Part 5 (2/2)

This is attended to in tays: first, in the lesson thoughts in connection with the International Lessons, which are selected, as far as possible, to enable the teachers to illustrate and enforce spiritual truths; and, secondly, each teacher is expected to do all she can in the way of personal exa the members of her class to Christ Of course, if any special religious interest at any time in the church seems to call for it, the work of the school is suspended and all the energy is brought to bear upon the evangelistic part of the work

RESULTS

The actual working of this plan has deht seeinary At the start the scholars were classified according to their ages, with occasional modifications with reference to their places in the public schools, and the teachers were placed in the different grades with reference to their relative abilities, and they were asked to teach certain specific things, which of course they cheerfully did The scholars, who are accustoht the idea, and their parents became interested to see that their lessons were learned before coular, for each teacher, having his own specific work to do, very soon realized that if he were absent his work could not be fully done by a substitute, and the attendance of the scholars was much improved, for they could see actual advancement from Sunday to Sunday

The attendance of scholars in the Interes fully twenty per cent more than in any other departraded work means considerable work for a superintendent at the start, and this to a busy man is a serious matter; but after the system is fairly started it works easier and with less friction to annoy than any other plan, and the cause is worthy of the effort required

Two reasons why schools should be graded iven: 1 Children will be interested in what they can understand, and if the instruction both as to for intellectual abilities it will easily be received and taken care of, while, on the other hand, if it is not comprehended it excites no interest in the et out of the school as soon as he can

2 The teachers do not go on with their classes from year to year indefinitely, and by thisclasses under the teaching of the ablest teacher you can get in a particular grade, instead of confining that able teacher to only one class for ten years There can surely be no question as to which is the better course

FOOTNOTE:

[B] These Supplemental Lessons have been published by Hunt & Eaton, New York, as ”The Ten Minute Series”

THE LYNCHBURG PLAN

BY IRVINE GARLAND PENN

IT was early in the year of 1890 when it beca our Sunday school, that we had acco the twenty years of our existence In this school our superintendent was entered when but a lad of five years He had shi+fted from class to class, not by reason of any promotion by the superintendent, teacher, or any other officer of the school, but as he advanced in age froht to ten, and ten to fifteen years he correspondingly grew in size, and of his own free will and accord he moved from class to class, with no other recoe of fifteen he was made secretary, and in that official capacity he took account of the pennies collected, disbursing theht order

Our future superintendent was then promoted to be the teacher of Bible Class No 3 It was not Class ”Three” because its members knew more or less than Class 1 and 2, but because its members were a class ofmen In fact, Class 3 was as much entitled to be Class 1 as Class 1 was to be Class 1 He was then promoted to his present position His career is related in order that it may be shown that the conclusion which he had reached was founded upon personal experience and observation, which he took no account of then, but which served to demonstrate more forcibly to hi save the one fact that it ious instruction It must be said, however, in justice to other superintendents, that, whatever inclination he had to seek and ascertain the defects and best needs of the school, he was led slightly in that direction by those who had shown that soe must take place if our Sunday school wouldone in the coures, and while during the boyhood of our superintendent the corps of teachers were not efficient, by reason of the lack of advantages necessary to proper qualification, yet when he came into office he found himself surrounded by a corps of teachers nearly all of ere prepared by intellectual and divine strength to teach anything that could possibly be put into a Sunday school course with propriety

No longer were there ”blind leaders of the blind” in the school, but intelligent leaders in mind and heart It was a proposition that needed no demonstration to our superintendent that he now had the opportunity to present the one thing needful in the school, namely, method and system in instruction and the adaptiveness of work to the susceptibility of the pupil, which is the essence of the grade idea As soon, then, as this idea was clear, our superintendent at once began inquiry and to hunt literature bearing on this subject

”The Modern Sunday School,” by Bishop J H Vincent, was the first book consulted, and the first sentence of Chapter XII, on Gradation, gave the idea which settled the conviction The sentence reads: ”The Sunday school is a school” Nothing is truer than this one sentence, and the sooner our superintendents and teachers get this one idea ineradicably fixed in their minds the better it will be for our Sunday school interests Most assuredly the ”Sunday school is a school” to teach the things of God, to instill his truths and i favors to the children of row up in the admonition of the Lord, if they would ood citizens It was evident that our Sunday school was a school, though poor in order, poor in work, and poor in everything but singing and the giving of picnics Dr Vincent's book was further consulted, with others, and our superintendent reserved several months to mature his plans and present them

In the meantime several articles in the ”Sunday School Journal” of May and Septereatly helped hiistration, giving naotten of each pupil as accurately as possible In the meantime our plan had by this tiistration, preparatory to the gradation, created a genuine revival of interest in the work And, too, when the fact was known that the school was undergoing a change which would give larger and better opportunities to the children, fathers and mothers who could not themselves read, but who knehat it was to have John and Mary to go from Catechisher and higher, gave vent to their feelings in many ”Amens” and ”God-bless-yous” To these expressions of approval and the prayers of this class the success of our syste been taken, our superintendent was intrusted with the gradation of the school On the one hand the burden was light; on the other heavy The labor was light, for no areat was the interest in the four hundred souls ere now for once to be put into the shape of an ideal Sunday school

On the other hand, it was for once a burden to do duty as he saw it, because there were large boys and girls who had been hitherto neglected in this ghost of a school, and now had to suffer the worry of doing a thing over when it ht have been done well at first But our superintendent had no tie in sentiiven hiood of the school; hence he went at the work in the fear of the Lord

During three weeks of incessant prayer and labor the as done, sube to bethe next Sunday! John, who could not read, used to be in Bible Class No

1; now he is to study the Catechis was done, classes rearranged, teachers replaced to suit the departments; and after all was done we looked calmly upon the scene, and never in all the history of our Sunday school did it look so well, and never have we seen children with such bright and happy faces as were in that school on that otten even by the sers, but with new life in the until it see of the riches of God as never before The three departed were Primary, Inter Class It may be said here that we have seen the necessity very clearly for the introduction of a Junior Depart departments This will be done on ”Promotion Sunday”

after our January exaed to cover the three depart of seven years: Pries froes froes from fifteen to twenty years These departhtly modified by the introduction of the Junior Course

The course embraces in our Primary Department the International Lessons in the form of the ”Picture Lesson Paper” The Lesson Paper is, however, not taken up until the pupil has been in this depart that he enters at three years of age The lessons during the first four years are orally taught, and consist of selected verses of the Bible, Lord's Prayer, Beatitudes, and selected portions of Catechism No 1 Since the day school system only admits pupils at six and seven years, it is presumed that they are not prepared to be classified in any way as students of the International System on account of their inability to read

Thus all of the pupils froht orally, as explained above There are soeneral rule in the case of children whoaround the fireside

The pupils in the Pri received the Lesson Paper at seven or eight years, have only froe is reached, all other things being equal, for their transfer to the next depart the last two or three years of the Primary Course the pupils have for supplemental lessons selected Psalms and verses, Catechism No 1 to Question 25, inclusive

It has been demonstrated to our board in our promotions that this Primary Course is well conceived and serves admirably well the purpose intended, which is to lay a foundation upon which a structure

In our Interins the first year with the ”Beginner's Leaf” and is used during three years of the five years' course In the re two years the ”Berean Lesson Leaf” is used In the use of the Beginner's and Berean Leaves the course of teaching is laid down by the Exa Board, and the teacher directs her talk and instruction in that direction This is to avoid whatof everything with special reference to no one particular thing, the teaching of what is understood and not understood The supplemental lessons for the Intermediate Course include the Ten Commandments, Catechishly considered from Genesis to Numbers, inclusive In this department special effort is made to impress the Baptismal Covenant, the Ten Doctrines of Grace, Ten Points of Church Economy, etc