The Village Sunday School - With brief sketches of three of its scholars by John C. Symons
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page 6 of 35 (17%)
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abandoned. He resided about a mile and a half from the chapel, but
morning and afternoon, winter and summer, wet or dry, he was at his post! The numbers which attended the school might have been about seventy. The teachers, considering that they were not members of society, were pretty attentive for a year or two; but after that they began to fall off, and frequently was the superintendent obliged, in addition to his regular duties, to place the senior boys of the first class over the lower ones, and take the remainder, with the second class, under his own care. Laboring under so many disadvantages, it cannot be expected that M---- Sunday-school should in any respect be very prosperous: yet this I may say, that though I have been connected with Sabbath-schools for some years, and have had an opportunity of examining several, I have rarely ever met with a more orderly set of children, or a better conducted school. But who, from such a school as this, would have expected anything like success? and yet the sequel will show, that, even under such unfavorable circumstances as these, God did not fail to work for his honor and glory! The senior class of boys consisted of about a dozen promising lads, whose ages varied from nine to fourteen. They were placed under the care of two respectable moral young men, but who, with very many excellent qualities, were devoid of religion. The boys were encouraged to commit to memory portions of Scripture, for which they received small rewards; and thus a spirit of emulation was created as to who should possess the greatest number of these. Among those who distinguished themselves were three brothers, named James, Thomas, and George. James, the eldest, remained but a short time in the school: but Thomas and George continued much longer, and learned the whole of the three first Gospels, and part of St. John. They were very regular in their attendance, and when in school |
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