Mission Work of Central Church in Fall River A.D. 1849-1905 Introduction First School, 1849. Organization of the Union School, 1853. Fall River Domestic Missionary Society, 1853-1858. Fall River Mission Sabbath School, 1858. Fall River Mission Sunday-School Building, 1861. Annals of Pleasant Street Mission Sabbath School, 1861-1903. Work of Rev. E. A. Buck, Missionary, 1867-1903. Work of Miss Caroline Borden, 1853-1905. Fathers and Mothers' Bible Class, 1880-1905. History of Pleasant Street Mission School THE first movement towards establishing a Sunday school for the neglected children of the city, who received no religious training at home, was inaugurated at a ladies' prayer-meeting for foreign missions, held in the vestry of the Central Church, on Bedford Street, in the summer of 1849. Mrs. Borden, wife of Col. Richard Borden, asked at that meeting the question, "Are there no heathen about us, who need to be saved?" Two of the ladies present, Miss Lucretia Dean and Miss Julia A. Sessions (now Mrs. Eli Thurston), volunteered to go into the byways and alleys of the town, with the purpose of persuading parents to allow their children to come on the next Sunday morning, at nine o'clock, to the hall on Bedford Street, where they might learn something which would do them good. The hall, in which some eight or nine children gathered that first Sunday, was loaned for the purpose by its owner, Mr. Abram Bowen, father of Mr. Joseph A. Bowen. Our own Sunday school connected with the Church was large and prosperous, and universally attended by the children of the Church; but members of the Central Church were the pioneers in the mission work in Fall River, which has since grown to such proportions. The numbers attending this Mission School steadily increased, but naturally fluctuated, as the children were often late or absent, so that Miss Dean and Miss Sessions agreed to go early to the homes of the children and bring them. This they did for some time, until steady habits of attendance were formed. An episode occurring soon after the opening of the Mission, is of some interest as illustrating the immense change of sentiment in regard to Sabbath observance since those days. It was found, to the indignant surprise of the teachers, that the children attending the school often supplied themselves with candy and peanuts at a little hut of a shop near their hall, and within a stone's throw of the churches. It was kept by an Irish woman, in defiance of law and the rule of her own church. Great was the horror of the good ladies interested in the school; for they felt sure that all the good they could inculcate would be more than canceled by the wickedness of such Sabbath breaking. So great was their zeal for reform, that they invoked the aid of the police, and all attended court as witnesses against the law-breaker; as a final result, the proprietor was obliged to remove to a less sanctified locality. This movement for the benefit of the neglected waifs soon attracted the attention of the christian workers of the town belonging to other denominations, and in the spring of 1853 the "Fall River Domestic Missionary Society" was organized, including different religious denominations, and having for its object "the diffusion of religious knowledge among the destitute in Fall River and vicinity," by the employment of one or more missionaries to labor from house to house, and by the distribution of Bibles, tracts, and religious books. At this time, it was thought expedient for the interests of the Mission, to reorganize the school, making it a "union school," and non-sectarian, also to change its place of meeting to some room not connected with any church. This change was made, and the school was put under the patronage of that society. Mr. Thomas F. Eddy was made superintendent. The successive presidents of the society were, Richard Borden, Benjamin Earl, Elihu Grant, and Jeremiah Young. In the summer of 1853, a Ladies' Society was organized, to be auxiliary to the Fall River Domestic Missionary Society; also including different denominations, for the purpose of supplying clothing for Sabbath-school children. May 14, 1854, a meeting of the superintendents and teachers of the school was held at the Mission room, on Central Street, when it was voted to organize "a society for the purpose of sustaining the Sabbath school," to be known as the "Fall River Missionary Sunday-School Society." Its charter members were: Thomas Boardman, Lucretia Dean, Elizabeth R. Shove, Eliza G. Burrows, Helen M. Cobb, Maria B. Marvel, William T. Coggeshall, Hannah E. Coggeshall, Joseph Borden, Thomas F. Eddy, John D. Flint, Sylvia J. Dyer, David H. Dyer, Emily G. Fish, Lucy G. Corey, Harriet E. Whitney, Mrs. Bennett, Caroline Borden, Mary E. Hill, Mary A. Dillingham, Annie M. Strout, Marietta Howard, John White, Miss Waldron, Mrs. Blake. May 28, a constitution and by-laws were adopted. The constitution defined the object of the school to be, "to cooperate with the Domestic Missionary Society of this city, in the support of a Sabbath school (now in existence) for the benefit of such persons, both children and adults, as attend no other Sabbath school." It was voted that "this school shall be supplied with, at least, two teachers a gentleman and a lady from each of the churches represented in the Domestic Missionary Society of this city." The by-laws pro vided that the scholars in the adult department, wishing to attend a certain church, or being assigned to a certain church, should be in the class of a teacher attending that church; should accompany him or her to church; and be subject to the control of that teacher till after the church service; also that the scholars in the Infant Department should accompany the superintendents to church, or join the teachers in the adult room and go with them to church, subject to the same rule and control as their own scholars. of one family should attend the same church. The members A regular system of visiting the scholars at their homes, and rendering reports of the condition of the respective departments and classes of the school, and of the condition of the families with which the scholars were connected, was adopted. Regular monthly meetings of the officers and teachers were established. It was made the duty of each teacher "to endeavor, with earnest sincerity, to seek the temporal and spiritual good of those committed to their care." Thus the school went on under the patronage and support of the two Missionary Societies, adopting such changes in their method of teaching, interesting, and controlling the scholars, as its officers and teachers thought best. It held its sessions now in a basement; now in an upper chamber; and then in a more commodious place; and sometimes it was almost without any place; at times contending with difficulties and oppositions, and then rejoicing in the evident care of the Lord of missions. The union spirit in which the Mission was inaugurated, after a while began to languish; and in 1858, the Gentlemen's Society disbanded and afterwards the Ladies' also. The Gentlemen's Society had sustained one missionary (Thomas Boardman), who commenced his work in the spring of 1853, and continued until the spring of 1857. He was a zealous and faithful laborer, and accomplished much good. |