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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sunday-School Success, by Amos R. Wells
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Sunday-School Success
+       A Book of Practical Methods for Sunday-School Teachers and Officers
+
+Author: Amos R. Wells
+
+Release Date: December 19, 2011 [EBook #38346]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUNDAY-SCHOOL SUCCESS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charlene Taylor, Douglas L Alley, III and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Sunday-School Success
+
+
+  Sunday-School Success
+
+  A Book of Practical Methods
+  for Sunday-School Teachers
+  and Officers
+
+  By
+
+  Amos R. Wells
+  Author of "Business," "When Thou Hast Shut Thy
+  Door," "Social Evenings," etc.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+  NEW YORK      CHICAGO      TORONTO
+  Fleming H. Revell Company
+  Publishers of Evangelical Literature
+
+
+
+
+  Copyright, 1897, by
+  FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
+
+  THE NEW YORK TYPE-SETTING COMPANY
+
+  THE CAXTON PRESS
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+In these pages I have described the methods of the most successful
+teachers and Sunday-schools I have known. While a large part of the
+book is the direct fruit of my own experience in Sabbath and secular
+schools, it sets forth, as every teacher will understand, what I have
+learned from my failures rather than from my successes.
+
+Though the volume has something to say on all the great Sunday-school
+problems, it does not pretend to be a complete manual; indeed, who
+could prepare one on so stupendous a theme? If it justifies its
+appearance among the admirable treatises already published for
+Sunday-school workers, it will be because it presents with frankness
+the methods found helpful by an average teacher, who never had charge
+of a large school or a large class, but in district school, small
+college, and small Sunday-school has struggled with the practical
+problems of a teacher, and in some of them at least, like Sentimental
+Tommy, has "found a way."
+
+A large number of these chapters have appeared in the "Sunday-school
+Times," and others in the "Sunday-school Journal" of the Methodists,
+the "Pilgrim Teacher" of the Congregationalists, the "Westminster
+Teacher" of the Presbyterians, the "Baptist Teacher," and the "Golden
+Rule." I am grateful to these periodicals for permission to include
+this material in my book.
+
+  AMOS R. WELLS.
+
+  BOSTON, September, 1897.
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+                                                     PAGE
+
+      I. THE TEACHER'S CROWN                            9
+
+     II. WHO SHOULD TEACH IN THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL?        14
+
+    III. PREPARING THE LESSON                          21
+
+     IV. SOMETHING ABOUT TEACHERS' MEETINGS            32
+
+      V. A TEACHER WITH A SCHEDULE                     39
+
+     VI. MY LESSON CHART                               42
+
+    VII. THE VALUE OF A MONOTESSARON                   46
+
+   VIII. GETTING ATTENTION                             52
+
+     IX. KEEPING ATTENTION                             57
+
+      X. THE IMPORTANCE OF QUESTIONING                 64
+
+     XI. A GOOD QUESTION                               69
+
+    XII. INSPIRING QUESTIONS                           75
+
+   XIII. TRIGGER-TEACHING                              80
+
+    XIV. GALVANIC TEACHING                             85
+
+     XV. SERIAL TEACHING                               89
+
+    XVI. TEACHING THE PSALMS                           95
+
+   XVII. THOSE TEMPERANCE AND MISSIONARY LESSONS      104
+
+  XVIII. TOPICAL LESSONS                              114
+
+    XIX. INTRODUCING THOUGHTS                         119
+
+     XX. ILLUSTRATIONS AND APPLICATIONS               125
+
+    XXI. RIGHTEOUS PADDING                            130
+
+   XXII. THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND THE NEWSPAPER          134
+
+  XXIII. ON TAKING THINGS FOR GRANTED                 139
+
+   XXIV. UTILIZING THE LATE SCHOLAR                   143
+
+    XXV. SIDE-TRACKING THE TEACHER                    146
+
+   XXVI. THE PROBLEM OF THE VISITOR                   150
+
+  XXVII. "UNDER PETTICOAT GOVERNMENT"                 154
+
+ XXVIII. THE TEACHER'S THREE GRACES                   160
+
+   XXIX. SOMETHING TO BELONG TO                       163
+
+    XXX. THROUGH EYE-GATE                             167
+
+   XXXI. FOUNDATION WORK                              178
+
+  XXXII. THE TRIAL BALANCE                            193
+
+ XXXIII. AT THE HELM                                  201
+
+  XXXIV. THE SUPERINTENDENT'S CHANCE                  209
+
+   XXXV. THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND THE WEATHER            213
+
+  XXXVI. A PROFITABLE PICNIC                          217
+
+ XXXVII. A SINGING SUNDAY-SCHOOL                      221
+
+XXXVIII. A PRAYING SUNDAY-SCHOOL                      227
+
+  XXXIX. S. S. AND C. E.                              233
+
+     XL. TEACHERS IN 8VO                              241
+
+    XLI. AROUND THE COUNCIL FIRE                      256
+
+   XLII. THE INCORPORATION OF IDEAS                   267
+
+  XLIII. FROM A SUPERINTENDENT'S NOTEBOOK             272
+
+   XLIV. FROM A TEACHER'S NOTEBOOK                    287
+
+
+
+
+Sunday-School Success
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+The Teacher's Crown
+
+
+In one of those dreams which are truer than waking there passed before
+me a long line of the Sunday-school teachers I have known. One after the
+other they appeared--those that had taught my childish lips to repeat
+the Bible words, those that had led my youth into the opening glories of
+the International Lessons, those that had put to rest the rising doubts
+of the young man and clinched his faith to the Rock of ages; those,
+also, of less blessed memory, whom I knew in early or later years, that
+had done none of these things, but other good things not so good.
+
+And I noted in astonishment, as each came into view, that all were
+decked with diverse crowns. I had not looked long before I saw that
+these crowns were not arbitrary and artificial, but sprung from the
+very substance of the character of each. They had all received their
+reward, but according to their deeds.
+
+First came a teacher whom I remembered merely as an eloquent talker. His
+words were deftly chosen, his sentences smoothly formed. His teaching
+was a charming harangue, bright with metaphor, flashing with sparkling
+parables. I loved to listen to him. I was as proud of him as he was of
+himself. To be sure, the only good thing he ever did for me was to
+inspire in me the vain desire to become an equally eloquent talker, but
+yet I was sorry he had not received a nicer crown. It looked very
+beautiful, as if it were thickly studded with lovely pearls richly
+iridescent in the sun; but when he came near I saw that each pearl was a
+little bubble swollen from a reservoir within. These bubbles were
+bursting all over the crown, fresh ones ever taking their place. It was
+a very pretty sight, yet a very trivial crown, and I was sorry for him.
+
+There were several worthy teachers in the line whom I remembered as
+careful instructors in Bible history. They had every date at tongue's
+end, knew the order of the books and their contents, the relationships
+of the prominent characters to each other, all details of place and
+customs. They could repeat Bible verses by the yard, and gave prizes for
+such feats of unreasoning memory. They were mechanical, but thorough and
+useful. They had taught me how to dig into the Bible and study it as
+hard as I would study calculus. I was grateful to them for this, though
+they did no more, and so was rather sorry to observe their frail crowns.
+They were all of paper, neatly folded and plaited, and as I came nearer
+I saw that each crown was made up of leaves of the Bible.
+
+I saw there also two or three teachers who had always taught with a
+sad countenance, teaching, not because they loved to teach, but
+because it was their duty to. "These," I thought, "will be joyful, now
+that their distasteful task is over and their reward has come"; but
+when I could see their faces clearly they looked mournful as ever.
+Their crowns were ebon black, pointed with little urns and lined with
+crape, and they often shifted them, pressing their hands gloomily to
+their brows, as if the crowns were very ill fitting and uncomfortable.
+They wore them with a martyr's air.
+
+There were several teachers whom I remembered with gratitude because
+they had been so careful, in teaching, to emphasize always the
+fundamental doctrines of Christianity. These doctrines were the warp
+and woof of the solid fabric of their lessons. Over and over, in the
+same set phrases, they pressed those great truths, until, strive as
+one would, one could never forget them. But they never taught me the
+relation between these blessed doctrines and my own life. For years
+the formulas they had taught me remained for me mere words. And so I
+was not at all surprised to find their symbolic crowns solid and rich,
+but not attractive, for they were thickly set with jewels in the
+rough. Here and there, from beneath the incrusting stone, some
+magnificent gem would flash out, but the beauty and splendor of most
+of them were hidden.
+
+In my fantastic dream I saw another, who had been a good teacher and a
+very poor one by turns. His piety and zeal were subject to great
+fluctuations, and a Sunday's teaching from him, carefully thought out,
+full of wise helpfulness, would be followed by a fortnight or more of
+questions read out of a question-book, lifeless and mechanical. I was
+prepared, therefore, to understand the meaning of his crown, which
+bore many beautiful gems, but these gems gave intermittent light,
+flashing out for a moment with most brilliant hues, then suddenly
+growing dull and dark.
+
+One alone of all I saw in my strange dream wore a looking-glass crown.
+He had done his Sunday-school teaching, I had always feared, for the
+praise of men, to be seen of them. His attitude, his pompous words and
+gestures, irresistibly suggested to me always the posturing of an
+actor before a looking-glass. And so his crown was all a
+mirror--clear, bright, beautiful, but mirroring a looking-glass soul.
+
+And now, closing the long procession, who are these I see? A
+thrice-blessed band, to me ever sacred. There is the cheery little
+matron whose brisk kindliness gave charm to my introduction into
+Sunday-school life. There is the quiet and low-voiced lady whose
+gentle teachings carried me many a step toward my Saviour. There is
+the thoughtful and saintly woman whose prayers for the school-boy
+went up, I know, night and morning; whose urgings were so earnest,
+brave, and wise. And there is the noble-hearted man, familiar with a
+young collegian's perplexities, sympathetic as a woman, trustful as a
+hero, strong and uplifting in word and friendly deed. I see them all,
+and from their glorified heads a wonder shining, a crown of light,
+beautiful as the love-gleam from a mother's eye. And every one of the
+crowding star-points of those crowns is for a life won to the happy
+service of the Master.
+
+As I gazed with tear-dimmed eyes at the dear vision, an angel stood at
+my side and asked me, "What are all these thou hast seen?" "Forms," I
+answered, "of Christ's teachers I have met; of my own teachers, these
+last, all crowned as they have taught." "Yes," answered the angel, "but
+you have seen more than that. You have seen among them the crown you
+yourself will wear when your teaching days are over. Which shall it be?"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+Who Should Teach in the Sunday-School?
+
+
+The Master, who loves little children, stood in the Sunday-school door
+and cried to all that came up, "Who will teach my children about me?"
+And they all with one consent began to make excuse.
+
+The preacher passing by said with conviction, "I have my sermons to
+preach, and Sunday-school work distracts my thought from them." Then
+answered the Master: "Crucify your pride in words, and seek the glory
+of deeds. This is your true sermon, to bring me close to human hearts.
+Thus did I most gladly preach, when on earth, to small classes and not
+to throngs. Thus should my ministers most gladly preach, face to face,
+one to half a dozen. You have many pulpits more effective than the
+elegantly furnished one to which you mount by three steps. They are
+the bedside, the wayside, the prayer-meeting table, the Sunday-school
+chair. Lovest thou me? Feed my lambs."
+
+The teacher, when invited, shook his head with a sigh. "I teach all
+the week, and I am so tired! Why should I not rest on Sunday?" Then
+answered the Master: "The truest rest is a little change in work. Your
+Sunday-school and day-school will invigorate each other. It is I who
+have given you the sweet power of leading young lives. Should you not
+use it in leading them to me? Have you not seen how teaching your
+scholars in holy things the first day of the week draws them closer to
+you in your secular teaching of the other days? Do you not rejoice in
+the opportunity this work gives you to get an insight into your
+scholars' characters and mold them more directly than by the
+roundabout route of grammar and geography? Indeed, if I excuse any
+from my Sunday-school, you, to whom I have intrusted in especial
+measure the teaching gift, must not be the one."
+
+The business man rejected the proposal with emphasis, saying: "As a
+matter of course, Sunday-school teaching is quite out of my line. My
+days are kept in close contact with dull matter, with cloth and coal
+and wood and iron. I have no time for books, except day-books and
+ledgers. My mechanical, routine business quite unfits me for religious
+teaching." To that the Master replied, smiling kindly: "I was a
+carpenter, my son, but holy thoughts kept pace with my plane, and firm
+conclusions were clinched with my hammer. And at evening, work done, I
+found time for prayer and meditation and calling young children about
+me to talk with them. Your contact with men and things makes you one
+of the most valuable of Sunday-school teachers. What parables are
+acted all around you, in nature, in your work, in the lives of your
+helpers! What illustrations lie heaped up in your business experience,
+ready to your hand! Most of these young people in my Sunday-school
+will choose some business like yours. How happy for them, then, if
+they could have you to tell them beforehand of its perils, strengthen
+them for its difficulties, point them the road to success and true
+happiness! No; I can better miss preacher and teacher from my
+Sunday-school than you men of affairs."
+
+Then came the care-worn housewife. "Master," said she, "I am perplexed
+and troubled about many things. My days, and often my nights, are
+crowded with a woman's myriad unheralded tasks. The children are ever
+with me. Why need I go to Sunday-school to teach them? Why not each
+home the mother's Sunday-school?" "Why not each home the
+prayer-meeting?" the Master asked her. "There come from numbers an
+interest, a help and inspiration, which you cannot get in the holiest
+family circle, and which you dare not miss. And what of the little
+ones whose mothers are less faithful than you? Have you no love to
+spare for them? I have implanted in the very nature of you mothers my
+most earnest call to Sunday-school teaching. What is it? The greatest
+love of little children."
+
+And then came up two young people, a youth and a maiden, and said to
+the Master: "We are too young. We have had as yet no wonderful
+experience. We know nothing of death, of disease, of great sorrows, of
+heavy responsibilities. We are not wise in these high matters. We do
+not understand theology. We cannot teach." "Why," answered the Master,
+"neither do my little ones in the Sunday-school want to know about
+death or disease or heavy responsibilities. I would not have them
+taught what you think of as theology. But you are wiser than they. You
+see beyond their little worries and mysteries. Help them to your own
+measure of grace and strength, and as you teach and they grow, will
+not you grow, too, for further teaching ever? No, my young man and
+maid, with your ardent and fresh-hearted zeal; you can come very close
+to my little children, and I cannot spare you from my Sunday-school."
+
+Long stood the Master there by the door of the Sunday-school, and many
+were those whom he called to the work, and many excuses were made. One
+pleaded ignorance. "But," gently questioned the Master, "have you a
+mind, to learn?" One urged timidity. "But I will be with you," said
+the Master. "There are others who can do it better," insisted one.
+"Will you not get them to do it, then?" begged the Master. "And if
+they will not do it, then you will be the best, and cannot refuse."
+
+It was not long before a strong little group stood by the Master's
+side, ready for service, and as the regular teachers of the school
+came up, the Lord of whom they taught received them lovingly, or
+sadly turned them back. As hard-faced, unsympathetic Mr. Grim would
+enter--he whom all the children fear and elders do not love; he to
+whom a boy is only the necessary inconvenient early stage of a man, of
+promise only as he can commit to memory Bible verses--when he would
+enter the Master turned him back. "You must not teach my children,"
+said the blessed One, "until you become as a little child."
+
+He barred out also Mr. Brainy, whose ideal recitation is an argument,
+and whose scholars are far more familiar with points of skeptical
+controversy than with the Bible. He would not admit Miss Tangent,
+whose sole preparation for the lesson is the culling from her book of
+extracts of choice sentiments, pretty fables, and striking bits of
+verse of mysterious relevancy, which she recites for her scholars'
+admiration, and makes them learn. He turned back also Mrs. Scold, with
+her sharp tongue and cold eyes. He rejected Mrs. Job, who taught only
+from a sense of duty, and only with a long face.
+
+But ah, the warm smile, the eager greeting, with which the Master
+welcomed the school's workers! There was Jack Manly, who had not
+waited for the desire to begin teaching, but had seen the need and
+filled it, not knowing how soon and largely the love for the work
+would come and grow. There was Lucy Gentle, who did not feel able to
+teach, yet considered, not her ability, but the need, knowing that
+duty is measured rather by the seeing eye than by the feeble hand.
+There was Mrs. Patient, who had hesitated to begin the work because of
+her ignorance of the Bible, but who by quiet and faithful study for
+her class had become a wise and thorough scholar of the Word. There
+was old Squire Greatheart, who taught a group of full-grown men and
+women whom he had gathered into a class when they were boys and girls,
+and had led ever since in hard study of God's Book.
+
+There were many others whom the Master received, of many varied
+talents, for the Sunday-school can use a wide range of powers; but all
+were alike in consciousness of their weakness compared with the
+greatness of their task, in willingness to resign their work to any
+better able who could be got to take it, in gladness to go on with it
+if their betters would not assume it, relying for success on the God
+of it. Their credentials were that they saw the need of the work, that
+they saw their own unfitness to do it, that they knew their fitness
+and power were assured when God assigned the task.
+
+Thus the Master chose his teachers and blessed them; and though there
+was no genius there, no mighty mind, no trained skill, but only humble
+readiness to serve, he poured out on them the fullness of his love and
+power, and they left the Sunday-school room ever bearing precious
+sheaves.
+
+That is the end of my parable. Oh that all might know, as we, dear
+fellow-teachers, know it, the joy of our Sunday-school ministry! Then
+superintendents would have no search to find teachers, no trouble to
+keep them. Then to the enlarging band of teachers would come a
+constantly enlarging band of scholars, and all together would soon
+bring the multitudes of the world into the host of the redeemed.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+Preparing the Lesson
+
+
+Some teachers think that preparing the lesson is merely the loading of
+a cannon with powder, that it may go off with a big bang in the
+presence of admiring scholars. And the more powder, the bigger bang.
+So they load up with scintillating similes, and pretty parables, and
+striking stories.
+
+Other teachers have set up some historical or theological or ethical
+target-board off at a distance from their class, and load their cannon
+with ball, that their scholars may see how accurate is their aim and
+how fairly they can hit the bull's-eye. So they prepare a mass of
+facts and figures, arguments and evidences.
+
+But the wise teacher rejects _in toto_ the cannon notion. He sees in
+each lesson a ledge of that grand mountain of life--of Christ-serving,
+strong life--up to which he must lead his little band, on which he
+must plant their feet so firmly that they may not slip back during the
+six days' interval, but may be ready for the next fair terrace, and
+the next.
+
+So the wise teacher, in preparing the lesson, knows that he must first
+reach that ledge himself; must repeat the journey over and over until
+he has learned the easiest way for little feet; must make ladders with
+rounds close together; must spread sand on slippery places and stretch
+ropes along the edge of the cliff. He, too, lays in supplies of
+stories and pretty parables, not, however, in the form of powder, to
+make a show, but (if this is not too severe a twist of the simile) as
+dainty food to keep the young travelers fresh and hearty. He, too, has
+facts and figures and arguments and evidences, not, however, as
+cannon-balls, but in the shape of iron bridges and railings and ropes,
+that the way may be solid and safe.
+
+There are some teachers that do not study at all. It is as if a
+will-o'-the-wisp should undertake to guide one on an important
+journey. Those teachers are going they know not whither, over they
+know not what road, for what purpose they have not the slightest idea,
+and land always in a bog.
+
+Emphatically, the teacher that is not always climbing himself will
+leave his class on a very dead level indeed. He should be reaching
+down and pulling them up, but he is soon compelled to stand where they
+are and push, and ends with believing his "level best" to lie along
+the smooth road of the easy-going valley.
+
+The teacher who ceases to grow ceases to teach. That is why a
+Sunday-school lesson cannot be crammed. That is why preparation for it
+must extend all through the week. Growth cannot be ordered offhand.
+It comes from Father Time's shop, and he is a deliberate workman. You
+will lose your hold on your class if each Sunday hour does not begin
+with you a little above them, and end with them at your level. This
+advance cannot be won Saturday night, or during the space between the
+first and second bells for Sunday-school. Such a spasmodic leap ahead
+will leave you too much out of breath even to tell them to come on.
+
+Dropping metaphor, of which we may have had too much, there are several
+substantial reasons why the Sunday-school preparation should extend over
+the seven days of the week. Thus only can you utilize in the Master's
+work odd bits of time, your Bible on the bureau while you dress, in your
+hands on the street-cars or while you wait for the meat to be cooked.
+There are many Bible verses which should be carefully committed to
+memory in connection with each lesson, as the teacher's best reliance
+for commentary and inspiration. These verses should be running through
+our heads as we run on all our six-day tasks, and should sing themselves
+to all our labor-tunes. But chiefly, it is only in this way that we can
+accumulate hints, and grow into the truths of the lesson by experience.
+With the lesson theme for a nucleus, it is astounding to see what a
+wealth of illustration, of wise and helpful comment, each day's living
+thrusts upon us. Every event is a picture of some truth which needs only
+a sensitive plate to be photographed forever. That sensitive plate is a
+mind which is studying that particular truth.
+
+How much time do you spend in studying your Sunday-school lesson? You
+see that no true teacher can answer that question, any more than the
+poet can tell how long he is in writing his poem. This is the
+inspirational part of the teacher's work, and not the mechanical part,
+and his brooding will have issue of life just in proportion as the
+Holy Spirit dwells in his heart. But along with this lofty work must
+go lower processes, of which it is far easier to speak. I mean those
+lower processes which alone we are likely to call "studying." Permit
+me to lay down a programme for the study of a Sunday-school lesson.
+
+To begin with, let it be always with pencil in hand. You have seen
+iron filings scattered in rough confusion over a sheet of glass. And
+then, when the magnet was placed beneath, you have seen those ugly
+bits of metal dance into the daintiest designs, fairy curves and most
+symmetrical figures. Such a delightful magnet is a pencil or a pen for
+all the disordered thoughts and fancies of our brains. Next to the
+Bible, the Sunday-school teacher's inseparable companion should be a
+lead-pencil.
+
+What book is nearest you while you study your lesson? Teachers may be
+classified finally by their answers to that question. Is it the
+commentary, the atlas, the Bible dictionary, the concordance, the
+question-book, or the Bible? If the commentary, your comments will
+fall fruitless to the ground. If the atlas, your class will wander
+nowhither. If the Bible dictionary, your diction will have no issue in
+deed. If the concordance, your class will know little from you of that
+concord which passes understanding. If the question-book, the value of
+all your study is at least questionable. No; let me emphasize this
+statement: _Not a single lesson help should be touched until
+everything possible to be learned about the lesson from the Bible
+directly has been learned_.
+
+For this you will need two Bibles at least, one to be kept open at the
+lesson, one to turn back and forth in pursuit of references and
+information. The first must be a King James reference Bible; the
+second, the noble translation of Victoria's reign. Thus furnished,
+read the lesson. As you read, examine your mind. What questions assail
+it? Those moments are full of matter. Those questions are the clues to
+the lesson labyrinth. Those perplexities constitute your programme. "I
+wonder where this place is?" you will say to yourself. "Who was this
+man, and what was his past history, that he did this deed? What does
+this odd phrase mean? Is that sentiment a just one? Is that act a
+model for us modern folk?"
+
+As these difficulties come up in your slow and thoughtful reading, jot
+them down, and the resultant half-sheet of scribbling means half the
+work accomplished. But hold! Did you read through a child's eye as
+well as your own? Did you read in the plural number? If not, you must
+read the lesson once more, with a poet's imagination noting this time
+the difficulties which you strode easily over, but which would soon
+trip up little feet. When you write down such points on your paper,
+underscore them. And underscore them again. A vast deal of preparation
+for teaching is fruitless because it is made in the singular number.
+
+The next stage in our lesson study will be to answer our questions.
+Points in regard to antecedents and motives will be answered by the
+chapters intervening between the last lesson and this. Those should next
+be read. Many difficulties concerning customs and laws will be cleared
+up by parallel passages and the references of your reference Bible.
+Those same references will collate for you helpful utterances on the
+ethical problems of the passage. Comparatively few people know, by the
+way, how nearly a reference Bible allows one to dispense with the Bible
+dictionary, Bible index, concordance, and commentary. I am continually
+astonished to see how few are the questions which may be asked about a
+passage that the Bible itself does not answer if closely scrutinized.
+
+"But all this is a waste of time," you object. "In the lesson helps
+all of these points are stated and discussed, fully, methodically,
+concisely. Others have done this work for me, anticipating all my
+difficulties. Why need I repeat their labor?" Surely not merely to be
+original. There's too much original work crying to be done to waste a
+moment in duplicating unnecessarily work already done for us. But the
+Bible study cannot be done for you. It must end in familiarity with
+the Bible, in appreciation of it, in a wide-awake understanding of the
+problems it presents, to be obtained in no way except by original
+work. If difficulties are solved before we have felt them to be
+difficulties, if customs and phrases are explained before we have
+discovered the need of an explanation, and places located before we
+fall to groping after them, it is the old story of "light won, light
+lost." And so I wish to repeat that the one proper commencement of
+study of a Bible lesson is the Bible, and the Bible, and the Bible;
+once to note our own questions, once to imagine our scholars'
+questions, and once, in large measure, here, there, and everywhere,
+concordance, index, references, and atlas at our elbow, to answer, if
+it may be, from the Book itself all the questions it has raised.
+
+And when this is done, even if every question has been answered, open
+arms to the commentaries and the lesson helps, the wisest and richest
+you can find, and as many as you have time for. Why? Because twenty
+heads are better than one; because the Hebrew and Greek and travel and
+debate and experience and insight and spirituality of our best
+thinkers will suggest new points of view, add a world of illustration,
+may even upset some of your conclusions. Stand sturdily, however, in
+the presence of these learned doctors. You will be tempted to throw
+away your own honest results and adopt their wise and brilliant
+homilies. If you do, your class will laugh at you, or yawn. You will
+be giving them, not your life, but your rhetoric. These helps are for
+inspiration, not respiration and circulation. They are for hints
+toward originality, not hindrances. They are useful in strengthening
+your own thought, vivifying your own feeling, confirming your own
+conclusions, opening new vistas for your own exploration, suggesting
+methods for your own practice.
+
+If these two lines of preparation have been faithfully carried out, you
+will by this time have accumulated a mass of material which will be
+confusing, and the third step is to reduce it to order. Long practice
+has convinced me of the utility of the plan of writing out questions.
+Whether these questions are used in the class or not, they clarify the
+subject marvelously, and the mere drill of writing them adds fifty per
+cent. to the teaching power of the instructor. When I began trying it, I
+was astonished to see how many thoughts which seemed to me quite
+promising and bright could not be approached by the interrogative mood.
+I wanted to lead up to this simile, that illustration, this theory, that
+pretty idea. I would soon find that my questions refused to lead up to
+them naturally. Why? Simply because these fancies answered no query
+likely to rise, solved no difficulty likely to suggest itself, and were
+mere adventitious decorations wherewith I had been accustomed to load my
+Sunday-school teaching, to show off.
+
+My attempt at formulating questions soon taught me, too, that I had been
+indulging in monologue. I found it unexpectedly difficult to frame a
+question--one, that is, which required the scholar to do some thinking
+to answer. I discovered that I had been in the habit of propounding
+"yes" and "no" queries, merely as excuses for five-minute orations.
+
+Then, too, when I began to put down in black and white just what I
+expected to put into that precious half-hour, I wondered what I had
+been doing with it hitherto. By my previous methods two or three
+little notions would keep me going through the whole thirty minutes;
+but ideas do shrink so when you put them on paper with a question-mark
+at the end! It is wonderful how many questions can be asked and
+answered in half an hour. I gained a new conception of the value of
+time, and of the teaching value of study hours.
+
+In writing out these questions, then, the first thing to be thought of
+is that consideration with which a good teacher will begin his lesson,
+but a poor teacher will close: "What is the main teaching of the
+lesson?"--as important, this "main teaching," as the compass to the
+sailor. What particular characteristic of God's noblemen is this
+lesson to strengthen in my scholars? Every teacher should know the
+power which is given by an ultimatum; by a decision, that is, as to
+the one thing which, no matter what else it wins or fails to win, that
+lesson must accomplish. Is it to make my boys and girls more truthful,
+more brave, more cheery, more trusting? Whatever the point be, about
+that shall cluster the questions, the illustrations, the arguments.
+Countries, customs, times, history, shall be only its framework.
+There must be other points, to be sure, but merely as side excursions,
+from which we return with greater zeal to this our main quest. Those
+subordinate points we next determine, and the order in which we shall
+treat them, and then sit down to write out our questions.
+
+Does all this seem too mechanical, this writing out questions, and
+determining point by point just what results you will seek, and in
+what order? It is businesslike; it is mechanical. Why are we so afraid
+of mechanism in bringing hearts to the great Mechanic, without whom
+was nothing made that has been made? A machine is merely a contrivance
+for applying power effectively, and the only question should be, Does
+this machinery make my aim more direct, widen and deepen the range of
+my efforts? It is a grand and godlike thing to be mechanical, but it
+is a pitifully weak thing to stop with being mechanical. Machinery
+accomplishes all the work that is being done anywhere, but it is
+machinery informed by the Holy Spirit. Our lesson preparation will be
+in harmony with all of God's preparing if it is orderly, painstaking,
+and definite, binding together, however, all its labored details with
+the sweet and creative spirit of prayer. Machinery touched by prayer
+is always the machinery in which, as in the old Greek plays, the god
+descends. Nothing is mechanical, everything is poetical and spiritual,
+that can be prayed over.
+
+But will not all this take time--all this ransacking of the Bible,
+original study, writing out of questions, and formulating plans? Of
+course it will. Time is what good things are made of--time and toil.
+It would be strange if the best of good things, the sanctification of
+lives, did not take time and toil. But let us remember two facts: one,
+that this work, being thorough work, need not be done twice. Seven
+years of such Bible study as I have indicated, and what a
+magnificently trained teacher you will be, ready, all ready, for the
+next International Lesson cycle, the next Sunday-school Sabbath of
+years! We Sunday-school teachers have enlisted for life. It is so much
+wiser, then, to study for life. And in the second place, familiarity
+with this thoroughgoing way of working makes it much easier and more
+rapid than at first. We no longer have to use the concordance, but
+memory supplies passages needed for illustration. Bible customs are
+soon learned. The peculiarities of Bible language are readily
+mastered. The poetic instinct which sees parables and applications
+grows with its use until they crowd upon you and must be critically
+culled. Nothing ends easy but that which begins hard.
+
+After all, however, these are the lower motives. What matters it even
+if the preparation for this blessed work remains hard to our last
+Sabbath? Let it be the best we know, and on that last Sabbath, if God
+has given us the knowledge that even one soul has been turned to the
+supreme happiness by all our toil, we shall deem it rich reward.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+Something about Teachers' Meetings
+
+
+The teachers' meeting is not so much to get facts as to vivify and
+arrange them. The leader does not teach the lesson unless he teaches
+how to teach the lesson. This is a place for comparison.
+
+The meeting is perhaps less to make plans for the teachers than to
+stimulate them to make good plans for themselves. The gathering is not
+to listen to a lecture. You cannot make teachers, except by the
+Socratic method. A teachers' meeting is not a Bible class.
+
+The ideal teachers' meeting focuses on the work of each the helpfulness
+and skill of all. The leader, then, must put into the meeting every
+one's peculiar talent, and must draw out from the meeting for every
+one's peculiar need. And do not--as so many teachers' meetings do--let
+the teachers for the older classes run away with the evening.
+
+The right kind of teachers' meeting keeps itself up and keeps up the
+teachers. It "draws," because it is attractive. The only way to build
+up an attendance is to build up the interest of the meeting to be
+attended. Nevertheless, attention to a few bits of detail will greatly
+assist in building up the attendance. Have a constitution, a full set
+of officers, and stated business meetings. Make the teachers feel that
+they "belong." Many a teachers' meeting goes to pieces for lack of
+something to tie to. Cultivate the feeling of responsibility. Insist
+on rotation in office. Give every teacher possible some regular duty,
+if only to pass the hymn-books. Once a year at least let the teachers'
+meeting have a field day. Get up its finest programme, with a special
+view to interesting the entire church in Sunday-school work. Then
+invite the entire church to hear it. Such an open meeting should come
+just before the beginning of a new line of study.
+
+The teachers' meeting, in many small places, will be a union meeting,
+of all the evangelical churches, and sometimes of neighboring churches
+in cities. What finer close to a year's harmonious work than for all
+the teachers of this union meeting to sit down to dinner together at a
+genuine love-feast!
+
+Attendance is in many cases increased by providing a variety of
+leaders. The brightest of men becomes wearisome ere long; his methods
+grow familiar. The heart of the teachers' meeting is the programme
+committee, ever pumping in fresh blood. Arrange with neighboring towns
+for the loan or exchange of helpful leaders.
+
+There is a certain gain in a uniform programme for the hour, so that
+historical explanations, difficult exegesis, blackboard work, plans
+for the little folks, lesson analysis, and so on, may be taken up in a
+uniform order each evening. This will insure against the omission of
+any line of work.
+
+Let one teacher--a new one for each quarter--be appointed to present
+within ten or fifteen minutes an outline of work for the younger
+classes. If this teacher cannot draw, an assistant should be appointed
+who can. The remainder of the time, after these regular exercises are
+over, will be at the disposal of the leader of the evening, who will
+treat the lesson in general. Some such combination of permanent with
+changing leadership will be found exceedingly helpful and attractive.
+
+Who should lead the teachers' meeting? Teachers. Not exhorters; not
+conversational monopolists; not lecturers; not the most learned doctor
+of divinity who is not also a teacher. None of these, but teachers.
+The obscure layman, if he knows how to ask wise questions. No one for
+compliment, no one for custom, but every one for practical utility,
+for learning how to teach.
+
+See that the meeting begins on time, whether the leader is ready or not,
+and even if no audience is present. There will be an improvement next
+time. Promptness begets promptness. And let the meeting close on time,
+though in the midst of the most interesting discussion. All the better
+to leave a little interest as a nest-egg. Open with prayer. Some
+teachers' meetings also open with singing. One verse is better than two.
+
+It is useful to read the lesson text in the meeting, provided the
+reading is made to teach something. The manner should be varied. Let the
+leader request the teachers to take up the reading whenever he stops,
+and let him stop at eccentric places, to hold attention. Let the
+teachers read each verse in the King James Version, the leader
+responding with the Revision. In a passage where description or
+narrative alternates with speeches, let the leader read the speeches
+only, the audience inserting the narrative. Divide the lesson into
+sections that will analyze the thought or the story, and read these
+sections alternately, the leader prefacing each with a suggestive title.
+Divide the teachers into two portions,--right and left, front and
+back,--and let them read antiphonally. Let the leader read the entire
+lesson, injecting crisp comments carefully prepared beforehand, these
+comments being all in one line--exegetical, historical, explanatory of
+customs or of phrases. Let the leader prepare a set of questions, one to
+be answered by each verse, and to serve as an introduction to it as the
+teachers read. In studying the Gospels, whenever the lesson would be
+made clearer by it, read, instead of the regular text, the same passage
+as a monotessaron gives it, combined with all that is found in the other
+Gospels. Such ancient books as "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles" or
+"The Apocryphal Gospel of St. Peter" may often furnish a suggestive
+extract to add to this opening reading.
+
+The work of the teachers' meeting will largely be cut out for it at
+the outset, if the leader knows his business. Announce your programme,
+if you want help in carrying it out. What wonder the meeting runs off
+the leader's track, when the track is invisible to all but the leader!
+"First," says the experienced teacher, "we'll form a scheme for our
+guidance in study; second, we'll go over the story of the lesson in a
+preliminary survey; third, we'll take up the words, phrases, customs,
+and circumstances that need explanation; fourth, we'll discuss the
+best way of teaching the lesson to the younger scholars; finally,
+we'll bring out points for the older members of the school."
+
+Many meetings fray out at the end. Nothing is finished, or at best
+there are only a few hasty answers to the stereotyped question, "Now
+what do you consider the chief teachings of this lesson?" If it has
+not been made evident before the meeting was half through what are the
+chief teachings of that lesson, it surely will not be made evident by
+this hurried question, whose answers are punctuated by the donning of
+overcoats. If the leader began with a good outline, now is the time to
+clinch the discussions of the evening by repeating the outline,
+enlarged and modified as those discussions may have required. Then let
+the evening be closed reverently with a few words of earnest prayer.
+
+As to the general conduct of the meeting, probably the matter most
+necessary to be urged is the use of direct, brisk, suggestive
+questions, addressed, not to empty space, but to particular teachers.
+A question spread over a roomful is about as efficient as a bullet
+would be if fired flat enough to cover ten men. Don't be afraid to use
+proper names. Questions addressed to a crowd put a premium on
+forwardness. Call no one by name who is really too bashful to reply,
+but teachers ought to pass by that stage of timidity.
+
+A second common mistake is to run the teachers' meeting on the low
+plane of mere facts, history, biography, when it should be all aglow
+with the spiritual life. If the teachers' meeting does not touch the
+teachers' consciences, hardly will those teachers touch the
+consciences of their scholars. Let the leader ask at every turn this
+question in effect: "What need of your scholars' lives will this truth
+fit?" And he should not rest satisfied until the truth is applied in
+turn to the diverse needs of three classes--the little folks, the
+young folks, and the old folks.
+
+The leader must put himself in the place of all kinds of teachers, and
+discern their needs. He must head off unseemly and prolonged
+discussions; he must have sprightliness to keep the meeting taut; he
+must have zeal to keep the meeting warm; he must have consecration to
+keep the meeting spiritual.
+
+But the best of leaders may be thwarted by poor following. To be led
+in a teachers' meeting is an art almost as difficult as to lead. A
+skilful follower in a teachers' meeting will answer questions briefly.
+He will not commit the impertinence of giving ten times as much as is
+asked for from him, thus stealing from the meeting the sprightliness
+of nine questions and answers, even when all he says is to the point.
+He will make suggestive answers rather than exhaustive ones. His eager
+note-book and intelligent listening will be as encouraging as a
+continuous round of applause. In short, he will be anxious to do
+anything for the success of the meeting, even to the extent of sitting
+silent for fifteen minutes. And all leaders will bless him.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+A Teacher with a Schedule
+
+
+The weak point in the preparation most Sunday-school teachers make is
+their failure to prepare a schedule for their teaching--the order,
+that is, in which they shall take up and discuss the facts and lessons
+of the day's Scripture. Probably the majority of teachers begin with
+verse 1 and go stolidly through to verse 13, or as near it as the
+superintendent will permit them to get. This is teaching with a
+shovel, and not with a sieve.
+
+Wise teaching selects, marshals, brings to a focus. It excels
+haphazard teaching as far as a painting by Rembrandt excels a
+whitewashed fence. It does not permit ideas to neutralize each other.
+It has a purpose, clearly and determinedly held in view, and to this
+purpose it subordinates everything else. It knows that the
+effectiveness of the lesson depends quite as much on what is left out
+as on what is put in.
+
+Now the more ideas a teacher has, the greater need has he of a
+schedule, just as the railroad that runs most trains is in most need
+of a good time-table. Indeed, the performance of a teacher without a
+plan bears a strong resemblance to a railway collision. Ideas,
+illustrations, exhortations, bump into one another front and rear,
+telescope each other, and form at the end of the hour a disheartening
+mass of splintered fragments, with here and there a jet of steam or a
+puff of smoke. If the teacher has no schedule, the scholars on his
+lesson train will grow confused and get nowhere. Small blame to them!
+
+Imitating Paul, the wise teacher will take for his motto, "This _one_
+thing I teach." He will teach as much more as is possible, but first he
+will make absolutely sure of one thing. My own plan in connection with
+every lesson is to lay down one principal, and two or three
+subordinates. It is best to write these down on the margin of the
+quarterly, in precisely the order in which they are to be taken up. Ask
+yourself most earnestly, "What is the main lesson this Scripture is to
+teach my scholars?" Having decided on that, consider your teaching a
+success, whatever happens, if it has impressed this one truth. Leap to
+this task as swiftly as may be, even if to reach the chosen point you
+must pass hastily over the first portion of the lesson.
+
+After driving home this truth, and making sure of it, take up in turn
+your subordinates. This will require a new view of the lesson story
+that will compensate for your previous haste. And reserve some time at
+the end of the lesson for a few parting words on your main truth.
+Save for this time your most telling illustration, your most ardent
+pleading. In preparation for this get all questions and difficulties
+out of the way. Be sure, before you begin, that your watch is with the
+superintendent's, and do not permit yourself to be caught by the
+closing bell with your lesson only half way to the terminus.
+
+Some teachers are proud thus to be caught, but they should be ashamed.
+If their neighbor admits that he got over the lesson with his class,
+they are filled with amazed pity at his lack of brains. "Why, how
+_could_ you? There was so much in the lesson that I scarcely made a
+beginning."
+
+Teachers, it is a disgrace to any workman to leave behind him an
+improperly finished job; and we are, or should be, just as thorough
+workmen as any carpenter. _Select!_ One truth a Sunday means fifty-two
+truths a year, while fifty-two truths a Sunday would not mean one
+truth a year. _Plan!_ Definite results do not come from haphazard
+methods. _Finish!_ One goal reached is greater triumph than fifty
+goals started for. _Form a schedule, and carry it out!_
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+My Lesson Chart
+
+
+My recipe for a well-prepared lesson is expressed in Captain Cuttle's
+formula: "Make a note on 't."
+
+I have read the lesson text, and the text before the lesson text and
+after it. I have read the wisest commentaries I can find, and as many
+of them as I can find time for. I have "mulled" over the matter for
+myself a day or two. By this time my brain is thronged with facts and
+a-tingle with suggestions.
+
+Then, the lesson leaf or some other convenient copy of the lesson text
+before me, I construct the chart by which to make my Sabbath cruise.
+
+First, one must get out to sea; there is the introduction. How shall I
+fit this trip in with last Sabbath's voyage, and how shall I get under
+way?
+
+As I plan my introductory questions, I write at the head of the lesson
+text some word to represent each question, such as "author?" "time?"
+"place?" "circumstances?" "purpose?" "outline?"
+
+With the questions concerning the text itself, however, I do no
+writing; I simply underscore neatly those words or phrases of the text
+that will hint at the point to be raised. For example, take the verse,
+"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want," and the questions: (1)
+How was this imagery prompted by David's life? (2) What use did our
+Lord make of the same simile? (3) What comfort should we get from this
+thought in the trials and uncertainties of life? (4) How does Christ's
+shepherding keep us from want? (5) From what kind of want does it keep
+us? (6) What makes you sure of this? (7) How was all this proved true
+in David's case?
+
+As each question occurs to me, or is suggested by my reading, I
+underscore a word that henceforth stands for that question. These
+words, in the order of the questions, are: (1) "shepherd"; (2) "Lord";
+(3) "my"; (4) a curved line from "shepherd" to "I" connecting the two
+sentences; (5) "want"; (6) "shall not"; (7) "I."
+
+It will sometimes need a little thought to decide just which word will
+best represent the question, but that very thought will fix the question
+more firmly in the mind. If more than one question should be attached to
+one word, make two short underscorings, one beside the other.
+
+When the question contrasts two persons, two expressions, or two
+events, "railroading" is in order--a line, that is, drawn clear across
+the printed page, connecting the words which the question connects.
+
+If you have a parallel Bible, or some lesson help that gives the King
+James and the Revised versions in opposite columns, it is an excellent
+plan to mark in one version all the points of history, geography,
+biography, customs, dates, and the like, and in the other the points
+requiring practical application to heart and life. The latter will
+obviously go best in the Revised Version. The points indicated by the
+underscorings in the King James Version may first be considered and
+got out of the way.
+
+If, however, you must use only the Authorized Version, distinguish in
+some manner between the two sets of points--the merely explanatory and
+the hortatory. Use black ink for the first and red ink for the second,
+or a straight line for the one and a wavy line for the other, or for
+the first a single and for the second a double underscore.
+
+Proceeding in this way, I soon have a line under every word requiring
+explanation, every hint of a strange custom, every reference to other
+parts of the Scriptures, every point for practical application. I have
+underscored words representative of all the thoughts that especially
+appeal to me as fitting the needs of my class.
+
+When this has been done, it is time to make my outline. If my study has
+suggested to me an outline of my own, that will be better for me than
+any other man's. The outline is the plan of campaign, the thing I wish
+especially to emphasize, and under it, ranged in order, the points of
+minor importance. I write this outline on the margin of my lesson text.
+
+Having decided on the outline, I go over my underscorings again,
+doubly or trebly underscoring the words that have reference to the
+thought around which I intend to center the entire lesson--the thought
+that is to be the lesson's enduring monument in the minds and lives of
+my scholars.
+
+Now I am ready for review. I go over the whole, starting with the
+detached words jotted down at the beginning,--"author," "time,"
+"place," etc.,--and consider all the underscorings, railroadings, and
+curved lines, stopping at each to frame a question of my own and to
+make sure of my best answer. I do this in precisely the order in which
+I intend to take up these points in the class. Not the smallest part
+of my work at this juncture is to simplify, by erasing the
+underscorings where the questions may be spared without interfering
+with my main purpose; and then I review once more in the same way, to
+confirm my grasp on the lesson plan.
+
+By this time every underscoring is luminous, and my page of lesson
+text has become a graphic picture of the lesson I am to teach, a true
+chart for my voyage.
+
+Do you think the process too tedious, brother teacher? It is not a whit
+too thorough when you remember the infinite interests involved; and
+every repetition of it will increase your skill, and the rapidity of
+your work. I have used this method for years, with various classes, and
+know it to be practical, pleasant, and profitable. Try it, and see.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+The Value of a Monotessaron
+
+
+Far above concordance, Bible index, Bible dictionary, commentary, I
+count the monotessaron the very best help to Bible study. The
+monotessaron, it might be parenthetically remarked for the benefit of
+the lexicon-lazy folk, is a harmony of the four Gospels, so arranged as
+to make one continuous and complete story, in Scripture words alone.
+
+"Fie!" says one reviewer of a recent monotessaron, "we have no use for
+such compilations. God gave us the gospel in four separate books. He
+could have put it in one if it had been best that way." This is an
+argument which would make a heretic of the locomotive, printing-press,
+and any other rearrangement of God-given matter. Having the four
+Gospels, we may have one. If God had given us only one, we could not
+have the four.
+
+Christians will always read the four separate Gospels, in order to see
+Christ from four separate points of view, through four separate
+individualities, that their differences as well as their agreements
+may make the picture stand out more vividly, much as the two diverse
+flat portions of a stereoscope view combine into perfect perspective
+and reality.
+
+But this combining is necessary; and it may be truly said that what we
+lose, in reading the monotessaron, of the personality of John or Luke,
+we more than gain in the increased vividness of the person of Christ.
+Speaking for one, I may say that through my first acquaintance with a
+monotessaron that matchless life has shone upon me with an entire
+splendor of beauty and majesty before unimagined.
+
+Never before was the life a whole, like Washington's or Lincoln's. The
+imprisonment of John was an event in the fourteenth chapter of one
+Gospel, the sixth of another, the third of the rest; the call of
+Matthew now in the ninth chapter, now the second, now the fifth; the
+parable of the sower in the thirteenth, fourth, and eighth chapters.
+Nothing was in a clear, definite relation to the single life. The talk
+with Nicodemus is now no longer to me an event of John 3, but of the
+beginning of the first year of Christ's ministry, at the Passover. No
+longer would I be puzzled to tell which came first, the healing of the
+nobleman's son of John 4, or the stilling of the tempest of Mark 4,
+but place the last a year later.
+
+Not only has the narrative become clear and orderly, not only has the
+wonderful history parted itself into the true and helpful
+time-divisions so diverse from the confusing chapters, but the places
+now stand out, and journeys are distinct. Take any diatessaron--that
+is, any parallel arrangement of the four Gospels--and note the wide
+blanks in each book, filled out by others, so that between contiguous
+verses of one Gospel must be inserted whole chapters of another,
+complete journeys, many deeds and sayings, the location in the
+meantime greatly changing. A geologist will think of the helpful
+triumph of taking from the full rock record here to fill out the
+unconformable strata there, until a geological column is built up.
+
+A further inestimable advantage is the appreciation of surroundings.
+What light is cast, for example, on the story of Lazarus in John by
+its insertion in Luke! The contact of these parted elements of the
+gospel story sometimes rouses a current of thrilling thoughts, making
+a veritable electric battery of the monotessaron.
+
+Still another priceless gain is an understanding of proportions.
+Matthew's parallels, Mark's deeds, Luke's miracles and parables, John's
+sermons--in reading any of the four Gospels peculiar elements come into
+prominence, and we are left with no idea of the relative proportion of
+these elements in the one life. What emphasis did Christ place on the
+doctrinal, and what on the practical? Just how much of his teaching
+concerned himself and his character? What space in the New Testament is
+occupied by miracles? Just what part of Christ's preaching was
+parabolic? What is the prominence of missionary effort and proselytism?
+How much is there of consolation, and how much of stern rebuke? What
+measure of promise? What quantum of theology? What share of ethics?
+
+These and scores of other questions which occur at once to every
+Christian thinker, the monotessaron makes possible of easy and rapid
+answer. Indeed, almost its chief advantage is the spur it affords to
+the spirit of investigation. Those who are statistically inclined can
+even get at precise ratios by the exact process of counting lines.
+
+Well, that is my experience of the value of a monotessaron. It has
+given the life and person of Christ marvelous vividness, setting facts
+in their due order, location, relations, and proportions, while the
+facility it affords is constant inspiration to fresh, delightful
+study. This is the experience of thousands, and yet I am sure that
+among the readers of this book will be many who are yet unacquainted
+with this Bible help. Not only every Sunday-school teacher, but every
+Bible scholar, should own one.
+
+The single year in which I wrote this chapter saw the publication, in
+quick succession, of four of these monotessarons, one the improved
+edition of an older work. Each of these four has its peculiar features
+of value, and I have compared them carefully to get at their
+characteristics.
+
+    1. "The Interwoven Gospels." Rev. William Pittenger. (5 × 7-1/2
+    inches, pp. 245. New York: John B. Alden. Price, 90 cents.) Five
+    plates give clearly the various journeys. The Gospel fullest in each
+    event is taken as the standard, and its verse-numberings given,
+    while sentences and phrases interwoven from other Gospels are
+    preceded by an inconspicuous letter, to designate the book from
+    which they come. This seems to me the ideal plan. There is a table
+    for finding in the monotessaron any verse of any Gospel. There is a
+    very distinct synopsis. The time is indicated only at the heads of
+    the five divisions of the story. The place is given at the head of
+    each one of the one hundred and seventy-one sections. The index is
+    scant. The typography is excellent. The American Revised Version is
+    used.
+
+    2. "The Gospel Commentary." J. R. Gilmore ("Edmund Kirke") and Lyman
+    Abbott, D.D. (5 × 7 inches, pp. 840. New York: Fords, Howard &
+    Hulbert. Price, $1.50.) This monotessaron is combined with an
+    excellent and very full commentary, selected from the works of three
+    hundred authors. These multitudinous notes somewhat mar the
+    impression of unity and continuity for which the monotessaron is
+    peculiarly valued. No maps. Information as to sources of the
+    combined text is given only by references at the top of the page--an
+    indefinite way. There is a table for finding in the monotessaron any
+    verse of any Gospel. There is a chronological synopsis, but no
+    diatessaron table. There is a good index of thirty-two pages, and a
+    marginal synopsis. The time is minutely indicated at the head of
+    each page, and the locations shown irregularly, in notes, chapter
+    headings, or marginal synopsis. There are forty-three chapters. The
+    typography is clear. The King James Version is mainly used.
+
+    3. "The Fourfold Gospel." J. G. Butler, D.D. (5 × 7-1/2 inches, pp.
+    212. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Price, 75 cents.) This is taken from
+    Butler's "Bible Work." The sources of the text and transitions are
+    indicated as in Pittenger's, but not quite so minutely. Places are
+    given at the head of the one hundred and sixty-six sections. Times
+    not shown. A good diatessaron synopsis, and a table to find in the
+    monotessaron any verse from any Gospel. Two sketch-maps. No index
+    whatever. King James Version.
+
+    4. "The One Gospel." A. T. Pierson, D.D. (5 × 7-1/2 inches, pp. 203.
+    New York: The Baker & Taylor Company. Price, 75 cents.) This
+    monotessaron contains the gospel story in forty-seven sections, with
+    no section headings, and no indications whatever of times, places,
+    or sources of the various portions of the text. Valuable for
+    reading, but unsatisfactory for study. A capital index. No table for
+    finding verses, no synopsis or maps. King James Version. Retains
+    more than the others nearly equivalent words and phrases.
+
+Each of these excellent compilations has its own field, and the
+student who can afford the luxury will rejoice in them all. Happy
+times in which we live, wherein the person of Christ is brought with
+such clearness and fullness and beauty as never before to the poorest
+and busiest and most unlearned!
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+Getting Attention
+
+
+I was once sergeant of a college military company that was being
+trained by an officer of the regular army from the nearest barracks.
+In one evolution it was made my duty to march at the head of a long
+column, shouting at the top of my voice: "Hep--hep--hep--hep!" This
+was to give the time; we had no drum. I conscientiously obeyed orders
+and strutted off, shouting the required "Hep--hep--hep--hep!" But
+alas! at a critical turn, thinking more of my glory than of my duty, I
+marched to the right, while the column, more heedful, turned off to
+the left. So there I was, a long, lank figure, strutting off by myself
+over the field, shouting "Hep--hep--hep!" How many times since, when
+standing before inattentive classes, have I repeated that mortifying
+performance, less obviously, but none the less really!
+
+How often teachers are bent on planning what they are to say and how
+they are to say it, but omit to consider how they may induce people to
+attend to it; just as if (to change the figure) a locomotive engineer
+should polish and oil his engine and turn on full steam, but forget
+the little coupling-pin that hitches the engine to the train! It is a
+very little thing, this coupling-pin of attention, and often the
+teacher goes puffing a long way before he perceives that it is left
+out; and it is a great humiliation, as well as a great loss of time
+and steam, to go back and hitch on.
+
+The first thing to be considered, if we would win attention, is the
+room. Poor janitors spoil more Sunday-schools than poor teachers. You
+remember how the Peterkins tried to take their drive, shaking the
+reins, clucking at the stationary horse, whipping and coaxing him by
+turns, and all in vain until the lady from Philadelphia _unhitched_
+the obstinate beast. We make Peterkins of ourselves every time we try
+to take an intellectual journey with our pupils when they are tied
+down by hot air, poor ventilation, uncomfortable seats, and
+surrounding noise and bustle. All our pedagogical ingenuity will fight
+in vain against the fiendish ingenuity of a bad janitor.
+
+Having made it possible for the children to pay any attention at all,
+the next thing is to get it. Attention has something to do with tension.
+Now it takes two to stretch a cord, and there are two parties to every
+act of attention. How about the second party in this case--the children?
+
+Imprimis, when you appear before the children, leap at once into your
+theme. Older folks rather like to doze along through the preliminaries
+of a speech, economically saving their enthusiasm for the end, if not
+for next time; but the attention of children is lost or won for good
+by the opening sentences. Our sharp boys and girls discover very
+quickly whether a veteran or a raw recruit is calling "Attention!"
+
+There are some beginnings which are sure to offend them. There is the
+bagpipe beginning--the long, droning prelude, which advertises a
+teacher set out on a mud-turtle to catch these lively colts. There is
+the jack-in-the-box prelude: "Eh! Now, children! What's lesson 'bout?
+Quick!" There is the crape-dirge beginning, which solemnly hopes the
+children have studied their lesson and will recite better than they
+did last Sunday. There is the plead-guilty beginning: "You'll have to
+teach me to-day, children. I've been unable to look at the lesson."
+
+But it is by no means easy to give affirmative rules. The best of
+beginnings, if stereotyped, becomes inefficient. No general can plan a
+campaign in advance. And yet a general must understand the art of war,
+and a teacher must study his tactics.
+
+In the first place, attention is won partly by position and attitude.
+Happy the teacher whose class is a semicircle, himself at the center!
+And luckless the teacher whose class, fixed on straight, fastened
+pews, sees past him the distracting background of a crowded, bustling
+school! He struggles against strong odds.
+
+But whatever may be the position of the class, any one can see that
+his own attitude shall command attention. Let him be straight, alert,
+confident, quiet--not flabby, nervous, and diffident. Let his face
+and voice and bearing expect attention, and he will get it.
+
+The opening sentences must be businesslike. There must be no
+indecision, no "puttering." The teacher must leap at once to that
+hand-to-hand combat with the theme which tells his scholars that
+there's purpose in it. The opening sentences may sometimes best catch
+the class by directly addressing one person in it, the most restless,
+indifferent one, and nailing _him_.
+
+A paradox is good to begin with, some statement of the lesson theme so
+startling as to spur to discussion, possibly to opposition. Then the
+next Sunday, perhaps a quiet picture of the historical setting of the
+story, or a description of the landscape surrounding the event, or a
+compact review of the last lesson. Then the next day you might begin
+with a bit of personal experience bearing on the matter in hand.
+Nothing wins attention better than the first person singular. Or your
+introduction might be a whiff of fun, for which the youngsters are so
+eager that the most witless piece of jollity, if it spring from a
+merry heart, is certain to reach theirs.
+
+You are sure of their attention if you can get them to do something
+for you--open their Bibles, repeat something in concert, find a verse,
+or look at something. For this purpose maps, diagrams, pictures, all
+material objects connected with the lesson, are invaluable. Scholars
+yield their wills to yours through their hands or their eyes more
+readily than through their ears.
+
+And none of this must be done with manifest purpose. Surely in vain is
+the net spread in the sight of any bird. Woe to the teacher who shouts
+the word "Attention!" He will get nothing but the echo of the word
+from stony cliffs of indifference.
+
+And finally, woe to the teacher who relies at bottom on any skill of
+his own to draw young hearts to his teaching; whose main dependence is
+anything but the attention-winning power of that incarnate Sympathy
+and Love who promised to draw all men--and children--to himself.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+Keeping Attention
+
+
+We are likely to think that the attention of children is hard to get;
+but the very opposite is true. The minds of children, like their
+tongues, are hung in the middle. It is the easiest thing in the world
+to turn them in any direction. No teacher need spend much force on his
+introduction. Merely appear and begin to talk--that is enough. A fresh
+voice and presence and a new theme will draw all eyes and all hearts.
+If grown people are your audience, the situation is somewhat reversed.
+They are the heavy weights--hard to move, but just as hard to stop. An
+attention-forcing prelude will hold them attentive to a good half-hour
+of platitudes.
+
+The teacher of children, however, flattered by the eager listening
+given at the start, is likely to relax his efforts and deem the crown
+of the children's interest already attained. But alas! soon here a
+little tot wriggles, and there another whispers, and yonder a third
+giggles, and now a fourth turns around to see what's up, and the
+teacher might as well be talking to a school of young fishes.
+
+Demosthenes once said that if whatever a man got he took care to keep,
+he was grateful to the gods; but if he spent it, he spent with it all
+his gratitude. How many teachers are so prodigal of the attention
+given at the beginning that toward the close, dismayed at the
+listlessness, they forget ungratefully their initial capital of bright
+eyes and eager ears! There are many ways of squandering this attention
+capital. We may waste it on those long exhortations so very valuable
+(when omitted), on side issues, on quibbles. We may choke it with
+dullness, drive it off with scolding.
+
+The only way always to keep attention is always to be expecting to
+lose it. Be prompt to note signs of its vanishing in drooping eyelids,
+wandering gaze, jerking in the seat, uncertain answers. The teacher
+whose ingenuity can always recall stray-away minds need fear few other
+recitation problems. How to do it?
+
+The best provocative of attention is variety. The skilled teacher
+brings as many suits of manner to the class as the bulkiest clown
+wears costumes to the circus. Before one suit becomes wearisome he
+strips it off, and presto! a fresh teacher before the wide-eyed
+children. If he has been sitting, he rises; if erect, he leans eagerly
+forward. His utterance becomes rapid from slow, impetuous from
+drawling. He darts from generalizations into personalities. If
+motionless before, he begins to gesticulate. This is acting? No. It
+is only doing what the facile children themselves do on their
+kaleidoscopic playground, where no one goes to sleep.
+
+Again, a teacher must learn to emphasize his important points, not by
+enlarging on them, but by reverting to them. Slight impression on a
+wall by holding a battering-ram against it! Nor can you impress a
+child's mind by holding a fact up against it. It is intervals which
+make blows possible.
+
+So the child will attend to two things or three better than to one.
+Concentrate on one matter, burning-glass fashion, but only while the
+sun of interest is shining. With the first mist of indifference the
+wise teacher will drop the burning-glass. More teachers fail from
+having too few points to make than from having too many.
+
+But to retain attention, you need less to multiply points than points
+of view. A teacher can usually fix the attention of his class upon one
+subject while using in succession six different methods of treatment.
+Passing swiftly from questioning to formulating principles and
+illustrating them, from Bible quotations to personal experiences and
+exhortations, he will hold his audience delighted, though a single
+method would have wearied it. Note how a skilled cook presents the
+Thanksgiving turkey on different days. It is a lordly brown biped, a
+plateful of nice slices, a salad, a pot-pie, hash. Teachers will be
+able to hold the youngsters' attention as well as cooks, if they
+learn thus to put things in different lights.
+
+Furthermore, let it be remembered that no one was ever dignified with
+a child, and won its attention. And some teachers are too staid to be
+useful. Startle into inattention by a smart slap of the hands
+together, sharp extension of the finger, abrupt turns upon the floor.
+Preachers use such artifices when pews grow somnolent, and why not
+teachers? Never forget that the slightest inanimate object wins
+attention better than the greatest animation of the teacher. A
+pencil-tablet will rivet all eyes. A finger laid upon a map is
+cynosure for the most fidgety scholars. If you have a picture which
+can be brought into connection with the lesson, it is a pedagogical
+sin to omit it. A chart is as necessary to the Sabbath-school teacher
+as to the sailor, albeit the teacher's is best home-made. I used to
+hesitate to take time to use such helps; but I found that the poorest
+picture did better work than my most vivid word-paintings, and that my
+clearest statement was inefficient beside the clumsiest diagram.
+
+The beginner in this fine art of attention-holding is likely to derive
+the word "attention" thus: from _teneo_, "I hold," _ad_, "on to";
+_attention_, "I hold on to" him. He tries to hold attention,
+therefore, by main strength. He grapples with his audience as a
+bulldog would. His nerves are tense. His voice is imperative. His eye
+glares. He is rapid, impetuous, strategic. This is power, he thinks,
+and this is skill; but his audience astonishes him by going to sleep.
+Abashed, he tries milder means of holding on to them. He begins to
+buttonhole his audience. He uses soft and flattering tones. He coaxes.
+He wheedles. He jokes. He chucks them under the chin. And then his
+audience gets up and goes out.
+
+The real meaning of the word "attention" contains an invaluable hint for
+all who are trying to win others by speaking or teaching. It is _teneo_,
+"I hold, I stretch," _ad_, "toward"; and it is not by any means applied
+to the speaker, but to the listener. To get your audience, whether of
+little folk or big folk, to stretch out toward the same goal of truth
+that you are seeking is the true art of winning attention.
+
+This understanding of the matter implies that the teacher also is
+really in pursuit of truth himself. The failure of much teaching is
+because it cries "Go on" instead of "Come on." The speaker that you
+follow with most difficulty is the speaker who has the air of "knowing
+it all," while the speaker who succeeds best in holding your attention
+gives you the impression of a chase.
+
+There's the game before you--that elusive truth slipping away through
+the thicket yonder. The huntsman's eye flashes. He whistles up the dogs.
+We all leap to the saddles. Off we go, over upland and vale, swamp and
+rock, fence and ditch, our leader far in the van, pointing here, waving
+there, and hallooing the huntsman on. And when the game is tracked down,
+and our leader stands above it, dripping knife in hand, our veins
+tingle with his, and we shout with delight at our triumph.
+
+This is the first principle in the art of winning attention. The
+speaker must give the impression of a truth-seeker, if he would win
+others to seek truth with him. What Edward Everett Hale once said of a
+sermon applies to this. Every Sunday-school lesson should start out to
+prove something. It should have some goal. It should _intend_
+something. _Intention_ must precede _attention_.
+
+But though there must be this element of pleasing uncertainty and
+suspense, we all have difficulty in attending to a speaker who does
+not appear to have himself well in hand or to be quite sure what he is
+about. Have you not caught yourselves, teachers, talking as if in your
+sleep? Have you not sometimes waked up at the end of a sentence, a
+question, or a harangue, and wondered what you had been talking about?
+Did you suppose that any one else knew? Did you expect to hold on to
+them when you had no grasp of the subject? Can listeners pay attention
+to any one who does not pay attention to himself?
+
+Teachers make the mistake of dividing attention between the class, to
+watch that they hear; and themselves, to see how they are getting
+along; and the little attention left goes to the theme. Not
+unnaturally, the attention of the class is divided in the same
+way--much to themselves, less to the teacher, and least of all to what
+is being taught. Of course it is a teacher's business to hold his
+scholars' attention, but he will never do it by worrying and
+wondering whether he is succeeding.
+
+Nay, I even go so far as to say, if one of your pupils pays no
+attention, then pay no attention to him, provided the mischief is not
+spreading. A teacher should not fritter away his attention on
+inattentive pupils. If he cannot win their attention by his own interest
+in his theme, he cannot win it at all. Not that I would imply for a
+moment, however, that the teacher is to rest satisfied while a single
+one of his pupils remains inattentive. If your chicks are average chicks
+they are gregarious, and one stray-away is enough to carry the whole
+flock with him into foreign parts. While you have a single inattentive
+scholar you should conduct your lesson with a view to holding him. You
+will hold the rest then, as a matter of course. I am only speaking of
+the best way to win attention. It must be won, or you are beaten to some
+extent; and the attention of all _will_ be won in the end if you are
+deeply enough in earnest yourself, if you do not allow your attention to
+be side-tracked by the inattention of a few. If you wish to win and hold
+the attention of others, _win and hold your own_.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+The Importance of Questioning
+
+
+Ever since Socrates, conversation has been the soul of teaching, and
+ever since Adam and Eve the question has been the life of
+conversation. A teacher's success depends, in about equal measure,
+upon inspiration, cogitation, and interrogation. Let the first be the
+great gravitative forces; let the second provide the truth, the
+liquid; then the interrogation-point is the curved siphon, which
+transfers from the full to the empty vessel!
+
+Many, many a teacher has failed, thinking himself not wise enough, or
+not energetic enough, while in reality he has simply failed to be
+wisely and energetically quizzical.
+
+But what is a question? Is it not a fish-hook for pulling out, rather
+than a siphon for putting in? Yes, later; but you cannot fish
+successfully in a dry pond. Any bungler can examine and test. The nice
+art is to use your interrogation-points as instruments of addition,
+rather than of subtraction.
+
+But why is it often better to insinuate instruction through a question,
+in preference to pouring by direct harangue? Well, does not a question
+imply community of interest, and hint at equality or similarity of
+attainment? The question is neighborly; the discourse mounts a platform.
+
+The helpful lesson commentaries fail, practically, to reach many a
+class, because its teacher in reading has failed to translate from the
+declarative into the interrogative. If Doctor Somebody writes tersely,
+"A sin that is born of your own will is tenfold more dangerous to you
+than your own sin that is born of your neighbor's will," Johnny will
+not get the point unless the teacher transforms it somewhat thus: "If
+you are out in the country all alone, Johnny, jump over a fence, steal
+a pocketful of apples, is that a sin just as much as if some other boy
+should be along and persuade you to do it? Yes? Well, now, which sin
+is the more dangerous to you?"
+
+So important does this seem to me that I always carry pencil and paper
+to the perusal of my lesson helps, and write out, as a point pleases
+me, the form in which I wish to bring it up in the class, ranging
+these questions under the numbers of the verses to which they apply.
+
+The teacher who does not write out his questions, or do the equivalent
+of that work, is as sure to be defeated as the general who fights
+without a plan of campaign.
+
+Should those questions be read in the class? Not unless your ideal of
+teaching is the company drill, instead of the conversation.
+
+It is well, however, to ask the scholars to write out questions for
+you on verses assigned, and read these questions before the class. The
+teacher's work is grandly accomplished when he has induced the scholar
+to ask his own questions, and work out his own answers.
+
+I often find that a general call for questions on some apparently
+exhausted topic brings the richest results of the half-hour.
+
+Few verses are completely treated without Lyman Beecher's
+"snapper,"--the appeal to experience. The question, "Is it I?" must be
+raised, no matter by how direct urgings, in every heart. That question
+is truth's barb.
+
+There is a questioning face and attitude, indicative of a real and
+personal interest in the thing considered, without which a question
+will always fall dead, and deservedly.
+
+Nor, on the contrary, will a live manner avail to foist upon the
+attention of a class a dead question. And a question is "dead" to your
+scholar which does not touch his own world of interest at some point, no
+matter how close connection it may have with your life and experience.
+
+The questions on the lesson leaves make a good aid in study, but do most
+pitiably convict a teacher of unfaithfulness if he use them in teaching.
+
+Most genuine of all questions, and most likely to be helpful, are the
+doubts, perplexities, and difficulties which attend a thoughtful
+teacher's first careful reading of the text itself. Then is the time
+when the cream of that lesson should rise.
+
+Leading questions are always better than harangue, and are not to be
+despised, on a pinch. See what use Socrates made of them! And, by the
+way, modern teachers could learn much as to methods from the dialogues
+of that old pagan.
+
+By all means we must learn to link our questions, naturally developing
+one from the other. Read a page of miscellaneous proverbs, and you
+will carry away from it the same bewildered brain much Sunday-school
+sharp-shooting produces. Use the solid phalanx!
+
+Infinite harm is done our teaching by "questioning down." Do you know
+how tiresome it is to talk to a man up in a third-story window, you in
+the street? Our "level-best" teaching must be on a level.
+
+The novice at questioning, when first he becomes well satisfied with
+himself in this line, will probably be making his chief mistake,--will
+have hit upon an interrogative phraseology in which his thoughts run
+easily, which he uses incessantly. The artful questioner will rack his
+brains to the utmost stretch of ingenuity to devise striking and novel
+ways of quizzing, to hold the restless young minds.
+
+Of course, no skilled questioner will take the class in order. Of
+course, he will name the person who is to answer, at the end, and not at
+the beginning, of his question. Of course, he will understand the use
+of long and attention-holding questions, interspersed with short, quick,
+attention-exciting questions. Of course, he will be ready with a varying
+form of the question if he has to repeat it, lest the class fail to
+listen the second time. Of course, he will train himself to become ready
+with a "catch" question,--a question with a quirk in it, to punish
+mildly the inattentive. Of course, he will know when the class needs
+unifying by the general question addressed to all, and when the subject
+needs unifying by the general question reviewing all. And, of course, he
+will have learned that the best teacher of this, as of all arts, is He
+whose boyish questions in the temple grew to such mighty answers that no
+man thereafter dared question him, save only his true disciples.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XI
+
+A Good Question
+
+
+If I were asked to name the chief fault of the average teacher, I should
+say, "Asking questions that can be answered by 'Yes' and 'No.'" Among my
+acquaintances was once a teacher in a secular school whose method of
+questioning was invariably this. He would have before him the statements
+of the text-book, copied out with painstaking care, and would develop
+the subject thus: "Is it true or is it not true, Mr. A----, that"--and
+here would follow the statement or definition of the text-book. The
+ambiguous answer, "Yes," was amply satisfactory. Unfortunately, when
+such teachers gain a foothold in the Sunday-school, they are not so
+easily dismissed as from secular establishments.
+
+Now, a good question merely furnishes the starting-point, and pushes
+the scholar out along the course toward some goal of truth; but in a
+question that can be answered by "Yes" or "No" the teacher himself
+ambles amiably up the track, and condescendingly allows the scholar's
+monosyllable to pat him on the head after he himself has reached the
+goal. A question that can be answered by "Yes" or "No" merely
+formulates the truth as it exists in the teacher's mind, and invites
+the scholar's assent to it; a good question, on the contrary, provokes
+the scholar to formulate truth for himself.
+
+Now, it is much easier to express what we see to be true than to get
+any one else to express original thought. There is also, to the
+unwise, more glory in laying down principles to which others must
+agree than in getting others to lay down principles to which we must
+agree. It will always be true, therefore, that the lazy and the
+pompous will have no aim beyond educing monosyllabic answers. Most
+teachers, however, are earnestly desirous of the best, but do not know
+how to frame wise questions. What must be said to them?
+
+First, that they must not go to school before their scholars. Expert
+questioning is not learned in the class-room, but in the study. A
+lead-pencil is the best teacher. A sheet of paper is the best
+drill-ground. As I have urged before: Let the Sunday-school worker who
+aspires to the high praise of a good questioner sit down persistently,
+after studying the lesson, and write out a set of questions. Nay; on
+each point, so far as he has time, let him write several questions,
+criticise them, fancy what kind of answer each will be likely to
+elicit from the scholar, and choose what appears the best question.
+Try it on the class, and learn valuable lessons from the result.
+
+This method, laborious as it is, must be kept up until skilful
+questioning has become instinctive. That there may be hope of this happy
+result, by the way, the written questions must never be used in the
+class,--only the memory of them, and the drill the preparation has
+given. It surely will happen, sooner or later, that the careful student
+of practical pedagogics will be able to get along without writing,
+merely formulating fit questions in his mind as he studies the lesson.
+After a time he may dispense even with this, and look simply after the
+points to be presented, trusting to extemporaneous question-making.
+
+Not wholly, however. The best questioner in the world gets into ruts.
+The best forms of questions ever invented are worse than the worst if
+they are used with dull reiteration. No one can devote careful
+attention to the form of his questions without falling in love with
+some particular way of questioning; and this will not always be the
+best way, but will probably be the most original way. A form of
+question that is irreproachable the first time will be unendurable
+used six times in succession. It is necessary, then, even for the
+trained questioner, to revert now and then to his old lead-pencil
+drill, in order to study variety.
+
+But how may the uninitiated know a good question when they see it, or
+make it? As said already, it must not be such that a lazy monosyllable
+may answer it. As said already, too, if one is in doubt, he has but
+to try it on the class, and note results. But further. A good question
+will be likely to have something piquant about it, if the subject
+admits. For instance, "James was killed, Peter was freed; why was
+that?" is better than saying, "How do you account for the fact that
+while the apostle James was beheaded, the apostle Peter was delivered
+from the hands of his persecutors?"
+
+Furthermore, the difference between a poor question and a good one may
+often be a mere matter of length. "Why did the Christians at Antioch
+keep the inferior leaders for work in the city, but send away the most
+prominent men in their church to labor as missionaries?" That is
+abominable; it should be, "Why did the Antioch Christians send away
+their best men?"
+
+A good question will contain as much as possible of the personal
+element. "What do you understand by the phrase 'remission of sins'?"
+is much better than "What is the significance of the phrase 'remission
+of sins'?" Because the personal question puts the expected answer in a
+more modest light, the answer will be more unconstrained and full.
+
+And, by the way, there are few forms of questions more zealously to be
+avoided than the form I have just used, "What do you understand by--?"
+It is the unfailing resource of the poor questioner. A verse will be
+read, a phrase quoted, a doctrine or a principle named, and then will
+follow, as the night the day, the tiresome old formula, "What do you
+understand by this, Miss A----?" One would be quite safe in declaring,
+at any particular instant during common Sunday-school hours, that
+one-fourth of the Sunday-school teachers of the world were repeating,
+with united breath, that Methuselah of a query, "What do you
+understand by this?"
+
+Again, a good question must be swift. It must come so quickly that
+there will be no time to get out of the way. Some questions that, if
+written out, would not be bad, are prolonged in the utterance of
+over-deliberate teachers like foggy illustrations of the law of
+perspective. Good questions leap. You feel their buoyancy as you read
+them or hear them. It is like the huntsman springing into the saddle
+and shouting, "Come on!" No one with an atom of thoughtfulness is dull
+to the exhilaration of spirited questions. They have inspired all the
+wise thinking of the world.
+
+And, finally, good questions should be absolutely clear. There is one
+thing in the world that must always be faultlessly perspicuous and
+distinct, and that is a marching order in time of battle. Now, questions
+are the marching orders of our scholars' brain regiments, in a battle of
+infinite moment. Let them ring clearly as ever bugle-call was sounded.
+Questions mumbled, hesitant, caught up and patched over, confused and
+slovenly,--what wonder if these get slow and mumbled answers? A question
+clearly put, not only proves that the questioner has clear ideas, but
+it wondrously clarifies the ideas of the answerer.
+
+Good questions, then, are thought-compelling, varied, short, personal,
+piquant, unhackneyed, brisk, and clear. Do I ask too much? Nothing
+that all may not acquire, if but a tithe of the zeal and labor claimed
+by the trivialities of a few years are spent upon these issues of
+eternity. Let every teacher consider what characteristics of a good
+questioner he may add to his pedagogical outfit.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XII
+
+Inspiring Questions
+
+
+I use this title advisedly, because I believe that it requires more
+genuine inspiration to lead the average scholar to ask questions than
+to perform any other part of the teacher's difficult task. How easy to
+ask our own questions, to put in our own answers in order to draw them
+out again, were that all of it! But to transform the passive into the
+active, the auditor into the investigator, the questioned into the
+questioner, that is the goal of the true teacher's endeavor.
+
+Shall we count a recitation successful when the teacher has been earnest
+and zealous in his inquisition, the scholars ready and full in their
+responses? A single question, borne, it may be, on a voice so timid that
+it is scarcely audible in the buzzing room, yet sprung from some young
+heart just moved with the sudden desire of truth, is worth all the rest.
+
+If the teacher wishes to carry his scholars beyond the parasite stage,
+which is just as dangerous intellectually as physically, both to the
+parasite and its supporter, he must learn first that this weaning
+comes not without thoughtfulness and design. He must learn that, even
+more carefully than he plans the questions he is to ask his scholars,
+he must plan to inspire them to ask questions themselves. He will be
+most successful if, from the many matters which could be brought up in
+the lesson, he selects two or three of prime importance, and schemes
+to elicit the questioning enthusiasm of his class along those few
+lines. But how to do it?
+
+In the first place, the teacher must be a questioner himself. An old
+hen can hardly teach the eagle's brood to fly. Do not hesitate to tell
+your scholars of the doubts you once had, and how you won certainty
+from them. Show them by example that doubt is never a thing to be
+afraid of or ashamed of, unless it be a lazy doubt, viciously pleased
+with its own fog.
+
+Then there is a question-inspiring face and attitude. If the teacher
+assumes the manner pontific and speaks _ex cathedra_, and has the air
+of one who says the ultimate word, he will smother every question. A
+sympathetic, open face, and the hearty spirit of good-fellowship, are
+the best invitations to inquiries.
+
+Nor must the teacher be in a hurry, hastening from verse to verse with
+the nervous dispatch of an auctioneer. How many times must even a wise
+man look at a beetle, and how long, before he is moved to ask a wise
+question concerning it? Don't we sometimes make the recitation a mere
+exhibition of shooting-stars?
+
+Then, too, be on the watch for questions. How far ahead can you see a
+question coming? Before the scholar has made up his mind to ask it, if
+you have seeing eyes. An almost imperceptible quiver of the lips:
+"Question, Thomas?" Eyes suddenly wider: "What were you about to ask,
+Mary?" Forehead wrinkled: "Anything to say on that point, Edward?"
+
+And if the question is a good one, why, "A capital question, Thomas!"
+"I hoped that some one would ask that, Mary!" A good question is more
+to be praised than a good answer, because it is rarer and more
+original; but does it always receive our hearty commendation?
+
+Though the question leads you far out of your way, turn aside for it
+as gladly as you would turn from the road to pick up a diamond. Though
+you must leave the climax of the lesson unreached, see in this the
+climax. Though you are in full harangue, eagerly showing forth some
+great truth, stop short at once. A question in hand is worth a whole
+system of theology in the bush.
+
+And even if the question be trivial, or pointless, or utterly
+irrelevant, in anticipation of other possible questions, this one is
+not to be scornfully or slightingly waved aside. Don't kill the goose
+that lays golden eggs when she chances to lay one of pewter!
+
+Half-statements, when shrewdly managed, will often elicit questions.
+"Yes, God was terribly angry with the Jews,--terribly. Think how
+powerful God is, and how awful his anger must be! You want to ask
+something, Billy? Whether it is right for God to be angry? Well, I am
+glad you asked that, because I want to tell you the difference between
+his anger and ours."
+
+An over-statement will often draw out the longed-for inquiry. "When
+John urged every one with two coats to give one to some person who had
+no coat, what did he mean but this,--that, as long as any one in the
+world is poor, those who have more than they need ought to keep giving
+to those who have less than they need? I see that you have a word for
+us, Lizzie. What is it? How about the lazy people and the bad men? I
+hoped some one would bring up that point!"
+
+And when your half-statement or over-statement is accepted without
+remonstrance by your scholars, a little jolly scolding as you make the
+correction yourself, and a warning that they must do better thinking
+the next time, will work wonders.
+
+Sometimes the best plan is a direct call. "What do you think about
+that statement, now? Haven't you some question to ask about it? Don't
+you want to know something more about it?" If not a question follows,
+at least the scholars will know that you are expecting them to
+originate lines of thought and inquiry; and that is one thing gained.
+
+This question is sometimes asked: "What modern teacher is so
+successful as Socrates, who made his scholars teachers in their turn?"
+The question touches a fundamental truth in pedagogics,--that the
+teacher's goal is the scholar's independence of the teacher. By brave
+example of sturdy thought, by sympathetic insight into the doubts and
+needs of the opening mind, by enthusiasm and winning tact, let us
+strive in this direction, as in all others, to be worthy followers of
+Him who made of his disciples teachers at whose feet the great Greek
+himself would have been glad to sit.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII
+
+Trigger-Teaching
+
+
+The hard-working Sunday-school teacher picks up his cartridge, proudly
+carries it to the desired destination, and there explodes it. The
+shrewd Sunday-school teacher uses the scholar as a rifle, and simply
+pulls the trigger. Some teachers, that is, consider themselves as big
+guns. Other and better teachers seek to make practical working guns of
+their scholars. Between the two styles of teaching there is this
+difference, that the trigger-teaching usually hits the mark, while the
+big-gun teacher finds that the mark, if it is a live one, has taken
+itself out of the way by the time he has carried the cartridge to it.
+
+In big-gun teaching the teacher does everything for the scholar; in
+trigger-teaching the teacher does nothing for the scholar that he can
+help. In big-gun teaching the teacher thinks; in trigger-teaching the
+teacher thinks how to get his scholars to think. Big-gun teaching
+parades; trigger-teaching stays in the tent and issues orders. Big-gun
+teaching is amusing; trigger-teaching is suggestive. Big-gun teaching
+develops the teacher; trigger-teaching develops the scholar. The
+teacher's true work is to educate, and "educate" means "to draw out,"
+and not "to carry to."
+
+"Oh! our scholars are not loaded," I hear many teachers object. "If we
+should pull the trigger, there would follow only a ridiculous click."
+
+But your scholars _are_ loaded, objectors. Though they may not be
+loaded with precisely the information you have been seeking from them,
+they are loaded with experiences,--all their short lives will hold.
+They are loaded with temptations and troubles and needs. They are
+loaded with questions and curiosity. They have information, too, any
+amount of it, that may be brought into suggestive connection with the
+lesson, if you know how to make shrewd use of their public-school
+history and geography and science.
+
+To be sure, they probably know nothing definite about the time of the
+lesson's events, or the place, or the persons, or the circumstances.
+Well, make them load themselves. As you rehearse these facts
+concisely, make your scholars write them on slips of paper. Send one
+to the board, to set down what you dictate. Get one of their number to
+read aloud some brief and comprehensive summary of the lesson details.
+In one or all of these ways make them load themselves, and
+then--nothing is accomplished if you stop here--pull the trigger!
+
+More than on any other thing save the help of the Holy Spirit, a
+teacher's success depends on the use he makes of the fact that his
+scholars are already loaded to some effective purpose; and the wise
+teacher will always ask himself, in the course of his preparation for
+the lesson, "What experiences of the members of my class will help
+them understand this lesson and its truths?" One has been sick lately.
+One is studying geology. One has a father who is a banker. One has
+just seen the Mammoth Cave.
+
+If these things are to be likened to the bullets and shot, what is the
+powder? Must the teacher depend for that, too, largely on the pupil?
+Yes.
+
+To be sure, much of the powder of successful teaching is the zeal and
+eagerness of the teacher himself. But his interest is a smokeless
+powder like the fulminating powder of the cap, whose value is solely
+to set fire to the powder of the scholar when the trigger is pulled.
+The scholar's interest, the scholar's powder, it is that must be
+relied upon to do the work, to carry the ball.
+
+And so in trigger-teaching, much depends on the teacher's ability to
+excite curiosity and arouse interest. He will study his scholars'
+likings, and appeal to them in his illustrations; their needs, and
+refer to them in his applications. Sometimes he will state the matter
+too strongly, sometimes too feebly; in each case, with the express
+intention to draw out their protest. He will know how to use paradox
+so as to arouse, but not confuse. He will study different methods of
+emphasis, and will not use one alone. From each lesson he will select
+one truth, and one only, which he will treat with all the ardor of a
+lawyer arguing a matter of life or death. Above all, he will remember
+that the Spirit alone quickeneth, and will earnestly pray that fire
+from heaven may be added to his own little fulminating cap.
+
+But many a teacher, conscious of all that I have been saying, does not
+know how to pull the trigger. It is not so simple in the Sunday-school
+as in the school of the battalion. The artful teacher will find many
+ways of trigger-pulling, suited to the diverse and changing needs of his
+class and of his topic. Sometimes he will put in the scholars' hands
+paper and pencil, and set them to writing or drawing. Sometimes he will
+send them in turn to his blackboard. Sometimes he will elicit the entire
+story from one, sometimes from ten. Sometimes he will introduce pictures
+for them to talk about, or maps for them to travel over, or objects for
+them to group their words and thoughts around. Always, however, he will
+remember that his best trigger is the little trigger-shaped
+interrogation-point. He will ask questions himself with the
+effectiveness born of careful preparation. Better than that, he will get
+his scholars to ask questions. In all these ways, and as many more as
+there are Sundays in the year, the wise teacher will pull the trigger.
+
+Let no one pass from big-gun teaching to trigger-teaching with the
+idea that the latter will prove the easier. It is far more difficult
+to make the cartridge than to pick up and carry the ball which the
+cartridge would propel; but, for effective and profitable teaching,
+better ten minutes' work done by the class than an hour's work done by
+you in the presence of the class, even though to do the latter is far
+easier than to elicit the former.
+
+If--as those who have been doing it all themselves will doubtless find
+it--this trigger-teaching comes especially hard at first, let them
+begin with getting their scholars to do _something_ at first hand,
+though only a little, and let them work their way slowly to the
+pedagogical perfection of getting their scholars to do everything.
+
+And does any one fear that this will destroy the personality and
+personal influence of the teacher? On the contrary, the trigger-teacher
+has to put ten times more of himself into every lesson than the big-gun
+teacher. The scholars get more of his personality, at the same time that
+they are gloriously, though unconsciously, developing their own.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV
+
+Galvanic Teaching
+
+
+In his exceedingly suggestive book entitled "Before an Audience" Mr.
+Shepard insists strenuously on what he calls "physical earnestness" in
+a speaker. It is not meant by this that we are to go before our
+scholars with our nerves a-quiver, with headaches coming on, with our
+brains throbbing and our muscles drawn tight. A speaker must be, as
+Mr. Shepard insists, an animal galvanic battery on two legs. He must
+be at something corresponding to electric tension. He must be in
+earnest with his body, not lazy with it. No teacher who is not
+spirited will succeed with children, or with any one, long.
+
+Nothing will more quickly win and permanently hold a child's attention
+than earnestness. Children's capacity for serious thinking is greatly
+undervalued. There is more philosophy in them than you dream of. They
+are very much in earnest themselves, and they rejoice to see other
+people very much in earnest.
+
+I do not mean by this that one should always be serious with them.
+Nothing will gain their attention more than a joke; but joking with
+children is as dangerous as feeding them candy. They have no more
+taste henceforth for anything else, and to keep their attention you
+must continue to feed them candy and deal out jokes. The most
+successful teachers of children, judging not by the interest of the
+children so much as by permanent spiritual results, are those that are
+always deeply in earnest; and yet their earnestness is shot through
+and through with the sunshine.
+
+The intensity I am advocating must not be the intensity of an auger,
+that bores. Oh, if teachers only knew enough not to teach too much! If
+one good idea is got into the heads of the children as the result of
+the lesson half-hour, then you have scored a victory. If you try to
+get in eight good ideas, you will not score one-eighth of a victory.
+Some teachers that I know want to get the whole body of theology and
+the entire system of ethics into each lesson. They skip with haste
+from truth to mighty truth, crowding into a lesson twenty weighty
+points, each one of which would be amply sufficient for the half-hour.
+The result is an impossibility of attention, for not enough is given
+about any one thing to fix it and hold it down.
+
+Our Sunday-school teaching reminds me sometimes of a daily paper--all
+cut up into paragraphic articles; and if there is any topic of
+universal knowledge omitted, it will appear in the evening edition. A
+confirmed newspaper reader has become incapable of following an
+extended discussion, or of reading a book. I have stood before
+Sunday-school classes to which their teacher was in the habit of
+propounding a series of disconnected questions from a book or paper,
+and I have found it quite impossible to hold the attention of such
+classes for any length of time on one matter. They were anxious for
+another paragraph, for fresh head-lines, for a change of subject.
+
+Most Sunday-school lessons are fruitful of multitudinous suggestions.
+Let us not teach so much that we teach nothing, or, worse than
+nothing, instruct in mental dissipation instead of mental
+concentration. We prepare for teaching with the lesson hour in view;
+we should rather have in view the hour following the lesson hour. What
+impression do we intend the lesson to make? How are we going to make
+the lesson stand out in relief?
+
+I must now set off against the law of intensity the complementary law
+of motion. A mesmeric patient is sent into the hypnotic trance by
+continued staring at the same stationary object. This looks like
+perfect attention, but it results in sleep. There is a verbal
+hypnotism that is very common when teachers are trying to impress an
+idea by holding it up stolidly and persistently before the eyes of
+their scholars. That is not what I mean by intensity, and it is one of
+the commonest ways of destroying attention.
+
+If you are anxious to impress a truth and yet hold attention, you must
+do it by presenting now this side of the truth and now that, now with
+parable and now with allegory, now with appeal and now with testimony,
+experience, quotation, objects. Arrived at the end, do not press the
+point against the scholars and stick it into them, but if they do not
+see it, go back and pass over the matter in a different way.
+
+Moving bodies draw and hold the eye. Every one must look at a shooting
+star, a jumping horse, a running man, a flying bird, a rising kite. To
+keep attention, our lessons must have what the critics of novels call
+"movement." There is to be no still life in our pictures. Everything
+must be stirring, dramatic.
+
+An accomplished teacher must have the power of painting word-pictures.
+It is not a difficult art. Hard study and zealous "putting yourself in
+his place" will accomplish it. Some way or other we must get the persons
+of the lesson clearly before our scholars' eyes, the scenes as if the
+scholars were surrounded by them, if we would maintain their attention.
+And even if the lesson is impersonal, we must dramatize it, we must
+invent situations and persons to illustrate the abstract thought, or we
+must draw illustrations from real history. These must all be real to us,
+or they will never be real to our scholars. Pictures always hold the
+attention of children. Let us remember this when we talk to them.
+Children are fond of motion. Let our teaching move briskly, then.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XV
+
+Serial Teaching
+
+
+There are short-story writers who are able to hold our attention
+charmingly for an episode, and there are other minds which are able to
+lead us entranced through the varied scenes of a long serial. So also
+there is short-story Sunday-school teaching and serial Sunday-school
+teaching. Short-story teaching treats each lesson as a separate unit;
+serial teaching considers each lesson a part only of a great, united
+whole.
+
+Short-story teaching is far easier than serial teaching. It is
+concerned with but one set of circumstances, persons, and principles.
+For the serial teacher, on the contrary, every lesson must include a
+review and a prospectus. He must learn to see things in their
+relations. He must have a good memory, and a better imagination, to
+make his memory buoyant. This is not easy; and therefore it is that
+short-story teaching is much commoner than serial teaching.
+
+And yet serial teaching is the right kind of teaching, for the
+following reasons. Just as a fine serial story adds to the enthusiasm
+for good numbers of a periodical, and tides over poor numbers, so, if
+you can get up a serial interest in your teaching, it will increase
+the interest of the good days, and will tide over with full seats and
+bright eyes the rainy, or cold, or hot, or sleepy days.
+
+Besides, Christianity is a whole, and each of its many parts
+interdependent. We must not teach it, therefore, as if it were a
+patchwork, capable of being taken apart and put together as men will.
+We do wrong to the great system we teach, if our lessons do not leave
+the impression of a vast, coherent fabric,--too vast for one lesson to
+disclose, too coherent for one lesson to stand out apart.
+
+Besides, however our lessons may change, our scholars are still the
+same; and this continuity of listeners should impart a serial interest
+to the teaching. Cause the scholars to feel that each lesson is to
+make definite contribution to their growth in knowledge and character.
+It won't hurt them if they are as mechanical about it as Peter, and
+enumerate, lesson after lesson, as in the apostle's famous
+addition-table, the virtues those lessons may add to their lives.
+
+For these three reasons, then, our teaching should contain some strong
+element of serial interest. Many teachers err in using only one sort
+of connecting link, year in, year out, and are as likely to fail as
+the periodical which always prints serial stories of the same kind of
+plot, scenes, and characters. I will mention several serial elements
+which a wise teacher will use in turn, holding to one long enough for
+profit, but not too long for interest.
+
+In the first place, it is often well to make the serial biographical.
+Your serial has then a hero. Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Saul, David,
+Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, John, Peter, Paul, Mary,--what glorious
+groups of chapters these names bind together! If we are zealous,
+patient, and imaginative, we can easily, with this magnificent material,
+construct for our classes serials whose absorbing interest will vie with
+any in their pet weekly story-paper. We can lead them to eager study of
+a man's development in character and in fortune.
+
+At other times it is better to trust for the serial interest to
+history,--to study the evolution of a nation as before of a man. The
+wondrous tale of the rise of the Hebrews from Abraham, their
+metamorphosis under Moses, their consolidation under judges, their
+expansion under kings, their division, their downfall, their
+restoration, their subjugation, their new birth in Him who was before
+Abraham,--this story may be made to have a deep and constant serial
+interest.
+
+Of course, with either the biographical or historical serial plan, great
+pains must be taken with that bugbear of the average teacher,--what the
+lesson-helps call intervening events, but many a scholar calls
+intervening mystifications. Often fully half the lesson-time should be
+given to them. Usually the antecedents they contain are absolutely
+necessary for an understanding of the lesson,--text, persons, and
+principles. With them you teach history; without, episodes. They mean
+work, to be sure; but all unifying and solidifying means work.
+
+At still other times or with other classes it is well to let the
+serial interest center around principles. Treat one group of lessons
+as illustrating the manly or unmanly qualities; consider another group
+primarily as a commentary on truth and falsehood; let your binding
+topic for another set be "What is True Religion?" "Sin and Salvation,"
+"Serving and Served," "Success and Failure,"--how many lessons could
+be clustered naturally about these topics! Children are
+characteristically philosophers, and a treatment of Sunday-school
+lessons as illustrating different phases of some great truth is a
+method very attractive to them. "What does the Bible teach about
+truth-telling, about penalty for sin, about the conditions of
+happiness?" Sunday-school scholars should be ready to answer such
+questions, not by haphazard impromptus, but by a careful presentation
+of events, characters, and sayings bearing on each point, and
+representing the whole Bible.
+
+Another excellent way of binding lessons together is by the scholars
+themselves. As I said, however the lessons change, the scholars remain
+the same, with the same prominent troubles, faults, and needs. Both
+they and you should know what these are. I often have scholars who
+bring up, Sunday after Sunday, in connection with topics the most
+diverse, the same questions, which are evidently stumbling-blocks to
+their minds and lives. These are usually practical matters wherein the
+Christian imperatives are strangely incongruous with worldly habits,
+such as the choice of a calling, absolute frankness of speech, public
+testimony for Christ, the careful observance of the Sabbath, sharp
+competition in trade. These are too big questions to be settled in a
+few minutes, and young folks who are seized by them in earnest have
+found for themselves a serial interest which will last for some time.
+
+If we cannot take advantage of such a linking which our scholars
+discover for themselves, we can always bind lessons together by our
+own knowledge of our scholars' needs. If you have a young man in your
+class to whom the skepticism of the times is alluring, let him find
+something faith-inspiring and confirmatory of belief in every lesson.
+If you have a young girl burdened with sick-room duties and home cares
+beyond her strength, let her know that each lesson will bring her
+fresh energy and comfort. You need not tell your scholars that you
+know their struggles. Enough that you do know them, and link lesson to
+lesson for them in sweet chains of love and helpfulness.
+
+When, by any of the four methods I have outlined, you thus establish a
+bond between your lessons, you have gained two great advantages
+besides the serial interest which you have aroused. In the first
+place, you study the Bible as a whole, not by extracts. You learn to
+interpret one portion by another. You find out the fallacy of
+fragments. You perceive that Christianity is a system, and not an
+anthology. In the second place, you have solved the review problem,
+for every lesson is now a review. If you were required to remember, in
+order, twelve words chosen at random, you would find it somewhat
+difficult; but it would be easy enough if those twelve words were
+arranged in a sentence. Serial teaching is building up a sentence, and
+the review is merely repeating that sentence. A serial teacher has no
+fear of review day. The short-story teacher is compelled to find for
+that day a new short story.
+
+Now, have I not reserved mention of the one great tie of all our
+teaching? Whether Old Testament or New, history, prophecy, proverbs,
+or psalms, it is all one continued story, and the hero is Christ. By
+whatever unifying principle we group our lessons together, Christ
+unifies the groups. Year in, year out, if Christ is at the heart of
+our teaching, that teaching is consecutive, serial, solid. Without
+him, it is disjointed, fragmentary, frail. Not retracting a word I
+have written about the value of these other methods of arousing
+continued interest, yet it must be said that they are all worthless
+without Christ. In him each several building, fitly framed together,
+groweth into a holy temple in the Lord.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI
+
+Teaching the Psalms
+
+
+The Lesson Committee often assigns us two or three lessons in a book,
+and from these few lessons the scholars must get some comprehensive
+knowledge of the entire book. A book study, therefore, will not be out
+of place in this series of suggestions to teachers, and I have chosen
+the Psalms, since they are likely to be most fruitful of hints as to
+the teaching of other books.
+
+A systematic knowledge of the Psalms is rarely sought after. Only one
+book of the Bible is more loved: the Gospel of John; only one is read
+less methodically: the Book of Proverbs.
+
+It is the fault of many teachers that they teach all books of the
+Bible in the same way. Prophecy, history, poetry, prose, Ruth and
+Revelation, John and Judges,--it is all one to them. The Psalms, like
+all other books of the Bible, are unique, and need their own especial
+mode of treatment. Here are some hints concerning this treatment.
+
+Get first, from the Revised Version, a comprehensive idea of the five
+Books of Psalms, with their similar endings. Note their length and the
+total number of psalms. From the Bible dictionary learn what you can
+about the time when these books were collected, and the probable
+authors of the anonymous psalms.
+
+Study the psalms by types. We have the First Psalm, which contrasts
+the good and evil. Psalms of the Good are 1, 26, 41, 72, 94, 101, 126,
+127, 128, 144. Psalms of the Evil are 10, 14, 36, 37, 49, 52, 53, 58,
+64, 73, 82, 109, 129, 140. The Second is a Psalm of Power. Others are
+11, 21, 24, 29, 47, 48, 60, 76, 77, 83, 97, 108, 111, 114, 139. The
+Nineteenth and the One Hundred and Third are Psalms of Praise. With
+these study 8, 9, 18, 30, 33, 34, 44, 65, 66, 67, 68, 75, 85, 89, 90,
+92, 93, 95, 96, 98, 99, 100, 104, 105, 106, 107, 112, 113, 117, 118,
+134, 135, 136, 138, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150. The Second and the
+Seventy-second are Messianic Psalms. So also are Psalms 45 and 110.
+The Twenty-third is a Psalm of Trust. Similar psalms are 4, 7, 16, 27,
+31, 56, 62, 71, 91, 125, 131. The Fifty-first is a Psalm of
+Forgiveness. Such, too, are 25, 32, 39, 40, 80, 81. With Psalm 84, a
+Psalm of Worship, go 15, 42, 50, 57, 63, 87, 115, 122, 132, 133.
+Besides these, the following may be classified as Psalms of Help: 3,
+12, 20, 35, 43, 46, 59, 61, 70, 79, 121, 124; the following as Psalms
+of Sorrow: 6, 13, 22, 38, 55, 69, 74, 88, 102, 120, 137, 143; and the
+following as Psalms of Prayer: 5, 17, 28, 54, 86, 116, 123, 130, 141,
+142. Psalms 78 and 119 are Psalms of the Law. Of course, this is only
+a rough classification of the psalms. It will be a pleasant and
+valuable task for you to classify them more elaborately.
+
+Read again the life of David, found in the passage from 1 Samuel 16:1
+to 1 Kings 2:11. In connection with each psalm you read, think what
+may have been the king's fortunes when he wrote it, or what experience
+of his may have prompted it. This psalm of sorrow may have had birth
+in Absalom's revolt; this song of trust may have welled from a rock of
+hiding in the desert; this hymn of triumphant strain may have
+celebrated some victory over Saul or the Syrians; this pleading for
+forgiveness may have been a wail over Uriah.
+
+The psalms are all dramatic. Here, more than anywhere in the study of
+the Bible, you need to use imagination, to "put yourself in his
+place." The psalms are in the first person. Fancy yourself the
+psalmist as you read his songs. Pray his prayers, exult in his praise,
+beat your breast with his agony of shame, be calm in his assurance of
+forgiveness and peace.
+
+In like manner, as you prepare to teach, fancy times in your scholars'
+lives to which these psalms will apply, times when it would be well for
+them to sing these psalms, and teach with these times in clear view.
+
+Be sure thus to translate David's experience into that of your
+scholars. These psalms are of universal moment, as they come so
+directly from David's heart, and God's; and yet they need this
+translation, because David's surroundings were not ours. His foes,
+his sins, his exiles, his triumphs, were not ours in form, however
+much the same in reality.
+
+There are frequent quotations of the psalms to be found in the later
+books of the Bible. These, especially those made by Christ and the
+apostles, constitute a priceless commentary. Search for them with the
+help of a concordance or a reference Bible.
+
+Aside from this, the psalms are especially fit for illustrative
+quotations, and the children may be inspired to gather them eagerly.
+Assign to each scholar a verse for illustration from some other part
+of the Bible, in some such way as this:
+
+    "_The Lord is my shepherd._"
+
+      "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd layeth down his life
+       for the sheep" (John 10:11).
+
+    "_I shall not want._"
+
+      "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these
+       things. But seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness, and
+       all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 7:32, 33).
+
+    "_He maketh me to lie down in green pastures._"
+
+      "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
+       give you rest" (Matt. 11:28).
+
+    "_He leadeth me beside the still waters._"
+
+      "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never
+       thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a
+       well of water, springing up unto eternal life" (John 4:14).
+
+    "_He restoreth my soul._"
+
+      "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25).
+
+    "_He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake._"
+
+      "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the
+       Father, but by me" (John 14:6).
+
+    "_Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
+    will fear no evil._"
+
+      "Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (John
+       11:26).
+
+    "_For thou art with me._"
+
+      "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matt.
+       28:20).
+
+    "_Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me._"
+
+      "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,
+       that he may be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth" (John
+       14:16, 17).
+
+    "_Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine
+    enemies._"
+
+      "I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall not hunger"
+       (John 6:35).
+
+    "_Thou anointest my head with oil._"
+
+      "Grace and peace ... from Jesus the anointed, ... who has made us
+       to be kings and priests unto his God and Father" (Rev. 1:4-6).
+
+    "_My cup runneth over._"
+
+      "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in
+       the blood of Christ?" (1 Cor. 10:16.)
+
+    "_Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
+    life._"
+
+      "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you,
+       and that your joy may be fulfilled" (John 15:11).
+
+    "_And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever._"
+
+      "In my Father's house are many abiding-places.... I go to prepare
+       a place for you" (John 14:2).
+
+In preparing for this exercise the children will learn how to use the
+Bible index and the concordance.
+
+Watch the paragraphs of the Revised Version. They make useful
+indications of the passage from one thought to the other.
+
+The psalms lend themselves well to the useful exercises of analysis,
+condensation, and paraphrase. Get your scholars to write out for you,
+one, a brief tabular statement of the contents of the psalm; another,
+the thought of the psalm in words of his own; a third, the substance
+of the psalm, with all superfluous words and repetitions omitted.
+
+It is a capital plan to underscore in your Bibles, and get your scholars
+in the course of the lesson to underscore in theirs, the key-sentences
+of the psalm. In the First Psalm, for instance, you have in bold relief
+the main thought of the six verses if you underscore "Blessed is the man
+that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked. Whatsoever he doeth shall
+prosper. The wicked are not so." There is your outline.
+
+Do not rest satisfied until, for your scholars and for you, the psalm
+you are studying is a unit, and stands out in your minds with clear-cut
+individuality. It is especially necessary to get through with the entire
+text when your lesson is in the Psalms. It is not like a series of
+disconnected proverbs: it is a picture; and your understanding of it
+will lack some essential part until you have all the verses.
+
+Indeed, I would go over each psalm with the class at least five times,
+rapidly: first, to remove stumbling-blocks of strange customs and
+expressions; second, to grasp the general thought; third, to get its
+application to David's life; fourth, to get its lesson for our lives;
+fifth, a verse-by-verse study for all possible side-lights and
+instruction.
+
+Observe the parallel expressions. Use only the Revised Version, which
+correctly prints the psalms as poetry. Read them rhythmically; chant
+them; intone them; get the impression of songs. Come to feel the
+beauty and meaning of the frequent refrains.
+
+Go on a tour of discovery, seeking for the noble metrical translations
+of these psalms found in our hymn-books and religious anthologies. For
+Psalm 19 read Addison's magnificent hymn, "The spacious firmament on
+high"; for Psalm 103, H. F. Lyte's "Praise, my soul, the King of
+heaven," or Isaac Watts' "My soul, repeat His praise"; for Psalm 72,
+James Montgomery's "Hail to the Lord's Anointed, great David's greater
+Son!" or Isaac Watts' "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does his
+successive journeys run"; for Psalm 84, H. F. Lyte's "Pleasant are
+Thy courts above," or Isaac Watts' "Lord of the worlds above"; for
+Psalm 23, Addison's "The Lord my pasture shall prepare," or others
+more familiar; and for other psalms the same writers, with Wesley,
+John Newton, Scott, and many more. Your scholars will be interested in
+searching for these, and bringing them in.
+
+Suppose we were studying an English hymn-book. What would we ask first
+about each hymn? We would ask what sentiment it was capable of
+inspiring. The same question is to be asked about these inspired
+hymns; and throughout each of them we are to trace not so much a train
+of thought as a train of feeling.
+
+The psalms are subjective, and for that reason are particularly hard,
+some of them, for children to appreciate. We must interpret them all
+the more thoroughly by objective illustrations. Here the ordinary
+problem is reversed. In our ordinary lessons the example from real
+life is given, and from it the teacher must draw spiritual lessons.
+Here the spiritual meditation is given, to be applied to real life.
+
+Notwithstanding this, the psalms are eminently pictorial, and
+especially adapted to illustration. See how many pictures are
+suggested by the following words from the most famous of the psalms:
+"shepherd," "want," "lie down," "green pastures," "leadeth," "still
+waters," "guideth," "paths," "valley of the shadow," "rod and staff,"
+"a table prepared," "enemies," "anointed," "cup runneth over." All
+such pictures should be gathered, and used to make the lesson vivid to
+the picture-loving little ones.
+
+There is especial need in teaching the psalms to explain how the force
+of imagery varies with varying conditions of climate and modes of
+life; how much more, for instance, was meant to David than to us by
+such symbols as "a rock," "shadow," "sun," "shield," "water-courses"!
+
+Children are fond of metaphors, but they make comical blunders with
+them, and deal, unless we are careful, all too literally with such
+passages as "a table in the presence of mine enemies," "the wicked are
+like the chaff," "the congregation of the righteous," "break them with
+a rod of iron." If the teacher is in doubt just how far to carry these
+metaphors, I know no better example of the wise and beautiful use of
+them than Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." The reading of that book will
+make a capital preparation for the teaching of the psalms.
+
+Few lessons in the seven years' course will be so admirable as these
+for committing to memory. If you want to inspire your class to better
+work in that line, now is your time.
+
+Note that the psalms are all optimistic. Sound their key-note of peace
+and joy.
+
+Here, if anywhere in the Bible, spiritual teaching is needed. An
+essential part of the preparation for teaching the psalms is devout
+prayer.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII
+
+Those Temperance and Missionary Lessons
+
+
+Intemperance is the church's greatest foe, missions her greatest task.
+Around these two topics cluster the highest chivalry, the most splendid
+romance, of our modern world. The shout of the battle is in them, the
+sweep of the regiment. No lessons are more important than those devoted
+to these two great themes, and none can be made more interesting.
+
+And yet to many a teacher they are bugbears. To these eight
+lessons--one sixth of the whole--they go with dull hearts. They do
+wish the Lesson Committee would leave them out of the list.
+
+What is the trouble? There is no life back of the lesson. They have
+"got up" their lesson as best they can; but a lesson is not got up, it
+grows up. They do not know enough about missions and the temperance
+reform to be interested in them. No information, no inspiration.
+
+To be sure, there are few passages in the Bible suitable for use in
+temperance lessons, and but few referring directly to such
+enterprises as modern missions. The Acts record merely the beginnings
+of missions, and intemperance was scarcely a problem in New Testament
+days. Nevertheless, both temperance and missions find in the Book
+their fundamental and sufficient inspiration; and taking our
+starting-point from the lesson text, we may fairly launch forth into
+seas as wide as the world of men and action.
+
+Indeed, so multiform are the phases of these two topics that to avoid
+confusion and leave clear impressions every temperance or missionary
+lesson should have a specialty. Let me indicate a few of the many
+possible themes.
+
+1. _A Bible Search._--Spend the hour hunting out everything the Bible
+says upon temperance, or all the leading passages bearing on missions.
+The scholars will read them aloud. Some verses they will repeat from
+memory. They will mark them with colored pencils in their Bibles. They
+will discover the central thought in each reference and write it on
+the blackboard, thus building up a compact summary. The exercise has
+an air of finality that will please the scholars.
+
+2. _A Biographical Lesson._--Let everything cluster around some great
+leader in missions or the temperance reform. For the latter, select
+John B. Gough, Miss Willard, Lady Henry Somerset, Father Mathew,
+Francis Murphy. For the great missionaries,--India: Carey, Heber,
+Martyn; Burmah: Judson; China: Nevius, Morrison, Gilmour; Japan:
+Neesima; Oceanica: Coan, Paton, Patteson; America: Gardiner, Eliot,
+Whitman, Brainerd; Turkey: Schauffler, Dwight, Hamlin; Africa:
+Livingstone, Mackay, Moffat, Taylor, Hannington. There is material
+enough for a lifetime of teaching!
+
+Get as many scholars as possible to read beforehand in the
+encyclopedia a short account of the chosen life. One of the class may
+write a five-minute essay upon the hero. Characteristic anecdotes
+concerning him may be distributed among the scholars for each to
+relate. No better series of short missionary biographies was ever
+published than that sold by the publishers of this book at the low
+price of 50 or 75 cents a volume. Use them. If the class during the
+hour can really make the acquaintance of a great missionary or
+reformer, it will be vast gain.
+
+Another and most profitable kind of biographical meeting may be based,
+not upon single lives, but upon a group of lives. Study "The Great
+Missionaries of the Bible," "Bible Heroes of Temperance," "Some Noble
+Lives Spoiled by Intemperance," "Some Magnificent Missionaries of Our
+Denomination."
+
+3. _An Historical Lesson._--The temperance reform has already a
+notable history, with many chapters worth careful study. Spend an hour
+with the Woman's Crusade,--its origin, its leaders, its many thrilling
+scenes, its notable results. The Washingtonian movement, the
+blue-ribbon movement, the World's Petition, "temperance in the White
+House,"--these are themes for other studies.
+
+And as for missions, the puzzle will be to know where to end, when
+there are, for instance, the "Serampore Brotherhood" to study, the
+"Lone Star" mission, the Madagascar martyrs, the China Inland Mission,
+the all-but-miracle of Metlakahtla, the conquest of Hawaii, the
+transformation of Fiji, the bloody chronicles of Uganda. With any one
+of these stories for a nucleus, your missionary lesson will be certain
+of leaving a deep impression.
+
+4. _An Organization Lesson._--Study one or more of the great
+temperance organizations,--its origin, its noble leaders, its methods
+and aims, its practical results. The W. C. T. U. and the "Y's," the
+Good Templars, the National Temperance Society, the temperance work of
+Christian Endeavor societies, may be studied in this way.
+
+This plan is especially valuable for the missionary lessons, which
+should render your scholars familiar with the history and triumphs of
+each missionary board of your denomination, home and foreign. The
+remarkable circumstances of its founding, the heroic men and women it
+has sent forth (exhibit portraits), the places where it labors (show
+views), the periodicals it publishes (have samples to give away), a
+few round figures to set forth the results of it all,--that is a
+scanty outline. The larger work of the church would profit immensely
+by such use of an occasional missionary lesson.
+
+5. _A Newspaper Lesson._--In another chapter I discuss the use that
+may wisely be made of the newspaper in our Sunday-school teaching.
+Once in a while the specialty of a lesson may be a study of current
+events in their bearing on missions or on the temperance reform.
+
+Some temperance orator has made a noble speech which you find well
+reported. The W. C. T. U. has just held its annual convention. Neal
+Dow's birthday has been widely celebrated. South Carolina has adopted
+its system of State dispensaries. A hot campaign for prohibition is in
+progress in Canada. The teacher that centers his lesson on one of these
+themes is sure of lively interest which may be led to practical result.
+
+Or, if it is missionary Sunday, let the teacher utilize the most
+absorbing topics of foreign news. It may be the Spanish seizure of the
+Caroline Islands, the French capture of Madagascar, the Japanese
+campaign in Formosa or that of the English in Matabeleland or the
+Soudan, the Italian war with Abyssinia, the Indian famine, the
+troubles in Crete, the massacres in Armenia. What scholar, after a
+lesson shrewdly introduced by such recitals, will fail to see that
+missions are a topic very much alive?
+
+6. _A Map Lesson._--Few things condense, combine, and clarify bits of
+information like a map, provided you can put your information upon it.
+A map may be utilized in a temperance lesson in two good ways. If you
+are in a city, draw the streets of some section, or of the entire
+city, if possible. Send your scholars out along all streets, dividing
+them up, and have them count the saloons in each block, locating also
+the churches and schoolhouses. I suppose, of course, that your
+scholars are of suitable age for this work. Next Sunday, as they
+report, put a black spot on the map for every saloon, and a blue spot
+for every church and schoolhouse. Your map will point its own moral.
+
+At another time draw a map of the United States, and give a graphic
+view of the temperance laws of the land, coloring the prohibition
+States one color, using a different color to designate the
+Massachusetts plan, the South Carolina plan, and so on.
+
+More can be done with a map in a missionary lesson. For instance, you
+may select a single country, say India. Provide "stickers" of
+bright-colored paper. Let some be large and circular. As you talk
+about the four or five great languages of that many-tongued empire,
+get the scholars to fasten these "stickers" in the centers of the
+various language areas. Let other "stickers" be cut into small stars.
+Three of these, of one color, fastened in the neighborhoods of Bombay,
+Madura, and Ceylon, will represent the Congregational missions. In the
+same way you will show the location of the Baptist, Methodist, and
+Presbyterian missions and those of other denominations. Population
+"stickers" may also be used, and "stickers" with the names of great
+missionaries may show where they labored.
+
+On another day you may take a map of the entire world, and thus
+indicate the location of all the mission fields of your denomination.
+If this map is kept before the class from that time, every item of
+missionary information will have fresh interest and point.
+
+7. _A Statistics Lesson._--At this lesson distribute, for the scholars
+to read aloud, slips of paper containing temperance or missionary
+statistics,--the numbers of saloons or missionaries, of drunkards
+dying or converts made each day, the cost of missions or of strong
+drink compared with other expenditures, and the like. Get the class to
+cut strips of paper of various lengths to represent graphically the
+comparative costs. Drill the scholars in temperance or missionary
+arithmetic. Telling them the number of heathen in China, ask how long
+a procession they would make, marching in single file one foot apart.
+Giving them the liquor expenditure for a year, have them measure a
+pile of silver dollars and calculate how tall a pile would equal the
+annual cost of drink. Such books as "The Missionary Pastor," published
+by the Fleming H. Revell Company, and "Weapons for Temperance Warfare"
+and "Fuel for Missionary Fires," published by the United Society of
+Christian Endeavor, will suggest many similar exercises.
+
+8. _A Quotations Lesson._--The teacher holds in his hand a bunch of
+papers, on each of which is written an interesting quotation bearing
+on missions or temperance. The collection will include longer
+anecdotes as well as brisk sentences. Many will bear famous names.
+Each scholar will choose a quotation at random and read it aloud. The
+teacher will draw out its meaning by questions, will add illustrations
+and practical comments, will tell something about the author of the
+quotation, or will show the connection of the thought or anecdote with
+the day's lesson. In some classes the scholars themselves may be
+trusted to bring their own quotations or anecdotes.
+
+Let me mention briefly a few more devices out of the many that may add
+interest to these lessons. Get a trained worker along temperance or
+missionary lines to come in and address the class. Carry out a series
+of simple experiments showing the physiological effects of alcohol.
+Make a study of the best missionary hymns, their authors, and the
+events that prompted them. Try a fifteen-minute debate on some
+missionary or temperance topic. Get the scholars now and then to write
+five-minute essays or give five-minute talks on appropriate themes.
+Let one edit a temperance or missionary paper,--in manuscript, of
+course,--collecting contributions from each scholar, and reading the
+result before the class as a sample number of the "Cold Water Herald"
+or the "Missionary Monitor." Some Sunday, call on every member of the
+class to sign the pledge. On a mission Sabbath make an appeal for
+tithe-giving and present a tithe-givers' pledge. Give the wonderful
+history of the Student Volunteer movement, and urge the scholars to
+consider the mission field as a possibility for each one of them.
+Enliven some missionary lesson with entertaining accounts of the
+strange customs of the country under discussion, and get together all
+the illustrative material you and your scholars can find. The
+Sunday-school and the Christian Endeavor society will do well to make
+a collection of curios for such purposes.
+
+It is an admirable plan to set each of your scholars to doing some
+steady work in preparation for these lessons. One may watch the
+newspapers and collect temperance facts and illustrations of the evils
+of strong drink. The various missionary societies of the denomination
+may be divided among the scholars, each to gather interesting bits
+concerning the work of the board assigned to him. In the same way the
+mission lands may be apportioned out, and "the gentleman from India" or
+"our representative in China" be called upon to report the latest news
+from his field. In this plan the children will coöperate very zealously.
+
+Of course it goes without saying (_does_ it, though?) that each
+teacher will be a subscriber to the missionary magazines of his own
+denomination, as well as to that common denominator of all the
+missionary magazines, the "Missionary Review of the World."
+
+He will also take, if possible, a good temperance paper, such as the
+"Union Signal" or the "National Temperance Advocate"; and if he can
+afford them, he will not be without the temperance and missionary
+encyclopedias.
+
+Indeed, the theme branches out into channels so many and so wide
+that, when once the teacher is started upon them, his greatest lack
+will be of time for exploration; and so far from desiring the
+temperance and missionary lessons fewer than eight, he will wish it
+were possible for them to come every month!
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII
+
+Topical Lessons
+
+
+The Bible is so full of suggestion that it is impossible, in the brief
+Sunday-school half-hour, to view the many fields of thought opened
+before us with any degree of satisfying completeness. That fact,
+indeed, constitutes one of the greatest satisfactions of the Book.
+
+Neither teacher nor scholar can go very far with earnestness in Bible
+study without feeling an intense desire to collate and compare, to go
+to the bottom, to take views single in purpose, but wide in reach.
+This wish to read the Scriptures as a whole has ever been held a sign
+of healthful growth in Christian endeavor. How may we encourage and
+satisfy this desire? Here is a method I have repeatedly found helpful
+to my class and myself.
+
+I prepare for myself what I call topical lessons. I have noticed
+especial interest in some one topic,--the use of Sunday, say, or
+future punishment, heaven, prayer, abuse of money, missions, the
+nature of sin. On some Sunday, then, I announce that one of these
+topics is to be discussed at next week's meeting. I ask the scholars
+to think the matter over, and look up texts. Some do, some do not, as
+is usual in such matters. Sunday come, I have in large script, pinned
+to the wall in view of the class, an outline of the topic chosen, with
+the texts to be used indicated in clear figures. It is intended for a
+lesson in methods of Bible study as much as in Bible contents, and so
+aims to be complete and thorough in its range. The plan is explained,
+and the scope of the subject. We take it up by natural divisions.
+
+All have Bibles, of course. The references are numbered. "Mr. Brown,
+please find No. 1; Mr. Jones, No. 2; Mr. Robinson, No. 3," and so on.
+In a few seconds we are ready for a discussion of the first division.
+I shall trust to the scholars' memory for the commoner quotations, and
+not trust in vain, if I have done my duty previously. This division
+disposed of, more or less to our satisfaction, we pass to another
+point, then to another, rapidly or leisurely, as the time permits,
+being careful that in the half-hour the general scope of Bible thought
+in the matter, its largeness and depth, its insight and minuteness of
+detail, be adequately exhibited.
+
+May I show you a sample outline?
+
+
+FAITH.
+
+   1. What is it? (Heb. 11:1; John 20:29.)
+
+   2. Whence comes it?
+
+        (_a_) From God (Rom. 12:3; 1 Cor. 2:4, 5;
+               12:4, 8, 9; 1 Pet. 1:4, 5).
+
+        (_b_) From Christ (Heb. 12:2).
+
+        (_c_) From the Bible (John 17:20; 20:31; Rom.
+               15:4; 2 Tim. 3:15).
+
+        (_d_) From preaching (Rom. 10:14; 1 Cor. 3:5).
+
+        (_e_) But all one (Eph. 4:5; 4:13; Jude 3).
+
+        (_f_) Not from works (Eph. 2:8, 9; Rom. 3:27,
+               28; Gal. 3:11, 12; 2:16).
+
+   3. What does it do?
+
+      (1) The works of faith:
+
+        (_a_) It is a work (John 6:28, 29; Rom. 4:5).
+
+        (_b_) Which draws us to God (Rom. 5:1, 2;
+               Eph. 3:12; 3:17; Jas. 1:5, 6).
+
+        (_c_) Thus pleasing him (Heb. 11:6).
+
+        (_d_) Which frees us from sin (2 Pet. 1:5; Acts
+               13:38, 39; Rom. 3:21, 26; Acts 15:9).
+
+        (_e_) Leads us into salvation (Mark 16:16; John
+               1:12, 13).
+
+        (_f_) Conquers this world (1 John 5:4, 5).
+
+        (_g_) Gives us peace therein (Eph. 6:16; Rom.
+               5:1).
+
+        (_h_) And finally eternal life (Rom. 1:17; John
+               3:16; 3:36).
+
+      (2) The works from faith:
+
+        (_a_) Faith alone is dead (Eph. 2:10; Jas. 2:14-26).
+
+        (_b_) Faith a beginning (Jude 20; Col. 2:6, 7).
+
+        (_c_) Of wondrous power (Mark 9:23; 11:22-24;
+               Luke 17:5, 6).
+
+        (_d_) Working out through love (1 Thess. 5:8;
+               1 Cor. 13:2; 13:13; Gal. 5:6; 1 John
+               3:23).
+
+        (_e_) In miracle (Matt. 9:22; 9:29; Luke 8:50;
+               Acts 3:16).
+
+        (_f_) In history (Heb. 11: 32-34; Matt. 16:16;
+               John 1:49; 11:25, 27; Acts 6:5; 8:37;
+               11:24).
+
+   4. Have I it?
+
+        (_a_) There is false faith (1 Tim. 1:5).
+
+        (_b_) The testing (2 Cor. 13:5; Jas. 1:3; 1 Pet.
+               1:6, 7).
+
+        (_c_) The seeking (Phil. 1:27; Jude 3).
+
+        (_d_) The keeping (1 Cor. 16:13; Heb. 10:38;
+               Col. 1:23; 1 Tim. 1:18, 19; 6:12;
+               1 Pet. 5:8, 9).
+
+   5. Now and hereafter (2 Cor. 5:7; 1 Cor. 13:12).
+
+Manifestly, when this plan is carried out, there will be scant time
+for the regular lesson; probably no time at all. The next Sunday two
+lessons must be recited. But your topical study has grown out of the
+regular lessons, and in its turn will excite in them fresh interest.
+
+It is obvious that each teacher must choose his own topics and make
+his own outlines, suited to his own methods of thought, and to the age
+and intelligence of his class. The above was used in a class of young
+men, college students in part. Themes of an entirely different nature
+might well be chosen,--a view of Christ's miracles or parables or
+sermons, of Old Testament miracles, or of sacred history in some one
+line. It might even be found profitable, as it surely would be
+interesting, to collate, arrange, and discuss Scripture references to
+the eye, the ear, birds, flowers, trumpets. To my mind, some such
+occasional excursion as this seems to lead the scholars, especially
+those approaching manhood and womanhood, to a more comprehensive and
+methodical knowledge of the riches of the best Book, and to one of the
+most resultful methods of studying it.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX
+
+Introducing Thoughts
+
+
+A little child once declared that she liked a certain sermon because
+there were so many "likes" in it. For the same reason, that same child
+would have liked Christ as a Sunday-school teacher. And we teachers
+will gain Christ's success in the same measure as we gain his power of
+putting the whole universe back of our thought.
+
+For a thought comes forcibly from our minds in proportion as we see
+its relatedness. If we have put it into connection with a score of
+things, that score get behind it and push. An unrelated thought comes
+as tamely from the mind as a Jack from its box when the spring is
+broken. And so when a Sunday-school teacher would present a truth
+energetically, he must look all around the truth, crowd his mind with
+applications of the truth, fall in love with its beauty from many
+points of view; in brief, become thoroughly acquainted with the truth,
+and its enthusiastic friend.
+
+How, now, shall we introduce the truth to the child? It is the manner
+of some to take the truth and the child, and bump heads together,--a
+process which very naturally develops a mutual shyness.
+
+The true teacher, on the contrary, is a skilled master of ceremonies.
+From the crowd of likenesses, illustrations, and applications which
+have made him and the truth acquainted, he chooses one to go with it
+and act as mutual friend, to introduce the stranger thought to the
+child's mind, and put the two on easy terms together.
+
+He does not make the common mistake of sending along the entire crowd,
+so that the introduced is lost in the throng of masters of ceremonies,
+so that the truth is confused, and acquaintanceship embarrassed by the
+parade of illustration. He knows that where one parable makes, two
+mar, and three ruin.
+
+Nor will the shrewd teacher ever attempt introduction by something
+other than a mutual friend of both parties,--the truth and the child's
+mind. The myth of Alcestis may be connected with your own thought of
+the resurrection, but it is itself a stranger to the child's mind. The
+true mutual friend would be the metamorphosis of the butterfly.
+
+Is that comparison stale? In seeking for fresh and brilliant
+illustrations, we are apt to forget that the longer the mutual friend
+has known both parties, the more apt will he be at furthering their
+acquaintance. The butterfly is truly to us a trite illustration of the
+resurrection, but not to the child.
+
+Do not push forward the thought first, and after a ten minutes' awkward,
+floundering parley between it and the child's mind, proceed to introduce
+them by your illustration. After two people have talked together for ten
+minutes, they either need no introduction by that time, or have
+destroyed the possibility of acquaintanceship. Illustration first.
+
+And after the introduction two mistakes may be made. The introducing
+illustration may keep on chattering, not allowing the truth and the
+mind of the child to say a word to each other. A master of ceremonies,
+who knows his business, knows when to draw quietly back, and leave the
+new acquaintanceship room to grow. The illustration is not the end,
+but the means.
+
+The other mistake is in allowing the mutual friend to withdraw
+abruptly, before the two, the stranger thought and the child's mind,
+have broken the ice. Let him stay and put in a clever word now and
+then, until the acquaintanceship can stand by itself.
+
+Nor is there any reason why, with every fresh truth, a fresh
+illustration should strut forward. Those social assemblies are best
+managed which are planned by one wise woman, and permeated throughout
+by her thoughtfulness, words of tact, and shrewd bits of engineering.
+One mistress to a party, as one cook to the broth. And so if you can
+find one illustration which is on good terms with all the truths in
+the lesson, and familiar also to the child's mind, by all means let
+that one illustration hold sway, as a genial host, throughout the
+entire half-hour, and associate the whole together.
+
+But when the illustration ceases to illustrate, part with it,
+regretfully but promptly; as I, following my own advice, must here
+part with the illustration which has done duty hitherto.
+
+In this whole matter, as in all others, only painstaking deserves or
+gains success. A genius for parable is rare. Gift here means the
+poet's power, his breadth of vision, his depth of sympathy, his tact
+and sense of fitness. But though it is a poet's gift, it need not be
+born in one. How may we gain skill in illustration?
+
+In the first place, by gaining knowledge. How can we expect Jewish
+history to seem real, isolated, as it so often is, from all other
+history? We, too, have a Father Abraham. Cæsar crossed a river once,
+as, and yet not as, did Joshua. Compare Washington's farewell address
+with Samuel's. And, too, without science, such sciences as geology and
+astronomy, a Sunday-school teacher is but half armed. How wonderfully
+and inspiringly God's two books supplement each other, no one can
+guess who has not put the two together. In brief, for the theme is
+infinite, almost any fact, once learned, has constant surprises of
+usefulness, and in no ways more frequently than this of illustration.
+
+In the next place, by gaining sympathy. No one can well use
+illustrations who is out of touch with his fellows. The best possible
+illumination of life questions is the story of the lives around
+you,--their trials and triumphs. Do you know a child who has done a
+heroic deed, though quietly, for the Master? Have you a friend who has
+conquered some sore temptation? Have you met a good man struggling
+against some inherited evil tendency? Have you knowledge of the
+disastrous results of some single life? Life comes closest to life,
+and experience furnishes the best similes.
+
+And then we may study books, and learn how effective writers have used
+illustrations. A note-book collection of these will be helpful, even
+though the making of it is the end of it; for this study will help us
+toward the teacher's chief goal,--the power of putting things in the
+best way.
+
+The newspapers should be one of the most fruitful fields for the
+gleaning of illustrations; and so they will be, when they learn to
+chronicle the good as thoroughly and brilliantly as they now chronicle
+the bad.
+
+Of course,--though an "of course" seldom practically accepted,--a
+Bible character is the very best illustration of a Bible character,
+the Old Testament of the New, the last lesson of this, Moses of Paul,
+and Sinai of Hermon.
+
+And of course, too,--though again a belied "of course,"--the less the
+illustration given by the teacher, and the more given by the scholar in
+answer to questions, the more vivid the impression. Too often we
+teachers smack our lips at the coming of the similes, and launch out
+into harangue.
+
+Let us see in all this much more than a scheme of indirections. It is
+no easy task to find the best way into a child's mind, nor quite
+without pains and difficulty is the imitation of the Teacher who spoke
+many things in parables.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XX
+
+Illustrations and Applications
+
+
+Sunday-school teachers often make the mistake of confounding "lesson
+illustrations" with "practical applications." A lesson illustration is
+a picture of the truth you are studying as exemplified in spheres of
+life foreign to your scholars; practical application pictures the
+truth in their own lives. In other words, a practical application is
+an illustration that the scholars can practice. The point I want to
+make is, that the practical application should be used, in our own
+precious half-hour, not to the exclusion of the lesson illustration,
+but largely predominating over it.
+
+For instance, if you were discussing the great cloud of invisible
+witnesses that compass us about, you might illustrate the truth by the
+famous story of Napoleon's speech to the troops in Egypt, "From yonder
+pyramids, my men, forty centuries look down upon us"; but, if you have
+not time for both, a practical application would be far better: "John,
+who is one of this great cloud of witnesses that is most tenderly and
+anxiously watching your life?" "My father." "And who, Harry, is among
+your invisible guardians?" "My mother." That is more forcible than
+"forty centuries."
+
+Again, one of the finest illustrations of devotion to principle is
+afforded by the conversion to the Baptist faith of one of our first
+American foreign missionaries, the immortal Judson, who, at the
+bidding of conscience and conviction, cast loose in mid-ocean from the
+only missionary society in America, and his only assured support. That
+is magnificent, but it is only an illustration, one needing to be
+translated into terms of child life thus: "Suppose you are in a school
+examination, and your neighbor on one side hands you a bit of folded
+paper to pass to your neighbor on the other side, and you are pretty
+sure it is to help him cheat in the examination, and suppose the whole
+school will think you mean and stuck up if you refuse to pass the
+paper, what are you going to do?" That is a test of devotion to
+principle such as the child is likely to meet.
+
+To be sure, there are illustrations which come so close to average
+circumstances that they are also applications. For instance, to take
+another great missionary, William Carey, his boyish fall from the tree
+he was climbing, with the result of breaking his leg, and, on
+recovery, his immediate set-to at the same tree again; his saying that
+his business was preaching the gospel, but that he cobbled shoes "to
+pay expenses"; his bidding the Christians left at home to "hold the
+ropes while he went down,"--all these are very practical
+illustrations, quite within the children's sphere, since it is well
+for them also to have grit even about tree-climbing, since they are to
+hold their ordinary duties subordinate to their spiritual life, and
+since they have missionary money to spend and missionary prayers to
+make. If, however, I were teaching the passage in the Acts that
+relates how the disciples had all things in common, though I might
+tell about the splendid carrying out of that principle in Carey's
+Serampore brotherhood, yet, if I had time for only the one, I should
+certainly prefer a practical application of the text to the sharing of
+apples and the lending of bicycles.
+
+It is helpful to a boy, of course, if he would cultivate patience, to
+have before his eyes the picture of that cave looking out over
+Scottish hills and heather, and of the spider at the cave's mouth
+teaching its beautiful lesson to the Bruce within; but the picture
+remains only a picture unless the spider of the boy's imagination is
+taught to run lines connecting every point of the picture with his
+geography lesson and his garden weeding. Far too many war stories are
+told in our Sunday-schools. They do not build up very rapidly the
+Christian soldier. Far too many illustrations are drawn from what is
+wrongly called the distinctive "heroic age" of the world. Not thus is
+the Christian hero furnished for his nineteenth-century toils.
+
+A similar remark is to be made regarding illustrations from science.
+They must not be permitted to detract from or exclude the practical
+application. If we are teaching our boys and girls how all things work
+together for good to those that love God, we may use the illustration of
+the rainbow, explaining that it is on the very raindrops of the storm
+itself that God paints his wonderful symbol of hope and trust. That is
+poetical and true, but the lesson remains as misty as the rainbow itself
+unless you go on to show your scholars how the lame boy among them gets
+more time for study on account of his lameness, how the boy who has been
+sick has learned far more than he knew before about the love of his dear
+ones and about the great Physician, how the boy who has had to leave
+school and go to work is none the less getting a priceless schooling in
+patience and determination and energy and faithfulness.
+
+Many of these practical illustrations you may by questions draw out
+from the boys themselves. "Blessed are the peacemakers." Call for
+stories of boyish quarrels settled by some boy Solon. That is better
+than telling about the Massachusetts boards of arbitration in strikes.
+"My cup runneth over." Draw out a list of their own boyish blessings,
+which are more to them than those of any saint or psalmist.
+
+But especially this practical application, to be successful, must be
+the work of a consecrated imagination. A Sunday-school teacher must
+think himself into the lives of others. "Bear ye one another's
+burdens." Now don't rake up from your encyclopedias the story of St.
+Christopher, beautiful as it is, and try to twist it into an
+illustration of the text. No. Ask the bright scholar what he does to
+help his duller friends understand the knotty problems at school. Ask
+the merry boys what they do when mother is tired amusing the baby. Ask
+the selfish boy what a lad that greatly wanted a new sled could do to
+help his father bear his burden of poverty.
+
+To get these applications you have had to "put yourself in his place,"
+to picture to your mind your scholars' joys and sorrows, desires and
+disappointments, hopes and fears, labor and play. And in the process,
+and as its result, have come two rewards that no thumbing of
+dictionaries of biography, and manuals of mythology, and encyclopedias
+of illustrations, could ever give. You have come closer to the lives
+of your scholars, and you have drawn those lives closer to the
+present, practical Christ.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI
+
+Righteous Padding
+
+
+It is marvelous how rich in suggestion all passages of the Bible are
+to the thoughtful, studious mind. It is no less marvelous how bare and
+barren the wealthiest portions become when filtered through a bare and
+barren mind.
+
+Truth is valuable only as it is _extended_ into life. "Blessed are the
+pure in heart, for they shall see God"; that means to the child very
+little, packed into this condensed form. But let the teacher set about
+_extending_ that blessed truth. Let him picture a man, cross, ugly,
+besotted, selfish, greedy, his heart all rotten with passion and
+pride. Go through a day with him, from the sullen greetings in the
+morning and his breakfast-table quarrels, through his business hours
+all stern and crabbed, to his morose and unlovely evening. Ask the
+children how much he sees and enjoys of the beautiful world, how much
+he gets from noble books, what perception he has of the character of
+his charming wife and children. He is blind to all these things. Why?
+Because of his impure heart.
+
+Show how this baseness follows him to church, holds him down from
+praying, weights his songs, dulls his vision of spiritual things. Ask
+them how it will be at death, when he goes out of this world with a
+soul taught to see only money and self. _How can he see God?_
+
+Then go on to tell them of their loving, gentle-hearted mothers, and
+how much good _they_ can see in this world, in their friends, in their
+children, because their hearts are unselfish and pure. How easily they
+pray. How cheerily they sing. How near God is to them. Will there be
+any difficulty in _their_ seeing God in the next world, when they can
+see so much of him in this?
+
+You have made quite a sermon out of that text. It has been extended
+largely, and yet the meaning of it has merely begun to dawn on those
+childish minds.
+
+Suppose you had taught it in this way: "Verse eight. Read it, Tommy.
+Now, who are blessed, Mary? And why are they blessed, Willie? Now
+don't forget that, children. Pay attention. Always remember it. The
+pure in heart see God. Why should we be pure in heart, Lucy? And how
+can we see God, Susy? Now don't forget it, children. Pay attention.
+Always remember it. The pure in heart see God. What have we learned in
+this verse, Lizzie? Yes, that's right. You all want to be pure in
+heart, children, now don't you? Why? Yes, that's right. I see you
+have paid attention." But they haven't, as any such teacher may find
+out by a question next Sunday.
+
+A teacher of children must learn the art of righteous padding. He must
+learn how to fill in outlines, how to expand texts. He must illustrate
+with imagery, parable, allegory, personal experience, use of material
+objects, pictures, action of the children.
+
+Especially valuable is the last, when it can be used. The teacher's
+cry for attention might well be translated into the highwayman's,
+"Hold up your hands." At any rate, if you can manage to keep them busy
+with their hands, you have their eyes, tongues, and brains.
+
+Set them to hunting up verses in their Bibles. You will have the
+experience of a friend of mine who came to me once after trying it,
+and despairingly said that the children now wanted to do nothing else.
+Nearly every verse can be illustrated by a stanza from some common
+song. Get the children to sing it softly, first making them see how
+the song fits the Bible. Make liberal use of concert repetition of
+Bible verses. There is nothing better than this good old device for
+unifying and freshening the attention of a class.
+
+And pictures. Teachers do not yet know one-tenth of the teaching power
+of pictures. Take the Twenty-third Psalm for a familiar example. "The
+shepherd, want, green pastures, lie down, leadeth me, still waters,
+the paths of righteousness, the valley of the shadow, thy rod and
+staff, a table prepared, mine enemies, anointing, cup runneth over,
+the house of the Lord"--as you read that list did not fourteen
+pictures rise at once in your mind? Find them, and show them to the
+children. They will pay even better attention to your printed pictures
+than to your word-pictures.
+
+Experience will soon teach the teacher, if his eyes are open, the need
+of copious illustration. Astronomers tell us that it is very difficult
+to see the smallest objects visible to us in the sky, if they are in
+the form of little dots. They may have dimensions very much smaller
+and still be visible easily, if they are extended into lines of light.
+So with the points of our lessons. They will miss attention entirely
+or gain it with difficulty, while they remain merely points. We must
+extend them, by the use of consecrated wits.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXII
+
+The Sunday-School and the Newspaper
+
+
+On several pages of this book I have hinted at the use of the
+newspaper in our teaching; but the theme deserves a chapter to itself.
+An up-to-date teacher is respected, and it is largely the newspaper
+that brings one up to date. We must put our lessons into touch with
+life, and the newspaper is our modern compendium of life--very faulty,
+but all we have. The best illustration of the lesson is one your
+scholars find; the next best, one you find yourself; and only the
+third best, one found for you by the skilful writers of your lesson
+helps. The newspapers are mines of original illustrations.
+
+They constitute, for example, a magazine of warnings. Hardly a number
+but tells of a defalcation sprung from gambling, of the ruin
+accomplished by the theater and dance-hall, of the mischief caused by
+sensational literature, and everywhere and always of the rum-fiend's
+devilish work. Why Saul fell, and David, and Solomon,--your scholars
+must know that; but their sense of the reality of sin and its fearful
+power will be deepened by noting the fall of men and women in this
+present world, and learning what brought shipwreck to their souls. A
+misplaced switch last week threw a train from the track and killed a
+man. What a warning against carelessness! Early Wednesday morning a
+drunken woman was found asleep on an ash-pile, her little girl sobbing
+by her side. What a lesson on the evil wrought by rum! Of all the sins
+and faults against which the Bible utters its great warnings, there is
+none we may not illustrate freshly and vividly from the newspaper.
+
+But that is only half, and the lower half. By sharp search we may find
+in our papers many a thrilling example of heroism and noble service.
+Would that our reporters more frequently chronicled the good! Yet here
+is a fire at which a fireman risked his life to save a little child.
+And here is a cashier that braved death rather than open the safe for
+the robbers. And here is a lad whose shoulder was dislocated by
+stopping a runaway horse. And here is a heroic rescue of men and women
+from a shipwreck. We do not get from the newspaper the daily acts of
+devotion and faithfulness so honored in the eye of heaven; but we do
+get the splendid deeds, the stirring, romantic victories, that will
+move the girls and boys to knightly action.
+
+Newspapers, too, give an outlook over the world. The confining walls
+melt away, and your lesson takes wide sweeps under a broad sky. Every
+session of Congress considers many matters of the highest import for
+the kingdom of God. Our great offices are filled with men of strong
+character, acting out upon a grand scale lives potent for good or
+evil. In the lands across the seas great events are occurring, each
+exhibiting some phase of godliness or sin. You will exalt the gospel
+mightily in the minds of your scholars if you can show them how its
+principles solve the problems of our government, and underlie all wise
+action of the nations of the world.
+
+It has already been indicated how the temperance lesson, that
+quarterly bugbear of some teachers, may be illuminated by the
+newspaper. Thus also may the missionary lesson. So profoundly do
+missions affect any nation they touch, and so closely are they
+interwoven with its life, that whatever of importance befalls any
+people has its missionary bearings. The Sultan cannot massacre the
+Armenians, or France seize Madagascar, or Japan fight China, or Hawaii
+depose its queen, or a revolution occur in South America, without
+entanglement with the omnipresent missionaries of the cross. To make
+the scholars feel this through wise references to current events is
+immensely to broaden their conception of the church and its work.
+
+Even beyond all this, our newspapers afford the teacher a vast supply of
+illustrative material. There are the carefully prepared biographies of
+the great men and women that pass away, printed with their portraits.
+There are sketches of the lives of living celebrities, with pictures of
+their faces and their homes. There are lectures and sermons, sometimes
+admirably reported, giving in a few bright paragraphs the gist of an
+hour's discourse. There are thousands of poems by the best modern
+authors. There are appropriate editorial comments on all the holidays,
+Christmas and New Year's, Easter and Memorial Day, Thanksgiving and the
+Fourth of July. There are accounts of the latest wonderful inventions,
+each a pointed parable to one with eyes and a brain. And, with all its
+pictorial enormities, the newspaper often contains a portrait or a
+sketch worth using in our lesson half-hour.
+
+In all this I am taking for granted, of course, that you subscribe to
+no sensational abomination, but to the best of our standard sheets,
+even if you must get it from some other city than your own. It must be
+a paper so clean that you can occasionally hand a copy to your
+scholars, and fearlessly set them to "reading up" on some theme
+helpful to the lesson. Besides, it must not be forgotten that our best
+religious weeklies are now genuine newspapers as well, and furnish
+admirable comments upon all important current events.
+
+To use the newspaper to the best advantage in your teaching, you must
+have well in mind all the lesson themes for months in advance, since a
+striking event of to-day might not illustrate this week's lesson, but
+the lesson of five weeks ahead. Your best plan is to cut out each day
+the paragraphs and articles that seem likely to be of use, and
+preserve them in a series of envelopes. Mark one set of envelopes
+with the topics and dates of a year's lessons. Let another set contain
+the clippings arranged by subjects, as: "Love," "Faith," "Temperance,"
+"Missions," "Theater," "Heroism," "Inventions." These will contain
+poems as well as prose. Some, rather than classify the bits of
+biography under the characteristics especially prominent in each case,
+will prefer to arrange them alphabetically, in a separate set of
+twenty-six envelopes. As the envelope for each week's lesson is used,
+distribute its contents through your permanent file. Frequently glance
+over your clippings to refresh your memory concerning them; otherwise
+they will become so much dead wood.
+
+Not an unimportant result of all this is that it will teach your
+scholars to read the newspaper as a Christian should. In this great
+American university our scholars should be taught to skip the courses
+in evil and elect those in goodness.
+
+And a final word,--which, indeed, no teacher is likely to need, though
+it must be said: keep the whole matter subordinate. It is not proposed
+to turn our Sunday-schools into classes for the study of current
+events. We have to do with one Life, and with that alone. We are
+teaching not all kinds of truth, but him who is the Truth. Whatever we
+admit into our teaching that does not exalt him and throw light on his
+life and doctrine is a harmful impertinence. We are not to study the
+lamp, but the Book that lies beneath it.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIII
+
+On Taking Things for Granted
+
+
+The cliff-scaler, who lowers his comrade down the precipice, does not
+take for granted the fastening around the tree or the stoutness of the
+rope; but the Sunday-school teacher too often throws his young people
+into the treacherous depths of thought and life with little care for
+their life-rope's integrity or moorings. More than once or twice or
+thrice in my own experience, after weeks and months of supposedly
+thorough intercourse with my scholars, an awkward question, better
+aimed by Heaven than by myself, has disclosed some fatal doubt, some
+fundamental misconception. I had been taking for granted that my boy
+really believed Christ to be divine, or that he had at least the
+beginnings of a conception of the Saviour's mission to the earth, or
+that he knew by experience the meaning of prayer, or that he actually
+had confidence in a future life.
+
+I have in mind a fine, thoughtful fellow, graduate of a famous college
+and a church-member, whose very thoughtfulness, and the knowledge of
+his religious activity in former years, led me, when he entered my
+class, to take for granted his Christianity. After weeks of teaching,
+it was only a chance question, in private conversation, that led him
+to the frank admission that skeptical college friends had absolutely
+destroyed his faith in Christ and the Bible, leaving him with only a
+sad and bewildered hold on the God of nature. What Sunday-school
+teacher has not been startled thus with disclosures of his own
+carelessness in taking things for granted?
+
+It is a mistake constantly to advertise skepticism by warning our
+scholars against it, but it is no mistake to arm them against it. No
+teacher has mastered his lesson until he has mastered every doubt
+regarding it that any of his scholars is likely to entertain. "Will
+this punishment seem unjust? this event fabulous? this person
+mythical? this doctrine unreasonable? this miracle unreal? this author
+apocryphal? these men and women mere creatures of imagination?" Such
+questions as these are important for the teacher to consider,--_to
+consider_, not ask in the class. Because to the teacher the account is
+more true and vivid than an extract from yesterday's newspaper, he
+takes it for granted that his scholars so regard it. They may put the
+lesson story in the same category as Baron Munchausen or "The Ancient
+Mariner," and such a teacher would be none the wiser.
+
+I know of nothing _in the way of study_ that is so capable of firing a
+Sunday-school teacher and class as Christian evidences. Remember that
+this also is a study of the Bible. Why is it ordinarily thought so
+dull? It is full of snap and point. Professor Fisher's short "Manual
+of Christian Evidences," published by Charles Scribner's Sons at
+seventy-five cents, stands next to my Bible as an aid and inspiration
+in teaching that Bible. I keep several copies, and all of them are
+usually in the hands of earnest scholars. Often when they are returned
+the compliment is, "That book helped me so much that I have bought a
+copy of my own." That means the conversion of a doubting Thomas.
+"Why!" exclaimed one such reader, "I never knew before that there was
+anything to prove Christianity but the Bible, or anything but the
+Bible to prove the Bible."
+
+A teacher that is not in the habit of questioning persistently and
+searchingly can have no idea of the depth and at the same time the
+shallowness of the religious thinking of the average scholar. Far too
+many teachers prove everything by quoting the inspired Bible, taking
+it for granted that their scholars accept the Bible as inspired; or by
+referring to our divine Saviour, taking it for granted that their
+scholars believe Christ to be a divine Saviour. Our scholars are more
+shrewd than that. Their answers will be proper, but skepticism often
+lurks beneath, ready to spring up in open infidelity, secret scorn, or
+fruitless, formal morality.
+
+Skepticism should never be anticipated, but it should _never_ be
+neglected. It should never be dealt with before the class, if it can
+be dealt with in private. But it is a teacher's first duty to _know_
+the great truths of Christianity, and know _why_ he knows them. It is
+his second duty to make certain that each of his scholars knows them,
+_and can prove them_.
+
+"But we cannot cover the ground without taking things for granted."
+_Cover the ground!_ Superficial area, and superficial teaching!
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIV
+
+Utilizing the Late Scholar
+
+
+The late scholar is no blessing, and yet he is far from an unmixed
+evil. The wise teacher will get all the good he can out of him.
+
+Of course, he is to be transformed into the early scholar, care being
+taken lest by mistake he be transformed into the scholar absent
+altogether. And during this process of transformation there is a small
+harvest of advantage to be tended.
+
+Let his entrance be a danger signal. Don't act mad. Of course, the
+electric current of interest is flowing by this time, or never, and
+the late scholar rudely breaks it. But never mind. Better the total
+loss of your scholars' interest in the lesson than the loss of their
+respect for you.
+
+Remember, too, that there may be a good excuse,--even late coming may
+mean earnest endeavor,--and premature impatience in such case will
+cause you dismayed repentance.
+
+The late scholar cannot be ignored; don't try it. Sometimes we
+fiercely attempt to finish our sentences, or get answers to our last
+questions. The late scholar is a potent and aggressive fact, and
+cannot be got rid of in that way.
+
+No. Accept the situation promptly and sensibly. Stop short at once,
+and greet the late comer heartily. Don't let him sneak into a back
+seat, but set him in the midst. See that he has a Bible or a lesson
+paper. Incorporate him. Then proceed thriftily to utilize him. He is
+your opportunity for a review. You probably need one at this stage of
+the lesson, anyway. Here is your chance for gathering up loose ends
+and binding all the truths thus far taught in a compact whole.
+
+You may do it in this way: "Before you came in, Charley, we were
+talking about Christ's command to lay up treasures, not on earth, but
+in heaven. We've been deciding what some of the earth-treasures are.
+We've agreed that they include money and clothes and houses and
+studies and friends, and that we mustn't win any of these in such a
+way that they will belong merely to earth. You see? And now, class,
+can any one think of another earth-treasure?"
+
+Or you may do it in this way: "Here's Charley. John, will you please
+tell him what we talked about at the beginning of the lesson? That's
+good. And Bess, tell him, please, what conclusion we have come to thus
+far. That's right. And now let us go on."
+
+Similarly, all through the lesson, the late scholar may be your excuse
+for bringing up points mentioned at the opening of the hour, and
+needing repetition. "Something was said at the start which bears on that
+matter, and Charley wasn't here. Ned, please tell him what that was."
+
+Bring him into the electric circle by a question as soon as you can. But
+remember that it takes time for him to become charged with interest and
+understanding as fully as the rest, and ask him easy questions at first,
+or, perhaps better, call on him to read a verse or two.
+
+The late scholar's exit is fraught with as much danger as his entrance.
+You must utilize that also. Let your questioning be jolly and indirect:
+"Too much sleep this morning, Billy?" "Sorry, Ellen, that you couldn't
+start in with us"; "Some good points you missed at the opening, Fred."
+
+If rightly used, this is an opportunity for learning of some need or
+temptation that besets your scholar. She may be lazy. He may be too
+fond of sleep. She may keep too late hours. He may be led astray by
+the Sunday morning papers. They may fail to see the value of the
+opening prayer and songs. You get fresh insight into their characters.
+
+When Nature heals a broken bone, she makes it the stronger for the
+break. And so, though the late scholar seem to fracture sadly the
+interest of the lesson, the wise teacher will know how to mend the
+matter in such shrewd fashion as to knit the whole class more firmly
+together.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXV
+
+Side-Tracking the Teacher
+
+
+Even the poorest teacher has a right to the course he has marked out
+for himself; even the smartest scholar has no right to side-track him.
+
+Some scholars side-track their teacher merely to show that they
+understand how to use the switch; others do it by simply fooling with
+the switch, in pure carelessness and thoughtlessness; others really
+wish to bring the teacher nearer some private interest of their own.
+
+Their motive must determine your treatment of them,--whether it is to
+be the bruskness that rebukes conceit, the firm patience that resists
+carelessness, or the considerate postponement of questions that are
+prompted by a need.
+
+But so far as its effect on the lesson is concerned, it makes no
+difference whether the teacher is side-tracked by a switch of gold or
+one of brass,--the lesson is "held up," and often permanently.
+
+It is not always easy to tell when these question-switches are open,
+and when they are closed,--when they will side-track you, and when
+they will merely salute you with a friendly rattle and let you pass;
+the tokens are not so definite as on the red and white faces of the
+switch indicator. And yet you cannot engineer your class far without
+wrecking it, if you do not learn to read these question indicators,
+and tell at a glance whither they will send you.
+
+But what is the use of reading them, if you are to be at their mercy
+anyway? How shall we circumvent these mischief-making switchers?
+
+Some would abruptly take away their switch-keys, and practically
+dismiss them from the force; that is, they would prohibit questioning
+altogether. But this is capitulating to the problem. Some would swing
+smilingly off upon the side-track, as if they had intended to go
+there. But that is surrendering their preparation. Some would rush
+precipitately into the side-track and through it, expecting to find at
+the other end a switch back to the main track. But thus the lesson is
+usually derailed.
+
+On the railroad, of course, there is authority; but in the
+Sunday-school the less appeal to authority the better. No, the
+likeness, to a large extent, stops here; for in the Sunday-school the
+only way to deal with a scholar who side-tracks the train is to win
+him by friendly arts to become your helper rather than your hinderer.
+
+In the first place, many a lesson is side-tracked because the main
+track is not made sufficiently plain to the scholars' apprehension.
+When the lesson winds like a snake, with a purpose known only to the
+teacher (if to him), small blame to the scholars if they switch it off
+the wrong way by a question. Strike out in a bee-line at the start,
+and stick to it. No one will then ignorantly side-track you.
+
+In the second place, many a lesson is side-tracked because the teacher
+does not act as if he cared whether he ever arrived anywhere or not.
+Lackadaisical in manner and matter, his carelessness provokes equal
+carelessness in his scholars. Let him, on the other hand, appear to be
+eagerly on the scent of some truth, on the track of some fact,
+following the path of some event or demonstration, and his scholars
+will, in the main, be "forth and right on" with him.
+
+In the third place, many a lesson is side-tracked because the scholars
+are not on the side of the teacher. Of course, when the two parties
+are at cross-purposes, things run no more evenly than they would if
+the engineer of a train were out of touch with his crew. The teacher
+must get up an _esprit de corps_, a class spirit, or his class will be
+perpetually flying off from him on a tangent. His scholars must be
+interested in him, if they are to be interested with him. He must draw
+them to himself, or they will never pull together. Friendship in his
+crew must take the place of authority in the railroad crew; and the
+more friendship, the less side-tracking.
+
+In the fourth place, there must be frankness of speech. A misplaced
+switch on a railway, if it provoked no further collision, would at
+least provoke a clash of words. There is no reason why, if a question
+is too far aside from the main purpose of the lesson, the teacher
+should not frankly say so. He may lay it away in his mind for later
+discussion; he may promise to talk it over after the session; but no
+fear of being thought incompetent, or unsympathetic, or arbitrary,
+should induce him to turn aside from his one purpose. The wise teacher
+will make many exceptions, of course, to every rule; but nevertheless,
+a rule of the wise teacher it must be, to say to every irrelevant
+question, kindly and tactfully, yet firmly, "Get thee behind me." For
+the half-hour is all too short. The impressions made are all too
+confused. The instruction given is all too fragmentary. However wise
+and earnest the individual moments may be, there is danger that the
+half-hour may pass into oblivion at once, unless these individual
+moments have been wise and earnest to some single, distinct end.
+
+There is a place for switches in our Sunday-school lesson. The train
+must be made up. Side excursions must often be made. There are sundry
+connecting lines whose cars must be switched in. But in genuine
+Sunday-school railroading there must be no delay upon side-tracks. Let
+all teachers, as far as possible, run express.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVI
+
+The Problem of the Visitor
+
+
+The analogy for the class-building of some teachers is the arch. Every
+scholar is needed in his place, or the class-work collapses; and of
+course there is no room for a visitor. The analogy for the true class
+is the electric circle. Join hands all around, and ever room and
+electricity for one more.
+
+I do not mean to imply that the visitor is not a problem. He is an
+intrusion on your familiar little group. He is a foreign and
+constraining element. He is a problem, however, that you cannot get
+rid of, but must solve.
+
+Utilize the visitor. Go to work in such way as to transform him into a
+scholar; or if circumstances forbid that, at any rate win from his
+visit fresh interest and inspiration for the class. Every visitor is
+an angel of opportunity, entertained--how often!--unawares.
+
+Let your reception of the visitor be to your class an object-lesson in
+Christian courtesy. If he comes in alone, and awkwardly drops into a
+distant seat, do not wait for the busy superintendent to get around to
+him. If he is of fit age for your class, drop everything,--the most
+valuable lesson you could be teaching is not so valuable as this
+practical example,--and go to the stranger. Introduce yourself
+cordially to him, and him to the rest of the class, or, at any rate,
+to his neighbors.
+
+Sometimes resign the pleasure of seeking the visitor yourself, and
+send some persuasive scholar, thus letting him have a taste of the joy
+of giving invitations. Possibly it will help him into the habit of
+giving invitations outside.
+
+Get your scholars to hand the visitor a lesson leaf or a Bible. Show
+them that he is their visitor as well as yours. They will soon learn
+to be delightfully courteous. But an iceberg teacher makes an iceberg
+class.
+
+And now you are on trial before your class. They will judge you by the
+interest or the apathy of the visitor. They are watching him, ready to
+be ashamed or proud of you.
+
+Yet do not fear your visitor. He may come from a better school and a
+better teacher. He may be critical and sneering and skeptical.
+Nevertheless, he is your opportunity. Rejoice in it.
+
+If he is a better scholar than any in your class, what a valuable and
+inspiring example he may be made to them! If a poorer scholar, what an
+opportunity to make your class feel the joy and power of teaching some
+one!
+
+If he is sneering and critical, the indignation of the class will bind
+them more enthusiastically to you. If he is skeptical, what a chance
+for examining and strengthening foundations!
+
+The visitor is a mine of new ideas and experiences. Old thoughts take
+on novel forms when fitted to him. His questions and answers exhibit
+needs in your own class, unobserved because unfamiliar. His ways and
+words freshen the stagnant class atmosphere.
+
+And so he is your chance to get out of ruts and into new ways and
+moods. Bless Providence for him, and question him vigorously, making
+use of him to the utmost.
+
+Two cautions, however. Let your questioning be very clear. He is
+unused, remember, to your little mannerisms, and must not be confused
+by idiosyncrasies. And in your exultation over him do not neglect the
+others, nor seem to change your plans for the visitor, or to be
+striving to show off before him.
+
+Final advantage of the visitor: Teach your scholars to ask him heartily
+to come again, not forgetting to do so cordially yourself. Committees on
+church extension, remember, are trained in the Sunday-school.
+
+Thus you see that the value of the visitor does not depend upon the
+visitor so much as might be imagined. Yet just a word on how to visit
+well.
+
+Go to give good. Take hearty interest in the lesson, and have some
+thought to add to the discussion. Better yet, have some earnest
+question to ask. And ask it. If you come from another school,
+consider yourself a Christian ambassador bearing greetings of
+brotherly good will and common endeavor.
+
+Go to get good. Be unobtrusive and teachable. And especially, show
+that you have received good. Express appreciation, after the lesson,
+to teacher and scholars. Then will you be blessed, and, changing the
+meaning of the word "visitation," these words from the Wisdom of
+Solomon may be applied to you: "In the time of their visitation they
+shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVII
+
+"Under Petticoat Government"
+
+
+One of the brightest women in the United States, a woman well known to
+the Protestant churches of the world, was groaning to me the other
+day: "What _shall_ I do with those boys in my Sunday-school class?
+They are just at the age when they think they know a little more than
+any _woman_. They need a man. Don't you think the superintendent ought
+to remove them from under petticoat government?"
+
+This cry, that came so strangely from a woman of her ability and fame,
+comes also from a throng of baffled Sunday-school teachers. The answer
+would be easy, if there were anything like as many good Sunday-school
+teachers among the men as among the women. As it is, however, most boy
+classes must be assigned either to a distasteful petticoat government,
+or to an incompetent pantaloon government, or--cast adrift until, long
+years afterward, they drop anchor in the haven of matrimony, and
+happily, perchance, appear once more in the Sunday-school, in the
+"Bible class."
+
+The remedy, however, though not easy, is manifest. The boys do not
+need a man, but they do need in their teacher certain manly qualities
+that could be incorporated in a woman's teaching. These qualities all
+women whom the Lord of the Sunday-school has set over a class of his
+boys, should seek to get.
+
+The most obvious of them, I think, is a certain dignity and reserve
+that show themselves as well in refraining from scolding as in
+declining to pat on the head or hold by the hand. Boys of the
+undefinable age we are talking about highly appreciate the title "Mr."
+Their greatest horror is petting; their greatest aversion is nagging.
+A young man, set to teach a class of boys, will approach them with a
+sense of comradeship; will at once make himself, if he is a teacher at
+all, "hail fellow well met" among them; and yet, as the boys say,
+"there is no nonsense about him."
+
+It is far better--bad as that is--to talk over the heads of boys than to
+talk down to them. It is far better to use too few words than too many.
+If a teacher would hold boys, she must be concise, straightforward,
+businesslike. Indeed, the latter adjective comes near to being the key
+to the situation. Boys dislike fussiness, and wordiness, and beating
+about the bush. Woman teachers that are eager for boys' souls will take
+a long step toward their astonished approbation if they school
+themselves to brevity, dignity, and "business."
+
+Set the boys to work. Imitate common-school methods. In the public
+school woman teachers hold the boys, and win their honest hearts. It is
+largely because here there are definiteness of purpose and firm
+continuity of aim. Boys are easily mastered by a taskmaster who is
+master of her task. Boys that cannot be won by Sunday-school preaching
+are readily won by Sunday-school _teaching_. Lay down a distinct course
+of work, with a goal in fair view, and they will gird up the loins of
+their minds; but they refuse to follow you in aimless wanderings through
+a thicket. To learn in chronological order the seventy-five prominent
+events in Christ's life; to trace through the Bible the doctrine of the
+atonement; to commit to memory every Scripture passage bearing on the
+temperance problem; to write a six-hundred-word abstract of the Book of
+Genesis; to make a classification of the Psalms by topics; to compile
+the Bible proverbs that have to do with money and wealth-getting; to
+make a diagram graphically depicting the history of the Old Testament
+Hebrews; to write out the Ten Commandments, and place in parallel
+columns the New Testament enlargements and interpretations
+thereof,--these are samples of the work boys would like to do. They
+would give high praise to a teacher who conducted them through such
+tasks. They would say that she "meant business."
+
+And that leads me to mention another point in which woman teachers are
+more likely than men to fail, though both are far too weak,--the use
+of evidence, of proof. This is a hobby of mine, but it is the boys
+themselves, and recollections of my own boyhood, that have set me on
+the hobby. Wherever a thing is susceptible of proof, boys want it
+proved to them. If it is not susceptible of proof, they want _that_
+proved to them, also. Woman's traditional "because" does not commend
+itself to the lawyerlike boys. Fresh from their botany in the public
+schools, they refuse to take on faith the Cana miracle. Ready for
+their physiology or physics the next day, they want more proof than a
+"say so" that a leper was ever healed by a word or that Peter really
+walked on the waves. "It is in the Bible" is not enough; they must
+know why they must believe the Bible.
+
+Now I am not so foolish as to advise any one to suggest skepticism to
+a boy, and I know that there is a way of handling Scripture evidences
+that serves rather to raise doubt than to confirm faith; but I have
+enough of the boy in me to be sure that in no way can a teacher more
+highly exalt both herself and Christianity in the eyes of the boys
+than by insisting on the reasonableness of both. I had the best of
+Sunday-school teachers, quite a score of them, women and men; yet
+until full manhood I wrestled all alone with a concealed and absolute
+skepticism that would not down until I had hunted out for myself the
+many overwhelming proofs of the resurrection of Christ. If any of my
+twenty teachers had set those proofs with lawyerlike force and
+directness before my boyish mind, I should have been saved some very
+dark years that came near making an infidel of me altogether. Because
+I think that boys feel this need of proof and evidence more than
+girls, and that women are less ready to meet the need than men, I have
+ventured to add this suggestion to my list.
+
+And that list may close with only one point further. Boys like to be
+taught by men, because through men they get a telescope-view into the
+life-work that lies before them. Men teachers draw their illustrations
+from mannish things, from business life, from inventions, from politics,
+from commerce, from the law. Where a woman might illustrate dishonesty
+by apple-stealing, thereby causing every urchin before her to exclaim
+"Chestnut!" under his breath, a man would be more likely to make some
+discussion about watering stock or falsifying entries. A man is more
+likely than a woman to render Scripture vivid and practical by reference
+to current events, dropping a word here and there about the war between
+China and Japan, about Gladstone's retirement, about the Manitoba school
+question, about the Honduras lottery,--just a word, but the boys prick
+up their ears. A woman might compare Gideon with David, but a man would
+be far more likely to compare him with Parkhurst.
+
+And now my point is that the boy needs both,--both David and
+Parkhurst. There is no reason why the woman teacher cannot give the
+boy everything he could get from a man teacher, and more. It is easy
+to appear to a boy quite a Solon regarding current events. It is not
+so very hard, by the exercise of a consecrated imagination, to place
+yourself by the boy's side on the outskirts of the great, wide world
+of busy activities he is soon to enter, and feel his impatience to be
+there and his hunger for any tidings from that charmed country. Show
+him how Christianity untangles the skeins of business, is the
+master-key to all true politics, the foundation of law, the compass of
+commerce, the force of civilization. Read the newspapers wisely, and
+find out what is going on in the world. Read wisely the hearts of your
+boys, and find out what is going on in that world. Lift manfully over
+both worlds the banner of Christ.
+
+One point at a time, with cheerful persistence, the teacher that
+"means business" will win for her teaching these adaptations to the
+needs of her boys. And in the process, losing nothing of womanliness,
+she will have nobly broadened her own life, while as its result she
+will have won a double hold, both a woman's hold and a man's hold, on
+the hearts of the boys.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVIII
+
+The Teacher's Three Graces
+
+
+The teacher's manner must be heart-born. It must not become mannerism,
+which is head-born, and never reaches hearts. "Manner maketh the man,"
+and also the teacher,--half-way, at least. If we suspect, however, that
+our manner is defective, the manner itself is the last thing to look at;
+we must look at our heart. That is the place to get the change.
+
+Three heart qualities produce the ideal teacher's manner. One of these
+is _earnestness_. If you would make on your scholars an impression
+that will last beyond the hour, you yourself must be deeply impressed
+with the eternal years. To move their life, keep before you their
+death. That is hard to do, when confronted by such abounding youthful
+vigor and vitality. Become an advocate, a pleader, with eternal life
+as the stake. Learn to know deeply the great central truths of sin,
+atonement, sanctification. Aim at radical and positive results in
+confession, testimony, spirituality, character, and conduct, and press
+toward these as the genuine verdict on your teaching.
+
+The second quality is _cheeriness_. We are prophets of awful
+alternatives, but we are also ministers of the most blessed joy.
+Happiness is the best recommendation of Christianity. In it center all
+the Christian evidences. Learn by heart all the promises; they are
+better teaching weapons than the prohibitions and warnings. Keep a
+smile very close to the surface, and improve every fair chance to
+laugh. The teacher that is in earnest, need never be afraid to be
+merry. Permit no exaggeration of the facts of wickedness, either in
+them or in others. The more stormy the day and the fewer in
+attendance, the cheerier be you.
+
+The third quality is _sympathy_. The true teacher has, or gets, the
+poet's ability to project himself into the lives of others. He keeps
+invisible, tactful antennæ playing in all directions, feeling this
+one's coming embarrassment before it arrives, conscious of that one's
+eager assent before it lights his eyes, exploring homes and
+occupations and character in order to adapt question to scholar.
+Without argument or plan, but by instinctive appreciation of differing
+personality, the true teacher assumes dignity with this pupil,
+_bonhomie_ with that. So far is he from treating all alike, that he
+never treats even the same person in the same way two days in
+succession, knowing, by feeling rather than theory, that no
+one--especially no child--is the same person two days in succession.
+
+These are the teacher's three graces: earnestness, born of faith and
+unsatisfied until it has inspired an equal faith; cheeriness, born of
+hope, and hope-creating; and sympathy, born of love, which is the
+greatest of all. These in the heart blossom outwardly into the perfect
+teaching manner,--earnestness to arrest, cheeriness to attract, and
+sympathy to hold. "Covet earnestly the _best_ gifts."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIX
+
+Something to Belong to
+
+
+I believe in the organization of Sunday-school classes, because it
+fosters class spirit. If it is a good thing to have a class, it is a
+good thing for the class to have a spirit. This class spirit should
+promote the school spirit, just as the _esprit de corps_ of a company
+enhances the loyalty of soldiers to their regiment.
+
+When a scholar has signed a constitution, he feels that he belongs to
+the school. Lacking this feeling, he will not be long with the school
+or with anything else.
+
+In the simple constitution of my class (which is a class of young men)
+are provisions for a porch, a lookout, and a social committee.
+
+The porch committee watches the morning congregation for strange young
+men, and invites them to come to Sunday-school. The lookout committee
+seeks throughout town and church for permanent additions to the class,
+whom, through its chairman, it proposes for membership. This is a
+great gain. When a teacher urges people to join his class he is
+inviting them to the gospel, certainly, but he is also inviting them
+to himself. In the first cause he is as bold as a lion, but in the
+second many a modest soul is naturally, even though foolishly,
+bashful. Happy the teacher whose scholars are zealous in this vital
+service, for him so delicate and for them so blessed!
+
+The voting in of new members, with the subsequent producing of the
+constitution for signatures, is a little ceremony as useful for the
+old scholars in reminding them of their class autonomy as it is
+inspiring to the new scholars. A hearty word of welcome from the
+teacher to the new-comers gives them a formal and public installation.
+They have indeed taken on themselves a new function.
+
+The social committee will greatly add to the efficiency of any class.
+Monthly class socials are genuine means of grace. Our socials are thus
+managed: Each social has a solid backbone, consisting of a paper or
+talk by some member of the class, detailing little-known points in his
+own business. Of a neighboring class similarly organized, one is a
+young architect, another works in a rope-walk, a third holds an
+important position in a newspaper office, a fourth is in the leather
+business, the teacher of the class is a judge. Utilizing the
+experiences of their own members and friends, this class has held
+quite remarkable socials. It has found the contribution of the clerk
+in a furniture store as interesting as that of the young banker. The
+class have been wonderfully knit together by the bonds of a common
+and a widening interest. After these papers or talks (which are often
+appropriately illustrated), come discussion and questions, followed by
+games or light refreshments. By occasional joint socials of this kind
+we hope to draw together this class and my own. Of course, this is
+only one out of a myriad schemes of entertainment that could be
+devised for these class socials. The point the shrewd teacher will
+notice is that it is the scholars themselves who plan these socials,
+and who thus take into their own hands the creation of a warm, helpful
+class atmosphere. Every teacher should know that in making new
+scholars feel at home it is hardly his own sociability, but that of
+his scholars, that counts.
+
+If the class is thus organized, the teacher must guard the authority
+of his class president as jealously as his own. If you want your class
+officers to feel genuine responsibility, it must be genuine
+responsibility that you put upon them. Give up to the president,
+during the conduct of business, your place in front of the class. Wait
+to be recognized by him before you speak. Make few motions. Inspire
+others to take the initiative.
+
+The election of officers should come every six months, and it is best
+to bring about a thorough rotation in office. Improve every chance to
+emphasize the class organization. If your school arrangements permit,
+vote every month on the disposal of the class collections. If you must
+be absent a Sunday, ask the class to elect a substitute teacher, and
+ask the president to inform the substitute of his election. An
+alternate should be chosen also, to make the thing sure. This little
+device serves to make the scholars as loyal to the substitute teacher
+as to their own, for they have made him their own. In the course of
+the lessons, also, a wide-awake teacher will frequently mention and
+emphasize the class organization.
+
+Of course the whole plan will fall flat if the teacher wholly
+delegates to his scholars any or all of these lines of work. He also
+must invite the strangers, if he expects his scholars to do so. He
+also must seek for new members, if he would inspire them to do the
+same. Without his sociableness they will soon become frigid. The
+teacher alone has the dipper of water that starts the pump. Any
+contrivance that lessens his responsibility lessens his success.
+
+But the plan I have outlined has value, not because it permits the
+teacher to do less, but because it incites the scholars to do vastly
+more. An ounce drawn out is better than a ton put in. One thing you
+get them to do is a greater triumph than a dozen things you do much
+better for them.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXX
+
+Through Eye-Gate
+
+
+Before his listless and restless audience the lecturer took in his hand
+a piece of chalk, turned to the blackboard, and touched it. Instantly he
+had the eager attention of all. He did nothing with the chalk; had not
+intended to do anything; he carried his point with it, nevertheless.
+
+A teacher, plus a bit of chalk, is two teachers. And any one may
+double himself thus, if he choose to take a little pains.
+
+Surely there need be no hesitation as to the materials. If you can
+have a blackboard, that is fine. I myself like best a board fastened
+to the wall, and a second board hinged to this after the fashion of a
+double slate. The outside may be used for "standing matter," and the
+inside opened up for the surprises.
+
+But this is a great luxury. A portable, flexible blackboard will
+answer, if your class is away from the wall. You can roll it up and
+carry it home to practise there. You can use both sides of it. Such
+blackboards may be obtained now for two dollars.
+
+Not even a flexible blackboard, however, is essential. A slate will
+serve you admirably, and some of the best chalk-talkers use simple
+sheets of manilla paper tacked to ordinary pine boards.
+
+Then, as to the chalk, by all means use colored crayons. It is easy to
+learn effective contrasts of colors, and bright hues will increase
+many fold the attractiveness of your pictures and diagrams. But these
+crayons need not be of the square variety, sold especially for such
+work at thirty-five cents a box. They produce beautiful results, but
+the ordinary schoolroom box of assorted colors will serve your turn
+admirably and cost much less.
+
+And if the materials are readily obtained, so is the artistic skill.
+Trust to the active imaginations of the children. Remember in their own
+drawings how vivid to them are the straight lines that stand for men,
+the squares that represent houses, the circles with three dots that set
+forth faces with eyes and mouth. I once saw Mrs. Crafts teach the
+parable of the Good Samaritan in a most fascinating way to some little
+tots, and her blackboard work was merely some rough ovals, each drawn
+half through its neighbor, to represent a chain of love,--love to papa,
+love to mamma, to sister, brother, friend, teacher,--_neighbor_. And as
+circle after circle was briskly added, every child was filled with
+delight. That same parable of the Good Samaritan I once saw perfectly
+illustrated--for all practical purposes--by four squares, each with two
+parallel lines curving from one upper corner to the opposite lower one,
+to represent the descent of the Jericho road, while the various scenes
+were depicted with the aid of short, straight lines, the man fallen
+among thieves being a horizontal line, the priest and Levite being
+stiffly upright and placed on appropriate points in the road, while the
+line for the Samaritan was leaning over as if helping his fallen brother
+rise! Surely that series of drawings was not beyond the artistic skill
+of any teacher.
+
+One of the beauties of such simple work is that it may be dashed off
+in the presence of the scholars, while more elaborate pictures must be
+prepared beforehand; and half the value of blackboard work is in the
+attention excited by the moving chalk. I use the expression "dashed
+off," but I do not want to imply careless work. The straight lines
+should be as straight as you can make them without a ruler, the
+circles as true circles as can be drawn without a string, and the
+stars should have equal points. The simpler the drawing, the more need
+that every mark should have its mission and fulfill it well. A
+confused scrawl will only make mental confusion worse confounded.
+Don't be satisfied with rough work, or it will constantly become
+rougher. Try to do better all the time.
+
+Of course, this means home practice, even for the simplest of
+exercises, like Mrs. Crafts' links of the love-chain. The nearer the
+links are to perfect ovals, the better. The more nicely they are
+shaded on one side, the more distinct will be the impression of a
+chain. And the more rapidly they can be drawn, the more tense will be
+the children's interest. A few easy lessons in drawing, from some
+public-school teacher or some text-book, will prove of inestimable
+value,--lessons enough to give you at least an idea of perspective, so
+that you can make a house or a box stand out from the board, and know
+which sides to shade of the inside of a door. Make such simple
+beginnings as I have indicated, and determine to advance, however
+slowly. It is hard to draw a man, but not so difficult if you are
+willing to begin with a little circle for the head, an oval for the
+body, and two straight lines for legs.
+
+But even if you do not draw at all, it is well worth while to use
+chalk. Almost magical effects may be produced by a single sentence,
+sometimes a single word, _written_ on the board. If your lesson is the
+last chapter of the Bible, the one word "Come!" will be blackboard
+work enough. Add to it, if you will, at the close of the recitation,
+this earnest question: "Why not to-day?" Every lesson has its key-word
+or its key-sentence. Write it large on your scholars' hearts by
+writing it large upon the blackboard.
+
+In such work, as in drawing, you may begin with simple writing (your
+best script, however!) and go on to as high a degree of elaborateness
+as you fancy. A printer's book of samples will introduce you to
+fascinating and varied forms of letters. Your colored chalks may be
+used in exquisite illumination. You may learn from penmen their most
+bewitching scrolls. And all of this will be enjoyed by the children,
+and will contribute to the impressiveness of the truth, _provided_
+you are jealous to keep it subordinate to the truth. Otherwise, plain
+longhand is to be preferred to the end of the chapter.
+
+Another easy way to use the blackboard--still without venturing on
+drawing--is by constructing diagrams. What a key to Scripture
+chronology, for instance, is furnished your scholars when you draw a
+horizontal line to represent the four thousand years from Adam to
+Christ, bisect it for Abraham, bisect the last half for Solomon,
+bisect the third quarter for Moses, and continue to bisect as long as
+a famous man stands at the bisecting-point! How it clears up the life
+of Christ to draw two circles, the inner one for Jerusalem, the outer
+for Nazareth, dividing them into thirty-three parts for the years of
+our Saviour's life, and running a curved line in and out according as
+his journeys took him to Nazareth and beyond its circle, or back to
+Jerusalem at the feast-times! Such circles will also serve to depict
+graphically Paul's missionary journeys, the outer circle representing
+Antioch. Any series of historical events may well be strung along a
+vertical line divided into decades, and parallel series, as in the
+history of the northern and southern kingdoms, along two parallel
+verticals. An outline map, such as the teacher may draw from memory,
+will furnish an excellent basis for another kind of diagram, the
+progress of persons or of series of events being traced from place to
+place by dotted lines, a different color for each person or journey or
+group of incidents.
+
+Acrostics furnish still another use for the blackboard. For example,
+draw out from the class by questions a list of the prominent
+characteristics of David. He was
+
+  Daring
+  Active
+  Vigilant
+  Inspired
+  Dutiful
+
+Not until the list is completed does the class see that its initial
+letters spell David's name. You have attained the element of surprise,
+so valuable in work of this sort. Again, in a lesson on the rich young
+man, or on Dives and Lazarus, or on Zaccheus, write in a vertical column
+the letters of Christ's name, and draw straight lines to the right in
+various directions, as shown in the following diagram. Transferring the
+letters, or getting some scholar to transfer them, to the points
+indicated, you quickly insert an E, and it reads: "Christ--richest."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The application is obvious, and will never be forgotten.
+
+Often, in seeking for such an effective presentation of a lesson's
+truth, we hit upon alliteration, and then our blackboard work is easy.
+Three P's:
+
+  P      P      P
+
+Fill them out, as the lesson proceeds, thus:
+
+   harisee              ompously
+  P          Prayed    P
+   ublican              enitently
+
+And often, again, our form will be based upon similar terminations or
+beginnings of words, such as:
+
+               { choosing
+      Solomon  { reigning
+               { sinning
+
+Suggestions and examples of such work might be indefinitely
+multiplied. It is one of the easiest, yet one of the most effective,
+methods of fixing the points of a lesson.
+
+The earnest teacher will be drawn irresistibly from the use of the
+chalk in diagrams, acrostics, and the like, to simple drawings; and by
+this time he will realize the importance of simplicity. A set of
+steps, for instance, is easy to draw; we may use only the profile; but
+the drawing will fix forever in your scholars' minds the events in
+Solomon's life. To a certain point the steps are all upward. Yellow
+chalk shows them to be golden. A word written over each step gives
+the event it symbolizes. On a sudden the steps turn downward, become a
+dirty brown, each representing a sin, and break short off as Solomon
+takes his terrible fall.
+
+Who cannot draw a number of rough circles? They will stand for the
+stones thrown at Stephen. A word or initial written in each will
+represent the different kinds of persecutions that assail faithful
+Christians in our modern days. Who cannot draw a shepherd's crook, and
+write alongside it the points of the Twenty-third Psalm, or the ways
+in which Christ is the Good Shepherd? Who cannot draw a large
+wineglass, and write inside it some of the evils that come out of it?
+Who cannot draw a rectangle for a letter, and write upon it a
+direction, to make more vivid some of the epistles? or a trumpet
+inside seven circles, to brighten up the lesson on the fall of
+Jericho? As a rule, the very best chalk-talks are the simplest, and
+require the least skill in drawing.
+
+But how to get the ideas? Where to find the pictures?
+
+Of course, in the first place, from the books of first-rate
+chalk-talkers, such as Pierce's "Pictured Truth," Frank Beard's "The
+Blackboard in the Sunday-school," and Belsey's "The Bible and the
+Blackboard" (an English book). Of course, also, from the many
+admirable periodicals that publish blackboard hints, such as the
+"Lesson Illustrator," the "Sunday-school Times," and the teachers'
+magazines of the various denominations. Get hints also from the
+blackboard work of the public school and the kindergarten, as to
+manner, if not as to matter.
+
+But as for the design, your own is the best for you, and not
+another's. Study all the blackboard work you can find, and retain
+whatever gravitates to you; but your own original design is the one
+you will best understand, and in presenting it you will have more of
+that enthusiasm which makes success.
+
+Learn to find pictures all through the Bible. I have just been searching
+my mind for a Bible text that promised nothing in the way of a picture.
+At last I thought that "All have sinned and come short of the glory of
+God" would do. But in another second two pictures popped into my mind. I
+saw a river whose further bank was beautiful with flowers and trees, the
+paradise of "the glory of God," and across the river a bridge--lacking
+its final portion. I saw a ladder reaching up into some golden clouds
+back of which shone heaven, the city of "the glory of God"; but all the
+top rounds of the ladder were missing. Bridge and ladder had "come
+short." God's hand was needed, reaching across, reaching down, to help
+us over the sin-gap into "the glory of God." I do not believe it
+possible to find any Bible texts, still less any twelve consecutive
+verses of the Bible, that do not hide somewhere a capital picture.
+
+Read your Bible pictorially. Make sketches everywhere upon the margin.
+For practice, often take some passage sure to come up in the
+International Lessons, such as Psalm 1, Isaiah 53, Proverbs 3,
+Matthew 5, Luke 2, John 14, Acts 9, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 13,
+Hebrew 11, James 3. Delve into the passage, meditate long over it, and
+see how many pictures you can get out of it.
+
+Of the greatest assistance will be a book,--indexed as to texts, and
+also as to subjects, such as "temperance," "missionary,"
+"resurrection," "courage,"--in which you will preserve every drawing
+you make, and all the most suggestive blackboard hints you clip from
+the teachers' magazines, together with simple outlines of all sorts of
+common subjects. These last will be particularly useful. There will be
+a ladder, an anvil, a horse, a lily, a broom, a fountain,--anything
+likely to be of use for a symbol. You will clip these from
+advertisements, catalogues, the illustrated papers and magazines, and
+you will find your collection useful in many ways.
+
+I have spoken as if the teacher should do all the blackboard work. On
+the contrary, he should do none that he can get his scholars to do for
+him. No matter if they do not do it as well as he. Get them to
+practise beforehand. Let them begin with only the simplest work; they
+will soon astonish you with their proficiency. And the class will take
+far more interest in a poor drawing by one of their own number than in
+a good drawing by you.
+
+Yes, and even when you preside at the blackboard yourself, give the
+class pencils and paper occasionally, and let them copy what you draw.
+Their attention will be assuredly fixed, and an ineffaceable
+impression made on their memory. The drawings they complete, however
+crude, they will be glad to carry home to show their parents, and
+treasure as souvenirs of the lesson, or keep, if you choose, against
+the coming review day. If you use this method, you will soon come to
+cherish a deeper liking for that prime pedagogical virtue, simplicity.
+
+For a final word: Take pains that your word-pictures keep pace with
+your chalk. Don't _ask_ your class what you have drawn--that might
+lead to embarrassing results! _Tell_ them. Put in all sorts of graphic
+little touches, even though you cannot draw a tenth of what you are
+talking about. The man on the Jericho road--how full of fear he was as
+he walked; how he whistled to keep up his courage; how one robber
+peeped from behind a rock, and another whispered, "He's coming!" how
+they sprang out, and he ran, and a third rascal sprang out in front
+and knocked him down; how he shouted, "Help! Thieves! Help!" and how
+only the echo answered him in that lonely place--all this must have
+happened many a time on that Jericho road, and you have a perfect
+right to stimulate with such natural and inevitable details the
+imagination of the children.
+
+That is what they are for--both our word-picturing and our
+chalk-picturing: not to exhibit our nimbleness of wit or of finger,
+but to quicken the minds of the children,--that alone,--and make them
+more eager in the pursuit of truth.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXI
+
+Foundation Work
+
+
+The work of the primary department lies at the foundation of all
+Sunday-school work. This does not mean that there is no chance of a
+child's becoming a good Bible scholar and a noble Christian if he
+misses the primary training, but it does mean that without a
+flourishing primary department a school can scarcely be called
+successful, while with it half the success of the school is assured.
+The primary teacher molds the soft clay; her successor with the child
+must cut the hard marble.
+
+Teaching that thus lies at the foundation must deal with fundamental
+matters, with the greatest lives of the Bible, the great outlines of
+history, the great essentials of doctrine, the root principles of
+morality. Details are to be filled in later. The danger is that the
+teacher will attempt to teach too much, will expect the little ones to
+know about Hagar when it is enough for them to know about Isaac; or
+about Jeremiah, when Daniel would be sufficient; or about the order
+in which Paul wrote his letters, when it might well suffice for them
+to know that Paul wrote them.
+
+But though many questions are too hard to ask, no question is too easy,
+and no point is so simple that in these first days you may safely take
+it for granted. Laugh if you please, but I do not think that even these
+days of sand-maps and pricked cards have produced a method much more
+helpful for the primary teacher than the old questioning of my boyhood,
+over and over repeated: "Who was the first man?" "Who was the strongest
+man?" "Who was the oldest man?" and the like.
+
+The primary teacher's right-hand man is named Drill,--Ernest Drill. No
+mnemonic help--that _is_ a help--is to be despised. Rhymes giving in
+order the books of the Bible, the Commandments, Beatitudes, list of
+the twelve apostles, may wisely be used. No memory verse or golden
+text, once learned, should be allowed to lapse into that easy pit, a
+child's quick forgetfulness. Better one thing remembered than a
+hundred things forgotten. Foundation-stones are few and simple, but
+they must be firm.
+
+Now the first essential, if one would do this foundation work
+successfully, is to get a room to work in. A room that lets in floods
+of sunshine and fresh air. A room with pretty pictures and bright
+mottoes on the wall, with canary songs and blooming plants. A room
+with little chairs, graded to the scholars' little heights. A room
+with a visitors' gallery for the mothers. Or, if your church was not
+blessed with a Sunday-school architect, then such a room in a house
+next door or across the street, to which your class may withdraw after
+the opening exercises. Or, if your work must be done in the church, as
+so much primary work must be, then a temporary room, shut off by drawn
+curtains, or even by a blackboard and a screen, is far better than the
+distractions of the open school.
+
+The blackboard just mentioned, at any rate, the room should contain; the
+shrewd use of it will create an intense interest that will almost cause
+oblivion of the most distracting surroundings. A padded board gives the
+best effects,--such a board as you yourself may easily and cheaply make
+with a pine backing, a few layers of cheap soft cloth, and a covering of
+blackboard cloth nailed firmly over all. In the chapter on blackboard
+work I have tried to show how easily possible, and at the same time how
+valuable, is the use of the blackboard. If the children are too small to
+read, they may at least know their letters, and recognize S for Saul and
+P for Peter, and a cross for Christ, while the immense resources of
+simple drawings are always open to you.
+
+The primary teacher is fortunate, nowadays, in being able to buy, at
+slight cost, series of pictures illustrating each quarter's lessons.
+These pictures are either colored brightly or simple black and white,
+and vary in size from four or five square feet to the little
+engravings in the Sunday-school paper. Whatever picture is used
+should be hidden until it is time to exhibit it, and produced with a
+pretty show of mystery and triumph. Some teachers hang these pictures,
+after use, in a "picture-gallery," where the children may become
+familiar with them, and to this gallery they may be sent for frequent
+reference against the coming review day.
+
+After all, the primary teacher's chief reliance for purposes of
+illustration must be natural objects. In this reliance we merely imitate
+the example of the great Teacher. The objects to be used will most often
+be suggested by the lesson text itself. A lily, a vine, seed, leaven, a
+door, a sickle, a cake, a cup, grass,--are not each of these objects at
+once associated in your mind with passages of Scripture? Hunt out the
+suggested objects, and simply hold them before the children as you talk
+about the lesson, and you will find them a wonderful assistance.
+
+A more difficult process is to discover illustrative objects when none
+are directly suggested in the text. In a temperance lesson, for
+instance, there may be no mention of the wine-cup, yet you will bring a
+glass, fill it with wine-colored water, and place in it slips of paper
+cut to resemble snakes. On each is written some fearful result of
+drinking alcoholic liquors; and after the children have drawn forth,
+with pincers, one after the other, and read what is written upon it,
+they will not soon forget how many evils come out of the wine-cup.
+
+You may be talking about the imprisonment of John the Baptist. Produce
+a pasteboard chain, painted black on one side. Each link tells in red
+letters one of the horrors of his imprisonment,--loneliness, fear,
+despair, and the like. Turn over the chain and show the underside
+gilded, the links reading, "More faith," "Near to God," "God's favor,"
+"Courage," "Eternal reward." There was a bright side, after all.
+
+You are on the stumbling-block lesson, and you bring in some awkward,
+rough wooden blocks, on which you tack labels as the lesson proceeds:
+"A spiteful temper," "A gossiping tongue," "Envy," "Suspicion,"
+"Swearing," "Treating to strong drink," "Playing marbles for 'keeps.'"
+
+You are teaching about the paralytic let down through the roof. It has
+not required many minutes, with pasteboard, scissors, and glue, to
+construct a dainty little model of an old-time Jewish house, outside
+stairs, inner court, overhanging court roof, and all. And how the
+little model illuminates the story! The jail in which Peter was
+imprisoned, the table around which the Last Supper was celebrated, the
+Tabernacle, the Temple,--from the many excellent pictures and
+descriptions obtainable, even quite ambitious models are possible of
+manufacture. And once made, they are aids and joys forever.
+
+The sand-map has become justly popular. It is easily formed, requiring
+only a shallow tray, some sharp, clean sand, pieces of looking-glass
+for lakes and seas, blue yarn for rivers, some rocks for mountains,
+wooden blocks for houses, dried moss for trees, little toy men, boats,
+horses, and such readily found apparatus.
+
+In turn you can build up, with its accommodating materials, the Sea of
+Galilee and the scene of the feeding of the five thousand, all
+Palestine with the courses of Christ's journeys, Asia Minor and
+Macedonia with the route of Paul on his second great missionary
+journey. Much of this the children themselves will help you prepare,
+and will learn a great deal by so doing. Indeed, the wise teacher will
+do as little as possible herself even in getting ready to teach, and
+will make her scholars themselves her assistant teachers.
+
+That is one of the beauties of such kindergarten devices as pricking
+paper and weaving bright yarn back and forth to fill up the picture
+outlined by the holes. It is the scholars' work, and not your own, and
+they do not forget their own work. Simple designs illustrating the
+lessons can thus be pricked into the children's memories at the point
+of a pin.
+
+It is best not to confuse the class with a multiplicity of objects,
+but to fix on a single symbol for each lesson, that will stand
+distinctly for the lesson in the weekly and quarterly reviews. The
+kind of object should constantly vary. If this week it is cut out of
+pasteboard, next week let it be modeled in clay, and the following
+week let it be a picture in black and white. The simpler, the better:
+a cup for the lesson at Sychar; a dried leaf for the parable of the
+fig-tree; a square of white cloth for Peter's vision on the housetop.
+Do not produce the object till you want it in your teaching, or the
+children's interest will be dissipated before you have need of it. Get
+a little cabinet in which to store all your teaching apparatus. Do not
+keep the object in sight after you are through with it, or you will
+lose attention from your next point. Remember, in all object-teaching,
+how inferior is any symbol to the truth symbolized,--its shadow only,
+a mere hint of it,--and learn to drop the interest-exciting object and
+use the interest for the truth you want to teach.
+
+In this branch of your work a knowledge of common science will prove
+invaluable. Botany and geology, chemistry, zoölogy, and astronomy open
+one's eyes to the beauties and marvels of God's handiwork, and disclose
+analogies abounding and true. There is much also to learn from the books
+of models,--models for suggestion, of course, and not for slavish
+imitation,--such as Tyndall's "Object-lessons for Children," Roads'
+"Little Children in the Church of Christ," and Stall's "Five-minute
+Object-sermons to Children," or his "Talks to the King's Children."
+
+The most valuable "objects" are the children themselves, when you can
+carry out an illustration with their own active bodies. For instance, in
+teaching the lesson on the first council at Jerusalem, arrange the
+chairs in two groups, distant as far as possible from each other. One is
+Antioch, the other is Jerusalem. Two picked scholars, Paul and Barnabas,
+set out from the Antioch corner toward Jerusalem corner. Some of their
+comrades accompany them part way. The scholars at the other side of the
+room receive them with interest. Paul and Barnabas--or the teacher for
+them--tell their story. A Pharisee rises, and the teacher puts words in
+his mouth. Peter rises and tells about Cornelius. James, the most
+dignified boy present, gives his decision. Judas and Silas are selected
+to escort Paul and Barnabas back again, bearing a letter.
+
+The visit of the Queen of Sheba, the taking of Joseph to Egypt, Paul's
+vision in Troas and passage to Macedonia, the parallel history of the
+northern and southern kingdoms,--indeed, countless events,--may be
+illustrated in this way. The only danger is that the whole may seem too
+much like play; but this danger is easily avoided by an earnest teacher,
+and the gains in interest and remembrance will prove rich justification.
+
+An illustration still simpler, and very effective, may be obtained
+from the children merely by the motion of their hands. "Went _down_
+from Jerusalem to Jericho"--all hands raised high and rapidly lowered.
+"And _great_ was the fall thereof"--the same movement. "The Queen of
+Sheba wondered"--hands raised in astonishment. "A sower went out to
+sow"--hands sweep to the right and left. These concert movements not
+merely fix the attention of the class, but serve as outlet to their
+restlessness. Some teachers advise a halt midway in the lesson for the
+introduction of some light gymnastics to rest the class. That is
+well; but if the same result can be gained in immediate connection
+with the lesson, so much the better.
+
+After all has been said, however, the primary teacher's great art is
+the art of story-telling. Learn to start right in. Preliminary
+preachment will spoil it all. Use short and simple words. Keep clear
+and distinct the order of events, and do not confuse the children by
+going back to take up omitted points. Nevertheless,--and this is not a
+contradiction,--repeat and repeat and repeat, telling each section of
+the story over and over, in different ways and with ever-fresh
+particulars, till the children's slippery memories have laid hold upon
+it.
+
+Introduce a myriad natural details, for which you must draw on a
+consecrated imagination. You should hear Mr. Moody tell a Bible story!
+It is not enough to say that Abraham determined to offer up Isaac as a
+sacrifice. The great, loving soul of the evangelist has brooded too
+long over the Bible for a statement so cold as that. He must tell
+about the patriarch's sleepless nights; about his getting up and going
+over to the bed of the boy so peacefully sleeping; about his weeping
+when no one was watching him; how he couldn't eat his breakfast; how
+his heart beat whenever he looked at the lad. And long before Mr.
+Moody is through, the great sacrifice is so vivid to him and to us
+that we all weep together, and no moralizing is needed.
+
+You are not Moodys? No; but hundreds of primary teachers are doing just
+this work, telling to their children the Bible stories as they must have
+happened, reading with the heart and telling them to the life. Long
+meditation is needed, persistent "putting yourself in his place," and it
+is even well to write out the story in full before you attempt to tell
+it. When you receive the reward, you will count the trouble as nothing.
+
+Music is a great aid in the primary room. If you cannot afford a piano,
+learn how cheap are the "baby organs," and how effectively they will
+lead the children's singing. Even though you work in an extemporized
+class-room, shut off by screens or a curtain from the rest of the
+school, you can at least use "whisper songs." Yes, and these whisper
+songs may often be motion songs, and serve to illustrate the lesson.
+
+At least one song of the hour should bear directly on the central
+thought of the hour, and before it is sung you should explain why you
+call for it. Most of the best songs for this purpose will prove to be
+standard hymns, and there is every reason why the simplest of these
+should be taught to the children, that they may find as many points of
+contact as possible with the services of the older church. The aid of
+the parents may well be invoked to teach these hymns at home to the
+children,--a helpful task, for more than the children's sake, at which
+to set the parents.
+
+The primary song-books contain bright little hymns appropriate to
+introduce prayer, to open and close the school, to be sung before
+Bible-reading and while the collection is taken. A clear-voiced
+assistant, sitting and singing among the children, will train them
+insensibly, and draw their childish voices into harmony with her own.
+Just as the children will enjoy a class name, motto, colors, so they
+will be delighted to select a class song; and this device may be
+tried, together with many others mentioned in the chapter on "A
+Singing Sunday-school."
+
+Our foundation work will surely fall if it is not itself founded
+firmly on the Bible. Be sure that each scholar has his own Bible--_and
+a large-type copy_. Why is it that the smaller the child, the tinier
+the type? It is not so with the children's other books. How can we
+expect them to take any interest in pages that look so black and
+uninteresting, and that, moreover, would ruin their eyes for life if
+they did read them?
+
+The Bible must not be so expensive that it cannot be marked freely. The
+children will learn much by this exercise. A little set of colored
+pencils may be given to each child, for class use only. The golden texts
+and other verses, and the places where the lesson story may be read,
+should all be marked with pencils of appropriate symbolic color. The
+children can easily find the place, and the folks at home will know just
+what passages to read to the children and to help them learn.
+
+Make much of memory verses. We are filling the little heads nowadays
+far more with sand-map puppets and blackboard rebuses than with the
+Word of God. Drill often and thoroughly on these verses. Prepare a
+Bible roll by fastening a long strip of manilla paper on a spring
+window-shade roller. Let the lower line contain a few initial letters
+hinting at the memory verse concealed just above it. After recitation,
+pull this down for the scholars to compare; and so proceed through the
+roll. An alphabet of Bible verses may thus be learned, or an alphabet
+of Bible men and women.
+
+One point needs especial emphasis. No matter how thoroughly you have
+told the story, or how fascinated the children have been held by your
+recital, never consider the hour well spent till you have read from
+the Bible itself the story you have been telling. The more delightful
+and satisfactory your own account has been, the more necessary is it
+to show the children that within the covers of the Book are to be
+found all these beautiful stories.
+
+Part of your foundation work is certainly to teach the children to
+pray. There are many appropriate prayer poems, such as, for the
+beginning of the lesson:
+
+      "A prayer we lift to thee, dear Lord,
+      Ere we shall listen to thy word.
+      The truth thy Spirit brings from thee
+      Help us to study patiently.
+          For Jesus' sake. Amen."
+
+Or this, for the close of the lesson:
+
+      "Our Father, through each coming day
+      Watch o'er our every step, we pray;
+      And may thy Spirit hide the word
+      Deep in our willing hearts, O Lord.
+          For Jesus' sake. Amen."
+
+These the class may be taught to repeat in concert, with bowed heads.
+
+One of the best methods is this. Let the teacher offer a simple prayer,
+sentence by sentence or clause by clause, the children reverently
+repeating it after her, all heads being bowed. Best of all, of course,
+are the Bible prayers, the prayer psalms, and the many noble prayer
+verses scattered here and there. Store the children's memories with
+these, and in coming years there will be no stammering or hesitancy
+when, in public or in private, they talk with their Father in heaven.
+
+One of the primary teacher's chief allies is a happy temper. If you
+have it not, get it. An ounce of sunshine is better than an iron
+mountain of scolding. The voice alone may make or mar the lesson. Is
+it good-cheery, or goody-goody? How joyous Christ must have been! How
+his little children love fun! And how much easier it will be for you
+to get them to love him if you also love fun!
+
+Indeed, we cannot know too thoroughly the child nature. The scientists'
+study of it is in its infancy, but a sympathetic heart will carry you
+farther in ten minutes than all their psychology in a lifetime. As you
+teach, have in mind, not _your_ trials, joys, and hopes, but _theirs_.
+Don't talk about "ambition," but about "getting more praise than another
+girl"; or about "covetousness," but about "wishing you, and not Tom, had
+his new bicycle." Don't allegorize; that is a grown-up delight. Don't
+talk about "the hill Difficulty," "the bog of Despond." Do you tell me
+the children enjoy "The Pilgrim's Progress"? Yes; but not as allegory.
+Vanity Fair is a real town to them, and Mr. Pliable a real man. Avoid
+what I call "fanciful" teaching, and the rather build your lessons upon
+actual men and women, so that the children may come to _know_ Eli and
+Gideon, Ruth and Martha, as vividly as they know the men and women
+around them. That is better than to know Lily Lazy and Matt Mischievous
+and the Sea of Sorrow.
+
+Review often. When you have reached the point where you think the
+children cannot possibly forget, then--review again! Frequently say,
+"Now, after I have finished telling about the lesson, I am going to ask
+Fred to tell me about it; and after Fred is through, I shall ask _some
+one else_ to tell the same story." Often ask questions that can be
+answered in concert, and insist that all shall join in the reply. This
+will usually lead to a repetition that will prove helpful. In such
+concert work, if you do not watch, the more forward will be the only
+ones that will respond, and you will be obliged to draw out the timid
+and repress the pert by many a special question addressed to the former.
+
+Sometimes it is hard to keep order; always hard, if the teacher has not
+by nature or attainment the face and voice and bearing that command
+order because they lovingly and firmly expect it. The teacher should be
+in the room before any scholar arrives. Much disorder has its source in
+those irresponsible ten minutes before the school opens. Then, while she
+is teaching, an assistant should sit with the children, ready to check
+their mischievousness, attend quickly to their needs and desires, care
+for the late comers, help them "find the place" in Bibles and
+song-books, and perform many other little offices. Some heads of large
+primary departments establish "hospitals," where are sent the children
+with "sick" hands or feet or tongues,--a special class where the most
+uncontrollable are "treated" till they are reported "cured." In general,
+however, if the children are interested, they will be orderly; and if
+the teacher is interested, so are likely to be the scholars. Put into
+the work your whole soul, and you are reasonably sure of getting the
+whole minds of the children.
+
+Love them! I cannot better sum up the entire matter than in those two
+words. Love them, and they will love you and gladly obey you. Love
+them, and you will work hard for them, and will not mind the hardness.
+Love them, and your love will teach you how to teach them wisely. And
+the God of love, who loves little children, will give you, week by
+week, the fullness of his joy.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXII
+
+The Trial Balance
+
+
+Some teachers omit the review, or pass over it in a perfunctory way.
+This is as if a merchant should never balance his books, or, taking a
+trial balance, should be heedless of the result. If we are to prosper
+in this our Father's business, we must be careful as any merchant to
+discover just where we stand with our scholars; we must test their
+progress often and thoroughly, and never rest satisfied or let them
+rest satisfied until they and we are assured that the balance is
+comfortably on the right side of the ledger.
+
+One reason for the common shrinking from review day is because we have
+not manfully met it at the very beginning of the quarter. It is the
+preview that gives success to the review. When the teacher looks
+carefully through the twelve lessons ahead of him, grasps the
+underlying thread that binds them together, and forms his plan for a
+review at the outset, review day has lost all its terrors. Then every
+lesson becomes part of a consistent series. Then the weekly reviews,
+which alone make possible a successful quarterly review, lay each a
+course of a steadily rising edifice.
+
+No clearness of knowledge may be expected unless the teacher knows
+clearly at the start just what it is that he expects the scholars to
+know; and the building grows with double certainty if the little
+workmen themselves are given glimpses of the architect's plans,--at
+least of a "front elevation." "For these three months," the teacher
+may say, "we are to study Christ's life as Mark records it. My plan is
+for you to vote each Sunday on the most important facts we have
+studied,--either in the lesson text or in the 'intervening events.'
+Sometimes it will be one fact; it will never be more than three. All
+together there are thirty facts we shall learn, and they will make an
+outline history of Christ's entire life."
+
+How such a scheme, clearly and often stated, will clarify and
+systematize the quarter's work! Three or four times during the three
+months the teacher will propound brisk questions covering the points
+of all the previous lessons of the quarter, following this by a
+written test. Let him prepare for each lesson a card, on which he
+prints questions answerable by the facts to be learned. Fastening
+twelve hooks on a board, he hangs these cards on the hooks week by
+week, and uses them in these reviews and in the final review of the
+quarter. If the class is one of little tots, a symbol for each lesson,
+cut out of pasteboard or consisting of some object, may be hung up in
+place of the card,--such a symbol as a needle stuck in a piece of
+cloth, answering to the story of Dorcas.
+
+Some such preparation will make thoroughly successful a written
+examination on review day. The questions should be simple and clear,
+and such as can be answered fully in a very few words. They should
+take up only the points on which emphasis has been laid throughout the
+quarter. If the teacher presents the plan in a jolly way, the class
+will enter into it heartily, as good fun.
+
+For a change, now and then invite the scholars to bring in, on review
+day, lists of what each considers the ten principal events of the
+quarter. A comparison is to be made, and the events that receive the
+most votes will constitute a model list. This exercise in itself will
+make a pretty good review.
+
+An excellent review may be based upon the six natural divisions of all
+lessons,--times, persons, places, events, sayings, teachings. The
+"sayings" are the short sentences best worth memorizing. A review
+"quiz" may take up these six points one after the other, carrying each
+over the entire range of lessons, sometimes chronologically, but more
+often at haphazard.
+
+A more elaborate plan is to assign each of these categories to some
+scholar the week before, telling him, for instance, that you will
+depend upon him alone to fix the location of all the events in the
+twelve lessons. Carrying out the comparison indicated in the title to
+this chapter, you may do very thorough work by getting each scholar
+to keep a Sunday-school ledger. He will open up a page to the account
+of "persons," another to the account of "events," and so on, and will
+make weekly entries on each page. The quarterly review will then be
+indeed his trial balance.
+
+I am very fond of a map review. Using a large outline map, sometimes
+one drawn before the class on the blackboard by a scholar who has
+practised the feat, I call for the first event of the quarter's
+lessons, and one of the class places a figure 1 at the scene of the
+event; thus with all the events in order. Then, reviewing again, I
+ask, pointing to the map, "What was event No. 7, here at Sychar?" or,
+"Four events at Jerusalem--what were they, in order?"
+
+Another good way to use the map--a map, this time, drawn in outline on a
+large sheet of manilla paper--is to employ "stickers," bright bits of
+gummed paper, cut to various shapes. Blue stars, for instance, stuck
+here and there over the map, will indicate the points where Abraham is
+found in a series of lessons. They may be numbered, or not. Gold stars
+may show where Christ worked the miracles studied during the quarter.
+All the events in one year of Christ's ministry may be represented by
+green stars, in another year by scarlet stars, or purple stars. The
+method branches out into many fascinating applications.
+
+Some teachers make large use of the golden texts. If these have been
+emphasized, they may wisely be introduced in the review. Write each upon
+a card. If you have artistic talent, you may make each card a thing of
+beauty, to be kept as a souvenir by the scholar. These cards will be
+distributed at random, and each scholar will be expected to answer the
+questions, first of the class and then of the teacher, on the lesson
+whose golden text he holds. I would not urge the recalling of lessons by
+titles, for the titles are not constituent parts of the lesson; but the
+golden text usually goes to the heart of the matter. Neither would I
+favor such a plan as the one last mentioned, that assigns one lesson to
+each scholar, unless the entire class is drawn into active participation
+by such a questioning from the scholars as I have indicated.
+
+A pleasant and profitable review for some classes is based on the
+quotable passages in the quarter's Scripture. These memorable
+sentences are written on cards, which are distributed evenly. Every
+scholar is expected to tell when, where, and by whom his quotation was
+first spoken, and at the close of the exercise each scholar will be
+called upon to repeat all his quotations from memory. Then the teacher
+will gather the cards, mix them up, present the pile now to this
+scholar and now to that, and ask him to give the facts about whatever
+quotation he may draw. The success of this method of review, as of all
+others, will largely depend upon its previous announcement, the
+scholars having gone over the quarter's lessons at home with this
+coming test in mind.
+
+The review may sometimes take the form of a contest; you may call it a
+"question tournament." Appoint leaders, and let them choose sides. Each
+side in turn has the privilege of asking a question of the other side.
+The question must be passed upon as fair by the teacher. The scholars on
+each side take turns in answering, and when the scholar whose turn it is
+cannot answer, his entire company has a chance. If no one on that side
+knows the answer, the other side gives the correct reply, and thereby
+scores one point. The side with the highest score wins the tournament.
+
+Methods less brisk than this employ pen and ink. You may ask the
+scholars to bring to the class tabular outlines of the quarter's
+history. A little book, connected with the quarter's study in some
+way, may be offered as a reward for the best outline, if the teacher
+thinks it wise; some teachers would not. At another time ask each
+scholar to write a five-minute essay on some topic that will require
+study of all the lessons, the topics all being different. These essays
+are to be read before the class, and their themes should be as bright
+as the teacher and her shrewdest friends can make them. A variation of
+this plan is to propound to the class a series of questions, all
+requiring search through the twelve lessons, and allow each scholar to
+choose a question upon which he will _speak_ for two, three, or four
+minutes before the class on review day.
+
+Whatever your review gives or fails to give, be sure it leaves with
+your class a clear-cut outline or summary of the three months' study.
+Omit the consideration of lessons not closely connected with the
+story, like some of the temperance, Easter, and Christmas lessons.
+Center upon some graphical scheme whenever possible, if it is only a
+vertical line divided into decades along which events may be strung,
+or a circle so divided as to represent Moses' life or Christ's. If you
+can, group the lessons around some great personality prominent in
+them. Never fail to bind them together with the golden thread of their
+relation to Christ. Trace through them the progress of some thought or
+event, such as God's leadings that developed the Israelites, the
+growth of the Christian church, the unfolding of Christ's life, or
+David's, or Joseph's. Discover what unity the lessons have, and bring
+it out in the review.
+
+If these matters have been discussed in the quarter's lessons, set
+them in fresh lights. It must be a new view as well as a review.
+
+If you have succeeded well with one form of review, thank God,
+and--change the form next time. The methods suggested in this chapter
+are not equally valuable in all reviews. Make out a programme in January
+for the four reviews ahead of you, and plan them all differently.
+
+And finally, review your reviews. Review them on the review day, going
+over the same ground at least twice, in varying mode; and in your
+weekly reviews thereafter take occasion now and then to revert to the
+work of the preceding quarter. A matter is not learned to-day unless
+it is learned for all days.
+
+If the review discloses weak spots, strengthen them. If it discloses
+excellences, praise them. With steady and honest purpose, take on
+review day the trial balance of your work, and may God grant you a
+balance on the heavenward side of the ledger!
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXIII
+
+At the Helm
+
+
+The superintendent of a Sunday-school is not the steam of the boat, for
+all true power comes from the Holy Spirit. He does not even tend the
+fires; that work the teachers must do. Neither does he make the chart by
+which the boat is steered; that is the work of the International Lesson
+Committee. No; the superintendent stands at the helm. He takes orders
+from the one Captain, and transmits them. Now he turns a wheel, now he
+pulls a bell-rope, now he shouts through a speaking-tube. In spite of
+the multiplied details, his work is simple. He has to know his ship, the
+waters, and the weather: that is, he has to know God, what he wants him
+to do; and his scholars, what they are capable of doing; and his
+teachers, what they are capable of getting the scholars to do. Knowing
+these three things, he will not fret himself with attempting
+impossibilities, tasks beyond the power of teachers and scholars and so
+aside from God's will for them, but he will know he has succeeded if
+his teachers work as hard as they can in getting their scholars to work
+as hard as _they_ can to learn and do God's will.
+
+The superintendent's work begins with himself, then goes on to his
+officers, then to his teachers, then to his scholars, then to other
+schools.
+
+First, looking to himself, he must gain what some one lays down as the
+four essentials of success in Christian work: "consecration,
+concentration, tact, and contact." That is, his whole soul must be in
+his work; he must say, with Paul, "This _one_ thing I do"; he must
+come in touch with his forces, and he must know how to handle them
+after he touches them.
+
+There are some men that should never be superintendents. One of these
+is Mr. Long, who has to say everything in four different ways, each
+way being Broadway. Another is Mr. Twitchall, who jerks out his words
+between the jerks of his nervous body, who darts here and there like
+the snapper of a whip, and infects the entire school with the
+contagion of his restlessness. Mr. Black is another, that man of
+gloomy face and sepulchral voice. Mr. Daggart is another, for his
+tongue is dipped in the venom of sarcasm and knows only to scold.
+
+My favorite superintendent is Mr. Short, the son of Mr. Bright. He has
+all his father's good cheer. His face is full of a sunshine that
+doesn't need to be put into words. He is cordial even more plainly
+than he is spiritual, but because he is spiritual. He is businesslike.
+He is modest. He remembers that he is only one, and the school two
+hundred, and he divides time on about that basis. He knows--oh, he
+knows the value of five minutes!
+
+He has the grit of a bulldog, this Superintendent Short, son of Mr.
+Bright. When he is sure he has hold of a good thing, he does not dream
+of letting go, any more than those well-persuaded jaws. And he has the
+bulldog's independence and thick skin, but with more than bulldog
+reason; for is he not responsible to God alone? If God says, "Good!"
+what matters the sneer of a man? So he does the best he knows how, and
+keeps serene.
+
+With all his independence he is modest and teachable, is
+Superintendent Short, son of Mr. Bright. He visits other
+Sunday-schools, and gets hints there. He visits the public schools,
+and gets many valuable hints from their superintendents. He reads
+everything that has Sunday-school methods in it, and from all this he
+gets hints. He goes around asking everybody, "How can I do better
+work? How can the school be improved?" and he receives into a
+teachable mind the hints he gets. When he has to find fault, he first
+praises what he can. Indeed, praise--for a wonder!--is his favorite
+form of criticism, and a stimulating form it is.
+
+Withal, Superintendent Short is enterprising. He sets apart from his
+busy week regular times for his Sunday-school work, and makes a
+business of it. He is ready to spend money as well as time. He keeps a
+notebook crowded with new ideas, and carries them out one after the
+other in the order of their importance, as systematically as a great
+general conducts a campaign. He does not foolishly despise what is old
+and tested, but he knows how to freshen up old principles by new
+applications. He is broad-minded, too, with no "fads" or favoritisms,
+keeping equal interest in all departments of school work. And he does
+not stop with the mechanics of the Sunday-school. All his enterprise
+sets before it the one great goal of soul-saving.
+
+Thus far the superintendent by himself; now a word about his relation
+to his officers. Just as the failure of a school on the spiritual side
+is quite often due to lack of a good teachers' meeting, so a failure
+on the administrative side is probably due to the lack of a "cabinet
+meeting," where the superintendent consults with all his officers and
+committees, and where each gets inspiration and counsel from the
+other. The teachers' meeting should be occupied with entirely
+different matters. It cannot take the place of a gathering of the
+executive, and ought to come on a different night.
+
+This cabinet meeting must be set for a regular time, and nothing short
+of an earthquake must be allowed to break it up. Every officer should
+make a report to the cabinet, and the report should be in writing. The
+latter requirement saves time, adds dignity, and provides the meeting
+with definite statements as a basis for discussion.
+
+A wise superintendent will utilize all his officers to the utmost. He
+will make the assistant superintendent assist. The theory is that the
+assistant shall be able, in the superintendent's absence, to do
+everything the superintendent would do. How can he learn, except by
+doing everything, now and then, when the superintendent is present?
+Many a superintendent has worn himself out doing five men's work
+rather than train four men to help him. Elijah trained Elisha to be
+prophet in his stead. If he had not done so, I hardly think Elijah
+would have been carried to heaven in a chariot of fire. Every worker
+should prepare his successor, should make himself unnecessary.
+
+Let it be the superintendent's ambition, then, to create an automatic
+Sunday-school, one he can leave to run itself. He must keep himself in
+the background. He must test the matter by occasional absences, on
+foray for ideas in other schools. He must do as little as possible
+himself,--no danger but it will be enough!--and he must get as much as
+possible done by others. So he will create, not a machine, but an
+organism.
+
+In the third place,--the superintendent and the teachers. He must
+individualize them. As Garfield, the young school-teacher, was wont to
+lie awake nights, tracing out on his sheet in the dark a plan of the
+schoolroom, locating each scholar's desk and planning for that scholar's
+growth as he did so, thus the superintendent should consider separately
+and regularly each teacher's task and abilities, trials and successes.
+
+It is his joyous work to encourage them, to note improvement in their
+scholars, to repeat to them the kind words of parents, to give them a
+cheer in their arduous and difficult and, for the time, thankless tasks.
+When a superintendent has praised discreetly, half his work is done.
+
+Of course, the superintendent will study his lesson as thoroughly as
+any teacher; and this is not by any means an unnecessary remark,
+though some may think so. Indeed, there are even many occasions when
+he may teach a class, though usually he is best left free during the
+lesson hour to greet the strangers, or, watching from some central
+post like a general in battle, to fly to the rescue of some teacher
+whose class may be getting mischievous, restless, or careless.
+
+For the superintendent should feel at perfect liberty to sit quietly
+down with any class in his school, and should do this so often and
+easily that his coming ceases to be a disturbance to teacher or
+scholars. If the superintendent is not welcome, it will be because he
+does not know how to help unobtrusively, and he would better stay away.
+
+The best relations are not possible unless the superintendent visits
+the teachers in their homes, and gets them to come to his for frequent
+private consultations or for an occasional social hour all together.
+The teachers' meeting for the study of the lesson will not take the
+place of these heart-to-heart talks, in which sympathy and
+appreciation, friendly counsel and united prayers, draw the teachers
+very close to their leader.
+
+In the fourth place, the superintendent must know his scholars. If he
+has time to visit them, each visit will count; but that is in most cases
+too much to expect. Sunday-school socials and picnics will give him a
+chance to push a little further the knowledge of them that he will gain
+by his visits to their classes; but, after all, his best chance is in
+the passing salutation on the street. Often speak of the matter before
+the school, asking the scholars to greet you when they meet you; and
+then hail every urchin you run across as if he were your very own! If
+you make it a habit to tarry for ten minutes after the Sunday-school
+hour (tired?--never mind!), both teachers and scholars will besiege you
+then,--_provided_ you have made yourself worth besieging! That you are
+to be in every way the children's hero goes without saying,--the
+glorious big boy to whom all the boys look up proudly, the chivalrous
+knight whose colors all the girls are glad to wear,--it goes without
+saying, that is, if you deserve to be superintendent at all!
+
+Fifthly and finally, the superintendent and other schools. He has been
+getting from them all he can, if he is enterprising; he should give to
+them all he can. The large cities have their superintendents' unions,
+composed of those that hold now, or have held, this post of honor and
+responsibility,--and few associations are as delightful. Nearly
+everywhere, Sunday-school conventions are available; and to these, as
+gathering up in his own experience whatever his school has learned and
+accomplished, the superintendent should carry his freshest inspiration
+and his wisest plans. No superintendent can live--can be a _live_
+superintendent--to himself.
+
+One thing should be said, to close this hasty sketch. If the
+superintendent is all this, or even part of all this, in his personal
+motives, and in his relations to officers, teachers, scholars, and
+other schools, he will always be a paid superintendent. He may have no
+salary; on the contrary, he may be decidedly out of pocket; but the
+rewards of his labor will be so abundant, so joyful, that not all the
+silver and gold in all the mines of earth could measure them.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXIV
+
+The Superintendent's Chance
+
+
+At the opening of the school the superintendent hasn't half a chance;
+at the close he has a large chance--as large, in fact, as he is. At
+the opening the superintendent is merely a master of ceremonies to
+usher in the work as buoyantly as possible; at the close he is a
+teacher, the high priest of all the teachers. His work of introduction
+is important, but far more important is his work of peroration. The
+last five minutes furnish his chance to gather all the teachings of
+the hour into one point and press it home.
+
+1. It is _his_ chance. Now or never let him be original. Let him study
+his talents; some can work best with chalk, some with anecdotes, some
+with questions, some with exegesis, some with exhortation. Let him get
+up a specialty for those five minutes and burnish it till it shines.
+Whatever method he chooses should be filled with his personality and
+serve to impress his personality upon the school. It is life that
+tells on life, and the more of himself the superintendent puts into
+these five minutes the more will this, his chance, prove his success.
+
+2. It is his chance to gather _all_ the teachings of the hour. Not
+that he will try to "cover the ground" of the entire lesson. In that
+case his chance would turn out his mischance. He will not try, either,
+to give something for each class of scholars, for _all_ that he gives
+must be for _all_ classes. Among all the thoughts of all the
+departments, primary, intermediate, and senior, there is a single
+golden thought like a golden thread. These strands he must seize and
+weave them, in his five minutes, into a golden cord.
+
+3. It is his chance to gather all the teachings of the hour into _one_
+point. Probably every teacher in the school has been trying to teach
+too much. The lesson was intended for a wedge, but they have been
+using the blunt end. Turn it around. Illustrate the matchless might of
+simplicity. Do not think that, because the lesson was on the envy of
+Joseph's brethren, the theme of envy has become hackneyed, and you
+must talk about Jacob and Reuben and the Midianites and God's
+overruling providence. If the teachers have worked well, the scholars
+will be eager for further words on envy; if they have worked poorly,
+all the more need of a forcible presentation of the main theme.
+
+4. It is his chance to gather all the teachings of the hour into one
+point _and press it home_. His will be a lively school in proportion as
+it influences life. When the moral truths of our lessons are fixed in
+the life, the facts connected with them will be fixed in the mind. Let
+the superintendent ask himself, for as many scholars of varied age and
+character as he can, "How might this lesson change _his_ life, _her_
+life, for the coming week--forever?" Put the "snapper" on the hour. Let
+it be seen that you expect definite results in spirit and conduct.
+
+Some urge that the superintendent should be mute at the close of the
+lesson hour, lest his words destroy the effect of the teachers'
+exhortations. To be sure, he may emphasize what they have not
+emphasized, though even this danger is very slight if the
+superintendent is careful to seize on the lesson's central thought;
+but if the impression made by the teacher is endangered by a few
+earnest words from the superintendent, what _will_ be left of it by
+the close of the conversation around the dinner-table?
+
+A closing word regarding the superintendent's questions. In no better
+way than by questions can he win and hold the school's attention.
+Those given in the various lesson helps are intended to be simply
+suggestive of possible matter and manner. Five things are essential:
+(1) that the questions be simple enough to be understood by the
+youngest; (2) that they lead up to a point valuable enough to interest
+the oldest; (3) that they can be answered by a few words, preferably
+by one; (4) that they be presented in a brisk and businesslike way;
+(5) that prompt answers from all parts of the school together be
+insisted on, the answer being called for again and again till all
+have connected themselves with it. Half a dozen such questions should
+lead up skilfully to the main lesson of the hour, which should receive
+brief but pointed application by anecdote, blackboard, or exhortation.
+
+All this is a high ideal. "To attain it will require," you say, "much
+more than five minutes." You are right, Brother Superintendent: five
+minutes before the school, but _one hour_ or even _two hours_ of
+prayerful preparation at home. However, it is your chance. Do not
+ignobly lose it.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXV
+
+The Sunday-School and the Weather
+
+
+A rainy day is the best test of a Sunday-school, and its best
+opportunity.
+
+For the scholars it is a sieve, separating the zealous workers from
+the careless ones.
+
+For the general school it is an index, since if Christ is not "in the
+midst" of the few on rainy days, surely the many on sunny days are not
+wont to gather "in his name."
+
+For the teacher it is a revealing question: "Do you teach for the
+excitement and praise of crowded benches, or is a single soul, with
+its issues of life and death, inspiration enough?"
+
+It is the superintendent's chance, because then he learns his staff,
+the pick, the enthusiastic nucleus, of his school. It is a good day
+for "setting balls to rolling."
+
+It is the scholar's chance,--his chance to show appreciation of the
+school by attendance; his chance for help on questions that try his
+soul.
+
+It is the teacher's chance. He will never draw close to his scholars
+if not now; never see their nobility or their faults if not through
+the troubled lens of a rainy day.
+
+It is the opportunity of the general school. Prayer-meeting workers
+often observe that the meetings held on stormy evenings are always the
+best, because every attendant feels it his duty to take active part. For
+the same reason a rainy day brings out the mettle of a Sunday-school.
+The bashful are impelled to greater boldness, the careless to stricter
+attention. Responsibilities are thrown upon unwonted shoulders. Many a
+Sunday-school worker has been developed by rainy days.
+
+Teachers must do their scolding for poor attendance, if ever, on the
+days of crowded seats, because then only are the truants present. Have
+nothing but words of good cheer for the few who come on stormy days.
+
+We are often told about preachers who, as a reward and an incentive,
+wisely preach their best (if they can) on rainy days, to the faithful
+few. For such days the teacher also must make his highest preparation,
+because then his work will produce best results; because then he will
+need to bring most inspiration with him, as he gets none from
+well-filled seats; because his scholars then not only deserve his
+best, but, lacking the zest of numbers, need his best to hold their
+attention; because they will appreciate better what they have come
+through difficulties to get.
+
+On rainy days there are many late comers, and therefore many fine
+chances for practical Christianity. Greet them cheerfully, if you must
+stop your finest exhortation to do it. Such a close will be its most
+eloquent period.
+
+If you investigate tactfully the absences of rainy days, you will
+often come upon a truer knowledge of the home life and needs of your
+scholars than any sunshiny observations could give you.
+
+On rainy days, if ever, scholars should be sure of finding their own
+teacher; yet, as human nature is, on rainy days there is always
+necessary some fusion of classes. The teachers of joined classes may
+do much good or infinite harm. Criticism, expressed or implied, of the
+plans or precepts of the other teacher, is a poison which has few
+antidotes. If he has been teaching false doctrine, he, not his
+scholars, is to be told that fact. And, on the contrary, a word of
+wise praise for whatever of solid acquirement you may see in his
+scholars, as it comes from an outsider, will discover marvelously
+their teacher to them, and their possibilities to themselves.
+
+As we need to emphasize the advantages of bad weather, so we need to
+remember the dangers of fine weather. Now, the teacher must be mindful
+not to lose the individuals in the crowd, or his teaching sense in the
+temptation to harangue. Now, the superintendent must remember that his
+unifying and organizing skill is especially needed. If rainy days are
+best for study and personal work, fair days, and, above all, hot days,
+are best for singing and concert drill in reading and questioning.
+
+As our days, so shall our strength be, if we are Christ's, dear
+Sunday-school workers; but different kinds of days need different
+kinds of strength.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXVI
+
+A Profitable Picnic
+
+
+A large number of Sunday-schools are in the habit of holding a picnic
+every summer. In spite of the countless jests at the expense of the
+Sunday-school picnic, the custom is in every way commendable. Where can
+teacher and scholars, superintendent and teachers, better come into that
+familiar, every-day contact that tells so much of character and for
+character, than out under the open sky and in the merry meadows? And yet
+why is it that the very word "picnic" makes most Sunday-school teachers
+groan, and presents to the superintendent's mind a picture no more
+delectable than of hot, dusty cars, pushing, quarreling children,
+red-faced teachers, and lunches seized on by ants?
+
+Of course, in moving so large a body of people, especially of
+youngsters, many untoward events are to be expected; but nevertheless,
+when the picnic is not a conspicuous success, there is usually one
+reason: it was not well planned for. So many managers of picnics are
+nothing but transportation managers! Getting a reduction of railroad
+fare, packing and unpacking the lunches, filing the children in and
+out of the cars,--such details sum up their plans. As for
+entertainment on the picnic grounds,--why, turn the children loose,
+and they will take care of that part of it!
+
+On the contrary, he is a wise man that can entertain himself well and
+profitably for a day without aid from outside. The feat is impossible
+for most children. How well I remember my own childish miseries on
+holidays because I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do! On the
+haphazard plan your picnic will go uproariously for a time, but it
+will soon "fray out" into a tangle of ennui and quarrels.
+
+In this brief chapter, then, I want to suggest merely one out of many
+schemes for a profitable picnic. It will include in the day's plans
+all ages and classes, and afford pleasure for mind and spirit as well
+as body.
+
+In the first place, arrange with great care a programme of contests.
+If it is a joint picnic, some of the contests will be between
+representatives of the Sunday-schools that take part; otherwise,
+between classes and individuals of the one Sunday-school. Bring in the
+girls as well as the boys, and the men and women as well as the
+children. Running, sack-races, three-legged races, pole and rope
+climbing, boat-races, croquet and tennis matches, base-ball (a game
+among the old men will cause much amusement), the marching of
+competing companies, broom or flag drills for the girls, leaping, slow
+races on the bicycle, throwing the hammer, soap-bubble contests--why,
+the number of these sports is legion.
+
+Just a few hints:--
+
+Give no prizes, but "honorable mention."
+
+Let the contests be well planned and advertised beforehand, and set
+the scholars to training for them.
+
+Give every one a printed programme (which may be worked off on a
+manifolder), and so arrange it that the entire company, if possible,
+may be spectators of each contest.
+
+Make everything as short and snappy as you can.
+
+Throughout the programme, work in all classes and ages as best you
+may. Don't, for instance, put all the contests in which the little
+ones engage in the same part of the day.
+
+In the second place, arrange a literary and religious programme that
+shall give a spiritual application to all these physical contests.
+Organize a Sunday-school choir, which, after careful previous
+practice, will sing some of the many songs that treat the Christian
+life as a race, or a wrestling, or a battle. Some of the Bible
+passages of similar tenor should be recited. Poems may be repeated
+bearing the same lesson. And the brightest of the scholars and
+teachers, of course not omitting your pastor, will give some very
+brief little essays or talks along this same line. This part of the
+day's programme may fitly be placed just after lunch, when in the heat
+of the day the athletes will wish to rest, and when all will be ready
+to sit down and listen.
+
+Much will depend on the master of ceremonies for the day. Let him be
+the jolliest man you can find, but withal a man of deep consecration,
+who can make all feel that, whether they eat or drink, or play games,
+or whatever they do, they must do all for the glory of God. In this
+spirit alone can you hope to have a profitable picnic.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXVII
+
+A Singing Sunday-School
+
+
+Lifeless singing means, usually, a dead Sunday-school. Many a
+superintendent might greatly increase the vigor of his school by
+getting a little snap into the music. Different ways of singing will
+not of themselves solve the problem, but they will go far toward it.
+Here are a few methods which will add to the singing the variety that
+is the spice of it as well as of nearly everything else.
+
+Try reading the song in concert before it is sung. It would puzzle most
+even of us older folks to tell, after we have sung a hymn, what is in
+it. Concert reading brings out unsuspected beauties of thought, and the
+hymn will be sung afterward with fresh zest and with fuller
+intelligence. The superintendent may vary this plan by reading the
+stanzas alternately with the school, or the girls may alternate with the
+boys. Occasionally get a single scholar to read the hymn before the
+school, or, what is far better, to commit it to memory and recite it.
+
+Indeed, memory hymns, to be committed to memory by the entire school,
+and sung without the book, will prove very popular. Select songs that
+are worth learning for their words as well as for their music,--a
+thing which, alas! cannot be said of all our Sunday-school songs. One
+memory hymn a month might possibly be achieved, and your children will
+rapidly grow independent of hymn-books, as their grandsires were.
+
+They may like to vote upon a school hymn for the entire year, and
+learn it in this way,--one that shall serve as a sort of rallying song
+throughout the twelvemonth. The various classes, too, may be
+encouraged to select their own class songs, and to practise them at
+their class socials. Then, once in a while, the entire school may
+listen while one or two classes sing their class hymns.
+
+It would do no harm, either, for the superintendent occasionally to bind
+the children's interest to the singing by asking them to call for their
+favorites, that the school may sing them. This privilege may be granted
+to the classes or scholars that have the best record in attendance.
+
+It will add interest to the singing if bits of pleasant information
+are sometimes given about the authors of our familiar songs. At the
+opening of the session, for instance, tell something about the blind
+hymn-writer, Fanny Crosby, and then let all the songs sung that day be
+by her; or tell a little about Miss Havergal's beautiful life, or give
+a few bright anecdotes about Dr. S. F. Smith, and then use nothing
+but their hymns. Some such book as Hezekiah Butterworth's "Story of
+the Hymns" (New York: The American Tract Society. $1.75), or
+Duffield's "English Hymns: Their Authors and History" (New York: The
+Funk & Wagnalls Co. $3), will afford a plentiful supply of
+biographical material. Once in a while get one of the scholars to read
+one of these hymn anecdotes, or to tell it in his own words.
+
+Prayer songs--there are many most beautiful ones--may be used as
+prayers, all heads being bowed while they are sung softly; or they may
+be read in the same way.
+
+Antiphonal songs are easily arranged. Choose two classes of good
+singers in distant parts of the room, and let one sing the verses and
+the other the chorus of some suitable song. A hymn arranged in the
+form of question and answer, such as "Watchman, tell us of the night,"
+or "Art thou weary, art thou languid?" is very effective when sung in
+this way, or when read in dialogue, the superintendent taking the
+questions and the school the answers.
+
+Other dispositions may be made, for the sake of variety. Get the girls
+to sing the stanzas, and the boys the choruses, or the girls to sing
+one verse, and the boys the next, all uniting on the choruses; or, let
+the school to the right of the center alternate in singing with the
+school to the left. Send a company of singers into another room, with
+closed doors, and have them sing the chorus as an echo, very softly.
+Get the teachers to sing the stanzas of some song, while the whole
+school sings the refrain.
+
+Solos are good once in a while, especially if you make the school the
+chorus for them. A quartette of picked singers may be introduced very
+delightfully on occasion, especially if their selection is germane to
+the lesson topic, and, best of all, if the quartette is chosen from
+the scholars themselves. The primary department will hugely enjoy
+singing one of their songs to the main school, and the older scholars
+will enjoy it quite as heartily.
+
+Possibly a Sunday-school choir might be organized to advantage, the
+strong singers from among the more mature scholars being banded
+together to practice new music and lead the singing. School orchestras
+have been very useful in many churches, the boys being proud to serve
+the school with violin and cornet.
+
+Most useful, however, in adding zest to the singing, are the simple
+changes and variations that shrewdly call attention to the old by
+putting it in a new place, or "putting it" in a new way. For instance,
+you might call fresh attention to a beautiful song by bidding all sing
+it without their books, while you "line it out" earnestly and brightly.
+You might preface a hymn with a sentence or two telling why you think it
+just the hymn to sing in connection with the day's lesson. You might
+piece together several verses from different songs, and ask the school
+to sing them in immediate succession, without prelude or interlude,
+noting the connection and progress of the thought. You might stimulate
+the scholars in this and that corner by asking now one class and now
+another to consider themselves the leaders in the song next to be sung.
+You might have occasional "new-hymn" days, in which will be sung no song
+ever tried by the school. You might even steal ten minutes, on very rare
+occasions, for song services, carefully planned so as to bear
+effectively on the lesson for the day. The ways are almost endless
+whereby a music-loving, child-loving superintendent can introduce his
+two loves to each other.
+
+A few more general suggestions. First, to the organist or pianist. Why
+do you think it necessary to hammer out an entire piece of music
+before you let the fidgety children sing it? They already know every
+note of it, and are not interested in your performance; nor is any one
+else. They can find the place quite as quickly as you can. Except in
+the case of new songs, do let us off with the chord, and we'll
+canonize you as a model of self-restraint and good sense.
+
+Then to the precentor, or whoever is responsible for the time you
+keep. Why is it so slow? I never could see why hymns should be sung so
+drawlingly as to make it quite impossible to grasp their thought. Time
+yourself in singing your next hymn, then read aloud the same hymn,
+forcing yourself to occupy the same time, and you will see why it is
+that our singing leaves our minds quite absolute blanks. This grievous
+fault must be remedied with the children if the singing of hymns is
+ever to be, to the average grown-up, an intellectual and spiritual as
+well as a physical occupation.
+
+And, to the same end, why is it that your school can sing readily, even
+without the book, the first two or three stanzas of so many songs, while
+every stanza beyond is an unknown land to them? It is because, owing
+chiefly to the slowness of our ordinary singing, we seldom compass the
+whole of a hymn. At the close of a well-written hymn is the climax, the
+thought up to which the whole has led, which binds it all together. Our
+songs, if they are to get hold upon our minds and lives, must be sung
+beyond their prelude, sung straight through.
+
+_To get hold of minds and lives_,--that must be the end sought by all
+our singing.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXVIII
+
+A Praying Sunday-School
+
+
+In no way can more Christianity be taught in less time than by a good
+prayer. A Sunday-school that is not opened with the right kind of
+prayer remains tight shut until the teachers get hold of it, while the
+right kind of prayer at the close of the lesson hour rivets the lesson
+on the week to come.
+
+Yet I know of no point in Sunday-school management regarding which
+superintendents are more careless. The children must listen to
+Magellan prayers that circumnavigate the globe; to mechanical prayers,
+cast in stereotyped forms; to officious prayers that volunteer to
+teach the coming lesson; to peacock prayers that flaunt big words and
+fine phrases; to wrinkled prayers, dealing with experiences into which
+the children will not grow for three decades. In some schools the
+superintendent always makes the prayer himself, praying in the same
+terms and tones and order for the same things. Elsewhere the
+superintendent invites others to perform this service, but, with
+pitiless impartiality, calls upon all that will, heedless whether they
+are capable or totally unfit for the difficult duty.
+
+For it is not easy to guide the devotions of these varied ages and
+characters. The words must be so simple that the youngest can
+understand them. The thoughts must be so noble as to furnish an uplift
+to the oldest. The expressions must be direct, as in the realized
+presence of Christ. The prayer must be brief, and bright, and deeply
+in earnest, sincere as a child.
+
+To perform this task, therefore, no one should be invited merely for
+policy's sake, merely because he is a visiting clergyman, a church
+officer, or a good-hearted layman. Ask no one that does not know the
+glorious language of a child's prayer. Give notice beforehand, since
+this prayer, if any, should be thought over and prayed over. And if
+you fear the prayer will lack a certain quality, shrewdly incorporate
+its name in your invitation, asking for a brief prayer, or a simple
+prayer, or a prayer about few things.
+
+I wonder that this exercise is so seldom fixed upon the children's
+attention and interest by their own vocal participation in it. Indeed,
+it is not always that the school is able to repeat the Lord's Prayer
+together with the freedom and force born of long custom. The school
+may easily be taught to chant the Lord's Prayer, and that may be made
+most genuine praying. There are many suitable short Bible prayers that
+children might learn to say together, such as "Let the words of my
+mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O
+Lord, my strength and my redeemer." Indeed, there are many prayer
+psalms that could be learned entire, the concert repetition of which
+would greatly enrich the Sunday-school hour. If yours is a model
+school, every scholar has his Bible, and Scripture prayers, not
+committed to memory, may be read in concert. And, besides, what more
+impressive conclusion to the session than the "Mizpah benediction," in
+which all voices join, or, perhaps better, the beautiful benediction
+in Numbers 6:24-26, "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee," etc.?
+
+Then there is the hymn-book. If it is a good one, it contains many
+beautiful prayer hymns. Let the scholars all bow their heads, and sing
+softly Miss Havergal's tender consecration hymn, or "Nearer, my God,
+to thee," and you will find all hearts indeed drawn nearer heaven.
+Occasionally let the school read together one of these same hymns,
+also with their heads bowed.
+
+And, by the way,--though it deserves more than a "by the way,"--insist
+on the bowing of the head,--not that the attitude is important in
+itself, but the reverence that the attitude arouses is of the highest
+importance. Wait till all heads are bowed before you begin the prayer
+or permit another to begin it. The half-minute of quiet or semi-quiet
+needed to gain this end is not ill-bestowed. Moreover, I should
+strongly advise you to go one step farther, and once in a while have
+the entire school go down on their knees. This, the normal attitude of
+prayer, the children should be taught to assume in public, at least so
+often that it will not seem to them forced or unnatural.
+
+Have you tried silent prayer? A blessed exercise it is, and one the
+children will love. Ask them to bend their heads or kneel, and then in
+perfect silence to pray for their teachers, or their pastor, or their
+dear ones at home, or some sick scholar. After a minute the
+superintendent will tenderly add a few closing sentences of vocal
+prayer.
+
+And have you tried a chain prayer,--a prayer started by a leader, who
+will also close it, to which ten or twenty of the scholars contribute
+sentences of praise or petition? You will be astonished to see how many
+of the scholars will join in these prayers,--you will be astonished,
+that is, unless you are familiar with the training along this line so
+nobly accomplished in our modern young people's religious societies.
+
+Still another way to obtain the scholars' careful heed to the prayer
+is to establish a form with which the superintendent will always begin
+his prayer, and which the entire school will repeat with him. The
+opening sentences of the Lord's Prayer may be used for such a purpose.
+Then, at the close of the prayer, after "for Jesus' sake," let all the
+scholars say "Amen."
+
+An occasional Sunday-school prayer-meeting, held for ten minutes at the
+close of the lesson hour, will do much to inspire in the school a deeper
+spirit of worship; that is, if the scholars themselves take part, and
+not the teachers only. And these Sunday-school prayer-meetings are
+magnificent opportunities for drawing the net. Hold them in a small
+room, that nearness may warm the coals of devotion to a glow. Do not
+hold them too frequently to be burdensome. Keep them brief and earnest.
+Let the teachers work for them in their classes, and use them as tests
+for their teaching. Above all, expect conversions in them, and, if you
+are faithful and faith-filled, you will get them.
+
+This use of the scholar in the devotions of the school should be
+extended to his home. The superintendent may ask the scholars to pray
+every day during the coming week for the school, or for their teacher,
+or for their next lesson, that it may bring some one nearer Christ.
+For several weeks there may stand in bold letters on the blackboard a
+list of things that should be prayed for at home. The teacher, of
+course, must enforce these recommendations. If he will courageously
+hold once in a while a little prayer-meeting with his scholars, in the
+class-room, about the class-table, or, best of all, at his own home or
+at one of theirs, he will thereby teach them as much Christianity as
+otherwise he might in a year.
+
+Indeed, the teacher has much to do in making yours a praying
+Sunday-school. To say nothing about the teacher's prayers for his
+scholars, which will be like steam to his pedagogic engine, and to say
+nothing about the united prayers of the teachers in the teachers'
+meetings, the teacher's conduct during the prayer in the school is in
+itself half the scholars' attention, the knowledge on the part of the
+scholars that their teacher is praying for them will spur their home
+devotions, and the teacher's simple, ready participation in the school
+prayers will prompt their own. An excellent occasional method of opening
+the school is by a succession of very brief--almost sentence--prayers
+from six or eight of the teachers. A frequent topic for discussion in
+the teachers' meeting should be how best to inculcate in the school the
+spirit of devotion, since this great result is to be won only by the
+co-operation of all the working forces of the school.
+
+Much is gained in this matter if you gain variety. Sometimes ask the
+older scholars themselves, several of them in succession, to offer
+brief prayers at the opening of the school. Sometimes let the
+superintendent's opening prayer attract attention by its exceeding
+brevity,--only three or four sentences, embodying a single petition.
+Do not place the prayer always at the same place in the programme; now
+let it come before the singing, now after; now lay emphasis on the
+prayer introductory to the lesson hour, now on the prayer that closes
+the hour and seeks to drive home its lessons. Be dead in earnest,--no,
+be alive in earnest. Be thoughtful and versatile. Be bright and cheery
+and simple-hearted and sympathetic. In these prayers, that should
+furnish the life-blood to the school, be all things to all--children,
+if by all means you may win one of them.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXIX
+
+S. S. and C. E.
+
+
+A word must be said about the co-operation of the Sunday-school and
+that other great modern agency for work with the youth, the young
+people's religious society. Whatever is said will be as true of the
+Epworth Leagues, Baptist Unions, and other denominational
+organizations as of the Christian Endeavor societies; but since the
+latter, like the Sunday-schools, are found in all denominations, and
+since my own especial work lies among them, it will be quite
+appropriate in this connection, as well as less confusing, to use only
+the one name, Christian Endeavor.
+
+Though of ages so unequal, "S. S." and "C. E." are sisters. Both are
+international and interdenominational. Both apply the principle of age
+classification to religious work. Both are strongly evangelical, and
+earnest seekers of souls. Both are held in strictest subordination to
+the church. And both are Bible lovers; for the Christian Endeavor
+pledge requires daily reading of the Bible, and the weekly
+prayer-meeting topic calls out no slight amount of Bible study.
+Moreover, this topic is usually in line with the week's Sunday-school
+lesson,--not the same as the latter, but suggested by it. The two
+agencies are at work in different fields. The one puts in, the other
+draws out. The one studies, the other practices. The Christian
+Endeavor society affords an excellent test for the Sunday-school, and
+is its complement. Whatever helps the one aids the other, and the two
+should labor hand in hand.
+
+There are even some things that the Sunday-school might learn from its
+little sister. The principle of the pledge has proved attractive and
+powerful in the Christian Endeavor society. Why not adopt it in the
+Sunday-school, asking the scholars for voluntary vows that they will
+attend regularly and will spend fifteen minutes a day in studying
+their lessons? The monthly consecration meeting maintains wonderfully
+the spirituality, zeal, and discipline of the Christian Endeavor
+society. Why not a monthly consecration and experience meeting of
+Sunday-school teachers? Three or four Christian Endeavor societies
+cannot exist in the same town without forming a local union for mutual
+encouragement and consultation. Sunday-schools have their county
+conventions, but why not also this beautiful interdenominational
+fellowship among the Sunday-schools of every community? A large part
+of the remarkable success of Christian Endeavor is due to its being a
+work of the young people for themselves. There is close pastoral and
+church supervision, and it is welcomed; but the Endeavorers feel that
+it is their society, for whose honor they are responsible, and whose
+victories depend upon themselves. As far as possible, this spirit
+should be incorporated in the Sunday-school, so that the Bible study
+may not seem a work impressed on the scholars, but elected by
+them,--_their_ work, and not their teachers'.
+
+How can the Christian Endeavor society help the Sunday-school? Greatly
+in its prayer-meetings, by remembering the allied Sunday-school topic
+of the morning. Here is a chance for the teacher to enlarge upon some
+theme treated too hurriedly in the lesson hour, and for scholars to
+show their appreciation of their teacher by repeating some thought he
+brought out in the morning. If rightly managed, the Christian Endeavor
+meeting furnishes an admirable opportunity for advertising the
+Sunday-school, and practically applying the truths there taught.
+
+But the help given may be far more direct. Every well-organized
+Christian Endeavor society has a Sunday-school committee, whose
+members put themselves under the direction of the superintendent, and
+make it the one object of their term's work to push in all possible
+ways the interests of the Sunday-school.
+
+The members of this committee are usually chosen with an eye to their
+fitness for acting as substitute teachers. Sometimes the committee
+constitutes itself a normal class and studies the lessons a week in
+advance, considering especially the way to teach effectively. On the
+next Sunday, therefore, the superintendent will find any of these
+Endeavorers well prepared to fill a vacancy.
+
+Everywhere, too, these Sunday-school committees help the busy teacher
+to look after the absent scholars and to care for the sick. It is far
+easier for these young people than for the teacher to learn the real
+causes of absence and to urge better attendance. In some schools the
+teachers fill out blank cards every Sabbath, giving the names of
+absentees or of the sick on whom they would like to have the
+Sunday-school committee call. These cards are collected, the calls
+made, and then the Endeavorers report to the teacher.
+
+A kindred ministration is the gathering of new scholars. In many
+cities the Sunday-school committee has conducted a fruitful
+house-to-house canvass for new scholars, sometimes canvassing at the
+same time for new members of their society. Other committees
+distribute printed cards of invitation. Others organize "recruiting
+squads" among the scholars, and give little rewards to those that do
+the best work. Others make it their business to hunt out all the young
+strangers in the morning congregation and give them a personal
+invitation to the school. Still others distribute among the scholars
+"suggestion blanks," on which each scholar writes the names and
+addresses of young folks that might be won for the school. These
+Endeavorers call at the strangers' homes and go with them to the
+school, while others stand ready to welcome all strangers at the door
+and show them to appropriate classes. Thus they follow them up, that
+it may not be a case of "light come, light go."
+
+The Endeavorers, under the direction of their Sunday-school committee,
+may be very helpful in the music. A choir or an orchestra may be
+organized from their numbers. An occasional song appropriate to the
+lesson may be rendered as a solo or quartette. When Sunday-school
+concerts are to be given, the Endeavorers will afford trained
+assistance. But especially the committee should become thoroughly
+familiar with the Sunday-school song-book, so that its members,
+scattered over the room, may carry with vigor any unfamiliar hymn, and
+give force and sprightliness to all the singing.
+
+The Sunday-school librarian will find among the Endeavorers some
+efficient aids. The Sunday-school committee may advertise the new
+books in the Christian Endeavor meetings, and get the society to add
+to the library certain books of especial interest and helpfulness to
+Endeavorers. Sunday-school library socials have been held by some
+societies, the evening's exercises being so planned as to call
+attention to the best books in the library. The Endeavorers will help
+in covering books, in hunting up those that are lost, in reading new
+books and giving an opinion regarding them. Where subscriptions are
+taken for special papers or magazines, the Sunday-school committee
+will be glad to undertake this work. After these periodicals have been
+read, they will gather up the old copies to send to the hospitals.
+
+The decorating for Christmas and Easter exercises or for Children's
+Day may be assigned to the Christian Endeavor society. The Endeavorers
+may be set to gathering in the scholars for Rally Day. They should be
+called upon for help on all such special occasions.
+
+Some societies give parties now and then to the classes that have the
+best record, or divide the school into sections according to age, and
+entertain each section in turn at a Christian Endeavor social, closing
+the series with a pleasant evening spent with the teachers and
+officers alone.
+
+It would weary you if I should rehearse all the ways in which Christian
+Endeavor societies have proved helpful to the Sunday-school. Many a
+primary department has gained much from close association with the work
+of the superintendent of the Junior Christian Endeavor society. I have
+heard of a large number of places where the Endeavorers organized and
+maintained mission Sunday-schools--schools that in many instances have
+grown to churches. Often the Endeavorers take charge of the ushering of
+the school, furnish flowers for every session, offer rewards to the
+scholars for excellence in various directions, help with swift feet in
+the messenger service of the home department, turn their trained forces
+into an occasional Sunday-school prayer-meeting,--indeed, they are as
+ingenious in discovering ways of helping this elder sister of the
+Christian Endeavor society as they are zealous and persistent in these
+labors after they are inaugurated.
+
+If in some churches this help is not given, it is probably because it
+is not invited, or very likely through lack of organization. If the
+Christian Endeavor society has no Sunday-school committee, let the
+Sunday-school superintendent, who is a member of the society _ex
+officio_, interest himself in obtaining one. And then through this
+committee he can draft into the service all the other usual committees
+of the society--the lookout committee, to get new scholars; the
+prayer-meeting committee, to aid in the school's devotional exercises;
+the temperance and missionary committees, to give assistance in the
+special lessons on those themes; the music committee, to aid in the
+singing, and the flower committee, to help in the decorations; the
+social committee, to seek the absent and the sick; the good-literature
+committee, to help the librarian.
+
+And if the Endeavorers do this, or a part of this, for the
+Sunday-school, why should not the Sunday-school do a little for the
+Christian Endeavor society? The superintendent may help it by calling
+upon it for assistance and by recognizing on fit occasions its
+officers and committees. He may even give it an occasional
+advertisement from the desk; and he, with his officers and teachers,
+may do much to put himself in touch with the young people by attending
+the Christian Endeavor meetings now and then. The teachers may help by
+introducing into their talks before the classes an occasional hint on
+the Christian Endeavor pledge or committee work, or by remembering
+the prayer-meeting topic and suggesting a thought or two that may be
+developed in the meeting, or by urging membership in the society upon
+those that do not already belong to it.
+
+Thus it is seen how intimately these two organizations are related,
+and how much each may do to help the other. Do not allow them to labor
+apart. Parallel threads are weak; cables are made by twisting them
+together.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XL
+
+Teachers in 8vo
+
+
+What the Sunday-school library should be depends on what the community
+is. These libraries, therefore, should not pattern after one another
+like peas in a pod, as is too often the case, but each should have an
+individuality of its own. The Sunday-school in a city, with an
+overflowing public library and an excellent public-school library at
+hand, has no excuse for distributing secular books; while such books
+may form a useful addition to the library of a country school.
+
+Of course there is danger in admitting secular books to the
+Sunday-school library under any circumstances, and I would not for the
+world add one more to the many subtle inroads upon the Lord's day. If
+you place in your library any books that are not suitable Sunday
+reading, cover them with paper of a distinctive color, mark them "For
+week-day reading only," and watch them carefully, that you may
+withdraw them from circulation if you find them trenching on the
+sacred hours. With proper restrictions, however, the church may find
+here a blessed ministry to many book-hungry communities. Biographies
+like Irving's "Washington" or Holland's "Lincoln"; histories like
+Motley's "Rise of the Dutch Republic"; poems like "Snowbound," "The
+Idyls of the King," "Evangeline"; essays like Smiles' "Self Help" or
+Mathews' "Getting on in the World"; books of science like Winchell's
+"Sparks from a Geologist's Hammer" or Proctor's "Other Worlds than
+Ours,"--if you can get your scholars to read on week-days such books
+as these, you will deepen, broaden, and enrich the soil in which you
+do your Sunday sowing.
+
+But the more the community needs books, the harder it is to raise
+money for them. This, however, is merely a difficulty of the start. A
+few books, shrewdly chosen, will create a hunger for more, and that
+hunger will open the pocketbooks.
+
+Hold a book social, admission to which shall be a copy, old or new, of
+some good book. The entertainment at this social should be
+appropriate. Let each person that comes carry about him a token of
+some book, such as a card about his neck reading, "Who teaches you?"
+("Hoosier School Master"!). Illustrate a poem with shadow pictures.
+Place about the room numbered portraits of authors for the company to
+name. Add readings and essays on literary themes.
+
+A course of lectures and concerts is possible, nowadays, for almost any
+enterprising community, and the proceeds will give the library a start.
+
+For a time you may charge two cents for the reading of each book, thus
+forcing the library itself to earn its double in the course of a year.
+
+At the beginning,--or, for that matter, all the time,--the generous
+among the church-members may be urged to _lend_ books to the library
+for a year at a time. Such books should be covered with different
+paper from the others, and plainly marked with the name of the lender
+and an injunction to especial carefulness in handling them.
+
+The library will be generously supported, if its books are sensibly
+selected; but this is not an easy task. Do not leave it to any single
+man, but appoint the wisest men and women of the church a committee on
+selection, and require them all to read every book that is chosen.
+Obviously, the value of such a committee will increase with the
+growing years, and it should be a permanent body.
+
+Many booksellers will send books on approval. The review columns in
+the religious papers should be regularly watched. The committee should
+be placed on the mailing-lists of all the best publishers, to receive
+their regular announcements of books. They should get into
+correspondence with the librarians of other schools, learning from
+them what books are popular and helpful. And, above everything else,
+they should get in contact with the scholars of their own school, to
+watch the practical effect of the books they select.
+
+Regarding the selection of books, first, some "dont's."
+
+Don't choose any volume, no matter how famous, without reading every
+word of it. One of the grandest of biographies, for instance, is
+Franklin's autobiography; but you will not wish to put before young
+readers his chapter on his religion--or lack of it. Wonderfully
+inspiring essays are Emerson's; but here and there a sentence speaks
+of Christ as a mere man. A very stimulating booklet is "Blessed be
+Drudgery"; but one sentence spoils it for our use, since it places
+Jesus at the end of a list of philosophers at whose head stands
+Herbert Spencer.
+
+Don't buy "fads." Wait and see whether the book now so much lauded is
+heard of next year.
+
+Don't buy the books that have fittingly been called
+"a-little-child-shall-lead-them" stories. Bill Nye described them as
+tales relating how a dear little boy, though but five and a half and
+crippled, took in back stairs to scrub, and supported his widowed
+mother, and sent his sister to college.
+
+Don't buy "libraries." As sensibly let a man that has never seen you
+order for you a suit of clothes.
+
+Don't buy "sets" and "series" and "sequels." Judge every book on its
+merits.
+
+Don't buy the books of one publishing-house alone, however excellent,
+any more than you would fill your home with the works of only one
+painter.
+
+Don't confine your choice merely to the "Sunday-school writers." Books
+that are not virile enough to attract and help folks outside the
+Sunday-school are not likely to prove very useful inside.
+
+Don't buy by authors. "Aunt Mary's Candlestick," by Jemima Jones, may
+have been the greatest success of the year in your school; but that is
+no reason why you should load up with "Aunt Mary's Dust-brush" and
+"Aunt Mary's Needlecase" and "Aunt Mary's Dish-mop," by the same
+industrious author.
+
+In fine, don't buy any book, no matter who is its publisher or author,
+or what its reputation, unless that particular book meets some
+particular need of your particular school.
+
+And now, what shall we buy? Stories, of course, in delightful measure.
+The Sunday-school library has the highest authority for teaching in
+parables. And for these stories there are three requirements.
+
+First, they must be attractive. What is the use of a book if it will
+not be read?
+
+Second, they must be natural. He who is the Truth will never bless a
+story of lifeless, jerking, galvanized puppets, gibbering forced
+aphorisms and preposterous piety, and acting in a red fire of
+sensational incidents. Real boys and girls, real men and women, real
+life, and therefore life intensely interesting,--these must dwell in
+our Sunday-school stories.
+
+And finally, the stories must be helpful. Each must have a point, a
+purpose. They must be outright for Christ, if they are to make
+outright Christians.
+
+Don't neglect the old-fashioned stories, such as the Rollo books. They
+are full of meat. Especially helpful are such stories of Bible times
+as "Ben Hur." Provided their imaginings do not outrun the Bible facts,
+we can scarcely have too many of them. Do not forget, either, the
+books that tell the Bible stories themselves, in simple language, for
+the little ones. Above all stories, do not omit the "Pilgrim's
+Progress," but buy a volume in large type and beautifully illustrated.
+
+Next to stories, what? Emphatically, lives of the great Christians;
+above all, missionaries. There are brief, bright, well-illustrated lives
+of Mackay, the marvelous mechanic, Carey, the consecrated cobbler,
+Paton, the hero of the New Hebrides, Livingstone the daring, Martyn the
+saintly, Judson the sagacious, Patteson, the white knight of Melanesia,
+and a host of other grand men. What inspiration to a splendid life is to
+be gained from the story of Madagascar's dusky martyrs, or the account
+of Allen Gardiner's magnificent death in Patagonia! What a spur to
+active service is the tale of the winning of Hawaii, the opening up of
+Japan, the self-sacrificing missions of the Moravians, the daring ride
+of Whitman across the continent for the salvation of Oregon!
+
+Then, there are the lives of great reformers like Luther, John Howard,
+Wilberforce, John B. Gough, and of such superb Christians as
+Gladstone, Wesley, Washington, William of Orange. There is no need of
+a long list. The trouble is not to find the books, but to awaken among
+your scholars a hunger for the real heroism of real men as opposed to
+the imaginary heroism of fiction.
+
+Another section of your library should contain books that bear
+directly on the work of the school. There must be the best works on
+teaching, such as Trumbull's "Teachers and Teaching," Schauffler's
+"Ways of Working," Boynton's "The Model Sunday-school," and Du Bois'
+"The Point of Contact." There must be some account of the Bible, like
+Rice's "Our Sixty-six Sacred Books"; some brief and attractive manual
+of Christian evidences, like Fisher's or Robinson's; some life of
+Christ, like Geikie's or Farrar's; some account of the history,
+polity, and teachings of your denomination. Thompson's "The Land and
+the Book," Smith's "Historical Geography of the Holy Land," Geikie's
+"Hours with the Bible," Taylor's "Moses, the Lawgiver," Deems' "The
+Gospel of Common Sense," Pierce's "Pictured Truth," Butterworth's "The
+Story of the Hymns,"--each of these is a type of a class of books
+helpful to teachers,--and to scholars also, if they can be brought to
+read them. Add, for the temperance lessons, such books as Banks' "The
+Saloon-keeper's Ledger," Gustafson's "The Fountain of Death," and
+Strong's "Our Country" and "The New Era."
+
+I wonder that so few Sunday-school libraries contain the great
+Christian poems, such as "Paradise Lost," Browning's "Saul," Lowell's
+"Vision of Sir Launfal," Arnold's "The Light of the World," and many
+more that would illuminate the lessons.
+
+Many fascinating books of science for young folks have been written
+expressly from the Christian stand-point. Why not add to the library
+such books as Kingsley's "Glaucus," Burr's "Ecce CÅ“lum," Agnes
+Gibberne's "Sun, Moon, and Stars," Keyser's "In Bird-land"?
+
+I may seem to be suggesting books for the older scholars mainly. Let
+me here urge that equal care and thought be spent on the volumes for
+the little tots and the "intermediates." Their books are not so
+interesting to the mature-minded committee, and so they are more
+likely to be chosen at haphazard.
+
+This is especially true of the books for the primary department. Two
+or three pounds of their diminutive volumes are shoveled up in a mass,
+read by title, and tucked in at the end of the list. This carelessness
+is especially injurious, because it is at their age that the reading
+habit is formed, and it is of the utmost importance that the tiniest
+books in the library shall be bright, helpful, and of real literary
+value. To discover these will prove one of the most difficult tasks of
+the conscientious committee.
+
+Do not give up the old favorites. When Susan Coolidge's "Katy Did"
+series wears out, give the old books away to some poorer school and
+get a fresh set of the same. Remember that new scholars are all the
+time entering, and that there is no recommendation for a book so
+effective as the young people's own testimony, "I have read it, and I
+know you will like it."
+
+Have an eye to the paper and type and binding. Many books intended for
+Sunday-school libraries are printed on stiff, pulpy paper, that
+refuses to remain open at any place without cracking the back, and use
+a cramped and formal typography more suitable to a funeral sermon than
+to a book intended to attract young folks.
+
+If your funds allow, it is an admirable plan to obtain more than one
+copy of certain books especially likely to be needed by several
+classes at once, such as books on Christian evidences, on the Bible,
+and on the themes of the current lessons.
+
+It is one thing to gather a library, and quite another to get it used,
+and well used. The first point is to introduce it to the teachers.
+They must consider these "teachers in 8vo" to be their assistants, and
+must be thoroughly acquainted with them. _Every teacher should read
+every book in the library that is within the range of his scholars'
+comprehension._ How otherwise can he guide their reading? Of course
+the most hasty perusal will be sufficient, provided it shows the
+teacher the heart of the book. A teacher should learn the useful art
+of rapid reading.
+
+Let the teacher, as part of his preview of the quarter's lessons, make
+out a list of library books that teach the principal truths of the
+quarter ahead of him, and give this list to each scholar with the first
+lesson. A few minutes of each teachers' meeting might well be spent in
+giving suggestions regarding the use of the library to illustrate the
+next lesson. Let the teacher often refer to these books in the course
+of his teaching, learn what appropriate books each scholar has been
+reading, and get him to give the class some account of them.
+
+Often it will be well for the teacher to ask some scholar to read a
+certain story or biography or poem during the week, and be ready to
+tell about it for an illustration of next Sunday's truths.
+
+If you have no teachers' meeting, once in a while the librarian may
+mention at the prayer-meeting some library book of timely helpfulness,
+or the pastor might even speak of it from the pulpit.
+
+It is far better to buy the books a few at a time. In some schools a
+new book is added to the library every Sunday of the fifty-two. The
+chairman of the library committee comes forward with the book in his
+hand, and describes it in a few bright, brisk sentences. Its title and
+number are plainly written on the blackboard in front of the school.
+The choice is varied,--now a book for the youngest, next week one for
+the older scholars.
+
+Some libraries have a special case for the new books, where every one
+can readily find them and examine them. Indeed, the scholars are far
+more easily introduced to all the books, new and old, if they have
+free access to the shelves and can handle the books themselves, thus
+coming to know each as an old friend. By the way, I do not believe in
+covering the books. Covered books have no individuality.
+
+Happy the school that has a good-sized room for its library. Some even
+get it by placing the books in a house next door to the church.
+
+I have known schools to get acquainted with their books by coming
+together for a "library evening," in which the wealth of the library
+was disclosed by various speakers, each trying to interest the school
+in one book, or class of books.
+
+After all, the library catalogue may be the best agent of
+introduction. Every library should have one, though it is only a
+home-made affair, manufactured on a typewriter or a hectograph. Every
+book should be briefly described, so that the scholars may know, for
+instance, the scene and purpose of each story, the kind of man
+described in each biography, and whether it is a book for old, young,
+or primary scholars. Some librarians mark one catalogue for each
+class, indicating the books especially pleasing to scholars of the
+average age of the class, so that the teacher may guide their
+selection. Others divide the catalogue into sections, each containing
+the books appropriate to one division of the school.
+
+Not only should a teacher know _what_ his scholars are reading, but he
+should find out _how_ they read. He should try to teach them the art
+of reading. The demoralizing habit of reading merely for the moment's
+pleasurable excitement and the next moment's forgetting may be formed
+as easily with Sunday-school stories as with newspapers.
+
+Some librarians, to this end, place in each book a slip of paper, and
+the scholar is expected to write upon this at least one thing he has
+learned from the book, telling at the same time how he likes it.
+
+If the scholars, as will likely happen, are reading little but
+stories, the librarian himself can do much to promote more solid
+reading by reporting every month to the school the number of stories
+read, the number of biographies, etc. This report may be made by
+classes, and teachers and scholars should be urged to make a better
+record next month.
+
+Let me close this chapter with a few points regarding library
+management.
+
+It is poor economy of labor to change the librarian frequently, so
+much of his usefulness depends on his familiarity with the books, and
+that familiarity requires time to gain. If you can find a librarian
+that does not especially need the benefit of the Bible study, one that
+loves and understands children, keep him in office as long as may be.
+But be sure to give him an assistant to aid the children in their
+selections, or record the books while the librarian is consulting with
+the children; also to take the librarian's place when he is sick or
+absent, or possibly to take turns with him in presiding over the
+library, so that each may recite the lesson half the time.
+
+The books will be gathered up on the entrance of the scholars. A table
+or a basket or an usher may be placed at the door for this purpose. If
+the scholars cannot be given access to the books and select them
+themselves, the librarians will pass quietly around among the
+classes, leaving the new books at each table; but these books are
+never to be given to the scholars until just before they leave.
+
+The most effective record, yet a very simple one, may be made by any
+librarian. Give to each scholar a card bearing his name and his
+number. On this he writes a list of about ten numbers of the books he
+prefers. As the librarian places his card in one of these new books,
+that number is scratched off and the date written opposite. At the
+same time the librarian writes the scholar's number and the date in
+his library catalogue after the number of the book taken out, and upon
+a list of the scholars' numbers writes the number of the book after
+the number of the scholar. When the book is returned lines are drawn
+through these records. Thus at any time the librarian can see what
+books are out, who has them, how long they have had them, what books
+each scholar has read, and how often each book has been taken out.
+
+As the Sunday-school library should teach punctuality, among other
+good things, the librarian should strictly require every book to be
+brought back at the end of the week or fortnight, no matter who the
+scholar may be, or whether the book is in much or little demand. It
+may not be best to establish any system of fines, but a postal-card
+notice should be sent in aggravated cases, and sometimes the teacher
+should be asked to look up the book. It will spur the scholars to
+promptness if they know that each instance of tardiness is recorded
+against their names on the library's records.
+
+The proper care of books is another good thing the library should teach.
+Any marked blemish in a book should be noted when it is sent out; and
+when a book is injured by a scholar, the librarian should always speak
+to him about it, or get the teacher to do this if the child is a
+stranger to him. A plainly printed slip urging careful handling,
+forbidding dog's ears, and the like, may well be pasted in each book.
+
+It is sometimes possible and advantageous to open the library at some
+time during the week, especially on prayer-meeting evenings, when the
+older folks can select their books, or, for the benefit of the
+children, on Friday afternoons after school.
+
+Some classes will like to have little libraries of their own,
+containing Bibles for each scholar, Bible atlas, a Revised Bible, a
+Bible dictionary, a concordance, etc. Always it is well to arrange for
+the entire school a special reference library, the contents of which
+will largely change from quarter to quarter. In it will be placed the
+general Bible helps and whatever books are of special interest for the
+quarter's lessons. The scholars may be sent to these reference shelves
+during the lesson hour. At least one school has a special case, always
+open, for books of this nature, and places the case in the front of
+its main schoolroom.
+
+On the whole, it will be seen that this chapter is a plea for a
+Sunday-school library that is a corporate part of the Sunday-school
+teaching, that will help the teacher on Sunday, and carry his teaching
+through the week. Such a library virtually adds scores of the wisest men
+and women to the teaching force of the school, and multiplies by many
+hours the pitiful thirty minutes given to the lesson.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLI
+
+Around the Council Fire
+
+
+Our conventions are the grand council fires in the war the
+Sunday-school is waging against the forces of evil. The flame of the
+Holy Spirit should blaze in their midst. With military directness they
+should go straight to the immediate needs, find out what they are,
+plan the campaign. Orderly and in turn, all should have a part in
+them, not only the speakers, but the audience, one school and every
+school. With hearts uplifted, with zeal on fire, every teacher should
+leave the gathering bent on more valiant service.
+
+Only a well-planned convention can effect this,--a convention long
+thought over and prayed over, not merely by one man, but by many.
+These meetings not seldom remind one of a house of which the owner
+takes possession prematurely. Over yonder the scaffolding is still up,
+here they are just removing it, the sound of the hammer and the saw is
+everywhere, and the smell of wet plaster is in the air. Thus in many
+conventions. Here and there the president bustles around, over the
+platform, through the audience. The local committee of arrangements
+are like bees before swarming. We begin late and with apologies; so we
+continue.
+
+The model convention, however, began at least as far back as the
+preceding convention. At that gathering suggestions for the next
+meeting were called for and obtained. During the following weeks the
+president visited or corresponded with every school in the district,
+trying to discover its excellences and lacks, that the convention
+might exhibit the one and supply the other. Indeed, at the very
+opening of the preceding convention the new officers, if any, were
+elected, that during the sessions they might have ears open and brains
+and tongues active, gathering hints for the profitable meeting they
+were to plan. Therefore it was early known precisely what the coming
+convention was to teach, and that convention, instead of bumping along
+Haphazard Lane, rolls smoothly over Purpose Avenue.
+
+Two methods will promote this preparedness of the audience, without
+which the best-prepared programme largely fails: there should be a
+convention press committee, whose pleasant task it is to pack the papers
+with appetizing details of the coming meetings; and every school should
+be supplied, at least two weeks beforehand, with a large number of the
+printed programmes. If these are attractively got up, if the topics meet
+genuine needs and are expressed brightly, suggestively, and not as Dr.
+Dryasdust would formulate them, and if the various superintendents and
+pastors advertise the convention wisely, the audience that will come
+together will be ready for its work.
+
+So large a part of most Sunday-school convention audiences comes from
+the immediate locality that especial effort should be made to interest
+beforehand the church and the town in which the meetings are held; and
+this not merely for the sake of the convention, but for the quickening
+of Sunday-school interests throughout the community. But if only a few
+persons are gathered, do not make the mistake of losing them in a
+large room, with scores of empty pews into which their zeal can creep
+away and hide itself. The same coals that grow black in all outdoors
+will make a little stove red-hot.
+
+No small part of the preparation that is to make a success of your
+convention is the careful and _enterprising_ selection of speakers. The
+best policy is to choose none from "policy." Select the men that can
+inspire and instruct, though you must crowd out some pastor of a big
+church or some man with a big name. From the teachers themselves call
+out suggestions as to speakers as well as to topics. Search through your
+district for original workers, inventors, plummet men, women that win
+the hearts of the children, and get them to tell the convention how they
+do it. By all means call in the successful Christian teacher in the
+secular schools. If possible, import a skilled worker from outside your
+district. Fresh air will come in with him, the sense of a wider outlook.
+Only, he must not be an opinionated egotist, one of those _ex-cathedra_
+men, but a warm-hearted brother in the Lord; and it is far better to use
+him in several short speeches scattered over the programme than in one
+long address.
+
+The wise choice of topics is quite as important as a wise choice of
+men to treat them. Let all programme-makers remember what the
+convention is to do: not to show off leaders, or to raise money, or to
+get acquainted, or to have a good time, but to learn more about
+teaching and managing Sunday-schools. Three aims must be set before
+every Sunday-school convention: to arouse new love for the Bible, to
+arouse new love for souls, to arouse new zeal for bringing these two
+together. Every convention, then, should divide its time among three
+classes of topics: the Bible, the children, the teaching.
+
+1. _The Bible._ Such themes as these are suggested: "How the Bible
+differs from all other books." "Recent Bible discoveries." "My way of
+studying the Bible." "Bible-marking." "How to study Exodus." "The use
+of a 'teacher's Bible.'" "Interleaved Bibles,--why and how." "The
+value of the Victoria revision." "The study of the Bible as
+literature." "What is the best commentary?" "Reading the Bible in
+course,--how to make it most profitable." "The Septuagint and its
+importance." "How the Bible came down to the printing-press." "The
+story of our English Bible."
+
+2. _The Children._ "Imagination in children." "Reasoning processes
+that a child will not appreciate." "Why children love stories."
+"Important differences between the child's mind and ours." "Put
+yourself in his place." "A child's confidence: how lost; how won."
+"Prigs: how not to make them." "The self-conscious child and how to
+treat him." "Lessons from the playground." "Kindergarten principles of
+value in the Sunday-school."
+
+3. _The Two Brought Together._ "What is a good question?" "How to get
+the class to ask questions." "A class that keeps its own order."
+"Getting young people in love with the Bible." "The teacher's voice."
+"Their own Bibles." "The quarterly left at home." "How to make the
+Bible real to the children." "Some tests our teaching should stand."
+
+This outline does not omit the school management, and occasional
+discussion of the work of superintendents and other officers will
+belong under the last head; but the teachers are so many compared with
+the officers that _their_ work should be treated the more generously.
+I think most convention programmes deal far too much with the
+machinery of the work, any way.
+
+The best mode of helping the officers is by an officers' conference;
+and if the convention holds but two sessions, I would urge that one of
+them be broken up into conferences. In one room the primary workers
+may meet; in another, the superintendents and their assistants; in
+others, the librarians, the secretaries, the choristers, the teachers
+of intermediate classes, the teachers of adult classes, the heads of
+home departments, the pastors. Programmes for these conferences
+should be arranged with as much care as for the main convention, and
+nothing should be done at random. It is a good plan, at the opening of
+these little simultaneous gatherings, to appoint one member of each to
+take notes of the best things and report them succinctly to the entire
+body when it reassembles.
+
+There are three classes of topics that I especially delight to see on a
+convention programme. First, the fundamentals. We must not forget the
+host of new workers constantly coming into our ranks. "How to ask a
+question" is an old, old theme; but there are enough new teachers to
+keep it forever fresh and pertinent. Second, new methods, exploited by
+authorities, by practical workers. Third, what I call "encouragements,"
+topics that inspire, cheer, comfort, victories gained, rewards in sight.
+Hallelujah themes.
+
+To these I must add a fourth: work for the audience. I would give the
+listeners a chance to "talk back" about once every hour, and something
+to do, besides listening, every half-hour. Question-boxes on practical
+topics are incomparable interest-quickeners. An answer-box is a reversed
+question-box. It contains written answers by the teachers, two or three
+questions of wide scope and great importance being propounded on the
+programme; such questions as: "What do you do with pert children?" "How
+do you get your scholars to study their lessons?" A wise leader, with
+the grace of conciseness, is required for both these exercises.
+
+Yes, and he is needed for the "open parliaments," or conversational
+discussions of helpful topics by brisk dialogue between audience and
+platform. These may be made merely parade-grounds for "smart" leaders,
+or genuine experience meetings, true council fires. It is wise to send
+a special invitation to your best teachers, asking them to be prepared
+with suggestions or questions for the open parliament, that it may
+start off with momentum already obtained. A summarist, too, is a good
+appointment; he listens quietly to the open parliament, and at the
+close gathers up, in a few sentences that stick, whatever is best
+worth preserving out of the discussion.
+
+The open parliament most commonly held consists merely of dry and
+formal reports from each school, the roll being called. If such an
+exercise is held, place in charge of it a man thoroughly familiar with
+the schools, and able by brisk questioning to elicit a report that
+will picture the one school and stimulate the others.
+
+A good presiding officer is half a convention. His first duty is to
+have a distinct understanding with each speaker that he is not to
+trespass on the next man's time, and his second duty is to cry "Stop,
+thief!" if the speakers do so trespass. The convention management
+should be a model for the Sunday-schools in every way, and in none
+more imperatively than in this of promptness.
+
+But also as to order. Oh, the weak-kneed or the purblind presidents,
+that allow the talking, whispering, walking about of a few to filch
+from the many half the value of the meetings! Stop the speaker. Call a
+halt on the entire convention. Don't proceed another step till quiet
+is restored, and maintained. Be a platform czar, and your audience
+will be your happy serfs.
+
+Then, the president is master of ceremonies. So much in
+acquaintanceships depends on tactful introductions! He should deliver to
+each successive speaker an audience that is in a glow of anticipation,
+and when the speaker is done,--yes, and all through,--his own cordial
+hands should lead the hearty applause, and he should take time for an
+appreciative word before passing to the next topic.
+
+If the presiding officer is to do all this, he must plan beforehand
+almost every sentence he will use in introducing speakers or opening the
+discussions. He is to be suggestive; he is to set brains a-throbbing
+with eagerness and tongues aching with things to say; and he is to do it
+all in twenty words. Brevity, good humor, suggestiveness,--these, in
+this order, are the chairman's prime virtues.
+
+At the opening of every convention the key-note of formality, routine,
+and perfunctoriness is struck in the address of welcome and the
+response. Their every word could safely be predicted in advance. The
+world is waiting for a programme committee that will be courageous
+enough to leave them out. If the pastor of the entertaining church has
+helpful ideas on Sunday-school work, by all means place him on the
+programme somewhere; but don't make a rut of him.
+
+At the very outset strike the key of prayer. Insert here and there
+throughout the programme a quiet ten minutes with the great Teacher.
+By all means close with a devotional half-hour--not a hasty prayer
+punctuated with the snapping of watches. Sentence prayers by scores,
+prayer psalms softly repeated, prayer hymns read with bowed
+heads,--the convention should furnish an inspiration and model for the
+devotions of all the schools represented.
+
+Scarcely less important is the element of song. Unconsciously to
+themselves, the audience should become a normal training-class,
+learning how to conduct the singing of their schools in fresh and
+uplifting ways. Many, if not all of the methods mentioned in my
+chapter on this theme find fit application to the convention.
+
+The social features deserve careful attention. Set the teachers to
+talking together; conversation was Socrates' university. One of the most
+helpful events may be a light supper given by the entertaining church. A
+small fee is charged, all sit down together, and at the close a series
+of happy speeches will bring out flashes of wit and bushels of sense.
+
+The business should be kept under. Introduce it a little at a time,
+rather than spend a fatiguing hour and a half. Make no parade of
+money-raising. Giving should be done quietly. Teach your teachers the
+grace of envelopes. Reduce all business to a minimum, remembering that
+the convention comes together not for legislation, but for inspiration.
+
+The Sunday-school convention is not only a conference, but an
+exposition. Here should be gathered whatever new teaching apparatus
+any school has bought: wall-maps, sand-maps, relief-maps, material for
+object-lessons, portable blackboards, colored pictures illustrating
+the lessons, specimens of class tests, library catalogues, new kinds
+of class-books, collection-envelopes, singing-books, new editions of
+the Bible, lesson helps of all kinds,--it is clear how varied and
+valuable a collection may easily be brought together when once the
+teachers and officers understand what is wanted.
+
+The library of the entertaining school should be open for visiting
+librarians to examine books and methods. The best new books might be
+brought in from all the libraries of the district, and if each school
+sent only one or two, the entire exhibit would furnish many a
+suggestion to wide-awake library committees.
+
+One of the most important exhibits is a Sunday-school map of the
+district, indicating where schools are in existence, and also where
+schools might and should be placed.
+
+There is one kind of exhibit that should rarely be made, if ever: an
+exhibit of the children themselves, either to "speak pieces" or to
+play Sunday-school and be taught. The latter use of them has
+advantages, but, to my mind, the gain to the audience is nothing
+compared to the children's increase of self-consciousness. I hide my
+head whenever I think of such a mock recitation in which I figured
+when a little boy, and remember how proud I was of my pert forwardness
+in answering all of the questions; before all those people, too!
+
+In closing, let us ask how the convention results may be gathered up,
+preserved, and sown broadcast. A notebook should be in the hand of
+each attendant,--either given away or sold. The speakers should so
+mark their points and emphasize the subdivisions of their addresses
+that the thoughts can readily be grasped and retained. A printed
+syllabus is a great assistance to this end, and if the printing-press
+is too costly, a manifolder may be used. Blank pages should be left in
+the programme, to invite to note-taking.
+
+And then, the new plans all jotted down, the felicitous expressions
+written out _verbatim_, the facts and figures clearly noted, let the
+convention be widely reported. Not merely should the convention press
+committee, that heralded the gathering through the papers, continue
+their labors long enough to render their previous work most fruitful,
+but every teacher present should carry the convention's best to his
+teachers' meeting and his class; yes, and to the church prayer-meeting.
+Thus will the ardor of the council fire spread throughout the army.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLII
+
+The Incorporation of Ideas
+
+
+Certain arts, such as sculpture, painting, and architecture, have been
+named the fine arts by some man who had not learned to look inward,
+and see what an infinitely finer art is any that attempts to fashion
+the human soul. The pastor's and the teacher's arts, which are in
+essence one, though the tyranny of language forbids calling them the
+fine arts, may be given even a nobler title; they are the high arts.
+
+We would sit down with bated breath and tense-drawn nerves to take to
+pieces for the first time the delicate machinery of a watch for cleaning
+and readjustment. If a sovereign diamond were placed in our hands for
+faceting, we would study for days its cleavage plane, its natural
+angles, and its matrix, and press it to the revolving wheel at last with
+timidity and shrinking. But when the most marvelously delicate,
+impressionable, yet abiding thing in the world is placed in our hands,
+together with the mightiest yet finest tools, and under conditions
+constantly varying, and we are told to fashion a human soul into truth
+and nobility, we sit down with confident smiles, and whack away.
+
+It is impossible for a Sunday-school teacher to magnify his office. He
+needs a spiritual telescope, rather, to see above it and below it and
+on all sides of it. We Sunday-school teachers constitute an unordained
+ministry, whose functions are as sacred as those of the pulpit, though
+less inclusive. If we are faithful, conversions will be as frequent
+results of our lesson questions as of the pastor's sermons. "God hath
+set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly
+teachers." Let us desire earnestly the greater gifts; but if God calls
+us to be neither missionary nor pastor, but Sunday-school teacher,
+even that calling is too high for us fully to attain.
+
+It is an anomaly to which the Christian world is just awaking that
+workers permit themselves to enter on this sacred art with no
+apprenticeship. Indeed, if such untrained workers were not admitted,
+there would soon be no Sunday-schools in the world to admit them. Long
+as the seminaries for ministerial preparation have existed, it is only
+recently that training-schools for lay workers have been formed. May
+they grow and multiply!
+
+But until enlarged Christian activity places one of these blessed
+institutions within reach of each consecrated layman, we must do the
+best we can with other means of growth. We must organize regular
+Sunday-school conventions and teach one another there. We must build
+one another up in enthusiastic teachers' meetings. We must use the
+best lesson helps. We must read greedily every book and every article
+that promises to give us new ideas and methods and inspiration.
+
+Now some object to all this. "You are needlessly discouraging us,"
+they say. "You are making a very simple matter appear complicated; an
+easy one seem difficult. Christ's yoke is easy; Christ's gospel is
+plain; he will give us in that Sunday-school hour what we are to say.
+Your minute directions as to methods of study, as to concordance and
+commentary and maps, are flying in the face of Providence. The Spirit
+bloweth where he listeth."
+
+The answer to all this is simple, and consists mainly in an appeal to
+experience. Simple and plain as Christ's message is, human lives are
+very complicated, and it is no simple matter or easy task to lay the
+Saviour's simple healing alongside their varied ills. Christ's burden is
+light; if it were heavier it would be easier to get paradoxical humanity
+to accept it. Christ will instruct us what to say, provided we have so
+trained our heart and brain that his words will not fall as senseless
+babble from our tongues. The Spirit does breathe where he listeth, but
+the experience of these centuries ought to teach us that God is never
+present in power where work and prayer have not invited him.
+
+Haphazard work is not equal to thoughtful work. Minute directions
+that would be wasted on a barn-painter are a necessity of the artist.
+Impromptu never yet won a race with Preparation. And I know that many
+a teacher is mourning over his empty hands who might be rejoicing over
+great sheaves if his sowing had been more liberal and his teaching
+more painstaking.
+
+And yet I sympathize with the weary discouragement of which all
+teachers feel a twinge when high ideals of teaching are held out
+before them. We are sure we are doing our best, already. It annoys us
+to be shown a better best. Our work is hard enough. It troubles us to
+be told that we must work harder before it can ever become easy. And
+especially, we are so confused by the multiplicity of good things we
+may do, of improvements we may make, that we do and make none of them.
+
+Now the secret of success in all arts lies in this: the Incorporation
+of Ideas. The reception of ideas, the appreciation and praise of them,
+this is nothing, though many are satisfied to stop here; but the
+incorporation, the embodiment of them, this makes the artist. The
+artist is the man that is hungry for ideas,--for the ideal, that is;
+the man that, like Paul, proves them all by the tests of thought and
+experience, and then holds fast whatever is good, until it has become
+part of himself, until it is incorporated.
+
+The artist is a man, too, that above all men knows the importance of
+trifles. The contour must be molded to nature precisely, the statue
+finished to the finger-nail, the machine accurate in every line and
+surface. He will not try to attain the ideal at a bound; it is made
+up, he knows, of many ideas. He grasps one idea, and fixes that
+forever. Then, he has power for another.
+
+One point at a time, then, fellow-laborers in this blessed work; one
+idea from an eager throng appealing to you in books, lectures, or
+papers, proved and found good, and then held fast by prayerful
+practice, by never-yielding effort, until it is added to the company
+of your unconscious forces. And then, in this power, to add another to
+it! Thus alone can we win, from Christ's university, the highest of
+all degrees, Masters of his Art!
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLIII
+
+From a Superintendent's Notebook
+
+
+An egotist is foredoomed to failure in the Sunday-school. The worker
+that hopes for success must cast to the winds any foolish pride in
+originality, and seek far and wide for the wisest ideas and the
+freshest methods. A superintendent or a teacher without a notebook is
+only half a superintendent or teacher. Its pages should rapidly grow
+rich with plunder. The little white friend must be at hand when he
+attends conventions, when he reads, when he talks with other workers,
+when he thinks and prays over his sacred tasks.
+
+The two chapters that follow are merely specimen pages of such
+notebooks. While I have utilized them to gather up various plans and
+experiences that could not fittingly find place elsewhere in the book,
+their chief purpose is to illustrate the wide-awake catholicity that
+must animate every successful worker in Sunday-schools.
+
+It is right to say--though this is a matter of course--that a large
+majority of these paragraphs are condensed from that great storehouse
+of Sunday-school lore, the "Sunday-school Times."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Their Own Review._--Scholars are likely to answer with special zest
+the questions prepared by other scholars. One school asks its classes
+in turn to furnish three questions on each lesson, which are proposed
+to the entire school at the close of the lesson hour. From these
+questions are selected a number for the quarterly review. They are
+"manifolded," and written answers are expected from all present.
+
+_Out of Order._--An excellent review scheme was arranged by a
+superintendent who gave his school a list of twenty-six events in the
+life of Christ, all jumbled up, and asked them to come next Sunday
+prepared to arrange them in chronological order.
+
+_A School Review._--For reviewing the lesson before the entire school,
+select one class a week beforehand and give it ten or twelve
+comprehensive questions, from the quarterly or original. At the close
+of the lesson ask this class to rise and answer the questions as
+another class, also rising, asks them. Let all the classes take turns
+in this service.
+
+_School Reviews._--For a change, it is well to incorporate the entire
+school in a general review,--omitting, of course, the younger classes.
+One person may conduct the review, or the questions on each lesson may
+be asked by a different teacher. Different classes may be assigned
+special lessons to illustrate by the concert repetition of Bible
+verses, or by a stanza of some song. One lesson of the quarter may be
+assigned to each class, and the questions that will be asked may be
+given to that class a week or two beforehand. In this case, general
+questions for the entire school should occasionally be interspersed.
+
+_A Teachers' Supper._--Once a year, at least, bring together all the
+teachers and officers around a well-filled table. After-dinner
+speeches, cheery and merry, may follow, and then a pleasant evening's
+entertainment.
+
+_The Annual Meeting._--Make this an event. A supper with bright
+speeches, the business meeting to follow; a brisk literary and musical
+entertainment; an introductory talk by some practical worker from
+abroad,--these are some of the ways of distinguishing the occasion.
+
+_Badges._--Any Sunday-school festival will be given eclat by the use
+of badges. The children will be proud to wear them, and will treasure
+them as souvenirs. They may be made almost without cost if you will
+use bright-colored cambric, and print upon them with a hand-stamp.
+
+_A Sunday-School Day._--If not once a year, at least once every few
+years, it is well worth while to make the Sunday-school the theme of
+all the exercises on the Lord's day,--both morning and evening
+services, and the Christian Endeavor meeting. The subject has so many
+practical aspects that much good will be done in addition to the
+quickening of the Sunday-school.
+
+_The Home Department._--Simply a promise to study the lesson at home
+for half an hour each week--that is the scheme of the home department.
+You may add visitors, records, reports, _ad libitum_, but the home
+department may be complete and satisfactory without these. The plan is
+so simple that any school can use it, and so fruitful of blessed
+results that no school dare neglect it. A thorough canvass for members
+of the home department seldom fails to bring new members into the main
+school at once, and as the home study arouses interest, new scholars
+are continually added from this source, besides the scores of aged and
+shut-ins whose lives are thus led into the green pastures of the Word.
+
+_Home Department Day._--On this occasion a special effort is made to
+bring to the Sunday-school the entire home department. They sit
+together, and special services are held in their honor and for their
+benefit.
+
+_Parents' Day._--Make a special effort once a year to bring out all
+the parents of the scholars. Issue special printed invitations. Have a
+printed programme. Let the exercises be the regular working of the
+school, with merely one short address to the parents in addition.
+
+_A Parents' Social._--Parents and teacher should know one another, and
+there is no more gracious way to bring this about than by an evening
+spent together at the teacher's house.
+
+_Purpose Cards._--To stimulate the school in needed ways, have a
+"purpose card" printed. It will read, in tabular form, "I will
+endeavor to attend more faithfully, to prepare my lesson better, to
+get a new scholar," etc. Each member of the school signs his card,
+marks with crosses the "purposes" he makes his own, and returns the
+card to the superintendent.
+
+_Installing the New Officers._--This should be done with some
+ceremony, including a very short address by the pastor, another by the
+outgoing superintendent or prominent officer, another by a
+representative of the incoming group, and an earnest prayer,--all to
+occupy no more than ten minutes. The scholars will have more respect
+for leaders thus honored, and the officers themselves will be more
+likely to magnify their office.
+
+_The Old Superintendent._--Some schools elevate the assistant
+superintendent regularly to the superintendency. Other schools adopt the
+opposite course, and make the superintendent of one year the assistant
+superintendent of the next. Either plan secures continuity of method.
+
+_A True Assistant._--The assistant superintendent should be prepared
+to do, in the superintendent's absence, everything the superintendent
+ordinarily does. How can he be prepared to do this unless the
+superintendent regularly shares all kinds of work with his assistant?
+
+_Help from the Public School._--In most communities a very inspiring
+series of lectures might be obtained from Christian teachers in the
+secular schools and colleges, the purpose of each lecture being to
+show how, according to the best pedagogical methods, a certain lesson
+might be taught, or Sunday-school teaching in general be carried on.
+
+_Flowers at Home._--You will delight your school, and teach them many
+lessons, if you give each scholar--or get the teachers to do this--a
+bulb, a package of seeds, or a small potted plant like a rose. Hold an
+exhibition to show the results, and then have the flowers given to the
+sick, the hospitals, the poor, or sold for missions.
+
+_Easter Lilies._--A few cents invested in lily bulbs will make a
+beautiful Easter for your school. Give one to each scholar for him to
+raise, or, possibly, one to each class. The flowers, after Easter
+Sunday, are to be sent to the aged, the sick, and the poor.
+
+_An Easter Gift._--Some Sunday-schools give each scholar, on Easter
+day, a little rosebush or a package of seeds, that they may be tended
+and urged to bloom by Children's Day, when they are all brought in.
+
+_Vacation Transfers._--Some schools, when their scholars leave for a
+vacation, give them letters to schools where they will visit. These
+are printed forms, and include a detachable blank report, which, when
+filled out and returned, will show the scholar's attendance on the
+other school during his absence.
+
+_Planned Prayer-Meetings._--It will greatly promote the devotional
+character of your school if you take twenty minutes each month for a
+prayer-meeting. Select four or five to offer prayer, and have them
+sit on the platform. A brief, tender talk from the superintendent and
+bright singing will complete a memorable meeting.
+
+_A Carryall._--I have heard of Sunday-schools that maintained omnibuses
+or large carriages, to gather up and carry to the school children whose
+homes were so far away that they could not otherwise attend.
+
+_Neighborhood Schools._--Distant groups of farmers' families, and
+others that cannot reach the school, should be organized in
+neighborhood Sunday-schools.
+
+_A New Object Each Month._--The scholars' offerings should be an
+education not only in the instinct of giving, but also in the
+intelligent choice of objects for giving. Every Sunday-school should
+have a benevolence committee, which carefully selects for each month a
+new object of beneficence. On the last Sabbath of each month a word
+should be said about the object that appeals for the gifts of the next
+month. This brief account should, of course, be supplemented by the
+teachers in their classes.
+
+_The Envelope System._--This plan of giving, which has done so much
+for our churches, should be used everywhere in the Sunday-school. Give
+each class a number and each scholar a set of dated envelopes, one for
+each Sunday, bearing his class number. Call for a contribution from
+each scholar each Sunday. Urge that all absent scholars send their
+contributions, or bring them the next Sunday. From this _systematic_
+giving you may go on to _proportionate_ giving by impressing on the
+scholars their duty to set apart for God some regular proportion, say
+one tenth, of all the money they receive. If the school takes up
+monthly collections for special benevolent objects, the envelopes for
+these Sundays may be of a different color. If, as should always be the
+case, the expenses of the school are met by the church, leaving the
+entire school collections to be devoted to missions and charitable
+causes, the school committee on benevolences may select a different
+object of giving for each month. This object should then be written on
+each envelope for that month.
+
+_A Jug-Breaking._--One of the best ways of teaching children the value
+of little gifts and the importance of weekly savings for Christ's
+cause is by the collection of money in jugs. Set before them at the
+start some object for their gifts, that they may think and talk about
+it while they are saving; otherwise their minds are lifted no higher
+than their money. And how they will enjoy the jug-breaking!
+
+_Class-Books._--Not records of class attendance, but books for the
+library, paid for by the various classes, selected by these so far as
+their choice seems wise, and each of them bearing an inscription telling
+what class presented it to the school. Such gifts give the scholars a
+personal interest in the library they have helped to create.
+
+_Loan Libraries._--Instead of giving away the books your school has
+thoroughly read, loan them, in groups of fifty or so, to poorer schools.
+They will return them in good condition, and by that time there will be
+many new scholars in your own school to whom the books will be fresh.
+
+_Exchange Libraries._--There is no reason why neighboring schools, if
+their library funds are low, should not arrange to buy different
+books, and then exchange them after the original purchasers have used
+them for a year. All the schools in a town or township might well
+combine in an arrangement so economical.
+
+_Receiving the New Books._--The library will be advertised if the
+reception of new books is made an event. They may be put in a public
+place, all at one time, and formally presented to the school by pastor
+or superintendent, with a word about each. This may be done at
+Christmas, Easter, Children's Day, Thanksgiving, at any one or all of
+these holiday seasons.
+
+_Honor the Donors._--A special and attractive label for books presented
+to the library, with a space for the name of the person that makes the
+gift, will greatly increase the number of books received in this way.
+
+_Their Own Paper._--A large Sunday-school may publish a little weekly
+or monthly paper, the advertisements paying the bills. The older
+scholars will be interested in doing the work. The notes about the
+various classes, the library, the contributions, the school work, will
+all prove stimulating.
+
+_Sunday-School Calendars._--A good standing advertisement of the
+school in any home would be a neat calendar of the year, bordered with
+facts about the school, invitations, pictures of church, pastor,
+Sunday-school officers, and the like.
+
+_A Bulletin Board._--A conspicuous bulletin board, placed at the
+entrance, will save giving out many a notice.
+
+_The Notices._--The wise superintendent will plan every word he is to
+say before the school, even--yea, especially!--the giving of the
+notices. These notices will be the fewest possible; don't let the
+Sunday-school be used as a bill-board. Announce only what you want the
+scholars to remember, and in such a bright way that they can't forget
+it. And don't discredit your perspicuity and their attention by
+announcing it more than once.
+
+_Protect the Teacher._--One of the most important of the
+superintendent's duties is to protect the teacher from interruption
+during the recitation hour. A similar duty is to see that the time for
+the recitation suffers no diminution through the tardiness or
+prolixity of himself or any one else.
+
+_Substitute Groups._--The work of "substituting" may well be divided
+up. Ask a set of older scholars to be ready to substitute on the first
+Sunday of each month, another set on the second Sunday, and so on.
+
+_The Pastor as Substitute._--Certainly the pastor should not take a
+Sunday-school class of his own. That would be unfair to the rest of
+the school and the church. But he would get into helpful contact with
+a large number of people, young and old, if he should act every Sunday
+as a substitute teacher, now in this class and now in that.
+
+_A Five-Minute Meeting._--A few minutes of conference, immediately
+after the session of the school, will be a great help and stimulus to
+the teachers. One will ask help in a difficulty, another will report a
+method just proved successful. Everything will come fresh and vital
+from living experience.
+
+_How Many Absent?_--Often let the secretary, in his report to the
+school, state only the number _absent_ from each class and department.
+He will thus change the emphasis, and arouse a new and profitable
+interest.
+
+_A Roll-Call._--It takes time, but at long intervals a public
+roll-call of the entire school is worth while. Of course it should be
+well advertised beforehand, and the entire membership will wish to be
+present. Then make the hour so delightful that they will not think of
+staying away thereafter.
+
+_Honor Rolls._--Hang a large sheet of paper in a conspicuous position,
+and announce that you will print upon it the name of every one that
+brings in a new scholar. A red paper star after the name signifies one
+new scholar, a blue star a second scholar, and so on. A similar roll
+may be used to honor perfect attendance, stars of different colors
+being used for the different quarters.
+
+_Gold and Silver Stars._--There are well-based objections to any
+distinction of one class above another, but a plan that will be found
+very valuable, at least as a temporary stimulus, is this: Honor with a
+large silver star every class that has all its members present, and
+with a gold star each class that reports all its members bringing
+Bibles, and that all have studied the lesson at least twenty minutes.
+
+_An Asterisk._--If by banners or in other ways you honor regular
+attendance, there will be a tendency to drop absent scholars from the
+rolls too quickly, because they lower the standard of their classes.
+An excellent way of getting around this difficulty is to "star" the
+name of every scholar that has been absent a month. This asterisk
+means that the name is not to be counted in making up the report, but
+the presence of the name on the list means that the scholar is not to
+be forgotten or neglected.
+
+_To Console Him._--One bright superintendent scorns to give a reward
+or prize for new scholars, but presents a nice leather-bound Bible, by
+way of compensation, to each scholar that for any cause is luckless
+enough to _leave_ his school!
+
+_A Spur._--Enforce punctuality by a large placard hung in front of the
+school, and reading, "You are early." When the school opens the card
+is turned, and now reads, in staring letters, "You are late!"
+
+_A Question Drill._--This is a good plan for teachers' meetings. The
+teachers should ask questions on each verse, turn about, and the
+leader should criticise the questions.
+
+_Teachers'-Meeting Roll-Call._--To insure previous study of the
+lesson, and to accustom the teachers to take part in the meeting, let
+the roll be called every week, and require each teacher to respond
+with some thought concerning the lesson, usually a comment on some
+particular verse.
+
+_Attendance on the Teachers' Meeting._--It will prove a helpful spur
+if this attendance is recorded regularly, and incorporated in all the
+reports made by the secretary to the school.
+
+_Union Teachers' Meetings._--If you cannot have a teachers' meeting
+for your Sunday-school alone, because you have no good leader, you can
+probably find a good leader in some neighboring church, and can give
+him and yourselves the stimulus of a large union gathering. This plan
+has many advantages, notably the opportunity for the comparison of
+methods. It has one great disadvantage: the work cannot apply so
+particularly to your individual school.
+
+_A Reception Class._--New scholars may all be placed in a "reception
+class," until their ability, knowledge, and character can be learned.
+
+_A Visitors' Register._--This is for the names and home addresses of
+all visitors. The little attention required to obtain these autographs
+pleases them and their friends, and breaks the ice for further
+acquaintance. The register should be kept open on some table in a
+central spot, with pen and ink always at hand.
+
+_An Address-Book._--This should contain, under proper and convenient
+classifications, the addresses of all scholars, teachers, and
+officers, past and present. It should always be kept in the church,
+and many will be the references to it.
+
+_A Cradle Roll._--This contains the names of the babies of the church,
+for each of whom his mother is given a certificate of membership. This
+roll is read once in a while before the primary class.
+
+_Individual Histories._--At least one school has enough personal
+interest in its scholars to keep a history of each, in a book properly
+arranged for that purpose. This history includes the date of the
+scholar's joining the school and of his promotion to the various higher
+departments thereof, his birthday and the names of his parents, their
+church-membership, where the scholar lived when he joined the church,
+whom he married and when, his business, the date of his removal and the
+city to which he went, together with other and special facts.
+
+_District Reporters._--Appoint one scholar or teacher to watch each
+street in town,--preferably, of course, the street on which he
+resides,--and report promptly all newcomers, that they may be invited
+to the Sunday-school.
+
+_The Opening Prayer._--Let the ushers admit no one till it is over. Do
+not begin, or permit any one else to begin this prayer, till every
+head is bowed. Do not ask any one to offer this prayer without giving
+long notice; no haphazard prayer will answer.
+
+_Their Own Bibles._--A Bible in the hands of every scholar,--this
+alone makes possible variety and zest in the opening of the school.
+
+_Lesson Introductions._--In small schools it has often been found
+profitable for the superintendent to spend ten or fifteen minutes
+teaching to the entire school (with the exception of the primary
+department) the historical and similar details of the lesson. The
+teachers then add the lesson truths, teaching their individual classes.
+
+_Varying Programmes._--If the opening exercises of the school get into
+a rut, it is hard for the teachers to lift the school out of it. Some
+wise superintendents plan these exercises for weeks ahead, keeping
+careful record, and thus avoid monotony.
+
+_An Impressive Close._--One school closes its service with the Lord's
+Prayer, repeated by all as they stand. Then the school is seated, and
+waits in silence while the ushers, walking slowly up the aisles,
+dismiss each class in turn.
+
+_A Closing Prayer._--Here is a beautiful prayer to be repeated in
+concert at the close of school: "May the light of thy Word, O Lord,
+dwell in us richly, and guide us day by day. Amen."
+
+_Scripture in Closing._--To incite to Scripture memorizing, close the
+school with Bible verses repeated by all the scholars. Let each class
+in turn select the subject, such as "temperance," "obedience," "love,"
+and announce it a week in advance.
+
+_The Teachers before the School._--Now and then ask some teacher to
+say a few words to the entire school at the close of the session,
+summing up the most important teachings of the hour. This gives the
+whole school a bit of inspiration from each teacher in turn, and gives
+to each teacher the inspiration of talking to the whole school.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLIV
+
+From a Teacher's Notebook
+
+
+_Birthday Letters._--Little children will prize highly a cordial,
+loving letter written to them by their teacher on their birthday.
+Doubtless the very oldest scholars in the school will prize such a
+letter as much, if not even more. There should be no preachment in
+these letters, no hitting at peculiar sins; just fill them with
+Christian sunshine. A birthday prayer in the class, short, simple,
+earnest, will clinch to the scholar the lessons of the day.
+
+_Class Letters._--When the teacher is away on a vacation or for other
+reasons, a letter sent each week to some member of the class, taking the
+scholars in order, will be shared with the other scholars, and will
+strengthen the bond that the absence might have weakened or broken.
+
+_Teaching by Correspondence._--When the teacher must be absent, if she
+cannot find a good substitute, and the class is of a suitable age for
+the plan, let her send a letter containing a few thoughts on the
+lesson, together with many questions, which the class are to discuss,
+and for which, after joint consultation, they will prepare written
+answers, to be sent to the teacher.
+
+_The Lesson Message._--Do you fear that the central truth of the
+lesson may not be impressed on your class, either through your
+forgetfulness or because you lack time? Then write out for each
+scholar a sentence or two of exhortation, with a request that he read
+a certain appropriate passage of the Bible. Place these messages in
+envelopes, and distribute them at the close of the lesson.
+
+_A Teacher's Loan._--If you have found a book that would be especially
+helpful to your class, by all means, if you can afford it, buy a copy,
+circulate it among the class, and, after all your scholars have read
+it, present it to the library.
+
+_Birthdays of the Great._--Utilize in your teaching not only
+Washington's birthday and Lincoln's, but the birthday of any great man
+whose life may help to point the moral of the day's lesson. For this
+purpose, one of the many "birthday-books" is of value for reference.
+
+_A Magazine Club._--The members of a Sunday-school class have similar
+interests, and an ideal magazine and paper club may be organized among
+them. Incidentally, it will enable the teacher to direct much of their
+reading. The periodicals subscribed for are to be passed around in a
+specified order, kept at each house a definite time, and each finally
+retained by some member of the class.
+
+_Class Names._--It will prove an inspiration to any class to have a
+good name, such as "Earnest Seekers," "Willing Workers," "The Joshua
+Band," "Daughters of Ruth."
+
+_Five-Minute Preludes._--Brief preludes on current topics or
+practically helpful points connected with the lesson theme may be
+found valuable in the Bible class, just as similar preludes have
+proved useful in the preaching service.
+
+_Independence._--Occasionally request the class to prepare so
+thoroughly that they can leave at home the quarterly, lesson leaf,
+even the Bible itself. The teacher also will do this; and if he
+improves his opportunity, this thorough storing of the mind may result
+in a recitation so delightful that the class will adopt the plan
+enthusiastically for the future.
+
+_Her "Funny Box."_--A teacher tells how she lightened the occasional
+sickness of her scholars by carrying to them what they called her
+"funny box," which held fruit and flowers, with scores of merry jokes
+clipped from the papers, peanuts marked with comical faces, and a
+Bible verse or two on the inside of the cover.
+
+_A Review Picture-Gallery._--If you have been using the blackboard
+during the quarter, try a blackboard review. Draw twelve
+picture-frames, and call up the scholars one by one, asking each to
+fill in one of the frames with what he remembers of the blackboard
+work of that lesson. It may be necessary for the teacher to remind the
+scholar what the design was, and to help him draw it, or the entire
+class may be asked to give this assistance.
+
+_An Essay Review._--Divide the lessons of the quarter among your
+scholars, so that each will write an essay on some one lesson; or, if
+your class is too small for that, assign two lessons apiece to some of
+the scholars. Limit them as to time, but let each choose his line of
+treatment.
+
+_Silent Prayers._--If we always word the children's prayers for them,
+they will be unlikely ever to word prayers for themselves. Often
+request them to bow their heads and in silence to ask the Father for
+what they need and thank him for his kindness.
+
+_Class Prayers._--Why should not every class recitation be opened with
+a brief prayer, and often close with one? Yes, and when the talk in
+the middle of the lesson becomes especially earnest, prayer is the
+best means of binding the truth to the lives of your scholars.
+
+_A Prayer Calendar._--This is a list of the scholars in your class,
+plus the name of the teacher, divided among the days of the week, that
+of the teacher falling on Sunday. The whole is headed with a promise
+to pray each day for the persons named for that day. Each of the
+scholars has a copy, and signs it.
+
+_Pegs._--Draw a good-sized map of the country you are studying, and
+mount it on a board. With a gimlet bore holes wherever there is an
+important town, mountain, lake, or other geographical feature whose
+location you wish your scholars to learn. Fit pegs into these holes,
+and color the pegs white for the mountains, red for the cities, blue
+for the bodies of water. Teach the scholars, as you call for Hebron,
+for instance, to place a red peg in the proper hole, and thus to use
+the map.
+
+_Dissected Maps._--Paste a good-sized map of the desired country on
+thick cardboard or pasteboard. If you cannot get a large enough map,
+draw one yourself, and in the process you will learn much geography.
+Then cut the map into irregular pieces, and present it to the younger
+classes for them to fit together.
+
+_Putty Maps._--With a board foundation and a good map for a guide, any
+teacher can build up a relief map of Palestine out of putty. Paint the
+water blue, the sandy portions yellow, the fertile plains green, the
+mountains white or gray, the cities red. Letter with black.
+
+_Colors and Places._--A good way to aid the children's memory as to
+the location of the various lessons of the quarter is to write on the
+blackboard the title of each lesson as it comes, using each week a
+different color, and pinning to an outline map, at the same time, a
+scrap of paper of the same color. Of course, if a later lesson falls
+at the same place, the old color will be used in writing its title.
+
+_Home Drawings._--Some teachers wisely require their scholars to
+reproduce at home what they can remember of the blackboard work of the
+day, and bring in the result the next Sunday. The test is one for the
+teacher's blackboard work as well as for the scholars' memory.
+
+_Utilizing your Reading._--Every teacher should keep either a
+wide-margin Bible, or an interleaved Bible, solely to note the helps
+on Bible texts he may note in his reading. If the book or periodical
+is your own, simply set down the page opposite the Bible verse. Some
+may prefer a system of envelopes, one for each book of the Bible, in
+which clippings may be filed, as well as slips of paper containing
+references to books.
+
+_One Way of Preparing._--Cut up the Scripture text found on a lesson
+leaf, and paste the verses on large sheets of paper, leaving liberal
+space around each. In this space write your own comments, and the
+suggestions you glean from your reading.
+
+_On the Spot._--If one of your scholars is reported sick, why not
+pen--or _pencil_--a little note immediately, with the aid of the
+class, and send it to the sick scholar at the close of the school? A
+message thus written will move graciously upon the class as well as
+upon the recipient.
+
+_Prompt Investigation._--"A stitch in time saves nine." Apply this
+maxim to your scholar's _first_ absence, and look him up at once.
+
+_Lookout Committees._--Divide each class into three companies. Company
+A will seek recruits for the class, Company B will hunt up absentees,
+and Company C will do hospital service among the sick. Require regular
+reports.
+
+_Reports of Study._--Some teachers issue to their scholars blank
+reports, which they return, filled out, each Sunday. These reports
+tell whether they have studied the lesson for ten minutes each day,
+_and what verses of the lesson they do not understand_.
+
+_Reports to Parents._--The work done in Sunday-school should be so
+definite that it can be reported. Certain points should be required to
+be learned in each lesson, and when they are well recited, or when
+they are not recited, the parents should know of it. Regular monthly
+or quarterly reports, sent by postal-card, will stimulate the scholar
+to learn better, the parents to help him study, and the teacher to
+teach with system, definiteness, and persistency.
+
+_Collection and Record._--Give the mother, for her child, fifty-two
+little envelopes in which to put a year's pennies or nickels. Each
+child's envelopes are given a number, so that the collection is also a
+record of attendance.
+
+_More than a Straight Mark._--A simple but complete record may be made
+by a few strokes of the pencil. A cross has been suggested. The upper
+arm signifies "present"; the lower arm, "prompt"; the left-hand arm,
+"the lesson learned," according to a definite standard; the right-hand
+arm, "present at church." If the scholar has failed in one or more of
+these points, the corresponding arms are omitted from the cross.
+
+_Class Photographs._--With your own camera or some friend's take a
+group picture of your class once a year. You may give them at that
+time a pleasant "photograph party," or take an excursion together to
+some place, there to be photographed. Each scholar should have a copy
+of the resulting picture. It will be delightful if all the classes can
+thus be photographed, and an exhibition arranged of the entire series
+of pictures, which then becomes the property of the school.
+
+_Holidays Together._--A teacher especially successful in holding
+together a class of boys is in the habit of taking them with him on
+all sorts of excursions,--to libraries, museums, points of historical
+interest, on sleigh-rides, to hear illustrated lectures. And often he
+arranges for them merry parties at his home.
+
+_A Class Symbol._--Some concrete token, presented when the new scholar
+joins the class, will greatly help to cement the relationship. This
+may be a little book, a ribbon book-mark, an illuminated Scripture
+card, a simple emblematic pin. Whatever it is, it should be the same
+for all, that it may serve as a sort of class badge.
+
+_Introduction Cards._--These are of use to make new scholars acquainted
+with their classmates. The card contains the names of Sunday-school,
+teacher, and all the scholars, that of the new scholar being last, with
+the date of entrance. The whole is of immediate service to the new
+member, and is sure to be preserved as a pleasant memento.
+
+_A Work for Each._--Enlist each of your scholars in some definite and
+individual work for Christ. One may gather up old periodicals for the
+seamen, one may be interested in a children's hospital, one may collect
+partly worn garments for the poor. At each meeting of the class call for
+brief reports of these special lines of work. There could be no better
+commentary on the lessons your scholars are studying.
+
+_Substitute Teachers._--The teachers should obtain their own
+substitutes, whenever possible. If the superintendent makes it clear
+that he expects this, it will usually be done. In the process of
+obtaining the substitute, too, the teacher will probably gain fresh
+sympathy and consideration for the superintendent.
+
+_A Class Historian._--Appoint one scholar to this office. Ask him to
+keep track of the old members, and report any interesting news
+concerning them, at the same time keeping a record.
+
+_Essays._--Your scholars will appreciate the honor if asked to prepare
+essays now and then on special points in the lessons, such as "Jewish
+customs regarding Sunday," "The city of Antioch," "What the Bible
+teaches about temperance." Such essays should be very brief.
+
+_Supplemental Lessons._--The very interest aroused by the International
+Lessons calls often for supplementary lessons, dealing with such topics
+as the origin of the Bible, Bible geography, the Christian doctrines.
+Ten minutes preceding the regular lesson may be spent on such themes,
+and a great deal thus learned in the course of the year.
+
+_An Expedient._--If a boy is especially mischievous and restless,
+make him an usher and set him to keeping the rest in order.
+
+_A Study Outline._--Each member of a certain class was furnished with
+a copy of the following excellent programme for home study of the
+lesson: "1. Intervening events. 2. Time. 3. Place. 4. Persons. 5.
+Incidents. 6. Parallel passages and Scripture references. 7.
+Difficulties. 8. Doctrines and duties. 9. Central thought. 10.
+Personal application--to myself, to others."
+
+_Question-Books._--Blank-books in which questions on the lesson have
+been written, with spaces for answers, may profitably be used even in
+very young classes. The answers should be written immediately on the
+conclusion of the teaching, or even, question by question, as the
+teaching proceeds. In older classes, the questions may be set before the
+class a week later, and may introduce the next lesson, by way of review.
+
+_Home-Made Question-Books._--To induce your scholars to study at home,
+provide for each of them two little blank-books. Write a question in
+one, and request the return of the book next Sunday with the answer
+written out. Exchange it for the second book, and so alternate. Wise
+teachers will slip into such books many a personal word of praise or
+exhortation.
+
+_A Question Formula._--Ask each member of the class to bring you,
+every Sunday, written answers to a set of questions so general that,
+once dictated, they will serve for all lessons; for instance: "When
+occurred the events of our lesson? What is a brief synopsis of our
+lesson? What is its principal teaching? Which is your favorite verse
+in it, and why?" These answers should be discussed in the class.
+
+_Trained as Questioners._--In most schools there is no normal class,
+and if the teachers do not train their scholars to teach, the next
+generation of teachers in that school will be untrained. The class
+should be taught how to ask questions, and probably the best way to do
+this is to have them occupy a few minutes at the beginning of each
+recitation questioning one another on the previous lesson.
+
+_A Choice of Questions._--For this exercise the teacher writes a
+number of questions, which she brings to the class. Each scholar in
+turn is permitted to select a question, which he will propound to any
+of his classmates he may pick out.
+
+_The "Bible Library."_--This is a help to learning the order of the
+books of the Bible, and consists of sixty-six wooden blocks, painted and
+lettered to represent books, and varying in thickness with the size of
+the various books of the Bible. The poetical books are "bound" in the
+same style, the minor prophets in a different style, and so with other
+"sets." These imitation books are kept on shelves, from which they are
+taken by the children, to be replaced in the correct order.
+
+_Bible-Reading Lessons._--Many scholars read the Bible wretchedly;
+they have never been taught how. If this is the case with your class,
+have them read the lesson, verse about, before you discuss it. After
+the reading, criticise it, and have them repeat it.
+
+_Two Bibles._--If the scholars will not bring their Bibles to
+school,--and the boys especially are likely to think it will look
+"goody-goody,"--the next best plan is to give each of them a second
+Bible for his own use during the school hour.
+
+_Marked Bibles._--Teach the scholars to mark their Bibles, writing,
+for instance, the "key-word" at the beginning of each book;
+underscoring the leading sentence of a chapter; marking with red all
+passages referring to Christ as our Saviour; writing a P after every
+promise; "railroading," or connecting with a neatly drawn line,
+phrases that are antithetical or mutually explanatory, etc. One set of
+colored inks will answer for the class. The scholars will delight in
+the work, it will induce them to bring their Bibles to school, and
+will teach them how to use the Book.
+
+_Bible Dialogues._--Where the lesson text includes conversation, get
+the scholars to read it in dialogue form, or to come with it thus
+written out.
+
+_Home Bible-Reading._--The school may be set to reading the Bible at
+home, if lists of readings for each day of the week are written on
+cards by the teachers, and given out, to be returned, signed, in token
+that the reading has been accomplished.
+
+_A Divided Primary Department._--In large schools, where the
+superintendent of the primary department teaches the lesson for ten or
+fifteen minutes, and then hands the classes over to her assistant
+teachers, it is best for those teachers to spend their time in
+eliciting from the children, by questions, the facts and truths just
+taught them. Thus you will make sure of something gained.
+
+_A Week-Day Meeting._--It has been proved possible to sustain, in
+connection with a primary department, a week-day meeting for special
+and supplementary teaching, including singing, mission studies, and
+Bible history and geography.
+
+_Introducing Prayer._--This little verse, recited in concert, is used
+in many primary departments just before the prayer service:
+
+      "We fold our hands that we may be
+      From all our work and play set free;
+      We close our eyes that we may see
+      Nothing to take our thoughts from thee;
+      We bow our heads as we draw near
+      The King of kings, our Father dear."
+
+_The Essentials._--Every child, before leaving the primary department,
+should know the Commandments, the Beatitudes, the Twenty-third Psalm,
+the Apostles' Creed or some simple statement of Christian faith, the
+books of the Bible by name and order and something of their origin,
+the principal features of the map of Palestine, the chief events in
+Christ's life. Some of the Old Testament history will of course be
+added,--creation, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David, Solomon.
+
+_Primary Prayers._--No prayer for the children is so good as prayer by
+the children. Ask them, one after the other, to name things for which
+they are grateful. Then give them the formula, "I thank thee, Lord, for
+...," and let them offer prayers of thanksgiving for what they have
+mentioned. Again, ask each to tell one thing he really wants, and follow
+with prayers of petition, with the formulas, "Help me, dear Jesus, to be
+...," or, "Give me, dear Jesus, ..." Teach short Bible prayers. Offer
+longer prayers in brief sentences, which the children reverently repeat
+after you. For example: "Our dear heavenly Father, ... we thank thee for
+this beautiful day, ... for our homes and fathers and mothers, ... for
+our sisters and brothers and friends, ... and all that thou hast given
+us to make life happy.... Teach us to be helpful to those that are
+without these blessings.... Make us more kind and patient.... Help us to
+do everything thou dost want us to do.... For Jesus' sake. Amen."
+
+
+
+
+THE WORKS OF AMOS R. WELLS
+
+
+=ROLLICKING RHYMES FOR YOUNGSTERS=
+
+    Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. 12mo, cloth, net $1.00.
+
+    Mr. Wells is well known already as a versatile author. Now he
+    comes to the front as a brilliant verse-maker for young folk. Some
+    of these rhymes have already won their way through the foremost
+    magazines, but others here see the light for the first time. The
+    inimitable juvenile illustrator Mr. Bridgman, has here done some
+    of his best work. Poet and Artist have thus combined to make this
+    the most acceptable volume of children's poems since "A Child's
+    Garden of Verses."
+
+=THE CHEER BOOK=
+
+    A Store of Daily Optimism. "_The best year book is a cheer book._"
+    A quotation, verse or prose from different authors, for each day
+    of the year, 12mo, cloth, net $1.00.
+
+=SUNDAY SCHOOL SUCCESS=
+
+    12mo, cloth, gilt top, $1.25.
+
+=THREE YEARS WITH THE CHILDREN=
+
+    12mo, cloth, $1.25.
+
+    "The talk abounds in the happiest kind of illustrations from the
+    things of everyday life, which children will readily understand,
+    applied with aptness and skill."--_Worcester Spy._
+
+=A BUSINESS MAN'S RELIGION=
+
+    16mo, cloth, 50c.
+
+=WHEN THOU HAST SHUT THY DOOR=
+
+    Morning and Evening Meditations for a Month. _3d edition._ Long
+    16mo, cloth, 50c.
+
+=BUSINESS=
+
+    A Plain Talk with Men and Women who Work. 12mo, decorated; boards,
+    30c.
+
+=SOCIAL EVENINGS=
+
+    A Collection of Entertainments. 16mo, cloth, net 35c.
+
+=NUTSHELL MUSINGS=
+
+    Counsels for the Quiet Hour. 18mo, cloth, 25c.
+
+
+  FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
+  New York      Chicago      Toronto
+
+
+
+
+For Work Among Children
+
+
+    =Practical Primary Plans.= For Sabbath School Teachers. By Israel
+    P. Black. Illustrated with diagrams. 16mo, cloth, $1.00.
+
+    =Object Lessons for Junior Work.= Practical Suggestions, Object
+    Lessons, and Picture Stories. By Ella N. Wood, 16mo, cloth, with
+    designs and illustrations, 50 cents.
+
+    =The Children's Prayer.= By Rev. James Wells, D.D. Addresses to
+    the Young on the Lord's Prayer. 16mo, cloth, 75 cents.
+
+    =Bible Stories Without Names.= By Rev. Harry Smith, M.A. With
+    questions at the end of each chapter and the answers in a separate
+    booklet. 16mo, cloth, 75 cents.
+
+    =Object Lessons for Children=; or, Hooks and Eyes, Truth Linked to
+    Sight. Illustrated. By Rev. C. H. Tyndall, Ph.D., A.M. _2d
+    edition._ 12mo, cloth, $1.25.
+
+    =Attractive Truths in Lesson and Story.= By Mrs. A. M. Scudder.
+    Introduction by Rev. F. E. Clark, D.D. _3d thousand._ 8vo, cloth,
+    $1.25.
+
+    =Pictured Truth.= A Handbook of Blackboard and Object Teaching. By
+    Rev. R. F. Y. Pierce. Introduction by R. H. Conwell, D.D. With
+    illustrations by the author. _3d thousand._ 12mo, cloth, $1.25.
+
+    =Children's Meetings, and How to Conduct Them.= By Lucy J. Rider
+    and Nellie M. Carman. Introduction by Bishop J. H. Vincent. Cloth,
+    illustrated, _net_, $1.00; paper covers, _net_, 50 cents.
+
+    =Talks to Children.= By Rev. T. T. Eaton, D.D., with introduction
+    by Rev. John A. Broadus, D.D., LL.D., 16mo, cloth, $1.00.
+
+    =Conversion of Children.= By Rev. E. P. Hammond. A practical
+    volume, replete with incident and illustration. Suggestive,
+    important, and timely. Cloth, 75 cents. paper cover, 30 cents.
+
+    =Gospel Pictures and Story Sermons for Children.= By Major D. W.
+    Whittle. Profusely illustrated. _47th thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 30
+    cents, net; paper, 15 cents.
+
+    =Seed for Spring-time Sowing.= A Wall Roll for the use of Primary,
+    Sabbath School and Kindergarten Teachers. Compiled by Mrs. Robert
+    Pratt. 75 cents.
+
+  Fleming H. Revell Company
+  NEW YORK: 158 Fifth Avenue CHICAGO: 63 Washington Street
+  TORONTO: 27 Richmond Street, W.
+
+
+
+
+The Home and Children
+
+
+    =Child Culture in the Home.= By Martha B. Mosher. 12mo, cloth,
+    $1.00.
+
+    "Rarely has so helpful a book on the moral education of children
+    appeared. The emotions, the senses, the will, as well as the
+    training of the habits of the child and methods of training, are all
+    considered."--_The Outlook._
+
+    "It is written in a clear, straightforward manner, is rich in
+    suggestions and illustrations, and is thoroughly wholesome in
+    counsel."--_Cumberland Presbyterian._
+
+    =Studies in Home and Child-Life.= By Mrs. S. M. I. Henry. _Eighth
+    thousand_, 12mo, cloth, $1.00.
+
+    "It is clear, concise and vigorous throughout, and has the charm of
+    Mother love and God love from first to last. We cannot conceive of a
+    more helpful manual than this would be in the hands of young
+    parents, and indeed of all who have to do with children."--_The
+    Union Signal._
+
+    "The book is one we can heartily commend to every father and mother
+    to read and re-read, and ponder over and read again."--_The
+    Observer._
+
+    =Child Culture; or, The Science of Motherhood.= By Mrs. Hannah
+    Whitall Smith. _3d edition_, 16mo, decorated boards, 30 cents.
+
+    "We have read nothing from the pen of this gifted woman which we
+    have more enjoyed than this wisely-written booklet, as spiritual as
+    it is practical, and as full of common sense as of exalted
+    sentiment. Any mother having prayerfully read this heart message of
+    a true woman will be a better mother."--_Cumberland Presbyterian._
+
+    =The Children for Christ.= By Rev. Andrew Murray, D.D. Thoughts for
+    Christian Parents on the Consecration of the Home Life. 12mo, cloth,
+    $1.00.
+
+    "The author seems to have had a Divine vocation in writing this
+    book, and thousands of parents ought to derive blessings from it for
+    their children."--_The Evangelist._
+
+    =Home Duties.= Practical Talks on the Amenities of the Home. By Rev.
+    R. T. Cross. 12mo, paper, 15 cents; cloth, 30 cents, net.
+
+    CONTENTS: Duties of Husbands. Duties of Wives. Duties of Parents.
+    Duties of Children. Duties of Brothers and Sisters. The Duty of
+    Family Worship. The Method of Family Worship. A Home for Every
+    Family and How to Get It.
+
+    "A model of what can be done in so brief a space."--_The
+    Independent._
+
+  Fleming H. Revell Company
+  NEW YORK: 158 Fifth Avenue CHICAGO: 63 Washington Street
+  TORONTO: 154 Yonge Street
+
+
+
+
+TALES OF THE NORTH BY
+
+EGERTON R. YOUNG
+
+
+=My Dogs in the Northland.=
+
+    Profusely illustrated. 12mo, cloth, $1.25 net. Experiences with
+    Eskimo and St. Bernard dogs, covering years of sledge travel in
+    the frozen wilds of British America. An exciting story in which
+    the marvels of dog instinct, intelligence and strength play the
+    chief part. Mr. Young proves in a most entertaining and
+    instructive way that each dog, just as much as a person, has his
+    own individual character, and must be dealt with accordingly.
+    Terrible perils, wonderful escapes and sudden emergencies mix with
+    the most comical situations.
+
+=On the Indian Trail.=
+
+    Stories of Missionary Experiences among the Cree and the Saulteaux
+    Indians. Stories of Mission. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.
+
+    "He has a happy and often amusingly quaint way of describing the
+    incidents and surroundings of frontier life. His cheerful, almost
+    merry, temper, while recounting the devices resorted to in
+    enduring or mastering privations and dangers are stimulating and
+    instructive."--_The Watchman._
+
+=The Apostle of the North, James Evans.=
+
+    With twenty illustrations by J. E. Laughlin. 12mo, cloth, $1.25.
+
+    "A fresh theme is presented here--the life of a missionary in
+    Upper Canada, and the northward regions as far as Athabasca Lake
+    and even beyond. Young people, usually not attracted to missionary
+    literature, will be interested in the book. It is well
+    illustrated."--_The Outlook._
+
+  FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
+  NEW YORK      CHICAGO      TORONTO
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+
+Page 37 - "bioggraphy" changed to "biography". (... low plane of mere
+facts, history, biography, when it should be ...)
+
+Page 112 - Diacritical marks left in "cooperate" and "zoology" left as
+printed.
+
+Page 271 - "degress" changed to "degrees". (... Christ's university,
+the highest of all degrees, Masters of ...)
+
+"every-day" and "everyday", "new-comers" and "newcomers", "note-book"
+and "notebook", "practise" and "practice" are left as printed.
+
+Reformatted the advertisements for plain text.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sunday-School Success, by Amos R. Wells
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUNDAY-SCHOOL SUCCESS ***
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sunday-School Success, by Amos R. Wells
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Sunday-School Success
+       A Book of Practical Methods for Sunday-School Teachers and Officers
+
+Author: Amos R. Wells
+
+Release Date: December 19, 2011 [EBook #38346]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUNDAY-SCHOOL SUCCESS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charlene Taylor, Douglas L Alley, III and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+   <a name="cover.jpg" id="cover.jpg"></a>
+   <img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Sunday-School Success Cover" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<h1>Sunday-School Success</h1>
+
+<h2>A Book of Practical Methods<br />
+  for Sunday-School Teachers<br />
+  and Officers</h2>
+
+<h3>By</h3>
+
+<h2>Amos R. Wells</h2>
+<h4>Author of "Business," "When Thou Hast Shut Thy
+  Door," "Social Evenings," etc.</h4>
+
+<div class="figcenter" >
+   <a name="illus-p003.jpg" id="illus-p003.jpg"></a>
+   <img src="images/illus-p003.jpg" alt="Publisher's Mark" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<h5>  <span class="smcap">New York</span>      <span class="smcap">Chicago</span>      <span class="smcap">Toronto</span>,<br />
+  Fleming H. Revell Company<br />
+  Publishers of Evangelical Literature
+</h5>
+
+
+
+
+<h4>  Copyright, 1897, by<br />
+  <span class="smcap">Fleming H. Revell Company</span></h4>
+
+<h4>  THE NEW YORK TYPE-SETTING COMPANY</h4>
+
+<h4>  THE CAXTON PRESS
+</h4><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Preface" id="Preface"></a>Preface</h2>
+
+
+<p>In these pages I have described the methods of
+the most successful teachers and Sunday-schools I
+have known. While a large part of the book is the
+direct fruit of my own experience in Sabbath and
+secular schools, it sets forth, as every teacher will
+understand, what I have learned from my failures
+rather than from my successes.</p>
+
+<p>Though the volume has something to say on all
+the great Sunday-school problems, it does not pretend
+to be a complete manual; indeed, who could prepare
+one on so stupendous a theme? If it justifies its appearance
+among the admirable treatises already published
+for Sunday-school workers, it will be because
+it presents with frankness the methods found helpful
+by an average teacher, who never had charge of a
+large school or a large class, but in district school,
+small college, and small Sunday-school has struggled
+with the practical problems of a teacher, and in some
+of them at least, like Sentimental Tommy, has "found
+a way."</p>
+
+<p>A large number of these chapters have appeared<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>
+in the "Sunday-school Times," and others in the
+"Sunday-school Journal" of the Methodists, the
+"Pilgrim Teacher" of the Congregationalists, the
+"Westminster Teacher" of the Presbyterians, the
+"Baptist Teacher," and the "Golden Rule." I am
+grateful to these periodicals for permission to include
+this material in my book.</p>
+
+
+<p class="smcapsig">Amos R. Wells.</p>
+<p class="sig"><span class="smcap">Boston</span>, September, 1897.<br /></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a>Contents</h2>
+
+<table class="toc" summary="Contents">
+    <tbody>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">I. The Teacher's Crown</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">II. Who Should Teach in the Sunday-School?</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">III. Preparing the Lesson</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">IV. Something about Teachers' Meetings</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">V. A Teacher with a Schedule</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">VI. My Lesson Chart</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">VII. The Value of a Monotessaron</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">VIII. Getting Attention</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">IX. Keeping Attention</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">X. The Importance of Questioning</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XI. A Good Question</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XII. Inspiring Questions </span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XIII. Trigger-Teaching</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XIV. Galvanic Teaching</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XV. Serial Teaching</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XVI. Teaching the Psalms</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XVII. Those Temperance and Missionary Lessons</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XVIII. Topical Lessons</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XIX. Introducing Thoughts</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XX. Illustrations and Applications</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> <span class="smcap">XXI. Righteous Padding</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXII. The Sunday-School and the Newspaper</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXIII. On Taking Things for Granted</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXIV. Utilizing the Late Scholar</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXV. Side-Tracking the Teacher</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXVI. The Problem of the Visitor</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXVII. "Under Petticoat Government"</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXVIII. The Teacher's Three Graces</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXIX. Something to Belong to</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXX. Through Eye-Gate</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXXI. Foundation Work</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXXII. The Trial Balance</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXXIII. At the Helm</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXXIV. The Superintendent's Chance</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXXV. The Sunday-School and the Weather</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXXVI. A Profitable Picnic</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_217">217</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXXVII. A Singing Sunday-School</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXXVIII. A Praying Sunday-School</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XXXIX. S. S. and C. E.</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_233">233</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XL. Teachers in 8vo</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_241">241</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XLI. Around the Council Fire</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_256">256</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XLII. The Incorporation of Ideas</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XLIII. From a Superintendent's Notebook</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td class="c2"> <span class="smcap">XLIV. From a Teacher's Notebook</span></td>
+            <td class="c3"><a href="#Page_287">287</a></td>
+        </tr>
+    </tbody>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<h2><a name="Sunday-School_Success" id="Sunday-School_Success"></a>Sunday-School Success</h2>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_I" id="Chapter_I"></a>Chapter I</h2>
+
+<h2>The Teacher's Crown</h2>
+
+
+<p>In one of those dreams which are truer than waking
+there passed before me a long line of the Sunday-school
+teachers I have known. One after the
+other they appeared&mdash;those that had taught my
+childish lips to repeat the Bible words, those that had
+led my youth into the opening glories of the International
+Lessons, those that had put to rest the rising
+doubts of the young man and clinched his faith to
+the Rock of ages; those, also, of less blessed memory,
+whom I knew in early or later years, that had
+done none of these things, but other good things not
+so good.</p>
+
+<p>And I noted in astonishment, as each came into
+view, that all were decked with diverse crowns. I
+had not looked long before I saw that these crowns
+were not arbitrary and artificial, but sprung from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>
+very substance of the character of each. They had
+all received their reward, but according to their deeds.</p>
+
+<p>First came a teacher whom I remembered merely
+as an eloquent talker. His words were deftly chosen,
+his sentences smoothly formed. His teaching was a
+charming harangue, bright with metaphor, flashing
+with sparkling parables. I loved to listen to him.
+I was as proud of him as he was of himself. To be
+sure, the only good thing he ever did for me was to
+inspire in me the vain desire to become an equally
+eloquent talker, but yet I was sorry he had not received
+a nicer crown. It looked very beautiful, as
+if it were thickly studded with lovely pearls richly
+iridescent in the sun; but when he came near I saw
+that each pearl was a little bubble swollen from a
+reservoir within. These bubbles were bursting all
+over the crown, fresh ones ever taking their place.
+It was a very pretty sight, yet a very trivial crown,
+and I was sorry for him.</p>
+
+<p>There were several worthy teachers in the line
+whom I remembered as careful instructors in Bible
+history. They had every date at tongue's end, knew
+the order of the books and their contents, the relationships
+of the prominent characters to each other,
+all details of place and customs. They could repeat
+Bible verses by the yard, and gave prizes for such
+feats of unreasoning memory. They were mechanical,
+but thorough and useful. They had taught me how
+to dig into the Bible and study it as hard as I would
+study calculus. I was grateful to them for this,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>
+though they did no more, and so was rather sorry to
+observe their frail crowns. They were all of paper,
+neatly folded and plaited, and as I came nearer I saw
+that each crown was made up of leaves of the Bible.</p>
+
+<p>I saw there also two or three teachers who had
+always taught with a sad countenance, teaching, not
+because they loved to teach, but because it was their
+duty to. "These," I thought, "will be joyful, now
+that their distasteful task is over and their reward has
+come"; but when I could see their faces clearly they
+looked mournful as ever. Their crowns were ebon
+black, pointed with little urns and lined with crape,
+and they often shifted them, pressing their hands
+gloomily to their brows, as if the crowns were very
+ill fitting and uncomfortable. They wore them with
+a martyr's air.</p>
+
+<p>There were several teachers whom I remembered
+with gratitude because they had been so careful, in
+teaching, to emphasize always the fundamental doctrines
+of Christianity. These doctrines were the warp
+and woof of the solid fabric of their lessons. Over
+and over, in the same set phrases, they pressed those
+great truths, until, strive as one would, one could
+never forget them. But they never taught me the
+relation between these blessed doctrines and my own
+life. For years the formulas they had taught me remained
+for me mere words. And so I was not at
+all surprised to find their symbolic crowns solid and
+rich, but not attractive, for they were thickly set with
+jewels in the rough. Here and there, from beneath<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
+the incrusting stone, some magnificent gem would
+flash out, but the beauty and splendor of most of
+them were hidden.</p>
+
+<p>In my fantastic dream I saw another, who had
+been a good teacher and a very poor one by turns.
+His piety and zeal were subject to great fluctuations,
+and a Sunday's teaching from him, carefully thought
+out, full of wise helpfulness, would be followed by a
+fortnight or more of questions read out of a question-book,
+lifeless and mechanical. I was prepared,
+therefore, to understand the meaning of his crown,
+which bore many beautiful gems, but these gems
+gave intermittent light, flashing out for a moment
+with most brilliant hues, then suddenly growing dull
+and dark.</p>
+
+<p>One alone of all I saw in my strange dream wore
+a looking-glass crown. He had done his Sunday-school
+teaching, I had always feared, for the praise
+of men, to be seen of them. His attitude, his pompous
+words and gestures, irresistibly suggested to
+me always the posturing of an actor before a looking-glass.
+And so his crown was all a mirror&mdash;clear,
+bright, beautiful, but mirroring a looking-glass soul.</p>
+
+<p>And now, closing the long procession, who are
+these I see? A thrice-blessed band, to me ever
+sacred. There is the cheery little matron whose brisk
+kindliness gave charm to my introduction into Sunday-school
+life. There is the quiet and low-voiced
+lady whose gentle teachings carried me many a step
+toward my Saviour. There is the thoughtful and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>
+saintly woman whose prayers for the school-boy went
+up, I know, night and morning; whose urgings were
+so earnest, brave, and wise. And there is the noble-hearted
+man, familiar with a young collegian's perplexities,
+sympathetic as a woman, trustful as a hero,
+strong and uplifting in word and friendly deed. I
+see them all, and from their glorified heads a wonder
+shining, a crown of light, beautiful as the love-gleam
+from a mother's eye. And every one of the crowding
+star-points of those crowns is for a life won to
+the happy service of the Master.</p>
+
+<p>As I gazed with tear-dimmed eyes at the dear
+vision, an angel stood at my side and asked me,
+"What are all these thou hast seen?" "Forms," I
+answered, "of Christ's teachers I have met; of my
+own teachers, these last, all crowned as they have
+taught." "Yes," answered the angel, "but you have
+seen more than that. You have seen among them
+the crown you yourself will wear when your teaching
+days are over. Which shall it be?"</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_II" id="Chapter_II"></a>Chapter II</h2>
+
+<h2>Who Should Teach in the Sunday-School?</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Master, who loves little children, stood in the
+Sunday-school door and cried to all that came up,
+"Who will teach my children about me?" And
+they all with one consent began to make excuse.</p>
+
+<p>The preacher passing by said with conviction, "I
+have my sermons to preach, and Sunday-school work
+distracts my thought from them." Then answered
+the Master: "Crucify your pride in words, and seek
+the glory of deeds. This is your true sermon, to
+bring me close to human hearts. Thus did I most
+gladly preach, when on earth, to small classes and not
+to throngs. Thus should my ministers most gladly
+preach, face to face, one to half a dozen. You have
+many pulpits more effective than the elegantly furnished
+one to which you mount by three steps. They
+are the bedside, the wayside, the prayer-meeting
+table, the Sunday-school chair. Lovest thou me?
+Feed my lambs."</p>
+
+<p>The teacher, when invited, shook his head with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>
+sigh. "I teach all the week, and I am so tired!
+Why should I not rest on Sunday?" Then answered
+the Master: "The truest rest is a little change in
+work. Your Sunday-school and day-school will invigorate
+each other. It is I who have given you the
+sweet power of leading young lives. Should you not
+use it in leading them to me? Have you not seen
+how teaching your scholars in holy things the first day
+of the week draws them closer to you in your secular
+teaching of the other days? Do you not rejoice in
+the opportunity this work gives you to get an insight
+into your scholars' characters and mold them more
+directly than by the roundabout route of grammar
+and geography? Indeed, if I excuse any from my
+Sunday-school, you, to whom I have intrusted in
+especial measure the teaching gift, must not be
+the one."</p>
+
+<p>The business man rejected the proposal with emphasis,
+saying: "As a matter of course, Sunday-school
+teaching is quite out of my line. My days are kept
+in close contact with dull matter, with cloth and coal
+and wood and iron. I have no time for books, except
+day-books and ledgers. My mechanical, routine
+business quite unfits me for religious teaching." To
+that the Master replied, smiling kindly: "I was a
+carpenter, my son, but holy thoughts kept pace with
+my plane, and firm conclusions were clinched with
+my hammer. And at evening, work done, I found
+time for prayer and meditation and calling young
+children about me to talk with them. Your contact<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>
+with men and things makes you one of the most
+valuable of Sunday-school teachers. What parables
+are acted all around you, in nature, in your work, in
+the lives of your helpers! What illustrations lie
+heaped up in your business experience, ready to your
+hand! Most of these young people in my Sunday-school
+will choose some business like yours. How
+happy for them, then, if they could have you to tell
+them beforehand of its perils, strengthen them for its
+difficulties, point them the road to success and true
+happiness! No; I can better miss preacher and
+teacher from my Sunday-school than you men of
+affairs."</p>
+
+<p>Then came the care-worn housewife. "Master,"
+said she, "I am perplexed and troubled about many
+things. My days, and often my nights, are crowded
+with a woman's myriad unheralded tasks. The
+children are ever with me. Why need I go to Sunday-school
+to teach them? Why not each home the
+mother's Sunday-school?" "Why not each home
+the prayer-meeting?" the Master asked her. "There
+come from numbers an interest, a help and inspiration,
+which you cannot get in the holiest family circle,
+and which you dare not miss. And what of the little
+ones whose mothers are less faithful than you? Have
+you no love to spare for them? I have implanted in
+the very nature of you mothers my most earnest call
+to Sunday-school teaching. What is it? The greatest
+love of little children."</p>
+
+<p>And then came up two young people, a youth and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
+a maiden, and said to the Master: "We are too
+young. We have had as yet no wonderful experience.
+We know nothing of death, of disease, of great sorrows,
+of heavy responsibilities. We are not wise in
+these high matters. We do not understand theology.
+We cannot teach." "Why," answered the Master,
+"neither do my little ones in the Sunday-school want
+to know about death or disease or heavy responsibilities.
+I would not have them taught what you
+think of as theology. But you are wiser than they.
+You see beyond their little worries and mysteries.
+Help them to your own measure of grace and strength,
+and as you teach and they grow, will not you grow,
+too, for further teaching ever? No, my young man
+and maid, with your ardent and fresh-hearted zeal;
+you can come very close to my little children, and I
+cannot spare you from my Sunday-school."</p>
+
+<p>Long stood the Master there by the door of the
+Sunday-school, and many were those whom he called
+to the work, and many excuses were made. One
+pleaded ignorance. "But," gently questioned the
+Master, "have you a mind, to learn?" One urged
+timidity. "But I will be with you," said the Master.
+"There are others who can do it better," insisted one.
+"Will you not get them to do it, then?" begged the
+Master. "And if they will not do it, then you will
+be the best, and cannot refuse."</p>
+
+<p>It was not long before a strong little group stood
+by the Master's side, ready for service, and as the
+regular teachers of the school came up, the Lord of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+whom they taught received them lovingly, or sadly
+turned them back. As hard-faced, unsympathetic
+Mr. Grim would enter&mdash;he whom all the children fear
+and elders do not love; he to whom a boy is only the
+necessary inconvenient early stage of a man, of promise
+only as he can commit to memory Bible verses&mdash;when
+he would enter the Master turned him back.
+"You must not teach my children," said the blessed
+One, "until you become as a little child."</p>
+
+<p>He barred out also Mr. Brainy, whose ideal recitation
+is an argument, and whose scholars are far more
+familiar with points of skeptical controversy than
+with the Bible. He would not admit Miss Tangent,
+whose sole preparation for the lesson is the culling
+from her book of extracts of choice sentiments, pretty
+fables, and striking bits of verse of mysterious relevancy,
+which she recites for her scholars' admiration,
+and makes them learn. He turned back also Mrs.
+Scold, with her sharp tongue and cold eyes. He
+rejected Mrs. Job, who taught only from a sense of
+duty, and only with a long face.</p>
+
+<p>But ah, the warm smile, the eager greeting, with
+which the Master welcomed the school's workers!
+There was Jack Manly, who had not waited for the
+desire to begin teaching, but had seen the need and
+filled it, not knowing how soon and largely the love
+for the work would come and grow. There was Lucy
+Gentle, who did not feel able to teach, yet considered,
+not her ability, but the need, knowing that duty is
+measured rather by the seeing eye than by the feeble<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>
+hand. There was Mrs. Patient, who had hesitated
+to begin the work because of her ignorance of the
+Bible, but who by quiet and faithful study for her
+class had become a wise and thorough scholar of the
+Word. There was old Squire Greatheart, who taught
+a group of full-grown men and women whom he had
+gathered into a class when they were boys and
+girls, and had led ever since in hard study of God's
+Book.</p>
+
+<p>There were many others whom the Master received,
+of many varied talents, for the Sunday-school can
+use a wide range of powers; but all were alike in
+consciousness of their weakness compared with the
+greatness of their task, in willingness to resign their
+work to any better able who could be got to take it,
+in gladness to go on with it if their betters would not
+assume it, relying for success on the God of it. Their
+credentials were that they saw the need of the work,
+that they saw their own unfitness to do it, that they
+knew their fitness and power were assured when God
+assigned the task.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the Master chose his teachers and blessed
+them; and though there was no genius there, no mighty
+mind, no trained skill, but only humble readiness to
+serve, he poured out on them the fullness of his love
+and power, and they left the Sunday-school room
+ever bearing precious sheaves.</p>
+
+<p>That is the end of my parable. Oh that all might
+know, as we, dear fellow-teachers, know it, the joy of
+our Sunday-school ministry! Then superintendents<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+would have no search to find teachers, no trouble to
+keep them. Then to the enlarging band of teachers
+would come a constantly enlarging band of scholars,
+and all together would soon bring the multitudes of
+the world into the host of the redeemed.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_III" id="Chapter_III"></a>Chapter III</h2>
+
+<h2>Preparing the Lesson</h2>
+
+
+<p>Some teachers think that preparing the lesson is
+merely the loading of a cannon with powder, that it
+may go off with a big bang in the presence of admiring
+scholars. And the more powder, the bigger
+bang. So they load up with scintillating similes, and
+pretty parables, and striking stories.</p>
+
+<p>Other teachers have set up some historical or
+theological or ethical target-board off at a distance
+from their class, and load their cannon with ball, that
+their scholars may see how accurate is their aim and
+how fairly they can hit the bull's-eye. So they prepare
+a mass of facts and figures, arguments and evidences.</p>
+
+<p>But the wise teacher rejects <i>in toto</i> the cannon notion.
+He sees in each lesson a ledge of that grand
+mountain of life&mdash;of Christ-serving, strong life&mdash;up
+to which he must lead his little band, on which he
+must plant their feet so firmly that they may not slip
+back during the six days' interval, but may be ready
+for the next fair terrace, and the next.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So the wise teacher, in preparing the lesson, knows
+that he must first reach that ledge himself; must repeat
+the journey over and over until he has learned
+the easiest way for little feet; must make ladders with
+rounds close together; must spread sand on slippery
+places and stretch ropes along the edge of the cliff.
+He, too, lays in supplies of stories and pretty parables,
+not, however, in the form of powder, to make a show,
+but (if this is not too severe a twist of the simile) as
+dainty food to keep the young travelers fresh and
+hearty. He, too, has facts and figures and arguments
+and evidences, not, however, as cannon-balls, but in
+the shape of iron bridges and railings and ropes, that
+the way may be solid and safe.</p>
+
+<p>There are some teachers that do not study at all.
+It is as if a will-o'-the-wisp should undertake to guide
+one on an important journey. Those teachers are
+going they know not whither, over they know not
+what road, for what purpose they have not the slightest
+idea, and land always in a bog.</p>
+
+<p>Emphatically, the teacher that is not always climbing
+himself will leave his class on a very dead level
+indeed. He should be reaching down and pulling
+them up, but he is soon compelled to stand where
+they are and push, and ends with believing his "level
+best" to lie along the smooth road of the easy-going
+valley.</p>
+
+<p>The teacher who ceases to grow ceases to teach.
+That is why a Sunday-school lesson cannot be
+crammed. That is why preparation for it must extend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>
+all through the week. Growth cannot be ordered
+offhand. It comes from Father Time's shop, and
+he is a deliberate workman. You will lose your hold
+on your class if each Sunday hour does not begin
+with you a little above them, and end with them at
+your level. This advance cannot be won Saturday
+night, or during the space between the first and second
+bells for Sunday-school. Such a spasmodic leap
+ahead will leave you too much out of breath even to
+tell them to come on.</p>
+
+<p>Dropping metaphor, of which we may have had
+too much, there are several substantial reasons why
+the Sunday-school preparation should extend over the
+seven days of the week. Thus only can you utilize
+in the Master's work odd bits of time, your Bible on
+the bureau while you dress, in your hands on the
+street-cars or while you wait for the meat to be cooked.
+There are many Bible verses which should be carefully
+committed to memory in connection with each lesson,
+as the teacher's best reliance for commentary and inspiration.
+These verses should be running through
+our heads as we run on all our six-day tasks, and
+should sing themselves to all our labor-tunes. But
+chiefly, it is only in this way that we can accumulate
+hints, and grow into the truths of the lesson by experience.
+With the lesson theme for a nucleus, it is
+astounding to see what a wealth of illustration, of
+wise and helpful comment, each day's living thrusts
+upon us. Every event is a picture of some truth which
+needs only a sensitive plate to be photographed forever.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
+That sensitive plate is a mind which is studying that
+particular truth.</p>
+
+<p>How much time do you spend in studying your
+Sunday-school lesson? You see that no true teacher
+can answer that question, any more than the poet can
+tell how long he is in writing his poem. This is the
+inspirational part of the teacher's work, and not the
+mechanical part, and his brooding will have issue of
+life just in proportion as the Holy Spirit dwells in his
+heart. But along with this lofty work must go lower
+processes, of which it is far easier to speak. I mean
+those lower processes which alone we are likely to call
+"studying." Permit me to lay down a programme
+for the study of a Sunday-school lesson.</p>
+
+<p>To begin with, let it be always with pencil in hand.
+You have seen iron filings scattered in rough confusion
+over a sheet of glass. And then, when the magnet
+was placed beneath, you have seen those ugly bits
+of metal dance into the daintiest designs, fairy curves
+and most symmetrical figures. Such a delightful
+magnet is a pencil or a pen for all the disordered
+thoughts and fancies of our brains. Next to the Bible,
+the Sunday-school teacher's inseparable companion
+should be a lead-pencil.</p>
+
+<p>What book is nearest you while you study your
+lesson? Teachers may be classified finally by their
+answers to that question. Is it the commentary,
+the atlas, the Bible dictionary, the concordance, the
+question-book, or the Bible? If the commentary,
+your comments will fall fruitless to the ground. If<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>
+the atlas, your class will wander nowhither. If the
+Bible dictionary, your diction will have no issue in
+deed. If the concordance, your class will know little
+from you of that concord which passes understanding.
+If the question-book, the value of all your study is
+at least questionable. No; let me emphasize this
+statement: <i>Not a single lesson help should be touched
+until everything possible to be learned about the lesson
+from the Bible directly has been learned</i>.</p>
+
+<p>For this you will need two Bibles at least, one to
+be kept open at the lesson, one to turn back and forth
+in pursuit of references and information. The first
+must be a King James reference Bible; the second, the
+noble translation of Victoria's reign. Thus furnished,
+read the lesson. As you read, examine your mind.
+What questions assail it? Those moments are full
+of matter. Those questions are the clues to the lesson
+labyrinth. Those perplexities constitute your programme.
+"I wonder where this place is?" you will
+say to yourself. "Who was this man, and what was
+his past history, that he did this deed? What does
+this odd phrase mean? Is that sentiment a just one?
+Is that act a model for us modern folk?"</p>
+
+<p>As these difficulties come up in your slow and
+thoughtful reading, jot them down, and the resultant
+half-sheet of scribbling means half the work accomplished.
+But hold! Did you read through a child's
+eye as well as your own? Did you read in the plural
+number? If not, you must read the lesson once more,
+with a poet's imagination noting this time the difficulties<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+which you strode easily over, but which would
+soon trip up little feet. When you write down such
+points on your paper, underscore them. And underscore
+them again. A vast deal of preparation for
+teaching is fruitless because it is made in the singular
+number.</p>
+
+<p>The next stage in our lesson study will be to answer
+our questions. Points in regard to antecedents and
+motives will be answered by the chapters intervening
+between the last lesson and this. Those should next
+be read. Many difficulties concerning customs and
+laws will be cleared up by parallel passages and the
+references of your reference Bible. Those same references
+will collate for you helpful utterances on the
+ethical problems of the passage. Comparatively few
+people know, by the way, how nearly a reference Bible
+allows one to dispense with the Bible dictionary, Bible
+index, concordance, and commentary. I am continually
+astonished to see how few are the questions
+which may be asked about a passage that the Bible
+itself does not answer if closely scrutinized.</p>
+
+<p>"But all this is a waste of time," you object. "In
+the lesson helps all of these points are stated and
+discussed, fully, methodically, concisely. Others
+have done this work for me, anticipating all my difficulties.
+Why need I repeat their labor?" Surely
+not merely to be original. There's too much original
+work crying to be done to waste a moment in duplicating
+unnecessarily work already done for us. But
+the Bible study cannot be done for you. It must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>
+end in familiarity with the Bible, in appreciation of
+it, in a wide-awake understanding of the problems it
+presents, to be obtained in no way except by original
+work. If difficulties are solved before we have felt
+them to be difficulties, if customs and phrases are explained
+before we have discovered the need of an explanation,
+and places located before we fall to groping
+after them, it is the old story of "light won, light
+lost." And so I wish to repeat that the one proper
+commencement of study of a Bible lesson is the Bible,
+and the Bible, and the Bible; once to note our own
+questions, once to imagine our scholars' questions,
+and once, in large measure, here, there, and everywhere,
+concordance, index, references, and atlas at
+our elbow, to answer, if it may be, from the Book itself
+all the questions it has raised.</p>
+
+<p>And when this is done, even if every question has
+been answered, open arms to the commentaries and
+the lesson helps, the wisest and richest you can find,
+and as many as you have time for. Why? Because
+twenty heads are better than one; because the Hebrew
+and Greek and travel and debate and experience and
+insight and spirituality of our best thinkers will suggest
+new points of view, add a world of illustration,
+may even upset some of your conclusions. Stand
+sturdily, however, in the presence of these learned
+doctors. You will be tempted to throw away your
+own honest results and adopt their wise and brilliant
+homilies. If you do, your class will laugh at you, or
+yawn. You will be giving them, not your life, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>
+your rhetoric. These helps are for inspiration, not
+respiration and circulation. They are for hints toward
+originality, not hindrances. They are useful in
+strengthening your own thought, vivifying your own
+feeling, confirming your own conclusions, opening
+new vistas for your own exploration, suggesting
+methods for your own practice.</p>
+
+<p>If these two lines of preparation have been faithfully
+carried out, you will by this time have accumulated
+a mass of material which will be confusing,
+and the third step is to reduce it to order. Long
+practice has convinced me of the utility of the plan
+of writing out questions. Whether these questions
+are used in the class or not, they clarify the subject
+marvelously, and the mere drill of writing them adds
+fifty per cent. to the teaching power of the instructor.
+When I began trying it, I was astonished to see how
+many thoughts which seemed to me quite promising
+and bright could not be approached by the interrogative
+mood. I wanted to lead up to this simile, that
+illustration, this theory, that pretty idea. I would
+soon find that my questions refused to lead up to them
+naturally. Why? Simply because these fancies answered
+no query likely to rise, solved no difficulty likely
+to suggest itself, and were mere adventitious decorations
+wherewith I had been accustomed to load my
+Sunday-school teaching, to show off.</p>
+
+<p>My attempt at formulating questions soon taught
+me, too, that I had been indulging in monologue. I
+found it unexpectedly difficult to frame a question&mdash;one,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+that is, which required the scholar to do some
+thinking to answer. I discovered that I had been in
+the habit of propounding "yes" and "no" queries,
+merely as excuses for five-minute orations.</p>
+
+<p>Then, too, when I began to put down in black and
+white just what I expected to put into that precious
+half-hour, I wondered what I had been doing with it
+hitherto. By my previous methods two or three little
+notions would keep me going through the whole thirty
+minutes; but ideas do shrink so when you put them
+on paper with a question-mark at the end! It is
+wonderful how many questions can be asked and
+answered in half an hour. I gained a new conception
+of the value of time, and of the teaching value
+of study hours.</p>
+
+<p>In writing out these questions, then, the first thing
+to be thought of is that consideration with which a
+good teacher will begin his lesson, but a poor teacher
+will close: "What is the main teaching of the lesson?"&mdash;as
+important, this "main teaching," as the compass
+to the sailor. What particular characteristic of God's
+noblemen is this lesson to strengthen in my scholars?
+Every teacher should know the power which is given
+by an ultimatum; by a decision, that is, as to the one
+thing which, no matter what else it wins or fails to
+win, that lesson must accomplish. Is it to make my
+boys and girls more truthful, more brave, more cheery,
+more trusting? Whatever the point be, about that
+shall cluster the questions, the illustrations, the arguments.
+Countries, customs, times, history, shall be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+only its framework. There must be other points, to
+be sure, but merely as side excursions, from which
+we return with greater zeal to this our main quest.
+Those subordinate points we next determine, and the
+order in which we shall treat them, and then sit down
+to write out our questions.</p>
+
+<p>Does all this seem too mechanical, this writing out
+questions, and determining point by point just what
+results you will seek, and in what order? It is businesslike;
+it is mechanical. Why are we so afraid of
+mechanism in bringing hearts to the great Mechanic,
+without whom was nothing made that has been made?
+A machine is merely a contrivance for applying power
+effectively, and the only question should be, Does this
+machinery make my aim more direct, widen and
+deepen the range of my efforts? It is a grand and
+godlike thing to be mechanical, but it is a pitifully
+weak thing to stop with being mechanical. Machinery
+accomplishes all the work that is being done anywhere,
+but it is machinery informed by the Holy Spirit.
+Our lesson preparation will be in harmony with all
+of God's preparing if it is orderly, painstaking, and
+definite, binding together, however, all its labored
+details with the sweet and creative spirit of prayer.
+Machinery touched by prayer is always the machinery
+in which, as in the old Greek plays, the god descends.
+Nothing is mechanical, everything is poetical
+and spiritual, that can be prayed over.</p>
+
+<p>But will not all this take time&mdash;all this ransacking
+of the Bible, original study, writing out of questions,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>
+and formulating plans? Of course it will. Time is
+what good things are made of&mdash;time and toil. It
+would be strange if the best of good things, the sanctification
+of lives, did not take time and toil. But
+let us remember two facts: one, that this work, being
+thorough work, need not be done twice. Seven years
+of such Bible study as I have indicated, and what
+a magnificently trained teacher you will be, ready,
+all ready, for the next International Lesson cycle, the
+next Sunday-school Sabbath of years! We Sunday-school
+teachers have enlisted for life. It is so much
+wiser, then, to study for life. And in the second place,
+familiarity with this thoroughgoing way of working
+makes it much easier and more rapid than at first.
+We no longer have to use the concordance, but memory
+supplies passages needed for illustration. Bible
+customs are soon learned. The peculiarities of Bible
+language are readily mastered. The poetic instinct
+which sees parables and applications grows with its
+use until they crowd upon you and must be critically
+culled. Nothing ends easy but that which begins
+hard.</p>
+
+<p>After all, however, these are the lower motives.
+What matters it even if the preparation for this blessed
+work remains hard to our last Sabbath? Let it be
+the best we know, and on that last Sabbath, if God
+has given us the knowledge that even one soul has
+been turned to the supreme happiness by all our toil,
+we shall deem it rich reward.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_IV" id="Chapter_IV"></a>Chapter IV</h2>
+
+<h2>Something about Teachers' Meetings</h2>
+
+
+<p>The teachers' meeting is not so much to get facts
+as to vivify and arrange them. The leader does not
+teach the lesson unless he teaches how to teach the
+lesson. This is a place for comparison.</p>
+
+<p>The meeting is perhaps less to make plans for the
+teachers than to stimulate them to make good plans
+for themselves. The gathering is not to listen to a
+lecture. You cannot make teachers, except by the
+Socratic method. A teachers' meeting is not a Bible
+class.</p>
+
+<p>The ideal teachers' meeting focuses on the work of
+each the helpfulness and skill of all. The leader,
+then, must put into the meeting every one's peculiar
+talent, and must draw out from the meeting for every
+one's peculiar need. And do not&mdash;as so many
+teachers' meetings do&mdash;let the teachers for the older
+classes run away with the evening.</p>
+
+<p>The right kind of teachers' meeting keeps itself up
+and keeps up the teachers. It "draws," because it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
+is attractive. The only way to build up an attendance
+is to build up the interest of the meeting to be attended.
+Nevertheless, attention to a few bits of detail
+will greatly assist in building up the attendance.
+Have a constitution, a full set of officers, and stated
+business meetings. Make the teachers feel that they
+"belong." Many a teachers' meeting goes to pieces
+for lack of something to tie to. Cultivate the feeling
+of responsibility. Insist on rotation in office. Give
+every teacher possible some regular duty, if only to
+pass the hymn-books. Once a year at least let the
+teachers' meeting have a field day. Get up its finest
+programme, with a special view to interesting the
+entire church in Sunday-school work. Then invite
+the entire church to hear it. Such an open meeting
+should come just before the beginning of a new line
+of study.</p>
+
+<p>The teachers' meeting, in many small places, will be
+a union meeting, of all the evangelical churches, and
+sometimes of neighboring churches in cities. What
+finer close to a year's harmonious work than for all
+the teachers of this union meeting to sit down to
+dinner together at a genuine love-feast!</p>
+
+<p>Attendance is in many cases increased by providing
+a variety of leaders. The brightest of men becomes
+wearisome ere long; his methods grow familiar.
+The heart of the teachers' meeting is the programme
+committee, ever pumping in fresh blood. Arrange
+with neighboring towns for the loan or exchange of
+helpful leaders.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There is a certain gain in a uniform programme
+for the hour, so that historical explanations, difficult
+exegesis, blackboard work, plans for the little folks,
+lesson analysis, and so on, may be taken up in a uniform
+order each evening. This will insure against
+the omission of any line of work.</p>
+
+<p>Let one teacher&mdash;a new one for each quarter&mdash;be
+appointed to present within ten or fifteen minutes an
+outline of work for the younger classes. If this
+teacher cannot draw, an assistant should be appointed
+who can. The remainder of the time, after these
+regular exercises are over, will be at the disposal of
+the leader of the evening, who will treat the lesson in
+general. Some such combination of permanent with
+changing leadership will be found exceedingly helpful
+and attractive.</p>
+
+<p>Who should lead the teachers' meeting? Teachers.
+Not exhorters; not conversational monopolists; not
+lecturers; not the most learned doctor of divinity who
+is not also a teacher. None of these, but teachers.
+The obscure layman, if he knows how to ask wise
+questions. No one for compliment, no one for custom,
+but every one for practical utility, for learning
+how to teach.</p>
+
+<p>See that the meeting begins on time, whether the
+leader is ready or not, and even if no audience is
+present. There will be an improvement next time.
+Promptness begets promptness. And let the meeting
+close on time, though in the midst of the most interesting
+discussion. All the better to leave a little interest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>
+as a nest-egg. Open with prayer. Some teachers'
+meetings also open with singing. One verse is better
+than two.</p>
+
+<p>It is useful to read the lesson text in the meeting,
+provided the reading is made to teach something.
+The manner should be varied. Let the leader request
+the teachers to take up the reading whenever he
+stops, and let him stop at eccentric places, to hold
+attention. Let the teachers read each verse in the
+King James Version, the leader responding with the
+Revision. In a passage where description or narrative
+alternates with speeches, let the leader read the
+speeches only, the audience inserting the narrative.
+Divide the lesson into sections that will analyze the
+thought or the story, and read these sections alternately,
+the leader prefacing each with a suggestive
+title. Divide the teachers into two portions,&mdash;right and
+left, front and back,&mdash;and let them read antiphonally.
+Let the leader read the entire lesson, injecting crisp
+comments carefully prepared beforehand, these comments
+being all in one line&mdash;exegetical, historical, explanatory
+of customs or of phrases. Let the leader
+prepare a set of questions, one to be answered by each
+verse, and to serve as an introduction to it as the
+teachers read. In studying the Gospels, whenever the
+lesson would be made clearer by it, read, instead of
+the regular text, the same passage as a monotessaron
+gives it, combined with all that is found in the other
+Gospels. Such ancient books as "The Teaching of
+the Twelve Apostles" or "The Apocryphal Gospel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
+of St. Peter" may often furnish a suggestive extract
+to add to this opening reading.</p>
+
+<p>The work of the teachers' meeting will largely be
+cut out for it at the outset, if the leader knows his business.
+Announce your programme, if you want help
+in carrying it out. What wonder the meeting runs
+off the leader's track, when the track is invisible to all
+but the leader! "First," says the experienced teacher,
+"we'll form a scheme for our guidance in study;
+second, we'll go over the story of the lesson in a preliminary
+survey; third, we'll take up the words,
+phrases, customs, and circumstances that need explanation;
+fourth, we'll discuss the best way of teaching
+the lesson to the younger scholars; finally, we'll
+bring out points for the older members of the school."</p>
+
+<p>Many meetings fray out at the end. Nothing is
+finished, or at best there are only a few hasty answers
+to the stereotyped question, "Now what do you consider
+the chief teachings of this lesson?" If it has
+not been made evident before the meeting was half
+through what are the chief teachings of that lesson, it
+surely will not be made evident by this hurried question,
+whose answers are punctuated by the donning
+of overcoats. If the leader began with a good outline,
+now is the time to clinch the discussions of the
+evening by repeating the outline, enlarged and modified
+as those discussions may have required. Then
+let the evening be closed reverently with a few words
+of earnest prayer.</p>
+
+<p>As to the general conduct of the meeting, probably<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
+the matter most necessary to be urged is the use of
+direct, brisk, suggestive questions, addressed, not to
+empty space, but to particular teachers. A question
+spread over a roomful is about as efficient as a bullet
+would be if fired flat enough to cover ten men. Don't
+be afraid to use proper names. Questions addressed
+to a crowd put a premium on forwardness. Call no
+one by name who is really too bashful to reply, but
+teachers ought to pass by that stage of timidity.</p>
+
+<p>A second common mistake is to run the teachers'
+meeting on the low plane of mere facts, history,<a name="biography" id="biography"></a> biography,
+when it should be all aglow with the spiritual
+life. If the teachers' meeting does not touch the
+teachers' consciences, hardly will those teachers touch
+the consciences of their scholars. Let the leader ask
+at every turn this question in effect: "What need of
+your scholars' lives will this truth fit?" And he
+should not rest satisfied until the truth is applied in
+turn to the diverse needs of three classes&mdash;the little
+folks, the young folks, and the old folks.</p>
+
+<p>The leader must put himself in the place of all kinds
+of teachers, and discern their needs. He must head
+off unseemly and prolonged discussions; he must have
+sprightliness to keep the meeting taut; he must have
+zeal to keep the meeting warm; he must have consecration
+to keep the meeting spiritual.</p>
+
+<p>But the best of leaders may be thwarted by poor
+following. To be led in a teachers' meeting is an art
+almost as difficult as to lead. A skilful follower in a
+teachers' meeting will answer questions briefly. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>
+will not commit the impertinence of giving ten times
+as much as is asked for from him, thus stealing from
+the meeting the sprightliness of nine questions and answers,
+even when all he says is to the point. He will
+make suggestive answers rather than exhaustive ones.
+His eager note-book and intelligent listening will be
+as encouraging as a continuous round of applause.
+In short, he will be anxious to do anything for the
+success of the meeting, even to the extent of sitting
+silent for fifteen minutes. And all leaders will bless
+him.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_V" id="Chapter_V"></a>Chapter V</h2>
+
+<h2>A Teacher with a Schedule</h2>
+
+
+<p>The weak point in the preparation most Sunday-school
+teachers make is their failure to prepare a
+schedule for their teaching&mdash;the order, that is, in
+which they shall take up and discuss the facts and
+lessons of the day's Scripture. Probably the majority
+of teachers begin with verse 1 and go stolidly through
+to verse 13, or as near it as the superintendent will
+permit them to get. This is teaching with a shovel,
+and not with a sieve.</p>
+
+<p>Wise teaching selects, marshals, brings to a focus.
+It excels haphazard teaching as far as a painting by
+Rembrandt excels a whitewashed fence. It does not
+permit ideas to neutralize each other. It has a purpose,
+clearly and determinedly held in view, and to
+this purpose it subordinates everything else. It knows
+that the effectiveness of the lesson depends quite as
+much on what is left out as on what is put in.</p>
+
+<p>Now the more ideas a teacher has, the greater need
+has he of a schedule, just as the railroad that runs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+most trains is in most need of a good time-table. Indeed,
+the performance of a teacher without a plan
+bears a strong resemblance to a railway collision.
+Ideas, illustrations, exhortations, bump into one another
+front and rear, telescope each other, and form
+at the end of the hour a disheartening mass of splintered
+fragments, with here and there a jet of steam or
+a puff of smoke. If the teacher has no schedule, the
+scholars on his lesson train will grow confused and
+get nowhere. Small blame to them!</p>
+
+<p>Imitating Paul, the wise teacher will take for his
+motto, "This <i>one</i> thing I teach." He will teach as
+much more as is possible, but first he will make absolutely
+sure of one thing. My own plan in connection
+with every lesson is to lay down one principal, and two
+or three subordinates. It is best to write these down
+on the margin of the quarterly, in precisely the order
+in which they are to be taken up. Ask yourself most
+earnestly, "What is the main lesson this Scripture is
+to teach my scholars?" Having decided on that,
+consider your teaching a success, whatever happens,
+if it has impressed this one truth. Leap to this task
+as swiftly as may be, even if to reach the chosen
+point you must pass hastily over the first portion of
+the lesson.</p>
+
+<p>After driving home this truth, and making sure of
+it, take up in turn your subordinates. This will require
+a new view of the lesson story that will compensate
+for your previous haste. And reserve some
+time at the end of the lesson for a few parting words<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>
+on your main truth. Save for this time your most
+telling illustration, your most ardent pleading. In
+preparation for this get all questions and difficulties
+out of the way. Be sure, before you begin, that your
+watch is with the superintendent's, and do not permit
+yourself to be caught by the closing bell with your
+lesson only half way to the terminus.</p>
+
+<p>Some teachers are proud thus to be caught, but
+they should be ashamed. If their neighbor admits
+that he got over the lesson with his class, they are
+filled with amazed pity at his lack of brains. "Why,
+how <i>could</i> you? There was so much in the lesson
+that I scarcely made a beginning."</p>
+
+<p>Teachers, it is a disgrace to any workman to leave
+behind him an improperly finished job; and we are,
+or should be, just as thorough workmen as any carpenter.
+<i>Select!</i> One truth a Sunday means fifty-two
+truths a year, while fifty-two truths a Sunday would
+not mean one truth a year. <i>Plan!</i> Definite results
+do not come from haphazard methods. <i>Finish!</i>
+One goal reached is greater triumph than fifty goals
+started for. <i>Form a schedule, and carry it out!</i></p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_VI" id="Chapter_VI"></a>Chapter VI</h2>
+
+<h2>My Lesson Chart</h2>
+
+
+<p>My recipe for a well-prepared lesson is expressed
+in Captain Cuttle's formula: "Make a note on 't."</p>
+
+<p>I have read the lesson text, and the text before the
+lesson text and after it. I have read the wisest commentaries
+I can find, and as many of them as I can
+find time for. I have "mulled" over the matter for
+myself a day or two. By this time my brain is
+thronged with facts and a-tingle with suggestions.</p>
+
+<p>Then, the lesson leaf or some other convenient
+copy of the lesson text before me, I construct the
+chart by which to make my Sabbath cruise.</p>
+
+<p>First, one must get out to sea; there is the introduction.
+How shall I fit this trip in with last Sabbath's
+voyage, and how shall I get under way?</p>
+
+<p>As I plan my introductory questions, I write at the
+head of the lesson text some word to represent each
+question, such as "author?" "time?" "place?"
+"circumstances?" "purpose?" "outline?"</p>
+
+<p>With the questions concerning the text itself, however,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>
+I do no writing; I simply underscore neatly
+those words or phrases of the text that will hint at the
+point to be raised. For example, take the verse,
+"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want," and
+the questions: (1) How was this imagery prompted
+by David's life? (2) What use did our Lord make
+of the same simile? (3) What comfort should we get
+from this thought in the trials and uncertainties of
+life? (4) How does Christ's shepherding keep us
+from want? (5) From what kind of want does it
+keep us? (6) What makes you sure of this? (7) How
+was all this proved true in David's case?</p>
+
+<p>As each question occurs to me, or is suggested by
+my reading, I underscore a word that henceforth
+stands for that question. These words, in the order
+of the questions, are: (1) "shepherd"; (2) "Lord";
+(3) "my"; (4) a curved line from "shepherd" to
+"I" connecting the two sentences; (5) "want"; (6)
+"shall not"; (7) "I."</p>
+
+<p>It will sometimes need a little thought to decide
+just which word will best represent the question, but
+that very thought will fix the question more firmly in
+the mind. If more than one question should be attached
+to one word, make two short underscorings,
+one beside the other.</p>
+
+<p>When the question contrasts two persons, two expressions,
+or two events, "railroading" is in order&mdash;a
+line, that is, drawn clear across the printed page,
+connecting the words which the question connects.</p>
+
+<p>If you have a parallel Bible, or some lesson help<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
+that gives the King James and the Revised versions
+in opposite columns, it is an excellent plan to mark
+in one version all the points of history, geography,
+biography, customs, dates, and the like, and in the
+other the points requiring practical application to
+heart and life. The latter will obviously go best in
+the Revised Version. The points indicated by the
+underscorings in the King James Version may first be
+considered and got out of the way.</p>
+
+<p>If, however, you must use only the Authorized
+Version, distinguish in some manner between the two
+sets of points&mdash;the merely explanatory and the hortatory.
+Use black ink for the first and red ink for the
+second, or a straight line for the one and a wavy line
+for the other, or for the first a single and for the second
+a double underscore.</p>
+
+<p>Proceeding in this way, I soon have a line under
+every word requiring explanation, every hint of a
+strange custom, every reference to other parts of the
+Scriptures, every point for practical application. I
+have underscored words representative of all the
+thoughts that especially appeal to me as fitting the
+needs of my class.</p>
+
+<p>When this has been done, it is time to make my
+outline. If my study has suggested to me an outline
+of my own, that will be better for me than any other
+man's. The outline is the plan of campaign, the
+thing I wish especially to emphasize, and under it,
+ranged in order, the points of minor importance. I
+write this outline on the margin of my lesson text.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Having decided on the outline, I go over my underscorings
+again, doubly or trebly underscoring the
+words that have reference to the thought around which
+I intend to center the entire lesson&mdash;the thought that
+is to be the lesson's enduring monument in the minds
+and lives of my scholars.</p>
+
+<p>Now I am ready for review. I go over the whole,
+starting with the detached words jotted down at the
+beginning,&mdash;"author," "time," "place," etc.,&mdash;and
+consider all the underscorings, railroadings, and curved
+lines, stopping at each to frame a question of my own
+and to make sure of my best answer. I do this in
+precisely the order in which I intend to take up these
+points in the class. Not the smallest part of my work
+at this juncture is to simplify, by erasing the underscorings
+where the questions may be spared without
+interfering with my main purpose; and then I review
+once more in the same way, to confirm my grasp on
+the lesson plan.</p>
+
+<p>By this time every underscoring is luminous, and
+my page of lesson text has become a graphic picture
+of the lesson I am to teach, a true chart for my
+voyage.</p>
+
+<p>Do you think the process too tedious, brother
+teacher? It is not a whit too thorough when you
+remember the infinite interests involved; and every
+repetition of it will increase your skill, and the rapidity
+of your work. I have used this method for years,
+with various classes, and know it to be practical,
+pleasant, and profitable. Try it, and see.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_VII" id="Chapter_VII"></a>Chapter VII</h2>
+
+<h2>The Value of a Monotessaron</h2>
+
+
+<p>Far above concordance, Bible index, Bible dictionary,
+commentary, I count the monotessaron the very
+best help to Bible study. The monotessaron, it might
+be parenthetically remarked for the benefit of the
+lexicon-lazy folk, is a harmony of the four Gospels, so
+arranged as to make one continuous and complete
+story, in Scripture words alone.</p>
+
+<p>"Fie!" says one reviewer of a recent monotessaron,
+"we have no use for such compilations. God gave
+us the gospel in four separate books. He could have
+put it in one if it had been best that way." This is
+an argument which would make a heretic of the
+locomotive, printing-press, and any other rearrangement
+of God-given matter. Having the four Gospels,
+we may have one. If God had given us only one, we
+could not have the four.</p>
+
+<p>Christians will always read the four separate Gospels,
+in order to see Christ from four separate points
+of view, through four separate individualities, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>
+their differences as well as their agreements may make
+the picture stand out more vividly, much as the two
+diverse flat portions of a stereoscope view combine
+into perfect perspective and reality.</p>
+
+<p>But this combining is necessary; and it may be truly
+said that what we lose, in reading the monotessaron,
+of the personality of John or Luke, we more than gain
+in the increased vividness of the person of Christ.
+Speaking for one, I may say that through my first acquaintance
+with a monotessaron that matchless life
+has shone upon me with an entire splendor of beauty
+and majesty before unimagined.</p>
+
+<p>Never before was the life a whole, like Washington's
+or Lincoln's. The imprisonment of John was
+an event in the fourteenth chapter of one Gospel, the
+sixth of another, the third of the rest; the call of
+Matthew now in the ninth chapter, now the second,
+now the fifth; the parable of the sower in the thirteenth,
+fourth, and eighth chapters. Nothing was in
+a clear, definite relation to the single life. The talk
+with Nicodemus is now no longer to me an event of
+John 3, but of the beginning of the first year of
+Christ's ministry, at the Passover. No longer would
+I be puzzled to tell which came first, the healing of
+the nobleman's son of John 4, or the stilling of the
+tempest of Mark 4, but place the last a year later.</p>
+
+<p>Not only has the narrative become clear and
+orderly, not only has the wonderful history parted
+itself into the true and helpful time-divisions so
+diverse from the confusing chapters, but the places<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>
+now stand out, and journeys are distinct. Take any
+diatessaron&mdash;that is, any parallel arrangement of the
+four Gospels&mdash;and note the wide blanks in each book,
+filled out by others, so that between contiguous verses
+of one Gospel must be inserted whole chapters of another,
+complete journeys, many deeds and sayings,
+the location in the meantime greatly changing. A
+geologist will think of the helpful triumph of taking
+from the full rock record here to fill out the unconformable
+strata there, until a geological column is
+built up.</p>
+
+<p>A further inestimable advantage is the appreciation
+of surroundings. What light is cast, for example, on
+the story of Lazarus in John by its insertion in Luke!
+The contact of these parted elements of the gospel
+story sometimes rouses a current of thrilling thoughts,
+making a veritable electric battery of the monotessaron.</p>
+
+<p>Still another priceless gain is an understanding of
+proportions. Matthew's parallels, Mark's deeds,
+Luke's miracles and parables, John's sermons&mdash;in
+reading any of the four Gospels peculiar elements
+come into prominence, and we are left with no idea
+of the relative proportion of these elements in the one
+life. What emphasis did Christ place on the doctrinal,
+and what on the practical? Just how much
+of his teaching concerned himself and his character?
+What space in the New Testament is occupied by
+miracles? Just what part of Christ's preaching was
+parabolic? What is the prominence of missionary
+effort and proselytism? How much is there of consolation,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>
+and how much of stern rebuke? What
+measure of promise? What quantum of theology?
+What share of ethics?</p>
+
+<p>These and scores of other questions which occur
+at once to every Christian thinker, the monotessaron
+makes possible of easy and rapid answer. Indeed,
+almost its chief advantage is the spur it affords to the
+spirit of investigation. Those who are statistically inclined
+can even get at precise ratios by the exact
+process of counting lines.</p>
+
+<p>Well, that is my experience of the value of a
+monotessaron. It has given the life and person of
+Christ marvelous vividness, setting facts in their due
+order, location, relations, and proportions, while the
+facility it affords is constant inspiration to fresh, delightful
+study. This is the experience of thousands,
+and yet I am sure that among the readers of this book
+will be many who are yet unacquainted with this
+Bible help. Not only every Sunday-school teacher,
+but every Bible scholar, should own one.</p>
+
+<p>The single year in which I wrote this chapter saw
+the publication, in quick succession, of four of these
+monotessarons, one the improved edition of an older
+work. Each of these four has its peculiar features of
+value, and I have compared them carefully to get at
+their characteristics.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>1. "The Interwoven Gospels." Rev. William Pittenger.
+(5 × 7&frac12; inches, pp. 245. New York: John B. Alden. Price,
+90 cents.) Five plates give clearly the various journeys. The
+Gospel fullest in each event is taken as the standard, and its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>
+verse-numberings given, while sentences and phrases interwoven
+from other Gospels are preceded by an inconspicuous letter, to
+designate the book from which they come. This seems to me
+the ideal plan. There is a table for finding in the monotessaron
+any verse of any Gospel. There is a very distinct synopsis.
+The time is indicated only at the heads of the five divisions of
+the story. The place is given at the head of each one of the
+one hundred and seventy-one sections. The index is scant.
+The typography is excellent. The American Revised Version
+is used.</p>
+
+<p>2. "The Gospel Commentary." J. R. Gilmore ("Edmund
+Kirke") and Lyman Abbott, D.D. (5 × 7 inches, pp. 840.
+New York: Fords, Howard &amp; Hulbert. Price, $1.50.) This
+monotessaron is combined with an excellent and very full commentary,
+selected from the works of three hundred authors.
+These multitudinous notes somewhat mar the impression of
+unity and continuity for which the monotessaron is peculiarly
+valued. No maps. Information as to sources of the combined
+text is given only by references at the top of the page&mdash;an indefinite
+way. There is a table for finding in the monotessaron
+any verse of any Gospel. There is a chronological synopsis,
+but no diatessaron table. There is a good index of thirty-two
+pages, and a marginal synopsis. The time is minutely indicated
+at the head of each page, and the locations shown irregularly,
+in notes, chapter headings, or marginal synopsis. There are
+forty-three chapters. The typography is clear. The King
+James Version is mainly used.</p>
+
+<p>3. "The Fourfold Gospel." J. G. Butler, D.D. (5 × 7&frac12;
+inches, pp. 212. New York: Funk &amp; Wagnalls. Price, 75
+cents.) This is taken from Butler's "Bible Work." The
+sources of the text and transitions are indicated as in Pittenger's,
+but not quite so minutely. Places are given at the head of the
+one hundred and sixty-six sections. Times not shown. A
+good diatessaron synopsis, and a table to find in the monotessaron
+any verse from any Gospel. Two sketch-maps. No
+index whatever. King James Version.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>4. "The One Gospel." A. T. Pierson, D.D. (5 × 7&frac12;
+inches, pp. 203. New York: The Baker &amp; Taylor Company.
+Price, 75 cents.) This monotessaron contains the gospel story
+in forty-seven sections, with no section headings, and no indications
+whatever of times, places, or sources of the various
+portions of the text. Valuable for reading, but unsatisfactory
+for study. A capital index. No table for finding verses, no
+synopsis or maps. King James Version. Retains more than
+the others nearly equivalent words and phrases.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Each of these excellent compilations has its own
+field, and the student who can afford the luxury will
+rejoice in them all. Happy times in which we live,
+wherein the person of Christ is brought with such
+clearness and fullness and beauty as never before to
+the poorest and busiest and most unlearned!</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_VIII" id="Chapter_VIII"></a>Chapter VIII</h2>
+
+<h2>Getting Attention</h2>
+
+
+<p>I was once sergeant of a college military company
+that was being trained by an officer of the regular
+army from the nearest barracks. In one evolution
+it was made my duty to march at the head of a long
+column, shouting at the top of my voice: "Hep&mdash;hep&mdash;hep&mdash;hep!"
+This was to give the time; we had
+no drum. I conscientiously obeyed orders and
+strutted off, shouting the required "Hep&mdash;hep&mdash;hep&mdash;hep!"
+But alas! at a critical turn, thinking more
+of my glory than of my duty, I marched to the right,
+while the column, more heedful, turned off to the left.
+So there I was, a long, lank figure, strutting off by
+myself over the field, shouting "Hep&mdash;hep&mdash;hep!"
+How many times since, when standing before inattentive
+classes, have I repeated that mortifying performance,
+less obviously, but none the less really!</p>
+
+<p>How often teachers are bent on planning what they
+are to say and how they are to say it, but omit to consider
+how they may induce people to attend to it;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>
+just as if (to change the figure) a locomotive engineer
+should polish and oil his engine and turn on full
+steam, but forget the little coupling-pin that hitches
+the engine to the train! It is a very little thing, this
+coupling-pin of attention, and often the teacher goes
+puffing a long way before he perceives that it is left
+out; and it is a great humiliation, as well as a great
+loss of time and steam, to go back and hitch on.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing to be considered, if we would win
+attention, is the room. Poor janitors spoil more
+Sunday-schools than poor teachers. You remember
+how the Peterkins tried to take their drive, shaking
+the reins, clucking at the stationary horse, whipping
+and coaxing him by turns, and all in vain until the
+lady from Philadelphia <i>unhitched</i> the obstinate beast.
+We make Peterkins of ourselves every time we try to
+take an intellectual journey with our pupils when they
+are tied down by hot air, poor ventilation, uncomfortable
+seats, and surrounding noise and bustle. All
+our pedagogical ingenuity will fight in vain against
+the fiendish ingenuity of a bad janitor.</p>
+
+<p>Having made it possible for the children to pay any
+attention at all, the next thing is to get it. Attention
+has something to do with tension. Now it takes two
+to stretch a cord, and there are two parties to every
+act of attention. How about the second party in this
+case&mdash;the children?</p>
+
+<p>Imprimis, when you appear before the children, leap
+at once into your theme. Older folks rather like to
+doze along through the preliminaries of a speech,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>
+economically saving their enthusiasm for the end, if
+not for next time; but the attention of children is lost
+or won for good by the opening sentences. Our
+sharp boys and girls discover very quickly whether a
+veteran or a raw recruit is calling "Attention!"</p>
+
+<p>There are some beginnings which are sure to offend
+them. There is the bagpipe beginning&mdash;the long,
+droning prelude, which advertises a teacher set out on
+a mud-turtle to catch these lively colts. There is
+the jack-in-the-box prelude: "Eh! Now, children!
+What's lesson 'bout? Quick!" There is the crape-dirge
+beginning, which solemnly hopes the children
+have studied their lesson and will recite better than
+they did last Sunday. There is the plead-guilty beginning:
+"You'll have to teach me to-day, children.
+I've been unable to look at the lesson."</p>
+
+<p>But it is by no means easy to give affirmative rules.
+The best of beginnings, if stereotyped, becomes inefficient.
+No general can plan a campaign in advance.
+And yet a general must understand the art
+of war, and a teacher must study his tactics.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, attention is won partly by position
+and attitude. Happy the teacher whose class is
+a semicircle, himself at the center! And luckless the
+teacher whose class, fixed on straight, fastened pews,
+sees past him the distracting background of a crowded,
+bustling school! He struggles against strong odds.</p>
+
+<p>But whatever may be the position of the class, any
+one can see that his own attitude shall command
+attention. Let him be straight, alert, confident, quiet&mdash;not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+flabby, nervous, and diffident. Let his face
+and voice and bearing expect attention, and he will
+get it.</p>
+
+<p>The opening sentences must be businesslike.
+There must be no indecision, no "puttering." The
+teacher must leap at once to that hand-to-hand combat
+with the theme which tells his scholars that there's
+purpose in it. The opening sentences may sometimes
+best catch the class by directly addressing one person
+in it, the most restless, indifferent one, and nailing
+<i>him</i>.</p>
+
+<p>A paradox is good to begin with, some statement
+of the lesson theme so startling as to spur to discussion,
+possibly to opposition. Then the next Sunday,
+perhaps a quiet picture of the historical setting of the
+story, or a description of the landscape surrounding
+the event, or a compact review of the last lesson.
+Then the next day you might begin with a bit of personal
+experience bearing on the matter in hand.
+Nothing wins attention better than the first person
+singular. Or your introduction might be a whiff of
+fun, for which the youngsters are so eager that the
+most witless piece of jollity, if it spring from a merry
+heart, is certain to reach theirs.</p>
+
+<p>You are sure of their attention if you can get them
+to do something for you&mdash;open their Bibles, repeat
+something in concert, find a verse, or look at something.
+For this purpose maps, diagrams, pictures, all
+material objects connected with the lesson, are invaluable.
+Scholars yield their wills to yours through their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>
+hands or their eyes more readily than through their
+ears.</p>
+
+<p>And none of this must be done with manifest purpose.
+Surely in vain is the net spread in the sight of
+any bird. Woe to the teacher who shouts the word
+"Attention!" He will get nothing but the echo of
+the word from stony cliffs of indifference.</p>
+
+<p>And finally, woe to the teacher who relies at bottom
+on any skill of his own to draw young hearts to his
+teaching; whose main dependence is anything but the
+attention-winning power of that incarnate Sympathy
+and Love who promised to draw all men&mdash;and children&mdash;to
+himself.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_IX" id="Chapter_IX"></a>Chapter IX</h2>
+
+<h2>Keeping Attention</h2>
+
+
+<p>We are likely to think that the attention of children
+is hard to get; but the very opposite is true. The
+minds of children, like their tongues, are hung in the
+middle. It is the easiest thing in the world to turn
+them in any direction. No teacher need spend much
+force on his introduction. Merely appear and begin
+to talk&mdash;that is enough. A fresh voice and presence
+and a new theme will draw all eyes and all hearts. If
+grown people are your audience, the situation is somewhat
+reversed. They are the heavy weights&mdash;hard
+to move, but just as hard to stop. An attention-forcing
+prelude will hold them attentive to a good
+half-hour of platitudes.</p>
+
+<p>The teacher of children, however, flattered by the
+eager listening given at the start, is likely to relax his
+efforts and deem the crown of the children's interest
+already attained. But alas! soon here a little tot
+wriggles, and there another whispers, and yonder a
+third giggles, and now a fourth turns around to see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
+what's up, and the teacher might as well be talking
+to a school of young fishes.</p>
+
+<p>Demosthenes once said that if whatever a man got
+he took care to keep, he was grateful to the gods; but
+if he spent it, he spent with it all his gratitude. How
+many teachers are so prodigal of the attention given
+at the beginning that toward the close, dismayed at
+the listlessness, they forget ungratefully their initial
+capital of bright eyes and eager ears! There are
+many ways of squandering this attention capital. We
+may waste it on those long exhortations so very
+valuable (when omitted), on side issues, on quibbles.
+We may choke it with dullness, drive it off with
+scolding.</p>
+
+<p>The only way always to keep attention is always
+to be expecting to lose it. Be prompt to note signs
+of its vanishing in drooping eyelids, wandering gaze,
+jerking in the seat, uncertain answers. The teacher
+whose ingenuity can always recall stray-away minds
+need fear few other recitation problems. How
+to do it?</p>
+
+<p>The best provocative of attention is variety. The
+skilled teacher brings as many suits of manner to the
+class as the bulkiest clown wears costumes to the circus.
+Before one suit becomes wearisome he strips it
+off, and presto! a fresh teacher before the wide-eyed
+children. If he has been sitting, he rises; if erect, he
+leans eagerly forward. His utterance becomes rapid
+from slow, impetuous from drawling. He darts from
+generalizations into personalities. If motionless before,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>
+he begins to gesticulate. This is acting? No.
+It is only doing what the facile children themselves
+do on their kaleidoscopic playground, where no one
+goes to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Again, a teacher must learn to emphasize his
+important points, not by enlarging on them, but
+by reverting to them. Slight impression on a wall
+by holding a battering-ram against it! Nor
+can you impress a child's mind by holding a fact
+up against it. It is intervals which make blows
+possible.</p>
+
+<p>So the child will attend to two things or three better
+than to one. Concentrate on one matter, burning-glass
+fashion, but only while the sun of interest is
+shining. With the first mist of indifference the wise
+teacher will drop the burning-glass. More teachers
+fail from having too few points to make than from
+having too many.</p>
+
+<p>But to retain attention, you need less to multiply
+points than points of view. A teacher can usually
+fix the attention of his class upon one subject while
+using in succession six different methods of treatment.
+Passing swiftly from questioning to formulating principles
+and illustrating them, from Bible quotations to
+personal experiences and exhortations, he will hold
+his audience delighted, though a single method would
+have wearied it. Note how a skilled cook presents
+the Thanksgiving turkey on different days. It is a
+lordly brown biped, a plateful of nice slices, a salad,
+a pot-pie, hash. Teachers will be able to hold the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>
+youngsters' attention as well as cooks, if they learn
+thus to put things in different lights.</p>
+
+<p>Furthermore, let it be remembered that no one was
+ever dignified with a child, and won its attention.
+And some teachers are too staid to be useful. Startle
+into inattention by a smart slap of the hands together,
+sharp extension of the finger, abrupt turns upon the
+floor. Preachers use such artifices when pews grow
+somnolent, and why not teachers? Never forget that
+the slightest inanimate object wins attention better
+than the greatest animation of the teacher. A pencil-tablet
+will rivet all eyes. A finger laid upon a map
+is cynosure for the most fidgety scholars. If you
+have a picture which can be brought into connection
+with the lesson, it is a pedagogical sin to omit it. A
+chart is as necessary to the Sabbath-school teacher as
+to the sailor, albeit the teacher's is best home-made.
+I used to hesitate to take time to use such helps; but
+I found that the poorest picture did better work than
+my most vivid word-paintings, and that my clearest
+statement was inefficient beside the clumsiest diagram.</p>
+
+<p>The beginner in this fine art of attention-holding is
+likely to derive the word "attention" thus: from
+<i>teneo</i>, "I hold," <i>ad</i>, "on to"; <i>attention</i>, "I hold on
+to" him. He tries to hold attention, therefore, by
+main strength. He grapples with his audience as a
+bulldog would. His nerves are tense. His voice is
+imperative. His eye glares. He is rapid, impetuous,
+strategic. This is power, he thinks, and this is skill;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>
+but his audience astonishes him by going to sleep.
+Abashed, he tries milder means of holding on to them.
+He begins to buttonhole his audience. He uses soft
+and flattering tones. He coaxes. He wheedles.
+He jokes. He chucks them under the chin. And
+then his audience gets up and goes out.</p>
+
+<p>The real meaning of the word "attention" contains
+an invaluable hint for all who are trying to win others
+by speaking or teaching. It is <i>teneo</i>, "I hold, I
+stretch," <i>ad</i>, "toward"; and it is not by any means
+applied to the speaker, but to the listener. To get
+your audience, whether of little folk or big folk, to
+stretch out toward the same goal of truth that you are
+seeking is the true art of winning attention.</p>
+
+<p>This understanding of the matter implies that the
+teacher also is really in pursuit of truth himself. The
+failure of much teaching is because it cries "Go on"
+instead of "Come on." The speaker that you follow
+with most difficulty is the speaker who has the air of
+"knowing it all," while the speaker who succeeds best
+in holding your attention gives you the impression of
+a chase.</p>
+
+<p>There's the game before you&mdash;that elusive truth
+slipping away through the thicket yonder. The
+huntsman's eye flashes. He whistles up the dogs.
+We all leap to the saddles. Off we go, over upland
+and vale, swamp and rock, fence and ditch, our
+leader far in the van, pointing here, waving there, and
+hallooing the huntsman on. And when the game is
+tracked down, and our leader stands above it, dripping<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>
+knife in hand, our veins tingle with his, and we
+shout with delight at our triumph.</p>
+
+<p>This is the first principle in the art of winning attention.
+The speaker must give the impression of a
+truth-seeker, if he would win others to seek truth with
+him. What Edward Everett Hale once said of a
+sermon applies to this. Every Sunday-school lesson
+should start out to prove something. It should have
+some goal. It should <i>intend</i> something. <i>Intention</i>
+must precede <i>attention</i>.</p>
+
+<p>But though there must be this element of pleasing
+uncertainty and suspense, we all have difficulty in
+attending to a speaker who does not appear to have
+himself well in hand or to be quite sure what he is
+about. Have you not caught yourselves, teachers,
+talking as if in your sleep? Have you not sometimes
+waked up at the end of a sentence, a question, or a
+harangue, and wondered what you had been talking
+about? Did you suppose that any one else knew?
+Did you expect to hold on to them when you had no
+grasp of the subject? Can listeners pay attention to
+any one who does not pay attention to himself?</p>
+
+<p>Teachers make the mistake of dividing attention
+between the class, to watch that they hear; and themselves,
+to see how they are getting along; and the little
+attention left goes to the theme. Not unnaturally,
+the attention of the class is divided in the same way&mdash;much
+to themselves, less to the teacher, and least of
+all to what is being taught. Of course it is a teacher's
+business to hold his scholars' attention, but he will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>
+never do it by worrying and wondering whether he is
+succeeding.</p>
+
+<p>Nay, I even go so far as to say, if one of your
+pupils pays no attention, then pay no attention to him,
+provided the mischief is not spreading. A teacher
+should not fritter away his attention on inattentive
+pupils. If he cannot win their attention by his own
+interest in his theme, he cannot win it at all. Not
+that I would imply for a moment, however, that the
+teacher is to rest satisfied while a single one of his
+pupils remains inattentive. If your chicks are average
+chicks they are gregarious, and one stray-away is
+enough to carry the whole flock with him into foreign
+parts. While you have a single inattentive scholar
+you should conduct your lesson with a view to holding
+him. You will hold the rest then, as a matter of
+course. I am only speaking of the best way to win
+attention. It must be won, or you are beaten to some
+extent; and the attention of all <i>will</i> be won in the end
+if you are deeply enough in earnest yourself, if you
+do not allow your attention to be side-tracked by the
+inattention of a few. If you wish to win and hold
+the attention of others, <i>win and hold your own</i>.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_X" id="Chapter_X"></a>Chapter X</h2>
+
+<h2>The Importance of Questioning</h2>
+
+
+<p>Ever since Socrates, conversation has been the soul
+of teaching, and ever since Adam and Eve the question
+has been the life of conversation. A teacher's
+success depends, in about equal measure, upon inspiration,
+cogitation, and interrogation. Let the first
+be the great gravitative forces; let the second provide
+the truth, the liquid; then the interrogation-point is
+the curved siphon, which transfers from the full to the
+empty vessel!</p>
+
+<p>Many, many a teacher has failed, thinking himself
+not wise enough, or not energetic enough, while in
+reality he has simply failed to be wisely and energetically
+quizzical.</p>
+
+<p>But what is a question? Is it not a fish-hook for
+pulling out, rather than a siphon for putting in?
+Yes, later; but you cannot fish successfully in a dry
+pond. Any bungler can examine and test. The nice
+art is to use your interrogation-points as instruments
+of addition, rather than of subtraction.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But why is it often better to insinuate instruction
+through a question, in preference to pouring by direct
+harangue? Well, does not a question imply community
+of interest, and hint at equality or similarity of attainment?
+The question is neighborly; the discourse
+mounts a platform.</p>
+
+<p>The helpful lesson commentaries fail, practically,
+to reach many a class, because its teacher in reading
+has failed to translate from the declarative into the
+interrogative. If Doctor Somebody writes tersely,
+"A sin that is born of your own will is tenfold more
+dangerous to you than your own sin that is born of
+your neighbor's will," Johnny will not get the point
+unless the teacher transforms it somewhat thus: "If
+you are out in the country all alone, Johnny, jump
+over a fence, steal a pocketful of apples, is that a sin
+just as much as if some other boy should be along and
+persuade you to do it? Yes? Well, now, which sin
+is the more dangerous to you?"</p>
+
+<p>So important does this seem to me that I always
+carry pencil and paper to the perusal of my lesson
+helps, and write out, as a point pleases me, the form
+in which I wish to bring it up in the class, ranging
+these questions under the numbers of the verses to
+which they apply.</p>
+
+<p>The teacher who does not write out his questions,
+or do the equivalent of that work, is as sure to be defeated
+as the general who fights without a plan of
+campaign.</p>
+
+<p>Should those questions be read in the class? Not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>
+unless your ideal of teaching is the company drill, instead
+of the conversation.</p>
+
+<p>It is well, however, to ask the scholars to write out
+questions for you on verses assigned, and read these
+questions before the class. The teacher's work is
+grandly accomplished when he has induced the
+scholar to ask his own questions, and work out his
+own answers.</p>
+
+<p>I often find that a general call for questions on some
+apparently exhausted topic brings the richest results
+of the half-hour.</p>
+
+<p>Few verses are completely treated without Lyman
+Beecher's "snapper,"&mdash;the appeal to experience.
+The question, "Is it I?" must be raised, no matter
+by how direct urgings, in every heart. That question
+is truth's barb.</p>
+
+<p>There is a questioning face and attitude, indicative
+of a real and personal interest in the thing considered,
+without which a question will always fall dead, and
+deservedly.</p>
+
+<p>Nor, on the contrary, will a live manner avail to
+foist upon the attention of a class a dead question.
+And a question is "dead" to your scholar which does
+not touch his own world of interest at some point, no
+matter how close connection it may have with your
+life and experience.</p>
+
+<p>The questions on the lesson leaves make a good aid
+in study, but do most pitiably convict a teacher of
+unfaithfulness if he use them in teaching.</p>
+
+<p>Most genuine of all questions, and most likely to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+be helpful, are the doubts, perplexities, and difficulties
+which attend a thoughtful teacher's first careful reading
+of the text itself. Then is the time when the
+cream of that lesson should rise.</p>
+
+<p>Leading questions are always better than harangue,
+and are not to be despised, on a pinch. See what
+use Socrates made of them! And, by the way,
+modern teachers could learn much as to methods
+from the dialogues of that old pagan.</p>
+
+<p>By all means we must learn to link our questions,
+naturally developing one from the other. Read a
+page of miscellaneous proverbs, and you will carry
+away from it the same bewildered brain much Sunday-school
+sharp-shooting produces. Use the solid
+phalanx!</p>
+
+<p>Infinite harm is done our teaching by "questioning
+down." Do you know how tiresome it is to talk to
+a man up in a third-story window, you in the street?
+Our "level-best" teaching must be on a level.</p>
+
+<p>The novice at questioning, when first he becomes
+well satisfied with himself in this line, will probably
+be making his chief mistake,&mdash;will have hit upon an
+interrogative phraseology in which his thoughts run
+easily, which he uses incessantly. The artful questioner
+will rack his brains to the utmost stretch of ingenuity
+to devise striking and novel ways of quizzing,
+to hold the restless young minds.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, no skilled questioner will take the class
+in order. Of course, he will name the person who is
+to answer, at the end, and not at the beginning, of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>
+question. Of course, he will understand the use of
+long and attention-holding questions, interspersed
+with short, quick, attention-exciting questions. Of
+course, he will be ready with a varying form of the
+question if he has to repeat it, lest the class fail to
+listen the second time. Of course, he will train himself
+to become ready with a "catch" question,&mdash;a
+question with a quirk in it, to punish mildly the inattentive.
+Of course, he will know when the class
+needs unifying by the general question addressed to
+all, and when the subject needs unifying by the general
+question reviewing all. And, of course, he will
+have learned that the best teacher of this, as of all
+arts, is He whose boyish questions in the temple grew
+to such mighty answers that no man thereafter dared
+question him, save only his true disciples.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XI" id="Chapter_XI"></a>Chapter XI</h2>
+
+<h2>A Good Question</h2>
+
+
+<p>If I were asked to name the chief fault of the
+average teacher, I should say, "Asking questions
+that can be answered by 'Yes' and 'No.'" Among
+my acquaintances was once a teacher in a secular
+school whose method of questioning was invariably
+this. He would have before him the statements of
+the text-book, copied out with painstaking care, and
+would develop the subject thus: "Is it true or is it
+not true, Mr. A&mdash;&mdash;, that"&mdash;and here would follow
+the statement or definition of the text-book. The
+ambiguous answer, "Yes," was amply satisfactory.
+Unfortunately, when such teachers gain a foothold
+in the Sunday-school, they are not so easily dismissed
+as from secular establishments.</p>
+
+<p>Now, a good question merely furnishes the starting-point,
+and pushes the scholar out along the course
+toward some goal of truth; but in a question that
+can be answered by "Yes" or "No" the teacher himself
+ambles amiably up the track, and condescendingly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
+allows the scholar's monosyllable to pat him on the
+head after he himself has reached the goal. A question
+that can be answered by "Yes" or "No" merely
+formulates the truth as it exists in the teacher's mind,
+and invites the scholar's assent to it; a good question,
+on the contrary, provokes the scholar to formulate
+truth for himself.</p>
+
+<p>Now, it is much easier to express what we see to
+be true than to get any one else to express original
+thought. There is also, to the unwise, more glory in
+laying down principles to which others must agree
+than in getting others to lay down principles to which
+we must agree. It will always be true, therefore,
+that the lazy and the pompous will have no aim beyond
+educing monosyllabic answers. Most teachers,
+however, are earnestly desirous of the best, but do
+not know how to frame wise questions. What must
+be said to them?</p>
+
+<p>First, that they must not go to school before their
+scholars. Expert questioning is not learned in the
+class-room, but in the study. A lead-pencil is the
+best teacher. A sheet of paper is the best drill-ground.
+As I have urged before: Let the Sunday-school
+worker who aspires to the high praise of a
+good questioner sit down persistently, after studying
+the lesson, and write out a set of questions. Nay;
+on each point, so far as he has time, let him write
+several questions, criticise them, fancy what kind of
+answer each will be likely to elicit from the scholar,
+and choose what appears the best question. Try<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>
+it on the class, and learn valuable lessons from the
+result.</p>
+
+<p>This method, laborious as it is, must be kept up
+until skilful questioning has become instinctive.
+That there may be hope of this happy result, by the
+way, the written questions must never be used in the
+class,&mdash;only the memory of them, and the drill the
+preparation has given. It surely will happen, sooner
+or later, that the careful student of practical pedagogics
+will be able to get along without writing,
+merely formulating fit questions in his mind as he
+studies the lesson. After a time he may dispense even
+with this, and look simply after the points to be presented,
+trusting to extemporaneous question-making.</p>
+
+<p>Not wholly, however. The best questioner in the
+world gets into ruts. The best forms of questions
+ever invented are worse than the worst if they are
+used with dull reiteration. No one can devote careful
+attention to the form of his questions without
+falling in love with some particular way of questioning;
+and this will not always be the best way, but
+will probably be the most original way. A form of
+question that is irreproachable the first time will be
+unendurable used six times in succession. It is
+necessary, then, even for the trained questioner, to
+revert now and then to his old lead-pencil drill, in
+order to study variety.</p>
+
+<p>But how may the uninitiated know a good question
+when they see it, or make it? As said already, it
+must not be such that a lazy monosyllable may answer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>
+it. As said already, too, if one is in doubt, he
+has but to try it on the class, and note results. But
+further. A good question will be likely to have something
+piquant about it, if the subject admits. For
+instance, "James was killed, Peter was freed; why
+was that?" is better than saying, "How do you account
+for the fact that while the apostle James was
+beheaded, the apostle Peter was delivered from the
+hands of his persecutors?"</p>
+
+<p>Furthermore, the difference between a poor question
+and a good one may often be a mere matter of
+length. "Why did the Christians at Antioch keep
+the inferior leaders for work in the city, but send
+away the most prominent men in their church to
+labor as missionaries?" That is abominable; it
+should be, "Why did the Antioch Christians send
+away their best men?"</p>
+
+<p>A good question will contain as much as possible
+of the personal element. "What do you understand
+by the phrase 'remission of sins'?" is much better
+than "What is the significance of the phrase 'remission
+of sins'?" Because the personal question puts
+the expected answer in a more modest light, the answer
+will be more unconstrained and full.</p>
+
+<p>And, by the way, there are few forms of questions
+more zealously to be avoided than the form I have
+just used, "What do you understand by&mdash;?" It is
+the unfailing resource of the poor questioner. A
+verse will be read, a phrase quoted, a doctrine or a
+principle named, and then will follow, as the night<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+the day, the tiresome old formula, "What do you
+understand by this, Miss A&mdash;&mdash;?" One would be
+quite safe in declaring, at any particular instant during
+common Sunday-school hours, that one-fourth of
+the Sunday-school teachers of the world were repeating,
+with united breath, that Methuselah of a query,
+"What do you understand by this?"</p>
+
+<p>Again, a good question must be swift. It must
+come so quickly that there will be no time to get out
+of the way. Some questions that, if written out, would
+not be bad, are prolonged in the utterance of over-deliberate
+teachers like foggy illustrations of the law
+of perspective. Good questions leap. You feel their
+buoyancy as you read them or hear them. It is like
+the huntsman springing into the saddle and shouting,
+"Come on!" No one with an atom of thoughtfulness
+is dull to the exhilaration of spirited questions.
+They have inspired all the wise thinking of
+the world.</p>
+
+<p>And, finally, good questions should be absolutely
+clear. There is one thing in the world that must
+always be faultlessly perspicuous and distinct, and
+that is a marching order in time of battle. Now,
+questions are the marching orders of our scholars'
+brain regiments, in a battle of infinite moment. Let
+them ring clearly as ever bugle-call was sounded.
+Questions mumbled, hesitant, caught up and patched
+over, confused and slovenly,&mdash;what wonder if these
+get slow and mumbled answers? A question clearly
+put, not only proves that the questioner has clear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
+ideas, but it wondrously clarifies the ideas of the
+answerer.</p>
+
+<p>Good questions, then, are thought-compelling,
+varied, short, personal, piquant, unhackneyed, brisk,
+and clear. Do I ask too much? Nothing that all
+may not acquire, if but a tithe of the zeal and labor
+claimed by the trivialities of a few years are spent
+upon these issues of eternity. Let every teacher consider
+what characteristics of a good questioner he
+may add to his pedagogical outfit.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XII" id="Chapter_XII"></a>Chapter XII</h2>
+
+<h2>Inspiring Questions</h2>
+
+
+<p>I use this title advisedly, because I believe that it
+requires more genuine inspiration to lead the average
+scholar to ask questions than to perform any other
+part of the teacher's difficult task. How easy to ask
+our own questions, to put in our own answers in order
+to draw them out again, were that all of it! But to
+transform the passive into the active, the auditor into
+the investigator, the questioned into the questioner,
+that is the goal of the true teacher's endeavor.</p>
+
+<p>Shall we count a recitation successful when the
+teacher has been earnest and zealous in his inquisition,
+the scholars ready and full in their responses?
+A single question, borne, it may be, on a voice so
+timid that it is scarcely audible in the buzzing room,
+yet sprung from some young heart just moved with
+the sudden desire of truth, is worth all the rest.</p>
+
+<p>If the teacher wishes to carry his scholars beyond
+the parasite stage, which is just as dangerous intellectually
+as physically, both to the parasite and its supporter,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+he must learn first that this weaning comes
+not without thoughtfulness and design. He must
+learn that, even more carefully than he plans the
+questions he is to ask his scholars, he must plan to
+inspire them to ask questions themselves. He will
+be most successful if, from the many matters which
+could be brought up in the lesson, he selects two or
+three of prime importance, and schemes to elicit the
+questioning enthusiasm of his class along those few
+lines. But how to do it?</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, the teacher must be a questioner
+himself. An old hen can hardly teach the eagle's
+brood to fly. Do not hesitate to tell your scholars
+of the doubts you once had, and how you won certainty
+from them. Show them by example that doubt
+is never a thing to be afraid of or ashamed of, unless
+it be a lazy doubt, viciously pleased with its own fog.</p>
+
+<p>Then there is a question-inspiring face and attitude.
+If the teacher assumes the manner pontific
+and speaks <i>ex cathedra</i>, and has the air of one who
+says the ultimate word, he will smother every question.
+A sympathetic, open face, and the hearty spirit
+of good-fellowship, are the best invitations to inquiries.</p>
+
+<p>Nor must the teacher be in a hurry, hastening from
+verse to verse with the nervous dispatch of an auctioneer.
+How many times must even a wise man
+look at a beetle, and how long, before he is moved
+to ask a wise question concerning it? Don't we
+sometimes make the recitation a mere exhibition of
+shooting-stars?</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then, too, be on the watch for questions. How
+far ahead can you see a question coming? Before
+the scholar has made up his mind to ask it, if you
+have seeing eyes. An almost imperceptible quiver
+of the lips: "Question, Thomas?" Eyes suddenly
+wider: "What were you about to ask, Mary?"
+Forehead wrinkled: "Anything to say on that point,
+Edward?"</p>
+
+<p>And if the question is a good one, why, "A capital
+question, Thomas!" "I hoped that some one would
+ask that, Mary!" A good question is more to be
+praised than a good answer, because it is rarer and
+more original; but does it always receive our hearty
+commendation?</p>
+
+<p>Though the question leads you far out of your way,
+turn aside for it as gladly as you would turn from
+the road to pick up a diamond. Though you must
+leave the climax of the lesson unreached, see in this
+the climax. Though you are in full harangue, eagerly
+showing forth some great truth, stop short at once.
+A question in hand is worth a whole system of theology
+in the bush.</p>
+
+<p>And even if the question be trivial, or pointless, or
+utterly irrelevant, in anticipation of other possible
+questions, this one is not to be scornfully or slightingly
+waved aside. Don't kill the goose that lays golden
+eggs when she chances to lay one of pewter!</p>
+
+<p>Half-statements, when shrewdly managed, will
+often elicit questions. "Yes, God was terribly angry
+with the Jews,&mdash;terribly. Think how powerful God<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
+is, and how awful his anger must be! You want to
+ask something, Billy? Whether it is right for God
+to be angry? Well, I am glad you asked that, because
+I want to tell you the difference between his
+anger and ours."</p>
+
+<p>An over-statement will often draw out the longed-for
+inquiry. "When John urged every one with two
+coats to give one to some person who had no coat,
+what did he mean but this,&mdash;that, as long as any one
+in the world is poor, those who have more than they
+need ought to keep giving to those who have less
+than they need? I see that you have a word for us,
+Lizzie. What is it? How about the lazy people
+and the bad men? I hoped some one would bring
+up that point!"</p>
+
+<p>And when your half-statement or over-statement
+is accepted without remonstrance by your scholars,
+a little jolly scolding as you make the correction yourself,
+and a warning that they must do better thinking
+the next time, will work wonders.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes the best plan is a direct call. "What
+do you think about that statement, now? Haven't
+you some question to ask about it? Don't you want
+to know something more about it?" If not a question
+follows, at least the scholars will know that you
+are expecting them to originate lines of thought and
+inquiry; and that is one thing gained.</p>
+
+<p>This question is sometimes asked: "What modern
+teacher is so successful as Socrates, who made his
+scholars teachers in their turn?" The question<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>
+touches a fundamental truth in pedagogics,&mdash;that the
+teacher's goal is the scholar's independence of the
+teacher. By brave example of sturdy thought, by
+sympathetic insight into the doubts and needs of the
+opening mind, by enthusiasm and winning tact, let
+us strive in this direction, as in all others, to be worthy
+followers of Him who made of his disciples teachers
+at whose feet the great Greek himself would have
+been glad to sit.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XIII" id="Chapter_XIII"></a>Chapter XIII</h2>
+
+<h2>Trigger-Teaching</h2>
+
+
+<p>The hard-working Sunday-school teacher picks up
+his cartridge, proudly carries it to the desired destination,
+and there explodes it. The shrewd Sunday-school
+teacher uses the scholar as a rifle, and simply
+pulls the trigger. Some teachers, that is, consider
+themselves as big guns. Other and better teachers
+seek to make practical working guns of their scholars.
+Between the two styles of teaching there is this difference,
+that the trigger-teaching usually hits the mark,
+while the big-gun teacher finds that the mark, if it is
+a live one, has taken itself out of the way by the time
+he has carried the cartridge to it.</p>
+
+<p>In big-gun teaching the teacher does everything
+for the scholar; in trigger-teaching the teacher does
+nothing for the scholar that he can help. In big-gun
+teaching the teacher thinks; in trigger-teaching
+the teacher thinks how to get his scholars to think.
+Big-gun teaching parades; trigger-teaching stays in
+the tent and issues orders. Big-gun teaching is amusing;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>
+trigger-teaching is suggestive. Big-gun teaching
+develops the teacher; trigger-teaching develops the
+scholar. The teacher's true work is to educate, and
+"educate" means "to draw out," and not "to carry
+to."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! our scholars are not loaded," I hear many
+teachers object. "If we should pull the trigger, there
+would follow only a ridiculous click."</p>
+
+<p>But your scholars <i>are</i> loaded, objectors. Though
+they may not be loaded with precisely the information
+you have been seeking from them, they are loaded with
+experiences,&mdash;all their short lives will hold. They
+are loaded with temptations and troubles and needs.
+They are loaded with questions and curiosity. They
+have information, too, any amount of it, that may be
+brought into suggestive connection with the lesson,
+if you know how to make shrewd use of their public-school
+history and geography and science.</p>
+
+<p>To be sure, they probably know nothing definite
+about the time of the lesson's events, or the place, or
+the persons, or the circumstances. Well, make them
+load themselves. As you rehearse these facts concisely,
+make your scholars write them on slips of
+paper. Send one to the board, to set down what you
+dictate. Get one of their number to read aloud some
+brief and comprehensive summary of the lesson details.
+In one or all of these ways make them load
+themselves, and then&mdash;nothing is accomplished if
+you stop here&mdash;pull the trigger!</p>
+
+<p>More than on any other thing save the help of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>
+the Holy Spirit, a teacher's success depends on the
+use he makes of the fact that his scholars are already
+loaded to some effective purpose; and the wise
+teacher will always ask himself, in the course of his
+preparation for the lesson, "What experiences of the
+members of my class will help them understand this
+lesson and its truths?" One has been sick lately.
+One is studying geology. One has a father who is
+a banker. One has just seen the Mammoth Cave.</p>
+
+<p>If these things are to be likened to the bullets and
+shot, what is the powder? Must the teacher depend
+for that, too, largely on the pupil? Yes.</p>
+
+<p>To be sure, much of the powder of successful teaching
+is the zeal and eagerness of the teacher himself.
+But his interest is a smokeless powder like the fulminating
+powder of the cap, whose value is solely to
+set fire to the powder of the scholar when the trigger
+is pulled. The scholar's interest, the scholar's powder,
+it is that must be relied upon to do the work, to carry
+the ball.</p>
+
+<p>And so in trigger-teaching, much depends on the
+teacher's ability to excite curiosity and arouse interest.
+He will study his scholars' likings, and appeal to them
+in his illustrations; their needs, and refer to them in
+his applications. Sometimes he will state the matter
+too strongly, sometimes too feebly; in each case,
+with the express intention to draw out their protest.
+He will know how to use paradox so as to arouse,
+but not confuse. He will study different methods of
+emphasis, and will not use one alone. From each<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>
+lesson he will select one truth, and one only, which
+he will treat with all the ardor of a lawyer arguing a
+matter of life or death. Above all, he will remember
+that the Spirit alone quickeneth, and will earnestly
+pray that fire from heaven may be added to his own
+little fulminating cap.</p>
+
+<p>But many a teacher, conscious of all that I have
+been saying, does not know how to pull the trigger.
+It is not so simple in the Sunday-school as in the
+school of the battalion. The artful teacher will find
+many ways of trigger-pulling, suited to the diverse
+and changing needs of his class and of his topic.
+Sometimes he will put in the scholars' hands paper
+and pencil, and set them to writing or drawing. Sometimes
+he will send them in turn to his blackboard.
+Sometimes he will elicit the entire story from one,
+sometimes from ten. Sometimes he will introduce
+pictures for them to talk about, or maps for them to
+travel over, or objects for them to group their words
+and thoughts around. Always, however, he will remember
+that his best trigger is the little trigger-shaped
+interrogation-point. He will ask questions himself
+with the effectiveness born of careful preparation.
+Better than that, he will get his scholars to ask questions.
+In all these ways, and as many more as there
+are Sundays in the year, the wise teacher will pull
+the trigger.</p>
+
+<p>Let no one pass from big-gun teaching to trigger-teaching
+with the idea that the latter will prove the
+easier. It is far more difficult to make the cartridge<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>
+than to pick up and carry the ball which the cartridge
+would propel; but, for effective and profitable teaching,
+better ten minutes' work done by the class than
+an hour's work done by you in the presence of the
+class, even though to do the latter is far easier than
+to elicit the former.</p>
+
+<p>If&mdash;as those who have been doing it all themselves
+will doubtless find it&mdash;this trigger-teaching comes
+especially hard at first, let them begin with getting
+their scholars to do <i>something</i> at first hand, though
+only a little, and let them work their way slowly to
+the pedagogical perfection of getting their scholars
+to do everything.</p>
+
+<p>And does any one fear that this will destroy the
+personality and personal influence of the teacher?
+On the contrary, the trigger-teacher has to put ten
+times more of himself into every lesson than the big-gun
+teacher. The scholars get more of his personality,
+at the same time that they are gloriously, though
+unconsciously, developing their own.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XIV" id="Chapter_XIV"></a>Chapter XIV</h2>
+
+<h2>Galvanic Teaching</h2>
+
+
+<p>In his exceedingly suggestive book entitled "Before
+an Audience" Mr. Shepard insists strenuously
+on what he calls "physical earnestness" in a speaker.
+It is not meant by this that we are to go before our
+scholars with our nerves a-quiver, with headaches
+coming on, with our brains throbbing and our muscles
+drawn tight. A speaker must be, as Mr. Shepard
+insists, an animal galvanic battery on two legs. He
+must be at something corresponding to electric tension.
+He must be in earnest with his body, not lazy
+with it. No teacher who is not spirited will succeed
+with children, or with any one, long.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing will more quickly win and permanently
+hold a child's attention than earnestness. Children's
+capacity for serious thinking is greatly undervalued.
+There is more philosophy in them than you dream of.
+They are very much in earnest themselves, and they
+rejoice to see other people very much in earnest.</p>
+
+<p>I do not mean by this that one should always be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>
+serious with them. Nothing will gain their attention
+more than a joke; but joking with children is as
+dangerous as feeding them candy. They have no
+more taste henceforth for anything else, and to keep
+their attention you must continue to feed them candy
+and deal out jokes. The most successful teachers of
+children, judging not by the interest of the children so
+much as by permanent spiritual results, are those that
+are always deeply in earnest; and yet their earnestness
+is shot through and through with the sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>The intensity I am advocating must not be the
+intensity of an auger, that bores. Oh, if teachers
+only knew enough not to teach too much! If one
+good idea is got into the heads of the children as the
+result of the lesson half-hour, then you have scored
+a victory. If you try to get in eight good ideas, you
+will not score one-eighth of a victory. Some teachers
+that I know want to get the whole body of theology
+and the entire system of ethics into each lesson.
+They skip with haste from truth to mighty truth,
+crowding into a lesson twenty weighty points, each
+one of which would be amply sufficient for the half-hour.
+The result is an impossibility of attention, for
+not enough is given about any one thing to fix it and
+hold it down.</p>
+
+<p>Our Sunday-school teaching reminds me sometimes
+of a daily paper&mdash;all cut up into paragraphic
+articles; and if there is any topic of universal knowledge
+omitted, it will appear in the evening edition.
+A confirmed newspaper reader has become incapable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>
+of following an extended discussion, or of reading a
+book. I have stood before Sunday-school classes to
+which their teacher was in the habit of propounding
+a series of disconnected questions from a book or
+paper, and I have found it quite impossible to hold
+the attention of such classes for any length of time
+on one matter. They were anxious for another paragraph,
+for fresh head-lines, for a change of subject.</p>
+
+<p>Most Sunday-school lessons are fruitful of multitudinous
+suggestions. Let us not teach so much that
+we teach nothing, or, worse than nothing, instruct in
+mental dissipation instead of mental concentration.
+We prepare for teaching with the lesson hour in view;
+we should rather have in view the hour following the
+lesson hour. What impression do we intend the lesson
+to make? How are we going to make the lesson
+stand out in relief?</p>
+
+<p>I must now set off against the law of intensity the
+complementary law of motion. A mesmeric patient
+is sent into the hypnotic trance by continued staring
+at the same stationary object. This looks like perfect
+attention, but it results in sleep. There is a
+verbal hypnotism that is very common when teachers
+are trying to impress an idea by holding it up stolidly
+and persistently before the eyes of their scholars.
+That is not what I mean by intensity, and it is one
+of the commonest ways of destroying attention.</p>
+
+<p>If you are anxious to impress a truth and yet hold
+attention, you must do it by presenting now this side
+of the truth and now that, now with parable and now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>
+with allegory, now with appeal and now with testimony,
+experience, quotation, objects. Arrived at the
+end, do not press the point against the scholars and
+stick it into them, but if they do not see it, go back
+and pass over the matter in a different way.</p>
+
+<p>Moving bodies draw and hold the eye. Every one
+must look at a shooting star, a jumping horse, a running
+man, a flying bird, a rising kite. To keep attention,
+our lessons must have what the critics of novels
+call "movement." There is to be no still life in our
+pictures. Everything must be stirring, dramatic.</p>
+
+<p>An accomplished teacher must have the power of
+painting word-pictures. It is not a difficult art.
+Hard study and zealous "putting yourself in his
+place" will accomplish it. Some way or other we
+must get the persons of the lesson clearly before our
+scholars' eyes, the scenes as if the scholars were surrounded
+by them, if we would maintain their attention.
+And even if the lesson is impersonal, we must
+dramatize it, we must invent situations and persons
+to illustrate the abstract thought, or we must draw
+illustrations from real history. These must all be
+real to us, or they will never be real to our scholars.
+Pictures always hold the attention of children. Let us
+remember this when we talk to them. Children are
+fond of motion. Let our teaching move briskly, then.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XV" id="Chapter_XV"></a>Chapter XV</h2>
+
+<h2>Serial Teaching</h2>
+
+
+<p>There are short-story writers who are able to hold
+our attention charmingly for an episode, and there are
+other minds which are able to lead us entranced
+through the varied scenes of a long serial. So also
+there is short-story Sunday-school teaching and serial
+Sunday-school teaching. Short-story teaching treats
+each lesson as a separate unit; serial teaching considers
+each lesson a part only of a great, united whole.</p>
+
+<p>Short-story teaching is far easier than serial teaching.
+It is concerned with but one set of circumstances,
+persons, and principles. For the serial
+teacher, on the contrary, every lesson must include a
+review and a prospectus. He must learn to see
+things in their relations. He must have a good
+memory, and a better imagination, to make his
+memory buoyant. This is not easy; and therefore it
+is that short-story teaching is much commoner than
+serial teaching.</p>
+
+<p>And yet serial teaching is the right kind of teaching,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+for the following reasons. Just as a fine serial
+story adds to the enthusiasm for good numbers of a
+periodical, and tides over poor numbers, so, if you can
+get up a serial interest in your teaching, it will increase
+the interest of the good days, and will tide over with
+full seats and bright eyes the rainy, or cold, or hot, or
+sleepy days.</p>
+
+<p>Besides, Christianity is a whole, and each of its
+many parts interdependent. We must not teach it,
+therefore, as if it were a patchwork, capable of being
+taken apart and put together as men will. We do
+wrong to the great system we teach, if our lessons do
+not leave the impression of a vast, coherent fabric,&mdash;too
+vast for one lesson to disclose, too coherent for
+one lesson to stand out apart.</p>
+
+<p>Besides, however our lessons may change, our
+scholars are still the same; and this continuity of
+listeners should impart a serial interest to the teaching.
+Cause the scholars to feel that each lesson is to
+make definite contribution to their growth in knowledge
+and character. It won't hurt them if they are
+as mechanical about it as Peter, and enumerate, lesson
+after lesson, as in the apostle's famous addition-table,
+the virtues those lessons may add to their lives.</p>
+
+<p>For these three reasons, then, our teaching should
+contain some strong element of serial interest. Many
+teachers err in using only one sort of connecting link,
+year in, year out, and are as likely to fail as the
+periodical which always prints serial stories of the
+same kind of plot, scenes, and characters. I will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>
+mention several serial elements which a wise teacher
+will use in turn, holding to one long enough for profit,
+but not too long for interest.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, it is often well to make the serial
+biographical. Your serial has then a hero. Moses,
+Joshua, Samuel, Saul, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha,
+Daniel, John, Peter, Paul, Mary,&mdash;what glorious
+groups of chapters these names bind together! If
+we are zealous, patient, and imaginative, we can easily,
+with this magnificent material, construct for our
+classes serials whose absorbing interest will vie with
+any in their pet weekly story-paper. We can lead
+them to eager study of a man's development in character
+and in fortune.</p>
+
+<p>At other times it is better to trust for the serial interest
+to history,&mdash;to study the evolution of a nation
+as before of a man. The wondrous tale of the rise
+of the Hebrews from Abraham, their metamorphosis
+under Moses, their consolidation under judges, their
+expansion under kings, their division, their downfall,
+their restoration, their subjugation, their new birth in
+Him who was before Abraham,&mdash;this story may be
+made to have a deep and constant serial interest.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, with either the biographical or historical
+serial plan, great pains must be taken with that bugbear
+of the average teacher,&mdash;what the lesson-helps
+call intervening events, but many a scholar calls intervening
+mystifications. Often fully half the lesson-time
+should be given to them. Usually the antecedents
+they contain are absolutely necessary for an understanding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>
+of the lesson,&mdash;text, persons, and principles.
+With them you teach history; without, episodes.
+They mean work, to be sure; but all unifying and
+solidifying means work.</p>
+
+<p>At still other times or with other classes it is well
+to let the serial interest center around principles.
+Treat one group of lessons as illustrating the manly
+or unmanly qualities; consider another group primarily
+as a commentary on truth and falsehood; let
+your binding topic for another set be "What is True
+Religion?" "Sin and Salvation," "Serving and
+Served," "Success and Failure,"&mdash;how many lessons
+could be clustered naturally about these topics!
+Children are characteristically philosophers, and a
+treatment of Sunday-school lessons as illustrating
+different phases of some great truth is a method very
+attractive to them. "What does the Bible teach
+about truth-telling, about penalty for sin, about the
+conditions of happiness?" Sunday-school scholars
+should be ready to answer such questions, not by
+haphazard impromptus, but by a careful presentation
+of events, characters, and sayings bearing on each
+point, and representing the whole Bible.</p>
+
+<p>Another excellent way of binding lessons together
+is by the scholars themselves. As I said, however the
+lessons change, the scholars remain the same, with the
+same prominent troubles, faults, and needs. Both
+they and you should know what these are. I often
+have scholars who bring up, Sunday after Sunday, in
+connection with topics the most diverse, the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>
+questions, which are evidently stumbling-blocks to
+their minds and lives. These are usually practical
+matters wherein the Christian imperatives are strangely
+incongruous with worldly habits, such as the choice
+of a calling, absolute frankness of speech, public testimony
+for Christ, the careful observance of the Sabbath,
+sharp competition in trade. These are too big
+questions to be settled in a few minutes, and young
+folks who are seized by them in earnest have found
+for themselves a serial interest which will last for
+some time.</p>
+
+<p>If we cannot take advantage of such a linking
+which our scholars discover for themselves, we can
+always bind lessons together by our own knowledge
+of our scholars' needs. If you have a young man in
+your class to whom the skepticism of the times is
+alluring, let him find something faith-inspiring and
+confirmatory of belief in every lesson. If you have
+a young girl burdened with sick-room duties and home
+cares beyond her strength, let her know that each
+lesson will bring her fresh energy and comfort. You
+need not tell your scholars that you know their struggles.
+Enough that you do know them, and link lesson
+to lesson for them in sweet chains of love and helpfulness.</p>
+
+<p>When, by any of the four methods I have outlined,
+you thus establish a bond between your lessons, you
+have gained two great advantages besides the serial
+interest which you have aroused. In the first place,
+you study the Bible as a whole, not by extracts.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>
+You learn to interpret one portion by another. You
+find out the fallacy of fragments. You perceive that
+Christianity is a system, and not an anthology. In
+the second place, you have solved the review problem,
+for every lesson is now a review. If you were required
+to remember, in order, twelve words chosen at
+random, you would find it somewhat difficult; but it
+would be easy enough if those twelve words were arranged
+in a sentence. Serial teaching is building up
+a sentence, and the review is merely repeating that
+sentence. A serial teacher has no fear of review day.
+The short-story teacher is compelled to find for that
+day a new short story.</p>
+
+<p>Now, have I not reserved mention of the one great
+tie of all our teaching? Whether Old Testament or
+New, history, prophecy, proverbs, or psalms, it is all
+one continued story, and the hero is Christ. By whatever
+unifying principle we group our lessons together,
+Christ unifies the groups. Year in, year out, if Christ
+is at the heart of our teaching, that teaching is consecutive,
+serial, solid. Without him, it is disjointed, fragmentary,
+frail. Not retracting a word I have written
+about the value of these other methods of arousing
+continued interest, yet it must be said that they are all
+worthless without Christ. In him each several building,
+fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple
+in the Lord.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XVI" id="Chapter_XVI"></a>Chapter XVI</h2>
+
+<h2>Teaching the Psalms</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Lesson Committee often assigns us two or
+three lessons in a book, and from these few lessons the
+scholars must get some comprehensive knowledge of
+the entire book. A book study, therefore, will not be
+out of place in this series of suggestions to teachers,
+and I have chosen the Psalms, since they are likely
+to be most fruitful of hints as to the teaching of other
+books.</p>
+
+<p>A systematic knowledge of the Psalms is rarely
+sought after. Only one book of the Bible is more
+loved: the Gospel of John; only one is read less
+methodically: the Book of Proverbs.</p>
+
+<p>It is the fault of many teachers that they teach all
+books of the Bible in the same way. Prophecy, history,
+poetry, prose, Ruth and Revelation, John and
+Judges,&mdash;it is all one to them. The Psalms, like all
+other books of the Bible, are unique, and need their
+own especial mode of treatment. Here are some hints
+concerning this treatment.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Get first, from the Revised Version, a comprehensive
+idea of the five Books of Psalms, with their similar
+endings. Note their length and the total number of
+psalms. From the Bible dictionary learn what you
+can about the time when these books were collected,
+and the probable authors of the anonymous psalms.</p>
+
+<p>Study the psalms by types. We have the First
+Psalm, which contrasts the good and evil. Psalms
+of the Good are 1, 26, 41, 72, 94, 101, 126, 127,
+128, 144. Psalms of the Evil are 10, 14, 36, 37,
+49, 52, 53, 58, 64, 73, 82, 109, 129, 140. The Second
+is a Psalm of Power. Others are 11, 21, 24, 29, 47,
+48, 60, 76, 77, 83, 97, 108, 111, 114, 139. The
+Nineteenth and the One Hundred and Third are
+Psalms of Praise. With these study 8, 9, 18, 30,
+33, 34, 44, 65, 66, 67, 68, 75, 85, 89, 90, 92, 93, 95,
+96, 98, 99, 100, 104, 105, 106, 107, 112, 113, 117,
+118, 134, 135, 136, 138, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149,
+150. The Second and the Seventy-second are
+Messianic Psalms. So also are Psalms 45 and 110.
+The Twenty-third is a Psalm of Trust. Similar psalms
+are 4, 7, 16, 27, 31, 56, 62, 71, 91, 125, 131. The
+Fifty-first is a Psalm of Forgiveness. Such, too, are
+25, 32, 39, 40, 80, 81. With Psalm 84, a Psalm of
+Worship, go 15, 42, 50, 57, 63, 87, 115, 122, 132,
+133. Besides these, the following may be classified
+as Psalms of Help: 3, 12, 20, 35, 43, 46, 59, 61,
+70, 79, 121, 124; the following as Psalms of Sorrow:
+6, 13, 22, 38, 55, 69, 74, 88, 102, 120, 137, 143; and
+the following as Psalms of Prayer: 5, 17, 28, 54,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>
+86, 116, 123, 130, 141, 142. Psalms 78 and 119 are
+Psalms of the Law. Of course, this is only a rough
+classification of the psalms. It will be a pleasant and
+valuable task for you to classify them more elaborately.</p>
+
+<p>Read again the life of David, found in the passage
+from 1 Samuel 16:1 to 1 Kings 2:11. In connection
+with each psalm you read, think what may have
+been the king's fortunes when he wrote it, or what
+experience of his may have prompted it. This psalm
+of sorrow may have had birth in Absalom's revolt;
+this song of trust may have welled from a rock of
+hiding in the desert; this hymn of triumphant strain
+may have celebrated some victory over Saul or the
+Syrians; this pleading for forgiveness may have been
+a wail over Uriah.</p>
+
+<p>The psalms are all dramatic. Here, more than anywhere
+in the study of the Bible, you need to use imagination,
+to "put yourself in his place." The psalms
+are in the first person. Fancy yourself the psalmist
+as you read his songs. Pray his prayers, exult in his
+praise, beat your breast with his agony of shame, be
+calm in his assurance of forgiveness and peace.</p>
+
+<p>In like manner, as you prepare to teach, fancy times
+in your scholars' lives to which these psalms will apply,
+times when it would be well for them to sing these
+psalms, and teach with these times in clear view.</p>
+
+<p>Be sure thus to translate David's experience into
+that of your scholars. These psalms are of universal
+moment, as they come so directly from David's heart,
+and God's; and yet they need this translation, because<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>
+David's surroundings were not ours. His foes,
+his sins, his exiles, his triumphs, were not ours in form,
+however much the same in reality.</p>
+
+<p>There are frequent quotations of the psalms to be
+found in the later books of the Bible. These, especially
+those made by Christ and the apostles, constitute
+a priceless commentary. Search for them with
+the help of a concordance or a reference Bible.</p>
+
+<p>Aside from this, the psalms are especially fit for
+illustrative quotations, and the children may be inspired
+to gather them eagerly. Assign to each scholar
+a verse for illustration from some other part of the
+Bible, in some such way as this:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<i>The Lord is my shepherd.</i>"</p>
+
+<p class="regindent1">"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd
+layeth down his life for the sheep" (John 10:11).</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I shall not want.</i>"</p>
+
+<p class="regindent1">"Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need
+of all these things. But seek ye first his kingdom
+and his righteousness, and all these things shall
+be added unto you" (Matt. 7:32, 33).</p>
+
+<p>"<i>He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.</i>"</p>
+
+<p class="regindent1">"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
+laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28).</p>
+
+<p>"<i>He leadeth me beside the still waters.</i>"</p>
+
+<p class="regindent1">"Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
+him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall
+give him shall become in him a well of water,
+springing up unto eternal life" (John 4:14).</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"<i>He restoreth my soul.</i>"</p>
+
+<p class="regindent1">"I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25).</p>
+
+<p>"<i>He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his
+name's sake.</i>"</p>
+
+<p class="regindent1">"I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no
+one cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John
+14:6).</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow
+of death, I will fear no evil.</i>"</p>
+
+<p class="regindent1">"Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never
+die" (John 11:26).</p>
+
+<p>"<i>For thou art with me.</i>"</p>
+
+<p class="regindent1">"Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of
+the world" (Matt. 28:20).</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.</i>"</p>
+
+<p class="regindent1">"I will pray the Father, and he shall give you
+another Comforter, that he may be with you forever,
+even the Spirit of truth" (John 14:16, 17).</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of
+mine enemies.</i>"</p>
+
+<p class="regindent1">"I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me
+shall not hunger" (John 6:35).</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Thou anointest my head with oil.</i>"</p>
+
+<p class="regindent1">"Grace and peace ... from Jesus the anointed, ... who
+has made us to be kings and priests
+unto his God and Father" (Rev. 1:4-6).</p>
+
+<p>"<i>My cup runneth over.</i>"</p>
+
+<p class="regindent1">"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation
+in the blood of Christ?" (1 Cor. 10:16.)</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"<i>Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
+days of my life.</i>"</p>
+
+<p class="regindent1">"These things have I spoken unto you, that my
+joy may be in you, and that your joy may be
+fulfilled" (John 15:11).</p>
+
+<p>"<i>And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.</i>"</p>
+
+<p class="regindent1">"In my Father's house are many abiding-places....
+I go to prepare a place for you" (John
+14:2).</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>In preparing for this exercise the children will learn
+how to use the Bible index and the concordance.</p>
+
+<p>Watch the paragraphs of the Revised Version.
+They make useful indications of the passage from one
+thought to the other.</p>
+
+<p>The psalms lend themselves well to the useful exercises
+of analysis, condensation, and paraphrase.
+Get your scholars to write out for you, one, a brief
+tabular statement of the contents of the psalm;
+another, the thought of the psalm in words of his
+own; a third, the substance of the psalm, with all
+superfluous words and repetitions omitted.</p>
+
+<p>It is a capital plan to underscore in your Bibles,
+and get your scholars in the course of the lesson to
+underscore in theirs, the key-sentences of the psalm.
+In the First Psalm, for instance, you have in bold relief
+the main thought of the six verses if you underscore
+"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the
+counsel of the wicked. Whatsoever he doeth shall
+prosper. The wicked are not so." There is your
+outline.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Do not rest satisfied until, for your scholars and for
+you, the psalm you are studying is a unit, and stands
+out in your minds with clear-cut individuality. It is
+especially necessary to get through with the entire
+text when your lesson is in the Psalms. It is not like
+a series of disconnected proverbs: it is a picture; and
+your understanding of it will lack some essential part
+until you have all the verses.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, I would go over each psalm with the class
+at least five times, rapidly: first, to remove stumbling-blocks
+of strange customs and expressions; second,
+to grasp the general thought; third, to get its application
+to David's life; fourth, to get its lesson for our
+lives; fifth, a verse-by-verse study for all possible
+side-lights and instruction.</p>
+
+<p>Observe the parallel expressions. Use only the
+Revised Version, which correctly prints the psalms
+as poetry. Read them rhythmically; chant them;
+intone them; get the impression of songs. Come to
+feel the beauty and meaning of the frequent refrains.</p>
+
+<p>Go on a tour of discovery, seeking for the noble
+metrical translations of these psalms found in our
+hymn-books and religious anthologies. For Psalm
+19 read Addison's magnificent hymn, "The spacious
+firmament on high"; for Psalm 103, H. F. Lyte's
+"Praise, my soul, the King of heaven," or Isaac
+Watts' "My soul, repeat His praise"; for Psalm
+72, James Montgomery's "Hail to the Lord's
+Anointed, great David's greater Son!" or Isaac Watts'
+"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does his successive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>
+journeys run"; for Psalm 84, H. F. Lyte's
+"Pleasant are Thy courts above," or Isaac Watts'
+"Lord of the worlds above"; for Psalm 23, Addison's
+"The Lord my pasture shall prepare," or others
+more familiar; and for other psalms the same writers,
+with Wesley, John Newton, Scott, and many more.
+Your scholars will be interested in searching for these,
+and bringing them in.</p>
+
+<p>Suppose we were studying an English hymn-book.
+What would we ask first about each hymn? We
+would ask what sentiment it was capable of inspiring.
+The same question is to be asked about these inspired
+hymns; and throughout each of them we are to trace
+not so much a train of thought as a train of feeling.</p>
+
+<p>The psalms are subjective, and for that reason are
+particularly hard, some of them, for children to appreciate.
+We must interpret them all the more thoroughly
+by objective illustrations. Here the ordinary problem
+is reversed. In our ordinary lessons the example
+from real life is given, and from it the teacher
+must draw spiritual lessons. Here the spiritual meditation
+is given, to be applied to real life.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding this, the psalms are eminently
+pictorial, and especially adapted to illustration. See
+how many pictures are suggested by the following
+words from the most famous of the psalms: "shepherd,"
+"want," "lie down," "green pastures," "leadeth,"
+"still waters," "guideth," "paths," "valley of
+the shadow," "rod and staff," "a table prepared,"
+"enemies," "anointed," "cup runneth over." All<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>
+such pictures should be gathered, and used to make
+the lesson vivid to the picture-loving little ones.</p>
+
+<p>There is especial need in teaching the psalms to
+explain how the force of imagery varies with varying
+conditions of climate and modes of life; how much
+more, for instance, was meant to David than to us
+by such symbols as "a rock," "shadow," "sun,"
+"shield," "water-courses"!</p>
+
+<p>Children are fond of metaphors, but they make
+comical blunders with them, and deal, unless we are
+careful, all too literally with such passages as "a table
+in the presence of mine enemies," "the wicked are
+like the chaff," "the congregation of the righteous,"
+"break them with a rod of iron." If the teacher is
+in doubt just how far to carry these metaphors, I know
+no better example of the wise and beautiful use of
+them than Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." The reading
+of that book will make a capital preparation for
+the teaching of the psalms.</p>
+
+<p>Few lessons in the seven years' course will be so
+admirable as these for committing to memory. If
+you want to inspire your class to better work in that
+line, now is your time.</p>
+
+<p>Note that the psalms are all optimistic. Sound their
+key-note of peace and joy.</p>
+
+<p>Here, if anywhere in the Bible, spiritual teaching
+is needed. An essential part of the preparation for
+teaching the psalms is devout prayer.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XVII" id="Chapter_XVII"></a>Chapter XVII</h2>
+
+<h2>Those Temperance and Missionary Lessons</h2>
+
+
+<p>Intemperance is the church's greatest foe, missions
+her greatest task. Around these two topics
+cluster the highest chivalry, the most splendid romance,
+of our modern world. The shout of the battle
+is in them, the sweep of the regiment. No lessons
+are more important than those devoted to these two
+great themes, and none can be made more interesting.</p>
+
+<p>And yet to many a teacher they are bugbears. To
+these eight lessons&mdash;one sixth of the whole&mdash;they go
+with dull hearts. They do wish the Lesson Committee
+would leave them out of the list.</p>
+
+<p>What is the trouble? There is no life back of the
+lesson. They have "got up" their lesson as best
+they can; but a lesson is not got up, it grows up.
+They do not know enough about missions and the
+temperance reform to be interested in them. No
+information, no inspiration.</p>
+
+<p>To be sure, there are few passages in the Bible
+suitable for use in temperance lessons, and but few<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>
+referring directly to such enterprises as modern missions.
+The Acts record merely the beginnings of
+missions, and intemperance was scarcely a problem
+in New Testament days. Nevertheless, both temperance
+and missions find in the Book their fundamental
+and sufficient inspiration; and taking our
+starting-point from the lesson text, we may fairly
+launch forth into seas as wide as the world of men
+and action.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, so multiform are the phases of these two
+topics that to avoid confusion and leave clear impressions
+every temperance or missionary lesson
+should have a specialty. Let me indicate a few of
+the many possible themes.</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>A Bible Search.</i>&mdash;Spend the hour hunting out
+everything the Bible says upon temperance, or all the
+leading passages bearing on missions. The scholars
+will read them aloud. Some verses they will repeat
+from memory. They will mark them with colored
+pencils in their Bibles. They will discover the central
+thought in each reference and write it on the
+blackboard, thus building up a compact summary.
+The exercise has an air of finality that will please
+the scholars.</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>A Biographical Lesson.</i>&mdash;Let everything cluster
+around some great leader in missions or the temperance
+reform. For the latter, select John B. Gough,
+Miss Willard, Lady Henry Somerset, Father Mathew,
+Francis Murphy. For the great missionaries,&mdash;India:
+Carey, Heber, Martyn; Burmah: Judson; China:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>
+Nevius, Morrison, Gilmour; Japan: Neesima; Oceanica:
+Coan, Paton, Patteson; America: Gardiner,
+Eliot, Whitman, Brainerd; Turkey: Schauffler,
+Dwight, Hamlin; Africa: Livingstone, Mackay, Moffat,
+Taylor, Hannington. There is material enough
+for a lifetime of teaching!</p>
+
+<p>Get as many scholars as possible to read beforehand
+in the encyclopedia a short account of the chosen
+life. One of the class may write a five-minute essay
+upon the hero. Characteristic anecdotes concerning
+him may be distributed among the scholars for each
+to relate. No better series of short missionary biographies
+was ever published than that sold by the
+publishers of this book at the low price of 50 or 75
+cents a volume. Use them. If the class during the
+hour can really make the acquaintance of a great
+missionary or reformer, it will be vast gain.</p>
+
+<p>Another and most profitable kind of biographical
+meeting may be based, not upon single lives, but
+upon a group of lives. Study "The Great Missionaries
+of the Bible," "Bible Heroes of Temperance,"
+"Some Noble Lives Spoiled by Intemperance,"
+"Some Magnificent Missionaries of Our Denomination."</p>
+
+<p>3. <i>An Historical Lesson.</i>&mdash;The temperance reform
+has already a notable history, with many chapters
+worth careful study. Spend an hour with the Woman's
+Crusade,&mdash;its origin, its leaders, its many thrilling
+scenes, its notable results. The Washingtonian
+movement, the blue-ribbon movement, the World's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>
+Petition, "temperance in the White House,"&mdash;these
+are themes for other studies.</p>
+
+<p>And as for missions, the puzzle will be to know
+where to end, when there are, for instance, the "Serampore
+Brotherhood" to study, the "Lone Star"
+mission, the Madagascar martyrs, the China Inland
+Mission, the all-but-miracle of Metlakahtla, the conquest
+of Hawaii, the transformation of Fiji, the bloody
+chronicles of Uganda. With any one of these stories
+for a nucleus, your missionary lesson will be certain
+of leaving a deep impression.</p>
+
+<p>4. <i>An Organization Lesson.</i>&mdash;Study one or more
+of the great temperance organizations,&mdash;its origin,
+its noble leaders, its methods and aims, its practical
+results. The W. C. T. U. and the "Y's," the Good
+Templars, the National Temperance Society, the
+temperance work of Christian Endeavor societies,
+may be studied in this way.</p>
+
+<p>This plan is especially valuable for the missionary
+lessons, which should render your scholars familiar
+with the history and triumphs of each missionary
+board of your denomination, home and foreign. The
+remarkable circumstances of its founding, the heroic
+men and women it has sent forth (exhibit portraits),
+the places where it labors (show views), the periodicals
+it publishes (have samples to give away), a few round
+figures to set forth the results of it all,&mdash;that is a scanty
+outline. The larger work of the church would profit
+immensely by such use of an occasional missionary
+lesson.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>5. <i>A Newspaper Lesson.</i>&mdash;In another chapter I
+discuss the use that may wisely be made of the newspaper
+in our Sunday-school teaching. Once in a
+while the specialty of a lesson may be a study of
+current events in their bearing on missions or on the
+temperance reform.</p>
+
+<p>Some temperance orator has made a noble speech
+which you find well reported. The W. C. T. U. has
+just held its annual convention. Neal Dow's birthday
+has been widely celebrated. South Carolina has
+adopted its system of State dispensaries. A hot
+campaign for prohibition is in progress in Canada.
+The teacher that centers his lesson on one of these
+themes is sure of lively interest which may be led to
+practical result.</p>
+
+<p>Or, if it is missionary Sunday, let the teacher utilize
+the most absorbing topics of foreign news. It may
+be the Spanish seizure of the Caroline Islands, the
+French capture of Madagascar, the Japanese campaign
+in Formosa or that of the English in Matabeleland
+or the Soudan, the Italian war with Abyssinia,
+the Indian famine, the troubles in Crete, the massacres
+in Armenia. What scholar, after a lesson shrewdly
+introduced by such recitals, will fail to see that missions
+are a topic very much alive?</p>
+
+<p>6. <i>A Map Lesson.</i>&mdash;Few things condense, combine,
+and clarify bits of information like a map, provided
+you can put your information upon it. A map
+may be utilized in a temperance lesson in two good
+ways. If you are in a city, draw the streets of some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>
+section, or of the entire city, if possible. Send your
+scholars out along all streets, dividing them up, and
+have them count the saloons in each block, locating
+also the churches and schoolhouses. I suppose, of
+course, that your scholars are of suitable age for this
+work. Next Sunday, as they report, put a black spot
+on the map for every saloon, and a blue spot for
+every church and schoolhouse. Your map will point
+its own moral.</p>
+
+<p>At another time draw a map of the United States,
+and give a graphic view of the temperance laws of
+the land, coloring the prohibition States one color,
+using a different color to designate the Massachusetts
+plan, the South Carolina plan, and so on.</p>
+
+<p>More can be done with a map in a missionary lesson.
+For instance, you may select a single country, say
+India. Provide "stickers" of bright-colored paper.
+Let some be large and circular. As you talk about
+the four or five great languages of that many-tongued
+empire, get the scholars to fasten these "stickers" in
+the centers of the various language areas. Let other
+"stickers" be cut into small stars. Three of these,
+of one color, fastened in the neighborhoods of Bombay,
+Madura, and Ceylon, will represent the Congregational
+missions. In the same way you will show
+the location of the Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian
+missions and those of other denominations.
+Population "stickers" may also be used, and "stickers"
+with the names of great missionaries may show
+where they labored.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On another day you may take a map of the entire
+world, and thus indicate the location of all the mission
+fields of your denomination. If this map is kept before
+the class from that time, every item of missionary
+information will have fresh interest and point.</p>
+
+<p>7. <i>A Statistics Lesson.</i>&mdash;At this lesson distribute,
+for the scholars to read aloud, slips of paper containing
+temperance or missionary statistics,&mdash;the numbers
+of saloons or missionaries, of drunkards dying or
+converts made each day, the cost of missions or of
+strong drink compared with other expenditures, and
+the like. Get the class to cut strips of paper of various
+lengths to represent graphically the comparative
+costs. Drill the scholars in temperance or missionary
+arithmetic. Telling them the number of heathen in
+China, ask how long a procession they would make,
+marching in single file one foot apart. Giving them
+the liquor expenditure for a year, have them measure
+a pile of silver dollars and calculate how tall a pile
+would equal the annual cost of drink. Such books
+as "The Missionary Pastor," published by the Fleming
+H. Revell Company, and "Weapons for Temperance
+Warfare" and "Fuel for Missionary Fires,"
+published by the United Society of Christian Endeavor,
+will suggest many similar exercises.</p>
+
+<p>8. <i>A Quotations Lesson.</i>&mdash;The teacher holds in his
+hand a bunch of papers, on each of which is written
+an interesting quotation bearing on missions or temperance.
+The collection will include longer anecdotes
+as well as brisk sentences. Many will bear famous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>
+names. Each scholar will choose a quotation at
+random and read it aloud. The teacher will draw
+out its meaning by questions, will add illustrations
+and practical comments, will tell something about
+the author of the quotation, or will show the connection
+of the thought or anecdote with the day's lesson.
+In some classes the scholars themselves may be trusted
+to bring their own quotations or anecdotes.</p>
+
+<p>Let me mention briefly a few more devices out of
+the many that may add interest to these lessons. Get
+a trained worker along temperance or missionary
+lines to come in and address the class. Carry out a
+series of simple experiments showing the physiological
+effects of alcohol. Make a study of the best missionary
+hymns, their authors, and the events that
+prompted them. Try a fifteen-minute debate on some
+missionary or temperance topic. Get the scholars
+now and then to write five-minute essays or give five-minute
+talks on appropriate themes. Let one edit a
+temperance or missionary paper,&mdash;in manuscript, of
+course,&mdash;collecting contributions from each scholar,
+and reading the result before the class as a sample
+number of the "Cold Water Herald" or the "Missionary
+Monitor." Some Sunday, call on every member
+of the class to sign the pledge. On a mission
+Sabbath make an appeal for tithe-giving and present
+a tithe-givers' pledge. Give the wonderful history
+of the Student Volunteer movement, and urge the
+scholars to consider the mission field as a possibility
+for each one of them. Enliven some missionary lesson<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>
+with entertaining accounts of the strange customs of
+the country under discussion, and get together all the
+illustrative material you and your scholars can find.
+The Sunday-school and the Christian Endeavor society
+will do well to make a collection of curios for
+such purposes.</p>
+
+<p>It is an admirable plan to set each of your scholars
+to doing some steady work in preparation for these
+lessons. One may watch the newspapers and collect
+temperance facts and illustrations of the evils of
+strong drink. The various missionary societies of the
+denomination may be divided among the scholars,
+each to gather interesting bits concerning the work
+of the board assigned to him. In the same way the
+mission lands may be apportioned out, and "the
+gentleman from India" or "our representative in
+China" be called upon to report the latest news from
+his field. In this plan the children will <a name="cooperate" id="cooperate"></a>coöperate
+very zealously.</p>
+
+<p>Of course it goes without saying (<i>does</i> it, though?)
+that each teacher will be a subscriber to the missionary
+magazines of his own denomination, as well as to
+that common denominator of all the missionary magazines,
+the "Missionary Review of the World."</p>
+
+<p>He will also take, if possible, a good temperance
+paper, such as the "Union Signal" or the "National
+Temperance Advocate"; and if he can afford them,
+he will not be without the temperance and missionary
+encyclopedias.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, the theme branches out into channels so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>
+many and so wide that, when once the teacher is
+started upon them, his greatest lack will be of time
+for exploration; and so far from desiring the temperance
+and missionary lessons fewer than eight, he
+will wish it were possible for them to come every
+month!</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XVIII" id="Chapter_XVIII"></a>Chapter XVIII</h2>
+
+<h2>Topical Lessons</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Bible is so full of suggestion that it is impossible,
+in the brief Sunday-school half-hour, to view
+the many fields of thought opened before us with any
+degree of satisfying completeness. That fact, indeed,
+constitutes one of the greatest satisfactions of the
+Book.</p>
+
+<p>Neither teacher nor scholar can go very far with
+earnestness in Bible study without feeling an intense
+desire to collate and compare, to go to the bottom,
+to take views single in purpose, but wide in reach.
+This wish to read the Scriptures as a whole has ever
+been held a sign of healthful growth in Christian endeavor.
+How may we encourage and satisfy this
+desire? Here is a method I have repeatedly found
+helpful to my class and myself.</p>
+
+<p>I prepare for myself what I call topical lessons. I
+have noticed especial interest in some one topic,&mdash;the
+use of Sunday, say, or future punishment, heaven,
+prayer, abuse of money, missions, the nature of sin.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
+On some Sunday, then, I announce that one of these
+topics is to be discussed at next week's meeting. I
+ask the scholars to think the matter over, and look
+up texts. Some do, some do not, as is usual in such
+matters. Sunday come, I have in large script, pinned
+to the wall in view of the class, an outline of the
+topic chosen, with the texts to be used indicated in
+clear figures. It is intended for a lesson in methods
+of Bible study as much as in Bible contents, and so
+aims to be complete and thorough in its range. The
+plan is explained, and the scope of the subject. We
+take it up by natural divisions.</p>
+
+<p>All have Bibles, of course. The references are
+numbered. "Mr. Brown, please find No. 1; Mr.
+Jones, No. 2; Mr. Robinson, No. 3," and so on.
+In a few seconds we are ready for a discussion of the
+first division. I shall trust to the scholars' memory
+for the commoner quotations, and not trust in vain,
+if I have done my duty previously. This division
+disposed of, more or less to our satisfaction, we pass
+to another point, then to another, rapidly or leisurely,
+as the time permits, being careful that in the half-hour
+the general scope of Bible thought in the matter, its
+largeness and depth, its insight and minuteness of
+detail, be adequately exhibited.</p>
+
+<p>May I show you a sample outline?</p>
+
+
+<p>FAITH.</p>
+
+
+<ul class="index2"><li>  1. What is it? (Heb. 11:1; John 20:29.)</li>
+
+<li><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>2. Whence comes it?</li>
+
+<li class="indent2"> (<i>a</i>) From God (Rom. 12:3; 1 Cor. 2:4, 5;</li>
+<li class="indent3">     12:4, 8, 9; 1 Pet. 1:4, 5).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2"> (<i>b</i>) From Christ (Heb. 12:2).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2"> (<i>c</i>) From the Bible (John 17:20; 20:31; Rom.</li>
+<li class="indent3">     15:4; 2 Tim. 3:15).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2"> (<i>d</i>) From preaching (Rom. 10:14; 1 Cor. 3:5).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2"> (<i>e</i>) But all one (Eph. 4:5; 4:13; Jude 3).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2"> (<i>f</i>) Not from works (Eph. 2:8, 9; Rom. 3:27,</li>
+<li class="indent3">     28; Gal. 3:11, 12; 2:16).</li>
+
+<li>  3. What does it do?</li>
+
+<li class="indent1">     (1) The works of faith:</li>
+
+<li class="indent2">     (<i>a</i>) It is a work (John 6:28, 29; Rom. 4:5).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2">     (<i>b</i>) Which draws us to God (Rom. 5:1, 2;</li>
+<li class="indent3">         Eph. 3:12; 3:17; Jas. 1:5, 6).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2">     (<i>c</i>) Thus pleasing him (Heb. 11:6).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2">     (<i>d</i>) Which frees us from sin (2 Pet. 1:5; Acts</li>
+<li class="indent3">         13:38, 39; Rom. 3:21, 26; Acts 15:9).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2">     (<i>e</i>) Leads us into salvation (Mark 16:16; John</li>
+<li class="indent3">         1:12, 13).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2">     (<i>f</i>) Conquers this world (1 John 5:4, 5).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2">     (<i>g</i>) Gives us peace therein (Eph. 6:16; Rom.</li>
+<li class="indent3">         5:1).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2">     (<i>h</i>) And finally eternal life (Rom. 1:17; John</li>
+<li class="indent3">         3:16; 3:36).</li>
+
+<li class="indent1">     (2) The works from faith:</li>
+
+<li class="indent2">     (<i>a</i>) Faith alone is dead (Eph. 2:10; Jas. 2:14-26).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2">     (<i>b</i>) Faith a beginning (Jude 20; Col. 2:6, 7).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2">     (<i>c</i>) Of wondrous power (Mark 9:23; 11:22-24;</li>
+<li class="indent3"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>Luke 17:5, 6).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2">     (<i>d</i>) Working out through love (1 Thess. 5:8;</li>
+<li class="indent3">         1 Cor. 13:2; 13:13; Gal. 5:6; 1 John</li>
+<li class="indent3">         3:23).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2">     (<i>e</i>) In miracle (Matt. 9:22; 9:29; Luke 8:50;</li>
+<li class="indent3">         Acts 3:16).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2">     (<i>f</i>) In history (Heb. 11: 32-34; Matt. 16:16;</li>
+<li class="indent3">         John 1:49; 11:25, 27; Acts 6:5; 8:37;</li>
+<li class="indent3">         11:24).</li>
+
+<li>  4. Have I it?</li>
+
+<li class="indent2"> (<i>a</i>) There is false faith (1 Tim. 1:5).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2"> (<i>b</i>) The testing (2 Cor. 13:5; Jas. 1:3; 1 Pet.</li>
+<li class="indent3">     1:6, 7).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2"> (<i>c</i>) The seeking (Phil. 1:27; Jude 3).</li>
+
+<li class="indent2"> (<i>d</i>) The keeping (1 Cor. 16:13; Heb. 10:38;</li>
+<li class="indent3">     Col. 1:23; 1 Tim. 1:18, 19; 6:12;</li>
+<li class="indent3">     1 Pet. 5:8, 9).</li>
+
+<li>  5. Now and hereafter (2 Cor. 5:7; 1 Cor. 13:12).</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>Manifestly, when this plan is carried out, there will
+be scant time for the regular lesson; probably no
+time at all. The next Sunday two lessons must be
+recited. But your topical study has grown out of
+the regular lessons, and in its turn will excite in them
+fresh interest.</p>
+
+<p>It is obvious that each teacher must choose his
+own topics and make his own outlines, suited to his
+own methods of thought, and to the age and intelligence
+of his class. The above was used in a class
+of young men, college students in part. Themes of
+an entirely different nature might well be chosen,&mdash;a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>
+view of Christ's miracles or parables or sermons, of
+Old Testament miracles, or of sacred history in some
+one line. It might even be found profitable, as it
+surely would be interesting, to collate, arrange, and
+discuss Scripture references to the eye, the ear, birds,
+flowers, trumpets. To my mind, some such occasional
+excursion as this seems to lead the scholars,
+especially those approaching manhood and womanhood,
+to a more comprehensive and methodical knowledge
+of the riches of the best Book, and to one of
+the most resultful methods of studying it.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XIX" id="Chapter_XIX"></a>Chapter XIX</h2>
+
+<h2>Introducing Thoughts</h2>
+
+
+<p>A little child once declared that she liked a certain
+sermon because there were so many "likes" in
+it. For the same reason, that same child would have
+liked Christ as a Sunday-school teacher. And we
+teachers will gain Christ's success in the same measure
+as we gain his power of putting the whole universe
+back of our thought.</p>
+
+<p>For a thought comes forcibly from our minds in
+proportion as we see its relatedness. If we have put
+it into connection with a score of things, that score
+get behind it and push. An unrelated thought comes
+as tamely from the mind as a Jack from its box when
+the spring is broken. And so when a Sunday-school
+teacher would present a truth energetically, he must
+look all around the truth, crowd his mind with applications
+of the truth, fall in love with its beauty
+from many points of view; in brief, become thoroughly
+acquainted with the truth, and its enthusiastic
+friend.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>How, now, shall we introduce the truth to the
+child? It is the manner of some to take the truth
+and the child, and bump heads together,&mdash;a process
+which very naturally develops a mutual shyness.</p>
+
+<p>The true teacher, on the contrary, is a skilled master
+of ceremonies. From the crowd of likenesses, illustrations,
+and applications which have made him and
+the truth acquainted, he chooses one to go with it and
+act as mutual friend, to introduce the stranger thought
+to the child's mind, and put the two on easy terms
+together.</p>
+
+<p>He does not make the common mistake of sending
+along the entire crowd, so that the introduced is
+lost in the throng of masters of ceremonies, so that
+the truth is confused, and acquaintanceship embarrassed
+by the parade of illustration. He knows that
+where one parable makes, two mar, and three ruin.</p>
+
+<p>Nor will the shrewd teacher ever attempt introduction
+by something other than a mutual friend of
+both parties,&mdash;the truth and the child's mind. The
+myth of Alcestis may be connected with your own
+thought of the resurrection, but it is itself a stranger
+to the child's mind. The true mutual friend would
+be the metamorphosis of the butterfly.</p>
+
+<p>Is that comparison stale? In seeking for fresh
+and brilliant illustrations, we are apt to forget that
+the longer the mutual friend has known both parties,
+the more apt will he be at furthering their acquaintance.
+The butterfly is truly to us a trite illustration
+of the resurrection, but not to the child.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Do not push forward the thought first, and after a
+ten minutes' awkward, floundering parley between it
+and the child's mind, proceed to introduce them by
+your illustration. After two people have talked together
+for ten minutes, they either need no introduction
+by that time, or have destroyed the possibility
+of acquaintanceship. Illustration first.</p>
+
+<p>And after the introduction two mistakes may be
+made. The introducing illustration may keep on
+chattering, not allowing the truth and the mind of the
+child to say a word to each other. A master of ceremonies,
+who knows his business, knows when to draw
+quietly back, and leave the new acquaintanceship
+room to grow. The illustration is not the end, but
+the means.</p>
+
+<p>The other mistake is in allowing the mutual friend
+to withdraw abruptly, before the two, the stranger
+thought and the child's mind, have broken the ice.
+Let him stay and put in a clever word now and then,
+until the acquaintanceship can stand by itself.</p>
+
+<p>Nor is there any reason why, with every fresh truth,
+a fresh illustration should strut forward. Those social
+assemblies are best managed which are planned
+by one wise woman, and permeated throughout by
+her thoughtfulness, words of tact, and shrewd bits of
+engineering. One mistress to a party, as one cook
+to the broth. And so if you can find one illustration
+which is on good terms with all the truths in the lesson,
+and familiar also to the child's mind, by all means
+let that one illustration hold sway, as a genial host,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>
+throughout the entire half-hour, and associate the
+whole together.</p>
+
+<p>But when the illustration ceases to illustrate, part
+with it, regretfully but promptly; as I, following my
+own advice, must here part with the illustration which
+has done duty hitherto.</p>
+
+<p>In this whole matter, as in all others, only painstaking
+deserves or gains success. A genius for parable
+is rare. Gift here means the poet's power, his
+breadth of vision, his depth of sympathy, his tact and
+sense of fitness. But though it is a poet's gift, it need
+not be born in one. How may we gain skill in
+illustration?</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, by gaining knowledge. How
+can we expect Jewish history to seem real, isolated,
+as it so often is, from all other history? We, too,
+have a Father Abraham. Cæsar crossed a river once,
+as, and yet not as, did Joshua. Compare Washington's
+farewell address with Samuel's. And, too, without
+science, such sciences as geology and astronomy,
+a Sunday-school teacher is but half armed. How
+wonderfully and inspiringly God's two books supplement
+each other, no one can guess who has not put
+the two together. In brief, for the theme is infinite,
+almost any fact, once learned, has constant surprises
+of usefulness, and in no ways more frequently than
+this of illustration.</p>
+
+<p>In the next place, by gaining sympathy. No one
+can well use illustrations who is out of touch with his
+fellows. The best possible illumination of life questions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>
+is the story of the lives around you,&mdash;their trials
+and triumphs. Do you know a child who has done
+a heroic deed, though quietly, for the Master? Have
+you a friend who has conquered some sore temptation?
+Have you met a good man struggling against
+some inherited evil tendency? Have you knowledge
+of the disastrous results of some single life? Life
+comes closest to life, and experience furnishes the
+best similes.</p>
+
+<p>And then we may study books, and learn how
+effective writers have used illustrations. A note-book
+collection of these will be helpful, even though the
+making of it is the end of it; for this study will help
+us toward the teacher's chief goal,&mdash;the power of
+putting things in the best way.</p>
+
+<p>The newspapers should be one of the most fruitful
+fields for the gleaning of illustrations; and so they
+will be, when they learn to chronicle the good as thoroughly
+and brilliantly as they now chronicle the bad.</p>
+
+<p>Of course,&mdash;though an "of course" seldom practically
+accepted,&mdash;a Bible character is the very best
+illustration of a Bible character, the Old Testament
+of the New, the last lesson of this, Moses of Paul,
+and Sinai of Hermon.</p>
+
+<p>And of course, too,&mdash;though again a belied "of
+course,"&mdash;the less the illustration given by the teacher,
+and the more given by the scholar in answer to questions,
+the more vivid the impression. Too often we
+teachers smack our lips at the coming of the similes,
+and launch out into harangue.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Let us see in all this much more than a scheme of
+indirections. It is no easy task to find the best way
+into a child's mind, nor quite without pains and difficulty
+is the imitation of the Teacher who spoke many
+things in parables.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XX" id="Chapter_XX"></a>Chapter XX</h2>
+
+<h2>Illustrations and Applications</h2>
+
+
+<p>Sunday-school teachers often make the mistake
+of confounding "lesson illustrations" with "practical
+applications." A lesson illustration is a picture of
+the truth you are studying as exemplified in spheres
+of life foreign to your scholars; practical application
+pictures the truth in their own lives. In other words,
+a practical application is an illustration that the
+scholars can practice. The point I want to make is,
+that the practical application should be used, in our
+own precious half-hour, not to the exclusion of the
+lesson illustration, but largely predominating over it.</p>
+
+<p>For instance, if you were discussing the great cloud
+of invisible witnesses that compass us about, you
+might illustrate the truth by the famous story of Napoleon's
+speech to the troops in Egypt, "From yonder
+pyramids, my men, forty centuries look down
+upon us"; but, if you have not time for both, a practical
+application would be far better: "John, who is
+one of this great cloud of witnesses that is most tenderly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>
+and anxiously watching your life?" "My
+father." "And who, Harry, is among your invisible
+guardians?" "My mother." That is more forcible
+than "forty centuries."</p>
+
+<p>Again, one of the finest illustrations of devotion to
+principle is afforded by the conversion to the Baptist
+faith of one of our first American foreign missionaries,
+the immortal Judson, who, at the bidding of conscience
+and conviction, cast loose in mid-ocean from
+the only missionary society in America, and his only
+assured support. That is magnificent, but it is only
+an illustration, one needing to be translated into terms
+of child life thus: "Suppose you are in a school examination,
+and your neighbor on one side hands you
+a bit of folded paper to pass to your neighbor on the
+other side, and you are pretty sure it is to help him
+cheat in the examination, and suppose the whole
+school will think you mean and stuck up if you refuse
+to pass the paper, what are you going to do?" That
+is a test of devotion to principle such as the child is
+likely to meet.</p>
+
+<p>To be sure, there are illustrations which come so
+close to average circumstances that they are also applications.
+For instance, to take another great missionary,
+William Carey, his boyish fall from the tree
+he was climbing, with the result of breaking his leg,
+and, on recovery, his immediate set-to at the same
+tree again; his saying that his business was preaching
+the gospel, but that he cobbled shoes "to pay expenses";
+his bidding the Christians left at home to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>
+"hold the ropes while he went down,"&mdash;all these are
+very practical illustrations, quite within the children's
+sphere, since it is well for them also to have grit even
+about tree-climbing, since they are to hold their ordinary
+duties subordinate to their spiritual life, and
+since they have missionary money to spend and missionary
+prayers to make. If, however, I were teaching
+the passage in the Acts that relates how the disciples
+had all things in common, though I might tell about
+the splendid carrying out of that principle in Carey's
+Serampore brotherhood, yet, if I had time for only
+the one, I should certainly prefer a practical application
+of the text to the sharing of apples and the
+lending of bicycles.</p>
+
+<p>It is helpful to a boy, of course, if he would cultivate
+patience, to have before his eyes the picture of
+that cave looking out over Scottish hills and heather,
+and of the spider at the cave's mouth teaching its
+beautiful lesson to the Bruce within; but the picture
+remains only a picture unless the spider of the boy's
+imagination is taught to run lines connecting every
+point of the picture with his geography lesson and
+his garden weeding. Far too many war stories are
+told in our Sunday-schools. They do not build up
+very rapidly the Christian soldier. Far too many
+illustrations are drawn from what is wrongly called
+the distinctive "heroic age" of the world. Not thus
+is the Christian hero furnished for his nineteenth-century
+toils.</p>
+
+<p>A similar remark is to be made regarding illustrations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>
+from science. They must not be permitted to
+detract from or exclude the practical application. If
+we are teaching our boys and girls how all things
+work together for good to those that love God, we
+may use the illustration of the rainbow, explaining
+that it is on the very raindrops of the storm itself
+that God paints his wonderful symbol of hope and
+trust. That is poetical and true, but the lesson remains
+as misty as the rainbow itself unless you go on
+to show your scholars how the lame boy among them
+gets more time for study on account of his lameness,
+how the boy who has been sick has learned far more
+than he knew before about the love of his dear ones
+and about the great Physician, how the boy who has
+had to leave school and go to work is none the less
+getting a priceless schooling in patience and determination
+and energy and faithfulness.</p>
+
+<p>Many of these practical illustrations you may
+by questions draw out from the boys themselves.
+"Blessed are the peacemakers." Call for stories of
+boyish quarrels settled by some boy Solon. That is
+better than telling about the Massachusetts boards
+of arbitration in strikes. "My cup runneth over."
+Draw out a list of their own boyish blessings, which
+are more to them than those of any saint or psalmist.</p>
+
+<p>But especially this practical application, to be successful,
+must be the work of a consecrated imagination.
+A Sunday-school teacher must think himself
+into the lives of others. "Bear ye one another's burdens."
+Now don't rake up from your encyclopedias<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>
+the story of St. Christopher, beautiful as it is, and try
+to twist it into an illustration of the text. No. Ask
+the bright scholar what he does to help his duller
+friends understand the knotty problems at school.
+Ask the merry boys what they do when mother is
+tired amusing the baby. Ask the selfish boy what a
+lad that greatly wanted a new sled could do to help
+his father bear his burden of poverty.</p>
+
+<p>To get these applications you have had to "put
+yourself in his place," to picture to your mind your
+scholars' joys and sorrows, desires and disappointments,
+hopes and fears, labor and play. And in the
+process, and as its result, have come two rewards
+that no thumbing of dictionaries of biography, and
+manuals of mythology, and encyclopedias of illustrations,
+could ever give. You have come closer to the
+lives of your scholars, and you have drawn those
+lives closer to the present, practical Christ.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXI" id="Chapter_XXI"></a>Chapter XXI</h2>
+
+<h2>Righteous Padding</h2>
+
+
+<p>It is marvelous how rich in suggestion all passages
+of the Bible are to the thoughtful, studious mind. It
+is no less marvelous how bare and barren the wealthiest
+portions become when filtered through a bare
+and barren mind.</p>
+
+<p>Truth is valuable only as it is <i>extended</i> into life.
+"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
+God"; that means to the child very little, packed
+into this condensed form. But let the teacher set
+about <i>extending</i> that blessed truth. Let him picture
+a man, cross, ugly, besotted, selfish, greedy, his heart
+all rotten with passion and pride. Go through a day
+with him, from the sullen greetings in the morning
+and his breakfast-table quarrels, through his business
+hours all stern and crabbed, to his morose and unlovely
+evening. Ask the children how much he sees
+and enjoys of the beautiful world, how much he gets
+from noble books, what perception he has of the
+character of his charming wife and children. He is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>
+blind to all these things. Why? Because of his
+impure heart.</p>
+
+<p>Show how this baseness follows him to church,
+holds him down from praying, weights his songs, dulls
+his vision of spiritual things. Ask them how it will
+be at death, when he goes out of this world with a
+soul taught to see only money and self. <i>How can
+he see God?</i></p>
+
+<p>Then go on to tell them of their loving, gentle-hearted
+mothers, and how much good <i>they</i> can see in
+this world, in their friends, in their children, because
+their hearts are unselfish and pure. How easily they
+pray. How cheerily they sing. How near God is
+to them. Will there be any difficulty in <i>their</i> seeing
+God in the next world, when they can see so much
+of him in this?</p>
+
+<p>You have made quite a sermon out of that text.
+It has been extended largely, and yet the meaning
+of it has merely begun to dawn on those childish
+minds.</p>
+
+<p>Suppose you had taught it in this way: "Verse
+eight. Read it, Tommy. Now, who are blessed,
+Mary? And why are they blessed, Willie? Now
+don't forget that, children. Pay attention. Always
+remember it. The pure in heart see God. Why
+should we be pure in heart, Lucy? And how can we
+see God, Susy? Now don't forget it, children. Pay
+attention. Always remember it. The pure in heart
+see God. What have we learned in this verse, Lizzie?
+Yes, that's right. You all want to be pure in heart,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>
+children, now don't you? Why? Yes, that's right.
+I see you have paid attention." But they haven't,
+as any such teacher may find out by a question next
+Sunday.</p>
+
+<p>A teacher of children must learn the art of righteous
+padding. He must learn how to fill in outlines, how
+to expand texts. He must illustrate with imagery,
+parable, allegory, personal experience, use of material
+objects, pictures, action of the children.</p>
+
+<p>Especially valuable is the last, when it can be used.
+The teacher's cry for attention might well be translated
+into the highwayman's, "Hold up your hands."
+At any rate, if you can manage to keep them busy
+with their hands, you have their eyes, tongues, and
+brains.</p>
+
+<p>Set them to hunting up verses in their Bibles. You
+will have the experience of a friend of mine who
+came to me once after trying it, and despairingly said
+that the children now wanted to do nothing else.
+Nearly every verse can be illustrated by a stanza
+from some common song. Get the children to sing
+it softly, first making them see how the song fits the
+Bible. Make liberal use of concert repetition of
+Bible verses. There is nothing better than this good
+old device for unifying and freshening the attention
+of a class.</p>
+
+<p>And pictures. Teachers do not yet know one-tenth
+of the teaching power of pictures. Take the
+Twenty-third Psalm for a familiar example. "The
+shepherd, want, green pastures, lie down, leadeth me,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>
+still waters, the paths of righteousness, the valley of
+the shadow, thy rod and staff, a table prepared, mine
+enemies, anointing, cup runneth over, the house of
+the Lord"&mdash;as you read that list did not fourteen
+pictures rise at once in your mind? Find them, and
+show them to the children. They will pay even better
+attention to your printed pictures than to your word-pictures.</p>
+
+<p>Experience will soon teach the teacher, if his eyes
+are open, the need of copious illustration. Astronomers
+tell us that it is very difficult to see the smallest
+objects visible to us in the sky, if they are in the form
+of little dots. They may have dimensions very much
+smaller and still be visible easily, if they are extended
+into lines of light. So with the points of our
+lessons. They will miss attention entirely or gain it
+with difficulty, while they remain merely points. We
+must extend them, by the use of consecrated wits.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXII" id="Chapter_XXII"></a>Chapter XXII</h2>
+
+<h2>The Sunday-School and the Newspaper</h2>
+
+
+<p>On several pages of this book I have hinted at the
+use of the newspaper in our teaching; but the theme
+deserves a chapter to itself. An up-to-date teacher
+is respected, and it is largely the newspaper that brings
+one up to date. We must put our lessons into touch
+with life, and the newspaper is our modern compendium
+of life&mdash;very faulty, but all we have. The best
+illustration of the lesson is one your scholars find; the
+next best, one you find yourself; and only the third
+best, one found for you by the skilful writers of your
+lesson helps. The newspapers are mines of original
+illustrations.</p>
+
+<p>They constitute, for example, a magazine of warnings.
+Hardly a number but tells of a defalcation
+sprung from gambling, of the ruin accomplished by
+the theater and dance-hall, of the mischief caused by
+sensational literature, and everywhere and always of
+the rum-fiend's devilish work. Why Saul fell, and
+David, and Solomon,&mdash;your scholars must know that;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>
+but their sense of the reality of sin and its fearful
+power will be deepened by noting the fall of men and
+women in this present world, and learning what
+brought shipwreck to their souls. A misplaced switch
+last week threw a train from the track and killed a
+man. What a warning against carelessness! Early
+Wednesday morning a drunken woman was found
+asleep on an ash-pile, her little girl sobbing by her
+side. What a lesson on the evil wrought by rum!
+Of all the sins and faults against which the Bible
+utters its great warnings, there is none we may not
+illustrate freshly and vividly from the newspaper.</p>
+
+<p>But that is only half, and the lower half. By
+sharp search we may find in our papers many a thrilling
+example of heroism and noble service. Would
+that our reporters more frequently chronicled the
+good! Yet here is a fire at which a fireman risked
+his life to save a little child. And here is a cashier
+that braved death rather than open the safe for the
+robbers. And here is a lad whose shoulder was dislocated
+by stopping a runaway horse. And here is
+a heroic rescue of men and women from a shipwreck.
+We do not get from the newspaper the daily acts of
+devotion and faithfulness so honored in the eye of
+heaven; but we do get the splendid deeds, the stirring,
+romantic victories, that will move the girls and
+boys to knightly action.</p>
+
+<p>Newspapers, too, give an outlook over the world.
+The confining walls melt away, and your lesson takes
+wide sweeps under a broad sky. Every session of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>
+Congress considers many matters of the highest import
+for the kingdom of God. Our great offices are
+filled with men of strong character, acting out upon
+a grand scale lives potent for good or evil. In the
+lands across the seas great events are occurring, each
+exhibiting some phase of godliness or sin. You will
+exalt the gospel mightily in the minds of your scholars
+if you can show them how its principles solve the
+problems of our government, and underlie all wise
+action of the nations of the world.</p>
+
+<p>It has already been indicated how the temperance
+lesson, that quarterly bugbear of some teachers, may
+be illuminated by the newspaper. Thus also may the
+missionary lesson. So profoundly do missions affect
+any nation they touch, and so closely are they interwoven
+with its life, that whatever of importance befalls
+any people has its missionary bearings. The
+Sultan cannot massacre the Armenians, or France
+seize Madagascar, or Japan fight China, or Hawaii
+depose its queen, or a revolution occur in South
+America, without entanglement with the omnipresent
+missionaries of the cross. To make the scholars feel
+this through wise references to current events is immensely
+to broaden their conception of the church
+and its work.</p>
+
+<p>Even beyond all this, our newspapers afford the
+teacher a vast supply of illustrative material. There
+are the carefully prepared biographies of the great
+men and women that pass away, printed with their
+portraits. There are sketches of the lives of living<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>
+celebrities, with pictures of their faces and their homes.
+There are lectures and sermons, sometimes admirably
+reported, giving in a few bright paragraphs the gist
+of an hour's discourse. There are thousands of poems
+by the best modern authors. There are appropriate
+editorial comments on all the holidays, Christmas and
+New Year's, Easter and Memorial Day, Thanksgiving
+and the Fourth of July. There are accounts of
+the latest wonderful inventions, each a pointed parable
+to one with eyes and a brain. And, with all its
+pictorial enormities, the newspaper often contains a
+portrait or a sketch worth using in our lesson half-hour.</p>
+
+<p>In all this I am taking for granted, of course, that
+you subscribe to no sensational abomination, but to
+the best of our standard sheets, even if you must get
+it from some other city than your own. It must be
+a paper so clean that you can occasionally hand a
+copy to your scholars, and fearlessly set them to
+"reading up" on some theme helpful to the lesson.
+Besides, it must not be forgotten that our best religious
+weeklies are now genuine newspapers as well,
+and furnish admirable comments upon all important
+current events.</p>
+
+<p>To use the newspaper to the best advantage in
+your teaching, you must have well in mind all the
+lesson themes for months in advance, since a striking
+event of to-day might not illustrate this week's lesson,
+but the lesson of five weeks ahead. Your best
+plan is to cut out each day the paragraphs and articles
+that seem likely to be of use, and preserve them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>
+in a series of envelopes. Mark one set of envelopes
+with the topics and dates of a year's lessons. Let
+another set contain the clippings arranged by subjects,
+as: "Love," "Faith," "Temperance," "Missions,"
+"Theater," "Heroism," "Inventions." These will
+contain poems as well as prose. Some, rather than
+classify the bits of biography under the characteristics
+especially prominent in each case, will prefer to arrange
+them alphabetically, in a separate set of twenty-six
+envelopes. As the envelope for each week's lesson
+is used, distribute its contents through your permanent
+file. Frequently glance over your clippings
+to refresh your memory concerning them; otherwise
+they will become so much dead wood.</p>
+
+<p>Not an unimportant result of all this is that it will
+teach your scholars to read the newspaper as a Christian
+should. In this great American university our
+scholars should be taught to skip the courses in evil
+and elect those in goodness.</p>
+
+<p>And a final word,&mdash;which, indeed, no teacher is
+likely to need, though it must be said: keep the whole
+matter subordinate. It is not proposed to turn our
+Sunday-schools into classes for the study of current
+events. We have to do with one Life, and with that
+alone. We are teaching not all kinds of truth, but
+him who is the Truth. Whatever we admit into our
+teaching that does not exalt him and throw light on
+his life and doctrine is a harmful impertinence. We
+are not to study the lamp, but the Book that lies beneath
+it.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXIII" id="Chapter_XXIII"></a>Chapter XXIII</h2>
+
+<h2>On Taking Things for Granted</h2>
+
+
+<p>The cliff-scaler, who lowers his comrade down the
+precipice, does not take for granted the fastening
+around the tree or the stoutness of the rope; but the
+Sunday-school teacher too often throws his young
+people into the treacherous depths of thought and life
+with little care for their life-rope's integrity or moorings.
+More than once or twice or thrice in my own
+experience, after weeks and months of supposedly
+thorough intercourse with my scholars, an awkward
+question, better aimed by Heaven than by myself, has
+disclosed some fatal doubt, some fundamental misconception.
+I had been taking for granted that my
+boy really believed Christ to be divine, or that he had
+at least the beginnings of a conception of the Saviour's
+mission to the earth, or that he knew by experience
+the meaning of prayer, or that he actually had confidence
+in a future life.</p>
+
+<p>I have in mind a fine, thoughtful fellow, graduate
+of a famous college and a church-member, whose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>
+very thoughtfulness, and the knowledge of his religious
+activity in former years, led me, when he entered
+my class, to take for granted his Christianity. After
+weeks of teaching, it was only a chance question, in
+private conversation, that led him to the frank admission
+that skeptical college friends had absolutely destroyed
+his faith in Christ and the Bible, leaving him
+with only a sad and bewildered hold on the God of
+nature. What Sunday-school teacher has not been
+startled thus with disclosures of his own carelessness
+in taking things for granted?</p>
+
+<p>It is a mistake constantly to advertise skepticism
+by warning our scholars against it, but it is no mistake
+to arm them against it. No teacher has mastered his
+lesson until he has mastered every doubt regarding it
+that any of his scholars is likely to entertain. "Will
+this punishment seem unjust? this event fabulous?
+this person mythical? this doctrine unreasonable? this
+miracle unreal? this author apocryphal? these men
+and women mere creatures of imagination?" Such
+questions as these are important for the teacher to
+consider,&mdash;<i>to consider</i>, not ask in the class. Because
+to the teacher the account is more true and
+vivid than an extract from yesterday's newspaper, he
+takes it for granted that his scholars so regard it.
+They may put the lesson story in the same category
+as Baron Munchausen or "The Ancient Mariner,"
+and such a teacher would be none the wiser.</p>
+
+<p>I know of nothing <i>in the way of study</i> that is so
+capable of firing a Sunday-school teacher and class<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>
+as Christian evidences. Remember that this also is
+a study of the Bible. Why is it ordinarily thought
+so dull? It is full of snap and point. Professor
+Fisher's short "Manual of Christian Evidences,"
+published by Charles Scribner's Sons at seventy-five
+cents, stands next to my Bible as an aid and inspiration
+in teaching that Bible. I keep several copies,
+and all of them are usually in the hands of earnest
+scholars. Often when they are returned the compliment
+is, "That book helped me so much that I have
+bought a copy of my own." That means the conversion
+of a doubting Thomas. "Why!" exclaimed
+one such reader, "I never knew before that there was
+anything to prove Christianity but the Bible, or anything
+but the Bible to prove the Bible."</p>
+
+<p>A teacher that is not in the habit of questioning
+persistently and searchingly can have no idea of the
+depth and at the same time the shallowness of the religious
+thinking of the average scholar. Far too
+many teachers prove everything by quoting the inspired
+Bible, taking it for granted that their scholars
+accept the Bible as inspired; or by referring to our
+divine Saviour, taking it for granted that their scholars
+believe Christ to be a divine Saviour. Our scholars
+are more shrewd than that. Their answers will
+be proper, but skepticism often lurks beneath, ready
+to spring up in open infidelity, secret scorn, or fruitless,
+formal morality.</p>
+
+<p>Skepticism should never be anticipated, but it
+should <i>never</i> be neglected. It should never be dealt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>
+with before the class, if it can be dealt with in private.
+But it is a teacher's first duty to <i>know</i> the
+great truths of Christianity, and know <i>why</i> he knows
+them. It is his second duty to make certain that
+each of his scholars knows them, <i>and can prove them</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"But we cannot cover the ground without taking
+things for granted." <i>Cover the ground!</i> Superficial
+area, and superficial teaching!</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXIV" id="Chapter_XXIV"></a>Chapter XXIV</h2>
+
+<h2>Utilizing the Late Scholar</h2>
+
+
+<p>The late scholar is no blessing, and yet he is far
+from an unmixed evil. The wise teacher will get all
+the good he can out of him.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, he is to be transformed into the early
+scholar, care being taken lest by mistake he be transformed
+into the scholar absent altogether. And during
+this process of transformation there is a small
+harvest of advantage to be tended.</p>
+
+<p>Let his entrance be a danger signal. Don't act
+mad. Of course, the electric current of interest is
+flowing by this time, or never, and the late scholar
+rudely breaks it. But never mind. Better the total
+loss of your scholars' interest in the lesson than the
+loss of their respect for you.</p>
+
+<p>Remember, too, that there may be a good excuse,&mdash;even
+late coming may mean earnest endeavor,&mdash;and
+premature impatience in such case will cause you dismayed
+repentance.</p>
+
+<p>The late scholar cannot be ignored; don't try it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>
+Sometimes we fiercely attempt to finish our sentences,
+or get answers to our last questions. The late scholar
+is a potent and aggressive fact, and cannot be got
+rid of in that way.</p>
+
+<p>No. Accept the situation promptly and sensibly.
+Stop short at once, and greet the late comer heartily.
+Don't let him sneak into a back seat, but set him in
+the midst. See that he has a Bible or a lesson paper.
+Incorporate him. Then proceed thriftily to utilize
+him. He is your opportunity for a review. You
+probably need one at this stage of the lesson, anyway.
+Here is your chance for gathering up loose ends and
+binding all the truths thus far taught in a compact
+whole.</p>
+
+<p>You may do it in this way: "Before you came in,
+Charley, we were talking about Christ's command to
+lay up treasures, not on earth, but in heaven. We've
+been deciding what some of the earth-treasures are.
+We've agreed that they include money and clothes
+and houses and studies and friends, and that we
+mustn't win any of these in such a way that they
+will belong merely to earth. You see? And now,
+class, can any one think of another earth-treasure?"</p>
+
+<p>Or you may do it in this way: "Here's Charley.
+John, will you please tell him what we talked about
+at the beginning of the lesson? That's good. And
+Bess, tell him, please, what conclusion we have come
+to thus far. That's right. And now let us go on."</p>
+
+<p>Similarly, all through the lesson, the late scholar
+may be your excuse for bringing up points mentioned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>
+at the opening of the hour, and needing repetition.
+"Something was said at the start which bears on that
+matter, and Charley wasn't here. Ned, please tell
+him what that was."</p>
+
+<p>Bring him into the electric circle by a question as
+soon as you can. But remember that it takes time
+for him to become charged with interest and understanding
+as fully as the rest, and ask him easy questions
+at first, or, perhaps better, call on him to read
+a verse or two.</p>
+
+<p>The late scholar's exit is fraught with as much
+danger as his entrance. You must utilize that also.
+Let your questioning be jolly and indirect: "Too
+much sleep this morning, Billy?" "Sorry, Ellen, that
+you couldn't start in with us"; "Some good points
+you missed at the opening, Fred."</p>
+
+<p>If rightly used, this is an opportunity for learning
+of some need or temptation that besets your scholar.
+She may be lazy. He may be too fond of sleep.
+She may keep too late hours. He may be led astray
+by the Sunday morning papers. They may fail to
+see the value of the opening prayer and songs. You
+get fresh insight into their characters.</p>
+
+<p>When Nature heals a broken bone, she makes it
+the stronger for the break. And so, though the late
+scholar seem to fracture sadly the interest of the lesson,
+the wise teacher will know how to mend the
+matter in such shrewd fashion as to knit the whole
+class more firmly together.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXV" id="Chapter_XXV"></a>Chapter XXV</h2>
+
+<h2>Side-Tracking the Teacher</h2>
+
+
+<p>Even the poorest teacher has a right to the course
+he has marked out for himself; even the smartest
+scholar has no right to side-track him.</p>
+
+<p>Some scholars side-track their teacher merely to
+show that they understand how to use the switch;
+others do it by simply fooling with the switch, in pure
+carelessness and thoughtlessness; others really wish
+to bring the teacher nearer some private interest of
+their own.</p>
+
+<p>Their motive must determine your treatment of
+them,&mdash;whether it is to be the bruskness that rebukes
+conceit, the firm patience that resists carelessness, or
+the considerate postponement of questions that are
+prompted by a need.</p>
+
+<p>But so far as its effect on the lesson is concerned,
+it makes no difference whether the teacher is side-tracked
+by a switch of gold or one of brass,&mdash;the lesson
+is "held up," and often permanently.</p>
+
+<p>It is not always easy to tell when these question-switches<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>
+are open, and when they are closed,&mdash;when
+they will side-track you, and when they will merely
+salute you with a friendly rattle and let you pass; the
+tokens are not so definite as on the red and white
+faces of the switch indicator. And yet you cannot
+engineer your class far without wrecking it, if you do
+not learn to read these question indicators, and tell at
+a glance whither they will send you.</p>
+
+<p>But what is the use of reading them, if you are to
+be at their mercy anyway? How shall we circumvent
+these mischief-making switchers?</p>
+
+<p>Some would abruptly take away their switch-keys,
+and practically dismiss them from the force; that is,
+they would prohibit questioning altogether. But this
+is capitulating to the problem. Some would swing
+smilingly off upon the side-track, as if they had intended
+to go there. But that is surrendering their
+preparation. Some would rush precipitately into the
+side-track and through it, expecting to find at the
+other end a switch back to the main track. But thus
+the lesson is usually derailed.</p>
+
+<p>On the railroad, of course, there is authority; but
+in the Sunday-school the less appeal to authority the
+better. No, the likeness, to a large extent, stops
+here; for in the Sunday-school the only way to deal
+with a scholar who side-tracks the train is to win him
+by friendly arts to become your helper rather than
+your hinderer.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, many a lesson is side-tracked
+because the main track is not made sufficiently plain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>
+to the scholars' apprehension. When the lesson
+winds like a snake, with a purpose known only to the
+teacher (if to him), small blame to the scholars if they
+switch it off the wrong way by a question. Strike out
+in a bee-line at the start, and stick to it. No one
+will then ignorantly side-track you.</p>
+
+<p>In the second place, many a lesson is side-tracked
+because the teacher does not act as if he cared
+whether he ever arrived anywhere or not. Lackadaisical
+in manner and matter, his carelessness provokes
+equal carelessness in his scholars. Let him, on
+the other hand, appear to be eagerly on the scent of
+some truth, on the track of some fact, following the
+path of some event or demonstration, and his scholars
+will, in the main, be "forth and right on" with
+him.</p>
+
+<p>In the third place, many a lesson is side-tracked
+because the scholars are not on the side of the
+teacher. Of course, when the two parties are at
+cross-purposes, things run no more evenly than they
+would if the engineer of a train were out of touch
+with his crew. The teacher must get up an <i>esprit de
+corps</i>, a class spirit, or his class will be perpetually
+flying off from him on a tangent. His scholars must
+be interested in him, if they are to be interested with
+him. He must draw them to himself, or they will
+never pull together. Friendship in his crew must
+take the place of authority in the railroad crew; and
+the more friendship, the less side-tracking.</p>
+
+<p>In the fourth place, there must be frankness of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>
+speech. A misplaced switch on a railway, if it provoked
+no further collision, would at least provoke a
+clash of words. There is no reason why, if a question
+is too far aside from the main purpose of the
+lesson, the teacher should not frankly say so. He
+may lay it away in his mind for later discussion; he
+may promise to talk it over after the session; but no
+fear of being thought incompetent, or unsympathetic,
+or arbitrary, should induce him to turn aside from his
+one purpose. The wise teacher will make many
+exceptions, of course, to every rule; but nevertheless,
+a rule of the wise teacher it must be, to say to every
+irrelevant question, kindly and tactfully, yet firmly,
+"Get thee behind me." For the half-hour is all too
+short. The impressions made are all too confused.
+The instruction given is all too fragmentary. However
+wise and earnest the individual moments may
+be, there is danger that the half-hour may pass into
+oblivion at once, unless these individual moments
+have been wise and earnest to some single, distinct
+end.</p>
+
+<p>There is a place for switches in our Sunday-school
+lesson. The train must be made up. Side excursions
+must often be made. There are sundry connecting
+lines whose cars must be switched in. But in
+genuine Sunday-school railroading there must be no
+delay upon side-tracks. Let all teachers, as far as
+possible, run express.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXVI" id="Chapter_XXVI"></a>Chapter XXVI</h2>
+
+<h2>The Problem of the Visitor</h2>
+
+
+<p>The analogy for the class-building of some teachers
+is the arch. Every scholar is needed in his place,
+or the class-work collapses; and of course there is no
+room for a visitor. The analogy for the true class is
+the electric circle. Join hands all around, and ever
+room and electricity for one more.</p>
+
+<p>I do not mean to imply that the visitor is not a
+problem. He is an intrusion on your familiar little
+group. He is a foreign and constraining element.
+He is a problem, however, that you cannot get rid of,
+but must solve.</p>
+
+<p>Utilize the visitor. Go to work in such way as to
+transform him into a scholar; or if circumstances forbid
+that, at any rate win from his visit fresh interest
+and inspiration for the class. Every visitor is an
+angel of opportunity, entertained&mdash;how often!&mdash;unawares.</p>
+
+<p>Let your reception of the visitor be to your class
+an object-lesson in Christian courtesy. If he comes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>
+in alone, and awkwardly drops into a distant seat, do
+not wait for the busy superintendent to get around to
+him. If he is of fit age for your class, drop everything,&mdash;the
+most valuable lesson you could be teaching
+is not so valuable as this practical example,&mdash;and
+go to the stranger. Introduce yourself cordially to
+him, and him to the rest of the class, or, at any rate,
+to his neighbors.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes resign the pleasure of seeking the visitor
+yourself, and send some persuasive scholar, thus
+letting him have a taste of the joy of giving invitations.
+Possibly it will help him into the habit of
+giving invitations outside.</p>
+
+<p>Get your scholars to hand the visitor a lesson leaf
+or a Bible. Show them that he is their visitor as well
+as yours. They will soon learn to be delightfully courteous.
+But an iceberg teacher makes an iceberg class.</p>
+
+<p>And now you are on trial before your class. They
+will judge you by the interest or the apathy of the
+visitor. They are watching him, ready to be ashamed
+or proud of you.</p>
+
+<p>Yet do not fear your visitor. He may come from
+a better school and a better teacher. He may be
+critical and sneering and skeptical. Nevertheless, he
+is your opportunity. Rejoice in it.</p>
+
+<p>If he is a better scholar than any in your class,
+what a valuable and inspiring example he may be
+made to them! If a poorer scholar, what an opportunity
+to make your class feel the joy and power of
+teaching some one!</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>If he is sneering and critical, the indignation of the
+class will bind them more enthusiastically to you. If
+he is skeptical, what a chance for examining and
+strengthening foundations!</p>
+
+<p>The visitor is a mine of new ideas and experiences.
+Old thoughts take on novel forms when fitted to him.
+His questions and answers exhibit needs in your own
+class, unobserved because unfamiliar. His ways and
+words freshen the stagnant class atmosphere.</p>
+
+<p>And so he is your chance to get out of ruts and
+into new ways and moods. Bless Providence for
+him, and question him vigorously, making use of him
+to the utmost.</p>
+
+<p>Two cautions, however. Let your questioning be
+very clear. He is unused, remember, to your little
+mannerisms, and must not be confused by idiosyncrasies.
+And in your exultation over him do not
+neglect the others, nor seem to change your plans for
+the visitor, or to be striving to show off before him.</p>
+
+<p>Final advantage of the visitor: Teach your scholars
+to ask him heartily to come again, not forgetting
+to do so cordially yourself. Committees on church
+extension, remember, are trained in the Sunday-school.</p>
+
+<p>Thus you see that the value of the visitor does not
+depend upon the visitor so much as might be imagined.
+Yet just a word on how to visit well.</p>
+
+<p>Go to give good. Take hearty interest in the lesson,
+and have some thought to add to the discussion.
+Better yet, have some earnest question to ask. And
+ask it. If you come from another school, consider<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>
+yourself a Christian ambassador bearing greetings of
+brotherly good will and common endeavor.</p>
+
+<p>Go to get good. Be unobtrusive and teachable.
+And especially, show that you have received good.
+Express appreciation, after the lesson, to teacher and
+scholars. Then will you be blessed, and, changing
+the meaning of the word "visitation," these words
+from the Wisdom of Solomon may be applied to you:
+"In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and
+run to and fro like sparks among the stubble."</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXVII" id="Chapter_XXVII"></a>Chapter XXVII</h2>
+
+<h2>"Under Petticoat Government"</h2>
+
+
+<p>One of the brightest women in the United States,
+a woman well known to the Protestant churches of
+the world, was groaning to me the other day: "What
+<i>shall</i> I do with those boys in my Sunday-school class?
+They are just at the age when they think they know a
+little more than any <i>woman</i>. They need a man.
+Don't you think the superintendent ought to remove
+them from under petticoat government?"</p>
+
+<p>This cry, that came so strangely from a woman of
+her ability and fame, comes also from a throng of
+baffled Sunday-school teachers. The answer would
+be easy, if there were anything like as many good
+Sunday-school teachers among the men as among the
+women. As it is, however, most boy classes must be
+assigned either to a distasteful petticoat government,
+or to an incompetent pantaloon government, or&mdash;cast
+adrift until, long years afterward, they drop anchor in
+the haven of matrimony, and happily, perchance, appear
+once more in the Sunday-school, in the "Bible
+class."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The remedy, however, though not easy, is manifest.
+The boys do not need a man, but they do need in
+their teacher certain manly qualities that could be
+incorporated in a woman's teaching. These qualities
+all women whom the Lord of the Sunday-school has
+set over a class of his boys, should seek to get.</p>
+
+<p>The most obvious of them, I think, is a certain
+dignity and reserve that show themselves as well in
+refraining from scolding as in declining to pat on the
+head or hold by the hand. Boys of the undefinable
+age we are talking about highly appreciate the title
+"Mr." Their greatest horror is petting; their greatest
+aversion is nagging. A young man, set to teach
+a class of boys, will approach them with a sense of
+comradeship; will at once make himself, if he is a
+teacher at all, "hail fellow well met" among them;
+and yet, as the boys say, "there is no nonsense about
+him."</p>
+
+<p>It is far better&mdash;bad as that is&mdash;to talk over the
+heads of boys than to talk down to them. It is far
+better to use too few words than too many. If a
+teacher would hold boys, she must be concise, straightforward,
+businesslike. Indeed, the latter adjective
+comes near to being the key to the situation. Boys
+dislike fussiness, and wordiness, and beating about
+the bush. Woman teachers that are eager for boys'
+souls will take a long step toward their astonished
+approbation if they school themselves to brevity,
+dignity, and "business."</p>
+
+<p>Set the boys to work. Imitate common-school<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>
+methods. In the public school woman teachers hold
+the boys, and win their honest hearts. It is largely
+because here there are definiteness of purpose and firm
+continuity of aim. Boys are easily mastered by a
+taskmaster who is master of her task. Boys that
+cannot be won by Sunday-school preaching are readily
+won by Sunday-school <i>teaching</i>. Lay down a distinct
+course of work, with a goal in fair view, and they
+will gird up the loins of their minds; but they refuse
+to follow you in aimless wanderings through a thicket.
+To learn in chronological order the seventy-five
+prominent events in Christ's life; to trace through
+the Bible the doctrine of the atonement; to commit
+to memory every Scripture passage bearing on the
+temperance problem; to write a six-hundred-word
+abstract of the Book of Genesis; to make a classification
+of the Psalms by topics; to compile the Bible
+proverbs that have to do with money and wealth-getting;
+to make a diagram graphically depicting the
+history of the Old Testament Hebrews; to write out
+the Ten Commandments, and place in parallel
+columns the New Testament enlargements and interpretations
+thereof,&mdash;these are samples of the work
+boys would like to do. They would give high praise
+to a teacher who conducted them through such tasks.
+They would say that she "meant business."</p>
+
+<p>And that leads me to mention another point in
+which woman teachers are more likely than men to
+fail, though both are far too weak,&mdash;the use of evidence,
+of proof. This is a hobby of mine, but it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>
+the boys themselves, and recollections of my own
+boyhood, that have set me on the hobby. Wherever
+a thing is susceptible of proof, boys want it proved to
+them. If it is not susceptible of proof, they want
+<i>that</i> proved to them, also. Woman's traditional
+"because" does not commend itself to the lawyerlike
+boys. Fresh from their botany in the public schools,
+they refuse to take on faith the Cana miracle. Ready
+for their physiology or physics the next day, they
+want more proof than a "say so" that a leper was
+ever healed by a word or that Peter really walked on
+the waves. "It is in the Bible" is not enough; they
+must know why they must believe the Bible.</p>
+
+<p>Now I am not so foolish as to advise any one to
+suggest skepticism to a boy, and I know that there is
+a way of handling Scripture evidences that serves
+rather to raise doubt than to confirm faith; but I have
+enough of the boy in me to be sure that in no way
+can a teacher more highly exalt both herself and
+Christianity in the eyes of the boys than by insisting
+on the reasonableness of both. I had the best of
+Sunday-school teachers, quite a score of them, women
+and men; yet until full manhood I wrestled all alone
+with a concealed and absolute skepticism that would
+not down until I had hunted out for myself the many
+overwhelming proofs of the resurrection of Christ.
+If any of my twenty teachers had set those proofs
+with lawyerlike force and directness before my boyish
+mind, I should have been saved some very dark years
+that came near making an infidel of me altogether.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>
+Because I think that boys feel this need of proof and
+evidence more than girls, and that women are less
+ready to meet the need than men, I have ventured to
+add this suggestion to my list.</p>
+
+<p>And that list may close with only one point further.
+Boys like to be taught by men, because through men
+they get a telescope-view into the life-work that lies
+before them. Men teachers draw their illustrations
+from mannish things, from business life, from inventions,
+from politics, from commerce, from the law.
+Where a woman might illustrate dishonesty by apple-stealing,
+thereby causing every urchin before her to
+exclaim "Chestnut!" under his breath, a man would
+be more likely to make some discussion about watering
+stock or falsifying entries. A man is more likely
+than a woman to render Scripture vivid and practical
+by reference to current events, dropping a word here
+and there about the war between China and Japan,
+about Gladstone's retirement, about the Manitoba
+school question, about the Honduras lottery,&mdash;just a
+word, but the boys prick up their ears. A woman
+might compare Gideon with David, but a man would
+be far more likely to compare him with Parkhurst.</p>
+
+<p>And now my point is that the boy needs both,&mdash;both
+David and Parkhurst. There is no reason why
+the woman teacher cannot give the boy everything
+he could get from a man teacher, and more. It is
+easy to appear to a boy quite a Solon regarding current
+events. It is not so very hard, by the exercise
+of a consecrated imagination, to place yourself by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>
+boy's side on the outskirts of the great, wide world
+of busy activities he is soon to enter, and feel his impatience
+to be there and his hunger for any tidings
+from that charmed country. Show him how Christianity
+untangles the skeins of business, is the master-key
+to all true politics, the foundation of law, the
+compass of commerce, the force of civilization.
+Read the newspapers wisely, and find out what is
+going on in the world. Read wisely the hearts of
+your boys, and find out what is going on in that
+world. Lift manfully over both worlds the banner
+of Christ.</p>
+
+<p>One point at a time, with cheerful persistence, the
+teacher that "means business" will win for her
+teaching these adaptations to the needs of her boys.
+And in the process, losing nothing of womanliness,
+she will have nobly broadened her own life, while as
+its result she will have won a double hold, both a
+woman's hold and a man's hold, on the hearts of the
+boys.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXVIII" id="Chapter_XXVIII"></a>Chapter XXVIII</h2>
+
+<h2>The Teacher's Three Graces</h2>
+
+
+<p>The teacher's manner must be heart-born. It
+must not become mannerism, which is head-born, and
+never reaches hearts. "Manner maketh the man,"
+and also the teacher,&mdash;half-way, at least. If we suspect,
+however, that our manner is defective, the
+manner itself is the last thing to look at; we must
+look at our heart. That is the place to get the change.</p>
+
+<p>Three heart qualities produce the ideal teacher's
+manner. One of these is <i>earnestness</i>. If you would
+make on your scholars an impression that will last beyond
+the hour, you yourself must be deeply impressed
+with the eternal years. To move their life, keep before
+you their death. That is hard to do, when confronted
+by such abounding youthful vigor and vitality.
+Become an advocate, a pleader, with eternal life as
+the stake. Learn to know deeply the great central
+truths of sin, atonement, sanctification. Aim at radical
+and positive results in confession, testimony,
+spirituality, character, and conduct, and press toward
+these as the genuine verdict on your teaching.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The second quality is <i>cheeriness</i>. We are prophets
+of awful alternatives, but we are also ministers of the
+most blessed joy. Happiness is the best recommendation
+of Christianity. In it center all the Christian
+evidences. Learn by heart all the promises; they
+are better teaching weapons than the prohibitions and
+warnings. Keep a smile very close to the surface,
+and improve every fair chance to laugh. The
+teacher that is in earnest, need never be afraid to be
+merry. Permit no exaggeration of the facts of
+wickedness, either in them or in others. The more
+stormy the day and the fewer in attendance, the
+cheerier be you.</p>
+
+<p>The third quality is <i>sympathy</i>. The true teacher
+has, or gets, the poet's ability to project himself into
+the lives of others. He keeps invisible, tactful antennæ
+playing in all directions, feeling this one's coming
+embarrassment before it arrives, conscious of that
+one's eager assent before it lights his eyes, exploring
+homes and occupations and character in order to
+adapt question to scholar. Without argument or
+plan, but by instinctive appreciation of differing personality,
+the true teacher assumes dignity with this
+pupil, <i>bonhomie</i> with that. So far is he from treating
+all alike, that he never treats even the same person
+in the same way two days in succession, knowing,
+by feeling rather than theory, that no one&mdash;especially
+no child&mdash;is the same person two days in succession.</p>
+
+<p>These are the teacher's three graces: earnestness,
+born of faith and unsatisfied until it has inspired an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>
+equal faith; cheeriness, born of hope, and hope-creating;
+and sympathy, born of love, which is the
+greatest of all. These in the heart blossom outwardly
+into the perfect teaching manner,&mdash;earnestness to
+arrest, cheeriness to attract, and sympathy to hold.
+"Covet earnestly the <i>best</i> gifts."</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXIX" id="Chapter_XXIX"></a>Chapter XXIX</h2>
+
+<h2>Something to Belong to</h2>
+
+
+<p>I believe in the organization of Sunday-school
+classes, because it fosters class spirit. If it is a good
+thing to have a class, it is a good thing for the class
+to have a spirit. This class spirit should promote the
+school spirit, just as the <i>esprit de corps</i> of a company
+enhances the loyalty of soldiers to their regiment.</p>
+
+<p>When a scholar has signed a constitution, he feels
+that he belongs to the school. Lacking this feeling,
+he will not be long with the school or with anything
+else.</p>
+
+<p>In the simple constitution of my class (which is a
+class of young men) are provisions for a porch, a
+lookout, and a social committee.</p>
+
+<p>The porch committee watches the morning congregation
+for strange young men, and invites them to
+come to Sunday-school. The lookout committee
+seeks throughout town and church for permanent
+additions to the class, whom, through its chairman, it
+proposes for membership. This is a great gain.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>
+When a teacher urges people to join his class he is
+inviting them to the gospel, certainly, but he is also
+inviting them to himself. In the first cause he is as
+bold as a lion, but in the second many a modest soul
+is naturally, even though foolishly, bashful. Happy
+the teacher whose scholars are zealous in this vital
+service, for him so delicate and for them so blessed!</p>
+
+<p>The voting in of new members, with the subsequent
+producing of the constitution for signatures, is a little
+ceremony as useful for the old scholars in reminding
+them of their class autonomy as it is inspiring to the
+new scholars. A hearty word of welcome from the
+teacher to the new-comers gives them a formal and
+public installation. They have indeed taken on
+themselves a new function.</p>
+
+<p>The social committee will greatly add to the efficiency
+of any class. Monthly class socials are genuine
+means of grace. Our socials are thus managed:
+Each social has a solid backbone, consisting of a
+paper or talk by some member of the class, detailing
+little-known points in his own business. Of a neighboring
+class similarly organized, one is a young architect,
+another works in a rope-walk, a third holds an
+important position in a newspaper office, a fourth is
+in the leather business, the teacher of the class is a
+judge. Utilizing the experiences of their own members
+and friends, this class has held quite remarkable
+socials. It has found the contribution of the clerk
+in a furniture store as interesting as that of the young
+banker. The class have been wonderfully knit together<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>
+by the bonds of a common and a widening
+interest. After these papers or talks (which are often
+appropriately illustrated), come discussion and questions,
+followed by games or light refreshments. By
+occasional joint socials of this kind we hope to draw
+together this class and my own. Of course, this is
+only one out of a myriad schemes of entertainment
+that could be devised for these class socials. The
+point the shrewd teacher will notice is that it is the
+scholars themselves who plan these socials, and who
+thus take into their own hands the creation of a
+warm, helpful class atmosphere. Every teacher
+should know that in making new scholars feel at
+home it is hardly his own sociability, but that of his
+scholars, that counts.</p>
+
+<p>If the class is thus organized, the teacher must
+guard the authority of his class president as jealously
+as his own. If you want your class officers to feel
+genuine responsibility, it must be genuine responsibility
+that you put upon them. Give up to the president,
+during the conduct of business, your place in
+front of the class. Wait to be recognized by him
+before you speak. Make few motions. Inspire others
+to take the initiative.</p>
+
+<p>The election of officers should come every six
+months, and it is best to bring about a thorough rotation
+in office. Improve every chance to emphasize
+the class organization. If your school arrangements
+permit, vote every month on the disposal of the class
+collections. If you must be absent a Sunday, ask<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>
+the class to elect a substitute teacher, and ask the
+president to inform the substitute of his election. An
+alternate should be chosen also, to make the thing
+sure. This little device serves to make the scholars
+as loyal to the substitute teacher as to their own, for
+they have made him their own. In the course of the
+lessons, also, a wide-awake teacher will frequently
+mention and emphasize the class organization.</p>
+
+<p>Of course the whole plan will fall flat if the teacher
+wholly delegates to his scholars any or all of these
+lines of work. He also must invite the strangers, if
+he expects his scholars to do so. He also must seek
+for new members, if he would inspire them to do the
+same. Without his sociableness they will soon become
+frigid. The teacher alone has the dipper of
+water that starts the pump. Any contrivance that
+lessens his responsibility lessens his success.</p>
+
+<p>But the plan I have outlined has value, not because
+it permits the teacher to do less, but because it incites
+the scholars to do vastly more. An ounce drawn out
+is better than a ton put in. One thing you get them
+to do is a greater triumph than a dozen things you do
+much better for them.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXX" id="Chapter_XXX"></a>Chapter XXX</h2>
+
+<h2>Through Eye-Gate</h2>
+
+
+<p>Before his listless and restless audience the lecturer
+took in his hand a piece of chalk, turned to the
+blackboard, and touched it. Instantly he had the
+eager attention of all. He did nothing with the
+chalk; had not intended to do anything; he carried
+his point with it, nevertheless.</p>
+
+<p>A teacher, plus a bit of chalk, is two teachers. And
+any one may double himself thus, if he choose to take
+a little pains.</p>
+
+<p>Surely there need be no hesitation as to the materials.
+If you can have a blackboard, that is fine. I
+myself like best a board fastened to the wall, and a
+second board hinged to this after the fashion of a
+double slate. The outside may be used for "standing
+matter," and the inside opened up for the surprises.</p>
+
+<p>But this is a great luxury. A portable, flexible
+blackboard will answer, if your class is away from the
+wall. You can roll it up and carry it home to practise
+there. You can use both sides of it. Such blackboards
+may be obtained now for two dollars.</p>
+
+<p>Not even a flexible blackboard, however, is essential.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>
+A slate will serve you admirably, and some of
+the best chalk-talkers use simple sheets of manilla
+paper tacked to ordinary pine boards.</p>
+
+<p>Then, as to the chalk, by all means use colored
+crayons. It is easy to learn effective contrasts of
+colors, and bright hues will increase many fold the
+attractiveness of your pictures and diagrams. But
+these crayons need not be of the square variety, sold
+especially for such work at thirty-five cents a box.
+They produce beautiful results, but the ordinary
+schoolroom box of assorted colors will serve your turn
+admirably and cost much less.</p>
+
+<p>And if the materials are readily obtained, so is the
+artistic skill. Trust to the active imaginations of the
+children. Remember in their own drawings how
+vivid to them are the straight lines that stand for men,
+the squares that represent houses, the circles with
+three dots that set forth faces with eyes and mouth.
+I once saw Mrs. Crafts teach the parable of the Good
+Samaritan in a most fascinating way to some little
+tots, and her blackboard work was merely some rough
+ovals, each drawn half through its neighbor, to represent
+a chain of love,&mdash;love to papa, love to mamma,
+to sister, brother, friend, teacher,&mdash;<i>neighbor</i>. And as
+circle after circle was briskly added, every child was
+filled with delight. That same parable of the Good
+Samaritan I once saw perfectly illustrated&mdash;for all
+practical purposes&mdash;by four squares, each with two
+parallel lines curving from one upper corner to the
+opposite lower one, to represent the descent of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>
+Jericho road, while the various scenes were depicted
+with the aid of short, straight lines, the man fallen
+among thieves being a horizontal line, the priest and
+Levite being stiffly upright and placed on appropriate
+points in the road, while the line for the Samaritan
+was leaning over as if helping his fallen brother rise!
+Surely that series of drawings was not beyond the
+artistic skill of any teacher.</p>
+
+<p>One of the beauties of such simple work is that it
+may be dashed off in the presence of the scholars,
+while more elaborate pictures must be prepared beforehand;
+and half the value of blackboard work is
+in the attention excited by the moving chalk. I use
+the expression "dashed off," but I do not want to
+imply careless work. The straight lines should be as
+straight as you can make them without a ruler, the
+circles as true circles as can be drawn without a string,
+and the stars should have equal points. The simpler
+the drawing, the more need that every mark should
+have its mission and fulfill it well. A confused scrawl
+will only make mental confusion worse confounded.
+Don't be satisfied with rough work, or it will constantly
+become rougher. Try to do better all the time.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, this means home practice, even for the
+simplest of exercises, like Mrs. Crafts' links of the
+love-chain. The nearer the links are to perfect ovals,
+the better. The more nicely they are shaded on one
+side, the more distinct will be the impression of a
+chain. And the more rapidly they can be drawn, the
+more tense will be the children's interest. A few easy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>
+lessons in drawing, from some public-school teacher
+or some text-book, will prove of inestimable value,&mdash;lessons
+enough to give you at least an idea of perspective,
+so that you can make a house or a box stand
+out from the board, and know which sides to shade
+of the inside of a door. Make such simple beginnings
+as I have indicated, and determine to advance,
+however slowly. It is hard to draw a man, but not
+so difficult if you are willing to begin with a little circle
+for the head, an oval for the body, and two
+straight lines for legs.</p>
+
+<p>But even if you do not draw at all, it is well worth
+while to use chalk. Almost magical effects may be
+produced by a single sentence, sometimes a single
+word, <i>written</i> on the board. If your lesson is the last
+chapter of the Bible, the one word "Come!" will be
+blackboard work enough. Add to it, if you will, at
+the close of the recitation, this earnest question:
+"Why not to-day?" Every lesson has its key-word
+or its key-sentence. Write it large on your scholars'
+hearts by writing it large upon the blackboard.</p>
+
+<p>In such work, as in drawing, you may begin with
+simple writing (your best script, however!) and go on
+to as high a degree of elaborateness as you fancy.
+A printer's book of samples will introduce you to fascinating
+and varied forms of letters. Your colored
+chalks may be used in exquisite illumination. You
+may learn from penmen their most bewitching scrolls.
+And all of this will be enjoyed by the children, and
+will contribute to the impressiveness of the truth, <i>provided</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>
+you are jealous to keep it subordinate to the
+truth. Otherwise, plain longhand is to be preferred
+to the end of the chapter.</p>
+
+<p>Another easy way to use the blackboard&mdash;still
+without venturing on drawing&mdash;is by constructing
+diagrams. What a key to Scripture chronology, for
+instance, is furnished your scholars when you draw a
+horizontal line to represent the four thousand years
+from Adam to Christ, bisect it for Abraham, bisect
+the last half for Solomon, bisect the third quarter for
+Moses, and continue to bisect as long as a famous
+man stands at the bisecting-point! How it clears up
+the life of Christ to draw two circles, the inner one
+for Jerusalem, the outer for Nazareth, dividing them
+into thirty-three parts for the years of our Saviour's
+life, and running a curved line in and out according
+as his journeys took him to Nazareth and beyond its
+circle, or back to Jerusalem at the feast-times! Such
+circles will also serve to depict graphically Paul's missionary
+journeys, the outer circle representing Antioch.
+Any series of historical events may well be strung
+along a vertical line divided into decades, and parallel
+series, as in the history of the northern and southern
+kingdoms, along two parallel verticals. An outline
+map, such as the teacher may draw from memory, will
+furnish an excellent basis for another kind of diagram,
+the progress of persons or of series of events being
+traced from place to place by dotted lines, a different
+color for each person or journey or group of incidents.</p>
+
+<p>Acrostics furnish still another use for the blackboard.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>
+For example, draw out from the class by questions a
+list of the prominent characteristics of David. He was</p>
+
+
+<ul><li>  Daring</li>
+<li>  Active</li>
+<li>  Vigilant</li>
+<li>  Inspired</li>
+<li>  Dutiful</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>Not until the list is completed does the class see that
+its initial letters spell David's name. You have attained
+the element of surprise, so valuable in work of
+this sort. Again, in a lesson on the rich young man,
+or on Dives and Lazarus, or on Zaccheus, write in a
+vertical column the letters of Christ's name, and draw
+straight lines to the right in various directions, as
+shown in the following diagram. Transferring the
+letters, or getting some scholar to transfer them, to
+the points indicated, you quickly insert an E, and it
+reads: "Christ&mdash;richest."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" >
+   <a name="illus-p172.jpg" id="illus-p172.jpg"></a>
+   <img src="images/illus-p172.jpg" alt="Christ is Richest" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The application is obvious, and will never be forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>Often, in seeking for such an effective presentation
+of a lesson's truth, we hit upon alliteration, and then
+our blackboard work is easy. Three P's:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">P&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; P&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; P</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Fill them out, as the lesson proceeds, thus:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">harisee&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ompously</span><br />
+P&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Prayed &nbsp; &nbsp;    P<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">ublican&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; enitently</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>And often, again, our form will be based upon similar
+terminations or beginnings of words, such as:</p>
+
+<pre>
+               { choosing
+      Solomon  { reigning
+               { sinning
+</pre>
+
+<p>Suggestions and examples of such work might be
+indefinitely multiplied. It is one of the easiest, yet
+one of the most effective, methods of fixing the points
+of a lesson.</p>
+
+<p>The earnest teacher will be drawn irresistibly from
+the use of the chalk in diagrams, acrostics, and the
+like, to simple drawings; and by this time he will realize
+the importance of simplicity. A set of steps, for
+instance, is easy to draw; we may use only the profile;
+but the drawing will fix forever in your scholars'
+minds the events in Solomon's life. To a certain
+point the steps are all upward. Yellow chalk shows
+them to be golden. A word written over each step<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>
+gives the event it symbolizes. On a sudden the steps
+turn downward, become a dirty brown, each representing
+a sin, and break short off as Solomon takes
+his terrible fall.</p>
+
+<p>Who cannot draw a number of rough circles?
+They will stand for the stones thrown at Stephen.
+A word or initial written in each will represent the
+different kinds of persecutions that assail faithful
+Christians in our modern days. Who cannot draw a
+shepherd's crook, and write alongside it the points of
+the Twenty-third Psalm, or the ways in which Christ
+is the Good Shepherd? Who cannot draw a large
+wineglass, and write inside it some of the evils that
+come out of it? Who cannot draw a rectangle for
+a letter, and write upon it a direction, to make more
+vivid some of the epistles? or a trumpet inside seven
+circles, to brighten up the lesson on the fall of Jericho?
+As a rule, the very best chalk-talks are the
+simplest, and require the least skill in drawing.</p>
+
+<p>But how to get the ideas? Where to find the
+pictures?</p>
+
+<p>Of course, in the first place, from the books of first-rate
+chalk-talkers, such as Pierce's "Pictured Truth,"
+Frank Beard's "The Blackboard in the Sunday-school,"
+and Belsey's "The Bible and the Blackboard"
+(an English book). Of course, also, from
+the many admirable periodicals that publish blackboard
+hints, such as the "Lesson Illustrator," the
+"Sunday-school Times," and the teachers' magazines
+of the various denominations. Get hints also from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>
+the blackboard work of the public school and the
+kindergarten, as to manner, if not as to matter.</p>
+
+<p>But as for the design, your own is the best for you,
+and not another's. Study all the blackboard work
+you can find, and retain whatever gravitates to you;
+but your own original design is the one you will best
+understand, and in presenting it you will have more
+of that enthusiasm which makes success.</p>
+
+<p>Learn to find pictures all through the Bible. I
+have just been searching my mind for a Bible text
+that promised nothing in the way of a picture. At
+last I thought that "All have sinned and come short
+of the glory of God" would do. But in another second
+two pictures popped into my mind. I saw a
+river whose further bank was beautiful with flowers
+and trees, the paradise of "the glory of God," and
+across the river a bridge&mdash;lacking its final portion.
+I saw a ladder reaching up into some golden clouds
+back of which shone heaven, the city of "the glory
+of God"; but all the top rounds of the ladder were
+missing. Bridge and ladder had "come short."
+God's hand was needed, reaching across, reaching
+down, to help us over the sin-gap into "the glory of
+God." I do not believe it possible to find any Bible
+texts, still less any twelve consecutive verses of the
+Bible, that do not hide somewhere a capital picture.</p>
+
+<p>Read your Bible pictorially. Make sketches everywhere
+upon the margin. For practice, often take
+some passage sure to come up in the International
+Lessons, such as Psalm 1, Isaiah 53, Proverbs 3,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>
+Matthew 5, Luke 2, John 14, Acts 9, Romans 12,
+1 Corinthians 13, Hebrew 11, James 3. Delve into the
+passage, meditate long over it, and see how many
+pictures you can get out of it.</p>
+
+<p>Of the greatest assistance will be a book,&mdash;indexed
+as to texts, and also as to subjects, such as "temperance,"
+"missionary," "resurrection," "courage,"&mdash;in
+which you will preserve every drawing you make, and
+all the most suggestive blackboard hints you clip from
+the teachers' magazines, together with simple outlines
+of all sorts of common subjects. These last will be
+particularly useful. There will be a ladder, an anvil,
+a horse, a lily, a broom, a fountain,&mdash;anything likely
+to be of use for a symbol. You will clip these from
+advertisements, catalogues, the illustrated papers and
+magazines, and you will find your collection useful in
+many ways.</p>
+
+<p>I have spoken as if the teacher should do all the
+blackboard work. On the contrary, he should do
+none that he can get his scholars to do for him. No
+matter if they do not do it as well as he. Get them
+to practise beforehand. Let them begin with only
+the simplest work; they will soon astonish you with
+their proficiency. And the class will take far more
+interest in a poor drawing by one of their own number
+than in a good drawing by you.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, and even when you preside at the blackboard
+yourself, give the class pencils and paper occasionally,
+and let them copy what you draw. Their attention
+will be assuredly fixed, and an ineffaceable impression<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>
+made on their memory. The drawings they
+complete, however crude, they will be glad to carry
+home to show their parents, and treasure as souvenirs
+of the lesson, or keep, if you choose, against the
+coming review day. If you use this method, you will
+soon come to cherish a deeper liking for that prime
+pedagogical virtue, simplicity.</p>
+
+<p>For a final word: Take pains that your word-pictures
+keep pace with your chalk. Don't <i>ask</i> your
+class what you have drawn&mdash;that might lead to embarrassing
+results! <i>Tell</i> them. Put in all sorts of
+graphic little touches, even though you cannot draw
+a tenth of what you are talking about. The man on
+the Jericho road&mdash;how full of fear he was as he
+walked; how he whistled to keep up his courage;
+how one robber peeped from behind a rock, and another
+whispered, "He's coming!" how they sprang
+out, and he ran, and a third rascal sprang out in front
+and knocked him down; how he shouted, "Help!
+Thieves! Help!" and how only the echo answered
+him in that lonely place&mdash;all this must have happened
+many a time on that Jericho road, and you
+have a perfect right to stimulate with such natural
+and inevitable details the imagination of the children.</p>
+
+<p>That is what they are for&mdash;both our word-picturing
+and our chalk-picturing: not to exhibit our nimbleness
+of wit or of finger, but to quicken the minds of
+the children,&mdash;that alone,&mdash;and make them more
+eager in the pursuit of truth.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXI" id="Chapter_XXXI"></a>Chapter XXXI</h2>
+
+<h2>Foundation Work</h2>
+
+
+<p>The work of the primary department lies at the
+foundation of all Sunday-school work. This does
+not mean that there is no chance of a child's becoming
+a good Bible scholar and a noble Christian if he
+misses the primary training, but it does mean that
+without a flourishing primary department a school
+can scarcely be called successful, while with it half
+the success of the school is assured. The primary
+teacher molds the soft clay; her successor with the
+child must cut the hard marble.</p>
+
+<p>Teaching that thus lies at the foundation must deal
+with fundamental matters, with the greatest lives of
+the Bible, the great outlines of history, the great essentials
+of doctrine, the root principles of morality.
+Details are to be filled in later. The danger is that
+the teacher will attempt to teach too much, will expect
+the little ones to know about Hagar when it is
+enough for them to know about Isaac; or about
+Jeremiah, when Daniel would be sufficient; or about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>
+the order in which Paul wrote his letters, when it
+might well suffice for them to know that Paul wrote
+them.</p>
+
+<p>But though many questions are too hard to ask, no
+question is too easy, and no point is so simple that in
+these first days you may safely take it for granted.
+Laugh if you please, but I do not think that even
+these days of sand-maps and pricked cards have produced
+a method much more helpful for the primary
+teacher than the old questioning of my boyhood,
+over and over repeated: "Who was the first man?"
+"Who was the strongest man?" "Who was the oldest
+man?" and the like.</p>
+
+<p>The primary teacher's right-hand man is named
+Drill,&mdash;Ernest Drill. No mnemonic help&mdash;that <i>is</i> a
+help&mdash;is to be despised. Rhymes giving in order the
+books of the Bible, the Commandments, Beatitudes,
+list of the twelve apostles, may wisely be used. No
+memory verse or golden text, once learned, should be
+allowed to lapse into that easy pit, a child's quick
+forgetfulness. Better one thing remembered than a
+hundred things forgotten. Foundation-stones are
+few and simple, but they must be firm.</p>
+
+<p>Now the first essential, if one would do this foundation
+work successfully, is to get a room to work in.
+A room that lets in floods of sunshine and fresh air.
+A room with pretty pictures and bright mottoes on
+the wall, with canary songs and blooming plants. A
+room with little chairs, graded to the scholars' little
+heights. A room with a visitors' gallery for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>
+mothers. Or, if your church was not blessed with a
+Sunday-school architect, then such a room in a house
+next door or across the street, to which your class
+may withdraw after the opening exercises. Or, if
+your work must be done in the church, as so much
+primary work must be, then a temporary room, shut
+off by drawn curtains, or even by a blackboard and
+a screen, is far better than the distractions of the
+open school.</p>
+
+<p>The blackboard just mentioned, at any rate, the
+room should contain; the shrewd use of it will create
+an intense interest that will almost cause oblivion of
+the most distracting surroundings. A padded board
+gives the best effects,&mdash;such a board as you yourself
+may easily and cheaply make with a pine backing, a
+few layers of cheap soft cloth, and a covering of
+blackboard cloth nailed firmly over all. In the chapter
+on blackboard work I have tried to show how
+easily possible, and at the same time how valuable, is
+the use of the blackboard. If the children are too
+small to read, they may at least know their letters,
+and recognize S for Saul and P for Peter, and a cross
+for Christ, while the immense resources of simple
+drawings are always open to you.</p>
+
+<p>The primary teacher is fortunate, nowadays, in
+being able to buy, at slight cost, series of pictures illustrating
+each quarter's lessons. These pictures are
+either colored brightly or simple black and white, and
+vary in size from four or five square feet to the little
+engravings in the Sunday-school paper. Whatever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>
+picture is used should be hidden until it is time to
+exhibit it, and produced with a pretty show of mystery
+and triumph. Some teachers hang these pictures,
+after use, in a "picture-gallery," where the children
+may become familiar with them, and to this gallery
+they may be sent for frequent reference against the
+coming review day.</p>
+
+<p>After all, the primary teacher's chief reliance for
+purposes of illustration must be natural objects. In
+this reliance we merely imitate the example of the
+great Teacher. The objects to be used will most
+often be suggested by the lesson text itself. A lily,
+a vine, seed, leaven, a door, a sickle, a cake, a cup,
+grass,&mdash;are not each of these objects at once associated
+in your mind with passages of Scripture? Hunt
+out the suggested objects, and simply hold them before
+the children as you talk about the lesson, and
+you will find them a wonderful assistance.</p>
+
+<p>A more difficult process is to discover illustrative
+objects when none are directly suggested in the text.
+In a temperance lesson, for instance, there may be no
+mention of the wine-cup, yet you will bring a glass,
+fill it with wine-colored water, and place in it slips of
+paper cut to resemble snakes. On each is written
+some fearful result of drinking alcoholic liquors; and
+after the children have drawn forth, with pincers, one
+after the other, and read what is written upon it, they
+will not soon forget how many evils come out of the
+wine-cup.</p>
+
+<p>You may be talking about the imprisonment of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>
+John the Baptist. Produce a pasteboard chain,
+painted black on one side. Each link tells in red
+letters one of the horrors of his imprisonment,&mdash;loneliness,
+fear, despair, and the like. Turn over the chain
+and show the underside gilded, the links reading,
+"More faith," "Near to God," "God's favor," "Courage,"
+"Eternal reward." There was a bright side,
+after all.</p>
+
+<p>You are on the stumbling-block lesson, and you
+bring in some awkward, rough wooden blocks, on
+which you tack labels as the lesson proceeds: "A
+spiteful temper," "A gossiping tongue," "Envy,"
+"Suspicion," "Swearing," "Treating to strong drink,"
+"Playing marbles for 'keeps.'"</p>
+
+<p>You are teaching about the paralytic let down
+through the roof. It has not required many minutes,
+with pasteboard, scissors, and glue, to construct a
+dainty little model of an old-time Jewish house, outside
+stairs, inner court, overhanging court roof, and
+all. And how the little model illuminates the story!
+The jail in which Peter was imprisoned, the table
+around which the Last Supper was celebrated, the
+Tabernacle, the Temple,&mdash;from the many excellent
+pictures and descriptions obtainable, even quite ambitious
+models are possible of manufacture. And
+once made, they are aids and joys forever.</p>
+
+<p>The sand-map has become justly popular. It is
+easily formed, requiring only a shallow tray, some
+sharp, clean sand, pieces of looking-glass for lakes
+and seas, blue yarn for rivers, some rocks for mountains,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>
+wooden blocks for houses, dried moss for trees,
+little toy men, boats, horses, and such readily found
+apparatus.</p>
+
+<p>In turn you can build up, with its accommodating
+materials, the Sea of Galilee and the scene of the
+feeding of the five thousand, all Palestine with the
+courses of Christ's journeys, Asia Minor and Macedonia
+with the route of Paul on his second great
+missionary journey. Much of this the children themselves
+will help you prepare, and will learn a great
+deal by so doing. Indeed, the wise teacher will do
+as little as possible herself even in getting ready to
+teach, and will make her scholars themselves her assistant
+teachers.</p>
+
+<p>That is one of the beauties of such kindergarten
+devices as pricking paper and weaving bright yarn
+back and forth to fill up the picture outlined by the
+holes. It is the scholars' work, and not your own,
+and they do not forget their own work. Simple designs
+illustrating the lessons can thus be pricked into
+the children's memories at the point of a pin.</p>
+
+<p>It is best not to confuse the class with a multiplicity
+of objects, but to fix on a single symbol for
+each lesson, that will stand distinctly for the lesson in
+the weekly and quarterly reviews. The kind of object
+should constantly vary. If this week it is cut
+out of pasteboard, next week let it be modeled in
+clay, and the following week let it be a picture in
+black and white. The simpler, the better: a cup for
+the lesson at Sychar; a dried leaf for the parable of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>
+the fig-tree; a square of white cloth for Peter's vision
+on the housetop. Do not produce the object till you
+want it in your teaching, or the children's interest
+will be dissipated before you have need of it. Get a
+little cabinet in which to store all your teaching apparatus.
+Do not keep the object in sight after you
+are through with it, or you will lose attention from
+your next point. Remember, in all object-teaching,
+how inferior is any symbol to the truth symbolized,&mdash;its
+shadow only, a mere hint of it,&mdash;and learn to drop
+the interest-exciting object and use the interest for the
+truth you want to teach.</p>
+
+<p>In this branch of your work a knowledge of common
+science will prove invaluable. Botany and geology,
+chemistry, <a name="zoology" id="zoology"></a>zoölogy, and astronomy open one's
+eyes to the beauties and marvels of God's handiwork,
+and disclose analogies abounding and true. There
+is much also to learn from the books of models,&mdash;models
+for suggestion, of course, and not for slavish
+imitation,&mdash;such as Tyndall's "Object-lessons for
+Children," Roads' "Little Children in the Church
+of Christ," and Stall's "Five-minute Object-sermons
+to Children," or his "Talks to the King's Children."</p>
+
+<p>The most valuable "objects" are the children
+themselves, when you can carry out an illustration
+with their own active bodies. For instance, in teaching
+the lesson on the first council at Jerusalem, arrange
+the chairs in two groups, distant as far as possible
+from each other. One is Antioch, the other is Jerusalem.
+Two picked scholars, Paul and Barnabas, set<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>
+out from the Antioch corner toward Jerusalem corner.
+Some of their comrades accompany them part way.
+The scholars at the other side of the room receive
+them with interest. Paul and Barnabas&mdash;or the
+teacher for them&mdash;tell their story. A Pharisee rises,
+and the teacher puts words in his mouth. Peter rises
+and tells about Cornelius. James, the most dignified
+boy present, gives his decision. Judas and Silas are
+selected to escort Paul and Barnabas back again,
+bearing a letter.</p>
+
+<p>The visit of the Queen of Sheba, the taking of
+Joseph to Egypt, Paul's vision in Troas and passage
+to Macedonia, the parallel history of the northern and
+southern kingdoms,&mdash;indeed, countless events,&mdash;may
+be illustrated in this way. The only danger is that
+the whole may seem too much like play; but this
+danger is easily avoided by an earnest teacher, and
+the gains in interest and remembrance will prove rich
+justification.</p>
+
+<p>An illustration still simpler, and very effective, may
+be obtained from the children merely by the motion
+of their hands. "Went <i>down</i> from Jerusalem to
+Jericho"&mdash;all hands raised high and rapidly lowered.
+"And <i>great</i> was the fall thereof"&mdash;the same movement.
+"The Queen of Sheba wondered"&mdash;hands
+raised in astonishment. "A sower went out to sow"&mdash;hands
+sweep to the right and left. These concert
+movements not merely fix the attention of the class,
+but serve as outlet to their restlessness. Some teachers
+advise a halt midway in the lesson for the introduction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>
+of some light gymnastics to rest the class.
+That is well; but if the same result can be gained in
+immediate connection with the lesson, so much the
+better.</p>
+
+<p>After all has been said, however, the primary teacher's
+great art is the art of story-telling. Learn to
+start right in. Preliminary preachment will spoil it
+all. Use short and simple words. Keep clear and
+distinct the order of events, and do not confuse the
+children by going back to take up omitted points.
+Nevertheless,&mdash;and this is not a contradiction,&mdash;repeat
+and repeat and repeat, telling each section of the
+story over and over, in different ways and with ever-fresh
+particulars, till the children's slippery memories
+have laid hold upon it.</p>
+
+<p>Introduce a myriad natural details, for which you
+must draw on a consecrated imagination. You
+should hear Mr. Moody tell a Bible story! It is not
+enough to say that Abraham determined to offer up
+Isaac as a sacrifice. The great, loving soul of the
+evangelist has brooded too long over the Bible for a
+statement so cold as that. He must tell about the
+patriarch's sleepless nights; about his getting up and
+going over to the bed of the boy so peacefully sleeping;
+about his weeping when no one was watching
+him; how he couldn't eat his breakfast; how his heart
+beat whenever he looked at the lad. And long before
+Mr. Moody is through, the great sacrifice is so vivid
+to him and to us that we all weep together, and no
+moralizing is needed.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>You are not Moodys? No; but hundreds of primary
+teachers are doing just this work, telling to
+their children the Bible stories as they must have
+happened, reading with the heart and telling them to
+the life. Long meditation is needed, persistent
+"putting yourself in his place," and it is even well to
+write out the story in full before you attempt to tell
+it. When you receive the reward, you will count the
+trouble as nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Music is a great aid in the primary room. If you
+cannot afford a piano, learn how cheap are the "baby
+organs," and how effectively they will lead the children's
+singing. Even though you work in an extemporized
+class-room, shut off by screens or a curtain
+from the rest of the school, you can at least use
+"whisper songs." Yes, and these whisper songs may
+often be motion songs, and serve to illustrate the lesson.</p>
+
+<p>At least one song of the hour should bear directly
+on the central thought of the hour, and before it is
+sung you should explain why you call for it. Most
+of the best songs for this purpose will prove to be
+standard hymns, and there is every reason why the
+simplest of these should be taught to the children,
+that they may find as many points of contact as possible
+with the services of the older church. The aid
+of the parents may well be invoked to teach these
+hymns at home to the children,&mdash;a helpful task, for
+more than the children's sake, at which to set the
+parents.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The primary song-books contain bright little hymns
+appropriate to introduce prayer, to open and close
+the school, to be sung before Bible-reading and while
+the collection is taken. A clear-voiced assistant, sitting
+and singing among the children, will train them
+insensibly, and draw their childish voices into harmony
+with her own. Just as the children will enjoy a class
+name, motto, colors, so they will be delighted to
+select a class song; and this device may be tried,
+together with many others mentioned in the chapter
+on "A Singing Sunday-school."</p>
+
+<p>Our foundation work will surely fall if it is not
+itself founded firmly on the Bible. Be sure that each
+scholar has his own Bible&mdash;<i>and a large-type copy</i>.
+Why is it that the smaller the child, the tinier the type?
+It is not so with the children's other books. How
+can we expect them to take any interest in pages that
+look so black and uninteresting, and that, moreover,
+would ruin their eyes for life if they did read
+them?</p>
+
+<p>The Bible must not be so expensive that it cannot
+be marked freely. The children will learn much by
+this exercise. A little set of colored pencils may be
+given to each child, for class use only. The golden
+texts and other verses, and the places where the lesson
+story may be read, should all be marked with pencils
+of appropriate symbolic color. The children can
+easily find the place, and the folks at home will know
+just what passages to read to the children and to help
+them learn.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Make much of memory verses. We are filling the
+little heads nowadays far more with sand-map puppets
+and blackboard rebuses than with the Word of God.
+Drill often and thoroughly on these verses. Prepare
+a Bible roll by fastening a long strip of manilla paper
+on a spring window-shade roller. Let the lower line
+contain a few initial letters hinting at the memory
+verse concealed just above it. After recitation, pull
+this down for the scholars to compare; and so proceed
+through the roll. An alphabet of Bible verses may
+thus be learned, or an alphabet of Bible men and
+women.</p>
+
+<p>One point needs especial emphasis. No matter
+how thoroughly you have told the story, or how fascinated
+the children have been held by your recital,
+never consider the hour well spent till you have read
+from the Bible itself the story you have been telling.
+The more delightful and satisfactory your own account
+has been, the more necessary is it to show the
+children that within the covers of the Book are to be
+found all these beautiful stories.</p>
+
+<p>Part of your foundation work is certainly to teach the
+children to pray. There are many appropriate prayer
+poems, such as, for the beginning of the lesson:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"A prayer we lift to thee, dear Lord,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ere we shall listen to thy word.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The truth thy Spirit brings from thee<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Help us to study patiently.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For Jesus' sake. Amen."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Or this, for the close of the lesson:</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Our Father, through each coming day<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Watch o'er our every step, we pray;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And may thy Spirit hide the word<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Deep in our willing hearts, O Lord.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For Jesus' sake. Amen."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>These the class may be taught to repeat in concert,
+with bowed heads.</p>
+
+<p>One of the best methods is this. Let the teacher
+offer a simple prayer, sentence by sentence or clause
+by clause, the children reverently repeating it after
+her, all heads being bowed. Best of all, of course,
+are the Bible prayers, the prayer psalms, and the
+many noble prayer verses scattered here and there.
+Store the children's memories with these, and in coming
+years there will be no stammering or hesitancy
+when, in public or in private, they talk with their
+Father in heaven.</p>
+
+<p>One of the primary teacher's chief allies is a happy
+temper. If you have it not, get it. An ounce of
+sunshine is better than an iron mountain of scolding.
+The voice alone may make or mar the lesson. Is it
+good-cheery, or goody-goody? How joyous Christ
+must have been! How his little children love fun!
+And how much easier it will be for you to get them
+to love him if you also love fun!</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, we cannot know too thoroughly the child
+nature. The scientists' study of it is in its infancy,
+but a sympathetic heart will carry you farther in ten
+minutes than all their psychology in a lifetime. As
+you teach, have in mind, not <i>your</i> trials, joys, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>
+hopes, but <i>theirs</i>. Don't talk about "ambition," but
+about "getting more praise than another girl"; or
+about "covetousness," but about "wishing you, and
+not Tom, had his new bicycle." Don't allegorize;
+that is a grown-up delight. Don't talk about "the
+hill Difficulty," "the bog of Despond." Do you tell
+me the children enjoy "The Pilgrim's Progress"?
+Yes; but not as allegory. Vanity Fair is a real town
+to them, and Mr. Pliable a real man. Avoid what
+I call "fanciful" teaching, and the rather build your
+lessons upon actual men and women, so that the
+children may come to <i>know</i> Eli and Gideon, Ruth
+and Martha, as vividly as they know the men and
+women around them. That is better than to know
+Lily Lazy and Matt Mischievous and the Sea of
+Sorrow.</p>
+
+<p>Review often. When you have reached the point
+where you think the children cannot possibly forget,
+then&mdash;review again! Frequently say, "Now, after
+I have finished telling about the lesson, I am going to
+ask Fred to tell me about it; and after Fred is through,
+I shall ask <i>some one else</i> to tell the same story."
+Often ask questions that can be answered in concert,
+and insist that all shall join in the reply. This will
+usually lead to a repetition that will prove helpful.
+In such concert work, if you do not watch, the more
+forward will be the only ones that will respond, and
+you will be obliged to draw out the timid and repress
+the pert by many a special question addressed to the
+former.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Sometimes it is hard to keep order; always hard, if
+the teacher has not by nature or attainment the face
+and voice and bearing that command order because
+they lovingly and firmly expect it. The teacher
+should be in the room before any scholar arrives.
+Much disorder has its source in those irresponsible
+ten minutes before the school opens. Then, while
+she is teaching, an assistant should sit with the children,
+ready to check their mischievousness, attend
+quickly to their needs and desires, care for the late
+comers, help them "find the place" in Bibles and
+song-books, and perform many other little offices.
+Some heads of large primary departments establish
+"hospitals," where are sent the children with "sick"
+hands or feet or tongues,&mdash;a special class where the
+most uncontrollable are "treated" till they are reported
+"cured." In general, however, if the children are
+interested, they will be orderly; and if the teacher is
+interested, so are likely to be the scholars. Put into
+the work your whole soul, and you are reasonably
+sure of getting the whole minds of the children.</p>
+
+<p>Love them! I cannot better sum up the entire
+matter than in those two words. Love them, and
+they will love you and gladly obey you. Love them,
+and you will work hard for them, and will not mind
+the hardness. Love them, and your love will teach
+you how to teach them wisely. And the God of love,
+who loves little children, will give you, week by week,
+the fullness of his joy.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXII" id="Chapter_XXXII"></a>Chapter XXXII</h2>
+
+<h2>The Trial Balance</h2>
+
+
+<p>Some teachers omit the review, or pass over it in
+a perfunctory way. This is as if a merchant should
+never balance his books, or, taking a trial balance,
+should be heedless of the result. If we are to prosper
+in this our Father's business, we must be careful
+as any merchant to discover just where we stand with
+our scholars; we must test their progress often and
+thoroughly, and never rest satisfied or let them rest
+satisfied until they and we are assured that the balance
+is comfortably on the right side of the ledger.</p>
+
+<p>One reason for the common shrinking from review
+day is because we have not manfully met it at the
+very beginning of the quarter. It is the preview that
+gives success to the review. When the teacher looks
+carefully through the twelve lessons ahead of him,
+grasps the underlying thread that binds them together,
+and forms his plan for a review at the outset, review
+day has lost all its terrors. Then every lesson becomes
+part of a consistent series. Then the weekly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>
+reviews, which alone make possible a successful quarterly
+review, lay each a course of a steadily rising
+edifice.</p>
+
+<p>No clearness of knowledge may be expected unless
+the teacher knows clearly at the start just what it is
+that he expects the scholars to know; and the building
+grows with double certainty if the little workmen
+themselves are given glimpses of the architect's plans,&mdash;at
+least of a "front elevation." "For these three
+months," the teacher may say, "we are to study
+Christ's life as Mark records it. My plan is for you
+to vote each Sunday on the most important facts we
+have studied,&mdash;either in the lesson text or in the 'intervening
+events.' Sometimes it will be one fact; it
+will never be more than three. All together there
+are thirty facts we shall learn, and they will make an
+outline history of Christ's entire life."</p>
+
+<p>How such a scheme, clearly and often stated, will
+clarify and systematize the quarter's work! Three
+or four times during the three months the teacher will
+propound brisk questions covering the points of all
+the previous lessons of the quarter, following this by
+a written test. Let him prepare for each lesson a
+card, on which he prints questions answerable by the
+facts to be learned. Fastening twelve hooks on a
+board, he hangs these cards on the hooks week by
+week, and uses them in these reviews and in the final
+review of the quarter. If the class is one of little
+tots, a symbol for each lesson, cut out of pasteboard
+or consisting of some object, may be hung up in place<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>
+of the card,&mdash;such a symbol as a needle stuck in a
+piece of cloth, answering to the story of Dorcas.</p>
+
+<p>Some such preparation will make thoroughly successful
+a written examination on review day. The
+questions should be simple and clear, and such as can
+be answered fully in a very few words. They should
+take up only the points on which emphasis has been
+laid throughout the quarter. If the teacher presents
+the plan in a jolly way, the class will enter into it
+heartily, as good fun.</p>
+
+<p>For a change, now and then invite the scholars to
+bring in, on review day, lists of what each considers
+the ten principal events of the quarter. A comparison
+is to be made, and the events that receive the
+most votes will constitute a model list. This exercise
+in itself will make a pretty good review.</p>
+
+<p>An excellent review may be based upon the six
+natural divisions of all lessons,&mdash;times, persons, places,
+events, sayings, teachings. The "sayings" are the
+short sentences best worth memorizing. A review
+"quiz" may take up these six points one after the
+other, carrying each over the entire range of lessons,
+sometimes chronologically, but more often at haphazard.</p>
+
+<p>A more elaborate plan is to assign each of these
+categories to some scholar the week before, telling
+him, for instance, that you will depend upon him
+alone to fix the location of all the events in the twelve
+lessons. Carrying out the comparison indicated in
+the title to this chapter, you may do very thorough<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>
+work by getting each scholar to keep a Sunday-school
+ledger. He will open up a page to the account of
+"persons," another to the account of "events," and
+so on, and will make weekly entries on each page.
+The quarterly review will then be indeed his trial balance.</p>
+
+<p>I am very fond of a map review. Using a large
+outline map, sometimes one drawn before the class
+on the blackboard by a scholar who has practised the
+feat, I call for the first event of the quarter's lessons,
+and one of the class places a figure 1 at the scene of
+the event; thus with all the events in order. Then,
+reviewing again, I ask, pointing to the map, "What
+was event No. 7, here at Sychar?" or, "Four events
+at Jerusalem&mdash;what were they, in order?"</p>
+
+<p>Another good way to use the map&mdash;a map, this
+time, drawn in outline on a large sheet of manilla
+paper&mdash;is to employ "stickers," bright bits of gummed
+paper, cut to various shapes. Blue stars, for instance,
+stuck here and there over the map, will indicate the
+points where Abraham is found in a series of lessons.
+They may be numbered, or not. Gold stars may show
+where Christ worked the miracles studied during the
+quarter. All the events in one year of Christ's ministry
+may be represented by green stars, in another
+year by scarlet stars, or purple stars. The method
+branches out into many fascinating applications.</p>
+
+<p>Some teachers make large use of the golden texts.
+If these have been emphasized, they may wisely be
+introduced in the review. Write each upon a card.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>
+If you have artistic talent, you may make each card
+a thing of beauty, to be kept as a souvenir by the
+scholar. These cards will be distributed at random,
+and each scholar will be expected to answer the questions,
+first of the class and then of the teacher, on the
+lesson whose golden text he holds. I would not urge
+the recalling of lessons by titles, for the titles are not
+constituent parts of the lesson; but the golden text
+usually goes to the heart of the matter. Neither
+would I favor such a plan as the one last mentioned,
+that assigns one lesson to each scholar, unless the
+entire class is drawn into active participation by such
+a questioning from the scholars as I have indicated.</p>
+
+<p>A pleasant and profitable review for some classes
+is based on the quotable passages in the quarter's
+Scripture. These memorable sentences are written
+on cards, which are distributed evenly. Every scholar
+is expected to tell when, where, and by whom his
+quotation was first spoken, and at the close of the
+exercise each scholar will be called upon to repeat
+all his quotations from memory. Then the teacher
+will gather the cards, mix them up, present the pile
+now to this scholar and now to that, and ask him to
+give the facts about whatever quotation he may draw.
+The success of this method of review, as of all others,
+will largely depend upon its previous announcement,
+the scholars having gone over the quarter's lessons at
+home with this coming test in mind.</p>
+
+<p>The review may sometimes take the form of a
+contest; you may call it a "question tournament."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>
+Appoint leaders, and let them choose sides. Each
+side in turn has the privilege of asking a question of
+the other side. The question must be passed upon
+as fair by the teacher. The scholars on each side
+take turns in answering, and when the scholar whose
+turn it is cannot answer, his entire company has a
+chance. If no one on that side knows the answer,
+the other side gives the correct reply, and thereby
+scores one point. The side with the highest score
+wins the tournament.</p>
+
+<p>Methods less brisk than this employ pen and ink.
+You may ask the scholars to bring to the class tabular
+outlines of the quarter's history. A little book,
+connected with the quarter's study in some way, may
+be offered as a reward for the best outline, if the
+teacher thinks it wise; some teachers would not. At
+another time ask each scholar to write a five-minute
+essay on some topic that will require study of all the
+lessons, the topics all being different. These essays
+are to be read before the class, and their themes
+should be as bright as the teacher and her shrewdest
+friends can make them. A variation of this plan is
+to propound to the class a series of questions, all requiring
+search through the twelve lessons, and
+allow each scholar to choose a question upon which
+he will <i>speak</i> for two, three, or four minutes before
+the class on review day.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever your review gives or fails to give, be
+sure it leaves with your class a clear-cut outline or
+summary of the three months' study. Omit the consideration<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>
+of lessons not closely connected with the
+story, like some of the temperance, Easter, and
+Christmas lessons. Center upon some graphical
+scheme whenever possible, if it is only a vertical line
+divided into decades along which events may be
+strung, or a circle so divided as to represent Moses'
+life or Christ's. If you can, group the lessons around
+some great personality prominent in them. Never
+fail to bind them together with the golden thread of
+their relation to Christ. Trace through them the
+progress of some thought or event, such as God's
+leadings that developed the Israelites, the growth of
+the Christian church, the unfolding of Christ's life, or
+David's, or Joseph's. Discover what unity the lessons
+have, and bring it out in the review.</p>
+
+<p>If these matters have been discussed in the quarter's
+lessons, set them in fresh lights. It must be a
+new view as well as a review.</p>
+
+<p>If you have succeeded well with one form of review,
+thank God, and&mdash;change the form next time.
+The methods suggested in this chapter are not equally
+valuable in all reviews. Make out a programme in
+January for the four reviews ahead of you, and plan
+them all differently.</p>
+
+<p>And finally, review your reviews. Review them
+on the review day, going over the same ground at
+least twice, in varying mode; and in your weekly reviews
+thereafter take occasion now and then to revert
+to the work of the preceding quarter. A matter is
+not learned to-day unless it is learned for all days.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>If the review discloses weak spots, strengthen
+them. If it discloses excellences, praise them. With
+steady and honest purpose, take on review day the
+trial balance of your work, and may God grant you
+a balance on the heavenward side of the ledger!</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXIII" id="Chapter_XXXIII"></a>Chapter XXXIII</h2>
+
+<h2>At the Helm</h2>
+
+
+<p>The superintendent of a Sunday-school is not the
+steam of the boat, for all true power comes from the
+Holy Spirit. He does not even tend the fires; that
+work the teachers must do. Neither does he make
+the chart by which the boat is steered; that is the
+work of the International Lesson Committee. No;
+the superintendent stands at the helm. He takes
+orders from the one Captain, and transmits them.
+Now he turns a wheel, now he pulls a bell-rope, now
+he shouts through a speaking-tube. In spite of the
+multiplied details, his work is simple. He has to
+know his ship, the waters, and the weather: that is,
+he has to know God, what he wants him to do; and
+his scholars, what they are capable of doing; and his
+teachers, what they are capable of getting the scholars
+to do. Knowing these three things, he will not
+fret himself with attempting impossibilities, tasks
+beyond the power of teachers and scholars and so
+aside from God's will for them, but he will know he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>
+has succeeded if his teachers work as hard as they
+can in getting their scholars to work as hard as <i>they</i>
+can to learn and do God's will.</p>
+
+<p>The superintendent's work begins with himself,
+then goes on to his officers, then to his teachers, then
+to his scholars, then to other schools.</p>
+
+<p>First, looking to himself, he must gain what some
+one lays down as the four essentials of success in
+Christian work: "consecration, concentration, tact,
+and contact." That is, his whole soul must be in his
+work; he must say, with Paul, "This <i>one</i> thing I
+do"; he must come in touch with his forces, and he
+must know how to handle them after he touches them.</p>
+
+<p>There are some men that should never be superintendents.
+One of these is Mr. Long, who has to say
+everything in four different ways, each way being
+Broadway. Another is Mr. Twitchall, who jerks out
+his words between the jerks of his nervous body, who
+darts here and there like the snapper of a whip, and
+infects the entire school with the contagion of his
+restlessness. Mr. Black is another, that man of
+gloomy face and sepulchral voice. Mr. Daggart is
+another, for his tongue is dipped in the venom of sarcasm
+and knows only to scold.</p>
+
+<p>My favorite superintendent is Mr. Short, the son
+of Mr. Bright. He has all his father's good cheer.
+His face is full of a sunshine that doesn't need to be
+put into words. He is cordial even more plainly
+than he is spiritual, but because he is spiritual. He
+is businesslike. He is modest. He remembers that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>
+he is only one, and the school two hundred, and he
+divides time on about that basis. He knows&mdash;oh,
+he knows the value of five minutes!</p>
+
+<p>He has the grit of a bulldog, this Superintendent
+Short, son of Mr. Bright. When he is sure he has
+hold of a good thing, he does not dream of letting
+go, any more than those well-persuaded jaws. And
+he has the bulldog's independence and thick skin, but
+with more than bulldog reason; for is he not responsible
+to God alone? If God says, "Good!" what
+matters the sneer of a man? So he does the best he
+knows how, and keeps serene.</p>
+
+<p>With all his independence he is modest and teachable,
+is Superintendent Short, son of Mr. Bright. He
+visits other Sunday-schools, and gets hints there.
+He visits the public schools, and gets many valuable
+hints from their superintendents. He reads everything
+that has Sunday-school methods in it, and from
+all this he gets hints. He goes around asking everybody,
+"How can I do better work? How can the
+school be improved?" and he receives into a teachable
+mind the hints he gets. When he has to find
+fault, he first praises what he can. Indeed, praise&mdash;for
+a wonder!&mdash;is his favorite form of criticism, and
+a stimulating form it is.</p>
+
+<p>Withal, Superintendent Short is enterprising. He
+sets apart from his busy week regular times for his
+Sunday-school work, and makes a business of it. He
+is ready to spend money as well as time. He keeps
+a notebook crowded with new ideas, and carries them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>
+out one after the other in the order of their importance,
+as systematically as a great general conducts a
+campaign. He does not foolishly despise what is
+old and tested, but he knows how to freshen up old
+principles by new applications. He is broad-minded,
+too, with no "fads" or favoritisms, keeping equal
+interest in all departments of school work. And he
+does not stop with the mechanics of the Sunday-school.
+All his enterprise sets before it the one great goal of
+soul-saving.</p>
+
+<p>Thus far the superintendent by himself; now a
+word about his relation to his officers. Just as the
+failure of a school on the spiritual side is quite often
+due to lack of a good teachers' meeting, so a failure
+on the administrative side is probably due to the lack
+of a "cabinet meeting," where the superintendent
+consults with all his officers and committees, and
+where each gets inspiration and counsel from the
+other. The teachers' meeting should be occupied
+with entirely different matters. It cannot take the
+place of a gathering of the executive, and ought to
+come on a different night.</p>
+
+<p>This cabinet meeting must be set for a regular
+time, and nothing short of an earthquake must be
+allowed to break it up. Every officer should make
+a report to the cabinet, and the report should be in
+writing. The latter requirement saves time, adds
+dignity, and provides the meeting with definite statements
+as a basis for discussion.</p>
+
+<p>A wise superintendent will utilize all his officers to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>
+the utmost. He will make the assistant superintendent
+assist. The theory is that the assistant shall be
+able, in the superintendent's absence, to do everything
+the superintendent would do. How can he learn,
+except by doing everything, now and then, when the
+superintendent is present? Many a superintendent
+has worn himself out doing five men's work rather
+than train four men to help him. Elijah trained
+Elisha to be prophet in his stead. If he had not
+done so, I hardly think Elijah would have been carried
+to heaven in a chariot of fire. Every worker
+should prepare his successor, should make himself
+unnecessary.</p>
+
+<p>Let it be the superintendent's ambition, then, to
+create an automatic Sunday-school, one he can leave
+to run itself. He must keep himself in the background.
+He must test the matter by occasional absences,
+on foray for ideas in other schools. He must
+do as little as possible himself,&mdash;no danger but it will
+be enough!&mdash;and he must get as much as possible
+done by others. So he will create, not a machine,
+but an organism.</p>
+
+<p>In the third place,&mdash;the superintendent and the
+teachers. He must individualize them. As Garfield,
+the young school-teacher, was wont to lie awake
+nights, tracing out on his sheet in the dark a plan of
+the schoolroom, locating each scholar's desk and planning
+for that scholar's growth as he did so, thus the superintendent
+should consider separately and regularly
+each teacher's task and abilities, trials and successes.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is his joyous work to encourage them, to note
+improvement in their scholars, to repeat to them the
+kind words of parents, to give them a cheer in their
+arduous and difficult and, for the time, thankless
+tasks. When a superintendent has praised discreetly,
+half his work is done.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, the superintendent will study his lesson
+as thoroughly as any teacher; and this is not by any
+means an unnecessary remark, though some may
+think so. Indeed, there are even many occasions
+when he may teach a class, though usually he is best
+left free during the lesson hour to greet the strangers,
+or, watching from some central post like a general in
+battle, to fly to the rescue of some teacher whose
+class may be getting mischievous, restless, or careless.</p>
+
+<p>For the superintendent should feel at perfect liberty
+to sit quietly down with any class in his school, and
+should do this so often and easily that his coming
+ceases to be a disturbance to teacher or scholars. If
+the superintendent is not welcome, it will be because
+he does not know how to help unobtrusively, and he
+would better stay away.</p>
+
+<p>The best relations are not possible unless the superintendent
+visits the teachers in their homes, and
+gets them to come to his for frequent private consultations
+or for an occasional social hour all together.
+The teachers' meeting for the study of the lesson will
+not take the place of these heart-to-heart talks, in
+which sympathy and appreciation, friendly counsel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>
+and united prayers, draw the teachers very close to
+their leader.</p>
+
+<p>In the fourth place, the superintendent must know
+his scholars. If he has time to visit them, each visit
+will count; but that is in most cases too much to
+expect. Sunday-school socials and picnics will give
+him a chance to push a little further the knowledge
+of them that he will gain by his visits to their classes;
+but, after all, his best chance is in the passing salutation
+on the street. Often speak of the matter before
+the school, asking the scholars to greet you when
+they meet you; and then hail every urchin you run
+across as if he were your very own! If you make it
+a habit to tarry for ten minutes after the Sunday-school
+hour (tired?&mdash;never mind!), both teachers and
+scholars will besiege you then,&mdash;<i>provided</i> you have
+made yourself worth besieging! That you are to be
+in every way the children's hero goes without saying,&mdash;the
+glorious big boy to whom all the boys look up
+proudly, the chivalrous knight whose colors all the
+girls are glad to wear,&mdash;it goes without saying, that
+is, if you deserve to be superintendent at all!</p>
+
+<p>Fifthly and finally, the superintendent and other
+schools. He has been getting from them all he can,
+if he is enterprising; he should give to them all he
+can. The large cities have their superintendents'
+unions, composed of those that hold now, or have
+held, this post of honor and responsibility,&mdash;and few
+associations are as delightful. Nearly everywhere,
+Sunday-school conventions are available; and to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>
+these, as gathering up in his own experience whatever
+his school has learned and accomplished, the superintendent
+should carry his freshest inspiration and his
+wisest plans. No superintendent can live&mdash;can be a
+<i>live</i> superintendent&mdash;to himself.</p>
+
+<p>One thing should be said, to close this hasty sketch.
+If the superintendent is all this, or even part of all
+this, in his personal motives, and in his relations to
+officers, teachers, scholars, and other schools, he will
+always be a paid superintendent. He may have no
+salary; on the contrary, he may be decidedly out of
+pocket; but the rewards of his labor will be so abundant,
+so joyful, that not all the silver and gold in all
+the mines of earth could measure them.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXIV" id="Chapter_XXXIV"></a>Chapter XXXIV</h2>
+
+<h2>The Superintendent's Chance</h2>
+
+
+<p>At the opening of the school the superintendent
+hasn't half a chance; at the close he has a large
+chance&mdash;as large, in fact, as he is. At the opening
+the superintendent is merely a master of ceremonies
+to usher in the work as buoyantly as possible; at the
+close he is a teacher, the high priest of all the teachers.
+His work of introduction is important, but far
+more important is his work of peroration. The last
+five minutes furnish his chance to gather all the teachings
+of the hour into one point and press it home.</p>
+
+<p>1. It is <i>his</i> chance. Now or never let him be
+original. Let him study his talents; some can work
+best with chalk, some with anecdotes, some with
+questions, some with exegesis, some with exhortation.
+Let him get up a specialty for those five minutes and
+burnish it till it shines. Whatever method he chooses
+should be filled with his personality and serve to impress
+his personality upon the school. It is life that
+tells on life, and the more of himself the superintendent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>
+puts into these five minutes the more will this, his
+chance, prove his success.</p>
+
+<p>2. It is his chance to gather <i>all</i> the teachings of
+the hour. Not that he will try to "cover the ground"
+of the entire lesson. In that case his chance would
+turn out his mischance. He will not try, either, to
+give something for each class of scholars, for <i>all</i> that
+he gives must be for <i>all</i> classes. Among all the
+thoughts of all the departments, primary, intermediate,
+and senior, there is a single golden thought like a
+golden thread. These strands he must seize and
+weave them, in his five minutes, into a golden cord.</p>
+
+<p>3. It is his chance to gather all the teachings of
+the hour into <i>one</i> point. Probably every teacher in
+the school has been trying to teach too much. The
+lesson was intended for a wedge, but they have been
+using the blunt end. Turn it around. Illustrate the
+matchless might of simplicity. Do not think that,
+because the lesson was on the envy of Joseph's brethren,
+the theme of envy has become hackneyed, and
+you must talk about Jacob and Reuben and the
+Midianites and God's overruling providence. If the
+teachers have worked well, the scholars will be eager
+for further words on envy; if they have worked
+poorly, all the more need of a forcible presentation
+of the main theme.</p>
+
+<p>4. It is his chance to gather all the teachings of
+the hour into one point <i>and press it home</i>. His will
+be a lively school in proportion as it influences life.
+When the moral truths of our lessons are fixed in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>
+life, the facts connected with them will be fixed in
+the mind. Let the superintendent ask himself, for as
+many scholars of varied age and character as he can,
+"How might this lesson change <i>his</i> life, <i>her</i> life, for
+the coming week&mdash;forever?" Put the "snapper" on
+the hour. Let it be seen that you expect definite results
+in spirit and conduct.</p>
+
+<p>Some urge that the superintendent should be mute
+at the close of the lesson hour, lest his words destroy
+the effect of the teachers' exhortations. To be sure,
+he may emphasize what they have not emphasized,
+though even this danger is very slight if the superintendent
+is careful to seize on the lesson's central
+thought; but if the impression made by the teacher is
+endangered by a few earnest words from the superintendent,
+what <i>will</i> be left of it by the close of the
+conversation around the dinner-table?</p>
+
+<p>A closing word regarding the superintendent's
+questions. In no better way than by questions can
+he win and hold the school's attention. Those given
+in the various lesson helps are intended to be simply
+suggestive of possible matter and manner. Five
+things are essential: (1) that the questions be simple
+enough to be understood by the youngest; (2) that
+they lead up to a point valuable enough to interest
+the oldest; (3) that they can be answered by a few
+words, preferably by one; (4) that they be presented
+in a brisk and businesslike way; (5) that prompt answers
+from all parts of the school together be insisted
+on, the answer being called for again and again till<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>
+all have connected themselves with it. Half a dozen
+such questions should lead up skilfully to the main
+lesson of the hour, which should receive brief but
+pointed application by anecdote, blackboard, or
+exhortation.</p>
+
+<p>All this is a high ideal. "To attain it will require,"
+you say, "much more than five minutes." You are
+right, Brother Superintendent: five minutes before the
+school, but <i>one hour</i> or even <i>two hours</i> of prayerful
+preparation at home. However, it is your chance.
+Do not ignobly lose it.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXV" id="Chapter_XXXV"></a>Chapter XXXV</h2>
+
+<h2>The Sunday-School and the Weather</h2>
+
+
+<p>A rainy day is the best test of a Sunday-school,
+and its best opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>For the scholars it is a sieve, separating the zealous
+workers from the careless ones.</p>
+
+<p>For the general school it is an index, since if Christ
+is not "in the midst" of the few on rainy days,
+surely the many on sunny days are not wont to gather
+"in his name."</p>
+
+<p>For the teacher it is a revealing question: "Do
+you teach for the excitement and praise of crowded
+benches, or is a single soul, with its issues of life and
+death, inspiration enough?"</p>
+
+<p>It is the superintendent's chance, because then he
+learns his staff, the pick, the enthusiastic nucleus, of
+his school. It is a good day for "setting balls to
+rolling."</p>
+
+<p>It is the scholar's chance,&mdash;his chance to show
+appreciation of the school by attendance; his chance
+for help on questions that try his soul.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is the teacher's chance. He will never draw
+close to his scholars if not now; never see their
+nobility or their faults if not through the troubled lens
+of a rainy day.</p>
+
+<p>It is the opportunity of the general school. Prayer-meeting
+workers often observe that the meetings
+held on stormy evenings are always the best, because
+every attendant feels it his duty to take active part.
+For the same reason a rainy day brings out the mettle
+of a Sunday-school. The bashful are impelled to
+greater boldness, the careless to stricter attention.
+Responsibilities are thrown upon unwonted shoulders.
+Many a Sunday-school worker has been developed
+by rainy days.</p>
+
+<p>Teachers must do their scolding for poor attendance,
+if ever, on the days of crowded seats, because
+then only are the truants present. Have nothing but
+words of good cheer for the few who come on stormy
+days.</p>
+
+<p>We are often told about preachers who, as a reward
+and an incentive, wisely preach their best (if
+they can) on rainy days, to the faithful few. For
+such days the teacher also must make his highest
+preparation, because then his work will produce best
+results; because then he will need to bring most inspiration
+with him, as he gets none from well-filled
+seats; because his scholars then not only deserve his
+best, but, lacking the zest of numbers, need his best
+to hold their attention; because they will appreciate
+better what they have come through difficulties to get.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On rainy days there are many late comers, and
+therefore many fine chances for practical Christianity.
+Greet them cheerfully, if you must stop your finest
+exhortation to do it. Such a close will be its most
+eloquent period.</p>
+
+<p>If you investigate tactfully the absences of rainy
+days, you will often come upon a truer knowledge of
+the home life and needs of your scholars than any
+sunshiny observations could give you.</p>
+
+<p>On rainy days, if ever, scholars should be sure of
+finding their own teacher; yet, as human nature is, on
+rainy days there is always necessary some fusion of
+classes. The teachers of joined classes may do much
+good or infinite harm. Criticism, expressed or implied,
+of the plans or precepts of the other teacher, is
+a poison which has few antidotes. If he has been
+teaching false doctrine, he, not his scholars, is to be
+told that fact. And, on the contrary, a word of wise
+praise for whatever of solid acquirement you may see
+in his scholars, as it comes from an outsider, will discover
+marvelously their teacher to them, and their
+possibilities to themselves.</p>
+
+<p>As we need to emphasize the advantages of bad
+weather, so we need to remember the dangers of fine
+weather. Now, the teacher must be mindful not to
+lose the individuals in the crowd, or his teaching
+sense in the temptation to harangue. Now, the
+superintendent must remember that his unifying and
+organizing skill is especially needed. If rainy days
+are best for study and personal work, fair days, and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>
+above all, hot days, are best for singing and concert
+drill in reading and questioning.</p>
+
+<p>As our days, so shall our strength be, if we are
+Christ's, dear Sunday-school workers; but different
+kinds of days need different kinds of strength.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXVI" id="Chapter_XXXVI"></a>Chapter XXXVI</h2>
+
+<h2>A Profitable Picnic</h2>
+
+
+<p>A large number of Sunday-schools are in the habit
+of holding a picnic every summer. In spite of the
+countless jests at the expense of the Sunday-school
+picnic, the custom is in every way commendable.
+Where can teacher and scholars, superintendent and
+teachers, better come into that familiar, every-day
+contact that tells so much of character and for character,
+than out under the open sky and in the merry
+meadows? And yet why is it that the very word
+"picnic" makes most Sunday-school teachers groan,
+and presents to the superintendent's mind a picture
+no more delectable than of hot, dusty cars, pushing,
+quarreling children, red-faced teachers, and lunches
+seized on by ants?</p>
+
+<p>Of course, in moving so large a body of people,
+especially of youngsters, many untoward events are to
+be expected; but nevertheless, when the picnic is not
+a conspicuous success, there is usually one reason: it
+was not well planned for. So many managers of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>
+picnics are nothing but transportation managers!
+Getting a reduction of railroad fare, packing and unpacking
+the lunches, filing the children in and out of
+the cars,&mdash;such details sum up their plans. As for
+entertainment on the picnic grounds,&mdash;why, turn the
+children loose, and they will take care of that part
+of it!</p>
+
+<p>On the contrary, he is a wise man that can entertain
+himself well and profitably for a day without aid
+from outside. The feat is impossible for most children.
+How well I remember my own childish miseries
+on holidays because I couldn't think of anything
+I wanted to do! On the haphazard plan your picnic
+will go uproariously for a time, but it will soon "fray
+out" into a tangle of ennui and quarrels.</p>
+
+<p>In this brief chapter, then, I want to suggest merely
+one out of many schemes for a profitable picnic.
+It will include in the day's plans all ages and classes,
+and afford pleasure for mind and spirit as well as
+body.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, arrange with great care a programme
+of contests. If it is a joint picnic, some of
+the contests will be between representatives of the
+Sunday-schools that take part; otherwise, between
+classes and individuals of the one Sunday-school.
+Bring in the girls as well as the boys, and the men
+and women as well as the children. Running, sack-races,
+three-legged races, pole and rope climbing,
+boat-races, croquet and tennis matches, base-ball (a
+game among the old men will cause much amusement),<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>
+the marching of competing companies, broom
+or flag drills for the girls, leaping, slow races on the
+bicycle, throwing the hammer, soap-bubble contests&mdash;why,
+the number of these sports is legion.</p>
+
+<p>Just a few hints:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Give no prizes, but "honorable mention."</p>
+
+<p>Let the contests be well planned and advertised
+beforehand, and set the scholars to training for them.</p>
+
+<p>Give every one a printed programme (which may
+be worked off on a manifolder), and so arrange it that
+the entire company, if possible, may be spectators of
+each contest.</p>
+
+<p>Make everything as short and snappy as you can.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout the programme, work in all classes and
+ages as best you may. Don't, for instance, put all
+the contests in which the little ones engage in the
+same part of the day.</p>
+
+<p>In the second place, arrange a literary and religious
+programme that shall give a spiritual application to
+all these physical contests. Organize a Sunday-school
+choir, which, after careful previous practice, will sing
+some of the many songs that treat the Christian life
+as a race, or a wrestling, or a battle. Some of the
+Bible passages of similar tenor should be recited.
+Poems may be repeated bearing the same lesson.
+And the brightest of the scholars and teachers, of
+course not omitting your pastor, will give some very
+brief little essays or talks along this same line. This
+part of the day's programme may fitly be placed just
+after lunch, when in the heat of the day the athletes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>
+will wish to rest, and when all will be ready to sit
+down and listen.</p>
+
+<p>Much will depend on the master of ceremonies for
+the day. Let him be the jolliest man you can find,
+but withal a man of deep consecration, who can make
+all feel that, whether they eat or drink, or play games,
+or whatever they do, they must do all for the glory
+of God. In this spirit alone can you hope to have
+a profitable picnic.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXVII" id="Chapter_XXXVII"></a>Chapter XXXVII</h2>
+
+<h2>A Singing Sunday-School</h2>
+
+
+<p>Lifeless singing means, usually, a dead Sunday-school.
+Many a superintendent might greatly increase
+the vigor of his school by getting a little snap into the
+music. Different ways of singing will not of themselves
+solve the problem, but they will go far toward
+it. Here are a few methods which will add to the
+singing the variety that is the spice of it as well as of
+nearly everything else.</p>
+
+<p>Try reading the song in concert before it is sung.
+It would puzzle most even of us older folks to tell,
+after we have sung a hymn, what is in it. Concert
+reading brings out unsuspected beauties of thought,
+and the hymn will be sung afterward with fresh zest
+and with fuller intelligence. The superintendent may
+vary this plan by reading the stanzas alternately with
+the school, or the girls may alternate with the boys.
+Occasionally get a single scholar to read the hymn
+before the school, or, what is far better, to commit it
+to memory and recite it.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Indeed, memory hymns, to be committed to memory
+by the entire school, and sung without the book,
+will prove very popular. Select songs that are worth
+learning for their words as well as for their music,&mdash;a
+thing which, alas! cannot be said of all our Sunday-school
+songs. One memory hymn a month might
+possibly be achieved, and your children will rapidly
+grow independent of hymn-books, as their grandsires
+were.</p>
+
+<p>They may like to vote upon a school hymn for the
+entire year, and learn it in this way,&mdash;one that shall
+serve as a sort of rallying song throughout the twelvemonth.
+The various classes, too, may be encouraged
+to select their own class songs, and to practise them
+at their class socials. Then, once in a while, the
+entire school may listen while one or two classes sing
+their class hymns.</p>
+
+<p>It would do no harm, either, for the superintendent
+occasionally to bind the children's interest to the
+singing by asking them to call for their favorites, that
+the school may sing them. This privilege may be
+granted to the classes or scholars that have the best
+record in attendance.</p>
+
+<p>It will add interest to the singing if bits of pleasant
+information are sometimes given about the authors of
+our familiar songs. At the opening of the session,
+for instance, tell something about the blind hymn-writer,
+Fanny Crosby, and then let all the songs sung
+that day be by her; or tell a little about Miss Havergal's
+beautiful life, or give a few bright anecdotes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>
+about Dr. S. F. Smith, and then use nothing but their
+hymns. Some such book as Hezekiah Butterworth's
+"Story of the Hymns" (New York: The American
+Tract Society. $1.75), or Duffield's "English Hymns:
+Their Authors and History" (New York: The Funk
+&amp; Wagnalls Co. $3), will afford a plentiful supply of
+biographical material. Once in a while get one of
+the scholars to read one of these hymn anecdotes, or
+to tell it in his own words.</p>
+
+<p>Prayer songs&mdash;there are many most beautiful ones&mdash;may
+be used as prayers, all heads being bowed
+while they are sung softly; or they may be read in the
+same way.</p>
+
+<p>Antiphonal songs are easily arranged. Choose
+two classes of good singers in distant parts of the
+room, and let one sing the verses and the other the
+chorus of some suitable song. A hymn arranged in
+the form of question and answer, such as "Watchman,
+tell us of the night," or "Art thou weary, art
+thou languid?" is very effective when sung in this
+way, or when read in dialogue, the superintendent
+taking the questions and the school the answers.</p>
+
+<p>Other dispositions may be made, for the sake of
+variety. Get the girls to sing the stanzas, and the
+boys the choruses, or the girls to sing one verse, and
+the boys the next, all uniting on the choruses; or, let
+the school to the right of the center alternate in singing
+with the school to the left. Send a company of
+singers into another room, with closed doors, and
+have them sing the chorus as an echo, very softly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>
+Get the teachers to sing the stanzas of some song,
+while the whole school sings the refrain.</p>
+
+<p>Solos are good once in a while, especially if you
+make the school the chorus for them. A quartette
+of picked singers may be introduced very delightfully
+on occasion, especially if their selection is germane to
+the lesson topic, and, best of all, if the quartette is
+chosen from the scholars themselves. The primary
+department will hugely enjoy singing one of their
+songs to the main school, and the older scholars will
+enjoy it quite as heartily.</p>
+
+<p>Possibly a Sunday-school choir might be organized
+to advantage, the strong singers from among the more
+mature scholars being banded together to practice new
+music and lead the singing. School orchestras have
+been very useful in many churches, the boys being
+proud to serve the school with violin and cornet.</p>
+
+<p>Most useful, however, in adding zest to the singing,
+are the simple changes and variations that
+shrewdly call attention to the old by putting it in a
+new place, or "putting it" in a new way. For instance,
+you might call fresh attention to a beautiful
+song by bidding all sing it without their books, while
+you "line it out" earnestly and brightly. You might
+preface a hymn with a sentence or two telling why
+you think it just the hymn to sing in connection with
+the day's lesson. You might piece together several
+verses from different songs, and ask the school to sing
+them in immediate succession, without prelude or
+interlude, noting the connection and progress of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>
+thought. You might stimulate the scholars in this
+and that corner by asking now one class and now
+another to consider themselves the leaders in the song
+next to be sung. You might have occasional "new-hymn"
+days, in which will be sung no song ever tried
+by the school. You might even steal ten minutes,
+on very rare occasions, for song services, carefully
+planned so as to bear effectively on the lesson for the
+day. The ways are almost endless whereby a music-loving,
+child-loving superintendent can introduce his
+two loves to each other.</p>
+
+<p>A few more general suggestions. First, to the
+organist or pianist. Why do you think it necessary
+to hammer out an entire piece of music before you
+let the fidgety children sing it? They already know
+every note of it, and are not interested in your performance;
+nor is any one else. They can find the
+place quite as quickly as you can. Except in the
+case of new songs, do let us off with the chord, and
+we'll canonize you as a model of self-restraint and
+good sense.</p>
+
+<p>Then to the precentor, or whoever is responsible
+for the time you keep. Why is it so slow? I never
+could see why hymns should be sung so drawlingly as
+to make it quite impossible to grasp their thought.
+Time yourself in singing your next hymn, then read
+aloud the same hymn, forcing yourself to occupy the
+same time, and you will see why it is that our singing
+leaves our minds quite absolute blanks. This grievous
+fault must be remedied with the children if the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>
+singing of hymns is ever to be, to the average grown-up,
+an intellectual and spiritual as well as a physical
+occupation.</p>
+
+<p>And, to the same end, why is it that your school
+can sing readily, even without the book, the first two
+or three stanzas of so many songs, while every stanza
+beyond is an unknown land to them? It is because,
+owing chiefly to the slowness of our ordinary singing,
+we seldom compass the whole of a hymn. At the
+close of a well-written hymn is the climax, the thought
+up to which the whole has led, which binds it all together.
+Our songs, if they are to get hold upon our
+minds and lives, must be sung beyond their prelude,
+sung straight through.</p>
+
+<p><i>To get hold of minds and lives</i>,&mdash;that must be the
+end sought by all our singing.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXVIII" id="Chapter_XXXVIII"></a>Chapter XXXVIII</h2>
+
+<h2>A Praying Sunday-School</h2>
+
+
+<p>In no way can more Christianity be taught in less
+time than by a good prayer. A Sunday-school that
+is not opened with the right kind of prayer remains
+tight shut until the teachers get hold of it, while the
+right kind of prayer at the close of the lesson hour
+rivets the lesson on the week to come.</p>
+
+<p>Yet I know of no point in Sunday-school management
+regarding which superintendents are more careless.
+The children must listen to Magellan prayers
+that circumnavigate the globe; to mechanical prayers,
+cast in stereotyped forms; to officious prayers that
+volunteer to teach the coming lesson; to peacock
+prayers that flaunt big words and fine phrases; to
+wrinkled prayers, dealing with experiences into which
+the children will not grow for three decades. In some
+schools the superintendent always makes the prayer
+himself, praying in the same terms and tones and
+order for the same things. Elsewhere the superintendent
+invites others to perform this service, but,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>
+with pitiless impartiality, calls upon all that will, heedless
+whether they are capable or totally unfit for the
+difficult duty.</p>
+
+<p>For it is not easy to guide the devotions of these
+varied ages and characters. The words must be so
+simple that the youngest can understand them. The
+thoughts must be so noble as to furnish an uplift to
+the oldest. The expressions must be direct, as in the
+realized presence of Christ. The prayer must be
+brief, and bright, and deeply in earnest, sincere as a
+child.</p>
+
+<p>To perform this task, therefore, no one should be
+invited merely for policy's sake, merely because he is
+a visiting clergyman, a church officer, or a good-hearted
+layman. Ask no one that does not know the
+glorious language of a child's prayer. Give notice
+beforehand, since this prayer, if any, should be thought
+over and prayed over. And if you fear the prayer
+will lack a certain quality, shrewdly incorporate its
+name in your invitation, asking for a brief prayer, or
+a simple prayer, or a prayer about few things.</p>
+
+<p>I wonder that this exercise is so seldom fixed upon
+the children's attention and interest by their own vocal
+participation in it. Indeed, it is not always that the
+school is able to repeat the Lord's Prayer together
+with the freedom and force born of long custom.
+The school may easily be taught to chant the Lord's
+Prayer, and that may be made most genuine praying.
+There are many suitable short Bible prayers that
+children might learn to say together, such as "Let<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>
+the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my
+heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength
+and my redeemer." Indeed, there are many prayer
+psalms that could be learned entire, the concert
+repetition of which would greatly enrich the Sunday-school
+hour. If yours is a model school, every
+scholar has his Bible, and Scripture prayers, not
+committed to memory, may be read in concert.
+And, besides, what more impressive conclusion to the
+session than the "Mizpah benediction," in which all
+voices join, or, perhaps better, the beautiful benediction
+in Numbers 6:24-26, "The Lord bless thee,
+and keep thee," etc.?</p>
+
+<p>Then there is the hymn-book. If it is a good one,
+it contains many beautiful prayer hymns. Let the
+scholars all bow their heads, and sing softly Miss
+Havergal's tender consecration hymn, or "Nearer,
+my God, to thee," and you will find all hearts indeed
+drawn nearer heaven. Occasionally let the school
+read together one of these same hymns, also with
+their heads bowed.</p>
+
+<p>And, by the way,&mdash;though it deserves more than a
+"by the way,"&mdash;insist on the bowing of the head,&mdash;not
+that the attitude is important in itself, but the
+reverence that the attitude arouses is of the highest
+importance. Wait till all heads are bowed before
+you begin the prayer or permit another to begin it.
+The half-minute of quiet or semi-quiet needed to gain
+this end is not ill-bestowed. Moreover, I should
+strongly advise you to go one step farther, and once<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>
+in a while have the entire school go down on their
+knees. This, the normal attitude of prayer, the children
+should be taught to assume in public, at least so
+often that it will not seem to them forced or unnatural.</p>
+
+<p>Have you tried silent prayer? A blessed exercise
+it is, and one the children will love. Ask them to
+bend their heads or kneel, and then in perfect silence
+to pray for their teachers, or their pastor, or their dear
+ones at home, or some sick scholar. After a minute
+the superintendent will tenderly add a few closing
+sentences of vocal prayer.</p>
+
+<p>And have you tried a chain prayer,&mdash;a prayer
+started by a leader, who will also close it, to which ten
+or twenty of the scholars contribute sentences of praise
+or petition? You will be astonished to see how
+many of the scholars will join in these prayers,&mdash;you
+will be astonished, that is, unless you are familiar with
+the training along this line so nobly accomplished in
+our modern young people's religious societies.</p>
+
+<p>Still another way to obtain the scholars' careful
+heed to the prayer is to establish a form with which
+the superintendent will always begin his prayer, and
+which the entire school will repeat with him. The
+opening sentences of the Lord's Prayer may be used
+for such a purpose. Then, at the close of the prayer,
+after "for Jesus' sake," let all the scholars say
+"Amen."</p>
+
+<p>An occasional Sunday-school prayer-meeting, held
+for ten minutes at the close of the lesson hour, will
+do much to inspire in the school a deeper spirit of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>
+worship; that is, if the scholars themselves take part,
+and not the teachers only. And these Sunday-school
+prayer-meetings are magnificent opportunities for
+drawing the net. Hold them in a small room, that
+nearness may warm the coals of devotion to a glow.
+Do not hold them too frequently to be burdensome.
+Keep them brief and earnest. Let the teachers work
+for them in their classes, and use them as tests for
+their teaching. Above all, expect conversions in
+them, and, if you are faithful and faith-filled, you will
+get them.</p>
+
+<p>This use of the scholar in the devotions of the school
+should be extended to his home. The superintendent
+may ask the scholars to pray every day during the
+coming week for the school, or for their teacher, or
+for their next lesson, that it may bring some one
+nearer Christ. For several weeks there may stand in
+bold letters on the blackboard a list of things that
+should be prayed for at home. The teacher, of
+course, must enforce these recommendations. If he
+will courageously hold once in a while a little prayer-meeting
+with his scholars, in the class-room, about
+the class-table, or, best of all, at his own home or at
+one of theirs, he will thereby teach them as much
+Christianity as otherwise he might in a year.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, the teacher has much to do in making
+yours a praying Sunday-school. To say nothing
+about the teacher's prayers for his scholars, which
+will be like steam to his pedagogic engine, and to say
+nothing about the united prayers of the teachers in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>
+the teachers' meetings, the teacher's conduct during
+the prayer in the school is in itself half the scholars'
+attention, the knowledge on the part of the scholars
+that their teacher is praying for them will spur their
+home devotions, and the teacher's simple, ready participation
+in the school prayers will prompt their own.
+An excellent occasional method of opening the school
+is by a succession of very brief&mdash;almost sentence&mdash;prayers
+from six or eight of the teachers. A frequent
+topic for discussion in the teachers' meeting should
+be how best to inculcate in the school the spirit of devotion,
+since this great result is to be won only by the
+co-operation of all the working forces of the school.</p>
+
+<p>Much is gained in this matter if you gain variety.
+Sometimes ask the older scholars themselves, several
+of them in succession, to offer brief prayers at the
+opening of the school. Sometimes let the superintendent's
+opening prayer attract attention by its
+exceeding brevity,&mdash;only three or four sentences,
+embodying a single petition. Do not place the
+prayer always at the same place in the programme;
+now let it come before the singing, now after; now
+lay emphasis on the prayer introductory to the lesson
+hour, now on the prayer that closes the hour and
+seeks to drive home its lessons. Be dead in earnest,&mdash;no,
+be alive in earnest. Be thoughtful and versatile.
+Be bright and cheery and simple-hearted and
+sympathetic. In these prayers, that should furnish
+the life-blood to the school, be all things to all&mdash;children,
+if by all means you may win one of them.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXIX" id="Chapter_XXXIX"></a>Chapter XXXIX</h2>
+
+<h2>S. S. and C. E.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A word must be said about the co-operation of the
+Sunday-school and that other great modern agency
+for work with the youth, the young people's religious
+society. Whatever is said will be as true of the
+Epworth Leagues, Baptist Unions, and other denominational
+organizations as of the Christian Endeavor
+societies; but since the latter, like the Sunday-schools,
+are found in all denominations, and since my own
+especial work lies among them, it will be quite appropriate
+in this connection, as well as less confusing,
+to use only the one name, Christian Endeavor.</p>
+
+<p>Though of ages so unequal, "S. S." and "C. E."
+are sisters. Both are international and interdenominational.
+Both apply the principle of age classification
+to religious work. Both are strongly evangelical,
+and earnest seekers of souls. Both are held in strictest
+subordination to the church. And both are Bible
+lovers; for the Christian Endeavor pledge requires
+daily reading of the Bible, and the weekly prayer-meeting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>
+topic calls out no slight amount of Bible
+study. Moreover, this topic is usually in line with
+the week's Sunday-school lesson,&mdash;not the same as the
+latter, but suggested by it. The two agencies are at
+work in different fields. The one puts in, the other
+draws out. The one studies, the other practices.
+The Christian Endeavor society affords an excellent
+test for the Sunday-school, and is its complement.
+Whatever helps the one aids the other, and the two
+should labor hand in hand.</p>
+
+<p>There are even some things that the Sunday-school
+might learn from its little sister. The principle of the
+pledge has proved attractive and powerful in the
+Christian Endeavor society. Why not adopt it in
+the Sunday-school, asking the scholars for voluntary
+vows that they will attend regularly and will spend
+fifteen minutes a day in studying their lessons? The
+monthly consecration meeting maintains wonderfully
+the spirituality, zeal, and discipline of the Christian
+Endeavor society. Why not a monthly consecration
+and experience meeting of Sunday-school teachers?
+Three or four Christian Endeavor societies cannot
+exist in the same town without forming a local union
+for mutual encouragement and consultation. Sunday-schools
+have their county conventions, but why
+not also this beautiful interdenominational fellowship
+among the Sunday-schools of every community? A
+large part of the remarkable success of Christian
+Endeavor is due to its being a work of the young
+people for themselves. There is close pastoral and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>
+church supervision, and it is welcomed; but the Endeavorers
+feel that it is their society, for whose honor
+they are responsible, and whose victories depend upon
+themselves. As far as possible, this spirit should be
+incorporated in the Sunday-school, so that the Bible
+study may not seem a work impressed on the scholars,
+but elected by them,&mdash;<i>their</i> work, and not their
+teachers'.</p>
+
+<p>How can the Christian Endeavor society help the
+Sunday-school? Greatly in its prayer-meetings, by
+remembering the allied Sunday-school topic of the
+morning. Here is a chance for the teacher to enlarge
+upon some theme treated too hurriedly in the lesson
+hour, and for scholars to show their appreciation of
+their teacher by repeating some thought he brought
+out in the morning. If rightly managed, the Christian
+Endeavor meeting furnishes an admirable opportunity
+for advertising the Sunday-school, and practically
+applying the truths there taught.</p>
+
+<p>But the help given may be far more direct. Every
+well-organized Christian Endeavor society has a Sunday-school
+committee, whose members put themselves
+under the direction of the superintendent, and make
+it the one object of their term's work to push in all
+possible ways the interests of the Sunday-school.</p>
+
+<p>The members of this committee are usually chosen
+with an eye to their fitness for acting as substitute
+teachers. Sometimes the committee constitutes itself
+a normal class and studies the lessons a week in advance,
+considering especially the way to teach effectively.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>
+On the next Sunday, therefore, the superintendent
+will find any of these Endeavorers well
+prepared to fill a vacancy.</p>
+
+<p>Everywhere, too, these Sunday-school committees
+help the busy teacher to look after the absent scholars
+and to care for the sick. It is far easier for these
+young people than for the teacher to learn the real
+causes of absence and to urge better attendance. In
+some schools the teachers fill out blank cards every
+Sabbath, giving the names of absentees or of the sick
+on whom they would like to have the Sunday-school
+committee call. These cards are collected, the calls
+made, and then the Endeavorers report to the teacher.</p>
+
+<p>A kindred ministration is the gathering of new
+scholars. In many cities the Sunday-school committee
+has conducted a fruitful house-to-house canvass
+for new scholars, sometimes canvassing at the same
+time for new members of their society. Other committees
+distribute printed cards of invitation. Others
+organize "recruiting squads" among the scholars, and
+give little rewards to those that do the best work.
+Others make it their business to hunt out all the young
+strangers in the morning congregation and give them
+a personal invitation to the school. Still others distribute
+among the scholars "suggestion blanks," on
+which each scholar writes the names and addresses
+of young folks that might be won for the school.
+These Endeavorers call at the strangers' homes and
+go with them to the school, while others stand ready
+to welcome all strangers at the door and show them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>
+to appropriate classes. Thus they follow them up,
+that it may not be a case of "light come, light go."</p>
+
+<p>The Endeavorers, under the direction of their Sunday-school
+committee, may be very helpful in the
+music. A choir or an orchestra may be organized
+from their numbers. An occasional song appropriate
+to the lesson may be rendered as a solo or quartette.
+When Sunday-school concerts are to be given, the
+Endeavorers will afford trained assistance. But
+especially the committee should become thoroughly
+familiar with the Sunday-school song-book, so that
+its members, scattered over the room, may carry with
+vigor any unfamiliar hymn, and give force and
+sprightliness to all the singing.</p>
+
+<p>The Sunday-school librarian will find among the
+Endeavorers some efficient aids. The Sunday-school
+committee may advertise the new books in the Christian
+Endeavor meetings, and get the society to add
+to the library certain books of especial interest and
+helpfulness to Endeavorers. Sunday-school library
+socials have been held by some societies, the evening's
+exercises being so planned as to call attention to the
+best books in the library. The Endeavorers will help
+in covering books, in hunting up those that are lost,
+in reading new books and giving an opinion regarding
+them. Where subscriptions are taken for special
+papers or magazines, the Sunday-school committee
+will be glad to undertake this work. After these
+periodicals have been read, they will gather up the
+old copies to send to the hospitals.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The decorating for Christmas and Easter exercises
+or for Children's Day may be assigned to the Christian
+Endeavor society. The Endeavorers may be set to
+gathering in the scholars for Rally Day. They should
+be called upon for help on all such special occasions.</p>
+
+<p>Some societies give parties now and then to the
+classes that have the best record, or divide the school
+into sections according to age, and entertain each
+section in turn at a Christian Endeavor social, closing
+the series with a pleasant evening spent with the
+teachers and officers alone.</p>
+
+<p>It would weary you if I should rehearse all the
+ways in which Christian Endeavor societies have
+proved helpful to the Sunday-school. Many a primary
+department has gained much from close association
+with the work of the superintendent of the Junior
+Christian Endeavor society. I have heard of a large
+number of places where the Endeavorers organized
+and maintained mission Sunday-schools&mdash;schools that
+in many instances have grown to churches. Often
+the Endeavorers take charge of the ushering of the
+school, furnish flowers for every session, offer rewards
+to the scholars for excellence in various directions,
+help with swift feet in the messenger service of the
+home department, turn their trained forces into an
+occasional Sunday-school prayer-meeting,&mdash;indeed,
+they are as ingenious in discovering ways of helping
+this elder sister of the Christian Endeavor society as
+they are zealous and persistent in these labors after
+they are inaugurated.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>If in some churches this help is not given, it is
+probably because it is not invited, or very likely
+through lack of organization. If the Christian Endeavor
+society has no Sunday-school committee, let
+the Sunday-school superintendent, who is a member
+of the society <i>ex officio</i>, interest himself in obtaining
+one. And then through this committee he can draft
+into the service all the other usual committees of the
+society&mdash;the lookout committee, to get new scholars;
+the prayer-meeting committee, to aid in the school's
+devotional exercises; the temperance and missionary
+committees, to give assistance in the special lessons on
+those themes; the music committee, to aid in the
+singing, and the flower committee, to help in the
+decorations; the social committee, to seek the absent
+and the sick; the good-literature committee, to help
+the librarian.</p>
+
+<p>And if the Endeavorers do this, or a part of this,
+for the Sunday-school, why should not the Sunday-school
+do a little for the Christian Endeavor society?
+The superintendent may help it by calling upon it for
+assistance and by recognizing on fit occasions its
+officers and committees. He may even give it an
+occasional advertisement from the desk; and he, with
+his officers and teachers, may do much to put himself
+in touch with the young people by attending the
+Christian Endeavor meetings now and then. The
+teachers may help by introducing into their talks before
+the classes an occasional hint on the Christian
+Endeavor pledge or committee work, or by remembering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>
+the prayer-meeting topic and suggesting a
+thought or two that may be developed in the meeting,
+or by urging membership in the society upon
+those that do not already belong to it.</p>
+
+<p>Thus it is seen how intimately these two organizations
+are related, and how much each may do to help
+the other. Do not allow them to labor apart. Parallel
+threads are weak; cables are made by twisting
+them together.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XL" id="Chapter_XL"></a>Chapter XL</h2>
+
+<h2>Teachers in 8vo</h2>
+
+
+<p>What the Sunday-school library should be depends
+on what the community is. These libraries, therefore,
+should not pattern after one another like peas in a
+pod, as is too often the case, but each should have an
+individuality of its own. The Sunday-school in a
+city, with an overflowing public library and an excellent
+public-school library at hand, has no excuse for
+distributing secular books; while such books may
+form a useful addition to the library of a country
+school.</p>
+
+<p>Of course there is danger in admitting secular
+books to the Sunday-school library under any circumstances,
+and I would not for the world add one
+more to the many subtle inroads upon the Lord's
+day. If you place in your library any books that are
+not suitable Sunday reading, cover them with paper
+of a distinctive color, mark them "For week-day
+reading only," and watch them carefully, that you
+may withdraw them from circulation if you find them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>
+trenching on the sacred hours. With proper restrictions,
+however, the church may find here a blessed
+ministry to many book-hungry communities. Biographies
+like Irving's "Washington" or Holland's
+"Lincoln"; histories like Motley's "Rise of the
+Dutch Republic"; poems like "Snowbound," "The
+Idyls of the King," "Evangeline"; essays like Smiles'
+"Self Help" or Mathews' "Getting on in the
+World"; books of science like Winchell's "Sparks
+from a Geologist's Hammer" or Proctor's "Other
+Worlds than Ours,"&mdash;if you can get your scholars to
+read on week-days such books as these, you will
+deepen, broaden, and enrich the soil in which you do
+your Sunday sowing.</p>
+
+<p>But the more the community needs books, the
+harder it is to raise money for them. This, however,
+is merely a difficulty of the start. A few books,
+shrewdly chosen, will create a hunger for more, and
+that hunger will open the pocketbooks.</p>
+
+<p>Hold a book social, admission to which shall be
+a copy, old or new, of some good book. The entertainment
+at this social should be appropriate. Let
+each person that comes carry about him a token of
+some book, such as a card about his neck reading,
+"Who teaches you?" ("Hoosier School Master"!).
+Illustrate a poem with shadow pictures. Place about
+the room numbered portraits of authors for the company
+to name. Add readings and essays on literary
+themes.</p>
+
+<p>A course of lectures and concerts is possible, nowadays,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>
+for almost any enterprising community, and
+the proceeds will give the library a start.</p>
+
+<p>For a time you may charge two cents for the reading
+of each book, thus forcing the library itself to earn
+its double in the course of a year.</p>
+
+<p>At the beginning,&mdash;or, for that matter, all the
+time,&mdash;the generous among the church-members may
+be urged to <i>lend</i> books to the library for a year at a
+time. Such books should be covered with different
+paper from the others, and plainly marked with the
+name of the lender and an injunction to especial carefulness
+in handling them.</p>
+
+<p>The library will be generously supported, if its
+books are sensibly selected; but this is not an easy
+task. Do not leave it to any single man, but appoint
+the wisest men and women of the church a committee
+on selection, and require them all to read every book
+that is chosen. Obviously, the value of such a committee
+will increase with the growing years, and it
+should be a permanent body.</p>
+
+<p>Many booksellers will send books on approval.
+The review columns in the religious papers should be
+regularly watched. The committee should be placed
+on the mailing-lists of all the best publishers, to receive
+their regular announcements of books. They should
+get into correspondence with the librarians of other
+schools, learning from them what books are popular
+and helpful. And, above everything else, they should
+get in contact with the scholars of their own school,
+to watch the practical effect of the books they select.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Regarding the selection of books, first, some
+"dont's."</p>
+
+<p>Don't choose any volume, no matter how famous,
+without reading every word of it. One of the grandest
+of biographies, for instance, is Franklin's autobiography;
+but you will not wish to put before young
+readers his chapter on his religion&mdash;or lack of it. Wonderfully
+inspiring essays are Emerson's; but here and
+there a sentence speaks of Christ as a mere man. A
+very stimulating booklet is "Blessed be Drudgery";
+but one sentence spoils it for our use, since it places
+Jesus at the end of a list of philosophers at whose
+head stands Herbert Spencer.</p>
+
+<p>Don't buy "fads." Wait and see whether the
+book now so much lauded is heard of next year.</p>
+
+<p>Don't buy the books that have fittingly been called
+"a-little-child-shall-lead-them" stories. Bill Nye described
+them as tales relating how a dear little boy,
+though but five and a half and crippled, took in back
+stairs to scrub, and supported his widowed mother,
+and sent his sister to college.</p>
+
+<p>Don't buy "libraries." As sensibly let a man that
+has never seen you order for you a suit of clothes.</p>
+
+<p>Don't buy "sets" and "series" and "sequels."
+Judge every book on its merits.</p>
+
+<p>Don't buy the books of one publishing-house alone,
+however excellent, any more than you would fill your
+home with the works of only one painter.</p>
+
+<p>Don't confine your choice merely to the "Sunday-school
+writers." Books that are not virile enough to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>
+attract and help folks outside the Sunday-school are
+not likely to prove very useful inside.</p>
+
+<p>Don't buy by authors. "Aunt Mary's Candlestick,"
+by Jemima Jones, may have been the greatest
+success of the year in your school; but that is no reason
+why you should load up with "Aunt Mary's
+Dust-brush" and "Aunt Mary's Needlecase" and
+"Aunt Mary's Dish-mop," by the same industrious
+author.</p>
+
+<p>In fine, don't buy any book, no matter who is its
+publisher or author, or what its reputation, unless that
+particular book meets some particular need of your
+particular school.</p>
+
+<p>And now, what shall we buy? Stories, of course,
+in delightful measure. The Sunday-school library
+has the highest authority for teaching in parables.
+And for these stories there are three requirements.</p>
+
+<p>First, they must be attractive. What is the use of
+a book if it will not be read?</p>
+
+<p>Second, they must be natural. He who is the
+Truth will never bless a story of lifeless, jerking, galvanized
+puppets, gibbering forced aphorisms and preposterous
+piety, and acting in a red fire of sensational
+incidents. Real boys and girls, real men and women,
+real life, and therefore life intensely interesting,&mdash;these
+must dwell in our Sunday-school stories.</p>
+
+<p>And finally, the stories must be helpful. Each
+must have a point, a purpose. They must be outright
+for Christ, if they are to make outright Christians.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Don't neglect the old-fashioned stories, such as
+the Rollo books. They are full of meat. Especially
+helpful are such stories of Bible times as "Ben Hur."
+Provided their imaginings do not outrun the Bible
+facts, we can scarcely have too many of them. Do
+not forget, either, the books that tell the Bible stories
+themselves, in simple language, for the little ones.
+Above all stories, do not omit the "Pilgrim's Progress,"
+but buy a volume in large type and beautifully illustrated.</p>
+
+<p>Next to stories, what? Emphatically, lives of the
+great Christians; above all, missionaries. There are
+brief, bright, well-illustrated lives of Mackay, the
+marvelous mechanic, Carey, the consecrated cobbler,
+Paton, the hero of the New Hebrides, Livingstone
+the daring, Martyn the saintly, Judson the sagacious,
+Patteson, the white knight of Melanesia, and a host
+of other grand men. What inspiration to a splendid
+life is to be gained from the story of Madagascar's
+dusky martyrs, or the account of Allen Gardiner's
+magnificent death in Patagonia! What a spur to
+active service is the tale of the winning of Hawaii,
+the opening up of Japan, the self-sacrificing missions
+of the Moravians, the daring ride of Whitman across
+the continent for the salvation of Oregon!</p>
+
+<p>Then, there are the lives of great reformers like
+Luther, John Howard, Wilberforce, John B. Gough,
+and of such superb Christians as Gladstone, Wesley,
+Washington, William of Orange. There is no need
+of a long list. The trouble is not to find the books,
+but to awaken among your scholars a hunger for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>
+real heroism of real men as opposed to the imaginary
+heroism of fiction.</p>
+
+<p>Another section of your library should contain
+books that bear directly on the work of the school.
+There must be the best works on teaching, such as
+Trumbull's "Teachers and Teaching," Schauffler's
+"Ways of Working," Boynton's "The Model Sunday-school,"
+and Du Bois' "The Point of Contact."
+There must be some account of the Bible, like Rice's
+"Our Sixty-six Sacred Books"; some brief and attractive
+manual of Christian evidences, like Fisher's
+or Robinson's; some life of Christ, like Geikie's or
+Farrar's; some account of the history, polity, and
+teachings of your denomination. Thompson's "The
+Land and the Book," Smith's "Historical Geography
+of the Holy Land," Geikie's "Hours with the Bible,"
+Taylor's "Moses, the Lawgiver," Deems' "The Gospel
+of Common Sense," Pierce's "Pictured Truth,"
+Butterworth's "The Story of the Hymns,"&mdash;each of
+these is a type of a class of books helpful to teachers,&mdash;and
+to scholars also, if they can be brought to read
+them. Add, for the temperance lessons, such books
+as Banks' "The Saloon-keeper's Ledger," Gustafson's
+"The Fountain of Death," and Strong's "Our
+Country" and "The New Era."</p>
+
+<p>I wonder that so few Sunday-school libraries contain
+the great Christian poems, such as "Paradise
+Lost," Browning's "Saul," Lowell's "Vision of Sir
+Launfal," Arnold's "The Light of the World," and
+many more that would illuminate the lessons.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Many fascinating books of science for young folks
+have been written expressly from the Christian stand-point.
+Why not add to the library such books as
+Kingsley's "Glaucus," Burr's "Ecce C&oelig;lum," Agnes
+Gibberne's "Sun, Moon, and Stars," Keyser's "In
+Bird-land"?</p>
+
+<p>I may seem to be suggesting books for the older
+scholars mainly. Let me here urge that equal care
+and thought be spent on the volumes for the little
+tots and the "intermediates." Their books are not
+so interesting to the mature-minded committee, and
+so they are more likely to be chosen at haphazard.</p>
+
+<p>This is especially true of the books for the primary
+department. Two or three pounds of their diminutive
+volumes are shoveled up in a mass, read by title,
+and tucked in at the end of the list. This carelessness
+is especially injurious, because it is at their age
+that the reading habit is formed, and it is of the utmost
+importance that the tiniest books in the library
+shall be bright, helpful, and of real literary value.
+To discover these will prove one of the most difficult
+tasks of the conscientious committee.</p>
+
+<p>Do not give up the old favorites. When Susan
+Coolidge's "Katy Did" series wears out, give the
+old books away to some poorer school and get a fresh
+set of the same. Remember that new scholars are
+all the time entering, and that there is no recommendation
+for a book so effective as the young people's
+own testimony, "I have read it, and I know you will
+like it."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Have an eye to the paper and type and binding.
+Many books intended for Sunday-school libraries are
+printed on stiff, pulpy paper, that refuses to remain
+open at any place without cracking the back, and use
+a cramped and formal typography more suitable to a
+funeral sermon than to a book intended to attract
+young folks.</p>
+
+<p>If your funds allow, it is an admirable plan to
+obtain more than one copy of certain books especially
+likely to be needed by several classes at once, such
+as books on Christian evidences, on the Bible, and on
+the themes of the current lessons.</p>
+
+<p>It is one thing to gather a library, and quite another
+to get it used, and well used. The first point
+is to introduce it to the teachers. They must consider
+these "teachers in 8vo" to be their assistants,
+and must be thoroughly acquainted with them.
+<i>Every teacher should read every book in the library
+that is within the range of his scholars' comprehension.</i>
+How otherwise can he guide their reading? Of
+course the most hasty perusal will be sufficient, provided
+it shows the teacher the heart of the book. A
+teacher should learn the useful art of rapid reading.</p>
+
+<p>Let the teacher, as part of his preview of the quarter's
+lessons, make out a list of library books that teach
+the principal truths of the quarter ahead of him, and
+give this list to each scholar with the first lesson. A
+few minutes of each teachers' meeting might well be
+spent in giving suggestions regarding the use of the
+library to illustrate the next lesson. Let the teacher<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>
+often refer to these books in the course of his teaching,
+learn what appropriate books each scholar has
+been reading, and get him to give the class some account
+of them.</p>
+
+<p>Often it will be well for the teacher to ask some
+scholar to read a certain story or biography or poem
+during the week, and be ready to tell about it for an
+illustration of next Sunday's truths.</p>
+
+<p>If you have no teachers' meeting, once in a while
+the librarian may mention at the prayer-meeting some
+library book of timely helpfulness, or the pastor
+might even speak of it from the pulpit.</p>
+
+<p>It is far better to buy the books a few at a time.
+In some schools a new book is added to the library
+every Sunday of the fifty-two. The chairman of the
+library committee comes forward with the book in his
+hand, and describes it in a few bright, brisk sentences.
+Its title and number are plainly written on the blackboard
+in front of the school. The choice is varied,&mdash;now
+a book for the youngest, next week one for
+the older scholars.</p>
+
+<p>Some libraries have a special case for the new
+books, where every one can readily find them and
+examine them. Indeed, the scholars are far more
+easily introduced to all the books, new and old, if
+they have free access to the shelves and can handle
+the books themselves, thus coming to know each as
+an old friend. By the way, I do not believe in covering
+the books. Covered books have no individuality.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Happy the school that has a good-sized room for
+its library. Some even get it by placing the books in
+a house next door to the church.</p>
+
+<p>I have known schools to get acquainted with their
+books by coming together for a "library evening," in
+which the wealth of the library was disclosed by various
+speakers, each trying to interest the school in one
+book, or class of books.</p>
+
+<p>After all, the library catalogue may be the best
+agent of introduction. Every library should have
+one, though it is only a home-made affair, manufactured
+on a typewriter or a hectograph. Every book
+should be briefly described, so that the scholars may
+know, for instance, the scene and purpose of each
+story, the kind of man described in each biography,
+and whether it is a book for old, young, or primary
+scholars. Some librarians mark one catalogue for
+each class, indicating the books especially pleasing to
+scholars of the average age of the class, so that the
+teacher may guide their selection. Others divide the
+catalogue into sections, each containing the books
+appropriate to one division of the school.</p>
+
+<p>Not only should a teacher know <i>what</i> his scholars
+are reading, but he should find out <i>how</i> they read.
+He should try to teach them the art of reading. The
+demoralizing habit of reading merely for the moment's
+pleasurable excitement and the next moment's forgetting
+may be formed as easily with Sunday-school
+stories as with newspapers.</p>
+
+<p>Some librarians, to this end, place in each book a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>
+slip of paper, and the scholar is expected to write upon
+this at least one thing he has learned from the book,
+telling at the same time how he likes it.</p>
+
+<p>If the scholars, as will likely happen, are reading
+little but stories, the librarian himself can do much to
+promote more solid reading by reporting every month
+to the school the number of stories read, the number
+of biographies, etc. This report may be made by
+classes, and teachers and scholars should be urged to
+make a better record next month.</p>
+
+<p>Let me close this chapter with a few points regarding
+library management.</p>
+
+<p>It is poor economy of labor to change the librarian
+frequently, so much of his usefulness depends on his
+familiarity with the books, and that familiarity requires
+time to gain. If you can find a librarian that
+does not especially need the benefit of the Bible
+study, one that loves and understands children, keep
+him in office as long as may be. But be sure to give
+him an assistant to aid the children in their selections,
+or record the books while the librarian is consulting
+with the children; also to take the librarian's place
+when he is sick or absent, or possibly to take turns
+with him in presiding over the library, so that each
+may recite the lesson half the time.</p>
+
+<p>The books will be gathered up on the entrance of
+the scholars. A table or a basket or an usher may
+be placed at the door for this purpose. If the scholars
+cannot be given access to the books and select
+them themselves, the librarians will pass quietly around<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>
+among the classes, leaving the new books at each
+table; but these books are never to be given to the
+scholars until just before they leave.</p>
+
+<p>The most effective record, yet a very simple one,
+may be made by any librarian. Give to each scholar
+a card bearing his name and his number. On this
+he writes a list of about ten numbers of the books he
+prefers. As the librarian places his card in one of
+these new books, that number is scratched off and
+the date written opposite. At the same time the librarian
+writes the scholar's number and the date in
+his library catalogue after the number of the book
+taken out, and upon a list of the scholars' numbers
+writes the number of the book after the number of
+the scholar. When the book is returned lines are
+drawn through these records. Thus at any time the
+librarian can see what books are out, who has them,
+how long they have had them, what books each
+scholar has read, and how often each book has been
+taken out.</p>
+
+<p>As the Sunday-school library should teach punctuality,
+among other good things, the librarian should
+strictly require every book to be brought back at the
+end of the week or fortnight, no matter who the
+scholar may be, or whether the book is in much or little
+demand. It may not be best to establish any system
+of fines, but a postal-card notice should be sent in
+aggravated cases, and sometimes the teacher should
+be asked to look up the book. It will spur the
+scholars to promptness if they know that each instance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>
+of tardiness is recorded against their names on the
+library's records.</p>
+
+<p>The proper care of books is another good thing the
+library should teach. Any marked blemish in a book
+should be noted when it is sent out; and when a book
+is injured by a scholar, the librarian should always
+speak to him about it, or get the teacher to do this if
+the child is a stranger to him. A plainly printed slip
+urging careful handling, forbidding dog's ears, and
+the like, may well be pasted in each book.</p>
+
+<p>It is sometimes possible and advantageous to open
+the library at some time during the week, especially
+on prayer-meeting evenings, when the older folks can
+select their books, or, for the benefit of the children,
+on Friday afternoons after school.</p>
+
+<p>Some classes will like to have little libraries of their
+own, containing Bibles for each scholar, Bible atlas,
+a Revised Bible, a Bible dictionary, a concordance,
+etc. Always it is well to arrange for the entire school
+a special reference library, the contents of which will
+largely change from quarter to quarter. In it will be
+placed the general Bible helps and whatever books
+are of special interest for the quarter's lessons. The
+scholars may be sent to these reference shelves during
+the lesson hour. At least one school has a special
+case, always open, for books of this nature, and places
+the case in the front of its main schoolroom.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, it will be seen that this chapter is a
+plea for a Sunday-school library that is a corporate
+part of the Sunday-school teaching, that will help the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>
+teacher on Sunday, and carry his teaching through the
+week. Such a library virtually adds scores of the
+wisest men and women to the teaching force of the
+school, and multiplies by many hours the pitiful thirty
+minutes given to the lesson.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XLI" id="Chapter_XLI"></a>Chapter XLI</h2>
+
+<h2>Around the Council Fire</h2>
+
+
+<p>Our conventions are the grand council fires in the
+war the Sunday-school is waging against the forces of
+evil. The flame of the Holy Spirit should blaze in
+their midst. With military directness they should go
+straight to the immediate needs, find out what they
+are, plan the campaign. Orderly and in turn, all
+should have a part in them, not only the speakers,
+but the audience, one school and every school. With
+hearts uplifted, with zeal on fire, every teacher should
+leave the gathering bent on more valiant service.</p>
+
+<p>Only a well-planned convention can effect this,&mdash;a
+convention long thought over and prayed over, not
+merely by one man, but by many. These meetings
+not seldom remind one of a house of which the owner
+takes possession prematurely. Over yonder the
+scaffolding is still up, here they are just removing it,
+the sound of the hammer and the saw is everywhere,
+and the smell of wet plaster is in the air. Thus in
+many conventions. Here and there the president<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>
+bustles around, over the platform, through the audience.
+The local committee of arrangements are like
+bees before swarming. We begin late and with
+apologies; so we continue.</p>
+
+<p>The model convention, however, began at least as
+far back as the preceding convention. At that gathering
+suggestions for the next meeting were called for
+and obtained. During the following weeks the president
+visited or corresponded with every school in the
+district, trying to discover its excellences and lacks,
+that the convention might exhibit the one and supply
+the other. Indeed, at the very opening of the preceding
+convention the new officers, if any, were
+elected, that during the sessions they might have ears
+open and brains and tongues active, gathering hints
+for the profitable meeting they were to plan. Therefore
+it was early known precisely what the coming
+convention was to teach, and that convention, instead
+of bumping along Haphazard Lane, rolls smoothly
+over Purpose Avenue.</p>
+
+<p>Two methods will promote this preparedness of
+the audience, without which the best-prepared programme
+largely fails: there should be a convention
+press committee, whose pleasant task it is to pack the
+papers with appetizing details of the coming meetings;
+and every school should be supplied, at least two
+weeks beforehand, with a large number of the printed
+programmes. If these are attractively got up, if the
+topics meet genuine needs and are expressed brightly,
+suggestively, and not as Dr. Dryasdust would formulate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>
+them, and if the various superintendents and
+pastors advertise the convention wisely, the audience
+that will come together will be ready for its work.</p>
+
+<p>So large a part of most Sunday-school convention
+audiences comes from the immediate locality that
+especial effort should be made to interest beforehand
+the church and the town in which the meetings are
+held; and this not merely for the sake of the convention,
+but for the quickening of Sunday-school interests
+throughout the community. But if only a few
+persons are gathered, do not make the mistake of
+losing them in a large room, with scores of empty
+pews into which their zeal can creep away and hide
+itself. The same coals that grow black in all outdoors
+will make a little stove red-hot.</p>
+
+<p>No small part of the preparation that is to make a
+success of your convention is the careful and <i>enterprising</i>
+selection of speakers. The best policy is to
+choose none from "policy." Select the men that can
+inspire and instruct, though you must crowd out some
+pastor of a big church or some man with a big name.
+From the teachers themselves call out suggestions as
+to speakers as well as to topics. Search through your
+district for original workers, inventors, plummet men,
+women that win the hearts of the children, and get
+them to tell the convention how they do it. By all
+means call in the successful Christian teacher in the
+secular schools. If possible, import a skilled worker
+from outside your district. Fresh air will come in
+with him, the sense of a wider outlook. Only, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>
+must not be an opinionated egotist, one of those <i>ex-cathedra</i>
+men, but a warm-hearted brother in the
+Lord; and it is far better to use him in several short
+speeches scattered over the programme than in one
+long address.</p>
+
+<p>The wise choice of topics is quite as important as
+a wise choice of men to treat them. Let all programme-makers
+remember what the convention is to
+do: not to show off leaders, or to raise money, or to
+get acquainted, or to have a good time, but to learn
+more about teaching and managing Sunday-schools.
+Three aims must be set before every Sunday-school
+convention: to arouse new love for the Bible, to
+arouse new love for souls, to arouse new zeal for
+bringing these two together. Every convention,
+then, should divide its time among three classes of
+topics: the Bible, the children, the teaching.</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>The Bible.</i> Such themes as these are suggested:
+"How the Bible differs from all other books."
+"Recent Bible discoveries." "My way of studying
+the Bible." "Bible-marking." "How to study
+Exodus." "The use of a 'teacher's Bible.'" "Interleaved
+Bibles,&mdash;why and how." "The value of
+the Victoria revision." "The study of the Bible as
+literature." "What is the best commentary?"
+"Reading the Bible in course,&mdash;how to make it most
+profitable." "The Septuagint and its importance."
+"How the Bible came down to the printing-press."
+"The story of our English Bible."</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>The Children.</i> "Imagination in children."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>
+"Reasoning processes that a child will not appreciate."
+"Why children love stories." "Important differences
+between the child's mind and ours." "Put yourself
+in his place." "A child's confidence: how lost; how
+won." "Prigs: how not to make them." "The
+self-conscious child and how to treat him." "Lessons
+from the playground." "Kindergarten principles
+of value in the Sunday-school."</p>
+
+<p>3. <i>The Two Brought Together.</i> "What is a good
+question?" "How to get the class to ask questions."
+"A class that keeps its own order." "Getting young
+people in love with the Bible." "The teacher's
+voice." "Their own Bibles." "The quarterly left
+at home." "How to make the Bible real to the children."
+"Some tests our teaching should stand."</p>
+
+<p>This outline does not omit the school management,
+and occasional discussion of the work of superintendents
+and other officers will belong under the last head;
+but the teachers are so many compared with the officers
+that <i>their</i> work should be treated the more generously.
+I think most convention programmes deal
+far too much with the machinery of the work, any way.</p>
+
+<p>The best mode of helping the officers is by an officers'
+conference; and if the convention holds but two
+sessions, I would urge that one of them be broken up
+into conferences. In one room the primary workers
+may meet; in another, the superintendents and their
+assistants; in others, the librarians, the secretaries, the
+choristers, the teachers of intermediate classes, the
+teachers of adult classes, the heads of home departments,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>
+the pastors. Programmes for these conferences
+should be arranged with as much care as for
+the main convention, and nothing should be done at
+random. It is a good plan, at the opening of these
+little simultaneous gatherings, to appoint one member
+of each to take notes of the best things and report
+them succinctly to the entire body when it reassembles.</p>
+
+<p>There are three classes of topics that I especially
+delight to see on a convention programme. First,
+the fundamentals. We must not forget the host of
+new workers constantly coming into our ranks.
+"How to ask a question" is an old, old theme; but
+there are enough new teachers to keep it forever fresh
+and pertinent. Second, new methods, exploited by
+authorities, by practical workers. Third, what I call
+"encouragements," topics that inspire, cheer, comfort,
+victories gained, rewards in sight. Hallelujah themes.</p>
+
+<p>To these I must add a fourth: work for the audience.
+I would give the listeners a chance to "talk
+back" about once every hour, and something to do,
+besides listening, every half-hour. Question-boxes
+on practical topics are incomparable interest-quickeners.
+An answer-box is a reversed question-box.
+It contains written answers by the teachers, two or
+three questions of wide scope and great importance
+being propounded on the programme; such questions
+as: "What do you do with pert children?" "How
+do you get your scholars to study their lessons?"
+A wise leader, with the grace of conciseness, is required
+for both these exercises.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Yes, and he is needed for the "open parliaments,"
+or conversational discussions of helpful topics by brisk
+dialogue between audience and platform. These may
+be made merely parade-grounds for "smart" leaders,
+or genuine experience meetings, true council fires.
+It is wise to send a special invitation to your best
+teachers, asking them to be prepared with suggestions
+or questions for the open parliament, that it may start
+off with momentum already obtained. A summarist,
+too, is a good appointment; he listens quietly to the
+open parliament, and at the close gathers up, in a few
+sentences that stick, whatever is best worth preserving
+out of the discussion.</p>
+
+<p>The open parliament most commonly held consists
+merely of dry and formal reports from each school,
+the roll being called. If such an exercise is held,
+place in charge of it a man thoroughly familiar with
+the schools, and able by brisk questioning to elicit a
+report that will picture the one school and stimulate
+the others.</p>
+
+<p>A good presiding officer is half a convention. His
+first duty is to have a distinct understanding with
+each speaker that he is not to trespass on the next
+man's time, and his second duty is to cry "Stop,
+thief!" if the speakers do so trespass. The convention
+management should be a model for the Sunday-schools
+in every way, and in none more imperatively
+than in this of promptness.</p>
+
+<p>But also as to order. Oh, the weak-kneed or the
+purblind presidents, that allow the talking, whispering,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>
+walking about of a few to filch from the many
+half the value of the meetings! Stop the speaker.
+Call a halt on the entire convention. Don't proceed
+another step till quiet is restored, and maintained.
+Be a platform czar, and your audience will be your
+happy serfs.</p>
+
+<p>Then, the president is master of ceremonies. So
+much in acquaintanceships depends on tactful introductions!
+He should deliver to each successive
+speaker an audience that is in a glow of anticipation,
+and when the speaker is done,&mdash;yes, and all through,&mdash;his
+own cordial hands should lead the hearty applause,
+and he should take time for an appreciative
+word before passing to the next topic.</p>
+
+<p>If the presiding officer is to do all this, he must
+plan beforehand almost every sentence he will use in
+introducing speakers or opening the discussions. He
+is to be suggestive; he is to set brains a-throbbing
+with eagerness and tongues aching with things to say;
+and he is to do it all in twenty words. Brevity, good
+humor, suggestiveness,&mdash;these, in this order, are the
+chairman's prime virtues.</p>
+
+<p>At the opening of every convention the key-note
+of formality, routine, and perfunctoriness is struck in
+the address of welcome and the response. Their
+every word could safely be predicted in advance.
+The world is waiting for a programme committee
+that will be courageous enough to leave them out.
+If the pastor of the entertaining church has helpful
+ideas on Sunday-school work, by all means place him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>
+on the programme somewhere; but don't make a rut
+of him.</p>
+
+<p>At the very outset strike the key of prayer. Insert
+here and there throughout the programme a quiet ten
+minutes with the great Teacher. By all means close
+with a devotional half-hour&mdash;not a hasty prayer
+punctuated with the snapping of watches. Sentence
+prayers by scores, prayer psalms softly repeated,
+prayer hymns read with bowed heads,&mdash;the convention
+should furnish an inspiration and model for the
+devotions of all the schools represented.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely less important is the element of song.
+Unconsciously to themselves, the audience should
+become a normal training-class, learning how to conduct
+the singing of their schools in fresh and uplifting
+ways. Many, if not all of the methods mentioned in
+my chapter on this theme find fit application to the
+convention.</p>
+
+<p>The social features deserve careful attention. Set
+the teachers to talking together; conversation was
+Socrates' university. One of the most helpful events
+may be a light supper given by the entertaining
+church. A small fee is charged, all sit down together,
+and at the close a series of happy speeches will bring
+out flashes of wit and bushels of sense.</p>
+
+<p>The business should be kept under. Introduce it
+a little at a time, rather than spend a fatiguing hour
+and a half. Make no parade of money-raising.
+Giving should be done quietly. Teach your teachers
+the grace of envelopes. Reduce all business to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>
+minimum, remembering that the convention comes
+together not for legislation, but for inspiration.</p>
+
+<p>The Sunday-school convention is not only a conference,
+but an exposition. Here should be gathered
+whatever new teaching apparatus any school has
+bought: wall-maps, sand-maps, relief-maps, material
+for object-lessons, portable blackboards, colored pictures
+illustrating the lessons, specimens of class tests,
+library catalogues, new kinds of class-books, collection-envelopes,
+singing-books, new editions of the
+Bible, lesson helps of all kinds,&mdash;it is clear how
+varied and valuable a collection may easily be
+brought together when once the teachers and officers
+understand what is wanted.</p>
+
+<p>The library of the entertaining school should be
+open for visiting librarians to examine books and
+methods. The best new books might be brought in
+from all the libraries of the district, and if each school
+sent only one or two, the entire exhibit would furnish
+many a suggestion to wide-awake library committees.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most important exhibits is a Sunday-school
+map of the district, indicating where schools
+are in existence, and also where schools might and
+should be placed.</p>
+
+<p>There is one kind of exhibit that should rarely be
+made, if ever: an exhibit of the children themselves,
+either to "speak pieces" or to play Sunday-school
+and be taught. The latter use of them has advantages,
+but, to my mind, the gain to the audience is
+nothing compared to the children's increase of self-consciousness.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>
+I hide my head whenever I think of
+such a mock recitation in which I figured when a
+little boy, and remember how proud I was of my pert
+forwardness in answering all of the questions; before
+all those people, too!</p>
+
+<p>In closing, let us ask how the convention results
+may be gathered up, preserved, and sown broadcast.
+A notebook should be in the hand of each attendant,&mdash;either
+given away or sold. The speakers should
+so mark their points and emphasize the subdivisions
+of their addresses that the thoughts can readily be
+grasped and retained. A printed syllabus is a great
+assistance to this end, and if the printing-press is too
+costly, a manifolder may be used. Blank pages
+should be left in the programme, to invite to note-taking.</p>
+
+<p>And then, the new plans all jotted down, the felicitous
+expressions written out <i>verbatim</i>, the facts and
+figures clearly noted, let the convention be widely reported.
+Not merely should the convention press
+committee, that heralded the gathering through the
+papers, continue their labors long enough to render
+their previous work most fruitful, but every teacher
+present should carry the convention's best to his
+teachers' meeting and his class; yes, and to the church
+prayer-meeting. Thus will the ardor of the council
+fire spread throughout the army.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XLII" id="Chapter_XLII"></a>Chapter XLII</h2>
+
+<h2>The Incorporation of Ideas</h2>
+
+
+<p>Certain arts, such as sculpture, painting, and
+architecture, have been named the fine arts by some
+man who had not learned to look inward, and see
+what an infinitely finer art is any that attempts to
+fashion the human soul. The pastor's and the
+teacher's arts, which are in essence one, though the
+tyranny of language forbids calling them the fine
+arts, may be given even a nobler title; they are the
+high arts.</p>
+
+<p>We would sit down with bated breath and tense-drawn
+nerves to take to pieces for the first time the
+delicate machinery of a watch for cleaning and readjustment.
+If a sovereign diamond were placed in
+our hands for faceting, we would study for days its
+cleavage plane, its natural angles, and its matrix, and
+press it to the revolving wheel at last with timidity
+and shrinking. But when the most marvelously delicate,
+impressionable, yet abiding thing in the world
+is placed in our hands, together with the mightiest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>
+yet finest tools, and under conditions constantly
+varying, and we are told to fashion a human soul into
+truth and nobility, we sit down with confident smiles,
+and whack away.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible for a Sunday-school teacher to
+magnify his office. He needs a spiritual telescope,
+rather, to see above it and below it and on all sides
+of it. We Sunday-school teachers constitute an unordained
+ministry, whose functions are as sacred as
+those of the pulpit, though less inclusive. If we are
+faithful, conversions will be as frequent results of our
+lesson questions as of the pastor's sermons. "God
+hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondly
+prophets, thirdly teachers." Let us desire earnestly
+the greater gifts; but if God calls us to be neither
+missionary nor pastor, but Sunday-school teacher, even
+that calling is too high for us fully to attain.</p>
+
+<p>It is an anomaly to which the Christian world is
+just awaking that workers permit themselves to enter
+on this sacred art with no apprenticeship. Indeed,
+if such untrained workers were not admitted, there
+would soon be no Sunday-schools in the world to
+admit them. Long as the seminaries for ministerial
+preparation have existed, it is only recently that
+training-schools for lay workers have been formed.
+May they grow and multiply!</p>
+
+<p>But until enlarged Christian activity places one of
+these blessed institutions within reach of each consecrated
+layman, we must do the best we can with other
+means of growth. We must organize regular Sunday-school<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>
+conventions and teach one another there. We
+must build one another up in enthusiastic teachers'
+meetings. We must use the best lesson helps. We
+must read greedily every book and every article that
+promises to give us new ideas and methods and inspiration.</p>
+
+<p>Now some object to all this. "You are needlessly
+discouraging us," they say. "You are making a
+very simple matter appear complicated; an easy one
+seem difficult. Christ's yoke is easy; Christ's gospel
+is plain; he will give us in that Sunday-school hour
+what we are to say. Your minute directions as to
+methods of study, as to concordance and commentary
+and maps, are flying in the face of Providence. The
+Spirit bloweth where he listeth."</p>
+
+<p>The answer to all this is simple, and consists mainly
+in an appeal to experience. Simple and plain as
+Christ's message is, human lives are very complicated,
+and it is no simple matter or easy task to lay the
+Saviour's simple healing alongside their varied ills.
+Christ's burden is light; if it were heavier it would
+be easier to get paradoxical humanity to accept it.
+Christ will instruct us what to say, provided we have
+so trained our heart and brain that his words will not
+fall as senseless babble from our tongues. The Spirit
+does breathe where he listeth, but the experience of
+these centuries ought to teach us that God is never
+present in power where work and prayer have not
+invited him.</p>
+
+<p>Haphazard work is not equal to thoughtful work.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>
+Minute directions that would be wasted on a barn-painter
+are a necessity of the artist. Impromptu
+never yet won a race with Preparation. And I
+know that many a teacher is mourning over his empty
+hands who might be rejoicing over great sheaves if
+his sowing had been more liberal and his teaching
+more painstaking.</p>
+
+<p>And yet I sympathize with the weary discouragement
+of which all teachers feel a twinge when high
+ideals of teaching are held out before them. We are
+sure we are doing our best, already. It annoys us to
+be shown a better best. Our work is hard enough.
+It troubles us to be told that we must work harder
+before it can ever become easy. And especially, we
+are so confused by the multiplicity of good things we
+may do, of improvements we may make, that we do
+and make none of them.</p>
+
+<p>Now the secret of success in all arts lies in this:
+the Incorporation of Ideas. The reception of ideas,
+the appreciation and praise of them, this is nothing,
+though many are satisfied to stop here; but the incorporation,
+the embodiment of them, this makes the
+artist. The artist is the man that is hungry for ideas,&mdash;for
+the ideal, that is; the man that, like Paul,
+proves them all by the tests of thought and experience,
+and then holds fast whatever is good, until it
+has become part of himself, until it is incorporated.</p>
+
+<p>The artist is a man, too, that above all men knows
+the importance of trifles. The contour must be
+molded to nature precisely, the statue finished to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>
+finger-nail, the machine accurate in every line and surface.
+He will not try to attain the ideal at a bound;
+it is made up, he knows, of many ideas. He grasps
+one idea, and fixes that forever. Then, he has power
+for another.</p>
+
+<p>One point at a time, then, fellow-laborers in this
+blessed work; one idea from an eager throng appealing
+to you in books, lectures, or papers, proved and
+found good, and then held fast by prayerful practice,
+by never-yielding effort, until it is added to the company
+of your unconscious forces. And then, in this
+power, to add another to it! Thus alone can we
+win, from Christ's university, the highest of all <a name="degrees" id="degrees"></a>degrees,
+Masters of his Art!</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XLIII" id="Chapter_XLIII"></a>Chapter XLIII</h2>
+
+<h2>From a Superintendent's Notebook</h2>
+
+
+<p>An egotist is foredoomed to failure in the Sunday-school.
+The worker that hopes for success must cast
+to the winds any foolish pride in originality, and seek
+far and wide for the wisest ideas and the freshest
+methods. A superintendent or a teacher without a
+notebook is only half a superintendent or teacher.
+Its pages should rapidly grow rich with plunder.
+The little white friend must be at hand when he
+attends conventions, when he reads, when he talks
+with other workers, when he thinks and prays over
+his sacred tasks.</p>
+
+<p>The two chapters that follow are merely specimen
+pages of such notebooks. While I have utilized them
+to gather up various plans and experiences that could
+not fittingly find place elsewhere in the book, their
+chief purpose is to illustrate the wide-awake catholicity
+that must animate every successful worker in Sunday-schools.</p>
+
+<p>It is right to say&mdash;though this is a matter of course&mdash;that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>
+a large majority of these paragraphs are condensed
+from that great storehouse of Sunday-school
+lore, the "Sunday-school Times."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p><i>Their Own Review.</i>&mdash;Scholars are likely to answer
+with special zest the questions prepared by other
+scholars. One school asks its classes in turn to furnish
+three questions on each lesson, which are proposed
+to the entire school at the close of the lesson
+hour. From these questions are selected a number
+for the quarterly review. They are "manifolded,"
+and written answers are expected from all present.</p>
+
+<p><i>Out of Order.</i>&mdash;An excellent review scheme was
+arranged by a superintendent who gave his school a
+list of twenty-six events in the life of Christ, all
+jumbled up, and asked them to come next Sunday
+prepared to arrange them in chronological order.</p>
+
+<p><i>A School Review.</i>&mdash;For reviewing the lesson before
+the entire school, select one class a week beforehand
+and give it ten or twelve comprehensive questions,
+from the quarterly or original. At the close of the
+lesson ask this class to rise and answer the questions
+as another class, also rising, asks them. Let all the
+classes take turns in this service.</p>
+
+<p><i>School Reviews.</i>&mdash;For a change, it is well to incorporate
+the entire school in a general review,&mdash;omitting,
+of course, the younger classes. One person
+may conduct the review, or the questions on each
+lesson may be asked by a different teacher. Different
+classes may be assigned special lessons to illustrate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>
+by the concert repetition of Bible verses, or by a
+stanza of some song. One lesson of the quarter may
+be assigned to each class, and the questions that will
+be asked may be given to that class a week or two
+beforehand. In this case, general questions for the
+entire school should occasionally be interspersed.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Teachers' Supper.</i>&mdash;Once a year, at least, bring
+together all the teachers and officers around a well-filled
+table. After-dinner speeches, cheery and merry,
+may follow, and then a pleasant evening's entertainment.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Annual Meeting.</i>&mdash;Make this an event. A
+supper with bright speeches, the business meeting to
+follow; a brisk literary and musical entertainment; an
+introductory talk by some practical worker from
+abroad,&mdash;these are some of the ways of distinguishing
+the occasion.</p>
+
+<p><i>Badges.</i>&mdash;Any Sunday-school festival will be given
+eclat by the use of badges. The children will be
+proud to wear them, and will treasure them as souvenirs.
+They may be made almost without cost if
+you will use bright-colored cambric, and print upon
+them with a hand-stamp.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Sunday-School Day.</i>&mdash;If not once a year, at least
+once every few years, it is well worth while to make
+the Sunday-school the theme of all the exercises on
+the Lord's day,&mdash;both morning and evening services,
+and the Christian Endeavor meeting. The subject has
+so many practical aspects that much good will be done
+in addition to the quickening of the Sunday-school.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>The Home Department.</i>&mdash;Simply a promise to study
+the lesson at home for half an hour each week&mdash;that
+is the scheme of the home department. You may
+add visitors, records, reports, <i>ad libitum</i>, but the home
+department may be complete and satisfactory without
+these. The plan is so simple that any school can
+use it, and so fruitful of blessed results that no school
+dare neglect it. A thorough canvass for members of
+the home department seldom fails to bring new
+members into the main school at once, and as the
+home study arouses interest, new scholars are continually
+added from this source, besides the scores of
+aged and shut-ins whose lives are thus led into the
+green pastures of the Word.</p>
+
+<p><i>Home Department Day.</i>&mdash;On this occasion a special
+effort is made to bring to the Sunday-school the entire
+home department. They sit together, and special
+services are held in their honor and for their benefit.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parents' Day.</i>&mdash;Make a special effort once a year to
+bring out all the parents of the scholars. Issue special
+printed invitations. Have a printed programme.
+Let the exercises be the regular working of the
+school, with merely one short address to the parents
+in addition.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Parents' Social.</i>&mdash;Parents and teacher should
+know one another, and there is no more gracious
+way to bring this about than by an evening spent
+together at the teacher's house.</p>
+
+<p><i>Purpose Cards.</i>&mdash;To stimulate the school in needed
+ways, have a "purpose card" printed. It will read,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>
+in tabular form, "I will endeavor to attend more
+faithfully, to prepare my lesson better, to get a new
+scholar," etc. Each member of the school signs
+his card, marks with crosses the "purposes" he
+makes his own, and returns the card to the superintendent.</p>
+
+<p><i>Installing the New Officers.</i>&mdash;This should be done
+with some ceremony, including a very short address
+by the pastor, another by the outgoing superintendent
+or prominent officer, another by a representative of
+the incoming group, and an earnest prayer,&mdash;all to
+occupy no more than ten minutes. The scholars will
+have more respect for leaders thus honored, and the
+officers themselves will be more likely to magnify
+their office.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Old Superintendent.</i>&mdash;Some schools elevate the
+assistant superintendent regularly to the superintendency.
+Other schools adopt the opposite course, and
+make the superintendent of one year the assistant
+superintendent of the next. Either plan secures continuity
+of method.</p>
+
+<p><i>A True Assistant.</i>&mdash;The assistant superintendent
+should be prepared to do, in the superintendent's
+absence, everything the superintendent ordinarily
+does. How can he be prepared to do this unless the
+superintendent regularly shares all kinds of work with
+his assistant?</p>
+
+<p><i>Help from the Public School.</i>&mdash;In most communities
+a very inspiring series of lectures might be obtained
+from Christian teachers in the secular schools and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>
+colleges, the purpose of each lecture being to show
+how, according to the best pedagogical methods, a
+certain lesson might be taught, or Sunday-school
+teaching in general be carried on.</p>
+
+<p><i>Flowers at Home.</i>&mdash;You will delight your school,
+and teach them many lessons, if you give each scholar&mdash;or
+get the teachers to do this&mdash;a bulb, a package
+of seeds, or a small potted plant like a rose. Hold
+an exhibition to show the results, and then have the
+flowers given to the sick, the hospitals, the poor, or
+sold for missions.</p>
+
+<p><i>Easter Lilies.</i>&mdash;A few cents invested in lily bulbs
+will make a beautiful Easter for your school. Give
+one to each scholar for him to raise, or, possibly, one
+to each class. The flowers, after Easter Sunday, are
+to be sent to the aged, the sick, and the poor.</p>
+
+<p><i>An Easter Gift.</i>&mdash;Some Sunday-schools give each
+scholar, on Easter day, a little rosebush or a package
+of seeds, that they may be tended and urged to bloom
+by Children's Day, when they are all brought in.</p>
+
+<p><i>Vacation Transfers.</i>&mdash;Some schools, when their
+scholars leave for a vacation, give them letters to
+schools where they will visit. These are printed forms,
+and include a detachable blank report, which, when
+filled out and returned, will show the scholar's attendance
+on the other school during his absence.</p>
+
+<p><i>Planned Prayer-Meetings.</i>&mdash;It will greatly promote
+the devotional character of your school if you take
+twenty minutes each month for a prayer-meeting.
+Select four or five to offer prayer, and have them sit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>
+on the platform. A brief, tender talk from the superintendent
+and bright singing will complete a memorable
+meeting.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Carryall.</i>&mdash;I have heard of Sunday-schools that
+maintained omnibuses or large carriages, to gather up
+and carry to the school children whose homes were so
+far away that they could not otherwise attend.</p>
+
+<p><i>Neighborhood Schools.</i>&mdash;Distant groups of farmers'
+families, and others that cannot reach the school,
+should be organized in neighborhood Sunday-schools.</p>
+
+<p><i>A New Object Each Month.</i>&mdash;The scholars' offerings
+should be an education not only in the instinct
+of giving, but also in the intelligent choice of objects
+for giving. Every Sunday-school should have a
+benevolence committee, which carefully selects for
+each month a new object of beneficence. On the
+last Sabbath of each month a word should be said
+about the object that appeals for the gifts of the next
+month. This brief account should, of course, be
+supplemented by the teachers in their classes.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Envelope System.</i>&mdash;This plan of giving, which
+has done so much for our churches, should be used
+everywhere in the Sunday-school. Give each class
+a number and each scholar a set of dated envelopes,
+one for each Sunday, bearing his class number. Call
+for a contribution from each scholar each Sunday.
+Urge that all absent scholars send their contributions,
+or bring them the next Sunday. From this
+<i>systematic</i> giving you may go on to <i>proportionate</i> giving
+by impressing on the scholars their duty to set apart<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>
+for God some regular proportion, say one tenth, of
+all the money they receive. If the school takes up
+monthly collections for special benevolent objects,
+the envelopes for these Sundays may be of a different
+color. If, as should always be the case, the expenses
+of the school are met by the church, leaving the entire
+school collections to be devoted to missions and
+charitable causes, the school committee on benevolences
+may select a different object of giving for each
+month. This object should then be written on each
+envelope for that month.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Jug-Breaking.</i>&mdash;One of the best ways of teaching
+children the value of little gifts and the importance
+of weekly savings for Christ's cause is by the collection
+of money in jugs. Set before them at the start
+some object for their gifts, that they may think and
+talk about it while they are saving; otherwise their
+minds are lifted no higher than their money. And
+how they will enjoy the jug-breaking!</p>
+
+<p><i>Class-Books.</i>&mdash;Not records of class attendance, but
+books for the library, paid for by the various classes,
+selected by these so far as their choice seems wise,
+and each of them bearing an inscription telling what
+class presented it to the school. Such gifts give the
+scholars a personal interest in the library they have
+helped to create.</p>
+
+<p><i>Loan Libraries.</i>&mdash;Instead of giving away the books
+your school has thoroughly read, loan them, in groups
+of fifty or so, to poorer schools. They will return
+them in good condition, and by that time there will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>
+be many new scholars in your own school to whom
+the books will be fresh.</p>
+
+<p><i>Exchange Libraries.</i>&mdash;There is no reason why neighboring
+schools, if their library funds are low, should
+not arrange to buy different books, and then exchange
+them after the original purchasers have used them
+for a year. All the schools in a town or township
+might well combine in an arrangement so economical.</p>
+
+<p><i>Receiving the New Books.</i>&mdash;The library will be advertised
+if the reception of new books is made an
+event. They may be put in a public place, all at one
+time, and formally presented to the school by pastor
+or superintendent, with a word about each. This may
+be done at Christmas, Easter, Children's Day, Thanksgiving,
+at any one or all of these holiday seasons.</p>
+
+<p><i>Honor the Donors.</i>&mdash;A special and attractive label
+for books presented to the library, with a space for the
+name of the person that makes the gift, will greatly
+increase the number of books received in this way.</p>
+
+<p><i>Their Own Paper.</i>&mdash;A large Sunday-school may
+publish a little weekly or monthly paper, the advertisements
+paying the bills. The older scholars will
+be interested in doing the work. The notes about
+the various classes, the library, the contributions, the
+school work, will all prove stimulating.</p>
+
+<p><i>Sunday-School Calendars.</i>&mdash;A good standing advertisement
+of the school in any home would be a
+neat calendar of the year, bordered with facts about
+the school, invitations, pictures of church, pastor,
+Sunday-school officers, and the like.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>A Bulletin Board.</i>&mdash;A conspicuous bulletin board,
+placed at the entrance, will save giving out many a
+notice.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Notices.</i>&mdash;The wise superintendent will plan
+every word he is to say before the school, even&mdash;yea,
+especially!&mdash;the giving of the notices. These notices
+will be the fewest possible; don't let the Sunday-school
+be used as a bill-board. Announce only what you
+want the scholars to remember, and in such a bright
+way that they can't forget it. And don't discredit
+your perspicuity and their attention by announcing
+it more than once.</p>
+
+<p><i>Protect the Teacher.</i>&mdash;One of the most important of
+the superintendent's duties is to protect the teacher
+from interruption during the recitation hour. A
+similar duty is to see that the time for the recitation
+suffers no diminution through the tardiness or prolixity
+of himself or any one else.</p>
+
+<p><i>Substitute Groups.</i>&mdash;The work of "substituting"
+may well be divided up. Ask a set of older scholars
+to be ready to substitute on the first Sunday of each
+month, another set on the second Sunday, and so on.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Pastor as Substitute.</i>&mdash;Certainly the pastor
+should not take a Sunday-school class of his own.
+That would be unfair to the rest of the school and
+the church. But he would get into helpful contact
+with a large number of people, young and old, if he
+should act every Sunday as a substitute teacher, now
+in this class and now in that.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Five-Minute Meeting.</i>&mdash;A few minutes of conference,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>
+immediately after the session of the school,
+will be a great help and stimulus to the teachers.
+One will ask help in a difficulty, another will report
+a method just proved successful. Everything will
+come fresh and vital from living experience.</p>
+
+<p><i>How Many Absent?</i>&mdash;Often let the secretary, in
+his report to the school, state only the number <i>absent</i>
+from each class and department. He will thus
+change the emphasis, and arouse a new and profitable
+interest.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Roll-Call.</i>&mdash;It takes time, but at long intervals a
+public roll-call of the entire school is worth while.
+Of course it should be well advertised beforehand,
+and the entire membership will wish to be present.
+Then make the hour so delightful that they will not
+think of staying away thereafter.</p>
+
+<p><i>Honor Rolls.</i>&mdash;Hang a large sheet of paper in a
+conspicuous position, and announce that you will
+print upon it the name of every one that brings in a
+new scholar. A red paper star after the name signifies
+one new scholar, a blue star a second scholar,
+and so on. A similar roll may be used to honor
+perfect attendance, stars of different colors being
+used for the different quarters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Gold and Silver Stars.</i>&mdash;There are well-based objections
+to any distinction of one class above another,
+but a plan that will be found very valuable, at least
+as a temporary stimulus, is this: Honor with a large
+silver star every class that has all its members present,
+and with a gold star each class that reports all its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>
+members bringing Bibles, and that all have studied
+the lesson at least twenty minutes.</p>
+
+<p><i>An Asterisk.</i>&mdash;If by banners or in other ways you
+honor regular attendance, there will be a tendency to
+drop absent scholars from the rolls too quickly, because
+they lower the standard of their classes. An
+excellent way of getting around this difficulty is to
+"star" the name of every scholar that has been
+absent a month. This asterisk means that the name
+is not to be counted in making up the report, but the
+presence of the name on the list means that the scholar
+is not to be forgotten or neglected.</p>
+
+<p><i>To Console Him.</i>&mdash;One bright superintendent
+scorns to give a reward or prize for new scholars,
+but presents a nice leather-bound Bible, by way of
+compensation, to each scholar that for any cause is
+luckless enough to <i>leave</i> his school!</p>
+
+<p><i>A Spur.</i>&mdash;Enforce punctuality by a large placard
+hung in front of the school, and reading, "You
+are early." When the school opens the card is
+turned, and now reads, in staring letters, "You are
+late!"</p>
+
+<p><i>A Question Drill.</i>&mdash;This is a good plan for teachers'
+meetings. The teachers should ask questions on each
+verse, turn about, and the leader should criticise the
+questions.</p>
+
+<p><i>Teachers'-Meeting Roll-Call.</i>&mdash;To insure previous
+study of the lesson, and to accustom the teachers to
+take part in the meeting, let the roll be called every
+week, and require each teacher to respond with some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>
+thought concerning the lesson, usually a comment on
+some particular verse.</p>
+
+<p><i>Attendance on the Teachers' Meeting.</i>&mdash;It will prove
+a helpful spur if this attendance is recorded regularly,
+and incorporated in all the reports made by the
+secretary to the school.</p>
+
+<p><i>Union Teachers' Meetings.</i>&mdash;If you cannot have a
+teachers' meeting for your Sunday-school alone, because
+you have no good leader, you can probably find
+a good leader in some neighboring church, and can
+give him and yourselves the stimulus of a large union
+gathering. This plan has many advantages, notably
+the opportunity for the comparison of methods. It
+has one great disadvantage: the work cannot apply
+so particularly to your individual school.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Reception Class.</i>&mdash;New scholars may all be
+placed in a "reception class," until their ability,
+knowledge, and character can be learned.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Visitors' Register.</i>&mdash;This is for the names and
+home addresses of all visitors. The little attention
+required to obtain these autographs pleases them and
+their friends, and breaks the ice for further acquaintance.
+The register should be kept open on some table
+in a central spot, with pen and ink always at hand.</p>
+
+<p><i>An Address-Book.</i>&mdash;This should contain, under
+proper and convenient classifications, the addresses
+of all scholars, teachers, and officers, past and present.
+It should always be kept in the church, and many
+will be the references to it.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Cradle Roll.</i>&mdash;This contains the names of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>
+babies of the church, for each of whom his mother is
+given a certificate of membership. This roll is read
+once in a while before the primary class.</p>
+
+<p><i>Individual Histories.</i>&mdash;At least one school has
+enough personal interest in its scholars to keep a
+history of each, in a book properly arranged for that
+purpose. This history includes the date of the
+scholar's joining the school and of his promotion to
+the various higher departments thereof, his birthday
+and the names of his parents, their church-membership,
+where the scholar lived when he joined the
+church, whom he married and when, his business, the
+date of his removal and the city to which he went,
+together with other and special facts.</p>
+
+<p><i>District Reporters.</i>&mdash;Appoint one scholar or teacher
+to watch each street in town,&mdash;preferably, of course,
+the street on which he resides,&mdash;and report promptly
+all newcomers, that they may be invited to the
+Sunday-school.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Opening Prayer.</i>&mdash;Let the ushers admit no one
+till it is over. Do not begin, or permit any one else
+to begin this prayer, till every head is bowed. Do
+not ask any one to offer this prayer without giving
+long notice; no haphazard prayer will answer.</p>
+
+<p><i>Their Own Bibles.</i>&mdash;A Bible in the hands of every
+scholar,&mdash;this alone makes possible variety and zest
+in the opening of the school.</p>
+
+<p><i>Lesson Introductions.</i>&mdash;In small schools it has often
+been found profitable for the superintendent to spend
+ten or fifteen minutes teaching to the entire school<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>
+(with the exception of the primary department) the
+historical and similar details of the lesson. The
+teachers then add the lesson truths, teaching their
+individual classes.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varying Programmes.</i>&mdash;If the opening exercises of
+the school get into a rut, it is hard for the teachers
+to lift the school out of it. Some wise superintendents
+plan these exercises for weeks ahead, keeping careful
+record, and thus avoid monotony.</p>
+
+<p><i>An Impressive Close.</i>&mdash;One school closes its service
+with the Lord's Prayer, repeated by all as they stand.
+Then the school is seated, and waits in silence while
+the ushers, walking slowly up the aisles, dismiss each
+class in turn.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Closing Prayer.</i>&mdash;Here is a beautiful prayer to
+be repeated in concert at the close of school: "May
+the light of thy Word, O Lord, dwell in us richly,
+and guide us day by day. Amen."</p>
+
+<p><i>Scripture in Closing.</i>&mdash;To incite to Scripture memorizing,
+close the school with Bible verses repeated by
+all the scholars. Let each class in turn select the
+subject, such as "temperance," "obedience," "love,"
+and announce it a week in advance.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Teachers before the School.</i>&mdash;Now and then
+ask some teacher to say a few words to the entire
+school at the close of the session, summing up the
+most important teachings of the hour. This gives
+the whole school a bit of inspiration from each teacher
+in turn, and gives to each teacher the inspiration of
+talking to the whole school.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XLIV" id="Chapter_XLIV"></a>Chapter XLIV</h2>
+
+<h2>From a Teacher's Notebook</h2>
+
+
+<p><i>Birthday Letters.</i>&mdash;Little children will prize highly
+a cordial, loving letter written to them by their teacher
+on their birthday. Doubtless the very oldest scholars
+in the school will prize such a letter as much, if not
+even more. There should be no preachment in these
+letters, no hitting at peculiar sins; just fill them with
+Christian sunshine. A birthday prayer in the class,
+short, simple, earnest, will clinch to the scholar the
+lessons of the day.</p>
+
+<p><i>Class Letters.</i>&mdash;When the teacher is away on a
+vacation or for other reasons, a letter sent each week
+to some member of the class, taking the scholars in
+order, will be shared with the other scholars, and will
+strengthen the bond that the absence might have
+weakened or broken.</p>
+
+<p><i>Teaching by Correspondence.</i>&mdash;When the teacher
+must be absent, if she cannot find a good substitute,
+and the class is of a suitable age for the plan, let her
+send a letter containing a few thoughts on the lesson,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>
+together with many questions, which the class are to
+discuss, and for which, after joint consultation, they
+will prepare written answers, to be sent to the teacher.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Lesson Message.</i>&mdash;Do you fear that the central
+truth of the lesson may not be impressed on your
+class, either through your forgetfulness or because
+you lack time? Then write out for each scholar a
+sentence or two of exhortation, with a request that he
+read a certain appropriate passage of the Bible. Place
+these messages in envelopes, and distribute them at
+the close of the lesson.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Teacher's Loan.</i>&mdash;If you have found a book that
+would be especially helpful to your class, by all means,
+if you can afford it, buy a copy, circulate it among
+the class, and, after all your scholars have read it,
+present it to the library.</p>
+
+<p><i>Birthdays of the Great.</i>&mdash;Utilize in your teaching
+not only Washington's birthday and Lincoln's, but
+the birthday of any great man whose life may help to
+point the moral of the day's lesson. For this purpose,
+one of the many "birthday-books" is of value for
+reference.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Magazine Club.</i>&mdash;The members of a Sunday-school
+class have similar interests, and an ideal magazine
+and paper club may be organized among them.
+Incidentally, it will enable the teacher to direct much
+of their reading. The periodicals subscribed for are
+to be passed around in a specified order, kept at each
+house a definite time, and each finally retained by
+some member of the class.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Class Names.</i>&mdash;It will prove an inspiration to any
+class to have a good name, such as "Earnest Seekers,"
+"Willing Workers," "The Joshua Band," "Daughters
+of Ruth."</p>
+
+<p><i>Five-Minute Preludes.</i>&mdash;Brief preludes on current
+topics or practically helpful points connected with the
+lesson theme may be found valuable in the Bible
+class, just as similar preludes have proved useful in
+the preaching service.</p>
+
+<p><i>Independence.</i>&mdash;Occasionally request the class to
+prepare so thoroughly that they can leave at home
+the quarterly, lesson leaf, even the Bible itself. The
+teacher also will do this; and if he improves his opportunity,
+this thorough storing of the mind may
+result in a recitation so delightful that the class will
+adopt the plan enthusiastically for the future.</p>
+
+<p><i>Her "Funny Box."</i>&mdash;A teacher tells how she
+lightened the occasional sickness of her scholars by
+carrying to them what they called her "funny box,"
+which held fruit and flowers, with scores of merry
+jokes clipped from the papers, peanuts marked with
+comical faces, and a Bible verse or two on the inside
+of the cover.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Review Picture-Gallery.</i>&mdash;If you have been using
+the blackboard during the quarter, try a blackboard
+review. Draw twelve picture-frames, and call up the
+scholars one by one, asking each to fill in one of the
+frames with what he remembers of the blackboard
+work of that lesson. It may be necessary for the
+teacher to remind the scholar what the design was,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>
+and to help him draw it, or the entire class may be
+asked to give this assistance.</p>
+
+<p><i>An Essay Review.</i>&mdash;Divide the lessons of the
+quarter among your scholars, so that each will write
+an essay on some one lesson; or, if your class is too
+small for that, assign two lessons apiece to some of
+the scholars. Limit them as to time, but let each
+choose his line of treatment.</p>
+
+<p><i>Silent Prayers.</i>&mdash;If we always word the children's
+prayers for them, they will be unlikely ever to word
+prayers for themselves. Often request them to bow
+their heads and in silence to ask the Father for what
+they need and thank him for his kindness.</p>
+
+<p><i>Class Prayers.</i>&mdash;Why should not every class recitation
+be opened with a brief prayer, and often close
+with one? Yes, and when the talk in the middle of
+the lesson becomes especially earnest, prayer is the
+best means of binding the truth to the lives of your
+scholars.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Prayer Calendar.</i>&mdash;This is a list of the scholars
+in your class, plus the name of the teacher, divided
+among the days of the week, that of the teacher falling
+on Sunday. The whole is headed with a promise to
+pray each day for the persons named for that day.
+Each of the scholars has a copy, and signs it.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pegs.</i>&mdash;Draw a good-sized map of the country you
+are studying, and mount it on a board. With a
+gimlet bore holes wherever there is an important
+town, mountain, lake, or other geographical feature
+whose location you wish your scholars to learn. Fit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>
+pegs into these holes, and color the pegs white for
+the mountains, red for the cities, blue for the bodies
+of water. Teach the scholars, as you call for Hebron,
+for instance, to place a red peg in the proper hole,
+and thus to use the map.</p>
+
+<p><i>Dissected Maps.</i>&mdash;Paste a good-sized map of the
+desired country on thick cardboard or pasteboard.
+If you cannot get a large enough map, draw one
+yourself, and in the process you will learn much
+geography. Then cut the map into irregular pieces,
+and present it to the younger classes for them to fit
+together.</p>
+
+<p><i>Putty Maps.</i>&mdash;With a board foundation and a good
+map for a guide, any teacher can build up a relief
+map of Palestine out of putty. Paint the water blue,
+the sandy portions yellow, the fertile plains green,
+the mountains white or gray, the cities red. Letter
+with black.</p>
+
+<p><i>Colors and Places.</i>&mdash;A good way to aid the children's
+memory as to the location of the various lessons
+of the quarter is to write on the blackboard the title
+of each lesson as it comes, using each week a different
+color, and pinning to an outline map, at the same time,
+a scrap of paper of the same color. Of course, if a
+later lesson falls at the same place, the old color will
+be used in writing its title.</p>
+
+<p><i>Home Drawings.</i>&mdash;Some teachers wisely require
+their scholars to reproduce at home what they can
+remember of the blackboard work of the day, and
+bring in the result the next Sunday. The test is one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>
+for the teacher's blackboard work as well as for the
+scholars' memory.</p>
+
+<p><i>Utilizing your Reading.</i>&mdash;Every teacher should
+keep either a wide-margin Bible, or an interleaved
+Bible, solely to note the helps on Bible texts he may
+note in his reading. If the book or periodical is
+your own, simply set down the page opposite the
+Bible verse. Some may prefer a system of envelopes,
+one for each book of the Bible, in which clippings
+may be filed, as well as slips of paper containing
+references to books.</p>
+
+<p><i>One Way of Preparing.</i>&mdash;Cut up the Scripture text
+found on a lesson leaf, and paste the verses on large
+sheets of paper, leaving liberal space around each.
+In this space write your own comments, and the suggestions
+you glean from your reading.</p>
+
+<p><i>On the Spot.</i>&mdash;If one of your scholars is reported
+sick, why not pen&mdash;or <i>pencil</i>&mdash;a little note immediately,
+with the aid of the class, and send it to the
+sick scholar at the close of the school? A message
+thus written will move graciously upon the class as
+well as upon the recipient.</p>
+
+<p><i>Prompt Investigation.</i>&mdash;"A stitch in time saves
+nine." Apply this maxim to your scholar's <i>first</i>
+absence, and look him up at once.</p>
+
+<p><i>Lookout Committees.</i>&mdash;Divide each class into three
+companies. Company A will seek recruits for the
+class, Company B will hunt up absentees, and Company
+C will do hospital service among the sick.
+Require regular reports.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Reports of Study.</i>&mdash;Some teachers issue to their
+scholars blank reports, which they return, filled out,
+each Sunday. These reports tell whether they have
+studied the lesson for ten minutes each day, <i>and what
+verses of the lesson they do not understand</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Reports to Parents.</i>&mdash;The work done in Sunday-school
+should be so definite that it can be reported.
+Certain points should be required to be learned in
+each lesson, and when they are well recited, or when
+they are not recited, the parents should know of it.
+Regular monthly or quarterly reports, sent by postal-card,
+will stimulate the scholar to learn better, the
+parents to help him study, and the teacher to teach
+with system, definiteness, and persistency.</p>
+
+<p><i>Collection and Record.</i>&mdash;Give the mother, for her
+child, fifty-two little envelopes in which to put a
+year's pennies or nickels. Each child's envelopes
+are given a number, so that the collection is also a
+record of attendance.</p>
+
+<p><i>More than a Straight Mark.</i>&mdash;A simple but complete
+record may be made by a few strokes of the
+pencil. A cross has been suggested. The upper arm
+signifies "present"; the lower arm, "prompt"; the
+left-hand arm, "the lesson learned," according to a
+definite standard; the right-hand arm, "present at
+church." If the scholar has failed in one or more of
+these points, the corresponding arms are omitted from
+the cross.</p>
+
+<p><i>Class Photographs.</i>&mdash;With your own camera or
+some friend's take a group picture of your class once<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>
+a year. You may give them at that time a pleasant
+"photograph party," or take an excursion together to
+some place, there to be photographed. Each scholar
+should have a copy of the resulting picture. It will
+be delightful if all the classes can thus be photographed,
+and an exhibition arranged of the entire
+series of pictures, which then becomes the property
+of the school.</p>
+
+<p><i>Holidays Together.</i>&mdash;A teacher especially successful
+in holding together a class of boys is in the habit
+of taking them with him on all sorts of excursions,&mdash;to
+libraries, museums, points of historical interest, on
+sleigh-rides, to hear illustrated lectures. And often
+he arranges for them merry parties at his home.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Class Symbol.</i>&mdash;Some concrete token, presented
+when the new scholar joins the class, will greatly help
+to cement the relationship. This may be a little
+book, a ribbon book-mark, an illuminated Scripture
+card, a simple emblematic pin. Whatever it is, it
+should be the same for all, that it may serve as a sort
+of class badge.</p>
+
+<p><i>Introduction Cards.</i>&mdash;These are of use to make new
+scholars acquainted with their classmates. The card
+contains the names of Sunday-school, teacher, and
+all the scholars, that of the new scholar being last,
+with the date of entrance. The whole is of immediate
+service to the new member, and is sure to be preserved
+as a pleasant memento.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Work for Each.</i>&mdash;Enlist each of your scholars
+in some definite and individual work for Christ. One<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>
+may gather up old periodicals for the seamen, one
+may be interested in a children's hospital, one may
+collect partly worn garments for the poor. At each
+meeting of the class call for brief reports of these
+special lines of work. There could be no better
+commentary on the lessons your scholars are studying.</p>
+
+<p><i>Substitute Teachers.</i>&mdash;The teachers should obtain
+their own substitutes, whenever possible. If the
+superintendent makes it clear that he expects this, it
+will usually be done. In the process of obtaining the
+substitute, too, the teacher will probably gain fresh
+sympathy and consideration for the superintendent.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Class Historian.</i>&mdash;Appoint one scholar to this
+office. Ask him to keep track of the old members,
+and report any interesting news concerning them, at
+the same time keeping a record.</p>
+
+<p><i>Essays.</i>&mdash;Your scholars will appreciate the honor
+if asked to prepare essays now and then on special
+points in the lessons, such as "Jewish customs regarding
+Sunday," "The city of Antioch," "What the
+Bible teaches about temperance." Such essays
+should be very brief.</p>
+
+<p><i>Supplemental Lessons.</i>&mdash;The very interest aroused
+by the International Lessons calls often for supplementary
+lessons, dealing with such topics as the origin
+of the Bible, Bible geography, the Christian doctrines.
+Ten minutes preceding the regular lesson may be
+spent on such themes, and a great deal thus learned
+in the course of the year.</p>
+
+<p><i>An Expedient.</i>&mdash;If a boy is especially mischievous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>
+and restless, make him an usher and set him to keeping
+the rest in order.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Study Outline.</i>&mdash;Each member of a certain class
+was furnished with a copy of the following excellent
+programme for home study of the lesson: "1. Intervening
+events. 2. Time. 3. Place. 4. Persons.
+5. Incidents. 6. Parallel passages and Scripture
+references. 7. Difficulties. 8. Doctrines and duties.
+9. Central thought. 10. Personal application&mdash;to
+myself, to others."</p>
+
+<p><i>Question-Books.</i>&mdash;Blank-books in which questions
+on the lesson have been written, with spaces for
+answers, may profitably be used even in very young
+classes. The answers should be written immediately
+on the conclusion of the teaching, or even, question
+by question, as the teaching proceeds. In older
+classes, the questions may be set before the class a
+week later, and may introduce the next lesson, by
+way of review.</p>
+
+<p><i>Home-Made Question-Books.</i>&mdash;To induce your
+scholars to study at home, provide for each of them
+two little blank-books. Write a question in one, and
+request the return of the book next Sunday with the
+answer written out. Exchange it for the second
+book, and so alternate. Wise teachers will slip into
+such books many a personal word of praise or exhortation.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Question Formula.</i>&mdash;Ask each member of the
+class to bring you, every Sunday, written answers to
+a set of questions so general that, once dictated, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>
+will serve for all lessons; for instance: "When occurred
+the events of our lesson? What is a brief
+synopsis of our lesson? What is its principal teaching?
+Which is your favorite verse in it, and why?"
+These answers should be discussed in the class.</p>
+
+<p><i>Trained as Questioners.</i>&mdash;In most schools there is
+no normal class, and if the teachers do not train their
+scholars to teach, the next generation of teachers in
+that school will be untrained. The class should be
+taught how to ask questions, and probably the best
+way to do this is to have them occupy a few minutes
+at the beginning of each recitation questioning one
+another on the previous lesson.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Choice of Questions.</i>&mdash;For this exercise the
+teacher writes a number of questions, which she
+brings to the class. Each scholar in turn is permitted
+to select a question, which he will propound to any
+of his classmates he may pick out.</p>
+
+<p><i>The "Bible Library."</i>&mdash;This is a help to learning
+the order of the books of the Bible, and consists of
+sixty-six wooden blocks, painted and lettered to represent
+books, and varying in thickness with the size of
+the various books of the Bible. The poetical books
+are "bound" in the same style, the minor prophets
+in a different style, and so with other "sets." These
+imitation books are kept on shelves, from which they
+are taken by the children, to be replaced in the correct
+order.</p>
+
+<p><i>Bible-Reading Lessons.</i>&mdash;Many scholars read the
+Bible wretchedly; they have never been taught how.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>
+If this is the case with your class, have them read the
+lesson, verse about, before you discuss it. After the
+reading, criticise it, and have them repeat it.</p>
+
+<p><i>Two Bibles.</i>&mdash;If the scholars will not bring their
+Bibles to school,&mdash;and the boys especially are likely
+to think it will look "goody-goody,"&mdash;the next best
+plan is to give each of them a second Bible for his
+own use during the school hour.</p>
+
+<p><i>Marked Bibles.</i>&mdash;Teach the scholars to mark their
+Bibles, writing, for instance, the "key-word" at the
+beginning of each book; underscoring the leading
+sentence of a chapter; marking with red all passages
+referring to Christ as our Saviour; writing a P after
+every promise; "railroading," or connecting with a
+neatly drawn line, phrases that are antithetical or
+mutually explanatory, etc. One set of colored inks
+will answer for the class. The scholars will delight
+in the work, it will induce them to bring their Bibles
+to school, and will teach them how to use the Book.</p>
+
+<p><i>Bible Dialogues.</i>&mdash;Where the lesson text includes
+conversation, get the scholars to read it in dialogue
+form, or to come with it thus written out.</p>
+
+<p><i>Home Bible-Reading.</i>&mdash;The school may be set to
+reading the Bible at home, if lists of readings for each
+day of the week are written on cards by the teachers,
+and given out, to be returned, signed, in token that
+the reading has been accomplished.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Divided Primary Department.</i>&mdash;In large schools,
+where the superintendent of the primary department
+teaches the lesson for ten or fifteen minutes, and then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>
+hands the classes over to her assistant teachers, it is
+best for those teachers to spend their time in eliciting
+from the children, by questions, the facts and truths
+just taught them. Thus you will make sure of something
+gained.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Week-Day Meeting.</i>&mdash;It has been proved possible
+to sustain, in connection with a primary department,
+a week-day meeting for special and supplementary
+teaching, including singing, mission studies, and Bible
+history and geography.</p>
+
+<p><i>Introducing Prayer.</i>&mdash;This little verse, recited in
+concert, is used in many primary departments just
+before the prayer service:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"We fold our hands that we may be<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">From all our work and play set free;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We close our eyes that we may see<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nothing to take our thoughts from thee;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We bow our heads as we draw near<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The King of kings, our Father dear."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><i>The Essentials.</i>&mdash;Every child, before leaving the
+primary department, should know the Commandments,
+the Beatitudes, the Twenty-third Psalm, the
+Apostles' Creed or some simple statement of Christian
+faith, the books of the Bible by name and order and
+something of their origin, the principal features of the
+map of Palestine, the chief events in Christ's life.
+Some of the Old Testament history will of course be
+added,&mdash;creation, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Samuel,
+David, Solomon.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Primary Prayers.</i>&mdash;No prayer for the children is so
+good as prayer by the children. Ask them, one after
+the other, to name things for which they are grateful.
+Then give them the formula, "I thank thee, Lord,
+for ...," and let them offer prayers of thanksgiving
+for what they have mentioned. Again, ask each to
+tell one thing he really wants, and follow with prayers
+of petition, with the formulas, "Help me, dear Jesus,
+to be ...," or, "Give me, dear Jesus, ..."
+Teach short Bible prayers. Offer longer prayers in
+brief sentences, which the children reverently repeat
+after you. For example: "Our dear heavenly
+Father, ... we thank thee for this beautiful day, ... for
+our homes and fathers and mothers, ...
+for our sisters and brothers and friends, ... and all
+that thou hast given us to make life happy....
+Teach us to be helpful to those that are without these
+blessings.... Make us more kind and patient....
+Help us to do everything thou dost want us to do....
+For Jesus' sake. Amen."</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<h2><a name="THE_WORKS_OF_AMOS_R_WELLS" id="THE_WORKS_OF_AMOS_R_WELLS"></a>THE WORKS OF AMOS R. WELLS</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap"><b>Rollicking Rhymes for Youngsters</b></span></p>
+
+<blockquote><p>Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. 12mo, cloth, net $1.00.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Wells is well known already as a versatile author. Now he comes
+to the front as a brilliant verse-maker for young folk. Some of these
+rhymes have already won their way through the foremost magazines, but
+others here see the light for the first time. The inimitable juvenile
+illustrator Mr. Bridgman, has here done some of his best work. Poet
+and Artist have thus combined to make this the most acceptable
+volume of children's poems since "A Child's Garden of Verses."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="smcap"><b>The Cheer Book</b></span></p>
+
+<blockquote><p>A Store of Daily Optimism. "<i>The best year book is a cheer book.</i>"
+A quotation, verse or prose from different authors, for each day of
+the year, 12mo, cloth, net $1.00.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="smcap"><b>Sunday School Success</b></span></p>
+
+<blockquote><p>12mo, cloth, gilt top, $1.25.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="smcap"><b>Three Years with the Children</b></span></p>
+
+<blockquote><p>12mo, cloth, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p>"The talk abounds in the happiest kind of illustrations
+from the things of everyday life, which children
+will readily understand, applied with aptness
+and skill."&mdash;<i>Worcester Spy.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="smcap"><b>A Business Man's Religion</b></span></p>
+
+<blockquote><p>16mo, cloth, 50c.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="smcap"><b>When Thou Hast Shut Thy Door</b></span></p>
+
+<blockquote><p>Morning and Evening Meditations for a Month.
+<i>3d edition.</i> Long 16mo, cloth, 50c.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="smcap"><b>Business</b></span></p>
+
+<blockquote><p>A Plain Talk with Men and Women who Work. 12mo, decorated; boards,
+30c.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="smcap"><b>Social Evenings</b></span></p>
+
+<blockquote><p>A Collection of Entertainments. 16mo, cloth, net 35c.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="smcap"><b>Nutshell Musings</b></span></p>
+
+<blockquote><p>Counsels for the Quiet Hour. 18mo, cloth, 25c.</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<h4>
+<span class="smcap">Fleming H. Revell Company</span><br />
+New York      Chicago      Toronto<br />
+</h4>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<h2><a name="For_Work_Among_Children" id="For_Work_Among_Children"></a>For Work Among Children</h2>
+
+
+<blockquote><p><b>Practical Primary Plans.</b> For Sabbath School Teachers.
+By Israel P. Black. Illustrated with diagrams. 16mo, cloth,
+$1.00.</p>
+
+<p><b>Object Lessons for Junior Work.</b> Practical Suggestions,
+Object Lessons, and Picture Stories. By Ella N. Wood, 16mo,
+cloth, with designs and illustrations, 50 cents.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Children's Prayer.</b> By Rev. James Wells, D.D.
+Addresses to the Young on the Lord's Prayer. 16mo, cloth,
+75 cents.</p>
+
+<p><b>Bible Stories Without Names.</b> By Rev. Harry Smith, M.A.
+With questions at the end of each chapter and the answers in a
+separate booklet. 16mo, cloth, 75 cents.</p>
+
+<p><b>Object Lessons for Children</b>; or, Hooks and Eyes, Truth
+Linked to Sight. Illustrated. By Rev. C. H. Tyndall, Ph.D.,
+A.M. <i>2d edition.</i> 12mo, cloth, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p><b>Attractive Truths in Lesson and Story.</b> By Mrs. A. M.
+Scudder. Introduction by Rev. F. E. Clark, D.D. <i>3d thousand.</i>
+8vo, cloth, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p><b>Pictured Truth.</b> A Handbook of Blackboard and Object
+Teaching. By Rev. R. F. Y. Pierce. Introduction by R. H.
+Conwell, D.D. With illustrations by the author. <i>3d thousand.</i>
+12mo, cloth, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p><b>Children's Meetings, and How to Conduct Them.</b> By
+Lucy J. Rider and Nellie M. Carman. Introduction by Bishop
+J. H. Vincent. Cloth, illustrated, <i>net</i>, $1.00; paper covers, <i>net</i>,
+50 cents.</p>
+
+<p><b>Talks to Children.</b> By Rev. T. T. Eaton, D.D., with
+introduction by Rev. John A. Broadus, D.D., LL.D., 16mo,
+cloth, $1.00.</p>
+
+<p><b>Conversion of Children.</b> By Rev. E. P. Hammond. A
+practical volume, replete with incident and illustration. Suggestive,
+important, and timely. Cloth, 75 cents. paper cover,
+30 cents.</p>
+
+<p><b>Gospel Pictures and Story Sermons for Children.</b> By
+Major D. W. Whittle. Profusely illustrated. <i>47th thousand.</i>
+12mo, cloth, 30 cents, net; paper, 15 cents.</p>
+
+<p><b>Seed for Spring-time Sowing.</b> A Wall Roll for the use of
+Primary, Sabbath School and Kindergarten Teachers. Compiled
+by Mrs. Robert Pratt. 75 cents.</p></blockquote>
+
+<h4>
+Fleming H. Revell Company<br />
+<span class="smcap">New York</span>: 158 Fifth Avenue <span class="smcap">Chicago</span>: 63 Washington Street<br />
+<span class="smcap">Toronto</span>: 27 Richmond Street, W.<br />
+</h4>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<h2><a name="The_Home_and_Children" id="The_Home_and_Children"></a>The Home and Children</h2>
+
+
+<blockquote><p><b>Child Culture in the Home.</b> By Martha B. Mosher. 12mo,
+cloth, $1.00.</p>
+
+<p>"Rarely has so helpful a book on the moral education of children
+appeared. The emotions, the senses, the will, as well as the training
+of the habits of the child and methods of training, are all considered."&mdash;<i>The
+Outlook.</i></p>
+
+<p>"It is written in a clear, straightforward manner, is rich in suggestions
+and illustrations, and is thoroughly wholesome in counsel."&mdash;<i>Cumberland
+Presbyterian.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Studies in Home and Child-Life.</b> By Mrs. S. M. I. Henry.
+<i>Eighth thousand</i>, 12mo, cloth, $1.00.</p>
+
+<p>"It is clear, concise and vigorous throughout, and has the charm
+of Mother love and God love from first to last. We cannot conceive
+of a more helpful manual than this would be in the hands of young
+parents, and indeed of all who have to do with children."&mdash;<i>The
+Union Signal.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The book is one we can heartily commend to every father and
+mother to read and re-read, and ponder over and read again."&mdash;<i>The
+Observer.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Child Culture; or, The Science of Motherhood.</b> By Mrs.
+Hannah Whitall Smith. <i>3d edition</i>, 16mo, decorated
+boards, 30 cents.</p>
+
+<p>"We have read nothing from the pen of this gifted woman which
+we have more enjoyed than this wisely-written booklet, as spiritual
+as it is practical, and as full of common sense as of exalted sentiment.
+Any mother having prayerfully read this heart message of a true
+woman will be a better mother."&mdash;<i>Cumberland Presbyterian.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Children for Christ.</b> By Rev. Andrew Murray, D.D.
+Thoughts for Christian Parents on the Consecration of the
+Home Life. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.</p>
+
+<p>"The author seems to have had a Divine vocation in writing
+this book, and thousands of parents ought to derive blessings from
+it for their children."&mdash;<i>The Evangelist.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Home Duties.</b> Practical Talks on the Amenities of the
+Home. By Rev. R. T. Cross. 12mo, paper, 15 cents;
+cloth, 30 cents, net.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Contents</span>: Duties of Husbands. Duties of Wives. Duties
+of Parents. Duties of Children. Duties of Brothers and Sisters.
+The Duty of Family Worship. The Method of Family Worship.
+A Home for Every Family and How to Get It.</p>
+
+<p>"A model of what can be done in so brief a space."&mdash;<i>The
+Independent.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<h4>
+Fleming H. Revell Company<br />
+<span class="smcap">New York</span>: 158 Fifth Avenue <span class="smcap">Chicago</span>: 63 Washington Street<br />
+<span class="smcap">Toronto</span>: 154 Yonge Street<br />
+</h4>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<h2><a name="TALES_OF_THE_NORTH_BY" id="TALES_OF_THE_NORTH_BY"></a>TALES OF THE NORTH BY</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Egerton R. Young</span></h3>
+
+
+<p><b>My Dogs in the Northland.</b></p>
+
+<blockquote><p>Profusely illustrated. 12mo, cloth, $1.25 net. Experiences with
+Eskimo and St. Bernard dogs, covering years of sledge travel in
+the frozen wilds of British America. An exciting story in which
+the marvels of dog instinct, intelligence and strength play the
+chief part. Mr. Young proves in a most entertaining and
+instructive way that each dog, just as much as a person, has his
+own individual character, and must be dealt with accordingly.
+Terrible perils, wonderful escapes and sudden emergencies mix
+with the most comical situations.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><b>On the Indian Trail.</b></p>
+
+<blockquote><p>Stories of Missionary Experiences among the Cree and the
+Saulteaux Indians. Stories of Mission. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.</p>
+
+<p>"He has a happy and often amusingly quaint way of describing
+the incidents and surroundings of frontier life. His cheerful,
+almost merry, temper, while recounting the devices resorted to
+in enduring or mastering privations and dangers are stimulating
+and instructive."&mdash;<i>The Watchman.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p><b>The Apostle of the North, James Evans.</b></p>
+
+<blockquote><p>With twenty illustrations by J. E. Laughlin. 12mo, cloth, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p>"A fresh theme is presented here&mdash;the life of a missionary in
+Upper Canada, and the northward regions as far as Athabasca
+Lake and even beyond. Young people, usually not attracted to
+missionary literature, will be interested in the book. It is
+well illustrated."&mdash;<i>The Outlook.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<h4>
+<span class="smcap">Fleming H. Revell Company</span><br />
+NEW YORK      CHICAGO      TORONTO<br />
+</h4>
+
+
+<hr />
+<div class="tn">
+<h4><a name="Transcribers_Notes" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber's Notes</a></h4>
+<ul class="corrections">
+<li>"every-day" and "everyday", "new-comers" and "newcomers", "note-book" and "notebook", "practise" and "practice" are left as printed.</li>
+<li>Reformatted the advertisements for plain text.</li>
+<li>Hyphenation of words normalized.</li>
+<li>Diacritical marks left in <a href="#cooperate">"cooperate"</a> and <a href="#zoology">"zoology"</a> left as printed.</li>
+<li>Pg <a href="#biography">37</a>: "bioggraphy" changed to "biography".  (... low plane of mere facts, history, biography, when it should be ...)</li>
+<li>Pg <a href="#degrees">271</a>: "degress" changed to "degrees".  (... Christ's university, the highest of all degrees, Masters of ...)</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sunday-School Success, by Amos R. Wells
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUNDAY-SCHOOL SUCCESS ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sunday-School Success, by Amos R. Wells
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Sunday-School Success
+       A Book of Practical Methods for Sunday-School Teachers and Officers
+
+Author: Amos R. Wells
+
+Release Date: December 19, 2011 [EBook #38346]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUNDAY-SCHOOL SUCCESS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charlene Taylor, Douglas L Alley, III and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Sunday-School Success
+
+
+  Sunday-School Success
+
+  A Book of Practical Methods
+  for Sunday-School Teachers
+  and Officers
+
+  By
+
+  Amos R. Wells
+  Author of "Business," "When Thou Hast Shut Thy
+  Door," "Social Evenings," etc.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+  NEW YORK      CHICAGO      TORONTO
+  Fleming H. Revell Company
+  Publishers of Evangelical Literature
+
+
+
+
+  Copyright, 1897, by
+  FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
+
+  THE NEW YORK TYPE-SETTING COMPANY
+
+  THE CAXTON PRESS
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+In these pages I have described the methods of the most successful
+teachers and Sunday-schools I have known. While a large part of the
+book is the direct fruit of my own experience in Sabbath and secular
+schools, it sets forth, as every teacher will understand, what I have
+learned from my failures rather than from my successes.
+
+Though the volume has something to say on all the great Sunday-school
+problems, it does not pretend to be a complete manual; indeed, who
+could prepare one on so stupendous a theme? If it justifies its
+appearance among the admirable treatises already published for
+Sunday-school workers, it will be because it presents with frankness
+the methods found helpful by an average teacher, who never had charge
+of a large school or a large class, but in district school, small
+college, and small Sunday-school has struggled with the practical
+problems of a teacher, and in some of them at least, like Sentimental
+Tommy, has "found a way."
+
+A large number of these chapters have appeared in the "Sunday-school
+Times," and others in the "Sunday-school Journal" of the Methodists,
+the "Pilgrim Teacher" of the Congregationalists, the "Westminster
+Teacher" of the Presbyterians, the "Baptist Teacher," and the "Golden
+Rule." I am grateful to these periodicals for permission to include
+this material in my book.
+
+  AMOS R. WELLS.
+
+  BOSTON, September, 1897.
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+                                                     PAGE
+
+      I. THE TEACHER'S CROWN                            9
+
+     II. WHO SHOULD TEACH IN THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL?        14
+
+    III. PREPARING THE LESSON                          21
+
+     IV. SOMETHING ABOUT TEACHERS' MEETINGS            32
+
+      V. A TEACHER WITH A SCHEDULE                     39
+
+     VI. MY LESSON CHART                               42
+
+    VII. THE VALUE OF A MONOTESSARON                   46
+
+   VIII. GETTING ATTENTION                             52
+
+     IX. KEEPING ATTENTION                             57
+
+      X. THE IMPORTANCE OF QUESTIONING                 64
+
+     XI. A GOOD QUESTION                               69
+
+    XII. INSPIRING QUESTIONS                           75
+
+   XIII. TRIGGER-TEACHING                              80
+
+    XIV. GALVANIC TEACHING                             85
+
+     XV. SERIAL TEACHING                               89
+
+    XVI. TEACHING THE PSALMS                           95
+
+   XVII. THOSE TEMPERANCE AND MISSIONARY LESSONS      104
+
+  XVIII. TOPICAL LESSONS                              114
+
+    XIX. INTRODUCING THOUGHTS                         119
+
+     XX. ILLUSTRATIONS AND APPLICATIONS               125
+
+    XXI. RIGHTEOUS PADDING                            130
+
+   XXII. THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND THE NEWSPAPER          134
+
+  XXIII. ON TAKING THINGS FOR GRANTED                 139
+
+   XXIV. UTILIZING THE LATE SCHOLAR                   143
+
+    XXV. SIDE-TRACKING THE TEACHER                    146
+
+   XXVI. THE PROBLEM OF THE VISITOR                   150
+
+  XXVII. "UNDER PETTICOAT GOVERNMENT"                 154
+
+ XXVIII. THE TEACHER'S THREE GRACES                   160
+
+   XXIX. SOMETHING TO BELONG TO                       163
+
+    XXX. THROUGH EYE-GATE                             167
+
+   XXXI. FOUNDATION WORK                              178
+
+  XXXII. THE TRIAL BALANCE                            193
+
+ XXXIII. AT THE HELM                                  201
+
+  XXXIV. THE SUPERINTENDENT'S CHANCE                  209
+
+   XXXV. THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND THE WEATHER            213
+
+  XXXVI. A PROFITABLE PICNIC                          217
+
+ XXXVII. A SINGING SUNDAY-SCHOOL                      221
+
+XXXVIII. A PRAYING SUNDAY-SCHOOL                      227
+
+  XXXIX. S. S. AND C. E.                              233
+
+     XL. TEACHERS IN 8VO                              241
+
+    XLI. AROUND THE COUNCIL FIRE                      256
+
+   XLII. THE INCORPORATION OF IDEAS                   267
+
+  XLIII. FROM A SUPERINTENDENT'S NOTEBOOK             272
+
+   XLIV. FROM A TEACHER'S NOTEBOOK                    287
+
+
+
+
+Sunday-School Success
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+The Teacher's Crown
+
+
+In one of those dreams which are truer than waking there passed before
+me a long line of the Sunday-school teachers I have known. One after the
+other they appeared--those that had taught my childish lips to repeat
+the Bible words, those that had led my youth into the opening glories of
+the International Lessons, those that had put to rest the rising doubts
+of the young man and clinched his faith to the Rock of ages; those,
+also, of less blessed memory, whom I knew in early or later years, that
+had done none of these things, but other good things not so good.
+
+And I noted in astonishment, as each came into view, that all were
+decked with diverse crowns. I had not looked long before I saw that
+these crowns were not arbitrary and artificial, but sprung from the
+very substance of the character of each. They had all received their
+reward, but according to their deeds.
+
+First came a teacher whom I remembered merely as an eloquent talker. His
+words were deftly chosen, his sentences smoothly formed. His teaching
+was a charming harangue, bright with metaphor, flashing with sparkling
+parables. I loved to listen to him. I was as proud of him as he was of
+himself. To be sure, the only good thing he ever did for me was to
+inspire in me the vain desire to become an equally eloquent talker, but
+yet I was sorry he had not received a nicer crown. It looked very
+beautiful, as if it were thickly studded with lovely pearls richly
+iridescent in the sun; but when he came near I saw that each pearl was a
+little bubble swollen from a reservoir within. These bubbles were
+bursting all over the crown, fresh ones ever taking their place. It was
+a very pretty sight, yet a very trivial crown, and I was sorry for him.
+
+There were several worthy teachers in the line whom I remembered as
+careful instructors in Bible history. They had every date at tongue's
+end, knew the order of the books and their contents, the relationships
+of the prominent characters to each other, all details of place and
+customs. They could repeat Bible verses by the yard, and gave prizes for
+such feats of unreasoning memory. They were mechanical, but thorough and
+useful. They had taught me how to dig into the Bible and study it as
+hard as I would study calculus. I was grateful to them for this, though
+they did no more, and so was rather sorry to observe their frail crowns.
+They were all of paper, neatly folded and plaited, and as I came nearer
+I saw that each crown was made up of leaves of the Bible.
+
+I saw there also two or three teachers who had always taught with a
+sad countenance, teaching, not because they loved to teach, but
+because it was their duty to. "These," I thought, "will be joyful, now
+that their distasteful task is over and their reward has come"; but
+when I could see their faces clearly they looked mournful as ever.
+Their crowns were ebon black, pointed with little urns and lined with
+crape, and they often shifted them, pressing their hands gloomily to
+their brows, as if the crowns were very ill fitting and uncomfortable.
+They wore them with a martyr's air.
+
+There were several teachers whom I remembered with gratitude because
+they had been so careful, in teaching, to emphasize always the
+fundamental doctrines of Christianity. These doctrines were the warp
+and woof of the solid fabric of their lessons. Over and over, in the
+same set phrases, they pressed those great truths, until, strive as
+one would, one could never forget them. But they never taught me the
+relation between these blessed doctrines and my own life. For years
+the formulas they had taught me remained for me mere words. And so I
+was not at all surprised to find their symbolic crowns solid and rich,
+but not attractive, for they were thickly set with jewels in the
+rough. Here and there, from beneath the incrusting stone, some
+magnificent gem would flash out, but the beauty and splendor of most
+of them were hidden.
+
+In my fantastic dream I saw another, who had been a good teacher and a
+very poor one by turns. His piety and zeal were subject to great
+fluctuations, and a Sunday's teaching from him, carefully thought out,
+full of wise helpfulness, would be followed by a fortnight or more of
+questions read out of a question-book, lifeless and mechanical. I was
+prepared, therefore, to understand the meaning of his crown, which
+bore many beautiful gems, but these gems gave intermittent light,
+flashing out for a moment with most brilliant hues, then suddenly
+growing dull and dark.
+
+One alone of all I saw in my strange dream wore a looking-glass crown.
+He had done his Sunday-school teaching, I had always feared, for the
+praise of men, to be seen of them. His attitude, his pompous words and
+gestures, irresistibly suggested to me always the posturing of an
+actor before a looking-glass. And so his crown was all a
+mirror--clear, bright, beautiful, but mirroring a looking-glass soul.
+
+And now, closing the long procession, who are these I see? A
+thrice-blessed band, to me ever sacred. There is the cheery little
+matron whose brisk kindliness gave charm to my introduction into
+Sunday-school life. There is the quiet and low-voiced lady whose
+gentle teachings carried me many a step toward my Saviour. There is
+the thoughtful and saintly woman whose prayers for the school-boy
+went up, I know, night and morning; whose urgings were so earnest,
+brave, and wise. And there is the noble-hearted man, familiar with a
+young collegian's perplexities, sympathetic as a woman, trustful as a
+hero, strong and uplifting in word and friendly deed. I see them all,
+and from their glorified heads a wonder shining, a crown of light,
+beautiful as the love-gleam from a mother's eye. And every one of the
+crowding star-points of those crowns is for a life won to the happy
+service of the Master.
+
+As I gazed with tear-dimmed eyes at the dear vision, an angel stood at
+my side and asked me, "What are all these thou hast seen?" "Forms," I
+answered, "of Christ's teachers I have met; of my own teachers, these
+last, all crowned as they have taught." "Yes," answered the angel, "but
+you have seen more than that. You have seen among them the crown you
+yourself will wear when your teaching days are over. Which shall it be?"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+Who Should Teach in the Sunday-School?
+
+
+The Master, who loves little children, stood in the Sunday-school door
+and cried to all that came up, "Who will teach my children about me?"
+And they all with one consent began to make excuse.
+
+The preacher passing by said with conviction, "I have my sermons to
+preach, and Sunday-school work distracts my thought from them." Then
+answered the Master: "Crucify your pride in words, and seek the glory
+of deeds. This is your true sermon, to bring me close to human hearts.
+Thus did I most gladly preach, when on earth, to small classes and not
+to throngs. Thus should my ministers most gladly preach, face to face,
+one to half a dozen. You have many pulpits more effective than the
+elegantly furnished one to which you mount by three steps. They are
+the bedside, the wayside, the prayer-meeting table, the Sunday-school
+chair. Lovest thou me? Feed my lambs."
+
+The teacher, when invited, shook his head with a sigh. "I teach all
+the week, and I am so tired! Why should I not rest on Sunday?" Then
+answered the Master: "The truest rest is a little change in work. Your
+Sunday-school and day-school will invigorate each other. It is I who
+have given you the sweet power of leading young lives. Should you not
+use it in leading them to me? Have you not seen how teaching your
+scholars in holy things the first day of the week draws them closer to
+you in your secular teaching of the other days? Do you not rejoice in
+the opportunity this work gives you to get an insight into your
+scholars' characters and mold them more directly than by the
+roundabout route of grammar and geography? Indeed, if I excuse any
+from my Sunday-school, you, to whom I have intrusted in especial
+measure the teaching gift, must not be the one."
+
+The business man rejected the proposal with emphasis, saying: "As a
+matter of course, Sunday-school teaching is quite out of my line. My
+days are kept in close contact with dull matter, with cloth and coal
+and wood and iron. I have no time for books, except day-books and
+ledgers. My mechanical, routine business quite unfits me for religious
+teaching." To that the Master replied, smiling kindly: "I was a
+carpenter, my son, but holy thoughts kept pace with my plane, and firm
+conclusions were clinched with my hammer. And at evening, work done, I
+found time for prayer and meditation and calling young children about
+me to talk with them. Your contact with men and things makes you one
+of the most valuable of Sunday-school teachers. What parables are
+acted all around you, in nature, in your work, in the lives of your
+helpers! What illustrations lie heaped up in your business experience,
+ready to your hand! Most of these young people in my Sunday-school
+will choose some business like yours. How happy for them, then, if
+they could have you to tell them beforehand of its perils, strengthen
+them for its difficulties, point them the road to success and true
+happiness! No; I can better miss preacher and teacher from my
+Sunday-school than you men of affairs."
+
+Then came the care-worn housewife. "Master," said she, "I am perplexed
+and troubled about many things. My days, and often my nights, are
+crowded with a woman's myriad unheralded tasks. The children are ever
+with me. Why need I go to Sunday-school to teach them? Why not each
+home the mother's Sunday-school?" "Why not each home the
+prayer-meeting?" the Master asked her. "There come from numbers an
+interest, a help and inspiration, which you cannot get in the holiest
+family circle, and which you dare not miss. And what of the little
+ones whose mothers are less faithful than you? Have you no love to
+spare for them? I have implanted in the very nature of you mothers my
+most earnest call to Sunday-school teaching. What is it? The greatest
+love of little children."
+
+And then came up two young people, a youth and a maiden, and said to
+the Master: "We are too young. We have had as yet no wonderful
+experience. We know nothing of death, of disease, of great sorrows, of
+heavy responsibilities. We are not wise in these high matters. We do
+not understand theology. We cannot teach." "Why," answered the Master,
+"neither do my little ones in the Sunday-school want to know about
+death or disease or heavy responsibilities. I would not have them
+taught what you think of as theology. But you are wiser than they. You
+see beyond their little worries and mysteries. Help them to your own
+measure of grace and strength, and as you teach and they grow, will
+not you grow, too, for further teaching ever? No, my young man and
+maid, with your ardent and fresh-hearted zeal; you can come very close
+to my little children, and I cannot spare you from my Sunday-school."
+
+Long stood the Master there by the door of the Sunday-school, and many
+were those whom he called to the work, and many excuses were made. One
+pleaded ignorance. "But," gently questioned the Master, "have you a
+mind, to learn?" One urged timidity. "But I will be with you," said
+the Master. "There are others who can do it better," insisted one.
+"Will you not get them to do it, then?" begged the Master. "And if
+they will not do it, then you will be the best, and cannot refuse."
+
+It was not long before a strong little group stood by the Master's
+side, ready for service, and as the regular teachers of the school
+came up, the Lord of whom they taught received them lovingly, or
+sadly turned them back. As hard-faced, unsympathetic Mr. Grim would
+enter--he whom all the children fear and elders do not love; he to
+whom a boy is only the necessary inconvenient early stage of a man, of
+promise only as he can commit to memory Bible verses--when he would
+enter the Master turned him back. "You must not teach my children,"
+said the blessed One, "until you become as a little child."
+
+He barred out also Mr. Brainy, whose ideal recitation is an argument,
+and whose scholars are far more familiar with points of skeptical
+controversy than with the Bible. He would not admit Miss Tangent,
+whose sole preparation for the lesson is the culling from her book of
+extracts of choice sentiments, pretty fables, and striking bits of
+verse of mysterious relevancy, which she recites for her scholars'
+admiration, and makes them learn. He turned back also Mrs. Scold, with
+her sharp tongue and cold eyes. He rejected Mrs. Job, who taught only
+from a sense of duty, and only with a long face.
+
+But ah, the warm smile, the eager greeting, with which the Master
+welcomed the school's workers! There was Jack Manly, who had not
+waited for the desire to begin teaching, but had seen the need and
+filled it, not knowing how soon and largely the love for the work
+would come and grow. There was Lucy Gentle, who did not feel able to
+teach, yet considered, not her ability, but the need, knowing that
+duty is measured rather by the seeing eye than by the feeble hand.
+There was Mrs. Patient, who had hesitated to begin the work because of
+her ignorance of the Bible, but who by quiet and faithful study for
+her class had become a wise and thorough scholar of the Word. There
+was old Squire Greatheart, who taught a group of full-grown men and
+women whom he had gathered into a class when they were boys and girls,
+and had led ever since in hard study of God's Book.
+
+There were many others whom the Master received, of many varied
+talents, for the Sunday-school can use a wide range of powers; but all
+were alike in consciousness of their weakness compared with the
+greatness of their task, in willingness to resign their work to any
+better able who could be got to take it, in gladness to go on with it
+if their betters would not assume it, relying for success on the God
+of it. Their credentials were that they saw the need of the work, that
+they saw their own unfitness to do it, that they knew their fitness
+and power were assured when God assigned the task.
+
+Thus the Master chose his teachers and blessed them; and though there
+was no genius there, no mighty mind, no trained skill, but only humble
+readiness to serve, he poured out on them the fullness of his love and
+power, and they left the Sunday-school room ever bearing precious
+sheaves.
+
+That is the end of my parable. Oh that all might know, as we, dear
+fellow-teachers, know it, the joy of our Sunday-school ministry! Then
+superintendents would have no search to find teachers, no trouble to
+keep them. Then to the enlarging band of teachers would come a
+constantly enlarging band of scholars, and all together would soon
+bring the multitudes of the world into the host of the redeemed.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+Preparing the Lesson
+
+
+Some teachers think that preparing the lesson is merely the loading of
+a cannon with powder, that it may go off with a big bang in the
+presence of admiring scholars. And the more powder, the bigger bang.
+So they load up with scintillating similes, and pretty parables, and
+striking stories.
+
+Other teachers have set up some historical or theological or ethical
+target-board off at a distance from their class, and load their cannon
+with ball, that their scholars may see how accurate is their aim and
+how fairly they can hit the bull's-eye. So they prepare a mass of
+facts and figures, arguments and evidences.
+
+But the wise teacher rejects _in toto_ the cannon notion. He sees in
+each lesson a ledge of that grand mountain of life--of Christ-serving,
+strong life--up to which he must lead his little band, on which he
+must plant their feet so firmly that they may not slip back during the
+six days' interval, but may be ready for the next fair terrace, and
+the next.
+
+So the wise teacher, in preparing the lesson, knows that he must first
+reach that ledge himself; must repeat the journey over and over until
+he has learned the easiest way for little feet; must make ladders with
+rounds close together; must spread sand on slippery places and stretch
+ropes along the edge of the cliff. He, too, lays in supplies of
+stories and pretty parables, not, however, in the form of powder, to
+make a show, but (if this is not too severe a twist of the simile) as
+dainty food to keep the young travelers fresh and hearty. He, too, has
+facts and figures and arguments and evidences, not, however, as
+cannon-balls, but in the shape of iron bridges and railings and ropes,
+that the way may be solid and safe.
+
+There are some teachers that do not study at all. It is as if a
+will-o'-the-wisp should undertake to guide one on an important
+journey. Those teachers are going they know not whither, over they
+know not what road, for what purpose they have not the slightest idea,
+and land always in a bog.
+
+Emphatically, the teacher that is not always climbing himself will
+leave his class on a very dead level indeed. He should be reaching
+down and pulling them up, but he is soon compelled to stand where they
+are and push, and ends with believing his "level best" to lie along
+the smooth road of the easy-going valley.
+
+The teacher who ceases to grow ceases to teach. That is why a
+Sunday-school lesson cannot be crammed. That is why preparation for it
+must extend all through the week. Growth cannot be ordered offhand.
+It comes from Father Time's shop, and he is a deliberate workman. You
+will lose your hold on your class if each Sunday hour does not begin
+with you a little above them, and end with them at your level. This
+advance cannot be won Saturday night, or during the space between the
+first and second bells for Sunday-school. Such a spasmodic leap ahead
+will leave you too much out of breath even to tell them to come on.
+
+Dropping metaphor, of which we may have had too much, there are several
+substantial reasons why the Sunday-school preparation should extend over
+the seven days of the week. Thus only can you utilize in the Master's
+work odd bits of time, your Bible on the bureau while you dress, in your
+hands on the street-cars or while you wait for the meat to be cooked.
+There are many Bible verses which should be carefully committed to
+memory in connection with each lesson, as the teacher's best reliance
+for commentary and inspiration. These verses should be running through
+our heads as we run on all our six-day tasks, and should sing themselves
+to all our labor-tunes. But chiefly, it is only in this way that we can
+accumulate hints, and grow into the truths of the lesson by experience.
+With the lesson theme for a nucleus, it is astounding to see what a
+wealth of illustration, of wise and helpful comment, each day's living
+thrusts upon us. Every event is a picture of some truth which needs only
+a sensitive plate to be photographed forever. That sensitive plate is a
+mind which is studying that particular truth.
+
+How much time do you spend in studying your Sunday-school lesson? You
+see that no true teacher can answer that question, any more than the
+poet can tell how long he is in writing his poem. This is the
+inspirational part of the teacher's work, and not the mechanical part,
+and his brooding will have issue of life just in proportion as the
+Holy Spirit dwells in his heart. But along with this lofty work must
+go lower processes, of which it is far easier to speak. I mean those
+lower processes which alone we are likely to call "studying." Permit
+me to lay down a programme for the study of a Sunday-school lesson.
+
+To begin with, let it be always with pencil in hand. You have seen
+iron filings scattered in rough confusion over a sheet of glass. And
+then, when the magnet was placed beneath, you have seen those ugly
+bits of metal dance into the daintiest designs, fairy curves and most
+symmetrical figures. Such a delightful magnet is a pencil or a pen for
+all the disordered thoughts and fancies of our brains. Next to the
+Bible, the Sunday-school teacher's inseparable companion should be a
+lead-pencil.
+
+What book is nearest you while you study your lesson? Teachers may be
+classified finally by their answers to that question. Is it the
+commentary, the atlas, the Bible dictionary, the concordance, the
+question-book, or the Bible? If the commentary, your comments will
+fall fruitless to the ground. If the atlas, your class will wander
+nowhither. If the Bible dictionary, your diction will have no issue in
+deed. If the concordance, your class will know little from you of that
+concord which passes understanding. If the question-book, the value of
+all your study is at least questionable. No; let me emphasize this
+statement: _Not a single lesson help should be touched until
+everything possible to be learned about the lesson from the Bible
+directly has been learned_.
+
+For this you will need two Bibles at least, one to be kept open at the
+lesson, one to turn back and forth in pursuit of references and
+information. The first must be a King James reference Bible; the
+second, the noble translation of Victoria's reign. Thus furnished,
+read the lesson. As you read, examine your mind. What questions assail
+it? Those moments are full of matter. Those questions are the clues to
+the lesson labyrinth. Those perplexities constitute your programme. "I
+wonder where this place is?" you will say to yourself. "Who was this
+man, and what was his past history, that he did this deed? What does
+this odd phrase mean? Is that sentiment a just one? Is that act a
+model for us modern folk?"
+
+As these difficulties come up in your slow and thoughtful reading, jot
+them down, and the resultant half-sheet of scribbling means half the
+work accomplished. But hold! Did you read through a child's eye as
+well as your own? Did you read in the plural number? If not, you must
+read the lesson once more, with a poet's imagination noting this time
+the difficulties which you strode easily over, but which would soon
+trip up little feet. When you write down such points on your paper,
+underscore them. And underscore them again. A vast deal of preparation
+for teaching is fruitless because it is made in the singular number.
+
+The next stage in our lesson study will be to answer our questions.
+Points in regard to antecedents and motives will be answered by the
+chapters intervening between the last lesson and this. Those should next
+be read. Many difficulties concerning customs and laws will be cleared
+up by parallel passages and the references of your reference Bible.
+Those same references will collate for you helpful utterances on the
+ethical problems of the passage. Comparatively few people know, by the
+way, how nearly a reference Bible allows one to dispense with the Bible
+dictionary, Bible index, concordance, and commentary. I am continually
+astonished to see how few are the questions which may be asked about a
+passage that the Bible itself does not answer if closely scrutinized.
+
+"But all this is a waste of time," you object. "In the lesson helps
+all of these points are stated and discussed, fully, methodically,
+concisely. Others have done this work for me, anticipating all my
+difficulties. Why need I repeat their labor?" Surely not merely to be
+original. There's too much original work crying to be done to waste a
+moment in duplicating unnecessarily work already done for us. But the
+Bible study cannot be done for you. It must end in familiarity with
+the Bible, in appreciation of it, in a wide-awake understanding of the
+problems it presents, to be obtained in no way except by original
+work. If difficulties are solved before we have felt them to be
+difficulties, if customs and phrases are explained before we have
+discovered the need of an explanation, and places located before we
+fall to groping after them, it is the old story of "light won, light
+lost." And so I wish to repeat that the one proper commencement of
+study of a Bible lesson is the Bible, and the Bible, and the Bible;
+once to note our own questions, once to imagine our scholars'
+questions, and once, in large measure, here, there, and everywhere,
+concordance, index, references, and atlas at our elbow, to answer, if
+it may be, from the Book itself all the questions it has raised.
+
+And when this is done, even if every question has been answered, open
+arms to the commentaries and the lesson helps, the wisest and richest
+you can find, and as many as you have time for. Why? Because twenty
+heads are better than one; because the Hebrew and Greek and travel and
+debate and experience and insight and spirituality of our best
+thinkers will suggest new points of view, add a world of illustration,
+may even upset some of your conclusions. Stand sturdily, however, in
+the presence of these learned doctors. You will be tempted to throw
+away your own honest results and adopt their wise and brilliant
+homilies. If you do, your class will laugh at you, or yawn. You will
+be giving them, not your life, but your rhetoric. These helps are for
+inspiration, not respiration and circulation. They are for hints
+toward originality, not hindrances. They are useful in strengthening
+your own thought, vivifying your own feeling, confirming your own
+conclusions, opening new vistas for your own exploration, suggesting
+methods for your own practice.
+
+If these two lines of preparation have been faithfully carried out, you
+will by this time have accumulated a mass of material which will be
+confusing, and the third step is to reduce it to order. Long practice
+has convinced me of the utility of the plan of writing out questions.
+Whether these questions are used in the class or not, they clarify the
+subject marvelously, and the mere drill of writing them adds fifty per
+cent. to the teaching power of the instructor. When I began trying it, I
+was astonished to see how many thoughts which seemed to me quite
+promising and bright could not be approached by the interrogative mood.
+I wanted to lead up to this simile, that illustration, this theory, that
+pretty idea. I would soon find that my questions refused to lead up to
+them naturally. Why? Simply because these fancies answered no query
+likely to rise, solved no difficulty likely to suggest itself, and were
+mere adventitious decorations wherewith I had been accustomed to load my
+Sunday-school teaching, to show off.
+
+My attempt at formulating questions soon taught me, too, that I had been
+indulging in monologue. I found it unexpectedly difficult to frame a
+question--one, that is, which required the scholar to do some thinking
+to answer. I discovered that I had been in the habit of propounding
+"yes" and "no" queries, merely as excuses for five-minute orations.
+
+Then, too, when I began to put down in black and white just what I
+expected to put into that precious half-hour, I wondered what I had
+been doing with it hitherto. By my previous methods two or three
+little notions would keep me going through the whole thirty minutes;
+but ideas do shrink so when you put them on paper with a question-mark
+at the end! It is wonderful how many questions can be asked and
+answered in half an hour. I gained a new conception of the value of
+time, and of the teaching value of study hours.
+
+In writing out these questions, then, the first thing to be thought of
+is that consideration with which a good teacher will begin his lesson,
+but a poor teacher will close: "What is the main teaching of the
+lesson?"--as important, this "main teaching," as the compass to the
+sailor. What particular characteristic of God's noblemen is this
+lesson to strengthen in my scholars? Every teacher should know the
+power which is given by an ultimatum; by a decision, that is, as to
+the one thing which, no matter what else it wins or fails to win, that
+lesson must accomplish. Is it to make my boys and girls more truthful,
+more brave, more cheery, more trusting? Whatever the point be, about
+that shall cluster the questions, the illustrations, the arguments.
+Countries, customs, times, history, shall be only its framework.
+There must be other points, to be sure, but merely as side excursions,
+from which we return with greater zeal to this our main quest. Those
+subordinate points we next determine, and the order in which we shall
+treat them, and then sit down to write out our questions.
+
+Does all this seem too mechanical, this writing out questions, and
+determining point by point just what results you will seek, and in
+what order? It is businesslike; it is mechanical. Why are we so afraid
+of mechanism in bringing hearts to the great Mechanic, without whom
+was nothing made that has been made? A machine is merely a contrivance
+for applying power effectively, and the only question should be, Does
+this machinery make my aim more direct, widen and deepen the range of
+my efforts? It is a grand and godlike thing to be mechanical, but it
+is a pitifully weak thing to stop with being mechanical. Machinery
+accomplishes all the work that is being done anywhere, but it is
+machinery informed by the Holy Spirit. Our lesson preparation will be
+in harmony with all of God's preparing if it is orderly, painstaking,
+and definite, binding together, however, all its labored details with
+the sweet and creative spirit of prayer. Machinery touched by prayer
+is always the machinery in which, as in the old Greek plays, the god
+descends. Nothing is mechanical, everything is poetical and spiritual,
+that can be prayed over.
+
+But will not all this take time--all this ransacking of the Bible,
+original study, writing out of questions, and formulating plans? Of
+course it will. Time is what good things are made of--time and toil.
+It would be strange if the best of good things, the sanctification of
+lives, did not take time and toil. But let us remember two facts: one,
+that this work, being thorough work, need not be done twice. Seven
+years of such Bible study as I have indicated, and what a
+magnificently trained teacher you will be, ready, all ready, for the
+next International Lesson cycle, the next Sunday-school Sabbath of
+years! We Sunday-school teachers have enlisted for life. It is so much
+wiser, then, to study for life. And in the second place, familiarity
+with this thoroughgoing way of working makes it much easier and more
+rapid than at first. We no longer have to use the concordance, but
+memory supplies passages needed for illustration. Bible customs are
+soon learned. The peculiarities of Bible language are readily
+mastered. The poetic instinct which sees parables and applications
+grows with its use until they crowd upon you and must be critically
+culled. Nothing ends easy but that which begins hard.
+
+After all, however, these are the lower motives. What matters it even
+if the preparation for this blessed work remains hard to our last
+Sabbath? Let it be the best we know, and on that last Sabbath, if God
+has given us the knowledge that even one soul has been turned to the
+supreme happiness by all our toil, we shall deem it rich reward.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+Something about Teachers' Meetings
+
+
+The teachers' meeting is not so much to get facts as to vivify and
+arrange them. The leader does not teach the lesson unless he teaches
+how to teach the lesson. This is a place for comparison.
+
+The meeting is perhaps less to make plans for the teachers than to
+stimulate them to make good plans for themselves. The gathering is not
+to listen to a lecture. You cannot make teachers, except by the
+Socratic method. A teachers' meeting is not a Bible class.
+
+The ideal teachers' meeting focuses on the work of each the helpfulness
+and skill of all. The leader, then, must put into the meeting every
+one's peculiar talent, and must draw out from the meeting for every
+one's peculiar need. And do not--as so many teachers' meetings do--let
+the teachers for the older classes run away with the evening.
+
+The right kind of teachers' meeting keeps itself up and keeps up the
+teachers. It "draws," because it is attractive. The only way to build
+up an attendance is to build up the interest of the meeting to be
+attended. Nevertheless, attention to a few bits of detail will greatly
+assist in building up the attendance. Have a constitution, a full set
+of officers, and stated business meetings. Make the teachers feel that
+they "belong." Many a teachers' meeting goes to pieces for lack of
+something to tie to. Cultivate the feeling of responsibility. Insist
+on rotation in office. Give every teacher possible some regular duty,
+if only to pass the hymn-books. Once a year at least let the teachers'
+meeting have a field day. Get up its finest programme, with a special
+view to interesting the entire church in Sunday-school work. Then
+invite the entire church to hear it. Such an open meeting should come
+just before the beginning of a new line of study.
+
+The teachers' meeting, in many small places, will be a union meeting,
+of all the evangelical churches, and sometimes of neighboring churches
+in cities. What finer close to a year's harmonious work than for all
+the teachers of this union meeting to sit down to dinner together at a
+genuine love-feast!
+
+Attendance is in many cases increased by providing a variety of
+leaders. The brightest of men becomes wearisome ere long; his methods
+grow familiar. The heart of the teachers' meeting is the programme
+committee, ever pumping in fresh blood. Arrange with neighboring towns
+for the loan or exchange of helpful leaders.
+
+There is a certain gain in a uniform programme for the hour, so that
+historical explanations, difficult exegesis, blackboard work, plans
+for the little folks, lesson analysis, and so on, may be taken up in a
+uniform order each evening. This will insure against the omission of
+any line of work.
+
+Let one teacher--a new one for each quarter--be appointed to present
+within ten or fifteen minutes an outline of work for the younger
+classes. If this teacher cannot draw, an assistant should be appointed
+who can. The remainder of the time, after these regular exercises are
+over, will be at the disposal of the leader of the evening, who will
+treat the lesson in general. Some such combination of permanent with
+changing leadership will be found exceedingly helpful and attractive.
+
+Who should lead the teachers' meeting? Teachers. Not exhorters; not
+conversational monopolists; not lecturers; not the most learned doctor
+of divinity who is not also a teacher. None of these, but teachers.
+The obscure layman, if he knows how to ask wise questions. No one for
+compliment, no one for custom, but every one for practical utility,
+for learning how to teach.
+
+See that the meeting begins on time, whether the leader is ready or not,
+and even if no audience is present. There will be an improvement next
+time. Promptness begets promptness. And let the meeting close on time,
+though in the midst of the most interesting discussion. All the better
+to leave a little interest as a nest-egg. Open with prayer. Some
+teachers' meetings also open with singing. One verse is better than two.
+
+It is useful to read the lesson text in the meeting, provided the
+reading is made to teach something. The manner should be varied. Let the
+leader request the teachers to take up the reading whenever he stops,
+and let him stop at eccentric places, to hold attention. Let the
+teachers read each verse in the King James Version, the leader
+responding with the Revision. In a passage where description or
+narrative alternates with speeches, let the leader read the speeches
+only, the audience inserting the narrative. Divide the lesson into
+sections that will analyze the thought or the story, and read these
+sections alternately, the leader prefacing each with a suggestive title.
+Divide the teachers into two portions,--right and left, front and
+back,--and let them read antiphonally. Let the leader read the entire
+lesson, injecting crisp comments carefully prepared beforehand, these
+comments being all in one line--exegetical, historical, explanatory of
+customs or of phrases. Let the leader prepare a set of questions, one to
+be answered by each verse, and to serve as an introduction to it as the
+teachers read. In studying the Gospels, whenever the lesson would be
+made clearer by it, read, instead of the regular text, the same passage
+as a monotessaron gives it, combined with all that is found in the other
+Gospels. Such ancient books as "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles" or
+"The Apocryphal Gospel of St. Peter" may often furnish a suggestive
+extract to add to this opening reading.
+
+The work of the teachers' meeting will largely be cut out for it at
+the outset, if the leader knows his business. Announce your programme,
+if you want help in carrying it out. What wonder the meeting runs off
+the leader's track, when the track is invisible to all but the leader!
+"First," says the experienced teacher, "we'll form a scheme for our
+guidance in study; second, we'll go over the story of the lesson in a
+preliminary survey; third, we'll take up the words, phrases, customs,
+and circumstances that need explanation; fourth, we'll discuss the
+best way of teaching the lesson to the younger scholars; finally,
+we'll bring out points for the older members of the school."
+
+Many meetings fray out at the end. Nothing is finished, or at best
+there are only a few hasty answers to the stereotyped question, "Now
+what do you consider the chief teachings of this lesson?" If it has
+not been made evident before the meeting was half through what are the
+chief teachings of that lesson, it surely will not be made evident by
+this hurried question, whose answers are punctuated by the donning of
+overcoats. If the leader began with a good outline, now is the time to
+clinch the discussions of the evening by repeating the outline,
+enlarged and modified as those discussions may have required. Then let
+the evening be closed reverently with a few words of earnest prayer.
+
+As to the general conduct of the meeting, probably the matter most
+necessary to be urged is the use of direct, brisk, suggestive
+questions, addressed, not to empty space, but to particular teachers.
+A question spread over a roomful is about as efficient as a bullet
+would be if fired flat enough to cover ten men. Don't be afraid to use
+proper names. Questions addressed to a crowd put a premium on
+forwardness. Call no one by name who is really too bashful to reply,
+but teachers ought to pass by that stage of timidity.
+
+A second common mistake is to run the teachers' meeting on the low
+plane of mere facts, history, biography, when it should be all aglow
+with the spiritual life. If the teachers' meeting does not touch the
+teachers' consciences, hardly will those teachers touch the
+consciences of their scholars. Let the leader ask at every turn this
+question in effect: "What need of your scholars' lives will this truth
+fit?" And he should not rest satisfied until the truth is applied in
+turn to the diverse needs of three classes--the little folks, the
+young folks, and the old folks.
+
+The leader must put himself in the place of all kinds of teachers, and
+discern their needs. He must head off unseemly and prolonged
+discussions; he must have sprightliness to keep the meeting taut; he
+must have zeal to keep the meeting warm; he must have consecration to
+keep the meeting spiritual.
+
+But the best of leaders may be thwarted by poor following. To be led
+in a teachers' meeting is an art almost as difficult as to lead. A
+skilful follower in a teachers' meeting will answer questions briefly.
+He will not commit the impertinence of giving ten times as much as is
+asked for from him, thus stealing from the meeting the sprightliness
+of nine questions and answers, even when all he says is to the point.
+He will make suggestive answers rather than exhaustive ones. His eager
+note-book and intelligent listening will be as encouraging as a
+continuous round of applause. In short, he will be anxious to do
+anything for the success of the meeting, even to the extent of sitting
+silent for fifteen minutes. And all leaders will bless him.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+A Teacher with a Schedule
+
+
+The weak point in the preparation most Sunday-school teachers make is
+their failure to prepare a schedule for their teaching--the order,
+that is, in which they shall take up and discuss the facts and lessons
+of the day's Scripture. Probably the majority of teachers begin with
+verse 1 and go stolidly through to verse 13, or as near it as the
+superintendent will permit them to get. This is teaching with a
+shovel, and not with a sieve.
+
+Wise teaching selects, marshals, brings to a focus. It excels
+haphazard teaching as far as a painting by Rembrandt excels a
+whitewashed fence. It does not permit ideas to neutralize each other.
+It has a purpose, clearly and determinedly held in view, and to this
+purpose it subordinates everything else. It knows that the
+effectiveness of the lesson depends quite as much on what is left out
+as on what is put in.
+
+Now the more ideas a teacher has, the greater need has he of a
+schedule, just as the railroad that runs most trains is in most need
+of a good time-table. Indeed, the performance of a teacher without a
+plan bears a strong resemblance to a railway collision. Ideas,
+illustrations, exhortations, bump into one another front and rear,
+telescope each other, and form at the end of the hour a disheartening
+mass of splintered fragments, with here and there a jet of steam or a
+puff of smoke. If the teacher has no schedule, the scholars on his
+lesson train will grow confused and get nowhere. Small blame to them!
+
+Imitating Paul, the wise teacher will take for his motto, "This _one_
+thing I teach." He will teach as much more as is possible, but first he
+will make absolutely sure of one thing. My own plan in connection with
+every lesson is to lay down one principal, and two or three
+subordinates. It is best to write these down on the margin of the
+quarterly, in precisely the order in which they are to be taken up. Ask
+yourself most earnestly, "What is the main lesson this Scripture is to
+teach my scholars?" Having decided on that, consider your teaching a
+success, whatever happens, if it has impressed this one truth. Leap to
+this task as swiftly as may be, even if to reach the chosen point you
+must pass hastily over the first portion of the lesson.
+
+After driving home this truth, and making sure of it, take up in turn
+your subordinates. This will require a new view of the lesson story
+that will compensate for your previous haste. And reserve some time at
+the end of the lesson for a few parting words on your main truth.
+Save for this time your most telling illustration, your most ardent
+pleading. In preparation for this get all questions and difficulties
+out of the way. Be sure, before you begin, that your watch is with the
+superintendent's, and do not permit yourself to be caught by the
+closing bell with your lesson only half way to the terminus.
+
+Some teachers are proud thus to be caught, but they should be ashamed.
+If their neighbor admits that he got over the lesson with his class,
+they are filled with amazed pity at his lack of brains. "Why, how
+_could_ you? There was so much in the lesson that I scarcely made a
+beginning."
+
+Teachers, it is a disgrace to any workman to leave behind him an
+improperly finished job; and we are, or should be, just as thorough
+workmen as any carpenter. _Select!_ One truth a Sunday means fifty-two
+truths a year, while fifty-two truths a Sunday would not mean one
+truth a year. _Plan!_ Definite results do not come from haphazard
+methods. _Finish!_ One goal reached is greater triumph than fifty
+goals started for. _Form a schedule, and carry it out!_
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+My Lesson Chart
+
+
+My recipe for a well-prepared lesson is expressed in Captain Cuttle's
+formula: "Make a note on 't."
+
+I have read the lesson text, and the text before the lesson text and
+after it. I have read the wisest commentaries I can find, and as many
+of them as I can find time for. I have "mulled" over the matter for
+myself a day or two. By this time my brain is thronged with facts and
+a-tingle with suggestions.
+
+Then, the lesson leaf or some other convenient copy of the lesson text
+before me, I construct the chart by which to make my Sabbath cruise.
+
+First, one must get out to sea; there is the introduction. How shall I
+fit this trip in with last Sabbath's voyage, and how shall I get under
+way?
+
+As I plan my introductory questions, I write at the head of the lesson
+text some word to represent each question, such as "author?" "time?"
+"place?" "circumstances?" "purpose?" "outline?"
+
+With the questions concerning the text itself, however, I do no
+writing; I simply underscore neatly those words or phrases of the text
+that will hint at the point to be raised. For example, take the verse,
+"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want," and the questions: (1)
+How was this imagery prompted by David's life? (2) What use did our
+Lord make of the same simile? (3) What comfort should we get from this
+thought in the trials and uncertainties of life? (4) How does Christ's
+shepherding keep us from want? (5) From what kind of want does it keep
+us? (6) What makes you sure of this? (7) How was all this proved true
+in David's case?
+
+As each question occurs to me, or is suggested by my reading, I
+underscore a word that henceforth stands for that question. These
+words, in the order of the questions, are: (1) "shepherd"; (2) "Lord";
+(3) "my"; (4) a curved line from "shepherd" to "I" connecting the two
+sentences; (5) "want"; (6) "shall not"; (7) "I."
+
+It will sometimes need a little thought to decide just which word will
+best represent the question, but that very thought will fix the question
+more firmly in the mind. If more than one question should be attached to
+one word, make two short underscorings, one beside the other.
+
+When the question contrasts two persons, two expressions, or two
+events, "railroading" is in order--a line, that is, drawn clear across
+the printed page, connecting the words which the question connects.
+
+If you have a parallel Bible, or some lesson help that gives the King
+James and the Revised versions in opposite columns, it is an excellent
+plan to mark in one version all the points of history, geography,
+biography, customs, dates, and the like, and in the other the points
+requiring practical application to heart and life. The latter will
+obviously go best in the Revised Version. The points indicated by the
+underscorings in the King James Version may first be considered and
+got out of the way.
+
+If, however, you must use only the Authorized Version, distinguish in
+some manner between the two sets of points--the merely explanatory and
+the hortatory. Use black ink for the first and red ink for the second,
+or a straight line for the one and a wavy line for the other, or for
+the first a single and for the second a double underscore.
+
+Proceeding in this way, I soon have a line under every word requiring
+explanation, every hint of a strange custom, every reference to other
+parts of the Scriptures, every point for practical application. I have
+underscored words representative of all the thoughts that especially
+appeal to me as fitting the needs of my class.
+
+When this has been done, it is time to make my outline. If my study has
+suggested to me an outline of my own, that will be better for me than
+any other man's. The outline is the plan of campaign, the thing I wish
+especially to emphasize, and under it, ranged in order, the points of
+minor importance. I write this outline on the margin of my lesson text.
+
+Having decided on the outline, I go over my underscorings again,
+doubly or trebly underscoring the words that have reference to the
+thought around which I intend to center the entire lesson--the thought
+that is to be the lesson's enduring monument in the minds and lives of
+my scholars.
+
+Now I am ready for review. I go over the whole, starting with the
+detached words jotted down at the beginning,--"author," "time,"
+"place," etc.,--and consider all the underscorings, railroadings, and
+curved lines, stopping at each to frame a question of my own and to
+make sure of my best answer. I do this in precisely the order in which
+I intend to take up these points in the class. Not the smallest part
+of my work at this juncture is to simplify, by erasing the
+underscorings where the questions may be spared without interfering
+with my main purpose; and then I review once more in the same way, to
+confirm my grasp on the lesson plan.
+
+By this time every underscoring is luminous, and my page of lesson
+text has become a graphic picture of the lesson I am to teach, a true
+chart for my voyage.
+
+Do you think the process too tedious, brother teacher? It is not a whit
+too thorough when you remember the infinite interests involved; and
+every repetition of it will increase your skill, and the rapidity of
+your work. I have used this method for years, with various classes, and
+know it to be practical, pleasant, and profitable. Try it, and see.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+The Value of a Monotessaron
+
+
+Far above concordance, Bible index, Bible dictionary, commentary, I
+count the monotessaron the very best help to Bible study. The
+monotessaron, it might be parenthetically remarked for the benefit of
+the lexicon-lazy folk, is a harmony of the four Gospels, so arranged as
+to make one continuous and complete story, in Scripture words alone.
+
+"Fie!" says one reviewer of a recent monotessaron, "we have no use for
+such compilations. God gave us the gospel in four separate books. He
+could have put it in one if it had been best that way." This is an
+argument which would make a heretic of the locomotive, printing-press,
+and any other rearrangement of God-given matter. Having the four
+Gospels, we may have one. If God had given us only one, we could not
+have the four.
+
+Christians will always read the four separate Gospels, in order to see
+Christ from four separate points of view, through four separate
+individualities, that their differences as well as their agreements
+may make the picture stand out more vividly, much as the two diverse
+flat portions of a stereoscope view combine into perfect perspective
+and reality.
+
+But this combining is necessary; and it may be truly said that what we
+lose, in reading the monotessaron, of the personality of John or Luke,
+we more than gain in the increased vividness of the person of Christ.
+Speaking for one, I may say that through my first acquaintance with a
+monotessaron that matchless life has shone upon me with an entire
+splendor of beauty and majesty before unimagined.
+
+Never before was the life a whole, like Washington's or Lincoln's. The
+imprisonment of John was an event in the fourteenth chapter of one
+Gospel, the sixth of another, the third of the rest; the call of
+Matthew now in the ninth chapter, now the second, now the fifth; the
+parable of the sower in the thirteenth, fourth, and eighth chapters.
+Nothing was in a clear, definite relation to the single life. The talk
+with Nicodemus is now no longer to me an event of John 3, but of the
+beginning of the first year of Christ's ministry, at the Passover. No
+longer would I be puzzled to tell which came first, the healing of the
+nobleman's son of John 4, or the stilling of the tempest of Mark 4,
+but place the last a year later.
+
+Not only has the narrative become clear and orderly, not only has the
+wonderful history parted itself into the true and helpful
+time-divisions so diverse from the confusing chapters, but the places
+now stand out, and journeys are distinct. Take any diatessaron--that
+is, any parallel arrangement of the four Gospels--and note the wide
+blanks in each book, filled out by others, so that between contiguous
+verses of one Gospel must be inserted whole chapters of another,
+complete journeys, many deeds and sayings, the location in the
+meantime greatly changing. A geologist will think of the helpful
+triumph of taking from the full rock record here to fill out the
+unconformable strata there, until a geological column is built up.
+
+A further inestimable advantage is the appreciation of surroundings.
+What light is cast, for example, on the story of Lazarus in John by
+its insertion in Luke! The contact of these parted elements of the
+gospel story sometimes rouses a current of thrilling thoughts, making
+a veritable electric battery of the monotessaron.
+
+Still another priceless gain is an understanding of proportions.
+Matthew's parallels, Mark's deeds, Luke's miracles and parables, John's
+sermons--in reading any of the four Gospels peculiar elements come into
+prominence, and we are left with no idea of the relative proportion of
+these elements in the one life. What emphasis did Christ place on the
+doctrinal, and what on the practical? Just how much of his teaching
+concerned himself and his character? What space in the New Testament is
+occupied by miracles? Just what part of Christ's preaching was
+parabolic? What is the prominence of missionary effort and proselytism?
+How much is there of consolation, and how much of stern rebuke? What
+measure of promise? What quantum of theology? What share of ethics?
+
+These and scores of other questions which occur at once to every
+Christian thinker, the monotessaron makes possible of easy and rapid
+answer. Indeed, almost its chief advantage is the spur it affords to
+the spirit of investigation. Those who are statistically inclined can
+even get at precise ratios by the exact process of counting lines.
+
+Well, that is my experience of the value of a monotessaron. It has
+given the life and person of Christ marvelous vividness, setting facts
+in their due order, location, relations, and proportions, while the
+facility it affords is constant inspiration to fresh, delightful
+study. This is the experience of thousands, and yet I am sure that
+among the readers of this book will be many who are yet unacquainted
+with this Bible help. Not only every Sunday-school teacher, but every
+Bible scholar, should own one.
+
+The single year in which I wrote this chapter saw the publication, in
+quick succession, of four of these monotessarons, one the improved
+edition of an older work. Each of these four has its peculiar features
+of value, and I have compared them carefully to get at their
+characteristics.
+
+    1. "The Interwoven Gospels." Rev. William Pittenger. (5 x 7-1/2
+    inches, pp. 245. New York: John B. Alden. Price, 90 cents.) Five
+    plates give clearly the various journeys. The Gospel fullest in each
+    event is taken as the standard, and its verse-numberings given,
+    while sentences and phrases interwoven from other Gospels are
+    preceded by an inconspicuous letter, to designate the book from
+    which they come. This seems to me the ideal plan. There is a table
+    for finding in the monotessaron any verse of any Gospel. There is a
+    very distinct synopsis. The time is indicated only at the heads of
+    the five divisions of the story. The place is given at the head of
+    each one of the one hundred and seventy-one sections. The index is
+    scant. The typography is excellent. The American Revised Version is
+    used.
+
+    2. "The Gospel Commentary." J. R. Gilmore ("Edmund Kirke") and Lyman
+    Abbott, D.D. (5 x 7 inches, pp. 840. New York: Fords, Howard &
+    Hulbert. Price, $1.50.) This monotessaron is combined with an
+    excellent and very full commentary, selected from the works of three
+    hundred authors. These multitudinous notes somewhat mar the
+    impression of unity and continuity for which the monotessaron is
+    peculiarly valued. No maps. Information as to sources of the
+    combined text is given only by references at the top of the page--an
+    indefinite way. There is a table for finding in the monotessaron any
+    verse of any Gospel. There is a chronological synopsis, but no
+    diatessaron table. There is a good index of thirty-two pages, and a
+    marginal synopsis. The time is minutely indicated at the head of
+    each page, and the locations shown irregularly, in notes, chapter
+    headings, or marginal synopsis. There are forty-three chapters. The
+    typography is clear. The King James Version is mainly used.
+
+    3. "The Fourfold Gospel." J. G. Butler, D.D. (5 x 7-1/2 inches, pp.
+    212. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Price, 75 cents.) This is taken from
+    Butler's "Bible Work." The sources of the text and transitions are
+    indicated as in Pittenger's, but not quite so minutely. Places are
+    given at the head of the one hundred and sixty-six sections. Times
+    not shown. A good diatessaron synopsis, and a table to find in the
+    monotessaron any verse from any Gospel. Two sketch-maps. No index
+    whatever. King James Version.
+
+    4. "The One Gospel." A. T. Pierson, D.D. (5 x 7-1/2 inches, pp. 203.
+    New York: The Baker & Taylor Company. Price, 75 cents.) This
+    monotessaron contains the gospel story in forty-seven sections, with
+    no section headings, and no indications whatever of times, places,
+    or sources of the various portions of the text. Valuable for
+    reading, but unsatisfactory for study. A capital index. No table for
+    finding verses, no synopsis or maps. King James Version. Retains
+    more than the others nearly equivalent words and phrases.
+
+Each of these excellent compilations has its own field, and the
+student who can afford the luxury will rejoice in them all. Happy
+times in which we live, wherein the person of Christ is brought with
+such clearness and fullness and beauty as never before to the poorest
+and busiest and most unlearned!
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+Getting Attention
+
+
+I was once sergeant of a college military company that was being
+trained by an officer of the regular army from the nearest barracks.
+In one evolution it was made my duty to march at the head of a long
+column, shouting at the top of my voice: "Hep--hep--hep--hep!" This
+was to give the time; we had no drum. I conscientiously obeyed orders
+and strutted off, shouting the required "Hep--hep--hep--hep!" But
+alas! at a critical turn, thinking more of my glory than of my duty, I
+marched to the right, while the column, more heedful, turned off to
+the left. So there I was, a long, lank figure, strutting off by myself
+over the field, shouting "Hep--hep--hep!" How many times since, when
+standing before inattentive classes, have I repeated that mortifying
+performance, less obviously, but none the less really!
+
+How often teachers are bent on planning what they are to say and how
+they are to say it, but omit to consider how they may induce people to
+attend to it; just as if (to change the figure) a locomotive engineer
+should polish and oil his engine and turn on full steam, but forget
+the little coupling-pin that hitches the engine to the train! It is a
+very little thing, this coupling-pin of attention, and often the
+teacher goes puffing a long way before he perceives that it is left
+out; and it is a great humiliation, as well as a great loss of time
+and steam, to go back and hitch on.
+
+The first thing to be considered, if we would win attention, is the
+room. Poor janitors spoil more Sunday-schools than poor teachers. You
+remember how the Peterkins tried to take their drive, shaking the
+reins, clucking at the stationary horse, whipping and coaxing him by
+turns, and all in vain until the lady from Philadelphia _unhitched_
+the obstinate beast. We make Peterkins of ourselves every time we try
+to take an intellectual journey with our pupils when they are tied
+down by hot air, poor ventilation, uncomfortable seats, and
+surrounding noise and bustle. All our pedagogical ingenuity will fight
+in vain against the fiendish ingenuity of a bad janitor.
+
+Having made it possible for the children to pay any attention at all,
+the next thing is to get it. Attention has something to do with tension.
+Now it takes two to stretch a cord, and there are two parties to every
+act of attention. How about the second party in this case--the children?
+
+Imprimis, when you appear before the children, leap at once into your
+theme. Older folks rather like to doze along through the preliminaries
+of a speech, economically saving their enthusiasm for the end, if not
+for next time; but the attention of children is lost or won for good
+by the opening sentences. Our sharp boys and girls discover very
+quickly whether a veteran or a raw recruit is calling "Attention!"
+
+There are some beginnings which are sure to offend them. There is the
+bagpipe beginning--the long, droning prelude, which advertises a
+teacher set out on a mud-turtle to catch these lively colts. There is
+the jack-in-the-box prelude: "Eh! Now, children! What's lesson 'bout?
+Quick!" There is the crape-dirge beginning, which solemnly hopes the
+children have studied their lesson and will recite better than they
+did last Sunday. There is the plead-guilty beginning: "You'll have to
+teach me to-day, children. I've been unable to look at the lesson."
+
+But it is by no means easy to give affirmative rules. The best of
+beginnings, if stereotyped, becomes inefficient. No general can plan a
+campaign in advance. And yet a general must understand the art of war,
+and a teacher must study his tactics.
+
+In the first place, attention is won partly by position and attitude.
+Happy the teacher whose class is a semicircle, himself at the center!
+And luckless the teacher whose class, fixed on straight, fastened
+pews, sees past him the distracting background of a crowded, bustling
+school! He struggles against strong odds.
+
+But whatever may be the position of the class, any one can see that
+his own attitude shall command attention. Let him be straight, alert,
+confident, quiet--not flabby, nervous, and diffident. Let his face
+and voice and bearing expect attention, and he will get it.
+
+The opening sentences must be businesslike. There must be no
+indecision, no "puttering." The teacher must leap at once to that
+hand-to-hand combat with the theme which tells his scholars that
+there's purpose in it. The opening sentences may sometimes best catch
+the class by directly addressing one person in it, the most restless,
+indifferent one, and nailing _him_.
+
+A paradox is good to begin with, some statement of the lesson theme so
+startling as to spur to discussion, possibly to opposition. Then the
+next Sunday, perhaps a quiet picture of the historical setting of the
+story, or a description of the landscape surrounding the event, or a
+compact review of the last lesson. Then the next day you might begin
+with a bit of personal experience bearing on the matter in hand.
+Nothing wins attention better than the first person singular. Or your
+introduction might be a whiff of fun, for which the youngsters are so
+eager that the most witless piece of jollity, if it spring from a
+merry heart, is certain to reach theirs.
+
+You are sure of their attention if you can get them to do something
+for you--open their Bibles, repeat something in concert, find a verse,
+or look at something. For this purpose maps, diagrams, pictures, all
+material objects connected with the lesson, are invaluable. Scholars
+yield their wills to yours through their hands or their eyes more
+readily than through their ears.
+
+And none of this must be done with manifest purpose. Surely in vain is
+the net spread in the sight of any bird. Woe to the teacher who shouts
+the word "Attention!" He will get nothing but the echo of the word
+from stony cliffs of indifference.
+
+And finally, woe to the teacher who relies at bottom on any skill of
+his own to draw young hearts to his teaching; whose main dependence is
+anything but the attention-winning power of that incarnate Sympathy
+and Love who promised to draw all men--and children--to himself.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+Keeping Attention
+
+
+We are likely to think that the attention of children is hard to get;
+but the very opposite is true. The minds of children, like their
+tongues, are hung in the middle. It is the easiest thing in the world
+to turn them in any direction. No teacher need spend much force on his
+introduction. Merely appear and begin to talk--that is enough. A fresh
+voice and presence and a new theme will draw all eyes and all hearts.
+If grown people are your audience, the situation is somewhat reversed.
+They are the heavy weights--hard to move, but just as hard to stop. An
+attention-forcing prelude will hold them attentive to a good half-hour
+of platitudes.
+
+The teacher of children, however, flattered by the eager listening
+given at the start, is likely to relax his efforts and deem the crown
+of the children's interest already attained. But alas! soon here a
+little tot wriggles, and there another whispers, and yonder a third
+giggles, and now a fourth turns around to see what's up, and the
+teacher might as well be talking to a school of young fishes.
+
+Demosthenes once said that if whatever a man got he took care to keep,
+he was grateful to the gods; but if he spent it, he spent with it all
+his gratitude. How many teachers are so prodigal of the attention
+given at the beginning that toward the close, dismayed at the
+listlessness, they forget ungratefully their initial capital of bright
+eyes and eager ears! There are many ways of squandering this attention
+capital. We may waste it on those long exhortations so very valuable
+(when omitted), on side issues, on quibbles. We may choke it with
+dullness, drive it off with scolding.
+
+The only way always to keep attention is always to be expecting to
+lose it. Be prompt to note signs of its vanishing in drooping eyelids,
+wandering gaze, jerking in the seat, uncertain answers. The teacher
+whose ingenuity can always recall stray-away minds need fear few other
+recitation problems. How to do it?
+
+The best provocative of attention is variety. The skilled teacher
+brings as many suits of manner to the class as the bulkiest clown
+wears costumes to the circus. Before one suit becomes wearisome he
+strips it off, and presto! a fresh teacher before the wide-eyed
+children. If he has been sitting, he rises; if erect, he leans eagerly
+forward. His utterance becomes rapid from slow, impetuous from
+drawling. He darts from generalizations into personalities. If
+motionless before, he begins to gesticulate. This is acting? No. It
+is only doing what the facile children themselves do on their
+kaleidoscopic playground, where no one goes to sleep.
+
+Again, a teacher must learn to emphasize his important points, not by
+enlarging on them, but by reverting to them. Slight impression on a
+wall by holding a battering-ram against it! Nor can you impress a
+child's mind by holding a fact up against it. It is intervals which
+make blows possible.
+
+So the child will attend to two things or three better than to one.
+Concentrate on one matter, burning-glass fashion, but only while the
+sun of interest is shining. With the first mist of indifference the
+wise teacher will drop the burning-glass. More teachers fail from
+having too few points to make than from having too many.
+
+But to retain attention, you need less to multiply points than points
+of view. A teacher can usually fix the attention of his class upon one
+subject while using in succession six different methods of treatment.
+Passing swiftly from questioning to formulating principles and
+illustrating them, from Bible quotations to personal experiences and
+exhortations, he will hold his audience delighted, though a single
+method would have wearied it. Note how a skilled cook presents the
+Thanksgiving turkey on different days. It is a lordly brown biped, a
+plateful of nice slices, a salad, a pot-pie, hash. Teachers will be
+able to hold the youngsters' attention as well as cooks, if they
+learn thus to put things in different lights.
+
+Furthermore, let it be remembered that no one was ever dignified with
+a child, and won its attention. And some teachers are too staid to be
+useful. Startle into inattention by a smart slap of the hands
+together, sharp extension of the finger, abrupt turns upon the floor.
+Preachers use such artifices when pews grow somnolent, and why not
+teachers? Never forget that the slightest inanimate object wins
+attention better than the greatest animation of the teacher. A
+pencil-tablet will rivet all eyes. A finger laid upon a map is
+cynosure for the most fidgety scholars. If you have a picture which
+can be brought into connection with the lesson, it is a pedagogical
+sin to omit it. A chart is as necessary to the Sabbath-school teacher
+as to the sailor, albeit the teacher's is best home-made. I used to
+hesitate to take time to use such helps; but I found that the poorest
+picture did better work than my most vivid word-paintings, and that my
+clearest statement was inefficient beside the clumsiest diagram.
+
+The beginner in this fine art of attention-holding is likely to derive
+the word "attention" thus: from _teneo_, "I hold," _ad_, "on to";
+_attention_, "I hold on to" him. He tries to hold attention,
+therefore, by main strength. He grapples with his audience as a
+bulldog would. His nerves are tense. His voice is imperative. His eye
+glares. He is rapid, impetuous, strategic. This is power, he thinks,
+and this is skill; but his audience astonishes him by going to sleep.
+Abashed, he tries milder means of holding on to them. He begins to
+buttonhole his audience. He uses soft and flattering tones. He coaxes.
+He wheedles. He jokes. He chucks them under the chin. And then his
+audience gets up and goes out.
+
+The real meaning of the word "attention" contains an invaluable hint for
+all who are trying to win others by speaking or teaching. It is _teneo_,
+"I hold, I stretch," _ad_, "toward"; and it is not by any means applied
+to the speaker, but to the listener. To get your audience, whether of
+little folk or big folk, to stretch out toward the same goal of truth
+that you are seeking is the true art of winning attention.
+
+This understanding of the matter implies that the teacher also is
+really in pursuit of truth himself. The failure of much teaching is
+because it cries "Go on" instead of "Come on." The speaker that you
+follow with most difficulty is the speaker who has the air of "knowing
+it all," while the speaker who succeeds best in holding your attention
+gives you the impression of a chase.
+
+There's the game before you--that elusive truth slipping away through
+the thicket yonder. The huntsman's eye flashes. He whistles up the dogs.
+We all leap to the saddles. Off we go, over upland and vale, swamp and
+rock, fence and ditch, our leader far in the van, pointing here, waving
+there, and hallooing the huntsman on. And when the game is tracked down,
+and our leader stands above it, dripping knife in hand, our veins
+tingle with his, and we shout with delight at our triumph.
+
+This is the first principle in the art of winning attention. The
+speaker must give the impression of a truth-seeker, if he would win
+others to seek truth with him. What Edward Everett Hale once said of a
+sermon applies to this. Every Sunday-school lesson should start out to
+prove something. It should have some goal. It should _intend_
+something. _Intention_ must precede _attention_.
+
+But though there must be this element of pleasing uncertainty and
+suspense, we all have difficulty in attending to a speaker who does
+not appear to have himself well in hand or to be quite sure what he is
+about. Have you not caught yourselves, teachers, talking as if in your
+sleep? Have you not sometimes waked up at the end of a sentence, a
+question, or a harangue, and wondered what you had been talking about?
+Did you suppose that any one else knew? Did you expect to hold on to
+them when you had no grasp of the subject? Can listeners pay attention
+to any one who does not pay attention to himself?
+
+Teachers make the mistake of dividing attention between the class, to
+watch that they hear; and themselves, to see how they are getting
+along; and the little attention left goes to the theme. Not
+unnaturally, the attention of the class is divided in the same
+way--much to themselves, less to the teacher, and least of all to what
+is being taught. Of course it is a teacher's business to hold his
+scholars' attention, but he will never do it by worrying and
+wondering whether he is succeeding.
+
+Nay, I even go so far as to say, if one of your pupils pays no
+attention, then pay no attention to him, provided the mischief is not
+spreading. A teacher should not fritter away his attention on
+inattentive pupils. If he cannot win their attention by his own interest
+in his theme, he cannot win it at all. Not that I would imply for a
+moment, however, that the teacher is to rest satisfied while a single
+one of his pupils remains inattentive. If your chicks are average chicks
+they are gregarious, and one stray-away is enough to carry the whole
+flock with him into foreign parts. While you have a single inattentive
+scholar you should conduct your lesson with a view to holding him. You
+will hold the rest then, as a matter of course. I am only speaking of
+the best way to win attention. It must be won, or you are beaten to some
+extent; and the attention of all _will_ be won in the end if you are
+deeply enough in earnest yourself, if you do not allow your attention to
+be side-tracked by the inattention of a few. If you wish to win and hold
+the attention of others, _win and hold your own_.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+The Importance of Questioning
+
+
+Ever since Socrates, conversation has been the soul of teaching, and
+ever since Adam and Eve the question has been the life of
+conversation. A teacher's success depends, in about equal measure,
+upon inspiration, cogitation, and interrogation. Let the first be the
+great gravitative forces; let the second provide the truth, the
+liquid; then the interrogation-point is the curved siphon, which
+transfers from the full to the empty vessel!
+
+Many, many a teacher has failed, thinking himself not wise enough, or
+not energetic enough, while in reality he has simply failed to be
+wisely and energetically quizzical.
+
+But what is a question? Is it not a fish-hook for pulling out, rather
+than a siphon for putting in? Yes, later; but you cannot fish
+successfully in a dry pond. Any bungler can examine and test. The nice
+art is to use your interrogation-points as instruments of addition,
+rather than of subtraction.
+
+But why is it often better to insinuate instruction through a question,
+in preference to pouring by direct harangue? Well, does not a question
+imply community of interest, and hint at equality or similarity of
+attainment? The question is neighborly; the discourse mounts a platform.
+
+The helpful lesson commentaries fail, practically, to reach many a
+class, because its teacher in reading has failed to translate from the
+declarative into the interrogative. If Doctor Somebody writes tersely,
+"A sin that is born of your own will is tenfold more dangerous to you
+than your own sin that is born of your neighbor's will," Johnny will
+not get the point unless the teacher transforms it somewhat thus: "If
+you are out in the country all alone, Johnny, jump over a fence, steal
+a pocketful of apples, is that a sin just as much as if some other boy
+should be along and persuade you to do it? Yes? Well, now, which sin
+is the more dangerous to you?"
+
+So important does this seem to me that I always carry pencil and paper
+to the perusal of my lesson helps, and write out, as a point pleases
+me, the form in which I wish to bring it up in the class, ranging
+these questions under the numbers of the verses to which they apply.
+
+The teacher who does not write out his questions, or do the equivalent
+of that work, is as sure to be defeated as the general who fights
+without a plan of campaign.
+
+Should those questions be read in the class? Not unless your ideal of
+teaching is the company drill, instead of the conversation.
+
+It is well, however, to ask the scholars to write out questions for
+you on verses assigned, and read these questions before the class. The
+teacher's work is grandly accomplished when he has induced the scholar
+to ask his own questions, and work out his own answers.
+
+I often find that a general call for questions on some apparently
+exhausted topic brings the richest results of the half-hour.
+
+Few verses are completely treated without Lyman Beecher's
+"snapper,"--the appeal to experience. The question, "Is it I?" must be
+raised, no matter by how direct urgings, in every heart. That question
+is truth's barb.
+
+There is a questioning face and attitude, indicative of a real and
+personal interest in the thing considered, without which a question
+will always fall dead, and deservedly.
+
+Nor, on the contrary, will a live manner avail to foist upon the
+attention of a class a dead question. And a question is "dead" to your
+scholar which does not touch his own world of interest at some point, no
+matter how close connection it may have with your life and experience.
+
+The questions on the lesson leaves make a good aid in study, but do most
+pitiably convict a teacher of unfaithfulness if he use them in teaching.
+
+Most genuine of all questions, and most likely to be helpful, are the
+doubts, perplexities, and difficulties which attend a thoughtful
+teacher's first careful reading of the text itself. Then is the time
+when the cream of that lesson should rise.
+
+Leading questions are always better than harangue, and are not to be
+despised, on a pinch. See what use Socrates made of them! And, by the
+way, modern teachers could learn much as to methods from the dialogues
+of that old pagan.
+
+By all means we must learn to link our questions, naturally developing
+one from the other. Read a page of miscellaneous proverbs, and you
+will carry away from it the same bewildered brain much Sunday-school
+sharp-shooting produces. Use the solid phalanx!
+
+Infinite harm is done our teaching by "questioning down." Do you know
+how tiresome it is to talk to a man up in a third-story window, you in
+the street? Our "level-best" teaching must be on a level.
+
+The novice at questioning, when first he becomes well satisfied with
+himself in this line, will probably be making his chief mistake,--will
+have hit upon an interrogative phraseology in which his thoughts run
+easily, which he uses incessantly. The artful questioner will rack his
+brains to the utmost stretch of ingenuity to devise striking and novel
+ways of quizzing, to hold the restless young minds.
+
+Of course, no skilled questioner will take the class in order. Of
+course, he will name the person who is to answer, at the end, and not at
+the beginning, of his question. Of course, he will understand the use
+of long and attention-holding questions, interspersed with short, quick,
+attention-exciting questions. Of course, he will be ready with a varying
+form of the question if he has to repeat it, lest the class fail to
+listen the second time. Of course, he will train himself to become ready
+with a "catch" question,--a question with a quirk in it, to punish
+mildly the inattentive. Of course, he will know when the class needs
+unifying by the general question addressed to all, and when the subject
+needs unifying by the general question reviewing all. And, of course, he
+will have learned that the best teacher of this, as of all arts, is He
+whose boyish questions in the temple grew to such mighty answers that no
+man thereafter dared question him, save only his true disciples.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XI
+
+A Good Question
+
+
+If I were asked to name the chief fault of the average teacher, I should
+say, "Asking questions that can be answered by 'Yes' and 'No.'" Among my
+acquaintances was once a teacher in a secular school whose method of
+questioning was invariably this. He would have before him the statements
+of the text-book, copied out with painstaking care, and would develop
+the subject thus: "Is it true or is it not true, Mr. A----, that"--and
+here would follow the statement or definition of the text-book. The
+ambiguous answer, "Yes," was amply satisfactory. Unfortunately, when
+such teachers gain a foothold in the Sunday-school, they are not so
+easily dismissed as from secular establishments.
+
+Now, a good question merely furnishes the starting-point, and pushes
+the scholar out along the course toward some goal of truth; but in a
+question that can be answered by "Yes" or "No" the teacher himself
+ambles amiably up the track, and condescendingly allows the scholar's
+monosyllable to pat him on the head after he himself has reached the
+goal. A question that can be answered by "Yes" or "No" merely
+formulates the truth as it exists in the teacher's mind, and invites
+the scholar's assent to it; a good question, on the contrary, provokes
+the scholar to formulate truth for himself.
+
+Now, it is much easier to express what we see to be true than to get
+any one else to express original thought. There is also, to the
+unwise, more glory in laying down principles to which others must
+agree than in getting others to lay down principles to which we must
+agree. It will always be true, therefore, that the lazy and the
+pompous will have no aim beyond educing monosyllabic answers. Most
+teachers, however, are earnestly desirous of the best, but do not know
+how to frame wise questions. What must be said to them?
+
+First, that they must not go to school before their scholars. Expert
+questioning is not learned in the class-room, but in the study. A
+lead-pencil is the best teacher. A sheet of paper is the best
+drill-ground. As I have urged before: Let the Sunday-school worker who
+aspires to the high praise of a good questioner sit down persistently,
+after studying the lesson, and write out a set of questions. Nay; on
+each point, so far as he has time, let him write several questions,
+criticise them, fancy what kind of answer each will be likely to
+elicit from the scholar, and choose what appears the best question.
+Try it on the class, and learn valuable lessons from the result.
+
+This method, laborious as it is, must be kept up until skilful
+questioning has become instinctive. That there may be hope of this happy
+result, by the way, the written questions must never be used in the
+class,--only the memory of them, and the drill the preparation has
+given. It surely will happen, sooner or later, that the careful student
+of practical pedagogics will be able to get along without writing,
+merely formulating fit questions in his mind as he studies the lesson.
+After a time he may dispense even with this, and look simply after the
+points to be presented, trusting to extemporaneous question-making.
+
+Not wholly, however. The best questioner in the world gets into ruts.
+The best forms of questions ever invented are worse than the worst if
+they are used with dull reiteration. No one can devote careful
+attention to the form of his questions without falling in love with
+some particular way of questioning; and this will not always be the
+best way, but will probably be the most original way. A form of
+question that is irreproachable the first time will be unendurable
+used six times in succession. It is necessary, then, even for the
+trained questioner, to revert now and then to his old lead-pencil
+drill, in order to study variety.
+
+But how may the uninitiated know a good question when they see it, or
+make it? As said already, it must not be such that a lazy monosyllable
+may answer it. As said already, too, if one is in doubt, he has but
+to try it on the class, and note results. But further. A good question
+will be likely to have something piquant about it, if the subject
+admits. For instance, "James was killed, Peter was freed; why was
+that?" is better than saying, "How do you account for the fact that
+while the apostle James was beheaded, the apostle Peter was delivered
+from the hands of his persecutors?"
+
+Furthermore, the difference between a poor question and a good one may
+often be a mere matter of length. "Why did the Christians at Antioch
+keep the inferior leaders for work in the city, but send away the most
+prominent men in their church to labor as missionaries?" That is
+abominable; it should be, "Why did the Antioch Christians send away
+their best men?"
+
+A good question will contain as much as possible of the personal
+element. "What do you understand by the phrase 'remission of sins'?"
+is much better than "What is the significance of the phrase 'remission
+of sins'?" Because the personal question puts the expected answer in a
+more modest light, the answer will be more unconstrained and full.
+
+And, by the way, there are few forms of questions more zealously to be
+avoided than the form I have just used, "What do you understand by--?"
+It is the unfailing resource of the poor questioner. A verse will be
+read, a phrase quoted, a doctrine or a principle named, and then will
+follow, as the night the day, the tiresome old formula, "What do you
+understand by this, Miss A----?" One would be quite safe in declaring,
+at any particular instant during common Sunday-school hours, that
+one-fourth of the Sunday-school teachers of the world were repeating,
+with united breath, that Methuselah of a query, "What do you
+understand by this?"
+
+Again, a good question must be swift. It must come so quickly that
+there will be no time to get out of the way. Some questions that, if
+written out, would not be bad, are prolonged in the utterance of
+over-deliberate teachers like foggy illustrations of the law of
+perspective. Good questions leap. You feel their buoyancy as you read
+them or hear them. It is like the huntsman springing into the saddle
+and shouting, "Come on!" No one with an atom of thoughtfulness is dull
+to the exhilaration of spirited questions. They have inspired all the
+wise thinking of the world.
+
+And, finally, good questions should be absolutely clear. There is one
+thing in the world that must always be faultlessly perspicuous and
+distinct, and that is a marching order in time of battle. Now, questions
+are the marching orders of our scholars' brain regiments, in a battle of
+infinite moment. Let them ring clearly as ever bugle-call was sounded.
+Questions mumbled, hesitant, caught up and patched over, confused and
+slovenly,--what wonder if these get slow and mumbled answers? A question
+clearly put, not only proves that the questioner has clear ideas, but
+it wondrously clarifies the ideas of the answerer.
+
+Good questions, then, are thought-compelling, varied, short, personal,
+piquant, unhackneyed, brisk, and clear. Do I ask too much? Nothing
+that all may not acquire, if but a tithe of the zeal and labor claimed
+by the trivialities of a few years are spent upon these issues of
+eternity. Let every teacher consider what characteristics of a good
+questioner he may add to his pedagogical outfit.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XII
+
+Inspiring Questions
+
+
+I use this title advisedly, because I believe that it requires more
+genuine inspiration to lead the average scholar to ask questions than
+to perform any other part of the teacher's difficult task. How easy to
+ask our own questions, to put in our own answers in order to draw them
+out again, were that all of it! But to transform the passive into the
+active, the auditor into the investigator, the questioned into the
+questioner, that is the goal of the true teacher's endeavor.
+
+Shall we count a recitation successful when the teacher has been earnest
+and zealous in his inquisition, the scholars ready and full in their
+responses? A single question, borne, it may be, on a voice so timid that
+it is scarcely audible in the buzzing room, yet sprung from some young
+heart just moved with the sudden desire of truth, is worth all the rest.
+
+If the teacher wishes to carry his scholars beyond the parasite stage,
+which is just as dangerous intellectually as physically, both to the
+parasite and its supporter, he must learn first that this weaning
+comes not without thoughtfulness and design. He must learn that, even
+more carefully than he plans the questions he is to ask his scholars,
+he must plan to inspire them to ask questions themselves. He will be
+most successful if, from the many matters which could be brought up in
+the lesson, he selects two or three of prime importance, and schemes
+to elicit the questioning enthusiasm of his class along those few
+lines. But how to do it?
+
+In the first place, the teacher must be a questioner himself. An old
+hen can hardly teach the eagle's brood to fly. Do not hesitate to tell
+your scholars of the doubts you once had, and how you won certainty
+from them. Show them by example that doubt is never a thing to be
+afraid of or ashamed of, unless it be a lazy doubt, viciously pleased
+with its own fog.
+
+Then there is a question-inspiring face and attitude. If the teacher
+assumes the manner pontific and speaks _ex cathedra_, and has the air
+of one who says the ultimate word, he will smother every question. A
+sympathetic, open face, and the hearty spirit of good-fellowship, are
+the best invitations to inquiries.
+
+Nor must the teacher be in a hurry, hastening from verse to verse with
+the nervous dispatch of an auctioneer. How many times must even a wise
+man look at a beetle, and how long, before he is moved to ask a wise
+question concerning it? Don't we sometimes make the recitation a mere
+exhibition of shooting-stars?
+
+Then, too, be on the watch for questions. How far ahead can you see a
+question coming? Before the scholar has made up his mind to ask it, if
+you have seeing eyes. An almost imperceptible quiver of the lips:
+"Question, Thomas?" Eyes suddenly wider: "What were you about to ask,
+Mary?" Forehead wrinkled: "Anything to say on that point, Edward?"
+
+And if the question is a good one, why, "A capital question, Thomas!"
+"I hoped that some one would ask that, Mary!" A good question is more
+to be praised than a good answer, because it is rarer and more
+original; but does it always receive our hearty commendation?
+
+Though the question leads you far out of your way, turn aside for it
+as gladly as you would turn from the road to pick up a diamond. Though
+you must leave the climax of the lesson unreached, see in this the
+climax. Though you are in full harangue, eagerly showing forth some
+great truth, stop short at once. A question in hand is worth a whole
+system of theology in the bush.
+
+And even if the question be trivial, or pointless, or utterly
+irrelevant, in anticipation of other possible questions, this one is
+not to be scornfully or slightingly waved aside. Don't kill the goose
+that lays golden eggs when she chances to lay one of pewter!
+
+Half-statements, when shrewdly managed, will often elicit questions.
+"Yes, God was terribly angry with the Jews,--terribly. Think how
+powerful God is, and how awful his anger must be! You want to ask
+something, Billy? Whether it is right for God to be angry? Well, I am
+glad you asked that, because I want to tell you the difference between
+his anger and ours."
+
+An over-statement will often draw out the longed-for inquiry. "When
+John urged every one with two coats to give one to some person who had
+no coat, what did he mean but this,--that, as long as any one in the
+world is poor, those who have more than they need ought to keep giving
+to those who have less than they need? I see that you have a word for
+us, Lizzie. What is it? How about the lazy people and the bad men? I
+hoped some one would bring up that point!"
+
+And when your half-statement or over-statement is accepted without
+remonstrance by your scholars, a little jolly scolding as you make the
+correction yourself, and a warning that they must do better thinking
+the next time, will work wonders.
+
+Sometimes the best plan is a direct call. "What do you think about
+that statement, now? Haven't you some question to ask about it? Don't
+you want to know something more about it?" If not a question follows,
+at least the scholars will know that you are expecting them to
+originate lines of thought and inquiry; and that is one thing gained.
+
+This question is sometimes asked: "What modern teacher is so
+successful as Socrates, who made his scholars teachers in their turn?"
+The question touches a fundamental truth in pedagogics,--that the
+teacher's goal is the scholar's independence of the teacher. By brave
+example of sturdy thought, by sympathetic insight into the doubts and
+needs of the opening mind, by enthusiasm and winning tact, let us
+strive in this direction, as in all others, to be worthy followers of
+Him who made of his disciples teachers at whose feet the great Greek
+himself would have been glad to sit.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII
+
+Trigger-Teaching
+
+
+The hard-working Sunday-school teacher picks up his cartridge, proudly
+carries it to the desired destination, and there explodes it. The
+shrewd Sunday-school teacher uses the scholar as a rifle, and simply
+pulls the trigger. Some teachers, that is, consider themselves as big
+guns. Other and better teachers seek to make practical working guns of
+their scholars. Between the two styles of teaching there is this
+difference, that the trigger-teaching usually hits the mark, while the
+big-gun teacher finds that the mark, if it is a live one, has taken
+itself out of the way by the time he has carried the cartridge to it.
+
+In big-gun teaching the teacher does everything for the scholar; in
+trigger-teaching the teacher does nothing for the scholar that he can
+help. In big-gun teaching the teacher thinks; in trigger-teaching the
+teacher thinks how to get his scholars to think. Big-gun teaching
+parades; trigger-teaching stays in the tent and issues orders. Big-gun
+teaching is amusing; trigger-teaching is suggestive. Big-gun teaching
+develops the teacher; trigger-teaching develops the scholar. The
+teacher's true work is to educate, and "educate" means "to draw out,"
+and not "to carry to."
+
+"Oh! our scholars are not loaded," I hear many teachers object. "If we
+should pull the trigger, there would follow only a ridiculous click."
+
+But your scholars _are_ loaded, objectors. Though they may not be
+loaded with precisely the information you have been seeking from them,
+they are loaded with experiences,--all their short lives will hold.
+They are loaded with temptations and troubles and needs. They are
+loaded with questions and curiosity. They have information, too, any
+amount of it, that may be brought into suggestive connection with the
+lesson, if you know how to make shrewd use of their public-school
+history and geography and science.
+
+To be sure, they probably know nothing definite about the time of the
+lesson's events, or the place, or the persons, or the circumstances.
+Well, make them load themselves. As you rehearse these facts
+concisely, make your scholars write them on slips of paper. Send one
+to the board, to set down what you dictate. Get one of their number to
+read aloud some brief and comprehensive summary of the lesson details.
+In one or all of these ways make them load themselves, and
+then--nothing is accomplished if you stop here--pull the trigger!
+
+More than on any other thing save the help of the Holy Spirit, a
+teacher's success depends on the use he makes of the fact that his
+scholars are already loaded to some effective purpose; and the wise
+teacher will always ask himself, in the course of his preparation for
+the lesson, "What experiences of the members of my class will help
+them understand this lesson and its truths?" One has been sick lately.
+One is studying geology. One has a father who is a banker. One has
+just seen the Mammoth Cave.
+
+If these things are to be likened to the bullets and shot, what is the
+powder? Must the teacher depend for that, too, largely on the pupil?
+Yes.
+
+To be sure, much of the powder of successful teaching is the zeal and
+eagerness of the teacher himself. But his interest is a smokeless
+powder like the fulminating powder of the cap, whose value is solely
+to set fire to the powder of the scholar when the trigger is pulled.
+The scholar's interest, the scholar's powder, it is that must be
+relied upon to do the work, to carry the ball.
+
+And so in trigger-teaching, much depends on the teacher's ability to
+excite curiosity and arouse interest. He will study his scholars'
+likings, and appeal to them in his illustrations; their needs, and
+refer to them in his applications. Sometimes he will state the matter
+too strongly, sometimes too feebly; in each case, with the express
+intention to draw out their protest. He will know how to use paradox
+so as to arouse, but not confuse. He will study different methods of
+emphasis, and will not use one alone. From each lesson he will select
+one truth, and one only, which he will treat with all the ardor of a
+lawyer arguing a matter of life or death. Above all, he will remember
+that the Spirit alone quickeneth, and will earnestly pray that fire
+from heaven may be added to his own little fulminating cap.
+
+But many a teacher, conscious of all that I have been saying, does not
+know how to pull the trigger. It is not so simple in the Sunday-school
+as in the school of the battalion. The artful teacher will find many
+ways of trigger-pulling, suited to the diverse and changing needs of his
+class and of his topic. Sometimes he will put in the scholars' hands
+paper and pencil, and set them to writing or drawing. Sometimes he will
+send them in turn to his blackboard. Sometimes he will elicit the entire
+story from one, sometimes from ten. Sometimes he will introduce pictures
+for them to talk about, or maps for them to travel over, or objects for
+them to group their words and thoughts around. Always, however, he will
+remember that his best trigger is the little trigger-shaped
+interrogation-point. He will ask questions himself with the
+effectiveness born of careful preparation. Better than that, he will get
+his scholars to ask questions. In all these ways, and as many more as
+there are Sundays in the year, the wise teacher will pull the trigger.
+
+Let no one pass from big-gun teaching to trigger-teaching with the
+idea that the latter will prove the easier. It is far more difficult
+to make the cartridge than to pick up and carry the ball which the
+cartridge would propel; but, for effective and profitable teaching,
+better ten minutes' work done by the class than an hour's work done by
+you in the presence of the class, even though to do the latter is far
+easier than to elicit the former.
+
+If--as those who have been doing it all themselves will doubtless find
+it--this trigger-teaching comes especially hard at first, let them
+begin with getting their scholars to do _something_ at first hand,
+though only a little, and let them work their way slowly to the
+pedagogical perfection of getting their scholars to do everything.
+
+And does any one fear that this will destroy the personality and
+personal influence of the teacher? On the contrary, the trigger-teacher
+has to put ten times more of himself into every lesson than the big-gun
+teacher. The scholars get more of his personality, at the same time that
+they are gloriously, though unconsciously, developing their own.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV
+
+Galvanic Teaching
+
+
+In his exceedingly suggestive book entitled "Before an Audience" Mr.
+Shepard insists strenuously on what he calls "physical earnestness" in
+a speaker. It is not meant by this that we are to go before our
+scholars with our nerves a-quiver, with headaches coming on, with our
+brains throbbing and our muscles drawn tight. A speaker must be, as
+Mr. Shepard insists, an animal galvanic battery on two legs. He must
+be at something corresponding to electric tension. He must be in
+earnest with his body, not lazy with it. No teacher who is not
+spirited will succeed with children, or with any one, long.
+
+Nothing will more quickly win and permanently hold a child's attention
+than earnestness. Children's capacity for serious thinking is greatly
+undervalued. There is more philosophy in them than you dream of. They
+are very much in earnest themselves, and they rejoice to see other
+people very much in earnest.
+
+I do not mean by this that one should always be serious with them.
+Nothing will gain their attention more than a joke; but joking with
+children is as dangerous as feeding them candy. They have no more
+taste henceforth for anything else, and to keep their attention you
+must continue to feed them candy and deal out jokes. The most
+successful teachers of children, judging not by the interest of the
+children so much as by permanent spiritual results, are those that are
+always deeply in earnest; and yet their earnestness is shot through
+and through with the sunshine.
+
+The intensity I am advocating must not be the intensity of an auger,
+that bores. Oh, if teachers only knew enough not to teach too much! If
+one good idea is got into the heads of the children as the result of
+the lesson half-hour, then you have scored a victory. If you try to
+get in eight good ideas, you will not score one-eighth of a victory.
+Some teachers that I know want to get the whole body of theology and
+the entire system of ethics into each lesson. They skip with haste
+from truth to mighty truth, crowding into a lesson twenty weighty
+points, each one of which would be amply sufficient for the half-hour.
+The result is an impossibility of attention, for not enough is given
+about any one thing to fix it and hold it down.
+
+Our Sunday-school teaching reminds me sometimes of a daily paper--all
+cut up into paragraphic articles; and if there is any topic of
+universal knowledge omitted, it will appear in the evening edition. A
+confirmed newspaper reader has become incapable of following an
+extended discussion, or of reading a book. I have stood before
+Sunday-school classes to which their teacher was in the habit of
+propounding a series of disconnected questions from a book or paper,
+and I have found it quite impossible to hold the attention of such
+classes for any length of time on one matter. They were anxious for
+another paragraph, for fresh head-lines, for a change of subject.
+
+Most Sunday-school lessons are fruitful of multitudinous suggestions.
+Let us not teach so much that we teach nothing, or, worse than
+nothing, instruct in mental dissipation instead of mental
+concentration. We prepare for teaching with the lesson hour in view;
+we should rather have in view the hour following the lesson hour. What
+impression do we intend the lesson to make? How are we going to make
+the lesson stand out in relief?
+
+I must now set off against the law of intensity the complementary law
+of motion. A mesmeric patient is sent into the hypnotic trance by
+continued staring at the same stationary object. This looks like
+perfect attention, but it results in sleep. There is a verbal
+hypnotism that is very common when teachers are trying to impress an
+idea by holding it up stolidly and persistently before the eyes of
+their scholars. That is not what I mean by intensity, and it is one of
+the commonest ways of destroying attention.
+
+If you are anxious to impress a truth and yet hold attention, you must
+do it by presenting now this side of the truth and now that, now with
+parable and now with allegory, now with appeal and now with testimony,
+experience, quotation, objects. Arrived at the end, do not press the
+point against the scholars and stick it into them, but if they do not
+see it, go back and pass over the matter in a different way.
+
+Moving bodies draw and hold the eye. Every one must look at a shooting
+star, a jumping horse, a running man, a flying bird, a rising kite. To
+keep attention, our lessons must have what the critics of novels call
+"movement." There is to be no still life in our pictures. Everything
+must be stirring, dramatic.
+
+An accomplished teacher must have the power of painting word-pictures.
+It is not a difficult art. Hard study and zealous "putting yourself in
+his place" will accomplish it. Some way or other we must get the persons
+of the lesson clearly before our scholars' eyes, the scenes as if the
+scholars were surrounded by them, if we would maintain their attention.
+And even if the lesson is impersonal, we must dramatize it, we must
+invent situations and persons to illustrate the abstract thought, or we
+must draw illustrations from real history. These must all be real to us,
+or they will never be real to our scholars. Pictures always hold the
+attention of children. Let us remember this when we talk to them.
+Children are fond of motion. Let our teaching move briskly, then.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XV
+
+Serial Teaching
+
+
+There are short-story writers who are able to hold our attention
+charmingly for an episode, and there are other minds which are able to
+lead us entranced through the varied scenes of a long serial. So also
+there is short-story Sunday-school teaching and serial Sunday-school
+teaching. Short-story teaching treats each lesson as a separate unit;
+serial teaching considers each lesson a part only of a great, united
+whole.
+
+Short-story teaching is far easier than serial teaching. It is
+concerned with but one set of circumstances, persons, and principles.
+For the serial teacher, on the contrary, every lesson must include a
+review and a prospectus. He must learn to see things in their
+relations. He must have a good memory, and a better imagination, to
+make his memory buoyant. This is not easy; and therefore it is that
+short-story teaching is much commoner than serial teaching.
+
+And yet serial teaching is the right kind of teaching, for the
+following reasons. Just as a fine serial story adds to the enthusiasm
+for good numbers of a periodical, and tides over poor numbers, so, if
+you can get up a serial interest in your teaching, it will increase
+the interest of the good days, and will tide over with full seats and
+bright eyes the rainy, or cold, or hot, or sleepy days.
+
+Besides, Christianity is a whole, and each of its many parts
+interdependent. We must not teach it, therefore, as if it were a
+patchwork, capable of being taken apart and put together as men will.
+We do wrong to the great system we teach, if our lessons do not leave
+the impression of a vast, coherent fabric,--too vast for one lesson to
+disclose, too coherent for one lesson to stand out apart.
+
+Besides, however our lessons may change, our scholars are still the
+same; and this continuity of listeners should impart a serial interest
+to the teaching. Cause the scholars to feel that each lesson is to
+make definite contribution to their growth in knowledge and character.
+It won't hurt them if they are as mechanical about it as Peter, and
+enumerate, lesson after lesson, as in the apostle's famous
+addition-table, the virtues those lessons may add to their lives.
+
+For these three reasons, then, our teaching should contain some strong
+element of serial interest. Many teachers err in using only one sort
+of connecting link, year in, year out, and are as likely to fail as
+the periodical which always prints serial stories of the same kind of
+plot, scenes, and characters. I will mention several serial elements
+which a wise teacher will use in turn, holding to one long enough for
+profit, but not too long for interest.
+
+In the first place, it is often well to make the serial biographical.
+Your serial has then a hero. Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Saul, David,
+Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, John, Peter, Paul, Mary,--what glorious
+groups of chapters these names bind together! If we are zealous,
+patient, and imaginative, we can easily, with this magnificent material,
+construct for our classes serials whose absorbing interest will vie with
+any in their pet weekly story-paper. We can lead them to eager study of
+a man's development in character and in fortune.
+
+At other times it is better to trust for the serial interest to
+history,--to study the evolution of a nation as before of a man. The
+wondrous tale of the rise of the Hebrews from Abraham, their
+metamorphosis under Moses, their consolidation under judges, their
+expansion under kings, their division, their downfall, their
+restoration, their subjugation, their new birth in Him who was before
+Abraham,--this story may be made to have a deep and constant serial
+interest.
+
+Of course, with either the biographical or historical serial plan, great
+pains must be taken with that bugbear of the average teacher,--what the
+lesson-helps call intervening events, but many a scholar calls
+intervening mystifications. Often fully half the lesson-time should be
+given to them. Usually the antecedents they contain are absolutely
+necessary for an understanding of the lesson,--text, persons, and
+principles. With them you teach history; without, episodes. They mean
+work, to be sure; but all unifying and solidifying means work.
+
+At still other times or with other classes it is well to let the
+serial interest center around principles. Treat one group of lessons
+as illustrating the manly or unmanly qualities; consider another group
+primarily as a commentary on truth and falsehood; let your binding
+topic for another set be "What is True Religion?" "Sin and Salvation,"
+"Serving and Served," "Success and Failure,"--how many lessons could
+be clustered naturally about these topics! Children are
+characteristically philosophers, and a treatment of Sunday-school
+lessons as illustrating different phases of some great truth is a
+method very attractive to them. "What does the Bible teach about
+truth-telling, about penalty for sin, about the conditions of
+happiness?" Sunday-school scholars should be ready to answer such
+questions, not by haphazard impromptus, but by a careful presentation
+of events, characters, and sayings bearing on each point, and
+representing the whole Bible.
+
+Another excellent way of binding lessons together is by the scholars
+themselves. As I said, however the lessons change, the scholars remain
+the same, with the same prominent troubles, faults, and needs. Both
+they and you should know what these are. I often have scholars who
+bring up, Sunday after Sunday, in connection with topics the most
+diverse, the same questions, which are evidently stumbling-blocks to
+their minds and lives. These are usually practical matters wherein the
+Christian imperatives are strangely incongruous with worldly habits,
+such as the choice of a calling, absolute frankness of speech, public
+testimony for Christ, the careful observance of the Sabbath, sharp
+competition in trade. These are too big questions to be settled in a
+few minutes, and young folks who are seized by them in earnest have
+found for themselves a serial interest which will last for some time.
+
+If we cannot take advantage of such a linking which our scholars
+discover for themselves, we can always bind lessons together by our
+own knowledge of our scholars' needs. If you have a young man in your
+class to whom the skepticism of the times is alluring, let him find
+something faith-inspiring and confirmatory of belief in every lesson.
+If you have a young girl burdened with sick-room duties and home cares
+beyond her strength, let her know that each lesson will bring her
+fresh energy and comfort. You need not tell your scholars that you
+know their struggles. Enough that you do know them, and link lesson to
+lesson for them in sweet chains of love and helpfulness.
+
+When, by any of the four methods I have outlined, you thus establish a
+bond between your lessons, you have gained two great advantages
+besides the serial interest which you have aroused. In the first
+place, you study the Bible as a whole, not by extracts. You learn to
+interpret one portion by another. You find out the fallacy of
+fragments. You perceive that Christianity is a system, and not an
+anthology. In the second place, you have solved the review problem,
+for every lesson is now a review. If you were required to remember, in
+order, twelve words chosen at random, you would find it somewhat
+difficult; but it would be easy enough if those twelve words were
+arranged in a sentence. Serial teaching is building up a sentence, and
+the review is merely repeating that sentence. A serial teacher has no
+fear of review day. The short-story teacher is compelled to find for
+that day a new short story.
+
+Now, have I not reserved mention of the one great tie of all our
+teaching? Whether Old Testament or New, history, prophecy, proverbs,
+or psalms, it is all one continued story, and the hero is Christ. By
+whatever unifying principle we group our lessons together, Christ
+unifies the groups. Year in, year out, if Christ is at the heart of
+our teaching, that teaching is consecutive, serial, solid. Without
+him, it is disjointed, fragmentary, frail. Not retracting a word I
+have written about the value of these other methods of arousing
+continued interest, yet it must be said that they are all worthless
+without Christ. In him each several building, fitly framed together,
+groweth into a holy temple in the Lord.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI
+
+Teaching the Psalms
+
+
+The Lesson Committee often assigns us two or three lessons in a book,
+and from these few lessons the scholars must get some comprehensive
+knowledge of the entire book. A book study, therefore, will not be out
+of place in this series of suggestions to teachers, and I have chosen
+the Psalms, since they are likely to be most fruitful of hints as to
+the teaching of other books.
+
+A systematic knowledge of the Psalms is rarely sought after. Only one
+book of the Bible is more loved: the Gospel of John; only one is read
+less methodically: the Book of Proverbs.
+
+It is the fault of many teachers that they teach all books of the
+Bible in the same way. Prophecy, history, poetry, prose, Ruth and
+Revelation, John and Judges,--it is all one to them. The Psalms, like
+all other books of the Bible, are unique, and need their own especial
+mode of treatment. Here are some hints concerning this treatment.
+
+Get first, from the Revised Version, a comprehensive idea of the five
+Books of Psalms, with their similar endings. Note their length and the
+total number of psalms. From the Bible dictionary learn what you can
+about the time when these books were collected, and the probable
+authors of the anonymous psalms.
+
+Study the psalms by types. We have the First Psalm, which contrasts
+the good and evil. Psalms of the Good are 1, 26, 41, 72, 94, 101, 126,
+127, 128, 144. Psalms of the Evil are 10, 14, 36, 37, 49, 52, 53, 58,
+64, 73, 82, 109, 129, 140. The Second is a Psalm of Power. Others are
+11, 21, 24, 29, 47, 48, 60, 76, 77, 83, 97, 108, 111, 114, 139. The
+Nineteenth and the One Hundred and Third are Psalms of Praise. With
+these study 8, 9, 18, 30, 33, 34, 44, 65, 66, 67, 68, 75, 85, 89, 90,
+92, 93, 95, 96, 98, 99, 100, 104, 105, 106, 107, 112, 113, 117, 118,
+134, 135, 136, 138, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150. The Second and the
+Seventy-second are Messianic Psalms. So also are Psalms 45 and 110.
+The Twenty-third is a Psalm of Trust. Similar psalms are 4, 7, 16, 27,
+31, 56, 62, 71, 91, 125, 131. The Fifty-first is a Psalm of
+Forgiveness. Such, too, are 25, 32, 39, 40, 80, 81. With Psalm 84, a
+Psalm of Worship, go 15, 42, 50, 57, 63, 87, 115, 122, 132, 133.
+Besides these, the following may be classified as Psalms of Help: 3,
+12, 20, 35, 43, 46, 59, 61, 70, 79, 121, 124; the following as Psalms
+of Sorrow: 6, 13, 22, 38, 55, 69, 74, 88, 102, 120, 137, 143; and the
+following as Psalms of Prayer: 5, 17, 28, 54, 86, 116, 123, 130, 141,
+142. Psalms 78 and 119 are Psalms of the Law. Of course, this is only
+a rough classification of the psalms. It will be a pleasant and
+valuable task for you to classify them more elaborately.
+
+Read again the life of David, found in the passage from 1 Samuel 16:1
+to 1 Kings 2:11. In connection with each psalm you read, think what
+may have been the king's fortunes when he wrote it, or what experience
+of his may have prompted it. This psalm of sorrow may have had birth
+in Absalom's revolt; this song of trust may have welled from a rock of
+hiding in the desert; this hymn of triumphant strain may have
+celebrated some victory over Saul or the Syrians; this pleading for
+forgiveness may have been a wail over Uriah.
+
+The psalms are all dramatic. Here, more than anywhere in the study of
+the Bible, you need to use imagination, to "put yourself in his
+place." The psalms are in the first person. Fancy yourself the
+psalmist as you read his songs. Pray his prayers, exult in his praise,
+beat your breast with his agony of shame, be calm in his assurance of
+forgiveness and peace.
+
+In like manner, as you prepare to teach, fancy times in your scholars'
+lives to which these psalms will apply, times when it would be well for
+them to sing these psalms, and teach with these times in clear view.
+
+Be sure thus to translate David's experience into that of your
+scholars. These psalms are of universal moment, as they come so
+directly from David's heart, and God's; and yet they need this
+translation, because David's surroundings were not ours. His foes,
+his sins, his exiles, his triumphs, were not ours in form, however
+much the same in reality.
+
+There are frequent quotations of the psalms to be found in the later
+books of the Bible. These, especially those made by Christ and the
+apostles, constitute a priceless commentary. Search for them with the
+help of a concordance or a reference Bible.
+
+Aside from this, the psalms are especially fit for illustrative
+quotations, and the children may be inspired to gather them eagerly.
+Assign to each scholar a verse for illustration from some other part
+of the Bible, in some such way as this:
+
+    "_The Lord is my shepherd._"
+
+      "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd layeth down his life
+       for the sheep" (John 10:11).
+
+    "_I shall not want._"
+
+      "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these
+       things. But seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness, and
+       all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 7:32, 33).
+
+    "_He maketh me to lie down in green pastures._"
+
+      "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
+       give you rest" (Matt. 11:28).
+
+    "_He leadeth me beside the still waters._"
+
+      "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never
+       thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a
+       well of water, springing up unto eternal life" (John 4:14).
+
+    "_He restoreth my soul._"
+
+      "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25).
+
+    "_He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake._"
+
+      "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the
+       Father, but by me" (John 14:6).
+
+    "_Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
+    will fear no evil._"
+
+      "Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (John
+       11:26).
+
+    "_For thou art with me._"
+
+      "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matt.
+       28:20).
+
+    "_Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me._"
+
+      "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,
+       that he may be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth" (John
+       14:16, 17).
+
+    "_Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine
+    enemies._"
+
+      "I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall not hunger"
+       (John 6:35).
+
+    "_Thou anointest my head with oil._"
+
+      "Grace and peace ... from Jesus the anointed, ... who has made us
+       to be kings and priests unto his God and Father" (Rev. 1:4-6).
+
+    "_My cup runneth over._"
+
+      "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in
+       the blood of Christ?" (1 Cor. 10:16.)
+
+    "_Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
+    life._"
+
+      "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you,
+       and that your joy may be fulfilled" (John 15:11).
+
+    "_And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever._"
+
+      "In my Father's house are many abiding-places.... I go to prepare
+       a place for you" (John 14:2).
+
+In preparing for this exercise the children will learn how to use the
+Bible index and the concordance.
+
+Watch the paragraphs of the Revised Version. They make useful
+indications of the passage from one thought to the other.
+
+The psalms lend themselves well to the useful exercises of analysis,
+condensation, and paraphrase. Get your scholars to write out for you,
+one, a brief tabular statement of the contents of the psalm; another,
+the thought of the psalm in words of his own; a third, the substance
+of the psalm, with all superfluous words and repetitions omitted.
+
+It is a capital plan to underscore in your Bibles, and get your scholars
+in the course of the lesson to underscore in theirs, the key-sentences
+of the psalm. In the First Psalm, for instance, you have in bold relief
+the main thought of the six verses if you underscore "Blessed is the man
+that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked. Whatsoever he doeth shall
+prosper. The wicked are not so." There is your outline.
+
+Do not rest satisfied until, for your scholars and for you, the psalm
+you are studying is a unit, and stands out in your minds with clear-cut
+individuality. It is especially necessary to get through with the entire
+text when your lesson is in the Psalms. It is not like a series of
+disconnected proverbs: it is a picture; and your understanding of it
+will lack some essential part until you have all the verses.
+
+Indeed, I would go over each psalm with the class at least five times,
+rapidly: first, to remove stumbling-blocks of strange customs and
+expressions; second, to grasp the general thought; third, to get its
+application to David's life; fourth, to get its lesson for our lives;
+fifth, a verse-by-verse study for all possible side-lights and
+instruction.
+
+Observe the parallel expressions. Use only the Revised Version, which
+correctly prints the psalms as poetry. Read them rhythmically; chant
+them; intone them; get the impression of songs. Come to feel the
+beauty and meaning of the frequent refrains.
+
+Go on a tour of discovery, seeking for the noble metrical translations
+of these psalms found in our hymn-books and religious anthologies. For
+Psalm 19 read Addison's magnificent hymn, "The spacious firmament on
+high"; for Psalm 103, H. F. Lyte's "Praise, my soul, the King of
+heaven," or Isaac Watts' "My soul, repeat His praise"; for Psalm 72,
+James Montgomery's "Hail to the Lord's Anointed, great David's greater
+Son!" or Isaac Watts' "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does his
+successive journeys run"; for Psalm 84, H. F. Lyte's "Pleasant are
+Thy courts above," or Isaac Watts' "Lord of the worlds above"; for
+Psalm 23, Addison's "The Lord my pasture shall prepare," or others
+more familiar; and for other psalms the same writers, with Wesley,
+John Newton, Scott, and many more. Your scholars will be interested in
+searching for these, and bringing them in.
+
+Suppose we were studying an English hymn-book. What would we ask first
+about each hymn? We would ask what sentiment it was capable of
+inspiring. The same question is to be asked about these inspired
+hymns; and throughout each of them we are to trace not so much a train
+of thought as a train of feeling.
+
+The psalms are subjective, and for that reason are particularly hard,
+some of them, for children to appreciate. We must interpret them all
+the more thoroughly by objective illustrations. Here the ordinary
+problem is reversed. In our ordinary lessons the example from real
+life is given, and from it the teacher must draw spiritual lessons.
+Here the spiritual meditation is given, to be applied to real life.
+
+Notwithstanding this, the psalms are eminently pictorial, and
+especially adapted to illustration. See how many pictures are
+suggested by the following words from the most famous of the psalms:
+"shepherd," "want," "lie down," "green pastures," "leadeth," "still
+waters," "guideth," "paths," "valley of the shadow," "rod and staff,"
+"a table prepared," "enemies," "anointed," "cup runneth over." All
+such pictures should be gathered, and used to make the lesson vivid to
+the picture-loving little ones.
+
+There is especial need in teaching the psalms to explain how the force
+of imagery varies with varying conditions of climate and modes of
+life; how much more, for instance, was meant to David than to us by
+such symbols as "a rock," "shadow," "sun," "shield," "water-courses"!
+
+Children are fond of metaphors, but they make comical blunders with
+them, and deal, unless we are careful, all too literally with such
+passages as "a table in the presence of mine enemies," "the wicked are
+like the chaff," "the congregation of the righteous," "break them with
+a rod of iron." If the teacher is in doubt just how far to carry these
+metaphors, I know no better example of the wise and beautiful use of
+them than Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." The reading of that book will
+make a capital preparation for the teaching of the psalms.
+
+Few lessons in the seven years' course will be so admirable as these
+for committing to memory. If you want to inspire your class to better
+work in that line, now is your time.
+
+Note that the psalms are all optimistic. Sound their key-note of peace
+and joy.
+
+Here, if anywhere in the Bible, spiritual teaching is needed. An
+essential part of the preparation for teaching the psalms is devout
+prayer.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII
+
+Those Temperance and Missionary Lessons
+
+
+Intemperance is the church's greatest foe, missions her greatest task.
+Around these two topics cluster the highest chivalry, the most splendid
+romance, of our modern world. The shout of the battle is in them, the
+sweep of the regiment. No lessons are more important than those devoted
+to these two great themes, and none can be made more interesting.
+
+And yet to many a teacher they are bugbears. To these eight
+lessons--one sixth of the whole--they go with dull hearts. They do
+wish the Lesson Committee would leave them out of the list.
+
+What is the trouble? There is no life back of the lesson. They have
+"got up" their lesson as best they can; but a lesson is not got up, it
+grows up. They do not know enough about missions and the temperance
+reform to be interested in them. No information, no inspiration.
+
+To be sure, there are few passages in the Bible suitable for use in
+temperance lessons, and but few referring directly to such
+enterprises as modern missions. The Acts record merely the beginnings
+of missions, and intemperance was scarcely a problem in New Testament
+days. Nevertheless, both temperance and missions find in the Book
+their fundamental and sufficient inspiration; and taking our
+starting-point from the lesson text, we may fairly launch forth into
+seas as wide as the world of men and action.
+
+Indeed, so multiform are the phases of these two topics that to avoid
+confusion and leave clear impressions every temperance or missionary
+lesson should have a specialty. Let me indicate a few of the many
+possible themes.
+
+1. _A Bible Search._--Spend the hour hunting out everything the Bible
+says upon temperance, or all the leading passages bearing on missions.
+The scholars will read them aloud. Some verses they will repeat from
+memory. They will mark them with colored pencils in their Bibles. They
+will discover the central thought in each reference and write it on
+the blackboard, thus building up a compact summary. The exercise has
+an air of finality that will please the scholars.
+
+2. _A Biographical Lesson._--Let everything cluster around some great
+leader in missions or the temperance reform. For the latter, select
+John B. Gough, Miss Willard, Lady Henry Somerset, Father Mathew,
+Francis Murphy. For the great missionaries,--India: Carey, Heber,
+Martyn; Burmah: Judson; China: Nevius, Morrison, Gilmour; Japan:
+Neesima; Oceanica: Coan, Paton, Patteson; America: Gardiner, Eliot,
+Whitman, Brainerd; Turkey: Schauffler, Dwight, Hamlin; Africa:
+Livingstone, Mackay, Moffat, Taylor, Hannington. There is material
+enough for a lifetime of teaching!
+
+Get as many scholars as possible to read beforehand in the
+encyclopedia a short account of the chosen life. One of the class may
+write a five-minute essay upon the hero. Characteristic anecdotes
+concerning him may be distributed among the scholars for each to
+relate. No better series of short missionary biographies was ever
+published than that sold by the publishers of this book at the low
+price of 50 or 75 cents a volume. Use them. If the class during the
+hour can really make the acquaintance of a great missionary or
+reformer, it will be vast gain.
+
+Another and most profitable kind of biographical meeting may be based,
+not upon single lives, but upon a group of lives. Study "The Great
+Missionaries of the Bible," "Bible Heroes of Temperance," "Some Noble
+Lives Spoiled by Intemperance," "Some Magnificent Missionaries of Our
+Denomination."
+
+3. _An Historical Lesson._--The temperance reform has already a
+notable history, with many chapters worth careful study. Spend an hour
+with the Woman's Crusade,--its origin, its leaders, its many thrilling
+scenes, its notable results. The Washingtonian movement, the
+blue-ribbon movement, the World's Petition, "temperance in the White
+House,"--these are themes for other studies.
+
+And as for missions, the puzzle will be to know where to end, when
+there are, for instance, the "Serampore Brotherhood" to study, the
+"Lone Star" mission, the Madagascar martyrs, the China Inland Mission,
+the all-but-miracle of Metlakahtla, the conquest of Hawaii, the
+transformation of Fiji, the bloody chronicles of Uganda. With any one
+of these stories for a nucleus, your missionary lesson will be certain
+of leaving a deep impression.
+
+4. _An Organization Lesson._--Study one or more of the great
+temperance organizations,--its origin, its noble leaders, its methods
+and aims, its practical results. The W. C. T. U. and the "Y's," the
+Good Templars, the National Temperance Society, the temperance work of
+Christian Endeavor societies, may be studied in this way.
+
+This plan is especially valuable for the missionary lessons, which
+should render your scholars familiar with the history and triumphs of
+each missionary board of your denomination, home and foreign. The
+remarkable circumstances of its founding, the heroic men and women it
+has sent forth (exhibit portraits), the places where it labors (show
+views), the periodicals it publishes (have samples to give away), a
+few round figures to set forth the results of it all,--that is a
+scanty outline. The larger work of the church would profit immensely
+by such use of an occasional missionary lesson.
+
+5. _A Newspaper Lesson._--In another chapter I discuss the use that
+may wisely be made of the newspaper in our Sunday-school teaching.
+Once in a while the specialty of a lesson may be a study of current
+events in their bearing on missions or on the temperance reform.
+
+Some temperance orator has made a noble speech which you find well
+reported. The W. C. T. U. has just held its annual convention. Neal
+Dow's birthday has been widely celebrated. South Carolina has adopted
+its system of State dispensaries. A hot campaign for prohibition is in
+progress in Canada. The teacher that centers his lesson on one of these
+themes is sure of lively interest which may be led to practical result.
+
+Or, if it is missionary Sunday, let the teacher utilize the most
+absorbing topics of foreign news. It may be the Spanish seizure of the
+Caroline Islands, the French capture of Madagascar, the Japanese
+campaign in Formosa or that of the English in Matabeleland or the
+Soudan, the Italian war with Abyssinia, the Indian famine, the
+troubles in Crete, the massacres in Armenia. What scholar, after a
+lesson shrewdly introduced by such recitals, will fail to see that
+missions are a topic very much alive?
+
+6. _A Map Lesson._--Few things condense, combine, and clarify bits of
+information like a map, provided you can put your information upon it.
+A map may be utilized in a temperance lesson in two good ways. If you
+are in a city, draw the streets of some section, or of the entire
+city, if possible. Send your scholars out along all streets, dividing
+them up, and have them count the saloons in each block, locating also
+the churches and schoolhouses. I suppose, of course, that your
+scholars are of suitable age for this work. Next Sunday, as they
+report, put a black spot on the map for every saloon, and a blue spot
+for every church and schoolhouse. Your map will point its own moral.
+
+At another time draw a map of the United States, and give a graphic
+view of the temperance laws of the land, coloring the prohibition
+States one color, using a different color to designate the
+Massachusetts plan, the South Carolina plan, and so on.
+
+More can be done with a map in a missionary lesson. For instance, you
+may select a single country, say India. Provide "stickers" of
+bright-colored paper. Let some be large and circular. As you talk
+about the four or five great languages of that many-tongued empire,
+get the scholars to fasten these "stickers" in the centers of the
+various language areas. Let other "stickers" be cut into small stars.
+Three of these, of one color, fastened in the neighborhoods of Bombay,
+Madura, and Ceylon, will represent the Congregational missions. In the
+same way you will show the location of the Baptist, Methodist, and
+Presbyterian missions and those of other denominations. Population
+"stickers" may also be used, and "stickers" with the names of great
+missionaries may show where they labored.
+
+On another day you may take a map of the entire world, and thus
+indicate the location of all the mission fields of your denomination.
+If this map is kept before the class from that time, every item of
+missionary information will have fresh interest and point.
+
+7. _A Statistics Lesson._--At this lesson distribute, for the scholars
+to read aloud, slips of paper containing temperance or missionary
+statistics,--the numbers of saloons or missionaries, of drunkards
+dying or converts made each day, the cost of missions or of strong
+drink compared with other expenditures, and the like. Get the class to
+cut strips of paper of various lengths to represent graphically the
+comparative costs. Drill the scholars in temperance or missionary
+arithmetic. Telling them the number of heathen in China, ask how long
+a procession they would make, marching in single file one foot apart.
+Giving them the liquor expenditure for a year, have them measure a
+pile of silver dollars and calculate how tall a pile would equal the
+annual cost of drink. Such books as "The Missionary Pastor," published
+by the Fleming H. Revell Company, and "Weapons for Temperance Warfare"
+and "Fuel for Missionary Fires," published by the United Society of
+Christian Endeavor, will suggest many similar exercises.
+
+8. _A Quotations Lesson._--The teacher holds in his hand a bunch of
+papers, on each of which is written an interesting quotation bearing
+on missions or temperance. The collection will include longer
+anecdotes as well as brisk sentences. Many will bear famous names.
+Each scholar will choose a quotation at random and read it aloud. The
+teacher will draw out its meaning by questions, will add illustrations
+and practical comments, will tell something about the author of the
+quotation, or will show the connection of the thought or anecdote with
+the day's lesson. In some classes the scholars themselves may be
+trusted to bring their own quotations or anecdotes.
+
+Let me mention briefly a few more devices out of the many that may add
+interest to these lessons. Get a trained worker along temperance or
+missionary lines to come in and address the class. Carry out a series
+of simple experiments showing the physiological effects of alcohol.
+Make a study of the best missionary hymns, their authors, and the
+events that prompted them. Try a fifteen-minute debate on some
+missionary or temperance topic. Get the scholars now and then to write
+five-minute essays or give five-minute talks on appropriate themes.
+Let one edit a temperance or missionary paper,--in manuscript, of
+course,--collecting contributions from each scholar, and reading the
+result before the class as a sample number of the "Cold Water Herald"
+or the "Missionary Monitor." Some Sunday, call on every member of the
+class to sign the pledge. On a mission Sabbath make an appeal for
+tithe-giving and present a tithe-givers' pledge. Give the wonderful
+history of the Student Volunteer movement, and urge the scholars to
+consider the mission field as a possibility for each one of them.
+Enliven some missionary lesson with entertaining accounts of the
+strange customs of the country under discussion, and get together all
+the illustrative material you and your scholars can find. The
+Sunday-school and the Christian Endeavor society will do well to make
+a collection of curios for such purposes.
+
+It is an admirable plan to set each of your scholars to doing some
+steady work in preparation for these lessons. One may watch the
+newspapers and collect temperance facts and illustrations of the evils
+of strong drink. The various missionary societies of the denomination
+may be divided among the scholars, each to gather interesting bits
+concerning the work of the board assigned to him. In the same way the
+mission lands may be apportioned out, and "the gentleman from India" or
+"our representative in China" be called upon to report the latest news
+from his field. In this plan the children will cooeperate very zealously.
+
+Of course it goes without saying (_does_ it, though?) that each
+teacher will be a subscriber to the missionary magazines of his own
+denomination, as well as to that common denominator of all the
+missionary magazines, the "Missionary Review of the World."
+
+He will also take, if possible, a good temperance paper, such as the
+"Union Signal" or the "National Temperance Advocate"; and if he can
+afford them, he will not be without the temperance and missionary
+encyclopedias.
+
+Indeed, the theme branches out into channels so many and so wide
+that, when once the teacher is started upon them, his greatest lack
+will be of time for exploration; and so far from desiring the
+temperance and missionary lessons fewer than eight, he will wish it
+were possible for them to come every month!
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII
+
+Topical Lessons
+
+
+The Bible is so full of suggestion that it is impossible, in the brief
+Sunday-school half-hour, to view the many fields of thought opened
+before us with any degree of satisfying completeness. That fact,
+indeed, constitutes one of the greatest satisfactions of the Book.
+
+Neither teacher nor scholar can go very far with earnestness in Bible
+study without feeling an intense desire to collate and compare, to go
+to the bottom, to take views single in purpose, but wide in reach.
+This wish to read the Scriptures as a whole has ever been held a sign
+of healthful growth in Christian endeavor. How may we encourage and
+satisfy this desire? Here is a method I have repeatedly found helpful
+to my class and myself.
+
+I prepare for myself what I call topical lessons. I have noticed
+especial interest in some one topic,--the use of Sunday, say, or
+future punishment, heaven, prayer, abuse of money, missions, the
+nature of sin. On some Sunday, then, I announce that one of these
+topics is to be discussed at next week's meeting. I ask the scholars
+to think the matter over, and look up texts. Some do, some do not, as
+is usual in such matters. Sunday come, I have in large script, pinned
+to the wall in view of the class, an outline of the topic chosen, with
+the texts to be used indicated in clear figures. It is intended for a
+lesson in methods of Bible study as much as in Bible contents, and so
+aims to be complete and thorough in its range. The plan is explained,
+and the scope of the subject. We take it up by natural divisions.
+
+All have Bibles, of course. The references are numbered. "Mr. Brown,
+please find No. 1; Mr. Jones, No. 2; Mr. Robinson, No. 3," and so on.
+In a few seconds we are ready for a discussion of the first division.
+I shall trust to the scholars' memory for the commoner quotations, and
+not trust in vain, if I have done my duty previously. This division
+disposed of, more or less to our satisfaction, we pass to another
+point, then to another, rapidly or leisurely, as the time permits,
+being careful that in the half-hour the general scope of Bible thought
+in the matter, its largeness and depth, its insight and minuteness of
+detail, be adequately exhibited.
+
+May I show you a sample outline?
+
+
+FAITH.
+
+   1. What is it? (Heb. 11:1; John 20:29.)
+
+   2. Whence comes it?
+
+        (_a_) From God (Rom. 12:3; 1 Cor. 2:4, 5;
+               12:4, 8, 9; 1 Pet. 1:4, 5).
+
+        (_b_) From Christ (Heb. 12:2).
+
+        (_c_) From the Bible (John 17:20; 20:31; Rom.
+               15:4; 2 Tim. 3:15).
+
+        (_d_) From preaching (Rom. 10:14; 1 Cor. 3:5).
+
+        (_e_) But all one (Eph. 4:5; 4:13; Jude 3).
+
+        (_f_) Not from works (Eph. 2:8, 9; Rom. 3:27,
+               28; Gal. 3:11, 12; 2:16).
+
+   3. What does it do?
+
+      (1) The works of faith:
+
+        (_a_) It is a work (John 6:28, 29; Rom. 4:5).
+
+        (_b_) Which draws us to God (Rom. 5:1, 2;
+               Eph. 3:12; 3:17; Jas. 1:5, 6).
+
+        (_c_) Thus pleasing him (Heb. 11:6).
+
+        (_d_) Which frees us from sin (2 Pet. 1:5; Acts
+               13:38, 39; Rom. 3:21, 26; Acts 15:9).
+
+        (_e_) Leads us into salvation (Mark 16:16; John
+               1:12, 13).
+
+        (_f_) Conquers this world (1 John 5:4, 5).
+
+        (_g_) Gives us peace therein (Eph. 6:16; Rom.
+               5:1).
+
+        (_h_) And finally eternal life (Rom. 1:17; John
+               3:16; 3:36).
+
+      (2) The works from faith:
+
+        (_a_) Faith alone is dead (Eph. 2:10; Jas. 2:14-26).
+
+        (_b_) Faith a beginning (Jude 20; Col. 2:6, 7).
+
+        (_c_) Of wondrous power (Mark 9:23; 11:22-24;
+               Luke 17:5, 6).
+
+        (_d_) Working out through love (1 Thess. 5:8;
+               1 Cor. 13:2; 13:13; Gal. 5:6; 1 John
+               3:23).
+
+        (_e_) In miracle (Matt. 9:22; 9:29; Luke 8:50;
+               Acts 3:16).
+
+        (_f_) In history (Heb. 11: 32-34; Matt. 16:16;
+               John 1:49; 11:25, 27; Acts 6:5; 8:37;
+               11:24).
+
+   4. Have I it?
+
+        (_a_) There is false faith (1 Tim. 1:5).
+
+        (_b_) The testing (2 Cor. 13:5; Jas. 1:3; 1 Pet.
+               1:6, 7).
+
+        (_c_) The seeking (Phil. 1:27; Jude 3).
+
+        (_d_) The keeping (1 Cor. 16:13; Heb. 10:38;
+               Col. 1:23; 1 Tim. 1:18, 19; 6:12;
+               1 Pet. 5:8, 9).
+
+   5. Now and hereafter (2 Cor. 5:7; 1 Cor. 13:12).
+
+Manifestly, when this plan is carried out, there will be scant time
+for the regular lesson; probably no time at all. The next Sunday two
+lessons must be recited. But your topical study has grown out of the
+regular lessons, and in its turn will excite in them fresh interest.
+
+It is obvious that each teacher must choose his own topics and make
+his own outlines, suited to his own methods of thought, and to the age
+and intelligence of his class. The above was used in a class of young
+men, college students in part. Themes of an entirely different nature
+might well be chosen,--a view of Christ's miracles or parables or
+sermons, of Old Testament miracles, or of sacred history in some one
+line. It might even be found profitable, as it surely would be
+interesting, to collate, arrange, and discuss Scripture references to
+the eye, the ear, birds, flowers, trumpets. To my mind, some such
+occasional excursion as this seems to lead the scholars, especially
+those approaching manhood and womanhood, to a more comprehensive and
+methodical knowledge of the riches of the best Book, and to one of the
+most resultful methods of studying it.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX
+
+Introducing Thoughts
+
+
+A little child once declared that she liked a certain sermon because
+there were so many "likes" in it. For the same reason, that same child
+would have liked Christ as a Sunday-school teacher. And we teachers
+will gain Christ's success in the same measure as we gain his power of
+putting the whole universe back of our thought.
+
+For a thought comes forcibly from our minds in proportion as we see
+its relatedness. If we have put it into connection with a score of
+things, that score get behind it and push. An unrelated thought comes
+as tamely from the mind as a Jack from its box when the spring is
+broken. And so when a Sunday-school teacher would present a truth
+energetically, he must look all around the truth, crowd his mind with
+applications of the truth, fall in love with its beauty from many
+points of view; in brief, become thoroughly acquainted with the truth,
+and its enthusiastic friend.
+
+How, now, shall we introduce the truth to the child? It is the manner
+of some to take the truth and the child, and bump heads together,--a
+process which very naturally develops a mutual shyness.
+
+The true teacher, on the contrary, is a skilled master of ceremonies.
+From the crowd of likenesses, illustrations, and applications which
+have made him and the truth acquainted, he chooses one to go with it
+and act as mutual friend, to introduce the stranger thought to the
+child's mind, and put the two on easy terms together.
+
+He does not make the common mistake of sending along the entire crowd,
+so that the introduced is lost in the throng of masters of ceremonies,
+so that the truth is confused, and acquaintanceship embarrassed by the
+parade of illustration. He knows that where one parable makes, two
+mar, and three ruin.
+
+Nor will the shrewd teacher ever attempt introduction by something
+other than a mutual friend of both parties,--the truth and the child's
+mind. The myth of Alcestis may be connected with your own thought of
+the resurrection, but it is itself a stranger to the child's mind. The
+true mutual friend would be the metamorphosis of the butterfly.
+
+Is that comparison stale? In seeking for fresh and brilliant
+illustrations, we are apt to forget that the longer the mutual friend
+has known both parties, the more apt will he be at furthering their
+acquaintance. The butterfly is truly to us a trite illustration of the
+resurrection, but not to the child.
+
+Do not push forward the thought first, and after a ten minutes' awkward,
+floundering parley between it and the child's mind, proceed to introduce
+them by your illustration. After two people have talked together for ten
+minutes, they either need no introduction by that time, or have
+destroyed the possibility of acquaintanceship. Illustration first.
+
+And after the introduction two mistakes may be made. The introducing
+illustration may keep on chattering, not allowing the truth and the
+mind of the child to say a word to each other. A master of ceremonies,
+who knows his business, knows when to draw quietly back, and leave the
+new acquaintanceship room to grow. The illustration is not the end,
+but the means.
+
+The other mistake is in allowing the mutual friend to withdraw
+abruptly, before the two, the stranger thought and the child's mind,
+have broken the ice. Let him stay and put in a clever word now and
+then, until the acquaintanceship can stand by itself.
+
+Nor is there any reason why, with every fresh truth, a fresh
+illustration should strut forward. Those social assemblies are best
+managed which are planned by one wise woman, and permeated throughout
+by her thoughtfulness, words of tact, and shrewd bits of engineering.
+One mistress to a party, as one cook to the broth. And so if you can
+find one illustration which is on good terms with all the truths in
+the lesson, and familiar also to the child's mind, by all means let
+that one illustration hold sway, as a genial host, throughout the
+entire half-hour, and associate the whole together.
+
+But when the illustration ceases to illustrate, part with it,
+regretfully but promptly; as I, following my own advice, must here
+part with the illustration which has done duty hitherto.
+
+In this whole matter, as in all others, only painstaking deserves or
+gains success. A genius for parable is rare. Gift here means the
+poet's power, his breadth of vision, his depth of sympathy, his tact
+and sense of fitness. But though it is a poet's gift, it need not be
+born in one. How may we gain skill in illustration?
+
+In the first place, by gaining knowledge. How can we expect Jewish
+history to seem real, isolated, as it so often is, from all other
+history? We, too, have a Father Abraham. Caesar crossed a river once,
+as, and yet not as, did Joshua. Compare Washington's farewell address
+with Samuel's. And, too, without science, such sciences as geology and
+astronomy, a Sunday-school teacher is but half armed. How wonderfully
+and inspiringly God's two books supplement each other, no one can
+guess who has not put the two together. In brief, for the theme is
+infinite, almost any fact, once learned, has constant surprises of
+usefulness, and in no ways more frequently than this of illustration.
+
+In the next place, by gaining sympathy. No one can well use
+illustrations who is out of touch with his fellows. The best possible
+illumination of life questions is the story of the lives around
+you,--their trials and triumphs. Do you know a child who has done a
+heroic deed, though quietly, for the Master? Have you a friend who has
+conquered some sore temptation? Have you met a good man struggling
+against some inherited evil tendency? Have you knowledge of the
+disastrous results of some single life? Life comes closest to life,
+and experience furnishes the best similes.
+
+And then we may study books, and learn how effective writers have used
+illustrations. A note-book collection of these will be helpful, even
+though the making of it is the end of it; for this study will help us
+toward the teacher's chief goal,--the power of putting things in the
+best way.
+
+The newspapers should be one of the most fruitful fields for the
+gleaning of illustrations; and so they will be, when they learn to
+chronicle the good as thoroughly and brilliantly as they now chronicle
+the bad.
+
+Of course,--though an "of course" seldom practically accepted,--a
+Bible character is the very best illustration of a Bible character,
+the Old Testament of the New, the last lesson of this, Moses of Paul,
+and Sinai of Hermon.
+
+And of course, too,--though again a belied "of course,"--the less the
+illustration given by the teacher, and the more given by the scholar in
+answer to questions, the more vivid the impression. Too often we
+teachers smack our lips at the coming of the similes, and launch out
+into harangue.
+
+Let us see in all this much more than a scheme of indirections. It is
+no easy task to find the best way into a child's mind, nor quite
+without pains and difficulty is the imitation of the Teacher who spoke
+many things in parables.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XX
+
+Illustrations and Applications
+
+
+Sunday-school teachers often make the mistake of confounding "lesson
+illustrations" with "practical applications." A lesson illustration is
+a picture of the truth you are studying as exemplified in spheres of
+life foreign to your scholars; practical application pictures the
+truth in their own lives. In other words, a practical application is
+an illustration that the scholars can practice. The point I want to
+make is, that the practical application should be used, in our own
+precious half-hour, not to the exclusion of the lesson illustration,
+but largely predominating over it.
+
+For instance, if you were discussing the great cloud of invisible
+witnesses that compass us about, you might illustrate the truth by the
+famous story of Napoleon's speech to the troops in Egypt, "From yonder
+pyramids, my men, forty centuries look down upon us"; but, if you have
+not time for both, a practical application would be far better: "John,
+who is one of this great cloud of witnesses that is most tenderly and
+anxiously watching your life?" "My father." "And who, Harry, is among
+your invisible guardians?" "My mother." That is more forcible than
+"forty centuries."
+
+Again, one of the finest illustrations of devotion to principle is
+afforded by the conversion to the Baptist faith of one of our first
+American foreign missionaries, the immortal Judson, who, at the
+bidding of conscience and conviction, cast loose in mid-ocean from the
+only missionary society in America, and his only assured support. That
+is magnificent, but it is only an illustration, one needing to be
+translated into terms of child life thus: "Suppose you are in a school
+examination, and your neighbor on one side hands you a bit of folded
+paper to pass to your neighbor on the other side, and you are pretty
+sure it is to help him cheat in the examination, and suppose the whole
+school will think you mean and stuck up if you refuse to pass the
+paper, what are you going to do?" That is a test of devotion to
+principle such as the child is likely to meet.
+
+To be sure, there are illustrations which come so close to average
+circumstances that they are also applications. For instance, to take
+another great missionary, William Carey, his boyish fall from the tree
+he was climbing, with the result of breaking his leg, and, on
+recovery, his immediate set-to at the same tree again; his saying that
+his business was preaching the gospel, but that he cobbled shoes "to
+pay expenses"; his bidding the Christians left at home to "hold the
+ropes while he went down,"--all these are very practical
+illustrations, quite within the children's sphere, since it is well
+for them also to have grit even about tree-climbing, since they are to
+hold their ordinary duties subordinate to their spiritual life, and
+since they have missionary money to spend and missionary prayers to
+make. If, however, I were teaching the passage in the Acts that
+relates how the disciples had all things in common, though I might
+tell about the splendid carrying out of that principle in Carey's
+Serampore brotherhood, yet, if I had time for only the one, I should
+certainly prefer a practical application of the text to the sharing of
+apples and the lending of bicycles.
+
+It is helpful to a boy, of course, if he would cultivate patience, to
+have before his eyes the picture of that cave looking out over
+Scottish hills and heather, and of the spider at the cave's mouth
+teaching its beautiful lesson to the Bruce within; but the picture
+remains only a picture unless the spider of the boy's imagination is
+taught to run lines connecting every point of the picture with his
+geography lesson and his garden weeding. Far too many war stories are
+told in our Sunday-schools. They do not build up very rapidly the
+Christian soldier. Far too many illustrations are drawn from what is
+wrongly called the distinctive "heroic age" of the world. Not thus is
+the Christian hero furnished for his nineteenth-century toils.
+
+A similar remark is to be made regarding illustrations from science.
+They must not be permitted to detract from or exclude the practical
+application. If we are teaching our boys and girls how all things work
+together for good to those that love God, we may use the illustration of
+the rainbow, explaining that it is on the very raindrops of the storm
+itself that God paints his wonderful symbol of hope and trust. That is
+poetical and true, but the lesson remains as misty as the rainbow itself
+unless you go on to show your scholars how the lame boy among them gets
+more time for study on account of his lameness, how the boy who has been
+sick has learned far more than he knew before about the love of his dear
+ones and about the great Physician, how the boy who has had to leave
+school and go to work is none the less getting a priceless schooling in
+patience and determination and energy and faithfulness.
+
+Many of these practical illustrations you may by questions draw out
+from the boys themselves. "Blessed are the peacemakers." Call for
+stories of boyish quarrels settled by some boy Solon. That is better
+than telling about the Massachusetts boards of arbitration in strikes.
+"My cup runneth over." Draw out a list of their own boyish blessings,
+which are more to them than those of any saint or psalmist.
+
+But especially this practical application, to be successful, must be
+the work of a consecrated imagination. A Sunday-school teacher must
+think himself into the lives of others. "Bear ye one another's
+burdens." Now don't rake up from your encyclopedias the story of St.
+Christopher, beautiful as it is, and try to twist it into an
+illustration of the text. No. Ask the bright scholar what he does to
+help his duller friends understand the knotty problems at school. Ask
+the merry boys what they do when mother is tired amusing the baby. Ask
+the selfish boy what a lad that greatly wanted a new sled could do to
+help his father bear his burden of poverty.
+
+To get these applications you have had to "put yourself in his place,"
+to picture to your mind your scholars' joys and sorrows, desires and
+disappointments, hopes and fears, labor and play. And in the process,
+and as its result, have come two rewards that no thumbing of
+dictionaries of biography, and manuals of mythology, and encyclopedias
+of illustrations, could ever give. You have come closer to the lives
+of your scholars, and you have drawn those lives closer to the
+present, practical Christ.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI
+
+Righteous Padding
+
+
+It is marvelous how rich in suggestion all passages of the Bible are
+to the thoughtful, studious mind. It is no less marvelous how bare and
+barren the wealthiest portions become when filtered through a bare and
+barren mind.
+
+Truth is valuable only as it is _extended_ into life. "Blessed are the
+pure in heart, for they shall see God"; that means to the child very
+little, packed into this condensed form. But let the teacher set about
+_extending_ that blessed truth. Let him picture a man, cross, ugly,
+besotted, selfish, greedy, his heart all rotten with passion and
+pride. Go through a day with him, from the sullen greetings in the
+morning and his breakfast-table quarrels, through his business hours
+all stern and crabbed, to his morose and unlovely evening. Ask the
+children how much he sees and enjoys of the beautiful world, how much
+he gets from noble books, what perception he has of the character of
+his charming wife and children. He is blind to all these things. Why?
+Because of his impure heart.
+
+Show how this baseness follows him to church, holds him down from
+praying, weights his songs, dulls his vision of spiritual things. Ask
+them how it will be at death, when he goes out of this world with a
+soul taught to see only money and self. _How can he see God?_
+
+Then go on to tell them of their loving, gentle-hearted mothers, and
+how much good _they_ can see in this world, in their friends, in their
+children, because their hearts are unselfish and pure. How easily they
+pray. How cheerily they sing. How near God is to them. Will there be
+any difficulty in _their_ seeing God in the next world, when they can
+see so much of him in this?
+
+You have made quite a sermon out of that text. It has been extended
+largely, and yet the meaning of it has merely begun to dawn on those
+childish minds.
+
+Suppose you had taught it in this way: "Verse eight. Read it, Tommy.
+Now, who are blessed, Mary? And why are they blessed, Willie? Now
+don't forget that, children. Pay attention. Always remember it. The
+pure in heart see God. Why should we be pure in heart, Lucy? And how
+can we see God, Susy? Now don't forget it, children. Pay attention.
+Always remember it. The pure in heart see God. What have we learned in
+this verse, Lizzie? Yes, that's right. You all want to be pure in
+heart, children, now don't you? Why? Yes, that's right. I see you
+have paid attention." But they haven't, as any such teacher may find
+out by a question next Sunday.
+
+A teacher of children must learn the art of righteous padding. He must
+learn how to fill in outlines, how to expand texts. He must illustrate
+with imagery, parable, allegory, personal experience, use of material
+objects, pictures, action of the children.
+
+Especially valuable is the last, when it can be used. The teacher's
+cry for attention might well be translated into the highwayman's,
+"Hold up your hands." At any rate, if you can manage to keep them busy
+with their hands, you have their eyes, tongues, and brains.
+
+Set them to hunting up verses in their Bibles. You will have the
+experience of a friend of mine who came to me once after trying it,
+and despairingly said that the children now wanted to do nothing else.
+Nearly every verse can be illustrated by a stanza from some common
+song. Get the children to sing it softly, first making them see how
+the song fits the Bible. Make liberal use of concert repetition of
+Bible verses. There is nothing better than this good old device for
+unifying and freshening the attention of a class.
+
+And pictures. Teachers do not yet know one-tenth of the teaching power
+of pictures. Take the Twenty-third Psalm for a familiar example. "The
+shepherd, want, green pastures, lie down, leadeth me, still waters,
+the paths of righteousness, the valley of the shadow, thy rod and
+staff, a table prepared, mine enemies, anointing, cup runneth over,
+the house of the Lord"--as you read that list did not fourteen
+pictures rise at once in your mind? Find them, and show them to the
+children. They will pay even better attention to your printed pictures
+than to your word-pictures.
+
+Experience will soon teach the teacher, if his eyes are open, the need
+of copious illustration. Astronomers tell us that it is very difficult
+to see the smallest objects visible to us in the sky, if they are in
+the form of little dots. They may have dimensions very much smaller
+and still be visible easily, if they are extended into lines of light.
+So with the points of our lessons. They will miss attention entirely
+or gain it with difficulty, while they remain merely points. We must
+extend them, by the use of consecrated wits.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXII
+
+The Sunday-School and the Newspaper
+
+
+On several pages of this book I have hinted at the use of the
+newspaper in our teaching; but the theme deserves a chapter to itself.
+An up-to-date teacher is respected, and it is largely the newspaper
+that brings one up to date. We must put our lessons into touch with
+life, and the newspaper is our modern compendium of life--very faulty,
+but all we have. The best illustration of the lesson is one your
+scholars find; the next best, one you find yourself; and only the
+third best, one found for you by the skilful writers of your lesson
+helps. The newspapers are mines of original illustrations.
+
+They constitute, for example, a magazine of warnings. Hardly a number
+but tells of a defalcation sprung from gambling, of the ruin
+accomplished by the theater and dance-hall, of the mischief caused by
+sensational literature, and everywhere and always of the rum-fiend's
+devilish work. Why Saul fell, and David, and Solomon,--your scholars
+must know that; but their sense of the reality of sin and its fearful
+power will be deepened by noting the fall of men and women in this
+present world, and learning what brought shipwreck to their souls. A
+misplaced switch last week threw a train from the track and killed a
+man. What a warning against carelessness! Early Wednesday morning a
+drunken woman was found asleep on an ash-pile, her little girl sobbing
+by her side. What a lesson on the evil wrought by rum! Of all the sins
+and faults against which the Bible utters its great warnings, there is
+none we may not illustrate freshly and vividly from the newspaper.
+
+But that is only half, and the lower half. By sharp search we may find
+in our papers many a thrilling example of heroism and noble service.
+Would that our reporters more frequently chronicled the good! Yet here
+is a fire at which a fireman risked his life to save a little child.
+And here is a cashier that braved death rather than open the safe for
+the robbers. And here is a lad whose shoulder was dislocated by
+stopping a runaway horse. And here is a heroic rescue of men and women
+from a shipwreck. We do not get from the newspaper the daily acts of
+devotion and faithfulness so honored in the eye of heaven; but we do
+get the splendid deeds, the stirring, romantic victories, that will
+move the girls and boys to knightly action.
+
+Newspapers, too, give an outlook over the world. The confining walls
+melt away, and your lesson takes wide sweeps under a broad sky. Every
+session of Congress considers many matters of the highest import for
+the kingdom of God. Our great offices are filled with men of strong
+character, acting out upon a grand scale lives potent for good or
+evil. In the lands across the seas great events are occurring, each
+exhibiting some phase of godliness or sin. You will exalt the gospel
+mightily in the minds of your scholars if you can show them how its
+principles solve the problems of our government, and underlie all wise
+action of the nations of the world.
+
+It has already been indicated how the temperance lesson, that
+quarterly bugbear of some teachers, may be illuminated by the
+newspaper. Thus also may the missionary lesson. So profoundly do
+missions affect any nation they touch, and so closely are they
+interwoven with its life, that whatever of importance befalls any
+people has its missionary bearings. The Sultan cannot massacre the
+Armenians, or France seize Madagascar, or Japan fight China, or Hawaii
+depose its queen, or a revolution occur in South America, without
+entanglement with the omnipresent missionaries of the cross. To make
+the scholars feel this through wise references to current events is
+immensely to broaden their conception of the church and its work.
+
+Even beyond all this, our newspapers afford the teacher a vast supply of
+illustrative material. There are the carefully prepared biographies of
+the great men and women that pass away, printed with their portraits.
+There are sketches of the lives of living celebrities, with pictures of
+their faces and their homes. There are lectures and sermons, sometimes
+admirably reported, giving in a few bright paragraphs the gist of an
+hour's discourse. There are thousands of poems by the best modern
+authors. There are appropriate editorial comments on all the holidays,
+Christmas and New Year's, Easter and Memorial Day, Thanksgiving and the
+Fourth of July. There are accounts of the latest wonderful inventions,
+each a pointed parable to one with eyes and a brain. And, with all its
+pictorial enormities, the newspaper often contains a portrait or a
+sketch worth using in our lesson half-hour.
+
+In all this I am taking for granted, of course, that you subscribe to
+no sensational abomination, but to the best of our standard sheets,
+even if you must get it from some other city than your own. It must be
+a paper so clean that you can occasionally hand a copy to your
+scholars, and fearlessly set them to "reading up" on some theme
+helpful to the lesson. Besides, it must not be forgotten that our best
+religious weeklies are now genuine newspapers as well, and furnish
+admirable comments upon all important current events.
+
+To use the newspaper to the best advantage in your teaching, you must
+have well in mind all the lesson themes for months in advance, since a
+striking event of to-day might not illustrate this week's lesson, but
+the lesson of five weeks ahead. Your best plan is to cut out each day
+the paragraphs and articles that seem likely to be of use, and
+preserve them in a series of envelopes. Mark one set of envelopes
+with the topics and dates of a year's lessons. Let another set contain
+the clippings arranged by subjects, as: "Love," "Faith," "Temperance,"
+"Missions," "Theater," "Heroism," "Inventions." These will contain
+poems as well as prose. Some, rather than classify the bits of
+biography under the characteristics especially prominent in each case,
+will prefer to arrange them alphabetically, in a separate set of
+twenty-six envelopes. As the envelope for each week's lesson is used,
+distribute its contents through your permanent file. Frequently glance
+over your clippings to refresh your memory concerning them; otherwise
+they will become so much dead wood.
+
+Not an unimportant result of all this is that it will teach your
+scholars to read the newspaper as a Christian should. In this great
+American university our scholars should be taught to skip the courses
+in evil and elect those in goodness.
+
+And a final word,--which, indeed, no teacher is likely to need, though
+it must be said: keep the whole matter subordinate. It is not proposed
+to turn our Sunday-schools into classes for the study of current
+events. We have to do with one Life, and with that alone. We are
+teaching not all kinds of truth, but him who is the Truth. Whatever we
+admit into our teaching that does not exalt him and throw light on his
+life and doctrine is a harmful impertinence. We are not to study the
+lamp, but the Book that lies beneath it.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIII
+
+On Taking Things for Granted
+
+
+The cliff-scaler, who lowers his comrade down the precipice, does not
+take for granted the fastening around the tree or the stoutness of the
+rope; but the Sunday-school teacher too often throws his young people
+into the treacherous depths of thought and life with little care for
+their life-rope's integrity or moorings. More than once or twice or
+thrice in my own experience, after weeks and months of supposedly
+thorough intercourse with my scholars, an awkward question, better
+aimed by Heaven than by myself, has disclosed some fatal doubt, some
+fundamental misconception. I had been taking for granted that my boy
+really believed Christ to be divine, or that he had at least the
+beginnings of a conception of the Saviour's mission to the earth, or
+that he knew by experience the meaning of prayer, or that he actually
+had confidence in a future life.
+
+I have in mind a fine, thoughtful fellow, graduate of a famous college
+and a church-member, whose very thoughtfulness, and the knowledge of
+his religious activity in former years, led me, when he entered my
+class, to take for granted his Christianity. After weeks of teaching,
+it was only a chance question, in private conversation, that led him
+to the frank admission that skeptical college friends had absolutely
+destroyed his faith in Christ and the Bible, leaving him with only a
+sad and bewildered hold on the God of nature. What Sunday-school
+teacher has not been startled thus with disclosures of his own
+carelessness in taking things for granted?
+
+It is a mistake constantly to advertise skepticism by warning our
+scholars against it, but it is no mistake to arm them against it. No
+teacher has mastered his lesson until he has mastered every doubt
+regarding it that any of his scholars is likely to entertain. "Will
+this punishment seem unjust? this event fabulous? this person
+mythical? this doctrine unreasonable? this miracle unreal? this author
+apocryphal? these men and women mere creatures of imagination?" Such
+questions as these are important for the teacher to consider,--_to
+consider_, not ask in the class. Because to the teacher the account is
+more true and vivid than an extract from yesterday's newspaper, he
+takes it for granted that his scholars so regard it. They may put the
+lesson story in the same category as Baron Munchausen or "The Ancient
+Mariner," and such a teacher would be none the wiser.
+
+I know of nothing _in the way of study_ that is so capable of firing a
+Sunday-school teacher and class as Christian evidences. Remember that
+this also is a study of the Bible. Why is it ordinarily thought so
+dull? It is full of snap and point. Professor Fisher's short "Manual
+of Christian Evidences," published by Charles Scribner's Sons at
+seventy-five cents, stands next to my Bible as an aid and inspiration
+in teaching that Bible. I keep several copies, and all of them are
+usually in the hands of earnest scholars. Often when they are returned
+the compliment is, "That book helped me so much that I have bought a
+copy of my own." That means the conversion of a doubting Thomas.
+"Why!" exclaimed one such reader, "I never knew before that there was
+anything to prove Christianity but the Bible, or anything but the
+Bible to prove the Bible."
+
+A teacher that is not in the habit of questioning persistently and
+searchingly can have no idea of the depth and at the same time the
+shallowness of the religious thinking of the average scholar. Far too
+many teachers prove everything by quoting the inspired Bible, taking
+it for granted that their scholars accept the Bible as inspired; or by
+referring to our divine Saviour, taking it for granted that their
+scholars believe Christ to be a divine Saviour. Our scholars are more
+shrewd than that. Their answers will be proper, but skepticism often
+lurks beneath, ready to spring up in open infidelity, secret scorn, or
+fruitless, formal morality.
+
+Skepticism should never be anticipated, but it should _never_ be
+neglected. It should never be dealt with before the class, if it can
+be dealt with in private. But it is a teacher's first duty to _know_
+the great truths of Christianity, and know _why_ he knows them. It is
+his second duty to make certain that each of his scholars knows them,
+_and can prove them_.
+
+"But we cannot cover the ground without taking things for granted."
+_Cover the ground!_ Superficial area, and superficial teaching!
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIV
+
+Utilizing the Late Scholar
+
+
+The late scholar is no blessing, and yet he is far from an unmixed
+evil. The wise teacher will get all the good he can out of him.
+
+Of course, he is to be transformed into the early scholar, care being
+taken lest by mistake he be transformed into the scholar absent
+altogether. And during this process of transformation there is a small
+harvest of advantage to be tended.
+
+Let his entrance be a danger signal. Don't act mad. Of course, the
+electric current of interest is flowing by this time, or never, and
+the late scholar rudely breaks it. But never mind. Better the total
+loss of your scholars' interest in the lesson than the loss of their
+respect for you.
+
+Remember, too, that there may be a good excuse,--even late coming may
+mean earnest endeavor,--and premature impatience in such case will
+cause you dismayed repentance.
+
+The late scholar cannot be ignored; don't try it. Sometimes we
+fiercely attempt to finish our sentences, or get answers to our last
+questions. The late scholar is a potent and aggressive fact, and
+cannot be got rid of in that way.
+
+No. Accept the situation promptly and sensibly. Stop short at once,
+and greet the late comer heartily. Don't let him sneak into a back
+seat, but set him in the midst. See that he has a Bible or a lesson
+paper. Incorporate him. Then proceed thriftily to utilize him. He is
+your opportunity for a review. You probably need one at this stage of
+the lesson, anyway. Here is your chance for gathering up loose ends
+and binding all the truths thus far taught in a compact whole.
+
+You may do it in this way: "Before you came in, Charley, we were
+talking about Christ's command to lay up treasures, not on earth, but
+in heaven. We've been deciding what some of the earth-treasures are.
+We've agreed that they include money and clothes and houses and
+studies and friends, and that we mustn't win any of these in such a
+way that they will belong merely to earth. You see? And now, class,
+can any one think of another earth-treasure?"
+
+Or you may do it in this way: "Here's Charley. John, will you please
+tell him what we talked about at the beginning of the lesson? That's
+good. And Bess, tell him, please, what conclusion we have come to thus
+far. That's right. And now let us go on."
+
+Similarly, all through the lesson, the late scholar may be your excuse
+for bringing up points mentioned at the opening of the hour, and
+needing repetition. "Something was said at the start which bears on that
+matter, and Charley wasn't here. Ned, please tell him what that was."
+
+Bring him into the electric circle by a question as soon as you can. But
+remember that it takes time for him to become charged with interest and
+understanding as fully as the rest, and ask him easy questions at first,
+or, perhaps better, call on him to read a verse or two.
+
+The late scholar's exit is fraught with as much danger as his entrance.
+You must utilize that also. Let your questioning be jolly and indirect:
+"Too much sleep this morning, Billy?" "Sorry, Ellen, that you couldn't
+start in with us"; "Some good points you missed at the opening, Fred."
+
+If rightly used, this is an opportunity for learning of some need or
+temptation that besets your scholar. She may be lazy. He may be too
+fond of sleep. She may keep too late hours. He may be led astray by
+the Sunday morning papers. They may fail to see the value of the
+opening prayer and songs. You get fresh insight into their characters.
+
+When Nature heals a broken bone, she makes it the stronger for the
+break. And so, though the late scholar seem to fracture sadly the
+interest of the lesson, the wise teacher will know how to mend the
+matter in such shrewd fashion as to knit the whole class more firmly
+together.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXV
+
+Side-Tracking the Teacher
+
+
+Even the poorest teacher has a right to the course he has marked out
+for himself; even the smartest scholar has no right to side-track him.
+
+Some scholars side-track their teacher merely to show that they
+understand how to use the switch; others do it by simply fooling with
+the switch, in pure carelessness and thoughtlessness; others really
+wish to bring the teacher nearer some private interest of their own.
+
+Their motive must determine your treatment of them,--whether it is to
+be the bruskness that rebukes conceit, the firm patience that resists
+carelessness, or the considerate postponement of questions that are
+prompted by a need.
+
+But so far as its effect on the lesson is concerned, it makes no
+difference whether the teacher is side-tracked by a switch of gold or
+one of brass,--the lesson is "held up," and often permanently.
+
+It is not always easy to tell when these question-switches are open,
+and when they are closed,--when they will side-track you, and when
+they will merely salute you with a friendly rattle and let you pass;
+the tokens are not so definite as on the red and white faces of the
+switch indicator. And yet you cannot engineer your class far without
+wrecking it, if you do not learn to read these question indicators,
+and tell at a glance whither they will send you.
+
+But what is the use of reading them, if you are to be at their mercy
+anyway? How shall we circumvent these mischief-making switchers?
+
+Some would abruptly take away their switch-keys, and practically
+dismiss them from the force; that is, they would prohibit questioning
+altogether. But this is capitulating to the problem. Some would swing
+smilingly off upon the side-track, as if they had intended to go
+there. But that is surrendering their preparation. Some would rush
+precipitately into the side-track and through it, expecting to find at
+the other end a switch back to the main track. But thus the lesson is
+usually derailed.
+
+On the railroad, of course, there is authority; but in the
+Sunday-school the less appeal to authority the better. No, the
+likeness, to a large extent, stops here; for in the Sunday-school the
+only way to deal with a scholar who side-tracks the train is to win
+him by friendly arts to become your helper rather than your hinderer.
+
+In the first place, many a lesson is side-tracked because the main
+track is not made sufficiently plain to the scholars' apprehension.
+When the lesson winds like a snake, with a purpose known only to the
+teacher (if to him), small blame to the scholars if they switch it off
+the wrong way by a question. Strike out in a bee-line at the start,
+and stick to it. No one will then ignorantly side-track you.
+
+In the second place, many a lesson is side-tracked because the teacher
+does not act as if he cared whether he ever arrived anywhere or not.
+Lackadaisical in manner and matter, his carelessness provokes equal
+carelessness in his scholars. Let him, on the other hand, appear to be
+eagerly on the scent of some truth, on the track of some fact,
+following the path of some event or demonstration, and his scholars
+will, in the main, be "forth and right on" with him.
+
+In the third place, many a lesson is side-tracked because the scholars
+are not on the side of the teacher. Of course, when the two parties
+are at cross-purposes, things run no more evenly than they would if
+the engineer of a train were out of touch with his crew. The teacher
+must get up an _esprit de corps_, a class spirit, or his class will be
+perpetually flying off from him on a tangent. His scholars must be
+interested in him, if they are to be interested with him. He must draw
+them to himself, or they will never pull together. Friendship in his
+crew must take the place of authority in the railroad crew; and the
+more friendship, the less side-tracking.
+
+In the fourth place, there must be frankness of speech. A misplaced
+switch on a railway, if it provoked no further collision, would at
+least provoke a clash of words. There is no reason why, if a question
+is too far aside from the main purpose of the lesson, the teacher
+should not frankly say so. He may lay it away in his mind for later
+discussion; he may promise to talk it over after the session; but no
+fear of being thought incompetent, or unsympathetic, or arbitrary,
+should induce him to turn aside from his one purpose. The wise teacher
+will make many exceptions, of course, to every rule; but nevertheless,
+a rule of the wise teacher it must be, to say to every irrelevant
+question, kindly and tactfully, yet firmly, "Get thee behind me." For
+the half-hour is all too short. The impressions made are all too
+confused. The instruction given is all too fragmentary. However wise
+and earnest the individual moments may be, there is danger that the
+half-hour may pass into oblivion at once, unless these individual
+moments have been wise and earnest to some single, distinct end.
+
+There is a place for switches in our Sunday-school lesson. The train
+must be made up. Side excursions must often be made. There are sundry
+connecting lines whose cars must be switched in. But in genuine
+Sunday-school railroading there must be no delay upon side-tracks. Let
+all teachers, as far as possible, run express.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVI
+
+The Problem of the Visitor
+
+
+The analogy for the class-building of some teachers is the arch. Every
+scholar is needed in his place, or the class-work collapses; and of
+course there is no room for a visitor. The analogy for the true class
+is the electric circle. Join hands all around, and ever room and
+electricity for one more.
+
+I do not mean to imply that the visitor is not a problem. He is an
+intrusion on your familiar little group. He is a foreign and
+constraining element. He is a problem, however, that you cannot get
+rid of, but must solve.
+
+Utilize the visitor. Go to work in such way as to transform him into a
+scholar; or if circumstances forbid that, at any rate win from his
+visit fresh interest and inspiration for the class. Every visitor is
+an angel of opportunity, entertained--how often!--unawares.
+
+Let your reception of the visitor be to your class an object-lesson in
+Christian courtesy. If he comes in alone, and awkwardly drops into a
+distant seat, do not wait for the busy superintendent to get around to
+him. If he is of fit age for your class, drop everything,--the most
+valuable lesson you could be teaching is not so valuable as this
+practical example,--and go to the stranger. Introduce yourself
+cordially to him, and him to the rest of the class, or, at any rate,
+to his neighbors.
+
+Sometimes resign the pleasure of seeking the visitor yourself, and
+send some persuasive scholar, thus letting him have a taste of the joy
+of giving invitations. Possibly it will help him into the habit of
+giving invitations outside.
+
+Get your scholars to hand the visitor a lesson leaf or a Bible. Show
+them that he is their visitor as well as yours. They will soon learn
+to be delightfully courteous. But an iceberg teacher makes an iceberg
+class.
+
+And now you are on trial before your class. They will judge you by the
+interest or the apathy of the visitor. They are watching him, ready to
+be ashamed or proud of you.
+
+Yet do not fear your visitor. He may come from a better school and a
+better teacher. He may be critical and sneering and skeptical.
+Nevertheless, he is your opportunity. Rejoice in it.
+
+If he is a better scholar than any in your class, what a valuable and
+inspiring example he may be made to them! If a poorer scholar, what an
+opportunity to make your class feel the joy and power of teaching some
+one!
+
+If he is sneering and critical, the indignation of the class will bind
+them more enthusiastically to you. If he is skeptical, what a chance
+for examining and strengthening foundations!
+
+The visitor is a mine of new ideas and experiences. Old thoughts take
+on novel forms when fitted to him. His questions and answers exhibit
+needs in your own class, unobserved because unfamiliar. His ways and
+words freshen the stagnant class atmosphere.
+
+And so he is your chance to get out of ruts and into new ways and
+moods. Bless Providence for him, and question him vigorously, making
+use of him to the utmost.
+
+Two cautions, however. Let your questioning be very clear. He is
+unused, remember, to your little mannerisms, and must not be confused
+by idiosyncrasies. And in your exultation over him do not neglect the
+others, nor seem to change your plans for the visitor, or to be
+striving to show off before him.
+
+Final advantage of the visitor: Teach your scholars to ask him heartily
+to come again, not forgetting to do so cordially yourself. Committees on
+church extension, remember, are trained in the Sunday-school.
+
+Thus you see that the value of the visitor does not depend upon the
+visitor so much as might be imagined. Yet just a word on how to visit
+well.
+
+Go to give good. Take hearty interest in the lesson, and have some
+thought to add to the discussion. Better yet, have some earnest
+question to ask. And ask it. If you come from another school,
+consider yourself a Christian ambassador bearing greetings of
+brotherly good will and common endeavor.
+
+Go to get good. Be unobtrusive and teachable. And especially, show
+that you have received good. Express appreciation, after the lesson,
+to teacher and scholars. Then will you be blessed, and, changing the
+meaning of the word "visitation," these words from the Wisdom of
+Solomon may be applied to you: "In the time of their visitation they
+shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVII
+
+"Under Petticoat Government"
+
+
+One of the brightest women in the United States, a woman well known to
+the Protestant churches of the world, was groaning to me the other
+day: "What _shall_ I do with those boys in my Sunday-school class?
+They are just at the age when they think they know a little more than
+any _woman_. They need a man. Don't you think the superintendent ought
+to remove them from under petticoat government?"
+
+This cry, that came so strangely from a woman of her ability and fame,
+comes also from a throng of baffled Sunday-school teachers. The answer
+would be easy, if there were anything like as many good Sunday-school
+teachers among the men as among the women. As it is, however, most boy
+classes must be assigned either to a distasteful petticoat government,
+or to an incompetent pantaloon government, or--cast adrift until, long
+years afterward, they drop anchor in the haven of matrimony, and
+happily, perchance, appear once more in the Sunday-school, in the
+"Bible class."
+
+The remedy, however, though not easy, is manifest. The boys do not
+need a man, but they do need in their teacher certain manly qualities
+that could be incorporated in a woman's teaching. These qualities all
+women whom the Lord of the Sunday-school has set over a class of his
+boys, should seek to get.
+
+The most obvious of them, I think, is a certain dignity and reserve
+that show themselves as well in refraining from scolding as in
+declining to pat on the head or hold by the hand. Boys of the
+undefinable age we are talking about highly appreciate the title "Mr."
+Their greatest horror is petting; their greatest aversion is nagging.
+A young man, set to teach a class of boys, will approach them with a
+sense of comradeship; will at once make himself, if he is a teacher at
+all, "hail fellow well met" among them; and yet, as the boys say,
+"there is no nonsense about him."
+
+It is far better--bad as that is--to talk over the heads of boys than to
+talk down to them. It is far better to use too few words than too many.
+If a teacher would hold boys, she must be concise, straightforward,
+businesslike. Indeed, the latter adjective comes near to being the key
+to the situation. Boys dislike fussiness, and wordiness, and beating
+about the bush. Woman teachers that are eager for boys' souls will take
+a long step toward their astonished approbation if they school
+themselves to brevity, dignity, and "business."
+
+Set the boys to work. Imitate common-school methods. In the public
+school woman teachers hold the boys, and win their honest hearts. It is
+largely because here there are definiteness of purpose and firm
+continuity of aim. Boys are easily mastered by a taskmaster who is
+master of her task. Boys that cannot be won by Sunday-school preaching
+are readily won by Sunday-school _teaching_. Lay down a distinct course
+of work, with a goal in fair view, and they will gird up the loins of
+their minds; but they refuse to follow you in aimless wanderings through
+a thicket. To learn in chronological order the seventy-five prominent
+events in Christ's life; to trace through the Bible the doctrine of the
+atonement; to commit to memory every Scripture passage bearing on the
+temperance problem; to write a six-hundred-word abstract of the Book of
+Genesis; to make a classification of the Psalms by topics; to compile
+the Bible proverbs that have to do with money and wealth-getting; to
+make a diagram graphically depicting the history of the Old Testament
+Hebrews; to write out the Ten Commandments, and place in parallel
+columns the New Testament enlargements and interpretations
+thereof,--these are samples of the work boys would like to do. They
+would give high praise to a teacher who conducted them through such
+tasks. They would say that she "meant business."
+
+And that leads me to mention another point in which woman teachers are
+more likely than men to fail, though both are far too weak,--the use
+of evidence, of proof. This is a hobby of mine, but it is the boys
+themselves, and recollections of my own boyhood, that have set me on
+the hobby. Wherever a thing is susceptible of proof, boys want it
+proved to them. If it is not susceptible of proof, they want _that_
+proved to them, also. Woman's traditional "because" does not commend
+itself to the lawyerlike boys. Fresh from their botany in the public
+schools, they refuse to take on faith the Cana miracle. Ready for
+their physiology or physics the next day, they want more proof than a
+"say so" that a leper was ever healed by a word or that Peter really
+walked on the waves. "It is in the Bible" is not enough; they must
+know why they must believe the Bible.
+
+Now I am not so foolish as to advise any one to suggest skepticism to
+a boy, and I know that there is a way of handling Scripture evidences
+that serves rather to raise doubt than to confirm faith; but I have
+enough of the boy in me to be sure that in no way can a teacher more
+highly exalt both herself and Christianity in the eyes of the boys
+than by insisting on the reasonableness of both. I had the best of
+Sunday-school teachers, quite a score of them, women and men; yet
+until full manhood I wrestled all alone with a concealed and absolute
+skepticism that would not down until I had hunted out for myself the
+many overwhelming proofs of the resurrection of Christ. If any of my
+twenty teachers had set those proofs with lawyerlike force and
+directness before my boyish mind, I should have been saved some very
+dark years that came near making an infidel of me altogether. Because
+I think that boys feel this need of proof and evidence more than
+girls, and that women are less ready to meet the need than men, I have
+ventured to add this suggestion to my list.
+
+And that list may close with only one point further. Boys like to be
+taught by men, because through men they get a telescope-view into the
+life-work that lies before them. Men teachers draw their illustrations
+from mannish things, from business life, from inventions, from politics,
+from commerce, from the law. Where a woman might illustrate dishonesty
+by apple-stealing, thereby causing every urchin before her to exclaim
+"Chestnut!" under his breath, a man would be more likely to make some
+discussion about watering stock or falsifying entries. A man is more
+likely than a woman to render Scripture vivid and practical by reference
+to current events, dropping a word here and there about the war between
+China and Japan, about Gladstone's retirement, about the Manitoba school
+question, about the Honduras lottery,--just a word, but the boys prick
+up their ears. A woman might compare Gideon with David, but a man would
+be far more likely to compare him with Parkhurst.
+
+And now my point is that the boy needs both,--both David and
+Parkhurst. There is no reason why the woman teacher cannot give the
+boy everything he could get from a man teacher, and more. It is easy
+to appear to a boy quite a Solon regarding current events. It is not
+so very hard, by the exercise of a consecrated imagination, to place
+yourself by the boy's side on the outskirts of the great, wide world
+of busy activities he is soon to enter, and feel his impatience to be
+there and his hunger for any tidings from that charmed country. Show
+him how Christianity untangles the skeins of business, is the
+master-key to all true politics, the foundation of law, the compass of
+commerce, the force of civilization. Read the newspapers wisely, and
+find out what is going on in the world. Read wisely the hearts of your
+boys, and find out what is going on in that world. Lift manfully over
+both worlds the banner of Christ.
+
+One point at a time, with cheerful persistence, the teacher that
+"means business" will win for her teaching these adaptations to the
+needs of her boys. And in the process, losing nothing of womanliness,
+she will have nobly broadened her own life, while as its result she
+will have won a double hold, both a woman's hold and a man's hold, on
+the hearts of the boys.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVIII
+
+The Teacher's Three Graces
+
+
+The teacher's manner must be heart-born. It must not become mannerism,
+which is head-born, and never reaches hearts. "Manner maketh the man,"
+and also the teacher,--half-way, at least. If we suspect, however, that
+our manner is defective, the manner itself is the last thing to look at;
+we must look at our heart. That is the place to get the change.
+
+Three heart qualities produce the ideal teacher's manner. One of these
+is _earnestness_. If you would make on your scholars an impression
+that will last beyond the hour, you yourself must be deeply impressed
+with the eternal years. To move their life, keep before you their
+death. That is hard to do, when confronted by such abounding youthful
+vigor and vitality. Become an advocate, a pleader, with eternal life
+as the stake. Learn to know deeply the great central truths of sin,
+atonement, sanctification. Aim at radical and positive results in
+confession, testimony, spirituality, character, and conduct, and press
+toward these as the genuine verdict on your teaching.
+
+The second quality is _cheeriness_. We are prophets of awful
+alternatives, but we are also ministers of the most blessed joy.
+Happiness is the best recommendation of Christianity. In it center all
+the Christian evidences. Learn by heart all the promises; they are
+better teaching weapons than the prohibitions and warnings. Keep a
+smile very close to the surface, and improve every fair chance to
+laugh. The teacher that is in earnest, need never be afraid to be
+merry. Permit no exaggeration of the facts of wickedness, either in
+them or in others. The more stormy the day and the fewer in
+attendance, the cheerier be you.
+
+The third quality is _sympathy_. The true teacher has, or gets, the
+poet's ability to project himself into the lives of others. He keeps
+invisible, tactful antennae playing in all directions, feeling this
+one's coming embarrassment before it arrives, conscious of that one's
+eager assent before it lights his eyes, exploring homes and
+occupations and character in order to adapt question to scholar.
+Without argument or plan, but by instinctive appreciation of differing
+personality, the true teacher assumes dignity with this pupil,
+_bonhomie_ with that. So far is he from treating all alike, that he
+never treats even the same person in the same way two days in
+succession, knowing, by feeling rather than theory, that no
+one--especially no child--is the same person two days in succession.
+
+These are the teacher's three graces: earnestness, born of faith and
+unsatisfied until it has inspired an equal faith; cheeriness, born of
+hope, and hope-creating; and sympathy, born of love, which is the
+greatest of all. These in the heart blossom outwardly into the perfect
+teaching manner,--earnestness to arrest, cheeriness to attract, and
+sympathy to hold. "Covet earnestly the _best_ gifts."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIX
+
+Something to Belong to
+
+
+I believe in the organization of Sunday-school classes, because it
+fosters class spirit. If it is a good thing to have a class, it is a
+good thing for the class to have a spirit. This class spirit should
+promote the school spirit, just as the _esprit de corps_ of a company
+enhances the loyalty of soldiers to their regiment.
+
+When a scholar has signed a constitution, he feels that he belongs to
+the school. Lacking this feeling, he will not be long with the school
+or with anything else.
+
+In the simple constitution of my class (which is a class of young men)
+are provisions for a porch, a lookout, and a social committee.
+
+The porch committee watches the morning congregation for strange young
+men, and invites them to come to Sunday-school. The lookout committee
+seeks throughout town and church for permanent additions to the class,
+whom, through its chairman, it proposes for membership. This is a
+great gain. When a teacher urges people to join his class he is
+inviting them to the gospel, certainly, but he is also inviting them
+to himself. In the first cause he is as bold as a lion, but in the
+second many a modest soul is naturally, even though foolishly,
+bashful. Happy the teacher whose scholars are zealous in this vital
+service, for him so delicate and for them so blessed!
+
+The voting in of new members, with the subsequent producing of the
+constitution for signatures, is a little ceremony as useful for the
+old scholars in reminding them of their class autonomy as it is
+inspiring to the new scholars. A hearty word of welcome from the
+teacher to the new-comers gives them a formal and public installation.
+They have indeed taken on themselves a new function.
+
+The social committee will greatly add to the efficiency of any class.
+Monthly class socials are genuine means of grace. Our socials are thus
+managed: Each social has a solid backbone, consisting of a paper or
+talk by some member of the class, detailing little-known points in his
+own business. Of a neighboring class similarly organized, one is a
+young architect, another works in a rope-walk, a third holds an
+important position in a newspaper office, a fourth is in the leather
+business, the teacher of the class is a judge. Utilizing the
+experiences of their own members and friends, this class has held
+quite remarkable socials. It has found the contribution of the clerk
+in a furniture store as interesting as that of the young banker. The
+class have been wonderfully knit together by the bonds of a common
+and a widening interest. After these papers or talks (which are often
+appropriately illustrated), come discussion and questions, followed by
+games or light refreshments. By occasional joint socials of this kind
+we hope to draw together this class and my own. Of course, this is
+only one out of a myriad schemes of entertainment that could be
+devised for these class socials. The point the shrewd teacher will
+notice is that it is the scholars themselves who plan these socials,
+and who thus take into their own hands the creation of a warm, helpful
+class atmosphere. Every teacher should know that in making new
+scholars feel at home it is hardly his own sociability, but that of
+his scholars, that counts.
+
+If the class is thus organized, the teacher must guard the authority
+of his class president as jealously as his own. If you want your class
+officers to feel genuine responsibility, it must be genuine
+responsibility that you put upon them. Give up to the president,
+during the conduct of business, your place in front of the class. Wait
+to be recognized by him before you speak. Make few motions. Inspire
+others to take the initiative.
+
+The election of officers should come every six months, and it is best
+to bring about a thorough rotation in office. Improve every chance to
+emphasize the class organization. If your school arrangements permit,
+vote every month on the disposal of the class collections. If you must
+be absent a Sunday, ask the class to elect a substitute teacher, and
+ask the president to inform the substitute of his election. An
+alternate should be chosen also, to make the thing sure. This little
+device serves to make the scholars as loyal to the substitute teacher
+as to their own, for they have made him their own. In the course of
+the lessons, also, a wide-awake teacher will frequently mention and
+emphasize the class organization.
+
+Of course the whole plan will fall flat if the teacher wholly
+delegates to his scholars any or all of these lines of work. He also
+must invite the strangers, if he expects his scholars to do so. He
+also must seek for new members, if he would inspire them to do the
+same. Without his sociableness they will soon become frigid. The
+teacher alone has the dipper of water that starts the pump. Any
+contrivance that lessens his responsibility lessens his success.
+
+But the plan I have outlined has value, not because it permits the
+teacher to do less, but because it incites the scholars to do vastly
+more. An ounce drawn out is better than a ton put in. One thing you
+get them to do is a greater triumph than a dozen things you do much
+better for them.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXX
+
+Through Eye-Gate
+
+
+Before his listless and restless audience the lecturer took in his hand
+a piece of chalk, turned to the blackboard, and touched it. Instantly he
+had the eager attention of all. He did nothing with the chalk; had not
+intended to do anything; he carried his point with it, nevertheless.
+
+A teacher, plus a bit of chalk, is two teachers. And any one may
+double himself thus, if he choose to take a little pains.
+
+Surely there need be no hesitation as to the materials. If you can
+have a blackboard, that is fine. I myself like best a board fastened
+to the wall, and a second board hinged to this after the fashion of a
+double slate. The outside may be used for "standing matter," and the
+inside opened up for the surprises.
+
+But this is a great luxury. A portable, flexible blackboard will
+answer, if your class is away from the wall. You can roll it up and
+carry it home to practise there. You can use both sides of it. Such
+blackboards may be obtained now for two dollars.
+
+Not even a flexible blackboard, however, is essential. A slate will
+serve you admirably, and some of the best chalk-talkers use simple
+sheets of manilla paper tacked to ordinary pine boards.
+
+Then, as to the chalk, by all means use colored crayons. It is easy to
+learn effective contrasts of colors, and bright hues will increase
+many fold the attractiveness of your pictures and diagrams. But these
+crayons need not be of the square variety, sold especially for such
+work at thirty-five cents a box. They produce beautiful results, but
+the ordinary schoolroom box of assorted colors will serve your turn
+admirably and cost much less.
+
+And if the materials are readily obtained, so is the artistic skill.
+Trust to the active imaginations of the children. Remember in their own
+drawings how vivid to them are the straight lines that stand for men,
+the squares that represent houses, the circles with three dots that set
+forth faces with eyes and mouth. I once saw Mrs. Crafts teach the
+parable of the Good Samaritan in a most fascinating way to some little
+tots, and her blackboard work was merely some rough ovals, each drawn
+half through its neighbor, to represent a chain of love,--love to papa,
+love to mamma, to sister, brother, friend, teacher,--_neighbor_. And as
+circle after circle was briskly added, every child was filled with
+delight. That same parable of the Good Samaritan I once saw perfectly
+illustrated--for all practical purposes--by four squares, each with two
+parallel lines curving from one upper corner to the opposite lower one,
+to represent the descent of the Jericho road, while the various scenes
+were depicted with the aid of short, straight lines, the man fallen
+among thieves being a horizontal line, the priest and Levite being
+stiffly upright and placed on appropriate points in the road, while the
+line for the Samaritan was leaning over as if helping his fallen brother
+rise! Surely that series of drawings was not beyond the artistic skill
+of any teacher.
+
+One of the beauties of such simple work is that it may be dashed off
+in the presence of the scholars, while more elaborate pictures must be
+prepared beforehand; and half the value of blackboard work is in the
+attention excited by the moving chalk. I use the expression "dashed
+off," but I do not want to imply careless work. The straight lines
+should be as straight as you can make them without a ruler, the
+circles as true circles as can be drawn without a string, and the
+stars should have equal points. The simpler the drawing, the more need
+that every mark should have its mission and fulfill it well. A
+confused scrawl will only make mental confusion worse confounded.
+Don't be satisfied with rough work, or it will constantly become
+rougher. Try to do better all the time.
+
+Of course, this means home practice, even for the simplest of
+exercises, like Mrs. Crafts' links of the love-chain. The nearer the
+links are to perfect ovals, the better. The more nicely they are
+shaded on one side, the more distinct will be the impression of a
+chain. And the more rapidly they can be drawn, the more tense will be
+the children's interest. A few easy lessons in drawing, from some
+public-school teacher or some text-book, will prove of inestimable
+value,--lessons enough to give you at least an idea of perspective, so
+that you can make a house or a box stand out from the board, and know
+which sides to shade of the inside of a door. Make such simple
+beginnings as I have indicated, and determine to advance, however
+slowly. It is hard to draw a man, but not so difficult if you are
+willing to begin with a little circle for the head, an oval for the
+body, and two straight lines for legs.
+
+But even if you do not draw at all, it is well worth while to use
+chalk. Almost magical effects may be produced by a single sentence,
+sometimes a single word, _written_ on the board. If your lesson is the
+last chapter of the Bible, the one word "Come!" will be blackboard
+work enough. Add to it, if you will, at the close of the recitation,
+this earnest question: "Why not to-day?" Every lesson has its key-word
+or its key-sentence. Write it large on your scholars' hearts by
+writing it large upon the blackboard.
+
+In such work, as in drawing, you may begin with simple writing (your
+best script, however!) and go on to as high a degree of elaborateness
+as you fancy. A printer's book of samples will introduce you to
+fascinating and varied forms of letters. Your colored chalks may be
+used in exquisite illumination. You may learn from penmen their most
+bewitching scrolls. And all of this will be enjoyed by the children,
+and will contribute to the impressiveness of the truth, _provided_
+you are jealous to keep it subordinate to the truth. Otherwise, plain
+longhand is to be preferred to the end of the chapter.
+
+Another easy way to use the blackboard--still without venturing on
+drawing--is by constructing diagrams. What a key to Scripture
+chronology, for instance, is furnished your scholars when you draw a
+horizontal line to represent the four thousand years from Adam to
+Christ, bisect it for Abraham, bisect the last half for Solomon,
+bisect the third quarter for Moses, and continue to bisect as long as
+a famous man stands at the bisecting-point! How it clears up the life
+of Christ to draw two circles, the inner one for Jerusalem, the outer
+for Nazareth, dividing them into thirty-three parts for the years of
+our Saviour's life, and running a curved line in and out according as
+his journeys took him to Nazareth and beyond its circle, or back to
+Jerusalem at the feast-times! Such circles will also serve to depict
+graphically Paul's missionary journeys, the outer circle representing
+Antioch. Any series of historical events may well be strung along a
+vertical line divided into decades, and parallel series, as in the
+history of the northern and southern kingdoms, along two parallel
+verticals. An outline map, such as the teacher may draw from memory,
+will furnish an excellent basis for another kind of diagram, the
+progress of persons or of series of events being traced from place to
+place by dotted lines, a different color for each person or journey or
+group of incidents.
+
+Acrostics furnish still another use for the blackboard. For example,
+draw out from the class by questions a list of the prominent
+characteristics of David. He was
+
+  Daring
+  Active
+  Vigilant
+  Inspired
+  Dutiful
+
+Not until the list is completed does the class see that its initial
+letters spell David's name. You have attained the element of surprise,
+so valuable in work of this sort. Again, in a lesson on the rich young
+man, or on Dives and Lazarus, or on Zaccheus, write in a vertical column
+the letters of Christ's name, and draw straight lines to the right in
+various directions, as shown in the following diagram. Transferring the
+letters, or getting some scholar to transfer them, to the points
+indicated, you quickly insert an E, and it reads: "Christ--richest."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The application is obvious, and will never be forgotten.
+
+Often, in seeking for such an effective presentation of a lesson's
+truth, we hit upon alliteration, and then our blackboard work is easy.
+Three P's:
+
+  P      P      P
+
+Fill them out, as the lesson proceeds, thus:
+
+   harisee              ompously
+  P          Prayed    P
+   ublican              enitently
+
+And often, again, our form will be based upon similar terminations or
+beginnings of words, such as:
+
+               { choosing
+      Solomon  { reigning
+               { sinning
+
+Suggestions and examples of such work might be indefinitely
+multiplied. It is one of the easiest, yet one of the most effective,
+methods of fixing the points of a lesson.
+
+The earnest teacher will be drawn irresistibly from the use of the
+chalk in diagrams, acrostics, and the like, to simple drawings; and by
+this time he will realize the importance of simplicity. A set of
+steps, for instance, is easy to draw; we may use only the profile; but
+the drawing will fix forever in your scholars' minds the events in
+Solomon's life. To a certain point the steps are all upward. Yellow
+chalk shows them to be golden. A word written over each step gives
+the event it symbolizes. On a sudden the steps turn downward, become a
+dirty brown, each representing a sin, and break short off as Solomon
+takes his terrible fall.
+
+Who cannot draw a number of rough circles? They will stand for the
+stones thrown at Stephen. A word or initial written in each will
+represent the different kinds of persecutions that assail faithful
+Christians in our modern days. Who cannot draw a shepherd's crook, and
+write alongside it the points of the Twenty-third Psalm, or the ways
+in which Christ is the Good Shepherd? Who cannot draw a large
+wineglass, and write inside it some of the evils that come out of it?
+Who cannot draw a rectangle for a letter, and write upon it a
+direction, to make more vivid some of the epistles? or a trumpet
+inside seven circles, to brighten up the lesson on the fall of
+Jericho? As a rule, the very best chalk-talks are the simplest, and
+require the least skill in drawing.
+
+But how to get the ideas? Where to find the pictures?
+
+Of course, in the first place, from the books of first-rate
+chalk-talkers, such as Pierce's "Pictured Truth," Frank Beard's "The
+Blackboard in the Sunday-school," and Belsey's "The Bible and the
+Blackboard" (an English book). Of course, also, from the many
+admirable periodicals that publish blackboard hints, such as the
+"Lesson Illustrator," the "Sunday-school Times," and the teachers'
+magazines of the various denominations. Get hints also from the
+blackboard work of the public school and the kindergarten, as to
+manner, if not as to matter.
+
+But as for the design, your own is the best for you, and not
+another's. Study all the blackboard work you can find, and retain
+whatever gravitates to you; but your own original design is the one
+you will best understand, and in presenting it you will have more of
+that enthusiasm which makes success.
+
+Learn to find pictures all through the Bible. I have just been searching
+my mind for a Bible text that promised nothing in the way of a picture.
+At last I thought that "All have sinned and come short of the glory of
+God" would do. But in another second two pictures popped into my mind. I
+saw a river whose further bank was beautiful with flowers and trees, the
+paradise of "the glory of God," and across the river a bridge--lacking
+its final portion. I saw a ladder reaching up into some golden clouds
+back of which shone heaven, the city of "the glory of God"; but all the
+top rounds of the ladder were missing. Bridge and ladder had "come
+short." God's hand was needed, reaching across, reaching down, to help
+us over the sin-gap into "the glory of God." I do not believe it
+possible to find any Bible texts, still less any twelve consecutive
+verses of the Bible, that do not hide somewhere a capital picture.
+
+Read your Bible pictorially. Make sketches everywhere upon the margin.
+For practice, often take some passage sure to come up in the
+International Lessons, such as Psalm 1, Isaiah 53, Proverbs 3,
+Matthew 5, Luke 2, John 14, Acts 9, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 13,
+Hebrew 11, James 3. Delve into the passage, meditate long over it, and
+see how many pictures you can get out of it.
+
+Of the greatest assistance will be a book,--indexed as to texts, and
+also as to subjects, such as "temperance," "missionary,"
+"resurrection," "courage,"--in which you will preserve every drawing
+you make, and all the most suggestive blackboard hints you clip from
+the teachers' magazines, together with simple outlines of all sorts of
+common subjects. These last will be particularly useful. There will be
+a ladder, an anvil, a horse, a lily, a broom, a fountain,--anything
+likely to be of use for a symbol. You will clip these from
+advertisements, catalogues, the illustrated papers and magazines, and
+you will find your collection useful in many ways.
+
+I have spoken as if the teacher should do all the blackboard work. On
+the contrary, he should do none that he can get his scholars to do for
+him. No matter if they do not do it as well as he. Get them to
+practise beforehand. Let them begin with only the simplest work; they
+will soon astonish you with their proficiency. And the class will take
+far more interest in a poor drawing by one of their own number than in
+a good drawing by you.
+
+Yes, and even when you preside at the blackboard yourself, give the
+class pencils and paper occasionally, and let them copy what you draw.
+Their attention will be assuredly fixed, and an ineffaceable
+impression made on their memory. The drawings they complete, however
+crude, they will be glad to carry home to show their parents, and
+treasure as souvenirs of the lesson, or keep, if you choose, against
+the coming review day. If you use this method, you will soon come to
+cherish a deeper liking for that prime pedagogical virtue, simplicity.
+
+For a final word: Take pains that your word-pictures keep pace with
+your chalk. Don't _ask_ your class what you have drawn--that might
+lead to embarrassing results! _Tell_ them. Put in all sorts of graphic
+little touches, even though you cannot draw a tenth of what you are
+talking about. The man on the Jericho road--how full of fear he was as
+he walked; how he whistled to keep up his courage; how one robber
+peeped from behind a rock, and another whispered, "He's coming!" how
+they sprang out, and he ran, and a third rascal sprang out in front
+and knocked him down; how he shouted, "Help! Thieves! Help!" and how
+only the echo answered him in that lonely place--all this must have
+happened many a time on that Jericho road, and you have a perfect
+right to stimulate with such natural and inevitable details the
+imagination of the children.
+
+That is what they are for--both our word-picturing and our
+chalk-picturing: not to exhibit our nimbleness of wit or of finger,
+but to quicken the minds of the children,--that alone,--and make them
+more eager in the pursuit of truth.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXI
+
+Foundation Work
+
+
+The work of the primary department lies at the foundation of all
+Sunday-school work. This does not mean that there is no chance of a
+child's becoming a good Bible scholar and a noble Christian if he
+misses the primary training, but it does mean that without a
+flourishing primary department a school can scarcely be called
+successful, while with it half the success of the school is assured.
+The primary teacher molds the soft clay; her successor with the child
+must cut the hard marble.
+
+Teaching that thus lies at the foundation must deal with fundamental
+matters, with the greatest lives of the Bible, the great outlines of
+history, the great essentials of doctrine, the root principles of
+morality. Details are to be filled in later. The danger is that the
+teacher will attempt to teach too much, will expect the little ones to
+know about Hagar when it is enough for them to know about Isaac; or
+about Jeremiah, when Daniel would be sufficient; or about the order
+in which Paul wrote his letters, when it might well suffice for them
+to know that Paul wrote them.
+
+But though many questions are too hard to ask, no question is too easy,
+and no point is so simple that in these first days you may safely take
+it for granted. Laugh if you please, but I do not think that even these
+days of sand-maps and pricked cards have produced a method much more
+helpful for the primary teacher than the old questioning of my boyhood,
+over and over repeated: "Who was the first man?" "Who was the strongest
+man?" "Who was the oldest man?" and the like.
+
+The primary teacher's right-hand man is named Drill,--Ernest Drill. No
+mnemonic help--that _is_ a help--is to be despised. Rhymes giving in
+order the books of the Bible, the Commandments, Beatitudes, list of
+the twelve apostles, may wisely be used. No memory verse or golden
+text, once learned, should be allowed to lapse into that easy pit, a
+child's quick forgetfulness. Better one thing remembered than a
+hundred things forgotten. Foundation-stones are few and simple, but
+they must be firm.
+
+Now the first essential, if one would do this foundation work
+successfully, is to get a room to work in. A room that lets in floods
+of sunshine and fresh air. A room with pretty pictures and bright
+mottoes on the wall, with canary songs and blooming plants. A room
+with little chairs, graded to the scholars' little heights. A room
+with a visitors' gallery for the mothers. Or, if your church was not
+blessed with a Sunday-school architect, then such a room in a house
+next door or across the street, to which your class may withdraw after
+the opening exercises. Or, if your work must be done in the church, as
+so much primary work must be, then a temporary room, shut off by drawn
+curtains, or even by a blackboard and a screen, is far better than the
+distractions of the open school.
+
+The blackboard just mentioned, at any rate, the room should contain; the
+shrewd use of it will create an intense interest that will almost cause
+oblivion of the most distracting surroundings. A padded board gives the
+best effects,--such a board as you yourself may easily and cheaply make
+with a pine backing, a few layers of cheap soft cloth, and a covering of
+blackboard cloth nailed firmly over all. In the chapter on blackboard
+work I have tried to show how easily possible, and at the same time how
+valuable, is the use of the blackboard. If the children are too small to
+read, they may at least know their letters, and recognize S for Saul and
+P for Peter, and a cross for Christ, while the immense resources of
+simple drawings are always open to you.
+
+The primary teacher is fortunate, nowadays, in being able to buy, at
+slight cost, series of pictures illustrating each quarter's lessons.
+These pictures are either colored brightly or simple black and white,
+and vary in size from four or five square feet to the little
+engravings in the Sunday-school paper. Whatever picture is used
+should be hidden until it is time to exhibit it, and produced with a
+pretty show of mystery and triumph. Some teachers hang these pictures,
+after use, in a "picture-gallery," where the children may become
+familiar with them, and to this gallery they may be sent for frequent
+reference against the coming review day.
+
+After all, the primary teacher's chief reliance for purposes of
+illustration must be natural objects. In this reliance we merely imitate
+the example of the great Teacher. The objects to be used will most often
+be suggested by the lesson text itself. A lily, a vine, seed, leaven, a
+door, a sickle, a cake, a cup, grass,--are not each of these objects at
+once associated in your mind with passages of Scripture? Hunt out the
+suggested objects, and simply hold them before the children as you talk
+about the lesson, and you will find them a wonderful assistance.
+
+A more difficult process is to discover illustrative objects when none
+are directly suggested in the text. In a temperance lesson, for
+instance, there may be no mention of the wine-cup, yet you will bring a
+glass, fill it with wine-colored water, and place in it slips of paper
+cut to resemble snakes. On each is written some fearful result of
+drinking alcoholic liquors; and after the children have drawn forth,
+with pincers, one after the other, and read what is written upon it,
+they will not soon forget how many evils come out of the wine-cup.
+
+You may be talking about the imprisonment of John the Baptist. Produce
+a pasteboard chain, painted black on one side. Each link tells in red
+letters one of the horrors of his imprisonment,--loneliness, fear,
+despair, and the like. Turn over the chain and show the underside
+gilded, the links reading, "More faith," "Near to God," "God's favor,"
+"Courage," "Eternal reward." There was a bright side, after all.
+
+You are on the stumbling-block lesson, and you bring in some awkward,
+rough wooden blocks, on which you tack labels as the lesson proceeds:
+"A spiteful temper," "A gossiping tongue," "Envy," "Suspicion,"
+"Swearing," "Treating to strong drink," "Playing marbles for 'keeps.'"
+
+You are teaching about the paralytic let down through the roof. It has
+not required many minutes, with pasteboard, scissors, and glue, to
+construct a dainty little model of an old-time Jewish house, outside
+stairs, inner court, overhanging court roof, and all. And how the
+little model illuminates the story! The jail in which Peter was
+imprisoned, the table around which the Last Supper was celebrated, the
+Tabernacle, the Temple,--from the many excellent pictures and
+descriptions obtainable, even quite ambitious models are possible of
+manufacture. And once made, they are aids and joys forever.
+
+The sand-map has become justly popular. It is easily formed, requiring
+only a shallow tray, some sharp, clean sand, pieces of looking-glass
+for lakes and seas, blue yarn for rivers, some rocks for mountains,
+wooden blocks for houses, dried moss for trees, little toy men, boats,
+horses, and such readily found apparatus.
+
+In turn you can build up, with its accommodating materials, the Sea of
+Galilee and the scene of the feeding of the five thousand, all
+Palestine with the courses of Christ's journeys, Asia Minor and
+Macedonia with the route of Paul on his second great missionary
+journey. Much of this the children themselves will help you prepare,
+and will learn a great deal by so doing. Indeed, the wise teacher will
+do as little as possible herself even in getting ready to teach, and
+will make her scholars themselves her assistant teachers.
+
+That is one of the beauties of such kindergarten devices as pricking
+paper and weaving bright yarn back and forth to fill up the picture
+outlined by the holes. It is the scholars' work, and not your own, and
+they do not forget their own work. Simple designs illustrating the
+lessons can thus be pricked into the children's memories at the point
+of a pin.
+
+It is best not to confuse the class with a multiplicity of objects,
+but to fix on a single symbol for each lesson, that will stand
+distinctly for the lesson in the weekly and quarterly reviews. The
+kind of object should constantly vary. If this week it is cut out of
+pasteboard, next week let it be modeled in clay, and the following
+week let it be a picture in black and white. The simpler, the better:
+a cup for the lesson at Sychar; a dried leaf for the parable of the
+fig-tree; a square of white cloth for Peter's vision on the housetop.
+Do not produce the object till you want it in your teaching, or the
+children's interest will be dissipated before you have need of it. Get
+a little cabinet in which to store all your teaching apparatus. Do not
+keep the object in sight after you are through with it, or you will
+lose attention from your next point. Remember, in all object-teaching,
+how inferior is any symbol to the truth symbolized,--its shadow only,
+a mere hint of it,--and learn to drop the interest-exciting object and
+use the interest for the truth you want to teach.
+
+In this branch of your work a knowledge of common science will prove
+invaluable. Botany and geology, chemistry, zooelogy, and astronomy open
+one's eyes to the beauties and marvels of God's handiwork, and disclose
+analogies abounding and true. There is much also to learn from the books
+of models,--models for suggestion, of course, and not for slavish
+imitation,--such as Tyndall's "Object-lessons for Children," Roads'
+"Little Children in the Church of Christ," and Stall's "Five-minute
+Object-sermons to Children," or his "Talks to the King's Children."
+
+The most valuable "objects" are the children themselves, when you can
+carry out an illustration with their own active bodies. For instance, in
+teaching the lesson on the first council at Jerusalem, arrange the
+chairs in two groups, distant as far as possible from each other. One is
+Antioch, the other is Jerusalem. Two picked scholars, Paul and Barnabas,
+set out from the Antioch corner toward Jerusalem corner. Some of their
+comrades accompany them part way. The scholars at the other side of the
+room receive them with interest. Paul and Barnabas--or the teacher for
+them--tell their story. A Pharisee rises, and the teacher puts words in
+his mouth. Peter rises and tells about Cornelius. James, the most
+dignified boy present, gives his decision. Judas and Silas are selected
+to escort Paul and Barnabas back again, bearing a letter.
+
+The visit of the Queen of Sheba, the taking of Joseph to Egypt, Paul's
+vision in Troas and passage to Macedonia, the parallel history of the
+northern and southern kingdoms,--indeed, countless events,--may be
+illustrated in this way. The only danger is that the whole may seem too
+much like play; but this danger is easily avoided by an earnest teacher,
+and the gains in interest and remembrance will prove rich justification.
+
+An illustration still simpler, and very effective, may be obtained
+from the children merely by the motion of their hands. "Went _down_
+from Jerusalem to Jericho"--all hands raised high and rapidly lowered.
+"And _great_ was the fall thereof"--the same movement. "The Queen of
+Sheba wondered"--hands raised in astonishment. "A sower went out to
+sow"--hands sweep to the right and left. These concert movements not
+merely fix the attention of the class, but serve as outlet to their
+restlessness. Some teachers advise a halt midway in the lesson for the
+introduction of some light gymnastics to rest the class. That is
+well; but if the same result can be gained in immediate connection
+with the lesson, so much the better.
+
+After all has been said, however, the primary teacher's great art is
+the art of story-telling. Learn to start right in. Preliminary
+preachment will spoil it all. Use short and simple words. Keep clear
+and distinct the order of events, and do not confuse the children by
+going back to take up omitted points. Nevertheless,--and this is not a
+contradiction,--repeat and repeat and repeat, telling each section of
+the story over and over, in different ways and with ever-fresh
+particulars, till the children's slippery memories have laid hold upon
+it.
+
+Introduce a myriad natural details, for which you must draw on a
+consecrated imagination. You should hear Mr. Moody tell a Bible story!
+It is not enough to say that Abraham determined to offer up Isaac as a
+sacrifice. The great, loving soul of the evangelist has brooded too
+long over the Bible for a statement so cold as that. He must tell
+about the patriarch's sleepless nights; about his getting up and going
+over to the bed of the boy so peacefully sleeping; about his weeping
+when no one was watching him; how he couldn't eat his breakfast; how
+his heart beat whenever he looked at the lad. And long before Mr.
+Moody is through, the great sacrifice is so vivid to him and to us
+that we all weep together, and no moralizing is needed.
+
+You are not Moodys? No; but hundreds of primary teachers are doing just
+this work, telling to their children the Bible stories as they must have
+happened, reading with the heart and telling them to the life. Long
+meditation is needed, persistent "putting yourself in his place," and it
+is even well to write out the story in full before you attempt to tell
+it. When you receive the reward, you will count the trouble as nothing.
+
+Music is a great aid in the primary room. If you cannot afford a piano,
+learn how cheap are the "baby organs," and how effectively they will
+lead the children's singing. Even though you work in an extemporized
+class-room, shut off by screens or a curtain from the rest of the
+school, you can at least use "whisper songs." Yes, and these whisper
+songs may often be motion songs, and serve to illustrate the lesson.
+
+At least one song of the hour should bear directly on the central
+thought of the hour, and before it is sung you should explain why you
+call for it. Most of the best songs for this purpose will prove to be
+standard hymns, and there is every reason why the simplest of these
+should be taught to the children, that they may find as many points of
+contact as possible with the services of the older church. The aid of
+the parents may well be invoked to teach these hymns at home to the
+children,--a helpful task, for more than the children's sake, at which
+to set the parents.
+
+The primary song-books contain bright little hymns appropriate to
+introduce prayer, to open and close the school, to be sung before
+Bible-reading and while the collection is taken. A clear-voiced
+assistant, sitting and singing among the children, will train them
+insensibly, and draw their childish voices into harmony with her own.
+Just as the children will enjoy a class name, motto, colors, so they
+will be delighted to select a class song; and this device may be
+tried, together with many others mentioned in the chapter on "A
+Singing Sunday-school."
+
+Our foundation work will surely fall if it is not itself founded
+firmly on the Bible. Be sure that each scholar has his own Bible--_and
+a large-type copy_. Why is it that the smaller the child, the tinier
+the type? It is not so with the children's other books. How can we
+expect them to take any interest in pages that look so black and
+uninteresting, and that, moreover, would ruin their eyes for life if
+they did read them?
+
+The Bible must not be so expensive that it cannot be marked freely. The
+children will learn much by this exercise. A little set of colored
+pencils may be given to each child, for class use only. The golden texts
+and other verses, and the places where the lesson story may be read,
+should all be marked with pencils of appropriate symbolic color. The
+children can easily find the place, and the folks at home will know just
+what passages to read to the children and to help them learn.
+
+Make much of memory verses. We are filling the little heads nowadays
+far more with sand-map puppets and blackboard rebuses than with the
+Word of God. Drill often and thoroughly on these verses. Prepare a
+Bible roll by fastening a long strip of manilla paper on a spring
+window-shade roller. Let the lower line contain a few initial letters
+hinting at the memory verse concealed just above it. After recitation,
+pull this down for the scholars to compare; and so proceed through the
+roll. An alphabet of Bible verses may thus be learned, or an alphabet
+of Bible men and women.
+
+One point needs especial emphasis. No matter how thoroughly you have
+told the story, or how fascinated the children have been held by your
+recital, never consider the hour well spent till you have read from
+the Bible itself the story you have been telling. The more delightful
+and satisfactory your own account has been, the more necessary is it
+to show the children that within the covers of the Book are to be
+found all these beautiful stories.
+
+Part of your foundation work is certainly to teach the children to
+pray. There are many appropriate prayer poems, such as, for the
+beginning of the lesson:
+
+      "A prayer we lift to thee, dear Lord,
+      Ere we shall listen to thy word.
+      The truth thy Spirit brings from thee
+      Help us to study patiently.
+          For Jesus' sake. Amen."
+
+Or this, for the close of the lesson:
+
+      "Our Father, through each coming day
+      Watch o'er our every step, we pray;
+      And may thy Spirit hide the word
+      Deep in our willing hearts, O Lord.
+          For Jesus' sake. Amen."
+
+These the class may be taught to repeat in concert, with bowed heads.
+
+One of the best methods is this. Let the teacher offer a simple prayer,
+sentence by sentence or clause by clause, the children reverently
+repeating it after her, all heads being bowed. Best of all, of course,
+are the Bible prayers, the prayer psalms, and the many noble prayer
+verses scattered here and there. Store the children's memories with
+these, and in coming years there will be no stammering or hesitancy
+when, in public or in private, they talk with their Father in heaven.
+
+One of the primary teacher's chief allies is a happy temper. If you
+have it not, get it. An ounce of sunshine is better than an iron
+mountain of scolding. The voice alone may make or mar the lesson. Is
+it good-cheery, or goody-goody? How joyous Christ must have been! How
+his little children love fun! And how much easier it will be for you
+to get them to love him if you also love fun!
+
+Indeed, we cannot know too thoroughly the child nature. The scientists'
+study of it is in its infancy, but a sympathetic heart will carry you
+farther in ten minutes than all their psychology in a lifetime. As you
+teach, have in mind, not _your_ trials, joys, and hopes, but _theirs_.
+Don't talk about "ambition," but about "getting more praise than another
+girl"; or about "covetousness," but about "wishing you, and not Tom, had
+his new bicycle." Don't allegorize; that is a grown-up delight. Don't
+talk about "the hill Difficulty," "the bog of Despond." Do you tell me
+the children enjoy "The Pilgrim's Progress"? Yes; but not as allegory.
+Vanity Fair is a real town to them, and Mr. Pliable a real man. Avoid
+what I call "fanciful" teaching, and the rather build your lessons upon
+actual men and women, so that the children may come to _know_ Eli and
+Gideon, Ruth and Martha, as vividly as they know the men and women
+around them. That is better than to know Lily Lazy and Matt Mischievous
+and the Sea of Sorrow.
+
+Review often. When you have reached the point where you think the
+children cannot possibly forget, then--review again! Frequently say,
+"Now, after I have finished telling about the lesson, I am going to ask
+Fred to tell me about it; and after Fred is through, I shall ask _some
+one else_ to tell the same story." Often ask questions that can be
+answered in concert, and insist that all shall join in the reply. This
+will usually lead to a repetition that will prove helpful. In such
+concert work, if you do not watch, the more forward will be the only
+ones that will respond, and you will be obliged to draw out the timid
+and repress the pert by many a special question addressed to the former.
+
+Sometimes it is hard to keep order; always hard, if the teacher has not
+by nature or attainment the face and voice and bearing that command
+order because they lovingly and firmly expect it. The teacher should be
+in the room before any scholar arrives. Much disorder has its source in
+those irresponsible ten minutes before the school opens. Then, while she
+is teaching, an assistant should sit with the children, ready to check
+their mischievousness, attend quickly to their needs and desires, care
+for the late comers, help them "find the place" in Bibles and
+song-books, and perform many other little offices. Some heads of large
+primary departments establish "hospitals," where are sent the children
+with "sick" hands or feet or tongues,--a special class where the most
+uncontrollable are "treated" till they are reported "cured." In general,
+however, if the children are interested, they will be orderly; and if
+the teacher is interested, so are likely to be the scholars. Put into
+the work your whole soul, and you are reasonably sure of getting the
+whole minds of the children.
+
+Love them! I cannot better sum up the entire matter than in those two
+words. Love them, and they will love you and gladly obey you. Love
+them, and you will work hard for them, and will not mind the hardness.
+Love them, and your love will teach you how to teach them wisely. And
+the God of love, who loves little children, will give you, week by
+week, the fullness of his joy.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXII
+
+The Trial Balance
+
+
+Some teachers omit the review, or pass over it in a perfunctory way.
+This is as if a merchant should never balance his books, or, taking a
+trial balance, should be heedless of the result. If we are to prosper
+in this our Father's business, we must be careful as any merchant to
+discover just where we stand with our scholars; we must test their
+progress often and thoroughly, and never rest satisfied or let them
+rest satisfied until they and we are assured that the balance is
+comfortably on the right side of the ledger.
+
+One reason for the common shrinking from review day is because we have
+not manfully met it at the very beginning of the quarter. It is the
+preview that gives success to the review. When the teacher looks
+carefully through the twelve lessons ahead of him, grasps the
+underlying thread that binds them together, and forms his plan for a
+review at the outset, review day has lost all its terrors. Then every
+lesson becomes part of a consistent series. Then the weekly reviews,
+which alone make possible a successful quarterly review, lay each a
+course of a steadily rising edifice.
+
+No clearness of knowledge may be expected unless the teacher knows
+clearly at the start just what it is that he expects the scholars to
+know; and the building grows with double certainty if the little
+workmen themselves are given glimpses of the architect's plans,--at
+least of a "front elevation." "For these three months," the teacher
+may say, "we are to study Christ's life as Mark records it. My plan is
+for you to vote each Sunday on the most important facts we have
+studied,--either in the lesson text or in the 'intervening events.'
+Sometimes it will be one fact; it will never be more than three. All
+together there are thirty facts we shall learn, and they will make an
+outline history of Christ's entire life."
+
+How such a scheme, clearly and often stated, will clarify and
+systematize the quarter's work! Three or four times during the three
+months the teacher will propound brisk questions covering the points
+of all the previous lessons of the quarter, following this by a
+written test. Let him prepare for each lesson a card, on which he
+prints questions answerable by the facts to be learned. Fastening
+twelve hooks on a board, he hangs these cards on the hooks week by
+week, and uses them in these reviews and in the final review of the
+quarter. If the class is one of little tots, a symbol for each lesson,
+cut out of pasteboard or consisting of some object, may be hung up in
+place of the card,--such a symbol as a needle stuck in a piece of
+cloth, answering to the story of Dorcas.
+
+Some such preparation will make thoroughly successful a written
+examination on review day. The questions should be simple and clear,
+and such as can be answered fully in a very few words. They should
+take up only the points on which emphasis has been laid throughout the
+quarter. If the teacher presents the plan in a jolly way, the class
+will enter into it heartily, as good fun.
+
+For a change, now and then invite the scholars to bring in, on review
+day, lists of what each considers the ten principal events of the
+quarter. A comparison is to be made, and the events that receive the
+most votes will constitute a model list. This exercise in itself will
+make a pretty good review.
+
+An excellent review may be based upon the six natural divisions of all
+lessons,--times, persons, places, events, sayings, teachings. The
+"sayings" are the short sentences best worth memorizing. A review
+"quiz" may take up these six points one after the other, carrying each
+over the entire range of lessons, sometimes chronologically, but more
+often at haphazard.
+
+A more elaborate plan is to assign each of these categories to some
+scholar the week before, telling him, for instance, that you will
+depend upon him alone to fix the location of all the events in the
+twelve lessons. Carrying out the comparison indicated in the title to
+this chapter, you may do very thorough work by getting each scholar
+to keep a Sunday-school ledger. He will open up a page to the account
+of "persons," another to the account of "events," and so on, and will
+make weekly entries on each page. The quarterly review will then be
+indeed his trial balance.
+
+I am very fond of a map review. Using a large outline map, sometimes
+one drawn before the class on the blackboard by a scholar who has
+practised the feat, I call for the first event of the quarter's
+lessons, and one of the class places a figure 1 at the scene of the
+event; thus with all the events in order. Then, reviewing again, I
+ask, pointing to the map, "What was event No. 7, here at Sychar?" or,
+"Four events at Jerusalem--what were they, in order?"
+
+Another good way to use the map--a map, this time, drawn in outline on a
+large sheet of manilla paper--is to employ "stickers," bright bits of
+gummed paper, cut to various shapes. Blue stars, for instance, stuck
+here and there over the map, will indicate the points where Abraham is
+found in a series of lessons. They may be numbered, or not. Gold stars
+may show where Christ worked the miracles studied during the quarter.
+All the events in one year of Christ's ministry may be represented by
+green stars, in another year by scarlet stars, or purple stars. The
+method branches out into many fascinating applications.
+
+Some teachers make large use of the golden texts. If these have been
+emphasized, they may wisely be introduced in the review. Write each upon
+a card. If you have artistic talent, you may make each card a thing of
+beauty, to be kept as a souvenir by the scholar. These cards will be
+distributed at random, and each scholar will be expected to answer the
+questions, first of the class and then of the teacher, on the lesson
+whose golden text he holds. I would not urge the recalling of lessons by
+titles, for the titles are not constituent parts of the lesson; but the
+golden text usually goes to the heart of the matter. Neither would I
+favor such a plan as the one last mentioned, that assigns one lesson to
+each scholar, unless the entire class is drawn into active participation
+by such a questioning from the scholars as I have indicated.
+
+A pleasant and profitable review for some classes is based on the
+quotable passages in the quarter's Scripture. These memorable
+sentences are written on cards, which are distributed evenly. Every
+scholar is expected to tell when, where, and by whom his quotation was
+first spoken, and at the close of the exercise each scholar will be
+called upon to repeat all his quotations from memory. Then the teacher
+will gather the cards, mix them up, present the pile now to this
+scholar and now to that, and ask him to give the facts about whatever
+quotation he may draw. The success of this method of review, as of all
+others, will largely depend upon its previous announcement, the
+scholars having gone over the quarter's lessons at home with this
+coming test in mind.
+
+The review may sometimes take the form of a contest; you may call it a
+"question tournament." Appoint leaders, and let them choose sides. Each
+side in turn has the privilege of asking a question of the other side.
+The question must be passed upon as fair by the teacher. The scholars on
+each side take turns in answering, and when the scholar whose turn it is
+cannot answer, his entire company has a chance. If no one on that side
+knows the answer, the other side gives the correct reply, and thereby
+scores one point. The side with the highest score wins the tournament.
+
+Methods less brisk than this employ pen and ink. You may ask the
+scholars to bring to the class tabular outlines of the quarter's
+history. A little book, connected with the quarter's study in some
+way, may be offered as a reward for the best outline, if the teacher
+thinks it wise; some teachers would not. At another time ask each
+scholar to write a five-minute essay on some topic that will require
+study of all the lessons, the topics all being different. These essays
+are to be read before the class, and their themes should be as bright
+as the teacher and her shrewdest friends can make them. A variation of
+this plan is to propound to the class a series of questions, all
+requiring search through the twelve lessons, and allow each scholar to
+choose a question upon which he will _speak_ for two, three, or four
+minutes before the class on review day.
+
+Whatever your review gives or fails to give, be sure it leaves with
+your class a clear-cut outline or summary of the three months' study.
+Omit the consideration of lessons not closely connected with the
+story, like some of the temperance, Easter, and Christmas lessons.
+Center upon some graphical scheme whenever possible, if it is only a
+vertical line divided into decades along which events may be strung,
+or a circle so divided as to represent Moses' life or Christ's. If you
+can, group the lessons around some great personality prominent in
+them. Never fail to bind them together with the golden thread of their
+relation to Christ. Trace through them the progress of some thought or
+event, such as God's leadings that developed the Israelites, the
+growth of the Christian church, the unfolding of Christ's life, or
+David's, or Joseph's. Discover what unity the lessons have, and bring
+it out in the review.
+
+If these matters have been discussed in the quarter's lessons, set
+them in fresh lights. It must be a new view as well as a review.
+
+If you have succeeded well with one form of review, thank God,
+and--change the form next time. The methods suggested in this chapter
+are not equally valuable in all reviews. Make out a programme in January
+for the four reviews ahead of you, and plan them all differently.
+
+And finally, review your reviews. Review them on the review day, going
+over the same ground at least twice, in varying mode; and in your
+weekly reviews thereafter take occasion now and then to revert to the
+work of the preceding quarter. A matter is not learned to-day unless
+it is learned for all days.
+
+If the review discloses weak spots, strengthen them. If it discloses
+excellences, praise them. With steady and honest purpose, take on
+review day the trial balance of your work, and may God grant you a
+balance on the heavenward side of the ledger!
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXIII
+
+At the Helm
+
+
+The superintendent of a Sunday-school is not the steam of the boat, for
+all true power comes from the Holy Spirit. He does not even tend the
+fires; that work the teachers must do. Neither does he make the chart by
+which the boat is steered; that is the work of the International Lesson
+Committee. No; the superintendent stands at the helm. He takes orders
+from the one Captain, and transmits them. Now he turns a wheel, now he
+pulls a bell-rope, now he shouts through a speaking-tube. In spite of
+the multiplied details, his work is simple. He has to know his ship, the
+waters, and the weather: that is, he has to know God, what he wants him
+to do; and his scholars, what they are capable of doing; and his
+teachers, what they are capable of getting the scholars to do. Knowing
+these three things, he will not fret himself with attempting
+impossibilities, tasks beyond the power of teachers and scholars and so
+aside from God's will for them, but he will know he has succeeded if
+his teachers work as hard as they can in getting their scholars to work
+as hard as _they_ can to learn and do God's will.
+
+The superintendent's work begins with himself, then goes on to his
+officers, then to his teachers, then to his scholars, then to other
+schools.
+
+First, looking to himself, he must gain what some one lays down as the
+four essentials of success in Christian work: "consecration,
+concentration, tact, and contact." That is, his whole soul must be in
+his work; he must say, with Paul, "This _one_ thing I do"; he must
+come in touch with his forces, and he must know how to handle them
+after he touches them.
+
+There are some men that should never be superintendents. One of these
+is Mr. Long, who has to say everything in four different ways, each
+way being Broadway. Another is Mr. Twitchall, who jerks out his words
+between the jerks of his nervous body, who darts here and there like
+the snapper of a whip, and infects the entire school with the
+contagion of his restlessness. Mr. Black is another, that man of
+gloomy face and sepulchral voice. Mr. Daggart is another, for his
+tongue is dipped in the venom of sarcasm and knows only to scold.
+
+My favorite superintendent is Mr. Short, the son of Mr. Bright. He has
+all his father's good cheer. His face is full of a sunshine that
+doesn't need to be put into words. He is cordial even more plainly
+than he is spiritual, but because he is spiritual. He is businesslike.
+He is modest. He remembers that he is only one, and the school two
+hundred, and he divides time on about that basis. He knows--oh, he
+knows the value of five minutes!
+
+He has the grit of a bulldog, this Superintendent Short, son of Mr.
+Bright. When he is sure he has hold of a good thing, he does not dream
+of letting go, any more than those well-persuaded jaws. And he has the
+bulldog's independence and thick skin, but with more than bulldog
+reason; for is he not responsible to God alone? If God says, "Good!"
+what matters the sneer of a man? So he does the best he knows how, and
+keeps serene.
+
+With all his independence he is modest and teachable, is
+Superintendent Short, son of Mr. Bright. He visits other
+Sunday-schools, and gets hints there. He visits the public schools,
+and gets many valuable hints from their superintendents. He reads
+everything that has Sunday-school methods in it, and from all this he
+gets hints. He goes around asking everybody, "How can I do better
+work? How can the school be improved?" and he receives into a
+teachable mind the hints he gets. When he has to find fault, he first
+praises what he can. Indeed, praise--for a wonder!--is his favorite
+form of criticism, and a stimulating form it is.
+
+Withal, Superintendent Short is enterprising. He sets apart from his
+busy week regular times for his Sunday-school work, and makes a
+business of it. He is ready to spend money as well as time. He keeps a
+notebook crowded with new ideas, and carries them out one after the
+other in the order of their importance, as systematically as a great
+general conducts a campaign. He does not foolishly despise what is old
+and tested, but he knows how to freshen up old principles by new
+applications. He is broad-minded, too, with no "fads" or favoritisms,
+keeping equal interest in all departments of school work. And he does
+not stop with the mechanics of the Sunday-school. All his enterprise
+sets before it the one great goal of soul-saving.
+
+Thus far the superintendent by himself; now a word about his relation
+to his officers. Just as the failure of a school on the spiritual side
+is quite often due to lack of a good teachers' meeting, so a failure
+on the administrative side is probably due to the lack of a "cabinet
+meeting," where the superintendent consults with all his officers and
+committees, and where each gets inspiration and counsel from the
+other. The teachers' meeting should be occupied with entirely
+different matters. It cannot take the place of a gathering of the
+executive, and ought to come on a different night.
+
+This cabinet meeting must be set for a regular time, and nothing short
+of an earthquake must be allowed to break it up. Every officer should
+make a report to the cabinet, and the report should be in writing. The
+latter requirement saves time, adds dignity, and provides the meeting
+with definite statements as a basis for discussion.
+
+A wise superintendent will utilize all his officers to the utmost. He
+will make the assistant superintendent assist. The theory is that the
+assistant shall be able, in the superintendent's absence, to do
+everything the superintendent would do. How can he learn, except by
+doing everything, now and then, when the superintendent is present?
+Many a superintendent has worn himself out doing five men's work
+rather than train four men to help him. Elijah trained Elisha to be
+prophet in his stead. If he had not done so, I hardly think Elijah
+would have been carried to heaven in a chariot of fire. Every worker
+should prepare his successor, should make himself unnecessary.
+
+Let it be the superintendent's ambition, then, to create an automatic
+Sunday-school, one he can leave to run itself. He must keep himself in
+the background. He must test the matter by occasional absences, on
+foray for ideas in other schools. He must do as little as possible
+himself,--no danger but it will be enough!--and he must get as much as
+possible done by others. So he will create, not a machine, but an
+organism.
+
+In the third place,--the superintendent and the teachers. He must
+individualize them. As Garfield, the young school-teacher, was wont to
+lie awake nights, tracing out on his sheet in the dark a plan of the
+schoolroom, locating each scholar's desk and planning for that scholar's
+growth as he did so, thus the superintendent should consider separately
+and regularly each teacher's task and abilities, trials and successes.
+
+It is his joyous work to encourage them, to note improvement in their
+scholars, to repeat to them the kind words of parents, to give them a
+cheer in their arduous and difficult and, for the time, thankless tasks.
+When a superintendent has praised discreetly, half his work is done.
+
+Of course, the superintendent will study his lesson as thoroughly as
+any teacher; and this is not by any means an unnecessary remark,
+though some may think so. Indeed, there are even many occasions when
+he may teach a class, though usually he is best left free during the
+lesson hour to greet the strangers, or, watching from some central
+post like a general in battle, to fly to the rescue of some teacher
+whose class may be getting mischievous, restless, or careless.
+
+For the superintendent should feel at perfect liberty to sit quietly
+down with any class in his school, and should do this so often and
+easily that his coming ceases to be a disturbance to teacher or
+scholars. If the superintendent is not welcome, it will be because he
+does not know how to help unobtrusively, and he would better stay away.
+
+The best relations are not possible unless the superintendent visits
+the teachers in their homes, and gets them to come to his for frequent
+private consultations or for an occasional social hour all together.
+The teachers' meeting for the study of the lesson will not take the
+place of these heart-to-heart talks, in which sympathy and
+appreciation, friendly counsel and united prayers, draw the teachers
+very close to their leader.
+
+In the fourth place, the superintendent must know his scholars. If he
+has time to visit them, each visit will count; but that is in most cases
+too much to expect. Sunday-school socials and picnics will give him a
+chance to push a little further the knowledge of them that he will gain
+by his visits to their classes; but, after all, his best chance is in
+the passing salutation on the street. Often speak of the matter before
+the school, asking the scholars to greet you when they meet you; and
+then hail every urchin you run across as if he were your very own! If
+you make it a habit to tarry for ten minutes after the Sunday-school
+hour (tired?--never mind!), both teachers and scholars will besiege you
+then,--_provided_ you have made yourself worth besieging! That you are
+to be in every way the children's hero goes without saying,--the
+glorious big boy to whom all the boys look up proudly, the chivalrous
+knight whose colors all the girls are glad to wear,--it goes without
+saying, that is, if you deserve to be superintendent at all!
+
+Fifthly and finally, the superintendent and other schools. He has been
+getting from them all he can, if he is enterprising; he should give to
+them all he can. The large cities have their superintendents' unions,
+composed of those that hold now, or have held, this post of honor and
+responsibility,--and few associations are as delightful. Nearly
+everywhere, Sunday-school conventions are available; and to these, as
+gathering up in his own experience whatever his school has learned and
+accomplished, the superintendent should carry his freshest inspiration
+and his wisest plans. No superintendent can live--can be a _live_
+superintendent--to himself.
+
+One thing should be said, to close this hasty sketch. If the
+superintendent is all this, or even part of all this, in his personal
+motives, and in his relations to officers, teachers, scholars, and
+other schools, he will always be a paid superintendent. He may have no
+salary; on the contrary, he may be decidedly out of pocket; but the
+rewards of his labor will be so abundant, so joyful, that not all the
+silver and gold in all the mines of earth could measure them.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXIV
+
+The Superintendent's Chance
+
+
+At the opening of the school the superintendent hasn't half a chance;
+at the close he has a large chance--as large, in fact, as he is. At
+the opening the superintendent is merely a master of ceremonies to
+usher in the work as buoyantly as possible; at the close he is a
+teacher, the high priest of all the teachers. His work of introduction
+is important, but far more important is his work of peroration. The
+last five minutes furnish his chance to gather all the teachings of
+the hour into one point and press it home.
+
+1. It is _his_ chance. Now or never let him be original. Let him study
+his talents; some can work best with chalk, some with anecdotes, some
+with questions, some with exegesis, some with exhortation. Let him get
+up a specialty for those five minutes and burnish it till it shines.
+Whatever method he chooses should be filled with his personality and
+serve to impress his personality upon the school. It is life that
+tells on life, and the more of himself the superintendent puts into
+these five minutes the more will this, his chance, prove his success.
+
+2. It is his chance to gather _all_ the teachings of the hour. Not
+that he will try to "cover the ground" of the entire lesson. In that
+case his chance would turn out his mischance. He will not try, either,
+to give something for each class of scholars, for _all_ that he gives
+must be for _all_ classes. Among all the thoughts of all the
+departments, primary, intermediate, and senior, there is a single
+golden thought like a golden thread. These strands he must seize and
+weave them, in his five minutes, into a golden cord.
+
+3. It is his chance to gather all the teachings of the hour into _one_
+point. Probably every teacher in the school has been trying to teach
+too much. The lesson was intended for a wedge, but they have been
+using the blunt end. Turn it around. Illustrate the matchless might of
+simplicity. Do not think that, because the lesson was on the envy of
+Joseph's brethren, the theme of envy has become hackneyed, and you
+must talk about Jacob and Reuben and the Midianites and God's
+overruling providence. If the teachers have worked well, the scholars
+will be eager for further words on envy; if they have worked poorly,
+all the more need of a forcible presentation of the main theme.
+
+4. It is his chance to gather all the teachings of the hour into one
+point _and press it home_. His will be a lively school in proportion as
+it influences life. When the moral truths of our lessons are fixed in
+the life, the facts connected with them will be fixed in the mind. Let
+the superintendent ask himself, for as many scholars of varied age and
+character as he can, "How might this lesson change _his_ life, _her_
+life, for the coming week--forever?" Put the "snapper" on the hour. Let
+it be seen that you expect definite results in spirit and conduct.
+
+Some urge that the superintendent should be mute at the close of the
+lesson hour, lest his words destroy the effect of the teachers'
+exhortations. To be sure, he may emphasize what they have not
+emphasized, though even this danger is very slight if the
+superintendent is careful to seize on the lesson's central thought;
+but if the impression made by the teacher is endangered by a few
+earnest words from the superintendent, what _will_ be left of it by
+the close of the conversation around the dinner-table?
+
+A closing word regarding the superintendent's questions. In no better
+way than by questions can he win and hold the school's attention.
+Those given in the various lesson helps are intended to be simply
+suggestive of possible matter and manner. Five things are essential:
+(1) that the questions be simple enough to be understood by the
+youngest; (2) that they lead up to a point valuable enough to interest
+the oldest; (3) that they can be answered by a few words, preferably
+by one; (4) that they be presented in a brisk and businesslike way;
+(5) that prompt answers from all parts of the school together be
+insisted on, the answer being called for again and again till all
+have connected themselves with it. Half a dozen such questions should
+lead up skilfully to the main lesson of the hour, which should receive
+brief but pointed application by anecdote, blackboard, or exhortation.
+
+All this is a high ideal. "To attain it will require," you say, "much
+more than five minutes." You are right, Brother Superintendent: five
+minutes before the school, but _one hour_ or even _two hours_ of
+prayerful preparation at home. However, it is your chance. Do not
+ignobly lose it.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXV
+
+The Sunday-School and the Weather
+
+
+A rainy day is the best test of a Sunday-school, and its best
+opportunity.
+
+For the scholars it is a sieve, separating the zealous workers from
+the careless ones.
+
+For the general school it is an index, since if Christ is not "in the
+midst" of the few on rainy days, surely the many on sunny days are not
+wont to gather "in his name."
+
+For the teacher it is a revealing question: "Do you teach for the
+excitement and praise of crowded benches, or is a single soul, with
+its issues of life and death, inspiration enough?"
+
+It is the superintendent's chance, because then he learns his staff,
+the pick, the enthusiastic nucleus, of his school. It is a good day
+for "setting balls to rolling."
+
+It is the scholar's chance,--his chance to show appreciation of the
+school by attendance; his chance for help on questions that try his
+soul.
+
+It is the teacher's chance. He will never draw close to his scholars
+if not now; never see their nobility or their faults if not through
+the troubled lens of a rainy day.
+
+It is the opportunity of the general school. Prayer-meeting workers
+often observe that the meetings held on stormy evenings are always the
+best, because every attendant feels it his duty to take active part. For
+the same reason a rainy day brings out the mettle of a Sunday-school.
+The bashful are impelled to greater boldness, the careless to stricter
+attention. Responsibilities are thrown upon unwonted shoulders. Many a
+Sunday-school worker has been developed by rainy days.
+
+Teachers must do their scolding for poor attendance, if ever, on the
+days of crowded seats, because then only are the truants present. Have
+nothing but words of good cheer for the few who come on stormy days.
+
+We are often told about preachers who, as a reward and an incentive,
+wisely preach their best (if they can) on rainy days, to the faithful
+few. For such days the teacher also must make his highest preparation,
+because then his work will produce best results; because then he will
+need to bring most inspiration with him, as he gets none from
+well-filled seats; because his scholars then not only deserve his
+best, but, lacking the zest of numbers, need his best to hold their
+attention; because they will appreciate better what they have come
+through difficulties to get.
+
+On rainy days there are many late comers, and therefore many fine
+chances for practical Christianity. Greet them cheerfully, if you must
+stop your finest exhortation to do it. Such a close will be its most
+eloquent period.
+
+If you investigate tactfully the absences of rainy days, you will
+often come upon a truer knowledge of the home life and needs of your
+scholars than any sunshiny observations could give you.
+
+On rainy days, if ever, scholars should be sure of finding their own
+teacher; yet, as human nature is, on rainy days there is always
+necessary some fusion of classes. The teachers of joined classes may
+do much good or infinite harm. Criticism, expressed or implied, of the
+plans or precepts of the other teacher, is a poison which has few
+antidotes. If he has been teaching false doctrine, he, not his
+scholars, is to be told that fact. And, on the contrary, a word of
+wise praise for whatever of solid acquirement you may see in his
+scholars, as it comes from an outsider, will discover marvelously
+their teacher to them, and their possibilities to themselves.
+
+As we need to emphasize the advantages of bad weather, so we need to
+remember the dangers of fine weather. Now, the teacher must be mindful
+not to lose the individuals in the crowd, or his teaching sense in the
+temptation to harangue. Now, the superintendent must remember that his
+unifying and organizing skill is especially needed. If rainy days are
+best for study and personal work, fair days, and, above all, hot days,
+are best for singing and concert drill in reading and questioning.
+
+As our days, so shall our strength be, if we are Christ's, dear
+Sunday-school workers; but different kinds of days need different
+kinds of strength.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXVI
+
+A Profitable Picnic
+
+
+A large number of Sunday-schools are in the habit of holding a picnic
+every summer. In spite of the countless jests at the expense of the
+Sunday-school picnic, the custom is in every way commendable. Where can
+teacher and scholars, superintendent and teachers, better come into that
+familiar, every-day contact that tells so much of character and for
+character, than out under the open sky and in the merry meadows? And yet
+why is it that the very word "picnic" makes most Sunday-school teachers
+groan, and presents to the superintendent's mind a picture no more
+delectable than of hot, dusty cars, pushing, quarreling children,
+red-faced teachers, and lunches seized on by ants?
+
+Of course, in moving so large a body of people, especially of
+youngsters, many untoward events are to be expected; but nevertheless,
+when the picnic is not a conspicuous success, there is usually one
+reason: it was not well planned for. So many managers of picnics are
+nothing but transportation managers! Getting a reduction of railroad
+fare, packing and unpacking the lunches, filing the children in and
+out of the cars,--such details sum up their plans. As for
+entertainment on the picnic grounds,--why, turn the children loose,
+and they will take care of that part of it!
+
+On the contrary, he is a wise man that can entertain himself well and
+profitably for a day without aid from outside. The feat is impossible
+for most children. How well I remember my own childish miseries on
+holidays because I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do! On the
+haphazard plan your picnic will go uproariously for a time, but it
+will soon "fray out" into a tangle of ennui and quarrels.
+
+In this brief chapter, then, I want to suggest merely one out of many
+schemes for a profitable picnic. It will include in the day's plans
+all ages and classes, and afford pleasure for mind and spirit as well
+as body.
+
+In the first place, arrange with great care a programme of contests.
+If it is a joint picnic, some of the contests will be between
+representatives of the Sunday-schools that take part; otherwise,
+between classes and individuals of the one Sunday-school. Bring in the
+girls as well as the boys, and the men and women as well as the
+children. Running, sack-races, three-legged races, pole and rope
+climbing, boat-races, croquet and tennis matches, base-ball (a game
+among the old men will cause much amusement), the marching of
+competing companies, broom or flag drills for the girls, leaping, slow
+races on the bicycle, throwing the hammer, soap-bubble contests--why,
+the number of these sports is legion.
+
+Just a few hints:--
+
+Give no prizes, but "honorable mention."
+
+Let the contests be well planned and advertised beforehand, and set
+the scholars to training for them.
+
+Give every one a printed programme (which may be worked off on a
+manifolder), and so arrange it that the entire company, if possible,
+may be spectators of each contest.
+
+Make everything as short and snappy as you can.
+
+Throughout the programme, work in all classes and ages as best you
+may. Don't, for instance, put all the contests in which the little
+ones engage in the same part of the day.
+
+In the second place, arrange a literary and religious programme that
+shall give a spiritual application to all these physical contests.
+Organize a Sunday-school choir, which, after careful previous
+practice, will sing some of the many songs that treat the Christian
+life as a race, or a wrestling, or a battle. Some of the Bible
+passages of similar tenor should be recited. Poems may be repeated
+bearing the same lesson. And the brightest of the scholars and
+teachers, of course not omitting your pastor, will give some very
+brief little essays or talks along this same line. This part of the
+day's programme may fitly be placed just after lunch, when in the heat
+of the day the athletes will wish to rest, and when all will be ready
+to sit down and listen.
+
+Much will depend on the master of ceremonies for the day. Let him be
+the jolliest man you can find, but withal a man of deep consecration,
+who can make all feel that, whether they eat or drink, or play games,
+or whatever they do, they must do all for the glory of God. In this
+spirit alone can you hope to have a profitable picnic.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXVII
+
+A Singing Sunday-School
+
+
+Lifeless singing means, usually, a dead Sunday-school. Many a
+superintendent might greatly increase the vigor of his school by
+getting a little snap into the music. Different ways of singing will
+not of themselves solve the problem, but they will go far toward it.
+Here are a few methods which will add to the singing the variety that
+is the spice of it as well as of nearly everything else.
+
+Try reading the song in concert before it is sung. It would puzzle most
+even of us older folks to tell, after we have sung a hymn, what is in
+it. Concert reading brings out unsuspected beauties of thought, and the
+hymn will be sung afterward with fresh zest and with fuller
+intelligence. The superintendent may vary this plan by reading the
+stanzas alternately with the school, or the girls may alternate with the
+boys. Occasionally get a single scholar to read the hymn before the
+school, or, what is far better, to commit it to memory and recite it.
+
+Indeed, memory hymns, to be committed to memory by the entire school,
+and sung without the book, will prove very popular. Select songs that
+are worth learning for their words as well as for their music,--a
+thing which, alas! cannot be said of all our Sunday-school songs. One
+memory hymn a month might possibly be achieved, and your children will
+rapidly grow independent of hymn-books, as their grandsires were.
+
+They may like to vote upon a school hymn for the entire year, and
+learn it in this way,--one that shall serve as a sort of rallying song
+throughout the twelvemonth. The various classes, too, may be
+encouraged to select their own class songs, and to practise them at
+their class socials. Then, once in a while, the entire school may
+listen while one or two classes sing their class hymns.
+
+It would do no harm, either, for the superintendent occasionally to bind
+the children's interest to the singing by asking them to call for their
+favorites, that the school may sing them. This privilege may be granted
+to the classes or scholars that have the best record in attendance.
+
+It will add interest to the singing if bits of pleasant information
+are sometimes given about the authors of our familiar songs. At the
+opening of the session, for instance, tell something about the blind
+hymn-writer, Fanny Crosby, and then let all the songs sung that day be
+by her; or tell a little about Miss Havergal's beautiful life, or give
+a few bright anecdotes about Dr. S. F. Smith, and then use nothing
+but their hymns. Some such book as Hezekiah Butterworth's "Story of
+the Hymns" (New York: The American Tract Society. $1.75), or
+Duffield's "English Hymns: Their Authors and History" (New York: The
+Funk & Wagnalls Co. $3), will afford a plentiful supply of
+biographical material. Once in a while get one of the scholars to read
+one of these hymn anecdotes, or to tell it in his own words.
+
+Prayer songs--there are many most beautiful ones--may be used as
+prayers, all heads being bowed while they are sung softly; or they may
+be read in the same way.
+
+Antiphonal songs are easily arranged. Choose two classes of good
+singers in distant parts of the room, and let one sing the verses and
+the other the chorus of some suitable song. A hymn arranged in the
+form of question and answer, such as "Watchman, tell us of the night,"
+or "Art thou weary, art thou languid?" is very effective when sung in
+this way, or when read in dialogue, the superintendent taking the
+questions and the school the answers.
+
+Other dispositions may be made, for the sake of variety. Get the girls
+to sing the stanzas, and the boys the choruses, or the girls to sing
+one verse, and the boys the next, all uniting on the choruses; or, let
+the school to the right of the center alternate in singing with the
+school to the left. Send a company of singers into another room, with
+closed doors, and have them sing the chorus as an echo, very softly.
+Get the teachers to sing the stanzas of some song, while the whole
+school sings the refrain.
+
+Solos are good once in a while, especially if you make the school the
+chorus for them. A quartette of picked singers may be introduced very
+delightfully on occasion, especially if their selection is germane to
+the lesson topic, and, best of all, if the quartette is chosen from
+the scholars themselves. The primary department will hugely enjoy
+singing one of their songs to the main school, and the older scholars
+will enjoy it quite as heartily.
+
+Possibly a Sunday-school choir might be organized to advantage, the
+strong singers from among the more mature scholars being banded
+together to practice new music and lead the singing. School orchestras
+have been very useful in many churches, the boys being proud to serve
+the school with violin and cornet.
+
+Most useful, however, in adding zest to the singing, are the simple
+changes and variations that shrewdly call attention to the old by
+putting it in a new place, or "putting it" in a new way. For instance,
+you might call fresh attention to a beautiful song by bidding all sing
+it without their books, while you "line it out" earnestly and brightly.
+You might preface a hymn with a sentence or two telling why you think it
+just the hymn to sing in connection with the day's lesson. You might
+piece together several verses from different songs, and ask the school
+to sing them in immediate succession, without prelude or interlude,
+noting the connection and progress of the thought. You might stimulate
+the scholars in this and that corner by asking now one class and now
+another to consider themselves the leaders in the song next to be sung.
+You might have occasional "new-hymn" days, in which will be sung no song
+ever tried by the school. You might even steal ten minutes, on very rare
+occasions, for song services, carefully planned so as to bear
+effectively on the lesson for the day. The ways are almost endless
+whereby a music-loving, child-loving superintendent can introduce his
+two loves to each other.
+
+A few more general suggestions. First, to the organist or pianist. Why
+do you think it necessary to hammer out an entire piece of music
+before you let the fidgety children sing it? They already know every
+note of it, and are not interested in your performance; nor is any one
+else. They can find the place quite as quickly as you can. Except in
+the case of new songs, do let us off with the chord, and we'll
+canonize you as a model of self-restraint and good sense.
+
+Then to the precentor, or whoever is responsible for the time you
+keep. Why is it so slow? I never could see why hymns should be sung so
+drawlingly as to make it quite impossible to grasp their thought. Time
+yourself in singing your next hymn, then read aloud the same hymn,
+forcing yourself to occupy the same time, and you will see why it is
+that our singing leaves our minds quite absolute blanks. This grievous
+fault must be remedied with the children if the singing of hymns is
+ever to be, to the average grown-up, an intellectual and spiritual as
+well as a physical occupation.
+
+And, to the same end, why is it that your school can sing readily, even
+without the book, the first two or three stanzas of so many songs, while
+every stanza beyond is an unknown land to them? It is because, owing
+chiefly to the slowness of our ordinary singing, we seldom compass the
+whole of a hymn. At the close of a well-written hymn is the climax, the
+thought up to which the whole has led, which binds it all together. Our
+songs, if they are to get hold upon our minds and lives, must be sung
+beyond their prelude, sung straight through.
+
+_To get hold of minds and lives_,--that must be the end sought by all
+our singing.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXVIII
+
+A Praying Sunday-School
+
+
+In no way can more Christianity be taught in less time than by a good
+prayer. A Sunday-school that is not opened with the right kind of
+prayer remains tight shut until the teachers get hold of it, while the
+right kind of prayer at the close of the lesson hour rivets the lesson
+on the week to come.
+
+Yet I know of no point in Sunday-school management regarding which
+superintendents are more careless. The children must listen to
+Magellan prayers that circumnavigate the globe; to mechanical prayers,
+cast in stereotyped forms; to officious prayers that volunteer to
+teach the coming lesson; to peacock prayers that flaunt big words and
+fine phrases; to wrinkled prayers, dealing with experiences into which
+the children will not grow for three decades. In some schools the
+superintendent always makes the prayer himself, praying in the same
+terms and tones and order for the same things. Elsewhere the
+superintendent invites others to perform this service, but, with
+pitiless impartiality, calls upon all that will, heedless whether they
+are capable or totally unfit for the difficult duty.
+
+For it is not easy to guide the devotions of these varied ages and
+characters. The words must be so simple that the youngest can
+understand them. The thoughts must be so noble as to furnish an uplift
+to the oldest. The expressions must be direct, as in the realized
+presence of Christ. The prayer must be brief, and bright, and deeply
+in earnest, sincere as a child.
+
+To perform this task, therefore, no one should be invited merely for
+policy's sake, merely because he is a visiting clergyman, a church
+officer, or a good-hearted layman. Ask no one that does not know the
+glorious language of a child's prayer. Give notice beforehand, since
+this prayer, if any, should be thought over and prayed over. And if
+you fear the prayer will lack a certain quality, shrewdly incorporate
+its name in your invitation, asking for a brief prayer, or a simple
+prayer, or a prayer about few things.
+
+I wonder that this exercise is so seldom fixed upon the children's
+attention and interest by their own vocal participation in it. Indeed,
+it is not always that the school is able to repeat the Lord's Prayer
+together with the freedom and force born of long custom. The school
+may easily be taught to chant the Lord's Prayer, and that may be made
+most genuine praying. There are many suitable short Bible prayers that
+children might learn to say together, such as "Let the words of my
+mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O
+Lord, my strength and my redeemer." Indeed, there are many prayer
+psalms that could be learned entire, the concert repetition of which
+would greatly enrich the Sunday-school hour. If yours is a model
+school, every scholar has his Bible, and Scripture prayers, not
+committed to memory, may be read in concert. And, besides, what more
+impressive conclusion to the session than the "Mizpah benediction," in
+which all voices join, or, perhaps better, the beautiful benediction
+in Numbers 6:24-26, "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee," etc.?
+
+Then there is the hymn-book. If it is a good one, it contains many
+beautiful prayer hymns. Let the scholars all bow their heads, and sing
+softly Miss Havergal's tender consecration hymn, or "Nearer, my God,
+to thee," and you will find all hearts indeed drawn nearer heaven.
+Occasionally let the school read together one of these same hymns,
+also with their heads bowed.
+
+And, by the way,--though it deserves more than a "by the way,"--insist
+on the bowing of the head,--not that the attitude is important in
+itself, but the reverence that the attitude arouses is of the highest
+importance. Wait till all heads are bowed before you begin the prayer
+or permit another to begin it. The half-minute of quiet or semi-quiet
+needed to gain this end is not ill-bestowed. Moreover, I should
+strongly advise you to go one step farther, and once in a while have
+the entire school go down on their knees. This, the normal attitude of
+prayer, the children should be taught to assume in public, at least so
+often that it will not seem to them forced or unnatural.
+
+Have you tried silent prayer? A blessed exercise it is, and one the
+children will love. Ask them to bend their heads or kneel, and then in
+perfect silence to pray for their teachers, or their pastor, or their
+dear ones at home, or some sick scholar. After a minute the
+superintendent will tenderly add a few closing sentences of vocal
+prayer.
+
+And have you tried a chain prayer,--a prayer started by a leader, who
+will also close it, to which ten or twenty of the scholars contribute
+sentences of praise or petition? You will be astonished to see how many
+of the scholars will join in these prayers,--you will be astonished,
+that is, unless you are familiar with the training along this line so
+nobly accomplished in our modern young people's religious societies.
+
+Still another way to obtain the scholars' careful heed to the prayer
+is to establish a form with which the superintendent will always begin
+his prayer, and which the entire school will repeat with him. The
+opening sentences of the Lord's Prayer may be used for such a purpose.
+Then, at the close of the prayer, after "for Jesus' sake," let all the
+scholars say "Amen."
+
+An occasional Sunday-school prayer-meeting, held for ten minutes at the
+close of the lesson hour, will do much to inspire in the school a deeper
+spirit of worship; that is, if the scholars themselves take part, and
+not the teachers only. And these Sunday-school prayer-meetings are
+magnificent opportunities for drawing the net. Hold them in a small
+room, that nearness may warm the coals of devotion to a glow. Do not
+hold them too frequently to be burdensome. Keep them brief and earnest.
+Let the teachers work for them in their classes, and use them as tests
+for their teaching. Above all, expect conversions in them, and, if you
+are faithful and faith-filled, you will get them.
+
+This use of the scholar in the devotions of the school should be
+extended to his home. The superintendent may ask the scholars to pray
+every day during the coming week for the school, or for their teacher,
+or for their next lesson, that it may bring some one nearer Christ.
+For several weeks there may stand in bold letters on the blackboard a
+list of things that should be prayed for at home. The teacher, of
+course, must enforce these recommendations. If he will courageously
+hold once in a while a little prayer-meeting with his scholars, in the
+class-room, about the class-table, or, best of all, at his own home or
+at one of theirs, he will thereby teach them as much Christianity as
+otherwise he might in a year.
+
+Indeed, the teacher has much to do in making yours a praying
+Sunday-school. To say nothing about the teacher's prayers for his
+scholars, which will be like steam to his pedagogic engine, and to say
+nothing about the united prayers of the teachers in the teachers'
+meetings, the teacher's conduct during the prayer in the school is in
+itself half the scholars' attention, the knowledge on the part of the
+scholars that their teacher is praying for them will spur their home
+devotions, and the teacher's simple, ready participation in the school
+prayers will prompt their own. An excellent occasional method of opening
+the school is by a succession of very brief--almost sentence--prayers
+from six or eight of the teachers. A frequent topic for discussion in
+the teachers' meeting should be how best to inculcate in the school the
+spirit of devotion, since this great result is to be won only by the
+co-operation of all the working forces of the school.
+
+Much is gained in this matter if you gain variety. Sometimes ask the
+older scholars themselves, several of them in succession, to offer
+brief prayers at the opening of the school. Sometimes let the
+superintendent's opening prayer attract attention by its exceeding
+brevity,--only three or four sentences, embodying a single petition.
+Do not place the prayer always at the same place in the programme; now
+let it come before the singing, now after; now lay emphasis on the
+prayer introductory to the lesson hour, now on the prayer that closes
+the hour and seeks to drive home its lessons. Be dead in earnest,--no,
+be alive in earnest. Be thoughtful and versatile. Be bright and cheery
+and simple-hearted and sympathetic. In these prayers, that should
+furnish the life-blood to the school, be all things to all--children,
+if by all means you may win one of them.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXIX
+
+S. S. and C. E.
+
+
+A word must be said about the co-operation of the Sunday-school and
+that other great modern agency for work with the youth, the young
+people's religious society. Whatever is said will be as true of the
+Epworth Leagues, Baptist Unions, and other denominational
+organizations as of the Christian Endeavor societies; but since the
+latter, like the Sunday-schools, are found in all denominations, and
+since my own especial work lies among them, it will be quite
+appropriate in this connection, as well as less confusing, to use only
+the one name, Christian Endeavor.
+
+Though of ages so unequal, "S. S." and "C. E." are sisters. Both are
+international and interdenominational. Both apply the principle of age
+classification to religious work. Both are strongly evangelical, and
+earnest seekers of souls. Both are held in strictest subordination to
+the church. And both are Bible lovers; for the Christian Endeavor
+pledge requires daily reading of the Bible, and the weekly
+prayer-meeting topic calls out no slight amount of Bible study.
+Moreover, this topic is usually in line with the week's Sunday-school
+lesson,--not the same as the latter, but suggested by it. The two
+agencies are at work in different fields. The one puts in, the other
+draws out. The one studies, the other practices. The Christian
+Endeavor society affords an excellent test for the Sunday-school, and
+is its complement. Whatever helps the one aids the other, and the two
+should labor hand in hand.
+
+There are even some things that the Sunday-school might learn from its
+little sister. The principle of the pledge has proved attractive and
+powerful in the Christian Endeavor society. Why not adopt it in the
+Sunday-school, asking the scholars for voluntary vows that they will
+attend regularly and will spend fifteen minutes a day in studying
+their lessons? The monthly consecration meeting maintains wonderfully
+the spirituality, zeal, and discipline of the Christian Endeavor
+society. Why not a monthly consecration and experience meeting of
+Sunday-school teachers? Three or four Christian Endeavor societies
+cannot exist in the same town without forming a local union for mutual
+encouragement and consultation. Sunday-schools have their county
+conventions, but why not also this beautiful interdenominational
+fellowship among the Sunday-schools of every community? A large part
+of the remarkable success of Christian Endeavor is due to its being a
+work of the young people for themselves. There is close pastoral and
+church supervision, and it is welcomed; but the Endeavorers feel that
+it is their society, for whose honor they are responsible, and whose
+victories depend upon themselves. As far as possible, this spirit
+should be incorporated in the Sunday-school, so that the Bible study
+may not seem a work impressed on the scholars, but elected by
+them,--_their_ work, and not their teachers'.
+
+How can the Christian Endeavor society help the Sunday-school? Greatly
+in its prayer-meetings, by remembering the allied Sunday-school topic
+of the morning. Here is a chance for the teacher to enlarge upon some
+theme treated too hurriedly in the lesson hour, and for scholars to
+show their appreciation of their teacher by repeating some thought he
+brought out in the morning. If rightly managed, the Christian Endeavor
+meeting furnishes an admirable opportunity for advertising the
+Sunday-school, and practically applying the truths there taught.
+
+But the help given may be far more direct. Every well-organized
+Christian Endeavor society has a Sunday-school committee, whose
+members put themselves under the direction of the superintendent, and
+make it the one object of their term's work to push in all possible
+ways the interests of the Sunday-school.
+
+The members of this committee are usually chosen with an eye to their
+fitness for acting as substitute teachers. Sometimes the committee
+constitutes itself a normal class and studies the lessons a week in
+advance, considering especially the way to teach effectively. On the
+next Sunday, therefore, the superintendent will find any of these
+Endeavorers well prepared to fill a vacancy.
+
+Everywhere, too, these Sunday-school committees help the busy teacher
+to look after the absent scholars and to care for the sick. It is far
+easier for these young people than for the teacher to learn the real
+causes of absence and to urge better attendance. In some schools the
+teachers fill out blank cards every Sabbath, giving the names of
+absentees or of the sick on whom they would like to have the
+Sunday-school committee call. These cards are collected, the calls
+made, and then the Endeavorers report to the teacher.
+
+A kindred ministration is the gathering of new scholars. In many
+cities the Sunday-school committee has conducted a fruitful
+house-to-house canvass for new scholars, sometimes canvassing at the
+same time for new members of their society. Other committees
+distribute printed cards of invitation. Others organize "recruiting
+squads" among the scholars, and give little rewards to those that do
+the best work. Others make it their business to hunt out all the young
+strangers in the morning congregation and give them a personal
+invitation to the school. Still others distribute among the scholars
+"suggestion blanks," on which each scholar writes the names and
+addresses of young folks that might be won for the school. These
+Endeavorers call at the strangers' homes and go with them to the
+school, while others stand ready to welcome all strangers at the door
+and show them to appropriate classes. Thus they follow them up, that
+it may not be a case of "light come, light go."
+
+The Endeavorers, under the direction of their Sunday-school committee,
+may be very helpful in the music. A choir or an orchestra may be
+organized from their numbers. An occasional song appropriate to the
+lesson may be rendered as a solo or quartette. When Sunday-school
+concerts are to be given, the Endeavorers will afford trained
+assistance. But especially the committee should become thoroughly
+familiar with the Sunday-school song-book, so that its members,
+scattered over the room, may carry with vigor any unfamiliar hymn, and
+give force and sprightliness to all the singing.
+
+The Sunday-school librarian will find among the Endeavorers some
+efficient aids. The Sunday-school committee may advertise the new
+books in the Christian Endeavor meetings, and get the society to add
+to the library certain books of especial interest and helpfulness to
+Endeavorers. Sunday-school library socials have been held by some
+societies, the evening's exercises being so planned as to call
+attention to the best books in the library. The Endeavorers will help
+in covering books, in hunting up those that are lost, in reading new
+books and giving an opinion regarding them. Where subscriptions are
+taken for special papers or magazines, the Sunday-school committee
+will be glad to undertake this work. After these periodicals have been
+read, they will gather up the old copies to send to the hospitals.
+
+The decorating for Christmas and Easter exercises or for Children's
+Day may be assigned to the Christian Endeavor society. The Endeavorers
+may be set to gathering in the scholars for Rally Day. They should be
+called upon for help on all such special occasions.
+
+Some societies give parties now and then to the classes that have the
+best record, or divide the school into sections according to age, and
+entertain each section in turn at a Christian Endeavor social, closing
+the series with a pleasant evening spent with the teachers and
+officers alone.
+
+It would weary you if I should rehearse all the ways in which Christian
+Endeavor societies have proved helpful to the Sunday-school. Many a
+primary department has gained much from close association with the work
+of the superintendent of the Junior Christian Endeavor society. I have
+heard of a large number of places where the Endeavorers organized and
+maintained mission Sunday-schools--schools that in many instances have
+grown to churches. Often the Endeavorers take charge of the ushering of
+the school, furnish flowers for every session, offer rewards to the
+scholars for excellence in various directions, help with swift feet in
+the messenger service of the home department, turn their trained forces
+into an occasional Sunday-school prayer-meeting,--indeed, they are as
+ingenious in discovering ways of helping this elder sister of the
+Christian Endeavor society as they are zealous and persistent in these
+labors after they are inaugurated.
+
+If in some churches this help is not given, it is probably because it
+is not invited, or very likely through lack of organization. If the
+Christian Endeavor society has no Sunday-school committee, let the
+Sunday-school superintendent, who is a member of the society _ex
+officio_, interest himself in obtaining one. And then through this
+committee he can draft into the service all the other usual committees
+of the society--the lookout committee, to get new scholars; the
+prayer-meeting committee, to aid in the school's devotional exercises;
+the temperance and missionary committees, to give assistance in the
+special lessons on those themes; the music committee, to aid in the
+singing, and the flower committee, to help in the decorations; the
+social committee, to seek the absent and the sick; the good-literature
+committee, to help the librarian.
+
+And if the Endeavorers do this, or a part of this, for the
+Sunday-school, why should not the Sunday-school do a little for the
+Christian Endeavor society? The superintendent may help it by calling
+upon it for assistance and by recognizing on fit occasions its
+officers and committees. He may even give it an occasional
+advertisement from the desk; and he, with his officers and teachers,
+may do much to put himself in touch with the young people by attending
+the Christian Endeavor meetings now and then. The teachers may help by
+introducing into their talks before the classes an occasional hint on
+the Christian Endeavor pledge or committee work, or by remembering
+the prayer-meeting topic and suggesting a thought or two that may be
+developed in the meeting, or by urging membership in the society upon
+those that do not already belong to it.
+
+Thus it is seen how intimately these two organizations are related,
+and how much each may do to help the other. Do not allow them to labor
+apart. Parallel threads are weak; cables are made by twisting them
+together.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XL
+
+Teachers in 8vo
+
+
+What the Sunday-school library should be depends on what the community
+is. These libraries, therefore, should not pattern after one another
+like peas in a pod, as is too often the case, but each should have an
+individuality of its own. The Sunday-school in a city, with an
+overflowing public library and an excellent public-school library at
+hand, has no excuse for distributing secular books; while such books
+may form a useful addition to the library of a country school.
+
+Of course there is danger in admitting secular books to the
+Sunday-school library under any circumstances, and I would not for the
+world add one more to the many subtle inroads upon the Lord's day. If
+you place in your library any books that are not suitable Sunday
+reading, cover them with paper of a distinctive color, mark them "For
+week-day reading only," and watch them carefully, that you may
+withdraw them from circulation if you find them trenching on the
+sacred hours. With proper restrictions, however, the church may find
+here a blessed ministry to many book-hungry communities. Biographies
+like Irving's "Washington" or Holland's "Lincoln"; histories like
+Motley's "Rise of the Dutch Republic"; poems like "Snowbound," "The
+Idyls of the King," "Evangeline"; essays like Smiles' "Self Help" or
+Mathews' "Getting on in the World"; books of science like Winchell's
+"Sparks from a Geologist's Hammer" or Proctor's "Other Worlds than
+Ours,"--if you can get your scholars to read on week-days such books
+as these, you will deepen, broaden, and enrich the soil in which you
+do your Sunday sowing.
+
+But the more the community needs books, the harder it is to raise
+money for them. This, however, is merely a difficulty of the start. A
+few books, shrewdly chosen, will create a hunger for more, and that
+hunger will open the pocketbooks.
+
+Hold a book social, admission to which shall be a copy, old or new, of
+some good book. The entertainment at this social should be
+appropriate. Let each person that comes carry about him a token of
+some book, such as a card about his neck reading, "Who teaches you?"
+("Hoosier School Master"!). Illustrate a poem with shadow pictures.
+Place about the room numbered portraits of authors for the company to
+name. Add readings and essays on literary themes.
+
+A course of lectures and concerts is possible, nowadays, for almost any
+enterprising community, and the proceeds will give the library a start.
+
+For a time you may charge two cents for the reading of each book, thus
+forcing the library itself to earn its double in the course of a year.
+
+At the beginning,--or, for that matter, all the time,--the generous
+among the church-members may be urged to _lend_ books to the library
+for a year at a time. Such books should be covered with different
+paper from the others, and plainly marked with the name of the lender
+and an injunction to especial carefulness in handling them.
+
+The library will be generously supported, if its books are sensibly
+selected; but this is not an easy task. Do not leave it to any single
+man, but appoint the wisest men and women of the church a committee on
+selection, and require them all to read every book that is chosen.
+Obviously, the value of such a committee will increase with the
+growing years, and it should be a permanent body.
+
+Many booksellers will send books on approval. The review columns in
+the religious papers should be regularly watched. The committee should
+be placed on the mailing-lists of all the best publishers, to receive
+their regular announcements of books. They should get into
+correspondence with the librarians of other schools, learning from
+them what books are popular and helpful. And, above everything else,
+they should get in contact with the scholars of their own school, to
+watch the practical effect of the books they select.
+
+Regarding the selection of books, first, some "dont's."
+
+Don't choose any volume, no matter how famous, without reading every
+word of it. One of the grandest of biographies, for instance, is
+Franklin's autobiography; but you will not wish to put before young
+readers his chapter on his religion--or lack of it. Wonderfully
+inspiring essays are Emerson's; but here and there a sentence speaks
+of Christ as a mere man. A very stimulating booklet is "Blessed be
+Drudgery"; but one sentence spoils it for our use, since it places
+Jesus at the end of a list of philosophers at whose head stands
+Herbert Spencer.
+
+Don't buy "fads." Wait and see whether the book now so much lauded is
+heard of next year.
+
+Don't buy the books that have fittingly been called
+"a-little-child-shall-lead-them" stories. Bill Nye described them as
+tales relating how a dear little boy, though but five and a half and
+crippled, took in back stairs to scrub, and supported his widowed
+mother, and sent his sister to college.
+
+Don't buy "libraries." As sensibly let a man that has never seen you
+order for you a suit of clothes.
+
+Don't buy "sets" and "series" and "sequels." Judge every book on its
+merits.
+
+Don't buy the books of one publishing-house alone, however excellent,
+any more than you would fill your home with the works of only one
+painter.
+
+Don't confine your choice merely to the "Sunday-school writers." Books
+that are not virile enough to attract and help folks outside the
+Sunday-school are not likely to prove very useful inside.
+
+Don't buy by authors. "Aunt Mary's Candlestick," by Jemima Jones, may
+have been the greatest success of the year in your school; but that is
+no reason why you should load up with "Aunt Mary's Dust-brush" and
+"Aunt Mary's Needlecase" and "Aunt Mary's Dish-mop," by the same
+industrious author.
+
+In fine, don't buy any book, no matter who is its publisher or author,
+or what its reputation, unless that particular book meets some
+particular need of your particular school.
+
+And now, what shall we buy? Stories, of course, in delightful measure.
+The Sunday-school library has the highest authority for teaching in
+parables. And for these stories there are three requirements.
+
+First, they must be attractive. What is the use of a book if it will
+not be read?
+
+Second, they must be natural. He who is the Truth will never bless a
+story of lifeless, jerking, galvanized puppets, gibbering forced
+aphorisms and preposterous piety, and acting in a red fire of
+sensational incidents. Real boys and girls, real men and women, real
+life, and therefore life intensely interesting,--these must dwell in
+our Sunday-school stories.
+
+And finally, the stories must be helpful. Each must have a point, a
+purpose. They must be outright for Christ, if they are to make
+outright Christians.
+
+Don't neglect the old-fashioned stories, such as the Rollo books. They
+are full of meat. Especially helpful are such stories of Bible times
+as "Ben Hur." Provided their imaginings do not outrun the Bible facts,
+we can scarcely have too many of them. Do not forget, either, the
+books that tell the Bible stories themselves, in simple language, for
+the little ones. Above all stories, do not omit the "Pilgrim's
+Progress," but buy a volume in large type and beautifully illustrated.
+
+Next to stories, what? Emphatically, lives of the great Christians;
+above all, missionaries. There are brief, bright, well-illustrated lives
+of Mackay, the marvelous mechanic, Carey, the consecrated cobbler,
+Paton, the hero of the New Hebrides, Livingstone the daring, Martyn the
+saintly, Judson the sagacious, Patteson, the white knight of Melanesia,
+and a host of other grand men. What inspiration to a splendid life is to
+be gained from the story of Madagascar's dusky martyrs, or the account
+of Allen Gardiner's magnificent death in Patagonia! What a spur to
+active service is the tale of the winning of Hawaii, the opening up of
+Japan, the self-sacrificing missions of the Moravians, the daring ride
+of Whitman across the continent for the salvation of Oregon!
+
+Then, there are the lives of great reformers like Luther, John Howard,
+Wilberforce, John B. Gough, and of such superb Christians as
+Gladstone, Wesley, Washington, William of Orange. There is no need of
+a long list. The trouble is not to find the books, but to awaken among
+your scholars a hunger for the real heroism of real men as opposed to
+the imaginary heroism of fiction.
+
+Another section of your library should contain books that bear
+directly on the work of the school. There must be the best works on
+teaching, such as Trumbull's "Teachers and Teaching," Schauffler's
+"Ways of Working," Boynton's "The Model Sunday-school," and Du Bois'
+"The Point of Contact." There must be some account of the Bible, like
+Rice's "Our Sixty-six Sacred Books"; some brief and attractive manual
+of Christian evidences, like Fisher's or Robinson's; some life of
+Christ, like Geikie's or Farrar's; some account of the history,
+polity, and teachings of your denomination. Thompson's "The Land and
+the Book," Smith's "Historical Geography of the Holy Land," Geikie's
+"Hours with the Bible," Taylor's "Moses, the Lawgiver," Deems' "The
+Gospel of Common Sense," Pierce's "Pictured Truth," Butterworth's "The
+Story of the Hymns,"--each of these is a type of a class of books
+helpful to teachers,--and to scholars also, if they can be brought to
+read them. Add, for the temperance lessons, such books as Banks' "The
+Saloon-keeper's Ledger," Gustafson's "The Fountain of Death," and
+Strong's "Our Country" and "The New Era."
+
+I wonder that so few Sunday-school libraries contain the great
+Christian poems, such as "Paradise Lost," Browning's "Saul," Lowell's
+"Vision of Sir Launfal," Arnold's "The Light of the World," and many
+more that would illuminate the lessons.
+
+Many fascinating books of science for young folks have been written
+expressly from the Christian stand-point. Why not add to the library
+such books as Kingsley's "Glaucus," Burr's "Ecce Coelum," Agnes
+Gibberne's "Sun, Moon, and Stars," Keyser's "In Bird-land"?
+
+I may seem to be suggesting books for the older scholars mainly. Let
+me here urge that equal care and thought be spent on the volumes for
+the little tots and the "intermediates." Their books are not so
+interesting to the mature-minded committee, and so they are more
+likely to be chosen at haphazard.
+
+This is especially true of the books for the primary department. Two
+or three pounds of their diminutive volumes are shoveled up in a mass,
+read by title, and tucked in at the end of the list. This carelessness
+is especially injurious, because it is at their age that the reading
+habit is formed, and it is of the utmost importance that the tiniest
+books in the library shall be bright, helpful, and of real literary
+value. To discover these will prove one of the most difficult tasks of
+the conscientious committee.
+
+Do not give up the old favorites. When Susan Coolidge's "Katy Did"
+series wears out, give the old books away to some poorer school and
+get a fresh set of the same. Remember that new scholars are all the
+time entering, and that there is no recommendation for a book so
+effective as the young people's own testimony, "I have read it, and I
+know you will like it."
+
+Have an eye to the paper and type and binding. Many books intended for
+Sunday-school libraries are printed on stiff, pulpy paper, that
+refuses to remain open at any place without cracking the back, and use
+a cramped and formal typography more suitable to a funeral sermon than
+to a book intended to attract young folks.
+
+If your funds allow, it is an admirable plan to obtain more than one
+copy of certain books especially likely to be needed by several
+classes at once, such as books on Christian evidences, on the Bible,
+and on the themes of the current lessons.
+
+It is one thing to gather a library, and quite another to get it used,
+and well used. The first point is to introduce it to the teachers.
+They must consider these "teachers in 8vo" to be their assistants, and
+must be thoroughly acquainted with them. _Every teacher should read
+every book in the library that is within the range of his scholars'
+comprehension._ How otherwise can he guide their reading? Of course
+the most hasty perusal will be sufficient, provided it shows the
+teacher the heart of the book. A teacher should learn the useful art
+of rapid reading.
+
+Let the teacher, as part of his preview of the quarter's lessons, make
+out a list of library books that teach the principal truths of the
+quarter ahead of him, and give this list to each scholar with the first
+lesson. A few minutes of each teachers' meeting might well be spent in
+giving suggestions regarding the use of the library to illustrate the
+next lesson. Let the teacher often refer to these books in the course
+of his teaching, learn what appropriate books each scholar has been
+reading, and get him to give the class some account of them.
+
+Often it will be well for the teacher to ask some scholar to read a
+certain story or biography or poem during the week, and be ready to
+tell about it for an illustration of next Sunday's truths.
+
+If you have no teachers' meeting, once in a while the librarian may
+mention at the prayer-meeting some library book of timely helpfulness,
+or the pastor might even speak of it from the pulpit.
+
+It is far better to buy the books a few at a time. In some schools a
+new book is added to the library every Sunday of the fifty-two. The
+chairman of the library committee comes forward with the book in his
+hand, and describes it in a few bright, brisk sentences. Its title and
+number are plainly written on the blackboard in front of the school.
+The choice is varied,--now a book for the youngest, next week one for
+the older scholars.
+
+Some libraries have a special case for the new books, where every one
+can readily find them and examine them. Indeed, the scholars are far
+more easily introduced to all the books, new and old, if they have
+free access to the shelves and can handle the books themselves, thus
+coming to know each as an old friend. By the way, I do not believe in
+covering the books. Covered books have no individuality.
+
+Happy the school that has a good-sized room for its library. Some even
+get it by placing the books in a house next door to the church.
+
+I have known schools to get acquainted with their books by coming
+together for a "library evening," in which the wealth of the library
+was disclosed by various speakers, each trying to interest the school
+in one book, or class of books.
+
+After all, the library catalogue may be the best agent of
+introduction. Every library should have one, though it is only a
+home-made affair, manufactured on a typewriter or a hectograph. Every
+book should be briefly described, so that the scholars may know, for
+instance, the scene and purpose of each story, the kind of man
+described in each biography, and whether it is a book for old, young,
+or primary scholars. Some librarians mark one catalogue for each
+class, indicating the books especially pleasing to scholars of the
+average age of the class, so that the teacher may guide their
+selection. Others divide the catalogue into sections, each containing
+the books appropriate to one division of the school.
+
+Not only should a teacher know _what_ his scholars are reading, but he
+should find out _how_ they read. He should try to teach them the art
+of reading. The demoralizing habit of reading merely for the moment's
+pleasurable excitement and the next moment's forgetting may be formed
+as easily with Sunday-school stories as with newspapers.
+
+Some librarians, to this end, place in each book a slip of paper, and
+the scholar is expected to write upon this at least one thing he has
+learned from the book, telling at the same time how he likes it.
+
+If the scholars, as will likely happen, are reading little but
+stories, the librarian himself can do much to promote more solid
+reading by reporting every month to the school the number of stories
+read, the number of biographies, etc. This report may be made by
+classes, and teachers and scholars should be urged to make a better
+record next month.
+
+Let me close this chapter with a few points regarding library
+management.
+
+It is poor economy of labor to change the librarian frequently, so
+much of his usefulness depends on his familiarity with the books, and
+that familiarity requires time to gain. If you can find a librarian
+that does not especially need the benefit of the Bible study, one that
+loves and understands children, keep him in office as long as may be.
+But be sure to give him an assistant to aid the children in their
+selections, or record the books while the librarian is consulting with
+the children; also to take the librarian's place when he is sick or
+absent, or possibly to take turns with him in presiding over the
+library, so that each may recite the lesson half the time.
+
+The books will be gathered up on the entrance of the scholars. A table
+or a basket or an usher may be placed at the door for this purpose. If
+the scholars cannot be given access to the books and select them
+themselves, the librarians will pass quietly around among the
+classes, leaving the new books at each table; but these books are
+never to be given to the scholars until just before they leave.
+
+The most effective record, yet a very simple one, may be made by any
+librarian. Give to each scholar a card bearing his name and his
+number. On this he writes a list of about ten numbers of the books he
+prefers. As the librarian places his card in one of these new books,
+that number is scratched off and the date written opposite. At the
+same time the librarian writes the scholar's number and the date in
+his library catalogue after the number of the book taken out, and upon
+a list of the scholars' numbers writes the number of the book after
+the number of the scholar. When the book is returned lines are drawn
+through these records. Thus at any time the librarian can see what
+books are out, who has them, how long they have had them, what books
+each scholar has read, and how often each book has been taken out.
+
+As the Sunday-school library should teach punctuality, among other
+good things, the librarian should strictly require every book to be
+brought back at the end of the week or fortnight, no matter who the
+scholar may be, or whether the book is in much or little demand. It
+may not be best to establish any system of fines, but a postal-card
+notice should be sent in aggravated cases, and sometimes the teacher
+should be asked to look up the book. It will spur the scholars to
+promptness if they know that each instance of tardiness is recorded
+against their names on the library's records.
+
+The proper care of books is another good thing the library should teach.
+Any marked blemish in a book should be noted when it is sent out; and
+when a book is injured by a scholar, the librarian should always speak
+to him about it, or get the teacher to do this if the child is a
+stranger to him. A plainly printed slip urging careful handling,
+forbidding dog's ears, and the like, may well be pasted in each book.
+
+It is sometimes possible and advantageous to open the library at some
+time during the week, especially on prayer-meeting evenings, when the
+older folks can select their books, or, for the benefit of the
+children, on Friday afternoons after school.
+
+Some classes will like to have little libraries of their own,
+containing Bibles for each scholar, Bible atlas, a Revised Bible, a
+Bible dictionary, a concordance, etc. Always it is well to arrange for
+the entire school a special reference library, the contents of which
+will largely change from quarter to quarter. In it will be placed the
+general Bible helps and whatever books are of special interest for the
+quarter's lessons. The scholars may be sent to these reference shelves
+during the lesson hour. At least one school has a special case, always
+open, for books of this nature, and places the case in the front of
+its main schoolroom.
+
+On the whole, it will be seen that this chapter is a plea for a
+Sunday-school library that is a corporate part of the Sunday-school
+teaching, that will help the teacher on Sunday, and carry his teaching
+through the week. Such a library virtually adds scores of the wisest men
+and women to the teaching force of the school, and multiplies by many
+hours the pitiful thirty minutes given to the lesson.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLI
+
+Around the Council Fire
+
+
+Our conventions are the grand council fires in the war the
+Sunday-school is waging against the forces of evil. The flame of the
+Holy Spirit should blaze in their midst. With military directness they
+should go straight to the immediate needs, find out what they are,
+plan the campaign. Orderly and in turn, all should have a part in
+them, not only the speakers, but the audience, one school and every
+school. With hearts uplifted, with zeal on fire, every teacher should
+leave the gathering bent on more valiant service.
+
+Only a well-planned convention can effect this,--a convention long
+thought over and prayed over, not merely by one man, but by many.
+These meetings not seldom remind one of a house of which the owner
+takes possession prematurely. Over yonder the scaffolding is still up,
+here they are just removing it, the sound of the hammer and the saw is
+everywhere, and the smell of wet plaster is in the air. Thus in many
+conventions. Here and there the president bustles around, over the
+platform, through the audience. The local committee of arrangements
+are like bees before swarming. We begin late and with apologies; so we
+continue.
+
+The model convention, however, began at least as far back as the
+preceding convention. At that gathering suggestions for the next
+meeting were called for and obtained. During the following weeks the
+president visited or corresponded with every school in the district,
+trying to discover its excellences and lacks, that the convention
+might exhibit the one and supply the other. Indeed, at the very
+opening of the preceding convention the new officers, if any, were
+elected, that during the sessions they might have ears open and brains
+and tongues active, gathering hints for the profitable meeting they
+were to plan. Therefore it was early known precisely what the coming
+convention was to teach, and that convention, instead of bumping along
+Haphazard Lane, rolls smoothly over Purpose Avenue.
+
+Two methods will promote this preparedness of the audience, without
+which the best-prepared programme largely fails: there should be a
+convention press committee, whose pleasant task it is to pack the papers
+with appetizing details of the coming meetings; and every school should
+be supplied, at least two weeks beforehand, with a large number of the
+printed programmes. If these are attractively got up, if the topics meet
+genuine needs and are expressed brightly, suggestively, and not as Dr.
+Dryasdust would formulate them, and if the various superintendents and
+pastors advertise the convention wisely, the audience that will come
+together will be ready for its work.
+
+So large a part of most Sunday-school convention audiences comes from
+the immediate locality that especial effort should be made to interest
+beforehand the church and the town in which the meetings are held; and
+this not merely for the sake of the convention, but for the quickening
+of Sunday-school interests throughout the community. But if only a few
+persons are gathered, do not make the mistake of losing them in a
+large room, with scores of empty pews into which their zeal can creep
+away and hide itself. The same coals that grow black in all outdoors
+will make a little stove red-hot.
+
+No small part of the preparation that is to make a success of your
+convention is the careful and _enterprising_ selection of speakers. The
+best policy is to choose none from "policy." Select the men that can
+inspire and instruct, though you must crowd out some pastor of a big
+church or some man with a big name. From the teachers themselves call
+out suggestions as to speakers as well as to topics. Search through your
+district for original workers, inventors, plummet men, women that win
+the hearts of the children, and get them to tell the convention how they
+do it. By all means call in the successful Christian teacher in the
+secular schools. If possible, import a skilled worker from outside your
+district. Fresh air will come in with him, the sense of a wider outlook.
+Only, he must not be an opinionated egotist, one of those _ex-cathedra_
+men, but a warm-hearted brother in the Lord; and it is far better to use
+him in several short speeches scattered over the programme than in one
+long address.
+
+The wise choice of topics is quite as important as a wise choice of
+men to treat them. Let all programme-makers remember what the
+convention is to do: not to show off leaders, or to raise money, or to
+get acquainted, or to have a good time, but to learn more about
+teaching and managing Sunday-schools. Three aims must be set before
+every Sunday-school convention: to arouse new love for the Bible, to
+arouse new love for souls, to arouse new zeal for bringing these two
+together. Every convention, then, should divide its time among three
+classes of topics: the Bible, the children, the teaching.
+
+1. _The Bible._ Such themes as these are suggested: "How the Bible
+differs from all other books." "Recent Bible discoveries." "My way of
+studying the Bible." "Bible-marking." "How to study Exodus." "The use
+of a 'teacher's Bible.'" "Interleaved Bibles,--why and how." "The
+value of the Victoria revision." "The study of the Bible as
+literature." "What is the best commentary?" "Reading the Bible in
+course,--how to make it most profitable." "The Septuagint and its
+importance." "How the Bible came down to the printing-press." "The
+story of our English Bible."
+
+2. _The Children._ "Imagination in children." "Reasoning processes
+that a child will not appreciate." "Why children love stories."
+"Important differences between the child's mind and ours." "Put
+yourself in his place." "A child's confidence: how lost; how won."
+"Prigs: how not to make them." "The self-conscious child and how to
+treat him." "Lessons from the playground." "Kindergarten principles of
+value in the Sunday-school."
+
+3. _The Two Brought Together._ "What is a good question?" "How to get
+the class to ask questions." "A class that keeps its own order."
+"Getting young people in love with the Bible." "The teacher's voice."
+"Their own Bibles." "The quarterly left at home." "How to make the
+Bible real to the children." "Some tests our teaching should stand."
+
+This outline does not omit the school management, and occasional
+discussion of the work of superintendents and other officers will
+belong under the last head; but the teachers are so many compared with
+the officers that _their_ work should be treated the more generously.
+I think most convention programmes deal far too much with the
+machinery of the work, any way.
+
+The best mode of helping the officers is by an officers' conference;
+and if the convention holds but two sessions, I would urge that one of
+them be broken up into conferences. In one room the primary workers
+may meet; in another, the superintendents and their assistants; in
+others, the librarians, the secretaries, the choristers, the teachers
+of intermediate classes, the teachers of adult classes, the heads of
+home departments, the pastors. Programmes for these conferences
+should be arranged with as much care as for the main convention, and
+nothing should be done at random. It is a good plan, at the opening of
+these little simultaneous gatherings, to appoint one member of each to
+take notes of the best things and report them succinctly to the entire
+body when it reassembles.
+
+There are three classes of topics that I especially delight to see on a
+convention programme. First, the fundamentals. We must not forget the
+host of new workers constantly coming into our ranks. "How to ask a
+question" is an old, old theme; but there are enough new teachers to
+keep it forever fresh and pertinent. Second, new methods, exploited by
+authorities, by practical workers. Third, what I call "encouragements,"
+topics that inspire, cheer, comfort, victories gained, rewards in sight.
+Hallelujah themes.
+
+To these I must add a fourth: work for the audience. I would give the
+listeners a chance to "talk back" about once every hour, and something
+to do, besides listening, every half-hour. Question-boxes on practical
+topics are incomparable interest-quickeners. An answer-box is a reversed
+question-box. It contains written answers by the teachers, two or three
+questions of wide scope and great importance being propounded on the
+programme; such questions as: "What do you do with pert children?" "How
+do you get your scholars to study their lessons?" A wise leader, with
+the grace of conciseness, is required for both these exercises.
+
+Yes, and he is needed for the "open parliaments," or conversational
+discussions of helpful topics by brisk dialogue between audience and
+platform. These may be made merely parade-grounds for "smart" leaders,
+or genuine experience meetings, true council fires. It is wise to send
+a special invitation to your best teachers, asking them to be prepared
+with suggestions or questions for the open parliament, that it may
+start off with momentum already obtained. A summarist, too, is a good
+appointment; he listens quietly to the open parliament, and at the
+close gathers up, in a few sentences that stick, whatever is best
+worth preserving out of the discussion.
+
+The open parliament most commonly held consists merely of dry and
+formal reports from each school, the roll being called. If such an
+exercise is held, place in charge of it a man thoroughly familiar with
+the schools, and able by brisk questioning to elicit a report that
+will picture the one school and stimulate the others.
+
+A good presiding officer is half a convention. His first duty is to
+have a distinct understanding with each speaker that he is not to
+trespass on the next man's time, and his second duty is to cry "Stop,
+thief!" if the speakers do so trespass. The convention management
+should be a model for the Sunday-schools in every way, and in none
+more imperatively than in this of promptness.
+
+But also as to order. Oh, the weak-kneed or the purblind presidents,
+that allow the talking, whispering, walking about of a few to filch
+from the many half the value of the meetings! Stop the speaker. Call a
+halt on the entire convention. Don't proceed another step till quiet
+is restored, and maintained. Be a platform czar, and your audience
+will be your happy serfs.
+
+Then, the president is master of ceremonies. So much in
+acquaintanceships depends on tactful introductions! He should deliver to
+each successive speaker an audience that is in a glow of anticipation,
+and when the speaker is done,--yes, and all through,--his own cordial
+hands should lead the hearty applause, and he should take time for an
+appreciative word before passing to the next topic.
+
+If the presiding officer is to do all this, he must plan beforehand
+almost every sentence he will use in introducing speakers or opening the
+discussions. He is to be suggestive; he is to set brains a-throbbing
+with eagerness and tongues aching with things to say; and he is to do it
+all in twenty words. Brevity, good humor, suggestiveness,--these, in
+this order, are the chairman's prime virtues.
+
+At the opening of every convention the key-note of formality, routine,
+and perfunctoriness is struck in the address of welcome and the
+response. Their every word could safely be predicted in advance. The
+world is waiting for a programme committee that will be courageous
+enough to leave them out. If the pastor of the entertaining church has
+helpful ideas on Sunday-school work, by all means place him on the
+programme somewhere; but don't make a rut of him.
+
+At the very outset strike the key of prayer. Insert here and there
+throughout the programme a quiet ten minutes with the great Teacher.
+By all means close with a devotional half-hour--not a hasty prayer
+punctuated with the snapping of watches. Sentence prayers by scores,
+prayer psalms softly repeated, prayer hymns read with bowed
+heads,--the convention should furnish an inspiration and model for the
+devotions of all the schools represented.
+
+Scarcely less important is the element of song. Unconsciously to
+themselves, the audience should become a normal training-class,
+learning how to conduct the singing of their schools in fresh and
+uplifting ways. Many, if not all of the methods mentioned in my
+chapter on this theme find fit application to the convention.
+
+The social features deserve careful attention. Set the teachers to
+talking together; conversation was Socrates' university. One of the most
+helpful events may be a light supper given by the entertaining church. A
+small fee is charged, all sit down together, and at the close a series
+of happy speeches will bring out flashes of wit and bushels of sense.
+
+The business should be kept under. Introduce it a little at a time,
+rather than spend a fatiguing hour and a half. Make no parade of
+money-raising. Giving should be done quietly. Teach your teachers the
+grace of envelopes. Reduce all business to a minimum, remembering that
+the convention comes together not for legislation, but for inspiration.
+
+The Sunday-school convention is not only a conference, but an
+exposition. Here should be gathered whatever new teaching apparatus
+any school has bought: wall-maps, sand-maps, relief-maps, material for
+object-lessons, portable blackboards, colored pictures illustrating
+the lessons, specimens of class tests, library catalogues, new kinds
+of class-books, collection-envelopes, singing-books, new editions of
+the Bible, lesson helps of all kinds,--it is clear how varied and
+valuable a collection may easily be brought together when once the
+teachers and officers understand what is wanted.
+
+The library of the entertaining school should be open for visiting
+librarians to examine books and methods. The best new books might be
+brought in from all the libraries of the district, and if each school
+sent only one or two, the entire exhibit would furnish many a
+suggestion to wide-awake library committees.
+
+One of the most important exhibits is a Sunday-school map of the
+district, indicating where schools are in existence, and also where
+schools might and should be placed.
+
+There is one kind of exhibit that should rarely be made, if ever: an
+exhibit of the children themselves, either to "speak pieces" or to
+play Sunday-school and be taught. The latter use of them has
+advantages, but, to my mind, the gain to the audience is nothing
+compared to the children's increase of self-consciousness. I hide my
+head whenever I think of such a mock recitation in which I figured
+when a little boy, and remember how proud I was of my pert forwardness
+in answering all of the questions; before all those people, too!
+
+In closing, let us ask how the convention results may be gathered up,
+preserved, and sown broadcast. A notebook should be in the hand of
+each attendant,--either given away or sold. The speakers should so
+mark their points and emphasize the subdivisions of their addresses
+that the thoughts can readily be grasped and retained. A printed
+syllabus is a great assistance to this end, and if the printing-press
+is too costly, a manifolder may be used. Blank pages should be left in
+the programme, to invite to note-taking.
+
+And then, the new plans all jotted down, the felicitous expressions
+written out _verbatim_, the facts and figures clearly noted, let the
+convention be widely reported. Not merely should the convention press
+committee, that heralded the gathering through the papers, continue
+their labors long enough to render their previous work most fruitful,
+but every teacher present should carry the convention's best to his
+teachers' meeting and his class; yes, and to the church prayer-meeting.
+Thus will the ardor of the council fire spread throughout the army.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLII
+
+The Incorporation of Ideas
+
+
+Certain arts, such as sculpture, painting, and architecture, have been
+named the fine arts by some man who had not learned to look inward,
+and see what an infinitely finer art is any that attempts to fashion
+the human soul. The pastor's and the teacher's arts, which are in
+essence one, though the tyranny of language forbids calling them the
+fine arts, may be given even a nobler title; they are the high arts.
+
+We would sit down with bated breath and tense-drawn nerves to take to
+pieces for the first time the delicate machinery of a watch for cleaning
+and readjustment. If a sovereign diamond were placed in our hands for
+faceting, we would study for days its cleavage plane, its natural
+angles, and its matrix, and press it to the revolving wheel at last with
+timidity and shrinking. But when the most marvelously delicate,
+impressionable, yet abiding thing in the world is placed in our hands,
+together with the mightiest yet finest tools, and under conditions
+constantly varying, and we are told to fashion a human soul into truth
+and nobility, we sit down with confident smiles, and whack away.
+
+It is impossible for a Sunday-school teacher to magnify his office. He
+needs a spiritual telescope, rather, to see above it and below it and
+on all sides of it. We Sunday-school teachers constitute an unordained
+ministry, whose functions are as sacred as those of the pulpit, though
+less inclusive. If we are faithful, conversions will be as frequent
+results of our lesson questions as of the pastor's sermons. "God hath
+set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly
+teachers." Let us desire earnestly the greater gifts; but if God calls
+us to be neither missionary nor pastor, but Sunday-school teacher,
+even that calling is too high for us fully to attain.
+
+It is an anomaly to which the Christian world is just awaking that
+workers permit themselves to enter on this sacred art with no
+apprenticeship. Indeed, if such untrained workers were not admitted,
+there would soon be no Sunday-schools in the world to admit them. Long
+as the seminaries for ministerial preparation have existed, it is only
+recently that training-schools for lay workers have been formed. May
+they grow and multiply!
+
+But until enlarged Christian activity places one of these blessed
+institutions within reach of each consecrated layman, we must do the
+best we can with other means of growth. We must organize regular
+Sunday-school conventions and teach one another there. We must build
+one another up in enthusiastic teachers' meetings. We must use the
+best lesson helps. We must read greedily every book and every article
+that promises to give us new ideas and methods and inspiration.
+
+Now some object to all this. "You are needlessly discouraging us,"
+they say. "You are making a very simple matter appear complicated; an
+easy one seem difficult. Christ's yoke is easy; Christ's gospel is
+plain; he will give us in that Sunday-school hour what we are to say.
+Your minute directions as to methods of study, as to concordance and
+commentary and maps, are flying in the face of Providence. The Spirit
+bloweth where he listeth."
+
+The answer to all this is simple, and consists mainly in an appeal to
+experience. Simple and plain as Christ's message is, human lives are
+very complicated, and it is no simple matter or easy task to lay the
+Saviour's simple healing alongside their varied ills. Christ's burden is
+light; if it were heavier it would be easier to get paradoxical humanity
+to accept it. Christ will instruct us what to say, provided we have so
+trained our heart and brain that his words will not fall as senseless
+babble from our tongues. The Spirit does breathe where he listeth, but
+the experience of these centuries ought to teach us that God is never
+present in power where work and prayer have not invited him.
+
+Haphazard work is not equal to thoughtful work. Minute directions
+that would be wasted on a barn-painter are a necessity of the artist.
+Impromptu never yet won a race with Preparation. And I know that many
+a teacher is mourning over his empty hands who might be rejoicing over
+great sheaves if his sowing had been more liberal and his teaching
+more painstaking.
+
+And yet I sympathize with the weary discouragement of which all
+teachers feel a twinge when high ideals of teaching are held out
+before them. We are sure we are doing our best, already. It annoys us
+to be shown a better best. Our work is hard enough. It troubles us to
+be told that we must work harder before it can ever become easy. And
+especially, we are so confused by the multiplicity of good things we
+may do, of improvements we may make, that we do and make none of them.
+
+Now the secret of success in all arts lies in this: the Incorporation
+of Ideas. The reception of ideas, the appreciation and praise of them,
+this is nothing, though many are satisfied to stop here; but the
+incorporation, the embodiment of them, this makes the artist. The
+artist is the man that is hungry for ideas,--for the ideal, that is;
+the man that, like Paul, proves them all by the tests of thought and
+experience, and then holds fast whatever is good, until it has become
+part of himself, until it is incorporated.
+
+The artist is a man, too, that above all men knows the importance of
+trifles. The contour must be molded to nature precisely, the statue
+finished to the finger-nail, the machine accurate in every line and
+surface. He will not try to attain the ideal at a bound; it is made
+up, he knows, of many ideas. He grasps one idea, and fixes that
+forever. Then, he has power for another.
+
+One point at a time, then, fellow-laborers in this blessed work; one
+idea from an eager throng appealing to you in books, lectures, or
+papers, proved and found good, and then held fast by prayerful
+practice, by never-yielding effort, until it is added to the company
+of your unconscious forces. And then, in this power, to add another to
+it! Thus alone can we win, from Christ's university, the highest of
+all degrees, Masters of his Art!
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLIII
+
+From a Superintendent's Notebook
+
+
+An egotist is foredoomed to failure in the Sunday-school. The worker
+that hopes for success must cast to the winds any foolish pride in
+originality, and seek far and wide for the wisest ideas and the
+freshest methods. A superintendent or a teacher without a notebook is
+only half a superintendent or teacher. Its pages should rapidly grow
+rich with plunder. The little white friend must be at hand when he
+attends conventions, when he reads, when he talks with other workers,
+when he thinks and prays over his sacred tasks.
+
+The two chapters that follow are merely specimen pages of such
+notebooks. While I have utilized them to gather up various plans and
+experiences that could not fittingly find place elsewhere in the book,
+their chief purpose is to illustrate the wide-awake catholicity that
+must animate every successful worker in Sunday-schools.
+
+It is right to say--though this is a matter of course--that a large
+majority of these paragraphs are condensed from that great storehouse
+of Sunday-school lore, the "Sunday-school Times."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Their Own Review._--Scholars are likely to answer with special zest
+the questions prepared by other scholars. One school asks its classes
+in turn to furnish three questions on each lesson, which are proposed
+to the entire school at the close of the lesson hour. From these
+questions are selected a number for the quarterly review. They are
+"manifolded," and written answers are expected from all present.
+
+_Out of Order._--An excellent review scheme was arranged by a
+superintendent who gave his school a list of twenty-six events in the
+life of Christ, all jumbled up, and asked them to come next Sunday
+prepared to arrange them in chronological order.
+
+_A School Review._--For reviewing the lesson before the entire school,
+select one class a week beforehand and give it ten or twelve
+comprehensive questions, from the quarterly or original. At the close
+of the lesson ask this class to rise and answer the questions as
+another class, also rising, asks them. Let all the classes take turns
+in this service.
+
+_School Reviews._--For a change, it is well to incorporate the entire
+school in a general review,--omitting, of course, the younger classes.
+One person may conduct the review, or the questions on each lesson may
+be asked by a different teacher. Different classes may be assigned
+special lessons to illustrate by the concert repetition of Bible
+verses, or by a stanza of some song. One lesson of the quarter may be
+assigned to each class, and the questions that will be asked may be
+given to that class a week or two beforehand. In this case, general
+questions for the entire school should occasionally be interspersed.
+
+_A Teachers' Supper._--Once a year, at least, bring together all the
+teachers and officers around a well-filled table. After-dinner
+speeches, cheery and merry, may follow, and then a pleasant evening's
+entertainment.
+
+_The Annual Meeting._--Make this an event. A supper with bright
+speeches, the business meeting to follow; a brisk literary and musical
+entertainment; an introductory talk by some practical worker from
+abroad,--these are some of the ways of distinguishing the occasion.
+
+_Badges._--Any Sunday-school festival will be given eclat by the use
+of badges. The children will be proud to wear them, and will treasure
+them as souvenirs. They may be made almost without cost if you will
+use bright-colored cambric, and print upon them with a hand-stamp.
+
+_A Sunday-School Day._--If not once a year, at least once every few
+years, it is well worth while to make the Sunday-school the theme of
+all the exercises on the Lord's day,--both morning and evening
+services, and the Christian Endeavor meeting. The subject has so many
+practical aspects that much good will be done in addition to the
+quickening of the Sunday-school.
+
+_The Home Department._--Simply a promise to study the lesson at home
+for half an hour each week--that is the scheme of the home department.
+You may add visitors, records, reports, _ad libitum_, but the home
+department may be complete and satisfactory without these. The plan is
+so simple that any school can use it, and so fruitful of blessed
+results that no school dare neglect it. A thorough canvass for members
+of the home department seldom fails to bring new members into the main
+school at once, and as the home study arouses interest, new scholars
+are continually added from this source, besides the scores of aged and
+shut-ins whose lives are thus led into the green pastures of the Word.
+
+_Home Department Day._--On this occasion a special effort is made to
+bring to the Sunday-school the entire home department. They sit
+together, and special services are held in their honor and for their
+benefit.
+
+_Parents' Day._--Make a special effort once a year to bring out all
+the parents of the scholars. Issue special printed invitations. Have a
+printed programme. Let the exercises be the regular working of the
+school, with merely one short address to the parents in addition.
+
+_A Parents' Social._--Parents and teacher should know one another, and
+there is no more gracious way to bring this about than by an evening
+spent together at the teacher's house.
+
+_Purpose Cards._--To stimulate the school in needed ways, have a
+"purpose card" printed. It will read, in tabular form, "I will
+endeavor to attend more faithfully, to prepare my lesson better, to
+get a new scholar," etc. Each member of the school signs his card,
+marks with crosses the "purposes" he makes his own, and returns the
+card to the superintendent.
+
+_Installing the New Officers._--This should be done with some
+ceremony, including a very short address by the pastor, another by the
+outgoing superintendent or prominent officer, another by a
+representative of the incoming group, and an earnest prayer,--all to
+occupy no more than ten minutes. The scholars will have more respect
+for leaders thus honored, and the officers themselves will be more
+likely to magnify their office.
+
+_The Old Superintendent._--Some schools elevate the assistant
+superintendent regularly to the superintendency. Other schools adopt the
+opposite course, and make the superintendent of one year the assistant
+superintendent of the next. Either plan secures continuity of method.
+
+_A True Assistant._--The assistant superintendent should be prepared
+to do, in the superintendent's absence, everything the superintendent
+ordinarily does. How can he be prepared to do this unless the
+superintendent regularly shares all kinds of work with his assistant?
+
+_Help from the Public School._--In most communities a very inspiring
+series of lectures might be obtained from Christian teachers in the
+secular schools and colleges, the purpose of each lecture being to
+show how, according to the best pedagogical methods, a certain lesson
+might be taught, or Sunday-school teaching in general be carried on.
+
+_Flowers at Home._--You will delight your school, and teach them many
+lessons, if you give each scholar--or get the teachers to do this--a
+bulb, a package of seeds, or a small potted plant like a rose. Hold an
+exhibition to show the results, and then have the flowers given to the
+sick, the hospitals, the poor, or sold for missions.
+
+_Easter Lilies._--A few cents invested in lily bulbs will make a
+beautiful Easter for your school. Give one to each scholar for him to
+raise, or, possibly, one to each class. The flowers, after Easter
+Sunday, are to be sent to the aged, the sick, and the poor.
+
+_An Easter Gift._--Some Sunday-schools give each scholar, on Easter
+day, a little rosebush or a package of seeds, that they may be tended
+and urged to bloom by Children's Day, when they are all brought in.
+
+_Vacation Transfers._--Some schools, when their scholars leave for a
+vacation, give them letters to schools where they will visit. These
+are printed forms, and include a detachable blank report, which, when
+filled out and returned, will show the scholar's attendance on the
+other school during his absence.
+
+_Planned Prayer-Meetings._--It will greatly promote the devotional
+character of your school if you take twenty minutes each month for a
+prayer-meeting. Select four or five to offer prayer, and have them
+sit on the platform. A brief, tender talk from the superintendent and
+bright singing will complete a memorable meeting.
+
+_A Carryall._--I have heard of Sunday-schools that maintained omnibuses
+or large carriages, to gather up and carry to the school children whose
+homes were so far away that they could not otherwise attend.
+
+_Neighborhood Schools._--Distant groups of farmers' families, and
+others that cannot reach the school, should be organized in
+neighborhood Sunday-schools.
+
+_A New Object Each Month._--The scholars' offerings should be an
+education not only in the instinct of giving, but also in the
+intelligent choice of objects for giving. Every Sunday-school should
+have a benevolence committee, which carefully selects for each month a
+new object of beneficence. On the last Sabbath of each month a word
+should be said about the object that appeals for the gifts of the next
+month. This brief account should, of course, be supplemented by the
+teachers in their classes.
+
+_The Envelope System._--This plan of giving, which has done so much
+for our churches, should be used everywhere in the Sunday-school. Give
+each class a number and each scholar a set of dated envelopes, one for
+each Sunday, bearing his class number. Call for a contribution from
+each scholar each Sunday. Urge that all absent scholars send their
+contributions, or bring them the next Sunday. From this _systematic_
+giving you may go on to _proportionate_ giving by impressing on the
+scholars their duty to set apart for God some regular proportion, say
+one tenth, of all the money they receive. If the school takes up
+monthly collections for special benevolent objects, the envelopes for
+these Sundays may be of a different color. If, as should always be the
+case, the expenses of the school are met by the church, leaving the
+entire school collections to be devoted to missions and charitable
+causes, the school committee on benevolences may select a different
+object of giving for each month. This object should then be written on
+each envelope for that month.
+
+_A Jug-Breaking._--One of the best ways of teaching children the value
+of little gifts and the importance of weekly savings for Christ's
+cause is by the collection of money in jugs. Set before them at the
+start some object for their gifts, that they may think and talk about
+it while they are saving; otherwise their minds are lifted no higher
+than their money. And how they will enjoy the jug-breaking!
+
+_Class-Books._--Not records of class attendance, but books for the
+library, paid for by the various classes, selected by these so far as
+their choice seems wise, and each of them bearing an inscription telling
+what class presented it to the school. Such gifts give the scholars a
+personal interest in the library they have helped to create.
+
+_Loan Libraries._--Instead of giving away the books your school has
+thoroughly read, loan them, in groups of fifty or so, to poorer schools.
+They will return them in good condition, and by that time there will be
+many new scholars in your own school to whom the books will be fresh.
+
+_Exchange Libraries._--There is no reason why neighboring schools, if
+their library funds are low, should not arrange to buy different
+books, and then exchange them after the original purchasers have used
+them for a year. All the schools in a town or township might well
+combine in an arrangement so economical.
+
+_Receiving the New Books._--The library will be advertised if the
+reception of new books is made an event. They may be put in a public
+place, all at one time, and formally presented to the school by pastor
+or superintendent, with a word about each. This may be done at
+Christmas, Easter, Children's Day, Thanksgiving, at any one or all of
+these holiday seasons.
+
+_Honor the Donors._--A special and attractive label for books presented
+to the library, with a space for the name of the person that makes the
+gift, will greatly increase the number of books received in this way.
+
+_Their Own Paper._--A large Sunday-school may publish a little weekly
+or monthly paper, the advertisements paying the bills. The older
+scholars will be interested in doing the work. The notes about the
+various classes, the library, the contributions, the school work, will
+all prove stimulating.
+
+_Sunday-School Calendars._--A good standing advertisement of the
+school in any home would be a neat calendar of the year, bordered with
+facts about the school, invitations, pictures of church, pastor,
+Sunday-school officers, and the like.
+
+_A Bulletin Board._--A conspicuous bulletin board, placed at the
+entrance, will save giving out many a notice.
+
+_The Notices._--The wise superintendent will plan every word he is to
+say before the school, even--yea, especially!--the giving of the
+notices. These notices will be the fewest possible; don't let the
+Sunday-school be used as a bill-board. Announce only what you want the
+scholars to remember, and in such a bright way that they can't forget
+it. And don't discredit your perspicuity and their attention by
+announcing it more than once.
+
+_Protect the Teacher._--One of the most important of the
+superintendent's duties is to protect the teacher from interruption
+during the recitation hour. A similar duty is to see that the time for
+the recitation suffers no diminution through the tardiness or
+prolixity of himself or any one else.
+
+_Substitute Groups._--The work of "substituting" may well be divided
+up. Ask a set of older scholars to be ready to substitute on the first
+Sunday of each month, another set on the second Sunday, and so on.
+
+_The Pastor as Substitute._--Certainly the pastor should not take a
+Sunday-school class of his own. That would be unfair to the rest of
+the school and the church. But he would get into helpful contact with
+a large number of people, young and old, if he should act every Sunday
+as a substitute teacher, now in this class and now in that.
+
+_A Five-Minute Meeting._--A few minutes of conference, immediately
+after the session of the school, will be a great help and stimulus to
+the teachers. One will ask help in a difficulty, another will report a
+method just proved successful. Everything will come fresh and vital
+from living experience.
+
+_How Many Absent?_--Often let the secretary, in his report to the
+school, state only the number _absent_ from each class and department.
+He will thus change the emphasis, and arouse a new and profitable
+interest.
+
+_A Roll-Call._--It takes time, but at long intervals a public
+roll-call of the entire school is worth while. Of course it should be
+well advertised beforehand, and the entire membership will wish to be
+present. Then make the hour so delightful that they will not think of
+staying away thereafter.
+
+_Honor Rolls._--Hang a large sheet of paper in a conspicuous position,
+and announce that you will print upon it the name of every one that
+brings in a new scholar. A red paper star after the name signifies one
+new scholar, a blue star a second scholar, and so on. A similar roll
+may be used to honor perfect attendance, stars of different colors
+being used for the different quarters.
+
+_Gold and Silver Stars._--There are well-based objections to any
+distinction of one class above another, but a plan that will be found
+very valuable, at least as a temporary stimulus, is this: Honor with a
+large silver star every class that has all its members present, and
+with a gold star each class that reports all its members bringing
+Bibles, and that all have studied the lesson at least twenty minutes.
+
+_An Asterisk._--If by banners or in other ways you honor regular
+attendance, there will be a tendency to drop absent scholars from the
+rolls too quickly, because they lower the standard of their classes.
+An excellent way of getting around this difficulty is to "star" the
+name of every scholar that has been absent a month. This asterisk
+means that the name is not to be counted in making up the report, but
+the presence of the name on the list means that the scholar is not to
+be forgotten or neglected.
+
+_To Console Him._--One bright superintendent scorns to give a reward
+or prize for new scholars, but presents a nice leather-bound Bible, by
+way of compensation, to each scholar that for any cause is luckless
+enough to _leave_ his school!
+
+_A Spur._--Enforce punctuality by a large placard hung in front of the
+school, and reading, "You are early." When the school opens the card
+is turned, and now reads, in staring letters, "You are late!"
+
+_A Question Drill._--This is a good plan for teachers' meetings. The
+teachers should ask questions on each verse, turn about, and the
+leader should criticise the questions.
+
+_Teachers'-Meeting Roll-Call._--To insure previous study of the
+lesson, and to accustom the teachers to take part in the meeting, let
+the roll be called every week, and require each teacher to respond
+with some thought concerning the lesson, usually a comment on some
+particular verse.
+
+_Attendance on the Teachers' Meeting._--It will prove a helpful spur
+if this attendance is recorded regularly, and incorporated in all the
+reports made by the secretary to the school.
+
+_Union Teachers' Meetings._--If you cannot have a teachers' meeting
+for your Sunday-school alone, because you have no good leader, you can
+probably find a good leader in some neighboring church, and can give
+him and yourselves the stimulus of a large union gathering. This plan
+has many advantages, notably the opportunity for the comparison of
+methods. It has one great disadvantage: the work cannot apply so
+particularly to your individual school.
+
+_A Reception Class._--New scholars may all be placed in a "reception
+class," until their ability, knowledge, and character can be learned.
+
+_A Visitors' Register._--This is for the names and home addresses of
+all visitors. The little attention required to obtain these autographs
+pleases them and their friends, and breaks the ice for further
+acquaintance. The register should be kept open on some table in a
+central spot, with pen and ink always at hand.
+
+_An Address-Book._--This should contain, under proper and convenient
+classifications, the addresses of all scholars, teachers, and
+officers, past and present. It should always be kept in the church,
+and many will be the references to it.
+
+_A Cradle Roll._--This contains the names of the babies of the church,
+for each of whom his mother is given a certificate of membership. This
+roll is read once in a while before the primary class.
+
+_Individual Histories._--At least one school has enough personal
+interest in its scholars to keep a history of each, in a book properly
+arranged for that purpose. This history includes the date of the
+scholar's joining the school and of his promotion to the various higher
+departments thereof, his birthday and the names of his parents, their
+church-membership, where the scholar lived when he joined the church,
+whom he married and when, his business, the date of his removal and the
+city to which he went, together with other and special facts.
+
+_District Reporters._--Appoint one scholar or teacher to watch each
+street in town,--preferably, of course, the street on which he
+resides,--and report promptly all newcomers, that they may be invited
+to the Sunday-school.
+
+_The Opening Prayer._--Let the ushers admit no one till it is over. Do
+not begin, or permit any one else to begin this prayer, till every
+head is bowed. Do not ask any one to offer this prayer without giving
+long notice; no haphazard prayer will answer.
+
+_Their Own Bibles._--A Bible in the hands of every scholar,--this
+alone makes possible variety and zest in the opening of the school.
+
+_Lesson Introductions._--In small schools it has often been found
+profitable for the superintendent to spend ten or fifteen minutes
+teaching to the entire school (with the exception of the primary
+department) the historical and similar details of the lesson. The
+teachers then add the lesson truths, teaching their individual classes.
+
+_Varying Programmes._--If the opening exercises of the school get into
+a rut, it is hard for the teachers to lift the school out of it. Some
+wise superintendents plan these exercises for weeks ahead, keeping
+careful record, and thus avoid monotony.
+
+_An Impressive Close._--One school closes its service with the Lord's
+Prayer, repeated by all as they stand. Then the school is seated, and
+waits in silence while the ushers, walking slowly up the aisles,
+dismiss each class in turn.
+
+_A Closing Prayer._--Here is a beautiful prayer to be repeated in
+concert at the close of school: "May the light of thy Word, O Lord,
+dwell in us richly, and guide us day by day. Amen."
+
+_Scripture in Closing._--To incite to Scripture memorizing, close the
+school with Bible verses repeated by all the scholars. Let each class
+in turn select the subject, such as "temperance," "obedience," "love,"
+and announce it a week in advance.
+
+_The Teachers before the School._--Now and then ask some teacher to
+say a few words to the entire school at the close of the session,
+summing up the most important teachings of the hour. This gives the
+whole school a bit of inspiration from each teacher in turn, and gives
+to each teacher the inspiration of talking to the whole school.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLIV
+
+From a Teacher's Notebook
+
+
+_Birthday Letters._--Little children will prize highly a cordial,
+loving letter written to them by their teacher on their birthday.
+Doubtless the very oldest scholars in the school will prize such a
+letter as much, if not even more. There should be no preachment in
+these letters, no hitting at peculiar sins; just fill them with
+Christian sunshine. A birthday prayer in the class, short, simple,
+earnest, will clinch to the scholar the lessons of the day.
+
+_Class Letters._--When the teacher is away on a vacation or for other
+reasons, a letter sent each week to some member of the class, taking the
+scholars in order, will be shared with the other scholars, and will
+strengthen the bond that the absence might have weakened or broken.
+
+_Teaching by Correspondence._--When the teacher must be absent, if she
+cannot find a good substitute, and the class is of a suitable age for
+the plan, let her send a letter containing a few thoughts on the
+lesson, together with many questions, which the class are to discuss,
+and for which, after joint consultation, they will prepare written
+answers, to be sent to the teacher.
+
+_The Lesson Message._--Do you fear that the central truth of the
+lesson may not be impressed on your class, either through your
+forgetfulness or because you lack time? Then write out for each
+scholar a sentence or two of exhortation, with a request that he read
+a certain appropriate passage of the Bible. Place these messages in
+envelopes, and distribute them at the close of the lesson.
+
+_A Teacher's Loan._--If you have found a book that would be especially
+helpful to your class, by all means, if you can afford it, buy a copy,
+circulate it among the class, and, after all your scholars have read
+it, present it to the library.
+
+_Birthdays of the Great._--Utilize in your teaching not only
+Washington's birthday and Lincoln's, but the birthday of any great man
+whose life may help to point the moral of the day's lesson. For this
+purpose, one of the many "birthday-books" is of value for reference.
+
+_A Magazine Club._--The members of a Sunday-school class have similar
+interests, and an ideal magazine and paper club may be organized among
+them. Incidentally, it will enable the teacher to direct much of their
+reading. The periodicals subscribed for are to be passed around in a
+specified order, kept at each house a definite time, and each finally
+retained by some member of the class.
+
+_Class Names._--It will prove an inspiration to any class to have a
+good name, such as "Earnest Seekers," "Willing Workers," "The Joshua
+Band," "Daughters of Ruth."
+
+_Five-Minute Preludes._--Brief preludes on current topics or
+practically helpful points connected with the lesson theme may be
+found valuable in the Bible class, just as similar preludes have
+proved useful in the preaching service.
+
+_Independence._--Occasionally request the class to prepare so
+thoroughly that they can leave at home the quarterly, lesson leaf,
+even the Bible itself. The teacher also will do this; and if he
+improves his opportunity, this thorough storing of the mind may result
+in a recitation so delightful that the class will adopt the plan
+enthusiastically for the future.
+
+_Her "Funny Box."_--A teacher tells how she lightened the occasional
+sickness of her scholars by carrying to them what they called her
+"funny box," which held fruit and flowers, with scores of merry jokes
+clipped from the papers, peanuts marked with comical faces, and a
+Bible verse or two on the inside of the cover.
+
+_A Review Picture-Gallery._--If you have been using the blackboard
+during the quarter, try a blackboard review. Draw twelve
+picture-frames, and call up the scholars one by one, asking each to
+fill in one of the frames with what he remembers of the blackboard
+work of that lesson. It may be necessary for the teacher to remind the
+scholar what the design was, and to help him draw it, or the entire
+class may be asked to give this assistance.
+
+_An Essay Review._--Divide the lessons of the quarter among your
+scholars, so that each will write an essay on some one lesson; or, if
+your class is too small for that, assign two lessons apiece to some of
+the scholars. Limit them as to time, but let each choose his line of
+treatment.
+
+_Silent Prayers._--If we always word the children's prayers for them,
+they will be unlikely ever to word prayers for themselves. Often
+request them to bow their heads and in silence to ask the Father for
+what they need and thank him for his kindness.
+
+_Class Prayers._--Why should not every class recitation be opened with
+a brief prayer, and often close with one? Yes, and when the talk in
+the middle of the lesson becomes especially earnest, prayer is the
+best means of binding the truth to the lives of your scholars.
+
+_A Prayer Calendar._--This is a list of the scholars in your class,
+plus the name of the teacher, divided among the days of the week, that
+of the teacher falling on Sunday. The whole is headed with a promise
+to pray each day for the persons named for that day. Each of the
+scholars has a copy, and signs it.
+
+_Pegs._--Draw a good-sized map of the country you are studying, and
+mount it on a board. With a gimlet bore holes wherever there is an
+important town, mountain, lake, or other geographical feature whose
+location you wish your scholars to learn. Fit pegs into these holes,
+and color the pegs white for the mountains, red for the cities, blue
+for the bodies of water. Teach the scholars, as you call for Hebron,
+for instance, to place a red peg in the proper hole, and thus to use
+the map.
+
+_Dissected Maps._--Paste a good-sized map of the desired country on
+thick cardboard or pasteboard. If you cannot get a large enough map,
+draw one yourself, and in the process you will learn much geography.
+Then cut the map into irregular pieces, and present it to the younger
+classes for them to fit together.
+
+_Putty Maps._--With a board foundation and a good map for a guide, any
+teacher can build up a relief map of Palestine out of putty. Paint the
+water blue, the sandy portions yellow, the fertile plains green, the
+mountains white or gray, the cities red. Letter with black.
+
+_Colors and Places._--A good way to aid the children's memory as to
+the location of the various lessons of the quarter is to write on the
+blackboard the title of each lesson as it comes, using each week a
+different color, and pinning to an outline map, at the same time, a
+scrap of paper of the same color. Of course, if a later lesson falls
+at the same place, the old color will be used in writing its title.
+
+_Home Drawings._--Some teachers wisely require their scholars to
+reproduce at home what they can remember of the blackboard work of the
+day, and bring in the result the next Sunday. The test is one for the
+teacher's blackboard work as well as for the scholars' memory.
+
+_Utilizing your Reading._--Every teacher should keep either a
+wide-margin Bible, or an interleaved Bible, solely to note the helps
+on Bible texts he may note in his reading. If the book or periodical
+is your own, simply set down the page opposite the Bible verse. Some
+may prefer a system of envelopes, one for each book of the Bible, in
+which clippings may be filed, as well as slips of paper containing
+references to books.
+
+_One Way of Preparing._--Cut up the Scripture text found on a lesson
+leaf, and paste the verses on large sheets of paper, leaving liberal
+space around each. In this space write your own comments, and the
+suggestions you glean from your reading.
+
+_On the Spot._--If one of your scholars is reported sick, why not
+pen--or _pencil_--a little note immediately, with the aid of the
+class, and send it to the sick scholar at the close of the school? A
+message thus written will move graciously upon the class as well as
+upon the recipient.
+
+_Prompt Investigation._--"A stitch in time saves nine." Apply this
+maxim to your scholar's _first_ absence, and look him up at once.
+
+_Lookout Committees._--Divide each class into three companies. Company
+A will seek recruits for the class, Company B will hunt up absentees,
+and Company C will do hospital service among the sick. Require regular
+reports.
+
+_Reports of Study._--Some teachers issue to their scholars blank
+reports, which they return, filled out, each Sunday. These reports
+tell whether they have studied the lesson for ten minutes each day,
+_and what verses of the lesson they do not understand_.
+
+_Reports to Parents._--The work done in Sunday-school should be so
+definite that it can be reported. Certain points should be required to
+be learned in each lesson, and when they are well recited, or when
+they are not recited, the parents should know of it. Regular monthly
+or quarterly reports, sent by postal-card, will stimulate the scholar
+to learn better, the parents to help him study, and the teacher to
+teach with system, definiteness, and persistency.
+
+_Collection and Record._--Give the mother, for her child, fifty-two
+little envelopes in which to put a year's pennies or nickels. Each
+child's envelopes are given a number, so that the collection is also a
+record of attendance.
+
+_More than a Straight Mark._--A simple but complete record may be made
+by a few strokes of the pencil. A cross has been suggested. The upper
+arm signifies "present"; the lower arm, "prompt"; the left-hand arm,
+"the lesson learned," according to a definite standard; the right-hand
+arm, "present at church." If the scholar has failed in one or more of
+these points, the corresponding arms are omitted from the cross.
+
+_Class Photographs._--With your own camera or some friend's take a
+group picture of your class once a year. You may give them at that
+time a pleasant "photograph party," or take an excursion together to
+some place, there to be photographed. Each scholar should have a copy
+of the resulting picture. It will be delightful if all the classes can
+thus be photographed, and an exhibition arranged of the entire series
+of pictures, which then becomes the property of the school.
+
+_Holidays Together._--A teacher especially successful in holding
+together a class of boys is in the habit of taking them with him on
+all sorts of excursions,--to libraries, museums, points of historical
+interest, on sleigh-rides, to hear illustrated lectures. And often he
+arranges for them merry parties at his home.
+
+_A Class Symbol._--Some concrete token, presented when the new scholar
+joins the class, will greatly help to cement the relationship. This
+may be a little book, a ribbon book-mark, an illuminated Scripture
+card, a simple emblematic pin. Whatever it is, it should be the same
+for all, that it may serve as a sort of class badge.
+
+_Introduction Cards._--These are of use to make new scholars acquainted
+with their classmates. The card contains the names of Sunday-school,
+teacher, and all the scholars, that of the new scholar being last, with
+the date of entrance. The whole is of immediate service to the new
+member, and is sure to be preserved as a pleasant memento.
+
+_A Work for Each._--Enlist each of your scholars in some definite and
+individual work for Christ. One may gather up old periodicals for the
+seamen, one may be interested in a children's hospital, one may collect
+partly worn garments for the poor. At each meeting of the class call for
+brief reports of these special lines of work. There could be no better
+commentary on the lessons your scholars are studying.
+
+_Substitute Teachers._--The teachers should obtain their own
+substitutes, whenever possible. If the superintendent makes it clear
+that he expects this, it will usually be done. In the process of
+obtaining the substitute, too, the teacher will probably gain fresh
+sympathy and consideration for the superintendent.
+
+_A Class Historian._--Appoint one scholar to this office. Ask him to
+keep track of the old members, and report any interesting news
+concerning them, at the same time keeping a record.
+
+_Essays._--Your scholars will appreciate the honor if asked to prepare
+essays now and then on special points in the lessons, such as "Jewish
+customs regarding Sunday," "The city of Antioch," "What the Bible
+teaches about temperance." Such essays should be very brief.
+
+_Supplemental Lessons._--The very interest aroused by the International
+Lessons calls often for supplementary lessons, dealing with such topics
+as the origin of the Bible, Bible geography, the Christian doctrines.
+Ten minutes preceding the regular lesson may be spent on such themes,
+and a great deal thus learned in the course of the year.
+
+_An Expedient._--If a boy is especially mischievous and restless,
+make him an usher and set him to keeping the rest in order.
+
+_A Study Outline._--Each member of a certain class was furnished with
+a copy of the following excellent programme for home study of the
+lesson: "1. Intervening events. 2. Time. 3. Place. 4. Persons. 5.
+Incidents. 6. Parallel passages and Scripture references. 7.
+Difficulties. 8. Doctrines and duties. 9. Central thought. 10.
+Personal application--to myself, to others."
+
+_Question-Books._--Blank-books in which questions on the lesson have
+been written, with spaces for answers, may profitably be used even in
+very young classes. The answers should be written immediately on the
+conclusion of the teaching, or even, question by question, as the
+teaching proceeds. In older classes, the questions may be set before the
+class a week later, and may introduce the next lesson, by way of review.
+
+_Home-Made Question-Books._--To induce your scholars to study at home,
+provide for each of them two little blank-books. Write a question in
+one, and request the return of the book next Sunday with the answer
+written out. Exchange it for the second book, and so alternate. Wise
+teachers will slip into such books many a personal word of praise or
+exhortation.
+
+_A Question Formula._--Ask each member of the class to bring you,
+every Sunday, written answers to a set of questions so general that,
+once dictated, they will serve for all lessons; for instance: "When
+occurred the events of our lesson? What is a brief synopsis of our
+lesson? What is its principal teaching? Which is your favorite verse
+in it, and why?" These answers should be discussed in the class.
+
+_Trained as Questioners._--In most schools there is no normal class,
+and if the teachers do not train their scholars to teach, the next
+generation of teachers in that school will be untrained. The class
+should be taught how to ask questions, and probably the best way to do
+this is to have them occupy a few minutes at the beginning of each
+recitation questioning one another on the previous lesson.
+
+_A Choice of Questions._--For this exercise the teacher writes a
+number of questions, which she brings to the class. Each scholar in
+turn is permitted to select a question, which he will propound to any
+of his classmates he may pick out.
+
+_The "Bible Library."_--This is a help to learning the order of the
+books of the Bible, and consists of sixty-six wooden blocks, painted and
+lettered to represent books, and varying in thickness with the size of
+the various books of the Bible. The poetical books are "bound" in the
+same style, the minor prophets in a different style, and so with other
+"sets." These imitation books are kept on shelves, from which they are
+taken by the children, to be replaced in the correct order.
+
+_Bible-Reading Lessons._--Many scholars read the Bible wretchedly;
+they have never been taught how. If this is the case with your class,
+have them read the lesson, verse about, before you discuss it. After
+the reading, criticise it, and have them repeat it.
+
+_Two Bibles._--If the scholars will not bring their Bibles to
+school,--and the boys especially are likely to think it will look
+"goody-goody,"--the next best plan is to give each of them a second
+Bible for his own use during the school hour.
+
+_Marked Bibles._--Teach the scholars to mark their Bibles, writing,
+for instance, the "key-word" at the beginning of each book;
+underscoring the leading sentence of a chapter; marking with red all
+passages referring to Christ as our Saviour; writing a P after every
+promise; "railroading," or connecting with a neatly drawn line,
+phrases that are antithetical or mutually explanatory, etc. One set of
+colored inks will answer for the class. The scholars will delight in
+the work, it will induce them to bring their Bibles to school, and
+will teach them how to use the Book.
+
+_Bible Dialogues._--Where the lesson text includes conversation, get
+the scholars to read it in dialogue form, or to come with it thus
+written out.
+
+_Home Bible-Reading._--The school may be set to reading the Bible at
+home, if lists of readings for each day of the week are written on
+cards by the teachers, and given out, to be returned, signed, in token
+that the reading has been accomplished.
+
+_A Divided Primary Department._--In large schools, where the
+superintendent of the primary department teaches the lesson for ten or
+fifteen minutes, and then hands the classes over to her assistant
+teachers, it is best for those teachers to spend their time in
+eliciting from the children, by questions, the facts and truths just
+taught them. Thus you will make sure of something gained.
+
+_A Week-Day Meeting._--It has been proved possible to sustain, in
+connection with a primary department, a week-day meeting for special
+and supplementary teaching, including singing, mission studies, and
+Bible history and geography.
+
+_Introducing Prayer._--This little verse, recited in concert, is used
+in many primary departments just before the prayer service:
+
+      "We fold our hands that we may be
+      From all our work and play set free;
+      We close our eyes that we may see
+      Nothing to take our thoughts from thee;
+      We bow our heads as we draw near
+      The King of kings, our Father dear."
+
+_The Essentials._--Every child, before leaving the primary department,
+should know the Commandments, the Beatitudes, the Twenty-third Psalm,
+the Apostles' Creed or some simple statement of Christian faith, the
+books of the Bible by name and order and something of their origin,
+the principal features of the map of Palestine, the chief events in
+Christ's life. Some of the Old Testament history will of course be
+added,--creation, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David, Solomon.
+
+_Primary Prayers._--No prayer for the children is so good as prayer by
+the children. Ask them, one after the other, to name things for which
+they are grateful. Then give them the formula, "I thank thee, Lord, for
+...," and let them offer prayers of thanksgiving for what they have
+mentioned. Again, ask each to tell one thing he really wants, and follow
+with prayers of petition, with the formulas, "Help me, dear Jesus, to be
+...," or, "Give me, dear Jesus, ..." Teach short Bible prayers. Offer
+longer prayers in brief sentences, which the children reverently repeat
+after you. For example: "Our dear heavenly Father, ... we thank thee for
+this beautiful day, ... for our homes and fathers and mothers, ... for
+our sisters and brothers and friends, ... and all that thou hast given
+us to make life happy.... Teach us to be helpful to those that are
+without these blessings.... Make us more kind and patient.... Help us to
+do everything thou dost want us to do.... For Jesus' sake. Amen."
+
+
+
+
+THE WORKS OF AMOS R. WELLS
+
+
+=ROLLICKING RHYMES FOR YOUNGSTERS=
+
+    Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. 12mo, cloth, net $1.00.
+
+    Mr. Wells is well known already as a versatile author. Now he
+    comes to the front as a brilliant verse-maker for young folk. Some
+    of these rhymes have already won their way through the foremost
+    magazines, but others here see the light for the first time. The
+    inimitable juvenile illustrator Mr. Bridgman, has here done some
+    of his best work. Poet and Artist have thus combined to make this
+    the most acceptable volume of children's poems since "A Child's
+    Garden of Verses."
+
+=THE CHEER BOOK=
+
+    A Store of Daily Optimism. "_The best year book is a cheer book._"
+    A quotation, verse or prose from different authors, for each day
+    of the year, 12mo, cloth, net $1.00.
+
+=SUNDAY SCHOOL SUCCESS=
+
+    12mo, cloth, gilt top, $1.25.
+
+=THREE YEARS WITH THE CHILDREN=
+
+    12mo, cloth, $1.25.
+
+    "The talk abounds in the happiest kind of illustrations from the
+    things of everyday life, which children will readily understand,
+    applied with aptness and skill."--_Worcester Spy._
+
+=A BUSINESS MAN'S RELIGION=
+
+    16mo, cloth, 50c.
+
+=WHEN THOU HAST SHUT THY DOOR=
+
+    Morning and Evening Meditations for a Month. _3d edition._ Long
+    16mo, cloth, 50c.
+
+=BUSINESS=
+
+    A Plain Talk with Men and Women who Work. 12mo, decorated; boards,
+    30c.
+
+=SOCIAL EVENINGS=
+
+    A Collection of Entertainments. 16mo, cloth, net 35c.
+
+=NUTSHELL MUSINGS=
+
+    Counsels for the Quiet Hour. 18mo, cloth, 25c.
+
+
+  FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
+  New York      Chicago      Toronto
+
+
+
+
+For Work Among Children
+
+
+    =Practical Primary Plans.= For Sabbath School Teachers. By Israel
+    P. Black. Illustrated with diagrams. 16mo, cloth, $1.00.
+
+    =Object Lessons for Junior Work.= Practical Suggestions, Object
+    Lessons, and Picture Stories. By Ella N. Wood, 16mo, cloth, with
+    designs and illustrations, 50 cents.
+
+    =The Children's Prayer.= By Rev. James Wells, D.D. Addresses to
+    the Young on the Lord's Prayer. 16mo, cloth, 75 cents.
+
+    =Bible Stories Without Names.= By Rev. Harry Smith, M.A. With
+    questions at the end of each chapter and the answers in a separate
+    booklet. 16mo, cloth, 75 cents.
+
+    =Object Lessons for Children=; or, Hooks and Eyes, Truth Linked to
+    Sight. Illustrated. By Rev. C. H. Tyndall, Ph.D., A.M. _2d
+    edition._ 12mo, cloth, $1.25.
+
+    =Attractive Truths in Lesson and Story.= By Mrs. A. M. Scudder.
+    Introduction by Rev. F. E. Clark, D.D. _3d thousand._ 8vo, cloth,
+    $1.25.
+
+    =Pictured Truth.= A Handbook of Blackboard and Object Teaching. By
+    Rev. R. F. Y. Pierce. Introduction by R. H. Conwell, D.D. With
+    illustrations by the author. _3d thousand._ 12mo, cloth, $1.25.
+
+    =Children's Meetings, and How to Conduct Them.= By Lucy J. Rider
+    and Nellie M. Carman. Introduction by Bishop J. H. Vincent. Cloth,
+    illustrated, _net_, $1.00; paper covers, _net_, 50 cents.
+
+    =Talks to Children.= By Rev. T. T. Eaton, D.D., with introduction
+    by Rev. John A. Broadus, D.D., LL.D., 16mo, cloth, $1.00.
+
+    =Conversion of Children.= By Rev. E. P. Hammond. A practical
+    volume, replete with incident and illustration. Suggestive,
+    important, and timely. Cloth, 75 cents. paper cover, 30 cents.
+
+    =Gospel Pictures and Story Sermons for Children.= By Major D. W.
+    Whittle. Profusely illustrated. _47th thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 30
+    cents, net; paper, 15 cents.
+
+    =Seed for Spring-time Sowing.= A Wall Roll for the use of Primary,
+    Sabbath School and Kindergarten Teachers. Compiled by Mrs. Robert
+    Pratt. 75 cents.
+
+  Fleming H. Revell Company
+  NEW YORK: 158 Fifth Avenue CHICAGO: 63 Washington Street
+  TORONTO: 27 Richmond Street, W.
+
+
+
+
+The Home and Children
+
+
+    =Child Culture in the Home.= By Martha B. Mosher. 12mo, cloth,
+    $1.00.
+
+    "Rarely has so helpful a book on the moral education of children
+    appeared. The emotions, the senses, the will, as well as the
+    training of the habits of the child and methods of training, are all
+    considered."--_The Outlook._
+
+    "It is written in a clear, straightforward manner, is rich in
+    suggestions and illustrations, and is thoroughly wholesome in
+    counsel."--_Cumberland Presbyterian._
+
+    =Studies in Home and Child-Life.= By Mrs. S. M. I. Henry. _Eighth
+    thousand_, 12mo, cloth, $1.00.
+
+    "It is clear, concise and vigorous throughout, and has the charm of
+    Mother love and God love from first to last. We cannot conceive of a
+    more helpful manual than this would be in the hands of young
+    parents, and indeed of all who have to do with children."--_The
+    Union Signal._
+
+    "The book is one we can heartily commend to every father and mother
+    to read and re-read, and ponder over and read again."--_The
+    Observer._
+
+    =Child Culture; or, The Science of Motherhood.= By Mrs. Hannah
+    Whitall Smith. _3d edition_, 16mo, decorated boards, 30 cents.
+
+    "We have read nothing from the pen of this gifted woman which we
+    have more enjoyed than this wisely-written booklet, as spiritual as
+    it is practical, and as full of common sense as of exalted
+    sentiment. Any mother having prayerfully read this heart message of
+    a true woman will be a better mother."--_Cumberland Presbyterian._
+
+    =The Children for Christ.= By Rev. Andrew Murray, D.D. Thoughts for
+    Christian Parents on the Consecration of the Home Life. 12mo, cloth,
+    $1.00.
+
+    "The author seems to have had a Divine vocation in writing this
+    book, and thousands of parents ought to derive blessings from it for
+    their children."--_The Evangelist._
+
+    =Home Duties.= Practical Talks on the Amenities of the Home. By Rev.
+    R. T. Cross. 12mo, paper, 15 cents; cloth, 30 cents, net.
+
+    CONTENTS: Duties of Husbands. Duties of Wives. Duties of Parents.
+    Duties of Children. Duties of Brothers and Sisters. The Duty of
+    Family Worship. The Method of Family Worship. A Home for Every
+    Family and How to Get It.
+
+    "A model of what can be done in so brief a space."--_The
+    Independent._
+
+  Fleming H. Revell Company
+  NEW YORK: 158 Fifth Avenue CHICAGO: 63 Washington Street
+  TORONTO: 154 Yonge Street
+
+
+
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+
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+
+
+=My Dogs in the Northland.=
+
+    Profusely illustrated. 12mo, cloth, $1.25 net. Experiences with
+    Eskimo and St. Bernard dogs, covering years of sledge travel in
+    the frozen wilds of British America. An exciting story in which
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+    chief part. Mr. Young proves in a most entertaining and
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+    Terrible perils, wonderful escapes and sudden emergencies mix with
+    the most comical situations.
+
+=On the Indian Trail.=
+
+    Stories of Missionary Experiences among the Cree and the Saulteaux
+    Indians. Stories of Mission. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.
+
+    "He has a happy and often amusingly quaint way of describing the
+    incidents and surroundings of frontier life. His cheerful, almost
+    merry, temper, while recounting the devices resorted to in
+    enduring or mastering privations and dangers are stimulating and
+    instructive."--_The Watchman._
+
+=The Apostle of the North, James Evans.=
+
+    With twenty illustrations by J. E. Laughlin. 12mo, cloth, $1.25.
+
+    "A fresh theme is presented here--the life of a missionary in
+    Upper Canada, and the northward regions as far as Athabasca Lake
+    and even beyond. Young people, usually not attracted to missionary
+    literature, will be interested in the book. It is well
+    illustrated."--_The Outlook._
+
+  FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
+  NEW YORK      CHICAGO      TORONTO
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+
+Page 37 - "bioggraphy" changed to "biography". (... low plane of mere
+facts, history, biography, when it should be ...)
+
+Page 112 - Diacritical marks left in "cooperate" and "zoology" left as
+printed.
+
+Page 271 - "degress" changed to "degrees". (... Christ's university,
+the highest of all degrees, Masters of ...)
+
+"every-day" and "everyday", "new-comers" and "newcomers", "note-book"
+and "notebook", "practise" and "practice" are left as printed.
+
+Reformatted the advertisements for plain text.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sunday-School Success, by Amos R. Wells
+
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