Remarks of the Chairman.-In conclusion, the chairman stated that in his opinion many useful and sensible remarks had been made, on the important and practical subject before them for discussion-and he believed that the features of the differet plans that had been adyocated bespoke peculiar merits to each—and the 'lateness of the hour prevented him from offering his opinion distinctly as to them all. He would however remark, that having himself taught a class in Sunday School, he had found great advantages from plans very similar to those advocated by the opener of the question: The monitor of the class, for the day, was the first child that came; to ascertain this, it was necessary that the Teacher be first there himself, and this punctuality, he said, for numerous reasons, was of the first importance. Into the hands of the earliest scholar was committed the books and papers of the class, and he became the teacher's assistant through the day. The chairman highly approved of the plan of never advancing from one class to another-and of having a particular seat never to be given up; and he thought the system of spelling strongly to be commended, especially in its distinctive feature of attaining a knowledge of it in the process of learning the alphabet.--and the only difficulty he saw in the way of it, was the furniture required; he would therefore state his own expedient in pursuing a system, on the same principles. He had found by the practice of his young scholars, (for he had taught a Testament and an A. B. C. class, at one and the same time,) that in spelling the most simple words, they would make the most inconsistent and unexpected mistakes: for instance, was the word house given out, the child would say H. S. house. I would answer " No"-again the scholar would say— H, N. "No"-(Teacher.) H, U. No" and so they would proceed without ever spelling the word; and being at last told, the impression on the mind was very slight. I then adopted the following improvement, spelling in the book, instead of out of it, and then pointing to each letter after giving out the word to spell: it was spelt correctly, and without interruption, and of consequence was better retained in the mind. Thus he said, by a single alphabet sheet, or if thought proper, by cutting out the letter singly, the teacher of every school might have a facility for teaching the rudiments on the plan laid down by the opener of the debate, and he would strongly recommend it. He could not refrain from urging on the meeting the important views that had been taken by the several speakers on the point of discipline; and would conclude his remarks by observing, that the discipline of every Teacher should begin with HIMSELF. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. QUESTIONS FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL CHILDREN. I told you how our Lord died upon the cross, and now I will tell you what happened afterwards. There was a good man named Joseph; and he took the body of Jesus down from the cross of wood, and buried him in a place dug out of a rock; (not cover ing him over with earth as we bury people, but just laid him in,) and rolled a great stone to the door to keep it close, and there the body of the Lord Jesus lay three days. And there were a great many soldiers set there to watch. And now if Jesus Christ had lain in that grave for ever, what would have become of us! Then we should have nobody to stand before God up in heaven, and beg for us; and what should we have done! But those wicked men could not keep him dead; they killed him to be sure, because he came to die for sinners, on purpose; but now listen: He was put in the grave on Friday, and on Sunday morning early, before the sun rose, there was a great earthquake; and the angel of the Lord came down from the sky, and rolled away the great stone from the door, and Jesus our Lord came out alive; so he rose from the dead on the third day; he left the grave, and went to heaven; and there he is at God's right hand, praying for his own people that love him, and ready to take them to live with him, when they die. Now you must tell me a little about what I have been telling you. What was that good man's name who took our Lord down from the cross? What did he do with him when he took him down? What did he put against the door of the place in the rock? How long did Jesus lay there? Was any one set to watch it? On what day did he die? And on what day did he come to life again? So there were three days; Friday, How did he get out of the grave? day morning? It begins so- "And should I keep my eyelids closed, "And waste my time in bed?” Some people think they may lay in bed Sunday morning, because they have no work to do-they'll get up early to do their own work but not to serve God and think of him. Do you remember to get up early and say over that little hymn to yourself and make haste to school to hear more about Jesus who rose so early from the dead. Before Jesus Christ went to heaven he staid a little while in the world, forty days, telling his people what they must do when he was gone; and then, he took some of the people that loved him to a hill, and told them they must go and tell every body, how much he loved them and how he died for them; and that if they would love him, and mind him, they should not go to hell, but come and live with him in heaAnd then he went up into the sky, till the clouds hid him from their sight, and they could not see him any more. But two beautiful angels dressed in white, came and said to them, "Why do you stand gazing and looking up into heaven, as if you would never see Jesus again." And then they told him that that same Jesus would come again at the last day, in the clouds, and take all that love him, to live with him, and send the bad people and bad children that would not hear about him, nor care for him, to live with the devil in fire for ever. ven So now we must take care to love him and mind him, and when he comes in the clouds, he will take us for his own children, and we shall be with the angels, and never die any more, nor be sick, nor hurt, nor sorry, nor bad; and there will be no darkness, nor night, but beautiful light all the time, brighter than the sunshine; and our fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters that have loved Jesus Christ and been good, shall be there too, and we shall all be happy together. Did our Lord go directly into hea- How long did he stay? And then, where did he go? could not see him any more? And then, what did they see? What did the angels tell them? When did they say he would come again? What will he do then? Shall the good people when they go Is there any dark night there? Is it as bright as the sun there? good, shall they be there too? Then if any of you have got fathers and mothers, that swear and steal and get drunk and won't go to church, nor pray; you must pray to God to make them good, and tell them how Jesus Christ died for sinners, and that they must leave off their bad ways, or else they can never get to that beautiful place; but that there is another place they must go to; you know what place that is, and there they must be for ever and ever. [For the American Sunday School T. Magazine.] 66 ON READIMG IN SUNDAY SCHOOLS." There are mortals who have a certain curiosity, "without "power of reflection, and peruse my papers like spectators " rather than readers." So says Addison. And the same truth continues in full force to this day. The answer to the question, Have you read this book? Yes, I look'd at it the other day, is literally true. How necessary is it that teachers of Sunday Schools should guard against this looking at books. How essential is it that Sunday School children should be taught to read, not look at the bible. This looking at books, instead of reading them, is owing either to a want of interest in the books we read, or to a habit we have acquired in our early years. For the first, I believe, there is no remedy: For the second, there is, I think, a preventive. It is in the power of those whose delightful task it is "to rear the tender thought." I would ask, are there not many who have acquired in their youth a disrelish for some of the most brilliant effusions of genius? What school boy would not dislike to read the sublime lines in our common school books, commencing with, "Ye Nymphs of Solyma begin the song." Not a line of it is within his comprehension, and as he reads from sound, not sense, he might as well have pronounced it in Greek. And such an ascendency does habit acquire, that it is a question whether he can ever read it afterwards with either gratification or pleasure. It is in this manner that two thirds of our Sunday School children read the bible. They begin to read it at an age when it is almost impossible that they can understand it; and they acquire a careless habit of reading, in which the eye alone takes a part, and that habit increases with their growth; and I have not the least doubt that many who have been taught to read at our Sunday Schools would take up a bible and read a chapter without ever thinking of the meaning of a single verse. I do not wish to be understood as saying, that the bible is too difficult for the youthful mind. The fault lies not in what they read, but in the manner they are allowed to read it. In reading in Sunday Schools there are three principal faults: 1st. In reading without having the words of the lesson explained. 2d. Each boy reading but one verse. 3d. The lessons are given without any consideration whether they may interest the scholars. As regards the first fault, I have no doubt that many a lesson has been recited without one word being understood. Many children, under the care of Sunday School teachers, are such as never had a word explained to them at home; and in my opinion, every word in the lessons should be defined by the teacher, before the lesson is read by the scholars. They would soon become desirous of knowing the meaning of words in books they might read at home. The curiosity common to children would be a great assistance. The bad effects of the second must be evident when we consider if a child rea ds the first, tenth, and nineteenth verses of a chapter, it is entirely left to himself to improve by the exercise; if he attends to the VOL. Į 47 rest then he will improve; but it is not probable, therefore, be the lesson long or short, every child should read the whole of it, or it will be time wasted. Men are too apt to think whatever is interesting to them, must be so to children." If you wish children to improve you must interest their feelings; you must give them something to read that contains either novelty, amusement, or instruction in such language as they can understand. Now, I believe I can safely say that two hundred boys would read the greater part of the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles without feeling the least interest. And I believe very few could be found who would not be interested in the parables, the miracles or any concise history; and such as the last mentioned should be their lessons. F. THE SUNDAY SCHOOL OBSERVER-NO. 1. On Sunday School Celebrations. Since the establishment of Sunday Schools there has not been an occurrence more worthy of notice, nor one calculated to call forth more serious reflection upon the subject, than the celebration of the Sunday Schools in one of the western cities, on the anniversary of our national independence. We, who are accustomed to see on that day not only our youthful population, but thousands matured in years, giving themselves up to dissipation, can scarcely credit the account that is given to us of both children and adults returning thanks to Heaven for the inestimable blessings of political and religious liberty. Who now dares doubt the efficacy or the utility of Sunday Schools? Lives there the man who would not thank those men who have so far improved the children of his day, and instead of riot, intoxication and debauchery, have introduced order, sobriety and temperance? The children were attended by their teachers, and, be assured, many a parent proudly followed his child, and many a child gazed in wonder at the sight, until he would have been pleased to have been a participater in the proceedings. Think you any of those were engaged in breaking the laws of |