The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1899-10-19
The Sunday School Past and Present.

WV ~
former pastors for such suggestions as
they might offer. Rev. J. A. Ross was
away from home and no response came
from him, but letter was received from
Rev. r. T. Hack of Portland, and Rev
George W. Field, D. D., of Bangor also
sent letter. The latter gave most in
teresting "reminiscences OF the Sunday
school of his ooyhood days, closing with
words of counsel and encouragement for
the Sunday school of to day.
DIR. FIELDS LETTER.
am sorry that owing TO absence from
the city and Other causes l have very little
time to comply with the request which
has come to me that | would give you
some "reminiscences regarding your Sab
bath school as it used to be in my child
hood. l could be more sorry, only l have
very few such reminiscences-si
large part of my childhood was passed
away from Belfast But such memories
as | do have are of a rather stern and sor-
rowful kind-such as impress themselves
very strongly on the mind of child and
! are not easily forgotten by him. The Sun
/ day school Of seventy or eighty years ago
was not the pleasant and cheerful thing
which the Sunday school of to-day is.
! Oug little souls We're often Sorely afflicted.
la the first place, the churches in which
the schools were held, We're fearfully cold
| in those days. There were no vestries or
small rooms. None of the appliances
| like furnaces by which large rooms are
now warmed had then b en- discovered.
To be sure, foot stoves We're in use by
diligent employment OF which one could
keep his feet from freezing, but these
were intended Tor old people, and little
children were notindulged in such etfem
naces. SO the Sabbath school was to us
one long shiver at least in the winter,
which constituted the larger part of the
year-tor in those days the winter really
/ seemed colder nd longer than now. The
year took on an additional sternness from
| being So near the old Puritans.
The first Sunday school | ever attended
was held III what was called the Confer
ence Room. Why so called | do not know,
as it was only small meeting house. But
SO it was called, and | grew up with the
4 impression that Conference Room was the
proper name for all Orthodox churches.
| 1t stood on the top OF what is now Prim-
rose Hill, on the lot just beyond the house
| built by "Parson'' johnson, which has
/ been owned and occasionally occupied by
| his descendants ever since, and also nearly
! opposite the Field House. | have a
very distinct remembrance of this build
ing-not strangely-since it was one of
/ the first objects to greet my infant vision,
( as | looked out Of the windows of my
fathers house. The building stood on
sloping ground, SO that under it, on the
northern side, there was a large open
space, which, instead OF being warmly
Dricked up, was only cheaply enclosed
with boards - through the crevices of
which | remember, how | used to peer
into the darkness within, fancying, in my
childish Imagination, that it was inhab-
| tied by snakes and all sorts of reptiles
so that | used to stand in awe of the bold
ness of the older boys, who would some
times force their way in through the
loosely fastened boards. This unpro-
tected space under the Conference
Room made it in the winter much colder
was quite needless.
The room was heated Gf the word
heated may be used) by large stove i'm
mediately in front of the pulpit, about as
large and as cheerful looking as three or
four collins placed on one another-from
which tunnels ran the whole length of
the room with various curves and angles,
at each of which the liquid SCOT dripped
and was caught in pans suspended fol-
that purpose from the tunnels. The
beautiful artistic effect of all this can
easily be conceived. One who considers
how sensitive little children unconscously
are to their surroundings can realize what
an enlivening effect upon their spirits all
these things must have had. In this sort
of room we children, after the long morn
ing service which we were obliged to at
; tend (for no child could slip into the
, school, in modern fashion, after meeting,
any more than he could slip into day
school after recess i'm this cold and cheer
less room we little ones were detained an
hour longer after the service was over
for the exercises of the Sunday School
which consisted mainly in repeating by
heart passages of Scripture, without an,
of the agreeable aids which are now 81
co mmor-such as bright music, illustrat
ed papers, question books full OF informa
ton and of anecdote Those were sterl
times, and to make the Sunday Schoo
really enjoyable, | am not sur,
would have been thought to SAVIOR to,
; much of w0rldliness. Everything mus
be solemn. The only way in which {
: child, or an adult, could become piou
6 was by his first being alarmed on accoun
of his lost condition-the certainty that i
he died as he was he would pass into
S state of endless misery-and the effort o
S the faithful teacher was to bring abou
f that state of mind. So that when GU
little bodies did not shiver and our teetl
chatter with the cold, our little spirits die
with fear and trembling. In these late
days we have found out that there ar
many other ways of coming to Christ
and better ways, especially for children
| do not think that l exaggerate in al
this. | speak for myself. [ am sure
have not one pleasant memory of the Sun
day school of my childhood. Everything
was doleful, stern, gloomy. The prepon
= derant characteristic was that of awfu
I solemnity-just the least desirable char
8 acteristic for a child.
l would not speak disparagingly of tn
good people of those days. AS far as de
votion to duty and to principle, as the
. understood it, was concerned, as far a
- self sacrifice, readiness to do and to sui
n fer for conscience's sake and truths sake
was concerned-in all such respects W
CA9To7IA.
Bear, the 11he Kind You Have Always Bought
i Signature ~ X0-Z