{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_15923/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_15923","id":"gutenberg_15923","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15923","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Parenthood & Family Relations","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Teaching & Education","Sunday schools"],"text":"Produced by Curtis Weyant, Thomas Hutchinson and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOY\nAND THE\nSUNDAY SCHOOL\n\n\n\nA Manual of Principle and Method for\nthe Work of the Sunday School\nwith Teen Age Boys\n\n\nJOHN L. ALEXANDER\n\n\n_Superintendent Secondary Division\nInternational Sunday School Association\nAuthor and Editor \"Boy Training,\" \"The Sunday\nSchool and the Teens,\" \"Boys' Hand\nBook, Boy Scouts of America\"\n\"Sex Instruction for Boys,\" etc_.\n\n\n\n\n=Introduction by=\nMARION LAWRANCE\n\n_General Secretary, World's and\nInternational Sunday School Associations_\n\n\n\n\nASSOCIATION PRESS\nNEW YORK: 347 MADISON AVENUE\n1920\n\nCOPYRIGHT, 1913, BY\nTHE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF\nYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS\n\n\nTHIS LITTLE BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEN WHO MUST FACE ALL THE PROBLEMS\nOF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL--TO THE MEN WHO HOLD THE KEY TO ALL THE LIFE AND\nPROGRESS OF THE SCHOOL--THE SUPERINTENDENTS OF NORTH AMERICA.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nThe Sunday school chapter of Church history is now being written. It\ncomes late in the volume, but those who are writing it and those who are\nreading it realize--as never before--that the Sunday school is rapidly\ncoming to its rightful place. In the Sunday school, as elsewhere, it is\nthe little child who has led the way to improvement. The commanding\nappeal of the little ones opened the door of advance, and, as a result,\nthe Elementary Division of the school has outstripped the rest in its\nefficiency.\n\nWhere children go adults will follow, and so we discover that the Adult\nDivision was the next to receive attention, until today its manly\nstrength and power are the admiration of the Church.\n\nStrange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true, that the middle\ndivision, called the Secondary, and covering the \"Teen Age,\" has been\nsadly neglected--the joint in the harness of our Sunday school fabric.\nHere we have met with many a signal defeat, for the doors of our Sunday\nschools have seemed to swing outward and the boys and girls have gone\nfrom us, many of them never to return. We have busied ourselves to such\nan extent in studying the problem of the boy and the girl that the real\nproblem--the problem of leadership--has been overlooked.\n\nThe Secondary Division is the challenge of the Sunday school and of the\nChurch today. It is during the \"Teen Age\" that more decisions are made\n_for_ Christ and _against_ him than in any other period of life. It is\nhere that Sunday school workers have found their greatest difficulty in\nmeeting the issue, largely because they have not understood the material\nwith which they have to deal.\n\nWe are rejoiced, however, to know that the Secondary Division is now\ncoming to be better understood and recognized as the firing line of the\nSunday school.\n\nWhat has been needed and is now being supplied is authoritative\nliterature concerning this critical period. Indeed, the Sunday school\nliterature for the Secondary Division is probably appearing more rapidly\nnow than that for any other division of the school.\n\nThis book is a choice contribution to that literature. It comes from a\nman who has devoted his life to the boys and girls, and who is probably\nthe highest authority in our country in this Department. The largest\ncontribution he is making to the advancement of the whole Sunday school\nwork is in showing the fascination, as well as the possibilities, of the\nSecondary Division. We are sure this little book will bring rich returns\nto the Sunday schools, because of the large number who will be\ninfluenced, through reading its pages, to devote their lives to the\nbright boys and fair girls in whom is the hope, not only of the Church,\nbut of the World.\n\n=Marion Lawrance.=\n\nChicago, June 1, 1913.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nCHAPTER                                                     PAGE\n\nForeword                                                     13\n\nI The Home and the Boy                                       23\n\nII The Public School and the Boy                            32\n\nIII The Church and the Boy                                   37\n\nIV The Sunday School or Church School                        41\n\nV The Boy and the Sunday School                              48\n\nVI Fundamental Principles in Sunday School Work with Boys    57\n\nVII Method and Organization                                  62\n\nVIII The Organized Sunday School Bible Class                 74\n\nIX Bible Study for Boys                                      93\n\nX Through-the-Week Activities for Boys' Organized Classes   104\n\nXI The Boys' Department in the Sunday School               120\n\nXII Inter-Sunday School Effort for Boys                    135\n\nXIII The Older Boys' Conference or Congress                138\n\nXIV The Secondary Division or Teen Age Boys' Crusade       158\n\nXV Sex Education for Boys and the Sunday School            176\n\nXVI The Teen Boy and Missions                              193\n\nXVII Temperance and the Teen Age                           202\n\nXVIII Building up the Boy's Spiritual Life                 208\n\nXIX The Teen Age Teacher                                   215\n\nXX Danger Points                                           265\n\nXXI The Rural Sunday School                                268\n\nXXII The Relation of the Sunday\nSchool to Community Organizations                           277\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\n\nA great deal of material has come from the pens of various writers on\nboy life in the last few years. Quite a little, also, has been written\nabout the Sunday school, and a few attempts have been made to hitch the\nboy of the teen years and the Sunday school together. Most of these\nattempts, however, have been far from successful; due, in part, to lack\nof knowledge of the boy on the one hand, or of the Sunday school on the\nother. Generous criticism of the Sunday school has been made by experts\non boy life, but this generally has been nullified by the fact that the\ncritics have had no adequate touch with the Sunday school or its\nproblems--their bread-and-butter experience lay in another field.\n\n\"The Men and Religion Forward Movement,\" in its continent-wide work,\ndiscovered not a few of the problems of the Sunday school, and\nattempted a partial solution in the volume on boys' work in the\n\"Messages\" of the Movement. It was but partial, however, first, because\nthe volume tried to deal with the boy, the church and the community all\ntogether, and second, because it failed to take into account the fact\nthat there are two sexes in the church school and that the boy, however\nimportant, constitutes but a section of the Sunday school and its\nproblems.\n\nIn view of this, it may not be amiss to set forth in a new volume a more\nor less thorough study of the Sunday school and the adolescent or teen\nage boy, the one in relationship to the other, and at the same time to\nset forth as clearly as possible the present plans, methods and attitude\nof the Sunday school, denominationally and interdenominationally.\n\nIn the preparation of this little book I have utilized considerable\nmaterial written by me for other purposes. Generous use has also been\nmade of the Secondary Division Leaflets of the International Sunday\nSchool Association. A deep debt of gratitude is mine to the members of\nthe International Secondary Committee: Messrs. E.H. Nichols, Frank L.\nBrown, Eugene C. Foster, William C. Johnston, William H. Danforth, S.F.\nShattuck, R.A. Waite, Mrs. M.S. Lamoreaux, and the Misses Minnie E.\nKennedy, Anna Branch Binford and Helen Gill Lovett, for their great help\nand counsel in preparing the above leaflets. Grateful acknowledgment is\nalso made to Miss Margaret Slattery, Mrs. J.W. Barnes, Rev. Charles D.\nBulla, D.D., Rev. William E. Chalmers, B.D., Rev. C.H. Hubbell, D.D.,\nRev. A.L. Phillips, D.D., Rev. J.C. Robertson, B.D., and the Rev. R.P.\nShepherd, Ph.D., for their advice and suggestions as members of the\nCommittee on Young People's Work of the Sunday School Council of\nEvangelical Denominations. The plans and methods of these leaflets have\nthe approval of the denominational and interdenominational leaders of\nNorth America. I wish, also, to make public mention of the great\nassistance that Mr. Preston G. Orwig and my colleague, Rev. William A.\nBrown, have rendered me in the practical working out of many of the\nmethods contained in this volume. Two articles written for the \"Boys'\nWork\" volume of the Men and Religion Messages, and one for \"Making\nReligion Efficient\" have been modified somewhat for this present work.\nThe aim has been to set forth as completely as possible the relationship\nof the Sunday school and the boy of the teen years in the light of the\ngenius of the Sunday school.\n\nNo attempt has been made in this volume to discuss the boy\npsychologically or otherwise. This has been done so often that the\nsubject has become matter-of-fact. My little volume on \"Boy Training,\"\nso generously shared in by other writers who are authorities on their\nsubjects, may be referred to for information of this sort. \"The Sunday\nSchool and the Teens\" will, likewise, afford valuable technical\ninformation about the Sunday school, it being the report of the\nInternational Commission on Adolescence.\n\nThis book is largely a volume of method and suggestion for leaders and\nteachers in the Sunday school, to promote the better handling of the\nso-called boy problem; for the Sunday school must solve the problem of\ngetting and holding the teen age boy, if growth and development are to\nmark its future progress. Of the approximately ten million teen age boys\nin the field of the International Sunday School Association, ninety per\ncent are not now reached by the Sunday school. Of the five per cent\nenrolled (less than 1,500,000) seventy-five per cent are dropping from\nits membership. Every village, town and city contributes its share\ntoward this unwarranted leakage. The problem is a universal one.\n\nThe teen age represents the most important period of life. Ideals and\nstandards are set up, habits formed and decisions made that will make or\nmar a life. The high-water mark of conversion is reached at fifteen, and\nbetween the ages of thirteen and eighteen more definite stands are made\nfor the Christian life than in all the other combined years of a\nlifetime.\n\nIt marks the period of adolescence, when the powers and passions of\nmanhood enter into the life of the boy, and when the will is not strong\nenough to control these great forces. Powers must be unfolded before\nability to use them can develop, and instincts must be controlled while\nthese are in the process of development. The importance of systematic\nadult leadership during this period of storm and stress cannot be too\nstrongly emphasized.\n\nThe teen age boy is naturally religious. Opportunity, however, must be\ngiven him to express his religion in forms that appeal to and are\nunderstood by him. In other words, his religion, like his nature, is a\npositive quantity, and will be carried by him throughout the day, to\ndominate all of the activities in which he engages.\n\nThe problem also reaches through the entire teen years and must be\nregarded as a whole, rather than as a series of successive stages, each\nstage being separate and complete in itself.\n\nThe great problem, then, which confronts us is to keep the boys in the\nchurch and Sunday school during the critical years of adolescence and\nto bring to their support the strength which comes from God's Word and\ntrue Christian friendship, to the end that they may be related to the\nSon of God as Saviour and Lord through personal faith and loyal service.\n\n\nGENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY\n\nAlexander, Editor.--Boy Training (.75). The Sunday School and the Teens.\n(The Report of the International Commission on Adolescence) ($1.00).\n\nAlexander, Editor.--The Teens and the Rural Sunday School. (The Report\nof the International Commission on Rural Adolescence.) _In preparation_.\n\nBoys' Work Message (Men and Religion Movement) ($1.00).\n\nFiske.--Boy Life and Self-Government ($1.00).\n\nHall.--Developing into Manhood (Sex Education Series) (.25)\n\nHall.--Life's Beginnings (Sex Education Series) (.25)\n\nSecondary Division Leaflets, International Sunday School Association\n(Free).\n\n1. Secondary Division Organization.\n\n2. The Organized Class.\n\n3. State and County Work.\n\n4. Through-the-week Activities.\n\n5. The Secondary Division Crusade.\n\nSwift--Youth and the Race ($1.50).\n\n\nTHE BOY AND HIS EDUCATION\n\nThree institutions are responsible for the education of the adolescent\nboy. By \"education\" is meant not merely the acquisition of certain forms\nof related knowledge, but the symmetrical adaptation of the life to the\ncommunity in which it lives. The three institutions that cooperate in\nthe community for this purpose are: the _home_, the _school_, and the\n_church_. There are many organizations and orders that have a large\nplace in the life of the growing boy, but these must be viewed solely in\nthe light of auxiliaries to the home, school and church in the\nproduction of efficient boyhood and trained manhood.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON EDUCATION\n\nDraper.--American Education ($2.00).\n\nPayot.--Education of the Will ($1.50).\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nTHE HOME AND THE BOY\n\n\nThe greatest of the three institutions affecting boy life, from the very\nfact that it is the primary one, is the home. The home is the basis of\nthe community, the community merely being the aggregation of a large\nnumber of well-organized or ill-organized homes. The first impressions\nthe boy receives are through his home life, and the bent of his whole\ncareer is often determined by the home relationships.\n\nThe large majority of homes today are merely places in which a boy may\neat and sleep. The original prerogatives of the father and mother, so\nfar as they pertain to the physical, social, mental and moral\ndevelopment of boyhood, have been farmed out to other organizations in\nthe community. The home life of today greatly differs from that of\nprevious generations. This is very largely due to social and economic\nconditions. Our social and economic revolution has made vast inroads\nupon our normal home life, with the result that the home has been\nseriously weakened and the boy has been deprived of his normal home\nheritage.\n\nTo give the home at least some of the old power that it used to have\nover the boy life, there must needs be recognized the very definite\nplace a boy must have in the family councils. The general tendency\ntoday, as far as the boy is concerned, is an utter disregard on the part\nof the father and mother of the importance of the boy as a partner in\nthe family. He is merely the son of his father and mother, and their\nobligations to him seemingly end in providing him with wholesome food,\nwarm clothing, a place to sleep and a room in which to study and play in\ncommon with other members of the household. Very little thought is given\non the part of the father and mother to the real part the boy should\nplay in the direction of the family life. Family matters are never\ndetermined with the help of his judgment. They are even rarely discussed\nin his presence. Instead of being a partner in the family life, doing\nhis share of the family work and being recognized as a necessary part of\nits welfare, he is only recognized as a dependent member, to be cared\nfor until he is old enough to strike out and make a place for himself.\nThis sometimes is modified when the boy comes to the wage-earning age,\nwhen he is required to assist in the support of the family, but even\nthen his place in the family councils to determine the policy of the\nfamily is usually a very small one.\n\nIn the home of today few fathers and mothers seem to realize the claim\nthat the boy has upon them in the matter of comradeship. The parent\nlooks upon himself very largely in the light of the provider, and but\nvery little attention is paid to the companionship call that is coming\nfrom the life of his boy. After a strenuous day's work the father is\noften physically incapacitated for such comradeship and only the\nstrongest effort of will on his part can force him to recognize this\nfundamental need of his boy's life. It is just as necessary that the\nfather should play with and be the companion of his boy as it is for him\nto see that he has good food, warm clothing, and a comfortable bed to\nsleep in. The father generally is the boy's hero up to a certain age.\nThis seems to be an unwritten, natural law of the boy's life, and the\nfather often forfeits this worship and respect of his boy by failing to\nafford him the natural companionship necessary to keep it alive. In\naddition to a place and a voice in the councils of the family, it is\nnecessary that the boy should have steady parental companionship to\nbring out the best that is in him.\n\nThe ownership of personal property and its recognition by the parent in\nthe life of the boy is fundamental to the boy's later understanding of\nthe home and community life. Comparatively few fathers and mothers ever\nrecognize the deep call of the boy life to own things, and frequently\nthe boy's property is taken from him and he is deprived of its use as a\nmeans of punishment for some breach of home discipline. In many families\nthe boy grows up altogether without any adequate idea of what the right\nof private property really is, with the result that when he reaches the\nadolescent years and is swayed by the gang spirit, whatever comes in his\nway, as one of the gang, is appropriated by him to the gang use. This\nmeans that the boy, because of his ignorance, becomes a ward of the\nJuvenile Court and a breaker of community laws. The tendency, however,\ntoday in legal procedure is to hold the parents of such a boy liable for\nthe offenses which may be committed. Instead of talking about juvenile\ndelinquency today we are beginning to comprehend the larger meaning of\nparental and community delinquency. Out of nearly six hundred cases\nwhich came before the Juvenile Court in San Francisco last year only\nnineteen, by the testimony of the judge, were due to delinquency on the\npart of the offender himself. The majority of the remaining cases were\ndue to parental delinquency, or neglect of the father and mother. A\nreal part in the home life may be given to the boy by recognizing his\nindividual and sole claim to certain things in the home life.\n\nFailure on the part of the father and mother to recognize the growth of\nthe boy likewise tends to interfere with normal relationships in the\nhome. Many a father and mother fail to see and appreciate the fact that\ntheir boy really ceases to be a child. Because of this, parents very\noften fail to show the proper respect for the personality of the boy,\nriding rough-shod over his feelings and will. There follows in matters\nof this kind a natural resentment on the part of the boy which sometimes\nmakes him moody and reticent. This, in its turn, causes the parents to\ntry to curb what they consider a disagreeable disposition on the part of\nthe boy. Sometimes this takes the form of resentment at the fact that\nthe boy wishes at times to be alone, and so fathers and mothers are\ncontinually on the watch to prevent the boy from really having any time\nof his own. All of these things put together have but one logical\nresult, the ultimate break between the boy and the home, and the\ndeparture of the boy at the first real opportunity to strike out for\nhimself, thus sundering all the home relationships.\n\nPerhaps one of the saddest things in the home life today is the neglect\nof the father to see that his boy receives the necessary knowledge\nconcerning sex, that his life may be safeguarded from the moral perils\nof the community. This is not always a willful breach of duty on the\npart of the father, but usually comes from ignorance as to how to broach\nthis subject to the boy. A great many growing lives would be saved from\nmoral taint and become a blessing instead of a curse if the father\ndischarged his whole duty to his growing son, by putting at his disposal\nthe knowledge which is necessary to an understanding of the functions of\nthe sex life.\n\nTo recapitulate, several things are necessary to bring about real\nrelationships in the home life between the parents and the boy. These\nare: a place for the boy in the family councils as a partner in the\nhome life, the boy's right to companionship with his parents, the\nprivilege and responsibility of private ownership, the right a boy has\nto his personality and privacy, and tactful and timely instruction in\nmatters of sex. This might be enlarged by the parents' privilege of\ncaring for and developing social life for the boy in the home, a\ncarefully planned participation in its working life, instructions in\nthrift and saving, and a general cooperation with the school and the\nchurch, as well as the auxiliary organizations with which the boy may be\nconnected, so that the physical, social, mental and spiritual life of\nthe boy may become well balanced and symmetrical. Add to this the\nChristian example of the father and mother, as expressed in the everyday\nlife of the home, and especially through family worship and a\nrecognition of the Divine Being at meal time, and without any cant or\nundue pressure there will be produced such a wholesome home environment\nas to assure the boy of an intelligent appreciation of not only his\nfather and mother, but of his home privileges in general, and of the\nvalue of real religion.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE HOME\n\nAllen.--Making the Best of Our Children. Two vols. ($1.00 each).\n\nField.--Finger-posts to Children's Reading ($1.00).\n\nFiske.--Boy Life and Self-Government ($1.00).\n\nKirkpatrick.--Fundamentals of Child Study ($1.25).\n\nPutnam.--Education for Parenthood (.65).\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nTHE PUBLIC SCHOOL AND THE BOY\n\n\nOf the primary institutions that are cooperating in the life of the boy\ntoday, without a doubt the public school is the most efficient and most\nserviceable. Today the school offers and compels a boy to get certain\nrelated courses of study which will make him a better citizen by fitting\nhim in a measure for the procuring of an intelligent and adequate\nlivelihood. The school by no means is perfect in this matter, and as\nlong as over fifty per cent. of the boys fail to graduate even from the\neighth grade in the grammar school, and but one per cent. go to college,\nthere will be great need of a reconstruction of its methods of work.\nWithout question, the curricula of the public school should be modified\nso as to meet the needs of all the boys in the community and vocational\nand industrial training should have larger place in our educational\nplans. The boy who is to earn his livelihood by his hands and head\nshould receive as much attention and intelligent instruction as the boy\nwho aims at a professional career. However, with all its limitations,\nthe public school is the only institution which has a definite policy in\nthe education of the boy. The leaders of the public school system know\nwhither they are going and the road they must travel to reach the goal.\n\nPerhaps the greatest weakness of our public school system today is the\ninability, because of our division between church and state, to give the\nboy any religious instruction in connection with what is styled \"secular\neducation.\" For the first time in the history of the world has religious\ninstruction been barred from the public school, and that in our free\nAmerica. Most intelligent Christian men now realize that, because of the\ndivision between church and state in our country, religious instruction\nin the public school is impossible, as the school is the instrument of\nthe state in the production of wealth-producing citizenship. The men who\nwith clear vision see these things also see this limitation of the\npublic school system and recognize that the church has a larger mission\nto fulfill in America than in any other country, it the education of the\nboy is to be symmetrical and well balanced.\n\nPerhaps the problem of our public school system of education which has\nnot yet been solved is the vast possibility of the directed play life of\nour boys. It is well known by students of boy life that the character of\nthe boy is very largely determined by the informal education which comes\nfrom his part in sports and play. In some cities the public school has\nsought to give partial direction to the play life of the boy through\npublic school athletic leagues, but even these leagues touch but a small\npart of the boy life of any community. Besides the injection of\nindustrial and vocational training in large quantity in public school\ncurricula, more thought and place will have to be given to the\nexpression of the boy life in play than is now provided for.\n\nIn addition to this, the home and the church must render a united\ncooperation to make the school life of the boy what it ought to be. The\nParents' and Teachers' Association in the public school is doing much to\nbring this about between the home and the school, and it may be that a\nTeachers' Association, consisting of officials and teachers of the\npublic school and the officials and teachers of the Sunday school, might\nbring about a closer cooperation in the secular and religious education\nof the boyhood of the community. Both these associations, if fostered,\nwould certainly tend to create a wholesome school atmosphere, which\nwould render a tremendous service in safeguarding the moral life of the\nboy.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON PUBLIC SCHOOL\n\nBaldwin.--Industrial-social Education ($1.50).\n\nBloomfield.--Vocational Guidance of Youth (.60).\n\nBrown.--The American High School ($1.40).\n\nCrocker,--Religious Freedom in American Education ($1.00).\n\n--Religious Education (.65).\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nTHE CHURCH AND THE BOY\n\n\nIf the foregoing facts considering the home and school life are\nabsolutely true, and the consensus of opinion of the students of boy\nlife would have it so, it means that the church has a larger opportunity\nthan formerly supposed to influence the boy life of the community.\n\nThe investigator into the life of boyhood has revealed to us the fact\nthat a boy's life is not only fourfold--physical, social, mental and\nspiritual--but is also unified in its process of development. If this be\nso, there must be a common center for the boy's life, and neither the\nhome nor the school can, because of social or economic or political\nconditions, become this center. The only remaining place where the boy's\nlife can be unified is the church.\n\nThe life of the church, generally speaking, is largely manipulated in\nthe services of worship, the Sunday school, and such auxiliary\norganizations as the Brotherhood, Christian Endeavor, Missionary\nsocieties, and other like organizations. At the present time the church\norganization itself is but little adapted to the needs of the growing\nboy, the church being a splendidly organized body for mature life. On\nthe other hand, until lately, the Sunday school has been recognized as a\nplace for children under twelve years of age. With the Adult Bible Class\nmovement of the past few years, there has come a revival in the Sunday\nschool in adult life, so that the place of adults and children in the\nSunday school has been magnified. There still remains, however, the need\nof a modification of Sunday school organization to meet the need of the\nadolescent boy.\n\nThe opportunity that faces the church and the Sunday school in this\nadaptation is tremendous. Investigations of the past few years have\ndemonstrated beyond a doubt that the time to let loose impulses in the\nlife for the development of character is between the ages of fourteen\nand twenty, or the plastic years of early and middle adolescence. Recent\nstudies have shown that the break in school life occurs at about\nfourteen and a half or fifteen years, and that the majority of cases in\nthe juvenile courts fall in the same period. More souls are born into\nthe Kingdom of God in the early years of adolescence than at all other\nages of life put together, and the vantage ground of the church lies at\nthese ages, the effort necessary being the minimum and the results being\nthe maximum that can be attained.\n\nThe problem of the church in touching these adolescent years is to make\nthe right use of all the facts of boy life. Too long has the church\nlooked upon the boy as a mere field of operation. Too long has she\nconsidered the boy as a dual personality and regarded life as both\nsecular and spiritual. Today she is beginning to understand that all\nboyhood life is spiritual; that there are no secular activities in\nboyhood, but that every activity that a boy enters into has tremendous\nspiritual value, either for good or for bad. It is especially true in a\nboy's life that the spiritual finds expression through the physical. It\nshould be true of all life, but a boy especially lives by physical\nexpression.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE CHURCH\n\nFoster.--The Boy and the Church (.75).\n\nGray.--Non-Church Going, Its Reasons, and Remedies ($1.00).\n\nHodges.--Training of Children in Religion ($1.50).\n\nHulbert.--The Church and Her Children ($1.00).\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nTHE SUNDAY SCHOOL OR CHURCH SCHOOL\n\n\nThe Sunday school is the biggest force of the church in the life of the\nboy. At times he refuses to attend the stated worship of the church, but\nif the Sunday school be in the least interesting he will gladly attend\nit. Its exercises and procedure must, however, be interesting, and\nrightly so. The boy has the right to demand that the time, his own time,\nwhich he gives to the Sunday school, should be utilized to some decently\nprofitable, pleasurable end. Education, even religious education, is not\nnecessarily a painful process. Discipline of mind or body has ceased to\nbe a series of disagreeable, rigid postures or exercises. Medicine has\nno virtue merely because it is bad to the taste, and modern medical\nusage prescribes free air and warm sunshine in large doses in place of\nthe old-time bitter nostrums. Even where the boy spirit needs\nmedication, the means employed need not be sepulchral gloom, solemn\nwarning, other-world songs, and penitential prayers, with great moral\napplications of the non-understandable. The germs of spiritual disease\ngive way before the sunshine of the spirit, just as fast, if not faster,\nthan the microbes before the sun. The Sunday school, then, should be a\nhappy, joyous, sunny place, brimful of ideas, suggestion and impulse;\nfor these three are at once the giants and fairies of religious\neducation, and are the essential elements of character-making.\n\nTo produce all of the above, three things are needed: adequate\norganization, careful supervision, and common-sense leading. The first\nis imperative, because all education is a matter of organization. The\nsecond is part of the first, as supervision is the genius of\norganization. The third is fundamental, for all expression--true\neducation--depends on the teacher or leader, whose innate idea of the\nfitness of things keeps him from doing, on the one hand, that which is\njust customary, or, on the other hand, that which may appear to be just\nscientific. The science of yesterday should be the tradition of today;\nthat is, if we are making progress in educational processes. Today's\nscience also should be fighting yesterday's for supremacy. Common sense\nlies somewhere between the two.\n\nThe only two of these three Sunday school essentials that this chapter\ndeals with are organization and supervision.\n\nThe Sunday school should be a kind of a religious regiment, martial both\nin its music and its virtues for its challenge to the adolescent boy.\nNow, every regiment, in peace or war, is properly organized with\nbattalions, companies, and squads. Everything is accounted for, arranged\nfor, and some one definitely held responsible for certain things--not\neverything. The organization covers every member of the regiment; so\nshould the Sunday school.\n\nIn Sunday school nomenclature the regimental battalions are\n\"Divisions\"--Elementary, Secondary, and Adult, by name. The companies\nlikewise are named \"Departments,\" each division having its own as in the\n\"Elementary\"--\"Cradle Roll,\" \"Beginners,\" \"Primary,\" and \"Junior.\" The\nsquads in each case are the \"Classes\" that make up the Departments. _It\nis essential that the Secondary, or Teen Age Division, which enrolls the\nadolescent boy, be adequately organized._\n\nRegiments, Battalions, Companies, and Squads must be properly\nofficered--must be supervised. Colonels, Majors, Captains, Lieutenants,\nSergeants and Corporals are the arteries of an army. In Sunday school\nlanguage, the head of the regiment is the General Superintendent, and\nall the heads of divisions and departments are likewise named\nSuperintendent. The leader of the squad is the Teacher. Then a properly\nsupervised Sunday school is organized not unlike an army, and would be,\naccording to a diagram, like the following:\n\n                         General Superintendent\n                                   |\n------+-----------------+----------+------+-----------------+---\n      |                 |                 |                 |\n  Elementary        Secondary           Adult            Special\nSuperintendent    Superintendent    Superintendent    Superintendent\n\nCradle Roll        Intermediate    Organized Bible\nSuperintendent    Superintendent       Class\n                                   Superintendent\n\nBeginners'            Senior       Home Superintendent\nSuperintendent    Superintendent\n                       or\nPrimary              Teen Age\nSuperintendent    Superintendent\n                       or\nJunior                Boys'\nSuperintendent    Superintendent\n                      and\n                     Girls'\n                  Superintendent\n\nThus the modern school of the church would have at least twelve\nsuperintendents to oversee its work, to say nothing of the special\nworkers, such as Training, Missionary and Temperance. This may seem like\nan unnecessary array of officers, but the experienced will admit that\nthey are essential to good results in teaching boys and girls of varying\nrequirements. _Not until the Secondary or Teen Age Division is\nadequately supervised, will the teen age boy or his religious education\nbe properly cared for_.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\nFrost.--The Church School (.65).\n\nCope.--Efficiency in the Sunday School ($1.00).\n\nLawrance.--Housing the Sunday School ($2.00).\n\n--How to Conduct a Sunday School ($1.25).\n\nMeyer.--The Graded Sunday School in Principle and Practice (.75).\n\n\nSCHEME OF ORGANIZATION OF THE MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\n         DIVISIONS AND DEPARTMENTS\n============================================================\n  ELEMENTARY  |   SECONDARY   |     ADULT    |  SPECIAL\n--------------+---------------+--------------+--------------\nCradle Roll   |     (A)       | Adult        | Missionary\n(1 Minute-3   | Intermediate  | Bible        |\nyears)        | Department    | Class        |\n--------------| (13-16 years) | Department   | Temperance\nBeginners'    |---------------| (21 years +) |\nDepartment    | Senior        |--------------|\n(4-5 years)   | Department    | Home[1]      | Purity\n--------------| (17-20 years) | Department   |\nPrimary       |===============| Visitation   |\nDepartment    |     (B)       | Department   | Training\n(6-8 years)   | Teen Age or   |              |\n--------------| High School   |              |\nJunior        | Department    |              | Parents\nDepartment    |===============|              |\n--------------| Girls'        |              |\n              | Department    |              | Parents and\n              | (13-20 years) |              | Teachers\n              |               |              |\n              |     (C)       |              |\n              | Boys'         |              | Etc.\n              | Department    |              |\n              | (13-20 years) |              |\n============================================================\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nTHE BOY AND THE SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\n\nThere are two factors in the above subject--the factor of the boy and\nthe factor of the Sunday school.\n\nThe factor of the boy is the more important of the two, as the Sunday\nschool exists merely for the purpose of serving the boy. The boy,\ntherefore, should be thought of first, and the Sunday school should be\nplanned to meet his needs.\n\nWhat then is the factor of the boy? \"The boy is a many-sided animal,\nwith budding tastes, clamorous appetites, primitive likes and dislikes,\nvaried interests; an idealist and hater of shams, a reservoir of nerve\nforce, a bundle of contradictions, a lover of fun but a possible lover\nof the best, a loyal friend of his true friends; impulsive, erratic,\nimpressionable to an alarming degree.\" Furthermore, the boy is\nmaturing, traversing the path from boyhood to manhood, is unstable, not\nonly in his growth, but also in his thought, is restless because of his\nnatural instability, and sometimes suffers from headiness and\nindependence. Between boyhood and manhood he travels swiftly, the\nscenery changes quickly as he travels--_but he is traveling to manhood_.\nNo railway train or vehicle can keep pace with his speed. Morning sees\nhim a million miles farther on his way than night reckoned him but half\na day before. And yet, in all of it, he moves by well-defined stages in\nhis journey towards his destination of maturity. Today he is\nindividualistic, tomorrow heroic, a little later reflective and full of\nthought, but in all of it is progressively active, moving forward by\nleaps and bounds. His needs also increase with his pace, and must be\nfully and timely met, if he is to reach symmetrical maturity. He needs\nbut three things to attain his best: proper sustenance, unlimited\nactivity, and careful guidance. Given these three rightly and at the\nproper time, the quality of his manhood will go beyond our fondest hope.\nThe sustenance must be in keeping with his years, the activity in line\nwith his strength, and the guidance adapted to the needs of his\nspirit--firm, compelling, but not irksome. In it all the boy is to be\nencouraged in self-expression, resourcefulness, and independent manhood.\nSuch is a partial appreciation of the boy and his wonderful capacities,\na passing glimpse into a treasure house of wealth and possibility.\n\nWhat now is the Sunday school? In the days that are past, it was looked\nupon merely as a weekly meeting of boys and girls. Today it is regarded\nas an institution for the releasing of great moral and religious\nimpulses into life. Of late there have even crept into its life the\nnames and some of the methods of our public school system. Grading and\ntrained teaching have also come into its life to stay; the modern Sunday\nschool is but little like that of a decade ago, and the changes are not\nyet done with. Some of the innovations will be proved by experience and\nretained with modification, while others doubtless will be eliminated as\nworthless for the purposes of the Sunday school in its ideals of moral\nand religious education. Improvement, however, is in the school\natmosphere.\n\nHowever, with all the change, past, present and contemplated, the school\nproper has but little time for the doing of its work. Fifty-two sessions\na year, of an hour's or an hour and a half's duration at best, fifty-two\nor seventy-eight hours a year, only one-third of which is given to Bible\nstudy, furnish a meager opportunity to accomplish its aim. Compared with\ntwelve hundred hours a year in the public school, or the twenty-eight\nhundred hours a year a boy may work, it seems pitifully small, for the\naim of the Sunday school is bigger than the other two. The Sunday school\npurposes to fit the boy to play the game in public school and work and\nlife. It seeks to give him impulses that will help him to keep clean,\ninside and outside, to work with other boys in team play, to render\nChristian service to his fellows, and to love and worship God as his\nFather and Christ as his Saviour. The means it employs for these great\npurposes are Bible study, Christian music, the association of the boys\nin classes, and Christian leadership. To these the school is beginning\nto add through-the-week meetings for what have been called its secular\nactivities. All this has come after a great deal of campaigning on the\npart of groups of devoted men and women interested in boy life and\nwelfare. The Sunday school has had to overcome many handicaps in\nreaching the boy of teen age, among which were the lack of efficient,\nvirile teachers, a misunderstanding of boy nature, lessons not adapted\nto the boy's needs, music that was not appealing, and the indiscriminate\ngrouping of boys with members of the other sex. These, however, have\nbeen rapidly overcome, and today the school is fairly well organized to\nmeet the needs of the boy.\n\nThere are yet some definite things to be written into the life of the\nSunday school to win and hold the boy of teen age in its membership for\nlife.\n\nThe first of these is the incorporation into the Sunday school\nactivities of those things that interest and touch and mold every phase\nof a boy's life. It means the allotment of a definite part of the school\nperiod for the discussion of the things the group of boys will engage in\nduring the week, and a through-the-week meeting as a real part of the\nschool work. This allows and provides for the athletic, outdoor,\ncamping, social, and literary outlet for the boy spirit.\n\nAnother forward step is graded Bible study, graded athletics, graded\nservice, graded social life, and graded mental activities. The work of\nthe school, to hold the boy, must be new and diverse in its interests,\nand big enough and broad enough to command his constantly changing\nattention. As his years so shall his interest be. To his years the work\nof the Sunday school must correspond.\n\nThe Organized Bible Class that is self-governing must be added to the\nabove. Better have the gang on the inside of the church with a\nChristian-altruistic content, than to permit the boys to organize under\nself-direction on the outside. The Bible Class, too, has advantages over\nevery other form of organization. It has the Bible at its heart, the one\nthing necessary to assure permanence, and never allows the thought of\ngraduation. Other boy organizations meet the need of certain specified\nyears; the Bible Class meets all the needs of all the years, and is\nflexible enough to include all the special needs that are met by other\nforms of organization.\n\nThe greatest need of the Sunday school is capable teaching. By it the\nBible Class becomes efficient or the reverse. For the boy the teacher\nshould be a man, a Christian man, who has personality enough to command\nthe boy's respect, and ability enough to direct the boy in doing things.\nThis means a comrade-relationship of work and play, Bible study and\nathletics, spiritual and social activity, Sunday and week-day interest,\nand a disposition on the part of the leader to get the boy to do\neverything--government, planning, presiding, achieving--for himself.\nThis is true teaching and leadership. The greatest thing in the Sunday\nschool is the teacher. For now abideth the Lesson, the Class, and the\nTeacher, but the greatest of these is the Teacher.\n\nIn view, then, of all that has gone before, what shall be said of the\nSunday school and the boy? Each to each is the complement; the two\ntogether form a winning combination. On the one hand, the modern Sunday\nschool should meet the boy's need at every stage of his development in a\nphysical, social, mental, and spiritual way. It should give him variety\nand progression in the processes of his maturing, and suitable\norganization and trained leadership for character-building and\nman-making. On the other hand, the boy will render the Sunday school and\nchurch his service, and through both give his heart's thought, devotion,\nand worship to his Lord. This is the whole matter of the Sunday school\nand the normal boy, and is our vision of the future of the church. The\npast did not do it! The past is dead!\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE BOY AND THE SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\nBoys' Work Message (Men and Religion Movement) ($1.00).\n\nFoster.--The Boy and the Church (.75).\n\nLewis.--The Intermediate Worker and His Work (.50).\n\n--The Senior Worker and His Work (.50).\n\nRobinson.--The Adolescent Boy in the Sunday School (_American Youth_,\nApril, 1911) (.20).\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nFUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES IN SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK WITH BOYS\n\n\nFive fundamental principles must be kept in mind when work with boys in\nthe Sunday school is attempted, and without these five principles very\nlittle will be accomplished:\n\n1. _The first of these is the Fourfold Life_. A boy lives physically,\nsocially, and mentally, as well as spiritually. He lives seven days a\nweek, twenty-four hours a day, not merely an hour or an hour and a half\non Sunday. His spiritual impulses are received and find their expression\nin the physical, social and mental activities in which he is engaged\nduring the week. Any work that is attempted with a group of boys which\nignores this fourfold life of the boy cannot be a success. The man,\nthen, who plans to work with boys must plan to touch the various phases\nof the boys' lives as he works with them, and he must also do this work\nin proportion, not putting too much emphasis on any one phase, but\nallowing equal emphasis on all. The ideal for a perfect work with boys\nis that which is gleaned from a study of the boyhood of Christ, for the\nboy Jesus, \"grew in wisdom\" (mentally), \"and in stature\" (physically),\n\"and in favor with God\" (spiritually), \"and with man\" (socially). The\nsecret of the life of the Christ as a boy lies in his symmetrical and\nwell-balanced growth.\n\n2. _The second principle is Progression._ In a successful church work\nwith boys the activities must be graded and progressive. The public\nschool could not command the presence of a boy if the work which it gave\nhim today was the same as that of last week, and that of last week the\nsame as that of a year ago. The inherent interest of the public school\nto a boy is that he is discovering new things for himself, or being\ntaught new things all the while. This principle must be incorporated in\nchurch and Sunday school work to keep the continued interest of the boy.\nIt must be observed, not only in Bible study (and this should be\ngraded), but also in the physical, social, mental and service activities\nin which the boy finds himself engaged.\n\n3. _The third principle is Service_. Too long has the church bribed her\nboys and expected them to remain with her and in her service after\noffering them wages for doing the thing which they ought to have done\nfor sheer love of it. Socials and clubs and athletic organizations and\nother devices have been used as a bid to hold the boy, instead of being\nused because the church owed these things to the boy as part of his\nall-round development. \"Where the treasure is, there will the heart be\nalso\"; and it stands to reason that the heart of the boy will be where\nhe is giving most of himself. If he is investing himself heavily in the\ninterest and service of the church, that is where his interest will be.\n\n4. _The fourth principle is Organisation_.\n\nThe law of the boy life in adolescence is organization, or the gang.\nThe church has its choice, either to let the boys organize themselves on\nthe outside, under self-directed and therefore incompetent leadership,\nor to organize the boys on the inside of the church, provide a definite\nplace for this organization, and so permeate the gang instinct with the\nspirit of Christian altruism. Every church organization for boys, the\norganized Bible class, the church club, and other church forms of\norganization, are aiming to do just this thing. The law of the boy's\nlife is to associate with his fellows and the expression of his purposes\nis team work. The church, through suitable organization, can meet this\nneed of the boy life.\n\n5. _The fifth and last principle is Leadership_. Leadership is\ninseparable from organization, and organization is useless without\nleadership. The leadership which is necessary for a group of adolescent\nboys is that of a man, and the problem which is presented to a leader\nwith a group of boys in the adolescent years is not that of teaching,\nbut of awakening virile ideas and purposes in the boy life. The leader\nmust be able to enter into sympathy with and in at least a partial way\ninto participation with all the activities of the group. Everything that\na boy does is just the thing that the man used to do. There is,\ntherefore, little hardship, but instead the joy of living again, when a\nman becomes the leader of a group of boys.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES\n\nAlexander (Editor).--Boy Training (.75).\n\nBoys' Work Message (Men and Religion Movement) ($1.00).\n\nRobinson.--The Adolescent Boy in the Sunday School (_American Youth_,\nApril, 1911) (.20).\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nMETHOD AND ORGANIZATION\n\n\n=Organization=\n\nBy organization is meant, of course, boy organization, the form of\norganization that attempts to keep the adolescent boy tied up to the\ninterests of the church. Today the forms of organization for this\npurpose are legion, and strangely enough every such form but one has its\nheadquarters outside of the local church it seeks to serve. The one\nexception is the form known as the Boys' Organized Bible Class, an\nintegral part of the Sunday school with no allegiance of any sort or\nkind to any organization but the local church of which it is a\npart--bone of its bone, flesh of its flesh, muscle of its muscle.\n\nThese organizations that flourish in our modern church life naturally\nfall into three classes: religious, semi-religious and welfare. Other\nnomenclature, characterizing them might be used, and would be by their\nfounders, but these words classify them for the purpose of our\ninvestigation. The _religious_ organizations have for their sole aim the\ndeepening of the religious impulse, and the missionary objective of\ncarrying this impulse to others. The _semi-religious_ are built around\nreligious and symbolic heroes, make a bid for the heroic and the gang\nspirit, and seek to inculcate more or less of religious truth by the\nsugar-coat method. The _welfare_ type aims at the giving of all sorts of\nactivity in order to keep the boy interested and busy, and so raise the\ntone of his life in general.\n\nThe religious type of organization includes the forms that may be\nclassed under the church brotherhood idea--the junior brotherhoods of\nvarious sorts. They originated because of the need of some kind of\nexpression for the religious impressions that were continually coming to\nthe boy in his church life. The idea was good, but its release poor.\nSenior forms of organization were imitated, adult forms of worship and\nservice diminutized, and juvenile copies of mature experience\nencouraged. Junior brotherhoods and junior societies thus have tended to\ndestroy the genuine, natural, spontaneous religious life of boys, and\nhave unconsciously aided the culture of cant and religious unreality.\n\nThe semi-religious organizations have gone a full step beyond those of\nthe religious type. Societies like the Knights of King Arthur, Knights\nof the Holy Grail, Modern Knights of St. Paul, and others of such ilk\nhave in symbolism sought to teach and find expression for the religious\nimpulse. The method has been more or less the religious type in\ndisguise--ancient titles, elaborate ritual, initiations, and degrees,\nred fire, fuss and feathers, and something doing all the time to attract\nthe boy. The result has been and is a play-idea of organization and a\nmake-believe environment on the part of the boy. In his thought it never\nclassifies with his school or home or general church life. It is a\nthing apart, some thing or place to retire to, to forget the everyday\nthing for a moment of romance. The mature mind that is responsible for\nall of this, however, seeks to bend and use this make-believe world for\nthe inculcation of religious truth; and the product is an astonishing\nvariety of results. Most of it is beyond the grasp of the ordinary man,\nthe only man who at present or at any time will do this work in the\nchurch; and where set programs or ritual are followed the work itself\nloses its fire and misses its effectiveness.\n\nThe welfare type of organizations has multiplied in the past few years,\n_and their less religious activities have served to keep the religious\nand semi-religious types alive_. The Boys' Brigade, the National First\nAid Association, the Woodcraft Indians, Sons of Daniel Boone, Boy\nScouts, and others of like type, are in season and out of season\nappealing to American boyhood. Their aim is not specific, but general\nand vague: \"Something to do, something to think about, something to\nenjoy, with a view always to character-building.\" Their appeal is\nmostly to the physical and the out-of-doors; their philosophy that of\nthe recapitulation of the culture epochs. Their promoters do not claim\nthat they touch all of life. They seek to dominate the leisure time\nonly, and to produce goodness by affording no free time for positive\nwrong-doing. The domination is also physical expression, and the mental\nand spiritual in the boy and his home, school, and church life are not\nvitally affected directly.\n\nAll three types, however, have done splendid work in the past, and are\nrendering good service in the present as they will in the future. The\nsuccess of each depends entirely on its leadership. If a leader be\nsteeped in the Idylls of the King, the Knights of King Arthur will be\npopular with the boys and the church. If the superintendent of the\nbrotherhood or society be human and magnetic, the church and the boy\nwill sing its praises. If the scoutmaster is an out-of-door man and has\na point of contact with the boy, the Boy Scouts will be the solution of\nall our difficulties. Here lies the crux of the whole matter. If boys\nare added to the church through any organization, it is not because of\nthe method, but because of the worker of the method. The method counts\nbecause it is part of the worker--is in his blood.\n\n\n=Method=\n\nThe aim of all church work should be the production not merely of\nmanhood but _Christian manhood_. The vision is to see the boy a\nChrist-like boy--a physically, socially, mentally and spiritually\nbalanced man in the making. The organizations used, then, in boys' work\nshould be selected with this aim in mind.\n\nAgain, modern psychology has demonstrated to us that all boy activities\nmust be graded according to each stage of a boy's development, and that\nthere are several such stages. In the adolescent boy these may roughly\nbe classed as the heroic and reflective stages, or as early, middle, and\nlate adolescence. Boy activities, then, must group themselves to\nminister to the needs of each separate stage in order to work\neffectively. But psychology has also shown us that the activities of any\none stage must also be graded to meet the needs of that one stage. Thus\nthe heroic may run from the twelfth to the fifteenth year, and the\nactivities of this phase should be graded to meet the development of the\nphase. This is well illustrated by the Tenderfoot Second Class Scout and\nFirst Class Scout degrees of the Boy Scouts which operate in this\nperiod.\n\nThe factors of the problem, then, to be considered in the method are:\nFirst, Christian Manhood; second, the fact that there are distinct and\nseparate stages of growth in a boy's development, each stage having its\nown well-defined steps of growth; and third, the selection of existing\nboy organization activities to meet the need and produce the aim or\ndesired result.\n\nBy way of illustration, let us consider a group of boys just past their\ntwelfth year. All their physical, social, mental, and spiritual needs\nare to be met. The boys are just adolescent and their outlook because of\nthat is altruistic. They have reached the \"ganging\" period, and so must\nhave some form of organization. What organizations can be used to lead\nthem into Christian manhood between the twelfth and fifteenth year?\nThere are the Knights of King Arthur, the Boy Scouts, the Junior\nBrotherhood, the Christian Endeavor, and the Sunday School Bible Class.\nThere are others--hosts of them--but these widely known forms will suit\nthe purpose. For physical purposes we have the Scouts, for social\npurposes the Scouts, Knights, and the Bible Class; for mental purposes\nthe Knights, and for spiritual purposes the Knights, Brotherhood,\nEndeavor, and the Bible Class. To see a boy get his own full development\nunder this plan he must needs belong to at least five organizations; and\n_the principle of association among boys is not gangs but the gang_.\nHowever, much can be done under difficulties. The Scouts will afford\nfree, physical, outdoor expression, without which there is no boy. The\nKnights will furnish mental ideals and objectives; for the Knights of\nKing Arthur is the mental expression of the Boy Scouts and the Boy\nScouts is the physical expression of the Knights of King Arthur. Both of\nthem, with the Bible Class group, will furnish social stimulus and the\nBible study, and the more or less valuable devotional expression of the\nEndeavor and Brotherhood will take care of the spiritual. In using an\norganization, a clearly defined idea of the end sought should always be\nin view.\n\n\n=Efficiency=\n\nIn all church work for boys, efficiency should be sought. _It should\nalso be kept in mind that it is church work for boys_.\n\nIn all our discussion two things must seem striking: first, that we must\nat present use at least five organizations to meet the boy need, five\ngangs, when the principle of boy association is not gangs but the gang;\nand second, that all of these organizations, with the exception of the\nBible Class, have their headquarters outside of the local church itself.\nThe headquarters are in New York, Detroit, Boston, Cincinnati,\nBaltimore, etc., while the work they seek to do is the local church's\nbusiness. Further, they have all had their birth in the misunderstanding\nof the church as to her mission for boys. The church, however, has now a\nnew vision of her mission, as manifested by her patience and forbearance\nin trying out and listening to the voices of all these organizations\nthat would help her from the outside. The church is awake to the need,\nbut is confused in the method, because she recognizes that no single\norganization that knocks at her door is sufficient and complete enough\nfor her task. She needs all their methods without their organization.\nShe cannot assume their organization, because it is not of her own flesh\nand blood.\n\n_A boy's allegiance cannot be split up among gangs. He must be a member\nof the gang._ One organization is all that he can comprehend with\nloyalty at one time. _This organization must be also of the local\nchurch._ But the church needs no new organization. All she needs is\nactivities suitable to the boy's growth. _She has an organization that\nthe boy cannot outgrow--the Organized Bible Class._ At fifteen he is\nthrough with the Scouts and the Knights, and at eighteen or twenty he is\nthrough with fraternities and orders, or ought to be; for, if a boy be\nnot starved for these things when a boy, he will outgrow them as he\noutgrows a suit of clothes. Graduation from these orders very often\nmeans graduation from the Sunday school and church; for no single\norganization can be conceived, that with ritual and form can bind\ntogether the activities of twelve to fifteen, fifteen to twenty, and\ntwenty to thirty. However, there can be no graduation from the Organized\nBible Class, flesh of the church's flesh, blood of her blood, muscle of\nher muscle; and the Organized Bible Class is flexible enough for an\nadjustment to every stage of boy development, and to all its physical,\nsocial, mental and spiritual needs. The organized class between twelve\nand fifteen can include all the interests of those years, and when the\nnext stage of growth is on, can discard these for the interests that\nlie between fifteen and twenty, and so on to the end.\n\nThe Organized Bible Class is simple in organization, is modern and\nelastic, affords the minimum of organization and the maximum of\nefficiency, is big enough to meet all the boy's needs, and is the\nchurch's own. Into it can be poured all the activities of all the\norganizations ever known, and it can be made the richest and best\nadapted organization to the boy life of the Church that has yet been\nconceived.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON METHOD AND ORGANIZATION\n\nAlexander (Editor).--Boy Training (Chapter on Auxiliary Organizations)\n(.75).\n\n--Sunday School and the Teens (Chapter on Organizations) ($1.00).\n\nFoster.--The Boy and the Church (Chapter on Books and Notes) (.75).\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nTHE ORGANIZED SUNDAY SCHOOL BIBLE CLASS[2]\n\n\nWhen all the plans and methods of work are reduced to a minimum, there\nis but one. This finds expression in the gang or club life. Boys get\ntogether in a group, elect their own officers and select a man who is to\nbe their adviser. Then they go out and do the thing they have organized\nfor in what is to them the simplest and best-known way. It may be stamp\ncollecting, or star studying, woodcraft, or camping, or the hundred and\none other forms of boy activity which are so common today. Seventy-five\nper cent. of these clubs are formed solely for the purpose of physical\nexpression in athletics. Hundreds of such clubs exist today to meet the\nvarious needs of the growing boy. The Knights of King Arthur, the Boy\nScouts, the Woodcraft Indians, the Sons of Daniel Boone, the Knights of\nthe Holy Grail, the Knights of St. Paul, and dozens of others have been\nconceived and born for the purpose of meeting the needs of boys, as the\nfounders of the organizations saw them.\n\nIn harmony with all the other boys' organizations, and yet bigger than\nall of them put together, is the Sunday school organization for\nboys--the Organized Bible Class. It is purely and simply a church\norganization, and owes no allegiance to any organization outside of the\nlocal church. It is also a distinct part of the church life and an\norganic part of the Sunday school, which is large enough to hold the\nboy's interest from the cradle roll to the grave. The other\norganizations serve their day in the life of the boy and cease to be. It\nis difficult, almost an impossibility, to get normal boys, after fifteen\nyears of age, to take much interest in the so-called boys'\norganizations, because their lives have outgrown these activities and\nthere is no longer any need of them. The Organized Bible Class presents\na method that can never be outgrown. _It also has at its heart Bible\nstudy, which is the one essential to permanence in any work with boys_.\n\n\n=Class Organization=\n\n\n_Objective_.--Class organization is of no value unless the class has\ndefinite objectives. The members should be made to feel that there is\nsome great purpose in the organization. The objectives for a teen age\nclass should be:\n\n1. The winning of the class members to personal allegiance to Jesus\nChrist as Saviour and Lord; and\n\n2. The proper expression of the Christian life in service for others in\nthe name and spirit of the Christ. Thus one strengthens one's self and\nhelps others.\n\n_Why Organize_.--(a) It is natural for a boy to want to get into an\norganization of some kind. Seventy-five per cent. of the boys of a\ncommunity are, or have been, connected with some sort of organization.\nThese organizations, rightly controlled, and dominated by strong\nChristian leadership, can be made a power for good in the community and\nin the lives of their members. It matters not what the organization may\nbe connected with, it is the activities that appeal.\n\nWhy should not the Sunday school take advantage of this natural,\nGod-given instinct, to plan such organization in the church as will\npresent the strongest claim for the loyalty of the boys in the teen age?\n\n(b) The organization is in the hands of the members of the class,\nactivities are planned by them, and discipline, when necessary, is\nadministered by them. The position of the teacher is thereby\nstrengthened. Instead of being an \"autocrat\" or \"czar\" in dealing with\nthe class, the function is that of counsellor and friend.\n\n(c) It develops initiative, self-reliance, self-control, and the ability\nto do things; character is thereby developed, and strong Christian\ncharacter is what the church needs today.\n\n(d) The Organized Boys' Bible Classes will, without a doubt, become as\nuniversal in their scope as Organized Adult Bible Classes. To be\naffiliated with the biggest teen age organization in the world will, in\nitself, appeal to every teen age boy and girl.\n\n(e) Organization increases class spirit. The organized class becomes\n\"our class,\" not the \"teacher's class.\" The unorganized class suffers\ngreatly if the teacher is removed, and sometimes is obliged to disband.\nThe organized class helps to secure another teacher, and, in the\ninterim, maintains its class work and is thus kept together. Though much\ndepends upon the teacher, the permanency of the class should not rest\nwholly upon his personality and work. Changes must necessarily come.\n\n(f) Organization enables the class to do things. The appointment of\nspecial committees, the assignment of definite work to each committee,\nand the introduction of various class activities does much toward\nrealizing the ideal--\"an adequate Christian service for every member.\"\nLarge and permanent success is assured when this ideal is attained.\n\n\n=Standard of Organization=\n\n1. The class shall have at least five officers: President,\nVice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Teacher. It shall also have as\nmany committees as necessary to carry on its work.\n\n2. The class shall be definitely connected with a Sunday school.\n\n3. A Sunday Bible session and, if practicable, week-day session or\nactivities.\n\n4. The age limits of the class shall be not less than thirteen or more\nthan twenty years.\n\n\n=How to Organize=\n\nSecure Secondary Division Leaflet No. 2, of the International Sunday\nSchool Association.\n\nStudy this leaflet carefully, noting especially the standard of\norganization and the suggestive constitution, which seek to define an\norganized class. Distribute leaflets among those whom you wish to\ninterest and enlist. Organization should not be forced on the class. Do\nnot go at it as though you were laying a trap. Observe the following:\n\n(a) Think it through yourself; then put yourself in the pupil's place\nand ask yourself the question, \"How would I like to have this presented\nto me?\" This will give you the viewpoint of your class, and you are then\nready to go ahead. You must believe in it thoroughly, enthusiastically,\nbefore you can hope for the interest and enthusiasm of your class.\n\n(b) Next, get two or three of your \"key\" pupils, and talk it over with\nthem. Show them the possibilities of the organization, emphasizing the\nphysical, mental, social and spiritual activities.\n\n(c) Follow this with a special meeting of the class, to be held either\nat the home of the teacher or one of the class.\n\n(d) Make the organization genuine, and show that you mean business. The\nteen age abhors shams, and will readily detect any weak spots in the\norganization. Impress upon them the necessity of selecting capable\nofficers. Adopt the class constitution, which follows, select class name\nand motto, and elect the officers.\n\n(e) Then let the officers conduct the meetings, both in the Sunday and\nthe mid-week sessions. The teacher is one of the class and is the\ndirector of activities; the officers and committeemen do the work.\n\n(f) In all things keep in close touch with the general superintendent\nand the departmental superintendent of the school. Seek the strength\nthat comes from advice and cooperation.\n\n\n=Constitution=\n\nA class constitution is not essential, but is often helpful. The\nfollowing form of constitution is merely suggestive and may be changed\nto conform to the needs of the class.\n\n_Article I_--Name.\n\nOur class shall be known as _______________\n_____________ and shall be connected\nwith, and form a part of, the\n______________Sunday school of_______.\n\n_Article II_--Object.\n\nThe object of the class shall be the training of Christian character for\nChristian service in the extension of Christ's Kingdom by means of Bible\nstudy, through-the-week activities, mutual helpfulness, and social\nfellowship, in addition to the winning of its members' allegiance to\nChrist as Saviour and Lord.\n\n_Article III_--Class Spirit.\n\nTo create an individuality in class spirit, loyalty and enthusiasm, the\nclass shall have an emblem, a motto and a color. It may also have a\nflower, a song, a yell, a whistle, or such other additions as may seem\nwise.\n\n_Article IV_--Membership.\n\nAny boy may become a member of this class on invitation of the class.\n\n_Article V_--Officers.\n\nThe class officers may include the following: Teacher, President,\nVice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. The officers shall be elected\nby ballot semiannually by the class, and no officer shall serve in the\nsame position more than two terms in succession, except the teacher,\nwhose election or appointment is governed by the church or Sunday\nschool. The teacher may be elected by the class from a list provided by\nthe church authorities.\n\n_Article VI_--Committees\n\nThere shall be as many committees in the class as necessary, such as\nSocial, Literary, Music, Athletic, etc.\n\n_Article VII_--Meetings.\n\nThe class shall meet at ____o'clock each Sunday for its regular Bible\nstudy session. Week-day meetings may be held each week. Special meetings\nmay be called at any time by the president, and the presence of\none-fourth of the enrolled membership shall be necessary for the\ntransaction of class business.\n\n_Article VIII_--Duties of Officers and Committees.\n\nSec. 1. The teacher shall teach the lesson, shall be an ex officio\nmember of all committees, and shall work cooperatively with the\npresident in promoting the interests of the class.\n\nSec. 2. The president shall preside at meetings of the class, shall have\ngeneral supervision over the officers, and shall see that the work of\nthe class is pushed in accordance with its object.\n\nSec. 3. The vice-president shall take the president's place in case of\nabsence, and shall render such assistance to the president as may be\nrequired of him.\n\nSec. 4. The secretary shall make class announcements, keep minutes of\nall meetings, write to absent members, and report any information to the\nteacher which may be desired.\n\nSec. 5. The duty of committees shall be defined by the activity each\ncarries on, said committee being responsible to the class for the work\nentrusted to it.\n\n_Article IX_--By-Laws.\n\nFrom time to time the class may amend this constitution and pass such\nby-laws as seem wise in carrying forward the work of the class.\n\nA careful study of the Organized Class diagram on another page (86) will\nfurnish the teacher with a workable plan. In all cases it should be\nadapted to local conditions.\n\nMid-week activities should be planned as a part of the weekly program,\nkeeping in mind the fourfold life of the pupil. The planning of these\nactivities should be left almost entirely to the class; any plans that\nthe teacher may have should be turned over to the class by way of\nsuggestion. Place the responsibility on the members of the class, and\nonce they have caught the idea there will be no lack of suggestions on\ntheir part.\n\n     THE TEEN AGE BOYS' ORGANIZED CLASS\n                      |\n                 ORGANIZATION\n                      |\n      +---------------+-------------+\n      |               |             |\n   OFFICERS           |         COMMITTEES\n      |               |             |\nPresident [A]         |        Athletic\nVice-President [A]    |        Social\nSecretary [A]         |        Membership[3]\nTreasurer [B]         |        Program[4]\nTeacher [B]           |        Etc.\n                      |\n                CLASS MEETING\n                      |\n     +----------------+--------------+\n     |                |              |\nSUNDAY SESSION        |     THROUGH-THE-WEEK SESSION\n     |                |              |\nOpening Services      |              |\nClass Lesson          |   DETERMINED BY ACTIVITY\nDiscussion of         |              |\n  Through-the-Week    |              |\n  Activities          |   ACTIVITY COMMITTEE IN CHARGE\nClosing Services      |\n                      |\n          RANGE OF CLASS ACTIVITIES\n                      |\n+------------+--------+--------------+----------+\n|            |        |              |          |\nPHYSICAL  MENTAL   SOCIAL      SPIRITUAL    SERVICE\n\n            [A] Older Boy     [B] Adult\n\nPrepared by John L. Alexander, Superintendent Secondary Division\nInternational Sunday School Association.\n\n\nThe class session on Sunday should be in charge of the president of the\nclass. The opening services may consist of a short prayer by the teacher\nor pupil volunteering; reading of brief minutes, covering the mid-week\nactivities and emphasizing the important points brought out by the\nteacher in the lesson of the previous Sunday; collection and other\nbusiness. The president then turns the class over to the teacher for the\nteaching of the lesson. The closing services of the class should by all\nmeans be observed.\n\n_Committees._--Short-term committees are the more effective, covering\nthe activities when planned. The short-term committee plan, however,\nneed not be suggested to the class until it discovers that the long-term\nor standing committee has failed. They will doubtless be the first to\nsuggest the new plan.\n\n\n=Class Grouping and Size=\n\nIt should be sane and natural and not too large. This should be\nspecially borne in mind in working with boys; a \"gang\" usually consists\nof from seven to fourteen. The girls' class is different, and the size\nof the group does not materially matter. The class, however, should not\nbe so unwieldy as to make it impossible for the teacher to give personal\nattention to each individual.\n\nIt is impossible to get the best results when pupils of twelve and\neighteen are members of the same class, for they are living in two\ndifferent worlds of thought. A teacher cannot hope to hold together a\ngroup in which there is such disparity of age. A working basis is\n(13-14), (15-17), (18-20). This is but a foundation on which to work.\nThe correct grouping should be on a physiological basis instead of\nchronological. A pupil ofttimes will not fit into a group of his or her\nown age; physiologically, they may be a year or two in advance of the\nrest of the class, and are mingling through the week with an older\ngroup. Adjustments in such cases should be made so that the pupil is\npermitted to find his or her natural grouping. Like water, they will\nfind their level.\n\nUnder no ordinary circumstances should classes be mixed (boys and girls\ntogether).\n\n\n=Class Names and Mottoes=\n\n_Names._--A class name will help to create a strong and healthy class\nspirit, and is valuable as a means of advertising the class and its\nwork.\n\nSome prefer to take class numbers or letters, thus recognizing their\nrelationship to the Sunday school; others select names from the Bible to\nindicate their relation to Bible study; others choose names that\nindicate some kind of Christian service, thus committing the class to\nChristian work; while others take names of heroes or use Greek letters.\n\n_Mottoes._--A motto is perhaps more important than a name. It will help\nto place and keep before the class a definite purpose. If often repeated\nit will aid in producing in the class the spirit expressed in the motto.\nThe following well-known mottoes may be suggestive: We're in the King's\nBusiness--We Do Things--The World for Christ--We Mean Business--The\nOther Fellow--Every Man Up--Quit You Like Men.\n\n\n=International Teen Age Certificate of Recognition=\n\nThe International Sunday School Association, through its Secondary\nDivision, issues a certificate, or charter of recognition.\n\nThis certificate represents a minimum standard of organization for\nclasses, which is considered practical for scholars of these ages. It\ngives the class the recognition of the International, State or\nProvincial Associations; and to the schools whose denominations add\ntheir seal and signature, or provide a joint certificate, denominational\nrecognition as well. The certificate of the Secondary Division is\nbeautifully lithographed, and is suitable for framing for the class\nroom. For classes of the Intermediate age (13-16 years) an Intermediate\nseal is affixed, and a Senior (17-20 years) or Adult seal may be added\nupon the advance of the class to these departments. It can be secured by\nfilling out the application blank at the end of this leaflet, and by\nsending the same, together with twenty-five cents to cover the cost, to\nyour State or Provincial Association, or Denominational headquarters.\nSeals may be secured from the same sources.\n\nThis certificate and registration links the class to the Sunday school\nteen age brotherhood throughout the world.\n\n[Illustration: =Emblem=]\n\nThe royal blue and white button (white center with blue rim) has been\nadopted for both the Intermediate (13-16 years) and Senior (17-20 years)\nDepartments, the blue indicating loyalty and the white purity.\n\n            =Application Blank=\n                      for\n=International Certificate of Recognition=\n\n           =Secondary Division=\n                 Years 13-20.\n\nName of Class ________________________________\nName of Sunday School ________________________\nName of Denomination _________________________\nTown or City ________________ County _________\nState or Province ____________________________\nHas the class the following officers: President, Vice-President,\n    Secretary and Treasurer? ___________\nIs the class of intermediate age (13-16), or senior\n    age (17-20)? ______________\nWhat is the average age of the members of your\n    class?  __________\nName of Class Teacher __________\nPost-office address  __________\nName of Class President __________\nPost-office address __________\nDoes the class use the Secondary Division Emblem?\n    ____________________________________\nClass motto _______________________________________\nDate of organization ______________________\nPresent Membership _______________________\nDate of Application ___________ 19__\nFilled out by:\n    Name ________________________________________\n    Post-office address ____________________________________\nKindly fill out this blank carefully. Detach and\nsend same with twenty-five cents to your State Sunday\nSchool Association office.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE ORGANIZED CLASS\n\nInternational Leaflets on Secondary Adult Classes (Free).\n\nPearce.--The Adult Bible Class (.25).\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nBIBLE STUDY FOR BOYS\n\n\nThe study of the Bible that contributes to the boy's education is now\ngenerally accepted to be that which is adjusted to the known\ncharacteristics of boys. At one time, not so very far distant, all\nScripture was supposed to be good for a boy's moral and spiritual\ncharacter-building. One part of the Bible was held to be as good as any\nother, the important thing necessary being to get the Bible into the\nlife of the boy, somehow. It did not matter much whether the boy\nunderstood all he read and was told, or not. It would prepare him for\nsome future crisis and enable him some time to better meet a possible\ntemptation. It was to be a sort of preventive application, very much as\nvaccination now is administered to ward off dreaded disease. And, to\ntell the exact truth, it often did, and the treatment proved more\nefficacious than some of the present-day Bible study methods, where mere\nknowledge is attempted. The mistake was the misunderstanding (for\nmisunderstanding it was, and not a desire to merely plague the boy) of\nthe fact that boys were developing creatures, spiritually as well as\nphysically, and that Bible study could be made pleasant as well as\nprofitable. It was a mistake due to a purely mature point of view and a\nfailure to know that the boy mind needed different treatment from that\nof the adult. Lately we have discovered, thanks to general education,\nthat a boy's Bible study can be adapted to a specific purpose, and to a\npresent, clear, distinct and practical need of boy life.\n\nA recent writer has said, \"We have come to a fairly definite\nunderstanding that we must take the boy as he is; we must inquire into\nhis needs; we must consider the conditions of his religious development.\nWe must ask, then, of the Bible, how far it can be effective to meet\nthese needs and this development. The fixed factor is the boy, not the\nBook. At the same time, we are not obliged to begin always as if the\nBible were a new thing in the world, and its claim to value as religious\nmaterial were to be considered afresh. We know that the Bible has proved\nitself good. We know that it has been effective in the life of boys. The\nquestion, then, really before us is, What parts of the Bible are really\ndesirable for the boy, and how are they to be presented so as to be most\nuseful?\"\n\nThis, in other words, is Graded Bible Study, and, possibly, were we to\ngive a Bible to the boy and induce him to read it, the parts which he\nwould read would help us a lot in determining the material that would\nchallenge his interest. The parts he skipped over would also fix our\nproblem for us.\n\nThe writer had a unique experience in his boyhood. His folks were\nmembers and officers of a church where long doctrinal sermons were the\nrule. These had little interest for the growing boy, but parental\npersuasion kept him in the pew for hours at a stretch. The boy, under\nthese circumstances, had to do something in self-preservation, so he\nspent the long hours in reading the Bible. The stories of the\nPatriarchs, the Judges, the Kings, and the Acts were his peculiar\ndelight. The sermon period ceased to be tiresome and often was not long\nenough. He never read Leviticus, or the Prophets, or the Gospels, or the\nEpistles, however. They had no meaning for him. As well as he can now\nremember, between his ninth and twelfth years, his favorite Scripture\nwas the Patriarchs and Judges. Between his twelfth and sixteenth years\nhe was passionately fond of the Kings and the Acts. After that he began\nto feel interested in the Gospels. He was pretty well grown up before he\ncared either for the Prophets or the Epistles; they were too abstract\nfor him.\n\nThe writer's experience corresponds fairly well with the growing modern\nusage in Bible study with boys. The philosophy underlying Graded Bible\nStudy is merely to meet the present spiritual needs, as indexed by the\ncharacteristics of the period of his development.\n\nAt present there are many schemes of Graded Bible Study for boys on the\nmarket. Some of it has been prepared to meet a theory of religious\neducation. The University of Chicago Series of textbooks and the Bible\nStudy Union (Blakeslee) Lessons are examples of this trend. Both of them\nare exceptionally good. Other courses have sprung up, being written and\nused among boys here and there, and later worked together into a Bible\nstudy scheme. The Boys' Bible Study Courses of the Young Men's Christian\nAssociation are recognized as such. Then there is the present system of\nGraded Bible Study of the International Sunday School Association.\nFifteen complete years of Graded Bible Study, from the fourth to the\neighteenth year, may now be used in the Sunday school. Great care has\nbeen exercised in the selection of the material with the aim of fixing\ndefinite ideals of Christian life and service. These courses are divided\nas follows:\n\n\n=Possible Present Use of the Graded Lessons=\n\n=Departments     Years             Courses of Study=\n\nBeginners         | Four     |\n                  | Five     |     A Unit of two years.\n\n\n                  | Six      |\nPrimary           | Seven    |     A Unit of three years.\n                  | Eight    |\n\n                  | Nine     |     Lower--A Unit of two\n                  | Ten      |            years.\nJunior            |\n                  | Eleven   |     Upper--A Unit of two\n                  | Twelve   |            years.\n\n                  | Thirteen |     Lower--A Unit of two\n                  | Fourteen |            years.\nIntermediate      |\n                  | Fifteen  |     Upper--A Unit of two\n                  | Sixteen  |            years.\n\n                  | Seventeen      A Unit of one year.\n                  |\nSenior            | Eighteen |     A Unit of two years.\n                  | Nineteen |\n                  |\n                  | Twenty\n\nLesson Committee Leaflet No. 2,\nInternational Sunday School Association.\n\n\nTHE ORGANIZATION OF THE PUPILS OF A SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND CHARACTER\nOF GRADED LESSONS FOR EACH DEPARTMENT\n\n=Divisions Departments   Age or Grade        Themes of Lessons=\n\n        /           /Four     --1st year --God the Heavenly Father,\n       | BEGINNERS /                         our Provider and Protector.\n       |           \\ Five     --2d year  --Thanksgiving, prayer, helping\n   E   |            \\                        others.\n   L   |            /Six      --1st year --God's power, love and care,\n   E   |           |                         awakening child's love, trust\n   M   |           |                         and confidence.\n   E   |           | Seven    --2d year  --How to show love, trust and\n   N   | PRIMARY   /                         obedience, in Jesus' love and\n   T   |           \\                         work for men; how to do God's\n   A   |           |                         will.\n   R   |           | Eight    --3d year  --People who choose to do God's\n   Y   /           |                         will; how Jesus revealed the\n       \\            \\                        Father's love and will.\n       |            /Nine     --1st year --Stories of beginnings, three\n       |           |                         patriarchs, Joseph, Moses and\n       |           |                         Jesus.\n       |           | Ten      --2d year  --Conquest of Canaan, stories of\n       |           |                         New Testament, life and\n       | JUNIOR    /                         followers of Jesus.\n       |           \\ Eleven   --3d year  --Three Kings of Israel, divided\n       |           |                         kingdom, exile and return,\n       |           |                         introduction to New\n       |           |                         Testament.\n       |           | Twelve   --4th year --Gospel of Mark, studies in\n       |           |                         Acts, winning others to God,\n        \\           \\                        Bible the Word of God.\n        /           /          /Thirteen --1st year--Biog. studies in Old\n       |           |          |              Testament, religious leaders\n       |           | Lower    /              in N.A. salvation and service\n   S   |           |          \\ Fourteen --2d year--Biog. studies in New\n   E   | INTERME-  /          |               Testament, Christian leaders\n   C   |   DIATE   \\           \\              after New Testament times.\n   O   |           |           /Fifteen  --3d year--Life of the Man\n   N   |           | Upper    /               Christ Jesus.\n   D  /            |          \\ Sixteen  --4th year--Studies in Christian\n   A  \\             \\          \\              living.\n   R   |            /Seventeen--1st year --World as a field for Christian\n   Y   |           |                         service; problems of youth in\n       |           |                         social life; Ruth; James.\n       |           | Eighteen --2d year  --Religious history and\n       | SENIOR   /                          literature of the Hebrew\n       |          \\                          people--Old Testament.\n       |           | Nineteen --3d year  --Religious history and\n       |           |                         literature of the New\n       |           |                         Testament.\n        \\           \\Twenty   --4th year --\n\nADULT Grading and Classification and Courses now being studied by a\nSpecial Committee of the International Association.\n\nPrepared by Professor Ira M. Price, Secretary International Sunday\nSchool Association Lesson Committee.\n\n\nThese International Lessons are undoubtedly the best on the market at\nthe present time, although they are very far from being perfect. Gradual\nchanges, coming from experience in the local Sunday school, will modify\nthem considerably in the next few years, and they may actually prove to\nbe forerunners for an almost entirely new series of courses and lessons.\nThey have been generously received by the eager workers in the local\nSunday school, as an advance on the Uniform Lessons, and where they are\nnow being tried satisfaction, for the most part, is being evinced. A\ngreat deal of dissatisfaction has been found with the treatment of these\nGraded Lessons in some quarters, the Lesson Helps being too mature for\nteen age boys. _However, in appraising the value of these Graded\nLessons, two things should be kept in mind, viz.: the selection of the\nLesson Material, and the Lesson Help Treatment of the selected\nmaterial._ Opposition to the lessons should never be taken because of\nthe Lesson Helps. These can be remedied by the denominational publishing\nhouses, if their attention is called to the weakness or mistake of\ntreatment, and the teen age teacher can give great assistance to the\ndenominational editors by counseling with them.\n\nHere and there the suggestion has sprung up for a Graded Uniform Lesson.\nThat is precisely what the treatment of the Uniform Lesson was for a\nnumber of years, and is yet. It is not adaptation of treatment that is\nneeded, but adaptation of material that is demanded--courses of study\nthat fit the religious, spiritual need of the various stages of\ndevelopment. This much is positively settled.\n\nThere is, however, some good reason and very strong ground for uniform\ncycles, based on seasonable development rather than on chronological\nyears and intellectual rating. In some places the present Elementary\nInternational Graded Lessons are being used just this way, although they\ndo not yield themselves readily to this usage. Cycles of four courses\nfor the three main divisions of boyhood, nine to twelve years, thirteen\nto sixteen years, and seventeen to twenty years, four courses to each\nperiod, based on the general, seasonable development of each period,\nhave much in their favor. Thus we might have four courses built on\nIndividual Heroism, four on Altruistic Heroism, and four on the Social\nAdaptation which marks the reflective period between seventeen and\ntwenty. Boys do not mature by years. Growth and development is a jump\nfrom plateau to plateau.\n\nThis would fit in also with the general objective of the Sunday school,\nand is not the mere impartation of information, but the letting loose of\nmoral and religious values in life. The latter is produced more by\ncontact of personality with personality than by intellectual processes.\nShould such a plan ever be adopted the courses of study must be\npedagogically arranged and in keeping with the best findings of\npsychological usage.\n\nAt any rate, whatever be the course of study, the teen age boy needs to\nhave his life and activity center about the dynamics of the Bible. \"The\nArt of Living Well\" can only be learned out of the textbook of the\nexperience of the ages. The ordinary tasks and interests of boys, as\nwell as daily conduct, can be made great channels for life's best\nachievement only in proportion to the dynamic throb of the Word that has\ninspired men to heroism amid the commonplace and the uncommon, to\nself-sacrifice and peace.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON BIBLE STUDY\n\nAlexander.--Sunday School and the Teens ($1.00).\n\nHorne.--Leadership of Bible Study Groups (.50).\n\nStarbuck.--Should the Impartation of Knowledge Be a Function of the\nSunday School? (.65).\n\nUse of the Bible Among Schoolboys (.60).\n\nWinchester.--The International Graded Sunday School Lessons (_American\nYouth_, April, 1912) (.20).\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nTHROUGH-THE-WEEK ACTIVITIES FOR BOYS' ORGANIZED CLASSES[5]\n\n\nThe Sunday school has at last begun to realize that a boy demands more\nthan spiritual activity to round out his life into symmetrical\ndevelopment. It also comprehends that religion is more than a set of\nbeliefs--_that religion is a life at work among its fellows._ \"For to me\nto live is Christ\"--to live, play, love, and work. Because of these two\nreasons, the Sunday school assumes its obligation to direct and foster\nthe through-the-week life of its boys, as well as the Bible period of\nthe Sunday session of the school.\n\n_Contact_.--Of course, for a long time the leaders and teachers of Boys'\nOrganized Bible Classes have felt the need of a through-the-week\ncontact with the members of the class. The school period of one hour or\nan hour and a half has been found by most teachers to be too meager for\na healthy class life. Then, too, most teachers are realizing that really\nto touch the life of the boy more contact than the teaching of the Bible\nlesson is necessary. Some teachers are taking an interest in the school\nor working conditions of the teen boy. Quite a few teachers are now\ndeeply interested in the leisure time of their pupils, and have begun to\ndirect the physical, social and mental activities of the teen years, as\nwell as the spiritual. They have realized that the teen age is not made\nup of disjointed and disconnected activities, but is in a continual\nprocess of development, and that its growth is normally symmetrical and\nits activities intertwined.\n\n_The Organized Class._--The great majority of Sunday school teachers\nhave no desire to try any auxiliary organization in combination with\ntheir classes. They are somewhat dubious of the machinery, ritual, etc.,\nwhich are concomitants of these schemes. Again and again they have\nvoiced a demand, not for new organizations, but for activities to deepen\ninterest in the organization that the teacher understands--the Bible\nClass.\n\nThe Organized Boys' Bible Classes operate in the Secondary Division or\nteen years of the Sunday school, from 13 to 20, and include both the\nyounger and older boys. The earlier and later adolescent periods are\nseparate and distinct groups. Plans and activities that have proven\nsuccessful with one group will prove to be ineffectual with the other.\nAll things should be planned to meet the development of the group. In\nthe following list of activities the group interests have not been\nseparated as they intermingle with each other. _If the class be allowed\nto choose and voice its sentiment, the right activity will always be\nselected._ Besides, if the members make their own choice, there can be\nlittle complaint at results, and they will work harder for the success\nof their own plans. All this develops character, which is one of the\nreal reasons for these through-the-week activities.\n\n=Activities for Teen Boys' Organized Bible Classes=\n\n#Physical#\n\nATHLETICS\n\nFree Hand and Calisthenic Drills Fire, Ambulance, Life-saving Drills\nSingle Stick and Foil, Boxing Swimming Water Polo Water Sports Jumping\nand Running Shot Put Discus Throwing Baseball, Indoor and Outdoor\nBasket-ball Football Volleyball La Crosse, Bowling Tennis\n\nGAMES\n\nObservation, Agility, Strength, Fun--Indoor and Outdoor Quoits\n\nSIGNALING\n\nSemaphore Wig Wag Heliograph Wireless\n\nWOODCRAFT\n\nTracking and Trailing Bird, Plant, Tree, Grass and Flower Lore Star,\nWind and Water Knowledge Stalking with Camera Wild Life\n\nCAMPING\n\nTent and Tepee Making Moccasin Making Huts, Lean-to, Shacks Grass Mat\nWeaving Map Making Knot Tying Fire Lighting Boat Management Boat and\nCanoe Building Canoeing Fishing Camp Cooking Week-end Camps Indian Camps\nOver-night Camps Hikes, Tramps, Walks, Gypsy and Hobo Hill Climbing\n\nHYGIENE\n\nCare of body, eyes, nails, teeth, etc. Laws of recreation, Hiking, etc.\nKite Making and Flying Gliding and Aeroplaning Circus Stunts Sport\nCarnival Corn, Apple, Clam Roasts, etc. Moonlight Trips, Rides, etc.\nCycling Skating Hockey Skiing\n\n\n#Social#\n\nHome Socials: Stag Ladles' Nights Parents' Nights\n\nEntertainments: Playets Minstrel Show Lincoln Night Washington Night\nStunts and Skits Mock Trial Declamation or Oratorical Contest Glee\nConcert\n\nGame Tournaments: Checkers Caroms Chess Ping-Pong Bowling\n\nHayseed Carnival Parlor Magic Athletic Stunts Independence Day Political\nCampaign Town Meeting Sex Instruction Practical Citizenship\n\nExhibition: Pet Show Mandolin and Guitar Fests Fireside and Joke Nights\nSpelling Bee History Bee Geography Quiz Hallowe'en Night Pop-corn\nFestival Masked Partners Library Party Supper or Banquet Father and Son\nSpread Class Guest of Class Calendar Exhibit Coin Exhibit Stamp Exhibit\nArts and Crafts Photographs Wild Flower Tree and Plant Sea Shell\nPost-cards\n\nSocial Sing: Popular Songs Old Familiar Songs School Songs Patriotic\nHymns Church Music\n\n\n#Mental#\n\nPractical Talks: Elementary Mechanics Applied Electricity Wireless\nChemical Analysis Natural Science Mineralogy Nature Study First Aid\nThrift and Property Use of Library\n\nLife-work Talks: Ministry Law Medicine Teaching Business\n\nThe Trades: Blacksmith Carpenter Plumbing Printing Painting Bricklaying\nMasonry Farming Seamanship Architecture Art Chemistry Forestry\n\nEngineering: Mechanical Electrical Surveying\n\nCitizenship: The Township or Municipality--Town Meetings Select and\nCommon Councils Commission Government\n\nThe State--The Legislature The Courts The Governor's Staff\n\nLiterary Stunts: Declaiming Extemporaneous Speech Editing Paper\n\nEducational Trips: Community Visitation--Shops and Factories Fire Houses\nCity or Community History Public Buildings Public Utilities, etc.\n\nNeighborhood Visitation--Famous Places Great Industries Coal Mines, etc.\n\nArts and Crafts: Drawing Bent Iron Work Clay Modeling Basket Making\nHammock Weaving, etc. Stamp Collecting Coin Collecting Sketch Collecting\nKodaking and Photographing Debating Reading Night and Courses\nDiscussions Congress and Senate Poster Making Travel and Science Talks\nStereopticon Moving Pictures\n\nLiterary Stunts--Essay Writing and Reading\n\nThe Nation--Congress Army and Navy Civil Service Diplomatic and Consular\nService\n\nDuties of Citizen--Elections Jury Service Maintenance of Law\n\nCurrent Topics\n\n\n#Spiritual#\n\nGraded Bible Study\n\nDaily Readings\n\nSystematic Instruction: Church Membership Benevolences Missionary\nOperations\n\nSupplemental Talks: General Church History Denominational History Local\nChurch History\n\nChurch Organization: Denominational Local Church Sunday School Auxiliary\nSocieties\n\nTeacher Training Class\n\nCooperation in Church Activity Personal Evangelism Directed Reading\n\nNOTE: Of course all the activities enumerated in this leaflet are\nSpiritual. This list merely emphasizes a few activities usually\ndesignated spiritual.\n\n\n=Service Activities=\n\nChrist challenged men to self-sacrifice. He said: \"He that would be\ngreatest among you let him be the servant of all.\" In this way\nadolescent boys must be challenged to lives of unselfish, altruistic,\nChrist-like service. There is no other test for the teacher. It is his\nbusiness to get teen age boys to serve. This the boy does, first by the\ndesire to help another, then by right living, doing right for the sake\nof right; then by religious belief, which forms a cable to bind him back\nin simple faith on God, until he comes face to face with the Master of\nmen, living right, doing right, thinking right, loving right, serving\nright, with all his life, because of his love for Christ.\n\n\nPhysical Service--\n\nOrganize and manage Boys' Baseball Nine.\n\nOrganize and manage Boys' Football Eleven.\n\nOrganize and manage Boys' Basket-ball Five.\n\nOrganize and manage Boys' Track Team.\n\nOrganize and manage Boys' Tennis Tournaments.\n\nCoach younger boys in baseball.\n\nCoach younger boys in basket-ball.\n\nCoach younger boys in football.\n\nCoach younger boys in track athletics.\n\nCoach younger boys in tennis.\n\nTrain younger boys in free-hand gymnastics.\n\nTrain younger boys in life-saving drills.\n\nAssist in the running of inter-class athletics.\n\nAssist in the running of inter-school athletics.\n\nLead gymnastic groups for the local school.\n\nTeach boys to swim.\n\nAssist in the running of aquatic meets.\n\nLeaders to encourage boys to get into athletics.\n\nLeaders to encourage boys in outdoor life.\n\nLeaders to encourage boys in camps and hikes.\n\nLeaders to encourage boys in woodcraft and scouting.\n\nLead a gymnastic class in Social Settlement.\n\nManage and coach athletics in Social Settlements.\n\nAssist as Play Leader in public playground.\n\nOrganize, manage, and umpire Boys' Twilight Ball League.\n\nAssist in sport carnival, circus, exhibits, etc.\n\nMake a specialty of some form of camp life and teach it to boys.\n\n\nSocial Service--\n\nBecome responsible for some boy.\n\nPlan a social time.\n\nAssist in planning an entertainment.\n\nManage and coach musical activity.\n\nTeach games to backward boy.\n\nAssist in exhibit.\n\nManage celebration.\n\nPromote class and school picnics.\n\nSecure home for boy from country.\n\nTake boys home for meal and social time.\n\nPromote musical and dramatic entertainments in settlements and\norphanages.\n\nVisit sick boys in hospital.\n\nArrange outings for needy mothers, and children, crippled and\nunfortunate boys.\n\nAutomobile party for above.\n\nPlay Santa Claus to poor families.\n\nLead in keeping school and shop morally clean.\n\nStand for clean thoughts, clean speech, clean sport.\n\nSeek leadership in public school clubs.\n\nGet interested in the boy life of the community.\n\nHelp boys to find employment.\n\nHelp enforce minor laws.\n\nTake an interest in the delinquent boy.\n\n\n_Mental Service._--\n\nSecure speakers for practical talks.\n\nSecure speakers for life-work talks.\n\nLead in some mental activity.\n\nPromote an educational trip.\n\nTeach elementary arts and crafts.\n\nConduct discussion of practical citizenship.\n\nLead discussion of current topics.\n\nLead younger boys as suggested under class activities--Mental.\n\nTeach English to foreign-speaking boys.\n\nHelp wage-earning boys in elementary subjects, arithmetic, geography,\netc.\n\nEncourage grade boys to stay at school by coaching them in studies.\n\nOrganize civic nights.\n\nOrganize debates.\n\nOrganize camera trips and photo study.\n\nOrganize Around-the-Fire and story nights.\n\nLend books and guide the reading of boys.\n\nEdit class or school paper.\n\nBe foreman in printing room of above paper.\n\nLead observation trips.\n\n\n_Spiritual Service._--\n\nLead a Boys' Bible Class.\n\nTake part in Boys' Conferences.\n\nLead Boys' Meetings.\n\nTeach in extension Sunday school.\n\nServe on Sunday school Committees.\n\nServe on Church Committees.\n\nTake an interest in every church organization.\n\nPromote systematic giving among boys.\n\nLead a Mission Biography group.\n\nLead an inner circle for prayer and Bible study.\n\nPromote a census of non-church boys.\n\nVisit homes to invite fellows to church services.\n\nJoin a training class.\n\nLead campaign to increase Sunday school membership.\n\nPromote inter-class relationships.\n\nLead prayer groups or circles.\n\nHelp in Home Department.\n\nServe on Reception Committee at Church or Sunday school.\n\nVisit teen age Shut-ins.\n\nVisit prisoners in jails.\n\nDo chores for sick folks.\n\nHelp the aged to and from church services.\n\nSupport a bed in a hospital.\n\n\nThe Organized Class, its officers, teacher and committees ought to find\nenough to do in the above long list. The service activities have been\nlisted without any idea of order or grading. They are also for\nindividuals and the class as a whole. They are merely suggestive. The\nclass and the teacher should do things as a real part of the class life.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nORGANIZED CLASS ACTIVITIES\n\nBOYS' BIBLE CLASSES\n\nJOHN L. ALEXANDER,\n\nSecondary Division Superintendent, International Sunday School\nAssociation.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON THROUGH-THE-WEEK ACTIVITIES\n\nAdams.--Harper's Outdoor Book for Boys ($1.75).\n\nAlexander.--Opportunity for Extension of Boys' Work to a Summer Camp\nHeadquarters (_American Youth_, June, 1911), (.20).\n\n--Using Nature's Equipment--God's Out-of-Doors (_American Youth_,\nAugust, 1911). Single copies out of print, but bound volume for 1911 may\nbe obtained for $1.50.\n\nBaker.--Indoor Games and Socials for Boys (.75).\n\nBond.--Scientific American Boy at School ($2.00).\n\nBoys' Handbook. (Boy Scouts of America) (.30).\n\nBrunner.--Tracks and Tracking (.70).\n\nBurr.--Around the Fire (.75).\n\nCamp.--Fishing Kits and Equipment ($1.00).\n\nChesley.--Social Activities for Men and Boys ($1.00).\n\nClarke.--Astronomy from a Dipper (.60).\n\nCorsan.--At Home in the Water (.75).\n\nCullens.--Reaching Boys in Small Groups Without Equipment. (_American\nYouth_, February, 1911.) (.20).\n\nDana.--How to Know the Wild Flowers ($2.00).\n\nDitmars.--The Reptile Book ($4.00).\n\nFowler.--Starting in Life ($1.50).\n\nGibson.--Camping for Boys ($1.00).\n\nHasluck.--Bent Iron Work (.50).\n\n--Clay Modeling (.50).\n\n--Photography (.50).\n\n--Taxidermy (.50).\n\nJob.--How to Study Birds ($1.50).\n\nKenealy.--Boat Sailing ($1.00).\n\nLynch.--American Red Cross First Aid ($1.00).\n\nParsons.--How to Know the Ferns ($1.50).\n\nPyle.--Story of King Arthur and His Knights ($2.00).\n\nReed.--Bird Guide. In 2 volumes. (Vol I, $1.00, Vol. II,.75).\n\nReed.--Flower Guide (.50).\n\nScout Master's Handbook (.60).\n\nSeton.--Book of Woodcraft ($1.75).\n\n----Forester's Manual ($1.00).\n\nSeven Hundred Things a Bright Boy Can Make ($1.00).\n\nWarman.--Physical Training Simplified (.10).\n\nWhite.--How to Make Baskets ($1.00).\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\nTHE BOYS' DEPARTMENT IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL[6]\n\n\nThe Boys' Department in the Sunday school is the grouping together of\norganized classes for the sake of unity and team work among the\nadolescent boys. Investigation proves that boys work together best when\nseparated from men, women and girls. The Boys' Department contemplates a\nchange from the usual organization in the Sunday school, in that the\nclasses of boys between twelve and twenty years of age shall meet as a\nseparate department of the school and have their own closing and opening\nservices, and the natural activities that would spring from a separate\ndepartmental life. The underlying idea of the Boys' Department is to\nmake the boys feel that they are a real part of the Sunday school, with\na real purpose and actual activities. Where it has been tried, not only\nhas the attendance been increased, but the enrollment in the department\nhas been doubled and trebled. The department also presents an\nopportunity of interesting boys in all forms of church life through the\ncommittee work which the department inaugurates. The criticism that the\nBoys' Department may become a junior church is not borne out by the\nexperience of the men who have tried it. On the other hand, the\ntestimony is that the Boys' Department has increased the attendance at\nthe morning and evening services of the church, and has created a\ngeneral interest and enthusiasm for the entire church life. The Boys'\nDepartment is not urged on any basis of sex segregation, although a good\nmany educators are urging the segregation of the sexes in public\neducation. The underlying idea of the Department is to group the boys\ntogether for team work and cooperation, with a clear understanding of\nthe gang principle which clamors for a club or organization that\nsatisfies the social and fraternal need. In fact, it is the neglect of\nthe latter by the Sunday school that has brought the countless boys'\norganizations into existence, and the well-conducted Boys' Department,\ncomposed of well-organized, self-governing Bible classes, will mean much\nto the general church life, as well as to the simplifying of the present\ncomplicated scheme of work with boys. Nearly all of these auxiliary boy\norganizations have had their birth in the Sunday school, through the\nattempt to meet the boy need, which the Sunday school hitherto has not\nseen its way clear to do.\n\nWhen departmental organization, however, is mentioned, the genius of the\nindividual leader and teacher must come into play. The form of\norganization that may be successful with one leader may be a failure\nwith another. This chance does not lie or inhere in the organization,\nbut in the leader; for the gifts, talents, equipment and adaptability of\nleaders vary just as much in Sunday school organization as in the\nso-called secular forms of activity. The best form of organization,\nthen, as well as the most successful form for the local school, is the\n\"kind that works.\"\n\n\n_Three Proved Forms of Departmental Organization_\n\nSuccessful organization is the result of experiment. None but the result\nof experiment has a right to be exploited. Sunday school teen age\nworkers have tried, proved and found satisfactory to their own liking,\nby its results, the following three kinds of teen age organization for\nthe local school:\n\n\n_Intermediate and Senior Departments_\n\nThe first of these is known as the Intermediate and Senior Departmental\norganization. Its characteristic is the dividing of the teen age into\ntwo groups--Intermediate, 13 to 16 years, and Senior, 17 to 20 years. In\nsome schools these departments meet separately for Sunday school work.\nWherever this is done there should be at least a superintendent and\nsecretary for each. While the general principles of the work are the\nsame, the problems and details of the classes are sometimes different.\nThe department superintendent should have special charge of his\ndepartment and be responsible for building it up; also for department\nteachers' meetings, and should be personally acquainted with every\nscholar. The department secretary should keep an alphabetical and\nbirthday card index of scholars; send welcome letters to new scholars;\nprovide the superintendent with a list of new scholars, that they may be\nproperly presented to the department; send lists of absentees to\nteachers; keep a record of correlated work accomplished by scholars,\nquarterly lesson examinations, etc.\n\n\n_Teen Age Department_\n\nIn some schools the custom is to combine the Intermediate and Senior\nDepartments into one and to regard the years, 13 to 20, as a series of\neight grades. Several large schools are enthusiastic about this plan,\nand as the worship requirements are much the same in the teen years the\nOpening and Closing Services are acceptable to all grades. This\narrangement also is adaptable to limited equipment, and affords a\ncertain amount of hero-worship to the younger boy on account of the\nolder boy being present. It also offers the older boy a field of service\nthrough helpfulness to the younger members of the department. In some\nschools this adaptation is known as the High School Department.\n\n\n_Boys' Departments_\n\nDuring the last few years separate Boys' Departments have come into\nfavor with some Sunday school workers. These departments should not be\nattempted, however, until every class is organized (see chapter on The\nOrganized Sunday school Bible Class), and there is efficient leadership\nto guide them. A premature start may be ineffective and prejudice\nparents and boys.\n\n\n=The Departmental Committees=\n\n_Executive Committee_\n\nThe Executive Committee has direct oversight of the general affairs of\nthe department and acts officially between sessions on matters needing\nprompt attention. It is made up of the officers, general superintendent\nof the school, the pastor of the church, and the president and teacher\nof each class.\n\n_Inter-Class Committee_\n\nThe Inter-Class Committee has the direction and supervision, through\nsub-committees, of all the activities of the department, such as:\n\nAthletics\nOutings\nCamping\nSocials\nEntertainments\nLectures\nLibrary\nVocational Talks\nPractical Talks\nCongress or Senate Debates\nCurrent Topics\nPractical Citizenship\nService Councils\nDegrees and Initiations\nEmployment Bureau\nHome Cooperation\nSchool Cooperation\n\n\n_Committee on Sunday school Life_\n\nThis Committee has a twofold function, the planning of the department\nprogram for general school festivals and matters of general school\nbusiness. The diagram shows the activities of this committee.\n\nCOMMITTEE ON SUNDAY SCHOOL LIFE\n\nFEAST DAYS        GENERAL BUSINESS\n\nChildren's Day    Sunday School Board Meetings[7]\nChristmas         Teachers' Meetings\nNew Year's        School Elections\nEaster            Membership Campaigns for Entire School\nRally Day         School Needs\nAnniversary       Picnics\nSpecials, Etc.    Socials, Etc.\n\n_Committee on Church Life_\n\nThe Church Life Committee also has a double task. Its activities along\nthe lines of church life are as follows:\n\n=Committee on Church Life=\n\nWORSHIP MEMBERSHIP AND BENEVOLENCES\n\nMorning Preaching Service\nEvening Preaching Service\nMid-week Prayer Service\nSpecial Services\nInvitation\nCurrent Expenses\nExtension Support\nSocial Life\nAuxiliary Organizations\n\n_Committee on Inter-Church Life_\n\nThe Inter-church Life Committee, through its representatives on the\nInter-Sunday school Councils and Committees, cares for its part of the\ncommon teen age Sunday school life of the community. In this way the\nSunday school is made to loom large as the teen age organization in the\ntown or city. Some of its activities would be:\n\nInter-Church Council\nNormal Institute\nTraining Classes\nAthletic League\nChurch Census\nBoys' Conferences\nGirls' Conferences\nPublicity\nSpecial Cooperation.\n\n\nSUNDAY SCHOOL SECONDARY DIVISION\n\n                THE TEEN AGE BOYS' DEPARTMENT\n                            |(Every class organized)\n                            |\n                       ORGANIZATION\n                            |\n    -----------------------------------------------\n    |                       |                     |\nOFFICERS                    |                COMMITTEES\n    |                       |                     |\nChurch Board [a]            |    ------------------------------------\nSunday School Board [a]     |    |      |         |          |      |\nSunday School               |    |      |         |          |      |\n  Superintendent[a]         | Executive | Sunday School Life | Church Life\n    |                       |       Inter-Class       Inter-Church Life\nSuperintendent [b]          |           |                    |\nAssistant Superintendent[b] |     -------------        -------------\nTreasurer [b]               |     |           |        |           |\nAdvisory Superintendent[c]  |   Feast      General   Worship    General\n                            |    Days      Interest              Church\n                            |                                     Life\n                    DEPARTMENT ACTIVITY\n                            |\n     ------------------------------------------------\n     |                                              |\nSUNDAY SESSIONS                             MASS WEEK MEETINGS\n     |                             (Occasional when there is a motive)\n  Opening Service\n  Class Hour\n  Department Affairs\n  Closing Services\n\n[a] Supervisory       [b] Older Boy        [c] Adult\n\nPrepared by John L. Alexander, Superintendent Secondary Division\nInternational Sunday School Association\n\n\n\nPOINTS OF CAUTION!\n\n\nThe promoters of a Boys' Department in the Sunday school should not be\ntoo hasty in pushing the organization. There are certain facts to be\nkept in mind in effecting a workable, durable department.\n\n1. The Boys' Department is merely one of the departments of the school,\nand nothing must be done that will cripple or weaken the remainder of\nthe school. Where possible it is best to promote separate departments\nfor teen age boys and girls at the same time. This will reduce\nopposition and achieve efficiency.\n\n2. There is no use in trying to organize a Boys' Department, where there\nis no adequate meeting place. The value of a Boys' Department lies\nalmost entirely in the unity produced by the worship of the opening and\nclosing services and the discussion of departmental common affairs.\n\n3. The Department cannot take the place of the Organized Class. Where it\ndoes, it is temporary, hurrah-in-character, inefficient and harmful.\nThe Sunday school is educational in purpose. The Boys' Department must\nbe likewise.\n\n4. Nothing should be advocated or promoted in the Boys' Department that\nis not in accord with the Sunday school and Denominational policy. The\nBoys' Department is part of the Church.\n\n\n_Class Organization_\n\nThe classes of the teen years should all be organized before any scheme\nfor department organization is put in use. The Organized Class is based\non the so-called \"gang instinct,\" and is the unit of all organization.\n\n\n_Departmental Progressive Steps_\n\nThe steps in organizing a Teen Age Boys' or Secondary Division\nDepartment should be:\n\n1. Appointment of Teen Age Superintendent.\n\n2. Every class organized according to Denominational and International\nStandard.\n\n3. Two-session-a-week classes--Sunday and week-day.\n\n4. Trained teachers.\n\n5. Departmental organization.\n\n\n=Departmental Equipment=\n\n_Separate Rooms_\n\nThere should be separate assembly rooms or divisions for these\ndepartments where they meet apart from each other. There should also be\nseparate rooms or screened-off places for the classes to meet.\n\n\n_Equipment_\n\nThe outfit for the department and classes should include Bibles, tables,\nblackboards, charts, pictures, maps--including maps for mission study,\nalso relief maps, mission curios, etc.\n\n\n_Promotions_\n\nMuch should be made of promotions to and from the grades within the\ndepartment. A certificate or diploma recognizing regular work should be\ngranted on Promotion Day. Special work done is recognized by placing a\nseal upon the certificate. Promotion exercises should include some\nstatement of the work accomplished.\n\n\n_Sunday School Spirit_\n\nIn order to maintain a genuine spirit of Sunday school unity it is\ndesirable to have the whole school meet together from time to time for\nthe common tie and uplift of worship in the mass. The exercises of\nfestival occasions also help to bring this about, and the common\ngatherings, regular or special, of the school, tend to magnify the\nunited leadership of officers and teachers. These should never interfere\nwith the work of instruction, the main objective of the school, but\nshould supplement it. Departments should be made to feel their\npartnership in the Sunday school enterprise, and this may be brought\nabout by the reading of the departmental and school minutes in each\ndepartment. Continued emphasis should be placed on the oneness of the\nschool--\"All one body, we.\" Thus we may hope for Christian comradeship\nand loyalty.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON BOYS' DEPARTMENT\n\nBoys' Work Message.--(Men and Religion Movement) ($1.00).\n\nCope.--Efficiency in the Sunday School ($1.00).\n\nHuse.--Boys' Department in Springvale, Maine (_American Youth_,\nFebruary, 1911) (.20).\n\nStanley.--The Boys' Department in the Sunday School (_American Youth_,\nApril, 1911) (.20).\n\nWaite.--Boys' Department of the Sunday School (Free leaflet).\n\n\n\n\nXII\n\nINTER-SUNDAY SCHOOL EFFORT FOR BOYS\n\n\nThis volume so far has discussed nothing save the work among teen age\nboys in the local Sunday school, in Organized Class or Boys' Department.\nThis is as it should be, \"beginning at Jerusalem\" and taking care first\nof the local school. To magnify the church and church school, however,\nin the eye of the boy and to make it his central interest or the center\nof his interests, it is necessary to view Sunday school effort in a\nlarger way than the work of the local school. The Sunday school must\nbecome city-wide in its scope and effort. Common town-wide activity,\nsuch as outings, athletics, camps, entertainments, lectures, campaigns,\netc., must be promoted jointly. Not only this, but the Christian boys\nof the community must be taught the democracy of Christianity and be led\nto work together in Christian service for each other and with each other\nfor all the boys of the city. Something of this has been attempted in\nsome places, but always under adult rule. Adult supervision--not\nrule--is always necessary. Thus city camps and Sunday school athletic\nleagues have flourished as adult effort for boys. That which is\ncontemplated in the following two chapters is distinctly work _by_ boys\n_for_ boys in the Sunday school field. The need of adult help to\norganize and set things going is recognized as necessary, good and the\nproper thing. The value of the work will consist in the enlistment of\nthe boys themselves and the participation in and direction of the\nproposed work by the boys. Boys are not as exclusive, limited or\nprovincial as adults. Their interests are wider than the local church.\nThe task is to couple those interests with the local church as the\ncenter of greater community-wide activity, and to direct them to\neffective service.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON INTER-SUNDAY SCHOOL OR CHURCH WORK\n\nBarbour (Editor).--Making Religion Efficient (Boys' Work Chapter)\n($1.00). This volume also contains the Men and Religion Charts.\n\nBoys' Work Message (Men and Religion Movement) ($1.00).\n\n\n\n\nXIII\n\nTHE OLDER BOYS' CONFERENCE OR CONGRESS[8]\n\n\nThis is one of the best forms of Inter-Sunday school work for boys. If\nit is rightly handled, it will add much to the Christian enthusiasm of\nthe older boys of the Sunday schools.\n\n_It is to be noticed, however, that it is an Older Boys' Conference._\nThis means that the ages are to be confined to the stretch between\nfifteen and twenty years. Do not spoil your effort by \"running in\" boys\nunder fifteen. Of course the younger boy is important, but the type of\nwork accomplished in these conferences is beyond him and his presence\nwill nearly neutralize your effort.\n\nThe aim of the conference should be, not merely to put new Christian\nenthusiasm into the older fellow, but to get him to talk over the\nproblems of the Sunday school from his own point of view. Hundreds of\nthese conferences have been held throughout the Continent, and scores of\nboys have been led into Christian service thereby. The discussion at\nthese conferences is also most intelligent, being often above the grade\nof adult groups. The boy gets to know the Sunday school by talking about\nit, sees its problems, his own needs and the way to meet them. He\nlikewise gets a new idea of his obligations.\n\nIt is to be noticed again that it is an Older Boys' Conference. _This\nmeans that the boys themselves should direct the work of the Conference\nas much as possible, and that the Conference should be officered by\nboys._ I have no sympathy with the men who cannot trust boys to do this\nwork. It is largely due to a fear that the boy will grow conceited\nbecause of his new-found opportunity. It is due more, however, to the\nfear that the boy will act unwisely from an adult viewpoint. Both of\nthese fears come from adult conceit and the inability to trust the boy.\nSuch men should leave boys and boys' work severely alone.\n\nIt is to be noticed for the third time that it is an Older Boys'\nConference. _This means that the large part of the program and all the\ndiscussion should be by the boys themselves._ No man should take part in\nthe discussion save the man who leads it, and the future may also\nprovide a boy for the leadership of the discussion. The writer in over a\nhundred conferences would allow no man to take part, as the aim of the\nconference was to make it a boys' conference. If men may dominate and\nintimidate the boy, better settle the matter in an adult group.\n\nThe officers of the Older Boys' Conference should be President,\nVice-President (who in most cases should be Toast-Master at the\nConference Banquet) and Secretary. There should also be a committee of\nthree boys appointed by the President (who may be helped to this end) to\nreport at the banquet session on the papers and discussions. In this way\nthe summary of the conference is as the boy sees it. This is the aim of\nthe conference.\n\nTwo ways are open for the election of the officers: by a Nominating\nCommittee and in open conference from the floor. _If a Nominating\nCommittee is the method, no man should be present to suggest or\ndictate._ The committee should, however, have the right to consult\nwhomever they please, in order to get the information they may wish.\n_The writer prefers the Open Conference Nominations from the floor. In\nover two hundred conferences he has never yet been disappointed in the\nchoice of the boys._\n\nThe program should be distinctly a Sunday school one. The conference is\nin the interests of the Sunday school. Keep it to the purpose intended.\nHundreds of good causes might be discussed, but the objective of the\nconference would be missed. Below are three different length programs\nused at different places. They may prove suggestive to those intending\nto conduct such meetings.\n\nA. Afternoon and Evening Conference (One Day).\n\n\nPROGRAM\n\nTORONTO\n\nBOYS' WORK CONFERENCE\n\n=December= 31, 1912\n\n_Conference Theme:_--_Training and Service_\n\n=St. James' Square Presbyterian Church=, Gerrard St., between\nYonge and Church Sts.\n\n2:00 P.M.  Registration of Delegates.\n2:30       Music, in charge of Mr. W.R. Young,\n             Choirmaster of St. John's Presbyterian\n             Church.\n           Devotional--Rev. E.W. Halpenny,\n             B.D., General Secretary, Ontario\n             Sunday School Association.\n3:00       The Message of the Galt Conference,\n             N.W. Henderson, Robert Walker,\n             Gordon Galloway.\n3:20       Address--\"Organized Sunday School\n             Work,\" by John L. Alexander, Chicago,\n             Ill., Superintendent Secondary\n             Division, International Sunday School\n             Association.\n4:15       Group Conferences, led by Taylor Statten,\n             Preston G. Orwig and A.W.\n             Forgie.\n\n5:45      Recreation, Seymour Collings, Physical\n            Director, Toronto Central Young\n            Men's Christian Association.\n7:00      Banquet to Delegates, on floor of Association\n            Hall, Central Young Men's\n            Christian Association Building, corner\n            Yonge and McGill Streets.\n          Chairman--John Gilchrist, President\n            Toronto Sunday School Association.\n          (a) Music.\n          (b) Toasts--The King,--The Chairman\n              \"Our Country.\"\n          (c) Address--\"The Crusade\"--John\n              L. Alexander.\n\n=St. James' Square Presbyterian Church=\n\n9:00      Devotional--Rev. E.W. Halpenny.\n9:15      Group Conferences.\n10:00     Address, \"In Training,\" John L.\n            Alexander, Chicago, Ill.\n10:45     Report of Group Conference Committees.\n11:15     Address, \"The Challenge of the New\n            Year,\" Charles W. Bishop, Canadian\n            National Secretary, Young Men's\n            Christian Association.\n12:15     Adjournment.\n\nB. Saturday and Sunday Conferences (One and a Half Days).\n\n\nPROGRAM\n\nWICHITA OLDER BOYS' CONFERENCE\n\nMEN AND RELIGION FORWARD MOVEMENT\n\n=Saturday, February= 10\n\n9:30 A.M.   Song Service.\n9:35 A.M.   Election of Officers.\n10:00 A.M.  Address, \"Second Brand Cartridges,\"\n              by Dr. David Russell, of South Africa.\n10:30 A.M.  Papers, read by boys, followed by\n              discussion, led by John L. Alexander.\n            \"How Can We Help Increase the Number\n              of Boys Attending Sunday\n              School?\"\n            \"Why Don't the Older Boys Attend\n              Church Services? Should They Be\n              There?\"\n            \"Should an Older Boy Teach a Younger\n              Boys' Sunday School Class?\"\n11:45 A.M.  Address, \"Motive,\" Dr. C. Barbour,\n              Rochester, N.Y.\n1:30 P.M.   Recreation.\n6:30 P.M.   Address--Chairman Committee of 100.\n            Address--Local Chairman Boys' Work\n              Committee.\n            Report of Committees on Conference\n              Papers.\n\n6:30 P.M.   Address, \"The Set of a Life,\" William\n              A. Brown, of Chicago.\n            Address, \"Go to It,\" John L. Alexander,\n              Chicago, Ill.\n\n=Sunday=\n\n3:00 P.M.   Mass Meeting for Older Boys, Addressed\n              by John L. Alexander, Chicago,\n              Ill.\n\nC. Three Day (Part) Conference.\n\n\nPROGRAM\n\n_Conference Theme, \"Training and Service.\"_\n\n=Friday, December 13=\n\nBeginning at 8:30 A.M. Addresses in seven High\n     Schools, by John L. Alexander.\n6:15 P.M.   Supper for Delegates.\n7:00 P.M.   Address by Hans Feldmann, Chairman\n              of Conference.\n            Address by Rev. R.S. Donaldson.\n            Remarks by Rev. F.H. Brigham and\n              John L. Alexander.\n            Close at 8:30 P.M.\n\n=Saturday=\n\n9:00 A.M.   Songs and Devotional, led by W.H.\n              Wones.\n9:30 A.M.   Organization, to be led by John L.\n              Alexander.\n9:45 A.M. Papers by Delegates. Discussion led by\n             John L. Alexander.\n11:30 A.M. Address by Rev. F.H. Brigham.\n12:00 to 2:00 P.M. Delegates home to lunch.\n 2:00 P.M. Concert by the Y.M.C.A. Boys' Glee\n             Club.\n 2:15 P.M. Discussion by subjects in groups, led\n             by John L. Alexander, F.H. Brigham,\n             W.H. Wones, and F.C. Coggeshall.\n 4:00 P.M. Recreation period in Y.M.C.A. Building.\n 6:15 P.M. Banquet for delegates and men leaders\n             at boys' invitation.\n           Music by the Boys' Busy Life Club\n             Boys' Orchestra.\n           Toasts by three delegates.\n           Report of the Committee on Inter-Church\n             Program.\n           Addresses by John L. Alexander and\n             F.H. Brigham.\n\n\n=Sunday=\n\n 3:00 P.M. Gospel Meeting for Older Boys, at\n             Grand Avenue M.E. Church. Speaker,\n             John L. Alexander.\n\nThe following announcements were on the backs of these programs:\n\n#ANNOUNCEMENTS#\n\nCONFERENCE HEADQUARTERS--The Session of St. James' Square Presbyterian\nChurch has kindly granted the Conference the use of the church and\nschool rooms. With the exception of the Banquet and Addresses which\nfollow, all sessions of the Main and Group Conferences will be held in\nthis Church.\n\nREGISTRATION--Admission to the sessions of the Conference will be\ngranted only to those wearing the Souvenir Conference Badge, which will\nbe given to each delegate presenting a credential signed by the\nConference Secretary at the Conference Office, in St. James' Square\nChurch, any time after 1:30 P.M., Tuesday, December 31.\n\nDISCUSSION--Come prepared to take part in the discussion, and to ask\nquestions regarding the particular needs of your school. An opportunity\nwill be afforded in the Group Conferences for this phase of the work.\n\nNOTES--Take careful notes. They will help you make a good report to your\nSunday school after the Conference.\n\nREMEMBER--You are responsible to those you represent for getting the\nmost out of every session. Be on hand promptly at the hour mentioned; it\nwill help.\n\nBOOK EXHIBIT--Copies of all the latest books on Sunday school and Boys'\nWork will be on exhibit in one of the Conference rooms. Teachers and\nleaders should not miss this opportunity to look over some of the\nsplendid literature that has come recently from the press.\n\nNOTE--Boys under 15 years of age will not be admitted.\n\n\n=Basis Of Representation=\n\nThe delegates are to be boys between the ages of 15 and 20 years,\nappointed by the officials of their Sunday school, on the basis of two\ndelegates for each boys' class (of the teen ages) and each boys' club,\nand, additional to these, two delegates at large from each church. Men\nleaders of clubs will also be registered as delegates.\n\n\n=Registration Fee=\n\nThe Registration Fee is to be 50 cents, including the cost of the\nbanquet Saturday evening.\n\n\n=Preliminary Arrangements For Older Boys' Conference=\n\n\nI. Conference Committee:\n\n1. Committee supervises, plans and is responsible for the conference.\n\n2. Committee should consist of at least five adult members, and\nprofitably more, selected from the various Sunday schools.\n\n3. Committee may appoint special sub-committees to take care of details\nand close supervision.\n\n\nII. Sub-Committees:\n\n1. Publicity, Delegate and Registration.\n\n2. Meeting Place and Decoration.\n\n3. Program and Badge.\n\n4. Entertainment and Recreation.\n\n5. Banquet.\n\n6. Sunday Meeting (if held).\n\n\nIII. Sub-Committee Duties:\n\n1. Publicity Committee: This committee is responsible for press, pulpit\nand Sunday school notices. It also has the duty of discovering the\nleader of each Sunday school and of getting the delegates pledged and\nregistered. For this purpose three letters at least should be sent out\n(see IV). A Registration Card also should be filled out by each delegate\nand signed by Secretary of Publicity Committee before the conference.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTORONTO\nBOYS' WORK CONFERENCE\n\n=December 31st, 1912=\n\nThis certifies that ____________________________________\n\n Address ________________________________________________\n\nhas been accepted as a Delegate to the above Conference,\nhaving made application and paid the Registration\nFee in due time. Upon presentation of this card\nat the Conference Office, St. James' Square Presbyterian\nChurch, he is entitled to the Souvenir Conference\nBadge, Program, and Banquet Ticket.\n\n\n         _______________________________________________\n                                 Registration Secretary.\n\n\nThe limit of accommodation for the main banquet on the floor of\nAssociation Hall will be 600. Extra provision will be made elsewhere for\nthe balance if registration exceeds that number.\n\nProvision has been made for { Main Banquet   }\n             you at the     {Auxiliary Supper}\n\nThis committee is also responsible for the Registration Table during the\nconference.\n\n2. Meeting Place and Decoration Committee: The duties of this committee\nare obvious. Among them, however, are the following: Five chairs and two\nsmall tables should be on the platform, and a blackboard with eraser and\nabundant supply of chalk in _each_ meeting room.\n\n3. Program and Badge Committee: This committee should be responsible for\nthe preparation, printing and distribution of programs. An ample supply\nshould be on hand during the conference sessions. A badge (delegate's)\nis a good thing for the conference spirit.\n\n4. Entertainment and Recreation Committee: Where delegates attend from\nout-of-town, this committee arranges for their entertainment at the\nhomes of friends. At a local conference this committee is steadily on\nthe lookout for the purpose of making the conference and delegates\ncomfortable. Fresh air, telephone service, messages, etc., all of these\nare highly important. This committee also should be responsible for\nadequate plans for the conference recreation.\n\n5. Banquet Committee: The details for the conference banquet, the\nseating of the delegates and the serving of the food, all come under\nthis committee. If a special banquet menu and program are used, this\nalso is the duty of the committee. An orchestra to play through the\neating period is a splendid feature.\n\n6. Sunday Meeting Committee: This committee should give careful\nattention to the following details:\n\n(a) _That any boy over fifteen years and under twenty-one years be\nadmitted to the meeting. One leader to each group of boys may attend,\nbut these must sit by themselves in the rear of the room_.\n\nTo secure these arrangements it will be necessary to put a force of\ndetermined adult watchers at every door.\n\n(b) Be sure to have a live organist, pianist or orchestra to lead the\nmusic. A director to lead the singing, _with ginger_, will help.\n\n(c) Have four ushers to each double or central aisle, and have two to\neach single or side aisle.\n\n(d) Everyone present at the meeting should have a song book or sheet.\n\n(e) Be sure to have a plain white card, 3x5, and a small sharpened\npencil for each one present. This is absolutely necessary for the\nForward Step part of the meeting.\n\n\nIV. Letters to be sent out (Publicity Committee):\n\n1. _To Pastor_, _Superintendent_ or _Teacher_:\n\n(a) Announcing the conference, its nature, purpose, etc.\n\n(b) That it is confined to older boys--15 to 20 years--and one adult\nleader from each school.\n\n(c) From three to five delegates (Christian boys).\n\n(d) Ask for name of adult leader.\n\n(e) Enclose Postal Card.\n\n2. _To Sunday School Adult Leader_:\n\n(a) Send plan of conference and details.\n\n(b) Enclose Tentative Program.\n\n(c) Ask for names of boy (Christian) delegates, setting time limit and\nenclosing credentials.\n\n(d) Suggest that leader have a meeting of the delegates before the\nconference to consider what the conference may mean to their own local\nSunday school.\n\n3. _To Each Delegate_:\n\n(a) Send a brief letter with program.\n\n(b) Emphasize the Christian nature of the conference; that it is for\ntraining and leadership, and that he has been chosen from his school for\nthis purpose.\n\n(c) Suggest daily prayer as preparation.\n\n\nV. Leaders' Meeting:\n\nIf possible, arrange for a luncheon or dinner conference for the Sunday\nschool adult leaders who are at the conference. Talk over the plans,\nprograms and hopes of the conference.\n\n\nVI. Follow-Up After Conference:\n\n1. A Second Leaders' Meeting. (Details at Conference)\n\n2. Local Delegates' Meeting. (Details at Conference)\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON OLDER BOYS' CONFERENCE\n\nDunn.--What the State Boys' Conference Means to the Churches (_American\nYouth_, April, 1911) (.20).\n\nHinckley.--The Unique Value of Conferences of Older Boys (_American\nYouth_, April, 1912) (.20).\n\nScott.--Boys' Conference in Community and County (_American Youth_,\nApril, 1911) (.20).\n\nSmith.--The Maine Boys' Conference (_American Youth_, April, 1911)\n(.20).\n\n\n\n\nXIV\n\nTHE SECONDARY DIVISION OR TEEN AGE BOYS' CRUSADE[9]\n\n\nThe Older Boys' City-wide Conference is outlined in the previous\nchapter. It is a good, but intermittent, form of Inter-Sunday school\nactivity for boys. The Secondary Division or Teen Age Boys' Crusade is a\npermanent form for such activity, and may be launched at the Older Boys'\nConference.\n\nThe idea of the Crusade germinated in the minds of the members of the\nToronto Secondary Division Committee in connection with a Sunday school\nOlder Boys' Conference in December, 1912. The objectives around which\nthe idea grew were a campaign for Organized Classes in every school, an\neffort to reach Toronto's 10,000 non-Sunday school, teen age boys and a\ntraining class for adolescent leadership. At the evening banquet, at\nwhich the Crusade was presented, 55 Sunday schools registered for the\ncampaign and 187 older boys signed up for training and the effort to\nreach the boys not in Sunday school. At a later meeting a plan of action\nwas decided upon.\n\n_The Objective_\n\nThe aims to be kept in mind are fourfold: (1) To magnify the Christian\nlife and the preeminence of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord; (2) to\norganize the teen Christian boys of the Sunday school for organized\nservice; (3) to reach the teen non-Sunday school boys for Sunday school\nattendance; (4) to train the teen boy for Christian leadership.\n\n\n=The Crusade Outlined=\n\n_Campaign of Bible Class Organization_\n\n1. It is proposed that every class in the teen age or Secondary division\nof every Sunday school be organized according to the International\nStandard, and that the boys of the schools be given the task. (See\nInternational Secondary Division Leaflet No. 2.)\n\n_Campaign of Enlistment_\n\n2. Coincident with the campaign of organization there should be a\nsystematic effort to reach every boy of the teen age for membership in\nthe Sunday school. This may be accomplished through two methods:\n\n(a) Census and Survey. The city should be divided into districts and\nmapped out by squares. Then the teen age campaigners should go two and\ntwo for the purpose of a census-taking. The two-by-two system will\nresult in more thorough work, and it gives the opportunity of helping\nthe more timid boys by linking them with the bolder ones. An entire\nsquare should be worked by the partners, both making the same call, and\nevery teen age boy in the town, whether a Sunday school attendant or\nnot, can be located this way. For this purpose an ordinary filing card\nmay be used, printed as follows:\n\nDate ______________________\n\nName ______________________\n\nAddress ______________________\n\nReligion  (Catholic, Jew, Protestant)?\n\nAttend Sunday school (yes or no)?\n\nIf yes, where? ______________________\n\nInformation gathered by\n________________________\n\n________________________\n\nNOTE.--Once this information is gathered it can be kept up-to-date by\narrangement with the moving companies and the water, gas and electric\nlight companies. A monthly report from these companies, or a stock of\npost-cards kept with them, will do the work. Another method is an annual\nchecking up with the city directory.\n\n(b) Home Visitation for Enlistment. This is best accomplished by\npersonal invitation, letter, attractive advertising, etc. Assign to teen\nage worker.\n\n_Training Classes_\n\n3. A training class or training classes, central or by districts, should\nbe arranged to specialize for teen age leadership.\n\n(a) Adolescent Leadership Course (50 lessons) according to International\nStandard.\n\n(b) Demonstration Course in physical, social, mental and outdoor\nactivities.\n\n\n_Service Programs_\n\n4. Practical programs should be prepared and offered to schools and\norganized classes to stimulate the membership of the Crusade.\n\n\"For none of us liveth to himself.\" \"For unto every one which hath shall\nbe given, and from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be\ntaken away from him.\" \"Service\" is the magic word around which real life\nswings. By giving, one gets. The investment of service, as individuals,\nand as a class, will bring big dividends in the development of one's\npersonal life.\n\n_Missions Program_\n\nPromote (a) a course of study of \"live\" home and foreign mission\nmaterial; (b) systematic giving to missions; (c) the study of the\nforeign population of your city, particularly of your own neighborhood;\n(d) teaching non-English speaking men and boys to read and write; (e)\nthe investigation, and, when possible, the handling of needy cases in\nyour community. Anything going out from the class to the other fellow\ncomes under this head.\n\n\n_Temperance Program_\n\nGet information along the lines of: (a) bodily self-control; (b) the\ninjury of tobacco on the growing tissue; (c) the inroads of alcohol on\nthe growing and mature body; and (d) the economic, material and moral\nwaste of intemperance of every kind.\n\n\n_Purity Program_\n\nHit hard for (a) clean speech, clean thoughts, clean sports; (b) for a\nsingle sex standard; (c) chivalry and cleanliness among the sexes; and\n(d) adequate education on sex matters.\n\nPrograms along these three lines will be furnished on application to the\nState and Provincial Sunday School Association offices.\n\n\n=Preliminary Plans For Crusade=\n\nTo get things in motion, two lines of action are suggested: First, plan\nfor a conference of older boys and workers with boys for the community\nwhich you desire to cover. The program should aim to lay before the\nconference the plan of the Organized Secondary Division Class; methods\nof work should be discussed at group conferences; the Crusade Challenge\npresented at the banquet; and the session should close with a rousing\ninspirational address. Second, formation of an _Inter-Sunday School\nCouncil_, the purpose of which is to plan and promote work for Secondary\nDivision Classes in the city.\n\n_Promotion of Conference_\n\nThe Secondary Division Committee, headed by the Secondary Division\nSuperintendent of the city, township or county, in which the conference\nis planned, should head the work, and representative men and older boys\nshould be chosen to form a Conference Committee.\n\nFirst Steps. Call a meeting of the General Conference Committee. State\nclearly the objective of the Conference and Crusade, then appoint the\nfollowing sub-committees: Program, Printing and Advertising, Banquet,\nRegistration, Recreation and Promotion.\n\n\n=Duties Of Committees=\n\n_Program_.--Plan program, secure speakers, organist and leader for\nsinging.\n\n_Printing and Advertising_.--To have charge of all printing, such as\nAdvance Notices of Conference, Registration Cards, Banquet Tickets,\nTentative Program, Completed Program, Crusade Folder, Newspaper\nArticles, Conference Badges or Buttons.\n\n_Banquet_.--To arrange all the details of the banquet, the place where\nit will be held, securing dishes and silverware, arrangement of tables,\ndecorations, etc.\n\n_Registration_.--To arrange a simple system of registration, have charge\nof distribution of programs and badges, tabulate record of registration\nfor report to convention, etc.\n\n_Recreation_.--To plan for a period of organized recreation between the\nafternoon and evening sessions.\n\n_Promotion_ (perhaps the most important of all committees). The\nresponsibility of securing \"picked\" members of teen age classes and\nworkers to attend the Conference rests on the shoulders of this\ncommittee. All members of the General Committee should share with them\nthis responsibility. The Committee should arrange for a meeting of\nSunday school Superintendents and every effort be made to have every\nschool represented, by either the Superintendent or a substitute\nappointed by him. At this meeting outline carefully the plan of the\nConference and Crusade, enlist their cooperation, secure from each man\npresent a promise to see that delegates are sent from his school; supply\nthese men with literature and registration cards. Be sure to have a\nrecord of the name and address of all in attendance at this meeting.\nThis is important. Make a special drive on this meeting, the object\nbeing to line up a man in every last school who will make himself\nresponsible for that school being represented in the Conference. The\nSuperintendents not present at this meeting should be seen and written\nto at once, urging upon them the importance of the work, apprising them\nof the results of the Superintendents' Conference and showing them the\nnecessity of their schools being included in this city-wide campaign for\nthe adolescent boy. Other plans of promotion may be adopted by the\nCommittee, as warranted by local conditions.\n\n_Meetings of General Committee._--The General Conference Committee\nshould arrange to meet at least once a week, for a month prior to the\nConference, and all plans of the sub-committees should be submitted to\nthis Committee for their approval before being put into operation.\n\n\n=The Conference Program=\n\nConference Theme--Training and Service.\n\nTemporary Chairman--President or Vice-President of Sunday School\nAssociation, or acceptable substitute.\n\n2:00 Registration of Delegates.\n2:30 Devotional and Music.\n3:00 Address, \"The Biggest Thing in the World.\"\n3:20 Secondary Division Organization--The Bible Class.\n4:15 Group Conferences (City divided into districts).\n5:45 Recreation.\n7:00 Banquet to Delegates.\n     (a) Music--Orchestra.\n     (b) Toasts--Two Older Boys.\n        (1) Our Country.\n        (2) Our City.\n     (c) Address, \"The Crusade.\"\n8:45 Devotional\n9:00 Question Box and Conference.\n9:20 Address, \"In Training\" (Inspirational).\n10:00 Adjournment.\n\n\n=The Banquet Seating Plan=\n\nThe delegates from each Sunday school should sit together, and when\npracticable be also grouped by denominations. At the close of the\naddress on the Crusade _the Inter-Sunday School Council should be\nformed_.\n\nThis shall consist of two older boys and one man from each participating\nSunday school. The Council is subject to the call of the Chairman of the\nSecondary Division Committee.\n\n_Method of Enrollment_\n\n1. After the presentation of the Crusade, pass a colored card to each\ndelegation, asking them to confer and to write on the card the names and\naddresses of the two older boys they may choose to represent their\nschool, the name of school, also the names and addresses of the\nteachers of the chosen delegates.\n\n_The Adult representative from each school should be selected later by\nthe committee in charge of the Crusade Conference_.\n\n2. Pass white cards, as soon as the colored ones have been properly\nfilled; or, better yet, place a white card in each banqueter's program\nand challenge to service and training.\n\n3. Write to each chosen representative before the first called meeting,\nenclosing credential card to be signed by the superintendent of the\nschool, the pastor of the church, and write to each of these men\nenclosing the plan of the Crusade.\n\n\n=First Meeting of Council=\n\nDo not allow more than two weeks to pass until the Council meets to lay\nits plans. Strike, and keep on striking while the iron is hot.\n\n_The Follow-Up_.--Call at once a meeting of the older-boy\nrepresentatives on the Inter-Sunday School Council. Do not call in the\nmen until later. This is an =Older Boy Movement=, and you are\ngoing to get the Older Fellows in the Sunday school to go after the\nOlder Fellows out of the Sunday school. Impress upon the Council that\nthis is their job and whatever success is achieved will be due to their\nefforts. Let a clean-cut spiritual atmosphere prevail at these meetings.\nYou will find that the boys are there for business.\n\nIt is suggested that the meetings be held Saturday evening, beginning at\n5:30 with supper, to cost not more than fifteen cents per plate.\n\n_First Meeting_.--Don't rush things. You will gain much by making the\nfellows feel that you are all working this problem out together and that\nthe prayerful cooperation of every member is necessary. Don't stampede\nthe meeting with a lot of elaborate plans. If you have any plans, turn\nthem over to the Council by way of suggestion, and let that body use its\nown judgment. Everything that is done by the Council should emanate from\nits members. It is suggested that the purpose and program of this\nmeeting should be somewhat as follows:\n\n(a) Statement of purpose of Council.\n\n(b) Trace connection of Council to International work (i.e., Council,\nCity Secondary Division Committee, City Secondary Division\nSuperintendent, County Secondary Division Superintendent, State or\nProvincial Secondary Division Committee, State or Provincial Secondary\nDivision Superintendent, International Secondary Division Committee,\nInternational Secondary Division Superintendent, etc.--this to show them\nthat they are officially related to a world-wide movement).\n\n(c) Fellowship and \"Get Together.\"\n\nBe sure to have Adult members at this meeting.\n\n_Second Meeting_ (two weeks after first).--\n\nAt this meeting discuss:\n\n(a) Importance of class organization--each member urged to get to work\nat once in his local school.\n\n(b) Age limit of classes now in the organization.\n\n(c) Outline possibilities of Council for promotion and all-round\nphysical, mental, social and spiritual activities of teen age fellows of\nthe Sunday schools of the city.\n\n(d) Discuss the idea of the census survey.\n\nThese two meetings will pave the way for the third and following\nmeetings. Don't meet simply for the sake of holding a meeting. Let your\nfellows feel that when a call to meeting is received it is important.\n\n\n_Third and Subsequent Meetings_\n\n1. Lay your plans carefully for the census-taking, then complete the job\nquickly.\n\n2. Analyze the cards and distribute to the organized classes. Their work\nthen begins. Encourage regular reports on the work of the classes at\neach meeting of the Council, the school representatives reporting.\n\n3. Plan for the execution of the Missionary, Purity and Temperance\nPrograms.\n\n4. Extend the Council's field until it covers the common physical,\nsocial, mental and spiritual activities of the community teen age boys.\n\n5. Plan for regular Conference or Banquet Programs.\n\n6. Ultimately the entire common Sunday school athletic and social life\nof the community would center in the Inter-Sunday School Council.\n\n\n_Meeting of Superintendents_\n\nIt is suggested that at this juncture a meeting of Sunday school\nSuperintendents be called for the purpose of thoroughly acquainting them\nwith the plans of the Council. This will secure the cooperation of the\nSuperintendents, which is most essential. The effort to get the\nSuperintendents behind the work will be more successful if the city be\ndivided into sections and a Superintendents' meeting be held in each\nsection. These meetings can be made very helpful.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON BOYS' CRUSADE\n\nHigh School Student Christian Movement Series:\n\nBulletin No. 1. The Local Organization (.05).\n\nBulletin No. 2. Typical Constitution (.05).\n\nBulletin No. 3. The Inner Circle (.05).\n\nInternational Secondary Division Leaflet, No. 5 (Free).\n\n\n\n\nXV\n\nSEX EDUCATION FOR BOYS AND THE SUNDAY SCHOOL[10]\n\n\nThere can be no adequate comprehension of the physical side of boyhood\nif the sex element be left out. In fact, we have discovered for\nourselves that this is the very element that constitutes the real\nproblem of boyhood; for until the idea of sex enters into the boy's\nconsciousness we are only dealing with an infant. It is the gift and\npower of self-reproduction that changes the selfish, individual\nexistence into the larger, altruistic life. It is this that compels\ngangs and team-work and the instinctive desire to negate self in service\nfor others. It is this that forms the basis for the tribal or community\ndesire; and on it, understood or not, is built all further achievement.\nThe real value of a brave to his tribe begins with the support of his\nsquaw, and the modern boy gets his importance among us, when, because of\nbodily function, he awakens to the consciousness of the meaning of the\nhome. This comes gradually at puberty or adolescence with the knowledge\nof the sex purpose. And it is the quality of this knowledge, its purity\nand fear and regard, that makes the lad a worthy member of the larger\nwhole, or a peril.\n\nKnowing this as we do, is it not a matter of some wonder that we have\nnever really made any systematic effort to instruct the boy concerning\nhis wonderful power? Very few fathers give their sons any guidance along\nthis line, although they do so quite freely on every other subject. Of\ncourse, it is a sacred, delicate subject from which we naturally shrink,\nbut it is overmodesty to allow a lad to fall into the abuse of his\nmanhood, either alone or in twos, when a wise word, spoken in time,\nwould save the smirch on two lives or more. In fact, we are beginning\nreally to understand that it is just as imperative for us to teach a boy\nhow to live his life with the utmost happiness as to show him how to\nprocure the wherewithal to feed his body. For this reason it is being\nadvocated today that the boy should be given explicit instruction as to\nthe care of the organs of reproduction and detailed information as to\nthe functions of these organs, and many are doing this.\n\nOur boys today are eating freely of \"the knowledge of good and evil,\"\nand they are not as innocent as we could wish them to be. They are not\nignorant of the processes of life because we have said nothing\nconcerning them, but their knowledge is partial and faulty and clouded\nwith misinformation.\n\nA few years ago a body of men were discussing this very thing in New\nYork City, and one of them suggested that every one present write on a\npiece of paper the age at which he had his first sex knowledge and pass\nit to the head of the table. The average age named by this group of\ninterested men was six and a half years. Not one of these men, either,\nhad ever had a single word spoken to him on this all-important subject\nby any adult. Their knowledge was of the street. Is it any wonder, then,\nthat boys stray, mar their own lives, betray confidences and innocence\nand become moral lepers, feeding like parasites on the fairest of our\ncommunities?\n\nInstruction in the processes of the function of reproduction would help\nmany a boy to a clean participation in and a happy understanding of the\nhome. The divorce evil and the necessity of a large number of surgical\noperations among women, to say nothing of the so-called social evil,\nwould be greatly lessened by such instruction. The father, of course, is\nthe proper person to deal with this question.\n\n\n=Parents and the Sex Problem=\n\nWhen parents understand sex influence they will more than half meet the\nproblems of the teen age. To rightly instruct along sex lines and so\nprepare boys and girls to meet the teen period is almost completely to\nmeet the teen problem.\n\nSocial and economic changes have moved this generation a full hundred\nyears ahead of our fathers. The change, however, has a moral menace in\nit, for the slow but sure ways of the old-fashioned home with its\ngenuinely moral atmosphere have nearly slipped us. Today boys and girls\nare herded together by the compulsion of the times and moral ideas are\nin danger of being warped and twisted. Everything about us today is more\ncomplex than formerly, and the more complex things become the more we\nherd together. Mass life is common and growing--in education, in the\nschools and in play life, in the big public playgrounds. Religious\nactivity, in spite of the group tendency toward the small group, is\nstill in the mass--Christian Endeavor, Sunday school groupings, etc.\nWith the growing assumption of week-day activities on the part of the\nchurch, the moral peril increases.\n\nTo offset this increasing social danger sex instruction is an insistent\nnecessity. Boys and girls must be taught to see themselves as members\nof society with all that that implies. To do so means a knowledge of\nself and sex and their functions and responsibilities. The sources and\nprocesses of life must be intelligently understood and thus respected.\nIgnorance of life does not beget purity, respect and honor. A boy's\nregard for a girl cannot proceed from lack of knowledge, although this\nlack may be termed innocence. A girl's love for the best for self and\nothers is impossible unless she has knowledge tinged with the awe of\nGod's purposes. Too often have our boys and girls been merely innocent,\nsuch innocence causing their fall. The tree of knowledge sometimes\ndemands a high price for its fruit. To safeguard lives unblighted, the\npurity and processes of life's mystery must be imparted through\ninstruction to our growing youth.\n\nThis can best be done by the parents--father or mother--for since\nchildren (boys or girls) ripen and come to puberty, individually and\nindependently, the parent is God's choice for this task. To group boys\nand girls together for this instruction is terribly wrong, as the group\nmust contain those whose need for information varies. To talk on these\nmatters in mixed groups of boys and girls is to incite wrong impulses\nand is criminal. The parent is God's instructor in these things--a\nfather to the son and a mother to the daughter. Anything else is second\nor third best and only to be done under great necessity. Under unusual\nconditions a _Christian physician_ may instruct small groups of like\nphysiological age, but the parental way is best, because it is both\nnatural and permanent and we seek both.\n\n\n=Sunday School and Sex=\n\nParents must be trained for this high duty. To this end Fathers' and\nMothers' Meetings should be promoted separately by the Sunday school.\nNot one merely but a series, so that every father and mother may be able\nto attend. It would be well to promote these in small groups by\ninvitation and acceptance until every father and mother was reached. A\nregular course of education might be arranged, viz.:\n\nFirst Lecture--How to meet the questions of children.\n\nSecond Lecture--How to prepare the boy and girl for the understanding of\npuberty.\n\nThird Lecture--Adolescence: The Physiology and Anatomy of the Sex Organs\nand Methods of Sex Instruction.\n\nFourth Lecture--Hygiene: Personal, Public, Home, School and Church.\n\nThese might be preceded by an address on the conditions that today make\nthe above necessary; such might be a Sunday evening sermon or week-night\naddress by the pastor of the church.\n\nThe lectures should be delivered and instruction given by a _Christian\nPhysician_.\n\nMeetings should be held for fathers by themselves and for mothers\nlikewise; however, in either or both meetings the whole field--boys and\ngirls--should be discussed.\n\nThe whole campaign should be carried out quietly without fuss, feathers\nor publicity. Shun the spectacular and remember it is the morality of\nthe boy and girl that is in question. Keep away from muck-raking, be\nconstructive and pure and business-like in the whole matter.\n\nThe need is great, for the sources of our life must be kept clean if we\ndesire social health among our boys and girls. The land is full of the\nplague, of open moral sewers and unholy cesspools. The street reeks with\nthe smut and filth of wrong sex knowledge, and our boys and girls are\ngetting experience in the laboratory of the immoral. The Sunday school\ncan help our common, public health by helping the parent. It should\nmajor on parental instruction and keep it up until the parents have been\nhelped to the adequate fulfillment of their task.\n\n\n=Sex Instruction for Boys=\n\nGreat care should be exercised in the giving of sex instruction to boys\nof any age. In the first place, no one without expert knowledge has a\nright to approach the boy on the subject. Even a father should make it\nhis business to master the problem by extensive and wise reading before\nhe becomes his boy's teacher. In the second place, books or pamphlets on\nthe subject are poor mediums for instruction on the sex functions.\nNearly every one that I have seen so far is either too technical or too\nsentimental. There are a great many books on the market which had been\nbetter left unpublished as far as their helpful influence is concerned.\nThe treatment of this problem should be oral instead of in written form,\nand should be a straight, business-like talk, such as a father would\nhave with his son about his studies or work. The gush of sentiment plays\nhavoc with the emotions of the boy and lures him to the edge of the\nprecipice, just to look over. First, there should be the spoken word\nconcerning the function of the sex organs; and then, if the need is\nurgent, a choice book to guide him a little farther on the way. The less\na boy thinks about these things the better. The instruction should be\nfor the purpose of teaching him the knowledge of himself in order that\nhe may see these things in their proper light and live purely, and not\nfor the purpose of giving him expert advice.\n\nAnother thing is necessary for good sex instruction. Up till a little\nwhile ago it was the custom of workers with boys to caution the lads\nagainst self-abuse. They used all kinds of colored slides and fearful\nexamples to impress on the boy the horror of the act, and very often\ninflamed the boy to exactly the thing they were shooing him from. But\ntoday we are learning the fact that the positive is of more force than\nthe negative, and that the \"thou shalt\" is better than the \"thou shalt\nnot.\" There is a real reason why the later adolescent boy should give no\nattention to the \"thou shalt not,\" and so fall into the snare of the\nnegative; for it is the law of his being to \"prove all things.\" It is\nfar better to lay emphasis on the legitimate purposes of the boy's sex\nlife, the glory it gives him and the beauty of the self-sacrifice it\nbegets, than to say a single word on the other side.\n\nI have found it a good thing to refer to the practice of self-abuse of\nany kind as a sure sign of weak mentality, and this has produced a\ngreater impression than anything else that I have formerly said. Boys,\nit should be remembered, have brains and are really able to think. When\nthey act wrongly it is so often from lack of knowledge or because of\nwrong knowledge. If I were to teach a boy my business I should tell him\neverything that would make the business better, and say nothing of how\nto put it \"to the bad.\" Now what would we all do if our business was to\nhelp boys to live clean lives, speak truth, bless the community with\nunimpaired manhood and honor God with their united physical powers?\n\n\n=Methods of Instruction=\n\nIt is necessary to keep in mind the stage of development of the boy. It\ncertainly would be foolish to tell a lad of eight years the facts that\nshould be given to a sixteen-year-old. Great tact and intelligence,\ncoupled with a knowledge of the stages of physical growth that a boy is\npassing through, are necessary.\n\nA boy of under twelve years should be approached biologically: the sex\nelement in nature study should be gradually disclosed to him. In this\nperiod, when the spirit of curiosity is strong in the boy and he is\ncontinually asking questions on the mystery of life--for instance, how\nthe stork or the doctor can bring the little brother or sister--it is\nthe best thing to answer the question with just enough truthful\ninformation to satisfy. Great harm may be done by piling the mind of the\nchild with facts that cannot but be misunderstood. In the enthusiasm for\ndoing things right, there must be a guard against going too far.\n\nThe second stage of a boy's physical development, the early adolescent\nstage--twelve to fifteen years--is the physiological. Puberty marks its\nadvent, although the exact sign of its arrival is hard to determine. It\nhas been easy to discover it in a girl's life, but it still remains a\nmatter of some guessing in a boy. _A recent work of Dr. Crompton states\nthat the kinking of the hair upon the pubic bone is a sure sign of the\nbeginning of the period_. Some physical directors have found this a\nsatisfactory sign, and have made this the basis of a graded work with\nboys. It is in this period, then, that the boy should learn something of\nthe anatomy and physiology of the male sexual organs.\n\nThe third stage of sex instruction for boys is during the later\nadolescent period--at least over fifteen years--and this should be\npathological. A free discussion of the so-called social evil and the\nforms of venereal disease would certainly educate the boys to a proper\nconception of the entire subject. All questions should be discussed in\nordinary language and business-like style.\n\n\n=Sources of Knowledge for Sex Instruction=\n\n1. THE BIOLOGICAL PERIOD (UNDER TWELVE YEARS).\n\n--A Frank Talk with Boys and Girls About Their Birth (Free).\n\n--A Straight Talk with Boys About Their Birth and Early Boyhood (Free).\n\nChapman.--How Shall I Tell My Child? (.25).\n\nMuncie.--Four Epochs of Life (Chapters 7-12) ($1.50).\n\nThresher.--Story of Life for Little Children (Free).\n\n--When and How to Tell Children. (Oregon State Board of Health.)\n\n\n2. THE PHYSIOLOGICAL PERIOD (TWELVE TO FIFTEEN YEARS).\n\nHall.--From Youth Into Manhood (.50).\n\nHow My Uncle, the Doctor, Instructed Me in Matters of Sex (.10).\n\nLowry.--Truths (.50).\n\n--The Secret of Strength (Social Hygiene Society of Portland, Oregon)\n(Free).\n\n--Virility and Physical Development (Social Hygiene Society of Portland,\nOregon) (Free).\n\n--Address the Secretary of the Social Hygiene Society, 311 Young Men's\nChristian Association Building, Portland, Oregon.\n\n\n3. THE PATHOLOGICAL PERIOD (OVER FIFTEEN YEARS).\n\nEducational Pamphlets, Nos. 1 and 6 (American Society of Sanitary and\nMoral Prophylaxis) (.10 each).\n\n--Four Sex Lies (Oregon State Board of Health) (Free).\n\nHall.--From Youth Into Manhood (Chapter on Sexual Hygiene) (.50).\n\nHealth and the Hygiene of Sex (.10).\n\nThe Young Man's Problem (.10).\n\n\n=A Word of Caution=\n\nLet it be repeated that sex instruction should be undertaken with great\ntact and thoughtfulness. The one who gives the instruction--whether\nparent or teacher--should post himself thoroughly and he should be\npractical, go slow, not forcing the lad's development by unnecessary\nknowledge, avoiding gush and sentiment. He should not seek confession or\nallow the boy to confess to him, for confession will raise a barrier\nbetween the two later on; he should help the boy without invading the\nlad's innermost life, his soul; he should learn that there are recesses\nin the boy's self that are his own and that bear no invasion, and he\nshould respect this right of privacy.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON SEX\n\nAlexander, Editor.--Sunday School and the Teens. (Chapter 14.) This is\nthe official utterance of the Commission on Adolescence, authorized by\nthe International Sunday School Association in convention at San\nFrancisco, and contains a complete, classified bibliography. ($1.00.)\n\n_American Youth_ (April, 1913. This entire magazine number deals with\nSex Education) (.20).\n\n\n\n\nXVI\n\nTHE TEEN BOY AND MISSIONS\n\n\nNo more difficult subject faces the Sunday school today than that of\nreally vitally interesting the teen age boy in the missionary\nenterprises of the church. Missionary enthusiasts, here and there, have\ndoubtless had success in interesting numbers of boys, but, in spite of\nthis, the average, red-blooded, everyday, wide-awake fellow that\ninhabits our homes, fills our streets, and honors our Sunday schools,\nhas little or no conception of missions, or even cares enough to make\nany effort to discover what missions really signify. To the average boy\nmissions spell heathen and a collection and little more. There is no\nreal life interest, or even contact enough to develop an interest in the\nsubject. This is a Hunt, harsh analysis of the situation, but it is\nboth honest and true.\n\nGiving money is not a genuine criterion of interest. I have known lots\nof boys who contributed two cents a week to help the other fellow, not\nbecause it was a conviction, but because it was a necessary thing to\nkeep in good standing on the posted bulletin, and thus to maintain the\nregard and esteem of leader and comrades.\n\nBusiness men and social leaders have been known to hesitate in\nsubscribing to funds until the subscription list had been perused by\nthem, when the list of names already secured has caused them to make\ngenerous additions to the fund. The Sunday school offering is a poor\nindex of Sunday school enthusiasm. Giving money--even more than one can\nafford to give--is not always real self-sacrifice. Sometimes it is\nself-saving. At any rate, it is not the reliable guide of a boy's\ninterest.\n\nMaybe we shall never get boys to understand the word Missions. Perhaps\nit is hopelessly confused with heathen--a poor, unfortunate,\nknow-nothing, worth-little crowd of black or yellow people--who can\nnever amount to anything, unless money be given to put grit enough into\nthem to get them to try to live right--a pretty doubtful investment,\nafter all. Yes, this is the logic of the average boy, due to the\ninformation of the non-christian's degradation, lack of initiative, low\nideals, and poor morals, as set forth by the returned missionary. Even\nthe fact that one or two folks, by reason of the missionary's work, have\nbeen raised to better things, affords no promise of rejoicing on the\npart of the boy. The American teen age boy shuns \"kids,\" \"dagoes,\"\n\"hunkies,\" and everything that seems to him to be inferior. He may\noccasionally give them a little pity, but he associates himself in\nthought and interest and conduct only with his peers. His gang is as\nexclusive as the traditions of Sons of the Revolution. The\nnon-christians of other lands, like the non-christians of North America,\nsomehow or other, have got to get as good as he is--not in morals, but\nin genuine worth-whileness. If they can \"pull off a couple of stunts\"\nthat are beyond him, watch his real admiration and interest grow. Maybe,\nafter a while, we will drop the word Missions and substitute another\nword--Extension. Perhaps! Then the fellow whom he teaches to \"throw a\ncurve\" in the vacant lot, or the foreign-speaking boy, who can \"shoot a\nbasket,\" to whom he gives a half-hour lesson in English, or the Hindoo\nlad, who easily swims the Ganges, and who is being sent to school by his\ngang, will all command his interest, because they are partners with him\nin the common things of his everyday life. The boy grows by\never-widening circles of interest; first, the self, then the gang, then\nthe school life, then his city, then the state, then the nation, and so\non--out to humanity. And all of it must be on a par with his highest\nideals. That which falls below meets his contempt. Interest, then, in\nnon-christian folks in foreign lands, will become the boy's interest\nonly when it reaches his admiration and the level of the worth-while.\nThe pity and love that burns to help another is a mature passion, and is\nonly in germ in boyhood. It is capable, however, of great development.\n\nThe interest of the early adolescent is primarily physical. Most of his\nlife centers in his play and games. Wise educators are using the play\ninstinct as a medium for his education. Manual training is increasing,\nthe formal work of the class-room is taking on the nature of competition\nand music, even music with its old-time monotony and routine of running\nscales in the practice period under parental persuasion, has ceased to\nbe a thing of dread, and has become a delightful thing of play--a\nbuilding of houses, a planting of seeds, etc.\n\nThe heart of missions is a genuine regard for the highest welfare of the\nnon-christian, a real interest in the lives of others. Now interest is\nthe act of being caught and held by something. It is also temporary, as\nwell as permanent. This depends wholly on how much one is caught and\nheld. This fact is as true in boyhood as in manhood. Further, interests\nare matters of association--one interest is the path to another.\nPerhaps, then, the boy's play may widen to embrace China.\n\nA group of boys, some time ago, were playing games in a church basement,\nand the time began to lag just a little. A young man, who happened to be\npresent, was appealed to for a new game, and he taught them to \"skin the\nsnake.\" It \"caught on\" immediately, and the group of boys grew hilarious\nin their enjoyment. After a while, however, they stopped to rest, and\none of the boys turned to the man who had taught the game, and said,\n\"Where did you get that dandy stunt?\" The reply was, \"Oh, that's one of\nthe games that the fellows play over in China.\" There was silence for a\nmoment or two, and then one of the older fellows said, \"Gee, do the\nChinks over there know enough to play a game like that?\" Questions\nfollowed thick and fast for a little while about the boys of China, and\nthe admiration of the boys increased with their knowledge. The boys of\nChina are a little closer, too, to the American boys of this particular\ngroup whenever \"skin the snake\" is played. It is altogether too bad\nthat the play-life of the adolescent in non-christian lands is so\nmeager, for here in physical prowess is a real contact for the American\nboy. The bigness of life is the sum of its contacts.\n\nA boy between sixteen and twenty years is essentially social in his\ninterests. It is then that the call of the community, business life,\nvocation, etc., to say nothing of the sex and the home voice--make their\nbig appeal. It is his own personal relation to these that makes them\nreal, and the closer his relation the deeper is his interest. The social\nappeal stirs his thought and leads him to investigation. The similarity\nof problems at home and abroad gives him contact with other lands, and\nmakes for him \"all the world akin.\" The best approach to China's need is\nthe need of the homeland. Good government here is a link of Manchuria\nand Mongolia. The underpaid woman in the shop, store and factory of\nAmerica is the introduction to the limitations of the womanhood of India\nand the Orient. The problem of Africa is real only through the\neconomic, social and moral demands of Pennsylvania, Illinois, or\nCalifornia. The value of all of these in his thought is the relation\nwhich he holds individually to any one. The circle of his interests\ngrows by the widening of his knowledge. The law of his being is to\naccept nothing on hearsay. He must prove all things and cleave only to\nthat which he finds true. This, however, is the path to missionary and\nall other interests.\n\nHow, then, shall all this be worked out in Bible class and\nthrough-the-week activity? The missionary lesson must not be just fact,\nbut related fact. The through-the-week meeting that contemplates the\ndeepening of interest in other lands must be recreational and social.\nThe contacts must be real, vital, and individual--expressed in the\nconcrete interests of the now. This is the principle. The method must be\nthe work of the lesson writer and the missionary expert, and, until this\nis achieved, missions must still be but two uninteresting facts for the\nteen age boy--Heathen and Collection.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE TEEN BOY AND MISSIONS\n\nFahs.--Uganda's White Man of Work (.50).\n\nHall.--Children at Play in Many Lands (.75).\n\nJohnston.--Famine and the Bread ($1.00).\n\nMatthews.--Livingstone, the Pathfinder (.50).\n\nSpeer.--Servants of the King (.50).\n\nSteiner.--On the Trail of the Immigrant ($1.50).\n\n\n\n\nXVII\n\nTEMPERANCE AND THE TEEN AGE\n\n\nTemperance embraces the abstaining from everything that challenges\nself-control. The two deadliest foes of young life today are admittedly\nalcoholic drinks and the cigarette, and any crusade against these for\nthe conservation of the boy in his teens should be welcomed. It is well,\nhowever, to keep in mind that profane language, the suggestive story,\nundue sex familiarity, athletic overindulgence, excessive attendance at\nthe moving picture shows, or entertainment places, the public dance, and\nother things of like ilk in the community, exert a doubtful influence on\nboy life.\n\nLiquor is the greatest plague in a community, and does more to curse the\ncommunity than any other one thing. It breaks up homes, causes\ndivorces, deprives children of their legitimate sustenance, ruins the\nlife of the drinker, increases taxation, lowers the tone and morals of\nthe community, and is a detriment to our American life. Cigarette\nsmoking is bad for anybody. It harms the growing tissue, dulls the\nconscience, stunts the growth, and steals the brainpower of growing\nboys. In dealing with these facts in the Sunday school let us recognize\nthen, that they exist, that they are true; and then let us cease merely\nto rehearse them from time to time.\n\nThe day of exhortation is past. Temperance education today consists in\nthe presentation of absolute, scientific fact. Sentimentality and the\nmultiplication of words no longer mean anything. In dealing with the\nteen age boy, spare your words, but pile up the scientific, concrete,\n\"seeing-is-believing\" data. By proved experiment let him discover\nthrough the investigation of himself and others--through books,\npictures, slides, etc.--that everything we take for granted is\nscientific truth. You do not need today to prove to a boy that liquor\nis bad. Physiology in the public school and the everyday occurrences\nabout him have already furnished him with that knowledge. Furnish him\nnow with the actual facts of the effects of alcohol on the heart\ncenters, lung centers, locomotion centers, knowledge centers, and\ninhibitory or control centers. Make no statement that is not absolutely\nscientific. You cannot afford to lie, even to keep the boy from the\ndrink habit. Show concretely--better yet through the investigation of\nthe boy himself--the economic and moral waste of the liquor habit, but,\nin everything, let the hard, cold facts speak for themselves. Let the\nboy discover for himself that liquor not only would rob him of his best\ndevelopment, if he should become a victim of the habit, but is lowering\nthe tone of his community and country now.\n\nIn the matter of pledge-signing be sure the boy knows what he is doing.\nA written pledge may mean a different thing to you than to the boy. It\nis better to discuss the subject minutely with the boy, then let him\nwrite his promise in his own language, without any written guide. Do\nnot let the boy be anything but true to himself. Be scientific and\neducational in all your methods.\n\nWhen you approach tobacco and cigarettes, do not assume that the boy\nregards these as bad. He will readily admit that liquor is harmful, but\nwill likely to refuse to recognize that the pipe, cigar, or cigarette\nare immoral. Your education along this line must be absolutely\nscientific. The appeal must be to the self and self-interest. They are\nnot good for an athlete; the best scholarship is threatened by them;\ngrowing tissue is harmed by indulgence. The appeal must be accurate and\nmust apply now. Do not quote what will happen forty years hence. Boys do\nnot fear old age and its frailties. Present enjoyment is too keen. Do\nnot say that the habit is filthy, etc. Lay the emphasis on health,\nphysical fitness, the joy of present living. The appeal must be one of\nbest development. Economic opportunity also may play a part. If business\nopportunity is lessened by the habit, prove it. Do not, however, say\nanything that cannot be supported with incontrovertible evidence. Stick\nto the scientific facts and the appeal to self-interest.\n\nOne thing more! Little good comes from denouncing tobacco in general. A\nlot of good men, influential men, strong Christian men, use it. If you\nhave facts concerning the bad effects of smoking on mature men that are\nreliable, make use of them, but be sure you are right about it.\nIgnorance multiplied by forty or one hundred does not mean wisdom. It is\nstill ignorance. Keep yourself out of the crank army. Do not be so\nintemperate yourself in thought, speech, and action as to lessen your\ninfluence. Temporizing will not do the work, but let us be wise in our\napproach to the subject before boys, whose viewpoint cannot be expected\nto be that of adults.\n\nLiquor and the cigarette are national perils, and both of them, for the\nsake of the teen age boy, must be banished from the land.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON TEMPERANCE AND THE TEEN AGE\n\nChappel.--Evils of Alcohol (.60).\n\nHorsely.--Alcohol and the Human Body ($1.00).\n\nJewett.--Control of Body and Mind (Concerning Cigarettes) (.60).\n\n_Scientific Temperance Journal_ (Monthly) (.60 per year).\n\nTowns.--Injury of Tobacco (Pamphlet, $1.50 per hundred).\n\n\n\n\nXVIII\n\nBUILDING UP THE BOY'S SPIRITUAL LIFE\n\n\nThe business of the Sunday school is the letting loose of moral and\nreligious impulses for life--the raising of the life, by information,\ninspiration and opportunity, to its highest possible attainment. The\nvery highest reach that any boy's life can attain is the ideal of life\nthat Jesus has set forth. Nothing less than this can be the aim of the\nSunday school. Analyzing this ideal, we find that this means that the\nboy must physically, socially, mentally, and religiously find the best,\nbuild it into his life, and attain unto the \"measure of the stature of\nthe fullness of Christ.\" Anything that does not contribute to this end,\nin the principle or method of the Sunday school, is wrong. Likewise,\nanything, tradition or prejudice, that keeps the school from reaching\nthe boy for the Christ-ideal is a positive affront to the Lord of the\nChurch. The Sunday school deals with a living, breathing boy--not a\ntheory, but a real combination of flesh, bone, muscle, nerve and blood.\nIt must minister to the needs of this combination in a generous way,\nwith physical, through-the-week activities, not to induce it to attend\nSunday school for worship and Bible study, but because the highest good\nof the combination demands these things. The school also should see that\nthis living, breathing boy, who, by God's law of life, thinks and moves\nby his thought, should receive the best opportunity to develop his mind\nby supporting the state institutions in the community for that purpose,\nand also in providing culture, recreation-education within the confines\nof its own particular sphere. In addition to this, recognizing that the\nboy belongs to the social life of the community, and \"that no man liveth\nunto himself or dieth unto himself,\" the Sunday school must recognize\nits obligation to the community, as well as to the boy, and furnish him\nan opportunity for the best social adjustment. The Kingdom of God is a\nsaved community of saved lives. It is best represented in the Scriptures\nas a city, a golden city, without death, crying, or sorrow, all of them\nintensely social things, as are their opposites, also. Every lesson the\nschool gives the boy socially, every chance it affords him to learn by\ncontact with his fellows of either sex, means just one more effort for\nthe Kingdom. Moreover, the Kingdom is a community of saved bodies, saved\nminds, saved social relations and saved spirits, or a place or group\nwhere the best dominates--the will of God rules over all lesser things,\nchanging and making them over into the best. Thus the Kingdom is where\nlife appreciates, enjoys, respects, and honors all of God's gifts,\nwhether it be body, mind, social relations, or material or spiritual\nthings. The task of the Sunday school, then, is to reach out\nunswervingly, enthusiastically after these ends for the adolescent boy.\nLike the commandments, he that transgresseth in one fails in all, in\nthe largest, truest sense.\n\nThe work of the Sunday school, summed up briefly, is to round out the\nboy by all good things that he may see and know and acknowledge Jesus\nChrist, the Master of Men, as the Master and Lord of his life, too. Any\nstep less than the joyous acceptance of the Son of God as Saviour of his\nlife is to miss the mark entirely. This is the end of all Sunday school\nprinciple and method.\n\nFurther, Jesus Christ, as Saviour of Life, is not an idea, a theory, a\nbelief, but a practical, everyday, every-minute influence. \"For me to\nlive is Christ.\" From this time forth everything in life is done in the\nChrist-spirit. The boy does not cease to be a boy in the acceptance. He\nis now a Christian boy, not a mature, Christian man. He still loves\nplay, but play is not marred now by the tricks that minister to self.\nPlay ministers now both to self and others. It does not nor cannot leave\nout self, however. It saves self. So, with all things else in life, real\nlife that is lived seven days in the week, twenty-four hours in the day\namong his fellows--and one week following without break the other.\nSaviour of Life means saviour of body, of mind, of social contacts, of\nspirit. It means more than formal religion, the attendance of services,\nthe saying of prayers, the observance of customs--these are all\nexcellent and necessary, but to be saved by the Saviour of Men means new\nlife, or life with a new, saved meaning: \"I come that they might have\nlife and that they might have it more abundantly\" (overflowingly). This\nis the great objective of the Sunday school.\n\nAs soon as a life knows Jesus as Saviour, it asks the question, \"What\nwilt thou have me to do, Lord?\" Notice, it is not, what shall I believe,\nor what shall I cast out of my life? Doing regulates both of these, and\nthe \"expulsive power of a new affection\" settles nearly every problem by\ndisplacement. This, after all, is Christianity--to be \"In Christ.\" \"Not\nto be ministered unto, but to minister.\" \"He that would be greatest, let\nhim be the servant of all.\" The quality of Christianity is Service. The\ntask of the Sunday school is the raising of the life by information,\ninspiration and opportunity to its highest possible attainment.\nChristian service is both the highest and the best. To the\nacknowledgment of Jesus as Saviour and Lord, then, must be added the\nfree, voluntary, loving service for others in His name. This is the\nUpbuilding of the Spiritual Life of the Boy.\n\nWhat shall be used, then, for this purpose? Everything that will\nminister to the result--Organization, Leadership, Bible Study,\nThrough-the-Week Activity, Material Equipment, Teaching, Song, Prayer,\nReproof, Inspiration, Guidance, and all else that the Sunday school may\nknow or discover. Two factors in it all are preeminent: Christ and the\nBoy. All else are but means. The boy a loving, serving follower of his\nLord! This is the endless end.\n\nWhat should the Sunday school do to achieve this? Reach to the utmost,\nstrive to the uttermost, use every resource, redeem every opportunity,\ncreate, discover and harness every method, hold the boy to his best,\npatiently see him develop, give him the material and spiritual elements\nfor his growth, afford him opportunity to find himself, help him to\ncrystalize his thought for life and lovingly aid him to meet, know and\nacknowledge his Lord.\n\nThus the boy will be \"built up in our most holy faith\"--the faith that\nloves and serves in healthy life for the joy of living.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE BOY'S SPIRITUAL LIFE\n\nAlexander (Editor).--Boy Training (Chapter on \"The Goal of Adolescence\")\n(.75).\n\nSunday School and the Teens (Chapter on \"The Church's Provision for\nAdolescent Spiritual Life\") ($1.00).\n\nBoys' Work Message, Men and Religion Movement (Chapters on \"The Boy's\nReligious Needs\" and \"The Message of Christianity to Boyhood\") ($1.00).\n\n\n\n\nXIX\n\nTHE TEEN AGE TEACHER[11]\n\n\nThe greatest problem that faces the Sunday school and Church as it seeks\nto meet the needs of the boys and girls of the teen age is leadership.\nThe organized men's and women's Bible classes may meet that need. In\nfact, the success and ultimate value of these classes lie in their\nresponse and ability to face and supply this growing need.\n\nGod works best through incarnation. When he wanted to tell men who he\nwas, what he was, and how he wanted men to live, he spoke through\nprophets, priests, patriarchs, and kings, and the Old Testament writings\ncame to us this way. However, men did not seem to understand the\nmessage, and for nearly four hundred years he ceased to speak. Then,\n\"in the fullness of time,\" he came himself in the person of his own\nSon--born in the womb after the fashion of a human baby, passed through\nboyhood in the likeness of a boy and on into manhood as a man--to teach\nus who he was, what he was, and how he wanted us to live; and Jesus is\njust God spelling himself out in human history in the language that men\nunderstand. This is incarnation, and as he was compelled to pour himself\nout into man to reveal himself to men, so men and women who have seen\nhim must literally pour themselves out--incarnate themselves--into the\nlives of growing boys and girls if these boys and girls of the teen age\nare to know him.\n\nLeadership has always been the cry of the world and the Church, and the\nhistory of both is written in biography. The Pharaoh, the Caesar,\nCharlemagne, Peter the Great, William the Silent, Henry of Navarre,\nQueen Elizabeth, Ferdinand and Isabella, Columbus, the Pilgrim Fathers,\nWashington, Lincoln, and the names of the great on the world's scroll\nof fame tell the world's story. The Christ, Peter, John, Paul,\nAugustine, Savonarola, Huss, Wycliffe, Luther, Zwingli, Knox, Roger,\nWilliams, Wesley, Finney, Moody, Booth; and \"what shall I more say? for\nthe time would fail me to tell of 'those' of whom the world was not\nworthy,\" and whose splendid achievements fill out the glorious history\nof the Church--these, all of these, in their life and effort constitute\nthe story of the Kingdom.\n\nThe story is not yet complete. Still the world writes its progress in\nthe names of its great ones. And yet, as always, the Church must look\nfor its progress to its Christ-kissed men and women. While teen age boys\nand girls escape us at the rate of one hundred thousand a year, the need\nfor leadership is among us.\n\nThere is no boy problem. There is no girl problem. Boys and girls are\nthe same yesterday, today and forever. The processes of their developing\nlife are as the laws of the Medes and Persians, without change, eternal\nas the hills. Like the poor, they are always with us. There is neither\nboy nor girl problem; it is a problem of the man and a problem of the\nwoman. Leadership is the key that unlocks the door of the teen age for\nthe Church.\n\nThe need of the Sunday school in the teen age today is leadership. The\norganized classes for men and women can solve the problem of the Church\namong the teen age boys and girls. The number of teachers an organized\nadult class produces is the measure of its ultimate usefulness in the\nKingdom.\n\nThe problem of the Sunday school, then, can be solved by men teachers\nfor boys' classes. The more masculine the Sunday school becomes the\ndeeper will be the boy's interest. A virile, active Christianity will\nchallenge the boy; and all other things being equal, the man teacher can\npresent such a Christianity. In some places this will not be possible\nbecause of the dearth of men due to the lack of any sense of Christian\nobligation on the part of the males of the community to the growing boy.\nWhere real men are missing, we will be forced of necessity to fall back\non the big-hearted women that have so long stood in the breach. It may\nbe well, also, to add that merely being a male does not constitute a man\nor manhood. Some men will need to strengthen themselves to do their duty\nas the leaders and teachers of boys in the Sunday school.\n\nNone but the strongest teachers should be selected. A boy of high school\nage quickly detects weakness in a teacher. Selection of just \"any one\"\nto teach a class is sure failure. The most important element in\norganization is leadership. The teacher should aim to become more of a\nleader than teacher. Boys' classes should be taught by men, and women\nshould teach classes of girls. It is impossible for a man to lead girls,\nand just as impossible for girls to be led by a man.\n\nWith the period of adolescence come problems which can be understood and\nsolved only by those who have passed through the same experience. Manly\nChristian leadership will help boys to grow naturally into Christian\nmanhood, while only the kind, sympathetic touch of the conscientious\nChristian woman leader can help the girl in developing normally into\nhonored and respected Christian womanhood.\n\nThe conscientious Christian leader will keep in mind his obligation to\nthe individual members of the class. By reading and study he will become\nacquainted with the characteristics of the teen age life, with a view to\nplanning such activities, for both the Sunday and the mid-week session,\nas will eventually result in the development of stalwart Christian\nmanhood.\n\nThe successful teacher of the teen age class--\n\n(a) Always sees and plans things from the viewpoint of the pupil.\n\n(b) Teaches the scholar and not the lesson.\n\n(c) Knows personally every member of the class--the home, school,\nbusiness, play, social and religious life of every member. This is often\naccomplished through an invitation to dinner, a walk, a car ride, or\nsome other plan, which will bring the scholar and teacher together\nnaturally. With this knowledge in hand, the teacher can prepare the\nlesson to fit the individual needs of the pupil.\n\n(d) Visits the parents.\n\n(e) Is always on hand, unless unavoidably prevented, in which case the\npresident of the class is notified.\n\n(f) Has a capable substitute teacher to supply in the event of such\nabsence.\n\n(g) Realizes that the function of his office is that of friend and\ncounselor.\n\n(h) Follows up an absentee (1) through the other members of the class;\n(2) Membership Committee; (3) telephone; (4) postcard or letter; (5)\npersonal call.\n\n(i) Does not play favorites, nor neglect the less aggressive scholar.\n\n(j) Has a plan and an objective, with special emphasis on the training\nof older boys for leadership of groups of younger boys.\n\n(k) Always keeps in mind that the supreme task and privilege of the\nteacher are to win the boy to Christ for service in His church.\n\n\n=The Teacher and the Home=\n\nThe Teacher can do his best work when working in conjunction with the\nhome. It is a good plan to visit the father and mother of the boy. It is\nalso a pretty good thing to occasionally drop in to see the father and\nmother personally, telling them how the boy is getting along. An\ninvitation extended to the parents through the boy himself to attend a\nweek-night meeting of the class will also afford a valuable means of\ncontact with the home and parents.\n\nThe Teacher should by no means try to become a father to the boy. The\nresponsibility and duties of parents must not for one moment devolve\nupon him. The following editorial from a New York evening newspaper puts\nthis idea in a very clear manner, and it should be given careful\nconsideration by every teacher:\n\n\"It takes time to point a boy right. The great merchant can touch a desk\nbell to give orders for a steamship or a draft of a million dollars. But\nthe merchant's young son, age fourteen, cannot be touched off in that\nway. The lad has just begun to move out among other boys. They do a\nworld of talking, these young chaps. The father must watch that talk,\nand he can, if he will take the time.\n\n\"The older man has every advantage, for he is looked up to and beloved.\nIt is not so much the 'don'ts' as the 'do's' that constitute his power.\nHe can inspire with high resolve. He can narrate his own victories over\nsore trials and fiery tests of his integrity. He can draw the sting of\npoisonous suggestions, moral disheartenings and malice which his child\nhas been cherishing in his young heart. But this means time, and time\nmay be money. Yet no money can buy this sort of instruction, nor put a\nprice on it. The coin is struck in the soul. It is the costliest barter,\nthe very exchange of the soul.\n\n\"Boys who go right have invariably had a world of time spent on them in\nthis way. Boys go wrong because the father would not take the time from\nthe market. In after years the same parent will take vastly more time\nto try, in tears of sorrow, to straighten out that boy.\"\n\n\n=The Teacher and the School=\n\nThe Teacher must keep in mind that it is his business to work in\ncooperation with all of the forces that are trying to help the boy to\nlive rightly in his community. The work of the public school must\ncontinue to go on without a break if the ideals of our American\ncitizenship are to be maintained, and it is the business of the Teacher\nto give his support, encouragement and cooperation for the carrying out\nof the idea for which the school stands. The public school seeks to give\nthe boy the necessary education toward his earning a livelihood, and the\nbusiness of the Sunday school Teacher is to give him the right impulses\nfor his moral and religious life--to inspire him to seek the best in\neverything. The Sunday school Teacher is in partnership with the public\nschool teacher in the education of the boy.\n\nSeveral well-defined and exceedingly clear principles of action\nunderlie the successful handling of groups of boys:\n\nFirst, there must be a clear plan well thought out, progressive in its\nstages with an aim for each stage. In other words, no man need try to\nwork with a group of boys unless he knows what he wants to do, not only\nin outline but in detail. He must have these details in mind and so well\nworked out in his thought, knowing exactly what comes next and just what\nis to be added to that which he has already accomplished, as to be\nmaster of the situation at all times and to be the recognized leader.\nNot only this, but the boys must feel that he really knows what he is\ndriving at in everything that he attempts.\n\nSecondly, before the leader of a group of boys tries to do anything with\nthe group, if he is to be successful, it is necessary for him to make a\nfrankly outlined statement of his plan. That is to say, he should tell\nthe boys what the game is and how it is to be played, getting their\napproval, and agreement to get in on the deal. He can explain this to\nall of the boys at one time or singly to each boy. There is no question\nbut that he will succeed best if he will go over the matter first with\neach individual boy personally, finding out his individual impressions\nand opinions, and also having discussion before the group. This being\ndone the boys know the plan, the leader knows what he is working toward,\nand the leader and the boys are partners in the work. Too often groups\nof boys are brought together and the aim is so hazy in the leader's mind\nthat all the boys can possibly see in the scheme is a \"good time.\"\n\nThirdly, the best way to have boys accomplish things is to allow them to\ndo the things. Many a leader of boys thinks out a plan, gives it to a\ngroup of boys and then thinks that the boys are themselves doing it,\nwhereas he is only trying to use the boys as his instrument. The most\neffectual way of getting boys to do things themselves is to let them do\nas much as they can and will do under adequate supervision. Lead by\nsuggestion, so that unconsciously the boys follow your advice and\ndictation, giving them the benefit of their decisions and impulses. Pure\nself-government in which the boys are entirely the dictators of their\npolicies and activities cannot be thought of, because such a course is\nso generally fatal to successful development. But self-government\nfostered and dealt with through suggestion by the adult mind is just\nwhat is needed, and should always be encouraged.\n\nFourth, in letting the boys run their own affairs in this way the\nTeacher must become a real leader. A real leader never stalks in front,\nnor gives orders openly. The generals of today fight their battles and\nwin them twenty-five miles in the rear of the firing line. So it is with\nthe Teacher. He must be the power behind the throne, rather than the\nthrone itself. He must be as a conscience--to hold the boys back just a\nlittle when they go too fast and to push just a little when they are\ngoing too slow. The Teacher must recognize himself to be the impetus,\nnot the goal. The solution of each problem that comes before the class\nshould not only be considered by the whole group, but should be solved\nby the boys. The important thing for the Teacher to remember in these\nmatters is that the method of practical American citizenship is the\nmajority rule. But this boy majority rule should, of course, be tempered\nby governing leadership. Thus the Teacher will not do anything that the\nboy can do himself, and he will be continually placing responsibility on\nthe lad. Responsibility is the great maker of men.\n\nFifth, there will be of course noticeable differences among the boys of\nany class. The most serious differences arise even among men. The boys\nwill \"scrap\" at times, and there will sometimes be a tension and\nrigidity about their discussions that will approach the breaking point.\nThrough it all it will be difficult for the Teacher to keep himself\npatiently aloof and allow the thing to work out its own way. Sometimes\nan appeal will be made to him to settle the dispute, and he will be\ntempted to do so, but often such action will imperil the object for\nwhich he is working. It is best to allow the boys to discuss, and try\nout all of their logic before he begins to make suggestions and, if he\ncan get the boys to settle the matter themselves, it is to his interest\nto do so. If a deadlock threatens to exist, then by wise counsel and\njudicious suggestions he may be able to lead the boys out of a quandary\nin such a way that it will look as if the boys had gotten out of the\ndifficulty themselves. This will certainly add strength to their\norganization, and they will settle their own quarrels with peace and\ndignity. Sometimes the break between the boys will be so bitter as to\ncause the formation of intensely hostile factions, and then the best\nthing the Teacher can do is not to try any new patching or drawing\ntogether of the opposing forces. There is no use trying to make boys who\nare bitterly antagonistic agreeable to each other. Let them make new\nalignments if necessary and in combinations of their own choosing, even\nif the result should be the formation of new classes.\n\nSixth, the boys should make their own rules for their own government,\nand they should also deal as a group with the infringement of their\nrules. This will solve the discipline problem of the Teacher.\nResponsibility should be the keynote of government, and the awakening of\nsuch a feeling in the boys should be the goal.\n\n\n=The Adolescent Change=\n\nUntil about the age of twelve the boy is distinctly individualistic and\nselfish. At about twelve years of age his whole nature begins to change\nbecause of the change in his bodily functions. This change occurs\nanywhere from the twelfth to the sixteenth year and is really determined\nby his physical development rather than by his chronological age. The\nchange of bodily functions gives him a new outlook upon life. He begins\nto see and understand that he is a part of the community in which he is\nliving and begins to understand that the community life is made possible\nby a disposition on the part of his neighbors to help each other. He\nalso begins to understand the institutional life about him and the\nfamily and sex tie on which it is based. He sees also the need of the\nschool, the church and other public institutions. He also begins to\nappreciate the wider range of things. Nature has greater appeal to him\nnow than ever. The woods and streams and outdoor life get a new\nsignificance, and the question of livelihood, whether rural and\nagricultural, or in the line of the various industries, takes a firm\nhold upon his imagination, and gives him a life-compelling purpose. He\nbegins to feel the mating call and at its first impression is attracted\nto the other sex, with the result that by and by he also becomes a\nhusband and father and a full-fledged citizen among his fellows. Up to\nthe age of adolescence, however, none of these emotions stir the boy.\n\n\nGENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ADOLESCENT AGE\n\nThe interests of the adolescent boy are general and not specialized\nbetween the twelfth and eighteenth years. The boy gets his impressions\nof the community objectively, in addition to increasing his\nknowledge of the external world through his acquaintanceship with\nits phenomena. The Universe and the Community are extensive and many\nsided. The step also between twelve and eighteen years is short. The\nboy's contact with these, then, must be rapid and general.\n\n\nCHARACTERISTICS OF THE EARLY ADOLESCENT AGE\n\nThe early adolescent age from twelve to fifteen years is characterized\nby a rapid and uneven growth during which vitality and energy alternate\nwith languorousness, and the boy is awkward and lazy, with bones greatly\noutgrowing muscle. The boy also begins to take a new interest in sex and\nsex relations, his features and voice change, and the inherited\ntendencies begin to assert themselves. His health is usually at its\nbest, and during his active moments he is boisterous and vigorously\nenergetic. He is selfish, but shows signs of altruism; his regard for\nlaw increases; the spirit of gang leadership begins to show itself; his\nlonging for friendship is noticeable; his sense of secretiveness is\napparent; and his self-assertiveness first begins to be manifested. He\nis creative in imagination, shows marvelous powers of inference, becomes\nstrongly intellectual, begins to manifest analytic reasoning, imitates\nthe ideal, is uncertain in making decisions, is influenced by\nsuggestion, and possesses generally a strong but not a logical memory.\nHe develops natural religious notions, has strong impulses to do big\nthings, has definite convictions as to his belief in God and Heaven and\nthe understanding of traditional religious terms, shows a noticeable\nlack of interest in the forms of worship, but a keen appreciation of the\nspiritual, and is passing through a period when great resolves are most\noften made.\n\n\nCHARACTERISTICS OF LATER ADOLESCENCE\n\nDuring the period of later adolescence from fifteen to eighteen years of\nage, the body nearly attains its maximum growth, the mind begins to show\nits dominance over the body, and all the bodily impulses grow stronger\nand more vigorous. Altruism steadily increases; the consciousness of\nsociety grows; an appreciation of individual worth and thought develops;\nthe call of sex and the love emotion grows in strength; sentiment is\ninclined to become strong; boundless enthusiasm manifests itself; and\norganization and cooperation begin to appeal and be appreciated more and\nmore. There is a growth in logic, independent thought, alertness in\nthinking, and quickness of receptive powers. The boy at this age is in\nthe period of highest resolves and greatest endeavor, is apt to show\nreligious skepticism, and reason often takes the place of his faith.\n\n\n=Classes of Boys or Boy Types=\n\nIn talking about boys either in the aggregate or as individuals it is\nbest to consider them as representative of certain definite types. Boy\nlife can be more easily considered in this way by making special study\nof particular boy types. In the first place there are the psychological\ntypes--the choleric, the sanguine, the phlegmatic, and the hybrid.\nThere are also the types of real life with which we are most\nfamiliar--the masterful, the weak, the mischievous, the backward, the\nshy, the bully, the joker, the \"smartie,\" the echo or shadow, the quiet\nor reticent, the girl-struck, the self-conscious, the unconscious, and\nthe forgetful. Lastly, we should also consider the different types of\nthe unfortunate boys, including the deficient, the delinquent, the\ncriminal, the dependent, the neglected, the foreign born, the\nwage-earner, the poverty-stricken, boys of very wealthy parents,\noverambitious boys who have overambitious parents, and street boys who\nare either loafers or engaged in street trades, or are compelled to use\nthe street as a playground.\n\n\nTHE CHOLERIC BOY\n\nThe choleric fellow who is always off at \"half-cock,\" running his head\ninto danger whenever he can, and who is extremely hectic in his make-up,\nis always a problem. He needs a strong hand. Sometimes he will need\neven physical repression, but he always demands great care and patience.\nThe Teacher should deal with each class of boys largely by suggestion,\nbut in the case of the choleric fellow he will often need to use orders\nand demonstrate that he himself is in the saddle.\n\n\nTHE SANGUINE BOY\n\nThe sanguine fellow is the normal boy who, having a good digestion, a\ngood home and no cause for worry, sees things as they are and is apt to\ntake them as they come. He will be the easiest kind of a boy to get\nalong with, and the only thing that the Teacher will have to do may be\nto provide for stimulation of his interest and ambition.\n\n\nTHE PHLEGMATIC TYPE\n\nThe phlegmatic chap requires patience more than anything else; generally\nslow of body, he is usually slow of speech and thought. If the Teacher\nis not careful he will be apt to call him \"dense,\" and speak to him\nsharply and at times rather crossly. He cannot do this if he expects to\nwin the fellow. Temperamentally, nature has made him what he is, and the\nTeacher will have to work harder, make things more concrete that he\nwants to teach, and hold his impatience in check. Phlegmatic though he\nis, he will prove solid in everything he does, and he will be either a\nrock of strength or of weakness to the Teacher. If he likes the Teacher\nnothing will shake his love, but if he has a dislike for him, then the\nTeacher is at the end of his endeavor as far as he is concerned.\n\n\nTHE HYBRID BOY IS A PROBLEM\n\nThe hybrid boy always furnishes a guessing contest--impulsive today, he\nhas to be repressed; phlegmatic tomorrow, he has to be stimulated; and\nhe may be sanguine the next day. There never was a pleasanter boy to\nwork with, but like the chameleon you are never sure of his color.\n\n    \"Breath of balm and snow,\n    June and March together,\n    In an hour or so.\"\n\nJust because he is so changeable the Teacher should show him his best\nthought and work. It is just such fellows who are inclined to be\nshiftless and who are generally crowded out in the fight for life.\nSomewhere in the boy's nature, if the Teacher is patient, he will find\nthe rock bottom upon which to build manhood and citizenship. Such\nachievement, however, comes only by great patience and hard work.\n\n\nTHE MASTERFUL BOY AND THE WEAK BOY\n\nThe masterful and weak boys represent the antipodes of boyhood. The\nmasterful boy will see things quickly, will be the leader of his gang,\nwill instinctively dominate and run the class unless the Teacher is on\nhis job. The weak boy will follow anywhere, be the cause good or bad,\nand become either a devil or a saint. The masterful boy may be handled\nby appealing to his sense of leadership. Responsibility should be placed\nupon him. The Teacher should make him feel that he is leaning heavily on\nhim. The weak boy on the other hand should be tied up to some steady\nphlegmatic fellow, the phlegmatic fellow being given the vision of how\nhe can be an older brother to the boy not as strong as himself. The\nresult will be that the weak boy will catch some of the spirit of the\nphlegmatic chap, and gradually get some depth for himself.\n\n\nTHE MISCHIEVOUS BOY\n\nOf all the boy types, the mischievous boy furnishes the real pleasure\nfor the worker with boys. The fellow whose eyes can twinkle and who will\nplay a practical trick on the friend he most respects is always a\ndelight. It is he that keeps the crowd in good humor, who is generally\ndeepest and most abiding in his affection, and who at the drop of the\nhat would fight to the last ditch for his friend. To handle him rightly\ndoes not require a six-foot rod, or a half-inch rule. But the Teacher\nmust keep him so busy doing the things that he likes that he will have\nno dull moments in which to vent his inborn sense of humor.\n\n\nTHE BACKWARD BOY\n\nThe backward boy will need to be led out of himself. Give him things to\ndo which will make him forget himself and, by careful utilization of his\ntime, gradually he will develop into a normal boy.\n\n\nTHE SHY BOY\n\nThe shy boy has merely become shy because of lack of association.\nUsually he has been brought up with his mother and sisters and merely\nlacks the touch of a man and a man's viewpoint. After he comes in\ncontact with other boys, this will wear away. The problem of the Teacher\nis to get the other boys in his class to pilot the boy into the deeper\nwaters.\n\n\n\"SMARTIE\" AND JOKER TYPES\n\nThe \"smartie\" and the joker types are thorns in the flesh. Just as\nthorns when pressed in too deeply require a surgical operation to remove\nthem, so it may be necessary for the Teacher to \"sit on\" both the\n\"smartie\" and the joker. If the other boys of the class make up their\nminds to unite in the task, both the \"smartie\" and joker will become\nnormal boys in less than one season's activities, and the Teacher will\nshow his generalship to be of the real sort by enlisting the other boys\nto do the job.\n\n\nTHE ECHO OR SHADOW TYPE\n\nThe echo or shadow type is a serious problem. He it is who generally\nhinders the good things in life and helps the bad. He can swear by the\nward boss in party politics, or he can prove himself an obstacle in the\nway of civic and national righteousness. The Teacher's task in his case\nis to somehow or other strike the cord of independence, teach him to do\nthings by himself, think for himself and stand on his own feet. Along\nthe coasts of the North Sea, they teach boys to swim by throwing them\nout beyond their depth. It may be necessary to awaken manhood and\nindependence in the echo by swamping him when he is alone.\n\n\nTHE BULLY\n\nThe bully will be the worst type for the Teacher until the right boy\ncomes along; there is no use in the Teacher worrying himself until he\ndoes, because of the bully's bluster and bluff. Usually the normal boy\nwill accept him at his face value, and it is only when a lad with\nself-assertion comes along that the sparks will fly. Then the bully will\nhave to back down or take his medicine. A fight between boys is usually\nnot a good thing, but when it comes to putting the bully in his place it\nis one of the greatest institutions that the savage man has invented.\nOnce a bully has lost his place, he may bluster, but his bluff is over.\n\n\nTHE QUIET OR RETICENT BOY\n\nThe quiet or reticent fellow is like the mighty sweeping river. He has\ndepths which have been unsounded, and his life has promise of great\npossibilities. Just the opposite of the bully, he never blusters but\nthinks out everything as it comes to him. Every impression is stored\naway and out of the countless impressions which are made upon him there\nemerges a man of real and wide interests. The task of the Teacher in his\ncase will be to discover his interests and help him to discover himself.\n\n\nTHE GIRL-STRUCK BOY\n\nThe girl-struck fellow somewhat discourages the worker with boys, and\nyet it is natural that the boy should look with favorable eyes upon the\ngirl, just as the robin hears and answers to the call of his mate. Let\nno Teacher or any worker with boys of any organization that has ever\nbeen founded dream for one moment that either he or his institutions can\never block out the lure of the girl. The girl-struck boy will have\nnumerous cases of puppy love, and it will be the task of the Teacher to\nlead the boy into the kind of social relations that will enable him to\nbe a real value to those of the opposite sex whom he may meet. The boy\nwill prove a much better husband and father because of his experience.\n\n\nTHE SELF-CONSCIOUS AND THE UNCONSCIOUS BOY\n\nThe self-conscious and the unconscious boys are merely victims of their\nsurroundings. The self-conscious fellow has no confidence in himself. He\nis continuously measuring himself by others and is possibly the victim\nof parental teaching. The constant injunction to act like \"Little\nWillie\" next door may have gotten on the boy's nerves, and if the lad\nhas a chance without undue embarrassment he will soon reach the normal\nstage, and be always a little more courteous and respectful and\nthoughtful than the fellow without this experience. The unconscious\nfellow on the other hand will plug along doing all sorts of absurd\nthings, because of his lack of knowledge of the fitness of things. He is\ngenerally the boy who grows up without any sense of consistency, and who\nhas had very much his own way of doing things. He will need to be helped\nto adjust himself to his environment and to the way that other fellows\nlive. He also will develop as a good man if the Teacher is a good\nworker.\n\n\nTHE FORGETFUL BOY\n\nThe same may be said about the forgetful boy and, in fact, about all\nboys. The forgetful boy has merely not been interested enough to give\nhis attention to the things that the Teacher wants him to do. Once a boy\nhas his interest aroused, the Teacher will have no need of complaint of\nforgetfulness or of any lack of interest in the boy.\n\n\nTHE UNFORTUNATE BOYS\n\nThe types which have been discussed will generally work out all right\nand find their places in the various social strata in the community in\nwhich they live. The unfortunate boys, however, are handicapped\ntremendously by their environment and surroundings, and it will often\nbecome a part of the Teacher's work to help secure a change in these\nenvironments. Boys of very wealthy parents and boys from homes of\npoverty are usually sinned against by their parents. The parents of\nboth are either so busy making money and spending it in the social\nwhirl, or so pushed by the pangs of hunger and the fight for life, that\nthe children who are brought into the world are left either very much to\nthemselves or to underlings who have very little interest in the boy's\nwelfare. It is these neglected boys that oftenest produce our great\ncriminals. All boys of this type somehow or other are tied together. The\nneglected boy generally becomes the delinquent and the delinquent boy\nthe criminal, so that what might be said about one might also be said\nabout all. This class constitutes our national deficit when we come to\nconsider our assets in manhood, and the Teacher can do a tremendous\nthing here by helping to form the undeveloped wills of these unfortunate\nfellows.\n\n\nTHE DEFICIENT AND THE DEPENDENT\n\nThe deficient boy and the dependent are really out of the scope of the\nTeacher. The dependent class will have to be taken care of by the\ncharitable institutions of the State, and the deficient boy because of\nhis lack of mental development will always be a ward of the community.\n\n\nTHE WAGE-EARNER AND THE OVERAMBITIOUS BOYS\n\nThe wage-earning boys and the boys of overambitious parents or those who\nare overambitious themselves need all the help and sympathy that they\ncan get from a Teacher. The father who is pushing his boy because of his\nown ambition will very often need to be talked to by the Teacher or his\nfriends, and given an understanding of the crime he is committing\nagainst his own child. The overambitious fellow who is pushing\neverything aside for a definite thing in life will often have to be\ntalked to in the plainest language by the Teacher to get him to see his\nother responsibilities and duties in life. The wage-earning boy who\nworks from early in the morning until late at night to keep bread in his\nmouth and breath in his body will compel the Teacher, if he is really\nthoughtful, to give up some of the things which he has already held\ndearest and possibly lead his wage-earning boy into outdoor activities,\neven on the half holidays which he would naturally spend in the circle\nof his own family.\n\n\nTHE STREET, FOREIGN-BORN AND NEGRO BOYS\n\nThe street, foreign-born and negro boys will furnish very much the same\nkind of problem; because of a general rule, they may be all grouped\nunder the wage-earning class. Some may be more shiftless than others and\nmay need more attention, while others may be merely awaiting the touch\nof sympathy and the helping hand to make strong men out of them. A\ngoodly percentage of our greatest Americans have been foreign-born boys,\nand, if there is any class that the Teacher should be more patient with\nthan others, it is the immigrant and the son of the immigrant.\n\n\n=Grouping Standards=\n\nThe Teacher will find it greatly to his advantage to group his boys\naccording to some standard. Unfortunately, all standards, so far, are\nmore or less artificial, but approximate success may be secured by using\nthe experience of boy workers in various parts of the country. The\nstandard which is most generally used is that of age. It is also the\nmost unsatisfactory. Boys mature physically rather than chronologically.\nThis makes the age standard a poor guess, because a boy may be\nphysically fourteen when he is chronologically eleven, and vice versa.\nIf the age standard be used, it would be preferable to group all the\nboys of twelve years together, then the thirteen-year-old boys in\nanother group, and the same with the fourteen, the fifteen, the sixteen,\nand the seventeen-year-old boys. This would be rather hard to do in\nsmall places, although perfectly feasible in a larger town or city.\nBecause of its impossibility, as far as the rural districts are\nconcerned, it might be well to divide the years from twelve to eighteen\ninto three standards--twelve to fourteen, fourteen to sixteen, and\nsixteen to eighteen. The age grouping, however, will never be reliable\nin achieving results, as the individual physical development varies so\nmuch.\n\nThe height and weight standard is more scientifically correct than the\nage standard, although it has not been tested out enough to warrant any\nauthoritative declaration in its favor. If this method is used for\ngrouping, the standards for athletic competition among the boys might be\nused; that is, all the boys of ninety pounds and under might be put\ntogether, the same being true for those under one hundred and ten, one\nhundred and twenty-five, and one hundred and forty pounds. If height is\nused, boys of fifty-six and a half inches in height and classifying\nunder ninety pounds in weight might be grouped together. Also boys of\nsixty-three inches in height and coming within the one hundred and ten\npound weight. This standard will doubtless become the real basis of all\ngroupings in the future, but as yet it needs more demonstration in order\nthat the various classifications may be made accurately.\n\nA simple and rather satisfactory way of grouping is by the school boy\nor wage-earning boy standard. If the boy happens to be in the grammar\nschool he may be grouped with boys of his own educational advancement;\nso with the boys who are in the secondary or high schools, and the same\nmay be said of working boys who are forced to earn their own livelihood.\n\nPossibly the best and most satisfactory way of grouping boys is by their\ninterest. Some boys will be mutually interested in collecting stamps,\nriding a bicycle, forming a mounted patrol, working with wireless, in\nmusic and orchestra work, etc., and boys grouping together according to\nsuch kindred interests as they manifest has proven most satisfactory in\ngeneral boys' work.\n\n\n=Problems of Boy-handling Simplified by Natural Standard\nGrouping=\n\nGrouping the boys according to natural standards makes the problem of\nhandling them much simpler. Boys between twelve and fourteen are in the\nage of authority, and the word of the Teacher will settle most\ndifficulties that arise. Boys between fourteen and sixteen are in the\nage of experience, and an opportunity must be given them to check up\nwhat they are told by what they are experiencing. Between twelve and\nfourteen authority may be rigid. Between fourteen and sixteen it must be\ngiving way to reason. Authority will still continue to settle the boys'\ndisputes, but it will be the authority that gives reasons for its\naction. Boys between the ages of sixteen and eighteen years can only be\nhandled on the basis of cooperation. They have passed from the stage of\nblindly following what they are told. They have experience enough to\nknow that they are able to do things themselves, and they have\ndiscovered enough things to give them a basis of doing things on their\nown account. The way to handle boys rightly in this group will be by\ntactful suggestion and cooperation on the part of the teacher. There\nwill be very little difficulty with the groupings if the Sunday school\nsuperintendent or teacher respects the natural, group \"ganging\" of the\nboys. The boys themselves group, not according to mental efficiency\ntests, but according to physiological development. Thus we find boys of\nvarious chronological ages in the same gang. A little common sense will\nprevent many blunders.\n\n\n=Securing Teen Age Teachers=\n\nAs soon as Sunday school teaching becomes a dignified, worth-while job,\nmen will be attracted to the task and privilege. The unemployed male\nmembers of the church will then be led to see that there is something\nreal to be achieved. The vision of a symmetrically developed boy is all\nthat is needed to get most men. Of course, they demand a plan, and the\norganized Sunday school class with through-the-week activities will\nsupply that.\n\nSometimes it is a good thing to send the boys themselves after the\nteachers. This has been found to be of great profit in several places.\nThe request coming from the boys means a lot more than coming from the\nsuperintendent. The following extracts from two letters of a teen age\nsuperintendent give point to this idea.\n\n\"On Sunday a bunch of the younger boys came to Mr. Ball, and said, 'We\nhave no teacher; will you get one for us?' Mr. Ball looked at them, and\nsaid, 'Who do you want, fellows?' They looked at each other--this was\nsomething new. 'Who do we want?' and the leader turned around and said\nto the fellows, 'Say, fellows, who _do_ we want?' A hurried consultation\nrevealed the fact that they wanted, of course, one of the prominent men\nof the church. Mr. Ball said, 'All right; get hold of my coat-tail'; and\nthe crew got hold, and formed a snake line, and out of the school they\nwent, upstairs to one of the class-rooms, in search of Mr. B. They found\nthat he had left for home, and the boys looked at Mr. Ball and said,\n'Now, what shall we do?' Mr. Ball said, 'Well, fellows, you know where\nhe lives. I can't go with you, but you fellows go to his home and camp\nthere until he says yes.' Off they started. Several men were telling me\nthis story, and one is a neighbor of Mr. B's. He said that when he got\nhome from Sunday school last Sunday--a bitter cold day--he went out into\nhis back yard, and, glancing over the fences, he saw a bunch of twelve\nboys lined up on Mr. B's back porch, stamping their feet. He called\nacross to them, 'Say, fellows, what's the matter?' 'We're looking for a\nSunday school teacher,' they yelled back. He said he thought he'd drop.\n\n\"The next morning Mr. Ball met Mr. B. in the street car, and he grinned\nacross at him and said, 'Did a group of boys call on you yesterday, Mr.\nB.?' 'They certainly did,' he replied, with a broad grin. 'Well, did\nthey get you?' 'Did they get me? Yes, they sure got me, and from now on\nI'm going to teach their class; there was nothing else for me to do.'\"\n\nThe story of another teacher acquired in this way reads as follows:\n\n\"Before the boys got to his house the man was getting ready for bed. He\nhad fixed the furnace, and had his bath robe on when the door-bell rang.\nHe had just said to his wife that he did not think any one would call\nthat night, and it was then about nine-thirty. When the bell rang his\nwife snickered,' as he put it. He went down stairs, turned the gas on\nlow, and opened the door. Three older fellows stood on the porch. He\nlooked at them and they at him and then he asked them in. They filed\nin--fellows 17 and 18 years of age. He led the way into the library,\nlike a monk in flowing robes, and the three fellows followed. Seating\nthemselves solemnly they stated the cause of their visit, and he started\nto remonstrate, etc. They settled themselves comfortably in their\nchairs, and said they had come to camp there until he 'saw it.' This is\nthe man's own story. He said that when he saw they were in earnest he\ntold them he would like to teach a class of fellows such as they, and\nthat he would take the class if they would get on the job.\"\n\n\n=The Teen Age Older Boy as Teacher=\n\nIncreasing attention is being given in some places to the training of\nolder boys for the teaching of younger groups in the Sunday school. On\n\"Decision Day\" volunteers are being asked to enter a Training Class, and\nchoice Christian boys are in this way being interested in the teaching\nwork of the school. In other places older boys are being put in charge\nof younger boys' classes, and are meeting, either on Sunday or on a\nweek-night, for training. This latter plan affords real laboratory work,\nwithout which teacher-training courses are pure theory. We learn by\ndoing.\n\nThe teen age boy as teacher will ultimately solve the problem of the\nteen age teaching force. As Japan, Corea, India and China must\neventually be Christianized by native Christian forces, so the teen age\nin the Sunday school will, of necessity, in principle and practice, be\nled by the teen age. The duty of the missionary in non-christian lands\nis to train the native forces for the task of Christianizing these\nlands; likewise, the men of this Sunday school generation must lead and\ntrain the older adolescent in the Secondary Division of the school for\nthe leading of the teen age into the service of the church.\n\n\nPREPARATION FOR TEACHING\n\nThe really great task of the Christian adult and older boy in the Sunday\nschool is a real training for service. Stopping the leak from the teen\nage in the Sunday school will never be accomplished until workers are\nwilling to prepare and equip themselves to a point where their wisdom,\nability and consecration will attract the active minds of the teen boys.\nEvery teacher should be an International Standard Teacher Training\ngraduate. Information concerning this course can be obtained from any\nSunday School Association.\n\n\nPATIENCE NECESSARY IN THE TEACHER\n\nThings cannot happen in a day. Christianity itself is a growing,\ndeveloping thing. \"First the seed, then the blade, then the ear, then\nthe full corn in the ear.\" Have patience! Maybe you will have to win the\nboys yourself first, before you can win them for Him. Read this letter\nfrom a man who has the vision, the plan and a lot of common-sense\npatience, and think it over:\n\n\"Very recently I came across your card, and it brought to mind the\npromise I made to report progress with my class of boys.\n\n\"You see so many people in the course of a week, to say nothing of a\ncouple of months, that it may be well to remind you that I am the chap\nwho came to your room in ----, and afterward stuck to you all the way\nto ---- when you were leaving town.\n\n\"When I saw you I was having an average attendance of three, if one is\nallowed to stretch a fraction of a boy into a whole one, and a\nmembership in the class of four. These boys had lost all interest in the\nSunday school, and it was only that 'Dad said you must' that any of them\ncame at all to the service.\n\n\"Today I have done as well as the faithful servants, and behold my four\ntalents have gained other four. There is no longer a membership and\naverage attendance, for they all come when they are not sick or out of\ntown; and one thing which is a wonder to me is that a good many of the\nboys from other schools come to us whenever there is no service in their\nown churches.\n\n\"I have not said 'now boys' to this class once, but we have gone hunting\ncaves and are going again next Thursday, and we are all going camping if\nwe can arrange a time during the summer.\n\n\"These boys, who used to come to the church with a lurching walk and\nunderlip stuck out, now come in like men. They have covered the class\nroom walls with pictures from magazines, have brought rocking chairs\nfrom home and use their room as the place to plan the fun for the\nfollowing week. They have, after some pretty violent pushing from the\nteacher, petitioned the powers to give the basement of the church over\nto them and the other classes of intermediate grade for the purpose of\nhaving a social evening once each week. The petition has been granted\nand we will probably open up about May 16th.\n\n\"None of my class show any violent signs of getting converted yet, but\nwhen one considers that this is a class who could not keep a teacher\nover three or four Sundays; who used to start a rough-house on all\nproper and improper occasions, and who had been known to throw books or\nany other handy article when they got sick of hearing any more Bible, I\nthink I can report progress.\n\n\"The most of my boys were arrested a couple of months ago for breaking\ninto summer camps and looking around. Today three of them came to my\noffice with one of their friends who had cut his foot and told me all\nabout their trouble, owning up to the whole business and ending by\nsaying that if I would take their Boy Scout society they would cut all\nthat kind of business out. I wish to God I had the time to take up this\nBoy Scout job, but I have not; but I will do the next best thing by\ntaking them hiking on Thursday, which is my day of rest.\n\n\"One can't teach boys like these the beauties of religion any more than\nhe can teach Greek to a puppy. They are not up to this kind of thing, so\nI am trying to teach them to be men, and when we get that lesson we\nwill try the higher one. Of course, I give them the moral side of every\nlesson and point out how God has worked through some mighty mean\nmaterial.\n\n\"We still have a fight once in a while during class hours, and I call\ntime when they get too near the stove, but this is to be expected in a\nclass which is entirely self-governing. I never have said one word about\nanything they have done in the class, except to impress upon them that\nthey should be men and the lesson is working slowly.\n\n\"Now, my good sir, don't try to reply to this letter. I know you get a\ngood many just like it, and I am writing just to give you my experience\nin the hope that it may help some one else; also because I promised to\nlet you know what progress the class was making.\n\n\"_If you will drop into ---- in a year from now I hope to be able to point\nto a much larger class than the first six months has shown and to show\nyou the majority in the church_.\n\n    \"Thanking you for reading this far and\n    with kindest wishes, I am\n                         \"Very truly yours.\"\n\n\n=The Boy the Main Issue=\n\nThe idea that must continually be kept in mind is the boy's good and the\nboy. A lot of our teachers in the public schools are trying to teach the\nsubject-matter of the book when they ought to be teaching the boy. They\nemploy static methods. You can get up a goal for attainment and the boy\nwill reach the goal. Generally, however, he will go no higher than you\npoint. Your teaching should be dynamic rather than static.\n\nAim to secure balanced, symmetrical activities for your class. Remember\nyour boy is four-sided, that he is physical, mental, social and\nreligious in his nature. Do not neglect any one side of him, but get the\nproper agencies to cooperate with you for these ends. _Let the boys do\nwhatever they can. Merely insist on adequate adult supervision_. Above\nall be patient, practical and business-like and remember that old heads\nnever grow on young shoulders. _The Sunday school Teacher should take\nhis place in the community by the side of the teacher of secular\ninstruction. He is an educator, and is dealing with the most plastic and\nmost valuable asset in the community--boyhood_. Let him take his task\nseriously, look upon his privilege with a desire to accomplish great\nthings, and always remember that the good of the boy is his ultimate\naim.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE TEEN AGE TEACHER\n\nBrumbaugh.--The Making of a Teacher ($1.00).\n\nFoster.--Starting to Teach (.40).\n\nJames.--Talks to Teachers ($1.50).\n\nKirkpatrick.--Individual in the Making ($1.25).\n\nMcElfresh.--Training of Sunday-school Teachers (_in preparation_).\n\nSchauffler.--Lamoreaux-Brumbaugh-Lawrance. Training the Teacher ($1.00).\n\n\n\n\nXX\n\nDANGER POINTS\n\n\nA real danger lies in boys' groups which are seemingly organized, yet\nwhich really have no organization. A few Bible classes have officers,\nsuch as president, secretary, and treasurer, and a few standing\ncommittees, all of whom take no real part in the class life, the teacher\ndoing everything himself and attempting to deceive the boys by giving\nthem a show of organization. Such classes are detrimental to the spirit\nof boys' work, and should not be tolerated.\n\nThe teacher who cannot retire his leadership to the rear of the class,\ninstead of posing at the front, is another serious damper to organized\nwork with boys in the Sunday school. A leader should have a strong\nChristian character, have the quality of commanding the respect of\nboys, have the ability to direct boys in doing things, be keen in his\nsympathy, have patience and persistence, and be absolutely natural in\nhis bearing. He encourages freedom of thought on the part of the boys,\nbelieves that a boy has brains enough of his own to think on any point\nthat may be discussed, is open and above-board in his teaching, has a\nstrong grip upon the practical truths of life, and tries to lead his\nboys out of doubt and difficulty by the path of service.\n\nIf dangers such as these be eliminated from boys' work in connection\nwith the Sunday school, and if the spirit of sincerity and earnestness\npervades the work of the leaders, there should be little difficulty in\nraising the boy through the physical, social and mental to the larger\nspiritual expression for which the church stands. Every week hundreds of\nboys of the adolescent years are lining up for Christian service all\nover our land, and if the ideas and directions given these boys are of\nthe right sort, within one generation there will be no boy problem, for\nthe boy problem of this generation is not the problem of the boys, but\nthe problem of the men who are leading boys.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON DANGER POINTS\n\nThe Older Boy Sunday School Superintendent (_American Youth_, October,\n1912). (.20).\n\nRobinson.--The Adolescent Boy in the Sunday School (_American Youth_,\nApril, 1911). Single copies out of print but bound volume for 1911 may\nbe obtained for $1.50.\n\nStatten.--Danger Lines in Using Boys (_American Youth_, June, 1912)\n(.20).\n\n\n\n\nXXI\n\nTHE RURAL SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\n\nThe problem of the rural Sunday school is its size and equipment. The\naverage number in the school is around eighty, and the building is\nnearly always a single room. Some very small villages, near great\ncities, and even some struggling mission Sunday schools in these cities\nhave to contend with the same problem. Some of this volume will apply to\nthe rural Sunday school, and some will not. It is the province of this\nchapter to point out the parts that apply.\n\nEverything that has to deal with the Organized Class or group is\napplicable. The Organized Class is the unit and beginning of all\norganization. The boy gang, or group, is common to both city and rural\ndistrict. There is no problem in either place, if there is no group of\nboys. The Departmental groupings may not be feasible. Usually they are\nnot. There may not be enough groups of boys to form a club or Boy Scout\nTroop or a chapter of a boy order. Generally this is true. And, after\nall, it is a distinct gain to the Sunday school, as the grouping that is\nmade by force of compulsion is the Organized Class or group. The chapter\non the Organized Sunday School Bible Class will apply itself to the\nrural school, wherever there is a half dozen boys and it is given a\nchance.\n\nThe chapter on Bible Study will likewise fit into the rural situation.\nNo matter whether the boys be urban or rural, they demand Bible Study\nthat will fit into their religious, developing needs. Perhaps Bible\nStudy courses with rural application need to be arranged, and I am led\nto believe that the illustrative material should be vastly different\nfrom that used for city boys, and of a rural character. However, there\nhas been too much written and spoken of the difference between rural and\nurban boys. The differences discovered by the writer seem to be all in\nfavor of the country boy--more wholesome surroundings, more quiet and\nless nerve-destroying interests, and more time, because of fewer\ncommercial amusements to really discover things for themselves. The\naverage rural boy has read more and knows more about current events than\nthe city-bred lad. The country boy should not be provincialized by his\nBible Study, or anything else. He should be given as large a touch with\nthe world of men and letters as any one else. The illustrations used in\nLesson Helps, etc., should have some bearing on the life he leads, that\nthe application of the study may germinate in his daily life, else the\nstudy will have little meaning, but he needs no separate, distinct\ncourses. It is not a different selection of material, but a different\ntreatment that is needed. The Denominational Leaders will sooner or\nlater be forced to heed this cry from the largest section of the Sunday\nschool field. Until they do Graded Lessons will not gain materially in\nthe open country.\n\nOn the other hand, where there is only one group of adolescent boys in\nthe Sunday school, Graded Lessons are practicable, as well as necessary\nto the best religious development of boyhood. The grading is cut down to\na minimum, and it merely means fewer classes studying the same lesson.\nIt would mean just the one group, with a new course each year. The\ndifficulty is not with the lessons, but with the school officials and\nthe teacher.\n\nThe chapter on Through-the-Week Activities is very applicable. The gang\nwill get together some time, on Saturday night, if not at another time.\nThe Young Men's Christian Association County Work Secretaries are\ngetting the boys of the open country together for week-night meetings\nwithout trouble. \"Get something doing\" and see how quickly the rural\nboys will get together. These activities again will differ greatly from\nthose of city boys. There will be great emphasis on the Social and\nMental as against the Out-of-Door doings of the urban adolescents. The\nprinciple already laid down, to let the boys themselves decide the\nactivity, will settle this difficulty at the start.\n\nSo as to the chapter on the Teen Age Teacher! Boys and men are the same\npretty much, wherever they live. They may be more deliberate, less\nshowy, and steadier in some places than others, but we cannot admit\ninferiority or lack of interest on the part of the splendid rural boy.\nHe is filling the big jobs in our cities today, and will as long as the\ncities last. The teen age teacher in the rural school needs to master\nhimself for his task. He is doing a bigger piece of work than his\nbrother of the city school. He is preparing men for urban leadership.\n\nTo make a long story short, the parts of this book that deal with the\nsmall group are applicable to the rural Sunday school. The teen age\nteacher in the rural school should begin with these, and maybe after a\nwhile he will see opportunities for larger groupings. The Young Men's\nChristian Association County Work Secretary certainly is. Inter-Sunday\nschool work is possible by the Sunday school forces themselves.\n\nA fitting close to this chapter is the challenge to the teen age\nteachers of the rural schools, which Mr. Preston G. Orwig has hurled at\nNorth America:\n\n\"Every rural school has its quota of workers who are, perhaps\nunconsciously, limiting their own usefulness, as well as retarding the\nprogress of the school, by meeting every new plan of work proposed with\nthe statement that, 'That plan is all right for the city, but it won't\nwork here because we have so few members and our people live so far\napart.' With the exception of the man who constantly reminds us that 'we\ndid not do it this way thirty years ago,' and who, in some cases, is\nreally a menace to the work, there is no greater obstacle confronting\nworkers in rural schools.\n\n\"In a recent conference of Secondary Division workers in rural Sunday\nschools, a speaker was advocating the necessity of recognizing the\nfourfold--physical, mental, social and spiritual--life of the scholars,\nin planning for the work of the class. The tremendous opportunity of\nteachers for reaching adolescent boys for Jesus Christ, through their\nphysical and social instincts, was emphasized. Luke 2:52 was quoted to\nclinch the argument. In the discussion that followed everybody seemed\nsatisfied that a broader policy of work should be pursued. At this\njuncture a man in the audience arose, and, in a most uncompromising\nmanner, attempted to show that it was useless to promote such methods\nfor rural schools, as the scattered population and limited membership\nmade it impossible to develop the work along the lines proposed.\n\n\"Later in the day, two of the members in this man's own class were\ninterviewed, and, in answer to direct questions concerning the above two\npoints, stated that during the winter months older boys and girls, many\nof whom attended that very school, went as often as three nights a week\nto a small pond in the community to skate, some of them traveling from\nthree to four miles to get there. Other sports were indulged in,\naccording to the season, and, according to these boys, they seldom\nexperienced great difficulty in getting 'a crowd' together. Frequently\ntheir games wound up in a grand free-for-all fight.\n\n\"Now, had this teacher recognized the educative value of supervised play\nand planned to meet his fellows on the ice, as a class, he would have\nformed contacts there which he could never hope to form by simply\nmeeting them in the Sunday afternoon session. In addition to that he\nwould have an opportunity to help the class to apply practically the\ntruths of the Sunday lesson in the activities of everyday life.\n\n\"It would be well for such workers to remember that in some of our\nlarger cities one must oftentimes travel from one to two hours on\ncrowded trolley cars, in distance, perhaps, eight or ten miles, in order\nto meet with his class. Again, in some sections of the city, populated\nmostly by foreigners, the Sunday schools are often smaller, in point of\nmembership, than many of the rural schools.\n\n\"It matters not whether the boy or girl lives in the city or country,\nthe needs are the same. What is needed is 'Visioned Leadership.'\n\n\"It is, in a sense, pathetic, to note that these objections are always\nof adult origin and are not the verdict of the boys. They, however, must\nsuffer in a handicapped development, through the shortsightedness of\ntheir leaders. Where there's a will, there's a way.\"\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE RURAL SUNDAY SCHOOL\n\nCope.--Efficiency in the Sunday School ($1.00).\n\nFiske.--The Challenge of the Country (.75).\n\nThe Rural Church Message--Men and Religion Movement ($1.00).\n\n\n\n\nXXII\n\nTHE RELATION OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TO COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS\n\n\nThe church school is not, by any means, the only force in the community,\nas far as the boy is concerned, but it is destined to be the biggest\nforce. The church, itself, is the most permanent institution of the\ncommunity, and will always be so, as long as humanity remains religious.\nIn the church are all the conserving elements of the community--slow to\nchange, it stands for the best. Having adopted anything after approved\nworth commends it, it tenaciously holds it in trust. Communities may\nhave homes and schools, but, without the church, they are not good\nplaces in which to live. The church, then, because it is most permanent,\nshould tie the loyalty of the boy to herself. This she best does\nthrough her school--the Sunday school.\n\nThere are, however, other church forces in the community--organizations\nfostered and supported by the material and moral enthusiasm of the\nmembers of the church. Some of these organizations have been frankly\nformed for the purpose of assisting the church in some special field of\nreligious education. This is essentially true of such boy organizations\nas the Knights of King Arthur, Knights of St. Paul, Knights of the Holy\nGrail, and the Boys' Brigade. It is essentially true, also, of the Young\nMen's Christian Association. The first of these--the boy\norganizations--constitutes a method which is at the disposal of the\nchurch. The second--the Christian Association--has grown to be a mighty\noperating force, with hundreds of employed officers and millions of\ndollars of property. Save for the fact that church members compose the\ndirectorates, it is independent of the church. With this and other\norganizations what can the church's relationship be? The seeming answer\nwould be cooperation--a glad working together for the general betterment\nof the community itself by tried and approved plans. However, a new\ncondition has arisen, which offers more than general cooperation between\nthe Church and these organizations for the teen age boy. Until recently\nthe church school had no clear-cut method for working with the teen age\nlad, while the boy organizations referred to had such a method, and the\nYoung Men's Christian Association, after years of work, has a force of\nmore or less experienced experts in boy life in its employ. The methods\nof these boy organizations and the boy experts of the Young Men's\nChristian Association must have a field of operation, and the best\nfield, of course, is that of the church school, where boys should be\nfound. The Young Men's Christian Association, in its own building,\ntouches but a minute fraction of the boy life of the city in which it\noperates, and, to touch the city boy life, must get out of its building.\nIt then has a choice of fields, Public Playground, Public School, or\nCommunity Betterment. If, however, it is true to the principle of its\nfounding--to be an arm of the Church among young men--that which it\nattempts to do should be tied up to the Church, or, in the case of teen\nage boys, to the church school. To accomplish the latter, what shall the\nprocedure be? Shall the Young Men's Christian Association win the boy,\nand then deliver him, saved for service, to the Church, or shall the\nYoung Men's Christian Association work with the Church as part of the\nChurch inside the church school? Common sense would say both ways, and\nall other ways possible, just so the boy stands saved and in the Church\nfor service. And this is as it should be, and the employed experts of\nthe Young Men's Christian Association should render service to the\nChurch, both within and without the Church--and this service may be\nthrough method, or organization, or both. At all times the weakness of\nthe Church should be the Association's opportunity to help the Church\nrealize herself, and this can best be accomplished by the constructive\nsuggestion that works its way out on the inside of the organization.\nLittle help comes from battering a wall on the outside. At least it does\nnot help the house inside any. Cooperation, then, must be understood as\nthe internal assistance given the Church herself to realize the need and\nthe plan to meet it.\n\nIn this regard every organization must clearly understand the church it\nseeks to aid. Most organizations have singular aims and motives. The\nChurch is a complex organization, with many needs. The church school has\nmany divisions and departments, has two sexes to minister to, embraces\nall ages, from the cradle to the grave, and usually has no paid\nofficers. Through it all proportion has to be maintained--balance of\norganization, fair opportunity for all, young or old, male and female. A\nplan for the education of the teen age boy will no more solve the\nproblem of the Sunday school than it would the educational, physical\nemployment, or social difficulties of the Young Men's Christian\nAssociation. In proper relationship to the other factors of the problem\nin church school, or Young Men's Christian Association, it would help\nthe whole organization. It surely takes more than plaster to make a\nhouse, important as is plaster.\n\nThe Sunday school has its own problems of organization, sexes, ages,\nequipment, equality, fair-play, opportunity, leadership, etc. No\norganization can help these problems from the outside, or by emphasis on\nany one phase. Gain in one department may be loss in another. The Sunday\nschool needs proportionate gain.\n\nThe Sunday school, therefore, should welcome any organization or method\nthat bids fair to help in the solution of its problems. It should\neagerly avail itself, especially, of the aid that the Boy Life Expert of\nthe Young Men's Christian Association can give, thus reducing religious,\neconomic duplication, and achieving united conservation of boy life. On\nthe other hand, the Boy Life Expert of the Young Men's Christian\nAssociation should thoroughly acquaint himself with the genius of the\nSunday school, the plan of its organization, and the pith of all its\nproblems of sex and age, leadership and training, aims and objectives.\nHe should also know thoroughly the policies of denominational and\ninterdenominational Sunday school bodies, and, where there are\ndenominations in plural quantity, this may mean a task worth while.\nSometimes it is a slow process. Surely, so! The Kingdom, with all the\nwisdom of Heaven, has been twenty centuries in the building, and it has\nbeen wrought out in the Church. The contribution that each man or woman\nmakes must be small, but likewise great in its possibilities, if wisely,\npatiently given.\n\nAn organization cannot be permanently helped by introducing into its\nlife the methods of another without the process of assimilation; neither\ncan strength be given merely a part of the body to cure the whole.\nOrganic tone is needed. Intelligent, Sunday school-wide cooperation!\nThis is the invitation of the church school to all existing\norganizations. The conditions of the challenge are not easy, but the\ntask is interesting and worth while, and the promise of increased\nefficiency is great indeed.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY ON SUNDAY SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS\n\nLawrance.--The Cooperation Sunday Schools Desire (_American Youth_,\nApril, 1911) (.20).\n\nFlood.--A Federation of Sunday School Clubs (_American Youth_, April,\n1911) (.20).\n\nAlexander.--Sunday School Use of Association Equipment (_American\nYouth_, April, 1911) (.20).\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1: Makes provisions for sick and shut-ins but essentially meant for\nadults.]\n\n[2: A large part of this chapter is taken from Secondary Division\nLeaflet Number 2, International Sunday School Association.]\n\n[3: Older Boy]\n\n[4: Adult]\n\n[5: Much of this Chapter has been drawn from Secondary Division Leaflet\nNumber 4, International Sunday School Association.]\n\n[6: Much of this Chapter has been drawn from Secondary Division Leaflet\nNumber 1, International Sunday School Association.]\n\n[7: The Executive Committee of the Department should have membership on\nthe Sunday School Board.]\n\n[8: These conference may also be state wide in their scope.]\n\n[9: This Chapter is largely drawn from International Sunday School\nAssociation, Second Division Leaflet Number 5.]\n\n[10: This Chapter is a compilation of articles written by the author in\nthe _Westminster Teacher_ and _Illinois Trumpet Call_.]\n\n[11: This Chapter is a blending of articles written for the Boy Scout\nMaster's Handbook, the _Adult Magazine_ and hitherto unpublished\nmaterial.]","title":"The Boy and the Sunday School: A Manual of Principle and Method for the Work of the Sunday School with Teen Age Boys","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":41972}