Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1881-08-26
SUNDAY SCHOOL ENTERPRISE IN
THE u, n. CONGRESS-.
Lecture Delivered In Chnuta uqua, ,
Ny, August 5th, by Prof.
Frank Bcnrd, of syrn-
cuac University.

versity, has gained VIDE reputation III
York State for sound logic, and especially
for wit and humor, and is frequently called
upon to deliver lectures for the benefit OF
Sabbath Schools, aud selects for his subjects
the popular themes of the time. The fol.
lowing is lecture delivered on the above !
date aud place, which we find in the Chau-
tanqua assembly Herald, and will be found
too good to be lost;
The plan which had conceived was n
bold one. 1t was no less than 10 estnb |
Sunday school where the laws OF integrity, |
of decency, OF honesty, were no longer |
obeycd; where Christian principles were |
nnrcgarled. Yes, | determined to estab
lish Sundny.school in our National Con- |
gress. Well, of course there was great deal |
of opposition. Every man with n new idea |
hns 10 fight opposition. There were great
many discouragements. One party said
that unless called il the National Demo.
cratic Sunday School they would have
nothing to DO with ii another party, Just
as strong in their opinion, thought it ought
to be called the Republican National Sun.
da y-school. l don't know what would
have done had not fortunately, providen.
tally, may say,suggesed that the Sunday.
school belonged 10 no party, hut, on The con.
trary, was To readjnst Nil parties. Now the
word seemed to take, and IL was very pop.
ulnr at that time; 30 our Sunday sch ool
was organized. will not dwell upon the
details of the difficulty of organization; /
will not weary you with long account of
the troubles had. But our first meeting
wns we'll attended. An the "boysn were
there. But do not imagine, o innocent
Sunday school teachers. they were like the
bows you have, well behaved boys, quietly
swinging their legs, chewing paper waIs
for their neiglbors. Not nj all. II was
hard for me to cancel the impression that
seemed to linger in my boys minds that
the Sunday school was the place where
they could put their feet on the desk smoke
cigars aud play snven up with their neigh.
bors. They seemed TO have an idea that il
was political caucus, gotten up to run
some bi II in the interest Of church property
through the United States Legislature.
They were there, however, and l deter
mined to gel them quiet, aud / did ns all
good superin,endenisd | thought it would
be n good idea to sc tie them down bv Civ.
ing out song, so took up n Sunday.
school song book and turned over the leav YES
haphazard, and took the first song which
presented itself. 1t was Oh to be moth.
ing, nothingw [Laughter.] struck up
the tune, but somehow or other there did
not seem to he any responsive echo in the
hearts of my Snnday-school. Laughter
found that was going to be failure be-
cause there was dead tilence. turned over
till came to the glorious Chaulauqua
| 1876 song, "Arse and Shine" Laughter
| tell yom that there was loud response to
that. They all arose and they tried to
inc nf NJ
was attracted to magnificent fellow who
rose higher than the others. I could see
he was making the greatest effort OF his
| life " to out shine all the others, and this
was success"
do not wish to give detailed account
of the general meetings. There are some
individual members OF the class that /
propose to show you. The magnificent boy
to whom have alluded, suggested to me
that ought TO have an assistant superin.
tendent, and also intimated that he knew
Just the man for my assistant, and strongly
limited that il did not take action on his
suggestion he would break up the Sunday
school. [Applause.l Now, as my first ef.
fort was for harmony, | consented to take
as assistant the man he suggested. have
photographs with me of the whole school,
but az they are verv small you cannot see
them ~ the back seats, 30 l will present
them to you upon paper. The speaker
here begins TO draw upon the paper with
colored crayons Sunday school boy, and
continues My assistant was not a very
bad assistant. He was one of the smartest
boys we had, but was very tricky. He
knew how TO do most everything except to
run custom house. But could not de.
pend on him very we'll. He was not very
| 4 l,oe ,,f II
member one time he was away for several
weeks. l found out he was trying TO or
ganize an opposition Sunday school at his
home. But that was not the worst of it.
Although the magnificent boy did not hold
as high position in our Sunday. school as
assistant superintendent, vet he WAS often
detained on Sundays, because he would
stay away so long to black the boots of the
magnificent" Now, the magnificent u
was very particular about his boots and
allowed no one else to black them. He
had friend TO whom he was very much
attached, and the friendship between these
two men was something that l admired
greatly; il filled my heart with the highest
emotions OF joy 10 see these two men so
fond OF one another. 1t put me in mind
in fact, determined to take this as an ex-
ample OF friendship p the next time had an
opportunity otspeaking before the Sunday.
school, because it reminded me OF Jonathan
and David. The picture was by this time
completed, and everyone recognized il as q
boy with the countenance Of the Hon
, Chester A. Arthur. The completion of il
was greeted with great applause. Now
speaking of David, reminds me that we laG
u David in our Sunday school: He was a
I fat boy. Why, Dickens fat boy in Pick
| Il, Dn .tt tad ul, oil
compared with this David. He was pc
culiar kind of fellow. think you vii
, know him better il show you his picture
1.-THE speaker proceeds TO draw picture o
fat man riding ON fence. The devel
opment of this picture provOkes both ap
I, plar re and lnughter.] This fat boy uset
to sit out in front OF the school, and he al
ways sat on the fence, and ! could not n
tirst persuade him to come into the school
; though often asked him to get down M,
enter the school. He said he would, bu
D he didn't know on which side of the fenc
q 10 get down. For this reason he though
/. he would not submit himself, and he re
: mained where he was upon the rail-
Y WIS rail fence. Finally / conceived
. brilliant idea, which we carried TO a sue
1 cessful termination. 1t WAS this: en-
/. gagged a boy from each party to come ont
Y and one took hold OF one end of the raj
and the other Of the other end. In lhi
way we brought him into the Sunday
| school. He was a gieat acquisition
Laughter.] set him down to study tn
'' text, "Thon canst not serve two masters.
Laughter.] The picture as now completes
/, was fair likeness of David Davi,
, Rounds OF applause came from the audi
u ence.] About this time my commiSeratio
e was excited by forlorn little wretch thu
T. used to hang npon the out.ide OF III
4 school, trying to gain admittance. Yo
v may think it strange that the priv
|, , eges OF my Sunday.school would be de
MED to any one, but thought wns just
fled in the position / took in refusing nd
mittance 10 him. He perSisied IN pay
ing all his attention 10 disreputabl
e looking rag doll,' which he carrie