Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/209

SUNDAY-SCHOOL 167 SUNDEW to memory, and their books comprised parts of the Bible in verse, Jewish an- tiquities, sacred poems, and dialogues. (2) Schools of the Reformation Pe- riod: Luther founded schools for cate- chetical instruction in 1529, and this cus- tom spread wherever the Reformation gained a foothold. In the Roman Church St. Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, about 1560 introduced into his diocese a system of schools which con- tinues to the present day; and in 1699 the Venerable de la Salle opened a Sun- day-school (ecole dominicale) at St. Sul- pice. Sunday-schools were opened in Scotland about 1560 by Knox; at Bath, in 1650 by Joseph Alleine; in Roxbury, Mass., in 1674, and at many other places in Great Britain and America between that date and 1778. (3) Modern Sunday-schools: These date from 1780 or 1781, when Robert Raikes, of Gloucester, England, began to collect a few children from the streets of that city on Sundays, and paid teachers to instruct them in religious knowledge. The improvement in the conduct and morals of the children was so marked that, when Raikes published an account of his success, his example was followed in several other places, and in 1785 a society was formed for the establishment and maintenance of Sunday-schools in all parts of the kingdom, a large sum being expended in the payment of teachers. In 1803 the Sunday-School Union was formed to secure continuous instruction by unpaid teachers, and to publish books and tracts for the benefit of the cause. The first Sunday-schools united secular with religious instruction, as did those of Borromeo and La Salle; but the spread of elementary education has to a large extent removed the necessity of teaching reading and writing on Sundays. The Society of Friends has, however, retained the practice in its large Sunday-morning schools, with great benefit as regards in- fluence over the working classes above the age of childhood, and in some of the Wesleyan Sunday-schools, classes for ele- mentary instruction are held early in the morning. Sunday-schools were intro- duced into Scotland, Ireland, and Amer- ica in the years immediately following their establishment in England; the Scotch Society for Promoting Religious Instruction among the Poor was formed in 1796, and the Irish Sunday-School Society was founded in 1809, though a system of Sunday teaching had prevailed in Ireland for some years previously. In later times Sunday-schools have rapidly increased in connection with all Protes- tant Churches throughout the world. In 1920 there were in the Sunday-schools of all Protestant denominations over 200,000 Sunday-schools, over 2,000,000 teachers, and over 20,000,000 pupils. SUNDERBUNDS, or SUNDABBANS, a vast tract of forest and swamp forming the most S. portion of the Gangetic delta, at the head of the Bay of Bengal; ex- treme length along the coast, about 165 miles; greatest breadth, 81 miles; and area, 7,532 square miles. The country is one vast alluvial plain where the con- tinual process of landmaking has not yet ceased. It abounds in morasses and swamps, now gradually filling up, and is intersected by large rivers and estuaries running from N. to S. There is a re- claimed tract along the N. border de- voted to the cultivation of rice. The un- reclaimed portion near the sea consists of impenetrable jungle and thick under- wood traversed by gloomy-looking water courses. The Sunderbunds abound in wild animals, including numerous tigers, leopards, rhinoceros, buffaloes, deer, monkeys, etc.. Fish are plentiful, and the python, cobra, and other snakes, to- gether with every description of birds and water fowls, are found. SUNDERLAND, a seaport and munici- pal and parliamentary borough of Eng- land, at the mouth of the Wear, county of Durham, 13 miles N. E. of Durham, and 12 miles S. E. of Newcastle. It is the largest town of Durham, and in- cludes nearly the whole of three parishes — Sunderland, Bishopwearmouth, and Monkv/earmouth. The town is for the most part new and well built. It has parks, a museum, a free library, a school of art, etc. The principal buildings in- clude St. Peter's, an ancient parish church on the site of the monastery in which the Venerable Bede was educated, many other churches and chapels, two theaters, etc. The river is crossed by the famous cast-iron bridge of one arch (236 feet span), built in 1793 and since reconstructed and strengthened. The harbor with its docks covers 78 acres, and its entrance is formed by two stone piers with lighthouses. The staple trade interests of the place are shipping, the coal trade, and ship building, and there are also large factories for the making of marine engines, iron work, bottles, glass, earthenware, rope, etc. Coal is ithe chief export; the imports are chiefly timber and grain, with various raw ma- terials and provisions, from the Baltic ports and Holland. Pop. (1919) 149,263. SUNDEW, the genus Drosera, of which about 100 species are known; often applied specifically to D. rotundifolia, the common sundew, a very remarkable in- sectivorous plant. The edges of the