CONTENTS—First Sabbath teaching—Hannah Bell, 1769—School
established, 1781—Raikes—Wesley—First in United States—First in
Canada—Cattrick, Moon—Common in 1824—First in Belleville—Turnbull—
Cooper—Marshall—Prizes, who won them—Mr. Turnbull’s death—
Intemperance—First Temperance Societies—Change of custom—Rum—
Increasing intemperance—The tastes of the Pioneers—Temperance, not
teetotalism—First Society in Canada—Drinks at Raising and Bees—
Society at Hollowell.
SABBATH SCHOOLS.
The earliest attempt known to teach children upon the Sabbath was in
1769, made by a young lady, a Methodist, by the name of Hannah Bell, in
England, who was instrumental in training many children in the knowledge
of the Holy Scriptures. In 1781, while another Methodist young woman
(afterward the wife of the celebrated lay preacher, Samuel Bradburn) was
conversing in Gloucester with Robert Raikes, a benevolent citizen of
that town, and publisher of the _Gloucester Journal_, he pointed to
groups of neglected children in the street, and asked: “What can we do
for them?” She answered: “Let us teach them to read and take them to
church!” “He immediately proceeded to try the suggestion, and the
philanthropist and his female friend attended the first company of
Sunday-scholars to the church, exposed to the comments and laughter of
the populace as they passed along the street with their ragged
procession. Such was the origin of our present Sunday-school, an
institution which has perhaps done more for the church and the social
improvement of Protestant communities, than any other agency of modern
times, the pulpit excepted. Raikes, and his humble assistant, conducted
the experiment without ostentation. Not till November 3, 1783, did he
refer to it in his public journal. In 1784, he published in that paper
an account of his plan. This sketch immediately arrested the attention
of Wesley, who inserted the entire article in the January number of the
_American Magazine_ for 1785, and exhorted his people to adopt the new
institution.”
In 1786, they were begun in the United States by the Methodist Bishop,
Francis Asbury, in Virginia. In 1790, the Methodist conference “resolved
on establishing Sunday-schools for poor children, white and black,”
since which time they have been in operation.
The first notice found of a Sabbath-school in Upper Canada, is in June,
1817, when a Rev. Mr. Cattrick proposed at Kingston to organize one. A
communication from Wm. Moon, in the _Gazette_, expresses great pleasure
thereat, and Mr. Moon offers for the purpose his school-room, and
likewise his services. In 1824, Sunday-schools were common in the old
settlements, and were valued and encouraged by all classes of people.
Not only did private benevolence contribute to the schools, but the
Upper Canada Parliament granted £150, for the “use and encouragement of
Sunday-schools,” and of indigent and remote settlements, in the purchase
of books and tracts—(Playter). A Sabbath-school was established in
Belleville about 1826, by John Turnbull, Dr. Marshall, and Dr. Cooper
who taught in the school. Some religious society granted books and
tracts to schools. Four prizes were granted for good attendance and
behaviour, consisting of two Bibles and two Testaments. They were
awarded, the first to J. H. Meacham, who is now Postmaster of
Belleville; the second to his sister, Anna Meacham, the third to Matilda
McNabb, the fourth to Albert Taylor. While these pages are going through
the press, we receive the sad intelligence that John Turnbull, Esq.,
last living of the three mentioned, has passed away at the beginning of
this new year, 1869, after a life of well-merited respect, and honor.
The writer feels he has lost a friend.
INTEMPERANCE.—Total abstinence or teetotalism was unknown when Upper
Canada was first settled. The first temperance society ever organized
was at Moreau, Saratoga, County, New York, in 1808.
To taste and drink a glass of wine or grog, was not regarded as a sin by
any one of that day. To the soldiers and sailors grog was dealt out as
regularly every day as rations. Rum was the liquor more generally used,
being imported from Jamaica, and infinitely purer than the rum sold
to-day. It has to be recorded that at a comparatively early date,
breweries and distilleries were erected, first in one township then in
another, so that after a few years the native liquor was much cheaper
than rum, and then followed the natural result—namely, increasing
intemperance. It is not difficult to understand that the old soldier
would like his regular glass of grog. In the long and tedious journeys
made by boat, when food perhaps was very limited in quantity, the
conveniently carried bottle would take its place, and extraordinary
labor and severe exposure would be endured by the agency of unnatural
stimulus. The absence of teetotal principles, the customs of the day;
want of food; frequent and severe trials and exposures, would lead even
the best of men to partake of spirituous liquors. As we see it to-day,
so it was then, abuse arose from moderate use, and those who had no
control over the appetite, or who loved to forget the bitterness of the
day by inebriation, would avail themselves of the opportunity to indulge
to excess. The mind naturally craves a stimulant. If this desire be not
fed by legitimate food, it is too likely to appropriate the unnatural.
The excitement of war had passed away; but had left in its wake the
seeds of longing in the breast of the old soldier. The educated man shut
out from the world, had but little to satisfy the usually active mind.
With some, the remembrance of old scenes—of old homesteads, and their
belongings, were forgotten in the stupefying cup. When all these facts
are considered, is there not abundant reason to wonder that intemperance
did not prevail more extensively. But it is a question after all,
whether the loyalists became more addicted to the cup after they
settled, than when at the old homes. Those who have charged the old
settlers with the vice of drinking, have forgotten to look at them in
comparison with other countries at that day, instead of the light set up
at a later period.
But while the pioneers preserved themselves from unusual indulgence, it
is to be regretted that their children too often forsook the path of
soberness, and in losing their right minds, lost the old farm made
valuable by their fathers’ toil. It was often a repetition of what
occasionally occurred when the soldiers were disbanded. They would often
sell a location ticket, or two or three acres of land for a quart of
rum; the sons would sell the fruit of a father’s hard work of a life
time.
One of the first temperance societies formed in Canada was in
Adolphustown, on the 4th January, 1830. On this occasion the Rev. Job
Deacon, of the Church of England, delivered an address, after which a
respectable majority and three out of five magistrates present, adopted
resolutions condemning the use of ardent spirits, and unitedly
determining not to use or furnish drink for raisings, bees, and harvest
work. At the same meeting a temperance society was formed and a
constitution adopted under the title of “The Adolphustown Union Sabbath
School Temperance Society.” They pledged themselves not to use ardent
spirits for one year.
According to the Hollowell _Free Press_, a temperance society was formed
at Hollowell, in 1829; for it is announced that the “Second Anniversary”
will be held 3rd June, 1831. It is announced April 12, 1831, that a
temperance meeting will be held in the Methodist Chapel, when addresses
will be delivered by Dr. A. Austin. The officers elected for the ensuing
year are Asa Worden, Esq., M.P.P., President; Dr. Austin, Vice
President; P. V. Elmore, Secretary and Treasurer.