SUNDAY SCHOOL NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 18157, 23 December 1922, Page 4

SUNDAY SCHOOL NOTES

[By Forward.] [ltems of interest-short, bright paragraphs of news, comments on these Notes, inquiries about difficulties —will be welcomed by "Forward.”] THE CRADLE ROLL. An appea] to the younger mothers of onr churches. Please read the following, think it out in the holidays, and come back to offer your services in 1923. “The cradle is the throne of human destiny; you and I are the power behind the throne.” WHAT THE CRADLE ROLL CAN DO. What a. magic music is in that word cradle! When the cradle ceases to kindle the imagination and stir the heart we are lost-. The word is a picture-poem. It has been used by artists in all their greatest creations. It conjures up to ua motherhood and the baby. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world, or, rather, should rule the world.

But the child is the vital unit, after all —not the mother. If this be so, then the Sunday school must exert its influence over the hand behind the cradle. Here is the significance and power of the Cradle Roll Department. Every church, oven the weakest, can and should have a cradle roll- The old idea was for the Church to concentrate its powers on the adult life of the land, but we have outgrown such radically false ideas. The development of the cradle roll can bring into our work the love, the guilolessness, the holy beauty of childhood. We are building wrongly unless) we begin with the cradle. What is the cradle roll? Even with all our conventions and discussions you still find dozens asking this question. Let us see how to begin. Wo need a superintendent, and the ideal one is a young mother with some leisure who was previously a teacher in the school. She must be grasped with a sense' of the importance and worth of -her work. Some take it up .as a hobby or under pressure; but nothing comes of this. Give me a young mother, fondly attached to her children and all children, deeply interested in the religious training of children, and I can assure you of success.

Baptism day comes. The superintendent is present, and Js introduced to the parents. She lias her little present, her enrolment card, and her literature about the subject. Now she can show her loving tact and win her way into the hearts of the parents, for on -that day of presentation the parental emotions are deeply stirred. This should be followed by a personal visit to the home, when permission may be got to put baby’s name on the roll. In churches where infant baptism is not practised some other opportunity may be found. At this visit and subsequent ones the hint is let fall of the time when, at four years of age, tho child will enter the school as a beginner. Sometimes a little circular ;s signed.

The baby’s name is put on a slip with a gummed back, and this is forwarded to the leader of the Beginners’ Department. With a little ceremony the name is put on the roll, a prayer is offered lor the new baby: “ Dear Father in Heaven, bless little Ruth, and when she is old enough bring lipr to oCr Sunday school. Ajnen.” A bunch of flowers is ready to be sent to Ruth’s mother. Some little ones are chosen to go with the flowers. Thus mother and father and baby are linked to the school; hut other links must be forged. Each birthday Uiere will bo a visit, and on hearing of baby’s illness. In fact, the superintendent should pay a monthly visit and keep a diary of each visit. The superintendent should be in touch with the Plunlcet nurses, and know their literature and methods. If baby is ' ill, then the visitor can suggest, and so in her time of need the mother feels the school influence. You must have the warm, living, personal touch. Cards alone are useless. Sentiment is the strong bond. Without the human touch the cradle roll will die.

When the superintendent visits she can bring nows of the church and the school—not gossip, but facts of interest. The visitor in some district may hear of cases of distress and sickness, and so become a real ministering servant of Christ, But all centres round tho baby and its welfare. Then tho superintendent can act as a link between the home and the minister, telling him of sickness, and so helping to keep him in touch. _ Thus you can have the cradle roll as tho link to the school, to tho church, to' the Plunket Society, and even to tho relief society in some poorer-districts. Could not an entertainment such as this bo given? Take one of the bigger schoolrooms. Clear away forms, and have it set out with little tables and chairs. Borrow rugs, mats, carpel square, and have these spread in the centre. There the babies can sprawl, and there should be a supply of toys. A cup of tea is handed round, and someone who really knows mothers and children gives a talk on some phase of child life or home training, I leave you (o suggest other things that would make the gathering interesting and helpful. The cradle roll is tho personal touch, the outgoing of sympathy; not some artificial organisation. Let your superintendent bo a woman of a u 1? leav i> and all will bo well. “I alll certain of nothing,” says Keats, but of the holiness of tho heart’s affections and the truth of imagination.” . Apply this to the cradle roll and success is sure.