The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-08-24
PICNIC OF SUNDAY
SCHOOLS, SUCCESS
Continued From Page one.l

ments Of the churches of the land.
He is a busy man For more than
twenty years he has been travelling
over the North American continent
arousing interest in the proper train
ling of Sunday School teachers for the
work of fmplanting in the youths of
the country q proper understanding of
religious teachings. DR.. Hammil is
one of the men who has brought
about an evolution in the work of
Sunday Schools. He was one of the
original expounders of the theory that
| if trained men and women are needed
to inculcate the principles of the ma
terial things of this world into the
hearts an2pminds of children, it is
reasonz~ to believe that trained
men/hd women are just asnecessary
to/6ok after the r,iritdaI growth and
development of children
Evolution in Sunday Schools.
There has been a wonderful evolu
ton in the Sunday schools of the
country said Dr. Hammil and | want
to say to you that in the training
schools founded for Sunday School
teachers. you viii find men and wo-
men who will rank Intellectually as
high as the men and women who have
places in the secular institutions of
the country The time has passed by
years since when the church can af-
ford to put the crooked sticks in the
Sunday School The men and women
best equipped to look after the care
of the children are the ones who are
there now. And it is not the best Mr.
the strongest Sunday School that
will always be found in the large cit
les. The rural districts of this coun-
try often furnish the best examples
of the strong organization and of the
best work. There is something in
the rural soil, it seems to me, that is
conducive to study. In all phases of
education you find sterling examples
of the strongest men who in their boy
hood trudged barefooted in the fur
roughs behind the plow.'
DIR. Hammil gave some interestin
historical facts concerning the origin
of the Sunday School movement.
History of Sunday Schools.
Bishop Asbury of England, the
speaker said, was the man who intro
duced Sunday Schools into this coun-
try coming to America in 1856, less
than four years after the first Sunday
School in England had been organ
lied. There are those who have
tried to snatch that laurel wreath
from the brow of Bishop Asbury," de
clared DR.. Hammil but they can't do
it, for the history on this point is
clear. 1t was in the town of Hanover
Court House, "Old" Virginia, that the
English bishop organized the first
American Sunday School which prov
ed to be the foundation fthe present
American Sunday School system. In
1909 there were just 100 Sunday
Schools in this broad land of ours
The growth since that time, however,
has been phenomenal, particularly so
during the past decade or two, and to-
day there are 10000 organized
schools in the churches of this coun-
try
DR.. Hammil reviewed at length the
systematic work of the training
schools for Sunday School teachers
and showed the value of such educa-
ton even though the recipient is not
active work in Sunday
Schools. Throughout his address
was interspersed with stories of a
humorous sort which served well to IL
lustrate points which he wished to
drive into the minds of his hearers |
There have been few addresses deliv-
cred in Richmond on Sunday School
work that have approached in elo-
quence and general interest the one
delivered by DR.. Hammil yesterday.