{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_13533/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_13533","id":"gutenberg_13533","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13533","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Parenthood & Family Relations","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Teaching & Education","Child development","Child psychology","Religious education"],"text":"THE UNFOLDING LIFE\n\nA Study of Development with Reference to Religious Training\n\nby\n\nANTOINETTE ABERNETHY LAMOREAUX\n\nWith Introduction by Marion Lawrance\n\n1907\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTO\n\nMy Precious Father and Mother,\nin whose daily ministry\nI have seen the beauty and learned the meaning\nof Christian Nurture,\nthis book is affectionately dedicated.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n  CHAPTER\n\n   I FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF DEVELOPMENT\n  II EARLY CHILDHOOD\n III EARLY CHILDHOOD--Continued\n  IV EARLY CHILDHOOD--Concluded\n   V CHILDHOOD--SIX TO TWELVE\n  VI THE JUNIOR AGE--NINE TO TWELVE\n VII ADOLESCENCE\nVIII MIDDLE AND LATE ADOLESCENCE\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nHaving read with much care the proof sheets of this book, I am prepared\nto say three things about it, and it gives me pleasure to say them here.\n\n1. THE BOOK IS WELL NAMED. \"THE UNFOLDING LIFE.\" Turn which way we will,\nwe see life unfolding all about us, and yet how faintly are its\nmysteries understood! And is it not the one thing above all others,\nwhich teachers, mothers, fathers and all of us, need to understand? It\nis well that our attention has been called to this most vital of all\nthemes by a book, whose very name compels attention to its content, and\nwhose content is but its name in fuller treatment.\n\n2. THE BOOK IS WELL WRITTEN. Such books as this should be read slowly\nand pondered well; but this book by its fascination will tempt one to\nread too rapidly. Its line of argument is logical; its diction is as\npure as the bubbling stream; its truths are evident and compelling. It\npresents the purest psychology stripped of all mystifying\ntechnicalities, and clothed in language which even a child can\nunderstand. The reason for this is plain. It is the \"Beaten Oil\" drawn\nfrom the rich and ripe experience of one of the best students of\nchildhood and teachers of children in our land.\n\n3. THE BOOK IS WELL TIMED. Teachers are seeking now as never before to\nunderstand the soil in which the living seed of God's Word is to be\ncast. Nothing can be more important than this. The author deals largely\nwith the every day problems of the average home and Sunday School, thus\nrendering the highest service to the great army of ordinary teachers and\nmothers. While this book will be hailed with joy by all such, it will\nnevertheless command a place by the side of the highest grade books on\nthe subject. There never was a time when any book on any subject was\nmore greatly needed than this book is needed now. It would be a boon\nindeed to every home, and to every Sunday School as well, if all\nteachers, mothers, yes, and fathers too, would read and re-read \"THE\nUNFOLDING LIFE.\"\n\nMARION LAWRANCE.\n\nChicago, March, 1908.\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\n\nThe greatest thing in the world is a human life. The greatest work in\nthe world is the helpful touch upon that life. Here and there an artist\nin soul culture is found at the task, but the many are unskilled and the\nproduct of the labor is far from a manhood \"perfect in Christ.\"\n\nIn dealing with things, the vessel marred in the making can be set aside\nor fashioned anew, but a life is for eternity. The faulty work can not\nbe undone. The mistake can never be wholly rectified, for life never\nyields up what is given it. The look, the word, the invisible atmosphere\nof the home and church, the sights and sounds of all the busy days enter\nthe super-sensitive and retentive soul of the child and are woven into\nlife tissue. Character has no other from which to fashion itself.\nTherefore its final beauty and worth will be determined in large\nmeasure by the quality of the material which entered in.\n\nIt is with earnest desire to help some parent or teacher in the divine\nwork of soul nurture, that this volume is offered. There is no attempt\nto add to knowledge in Child Study or Psychology, but rather to\ninterpret certain of their fundamental facts and principles with\nreference to Religious Training.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nFUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF DEVELOPMENT.\n\n\nRow upon row they stretched, fifteen acres of regal chrysanthemums,\nroses pink, yellow, white and red, fragile lilies of the valley,\ncarnations and vivid orchids, no two alike, yet all expressions of plant\nlife. Skilled gardeners from England and Germany were busy with these\nexquisite flower children, watering, pruning and training upon slender\ncords, that every bud might come to perfect unfolding. The laws of the\nplant world and the law of each individual flower were well known to\nthem. They knew that all required sunshine and soil, warmth and\nmoisture, but in varying amount. The chrysanthemums grew in the\nsunlight, while only a few days before cutting could the lilies of the\nvalley be released from their darkened beds. All needed cultivation but\nnot in the same way. Some were massed, while yonder were thousands of\ncarnations, and every one sole monarch of its own little garden plot.\nPainstakingly and completely, day after day, the needs of each frail\nlife were met, until the flowers grown in this greatest of Canadian\ngreenhouses have become renowned far across the border for their\nunsurpassed beauty, coloring and size.\n\nThe quiet walk between the glorious masses of bloom that October\nafternoon brought a vision of a greater Child garden, with an infinite\nvariety of human plants to be tended, every one with its own\nindividuality, needs, possibilities and a divine purpose for it\ncherished in the heart of the Heavenly Gardener. The work of nurture He\nhas given to parents and teachers, longing unspeakably that it shall be\nso wise and tender that His plan for every life may be realized.\n\nBut as the earnest soul takes up the task, it seems so bewildering.\n\"Three little ones in the home, and every one different! Ten boys in the\nSunday School class and no two alike! Where does nurture begin? How is\nit carried on?\"\n\nThough the differences in human lives are countless, there are certain\ngreat likenesses. All have life, needs, possibilities; they all grow and\ndevelop in the same general way. From these common likenesses have been\nformulated a few principles which are as helpful to a child gardener as\na knowledge of the laws of plant life to one who nurtures roses and\ncarnations. Their understanding is not dependent upon physical\nparenthood. God will interpret the meaning to any one whom He calls into\nfellowship with Himself in the matchless work of soul culture.\n\nI. The First Principle deals with the nature of life--What is it? Some\nanswer must be given in order to arrive at an aim, a method, and an\ninspiration for work. If a child is only a beautiful figure upon which\nto display dainty garments, the mother has a plain pathway marked out\nfor her. If a boy is a capacity to be filled, or a machine to grind out\nfacts or dollars, the teacher's course of action is clear.\n\nGod's conception of life is surely greater than these, yet He never\ngave a definition. Jesus said it is more than meat, that it is worth\nmore than all the world, that it does not consist in abundance of\nthings, that it is eternal, but He nowhere tells us what it is, for He\ncan not. It is a part of God. He can only make us understand it in any\nwise by giving its characteristics and values. Perhaps these may come to\nus more clearly through considering first what life is not.\n\n1. Life is not merely \"plastic clay\" to be moulded, or a \"block of\nmarble\" to be hewn according to the will of the sculptor.\n\nThis poetic conception emphasizes rightly the tremendous power of\nenvironment and personality in shaping character, but it is really a\ndangerous half truth. If the child were a block of marble, he would be\nno different from the dead, inert lump that lies in the studio awaiting\nthe will of the sculptor. They would both be things. But a child has\nlife, and the difference between life and thing lies in an inner power\nor activity which life possesses and uses when and as it will. This\nactivity has to be reckoned with. Sun and rain and earth can not make a\nplant grow if it does not use its own mysterious inner force upon them.\nNo sort of influence can affect a life, if the life does not respond to\nit. This response will be either receiving or rejecting the influences\nthat come, working with or against them. Assuredly this is a condition\nvery different from \"plastic clay.\" Two great tasks, therefore, are\nincluded in the work of nurture: the first, to see that all that comes\nto plastic life from the outside is what it ought to be; the second, to\nsomehow arouse the power within to vigorous effort upon the best things.\n\n2. Life is not a \"pure white page,\" even in its beginning.\n\nThere is here also a half truth, and an error. Life is unstained by\nguilt in its early years. It comes innocent from the hand of God, but\nfingers long since vanished have traced lines that mar the perfect\nwhiteness. There are tendencies away from God as well as toward Him, and\nthese are not the result of environment. Environment will cultivate\ntendencies but can not implant them. Favoring conditions will make an\napple tree produce magnificent apples, but they will never implant in it\nany tendency to bear roses or produce thorns. Failure to recognize the\nfact of two sets of tendencies in the life will lead to a fatal mistake\nin nurture. Christ will be presented only as an Example and not as a\nSavior also, thus setting before a life its pattern and leaving it\nimpotent to reach it.\n\n3. A life in its beginning is not a \"little man.\"\n\nThe element of truth in this conception is perhaps less than in either\nof these preceding. It is indeed true that child life is that out of\nwhich man life is to come, but the difference is more vital than that of\ninches or strength. The bulb shelters a lily life, but the difference is\ngreater than size. The chrysalis will bring forth the butterfly, but the\ntwo are not identical. Childhood will unfold into manhood, but each has\nits own characteristics and needs, differing in largest degree.\n\nThe physiologist tells us that it would be hard to find many important\npoints beyond the most fundamental laws in which the infant and the\nadult exactly resemble each other. (Oppenheim.) In bodily proportions,\nin actual composition of bones, muscles, blood and nerves, in size and\ndevelopment of the organs, the differences are wide.\n\nThe psychologist proves that there is equal variance in mental\nconditions. The man has a sense of responsibility to his neighbor and to\nGod, unknown to child life. He thinks and reasons and judges as the\nchild mind can not. His whole outlook upon life is opposite from that of\nthe child.\n\nWe recognize this difference in caring for the body, and the babe is fed\non milk and the boy on meat. But the difference must be recognized as\nequally important in caring for the soul. Just as meat is meat, whether\nminced or uncut, and therefore unsuited for a tiny life, so doctrine is\ndoctrine, whether stated in words of one syllable or four, and equally\nunsuited to a beginning life. Paul refers to those who need milk and not\nsolid food, spiritually, because they are \"without experience of the\nword of righteousness,\" clearly indicating a difference in the kind of\ninstruction, not the amount. The subject matter must be adapted to the\nlife, not merely the number of syllables, the method of teaching, as\nwell as the length of the lesson. Without this careful adaptation of\nfood and method, the developing life will be under-nourished, and the\nmost vigorous maturity be impossible.\n\nBut these negative statements only safeguard against mistakes by telling\nus what to avoid. A real working basis must be found in a positive\nprinciple.\n\nThe study of an unfolding life at any time in its development always\nreveals two supreme facts, possibilities peculiar to that period, and\nself activity. The First Principle of development combines these two\nfacts and gives us our nearest approach to a definition.\n\n\"Life is a bundle of possibilities and self activity.\"\n\nThe block of marble has possibilities, so has molten metal and a tube of\npaint; but life has possibilities plus inner power. The three\nimperative \"Oughts\" for the parent or teacher are herein suggested.\n\nFirst, he ought to be able to recognize each possibility as it appears.\n\nSecond, he ought to know how best to deal with it.\n\nThird, he ought to know how to stimulate the activity to greatest\nendeavor.\n\nII. The Second Principle states the relation of nurture to the unfolding\nof these possibilities.\n\n\"The direction and degree of development are largely determined by\nnurture.\"\n\nEvery possibility in a life, unless it die out, must develop either\nupward or downward, toward the best or worst. This development, whether\nin a plant or a boy, depends on what is given the life to work with and\nthe use that is made of it, or, stated in more dignified terms--the\ndevelopment is a result of influences that come to a life and the\nresponse made to them by activity. The sort of influences and the sort\nof response given will determine the sort of development. When some one\nis consciously endeavoring to make both outer influences and the inner\nworking of the life the best possible, it is called nurture.\n\nThe responsibility that grows out of this thought of nurture is almost\ncrushing, yet its opportunity is sublime. To make a boy strong for his\nlife work, because the right word was spoken at the critical moment, the\nencouragement given just when his purpose was faltering, to help a girl\nreach glorious young womanhood because the inspiration came as she stood\nat the parting of the ways--surely this, in a very real sense, is\nworking with God. The story of almost every life of marked power,\nreveals a human touch at the cross roads. Is this one meaning in the\nMaster's words, \"Inasmuch as ye did it,\" or \"Inasmuch as ye did it not?\"\n\"I would have been on the foreign mission field seven years ago,\" said a\nsplendid young man, \"had not my Sunday School teacher laughed at me when\nI told him my new born desire. I expect to go now, but what of those\nseven years?\"\n\nIf the home and the church should begin at once to obey God's command\nto nurture the children \"In the chastening and admonition of the Lord,\"\nwith all that means, the next generation would see the kingdoms of this\nworld given to Christ and the advent of the King.\n\nIII. The Third Principle defines the work of nurture.\n\n\"Nurture must care for both nourishment and activity.\"\n\n1. The Watch Care over Nourishment.\n\nNourishment is the general term for all that upon which the life feeds.\nIt is given both consciously and unconsciously and is absorbed in like\nmanner, but in its effect upon the life, the unconscious nourishment has\ngreater power.\n\n(1) Unconscious Nourishment.\n\n(a) The first factor in unconscious nourishment is personality.\n\nJust as truly as the physical life is nourished by life, so is the\nmental and the spiritual. Standards of living, ideas, a sense of values,\nopinions, do not come from text-books but fathers and mothers. The\nlesson from the printed page may fail to gain entrance, but the lesson\nfrom the teacher's life, never. This explains the success of many a\nhumble mother and the failure of many an intellectual teacher. It is at\nthe very heart of all work for another.\n\nIts first message is a personal one. It tells the worker that his life\nis more compelling than his voice; that the Word must again become flesh\nto give it authority. It tells him further that if he is to be the bread\nof life to growing souls, his own pasturage must not be things, but in\nreality, the living Christ.\n\nThe other message applies to his work. While every life that touches his\nwill always carry away something from the contact, the most helpful\nhuman life can never suffice for another's nourishment. Each soul needs\nthe complete Christ for itself. The amazing thing among parents and\nteachers is their unconcern over His absence from the lives of the\nchildren. Years pass, and precept, lesson and admonition are given,\nwhile Christ, the Life, is not definitely and personally offered.\n\"According to their pasture so were they filled.\" Is not this the\nexplanation of so many meagre lives?\n\n(b) The second factor of unconscious nourishment is environment with\nits subtle atmosphere.\n\nThe importance of environment is found in this great law, that life\ntends to become like that which is around it. So strong is the tendency\nthat the only escape from conformity lies in real struggle. This a\nlittle child rarely puts forth, and an adult not always, for it is far\neasier to follow the line of least resistance and \"be like other\npeople.\"\n\nGrowing out of this power of environment comes the problem of all\nphilanthropic and religious work--how to overcome the influence of\nharmful surroundings. The need is obvious when the surroundings are\nvicious, yet the home does not need to be in the slums to injure a\ngrowing life. It only needs to be Christless. This may seem a very\nradical statement, but it is nevertheless true. Arresting the highest\ndevelopment is as truly an injury as giving to life wrong direction. Has\nnot a plant been positively injured when its most beautiful\npossibilities are unrealized because of unfavoring conditions? Is not a\nbody, undersized and stunted because of lack of fresh air and food, as\ntruly deformed as though the back were bent? Has not that soul received\nthe most cruel of all injuries, when its divinest possibilities can\nnever be attained either because of spiritual starvation or\nmisdirection? The Church and the Sunday School attempt to furnish a\ncounteracting environment, but it is infrequent and brief. The only\npower which can render this temporary, religious environment mote\neffective in influencing character than a harmful, permanent one, is the\nDivine. A church building or a Sunday School session of itself, can\naccomplish little, placed over against a home. Methods of grading and\nforms of worship are impotent in themselves. It is only a living Christ,\nactually vitalizing the lesson and the sermon and the plan of work Who\nmakes them efficacious.\n\nIf this be so, then the teacher who goes to the home itself to press the\nclaims of a personal Savior on the father and mother, has after all\nreached the heart of the problem of environment.\n\n(c) The third factor of unconscious nourishment is the Superhuman\nPower.\n\nThis thought has been suggested in connection with personality and\nenvironment, but it demands separate emphasis. It is not an easy thing\nin the stress of the visible to remember the greater power of the\nInvisible. The most earnest Christian worker is sometimes overwhelmed by\ndiscouragement or, again, unduly confident because of the perfection of\nsystem and method, forgetting that God knows no obstacle, and that He\nalone can put life into a plan of work.\n\nBut though God uses men and methods, He does not always so approach a\nlife He deals directly with a soul through the influence of the Holy\nSpirit, and life receives its most holy nurture in those sacred hours.\nTherefore, the highest service permitted a Sunday School teacher is to\npray effectually for the brooding Spirit to rest upon the pupils in his\nclass. The mother can do nothing which shall mean so much for the\nprecious life in her arms as learning, herself, the secret of prevailing\nprayer, for, \"If we ask anything according to His Will, He heareth us;\nand if we know that He heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we\nhave the petitions which we have asked of Him.\" Therefore, O Lord,\n\"Teach us to pray.\"\n\n(2) Conscious Nourishment.\n\nThis is definite instruction so given to a life that it is appropriated.\nA large part of attempted instruction is never taken in. \"I have told\nyou over and over again,\" says the despairing mother, but telling does\nnot always involve receiving. Placing nourishing food before the boy\ndoes not necessarily mean stronger muscle and purer blood. He must eat\nand digest it. Teaching, to be nourishment, requires first, careful\nadaptation of the subject matter, then presentation in such a way that\nthe mind will voluntarily reach out, lay hold upon and assimilate it.\nGod again gives the key to real teaching in the word \"engraft.\" Its\nprocess in the physical and mental world is identical. First, the\ndelicate adjustment, then a vital union, and lastly, new life resulting.\n\n2. The Watch Care over Activity.\n\nWe have considered nurture in its work of supplying the best\nnourishment to growing souls, and now its care for activity must be\nnoted. Since the subject will be discussed more fully in a succeeding\nchapter, only the necessity for the nurture will be considered here.\nThis necessity appears in the four-fold result of activity.\n\n(1) New Experiences.\n\nThis is the first result to the child from ceaseless movement of hands\nand feet and eager eyes. In early life he is not conscious of seeking\nthe new experience, he only wants to be in motion. In later life, energy\nis definitely put forth for some desired end. But whatever the motive,\nexperiences helpful or harmful, according to the sort of activity,\nresult, and they enter character at par value.\n\n(2) Growth or Increase in Size.\n\nActivity is necessary before anything given to the body or the soul can\nbecome a part of life. Food must be acted upon by the digestive,\ncirculatory and assimilative organs to make it bone and muscle and\nnerve. The mind must think upon the fact in order to add it to the store\nof knowledge. The heavenly vision must be obeyed before Christian\nexperience is enlarged by it.\n\nBut there is another aspect of this same thought. Just as truly as\nactivity must precede assimilation, so truly does assimilation follow\nactivity. It may be stated more simply in this way. Nothing can become a\npart of the life until it has been acted upon; when it has been acted\nupon it can not be taken out of the life. When digestion is finished and\nthe food is bone and muscle, it can not be withdrawn. When the idea has\nbeen thought in or acted upon, it has by that process become a part of\nthe life, and though it may fade from memory its influence is abiding.\n\n(3) Development or Increase of Power and Skill.\n\nEvery muscle exercised gains greater freedom. Every knotty problem\nmastered means increased mental ability. Every victory means greater\npower in resisting temptation. Whatever the action, whether good or bad,\nhelpful or harmful, greater skill and power in that direction follows\nit.\n\nThis other very important fact needs to be clear, that no amount of\nenergy put forth for another will mean development for him. He must\nexercise his own arm for strength and solve his own problem. Development\nonly comes through the effort of each individual for himself; hence the\nbest teacher is the one who can rouse the pupil to the greatest\nendeavor.\n\n(4) Habit Formation.\n\nIt is impossible to act, physically, mentally or spiritually, without\nmaking it easier to repeat the action, and soon ease passes to tendency,\nthen tendency to compulsion, and life is in the grip of a habit. This is\nthe inevitable outcome of activity, until \"nine-tenths of life is lived\nin the mould of habit.\"\n\nIf it be true that habit is \"ten times second nature,\" the importance of\ndirecting activity toward the formation of right habits needs no\ndiscussion.\n\nIV. The Fourth Principle of unfolding life deals with its crises. \"The\ncrucial points in development are those times when new possibilities\nbegin to unfold.\"\n\nThe life comes from God complete in its possibilities, but at the\nbeginning all is in germ. As life progresses, development of these\npossibilities proceeds, but it is not uniform. The body acquires ability\nto control the larger muscles before it can adjust the finer and more\ncomplex ones, as instanced in the child's ability to walk before he can\nthread a needle. The mind is able to imagine before it can reason\nclearly. The feelings center on self before they reach out to the world\naround. As every new possibility begins to develop, two serious facts\nmust be remembered:\n\n(1) Direction must be given in the beginning before tendencies are\nfixed.\n\nA beginning is always a time of easy adjustment and flexibility.\nBusiness corporations can readily alter a course of action before a\npolicy has been established. The nurseryman can easily secure the\nstraight trunk of the mature tree in the yielding sapling. The law is\njust as true when it touches human life. The trend of any possibility is\ndetermined largely in the beginning of its unfolding. After that time\nhas gone by, conditions are practically fixed, and he that is unjust\nwill be unjust still, and he that is holy will be holy still.\n\n(2) Future strength and vigor are largely determined in the beginning of\ndevelopment.\n\nIt is well nigh impossible to overcome the effect of early neglect. If\nthe culture of the growing stalk is passed over, the corn in the ear can\nnot be full. If the bodily needs of the boy are unmet, he can not reach\nhis full development as a man. If his budding intellectual life, his\nawakening feeling life, or the delicate unfolding of his spiritual life\nis neglected, a complete, rounded out maturity is impossible. A starved\nchildhood is always the prophecy of a stunted manhood, while life\nnourished in its beginning foretells vigorous maturity.\n\nV. The very important question now arises, \"How may these crucial times\nbe recognized?\" The answer is given in the Fifth Principle. \"A new\ninterest always accompanies an awakening possibility.\"\n\nThe increasing love of a story discloses a growing imagination. The\npassionate hero worship of a boy's heart reveals the fact of a budding\nideal. The interest in clubs and desire for companionship tell of\nawakening social feelings. Life is always the exponent of its own need\nto one who cares to know, and it further reveals what should be given\nit, and how.\n\nVI. The Sixth Principle has already been touched upon in the preceding\ndiscussion, but it needs the emphasis of special statement, because of\nits importance. \"Development is from within, out, through what is\nabsorbed, not from without, in, through external application without\nabsorption.\"\n\nIf development were a matter of external application, the post would\ngrow and the stone and the stick, because they have earth and air and\nmoisture around them. If it came from without, in, the most admonished\nchild would be the best, the most talked to pupil the wisest, but the\nreverse is usually true. That which adheres simply to the surface of\nrock and child is veneer, which the testing circumstance will rub off.\nOnly that which is assimilated is of any value to the life.\n\nThese are the great principles revealed in the development of life from\ninfancy to maturity. The factor of human contact appears in every one.\nThe question, \"What is my touch upon this unfolding life?\" can not be\nevaded. The stonecutter takes the marble and hews out the rough block;\nthe sculptor finds its hidden soul. The artisan takes the canvas and the\ncommon sign appears; the artist makes it immortal. But God gives life to\nparents and teachers to fashion. Will hands clumsy and unskilled, miss\nthe perfect beauty, or the touch of master workmanship bring forth a\nlikeness to the Christ?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nEARLY CHILDHOOD\n\n\nThe first period of life, Early Childhood, includes the years from birth\nto about six or, in Sunday School phraseology, the \"Cradle Roll,\" from\nbirth to three, and the \"Beginners,\" from three to six.\n\nIt is a temptation to note at length the marvelous achievements of a\nlittle life in its earliest years, as it comes,\n\n    \"Out from the shore of the great unknown,\n    Blind and wailing and alone,\n    Into the light of day.\n           *       *       *       *       *.\n    \"From the unknown sea that reels and rolls,\n    Specked with the barks of little souls,\n    Barks that were launched on the other side,\n    And slipped from Heaven on an ebbing tide.\"\n\nThe wealth of material, however, clustering around each period of\ndeveloping life is so great that selection must be made. Therefore only\nthose facts illuminating the chosen theme of religious nurture will be\nconsidered.\n\nThe baby's world is a \"big, blooming, buzzing confusion,\" according to\nJames, but gradually, cosmos emerges from chaos. The senses, clouded at\nfirst, become clear and active. Adjustment and voluntary control of the\nlarger muscles are secured. The art of walking is mastered, and the\ngreat feat of learning a language practically unaided, is well under\nway. The awakening mind learns to know certain objects and simplest\nrelationships within a very limited sphere, and through ceaseless\nactivity, new experiences are constantly coming in to the soul.\n\nGuided by instinct and impulse, responding to any wind that blows,\nsensitive and retentive as the plate of a camera,\n\n    \"Just a-yearning\n    To be learning\n    Anything at all,\"\n\ncan any religious nurture be given to this tiny little bundle of\npossibilities? Manifestly, it will not be through precept and\nadmonition, for they are meaningless, yet never will life be more open\nto the influences of impression and atmosphere than at this time. The\nchild can not understand their import as they come, but he will feel\nthem. He does not understand love, but he feels it. He can not\ncomprehend personality, but his restless little body grows quiet in the\ntender arms of a strong father. He responds to the fretfulness or\ngentleness of the mother, the noisy confusion or peace of the home.\nThese multitudinous impressions become his life, though he can not grasp\ntheir meaning.\n\nJust as surely does he drink in impressions which have the Divine\nelement. What they speak to him only God knows, but some message is\ntheirs. The picture of the \"Good Shepherd,\" of \"Jesus Blessing Little\nChildren,\" of the \"Madonna and Child,\" perform their silent ministry to\nhis soul. He is peculiarly sensitive to the reverence and worship in\nlofty music. In the evening tide of a Sabbath day, a father was seated\nat the piano, while the two older children stood near, and a wee one of\ntwo and a half years listened from his mother's arms. The songs used in\nSunday School were sung one after the other, and then came the baby\nvoice, \"Papa, sing about Dod.\" \"Do you mean, 'Holy, Holy, Holy is the\nLord'?\" he asked. \"Yes,\" was the answer, and in the hush of the\ntwilight, the worship of the children blended with the worship of the\nangels, and who shall say they did not all behold the Father's face?\n\nThe nurture of these years is as silent as that of the dewdrop upon the\nblade of grass, but it is as real. God's voice is the still, small voice\nthat ever speaks in quietness. The stillness of the moment at the\nmother's knee, the prayer repeated in the reverent, low tone of the\nmother's voice, the earnest prayer for him offered in his presence, the\nChrist-like living in the home, all carry their holy influence to his\nsoul. He feels God, without knowing Him. But there shall come a day when\nthe Voice that has gently called him will be recognized, and he will\nsay, \"Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.\"\n\nBut general nurture must be supplemented by the definite nurture of\neach growing possibility. Though the principles underlying this careful\nwatch care and training are stated in connection with Early Childhood,\nthey are applicable to every succeeding period where the same power is\ndeveloping.\n\nPHYSICAL ACTIVITY\n\nThe most marked characteristic of the entire period of early childhood\nis physical activity, manifesting itself largely in restlessness. The\nnervous force which later will be used in complex mental processes, now\nseeks expression through hands and feet and tireless body.\n\nIn early infancy activity is entirely purposeless and unwilled, merely\nthe instinctive movement of every part of the body. Gradually, however,\nthrough the contact with different objects brought about by his\nrestlessness, the baby learns to reach out for what he wants, and\npurpose in the activity begins to appear. Later, play affords an outlet\nfor the constant flow of this pent-up power, and the child lives over\nagain those activities of the busy life around which appeal to him.\n\nFrom the previous discussion of activity, we know that the child is\nbringing about far-reaching results, all unconscious to himself, through\nthis never ceasing restlessness of every waking moment. He is growing,\nthrough the kneading process of constant movement; he is developing\nfreer use of his muscles; he is building new experiences into character,\nand he is forming habits of life. How then may this great force be\nnurtured so that greatest results shall follow?\n\nThe law of activity must first be understood. It has been very\nsuccinctly stated, \"Activity must act, explode or cease to generate.\"\n\nIf it cease to generate entirely it means death, for every organ of the\nbody is using it. If it lessen in amount, it means lowered vitality, and\nindicates illness or abnormal conditions in some way. The over-strained\nmother who says to a little one of this age, \"I wish you could keep\nstill for five minutes,\" does not realize what she is expressing. It has\nbeen demonstrated in scientific tests, that the perfectly normal child\nunder six can keep absolutely still but few consecutive seconds,\ntherefore the desire could only be fulfilled through some disturbed\nphysical condition which would lessen the amount of life itself. Any\ndiminution is everywhere felt, for the same activity which impels hands\nand feet, impels also the hungry senses, the eager curiosity and every\npart of a growing mental life. Fortunately for the child, God's finger\nis on the dynamo of his life, and as long as He wills the activity can\nnot cease to generate.\n\nThere are but two alternatives left, an action or an explosion, for\nactivity can no more be confined than steam in an engine. If the\nexplosion has occurred, it has resulted from successful repression. The\nstopper, \"Don't,\" has been inserted in the last opening through which\nthe nervous force could expend itself, and after a moment of dangerous\ncalm, the inevitable occurs, and the happiness and peace of the entire\nhome is for the time destroyed. The result is just as sure as that of\nconfining an expanding gas, while its disaster is wrought in the mental\nand moral as well as the physical realms. Fortunately again for the\nwell-being of the child, it is difficult to secure the last outlet, so\nfertile is his busy brain.\n\nBut without the explosion, the results that come to a child from a\npolicy of repression are very serious. Briefly stated, they are first,\nirritability and nervousness. The refinement of cruelty is dealt to a\nlittle child, compelled by superior force to act contrary to God's law\nfor him and \"Keep quiet.\" Activity which should normally be expended,\nwhen confined, reacts upon the cells of the body so that soon there are\nphysical reasons beyond the child's control for his nervousness and\ncrossness.\n\nSecond, Friction, in which defiance and stubbornness appear. The\nseverest test which could be imposed upon adults would be a constant and\napparently arbitrary thwarting of their desires. Is it to be wondered at\nthat a little, unreasoning life which hears \"don't\" by the scores of\ntimes from morning till night, grows rebellious, vindictive and\nobstinate?\n\nThird, Unhappiness and a sense of alienation. Sympathy between two\npersons is impossible when they are at cross purposes, and happiness\nwhich is God's gift to childhood can never be realized when souls are\nout of touch. Further, discouragement and consequent loss of incentive\nto effort must inevitably overwhelm a little life that never does\nanything right.\n\nFourth, weakened will and character. This is the most serious result of\nall. One of the great principles already stated makes it clear that\ndevelopment can come only through the activity of the individual\nhimself. If the child is constantly withheld from doing by the word\n\"don't,\" he can not reach the fullest development of character.\nFurthermore, character is not built negatively but positively. A\nbuilding can never be erected by merely keeping out of it all unworthy\nmaterial. There must be an actual putting together of brick and mortar,\nand the great truth is evident that whenever a place is filled by the\ngood, the bad is in that very act kept out, whether in buildings or\ncharacter. The motive back of many a \"don't\" is worthy, and often there\nmay be no alternative but to instantly check an action, but for the\neffect on character building there is a more excellent way than\nrepression. It lies in the expression suggested in the law of activity,\nbut expression under direction.\n\nSome parents realize the necessity of allowing the child's activity to\nbe expended, but fail to see the other side of the matter, namely, that\nwhile activity means development, the sort of development that follows\nwill depend on the character of the activity. It is important that a\nboy's energy be given an outlet, but it is more important whether it\nmake of him a gentleman or a hoodlum. The guidance or neglect of the\nactivity will determine which it is to be.\n\nToo frequent emphasis can not be put upon the fact that every outgoing\nactivity traces a little deeper some pathway that tends toward a habit.\nThe mistake is often made of thinking that habits can be formed only by\n\"taking thought.\" It is true that some of the finest habits of life are\nbuilt into character with painstaking effort, but untidiness and\nselfishness and irreverence and all their kin reach fullest unfolding in\nthe thoughtless outflow of activity, when no one is attending.\n\nBut activity, untrammeled, means more than wrong habits. It means\nlawlessness and undisciplined character. The child who has learned no\nhigher authority for his acts than his own erratic whims, has laid good\nfoundation for future disregard of the laws of man and God.\n\nThe converse of all that has been said concerning both repression and\nneglect of activity characterizes its wise direction. When the child,\nignorant and unskilled, hears a voice saying, \"This is the way, walk ye\nin it,\" his willing response means activity going out in right channels\nor the formation of right habits. It means a dual joy for him, the joy\nof activity itself and also the joy from the approval and sympathy of\nthe parent or teacher. Under encouragement he puts forth greater\neffort, which means constant development of greater power. Yet more than\nall, it means that he is learning the greatest lesson of early life,\nobedience.\n\nObedience is only activity under law. It begins with submission to the\nwill of the parent, but when at last it is a response of the whole life\nto the will of God and rendered of voluntary and loving choice, it has\nreached its highest unfolding. This is the goal toward which all nurture\nof activity must be directed, else no life is safe after it goes out\nfrom the restraints of the home. In the heart of the parent who is a\nseer, the mere closing of the door or putting away of the toy in\nresponse to a request is not the thing most desired, for that is\nexternal and true obedience is internal. The father, possessing insight,\nwants the heart as well as the hand of the boy to close the door or put\naway the toy. Without this, no victory is gained. The act itself is the\nleast of all. \"Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. ... Then\nsaid I, Lo, I come. ... I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law\nis within my heart.\" This attitude of voluntary heart acquiescence to\nthe will of another is never the product of compelling power, else God\nwould force His children to obey, since obedience is the thing He most\ndesires. Force can sway the hand but not the heart. Paul, whose tireless\nactivity spent itself out under the direction of his Master, discloses\nthe great secret when he says, \"The love of Christ constraineth us.\" The\neternal Father says to His child, \"I have loved thee with an everlasting\nlove; therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.\"\n\nIt is by love, by words of approval, by patient encouragement and help,\nand also by experiencing the consequences of each act, whether joyous or\npainful, that the child is led to follow the one who points out the path\nfor his activity. Soon he faces the words, \"right,\" and \"wrong,\" and\nthough knowing only at first that \"right\" is the thing permitted, and\n\"wrong,\" the thing denied, he feels the difference in the results of\neach. Then he learns that the pathway of the thing called \"right,\" is\nnot an arbitrary one laid down by mother or teacher, but the pathway\ntraced by God Himself, wherein we all must walk, parent and child,\nteacher and pupil alike. When with dimmest understanding but loving\nheart, he first sets faltering foot in that path, because he catches\nglimpse of its shining light, that \"shineth more and more unto the\nperfect day,\" the one who has nurtured him will hear God's voice\nspeaking to his soul, \"Well done, good and faithful servant.\"\n\n\nHUNGRY SENSES\n\nHungry senses, directed in their quest by a hungrier mind, mark the\nsecond great characteristic of early childhood. These are the channels\nthrough which the world around comes into the life of the child. The\nsights and sounds of the physical realm, when carried beyond the portals\nof the senses, under the marvelous transmutation of God's touch, become\nideas. The process, in so far as its secret has been revealed, will not\nbe discussed at this point, but rather the relation of these impressions\nto character.\n\nIn early years the senses are undiscriminating as far as the real worth\nof an impression is concerned. The vulgar picture will be admired as\nquickly as the beautiful one, if its colors are attractive. The impure\nword is caught as readily as the pure. There is no standard of values;\neven taste is not yet formed, and eyes and ears hungrily reach out for\nanything to satisfy their voracious appetite. Each sensation which is\nreported to the mind through the senses and intricate nervous system,\nsupplies an idea, embodying itself. It is with these that all the\nthinking of the child is done, these rouse his feelings and prompt his\nactions and, finally, mean character. Manifestly, then, his life can be\nno better than the things he sees and hears, handles and tastes, for he\nlives in a world of sensations and not of ideas. This was the thought of\nthe mother who said, \"I never wash my little children's faces at night,\nand put them to bed all sweet and clean on the outside, that I don't\nthink that I would give all the world if I could somehow get inside and\nwash that too.\" But the inner cleansing from the influence of sight and\nsound no hand can perform. God forgives sin, but even His touch does not\nremove the impression of the picture or the word which memory has put\naway. The only hope of beautiful character lies in bringing to the\nunfolding life helpful influences which shall be stronger in their power\nthan the vitiating. When some definite counteracting impression is\nneeded, it is in the sacred confidences of the twilight hour, and at the\nconfessional of a mother's knee, that it can be most effectively given.\n\nAside from the moral import of the impressions, there is a vital\nrelationship between the senses and the quality of the intellectual\nlife. Since knowledge can come to the child only through his senses, the\namount of knowledge, as well as its sort, depends upon the story the\nsenses tell. If they be dull, the knowledge is meagre and life has\nlittle with which to build. If they be defective, the impression is\neither falsely reported or not at all. Tests have revealed the amazing\nfact that over fifty per cent of children have imperfect sight and\nhearing. This means that the first idea given through eye or ear may be\nwrong; consequently each subsequent idea growing out of it is wrong, at\nleast in part, and ultimately, false conceptions and mistaken courses of\naction appear, all traceable directly to the ear that did not hear\naccurately and the eye that told a false tale.\n\nThere is also a direct connection between defective senses and conduct.\nNaturally, the boy who can't see the blackboard, pays no attention to\nthe work placed upon it, and the child partially deaf, disregards the\nwords of the teacher. The overwhelming number of personally observed\ncases of difficult discipline, disclosed the unvarying fact of defect,\neither in the senses or the body itself. Therefore a teacher or parent\nshould be very sure that the \"bad boy problem\" is not physical rather\nthan moral, lest cruel injustice be done.\n\nWhile the dull senses call for limitless patience, that life be not\npitifully narrow, and the defective senses call for wise and remedial\nattention, the normal, keen, wide-awake senses exact the most from the\nconscientious parent or teacher. Eternal vigilance is the price of\nbeautiful building material for the character in such an unfolding life.\nEach day adds to the store put away in the brain, to reappear later. \"We\nmust soon be careful what we do before the baby,\" says the mother who\nhalf grasps the connection between impressions and character building,\nnot realizing that the work is already far under way, that foundations\nare in. Nurture of the senses must begin with the first dim reaching out\nfor impressions, that only the best may enter, that right tastes may be\nformed, and self control in this fiercest battle-field of life be\nlearned.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE PERIOD OF EARLY CHILDHOOD--Continued.\n\n\nAs we come to consider the soul of the child, using this term not in its\nreligious sense, but to include all of life but the physical, we\nunderstand that in reality it is indivisible. There are no separate\nparts or faculties possessing unique powers such as reasoning,\nremembering, feeling or willing. The whole soul remembers, feels and\nwills. However, for the sake of clearness and convenience, when it is\nreasoning, we are accustomed to speak of soul power in that direction as\nreason, or imagining as imagination or willing as will.\n\nWe must understand, also, that the soul of the child is as complete in\nits possibilities as the soul of the adult, only they are undeveloped.\nAs life and environment grow more complex, new needs arise and these new\nneeds awaken soul power in a new direction. The expression \"I didn't\nknow he had it in him,\" is frequently heard, as some one has shown\nunexpected ability under sudden pressure of circumstances. Every brain\nhas millions of undeveloped cells, scientists affirm, signifying that\nevery life is infinitely poorer than it might be. The need is something\nto arouse its latent power.\n\n\nCURIOSITY\n\nThe little child is at first in a world of total mystery. Sights,\nsounds, sensations from contact come to him and all are unintelligible.\nAs they are carried to his brain, somewhere, somehow, they awaken a\ndesire to know their meaning, and as the tiny fingers are extended\ntoward objects the soul is reaching also. This soul reaching is\ncuriosity, one of God's most gracious and wonderful provisions for the\nlife, but so often its significance is misunderstood. If there were no\ncuriosity, there would never be any eager attempt to explore the field\nof knowledge. The disciplined spirit of inquiry that makes for the\nworld's progress, is only a fuller development of the untutored and\ndisastrous effort of the child to find out about things. We forget that\nbefore there can be a flower there must be a bud. Before there can be a\nscientist who shall pick the rock to pieces to learn its secret, there\nmust be a child who picks a doll to pieces to see what is inside. The\npathos of childhood is its bowed head and mute lips under the blow and\nthe stinging word, because judgment is passed, not on motives, as the\nparent demands for himself, but on the external appearance of the act.\nWe look into our Heavenly Father's face, out of the wreckage and\nmistakes of a day, and say, \"I meant to do it aright, but I am so\nignorant,\" and we are comforted that He looks at the heart and\nunderstands. Can we be less pitifully tender toward His little ones?\n\nThere are three marked manifestations of curiosity during this period of\nchildhood.\n\n(1) Questions.\n\nIn the wordless years of earliest life, mysteries around the child can\nreceive only partial solution. But the day comes when language gives\nhim a key whereby to unlock the doors, and he begins to ask, \"What is\nit,\" then \"Why,\" and \"Where,\" and \"How.\" This questioning period\ncommences about the age of three, and is in strong evidence for some\ntime. The answers involve for the most part nouns and verbs, not\nadjectives nor adverbs, signifying that the child is not yet ready for\nabstract qualities and characteristics. Simple facts only are sought at\nfirst. Questions concern the names of things, activities connected with\nthem, causes and ends and the age-long mystery of origins.\n\nPassing by reluctantly any further discussion of this most fascinating\nsubject of children's questions, four great facts bearing upon nurture\nmust be noted.\n\n1. Repression of the sincere questioning of a child tends to weaken his\neffort to acquire knowledge.\n\n2. Questions reveal a need felt by the child, and are a guide to the\nkind of instruction he is ready to receive.\n\n3. A question not only reveals a need, but is also an assurance that\nthe instruction given will be received, for what the mind wants to\nlearn, it will learn.\n\n4. A sincere question demands a sincere answer.\n\nThis statement would seem superfluous, if its need were not apparent in\nquestions dealing with the origin of life. God gives to the mother,\nfirst, the sacred privilege of investing these most holy mysteries with\npurity and sanctity, and through this confidence drawing the life of the\nchild into closer fellowship with her own. If the opportunity be cast\naway through the evasive or untruthful answer, the facts may come with a\ntaint upon them which can never be wholly removed.\n\n(2) Mischief.\n\n(3) Destructiveness.\n\nA word must suffice upon these other manifestations of curiosity. When\ntruly understood, they reveal only an eager mind trying to obtain new\nexperiences to add to knowledge. It is not total depravity that leads a\nchild to pull the articles from the workbasket, or tear the book, or\ndemolish the toy. He merely wants to see the object under as great a\nvariety of conditions as possible, to find out all he can about it. It\nis identical with the spirit of the scientist who essays new\ncombinations to see what the results may be, only in its inception it is\ncrude and unskilled.\n\nAssuredly, instead of dealing harshly with an instinct which in later\nyears may make the whole world richer, it would be wiser to give it\nlegitimate outlet. Toys and blocks which admit of being taken apart and\nreadjusted may begin the training of an Edison or a Stephenson.\n\n\nINTERESTS\n\nJust as in the realm of the physical, appetite for one sort of food may\nbe greater than for another, even in hunger, so a varying appetite\nappears in connection with the soul hunger of curiosity. It is strongest\nin the direction of that in which the life is naturally interested at\nany given time.\n\nThe interests of early childhood are primarily in things which exhibit\nor suggest activity and in simplest relationships, found in the little\nworld bounded by home, neighborhood, Kindergarten and Sunday School.\nNature makes strong appeal, not on the aesthetic side of tint and\nshadow, but through the charm of her multiform movements and family life\nakin to the child's. The bird's nest fascinates because there is\nconnected with it the story of the building and the hungry little brood\nit sheltered. Tales of animals, fairies and real folk, busy in simple\nand familiar occupations hold him entranced, and he will watch with rapt\nattention the performance of most common tasks. It is noteworthy that\nhis interest in all this is not so much in the end to be accomplished,\nas in the activity itself. Even in his play, the preparations are often\nmore delightful and satisfying than the game which follows.\n\nAll this has a deep meaning for one who is trying to help the little\nlife in its unfolding.\n\n1. \"Wise education takes the tide at the flood,\" says James. These\ninterests reveal the fact that in this period, instruction should deal\nwith things, not with statements of ideas, apart from things, or, in\nother words, with the concrete, not the abstract.\n\n2. The greater the knowledge of things gained while interest attaches to\nthem, the greater the resources for clear, broad thinking as life\nmatures.\n\n3. When instruction is in line with interests, attention and consequent\nlearning are assured.\n\n4. The child's religious interests will be identical in character with\nthe other interests of this period. He will not be interested in the\nBeing or attributes of God, but God in His great activities as Creator\nand Wonder-Worker, and in His relation as Father. Jesus will make\nappeal, not in His discourses, but in His acts of helpfulness and power,\nand His love.\n\nThe great law of teaching is here involved, that interest in and\nknowledge of the unknown can come only through interest in and knowledge\nof something which is like it. Paul says in Romans, \"For the invisible\nthings of Him since the world began are clearly seen, being perceived\nthrough the things that are made, even His everlasting power and\ndivinity.\" Therefore the first definite religious instruction which the\nchild receives, must be upon spiritual truths illustrated in his own\nknown world of interests.\n\n\nIMITATION\n\nThe result of the efforts of curiosity, senses and activity is a\nconstantly increasing store of ideas in the child's mind, relating to\nthese things in which he is interested. As these ideas enter his mind,\napplying this term to the \"intellectual function of the soul,\" he\nimmediately wants to act upon them, according to a law inborn that an\nidea always tends to go out into action, unless it is held back. Adults\nhave fixed habits of expressing ideas that come to them, but not so the\nchild. An interesting activity is always a suggestion to him to\nreproduce it exactly, if possible. This difference between habit and\nsuggestion in action is illustrated in the case of a long-suffering\nkitten in the hands of a resourceful child. The sight will arouse in\nanother child an irresistible impulse to try the same experiment, while\nit always leads his mother to attempt a rescue.\n\nThis tendency to exact reproduction of activity is the instinct of\nimitation, and is a marked characteristic of childhood. As these words\nare written, a glance through the window discloses surveyors at work\nwith tape and red chalk. Following in their wake is a five year old with\ndiminutive string and piece of red crayon, laying out distances and\ntaking measurements, in exact copy of his predecessors, a genuine\n\"pocket edition\" of the original.\n\nWhile such elaborate exactness characterizes imitation in this period of\nchildhood alone, the impulse to conform is never entirely lost. The\ndesire grows more complex and general as the years go on, and from\nreproduction of definite acts, the life tries to emulate the spirit and\nachievements of its hero, and later to be in some harmony, at least,\nwith public opinion. Brave, indeed, is the soul that dares to be a\nnonconformist in regard to the standards \"they\" have established.\n\nThe results of imitation are profoundly important in character\nbuilding.\n\n1. When a child re-enacts what he sees, he comes to a better\nunderstanding of its meaning. This is one purpose of the imitation of\ncommon activities in Kindergarten games.\n\n2. The idea which is acted upon becomes an inseparable part of the life.\n\n3. Habit is the outcome of repeated imitation.\n\n4. Life grows like what it imitates.\n\nWith these facts in view, the application to the work of nurture is too\nobvious for discussion.\n\n\nIMAGINATION\n\nThe child is not content alone to imitate activities. He likes to\ntransform objects and make over familiar situations. This he does\nthrough that power of his soul called imagination.\n\nThe imagination of this period is \"fancy-full,\" crude, and unbridled by\nreason or will. The child lives in a world of make believe. He sees\nwhole menageries in the back yard, and performs exploits worthy of a\nDavid or Samson. He gives soul to inanimate objects, and endows them\nwith feelings like his own. He plays with companions of his own\ncreation, and peoples the dark with weird forms. Things are changed at\nwill to suit his whims, the stick becoming the untamed steed and the\nrocking chair the storm-tossed boat. The magic of his alchemy may extend\nto himself, and make him for days another person, or even an animal.\n\nThis world of make believe is as real to him as the world which is seen\nthrough his eyes, and often he can not distinguish between the two. Many\na little heart has quivered over the punishment inflicted for \"lying\",\nwhen willful misrepresentation was not in his thoughts. However, harsh\ntreatment of a vivid imagination may result in real deception later on,\nfor the child can not help \"seeing things,\" too wonderful to be enjoyed\nalone, and then, perforce, there must be deliberate planning to escape\nthe punishment.\n\nThis harshness also begins to raise an invisible barrier between the\nchild and parent. It was felt by a little maiden of rare fancy, who\nsaid in a whisper at the conclusion of one of these marvellous tales,\n\"But don't tell Mamma.\" The impassable wall between many a mother and\ndaughter in later years, once consisted of but a scattered stone here\nand there.\n\nPassing by the play life of the child where the imagination has fullest\nscope, the question arises as to the meaning of this power in character\nbuilding. One purpose stands paramount over every other. It is the\n\"ideal making factory\" of the life. From transforming sticks and chairs,\nthe soul will one day pass to transforming memories and thoughts,\nputting away the unattractive features and investing the attractive with\neven more charm, through dreams of what might be. From constructing\nhouses out of blocks, the soul will begin to construct ideals out of its\nexperiences and visions, according to a pattern shown on some mount.\n\nAs childhood recedes and manhood beckons, the soul unveils this ideal,\nfashioned in its secret workshop out of all that appeared most\ndesirable, and with strange, magnetic power, it begins to draw the life\nafter it. Worthy or unworthy, the years to come will see some part, at\nleast, of the ideal, a reality. The character of the imagination,\ntherefore, becomes a matter of supreme concern to nurture. It will be\nhealthy or diseased morally, according to the quality of the material\nsupplied for its use. The two great sources of this material are every\nday experiences and the story. The meaning of these experiences to the\nchild's life has already been emphasized in various connections, and\nrepetition is unnecessary, but the story holds a unique place in point\nof influence. Since it comes with deepest significance to the child in\nthe next period of development, when imagination is less mixed with\nfancy, its discussion will be reserved for that time.\n\n\nMEMORY\n\nThe child has an unfortunate experience with a hot stove and tender\nfingers bear the cruel scar. Must some one always watch him, year after\nyear, to save him from a succession of burns? He is taken to school by\nhis mother; must she forever accompany him to insure his safe arrival?\nIs there no way of understanding a present experience except by passing\nthrough it? Life would be an unsatisfactory thing indeed, if this were\ntrue, but the soul has the power of retaining past experiences in order\nthat they may throw light upon the present. The business man does not\ndeliberately do again that which was disastrous before, for he remembers\nthe past misfortune. The child will not tomorrow press his little burned\nhand against the heated iron, for he recalls the pain of yesterday. This\ngracious gift of God to life, we call memory. Without it, there could be\nno understanding, no reasoning, no imagination, no knowledge, no growth.\n\nThe physical side of memory is most interesting. On the covering of the\nbrain, each in its own place, the images or impression brought in by the\nsenses and the activity are registered. So sensitive and susceptible are\nthe brain cells during childhood, that these impressions are received as\nclay receives the touch of the sculptor's finger, and under right\nconditions, they are ineffaceable. When the soul acts upon these images,\nthey live again, and we say, \"We remember.\"\n\nTwo important questions are suggested by these facts. First, what kind\nof impressions should we attempt to store in the memory during\nchildhood? Second, how may these impressions be made permanent?\n\nTo the first question, the child himself makes answer through what he\nmost easily retains and through his needs.\n\nSince he is interested and curious in regard to things, since he spends\nall his physical activity upon them, since he desires them and thinks\nabout them, we would expect that things, together with experiences and\nideas associated with them, would naturally fill his memory. Any\nobserver of childhood knows that this is true. The memory of a little\nchild is overwhelmingly for the concrete, the impressions through the\nsenses and from what he does being far more easily retained than ideas\nalone. A child will recall the story of the Good Samaritan more readily\nthan the isolated verse, \"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.\" The\nreward or punishment of an act makes a more lasting impression than the\ndissertation upon it. Since the concrete must be the starting point of\nthinking, it must come to his soul at some time, and, judged by every\ncondition, this is God's time for it.\n\nThe child's needs are also a guide in this matter. The soul is growing\nin every direction, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually if\nproperly nurtured, and memory holds the constantly increasing food for\nits growth. Is it to be treated as a stockroom, where packages\nunavailable for the present are to be laid away until needed, or as a\nstore-house supplied with nourishing food for the present? If memory is\na stockroom, then it should be filled with definitions, statements,\nterms, facts, anything which may be needed sometime. This can be done,\nfor the brain will retain the sound of the words, but meantime, what\nshall the child feed on? What shall he use? The soul can feed on or make\nuse of only that which is at least partially understood. This means\nlargely the concrete, for abstract statements can be understood only\nthrough the experience or reason, and the child has meagre resources in\neither direction. Only when a thought embodies what he has experienced,\ncan he grasp and use it.\n\nIs it not the work of nurture to see that memory is provided with that\nout of which it can supply every need of the developing life today?\nThat, \"Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of\nthings not seen,\" may mean much to his mature heart, but what if the\nchild should be frightened tomorrow and need to have his budding faith\nstrengthened from memory? Would not the story of God's care over the\nbaby Moses, Jesus' care for the disciples in the blackness of the storm,\nwith the words, \"He careth for you,\" if these were stored in memory,\nquiet more quickly the beating heart, and more surely increase his\nfaith? True nurture will not starve life in the present to hoard for the\nfuture. Memory now requires all its store for immediate use. Later,\nafter growth is well under way in every direction, memory not only can\nsupply present needs, but it will also demand a surplus for future use.\n\nThe second question, relating to the permanency of these impressions, is\nanswered in meeting the following conditions:\n\n1. A healthy, non-fatigued brain when the impression is made.\n\n2. Close attention.\n\n3. A clear, easily understood and forceful presentation of the thing to\nbe remembered.\n\n4. The use of as many senses as possible. When an impression has been\ngiven through eye and ear and touch, for example, it is more definite in\nthe mind than when it has come only through the sense of hearing.\n\n5. A natural association of the new impression with others well known\nand interesting to the child.\n\n6. Immediate and frequent recall.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE PERIOD OF EARLY CHILDHOOD--Concluded\n\nTHE FEELINGS\n\n\nA child receives a coveted toy and his face is aglow with delight. He is\nsharply reproved and anger or grief appears. Another child comes to play\nwith him, and he may assert that all his guest desires \"is mine,\" and\ntears, and even blows ensue before amicable adjustment can be made. And\nso through the hours of a kaleidoscopic day, the emotional pendulum\nkeeps swinging from love to anger, from pride to humility, from\nselfishness to sporadic and angelic bits of generosity. What is the\nsignificance of it all in the life of the child?\n\nBefore considering this vital question, shall we note some\ncharacteristics of the feelings in Early Childhood?\n\nThey center about self, and instinctive feelings, such as hunger and\nthirst, pain and pleasure, fear, pride and anger, are strongest. Love\nis present in its first stages, not the self sacrificing sort, but love\ngiven in response to love and attention. The child's feelings are easily\naroused, fleeting, and usually more or less superficial. Abstractions,\nsuch as beauty, duty, responsibility, and relationships in general have\nbut slight effect upon his soul, and the lack of feeling in these\ndirections is commonly expressed by saying that the higher feelings are\nnot yet developed.\n\nThe child's feelings in response to religious truth can not, therefore,\nbe those of the adult. He will feel love for God as he feels it for his\nmother, because of His love, provision and care for him. God's power and\nthe mystery that envelops Him will awaken a response of awe and wonder\nin his soul, and absolute confidence that He can do anything. But this\nsame power and majesty, carelessly presented, may call out fear, not the\ngodly sort that is afraid of grieving Him by sin, but the physical fear\nthat casts out love. He does not have the sense of moral obligation to\nGod, for that again goes into the abstraction of thought. His religious\nlife begins in feeling, pure and simple, and his creed is in I John, \"We\nlove Him because He first loved us.\"\n\nMost interesting lines of discussion open out from the subject, but they\nare not pertinent to the chosen theme of this book. The only legitimate\nquestion is, \"What is the work of nurture in connection with the\nfeelings?\"\n\nBefore this can be answered, the purpose of the feelings in character\nbuilding must be clear. Then we shall know what nurture must do.\n\nNo feeling has a right to exist for itself. There is a task for it to\nperform, namely, to lead the soul to action. If unhindered it will\nalways do this. The careful analysis of any action will reveal a motive\npower in some feeling, ranging from the lowest desires for self\ngratification to the sublime heights of love that denies self for the\nMaster's sake. Knowledge alone does not suffice for action. A man may be\nfamiliar with the claims of Jesus and even acknowledge them, but until\nhe feels a great need of Him, he will not become a Christian. The\nsermon may compel the admiration of the mind, but unless it move the\nheart no man will practice it. Jesus summed up his commands in \"Love,\"\nnot \"Know,\" for He knew that loving meant God-like living. It is\nsignificant that the fruitage of the Spirit appears in the feelings of\n\"love, joy, peace,\" before it can be manifest in the acts of\n\"long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self\ncontrol.\"\n\nThis indissoluble relation between feeling and action gives deep meaning\nto the words of Dr. W.H. Payne, \"At least the half, and perhaps the\nbetter half of education consists in the formation of right feelings.\"\n\nThe work of nurture in connection with the feelings is now apparent. It\nmust endeavor to develop right feelings in order to secure right actions\nand consequent strong character. This development is secured through\nrepeatedly arousing the feelings, and giving them expression in action\nuntil they are habitual.\n\n1. How may the Feelings be Aroused? Passing by all the physiological and\npsychological processes involved, and using the term, feeling, as it is\npopularly understood, the law that governs its appearance may be stated\nthus: \"A feeling is occasioned by the touch of an impression upon the\nsoul.\" With older people, these impressions may come from without or\nfrom a thought within, but with little children they come almost\nentirely from without. The sort of feeling aroused will evidently depend\nupon the sort of impression that comes, as well as the condition of the\nsoul that receives it. This difference in conditions, or difference in\nlives as we ordinarily say, explains why the Sunday School lesson has\nsuch varied effects in the same class, or even upon the same child at\ndifferent times.\n\nKeeping in mind the law that some impression must precede a feeling,\ntrue nurture asks, \"In what way can these impressions best be given,\nthat desired feelings may be aroused?\"\n\n1. They are not given through command.\n\nCommon sense would recognize the absurdity of attempting to awaken\nanger by saying to a group of happy children, \"Be angry.\" But why is\nthe absurdity not equally apparent in saying, \"Be loving,\" \"Be sorry,\"\n\"Be reverent?\" Yet this is a method on which countless teachers and\nparents place their dependence. Suppose, for instance, reverence be the\nfeeling desired; a thought of God's greatness and power and holiness\nmust be given. If, to the sensitive soul of the child, the teacher bring\nthe story of Sinai, or the story of Majestic Power as it is set forth in\nthe 104th Psalm, or the glory of the Heavenly throne with the adoring\nmultitudes, following with the words, softly sung,\n\n\"Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts,\nHeaven and earth are full of Thee,\nHeaven and earth are praising Thee,\n    Oh Lord, most high.\"\n\nthe result will be true reverence.\n\n2. Suggestion is a most effective way of conveying these impressions.\n\nInstead of saying to the child, \"This is the thought you should have,\nand this is what you should feel, and this is what you ought to do,\" he\nis allowed to draw meanings and have feelings of his own, for then they\nare genuinely a part of his soul, not something foisted upon him.\n\nBut even though the application is not made, nurture will consciously\npresent impressions intended to suggest certain feelings. The Sunday\nSchool lesson, the missionary story, the visit to the poor family, the\nsong carefully selected, all fall in this class. Special mention should\nbe made of the great effect upon the child in making attractive in\nanother, the feeling desired for him. A single incident will illustrate\nthis: A frightened little candidate for the Beginners' Class and his\nstern mother stood one Sunday morning before the Primary superintendent.\n\"He's got to stay in here by himself today,\" she said; \"I won't have\nsuch nonsense. Look at him, with his first trousers on! I'm ashamed of\nhim!\" The superintendent did look and saw the new trousers, and in them\nthe trembling little body, and a soul speechless with terror at facing\nfor the first time, alone, the unknown experience of a great world, even\nthough it was enclosed in four walls. There was no trace of relenting\nin the mother's face, and any plea for pity was useless. But the new\ntrousers gave a possible key to the situation. \"Why, so he has new\ntrousers on!\" the superintendent said. \"I want to see them,\" and very\nthoroughly and enthusiastically they were inspected. \"I didn't know that\nhe was so nearly a man that he could wear trousers instead of dresses. I\nam sure he will stay alone today because men do and are not at all\nafraid.\" She waited. Gradually the little head lifted as the thought of\nbravery began to make its appeal. He put his hand into the hand of the\nsuperintendent, and without hesitation started on the perilous journey\nacross the room to the Beginners' section, where no punishment could\nhave driven him a few moments earlier, and proud and heroic sat by\nhimself through the hour. Such is the power of suggestion.\n\nTwo points, however, must be carefully guarded in deliberate effort to\narouse a feeling.\n\n1. Care must be exercised not to over stimulate feeling, as an excess\nbeyond that which can be expended in action has an after weakening and\nreactionary effect. This has its illustration in certain methods of\nevangelistic work with children, where results are measured by their\nhysterical condition when the meeting concludes. Contrast with this the\ngentleness which breathes through the story of the Master's touch, as He\ntook them in His arms and blessed them, laying His hands upon them, when\nHe had said, \"Suffer the little children to come unto Me.\"\n\n2. It is as injurious to a child to attempt to force a feeling before\nits normal time, as to a bud, to pry open its petals to hasten God's\nprocesses. Even the Divine Child \"grew.\" \"That is not first which is\nspiritual, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual,\" is\nGod's law of unfolding life.\n\nBut these consciously presented impressions form only a small part of\nthe sources of suggestion to the child. The countless sights and\ncircumstances of his everyday life all have a voice for him, and a\nfeeling follows their message.\n\nEvery mother who has suffered mortification over the unaccountable\nbehavior of her child toward a guest, knows the sometimes untoward as\nwell as helpful working of suggestion from personality. Atmosphere has\nthe same power. \"I don't know what there is in your home,\" said a\nvisitor to her hostess; \"I can't define it, but it makes me want to be\ngood.\" Music may be suggestive, aside from what it actually says. It\nwould seem as if no sane superintendent would prepare for prayer by a\ntwo step song, or follow the lesson on, \"The Washing of the Disciples'\nFeet\", by, \"Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean,\" but it was done. It would\nseem as though no primary teacher could be so insensible to suggestion\nfrom objects, as to try to teach worship in giving by taking the\noffering through a hole in the tail of a jointed tin rooster, but that\nself-same rooster is no myth.\n\nThe subject expands into endless ramifications. True nurture essays the\ndifficult task of analyzing the impressions that come from\nsuggestion--guarding against the harmful, and multiplying the helpful.\n\n3. Impressions may be given and feelings aroused through doing the act\nwhich would naturally result from the feeling.\n\nThis is the reason why a reverential attitude helps to arouse real\nreverence, and a smiling face and cheery tone actually bring\ncheerfulness in a case of the blues. Little children are so imitative\nthat they quickly copy the outward manifestations of a feeling, and the\ninner state tends to follow. This is further a reason for leading them\ninto acts of loving service, that love and kindred gracious feelings may\ngain strength through the reflex influence of the action upon the soul.\n\nOne word should be spoken on the negative side. Since each recurrence of\na feeling strengthens its power, nurture will seek to avoid the\nconditions which would arouse wrong feelings. \"But should not the child\ncontrol himself?\" some one asks. Instinctive feelings are stronger than\nthe power of self control in the beginning, and life needs shielding\nmore than testing. God says, \"Fathers, provoke not your children to\nanger,\" or, literally, \"Fathers, irritate not your children beyond\nmeasure, but nourish them fully in the instruction and admonition of the\nLord.\"\n\n2. The Expression of the Feelings.\n\nEvery normal feeling tends irresistibly to express itself in action\nunless it is held in leash. The story of the poor family needs the\naddition of no impassioned appeal; the child is already wondering\nwhether he can empty his bank for their help. If expression is denied to\nthe feeling, it tends to die out, and continual repression means a\nlessening either in power to act or power to feel. \"Sentimentalists\"\nhave lost power to act except in tears or ejaculations when their\nemotions are stirred, and \"hardened\" people have lost the power to feel\nunder ordinary stimulation. Therefore nothing is more fatal to vigorous\ndevelopment of the feelings of the child than to allow them to be\ndissipated without expression in the action they naturally suggest.\n\nBut nurture will see that little hands are allowed to hinder by\n\"helping\" to make the beds, or dust the room or carry the package, not\nsimply that love may grow stronger, but that in after years there may\nbe the desire to lift the burdens in reality from wearied shoulders, for\nthe higher feelings of life develop from the instinctive feelings, if\nthey have proper expression in the beginning. Love that is almost barter\nin early years, since it is bestowed for value received, if given\nconstant expression in acts of helpfulness, will become the self-denying\nlove of later years. Love for self, which is so strong in a child, can\nbe developed toward its manifestation of self respect, by using it at\nfirst in childhood, \"to help this good body grow both strong and tall.\"\nChildish hate may be directed against wrong things, in preparation for\nindignation against sin of future years. It must not be forgotten,\nhowever, that in God's economy every feeling, if properly used, has its\nwork to do in character building in every stage of its development, so\nthat even the foundation stones may be laid in beauty and strength.\n\n\nTHE WILL\n\nThe power of the soul to make deliberate choice of action, and\nunwaveringly to execute it, is undeveloped in this period of Early\nChildhood. The child does not balance reasons or desires. Instead, he\nacts impetuously and unthinkingly, as the feeling of the passing moment\nimpels him. Often one desire so completely absorbs his mind as to\nobscure everything else, and he will make any effort to gain his end.\nHis case is like that of a man who \"sets his heart\" on a thing, or who\nharbors an alluring temptation too long, until it overpowers him. This\nis the explanation of most cases of obstinacy and strong will, as is\nproven by the disappearance of the \"will\" when the mind is diverted.\n\nOne of the deepest desires of every parent and teacher is that there\nshall in truth be a strong will as the life matures, and so its training\nis sought. But just what is meant by it? We know there is no separate\nfaculty to be strengthened as the arm is strengthened. What can be\ntrained? The only training possible is in helping the soul to form the\nhabit of choosing to do the right thing, or, analyzing still more\nclosely, of following the promptings of the noblest feelings of the\nheart.\n\nThe inseparable relation between feeling and action has been noted. If\nthe noblest feelings can be made the strongest, they will be followed.\nThe previous discussion shows that their strength is increased every\ntime they are aroused and acted upon, and this leads to habit in both\nfeeling and action. The nurture of the will or executive power of the\nsoul is seen, therefore, to be most intimately connected with the\nnurture of the feelings, and its work will consist in making the right\ncourse of action so appealing that the child will desire and choose it\nfor himself, until it becomes habitual, and consequently, undebatable.\nForcing him to follow it, secures the action; it does not arouse the\nfeelings that would lead him to choose to do the act himself.\n\nAn act compelled is like an apple tied to a fruit tree; it did not grow\nthere and has no connection with the life of the tree. A fruit tree that\ncan not bear its own fruit is worthless, and a life that does not reach\nthe point of producing its own right actions, independent of human\ncoercion, is a failure. The comparison may be pressed still further. No\nquantity of apples tied upon a tree will ever make it produce apples,\nand even so, no number of right acts imposed upon a child will, in\nitself, make him do right things voluntarily. This can only come through\nstrengthening in his own soul the processes that lead to right action.\nThe truth of this is proven in the case of thousands of boys who did the\nright things at home because they were compelled to do so, but when they\nleft home they went wrong. The one who should have nurtured was too\nbusy, or too thoughtless, to take the time to lead into strength and\nuprightness the thinking and feeling and choosing of the soul while it\nwas developing. It was easier to say peremptorily, \"Do this,\" with the\ninevitable result, that when compulsion was removed character gave way\nbecause it was weak.\n\nBut some one is saying, \"That is a very questionable doctrine; 'Let the\nchild do as he pleases, if he don't want to do the right, don't force\nhim.'\"\n\nSuch a deduction from the argument entirely misses the point. The child\nmust do the right, but, in a nutshell--which is the stronger\nconstraint--outer or inner? Which makes character surer, the voice\nwithout, saying, 'You must,' or the voice within which says it? No\nexternal power could have made Paul's record of service, or Brainerd's\nor Paton's. All the force of the Russian government was powerless to\nobtain that which each Japanese soldier poured out upon his country's\naltar in the fight for supremacy in Manchuria. These deeds are the\nsoul's response to the most irresistible power in the world--a consuming\npassion. It was such a passion, intense beyond earthly fathom, that led\nthe Savior through Gethsemane to Calvary.\n\nBecause this is so, the Heavenly Father's effort to secure right action\nfrom His children is not evident in external compulsion. Through His\nfavor and fellowship, the joy of His approval, the peace that passeth\nunderstanding, the \"Well done,\" the eternal reward, He endeavors to\narouse love for Himself and what He desires, in order that His will may\nbe chosen.\n\nAccording to this Divine pattern human nurture labors. At the very\nfirst, the parent must make choice for the child, but earlier than is\nusually appreciated, definite training may be begun. The loving smile of\nthe mother and her known wish, her approval or disapproval, her\nrecognition and encouragement, the knowledge that, \"Whatsoever a man\nsoweth that must he also reap,\" gained through bearing the penalty or\nenjoying the reward of each choice, the right course made attractive in\nthe story of some one who chose it, or, most magnetic of all, in the\nlife of the one who is nurturing, all these will begin to arouse the\ninner constraint that compels, and with glad acquiescence the soul will\nsay, \"Necessity is laid upon me.\"\n\nWhen the life shall learn that the most blessed joy that inheres in\nright actions is not human approval but God's favor, and for His sake,\nwith face steadfastly set, the right is followed, even though shorn of\nall external attractiveness, the highest development possible for a\nsoul has been realized.\n\n\nAPPLICATION TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK\n\nThe Sunday School is such an important factor in religious training that\na special application of the foregoing discussion to its methods and\nwork seems wise. It is evident that plans can not be detailed, but only\nsome principles underlying the methods be suggested.\n\n\nTHE CRADLE ROLL\n\nIn the first department known as the Cradle Roll, nurture can be given\nby the Sunday School only as it touches the parents. Any Cradle Roll\nwork that culminates in the sentiment of securing the babies' names and\ncalling them, \"Our Sweet Peas\", has missed its purpose. A peculiar\nopportunity comes with the flood tide of new parental love. \"If I had\nnot been a Christian when my boy was born, I could very easily have been\nled to Christ, my heart was so tender and full of gratitude,\" said the\nfather of an only son.\n\nThe Sunday School will nurture its babes through choosing as Cradle\nRoll Superintendent, a consecrated Christian woman, trained in the\nschool of life's experience, who can come close to other mothers because\nshe, too, has known the valley of the shadow and the sacred joy of a new\nborn life in her arms. A unique opportunity is hers to lead the parents\nto Christ or into closer fellowship with Him, and to help them\nunderstand the meaning of the life He has lent them.\n\n\nTHE BEGINNERS' DEPARTMENT\n\nThe Beginners' Department will care for the years between three and six.\nNurture will be concerned first with the teacher.\n\nThe Teacher.--The child's conception of Christ will be what he sees in\nthe teacher. He can not conceive of any love or tenderness or gentleness\ngreater than appears in her. A mother came to the teacher of her little\nboy one day and said, \"John was playing on the floor this afternoon, and\nall at once he stopped and watched me, and then said, 'Mamma, I wish you\nwere as much like Jesus as my teacher is'\" The lesson, the music, the\nprayer and all the differentiation of the day and place tend to elevate\nthe teacher above those who share his daily life, and envelop her with\nan atmosphere more mystic and holy. She is connected not with clothes\nand bread and butter episodes, but wholly with the thought of Jesus, and\nstands by His side in the child's thought and love, and if he love not\nthe teacher whom he has seen, he can not love God whom he has not seen.\nEven the physical charm of the teacher will make his picture of the\nChrist more beautiful. Nurture demands above all else that the teacher\nof a Beginners' Class suggest \"One altogether lovely,\" to the sensitive,\nimaginative and imitative soul of the child, for her message to him is\never silently, but irresistibly, \"Be ye imitators of me as I am of\nChrist.\"\n\nThe Place.--The place of meeting must fulfill certain conditions to give\nproper nurture.\n\nBecause of the restlessness of these years, it ought to afford\nopportunity for physical movement. Even if a separate room is not\navailable, screens or curtains should make it possible for the children\nto change their position frequently. The separation will also remove the\ntemptation for curiosity to obtain satisfaction through roving eyes. The\nplace should provide comfortable seating arrangements, for impressions\ncarried within from strained muscles and tired limbs are far stronger\nthan from ideas that the teacher gives, and these will consequently\nreceive the attention.\n\nBut it is not sufficient to plan for seclusion and comfort. Nurture\nthinks beyond and deeper than this. The child is gaining his first\nimpressions of religious things during these years, and his ideas will\nbe derived from what his senses give him. There is no way to give him\nthe thought of the beauty of holiness, and the joy that the religion of\nJesus Christ brings, except to make every thing associated with it as\nglad and beautiful as may be. Choice pictures, flowers, sunshine, order,\nall mysteriously transmit their beauty to the child's thought of God.\nThe more attractive the visible things, the more magnetic the charm of\nthe invisible. \"Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath\nshined.\"\n\nThe Equipment.--The equipment is not to be a heterogeneous collection of\nthings, and yet the child must be taught through his senses. A Bible\nwhich can be kept before the children and reverently handled, to teach\nreverence by suggestion, is of first importance. Little chairs, or an\nequally comfortable substitute, a blackboard and an instrument, if\npossible, will give good working capital.\n\nSince taste is forming at this time and every thing has an influence in\ndetermining its direction, the beautiful pictures in black and white are\ngaining favor through their artistic execution and subdued coloring. To\nthis equipment may be added special objects designed to make the facts\nof special lessons clearer--the sand table occasionally, or models.\nThoughtful teachers are more and more convinced that while Kindergarten\nprinciples should obtain, the Kindergarten should not be moved bodily\ninto the Sunday School. Values must be balanced, and over against the\nreasons which might be given for bringing in all the equipment of the\nweek-day environment, there is this great fact:--the child is to be\ntaught that religion is the supreme thing in the world, and he can learn\nit only by differentiating it in a tangible way from other things. This\nmeans that the methods, music, material and beauty associated with it\nought to make it distinctive, and more attractive than any of the\nweek-day surroundings.\n\nAfter he learns that it is the chief thing in the world, he can learn\nhow to bring it down to the common things of life without sacrificing\nits supremacy, instead of dragging the every-dayness into it.\n\nThe Program.--The program must be varied, because self control is weak,\nand attention will be given to one thing only so long as interest is\nactive. Music should have a prominent place, provided it is meaningful,\nchoice, and suggestive of the thought desired, in music as well as\nwords. Since this is the rhythmic and imitative period of life, motion\nsongs can be occasionally used, provided the motions are not mechanical\nand artificial. The foot notes which say that at I the hands should be\nclasped, at 2 they should wave, and at 3 be raindrops, miss the point of\na motion song. Unless the child spontaneously expresses the thought\nwhich the song suggests to him, the motions have no value, aside from a\nrest exercise.\n\nThe entire program should be planned around the thought of leading the\nchild into a genuine love for God. Nature is beautiful, but its place in\nSunday School is subordinate to Him. The most exquisite song that ends\nwith birds and flowers falls below the highest nurture. Love must be\nboth aroused and expressed during the hour's session. Music, Scripture,\nthe enumeration of His blessings, the joy over birthdays and new\nscholars He has sent, the lesson, the carefully selected pictures and\nstories of what His love has done for other boys and girls unlike them,\nan atmosphere of gladness and reverence will kindle it; the offering\nservice, the prayer, Scripture and music will express it. The suggestion\nfrom teacher, place, program and lesson combined, should be a great,\nwonderful God who loves little children, as well as a Christ who took\nthe children in His arms.\n\nThe Lesson.--The course known as \"The Two Years' Course for Beginners\"\naffords the best subject matter for the lessons for the following\nreasons:\n\n1. Bible truths needed first in the life of a little child have been\ncarefully selected and arranged in their logical order.\n\n2. As many lessons as are needed to make each truth clear and to fix it\nin memory are devoted to it.\n\n3. The setting for the truths to be taught is given in stories, not\nabstract statements.\n\n4. The same Golden Text is used for all the lessons teaching one truth,\nis simple, intelligible and, by repetition in connection with several\nlessons, can be fixed.\n\n5. The pictures accompanying the lessons are very choice both in theme\nand execution.\n\nSince the only ideas the child will receive of the lesson must come\nthrough his senses and bodily activity, and since, of his senses, sight\nand touch make a clearer impression than hearing, large use should be\nmade of them. Further, as this is the period of imitation of definite\nacts, the lesson should present forcibly and fascinatingly, an activity\nwithin his power to imitate.\n\nThe end sought, as a result of the nurture of this period, is that the\nchild may become truly a child of God, and never know a time when he did\nnot love Him.\n\nThis may be achieved, for the heart of a little child is open and\npeculiarly sensitized to the matchless story of Jesus Christ. When it is\npresented to him aright, he always responds in faith and love. In this\nresponse, the conditions upon which spiritual sonship is conferred are\nmet, for, \"As many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become\nchildren of God, even to them that believe on His name.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nCHILDHOOD--SIX TO TWELVE\n\n\nNo abrupt change marks the transition from the period of Early Childhood\nto Childhood, but development is continuous and rapid in every\ndirection. The larger social world, entered through school life, and the\nnew intellectual world, revealed through ability to read, widen the\nchild's vision and develop possibilities hitherto latent, because\nunneeded.\n\nThe Sunday School divides the period of Childhood into the \"Primary\nAge,\" from six to nine, and the \"Junior Age,\" from nine to twelve,\nbasing the division as accurately as is possible upon the awakening of\nthese latent possibilities. The development of this period will\ntherefore be considered according to this classification.\n\n\nTHE PRIMARY AGE--SIX TO NINE\n\nDuring these years the characteristics of Early Childhood remain in more\nor less modified form. Physical growth is still rapid in all parts of\nthe body, the brain reaching almost full size by the ninth year.\nParallel with this vigorous physical growth is a mental growth and\ndevelopment equally rapid and many sided. Curiosity is as hungry as\never, still more eager concerning things than abstract ideas, and still\na goad to active senses. The mind has increased power to retain what is\ngiven it, and about the ninth year enters upon its \"Golden Memory\nPeriod.\" The ability to reason is gradually increasing, though it is\nused more upon relationships between things than between ideas.\n\nThe child's feelings are still self-centered, yet development of the\nsocial and altruistic feelings is apparent. Children enjoy companionship\nmore than in earlier years, but the longing for others does not reach\nthe intensity which demands the club and gang until later. A feeling of\nsympathy and desire to help must still be awakened by definite cases of\nneed, plus the influence of parent or teacher, as the child does not yet\nknow life's hard experiences well enough to read their meaning and give\nresponse to them of himself.\n\nIf nurture has met its opportunity in the preceding period, the child's\nlove for God and confidence in Him have grown stronger. The Heavenly\nFather will be as real to him as an earthly friend, and His help a\nliving experience. \"How is it that you always have a perfect spelling\nlesson at school?\" a primary teacher asked of one of her boys. \"Why,\ndon't you know that Jesus sits in the seat with me every day and helps\nme?\" he replied. The teacher's face betokened her surprise, and the\nchild emphatically reiterated, \"He truly does sit with me and help me.\"\nWould that God's older children could live as actually in the Presence\nthat was promised for \"all the days.\"\n\nActions continue to be largely impulsive, carried out according to the\nstrongest present desire, and though right and wrong are more clearly\nunderstood than formerly, they do not often determine an act unsupported\nby other considerations. This is evident in the matter of obedience,\nwhose strengthening into a habit is one of the most imperative tasks of\nnurture during childhood. Abstract laws and principles of right, so\nweighty in middle adolescence, have but slight influence over the child,\nunless joined with them is a strong personality whom the child loves or\nfears, and whose favor he desires to win through obeying.\n\nThere are certain modifications of earlier characteristics, which demand\nmore than a passing notice, because they necessitate greater change in\nthe methods of nurture.\n\n\nACTIVITY\n\nThough the restlessness of the preceding period is still in evidence,\nmore and more activity is becoming purposeful and willed. While the\nchild continues to love activity for itself, he is more interested in\nwhat it will accomplish than formerly, but an end is not yet\nsufficiently attractive in itself to hold him to an unpleasant activity\nfor its achievement. For example, he enjoys both the weaving and the\nbasket, the pasting and the scrap-book, but if pasting and weaving were\nlaborious and difficult, he would not voluntarily go through them to\nobtain the basket or the scrap-book.\n\nIt must be noted further, that activity still expends itself more\nreadily in the realm of the physical than the mental, though there is\nincreasing pleasure in the quest for knowledge, if wisely directed. The\nSunday School is beginning to recognize what the day school has learned,\nthat the child both enjoys and masters a lesson which can be approached\nthrough physical as well as mental avenues. In consequence, hand work is\nbeing introduced to aid in religious instruction, as manual work in the\npublic schools for secular education, with most gratifying results in\nboth cases.\n\n\nTHE SENSES\n\nMore skill, more accuracy and more discrimination characterize the work\nof the senses than in Early Childhood. The impressions are richer in\ndetail and meaning, because of the increased knowledge possessed by the\nchild. It is a commonplace that we receive from anything in proportion\nto what we bring to it. The ear of the musician hears in an orchestra\nwhat the child or the adult without the knowledge of music could never\ndetect, because he listens with more than they. The child can see in a\npicture or circumstance, and hear in a conversation or a song, what once\nhe could not, because he brings a larger experience to bear upon it.\nCriticism of others in the home, the lapses from Christ-like living, the\nscenes of the street, things pernicious as well as helpful have greater\nsignificance in character building than ever before. This gives still\ngraver emphasis to the work of nurture in guarding these wide-open\ndoorways to a hungry soul.\n\nGrowing out of the fact that the senses are the greatest source of\ninformation to the child's mind, the method of teaching by means of\nobjects has arisen. Rightly used, there is great value in this mode of\ninstruction, but a serious perversion of its legitimate use has\ndeveloped in connection with religious instruction of little children.\nThough the discussion of this may be a possible digression, it seems\nnecessary in order to safeguard nurture from a mistake.\n\nThere are two helpful methods of using an object with children in the\nBeginners' and Primary age. The first is to explain an unfamiliar fact,\nor make it clear. A model of an oriental house or curios from a mission\nfield are examples of this. The second use is to illustrate a fact. The\nflower is the visible expression of God's loving care; the table, heaped\nhigh with grains and fruits and vegetables at the Thanksgiving service,\nteaches as no mere words could the fact of God's provision for our need.\nObjects used in this way require no reasoning power to make their\nmeaning clear. It is only a matter of perception.\n\nThe use of an object, however, in order to deduce spiritual truth\ntherefrom for children with reasoning powers undeveloped, is a mistake.\nInstead of making the thought clearer to their minds it obscures it.\nClose examination reveals the reason for this. A child is both\nimaginative and literal. Through his imagination he can transform one\nobject into another object, as we have already observed, but in this\ncase he is asked to transform an object into an abstract idea. This he\ndoes not easily do, since such transformation is made by reason, not by\nimagination. Further, the spiritual teachings are drawn from the\nabstract idea which the object is supposed to represent, not from the\nobject itself. Manifestly, therefore, if he does not get the idea he\nwill not get the deductions from it. His mind does not follow beyond the\npoint where he can understand, consequently, his thought remains with\nthe object as it literally is.\n\nTo illustrate, take the familiar object lesson of a cup overflowing with\nwater, used to teach the thought of God's manifold blessings in the\nlife. The child is asked to change the cup into the abstract thought of\nlife, and water into the thought of blessing. This is difficult, for it\ninvolves reason and deals with resemblances which are artificial, not\nreal. The child's literalism, therefore, asserts itself, and the cup\nremains a cup and the water is still water, and while the teacher is\ndrawing conclusions, the child is probably wondering whether her dress\nwill get wet or how he can get a drink.\n\nThe same principle obtains in regard to certain types of blackboard\nillustrations. The child is asked to change a cross into suffering, a\ncrown into victory, a red cardboard heart into life, and a picture of\nJesus Christ pinned upon it into regeneration. He does not make these\ntransformations until reason is more fully developed than in this\nperiod. Lines remain lines, cardboard is still cardboard and spiritual\ndeductions do not reach his understanding.\n\nThe fact that an object or drawing is always interesting does not alter\nthe principle at all, for being interested and being instructed are not\nnecessarily equivalent terms. The lesson must always be interesting, but\nit must also gain entrance according to the laws of the mind to be\ninstructive.\n\n\nINTERESTS\n\nThe interests of this period include those of the preceding period, but\nthey are more diverse and far-reaching than in Early Childhood. They\nstill center around the concrete, and especially physical activity.\nCrude and amazingly heterogeneous collections begin to make their\nappearance in boys' pockets and girls' treasure boxes. Dolls are never\nso dear to their fond mothers as in this period. Games and active\noutdoor sports appeal to both boys and girls, those games being\nparticularly enjoyable which give the individual an opportunity to\nshine. Real team play is impossible at this time, since in honor each\nprefers himself. Any scepticism upon this point will be dispelled by\nlistening to the modest aspirants for office when the positions in a\nfootball game are being assigned. The explanation for this lies\npartially in the instinct of rivalry, which arrays individual against\nindividual, all through the early years of life. When the social\nfeeling which welds individuals into groups becomes strong, rivalry will\nappear between gangs and clubs rather than between individuals.\n\nA significant change occurs in connection with that which the child\ndesires to imitate. At first, definite acts focused the most of his\ninterest and aroused imitation, now, interest begins to attach itself to\nthe actor as well, and the child not only desires to imitate the deed\nbut also to emulate the doer. Out of this a little later comes real hero\nworship, an incentive to action than which life holds no greater.\nAnother fact in connection with this is also significant; those whom he\ndesires to resemble need not be in the home circle nor in his\nenvironment, as at first, but may be distant in time and place. This new\ninterest in people whom he can not see lends added charm and value to\nBible stories and, if told aright, they will do for his life what can be\ndone in no other way so effectively.\n\nSurely Agur, the son of Jakeh, saw no eager little faces upturned to\nhis, pleading, \"Tell me another,\" or he would have added to the things\nthat are never satisfied, nor say, \"It is enough,\" the hunger of a child\nfor a story. Since hunger is always indicative of a need in the\ndeveloping life, there must be a reason for this craving. It is found in\nconnection with the rapid development and requirements of the\nimagination.\n\nThere are two ways in which a truth may be taught. One is through an\nabstract statement, such as, \"Intemperance destroys the happiness of a\nhome.\" The other is through the concrete, or the story of a home\nblighted by liquor. The first appeals to reason, and can be understood\nonly in the light of experience; the second requires simply the exercise\nof a vivid imagination. Of reasoning power, the child at this time has\nlittle, but he has an imagination vivid, strong and hungry, eagerly\nreaching out for something to feed upon. The well-told story fully\nsatisfies his hunger, and at the same time meets the greatest need of\nthe whole soul, namely, the placing of right ideals before it in such a\nway that they will be worked out into character.\n\nTo accomplish this result three things are necessary: first, the thought\nsuggesting the ideal must be understood; second, it must rouse the\nfeelings; third, it must lead to action. The story meets every demand.\n\n1. It makes the truth concrete. The statement, \"Love will endure\nhardships for the sake of Jesus Christ,\" is only a thought in the brain.\nThe story of Paul or Livingston brings the truth out of that intangible\nworld, puts flesh upon it and the breath of life within, and the child\ncan in imagination exercise his sense of sight, of hearing and of touch\nupon it.\n\n2. It makes the truth visible, and therefore to be grasped through the\nsenses or imagination.\n\nA thought can not be seen by itself, but if lived out in the life of a\nperson it may be seen by the physical eye, or, if mountains and\ncenturies intervene, still by the eye of the soul--the imagination.\nWhen it is seen, the fact itself is understood, though the reasons for\nit may not be comprehended. While no man may ever know why God so loved\nthe world that He gave His only begotten Son, we understand that He does\nlove us, as we see the Babe in the manger and the blessed Savior upon\nthe cross. Only when a truth is so seen does it become real and,\nconsequently, of any worth to the life. Herein lies the need and the\npower of \"Living Epistles,\" not only in the material world, but also in\nthe world of the imagination.\n\n3. When the truth is seen it always arouses feeling.\n\nA thought which is merely known does not move men. It is possible to\nread of a terrible tragedy with measured pulse and indifferent heart,\nbut if the reader was an eye witness, or allows imagination to picture\nit for him, his soul quivers in its presence. One of the greatest needs\nof our teachers is to see the Master among the hills and by the blue\nwaters of Gennesaret, to look into His face, to hear His voice till\nhearts burn. Then they will not repeat words, but, \"Looking upon Jesus\nas He walked,\" say, \"Behold Him!\" in such a way that the children will\nsee Him also, and a great love for Him be born in their hearts, and a\nlonging to follow.\n\n4. The truth that is seen and felt impels to action.\n\nThis has already been discussed in connection with the feelings, and an\nillustration will suffice at this time.\n\nA mission Sunday School was listening to a talk on the fixedness of\nhabits formed in youth, and to make it clearer the speaker said, \"Boys,\ndo they ever lay cement walks in this neighborhood?\" Every eye was\nriveted on him, as they answered, \"Yes!\" \"Did you know,\" he continued,\n\"that if you were to take a sharp-pointed stick and write your name in\nthe cement while it was soft, it would harden and remain there as long\nas the walk lasted?\" \"Of course,\" he hastily added, as a significant\nexpression appeared on their faces, \"no boy here would be mean enough\nto do such a thing,\" but it was too late--the picture had done its work\nand the purpose of handing autographs down to posterity would be\nexecuted at the first opportunity.\n\nSuch is the power of the image or picture to lead to action. Only the\nFather knows how many sons have come home from the far country because\nof the matchless story of the prodigal. Only He knows how many\nconsecrated men and women are in Africa and China and Japan because they\nsaw the heroes in God's Hall of Fame. Surely this is why the Holy Spirit\ninspired Paul to write, \"Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things\nare honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,\nwhatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if\nthere be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.\"\n\n5. If the imagination steadily hold the picture, some day the life will\nbe like it.\n\nIt is impossible for the soul to look day after day upon anything\nwithout unconsciously being changed into its likeness. Hawthorne has\nexquisitely portrayed the transformation of Ernest into the image of the\nGreat Stone Face, and, in so doing, has told the story of every life\nthat gazes fixedly on its ideal. Herein lies the blessed secret of\nChrist-likeness: \"We all, with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the\nglory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, from glory to\nglory even as from the Lord, the Spirit.\"\n\nIn the light of these wonderful possibilities growing out of \"seeing the\ninvisible,\" the oft-quoted words of Stanley Hall are most significant,\n\"Of all the things that a teacher should know how to do, the most\nimportant, without any exception, is to know how to tell a story.\"\n\n\nAPPLICATION TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK\n\nThe requirements of the Primary department in regard to teacher, place\nand equipment are similar to those in the Beginners' class, save that a\nsong roll may now be helpfully added, since the children are learning to\nread. In the matter of instruction, however, some variation from\npreceding methods is necessary, owing to the rapid mental development of\nthe children.\n\n\nI. General Program.\n\nIn addition to the thought of making the service worshipful and joyous,\nthe program must be planned with reference to three important things:\n\n(1) The Truth to be presented in the lesson.\n\nThis should be a guide to program building in the preceding department\nas well, but it becomes imperative in this and the Junior departments,\nsince the truth to be taught changes weekly, and therefore must be\nfastened during one hour's work. Memory in this period depends upon the\nforce of the impression rather than upon association, as in later\nperiods, hence all songs and exercises should emphasize the one thought\nto be given in the lesson. This does not require new songs and services\nweekly. It merely requires that the old songs and exercises be\napproached from the standpoint of the lesson, that which is pertinent to\nit being developed in each.\n\nThe results of this plan are two-fold: first, a freshness in the program\neach week, even with familiar features, and second, cumulative emphasis\nupon one truth, thus fulfilling the conditions of memory, and therefore\nof nurture.\n\n(2) The Activity of the children.\n\nThe increased mental ability will permit interesting exercises to take\nthe place of some of the physical outlets for activity necessary in the\npreceding period, but they must be brief and compelling in their\nattractiveness.\n\nThe use of motion songs is outgrown, especially with boys. During many\nyears there has remained in memory the expression in the face of a boy,\nhead and shoulders taller than any other child in the primary\ndepartment, as he stood pointing to pedal extremities, not less than\nnumber fours, and singing, \"Little feet, be very careful where you take\nme to.\" The sentiment could not possibly have been wrung from him had\nnot the superintendent been his mother.\n\nHand work suggestive of the lesson, such as pasting, coloring, tearing,\ncutting and simplest writing for the older ones, is growing in favor as\na means of utilizing the activity and impressing the lesson. An outline\nof the methods of this work is impossible here, but three words of\ncaution must be spoken.\n\nFirst: Choose the time for hand work carefully.\n\nWhile it will give wise outlet for activity and aid memory, if used in\nthe wrong place it will tend to dissipate the influence of the lesson.\nEven the pasting of a picture when the feelings are deeply stirred could\ngive them sufficient expression so that they would be satisfied without\nfurther action. They ought to impel to imitation of the action in the\nstory with all the intensity that has been aroused, instead of being\nexpended in a mechanical way. In view of this fact, the proper subject\nof the hand work would seem to be the lesson of the week preceding, and\nthe best time for it, just prior to the beginning of the session, if\nthat be of the usual hour length. This time is practicable even where\nthe session immediately follows the church service, and it has three\nadvantages. It will counteract lack of punctuality, will utilize\nactivity at its most disastrous stage--the unoccupied minutes before the\nprogram proper begins--and will not crowd out from the hour any other\ntraining equally important.\n\nSecond: Remember that valuable as the hand work is in clarifying and\nimpressing the lesson, it is only a shell containing the truth.\nTherefore, a teacher who occupies a large part of the hour in this way\nis not giving the child sufficient spiritual nourishment.\n\nThird: This work must be raised above the level of similar week-day\noccupations.\n\nThis may be done through emphasizing the fact that the child is making a\nbook of Bible stories, and special care must be used to make it\nbeautiful and worthy. A mission of help or cheer to some one else may\nalso be held out as a climax to its completion.\n\n(3) The program must be planned with reference to training in habit\nformation.\n\nThough the latter part of Childhood is the habit forming period of life,\npre-eminently, yet habits of Christian activity must be begun during\nthese earlier years. The children in this department are not too young\nto lay the foundations of regular and punctual attendance, bringing of\nBibles, giving to church expenses and benevolences, interest in and\ngifts for missionary work, daily prayer and, under proper conditions,\nchurch attendance.\n\nII. Instruction.\n\nWhile special teaching must be given in connection with each habit to be\nformed, the supplemental work and the lesson constitute the principal\nsubjects of instruction.\n\n1. Supplemental Work.\n\nScripture for memorization in this period should be chosen primarily to\nhelp the children in habit formation. Information about the Bible and\nstoring for future use belong in the next period of \"Golden memory.\"\nVerses that give the thought of God's love, and incite loving obedience\nto Him and to their parents, and loving service to others, are\nfundamental and should predominate. The Twenty-third Psalm and Lord's\nPrayer will have real meaning, and therefore help for the child at this\ntime, if carefully taught. A few of the great stories of the Bible,\nincluding those of Christmas and Easter, may be added, and some of the\nhymns of the church expressing God's majesty and the thought of service.\n\n2. The Lesson.\n\nEvery principle of nurture already discussed bears upon the presentation\nof the lesson.\n\n(1) The lesson must bring an ideal to the child in concrete form. This\nwill be the truth connected in some way with a person. Where the lesson\ngives the negative side, or the absence of the truth in life, the\npositive side must also be presented and made more attractive, since\nthe child's impulse to imitate, even when warned against it, is stronger\nthan the warnings. He must always be sent away with something to do,\nrather than not to do.\n\n(2) This ideal must always be given in a story. When the lesson material\nis abstract, like the Epistles or Psalms, a truth to be taught should be\nselected from it, and then made concrete and living in some Bible story.\n\n(3) The story itself is the mainspring to action, not the application.\n\nThe forceful, vivid and realistic presentation of the story, made\npossible as the teacher lives in it, impels the child to imitation; the\napplication, or \"ought,\" appeals to his reason and compels him, and\naction is always more hearty when impelled than when compelled. The only\nafter touch upon the story which is helpful to little children lies in\nplans for imitating the activity which has been pictured. Even this is\nnot always to be done. Jesus left the most wonderful story He ever told\nwith no words of application, for they were unnecessary. He knew that\nevery prodigal would feel a tug at the heartstrings and an impulse to go\nhome. At the conclusion of the story of the Good Samaritan He merely\nsaid, \"Go thou and do likewise.\" Allowing the children to suggest what\nthey would like to do if they so desire, or making the suggestion\nindirectly by song, or prayer, or the teacher's announcement of her own\npurpose will carry far more weight than any injunction to act, for, \"The\ndeepest spring of action in us is the sight of action in another.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE JUNIOR AGE--NINE TO TWELVE\n\n\nThe years we are now to consider are among the most interesting in all\nthe period of development, and among the most exacting, as well, in the\nproblems they present. These problems are related, in the main, to the\n\"new invoice of energy\" which has come into the life, the social\nfeelings, habit formation and hero worship, and knowledge and patience\nare almost exhausted in their solution.\n\nA general survey of the period reveals much that we are already familiar\nwith, together with certain new conditions. We find that some of the\nwinsomeness and much of the demonstrativeness and dependency of earlier\nchildhood are gone. The sense of approaching manhood or womanhood is\nbeginning to stir in the soul and, coincident with it, a growing\nindependence is manifest. While the child must still be under authority,\nthe wisest nurture will consult his feelings and wishes as far as\npossible, for just beyond this period lies life's crisis, and every bond\nof sympathy and confidence must unite the helper to the one to be helped\nas the stormy passage is entered upon.\n\nWith all this growing independence, however, life is very far from\npossessing the marks of maturity. It is careless and care free,\nirresponsible in general, yet proud to carry definite responsibilities.\nThere is delight in anything which suggests pre-eminence over others,\nsuch as badges, buttons and regalia of any kind, or public recognition\nand reward. Frankness almost to the point of brutality is a frequent\ntrait, particularly of boys of this age, for they do not lend themselves\nas easily as the girls to the polite usages and subterfuges of society.\nThis characteristic must have its counterbalance in genuineness and\nfreedom from any affectation, especially a pious one, on the part of\nthose dealing with the children, in order to win their love and respect.\n\nA marked literalism is also apparent, and instead of the delicately\nimaginative child of earlier years a matter of fact young person stands\nout with a desire for exact statement and, if need be, under such oath\nas, \"Upon your word,\" or \"Cross your heart and hope to die.\" There is a\nstrong sense of honor connected with such asseverations, and woe betide\nthe one who swears falsely or tinkers with the truth.\n\nThere are certain conspicuous characteristics which demand a more\ndetailed consideration, and the first to be noted is the energy.\n\n\nENERGY\n\nThe very sound of the word is indicative of the nervous force that\ndominates the life during these years. It is well nigh impossible for\naction to be noiseless or measured in this period, especially during the\nlatter part. The energy continues to be more vigorous in the physical\nrealm, and active sports of all kinds are attractive. One of the\ngreatest problems of nurture at this time, as has already been\nsuggested, centers around the wise use of this energy in the home, the\nday school, the Sunday School and, most important of all, in the hours\nunoccupied with definite tasks, for habits are forming through its\noutgoing.\n\n\nTHE SOCIAL FEELINGS\n\nAnother striking characteristic of this period appears in the rapid\ndevelopment of the social feelings. No longer is the child content with\none or two playmates, but he craves the companionship of several of the\nsame age and sex. This desire finds expression in the coterie of bosom\nfriends, the gang and the club so prevalent between the ages of ten and\nfourteen. The bonfire with its circle of kindred spirits, the cave with\nits password and dark plottings, the street corner and recruiting\nwhistle have almost irresistible fascination. What one boy does not\ndare, the gang will attempt, and the composite conscience may fall far\nbelow that of the individual. The sense of honor already mentioned is\nvery strong among the members, and in absolute loyalty to one another\nthey stand or fall.\n\nThese organizations exist among the girls as well as boys, but differ in\nthe purpose for which they are formed, the girls organizing more as\nadults, while the boys' clubs are overwhelmingly to expend energy,\nlawfully or otherwise.\n\nThe dangers and opportunities growing out of this strong tendency toward\nsegregation can not be overestimated. A walk along a city street in the\nevening reveals the fact that the nurture of the sidewalk and the ice\ncream parlor has largely supplanted the nurture of the home on the\nsocial side. The table with the evening lamp--\"the home's\nlighthouse\"--and the family circle complete about it, are an almost\nunknown experience in the life of the average American child. In a\nrecent convention a speaker, who is in charge of a great penal\ninstitution filled with human derelicts, said he believed it to be as\nmuch a duty of the church to preserve at least one evening a week sacred\nto the home, as to designate another for the prayer meeting or preaching\nservice.\n\nThe home ought to be the center of the child's social life. Why can not\nthe lights and music and companionship there be made as attractive as\nthe lights of the corner store, or billiard hall, or the sound of the\nstreet piano, which pave the way to the saloon and the dance hall later?\nThat boys and girls will congregate during this period and the next is a\nlaw unchangeable as the laws of the Medes and Persians. Nurture asks\nwhether the home does not furnish a better environment during this\nenergetic, habit forming and irresponsible period than the corner store\nor the \"gang?\" It asks whether the society of those invited within its\ndoors for a good time, under the sympathetic and watchful eye of the\nfather and mother, is not apt to be more conducive to true character\nbuilding than the society of the chance acquaintance with no credentials\nsave his skill in story telling and initiation into fascinating\nmysteries? It asks still further, in this age of hero worship, whether\nthe home should not erect the ideals of manhood and womanhood through\nexample, through books, through honored guests who have achieved true\ndistinction instead of delegating this privilege to the group around the\nbonfire or the man who gathers the admiring circle to listen to the\nsalacious tale? The home which provides for this social craving within\nits sheltering walls, blending the faces of father and mother with those\nof companions in the most joyous of good times, and, after the evening\naltar, when the lights are darkened, knows that each pillow is pressed\nby its own pure face, that home is a bulwark of the nation and the ante\nchamber to one of God's many mansions.\n\nMay God have pity on the thousands of children who live in houses, but\nare homeless.\n\n\nHERO WORSHIP\n\nIn this new interest in his fellows, all figures do not stand out in\nequal proportion against the child's horizon. Some loom very high, and\nin the inner chamber of the soul, incense is burning at their shrine.\nOut of the earlier interest in people, and desire to imitate their\nactions, there begins to emerge the great passion of hero worship with\nall its power in shaping ideals and determining character. If it be\ntrue, indeed, that life grows like what it gazes fixedly upon, then\nnurture has here an important work.\n\nThe hero of any period must inevitably embody that which the life most\nadmires at the time, hence physical strength and skill, courage and\ndaring will be prominent factors in a boy's hero in this period. This\nhero may be, perchance, the physical director of the Y.M.C.A., the\nchampion baseball or football player, an explorer or adventurer, a\ndesperado, or--happy case--a father who has not forgotten how to swim\nand fish and hunt and play ball. A boy always longs to place his father\non the throne of his heart, if he is given a chance, but the fathers who\ncovet that place enough to pay the price for it are too few.\n\nA hard working mechanic said to a friend, \"I made up my mind I would\nrather have a backache when my boys were little than a heartache later\non,\" and so no day's task was so heavy, up toil so exhausting that when\nhe came home at night his two boys could not claim him. The cramped\nmuscles would unlimber behind the bat, the tired limbs would forget\ntheir weariness in the jaunt that had been planned with father, and\nduring the hours of freedom the three were chums in sports, in\ninterests, in confidence. They say there is no more beautiful sight in\nthat town today than two stalwart, manly fellows arm in arm with the\nfather, who counts it the joy and pride of his life to have mounted the\nhero's throne in the hearts of his sons.\n\nWhile boys always choose a man as their hero, girls may choose either\nthe masculine or feminine character. They are still near enough Nature's\nheart to glory in wildness and abandon, and the subtle delicacy of true\nwomanhood has not the charm for them now it will have later. Yet it is\npart of the priceless dower of motherhood to so share in the daughter's\nlife through sympathy and understanding that, to \"be like mother\" will\nembody all the aspirations of a girlish heart.\n\n\n\"THE READING CRAZE\"\n\nThe flame of hero worship is fed from two sources--the life of some one\nnear to the child and the passionate delight in reading which\ncharacterizes the years from about ten to fifteen and is especially\nmarked from twelve to fourteen. The choice of books will naturally be\ngoverned by the strongest interests. We are not surprised, therefore,\nthat every page must teem with life and chronicle some achievement,\npreferably in the physical realm, for in the thought of the junior,\n\"Greater is he that taketh a city than he who ruleth his own spirit.\"\n\nToward the latter part of this period the sentimental novel, with all of\nits froth and perverted ideals of life, appeals to the girl, and it is\nan open question which is more pernicious, \"Deadwood Dick and the\nIndians\" or \"Love at Sight.\"\n\nWhen it is remembered that during these years the desire for reading is\nso great that it will be satisfied, surreptitiously if not openly, that\nthe heroes and heroines strengthen ideals of their own type in the soul\nof the child, that these are the years in which taste is being formed,\nnot only in reading but in living, nurture again has a great task\noutlined. \"What is the best way to keep a boy from eating green apples?\"\na prominent Sunday School worker often asks in a convention. The answer\nnever varies: \"Give him ripe ones to eat.\" The child who has plenty of\nwell-selected, wholesome literature will have no appetite for the\nbaneful. Biography of the heroic type, exploration, adventure and\ncharming romances like the \"Waverley Novels\" will help to lay sane and\npure foundations of character. The missionary boards are now putting out\nbooks as thrilling and stirring in their situations as any yellow-backed\nnovel. These the children devour and the spiritual heroism makes its\nsilent appeal along with the physical.\n\nThis delight in reading makes comparatively easy the formation of the\nhabit of daily Bible reading. If the life is more than meat, then the\ntime taken by the father or mother to select fascinating Bible\nbiographies and stories, and tactfully to supervise the reading, is at\nleast as wisely expended as that used in training a grape vine or sewing\na lace edge on a ruffle. Is it not strange that there is such distorted\nperspective and false balance of values in regard to what is worth\nwhile? The cares of this world crowd out so many supreme things. Many a\ntemptation in later life would have its antidote if the Holy Spirit\ncould bring the needed Scripture to mind, but because some one\nsubstituted the lesser for the greater, solicitude for external\nappearance instead of inner furnishing, the Word is not there to be\nrecalled.\n\n\nHABIT FORMATION\n\nThe discussion of these marked characteristics of the life is given\nadded import when we realize that these years are in the height of the\nhabit forming period. All through Early Childhood and Childhood every\nact has left its faint tracing upon the plastic cells of the brain, and\nsome of the markings are deep ere now. Just as water will follow its\nchannel rather than cut a new course, so activity will expend itself in\nthe well-traced pathways unless prevented from so doing, and the same\nthought or stimulus will always tend to go out in the same action. No\nthinking is necessary upon these habitual acts which constitute \"nine\ntenths of life\"--they have become mechanical. Not only in the body does\nlife acquire fixed habits, but also in the soul, in thinking, feeling\nand choosing.\n\nThe seriousness as well as the value of a habit lies in its tenacity. No\nharder task ever confronts a life than to break up one habit and\nsubstitute another after the brain cells grow hard. The process requires\nnot only that activity be directed away from the pathway that\nirresistibly draws it, but at the same time a new groove be traced upon\nthe hard, unyielding cells. The task is difficult beyond expression.\nThis is why reformed men always have a hidden fear of lapsing into the\nformer life. It is the call of the old pathway, traced so deeply in the\nbrain.\n\nA mature woman, brought up to the strictest Sabbath observance, came to\nbelieve that \"the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath,\"\nand therefore essayed to act on that day according to her reason and\njudgment. The attempt was soon abandoned. \"There is no pleasure in it,\"\nshe said. \"I am constantly fighting the old habits of my girlhood life,\nand they will not cease their call to me.\" This is what the wise king\nmeant when he said, \"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when\nhe is old he will not depart from it.\" The whole tendency is to \"ask for\nthe old paths,\" that there \"may be rest to the soul.\" A part of the\nmiracle of conversion in later life appears in God's power to trace new\npathways when the brain is hardened, and to keep life in them, moment by\nmoment, against the tug of the old.\n\nThree statements will crystallize the discussion. First: The years up\nto twelve present two conditions for habit formation--plastic brain\ncells and action easily secured--as no succeeding years present them.\n\nSecond: Habit formation, either right or wrong, is constantly going on,\nfor every action leaves its impress and makes repetition easier.\n\nThird: Right habits may be formed as easily as wrong, if the task is\ndefinitely undertaken.\n\nSince the importance of these years is clearly evident, the method of\nhabit formation may be briefly stated. First, secure the desired action;\nsecond, secure its successive repetition without a lapse, as far as\npossible.\n\nWe have already learned that action is the natural result of an aroused\nfeeling; therefore, nurture will endeavor to make the act attractive and\nappealing where it can be done, that the cordial co-operation of the\nchild may be had. Hero worship may aid here, the example in the home is\nimperative and future considerations begin to carry weight.\nEncouragement, recognition, new interest and new motives will all\ncontribute toward securing repetition, until unconsciously the action\ncarries its own constraint and outer influence is unnecessary.\n\n\nTHE \"GOLDEN MEMORY PERIOD\"\n\nDuring the years from about nine to fifteen memory is in its most\nglorious period for storing away. In early life a fact is retained\nchiefly through its impress on the soft brain cells, for the power of\nassociation is little developed. In later life a fact is retained almost\nwholly through association with other facts, for the cells grow hard and\nan imprint therefore is faint. In the \"Golden Memory Period\" the fact\nhas the double hold of impress and association, for the cells are still\nplastic and associative powers are developed. The task and its haste are\nevident, for this dual condition never recurs.\n\nThe brain will now receive everything, the abstract, that which is not\nunderstood, the uninteresting, as well as that which is pleasing. This\nis the drill period, when mechanical repetition will fix anything,\nregardless of the child's desire to learn, and full comprehension is\nunnecessary. It is also the period of verbal memory, and that which\nought to be memorized exactly should be given now.\n\n\nRELIGIOUS LIFE\n\nIf nurture has cared for the spiritual life of the child, he will\nprobably desire during this period to publicly confess his love for\nJesus Christ. Even if he has not been so nurtured, every condition in\nhis life makes it easier now than it ever will be later to lead him to\nacceptance of Christ. Though there comes a great spiritual awakening in\nadolescence, there is at the same time more in the life to oppose the\ndecision for Christ than in childhood. The Christian life has not the\nmeaning for him that it will have later on, spiritual vision is not\nbroad nor deep, but if the child genuinely loves the Savior and wants to\nuse his energy for Him, he is laying at the Master's feet all he has\nnow to give, and if Christ accepts the gift, the church ought to accept\nthe giver. There is no greater crime against childhood than to bar the\ndoors to these babes in Christ, nor, assuredly, can any act bring keener\npain to the Passionate Lover of little children, who said, \"Let them\ncome unto me, and forbid them not.\"\n\n\nAPPLICATION TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK\n\nPerhaps a resume of the conditions which the Sunday School must meet in\nthis period will make the situation more definite.\n\nThe child is increasingly independent and outspoken, but easily won by\nlove and confidence. He responds to responsibility, craves recognition,\nglories in show and regalia, wants to know the truth about things. He is\na hero worshipper, abounds with energy and considers it his inalienable\nright to have fun with his chums. He devours books and magazines,\nretains what he reads and memorizes as never before. He is forming\nhabits of life. He ought to be a sincere child Christian before he\nleaves the Junior department.\n\nManifestly, in dealing with this period, the problem of nurture must\nfind a large part of its solution in the teacher himself. Three things\nmust be vitally true of the one holding this responsible office: first,\nan abiding touch with God that shall mean Divine wisdom, moment by\nmoment, for the exegencies of Junior work far outnumber the tread mill\nexperiences; second, an understanding of and genuine sympathy with the\nlife of the children; third, a personality that shall meet the\nconditions of hero worship. Some day the church will give to every boys'\nclass, in this and succeeding periods, a trained Christian man to be\nhero first, and then teacher, for no boy aspires to be like a woman, no\nmatter how much he may love her. But, though a woman may not reach up to\na boy's ideals along physical lines, nor should she attempt it, there is\nabundant opportunity through outings, tramps, picnics and genuine\ninterest in their sports to touch even that side of the life of both\nboys and girls.\n\nThe social needs must be met through frequent class and department\ngatherings, preferably in the homes, for the habit of reverence in God's\nhouse will receive almost fatal counteraction in the average social\ngathering of this age held in the church. Organizations like the\n\"Knights of King Arthur,\" for boys, and the \"Sunshine Club,\" for girls,\nare to be highly commended because of their social features, their\nappeal to the love of uniform, password and secrets, to hero worship and\nto activity through the ideals of life and service they make concrete\nand alluring.\n\nDiscipline of these independent, outspoken boys and girls is easy if the\nteacher will only lay hold of the heart instead of the coat collar, but,\nalas, the latter method takes less time. The world holds nothing truer\nand sweeter than the love of a child at this age, free as it is from all\naffectation and policy, and it is there in every heart, awaiting the\ntouch of the teacher who can find the hidden spring. The contact on\nSunday is not sufficient, however, to reveal it. The child must know\nthrough the letter, the call, the invitation to the teacher's home, the\nloving sympathy in his life and interests that the teacher wants him,\nnot his Golden Text and offering, and in this knowledge the magic spring\nis found.\n\nBesides the social life, the teacher should feel a responsibility in\nregard to what the children are reading. Papers like the Youth's\nCompanion circulated among the members, suggestions as to books in the\nSunday School or public library, books loaned to the children and\nquestions as to their reading may save many a soul from the slimy trail\nof the serpent coiled in the dime novel.\n\nA few suggestions may be added relative to the work in the School\nitself.\n\n\nPLACE\n\nThe Juniors should have a separate department and place, for their work\nis distinct in character and methods from the Primary and Intermediate\ndepartments. Maps and charts should be added to the equipment,\nindividual and personally owned Bibles, and where they can be had,\ntables for each class.\n\n\nORGANIZATION\n\nFor two important reasons the department should be divided into classes\nand the teaching done by the teachers, presupposing they have risen to\ntheir privilege and are trained. First, the week-day shepherding becomes\nan increasingly serious matter as the child is broadening in his\nrelationships, and no superintendent can give it alone. Second, the\nrecitation must give large opportunity for individual work on the part\nof the pupil during the lesson, and this is impossible in a department\ntaught as a whole.\n\n\nPROGRAM\n\nThe program should give prominence to supplemental work taught largely\nthrough drills, including--during the Golden Memory Period--the Books of\nthe Bible, passages, chapters, facts concerning the Bible and training\nin its use, geography of the Holy Land, the catechism where used and the\nhymns of the church. Public recognition in badges, certificates and roll\nof honor will aid in securing the desired work along this and other\nlines.\n\nSystematic and careful training in habits of Christian service ranks\nwith the lesson in importance. Responsibilities in various committees\nthrough the week may be used to strengthen habits and utilize energy.\nMissionary heroes should be made as familiar to the children as their\nown personal friends, and there should be regular contributions to\ndefinite objects, not abstractions like \"Missions\" or \"Benevolences.\"\n\nMusic of a martial type is greatly enjoyed by the children, also that\nsuggesting action, but never the meditative, introspective sort. Great\ncare should be taken to guard the voices from overstrain in loud\nsinging, as irreparable damage may be done for all time to come.\n\nTHE LESSON\n\nThe Junior lesson should be prepared to meet the children's interest in\nfacts and love of a hero. They are not ready yet for truth in the\nabstract--it must be seen in a person. Instead of the story, as in the\nPrimary class, there must be a mingling of vivid word pictures by the\nteacher and question and answer. The children should not be told to\n\"study the lesson,\" for they do not know how, but rather have assigned\nto them one definite thing to prepare for the recitation. Make use of\ntheir love of reading in this connection. Use energy and hold attention\nby means of pad and pencil, written answers in the books they are making\non the current lessons, map drawing, looking up references and a\nstereoscope if possible. Time before the session and in the social\ngatherings of the class can be most fascinatingly and profitably used in\nmaking pulp and sand maps and models of Oriental objects.\n\nToward the latter part of this period, a questioning in regard to Divine\nthings may come, but a questioning unmixed with the doubt of later\nyears. \"And when He was twelve years old, ... they found Him in the\ntemple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and\nasking them questions.\" With this desire to know reasons for belief\ncomes the teacher's golden opportunity for strengthening the foundations\nof faith through history and the testimony of ancient monuments, where\nit can be adduced, through experience and through God's Word itself.\n\nMay nurture be so true to God and the life that the child shall leave\nhis childhood and face the dawn of manhood as that One of old with the\neager heart and heavenly vision, \"Wist ye not that I must be about my\nFather's business?\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nADOLESCENCE\n\n\nBetween the quiet unfolding of childhood and the full development of\nmaturity, there lies a period so fraught with danger and so filled with\nopportunity, that it is rightly considered life's crisis. A mistake at\nthis point is more disastrous than at any other, while wisdom in dealing\nwith the soul never has such rich reward.\n\nIn a general way, this period, known as Adolescence, extends with boys\nfrom about twelve to twenty-four, and with girls from about eleven to\ntwenty-one, or from the beginning of manhood and womanhood to full\nmaturing.\n\nA study of the conditions that obtain during these years clearly reveals\nthe reason for their crucial character.\n\n1. It is an awakening time of new possibilities, physical, mental, moral\nand spiritual.\n\nWe are already familiar with the peril and opportunity that attend the\nfirst stages of any development, because the future direction and\nstrength of the possibility are then so largely determined. When we\nrealize that the highest possibilities of the soul, as well as some of\nthe lowest, are now unfolding, the gravity of the period is apparent.\n\nThe changes that come with the soul's awakening are so great, that often\nthe youth becomes a stranger to those who know him best. Ideals,\nambitions, feelings, thoughts and power only dimly, if ever, recognized\nin childhood take possession of the life. A new conception of God is\nborn and a larger sense of responsibility to Him, to the neighbor and to\nthe world. In these awakening possibilities are heard the siren voices\nof passion, society, wealth and fame and the clear call of\nself-sacrifice and duty, and the soul is bewildered, not knowing which\nto heed. Surely nurture is needed, for the choices of Adolescence are in\nall probability the choices of eternity.\n\n2. These are the years of the greatest susceptibility to influence.\n\nEverything that comes to the life now has an impelling force that it\ndid not have in childhood. Life is in a state of unstable equilibrium,\nand a touch may move it. The influence of one book, of one friend, of\none hasty word of criticism or passing word of encouragement may\ndetermine the future of a soul.\n\n3. During this period habits become permanent.\n\nThe pathways traced through childhood and adolescence become settled,\nthe cells gradually lose power to change, and by the close of\nAdolescence, character is practically determined, unless a Divine power\n\"makes all things new.\"\n\n4. The influence of heredity is strongly felt during the early part of\nAdolescence.\n\nA child may be defrauded of his inheritance in stocks and bonds and\nestates, but the bequest of tendencies to which his parents and\ngrandparents and the long line back have made him heir, can not be\ndiverted.\n\nThere is danger of over-emphasizing the doctrine of heredity and\nlessening the sense of personal responsibility for conduct. There is\nalso danger of minimizing it, and consequently failing to give the help\nthat many a life needs in its effort to overcome an evil inheritance.\n\nHeredity means simply a pull upon the life in a certain direction,\nbecause of the way those before have lived. It is easier to climb\nupward, if \"the hands of twenty generations are reached down from the\nheights to help, than as if they reached up from below to drag down.\"\nBut whatever the inherited tendencies, any life may have the \"antithetic\nheredity,\" which is a part of its glorious inheritance in Jesus Christ.\n\n5. This period contains the largest number of first commitments for\ncrime.\n\nThree coincident facts demand serious and careful consideration.\n\nFirst. The greatest number of first commitments occur from twelve to\nsixteen.\n\nSecond. The greatest spiritual awakenings occur between twelve and\nsixteen.\n\nThird. \"Girls are most susceptible to influence for good or evil between\neleven to seventeen, with the climax about fourteen, and boys from\ntwelve to nineteen, with the climax about sixteen.\" Is not the work of\nnurture plain?\n\n6. During the early part of this period, by far the heaviest losses from\nchurch and Sunday School occur.\n\n\"While thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone.\" Who was gone?\nA soul in its crisis, making eternal choices, easily influenced by a\nword, a look or a touch, in the grip of fierce temptations, but catching\nsight of Divine possibilities, needing help as at no time before or\nlater, this is the soul that slipped away, in all probability, not to be\nbrought back. You who let it slip, \"How will you go up to your Father\nand the lad be not with you?\"\n\nIn turning to a more detailed consideration of Adolescence, we find the\nwealth of material so far exceeding the limitations of our space, that\nthe study must be selective, not analytic. Only those conditions in the\nlife, therefore, which seem most imperative in their demands upon\nnurture will be chosen for discussion.\n\nEARLY ADOLESCENCE\n\nThe first period of Adolescence covers about four years, approximately\nfrom twelve to sixteen with boys and eleven to fifteen with girls, and\nis perhaps the most trying of all to deal with.\n\nThe crisis in these years is a physical one, arising in connection with\nthe functioning of new physical powers. Coincident with this the\npassions are born, bringing to many lives the severest of temptations.\nIf ever a close intimacy is needed between father and son and mother and\ndaughter, it is at this time of mystery and question, when the life does\nnot understand itself nor the meaning of what God now gives it. The\nsacred confidence between parent and child is infinitely better than the\nbest intended book upon the subject, which arouses further curiosity and\nkindles the imagination. When the home fails in nurture at this point,\nthe Sunday School teacher must earnestly consider what of responsibility\nfalls upon him.\n\nThe rapid physical growth of these years is often accompanied by\nawkwardness, due to the fact that the muscles are developing faster\nthan the bones, making delicate adjustment impossible. There is painful\nsensitiveness over this, especially with boys, as hands and feet must be\nin the open, and they will easily construe any criticism or ridicule\ninto a desire to be rid of their presence.\n\n    \" ... And what if their feet,\n    Sent out of houses, sent into the street,\n    Should step round the corner and pause at the door\n    Where other boys' feet have paused often before;\n    Should pass through the gateway of glittering light,\n    Where jokes that are merry and songs that are bright\n    Ring out a warm welcome with flattering voice,\n    And temptingly say, 'Here's a place for the boys!'\n    Ah, what if they should! What if your boy or mine\n    Should cross o'er the threshold which marks out the line\n    'Twixt virtue and vice, 'twixt pureness and sin,\n    And leave all his innocent boyhood within?\n    Ah, what if they should, because you and I,\n    While the days and the months and the years hurry by,\n    Are too busy with cares and with life's fleeting toys\n    To make round our hearthstone a place for the boys.\"\n\nThere is a sense of pressure and nervous excitement throughout the whole\nlife, for the \"invoice of energy\" is not exhausted. Athletics afford\nphysical relief, and slang, which is at its height from about thirteen\nto fifteen, offers somewhat of an emotional safety-valve. Experiences\nare never commonplace during this period, nor any individual ordinary.\nThe strongest superlatives and most extravagant metaphors will scarcely\ndo a situation adequate justice, but nurture can afford to be patient,\nfor \"this, too, will pass,\" and of itself, as life grows calmer.\n\nThe feverish excitement is not at all to the distaste of the adolescent\nbut, on the contrary, he courts it. The \"reading craze\" is at its height\nin this period, and books which give \"thrills\" are sought by both boys\nand girls. There is increasing necessity of wise oversight in the choice\nof reading when the mind is so inflammable and easily led, and the fact\nthat a book is on the shelf of the Sunday School library is unhappily\nnot always a guarantee against the need of further parental inspection.\n\nThe abounding energy of this period, when brought into conjunction with\nthe enlarged vision of life, often gives rise to a restlessness and\ndesire, to leave school and go to work. This is augmented by the new\nmoney sense, which is strong about the age of fourteen, and leads to an\neffort to secure money to save as well as to spend. This desire ought to\nbe met by a regular allowance or an opportunity for earning a stipulated\nsum. Its neglect is often the explanation for the breaking open of\nSunday School banks or theft from household funds.\n\nBut even the satisfying of this desire will not allay restlessness, and\nmany a school-room seat becomes vacant in the early teens. If, instead\nof the harsh measures so often used, the boy could know he had not only\nthe loving sympathy but also the pride of his parents in this harbinger\nof approaching manhood; if, in place of force, he were given choice,\nafter all the considerations had been carefully weighed; if he could\nfeel the confidence of father and mother that he would do the manly\nthing because he is almost a man, he would rarely fail to meet the\nissue, for \"at no time in life will a human being respond so heartily if\ntreated by older and wise people as if he were an equal.\" The result\nwill be not only renewed zest in the erstwhile hated task, but a new\nbond between parents and son that will help to hold him true when\ngreater crises come.\n\nThe strong appeal that sympathy and consideration now make to the\nadolescent is due to the new consciousness of self that has come to the\nlife. It has many manifestations. There is a welcome external one that\nis evident in care for the personal appearance. The days of maternal\nsolicitude for linen and ears come to an end in this period, and it is\nwell, for the new standard of correctness is so high as to be\nunattainable by any one save the individual himself.\n\nA new sense of pride in one's family and position appears, and an\naristocracy based on the accidents of birth succeeds the democracy of\nchildhood. The girl who was sincerely thankful that she was not as\nothers and assumed Pharisaic superiority because she had been born a\nRepublican, an Allopath and, crown of all, a Baptist, lived in this\nperiod some years ago.\n\nThis consciousness of self and of approaching manhood and womanhood\ntends to make the life independent, and \"any attempt to treat a child at\nAdolescence as an inferior is instantly fatal to good discipline.\" In\nthis super-sensitive state, a public reproof, even in the home circle,\ncarries with it humiliation beyond expression, and inevitably arouses\nresentment and not penitence. \"At no time in life does a word of\nencouragement mean so much, or criticism leave such an ineffaceable\nscar.\" If those who touch a life through its unfolding only realized\nthat what they sow of gentleness and consideration or of harshness and\nneglect when that life is defenceless and they are strong will be reaped\nwhen they in turn are without recourse and the child has become a man,\nwould there not be more tenderness and love in some homes? \"For with the\nsame measure that ye mete, withal, it shall be measured to you again.\"\n\nAnother condition of great import to nurture appears in the increasing\npower of the social feelings over the life. Society begins to fascinate,\nand the problem of a High School education is complicated with the\nproblem of secret societies and school dances. Friends are chosen not so\nmuch for real worth as for clothes, position, attractive features or,\nwhere there is no interchange of confidences between parents and\nchildren, for sympathetic understanding. The longing for companionship\nis God given and must be fostered, else the youth will enter maturity a\nrecluse and self-occupied, but nurture must carefully deal with it while\nlife is in a state of flux. The only course to be at all considered is a\nsubstitutive, not prohibitory one, giving opportunity for social\nintercourse under proper conditions.\n\nThe development of the affectional side of the life during this period\nmust be briefly noted.\n\nHero love and worship are more passionate than before. The object of\nadmiration is usually some one outside of the home, often a favorite\nteacher who understands the heart of a boy and a girl. The patterning of\nthe life after its ideal is most seriously undertaken, even to imitation\nof personal mannerisms. The privilege and responsibility of being the\nlode star of an unresisting, unpoised life is tremendous, for this\ninfluence overpowers all others at the time.\n\nStrange manifestations of that which will later be love, holy and\nbeautiful, between man and woman characterize these years. At first\nthere is a mutual repulsion between the sexes. The boys are \"so rough\nand horrid,\" and as for the girls--the masculine sentiment concerning\nthem was voiced by one young cavalier in the words, \"Oh, mush!\" when his\nSunday School class was asked if they would like to invite their \"lady\nfriends\" to the coming class party.\n\nBut this stage does not continue, and soon nurture must deal with notes\nwritten by foolish maidens and the first glamour of the great passion,\n\"sicklied o'er\" with callowness and sentimentality. There is no more\nperplexing problem in Adolescence than how to handle wisely this vernal\nmanifestation of love.\n\nBlessed is the home where there are congenial and sympathetic brothers\nand sisters, and wholesome and absorbing occupations. It is the vacuous,\nroaming soul which is a prey to the multi-temptations of this period. If\nthe tastes and wishes of the young people can be satisfied in the home,\nand a hearty and natural companionship of the sexes be welcomed in this\nhealthy environment, nurture will be bringing sanest measures to bear\nupon the situation.\n\nAgainst this complex background, the necessity of a personal\nacquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ stands out in startling relief.\nThough God comes to a soul in a marked way during Adolescence, nurture\nis taking a dangerous and often fatal risk in allowing life, as far as\nhuman effort can go, to enter its crisis without Him. The spiritual\nawakening of this period (to be considered in the succeeding chapter)\nwould seem to be God's call to larger service, rather than His first\nsummons to \"Follow Me.\"\n\nWith the Master's authority to let the children come, and with every\ncondition in child life God prepared for their coming, there is no\ntenable position but belief that our Father meant every life to enter\nits period of \"storm and stress,\" in step with Jesus Christ.\n\n\nAPPLICATION TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK\n\nSunday School work during Adolescence and maturity lays less emphasis\nupon methods and equipment than in the earlier periods, and more\nemphasis on the personal relation between teacher and pupil. For this\nreason the preceding study, in so far as it interprets the lives of the\nboys and girls, applies directly to Sunday School work, for a\nsympathetic understanding is the key to the relationship. \"There is no\ngreater blessing that can come to a boy (or girl) at this age when he\ndoes not understand himself, than a good, strong teacher who\nunderstands him, has faith in him, and will day by day lead him till he\ncan walk alone.\" Far more than a pedagogue, the adolescent needs a\nfriend in his Sunday School teacher, who shares his ambitions, knows his\ntemptations, sympathizes with his successes and failures and, through it\nall, trusts him. This understanding and confidence, made long-suffering\nand tender by the love that never fails, will be a binding cord that can\nnot be broken even by the most restless, wayward life.\n\nBecause of the close relationship to be sought between teacher and\npupil, other things being equal, it is wise for a class of boys to be\ntaught by a man, and girls by a woman. The counsel of one who has passed\nthrough the same experiences and known the same temptations and\ndifficulties always comes with especial helpfulness. But the question of\nsex is not as vital as that of sympathy, nor the manner of previous\nexperience as the manner of present love.\n\nThe new consciousness of distinction will make the class work difficult,\nif there is any marked difference in the social standing of its\nmembers. The leader must be won to the right attitude in private, the\nappeal being based on personal feeling for the teacher and on the new\nideals of relationship to others, which are beginning to take form.\n\nAn organization of the class in this and succeeding periods is necessary\nfor the best work. It should place definite responsibilities upon each\nmember, either as officer or committee-man, for habits of Christian\nservice must be solicitously nurtured during these days.\n\nFrequent social gatherings are very important. This is the age when the\nyoung people begin to think that, \"a Christian can not have any fun,\"\nand it rests with the church and Sunday School to prove to them the\ncontrary. The only convincing proof is in experiencing the fact itself\nthat the best times have a religious association, therefore a class\nparty should be as carefully and as prayerfully planned as a Sunday\nSchool lesson.\n\nAs these years are included in the Golden Memory-period, supplemental\nwork of more advanced type should be continued. Note books are helpful\nin amplifying and impressing the lesson, and brief essays upon pertinent\ntopics add interest.\n\nThe teaching itself must deal more and more with the relationships of\nlife. To the majority of young people, the Bible belongs to an uncertain\nand remote past. The goal of work in these unsettled years is to help\nthem see how the Book solves all problems of present-day living, and how\nJesus Christ meets every personal need of the life.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nMIDDLE AND LATE ADOLESCENCE\n\n\nThe crisis of adolescence may be said to culminate about the years from\nfifteen to seventeen with girls, and sixteen to eighteen with boys, or\nthe period of Middle Adolescence. During these years the feelings and\nthe imagination are a great storm center, largely because of the rapid\ndevelopment of the altruistic feelings, and the enlarged conception of\nlife with the new ideals it has given.\n\nDivine Wisdom in the order of the soul's unfolding can be seen nowhere\nmore clearly than in connection with the growth of responsibility for\nanother. There must first be the self feelings in the little child, to\nhelp him learn his own individuality. When that knowledge comes, his\nlife must be related to other lives, hence the social feelings awaken,\nyet it is for his personal pleasure that contact with others is sought.\nBut God's plan for a life does not leave it self centered, and under\nHis touch through these lives a sense of responsibility toward them\nbegins to be felt, and the realization comes that \"No man liveth unto\nhimself.\" Ideals which make the good of others first, enter into\nconflict with childish ideals which made personal gain first. A new\nimpulse to forget self in loving service confronts the old self seeking\nand self love. Then the truth that \"No man can serve two masters,\"\nfastens itself upon the soul and decision waits between self and\nselflessness. In a struggle that often shakes a life to its foundations,\nthe great choice is made and the soul yields itself servant to obey.\nThough a reversal of either choice is possible, it rarely occurs. This\ndecision usually determines destiny.\n\nA new meaning and value in early nurture is revealed in the light of\nthis struggle. If love for Jesus Christ has grown through the years in\nthe heart of the child and the youth, a decision that means fuller\nallegiance to Him and greater blessing to the world is assured. If also\nduring these years nurture has traced pathways of service, as an\nexpression of child love to God and to others, habit adds the influence\nof its tendencies to the choice of ministering life, and offers channels\nalready prepared for the outflow of sacrificial love.\n\nThe years preceding have not been utterly devoid of altruistic feeling,\nbut adolescence presents marked difference in its manifestation, other\nthan that of intensity.\n\nIn early life, the willingness to consider others before self was\nusually aroused through the influence of some one else; now the longing\nand constraint is within the individual himself. Again, in childhood,\nthese feelings were called out only by some definite, concrete object;\nnow they are stimulated by great ideas as well. Patriotism, humanity,\nsuffering, duty, art and science have power to kindle flame on the altar\nof sacrifice. The more difficult the task suggested, the greater the\npower of its wooing. It is doubtful whether any Christian life ever\npasses through this period without considering the ministry or the\nmission field, or whether every life does not at some moment long to go\nin quest of a Holy Grail.\n\nThe issues growing out of this crisis are too momentous to leave with\neven the wisest human nurture. God Himself must deal with the soul face\nto face, and lead it to this higher love and complete surrender.\n\nIn early years He revealed Himself as Creator, Heavenly Father and\nFriend to the loving, trusting heart of the little child. Now the time\nhas come to make His glory pass before the soul. The marvels of creation\nin Nature, in constellation and atom, the infinities of eternity and\nspace, the mysteries of life and death, His own holiness and justice and\nall the attributes of His matchless character, the unspeakable love that\ngave a Bethlehem and a Calvary to a sin sick race are revealed in new\nlight and meaning, and the revelation is overwhelming. Existence that\nhad been accepted without question now becomes complex and baffling. God\nis no longer the gentle Lover and strong Protector of childhood days,\nbut the great \"I AM,\" and in the terrible crystal of His presence the\nsoul is prostrate. With deep, added meaning the Cross stands out. Its\nmessage of salvation, not only to this soul conscious of its need, but\nto a sinning world, is heard anew; but with it comes the voice of the\ncrucified and risen Lord, \"If any man will come after Me, let him deny\nhimself, and take up his cross and follow Me.\"\n\nThe answer cannot be returned in emotional love. It must be the love of\nall the heart, soul, mind and strength, born in self surrender. If this\nbe the soul's response, the final triumph and glory of the life of self\nlosing is pledged, not in the fluctuating efforts of a human will, but\nin the changeless strength of the Son of God.\n\nIt is not to be wondered at that when a soul is in the throes of such\nexperiences as these, it is a time of storm and stress. Yet often the\nstruggle is carried on alone, in silence, for life becomes secretive.\nThe open frankness of childhood is gone, and only to one in close\nsympathy will thoughts and feelings which sound foundation depths be\nrevealed. It does not at all follow that because there is a physical tie\nbetween two lives, that there will be union of spirit in this time of\nneed. The tragedy of so many homes is disclosed in the distance between\nfather and son, and mother and daughter, that has widened almost\nimperceptibly through the years from lack of sympathy and confidence.\n\nThis close relationship which admits to the Holy Place of the soul in\nits crisis cannot be lightly cast away, and as easily renewed at will.\nIt is a growth of the years, to be nurtured patiently, prayerfully,\nwatchfully, steadily. A guest in the home of a busy physician noted the\npeculiarly tender and close relationship which existed between the\nfather and his son, a splendid boy of about ten years of age. In answer\nto her comment upon it, the father said with moist eyes, \"We are very\nclose to one another. I know there is a time coming in his life when he\nwill need a father as he has never needed him before, and I mean to be\nready. I never take a long drive in the country, that I do not have him\nexcused from school to go with me. He wants to be a surgeon, so whenever\nI have to perform an operation, I always have him help me in some way.\nUp to this time there is nothing that weighs for a minute with him over\nagainst an opportunity to be with me, and I am trying to keep his life\nso close to mine that nothing can ever come between us.\" When that boy\nreaches his crisis and life closes up, his father will be shut inside\nwith him. Is there any question as to the outcome, with a father and a\nfather's God within?\n\nIf, in the busy cares of life, the intimacy that God intended in the\nhome has been lost, it may be found again if the price of its recovery\nbe paid, but it is often a dear price, payable in the coin of self\nhumiliation, sacrifice and tears.\n\nThe need of this close touch with another is apparent in the unspeakable\nlonging of the adolescent heart for understanding and sympathy, for\nappreciation and recognition, for help in choosing the life work, and\nfor love that is patient and deep. Perhaps the greatest longing of all\nis to be trusted, to feel the strong grip of a hand and hear a voice\nvibrant with encouragement and assurance say, \"I know you can do it.\" If\nthe greatest successes in reformatory work come today through loving\nconfidence in the one who has started wrong, who can measure the\nenergizing power of such confidence in a life already striving toward\nthe best?\n\nThe pathetic side of this craving for confidence appears in the distrust\nof self which is almost universal at times during these years. A great\nwave of ambition and enthusiasm will sweep over the soul, and nothing\nseems too great to be attained, nor any obstacles unsurmountable. As\nsuddenly it will recede, the ideals become impossible, the individual\nbut an atom in God's great universe, the sky grows gray and hope dies\nout. In the vacillation between energy and indifference, enthusiasm and\napathy, self loving and self hating, goodness and badness, confidence\nand despair, the ebb and flow of the tide in the soul is revealed to\nunderstanding eyes.\n\nFor this fluctuation of purpose and failure to reach its high ideals,\nstern sentence is passed at the inner bar of judgment, and though the\ncensure of another is resented, the soul bears great scars of\nflagellation, self inflicted. The standard of measurement by which the\nlife tests itself and others is a new consciousness that there is\nabsolute right and absolute wrong apart from all external coverings. The\nstatements of others are examined, their actions are stripped of all\nveneer, profession and practice are balanced, and death sentence is\npassed upon the influence of any life that fails to meet the test. The\ncompassion that remembers that we are but dust has no place in the heart\nas yet. Suffering will call out sympathy, but not failure to reach the\nmark. A life must ring true to God, true to its fellow men and true to\nthe ideals conceived as belonging to it by these self-appointed judges,\nif it is to be of any help to them. It is therefore not a question\nwhether the professing Christian, be he parent, teacher or church\nmember, can indulge in doubtful amusements or uncertain practices\nwithout injury to himself. It is rather, \"Are these things included in\nthe ideal of a Christian life, as it is held by those whom I want to\ntouch?\" If they who bear the name of Christ exemplified more completely\nthe ideals by which they are measured, would there be so many who\nquestion the reality of divine things?\n\nIt is during the closing period of Adolescence, ending with young men\nabout twenty-four and with young women about twenty-one, that doubt most\nfrequently appears. It comes rather as a questioning and bewilderment to\nthe Christian, and scepticism to the one who has had no experience of\ndivine things. Spiritual truth is not accepted because another has said\nit is so, but each desires to know for himself the foundation upon which\nhe stands, that he may have a reason for the hope that is in him.\nInvestigation seems to show that at least two out of three pass through\nthis period of intellectual unrest, young men being in the majority.\n\nMany causes contribute to this condition, but chief among them is the\nmaturing strength of reason and will. The new power to think God's\nthoughts after Him, to trace cause and effect, to understand subtle\nrelationships, intoxicates the soul. Everywhere in the world around, the\npre-eminence of reason is acknowledged. The atmosphere of the university\nand the college which surrounds the favored young men and women is an\natmosphere of scientific accuracy, where reason applies the tests. The\nworld of business, of finance and of statecraft all bow to reason,--why\nnot the spiritual world, and then by searching, the soul attempts to\nfind out God. As in the wisdom of God divine things do not yield up\ntheir treasures in intellectual investigation but in revelation, the\nthick darkness gathers. Even that which had been once known by faith\nseems strange and unreal from this new view point. It is a critical time\nfor a soul when it is learning that in one realm reason does not go\nbefore, but faith. Any harshness or lack of sympathy on the part of\nanother or evident disappointment in the life is very serious at this\npoint. The will asserts itself under such measures and from the pliant\nattitude, \"I cannot believe what I cannot explain,\" it takes the defiant\nattitude, \"I will not believe what I cannot explain.\"\n\nThe marvelous dealing of our Lord with Thomas is a picture of His\ngracious dealing with every doubting heart, and ought to be the\nperpetual model for every one who attempts to give help at this time.\nWhen the Master stood before that disciple who said he would not believe\nunless he had the indubitable proof of a physical testing, He spoke no\nwords of censure, no words of His pain that Thomas had been so long time\nwith Him and yet did not know Him in faith. \"Jesus said, 'Peace be unto\nyou. Reach hither thy finger, and see My hands, and reach thither thy\nhand and put it into My side and be not faithless but believing,' and\nThomas answered and said unto Him, 'My Lord and my God!'\"\n\nWith like patience and infinite tenderness, the Spirit deals with the\ntroubled heart today. He makes the past days with God live again in\nmemory, if the life has known Him, and the soul can not deny in its\nreason the reality of what it has lived through in its experience. He\nuses every Christian life that can bear the search light as an\nirrefutable argument of the verity of the unseen. He brings the peace of\nGod that passeth understanding, yet fills and thrills the soul as every\nservice for Him is rendered even in the darkness. He calls through hard\nexperience where reason can bring no comfort and the will is palsied,\nthrough the abiding unrest and longing of a heart that is feeling after\nGod in its own way, instead of His, and through the drawing of childhood\nhabits of love and trust. When at last, spent out with struggle and\nlonging, the soul is willing to come back to the Heavenly Father as the\nlittle child who used to be, asking only to walk hand in His, in dark or\nlight, a new consciousness dawns, clear, sure and absolute that, \"Thus\nsaith the Lord,\" is more than reason, and the triumphant song rings\nout, \"I know whom I have believed, My Lord and My God!\"\n\n\nAPPLICATION TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK\n\nThe Sunday School touches a life just entering maturity at the focal\npoint toward which all nurture has been tending. Enriched by years of\nabsorption, with ideals defined and channels of expression traced, the\nsoul faces an open door, bearing the inscript \"Service.\" It is that each\nsoul may enter the door and give back to a waiting world its best, that\nnurture has brooded and guarded through the years.\n\nThe great work of the Sunday School is to impel the soul to take this\nstep, and taking it, say, \"I am debtor.\" This can not be done through\nany system of methods, neither are narrow interests or unexacting tasks\nsufficient to arouse all that the soul has now to give. The great sweep\nand mighty force of world movements are alone adequate for a soul in\ntouch with God and infinities.\n\nThere has never been a time in the history of Sunday School work when\nthere were such far reaching, thrilling movements through which to\nappeal to manhood and womanhood as at the present time, and God's Hand\nis not hidden in the matter.\n\nThe Adult Bible Class movement, enlisting the greatest company of\nthinking men and women ever gathered for the study of the Word, is a\ncall to open loyalty to the Book and to the church, that is winning\nrecruits by the thousands.\n\nThe great Teacher Training movement, with its exacting standards and\nhigh ideals of preparation, is leading the choicest young people to seek\nthe holy service of teaching.\n\nThe world encircling Missionary movements, the definite plan to give the\ngospel to every man, woman and child in this generation, the marvellous\ningatherings already reported from the foreign field, the unparalleled\nopportunities to make richest investment of life in the waking Orient,\nthese arouse the enthusiasm and conviction which issue in prayers and\ngifts and pledge of Student Volunteers.\n\nIn our own land, the ethical awakening with its triumphs for Temperance\nand civic righteousness, the great conventions and conferences held for\nthe Kingdom, the sweeping evangelistic campaigns with their trophies for\nChrist, and the new life stirring in the church, movements all, God\ninitiated, God directed, throbbing with His Almighty power and revealing\nthe oncoming of His triumph, these give the challenge and the\ninspiration to men and women, and response is coming in ever swelling\nvolume, \"Here am I, send me!\"\n\nIt is the crowning mission of the Sunday School to relate these great\ninterests to individual lives, and interpret for them the meaning in\nterms of love and service. To whom shall the task be given? To the\nteacher of transparent life, who can hold the world and the one in his\nheart, who can read the signs of the times and the signs of the soul,\nand who has nurtured with the Divine One through the years, to him shall\nbe given God's crowning task with an Unfolding Life.","title":"The Unfolding Life: A Study of Development with Reference to Religious Training","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":30037}