Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-10-06

that Baptists, Presbyterians. |
Christians and Method |
lists stood shoulder to shoulder in the |
same school and loved each other for |
their works sake" And rather than |
close the school, it was sometimes nee
essary to draft into the work some
who were not protesting Christians.
DIR. Lyford Quoted.
Dr. w. H. Lyford of Port Byron, un-
der date of Sept. Is, 1908, and writing
of the first school on Port Byron in
the '40's, says:
THE scholars were only young peo-
ple-no adults. Our text books were
the bible and Union Question Book
The leaflets distributed were the We'll
Spring and the Sunday School Advo-
cate We had to study and learn the
lessons in the Question Book and
commit to memory verses in the bible.
For the latter, we received prizes at
the end of the year, according to our
diligence and work, such as bibles, tes-
.taments, cards, etc. Some of us, and
more especially the girls, would be able
ito recite verses, page after page, APP
parently without effort on their part.
This faithfulness of the scholar was
rewarded to all in after life"
Ex-Governor Van SAINT of Minneapo-
lis writes under date of Sept. 10, 1908,
among other things, as follows: Il re-
greet very much that the time is so
% 7
something for you. | was born in Rock
Island, and my first school was the
Rock Island Sunday school, and my
mother has often told me that when
ltoo young to go TO church and Sunday
school, she carried me in her arms. I
school was held in the old church on
the corner next to the Harper house.
Sunday school was in the room below,
and church above. Sunday school room
was used during the week for public
school. = . = l can just say in this
connection that the impressions made
upon my mind during those early days
in Rock Island Sunday school have re-
manned with me and made me a better
man on account of the associations of
the Rock. Island Sunday school and
church. < = AS you perhaps
know. my father and mother were
members of the Methodist church for
many, many years before they died
and always took an active interest in
the Sunday school and believed it TO be
la great recruiting station for the church
and most helpful to its future work
From Illinois City Pioneer.
Mrs William Tyler of Illinois City
writes under date of Sept 10, 1908, as
follows: 1--WE had no lesson helps il
those days. especially in the ccuntr!
Sunday schools We began at one
lend of the new testament, say second
|chapter of Matthew, and went chap
ter or two till close of school. Happy
1.-THE day that could find some one will
ing to- open the school with prayer; TO
Jour officers were chosen from the best
whether processing Christians or not
Teachers in the same way. One of thu
main features was committing to mem
lory' verses. chapters, and in many in
stances books of the bible; the prize
la copy of the new testament. Sunda.
school celebrations, so styled in thos'
! days, were popular for some years
lLong tables spread in the grove, chi
dren marched around and range
around the tables, waited upon by tn
. older people. Those were held mostl
upon the 4th of July. You can imagin
the baskets laden with the good thing
of the farm, packed into the lumbe
wagons. But the one or two long ia
bles came into disrepute on account G
some drawbacks, such as changing @
dishes, table cloths, etc.
Later a picnic dinner became NOR
popular, and after churches were e:
1 tablished more strictness was observe
? in selecting teachers, superintendent
and officers.
Il remember the first instrument W
t had in the church A music-loving Gel
D imam brought an old-fashioned melodio
e into Sunday school one morning an
e lplayed for the children, much to thei
:, delight"
i The audience this morning will III
0 Iderstand that subject like the on
J. we have been considering cannot b
d lexhauStively treated IN the time lin
d tied to this paper, nor would an e,
I lhaustive treatment be sufficiently a.
e curate without the expenditure of
r lgreater amount of time than has bee
n possible to give for the present; br
e enough has been shown to satisfy u
r that the early foundations were but
Il upon that rock that shall never fal
n and the harvest already gathered
It proves to us that the destiny of OF
e country is largely in our hands. Fc
we find that in the few decades of OF
r work in this county we have anon
e Jour scholars many Of the most infiuel
d |tial men and women of our county, b
d sides number of judges, state an
o national legislators, governor OF
Il great state, and a bishop over co
= tinent. The pioneers did their wol
. well.