The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1904-03-04
WORST SINNER WOULD
SAVE HIS CHILDREN
American Sunday School Is the
Most Potent influence
for Uprightness.
s6.ooo,o 900 ARE AT WORK
There Is No Other Society Which
Shows Such Steady Increase
Glimpse at This Wonderful
institution.

American Sunday school methods are
foremost in the modern forward Sun
day school movement, and other cOun-
tries are paying their respects by send
ing commissioners to study the sys-
tenn OF work, says the Kansas City
Star. In a country with a widely scat
tered population II cities in which
are gathered the most cosmopolitan
people the world has eve seen, Amer
lean methods have to be unique n
aggressive, as we'll as adaptive, and the
spirit Of the nation has perneated u
Sunday school efforts as strongly n
s~trenuously as it has the industrial
world.
The Sunday school scholar is thus a
potent factor in our American civiliza-
ton. With his Sunday school teacher
as a director and leader, he is almost
invincible, representing the strongest
and most aggressive agency of the day
for upright, honorable living. He
stands 2,000, GOO strong, reinforced by
a million and a half of teachers and
officers, representing all told an army
of nearly $4,000, 600 aggressive units.
His strength grows phenomenally.
There is no other society that keeps
such steady increase in numbers in
proportion to the growth Of population.
There are clubs, societies and other
organizations which spring up, meteor
like, and overshadow the Sunday school
army in their sudden growth, but none
of them keeps pace with it in the con-
tinuous development through years,
decades and half centuries.
From one international t%riennial
Sunday school convention Of the coun-
try to another close to 100000 schol-
ars are regularly added to the roll call
of the army. This gain is over and
above the losses through death, with
drawals and other OBJECTIONS from the
ranks.
When the First Union Was Formed
The formation Of the first American
Sunday school union, in 1924, was
epochal in the history of the movement.
and at that memo than three
quarters of a century ~aGO-there were
SO, 1893 schools, 419, 796 teacher and g.
764,610 scholars. Since then the growth
has kept pace with the increase of pop
ulation, showing gains in membership
greater than the churches or other re-
ligious or semi-rellgious organizations
When a small settlement Of three OF
tour families is formed in the north
south or east a Sunday school organizer
is sent out to start a school,. This is sci
up in a deserted shed or barn, over 6
public store, in a tent, or it moves
from one house to another, having ne
permanent abiding place. AS soon a:
possible, however, a permanent habi
tation Is provided for the school,. The
denomination supporting the Sunday
school organizers spends its money
thus in some distant corners of thu
cuntry in helping hundreds of small
settlements to uild their first Sunda.
school,.
With the building erected and thu
Sunday school established, a rallyins
point for a church organization i
made. If the settlement has a futur
1t will not neglect its Sunday school
which in nearly all cases grows ant
flourishes with the town or village
Teachers are recruited from the settle
ment itself. The organizer stays il
the place long enough to obtain
proper superintendent and a corps o
teachers. Then he moves on to a nev
place to repeat the operation.
Would Save Children.
But he does not neglect his first borr
He returns to it as often as desirable
adding new zeal and energy by his ow
personal effort, and advising the leader
in their plans for the future. 1t woul
be difficult to find a settlement Of thi
character where a Sunday school is nc
welcome. The most hardened Of sinner
are willing and anxious to have their chi
dren receive the advantages Of religion
teaching. They are mot much on reli
gion" themselves, but they will not know
ingly deny their children the opportunit
to follow a different life.
They would not contribute a penny t
the organization Of a church in the
community. But a Sunday school for tn
children? Yes, funds are nearly Away
obtained from the residents until tn
school building Is erected.
The germ thus sown grows mightil.
The Sunday school flourishes and has il
effect upon the people. Young and Of
attend it. Some Of the latter teach, ott
ers listen, refusing to relinquish the
rights as scholar until they totter to the
grave at threescore and ten. The churc
organization follows as naturally as tt
fruit follows the bud and flower. The
comes a regular or itinerant pastor, ar
the Sunday school becomes a feeder
the church rather than a leader.
Ten million lesson leaves are quarter.