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CHAPTER
XVIII
THE FIRST SABBATH SCHOOL
THE duties of the first
week in school were over, and books were deposited
upon the rough shelf. The open Bible, from which we
had just read, lay upon the table. The eyes of all
were upon their teacher, awaiting the closing exercise.
She trembled, in view of her responsibility and the
proposal she was about to make. She had assumed voluntarily
a position fraught with momentous consequences, however
it might be viewed by the world. She was the only
professing Christian in the community, and religious
teaching had been wholly neglected. No sacred house
of prayer and praise witnessed the assembling of the
people on the Sabbath. Though disposed to allow every
one to enjoy his own opinion, provided he interfered
not with others, the inhabitants of St. Paul were,
in the main, scoffers at religion. For a singlehanded
and lone female to occupy a distinct and decided position
in such a community was no trifling work. Her actions
would be misunderstood, her words misinterpreted,
and the devices of Satan would beset her on every
hand. Do you wonder that she trembled, and found no
strength in herself, and that, but for an invisible
presence, she would have shrunk entirely from the
new duty.
"Children,"
said she, "I remember when I was a very little
girl, and went to Sunday school, that I read in a
little book of a young lady who went to visit some
friends a long way from her home, where the children.
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had never heard of a Sunday school.
She invited them to come together to form one, and
they soon learned to love it very much; and she, too,
was very happy in instructing them; and a great deal
of good resulted from it.
"Even when a child
I often wished for a similar position, but I did not
then expect it. While I am with you I wish to do you
all the good I can, and therefore wish you to obtain
your parent's permission to come here next Sabbath,
and we will have a Sunday School. Will you
come?"
The children looked at
each other inquiringly, and one little girl, with
meek blue eyes, timidly asked—
"What is Sunday school?"
"Is it not,"
says another, "where they study the Bible, and
learn of the Saviour?"
"And would you not
like to know more of the Saviour, and be one of the
school?" said the teacher.
"O! very much, and
mother will be glad to have us come," said one.
Another said she "would
come if the priest would let her." The boys preferred
to go fishing, but finally consented to come for one
hour. A lesson was given out, an interpreter engaged
for those who needed, and we tremblingly awaited the
approach of the trial Sabbath.
The day proved dark and
rainy; but there was a gleam of pleasure in the eyes
of the seven children who composed the first
SUNDAY SCHOOL in St. Paul. With no
ordinary delight the teacher saw that some special
preparations had been made, for the soiled and torn
dress of the day previous had been carefully washed
and mended. One half-breed woman was present as visitor;
and we know, that however unpromising the
prospect one heart throbbed with happiness inexpressible.
It was
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a day of peace and joy, and I occupied
a position which I would not resign for the most exalted
on earth. (July 25, 1847.)
The following extract
from the records of the "First Baptist Sunday
School" in St. Paul, is from the pen of its worth
Secretary, E. G. Barrows, and is
a faithful portraiture of the commencement and surroundings
of the first effort:
"The beginning of
our Sunday School—the first Sunday School established
in Minnesota*—was made by Miss HARRIET
E. BISHOP, on the 25 of July, 1847. The school
was commenced in a little log hovel, covered with
bark, and chinked with mud, previously used as a blacksmith's
shop. It contained but one small room, about ten by
twelve. On three sides of the interior of this humble
log cabin, pegs were driven into the logs, upon which
boards were laid for seats. Another seat was made
by placing one end of a plank between the cracks of
the logs, and the other upon a chair. This was for
visitors, in case any should straggle in. A rickety
cross-legged table in the center, and a hen's
nest in one corner, completed the furniture.
"There were seven
scholars that day—three white children and four
half-breeds, and one visitor, a half-breed woman.
It was necessary to get an interpreter. A large half-breed
girl was found who could speak English, French, and
Sioux.† The second Sunday there were but four
scholars; a circumstance which looked discouraging.
An interest was awakened on the subject, and the third
Sabbath the room was filled. There were about twenty-five
children, besides a number of visitors
*The first permanently
established.
† All of which were then spoken.
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who came to witness the novelty of a
Sunday school; for, be it remembered, at that time,
not only Sunday schools, but Churches were
unknown in St. Paul.
"Here the school
was continued until November, and then removed (with
the day school) to a small frame building on the bluff,
near the lower landing. Through the winter, the school
was sustained by the personal efforts of Miss B.,
who, notwithstanding the severe cold, walked every
Sabbath morning from her residence, near the American
House (nearly a mile), to this little building, made
a fire, and waited for the half-frozen little ones
to come, and when they were sufficiently warmed, taught
them the same precious and beautiful truths
that we learn in our Sunday school, without
fee or reward, except the blissful consciousness of
doing her duty.
"To Miss B. belongs
the credit of commencing and sustaining, for a year,
unassisted, a Sunday school in a then almost unknown
wilderness, and she is still among us.
* * * *
"In the summer of
1848, Deacon A. H. Cavender came
to reside in St. Paul, and afforded much assistance
in these arduous labors. He was the first superintendent,
and has ever since been identified with its progress
and prosperity.
"In the autumn of
1848, the school was removed to the new school-house,
the first in the Territory, and here continued until
the fall of 1850, when it numbered nearly seventy-five
members. Other denominations had, in the meantime,
come in and taken an interest in this work, among
whom were Rev. E. D. Neal, Presbyterian,
and Rev. B. F. Hoyt, Methodist. Churches
had been organized, and a division was decided upon.
Presbyterians and Methodists formed separate schools,
leaving
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the Baptist school in possession of
the school-house and a small library, and something
over one-third of the scholars.
"Our house of worship
was completed in the fall of 18 51, and thither the
school removed, * * *
"It has been
our purpose to sketch the beginning, that
when our little streamlet shall become a broad and
flowing river, the curious may trace it back to its
humble fountain."
In 1850, the Sunday school
interest was revived by a visit to the Territory of
Rev. Dr. Babcock, agent of the American Sunday-School
Union, and schools have since been springing up all
over the land, nor can their importance be overrated.
In strange, but pleasing
contrast with the Fourth of July, 1848, was the Fourth
of July, 1856. On the latter day the various schools
of St. Paul, comprising more than five hundred scholars,
wearing floral wreaths and printed badges, formed,
with the citizens, a procession of more than a mile
in length, and headed by a brass band, wound through
the principal streets to "Great Brook Grove,"
where public exercises were conducted in the most
satisfactory and approved manner. The speakers' stand
was decorated with flowers, and a table, sumptuously
spread, groaned beneath its burden. When summary justice
had been done to the eatables, the grove rang with
merriment, and hundreds of youthful voices testified
their unrestrained joy on the occasion. All this we
saw, where, on the first-mentioned day, the wolf was
howling over the red man's council fire. In view of
all these changes, we could not but exclaim, "It
is the Lord's doings, and marvelous in our eyes."
Chapter 19
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