The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-06-27
CRADLE ROLL WORK
 IS FOUNDATION 0F
 ALL BIBLE STUDY
Mrs. Hughes Has Spent Nine Years in Developing Idea Among Sunday
 School Workers
Fly CAROLYN ". ELLIOTT

Fly CAROLYN ". ELLIOTT
 Teacher Can any child in this class rereat a missionary text this morning?" Promising Pupil: 'Yes'm I know d good one-'Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every teacher
 Now, that's exactly what Mrs. M. NJ. Hughes has been doing for the past nine years. She has been preaching the good news of graded work and separate de- partments to every teacher and super htendent of beginners and cradle roll de- partments in the Sunday schools of great~ CT Birmingham.
 Mrs. Hughes loves every baby in tho whole world, and every baby who is priv ileged to meet her smiles and coos his whole vocabulary of broken English to assure her that her friendship is recipro- cated. She has probably specialized on cradle roll work in the Sunday school more than any other woman in the south- In length of service she is the senior of- icer in the Birmingham Graded Union, having devoted nine years to the begin ners' department as superintendent and | two years to the work of the cradle roll | az a separate department. At present l she is cradle roll associate editor of tho 1 Elementary Outlook, a twelve-page pup licdtion issued quarterly by the Blrming- | ham Sunday School Association under the 1 lsupervision of the children's work super intendent, Mrs. w. M. Walker In addi- ton to the interdenominational work done bv Mrs Hughes for the Sunday | schools of this district she holds tne 1 office of elementary superintendent TOT [ the North Alabama Conference or the i Methodist Church, south.
 BEGINNERS DEPARTMENT l As superintendent of the beginners de- l nartment of the Ensley Methodist Sunday school Mrs Hughes realized the need of a separate department for babies under l four years of age and it was fer this reason that she organized in thi3 senool the first separate cradle roll department 1 in Jefferson county,
 "I found from practical experience tnit babies who were being sent 10 the ht- ginners department couldn't understano [ the Bible stories that were loi1 10 chii- dren of four and five years of age FA'u Mrs. Hughes. "So I tried organizlns mo tots into separate cradle ro'i uepa. ment. where our babies names were en- rolled even before they could creep. w had only a few to attend at first, put now they come as soon as they can toodie. and our Ensey school shows an average attendance of twentythree. | As superintendent of beginners anu cradle roll work in Birmingham, Mrs. | Hughes is .rging in every school nos only the necessity of separating the pe- ginners' and cradle roll departments put also the wisdom of having at least IVY classes in the cradle roll, som2umes lou. lpfa lbabies from IS months to years or ase' 1 Al inc latter ripe age. the babies arg
 roadv to 'graduate" from cradle roll ana enter the beginners department or ,hs
 Sunday school. o.ass
 "So many new churches are In process of construction now l sincerely hope 'n lbabies won't be left out in the cold when 4he sunday school rooms are pianneu'
 Nrs Hughes said. And so many sunday lacbool buildings are being erected, too'
 where churches are crying out TOT nor
 room. We have been so accustomed .u
 sending the little one sto c'asses WI" .i' their older brothers and sisters in the prl-
 ,narv denartment 1t is ofte nharl Tor us l+o realize that the beginners need q ht'ie corner of their own. And when It conie'
 to the cradle roll-well it's just apou. 'no hardest thing in the world to unoertaNe "
 convince a building committee os
 men that babies from IS months to ,nars nlem need any separate room of their
 own ,on,, t,i,k lahies can grasp anything except every thing that should be left to later ol i'- Idseretion?" was the suggest,on'
 LEARN QUICKLY
 np,t baiies do grasp great deal. louickfy defended their champion Mrs
 Hughes. .'At feast there is an lmpres- sion they gain in the atmosphere or sun day school that is formed into the naoi'
 of after years thought ,o
 Now. nobody can find 1t Tn hls heart '. lb,ane the babies for leading dad anu
 r,other 10 Mrs. Hughes Sunday school I where the attractive rooms await tnen.
 with rows of pretty little chairs that Just fiji and where the walls are bright with birds and golden butterflies. study m
 gold and brown that cradle .oom IS. witn lits cheerful yellow window draperies, ana
 the window boxes of nodding pahsies ana nasturtiums Then there is the picture
 of the little child Samuel kneeiing az
 praver. and the lovely face in the Ircture of Uoffmau's head of Christ. picture too. of the kindest man who is blessing inc little children and who loves them so tenderlv that he reminded nis ois- lcinles. Suffer the little children to come l iunto Me. and forbid them not. Tor ok such is the Kingdom of heaven. . "His hands were always helping. 7 And His eyes were always kind: He never was too busy
 . To help the sick and blind
 ! The babies of Mrs. Hughes sing moS
 every Sunday. just because they love ithe song They love Mrs. F. B. Mills. too.
 She is the dear grandmother who comes to sunday school every Sunday to bring lher own grand babies. and who knows exactly the kind of stories that little chii-
 tCortinued on Page Eight.)