The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-09
INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY-SCHO0L LESSON
Copyright, Davis W. clark.)

rose. humanity at the other end, sank in
 gloom, misery. and despair. The power
 of the "other world was manifested
 where it was most likely to be accepted, and when, in the facile Greek language and under the aegis of Roman law. it
 could be most successfully disseminated.
 Though John was rigorous, he was not morbid. He did not command his converts
 to take to the hermit life. He did no.
 exhort them to don leather girdles or eat
 locusts. He showed them how to live in the world, and yet be unworldly; that a
 good life must not needs be monastic
 life.
 The preaching of John Baptist is not effete Discard, if you will, the old ortho- dox hell and literal day of judgment all
 must concsde that there is continuity of judgment. in which sin is being
 brought to light, and a contemporaneous hell in which sinners are being tormented There is no need of a new Dante to sing of the purgatory on the hither side of death; a new Angelo to fresco terrors of the interminablc assize He is the sublimest example of nelf-ne- gation. When there was universal dis position to identify him with the Messiah. he nipped it in the bud. When signs of waning popularity were apparent, he said. He must increase, I must decrease"
 Child-Study and Sunday School Methods. Childhood is music alive. The normal boy or girl is an incarnation of harmony.
 In repose or actioE,' in voice. poise, and gesture, the child, unmarred by self-con- artn ho n rlVfhm which is one of it's most fascinating character istics. To such. melody Is as delicious as air. and almost as necessary. From the beginning the Sunday school has furnished a sphere in which the child can exercise In "harmonical sounds" And for this it deserves high commendation. The song-book and Bible are the only textbooks of the school. The sentiment of many of the songs is confessedly crude and shallow. An ex- pert has recently shown by several ex- amples that it Is entirely immaterial, as far as sense is concerned, whether the successive lines of the verses are read as written, or in inverse order. But that seems to make precious little difference to the small songsters. It would be an interesting study for the psychologist to find just what sen3e. if any, the average child attches to the average Sunday school song. It might be found to be a mere succession. of accordant sounds. A little fellow was heard singing in the
 school:
 T will fight under the banner of King Gee-ban-you-ell,'
 putting stress on the Gee and ban" Dare to be a Danyell!' was another of his favorites. 
 One chorus still floats in memory:
 70 goldsn s.a, hereafter thine every bright
 Shall shake with the thunder of sanctified song!
 It made precious little difference wheth-
 CT another chorus read. "Isles of palms
 or palms of fsles," or Palms, palms, and
 isles. isles."
 It would. of course. be yell if better
 sense was attached to the melody; but
 after all, it is the melody and quick time that is so dear to the juvenile heart. Some
 publishers to gratify their customers
 have not hesitaated to put sacred words to Annie Laurie" "Swaunee River, , ''Old Kentucky Home, Marching
 Through Georgia" and even to the Wed ding March,"
 For once "the childEen of light" were
 wise when they batedD the Sunday-schoo
 hook with song-book.