Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1817-10-24

tons BY presenting the following extract
70 the public:
Extract from the speech Of the Reverend
Mr. Spring, at the anniversary Of the
.Nsp- York S,Haay School Union So
clety.
When I take review Of the past year,
Of the obstacles overcome, Of the preju-
dices encountered, and of the great in,
difference which, BY many, has been
shown to this institution, ! cannot but
hail this evening as aGording triumphant
evidence of the excellence of our sys.
tenn. Had we listened tc the fears Of the
faint.hearted, the objections Of the half
informed, or the predictions Of those
whom, with objectionable apathy, have
vet leisure for prophecy. your committee
night either have held their meeting in
solitude and in sorrow, or have abandon
ed an ;ns,itu loo, for which thousands
are this moment blessing them. But your
committee: siy, though neither prophets
nor the sons of prophets, ioresaw the dif-
fculties which might:npcde their course,
aud with Providence for their guide, they
dete mined to meet and couqrer them
with their shoulder 20 the plough, they
remembered the caution Of their master,
aud looked only forward. Need | enter
into The success Of Their lsborsF Your
report. in language far battcr than | am
capable of giving, has stated the facts;
and With these am sure the society will
rest satisfied. I mus. be pa"doned, sir,
if, in a lew ,wo. Dc, call your attcn ion
to the effect which the Sunday Schools
produce upon all who are concerned in
them. 1t is but one year since we COM
menced our operations in this city; dis
eouragements assailed US on every hand
those who ought to have given their in
slant support, declared that no necessity
for such a school ex!sted-they said all
the poor were, or, if it was not their own
fault, might be instructed. But the prin-
cipal difficulties arose from the parents
Of the destitute and ignorant children
Many refused their children the Pri'i-
leces which were rendered them; and
still more objec,ed-without any sense OF
religion themselves, they saw no necessi-
ty for it in their offspring.
But, sir, these objections have vanish
ell. We ventured to assert on this floor.
at our first meeting, what we have since
seen reaiized-that the most effectual
mode Of approaching the parent, is thro'
the medium Of the child: not TO enter in
to the reasons for this, we need only to
state the fact. The Indifference of the
parent, in many cases, has been removed,
the affections have been enlisted, and the
cbstinacy has been subdued. Vices have
been abandoned by the mild aud simple
remonstrance Of the recently instructed
child, and there are not a few OF those
parents who are now hailing the patrons
Of these schools as the best friends of the
human race. One effect Of your system
Icannot but notice-it i, the moral beau
ty, harmony and order, observable in all
the Sunday Schools.
These members OF you, committee who
have regularly visited the schools every
Sabbath, have been fOrcib!y struck with
this fact, slit is a new thing in the
earth, aid an effect which no other insti-
tuition, that I ana acquainted with, has
produced: your society brings tosethe'
youth blooming with health and beauty,
and the chastened understanding of ma
ture years-it blends in It's operations all
the various talents, Feelings, views and
Srailties, of the human mind and const;-
tuition. Yet there is no discord; the
most irritable listen with patience TO the
dullest pupi.-tbe most intelligent to the
least instructed. The uplif'cd rod has
no place here; the angry passions seem
subdued By the importance of the charge,