Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-10-06
cline Before Recent Convention at Port Byron.

chool of Moline was short, because of
is members moving away. Rock river
bottoms had attracted them. There the
,lder Hartzell had erected a two-story
og cabin, with one large room built
for a place of worship for
he neighboring settlers. This was
,uilt the year of their arrival, in 1885,
md here every Thursday night pray
,r meeting was held. The circuit rider
preached periodically, and when quar-
.erly meetings were held, the beds and
other furniture of the house were mov
ed out, so as to make room for the
The Sunday school.
meanwhile, was dropped, until in 1S43,
when union school was organized by
the Methodists and Congregationalists.
and their meetings were held in the
Moline school house, a brick building,
a part of which still exists as part
of the Moline city hall The following
is taken from the writings of one of
the first ministers of Moline, as fol-
lows:
1.-The memories connected with that
old school house should be dear to
every pioneer, and it should receive
the respect and gratitude of every in
habitant of Moline 1t was built in
1S43, and though now shamefully neg
lected and suffered to decay, like too
many public benefactors, yet served
it's day and generation nobly. For a
term of years it was the center from
which emanated an influence that
shaped and nodded the social charac
ter of the whole community. 1t was
brought directly in connection with the
heart and sympathies of the people
Its walls were crowded from Sabbath
to Sabbath, and from evening to even
ing. There were discussed, with thrill
ing interest, the great questions of pol
itics, of temperance. of human free
dom. of social reform, and of practical
religion. The good which that ole
brick school house conferred upon Mo
line will never cease to be felt" tFron
Fifty Years of First Congregational
ism in Moline').
Swedish school i'm 1850.
The Swedish immigration to oul
country began in 1S49, and on Dec
1850, a Swedish Lutheran congregation
was organized For six years this con
gregation was without regular pas
tor, but a Sunday school was main
tanned. Its home was a 36x40x15 foo
frame structure, located on the site o
the present large brick church. Th'
world-famous singer, Jenny Lind, con
tributed very generously to this littl,
church, and a steamboat bell was pur
chased and swung in the little steeple
The people. it is said, were greatly de
lighted to hear their bell call them t.
their house of worship, and the sam
bell is now doing duty at the Swedish
church at Port Byron e-----, r. .'-----
The Swedish Methodist church wa
also organized in 1850, and its Sunda
school, of course, was an importan
part of the work.
There are features of the pionee
Sunday school that have disappeared
The Sunday school library is one c
them. An aged lady told me of the Ell
joyment she had threading the book
from the Sunday school library. TX
day we hear little of this feature, an
how to stock the school with book
has ceased to be problem. The men
orizing of scriptures was, it seems,
universal custom, prizes being give
for number of verses learned. Mr.
w. H. H. Dow tells of receiving Ii
tie red-covered testament as such
prize. She had committed the frs
chapter of John. Z. B. Mckown {
our county executive committee won
bible He recited 16S verses of scri
ture The venerable Daniel Gordo
told me he had memorized sever;
chapters of Matthew so he could civ
them word for word. 1t is said that
Mrs Gilmore of Rock Island in or
of these contests, recited more tina
600 verses.
Another feature, or difficulty, tn;
has disappeared, is the necessity
select topic for the day. In our tin
the international committee takes cal
of this. In the pioneer days, howeve
it was a matter for the individu
school, and often for each teacher
select what should be taught; cha
ter or a certain book of the bible wou
be taken up. In some schools it wou
be required that the scholar comm
one verse per day; this would give Il
scholar a total of seven verses p
i, week to illuminate the lesson, and
: case this was found insufficient, mo
was assigned them. Some of o,
pioneers intimate that Sunday scho
{ lessons were taken more seriously
!; the early days. The lessons were n
made as attractive as now, and Il
ischolar was required to do real work.
| quote the following from a histt
: ical address, viz: when there we
: fewer helpers in this grand work, al
t when UNCONVENTIONAL schools won
4 have been impossible, it is pleasant
: you DON'T HAV