Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-02-14
HYMNAL RE 7 AIMED
Action of Board of Education at Meet
ing Last Night.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE APPROVED
Protests Against Specified Hymns
to Receive Consideration.
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OTHER BUSINESS MATTERS

| lures having been anticipated in yesterday
| Star. The committee consisted of Mr.. G
| H. Harries, Mr.. ]. II. Gordon and Mrs. B
G. Francis. and its report recommending
| the continued use of the hymnals was
| adopted by the unanimous vote Of the
| board.
| In accordance with the recommendation
Of the committee the board will give thor
| ough and impartial consideration to pro-
| tests against particular hymns in the book
and eliminate them where the omission may
| be deemed to be proper and eXpedient.
| The report Of the committee, as submit
| ted last night. is as follows:
THE committee on Normal and High
! Schools, TO which was referred the resolu-
| ton, Resolved, That The several communi-
cations received by tbs board of educa lion
| public press upon the subject of the hymnal
| in the schools of the District. be referred
| to the committee on Normal and High
| Schools, with Instructions to give due con-
| slderation to the same and report upon the
| questions involved TO the board at an early
| day, reports that it has carefully consid-
| cred the various communications which
| have reached the board of educa ton touch
! ing the use of the S ludents Hymnal; >
also the articles relating thereto in the
public press of the city.
'As The hymnal has been in use in the
| High Schools for more than two wears,
| having been adopted by the old board of
| school trustees, it is a matter of surprise
| that 1t should be treated by those now at
lacking 1t as something new in school
| practice Neither this nor any other
| hymnal has been, or Is used, in any of the
| graded schools.
Proposition Approved.
| Your committee agrees to the proposition
! of those who contend that seciarian religion
| shoulc not be embraced in school exercises.
| Ihls class includes most of those who OBJ
| Ject to the hymnal. But your commit Zee
| does not. and cannot agree with those-hap-
ply a very small number-who insist upon
excluding every formal recognition of Di-
vine providence from the schools. In
prompt response to the protest of those
who main aimed that their children should
not be Obliged to sing hymns which did not
accord with their parents beliefs. your
BOARD adopted a rule that such pupil should
not be required either to purchase a hvmnal
or TO JOIN in singing from it. While this
mas satisfied large number of those who
| sSmpathlzed wi the DIRECTORS to ne
n nSlhnai, mere are still some who insist that
IL should be excluded from the schools
Those who describe it to the public do
not seem to your committee to be alto
eether just. While the hymnal does con-
.alh hymns mat may be regarded as sec
tarian in character, the book, as a whole.
Is lar broader than any sectarianlsm 1t
contains many well-known hymns that are
sung by every Protestant denomina-
tlon ana by Catholics alike. The
| Deautlful words and music with
which Christendom buries its dead
are there The patriotic hymns which have
nerVed every army in our land north or
SOUTH that fought for its convictions are
lnere Inc grand tunes of German Span
| ish and Italian musical literature are there
] and above all, many tunes and words ex-
1 pressing general recognition of God. uni
Versaliy known and sung wherever civili-
cation has lifted its voice, are found in
this Students Hymnal."
Willing to Eliminate.
1t is agreed by your committee that If
anything in the hymnal is fairly open to
the charge of sectarianism 1t should be
| carefully eliminated since considerable
| portion Of the public has received the err
roneous impression that sectarian hymns
are its chief feature, and that sectarian
| teachings are feature Of school work
with this in view, your committee recon-
| mends such revision as will present a
| selection of hymns and patriotic songs
| which should prove acceptable to the very
| great majority Of citizens In a nation
| which recognizes one of it's founda Ion
principles the right Of the majority to rule
| this Is all that can be accomplished In re-
| gard to any question upon which differ
| ences arise. Thus, as illustrating the full
! devotion of the republic to tina. principle
we. have seen a President whose election
was only claimed by q single electoral vote
| and the integrity Of that vote questioned
| by nearly half the voters of the land as
| quietly inaugurated, after the recognized
| forms of law had declared him President,
as If he had received every vote In the
electoral college.
Concerning this question Of the majority
ruling. 1t is the conviction Of your COM
mittee. created by communications and
| through individual conversations, that a
| large majority of people who are not con-
| nected with any church. in which class are
included most of those who now protest.
much prefer that their children should be
brought under influences which are only
| designed to inculcate a proper reverence
| for religion, because of their own con-
| seriousness that 1t lies at the basis OF good
| citizenship and good government. For
| this reason 1t is believed that the number
| is really very small, indeed. of those who
| object to non-sectarian reverent opening
| for the schools. On the other hand, If
| every form of religious exercises should be
| banished the present protesting minority
| would have triumphed over the vastly pre-
dominating majority.
| Cites Higher Grounds.
| But your committee rests its support of
| the proposition that there ought to be in
| the opening exercises of our schools some
non-sectarian recognition of God as the
| ruler of the universe, to whom men and
nations should bow in reverence, upon even
| higher grounds than that of majority rule.
The Supreme Court of the United States,
without dissent, mas agreed IN q most COM
prehensive and powerful opinion to the
proposition that all the traditions Of our
country speak a universal language. having
one meaning, affirming and reaffirming
that this is a religious nation and, in
summing up another branch Of the opinion,
| this, our great court of final peaceful re-
sort, has declared that the mass of organic
| utterances and the great volume of unoffi-
cial declarations In every department of
our national life agree in proc,aiming that
| this is a Christian nation"
Since there is movement to test in
| the courts Of the District the question
| which has been raised in regard to the
| schools. and. lest the above statement of
| the unanimous opinion of the Supreme
| Court may be thought overdrawn, your
| committee presents the paragraphs which
| include the above extracts.
The case was that of Trinity Church, In
| New York city, which had secured the
| services of distinguished English rector,
| and was proceeded against under the law
| forbidding contracts for foreign labor. The
| case came to the Supreme Court on error
| from the circuit court Of the United States
| for the southern district Of New York.
| Mr. Justice Brewer delivered the opinion
| of the court February %. 1892. It is con-