The Press., 1884-12-18

Issued Every Thursday Evening.
 HISTORY OF soKTH COVENTRY SABBATH .,s, SCHOOL.
 rwrittn e 1iss Hattie K. Gilbert secretary of the
 the school and read by her at its seth anniversary, | Oct. 1ss4.l
 ! The beginning of the Sabbath school in North Coventry seems to be involved in some obscurity, as no written records were kept for the first five or six years of it's ex- istence. But gleaning whatever informa- tion is available from different sources, it is possible to give something like con- tinuous history of its progress.
 1 The first step toward the establishment of Sabbath school in this parish was taken by this church October 4th, 1818- just sixty years ago yesterday y,-and under that date we find the following vote on the church records:
 'sAt meeting of the church the following persons were appointed a committee to or ganize and superintend Sabbath school in this place Willard Hutchinson, Joseph Tal
 colt, Jr., Dea. Selah Loonis, Ira Lillie, and Alexander Abbot.
 II Ateety dOSEFH IALG0TTy mOucrutOfs I Dr.. Calhoun in his 4Oth anniversary ad dress says of this :: October 4th, 1918, one month before came here, the church appointed q committee to organize and superintend Sabbath school. The com- mittee, however, did not perform the ser
 vice assigned them. The following sum-
 mer Harlan Page gathered a small com pany of children into pew in the gallery, .io,, Nhof
 was the beginning of Sabbath school in North Coventry. The sixth annual re-
 port of the Conn. Sabbath School Union,
 published in 1880, reports the Sabbath school in North Coventry instituted in
 1819."
 Mir. Charles Kingsbury of Homer, N. Y., a resident of this place at the beginning of
 the Sabbath school, writes: "Two or
 three classes were collected and taught by different persons, and recollect one class
 was taught by Miss Polly Wright, after
 wards Mrs. Harvey Kingsbury, who took
 her class into the middle pew of the front gallery and there taught them" This was a class of young ladies, some of whom still live and give us pleasant recollections of early Sabbath school days. {. I Let us pause to take nasty review of the parish as it was at this time-sixty- five years ago. "There were," quoting from Dr. Calhoun, residing in this parish a population of $40. Of this number IA belonged to the church ]; 234 were between
 the ages of and 16. The house of wor- ship then occupied was nearly square
 building, without a, bell, spire or tower distinguished from almost all other build ings by being painted white. It was kept in good repair. The pulpit was on one side of the house, elevated almost to a lev el with the floor of the second story, with 8 sounding board overhead. The gallery I was on three sides of the house, the front
 seat of which extending on the three sides, was occupied with singers. The lower
 part of the house and the seats of the gal ilery were divided into square pews, with lone third of the occupants only facing the 1pulpit. The house was furnished with .I neither stoves, carpets, or to any consider.
 able extent with cushions. This old church
 so devoid of modern necessities and con
 veniences was the cradle of our Sabbath
 school, and here all it's services were con ducted until the conference house was |. ready for use in 1924 or '25.
 During the first seven years the church
 records show us from time to time that the
 Sabbath school was in existence, under the supervision of the church, and aided from , its treasury. July 3Oth, 1926, the church voted sum
 of money, not exceeding $10, to defray in part the expense of Sabbath school Ii brary. MT. Kingsbury writes that he was appointed librarian, and that the course , then adopted was for the librarian to stand at the desk with list of the names of the
 whole school, and call each name, the in
 dividual answering by giving the number
 which was charged
 The first record of the choice of Sabbath
 school officers by the church is dated April 9th, 1927, when Dea. Willard Hutchinson was appointed superintendent. Joseph Tal
 colt assistant, Lyman Talcott secretary and Charles Kingsbury librarian.
 April 22d, 1927, is the date of the frs written report of the North Coventry Sab bath school, and ever since that date-s period of over 57 years-a careful repor has been given of each session. The frs
 report reads as follows:
 April 92d 1927. Opened by prayer by the superintendent
 after which proceeded to take scholars name and ages Closing prayer by Capt. Page. L. TALcoTT, Secretary The Sabbath school was we'll attended at this time. May 9th, 1927, an attend !, ance of 119 is reported, and another Sab bath 138 were present. During it's early years the school seem ed to take vacation some time durius
 each year. The year 1927 the scho, l closet about the first of October, and We fnt this report 'sNo lessons recited on this day. Drew books, and then walked to tho l meeting house to hear the secretary's re
 port and remarks to be made by others after which the Sabbath school closed fol
 the season." The next report dates May 4th, 182S-s vacation of six months. But the next year i. under the date of Nov. 2d we read: s'Re 7 marks by the superintendent, requesting !: those present to make efforts to continue
 the school three weeks longer" These eff : forts were successful, and the school closed
 Nov. 28d, and begun again Jan. 11th, 1899
 From time to time we find records O
 additions to the Sabbath school library F In 1881 seventy volumes were added, at Q,
 expense of $35. 5er E 1s
 sI An account was kept of the number O verses and hymns rrcited by each scholar ? and we find 519 verses of scripture recitet , by an eleven year old girl ill twenty Sab : baths, and 595 by boy eight years Id 3 and at the end of the first book of record