CHAPTER VI.

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL IN THE HISTORY OF THE SOUTH.

Early Southern Idea of Sunday School,

'HE Sunday school idea as it originated in England found two lines of development: first, that of holding a school for secular instruction on Sunday; and second, that of having a Bible school on Sunday. It was this latter development of Sunday school work that found favor in America. From the beginning, save in isolated cases, the Sunday school in America has been a church school for Bible instruction. So far as the records show, it has always been this in the South. The Sunday school can hardly be said to have held the same relative place in Southern religious life as it manifestly did in the life of the East, that is, until modern times. The dominant popular religious forces in the South since the Revolution have always been the Baptists and Methodists, and both of these great bodies have laid their primary emphasis upon preaching. It is only in recent years that the Sunday school has come to its

own.

It is altogether probable that the first Sunday school impulse in the South is to be traced directly to Wesley. Wesley was prompt to recognize in the Sunday school a great agency for the propagation of religion. He was one of the first to recognize that its great power was to come through a voluntary rather than a paid staff of teachers, and was one of the first to make it a part of the program of

the churches which he established. Wesley's connection with Georgia undoubtedly sowed the seed in the minds of the early Methodists of the South.

The early years of the Nineteenth century show beginnings in so many places that these can hardly be traced to any one source. It is hardly likely that the conditions in the South made the progress at the beginning anything like that in other sections of the country, where population was already gathering in cities. So far as conditions permitted, however, the new idea found ready acceptance, and a number of Sunday schools came into existence in the South in the very earliest days of the Nineteenth century.

Work of the Sunday School Union.

Up to 1845 and 1846 religious work in the South was allied with the denominational bodies of the North. The work of Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians was during this time simply a part of the general history of the country. The conditions, however, were peculiar. The great churches of this period in the South were in the country. The plea for home missions was then made with the rich country churches, that the money might be expended in the towns and cities. These great country churches did not furnish a ready field for Sunday school workers. The preachers were men of great ability and far reaching influence, and the stress was laid upon preaching services. Yet the records show a far reaching interest in the Sunday school, and wherever the missionaries journeyed it became part of their work to establish a Sunday school. It was during this period that the Sunday School Union, of Philadelphia, was the potent agency for Sunday school extension throughout America. It was organized in 1824, with its headquarters in Philadelphia,

and only six years later, in May, 1830, began the great Mississippi Valley campaign for Sunday school organization. This reached into the territory of the middle South. In 1833 a similar campaign was projected for the Southern states, but this last campaign does not seem to have met with popular favor in these states. The Sunday School Union continued, however, during this and later periods, to keep in the Southern field a force of Sunday school missionaries whose great task has always been to organize union schools in the remote and destitute regions.

It does not seem that the efforts of the Sunday School Union made any great impression upon the dominating religious influences of the South. Not in the same degree, certainly, as the effort to secure money for the campaign did in the North. The work of the Sunday School Union, however, was of great value, especially in the pioneer sections. Thousands of Sunday schools were organized where no other religious advantages could be found.

Slavery Question a Factor in Religious Life of South.

The early religious life of the South underwent a great change in the middle forties. The agitation of the slavery question and its application to religious relationships brought about the organization of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845, and of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1846. Neither of these was brought about by the war, but came from great underlying causes that ultimately did lead also to an attempted political division. After this time it was practically impossible for organizations having their centre in other sections of the country to work in the South. Neither of these two general bodies gave much attention to organized work for Sunday school extension

until about the time of the war. This was not unnatural. They were compelled to equip themselves for missionary activity and they could not organize along all lines at once. But there never was a time when they were unmindful of the great value of the Sunday school. Some reports on this subject show wisdom and penetration that we do little more than equal in our own time. Among the Baptists and Methodists the Sunday school idea was firmly in the minds of, and was vigorously pushed by, men who in after years became famous as great religious leaders. Dr. John A. Broadus with his colleague Dr. Basil Manly, Jr., was one of the first to interest himself in these matters, and he gloried in the fact that he once edited a child's paper. Bishop Haygood was a pioneer among Southern Methodists. The mission boards during this period were very active in Sunday school organization and their annual reports show a great number of Sunday schools organized. When the war broke out matters were just coming to a place where something worth while could have been done, and there were men who had set their hearts upon doing it.

Especial attention is given to the reports before these bodies as to the value of the Sunday school for the negro slaves. The missionaries were urged to persuade masters to provide Sunday schools for the negroes. It was general during this period for the negro slaves to belong to the same church as their white masters. In these churches they were treated as equals in every way in all matters pertaining to salvation. Separate Sunday schools seem to have been comparatively rare, although "Stonewall" Jackson taught in such a school. On many plantations, however, the master or mistress

instructed the slaves. Such instruction was of necessity oral, as the slaves were not, save in rare cases, taught to read.

The War of Secession a Hindrance to Sunday School Work.

During the war little could be done. The country was largely depopulated of its men. It was almost impossible to get Sunday school missionaries, as the demand for preachers was far beyond the supply. On the borders the Sunday School Union missionaries were working, but this was not possible in the heart of the South. Yet the Baptists began their first concerted movement for this kind of work

in the latter days of the war. There was a great demand for literature and for Sunday school primers and question books. Though the facilities for distribution were sadly ineffective, and the territory restricted, yet large quantities of these supplies were distributed. Until the days when all hope for the Southern cause had to be abandoned, the farsighted religious leaders among Baptists and Methodists were preparing for a vigorous Sunday school campaign for the children of the new Confederacy. Some of the reports and papers published at this time show all the grasp and penetration of the most advanced of modern Sunday school experts. That the Sunday school in the fertile religious soil of the South did not quickly reach its most advanced development was due to the wreck and ruin of the days of disaster when the war ended. Men of vision in all lines of work then had to wait until the foundations were laid again for society, and only the essential things could be done. The Sunday school had to wait, as did many other things.

In the days after the war little was or could be done. Churches must be reopened, preachers were scarce, the country was unsafe, political conditions