Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 112, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 May 1910 — His First Sunday School Class. [ARTICLE]

His First Sunday School Class.

In describing his first effort to interest a class of boys, Dr. Grenfell, whose work among the Labrador fishermen is well known, declares in "A Man's Faith” that if ever he felt like a fish out of water it was when he walked into that Sunday school in East London and heard himself called "teacher” by a number of unkempt archlns. By plodding along, I taught them

who killed Goliath, and much more useful information. I taught them that it. did not pay to come to school as long as you sucked peppermints, and that the use of hair oil meant “out you go.” As I knew what had appealed to me, I decided to try that. I started a movable gymnaulum in our sitting-room with one night a week for boxing, fencing and gymnastics. This, at least, taught the boys we could beat them at other things besides Bible stories. In this way we learned to love and trust one another, and this soon gave •me an entry into their homes. But the idea of boxing displeased our parson, and I was ignominiously dismissed from the roll of teachers. The adaptable sitting-room, however, served excellently for a classroom, and when I started anew all my old scholars, unbidden, sought a place. Using my faith on the same principle, I regularly took my poor lads with me for my summer holiday, rather than leave them in their sweatshops, and on my return told them what-a good time I had been having while I prayed for their souls. The class increased largely in numbers; the boys learned to swim, to row, to sail a boat, to play football, to box, to drill, to handle a gun, and so forth; and some of them are still among my best friends.