — 
 and another — until the prob- 
 eeking ^^^ j^ solved, as it may be 
 
 Co-operation. . ... 
 
 m a great majority of cases. A 
 
 Sunday school is often started as a one-man 
 affair, a kind of start which is likely to leave 
 it little more than a one-man affair throughout 
 its history. The two or three individuals who 
 so often arrogate to themselves the right to 
 direct and shape the policy and work of the 
 Sunday school in the community are apt, by 
 their assumption of that prerogative, to alienate 
 many good people who would otherwise fall in 
 line for the best of work. 
 
 It should ever be kept in mind that a special 
 Sunday school success is only possible when the 
 greatest number of individuals naturally tribu- 
 tary to the school feel that they are in some 
 degree standing sponsors for it. There are a 
 great many good people who, although they may 
 have nothing of themselves to suggest, will re- 
 sent all efforts to interest them in something 
 
Sunday School 13 
 
 about which they have iu nO way been consulted; 
 while they would heartily support that which 
 they have been asked to assist in organizing. 
 Sunday school organizers blunder when they 
 forget or ignore those from whom substantial 
 aid may thus be secured. 
 
 There is just one way of organizing a per- 
 manently influential and widely useful Sunday 
 school. A temporary or limited success may 
 be achieved by other means — 
 a success contingent upon an Two identical 
 
 ,. • , 1 , ,. Rolls. 
 
 individual or two, each of 
 whom is a bundle of energy and consecration. 
 A mere shifting aggregation, though, depending 
 upon the enterprise or faithfulness of a single 
 worker, or a few workers, is not a good Sunday 
 school, A school so organized is likely to be a 
 power to-day, and to be forgotten to-morrow. 
 That school only is well and properly organized 
 which has, not only upon its rolls but within its 
 classes, the rank and file of the church with which 
 it is connected. It is not enough that a dozen 
 church members out of a total of fifty are at 
 work in the school, or a total of fifty out of 
 two hundred — though these are not unusual 
 averages in Sunday schools as we find them. 
 The making of the church roll and the Sunday 
 school roll so nearly identical that the latter 
 shall practically embrace the former is the first 
 condition of the very best type of school. The 
 writer has seen this result secured under most 
 adverse conditions, and believes it possible in a 
 majority of Instances as a consequence of per- 
 
14 The Organized 
 
 sistent and untiring effort. Such an end is cer- 
 tainly worth almost any personal or congrega- 
 tional labor and sacrifice necessary for its achieve- 
 ment. 
 
 A crying need of all our Sunday schools is 
 
 better organization. The loosely formed, un- 
 
 assimilated collections of good Sunday school 
 
 people found in so many places 
 
 Order out of j ^ i_ j • , 
 
 ^ -. . need to be made over mto 
 
 Confusion. 
 
 well organized bodies. The 
 very men who conduct great business enterprises 
 admirably often manage Sunday schools miser- 
 ably — because the one kind of institution is or- 
 ganized for positive results, while the other is 
 usually thrown together for whatever may result. 
 A school of fifty members in one neighborhood, 
 working together on well-considered plans, will 
 accomplish several times as much as another 
 school of twice the size, similarly located, but 
 lacking organization and singleness of purpose. 
 How the Sunday school suffers by comparison 
 with the secular schools in these particulars ! 
 Granting that the latter type of school is in 
 most places an unrealizable ideal for the Sun- 
 day school, a much closer approximation to it 
 is nevertheless everywhere practicable. 
 
 Organization establishes and locates responsi- 
 bility, and lack of responsibility is the prevalent 
 characteristic weakness of our 
 
 A Sharp School 5^^^^^ j^^^j ^ ^^^^^ q^_ 
 
 Contrast. . -. "' 
 
 ganization works by and to 
 positive standards. How badly the Sunday school 
 needs to have its aims focused and its standards 
 
Sunday School 15 
 
 held inviolable ! Organization secures thorough- 
 ness, discipline, promptness. To what an extent 
 are these essentials to good work ignored in the 
 representative Sunday school ! 
 
 But we must not mistake the meaning of or- 
 ganization. It is not merely the naming of cer- 
 tain individuals for certain responsibilities, to 
 be discharged in a perfunctory 
 manner, let that manner be organization 
 
 r 11 r T Denned. 
 
 ever so formally perfect. In 
 the Sunday school it is much more than the adop- 
 tion of working rules, with an expressed or im- 
 plied declaration of purposes, and the election 
 of officers to be guided by the one in working 
 out the other. These are simply rudimentary — 
 only the husks in which a ripe kernel should 
 be found. Organization is life and activity. It 
 is union. It is strength. It is soul and sense. 
 It is the touching of elbows and the joining of 
 hands in forward movement. It is the heart- 
 throb which moves the multitude as one indi- 
 vidual. It is the vital chord which unites in an 
 indescribable sympathy the superintendent at his 
 desk, the restless boy on the distant chair, and 
 the teacher bending her head into the circle of 
 little heads gathered around her — making a sym- 
 metrical power of the whole. 
 
i6 Th:^ Organized 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT — HIS PREROGATIVES. 
 
 While he is the chief officer in the Sunday 
 school, the superintendent is naturally, amen- 
 able to the power which placed him in office, 
 whether it be the assembled 
 A Quasi members of the church to 
 
 Subordinate. i , , 
 
 which the school belongs, or 
 an official board of the church. He is also in 
 a sense second in command in the Sunday school, 
 the pastor being the chief officer of the church 
 in all its departments of work. He is a subor- 
 dinate more in name, though, than in fact, as his 
 work is of a character which necessarily renders 
 his plans operative and his decision final in 
 nearly everything connected with the manage- 
 ment of the school. 
 
 The superintendent's position is one whose 
 responsibilities are divisible to only a limited ex- 
 tent. After he has placed upon the shoulders of 
 
 his associate officers every 
 An Official burden which can with pro- 
 
 Burden. , . , - , . 
 
 priety be transferred from his 
 
 own, there remains, essentially and unavoida- 
 bly, a responsibility which attaches to no other 
 lay officer in the church. This being true, his 
 
Sunday School 17 
 
 prerogatives should be commensurate with the 
 burden which he must carry. That is to say, 
 having been chosen to direct the school, he 
 should be allowed (except under conditions 
 rarely known) without official interference to 
 direct it. In the nature of the case he must 
 give much more study to Sunday school needs 
 than can be given by an3^body else in the church, 
 and possibly as much as is given by all others 
 in the church put together. It follows that he 
 has a more comprehensive view of these needs 
 than anybody else can have. Besides, he is 
 called up to the bar of the church annually to 
 give an account of his stewardship — not leaving 
 his mistakes, like those of other church officers 
 in many instances, to be rectified at death if 
 rectified at all. 
 
 Under these circumstances the earnest, self- 
 respecting man must be given practically full 
 charge of that for which as an individual he is 
 held responsible. It should be 
 
 for him to lead and direct, 3°,!''l?'''^" 
 , . , . „ Full Charge. 
 
 and to decide m all matters 
 not involving a radical change of policy. The 
 thoughtful pastor is always glad to leave a 
 worthy man thus untrammeled. If a superin- 
 tendent is to do his best he must be given an 
 opportunity to do his best. Give the right kind 
 of a man this kind of control of a school, and 
 both he and his charge will grow and develop 
 more satisfactorily than under any other con- 
 ditions. Tie his hands, and surround him with 
 petty limitations, which altogether restrict his 
 
i8 The Organized 
 
 freedom of action, and the growth is unHkely 
 to put a strain upon these limits. The fact of 
 his election to the office is an expression of 
 confidence, and no one in any sense worthy of 
 this confidence will or can in a single year seri- 
 ously damage the institution placed in his hands. 
 In several denominational organizations it is 
 designed, and sometimes it is stipulated, that 
 the appointment of Sunday school teachers shall 
 be a prerogative of the church 
 Appointing session. In theory this is cor- 
 
 Teachers. , • i 
 
 rect, and with sessions as they 
 should be the responsibility could not with pro- 
 priety be placed otherwise. However, taking the 
 average session as we find it, this policy is im- 
 practicable. Under prevalent conditions the se- 
 lection of teachers and their adjustment to the 
 classes cannot be cared for in any other way so 
 well as to be left in the hands of the superin- 
 tendent. This work is almost sure to be badly 
 mixed if entrusted to a church session or to a 
 board of Sunday school officers. Teachers whose 
 availability is under discussion are very often 
 members of the families of the officers compos- 
 ing these boards, or may be members of boards 
 themselves, thus complicating the situation and 
 rendering it almost impossible to avoid favorit- 
 ism or the fatal policy of sacrificing sense to 
 sentiment. 
 
 The superintendent as ordinarily situated may 
 with propriety insist upon the exercise of this 
 prerogative, and in doing so should hold firmly 
 to the idea that the term of the teacher, like 
 
Sunday School 19 
 
 his own term, is only for one year; that the ex- 
 piration of the year, which brings his own re- 
 election or his relief from duty, brings to the 
 teacher the necessity of also 
 submitting to the appointing ^" '^J^"'^ ^""^ 
 
 One Year. 
 
 power the matter of re-ap- 
 pointment or retirement. There is a kind of un- 
 written law in many schools that the term of 
 the teacher, like Tennyson's brook, may run on 
 forever, in contradistinction to the treatment ac- 
 corded to every other individual officially con- 
 nected with the Sunday school. The discrimina- 
 tion practiced by Sunday schools in this par- 
 ticular is wholly indefensible, and as a conse- 
 quence there is almost invariably a much greater 
 need for changes in teachers than in anything 
 else or in all things else combined which affect 
 the work of the school. 
 
 Teachers are sometimes almost and occa- 
 sionally altogether insubordinate in the matter 
 of yielding control of classes to which they 
 have become attached. The 
 position assumed by a stub- ^o^^^bie in- 
 
 , . subordination. 
 
 born teacher m a case where 
 an honest superintendent thinks a change should 
 be made is never tenable. The teacher who ar- 
 rogates to himself the decision as to whether he 
 be given charge of a certain class, or whether 
 he should at any given time teach in the school 
 at all, occupies an unreasonable position. The 
 superintendent in nearly every case knows more 
 about the matter in hand than the teacher can 
 know. The one is on all sides of the problem; 
 
20 Thk Organized 
 
 the other views it from a single standpoint. If 
 the superintendent should be wrong, the mis- 
 take can be rectified at the end of the year. 
 The teacher's error, if yielded to, only becomes 
 the more harmful to the school as the years 
 go by. 
 
 It is sometimes very difficult to stand up 
 against the pressure to continue inefficient teach- 
 ers in service. This very difficulty, though, may 
 safely be taken as evidence of 
 An Unwel- ^^^ ^^^^ ^f change ; and while 
 
 come Duty. . , , ■, 
 
 It may now and then be neces- 
 sary to temporarily waive the point at issue, op- 
 portunities for elimination and substitution in 
 such cases frequently come unexpectedly, and 
 should never be allowed to pass unimproved. 
 The superintendent will find this the most try- 
 ing and thankless part of his work, and will 
 always incur more or less risk of being misun- 
 derstood in connection with it. His duty is 
 clear, nevertheless. 
 
 In the exercise of his prerogatives the super- 
 intendent must be careful to assert himself only 
 so far as the efficient discharge of his duties 
 may require. His Sunday 
 
 An Understand- ^^^^^^ constituents are us- 
 ing Needed. ,, , -n- ^ 
 
 ually only too willmg to 
 accord to him more rights than he is disposed 
 to claim, even to the point of allowing him to 
 carry a liberal measure of their responsibilities 
 along with his own. It is unfortunate that the 
 relations of the Sunday school to the superin- 
 tendent, and the relations of the superintendent 
 
Sunday School 21 
 
 to the Sunday school, are not as a rule properly 
 understood. There is a kind of notion prev- 
 alent in many churches that when one is 
 chosen to this office it is his business, in con- 
 junction with about enough adults to fill the 
 other offices and furnish a corps of teachers, to 
 make the Sunday school — instead of his being 
 chosen to lead the entire church in making and 
 maintaining the Sunday school. The superin- 
 tendent himself, raised in an atmosphere of mis- 
 taken notions about all of these things, is apt 
 to take it for granted that he is to be just what 
 this narrow view of things will make him, un- 
 supported and unaided by many of those who 
 joined in pressing his work upon him. 
 
 Brother, let me urge you to assert and main- 
 tain as your highest prerogative the right to call 
 for and expect the fullest and freest cooperation 
 of the entire church com- 
 munity in whatever may be „ ^ ^^^^ 
 
 , , . , ^ , Prerogative. 
 
 undertaken m the name of the 
 Sunday school. The call to leadership which 
 carries with it no implied call to the remainder 
 of the church membership to be led has no 
 significance whatever. You are missing the most 
 important part of your commission when you 
 fail to thus use it as a rallying-point in your 
 work. 
 
22 The Organized 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT — HIS FIELD WORK. 
 
 The services of Sunday are, of course, the 
 culmination of the week in the labors of the su- 
 perintendent. These are what the public sees, 
 and by these the superintend- 
 Preparation ^^^ j^ measured. This finish 
 
 and Result. , , , . , 
 
 to the week, however, is the 
 
 lightest part of his official duties. Only the 
 thoughtful know that he has spent hours and 
 hours through the week to secure sixty or seven- 
 ty-five minutes of result on Sunday. The work of 
 one Sunday is barely completed when preparation 
 for the next begins. Indeed, the best type of 
 superintendent finds his weeks overlapping each 
 other in his preparation, and usually plans his 
 work so far ahead that he would sometimes be 
 puzzled to determine just when any given com- 
 ing event first received a measure of attention. 
 For want of a better name let us call a part of 
 his work outside of the Sunday school room his 
 Field Work — and to a discussion of this the 
 next few pages will be devoted. 
 
 The statement can be made without hesita- 
 tion that a prime necessity to good Sunday school 
 work is a teachers' meeting. So important is 
 
Sunday Schooi. 23 
 
 this meeting that even if very irregular and 
 only fairly well conducted it should by all means 
 be sustained. I used to be of a different opinion, 
 but am now convinced that 
 even a poor teachers' meeting ^^® Teachers' 
 
 , 1 ,, Meeting. 
 
 is better than none at all. 
 Without the periodical assembling of teachers 
 and officers for counsel even the best of work 
 is weak and lame. There is no such thing as 
 acting in perfect harmony, cooperating intelli- 
 gently and effectively, with everybody keeping 
 step to the music of Sunday school progress, if 
 the teachers know each other officially only in 
 the recitation hour. 
 
 The basal idea of the teachers' meeting is 
 gathering for the study and discussion of the 
 coming lesson. This, though, can hardly be 
 named the paramount consid- 
 eration. The study of the The Lesson 
 , , Only a Part. 
 
 lesson may be attended to at 
 home; indeed, the best study, and the best re- 
 membered results of study, are connected with 
 the home. But the other good things belonging 
 to the teachers' meeting are wholly lost without 
 that meeting. It may be stated as a general prin- 
 ciple that people who are engaged in similar 
 work will do that work better and more suc- 
 cessfully if they meet from time to time to con- 
 sult about it and discuss plans for its prosecu- 
 tion. Especially is this true if their work is in 
 connection with a single institution of which 
 they form a part and in whose central object 
 they are personally and deeply interested. This 
 
24 The Organized 
 
 is exactly the situation in which teachers in the 
 
 Sunday school are placed. 
 
 The teachers' meeting should include all the 
 
 teachers in all departments of the school, all 
 
 substitute teachers, all the officers, the pastor, 
 
 and all members of the school 
 The Meeting's ^^^ ^^jjj ^^^^^^^ j^^-^ -^ 
 
 Make-up. ,, , ... 
 
 naturally the supermtendent s 
 
 class, and he should have it in charge. It is 
 better that he teach the lesson, though this may 
 sometimes be better done by the pastor or some 
 other well qualified individual. It is preferable 
 that there be one teacher rather than that the 
 lesson leadership change from meeting to meet- 
 ing. In any case the superintendent should 
 preside. 
 
 Those attending this meeting should be en- 
 rolled like any other class, and the secretary of 
 the school should keep a class-book, mark at- 
 tendance, and look up absen- 
 An Enrolled -^^^ ^^ -^ ^^^ Sunday 
 
 Class. . 
 
 school itself. Let every 
 
 teacher understand that membership in this class 
 is imperative, and that in the reports of the 
 school faithfulness or negligence here will be 
 taken into regular account. In short, hold out 
 the idea that this must be the best class — the 
 model class — of the school. Stick closely to this 
 plan, and results will take care of themselves. 
 
 Teachers should be required to make at least 
 some preparation on the lesson before coming 
 to the meeting, which is no place for the be- 
 ginning of lesson study. The teaching should 
 
Sunday SchooIv 25 
 
 consist of a succinct and clear statement of the 
 points of the lesson, brought out as far as pos- 
 sible by questions. There should be no fine 
 elaboration, and teachers 
 should be left in the main to Teaching 
 
 , . , . , Teachers, 
 
 their own devices as to the 
 
 use to be made of the points elicited. Time 
 limits should be placed on every speaker. Have 
 the participation as general as possible, and aim 
 at cultivating clearness and brevity. Avoid the 
 introduction of indeterminate questions and ram- 
 bling discussions as you would a pestilence. 
 Should these in some way creep in cut them 
 off summarily. Better kill such things than kill 
 the meeting — for one of the two must die. This 
 part of the meeting should not ordinarily cover 
 more than twenty or twenty-five minutes. 
 
 For the business part of the meeting the super- 
 intendent should always have some topic or 
 topics ready for discussion. Here is the place 
 to submit your plans, and these 
 are the people to make them „°^ °^ 
 
 . , r 1 Business. 
 
 effective. Instead of harang- 
 uing the school on Sunday morning concerning 
 some proposed change in the exercises, or some 
 new line of work, thoroughly indoctrinate your 
 teachers with it, and have them easily and 
 smoothly swing their classes into line, as they 
 in most instances will succeed in doing. The 
 teachers' meeting is a place where many things 
 may be well done which undertaken in the Sun- 
 day school hour are done to little purpose. 
 Here are some topics which may be introduced 
 
26 The Organized 
 
 in the teachers' meeting to advantage : Methods 
 
 of teaching ; methods of recruiting ; Sunday 
 
 school equipment and finances ; Sunday school 
 
 reviews ; the spiritual welfare 
 
 Some Live ^^ ^^^ -j^ ^^^ elevation of 
 
 Topics. , ,1, 1 , 
 
 the school s standards of 
 work; good points observed in other schools; 
 the weak points of your own school ; how to 
 use lesson helps ; how to help the poor in your 
 school and in the community ; the general in- 
 terests of the school, etc. The field is boundless, 
 and a good topic need never be lacking. No 
 school can keep up such a meeting for a year 
 without feeling a new life-blood throbbing through 
 its veins ; nor can the same result be secured in 
 any other way. It would be better if the entire 
 meeting did not occupy more than about forty 
 minutes — although this is a matter of local con- 
 ditions and preferences. 
 
 As a rule the teachers' meeting is most suc- 
 cessful when held immediately following the mid- 
 week prayer meeting, and at the church. The 
 
 pastor is usually glad to short- 
 Time and ^^ ^1^^ prayer meeting a little, 
 
 and the habitual attendance of 
 many teachers at prayer meeting helps to solve 
 the problem of getting together a full class of 
 teachers. It is much more difficult to sustain 
 a meeting held on a distinct evening, although 
 this is sometimes done under favorable condi- 
 tions. The country Sunday school meets with 
 the greatest difficulty in maintaining a regular 
 teachers' meeting, but the ingenuity of an in- 
 
Sunday School 27 
 
 dustrious superintendent can usually in some 
 
 way solve the problem. The superintendent who 
 
 would do the best work cannot spare the meeting, 
 
 even though conditions be persistently adverse. 
 
 It is sometimes the case in towns and cities 
 
 that a number of Sunday schools can combine 
 
 for that part of the teachers' meeting which is 
 
 connected with the teaching of 
 
 the lesson. The opportunity of f ^fl^^"'' 
 ... . . hood Meeting. 
 
 jommg m such a meetmg may, 
 in a school here and there, show the way to a 
 superintendent who is unable to get his teachers 
 together for lesson instruction. Under these 
 circumstances, though, a separate meeting should 
 be held from time to time for the other purposes 
 already discussed. 
 
 When the business side of the teachers' meet- 
 ing is unsatisfactory the superintendent can in- 
 stitute to advantage a teachers' quarterly council, 
 to be held between the closing 
 Sunday of one quarter and The Teachers' 
 
 . r- , r 1 Council. 
 
 the openmg Sunday of the 
 next. This council thus held can have before it 
 the completed work of one quarter, which may 
 be intelligently used in planning future work. 
 Even if the teachers' meeting be all that can 
 reasonably be expected of it, this special quar- 
 terly gathering will be quite helpful. It furnishes 
 the occasion for a detailed and careful review of 
 past work, a matter which receives sufficient 
 attention in comparatively few Sunday schools. 
 The quarterly council may be held at the home 
 of the superintendent or some other member of 
 
28 Thb Organized 
 
 the circle, and should be a social as well as a 
 business meeting. 
 
 Another and a very important part of the 
 superintendent's field work is connected with 
 his social and business life. Opportunities with- 
 out number of directly or in- 
 
 In the directly promoting his Sun- 
 
 Community. , , , , ° 
 
 day school work are met with 
 
 in every-day life by the man who has this work 
 on his heart. This is too apparent to need 
 explanation. Of course the Sunday school can 
 be brought to the front in season and out of 
 season, in conversation and in business inter- 
 course; but there is much less danger that the 
 "out of season" introduction will be overdone 
 than that the "in season" will be overlooked. 
 The superintendent's face should be a familiar 
 one in the homes of his teachers and fellow- 
 officers, on whom he should not hesitate to make 
 personal calls with Sunday school purposes only 
 and obviously in view. Tactful, friendly calls 
 upon private members of the school may also 
 be scheduled among the things* clearly belonging 
 to his field work. 
 
 From all that has been said it follows that 
 the superintendent should not only be well known 
 in the community but that his personal acquaint- 
 ance should be at least co- 
 
 •^^^^*'^"^^'' extensive with the reach of 
 in Office. 
 
 the school. He should know 
 
 on sight and promptly recognize every one in 
 
 any way related to his school, should know the 
 
 parents, whereabouts and surroundings of every 
 
Sunday Schooi. 29 
 
 new scholar, and should be able to inject his 
 personality into home circles everywhere in his 
 environment. A stranger is sometimes chosen 
 to this office, and a very trying and unsatisfactory 
 official experience is pretty certain to follow. I 
 once undertook the work under these conditions, 
 and am sure that circumstances must be peculiar 
 which will warrant such a choice. 
 
30 The Organized 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT — HIS HOME WORK. 
 
 "His home work !" you say. "What ! is there 
 no place this man can enter and leave his Sun- 
 day school behind?" No, not until he enters his 
 
 grave. He'll get his perfect 
 The Work ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^ ^^^^-j ^^^^^^ ^^ 
 
 Never Stops. , . , 
 
 rests from everythmg else; 
 
 but until relieved by death or the end of his 
 term of office there is no time when he can 
 fold up his Sunday school duties, label them 
 "Left until called for," and lay them aside for 
 an indefinite period. Much less can he do this 
 at home, for here is his work-shop, and here 
 the whole character of his service to the school 
 is determined. Many a fairly good superintend- 
 ent does no other part of his work well except 
 his home work. No thoroughly efficient super- 
 intendent can ignore this, even if he be rarely 
 skilled in every other line of Sunday school 
 activity. 
 
 It is at this point that the failure of many 
 a promising Sunday school begins. The super- 
 intendent recognizes no home duties in connec- 
 tion with his office, and the school loses entirely 
 the good which can come from nothing else 
 but the proper discharge of these duties. Th© 
 
Sunday Schooi. 31 
 
 inefficient incumbent of this office either does 
 not know that the Hfe of his school is created 
 in his home, or knowing does not care. In 
 either case the result is the 
 same. By the way, the word ^.^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 ,, . ; . , 1 of Failure. 
 
 mcumbent is highly sug- 
 gestive in this connection. It makes one think 
 of "recumbent," "incumbrance," and words 
 equally depressing. It is suggestive of some- 
 thing to be thrown off and gotten rid of. When 
 the good time for throwing off the "incumbent" 
 arrives — and it, fortunately for the Sunday 
 school, comes every year — it should be made 
 the occasion for placing the school's leadership 
 in the hands of some one who, whatever he may 
 lack, lives the best part of his Sunday school 
 life at home. 
 
 What shall the superintendent do at home? 
 Why, practically everything which contributes in 
 any marked sense to the Sunday school's suc- 
 cess. His home work is basal 
 
 J ^ , . • • Home Work 
 
 and constructive, m compari- ^ 
 
 • 1 1 • 1 1 • /- 1 J 1 Possibilities. 
 
 son with which his field work, 
 as important as it is, is incidental. Indeed his 
 visible platform work, born at his fireside, is in 
 a sense incidental. The name of the things 
 which he may do at home for his school is 
 legion, and cannot be catalogued in these con- 
 densed pages. The mention of a few of them, 
 however, will be suggestive, and the working 
 superintendent will find the rest of them as he 
 conscientiously pursues his quest. 
 
 First among them is the preparation of his 
 
32 Thk Organized 
 
 lesson. Everybody knows this, and everybody 
 who is at all acquainted with Sunday school 
 needs and proprieties also knows that this prepa- 
 ration should be most thor- 
 
 Prepanng ough and most Comprehensive. 
 
 the Lesson. 
 
 There is no occasion to dwell 
 
 on this point. Pity the school whose superin- 
 tendent comes up Sunday after Sunday evidently 
 oblivious of the lesson and its bearings, unable 
 to give any helpful or suggestive turn to the 
 exercises, and groping vainly from first to last 
 for a thread for which he has made no search 
 until the arrival of the lesson hour. Can any- 
 thing short of the superintendent's absolute per- 
 sonal immorality be so pernicious and so demor- 
 alizing in its effect on the school? This super- 
 intendent needs to be inducted into home work. 
 It is at home that the good superintendent 
 selects his music — and the music of the Sunday 
 school should be of the superintendent's selection. 
 The chorister cannot know 
 ^^^^ll'""^. the thought of the individual 
 
 the Music. ,..,.. 
 
 who IS to give direction to the 
 exercises at every turn, nor is there any one 
 with whom the superintendent can divide this 
 responsibility. The music should be made a 
 part of the lesson, and should be selected with 
 extreme care. The leader who pounces upon 
 his music before the school in a hit-or-miss way 
 not only destroys the intended and realizable 
 effect of the music but writes himself down be- 
 fore his own people as among the careless and 
 unprepared. In the quiet of his home, with the 
 
Sunday School 33 
 
 lesson before him, the superintendent should 
 search his song book from cover to cover, listing, 
 selecting and rejecting until there is a ringing 
 harmony of thought throughout the whole. His 
 selecting should even go so far as to discriminate 
 between the verses of a song, and fix each selec- 
 tion in its proper place. One who has given no 
 thoughtful attention to the arrangement of Sun- 
 day school music can have no idea of its pos- 
 sibilities in promoting the interest, education 
 and development of the school. Taking hold of 
 this problem with a determination to solve it, 
 the work becomes easy, fascinating and inspiring. 
 The office of the Sunday school is primarily 
 to promote the study of the Scriptures, and 
 these should have a much more prominent part 
 in our school exercises than 
 is generally accorded them. Scripture 
 
 X . , , , Readings. 
 
 It is not enough that the 
 school simply read the lesson responsively or in 
 concert, especially if the reading is done from 
 the quarterly or the lesson leaf. With Bible in 
 hand each scholar should find the place and read 
 from the book. There should also be other 
 selections, bearing on the lesson, both to help in 
 the understanding of the lesson, and to cultivate 
 in the school a knowledge of how to find all the 
 books and chapters of the Bible. All this is a 
 fine drill for the school. The superintendent 
 should carefully select these readings at home. 
 He may also post them on the blackboard Sun- 
 day morning, or may print them with rubber 
 letters on white cardboard. By providing each 
 
34 'The Organized 
 
 Bible with three long, slender cards for book- 
 marks, and having these cards respectively of 
 the three national colors — red, white and blue — 
 the members of the school will soon learn on 
 coming in to look for the posted readings, mark 
 them, and be ready to promptly take part in 
 the reading exercises at the proper time. 
 
 In his home work-shop the superintendent 
 
 should make out all of his programs. He has 
 
 or should have here all the materials and all 
 
 the conditions for doing this 
 
 Jf^^^^e work to the best advantage. 
 
 Programs. -^ . . . 
 
 It IS often the case that a 
 number of programs covering a series of 
 connected lessons can thus be worked out to- 
 gether, resulting in a symmetry for the whole 
 not otherwise obtainable. It is sometimes well 
 worth while to spend an entire evening if neces- 
 sary in working out the details of a program 
 for a single ordinary Sunday. Indeed, as far 
 as the superintendent is concerned, the regular 
 Sunday service and the special Sunday service 
 should share equally in the matter of prepara- 
 tion. These pages are written in the firm con- 
 viction that the Sunday school is under any 
 circumstances entitled to our best and most 
 painstaking work. 
 
 The general planning for the school must also 
 be done at home. The reasons for this are 
 obvious. In the quiet of the home, with his 
 records, papers and facts at hand, the superin- 
 tendent has his field spread out before him as 
 at no other time. While he often wishes to 
 
Sunday School 
 
 35 
 
 consult with his fellow officers and workers, he 
 needs to have suggestive lines of work in mind 
 before such consultation. Many a school is 
 doing exceptionally fine work 
 to-day because a consecrated General 
 
 Planning. 
 
 superintendent has carefully 
 
 mapped its campaigns in the privacy of his own 
 
 fireside. 
 
 Right here I wish to introduce with special 
 emphasis a point which is too often overlooked. 
 It is that we are prone to give to tJie Sunday 
 school only the comparatively 
 valueless part of our time. ^e^ gYs't °^ 
 The Sunday school must com- 
 mand the same kind of energy and devotion that 
 are given to the most serious of personal affairs. 
 The school and one's business must share alike 
 in the best efforts which the brain may put forth. 
 There must be no more slighting of the one 
 than of the other. The school must not be put 
 off, by officers, or teachers, or others bearing 
 a responsible relation to it, with the leavings of 
 worn-out hours. One's duties may and should 
 be so planned that the Sunday school shall have 
 a share of that time when the brain is the 
 freshest and the flow of energy the strongest. 
 
 Do you get the full force of this, brother super- 
 intendent? It means that not only your weary 
 evenings, but a fair share of your vigorous morn- 
 ings, should be laid on the altar of your work. 
 "But how can I carry out this idea?" No one 
 can tell you ; yet if determined upon its realiza- 
 tion you will find the way. When the way is 
 
36 Thk Organized 
 
 found, and the full significance of this infusion 
 of your most capable personality is appreciated, 
 you will wonder why you had not thought of 
 it before. 
 
 If the superintendent is to be a visitor, he 
 
 must also be visited. If he would approach, he 
 
 must be approachable. His latch-string must be 
 
 out for any one v^ho may wish 
 
 e pen ^^ ^^|j ^^^^ j^jj^ ^^^ ^^ must 
 
 Home. , . 
 
 be quite certaii. to have it 
 
 understood that his Sunday school people are 
 doubly welcome. He is always glad to see his 
 pastor, who is his most valued adviser. His 
 fellow officers, his teachers, his pupils, must 
 alike feel free to offer and to seek counsel. His 
 neighborliness and hospitality are of course 
 home work. 
 
 The crown of the superintendent's home work, 
 
 however, is meditation. The digestive mental 
 
 process by which his school and all its interests 
 
 are brought to pass and re- 
 
 «/"i^ " • pass before him is perhaps 
 
 Meditation. . i 
 
 productive of more good to 
 his work than all his special activities put to- 
 gether. The quiet, undisturbed, seemingly idle 
 hour in which his loved school is the subject 
 of his thoughts is the most fruitful hour of the 
 week. It is a time of comparison, analysis, sift- 
 ing and weighing ; a time of profitable retrospect ; 
 a time of taking stock of the future ; a time when 
 a solution of the trouble with that unruly class 
 over there comes to him as an inspiration ; a 
 time when an entry into some forbidding life is 
 
Sunday Schooi. 37 
 
 clearly opened; a time when an insight into the 
 spiritual needs of the school is revealed ; — the 
 time of all his hours of service. Were the home 
 the scene of nO' other part of the superintendent's 
 Sunday school life except his meditation on Sun- 
 day school interests it would still be his most 
 important field of work. 
 
38 The Organized 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT — USING HIS HELPERS. 
 
 Other things being equal, that superintendent 
 
 is best who gets the rn.ost work out of other 
 
 people. As far as his duties are divisible they 
 
 should be divided. While it 
 
 Getting others j^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ greater part 
 
 to Work. ., -I- • r 
 
 of his responsibilities are of 
 such a character that they cannot well be shared, 
 yet there are many things which others may 
 be called upon to do, both for their own good 
 and to the substantial gain of the school. The 
 creation of temporary duties in order to furnish 
 needed employment is sometimes advisable, al- 
 though it should be done with such tact and 
 judgment as to create no suspicion that it is 
 work purely for work's sake. 
 
 The pastor should not and ordinarily does 
 not need to be called upon for regular or special 
 work in order to arouse his interest in the Sun- 
 day school. The superintend- 
 Paltor*''^ ent finds, though, that no one 
 
 can help him in an all-around 
 way so well as his pastor, and for this reason 
 is fain to ask his help perhaps oftener than 
 he should. The pastor should not be asked to 
 teach a class except in a special dearth of teacher 
 
Sunday Schooi, 39 
 
 material, but is naturally the Instructor of the 
 teachers' meeting when the superintendent is 
 not in position to discharge that duty. It is 
 better to hold the pastor as an emergency helper 
 than to appeal to him for regular service. 
 
 The assistant superintendent is often a figure- 
 head in the organization, through the failure of 
 the superintendent to allow him to do the things 
 naturally attaching to his 
 position. The assistant should / f°^ 
 
 , the Assistant. 
 
 have some part as often as 
 practicable in the exercises of Sunday. It can- 
 not well be the leading part except when the 
 entire day is placed in his charge, as there 
 cannot be two "lesson leaders for the school in 
 a single service any more than there can be 
 two teachers of the lesson to the class at the 
 same time. Full leadership may, with propriety, 
 be given to the assistant for an occasional Sun- 
 day in training him for the emergencies which 
 may call the superintendent away from his desk 
 from time to time. On almost any Sunday, 
 though, the assistant may in a minor part help 
 materially in the service. As a counselor the 
 superintendent should freely use this officer. 
 
 The secretary, operating in a different field, 
 bears an equally important relation to the super- 
 intendent, who cannot conduct 
 th.. affairs of the school in- ^;l''ZZ.ry. 
 telligently unless he is in close 
 touch with that officer, and thoroughly familiar 
 with the class rolls and the statistics which arc 
 being gathered from week to week. The super- 
 
40 The Organized 
 
 intendent should himself be something of a 
 statistician, but not in such a way as to trench 
 upon the prerogatives or minimize the office of 
 the secretary. As an adviser the secretary is a 
 most important member of the school's cabinet. 
 The treasurer is sometimes also the secretary, 
 and in a small school the combination of these 
 offices is often advisable. But a growing school 
 
 should have growing finances. 
 Acting with ^^^ ^-^^ superintendent should 
 
 advise frequently with the 
 financial officer. The superintendent is usually 
 the broader man of the two in business experi- 
 ence, but in infusing his plans into the handling 
 of the school's income he should if possible see 
 that the treasurer comes in for the fullest credit 
 that can be given him under the circumstances. 
 The same principle will apply to the relation 
 of the superintendent to the librarian, the choris- 
 ter, the pianist, and other officers of the school. 
 It has already been said in discussing the 
 teachers' meeting that the superintendent should 
 make that meeting the occasion of placing in the 
 
 hands of the teachers as far as 
 Leaning on practicable the carrying out 
 
 the Teachers. . , , . , , 
 
 of changes which he proposes 
 
 to introduce into the general work of the school. 
 He should clearly impress the idea that the 
 teacher bears to the individual class something 
 of the same relation which the superintendent 
 bears to the entire school. He should expect 
 the teachers to stand officially between him and 
 the classes; to preserve order among those in 
 
Sunday Schooi^ 41 
 
 their charge, preventing the necessity, except in 
 extreme cases, of his giving any pubHc attention 
 to the subject; and to report to him privately 
 an3^ class matters calling for his personal cogni- 
 zance. Teachers as a rule need nothing so much 
 as a more pronounced realization of personal 
 responsibility for their work, and the superintend- 
 ent may do much tov/ard increasing this realiza- 
 tion. In the nature of the case the superintend- 
 ent may and should lean much harder upon his 
 teachers than upon his fellow officers, because 
 of the closer relation of the teachers to the work 
 of the school hour. 
 
 In a general way the tactful superintendent 
 may get a great deal of valuable, though de- 
 tached, and often somewhat uncertain, help out 
 of the men and women, boys 
 and girls making up the sea^rcr'^^ 
 
 classes. There are people all 
 over the Sunday school room who if properly 
 enlisted are in position to bring in new mem- 
 bers, help weak members, hold up the hands of 
 teachers, and in many other ways strengthen 
 the organization. The superintendent should 
 study to discover these people. He will find 
 on investigation that they are much more numer- 
 ous than he had at first supposed ; and some of 
 his best work will have been done when they 
 are converted, as many of them may be, from 
 listless spectators into active helpers. 
 
42 The Organized 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT — A DAY IN THE SUNDAY 
 SCHOOL. 
 
 Let US now spend a day together in the Sunday- 
 school, remembering that the exercises of each 
 school must be shaped with reference to its re- 
 sources and environment. Almost any school, 
 however, can follow the outline suggested in this 
 chapter. 
 
 To make certain that nothing contributing to 
 thorough preparation has been overlooked, and 
 to set the school an example of never-failing 
 anticipation of this phase of 
 On Hand duty, the superintendent 
 
 should be on hand early. No 
 considerable proportion of the school should ever 
 see him in hat and overcoat on Sunday morn- 
 ing. Following him sufficiently soon to be able 
 to greet and quietly arrange their classes as they 
 come in, the teachers should so time their ar- 
 rival as to be always in advance of the throng. 
 The teacher should see at once to the distribution 
 of Bibles and song books, of both of which the 
 supply should be ample, and also see to the 
 marking of the readings. No school whose 
 teachers thus remember their duties is disorderly 
 
Sunday Schooi. 43 
 
 in the opening. Indeed the teacher's quiet, dig- 
 nified, unobtrusive attention to details all through 
 the hour is a specific absolute against everything 
 of an unpleasant or disturbing character. 
 
 The next essential is the prompt arrival of 
 the school. There never was and never will be 
 a very good Sunday school any appreciable pro- 
 portion of whose members 
 
 come straggling in all through ^ Prompt 
 , . Sunday School, 
 
 the hour. Tardmess is abso- 
 lutely intolerable in an officer or teacher, and 
 is reprehensible in the pupil. It is demoralizing 
 from every point of view, and the superintendent 
 must reduce it to an inconsiderable item, or 
 the work of the school will suffer materially in 
 consequence. It is not an incurable leprosy, but 
 will yield to treatment. 
 
 Open the school strictly on the minute. What 
 shall be the nature of this opening? The super- 
 intendent needs, first of all, an exercise in which 
 he can count on the fullest 
 possible participation. Many „^ *° \ ^ 
 
 . . , Beginning. 
 
 supermtendents act on the 
 theory that such participation is to be reached 
 by degrees, as the exercises progress. This is 
 a misapprehension. There is no need to wait 
 for anything in the way of introduction. Let 
 all understand that they are needed at the first 
 step, give them the right kind of thing to do 
 at the first step, and the difficulties will vanish. 
 Let the Sunday school feel that it itself is open- 
 ing the school. Do not let the opening be a stiff, 
 listless, perfunctory affair, wholly in the hands 
 
44 The Organized 
 
 of the superintendent, or the- teachers, or a choir, 
 or any certain number of people. 
 
 What is the most natural and easy exercise in 
 which people may be brought to act together? 
 You answer at once that it is singing. To pro- 
 duce the best effect they must 
 A Careful ^^ ^^-^^ singing, too, without 
 
 Preparation. & &> > 
 
 announcement or the necessity 
 
 of waiting to hunt the place in the book. The 
 preparation for all to take part in the first exer- 
 cise should also be so complete that no one can 
 have an excuse for standing aloof. The music 
 should be quite familiar to all, in order to re- 
 move the last remaining difficulty. It must also 
 be something dignified, grand, swelling — appeal- 
 ing to the worshiping instinct in the Christian 
 and to the admiration of the worldling. 
 
 To secure this end placard prominently on the 
 wall a single strong, inspiring verse, such as 
 "Holy, holy, holy !" "Come, thou Almighty 
 
 King!" "Lion of Judah, 
 An Impress- j^^^jj ,,, ^^ something equally 
 
 ive Result. . . ^^. ^ ^ '' 
 
 impressive. L 1 he same open- 
 ing verse may be used for a month or a quarter. 
 We change ours monthly.] While the piano, 
 organ or orchestra plays an introductory bar or 
 two, let the superintendent call the school to 
 its feet by a motion of the hands, the school 
 being trained to respond instantly. Then on 
 signal let every voice strike the first word strong 
 and full, and fill the room with the paean of 
 praise. This constitutes by far the finest and 
 most effective opening I have ever seen. While 
 
Sunday Schooi, 45 
 
 still standing let a psalm with which the school 
 is familiar (also changed monthly or quarterly) 
 be repeated in concert, followed by the opening 
 prayer. Then let the school be seated. 
 
 Up to this time the superintendent has not said 
 a word outside of his participation in what the 
 school has done. He has merely guided, in the 
 simplest way possible. Every 
 one has had an opportunity to ^ Gratifying 
 . ^ . ^, . ^ , , Situation. 
 
 assist m the openmg, and, hav- 
 ing begun in this way, there will be more general 
 taking part in what follows than if the various 
 exercises are approached between voluble an- 
 nouncements and directions on the part of the 
 superintendent. The school has so far done it 
 all, and if at all trained has done it incomparably 
 better than it can be done by any officer or com- 
 bination of officers and teachers. 
 
 This point having been reached, give another 
 opportunity for singing. Let the song be some- 
 thing not so well known as to be worn out, and 
 yet something that can be 
 sung with emphasis. In in- ^ ^Jf'^^ 
 
 . 1-1 for Singing. 
 
 troducmg this do not have the 
 pianist play more than chords before beginning, 
 unless it is designed to cover the confusion of 
 looking for the place. And, by the way, a school 
 can soon be trained to quickly find anything in 
 either song book or Bible. The superintendent 
 can readily tell whether the school needs another 
 song right here or not; and if needed it should 
 be of sufficiently different character from the first 
 to afford variety and yet should have some bear- 
 
46 The Organized 
 
 ing on the lesson. When these concert exercises 
 
 have continued a sufficient time, the reading of 
 
 the lesson should be introduced. Bible readings 
 
 are conducted so poorly in most Sunday schools 
 
 that we can afford to stop right here and give 
 
 this subject a little special attention. 
 
 Of whatever else a Sunday school may be 
 
 short, a shortage should never appear in its 
 
 stock of Bibles. The Sunday school is organized 
 
 primarily for the study of the 
 
 "/o^uf^^"*^ Bible, and yet, to our shame 
 of Bibles. , . . , . , , 
 
 be It said, m many schools 
 
 the Bible which the teacher brings is the only 
 
 one available for an entire class. Few schools 
 
 have half as many Bibles as they need. Bibles 
 
 are cheap. Why not have enough? How are 
 
 our young people to become familiar with the 
 
 Word if never led any farther into it than to 
 
 see the ten or fifteen verses per week doled 
 
 out to them by the lesson leaf? It is not enough 
 
 that the few v/ords directly in use are set forth 
 
 on the pages of the "quarterly" or other help. 
 
 The text-book of the Sunday school is the 
 
 Word, and the Word should have the place of 
 
 honor in the service. Every eye should turn to 
 
 the Bible, every exercise should 
 The School's j^^^ ^Q ^^^ gj^jg^ ^ 
 
 Text-Book. 1 u 1 
 
 should paraphrase some sweet 
 
 truth of the Bible. Sunday school work means 
 
 Bible first, last, and all the time. The Scripture 
 
 lesson is rightfully and as a matter of course 
 
 the leading and all-important item on every 
 
 Sunday's program. It should not, however, stand 
 
Sunday Schooi. 47 
 
 alone. While nothing should be introduced to 
 divert attention from the lesson, other Scriptures 
 bearing upon it or illuminating its truths should 
 have a place. 
 
 The interest of the hdur can in no way be 
 more certainly augmented than by well selected 
 and judiciously arranged additional Bible read- 
 ings. At the same time these may be so aimless 
 and so poorly arranged as to be a detriment 
 where they should naturally assist. An incidental 
 good growing out of additional readings is the 
 training in looking for the place which it gives 
 to those who are unfamiliar with Bible make-up. 
 Bible reading exercises as conducted in many 
 Sunday schools are not only uninteresting but 
 are depressing. It is depressing to listen to a 
 concert reading or a responsive 
 reading in which only a small ^ Depressing 
 percentage of the members of 
 the school take part ; depressing and demoraliz- 
 ing to have a long and tedious delay in finding 
 the place as readings are announced. Even 
 after waiting for a reasonable time the superin- 
 tendent often finds that the first responsive verse 
 is rendered by but few readers. The next is 
 read by an increased number, and if the reading 
 be long enough the responses toward the close 
 may be sufficiently general to embrace a large 
 proportion of the school — provided the school 
 manifests enough interest to take part in the 
 proceedings. 
 
 In the school with which I am connected this 
 trouble has been largely obviated. By our plan 
 
48 The Organized 
 
 three short readings are arranged for, follow- 
 ing each other consecutively. The first is the 
 lesson of the day. The second is some Scripture 
 enlarging upon some thought 
 A Modern ^^ ^^^ lesson. The third is 
 
 Plan Instead. . 
 
 usually an appropriate psalm 
 
 — we rarely have a Sunday without a psalm. 
 These are selected beforehand, with care, and 
 prominently posted, as described in Chapter IV, 
 under the head of "Scripture Readings." The 
 order of the national colors is quickly suggestive, 
 ^nd will soon be caught by the school, with the 
 aid of the teachers, resulting in the readings 
 being easily marked and promptly and effectively 
 rendered. 
 
 The readings may be followed by another song, 
 selected also with a view to securing general 
 participation ; and now the time for the lesson 
 has arrived. The exercises up to this time, if 
 promptly and properly conducted, should not 
 occupy more than fifteen to eighteen minutes. 
 
 All departments of the school should feel the 
 
 heart-throb of sympathetic connection with the 
 
 entire body, and for this reason the Primary 
 
 classes should be present in 
 
 Ready for ^^^ ^^-^^ ^^^^^ during the 
 
 the Lesson. ... , 
 
 openmg, even if there be 
 
 separate rooms for their use in the recitation 
 hour. A minute or two of instrumental music, 
 if available, will cover the slight confusion of 
 classes taking their places, and the retirement 
 of the Primary pupils to their own rooms. Even 
 without this music, though, this rearrangement 
 
Sunday ScHooiy 49 
 
 of the school may with a little forethought and 
 practice be accomplished with quietness and 
 celerity. By the way, this end will be promoted 
 by having the classes locate on arrival as nearly 
 as may be where they will sit during recitation. 
 "Decently and in order," you know, are the words 
 of the apostle. 
 
 The time of the teacher in the beginning of 
 the lesson will be saved if class secretaries, with 
 as little interruption to class work as possible, 
 will mark the attendance and 
 
 take up the collections. An The Lesson 
 
 , , , , Recitation, 
 
 assistant supermtendent should 
 
 have already looked after the vacancies caused 
 by the absence of teachers, and filled them from 
 a corps of regularly appointed substitute teachers 
 scattered among the Bible classes. A period 
 of thirty to thirty-five minutes may be devoted 
 to the lesson. The Bible classes would often 
 like to have a little more time, while teachers 
 of young people sometimes think a little less 
 would be better. All things considered, the time 
 named is perhaps as good an average as, for our 
 purpose, could be selected. 
 
 Where the school has an orchestra, or is pre- 
 pared to render suitable instrumental music, 
 a softly played selection may be begun three or 
 four minutes before the close 
 of the lesson, the teachers Just After 
 
 . the Lesson. 
 
 understandmg the signal to 
 wind up their work. Such classes as have 
 changed position should now return for the re- 
 view, and it is preferable, although not always 
 
50 . Thk Organized 
 
 practicable, for the Primary classes to return 
 for this exercise. When the instrumental music 
 is ended a song is announced, the singing of 
 which brings the school again into a sympathetic 
 whole. 
 
 Right here is perhaps the best place of all 
 for making necessary announcements, which 
 should be as brief as 13 consistent with their 
 
 being understood. If held 
 The Place for ^^^^ ^^^^^jj ^^^ ^j^^^ ^j^^^ ^^^_ 
 
 Announcements. . , , . 
 
 stitute a more marked mter- 
 ruption. It is' desirable that the last impression 
 a pupil takes from the room shall be a thought 
 connected with the lesson, and announcements at 
 the end may defeat this object. The report of 
 the secretary may be introduced at this point, 
 
 although it is quite preferable 
 The Secre- ^^^^ ^j^j^ report be in some 
 
 tary's Report. , ., , , 
 
 detail and made on an espe- 
 cially ruled, prominently placed blackboard (see 
 Figure 2), and not read before the school at all. 
 The blackboard report will be remembered, while 
 only an occasional individual will get the full 
 measure of the verbal report. Besides, the black- 
 board as a minute saver is invaluable. 
 
 If announcements have been of a character to 
 divide attention with the lesson an appropriate 
 song just here may bring the school into line 
 again. And now for the review. 
 
 The review which follows each Sunday's lesson 
 should be the crown of the lesson. It should 
 not attempt too much. It should aim at en- 
 forcing only one or two truths, but these should 
 
Sunday School 51 
 
 stand out most distiiicn>. A bit of well-chosen 
 lesson incident, a strong illustration or two, an 
 application to something or of something with 
 which everybody is familiar, 
 the introduction of some cur- _ °"* * ^ 
 
 • 1 1 • 1 1 Review. 
 
 rent event with which the 
 thought of the lesson may be properly connected 
 — all these should be within the quick grasp of 
 the reviewer. Scripture, history, geography, 
 science, experience — everything — may at one time 
 or another be made tributary. 
 
 The review must be the most resourceful ex- 
 ercise of the day, or it will fail to serve its 
 purpose. It should always be brief, and the 
 watchful superintendent must 
 be ready to turn it this way Wanted-Re- 
 
 . sourcefulness. 
 
 or that as the nagging atten- 
 tion or unresponsive condition of the school may 
 suggest. He must have resort to song, special 
 reading, or anything else which promises quick 
 relief to an embarrassing pause. Brother, don't 
 — don't — DON^T hang on in a groping, aimless 
 way to an exercise which is failing of its object. 
 Turn quickly to something else. Even when en- 
 tlrel}^ satisfactory the review should be promptly 
 ended, in such a way if possible that the school 
 may desire more rather than rejoice at its con- 
 clusion. 
 
 The Socratic or catechetical method is of 
 course the best of all methods for reviewing — 
 just as it is the best for teaching in the classes 
 — as far as it is practicable. Review periods, 
 however, are always essentially short, and the 
 
52 Thk Organized 
 
 reviewer cannot make this his sole reliance. That 
 review is usually the most successful to whose 
 questions quick replies have been made by the 
 largest number of people. 
 
 An exercise intended to interest and instruct 
 
 people of all ages is difficult beyond description. 
 
 The superintendent must not talk over the heads 
 
 of the younger scholars, nor 
 
 Not in the ^^^^ ^^ address the older 
 
 Nursery. ^111 
 
 ones as though he were m a 
 
 nursery. How often does he feel at the close 
 of a day's work that he has gone to the one 
 or the other of these unfortunate extremes. 
 The "baby talk" line is perhaps a more damaging 
 style of review than its opposite, in its effect 
 upon the interest manifested in the exercise. The 
 Primary Department affords a field in which an 
 extremely juvenile style of discourse may be 
 acceptable, although even there it may be badly 
 overdone; but this manner of address has no 
 proper place outside of that limit. The boys and 
 girls of the Intermediate division strongly re- 
 sent the patronizing style which implies that 
 they must be talked to in diminutives and nurs- 
 ery idioms. Have you not, on the other hand, 
 seen old and young alike lean forward in eager 
 listening when the superintendent, a visitor, or 
 a substitute, acting as reviewer, has been so 
 f'^rtunate as to be able to discharge the trying 
 duties of that position without departing from 
 the use of pure English or drawing upon the 
 vocabulary of Mother Goose? Let the review 
 be wholesome, clear, strong, brief, and the young 
 
Sunday Schooi. 53 
 
 people, whose minds are fed in the day school 
 on solid food, will thrive no less on the undiluted 
 milk of the Word. 
 
 What is the superintendent to do amid these 
 difficulties? One of his strong points is to en- 
 force his lesson thought by illustration, which if 
 apt is not lost on any division 
 of the school. Another is to what Shall the 
 
 . . Reviewer Do? 
 
 talk just as little as circum- 
 stances will permit. Another is to get just as 
 much as he can out of people all over the room, 
 in detached remarks and quick replies, at the 
 same time neatly and courteously cutting off the 
 wordy brother who, once wound up, will never 
 of himself run down. Above all, he must keep 
 things going in such a way that flagging atten- 
 tion will be tempted into at least a semblance of 
 interest in what may come next. 
 
 The visitor is most welcome in every school. 
 May his tribe indefinitely increase ! The courte- 
 ous superintendent incurs a great risk, though, 
 when he undertakes to utilize 
 this factor in the review ex- y^^^J^^^ 
 ercises of the school. Circum- 
 stances are rare indeed in which any one should 
 be invited to address the Sunday school in the 
 school hour. Much less can the superintendent 
 afford to extend such an invitation to the untried 
 stranger. The higher duty to the school just 
 here takes precedence of all other considerations. 
 If the visitor must be recognized ask him a direct 
 question, in the review, among the general ques- 
 tions propounded to the school. Of course there 
 
54 Thk Organized 
 
 are visitors who are certain to do most acceptable 
 work, and circumstances may justify even press- 
 ing such a guest into service. 
 
 A song naturally follows the review, and 
 
 snatches of song may with equal propriety be 
 
 scattered through it, one of the excellent points 
 
 of the song service being that 
 
 The Day |^ ^ ^^ exactly adjusted to 
 
 Finished. , . ■, r-n ■, ttt-i 
 
 the time to be filled. When 
 the hour for closing conies the one thing to do 
 is to close. Even if the end seems to have come 
 all too soon, the close should be as nearly as 
 possible on the minute. Having filled the time 
 full from first to last, without delay or drag, 
 let everybody understand that it is just as im- 
 portant to quit promptly as to begin promptly. 
 The closing song, the benediction or closing 
 prayer, the musical finale, and all is over. 
 
 In our day's work there has been little of elab- 
 oration, and If the day has been satisfactory it 
 has been as much because of preparation as of 
 
 execution. There has been 
 A°Ti'n^ nothing of inflexible regime. 
 
 There has been no display of 
 machinery. The program has been simplicity 
 itself. Attention has been close and constant. 
 A chord of sympathy has run through everybody 
 and everything; and the school which has had a 
 succession of days of this kind is always ready 
 for another. 
 
Sunday School 55 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT — SPECIAL DAYS. 
 
 The Sunday school should lose no opportunity 
 of keeping itself before the public in ways that 
 are legitimate and germane to the purpose for 
 which it is organized. It 
 should be steadily advertised Not Under 
 
 . . . ^, a Bushel 
 
 by Its activities. The com- 
 munity should be constantly reminded of its 
 existence through these activities. It should not 
 only be advertised by its loving friends and by 
 the good it has done, but by the restless energy 
 which permits no vacations in its work and no 
 abatement in its progress. 
 
 One of the best agencies for accomplishing 
 the end hinted at is the special day. Nothing 
 has ever been found to successfully perform the 
 same office, nothing to serve 
 
 the same purpose to the same ^"* °" ^. , 
 . ^ . , X . , Candlestick, 
 
 benencial extent. It is, how- 
 ever, like many other agencies for good, sus- 
 ceptible to abuse, and it is only when guided 
 and regulated in accordance with strict common 
 sense that it is of unmixed advantage to the 
 Sunday school. 
 Special days serve several useful ends. Prima- 
 
56i The Organized 
 
 rily they impress upon the minds of the scholars 
 the character and importance of the several 
 events and circumstances which the days are 
 
 meant to celebrate, and they 
 Useful Ends develop the resources and 
 ^^^ ' capabilities of the school in 
 
 the preparation of the programs for these days. 
 Incidentally they assist greatly in furnishing the 
 variety which is so essential to permanent interest 
 in Sunday school exercises, and at the same time 
 they advertise the work of the school in the 
 community as it can be done perhaps in no other 
 way. 
 
 In the broadest sense every Sunday in the year 
 should be made a special day. The alert super- 
 intendent is always on the lookout for something 
 
 which may so individualize the 
 Every Sunday exercises of every meeting of 
 
 his school as to impress and 
 cause them to be remembered. He thoroughly 
 understands the utility of the pleasant surprise, 
 and its importance, not only in interesting, but 
 in enforcing the lessons which it is sought to 
 fasten in the minds of the pupils at every step. 
 The work which throws new light on an old 
 truth is in effect special work, just as is the con- 
 stant effort to give new direction to the unused 
 energies which abound in every school ; and this 
 kind of work will tend to give each Sunday 
 school year fifty-two special days — fifty-two days 
 on which the membership turns toward the place 
 of meeting with cheerful anticipation. Nowhere 
 is this regularly accomplished in just the way 
 
Sunday Schooi. 57 
 
 the officers have planned or desire — but where 
 is the well-managed school which has not now 
 and then recorded an accidental special day 
 crowned with a success beyond all expectation? 
 As in all other kinds of church work, while the 
 specific thing for which we labor may not be 
 exactly realized, the effort which we make places 
 us in line for the realization of other good which, 
 in our own planning, is either unlooked-for or is 
 less clearly defined. 
 
 By a special day, however, is meant an occasion 
 which throws the school out of its regular line 
 of exercises, disarranges the allotments of time 
 for recitation, and substitutes 
 therefor an especially arranged V^^ ^f^.'^'^^. 
 
 ^, . „ Day Defined. 
 
 program. 1 he days generally 
 recognized as special are Easter, Children's Day, 
 Rally Day and Christmas. The three last come 
 in the three last quarters of the year, while the 
 first comes either in the latter part of the first 
 quarter or in the early part of the second. They 
 are, therefore, distributed to pretty good ad- 
 vantage, missing as they do the very hot season, 
 and suiting well the general convenience of the 
 school. Of course there is no happen-so about 
 this, and it is the result of many years of experi- 
 ence and observation by skilled workers in the 
 Sunday school field. 
 
 Other special days may occasionally be inter- 
 jected to advantage, provided they do not inter- 
 fere with the regular lesson program, and pro- 
 vided there is sufficient reason for their ap- 
 pointment. An anniversary in which an impor- 
 
58 Thk Organized 
 
 tant section of the school or the entire school 
 is especially interested is always in place. The 
 communion days of the church may with pro- 
 priety be added to the calendar 
 
 The Commun- ^^ special Sunday school days. 
 
 ion Day. . , , 
 
 A great good m connection 
 with these days is, besides the advantage to the 
 school, the resultant increased attendance at com- 
 munion. These really prove to be special rallying 
 days for the church, and are much more effective, 
 enjoyable and profitable than the four days al- 
 ready mentioned which Sunday schools usually 
 observe. 
 
 Placing such a day from time to time in charge 
 of a Bible class or a division of the school (acting 
 in conjunction with the superintendent) helps 
 
 greatly as a developer of those 
 Developing temporarily charged with this 
 
 Workers. . . 
 
 responsibility. The division in 
 charge is expected to especially assist in the 
 opening and closing exercises (leaving the lesson 
 recitation undisturbed), to suitably decorate the 
 building, to distribute invitations throughout the 
 community among possible Sunday school re- 
 cruits, and to get out the church members not 
 usually attending either Sunday school or the 
 communion service. 
 
 The influence of this class of special days on 
 substantial school growth is often unmistakable, 
 and as advertisers of the school's work they are 
 perhaps equal in effectiveness to all other influ- 
 ences combined. Christmas, Easter, etc., are ob- 
 served in all schools, and in attempting to make 
 
Sunday Schooi. 59 
 
 an impression in the community one school is 
 lost in the general celebration. These other 
 special days are free from this hindrance to bring- 
 ing out an attendance, and therefore have a 
 marked advantage over all other unusual Sunday 
 school occasions. 
 
 A Sunday school special day service should not 
 be an elaborate service. A prejudice against such 
 days exists here and there because of the sup- 
 posed necessity of complication 
 and elaboration. There is no _^°' 
 
 , , T 1 i • Elaboration. 
 
 such necessity. Indeed sim- 
 plicity is an essential, and there is little risk in 
 challenging the observation of veteran Sunday 
 school vv^orkers in support of this statement. The 
 program for such an occasion if full of difficult 
 details is as wearying to those who look and 
 listen as it is harassing to those who take part. 
 It is very easy to overdo in the effort to entertain 
 and to overreach in testing the capacity of the 
 Sunday school hour, and both dangers should be 
 and can be avoided. That special day program 
 is the best which is largely constructed within 
 the school itself, and tactfully adapted to its 
 make-up and its environment. To have the gen- 
 eral trend of the exercises planned by those who 
 know the school and its capabilities is to provide 
 against attempting the unreasonable or the im- 
 possible, as well as to achieve the greatest suc- 
 cess. 
 
 For Easter and Christmas the exercises now 
 published in such profusion will perhaps furnish 
 for the average Sunday school the most satis- 
 
6o The Organized 
 
 factory solution of the problem of providing for 
 these days. Many of these programs are excel- 
 lent, and most of them are richly suggestive. As 
 
 a rule, however, they are too 
 Ready-Made ^ ^ ^^^^^^ ^j^j^^ j^ ^^^jj 
 
 Programs. j- j i, • • j 
 
 remedied by omission, and 
 which is really an advantage, as it allows some 
 choice as to what may be omitted. It is, perhaps, 
 true of all of them, though, that they may be 
 amended to a greater or less extent to suit the 
 conditions of the school in which a given one 
 is to be rendered. Ever so slight a change 
 may suffice to localize the exercise and render 
 it more acceptable. As a rule the farther this 
 localizing may be made to reach the better. The 
 impress of the individuality of the school should 
 be stamped upon the exercises. The well-man- 
 aged Sunday school will in some way secure the 
 end of having its programs of every kind dis- 
 tinctly characteristic of itself. 
 
 The special day program, like the program for 
 
 any Sunday school day, should never be inflexible. 
 
 It should be so far adjustable as to admit of 
 
 slight variation when, as is 
 
 Flexibility Q£^gj^ ^i^g ^^^^^ g^^^l^ variation 
 
 of Program. . , . , , tt i-i 
 
 IS desirable. Unlike many 
 other organizations the Sunday school requires 
 to have its program to some extent the creat- 
 ure of the occasion. At all events it is well 
 to have it so arranged that the superintendent 
 may be able without warning to transpose, inter- 
 ject or omit, as circumstances may suggest — and 
 circumstances are prone to frequently suggest 
 
Sunday Schooi, 6i 
 
 such changes. For this reason I prefer to work 
 without printed program as far as possible. 
 There should be something in the planning which 
 may be left out without giving offense or mar- 
 ring the exercises, and something which may be 
 interpolated to fill an unexpected gap or create 
 a pleasing diversion. The necessity of brevity 
 and simplicity must be kept in mind, together 
 with the chance occurrence of the unforeseen, and 
 the possibility of a happy inspiration which may 
 give to a day its very best feature. To thus 
 change on the spur of the moment cannot be 
 undertaken safely by an inexperienced superin- 
 tendent ; but by observation and practice one may 
 in time learn to do this with ease. 
 
 The exercises of the generally recognized 
 special days, and such exercises as are outside of 
 the lesson on other special days, should contain a 
 maximum of music and a 
 minimum of everything else. A Maximum 
 
 , . . , and a Minimum. 
 
 1 his IS because music is the 
 
 most enjoyable of all features of such occasions, 
 because it may be more easily omitted than 
 anything else, and because it is marked by 
 the maximum of participation on the part of the 
 school. Recitations and addresses should, for ob- 
 vious reasons, be sparingly inserted. Such reci- 
 itations as are considered proper should be ren- 
 dered by the smaller children — never by adults — 
 and the necessary addresses should be assigned 
 only to those who have a keen realization of the 
 place which a minute holds in Sunday school 
 economy. 
 
S2 Thk Organized 
 
 If at a!t possible every program rendered in 
 connection with the Sunday school should depend 
 wholly on Sunday school talent. There may be 
 circumstances where this is impracticable, but 
 they are rare. Public occasions should be school 
 developers, and this end is defeated if outsiders 
 are called in for any appreciable amount of help. 
 Besides the membership of the school is often 
 and sometimes justly displeased when outside 
 assistance is depended on, and the public rarely 
 regards such assistance otherwise than with dis- 
 favor. 
 
 No exercises whatever should be held under the 
 auspices of the Sunday school which are not thor- 
 oughly in keeping with the objects and aims of 
 the institution. The Sunday 
 
 A Single Aim ^^j^^^j j^^^ ^j^^^j^ ^^ Unmis- 
 in View. , , , , . _ 
 
 takable and conspicuous. In 
 
 the work of no special day should the lesson of 
 that day be concealed or ignored. It may not 
 be feasible to keep it prominent in the exercises, 
 but at some point and in some way it should be 
 clearly and strikingly revealed. 
 
 The regular sessions of Sunday and the Christ- 
 mas entertainment should not cover all of the 
 public exercises of the Sunday school. An even- 
 ing meeting of the school held 
 Eveniif ^s"'^^ once or twice a year, at a well- 
 chosen date, during the week, 
 will bring its work to the attention of people who 
 will perhaps never know anything of it personally 
 if strictly confined to Sunday. Such an evening 
 in the summer may be prepared for with plenty 
 
Sunday Schooi. 63 
 
 of stirring music, an abundance of flowers, a little 
 — very little — good talking, etc., and many people 
 may be induced to pay the school a visit who are 
 invited Sunday morning in vain. Let children 
 and adults appear in holiday attire, and make the 
 occasion as bright and attractive as may be. The 
 meeting may be called a jubilee, or any other 
 selected suitable name, and well advertised and 
 prepared for it will be a success. Earnest local 
 workers will be quick to see the advantages of 
 such gatherings for free entertainment in some 
 form, and good programs of many kinds will 
 suggest themselves. 
 
 The average Sunday school fails to make of 
 the special day all that should be made of it, 
 or to take advantage of the opportunities it af- 
 fords both for the development of the school and 
 for an aggressive campaign for growth in the 
 community. In this era of unparalleled Sunday 
 school development the time should come when 
 such a statement can be made of only an occa- 
 sional organization. 
 
64 'The Organized 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT — ADDENDA. 
 
 In all that has been said in these chapters about 
 
 the superintendent it has been presumed that the 
 
 office is filled by a man. It is not to be inferred 
 
 from this that the writer ques- 
 
 Women as Su- ^j^^^ ^^^ propriety of the same 
 
 perintendents. •, -i- ■, • i t • 
 
 responsibility being placed in 
 
 the hands of a woman. Indeed woman's superior 
 tact, her devotion to duty, her deep religious life, 
 and often her greater ability to arouse enthusi- 
 asm among her helpers, point to her as especially 
 adapted to this kind of leadership. Observation 
 goes to show that in the comparatively few in- 
 stances in which women are working as superin- 
 tendents their success is of a higher order than 
 that of the other sex. The one drawback is the 
 very onerous character of the duties, which is 
 sometimes a severe tax on one's personal strength. 
 In many schools the superintendent is really 
 janitor, factotum and general drudge — a condi- 
 tion which should not exist, but which existing 
 settles effectually for such schools the question 
 of sex in this office. 
 
 The superintendent should keep a careful record 
 of all his work in the Sundaj'' school. An ordi- 
 
Sunday Schooi. 65 
 
 nary pocket memorandum will suffice, although 
 a small book prepared for the purpose, of which 
 there are specimens in the market, is better. This 
 book should contain in brief 
 
 the statistics of the school, The Supenntend- 
 
 memoranda of all the songs 
 sung, the Scriptures read, the programs used, and 
 the many other data growing out of active work. 
 Such a record not only becomes a matter of 
 special interest as the years go by, but is valuable 
 in information and suggestion. 
 
 The superintendent should include in his prepa- 
 ration for Sunday more than he will be able to 
 use. That is, he should have in reserye pos- 
 sibilities in his program some 
 of which will have to be laid ^^l^^ ^""^ 
 
 . , r 1 . to Spare. 
 
 aside for some other time. 
 Circumstances may suggest very important 
 changes after the school hour has begun, and the 
 resourcefulness of the superintendent may be 
 severely taxed. The labor expended in order to 
 be thus ready for emergencies is never lost. 
 Never have an iron-clad program. 
 
 The bell is fast disappearing from the best Sun- 
 day schools, many having dispensed with its use 
 altogether. It has its distinct and proper office, 
 but can really be spared with- 
 out detriment to the service, "^j"^ I'assing 
 
 1 , 11- . , ' of the Bell. 
 
 where the school is provided 
 with a musical instrument or an orchestra. The 
 sounding of the bell as the signal for everything 
 that is done soon becomes more demoralizing 
 than helpful. In the few places in the exercises 
 
66 Thk Organized 
 
 where it seems to be necessary it should be 
 sounded once or twice clearly, and not jingled 
 persistently in an effort to secure attention. 
 
 Do just as little talking to the school as is com- 
 patible with the work of management. In any 
 case the superintendent must have more or less 
 to say every time the school is 
 Silence is ^^jj^^ together, and the habit 
 
 Golden. . ,. . , . ., 
 
 of talking too much is easily 
 formed and not easily broken. If difficulty is 
 encountered in making announcements brief, 
 clear and pointed, a good practice is to write them 
 out and read them from the desk. As recom- 
 mended in another place, the teachers' meeting 
 affords an opportunity of making explanations 
 which are often made in the presence of the entire 
 school to very little purpose. Not only is time 
 saved by adopting this plan, but the effectiveness 
 of the superintendent's directions is thereby very 
 much enhanced. 
 
 It should be a rare occasion indeed when the 
 superintendent keeps the school waiting on any- 
 body. No one who has a part to perform has a 
 
 right to expect any such in- 
 Do Not dulgence. The superintendent 
 
 "Meekly Wait." , ,, r -ui 4- J 
 
 should as far as possible stand 
 between the young people in his care and the 
 individual who presumes to keep them waiting 
 for a single minute for any purpose, and should 
 protect them from such treatment. If it is a 
 member of the school who is derelict that mem- 
 ber should at least be privately and earnestly 
 remonstrated with, and should be discredited for 
 
Sunday School 67 
 
 tardiness on the school's records. If the superin- 
 tendent himself habitually or through careless- 
 ness causes such waiting he is showing at least 
 one pronounced disqualification for the respon- 
 sible position which he holds. 
 
 And, finally, brother superintendent, in all your 
 painstaking work do not fail to recognize the 
 object in view. Thorough organization, carefully 
 planned exercises, close atten- 
 tion to details— all of these J^\fj''^°^ 
 . . , the W^ork. 
 
 things are only means to an 
 
 end. They are important only as they affect 
 the opportunity of interesting old and young in 
 the study of God's word, in impressing them 
 with its truths, in leading them to appropriate its 
 promises. The Sunday school is fulfilling its 
 mission only as it establishes Christian character 
 and as it leads into the higher life. A question 
 which each responsible officer needs to ask him- 
 self, with this realization in mind, is, "How nearly 
 is the school of which I have charge doing just 
 this work?" 
 
68 The Organized 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT. 
 
 As the duties of the assistant superintendent 
 
 consist largely in helping to do the things the 
 
 chief responsibility for which devolves on the 
 
 superintendent, it follows that 
 
 f:*^ ""^ . . a manual for the guidance of 
 Partly Outlined. , , „ , i , , 
 
 the latter officer should be no 
 less suggestive to the former. The chapters over 
 which we have just passed are therefore in a 
 sense as well suited to the one position as to the 
 other. It is always within the range of possibility 
 that the assistant may on any given Sunday be 
 called upon to do the work of the chief, and he 
 should because of this be a close student of that 
 individual's work. The permanent removal or 
 disability of the superintendent is an ever present 
 contingency, which points to the wisdom of his 
 natural successor being ever ready for the suc- 
 cession. 
 
 There are regular duties for the assistant, how- 
 ever, which very properly and easily fall to his 
 lot, and which the superintendent in turn may 
 perform as best he can during the absence or 
 disability of the assistant. One of these is at- 
 tending to the employment of substitute teachers 
 
Sunday School 69 
 
 in the absence of those regiilarly in charge of 
 
 the classes. During the opening exercises the 
 
 superintendent's attention is too much engrossed 
 
 with the work in hand to in 
 
 every instance discover just „^?"""^ 
 
 , , , ^ Substitutes, 
 
 who among the teachers may 
 
 be present and who absent. Even if fully cog- 
 nizant of all of these details he cannot leave his 
 desk to attend to them. The assistant should 
 note these things, call a regularly appointed sub- 
 stitute in each case, and have a leader seated 
 with each class as early as may be in the ex- 
 ercises. A still better provision for such emer- 
 gencies is for the teacher who knows of a coming 
 absence to arrange for the substitute in advance. 
 Another duty lying especially within the 
 province of the assistant is to greet and seat 
 strangers upon arrival. The superintendent may 
 incidentally assist in this in 
 cases where the visitors come Welcoming 
 
 . . 1,1 , the Stranger. 
 
 m before the openmg, although 
 his preparatory work may render even this im- 
 practicable. The superintendent of course wants 
 to meet every one who looks in on the school, 
 but his time for such meeting naturally comes 
 later in the session. The assistant is better situ- 
 ated than any one else to act as host, and to him 
 that position properly belongs. The seating of 
 new scholars on arrival should be attended to 
 in the same way, the superintendent greeting and 
 locating them as the classes begin their work. 
 
 The proper distribution of song books and 
 Bibles, and helping the teachers to secure general 
 
70 Thk Organized 
 
 participation in the opening and dosing exercises, 
 can be better attended to by the assistant super- 
 intendent than by any one else. In spite of all 
 precautions, books will become 
 
 Distributing congested here and there all 
 
 the Tools. *= , , , 
 
 over the school, while many 
 pupils will look about them for books in vain. 
 The quick eye of an attentive assistant will enable 
 him to adjust these inequalities without delay or 
 jar. There always are teachers, too, who fail to 
 apprehend the real importance of attention to 
 details, and this shortcoming may be provided 
 against to quite an extent by the unostentatious 
 activity of an alert assistant. That officer does 
 good work, too, when he tenders a song book, 
 opened at the proper place, to the stranger, or 
 to the slow pupil under his immediate observa- 
 tion. A moment's reflection will show that the 
 superintendent who has gone through this kind 
 of an apprenticeship undertakes the duties of his 
 office under much more favorable auspices than 
 the individual who comes from the pew to the 
 desk altogether untrained. 
 
 A Sunday school is frequently in need of more 
 than one assistant superintendent. The duties 
 already outlined indicate that with a large attend- 
 ance they may become too 
 
 The Number ^ ^^ ^^ successfully dis- 
 
 of Assistants. , , , .,..,, 
 
 charged by one individual. 
 
 The number of assistants required is contingent 
 
 upon the size of the school, but there should be 
 
 at least one to every hundred of attendance, and 
 
 more may sometimes be needed. The efficiency 
 
Sunday Schooi. 71 
 
 of the organization may be promoted by placing 
 an assistant in charge of each department, includ- 
 ing the Home Department, in which case the 
 number would usually have to be increased. In 
 cases where departments are thus placed in the 
 hands of assistants it is of course understood that 
 the assistants are amenable to the general man- 
 agement. The woman in charge of the Primary 
 Department (and this officer is naturally a 
 woman), generally known as the primary super- 
 intendent, is also an assistant superintendent. 
 Her duties are of such a character as to render 
 her department in a sense independent of the 
 main school ; yet to carry out the idea of eff'ective 
 organization her relation to the superintendent is 
 necessarily the same as that of her fellow assist- 
 ants, although she must be relieved of special 
 connection with other work, already outlined, 
 which assistants should usually perform. 
 
 Both sexes should be called into service as as- 
 sistant superintendents. There is perhaps not a 
 school in which this position cannot be especially 
 well filled by women, and very 
 often better by women than ° ^ exes 
 
 Needed. 
 
 by anybody else. If more than 
 one assistant is needed it is well to call both 
 sexes to the office. As a superintendent who has 
 tested the matter conclusively, I want to testify 
 that the assistance and counsel of a bright, con- 
 secrated, resourceful woman is invaluable. As a 
 helper to the teachers of the younger classes she 
 is beyond comparison, and in preparing for special 
 days and public Sunday school occasions she is 
 
72 Thk Organized 
 
 a host in herself. Best of all, she is reliability 
 itself, and where the average good sort of a man 
 will fail in an undertaking she will bring it to 
 a triumphant conclusion. 
 
 The superintendent should be consulted in the 
 choice of the assistant superintendents as well 
 as of the other officers of the school. To do the 
 
 best work he must have the 
 Selecting hearty co-operation of people 
 
 the Cabinet. 1 rr , i . 
 
 certam to afford that co-opera- 
 tion. He may not know just who can best be 
 depended upon in this particular, but he is more 
 likely than anybody else to possess this knowl- 
 edge. A school is sometimes placed in the em- 
 barrassing situation of having chosen a superin- 
 tendent by a barely sufficient vote, and feeling the 
 necessity of electing as an assistant a rival can- 
 didate who desired the office. Such an election 
 is seldom productive of good results. It is doubt- 
 ful whether a barely elected superintendent 
 should accept office, unless certain that there is 
 no feeling lying back of an apparent acquiescence 
 in the result, or under any conditions which prac- 
 tically compel a "compromise" in the make-up of 
 the remainder of the official board. It is not 
 meant by this that the superintendent should 
 insist on naming the remaining officers ; only that 
 he should be so far consulted as to insure an 
 absence of friction in the new arrangement, and 
 to give a fair presumption of efficient help. It 
 is difficult to conceive how any one could enter 
 heartily upon the duties of this office without the 
 reasonable expectation of this help. 
 
Sunday School 73 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SUNDAY SCHOOL MUSIC AND ITS MAKERS. 
 
 At several points in these pages, in connection 
 with the work of the superintendent, and especi- 
 ally in "A Day in the Sunday School," some 
 reference has been made to Sunday school music. 
 This book is not intended for an exhaustive 
 treatise of topics germane to Sunday school 
 management, and yet the subject of music 
 cannot well be dismissed without further at' 
 tention. 
 
 Second only to the use of the holy Word, sing- 
 ing must be rated as the most important part of 
 the Sunday school service. This grows out of 
 its variety, its adaptability and 
 its restfulness. Music can be ^^^^^ ^j^*'' 
 
 , , . , Music Next. 
 
 made to serve a wonderful 
 range of uses in the Sunday school. It is the 
 natural vehicle of praise. It is a most forcible 
 annunciator of the truth. It is an unfailing 
 remedy for a dull period or an embarrassing 
 break in the exercises. If appropriate and well 
 executed it swings everybody into positive sym- 
 pathy if not into actual participation in a single 
 item of the service — a consummation at which 
 the thoughtful superintendent is always aiming. 
 
74 
 
 The Organized 
 
 In short, it is indispensable all along the line of 
 the day's work. 
 
 Sunday school music should be both vocal and 
 instrumental. The human voice in concert sing- 
 ing needs the guidance of and is enriched by the 
 tones of piano, organ, violin, 
 The Aid of the cornet, clarionet, violincello. 
 Instrument. , , , , ,i • 
 
 double bass, or any other m- 
 
 strument capable of being harmonized with song. 
 Almost any Sunday school can have an organ. 
 With a little effort many a school can have a 
 piano, which is better, and which is the more 
 feasible since pianos have been so greatly re- 
 duced in price. With this excellent foundation 
 the close student of a school's interests will some- 
 times be able to add a violin, or a cornet, or 
 something else to strengthen the music. 
 
 In organizing the music of the Sunday school 
 the superintendent should rely as far as possible 
 upon the school's own resources. Outside talent 
 should not be called in unless 
 The School's 1^ g^^^i^ calling it can be in- 
 Own Music. , . , , , 
 corporated mto the school. 
 
 Great possibilities in musical organization lie 
 within the reach of many schools in which their 
 presence is hardly suspected. An orchestra, 
 which may be made very useful, is often form- 
 able out of purely local material which is only 
 awaiting the incentive of competent leadership. 
 Besides the good connected with the music itself, 
 to interest young people especially in it is to tie 
 them fast to the work. 
 
 A good supply of song books is indispensable. 
 
Sunday SchooIv 75 
 
 That school only is zvcll equipped which has a 
 number of books at least equal to its average 
 attendance; and in no case should the supply be 
 so short as to provide less 
 than one book for each two H^^e Plenty 
 
 . of Books 
 
 persons. It is really unsafe to 
 depend, if good singing is desired, even on one 
 book to two people, as the distribution must be 
 perfect if all are able to sing — a distribution 
 somewhat difficult to secure. 
 
 It is not a question of whether this or that 
 individual sings or can sing. The ability to sing 
 is an incident of which the superintendent and 
 his aids should seem to be not 
 
 , 'T-i . r Whether People 
 
 cognizant. I he courtesy of ^. ^^ . 
 
 being offered a book is appre- 
 ciated, and even if the book is at once laid on 
 the seat unused the officers' part in the matter 
 has not been lost. It is not infrequently the 
 case that the people who from constitutional dif- 
 ficulty or lack of training do not sing, follow 
 with their eyes the course of the song on the 
 page. The close observer will discover, too, that 
 many of these, especially if they be elderly people, 
 who are so often overlooked in matters of this 
 kind, listen with moist eyes and evident feeling 
 to the words swelling from the throats of the 
 younger people around them. 
 
 The vocal music of a Sunday school is much 
 the better of being led by a precentor, or by a 
 choir, though the precentor is preferable. If 
 neither of these is available a class of strong 
 singers can be placed to advantage in a position 
 not too far from the instrument and where it 
 
76 Thk Organized 
 
 can most affect the general singing. These are 
 matters which can be arranged only with refer- 
 ence to the make-up of the school, the size and 
 shape of the room or rooms, and other circum- 
 stances of a purely local character. 
 
 There are of course more or less songs in 
 most of the song books which have little charac- 
 ter. Some of them are meaningless words set to 
 
 easy, catchy jingles, and con- 
 Meaningless ^^ definite idea to the 
 
 smger or hearer. 1 his stylr 
 of composition is much less characteristic of Sun- 
 day school music now, though, than it was a 
 generation ago. The schools, while dearer than 
 ever to the children, are enrolling adults as 
 never before, and musical composers have risen 
 to the needs of the occasion. Songs full of 
 truth, simplicity and sweetness, dignified and 
 soul-stirring, in which old and young can alike 
 join with enthusiasm and delight, now abound. 
 As has already been said, the selections of 
 music to be sung should be made with reference 
 to the thought of the lesson of the day. With 
 
 the fine collections of songs 
 The Adapta- ^^^ available these selections 
 
 tion of Music. , ,- , 
 
 can be well made if the neces- 
 sary time is given to that work. There is, how- 
 ever, a limit to the special adaptation of music, 
 which should be kept in view. The lesson of the 
 day may be one for which there is no stirring 
 music, or no music with which the school is 
 familiar; and in either event it will be necessary 
 to make corresponding allowance in the selec- 
 
Sunday Schooi, 77 
 
 tions. There should be variety in the character 
 of the music, too, the march style, so popular 
 with the children — and with adults as well — being 
 interspersed with those songs of deep, tender 
 sentiment which appeal so strongly to the human 
 heart. 
 
 There can hardly be a serious difference of opin- 
 ion as to how Sunday school music should be 
 rendered. A something whose presence or ab- 
 sence is easily discovered, but 
 
 which is not easily described, T^^ Rendering 
 
 11, • 1 -r of Music. 
 
 IS absolutely essential if a song 
 is to perform the office for which it is intended. 
 This something is a kind of esprit de corps which 
 marks the entire exercise. Who can tell just 
 how this is to be secured? Or who does not 
 know that it may be thoroughly characteristic 
 of one song and entirely missing from the next? 
 A nice adjustment of the "time" in which a 
 song is sung has much to do with its effective- 
 ness. If sung too rapidly it is a breathless, un- 
 dignified and often ridiculous hurrying to a 
 calamitous ending. If sung too slowly — which 
 is the more common fault of the two — it is dull, 
 dispirited and depressing. Draggy singing is a 
 narcotic which if steadily administered to a Sun- 
 day school will deaden its energies and empty 
 its chairs. 
 
 The singing should include the voices of the 
 largest possible proportion of those present. A 
 good choice of music is an indispensable begin- 
 ning for so desirable an end. This choice, 
 though, is only a beginning. The work of the 
 
78 The Organized 
 
 teacher can right here be made most effective. 
 A word from the teacher when the song is an- 
 nounced will do much toward bringing every 
 pupil into line with an open 
 
 The Teacher ^^^^^ j^^ ^ participa- 
 
 and the Singmg. r ^i, ^ i. • li. 
 
 tion of the teacher m the 
 singing is another progressive step. An encour- 
 aging nod, or a suggestion as to the place, or 
 the sharing of a book with a hesitating member 
 of the class, may accomplish wonders. A teacher 
 who does not sing needs a better reason for 
 sitting silent than any other member of the 
 school. The influence of the superintendent in 
 securing results, in singing as in many other 
 things, ends just where the teacher may take up 
 the v/ork and carry it to a gratifying success. 
 
 A volunteer song day will once in a while be 
 enjoyed by the school. Let it be announced on a 
 Sunday that on the following Sunday the songs 
 
 will be of the school's own 
 A Volunteer selection, any one's choice be- 
 
 Song Day. . , ttti i • 
 
 mg honored. When the time 
 arrives call for a volunteer number, accept the 
 first offered, sing only a few verses, and call 
 for the next. In order to save time it is well 
 to begin in each case without instrumental pre- 
 lude, having only the chords sounded on the 
 piano as a guide. A number of songs may thus 
 be rendered in a short time, they are sung most 
 heartily, and a large proportion of the members 
 of the school are on the alert to get places for 
 their favorites. 
 
 The impressiveness of a Bible reading may 
 
Sunday School 79 
 
 be very much enhanced by having a few chosen 
 singers ready to sing (usually softly), without 
 announcement, after the reading of a verse or 
 a collection of verses, the 
 
 Song in Bible 
 
 same verse or verses para- „ °. 
 
 . A ^ Readings. 
 
 phrased m song. A great 
 many of our hymns and songs are especially 
 suited to this purpose. A good illustration of 
 this is a combination of the story of Jacob's 
 ladder, in the 28th chapter of Genesis, and 
 "Nearer, my God, to thee." 
 
 A concert exercise in reading a song just be- 
 fore singing may sometimes be introduced with 
 good effect. It may contain the exact point 
 which it is sought in a review 
 to make clear. It is altogether What Does a 
 
 , , Song Mean? 
 
 a question of the song and the 
 
 occasion, and should rather be an inspiration than 
 a planned exercise. 
 
 A song is sometimes such a thorough expo- 
 sition of a text apposite to the lesson that to 
 have the text read by an individual or a class, 
 on signal, immediately before 
 singing, is a great help in im- '^^^ Reading 
 
 1 , , of a Song. 
 
 pressing a lessons truths. 
 Besides, it leads thoughtless people to see that 
 songs are written for a purpose, a circumstance 
 which many good Sunday school members even 
 are prone to overlook. It is a good thing thus 
 to bring to the front as occasion may suggest 
 the gospel with which many a good song abounds. 
 Reference has already been made to the pre- 
 centor as being preferable to a choir for leading 
 
So Thk Organized 
 
 Sunday school music. This is because it is dif- 
 ficult to organize and sustain a good choir, be- 
 cause the school is apt to depend too largely on 
 
 the choir to do its music-mak- 
 The Precen- jj^g^ ^^^ because the precentor 
 
 who leads a choir will rarely 
 succeed at the same time in getting a large 
 body of young people to sing well. It should 
 be remembered that it is the business of the 
 precentor not so much to personally lead the 
 music as to lead others in making the music. 
 The unwritten law which guides every other of- 
 ficer of the Sunday school in his work — the secur- 
 ing of the maximum of participation — appeals 
 especially to the leader of the music. 
 
 How important then is his office ! How es- 
 sential that he be always at his post ! — that he 
 be untiringly patient with his charge ! — that his 
 personality inspire confidence ! — that he see be- 
 yond mechanical effect into the spiritual sig- 
 nificance of his work ! — that he know music ! — 
 that he be in the closest sympathy with his 
 superintendent ! — that he be absorbed in his 
 duties ! — that he be possessed of a contagious en- 
 thusiasm ! 
 
 The other leader in Sunday school music — the 
 organist or pianist — is an individual on whom 
 
 much more depends than is 
 The Organist sometimes understood. Be- 
 
 or Pianist. 
 
 sides studymg and mastermg 
 all the phases of the music problem which have 
 been discussed, requiring an amount of home 
 work which is equaled only by the home work of 
 
Sunday Schooi. 8i 
 
 the superintendent, this officer must be unflinch- 
 ingly faithful and always on duty. This faithful- 
 ness is indispensable. The one guaranty that the 
 work of the organist is less liable to suffer from 
 neglect than any other work in the school is 
 that it is performed by the sex whose loyalty to 
 Sunday school duty, when that duty is recognized 
 at all, is its special characteristic. All honor to 
 the young women who uncomplainingly and de- 
 voutly give themselves up to this arduous, weary- 
 ing and too often thankless duty! 
 
82 Thk Organized 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE SECRETARY. 
 
 The officers whose duties we have so far been 
 
 considering have had to do with all branches 
 
 of Sunday school work — the educational, the 
 
 spiritual and the business in- 
 
 An Important ^ ^ £ ^j many-sided in^ 
 
 Officer. . . rr^, ^ 
 
 stitution. The officer whom 
 we are now to consider would seem to be con- 
 fined to the last named field, and yet his work 
 is so closely identified with and so necessary to 
 the other and leading parts that it cannot be 
 dissociated from them. In fact the importance 
 of the secretary's office is generally much under- 
 estimated, to the great cost of Sunday school 
 efficiency. 
 
 The secretary is the official head of the record 
 system of the entire school. Good and continu- 
 ously effective work cannot be done without data 
 
 from which can be learned just 
 The chooi what has been done, and upon 
 
 Leans on Him. 
 
 which may be predicated the 
 possibilities and probabilities of future work; 
 and to the secretary we must look for these data. 
 The school management is in position to act 
 intelligently or otherwise, according as the sec- 
 retary rises or fails to rise to the full measure 
 
Sunday Schooi. 83 
 
 of his responsibility. This officer, who may be 
 of either sex, therefore needs a full appreciation 
 of what is being undertaken. Too often he is 
 utterly lacking in this appreciation. 
 
 The secretary should be in very close touch 
 with the teachers, and their work on the class- 
 books should be under his immediate supervision 
 and exactly in accordance with 
 his instructions. He cannot Gliding the 
 
 ill 11 Teachers. 
 
 reasonably be expected to be 
 responsible for results unless he can insist upon 
 such class-book work as will secure results. The 
 market is full of class-books, some of them much 
 better than others; but with any of them fairly 
 satisfactory work may be done if undertaken in- 
 telligently and followed out systematically. The 
 go-as-you-please, any kind of marking with which 
 teachers who should and do know better destroy 
 all possibility of useful records is an evil for 
 which teachers should be held responsible, and 
 which the secretary should be empowered to cor- 
 rect. 
 
 Did you ever have occasion to go back over 
 the individual record of a pupil for a term of 
 years? And if so, have you not found it dif- 
 ficult, as many class-books are 
 kept, to get at all the facts Tracking up 
 
 a Pupil, 
 desired? When the great 
 
 variety of people who find their way into the 
 ranks of teachers, and the many kinds of class 
 members who are made secretaries, are taken 
 into consideration, it is hardly singular that the 
 ordinary class record should be a somewhat crude 
 
84 Thk Organized 
 
 affair. It is not only those unfamiliar with the 
 simplest bookkeeping, though, who make up 
 these unsatisfactory records, but business men 
 who in everything else are exact and careful will 
 often keep class-books the meaning of which it 
 is difficult to decipher. It is another illustration 
 of the prevalent idea that it signifies but little 
 how things are done in the Sunday school. But 
 what a satisfaction it is to look up the detail 
 work of an active class in a series of well kept 
 books covering a term of years ! 
 
 There is, by the way, a generally overlooked 
 positive evil in connection with class records 
 which should not be passed over in this discus- 
 sion. The teacher of the class 
 
 . J^^^o"^ . M with a "good record" will catch 
 
 "Good Record." , , ^ ^, .. , 
 
 the pomt at once. The good 
 record" of a class in most schools is based on 
 conditions which tend to curtail the aggressive 
 work of the class. This is of course an in- 
 advertence, and the superintendent finds him- 
 self called upon to solve the conundrum of why 
 a class with an especially good record often fails 
 to grow at all. The trouble lies in the standard 
 by which the work of the class is measured. 
 This is usually its enrollment. Now please note 
 carefully : Attendance is either good or bad ac- 
 cording as it measures up well or poorly with 
 the class roll. The aggressive class is always 
 getting new people on its books, and some of 
 these are almost certain to be irregular in attend- 
 ance. The more vigorous the outside work of 
 the class, therefore, the worse is its record. 
 
Sunday Schooi< 85 
 
 Pupils soon learn that the perfect class record 
 is secured only by having a limited membership, 
 and this composed of class veterans. Have you 
 not often heard boys and girls say that some 
 uncertain one is not wanted in the class, as the 
 enrollment of that one will "spoil the record"? 
 
 While doing everything possible to stimulate 
 good individual records, let a different standard 
 for class work be set up. Ignore the roll-book 
 altogether in estimating class 
 Stan dm g, and take the average eme ying 
 
 *" . ° an Evil. 
 
 attendance of the class m a 
 given period as the basis of measurement of 
 growth. If the class had six present on an aver- 
 age in the last quarter, and has eight present in 
 this one, its attendance has gained one-third, 
 and as a class it has done much better work. In 
 doing this it may have increased its enrollment 
 one-half, and its record from that standpoint 
 would be poorer than before. It is not what its 
 book shows but what its scats contain that meas- 
 ures the field work of a class. The books, though, 
 measure the individual. To measure the class 
 in the same way is to discourage missionary work 
 altogether. If the reader has not caught the 
 spirit and meaning of this paragraph let me urge 
 a continuous study of it until it is understood; 
 for in it is involved a vital principle in Sunday 
 school work. 
 
 The teacher who studies the situation carefully 
 will discover that when a class can be thoroughly 
 enlisted in competition with its own record a 
 high order of work may be expected. The in- 
 
86 Thk Organized 
 
 dividual who is always aiming to beat his own 
 record — not somebody else's — is aiming high. 
 And so it is with the class. And so it is with 
 the Sunday school. You can appeal to nothing 
 more effective than this. 
 
 A time is coming when progressive Sunday 
 
 school workers will not be satisfied with such 
 
 class-books as we now have. The worker must 
 
 know, and the personal interest 
 
 An Up-to-date ^£ officer, teacher and pupil 
 
 Class-book. , , 11^ 
 
 must be strongly appealed to, 
 
 if the best work is to be done. The usual type 
 of class-book never presents in comprehensive 
 form the record of an individual. To get at 
 this one must follow him through page after 
 page and class-book after class-book — and when 
 it is all done only a few facts about one or two 
 phases of his Sunday school life are known. 
 What is the remedy? Why, it is a class-book 
 giving a full page to each pupil, and arranging 
 that page to hold the pupil's record for a full 
 year. That page will show the pupil's attendance 
 on a given Sunday; whether regular or irregular, 
 prompt or tardy; whether he made a contribu- 
 tion ; whether he knew anything about the lesson ; 
 and whether he brought any visitors or new 
 scholars to any class in the school. The page 
 will also summarize his work for the year, show- 
 ing among other things just how many Sundays 
 his new scholars attended, and giving him credit 
 for every such attendance. There is an accom- 
 panying scale of points by which this 'compre- 
 hensive personal record is footed up, making a 
 cumulative record which should be most stimulat- 
 
Sunday School. 87 
 
 ing. The great weakness of getting new scholars 
 is that those who bring them too often abandon 
 them when brought. This class-book provides 
 against this shortcoming. Such 
 a class-book has been orig- '^^^ Scholar- 
 
 , , , . 1,7 bringer on Duty, 
 
 mated by the writer, and while 
 
 this is not intended as an advertisement for it, 
 the forward step is of such importance as to 
 justify its mention in this connection. 
 
 A graphic representation of the attendance of 
 a class or a school, which can be shown on a 
 chart on the wall of the Sunday school room, 
 in comparison with former 
 years, is always a stimulus to ^. ^^^^^^ 
 
 . T . , , . Picture. 
 
 exertion. It is a good thing 
 to compare an individual with himself, a class 
 with itself, a school with itself, a church with 
 itself. I kept up a graphic chart of school at- 
 tendance for a number of years, and it was very 
 helpful and very suggestive in planning school 
 work. The chart is a large manila sheet with 
 fifty-two perpendicular spaces running its entire 
 length from top to bottom, representing Sundays. 
 Horizontal lines crossing these make spaces in- 
 dicating numbers in attendance as marked on the 
 margin. Beginning at the bottom with a number 
 about the minimum attendance of the school, the 
 numbers are regularly increased on the margin 
 until the top of the chart is reached. If, for 
 instance, the attendance the first Sunday in Janu- 
 ary is 150, a line is to be begun in the center 
 of the little square in the left Sunday column 
 opposite the figure 150. If the next Sunday's at- 
 
88 Thk Organized 
 
 tendance be greater the line will be drawn diagon- 
 ally upward to the space opposite that figure and 
 in the second column. If the attendance should 
 fall off the line would take a downward diagonal 
 course. By using different colors of ink for 
 different years for the zigzag lines thus formed 
 a very interesting chart can be produced. Figure 
 I shows how this chart may be made. 
 
 All of the record work of which mention has 
 been made falls of course within the province 
 of the secretary. Out of all the data gathered 
 from the various available sources the records in 
 the secretary's book are made. There are a 
 number of good books within reach which are 
 well adapted to this purpose ; but they are of 
 little account unless the individual who uses them 
 does so intelligently. His summary is the final 
 evidence of the secretary's grade as an officer. 
 
 As intimated in another chapter the secretary's 
 
 weekly report can be placed before the school 
 
 much more satisfactorily than by its being read. 
 
 Get a large blackboard and 
 
 Better'^Wa ^^^^'^ ^ painter rule it off neatly 
 
 in columns and spaces suited 
 
 to the record intended to be posted. Proper 
 
 headings may be painted in at the tops of the 
 
 columns, as may also any other wording intended 
 
 to be permanent. The classes may be listed on 
 
 this board, and their attendance reported every 
 
 Sunday. Spaces for the Sundays of a month 
 
 may be left, with a space for the same Sunday 
 
 of the preceding year. The summary of the 
 
 school may be recorded in the same way, with the 
 
Sunday Schooi, 
 
 89 
 
 ATTENDANCE CHART. 
 
 |miit|M»itHW'i!lfffta4!ltWI 
 
 liliiflfifMM 
 
 HfclMlWlM 
 
90 Thb: Organized 
 
 total of collections. I have used such a board for 
 a number of years. For plan of this blackboard 
 see Figure 2. 
 
 Faithful members of a Sunday school are 
 often away from home, and while away dis- 
 charge their Sunday school duties as best they 
 may by attendance at other 
 Caring for schools. There should be 
 
 the Absent. - , . , 
 
 some way of keepmg the 
 records of these good people intact on the books 
 of the home school. The secretary can provide 
 for this by having small cards printed, containing 
 a blank certificate to the effect that the bearer 
 (giving the name) was in attendance at some 
 other school on a certain day, and signed by a 
 teacher or officer of the visited school. The 
 presentation of this card to the home secretary 
 will make the record good. Those leaving home 
 should supply themselves with these cards. 
 
 It is a thoughtful and appreciated attention to 
 one removing from the local school for the sec- 
 retary to furnish the departing member with a 
 certificate or letter of intro- 
 Finding a duction to some Sunday school 
 
 New Home. . . 1 • 1 1 
 
 m the community to which he 
 
 is going. On arriving at the new place the hope 
 of finding friends is likely to induce the new- 
 comer to at once look up a Sunday school. Un- 
 der other conditions, unless quite zealous, he may 
 carelessly lose all his connection with Sunday 
 school interests. The absolute loss to the Sun- 
 day school community through changes of resi- 
 dence is enormous. 
 
Sunday Schooi. 91 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE TREASURER AND SUNDAY SCHOOL FINANCES. 
 
 In a very small Sunday school there is little 
 
 occasion to create the separate and distinct office 
 
 of treasurer, for the functions of such an office 
 
 can be easily discharged by 
 
 the secretary. Even in larger ^^ ^ T/^T,. a 
 ■' urer Needed ? 
 
 schools it may sometnnes be 
 
 the case that such an official combination is ad- 
 visable. However, on the ground that work 
 will be more satisfactorily done to which un- 
 divided attention is given it is perhaps better to 
 usually have a treasurer who has no other special 
 Sunday school responsibility. To this statement 
 should be added the qualification that the treasurer 
 may be useful and needed provided he under- 
 take to become something more than a figure- 
 head in his position. If he is to do nothing more 
 than receive, care for and expend the small 
 pittance which the representative Sunday school 
 places weekly in his hands, it matters little 
 whether his special office be created or not. 
 
 But is the treasurer to do nothing more than 
 this? • He certainly has a broader duty. He has 
 a special interest in an educational work only 
 less important than that committed to the super- 
 
92 The Organized 
 
 intendent. The Christian Church may be said 
 
 to have never learned to give. It never will 
 
 properly receive and retain this lesson until it 
 
 is first well learned in the 
 
 ^.^ ^A",*^^', Sunday school ; and it never 
 
 tionalWork. .,11,1 j • .u c j 
 
 Will be learned in the Sunday 
 
 school until it is taught there. If our churches 
 are to give as they should there must be a thor- 
 ough revolution in the Sunday school in this 
 particular. The treasurer, acting with the super- 
 intendent and the official board, must plan for 
 better things, and in this way give to his office 
 its proper meaning and character. 
 
 Two distinct objects should be kept in view in 
 the financial management of the Sunday school- 
 first, the establishing of a system of revenues 
 
 which shall easily sustain the 
 Two Objects ^^^y. q£ ^j^g g^j^QQi ^^ ^ ^j.Q^^ 
 
 in Finances. , , . , . . 
 
 scale, leaving a balance for 
 
 benevolences; and, second, the forming and cul- 
 tivation of the habit of regular and systematic 
 giving. The first is usually regarded as the more 
 important point — in fact is the only one ordinarily 
 receiving specific attention ; while the second is 
 too often held, if thought of at all, as only in- 
 cidental. 
 
 A little reflection will convince almost any one 
 
 that this order of things should be reversed — 
 
 not that it is not essential that 
 
 The First ^ g^j^^^j ^^ ^^U sustained 
 
 Consideration. ^ . ,, , , . . 
 
 financially, but that it is more 
 
 important that its members be trained into regular 
 
 giving to the Lord. The Sunday school is 
 
 primarily an educational institution, and the 
 
Sunday SchooIv 93 
 
 pocket must not be forgotten while looking after 
 the head and the heart. The two objects in 
 giving are not only thoroughly compatible, how- 
 ever, but each is indispensable to the healthy 
 development of the other. 
 
 Having been furnished with the necessary room 
 or rooms, with the heat, light and janitor service 
 accorded to all societies and departments of the 
 church, together with such 
 
 ,• , • , Ml Now Take Care 
 
 rudimentary equipment as will 
 
 barely suffice for a beginning, 
 the Sunday school should then be thrown upon 
 its own financial resources. Just as the young 
 eaglet is pushed from the nest on the crag, and 
 compelled to sustain itself in mid air, although 
 the watchful parent hovers near to protect, so 
 there is a point at which the officers of the church 
 should cease to officially supply funds for the 
 Sunday school, although always watchful to pre- 
 vent unforeseen disaster. The school needs the 
 responsibility thus placed upon its shoulders, and 
 will derive strength from the necessity of self- 
 reliance. 
 
 The annual financial report of many congre- 
 gations will show an item for Sunday school ex- 
 penses. This may be simply the making up of a 
 deficit. Or it may be an ac- 
 
 r .-, ,• In the Church 
 
 counting of the entire expenses 
 of the school, its total receipts 
 having been first turned into the church treasury, 
 as is the practice in some places. There should 
 be no item of this character in the church finan- 
 cial report, because (i) the school does not need 
 
94 'The Organized 
 
 to have a dericit, and (2) the practice of the 
 trustees appropriating school receipts, and then 
 paying the bills, is a needless complication of ac- 
 counts, and is a cramping of the development of 
 the school in a most important direction. A 
 statement of the funds received and disbursed in 
 the Sunday school should, though, be made a 
 distinct division of the annual financial report of 
 the church, as showing more fully the significance 
 of "the church at work." 
 
 A Sunday school should never be called upon 
 
 to bear any portion of the regular expenses of 
 
 the church. There are schools here and there 
 
 whose systems of finance have 
 
 A Misplaced ^^^^ ^^ developed that even 
 
 Burden. . • ^1 u 
 
 after securmg a thorough 
 equipment and discharging all necessary expenses 
 they have something of a surplus remaining. It 
 is the custom, too, of some churches having such 
 schools to draw upon them for a part or all of 
 this surplus for church expenses. This is cer- 
 tainly a mistaken policy. Surplus Sunday school 
 funds should be held sacred to missions, benevo- 
 lences, or some worthy object held up for special 
 accomplishment. The young people need the 
 positive evidence that their moneys are designed 
 for a clearly defined usefulness, which is not al- 
 ways apparent to them when given over for the 
 humdrum items of light, fuel and janitor service. 
 An effort should be made to have every mem- 
 ber of the school an unfailingly regular contribu- 
 tor. Parents should see that children are pro- 
 vided for in this particular, and adults and young 
 
Sunday Schooi. 95 
 
 people whose incomes are under their own con- 
 trol should be asked to name an amount which 
 can certainly be contributed weekly. No pressure 
 should be brought to bear to 
 
 secure large contributions, but ^^^^^., "^ *° 
 
 • 1 • 1 1 , 1 1 Contribute, 
 
 special pams should be taken 
 
 to see that the giving is designed to be regular. 
 
 A pledge card may be given to each scholar, and 
 
 on this card the scholar may name a specific 
 
 amount, ranging from a penny a week among the 
 
 small children up to several cents a week among 
 
 adults, the contribution for Sundays absent to be 
 
 made good each Sunday following an absence. 
 
 There should be no keeping of personal accounts 
 
 with those who have given pledges. 
 
 It is very much better for the sake of the child 
 
 that it give one cent every Sunday than five cents 
 
 one Sunday and nothing the next three or four; 
 
 or that the adult give five or 
 
 ten cents weekly than twenty- t,.\. f,/ 
 
 / Right Way. 
 
 five or fifty cents spasmodic- 
 ally, even if the latter plan should bring in more 
 money. The training incident to constant giv- 
 ing, and the making up for missed Sundays, is a 
 kind of lesson which can be impressed on the 
 minds of children nowhere else so well as in 
 the Sunday school. 
 
 Leaving the special lesson aimed at out of con- 
 sideration, however, much more money is secured 
 by small contributions regularly given than by 
 large contributions made according to conven- 
 ience. This principle in the support of churches 
 and eleemosynary institutions has been so often 
 
96 The Organized 
 
 and so thoroughly demonstrated as to be forever 
 placed beyond question. Both the training of the 
 children and the desired financial results there- 
 fore attest the wisdom of the plan recommended. 
 
 It is better that Sunday school contributions 
 be so arranged that if a pupil cares to have his 
 weekly amount concealed from his fellows he 
 may be able to do so, while in no case should 
 the special amount given by a member be 
 blazoned before the school or in any other than 
 an incidental way become known. Many a boy 
 who can at best give only a few pennies feels 
 keenly the contrast, which is sometimes inadvert- 
 ently made, of his pittance with the amount given 
 by some other boy whose supply of pocket money 
 is liberal and whose gift is thoughtlessly tossed 
 into the envelope. 
 
 For similar reasons the common practice of 
 reading out or bulletining the collections of the 
 respective classes before the school is objection- 
 able. Not only does this often 
 
 No Embarrass- ^^^ ^j^^^^^ -^ j^^^j ^^^_ 
 
 ing Publicity. ^ . . , . , 
 
 trast, but it may also mvolve 
 the sensitive teacher. Here, for example, is a 
 wealthy teacher the average of whose class re- 
 turns is greatly swelled by personal gifts ; while 
 the teacher of a class in every way similar is 
 unable to give correspondingly, and the result 
 shows in the reports in such a way as to indicate 
 just where the difference lies. It may be said 
 that this kind of reporting is necessary as a 
 stimulus to the classes ; but experience proves the 
 claim to be erroneous. 
 
Sunday SchooIv 97 
 
 The treasurer whose efforts contribute sub- 
 stantially toward establishing some such system 
 of finance as has just been discussed, and which 
 experience has shown to be thoroughly practica- 
 ble, performs a work whose importance is certain 
 to reach far beyond his term of service. 
 
98 The Organized 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE SUNDAY SCHOOL LIBRARY. 
 
 A library is a positive good in a Sunday school 
 under certain conditions. If these conditions 
 cannot be satisfied it is either a useless incum- 
 brance of school machinery 
 An Average ^^^ expense, or a positive in- 
 
 Impression. , • i , 
 
 jury, and sometimes both. 
 
 The average Sunday school library is born of 
 the impression that the Sunday school is incom- 
 plete without such an annex, is selected at ran- 
 dom, is conducted without any plan except to 
 see that the books are properly returned when 
 taken out, and bears no vital relation whatever 
 to the work of the school. A very large propor- 
 tion of our school libraries could be summarily 
 dumped into the waste barrel without in any 
 way affecting the schools with which they are 
 connected. 
 
 The primary ostensible object of the Sunday 
 school library is to assist in the moral and re- 
 ligious education of the school. 
 The Objects of j^^ teacher in the class-room 
 
 a Library. , , ,. . , . - 
 
 has a leadmg part m this edu- 
 cation. The librarian simply has charge of an- 
 other division which should be supplementary to 
 
Sunday SchooIv 99 
 
 this first one — that is all. The teacher labors to 
 give a proper turn to habit, to train thought and 
 motive, and to establish character. The libra- 
 rian's aim is to so give a proper bent to tastes 
 in reading as to work to the same end. 
 
 The library as we find it places all this as 
 secondary, giving first place to the idea of en- 
 tertainment. This order should be reversed. To 
 entertain should at most be 
 
 only a secondary consideration. , ^V^^ ^^ 
 ^ . .be Reversed. 
 
 instruction must be attractive, 
 however, if successful, and education and enter- 
 tainment must therefore go together, an asso- 
 ciation which is altogether proper as long as the 
 latter is held in a subordinate position. 
 
 Of what should the library be composed? It 
 should be a composite affair, and as cosmopolitan 
 in its reach as is consistent with (i) the idea of 
 not allowing it to drift too far into lines not 
 strictly religious, and (2) the selection of such 
 books as will really be used. 
 
 Biography should be prominent in every library. 
 The true story of the struggles of a real man 
 or woman, if well told, is fascinating to either 
 child or adult whose taste in 
 reading has not become viti- Give Prominence 
 ^ A ^u 1- c • ■ *° Biography. 
 
 ated. The lives of mission- 
 aries, reformers, Christian statesmen, warriors 
 and discoverers, pure people of any kind who 
 have had enough of personality to put meaning 
 into existence, may be introduced to advantage. 
 Real people who have done real things of a whole- 
 some character appeal strongly to all that is 
 worthy in the make-up of the reader. 
 
loo The Organized 
 
 A limited quantity of such history as is directly 
 connected with the progress of Christianity or 
 with the bettering of mankind should be avail- 
 able to the applicant for books. 
 
 Hifto^^ ^""^ ^^^ ^^^^^ qualification should 
 
 in most cases exclude such his- 
 tories as are published in several volumes, or 
 are lacking in that crispness which distinguishes 
 the dry enumeration of facts from the vitalized 
 narrative. Books of this character, as well as all 
 other books in the library, should be introduced 
 gradually and as a result of an intelligent "feeling 
 of the way." 
 
 In most libraries fiction takes precedence of all 
 else. Indeed the tendency is to give it altogether 
 undue prominence. It must be recognized, 
 
 though, as a factor in the 
 The Demand o j 11 i-i, 1 
 
 - ^. . Sunday school library, whose 
 
 for Fiction. "^ . . ■" 
 
 presence is just as necessary 
 
 as the closest investigation of its character is 
 necessary. It is by no means everybody that 
 will read biography and history, but there are 
 few who will not read fiction. While books of 
 all other kinds stand unused upon the shelves, 
 fiction is in constant demand. 
 
 The gravest danger lies right here. It is to be 
 
 feared that the carelessly agglomerated Sunday 
 
 school library is polluting the 
 
 Grave tastes of as many as its better 
 
 Danger. 
 
 books are aiding. The sen- 
 sational novel, suggestive of everything but per- 
 sonal purity, gets in side by side with the clean 
 and elevating story, and befouls all whom it 
 
Sunday School ioi 
 
 touches. That danger was never so great as now. 
 We are living in the time when most emphatically 
 "of the making of many books there is no end." 
 They are crowding upon our young people from 
 every direction. Many of them are openly and 
 unquestionably impure. Others covertly and 
 smoothly present evil in its most plausible light. 
 An author becomes famous, and each new book 
 is rushed before the young reader without critical 
 examination or special inquiry as to its quali- 
 fications for a place in the Sunday school library. 
 
 A popular new novel under a sensational name 
 tells the story of a young minister led away from 
 his boyhood faith and wrecked. Another in 
 many respects excellent story places an unex- 
 pressed, but clearly implied sanction upon social 
 drinking habits, and gives its- hero an upward 
 turn in worldly affairs by uncondemned gambling 
 in futures. Should such books be handed out 
 from the Sunday school library? 
 
 A very popular style of fiction leads a young 
 man through life in wild and vicious courses, 
 but brings him to a saint's deathbed. Indeed 
 the story of the reprobate who 
 barely gets into the kingdom PoP"!^'-^"^ 
 
 , , . r 1 . , r Demoralizing. 
 
 IS the chief stock in trade of 
 many a thoughtless librarian. There is a dash 
 of spice in the "wild oats" life which appeals 
 very strongly to the average boy, who argues 
 from observation and reading that it is not the 
 good boy who behaves himself all his life who 
 is made the hero, but the scapegrace who throws 
 away his bottle and his dice just in time to be- 
 
I02 Thk Organized 
 
 come sober and put on the robe and the crown. 
 All his life the boy has perhaps heard his pas- 
 tor exploiting the prodigal son, who really lived 
 the life of a rioter and a beast until starvation 
 forced him back to his father's house. He has 
 listened with wonder to the magnifying of the 
 manliness of the prodigal ingrate, instead of the 
 dwelling on the great love of the Father who 
 could even welcome a man whose life had been 
 barren of all good. The story strengthens the 
 boy's impression that the prodigal was a great 
 fellow. Shall we buy the sin-exploiting stories 
 for the Sunday school? 
 
 Then there is the story of the impossibly good 
 boy who performs impossible things under im- 
 possible circumstances. The ideal is to be com- 
 mended, and on every occasion 
 
 The Goody- j^^j^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ scholar for 
 
 Goody. , T^ 1 
 
 emulation. But the preposter- 
 ous in the story serves no purpose except to dis- 
 gust or possibly discourage. It is "real folks" 
 the boy or girl is after, and either is quick to 
 see the difference between the human child and 
 the automaton. 
 
 No matter how good the author, no story should 
 
 be placed on the shelves until the librarian or 
 
 some one in whose judgment he has confidence 
 
 has read it and given it his 
 
 Take Nothing endorsement. It is unsafe to 
 
 for Granted. , ^ ■, , • n 
 
 buy a set of books, especially 
 in fiction, simply because some of them are known 
 to be excellent. Few, if any, people have written 
 a number of books some of which are not in 
 
Sunday Schooi. 103 
 
 some particulars away below the author's stand- 
 ard. Especially is this true of fiction writers. The 
 complete productions of an author may some- 
 times be purchased to advantage, but more fre- 
 quently they should be culled. 
 
 In biography and fiction, and as far as may 
 be in history, there should be an adaptation of 
 the books chosen to the ages of the people who 
 are to read them. The little children should not 
 be overlooked, and their needs may be supplied 
 from a separate collection of books of a juvenile 
 character, in charge of an assistant librarian or 
 of an officer of the Primary Department, The 
 library is more highly appreciated by the very 
 little folks than by anybody else. 
 
 A class of books needed, the inquiry for which 
 will probably to quite an extent have to be cul- 
 tivated, are those of a strictly religious character. 
 It should be a special work of 
 
 the librarian to bring these Rf"gio"s 
 
 , . . Literature- 
 
 books mto notice from time to 
 
 time in a special way. Some of these are of a 
 purely sentimental character, some treat of ways 
 of working in the church and the Sunday school, 
 and some are full of practical suggestions as to 
 Christian living. This is of course the very best 
 part of the library, just as it is usually the part 
 least in demand. It is possible to make it highly 
 useful. 
 
 In these days of awakening in Sunday school 
 interests the best libraries will soon contain read- 
 ing courses for teachers, intended to indoctrinate 
 them more fully in the many things which 
 
I04 Thk Organized 
 
 may be learned from the printed page respect- 
 ing their work. The occasional book now on the 
 shelves telling of these things, 
 
 Teachers' Read- ^^ meritorious as it may be, is 
 
 ing Course. 
 
 only the entering wedge. There 
 must be fixed courses of reading leading by easy 
 steps from the rudimentary to the most complete 
 light yet thrown on this branch of pedagogy. 
 Some of the denominations are already wisely 
 moving in this matter. 
 
Sunday Schooi, 105 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE LIBRARIAN. 
 
 First among the mistakes commonly character- 
 istic of library management is the choice of a 
 librarian. The church authorities will again and 
 again go over the ground of 
 availability in selecting a su- A Thoughtless 
 
 .,, , Selection, 
 
 perintendent, and will perhaps 
 
 look carefully after the make-up of the remainder 
 of the corps of officers, until the librarian is 
 reached. At this point they begin to look for 
 some young fellow to be pleased by being given 
 office, and will make him librarian with nothing 
 else in view than his personal gratification in 
 this particular. In a great majority of cases his 
 knowledge of books and ability tO' discriminate 
 among them are not considered in the selection. 
 He can read the title, he can hand the book 
 through the window, he can properly credit the 
 borrower on its return ; he will perhaps keep 
 the books in neat and orderly condition, and will 
 be faithfully on hand to do these things. He 
 can do no more, and is expected to do no more. 
 A library in such hands never is and essen- 
 tially cannot be attractive. The applicant for a 
 book seeks in vain for facts concerning it. The 
 
io6 The Organized 
 
 effort to find a book suited to a special purpose 
 is futile. The inquiry as to new books available 
 in the market could as well be made of the jani- 
 tor. There is no comprehensive knowledge or 
 trained judgment to appeal to in any case. Those 
 who want to know anything of consequence about 
 books or reading can reach no available source 
 of information. 
 
 A library so managed commands no respect. 
 In a very short time it ceases to attract the at- 
 tention of the bright young people, some of 
 whom are found in every school, who desire to 
 make a discriminating use of literature. One by 
 one everybody else comes to regard it in the 
 same way. 
 
 A library so managed is dangerous. The libra- 
 rian should be sufficiently well informed to see 
 that only such books as are in harmony with 
 the ends of Sunday school 
 Serious Mis- training are admitted to the 
 management. 
 
 shelves, and should be able to 
 
 discriminate even among these in selecting read- 
 ing matter for those who apply. A book which 
 may prove helpful to one individual may be whol- 
 ly unsuited to the wants of another, or may even 
 injure. 
 
 The librarian should know. If it is true in 
 any sense, as some one has said, that the super- 
 intendent is the Sunday school, 
 Knowledge j^^ ^^ 'equally broad sense the 
 
 Necessary. ,., . . . ... . 
 
 librarian is the library, A 
 librarian without a knowledge of books is as 
 much out of place as an engineer who knows 
 
Sunday Schooi. 107 
 
 nothing of steam. He is a misfit absolute. The 
 librarian should know authors, should know the 
 special works of authors, should know the good 
 story from the bad, the enlightening comment 
 from the discrediting criticism, the wholesome 
 from the unwholesome in everything connected 
 with the library make-up. 
 
 The librarian should be one of the most in- 
 telligent and discriminating men or women in 
 the Sunday school. A strong library committee 
 will not make good the lack 
 
 of a strong librarian any more ^^ °^^t ^ ^ 
 ° -^ Officer Needed. 
 
 than a good corps of teachers 
 will atone for weakness in the superintendent. 
 There must be a responsible head to the library. 
 This head should be secured by the most pains- 
 taking investigation, and when secured should be 
 held as long as available — for no officer is harder 
 to replace than the good librarian. 
 
 Of course such an officer may be hard to find. 
 If just such an one as is desired cannot be se- 
 cured, let the very best possible approximation 
 be substituted. In no case let the librarian be a 
 makeshift, and in no case fill the position with 
 a figurehead. An important branch of Sunday 
 school teaching is involved, and fooling with the 
 minds of the children through a thoughtless dis- 
 tribution of ill-selected books is a reckless play- 
 ing with fire. 
 
 The librarian, like every officer or teacher who 
 amounts to anything in Sunday school service, 
 must familiarize him.self with the idea of a con- 
 siderable measure of personal sacrifice of com- 
 
io8 Thk Organized 
 
 fort or inclination. It is hard work to conscien- 
 tiously serve a Sunday school as censor, guide 
 and caterer in its reading matter ; it is hard to 
 devote to this service the long hours through the 
 week which the proper discharge of these duties 
 demands ; and it is hard to be at the library win- 
 dow or counter early every Sunday morning to 
 advise with the inquiring and give direction to 
 the thoughtless. But there is Matt. 25 : 40 in it, 
 and that is enough. 
 
 Of course the librarian himself should be with 
 the library when in use. He may and should 
 have some one to aid him, though, whose duty 
 
 would naturally be to charge 
 TheLibrarian ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^j^ 
 
 on Duty. , , , , . , , 
 
 books returned, to bnng books 
 
 needed, etc. But the librarian right there to 
 answer questions, and assist in selections, and 
 make suggestions, and quietly give direction to 
 the uncertain, is in his position of greatest use- 
 fulness. If indispensable anywhere it is when 
 he mediates between the applicant and the 
 library. 
 
 The librarian can very materially promote the 
 
 dissemination and appreciation of desirable books 
 
 by once in a while speaking of them for a few 
 
 minutes on the floor of the 
 
 Before the gchool. The reading of a few 
 
 School. . , rr • ,1 
 
 titles affecting current lessons, 
 a brief synopsis of a new book, or a refreshing 
 memory about an old one, will keep the library 
 prominently before the school, where it is some- 
 times practically forgotten. An earnest officer 
 
Sunday SchooIv 109 
 
 will think of many ways in which this object may 
 be promoted. 
 
 A small blackboard (made of black rolling 
 cloth) may be used to advantage in bulletining 
 new books as they are added to the library, or 
 in placing prominently before 
 the school the names of books l^l ^'^'^'^ 
 
 Bulletin. 
 
 especially adapted to lesson 
 
 study with a given series of lessons in view. An 
 
 alert librarian can make such a blackboard very 
 
 helpful. 
 
 The librarian should be assisted by a com- 
 petent library committee of which he is ex officio 
 chairman. Meetings of this committee at fixed 
 times for the discussion of library interests are 
 necessarily productive of good. Any feature of 
 Sunday school work thus treated is the better 
 of the treatment. The library is especially sus- 
 ceptible to improvement in this way. The super- 
 intendent should be a member of this committee. 
 
no The Organized 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE HOME DEPARTMENT. 
 
 The Home Department may be a very good 
 
 thing or it may be a very bad thing for the 
 
 church and the Sunday school with which it is 
 
 connected. It is good when 
 
 ^ ^°l^7iu-^' it is made to serve its legiti- 
 
 or a Bad Thing. ° 
 
 mate purpose; when it is 
 confined to its proper membership; when it is 
 well managed. It is bad when it is made to 
 stand for too much ; when it is substituted un- 
 necessarily for the active Sunday school ; when 
 it is poorly managed, or is not managed at all. 
 Too much has been expected of the Home 
 Department. In many places it has been set 
 up as practically a separate and distinct institu- 
 tion in itself, its essentially 
 is°Ex ected supplementary character hav- 
 
 ing been overlooked. It is 
 sometimes forgotten that it is intended solely 
 for the benefit of a class of people for whom 
 nothing better can be provided — and it is not 
 remembered that for the rank and file of the 
 church there is something decidedly better. 
 The home-staying idea is altogether too prev- 
 alent in the church without the placing of any 
 
Sunday Schooi, hi 
 
 emphasis upon that idea; and, as conducted, the 
 Home Department very often furnishes just this 
 deplorable emphasis. 
 
 For whom is the Home Department intended? 
 First, for the shut-ins: For confirmed or tem- 
 porary invalids; for such of the aged as from 
 helplessness or unfortunate 
 location are unable to attend "^^f ^^°p^® 
 
 . to be Reached. 
 
 the public services of the 
 church; for over-burdened mothers. This must 
 not be taken as a sweeping classification, for 
 many of the best members of our active Sunday 
 schools are invalids; many a sweet aged face 
 is the inspiration of the school on Sunday morn- 
 ing; and busy mothers are, 
 
 as much as any other class of °^^^ ° 
 
 11 1 , ,.^ - Are Shut m. 
 
 church people are, the life of 
 the Sunday school. The physical disability of 
 the invalid and the aged must be positive, and 
 the "over-burdening" of mothers must be abso- 
 lute, if any of these are really classable as prop- 
 erly within the province of the Home Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 Then there are the shut-outs. These are 
 chiefly made up of those who are employed by 
 other people for work on Sunday, and who for 
 this reason are unable to at- 
 tend Sunday school. I have ^ g^^ _^^ 
 neither the space nor the in- 
 clination to discuss the question whether any one 
 is ever justifiable in engaging in such employ- 
 ments. Each must settle this matter with his 
 own conscience. I have known cases where 
 
112 Thk Organized 
 
 such employment seemed almost unavoidable, 
 though it is certainly more often unnecessary. 
 Another class are physicians, and a kindred 
 class are trained nurses. Still others are those 
 who are so located geographically that walking 
 to Sunday school is impracticable, and who are 
 unable to avail themselves of any kind of con- 
 veyance. Commercial travelers, and others whose 
 employment necessitates their being away from 
 home many Sundays in the year, must also be 
 numbered with the shut-outs. 
 
 The relations of the shut-outs to the Home 
 Department must be qualified, just as that of 
 the shut-ins has been ; that is, these people may 
 
 properly belong to the Home 
 Shut^-out's.''''' Department if. Among the 
 
 first mentioned shut-outs street 
 car employees are prominent, and yet one of the 
 most earnest members of the active Sunday 
 school whom I know is a street car conductor. 
 Nearly every reader can recall busy physicians 
 whose place in the Sunday school is often and 
 in some cases usually occupied. I have known 
 trained nurses who managed to be in their 
 classes or in charge of their classes nearly every 
 Sunday. I recall a commercial traveler, doing an 
 extensive business, who is among the most faith- 
 ful of Sunday school ofificers. Nearly every good 
 school has instances, too, in which the geograph- 
 ically unfortunate are regularly in their places. 
 
 As an obstacle remover a desire to attend 
 Sunday school is wonderfully potent. An earnest 
 campaign to create that desire all over the com- 
 
Sunday Schooi. 113 
 
 munity should precede the organization of a 
 Home Department in all cases, and in building 
 up that department active membership in the 
 Sunday school should first be 
 
 , , 1 ,• -., A Potent Ob- 
 
 sought, and connection with , „ 
 
 ° . stacle Remover. 
 
 the Home Department msisted 
 
 upon only as a necessary alternative. Both the 
 
 shut-ins and the shut-outs are always decimated 
 
 in a marked degree where this kind of work is 
 
 well done. 
 
 To all of those who are thus positively shut in 
 
 or positively shut out the Home Department 
 
 should come as a blessing. It cannot have a 
 
 similar value, however, for 
 
 anybody else. To the classes ^ Blessing or 
 
 Otherwise, 
 of church people, or people 
 
 within the reach of church influence, not already 
 enumerated, it is only in exceptional cases that 
 the Home Department can bear the same bene- 
 ficial relation. The reasons for this are obvious. 
 People in average physical condition, whose com- 
 ings and goings are under their own control, will 
 rarely if ever do good Sunday school work of 
 any kind outside of the active Sunday school. 
 Poor lesson work is almost invariably done by 
 people who ought to be and can be in the Sun- 
 day school, but who voluntarily stay out. If 
 willing to work, they are ready to do so in the 
 regular way. The Home Department which 
 presses these people into its ranks instead of into 
 the active Sunday school (with the Home De- 
 partment sometimes as a possible doorway) is 
 simply affording a place behind which the shirk- 
 
114 The Organized 
 
 ing element in the church may hide. Under these 
 
 conditions it is providing an excuse to the lazy. 
 
 "O, I belong to the Home Department," is an 
 
 easily erected barrier between 
 
 t-^^*«^/°^ the lazy church member and 
 Hide-Behinds. , . / 
 
 plam duty. A relatively large 
 
 Home Department means a church with a poor 
 
 Sunday school spirit, and is a bad indication 
 
 for a church. 
 
 In the too prevalent misconception of the 
 
 province of the Home Department it is thus 
 
 made an institution, instead of an annex to an 
 
 institution. It is made an un- 
 
 An Annex, not ■> j^-^ ^ r 
 
 . ^.^ ' necessary substitute for in- 
 
 an Institution. -' 
 
 stead of a needed adjunct to 
 the Sunday school. It is too generally employed 
 to secure results in itself which are only prac- 
 ticable in connection with the active Sunday 
 school itself, in touch with its leadership, and 
 under the influence of its esprit de corps. 
 
 What are the difficulties in the way of making 
 
 the Home Department useful outside of the lines 
 
 within which I have insisted that its special 
 
 work should be confined? Its 
 
 Home Depart- ^^^^ striking weakness lies in 
 
 ment Weaknesses. ,.„ , 
 
 the difficulty of keeping up 
 
 lesson work — and without lesson work the Home 
 Department means little or nothing. It is almost 
 wholly lacking in the vitalizing touch which is 
 so potent an influence in the Sunday school. 
 It has nothing except the occasional presence of 
 the visitor to stimulate interest from the stand- 
 point of personality. It lacks class companion- 
 
Sunday SchooIv 115 
 
 ship, and the stimulus of the living, present 
 teacher. It is without hour or fixed time, and 
 if lesson study is slight or omitted, there is 
 nothing to even partially make good the omis- 
 sion. Its work is done in an isolated way and 
 at long range, which in Sunday school affairs 
 is usually unsuccessful. It never reaches the 
 careless or thoughtless, to whom lessons received 
 are always incidental, and to whom they must 
 come largely from environment. In fact and in 
 short, one must be an unusually high type of 
 Christian, or an unusually earnest inquirer after 
 truth, to maintain any special interest in Home 
 Department study. 
 
 What has been said is not meant to detract 
 in any way from the credit due the Home De- 
 partment as an agency for good, or to minimize 
 the possibilities of its useful- 
 
 T, ,, . A Great Good, 
 
 ness. It argues nothmg .^ ^. , 
 
 '^ '^ Nevertheless. 
 
 against the Home Department 
 confined to its proper field. It is a good thing, 
 and very useful, as the only Sunday school re- 
 source of such people as are wholly unable to 
 attend the Sunday school. Its proper work is 
 a great work, but it consists in taking care of 
 those who must be at home, and heartily dis- 
 couraging any more staying there. 
 
 What are some of the good things which 
 cannot well be secured through any other agency 
 than the Home Department? It brings the Sun- 
 day school lesson to people who want it, but 
 who would otherwise be unable to get it. It 
 helps people to whom even this slight touch 
 
ii6 The Organized 
 
 with active church work may mean a great 
 deal. With good visitors, careless and indifferent 
 people may sometimes be touched for their spir- 
 itual betterment. It insures 
 Strong Points ^^^ shut-offs of all kinds that 
 
 Enumerated. 
 
 they are not forgotten, but are 
 an appreciated part of the church whole. The 
 shut-in mother often takes care of the regularity 
 and promptness of children in the Sunday school 
 itself. Well managed, it ought to be a substan- 
 tial and regular feeder of the active Sunday 
 school. Those who do even fairly good work 
 in the Home Department want a more positive 
 good, and I have seen it thus materially recruit 
 the regular school. Many other ways in which 
 good grows directly or incidentally out of the 
 Home Department might be mentioned. 
 
 How may the Home Department be made 
 effective and useful? It should be a regular de- 
 partment of the Sunday school, provided for fully 
 and completely. The Home 
 How to Make department superintendent 
 
 it Effective. ^ . 
 
 should be an assistant super- 
 intendent, and subordinate to the general school 
 management. The work of the department should 
 have regular official attention from the full board 
 of Sunday school officers and teachers. The 
 superintendent and visitors should be chosen 
 with care, and should carry into the discharge 
 of their duties the spirit characteristic of the 
 earnest Sunday school worker everywhere. The 
 plans and purposes, in their formation and ex- 
 ecution, must be marked by good judgment and 
 
Sunday SchooIv 117 
 
 regular system. Thus conceived, planned and 
 conducted, it should be of great value' to the 
 church community. 
 
 The officers of the efficient Home Department 
 have hard work before them. It is harder to 
 keep work of this kind in proper shape and well 
 in hand than to look after 
 
 ,, 1 • J r t, u Some Onerous 
 
 many other kmds of church ^ ^. ... 
 ^ Duties Ahead. 
 
 activities. The usefulness of 
 the department depends largely upon the per- 
 sonal character, regularity and devotion of the 
 visitors. The visitors are the vitalizing element 
 of the entire undertaking. They are the connect- 
 ing link with the church. They are the special 
 messengers of the church body, of the pastor and 
 of the Sunday school superintendent. The use- 
 fulness of active Home Department visitors can 
 hardly be measured. The dead Home Depart- 
 ment usually means dead and perfunctory visit- 
 ing. 
 
 Without discussing in detail the very simple 
 plans on which the Home Department is to be 
 conducted, and which are fully outlined in the 
 
 special literature which is a 
 
 r ^1 TT Regular Meetings 
 
 necessary part of the Home «, 
 
 •' ^ Necessary. 
 
 Department outfit, I desire to 
 make a special suggestion which I believe will 
 be found most helpful. The members of the 
 Home Department should be brought together at 
 stated intervals for a meeting of their own and 
 devoted wholly to their particular affairs. Such 
 a meeting may be held quarterly or semi-annually, 
 and will prove to be an occasion which will be 
 
ii8 Th^ Organized 
 
 looked forward to with much interest. Such a 
 meeting, regularly held, will be a bond of union. 
 It will form a visible and realizable connection 
 between all the component parts of the depart- 
 ment. Incidentally, too, it will give force and 
 significance to the movement in the community. 
 It may not always seem feasible to hold such 
 meetings, but the end aimed at will justify untir- 
 ing effort in removing whatever may be in the 
 way. 
 
 The need of active social connection is felt in 
 all branches of church work. Every considera- 
 tion affecting this need is emphasized when ap- 
 plied to the Home Department 
 Restoring Old ^^ ^^^ Sunday school. To the 
 
 Connections. . • ,, , • i 
 
 shut-ms especially do social 
 possibilities appeal with peculiar force. Convince 
 this splendid element in all our churches that the 
 Home Department means the renewal of active 
 brotherhood and sisterhood with the people with 
 whom many of the confined or suffering have 
 once been in close touch, and you have won their 
 allegiance beyond all peradventure. Besides, in 
 doing this you have in a measure restored to at 
 least partial activity in the church a quota of its 
 very choicest members. All this good may be 
 effectually promoted by establishing and main- 
 taining the regular Home Department meetings 
 to which reference has been made. 
 
 Do not let your Home Department and its 
 management be a matter of impulse. Do not 
 be in a hurry to achieve great results. This is 
 a case in which seemingly great results often 
 
Sunday Schooi. iig 
 
 mean unfortunate results. The natural propor- 
 tion of a church community to be ministered to 
 in this way is relatively small. 
 The aim should be to make '^^^^ ^.^ 
 
 ... to be Right, 
 
 this mmistry thorough and 
 
 helpful, rather than to impart to it any quality 
 
 of a more evanescent and showy character, as has 
 
 so often been done in ill-considered efforts in this 
 
 special line. 
 
120 The Organized 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ABOUT THE COUNTRY SUNDAY SCHOOL. 
 
 Those who write on Sunday school topics are 
 
 met on every hand with a remark of this kind: 
 
 "The good things which you recommend are 
 
 all right for the city school, 
 
 Not Feasible ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ feasible in the 
 
 m the Country. . m -rt, -j • ^i, 
 
 country. Ihe idea is thus 
 advanced that the country Sunday school is 
 handicapped all around for a high class of work 
 and corresponding results. Is this assumption 
 well grounded? 
 
 Let us look into the special disadvantages en- 
 countered in rural and village Sunday school 
 work. Prominent among these is a less con- 
 venient style of buildings. 
 The Modern ^j^^ modern Sunday school 
 
 Building. 
 
 room, from which class rooms 
 are shut off during recitation, is rarely found 
 outside of the city. It is equally true, though, 
 that such rooms are not usually found in the 
 city. The country Sunday school suffers in this 
 particular, then, only in comparison with the 
 higher type of city schools, and not in com- 
 parison with city schools in general. Leaving 
 out of consideration this minority of the city 
 
Sunday Schooi, 121 
 
 schools, Sunday schools everywhere are located 
 in quarters of very similar general form. 
 
 A much more serious problem with the coun- 
 try Sunday school is its greater difficulty of ac- 
 cess. Muddy roads in winter and early spring; 
 tired horses in summer ; the 
 necessity of the greater part of ^i^^^^^ty °f 
 the membership, or at least 
 a great part of it, walking at all times and 
 long distances ; snow, rain and flood in season, 
 emphasized by every attendant condition in their 
 obstructiveness ; all of these are especially in the 
 way. Such combinations magnify the difficulties 
 of visitation, too, which is so important a phase 
 of Sunday school activity. The same troubles 
 also largely interfere with the teachers' meeting. 
 
 These various interferences culminate in the 
 winter season, and in many places an entire sus- 
 pension of Sunday school work for several of 
 the inclement months is the 
 
 Urj^, . . "Winter and Sum- 
 
 . This suspension some- 
 
 mer Suspension. 
 
 times seems to be necessary, 
 but could frequently be avoided were officers and 
 teachers more determined in the discharge of 
 duty. On the other hand, city Sunday schools 
 are cut to pieces by absenteeism during the hot 
 months. I have an instance in mind in which 
 more than half of the membership of a city school 
 is away from home in July and August. An 
 occasional city school wholly suspends in these 
 months, although such suspensions are compara- 
 tively rare, and should never occur. There are 
 not many Sunday schools other than "evergreen" 
 
122 Thk Organized 
 
 except in the country, although many city schools 
 are kept in line through the vacation sea- 
 son only under very depressing conditions. It 
 is a very serious situation indeed which really 
 justifies any suspension in either place. 
 
 It is often urged by those making these com- 
 parisons that the country school is less able to 
 meet the financial requirements of Sunday school 
 equipment than the city school. 
 
 nancial Needs. ^ , . , . , 
 
 the comparison is made with 
 the small minority of city schools before men- 
 tioned. It has little or no significance, though, 
 when the great body of city schools is considered. 
 In a large proportion of these latter schools there 
 is a measure of poverty never known in the coun- 
 try. Many city schools are purely missionary 
 in character, with no church organizations back 
 of them, and with no revenue whatever except 
 that furnished by the people of slender incomes 
 to whose personal devotion the very existence of 
 the schools is due. From the standpoint of finan- 
 cial ability the country schools will average with, 
 if not above, all others, omitting a small per 
 cent of the city organizations. The proportion 
 of schools easily able to furnish all needed equip- 
 ment is perhaps not widely different in the city 
 and in the village or country. Besides, much of 
 the equipment of the very wealthy schools is 
 fanciful rather than useful ; and, after all, the 
 equipment necessary for the best work is cheap, 
 simple, easily procurable, and is made almost 
 everywhere feasible bv the fact that it can be 
 
Sunday Schooi. 123 
 
 adapted in quantity exactly to the needs of the 
 people by whom it is to be used. 
 
 The rural Sunday school suffers in this com- 
 parison in the lack of stimulus afforded by sur- 
 rounding things of a stirring character. The 
 natural result of the isolation 
 of rural people is a kind of ^ort^"^ ^j;f ^[,3. 
 quiet which is not easily 
 stirred into neighborhood enthusiasm. In com- 
 munities where people live in close contiguity 
 they are more susceptible to influences inducing 
 them to act together. Opposite conditions in- 
 terfere to some extent with the coherence and 
 quick responsiveness in country Sunday schools 
 which are more generally characteristic of city 
 movements. This is much more of a drawback 
 to Sunday school effort in the country than ap- 
 pears on the surface. 
 
 On the other hand, the Sunday school in the 
 country possesses some special advantages over 
 any similar organization located in a center of 
 population. A country neigh- 
 borhood can be more readily Special Rural 
 
 . Advantages, 
 
 mterested as a body m Sun- 
 day school movements. It is rarely the case 
 that a rural community is the scene of a multi- 
 plication of such efforts, while the city worker 
 is usually confronted by pronounced competition 
 at nearly every step. In the one place the Sun- 
 day school can be made a leading attraction, 
 while in the other there is always a probability 
 of being overshadowed by larger, wealthier and 
 more influential schools. The rural Sunday school 
 
124 ^^^ Organized 
 
 builder comes more nearly having a field to him- 
 self than any one else engaged in similar work. 
 The opportunity of getting together is much 
 more appreciated in the country than elsewhere. 
 The loneliness of the week is broken by an hour 
 of fellowship which is looked 
 The Weekly forward to with pleasant an- 
 Gathering. ... , • ,. , , , • 
 
 ticipation ; and if the school is 
 
 made what it should be, this predilection for 
 assembling may be made a great power for good, 
 for which there is at best only a weak counter- 
 part in the city. 
 
 Perhaps the greatest advantage enjoyed by the 
 country Sunday school is that there is less to 
 distract attention than in any other location. 
 There are a dozen counter- 
 Attention Less attractions in the city on Sun- 
 Distracted. . 1.11 
 
 day mornmg, and m week-day 
 Sunday school work, to every one found else- 
 where. In the city influences of every kind must 
 be combatted if any impression is to be made 
 on those not closely identified with church work. 
 In the country there is much less to divert atten- 
 tion, and attention once secured is unquestion- 
 ably, and for the same reasons, more firmly held. 
 All things considered, there are many points 
 of practical equality in the two classes of schools 
 under consideration. In a general measurement 
 
 of opportunity the city school 
 Very Much ^^^ perhaps the better of its 
 
 Alike, After All. , • 1 1 j , xu* 
 
 rural neighbor; and yet this 
 difference in its favor is more apparent than 
 real. There are much greater differences in the 
 
Sunday Schooi. 125 
 
 possibilities of different classes of city schools, 
 or in different classes of country schools, than 
 between city schools on the one hand and country 
 schools on the other. There are many grounds 
 for the classification of schools which are more 
 legitimate and more significant than the ranging 
 of them in the t\vo great classes indicated. 
 
 Nothing has been suggested in these pages 
 which cannot be utilized in some measure by any 
 Sunday school anywhere. Given the same degree 
 of earnest neighborhood en- 
 deavor, and the same high .^ !.u^°^,^~ 
 
 . ° Not the Place, 
 
 grade of mterest m the exer- 
 cises and class work, and satisfactory results 
 will follow, let the school be located where it 
 may, and let its size be anything within the range 
 of possibility. In any case, under any circum- 
 stances, the outcome depends on the people who 
 make up the organization and the degree of their 
 determination and consecration. Other condi- 
 tions are secondary, and although they may af- 
 fect the volume of results they will have little 
 to do with the fact of results or with their 
 character. 
 
 Rural Sunday school worker, allow a country- 
 bred fellow worker to assure you that the best 
 Sunday schools of our day are not great because 
 
 of their location, but because 
 
 1 1 J 'What Lies 
 
 earnest people have spared Back of it All. 
 nothing in effort to make them 
 what they should be. There are no model Sun- 
 day schools which owe their high character to 
 accidental conditions. The same kind of conse- 
 
126 Thk Organized 
 
 crated, unremitting, year-in-and-year-out effort 
 anywhere will bring some measure of the same 
 outcome. The uncertain prospects of any repre- 
 sentative school, in city or country, are usually 
 the result of a general indisposition to make 
 special effort unless all conditions are strikingly 
 favorable, rather than chargeable to anything else. 
 The sons of Anak are always of forbidding size 
 when we are not full of the purpose to go up 
 and possess the land in spite of opposition, 
 whether the land be a few city blocks or a rural 
 neighborhood. 
 
Sunday Schooi. 127 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 AND FINALLY. 
 
 Before closing this little book, fellow Sunday 
 school officer, let us look our surroundings 
 squarely in the face. Those who enter upon 
 work of any kind in which they are at all in- 
 terested understand that success is likely to come 
 out of it only when something substantial has 
 been put into it. To some things this particular 
 thing must be given ; to something else, that ; but 
 the conditions of successful Sunday school work 
 can be satisfied with nothing less than the abso- 
 lute giving of one's self. Efficient Sunday school 
 service cannot in the nature of the case, or under 
 any circumstances, be a half-way service. Half- 
 heartedness and efficiency are thoroughly incom- 
 patible. 
 
 It is not enough that we give barely that which 
 we can conveniently spare. We must go farther, 
 and give of our best. Personal sacrifice is the 
 price of personal efficiency. We most thoroughly 
 devote ourselves to that which we love most, and 
 we love that most for which we have given up 
 most. This is a Medo-Persian law of human 
 nature. We have no right to expect God's bless- 
 ing on our gift to him of that which in itself 
 
128 The Organized S. S. 
 
 is valueless or for which we have no special use; 
 but it is when we lay on the altar the very best 
 we have, in effort or in anything else we place 
 at his disposal, that the showers of blessing may 
 be expected to be never-failing. 
 
 There is no such thing as a strict accounting 
 against the requirements of Sunday school activ- 
 ity. The demand comes up here, there, every- 
 where. The sacrifice, petty or great, may take 
 almost any form, and may be required at almost 
 any time ; — the only thing we surely know about 
 it is that when it is called for it must be made. 
 May the test never come without finding us ready !