After they sang them they all kneeled down and the superintendent led in an earnest prayer. Then they read the lesson, verse about, and the teachers began work with their classes.
Grown-up people sometimes think the Sunday school is just for the children, and even here at Welty's there were some who seemed to think that way, and the Sunday school consisted mostly of children.
WELTY'S MEETING-HOUSE.
Charlie's teacher took his class to the one end of the church, into an adjoining room, where they could learn so much better, not being annoyed at all by the talking of the other classes. Here in this little room, teacher and class regularly study the Word of God for a half hour every Sunday.
A half hour seems but a short time, and indeed it is, but that is only the recitation period, and that is long enough for such as have studied the lesson well. It takes a good while to tell what we don't know, but not very long to tell what we do know.
Sunday school was over and five minutes later church services began. Nearly all the scholars remained for church. Several ministers were there, and the one who preached talked about the love of God for everybody. He said God loved boys and girls as well as men and women. He loved bad people and good people. He even loved heathen people, and He wants every one everywhere to love Him in return. He said God wants all of us to serve Him, and if we do not serve Him, we can not love Him. He said, too, that the more we serve Him, the happier we are, and the less we do for Him, the more unhappy we are.
He talked about prayer, too. He said some Christians pray and some Christians do not, and how that the best Christians always pray the most.
The preacher was an old man whose beard was already gray with the labors of many years, and everybody said it was a good sermon.