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diff --git a/38346.txt b/38346.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c03545 --- /dev/null +++ b/38346.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7925 @@ +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 + + + + +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. 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