aders. Thus the Sunday school is dignified as not merely a
child's institution but one that includes men and women of all ages and
ministers to the deepest needs of all.

The Sunday school in the country is far more important relatively than it
is in the town. In fact the country people in many places think more of
their Sunday school than they do of the church. The Sunday school meets
every Sunday of the year. It is a layman's institution. But church
services are held only when they can get a preacher; which does not
average oftener than every other Sunday. On the average Sunday throughout
the year, in two denominations only in the South, there are 17,000
churches without preaching services. But their Sunday schools are
doubtless in session regularly. Sometimes the Bible school superintendent
does not attend the preaching service even when there is one. His Sunday
school is his church.

A careful religious survey of three typical counties in Indiana by field
investigators of the Presbyterian church revealed the fact that the
Sunday school is far from being a child's institution, there being nearly
as many members over 21 as under 14. The total enrollment was found to be
divided into almost equal thirds, children under 14, adults over 21, and
youth between those ages. There were more men in the Sunday schools than
in the churches. 40% of the church membership were males; while of the
Sunday-school membership over 14, 45% were males. Two-fifths of the
teachers in these country Sunday schools were discovered to be men,--a
much larger proportion than in the cities.

_Country Sunday-school Teaching_

With a vast opportunity, the country Sunday school really succeeds only
moderately. There is great room for improvement in its methods.
Occasionally you will find a country school conducted on as modern lines
as the best in the city; but usually they are fully as defective as the
local public schools, and for similar reasons. The state Sunday-school
associations are making real progress in standardizing the schools,
introducing semi-graded lessons and something of the modern system. But
the teachers are usually untrained, though well-meaning, and teach mostly
by rote. Stereotyped question and printed answer are consistently recited
by the younger classes, without stirring more than surface interest. The
older classes often make the lesson merely a point of departure and soon
take to the well-worn fields of theological disc