USA > North Carolina > Historical papers of the North Carolina Conference Historical Society and the Western North Carolina Conference Historical Society > Part 8
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The giving of reward tickets is continued in many places today and is also accompanied by other kinds of rewards such as the giving of bronze, silver and gold buttons; Star Records, Honor Rolls, and other devices are being constantly advertised. At times they have been found to be helpful; in many instances they have been abused and the true purpose of the school has been obscured by some trivial device to catch the fancy of the pupil.
The early schools urged a great deal of rote learning, merely cramming the mind with Bible verses for the most part not under- stood by the child. The abuse of this method has been apparent in this state as well as elsewhere. But present-day history shows that the best schools of our Conference are using the Graded Lessons and this means the story method for Beginners and Primaries, leav- ing the matter of drill and memory tests to the Junior, the age when the mind retains with ease and more readiness and apprecia- tion. In Fayetteville in 1821, Elizabeth Westbrook is credited with having learned and recited 2,785 verses in one year and Betsy Pilly recited 2,090 in the same year.
Equipment of the early schools would not compare very favorably with our best schools of today, but there is evidence to show that additional class rooms were being built as early as 1835. In that year Hay Street Quarterly Conference met in the Sunday School room. Edenton Street, Raleigh, put up a special building for Sunday School work in 1850. These are doubtless rare instances of special recogni- tion given to this work, but they were the true pathfinders for the great number of well equipped places we now have. Sunday School architecture is claiming the attention of the best architects of the land today, and be it said to the credit of most of the Churches, they are endeavoring to find the best thing when they get ready to remodel or rebuild. Perhaps it is anticipating history to say that there is not a single building in North Carolina of any denomination which is up to the present educational ideal in Sunday School archi- tecture. Many of the buildings just completed or not yet completed, are already pronounced as being from twenty-five to forty years out of date. They are yet adhering to the old Akron Plan and over- looking the demand for departmental buildings.
This historical sketch would not be complete without reference to some of the best buildings now in the Conference and this is done without reference to the date of construction or to the order of superiority; I take pleasure in naming Edenton Street, Raleigh; Smithfield; Memorial, Durham; Centenary, New Bern; Banks Chapel,
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Franklinton Circuit; Jarvis Memorial, Greenville; First Church, Rocky Mount; Dunn; Front Street, Burlington; Grace Church, Wil- mington; Hay Street, Fayetteville; Franklinton; City Road, Elizabetli City; St. Johns and Gibson; Chestnut Street, Lumberton; Mount Olive; Oriental; Horne Memorial, Clayton; Page Memorial, Aberdeen; Oxford, Louisburg, Maxton, Mount Gilead, Red Springs, Weldon, Spring Hope, Tarboro, Washington, Bladen Street, Wilmington. Many of these Churches have class rooms, blackboards, maps, charts, sand tables, properly arranged chairs, musical instruments, tables and provisions for the varied activities of the classes using Graded Lessons.
There are other schools which have made some provisions, but it is also a historical fact that within two years of this date, one member of a church in the North Carolina Conference pledges $500 to the building of a new Church on condition that it should not have any class rooms for Sunday School purposes! And it is also true that a certain town Church in being built was patterned after a country Church, but instead of putting in four good class rooms as the country Church had done, the town Church sacrificed them in order that they might have hardwood floors and stained glass windows! Perhaps it would be better for our generation to let these things pass unnoticed and unrecorded so that future generations would not hold them against us; but they are here noted that we may take heed and not allow such things to be repeated in our day.
In 1827 we find our Presiding Elders beginning to urge the pastors to preach on the subject of Sunday Schools and encouraging denominational support and loyalty. Rev. Charles Betts, the Presid- ing Elder of the Fayetteville District in 1827, was presiding when a motion was made and passed unanimously requesting that "Brother Elias Sinclair preach a sermon on the subject of Sunday Schools and that at an early date the Methodist Sunday School be reorganized and that it be attached to the Methodist Sunday School Union." This Union was that which was formed for the purpose of establishing and fostering Methodist Sunday Schools throughout the Church. There had been a large number of Union schools established by the American Sunday School Union, with which persons of all denomi- nations might affiliate. But with the coming of the Methodist Sunday School Union, we find them acting as Rev. Bennett T. Blake did at Edenton Street, Raleigh. Prior to 1827 the Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians held a Union school, but Mr. Blake says, "I proposed to separate; then each school might do its own work in its own way. The result was increased activity; in less than one month the num- bers of scholars rose from fifty in the Union School to one hundred and fifty divided equally among the three denominatioons."
With this increased emphasis upon the work of our own schools, we find immediate progress and immediately also we find that our preachers were required to more diligently look after and report the condition of these institutions. The American Sunday School Union had done a good pioneer work, but from that time forward, its best work has been done when it aided the denominations rather than rivaled them.
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Mr. Blake, in speaking of the Edenton Street school as it was first established, says: "The Methodists opened their school in the Church building where it was conducted without any regular organization. The Wesleyan Methodist Catechism in three numbers made up the chief part of our library. We had but few books, such as were furnished by the Sunday School Union." Mr. Nathaniel O. Blake is reported as the first superintendent of this school; he was succeeded by Rev. Thomas J. Lemay who served until 1850. The other superin- tendents have been S. H. Young, W. J. Young, Donald W. Bain and the present superintendent, Mr. Joseph G. Brown, who continues to write one of the most brilliant chapters of our North Carolina Con- ference Sunday School history.
It is well for us to look back for a moment and see how the legislation of our church has opened the way for the other aspects of our Sunday School work since the last reference to the enacted legis- lation of 1796.
The section incorporated at that time seems to have stood with- out amendment until 1824, when the General Conference took action . as follows:
"Resolved by the Annual Conferences in General Conference as- sembled : 1. That it shall be the duty of each traveling preacher in our connection to encourage the establishment and progress of Sun- day Schools." And at this same time reference is made to the publi- cation of larger catechisms and additional books for the use of the Sunday Schools.
In 1828 an added section makes it the "duty of every preacher of a circuit or station to form Sunday Schools." In 1832 pastors were hrst required to make reports on the condition of Sunday Schools in the charge.
This is the last legislation recorded prior to the formation of the Nortil Carolina Conference in 1838. But it is sufficient to show that when we started as a separate Conference under our present name, we had sufficient legislation to warrant our preachers in putting the emphasis upon this work which they began to do with renewed vigor.
In 1840 the General Conference saw fit to make fuller provision for the carrying on of this work and after that year until 1854, our pastors and superintendents worked with the following in the Discipline :
"Question : What shall we do for the rising generation?
"Answer: Let Sunday Schools be formed in all our congrega- tions where ten children can be collected for that purpose. And it shall be the special duty of the preachers having charge of circuits and stations, with the aid of other preachers, to see that this is done, to engage the co-operation of as many of our members as they can; to visit the schools as often as practicable; to preach on the subject of Sunday Schools in each congregation at least once in six months; to lay before the Quarterly Conference at each quarterly meeting, to be entered on its journal, a written statement of the number and state of the Sunday Schools within their respective circuits and stations, and to make a report of the same to their respective Annual
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Conferences. Each Quarterly Conference shall be deemed a board of managers, having supervision of all the Sunday School societies with- in its limits, and shall be auxiliary to the Sunday School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and each Annual Conference shall report to said Union the number of auxiliaries within its bounds to- gether with other facts presented in the annual reports to the preach- ers as above directed."
The second section makes provision for the Sunday School agent who shall act as an agent or colporteur when so desired. The next section emphasizes the use of the catechism in the classes and in the homes. The forerunner of the great Bible class movement is seen in the section which advises the formation of Bible classes, and while this did not contemplate the organization of classes as we know them today, it was a step in that direction. The fifth section is so broad in its scope and comprehensive in its provisions that it has served as a basis for most of the Sunday School program for many years and is embodied somewhat in our present day work. The section reads as follows:
"It shall be the duty of every preacher of a circuit or station to obtain the names of children belonging to his congregation and to leave a list of such names for his successor; and in his pastoral visits he shall pay special attention to the children, speak to them personally and kindly on experimental and practical godliness, accord- ing to their capacity; pray for them and diligently instruct and exhort all parents to dedicate their children to the Lord in baptism as early as convenient; and let all baptized children be faithfully instructed in the nature, design, privileges and obligations of their baptism. Those of them who are well disposed may be admitted to our class meetings and love feasts, and such as are truly serious and manifest a desire to flee from the wrath to come, shall be advised to join the society as probationers."
Before regular legislation provided for the Quarterly Conference to act as a Board of Managers of the Sunday Schools, we find Sunday School Societies which had been formed for the purpose of exercising this authority. In Fayetteville and Raleigh these organ- izations continued through a long period of years, having been begun even before the legislation of 1854 provided for them. In 1866 the Quarterly Conference was given wider powers and was designated as the proper authority to elect the superintendent and Mr. Blake says that in 1874 the society at Edenton Street was allowed to die as there seemed to be no further need for it; in fact the organization was abolished, as it was found to be an "inoperative and cumber- some piece of machinery."
Rev. H. B. Browne in his splendid sketch of Sunday Schools in the South Carolina Conference quotes from the Quadrennial Address of the Bishops to show that in 1878 the value of the Sunday Schools was being largely recognized. "It has replenished our mem- bership with its largest and best material, and has assumed pro- portions prophetic of yet grander results." And to this statement Mr. Browne adds: "As one result of the Bishops' forceful address, several important additions were made to the section on Sunday
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Schools by the General Conference of that year. The clause requiring Sunday Schools to be formed wherever ten children could be gathered, was changed to read ten persons. A section was also provided for the election by the General Conference of a Sunday School committee of five and of a Sunday School editor, who should be chairman of the said committee. This committee has since been changed to the Sunday School Board. Provision was also made for organizing all Sunday Schools into missionary societies. The same General Conference also fixed the status of the Sunday School Superintend- ents by making it the duty of the Quarterly Conference to elect them on nomination of the pastor. This act also made superintendents members of the Quarterly Conference, provided they were Metho- dists. The college of Bishops afterward (1898) decided that a woman might be elected superintendent, but that she is not thereby a mem- ber of the Quarterly Conference and their decision has the force of law."
The appointment of Quadrennial Sunday School Boards by the Annual Conference was provided for in 1882. Prior to that time a new committee was appointed each year. That same year district and annual Sunday School Conferences were provided for, and in 1902 this was changed to read "Sunday School Conference or Insti- tute," and it remains that way in the Discipline of 1914. Children's Day was first authorized in our Church in 1890 and the record of this Conference in the observance of this educational day has been unsurpassed in Southern Methodism for the past few years.
Nothing more important has been provided for in our legislation than that which was given to us in 1902 when our Sunday School Teacher Training work was inaugurated. At that time Dr. H. M. Hamill was engaged in inter-denominational work and had made a reputation unexcelled in his chosen field. He was called to take up our work as the leader of the "Bible Teachers' Study Circles," He continued his work through a priod of years ending January, 1915, only a few weeks after he had delivered a great final message to our Conference in Washington. He had been a frequent visitor to this territory and is remembered as one who inspired a greater respect for Sunday School work. He had large plans for the work; some of them are written in the great chapter of the Discipline as adopted in 1914. His successor, Rev. John W. Shackford, has a rich inheritance and is nobly applying him- self to the task.
In 1910 the General Conference meeting in Asheville, N. C., made provision for the formation of the Wesley Adult Bible Class Depart- ment, and Rev. Charles D. Bulla was called to take charge of the work. In 1914 the name of the department was changed, leaving out the "Adult" and thus including classes composed of young people in their teens. There are now more than 8,000 Wesley Bible Classes in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; more than 500 of these are in North Carolina Conference. Reference will be made to this again.
In 1914 the greatest chapter of Sunday School legislation ever written for our Church was placed in the book of Discipline, taking its place along with the other interests of the Church which had
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been deemed worthy of an entire chapter even before that time. Among other things this new chapter provided for the reorgan- ization of the General Sunday School Board, making it a representa- tive body, composed as follows: One effective Bishop; ten traveling preachers, and ten laymen to be elected quadrennially by the General Conference on nomination of the Committe on Sunday Schools, and of the following ex officio members: the Sunday School Editor, the Superintendent of the Department of Teacher Training, the Super- intendent of the Wesley Bible Class Department, and any other general officer the Board may elect, and the Educational Secretary of the Board of Missions.
Bishop James Atkins, of Waynesville, N. C. was first Chairma of this and Rev. E. B. Chappell, D. D., first Sunday School Editor and Chairman of the Executive Committee. The progress of our Sunday School work is in the hands of this excellent Board and they are planning all the while yet greater things. They have divided the whole field into six divisions, putting over each a Divisional Field Secretary, who is responsible to the General Board. These six gen- eral workers are proving to be of great value to the Conference Field Secretaries in their work. A Superintendent of Elementary Work has been appointed, and Miss Minnie E. Kennedy, who is so favorably known to many of us, now holds this important position.
In the light of this legislation as enacted from time to time, it is in order for us to again go back and take up briefly the acts of the North Carolina Conference from year to year.
As stated before, the Conference held its first session in 1838. The following appears in the Conference Journal for that year: "A call was made by the Bishop for the account of Sabbath Schools, which is as follows: Schools 80; superintendents 106; teachers 376; scholars 2,527; volumes in the libraries, 3,253." "Resolved, That we will renew our efforts to get and sustain Sabbath Schools on all our circuits and stations."
In 1839 the report was called for, but was not included in the Journal. In 1840 no report appears and the name of no committee is given. In 1841, "on motion of H. G. Leigh" it was resolved, That the superannuated members of this Conference be requested to get and superintend Sabbath Schools on Sabbaths which they do not occupy with regular appointments." No further report appears, although it is stated that one was made.
In 1842 there is no recorded mention of Sunday Schools and no committee seems to have been named. The following appears in 1843: "The account of the Sunday Schools was reported and placed on file." There is no report and no committee in the record of 1844. In 1845 Chas. F. Deems, G. E. Brown and W. M. Jordan were appointed a committee on Sunday Schools. The state of the Sunday Schools was reported as follows: "Number of schools, 114; number of scholars, 4,114." It is well to remember that at this time 27,000 Church mem- bers were reported.
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"Robert O. Burton, Wm. Closs, and N. H. D. Wilson were appointed a Committee on Sunday Schools" in 1846. "The report was received of the Sunday Schools within the bounds of the Conference." No record appears in the Journal. In 1847 "Ira T. Wyche, R. J. Carson, and J. Goodman were appointed a Committee on Sunday Schools." "Sunday School statistics were called for and reported," but do not appear in the Journal. At this time a standing committee was ap- pointed as follows: "C. F. Deems, R. T. Heflin, Wm. Closs, J. Jamison and J. Reid."
Although the standing committee presented their report in 1848 and it was adopted, it is not preserved in the records. In 1849 R. O. Burton presented a resolution which was as follows: "Resolved, That in view of the great importance of religious culture to the young, we will endeavor to place at the earliest time in the hands of the parents and children of our people, the catechisms of our Church and exert ourselves to stimulate the children to obtain the knowledge of God." The usual call was made for Sabbath School statistics and for the members in society, which resulted as follows, viz .:
White members, 21,113; colored members, 6,519.
Local preachers, 145; which figures show a total increase of 521. (No figures are given for the Sunday Schools.) "The chairman of the Committee on Sabbath Schools presented their report, which was adopted." No report appears in the record.
No record of the report of 1850 appears although the committee consisting of N. H. D. Wilson, S. M. Frost, and J. Lumsden, made their report, and it was adopted.
In 1851 considerable space is given to reports of the Sunday Schools and from the figures given by C. F. Deems and N. H. D. Wilson, we find that there were 192 schools, 200 superintendents, 1,007 teachers, 6,483 pupils; 7,063 volumes in libraries; 532 copies of The Visitor being subscribed for and that a total of $489.55 was raised by the schools for all purposes. Some of the largest member- ships reported this year were the following: Hillsboro Circuit, 12 school, 54 officers and teachers, 415 scholars; Haw River Circuit, 10 schools, 16 superintendents, 42 officers, 315 pupils, 32 copies of "The Visitor," subscribed for; Washington, 1 school, 2 superintendents, 16 teachers, 108 pupils, 300 volumes in library, 40 visitors, amount raised in the Sunday School, $13.00; Tarboro, 2 schools, 2 superintendents, 17 teachers, 78 pupils, 300 volumes in library, 30 copies of The Visitor, $25.00 raised by the schools; New Bern, 1 school, 2 superin- tendents, .J teachers, 263 scholars, 580 volumes, 35 copies of The Visitor,' $39.00 raised; Rockingham, 6 schools, 6 superintendents, 25 teachers, 165 pupils; Smithville (now Southport), 7 schools, 7 sup- erintendetns, 35 teachers, 300 pupils, 500 volumes, 100 copies of The Visitor,' $153.80 raised by the schools; Raleigh, 1 school, 1 superinten- dent, 16 teachers, 80 scholars, 190 volumes, $17.00 raised; Granville Circuit, 6 schools, 6 superintendents, 24 teachers, 126 pupils, 150 volumes, 36 copies of 'The Visitor.'
In 1852 "Wm. M. Walsh and L. Shell were appointed a Committee on Sunday Schools." The chairman of the Committee on Sunday
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Schools presented their report which was amended, adopted, and filed." "On motion of R. O. Burton it was resolved, That every preacher be requested to use every effort to extend the circulation of the Sunday School Visitor. the Conference Organ, and the Southern Quarterly Review and to bring the claims of these periodicals before every congregation." The Journal shows that 557 copies of The Visitor were subscribed to; there were 210 schools, 9,144 teachers, officers and pupils enrolled.
In 1853 there were 226 schools, 9,292 officers, teachers and pupils. In 1854 there were 208 schools, 10,139 officers, teachers and pupils.
In 1858 the presence of Dr. Taylor, the Sunday School Editor, was noted; he addressed the Conference in the interest of his work. "on motion it was resolved, Thate the members of the Conference meet in the Conference room to organize a Conference Sabbath School Society at 3 o'clock P. M." The next year we find the fol-
lowing reference to this organization: "The Conference adopted the Constitution of the Sunday School Society as submitted by the Sun- day School Secretary and proceeded to organize the Conference Sab- bath School Society when Wm. Barrington (stationed that year at Yanceyville) was elected president; N. H. D. Wilson, vice-president; Wm. M. Jordan, secretary; Ira T. Wyche, treasurer; D. B. Nicholson, Wm. Closs, Wm. E. Pell, John W. Lewis, C. H. Phillips, H. H. Gib- bons, and W. C. Gammon, members of the Conference, and T. H. Selby, I. C. Permise, W. Overman, John A. Cuthren, S. D. Wallace, R. T. Berry, and Henry Lilly, of the laity, managers." "C. F. Deems was elected vice-president of the parent society."
In 1860 the committee reported: "We are not aware of any positive opposition to the Sunday School among our people and must believe that the meager patronage with which they are favored is the result of indifference." In that same year the Committee on Books and Periodicals expresses its appreciation of The Visitor. but asks for the publication of a paper distinctively for children.
The shadow of the War Between the States creeps into the report of the committee for 1862, but there is a note of optimism through it all. The uncomfortable condition of many buildings is referred to and the following statement appears, which holds true today as then: the winter vacation always affects the success of the schools."
In 1863 the following fervid resolutions were submitted: "Re- solved, That God being our helper, we will in no wise neglect the Sunday Schools, but will studiously endeavor to carry them on to higher degrees of excellence and to enlarge their borders, believing them to be the best camps of instruction ever yet devised for the proper training of those who are to be soldiers of the Cross."
In this same year the Raleigh Christian Advocate carried a lengthy editorial headed "Sabbath Schools" and makes the appeal "that neither the tumult of war, the engrossing cares of family, the anxieties to make money, or the scarcity of books will deter the Methodists preachers and people or discourage them in their labors for the establishment of Sabbath Schools and their diligent prose- cution." He then adds: "If these nurseries of the Church were
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ever needed they are most needed now. Never perhaps in our history was less attention paid to earnest, steady family religion and family discipline than now. . Let no small excuse prevent the active participation of every individual and family in the work of the Sabbath Schools. Let your children be regularly and promptly found every Sabbath at school and be there with them yourself whenever it is possible."
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