FIRST REPORT OF THE NEW-YORK SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION SOCIETY, FOR THE YEAR ENDING FEBRUARY, 1817. NEW-YORK: PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY, BY J SEYMOUR. 1817. ON a review of the progress of this Society during the year which has elapsed since its formation, the Committee are happy to say, that their expectations have been more than realized. Experience has convinced them, that there is little danger of anticipating too much good from Sunday Schools properly conducted, or of looking prematurely for their fruits. The system is fraught with blessings to the unlettered poor and to society, which no other method of benevolence ever conferred or promised. Its effects speak its eulogy, while the merits of the plan are a sufficient pledge for its future prosecution and success. When the Committee entered on the duties of their appointment, they could not but feel some solicitude in view of the responsibility of their trust, the novelty of the undertaking, and the magnitude of its interests. They anticipated various difficulties, which they saw no way to avoid or to surmount. They feared the public was but ill prepared for an enterprize, which called not so much for funds as for personal exertions; which demanded the zeal, the self-denial, and the active and indefatigable labours of so large a number of persons. But their apprehensions were almost wholly groundless. The time for this arduous and beneficent work had come; the way was prepared; the means were provided. Obstacles have indeed been met, which nothing but zeal and perseverance can overcome; but they are such as obstruct all efficient efforts towards the reformation of ignorance and de pravity; such as are not likely to discourage, much less to defeat the operations of this Institution. Immediately after the organization of the Society, schools were established in different parts of the city, and multitudes of uneducated children and adults collected into them. The design was prosecuted with so much energy, that twenty-three Schools were opened before the first Quarterly Meeting. These Schools, conducted by about 50 Superintendents and 170 Teachers, comprised more than 2000 learners; of which number, about one tenth part were adults, and one fourth part people of colour. In the three months preceding the second quarterly meeting, three new schools were instituted, and considerable additions were made to the number of teachers and learners. Two more Schools were formed before the termination of the third quarter, making 28 schools, including, at the last mentioned period, no less than 3000 scholars. The reports received from the Managers of the Schools, at these quarterly meetings, afforded most ample and gratifying evidences of the utility and importance of the undertaking; and particularly of the visible improvement witnessed in the personal appearance and the behaviour of the scholars, and of their rapid progress in the attainment of knowledge: nor were there wanting testimonies that several of them had, to appearance, been savingly benefited through the instrumentality of Sunday School instruction. In short, the beneficial effects of these institutions were shown to have been experienced by families and neighbourhoods, and to be notorious on the slightest observation of the streets, particularly on the Lord's day. At the fourth quarterly meeting, which took place on the third day of the present month, it appeared that the number both of teachers and learners had been somewhat augmented, notwithstanding the inclemency of the season; and that much had been gained in point. of regular and punctual attendance. The Reports were unanimous in testifying to the diligence of the learners, the interest with which they engaged in their tasks, the solicitude with which they listened to religious instruction, the salutary influence wrought on their dispositions and conduct, and the various happy effects of the schools upon children and parents. Not a few instances were specified of children having become hopefully pious in the schools, whose subsequent conduct had confirmed the favourable impressions entertained respecting them; and one or two, who have been taken from this world, manifested, in their last hours, a deep sense of religion and a humble confidence in the Saviour. It should be observed of the children received into these schools, that a large proportion of them were never before favoured with any literary or religious instruction; and those who had learned to read, for the most part, knew nothing of their moral obligations and duties. The wretched circumstances and deplorable ignorance of many of them, were such as might affect any heart. Could the Society look into the retreats of indigence and vice from which numbers of scholars have been collected, no language employed to describe their situation would be thought extravagant. The offspring of parents who have themselves trod the paths of ignorance and depravation, they were nursed in the lap of irreligion, and educated by examples of iniquity. |