Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-03-26

tarv of the American Society of Re
| ligious Education, and one of the leading
opponents of the Sunday school in the
country. died at the family home, 1903 r
street northwest, this morning at 12:dO
O'Clock. His death was peaceful, his
wife and his daughter and grandson,
Mrs. Grace d. WOODBURY. and James
Handy WOODBURY.. being at the bedside.
J DR.. Gilbert had not been well the past
winter. About five weeks ago he was
attacked by rheumatism In his shoulder,
and, though seriously handicapped, man
| aged to attend to his literary work. He
gradually failed. and on March an
nounced to his wife and daughter that
/ he felt as though he should give up his
work for time. Several days there
after he took short walk near his
home. and when ne returned seemed to
| be much exhausted.
! His condition did not improve, and
Tuesday he took to his bed and a nurse
was summoned. From that time he
steadily sank until the end came this
morning
| DR.. Gilbert was siXty-nine years of age
and was married to Miss Sarah J.
| Thompson OF Buffalo ~ Y. forty-two
years ago.
The funeral arrangements have not
been completed, but the services may be
neid MONDAY at the residence.
| About six years ago DIR. Gilbert began
writing the weekly Sunday school les
son for the church page of The Star, and
since that time thousands of the Sunday
school workers of Washington came to
depend upon his deep religious knowledge
Tor ala III conducting their work.
A Secular Teacher.
DR.. Gilbert gave UP the city editorship
Of the daily Courier of Buffalo years
! ago to take the principal ship Of a large
grammar school in that city. While thus
employed he lectured at teachers insti
| tutes. prepared the curriculum for the
| Buffalo public schools and introduced a
| system of language lessons which were
| used in several cities. His professional
| abilities were recognized by the school
board of Sandusky, by which he was
elected city superintendent, but he de-
clined the place to enter the public
| schools of Dayton, Ohio.
An early prompting toward the minis
try, which never departed, led DIR. Gilbert
to forsake the schOOiroom for the pulpit
Entering the Cincinnati conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, he served
several large churches in western cities,
| being transferred at the request of church
officials from state to state. He became
widely known in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois
Iowa, Kansas. Wisconsin and Michigan
participating In the phlanthropic, re-
| ligiOus and educational movements of
those states and of the various commune
ties In Which he was stationed.
Devoted to Religious Education.
In the latter part of 1888 he united with
! others to organize the American Society
Of Religious Education. of which he had
been the continuous secretary. DR.. Gill
bert's duties were literary and supervis-
lical and pedagogical books for the yart-
GUS departments, and some Of these have
passed through ten to fifteen editions. He
| travelled widely, ten to twenty thousand
miles each year, entering all the states
and territories. lecturing and holding in
| StituteS and conventions.
| The various departments of the society,"
| six In number, are all DR.. Gilberts Gre
alton.
DR.. Gilbert's largest work was in behalf
of the training of Sunday school teachers
| This he began while teaching in Buffalo
and this he continued through all the
after years, making it a prominent fea-
ture of his society. He had the distinc-
| ton of laboring in this field for a greater
| number of years than any other man. He
had in his office an enrolment of nearly
| eleven thousand persons who have been
under his instruction. These have been
in all parts OF the Union and In Canada.
Writings Widely Read.
| In biblical exposition DIR. Gilbert was
| engaged for twenty years. His writing
were widely used by the secular press
| and 1t is estimated that they reached over
a million persons each week, forming the
largest and most widely distributed class
of Bible study in the country.
| DR.. Gilbert was educated in the schools
| of Buffalo and at Genesee College, Lima
n. Y, which afterward was merged in
| Syracuse University. He received the de-
| gree Of doctor of divinity from Cornell
College in 1884, and the degree Of doctor
of laws from Hartman University in 1899
He was a member Of the American Philo-
! sOphical Society during the presidency OF
DR.. Deems, and at his death was a mem
| Der of the Spiritual Culture Society and
OF the Society Of Sacred Pedagogy.