Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-09-25
SUNDAY SCHOOL TINE

are making a concerted effort to bring Sunday
school attendance up to the maximum as early. as
possible this season, and to that end they have
designated next Sunday, Oct. l, as rally day." on
winch occasion it is hoped that the several class
rooms will be filled to OVERLOOKING, and that this will
De the beginning of a large and regular attendance
which shall continue throughout the year. The
summer is a period of relaxation for many of the
children and their parents. Many are temporarily
absent from the city, and by common consent there
is a marked interruption of school work Of every
kind. AS cooler weather approaches the schools are
re-opened, and IN connection with the work of the
public schools there is a very general recognition
OF the Importance OF early and regular attendance.
1t is not always so easy to revive interest in the
Sunday school, and it is to emphasize the import
ance OF this that the present effort is being put forth.
/ The Sunday school plays an important part in
the life OF our people. There are very many whose
first contact with religious thought is through that
medium, and even in those families where religious
training is still considered to be one of the functions
of the home, the associations Of the Sunday school
are exceedingly useful in the moulding of character.
The Christian church of today may be said to
owe US continued existence to the Sunday school,
for, while it is true that the church does reach adults
who have had MO previous training in the funda-
mentals of religion, its membership is very largely
made up of those who have graduated into it from
the Sunday schools, and without these the church
would soon shrink almost out Of sight.
In whatever measure the church of today fails
to meet the requirements of our rapidly moving
and complex life, responsibility for that fact must
be placed largely on the Sunday school, for it is
there that direction is given. very largely to the
thought of the individual in regard to all matters
pertaining to religious life. And whatever made
quacy there is in the training given in the Sunday
school mast be- attributed to a lack of full realiza-
ton Of the Importance Of the work of that ~institu-
ton. We recognize in the public school one of the
most vital factors in Our life. We are willing to
make great sacrifices that our children NAV have
the training which Is given in the public schools.
We demand that those in charge of this work of
training shall themselves be adequately trained,
SO that the instruction. given the child, and the
training which he receives, from his earliest years,
shall a%rticulate properly with what he is presently
to discover are the facts of life in the larger field
lin which he will move. In that way we seek to
create conditions under which the education of our
youth shall be consistent, progressive and perrnan-
ent. ID.
i The Sunday school teaches a side of the child's
life which cannot be reached by the secular institu-
ton, and one which, is equally important if his de-
velopmeht is to be symmetrical. There is .edual
need for care in this phase of education, both in the
selection of the subject matter to be taught and in
the training of those Who are to be the guides OF
human thought in the impressionable wears OF
childhood. Let the parent be aroused to a sense
of the Importance of the Sunday school, to an ap-
probation of the fact that it's contribution to life is
equally important with that Of the public school
and much Of the indifference which has made Sun.
day.school work difficult will disappear Let the
Sunday schools be filled, week after week. Lot the
parents seek for themselves a better understanding
fof what Sunday school work means, what it can be
made to mean, and what is needed to realize its
full possibilities, and a great step will have been
taken toward the development of better manhood
and Womanhood.