USA > North Carolina > Historical papers of the North Carolina Conference Historical Society and the Western North Carolina Conference Historical Society > Part 9
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It is also in this same year that a correspondent writes to the Advocate as follows: "Can't something be done for the little boys and girls who roam about with no parents or friends to attend to them? There is one thing that could be done for them if the Church would only begin in earnest about it; that is to get them into the Sunday School-that blessed institution where rich and poor alike may meet together and praise the Lord, the Maker of them all; where old and young may be equally gratifled and alike profit. But alas, many of the Sunday Schools are orphans too. Their supporters have gone and the Churches have left them to starve and die; can't some- thing be done for them ?"
Attention was beginning to be paid to the singing of the Sunday Schools about this time and we find new song books springing up, and unfortunately many of the poorer kind seem to continue to spring in this good year of 1916. A long article appears in the Advocate in 1863 on this subject. I quote several paragraphs because of their counsel, much of which is good even now: "The question arises, What shall we sing? The first essential characteristic of a Sunday School hymn is that it must be adapted to the comprehension of children. Children have great sensibilities and imagination but little intellect. In general we would exclude from the Sunday School at least for the most part, the contents of our Church hymn books, be- cause they are not well adapted to children, these hymns being written with special reference to adult minds. Again a child's hymn would be more effective if put in subjective form. Much of the power of Charles Wesley's hymns arises from their subjectivity. In selecting hymns for the Sunday School we would have them fulfill these several provisions of a song: viz .- Songs of devotion, songs in praise of the Sunday School, miscellaneous pieces embodying various Christian experiences and emotions, and an abundance of songs relating to heaven."
In 1866 the Annual Conference Sunday School Committee refers to the importance of instructing children in vocal music.
It is likely that this was the real beginning of the emphasis upon singing classes which were so popular in many communities for so long and continue to be in some places even now. It is in accord with historical facts to say that these singing classes have been the means of bringing many people into the country Sunday Schools. some of whom perhaps would not have been otherwise brought in; but it is also true that they have been the means in some instances at least, of driving out the educational ideal in school after school. Many schools today will give not more than five minutes to Bible study or reading, whereas they will give forty minutes or an hour to
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singing; and where this is true, the songs are generally found to be of that giddy type which is properly classed as "sacred rag time."
In the Raleigh Christian Advocate of 1868, Rev. H. T. Hudson, writing editorially, makes an appeal to pastors to provide something in their sermons particularly for children and suggests that "three minutes allotted to the children in every sermon would surely be little enough time to give them when you reflect that the fast flying hours and days are bringing them to be, almost before you are aware the men and women, the fathers and mothers of society."
This probably takes rank as the first effort to establish what we now know as "Junior Congregations" or kindred organizations.
Dr. Hudson in the issue of March 25, 1868, writes again on the subject of Sunday Schools, and his words show that North Carolina leaders had caught the spirit of the times which gave to the Sunday School world John H. Vincent, B. F. Jacobs, Edward Eggleston, the Uniform Lessons and the beginnings at least of Teacher Training work. His words have the true ring; hear them:
"It seems to us that half of our preachers and people are asleep to this great interest of the Church. If they are doing anything to build up this nursery of the Church, they do not let their left hand know what their right is doing. In our judgment, the most beneficial event in the later history of the Christian Church, next to. the Reformation itself, is the introduction of the Sunday School. If we could at this time speak with the voice of a trumpet to all Churches of this nation, our message would be 'Take Care of the Sun- day School,' for this is the message of Him who said 'Feed my Lambs.' Ye pastors of stations and circuits, look to this interest. Why Is it" that this vital interest is going on at such poor dying rate in your work? Is it because you have failed to preach on the subject as you are charged to do by the Discipline? Is it because you show no interest in such things? Is it because you have not organized a school and put it to work? Remember the commission 'Feed my lambs.'"
Evidence of an early interest in the training of teachers is found in the paragraph quoted from "The Macedonian," which says: "Pastors should manufacture teachers. That is to say they should put their best members first under conviction of duty, and then under instruction. They should inspire them, and train them for the work."
Picnics and excursions are mentioned in the columns of the the Raleigh Advocate in May 20, 1868. The following account of an Edenton Street Sunday School picnic sounds as if it might have been written about many occasions held this year: "Then what a scene," says the writer, "Great loaves of cake, oceans of lemonade, a pro- fusion of candies, and indeed the greatest abundance of everything to please the palate and charm the taste. Mr. W. J. Young called the schools to order and Mr. Moses A. Bledsoe made a charming address on 'Searching for Happiness.'"
The Sunday School Committees for 1867 and 1868 both made important reports, such as were in keeping with other items which appeared in print at this time.
The Committee for 1867 consisted of J. S. Long, L. Shell, D. C.
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Johnson, L. C. Hubbard and J. M. Ward; the last two named being laymen. J. S. Long reporting for the committee, says: "We are more than ever impressed with the importance of this work. To no. period of our history as a Church have our Sabbath Schools been so necessary to our people or so important to the Church. Apart from the great religious interests to be subserved by these schools, they are the only available schools to many of our people. Other Churches. are waking up to the importance of this work, and entering with great energy upon it, and if we neglect the children of the Church, they will be led off to other Churches where they will receive instruc- tion and thus be won from us. The Conference should require all our peachers to give special attention to this work and establish a Sabbath School at every appointment on their respective fields of labor. Our Presiding Elders must insist that members of the Quarterly Conference of each circuit give their hearty co-operation to the ministers in charge of the work."
This same year a report appears asking that special attention be given to the organization of Sunday Schools among the colored people.
In 1868 the report states that the year has been one of great progress and development; urges that the pastors give diligent atten- tion to the work, see that the libraries are filled with suitable books, that children are taught to sing and properly instructed in the doctrines and Discipline of our Church, also that celebrations be held on all circuits and that societies be formed wherever practicable for the promotion of the cause. This clause which follows is the forerunner of the legislation which was given to the entire Church in 1906 providing for the appointment of Sunday School Field Secre- taries: "Wherever practicable let all Quarterly Conferences at their first session, secure the services of a suitable person to visit all the schools on the charge, and aid in every way possible to promote their success. We also recommend that at some convenient place a convention be held to take into consideration our Sabbath School interests and adopt the best methods for organizing and conducting Sabbath Schools. We think the importance of this work would justify the appointment of one of our most efficient men to its agency."
The name of James Reid appears in the Journal as having been appointed to this work. On motion of L. S. Burkhead, a committee consisting of H. T. Hudson, J. H. Dally, Dr. D. R. Parker and James Reid, was appointed to make arrangements for a Sabbath School convention. This year we find 419 schools; 2,518 officers and teach- ers; 17,482 pupils. James Reid is again appointed to the position of Field Agent. The Journal makes note of the formation of the North Carolina Conference Sunday School Society of the M. E. Church, South. This Conference met in Raleigh September 16, 1869. The report of the Committee refers to Eggleston's Teachers' Manual as an excellent guide in the management of Sunday Schools. Evidently there had been some movements to begin a Sunday School paper with- in the bounds of our own territory as the report adds: "Our judgment is unfavorable to establish a Sunday School paper in our bounds."
In the Raleigh Christian Advocate of 1869 a writer signing him- self "Aspen Grove," says: "All admit the utility of the Sunday
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School as the nursery of the Church. But how often is it asked with a sort of squeamishness, which indicates doubt: "Can we have a Sunday School? I answer with emphasis, Yes. But will you? More doubtful that depends on circumstances. Let me ask, are you ready, willing and anxious to make the sacrifice and perform the labor necessary to success? Some people prepare for failure and defeat in advance, and tune their lips to sing the funeral requiem of the school before it begins to breath. But you say, we have tried so often and failed. I answer, Yes, and must always fail unless you change your mode of operation. Your plans are defective, you have not properly adjusted the machinery, or you need more power to keep it in motion. You ask, How can we be successful? The answer is plain and simple: Be determined to succeed. Go to work with energy and vim. Let all See that you are in earnest and I assure you that your school will not disband or drop to pieces in two or three months, but shall live and prosper to bless your children."
In 1870 we find in the Journal that "W. H. Bobbitt, A. H. Merritt, W. S. Black, W. S. G. Andrews were appointed delegates to attend the Sabbath School Convention, to be held in Nashville, Tenn. Reserves, E. A. Yates, John R. Brooks, R. P. Troy, W. M. Parker."
This year the names of James Reid and S. Leard appear as hav- ing been appointed Sunday School agents. W. M. Roby as chairman of the committee submitted a ringing report which deserves to be recorded herein as one of the papers which marked a new era in the North Carolina Conference Sunday School work.
"There is no interest," he says, "touching the well being of society which commends itself more tenderly to our regards and the fostering care of the Church than the Sunday School interest. Upon this sub- ject there can be but one sentiment and one voice among truly en- lightened Christians.
"Our ministers need stimulating. Our people need enlightening. Our children need encouraging. We need combined systematic action. We must have it.
"In hope of meeting the demand of the Conference two years ago provision was made for a Conference Sunday School Convention. This Convention met but the attendance was painfully meager, indi- cating that a ripe interest was not felt on the subject. This Con- vention organized a Conference Sunday School Society which has held several meetings and enrolled a large number of members. Beyond this it has accomplished little. Its efforts have proved almost a failure. We will not pause to indicate the causes of this failure, but rather what we believe will prove at least a partial remedy.
"We recommend the following resolutions:
"1. Resolved, That we request the Bishop to appoint a Sunday School agent or agents, who shall travel through the bounds of our Conference and operate under the direction of the Conference Society.
"2. Resolved, That hereafter at each session of the Annual Con- ference, the afternoon and night of Friday shall be appropriated to the business of the Conference Sunday School Society and the discussion of Sunday School interests in general.
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"3. Resolved, That we earnestly recommend to our people to procure and use our Sunday School literature. We call special atten- tion to the Sunday School Visitor whose merits are already patent and to the teacher's and lesson papers soon to be issued from our Publishing House.
"We learn from Rev. James Reid, our Sunday School agent for the present year, that he has operated without remuneration in this department as his health and opportunity would allow and that he is willing to continue in the same work as the Lord may give him strength."
In 1871 "Question Twenty was suspended to hear the report of S. Leard, Sunday School agent; the report was read and referred to the committee on Sunday Schools." A committee of twenty is named this year. The report of the committee was read, amended and adopted by a vote of 41 for it and 31 against it. Just why this heavy minority voted against the report is not known, unless it was that the second section urged the adoption of the Uniform Lesson System, just then being published for the first time. In this section we find the names of our Sunday School periodicals as follows: The Sunday School Magazine, The visitor and Our Little People. The section also urges that no school suspend operations during the winter months, "but be continued in vigorous operation the year round; also that the pastors use all possible means to procure the most efficient teachers and superintendents as. the most reliable means of permanent success." The report recommends the reappoint- ment of James Reid as Sunday School agent again.
In 1872 the report of the committee says: "The Uniform Lesson System meets with general favor in our best schools; time, patience and effort on the part of the preacher will secure their adoption." It is in order to ask if it is to be through the same means that the International Graded Lessons are to be finally brought into use in our present-day schools? The objections made today to the Graded Lessons were made in 1872 to the Uniform Lessons, but we find the new system winning its way on its merits, just as the Uniform System won its way.
An evidence of the increasing part which laymen had in the affairs of the Church is found in this paragraph: "We gratefully acknowledge the activity of our lay members in this noble work and joyfully hail them as co-laborers in the vineyard of the Lord." It was only a short while before this that laymen had been placed on the Sunday School Committee at all.
In 1872 there were 584 schools; 3,427 teachers and officers; 25,014 pupils. At the same time there were 49,000 Church members. The total white population within the bounds of the Conference was 554,841; there was one Church member for every 11.4 population and one Sunday School member for every· 22.4 population.
In this year Rev. James Reid who had been Sunday School agent since 1867, was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction for the · State, but died before entering upon his duties in that capacity.
In 1872 the Conference course of study contained no book dealing with the subject of Sunday Schools. The course today consisting of
-
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thirty-five books contains only one book on this subject; and, while that is a most excellent one, it is not a book on administration. Have we advanced very far in this particular in the forty-four years?
Referring to the periodicals of our Church at this time, we find that the Teacher's Magazine cost $1.00 per annum; The Visitor was issued in weekly, semi-monthly and monthly parts. Our Little People was a monthly publication and could be divided so as to furnish the little children with a two-page paper four times a month. The fol- lowing caution is noted in a paper by the Sunday School Editor: "If you don't want Methodist doctrines and ways taught in your schools, you had better not take these papers or use these lessons. The editor is a Methodist and believes that there are just as many reasons for having Methodist Sunday Schools as there are for having Methodist Churches."
We find column after column of theRaleigh Christian Advocate of 1872 devoted to the Sunday School cause. J. B. Bobbitt and H. T. Hudson were the editors. Several quotations are cited by them to show what their conception was of a Sunday School. For instance they quote: "The province of the Sunday Schools is to conduct the rising gen- eration on a mental tour through the wide extended kingdom of inspired truth," and "The Sunday School is a systematized means of bringing the youthful population to Christ, in bringing them along the way of repentance, faith, love and obedience."
In the issue of May 9, 1872, an account is given of the annual meeting of the Conference Sunday School Society. Revs. E. W. Thompson, L. S. Burkhead, E. A. Yates and Mr. Robert L. Gray had places on the program.
On June 12, 1872, editorial commendation of Edenton Street Sun- day School under the management of Rev. A. W. Mangum, Messrs. W. J. Young and D. W. Bain, is noted.
On July 3, of the same year an editorial appears urging the necessity of Sunday School work.
In the report of the committee to the Annual Conference of 1873 the pastors are urged to use their best efforts to keep their schools running through the winter "thereby keeping up connection in our Uniform Lessons and rendering them more effective."
At this Conference session, record is made of the fact that a memorial went up from the North Carolina Conference to the General Conference meeting at Louisville, Ky., asking that a law be enacted whereby the Sunday School Superintendent should "be nominated by the preacher in charge and elected by the Quarterly Conference annually." J. R. Griffith was chairman of the committee. This legis- lation was adopted and is the rule for us as specified in the Dis- cipline ever since that time.
That year shows that there were 22,513 volumes in the libraries, with a value of $3,676.
Incidentally it should be mentioned just here that the Conference Historical Society was formed this year, the Conference being in ses- sion at Goldsboro.
There were in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1873, 7,019 schools, with 48,530 officers and teachers, and 321,572 pupils.
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There were 28 more schools in this Conference that year than in any other Conference in the connection.
In 1874 on motion of Rev. L. S. Burkhead, Rev. Wm. H. Bobbitt was elected Corresponding Secretary of the Sunday School Socie.y. In this year's report the following resolutions were included and adopted :
'Resolved, That this Conference do urge upon every preacher inmediately upon · going to his appointment, to make an effort to supply every Church with a good stove and a Sabbath School library, and make such improvement as may be necessary to the comfort of the children. And we also urge on preachers and intelligent laymen to organize Bible classes wherever it be possible and to teach those classes on Sunday or week-day nights with special reference to their becoming teachers."
This resolution calls to mind the writings of Dr. Atticus G. Hay- good on the subject of "Stoves as a Means of Grace." It also points clearly to the fact that North Carolina Methodism was fully abreast of the times in looking toward the day when organized Bible classes and Teacher Training classes should arrive.
In 1874 there was a decrease of 331 teachers and 1,003 pupils in this Conference, while at the same time there was an increase of 21 schools.
In 1875 the Committee report recommended special meetings at each District Conference in the interest of Sunday Schools; also that Sunday School Conferences be held in each pastoral charge under the direction of the Quarterly Conference; that ministers and teachers have their attention called to the importance of blackboard instruc- tion in the Sunday School and that they be encouraged to use them.
In 1876 S. V. Hoyle as chairman of the Committee made a very full report, some extracts from which are here given:
"It (the Sunday School) is almost universally regarded as the pious nursery which is to furnish the Church with an intelligent, exemplary and efficient membership. Indeed it is the prolific seed bed from which are to be taken thousands to tender plants to beautify and adorn the garden of God. It is the opulent mine from which the precious ore is to be collected, refined and coined to enrich the pious treasury of the Church of the world's Redeemer. . . We suggest that all the children under our care be trained to the observance of Christian liberality; that each pastor see that mission schools are established in communities at a distance from the Church when practicable; that the Sunday School ought to embrace not only the children and youth, but also al! adults in each congregation; that when the Sunday School exercises come in conflict with the attendance of scholars and teachers upon divine service, the Quarterly Conference as a Board of Managers should take such steps as may be necessary to correct the evil."
In the Journal of proceedings for November 29, 1878, is found this note: "Geo. F. Round was appointed to make collections and take subscriptions for our Sunday School publications." The report that year recommends "That. the Conference elect a corresponding secretary to represent the Sunday School interest of our Conference
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to the Sunday School editor elected by the General Conference and beg leave to nominate Rev. J. J. Renn to the office."
Union schools come in for a rap by the Committee in 1879; a section of the report reads as follows:
"Your committee offers no encouragement to the forming of union schools, but earnestly call upon pastors and people to put forth all reasonable exertion to establish schools in each neighborhood where ten persons can be brought together."
The catechism is endorsed this year along with Uniform Lesson publication as for several years past. This year there were 771 schools with 4,905 officers and teachers and 37,244 scholars. The work of the International Sunday School Association receives the endorse- ment of the committee also.
In 1880 mention is made of the one hundredth anniversary of Sunday School work. Note is made in the Journal of resolutions thanking Henry and E. J. Lilly, of Fayetteville, for their generosity in building during the year a most attractive Sunday School chapel at a cost of $2,400 and presenting it to the Conference. Mention is made · of the papers being used in our schools at this time, these being the Sunday School Teacher's Magazine, Lesson Quarterlies. Sunday School Visitor, Our Little People and The Infant Class. Song books advertised at that time were "The Gem," "Amaranth" and "New Life." This year J. J. Renn was appointed Conference Sunday School Agent, but as his name appars in the appointments as being stationed at Thomasville in charge of the Thomasville and High Point work, it is likely that his work corresponded more to that of the Secretary of our Conference Board of today rather than to the work of the Field Secretary.
In 1881 a complaint which is frequently heard in some quarters today is noted, namely, that some people are observed leaving Sunday School and not remaining for the preaching service. To discuss this question is not within the province of the present paper, but suffice it to say that neither pastors, teachers, superintendents, pupils or parents are blameless in the matter.
In 1882 pastors are appeal to appoint "young, pious, active and efficient men" as superintendents. Weekly teachers' meetings are urged.
In this year the first regularly appointed Quadrennial Sunday School Board was appointed as provided for in the Discipline at that time. The following were the members of the Board: E. A. Yates, John W. Hayes, V. A. Sharpe, W. F. Stroud, J. J. Renn, O. W. Carr, W. S. Creasy, R. R. Crawford, M. V. Sherrill, M. O. Sherrill, J. W. Jen- kins, B. F. Dixon, W. S. Rone, T. C. Smith, J. W. North, W. C. Doub, W. I. Hull, W. J. Parker, L. S. Burkhead, W. F. Korneagy, W. L. Cun- inggim, E. A. Thorne, J. H. Gordon, J. F. Norman.
On motion of R. O. Burton, the Sunday School Board was requested to report to the Conference the time for holding a State Sunday School Convention. The committee appointed for this pur- pose met and organized with E. A. Yates as chairman and J. J. Renn as secretary. They reported that for lack of time they were "unable to prepare a properly constituted Conference Sunday School Convention
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