Produced by Emmy, Tor Martin Kristiansen and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) SEVEN GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOLS A SERIES OF PRACTICAL PAPERS EDITED BY JESSE LYMAN HURLBUT _Secretary of the Sunday School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church_ NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS CINCINNATI: CURTS & JENNINGS Copyright, 1893, by HUNT & EATON NEW YORK. CONTENTS. PAGE THE ESSENTIALS OF A GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL. By Jesse L. Hurlbut, D.D., Secretary of the Sunday School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church 5 THE AKRON PLAN. By Hon. Lewis Miller, of Akron, O. 11 THE WILKESBARRE PLAN. By George S. Bennett, Esq., of Wilkesbarre, Pa. 33 THE DETROIT PLAN. By Horace Hitchcock, Esq., of Detroit, Mich. 51 THE ERIE PLAN. By H. A. Strong, Esq., of Erie, Pa. 65 THE CHICOPEE PLAN. By Hon. L. E. Hitchcock, of Chicopee, Mass. 79 THE LYNCHBURG PLAN. By Irvine Garland Penn, of Lynchburg, Va. 90 THE PLAINFIELD PLAN. By Jesse L Hurlbut, D.D. 103 A MODEL SUNDAY SCHOOL ROOM. 113 THE ESSENTIALS OF A GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL. BY JESSE L. HURLBUT, D.D. THE living question in the Sunday school of to-day is that which considers its form of organization. As every good public school at the present time is a graded school, so every first-class Sunday school must be. There can be no efficient, regular, and satisfactory work done in a Sunday school without a system of grade. On this subject there is extensive inquiry, yet general lack of information. The majority of superintendents and teachers have either no conception or at best an exceedingly vague idea of what constitutes a graded Sunday school. We propose in a few words to set forth what are the essential features of a graded Sunday school. The first essential is that the school be divided into certain general departments, which may be three, four, or five in number. In our opinion the best division is into the four departments--Primary, Intermediate, Junior, and Senior. These departments should exist in reality, as well as in name, and each department should be recognized as a separate element in the working of the school.