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History of the Sunday school
As a schoolboy, my favorite study was history, my leisure moments were spent in reading history, and my ideal successful man was one who could write history.
Thus it was, when invited to write the history of the Sunday School, I inwardly congratulated myself, and said, ‘Now is my time; at last the long-sought — for opportunity has come.’
Alas! I little realized, to use a Gilbertian phrase, that ‘an historian's lot is not a happy one.’
With great enthusiasm I started to read the report of the first teachers' meeting, which occurred January 24, 1854; but during the eight or nine hours which were spent in perusing the records of fifty years, my enthusiasm gradually oozed away, but my respect for historians increased.
To discover the interesting points in the school's history is like hunting for the proverbial needle in the proverbial haystack.
As near as I can learn,
Charles Williams and
Edwin Munroe were the prime movers in the establishing of the school, and the first meetings were held in the building now used as the office of the Somerville water department, on Prospect street, but which then stood on Medford street, and was utilized as a primary schoolhouse.
The first officers were: Superintendent,
Charles Williams;
vice-superintendent, Edwin Munroe; librarian,
Charles Williams, Jr.; secretary,
Isaac O. Giles.
One who was a member of the school at this early stage informs me that the attendance was about fifteen, and that its officers and teachers were persons of more than average ability.
