The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-05-22
Brooklyn Beatific.

To-day, II the skies favor, the City Of
Churches will see a great street show of its
Sunday schools. This annual parade is
Brooklyn's pride. its speciality; and a pretty
sight, certainly are the long strings OF chill
dren with bands filling the air with music
when the day Is fair and all goes well. 1t is
true that great many schools do not join
In this parade, because they do not belong
to the Union; but the eight or ten denomina-
tions that do belong to 1t have about $50
schools above 5000 officers and teachers,
and upward OF 10000 scholars enough to
make II fine display.
1t is pity that Brooklyn, which has so
perfected Sunday school parades could not
improve the more essential parts OF the
Sunday school system. In its appliances,
its comforts, and its prodigious extension,
this system Ia far advanced over its early
days. Cushioned seats take the place OF
hard benches beautiful maps and drawings
that of bare walls; music and flowers make
the school room pleasant an astonishing
variety of books Of new and pretty school
songs is constantly supplied; newspapers
and magazines made specially for children,
are given freely the libraries have tiger
and soldier stories for boys instead OF DOB
BRIDGES Rise and Progress and BAX-
TIERS Saints Rest" even the Sunday verse
is made less repulsiye for memorizing by
being printed on a card with decorated
border The pill of religious instruction has
been thickly sugar-coated.
Yet in some respects the Sunday school
has refrigerated In the day Of RAIKEs it
was the refuge for children who had no
h., I'M 81 N ~ mn nrft NJ
the children are those OF church members
or regular attendants on churches. 1t is
partly because the mission schools are SO
rare and the cuttings from the homes of the
poor and proiiigate so few. that Brooklyn
can make so fine show Of richly clad, we'll
to-do little ones to-day. The modern sys-
tenn by which it is now the regular thing
for each church to have its own Sunday
school in its own editcc. makes ii easier to
recruit good-sized school from the fami-
lies OF its own worshippers than To carry
| the school among the slums o, the city for
less dainty work there.
| Under modern mechanism, the old-time
religious instruction Of the freside is large
" displaced by that OF the chance young
man or young woman at the Sunday school
What with classified ages and sexes, and
the demands OF ancient geography and les
sons in biblical exegesis, the father may find
himself teaching somebody else's children
! instead Of his own, and the elder brother
and sister, not the younger ones of their
| family, but Of somebody clsc's family. The
machine drill OF the class contrasts with
the simplicity Of individual teaching in the
| home circle, while the mania for business
| like clock-work system, has eliminated in
1.-THE international lesson" by which ques-
tions and answers and comments are cut
and dried beforehand, for every Sunday in
the year, and applied uniformly to children
OF totally different minds. experiences, and
degrees OF knowledge. This is not only a
wide departure from the old simplicity and
from the largely devotional character Of
Sunday school work but it is providing re-
ligious food something after the fashion OF
stuiling Strasbourg geese.
Some variety is furnished in competitions,
stimulated by prizes for abnormal feats OF
memory in learning Bible verses, and OF
success in recruiting new scholars, often
| however, at the expense OF other Sunday
schools In this, as in other matters, the
rapid and enormous growth OF the system
has brought tendencies that need to be toned
down, as well as fruits that are to be ac'
knowledgcd and praised. Anniversary and
other public performances have become SC
elaborate as often to absorb an amount o.
time in preparation quite disproportionec
to the ordinary services Of the year; Will,
the ambition to make fine report at tn,
convention also leads TO temporary eXer
tions not good for steady and lasting growth
Brooklyn, while taking pride in the annua
parade which has given it celebrity, SHOULD
show the rest Of mankind how TO check TIN
lsss commendable tendencies Of the Sunda!
school, and to bring to more real religious
utility this modern nursery OF the church