{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_38346/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_38346","id":"gutenberg_38346","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38346","summary":null,"tags":["Category: How To ...","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Teaching & Education","Sunday schools"],"text":"Produced by Charlene Taylor, Douglas L Alley, III and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n(This file was produced from images generously made\navailable by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSunday-School Success\n\n\n  Sunday-School Success\n\n  A Book of Practical Methods\n  for Sunday-School Teachers\n  and Officers\n\n  By\n\n  Amos R. Wells\n  Author of \"Business,\" \"When Thou Hast Shut Thy\n  Door,\" \"Social Evenings,\" etc.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n  NEW YORK      CHICAGO      TORONTO\n  Fleming H. Revell Company\n  Publishers of Evangelical Literature\n\n\n\n\n  Copyright, 1897, by\n  FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\n\n  THE NEW YORK TYPE-SETTING COMPANY\n\n  THE CAXTON PRESS\n\n\n\n\nPreface\n\n\nIn these pages I have described the methods of the most successful\nteachers and Sunday-schools I have known. While a large part of the\nbook is the direct fruit of my own experience in Sabbath and secular\nschools, it sets forth, as every teacher will understand, what I have\nlearned from my failures rather than from my successes.\n\nThough the volume has something to say on all the great Sunday-school\nproblems, it does not pretend to be a complete manual; indeed, who\ncould prepare one on so stupendous a theme? If it justifies its\nappearance among the admirable treatises already published for\nSunday-school workers, it will be because it presents with frankness\nthe methods found helpful by an average teacher, who never had charge\nof a large school or a large class, but in district school, small\ncollege, and small Sunday-school has struggled with the practical\nproblems of a teacher, and in some of them at least, like Sentimental\nTommy, has \"found a way.\"\n\nA large number of these chapters have appeared in the \"Sunday-school\nTimes,\" and others in the \"Sunday-school Journal\" of the Methodists,\nthe \"Pilgrim Teacher\" of the Congregationalists, the \"Westminster\nTeacher\" of the Presbyterians, the \"Baptist Teacher,\" and the \"Golden\nRule.\" I am grateful to these periodicals for permission to include\nthis material in my book.\n\n  AMOS R. WELLS.\n\n  BOSTON, September, 1897.\n\n\n\n\nContents\n\n\n                                                     PAGE\n\n      I. THE TEACHER'S CROWN                            9\n\n     II. WHO SHOULD TEACH IN THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL?        14\n\n    III. PREPARING THE LESSON                          21\n\n     IV. SOMETHING ABOUT TEACHERS' MEETINGS            32\n\n      V. A TEACHER WITH A SCHEDULE                     39\n\n     VI. MY LESSON CHART                               42\n\n    VII. THE VALUE OF A MONOTESSARON                   46\n\n   VIII. GETTING ATTENTION                             52\n\n     IX. KEEPING ATTENTION                             57\n\n      X. THE IMPORTANCE OF QUESTIONING                 64\n\n     XI. A GOOD QUESTION                               69\n\n    XII. INSPIRING QUESTIONS                           75\n\n   XIII. TRIGGER-TEACHING                              80\n\n    XIV. GALVANIC TEACHING                             85\n\n     XV. SERIAL TEACHING                               89\n\n    XVI. TEACHING THE PSALMS                           95\n\n   XVII. THOSE TEMPERANCE AND MISSIONARY LESSONS      104\n\n  XVIII. TOPICAL LESSONS                              114\n\n    XIX. INTRODUCING THOUGHTS                         119\n\n     XX. ILLUSTRATIONS AND APPLICATIONS               125\n\n    XXI. RIGHTEOUS PADDING                            130\n\n   XXII. THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND THE NEWSPAPER          134\n\n  XXIII. ON TAKING THINGS FOR GRANTED                 139\n\n   XXIV. UTILIZING THE LATE SCHOLAR                   143\n\n    XXV. SIDE-TRACKING THE TEACHER                    146\n\n   XXVI. THE PROBLEM OF THE VISITOR                   150\n\n  XXVII. \"UNDER PETTICOAT GOVERNMENT\"                 154\n\n XXVIII. THE TEACHER'S THREE GRACES                   160\n\n   XXIX. SOMETHING TO BELONG TO                       163\n\n    XXX. THROUGH EYE-GATE                             167\n\n   XXXI. FOUNDATION WORK                              178\n\n  XXXII. THE TRIAL BALANCE                            193\n\n XXXIII. AT THE HELM                                  201\n\n  XXXIV. THE SUPERINTENDENT'S CHANCE                  209\n\n   XXXV. THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND THE WEATHER            213\n\n  XXXVI. A PROFITABLE PICNIC                          217\n\n XXXVII. A SINGING SUNDAY-SCHOOL                      221\n\nXXXVIII. A PRAYING SUNDAY-SCHOOL                      227\n\n  XXXIX. S. S. AND C. E.                              233\n\n     XL. TEACHERS IN 8VO                              241\n\n    XLI. AROUND THE COUNCIL FIRE                      256\n\n   XLII. THE INCORPORATION OF IDEAS                   267\n\n  XLIII. FROM A SUPERINTENDENT'S NOTEBOOK             272\n\n   XLIV. FROM A TEACHER'S NOTEBOOK                    287\n\n\n\n\nSunday-School Success\n\n\n\n\nChapter I\n\nThe Teacher's Crown\n\n\nIn one of those dreams which are truer than waking there passed before\nme a long line of the Sunday-school teachers I have known. One after the\nother they appeared--those that had taught my childish lips to repeat\nthe Bible words, those that had led my youth into the opening glories of\nthe International Lessons, those that had put to rest the rising doubts\nof the young man and clinched his faith to the Rock of ages; those,\nalso, of less blessed memory, whom I knew in early or later years, that\nhad done none of these things, but other good things not so good.\n\nAnd I noted in astonishment, as each came into view, that all were\ndecked with diverse crowns. I had not looked long before I saw that\nthese crowns were not arbitrary and artificial, but sprung from the\nvery substance of the character of each. They had all received their\nreward, but according to their deeds.\n\nFirst came a teacher whom I remembered merely as an eloquent talker. His\nwords were deftly chosen, his sentences smoothly formed. His teaching\nwas a charming harangue, bright with metaphor, flashing with sparkling\nparables. I loved to listen to him. I was as proud of him as he was of\nhimself. To be sure, the only good thing he ever did for me was to\ninspire in me the vain desire to become an equally eloquent talker, but\nyet I was sorry he had not received a nicer crown. It looked very\nbeautiful, as if it were thickly studded with lovely pearls richly\niridescent in the sun; but when he came near I saw that each pearl was a\nlittle bubble swollen from a reservoir within. These bubbles were\nbursting all over the crown, fresh ones ever taking their place. It was\na very pretty sight, yet a very trivial crown, and I was sorry for him.\n\nThere were several worthy teachers in the line whom I remembered as\ncareful instructors in Bible history. They had every date at tongue's\nend, knew the order of the books and their contents, the relationships\nof the prominent characters to each other, all details of place and\ncustoms. They could repeat Bible verses by the yard, and gave prizes for\nsuch feats of unreasoning memory. They were mechanical, but thorough and\nuseful. They had taught me how to dig into the Bible and study it as\nhard as I would study calculus. I was grateful to them for this, though\nthey did no more, and so was rather sorry to observe their frail crowns.\nThey were all of paper, neatly folded and plaited, and as I came nearer\nI saw that each crown was made up of leaves of the Bible.\n\nI saw there also two or three teachers who had always taught with a\nsad countenance, teaching, not because they loved to teach, but\nbecause it was their duty to. \"These,\" I thought, \"will be joyful, now\nthat their distasteful task is over and their reward has come\"; but\nwhen I could see their faces clearly they looked mournful as ever.\nTheir crowns were ebon black, pointed with little urns and lined with\ncrape, and they often shifted them, pressing their hands gloomily to\ntheir brows, as if the crowns were very ill fitting and uncomfortable.\nThey wore them with a martyr's air.\n\nThere were several teachers whom I remembered with gratitude because\nthey had been so careful, in teaching, to emphasize always the\nfundamental doctrines of Christianity. These doctrines were the warp\nand woof of the solid fabric of their lessons. Over and over, in the\nsame set phrases, they pressed those great truths, until, strive as\none would, one could never forget them. But they never taught me the\nrelation between these blessed doctrines and my own life. For years\nthe formulas they had taught me remained for me mere words. And so I\nwas not at all surprised to find their symbolic crowns solid and rich,\nbut not attractive, for they were thickly set with jewels in the\nrough. Here and there, from beneath the incrusting stone, some\nmagnificent gem would flash out, but the beauty and splendor of most\nof them were hidden.\n\nIn my fantastic dream I saw another, who had been a good teacher and a\nvery poor one by turns. His piety and zeal were subject to great\nfluctuations, and a Sunday's teaching from him, carefully thought out,\nfull of wise helpfulness, would be followed by a fortnight or more of\nquestions read out of a question-book, lifeless and mechanical. I was\nprepared, therefore, to understand the meaning of his crown, which\nbore many beautiful gems, but these gems gave intermittent light,\nflashing out for a moment with most brilliant hues, then suddenly\ngrowing dull and dark.\n\nOne alone of all I saw in my strange dream wore a looking-glass crown.\nHe had done his Sunday-school teaching, I had always feared, for the\npraise of men, to be seen of them. His attitude, his pompous words and\ngestures, irresistibly suggested to me always the posturing of an\nactor before a looking-glass. And so his crown was all a\nmirror--clear, bright, beautiful, but mirroring a looking-glass soul.\n\nAnd now, closing the long procession, who are these I see? A\nthrice-blessed band, to me ever sacred. There is the cheery little\nmatron whose brisk kindliness gave charm to my introduction into\nSunday-school life. There is the quiet and low-voiced lady whose\ngentle teachings carried me many a step toward my Saviour. There is\nthe thoughtful and saintly woman whose prayers for the school-boy\nwent up, I know, night and morning; whose urgings were so earnest,\nbrave, and wise. And there is the noble-hearted man, familiar with a\nyoung collegian's perplexities, sympathetic as a woman, trustful as a\nhero, strong and uplifting in word and friendly deed. I see them all,\nand from their glorified heads a wonder shining, a crown of light,\nbeautiful as the love-gleam from a mother's eye. And every one of the\ncrowding star-points of those crowns is for a life won to the happy\nservice of the Master.\n\nAs I gazed with tear-dimmed eyes at the dear vision, an angel stood at\nmy side and asked me, \"What are all these thou hast seen?\" \"Forms,\" I\nanswered, \"of Christ's teachers I have met; of my own teachers, these\nlast, all crowned as they have taught.\" \"Yes,\" answered the angel, \"but\nyou have seen more than that. You have seen among them the crown you\nyourself will wear when your teaching days are over. Which shall it be?\"\n\n\n\n\nChapter II\n\nWho Should Teach in the Sunday-School?\n\n\nThe Master, who loves little children, stood in the Sunday-school door\nand cried to all that came up, \"Who will teach my children about me?\"\nAnd they all with one consent began to make excuse.\n\nThe preacher passing by said with conviction, \"I have my sermons to\npreach, and Sunday-school work distracts my thought from them.\" Then\nanswered the Master: \"Crucify your pride in words, and seek the glory\nof deeds. This is your true sermon, to bring me close to human hearts.\nThus did I most gladly preach, when on earth, to small classes and not\nto throngs. Thus should my ministers most gladly preach, face to face,\none to half a dozen. You have many pulpits more effective than the\nelegantly furnished one to which you mount by three steps. They are\nthe bedside, the wayside, the prayer-meeting table, the Sunday-school\nchair. Lovest thou me? Feed my lambs.\"\n\nThe teacher, when invited, shook his head with a sigh. \"I teach all\nthe week, and I am so tired! Why should I not rest on Sunday?\" Then\nanswered the Master: \"The truest rest is a little change in work. Your\nSunday-school and day-school will invigorate each other. It is I who\nhave given you the sweet power of leading young lives. Should you not\nuse it in leading them to me? Have you not seen how teaching your\nscholars in holy things the first day of the week draws them closer to\nyou in your secular teaching of the other days? Do you not rejoice in\nthe opportunity this work gives you to get an insight into your\nscholars' characters and mold them more directly than by the\nroundabout route of grammar and geography? Indeed, if I excuse any\nfrom my Sunday-school, you, to whom I have intrusted in especial\nmeasure the teaching gift, must not be the one.\"\n\nThe business man rejected the proposal with emphasis, saying: \"As a\nmatter of course, Sunday-school teaching is quite out of my line. My\ndays are kept in close contact with dull matter, with cloth and coal\nand wood and iron. I have no time for books, except day-books and\nledgers. My mechanical, routine business quite unfits me for religious\nteaching.\" To that the Master replied, smiling kindly: \"I was a\ncarpenter, my son, but holy thoughts kept pace with my plane, and firm\nconclusions were clinched with my hammer. And at evening, work done, I\nfound time for prayer and meditation and calling young children about\nme to talk with them. Your contact with men and things makes you one\nof the most valuable of Sunday-school teachers. What parables are\nacted all around you, in nature, in your work, in the lives of your\nhelpers! What illustrations lie heaped up in your business experience,\nready to your hand! Most of these young people in my Sunday-school\nwill choose some business like yours. How happy for them, then, if\nthey could have you to tell them beforehand of its perils, strengthen\nthem for its difficulties, point them the road to success and true\nhappiness! No; I can better miss preacher and teacher from my\nSunday-school than you men of affairs.\"\n\nThen came the care-worn housewife. \"Master,\" said she, \"I am perplexed\nand troubled about many things. My days, and often my nights, are\ncrowded with a woman's myriad unheralded tasks. The children are ever\nwith me. Why need I go to Sunday-school to teach them? Why not each\nhome the mother's Sunday-school?\" \"Why not each home the\nprayer-meeting?\" the Master asked her. \"There come from numbers an\ninterest, a help and inspiration, which you cannot get in the holiest\nfamily circle, and which you dare not miss. And what of the little\nones whose mothers are less faithful than you? Have you no love to\nspare for them? I have implanted in the very nature of you mothers my\nmost earnest call to Sunday-school teaching. What is it? The greatest\nlove of little children.\"\n\nAnd then came up two young people, a youth and a maiden, and said to\nthe Master: \"We are too young. We have had as yet no wonderful\nexperience. We know nothing of death, of disease, of great sorrows, of\nheavy responsibilities. We are not wise in these high matters. We do\nnot understand theology. We cannot teach.\" \"Why,\" answered the Master,\n\"neither do my little ones in the Sunday-school want to know about\ndeath or disease or heavy responsibilities. I would not have them\ntaught what you think of as theology. But you are wiser than they. You\nsee beyond their little worries and mysteries. Help them to your own\nmeasure of grace and strength, and as you teach and they grow, will\nnot you grow, too, for further teaching ever? No, my young man and\nmaid, with your ardent and fresh-hearted zeal; you can come very close\nto my little children, and I cannot spare you from my Sunday-school.\"\n\nLong stood the Master there by the door of the Sunday-school, and many\nwere those whom he called to the work, and many excuses were made. One\npleaded ignorance. \"But,\" gently questioned the Master, \"have you a\nmind, to learn?\" One urged timidity. \"But I will be with you,\" said\nthe Master. \"There are others who can do it better,\" insisted one.\n\"Will you not get them to do it, then?\" begged the Master. \"And if\nthey will not do it, then you will be the best, and cannot refuse.\"\n\nIt was not long before a strong little group stood by the Master's\nside, ready for service, and as the regular teachers of the school\ncame up, the Lord of whom they taught received them lovingly, or\nsadly turned them back. As hard-faced, unsympathetic Mr. Grim would\nenter--he whom all the children fear and elders do not love; he to\nwhom a boy is only the necessary inconvenient early stage of a man, of\npromise only as he can commit to memory Bible verses--when he would\nenter the Master turned him back. \"You must not teach my children,\"\nsaid the blessed One, \"until you become as a little child.\"\n\nHe barred out also Mr. Brainy, whose ideal recitation is an argument,\nand whose scholars are far more familiar with points of skeptical\ncontroversy than with the Bible. He would not admit Miss Tangent,\nwhose sole preparation for the lesson is the culling from her book of\nextracts of choice sentiments, pretty fables, and striking bits of\nverse of mysterious relevancy, which she recites for her scholars'\nadmiration, and makes them learn. He turned back also Mrs. Scold, with\nher sharp tongue and cold eyes. He rejected Mrs. Job, who taught only\nfrom a sense of duty, and only with a long face.\n\nBut ah, the warm smile, the eager greeting, with which the Master\nwelcomed the school's workers! There was Jack Manly, who had not\nwaited for the desire to begin teaching, but had seen the need and\nfilled it, not knowing how soon and largely the love for the work\nwould come and grow. There was Lucy Gentle, who did not feel able to\nteach, yet considered, not her ability, but the need, knowing that\nduty is measured rather by the seeing eye than by the feeble hand.\nThere was Mrs. Patient, who had hesitated to begin the work because of\nher ignorance of the Bible, but who by quiet and faithful study for\nher class had become a wise and thorough scholar of the Word. There\nwas old Squire Greatheart, who taught a group of full-grown men and\nwomen whom he had gathered into a class when they were boys and girls,\nand had led ever since in hard study of God's Book.\n\nThere were many others whom the Master received, of many varied\ntalents, for the Sunday-school can use a wide range of powers; but all\nwere alike in consciousness of their weakness compared with the\ngreatness of their task, in willingness to resign their work to any\nbetter able who could be got to take it, in gladness to go on with it\nif their betters would not assume it, relying for success on the God\nof it. Their credentials were that they saw the need of the work, that\nthey saw their own unfitness to do it, that they knew their fitness\nand power were assured when God assigned the task.\n\nThus the Master chose his teachers and blessed them; and though there\nwas no genius there, no mighty mind, no trained skill, but only humble\nreadiness to serve, he poured out on them the fullness of his love and\npower, and they left the Sunday-school room ever bearing precious\nsheaves.\n\nThat is the end of my parable. Oh that all might know, as we, dear\nfellow-teachers, know it, the joy of our Sunday-school ministry! Then\nsuperintendents would have no search to find teachers, no trouble to\nkeep them. Then to the enlarging band of teachers would come a\nconstantly enlarging band of scholars, and all together would soon\nbring the multitudes of the world into the host of the redeemed.\n\n\n\n\nChapter III\n\nPreparing the Lesson\n\n\nSome teachers think that preparing the lesson is merely the loading of\na cannon with powder, that it may go off with a big bang in the\npresence of admiring scholars. And the more powder, the bigger bang.\nSo they load up with scintillating similes, and pretty parables, and\nstriking stories.\n\nOther teachers have set up some historical or theological or ethical\ntarget-board off at a distance from their class, and load their cannon\nwith ball, that their scholars may see how accurate is their aim and\nhow fairly they can hit the bull's-eye. So they prepare a mass of\nfacts and figures, arguments and evidences.\n\nBut the wise teacher rejects _in toto_ the cannon notion. He sees in\neach lesson a ledge of that grand mountain of life--of Christ-serving,\nstrong life--up to which he must lead his little band, on which he\nmust plant their feet so firmly that they may not slip back during the\nsix days' interval, but may be ready for the next fair terrace, and\nthe next.\n\nSo the wise teacher, in preparing the lesson, knows that he must first\nreach that ledge himself; must repeat the journey over and over until\nhe has learned the easiest way for little feet; must make ladders with\nrounds close together; must spread sand on slippery places and stretch\nropes along the edge of the cliff. He, too, lays in supplies of\nstories and pretty parables, not, however, in the form of powder, to\nmake a show, but (if this is not too severe a twist of the simile) as\ndainty food to keep the young travelers fresh and hearty. He, too, has\nfacts and figures and arguments and evidences, not, however, as\ncannon-balls, but in the shape of iron bridges and railings and ropes,\nthat the way may be solid and safe.\n\nThere are some teachers that do not study at all. It is as if a\nwill-o'-the-wisp should undertake to guide one on an important\njourney. Those teachers are going they know not whither, over they\nknow not what road, for what purpose they have not the slightest idea,\nand land always in a bog.\n\nEmphatically, the teacher that is not always climbing himself will\nleave his class on a very dead level indeed. He should be reaching\ndown and pulling them up, but he is soon compelled to stand where they\nare and push, and ends with believing his \"level best\" to lie along\nthe smooth road of the easy-going valley.\n\nThe teacher who ceases to grow ceases to teach. That is why a\nSunday-school lesson cannot be crammed. That is why preparation for it\nmust extend all through the week. Growth cannot be ordered offhand.\nIt comes from Father Time's shop, and he is a deliberate workman. You\nwill lose your hold on your class if each Sunday hour does not begin\nwith you a little above them, and end with them at your level. This\nadvance cannot be won Saturday night, or during the space between the\nfirst and second bells for Sunday-school. Such a spasmodic leap ahead\nwill leave you too much out of breath even to tell them to come on.\n\nDropping metaphor, of which we may have had too much, there are several\nsubstantial reasons why the Sunday-school preparation should extend over\nthe seven days of the week. Thus only can you utilize in the Master's\nwork odd bits of time, your Bible on the bureau while you dress, in your\nhands on the street-cars or while you wait for the meat to be cooked.\nThere are many Bible verses which should be carefully committed to\nmemory in connection with each lesson, as the teacher's best reliance\nfor commentary and inspiration. These verses should be running through\nour heads as we run on all our six-day tasks, and should sing themselves\nto all our labor-tunes. But chiefly, it is only in this way that we can\naccumulate hints, and grow into the truths of the lesson by experience.\nWith the lesson theme for a nucleus, it is astounding to see what a\nwealth of illustration, of wise and helpful comment, each day's living\nthrusts upon us. Every event is a picture of some truth which needs only\na sensitive plate to be photographed forever. That sensitive plate is a\nmind which is studying that particular truth.\n\nHow much time do you spend in studying your Sunday-school lesson? You\nsee that no true teacher can answer that question, any more than the\npoet can tell how long he is in writing his poem. This is the\ninspirational part of the teacher's work, and not the mechanical part,\nand his brooding will have issue of life just in proportion as the\nHoly Spirit dwells in his heart. But along with this lofty work must\ngo lower processes, of which it is far easier to speak. I mean those\nlower processes which alone we are likely to call \"studying.\" Permit\nme to lay down a programme for the study of a Sunday-school lesson.\n\nTo begin with, let it be always with pencil in hand. You have seen\niron filings scattered in rough confusion over a sheet of glass. And\nthen, when the magnet was placed beneath, you have seen those ugly\nbits of metal dance into the daintiest designs, fairy curves and most\nsymmetrical figures. Such a delightful magnet is a pencil or a pen for\nall the disordered thoughts and fancies of our brains. Next to the\nBible, the Sunday-school teacher's inseparable companion should be a\nlead-pencil.\n\nWhat book is nearest you while you study your lesson? Teachers may be\nclassified finally by their answers to that question. Is it the\ncommentary, the atlas, the Bible dictionary, the concordance, the\nquestion-book, or the Bible? If the commentary, your comments will\nfall fruitless to the ground. If the atlas, your class will wander\nnowhither. If the Bible dictionary, your diction will have no issue in\ndeed. If the concordance, your class will know little from you of that\nconcord which passes understanding. If the question-book, the value of\nall your study is at least questionable. No; let me emphasize this\nstatement: _Not a single lesson help should be touched until\neverything possible to be learned about the lesson from the Bible\ndirectly has been learned_.\n\nFor this you will need two Bibles at least, one to be kept open at the\nlesson, one to turn back and forth in pursuit of references and\ninformation. The first must be a King James reference Bible; the\nsecond, the noble translation of Victoria's reign. Thus furnished,\nread the lesson. As you read, examine your mind. What questions assail\nit? Those moments are full of matter. Those questions are the clues to\nthe lesson labyrinth. Those perplexities constitute your programme. \"I\nwonder where this place is?\" you will say to yourself. \"Who was this\nman, and what was his past history, that he did this deed? What does\nthis odd phrase mean? Is that sentiment a just one? Is that act a\nmodel for us modern folk?\"\n\nAs these difficulties come up in your slow and thoughtful reading, jot\nthem down, and the resultant half-sheet of scribbling means half the\nwork accomplished. But hold! Did you read through a child's eye as\nwell as your own? Did you read in the plural number? If not, you must\nread the lesson once more, with a poet's imagination noting this time\nthe difficulties which you strode easily over, but which would soon\ntrip up little feet. When you write down such points on your paper,\nunderscore them. And underscore them again. A vast deal of preparation\nfor teaching is fruitless because it is made in the singular number.\n\nThe next stage in our lesson study will be to answer our questions.\nPoints in regard to antecedents and motives will be answered by the\nchapters intervening between the last lesson and this. Those should next\nbe read. Many difficulties concerning customs and laws will be cleared\nup by parallel passages and the references of your reference Bible.\nThose same references will collate for you helpful utterances on the\nethical problems of the passage. Comparatively few people know, by the\nway, how nearly a reference Bible allows one to dispense with the Bible\ndictionary, Bible index, concordance, and commentary. I am continually\nastonished to see how few are the questions which may be asked about a\npassage that the Bible itself does not answer if closely scrutinized.\n\n\"But all this is a waste of time,\" you object. \"In the lesson helps\nall of these points are stated and discussed, fully, methodically,\nconcisely. Others have done this work for me, anticipating all my\ndifficulties. Why need I repeat their labor?\" Surely not merely to be\noriginal. There's too much original work crying to be done to waste a\nmoment in duplicating unnecessarily work already done for us. But the\nBible study cannot be done for you. It must end in familiarity with\nthe Bible, in appreciation of it, in a wide-awake understanding of the\nproblems it presents, to be obtained in no way except by original\nwork. If difficulties are solved before we have felt them to be\ndifficulties, if customs and phrases are explained before we have\ndiscovered the need of an explanation, and places located before we\nfall to groping after them, it is the old story of \"light won, light\nlost.\" And so I wish to repeat that the one proper commencement of\nstudy of a Bible lesson is the Bible, and the Bible, and the Bible;\nonce to note our own questions, once to imagine our scholars'\nquestions, and once, in large measure, here, there, and everywhere,\nconcordance, index, references, and atlas at our elbow, to answer, if\nit may be, from the Book itself all the questions it has raised.\n\nAnd when this is done, even if every question has been answered, open\narms to the commentaries and the lesson helps, the wisest and richest\nyou can find, and as many as you have time for. Why? Because twenty\nheads are better than one; because the Hebrew and Greek and travel and\ndebate and experience and insight and spirituality of our best\nthinkers will suggest new points of view, add a world of illustration,\nmay even upset some of your conclusions. Stand sturdily, however, in\nthe presence of these learned doctors. You will be tempted to throw\naway your own honest results and adopt their wise and brilliant\nhomilies. If you do, your class will laugh at you, or yawn. You will\nbe giving them, not your life, but your rhetoric. These helps are for\ninspiration, not respiration and circulation. They are for hints\ntoward originality, not hindrances. They are useful in strengthening\nyour own thought, vivifying your own feeling, confirming your own\nconclusions, opening new vistas for your own exploration, suggesting\nmethods for your own practice.\n\nIf these two lines of preparation have been faithfully carried out, you\nwill by this time have accumulated a mass of material which will be\nconfusing, and the third step is to reduce it to order. Long practice\nhas convinced me of the utility of the plan of writing out questions.\nWhether these questions are used in the class or not, they clarify the\nsubject marvelously, and the mere drill of writing them adds fifty per\ncent. to the teaching power of the instructor. When I began trying it, I\nwas astonished to see how many thoughts which seemed to me quite\npromising and bright could not be approached by the interrogative mood.\nI wanted to lead up to this simile, that illustration, this theory, that\npretty idea. I would soon find that my questions refused to lead up to\nthem naturally. Why? Simply because these fancies answered no query\nlikely to rise, solved no difficulty likely to suggest itself, and were\nmere adventitious decorations wherewith I had been accustomed to load my\nSunday-school teaching, to show off.\n\nMy attempt at formulating questions soon taught me, too, that I had been\nindulging in monologue. I found it unexpectedly difficult to frame a\nquestion--one, that is, which required the scholar to do some thinking\nto answer. I discovered that I had been in the habit of propounding\n\"yes\" and \"no\" queries, merely as excuses for five-minute orations.\n\nThen, too, when I began to put down in black and white just what I\nexpected to put into that precious half-hour, I wondered what I had\nbeen doing with it hitherto. By my previous methods two or three\nlittle notions would keep me going through the whole thirty minutes;\nbut ideas do shrink so when you put them on paper with a question-mark\nat the end! It is wonderful how many questions can be asked and\nanswered in half an hour. I gained a new conception of the value of\ntime, and of the teaching value of study hours.\n\nIn writing out these questions, then, the first thing to be thought of\nis that consideration with which a good teacher will begin his lesson,\nbut a poor teacher will close: \"What is the main teaching of the\nlesson?\"--as important, this \"main teaching,\" as the compass to the\nsailor. What particular characteristic of God's noblemen is this\nlesson to strengthen in my scholars? Every teacher should know the\npower which is given by an ultimatum; by a decision, that is, as to\nthe one thing which, no matter what else it wins or fails to win, that\nlesson must accomplish. Is it to make my boys and girls more truthful,\nmore brave, more cheery, more trusting? Whatever the point be, about\nthat shall cluster the questions, the illustrations, the arguments.\nCountries, customs, times, history, shall be only its framework.\nThere must be other points, to be sure, but merely as side excursions,\nfrom which we return with greater zeal to this our main quest. Those\nsubordinate points we next determine, and the order in which we shall\ntreat them, and then sit down to write out our questions.\n\nDoes all this seem too mechanical, this writing out questions, and\ndetermining point by point just what results you will seek, and in\nwhat order? It is businesslike; it is mechanical. Why are we so afraid\nof mechanism in bringing hearts to the great Mechanic, without whom\nwas nothing made that has been made? A machine is merely a contrivance\nfor applying power effectively, and the only question should be, Does\nthis machinery make my aim more direct, widen and deepen the range of\nmy efforts? It is a grand and godlike thing to be mechanical, but it\nis a pitifully weak thing to stop with being mechanical. Machinery\naccomplishes all the work that is being done anywhere, but it is\nmachinery informed by the Holy Spirit. Our lesson preparation will be\nin harmony with all of God's preparing if it is orderly, painstaking,\nand definite, binding together, however, all its labored details with\nthe sweet and creative spirit of prayer. Machinery touched by prayer\nis always the machinery in which, as in the old Greek plays, the god\ndescends. Nothing is mechanical, everything is poetical and spiritual,\nthat can be prayed over.\n\nBut will not all this take time--all this ransacking of the Bible,\noriginal study, writing out of questions, and formulating plans? Of\ncourse it will. Time is what good things are made of--time and toil.\nIt would be strange if the best of good things, the sanctification of\nlives, did not take time and toil. But let us remember two facts: one,\nthat this work, being thorough work, need not be done twice. Seven\nyears of such Bible study as I have indicated, and what a\nmagnificently trained teacher you will be, ready, all ready, for the\nnext International Lesson cycle, the next Sunday-school Sabbath of\nyears! We Sunday-school teachers have enlisted for life. It is so much\nwiser, then, to study for life. And in the second place, familiarity\nwith this thoroughgoing way of working makes it much easier and more\nrapid than at first. We no longer have to use the concordance, but\nmemory supplies passages needed for illustration. Bible customs are\nsoon learned. The peculiarities of Bible language are readily\nmastered. The poetic instinct which sees parables and applications\ngrows with its use until they crowd upon you and must be critically\nculled. Nothing ends easy but that which begins hard.\n\nAfter all, however, these are the lower motives. What matters it even\nif the preparation for this blessed work remains hard to our last\nSabbath? Let it be the best we know, and on that last Sabbath, if God\nhas given us the knowledge that even one soul has been turned to the\nsupreme happiness by all our toil, we shall deem it rich reward.\n\n\n\n\nChapter IV\n\nSomething about Teachers' Meetings\n\n\nThe teachers' meeting is not so much to get facts as to vivify and\narrange them. The leader does not teach the lesson unless he teaches\nhow to teach the lesson. This is a place for comparison.\n\nThe meeting is perhaps less to make plans for the teachers than to\nstimulate them to make good plans for themselves. The gathering is not\nto listen to a lecture. You cannot make teachers, except by the\nSocratic method. A teachers' meeting is not a Bible class.\n\nThe ideal teachers' meeting focuses on the work of each the helpfulness\nand skill of all. The leader, then, must put into the meeting every\none's peculiar talent, and must draw out from the meeting for every\none's peculiar need. And do not--as so many teachers' meetings do--let\nthe teachers for the older classes run away with the evening.\n\nThe right kind of teachers' meeting keeps itself up and keeps up the\nteachers. It \"draws,\" because it is attractive. The only way to build\nup an attendance is to build up the interest of the meeting to be\nattended. Nevertheless, attention to a few bits of detail will greatly\nassist in building up the attendance. Have a constitution, a full set\nof officers, and stated business meetings. Make the teachers feel that\nthey \"belong.\" Many a teachers' meeting goes to pieces for lack of\nsomething to tie to. Cultivate the feeling of responsibility. Insist\non rotation in office. Give every teacher possible some regular duty,\nif only to pass the hymn-books. Once a year at least let the teachers'\nmeeting have a field day. Get up its finest programme, with a special\nview to interesting the entire church in Sunday-school work. Then\ninvite the entire church to hear it. Such an open meeting should come\njust before the beginning of a new line of study.\n\nThe teachers' meeting, in many small places, will be a union meeting,\nof all the evangelical churches, and sometimes of neighboring churches\nin cities. What finer close to a year's harmonious work than for all\nthe teachers of this union meeting to sit down to dinner together at a\ngenuine love-feast!\n\nAttendance is in many cases increased by providing a variety of\nleaders. The brightest of men becomes wearisome ere long; his methods\ngrow familiar. The heart of the teachers' meeting is the programme\ncommittee, ever pumping in fresh blood. Arrange with neighboring towns\nfor the loan or exchange of helpful leaders.\n\nThere is a certain gain in a uniform programme for the hour, so that\nhistorical explanations, difficult exegesis, blackboard work, plans\nfor the little folks, lesson analysis, and so on, may be taken up in a\nuniform order each evening. This will insure against the omission of\nany line of work.\n\nLet one teacher--a new one for each quarter--be appointed to present\nwithin ten or fifteen minutes an outline of work for the younger\nclasses. If this teacher cannot draw, an assistant should be appointed\nwho can. The remainder of the time, after these regular exercises are\nover, will be at the disposal of the leader of the evening, who will\ntreat the lesson in general. Some such combination of permanent with\nchanging leadership will be found exceedingly helpful and attractive.\n\nWho should lead the teachers' meeting? Teachers. Not exhorters; not\nconversational monopolists; not lecturers; not the most learned doctor\nof divinity who is not also a teacher. None of these, but teachers.\nThe obscure layman, if he knows how to ask wise questions. No one for\ncompliment, no one for custom, but every one for practical utility,\nfor learning how to teach.\n\nSee that the meeting begins on time, whether the leader is ready or not,\nand even if no audience is present. There will be an improvement next\ntime. Promptness begets promptness. And let the meeting close on time,\nthough in the midst of the most interesting discussion. All the better\nto leave a little interest as a nest-egg. Open with prayer. Some\nteachers' meetings also open with singing. One verse is better than two.\n\nIt is useful to read the lesson text in the meeting, provided the\nreading is made to teach something. The manner should be varied. Let the\nleader request the teachers to take up the reading whenever he stops,\nand let him stop at eccentric places, to hold attention. Let the\nteachers read each verse in the King James Version, the leader\nresponding with the Revision. In a passage where description or\nnarrative alternates with speeches, let the leader read the speeches\nonly, the audience inserting the narrative. Divide the lesson into\nsections that will analyze the thought or the story, and read these\nsections alternately, the leader prefacing each with a suggestive title.\nDivide the teachers into two portions,--right and left, front and\nback,--and let them read antiphonally. Let the leader read the entire\nlesson, injecting crisp comments carefully prepared beforehand, these\ncomments being all in one line--exegetical, historical, explanatory of\ncustoms or of phrases. Let the leader prepare a set of questions, one to\nbe answered by each verse, and to serve as an introduction to it as the\nteachers read. In studying the Gospels, whenever the lesson would be\nmade clearer by it, read, instead of the regular text, the same passage\nas a monotessaron gives it, combined with all that is found in the other\nGospels. Such ancient books as \"The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles\" or\n\"The Apocryphal Gospel of St. Peter\" may often furnish a suggestive\nextract to add to this opening reading.\n\nThe work of the teachers' meeting will largely be cut out for it at\nthe outset, if the leader knows his business. Announce your programme,\nif you want help in carrying it out. What wonder the meeting runs off\nthe leader's track, when the track is invisible to all but the leader!\n\"First,\" says the experienced teacher, \"we'll form a scheme for our\nguidance in study; second, we'll go over the story of the lesson in a\npreliminary survey; third, we'll take up the words, phrases, customs,\nand circumstances that need explanation; fourth, we'll discuss the\nbest way of teaching the lesson to the younger scholars; finally,\nwe'll bring out points for the older members of the school.\"\n\nMany meetings fray out at the end. Nothing is finished, or at best\nthere are only a few hasty answers to the stereotyped question, \"Now\nwhat do you consider the chief teachings of this lesson?\" If it has\nnot been made evident before the meeting was half through what are the\nchief teachings of that lesson, it surely will not be made evident by\nthis hurried question, whose answers are punctuated by the donning of\novercoats. If the leader began with a good outline, now is the time to\nclinch the discussions of the evening by repeating the outline,\nenlarged and modified as those discussions may have required. Then let\nthe evening be closed reverently with a few words of earnest prayer.\n\nAs to the general conduct of the meeting, probably the matter most\nnecessary to be urged is the use of direct, brisk, suggestive\nquestions, addressed, not to empty space, but to particular teachers.\nA question spread over a roomful is about as efficient as a bullet\nwould be if fired flat enough to cover ten men. Don't be afraid to use\nproper names. Questions addressed to a crowd put a premium on\nforwardness. Call no one by name who is really too bashful to reply,\nbut teachers ought to pass by that stage of timidity.\n\nA second common mistake is to run the teachers' meeting on the low\nplane of mere facts, history, biography, when it should be all aglow\nwith the spiritual life. If the teachers' meeting does not touch the\nteachers' consciences, hardly will those teachers touch the\nconsciences of their scholars. Let the leader ask at every turn this\nquestion in effect: \"What need of your scholars' lives will this truth\nfit?\" And he should not rest satisfied until the truth is applied in\nturn to the diverse needs of three classes--the little folks, the\nyoung folks, and the old folks.\n\nThe leader must put himself in the place of all kinds of teachers, and\ndiscern their needs. He must head off unseemly and prolonged\ndiscussions; he must have sprightliness to keep the meeting taut; he\nmust have zeal to keep the meeting warm; he must have consecration to\nkeep the meeting spiritual.\n\nBut the best of leaders may be thwarted by poor following. To be led\nin a teachers' meeting is an art almost as difficult as to lead. A\nskilful follower in a teachers' meeting will answer questions briefly.\nHe will not commit the impertinence of giving ten times as much as is\nasked for from him, thus stealing from the meeting the sprightliness\nof nine questions and answers, even when all he says is to the point.\nHe will make suggestive answers rather than exhaustive ones. His eager\nnote-book and intelligent listening will be as encouraging as a\ncontinuous round of applause. In short, he will be anxious to do\nanything for the success of the meeting, even to the extent of sitting\nsilent for fifteen minutes. And all leaders will bless him.\n\n\n\n\nChapter V\n\nA Teacher with a Schedule\n\n\nThe weak point in the preparation most Sunday-school teachers make is\ntheir failure to prepare a schedule for their teaching--the order,\nthat is, in which they shall take up and discuss the facts and lessons\nof the day's Scripture. Probably the majority of teachers begin with\nverse 1 and go stolidly through to verse 13, or as near it as the\nsuperintendent will permit them to get. This is teaching with a\nshovel, and not with a sieve.\n\nWise teaching selects, marshals, brings to a focus. It excels\nhaphazard teaching as far as a painting by Rembrandt excels a\nwhitewashed fence. It does not permit ideas to neutralize each other.\nIt has a purpose, clearly and determinedly held in view, and to this\npurpose it subordinates everything else. It knows that the\neffectiveness of the lesson depends quite as much on what is left out\nas on what is put in.\n\nNow the more ideas a teacher has, the greater need has he of a\nschedule, just as the railroad that runs most trains is in most need\nof a good time-table. Indeed, the performance of a teacher without a\nplan bears a strong resemblance to a railway collision. Ideas,\nillustrations, exhortations, bump into one another front and rear,\ntelescope each other, and form at the end of the hour a disheartening\nmass of splintered fragments, with here and there a jet of steam or a\npuff of smoke. If the teacher has no schedule, the scholars on his\nlesson train will grow confused and get nowhere. Small blame to them!\n\nImitating Paul, the wise teacher will take for his motto, \"This _one_\nthing I teach.\" He will teach as much more as is possible, but first he\nwill make absolutely sure of one thing. My own plan in connection with\nevery lesson is to lay down one principal, and two or three\nsubordinates. It is best to write these down on the margin of the\nquarterly, in precisely the order in which they are to be taken up. Ask\nyourself most earnestly, \"What is the main lesson this Scripture is to\nteach my scholars?\" Having decided on that, consider your teaching a\nsuccess, whatever happens, if it has impressed this one truth. Leap to\nthis task as swiftly as may be, even if to reach the chosen point you\nmust pass hastily over the first portion of the lesson.\n\nAfter driving home this truth, and making sure of it, take up in turn\nyour subordinates. This will require a new view of the lesson story\nthat will compensate for your previous haste. And reserve some time at\nthe end of the lesson for a few parting words on your main truth.\nSave for this time your most telling illustration, your most ardent\npleading. In preparation for this get all questions and difficulties\nout of the way. Be sure, before you begin, that your watch is with the\nsuperintendent's, and do not permit yourself to be caught by the\nclosing bell with your lesson only half way to the terminus.\n\nSome teachers are proud thus to be caught, but they should be ashamed.\nIf their neighbor admits that he got over the lesson with his class,\nthey are filled with amazed pity at his lack of brains. \"Why, how\n_could_ you? There was so much in the lesson that I scarcely made a\nbeginning.\"\n\nTeachers, it is a disgrace to any workman to leave behind him an\nimproperly finished job; and we are, or should be, just as thorough\nworkmen as any carpenter. _Select!_ One truth a Sunday means fifty-two\ntruths a year, while fifty-two truths a Sunday would not mean one\ntruth a year. _Plan!_ Definite results do not come from haphazard\nmethods. _Finish!_ One goal reached is greater triumph than fifty\ngoals started for. _Form a schedule, and carry it out!_\n\n\n\n\nChapter VI\n\nMy Lesson Chart\n\n\nMy recipe for a well-prepared lesson is expressed in Captain Cuttle's\nformula: \"Make a note on 't.\"\n\nI have read the lesson text, and the text before the lesson text and\nafter it. I have read the wisest commentaries I can find, and as many\nof them as I can find time for. I have \"mulled\" over the matter for\nmyself a day or two. By this time my brain is thronged with facts and\na-tingle with suggestions.\n\nThen, the lesson leaf or some other convenient copy of the lesson text\nbefore me, I construct the chart by which to make my Sabbath cruise.\n\nFirst, one must get out to sea; there is the introduction. How shall I\nfit this trip in with last Sabbath's voyage, and how shall I get under\nway?\n\nAs I plan my introductory questions, I write at the head of the lesson\ntext some word to represent each question, such as \"author?\" \"time?\"\n\"place?\" \"circumstances?\" \"purpose?\" \"outline?\"\n\nWith the questions concerning the text itself, however, I do no\nwriting; I simply underscore neatly those words or phrases of the text\nthat will hint at the point to be raised. For example, take the verse,\n\"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,\" and the questions: (1)\nHow was this imagery prompted by David's life? (2) What use did our\nLord make of the same simile? (3) What comfort should we get from this\nthought in the trials and uncertainties of life? (4) How does Christ's\nshepherding keep us from want? (5) From what kind of want does it keep\nus? (6) What makes you sure of this? (7) How was all this proved true\nin David's case?\n\nAs each question occurs to me, or is suggested by my reading, I\nunderscore a word that henceforth stands for that question. These\nwords, in the order of the questions, are: (1) \"shepherd\"; (2) \"Lord\";\n(3) \"my\"; (4) a curved line from \"shepherd\" to \"I\" connecting the two\nsentences; (5) \"want\"; (6) \"shall not\"; (7) \"I.\"\n\nIt will sometimes need a little thought to decide just which word will\nbest represent the question, but that very thought will fix the question\nmore firmly in the mind. If more than one question should be attached to\none word, make two short underscorings, one beside the other.\n\nWhen the question contrasts two persons, two expressions, or two\nevents, \"railroading\" is in order--a line, that is, drawn clear across\nthe printed page, connecting the words which the question connects.\n\nIf you have a parallel Bible, or some lesson help that gives the King\nJames and the Revised versions in opposite columns, it is an excellent\nplan to mark in one version all the points of history, geography,\nbiography, customs, dates, and the like, and in the other the points\nrequiring practical application to heart and life. The latter will\nobviously go best in the Revised Version. The points indicated by the\nunderscorings in the King James Version may first be considered and\ngot out of the way.\n\nIf, however, you must use only the Authorized Version, distinguish in\nsome manner between the two sets of points--the merely explanatory and\nthe hortatory. Use black ink for the first and red ink for the second,\nor a straight line for the one and a wavy line for the other, or for\nthe first a single and for the second a double underscore.\n\nProceeding in this way, I soon have a line under every word requiring\nexplanation, every hint of a strange custom, every reference to other\nparts of the Scriptures, every point for practical application. I have\nunderscored words representative of all the thoughts that especially\nappeal to me as fitting the needs of my class.\n\nWhen this has been done, it is time to make my outline. If my study has\nsuggested to me an outline of my own, that will be better for me than\nany other man's. The outline is the plan of campaign, the thing I wish\nespecially to emphasize, and under it, ranged in order, the points of\nminor importance. I write this outline on the margin of my lesson text.\n\nHaving decided on the outline, I go over my underscorings again,\ndoubly or trebly underscoring the words that have reference to the\nthought around which I intend to center the entire lesson--the thought\nthat is to be the lesson's enduring monument in the minds and lives of\nmy scholars.\n\nNow I am ready for review. I go over the whole, starting with the\ndetached words jotted down at the beginning,--\"author,\" \"time,\"\n\"place,\" etc.,--and consider all the underscorings, railroadings, and\ncurved lines, stopping at each to frame a question of my own and to\nmake sure of my best answer. I do this in precisely the order in which\nI intend to take up these points in the class. Not the smallest part\nof my work at this juncture is to simplify, by erasing the\nunderscorings where the questions may be spared without interfering\nwith my main purpose; and then I review once more in the same way, to\nconfirm my grasp on the lesson plan.\n\nBy this time every underscoring is luminous, and my page of lesson\ntext has become a graphic picture of the lesson I am to teach, a true\nchart for my voyage.\n\nDo you think the process too tedious, brother teacher? It is not a whit\ntoo thorough when you remember the infinite interests involved; and\nevery repetition of it will increase your skill, and the rapidity of\nyour work. I have used this method for years, with various classes, and\nknow it to be practical, pleasant, and profitable. Try it, and see.\n\n\n\n\nChapter VII\n\nThe Value of a Monotessaron\n\n\nFar above concordance, Bible index, Bible dictionary, commentary, I\ncount the monotessaron the very best help to Bible study. The\nmonotessaron, it might be parenthetically remarked for the benefit of\nthe lexicon-lazy folk, is a harmony of the four Gospels, so arranged as\nto make one continuous and complete story, in Scripture words alone.\n\n\"Fie!\" says one reviewer of a recent monotessaron, \"we have no use for\nsuch compilations. God gave us the gospel in four separate books. He\ncould have put it in one if it had been best that way.\" This is an\nargument which would make a heretic of the locomotive, printing-press,\nand any other rearrangement of God-given matter. Having the four\nGospels, we may have one. If God had given us only one, we could not\nhave the four.\n\nChristians will always read the four separate Gospels, in order to see\nChrist from four separate points of view, through four separate\nindividualities, that their differences as well as their agreements\nmay make the picture stand out more vividly, much as the two diverse\nflat portions of a stereoscope view combine into perfect perspective\nand reality.\n\nBut this combining is necessary; and it may be truly said that what we\nlose, in reading the monotessaron, of the personality of John or Luke,\nwe more than gain in the increased vividness of the person of Christ.\nSpeaking for one, I may say that through my first acquaintance with a\nmonotessaron that matchless life has shone upon me with an entire\nsplendor of beauty and majesty before unimagined.\n\nNever before was the life a whole, like Washington's or Lincoln's. The\nimprisonment of John was an event in the fourteenth chapter of one\nGospel, the sixth of another, the third of the rest; the call of\nMatthew now in the ninth chapter, now the second, now the fifth; the\nparable of the sower in the thirteenth, fourth, and eighth chapters.\nNothing was in a clear, definite relation to the single life. The talk\nwith Nicodemus is now no longer to me an event of John 3, but of the\nbeginning of the first year of Christ's ministry, at the Passover. No\nlonger would I be puzzled to tell which came first, the healing of the\nnobleman's son of John 4, or the stilling of the tempest of Mark 4,\nbut place the last a year later.\n\nNot only has the narrative become clear and orderly, not only has the\nwonderful history parted itself into the true and helpful\ntime-divisions so diverse from the confusing chapters, but the places\nnow stand out, and journeys are distinct. Take any diatessaron--that\nis, any parallel arrangement of the four Gospels--and note the wide\nblanks in each book, filled out by others, so that between contiguous\nverses of one Gospel must be inserted whole chapters of another,\ncomplete journeys, many deeds and sayings, the location in the\nmeantime greatly changing. A geologist will think of the helpful\ntriumph of taking from the full rock record here to fill out the\nunconformable strata there, until a geological column is built up.\n\nA further inestimable advantage is the appreciation of surroundings.\nWhat light is cast, for example, on the story of Lazarus in John by\nits insertion in Luke! The contact of these parted elements of the\ngospel story sometimes rouses a current of thrilling thoughts, making\na veritable electric battery of the monotessaron.\n\nStill another priceless gain is an understanding of proportions.\nMatthew's parallels, Mark's deeds, Luke's miracles and parables, John's\nsermons--in reading any of the four Gospels peculiar elements come into\nprominence, and we are left with no idea of the relative proportion of\nthese elements in the one life. What emphasis did Christ place on the\ndoctrinal, and what on the practical? Just how much of his teaching\nconcerned himself and his character? What space in the New Testament is\noccupied by miracles? Just what part of Christ's preaching was\nparabolic? What is the prominence of missionary effort and proselytism?\nHow much is there of consolation, and how much of stern rebuke? What\nmeasure of promise? What quantum of theology? What share of ethics?\n\nThese and scores of other questions which occur at once to every\nChristian thinker, the monotessaron makes possible of easy and rapid\nanswer. Indeed, almost its chief advantage is the spur it affords to\nthe spirit of investigation. Those who are statistically inclined can\neven get at precise ratios by the exact process of counting lines.\n\nWell, that is my experience of the value of a monotessaron. It has\ngiven the life and person of Christ marvelous vividness, setting facts\nin their due order, location, relations, and proportions, while the\nfacility it affords is constant inspiration to fresh, delightful\nstudy. This is the experience of thousands, and yet I am sure that\namong the readers of this book will be many who are yet unacquainted\nwith this Bible help. Not only every Sunday-school teacher, but every\nBible scholar, should own one.\n\nThe single year in which I wrote this chapter saw the publication, in\nquick succession, of four of these monotessarons, one the improved\nedition of an older work. Each of these four has its peculiar features\nof value, and I have compared them carefully to get at their\ncharacteristics.\n\n    1. \"The Interwoven Gospels.\" Rev. William Pittenger. (5 x 7-1/2\n    inches, pp. 245. New York: John B. Alden. Price, 90 cents.) Five\n    plates give clearly the various journeys. The Gospel fullest in each\n    event is taken as the standard, and its verse-numberings given,\n    while sentences and phrases interwoven from other Gospels are\n    preceded by an inconspicuous letter, to designate the book from\n    which they come. This seems to me the ideal plan. There is a table\n    for finding in the monotessaron any verse of any Gospel. There is a\n    very distinct synopsis. The time is indicated only at the heads of\n    the five divisions of the story. The place is given at the head of\n    each one of the one hundred and seventy-one sections. The index is\n    scant. The typography is excellent. The American Revised Version is\n    used.\n\n    2. \"The Gospel Commentary.\" J. R. Gilmore (\"Edmund Kirke\") and Lyman\n    Abbott, D.D. (5 x 7 inches, pp. 840. New York: Fords, Howard &\n    Hulbert. Price, $1.50.) This monotessaron is combined with an\n    excellent and very full commentary, selected from the works of three\n    hundred authors. These multitudinous notes somewhat mar the\n    impression of unity and continuity for which the monotessaron is\n    peculiarly valued. No maps. Information as to sources of the\n    combined text is given only by references at the top of the page--an\n    indefinite way. There is a table for finding in the monotessaron any\n    verse of any Gospel. There is a chronological synopsis, but no\n    diatessaron table. There is a good index of thirty-two pages, and a\n    marginal synopsis. The time is minutely indicated at the head of\n    each page, and the locations shown irregularly, in notes, chapter\n    headings, or marginal synopsis. There are forty-three chapters. The\n    typography is clear. The King James Version is mainly used.\n\n    3. \"The Fourfold Gospel.\" J. G. Butler, D.D. (5 x 7-1/2 inches, pp.\n    212. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Price, 75 cents.) This is taken from\n    Butler's \"Bible Work.\" The sources of the text and transitions are\n    indicated as in Pittenger's, but not quite so minutely. Places are\n    given at the head of the one hundred and sixty-six sections. Times\n    not shown. A good diatessaron synopsis, and a table to find in the\n    monotessaron any verse from any Gospel. Two sketch-maps. No index\n    whatever. King James Version.\n\n    4. \"The One Gospel.\" A. T. Pierson, D.D. (5 x 7-1/2 inches, pp. 203.\n    New York: The Baker & Taylor Company. Price, 75 cents.) This\n    monotessaron contains the gospel story in forty-seven sections, with\n    no section headings, and no indications whatever of times, places,\n    or sources of the various portions of the text. Valuable for\n    reading, but unsatisfactory for study. A capital index. No table for\n    finding verses, no synopsis or maps. King James Version. Retains\n    more than the others nearly equivalent words and phrases.\n\nEach of these excellent compilations has its own field, and the\nstudent who can afford the luxury will rejoice in them all. Happy\ntimes in which we live, wherein the person of Christ is brought with\nsuch clearness and fullness and beauty as never before to the poorest\nand busiest and most unlearned!\n\n\n\n\nChapter VIII\n\nGetting Attention\n\n\nI was once sergeant of a college military company that was being\ntrained by an officer of the regular army from the nearest barracks.\nIn one evolution it was made my duty to march at the head of a long\ncolumn, shouting at the top of my voice: \"Hep--hep--hep--hep!\" This\nwas to give the time; we had no drum. I conscientiously obeyed orders\nand strutted off, shouting the required \"Hep--hep--hep--hep!\" But\nalas! at a critical turn, thinking more of my glory than of my duty, I\nmarched to the right, while the column, more heedful, turned off to\nthe left. So there I was, a long, lank figure, strutting off by myself\nover the field, shouting \"Hep--hep--hep!\" How many times since, when\nstanding before inattentive classes, have I repeated that mortifying\nperformance, less obviously, but none the less really!\n\nHow often teachers are bent on planning what they are to say and how\nthey are to say it, but omit to consider how they may induce people to\nattend to it; just as if (to change the figure) a locomotive engineer\nshould polish and oil his engine and turn on full steam, but forget\nthe little coupling-pin that hitches the engine to the train! It is a\nvery little thing, this coupling-pin of attention, and often the\nteacher goes puffing a long way before he perceives that it is left\nout; and it is a great humiliation, as well as a great loss of time\nand steam, to go back and hitch on.\n\nThe first thing to be considered, if we would win attention, is the\nroom. Poor janitors spoil more Sunday-schools than poor teachers. You\nremember how the Peterkins tried to take their drive, shaking the\nreins, clucking at the stationary horse, whipping and coaxing him by\nturns, and all in vain until the lady from Philadelphia _unhitched_\nthe obstinate beast. We make Peterkins of ourselves every time we try\nto take an intellectual journey with our pupils when they are tied\ndown by hot air, poor ventilation, uncomfortable seats, and\nsurrounding noise and bustle. All our pedagogical ingenuity will fight\nin vain against the fiendish ingenuity of a bad janitor.\n\nHaving made it possible for the children to pay any attention at all,\nthe next thing is to get it. Attention has something to do with tension.\nNow it takes two to stretch a cord, and there are two parties to every\nact of attention. How about the second party in this case--the children?\n\nImprimis, when you appear before the children, leap at once into your\ntheme. Older folks rather like to doze along through the preliminaries\nof a speech, economically saving their enthusiasm for the end, if not\nfor next time; but the attention of children is lost or won for good\nby the opening sentences. Our sharp boys and girls discover very\nquickly whether a veteran or a raw recruit is calling \"Attention!\"\n\nThere are some beginnings which are sure to offend them. There is the\nbagpipe beginning--the long, droning prelude, which advertises a\nteacher set out on a mud-turtle to catch these lively colts. There is\nthe jack-in-the-box prelude: \"Eh! Now, children! What's lesson 'bout?\nQuick!\" There is the crape-dirge beginning, which solemnly hopes the\nchildren have studied their lesson and will recite better than they\ndid last Sunday. There is the plead-guilty beginning: \"You'll have to\nteach me to-day, children. I've been unable to look at the lesson.\"\n\nBut it is by no means easy to give affirmative rules. The best of\nbeginnings, if stereotyped, becomes inefficient. No general can plan a\ncampaign in advance. And yet a general must understand the art of war,\nand a teacher must study his tactics.\n\nIn the first place, attention is won partly by position and attitude.\nHappy the teacher whose class is a semicircle, himself at the center!\nAnd luckless the teacher whose class, fixed on straight, fastened\npews, sees past him the distracting background of a crowded, bustling\nschool! He struggles against strong odds.\n\nBut whatever may be the position of the class, any one can see that\nhis own attitude shall command attention. Let him be straight, alert,\nconfident, quiet--not flabby, nervous, and diffident. Let his face\nand voice and bearing expect attention, and he will get it.\n\nThe opening sentences must be businesslike. There must be no\nindecision, no \"puttering.\" The teacher must leap at once to that\nhand-to-hand combat with the theme which tells his scholars that\nthere's purpose in it. The opening sentences may sometimes best catch\nthe class by directly addressing one person in it, the most restless,\nindifferent one, and nailing _him_.\n\nA paradox is good to begin with, some statement of the lesson theme so\nstartling as to spur to discussion, possibly to opposition. Then the\nnext Sunday, perhaps a quiet picture of the historical setting of the\nstory, or a description of the landscape surrounding the event, or a\ncompact review of the last lesson. Then the next day you might begin\nwith a bit of personal experience bearing on the matter in hand.\nNothing wins attention better than the first person singular. Or your\nintroduction might be a whiff of fun, for which the youngsters are so\neager that the most witless piece of jollity, if it spring from a\nmerry heart, is certain to reach theirs.\n\nYou are sure of their attention if you can get them to do something\nfor you--open their Bibles, repeat something in concert, find a verse,\nor look at something. For this purpose maps, diagrams, pictures, all\nmaterial objects connected with the lesson, are invaluable. Scholars\nyield their wills to yours through their hands or their eyes more\nreadily than through their ears.\n\nAnd none of this must be done with manifest purpose. Surely in vain is\nthe net spread in the sight of any bird. Woe to the teacher who shouts\nthe word \"Attention!\" He will get nothing but the echo of the word\nfrom stony cliffs of indifference.\n\nAnd finally, woe to the teacher who relies at bottom on any skill of\nhis own to draw young hearts to his teaching; whose main dependence is\nanything but the attention-winning power of that incarnate Sympathy\nand Love who promised to draw all men--and children--to himself.\n\n\n\n\nChapter IX\n\nKeeping Attention\n\n\nWe are likely to think that the attention of children is hard to get;\nbut the very opposite is true. The minds of children, like their\ntongues, are hung in the middle. It is the easiest thing in the world\nto turn them in any direction. No teacher need spend much force on his\nintroduction. Merely appear and begin to talk--that is enough. A fresh\nvoice and presence and a new theme will draw all eyes and all hearts.\nIf grown people are your audience, the situation is somewhat reversed.\nThey are the heavy weights--hard to move, but just as hard to stop. An\nattention-forcing prelude will hold them attentive to a good half-hour\nof platitudes.\n\nThe teacher of children, however, flattered by the eager listening\ngiven at the start, is likely to relax his efforts and deem the crown\nof the children's interest already attained. But alas! soon here a\nlittle tot wriggles, and there another whispers, and yonder a third\ngiggles, and now a fourth turns around to see what's up, and the\nteacher might as well be talking to a school of young fishes.\n\nDemosthenes once said that if whatever a man got he took care to keep,\nhe was grateful to the gods; but if he spent it, he spent with it all\nhis gratitude. How many teachers are so prodigal of the attention\ngiven at the beginning that toward the close, dismayed at the\nlistlessness, they forget ungratefully their initial capital of bright\neyes and eager ears! There are many ways of squandering this attention\ncapital. We may waste it on those long exhortations so very valuable\n(when omitted), on side issues, on quibbles. We may choke it with\ndullness, drive it off with scolding.\n\nThe only way always to keep attention is always to be expecting to\nlose it. Be prompt to note signs of its vanishing in drooping eyelids,\nwandering gaze, jerking in the seat, uncertain answers. The teacher\nwhose ingenuity can always recall stray-away minds need fear few other\nrecitation problems. How to do it?\n\nThe best provocative of attention is variety. The skilled teacher\nbrings as many suits of manner to the class as the bulkiest clown\nwears costumes to the circus. Before one suit becomes wearisome he\nstrips it off, and presto! a fresh teacher before the wide-eyed\nchildren. If he has been sitting, he rises; if erect, he leans eagerly\nforward. His utterance becomes rapid from slow, impetuous from\ndrawling. He darts from generalizations into personalities. If\nmotionless before, he begins to gesticulate. This is acting? No. It\nis only doing what the facile children themselves do on their\nkaleidoscopic playground, where no one goes to sleep.\n\nAgain, a teacher must learn to emphasize his important points, not by\nenlarging on them, but by reverting to them. Slight impression on a\nwall by holding a battering-ram against it! Nor can you impress a\nchild's mind by holding a fact up against it. It is intervals which\nmake blows possible.\n\nSo the child will attend to two things or three better than to one.\nConcentrate on one matter, burning-glass fashion, but only while the\nsun of interest is shining. With the first mist of indifference the\nwise teacher will drop the burning-glass. More teachers fail from\nhaving too few points to make than from having too many.\n\nBut to retain attention, you need less to multiply points than points\nof view. A teacher can usually fix the attention of his class upon one\nsubject while using in succession six different methods of treatment.\nPassing swiftly from questioning to formulating principles and\nillustrating them, from Bible quotations to personal experiences and\nexhortations, he will hold his audience delighted, though a single\nmethod would have wearied it. Note how a skilled cook presents the\nThanksgiving turkey on different days. It is a lordly brown biped, a\nplateful of nice slices, a salad, a pot-pie, hash. Teachers will be\nable to hold the youngsters' attention as well as cooks, if they\nlearn thus to put things in different lights.\n\nFurthermore, let it be remembered that no one was ever dignified with\na child, and won its attention. And some teachers are too staid to be\nuseful. Startle into inattention by a smart slap of the hands\ntogether, sharp extension of the finger, abrupt turns upon the floor.\nPreachers use such artifices when pews grow somnolent, and why not\nteachers? Never forget that the slightest inanimate object wins\nattention better than the greatest animation of the teacher. A\npencil-tablet will rivet all eyes. A finger laid upon a map is\ncynosure for the most fidgety scholars. If you have a picture which\ncan be brought into connection with the lesson, it is a pedagogical\nsin to omit it. A chart is as necessary to the Sabbath-school teacher\nas to the sailor, albeit the teacher's is best home-made. I used to\nhesitate to take time to use such helps; but I found that the poorest\npicture did better work than my most vivid word-paintings, and that my\nclearest statement was inefficient beside the clumsiest diagram.\n\nThe beginner in this fine art of attention-holding is likely to derive\nthe word \"attention\" thus: from _teneo_, \"I hold,\" _ad_, \"on to\";\n_attention_, \"I hold on to\" him. He tries to hold attention,\ntherefore, by main strength. He grapples with his audience as a\nbulldog would. His nerves are tense. His voice is imperative. His eye\nglares. He is rapid, impetuous, strategic. This is power, he thinks,\nand this is skill; but his audience astonishes him by going to sleep.\nAbashed, he tries milder means of holding on to them. He begins to\nbuttonhole his audience. He uses soft and flattering tones. He coaxes.\nHe wheedles. He jokes. He chucks them under the chin. And then his\naudience gets up and goes out.\n\nThe real meaning of the word \"attention\" contains an invaluable hint for\nall who are trying to win others by speaking or teaching. It is _teneo_,\n\"I hold, I stretch,\" _ad_, \"toward\"; and it is not by any means applied\nto the speaker, but to the listener. To get your audience, whether of\nlittle folk or big folk, to stretch out toward the same goal of truth\nthat you are seeking is the true art of winning attention.\n\nThis understanding of the matter implies that the teacher also is\nreally in pursuit of truth himself. The failure of much teaching is\nbecause it cries \"Go on\" instead of \"Come on.\" The speaker that you\nfollow with most difficulty is the speaker who has the air of \"knowing\nit all,\" while the speaker who succeeds best in holding your attention\ngives you the impression of a chase.\n\nThere's the game before you--that elusive truth slipping away through\nthe thicket yonder. The huntsman's eye flashes. He whistles up the dogs.\nWe all leap to the saddles. Off we go, over upland and vale, swamp and\nrock, fence and ditch, our leader far in the van, pointing here, waving\nthere, and hallooing the huntsman on. And when the game is tracked down,\nand our leader stands above it, dripping knife in hand, our veins\ntingle with his, and we shout with delight at our triumph.\n\nThis is the first principle in the art of winning attention. The\nspeaker must give the impression of a truth-seeker, if he would win\nothers to seek truth with him. What Edward Everett Hale once said of a\nsermon applies to this. Every Sunday-school lesson should start out to\nprove something. It should have some goal. It should _intend_\nsomething. _Intention_ must precede _attention_.\n\nBut though there must be this element of pleasing uncertainty and\nsuspense, we all have difficulty in attending to a speaker who does\nnot appear to have himself well in hand or to be quite sure what he is\nabout. Have you not caught yourselves, teachers, talking as if in your\nsleep? Have you not sometimes waked up at the end of a sentence, a\nquestion, or a harangue, and wondered what you had been talking about?\nDid you suppose that any one else knew? Did you expect to hold on to\nthem when you had no grasp of the subject? Can listeners pay attention\nto any one who does not pay attention to himself?\n\nTeachers make the mistake of dividing attention between the class, to\nwatch that they hear; and themselves, to see how they are getting\nalong; and the little attention left goes to the theme. Not\nunnaturally, the attention of the class is divided in the same\nway--much to themselves, less to the teacher, and least of all to what\nis being taught. Of course it is a teacher's business to hold his\nscholars' attention, but he will never do it by worrying and\nwondering whether he is succeeding.\n\nNay, I even go so far as to say, if one of your pupils pays no\nattention, then pay no attention to him, provided the mischief is not\nspreading. A teacher should not fritter away his attention on\ninattentive pupils. If he cannot win their attention by his own interest\nin his theme, he cannot win it at all. Not that I would imply for a\nmoment, however, that the teacher is to rest satisfied while a single\none of his pupils remains inattentive. If your chicks are average chicks\nthey are gregarious, and one stray-away is enough to carry the whole\nflock with him into foreign parts. While you have a single inattentive\nscholar you should conduct your lesson with a view to holding him. You\nwill hold the rest then, as a matter of course. I am only speaking of\nthe best way to win attention. It must be won, or you are beaten to some\nextent; and the attention of all _will_ be won in the end if you are\ndeeply enough in earnest yourself, if you do not allow your attention to\nbe side-tracked by the inattention of a few. If you wish to win and hold\nthe attention of others, _win and hold your own_.\n\n\n\n\nChapter X\n\nThe Importance of Questioning\n\n\nEver since Socrates, conversation has been the soul of teaching, and\never since Adam and Eve the question has been the life of\nconversation. A teacher's success depends, in about equal measure,\nupon inspiration, cogitation, and interrogation. Let the first be the\ngreat gravitative forces; let the second provide the truth, the\nliquid; then the interrogation-point is the curved siphon, which\ntransfers from the full to the empty vessel!\n\nMany, many a teacher has failed, thinking himself not wise enough, or\nnot energetic enough, while in reality he has simply failed to be\nwisely and energetically quizzical.\n\nBut what is a question? Is it not a fish-hook for pulling out, rather\nthan a siphon for putting in? Yes, later; but you cannot fish\nsuccessfully in a dry pond. Any bungler can examine and test. The nice\nart is to use your interrogation-points as instruments of addition,\nrather than of subtraction.\n\nBut why is it often better to insinuate instruction through a question,\nin preference to pouring by direct harangue? Well, does not a question\nimply community of interest, and hint at equality or similarity of\nattainment? The question is neighborly; the discourse mounts a platform.\n\nThe helpful lesson commentaries fail, practically, to reach many a\nclass, because its teacher in reading has failed to translate from the\ndeclarative into the interrogative. If Doctor Somebody writes tersely,\n\"A sin that is born of your own will is tenfold more dangerous to you\nthan your own sin that is born of your neighbor's will,\" Johnny will\nnot get the point unless the teacher transforms it somewhat thus: \"If\nyou are out in the country all alone, Johnny, jump over a fence, steal\na pocketful of apples, is that a sin just as much as if some other boy\nshould be along and persuade you to do it? Yes? Well, now, which sin\nis the more dangerous to you?\"\n\nSo important does this seem to me that I always carry pencil and paper\nto the perusal of my lesson helps, and write out, as a point pleases\nme, the form in which I wish to bring it up in the class, ranging\nthese questions under the numbers of the verses to which they apply.\n\nThe teacher who does not write out his questions, or do the equivalent\nof that work, is as sure to be defeated as the general who fights\nwithout a plan of campaign.\n\nShould those questions be read in the class? Not unless your ideal of\nteaching is the company drill, instead of the conversation.\n\nIt is well, however, to ask the scholars to write out questions for\nyou on verses assigned, and read these questions before the class. The\nteacher's work is grandly accomplished when he has induced the scholar\nto ask his own questions, and work out his own answers.\n\nI often find that a general call for questions on some apparently\nexhausted topic brings the richest results of the half-hour.\n\nFew verses are completely treated without Lyman Beecher's\n\"snapper,\"--the appeal to experience. The question, \"Is it I?\" must be\nraised, no matter by how direct urgings, in every heart. That question\nis truth's barb.\n\nThere is a questioning face and attitude, indicative of a real and\npersonal interest in the thing considered, without which a question\nwill always fall dead, and deservedly.\n\nNor, on the contrary, will a live manner avail to foist upon the\nattention of a class a dead question. And a question is \"dead\" to your\nscholar which does not touch his own world of interest at some point, no\nmatter how close connection it may have with your life and experience.\n\nThe questions on the lesson leaves make a good aid in study, but do most\npitiably convict a teacher of unfaithfulness if he use them in teaching.\n\nMost genuine of all questions, and most likely to be helpful, are the\ndoubts, perplexities, and difficulties which attend a thoughtful\nteacher's first careful reading of the text itself. Then is the time\nwhen the cream of that lesson should rise.\n\nLeading questions are always better than harangue, and are not to be\ndespised, on a pinch. See what use Socrates made of them! And, by the\nway, modern teachers could learn much as to methods from the dialogues\nof that old pagan.\n\nBy all means we must learn to link our questions, naturally developing\none from the other. Read a page of miscellaneous proverbs, and you\nwill carry away from it the same bewildered brain much Sunday-school\nsharp-shooting produces. Use the solid phalanx!\n\nInfinite harm is done our teaching by \"questioning down.\" Do you know\nhow tiresome it is to talk to a man up in a third-story window, you in\nthe street? Our \"level-best\" teaching must be on a level.\n\nThe novice at questioning, when first he becomes well satisfied with\nhimself in this line, will probably be making his chief mistake,--will\nhave hit upon an interrogative phraseology in which his thoughts run\neasily, which he uses incessantly. The artful questioner will rack his\nbrains to the utmost stretch of ingenuity to devise striking and novel\nways of quizzing, to hold the restless young minds.\n\nOf course, no skilled questioner will take the class in order. Of\ncourse, he will name the person who is to answer, at the end, and not at\nthe beginning, of his question. Of course, he will understand the use\nof long and attention-holding questions, interspersed with short, quick,\nattention-exciting questions. Of course, he will be ready with a varying\nform of the question if he has to repeat it, lest the class fail to\nlisten the second time. Of course, he will train himself to become ready\nwith a \"catch\" question,--a question with a quirk in it, to punish\nmildly the inattentive. Of course, he will know when the class needs\nunifying by the general question addressed to all, and when the subject\nneeds unifying by the general question reviewing all. And, of course, he\nwill have learned that the best teacher of this, as of all arts, is He\nwhose boyish questions in the temple grew to such mighty answers that no\nman thereafter dared question him, save only his true disciples.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XI\n\nA Good Question\n\n\nIf I were asked to name the chief fault of the average teacher, I should\nsay, \"Asking questions that can be answered by 'Yes' and 'No.'\" Among my\nacquaintances was once a teacher in a secular school whose method of\nquestioning was invariably this. He would have before him the statements\nof the text-book, copied out with painstaking care, and would develop\nthe subject thus: \"Is it true or is it not true, Mr. A----, that\"--and\nhere would follow the statement or definition of the text-book. The\nambiguous answer, \"Yes,\" was amply satisfactory. Unfortunately, when\nsuch teachers gain a foothold in the Sunday-school, they are not so\neasily dismissed as from secular establishments.\n\nNow, a good question merely furnishes the starting-point, and pushes\nthe scholar out along the course toward some goal of truth; but in a\nquestion that can be answered by \"Yes\" or \"No\" the teacher himself\nambles amiably up the track, and condescendingly allows the scholar's\nmonosyllable to pat him on the head after he himself has reached the\ngoal. A question that can be answered by \"Yes\" or \"No\" merely\nformulates the truth as it exists in the teacher's mind, and invites\nthe scholar's assent to it; a good question, on the contrary, provokes\nthe scholar to formulate truth for himself.\n\nNow, it is much easier to express what we see to be true than to get\nany one else to express original thought. There is also, to the\nunwise, more glory in laying down principles to which others must\nagree than in getting others to lay down principles to which we must\nagree. It will always be true, therefore, that the lazy and the\npompous will have no aim beyond educing monosyllabic answers. Most\nteachers, however, are earnestly desirous of the best, but do not know\nhow to frame wise questions. What must be said to them?\n\nFirst, that they must not go to school before their scholars. Expert\nquestioning is not learned in the class-room, but in the study. A\nlead-pencil is the best teacher. A sheet of paper is the best\ndrill-ground. As I have urged before: Let the Sunday-school worker who\naspires to the high praise of a good questioner sit down persistently,\nafter studying the lesson, and write out a set of questions. Nay; on\neach point, so far as he has time, let him write several questions,\ncriticise them, fancy what kind of answer each will be likely to\nelicit from the scholar, and choose what appears the best question.\nTry it on the class, and learn valuable lessons from the result.\n\nThis method, laborious as it is, must be kept up until skilful\nquestioning has become instinctive. That there may be hope of this happy\nresult, by the way, the written questions must never be used in the\nclass,--only the memory of them, and the drill the preparation has\ngiven. It surely will happen, sooner or later, that the careful student\nof practical pedagogics will be able to get along without writing,\nmerely formulating fit questions in his mind as he studies the lesson.\nAfter a time he may dispense even with this, and look simply after the\npoints to be presented, trusting to extemporaneous question-making.\n\nNot wholly, however. The best questioner in the world gets into ruts.\nThe best forms of questions ever invented are worse than the worst if\nthey are used with dull reiteration. No one can devote careful\nattention to the form of his questions without falling in love with\nsome particular way of questioning; and this will not always be the\nbest way, but will probably be the most original way. A form of\nquestion that is irreproachable the first time will be unendurable\nused six times in succession. It is necessary, then, even for the\ntrained questioner, to revert now and then to his old lead-pencil\ndrill, in order to study variety.\n\nBut how may the uninitiated know a good question when they see it, or\nmake it? As said already, it must not be such that a lazy monosyllable\nmay answer it. As said already, too, if one is in doubt, he has but\nto try it on the class, and note results. But further. A good question\nwill be likely to have something piquant about it, if the subject\nadmits. For instance, \"James was killed, Peter was freed; why was\nthat?\" is better than saying, \"How do you account for the fact that\nwhile the apostle James was beheaded, the apostle Peter was delivered\nfrom the hands of his persecutors?\"\n\nFurthermore, the difference between a poor question and a good one may\noften be a mere matter of length. \"Why did the Christians at Antioch\nkeep the inferior leaders for work in the city, but send away the most\nprominent men in their church to labor as missionaries?\" That is\nabominable; it should be, \"Why did the Antioch Christians send away\ntheir best men?\"\n\nA good question will contain as much as possible of the personal\nelement. \"What do you understand by the phrase 'remission of sins'?\"\nis much better than \"What is the significance of the phrase 'remission\nof sins'?\" Because the personal question puts the expected answer in a\nmore modest light, the answer will be more unconstrained and full.\n\nAnd, by the way, there are few forms of questions more zealously to be\navoided than the form I have just used, \"What do you understand by--?\"\nIt is the unfailing resource of the poor questioner. A verse will be\nread, a phrase quoted, a doctrine or a principle named, and then will\nfollow, as the night the day, the tiresome old formula, \"What do you\nunderstand by this, Miss A----?\" One would be quite safe in declaring,\nat any particular instant during common Sunday-school hours, that\none-fourth of the Sunday-school teachers of the world were repeating,\nwith united breath, that Methuselah of a query, \"What do you\nunderstand by this?\"\n\nAgain, a good question must be swift. It must come so quickly that\nthere will be no time to get out of the way. Some questions that, if\nwritten out, would not be bad, are prolonged in the utterance of\nover-deliberate teachers like foggy illustrations of the law of\nperspective. Good questions leap. You feel their buoyancy as you read\nthem or hear them. It is like the huntsman springing into the saddle\nand shouting, \"Come on!\" No one with an atom of thoughtfulness is dull\nto the exhilaration of spirited questions. They have inspired all the\nwise thinking of the world.\n\nAnd, finally, good questions should be absolutely clear. There is one\nthing in the world that must always be faultlessly perspicuous and\ndistinct, and that is a marching order in time of battle. Now, questions\nare the marching orders of our scholars' brain regiments, in a battle of\ninfinite moment. Let them ring clearly as ever bugle-call was sounded.\nQuestions mumbled, hesitant, caught up and patched over, confused and\nslovenly,--what wonder if these get slow and mumbled answers? A question\nclearly put, not only proves that the questioner has clear ideas, but\nit wondrously clarifies the ideas of the answerer.\n\nGood questions, then, are thought-compelling, varied, short, personal,\npiquant, unhackneyed, brisk, and clear. Do I ask too much? Nothing\nthat all may not acquire, if but a tithe of the zeal and labor claimed\nby the trivialities of a few years are spent upon these issues of\neternity. Let every teacher consider what characteristics of a good\nquestioner he may add to his pedagogical outfit.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XII\n\nInspiring Questions\n\n\nI use this title advisedly, because I believe that it requires more\ngenuine inspiration to lead the average scholar to ask questions than\nto perform any other part of the teacher's difficult task. How easy to\nask our own questions, to put in our own answers in order to draw them\nout again, were that all of it! But to transform the passive into the\nactive, the auditor into the investigator, the questioned into the\nquestioner, that is the goal of the true teacher's endeavor.\n\nShall we count a recitation successful when the teacher has been earnest\nand zealous in his inquisition, the scholars ready and full in their\nresponses? A single question, borne, it may be, on a voice so timid that\nit is scarcely audible in the buzzing room, yet sprung from some young\nheart just moved with the sudden desire of truth, is worth all the rest.\n\nIf the teacher wishes to carry his scholars beyond the parasite stage,\nwhich is just as dangerous intellectually as physically, both to the\nparasite and its supporter, he must learn first that this weaning\ncomes not without thoughtfulness and design. He must learn that, even\nmore carefully than he plans the questions he is to ask his scholars,\nhe must plan to inspire them to ask questions themselves. He will be\nmost successful if, from the many matters which could be brought up in\nthe lesson, he selects two or three of prime importance, and schemes\nto elicit the questioning enthusiasm of his class along those few\nlines. But how to do it?\n\nIn the first place, the teacher must be a questioner himself. An old\nhen can hardly teach the eagle's brood to fly. Do not hesitate to tell\nyour scholars of the doubts you once had, and how you won certainty\nfrom them. Show them by example that doubt is never a thing to be\nafraid of or ashamed of, unless it be a lazy doubt, viciously pleased\nwith its own fog.\n\nThen there is a question-inspiring face and attitude. If the teacher\nassumes the manner pontific and speaks _ex cathedra_, and has the air\nof one who says the ultimate word, he will smother every question. A\nsympathetic, open face, and the hearty spirit of good-fellowship, are\nthe best invitations to inquiries.\n\nNor must the teacher be in a hurry, hastening from verse to verse with\nthe nervous dispatch of an auctioneer. How many times must even a wise\nman look at a beetle, and how long, before he is moved to ask a wise\nquestion concerning it? Don't we sometimes make the recitation a mere\nexhibition of shooting-stars?\n\nThen, too, be on the watch for questions. How far ahead can you see a\nquestion coming? Before the scholar has made up his mind to ask it, if\nyou have seeing eyes. An almost imperceptible quiver of the lips:\n\"Question, Thomas?\" Eyes suddenly wider: \"What were you about to ask,\nMary?\" Forehead wrinkled: \"Anything to say on that point, Edward?\"\n\nAnd if the question is a good one, why, \"A capital question, Thomas!\"\n\"I hoped that some one would ask that, Mary!\" A good question is more\nto be praised than a good answer, because it is rarer and more\noriginal; but does it always receive our hearty commendation?\n\nThough the question leads you far out of your way, turn aside for it\nas gladly as you would turn from the road to pick up a diamond. Though\nyou must leave the climax of the lesson unreached, see in this the\nclimax. Though you are in full harangue, eagerly showing forth some\ngreat truth, stop short at once. A question in hand is worth a whole\nsystem of theology in the bush.\n\nAnd even if the question be trivial, or pointless, or utterly\nirrelevant, in anticipation of other possible questions, this one is\nnot to be scornfully or slightingly waved aside. Don't kill the goose\nthat lays golden eggs when she chances to lay one of pewter!\n\nHalf-statements, when shrewdly managed, will often elicit questions.\n\"Yes, God was terribly angry with the Jews,--terribly. Think how\npowerful God is, and how awful his anger must be! You want to ask\nsomething, Billy? Whether it is right for God to be angry? Well, I am\nglad you asked that, because I want to tell you the difference between\nhis anger and ours.\"\n\nAn over-statement will often draw out the longed-for inquiry. \"When\nJohn urged every one with two coats to give one to some person who had\nno coat, what did he mean but this,--that, as long as any one in the\nworld is poor, those who have more than they need ought to keep giving\nto those who have less than they need? I see that you have a word for\nus, Lizzie. What is it? How about the lazy people and the bad men? I\nhoped some one would bring up that point!\"\n\nAnd when your half-statement or over-statement is accepted without\nremonstrance by your scholars, a little jolly scolding as you make the\ncorrection yourself, and a warning that they must do better thinking\nthe next time, will work wonders.\n\nSometimes the best plan is a direct call. \"What do you think about\nthat statement, now? Haven't you some question to ask about it? Don't\nyou want to know something more about it?\" If not a question follows,\nat least the scholars will know that you are expecting them to\noriginate lines of thought and inquiry; and that is one thing gained.\n\nThis question is sometimes asked: \"What modern teacher is so\nsuccessful as Socrates, who made his scholars teachers in their turn?\"\nThe question touches a fundamental truth in pedagogics,--that the\nteacher's goal is the scholar's independence of the teacher. By brave\nexample of sturdy thought, by sympathetic insight into the doubts and\nneeds of the opening mind, by enthusiasm and winning tact, let us\nstrive in this direction, as in all others, to be worthy followers of\nHim who made of his disciples teachers at whose feet the great Greek\nhimself would have been glad to sit.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XIII\n\nTrigger-Teaching\n\n\nThe hard-working Sunday-school teacher picks up his cartridge, proudly\ncarries it to the desired destination, and there explodes it. The\nshrewd Sunday-school teacher uses the scholar as a rifle, and simply\npulls the trigger. Some teachers, that is, consider themselves as big\nguns. Other and better teachers seek to make practical working guns of\ntheir scholars. Between the two styles of teaching there is this\ndifference, that the trigger-teaching usually hits the mark, while the\nbig-gun teacher finds that the mark, if it is a live one, has taken\nitself out of the way by the time he has carried the cartridge to it.\n\nIn big-gun teaching the teacher does everything for the scholar; in\ntrigger-teaching the teacher does nothing for the scholar that he can\nhelp. In big-gun teaching the teacher thinks; in trigger-teaching the\nteacher thinks how to get his scholars to think. Big-gun teaching\nparades; trigger-teaching stays in the tent and issues orders. Big-gun\nteaching is amusing; trigger-teaching is suggestive. Big-gun teaching\ndevelops the teacher; trigger-teaching develops the scholar. The\nteacher's true work is to educate, and \"educate\" means \"to draw out,\"\nand not \"to carry to.\"\n\n\"Oh! our scholars are not loaded,\" I hear many teachers object. \"If we\nshould pull the trigger, there would follow only a ridiculous click.\"\n\nBut your scholars _are_ loaded, objectors. Though they may not be\nloaded with precisely the information you have been seeking from them,\nthey are loaded with experiences,--all their short lives will hold.\nThey are loaded with temptations and troubles and needs. They are\nloaded with questions and curiosity. They have information, too, any\namount of it, that may be brought into suggestive connection with the\nlesson, if you know how to make shrewd use of their public-school\nhistory and geography and science.\n\nTo be sure, they probably know nothing definite about the time of the\nlesson's events, or the place, or the persons, or the circumstances.\nWell, make them load themselves. As you rehearse these facts\nconcisely, make your scholars write them on slips of paper. Send one\nto the board, to set down what you dictate. Get one of their number to\nread aloud some brief and comprehensive summary of the lesson details.\nIn one or all of these ways make them load themselves, and\nthen--nothing is accomplished if you stop here--pull the trigger!\n\nMore than on any other thing save the help of the Holy Spirit, a\nteacher's success depends on the use he makes of the fact that his\nscholars are already loaded to some effective purpose; and the wise\nteacher will always ask himself, in the course of his preparation for\nthe lesson, \"What experiences of the members of my class will help\nthem understand this lesson and its truths?\" One has been sick lately.\nOne is studying geology. One has a father who is a banker. One has\njust seen the Mammoth Cave.\n\nIf these things are to be likened to the bullets and shot, what is the\npowder? Must the teacher depend for that, too, largely on the pupil?\nYes.\n\nTo be sure, much of the powder of successful teaching is the zeal and\neagerness of the teacher himself. But his interest is a smokeless\npowder like the fulminating powder of the cap, whose value is solely\nto set fire to the powder of the scholar when the trigger is pulled.\nThe scholar's interest, the scholar's powder, it is that must be\nrelied upon to do the work, to carry the ball.\n\nAnd so in trigger-teaching, much depends on the teacher's ability to\nexcite curiosity and arouse interest. He will study his scholars'\nlikings, and appeal to them in his illustrations; their needs, and\nrefer to them in his applications. Sometimes he will state the matter\ntoo strongly, sometimes too feebly; in each case, with the express\nintention to draw out their protest. He will know how to use paradox\nso as to arouse, but not confuse. He will study different methods of\nemphasis, and will not use one alone. From each lesson he will select\none truth, and one only, which he will treat with all the ardor of a\nlawyer arguing a matter of life or death. Above all, he will remember\nthat the Spirit alone quickeneth, and will earnestly pray that fire\nfrom heaven may be added to his own little fulminating cap.\n\nBut many a teacher, conscious of all that I have been saying, does not\nknow how to pull the trigger. It is not so simple in the Sunday-school\nas in the school of the battalion. The artful teacher will find many\nways of trigger-pulling, suited to the diverse and changing needs of his\nclass and of his topic. Sometimes he will put in the scholars' hands\npaper and pencil, and set them to writing or drawing. Sometimes he will\nsend them in turn to his blackboard. Sometimes he will elicit the entire\nstory from one, sometimes from ten. Sometimes he will introduce pictures\nfor them to talk about, or maps for them to travel over, or objects for\nthem to group their words and thoughts around. Always, however, he will\nremember that his best trigger is the little trigger-shaped\ninterrogation-point. He will ask questions himself with the\neffectiveness born of careful preparation. Better than that, he will get\nhis scholars to ask questions. In all these ways, and as many more as\nthere are Sundays in the year, the wise teacher will pull the trigger.\n\nLet no one pass from big-gun teaching to trigger-teaching with the\nidea that the latter will prove the easier. It is far more difficult\nto make the cartridge than to pick up and carry the ball which the\ncartridge would propel; but, for effective and profitable teaching,\nbetter ten minutes' work done by the class than an hour's work done by\nyou in the presence of the class, even though to do the latter is far\neasier than to elicit the former.\n\nIf--as those who have been doing it all themselves will doubtless find\nit--this trigger-teaching comes especially hard at first, let them\nbegin with getting their scholars to do _something_ at first hand,\nthough only a little, and let them work their way slowly to the\npedagogical perfection of getting their scholars to do everything.\n\nAnd does any one fear that this will destroy the personality and\npersonal influence of the teacher? On the contrary, the trigger-teacher\nhas to put ten times more of himself into every lesson than the big-gun\nteacher. The scholars get more of his personality, at the same time that\nthey are gloriously, though unconsciously, developing their own.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XIV\n\nGalvanic Teaching\n\n\nIn his exceedingly suggestive book entitled \"Before an Audience\" Mr.\nShepard insists strenuously on what he calls \"physical earnestness\" in\na speaker. It is not meant by this that we are to go before our\nscholars with our nerves a-quiver, with headaches coming on, with our\nbrains throbbing and our muscles drawn tight. A speaker must be, as\nMr. Shepard insists, an animal galvanic battery on two legs. He must\nbe at something corresponding to electric tension. He must be in\nearnest with his body, not lazy with it. No teacher who is not\nspirited will succeed with children, or with any one, long.\n\nNothing will more quickly win and permanently hold a child's attention\nthan earnestness. Children's capacity for serious thinking is greatly\nundervalued. There is more philosophy in them than you dream of. They\nare very much in earnest themselves, and they rejoice to see other\npeople very much in earnest.\n\nI do not mean by this that one should always be serious with them.\nNothing will gain their attention more than a joke; but joking with\nchildren is as dangerous as feeding them candy. They have no more\ntaste henceforth for anything else, and to keep their attention you\nmust continue to feed them candy and deal out jokes. The most\nsuccessful teachers of children, judging not by the interest of the\nchildren so much as by permanent spiritual results, are those that are\nalways deeply in earnest; and yet their earnestness is shot through\nand through with the sunshine.\n\nThe intensity I am advocating must not be the intensity of an auger,\nthat bores. Oh, if teachers only knew enough not to teach too much! If\none good idea is got into the heads of the children as the result of\nthe lesson half-hour, then you have scored a victory. If you try to\nget in eight good ideas, you will not score one-eighth of a victory.\nSome teachers that I know want to get the whole body of theology and\nthe entire system of ethics into each lesson. They skip with haste\nfrom truth to mighty truth, crowding into a lesson twenty weighty\npoints, each one of which would be amply sufficient for the half-hour.\nThe result is an impossibility of attention, for not enough is given\nabout any one thing to fix it and hold it down.\n\nOur Sunday-school teaching reminds me sometimes of a daily paper--all\ncut up into paragraphic articles; and if there is any topic of\nuniversal knowledge omitted, it will appear in the evening edition. A\nconfirmed newspaper reader has become incapable of following an\nextended discussion, or of reading a book. I have stood before\nSunday-school classes to which their teacher was in the habit of\npropounding a series of disconnected questions from a book or paper,\nand I have found it quite impossible to hold the attention of such\nclasses for any length of time on one matter. They were anxious for\nanother paragraph, for fresh head-lines, for a change of subject.\n\nMost Sunday-school lessons are fruitful of multitudinous suggestions.\nLet us not teach so much that we teach nothing, or, worse than\nnothing, instruct in mental dissipation instead of mental\nconcentration. We prepare for teaching with the lesson hour in view;\nwe should rather have in view the hour following the lesson hour. What\nimpression do we intend the lesson to make? How are we going to make\nthe lesson stand out in relief?\n\nI must now set off against the law of intensity the complementary law\nof motion. A mesmeric patient is sent into the hypnotic trance by\ncontinued staring at the same stationary object. This looks like\nperfect attention, but it results in sleep. There is a verbal\nhypnotism that is very common when teachers are trying to impress an\nidea by holding it up stolidly and persistently before the eyes of\ntheir scholars. That is not what I mean by intensity, and it is one of\nthe commonest ways of destroying attention.\n\nIf you are anxious to impress a truth and yet hold attention, you must\ndo it by presenting now this side of the truth and now that, now with\nparable and now with allegory, now with appeal and now with testimony,\nexperience, quotation, objects. Arrived at the end, do not press the\npoint against the scholars and stick it into them, but if they do not\nsee it, go back and pass over the matter in a different way.\n\nMoving bodies draw and hold the eye. Every one must look at a shooting\nstar, a jumping horse, a running man, a flying bird, a rising kite. To\nkeep attention, our lessons must have what the critics of novels call\n\"movement.\" There is to be no still life in our pictures. Everything\nmust be stirring, dramatic.\n\nAn accomplished teacher must have the power of painting word-pictures.\nIt is not a difficult art. Hard study and zealous \"putting yourself in\nhis place\" will accomplish it. Some way or other we must get the persons\nof the lesson clearly before our scholars' eyes, the scenes as if the\nscholars were surrounded by them, if we would maintain their attention.\nAnd even if the lesson is impersonal, we must dramatize it, we must\ninvent situations and persons to illustrate the abstract thought, or we\nmust draw illustrations from real history. These must all be real to us,\nor they will never be real to our scholars. Pictures always hold the\nattention of children. Let us remember this when we talk to them.\nChildren are fond of motion. Let our teaching move briskly, then.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XV\n\nSerial Teaching\n\n\nThere are short-story writers who are able to hold our attention\ncharmingly for an episode, and there are other minds which are able to\nlead us entranced through the varied scenes of a long serial. So also\nthere is short-story Sunday-school teaching and serial Sunday-school\nteaching. Short-story teaching treats each lesson as a separate unit;\nserial teaching considers each lesson a part only of a great, united\nwhole.\n\nShort-story teaching is far easier than serial teaching. It is\nconcerned with but one set of circumstances, persons, and principles.\nFor the serial teacher, on the contrary, every lesson must include a\nreview and a prospectus. He must learn to see things in their\nrelations. He must have a good memory, and a better imagination, to\nmake his memory buoyant. This is not easy; and therefore it is that\nshort-story teaching is much commoner than serial teaching.\n\nAnd yet serial teaching is the right kind of teaching, for the\nfollowing reasons. Just as a fine serial story adds to the enthusiasm\nfor good numbers of a periodical, and tides over poor numbers, so, if\nyou can get up a serial interest in your teaching, it will increase\nthe interest of the good days, and will tide over with full seats and\nbright eyes the rainy, or cold, or hot, or sleepy days.\n\nBesides, Christianity is a whole, and each of its many parts\ninterdependent. We must not teach it, therefore, as if it were a\npatchwork, capable of being taken apart and put together as men will.\nWe do wrong to the great system we teach, if our lessons do not leave\nthe impression of a vast, coherent fabric,--too vast for one lesson to\ndisclose, too coherent for one lesson to stand out apart.\n\nBesides, however our lessons may change, our scholars are still the\nsame; and this continuity of listeners should impart a serial interest\nto the teaching. Cause the scholars to feel that each lesson is to\nmake definite contribution to their growth in knowledge and character.\nIt won't hurt them if they are as mechanical about it as Peter, and\nenumerate, lesson after lesson, as in the apostle's famous\naddition-table, the virtues those lessons may add to their lives.\n\nFor these three reasons, then, our teaching should contain some strong\nelement of serial interest. Many teachers err in using only one sort\nof connecting link, year in, year out, and are as likely to fail as\nthe periodical which always prints serial stories of the same kind of\nplot, scenes, and characters. I will mention several serial elements\nwhich a wise teacher will use in turn, holding to one long enough for\nprofit, but not too long for interest.\n\nIn the first place, it is often well to make the serial biographical.\nYour serial has then a hero. Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Saul, David,\nSolomon, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, John, Peter, Paul, Mary,--what glorious\ngroups of chapters these names bind together! If we are zealous,\npatient, and imaginative, we can easily, with this magnificent material,\nconstruct for our classes serials whose absorbing interest will vie with\nany in their pet weekly story-paper. We can lead them to eager study of\na man's development in character and in fortune.\n\nAt other times it is better to trust for the serial interest to\nhistory,--to study the evolution of a nation as before of a man. The\nwondrous tale of the rise of the Hebrews from Abraham, their\nmetamorphosis under Moses, their consolidation under judges, their\nexpansion under kings, their division, their downfall, their\nrestoration, their subjugation, their new birth in Him who was before\nAbraham,--this story may be made to have a deep and constant serial\ninterest.\n\nOf course, with either the biographical or historical serial plan, great\npains must be taken with that bugbear of the average teacher,--what the\nlesson-helps call intervening events, but many a scholar calls\nintervening mystifications. Often fully half the lesson-time should be\ngiven to them. Usually the antecedents they contain are absolutely\nnecessary for an understanding of the lesson,--text, persons, and\nprinciples. With them you teach history; without, episodes. They mean\nwork, to be sure; but all unifying and solidifying means work.\n\nAt still other times or with other classes it is well to let the\nserial interest center around principles. Treat one group of lessons\nas illustrating the manly or unmanly qualities; consider another group\nprimarily as a commentary on truth and falsehood; let your binding\ntopic for another set be \"What is True Religion?\" \"Sin and Salvation,\"\n\"Serving and Served,\" \"Success and Failure,\"--how many lessons could\nbe clustered naturally about these topics! Children are\ncharacteristically philosophers, and a treatment of Sunday-school\nlessons as illustrating different phases of some great truth is a\nmethod very attractive to them. \"What does the Bible teach about\ntruth-telling, about penalty for sin, about the conditions of\nhappiness?\" Sunday-school scholars should be ready to answer such\nquestions, not by haphazard impromptus, but by a careful presentation\nof events, characters, and sayings bearing on each point, and\nrepresenting the whole Bible.\n\nAnother excellent way of binding lessons together is by the scholars\nthemselves. As I said, however the lessons change, the scholars remain\nthe same, with the same prominent troubles, faults, and needs. Both\nthey and you should know what these are. I often have scholars who\nbring up, Sunday after Sunday, in connection with topics the most\ndiverse, the same questions, which are evidently stumbling-blocks to\ntheir minds and lives. These are usually practical matters wherein the\nChristian imperatives are strangely incongruous with worldly habits,\nsuch as the choice of a calling, absolute frankness of speech, public\ntestimony for Christ, the careful observance of the Sabbath, sharp\ncompetition in trade. These are too big questions to be settled in a\nfew minutes, and young folks who are seized by them in earnest have\nfound for themselves a serial interest which will last for some time.\n\nIf we cannot take advantage of such a linking which our scholars\ndiscover for themselves, we can always bind lessons together by our\nown knowledge of our scholars' needs. If you have a young man in your\nclass to whom the skepticism of the times is alluring, let him find\nsomething faith-inspiring and confirmatory of belief in every lesson.\nIf you have a young girl burdened with sick-room duties and home cares\nbeyond her strength, let her know that each lesson will bring her\nfresh energy and comfort. You need not tell your scholars that you\nknow their struggles. Enough that you do know them, and link lesson to\nlesson for them in sweet chains of love and helpfulness.\n\nWhen, by any of the four methods I have outlined, you thus establish a\nbond between your lessons, you have gained two great advantages\nbesides the serial interest which you have aroused. In the first\nplace, you study the Bible as a whole, not by extracts. You learn to\ninterpret one portion by another. You find out the fallacy of\nfragments. You perceive that Christianity is a system, and not an\nanthology. In the second place, you have solved the review problem,\nfor every lesson is now a review. If you were required to remember, in\norder, twelve words chosen at random, you would find it somewhat\ndifficult; but it would be easy enough if those twelve words were\narranged in a sentence. Serial teaching is building up a sentence, and\nthe review is merely repeating that sentence. A serial teacher has no\nfear of review day. The short-story teacher is compelled to find for\nthat day a new short story.\n\nNow, have I not reserved mention of the one great tie of all our\nteaching? Whether Old Testament or New, history, prophecy, proverbs,\nor psalms, it is all one continued story, and the hero is Christ. By\nwhatever unifying principle we group our lessons together, Christ\nunifies the groups. Year in, year out, if Christ is at the heart of\nour teaching, that teaching is consecutive, serial, solid. Without\nhim, it is disjointed, fragmentary, frail. Not retracting a word I\nhave written about the value of these other methods of arousing\ncontinued interest, yet it must be said that they are all worthless\nwithout Christ. In him each several building, fitly framed together,\ngroweth into a holy temple in the Lord.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XVI\n\nTeaching the Psalms\n\n\nThe Lesson Committee often assigns us two or three lessons in a book,\nand from these few lessons the scholars must get some comprehensive\nknowledge of the entire book. A book study, therefore, will not be out\nof place in this series of suggestions to teachers, and I have chosen\nthe Psalms, since they are likely to be most fruitful of hints as to\nthe teaching of other books.\n\nA systematic knowledge of the Psalms is rarely sought after. Only one\nbook of the Bible is more loved: the Gospel of John; only one is read\nless methodically: the Book of Proverbs.\n\nIt is the fault of many teachers that they teach all books of the\nBible in the same way. Prophecy, history, poetry, prose, Ruth and\nRevelation, John and Judges,--it is all one to them. The Psalms, like\nall other books of the Bible, are unique, and need their own especial\nmode of treatment. Here are some hints concerning this treatment.\n\nGet first, from the Revised Version, a comprehensive idea of the five\nBooks of Psalms, with their similar endings. Note their length and the\ntotal number of psalms. From the Bible dictionary learn what you can\nabout the time when these books were collected, and the probable\nauthors of the anonymous psalms.\n\nStudy the psalms by types. We have the First Psalm, which contrasts\nthe good and evil. Psalms of the Good are 1, 26, 41, 72, 94, 101, 126,\n127, 128, 144. Psalms of the Evil are 10, 14, 36, 37, 49, 52, 53, 58,\n64, 73, 82, 109, 129, 140. The Second is a Psalm of Power. Others are\n11, 21, 24, 29, 47, 48, 60, 76, 77, 83, 97, 108, 111, 114, 139. The\nNineteenth and the One Hundred and Third are Psalms of Praise. With\nthese study 8, 9, 18, 30, 33, 34, 44, 65, 66, 67, 68, 75, 85, 89, 90,\n92, 93, 95, 96, 98, 99, 100, 104, 105, 106, 107, 112, 113, 117, 118,\n134, 135, 136, 138, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150. The Second and the\nSeventy-second are Messianic Psalms. So also are Psalms 45 and 110.\nThe Twenty-third is a Psalm of Trust. Similar psalms are 4, 7, 16, 27,\n31, 56, 62, 71, 91, 125, 131. The Fifty-first is a Psalm of\nForgiveness. Such, too, are 25, 32, 39, 40, 80, 81. With Psalm 84, a\nPsalm of Worship, go 15, 42, 50, 57, 63, 87, 115, 122, 132, 133.\nBesides these, the following may be classified as Psalms of Help: 3,\n12, 20, 35, 43, 46, 59, 61, 70, 79, 121, 124; the following as Psalms\nof Sorrow: 6, 13, 22, 38, 55, 69, 74, 88, 102, 120, 137, 143; and the\nfollowing as Psalms of Prayer: 5, 17, 28, 54, 86, 116, 123, 130, 141,\n142. Psalms 78 and 119 are Psalms of the Law. Of course, this is only\na rough classification of the psalms. It will be a pleasant and\nvaluable task for you to classify them more elaborately.\n\nRead again the life of David, found in the passage from 1 Samuel 16:1\nto 1 Kings 2:11. In connection with each psalm you read, think what\nmay have been the king's fortunes when he wrote it, or what experience\nof his may have prompted it. This psalm of sorrow may have had birth\nin Absalom's revolt; this song of trust may have welled from a rock of\nhiding in the desert; this hymn of triumphant strain may have\ncelebrated some victory over Saul or the Syrians; this pleading for\nforgiveness may have been a wail over Uriah.\n\nThe psalms are all dramatic. Here, more than anywhere in the study of\nthe Bible, you need to use imagination, to \"put yourself in his\nplace.\" The psalms are in the first person. Fancy yourself the\npsalmist as you read his songs. Pray his prayers, exult in his praise,\nbeat your breast with his agony of shame, be calm in his assurance of\nforgiveness and peace.\n\nIn like manner, as you prepare to teach, fancy times in your scholars'\nlives to which these psalms will apply, times when it would be well for\nthem to sing these psalms, and teach with these times in clear view.\n\nBe sure thus to translate David's experience into that of your\nscholars. These psalms are of universal moment, as they come so\ndirectly from David's heart, and God's; and yet they need this\ntranslation, because David's surroundings were not ours. His foes,\nhis sins, his exiles, his triumphs, were not ours in form, however\nmuch the same in reality.\n\nThere are frequent quotations of the psalms to be found in the later\nbooks of the Bible. These, especially those made by Christ and the\napostles, constitute a priceless commentary. Search for them with the\nhelp of a concordance or a reference Bible.\n\nAside from this, the psalms are especially fit for illustrative\nquotations, and the children may be inspired to gather them eagerly.\nAssign to each scholar a verse for illustration from some other part\nof the Bible, in some such way as this:\n\n    \"_The Lord is my shepherd._\"\n\n      \"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd layeth down his life\n       for the sheep\" (John 10:11).\n\n    \"_I shall not want._\"\n\n      \"Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these\n       things. But seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness, and\n       all these things shall be added unto you\" (Matt. 7:32, 33).\n\n    \"_He maketh me to lie down in green pastures._\"\n\n      \"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will\n       give you rest\" (Matt. 11:28).\n\n    \"_He leadeth me beside the still waters._\"\n\n      \"Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never\n       thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a\n       well of water, springing up unto eternal life\" (John 4:14).\n\n    \"_He restoreth my soul._\"\n\n      \"I am the resurrection and the life\" (John 11:25).\n\n    \"_He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake._\"\n\n      \"I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the\n       Father, but by me\" (John 14:6).\n\n    \"_Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I\n    will fear no evil._\"\n\n      \"Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die\" (John\n       11:26).\n\n    \"_For thou art with me._\"\n\n      \"Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world\" (Matt.\n       28:20).\n\n    \"_Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me._\"\n\n      \"I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,\n       that he may be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth\" (John\n       14:16, 17).\n\n    \"_Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine\n    enemies._\"\n\n      \"I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall not hunger\"\n       (John 6:35).\n\n    \"_Thou anointest my head with oil._\"\n\n      \"Grace and peace ... from Jesus the anointed, ... who has made us\n       to be kings and priests unto his God and Father\" (Rev. 1:4-6).\n\n    \"_My cup runneth over._\"\n\n      \"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in\n       the blood of Christ?\" (1 Cor. 10:16.)\n\n    \"_Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my\n    life._\"\n\n      \"These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you,\n       and that your joy may be fulfilled\" (John 15:11).\n\n    \"_And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever._\"\n\n      \"In my Father's house are many abiding-places.... I go to prepare\n       a place for you\" (John 14:2).\n\nIn preparing for this exercise the children will learn how to use the\nBible index and the concordance.\n\nWatch the paragraphs of the Revised Version. They make useful\nindications of the passage from one thought to the other.\n\nThe psalms lend themselves well to the useful exercises of analysis,\ncondensation, and paraphrase. Get your scholars to write out for you,\none, a brief tabular statement of the contents of the psalm; another,\nthe thought of the psalm in words of his own; a third, the substance\nof the psalm, with all superfluous words and repetitions omitted.\n\nIt is a capital plan to underscore in your Bibles, and get your scholars\nin the course of the lesson to underscore in theirs, the key-sentences\nof the psalm. In the First Psalm, for instance, you have in bold relief\nthe main thought of the six verses if you underscore \"Blessed is the man\nthat walketh not in the counsel of the wicked. Whatsoever he doeth shall\nprosper. The wicked are not so.\" There is your outline.\n\nDo not rest satisfied until, for your scholars and for you, the psalm\nyou are studying is a unit, and stands out in your minds with clear-cut\nindividuality. It is especially necessary to get through with the entire\ntext when your lesson is in the Psalms. It is not like a series of\ndisconnected proverbs: it is a picture; and your understanding of it\nwill lack some essential part until you have all the verses.\n\nIndeed, I would go over each psalm with the class at least five times,\nrapidly: first, to remove stumbling-blocks of strange customs and\nexpressions; second, to grasp the general thought; third, to get its\napplication to David's life; fourth, to get its lesson for our lives;\nfifth, a verse-by-verse study for all possible side-lights and\ninstruction.\n\nObserve the parallel expressions. Use only the Revised Version, which\ncorrectly prints the psalms as poetry. Read them rhythmically; chant\nthem; intone them; get the impression of songs. Come to feel the\nbeauty and meaning of the frequent refrains.\n\nGo on a tour of discovery, seeking for the noble metrical translations\nof these psalms found in our hymn-books and religious anthologies. For\nPsalm 19 read Addison's magnificent hymn, \"The spacious firmament on\nhigh\"; for Psalm 103, H. F. Lyte's \"Praise, my soul, the King of\nheaven,\" or Isaac Watts' \"My soul, repeat His praise\"; for Psalm 72,\nJames Montgomery's \"Hail to the Lord's Anointed, great David's greater\nSon!\" or Isaac Watts' \"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does his\nsuccessive journeys run\"; for Psalm 84, H. F. Lyte's \"Pleasant are\nThy courts above,\" or Isaac Watts' \"Lord of the worlds above\"; for\nPsalm 23, Addison's \"The Lord my pasture shall prepare,\" or others\nmore familiar; and for other psalms the same writers, with Wesley,\nJohn Newton, Scott, and many more. Your scholars will be interested in\nsearching for these, and bringing them in.\n\nSuppose we were studying an English hymn-book. What would we ask first\nabout each hymn? We would ask what sentiment it was capable of\ninspiring. The same question is to be asked about these inspired\nhymns; and throughout each of them we are to trace not so much a train\nof thought as a train of feeling.\n\nThe psalms are subjective, and for that reason are particularly hard,\nsome of them, for children to appreciate. We must interpret them all\nthe more thoroughly by objective illustrations. Here the ordinary\nproblem is reversed. In our ordinary lessons the example from real\nlife is given, and from it the teacher must draw spiritual lessons.\nHere the spiritual meditation is given, to be applied to real life.\n\nNotwithstanding this, the psalms are eminently pictorial, and\nespecially adapted to illustration. See how many pictures are\nsuggested by the following words from the most famous of the psalms:\n\"shepherd,\" \"want,\" \"lie down,\" \"green pastures,\" \"leadeth,\" \"still\nwaters,\" \"guideth,\" \"paths,\" \"valley of the shadow,\" \"rod and staff,\"\n\"a table prepared,\" \"enemies,\" \"anointed,\" \"cup runneth over.\" All\nsuch pictures should be gathered, and used to make the lesson vivid to\nthe picture-loving little ones.\n\nThere is especial need in teaching the psalms to explain how the force\nof imagery varies with varying conditions of climate and modes of\nlife; how much more, for instance, was meant to David than to us by\nsuch symbols as \"a rock,\" \"shadow,\" \"sun,\" \"shield,\" \"water-courses\"!\n\nChildren are fond of metaphors, but they make comical blunders with\nthem, and deal, unless we are careful, all too literally with such\npassages as \"a table in the presence of mine enemies,\" \"the wicked are\nlike the chaff,\" \"the congregation of the righteous,\" \"break them with\na rod of iron.\" If the teacher is in doubt just how far to carry these\nmetaphors, I know no better example of the wise and beautiful use of\nthem than Bunyan's \"Pilgrim's Progress.\" The reading of that book will\nmake a capital preparation for the teaching of the psalms.\n\nFew lessons in the seven years' course will be so admirable as these\nfor committing to memory. If you want to inspire your class to better\nwork in that line, now is your time.\n\nNote that the psalms are all optimistic. Sound their key-note of peace\nand joy.\n\nHere, if anywhere in the Bible, spiritual teaching is needed. An\nessential part of the preparation for teaching the psalms is devout\nprayer.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XVII\n\nThose Temperance and Missionary Lessons\n\n\nIntemperance is the church's greatest foe, missions her greatest task.\nAround these two topics cluster the highest chivalry, the most splendid\nromance, of our modern world. The shout of the battle is in them, the\nsweep of the regiment. No lessons are more important than those devoted\nto these two great themes, and none can be made more interesting.\n\nAnd yet to many a teacher they are bugbears. To these eight\nlessons--one sixth of the whole--they go with dull hearts. They do\nwish the Lesson Committee would leave them out of the list.\n\nWhat is the trouble? There is no life back of the lesson. They have\n\"got up\" their lesson as best they can; but a lesson is not got up, it\ngrows up. They do not know enough about missions and the temperance\nreform to be interested in them. No information, no inspiration.\n\nTo be sure, there are few passages in the Bible suitable for use in\ntemperance lessons, and but few referring directly to such\nenterprises as modern missions. The Acts record merely the beginnings\nof missions, and intemperance was scarcely a problem in New Testament\ndays. Nevertheless, both temperance and missions find in the Book\ntheir fundamental and sufficient inspiration; and taking our\nstarting-point from the lesson text, we may fairly launch forth into\nseas as wide as the world of men and action.\n\nIndeed, so multiform are the phases of these two topics that to avoid\nconfusion and leave clear impressions every temperance or missionary\nlesson should have a specialty. Let me indicate a few of the many\npossible themes.\n\n1. _A Bible Search._--Spend the hour hunting out everything the Bible\nsays upon temperance, or all the leading passages bearing on missions.\nThe scholars will read them aloud. Some verses they will repeat from\nmemory. They will mark them with colored pencils in their Bibles. They\nwill discover the central thought in each reference and write it on\nthe blackboard, thus building up a compact summary. The exercise has\nan air of finality that will please the scholars.\n\n2. _A Biographical Lesson._--Let everything cluster around some great\nleader in missions or the temperance reform. For the latter, select\nJohn B. Gough, Miss Willard, Lady Henry Somerset, Father Mathew,\nFrancis Murphy. For the great missionaries,--India: Carey, Heber,\nMartyn; Burmah: Judson; China: Nevius, Morrison, Gilmour; Japan:\nNeesima; Oceanica: Coan, Paton, Patteson; America: Gardiner, Eliot,\nWhitman, Brainerd; Turkey: Schauffler, Dwight, Hamlin; Africa:\nLivingstone, Mackay, Moffat, Taylor, Hannington. There is material\nenough for a lifetime of teaching!\n\nGet as many scholars as possible to read beforehand in the\nencyclopedia a short account of the chosen life. One of the class may\nwrite a five-minute essay upon the hero. Characteristic anecdotes\nconcerning him may be distributed among the scholars for each to\nrelate. No better series of short missionary biographies was ever\npublished than that sold by the publishers of this book at the low\nprice of 50 or 75 cents a volume. Use them. If the class during the\nhour can really make the acquaintance of a great missionary or\nreformer, it will be vast gain.\n\nAnother and most profitable kind of biographical meeting may be based,\nnot upon single lives, but upon a group of lives. Study \"The Great\nMissionaries of the Bible,\" \"Bible Heroes of Temperance,\" \"Some Noble\nLives Spoiled by Intemperance,\" \"Some Magnificent Missionaries of Our\nDenomination.\"\n\n3. _An Historical Lesson._--The temperance reform has already a\nnotable history, with many chapters worth careful study. Spend an hour\nwith the Woman's Crusade,--its origin, its leaders, its many thrilling\nscenes, its notable results. The Washingtonian movement, the\nblue-ribbon movement, the World's Petition, \"temperance in the White\nHouse,\"--these are themes for other studies.\n\nAnd as for missions, the puzzle will be to know where to end, when\nthere are, for instance, the \"Serampore Brotherhood\" to study, the\n\"Lone Star\" mission, the Madagascar martyrs, the China Inland Mission,\nthe all-but-miracle of Metlakahtla, the conquest of Hawaii, the\ntransformation of Fiji, the bloody chronicles of Uganda. With any one\nof these stories for a nucleus, your missionary lesson will be certain\nof leaving a deep impression.\n\n4. _An Organization Lesson._--Study one or more of the great\ntemperance organizations,--its origin, its noble leaders, its methods\nand aims, its practical results. The W. C. T. U. and the \"Y's,\" the\nGood Templars, the National Temperance Society, the temperance work of\nChristian Endeavor societies, may be studied in this way.\n\nThis plan is especially valuable for the missionary lessons, which\nshould render your scholars familiar with the history and triumphs of\neach missionary board of your denomination, home and foreign. The\nremarkable circumstances of its founding, the heroic men and women it\nhas sent forth (exhibit portraits), the places where it labors (show\nviews), the periodicals it publishes (have samples to give away), a\nfew round figures to set forth the results of it all,--that is a\nscanty outline. The larger work of the church would profit immensely\nby such use of an occasional missionary lesson.\n\n5. _A Newspaper Lesson._--In another chapter I discuss the use that\nmay wisely be made of the newspaper in our Sunday-school teaching.\nOnce in a while the specialty of a lesson may be a study of current\nevents in their bearing on missions or on the temperance reform.\n\nSome temperance orator has made a noble speech which you find well\nreported. The W. C. T. U. has just held its annual convention. Neal\nDow's birthday has been widely celebrated. South Carolina has adopted\nits system of State dispensaries. A hot campaign for prohibition is in\nprogress in Canada. The teacher that centers his lesson on one of these\nthemes is sure of lively interest which may be led to practical result.\n\nOr, if it is missionary Sunday, let the teacher utilize the most\nabsorbing topics of foreign news. It may be the Spanish seizure of the\nCaroline Islands, the French capture of Madagascar, the Japanese\ncampaign in Formosa or that of the English in Matabeleland or the\nSoudan, the Italian war with Abyssinia, the Indian famine, the\ntroubles in Crete, the massacres in Armenia. What scholar, after a\nlesson shrewdly introduced by such recitals, will fail to see that\nmissions are a topic very much alive?\n\n6. _A Map Lesson._--Few things condense, combine, and clarify bits of\ninformation like a map, provided you can put your information upon it.\nA map may be utilized in a temperance lesson in two good ways. If you\nare in a city, draw the streets of some section, or of the entire\ncity, if possible. Send your scholars out along all streets, dividing\nthem up, and have them count the saloons in each block, locating also\nthe churches and schoolhouses. I suppose, of course, that your\nscholars are of suitable age for this work. Next Sunday, as they\nreport, put a black spot on the map for every saloon, and a blue spot\nfor every church and schoolhouse. Your map will point its own moral.\n\nAt another time draw a map of the United States, and give a graphic\nview of the temperance laws of the land, coloring the prohibition\nStates one color, using a different color to designate the\nMassachusetts plan, the South Carolina plan, and so on.\n\nMore can be done with a map in a missionary lesson. For instance, you\nmay select a single country, say India. Provide \"stickers\" of\nbright-colored paper. Let some be large and circular. As you talk\nabout the four or five great languages of that many-tongued empire,\nget the scholars to fasten these \"stickers\" in the centers of the\nvarious language areas. Let other \"stickers\" be cut into small stars.\nThree of these, of one color, fastened in the neighborhoods of Bombay,\nMadura, and Ceylon, will represent the Congregational missions. In the\nsame way you will show the location of the Baptist, Methodist, and\nPresbyterian missions and those of other denominations. Population\n\"stickers\" may also be used, and \"stickers\" with the names of great\nmissionaries may show where they labored.\n\nOn another day you may take a map of the entire world, and thus\nindicate the location of all the mission fields of your denomination.\nIf this map is kept before the class from that time, every item of\nmissionary information will have fresh interest and point.\n\n7. _A Statistics Lesson._--At this lesson distribute, for the scholars\nto read aloud, slips of paper containing temperance or missionary\nstatistics,--the numbers of saloons or missionaries, of drunkards\ndying or converts made each day, the cost of missions or of strong\ndrink compared with other expenditures, and the like. Get the class to\ncut strips of paper of various lengths to represent graphically the\ncomparative costs. Drill the scholars in temperance or missionary\narithmetic. Telling them the number of heathen in China, ask how long\na procession they would make, marching in single file one foot apart.\nGiving them the liquor expenditure for a year, have them measure a\npile of silver dollars and calculate how tall a pile would equal the\nannual cost of drink. Such books as \"The Missionary Pastor,\" published\nby the Fleming H. Revell Company, and \"Weapons for Temperance Warfare\"\nand \"Fuel for Missionary Fires,\" published by the United Society of\nChristian Endeavor, will suggest many similar exercises.\n\n8. _A Quotations Lesson._--The teacher holds in his hand a bunch of\npapers, on each of which is written an interesting quotation bearing\non missions or temperance. The collection will include longer\nanecdotes as well as brisk sentences. Many will bear famous names.\nEach scholar will choose a quotation at random and read it aloud. The\nteacher will draw out its meaning by questions, will add illustrations\nand practical comments, will tell something about the author of the\nquotation, or will show the connection of the thought or anecdote with\nthe day's lesson. In some classes the scholars themselves may be\ntrusted to bring their own quotations or anecdotes.\n\nLet me mention briefly a few more devices out of the many that may add\ninterest to these lessons. Get a trained worker along temperance or\nmissionary lines to come in and address the class. Carry out a series\nof simple experiments showing the physiological effects of alcohol.\nMake a study of the best missionary hymns, their authors, and the\nevents that prompted them. Try a fifteen-minute debate on some\nmissionary or temperance topic. Get the scholars now and then to write\nfive-minute essays or give five-minute talks on appropriate themes.\nLet one edit a temperance or missionary paper,--in manuscript, of\ncourse,--collecting contributions from each scholar, and reading the\nresult before the class as a sample number of the \"Cold Water Herald\"\nor the \"Missionary Monitor.\" Some Sunday, call on every member of the\nclass to sign the pledge. On a mission Sabbath make an appeal for\ntithe-giving and present a tithe-givers' pledge. Give the wonderful\nhistory of the Student Volunteer movement, and urge the scholars to\nconsider the mission field as a possibility for each one of them.\nEnliven some missionary lesson with entertaining accounts of the\nstrange customs of the country under discussion, and get together all\nthe illustrative material you and your scholars can find. The\nSunday-school and the Christian Endeavor society will do well to make\na collection of curios for such purposes.\n\nIt is an admirable plan to set each of your scholars to doing some\nsteady work in preparation for these lessons. One may watch the\nnewspapers and collect temperance facts and illustrations of the evils\nof strong drink. The various missionary societies of the denomination\nmay be divided among the scholars, each to gather interesting bits\nconcerning the work of the board assigned to him. In the same way the\nmission lands may be apportioned out, and \"the gentleman from India\" or\n\"our representative in China\" be called upon to report the latest news\nfrom his field. In this plan the children will cooeperate very zealously.\n\nOf course it goes without saying (_does_ it, though?) that each\nteacher will be a subscriber to the missionary magazines of his own\ndenomination, as well as to that common denominator of all the\nmissionary magazines, the \"Missionary Review of the World.\"\n\nHe will also take, if possible, a good temperance paper, such as the\n\"Union Signal\" or the \"National Temperance Advocate\"; and if he can\nafford them, he will not be without the temperance and missionary\nencyclopedias.\n\nIndeed, the theme branches out into channels so many and so wide\nthat, when once the teacher is started upon them, his greatest lack\nwill be of time for exploration; and so far from desiring the\ntemperance and missionary lessons fewer than eight, he will wish it\nwere possible for them to come every month!\n\n\n\n\nChapter XVIII\n\nTopical Lessons\n\n\nThe Bible is so full of suggestion that it is impossible, in the brief\nSunday-school half-hour, to view the many fields of thought opened\nbefore us with any degree of satisfying completeness. That fact,\nindeed, constitutes one of the greatest satisfactions of the Book.\n\nNeither teacher nor scholar can go very far with earnestness in Bible\nstudy without feeling an intense desire to collate and compare, to go\nto the bottom, to take views single in purpose, but wide in reach.\nThis wish to read the Scriptures as a whole has ever been held a sign\nof healthful growth in Christian endeavor. How may we encourage and\nsatisfy this desire? Here is a method I have repeatedly found helpful\nto my class and myself.\n\nI prepare for myself what I call topical lessons. I have noticed\nespecial interest in some one topic,--the use of Sunday, say, or\nfuture punishment, heaven, prayer, abuse of money, missions, the\nnature of sin. On some Sunday, then, I announce that one of these\ntopics is to be discussed at next week's meeting. I ask the scholars\nto think the matter over, and look up texts. Some do, some do not, as\nis usual in such matters. Sunday come, I have in large script, pinned\nto the wall in view of the class, an outline of the topic chosen, with\nthe texts to be used indicated in clear figures. It is intended for a\nlesson in methods of Bible study as much as in Bible contents, and so\naims to be complete and thorough in its range. The plan is explained,\nand the scope of the subject. We take it up by natural divisions.\n\nAll have Bibles, of course. The references are numbered. \"Mr. Brown,\nplease find No. 1; Mr. Jones, No. 2; Mr. Robinson, No. 3,\" and so on.\nIn a few seconds we are ready for a discussion of the first division.\nI shall trust to the scholars' memory for the commoner quotations, and\nnot trust in vain, if I have done my duty previously. This division\ndisposed of, more or less to our satisfaction, we pass to another\npoint, then to another, rapidly or leisurely, as the time permits,\nbeing careful that in the half-hour the general scope of Bible thought\nin the matter, its largeness and depth, its insight and minuteness of\ndetail, be adequately exhibited.\n\nMay I show you a sample outline?\n\n\nFAITH.\n\n   1. What is it? (Heb. 11:1; John 20:29.)\n\n   2. Whence comes it?\n\n        (_a_) From God (Rom. 12:3; 1 Cor. 2:4, 5;\n               12:4, 8, 9; 1 Pet. 1:4, 5).\n\n        (_b_) From Christ (Heb. 12:2).\n\n        (_c_) From the Bible (John 17:20; 20:31; Rom.\n               15:4; 2 Tim. 3:15).\n\n        (_d_) From preaching (Rom. 10:14; 1 Cor. 3:5).\n\n        (_e_) But all one (Eph. 4:5; 4:13; Jude 3).\n\n        (_f_) Not from works (Eph. 2:8, 9; Rom. 3:27,\n               28; Gal. 3:11, 12; 2:16).\n\n   3. What does it do?\n\n      (1) The works of faith:\n\n        (_a_) It is a work (John 6:28, 29; Rom. 4:5).\n\n        (_b_) Which draws us to God (Rom. 5:1, 2;\n               Eph. 3:12; 3:17; Jas. 1:5, 6).\n\n        (_c_) Thus pleasing him (Heb. 11:6).\n\n        (_d_) Which frees us from sin (2 Pet. 1:5; Acts\n               13:38, 39; Rom. 3:21, 26; Acts 15:9).\n\n        (_e_) Leads us into salvation (Mark 16:16; John\n               1:12, 13).\n\n        (_f_) Conquers this world (1 John 5:4, 5).\n\n        (_g_) Gives us peace therein (Eph. 6:16; Rom.\n               5:1).\n\n        (_h_) And finally eternal life (Rom. 1:17; John\n               3:16; 3:36).\n\n      (2) The works from faith:\n\n        (_a_) Faith alone is dead (Eph. 2:10; Jas. 2:14-26).\n\n        (_b_) Faith a beginning (Jude 20; Col. 2:6, 7).\n\n        (_c_) Of wondrous power (Mark 9:23; 11:22-24;\n               Luke 17:5, 6).\n\n        (_d_) Working out through love (1 Thess. 5:8;\n               1 Cor. 13:2; 13:13; Gal. 5:6; 1 John\n               3:23).\n\n        (_e_) In miracle (Matt. 9:22; 9:29; Luke 8:50;\n               Acts 3:16).\n\n        (_f_) In history (Heb. 11: 32-34; Matt. 16:16;\n               John 1:49; 11:25, 27; Acts 6:5; 8:37;\n               11:24).\n\n   4. Have I it?\n\n        (_a_) There is false faith (1 Tim. 1:5).\n\n        (_b_) The testing (2 Cor. 13:5; Jas. 1:3; 1 Pet.\n               1:6, 7).\n\n        (_c_) The seeking (Phil. 1:27; Jude 3).\n\n        (_d_) The keeping (1 Cor. 16:13; Heb. 10:38;\n               Col. 1:23; 1 Tim. 1:18, 19; 6:12;\n               1 Pet. 5:8, 9).\n\n   5. Now and hereafter (2 Cor. 5:7; 1 Cor. 13:12).\n\nManifestly, when this plan is carried out, there will be scant time\nfor the regular lesson; probably no time at all. The next Sunday two\nlessons must be recited. But your topical study has grown out of the\nregular lessons, and in its turn will excite in them fresh interest.\n\nIt is obvious that each teacher must choose his own topics and make\nhis own outlines, suited to his own methods of thought, and to the age\nand intelligence of his class. The above was used in a class of young\nmen, college students in part. Themes of an entirely different nature\nmight well be chosen,--a view of Christ's miracles or parables or\nsermons, of Old Testament miracles, or of sacred history in some one\nline. It might even be found profitable, as it surely would be\ninteresting, to collate, arrange, and discuss Scripture references to\nthe eye, the ear, birds, flowers, trumpets. To my mind, some such\noccasional excursion as this seems to lead the scholars, especially\nthose approaching manhood and womanhood, to a more comprehensive and\nmethodical knowledge of the riches of the best Book, and to one of the\nmost resultful methods of studying it.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XIX\n\nIntroducing Thoughts\n\n\nA little child once declared that she liked a certain sermon because\nthere were so many \"likes\" in it. For the same reason, that same child\nwould have liked Christ as a Sunday-school teacher. And we teachers\nwill gain Christ's success in the same measure as we gain his power of\nputting the whole universe back of our thought.\n\nFor a thought comes forcibly from our minds in proportion as we see\nits relatedness. If we have put it into connection with a score of\nthings, that score get behind it and push. An unrelated thought comes\nas tamely from the mind as a Jack from its box when the spring is\nbroken. And so when a Sunday-school teacher would present a truth\nenergetically, he must look all around the truth, crowd his mind with\napplications of the truth, fall in love with its beauty from many\npoints of view; in brief, become thoroughly acquainted with the truth,\nand its enthusiastic friend.\n\nHow, now, shall we introduce the truth to the child? It is the manner\nof some to take the truth and the child, and bump heads together,--a\nprocess which very naturally develops a mutual shyness.\n\nThe true teacher, on the contrary, is a skilled master of ceremonies.\nFrom the crowd of likenesses, illustrations, and applications which\nhave made him and the truth acquainted, he chooses one to go with it\nand act as mutual friend, to introduce the stranger thought to the\nchild's mind, and put the two on easy terms together.\n\nHe does not make the common mistake of sending along the entire crowd,\nso that the introduced is lost in the throng of masters of ceremonies,\nso that the truth is confused, and acquaintanceship embarrassed by the\nparade of illustration. He knows that where one parable makes, two\nmar, and three ruin.\n\nNor will the shrewd teacher ever attempt introduction by something\nother than a mutual friend of both parties,--the truth and the child's\nmind. The myth of Alcestis may be connected with your own thought of\nthe resurrection, but it is itself a stranger to the child's mind. The\ntrue mutual friend would be the metamorphosis of the butterfly.\n\nIs that comparison stale? In seeking for fresh and brilliant\nillustrations, we are apt to forget that the longer the mutual friend\nhas known both parties, the more apt will he be at furthering their\nacquaintance. The butterfly is truly to us a trite illustration of the\nresurrection, but not to the child.\n\nDo not push forward the thought first, and after a ten minutes' awkward,\nfloundering parley between it and the child's mind, proceed to introduce\nthem by your illustration. After two people have talked together for ten\nminutes, they either need no introduction by that time, or have\ndestroyed the possibility of acquaintanceship. Illustration first.\n\nAnd after the introduction two mistakes may be made. The introducing\nillustration may keep on chattering, not allowing the truth and the\nmind of the child to say a word to each other. A master of ceremonies,\nwho knows his business, knows when to draw quietly back, and leave the\nnew acquaintanceship room to grow. The illustration is not the end,\nbut the means.\n\nThe other mistake is in allowing the mutual friend to withdraw\nabruptly, before the two, the stranger thought and the child's mind,\nhave broken the ice. Let him stay and put in a clever word now and\nthen, until the acquaintanceship can stand by itself.\n\nNor is there any reason why, with every fresh truth, a fresh\nillustration should strut forward. Those social assemblies are best\nmanaged which are planned by one wise woman, and permeated throughout\nby her thoughtfulness, words of tact, and shrewd bits of engineering.\nOne mistress to a party, as one cook to the broth. And so if you can\nfind one illustration which is on good terms with all the truths in\nthe lesson, and familiar also to the child's mind, by all means let\nthat one illustration hold sway, as a genial host, throughout the\nentire half-hour, and associate the whole together.\n\nBut when the illustration ceases to illustrate, part with it,\nregretfully but promptly; as I, following my own advice, must here\npart with the illustration which has done duty hitherto.\n\nIn this whole matter, as in all others, only painstaking deserves or\ngains success. A genius for parable is rare. Gift here means the\npoet's power, his breadth of vision, his depth of sympathy, his tact\nand sense of fitness. But though it is a poet's gift, it need not be\nborn in one. How may we gain skill in illustration?\n\nIn the first place, by gaining knowledge. How can we expect Jewish\nhistory to seem real, isolated, as it so often is, from all other\nhistory? We, too, have a Father Abraham. Caesar crossed a river once,\nas, and yet not as, did Joshua. Compare Washington's farewell address\nwith Samuel's. And, too, without science, such sciences as geology and\nastronomy, a Sunday-school teacher is but half armed. How wonderfully\nand inspiringly God's two books supplement each other, no one can\nguess who has not put the two together. In brief, for the theme is\ninfinite, almost any fact, once learned, has constant surprises of\nusefulness, and in no ways more frequently than this of illustration.\n\nIn the next place, by gaining sympathy. No one can well use\nillustrations who is out of touch with his fellows. The best possible\nillumination of life questions is the story of the lives around\nyou,--their trials and triumphs. Do you know a child who has done a\nheroic deed, though quietly, for the Master? Have you a friend who has\nconquered some sore temptation? Have you met a good man struggling\nagainst some inherited evil tendency? Have you knowledge of the\ndisastrous results of some single life? Life comes closest to life,\nand experience furnishes the best similes.\n\nAnd then we may study books, and learn how effective writers have used\nillustrations. A note-book collection of these will be helpful, even\nthough the making of it is the end of it; for this study will help us\ntoward the teacher's chief goal,--the power of putting things in the\nbest way.\n\nThe newspapers should be one of the most fruitful fields for the\ngleaning of illustrations; and so they will be, when they learn to\nchronicle the good as thoroughly and brilliantly as they now chronicle\nthe bad.\n\nOf course,--though an \"of course\" seldom practically accepted,--a\nBible character is the very best illustration of a Bible character,\nthe Old Testament of the New, the last lesson of this, Moses of Paul,\nand Sinai of Hermon.\n\nAnd of course, too,--though again a belied \"of course,\"--the less the\nillustration given by the teacher, and the more given by the scholar in\nanswer to questions, the more vivid the impression. Too often we\nteachers smack our lips at the coming of the similes, and launch out\ninto harangue.\n\nLet us see in all this much more than a scheme of indirections. It is\nno easy task to find the best way into a child's mind, nor quite\nwithout pains and difficulty is the imitation of the Teacher who spoke\nmany things in parables.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XX\n\nIllustrations and Applications\n\n\nSunday-school teachers often make the mistake of confounding \"lesson\nillustrations\" with \"practical applications.\" A lesson illustration is\na picture of the truth you are studying as exemplified in spheres of\nlife foreign to your scholars; practical application pictures the\ntruth in their own lives. In other words, a practical application is\nan illustration that the scholars can practice. The point I want to\nmake is, that the practical application should be used, in our own\nprecious half-hour, not to the exclusion of the lesson illustration,\nbut largely predominating over it.\n\nFor instance, if you were discussing the great cloud of invisible\nwitnesses that compass us about, you might illustrate the truth by the\nfamous story of Napoleon's speech to the troops in Egypt, \"From yonder\npyramids, my men, forty centuries look down upon us\"; but, if you have\nnot time for both, a practical application would be far better: \"John,\nwho is one of this great cloud of witnesses that is most tenderly and\nanxiously watching your life?\" \"My father.\" \"And who, Harry, is among\nyour invisible guardians?\" \"My mother.\" That is more forcible than\n\"forty centuries.\"\n\nAgain, one of the finest illustrations of devotion to principle is\nafforded by the conversion to the Baptist faith of one of our first\nAmerican foreign missionaries, the immortal Judson, who, at the\nbidding of conscience and conviction, cast loose in mid-ocean from the\nonly missionary society in America, and his only assured support. That\nis magnificent, but it is only an illustration, one needing to be\ntranslated into terms of child life thus: \"Suppose you are in a school\nexamination, and your neighbor on one side hands you a bit of folded\npaper to pass to your neighbor on the other side, and you are pretty\nsure it is to help him cheat in the examination, and suppose the whole\nschool will think you mean and stuck up if you refuse to pass the\npaper, what are you going to do?\" That is a test of devotion to\nprinciple such as the child is likely to meet.\n\nTo be sure, there are illustrations which come so close to average\ncircumstances that they are also applications. For instance, to take\nanother great missionary, William Carey, his boyish fall from the tree\nhe was climbing, with the result of breaking his leg, and, on\nrecovery, his immediate set-to at the same tree again; his saying that\nhis business was preaching the gospel, but that he cobbled shoes \"to\npay expenses\"; his bidding the Christians left at home to \"hold the\nropes while he went down,\"--all these are very practical\nillustrations, quite within the children's sphere, since it is well\nfor them also to have grit even about tree-climbing, since they are to\nhold their ordinary duties subordinate to their spiritual life, and\nsince they have missionary money to spend and missionary prayers to\nmake. If, however, I were teaching the passage in the Acts that\nrelates how the disciples had all things in common, though I might\ntell about the splendid carrying out of that principle in Carey's\nSerampore brotherhood, yet, if I had time for only the one, I should\ncertainly prefer a practical application of the text to the sharing of\napples and the lending of bicycles.\n\nIt is helpful to a boy, of course, if he would cultivate patience, to\nhave before his eyes the picture of that cave looking out over\nScottish hills and heather, and of the spider at the cave's mouth\nteaching its beautiful lesson to the Bruce within; but the picture\nremains only a picture unless the spider of the boy's imagination is\ntaught to run lines connecting every point of the picture with his\ngeography lesson and his garden weeding. Far too many war stories are\ntold in our Sunday-schools. They do not build up very rapidly the\nChristian soldier. Far too many illustrations are drawn from what is\nwrongly called the distinctive \"heroic age\" of the world. Not thus is\nthe Christian hero furnished for his nineteenth-century toils.\n\nA similar remark is to be made regarding illustrations from science.\nThey must not be permitted to detract from or exclude the practical\napplication. If we are teaching our boys and girls how all things work\ntogether for good to those that love God, we may use the illustration of\nthe rainbow, explaining that it is on the very raindrops of the storm\nitself that God paints his wonderful symbol of hope and trust. That is\npoetical and true, but the lesson remains as misty as the rainbow itself\nunless you go on to show your scholars how the lame boy among them gets\nmore time for study on account of his lameness, how the boy who has been\nsick has learned far more than he knew before about the love of his dear\nones and about the great Physician, how the boy who has had to leave\nschool and go to work is none the less getting a priceless schooling in\npatience and determination and energy and faithfulness.\n\nMany of these practical illustrations you may by questions draw out\nfrom the boys themselves. \"Blessed are the peacemakers.\" Call for\nstories of boyish quarrels settled by some boy Solon. That is better\nthan telling about the Massachusetts boards of arbitration in strikes.\n\"My cup runneth over.\" Draw out a list of their own boyish blessings,\nwhich are more to them than those of any saint or psalmist.\n\nBut especially this practical application, to be successful, must be\nthe work of a consecrated imagination. A Sunday-school teacher must\nthink himself into the lives of others. \"Bear ye one another's\nburdens.\" Now don't rake up from your encyclopedias the story of St.\nChristopher, beautiful as it is, and try to twist it into an\nillustration of the text. No. Ask the bright scholar what he does to\nhelp his duller friends understand the knotty problems at school. Ask\nthe merry boys what they do when mother is tired amusing the baby. Ask\nthe selfish boy what a lad that greatly wanted a new sled could do to\nhelp his father bear his burden of poverty.\n\nTo get these applications you have had to \"put yourself in his place,\"\nto picture to your mind your scholars' joys and sorrows, desires and\ndisappointments, hopes and fears, labor and play. And in the process,\nand as its result, have come two rewards that no thumbing of\ndictionaries of biography, and manuals of mythology, and encyclopedias\nof illustrations, could ever give. You have come closer to the lives\nof your scholars, and you have drawn those lives closer to the\npresent, practical Christ.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXI\n\nRighteous Padding\n\n\nIt is marvelous how rich in suggestion all passages of the Bible are\nto the thoughtful, studious mind. It is no less marvelous how bare and\nbarren the wealthiest portions become when filtered through a bare and\nbarren mind.\n\nTruth is valuable only as it is _extended_ into life. \"Blessed are the\npure in heart, for they shall see God\"; that means to the child very\nlittle, packed into this condensed form. But let the teacher set about\n_extending_ that blessed truth. Let him picture a man, cross, ugly,\nbesotted, selfish, greedy, his heart all rotten with passion and\npride. Go through a day with him, from the sullen greetings in the\nmorning and his breakfast-table quarrels, through his business hours\nall stern and crabbed, to his morose and unlovely evening. Ask the\nchildren how much he sees and enjoys of the beautiful world, how much\nhe gets from noble books, what perception he has of the character of\nhis charming wife and children. He is blind to all these things. Why?\nBecause of his impure heart.\n\nShow how this baseness follows him to church, holds him down from\npraying, weights his songs, dulls his vision of spiritual things. Ask\nthem how it will be at death, when he goes out of this world with a\nsoul taught to see only money and self. _How can he see God?_\n\nThen go on to tell them of their loving, gentle-hearted mothers, and\nhow much good _they_ can see in this world, in their friends, in their\nchildren, because their hearts are unselfish and pure. How easily they\npray. How cheerily they sing. How near God is to them. Will there be\nany difficulty in _their_ seeing God in the next world, when they can\nsee so much of him in this?\n\nYou have made quite a sermon out of that text. It has been extended\nlargely, and yet the meaning of it has merely begun to dawn on those\nchildish minds.\n\nSuppose you had taught it in this way: \"Verse eight. Read it, Tommy.\nNow, who are blessed, Mary? And why are they blessed, Willie? Now\ndon't forget that, children. Pay attention. Always remember it. The\npure in heart see God. Why should we be pure in heart, Lucy? And how\ncan we see God, Susy? Now don't forget it, children. Pay attention.\nAlways remember it. The pure in heart see God. What have we learned in\nthis verse, Lizzie? Yes, that's right. You all want to be pure in\nheart, children, now don't you? Why? Yes, that's right. I see you\nhave paid attention.\" But they haven't, as any such teacher may find\nout by a question next Sunday.\n\nA teacher of children must learn the art of righteous padding. He must\nlearn how to fill in outlines, how to expand texts. He must illustrate\nwith imagery, parable, allegory, personal experience, use of material\nobjects, pictures, action of the children.\n\nEspecially valuable is the last, when it can be used. The teacher's\ncry for attention might well be translated into the highwayman's,\n\"Hold up your hands.\" At any rate, if you can manage to keep them busy\nwith their hands, you have their eyes, tongues, and brains.\n\nSet them to hunting up verses in their Bibles. You will have the\nexperience of a friend of mine who came to me once after trying it,\nand despairingly said that the children now wanted to do nothing else.\nNearly every verse can be illustrated by a stanza from some common\nsong. Get the children to sing it softly, first making them see how\nthe song fits the Bible. Make liberal use of concert repetition of\nBible verses. There is nothing better than this good old device for\nunifying and freshening the attention of a class.\n\nAnd pictures. Teachers do not yet know one-tenth of the teaching power\nof pictures. Take the Twenty-third Psalm for a familiar example. \"The\nshepherd, want, green pastures, lie down, leadeth me, still waters,\nthe paths of righteousness, the valley of the shadow, thy rod and\nstaff, a table prepared, mine enemies, anointing, cup runneth over,\nthe house of the Lord\"--as you read that list did not fourteen\npictures rise at once in your mind? Find them, and show them to the\nchildren. They will pay even better attention to your printed pictures\nthan to your word-pictures.\n\nExperience will soon teach the teacher, if his eyes are open, the need\nof copious illustration. Astronomers tell us that it is very difficult\nto see the smallest objects visible to us in the sky, if they are in\nthe form of little dots. They may have dimensions very much smaller\nand still be visible easily, if they are extended into lines of light.\nSo with the points of our lessons. They will miss attention entirely\nor gain it with difficulty, while they remain merely points. We must\nextend them, by the use of consecrated wits.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXII\n\nThe Sunday-School and the Newspaper\n\n\nOn several pages of this book I have hinted at the use of the\nnewspaper in our teaching; but the theme deserves a chapter to itself.\nAn up-to-date teacher is respected, and it is largely the newspaper\nthat brings one up to date. We must put our lessons into touch with\nlife, and the newspaper is our modern compendium of life--very faulty,\nbut all we have. The best illustration of the lesson is one your\nscholars find; the next best, one you find yourself; and only the\nthird best, one found for you by the skilful writers of your lesson\nhelps. The newspapers are mines of original illustrations.\n\nThey constitute, for example, a magazine of warnings. Hardly a number\nbut tells of a defalcation sprung from gambling, of the ruin\naccomplished by the theater and dance-hall, of the mischief caused by\nsensational literature, and everywhere and always of the rum-fiend's\ndevilish work. Why Saul fell, and David, and Solomon,--your scholars\nmust know that; but their sense of the reality of sin and its fearful\npower will be deepened by noting the fall of men and women in this\npresent world, and learning what brought shipwreck to their souls. A\nmisplaced switch last week threw a train from the track and killed a\nman. What a warning against carelessness! Early Wednesday morning a\ndrunken woman was found asleep on an ash-pile, her little girl sobbing\nby her side. What a lesson on the evil wrought by rum! Of all the sins\nand faults against which the Bible utters its great warnings, there is\nnone we may not illustrate freshly and vividly from the newspaper.\n\nBut that is only half, and the lower half. By sharp search we may find\nin our papers many a thrilling example of heroism and noble service.\nWould that our reporters more frequently chronicled the good! Yet here\nis a fire at which a fireman risked his life to save a little child.\nAnd here is a cashier that braved death rather than open the safe for\nthe robbers. And here is a lad whose shoulder was dislocated by\nstopping a runaway horse. And here is a heroic rescue of men and women\nfrom a shipwreck. We do not get from the newspaper the daily acts of\ndevotion and faithfulness so honored in the eye of heaven; but we do\nget the splendid deeds, the stirring, romantic victories, that will\nmove the girls and boys to knightly action.\n\nNewspapers, too, give an outlook over the world. The confining walls\nmelt away, and your lesson takes wide sweeps under a broad sky. Every\nsession of Congress considers many matters of the highest import for\nthe kingdom of God. Our great offices are filled with men of strong\ncharacter, acting out upon a grand scale lives potent for good or\nevil. In the lands across the seas great events are occurring, each\nexhibiting some phase of godliness or sin. You will exalt the gospel\nmightily in the minds of your scholars if you can show them how its\nprinciples solve the problems of our government, and underlie all wise\naction of the nations of the world.\n\nIt has already been indicated how the temperance lesson, that\nquarterly bugbear of some teachers, may be illuminated by the\nnewspaper. Thus also may the missionary lesson. So profoundly do\nmissions affect any nation they touch, and so closely are they\ninterwoven with its life, that whatever of importance befalls any\npeople has its missionary bearings. The Sultan cannot massacre the\nArmenians, or France seize Madagascar, or Japan fight China, or Hawaii\ndepose its queen, or a revolution occur in South America, without\nentanglement with the omnipresent missionaries of the cross. To make\nthe scholars feel this through wise references to current events is\nimmensely to broaden their conception of the church and its work.\n\nEven beyond all this, our newspapers afford the teacher a vast supply of\nillustrative material. There are the carefully prepared biographies of\nthe great men and women that pass away, printed with their portraits.\nThere are sketches of the lives of living celebrities, with pictures of\ntheir faces and their homes. There are lectures and sermons, sometimes\nadmirably reported, giving in a few bright paragraphs the gist of an\nhour's discourse. There are thousands of poems by the best modern\nauthors. There are appropriate editorial comments on all the holidays,\nChristmas and New Year's, Easter and Memorial Day, Thanksgiving and the\nFourth of July. There are accounts of the latest wonderful inventions,\neach a pointed parable to one with eyes and a brain. And, with all its\npictorial enormities, the newspaper often contains a portrait or a\nsketch worth using in our lesson half-hour.\n\nIn all this I am taking for granted, of course, that you subscribe to\nno sensational abomination, but to the best of our standard sheets,\neven if you must get it from some other city than your own. It must be\na paper so clean that you can occasionally hand a copy to your\nscholars, and fearlessly set them to \"reading up\" on some theme\nhelpful to the lesson. Besides, it must not be forgotten that our best\nreligious weeklies are now genuine newspapers as well, and furnish\nadmirable comments upon all important current events.\n\nTo use the newspaper to the best advantage in your teaching, you must\nhave well in mind all the lesson themes for months in advance, since a\nstriking event of to-day might not illustrate this week's lesson, but\nthe lesson of five weeks ahead. Your best plan is to cut out each day\nthe paragraphs and articles that seem likely to be of use, and\npreserve them in a series of envelopes. Mark one set of envelopes\nwith the topics and dates of a year's lessons. Let another set contain\nthe clippings arranged by subjects, as: \"Love,\" \"Faith,\" \"Temperance,\"\n\"Missions,\" \"Theater,\" \"Heroism,\" \"Inventions.\" These will contain\npoems as well as prose. Some, rather than classify the bits of\nbiography under the characteristics especially prominent in each case,\nwill prefer to arrange them alphabetically, in a separate set of\ntwenty-six envelopes. As the envelope for each week's lesson is used,\ndistribute its contents through your permanent file. Frequently glance\nover your clippings to refresh your memory concerning them; otherwise\nthey will become so much dead wood.\n\nNot an unimportant result of all this is that it will teach your\nscholars to read the newspaper as a Christian should. In this great\nAmerican university our scholars should be taught to skip the courses\nin evil and elect those in goodness.\n\nAnd a final word,--which, indeed, no teacher is likely to need, though\nit must be said: keep the whole matter subordinate. It is not proposed\nto turn our Sunday-schools into classes for the study of current\nevents. We have to do with one Life, and with that alone. We are\nteaching not all kinds of truth, but him who is the Truth. Whatever we\nadmit into our teaching that does not exalt him and throw light on his\nlife and doctrine is a harmful impertinence. We are not to study the\nlamp, but the Book that lies beneath it.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXIII\n\nOn Taking Things for Granted\n\n\nThe cliff-scaler, who lowers his comrade down the precipice, does not\ntake for granted the fastening around the tree or the stoutness of the\nrope; but the Sunday-school teacher too often throws his young people\ninto the treacherous depths of thought and life with little care for\ntheir life-rope's integrity or moorings. More than once or twice or\nthrice in my own experience, after weeks and months of supposedly\nthorough intercourse with my scholars, an awkward question, better\naimed by Heaven than by myself, has disclosed some fatal doubt, some\nfundamental misconception. I had been taking for granted that my boy\nreally believed Christ to be divine, or that he had at least the\nbeginnings of a conception of the Saviour's mission to the earth, or\nthat he knew by experience the meaning of prayer, or that he actually\nhad confidence in a future life.\n\nI have in mind a fine, thoughtful fellow, graduate of a famous college\nand a church-member, whose very thoughtfulness, and the knowledge of\nhis religious activity in former years, led me, when he entered my\nclass, to take for granted his Christianity. After weeks of teaching,\nit was only a chance question, in private conversation, that led him\nto the frank admission that skeptical college friends had absolutely\ndestroyed his faith in Christ and the Bible, leaving him with only a\nsad and bewildered hold on the God of nature. What Sunday-school\nteacher has not been startled thus with disclosures of his own\ncarelessness in taking things for granted?\n\nIt is a mistake constantly to advertise skepticism by warning our\nscholars against it, but it is no mistake to arm them against it. No\nteacher has mastered his lesson until he has mastered every doubt\nregarding it that any of his scholars is likely to entertain. \"Will\nthis punishment seem unjust? this event fabulous? this person\nmythical? this doctrine unreasonable? this miracle unreal? this author\napocryphal? these men and women mere creatures of imagination?\" Such\nquestions as these are important for the teacher to consider,--_to\nconsider_, not ask in the class. Because to the teacher the account is\nmore true and vivid than an extract from yesterday's newspaper, he\ntakes it for granted that his scholars so regard it. They may put the\nlesson story in the same category as Baron Munchausen or \"The Ancient\nMariner,\" and such a teacher would be none the wiser.\n\nI know of nothing _in the way of study_ that is so capable of firing a\nSunday-school teacher and class as Christian evidences. Remember that\nthis also is a study of the Bible. Why is it ordinarily thought so\ndull? It is full of snap and point. Professor Fisher's short \"Manual\nof Christian Evidences,\" published by Charles Scribner's Sons at\nseventy-five cents, stands next to my Bible as an aid and inspiration\nin teaching that Bible. I keep several copies, and all of them are\nusually in the hands of earnest scholars. Often when they are returned\nthe compliment is, \"That book helped me so much that I have bought a\ncopy of my own.\" That means the conversion of a doubting Thomas.\n\"Why!\" exclaimed one such reader, \"I never knew before that there was\nanything to prove Christianity but the Bible, or anything but the\nBible to prove the Bible.\"\n\nA teacher that is not in the habit of questioning persistently and\nsearchingly can have no idea of the depth and at the same time the\nshallowness of the religious thinking of the average scholar. Far too\nmany teachers prove everything by quoting the inspired Bible, taking\nit for granted that their scholars accept the Bible as inspired; or by\nreferring to our divine Saviour, taking it for granted that their\nscholars believe Christ to be a divine Saviour. Our scholars are more\nshrewd than that. Their answers will be proper, but skepticism often\nlurks beneath, ready to spring up in open infidelity, secret scorn, or\nfruitless, formal morality.\n\nSkepticism should never be anticipated, but it should _never_ be\nneglected. It should never be dealt with before the class, if it can\nbe dealt with in private. But it is a teacher's first duty to _know_\nthe great truths of Christianity, and know _why_ he knows them. It is\nhis second duty to make certain that each of his scholars knows them,\n_and can prove them_.\n\n\"But we cannot cover the ground without taking things for granted.\"\n_Cover the ground!_ Superficial area, and superficial teaching!\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXIV\n\nUtilizing the Late Scholar\n\n\nThe late scholar is no blessing, and yet he is far from an unmixed\nevil. The wise teacher will get all the good he can out of him.\n\nOf course, he is to be transformed into the early scholar, care being\ntaken lest by mistake he be transformed into the scholar absent\naltogether. And during this process of transformation there is a small\nharvest of advantage to be tended.\n\nLet his entrance be a danger signal. Don't act mad. Of course, the\nelectric current of interest is flowing by this time, or never, and\nthe late scholar rudely breaks it. But never mind. Better the total\nloss of your scholars' interest in the lesson than the loss of their\nrespect for you.\n\nRemember, too, that there may be a good excuse,--even late coming may\nmean earnest endeavor,--and premature impatience in such case will\ncause you dismayed repentance.\n\nThe late scholar cannot be ignored; don't try it. Sometimes we\nfiercely attempt to finish our sentences, or get answers to our last\nquestions. The late scholar is a potent and aggressive fact, and\ncannot be got rid of in that way.\n\nNo. Accept the situation promptly and sensibly. Stop short at once,\nand greet the late comer heartily. Don't let him sneak into a back\nseat, but set him in the midst. See that he has a Bible or a lesson\npaper. Incorporate him. Then proceed thriftily to utilize him. He is\nyour opportunity for a review. You probably need one at this stage of\nthe lesson, anyway. Here is your chance for gathering up loose ends\nand binding all the truths thus far taught in a compact whole.\n\nYou may do it in this way: \"Before you came in, Charley, we were\ntalking about Christ's command to lay up treasures, not on earth, but\nin heaven. We've been deciding what some of the earth-treasures are.\nWe've agreed that they include money and clothes and houses and\nstudies and friends, and that we mustn't win any of these in such a\nway that they will belong merely to earth. You see? And now, class,\ncan any one think of another earth-treasure?\"\n\nOr you may do it in this way: \"Here's Charley. John, will you please\ntell him what we talked about at the beginning of the lesson? That's\ngood. And Bess, tell him, please, what conclusion we have come to thus\nfar. That's right. And now let us go on.\"\n\nSimilarly, all through the lesson, the late scholar may be your excuse\nfor bringing up points mentioned at the opening of the hour, and\nneeding repetition. \"Something was said at the start which bears on that\nmatter, and Charley wasn't here. Ned, please tell him what that was.\"\n\nBring him into the electric circle by a question as soon as you can. But\nremember that it takes time for him to become charged with interest and\nunderstanding as fully as the rest, and ask him easy questions at first,\nor, perhaps better, call on him to read a verse or two.\n\nThe late scholar's exit is fraught with as much danger as his entrance.\nYou must utilize that also. Let your questioning be jolly and indirect:\n\"Too much sleep this morning, Billy?\" \"Sorry, Ellen, that you couldn't\nstart in with us\"; \"Some good points you missed at the opening, Fred.\"\n\nIf rightly used, this is an opportunity for learning of some need or\ntemptation that besets your scholar. She may be lazy. He may be too\nfond of sleep. She may keep too late hours. He may be led astray by\nthe Sunday morning papers. They may fail to see the value of the\nopening prayer and songs. You get fresh insight into their characters.\n\nWhen Nature heals a broken bone, she makes it the stronger for the\nbreak. And so, though the late scholar seem to fracture sadly the\ninterest of the lesson, the wise teacher will know how to mend the\nmatter in such shrewd fashion as to knit the whole class more firmly\ntogether.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXV\n\nSide-Tracking the Teacher\n\n\nEven the poorest teacher has a right to the course he has marked out\nfor himself; even the smartest scholar has no right to side-track him.\n\nSome scholars side-track their teacher merely to show that they\nunderstand how to use the switch; others do it by simply fooling with\nthe switch, in pure carelessness and thoughtlessness; others really\nwish to bring the teacher nearer some private interest of their own.\n\nTheir motive must determine your treatment of them,--whether it is to\nbe the bruskness that rebukes conceit, the firm patience that resists\ncarelessness, or the considerate postponement of questions that are\nprompted by a need.\n\nBut so far as its effect on the lesson is concerned, it makes no\ndifference whether the teacher is side-tracked by a switch of gold or\none of brass,--the lesson is \"held up,\" and often permanently.\n\nIt is not always easy to tell when these question-switches are open,\nand when they are closed,--when they will side-track you, and when\nthey will merely salute you with a friendly rattle and let you pass;\nthe tokens are not so definite as on the red and white faces of the\nswitch indicator. And yet you cannot engineer your class far without\nwrecking it, if you do not learn to read these question indicators,\nand tell at a glance whither they will send you.\n\nBut what is the use of reading them, if you are to be at their mercy\nanyway? How shall we circumvent these mischief-making switchers?\n\nSome would abruptly take away their switch-keys, and practically\ndismiss them from the force; that is, they would prohibit questioning\naltogether. But this is capitulating to the problem. Some would swing\nsmilingly off upon the side-track, as if they had intended to go\nthere. But that is surrendering their preparation. Some would rush\nprecipitately into the side-track and through it, expecting to find at\nthe other end a switch back to the main track. But thus the lesson is\nusually derailed.\n\nOn the railroad, of course, there is authority; but in the\nSunday-school the less appeal to authority the better. No, the\nlikeness, to a large extent, stops here; for in the Sunday-school the\nonly way to deal with a scholar who side-tracks the train is to win\nhim by friendly arts to become your helper rather than your hinderer.\n\nIn the first place, many a lesson is side-tracked because the main\ntrack is not made sufficiently plain to the scholars' apprehension.\nWhen the lesson winds like a snake, with a purpose known only to the\nteacher (if to him), small blame to the scholars if they switch it off\nthe wrong way by a question. Strike out in a bee-line at the start,\nand stick to it. No one will then ignorantly side-track you.\n\nIn the second place, many a lesson is side-tracked because the teacher\ndoes not act as if he cared whether he ever arrived anywhere or not.\nLackadaisical in manner and matter, his carelessness provokes equal\ncarelessness in his scholars. Let him, on the other hand, appear to be\neagerly on the scent of some truth, on the track of some fact,\nfollowing the path of some event or demonstration, and his scholars\nwill, in the main, be \"forth and right on\" with him.\n\nIn the third place, many a lesson is side-tracked because the scholars\nare not on the side of the teacher. Of course, when the two parties\nare at cross-purposes, things run no more evenly than they would if\nthe engineer of a train were out of touch with his crew. The teacher\nmust get up an _esprit de corps_, a class spirit, or his class will be\nperpetually flying off from him on a tangent. His scholars must be\ninterested in him, if they are to be interested with him. He must draw\nthem to himself, or they will never pull together. Friendship in his\ncrew must take the place of authority in the railroad crew; and the\nmore friendship, the less side-tracking.\n\nIn the fourth place, there must be frankness of speech. A misplaced\nswitch on a railway, if it provoked no further collision, would at\nleast provoke a clash of words. There is no reason why, if a question\nis too far aside from the main purpose of the lesson, the teacher\nshould not frankly say so. He may lay it away in his mind for later\ndiscussion; he may promise to talk it over after the session; but no\nfear of being thought incompetent, or unsympathetic, or arbitrary,\nshould induce him to turn aside from his one purpose. The wise teacher\nwill make many exceptions, of course, to every rule; but nevertheless,\na rule of the wise teacher it must be, to say to every irrelevant\nquestion, kindly and tactfully, yet firmly, \"Get thee behind me.\" For\nthe half-hour is all too short. The impressions made are all too\nconfused. The instruction given is all too fragmentary. However wise\nand earnest the individual moments may be, there is danger that the\nhalf-hour may pass into oblivion at once, unless these individual\nmoments have been wise and earnest to some single, distinct end.\n\nThere is a place for switches in our Sunday-school lesson. The train\nmust be made up. Side excursions must often be made. There are sundry\nconnecting lines whose cars must be switched in. But in genuine\nSunday-school railroading there must be no delay upon side-tracks. Let\nall teachers, as far as possible, run express.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXVI\n\nThe Problem of the Visitor\n\n\nThe analogy for the class-building of some teachers is the arch. Every\nscholar is needed in his place, or the class-work collapses; and of\ncourse there is no room for a visitor. The analogy for the true class\nis the electric circle. Join hands all around, and ever room and\nelectricity for one more.\n\nI do not mean to imply that the visitor is not a problem. He is an\nintrusion on your familiar little group. He is a foreign and\nconstraining element. He is a problem, however, that you cannot get\nrid of, but must solve.\n\nUtilize the visitor. Go to work in such way as to transform him into a\nscholar; or if circumstances forbid that, at any rate win from his\nvisit fresh interest and inspiration for the class. Every visitor is\nan angel of opportunity, entertained--how often!--unawares.\n\nLet your reception of the visitor be to your class an object-lesson in\nChristian courtesy. If he comes in alone, and awkwardly drops into a\ndistant seat, do not wait for the busy superintendent to get around to\nhim. If he is of fit age for your class, drop everything,--the most\nvaluable lesson you could be teaching is not so valuable as this\npractical example,--and go to the stranger. Introduce yourself\ncordially to him, and him to the rest of the class, or, at any rate,\nto his neighbors.\n\nSometimes resign the pleasure of seeking the visitor yourself, and\nsend some persuasive scholar, thus letting him have a taste of the joy\nof giving invitations. Possibly it will help him into the habit of\ngiving invitations outside.\n\nGet your scholars to hand the visitor a lesson leaf or a Bible. Show\nthem that he is their visitor as well as yours. They will soon learn\nto be delightfully courteous. But an iceberg teacher makes an iceberg\nclass.\n\nAnd now you are on trial before your class. They will judge you by the\ninterest or the apathy of the visitor. They are watching him, ready to\nbe ashamed or proud of you.\n\nYet do not fear your visitor. He may come from a better school and a\nbetter teacher. He may be critical and sneering and skeptical.\nNevertheless, he is your opportunity. Rejoice in it.\n\nIf he is a better scholar than any in your class, what a valuable and\ninspiring example he may be made to them! If a poorer scholar, what an\nopportunity to make your class feel the joy and power of teaching some\none!\n\nIf he is sneering and critical, the indignation of the class will bind\nthem more enthusiastically to you. If he is skeptical, what a chance\nfor examining and strengthening foundations!\n\nThe visitor is a mine of new ideas and experiences. Old thoughts take\non novel forms when fitted to him. His questions and answers exhibit\nneeds in your own class, unobserved because unfamiliar. His ways and\nwords freshen the stagnant class atmosphere.\n\nAnd so he is your chance to get out of ruts and into new ways and\nmoods. Bless Providence for him, and question him vigorously, making\nuse of him to the utmost.\n\nTwo cautions, however. Let your questioning be very clear. He is\nunused, remember, to your little mannerisms, and must not be confused\nby idiosyncrasies. And in your exultation over him do not neglect the\nothers, nor seem to change your plans for the visitor, or to be\nstriving to show off before him.\n\nFinal advantage of the visitor: Teach your scholars to ask him heartily\nto come again, not forgetting to do so cordially yourself. Committees on\nchurch extension, remember, are trained in the Sunday-school.\n\nThus you see that the value of the visitor does not depend upon the\nvisitor so much as might be imagined. Yet just a word on how to visit\nwell.\n\nGo to give good. Take hearty interest in the lesson, and have some\nthought to add to the discussion. Better yet, have some earnest\nquestion to ask. And ask it. If you come from another school,\nconsider yourself a Christian ambassador bearing greetings of\nbrotherly good will and common endeavor.\n\nGo to get good. Be unobtrusive and teachable. And especially, show\nthat you have received good. Express appreciation, after the lesson,\nto teacher and scholars. Then will you be blessed, and, changing the\nmeaning of the word \"visitation,\" these words from the Wisdom of\nSolomon may be applied to you: \"In the time of their visitation they\nshall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble.\"\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXVII\n\n\"Under Petticoat Government\"\n\n\nOne of the brightest women in the United States, a woman well known to\nthe Protestant churches of the world, was groaning to me the other\nday: \"What _shall_ I do with those boys in my Sunday-school class?\nThey are just at the age when they think they know a little more than\nany _woman_. They need a man. Don't you think the superintendent ought\nto remove them from under petticoat government?\"\n\nThis cry, that came so strangely from a woman of her ability and fame,\ncomes also from a throng of baffled Sunday-school teachers. The answer\nwould be easy, if there were anything like as many good Sunday-school\nteachers among the men as among the women. As it is, however, most boy\nclasses must be assigned either to a distasteful petticoat government,\nor to an incompetent pantaloon government, or--cast adrift until, long\nyears afterward, they drop anchor in the haven of matrimony, and\nhappily, perchance, appear once more in the Sunday-school, in the\n\"Bible class.\"\n\nThe remedy, however, though not easy, is manifest. The boys do not\nneed a man, but they do need in their teacher certain manly qualities\nthat could be incorporated in a woman's teaching. These qualities all\nwomen whom the Lord of the Sunday-school has set over a class of his\nboys, should seek to get.\n\nThe most obvious of them, I think, is a certain dignity and reserve\nthat show themselves as well in refraining from scolding as in\ndeclining to pat on the head or hold by the hand. Boys of the\nundefinable age we are talking about highly appreciate the title \"Mr.\"\nTheir greatest horror is petting; their greatest aversion is nagging.\nA young man, set to teach a class of boys, will approach them with a\nsense of comradeship; will at once make himself, if he is a teacher at\nall, \"hail fellow well met\" among them; and yet, as the boys say,\n\"there is no nonsense about him.\"\n\nIt is far better--bad as that is--to talk over the heads of boys than to\ntalk down to them. It is far better to use too few words than too many.\nIf a teacher would hold boys, she must be concise, straightforward,\nbusinesslike. Indeed, the latter adjective comes near to being the key\nto the situation. Boys dislike fussiness, and wordiness, and beating\nabout the bush. Woman teachers that are eager for boys' souls will take\na long step toward their astonished approbation if they school\nthemselves to brevity, dignity, and \"business.\"\n\nSet the boys to work. Imitate common-school methods. In the public\nschool woman teachers hold the boys, and win their honest hearts. It is\nlargely because here there are definiteness of purpose and firm\ncontinuity of aim. Boys are easily mastered by a taskmaster who is\nmaster of her task. Boys that cannot be won by Sunday-school preaching\nare readily won by Sunday-school _teaching_. Lay down a distinct course\nof work, with a goal in fair view, and they will gird up the loins of\ntheir minds; but they refuse to follow you in aimless wanderings through\na thicket. To learn in chronological order the seventy-five prominent\nevents in Christ's life; to trace through the Bible the doctrine of the\natonement; to commit to memory every Scripture passage bearing on the\ntemperance problem; to write a six-hundred-word abstract of the Book of\nGenesis; to make a classification of the Psalms by topics; to compile\nthe Bible proverbs that have to do with money and wealth-getting; to\nmake a diagram graphically depicting the history of the Old Testament\nHebrews; to write out the Ten Commandments, and place in parallel\ncolumns the New Testament enlargements and interpretations\nthereof,--these are samples of the work boys would like to do. They\nwould give high praise to a teacher who conducted them through such\ntasks. They would say that she \"meant business.\"\n\nAnd that leads me to mention another point in which woman teachers are\nmore likely than men to fail, though both are far too weak,--the use\nof evidence, of proof. This is a hobby of mine, but it is the boys\nthemselves, and recollections of my own boyhood, that have set me on\nthe hobby. Wherever a thing is susceptible of proof, boys want it\nproved to them. If it is not susceptible of proof, they want _that_\nproved to them, also. Woman's traditional \"because\" does not commend\nitself to the lawyerlike boys. Fresh from their botany in the public\nschools, they refuse to take on faith the Cana miracle. Ready for\ntheir physiology or physics the next day, they want more proof than a\n\"say so\" that a leper was ever healed by a word or that Peter really\nwalked on the waves. \"It is in the Bible\" is not enough; they must\nknow why they must believe the Bible.\n\nNow I am not so foolish as to advise any one to suggest skepticism to\na boy, and I know that there is a way of handling Scripture evidences\nthat serves rather to raise doubt than to confirm faith; but I have\nenough of the boy in me to be sure that in no way can a teacher more\nhighly exalt both herself and Christianity in the eyes of the boys\nthan by insisting on the reasonableness of both. I had the best of\nSunday-school teachers, quite a score of them, women and men; yet\nuntil full manhood I wrestled all alone with a concealed and absolute\nskepticism that would not down until I had hunted out for myself the\nmany overwhelming proofs of the resurrection of Christ. If any of my\ntwenty teachers had set those proofs with lawyerlike force and\ndirectness before my boyish mind, I should have been saved some very\ndark years that came near making an infidel of me altogether. Because\nI think that boys feel this need of proof and evidence more than\ngirls, and that women are less ready to meet the need than men, I have\nventured to add this suggestion to my list.\n\nAnd that list may close with only one point further. Boys like to be\ntaught by men, because through men they get a telescope-view into the\nlife-work that lies before them. Men teachers draw their illustrations\nfrom mannish things, from business life, from inventions, from politics,\nfrom commerce, from the law. Where a woman might illustrate dishonesty\nby apple-stealing, thereby causing every urchin before her to exclaim\n\"Chestnut!\" under his breath, a man would be more likely to make some\ndiscussion about watering stock or falsifying entries. A man is more\nlikely than a woman to render Scripture vivid and practical by reference\nto current events, dropping a word here and there about the war between\nChina and Japan, about Gladstone's retirement, about the Manitoba school\nquestion, about the Honduras lottery,--just a word, but the boys prick\nup their ears. A woman might compare Gideon with David, but a man would\nbe far more likely to compare him with Parkhurst.\n\nAnd now my point is that the boy needs both,--both David and\nParkhurst. There is no reason why the woman teacher cannot give the\nboy everything he could get from a man teacher, and more. It is easy\nto appear to a boy quite a Solon regarding current events. It is not\nso very hard, by the exercise of a consecrated imagination, to place\nyourself by the boy's side on the outskirts of the great, wide world\nof busy activities he is soon to enter, and feel his impatience to be\nthere and his hunger for any tidings from that charmed country. Show\nhim how Christianity untangles the skeins of business, is the\nmaster-key to all true politics, the foundation of law, the compass of\ncommerce, the force of civilization. Read the newspapers wisely, and\nfind out what is going on in the world. Read wisely the hearts of your\nboys, and find out what is going on in that world. Lift manfully over\nboth worlds the banner of Christ.\n\nOne point at a time, with cheerful persistence, the teacher that\n\"means business\" will win for her teaching these adaptations to the\nneeds of her boys. And in the process, losing nothing of womanliness,\nshe will have nobly broadened her own life, while as its result she\nwill have won a double hold, both a woman's hold and a man's hold, on\nthe hearts of the boys.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXVIII\n\nThe Teacher's Three Graces\n\n\nThe teacher's manner must be heart-born. It must not become mannerism,\nwhich is head-born, and never reaches hearts. \"Manner maketh the man,\"\nand also the teacher,--half-way, at least. If we suspect, however, that\nour manner is defective, the manner itself is the last thing to look at;\nwe must look at our heart. That is the place to get the change.\n\nThree heart qualities produce the ideal teacher's manner. One of these\nis _earnestness_. If you would make on your scholars an impression\nthat will last beyond the hour, you yourself must be deeply impressed\nwith the eternal years. To move their life, keep before you their\ndeath. That is hard to do, when confronted by such abounding youthful\nvigor and vitality. Become an advocate, a pleader, with eternal life\nas the stake. Learn to know deeply the great central truths of sin,\natonement, sanctification. Aim at radical and positive results in\nconfession, testimony, spirituality, character, and conduct, and press\ntoward these as the genuine verdict on your teaching.\n\nThe second quality is _cheeriness_. We are prophets of awful\nalternatives, but we are also ministers of the most blessed joy.\nHappiness is the best recommendation of Christianity. In it center all\nthe Christian evidences. Learn by heart all the promises; they are\nbetter teaching weapons than the prohibitions and warnings. Keep a\nsmile very close to the surface, and improve every fair chance to\nlaugh. The teacher that is in earnest, need never be afraid to be\nmerry. Permit no exaggeration of the facts of wickedness, either in\nthem or in others. The more stormy the day and the fewer in\nattendance, the cheerier be you.\n\nThe third quality is _sympathy_. The true teacher has, or gets, the\npoet's ability to project himself into the lives of others. He keeps\ninvisible, tactful antennae playing in all directions, feeling this\none's coming embarrassment before it arrives, conscious of that one's\neager assent before it lights his eyes, exploring homes and\noccupations and character in order to adapt question to scholar.\nWithout argument or plan, but by instinctive appreciation of differing\npersonality, the true teacher assumes dignity with this pupil,\n_bonhomie_ with that. So far is he from treating all alike, that he\nnever treats even the same person in the same way two days in\nsuccession, knowing, by feeling rather than theory, that no\none--especially no child--is the same person two days in succession.\n\nThese are the teacher's three graces: earnestness, born of faith and\nunsatisfied until it has inspired an equal faith; cheeriness, born of\nhope, and hope-creating; and sympathy, born of love, which is the\ngreatest of all. These in the heart blossom outwardly into the perfect\nteaching manner,--earnestness to arrest, cheeriness to attract, and\nsympathy to hold. \"Covet earnestly the _best_ gifts.\"\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXIX\n\nSomething to Belong to\n\n\nI believe in the organization of Sunday-school classes, because it\nfosters class spirit. If it is a good thing to have a class, it is a\ngood thing for the class to have a spirit. This class spirit should\npromote the school spirit, just as the _esprit de corps_ of a company\nenhances the loyalty of soldiers to their regiment.\n\nWhen a scholar has signed a constitution, he feels that he belongs to\nthe school. Lacking this feeling, he will not be long with the school\nor with anything else.\n\nIn the simple constitution of my class (which is a class of young men)\nare provisions for a porch, a lookout, and a social committee.\n\nThe porch committee watches the morning congregation for strange young\nmen, and invites them to come to Sunday-school. The lookout committee\nseeks throughout town and church for permanent additions to the class,\nwhom, through its chairman, it proposes for membership. This is a\ngreat gain. When a teacher urges people to join his class he is\ninviting them to the gospel, certainly, but he is also inviting them\nto himself. In the first cause he is as bold as a lion, but in the\nsecond many a modest soul is naturally, even though foolishly,\nbashful. Happy the teacher whose scholars are zealous in this vital\nservice, for him so delicate and for them so blessed!\n\nThe voting in of new members, with the subsequent producing of the\nconstitution for signatures, is a little ceremony as useful for the\nold scholars in reminding them of their class autonomy as it is\ninspiring to the new scholars. A hearty word of welcome from the\nteacher to the new-comers gives them a formal and public installation.\nThey have indeed taken on themselves a new function.\n\nThe social committee will greatly add to the efficiency of any class.\nMonthly class socials are genuine means of grace. Our socials are thus\nmanaged: Each social has a solid backbone, consisting of a paper or\ntalk by some member of the class, detailing little-known points in his\nown business. Of a neighboring class similarly organized, one is a\nyoung architect, another works in a rope-walk, a third holds an\nimportant position in a newspaper office, a fourth is in the leather\nbusiness, the teacher of the class is a judge. Utilizing the\nexperiences of their own members and friends, this class has held\nquite remarkable socials. It has found the contribution of the clerk\nin a furniture store as interesting as that of the young banker. The\nclass have been wonderfully knit together by the bonds of a common\nand a widening interest. After these papers or talks (which are often\nappropriately illustrated), come discussion and questions, followed by\ngames or light refreshments. By occasional joint socials of this kind\nwe hope to draw together this class and my own. Of course, this is\nonly one out of a myriad schemes of entertainment that could be\ndevised for these class socials. The point the shrewd teacher will\nnotice is that it is the scholars themselves who plan these socials,\nand who thus take into their own hands the creation of a warm, helpful\nclass atmosphere. Every teacher should know that in making new\nscholars feel at home it is hardly his own sociability, but that of\nhis scholars, that counts.\n\nIf the class is thus organized, the teacher must guard the authority\nof his class president as jealously as his own. If you want your class\nofficers to feel genuine responsibility, it must be genuine\nresponsibility that you put upon them. Give up to the president,\nduring the conduct of business, your place in front of the class. Wait\nto be recognized by him before you speak. Make few motions. Inspire\nothers to take the initiative.\n\nThe election of officers should come every six months, and it is best\nto bring about a thorough rotation in office. Improve every chance to\nemphasize the class organization. If your school arrangements permit,\nvote every month on the disposal of the class collections. If you must\nbe absent a Sunday, ask the class to elect a substitute teacher, and\nask the president to inform the substitute of his election. An\nalternate should be chosen also, to make the thing sure. This little\ndevice serves to make the scholars as loyal to the substitute teacher\nas to their own, for they have made him their own. In the course of\nthe lessons, also, a wide-awake teacher will frequently mention and\nemphasize the class organization.\n\nOf course the whole plan will fall flat if the teacher wholly\ndelegates to his scholars any or all of these lines of work. He also\nmust invite the strangers, if he expects his scholars to do so. He\nalso must seek for new members, if he would inspire them to do the\nsame. Without his sociableness they will soon become frigid. The\nteacher alone has the dipper of water that starts the pump. Any\ncontrivance that lessens his responsibility lessens his success.\n\nBut the plan I have outlined has value, not because it permits the\nteacher to do less, but because it incites the scholars to do vastly\nmore. An ounce drawn out is better than a ton put in. One thing you\nget them to do is a greater triumph than a dozen things you do much\nbetter for them.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXX\n\nThrough Eye-Gate\n\n\nBefore his listless and restless audience the lecturer took in his hand\na piece of chalk, turned to the blackboard, and touched it. Instantly he\nhad the eager attention of all. He did nothing with the chalk; had not\nintended to do anything; he carried his point with it, nevertheless.\n\nA teacher, plus a bit of chalk, is two teachers. And any one may\ndouble himself thus, if he choose to take a little pains.\n\nSurely there need be no hesitation as to the materials. If you can\nhave a blackboard, that is fine. I myself like best a board fastened\nto the wall, and a second board hinged to this after the fashion of a\ndouble slate. The outside may be used for \"standing matter,\" and the\ninside opened up for the surprises.\n\nBut this is a great luxury. A portable, flexible blackboard will\nanswer, if your class is away from the wall. You can roll it up and\ncarry it home to practise there. You can use both sides of it. Such\nblackboards may be obtained now for two dollars.\n\nNot even a flexible blackboard, however, is essential. A slate will\nserve you admirably, and some of the best chalk-talkers use simple\nsheets of manilla paper tacked to ordinary pine boards.\n\nThen, as to the chalk, by all means use colored crayons. It is easy to\nlearn effective contrasts of colors, and bright hues will increase\nmany fold the attractiveness of your pictures and diagrams. But these\ncrayons need not be of the square variety, sold especially for such\nwork at thirty-five cents a box. They produce beautiful results, but\nthe ordinary schoolroom box of assorted colors will serve your turn\nadmirably and cost much less.\n\nAnd if the materials are readily obtained, so is the artistic skill.\nTrust to the active imaginations of the children. Remember in their own\ndrawings how vivid to them are the straight lines that stand for men,\nthe squares that represent houses, the circles with three dots that set\nforth faces with eyes and mouth. I once saw Mrs. Crafts teach the\nparable of the Good Samaritan in a most fascinating way to some little\ntots, and her blackboard work was merely some rough ovals, each drawn\nhalf through its neighbor, to represent a chain of love,--love to papa,\nlove to mamma, to sister, brother, friend, teacher,--_neighbor_. And as\ncircle after circle was briskly added, every child was filled with\ndelight. That same parable of the Good Samaritan I once saw perfectly\nillustrated--for all practical purposes--by four squares, each with two\nparallel lines curving from one upper corner to the opposite lower one,\nto represent the descent of the Jericho road, while the various scenes\nwere depicted with the aid of short, straight lines, the man fallen\namong thieves being a horizontal line, the priest and Levite being\nstiffly upright and placed on appropriate points in the road, while the\nline for the Samaritan was leaning over as if helping his fallen brother\nrise! Surely that series of drawings was not beyond the artistic skill\nof any teacher.\n\nOne of the beauties of such simple work is that it may be dashed off\nin the presence of the scholars, while more elaborate pictures must be\nprepared beforehand; and half the value of blackboard work is in the\nattention excited by the moving chalk. I use the expression \"dashed\noff,\" but I do not want to imply careless work. The straight lines\nshould be as straight as you can make them without a ruler, the\ncircles as true circles as can be drawn without a string, and the\nstars should have equal points. The simpler the drawing, the more need\nthat every mark should have its mission and fulfill it well. A\nconfused scrawl will only make mental confusion worse confounded.\nDon't be satisfied with rough work, or it will constantly become\nrougher. Try to do better all the time.\n\nOf course, this means home practice, even for the simplest of\nexercises, like Mrs. Crafts' links of the love-chain. The nearer the\nlinks are to perfect ovals, the better. The more nicely they are\nshaded on one side, the more distinct will be the impression of a\nchain. And the more rapidly they can be drawn, the more tense will be\nthe children's interest. A few easy lessons in drawing, from some\npublic-school teacher or some text-book, will prove of inestimable\nvalue,--lessons enough to give you at least an idea of perspective, so\nthat you can make a house or a box stand out from the board, and know\nwhich sides to shade of the inside of a door. Make such simple\nbeginnings as I have indicated, and determine to advance, however\nslowly. It is hard to draw a man, but not so difficult if you are\nwilling to begin with a little circle for the head, an oval for the\nbody, and two straight lines for legs.\n\nBut even if you do not draw at all, it is well worth while to use\nchalk. Almost magical effects may be produced by a single sentence,\nsometimes a single word, _written_ on the board. If your lesson is the\nlast chapter of the Bible, the one word \"Come!\" will be blackboard\nwork enough. Add to it, if you will, at the close of the recitation,\nthis earnest question: \"Why not to-day?\" Every lesson has its key-word\nor its key-sentence. Write it large on your scholars' hearts by\nwriting it large upon the blackboard.\n\nIn such work, as in drawing, you may begin with simple writing (your\nbest script, however!) and go on to as high a degree of elaborateness\nas you fancy. A printer's book of samples will introduce you to\nfascinating and varied forms of letters. Your colored chalks may be\nused in exquisite illumination. You may learn from penmen their most\nbewitching scrolls. And all of this will be enjoyed by the children,\nand will contribute to the impressiveness of the truth, _provided_\nyou are jealous to keep it subordinate to the truth. Otherwise, plain\nlonghand is to be preferred to the end of the chapter.\n\nAnother easy way to use the blackboard--still without venturing on\ndrawing--is by constructing diagrams. What a key to Scripture\nchronology, for instance, is furnished your scholars when you draw a\nhorizontal line to represent the four thousand years from Adam to\nChrist, bisect it for Abraham, bisect the last half for Solomon,\nbisect the third quarter for Moses, and continue to bisect as long as\na famous man stands at the bisecting-point! How it clears up the life\nof Christ to draw two circles, the inner one for Jerusalem, the outer\nfor Nazareth, dividing them into thirty-three parts for the years of\nour Saviour's life, and running a curved line in and out according as\nhis journeys took him to Nazareth and beyond its circle, or back to\nJerusalem at the feast-times! Such circles will also serve to depict\ngraphically Paul's missionary journeys, the outer circle representing\nAntioch. Any series of historical events may well be strung along a\nvertical line divided into decades, and parallel series, as in the\nhistory of the northern and southern kingdoms, along two parallel\nverticals. An outline map, such as the teacher may draw from memory,\nwill furnish an excellent basis for another kind of diagram, the\nprogress of persons or of series of events being traced from place to\nplace by dotted lines, a different color for each person or journey or\ngroup of incidents.\n\nAcrostics furnish still another use for the blackboard. For example,\ndraw out from the class by questions a list of the prominent\ncharacteristics of David. He was\n\n  Daring\n  Active\n  Vigilant\n  Inspired\n  Dutiful\n\nNot until the list is completed does the class see that its initial\nletters spell David's name. You have attained the element of surprise,\nso valuable in work of this sort. Again, in a lesson on the rich young\nman, or on Dives and Lazarus, or on Zaccheus, write in a vertical column\nthe letters of Christ's name, and draw straight lines to the right in\nvarious directions, as shown in the following diagram. Transferring the\nletters, or getting some scholar to transfer them, to the points\nindicated, you quickly insert an E, and it reads: \"Christ--richest.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe application is obvious, and will never be forgotten.\n\nOften, in seeking for such an effective presentation of a lesson's\ntruth, we hit upon alliteration, and then our blackboard work is easy.\nThree P's:\n\n  P      P      P\n\nFill them out, as the lesson proceeds, thus:\n\n   harisee              ompously\n  P          Prayed    P\n   ublican              enitently\n\nAnd often, again, our form will be based upon similar terminations or\nbeginnings of words, such as:\n\n               { choosing\n      Solomon  { reigning\n               { sinning\n\nSuggestions and examples of such work might be indefinitely\nmultiplied. It is one of the easiest, yet one of the most effective,\nmethods of fixing the points of a lesson.\n\nThe earnest teacher will be drawn irresistibly from the use of the\nchalk in diagrams, acrostics, and the like, to simple drawings; and by\nthis time he will realize the importance of simplicity. A set of\nsteps, for instance, is easy to draw; we may use only the profile; but\nthe drawing will fix forever in your scholars' minds the events in\nSolomon's life. To a certain point the steps are all upward. Yellow\nchalk shows them to be golden. A word written over each step gives\nthe event it symbolizes. On a sudden the steps turn downward, become a\ndirty brown, each representing a sin, and break short off as Solomon\ntakes his terrible fall.\n\nWho cannot draw a number of rough circles? They will stand for the\nstones thrown at Stephen. A word or initial written in each will\nrepresent the different kinds of persecutions that assail faithful\nChristians in our modern days. Who cannot draw a shepherd's crook, and\nwrite alongside it the points of the Twenty-third Psalm, or the ways\nin which Christ is the Good Shepherd? Who cannot draw a large\nwineglass, and write inside it some of the evils that come out of it?\nWho cannot draw a rectangle for a letter, and write upon it a\ndirection, to make more vivid some of the epistles? or a trumpet\ninside seven circles, to brighten up the lesson on the fall of\nJericho? As a rule, the very best chalk-talks are the simplest, and\nrequire the least skill in drawing.\n\nBut how to get the ideas? Where to find the pictures?\n\nOf course, in the first place, from the books of first-rate\nchalk-talkers, such as Pierce's \"Pictured Truth,\" Frank Beard's \"The\nBlackboard in the Sunday-school,\" and Belsey's \"The Bible and the\nBlackboard\" (an English book). Of course, also, from the many\nadmirable periodicals that publish blackboard hints, such as the\n\"Lesson Illustrator,\" the \"Sunday-school Times,\" and the teachers'\nmagazines of the various denominations. Get hints also from the\nblackboard work of the public school and the kindergarten, as to\nmanner, if not as to matter.\n\nBut as for the design, your own is the best for you, and not\nanother's. Study all the blackboard work you can find, and retain\nwhatever gravitates to you; but your own original design is the one\nyou will best understand, and in presenting it you will have more of\nthat enthusiasm which makes success.\n\nLearn to find pictures all through the Bible. I have just been searching\nmy mind for a Bible text that promised nothing in the way of a picture.\nAt last I thought that \"All have sinned and come short of the glory of\nGod\" would do. But in another second two pictures popped into my mind. I\nsaw a river whose further bank was beautiful with flowers and trees, the\nparadise of \"the glory of God,\" and across the river a bridge--lacking\nits final portion. I saw a ladder reaching up into some golden clouds\nback of which shone heaven, the city of \"the glory of God\"; but all the\ntop rounds of the ladder were missing. Bridge and ladder had \"come\nshort.\" God's hand was needed, reaching across, reaching down, to help\nus over the sin-gap into \"the glory of God.\" I do not believe it\npossible to find any Bible texts, still less any twelve consecutive\nverses of the Bible, that do not hide somewhere a capital picture.\n\nRead your Bible pictorially. Make sketches everywhere upon the margin.\nFor practice, often take some passage sure to come up in the\nInternational Lessons, such as Psalm 1, Isaiah 53, Proverbs 3,\nMatthew 5, Luke 2, John 14, Acts 9, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 13,\nHebrew 11, James 3. Delve into the passage, meditate long over it, and\nsee how many pictures you can get out of it.\n\nOf the greatest assistance will be a book,--indexed as to texts, and\nalso as to subjects, such as \"temperance,\" \"missionary,\"\n\"resurrection,\" \"courage,\"--in which you will preserve every drawing\nyou make, and all the most suggestive blackboard hints you clip from\nthe teachers' magazines, together with simple outlines of all sorts of\ncommon subjects. These last will be particularly useful. There will be\na ladder, an anvil, a horse, a lily, a broom, a fountain,--anything\nlikely to be of use for a symbol. You will clip these from\nadvertisements, catalogues, the illustrated papers and magazines, and\nyou will find your collection useful in many ways.\n\nI have spoken as if the teacher should do all the blackboard work. On\nthe contrary, he should do none that he can get his scholars to do for\nhim. No matter if they do not do it as well as he. Get them to\npractise beforehand. Let them begin with only the simplest work; they\nwill soon astonish you with their proficiency. And the class will take\nfar more interest in a poor drawing by one of their own number than in\na good drawing by you.\n\nYes, and even when you preside at the blackboard yourself, give the\nclass pencils and paper occasionally, and let them copy what you draw.\nTheir attention will be assuredly fixed, and an ineffaceable\nimpression made on their memory. The drawings they complete, however\ncrude, they will be glad to carry home to show their parents, and\ntreasure as souvenirs of the lesson, or keep, if you choose, against\nthe coming review day. If you use this method, you will soon come to\ncherish a deeper liking for that prime pedagogical virtue, simplicity.\n\nFor a final word: Take pains that your word-pictures keep pace with\nyour chalk. Don't _ask_ your class what you have drawn--that might\nlead to embarrassing results! _Tell_ them. Put in all sorts of graphic\nlittle touches, even though you cannot draw a tenth of what you are\ntalking about. The man on the Jericho road--how full of fear he was as\nhe walked; how he whistled to keep up his courage; how one robber\npeeped from behind a rock, and another whispered, \"He's coming!\" how\nthey sprang out, and he ran, and a third rascal sprang out in front\nand knocked him down; how he shouted, \"Help! Thieves! Help!\" and how\nonly the echo answered him in that lonely place--all this must have\nhappened many a time on that Jericho road, and you have a perfect\nright to stimulate with such natural and inevitable details the\nimagination of the children.\n\nThat is what they are for--both our word-picturing and our\nchalk-picturing: not to exhibit our nimbleness of wit or of finger,\nbut to quicken the minds of the children,--that alone,--and make them\nmore eager in the pursuit of truth.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXXI\n\nFoundation Work\n\n\nThe work of the primary department lies at the foundation of all\nSunday-school work. This does not mean that there is no chance of a\nchild's becoming a good Bible scholar and a noble Christian if he\nmisses the primary training, but it does mean that without a\nflourishing primary department a school can scarcely be called\nsuccessful, while with it half the success of the school is assured.\nThe primary teacher molds the soft clay; her successor with the child\nmust cut the hard marble.\n\nTeaching that thus lies at the foundation must deal with fundamental\nmatters, with the greatest lives of the Bible, the great outlines of\nhistory, the great essentials of doctrine, the root principles of\nmorality. Details are to be filled in later. The danger is that the\nteacher will attempt to teach too much, will expect the little ones to\nknow about Hagar when it is enough for them to know about Isaac; or\nabout Jeremiah, when Daniel would be sufficient; or about the order\nin which Paul wrote his letters, when it might well suffice for them\nto know that Paul wrote them.\n\nBut though many questions are too hard to ask, no question is too easy,\nand no point is so simple that in these first days you may safely take\nit for granted. Laugh if you please, but I do not think that even these\ndays of sand-maps and pricked cards have produced a method much more\nhelpful for the primary teacher than the old questioning of my boyhood,\nover and over repeated: \"Who was the first man?\" \"Who was the strongest\nman?\" \"Who was the oldest man?\" and the like.\n\nThe primary teacher's right-hand man is named Drill,--Ernest Drill. No\nmnemonic help--that _is_ a help--is to be despised. Rhymes giving in\norder the books of the Bible, the Commandments, Beatitudes, list of\nthe twelve apostles, may wisely be used. No memory verse or golden\ntext, once learned, should be allowed to lapse into that easy pit, a\nchild's quick forgetfulness. Better one thing remembered than a\nhundred things forgotten. Foundation-stones are few and simple, but\nthey must be firm.\n\nNow the first essential, if one would do this foundation work\nsuccessfully, is to get a room to work in. A room that lets in floods\nof sunshine and fresh air. A room with pretty pictures and bright\nmottoes on the wall, with canary songs and blooming plants. A room\nwith little chairs, graded to the scholars' little heights. A room\nwith a visitors' gallery for the mothers. Or, if your church was not\nblessed with a Sunday-school architect, then such a room in a house\nnext door or across the street, to which your class may withdraw after\nthe opening exercises. Or, if your work must be done in the church, as\nso much primary work must be, then a temporary room, shut off by drawn\ncurtains, or even by a blackboard and a screen, is far better than the\ndistractions of the open school.\n\nThe blackboard just mentioned, at any rate, the room should contain; the\nshrewd use of it will create an intense interest that will almost cause\noblivion of the most distracting surroundings. A padded board gives the\nbest effects,--such a board as you yourself may easily and cheaply make\nwith a pine backing, a few layers of cheap soft cloth, and a covering of\nblackboard cloth nailed firmly over all. In the chapter on blackboard\nwork I have tried to show how easily possible, and at the same time how\nvaluable, is the use of the blackboard. If the children are too small to\nread, they may at least know their letters, and recognize S for Saul and\nP for Peter, and a cross for Christ, while the immense resources of\nsimple drawings are always open to you.\n\nThe primary teacher is fortunate, nowadays, in being able to buy, at\nslight cost, series of pictures illustrating each quarter's lessons.\nThese pictures are either colored brightly or simple black and white,\nand vary in size from four or five square feet to the little\nengravings in the Sunday-school paper. Whatever picture is used\nshould be hidden until it is time to exhibit it, and produced with a\npretty show of mystery and triumph. Some teachers hang these pictures,\nafter use, in a \"picture-gallery,\" where the children may become\nfamiliar with them, and to this gallery they may be sent for frequent\nreference against the coming review day.\n\nAfter all, the primary teacher's chief reliance for purposes of\nillustration must be natural objects. In this reliance we merely imitate\nthe example of the great Teacher. The objects to be used will most often\nbe suggested by the lesson text itself. A lily, a vine, seed, leaven, a\ndoor, a sickle, a cake, a cup, grass,--are not each of these objects at\nonce associated in your mind with passages of Scripture? Hunt out the\nsuggested objects, and simply hold them before the children as you talk\nabout the lesson, and you will find them a wonderful assistance.\n\nA more difficult process is to discover illustrative objects when none\nare directly suggested in the text. In a temperance lesson, for\ninstance, there may be no mention of the wine-cup, yet you will bring a\nglass, fill it with wine-colored water, and place in it slips of paper\ncut to resemble snakes. On each is written some fearful result of\ndrinking alcoholic liquors; and after the children have drawn forth,\nwith pincers, one after the other, and read what is written upon it,\nthey will not soon forget how many evils come out of the wine-cup.\n\nYou may be talking about the imprisonment of John the Baptist. Produce\na pasteboard chain, painted black on one side. Each link tells in red\nletters one of the horrors of his imprisonment,--loneliness, fear,\ndespair, and the like. Turn over the chain and show the underside\ngilded, the links reading, \"More faith,\" \"Near to God,\" \"God's favor,\"\n\"Courage,\" \"Eternal reward.\" There was a bright side, after all.\n\nYou are on the stumbling-block lesson, and you bring in some awkward,\nrough wooden blocks, on which you tack labels as the lesson proceeds:\n\"A spiteful temper,\" \"A gossiping tongue,\" \"Envy,\" \"Suspicion,\"\n\"Swearing,\" \"Treating to strong drink,\" \"Playing marbles for 'keeps.'\"\n\nYou are teaching about the paralytic let down through the roof. It has\nnot required many minutes, with pasteboard, scissors, and glue, to\nconstruct a dainty little model of an old-time Jewish house, outside\nstairs, inner court, overhanging court roof, and all. And how the\nlittle model illuminates the story! The jail in which Peter was\nimprisoned, the table around which the Last Supper was celebrated, the\nTabernacle, the Temple,--from the many excellent pictures and\ndescriptions obtainable, even quite ambitious models are possible of\nmanufacture. And once made, they are aids and joys forever.\n\nThe sand-map has become justly popular. It is easily formed, requiring\nonly a shallow tray, some sharp, clean sand, pieces of looking-glass\nfor lakes and seas, blue yarn for rivers, some rocks for mountains,\nwooden blocks for houses, dried moss for trees, little toy men, boats,\nhorses, and such readily found apparatus.\n\nIn turn you can build up, with its accommodating materials, the Sea of\nGalilee and the scene of the feeding of the five thousand, all\nPalestine with the courses of Christ's journeys, Asia Minor and\nMacedonia with the route of Paul on his second great missionary\njourney. Much of this the children themselves will help you prepare,\nand will learn a great deal by so doing. Indeed, the wise teacher will\ndo as little as possible herself even in getting ready to teach, and\nwill make her scholars themselves her assistant teachers.\n\nThat is one of the beauties of such kindergarten devices as pricking\npaper and weaving bright yarn back and forth to fill up the picture\noutlined by the holes. It is the scholars' work, and not your own, and\nthey do not forget their own work. Simple designs illustrating the\nlessons can thus be pricked into the children's memories at the point\nof a pin.\n\nIt is best not to confuse the class with a multiplicity of objects,\nbut to fix on a single symbol for each lesson, that will stand\ndistinctly for the lesson in the weekly and quarterly reviews. The\nkind of object should constantly vary. If this week it is cut out of\npasteboard, next week let it be modeled in clay, and the following\nweek let it be a picture in black and white. The simpler, the better:\na cup for the lesson at Sychar; a dried leaf for the parable of the\nfig-tree; a square of white cloth for Peter's vision on the housetop.\nDo not produce the object till you want it in your teaching, or the\nchildren's interest will be dissipated before you have need of it. Get\na little cabinet in which to store all your teaching apparatus. Do not\nkeep the object in sight after you are through with it, or you will\nlose attention from your next point. Remember, in all object-teaching,\nhow inferior is any symbol to the truth symbolized,--its shadow only,\na mere hint of it,--and learn to drop the interest-exciting object and\nuse the interest for the truth you want to teach.\n\nIn this branch of your work a knowledge of common science will prove\ninvaluable. Botany and geology, chemistry, zooelogy, and astronomy open\none's eyes to the beauties and marvels of God's handiwork, and disclose\nanalogies abounding and true. There is much also to learn from the books\nof models,--models for suggestion, of course, and not for slavish\nimitation,--such as Tyndall's \"Object-lessons for Children,\" Roads'\n\"Little Children in the Church of Christ,\" and Stall's \"Five-minute\nObject-sermons to Children,\" or his \"Talks to the King's Children.\"\n\nThe most valuable \"objects\" are the children themselves, when you can\ncarry out an illustration with their own active bodies. For instance, in\nteaching the lesson on the first council at Jerusalem, arrange the\nchairs in two groups, distant as far as possible from each other. One is\nAntioch, the other is Jerusalem. Two picked scholars, Paul and Barnabas,\nset out from the Antioch corner toward Jerusalem corner. Some of their\ncomrades accompany them part way. The scholars at the other side of the\nroom receive them with interest. Paul and Barnabas--or the teacher for\nthem--tell their story. A Pharisee rises, and the teacher puts words in\nhis mouth. Peter rises and tells about Cornelius. James, the most\ndignified boy present, gives his decision. Judas and Silas are selected\nto escort Paul and Barnabas back again, bearing a letter.\n\nThe visit of the Queen of Sheba, the taking of Joseph to Egypt, Paul's\nvision in Troas and passage to Macedonia, the parallel history of the\nnorthern and southern kingdoms,--indeed, countless events,--may be\nillustrated in this way. The only danger is that the whole may seem too\nmuch like play; but this danger is easily avoided by an earnest teacher,\nand the gains in interest and remembrance will prove rich justification.\n\nAn illustration still simpler, and very effective, may be obtained\nfrom the children merely by the motion of their hands. \"Went _down_\nfrom Jerusalem to Jericho\"--all hands raised high and rapidly lowered.\n\"And _great_ was the fall thereof\"--the same movement. \"The Queen of\nSheba wondered\"--hands raised in astonishment. \"A sower went out to\nsow\"--hands sweep to the right and left. These concert movements not\nmerely fix the attention of the class, but serve as outlet to their\nrestlessness. Some teachers advise a halt midway in the lesson for the\nintroduction of some light gymnastics to rest the class. That is\nwell; but if the same result can be gained in immediate connection\nwith the lesson, so much the better.\n\nAfter all has been said, however, the primary teacher's great art is\nthe art of story-telling. Learn to start right in. Preliminary\npreachment will spoil it all. Use short and simple words. Keep clear\nand distinct the order of events, and do not confuse the children by\ngoing back to take up omitted points. Nevertheless,--and this is not a\ncontradiction,--repeat and repeat and repeat, telling each section of\nthe story over and over, in different ways and with ever-fresh\nparticulars, till the children's slippery memories have laid hold upon\nit.\n\nIntroduce a myriad natural details, for which you must draw on a\nconsecrated imagination. You should hear Mr. Moody tell a Bible story!\nIt is not enough to say that Abraham determined to offer up Isaac as a\nsacrifice. The great, loving soul of the evangelist has brooded too\nlong over the Bible for a statement so cold as that. He must tell\nabout the patriarch's sleepless nights; about his getting up and going\nover to the bed of the boy so peacefully sleeping; about his weeping\nwhen no one was watching him; how he couldn't eat his breakfast; how\nhis heart beat whenever he looked at the lad. And long before Mr.\nMoody is through, the great sacrifice is so vivid to him and to us\nthat we all weep together, and no moralizing is needed.\n\nYou are not Moodys? No; but hundreds of primary teachers are doing just\nthis work, telling to their children the Bible stories as they must have\nhappened, reading with the heart and telling them to the life. Long\nmeditation is needed, persistent \"putting yourself in his place,\" and it\nis even well to write out the story in full before you attempt to tell\nit. When you receive the reward, you will count the trouble as nothing.\n\nMusic is a great aid in the primary room. If you cannot afford a piano,\nlearn how cheap are the \"baby organs,\" and how effectively they will\nlead the children's singing. Even though you work in an extemporized\nclass-room, shut off by screens or a curtain from the rest of the\nschool, you can at least use \"whisper songs.\" Yes, and these whisper\nsongs may often be motion songs, and serve to illustrate the lesson.\n\nAt least one song of the hour should bear directly on the central\nthought of the hour, and before it is sung you should explain why you\ncall for it. Most of the best songs for this purpose will prove to be\nstandard hymns, and there is every reason why the simplest of these\nshould be taught to the children, that they may find as many points of\ncontact as possible with the services of the older church. The aid of\nthe parents may well be invoked to teach these hymns at home to the\nchildren,--a helpful task, for more than the children's sake, at which\nto set the parents.\n\nThe primary song-books contain bright little hymns appropriate to\nintroduce prayer, to open and close the school, to be sung before\nBible-reading and while the collection is taken. A clear-voiced\nassistant, sitting and singing among the children, will train them\ninsensibly, and draw their childish voices into harmony with her own.\nJust as the children will enjoy a class name, motto, colors, so they\nwill be delighted to select a class song; and this device may be\ntried, together with many others mentioned in the chapter on \"A\nSinging Sunday-school.\"\n\nOur foundation work will surely fall if it is not itself founded\nfirmly on the Bible. Be sure that each scholar has his own Bible--_and\na large-type copy_. Why is it that the smaller the child, the tinier\nthe type? It is not so with the children's other books. How can we\nexpect them to take any interest in pages that look so black and\nuninteresting, and that, moreover, would ruin their eyes for life if\nthey did read them?\n\nThe Bible must not be so expensive that it cannot be marked freely. The\nchildren will learn much by this exercise. A little set of colored\npencils may be given to each child, for class use only. The golden texts\nand other verses, and the places where the lesson story may be read,\nshould all be marked with pencils of appropriate symbolic color. The\nchildren can easily find the place, and the folks at home will know just\nwhat passages to read to the children and to help them learn.\n\nMake much of memory verses. We are filling the little heads nowadays\nfar more with sand-map puppets and blackboard rebuses than with the\nWord of God. Drill often and thoroughly on these verses. Prepare a\nBible roll by fastening a long strip of manilla paper on a spring\nwindow-shade roller. Let the lower line contain a few initial letters\nhinting at the memory verse concealed just above it. After recitation,\npull this down for the scholars to compare; and so proceed through the\nroll. An alphabet of Bible verses may thus be learned, or an alphabet\nof Bible men and women.\n\nOne point needs especial emphasis. No matter how thoroughly you have\ntold the story, or how fascinated the children have been held by your\nrecital, never consider the hour well spent till you have read from\nthe Bible itself the story you have been telling. The more delightful\nand satisfactory your own account has been, the more necessary is it\nto show the children that within the covers of the Book are to be\nfound all these beautiful stories.\n\nPart of your foundation work is certainly to teach the children to\npray. There are many appropriate prayer poems, such as, for the\nbeginning of the lesson:\n\n      \"A prayer we lift to thee, dear Lord,\n      Ere we shall listen to thy word.\n      The truth thy Spirit brings from thee\n      Help us to study patiently.\n          For Jesus' sake. Amen.\"\n\nOr this, for the close of the lesson:\n\n      \"Our Father, through each coming day\n      Watch o'er our every step, we pray;\n      And may thy Spirit hide the word\n      Deep in our willing hearts, O Lord.\n          For Jesus' sake. Amen.\"\n\nThese the class may be taught to repeat in concert, with bowed heads.\n\nOne of the best methods is this. Let the teacher offer a simple prayer,\nsentence by sentence or clause by clause, the children reverently\nrepeating it after her, all heads being bowed. Best of all, of course,\nare the Bible prayers, the prayer psalms, and the many noble prayer\nverses scattered here and there. Store the children's memories with\nthese, and in coming years there will be no stammering or hesitancy\nwhen, in public or in private, they talk with their Father in heaven.\n\nOne of the primary teacher's chief allies is a happy temper. If you\nhave it not, get it. An ounce of sunshine is better than an iron\nmountain of scolding. The voice alone may make or mar the lesson. Is\nit good-cheery, or goody-goody? How joyous Christ must have been! How\nhis little children love fun! And how much easier it will be for you\nto get them to love him if you also love fun!\n\nIndeed, we cannot know too thoroughly the child nature. The scientists'\nstudy of it is in its infancy, but a sympathetic heart will carry you\nfarther in ten minutes than all their psychology in a lifetime. As you\nteach, have in mind, not _your_ trials, joys, and hopes, but _theirs_.\nDon't talk about \"ambition,\" but about \"getting more praise than another\ngirl\"; or about \"covetousness,\" but about \"wishing you, and not Tom, had\nhis new bicycle.\" Don't allegorize; that is a grown-up delight. Don't\ntalk about \"the hill Difficulty,\" \"the bog of Despond.\" Do you tell me\nthe children enjoy \"The Pilgrim's Progress\"? Yes; but not as allegory.\nVanity Fair is a real town to them, and Mr. Pliable a real man. Avoid\nwhat I call \"fanciful\" teaching, and the rather build your lessons upon\nactual men and women, so that the children may come to _know_ Eli and\nGideon, Ruth and Martha, as vividly as they know the men and women\naround them. That is better than to know Lily Lazy and Matt Mischievous\nand the Sea of Sorrow.\n\nReview often. When you have reached the point where you think the\nchildren cannot possibly forget, then--review again! Frequently say,\n\"Now, after I have finished telling about the lesson, I am going to ask\nFred to tell me about it; and after Fred is through, I shall ask _some\none else_ to tell the same story.\" Often ask questions that can be\nanswered in concert, and insist that all shall join in the reply. This\nwill usually lead to a repetition that will prove helpful. In such\nconcert work, if you do not watch, the more forward will be the only\nones that will respond, and you will be obliged to draw out the timid\nand repress the pert by many a special question addressed to the former.\n\nSometimes it is hard to keep order; always hard, if the teacher has not\nby nature or attainment the face and voice and bearing that command\norder because they lovingly and firmly expect it. The teacher should be\nin the room before any scholar arrives. Much disorder has its source in\nthose irresponsible ten minutes before the school opens. Then, while she\nis teaching, an assistant should sit with the children, ready to check\ntheir mischievousness, attend quickly to their needs and desires, care\nfor the late comers, help them \"find the place\" in Bibles and\nsong-books, and perform many other little offices. Some heads of large\nprimary departments establish \"hospitals,\" where are sent the children\nwith \"sick\" hands or feet or tongues,--a special class where the most\nuncontrollable are \"treated\" till they are reported \"cured.\" In general,\nhowever, if the children are interested, they will be orderly; and if\nthe teacher is interested, so are likely to be the scholars. Put into\nthe work your whole soul, and you are reasonably sure of getting the\nwhole minds of the children.\n\nLove them! I cannot better sum up the entire matter than in those two\nwords. Love them, and they will love you and gladly obey you. Love\nthem, and you will work hard for them, and will not mind the hardness.\nLove them, and your love will teach you how to teach them wisely. And\nthe God of love, who loves little children, will give you, week by\nweek, the fullness of his joy.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXXII\n\nThe Trial Balance\n\n\nSome teachers omit the review, or pass over it in a perfunctory way.\nThis is as if a merchant should never balance his books, or, taking a\ntrial balance, should be heedless of the result. If we are to prosper\nin this our Father's business, we must be careful as any merchant to\ndiscover just where we stand with our scholars; we must test their\nprogress often and thoroughly, and never rest satisfied or let them\nrest satisfied until they and we are assured that the balance is\ncomfortably on the right side of the ledger.\n\nOne reason for the common shrinking from review day is because we have\nnot manfully met it at the very beginning of the quarter. It is the\npreview that gives success to the review. When the teacher looks\ncarefully through the twelve lessons ahead of him, grasps the\nunderlying thread that binds them together, and forms his plan for a\nreview at the outset, review day has lost all its terrors. Then every\nlesson becomes part of a consistent series. Then the weekly reviews,\nwhich alone make possible a successful quarterly review, lay each a\ncourse of a steadily rising edifice.\n\nNo clearness of knowledge may be expected unless the teacher knows\nclearly at the start just what it is that he expects the scholars to\nknow; and the building grows with double certainty if the little\nworkmen themselves are given glimpses of the architect's plans,--at\nleast of a \"front elevation.\" \"For these three months,\" the teacher\nmay say, \"we are to study Christ's life as Mark records it. My plan is\nfor you to vote each Sunday on the most important facts we have\nstudied,--either in the lesson text or in the 'intervening events.'\nSometimes it will be one fact; it will never be more than three. All\ntogether there are thirty facts we shall learn, and they will make an\noutline history of Christ's entire life.\"\n\nHow such a scheme, clearly and often stated, will clarify and\nsystematize the quarter's work! Three or four times during the three\nmonths the teacher will propound brisk questions covering the points\nof all the previous lessons of the quarter, following this by a\nwritten test. Let him prepare for each lesson a card, on which he\nprints questions answerable by the facts to be learned. Fastening\ntwelve hooks on a board, he hangs these cards on the hooks week by\nweek, and uses them in these reviews and in the final review of the\nquarter. If the class is one of little tots, a symbol for each lesson,\ncut out of pasteboard or consisting of some object, may be hung up in\nplace of the card,--such a symbol as a needle stuck in a piece of\ncloth, answering to the story of Dorcas.\n\nSome such preparation will make thoroughly successful a written\nexamination on review day. The questions should be simple and clear,\nand such as can be answered fully in a very few words. They should\ntake up only the points on which emphasis has been laid throughout the\nquarter. If the teacher presents the plan in a jolly way, the class\nwill enter into it heartily, as good fun.\n\nFor a change, now and then invite the scholars to bring in, on review\nday, lists of what each considers the ten principal events of the\nquarter. A comparison is to be made, and the events that receive the\nmost votes will constitute a model list. This exercise in itself will\nmake a pretty good review.\n\nAn excellent review may be based upon the six natural divisions of all\nlessons,--times, persons, places, events, sayings, teachings. The\n\"sayings\" are the short sentences best worth memorizing. A review\n\"quiz\" may take up these six points one after the other, carrying each\nover the entire range of lessons, sometimes chronologically, but more\noften at haphazard.\n\nA more elaborate plan is to assign each of these categories to some\nscholar the week before, telling him, for instance, that you will\ndepend upon him alone to fix the location of all the events in the\ntwelve lessons. Carrying out the comparison indicated in the title to\nthis chapter, you may do very thorough work by getting each scholar\nto keep a Sunday-school ledger. He will open up a page to the account\nof \"persons,\" another to the account of \"events,\" and so on, and will\nmake weekly entries on each page. The quarterly review will then be\nindeed his trial balance.\n\nI am very fond of a map review. Using a large outline map, sometimes\none drawn before the class on the blackboard by a scholar who has\npractised the feat, I call for the first event of the quarter's\nlessons, and one of the class places a figure 1 at the scene of the\nevent; thus with all the events in order. Then, reviewing again, I\nask, pointing to the map, \"What was event No. 7, here at Sychar?\" or,\n\"Four events at Jerusalem--what were they, in order?\"\n\nAnother good way to use the map--a map, this time, drawn in outline on a\nlarge sheet of manilla paper--is to employ \"stickers,\" bright bits of\ngummed paper, cut to various shapes. Blue stars, for instance, stuck\nhere and there over the map, will indicate the points where Abraham is\nfound in a series of lessons. They may be numbered, or not. Gold stars\nmay show where Christ worked the miracles studied during the quarter.\nAll the events in one year of Christ's ministry may be represented by\ngreen stars, in another year by scarlet stars, or purple stars. The\nmethod branches out into many fascinating applications.\n\nSome teachers make large use of the golden texts. If these have been\nemphasized, they may wisely be introduced in the review. Write each upon\na card. If you have artistic talent, you may make each card a thing of\nbeauty, to be kept as a souvenir by the scholar. These cards will be\ndistributed at random, and each scholar will be expected to answer the\nquestions, first of the class and then of the teacher, on the lesson\nwhose golden text he holds. I would not urge the recalling of lessons by\ntitles, for the titles are not constituent parts of the lesson; but the\ngolden text usually goes to the heart of the matter. Neither would I\nfavor such a plan as the one last mentioned, that assigns one lesson to\neach scholar, unless the entire class is drawn into active participation\nby such a questioning from the scholars as I have indicated.\n\nA pleasant and profitable review for some classes is based on the\nquotable passages in the quarter's Scripture. These memorable\nsentences are written on cards, which are distributed evenly. Every\nscholar is expected to tell when, where, and by whom his quotation was\nfirst spoken, and at the close of the exercise each scholar will be\ncalled upon to repeat all his quotations from memory. Then the teacher\nwill gather the cards, mix them up, present the pile now to this\nscholar and now to that, and ask him to give the facts about whatever\nquotation he may draw. The success of this method of review, as of all\nothers, will largely depend upon its previous announcement, the\nscholars having gone over the quarter's lessons at home with this\ncoming test in mind.\n\nThe review may sometimes take the form of a contest; you may call it a\n\"question tournament.\" Appoint leaders, and let them choose sides. Each\nside in turn has the privilege of asking a question of the other side.\nThe question must be passed upon as fair by the teacher. The scholars on\neach side take turns in answering, and when the scholar whose turn it is\ncannot answer, his entire company has a chance. If no one on that side\nknows the answer, the other side gives the correct reply, and thereby\nscores one point. The side with the highest score wins the tournament.\n\nMethods less brisk than this employ pen and ink. You may ask the\nscholars to bring to the class tabular outlines of the quarter's\nhistory. A little book, connected with the quarter's study in some\nway, may be offered as a reward for the best outline, if the teacher\nthinks it wise; some teachers would not. At another time ask each\nscholar to write a five-minute essay on some topic that will require\nstudy of all the lessons, the topics all being different. These essays\nare to be read before the class, and their themes should be as bright\nas the teacher and her shrewdest friends can make them. A variation of\nthis plan is to propound to the class a series of questions, all\nrequiring search through the twelve lessons, and allow each scholar to\nchoose a question upon which he will _speak_ for two, three, or four\nminutes before the class on review day.\n\nWhatever your review gives or fails to give, be sure it leaves with\nyour class a clear-cut outline or summary of the three months' study.\nOmit the consideration of lessons not closely connected with the\nstory, like some of the temperance, Easter, and Christmas lessons.\nCenter upon some graphical scheme whenever possible, if it is only a\nvertical line divided into decades along which events may be strung,\nor a circle so divided as to represent Moses' life or Christ's. If you\ncan, group the lessons around some great personality prominent in\nthem. Never fail to bind them together with the golden thread of their\nrelation to Christ. Trace through them the progress of some thought or\nevent, such as God's leadings that developed the Israelites, the\ngrowth of the Christian church, the unfolding of Christ's life, or\nDavid's, or Joseph's. Discover what unity the lessons have, and bring\nit out in the review.\n\nIf these matters have been discussed in the quarter's lessons, set\nthem in fresh lights. It must be a new view as well as a review.\n\nIf you have succeeded well with one form of review, thank God,\nand--change the form next time. The methods suggested in this chapter\nare not equally valuable in all reviews. Make out a programme in January\nfor the four reviews ahead of you, and plan them all differently.\n\nAnd finally, review your reviews. Review them on the review day, going\nover the same ground at least twice, in varying mode; and in your\nweekly reviews thereafter take occasion now and then to revert to the\nwork of the preceding quarter. A matter is not learned to-day unless\nit is learned for all days.\n\nIf the review discloses weak spots, strengthen them. If it discloses\nexcellences, praise them. With steady and honest purpose, take on\nreview day the trial balance of your work, and may God grant you a\nbalance on the heavenward side of the ledger!\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXXIII\n\nAt the Helm\n\n\nThe superintendent of a Sunday-school is not the steam of the boat, for\nall true power comes from the Holy Spirit. He does not even tend the\nfires; that work the teachers must do. Neither does he make the chart by\nwhich the boat is steered; that is the work of the International Lesson\nCommittee. No; the superintendent stands at the helm. He takes orders\nfrom the one Captain, and transmits them. Now he turns a wheel, now he\npulls a bell-rope, now he shouts through a speaking-tube. In spite of\nthe multiplied details, his work is simple. He has to know his ship, the\nwaters, and the weather: that is, he has to know God, what he wants him\nto do; and his scholars, what they are capable of doing; and his\nteachers, what they are capable of getting the scholars to do. Knowing\nthese three things, he will not fret himself with attempting\nimpossibilities, tasks beyond the power of teachers and scholars and so\naside from God's will for them, but he will know he has succeeded if\nhis teachers work as hard as they can in getting their scholars to work\nas hard as _they_ can to learn and do God's will.\n\nThe superintendent's work begins with himself, then goes on to his\nofficers, then to his teachers, then to his scholars, then to other\nschools.\n\nFirst, looking to himself, he must gain what some one lays down as the\nfour essentials of success in Christian work: \"consecration,\nconcentration, tact, and contact.\" That is, his whole soul must be in\nhis work; he must say, with Paul, \"This _one_ thing I do\"; he must\ncome in touch with his forces, and he must know how to handle them\nafter he touches them.\n\nThere are some men that should never be superintendents. One of these\nis Mr. Long, who has to say everything in four different ways, each\nway being Broadway. Another is Mr. Twitchall, who jerks out his words\nbetween the jerks of his nervous body, who darts here and there like\nthe snapper of a whip, and infects the entire school with the\ncontagion of his restlessness. Mr. Black is another, that man of\ngloomy face and sepulchral voice. Mr. Daggart is another, for his\ntongue is dipped in the venom of sarcasm and knows only to scold.\n\nMy favorite superintendent is Mr. Short, the son of Mr. Bright. He has\nall his father's good cheer. His face is full of a sunshine that\ndoesn't need to be put into words. He is cordial even more plainly\nthan he is spiritual, but because he is spiritual. He is businesslike.\nHe is modest. He remembers that he is only one, and the school two\nhundred, and he divides time on about that basis. He knows--oh, he\nknows the value of five minutes!\n\nHe has the grit of a bulldog, this Superintendent Short, son of Mr.\nBright. When he is sure he has hold of a good thing, he does not dream\nof letting go, any more than those well-persuaded jaws. And he has the\nbulldog's independence and thick skin, but with more than bulldog\nreason; for is he not responsible to God alone? If God says, \"Good!\"\nwhat matters the sneer of a man? So he does the best he knows how, and\nkeeps serene.\n\nWith all his independence he is modest and teachable, is\nSuperintendent Short, son of Mr. Bright. He visits other\nSunday-schools, and gets hints there. He visits the public schools,\nand gets many valuable hints from their superintendents. He reads\neverything that has Sunday-school methods in it, and from all this he\ngets hints. He goes around asking everybody, \"How can I do better\nwork? How can the school be improved?\" and he receives into a\nteachable mind the hints he gets. When he has to find fault, he first\npraises what he can. Indeed, praise--for a wonder!--is his favorite\nform of criticism, and a stimulating form it is.\n\nWithal, Superintendent Short is enterprising. He sets apart from his\nbusy week regular times for his Sunday-school work, and makes a\nbusiness of it. He is ready to spend money as well as time. He keeps a\nnotebook crowded with new ideas, and carries them out one after the\nother in the order of their importance, as systematically as a great\ngeneral conducts a campaign. He does not foolishly despise what is old\nand tested, but he knows how to freshen up old principles by new\napplications. He is broad-minded, too, with no \"fads\" or favoritisms,\nkeeping equal interest in all departments of school work. And he does\nnot stop with the mechanics of the Sunday-school. All his enterprise\nsets before it the one great goal of soul-saving.\n\nThus far the superintendent by himself; now a word about his relation\nto his officers. Just as the failure of a school on the spiritual side\nis quite often due to lack of a good teachers' meeting, so a failure\non the administrative side is probably due to the lack of a \"cabinet\nmeeting,\" where the superintendent consults with all his officers and\ncommittees, and where each gets inspiration and counsel from the\nother. The teachers' meeting should be occupied with entirely\ndifferent matters. It cannot take the place of a gathering of the\nexecutive, and ought to come on a different night.\n\nThis cabinet meeting must be set for a regular time, and nothing short\nof an earthquake must be allowed to break it up. Every officer should\nmake a report to the cabinet, and the report should be in writing. The\nlatter requirement saves time, adds dignity, and provides the meeting\nwith definite statements as a basis for discussion.\n\nA wise superintendent will utilize all his officers to the utmost. He\nwill make the assistant superintendent assist. The theory is that the\nassistant shall be able, in the superintendent's absence, to do\neverything the superintendent would do. How can he learn, except by\ndoing everything, now and then, when the superintendent is present?\nMany a superintendent has worn himself out doing five men's work\nrather than train four men to help him. Elijah trained Elisha to be\nprophet in his stead. If he had not done so, I hardly think Elijah\nwould have been carried to heaven in a chariot of fire. Every worker\nshould prepare his successor, should make himself unnecessary.\n\nLet it be the superintendent's ambition, then, to create an automatic\nSunday-school, one he can leave to run itself. He must keep himself in\nthe background. He must test the matter by occasional absences, on\nforay for ideas in other schools. He must do as little as possible\nhimself,--no danger but it will be enough!--and he must get as much as\npossible done by others. So he will create, not a machine, but an\norganism.\n\nIn the third place,--the superintendent and the teachers. He must\nindividualize them. As Garfield, the young school-teacher, was wont to\nlie awake nights, tracing out on his sheet in the dark a plan of the\nschoolroom, locating each scholar's desk and planning for that scholar's\ngrowth as he did so, thus the superintendent should consider separately\nand regularly each teacher's task and abilities, trials and successes.\n\nIt is his joyous work to encourage them, to note improvement in their\nscholars, to repeat to them the kind words of parents, to give them a\ncheer in their arduous and difficult and, for the time, thankless tasks.\nWhen a superintendent has praised discreetly, half his work is done.\n\nOf course, the superintendent will study his lesson as thoroughly as\nany teacher; and this is not by any means an unnecessary remark,\nthough some may think so. Indeed, there are even many occasions when\nhe may teach a class, though usually he is best left free during the\nlesson hour to greet the strangers, or, watching from some central\npost like a general in battle, to fly to the rescue of some teacher\nwhose class may be getting mischievous, restless, or careless.\n\nFor the superintendent should feel at perfect liberty to sit quietly\ndown with any class in his school, and should do this so often and\neasily that his coming ceases to be a disturbance to teacher or\nscholars. If the superintendent is not welcome, it will be because he\ndoes not know how to help unobtrusively, and he would better stay away.\n\nThe best relations are not possible unless the superintendent visits\nthe teachers in their homes, and gets them to come to his for frequent\nprivate consultations or for an occasional social hour all together.\nThe teachers' meeting for the study of the lesson will not take the\nplace of these heart-to-heart talks, in which sympathy and\nappreciation, friendly counsel and united prayers, draw the teachers\nvery close to their leader.\n\nIn the fourth place, the superintendent must know his scholars. If he\nhas time to visit them, each visit will count; but that is in most cases\ntoo much to expect. Sunday-school socials and picnics will give him a\nchance to push a little further the knowledge of them that he will gain\nby his visits to their classes; but, after all, his best chance is in\nthe passing salutation on the street. Often speak of the matter before\nthe school, asking the scholars to greet you when they meet you; and\nthen hail every urchin you run across as if he were your very own! If\nyou make it a habit to tarry for ten minutes after the Sunday-school\nhour (tired?--never mind!), both teachers and scholars will besiege you\nthen,--_provided_ you have made yourself worth besieging! That you are\nto be in every way the children's hero goes without saying,--the\nglorious big boy to whom all the boys look up proudly, the chivalrous\nknight whose colors all the girls are glad to wear,--it goes without\nsaying, that is, if you deserve to be superintendent at all!\n\nFifthly and finally, the superintendent and other schools. He has been\ngetting from them all he can, if he is enterprising; he should give to\nthem all he can. The large cities have their superintendents' unions,\ncomposed of those that hold now, or have held, this post of honor and\nresponsibility,--and few associations are as delightful. Nearly\neverywhere, Sunday-school conventions are available; and to these, as\ngathering up in his own experience whatever his school has learned and\naccomplished, the superintendent should carry his freshest inspiration\nand his wisest plans. No superintendent can live--can be a _live_\nsuperintendent--to himself.\n\nOne thing should be said, to close this hasty sketch. If the\nsuperintendent is all this, or even part of all this, in his personal\nmotives, and in his relations to officers, teachers, scholars, and\nother schools, he will always be a paid superintendent. He may have no\nsalary; on the contrary, he may be decidedly out of pocket; but the\nrewards of his labor will be so abundant, so joyful, that not all the\nsilver and gold in all the mines of earth could measure them.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXXIV\n\nThe Superintendent's Chance\n\n\nAt the opening of the school the superintendent hasn't half a chance;\nat the close he has a large chance--as large, in fact, as he is. At\nthe opening the superintendent is merely a master of ceremonies to\nusher in the work as buoyantly as possible; at the close he is a\nteacher, the high priest of all the teachers. His work of introduction\nis important, but far more important is his work of peroration. The\nlast five minutes furnish his chance to gather all the teachings of\nthe hour into one point and press it home.\n\n1. It is _his_ chance. Now or never let him be original. Let him study\nhis talents; some can work best with chalk, some with anecdotes, some\nwith questions, some with exegesis, some with exhortation. Let him get\nup a specialty for those five minutes and burnish it till it shines.\nWhatever method he chooses should be filled with his personality and\nserve to impress his personality upon the school. It is life that\ntells on life, and the more of himself the superintendent puts into\nthese five minutes the more will this, his chance, prove his success.\n\n2. It is his chance to gather _all_ the teachings of the hour. Not\nthat he will try to \"cover the ground\" of the entire lesson. In that\ncase his chance would turn out his mischance. He will not try, either,\nto give something for each class of scholars, for _all_ that he gives\nmust be for _all_ classes. Among all the thoughts of all the\ndepartments, primary, intermediate, and senior, there is a single\ngolden thought like a golden thread. These strands he must seize and\nweave them, in his five minutes, into a golden cord.\n\n3. It is his chance to gather all the teachings of the hour into _one_\npoint. Probably every teacher in the school has been trying to teach\ntoo much. The lesson was intended for a wedge, but they have been\nusing the blunt end. Turn it around. Illustrate the matchless might of\nsimplicity. Do not think that, because the lesson was on the envy of\nJoseph's brethren, the theme of envy has become hackneyed, and you\nmust talk about Jacob and Reuben and the Midianites and God's\noverruling providence. If the teachers have worked well, the scholars\nwill be eager for further words on envy; if they have worked poorly,\nall the more need of a forcible presentation of the main theme.\n\n4. It is his chance to gather all the teachings of the hour into one\npoint _and press it home_. His will be a lively school in proportion as\nit influences life. When the moral truths of our lessons are fixed in\nthe life, the facts connected with them will be fixed in the mind. Let\nthe superintendent ask himself, for as many scholars of varied age and\ncharacter as he can, \"How might this lesson change _his_ life, _her_\nlife, for the coming week--forever?\" Put the \"snapper\" on the hour. Let\nit be seen that you expect definite results in spirit and conduct.\n\nSome urge that the superintendent should be mute at the close of the\nlesson hour, lest his words destroy the effect of the teachers'\nexhortations. To be sure, he may emphasize what they have not\nemphasized, though even this danger is very slight if the\nsuperintendent is careful to seize on the lesson's central thought;\nbut if the impression made by the teacher is endangered by a few\nearnest words from the superintendent, what _will_ be left of it by\nthe close of the conversation around the dinner-table?\n\nA closing word regarding the superintendent's questions. In no better\nway than by questions can he win and hold the school's attention.\nThose given in the various lesson helps are intended to be simply\nsuggestive of possible matter and manner. Five things are essential:\n(1) that the questions be simple enough to be understood by the\nyoungest; (2) that they lead up to a point valuable enough to interest\nthe oldest; (3) that they can be answered by a few words, preferably\nby one; (4) that they be presented in a brisk and businesslike way;\n(5) that prompt answers from all parts of the school together be\ninsisted on, the answer being called for again and again till all\nhave connected themselves with it. Half a dozen such questions should\nlead up skilfully to the main lesson of the hour, which should receive\nbrief but pointed application by anecdote, blackboard, or exhortation.\n\nAll this is a high ideal. \"To attain it will require,\" you say, \"much\nmore than five minutes.\" You are right, Brother Superintendent: five\nminutes before the school, but _one hour_ or even _two hours_ of\nprayerful preparation at home. However, it is your chance. Do not\nignobly lose it.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXXV\n\nThe Sunday-School and the Weather\n\n\nA rainy day is the best test of a Sunday-school, and its best\nopportunity.\n\nFor the scholars it is a sieve, separating the zealous workers from\nthe careless ones.\n\nFor the general school it is an index, since if Christ is not \"in the\nmidst\" of the few on rainy days, surely the many on sunny days are not\nwont to gather \"in his name.\"\n\nFor the teacher it is a revealing question: \"Do you teach for the\nexcitement and praise of crowded benches, or is a single soul, with\nits issues of life and death, inspiration enough?\"\n\nIt is the superintendent's chance, because then he learns his staff,\nthe pick, the enthusiastic nucleus, of his school. It is a good day\nfor \"setting balls to rolling.\"\n\nIt is the scholar's chance,--his chance to show appreciation of the\nschool by attendance; his chance for help on questions that try his\nsoul.\n\nIt is the teacher's chance. He will never draw close to his scholars\nif not now; never see their nobility or their faults if not through\nthe troubled lens of a rainy day.\n\nIt is the opportunity of the general school. Prayer-meeting workers\noften observe that the meetings held on stormy evenings are always the\nbest, because every attendant feels it his duty to take active part. For\nthe same reason a rainy day brings out the mettle of a Sunday-school.\nThe bashful are impelled to greater boldness, the careless to stricter\nattention. Responsibilities are thrown upon unwonted shoulders. Many a\nSunday-school worker has been developed by rainy days.\n\nTeachers must do their scolding for poor attendance, if ever, on the\ndays of crowded seats, because then only are the truants present. Have\nnothing but words of good cheer for the few who come on stormy days.\n\nWe are often told about preachers who, as a reward and an incentive,\nwisely preach their best (if they can) on rainy days, to the faithful\nfew. For such days the teacher also must make his highest preparation,\nbecause then his work will produce best results; because then he will\nneed to bring most inspiration with him, as he gets none from\nwell-filled seats; because his scholars then not only deserve his\nbest, but, lacking the zest of numbers, need his best to hold their\nattention; because they will appreciate better what they have come\nthrough difficulties to get.\n\nOn rainy days there are many late comers, and therefore many fine\nchances for practical Christianity. Greet them cheerfully, if you must\nstop your finest exhortation to do it. Such a close will be its most\neloquent period.\n\nIf you investigate tactfully the absences of rainy days, you will\noften come upon a truer knowledge of the home life and needs of your\nscholars than any sunshiny observations could give you.\n\nOn rainy days, if ever, scholars should be sure of finding their own\nteacher; yet, as human nature is, on rainy days there is always\nnecessary some fusion of classes. The teachers of joined classes may\ndo much good or infinite harm. Criticism, expressed or implied, of the\nplans or precepts of the other teacher, is a poison which has few\nantidotes. If he has been teaching false doctrine, he, not his\nscholars, is to be told that fact. And, on the contrary, a word of\nwise praise for whatever of solid acquirement you may see in his\nscholars, as it comes from an outsider, will discover marvelously\ntheir teacher to them, and their possibilities to themselves.\n\nAs we need to emphasize the advantages of bad weather, so we need to\nremember the dangers of fine weather. Now, the teacher must be mindful\nnot to lose the individuals in the crowd, or his teaching sense in the\ntemptation to harangue. Now, the superintendent must remember that his\nunifying and organizing skill is especially needed. If rainy days are\nbest for study and personal work, fair days, and, above all, hot days,\nare best for singing and concert drill in reading and questioning.\n\nAs our days, so shall our strength be, if we are Christ's, dear\nSunday-school workers; but different kinds of days need different\nkinds of strength.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXXVI\n\nA Profitable Picnic\n\n\nA large number of Sunday-schools are in the habit of holding a picnic\nevery summer. In spite of the countless jests at the expense of the\nSunday-school picnic, the custom is in every way commendable. Where can\nteacher and scholars, superintendent and teachers, better come into that\nfamiliar, every-day contact that tells so much of character and for\ncharacter, than out under the open sky and in the merry meadows? And yet\nwhy is it that the very word \"picnic\" makes most Sunday-school teachers\ngroan, and presents to the superintendent's mind a picture no more\ndelectable than of hot, dusty cars, pushing, quarreling children,\nred-faced teachers, and lunches seized on by ants?\n\nOf course, in moving so large a body of people, especially of\nyoungsters, many untoward events are to be expected; but nevertheless,\nwhen the picnic is not a conspicuous success, there is usually one\nreason: it was not well planned for. So many managers of picnics are\nnothing but transportation managers! Getting a reduction of railroad\nfare, packing and unpacking the lunches, filing the children in and\nout of the cars,--such details sum up their plans. As for\nentertainment on the picnic grounds,--why, turn the children loose,\nand they will take care of that part of it!\n\nOn the contrary, he is a wise man that can entertain himself well and\nprofitably for a day without aid from outside. The feat is impossible\nfor most children. How well I remember my own childish miseries on\nholidays because I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do! On the\nhaphazard plan your picnic will go uproariously for a time, but it\nwill soon \"fray out\" into a tangle of ennui and quarrels.\n\nIn this brief chapter, then, I want to suggest merely one out of many\nschemes for a profitable picnic. It will include in the day's plans\nall ages and classes, and afford pleasure for mind and spirit as well\nas body.\n\nIn the first place, arrange with great care a programme of contests.\nIf it is a joint picnic, some of the contests will be between\nrepresentatives of the Sunday-schools that take part; otherwise,\nbetween classes and individuals of the one Sunday-school. Bring in the\ngirls as well as the boys, and the men and women as well as the\nchildren. Running, sack-races, three-legged races, pole and rope\nclimbing, boat-races, croquet and tennis matches, base-ball (a game\namong the old men will cause much amusement), the marching of\ncompeting companies, broom or flag drills for the girls, leaping, slow\nraces on the bicycle, throwing the hammer, soap-bubble contests--why,\nthe number of these sports is legion.\n\nJust a few hints:--\n\nGive no prizes, but \"honorable mention.\"\n\nLet the contests be well planned and advertised beforehand, and set\nthe scholars to training for them.\n\nGive every one a printed programme (which may be worked off on a\nmanifolder), and so arrange it that the entire company, if possible,\nmay be spectators of each contest.\n\nMake everything as short and snappy as you can.\n\nThroughout the programme, work in all classes and ages as best you\nmay. Don't, for instance, put all the contests in which the little\nones engage in the same part of the day.\n\nIn the second place, arrange a literary and religious programme that\nshall give a spiritual application to all these physical contests.\nOrganize a Sunday-school choir, which, after careful previous\npractice, will sing some of the many songs that treat the Christian\nlife as a race, or a wrestling, or a battle. Some of the Bible\npassages of similar tenor should be recited. Poems may be repeated\nbearing the same lesson. And the brightest of the scholars and\nteachers, of course not omitting your pastor, will give some very\nbrief little essays or talks along this same line. This part of the\nday's programme may fitly be placed just after lunch, when in the heat\nof the day the athletes will wish to rest, and when all will be ready\nto sit down and listen.\n\nMuch will depend on the master of ceremonies for the day. Let him be\nthe jolliest man you can find, but withal a man of deep consecration,\nwho can make all feel that, whether they eat or drink, or play games,\nor whatever they do, they must do all for the glory of God. In this\nspirit alone can you hope to have a profitable picnic.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXXVII\n\nA Singing Sunday-School\n\n\nLifeless singing means, usually, a dead Sunday-school. Many a\nsuperintendent might greatly increase the vigor of his school by\ngetting a little snap into the music. Different ways of singing will\nnot of themselves solve the problem, but they will go far toward it.\nHere are a few methods which will add to the singing the variety that\nis the spice of it as well as of nearly everything else.\n\nTry reading the song in concert before it is sung. It would puzzle most\neven of us older folks to tell, after we have sung a hymn, what is in\nit. Concert reading brings out unsuspected beauties of thought, and the\nhymn will be sung afterward with fresh zest and with fuller\nintelligence. The superintendent may vary this plan by reading the\nstanzas alternately with the school, or the girls may alternate with the\nboys. Occasionally get a single scholar to read the hymn before the\nschool, or, what is far better, to commit it to memory and recite it.\n\nIndeed, memory hymns, to be committed to memory by the entire school,\nand sung without the book, will prove very popular. Select songs that\nare worth learning for their words as well as for their music,--a\nthing which, alas! cannot be said of all our Sunday-school songs. One\nmemory hymn a month might possibly be achieved, and your children will\nrapidly grow independent of hymn-books, as their grandsires were.\n\nThey may like to vote upon a school hymn for the entire year, and\nlearn it in this way,--one that shall serve as a sort of rallying song\nthroughout the twelvemonth. The various classes, too, may be\nencouraged to select their own class songs, and to practise them at\ntheir class socials. Then, once in a while, the entire school may\nlisten while one or two classes sing their class hymns.\n\nIt would do no harm, either, for the superintendent occasionally to bind\nthe children's interest to the singing by asking them to call for their\nfavorites, that the school may sing them. This privilege may be granted\nto the classes or scholars that have the best record in attendance.\n\nIt will add interest to the singing if bits of pleasant information\nare sometimes given about the authors of our familiar songs. At the\nopening of the session, for instance, tell something about the blind\nhymn-writer, Fanny Crosby, and then let all the songs sung that day be\nby her; or tell a little about Miss Havergal's beautiful life, or give\na few bright anecdotes about Dr. S. F. Smith, and then use nothing\nbut their hymns. Some such book as Hezekiah Butterworth's \"Story of\nthe Hymns\" (New York: The American Tract Society. $1.75), or\nDuffield's \"English Hymns: Their Authors and History\" (New York: The\nFunk & Wagnalls Co. $3), will afford a plentiful supply of\nbiographical material. Once in a while get one of the scholars to read\none of these hymn anecdotes, or to tell it in his own words.\n\nPrayer songs--there are many most beautiful ones--may be used as\nprayers, all heads being bowed while they are sung softly; or they may\nbe read in the same way.\n\nAntiphonal songs are easily arranged. Choose two classes of good\nsingers in distant parts of the room, and let one sing the verses and\nthe other the chorus of some suitable song. A hymn arranged in the\nform of question and answer, such as \"Watchman, tell us of the night,\"\nor \"Art thou weary, art thou languid?\" is very effective when sung in\nthis way, or when read in dialogue, the superintendent taking the\nquestions and the school the answers.\n\nOther dispositions may be made, for the sake of variety. Get the girls\nto sing the stanzas, and the boys the choruses, or the girls to sing\none verse, and the boys the next, all uniting on the choruses; or, let\nthe school to the right of the center alternate in singing with the\nschool to the left. Send a company of singers into another room, with\nclosed doors, and have them sing the chorus as an echo, very softly.\nGet the teachers to sing the stanzas of some song, while the whole\nschool sings the refrain.\n\nSolos are good once in a while, especially if you make the school the\nchorus for them. A quartette of picked singers may be introduced very\ndelightfully on occasion, especially if their selection is germane to\nthe lesson topic, and, best of all, if the quartette is chosen from\nthe scholars themselves. The primary department will hugely enjoy\nsinging one of their songs to the main school, and the older scholars\nwill enjoy it quite as heartily.\n\nPossibly a Sunday-school choir might be organized to advantage, the\nstrong singers from among the more mature scholars being banded\ntogether to practice new music and lead the singing. School orchestras\nhave been very useful in many churches, the boys being proud to serve\nthe school with violin and cornet.\n\nMost useful, however, in adding zest to the singing, are the simple\nchanges and variations that shrewdly call attention to the old by\nputting it in a new place, or \"putting it\" in a new way. For instance,\nyou might call fresh attention to a beautiful song by bidding all sing\nit without their books, while you \"line it out\" earnestly and brightly.\nYou might preface a hymn with a sentence or two telling why you think it\njust the hymn to sing in connection with the day's lesson. You might\npiece together several verses from different songs, and ask the school\nto sing them in immediate succession, without prelude or interlude,\nnoting the connection and progress of the thought. You might stimulate\nthe scholars in this and that corner by asking now one class and now\nanother to consider themselves the leaders in the song next to be sung.\nYou might have occasional \"new-hymn\" days, in which will be sung no song\never tried by the school. You might even steal ten minutes, on very rare\noccasions, for song services, carefully planned so as to bear\neffectively on the lesson for the day. The ways are almost endless\nwhereby a music-loving, child-loving superintendent can introduce his\ntwo loves to each other.\n\nA few more general suggestions. First, to the organist or pianist. Why\ndo you think it necessary to hammer out an entire piece of music\nbefore you let the fidgety children sing it? They already know every\nnote of it, and are not interested in your performance; nor is any one\nelse. They can find the place quite as quickly as you can. Except in\nthe case of new songs, do let us off with the chord, and we'll\ncanonize you as a model of self-restraint and good sense.\n\nThen to the precentor, or whoever is responsible for the time you\nkeep. Why is it so slow? I never could see why hymns should be sung so\ndrawlingly as to make it quite impossible to grasp their thought. Time\nyourself in singing your next hymn, then read aloud the same hymn,\nforcing yourself to occupy the same time, and you will see why it is\nthat our singing leaves our minds quite absolute blanks. This grievous\nfault must be remedied with the children if the singing of hymns is\never to be, to the average grown-up, an intellectual and spiritual as\nwell as a physical occupation.\n\nAnd, to the same end, why is it that your school can sing readily, even\nwithout the book, the first two or three stanzas of so many songs, while\nevery stanza beyond is an unknown land to them? It is because, owing\nchiefly to the slowness of our ordinary singing, we seldom compass the\nwhole of a hymn. At the close of a well-written hymn is the climax, the\nthought up to which the whole has led, which binds it all together. Our\nsongs, if they are to get hold upon our minds and lives, must be sung\nbeyond their prelude, sung straight through.\n\n_To get hold of minds and lives_,--that must be the end sought by all\nour singing.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXXVIII\n\nA Praying Sunday-School\n\n\nIn no way can more Christianity be taught in less time than by a good\nprayer. A Sunday-school that is not opened with the right kind of\nprayer remains tight shut until the teachers get hold of it, while the\nright kind of prayer at the close of the lesson hour rivets the lesson\non the week to come.\n\nYet I know of no point in Sunday-school management regarding which\nsuperintendents are more careless. The children must listen to\nMagellan prayers that circumnavigate the globe; to mechanical prayers,\ncast in stereotyped forms; to officious prayers that volunteer to\nteach the coming lesson; to peacock prayers that flaunt big words and\nfine phrases; to wrinkled prayers, dealing with experiences into which\nthe children will not grow for three decades. In some schools the\nsuperintendent always makes the prayer himself, praying in the same\nterms and tones and order for the same things. Elsewhere the\nsuperintendent invites others to perform this service, but, with\npitiless impartiality, calls upon all that will, heedless whether they\nare capable or totally unfit for the difficult duty.\n\nFor it is not easy to guide the devotions of these varied ages and\ncharacters. The words must be so simple that the youngest can\nunderstand them. The thoughts must be so noble as to furnish an uplift\nto the oldest. The expressions must be direct, as in the realized\npresence of Christ. The prayer must be brief, and bright, and deeply\nin earnest, sincere as a child.\n\nTo perform this task, therefore, no one should be invited merely for\npolicy's sake, merely because he is a visiting clergyman, a church\nofficer, or a good-hearted layman. Ask no one that does not know the\nglorious language of a child's prayer. Give notice beforehand, since\nthis prayer, if any, should be thought over and prayed over. And if\nyou fear the prayer will lack a certain quality, shrewdly incorporate\nits name in your invitation, asking for a brief prayer, or a simple\nprayer, or a prayer about few things.\n\nI wonder that this exercise is so seldom fixed upon the children's\nattention and interest by their own vocal participation in it. Indeed,\nit is not always that the school is able to repeat the Lord's Prayer\ntogether with the freedom and force born of long custom. The school\nmay easily be taught to chant the Lord's Prayer, and that may be made\nmost genuine praying. There are many suitable short Bible prayers that\nchildren might learn to say together, such as \"Let the words of my\nmouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O\nLord, my strength and my redeemer.\" Indeed, there are many prayer\npsalms that could be learned entire, the concert repetition of which\nwould greatly enrich the Sunday-school hour. If yours is a model\nschool, every scholar has his Bible, and Scripture prayers, not\ncommitted to memory, may be read in concert. And, besides, what more\nimpressive conclusion to the session than the \"Mizpah benediction,\" in\nwhich all voices join, or, perhaps better, the beautiful benediction\nin Numbers 6:24-26, \"The Lord bless thee, and keep thee,\" etc.?\n\nThen there is the hymn-book. If it is a good one, it contains many\nbeautiful prayer hymns. Let the scholars all bow their heads, and sing\nsoftly Miss Havergal's tender consecration hymn, or \"Nearer, my God,\nto thee,\" and you will find all hearts indeed drawn nearer heaven.\nOccasionally let the school read together one of these same hymns,\nalso with their heads bowed.\n\nAnd, by the way,--though it deserves more than a \"by the way,\"--insist\non the bowing of the head,--not that the attitude is important in\nitself, but the reverence that the attitude arouses is of the highest\nimportance. Wait till all heads are bowed before you begin the prayer\nor permit another to begin it. The half-minute of quiet or semi-quiet\nneeded to gain this end is not ill-bestowed. Moreover, I should\nstrongly advise you to go one step farther, and once in a while have\nthe entire school go down on their knees. This, the normal attitude of\nprayer, the children should be taught to assume in public, at least so\noften that it will not seem to them forced or unnatural.\n\nHave you tried silent prayer? A blessed exercise it is, and one the\nchildren will love. Ask them to bend their heads or kneel, and then in\nperfect silence to pray for their teachers, or their pastor, or their\ndear ones at home, or some sick scholar. After a minute the\nsuperintendent will tenderly add a few closing sentences of vocal\nprayer.\n\nAnd have you tried a chain prayer,--a prayer started by a leader, who\nwill also close it, to which ten or twenty of the scholars contribute\nsentences of praise or petition? You will be astonished to see how many\nof the scholars will join in these prayers,--you will be astonished,\nthat is, unless you are familiar with the training along this line so\nnobly accomplished in our modern young people's religious societies.\n\nStill another way to obtain the scholars' careful heed to the prayer\nis to establish a form with which the superintendent will always begin\nhis prayer, and which the entire school will repeat with him. The\nopening sentences of the Lord's Prayer may be used for such a purpose.\nThen, at the close of the prayer, after \"for Jesus' sake,\" let all the\nscholars say \"Amen.\"\n\nAn occasional Sunday-school prayer-meeting, held for ten minutes at the\nclose of the lesson hour, will do much to inspire in the school a deeper\nspirit of worship; that is, if the scholars themselves take part, and\nnot the teachers only. And these Sunday-school prayer-meetings are\nmagnificent opportunities for drawing the net. Hold them in a small\nroom, that nearness may warm the coals of devotion to a glow. Do not\nhold them too frequently to be burdensome. Keep them brief and earnest.\nLet the teachers work for them in their classes, and use them as tests\nfor their teaching. Above all, expect conversions in them, and, if you\nare faithful and faith-filled, you will get them.\n\nThis use of the scholar in the devotions of the school should be\nextended to his home. The superintendent may ask the scholars to pray\nevery day during the coming week for the school, or for their teacher,\nor for their next lesson, that it may bring some one nearer Christ.\nFor several weeks there may stand in bold letters on the blackboard a\nlist of things that should be prayed for at home. The teacher, of\ncourse, must enforce these recommendations. If he will courageously\nhold once in a while a little prayer-meeting with his scholars, in the\nclass-room, about the class-table, or, best of all, at his own home or\nat one of theirs, he will thereby teach them as much Christianity as\notherwise he might in a year.\n\nIndeed, the teacher has much to do in making yours a praying\nSunday-school. To say nothing about the teacher's prayers for his\nscholars, which will be like steam to his pedagogic engine, and to say\nnothing about the united prayers of the teachers in the teachers'\nmeetings, the teacher's conduct during the prayer in the school is in\nitself half the scholars' attention, the knowledge on the part of the\nscholars that their teacher is praying for them will spur their home\ndevotions, and the teacher's simple, ready participation in the school\nprayers will prompt their own. An excellent occasional method of opening\nthe school is by a succession of very brief--almost sentence--prayers\nfrom six or eight of the teachers. A frequent topic for discussion in\nthe teachers' meeting should be how best to inculcate in the school the\nspirit of devotion, since this great result is to be won only by the\nco-operation of all the working forces of the school.\n\nMuch is gained in this matter if you gain variety. Sometimes ask the\nolder scholars themselves, several of them in succession, to offer\nbrief prayers at the opening of the school. Sometimes let the\nsuperintendent's opening prayer attract attention by its exceeding\nbrevity,--only three or four sentences, embodying a single petition.\nDo not place the prayer always at the same place in the programme; now\nlet it come before the singing, now after; now lay emphasis on the\nprayer introductory to the lesson hour, now on the prayer that closes\nthe hour and seeks to drive home its lessons. Be dead in earnest,--no,\nbe alive in earnest. Be thoughtful and versatile. Be bright and cheery\nand simple-hearted and sympathetic. In these prayers, that should\nfurnish the life-blood to the school, be all things to all--children,\nif by all means you may win one of them.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XXXIX\n\nS. S. and C. E.\n\n\nA word must be said about the co-operation of the Sunday-school and\nthat other great modern agency for work with the youth, the young\npeople's religious society. Whatever is said will be as true of the\nEpworth Leagues, Baptist Unions, and other denominational\norganizations as of the Christian Endeavor societies; but since the\nlatter, like the Sunday-schools, are found in all denominations, and\nsince my own especial work lies among them, it will be quite\nappropriate in this connection, as well as less confusing, to use only\nthe one name, Christian Endeavor.\n\nThough of ages so unequal, \"S. S.\" and \"C. E.\" are sisters. Both are\ninternational and interdenominational. Both apply the principle of age\nclassification to religious work. Both are strongly evangelical, and\nearnest seekers of souls. Both are held in strictest subordination to\nthe church. And both are Bible lovers; for the Christian Endeavor\npledge requires daily reading of the Bible, and the weekly\nprayer-meeting topic calls out no slight amount of Bible study.\nMoreover, this topic is usually in line with the week's Sunday-school\nlesson,--not the same as the latter, but suggested by it. The two\nagencies are at work in different fields. The one puts in, the other\ndraws out. The one studies, the other practices. The Christian\nEndeavor society affords an excellent test for the Sunday-school, and\nis its complement. Whatever helps the one aids the other, and the two\nshould labor hand in hand.\n\nThere are even some things that the Sunday-school might learn from its\nlittle sister. The principle of the pledge has proved attractive and\npowerful in the Christian Endeavor society. Why not adopt it in the\nSunday-school, asking the scholars for voluntary vows that they will\nattend regularly and will spend fifteen minutes a day in studying\ntheir lessons? The monthly consecration meeting maintains wonderfully\nthe spirituality, zeal, and discipline of the Christian Endeavor\nsociety. Why not a monthly consecration and experience meeting of\nSunday-school teachers? Three or four Christian Endeavor societies\ncannot exist in the same town without forming a local union for mutual\nencouragement and consultation. Sunday-schools have their county\nconventions, but why not also this beautiful interdenominational\nfellowship among the Sunday-schools of every community? A large part\nof the remarkable success of Christian Endeavor is due to its being a\nwork of the young people for themselves. There is close pastoral and\nchurch supervision, and it is welcomed; but the Endeavorers feel that\nit is their society, for whose honor they are responsible, and whose\nvictories depend upon themselves. As far as possible, this spirit\nshould be incorporated in the Sunday-school, so that the Bible study\nmay not seem a work impressed on the scholars, but elected by\nthem,--_their_ work, and not their teachers'.\n\nHow can the Christian Endeavor society help the Sunday-school? Greatly\nin its prayer-meetings, by remembering the allied Sunday-school topic\nof the morning. Here is a chance for the teacher to enlarge upon some\ntheme treated too hurriedly in the lesson hour, and for scholars to\nshow their appreciation of their teacher by repeating some thought he\nbrought out in the morning. If rightly managed, the Christian Endeavor\nmeeting furnishes an admirable opportunity for advertising the\nSunday-school, and practically applying the truths there taught.\n\nBut the help given may be far more direct. Every well-organized\nChristian Endeavor society has a Sunday-school committee, whose\nmembers put themselves under the direction of the superintendent, and\nmake it the one object of their term's work to push in all possible\nways the interests of the Sunday-school.\n\nThe members of this committee are usually chosen with an eye to their\nfitness for acting as substitute teachers. Sometimes the committee\nconstitutes itself a normal class and studies the lessons a week in\nadvance, considering especially the way to teach effectively. On the\nnext Sunday, therefore, the superintendent will find any of these\nEndeavorers well prepared to fill a vacancy.\n\nEverywhere, too, these Sunday-school committees help the busy teacher\nto look after the absent scholars and to care for the sick. It is far\neasier for these young people than for the teacher to learn the real\ncauses of absence and to urge better attendance. In some schools the\nteachers fill out blank cards every Sabbath, giving the names of\nabsentees or of the sick on whom they would like to have the\nSunday-school committee call. These cards are collected, the calls\nmade, and then the Endeavorers report to the teacher.\n\nA kindred ministration is the gathering of new scholars. In many\ncities the Sunday-school committee has conducted a fruitful\nhouse-to-house canvass for new scholars, sometimes canvassing at the\nsame time for new members of their society. Other committees\ndistribute printed cards of invitation. Others organize \"recruiting\nsquads\" among the scholars, and give little rewards to those that do\nthe best work. Others make it their business to hunt out all the young\nstrangers in the morning congregation and give them a personal\ninvitation to the school. Still others distribute among the scholars\n\"suggestion blanks,\" on which each scholar writes the names and\naddresses of young folks that might be won for the school. These\nEndeavorers call at the strangers' homes and go with them to the\nschool, while others stand ready to welcome all strangers at the door\nand show them to appropriate classes. Thus they follow them up, that\nit may not be a case of \"light come, light go.\"\n\nThe Endeavorers, under the direction of their Sunday-school committee,\nmay be very helpful in the music. A choir or an orchestra may be\norganized from their numbers. An occasional song appropriate to the\nlesson may be rendered as a solo or quartette. When Sunday-school\nconcerts are to be given, the Endeavorers will afford trained\nassistance. But especially the committee should become thoroughly\nfamiliar with the Sunday-school song-book, so that its members,\nscattered over the room, may carry with vigor any unfamiliar hymn, and\ngive force and sprightliness to all the singing.\n\nThe Sunday-school librarian will find among the Endeavorers some\nefficient aids. The Sunday-school committee may advertise the new\nbooks in the Christian Endeavor meetings, and get the society to add\nto the library certain books of especial interest and helpfulness to\nEndeavorers. Sunday-school library socials have been held by some\nsocieties, the evening's exercises being so planned as to call\nattention to the best books in the library. The Endeavorers will help\nin covering books, in hunting up those that are lost, in reading new\nbooks and giving an opinion regarding them. Where subscriptions are\ntaken for special papers or magazines, the Sunday-school committee\nwill be glad to undertake this work. After these periodicals have been\nread, they will gather up the old copies to send to the hospitals.\n\nThe decorating for Christmas and Easter exercises or for Children's\nDay may be assigned to the Christian Endeavor society. The Endeavorers\nmay be set to gathering in the scholars for Rally Day. They should be\ncalled upon for help on all such special occasions.\n\nSome societies give parties now and then to the classes that have the\nbest record, or divide the school into sections according to age, and\nentertain each section in turn at a Christian Endeavor social, closing\nthe series with a pleasant evening spent with the teachers and\nofficers alone.\n\nIt would weary you if I should rehearse all the ways in which Christian\nEndeavor societies have proved helpful to the Sunday-school. Many a\nprimary department has gained much from close association with the work\nof the superintendent of the Junior Christian Endeavor society. I have\nheard of a large number of places where the Endeavorers organized and\nmaintained mission Sunday-schools--schools that in many instances have\ngrown to churches. Often the Endeavorers take charge of the ushering of\nthe school, furnish flowers for every session, offer rewards to the\nscholars for excellence in various directions, help with swift feet in\nthe messenger service of the home department, turn their trained forces\ninto an occasional Sunday-school prayer-meeting,--indeed, they are as\ningenious in discovering ways of helping this elder sister of the\nChristian Endeavor society as they are zealous and persistent in these\nlabors after they are inaugurated.\n\nIf in some churches this help is not given, it is probably because it\nis not invited, or very likely through lack of organization. If the\nChristian Endeavor society has no Sunday-school committee, let the\nSunday-school superintendent, who is a member of the society _ex\nofficio_, interest himself in obtaining one. And then through this\ncommittee he can draft into the service all the other usual committees\nof the society--the lookout committee, to get new scholars; the\nprayer-meeting committee, to aid in the school's devotional exercises;\nthe temperance and missionary committees, to give assistance in the\nspecial lessons on those themes; the music committee, to aid in the\nsinging, and the flower committee, to help in the decorations; the\nsocial committee, to seek the absent and the sick; the good-literature\ncommittee, to help the librarian.\n\nAnd if the Endeavorers do this, or a part of this, for the\nSunday-school, why should not the Sunday-school do a little for the\nChristian Endeavor society? The superintendent may help it by calling\nupon it for assistance and by recognizing on fit occasions its\nofficers and committees. He may even give it an occasional\nadvertisement from the desk; and he, with his officers and teachers,\nmay do much to put himself in touch with the young people by attending\nthe Christian Endeavor meetings now and then. The teachers may help by\nintroducing into their talks before the classes an occasional hint on\nthe Christian Endeavor pledge or committee work, or by remembering\nthe prayer-meeting topic and suggesting a thought or two that may be\ndeveloped in the meeting, or by urging membership in the society upon\nthose that do not already belong to it.\n\nThus it is seen how intimately these two organizations are related,\nand how much each may do to help the other. Do not allow them to labor\napart. Parallel threads are weak; cables are made by twisting them\ntogether.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XL\n\nTeachers in 8vo\n\n\nWhat the Sunday-school library should be depends on what the community\nis. These libraries, therefore, should not pattern after one another\nlike peas in a pod, as is too often the case, but each should have an\nindividuality of its own. The Sunday-school in a city, with an\noverflowing public library and an excellent public-school library at\nhand, has no excuse for distributing secular books; while such books\nmay form a useful addition to the library of a country school.\n\nOf course there is danger in admitting secular books to the\nSunday-school library under any circumstances, and I would not for the\nworld add one more to the many subtle inroads upon the Lord's day. If\nyou place in your library any books that are not suitable Sunday\nreading, cover them with paper of a distinctive color, mark them \"For\nweek-day reading only,\" and watch them carefully, that you may\nwithdraw them from circulation if you find them trenching on the\nsacred hours. With proper restrictions, however, the church may find\nhere a blessed ministry to many book-hungry communities. Biographies\nlike Irving's \"Washington\" or Holland's \"Lincoln\"; histories like\nMotley's \"Rise of the Dutch Republic\"; poems like \"Snowbound,\" \"The\nIdyls of the King,\" \"Evangeline\"; essays like Smiles' \"Self Help\" or\nMathews' \"Getting on in the World\"; books of science like Winchell's\n\"Sparks from a Geologist's Hammer\" or Proctor's \"Other Worlds than\nOurs,\"--if you can get your scholars to read on week-days such books\nas these, you will deepen, broaden, and enrich the soil in which you\ndo your Sunday sowing.\n\nBut the more the community needs books, the harder it is to raise\nmoney for them. This, however, is merely a difficulty of the start. A\nfew books, shrewdly chosen, will create a hunger for more, and that\nhunger will open the pocketbooks.\n\nHold a book social, admission to which shall be a copy, old or new, of\nsome good book. The entertainment at this social should be\nappropriate. Let each person that comes carry about him a token of\nsome book, such as a card about his neck reading, \"Who teaches you?\"\n(\"Hoosier School Master\"!). Illustrate a poem with shadow pictures.\nPlace about the room numbered portraits of authors for the company to\nname. Add readings and essays on literary themes.\n\nA course of lectures and concerts is possible, nowadays, for almost any\nenterprising community, and the proceeds will give the library a start.\n\nFor a time you may charge two cents for the reading of each book, thus\nforcing the library itself to earn its double in the course of a year.\n\nAt the beginning,--or, for that matter, all the time,--the generous\namong the church-members may be urged to _lend_ books to the library\nfor a year at a time. Such books should be covered with different\npaper from the others, and plainly marked with the name of the lender\nand an injunction to especial carefulness in handling them.\n\nThe library will be generously supported, if its books are sensibly\nselected; but this is not an easy task. Do not leave it to any single\nman, but appoint the wisest men and women of the church a committee on\nselection, and require them all to read every book that is chosen.\nObviously, the value of such a committee will increase with the\ngrowing years, and it should be a permanent body.\n\nMany booksellers will send books on approval. The review columns in\nthe religious papers should be regularly watched. The committee should\nbe placed on the mailing-lists of all the best publishers, to receive\ntheir regular announcements of books. They should get into\ncorrespondence with the librarians of other schools, learning from\nthem what books are popular and helpful. And, above everything else,\nthey should get in contact with the scholars of their own school, to\nwatch the practical effect of the books they select.\n\nRegarding the selection of books, first, some \"dont's.\"\n\nDon't choose any volume, no matter how famous, without reading every\nword of it. One of the grandest of biographies, for instance, is\nFranklin's autobiography; but you will not wish to put before young\nreaders his chapter on his religion--or lack of it. Wonderfully\ninspiring essays are Emerson's; but here and there a sentence speaks\nof Christ as a mere man. A very stimulating booklet is \"Blessed be\nDrudgery\"; but one sentence spoils it for our use, since it places\nJesus at the end of a list of philosophers at whose head stands\nHerbert Spencer.\n\nDon't buy \"fads.\" Wait and see whether the book now so much lauded is\nheard of next year.\n\nDon't buy the books that have fittingly been called\n\"a-little-child-shall-lead-them\" stories. Bill Nye described them as\ntales relating how a dear little boy, though but five and a half and\ncrippled, took in back stairs to scrub, and supported his widowed\nmother, and sent his sister to college.\n\nDon't buy \"libraries.\" As sensibly let a man that has never seen you\norder for you a suit of clothes.\n\nDon't buy \"sets\" and \"series\" and \"sequels.\" Judge every book on its\nmerits.\n\nDon't buy the books of one publishing-house alone, however excellent,\nany more than you would fill your home with the works of only one\npainter.\n\nDon't confine your choice merely to the \"Sunday-school writers.\" Books\nthat are not virile enough to attract and help folks outside the\nSunday-school are not likely to prove very useful inside.\n\nDon't buy by authors. \"Aunt Mary's Candlestick,\" by Jemima Jones, may\nhave been the greatest success of the year in your school; but that is\nno reason why you should load up with \"Aunt Mary's Dust-brush\" and\n\"Aunt Mary's Needlecase\" and \"Aunt Mary's Dish-mop,\" by the same\nindustrious author.\n\nIn fine, don't buy any book, no matter who is its publisher or author,\nor what its reputation, unless that particular book meets some\nparticular need of your particular school.\n\nAnd now, what shall we buy? Stories, of course, in delightful measure.\nThe Sunday-school library has the highest authority for teaching in\nparables. And for these stories there are three requirements.\n\nFirst, they must be attractive. What is the use of a book if it will\nnot be read?\n\nSecond, they must be natural. He who is the Truth will never bless a\nstory of lifeless, jerking, galvanized puppets, gibbering forced\naphorisms and preposterous piety, and acting in a red fire of\nsensational incidents. Real boys and girls, real men and women, real\nlife, and therefore life intensely interesting,--these must dwell in\nour Sunday-school stories.\n\nAnd finally, the stories must be helpful. Each must have a point, a\npurpose. They must be outright for Christ, if they are to make\noutright Christians.\n\nDon't neglect the old-fashioned stories, such as the Rollo books. They\nare full of meat. Especially helpful are such stories of Bible times\nas \"Ben Hur.\" Provided their imaginings do not outrun the Bible facts,\nwe can scarcely have too many of them. Do not forget, either, the\nbooks that tell the Bible stories themselves, in simple language, for\nthe little ones. Above all stories, do not omit the \"Pilgrim's\nProgress,\" but buy a volume in large type and beautifully illustrated.\n\nNext to stories, what? Emphatically, lives of the great Christians;\nabove all, missionaries. There are brief, bright, well-illustrated lives\nof Mackay, the marvelous mechanic, Carey, the consecrated cobbler,\nPaton, the hero of the New Hebrides, Livingstone the daring, Martyn the\nsaintly, Judson the sagacious, Patteson, the white knight of Melanesia,\nand a host of other grand men. What inspiration to a splendid life is to\nbe gained from the story of Madagascar's dusky martyrs, or the account\nof Allen Gardiner's magnificent death in Patagonia! What a spur to\nactive service is the tale of the winning of Hawaii, the opening up of\nJapan, the self-sacrificing missions of the Moravians, the daring ride\nof Whitman across the continent for the salvation of Oregon!\n\nThen, there are the lives of great reformers like Luther, John Howard,\nWilberforce, John B. Gough, and of such superb Christians as\nGladstone, Wesley, Washington, William of Orange. There is no need of\na long list. The trouble is not to find the books, but to awaken among\nyour scholars a hunger for the real heroism of real men as opposed to\nthe imaginary heroism of fiction.\n\nAnother section of your library should contain books that bear\ndirectly on the work of the school. There must be the best works on\nteaching, such as Trumbull's \"Teachers and Teaching,\" Schauffler's\n\"Ways of Working,\" Boynton's \"The Model Sunday-school,\" and Du Bois'\n\"The Point of Contact.\" There must be some account of the Bible, like\nRice's \"Our Sixty-six Sacred Books\"; some brief and attractive manual\nof Christian evidences, like Fisher's or Robinson's; some life of\nChrist, like Geikie's or Farrar's; some account of the history,\npolity, and teachings of your denomination. Thompson's \"The Land and\nthe Book,\" Smith's \"Historical Geography of the Holy Land,\" Geikie's\n\"Hours with the Bible,\" Taylor's \"Moses, the Lawgiver,\" Deems' \"The\nGospel of Common Sense,\" Pierce's \"Pictured Truth,\" Butterworth's \"The\nStory of the Hymns,\"--each of these is a type of a class of books\nhelpful to teachers,--and to scholars also, if they can be brought to\nread them. Add, for the temperance lessons, such books as Banks' \"The\nSaloon-keeper's Ledger,\" Gustafson's \"The Fountain of Death,\" and\nStrong's \"Our Country\" and \"The New Era.\"\n\nI wonder that so few Sunday-school libraries contain the great\nChristian poems, such as \"Paradise Lost,\" Browning's \"Saul,\" Lowell's\n\"Vision of Sir Launfal,\" Arnold's \"The Light of the World,\" and many\nmore that would illuminate the lessons.\n\nMany fascinating books of science for young folks have been written\nexpressly from the Christian stand-point. Why not add to the library\nsuch books as Kingsley's \"Glaucus,\" Burr's \"Ecce Coelum,\" Agnes\nGibberne's \"Sun, Moon, and Stars,\" Keyser's \"In Bird-land\"?\n\nI may seem to be suggesting books for the older scholars mainly. Let\nme here urge that equal care and thought be spent on the volumes for\nthe little tots and the \"intermediates.\" Their books are not so\ninteresting to the mature-minded committee, and so they are more\nlikely to be chosen at haphazard.\n\nThis is especially true of the books for the primary department. Two\nor three pounds of their diminutive volumes are shoveled up in a mass,\nread by title, and tucked in at the end of the list. This carelessness\nis especially injurious, because it is at their age that the reading\nhabit is formed, and it is of the utmost importance that the tiniest\nbooks in the library shall be bright, helpful, and of real literary\nvalue. To discover these will prove one of the most difficult tasks of\nthe conscientious committee.\n\nDo not give up the old favorites. When Susan Coolidge's \"Katy Did\"\nseries wears out, give the old books away to some poorer school and\nget a fresh set of the same. Remember that new scholars are all the\ntime entering, and that there is no recommendation for a book so\neffective as the young people's own testimony, \"I have read it, and I\nknow you will like it.\"\n\nHave an eye to the paper and type and binding. Many books intended for\nSunday-school libraries are printed on stiff, pulpy paper, that\nrefuses to remain open at any place without cracking the back, and use\na cramped and formal typography more suitable to a funeral sermon than\nto a book intended to attract young folks.\n\nIf your funds allow, it is an admirable plan to obtain more than one\ncopy of certain books especially likely to be needed by several\nclasses at once, such as books on Christian evidences, on the Bible,\nand on the themes of the current lessons.\n\nIt is one thing to gather a library, and quite another to get it used,\nand well used. The first point is to introduce it to the teachers.\nThey must consider these \"teachers in 8vo\" to be their assistants, and\nmust be thoroughly acquainted with them. _Every teacher should read\nevery book in the library that is within the range of his scholars'\ncomprehension._ How otherwise can he guide their reading? Of course\nthe most hasty perusal will be sufficient, provided it shows the\nteacher the heart of the book. A teacher should learn the useful art\nof rapid reading.\n\nLet the teacher, as part of his preview of the quarter's lessons, make\nout a list of library books that teach the principal truths of the\nquarter ahead of him, and give this list to each scholar with the first\nlesson. A few minutes of each teachers' meeting might well be spent in\ngiving suggestions regarding the use of the library to illustrate the\nnext lesson. Let the teacher often refer to these books in the course\nof his teaching, learn what appropriate books each scholar has been\nreading, and get him to give the class some account of them.\n\nOften it will be well for the teacher to ask some scholar to read a\ncertain story or biography or poem during the week, and be ready to\ntell about it for an illustration of next Sunday's truths.\n\nIf you have no teachers' meeting, once in a while the librarian may\nmention at the prayer-meeting some library book of timely helpfulness,\nor the pastor might even speak of it from the pulpit.\n\nIt is far better to buy the books a few at a time. In some schools a\nnew book is added to the library every Sunday of the fifty-two. The\nchairman of the library committee comes forward with the book in his\nhand, and describes it in a few bright, brisk sentences. Its title and\nnumber are plainly written on the blackboard in front of the school.\nThe choice is varied,--now a book for the youngest, next week one for\nthe older scholars.\n\nSome libraries have a special case for the new books, where every one\ncan readily find them and examine them. Indeed, the scholars are far\nmore easily introduced to all the books, new and old, if they have\nfree access to the shelves and can handle the books themselves, thus\ncoming to know each as an old friend. By the way, I do not believe in\ncovering the books. Covered books have no individuality.\n\nHappy the school that has a good-sized room for its library. Some even\nget it by placing the books in a house next door to the church.\n\nI have known schools to get acquainted with their books by coming\ntogether for a \"library evening,\" in which the wealth of the library\nwas disclosed by various speakers, each trying to interest the school\nin one book, or class of books.\n\nAfter all, the library catalogue may be the best agent of\nintroduction. Every library should have one, though it is only a\nhome-made affair, manufactured on a typewriter or a hectograph. Every\nbook should be briefly described, so that the scholars may know, for\ninstance, the scene and purpose of each story, the kind of man\ndescribed in each biography, and whether it is a book for old, young,\nor primary scholars. Some librarians mark one catalogue for each\nclass, indicating the books especially pleasing to scholars of the\naverage age of the class, so that the teacher may guide their\nselection. Others divide the catalogue into sections, each containing\nthe books appropriate to one division of the school.\n\nNot only should a teacher know _what_ his scholars are reading, but he\nshould find out _how_ they read. He should try to teach them the art\nof reading. The demoralizing habit of reading merely for the moment's\npleasurable excitement and the next moment's forgetting may be formed\nas easily with Sunday-school stories as with newspapers.\n\nSome librarians, to this end, place in each book a slip of paper, and\nthe scholar is expected to write upon this at least one thing he has\nlearned from the book, telling at the same time how he likes it.\n\nIf the scholars, as will likely happen, are reading little but\nstories, the librarian himself can do much to promote more solid\nreading by reporting every month to the school the number of stories\nread, the number of biographies, etc. This report may be made by\nclasses, and teachers and scholars should be urged to make a better\nrecord next month.\n\nLet me close this chapter with a few points regarding library\nmanagement.\n\nIt is poor economy of labor to change the librarian frequently, so\nmuch of his usefulness depends on his familiarity with the books, and\nthat familiarity requires time to gain. If you can find a librarian\nthat does not especially need the benefit of the Bible study, one that\nloves and understands children, keep him in office as long as may be.\nBut be sure to give him an assistant to aid the children in their\nselections, or record the books while the librarian is consulting with\nthe children; also to take the librarian's place when he is sick or\nabsent, or possibly to take turns with him in presiding over the\nlibrary, so that each may recite the lesson half the time.\n\nThe books will be gathered up on the entrance of the scholars. A table\nor a basket or an usher may be placed at the door for this purpose. If\nthe scholars cannot be given access to the books and select them\nthemselves, the librarians will pass quietly around among the\nclasses, leaving the new books at each table; but these books are\nnever to be given to the scholars until just before they leave.\n\nThe most effective record, yet a very simple one, may be made by any\nlibrarian. Give to each scholar a card bearing his name and his\nnumber. On this he writes a list of about ten numbers of the books he\nprefers. As the librarian places his card in one of these new books,\nthat number is scratched off and the date written opposite. At the\nsame time the librarian writes the scholar's number and the date in\nhis library catalogue after the number of the book taken out, and upon\na list of the scholars' numbers writes the number of the book after\nthe number of the scholar. When the book is returned lines are drawn\nthrough these records. Thus at any time the librarian can see what\nbooks are out, who has them, how long they have had them, what books\neach scholar has read, and how often each book has been taken out.\n\nAs the Sunday-school library should teach punctuality, among other\ngood things, the librarian should strictly require every book to be\nbrought back at the end of the week or fortnight, no matter who the\nscholar may be, or whether the book is in much or little demand. It\nmay not be best to establish any system of fines, but a postal-card\nnotice should be sent in aggravated cases, and sometimes the teacher\nshould be asked to look up the book. It will spur the scholars to\npromptness if they know that each instance of tardiness is recorded\nagainst their names on the library's records.\n\nThe proper care of books is another good thing the library should teach.\nAny marked blemish in a book should be noted when it is sent out; and\nwhen a book is injured by a scholar, the librarian should always speak\nto him about it, or get the teacher to do this if the child is a\nstranger to him. A plainly printed slip urging careful handling,\nforbidding dog's ears, and the like, may well be pasted in each book.\n\nIt is sometimes possible and advantageous to open the library at some\ntime during the week, especially on prayer-meeting evenings, when the\nolder folks can select their books, or, for the benefit of the\nchildren, on Friday afternoons after school.\n\nSome classes will like to have little libraries of their own,\ncontaining Bibles for each scholar, Bible atlas, a Revised Bible, a\nBible dictionary, a concordance, etc. Always it is well to arrange for\nthe entire school a special reference library, the contents of which\nwill largely change from quarter to quarter. In it will be placed the\ngeneral Bible helps and whatever books are of special interest for the\nquarter's lessons. The scholars may be sent to these reference shelves\nduring the lesson hour. At least one school has a special case, always\nopen, for books of this nature, and places the case in the front of\nits main schoolroom.\n\nOn the whole, it will be seen that this chapter is a plea for a\nSunday-school library that is a corporate part of the Sunday-school\nteaching, that will help the teacher on Sunday, and carry his teaching\nthrough the week. Such a library virtually adds scores of the wisest men\nand women to the teaching force of the school, and multiplies by many\nhours the pitiful thirty minutes given to the lesson.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XLI\n\nAround the Council Fire\n\n\nOur conventions are the grand council fires in the war the\nSunday-school is waging against the forces of evil. The flame of the\nHoly Spirit should blaze in their midst. With military directness they\nshould go straight to the immediate needs, find out what they are,\nplan the campaign. Orderly and in turn, all should have a part in\nthem, not only the speakers, but the audience, one school and every\nschool. With hearts uplifted, with zeal on fire, every teacher should\nleave the gathering bent on more valiant service.\n\nOnly a well-planned convention can effect this,--a convention long\nthought over and prayed over, not merely by one man, but by many.\nThese meetings not seldom remind one of a house of which the owner\ntakes possession prematurely. Over yonder the scaffolding is still up,\nhere they are just removing it, the sound of the hammer and the saw is\neverywhere, and the smell of wet plaster is in the air. Thus in many\nconventions. Here and there the president bustles around, over the\nplatform, through the audience. The local committee of arrangements\nare like bees before swarming. We begin late and with apologies; so we\ncontinue.\n\nThe model convention, however, began at least as far back as the\npreceding convention. At that gathering suggestions for the next\nmeeting were called for and obtained. During the following weeks the\npresident visited or corresponded with every school in the district,\ntrying to discover its excellences and lacks, that the convention\nmight exhibit the one and supply the other. Indeed, at the very\nopening of the preceding convention the new officers, if any, were\nelected, that during the sessions they might have ears open and brains\nand tongues active, gathering hints for the profitable meeting they\nwere to plan. Therefore it was early known precisely what the coming\nconvention was to teach, and that convention, instead of bumping along\nHaphazard Lane, rolls smoothly over Purpose Avenue.\n\nTwo methods will promote this preparedness of the audience, without\nwhich the best-prepared programme largely fails: there should be a\nconvention press committee, whose pleasant task it is to pack the papers\nwith appetizing details of the coming meetings; and every school should\nbe supplied, at least two weeks beforehand, with a large number of the\nprinted programmes. If these are attractively got up, if the topics meet\ngenuine needs and are expressed brightly, suggestively, and not as Dr.\nDryasdust would formulate them, and if the various superintendents and\npastors advertise the convention wisely, the audience that will come\ntogether will be ready for its work.\n\nSo large a part of most Sunday-school convention audiences comes from\nthe immediate locality that especial effort should be made to interest\nbeforehand the church and the town in which the meetings are held; and\nthis not merely for the sake of the convention, but for the quickening\nof Sunday-school interests throughout the community. But if only a few\npersons are gathered, do not make the mistake of losing them in a\nlarge room, with scores of empty pews into which their zeal can creep\naway and hide itself. The same coals that grow black in all outdoors\nwill make a little stove red-hot.\n\nNo small part of the preparation that is to make a success of your\nconvention is the careful and _enterprising_ selection of speakers. The\nbest policy is to choose none from \"policy.\" Select the men that can\ninspire and instruct, though you must crowd out some pastor of a big\nchurch or some man with a big name. From the teachers themselves call\nout suggestions as to speakers as well as to topics. Search through your\ndistrict for original workers, inventors, plummet men, women that win\nthe hearts of the children, and get them to tell the convention how they\ndo it. By all means call in the successful Christian teacher in the\nsecular schools. If possible, import a skilled worker from outside your\ndistrict. Fresh air will come in with him, the sense of a wider outlook.\nOnly, he must not be an opinionated egotist, one of those _ex-cathedra_\nmen, but a warm-hearted brother in the Lord; and it is far better to use\nhim in several short speeches scattered over the programme than in one\nlong address.\n\nThe wise choice of topics is quite as important as a wise choice of\nmen to treat them. Let all programme-makers remember what the\nconvention is to do: not to show off leaders, or to raise money, or to\nget acquainted, or to have a good time, but to learn more about\nteaching and managing Sunday-schools. Three aims must be set before\nevery Sunday-school convention: to arouse new love for the Bible, to\narouse new love for souls, to arouse new zeal for bringing these two\ntogether. Every convention, then, should divide its time among three\nclasses of topics: the Bible, the children, the teaching.\n\n1. _The Bible._ Such themes as these are suggested: \"How the Bible\ndiffers from all other books.\" \"Recent Bible discoveries.\" \"My way of\nstudying the Bible.\" \"Bible-marking.\" \"How to study Exodus.\" \"The use\nof a 'teacher's Bible.'\" \"Interleaved Bibles,--why and how.\" \"The\nvalue of the Victoria revision.\" \"The study of the Bible as\nliterature.\" \"What is the best commentary?\" \"Reading the Bible in\ncourse,--how to make it most profitable.\" \"The Septuagint and its\nimportance.\" \"How the Bible came down to the printing-press.\" \"The\nstory of our English Bible.\"\n\n2. _The Children._ \"Imagination in children.\" \"Reasoning processes\nthat a child will not appreciate.\" \"Why children love stories.\"\n\"Important differences between the child's mind and ours.\" \"Put\nyourself in his place.\" \"A child's confidence: how lost; how won.\"\n\"Prigs: how not to make them.\" \"The self-conscious child and how to\ntreat him.\" \"Lessons from the playground.\" \"Kindergarten principles of\nvalue in the Sunday-school.\"\n\n3. _The Two Brought Together._ \"What is a good question?\" \"How to get\nthe class to ask questions.\" \"A class that keeps its own order.\"\n\"Getting young people in love with the Bible.\" \"The teacher's voice.\"\n\"Their own Bibles.\" \"The quarterly left at home.\" \"How to make the\nBible real to the children.\" \"Some tests our teaching should stand.\"\n\nThis outline does not omit the school management, and occasional\ndiscussion of the work of superintendents and other officers will\nbelong under the last head; but the teachers are so many compared with\nthe officers that _their_ work should be treated the more generously.\nI think most convention programmes deal far too much with the\nmachinery of the work, any way.\n\nThe best mode of helping the officers is by an officers' conference;\nand if the convention holds but two sessions, I would urge that one of\nthem be broken up into conferences. In one room the primary workers\nmay meet; in another, the superintendents and their assistants; in\nothers, the librarians, the secretaries, the choristers, the teachers\nof intermediate classes, the teachers of adult classes, the heads of\nhome departments, the pastors. Programmes for these conferences\nshould be arranged with as much care as for the main convention, and\nnothing should be done at random. It is a good plan, at the opening of\nthese little simultaneous gatherings, to appoint one member of each to\ntake notes of the best things and report them succinctly to the entire\nbody when it reassembles.\n\nThere are three classes of topics that I especially delight to see on a\nconvention programme. First, the fundamentals. We must not forget the\nhost of new workers constantly coming into our ranks. \"How to ask a\nquestion\" is an old, old theme; but there are enough new teachers to\nkeep it forever fresh and pertinent. Second, new methods, exploited by\nauthorities, by practical workers. Third, what I call \"encouragements,\"\ntopics that inspire, cheer, comfort, victories gained, rewards in sight.\nHallelujah themes.\n\nTo these I must add a fourth: work for the audience. I would give the\nlisteners a chance to \"talk back\" about once every hour, and something\nto do, besides listening, every half-hour. Question-boxes on practical\ntopics are incomparable interest-quickeners. An answer-box is a reversed\nquestion-box. It contains written answers by the teachers, two or three\nquestions of wide scope and great importance being propounded on the\nprogramme; such questions as: \"What do you do with pert children?\" \"How\ndo you get your scholars to study their lessons?\" A wise leader, with\nthe grace of conciseness, is required for both these exercises.\n\nYes, and he is needed for the \"open parliaments,\" or conversational\ndiscussions of helpful topics by brisk dialogue between audience and\nplatform. These may be made merely parade-grounds for \"smart\" leaders,\nor genuine experience meetings, true council fires. It is wise to send\na special invitation to your best teachers, asking them to be prepared\nwith suggestions or questions for the open parliament, that it may\nstart off with momentum already obtained. A summarist, too, is a good\nappointment; he listens quietly to the open parliament, and at the\nclose gathers up, in a few sentences that stick, whatever is best\nworth preserving out of the discussion.\n\nThe open parliament most commonly held consists merely of dry and\nformal reports from each school, the roll being called. If such an\nexercise is held, place in charge of it a man thoroughly familiar with\nthe schools, and able by brisk questioning to elicit a report that\nwill picture the one school and stimulate the others.\n\nA good presiding officer is half a convention. His first duty is to\nhave a distinct understanding with each speaker that he is not to\ntrespass on the next man's time, and his second duty is to cry \"Stop,\nthief!\" if the speakers do so trespass. The convention management\nshould be a model for the Sunday-schools in every way, and in none\nmore imperatively than in this of promptness.\n\nBut also as to order. Oh, the weak-kneed or the purblind presidents,\nthat allow the talking, whispering, walking about of a few to filch\nfrom the many half the value of the meetings! Stop the speaker. Call a\nhalt on the entire convention. Don't proceed another step till quiet\nis restored, and maintained. Be a platform czar, and your audience\nwill be your happy serfs.\n\nThen, the president is master of ceremonies. So much in\nacquaintanceships depends on tactful introductions! He should deliver to\neach successive speaker an audience that is in a glow of anticipation,\nand when the speaker is done,--yes, and all through,--his own cordial\nhands should lead the hearty applause, and he should take time for an\nappreciative word before passing to the next topic.\n\nIf the presiding officer is to do all this, he must plan beforehand\nalmost every sentence he will use in introducing speakers or opening the\ndiscussions. He is to be suggestive; he is to set brains a-throbbing\nwith eagerness and tongues aching with things to say; and he is to do it\nall in twenty words. Brevity, good humor, suggestiveness,--these, in\nthis order, are the chairman's prime virtues.\n\nAt the opening of every convention the key-note of formality, routine,\nand perfunctoriness is struck in the address of welcome and the\nresponse. Their every word could safely be predicted in advance. The\nworld is waiting for a programme committee that will be courageous\nenough to leave them out. If the pastor of the entertaining church has\nhelpful ideas on Sunday-school work, by all means place him on the\nprogramme somewhere; but don't make a rut of him.\n\nAt the very outset strike the key of prayer. Insert here and there\nthroughout the programme a quiet ten minutes with the great Teacher.\nBy all means close with a devotional half-hour--not a hasty prayer\npunctuated with the snapping of watches. Sentence prayers by scores,\nprayer psalms softly repeated, prayer hymns read with bowed\nheads,--the convention should furnish an inspiration and model for the\ndevotions of all the schools represented.\n\nScarcely less important is the element of song. Unconsciously to\nthemselves, the audience should become a normal training-class,\nlearning how to conduct the singing of their schools in fresh and\nuplifting ways. Many, if not all of the methods mentioned in my\nchapter on this theme find fit application to the convention.\n\nThe social features deserve careful attention. Set the teachers to\ntalking together; conversation was Socrates' university. One of the most\nhelpful events may be a light supper given by the entertaining church. A\nsmall fee is charged, all sit down together, and at the close a series\nof happy speeches will bring out flashes of wit and bushels of sense.\n\nThe business should be kept under. Introduce it a little at a time,\nrather than spend a fatiguing hour and a half. Make no parade of\nmoney-raising. Giving should be done quietly. Teach your teachers the\ngrace of envelopes. Reduce all business to a minimum, remembering that\nthe convention comes together not for legislation, but for inspiration.\n\nThe Sunday-school convention is not only a conference, but an\nexposition. Here should be gathered whatever new teaching apparatus\nany school has bought: wall-maps, sand-maps, relief-maps, material for\nobject-lessons, portable blackboards, colored pictures illustrating\nthe lessons, specimens of class tests, library catalogues, new kinds\nof class-books, collection-envelopes, singing-books, new editions of\nthe Bible, lesson helps of all kinds,--it is clear how varied and\nvaluable a collection may easily be brought together when once the\nteachers and officers understand what is wanted.\n\nThe library of the entertaining school should be open for visiting\nlibrarians to examine books and methods. The best new books might be\nbrought in from all the libraries of the district, and if each school\nsent only one or two, the entire exhibit would furnish many a\nsuggestion to wide-awake library committees.\n\nOne of the most important exhibits is a Sunday-school map of the\ndistrict, indicating where schools are in existence, and also where\nschools might and should be placed.\n\nThere is one kind of exhibit that should rarely be made, if ever: an\nexhibit of the children themselves, either to \"speak pieces\" or to\nplay Sunday-school and be taught. The latter use of them has\nadvantages, but, to my mind, the gain to the audience is nothing\ncompared to the children's increase of self-consciousness. I hide my\nhead whenever I think of such a mock recitation in which I figured\nwhen a little boy, and remember how proud I was of my pert forwardness\nin answering all of the questions; before all those people, too!\n\nIn closing, let us ask how the convention results may be gathered up,\npreserved, and sown broadcast. A notebook should be in the hand of\neach attendant,--either given away or sold. The speakers should so\nmark their points and emphasize the subdivisions of their addresses\nthat the thoughts can readily be grasped and retained. A printed\nsyllabus is a great assistance to this end, and if the printing-press\nis too costly, a manifolder may be used. Blank pages should be left in\nthe programme, to invite to note-taking.\n\nAnd then, the new plans all jotted down, the felicitous expressions\nwritten out _verbatim_, the facts and figures clearly noted, let the\nconvention be widely reported. Not merely should the convention press\ncommittee, that heralded the gathering through the papers, continue\ntheir labors long enough to render their previous work most fruitful,\nbut every teacher present should carry the convention's best to his\nteachers' meeting and his class; yes, and to the church prayer-meeting.\nThus will the ardor of the council fire spread throughout the army.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XLII\n\nThe Incorporation of Ideas\n\n\nCertain arts, such as sculpture, painting, and architecture, have been\nnamed the fine arts by some man who had not learned to look inward,\nand see what an infinitely finer art is any that attempts to fashion\nthe human soul. The pastor's and the teacher's arts, which are in\nessence one, though the tyranny of language forbids calling them the\nfine arts, may be given even a nobler title; they are the high arts.\n\nWe would sit down with bated breath and tense-drawn nerves to take to\npieces for the first time the delicate machinery of a watch for cleaning\nand readjustment. If a sovereign diamond were placed in our hands for\nfaceting, we would study for days its cleavage plane, its natural\nangles, and its matrix, and press it to the revolving wheel at last with\ntimidity and shrinking. But when the most marvelously delicate,\nimpressionable, yet abiding thing in the world is placed in our hands,\ntogether with the mightiest yet finest tools, and under conditions\nconstantly varying, and we are told to fashion a human soul into truth\nand nobility, we sit down with confident smiles, and whack away.\n\nIt is impossible for a Sunday-school teacher to magnify his office. He\nneeds a spiritual telescope, rather, to see above it and below it and\non all sides of it. We Sunday-school teachers constitute an unordained\nministry, whose functions are as sacred as those of the pulpit, though\nless inclusive. If we are faithful, conversions will be as frequent\nresults of our lesson questions as of the pastor's sermons. \"God hath\nset some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly\nteachers.\" Let us desire earnestly the greater gifts; but if God calls\nus to be neither missionary nor pastor, but Sunday-school teacher,\neven that calling is too high for us fully to attain.\n\nIt is an anomaly to which the Christian world is just awaking that\nworkers permit themselves to enter on this sacred art with no\napprenticeship. Indeed, if such untrained workers were not admitted,\nthere would soon be no Sunday-schools in the world to admit them. Long\nas the seminaries for ministerial preparation have existed, it is only\nrecently that training-schools for lay workers have been formed. May\nthey grow and multiply!\n\nBut until enlarged Christian activity places one of these blessed\ninstitutions within reach of each consecrated layman, we must do the\nbest we can with other means of growth. We must organize regular\nSunday-school conventions and teach one another there. We must build\none another up in enthusiastic teachers' meetings. We must use the\nbest lesson helps. We must read greedily every book and every article\nthat promises to give us new ideas and methods and inspiration.\n\nNow some object to all this. \"You are needlessly discouraging us,\"\nthey say. \"You are making a very simple matter appear complicated; an\neasy one seem difficult. Christ's yoke is easy; Christ's gospel is\nplain; he will give us in that Sunday-school hour what we are to say.\nYour minute directions as to methods of study, as to concordance and\ncommentary and maps, are flying in the face of Providence. The Spirit\nbloweth where he listeth.\"\n\nThe answer to all this is simple, and consists mainly in an appeal to\nexperience. Simple and plain as Christ's message is, human lives are\nvery complicated, and it is no simple matter or easy task to lay the\nSaviour's simple healing alongside their varied ills. Christ's burden is\nlight; if it were heavier it would be easier to get paradoxical humanity\nto accept it. Christ will instruct us what to say, provided we have so\ntrained our heart and brain that his words will not fall as senseless\nbabble from our tongues. The Spirit does breathe where he listeth, but\nthe experience of these centuries ought to teach us that God is never\npresent in power where work and prayer have not invited him.\n\nHaphazard work is not equal to thoughtful work. Minute directions\nthat would be wasted on a barn-painter are a necessity of the artist.\nImpromptu never yet won a race with Preparation. And I know that many\na teacher is mourning over his empty hands who might be rejoicing over\ngreat sheaves if his sowing had been more liberal and his teaching\nmore painstaking.\n\nAnd yet I sympathize with the weary discouragement of which all\nteachers feel a twinge when high ideals of teaching are held out\nbefore them. We are sure we are doing our best, already. It annoys us\nto be shown a better best. Our work is hard enough. It troubles us to\nbe told that we must work harder before it can ever become easy. And\nespecially, we are so confused by the multiplicity of good things we\nmay do, of improvements we may make, that we do and make none of them.\n\nNow the secret of success in all arts lies in this: the Incorporation\nof Ideas. The reception of ideas, the appreciation and praise of them,\nthis is nothing, though many are satisfied to stop here; but the\nincorporation, the embodiment of them, this makes the artist. The\nartist is the man that is hungry for ideas,--for the ideal, that is;\nthe man that, like Paul, proves them all by the tests of thought and\nexperience, and then holds fast whatever is good, until it has become\npart of himself, until it is incorporated.\n\nThe artist is a man, too, that above all men knows the importance of\ntrifles. The contour must be molded to nature precisely, the statue\nfinished to the finger-nail, the machine accurate in every line and\nsurface. He will not try to attain the ideal at a bound; it is made\nup, he knows, of many ideas. He grasps one idea, and fixes that\nforever. Then, he has power for another.\n\nOne point at a time, then, fellow-laborers in this blessed work; one\nidea from an eager throng appealing to you in books, lectures, or\npapers, proved and found good, and then held fast by prayerful\npractice, by never-yielding effort, until it is added to the company\nof your unconscious forces. And then, in this power, to add another to\nit! Thus alone can we win, from Christ's university, the highest of\nall degrees, Masters of his Art!\n\n\n\n\nChapter XLIII\n\nFrom a Superintendent's Notebook\n\n\nAn egotist is foredoomed to failure in the Sunday-school. The worker\nthat hopes for success must cast to the winds any foolish pride in\noriginality, and seek far and wide for the wisest ideas and the\nfreshest methods. A superintendent or a teacher without a notebook is\nonly half a superintendent or teacher. Its pages should rapidly grow\nrich with plunder. The little white friend must be at hand when he\nattends conventions, when he reads, when he talks with other workers,\nwhen he thinks and prays over his sacred tasks.\n\nThe two chapters that follow are merely specimen pages of such\nnotebooks. While I have utilized them to gather up various plans and\nexperiences that could not fittingly find place elsewhere in the book,\ntheir chief purpose is to illustrate the wide-awake catholicity that\nmust animate every successful worker in Sunday-schools.\n\nIt is right to say--though this is a matter of course--that a large\nmajority of these paragraphs are condensed from that great storehouse\nof Sunday-school lore, the \"Sunday-school Times.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Their Own Review._--Scholars are likely to answer with special zest\nthe questions prepared by other scholars. One school asks its classes\nin turn to furnish three questions on each lesson, which are proposed\nto the entire school at the close of the lesson hour. From these\nquestions are selected a number for the quarterly review. They are\n\"manifolded,\" and written answers are expected from all present.\n\n_Out of Order._--An excellent review scheme was arranged by a\nsuperintendent who gave his school a list of twenty-six events in the\nlife of Christ, all jumbled up, and asked them to come next Sunday\nprepared to arrange them in chronological order.\n\n_A School Review._--For reviewing the lesson before the entire school,\nselect one class a week beforehand and give it ten or twelve\ncomprehensive questions, from the quarterly or original. At the close\nof the lesson ask this class to rise and answer the questions as\nanother class, also rising, asks them. Let all the classes take turns\nin this service.\n\n_School Reviews._--For a change, it is well to incorporate the entire\nschool in a general review,--omitting, of course, the younger classes.\nOne person may conduct the review, or the questions on each lesson may\nbe asked by a different teacher. Different classes may be assigned\nspecial lessons to illustrate by the concert repetition of Bible\nverses, or by a stanza of some song. One lesson of the quarter may be\nassigned to each class, and the questions that will be asked may be\ngiven to that class a week or two beforehand. In this case, general\nquestions for the entire school should occasionally be interspersed.\n\n_A Teachers' Supper._--Once a year, at least, bring together all the\nteachers and officers around a well-filled table. After-dinner\nspeeches, cheery and merry, may follow, and then a pleasant evening's\nentertainment.\n\n_The Annual Meeting._--Make this an event. A supper with bright\nspeeches, the business meeting to follow; a brisk literary and musical\nentertainment; an introductory talk by some practical worker from\nabroad,--these are some of the ways of distinguishing the occasion.\n\n_Badges._--Any Sunday-school festival will be given eclat by the use\nof badges. The children will be proud to wear them, and will treasure\nthem as souvenirs. They may be made almost without cost if you will\nuse bright-colored cambric, and print upon them with a hand-stamp.\n\n_A Sunday-School Day._--If not once a year, at least once every few\nyears, it is well worth while to make the Sunday-school the theme of\nall the exercises on the Lord's day,--both morning and evening\nservices, and the Christian Endeavor meeting. The subject has so many\npractical aspects that much good will be done in addition to the\nquickening of the Sunday-school.\n\n_The Home Department._--Simply a promise to study the lesson at home\nfor half an hour each week--that is the scheme of the home department.\nYou may add visitors, records, reports, _ad libitum_, but the home\ndepartment may be complete and satisfactory without these. The plan is\nso simple that any school can use it, and so fruitful of blessed\nresults that no school dare neglect it. A thorough canvass for members\nof the home department seldom fails to bring new members into the main\nschool at once, and as the home study arouses interest, new scholars\nare continually added from this source, besides the scores of aged and\nshut-ins whose lives are thus led into the green pastures of the Word.\n\n_Home Department Day._--On this occasion a special effort is made to\nbring to the Sunday-school the entire home department. They sit\ntogether, and special services are held in their honor and for their\nbenefit.\n\n_Parents' Day._--Make a special effort once a year to bring out all\nthe parents of the scholars. Issue special printed invitations. Have a\nprinted programme. Let the exercises be the regular working of the\nschool, with merely one short address to the parents in addition.\n\n_A Parents' Social._--Parents and teacher should know one another, and\nthere is no more gracious way to bring this about than by an evening\nspent together at the teacher's house.\n\n_Purpose Cards._--To stimulate the school in needed ways, have a\n\"purpose card\" printed. It will read, in tabular form, \"I will\nendeavor to attend more faithfully, to prepare my lesson better, to\nget a new scholar,\" etc. Each member of the school signs his card,\nmarks with crosses the \"purposes\" he makes his own, and returns the\ncard to the superintendent.\n\n_Installing the New Officers._--This should be done with some\nceremony, including a very short address by the pastor, another by the\noutgoing superintendent or prominent officer, another by a\nrepresentative of the incoming group, and an earnest prayer,--all to\noccupy no more than ten minutes. The scholars will have more respect\nfor leaders thus honored, and the officers themselves will be more\nlikely to magnify their office.\n\n_The Old Superintendent._--Some schools elevate the assistant\nsuperintendent regularly to the superintendency. Other schools adopt the\nopposite course, and make the superintendent of one year the assistant\nsuperintendent of the next. Either plan secures continuity of method.\n\n_A True Assistant._--The assistant superintendent should be prepared\nto do, in the superintendent's absence, everything the superintendent\nordinarily does. How can he be prepared to do this unless the\nsuperintendent regularly shares all kinds of work with his assistant?\n\n_Help from the Public School._--In most communities a very inspiring\nseries of lectures might be obtained from Christian teachers in the\nsecular schools and colleges, the purpose of each lecture being to\nshow how, according to the best pedagogical methods, a certain lesson\nmight be taught, or Sunday-school teaching in general be carried on.\n\n_Flowers at Home._--You will delight your school, and teach them many\nlessons, if you give each scholar--or get the teachers to do this--a\nbulb, a package of seeds, or a small potted plant like a rose. Hold an\nexhibition to show the results, and then have the flowers given to the\nsick, the hospitals, the poor, or sold for missions.\n\n_Easter Lilies._--A few cents invested in lily bulbs will make a\nbeautiful Easter for your school. Give one to each scholar for him to\nraise, or, possibly, one to each class. The flowers, after Easter\nSunday, are to be sent to the aged, the sick, and the poor.\n\n_An Easter Gift._--Some Sunday-schools give each scholar, on Easter\nday, a little rosebush or a package of seeds, that they may be tended\nand urged to bloom by Children's Day, when they are all brought in.\n\n_Vacation Transfers._--Some schools, when their scholars leave for a\nvacation, give them letters to schools where they will visit. These\nare printed forms, and include a detachable blank report, which, when\nfilled out and returned, will show the scholar's attendance on the\nother school during his absence.\n\n_Planned Prayer-Meetings._--It will greatly promote the devotional\ncharacter of your school if you take twenty minutes each month for a\nprayer-meeting. Select four or five to offer prayer, and have them\nsit on the platform. A brief, tender talk from the superintendent and\nbright singing will complete a memorable meeting.\n\n_A Carryall._--I have heard of Sunday-schools that maintained omnibuses\nor large carriages, to gather up and carry to the school children whose\nhomes were so far away that they could not otherwise attend.\n\n_Neighborhood Schools._--Distant groups of farmers' families, and\nothers that cannot reach the school, should be organized in\nneighborhood Sunday-schools.\n\n_A New Object Each Month._--The scholars' offerings should be an\neducation not only in the instinct of giving, but also in the\nintelligent choice of objects for giving. Every Sunday-school should\nhave a benevolence committee, which carefully selects for each month a\nnew object of beneficence. On the last Sabbath of each month a word\nshould be said about the object that appeals for the gifts of the next\nmonth. This brief account should, of course, be supplemented by the\nteachers in their classes.\n\n_The Envelope System._--This plan of giving, which has done so much\nfor our churches, should be used everywhere in the Sunday-school. Give\neach class a number and each scholar a set of dated envelopes, one for\neach Sunday, bearing his class number. Call for a contribution from\neach scholar each Sunday. Urge that all absent scholars send their\ncontributions, or bring them the next Sunday. From this _systematic_\ngiving you may go on to _proportionate_ giving by impressing on the\nscholars their duty to set apart for God some regular proportion, say\none tenth, of all the money they receive. If the school takes up\nmonthly collections for special benevolent objects, the envelopes for\nthese Sundays may be of a different color. If, as should always be the\ncase, the expenses of the school are met by the church, leaving the\nentire school collections to be devoted to missions and charitable\ncauses, the school committee on benevolences may select a different\nobject of giving for each month. This object should then be written on\neach envelope for that month.\n\n_A Jug-Breaking._--One of the best ways of teaching children the value\nof little gifts and the importance of weekly savings for Christ's\ncause is by the collection of money in jugs. Set before them at the\nstart some object for their gifts, that they may think and talk about\nit while they are saving; otherwise their minds are lifted no higher\nthan their money. And how they will enjoy the jug-breaking!\n\n_Class-Books._--Not records of class attendance, but books for the\nlibrary, paid for by the various classes, selected by these so far as\ntheir choice seems wise, and each of them bearing an inscription telling\nwhat class presented it to the school. Such gifts give the scholars a\npersonal interest in the library they have helped to create.\n\n_Loan Libraries._--Instead of giving away the books your school has\nthoroughly read, loan them, in groups of fifty or so, to poorer schools.\nThey will return them in good condition, and by that time there will be\nmany new scholars in your own school to whom the books will be fresh.\n\n_Exchange Libraries._--There is no reason why neighboring schools, if\ntheir library funds are low, should not arrange to buy different\nbooks, and then exchange them after the original purchasers have used\nthem for a year. All the schools in a town or township might well\ncombine in an arrangement so economical.\n\n_Receiving the New Books._--The library will be advertised if the\nreception of new books is made an event. They may be put in a public\nplace, all at one time, and formally presented to the school by pastor\nor superintendent, with a word about each. This may be done at\nChristmas, Easter, Children's Day, Thanksgiving, at any one or all of\nthese holiday seasons.\n\n_Honor the Donors._--A special and attractive label for books presented\nto the library, with a space for the name of the person that makes the\ngift, will greatly increase the number of books received in this way.\n\n_Their Own Paper._--A large Sunday-school may publish a little weekly\nor monthly paper, the advertisements paying the bills. The older\nscholars will be interested in doing the work. The notes about the\nvarious classes, the library, the contributions, the school work, will\nall prove stimulating.\n\n_Sunday-School Calendars._--A good standing advertisement of the\nschool in any home would be a neat calendar of the year, bordered with\nfacts about the school, invitations, pictures of church, pastor,\nSunday-school officers, and the like.\n\n_A Bulletin Board._--A conspicuous bulletin board, placed at the\nentrance, will save giving out many a notice.\n\n_The Notices._--The wise superintendent will plan every word he is to\nsay before the school, even--yea, especially!--the giving of the\nnotices. These notices will be the fewest possible; don't let the\nSunday-school be used as a bill-board. Announce only what you want the\nscholars to remember, and in such a bright way that they can't forget\nit. And don't discredit your perspicuity and their attention by\nannouncing it more than once.\n\n_Protect the Teacher._--One of the most important of the\nsuperintendent's duties is to protect the teacher from interruption\nduring the recitation hour. A similar duty is to see that the time for\nthe recitation suffers no diminution through the tardiness or\nprolixity of himself or any one else.\n\n_Substitute Groups._--The work of \"substituting\" may well be divided\nup. Ask a set of older scholars to be ready to substitute on the first\nSunday of each month, another set on the second Sunday, and so on.\n\n_The Pastor as Substitute._--Certainly the pastor should not take a\nSunday-school class of his own. That would be unfair to the rest of\nthe school and the church. But he would get into helpful contact with\na large number of people, young and old, if he should act every Sunday\nas a substitute teacher, now in this class and now in that.\n\n_A Five-Minute Meeting._--A few minutes of conference, immediately\nafter the session of the school, will be a great help and stimulus to\nthe teachers. One will ask help in a difficulty, another will report a\nmethod just proved successful. Everything will come fresh and vital\nfrom living experience.\n\n_How Many Absent?_--Often let the secretary, in his report to the\nschool, state only the number _absent_ from each class and department.\nHe will thus change the emphasis, and arouse a new and profitable\ninterest.\n\n_A Roll-Call._--It takes time, but at long intervals a public\nroll-call of the entire school is worth while. Of course it should be\nwell advertised beforehand, and the entire membership will wish to be\npresent. Then make the hour so delightful that they will not think of\nstaying away thereafter.\n\n_Honor Rolls._--Hang a large sheet of paper in a conspicuous position,\nand announce that you will print upon it the name of every one that\nbrings in a new scholar. A red paper star after the name signifies one\nnew scholar, a blue star a second scholar, and so on. A similar roll\nmay be used to honor perfect attendance, stars of different colors\nbeing used for the different quarters.\n\n_Gold and Silver Stars._--There are well-based objections to any\ndistinction of one class above another, but a plan that will be found\nvery valuable, at least as a temporary stimulus, is this: Honor with a\nlarge silver star every class that has all its members present, and\nwith a gold star each class that reports all its members bringing\nBibles, and that all have studied the lesson at least twenty minutes.\n\n_An Asterisk._--If by banners or in other ways you honor regular\nattendance, there will be a tendency to drop absent scholars from the\nrolls too quickly, because they lower the standard of their classes.\nAn excellent way of getting around this difficulty is to \"star\" the\nname of every scholar that has been absent a month. This asterisk\nmeans that the name is not to be counted in making up the report, but\nthe presence of the name on the list means that the scholar is not to\nbe forgotten or neglected.\n\n_To Console Him._--One bright superintendent scorns to give a reward\nor prize for new scholars, but presents a nice leather-bound Bible, by\nway of compensation, to each scholar that for any cause is luckless\nenough to _leave_ his school!\n\n_A Spur._--Enforce punctuality by a large placard hung in front of the\nschool, and reading, \"You are early.\" When the school opens the card\nis turned, and now reads, in staring letters, \"You are late!\"\n\n_A Question Drill._--This is a good plan for teachers' meetings. The\nteachers should ask questions on each verse, turn about, and the\nleader should criticise the questions.\n\n_Teachers'-Meeting Roll-Call._--To insure previous study of the\nlesson, and to accustom the teachers to take part in the meeting, let\nthe roll be called every week, and require each teacher to respond\nwith some thought concerning the lesson, usually a comment on some\nparticular verse.\n\n_Attendance on the Teachers' Meeting._--It will prove a helpful spur\nif this attendance is recorded regularly, and incorporated in all the\nreports made by the secretary to the school.\n\n_Union Teachers' Meetings._--If you cannot have a teachers' meeting\nfor your Sunday-school alone, because you have no good leader, you can\nprobably find a good leader in some neighboring church, and can give\nhim and yourselves the stimulus of a large union gathering. This plan\nhas many advantages, notably the opportunity for the comparison of\nmethods. It has one great disadvantage: the work cannot apply so\nparticularly to your individual school.\n\n_A Reception Class._--New scholars may all be placed in a \"reception\nclass,\" until their ability, knowledge, and character can be learned.\n\n_A Visitors' Register._--This is for the names and home addresses of\nall visitors. The little attention required to obtain these autographs\npleases them and their friends, and breaks the ice for further\nacquaintance. The register should be kept open on some table in a\ncentral spot, with pen and ink always at hand.\n\n_An Address-Book._--This should contain, under proper and convenient\nclassifications, the addresses of all scholars, teachers, and\nofficers, past and present. It should always be kept in the church,\nand many will be the references to it.\n\n_A Cradle Roll._--This contains the names of the babies of the church,\nfor each of whom his mother is given a certificate of membership. This\nroll is read once in a while before the primary class.\n\n_Individual Histories._--At least one school has enough personal\ninterest in its scholars to keep a history of each, in a book properly\narranged for that purpose. This history includes the date of the\nscholar's joining the school and of his promotion to the various higher\ndepartments thereof, his birthday and the names of his parents, their\nchurch-membership, where the scholar lived when he joined the church,\nwhom he married and when, his business, the date of his removal and the\ncity to which he went, together with other and special facts.\n\n_District Reporters._--Appoint one scholar or teacher to watch each\nstreet in town,--preferably, of course, the street on which he\nresides,--and report promptly all newcomers, that they may be invited\nto the Sunday-school.\n\n_The Opening Prayer._--Let the ushers admit no one till it is over. Do\nnot begin, or permit any one else to begin this prayer, till every\nhead is bowed. Do not ask any one to offer this prayer without giving\nlong notice; no haphazard prayer will answer.\n\n_Their Own Bibles._--A Bible in the hands of every scholar,--this\nalone makes possible variety and zest in the opening of the school.\n\n_Lesson Introductions._--In small schools it has often been found\nprofitable for the superintendent to spend ten or fifteen minutes\nteaching to the entire school (with the exception of the primary\ndepartment) the historical and similar details of the lesson. The\nteachers then add the lesson truths, teaching their individual classes.\n\n_Varying Programmes._--If the opening exercises of the school get into\na rut, it is hard for the teachers to lift the school out of it. Some\nwise superintendents plan these exercises for weeks ahead, keeping\ncareful record, and thus avoid monotony.\n\n_An Impressive Close._--One school closes its service with the Lord's\nPrayer, repeated by all as they stand. Then the school is seated, and\nwaits in silence while the ushers, walking slowly up the aisles,\ndismiss each class in turn.\n\n_A Closing Prayer._--Here is a beautiful prayer to be repeated in\nconcert at the close of school: \"May the light of thy Word, O Lord,\ndwell in us richly, and guide us day by day. Amen.\"\n\n_Scripture in Closing._--To incite to Scripture memorizing, close the\nschool with Bible verses repeated by all the scholars. Let each class\nin turn select the subject, such as \"temperance,\" \"obedience,\" \"love,\"\nand announce it a week in advance.\n\n_The Teachers before the School._--Now and then ask some teacher to\nsay a few words to the entire school at the close of the session,\nsumming up the most important teachings of the hour. This gives the\nwhole school a bit of inspiration from each teacher in turn, and gives\nto each teacher the inspiration of talking to the whole school.\n\n\n\n\nChapter XLIV\n\nFrom a Teacher's Notebook\n\n\n_Birthday Letters._--Little children will prize highly a cordial,\nloving letter written to them by their teacher on their birthday.\nDoubtless the very oldest scholars in the school will prize such a\nletter as much, if not even more. There should be no preachment in\nthese letters, no hitting at peculiar sins; just fill them with\nChristian sunshine. A birthday prayer in the class, short, simple,\nearnest, will clinch to the scholar the lessons of the day.\n\n_Class Letters._--When the teacher is away on a vacation or for other\nreasons, a letter sent each week to some member of the class, taking the\nscholars in order, will be shared with the other scholars, and will\nstrengthen the bond that the absence might have weakened or broken.\n\n_Teaching by Correspondence._--When the teacher must be absent, if she\ncannot find a good substitute, and the class is of a suitable age for\nthe plan, let her send a letter containing a few thoughts on the\nlesson, together with many questions, which the class are to discuss,\nand for which, after joint consultation, they will prepare written\nanswers, to be sent to the teacher.\n\n_The Lesson Message._--Do you fear that the central truth of the\nlesson may not be impressed on your class, either through your\nforgetfulness or because you lack time? Then write out for each\nscholar a sentence or two of exhortation, with a request that he read\na certain appropriate passage of the Bible. Place these messages in\nenvelopes, and distribute them at the close of the lesson.\n\n_A Teacher's Loan._--If you have found a book that would be especially\nhelpful to your class, by all means, if you can afford it, buy a copy,\ncirculate it among the class, and, after all your scholars have read\nit, present it to the library.\n\n_Birthdays of the Great._--Utilize in your teaching not only\nWashington's birthday and Lincoln's, but the birthday of any great man\nwhose life may help to point the moral of the day's lesson. For this\npurpose, one of the many \"birthday-books\" is of value for reference.\n\n_A Magazine Club._--The members of a Sunday-school class have similar\ninterests, and an ideal magazine and paper club may be organized among\nthem. Incidentally, it will enable the teacher to direct much of their\nreading. The periodicals subscribed for are to be passed around in a\nspecified order, kept at each house a definite time, and each finally\nretained by some member of the class.\n\n_Class Names._--It will prove an inspiration to any class to have a\ngood name, such as \"Earnest Seekers,\" \"Willing Workers,\" \"The Joshua\nBand,\" \"Daughters of Ruth.\"\n\n_Five-Minute Preludes._--Brief preludes on current topics or\npractically helpful points connected with the lesson theme may be\nfound valuable in the Bible class, just as similar preludes have\nproved useful in the preaching service.\n\n_Independence._--Occasionally request the class to prepare so\nthoroughly that they can leave at home the quarterly, lesson leaf,\neven the Bible itself. The teacher also will do this; and if he\nimproves his opportunity, this thorough storing of the mind may result\nin a recitation so delightful that the class will adopt the plan\nenthusiastically for the future.\n\n_Her \"Funny Box.\"_--A teacher tells how she lightened the occasional\nsickness of her scholars by carrying to them what they called her\n\"funny box,\" which held fruit and flowers, with scores of merry jokes\nclipped from the papers, peanuts marked with comical faces, and a\nBible verse or two on the inside of the cover.\n\n_A Review Picture-Gallery._--If you have been using the blackboard\nduring the quarter, try a blackboard review. Draw twelve\npicture-frames, and call up the scholars one by one, asking each to\nfill in one of the frames with what he remembers of the blackboard\nwork of that lesson. It may be necessary for the teacher to remind the\nscholar what the design was, and to help him draw it, or the entire\nclass may be asked to give this assistance.\n\n_An Essay Review._--Divide the lessons of the quarter among your\nscholars, so that each will write an essay on some one lesson; or, if\nyour class is too small for that, assign two lessons apiece to some of\nthe scholars. Limit them as to time, but let each choose his line of\ntreatment.\n\n_Silent Prayers._--If we always word the children's prayers for them,\nthey will be unlikely ever to word prayers for themselves. Often\nrequest them to bow their heads and in silence to ask the Father for\nwhat they need and thank him for his kindness.\n\n_Class Prayers._--Why should not every class recitation be opened with\na brief prayer, and often close with one? Yes, and when the talk in\nthe middle of the lesson becomes especially earnest, prayer is the\nbest means of binding the truth to the lives of your scholars.\n\n_A Prayer Calendar._--This is a list of the scholars in your class,\nplus the name of the teacher, divided among the days of the week, that\nof the teacher falling on Sunday. The whole is headed with a promise\nto pray each day for the persons named for that day. Each of the\nscholars has a copy, and signs it.\n\n_Pegs._--Draw a good-sized map of the country you are studying, and\nmount it on a board. With a gimlet bore holes wherever there is an\nimportant town, mountain, lake, or other geographical feature whose\nlocation you wish your scholars to learn. Fit pegs into these holes,\nand color the pegs white for the mountains, red for the cities, blue\nfor the bodies of water. Teach the scholars, as you call for Hebron,\nfor instance, to place a red peg in the proper hole, and thus to use\nthe map.\n\n_Dissected Maps._--Paste a good-sized map of the desired country on\nthick cardboard or pasteboard. If you cannot get a large enough map,\ndraw one yourself, and in the process you will learn much geography.\nThen cut the map into irregular pieces, and present it to the younger\nclasses for them to fit together.\n\n_Putty Maps._--With a board foundation and a good map for a guide, any\nteacher can build up a relief map of Palestine out of putty. Paint the\nwater blue, the sandy portions yellow, the fertile plains green, the\nmountains white or gray, the cities red. Letter with black.\n\n_Colors and Places._--A good way to aid the children's memory as to\nthe location of the various lessons of the quarter is to write on the\nblackboard the title of each lesson as it comes, using each week a\ndifferent color, and pinning to an outline map, at the same time, a\nscrap of paper of the same color. Of course, if a later lesson falls\nat the same place, the old color will be used in writing its title.\n\n_Home Drawings._--Some teachers wisely require their scholars to\nreproduce at home what they can remember of the blackboard work of the\nday, and bring in the result the next Sunday. The test is one for the\nteacher's blackboard work as well as for the scholars' memory.\n\n_Utilizing your Reading._--Every teacher should keep either a\nwide-margin Bible, or an interleaved Bible, solely to note the helps\non Bible texts he may note in his reading. If the book or periodical\nis your own, simply set down the page opposite the Bible verse. Some\nmay prefer a system of envelopes, one for each book of the Bible, in\nwhich clippings may be filed, as well as slips of paper containing\nreferences to books.\n\n_One Way of Preparing._--Cut up the Scripture text found on a lesson\nleaf, and paste the verses on large sheets of paper, leaving liberal\nspace around each. In this space write your own comments, and the\nsuggestions you glean from your reading.\n\n_On the Spot._--If one of your scholars is reported sick, why not\npen--or _pencil_--a little note immediately, with the aid of the\nclass, and send it to the sick scholar at the close of the school? A\nmessage thus written will move graciously upon the class as well as\nupon the recipient.\n\n_Prompt Investigation._--\"A stitch in time saves nine.\" Apply this\nmaxim to your scholar's _first_ absence, and look him up at once.\n\n_Lookout Committees._--Divide each class into three companies. Company\nA will seek recruits for the class, Company B will hunt up absentees,\nand Company C will do hospital service among the sick. Require regular\nreports.\n\n_Reports of Study._--Some teachers issue to their scholars blank\nreports, which they return, filled out, each Sunday. These reports\ntell whether they have studied the lesson for ten minutes each day,\n_and what verses of the lesson they do not understand_.\n\n_Reports to Parents._--The work done in Sunday-school should be so\ndefinite that it can be reported. Certain points should be required to\nbe learned in each lesson, and when they are well recited, or when\nthey are not recited, the parents should know of it. Regular monthly\nor quarterly reports, sent by postal-card, will stimulate the scholar\nto learn better, the parents to help him study, and the teacher to\nteach with system, definiteness, and persistency.\n\n_Collection and Record._--Give the mother, for her child, fifty-two\nlittle envelopes in which to put a year's pennies or nickels. Each\nchild's envelopes are given a number, so that the collection is also a\nrecord of attendance.\n\n_More than a Straight Mark._--A simple but complete record may be made\nby a few strokes of the pencil. A cross has been suggested. The upper\narm signifies \"present\"; the lower arm, \"prompt\"; the left-hand arm,\n\"the lesson learned,\" according to a definite standard; the right-hand\narm, \"present at church.\" If the scholar has failed in one or more of\nthese points, the corresponding arms are omitted from the cross.\n\n_Class Photographs._--With your own camera or some friend's take a\ngroup picture of your class once a year. You may give them at that\ntime a pleasant \"photograph party,\" or take an excursion together to\nsome place, there to be photographed. Each scholar should have a copy\nof the resulting picture. It will be delightful if all the classes can\nthus be photographed, and an exhibition arranged of the entire series\nof pictures, which then becomes the property of the school.\n\n_Holidays Together._--A teacher especially successful in holding\ntogether a class of boys is in the habit of taking them with him on\nall sorts of excursions,--to libraries, museums, points of historical\ninterest, on sleigh-rides, to hear illustrated lectures. And often he\narranges for them merry parties at his home.\n\n_A Class Symbol._--Some concrete token, presented when the new scholar\njoins the class, will greatly help to cement the relationship. This\nmay be a little book, a ribbon book-mark, an illuminated Scripture\ncard, a simple emblematic pin. Whatever it is, it should be the same\nfor all, that it may serve as a sort of class badge.\n\n_Introduction Cards._--These are of use to make new scholars acquainted\nwith their classmates. The card contains the names of Sunday-school,\nteacher, and all the scholars, that of the new scholar being last, with\nthe date of entrance. The whole is of immediate service to the new\nmember, and is sure to be preserved as a pleasant memento.\n\n_A Work for Each._--Enlist each of your scholars in some definite and\nindividual work for Christ. One may gather up old periodicals for the\nseamen, one may be interested in a children's hospital, one may collect\npartly worn garments for the poor. At each meeting of the class call for\nbrief reports of these special lines of work. There could be no better\ncommentary on the lessons your scholars are studying.\n\n_Substitute Teachers._--The teachers should obtain their own\nsubstitutes, whenever possible. If the superintendent makes it clear\nthat he expects this, it will usually be done. In the process of\nobtaining the substitute, too, the teacher will probably gain fresh\nsympathy and consideration for the superintendent.\n\n_A Class Historian._--Appoint one scholar to this office. Ask him to\nkeep track of the old members, and report any interesting news\nconcerning them, at the same time keeping a record.\n\n_Essays._--Your scholars will appreciate the honor if asked to prepare\nessays now and then on special points in the lessons, such as \"Jewish\ncustoms regarding Sunday,\" \"The city of Antioch,\" \"What the Bible\nteaches about temperance.\" Such essays should be very brief.\n\n_Supplemental Lessons._--The very interest aroused by the International\nLessons calls often for supplementary lessons, dealing with such topics\nas the origin of the Bible, Bible geography, the Christian doctrines.\nTen minutes preceding the regular lesson may be spent on such themes,\nand a great deal thus learned in the course of the year.\n\n_An Expedient._--If a boy is especially mischievous and restless,\nmake him an usher and set him to keeping the rest in order.\n\n_A Study Outline._--Each member of a certain class was furnished with\na copy of the following excellent programme for home study of the\nlesson: \"1. Intervening events. 2. Time. 3. Place. 4. Persons. 5.\nIncidents. 6. Parallel passages and Scripture references. 7.\nDifficulties. 8. Doctrines and duties. 9. Central thought. 10.\nPersonal application--to myself, to others.\"\n\n_Question-Books._--Blank-books in which questions on the lesson have\nbeen written, with spaces for answers, may profitably be used even in\nvery young classes. The answers should be written immediately on the\nconclusion of the teaching, or even, question by question, as the\nteaching proceeds. In older classes, the questions may be set before the\nclass a week later, and may introduce the next lesson, by way of review.\n\n_Home-Made Question-Books._--To induce your scholars to study at home,\nprovide for each of them two little blank-books. Write a question in\none, and request the return of the book next Sunday with the answer\nwritten out. Exchange it for the second book, and so alternate. Wise\nteachers will slip into such books many a personal word of praise or\nexhortation.\n\n_A Question Formula._--Ask each member of the class to bring you,\nevery Sunday, written answers to a set of questions so general that,\nonce dictated, they will serve for all lessons; for instance: \"When\noccurred the events of our lesson? What is a brief synopsis of our\nlesson? What is its principal teaching? Which is your favorite verse\nin it, and why?\" These answers should be discussed in the class.\n\n_Trained as Questioners._--In most schools there is no normal class,\nand if the teachers do not train their scholars to teach, the next\ngeneration of teachers in that school will be untrained. The class\nshould be taught how to ask questions, and probably the best way to do\nthis is to have them occupy a few minutes at the beginning of each\nrecitation questioning one another on the previous lesson.\n\n_A Choice of Questions._--For this exercise the teacher writes a\nnumber of questions, which she brings to the class. Each scholar in\nturn is permitted to select a question, which he will propound to any\nof his classmates he may pick out.\n\n_The \"Bible Library.\"_--This is a help to learning the order of the\nbooks of the Bible, and consists of sixty-six wooden blocks, painted and\nlettered to represent books, and varying in thickness with the size of\nthe various books of the Bible. The poetical books are \"bound\" in the\nsame style, the minor prophets in a different style, and so with other\n\"sets.\" These imitation books are kept on shelves, from which they are\ntaken by the children, to be replaced in the correct order.\n\n_Bible-Reading Lessons._--Many scholars read the Bible wretchedly;\nthey have never been taught how. If this is the case with your class,\nhave them read the lesson, verse about, before you discuss it. After\nthe reading, criticise it, and have them repeat it.\n\n_Two Bibles._--If the scholars will not bring their Bibles to\nschool,--and the boys especially are likely to think it will look\n\"goody-goody,\"--the next best plan is to give each of them a second\nBible for his own use during the school hour.\n\n_Marked Bibles._--Teach the scholars to mark their Bibles, writing,\nfor instance, the \"key-word\" at the beginning of each book;\nunderscoring the leading sentence of a chapter; marking with red all\npassages referring to Christ as our Saviour; writing a P after every\npromise; \"railroading,\" or connecting with a neatly drawn line,\nphrases that are antithetical or mutually explanatory, etc. One set of\ncolored inks will answer for the class. The scholars will delight in\nthe work, it will induce them to bring their Bibles to school, and\nwill teach them how to use the Book.\n\n_Bible Dialogues._--Where the lesson text includes conversation, get\nthe scholars to read it in dialogue form, or to come with it thus\nwritten out.\n\n_Home Bible-Reading._--The school may be set to reading the Bible at\nhome, if lists of readings for each day of the week are written on\ncards by the teachers, and given out, to be returned, signed, in token\nthat the reading has been accomplished.\n\n_A Divided Primary Department._--In large schools, where the\nsuperintendent of the primary department teaches the lesson for ten or\nfifteen minutes, and then hands the classes over to her assistant\nteachers, it is best for those teachers to spend their time in\neliciting from the children, by questions, the facts and truths just\ntaught them. Thus you will make sure of something gained.\n\n_A Week-Day Meeting._--It has been proved possible to sustain, in\nconnection with a primary department, a week-day meeting for special\nand supplementary teaching, including singing, mission studies, and\nBible history and geography.\n\n_Introducing Prayer._--This little verse, recited in concert, is used\nin many primary departments just before the prayer service:\n\n      \"We fold our hands that we may be\n      From all our work and play set free;\n      We close our eyes that we may see\n      Nothing to take our thoughts from thee;\n      We bow our heads as we draw near\n      The King of kings, our Father dear.\"\n\n_The Essentials._--Every child, before leaving the primary department,\nshould know the Commandments, the Beatitudes, the Twenty-third Psalm,\nthe Apostles' Creed or some simple statement of Christian faith, the\nbooks of the Bible by name and order and something of their origin,\nthe principal features of the map of Palestine, the chief events in\nChrist's life. Some of the Old Testament history will of course be\nadded,--creation, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David, Solomon.\n\n_Primary Prayers._--No prayer for the children is so good as prayer by\nthe children. Ask them, one after the other, to name things for which\nthey are grateful. Then give them the formula, \"I thank thee, Lord, for\n...,\" and let them offer prayers of thanksgiving for what they have\nmentioned. Again, ask each to tell one thing he really wants, and follow\nwith prayers of petition, with the formulas, \"Help me, dear Jesus, to be\n...,\" or, \"Give me, dear Jesus, ...\" Teach short Bible prayers. Offer\nlonger prayers in brief sentences, which the children reverently repeat\nafter you. For example: \"Our dear heavenly Father, ... we thank thee for\nthis beautiful day, ... for our homes and fathers and mothers, ... for\nour sisters and brothers and friends, ... and all that thou hast given\nus to make life happy.... Teach us to be helpful to those that are\nwithout these blessings.... Make us more kind and patient.... Help us to\ndo everything thou dost want us to do.... For Jesus' sake. Amen.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE WORKS OF AMOS R. WELLS\n\n\n=ROLLICKING RHYMES FOR YOUNGSTERS=\n\n    Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. 12mo, cloth, net $1.00.\n\n    Mr. Wells is well known already as a versatile author. Now he\n    comes to the front as a brilliant verse-maker for young folk. Some\n    of these rhymes have already won their way through the foremost\n    magazines, but others here see the light for the first time. The\n    inimitable juvenile illustrator Mr. Bridgman, has here done some\n    of his best work. Poet and Artist have thus combined to make this\n    the most acceptable volume of children's poems since \"A Child's\n    Garden of Verses.\"\n\n=THE CHEER BOOK=\n\n    A Store of Daily Optimism. \"_The best year book is a cheer book._\"\n    A quotation, verse or prose from different authors, for each day\n    of the year, 12mo, cloth, net $1.00.\n\n=SUNDAY SCHOOL SUCCESS=\n\n    12mo, cloth, gilt top, $1.25.\n\n=THREE YEARS WITH THE CHILDREN=\n\n    12mo, cloth, $1.25.\n\n    \"The talk abounds in the happiest kind of illustrations from the\n    things of everyday life, which children will readily understand,\n    applied with aptness and skill.\"--_Worcester Spy._\n\n=A BUSINESS MAN'S RELIGION=\n\n    16mo, cloth, 50c.\n\n=WHEN THOU HAST SHUT THY DOOR=\n\n    Morning and Evening Meditations for a Month. _3d edition._ Long\n    16mo, cloth, 50c.\n\n=BUSINESS=\n\n    A Plain Talk with Men and Women who Work. 12mo, decorated; boards,\n    30c.\n\n=SOCIAL EVENINGS=\n\n    A Collection of Entertainments. 16mo, cloth, net 35c.\n\n=NUTSHELL MUSINGS=\n\n    Counsels for the Quiet Hour. 18mo, cloth, 25c.\n\n\n  FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\n  New York      Chicago      Toronto\n\n\n\n\nFor Work Among Children\n\n\n    =Practical Primary Plans.= For Sabbath School Teachers. By Israel\n    P. Black. Illustrated with diagrams. 16mo, cloth, $1.00.\n\n    =Object Lessons for Junior Work.= Practical Suggestions, Object\n    Lessons, and Picture Stories. By Ella N. Wood, 16mo, cloth, with\n    designs and illustrations, 50 cents.\n\n    =The Children's Prayer.= By Rev. James Wells, D.D. Addresses to\n    the Young on the Lord's Prayer. 16mo, cloth, 75 cents.\n\n    =Bible Stories Without Names.= By Rev. Harry Smith, M.A. With\n    questions at the end of each chapter and the answers in a separate\n    booklet. 16mo, cloth, 75 cents.\n\n    =Object Lessons for Children=; or, Hooks and Eyes, Truth Linked to\n    Sight. Illustrated. By Rev. C. H. Tyndall, Ph.D., A.M. _2d\n    edition._ 12mo, cloth, $1.25.\n\n    =Attractive Truths in Lesson and Story.= By Mrs. A. M. Scudder.\n    Introduction by Rev. F. E. Clark, D.D. _3d thousand._ 8vo, cloth,\n    $1.25.\n\n    =Pictured Truth.= A Handbook of Blackboard and Object Teaching. By\n    Rev. R. F. Y. Pierce. Introduction by R. H. Conwell, D.D. With\n    illustrations by the author. _3d thousand._ 12mo, cloth, $1.25.\n\n    =Children's Meetings, and How to Conduct Them.= By Lucy J. Rider\n    and Nellie M. Carman. Introduction by Bishop J. H. Vincent. Cloth,\n    illustrated, _net_, $1.00; paper covers, _net_, 50 cents.\n\n    =Talks to Children.= By Rev. T. T. Eaton, D.D., with introduction\n    by Rev. John A. Broadus, D.D., LL.D., 16mo, cloth, $1.00.\n\n    =Conversion of Children.= By Rev. E. P. Hammond. A practical\n    volume, replete with incident and illustration. Suggestive,\n    important, and timely. Cloth, 75 cents. paper cover, 30 cents.\n\n    =Gospel Pictures and Story Sermons for Children.= By Major D. W.\n    Whittle. Profusely illustrated. _47th thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 30\n    cents, net; paper, 15 cents.\n\n    =Seed for Spring-time Sowing.= A Wall Roll for the use of Primary,\n    Sabbath School and Kindergarten Teachers. Compiled by Mrs. Robert\n    Pratt. 75 cents.\n\n  Fleming H. Revell Company\n  NEW YORK: 158 Fifth Avenue CHICAGO: 63 Washington Street\n  TORONTO: 27 Richmond Street, W.\n\n\n\n\nThe Home and Children\n\n\n    =Child Culture in the Home.= By Martha B. Mosher. 12mo, cloth,\n    $1.00.\n\n    \"Rarely has so helpful a book on the moral education of children\n    appeared. The emotions, the senses, the will, as well as the\n    training of the habits of the child and methods of training, are all\n    considered.\"--_The Outlook._\n\n    \"It is written in a clear, straightforward manner, is rich in\n    suggestions and illustrations, and is thoroughly wholesome in\n    counsel.\"--_Cumberland Presbyterian._\n\n    =Studies in Home and Child-Life.= By Mrs. S. M. I. Henry. _Eighth\n    thousand_, 12mo, cloth, $1.00.\n\n    \"It is clear, concise and vigorous throughout, and has the charm of\n    Mother love and God love from first to last. We cannot conceive of a\n    more helpful manual than this would be in the hands of young\n    parents, and indeed of all who have to do with children.\"--_The\n    Union Signal._\n\n    \"The book is one we can heartily commend to every father and mother\n    to read and re-read, and ponder over and read again.\"--_The\n    Observer._\n\n    =Child Culture; or, The Science of Motherhood.= By Mrs. Hannah\n    Whitall Smith. _3d edition_, 16mo, decorated boards, 30 cents.\n\n    \"We have read nothing from the pen of this gifted woman which we\n    have more enjoyed than this wisely-written booklet, as spiritual as\n    it is practical, and as full of common sense as of exalted\n    sentiment. Any mother having prayerfully read this heart message of\n    a true woman will be a better mother.\"--_Cumberland Presbyterian._\n\n    =The Children for Christ.= By Rev. Andrew Murray, D.D. Thoughts for\n    Christian Parents on the Consecration of the Home Life. 12mo, cloth,\n    $1.00.\n\n    \"The author seems to have had a Divine vocation in writing this\n    book, and thousands of parents ought to derive blessings from it for\n    their children.\"--_The Evangelist._\n\n    =Home Duties.= Practical Talks on the Amenities of the Home. By Rev.\n    R. T. Cross. 12mo, paper, 15 cents; cloth, 30 cents, net.\n\n    CONTENTS: Duties of Husbands. Duties of Wives. Duties of Parents.\n    Duties of Children. Duties of Brothers and Sisters. The Duty of\n    Family Worship. The Method of Family Worship. A Home for Every\n    Family and How to Get It.\n\n    \"A model of what can be done in so brief a space.\"--_The\n    Independent._\n\n  Fleming H. Revell Company\n  NEW YORK: 158 Fifth Avenue CHICAGO: 63 Washington Street\n  TORONTO: 154 Yonge Street\n\n\n\n\nTALES OF THE NORTH BY\n\nEGERTON R. YOUNG\n\n\n=My Dogs in the Northland.=\n\n    Profusely illustrated. 12mo, cloth, $1.25 net. Experiences with\n    Eskimo and St. Bernard dogs, covering years of sledge travel in\n    the frozen wilds of British America. An exciting story in which\n    the marvels of dog instinct, intelligence and strength play the\n    chief part. Mr. Young proves in a most entertaining and\n    instructive way that each dog, just as much as a person, has his\n    own individual character, and must be dealt with accordingly.\n    Terrible perils, wonderful escapes and sudden emergencies mix with\n    the most comical situations.\n\n=On the Indian Trail.=\n\n    Stories of Missionary Experiences among the Cree and the Saulteaux\n    Indians. Stories of Mission. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.\n\n    \"He has a happy and often amusingly quaint way of describing the\n    incidents and surroundings of frontier life. His cheerful, almost\n    merry, temper, while recounting the devices resorted to in\n    enduring or mastering privations and dangers are stimulating and\n    instructive.\"--_The Watchman._\n\n=The Apostle of the North, James Evans.=\n\n    With twenty illustrations by J. E. Laughlin. 12mo, cloth, $1.25.\n\n    \"A fresh theme is presented here--the life of a missionary in\n    Upper Canada, and the northward regions as far as Athabasca Lake\n    and even beyond. Young people, usually not attracted to missionary\n    literature, will be interested in the book. It is well\n    illustrated.\"--_The Outlook._\n\n  FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\n  NEW YORK      CHICAGO      TORONTO\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\n\nPage 37 - \"bioggraphy\" changed to \"biography\". (... low plane of mere\nfacts, history, biography, when it should be ...)\n\nPage 112 - Diacritical marks left in \"cooperate\" and \"zoology\" left as\nprinted.\n\nPage 271 - \"degress\" changed to \"degrees\". (... Christ's university,\nthe highest of all degrees, Masters of ...)\n\n\"every-day\" and \"everyday\", \"new-comers\" and \"newcomers\", \"note-book\"\nand \"notebook\", \"practise\" and \"practice\" are left as printed.\n\nReformatted the advertisements for plain text.","title":"Sunday-School Success: A Book of Practical Methods for Sunday-School Teachers and Officers","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":67542}