The Watchman

From the London S. S. Teacher's Magazine.
NARRATIVE OF SUNDAY SCHOOL USEFULNESS.
At a short distance from the town of Leeds, in Yorkshire, and adjoining to Hunslet Moor, stands a cluster of cottages about sixty in number, which are known by the name of Hunslet Hall. The inhabitants of this place are all poor; many of them obtain a livelihood by hawking course earthen ware, or coals, or Spa water, for the use of the inhabitants of this large town; whilst the children capable of labor are employed in the mills and manufactories around them. The spot has long been notorious for its vice and immorality, and the Sabbath, which in many places is, and which in all ought to be, a day of sacred rest and holy enjoyment, was known there as only the worst of all the seven; for its inhabitants, who on other days of the week were drawn away from it by their different avocations, were on this day all at home—and spending its sacred hours in idle and unprofitable conversation, drunken and blasphemous merriment and rioting, or too frequently in quarrelling, fighting, and bloodshed.
In the summer of 1827, the attention of the committee of the Leeds Sunday School Union was invited to this place of heathenish darkness. A deputation was accordingly appointed to visit the place, and if practicable, to establish a Sunday-school, with a view of gathering together the rising part of the population, and instructing them in the principles of religion. But it was not till after months of fruitless toil, that these men obtained a room, small, low, inconvenient, and of difficult access; but it was the only one that could be had; they, therefore, commenced their labors, trusting that He who had called them to it, would, in his own time and way, provide better and more comfortable accommodations for them.
In this way things went on till the spring of 1834, when the question of building a school-room was revived with two-fold energy; a teachers' meeting was convened, at which the minister, deacons, and some other friends attended; the practicability of accomplishing the erection of a new school was carried by so unanimous a vote, that those who had hitherto objected, could do so no longer.
As a precautionary measure it was resolved, that the building should not be commenced until two thirds of the estimated cost was subscribed; the teachers all readily undertook to become collectors, and in the month of August it was ascertained that they had obtained about 160l. A friend to the cause, then one of the Secretaries of the Leeds Sunday School Union, kindly drew up a case, and forwarded it to one of the Secretaries of the parent Society in London, to be laid before the Sunday School Union Building Committee; they on that representation, kindly acceded to the request, and voted 25l. in aid of the object.
Thus encouraged, the committee appointed for that purpose were emboldened to proceed—a piece of ground was purchased at a cost of 41l. in a situation, which, whilst not
an inconvenient distance from the old school, would embrace another more extensive and growing neighborhood. The first stone was laid by the Rev. Thomas Scales, on Monday, Oct. 4, 1834; and the building, which is a neat and substantial edifice, 30 feet by 25 feet, and 14 feet high to the ceiling, with private yards enclosed by a brick-wall, was completed and opened on the 30th of November, 1834, on which occasion the Rev. T. Scales preached in the morning, the Rev. W. Hudswell in the afternoon, and the Rev. J. Ely in the evening.

Such were the circumstances of their new school-house, when, on the 7th of December, the teachers commenced their labors in it, taking with them about fifty children from the old school: before the month closed, the attendance had increased to 150, and from that time to the present, they have continued to labor in faith and patience, sowing the seed of the kingdom, trusting that he who has called them to the work will impart his blessing, which giveth the increase, so that it may spring up and bear fruit in some thirty, in some sixty, and in some a hundred fold.

The room was immediately after licensed for preaching, and, under the sanction of the minister and the church, the solemn truths of religion are proclaimed every Sabbath evening to this hitherto neglected population. A weekly prayer meeting is also held, and a system of loan tract distribution on the plan of the Christian Instruction Society, is just being commenced.