Norwich bulletin., 1919-11-08
WHATssABoUT OUR SUNDAY SCHOOLS

According to the quadrenaial statiS- tical report furnisfied by the fifteenth International Sunday school eonven- ton in 1918, the total Sunday school enrolment was 17,715, PA. Providing for the increase in population since the census of 1910, the total number of males and females in the United Sta tes, under twenty years of age in 1918 was 25,129, ,150. Outside of the total eneoll : -ment this would leave 8,41S, 92S of our 'boys and girls under twenty not Con 1iected with afiyrF church sorre4 Sunday school and not receiving a6y religious instruction. sH'sF sasE'l , : The situation, however. is really much worse than. this. writes Thomas l.. Mason in the Boston, Transcript For it must be renembered that this
 total enrolment is far in excess of both actual regular attendance or of systematic instruction- It is probably conservative to state that at present not more than pgle-haH of, the .cEiI- dren under fourteen. in. tnee. United States are receiving any defipita kind of religious instruction. Many esti-
 mates show that at thesmest the San- ! day school is reachingSIittle more than l 25 per cent. In some states less than one person in ten is in touch with the Sunday or church school.aIn the east ern states surveys show as sshieh- as 1 50 per cent. of boys, and girlss1iot con nected with the church. It is signifl- tcant to note that while eAthe afSilnday school enrichment in sPennsylpaflias is 2, ,229,356 and. in Texas %er1 ,125, ,910,-s 1T, New York state it is oiaIys 97S PIT This ] is due to the large unassimiiated for efgn population in, New York. How fappalling to think that isis ;tf11is gfeat Icountry of ours, with it's truly fine spirit of world service and minglins
 of hard-headed common sense anG idealism, there are literally millions .ot 1 children without any means of ade. quate religious development It fsa Z
 big load for the minority toscarry.
 j, There are two questions that now
 present themselves 3F'irst,e what Is 5tat
 necessity? Secondp what is tlaerrti ter? rF.',,zi@ ,ssFT
 F The necessity is greater~far great. Eer-than anyone who has not though tabout it suspectss It is not a d1estior fof exclusive church leadership On fiar-
 row sectarian lines. It is a breAd3 in. ftensely practical question that reache.
 down into every home It is a aquestior
 of cooperation and discipline of re. reconstruction, of the facing Of an entire Fly new probierfi.:s The United State! Ehas arrived at a truly dangerous. age The war has been won through irn
 mense sacrifices. Owing to the tconse Fquent upheaval in our national struc
 ture there has been, on the one hand
 a decrease in church enrolment an, in crease in crime, a certain Iaxity an, Eindecision due to the mental revolution On the other hand, there are undoubt iedly great new. moral assets -upo, (which to draw, hitherto latent. h jus I.so far as we have become richer ant more powerful physically, thus, pro
 viding large part. of our. population . on the average with more, money ant leisure for the future, so we have in 1 creased the possibilities for i1ishe l.character develGpment...., And 4alon, with this we have increased the. tenn tation to go astray There is n1oreetin
 tor a greater number of people to think | This is shown;~ not only in the wide spread interest taken in all 3publi I questions, but ins the demand for ;,
 much higher class of literature. Bu I there is danger in leisure unless it i properly directed, :. St... .--,j es.,<
 | What is the matter? fbsen in on of his -"Gl1osts''--shaiI speak fo us. Mrs. Alying says to Pastor Maria < CTS: :, .g,....s-4s.
 It is not only what we have inherite
 from our father and mother tha
 walks" in us. It is all sorts of idea and lifeless old beliefs, but they clin ] to US all the same and we. cannot shak ' them off. Whenever. l take sl,p< a news
 paper,@1 seem to, see ghosts gliding be / tween the lines. There must be ghost
 all the country over as thick as. th sands of the sea. And then we, ar
 one and all, 50 pitifully afraid of th