The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-03-06
MUCH INTEREST IN
| RELIGION At PRESENT
Rev. G. T.. Robbins Gives Instructive
Address at Union Meeting in Meth0
dist Church FridaF Evening.

Rev G. H. Robbins addressed union
service in the Methodist church Friday
evening. speaking on the subject Religious
Education in Vermont 4 fair-sized au-
dience WAS present but the number OF
parents Of sunday school children was no.
ticoably small The address merited a
much larger Attendance
Mr. Robbins said there hadn't been q
day in all the DAYS Of religious activities
y hen there WAS so much interest IN fe-
liaiouS education rs today. Looking N
the subject first from the standpoint oi
the dparth Of religious education be sad
Il broad vision was needed for It, lie
trelated an incident of the small boy Look
ing at the ball game through a knot hoie
IN the fence and said We must not look
nj religious education with any such re
Stpicted view Our democracy goes on
two feet-intelligence and moralty-and
when it tries To 90 only on one IL limps
along Our neighbour Mexico. mas, tried
to 90 on half a leg. The reason Why
Russia didn't succeed in her democracy
was that only lG per cent Of her people
are literate. We can't have morality
without the church. the ScEurch school
and religion.
There are about 100000 people in this
state. of whom 27GG00 are Protestauts
and of these only 5000 are in Sunday
school. Including the cradle ron and
home department. the total goes 10 O3 600
= or about one in four or five. The average
Protestant Sunday school gives only about
% hours year to religious education
There are only five well-cquipped Sunday
school buildings iR the state, the finest
being at Proctor So often we try to get
on without maps. charts, text books and
other equipment considered neceSsarv in
! the public schools. Then we have put
B the school at an ungodly hour. when all
/ Experiments made show that the mental
! capacity is at the lowest ebb. The time
| from 10 TO II or after dinner has been
proven to be times of the great mental
alcrtucSS. Then unprepared teachers
| have been used I appreciate" he said
the WORK teachers are doing in Yer
mont, their Self-sacritice. They are the
! finest charactered people in the state, but
most of them have gone into teaching be
cause they felt it their duty rather than
/ for the love of it
| Suppose next week the superintendent
| of schools should announce that compul
sorry attendance was done away. that the
school buildings had been condemned anO
/ that the schools would be held in the town
i hall with such tables and chairs 9S Coulo
be gotten. in poorly lighted quarters, that
d there wouldn't be text books enough
! to go around or perhaps not the right
! ones. that the teachers had all struck but
that volunteers had been secured who
would do the best they could, and thai
the children were to come as far as they
were willing Monday morning How
many would come: And yet this is es
sentiaIIy what the Sunday school has t,
contend with 1t would long ago hav,
gene to pieces if God had not been in tn,
midst Of it. People in general have com,
to realize that the greatest force for go5,
in the community Is the Sunday school
1t is a greater moral force than the polio,
or even the courts of justice. We ar,