THE SOUTH CHUKCII. 25 



Charles Lewis. Rules and regulations for tlie school were 

 adopted at this meeting, which provided that the fipj)ointniont 

 of officers and the general care of the school should he in the 

 hands of the Church. The sessions of the Sunday. school were 

 •held in the vestry of the church, but whcm the building was 

 removed in 1866, to make room for the new edifice, the school 

 was transferred to the audience room. 



When the new chapel was completed in the spring of 1867, 

 the school, which had been suspended for a short time, was 

 opened in the new rooms, the primary department occupying the 

 room on the west side of the chapel. These rooms it was sup- 

 posed would afford ample accommodations for the Sunday- 

 school, and it was thought that there would be no necessity of hav- 

 ing classes in the audience room of the church. But with addi- 

 tional accommodations the school increased in number of mem- 

 bers more rapidly than ever before, the net increase in numbers in 

 a single year, 1869, being 114. For the first decade, 1842-52, the 

 gain in number of members enrolled was 45; for the second 

 decade, 1852-62, 38, and for the third, 1862-72, it was 436, or 

 more than two hundred per cent. After the dedication of the 

 new edifice and all the rooms were opened, the chapel, primary 

 room and parlor, were soon crowded by the classes of the Sun- 

 day-school, and still additions were making to the school con- 

 stantly. What was to be done? The audience room was new, 

 and had not been constructed with reference to the convenience 

 of Sunday-school instruction, and there was a considerable 

 number of the members of the Church and Society w^ho thought 

 it not wise to have it occupied by classes. 



After consultation and prayer for wisdom, without dissension 

 or objec,tion, or any vote by Church or Society, the doors were 

 opened, first for a single class in one corner of the audience 

 room, and then for more, until the entire room was occupied 

 from pulpit to organ with classes engaged in the study of God's 

 word. For some years this necessary arrangement, approved 

 by all who sought the advancement of Christ's kingdom, was 

 adequate, but the school continued to increase. The number of 

 member^ enrolled at the close of the fourth decade of the his- 



