You can’t see it very plainly but the name written on the top of the first quarterly is James Samuel Rodgers. The name on the second one is Miss Amy Riddle. At the bottom of the page Amy wrote Mr. Pete Rodgers. That was the couple who got married two years later and produced me in 1934.

The lessons in both are John the Baptist and Jesus stories, presented very much like they would be presented in a SS class now. The discussion questions for the lesson Jesus, The Great Physician were as follows: What reception did Jesus have in his home town? Where did he go next? Name the event that came to pass there. What effect did the miracle have in the city? Why did demons cry out when Jesus appeared? Tell incidents of his tour through Galilee. What is leprosy? Why did Jesus send the healed leper to the priest? What did Jesus do when he grew tired from ministering to the public?

Almost a hundred years later, still the same Truth. What is striking to me is the innocence of the stories and applications made to illustrate those truths. The last story in one is “Thou Shalt Not Steal.” It is about a boy who gets into his mother’s purse. She has five one dollar bills; he takes one. She thinks Tom’s best friend has taken it, so Tom is filled with guilt. When mom tells him she doesn’t want him spending “best friend” time with his pal anymore, he breaks down and confesses.

Now to be clear, I am not criticizing the material, I am just thinking of the innocence of that time compared to the things young people deal with today. Especially those who are nearing twenty years old.

Our adult youth are more likely to be talking about a Supreme Court Nominee who cannot define what “woman” means!

I will be taking my “quaint quarterlies” over to the Pentecostal Holiness headquarters to donate to their Archives. That will be a nice resting place for them.