The above numbers shew, on an average, nearly two Sabbath schools to every congregation in the Church, and a Senior Class connected with each congregation.

At each of the Sabbath schools the returns shew an average attendance of nearly 84, and an average of nearly 10 scholars in each class.

Collected for Missions during the year, £5,407 Os. 1d.; increase, £399 7s. 3 d.

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH SABBATH SCHOOLS, 1884.

The annual returns reported to last meeting of the United Presbyterian Synod are equally interesting. The Rev. Mr. Wade, Convener of the Sabbath School Committee, kindly sends us the following brief

This year an examination was held of Sabbath schools and Bible classes at the end of March.

Number of Candidates,

Number of Certificates granted,

4,458 3,600

Sabbath School Certificates, 3,200
Bible Class Certificates,

400

Sabbath School Conventions.

SEVENTEENTH SCOTTISH NATIONAL SABBATH SCHOOL CONVENTION.

THE Committee of the Kirkcaldy Sabbath School Union are now making arrangements for holding the Seventeenth Scottish National Sabbath School Convention in that town. The proceedings will commence on Thursday, October 9th. The first meeting will assume the form of a Reception and Conversazione at 8 p.m. On the Friday following there will be two sessions-the first from half-past Eleven a.m. till half-past Three p.m.; and the second, from Seven till Ten p.m. On Saturday there will be the usual Public Breakfast of delegates and friends at 8.30 a.m.; and at 3 p.m. a Children's Gathering. On Sabbath, October 12th, there will be an Evening Sermon at 6.30.

Abundant testimony to the importance of these meetings has been supplied by the increased zeal stirred up in the different localities in which they have been held, and by their influence in all those parts of Scotland from which delegates have been sent. The Committee, desirous that this Convention should be thoroughly representative, request_all friends of Sabbath school work to aid in promoting its success, and to unite in fervent prayer for the Divine blessing upon the meetings. The

Committee are making arrangements for the accommodation of delegates. The subjects for conference will be announced later on, but any parties who may have suggestions to make, or who may wish a copy of the programme, when completed, should communicate with Mr. Thomas Dale, Secretary, Sabbath School Union, Kirkcaldy.

AMERICAN SABBATH SCHOOL CONVENTIONS.

Conventions and Summer Assemblies form quite a feature of the Sabbath school movement in the United States. In the American Sunday School Times, which is published weekly, there is, at this season of the year, a considerable list of State, Territorial, or International Conventions; and in a recent issue there are some notes respecting the plans of several forthcoming "Summer Assemblies " which are specially interesting. But the Assemblies are very different from any Sabbath school gatherings which take place in this country. The programme of the ordinary Convention usually occupies a couple of days; but the proceedings of the Summer Assemblies, according to the list before us, extend over 9, 10, 12, 19, and in one instance to 28 days! They have now become exceedingly popular, and they are attended by scores of delegates, many of whom travel many hundred miles in order to be present. amount of personal trouble and expense, the ingenuity and organizing skill implied by the arrangements, and the enthusiasm with which the various plans are carried out, say much for the Sabbath school workers in America. Let us mention only a few of the facts given.

The

The large Committee to which was entrusted the selection of a locality for the next ten years for the New England Assembly, has decided in favour of retaining Lake View grounds at South Framingham, Massachusets, and the grounds are accordingly being further improved and fitted up for the use of the Assembly. Building has commenced, and several cottages have been already erected. Soon a music hall will be erected, and other similar projects are under consideration. In former years this Assembly met in August, but this year it will be held in July, and continue nine days. The former superintendent of the grounds, Dr. Samuel B. Lynch, will again have charge. The Rev. Dr. Julius H. Seelye, President of Amherst College, will take a prominent part in this Assembly.

"At the Monona Lake Assembly grounds in Wisconsin, a building for the use of the chorus choir is also contemplated. At the suggestion of their leader, Professor W. F. Sherwin, the members of last summer's chorus have contributed toward the erection of the building; and with additional help from other quarters it will probably be put up before the opening of the Assembly on July 29. This Assembly is a Corporation, organized under the laws of Wisconsin, with a capital stock of 5,000 dollars, divided into one thousand shares; and it is part of the plan to raise funds for general expenses and the erection of more buildings by the disposal of the stock still remaining unsold. Of the special features of the coming Assembly, the school of Philosophy, the musical instruction of Professor Sherwin, and the normal work under the charge of the Rev. A. A. Gillett, of Cincinnati, deserve special mention. As heretofore, certain dates will be assigned as special days. For instance, there will be a Y. M. C. A.

day, a missionary day, a temperance day, a Wisconsin Sunday school day, &c. The object of the Assembly is primarily Sunday school, and secondarily educational work."

We might refer to some of the other Summer Assemblies, but these remarks will give a general idea of their aim, and the means by which it is accomplished. The plans of the Conventions are not on such an elaborate scale, but after all possibly they are not less useful. The programme of one just held at Highland, for the County of Doniphan in the State of Kansas, may be given as a specimen. It has been kindly sent us by Mr. M'Intosh, one of its active members. Mr. M'Intosh was for many years a zealous Sabbath school teacher in the east-end of Glasgow. It is now 26 years since he went to the far west, and he has not ceased to be a faithful worker in the Master's vineyard. The Rev. Mr. Irvin, another of the speakers, long ago contributed to our pages an affecting narrative of a North American Indian, one of Mr. M'Intosh's scholars. The narrative was published subsequently as a tract for the young, and extensively circulated.

Programme of SUNDAY SCHOOL CONVENTION OF DONIPHAN County, TO BE HELD AT HIGHLAND, MAY 22 AND 23, 1884.

THURSDAY, MAY 22.

7.30 p.m. Devotional service, led by Rev. S. M. Irvin.

Address of welcome, by Mr. Duncan M'Intosh. Address by
Rev. E. B. Wells.

FRIDAY, MAY 23.

Devotional Exercises.

The Teachers' Preparation. Opened by Rev. Mr. Talman.
How may the Home contribute to the Order, Instruction, and
Spirituality of the Sabbath School? Opened by Rev. S.
M. Irvin.

How may the work of Missions be promoted by the Sabbath
school? Opened by Rev. Mr. Graham.

Brief reports from Sabbath Schools.

The proper use of Lesson Helps. Opened by Prof. E. Morse.
Should the subject of Temperance be made more prominent
by the Teacher in his Class? Opened by R. E. Reppeleye.
A Model Class in next Sunday's Lesson. By Rev. D. Kloss.
Relation of the Church to the Sabbath School. Opened by
Mr. Duncan M'Intosh.

EVENING SESSION.

Children's Meeting. Short addresses by several speakers, on the topic: "The Scholar's duty to the Sabbath School."

All Sunday Schools in the County are requested to send one or more delegates to the Convention, and full statistical reports.

Entertainment will be provided for all who may attend.

Aberdeen Sabbath School Union.

THE Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Aberdeen Sabbath School Union was held on Monday, 5th May, in the Christian Institute. Mr. John Bulloch, in the absence of the president, Mr. J. Murray Garden, occupied the chair. There were also present :-Major Ross, Rev. John Duncan, Mr. A. Esslemont, King Street; Rev. Mr. M'Clymont, Mr. Milne, bookseller; Mr. John Skinner, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Milne, shoemaker; Mr. W. M. Brown, honorary secretary. There was a large attendance. Mr. W. M. Brown, honorary secretary, read the annual report. It stated the extent

to which the teachers had availed themselves of the schemes of the Union during the past year, and encouraged the committee to anticipate more enlarged usefulness in the future. In furtherance of the scheme for simultaneous special services on behalf of children, the committee issued, in the month of October last, an appeal to ministers for their assistance and co-operation, and the request was largely complied with, and the committee hoped that, as one result of the services, men and women of education might come forward in larger numbers to give personal service in the Sabbath school. The annual conference of teachers was held in November last, at which a paper was read by Rev. D. Campbell, Rosemount, entitled "The Sabbath School Teacher-before school, in school, and after school." Impressed by the practical value of the paper, the committee had it printed, and a copy placed in the hands of 1500 teachers. During the year the attention of the committee had, as in former years, been given to the appointment of visitors to the various schools and classes. The work had been discharged in a most efficient manner, almost the whole of the schools in connection with the Union having been visited. It was observed that among the young there appeared to be, during prayer, a lack of interest and reverence on the part of the scholars. The training class meetings had been very successful, and the masters of day schools and the various ministers who had largely contributed to their success, deserved the thanks of the Union. The course of lectures had also been very encouraging; but, owing to the limited attendance of teachers at the meetings for united prayer, these meetings had been discontinued. The evangelistic services had been interesting and impressive, and the course of lessons by ladies had been attended with marked success. The report concluded by acknowledging the indebtedness of the committee to the teachers of the day schools for the systematic and thorough Bible instruction imparted by them to the young under their charge such instruction having been found to be very helpful to the Sabbath school teachers. In connection with the Union there were 46 individual or separate Bible classes. The number of teachers was 1,724, with a total number of scholars of 18,741. £580 4s. 4d. had been collected congregational, and 42 mission or district schools, in addition to 56 for missions during the year. The chairman, in moving the adoption of the report, said it was a narrative of valuable work done-a report which ought to give a very complete answer to any scepticism that might have arisen in any of their minds as to whether the Sabbath School Union was

worth sustaining. One notable benefit had been conferred by the Sabbath School Union to which he thought their attention ought to be called, and that was, that the Union brought all shades of religious opinion under one roof, and made them feel together in a way that no other association he knew of in Aberdeen had done before. He concluded by referring in eulogistic terms to the useful services to the Union of Mr. Brown, remarking that very much of its success was due to Mr. Brown's own personal example. The adoption of the report was agreed to unanimously, and a discussion followed on the

HOURS OF PUBLIC WORSHIP AND SABBATH SCHOOL WORK.

He was

The Rev. Andrew Doak, opened the conference by asking the question, "Might not a re-arrangement of the hours of public worship help Sabbath school work?" He stated a number of objections to the present arrangement, common in Aberdeen, of holding the schools at 2.30 p.m., 3 p.m., &c., and advocated a change to some hour in the morning instead. of opinion that we have far too much public life in these days, and especially on Sabbath. If the Sabbath school work were better done at present than by any change that could be introduced, then, he for one would let things remain as they were, and ministers would have to submit to diminished evening attendance, if even at that price they could have more efficient Sabbath school work; but he believed the present were by no means the best arrangements to have effective work, and that, on the contrary, the personal inconvenience to which teachers were put was found alongside of hindrances to effective Sabbath school work. There were objections to having Sabbath school work before the morning services, but if the Church had the interest in the Sabbath schools which she professed to have, and if it became the general opinion of the teachers, who had a right to speak on the subject, then she was bound to reconsider her hours of service for the sake of the Sabbath schools. Why, he asked, should the change not be made if it were accompanied with good alike to the church, the school, and the teacher? He held that the change would result in good to all, and proceeded to shew some of the benefits that would arise from it. In the Sabbath school the work would be better done in the morning than in the afternoon or evening, because both scholars and teachers would then be fresh and at their best. Could a uniformity of hour be introduced, it would prevent what he believed was a crying evil-namely, children attending more schools than one. later hour for public worship would, he had no doubt, give them a better chance of the presence of a good number who did not put in an appearance at eleven o'clock. Many elderly and delicate people, who found eleven o'clock too early an hour to get themselves gathered up, and who missed very much an afternoon service if they chanced to belong to a church which had its second service in the evening, would also find such a change as was proposed advantageous. Such an arrangement, again, would allow the teachers to have the rest which they well deserved between say a-quarter to two or two o'clock and half-past six; and where the teachers were heads of families, it would give them more time to be in the midst of their families. A discussion followed, which was taken part in by Messrs. Alexander Gibb, John Gill, George Grant, advocate;

A