SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS

The first Sunday School “class” Jenny would have attended would have been the nursery, where babies and children under four would have been deposited, so that their parents could go the the young married people’s class and have an hour’s respite from their little ones. Some called it the “crying room.” Mother and Daddy did not attend Sunday School at that time, but sometimes they took Margaret, who was old enough to go to a real class and she would talk about what had happened in her class. Jenny wanted to have a class or her own also, and would make up stories to tell about the nursery class and what had happened there. Margaret would question her and Jenny made the nursery class sound as colorful as she knew how from her limited experience. She began to believe she had been there.

Mother and Daddy began to go to the young married people’s class occasionally in the summers, when Jenny was four and five, but when Jenny was six, they stopped attending, except for Children’s Day and Easter. Daddy would just drop off the girls and leave their religious training up to the Church. They thought it was good that their children should have a little religion, but didn’t enjoy being overly involved in Church activities themselves, despite the Church’s frequent urgings.

The beginner’s class of four and five year old children was taught by Florence Gardner, the pretty woman in the pink dress, who had a little boy of her own, an active three year old. She had to gently reprimand him often. This class was held in the Church’s kitchen and their tiny chairs were placed around a low table. The teacher would read them little stories and talk about loving and sharing.. There were large sheets of Bible pictures, which they colored. Jenny tried to stay within the lines and use the “right” colors, but some of the children just scribbled and some wanted to make everything red. Jenny wanted to be proud to take her coloring sheet home to show her parents.

Now that she was seven, she was in Mrs. Gobel’s primary class of first and second graders. It was a little room beside the kitchen. Mrs. Gobel would read stories to them, and Jenny listened carefully so that she would be able to answer all the questions that Mrs. Gobel would ask each time. Mrs. Gobel also had them memorize short Bible verses or poems and put a gold star on a chart beside the names of those who could say them perfectly. Jenny always got a gold star. There were coloring sheets here too. One little girl with glasses and a turned up nose, roamed around the room and tried to play on the old pump organ. Mrs. Gobel told her kindly, but firmly, “We don’t do that. We sit in our chairs.” If she had to tell her again, she would say emphatically, “Now you sit down.” She would sit down, but was very restless and would bother the children around her. Jenny loved the tiny beautiful cards they were given to take home. She loved those rich colored pictures of Biblical scenes. Jenny kept hers in the old radio cabinet, which hadn’t been used since Jenny was three, and Mother and Daddy decided that batteries were one more expense that could be cut. When Mrs. Gobel saw Mother at club, she told her that Jenny was the best student in her class.

The third grade class was in one of the small partitioned nooks across from the opening exercise area. Here the chairs were placed in a circle and there were no tables and no coloring. They were issued Sunday School Newspapers which contained stories with a moral and next week’s lesson which they were to read. This was their assignment for next week.

The fourth grade class was taught by Mrs. Faurot, the preacher’s wife, a small austere white haired woman, who believed literally in all the Bible’s messages and her husband’s predestination preachings, and never veered from the straight and narrow way. She kept a record sheet for each student, with points given for being on time, for remembering to bring collection money, for having read the lesson, for perfect attendance, and for staying for Church. The last was worth twenty points. If a student scored one hundred points for a month, they would be on the honor roll. Since Jenny never stayed for Church at that time,she could never get better than eighty points. Reverend and Mrs. Faurot had three brilliant adult children. The oldest was a Presbyterian minister with his own Church and a little family. He was more dynamic and forceful than his mild mannered father. His mother glowed with pride when he was guest minister in the Church. The second son was very handsome, an excellent pianist, and a missionary to China. Daddy said he was “Queer as a seven dollar bill,” but all the girls in Church had crushes on him. The third, a daughter, was smiling and full of good humor, an accomplished musician, and got an advanced degree in English, becoming a high school English teacher and later a college professor. One summer, while home on vacation, she worked as a waitress in the town cafe, just for a different experience .

Sixth, seventh and eighth grade Sunday School was in the basement, but upon graduation from the eighth grade, you were eligible for the more sophisticated opening exercises and classes upstairs.