The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-08-27

,ae cunard steamer Bothnia. which they

chartered for the voyage.
Many conflicting claims as to who origi-
mated the Sunday school idea have been
put forth, and it is hard in the light of the
facts that have been disclosed of late wears
to decide as to whom the credit is due.
Robert Raikes, printer and publisher of
Il small newspaper i'll Gloucester, England.
was undoubtedly the first whose work at
tractcd general attention and imitation.
He got his idea however, from a Mrs Brad
burn, who had been n teacher in Sunday
school established in 1869 by Hannah Ball
Raikes started his first school in l7S0, and
In ltS3, 2l0 years ago. it had become sufli-
GENTLY successful i'll his eyes to warrant the
publication of an article concerning it in
his paper, the Gloucester Journal He also
wrote an article about the school which
was published i'll The Gentlemen's Maya
zine, and once the plan and its success as
conducted by him were made known to the
churches in general it was extended with
marvellous rapidity.
1t is fact. however, that as early as 1860
schools somewhat similar to that of Mr..
Raikes were established by the kirk of
Scotland. and somewhat similar form OF
school was authorized by the church of
England in 1903. Among the earliest Sun
day schools i'll America were those estab-
lished at RoXbury. Mass. in 1914; Norwich,
Conn.,, In 1896; Plymouth. Mass, in 1850;
Newtown. y. Y, In 1868; Berks county, Pa,
in 1874; Ephrata. Pa, In l740 Bethlehem,
Conn, In l140; Philadelphia, In 1874, and
Hanover county, Va, in 1883. But the
work Of these schools not being published
to the world, as was that of Raikes, their
influence was only local.
The teaching in Raikes' school, and in
early Sunday schools generally, was not
altogether religious Indeed it was neces-
sary, owing to the ignorance of the scholars
who were induced to attend, to teach them
to read before they could comprehend the
Bibles printed page Writing was also
taught, and the teachers received pecuniury
compensation for their labors, the English
seminary fund being drawn upon until
1898. When this was discontinued the
Sunday school received severe blow, and
1t was then that the work was taken up by
volunteers from the ranks of ladies of
wealth and position. 1t does Slot appear
that wages were ever paid to Sunday
school teachers in this country. Bishop
Asbury of the Methodist Episcopal church,
jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield
were among the men of prominence who
early engaged in the work of fostering
Sunday school work here.
The Sunday school is now the strongest
institution auxiliary to the work of the
churches. Its efficiency was vastly in
creased when the London Sunday School
union was organized in 1903, and fresh i'm
petus to the work was given by the organi-
zation of the New York union little later.
The union idea spread rapidly to other
cities towns and counties both in England
and in America, and the Sunday school
unions so generally formed have had n
great deal to do with TIE breaking down of
the old lines of denominational prejudice.
The social influence of the Sunday school
today cannot be ovcrestimated 1t is the
one place in thousands of rural communi-
ties where the young people of the church
meet once week. Its books form the only
circulating library in the place. 1t is there
that the young folks get all the musical in
struction they ever receive, and it is there
that the bright farmers boy with ready
tongue first learns to talk upon his feet.