Class Book. GopightN? COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. The Pupil and How to Teacn Him By ELDON GRANT BURRITT, A. M., President of Greenville College Introduction by Jonn LaDue, A. M. W. B. ROSE, Publisher 1 1 32 Washington Boul., Chicago 1910 Copyright 1910 by >E. G. BUBBITT ©CLA256S34 PREFACE Among the great forces that make for in- dividual and social righteousness the Sunday- school holds a strategic position. An or- ganization which in our own country alone secures the systematic study of the Word of God by thirteen million pupils is the radi- ating center of forces that are stupendous in their power of accomplishment. To real- ize its full possibilities, the Sunday-school must develop within its ranks the most efficient leadership. The importance of an efficient Sunday- school ministry appears in the light of a clear conception of the dignity of the Sun- day-school teacher. The teacher who works with God in fitting men and women for His kingdom is engaged in the most momentous undertaking that can enlist the energies of man. The importance of capable instruction is recognized also from a consideration of the standards of efficiency which obtain in sec- ular education. The movement in favor of better prepara- IV PREFACE tion for teaching is the key to true Sunday- school success. The most important factor of the Sunday-school is the teacher. He must be a real "fisher of men." His qualifications will include a knowledge of fish, and the di- vine art of baiting a hook and casting a line. This little book aims to be of service to those who desire to qualify themselves for teaching. Its purpose is to make available for the teacher the primary facts of mental and spiritual growth, and the fundamental principles which underlie the impartation of instruction. It makes no claim to original- ity, but has appropriated from various sources material to which no one has the ex- clusive right. The effort has been to present the facts and to draw conclusions in untech- nical language and in popular style. The book has been endorsed by the Educational Com- mittee of the International Sunday-school Association as a suitable text-book for the First Standard Teacher Training Course cov- ering the subjects, The Child and The Teacher. Some classes may be able to do supplementary reading from books men- tioned after the last chapter. If this book has a useful ministry in help- PREFACE V ing to prepare men and women to be co-la- borers with God in the service of the Sun- day-school, it will afford the deepest satisfac- tion to the author. Eldon Grant Burritt. Greenville, Illinois, January, 1910. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/pupilhowtoteachhOOburr CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Religious' Education ----- 11 II. The Study of the Child - - - 20 III. Stages of Development — Beginners - 30 IV. The Primary Age 49 V. The Junior Age 60 VI. The Intermediate Age 71 VII. The Senior Age 83 VIII. The Older Adults 94 IX. The Mind and its Activities - - 100 X. Attention 112 XI. Memory 126 XII. Imagination - - - 139 XIII. Thought - 150 XIV. The Feelings 166 XV. The Moral and Religious Sentiments 177 XVI. Will, Habit and Charactee - - 192 XVII. The Pbeparation of the Teacher - 210 XVIII. Principles of Teaching - - - 216 XIX. Methods of Instruction ... 222 XX. Teaching Suggestions - 238 7 INTRODUCTION Successful Sunday-school teaching requires not only a knowledge of the Bible, but also a knowledge of those to whom the Bible is taught. The same methods of presentation will not do for the primary class, the boys and girls in their early teens and the adult class. No one probably will deny this, and it may seem a needless statement of a self- svident commonplace. But the characteris- tic differences and needs of different ages are founded largely on different physical and mental conditions. The study of these condi- tions has doubtless been of much help in ar- ranging the courses of study and the meth- ods of teaching in the secular schools. Some quite clearly defined facts seem to have been discovered and to have been confirmed by ex- tensive observation and practise. These facts, in large measure, are as important for the Sunday-school as for the day school, and it must necessarily increase a teacher's effi- ciency to become acquainted with them and put them in operation. X INTRODUCTION Men are studying with increasing intensity the principles of business and laws of trade, the life history of corn, of chinch bugs, of cotton boll weevils, of bees, of horses, cattle and hogs. Is it not worth while to study the nature, growth, and needs of children and young people? For that purpose this book has been writ- ten; and the author is peculiarly well qual- ified for the task. From childhood he was brought up in the Sunday-school. For years he has been a Sunday-school superintendent and an instructor of children and young peo- ple. Since serving as president of Greenville College he has paid special attention to the teaching of subjects in the field of mental science. He thus knows the problem well, both from the theoretical and also the prac- tical standpoint, and he has handled it not only ably, but also devoutly, with a refresh- ing absence of the evolutionistic materialism that appears in so much of the present liter- ature on this subject. May the blessing of Christ richly attend this endeavor to increase the efficiency of the great work of the Sunday- school. John LaDue. Greenville College. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. To understand the place and function of the Sunday-school, we must know something of the nature and end of all education, and the place of the Sunday-school in our gen- eral educational system. True Education Religious "What is a Christian teacher, charged with the education of the young?" asked the cel- ebrated Rollin, two hundred years ago. "He is a man in whose hands Jesus Christ has placed a certain number of children whom He has redeemed by His blood, in whom He lives as His temple, whom He regards as His members, as His brethren, as His co-heirs; of whom He wishes to make kings and priests who will reign and serve God with Him and by Him through all eternity. And for what purpose has He confided children to them? 11 12 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM Is it just to make poets, orators, philoso- phers and scholars of them? Who would dare say or even think that? It is for the purpose of making true Christians of them. This is the end of education, and all the rest holds the place of means." This spiritual or religious conception of the purpose of edu- cation, though frequently obscured by false and narrow views of life, has inspired the greatest teachers of the past, and claims the acceptance of an ever increasing number in the present. Ultimate End of Education True education aims at moral excellence and social efficiency. It is the process by which moral character is developed and the individual fitted for the service of life. It is an "adjustment to the spiritual posses- sions of the race." Among these possessions is religion. Education involves, therefore, an acquaintance with God, the appropriate con- duct due to our relation to Him, and the in- stitutions of the church in which our relig- ious ideas find outward form and expression. Any consideration of the real purpose of education reveals the exalted place of the RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 13 Sunday-school and the dignity of the Sunday- school teacher. The position of the Sunday- school as an educational institution is cen- tral. The place of the Sunday-school teacher is full of honor, his opportunities great, his reward beyond compare. "They that be teachers (margin) shall shine as the bright- ness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever" (Dan. 12:3). Agencies of Education The most important agencies contributing to the formal education of child life are three : 1. The home. "The family," says Lau- rie, "is the chief agency in the education of the young, and, as such, it ought never to be superseded." Its influences are exercised early and continuously, and are prompted by feelings of love and responsibility. Conscious instruction is given in speech and deport- ment, and emphasis is placed upon the ideals of morality and religion. The home is re- sponsible for the child's fundamental atti- tudes toward nature, society, religion and God. 14 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM 2. The public school. This is the great agency of formal instruction and discipline. It operates through the plastic period of child life. It is of great importance, since it can modify the environment of the child, and in- troduce him to the greatest amount of ex- perience in a given time, for the purpose of achieving a definite and conscious end. This end is more or less clearly conceived of as ethical and social, but with too many it is narrow and selfish. The great problem is to unite in a popular system a scheme which will combine a practical preparation for the vocations of life with a development of moral character and the cultivation of the religious spirit. 3. The Sunday-school. With the deepen- ing conviction that education should include morals and religion, the Sunday-school as- sumes a new and larger importance. Many homes are morally incapable of supplying this element and others seem to be indiffer- ent. We are informed on high authority that it cannot be supplied in our present system of public education. The Bible is given prac- tically no place in the instruction of our pub- lic schools. It devolves upon the Sunday- RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 15 school, therefore, to complete our educa- tional system. The education of the Sunday- school is confessedly religious. It seeks to influence conduct and to implant and de- velop right character through an appeal to the religious motives and the development of the religious impulse, resulting in the trans- formation of heart and life through faith in Jesus Christ. There is no substitute for this instrumentality. To depreciate it or to neg- lect it is a crime against education as it is against morals and religion. Double Relation of the Sunday-school Completing as it does our educational sys- tem by emphasizing morals and religion, the -Sunday-school has a two-fold connection: 1. Related to the church. Organized to teach religion, and morals which find a sound basis in the Christian religion, it is naturally affiliated with the church, whose specific object is the promotion of religion. The church should organize and control it, and the whole church should feel an inter- est in it and attend it. It is a service of the church, and its exercises are acts of wor- ship. Its true and ultimate aim should be 16 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM to win souls to Christ, develop them in Christian character and train them in Christ- ian service. 2. Belated to the school. The firm foun- dation upon which Christianity and Christ- ian character rest is a knowledge of the Bible. The second aim of the Sunday-school, therefore, is to impart this knowledge. This aim has important connections with the var- ious educational questions with which sec- ular education is concerned, such as courses of study, qualifications of teachers and meth- ods of teaching. The Sunday-school is an educational service, at which a knowledge of the Bible, its biographies, histories and doc- trines, are actually taught and learned. "To conceive of it in any way which will obscure its function as an educational institution will be fatal to any right conception of its work." Any principles or methods that have been found useful in secular schools ought to be understood and applied as far as possible by the Sunday-school teacher. A prime essential to any great or permanent success in Sunday-school work is scientific instruction. The teacher must be able to im- part such instruction. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 17 The Qualifications of a Teacher It is unanimously agreed that the impor- tant problems of the modern Sunday-school are teacher problems. President Little de- clares that "the educational problem of ev- ery century is to find the schoolmaster, not to find the school." Professor Hamill is quoted as saying that "the trained Sunday- school teacher alone is the key to the per- plexing problem of the modern Sunday- school." Professor Brumbaugh asserts truly that "the transcendent need of the Sunday- school is teachers." All the suggested acces- sories of a modern Sunday-school may be present, but they do not make a Sunday- school if the right sort of teacher is lacking. It is the teacher that makes the Sunday- school. The teacher of the right sort will know three things : 1. The Bible. It is his text-book. It con- tains the subject-matter of instruction. He must know it — its history, geography, great characters, and its great moral truths. His teaching must be drawn from it, not from his own opinions or prejudices. It will be his text-book in every department, with every pupil. It is adapted to the primary and to the 18 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM most advanced classes. Hence the teacher must know it comprehensively and analyti- cally. He will study it by books, paragraphs, sentences and words. To be a precise Bible student should be the great ambition of the teacher. 2. Methods of teaching. A wise teacher will know the tested methods by which knowledge is communicated to pupils, how the feelings are stirred, and how the will is moved. These methods are based upon edu- cational principles which are universal and unchangeable. 3. The child or pupil. A knowledge of human nature, the periods of human devel- opment, the characteristics of each period, and the appropriate instruction and train- ing for each period, is included in the equip- ment of the successful teacher. Realizing what is involved in the great work of education, and the essential connec- tion of the Sunday-school with this work, that the Sunday-school is as really educational as it is evangelistic, and that careful prep- aration is necessary in proportion to the in- terests involved, surely the Sunday-school teacher will work and pray for such an equip- &ELIGIOUS EDUCATION 19 ment, in the knowledge of the Word and of those whom he serves, that his ministry may be in the highest sense fruitful in the forma- tion of Christian character and the cultiva- tion of lives of power. II. THE STUDY OF THE CHILD. Preparation for teaching was for a long time conceived to be a mere knowledge of the subject of instruction. It is now believed that a teacher can take higher vantage ground in the additional knowledge of the persons to be taught. We expect a physician to under- stand not only materia medica and chemis- try, but anatomy, physiology and hygiene, as well. He must know as much as possible about quinine and calomel, but an indiscrim- inate dispenser of quinine would likely do more harm than good. A physician must be concerned with diagnosis and intelligent pre- scription. So a teacher must know his pupils, as well as the subject he is to teach. Otherwise he is likely to prescribe a geneal- ogy or an imprecatory psalm where the de- mand requires the beatitudes or the ten com* THE STUDY OF THE CHILD 21 niandments. If it is desirable for a farmer to understand scientifically his growing crops; for a fruit-grower to have a sympa- thetic and intelligent knowledge of trees; for a stockman to comprehend the nature of his horses, cattle and sheep; surely the Sunday- school teacher will draw from every source that accurate and classified knowledge of child nature that will enable him to minis- ter to the needs of his pupils, to enable them to develop character and bring forth fruit to the glory of God. The scientific study of ap- ple-nature and pig-nature has resulted in su- perior apples and pigs. It ts believed that the same study of human nature will con- tribute to a superior quality of manhood and womanhood. A careful study of the child will reveal : The Significance of Childhood Human life is marvelously complex. Its relations and duties are various and intri- cate. The range of its activities is wide. For this complicated life of manhood and woman- hood, an elaborate preparation is required. To make this preparation the childhood of a man is characterized by two features : 22 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM 1. A lengthened infancy. This is full of importance for the development of the indi- vidual and the race. In this respect man is different from the lower animals. They are practically mature at birth, or reach matur- ity a few months later. But the human in- fant is the most helpless of all infants, and after passing through a lengthened period of dependence, he gradually comes to mature manhood after many years. Animals find their preparations for life largely ready made, laid down in an inherited struc- ture. But man finds his preparation in the opportunities of a lengthened childhood. To further assist the child in making the fullest possible preparation for life he has: 2. Extraordinary plasticity. As com- pared with the lower animals he is far more responsive to external conditions. He is more impressionable to environment and pre- serves this sensitivity for a period of time corresponding to the excessive demands of later life. In this plastic structure of the child are stored up organized experiences which constitute centers of interest in after years. The wise parent will take advantage of every opportunity to introduce the child THE STUDY OF THE CHILD 23 to a wide range of valuable experience dur- ing the impressionable period. The Sunday- school teacher will think of childhood as sa- cred and his relation to it attended with the greatest responsibility. The Rev. Pascal Har- rower has said that "no ideas can become the permanent possession of the world which do not first enter through the door of childhood. The woof and web of Christian character and faith are wrought out during the school period of life." When this period is passed it cannot be recalled, and although compar- atively long, it is not too long to make ade- quate preparation for the demands of after life. The Ttfo Factors of "Development Effective in the making of an individual are two essential factors. One of these is what he is at the beginning — the powers and forces contributed by heredity. These var- ious powers at first exist only as latent pos- sibilities. The other factor is the external environment which stimulates into actuality and growth these sleeping forces. It is now quite generally agreed that this factor plays a much more important part in human life 24 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM than the factor of heredity. The plasticity of the child renders him susceptible to re- markable modification in the process of his development. The doing of a thing or the thinking of a thought makes him a different being. The parent and teacher may choose what the child shall do or think, and so to a large extent determine what he shall be- come. In this fact lies the great opportunity and responsibility of a teacher. The Sun- day-school teacher especially will seek to fur- nish his pupils with such an environment of divine truth and Christian example as will call forth in symmetrical development the latent possibilities of soul and life. The Basis of Child Study In recent years the subject of the child has assumed great importance and yielded re- sults of much value to teachers. Child study is found to rest upon the following facts : 1. Children are different from adults. They are not merely men of smaller stat- ure. They have characteristics, physical and mental, peculiar to themselves. Children differ from adults in powers of endurance and in the physiological processes of circula- THE STUDY OF THE CHILD 25 tion and respiration. Children are frequent- ly overtaxed. Physical exhaustion is fre- quently mistaken for stupidity, a perfectly normal restlessness for total depravity. This superabundant activity, inquisitiveness and mischievousness will be very exasperating to those who look upon children as little men and little women ; but the teacher who under- stands will not be "easily provoked." Children have their own peculiar ways of thinking and feeling. They are concerned with the immediate and the near. They are not easily moved to present self-denial to se- cure some future blessing. They are con- cerned with the concrete, not with the ab- stract. Justice, mercy and truth as qualities are quite beyond them, but they do under stand and appreciate these qualities clothed in living personality. Adults restrain and control their feelings, but children live in a succession of highly emotional states. They feel intensely. Tears and laughter alternate in rapid sequence. Yet such feelings as love, sympathy, mercy, sacrifice, and sorrow, are rudimentary. The higher intellectual, social, moral and religious feelings are undeveloped, and appeals to these feelings will result fre- 26 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM quently in disappointment to those inter- ested in their training. 2. Children pass through certain well de- fined stages in their lives. Kirkpatrick says that "child study is concerned with all the changes that take place in human beings be- fore they reach maturity." The various in- stincts culminate at different times. Per- ception, imagination, memory, judgment, and reason successively mature. 3. Children have individual peculiarities. No two possess the same attitudes and ten- dencies. Each has characteristics peculiar to himself. In weight, size, temperament, capability, and opportunity, each is different from the other. The recognition of indi- vidual differences lies at the basis of scien- tific education. Child study, therefore, has a sound basis in facts. It investigates the factors in human development, studies the natural order of growth, determines the modifying effect of various conditions and activities at different stages, and seeks to establish educational values and the best educational methods. Its end then is training in character on Chris- tian principles for life's duties. THE STUDY OF THE CHILD 27 Methods ot Child Study There are three ways by which we come to a knowledge of child life. 1. Books and papers. A growing literature is available for prospective teachers and oth- ers interested in child life. Excellent books are issued on the study of the mind and the principles and methods of teaching, popular in style and sound and thorough in treat- ment. 2. Direct observation. We may study the child himself as he grows into youth and manhood. We may observe the development of his senses, the unfolding of his powers, the awakening of his moral sense, his ambi- tions, occupations, and language, his ideas and his pleasures. We may study not only one but many children, comparing those of different conditions and environments. 3. Self study. We may recall our own unfolding experience, our points of view in childhood, our attitude toward various con- ditions, our hopes and fears, our childish aversions and aspirations. Happy for us and our pupils if we can go back over the path- way of our life and look out again upon life through the eyes of childhood, and see and 28 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM feel and love and trust again as we did in those early years. Only so can we fully un- derstand children. Though we may have at- tained to the full stature of maturity, yet for the children's sake we must become chil- dren, that they, through our childlikeness, may come to manhood. Urgency of Child Study At least two strong considerations prompt earnest and thoughtful teachers to know and understand their pupils: 1. Great interests are at stake. The en- trance to the pupils' hearts involves not mere- ly worldly success and temporal prosperity, but spiritual life and eternal destiny. Who can know the value of a soul? The develop- ment of soul must proceed according to nat- ural laws. These natural laws are God's ways of working. To understand God's plan of human development is to qualify us to be co-laborers with Him. Failure here must in- evitably end in spiritual deformation, dis- ease and death. 2. The time is short. The teacher's op- portunity is a brief half-hour a week, or, counting the average period of attendance THE STUDY OP THE CHILD 29 for a Sunday-school scholar to be fifteen years, thirty days for a life-time. A minute unused or misused is criminal prodigality. III. STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT— BE- GINNERS— 3 TO 5. The charm of childhood lies in the possi- bility of development. No matter how per- fect the little one may be, we do not wish it to remain a child. Its beauty is the beauty of the early dawn, advancing to the fulness of the morning and the golden glory of noon. It is the beauty of prophecy, silently day by day unfolding its sacred mysteries, till the beneficient Father looks upon it and says it is very good. The Unfolding Life Many figures have been used to suggest the possibility hidden in the life of a little child. Any figure must fall far short in some phases, for God has given to no other earthly creation a life so rich, so beautiful, as the life which is our own. Yet the often used BEGINNERS 31 figure of the opening flower is an excellent one, and in many ways suggests the unfold- ing life of the infant. Closely wrapped in the tiny seed are all the possibilities of fo- liage, flower, fragrance, and fruit. The dark bulb conceals the promise of the lily ; but the seed is not the plant nor the bulb the beauti- ful blossom. In many respects they are dif- ferent and need different culture and envi- ronment. Closely hidden within the mind and heart of the smiling infant or the rollicking boy, dwells, all secure, that em bryonic life, which is destined for an eter nal unfolding. He is not the developed man the great organizer, the unselfish statesman the profound scholar, the unquestioned saint but he may become such. Two Tendencies Left to itself, we are told, the infant rose- tree of most magnificent strain, which should yield its annual wealth of American Beau- ties, will develop into a ragged shrub and pro- duce only a few unlovely blossoms. Thus it reveals its tendency toward the imperfect. By the wise culture of a strong hand and a devoted heart, the child may know a perfect 32 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM development, or left to himself and yielding to the wrong tendencies of his heart, he will produce only the unlovely fruits of evil. Happy indeed would it be if no tendencies but those toward beauty and virtue dwelt within the little heart. Unhappily, the work of the ages past has not been perfectly done, and the child finds himself the possessor of a double inheritance of tendencies, one lead- ing him toward truth and God, and the other calling him into forbidden paths. The suc- cessful teacher will recognize the good ten- dencies, which need food and encouragement and culture, and will also be conscious of the evil, and patiently lead the little one to see Jesus the Redeemer, who alone can cleanse the heart. Stages of Development There are stages of development, the flo- rist tells us, in the life of his flowers. There are times when much moisture is required, and other seasons when protection from showers is necessary. Sunshine is important, but sometimes the shade is more conducive to the perfect growth. There are certain clearly defined periods in the life of the BEGINNERS 33 child. These are not simply a difference in age and size, but are marked by definite phy- sical and mental changes, by difference in needs, in tastes and possibilities. "There is a time to sow and a time to reap," and there is a time when certain definite work can be done in the mind and heart of a child, and there is no other time when it can be done so well. Every teacher should be acquainted with these periods and adapt her work to the present need of the unfolding life. As there is no fixed day upon which we can say that the little one passes from infancy to child- hood, so there is no particular time which in- variably marks the transition from one stage to another; but in the life of every -child these transitions occur, and each presents to the wise teacher special opportunities for effective service. As usually outlined for Sunday-school work, these periods are : The Cradle Roll, from 1 to 3. Beginners, 3 to 5. Primary, 6 to 8. Junior, 9 to 12. Intermediate, 13 to 15. Senior or young people, 16 to 25. 34 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM The Cradle Roll The 'Cradle Eoll is for the babies. The work in this department will not be so much for the babies directly as for the parents of the babies. Much can be done for the child before it has reached the age of three years; but this is the special privilege of the mother and the home. A sincere interest in the chil- dren, however, manifested by calls, friendly inquiries and small attentions, will do much to interest the parents and may attract them to the Sunday-school or other church service. The Beginners The Beginners are the tiny tots who are just bidding good-by to the nursery and the cradle roll, with ages ranging from three to five. The Sunday-school is their first ven- ture into the great mysterious world. Upon the first impressions received here much will depend. Happy indeed is that teacher who shall lead the beginner to love the house of God. Who does not recall a vivid picture of some sun-bonneted little maiden, firmly holding the hand of an elder brother, timidly entering a little country Sunday-school? And that precious card. Oh! the delight of it. BEGINNERS 35 Object and Media Dr. Haslett states the object of the Begin- ners' department of the Sunday-school to be, first, a kind, active and obedient child; and second, a sense of God's power, nearness, and kindness. The work of the teacher of Be- ginners should be to train the child in kind- ness and obedience, and to call forth in the child mind the consciousness of God's pres- ence and power. The child at this age is concerned not so much with Christian doc- trine as with Christian practise. The media through which the above object can t>e re- alized in the child are six: Sense-perception, memory, imitation, suggestion, general intel- ligence and imagination. Careful observation and study will reveal much of the lives of children, their abilities and their needs. The Beginners show the following characteristics : Restlessness Activity is the delight of the child-nature. It is also its necessity. It is as unnatural for a wide-awake child to be long quiet as for a grown man to play shinny or pussy-wants- a-corner. He must be active. Constantly to 36 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM restrain his activity is cruel and harmful. To direct and use it will require sound sense and tact. The bright boy is likely to prefer the open air where he can talk and laugh and watch the butterflies and catch tadpoles and build sand palaces and fly kites and inhale the rich perfumes of flowers, to the small and often unattractive room Where he must sit quietly for a whole hour and just be told how to be good. But if this small boy and his equally active small sister can be intro- duced to a neat and pretty room, well ven- tilated, light and warm, filled with other boys and girls of like mold and presided over by a teacher whose heart is warm with love for the children and for the children's Savior; if he can be given the privilege of building his sand palaces and calling them Bethlehem; if he may watch the tiny fish in the child's aquarium, while he listens to the story of the disciples who left their nets to follow Jesus; if he may examine the delicate petals and inhale the sweet perfume of the flowers while he listens to the story of the beautiful Christ-life, it may be that he, like the shepherds, will seek the Babe of Beth- lehem, and learn to love Him who was the BEGINNERS 37 Rose of Sharon, and like the Galilean fisher- men, leave all to follow Him who went about doing good. "He that winneth souls is wise," and the wisdom needed in winning the little ones is the reward of prayerful and sympathetic study of the Word of God and of child life. Selfishness The little child is selfish. He is the center of his own little world. He thinks of others only in relation to himself, and of other things only as they affect his own interest. This is not wrong. It is in harmony with the plan of human development. But he may be gently and gradually led away from himself toward a more unselfish love and broader in- terest. This will be effected most easily by example and story. Imagination The child has an active imagination. A doll is a real balby to the little mother. She will kiss and punish it in turn, because to her mind it can know and understand. To this faculty, doubtless, may be attributed many of the peculiar untruths of which 38 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM usually truthful children seem to be guilty. Many of the "lies" of children are probably truth to them. They have not learned to discriminate between fact and fancy. Where necessary, they should be led to discover their error. The beautiful world of their own creation, however, should not be ruth- lessly destroyed. Explanation should not be too long or frequent. It is not necessary that the child adopt the exact idea of the teacher so long as his own is not actually harmful. InquisitiOeness "A child is a humanized, vitalized inter- rogation point." How else shall he learn? His world is filled with mystery. The un- known is all around him. His questions are often unanswerable, and where an answer is possible, a direct reply may not be wise. But an earnest question should never be ignored or answered lightly. It is worthy of honest attention. A question will probably remain in the child's mind until it does receive a satisfactory answer. Few duties require more skill and patience than that of answer- ing the questions of the little folks. They BEGINNERS 39 are not childish to the child, but sober and earnest. We asked the same questions once and demanded an answer. The disposition to inquire often leads the child into forbid- den paths. The "meddlesome" child may be the child with the active brain. The dis- position should be directed, not condemned. Limited Vocabulary This is an important consideration all through the Sunday-school. But to the be- ginner it is all important. His stock of words is small. Many words of common use mean nothing to him. A child who sang again and again the familiar words, "Safe into the haven guide," thought that a "haven- guide" must be a beautiful place. Again, the meaning is not always comprehended even where the separate words may be un- derstood. A mother taught her child a Bible verse to be repeated in Sunday-school. The child insisted to the teacher that the verse was, "Come in, darling." Upon inquiry, it was found to be, "Walk in love." One little fellow reported that his class had sung, "Bringing in the Sheets." He said, "They sewed in the morning and they sewed at 40 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM noon and they brought in the sheets at night." It is a fine art to be simple enough to teach a child. Emotional Life The little child is controlled by present emotion. He does what he feels like doing. He cries, and laughs while the tears are still glistening. He strikes his playmate and re- pents as soon as he sees the grief of his little friend. He has no great purpose toward either goodness or badness. He simply re- sponds quickly to his ever changing environ- ment. Imitation The child learns to do what he sees others do. He wants to be like older people. He may not understand principles, but he will im- itate action. Hence, simple beauty of char- acter and unconscious loveliness in action are all-important in the successful teacher. Here, too, the Bible story holds an excellent place. After the story, the child will try to be like Joseph or the captive maid or the boy of Nazareth. BEGINNERS 41 Active Perception The perceptive powers are active but in- accurate. The child is often mistaken in re- gard to the sensations. He can easily be de- ceived into thinking he is too warm or too cold. Everything he sees or hears or handles leaves its impression on his soul. This is the age of greatest sensitivity. He may [hardly be conscious of a sight or sound, but it leaves its influence on his life. Now he receives the "set of the soul." True, later influences may turn him out of his course, but never again will it be so easy to put his feet into the right way. Now is the time to make him psychologi- cally good. It will be impossible for him to leave entirely behind the impressions of these early years. Every tear, every angry word, every smile or song or sunset, every per- fumed flower or blossoming field or murmur- ing brook, makes its contribution to the wealth of his soul-life. He may not criti- cise, he may not stop to question, he wilt simply accept of what he sees and hears and make it a part of himself. How much of beauty and truth and sunshine and heaven should enter into his environment. He will 42 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM surely become like the atmosphere which he breathes. The Sunday-school hour is but one precious opportunity in the long, long week. If it is crowded with the sweetest, the purest, the best, the most loving and the most lovely, it is because it is planned for and prayed for. It is because the teacher herself breathes the atmosphere of the skies, not only on Sunday, but all the week long. Suggestive pictures are of special use here. Thoughts of Jesus' loving care and blessing are easily impressed upon the children, and the effect will be for right development of character. Credulity The child, at first, believes all that is told him. He has no contrary experience. He accepts the story of Santa Claus as readily as that of Samuel. There are no child skep- tics. Hence the ease with which spiritual truth may be imparted. Care must be taken lest error creep into the child's heart and abide there as securely as truth itself. The child's soul is hallowed ground. Let us plant it deeply with the Word of God. BEGINNERS 43 Memory The child has little power to remember ab- stract truth. Indeed he does not perceive it. It must be put into concrete form. The com- mandment may make little impression, but the same truth put into story will awaken in- terest and do its work. Said a middle-aged man, who had embraced skeptical ideas, "I cannot get away from the stories of my Sun- day-school days. I do not now accept the stories of Jesus and other Bible characters, but they are like beautiful lights hung in the pathway of my infancy, and it is impossible for me to escape their influence, nor do I wish to do so. They have brightened all my life with innocent beauty." Expression The child enjoys the rhythm of poetry. He will get the thought more quickly and retain it longer if it is expressed in rhyme. It is not necessary that he understand all of the poem. A few ideas he will make his own and others will be revealed to him as he advances. He will be found often to express his own ideas in rhyme. 44 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM Undeveloped Porters Judgment, discrimination, reason, com- parison are of course present, but enter slightly into the life of the child at this age. Little progress will be made by appealing to these faculties. The Beginners' Room If possible a separate room should be de- voted to the Beginners. This may be small, but must be scrupulously clean and orderly. Neat, pretty paper, unmarred paint, dainty curtains and simple, childlike furnishing, will attract the little ones and increase the size of the class. A low table, around whicn the children may be seated, each in his own small chair, is essential. If the expense of these cannot be met, have a small table made of ordinary boards neatly planed and care- fully painted. Arrange for the seating in any way possible, but make the children comfortable. If the teacher and the school are thoroughly in earnest, much can be done which to others would seem impossible. If a separate room cannot be had, let a screen or curtain seclude the class from the rest of the school. Care must be taken not to place the BEGINNERS 45 little ones in a dark corner, for light is es- sential. "Material The material used will vary. In some schools the teacher's own ingenuity and tact may be the only treasury on which to draw. A set of building blocks should be provided, also sticks for outlining and a quantity of white sand for map work. Small mounted sticks, one or two inches in length, are some- times used to represent people. A small aquarium may be made of a glass jar. Reg- ular aquarium jars may be obtained at small expense. These may be partly filled with water. A few stones and shells placed in the bottom, a piece of seaweed added, and we have a pretty home for two or three gold- fish. Many lessons will suggest their own material. Jesus talked about flowers, grass, stones, water, salt, wheat, thorns, seeds, fruit. These are easily obtained, and, tact- fully used, will make the lessons present and real. Of course, the children will be allowed to do the work themselves and to handle the material, but only in connection with the 46 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM study of the lesson, and at the direction of the teacher. Care should be taken that the exercise is not allowed to degenerate into mere play or even into the commonplace of the day-school. This would entirely spoil the effect. If the teacher has a reverent spirit and feels the infinite importance of her work, she will unconsciously inspire the chil- dren with the same spirit. Many help- ful lessons, outside of the regular Bible story, may be taught in connection with the handling of the material — neatness, unselfish- ness, quietness, reverence — all these should have their place. The Teacher "As is the teacher, so is the class." Says Mrs. Lamoreaux, "The child's conception of Christ will be what he sees in the teacher." She must be acquainted with God. If she is not, she will not reveal Him to the little ones. She must know the Bible. If not, how shall she bring its beauty to the heart of the child? She must drink deeply of the fountain of divine truth. She must be ready to make any sacrifice necessary to do her work well. She must know the child. She must see BEGINNERS 47 things from his viewpoint and feel as he feels. She must be sympathetic. No amount of mere knowledge will make her successful if she lacks the sympathetic touch. This is the key to the child heart. Health Too much emphasis cannot be placed on the health of the little ones. A poorly venti- lated room is responsible for many a failure. Too much or too little heat, a dark room or uncomfortable seats, have robbed the Sunday- school of many a bright boy. Each child re- quires attention. Intellectual dullness or moral deformity are often the result of physi- cal deformity. Physical imperfection may result in extreme sensitiveness. If the teacher understands these conditions, much can be done to overcome their unhappy results. Music In song, the beauty of the voice and the opportunity for action is added to the rhyth- mic charm of poetry. Music is especially at- tractive to the wee ones. They love to sing. It is the more helpful because all can en- gage in it, and they will carry the sentiment 48 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM with them through the weeks and through the years. Who of us were not once de- lighted with "Jesus Loves Me, This I Know," and "Little Children Who Love Their Re- deemer"? A large part of the hour may he spent in singing carefully selected songs. The Spirit of the Room The spirit of the room must not be con- strained. The atmosphere must be free, easy, natural, hopeful, helpful, reverent. As much liberty should be given as is consistent with good order. We may feel sadly insufficient for the task, but let us do our best. We shall do better sometime. Let us give ourselves, actively, un- selfishly, to our work. It will pay. Let us not become discouraged because others can do better. They, too, had to learn how. Let us gather in the wee ones, give them glad wel- come, and lead them gently, lovingly, patiently to the Truth. Sometime the wee ones, no longer children, shall gather around and tell us that we led them to the Christ, and Jesus shall say of our service, "Ye did it unto me." IV. THE PRIMARY AGE. The Primary department includes chil- dren from six to eight years of age. During this period the children are entering the pub- lic schools and getting their first lessons in systematic study. Their ideas are multiply- ing rapidly on account of their new asso- ciates and surroundings. These considera- tions, growing out of their expanding pow- ers, require for the primary children special study and treatment. Physical Characteristics The transition from the beginners' to the primary age is not specially marked. Physi- cal growth is rapid, and toward the close of the period the brain attains nearly its full size. A loss of vigorous health sometimes ap- pears. The child seems tired and nervous and unable to do the work of earlier years. 49 50 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM He should have nutritious food and more hours for sleep. PerceptiOe Porters and Reason Perception is quicker and more definite. The child is interested in much that was be- fore unnoticed. During this period he be- gins to reason about the things he sees, but little in the abstract. He will not remain long on a problem unless it appeals to his activity. It is the age of puzzles and co- nundrums. The study of Bible geography may be made interesting by the use of dis- sected maps. The awakening power of rea- son makes the child less credulous. He will sometimes criticise the actions of others. If the teacher does not know her lesson, he may discover the fact. The impatient frown, the slight variation from truth, will not escape his notice. He may not seem to notice, but as one boy expressed it, "I know more than she thinks." However, he respects author- ity and readily yields to it, if the one exer- cising it has won his respect and love. Memory The memory is stronger than formerly, THE PRIMARY AGE 51 though not yet at its height. Bible verses and longer selections may profitably be committed to memory, together with hymns and memory gems, and these should have some relation to the present needs of the child. Curiosity Curiosity is wide awake and persistent. The primary child is anxious to know why and desires certainty in what is told him. He sees more because he knows more and questions more eagerly because he sees so much that he does not understand. Ques- tions about life and creation and God and the unseen world are the result of his con- stantly widening environment. It is no small task to answer a child's why and when and how, but it must be done. If the home and Sunday-school neglect this all-important fact, less worthy agencies will perform our work for us, and we shall learn too late that they have won the childish confidence, which we so much desire to enjoy. Attention At this age the child can attend more easily than in the Beginners' age, and if the 52 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM teacher can catch his attention, by suggestive sign, word or act, it may be possible to inter- est him for some moments in gospel truth. The Bible story will hold attention more easily if it corresponds to some part of the life of the child. Imagination The imagination is now more nearly un- der control. The child is still capable of cre- ating fanciful worlds and telling long stor- ies just as they come to him. But there is a more distinct difference between his real world and the world of fancy. A. R. Taylor, in the "Study of the Child," tells of a little maiden, who quietly informed her mother, who had spent some moments calling her, though she had been lying in the grass near- by, that she was playing cow, and so of course, could not hear. The child will con- struct his imaginary world with the materials he has on hand. If the pure and good has been his environment, his imagination will work along the same line. "Let's play we are keeping house," "Let's pretend we're rob- bers," "Let's be Filipinos," are expressions reflecting his daily life. Two little friends THE PRIMARY AGE 53 were once found carrying on a conversation with spools and buttons, and explained that the buttons were children and the spools were angels who were coming down to bear the children to heaven. This power of the imagination makes it possible for the Bible story to become real to the child and for the love and presence of Jesus to become part of his life. The Social Instinct The social instinct is now awakening. The primary child usually has his chum. He is becoming interested in other places and times. The beginner's "Kingdom of Now" is gradually widening into the world of long ago and the realms of everywhere. Ideas of sympathy, self-sacrifice and service may be cultivated by example and story. The thought of Jesus leaving His beautiful home and His heavenly friends will awaken thought and bring response. Affection The primary child loves his teacher. She is the ideal in his small eyes of all that is heavenly, wise and good. If this confidence 54 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM is never shaken and this affection continues, her influence over his life may be almost un- bounded. She is interested in all that in- terests him, and his constant delight is to please her and merit her approval. Report is made of a little maiden who refused at evening to pray for her elder brother be- cause during the day he had made an un- kind remark about her Sunday-school teacher. This pure and childish love is the inspiration of the primary class. Childhood Religion The child has a religious nature. This is a divine endowment. Before the parent or the teacher begins his work, God has wrought. He has preempted the heart for Himself. He has laid down in the constitu- tion of every child a moral nature and re- ligious impulses, which condition and pre- suppose his entire religious life and develop- ment. The human soul everywhere reaches out toward God, and "is restless until it finds rest in Him." The aim of the teacher in dealing with; child life is the development of the religious impulses and the creation in the heart of THE PRIMARY AGE 55 conscious spiritual life. The object is al- ways Christian character, but the method necessarily varies with different ages. It must have regard to the changing capacities and needs of the child. 'Childhood religion is different from adult religion. The latter is concerned with theological doctrine, the former with practical action. While conversion can never be less than a new birth from above, inwrought by the op- eration of the Holy Spirit, it must not be expected that the change in the child will be precisely what it would be in the case of an adult. The life of a child can be turned easily. His feelings are easily moved upon. He responds readily to the truth. His will, however, is weak. The parent must constantly assist him to perform his little duties, and in case of failure, through temper or other- wise, he must find the mercy-seat with the little one and quickly win him back in re- pentance and contrition. The spiritual life of a child requires care and culture. It is a tender plant and will suffer from neglect. How many little ones have fallen by the wayside and been left to die. Happy -the child that knows the 56 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM secret place of prayer with mother, and has felt the warm tears drop on his upturned face as mother prayed for him, and tried to keep his little feet in the path of life. Children very early experience a spiritual hunger. They take naturally to the thought of God. They find it easy to pray. They are trustful, simple, and sincere. On the other hand they are incapable of a spiritual con- ception of God. They do not comprehend religion in its intellectual aspect. The high- er religious emotions of sympathy, self-sacri- fice, mercy, and repentance are undeveloped. Childhood is the period of activity; hence the religion of this period must be essentially action — religious deeds. Religious training for children under six years will consist in inculcating the habit of prayer and of prompt obedience; in famil- iarizing them with the customs of religion; in providing associations with other children, and suggesting unselfish acts; and in direct- ing all their activites in the spirit of relig- ion, the spirit of kindness and of love. From six to ten is a critical period in the religious history of a child. During this period he realizes more and more his own THE PRIMARY AGE 57 individuality. He develops gradually the moral judgment, or conscience. He shares in the activities of the family and has a grow- ing interest in human life, in the acts and adventures of others. The awakening of the soul is attended by deep heart stirrings. The pleasures and pains attending the first ex- ercise of conscience are keen. The sense of God and the supernatural is strong and abiding. In this early period when it is so easy to pray the child should be helped to form the habit of prayer. Daily prayer at regular times should be an essential part of the pro- gram of his life. The habit of genuine prayer is the starting-point of spiritual religion, and will insure a spiritual life. As the child's needs increase, the parent should help him in the expression of his petitions. A child began his prayer one Sabbath evening in language much beyond his years, "Lord, we thank Thee for the sanctuary and for sanc- tuary privileges." Others have tried to pray but their efforts have ended in mute embar- rassment, which has discouraged them sorely. These attempts are pathetic appeals for help, and originate in a need as real as that which 58 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM prompted the disciples to say, "Teach us to pray." As the sense of self increases, it should be fed by increased fellowship with his par- ents. They should be his companions in work and play and worship. This sharing in their activities will strengthen and guide the child in his developing sense of person- ality. Religious training will secure respect for authority. This may be secured by the parent who deals with the child firmly but kindly, without caprice or arbitrariness, and who himself respects and obeys law. The habitual respect for parental author- ity and obedience to law is a most important preparation for the full submission to the will of God. The child's growing interest in persons, his tendency to estimate them, to approve and to condemn, suggest the impor- tance of feeding his mind and soul on the best stories of literature, and especially of the Bible. Train him to admire the persons who use power rightly, and to condemn the base and selfish. Good stories will go far in this period toward shaping the ideals of his life. The Sunday-school should not only teach THE PRIMARY AGE 59 the children religious truth but also from time to time press them into a decision to surrender their little lives fully to Jesus. Decision days should be frequent. Next should be arranged those special services for the children at which they can have the op- portunity to pray and sing and speak for Jesus in their own little way. If they try to imitate their elders, it will be mere per- formance, but if they are helped to a natural expression of their religious life it will strengthen them for the service of prayer and testimony in coming years. A great responsibility is upon the church to provide and maintain such a service. No one feels quite so much at home with God as he who has from early childhood talked fa- miliarly with Him and about Him. m THE JUNIOR AGE. The junior period is the period of boyhood and girlhood which extends to about the thirteenth year. It is a time of increasing interest in the activities of the family, a growing sense of responsibility, and an en- larging social sense which manifests itself in the tendency to form groups and team- plays. General Characteristics The junior is wide awake. He is healthy, energetic, frank, and possesses an excellent appetite both physical and mental. He is on good terms with the world, enjoys life, be- lieves in his friends, is willing generally to do his part, and wishes, above all things, to become a man. Conscience Building William Byron Forbush says, "The princi- THE JUNIOR AGE 61 pal thing a boy has to do before twelve is to grow a conscience." Before the junior age the child has been under obedience. He is still under the authority of others ; but apart from this, he feels a growing sense of per- sonal responsibility. He must do some things and leave others undone, not because he has been directed thus but because he feels it to be right. It is now that he learns to obey himself, to measure up to his own growing sense of oughtness. Delight in Ownership The junior possesses a strong sense of ownership. The^ youth wishes now to have his own room, his own desk, his own box for the storing of his treasures. The myster- ious depths of his pocket reveal a wealth of nails, strings, stones, buttons, spools, and fish-hooks, riches of field and wood and spring. Well it is if nothing less innocent finds its way thither. A girl has her box of cards and pictures and dainty handkerchiefs and perfume and childish fancy-work. And these are valuable to the child, and the right to possess them should be respected. The Sunday-school may utilize the disposition • 62 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM by inviting collections or Bible pictures and curios from Bible or missionary lands. Maps and charts may be constructed which should become the permanent possession of the child. A Bible should also become his own property. 'Memory This is the golden age of memory. At no other time can the child absorb so much and remember so well much that will help him in present temptations and difficulties. Much also that we know he will need later, can be memorized. It is the time for constant repetition and drill. The junior's memory should be literally filled with spiritual truth from which he can draw in the emergencies of the future. Hymns, Bible selections, whole chapters, carefully selected, and facts regarding Bible geography and history should be accurately committed to memory. Much that is not now understood will be re- vealed to the larger reason in later experi- ence, and will present a bulwark of strength against the coming storms of temptation and doubt. "It is a sin for parents and teachers to allow the children to pass this period THE JUNIOR AGE 63 without literally saturating them with out- lines of Old and New Testament history and many of the choicest passages of the Bible." "Reading Craze 1 * During this age the child develops an in- tense love for reading. Read he must and will. Stories of adventure, of remarkable achievements of heroes and heroines, appeal to his superabundant life. The stories^ of Livingstone, or Paton, or Grace Darling, will make as strong an appeal as "Cowboy Jack'' or "Wed and Won," or books of like char- acter. Some of the most thrilling stories of ad- venture are found in the Bible and in the annals of missionary life. But the child will not always find them without some as- sistance. It is largely a question of what is conveniently at hand. If the child is sur- rounded by an abundance of the best litera- ture, adapted to his age, he is not likely to search for that which is harmful. If he is encamped beside the wells of Elim, he will not spend much time in searching for the bitter waters of Ma rah. 64 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM Hero Worship, Ideals From an early age the child has been forming ideals. At first the members of his own family were chosen. As his horizon widened, teachers and those who were more distant lived in the shrine of his heart. Now he is beginning to value moral character and his hero may be good as well as great. But he must be strong Mental Life "The mental organism undergoes a com- plete revolution, though not a reconstitution. New desires, emotions, passions, impulses, come into being." New questions, new ideals, new ambitions, occupy and perplex the mind. "The youth begins to idealize life and to dream over it. It is the time of halos, of visions of unbounded possibilities, of angels in disguise." Self-Consciousness This trait now appears in a marked de- gree. The boy is developing individuality. His attention is fixed upon himself. He becomes more self-assertive, more important in his own estimation. He thinks that every- one is observing him. This may result in extreme sensitiveness, manifesting itself in extreme timidity and bashfulness. To appear in company is a misery and to take part in a public program is an unspeakable torture. Or the morbid sensitiveness may appear as "an exaggerated self-conceit", which exhibits itself in braggadocio, in teasing and domi- neering, in rebellion against authority, stub- borness, and wilfulness. This conceit of im- 74 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM portance, ability, and knowledge is hard for the teacher to meet wisely and well, and will call for great tact, perseverance, and pa- tience. The Gang Impulse With the growing spirit of independence, there comes a craving for sympathy and so- cial satisfaction which results in a further development of the club spirit. This longing leads both boys and girls to seek companion- ship with chums, and in close and secret groups, clubs, or "gangs." Friendships made during this period are usually lasting. The gang is a company of congenial spirits of the same sex, organized for some definite activities, for team-plays or to combat other gangs. This gang instinct is essentially social, and normal at this period. The ac- tive and daring spirit enforced by the secret organization of the clan leads to various forms of mischief and theft. Fortunate are those whose dreamings and emotions are shared by their parents. Too often mis- understood by their elders, they form per- nicious habits, and drift into the criminal class through lack of sufficient satisfaction THE INTERMEDIATE AGE 75 for their natural desire for sociability and freedom. The wise teacher will not attempt to suppress this gang spirit, but to utilize it in teaching the lessons of self-control and Christian altruism. Truancy The aspiration and blissful idealism of this period cause many youths to be discontented with school life. Truancy is the worst at thirteen, and fourteen is the age when most pupils permanently leave school. To many there comes a temptation to leave home. Home work and study seem too commonplace. Truancy and vagrancy are followed by dime- novel reading, pilfering, and general de- structiveness. "This age of boys is the sor- row of parents, the despair of teachers, and the bane of the officers of the law." Doctor Haslett says that this transitional stage seems to be a battle-ground where the forces of heredity and environment are struggling for supremacy. Eight and wrong, strength and strategy, emotion and intelligence, re- ligion and indifference, vice and virtue, ego- ism and altruism — all seem to be engaged here in a conflict as complex as it is severe, as 76 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM vital and momentous as it is mysterious and necessary. At this time scolding, nagging, pious ad- vice, and punishment are worse than use- less. The greatest force for control and devel- opment of character is the sympathetic friendship of a mature Christian man or woman. If parents will try to understand their children, select their companions, pro- vide for the gratification of their social nature in home gatherings instead of leaving it to them to find some secret meeting-place, and establish and foster intimate relations of friendship and confidence, their moral and religious influence over them will be in- creased many fold. The Sunday-school teacher must recognize and provide for the craving for social exercise, and realize to some de- gree his pupils' ideal of man and friend. Opposite Tendencies The pupils of this age are the despair of many Sunday-school teachers. They mani- fest contradictory tendencies. They oscillate between childhood and maturity. On one Sunday they are silly, childish, irrepressible; the next they are serious, docile, and respon- THE INTERMEDIATE AGE 77 sive to spiritual truth. "The equilibrium of the entire organism is disturbed greatly at this stage of transition, and the youth must be odd, strange, disappointing, and obstinate at times. The developing forces within, and the rapidly enlarging world without, make this a stage of uneven, uncertain, and unbal- anced feeling, thought, and volition." What the Teacher Must Be The situation in the intermediate classes requires the best teachers in the school. The wise superintendent puts his most competent leadership here. The work of bungling, quack teachers in the other departments may be partly counteracted by other attractive in- fluences in the school, but in this department, if the pupils are not held to the Sunday- school, they rarely, if ever, return. 1. The teacher must be patient. He must remember that this is the sowing time. Let him be content to wait. Tremendous forces are doing silent but effective work. 2. He must be sympathetic. The youth- ful follies may be ridiculous, the conceits ab- surd, and the plans visionary, but the wise teacher will manifest a sympathetic inter- 78 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM est in all these, seeing here the stirrings of ambition, the movings of strong desires to accomplish, and the opening up of new vis- tas and visions of possibilities and powers. 3. He must be a friend. Friendship im- plies fellowship, communion, participated ac- tivities, a common interest. He will know the life of each pupil and each pupil will know and trust him. He will take pains to keep abreast of his young friend's work and thought. He will talk over his studies, en- ter into his recreations, participate in his plans and ambitions, congratulate him on his successes, and mourn with him in his losses. Many times he will find a point of contact by reading with him and talking over a book, by taking a walk or a holiday in his company, or in a quiet hour of social inter- course. It takes time and an unselfish spirit to be a good friend, but this is the time when friendship with boys and girls counts. To establish this open and affectionate relation between himself and the members of his class will pay a hundredfold. No Christmas gift or other act of kindness or affection will take the place of giving one's self in personal THE INTERMEDIATE AGE 79 friendship. This explains the power of Jesus over the human life. "I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." Sharing with others is the essence of friend- ship, the secret of influence. What the Teacher Must Vo 1. He must provide for social activity. The boisterous and blustering energy must have a chance to expend itself. Find a re> lief and outlet for this superabundant as- sertiveness in piling a poor widow's wood, beautifying the churchyard, earning money to support an India orphan, in making maps and models, collecting missionary and tem- perance curios, statistics, and information, and in occasional long walks and half-holi- days. Let the class be organized and all these things done by associated effort. 2. Supplement the reading. In place of the "blood and thunder" stories of unreal life, put into the boy's hand good stories of general interest— biography, travel, adven- ture, and discovery. Create an appetite for a book by giving some idea of the contents or rehearsing choice bits of anecdote or dia- 80 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM logue. Begin if necessary with the lighter types, but constantly grade up to the stand- ard authors. A teacher who can direct the adolescent's reading is molding life. 3. Recognize growing independence. A growing independence is as natural to this stage as dependence is to the child. To re- press it is to invite lasting weakness, or con- stant friction and ultimate lack of control. The teacher must respect the boy's independ- ent choice and judgment. He must allow in- dependence of thought and action. Unwise conclusions and unfortunate acts must not be too quickly condemned. Judgment and choice are developed by exercise. The boy desires to regulate his own conduct, and he should be allowed to an increasing extent to act independently of the dictation of parent and teacher and on his own initiative and responsibility. Allow him to express his opinions, and to have a voice in the rules and laws which are to govern his conduct. Nothing expands and develops youth like a sense of responsibility. Respect his develop- ing conscience. It may be weak and erratic, sensitive or severe, but if respected and cul- tivated, out of weakness will come the THE INTERMEDIATE AGE 81 strength to hold steady in temptation's dark- est hour. 4. Dwell upon the heroic. The teacher will acknowledge his admiration for strength. The idealizing tendency of youth at first sets up a hero of physical strength and cour- age. The teacher will show that this is in- adequate. Strength of body needs to be sup- plemented by strength of mind. And mental strength must be devoted to worthy ends. And so he can teach effectively the lessons of moral courage and the strength of Christian character. 5. Find lessons in the New Testament. It is stated on authority that before adoles- cence children prefer the Old Testament, but as they make their way into a life of larger and better ideals they "show a decided inter- est in the New Testament, especially in the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. They also show a decided interest in Jesus and the principal disciples. The interest in John the disciple, is an early adolescent in- terest, while the interest in Jesus culminates somewhat later and is sustained through- out." The New Testament is full of grand ideals which appeal to youth. It provides 82 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM a great doctrinal system which meets his growing propensity for discussion and argu- ment. It holds up for emulation the Christ, whose splendid manhood, unworldly conse- cration to the accomplishment of noble pur- pose, and unfailing strength and courage move the youthful heart to admiration and devotion. Importance for Religion We are told that in the twelfth year occurred an important event in the re- ligious development of the youthful Christ. This stage has always been recognized as of great religious importance. The years twelve and thirteen show a great increase in the number of conversions. Religion in its spir- itual character is now better apprehended. Growing individuality, devotion to ideals of life and character, transition from a set of rules to govern him to freely accepted princi- ples — all contribute to make this a most op- portune time for the youth to accept the Christ Man as his Friend and Ideal. VII. THE SENIOR AGE. The senior age corresponds to the period of middle adolescence, from fifteen or sixteen to about nineteen. The characteristics are somewhat the same as in the preceding age except that they are intensified. Mental Growth The intermediates are characterized by sudden changes and awakenings; the seniors show an ever progressive mental develop- ment. New reservoirs of intellectual energy seem to be tapped. The reason develops rap- idly. Interest is manifested in all the thought and activities of adult life. They are abashed at no intellectual feat. They will debate anybody on any subject. This is the period of deep sentiment, par- ticularly social sentiment. There is great attraction toward persons of the opposite 84 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM sex. Questions relating to marriage and home are felt to be serious. This is the age of social gatherings. Nature too has a new fascination and awakens deep feeling. With growing intellect and deepening sen- timent there comes strength of will. The emotions are easily stirred, and these stimu- late to feats of great endurance. It is the age of great activity and productiveness. "If the activity be turned to good ends, it en- riches the world; many of the most signif- icant additions ever made to art, science, literature, philosophy, and religion have come from young lives scarcely out of their teens." 2>ouht Just as questioning characterizes the ear- lier period of youth, doubt and uncer- tainty are characteristic of this stage. The break with authority and tradition, which begins at thirteen, culminates at eighteen or nineteen. Young people must see the reason for things, the principles underlying custom and conduct. What they can not see the rea- son for, or the cause of, they are inclined to reject. This tendency to doubt centers about THE SENIOR AGE 85 religious questions. If a young man's relig- ious training has been strict, and the relig- ion of the home positive and unquestioned, the greater the doubt. As developing reason asserts itself, he tries its strength on things beyond the power of reason. The tendency to doubt is normal to every young man or woman who thinks and whose growing individualism seeks a standing-place independent of author- ity or tradition. The teacher should be per- fectly frank and sympathetic, pointing out the limitations of reason and supplying out of a wider knowledge reasons hitherto unper- ceived by the young doubter. Show the rea- sonableness of the Christian doctrine and system, and meet doubt with positive certain- ty. "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true." The example of a clear, victorious, religious life is the best argument against doubt. Storm and Stress Doctor Haslett gives as his opinion that doubting is more common to males, dur- ing adolescence, and mental ferment and anx- 86 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM iety to females. This emotional experience of anxiety and strain is an upheaval which is quite the rule. "It takes different forms: a sense of sin, sense of imperfection, fear of death, brooding depression, morbid intro- spection, distress over doubts, efforts to con- trol passion, and friction against surround- ings." This storm and stress is explained by Starbuck as due to the "functioning of new powers, which have no specific outlet and are driven to force for themselves an expression in one way or another. If there is no channel for the free expression of this new energy, it wastes itself and is recognized by distress and anxiety, groping after some- thing, and brooding self-condemnation." New Awakenings In this age there is the social awaken- ing. The youth awakes to the impor- tance of neatness in dress. His toilet is made with scrupulous care. He cares now how others regard him. His manners tend to improve. Right conduct makes a new ap- peal to him, and he abandons many of the heartless and unrighteous actions of the pre- vious period. He awakens also to a con- THE SENIOR AGE 87 cern as to the choice of a life work. Wise must be the teacher if he rises to the oppor- tunity at this point in giving information, inspiration, and counsel. Conversion This period is generally attended with definite religious awakenings. Statistics show that more persons are converted be- tween the ages of fourteen and nineteen than at any other period. Most students of this subject have found that the maximum num- ber for any one year of life occurs during the age of sixteen. From answers furnished by members of the Free Methodist church, both laity and clergy, male and female, rep- resenting all sections of the United States, the following results were discovered: Table of Conversions 00 < 5 1 6 2 7 1 8 4 9 8 10 9 11 6 12 7 13 11 14 IT 15 12 16 23 17 25 18 25 19 33 20 22 no 0) be <4 21 12 22 20 23 15 24 5 26 8 26 7 27 8 28 12 29 5 30 12 31 7 32 4 33 4 34 4 35 7 88 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM Summary of above: Ages under 12 inclusive 31 Ages under 10 inclusive 16 12 to 15 54 " 11 to 20 " 136 16 to 20 128 " 21 to 30 160 21 to 25 60 " 31 to 40 34 " 26 to 30 44 " 31 to 35 26 This table shows the number occurring at each year of life from the fifth to the thirty- fifth in a total of 343 cases. Observations from Table It will be noticed from the above table that the age at which the largest number of conversions, as reported by members of the Free Methodist church, is nineteen. It ap- pears, also, that the curve of conversions rises at ten, then falls to rise again at fourteen, falls again to culminate at nine- teen. This is followed by a period of depression and rises once more at twenty- eight and thirty. While the table shows the most conversions at nineteen, many occur during the three years preceding. The results in the main correspond with those of other investigators. Hazlett has tab ulated results from seven students of this THE SENIOR AGE 89 subject. Three show the crest of the conver- sion curve to be at sixteen, two at seventeen and two at eighteen. Hazlett's table of re- sults summarizes as follows: Grand total conversions 6,641 Ages 12 to 20, inclusive 5,054 Ages 12 to 15, inclusive 1,871 Ages 16 to 20, inclusive 3,183 God's Time There is no doubt that the physical and mental changes and awakenings during this stage favor spiritual awakening and make it the golden age of conversion. The develop- ment of intellectual energy, new will power, stronger sentiments of love and altruism, greater response to ideals of life, unsatisfied longings, and all the varied manifestations of the period of storm and stress conduce to bring the young man and young woman to a conscious personal acceptance of Jesus Christ. It is most fortunate if one has been converted prior to this critical time. If not, every effort should be made in the home, Sun- day-school, and church service to bring him into the kingdom of God before the period of middle adolescence passes by. When it has 90 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM passed, for the great majority, Jesus of Naz- areth has forever passed by. The Opportunities of the Teacher The special characteristics of this stage furnish unusual opportunities to the teacher. Among these is the opportunity to help tne pupil to establish broad interests. The tre- mendous energy of the mind seeks an outlet, and the nature and direction of the outlet will depend upon the teacher. Love of na- ture, interest in literature, science, and art can be fostered at this time as at no other, making all the difference between the richer life and the narrow one. The teacher may strengthen the founda- tions of faith. "The questioning of this period makes it possible to ground belief in the verities of the Christian religion. Faith need not be blind. God gives us a reasonable basis for all He asks us to accept. The care- ful study of facts which are the starting- point of faith will help the doubting soul to trust beyond the power of sight and enable him to give a reason for the faith that is in him." The teacher may aid also in choice of life- THE SENIOR AGE 91 work. This subject fills the pupil's mind. It lures him on with bright hopes and tempt- ing prospects and again fills him with fore- boding and anxiety. He is face to face with a serious problem. The teacher who under- stands the aptitudes of his pupils may, by wise counsel and loving sympathy, stimulate them to aspire to high service. They listen as at no other time to the call to the minis- try, to the mission field, to the work of re- form, and other vocations which involve the subordination of selfish ambition to the will of God and the welfare of humanity. Young People's Classes One of the greater Sunday-school problems is to hold the young people. The methods which succeed in the lower departments do not succeed with the senior classes. The Sun- day-school must actually meet their peculiar needs and capacities. It must give them something which they regard as worth while. They are in the intellectual stage, and usual- ly in the high school. They come into con- tact with experienced teachers and modern methods of instruction. The Sunday-school must find teachers somewhat in mental cor- 92 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM respondence with the intellectual life of the senior age, teachers whose accurate knowl- edge of Scriptural truth commands respect. A teacher for young people will need not less spirituality and unction than in the lower grades, but more precise scholarship and painstaking preparation. In the conduct of young people's classes a teacher will appeal more to the reason than to authority and tradition. "Bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob." Indulge the tendency to reason. Show that the devotement of the self in holy sacrifice to God is a "reasonable service;" that athe- ism and unbelief in a divine revelation is against reason, and that true faith has a rational basis. Only truth that is accepted as one's own can produce conviction and re- sult in voluntary choice of right. The young people's classes must have a definite end in view in their study. Special topics such as, "The Life of Paul," "The Life of Christ," "The Apostolic Age of the Church," "The Ephesian Letter," suggest definite and critical study. A teacher of young people will continually present Christ as their supreme need, and THE SENIOR AGE 93 press immediate acceptance. He will do this tactfully, but he will remember the great va- cancy that is realized in the life of adoles- cents, and not once but often make it plain that naught can fill this void save Jesus the Christ. He will keep in mind also how watchful and critical youth is, and as an ex- ample will walk circumspectly in robes of spotless white. VIII. THE OLDER ADULTS. All persons over the age of nineteen con- stitute the adult department. The period from nineteen to twenty-five is the stage of later adolescence. Later Adolescence Many of the characteristics present in the preceding stage are apparent during this time. There are, however, indications of greater maturity of the intellectual powers, manifested in enlarged conceptions of self- hood and of the relations of the individual to the widening world. This is for many per- sons the creative stage. The fertility of the intellect is evident from the fact that some of the best and most original contributors to philosophy have been made during these years. With the increase of intellectual vigor, there appear greater development and 94 THE OLDER ADULTS 95 strength of character. Standards of conduct are now broader, truer and more practical. The superior work and ability of others are estimated at their true value. Indiscrim- inate companionship in a group is succeeded by more carefully selected friends. Another characteristic of this period is vigor of will. This shows itself in greater concentration and sustained effort in the ac- complishment of worthy ends. This increase of intellectual and volitional power suggests the method of approach in dealing with per- sons of this class. The appeal should be to their manhood and womanhood. The call to task involving thought, and energy, even sac- rifice, will meet with readier response. The mission of the Sunday-school to this class should be a constant summons to self-sacri- ficing endeavor, to those larger activities which demand the utmost expenditure of mental and moral strength. The class is the place not only for the discovery and state- ment of spiritual truth, but also for the ap- plication of truth to the various phases of political and social questions so that from the Sunday-school will go forth young men to practical Christian effort and eminent 96 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM leadership in the field of loeal or more gen- eral reform. The Older Adults This department includes all over the age of twenty-five. It is an important division of the Sunday-school. If the regular attend- ance of the fathers and mothers can be se- cured, it will be much easier to get the chil- dren. The presence of the adults will also dignify the Sunday-school in the eyes of the young people. There should be then men's classses and women's classes in which are found the entire adult membership of the church. "Doctrine This age brings the fulness of mental vigor. It delights in full discussion and fine discrimination. Religion is viewed in its theological aspects, and creeds and doc- trines come iu for statement and criticism. Reflection As young people enjoy the pleasures of im- agination, older people delight in the pleas- ures of memory. The relation of personal THE OLDER ADULTS 97 experience is one of the best sources of man- hood's joy. Specialization The adult has chosen his vocation. The direction of his life interests has been deter- mined. As development proceeds, life be- comes more and more specialized, and does not easily depart from established grooves. Professor James says that no new ideas out- side of his particular vocation come to be one's permanent possession after twenty- five. Action hardens into habit and charac- ter takes on set and permanence. Spiritual Appetite The battle of life is now on. The time of achievement is here. Participation in the world's work makes large draughts on the spiritual force. Disappointments, failures, losses, and struggles press and weary. These conditions create real soul hunger, a longing for a deeper revelation of God, and a closer walk with Him. Service "As childhood's task is absorption, and the task of youth adjustment, so the task of 98 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM maturity is service. That which has been taken in must be given out again, enriched and enlarged by its stay in the soul. All the factors necessary for service are now ready. Experience and study have supplied some- thing to give, mental discipline and unim- paired physical strength supply the power for service, the broad outlook the need and place of service, and the soul's awakening to- ward God and his neighbor have supplied the motives for service" (Lamoreaux). In the Sunday-school The adults require competent teachers, men and women of breadth of mind, force of character, depth of spirituality, and per- sonal magnetism. A leading man in the community, the employer of men, strong and aggressive, is desirable for the men's classes. The classes may profitably organize for sys- tematic work. They will do better work in separate rooms, where general discussion is possible without embarrassment. If the teacher rises to his opportunity the men and women will come to Sunday- school and find it a place where they receive real spiritual nourishment; where they see THE OLDER ADULTS 99 new visions of truth, clear, illuminating, In- spiring; where they feel the stimulus of mind reacting upon mind, heart beating with heart; where they get a view of the progress of God's kingdom throughout the world with resulting inspiration to faith and courage; where they find elevating, refining, broaden- ing influences after a week of toil, possibly in forbidding circumstances and under crushing burdens; and where God speaks through His Word with new sweetness and power, or with new commissions to special service in His great harvest-field, IX. THE MIND AND ITS ACTIVITIES. Education and Unfolding Childhood is only another name for weak- ness and immaturity. The young child is but an undeveloped possibility. In body and in soul he is simply a promise. But at length weakness is turned to strength, the possibil- ity becomes an actuality, and the promise finds wonderful fulfilment in physical strength and grace, and in mental ability and spiritual power. Every life is an un- folding life. Nothing becomes explicit which was not implicit. The embryonic germ ex- pands and grows, and body and soul experi- ence a gradual but none the less marvelous transformation. Knowledge a Condition of Development The road from childhood to manhood passes through a most alluring country. The 100 THE MIND AND ITS ACTIVITIES 101 child finds himself continually drawn out by the objects along the way. He instinct- ively makes the acquaintance of things about him, and later appropriates, as he is encour- aged, the thoughts and occupations of his older companions in travel. His mind reacts upon its environment, and in so doing ac- quires knowledge and experience. The ac- quisition of knowledge is a necessary condi- tion of the development of the mind and soul. Knowledge is the material upon which the mind feeds. Without it there is no men- tal activity, and without mental activity there can be no will, no habit, and no char- acter. Physiology and Psychology If we desire to guide the child in the de- velopment of his body, we study the opera- tions of the body and the laws of bodily growth. Physiology, anatomy and hygiene deal with this information. To guide the child in the development of his mind, we must know something about the operations of the mind. Psychology deals with this informa- tion. The science of psychology finds a sci- entific basis for the great art of teaching. 102 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM Psychology the Science of the Mind The mind operates according to natural laws which constitute the subject matter of psychology. It is the "science which de- scribes, classifies and explains our mental operations." If we look within ourselves we find these operations going on. We discover a succession of ideas, images, pains, pleas- ures, acts of memory, imagination, and will., These experiences are activities and states of the mind. No one has ever discovered what the substance of the mind is, or its relation to the body in which it resides. It is believed to be immaterial and spiritual, capable of existing separate and apart from the body. It is a form of life clothed with all the mystery which surrounds other forms of life. While we do not know what the mind is, we can know its activities and states, and the conditions under which they arise. The Mind a Unit While the states of mind are various and changeable, the mind itself is a unity. It has its existence, not £?part from these sep- arate mental states, but in them. It is cap THE MIND AND ITS ACTIVITIES 103 able of three distinct classes of activity, called knowing, feeling, and willing. This does not imply that the mind is composed of separate parts, organs, or functions, but that the mind exercises itself now in knowing, again in feeling, and again in willing. Or, to speak more accurately, while one of these ac- tivities may at any one time predominate, our conscious experience is a blending of these activities into complex states. When we are in a state of terror, emotion is pre- dominant; in solving a problem, intellect is predominant. The mind perfectly developed in all three activities is rare. Most men are in temperament either emotional, intellectual or strong willed. The feeling activity in a child is preeminent. Intellect and will are weak and undeveloped. Activities Interdependent While these activities are distinct, they are not independent. We love our country (feel- ing) ; we inform ourselves regarding her per- ils (knowing) ; and offer our services in her defense (willing). The class hears of the sad condition of orphan children in India (knowing) ; and they feel an interest in them 104 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM (feeling) ; and proceed to take and send a contribution toward their support (willing). One condition of mind passes into another; and further, it can be shown that one ac- tivity always implies the other two. The Soul The terms mind and soul are often used interchangeably. It may be better, however, to think of the soul as the self in the exer- cise of its various activities, and to restrict the term mind to the self in the exercise of its knowing power. The work of a teacher is not merely the improvement of the minds of the pupils, but the enrichment of their souls. To teach truly is not only to cause to know, but also to cause to feel and to act. Character is a condition of the soul. The end of teaching is character. Character involves not only accurate thinking, but also right feeling and energetic willing. Effective teach- ing moves the heart and soul, and always re- sults in right actions. The Senses "Knowledge arises in the soul through the senses." The special senses arranged in the THE MIND AND ITS ACTIVITIES 105 order of their value for knowledge are seeing, hearing, touch, taste and smell. These var- ious sense organs are remarkable contrive ances, sensitive to energy under its different manifestations. Objects coming within range of the sense organs produce in them a ner- vous stimulation which is communicated along the nerves to the brain. This nervous excitement makes an impression upon the brain which in some mysterious manner calls forth a response in the mind. This response or reaction is termed a sensation and is the simplest element or experience of mental life. Sensations and Percepts The nervous mechanism is a remarkable system of communication between the out- side world and the mind. Reports from the outside world are going in night and day. These reports or impressions reaching the brain are not only reacted upon but also in- terpreted. The mind reads meaning into the sensation and refers it outward to some ob- ject. This interpretation by the mind of sense impressions is called perception, and the products of this act are called percepts. 106 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM We notice, therefore, that sensation is a pas- sive state, while perception is largely an ac- tive one. Sensation supplies materials in the form of feelings; perception works up these materials into an orderly world. Every indi- vidual in an important sense creates his own world by the way he interprets and refers his sensations. He creates not only his ex- ternal world of objects, but his intellectual and moral world as well. It is the rare privilege of the teacher to assist the pupil to interpret his sensations, and so help him to create the right kind of world. The world must be made of the materials which enter in through sensation and perception. Kight- ly to guard in sensation and to guide in per- ception should be the aspiration of every teacher, that his pupils may create a world for themselves which will yield the richest satisfaction for this life and the life to come. Importance of the Senses Our world then, whatever it may be, is constituted of organized sensations. They are the ultimate facts of mental life. They are the foundation stones in the structure of knowledge, or rather the materials out of THE MIND AND ITS ACTIVITIES 107 which it is built. The training of the senses, therefore, assumes a real importance. If sensations are scanty, vague and indefinite, the structure of knowledge will be vague, without beauty or order. It has bean said that "there is nothing in the mind that is not first in the senses." And certainly accu- rate memory, vivid imagination, clear think- ing, are all conditioned upon rich sensations and clear perceptions. The mental life of children is largely an accumulation of materials. They are con- cerned with building up an objective world for themselves. Their normal mental activ- ity is in the region of sensation and percep- tion. The first work of the teacher of young children is the proper training of the senses. This training develops the powers of observa- tion and brings a richer and clearer body of materials to furnish the mind and beautify the soul. The Training of the Senses Senses are trained by coming into contact with objects. A description of nature, how- ever eloquent, will make small impression 108 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM upon the child's mind. Memorizing dead facts regarding things and places will awaken no vitalizing sensations. But in th<* companionship of a true teacher and under his guidance, to look upon the imagery of cloud and the splendor of the sunset, to wan- der through field and forest and listen to the symphony of myriad-voiced nature, to smell the woodland, and feel and handle and touch, is to train the senses to observe and identify, and make them accurate and delicate for any demand of practical life or general culture. In like manner the parable of the sower or the soils could be taught in some planted field, the children handling some seed and sowing it broadcast; the ark of the covenant could be taught from a model or drawing in right proportions; and the altar of incense could be made real and suggestive with a few coals and a bit of spice or aromatic gum. Eeach "Man-soul" through as many of the five gates as possible. Exercise the senses by directing the spontaneous energy, and the inevitable result will be quickened senses, and clear ideas, which will be the enduring possession of the mind and heart. THE MIND AND ITS ACTIVITIES 109 Consciousness Out of the simple facts of mental life de- velop those more complex. Sensations give rise to perceptions; perceptions, ideas, acts of memory, imagination and will. The mind not only has these experiences but is con- scious of itself in these activities and states. The soul thus considered is called conscious- ness, and its experiences states of conscious- ness. Connection Between Consciousness and the Body The mutual dependence of mind and body is very apparent. A blow upon the head produces unconsciousness, and stimulants, affecting the nervous system of the body, powerfully affect the mind. On the other hand, mental states affect the body. Fear will paralyze the muscular action of the heart and limbs. The psysiological connec- tion between the mind and the body is the nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord and sensory and motor mechanism. Just how successive fields of consciousness are related to brain states, how a state of con- sciousness accompanies an irritation of the 110 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM nervous tissue, how physical, physiological, and chemical excitement of sense organs can produce now pleasure, now an image, now will, is an undiscovered secret, but we know that such connection exists and that the body is not only the bond of connection between the mind and the outside world, but also a determining factor in the exercise of the mind. The Physical Basis It is important for the teacher to know that a vigorous, well-nourished brain is a nec- essary condition for the best intellectual ac- tivity, the highest feelings and the most en- ergetic action. Weakness of body frequently explains poor memory, emotional apathy and feeble purpose. Great allowance must be made for moral weakness on the part of chil- dren continually tired and underfed. The improvement of their physical condition is sometimes the most helpful stimulus to right behavior. The connection betwen mind and body is so intimate that the body ought to be cultivated and trained to its highest ef- ficiency, not indeed for its own sake, but for THE MIND AND ITS ACTIVITIES 111 the sake of its connections with the soul, whose helpful minister it should ever be. Abuse of the Body This intimate relation is seen in the results of the abuse of the body. The effects of to- bacco upon the mind are serious. High au- thority after a thorough examination of the students of Yale College declares that "to- bacco inhibits the physical growth and causes a loss of mental power to those addicted to its use." The cigarette is a notorious evil. Doc- tor Rowe is quoted that "it tends to physical nervousness and to stupidity," and that boys addicted to its use cannot compete in school with non-smokers. The use of alcohol also retards brain action and eventually destroys the finer sensibilities and the mental and mor- al nature. The teacher of boys, in the inter- est of high thinking and heart culture, should impress them that their body is entitled to care, cultivation, and the highest respect, and should enforce by precept and example the great command, "Keep thyself pure." X. ATTENTION. Nature of Attention The materials of our conscious life flow in from the outside world. Without interrup- tion they sweep over the nerves to the central office of the brain. Consciousness, however, is like a "busy man who can admit into his inner office only a very few from the throng of seekers without." While impressions are received from eye and ear and their sister senses, consciousness selects some and rejects others. This selective power of the mind is attention. While travelling I am absorbed in an interesting book. Presently I hear the rumble of the train; I smell the car smoke; I perceive that the car is uncomfortably warm, and I feel again the sorrow of separa- tion from friends. The sound, the odor, the high temperature, the feeling — all were pres- ent while I was reading, but I perceived them 112 ATTENTION 113 not until the focus of consciousness shifted from my book to my surroundings. This condition of consciousness in which its en- ergy is focused upon one object or group of objects is called attention. Involuntary Attention If I continue my journey in the train in perfect mental relaxation I find the focus of consciousness constantly shifting. The slam of the door, the appearance of the conductor, the call of the porter, the slackening speed, the exit of passengers, the sight of the sta- tion, the entrance of the inevitable old lady with basket, bundle, and bird-cage — all suc- cessively hold the focus of mind by reason of a natural attraction and without any act or effort of will. Such a condition of the mind is known as involuntary attention. The mind is relatively passive, the focal power is di- rected by the mere intensity of the stimulus, and the will is largely inoperative. Voluntary Attention At length I produce my Bible and proceed to commit to memory a Psalm. All sorts of sights and sounds struggle for recognition, 114 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM but resolutely I put them all aside until I can repeat my Psalm. This concentration of consciousness under the direction of the will is voluntary attention. The stimulus is internal, supplied from past experience, and excites the mind to effort by virtue of its as- sociations. How can the will influence the mind in arousing attention? It would seem that the will determines the subject upon which the mind shall focus. If, however, there is any clear, settled concentration, the subject must develop some interest. "The will introduces the mind and object; it can- not force an attachment between them." The student may by act of will focus his mind upon his lesson, but once brought together, if the lesson develops no interest, no amount of willing can continue upon it that intensi- fied form of consciousness which we call at- tention. Importance of Attention Attention enters into all our mental oper- ations. Attention is involved in clear per- ception, vivid imagination, distinct feelings and deliberate choice. It is an essential con- dition of all knowledge and the varied abili- ATTENTION 115 ty of different persons in acquiring knowl- edge is usually a difference in their power or habit of attention. The Attention of Childhood The attention of the child is involuntary. The will is not in control. He is at the mercy of external sights and sounds. As Pro- fessor Pattee well says, "Every butterfly sailing across the field of vision attracts him; every loud noise, every new appeal to any of his senses, puts all earlier, sensations out of the field of con- sciousness." These distractions and com- petitors for the child's attention are mostly from without. Adults carry many distrac- tions within. But in the case of children the teacher must deal largely with surroundings. He must remove distractions; insist upon or- der. He secures attention by introducing some- thing which makes a vigorous appeal to the eye, such as colored pictures, drawings or models ; by a variation of tone, or by present- ing a subject which has pleasurable or pain- ful associations. 116 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM Attention and Interest We have seen that while the will can bring the soul and an object together, unless the soul discovers some interest there is no atten- tion. Attention then depends upon interest. Interest is the invariable medium of atten- tion. What is of the greatest interest will command the strictest attention. A teacher can command his pupils' attention only as he can stimulate their interest. A superintend- ent stood before the school to review the les- son of the day. He produced two apples, one large and fair and the other smaller and less attractive, and placed them upon the table. Every eye was upon him. "Which apple, children, do you prefer?" "The big one," unanimously shouted the younger classes of the school. "Children," said the superintend- ent, "things are not always what they seem. Appearances are frequently deceptive!" And putting his hand upon the apple, large and beautiful in appearance, which he had pre- viously hollowed out into a mere shell, he easily crushed it to the table. Surprise and disappointment were visible upon every face, and through excited interest and consequent large-eyed attention, the lesson was never for- ATTENTION 117 gotten of the fair exterior and the hollow heart. Interest and Adaptation The great secret of interest is adaptation. The subject must bear a close relation to the pupils' doing and thinking. The teacher, to be interesting, must know the contents of the pupils' minds, their stock of ideas and capaci- ties. What he says and does must touch the pupil where he is. For most children the Sunday-school has been too theological, too abstract, too adult. We must reach down to the children before they can reach up to us. Unless we actually reach them, we will not stimulate a feeling of interest. Without in- terest there can be no attention. Without at- tention no lesson of truth, no putting forth of life, no power of purpose, no strength of character. Hon? to Excite Interest The soul as well as the body is a living or- ganism. It has in it those forces and feel- ings which are essential to its development. There is a hunger of the soul as well as a hunger of the body. This feeling of soul-hun- 118 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM ger is interest. Just as the sight of tempt- ing food or the odor of a savory dish excites the appetite, so the skilful presentation of suitable materials will stimulate the mental appetite. This feeling of hunger, or appetite, is an attitude of the soul which undoubtedly characterizes every individual. The teacher can count on its presence in every boy and girl, and should make it his business to dis- cover what subjects excite this feeling, or in other words, where his interests lie. Study carefully the individuals of your class and you will find that each one, though shy and backward, will manifest this feeling of satis- faction when that su'bject is presented which is appropriate to his powers of mastication and assimilation. To intelligently appeal to the pupil and excite his interest the subject must show some point of connection with something in the pupil's personal experience. It should offer some familiar features. The totally new makes no impression, finds no entrance. We are always eager to hear some allusion to our own state, or town, occupation, or favor- ite author. On the other hand, what is too familiar and simple cannot create interest. ATTENTION ' 119 The mind enjoys the prospect of advancing knowledge. The old is necessary for devel- opment, the new for growth. Carefully grad- ed instruction, suited to the pupil's age and condition of life will never fail to interest. If the lessons are so developed that the pu- pils are constantly challenged to successful effort, and the truth unfolded is a succession of surprises, the lesson will be a delight for teacher and learner. The mind enjoys exer- cise and achievement. Interest is manifest- ed as long as there is actual accomplishment. Interest and Accomplishment Interest is not merely to amuse. It is to assist the pupil in the gratification of a pow- erful instinct, the instinct of curiosity. Curi- osity is another name for soul appetite, the strong desire to know, to feel, to act. The satisfaction of this desire is attended by a pleasurable feeling. It is experienced in con- nection with all the various forms of mental activity. There is actual pleasure in seeing, imagining, remembering and willing. It is peculiarly present in the consciousness of overcoming difficulties, solving hard prob- lems and discovering hidden truth. This, 120 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM once felt, will constitute fresh starting-points of interest. A teacher who does not cause in the minds of the pupils any mental activity; who does not direct them to the discovery of new truth, or to the accomplishment of some worthy intellectual or moral attainment, can never succeed. The class hour should be the teacher's opportunity for a trumpet call to achievement. If he knows how to get the class to work, the harder the better, he will never fail to have interest and attention. Interest and Responsibility The relation of responsibility to interest is well known. A man who had little interest in his lodge was elected High and Mighty Po- tentate of the Eastern Door. Other consid- erations failed to secure his attendance, but when appointed to walk up and down in a closet-like room carrying a drawn sword and to peep out of a small hole in the door and challenge all who would enter, he was pres- ent at every meeting. The delegation of suit- able responsibilities to the various members of the Sunday-school class will quicken inter- est and secure cooperation when other meth- ods fail. ATTENTION 121 An Illustration One vacation a father took his son of eight years to a well known Chautauqua. The daily program furnished a variety of enter- tainment and instruction. One day a chil- dren's Bible class was announced to meet daily for a week. At the appointed hour the father urged the boy to go. The boy demur- red. He said that he had not come to attend Sunday-school. The shady grove, the lake with its bathing and boats were strong coun- ter attractions. But the father insisted, and the boy with leaden feet and tearful eyes made his way to the pavilion. The leader understood both the Bible and boys. He furnished each one with a Bible, a sheet of paper and a pencil, and for an hour there was such a combi- nation of wise questioning, skilful illus tration, judicious drill and helpful sug- gestions concerning the use of their text- book and the recording of results that the story of Gideon and his men was thor- oughly mastered. He explained the subject for the next day, gave printed questions to be filled out in part in home study, and presented each with a kodak 122 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM picture of Gideon's spring taken by a friend. It was over all too soon, and the boy, all enthusiastic over the Bible study, said on the way back to the cottage, "I did not know it would be like that; I want to go every time." And the father, thinking of the sins committed in the name of teaching everywhere, and the pedagogical sinners who stifle the inborn craving for knowledge of God and His Word with methods devitaliz- ing and inhumane, breathed upward a fer- vent prayer, "Father, forgive us; we know not what we do." ! Natural and Artificial Interest The interest that arises in the contempla- tion of the thing that feeds the mind and en- riches the soul is natural interest. It may with children be an object, or with adults an idea or subject that has various connections. This sort of interest is legitimate and whole- some. Artificial interest is that aroused by indirect means, such as prizes and rewards, which are arbitrarily connected with the things in which interest is desired. Rewards in which all share may be proper. To secure the reward the pupil may seek information ATTENTION 123 about the subject, and thus may develop a perfectly healthy and natural interest. At best, however, such devices are of doubtful value. They frequently lead to unseemly ri- valry, stimulate the baser feelings and make more difficult natural interest. The better teacher resorts to artificial interest rarely if at all. The real satisfaction of the hunger of the soul is its own best reward and incentive to effort. Sympathetic Interest Interest, as we have seen, is feeling. Feel- ing is contagious. Cheerfulness expressed tends to make others cheerful. The enthusi- asm of the teacher is communicated to the class. Genuine interest always spreads. This interest of the teacher must be real. Any feigning of interest is dishonest, and will de- ceive no one long. The interest in the class can rise no higher than that of the teacher. He can gain this enthusiastic interest by a fresh knowledge of his subject, and by a con- viction of the importance and dignity of the work. Attention naturally follows when en- thusiastic interest overflows into the souls of others, 124 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM Expectant Attention This is a reaching forward of the mind to the coming event. It is an attitude of watch- ing for more. Continuous voluntary atten- tion depends upon this feeling of expectancy. This is secured by a gradual unfolding of the lesson so that each step points the way for the next, or by various methods which fur- nish a succession of pleasant surprises. The subject in hand will drift every few moments out of the focus of consciousness. The teacher must bring it back again and again, by illustration, discussion, quotation, and drill. While attention can be maintained constant only a few seconds, "the relations into which a subject may come are prac- tically infinite. The worlds of sense per- ception, feeling, art, memory, history, im- agination, poetry, thought, and science — all these may be drawn upon to strengthen a many sided appeal to attention." It has been said that to hear without listen- ing, to see without looking, to memorize with- out grasping the relation, to know without understanding, are the original pedagogical sins; but, as Professor Runkle has pointed out, they are the sins of the teacher and not ATTENTION 125 of the pupil. If he cannot get the pupils' attention it is because he is not worth their attention. He has nothing that interests them more than their own little interests. "He has not found the point of contact be- tween his truth, his personality, and those of the child or youth." The teacher should be such a. personality by a knowledge and exemplification of the truth that he compels attention through an ever enkindling interest. XL MEMORY. Percepts and Images As I close my eyes there comes before my mental vision percepts of objects familiar to me in boyhood days. Several years have passed since I actually saw them, but pic- tures of the old home, with the great over- spreading elm, the barn and orchard near-by, the little white schoolhouse down the road, and the woods and hills farther on, all re- vive before me, and I live again in the world of yesterday. Soon these scenes fade away and other views — the old church, the ceme- tery, and portraits of old friends — take their place in the picture-gallery of the soul. When we really look at an object we have a precept. When the object is removed we have an im- age or picture of the object. Sully defines image as the form in which the percept ap- pears after the removal of the object. The 126 MEMORY 127 image is not as vivid and definite as the per- cept and is much more fleeting. Definition of "Memory Every clear percept has its image somewhere in the mind. "But these images are not always in the focus of conscious- ness, not always the things of attention, not always the objects of interest. They elude consciousness and others take their places. They perhaps do not pass wholly out of con- sciousness, but they are no longer the things of attention. But they may be recalled and again be made the things of attention. The power by which the soul retains and recalls its past experiences and makes them again the things of attention is memory ." Importance of "Memory While perception is the great source of knowledge, perception is always in the pres- ent. To live constantly in the present in- stant would be to live by impulse and in- stinct. We would be helpless and worthless creatures of the moment. But the human mind has been given the power to reach both ways from this present moment — backward 128 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM by the memory into a broad expanse of time which we call the past, and forward through the imagination almost without limit into what we name the future. How one lives in the present and how he plans to live in the future depends almost alto- gether on his memory of the past. By this wonderful power of the mind the teacher can take important truths and principles and make them a part of this controlling past. Retention Memory has been defined as the activity of the mind in retaining and reviving its percepts or sense impressions. It is a revi- val of a past experience after it has once dropped from consciousness. The mind is larger than consciousness. Psychologists speak of sub-consciousness as a region of the mind into which our images or ideas sink and are retained. Just how they are retained, we do not know, but they leave such traces of themselves in the ever-changing organiza- tion of the mind that when an element of our previous experience comes into consciousness we recognize it. Some think MEMORY 129 that every experience is retained. Others believe that many disappear forever. But much more than we think is permanently hidden deep in the recesses of the mind and only needs the appropriate association or stimulus to bring it forth. As a matter of fact, long lost incidents occasionally re- vive in the mind with startling freshness and power, some to our dismay and others to our delight. Conditions of Retention "Ketention is conditioned by the length of time an impression or situation occupies the field of consciousness, the strength of vivid- ness of its appearance, the frequency of its presence, the simplicity of its occurrence, the degree of emotion with which it is experi- enced, the physiological conditions and the general habit of life." Recollection This is the process of reviving our past ex- periences, of bringing back to consciousness the ideas once there. Recollection involves conscious effort. An important factor in rec- ollection is a strong original impression. A distressing accident or destructive fire will 130 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM impress us deeply and will be long remem- bered. Depth of impression depends upon two things, namely: 1. Attention. Bright colors are recalled better than dull ones; distinct sounds than faint ones. Objects are recalled bet- ter than descriptions of objects; real situa- tions than imaginary ones. A vigorous con- dition of mind is a condition of strict atten- tion and hence of recollection. The attitude of the mind is important. Objects or ideas of absorbing interest hold fast the attention and make permanent impressions. Anything tihat gives pleasure in the act of perception is more easily recalled. Strong feelings of any kind create interest and affect attention. Sully says that "the events of early child- hood which are permanently retained com- monly show an accompaniment of strong feeling, such as wonder, delight, or awe." One reading was sufficient for a child to repeat sections of Revelation, whose wonder had been excited by the descriptions of strange beasts and unusual situations. If teachers can arouse a pleasurable interest in the study of truth the chances of its lasting retention are many-fold increased. MEMORY 131 2. Repetition. The more frequently an impression is repeated the more enduring will be the image. The most of our mental images are of things which we have frequently seen, or of events which have repeatedly occurred. In emphasizing the importance of interest, we must not depreciate the value of drills and reviews. The books of the Bible, outlines and summaries must be learned by frequent repetition. But repetition is most successful when supplementary to interest. Reviews can be made interesting by taking up the sub- ject from different points of view. Concert drills are not without interest. The teach- er must be a constant drill-master. Association A second important factor in recollection is association. No idea or fact of knowledge can exist in the mind in isolation. It must exist in conjunction with other ideas. The presence of one in the mind calls up others connected with it. The photograph before me reminds me of the person whose likeness it is. The book on my table recalls the friend who gave it to me. They each in turn are as- sociated with various experiences and events. 132 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM One thing calls up another. Select from the mental treasures an idea, and a hundred oth- er associated ideas will follow in close array. Reverie or day-dreaming reveals how ideas are associated in trains of thought. The va- rious kinds of association are: 1. Association by Contiguity. I see a man and recall the place where I first met him, the post-office. The thought of Chat- tanooga brings up Lookout Mountain; New York the Brooklyn Bridge, Palestine the Dead Sea. Things that lie near each other are easily associated. Events that occur near together are connected. When one is recalled the other appears in consciousness. The law is stated, "Impressions which occur together or in immediate succession afterwards tend to revive or suggest one another." 2. By Similarity. The thought of New York may suggest also London. The Dead Sea may recall Great Salt Lake, Palestine New Hampshire, the statesmanship of Glad- stone the statesmanship of Isaiah. Asso- ciation by similarity brings experiences to- gether which are far apart in ispace and time. Association by contiguity is more me- chanical than association by resemblance. MEMORY 133 By the application of the latter principle classifications are made and general ideas are formed which are of great service in mental economy. Great groups of related incidents may be thus connected. The teacher out of a thorough preparation can establish these relations of similarity so that the great facts of Biblical history, literature, and experience may be not only in the mind, but may when bidden appear in consciousness and be at our service. 3. By Contrast. An impression, object, or event generally suggests the image of its opposite. Light suggests darkness, weak- ness suggests strength. The reign of David is associated with the reign of Saul by the principle of contiguity; the character of Da- vid is associated with the character of Saul by the principle of contrast. We may point out that Moses was great in his ability to conceive and inaugurate, Joshua in his power to execute, that Isaiah found his sphere as a court preacher, Jonah as an itinerant evan- gelist. The boastful words of Nebuchadnez- zar, "Is not this great Babylon that I have built by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?" recall his real weak- 134 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM ness and ensuing abasement. The emphasis which Amos puts upon divine justice suggests Hosea's emphasis upon divine love. These are the laws of association upon which recollection depends. In so far as so- called memory systems employ these funda- mental principles of association they are useful; in imposing upon the mind connec- tions which are arbitrary, mechanical or ar- tificial, they are positively injurious. The Memory Period It is a matter of observation that mental powers mature in succession. The memory period is between the ages of six and twelve. The senses are very active, the feelings strong. Impressions are deep and while the child makes little effort to classify his experiences, and the law of association by similarity op- erates but slightly, association by contiguity is all-important. During this period the pos- sibilities of verbal memory are great. Whole chapters are learned with little effort. What would be a heroic task for the adult, to whom the laws of similarity appeal so strongly and whose mental processes are largely rational, is an easy matter for the child. This is the MEMORY 135 period when vocabularies, simple definition, leading data in geography and focal dates in history and choice selections from the best literature should be permanently lodged in the mind. These things may be learned by heart if only imperfectly understood. It is foolish to say that nothing should be learned which is not fully apprehended. Hang the pictures on the wall when they may be had for the asking. There will be opportunity to know their rich full meaning in the strength of later unfolding mental processes when the mind deals them out to us with sparing hand and at great price. The parent and Sun- day-school teacher may wisely cooperate in storing the child-mind with suitable passages from the Bible and the great hymns of the church. This material carefully graded and explained will find easy lodgment in the soul, constituting in after years a source of power for service and a comfort and delight in the days, and perchance the ages, yet to come. Training the Memory There is a great difference in memory ca- pacity. It is explained largely in the differ- 136 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM ence of recording and correlating the facts. Poor memory is frequently a result of poor teaching. A teacher will find that good mem- ory and effective recall will depend upon the following : 1. Clear perception. What is imperfect- ly apprehended cannot be accurately recalled. Help your pupils to observe closely, read carefully, and generalize accurately. Culti- vate clearness and conciseness in the presen- tation. Avoid vague, hazy, general statement. Teach children how to study, and in assign- ing a lesson point out what is especially im- portant. 2. Living interest. Use objects and illus- trations plentifully. Employ a lively, inter- ested manner in teaching. Interest your pu- pils and they will remember you and what you teach. 3. Visualizing power. This is the power by which the visual image of an object or an occurrence is retained in the mind in all its details. It is the ability to see things when they are absent. Some possess this power to a high degree. They retain the visual image of a paragraph or a page, and to repeat it is only a matter of re-reading the words of the MEMORY 137 mental picture. Help the pupils to dwell upon the details of the Bible scenes and stories until the mental picture is so full of color and life that they seem almost a part of their actual experience. 4. Repetition. Intensify the image, deep- en the impression of the most important items by intelligent repetition. The periods in the life of Christ and the leading events in each period must be drilled into the mind to render them permanently useful elements of knowledge. The repetition that is associ- ated with rhythm is very pleasing to children. Rhythm is a fundamental law of expression, and is particularly the language of emotion. Even where the meaning is little comprehend- ed children readily learn by repetition what is expressed in rhythmical form — poetry and song. 5. Correlation. Associate the new fact with others. Employ the principle of asso- ciation by similarity as far as possible. Es- tablish thought-connections between it and other knowledge. This requires reflection and real effort. Emphasize relations and or- ganize all new material. Knit the new fact into the fabric of knowledge. Seek continu- 138 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM ally in lesson preparation for natural lines of association of ideas. To insure right memory habits do not at- tempt too much. Memory work requires time. Overloading the memory with facts without taking suitable time to correlate them is to abuse the memory. A earful ob- servance of God's laws of memory, written in the mind of every person will make teaching a delight, and your pupils with full anol ready minds and loyal hearts will rise up and call you blessed. XII. IMAGINATION. Definition Memory is compared to a great storehouse where the objects and events of our past ex- perience are retained. To this storehouse we continually go to find materials with which to compare and interpret our new experi- ences. Memory reproduces the past just as it occurred. All the elements of each experi- ence are recalled in their original relations. To live in memory is to live in the past, to live forever as we have lived. But imagina- tion introduces us to a new world. It reach- es forward into the future and anticipates new experiences. It is that power of the mind to select of the things of memory such elements as we prefer and to combine them into new forms of thought. We may neglect any undesirable features of our experiences and choose the brightest and best for a new 140 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM formation unlike any which we have actu- ally known. This power is inseparably con- nected with progress and is perhaps the most fertile power of the soul. Constructive Imagination The picturing power of the mind, as we know it in memory is called reproductive inv agination. This power, as we have seen, is an aid to effective recall. It makes the past real and vivid and is of great assistance to the teacher in description and illustration. But imagination as generally understood is con- structive. It goes beyond experience and pictures a coming event or a place we have never seen. It modifies and transforms our memory images. It frees them from the ob- jects with which they were originally asso- ciated, and builds them up into new mental products. New knowledge grows by the exer- cise of this faculty. Every one uses it daily, whether in an artistic sense, or otherwise. A homesteader looks out upon the prairie and builds up a picture of house and barn and growing crops. The student pictures a future school in which he shall be a teacher, or it may be, a state-house in which he ad< IMAGINATION 141 ministers the affairs of government, or a grand army of which he is the general. The girl pictures a cozy cottage of which she will be the mistress and furnishes it and adorns it to the last detail. The architect has vis- ions of houses different from those he has ever built. Constructive imagination is the great faculty of progress. Its object is some- thing new and better. Creative Imagination Occasionally one is found who makes new combinations with rare insight. He com- bines elements into forms which are of great significance. Such imagination is called cre- ative. It may be scientific and the result- ing product a steam-engine or a nebular hypothesis. It may be artistic, and there steps forth from the marble an Apollo Belvi- dere, or appears beneath the brush a Sistine Madonna. Or it may be literary or musical, and a Shakespeare and a Mendellsohn em- body creations which enchant and delight for all time. But in the strict sense no im- agination can be creative. It can only com- bine the old elements into new forms, old materials into new constructions. 142 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM Imagination and Ideals It will thus be seen that imagination is in- volved in the formation of ideals. Every in- ventor, sculptor, poet and artist selects from the materials with which he is acquainted those elements which will combine into forms of ideal worth. Sir Christopher Wren had such an ideal in the designing and construc- tion of buildings and it found expression in St. Paul's Cathedral. Beethoven had such an ideal of harmony and musical composition, which found expression in his matchless symphonies and overtures. In the activity of our imagination we are constantly forming ideals — ideals of location, beauty, happiness, faith, character. Out of these ideals we may constitute a world far richer and more beau- tiful than the world we actually know. If our ideal world is beautiful for us only it has no permanent value. Only as it appeals to others also can it be influential and abiding. There are ideals which are universal in their appeal. These are eternal. Blest indeed is he whose soul is furnished with those experi- ences and materials out of which he can build up ideals of permanent value and eternal worth. IMAGINATION 143 Conscience It is interesting to see the relation of con- science to the imagination. Along with other ideals the imagination creates ideals of con- duct and character. After an ideal is formed it exercises a peculiar influence upon us. While we are affected by any ideal we may form, our moral ideals affect us most pow- erfully. We desire to realize them. We long to be all that we feel we may be. We judge our every act. If our act is in harmony with our moral ideal we approve it and experience the feeling of pleasure that accompanies sat- isfied aspiration. If we judge our act to be contrary to our ideal, we condemn it and ex- perience a feeling of remorse. The clearness with which conscience speaks to us depends upon the definiteness of our ideals. Without an ideal of faith, patience, righteousness, and moral heroism there can be no conscience and no call to duty. With- changing experi- ence our ideals change. The enrichment of ideals involves the education of conscience. Fancy This imaginative activity may issue in gro- tesque and absolutely unreal and unattrac 144 fTHE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM tive forms. This is called phantasy or fancy. The child is particularly fond of this mental exercise. He builds up in his mind impossi- ble forms and products. It is his first con- structive effort, and it affords him all the exhilaration of genuine achievement. This is the fairy-tale stage. The child delights in his first experience of putting things togeth- er. It should be wisely encouraged and di- rected. A reasonable amount of myth and leg- end and fairy stories will develop the crea- tive impulse and give it a set and bent which will be of great advantage later on when the will takes full control. If unnourished the imaginative instinct will shrivel and die, and no amount of later coaxing will compensate for the early neglect. These unreal crea- tions may seem to the child wonderfully real. His limited experience furnishes him with too small a basis for accurate criticism. The boundary between the real and the ideal is vague and shadowy. He reports as actual what exists only in his imagination. He does not intend to tell a falsehood. Parent and teacher must here guide wisely. The skilful teacher will study to know how to combine imaginative materials with facts IMAGINATION 145 and realities so that the growing mind may continue to delight in mental creations and at the same time cultivate an increasing reverence for the truth. Truth is correspond- ence to reality. Truth is more real if fact has a background of fancy. The teacher can be of real service to the child during the pe- riod of maturing fancy. Under his wise guidance the exuberance of the impulse of phantasy will yield to the full control of the will, and the constructive energies of the child will later bring forth abundant fruit- age in scientific, literary, artistic or practi- cal products, the real will separate from the unreal and there will arise a love of the real and a passion for the truth. Imagination and Feeling Imagination is stimulated and directed by feeling. A feeling of fear makes us imagine situations of terror. The emotion of love prompts the mother to imagine her son in places of honor and power. The feeling of appreciation of beauty directs the mind of the poet in the production of beautiful thought-forms. Since the imagination de- pends so largely upon our feelings, the edu- 146 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM cation of our feelings or emotions becomes a matter of transcendent importance. Feel- ing is contagious. The teacher must be one who is capable of right feeling as well as ac- curate thinking. Imagination and Wilt While imagination takes its root in feeling the more important products of mental ef- fort are the result of the conscious exercise of the will. The imagination unrestrained issues in day-dreams and air-castles. This is a common form of mental dissipation. The temptation is to live in a realm of ro- mance, in a world in which the sterner as- pects of toil and duty are absent. But the will Jiolds the imagination to progress to- ward some desired result. The great task of the teacher at this point is not only to stim- ulate the imagination, but also to develop and direct the will. He may portray before the class conditions of squalor in a neglected district and thus excite feelings of sympathy and pity for the unfortunate, and then sug- gest the propriety of some constructive plan for their relief. IMAGINATION 147 Imagination and Action It is highly important that children be taught to realize the consequences of their conduct and so avoid rash and hasty actions. Children frequently excuse themselves for some misdemeanor by saying, "I didn't think." This usually means that they did not have a clear image of the results of their ac- tion. If you can help your pupils to form the habit of picturing clearly and fully the prob- able consequences of their actions you will strengthen their will and enable them to ex- ercise it firmly and intelligently. It is the images which we carry with us that affect our conduct. As Gordy says, "Not reality, but what gets represented as reality — not what is, but what is imagined — affects our mental life." If a child has imagined in his mind that the world exists for him, he acts as though it were true. The products of the imagination are not to be regarded as an end in themselves. Pleas- ant as the exercise of the imagination may be, it must not terminate upon itself. A failure to reduce mental forms to actual construc- tions will eventually result in making one all that is implied in the word impractical and 148 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM visionary. A failure to realize or approxi- mate the moral ideals which the imagination sets up before the mind will leave one charac- terless and weak, and result in a moral par- alysis from which there is no escape. Moral ideals and action can never be dissociated without consequent formalism and hypocrisy. Training of the Imagination Children are thought to be very imagina- tive because of the boldness of their imagery. Fancy is strong. The transformations are ex- travagant and produced under the excite- ment of the feeling of wonder. The progress of experience and growth of knowledge tend to bring the imagination under the control of the will. The natural craving that children have for stories points the way for the train- ing of the picture-forming faculty. Give them stories of real life, narratives of the ex- periences of other children, and descriptions of places and events. They will be less and less inclined to indulge in phantastic crea- tions and more capable of clear images of things and scenes. Under the stimulus of real sights and vivid descriptions their minds will form more and more elaborate comhina- IMAGINATION 149 tions, until they can image in their m^nds> the scenery of the Holy Land, the royal city of Jerusalem and even sieges and battles. And then, touched by the Spirit of God, and led by the sympathetic teacher or parent, they may reach to the exercise of true faith which is the religious use of the imagination. Im- agination is the eye of the soul which jlu heathen Chaldea sees to the west a land of promise ; which sees in the offering of an only son the divine ability to raise him from the dead; which looks beyond the treasures of Egypt to the recompense of reward; and which sees beyond a sojourn in tabernacles a city which hath eternal foundations. The teacher should aspire to exercise in his pupils this power to demonstrate invisible realities so that from time to time they niay fill in and enrich the picture that John saw, the golden streets, the crystal river, the gates of pearl and the tree of life, until it seems to them a home in which they will be glad to live for- ever. XIII. THOUGHT. It has been observed that thinking is the highest possible attainment of the intellect. To think is to classify, to relate, to infer. Intelligence is a matter of generalization and inference. Our aim as teachers should be to produce not only Bible students, but intelli- gent Bible students ; not only Christians, but intelligent Christians. The best teacher is the one who trains his pupils to think. To perceive, to memorize, to imagine, are neces- sary processes in the acquisition of knowl- edge, but they constantly point the way to the higher process of thinking. The lower animals may have sensations and perform acts of memory and imagination; instinct and training help them to do many wonder- ful things, but they cannot think. Man alone thinks, because man alone is endowed with this comparative faculty. 150 THOUGHT 151 What It Is to Think When we perform the mental acts pre- viously considered, we have dealt exclusively with individual things. We taste a particular orange, we recall the face of a particular friend or a particular past event. But we may consider fruit or friends in general. We may say that fruit is appetizing, or friends are one's best possessions. When we reason about things in general we think. Thinking involves three separate steps — conception, judgment, and reason. The Formation of Concepts The child's first notion of a dog is gained 1 possibly from a shaggy Shepherd with which he played from day to day. The word dog was associated in his mind with the mental image of this particular dog. Later he saw other animals resembling in a general way his dog, but differing in shape, size and color. He hears the word dog applied to these also. He observes the different individual dogs, compares and contrasts them, draws away the features of resemblance or essential qualities, and groups them together into a 152 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM concept or general idea to which he gives the name dog. As other specimens .are noticed which have qualities agreeing with the con- cept, his concept dog becomes fuller and clearer so that when he hears the remark, "Dogs are fierce," he does not think of any, particular dog, but of certain essential qual- ities which enter into his general idea of dog. In the same way the word chair does not stand for any particular chair, but cer tain essential qualities, as seat, back, and legs. Tree as a concept implies all the trees we have ever known, and includes the essen- tial qualities of trunk, branches, and foliage. The words dog, chair, and tree are symbols which stand for aggregations of essential ele- ments, and are class words or common nouns. As we examine the contents of our minds we find a large number of such class words. The mind is thus relieved of what would be an impossible burden of carrying the images of all the individual objects or experiences in our minds unrelated. We put them into classes, put a word on each class as a label, and carry the labels. This is a device of men- tal economy. It explains the power of the THOUGHT 153 mind to store up facts. This power of the mind to compare objects or images, abstract their common qualities and group all the ob- jects possessing these common qualities un j der one name, is called conception. The prod- uct of this activity is called a concept. The end of concept-forming should be rich, full concepts, with a wide basis of experience and the essential qualities clearly recognized. Teaching Hints The mind tends to classify its material. When a new object is known the mind tries as soon as possible to place it in its appro- priate class. This is usually done at first ha- stily and carelessly. We find our general ideas in need of constant revision. If we place an object in the wrong class, and then reason about it as though it had the essential marks of that class, we fall into error. To avoid this error the teacher can assist the pupil : 1. To observe closely. Indistinct con- cepts are usually the result of faulty or in- sufficient observation. Dissatisfy him with surface appearances. Teach him to penetrate to the hidden resemblances. 154 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM 2. To classify accurately. No individual or particular should be allowed to pass into the class which does not possess the es- sential attributes which characterize that class. Each class must be distinct and admit only those things that bear the essential marks. ' ; < 3. To put content into the word symbols. Pupils sometimes fall into the shiftless habit of using words which in their .minds stand for little or nothing. They are constantly ap- propriating class words from their elders and from books without at the same time clearly apprehending the ideas behind them. It devolves upon the teacher always to see that they do not use words without under- standing the qualities and attributes which belong to them. 4. To relate every new thing. Every unrelated percept or image is soon lost. If you examine the contents of children's minds you will find much unrelated or wrongly re- lated material. Only that which has a dis- covered point of resemblance is of any value. The teacher can suggest relationships and point out hidden lines of connection and as- THOUGHT 155 sist the student to refer the new thing to its appropriate class. 5. Frequent definition. We have seen that concepts undergo constant change. Our ideas of home, work, suffering, and death are quite different from those of the child. How our ideas of heaven have changed with the years. Our concepts of faithfulness, service, duty, and God have grown up out of the mul- tiplied experiences of the passing years. In a sense our realities change. The teacher must know what realities appeal to persons of different ages. Heaven represented as a realm of eternal rest would be a place of tor- ment to the average boy. A child that would sing, "I want to be an angel and with the angels stand" with any sense of meaning of the words would be a pious little hypocrite. The realities of children are largely earthly, and until disappointments thicken, the shad- ows deepen, and the faculties fail, this earth seems quite good enough. The teacher must know his pupils so that he may know their realities, what they think of and desire. He must take his words from their vocabulary. Unless the words stand for the same meaning in the minds of the teacher and the taught, 156 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM how can the instructor make any progress? A sympathetic teacher will know the various realities which different experiences yield, and select his ideas and words accordingly. Words are only symbols. A real teacher takes nothing for granted, but tests his teach- ing by frequent definition to see if the words used in teaching stand for the same ideas for teacher and class. Concepts and Thought Concepts are the units out of which are built the higher processes of thought. The higher reasoning is concerned with these units. Lead the child through full and ac- curate perception, careful analysis, abstrac- tion and generalization to those clear gen- eral notions with which he can rear a struc- ture of truth which will not crumble beneath all the attacks of criticism and doubt. Edu- cation is the process of acquiring ideas. "The best educated mind," as Professor James says, "has the most ideas ready to meet the largest possible variety of the emergencies of life." Here lies the opportunity of the Sunday-school teacher. THOUGHT 157 Judgment As soon as the child has formed a general idea it constitutes a standard of reference. A particular object may be compared with it and its agreement asserted. This assertion is a judgment. After forming the concept an- imal, he finds that his dog has the qualities of the concept animal and makes the judg- ment, "My dog is an animal." In this way new things are being constantly referred to old concepts and find their place in the knowledge system. When the two judgments disagree we have a negative judgment, "My dog is not a bird." Mating Ideas As general ideas increase the mind con- tinues to compare these .also. "Stones are hard;" "forgiveness is godlike." This estab- lishment of relations has been appropriate- ly called the "mating of ideas." The mind ex- hibits a strong tendency to thus mate ideas. When children discover the pleasure of this exercise for some time they go about con- stantly making assertions. They seem to challenge opposition in order to assert more strongly. 158 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM Office of Judgment New facts are continually sweeping into the mind through the senses. These facts demand adjustment with other facts; they require explanation. To explain a fact is to establish its connections with our whole body of knowledge. To explain the rising of the sun is to see that fact in relation to the rotation of the earth on its axis. The office of the judgment is to ex- plain by discovering and asserting relations. By it logical comparisons are apprehended. "Seeing these relations between the different tobjects in thought is of the highest educa- ional utility. To explain God is to lead the child to identify Him with the attributes oi love and mercy and power and majesty and glory. Thus we bring Him within our com- prehension." (Brumbaugh.) Training the Judgment Baldwin has said that teaching is the art of training the pupil to think. No training can be complete which does not provide for the education of the judgment. Children err in forming judgments for several reasons: THOUGHT 159 1. They do not take time for comparisons and deliberation. 2. They accept the ideas and judgments of others without examination and criticism. 3. They are creatures of strong prejudice. The training of the judgment will make this faculty more accurate. To train the judg- ment the child must do his own thinking. The true teacher will assist him just enough to keep him on the right track to the right conclusion. The true method is from percept to concept, from concept to judgment. See that your pupil is clear in his concepts and word-meanings, and then encourage him to make the conclusion himself. Again, impor- tant as the memory is, an ounce of judg- ment is worth a ton of memory exhibi- tion. "It is easier to lead the memory than to train the judgment and the short and easy method is too frequently adopted." Every fact has numerous connections. A trained judgment will connect up each fact with as many others as possible. This is a normal and healthy activity of the mind which builds up an orderly and compact system of knowl- edge. Organized knowledge is useful knowl- edge/ 160 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM Reasoning Just as the comparison of objects or images results in the formation of concepts; as the comparison of concepts results in judgments; so the comparison of judgments results in reasoning. Reasoning is the highest phase of thinking. As the concept is a men- tal abstraction and the judgment the estab- lishment of relations between abstractions, so reasoning is an abstract process, the highest attainment of the mind. It should be the aim of the teacher to lead the pupil on to this highest thought process. Induction and Deduction These are the terms applied to the two principal methods of reasoning. In the com- parison of judgments we may proceed from particular instances to a conclusion. This is the inductive method. "Under this method I teach: Jacob sinned; he repented; God forgave him. David sinned, repented, and God forgave him. Therefore the conclusion, If a man sin and repent, God will forgive him. By the deductive method I teach, If a man sin and repent, God will forgive him. Jacob sinned and repented; God forgave THOUGHT 161 him." (Slattery.) In reasoning with the Jews at Thessalonica, Paul used the de- ductive method. The Christ expected by the Jews must suffer and die and rise. This! Jesus whom I preach suffered and died and rose again; therefore the Jesus whom I preach unto you is the Christ. By the latter method we proceed from a general law to particular cases. This is deduction. The in- ductive method is the natural method of edu- cation. It begins with the examination of particular instances, encourages discovery, and leads up to new knowledge. When the general truth has been reached the child should be encouraged to apply it to new cases. Analogy This is a common method of reasoning. The earth is of known size, seasons, tempera- ture, force of gravity, and atmosphere, and is inhabited. Astronomers tell us that the planet Mars is similar to the earth in size, seasons, temperature, force of gravity and atmosphere. We infer, therefore, that Mars is inhabited. This conclusion is much less satisfying than those reached by indue- 162 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH Hlltf tion and deduction. However, if the objects compared have many points of resemblance, the conclusion reaches a high degree of prob- ability; if the resemblances are few we are slow to accept a conclusion. Practical Reasoning The formal methods of deduction and in- duction are in common experience relatively rare. Reasoning by analogy is a more com- mon process by which most persons arrive at conclusions. In a similar way they apply ready-made judgments to the various situa- tions of their daily life, and proceed to ad- just themselves accordingly. This rapid and short-cut process of inference is possible only when the mind has been furnished by expe- rience with a considerable number of fa- miliar general principles. It is quite important that individuals are able to form these rapid conclusions in mat- ters of conduct. This may be done when there exist in the mind and heart definite and clear fundamental moral principles. The establishment of these in the pupil's mind is the privilege and duty of the teacher. He should remember, however, that what seems THOUGHT 163 so fundamental to him is not likely to be so obvious to the untrained thinker, and must be developed within him by the longer and more analytical reasoning processes. Very much of the adult reasoning is quite beyond the reach of the average pupil. Each step of the explanation and proof should be kept within his mental grasp. When these gen- eral moral principles are thoroughly under- stood and fully accepted by the pupil, they may be instantly applied to the complicated situations that arise in daily life. The per- manent possession of these moral standards, capable of ready reference, contribute to men- tal and moral economy, and makes delibera- tion unnecessary in those critical moments when to hesitate is to lose. Reasoning Period The reason is the last mental faculty to mature and is the product of years of growth and experience. It is a mistake, therefore, to attempt to compel children to see reasons and to draw conclusions at too early an age. "The early years are for gathering material and storing memory that when the right time comes there shall be something in the 164 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM mind upon which to base reasons." We might call this truth axiomatic. At fifteen the memory is active and the exercise of it gives a peculiar exhilaration. The five years following find all things sub- jected to a searching examination, and the tendency is to reject everything the reasons for which are not immediately forthcoming. With many the development of the reason is attended with doubt and a thorough investi- gation of the foundation of belief. Religious doubts at this period are no sure sign of con- firmed skepticism. They are incident to the effort to understand the mysterious in the world of sense or of spirit. Under wise treatment the agitation of doubt may pass into the calm of a settled faith, and the de- mand of unbelief, "Show me the prints of the nails," may be followed by the utterance of abiding faith, "My Lord and my God." Reasoning and Cause Reasoning involves an inquiry into the cause of things. "To find a reason for a thing is to ascertain its cause and so explain its occurrence." While the idea of cause is in- nate and does not require proof, it is devel- THOUGHT 165 oped in the child mind in the course of expe- rience. The child early notices that things are associated in a certain order; food is followed by satisfaction, a sharp blow by pain. He associates his own actions with results, and gradually arrives at the idea of cause. The relation seems so fixed in his experiences that he concludes at length that every change has a cause, and that every action involving change has a purpose. Ques- tions now come thick and fast, and the inter- rogative "why" breaks in with embarrassing pertinacity. How easy it is now to lead the child mind up to the idea of God as the great Cause; who made all things, and all things with a purpose. This can usually be done so wisely and so well that later in the evil day when doubt and criticism exercise his mind, he will find the existence of God the most fundamental proposition of his growing philosophy, and heartily accept the wisdom of the psalmist when he said, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." XIV. THE FEELINGS. Education to be complete must include the whole life of the soul. Feeling is a funda- mental aspect of our soul life. Education is too often limited to the intellect. It should include the feelings — our emotional and affectional natures. The truest educa- tion not only informs the mind and issues in action, but as well captures the affections. The heart is the figurative Bible phrase for the feelings. Complete education enables the pupil to hide the word in his heart, and to keep his heart "with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." Nature o£ Feelings As the child proceeds on his life journey and comes in contact with an ever-changing environment, his soul constantly reports to itself how his environment affects him. He 166 JTHB PEELINGS 167 finds himself at times affected in an agree- able manner, at other times in a disagree- able manner. Of these affections he calls the one pleasure and the other pain. Every experience is attended by one or the other of these feelings. Both objects and ideas excite them. Every act of the body, every act of perception, memory, imagination, or will, is accompanied in some degree by one or the other of these feelings. As the soul goes on reacting upon its environment and feeding upon the knowledge which it ac- quires, the feelings constantly report con- cerning its welfare. Pleasure testifies that the soul is finding in its surroundings such activities as are normal and conducive to health. Pain is nature's way of telling us that our experiences are abnormal and ruin- ous. Development ot the Feelings Just as the intellectual activities develop from the simple to the complex, so the feel- ings with experience and exercise become in- creasingly complex. The first feelings are 1. Sensations. These are the feelings that are localized in the body and that are 168 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM connected with the senses. The early life of the child is concerned chiefly with nutri- tion and growth, hence early mental life consists chiefly of sense feelings. The nat- ural appetites, as hunger, thirst, weariness, restlessness, are instinctive bodily cravings which are more or less painful and which result in pleasure when satisfied. With the development of the intellectual life and the accumulation of ideas, the association of ideas and sense-feelings result in 2. Emotions. This form of feeling is more complex than sensation. It arises from ideas rather than from physical stimulation. It has its origin in the reproduction in the mind of some pain or pleasure, and always tends to find outward expression. Thus the emotion of love originates in the mental as- sociation of a person with various pleas- urable sensations, and it tends to express it- self in favors and blessings. The association in the mind of an object which threatens bodily injury and the imaged feeling of pain that has resulted from previous injury, gives rise to fear, which tends to express itself in flight. The mental association of a person that thwarts activity or opposes gratification THE FEELINGS 169 with the feeling of pain that follows an in- jury, produces an emotion of anger or re- venge. The natural expression of this emo- tion is an act of destruction of the thwart- ing object or person. Other emotions are respect and sympathy. As the mind is further furnished with ideas and judgments a still higher form of feeling appears in the so-called 3. Sentiments. These are feelings of pain or pleasure that accompany ideas and their relation to one another. They are less in- tense and more enduring than emotions. There arises a pleasurable feeling in the ac- quisition of knowledge and the discovery of truth. This is called the intellectual senti- ment. With the recognition of the agreement of an object with an ideal standard of form or color, we have the esthetic sentiment, or the feeling that accompanies apprehension of beauty. Again the feeling that arises from a comparison of an act with an ideal standard of conduct gives rise to the moral sentiment. Moral feeling is the highest type of feelings. The great majority of persons live in the lower feelings. They are dom- inated by the pleasures of the body, or are 170 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM animated by the egoistic emotions of anger and hate. It is the privilege of the teacher to introduce the child to the altruistic emotions of love and sympathy, and the noble feelings that accompany right action. The recogni- tion of the higher feelings is the basis of cul- ture and right character. Why CuitiVate the Feelings 1. Feeling stands in intimate relation to knowing. It supplies interest without which there can be no intellectual growth. The cul- tivation of the feelings multiplies the inter- ests of life and thus enriches life. 2. Feeling is essential to doing. Pleas- ures and pains are incentives to action. This is the case when they are present in idea as well as in reality. Feeling supplies desire without which there can be no willing. Strong feeling is requisite to decisive action. Habitual conduct follows our dominant feel- ings. 3. Feeling grows by cultivation. At first violent, transient, selfish, and destructive, they may by regulation and guidance de- velop into those strong emotions and lofty sentiments which prompt to noble deeds. THE FEELINGS 171 Emotions and Instincts The child is a creature of instincts. He puts forth activity in certain ways for his advantage without being taught. Among the instincts are those of play, rivalry, combat- iveness, and imitation. These instinctive acts are accompanied by characteristic emotions. By cultivating the instinct of play in com- pany with others the parent may cultivate in the child the feeling of sympathy and emula- tion. By fostering the instinct of combative- ness the emotion of anger grows strong. In- like manner fear, cowardice, self-respect, and love of power, early acquire a momentum and a bent which lead to emotional habits, and these develop into emotional tempera- ments and moods. What an injustice to a child to treat him so that the emotions of fear and anger are over-developed. The par- ent and teacher should so train the instincts that the accompanying emotions shall be contentment, cheerfulness, and hope, rather than the painful feelings of grief, anxiety, sullenness, and antipathy. Training the Emotions This involves associating the various emo- 172 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM tions with the proper objects. Even the feel- ings that seem to be undesirable must be pre- served and directed into the right channels. 1. Recognizing the law of growth by ex- ercise, repress so far as possible the wrong feelings and guard against opportunities for their manifestation. A child prone to anger should be kept out of the society of tanta- lizing companions and nagging, scolding su- periors. Avoid provocation and open conflict with the quick-tempered and the obstinate. Many parents unwittingly foster vanity in their children by the "putting on of ap- parel;" puff them up to ridiculous self-im- portance by parading them; lead them on to pride of intellect and social standing by un- worthy comparisons and injudicious praise; cultivate irreverence by speaking lightly of God, His house, His ministers, His children. On the other hand, if we give children pleas- ure in the company of others by suitable rec- reation and activity, we inevitably stimulate the emotion of love and sympathy. The pleas- ure of the recreation comes to be associ- ated with the persons with whom it is en- joyed, and so their society comes to be de- sired. Children need the society of other THE FEELINGS 173 children to develop suitably the social feel- ings. 2. Recognizing the law that every emo- tion has its bodily expression, it will be seen that emotion without expression is impos- sible, and that to assume the bodly attitude of expression is the surest way to suggest and induce that emotion. Clinch the fists and gnash the teeth and anger standeth at the door. Attend the funeral of even a stranger, assume the attitude and expression of sorrow out of deference to the friends and the occasion, and soon genuine feelings of sorrow and sympathy arise. Control as far as we can our own physical expressions and those of the children, and the feelings them- selves will be modified and transformed. 3. As emotions are the accompaniments of ideas, it follows that the emotions will be influenced by the cultivation of the intellect. Certain forms of fear will be seen to be un- reasonable. The knowledge of the principles of art will develop the aesthetic sensibilities. The knowledge of God and His works will draw out admiration for the moral law. Feel- ing and knowing mutually react. 4. Connect with suitable objects. Emo- 174 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM tions arise in connection with instincts re- lated to self-preservation, so that even the emotions that seem undesirable have their place when rightly exercised. Anger should be associated with tyranny and persecution, and become righteous indignation which de- liberately plans for relief and punishment "Be ye angry and sin not." The feelings of self-importance may be so associated with worthy ideals of self-respect, that one may develop in proper feelings of self-respect, and in that love of self which is the standard of our love for others. Fear that is paralyzing and cowardly may by proper association be- come affectionate fear, which is the "begin- ning of wisdom." And love may be centered upon God, and be the motive force of all conduct — that blissful emotion which with suitable opportunities for its full exercise makes heaven. This connection of the emotions with worthy objects in its complete sense implies a transformation of the heart- life that only God Himself has power to effect. But we can be laborers together with Him, and in the expression of true joy in His love exchange the heart of stone for a heart of flesh. THE FEELINGS 175 Practical Suggestions Out of the foregoing principles we draw the following: 1. Make the physical conditions in the Sunday-school pleasurable. This will mean comfortable seats, good ventilation, light room, and a varying program. The pleasures of these conveniences will by the transference of feeling come to be associated with the les- sons of truth and Bible study. 2. Take advantage of the aesthetic feel* ings. Children admire the beautiful. Every Sunday-school can do much for the definite culture of these lofty sentiments by the use of pictures. Half-tone reproductions of the best works of art are available. These may be given to the pupils or framed for the walls of the Sunday-school room. The influence of a beautiful picture elevates the taste, and awakens love and reverence. 3. Be a teacher animated by the higher feelings. Let these control during the class period. Feeling radiates. Reverence and sympathy are communicated from teacher to class. 4. As the social feelings develop, and the pupil craves friendship and companionship, 176 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM let these feelings find in the occupations and recreations of the class their natural satis- faction. The teacher should be the chum and best friend of every member of the class. 5. Appeal should more and more be made to the higher feelings as they develop. The intellectual and moral sentiments are the truest incentives to right conduct, and hence transition should be made from the lower pleasures as soon as possible. 6. Let feeling find expression in action. Feeling as well as knowledge exists for right 'action. If feeling exhausts itself without finding an outlet in action, it degenerates into sickly sentimentality which is destruc- tive alike of healthy feeling and vigorous action. The teacher who dares to awaken feeling in his pupils must meet the responsi- bility of finding something for them to do. The curse of our Sunday-schools is a failure to suggest and provide the proper terminal facilities of all our knowing and feeling. XV. THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS. With the cultivation of the soul, the feel- ings as well as the intellectual powers under- go a development from the simple to the more complex. As we ascend the scale of feeling we pass from simple physical feelings of pleasure and pain through the various emotions of fear, anger, and love to the high est forms of feeling known as sentiments. The Sentiments Explained When a feeling is excited by an idea, we call the feeling an emotion. When an emo- tion involves the exercise of judgment or reason we have sentiment. Emotions are sud den, transitory, and overmastering. Senti ments are less active and more enduring. Sentiments are feelings called forth by the 177 178 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM recognition of an ideal and are the highest products of the human soul. Class i (i cation It has been observed that sentiments are feelings that arise from a consideration of standards or ideals. The intellectual senti- ments deal with the standards of truth, the basis of the science of logic. The aesthetic- sentiments deal with standards of beauty and are considered in the branch of knowl- edge called aesthetics. The moral sentiments arise from social relations and have to do with an ideal standard of conduct. Ques- tions of conduct in relation to an ideal of be- havior and character constitute the subject matter of ethics. The religious sentiment is a moral sentiment which grows out of our relation to God. In religious sentiment the soul finds its highest realization. "Morality of Childhood The child early exhibits tendencies toward right or wrong. These tendencies are the re- sult partly of heredity and partly of his en- vironment. The child is at first the creature of instincts and impulses. As these impulses MORAL AND RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS 179 become regulated by an enlightened will, be is said to become moral. Children borrow their moral ideas from others. They mani- fest curious moral inconsistencies and con traductions. Their moral standards are erected gradually and sometimes very slowly. The problem of the teacher is complicated by the fact that no two pupils exhibit the same moral conditions or capacities. Side by side in the same class are persons with widely differing tendencies, with widely dif- fering conceptions of right and wrong, and with many erroneous ideas gained from their surroundings in the home or on the street. Many children are not so much immoral as unmoral. The teacher must help them to see the consequences of their acts, to appreciate the value of motives and to honor and edu- cate their conscience. An appeal to honor where there is no proper standard of honor is futile. Development ot the Moral Judgment , The child is at first without moral judg- ment. He is only potentially moral. His early ideas of morality arise in relation to parental law. His ideas of right and wrong 180 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM grow out of his obedience to customary com- mands enforced by penalties and rewards. The law of the home is soon supplemented by the law of the community personified by the policeman. Batting a ball through a neigh- boring window brings many a boy into con- tact with a superior power which may exact a penalty from him and thereby quicken his respect for social relations and enlarge his power of moral perception. Social games also teach children moral dis- tinctions. To take part, they must have re- spect for rules which require fair play. Through plays and games the child's social horizon is widened and he learns voluntary cooperation and increasing respect for the rights of others. The time comes, however, in the develop- ment of the child, when the command, "Thou shalt not" of external authority is exchanged for the spontaneous obedience to a self-im- posed law. This is true morality when he makes the moral law his own by giving him- self in voluntary obedience to its spirit. It is a free choice of a course of action which appeals to his judgment as conserving the true interests of himself and others. At first, MORAL AND RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS 181 relatively few acts are conceived as objects of moral value. Progress in morality con- sists not only in a gradual elevation and a greater distinctness of moral standards, but also in the inclusion of more and more acts among those held to be of moral worth. The true conception of morality is that no acts are indifferent. Perfect morality is realized in religion, which calls forth the injunction of the apostle, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Teaching Morals Herbart is quoted as saying that education which does not have morality as its supreme end must result in hopeless confusion. The teacher's great work is to develop in the mind of his pupil proper ideas of right and wrong, and make these ideas effectual in life. Moral instruction may begin in the teaching of manners. Good manners imply a recogni- tion of others and enter into agreeable com- panionships. Courtesy and a recognition of the forms of social intercourse are not only virtues in themselves, but lead to other and higher virtues. To be thoughtful of others, to 182 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM respect their rights, to be generous and mod- est, to appear well at the table, in the parlor or on the street, are an important part of one's education. Moral instruction involves also the devel- opment of the feeling of obligation. It is a feeling that what can be done to benefit others is a duty. The teacher must clearly define the duties owing to self, to others, and to God. He will develop the obligation to re- spect life, to avoid the interference of others, to have regard for the character and the property of others, and to respect the truth. Truth is at the basis of all morality and the foundation of character. Moral instruction makes use of the mo- tives of pain and pleasure, but does not rest with these. To do the right from a hope of reward or from fear of punishment is not morality. The right must be chosen for its own sake, or because it is right. The teacher must make his final appeal to the moral sense of the pupil. He will secure the growth of the moral sense by providing for its exercise. He must recognize the conscience of the pu- pil and seek to arouse it rather than to force it. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS 183 Moral training will make large use of the feeling of sympathy. This feeling, at first only incipient, may develop into a powerful emotion, and become a strong incentive to moral action. Emphasis upon the Golden Rule tends to cultivate sympathy. As one thinks of himself in the place of others, the child becomes less cruel, the youth more con- siderate of others, and the man less harsh in judgment and action. While morality may be inculcated by wise instruction, it is more fully developed in the pupil by example. The conscious or uncon- scious imitation of the acts of parent, teacher or friend is more potent in moral training than much scolding, intimidation, or any amount of exercise of authority. Children assume with wonderful alacrity the acts of those who show interest and sympathy and appreciation. The Conscience Conscience is the activity of the soul in self -judgment. It is the self in the act of judging itself. It is the voice of the soul speaking on matters of conduct. The con- science testifies in connection with every act 184 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM ? committed or purposed that is apprehended to have moral quality. It says, "That is right," or "That is wrong." In times of men- tal and moral clearness, it speaks in thunder tones. The activity of conscience is twofold. It is the activity of the intellect in judgment upon an act compared with a standard of conduct set up in the moral law. In this ju- dicial capacity conscience is both accuser and judge. When one arraigns himself before himself, conscience accuses and condemns or acquits. Conscience is also the character- istic feeling that accompanies the exercise of moral judgment. It is the feeling of ap- proval or disapproval, and is especially marked in connection with past acts in the feeling of remorse which is one of the most intense of the emotions. When the judgment passes a severe sentence of condemnation, and the consequences are wholly beyond re- call, remorse may pass into the feeling of despair. As conscience is part of the mental endow- ment of an individual, it may be said to be God-given. In so far as it may be developed through the exercise of judgment and feel- MORAL AND RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS 185 ing, it is the product of education. An en- lightened conscience is a truly educated con- science, which apprehends clearly the moral law, the obligation of the individual to ob- serve it, and the motives and likely conse- quences of his acts. A good conscience is an enlightened conscience, and follows one's ef- fort to live according to his best judgment and truest feelings. A seared conscience is the result of a perverted moral judgment and a loss of moral feeling. It is a confusion of moral distinctions and is really a blunting or destruction of the moral sense. It may re- sult from deliberately calling wrong right and right wrong, or from a mere neglect to recognize the authority of conscience or to obey its voice. This moral derangement is the penalty of being untrue to the laws of our being, and to God who wrote the laws in the human soul, and is moral suicide. Development of the Conscience The teacher may look upon his work as that of a developing in his pupils a good con- science. To be conscientious implies the hab- it of reflecting on the motives of conduct, and also extreme care with regard to out- 186 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM ward acts. It is to ask one's self, "Did I do the right act with the right motive?" "Is my life on the plane which corresponds to my ideal of what life should be?" This process of self-examination will call attention to the general principles of nis conduct, and to awaken him to a new sense of duty. A teacher may at proper times help a student to study his own motives, and to view his general attitude in life. While a study of the inner life is helpful, it sometimes indicates a morbid state of mind. Teachers of adolescents passing through the storm and stress period must use great caution at this point. On the whole it is better to direct the mind of the youth to some external type than to fix the attention upon the inner motives. Here is the oppor- tunity of the teacher to hold up as examples of right action and right motives the heroes of the past, and especially and always the Hero of the ages, the Ideal of all ideals, the man of Galilee. Childhood Conscience The sense of right and wrong appears early. Conscience is active often at the age MORAL AND RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS 187 of four. A little later it shows itself in con- fessions of wrong-doing. "I couldn't rest un- til I told you." The parent should encourage this exercise of conscience. Not a scolding or punishment should reward such confession, but caress and counsel. Merciful and loving treatment from father, mother or teacher may make it easier for him to acknowledge his sins to his heavenly Father "who upbraid- eth not." The youth may seem to have no conscience, but he keeps it hidden behind a rough ex- terior. It can be found and appealed to not in vain. During the years of the reasoning period — from sixteen to twenty — is a critical time for the conscience. The tendency to reason is strong. The young man will reason with his conscience. He will trifle with con- science. He will refuse to act upon its ad- vice when he is convinced of the wisdom of its counsel. New environments, larger out- looks, stronger temptations may obscure the bright ideals of life and confuse the voice of conscience. How needful a teacher who knows how to help, and who knows how to secure the assistance of the great Helper! Adult conscience often presents strange 188 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM anomalies. Some men have a double or even a multiple standard of morality. They may denounce stealing and fraud, and yet smuggle goods through a custom-house. They have a general standard of honesty, and an- other standard as a sharp business or pro- fessional man. The teacher of adults will try to point out such inconsistencies, and secure the acceptance of a principle of action which will unify all conduct. An inconsistent Chris- tian may be honest or ignorant in his incon- sistency, but he is a reproach to the cause he professes to love. Moral Evil Moral defects may be considered either as overt acts known as sins or crimes, or as flaws of character. A superficial judgment would be to regard the sinful act as of more importance than the sinful condition of the heart. But Jesus taught the deeper concep- tion of morality which attaches as much sig- nificance to the evil in the heart as to the evil in the outward act. The Christian stand- ard of morality, further, recognizes that an act which is outwardly good may in reality MORAL AND RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS 189 be evil if it is not done from the highest mo- tive. Sin is moral evil in its widest sense. Crime denotes offenses against society which are recognized by law. One may be moral in the eyes of the law and yet be a sinner before God. Sin is always attended by evil conse- quences, which in one way or another involve the perpetrator. Guilt always recoils upon the head of the offender in some sort of pun- ishment which asserts the majesty of the law, and ought to lead to reformation and forgive- ness. Real reformation begins with God's pardon and regenerating power. Religious Sentiments Moral sentiments grow out of our relation with others. They are the feelings of Tight- ness, wrongness, and obligation or responsi- bility. They accompany our conception of an ideal moral order in the world. Religious sentiments are moral and social in their na- ture and grow out of our conception of God as a perfect personality with whom we stand in social relation, and who reveals to us the possibilities of personal character. In relig- ion we recognize God as an object of worship, 190 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM love and obedience. Keligion has the intel- lectual element. It recognizes God as sum- ming up the rational and moral order of the world in Himself a person. True religion appeals also most powerfully to the emo- tions. Over emphasis of the intellectual ele- ment results in mere religious philosophy. Over emphasis of the emotional element tends to fanaticism and mere emotional ex- citement. The religious sentiments are rev- erence, peace, faith, and love. They are pow- erful emotions and are incentives to the no- blest actions and most heroic endeavors. The teacher can inculcate habits of reverence, faith, and love. The discipline in the Sun- day-school, and the dignified order in every religious service, the stately hymns and devo- tional prayers, should suggest unmistakably to the child heart a reverential attitude to- ward God. The religious sentiments can be known fully only in religious experience. Then is realized that peace that passes all under- standing, that feeling of harmony and recon- ciliation which follows the full surrender of the will. Faith also blossoms and grows that feeling of absolute trust in the power and MORAL AND RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS 191 love of the Infinite, and that assurance that, out of that which is, will in His own good time come that which ought to be. Love also finds its richest meaning in religion. It is an intense feeling of satisfaction that comes from a consciousness of rightful fellowship with Jesus Christ through similarity of char- acter. The Sunday-school teacher will not be satisfied in inculcating morality, but will la- bor to bring every student to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that he "may be filled with all the fulness of God." XVI. WILL, HABIT AND CHAEACTER. The world is a place for action. From the first there have been gardens "to dress and keep," and in this arrangement we have found our greatest opportunity and made our high- est attainments. Jesus came to minister, and to found a kingdom in which member- ship should be conditioned upon a life of ser- vice. The mere display of mind or exercise of feeling, wonderful as these are, avail nothing. Doing is the law of life, physical, mental, and spiritual. The wise man who builds his house upon the rock, which stands after the storm is past, is not the man that hears and feels, and imagines and desires and reasons, but he that "doeth." The "doer of the work" is blessed, not in his wise plan- ning or his magnetic enthusiasm, but "in his doing." The former exists for the latter. They may not be separated. 192 193 Wilting and Doing Doing that blesses and is blessed is action with will in it. Action with will in it is called voluntary action. This is to be dis- tinguished from I 1. Impulsive actions— those spontaneous movements which follow the stimulations of the senses, without aim or purpose. Impulsive actions are characteristic of children, and explain many things even in adult activity otherwise hard to understand. It is hard for some persons to see a train pass without some sort of impulsive response — waving the hand, jumping, shouting, or throwing a stone. Mental excitement tends to express itself. Q. Instinctive actions, which are related to the promotion of life, and reach out toward ends, but not seriously. The bee which so industriously stores up honey for its winter wants, and the ant to which the wise man sends the sluggard to school, per- form all their labor in accordance with the workings of instinct. The child is possessed of many instincts which emerge successively during his lengthly immaturity — instincts to seek food, to seek protection, to seek com- panionship, to unite in groups and com- 194 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM panies for mutual intercourse. The dis- position of some children to fight and of oth- ers to steal may grow out of the instincts of self-protection and acquisitiveness, and such action not be voluntary or deliberate. With the development of rational intelligence the instincts weaken and the will takes control. Instinctive movements are the raw materials of voluntary action. Development ot Wilt A creature of impulses and instincts, the child reaches eventually a situation in which more than one response is possible. An object or situation may present a threatening as- pect. The instinct of fear would prompt to flight, that of curiosity to remain and explore. Deliberation ensues, and eventually a choice is made, and in this unrecorded moment that wonderful power of the mind takes its beginning which may later direct a railroad system or change the map of a con- tinent. Volition is the regulation of impulses. Out of the choas of random and aimless move- ments it brings the beauty and strength of a well-ordered life. With the continued ex^ WILL, HABIT AND CHARACTER 195 ercise of choice and the development of will, the power of impulse and instinct weakens, and these lose themselves in habits. Will Result of Organization Voluntary action looks both backward and forward. Its constituent elements are de- liberation and choice. Deliberation is the product of past experience; choice involves the idea of some future good. The sight of food is followed by an impulse to eat it. On hearing the band play, something strongly moves us to go around the corner to see the procession. The present impulse takes its place in a continuous experience. We as- sociate it with past sickness from inoppor- tune eating, or past mortification from class- room failure, and often by a glance into the future prefer to abstain from the food for the sake of health, and to refrain from following the band in order to make certain our lesson preparation. The boy who can look ahead through the toils of student life to the honors of graduation, a remunerative situation, and a position of honor and in- fluence, will be more likely to continue to the end of his course. 196 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM Will power is the power to look ahead. A strong will implies the power to look at actions not as disconnected units but as an organic system of means and ends in which is fulfiled the ultimate purpose in the mind of God, to which our every act is seen to bear a necessary relation. The martyr looks out into the life to come and willingly suffers death. Definition The will is the self consciously and pur- posely directing itself. The soul not only knows and feels, but also acts for an end. It is not a force outside of or independent of the self, but it is the self in purposive action. As the soul exercises itself in willing, it de- velops more and more in active power, and rises increasingly above the chance forces which induce to impulsive action, and be- comes less and less the sport of changing circumstances. Sustained and self-directed activity, work and not play, is the explana- tion of human progress. Analysis of Wills A girl leaves her recreation of Saturday afternoon and proceeds to study her Sunday- WILt, HABIT AND CHARACTER 197 school lesson for the morrow. What are the steps involved? 1. Feeling of more or less discomfort at the thought of her ignorance of the Bible, or the prospect of failure to make a good showing, or to meet the expectation of her teacher. 2. Feeling of pleasure in the idea of the superiority of the self in possession of the knowledge of the lesson. 3. Feeling of desire to realize the ideal of the self, the consideration of which gives pleasure. 4. Deliberation. This is an act of judg- ment, which weighs the two alternatives — present pleasure in recreation and ultimate loss, or present study and ultimate satisfac- tion for duly done. 5. Choice in which she positively and fully identifies herself with all the conse- quences of lesson preparation. 6. Action. With Bible, commentary, and reference book, she works till her task is done. Weak Wills From the analysis of will it appears that 198 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM a weak will may be accounted for in several ways: 1. Lack of strong active impulses. This condition is due sometimes to bodily weak- ness and low physical vitality. The child of active temperament is hopeful material for a strong will, and has the advantage in this respect over the child of intellectual or emotional temperament. 2. Weakness of memory, of the power to recall past acts and their consequences. Or one may not be able to imagine himself in- volved in the consequences of the act to which he is solicited, 3. Weakness of desire. Desire accompa- nies ideas. Many have no desire for a knowl- edge of the Bible because they have no idea of the book as a wonderful literary master- piece, a unique history, a philosophy of life, or a transformer of character. To desire or crave an orange we must have an idea of what it is. Again desire is weak through a failure to believe that the object is attainable. No one can really desire to fly like a bird because he believes it impossible. Some fail in their de- sire to be a Christian through failure to be- WILL, HABIT AND CHARACTER 199 lieve themselves included in the invitation or provisions. 4. Weak intellect. He may not have the power of connected thought, little power of the association of ideas, of building up ideas into long trains or complex groups. Delib- eration and choice require this power. Weak will is due also to mental indolence. Witt Culture We asked a boy of nine one night how many good and useful things he had done that day out of his own free will and choice. He promptly and frankly answered, "Not one." He had gone uncomplainingly to school and had done his work cheerfully. We asked further, "Did you not study to-day because you enjoyed it?" He replied, "I was afraid of the teacher." His well-regulated . activ- ities were evidently directed by others and he was yet weak in will. A little later, while on the street alone, the same boy was over- taken by an older boy acquaintance who suggested that they go into a questionable place of amusement, and the older boy of- fered to pay his way. Curiosity to see what was inside, fear to offend his older compan- 200 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM ion, the example of others going in — all were powerful solicitations; but he politely de- clined the invitation and continued on his way alone. Here we see will in the making. He chose to do what he thought was right, to keep his own self-respect, and for the love he had for those who loved him. If we are to do anything worth while for our pupils we must reach their wills, train them in self- direction, train them to make decisions and choices for the right, in spite of solicitations, away from us, alone, in the dark. Means of Training The starting-point is a bundle of im- pulses, the goal a well-ordered life devoted to the will of God. 1. Exercise the impulses. Instead of at- tempting to eradicate them, regulate them in orderly programs. Plan much to do. Do not plan for a child the work or ways of a man, but let all things be done orderly. 2. Enrich the intellect. Store the mind with ideas. Let them be well-connected and organized. Set forth conduct in its rela- tions and ideals. Find standards of value in the conduct of Bible characters. Discover WILL, HABIT AND CHARACTER 201 with the class that the Bible is the great authority on behavior. Build into the child- mind the great ideas of resistance to tempta- tion, sacrifice, service. 3. Stimulate desire. Set forth the life of Christ, dominated by a settled purpose, as the perfect life. Make the life free from the insanity of sin seem desirable. Make appear the patient, purposeful life of service at- tractive. Make prominent the joys of salva- tion. Dwell on the present pleasures of sal- vation and the rewards eternal. 4. Urge the matter of choices. The habit of too prolonged deliberation paralyzes the will. Consider fully, then decide. Urge your pupils to choose Christ. Urge immediate de- cision. The sad result of postponing de- cision, after the judgment is convinced, is moral atrophy and paralysis. 5. Follow choice by action. Impress the pupil with the value of the prompt doing of unpleasant things after reason has shown the way. The Sunday-school teacher should urge the pupils to begin at once the perform- ance of the Christian virtues, the exercises of public worship and private devotion. The lapsing of religious life usually begins in 202 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM failure to do the things intended, and recog- nized as duty. Will and Character Single acts of will harden into habits of will. The sum total of our habits of will constitute our character. A cutivated power of self-direction is strong character. Charac- ter is another name for power and efficiency. What we are, what our pupils are, is oU supreme importance, as what we are fixes what we shall be. Character determines destiny. Training of the Will The power of the will, then, is the power of self-direction. To train the will of pupils is to secure in them the power of sustained effort to the attainment of a future goal, to subordinate the lower to the higher impulses, to resist temptation, and to lead them to self- control. To do this is eminent service and is to attain the end of all education. Desire The training of the will involves, first, the development of desire. We must want to do WILL, HABIT AND CHARACTER 203 a thing before we can will to do it. The strength of will is measured by the strength of desire. Desire is the craving unrest for an object which we believe will give us pleas- urable satisfaction and in its relation to the will is fundamental. An Illustration The will to secure an education depends upon the creating of a desire for it. The fol- lowing method might be followed in creating in the mind of a youth such a desire. A teacher would recall some past occasions when the young man failed to secure a lucra- tive position through lack of qualifications, or some other embarrassing experience due to lack of knowledge or culture. He would refer also to the satisfaction which would result from the education — a better salary, a wider influence, more friends, greater power, or fame, or ability to do good. The teacher would picture the youth in the pul- pit, on the judge's bench, or in the professor's chair. He would awaken feeling by appeal- ing to the love of friends, or to the love of parents, or to the disastrous consequences of failure to reach up to his possibilities. The 20i THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM desire would be further strengthened by the recital of examples of those who persevered through college and became eminent. From such a presentation of considerations, it is likely that the desire for an education will be implanted or re-enforced. In the creation of desire there is involved the processes of memory and imagination, feeling, and a clear idea of the objects, the lack of which gives him pain and prospective realization of which fills him with genuine pleasure. The creation and strengthening of desire proceed according to well-defined principles, and the teacher who understands these will succeed, where others fail, in helping his pu- pils to desire the very best. Deliberate Choice The training of the will involves also the cultivation of the power of choice. Desire is a tension of the mind caused by a consid- eration of two or more possible objects of choice. An act of will implies the careful weighing of the various desirabilities and finally accepting one to the exclusion of the rest. The act of choice identifies one's self with a particular object and the acts required WILL, HABIT AND CHARACTER 205 to secure it. The choice of an education iden- tifies one with the superior knowledge and all the effort necessary to acquire it. The act of choice is followed by the actual effort to secure the object. Cautions The teacher should see that the mind of the pupil does not remain in a state of desire. Desire that does not pass on to choice degen- erates into fruitless wishing. He should see also that the youth develops the disposition to deliberate and thus avoid the evils of im- pulsive action. On the other hand, he must warn against too prolonged deliberation. If the judgment is too long suspended, it tends to habitual indecision and weakness of char- acter. Also, when the act of choice is once determined upon, action should not be de- ferred. The most important choice which the teacher has the opportunity of urging is that of accepting Christ and entering upon a Christian life. In doing so, he should pre- sent the highest motives and appeal to the noblest aspirations. He should be such an example of the superiority of Christian char- 206 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM acter that the memory of his words and life will keep alive in every pupil's heart a strong desire to be right with God even in strong temptations and after the lapse of many years. Habit In studying will and action, we come upon a law of our being that is full of significance for every individual. It is of especial im- portance to the teacher. We refer to the law of habit. The Law Stated An action once performed tends to repeat itself. Habit is the tendency for one to act as he has acted before. This tendency, weak and imperceptible at first, is later strong and irresistible. It enables one to perform the customary acts of life with machine-like reg- ularity. By the age of thirty he has fashioned the grooves in which his life will run. From this time, says one, ninety-nine one hundreths of all a man does he does automatically. "The character has set like plaster, and will never soften again." WILL, HABIT AND CHARACTER 207 Formation of Habit Some habits are formed unconsciously. They grow out of our work or the necessities of our lives. Others come from specific acts of will. First efforts are made with diffi- culty: they require attention and constant putting forth of will. Later it is necessary only to start the process and it moves onward to the end automatically. However formed, they control us. Body and mind conspire to make this law effective. Habit releases attention and conscious effort, and helps us to do things almost without thinking. It also modifies nerve structures and writes itself in every organ and tissue of the body. The end of education and train- ing is the systematic formation of good habits. Habits are formed by repetition of a spe- cific act of will. The first efforts to play the piano require constant attention and contin- ual putting forth of will. Later it becomes mechanical and in the case even of a difficult selection, there is required only an initial act of will to start the process and melody fol- lows almost automatically until the end is reached. 208 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM "Habit is the tissue of life." The kind of habits determines the quality of the tissue and the character of the life. The culture and power of an individual are an indication of the extent to which his life has become automatic. The man who has made the high- est attainments in character and action is the one with the most habit of the best kind. In Sunday-school In a short session on one day in seven, what can a teacher do to inculcate good habit? In a year he will have the opportu- nity to reiterate the importance and insist upon the observance of certain cardinal prin- ciples. It may be the habit of sacredly re- garding religious truth, and the more homely virtues of punctuality and promptness. Is it too much to expect that the Sunday-school may become a training school in the habit of thoroughness and regularity? Formation ot Good Habits The following are the maxims given by Professor James for the acquisition of good habits : 1. We must take care to launch ourselves WILL, HABIT AND CHARACTER 209 with as strong and decided initiative as possible. 2. Never suffer an exception to occur till the new habit is securely rooted in your life. 3. Seize the first possible opportunity to act upon every resolution you make and on every emotional prompting you may experi- ence in the direction of the habits you aspire to gain. 4. Don't preach too much to your pupils or abound in good talk in the abstract. 5. Keep the faculty of effort alive within you by a little gratuitous exercise every day. XVII. THE PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER "Preparation for a work should be made in proportion to the importance of the work. It takes but little time to learn to shovel dirt into a cart, but it takes years and pa- tience to plan a cathedral. Yet the planning of cathedrals is meager in importance to that of building character." Necessity for Preparation Whatever qualities of mind or manner one may possess, ability, tact, or charm, what- ever his attainments spiritually, these do not excuse him from preparation, if he is to teach. Preparation, general and special, is necessary to beget in the teacher that confi- dence and assurance he ought to have in standing before his class. He may have taught the lesson a dozen times, but each new opportunity requires new preparation. 210 THE PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER 211 Such leadership inspires confidence in his pu- pils. They follow him gladly, with interest and enthusiasm, because they believe he knows where he is going, and that the jour- ney will be one of pleasure and profit. Hon> to Prepare In making preparation one may ask him- self first of all, What am I to attempt as I stand before my class? What is the pur- pose of this lesson? What is it designed to teach? Let him get an answer to this ques- tion and have it definite. What central truth shall I teach, what final impression shall I leave? With this end in view let him pre- pare a plan and follow it. Thus he will es- cape aimless digressions. To float on the current of desultory discussion is not teach- ing. The next step is the collection of ma- terials to carry out the plan. Facts The first work in the gathering of ma- terials is to get the facts of the lesson. This will necessitate the reading and study of the entire chapter, section, or book. Read all the scripture text — parallel and related 212 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM passages. The accumulation of facts will make you an accurate student and an inter- esting teacher. Let your preparation rest on a broad and comprehensive knowledge of in- ter-related facts rather than upon theories and opinions elaborated from isolated texts. The Lesson Setting This may be secured, first, by a study of the chronological facts. Careful considera- tion of the time order is very fruitful in studying the life of Christ, the journeys of Paul, or the lives of the kings or the prophets. Secondly, locate the places on the map. The accurate location of places will give the lesson reality. Biblical knowledge will soon evaporate unless associated with places read- ily located. Thirdly, get the local coloring. Study oriental life, ancient and modern, until the facts of the lesson seem true to life and real events, participated in by real persons. A Sunday-school teacher should own, and al- ways use, a reference Bible, and have easy access to a concordance, a good Bible dic- tionary, and a reliable commentary. THE PREPARATION OP THE TEACHER 213 The Lesson Plan Devote five or ten minutes in your teach- ing plan to the setting. "Next determine the central truth of the lesson, and study how to make it plain. Reinforce it with the cen^ tral truths of the other lessons which have been studied. Lastly make a concrete appli- cation. The lesson is not to be studied mere- ly as an interesting bit of history; it is to be studied to teach the student the great laws of human conduct and of human des- tiny. The teacher must determine how much time he is to give to the closing application. When there are illustrations to be thought out and sought out, questions to be planned, methods to be considered, the teacher who comes before his class with such a plan will teach vitally. He will be a living fountain — abundant, sparkling, refreshing." Special Preparation A teacher must make preparation that is not only comprehensive and full, but he must prepare also with reference to the spe- cial needs of the members of the class. They come in each Sunday morning from different conditions of home life, with different tern- 214 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM peraments, temptations, hopes, and aspire tions. The teacher will need to bring to one an arrow of conviction, to another a lesson of comfort or hope or trust. Hence he must teach every Sunday with an object in view, and plan his lesson for individual needs. Special preparation will require special prayer. The teacher will need to pray for his class, member by member. He must pray until their needs are real to him. He must pray until he carries a burning interest in the temporal and spiritual welfare of each pupil. He must pray until it begets in him a strong desire to supply a helpful ministry. And finally, he must pray until the lesson comes to his own heart with freshness and power. And with truth gripping his own heart, with a deeper consecration, a stronger love, a more buoyant faith, and a richer joy, he may go before his class with strong as- surance of divine approval, "a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." The Different Grades The teacher of each grade must prepare to meet the needs of the various ages. The pri- THE PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER 215 mary teacher must plan her object lessons, select the memory passages, movement exer- cises, and stories. Telling stories well is an art that can be cultivated. Tell the stories over several times to a chair during the week. Practise will do wonders in word-painting. The teacher of the juniors must prepare in such a way as to interest or he will be a con- spicuous failure. Lectures on doctrine and exposition will not appeal to them. He must know them and the world in which they live. The teacher for intermediates must keep in mind the peculiar needs of that age and pre- pare accordingly. Thus every age as well as every lesson has its problem "requiring orig- inality for its solution, and careful planning for its application." The teachers who succeed are the teachers who prepare. They do not depend upon the inspiration of the moment, upon lucky an- swers or brilliant impromptu, to carry them through, or a hasty glance at the lesson on Saturday night or Sunday morning; but they remember that "for the exhibition days of Providence there is no hasty retrieving of a wasted term by a stealthy study on the eve of examination." XVIII. PEINCIPLES OF TEACHING. The data of psychology contained in the foregoing chapters on the intellectual ac- tivities, the feelings, and the will, give us the general laws of soul development. Upon these rest the following general principles of teaching : Teaching EductiVe, not Creative All the activities of the soul exist in the child at birth. But they exist only in germ. Their development is the work of education. Teaching creates nothing. It only assists in unfolding what is wrapped up in the nature of the soul. Graded Instruction True teaching is directed to the nutrition of those activities which are at the time most active. They do not all start out at the same PRINCIPLES OP TEACHING 217 time. As each new possibility manifests it- self, nourish it with especial care. When memory is at flood-tide, exercise it to the limit; later on pay more attention to reason- ing. Exercise True teaching secures activity in the pupils' minds. Exercise is the law of growth. Muscle grows strong by exercise. The arm of a blacksmith acquires power by use. So every power of the mind is devel- oped, strengthened, and matured, by exer- cise. Soul power is not an accretion, something plastered on; it grows from with- in. The class period is not the time for the teacher to exploit his learning or his accom- plishments. To lecture is not always to stimulate thought. The former is infinitely easier than the latter. The great teachers are those who have assisted their students to bring thought to the birth. Induce the class to ask questions, express opinions, tell the lesson story, and settle things for them- selves. The Great Teacher said, "Which now, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among thieves?" And when His 218 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM pupil had thought and made reply, He said, "Go, and do thou likewise." The father who holds the board while his son drives the nails may spoil a board or two but he is making the boy. Of how much more value are boys than boards? The perpetual question for the teacher is, "How can I make my pupils think; how can I make them feel and do?" Accommodation True teaching discriminates in the pre- sentation of teaching material. A child does not grow by forcing food down his throat. The fact of an appetite makes this unnecessary. The person does not exist who does not have some kind of mental appetite. Children have strong appetites for stories, their grandfathers for doctrines. Good teaching is largely a matter of presenting the right material in right quantities at the right time. Then response is certain and growth inevitable. From Concrete to Abstract True teaching proceeds from the concrete to the abstract. The child's world is a world of concrete things — of objects, acts, and PRINCIPLES OP TEACHING 219 qualities. Objects produce in the mind ideas, and ideas call for words to name them. The order is objects, ideas, words. In the primary grades teaching must begin with objects; later, when ideas and words and things have become thoroughly associated, the teaching process may be by words and the elaboration of ideas. Reason deals with the relation of ideas. Begin with a biog- raphy, a narrative, a history; with Moses, David, and John; and later take account of the higher thinking activities and emphasize in your teaching the abstract qualities of meekness, courage, and love. Professor Brumbaugh gives two illustra- tions of teaching that brings out this point. "Teacher A says, 'Children, it is noble, good and grand to be kind and helpful to those in need. This is all the more true when the person is a cripple. I want you to remem- ber this, and always try to be on the lookout for chances to render such aid.' Teacher B says, 'Children, one cold Sunday morning in December, when the pavements were icy and dangerous, an old man was slowly making his way to church. He was a cripple. He trembled as he leaned on his crutch and cane. 220 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM At the steps to his church he set his crutch and came upon the icy stone and endeavored to lift his weak and trembling body to the next step. His crutch slipped on the ice. He almost fell. Thus several times he did his best to enter his church. Each time he slipped and with pain recovered himself. Just then a college boy came that way. He saw the old man in his struggles and, hurrying forward, put his arms gently around the poor cripple, lifted him carefully to the vestibule, opened the door, set the old man down, and walked hastily away. Tell me, children, what do you think of the college boy? Tell me also, if you care to, what would you have done if you had been there.' " U ^ 1 Compare this illustration with the method of Jesus with the lawyer who asked, "Who is my neighbor ?" From Known to Unknown True teaching proceeds from the known to the unknown. A fact may be clear to the teacher, but unless it touches the child some- where in his personal experience it has no meaning to him. What has been a part of the child's experience the rather excites his PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING 221 interest and therefore becomes a starting- point from which, to follow a line of thought. Find the pupil's point of contact with the world of sense or knowledge, and in your teaching start there, and lead by simple steps to the understanding of the new. To teach the lesson of faith in God, begin in the child's trust in his father; of Christ the good Shepherd, from his knowledge of sheep. Repetition True teaching recognizes that retention depends upon constant repetition. Impres- sions upon the mind deepen by repeating. Repeating facts, scripture passages, sum- maries, and classifications are essential if the lessons are to become permanent posses- sions of the pupil. We would teach not for a day, but make our impressions of truth indelible. Use different plans and methods of review. Have a rapid review each Sun- day. Be a drill master. See that your pupils know some things well. XIX. METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. Educational principles are unchangeable. They are the same in every land and in every age. They may be discovered, but not in- vented. Educational methods are more flex- ible. They rest upon educational principles, and grow out of the tact, originality, ingenu- ity, and skill of the teacher. Out of the thoughtful experience of the most success- ful teachers have come certain methods which are recognized as of prime importance. The existence of normal schools and normal training classes suggests that the educa- tional process may be learned. Without a knowledge of the best methods teaching is wasteful — wasteful of time, wasteful of en- ergy, and awfully wasteful of material. He who works with souls should know his art more thoroughly than he who fashions diamonds. METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 223 Mow to Conduct a Class There are five methods usually employed: 1. The story method. This is the method for the primary classes. The teacher tells the lesson story and illustrates it. The les- son stories should be complete in including a whole life or a whole event or a whole book. Let the story lead up gradually to the cli- max. Keep the story moving by keeping close to the doings and sayings of the actors. A story must not drag from too much detail. The point should be very clear, so clear that the student can make the application him- self. A story-teller must cultivate the visualiz- ing power so that he can see and feel the ac- tual situation of the story. Sometimes he must adapt a story to special needs and spe- cial occasions. This involves the shortening in some places and filling in and expanding in others. His preparation will largely con- sist in practising the stories beforehand. The masters of this art have not been afraid to practise a story a dozen times in their rooms before trying to tell it to their class. Thor- ough familiarity is the secret of readiness and dramatic power. When you find an ef- 224 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM fective story use it frequently. The story method can be used to some extent with classes of all grades. Who does not like to hear a story well told? What is more inter- esting than the Bible stories of David, Moses, Daniel, Job, Samuel, Mordecai, and the prodigal son? To know how to tell a story well is re- garded by some as the most important quali- fication for teaching children. Stories are the way to their mind and heart. He must know this great art who would enter in. 2. The recitation method. This presup- poses the assignment of specific tasks and the recitation either oral or written. It implies a text-book, either the Bible or parts of the same. The object of this method is to induce previous study on the part of the pupil. The work of the teacher by this method is not so much giving instruction as hearing recita- tion. This method is good with juniors and in- termediates, in storing their minds with Bi- ble facts. It is used to secure memorization of sections of scripture, facts of Bible geog- raphy and history. To induce pupils to home study, be very definite in the lesson assign- METHODS OP INSTRUCTION 225 ment. Call for the recitation of the assigned portions and commend the good work. Do not expect too much. The preparation of good outlines in ad- vance is helpful. Let the outline for a quar- ter include a definite number of passages of scripture, certain hymns, historical data, and geography work to be memorized. A public concert exercise at the end of the quarter helps to stimulate interest and keep up en- thusiasm. This method is of great value in the hands of an honest teacher, but is easily abused. 3. The conversation method. This meth- od substitutes extempore questioning and discussion for assigned work. It consists of asking suggestive questions so that the pupil may discover truth for himself. It stimu- lates mental alertness and activity. This is teaching of the highest type. It is the meth- of Jesus and of Socrates. It demands skill in asking questions. The teacher must have an objective point, and select questions that will lead to the end in view. In preparing to teach the lesson on "Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail," he might consider the fol- lowing as proper questions: Have you ever 226 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM visited a jail? Why do we have jails? Tell of a visit to a penitentiary. Did you ever know of any person sent to jail? Why were Paul and Silas in Philippi? Were they dis- turbing the peace? Had they committed any crime? Did you ever see a fortune-teller? -How did the preaching of Paul affect the business of fortune-telling? What businesses do you think the gospel would interfere with? Does it stop God's work to imprison and silence His workers? Recall the life of Bunyan. Does God care for His own? Refer to Daniel, Peter. What may we expect if we are true to God? Will it pay? The great defect in this method is the teacher's lack of preparation, and the conse- quent drifting of the discussion into idle and fruitless wanderings. 4. The lecture method. Here the teacher instructs by conveying information and ma- king direct application of the truths of the lesson. He uses the scripture set for the lesson as a text and delivers a lecture ser- mon. With large classes this method is used to good advantage, as well as with pupils who can not or will not take time for prep- METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 227 aration. A teacher of such a class needs, in addition to a ready knowledge of the Bible, and familiarity with the principles of ex- egesis, to be a fluent speaker and a man of wide reading and broad knowledge. Thia» method is popular and much used, but as no study is required very little permanent re- sults are secured. 5. The seminar method. By this method students investigate topics of study set by the teacher. The topics constitute a course. It appeals to mature students who have ac- cess to a good library and who are possessed of the investigating spirit. It requires a thoroughly trained teacher. There is noth- ing more delightful and permanently useful than an extended course by this method on some subject like Old Testament Prophecy, the Early Christian Church, or the Epistles of Paul. 6. The combined method. It is probable that the best success is by the use of al* these methods. The successful teacher as- signs lessons, calls for recitation, assigns topics, calls forth opinions from members of the class, gives illustrations, and sums up the lesson in a final appeal. A method which 228 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM will secure home study, and combine instruc- tion and recitation will be most satisfactory in most instances. A Good Teaching Plan One of the best methods of teaching the lesson is known as Herbart's method. This method is based upon the laws of mind, and finds endorsement by many authorities on method. This teaching plan falls into five logical subdivisions or steps, each having a part in realizing the purpose of the lesson: 1. Preparation. The purpose of this step is to revive in the pupil's mind whatever ideas he may have regarding the lesson under consideration. It does not have to do with the personal study of the teacher but with the preparation of the class for the reception of the new truth. To do this the teacher must have an acquaintance with the pupils — their reading, experiences, their interests — so that he may know what these ideas are. These ideas may be drawn from previous lessons, or may be material which has never been used in the class before. In preparing for the lesson, "Paul at Phil- ippi," the teacher may ask, "Where did we METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 229 leave Paul last Sunday?" or "What places have been touched by Paul thus far on his second missionary journey ?" Or he might recall to the class the work of Livingstone and Stanley in opening up Africa, or show that great movements sometimes have appar- ently insignificant beginnings. Familiar ideas constitute the soil in which new ideas grow and germinate. They are the only soil in which the seeds of thought and truth will grow. No soil, no fruit. This step is based upon the educational principle, "from the known to the unknown." Be sure that the ideas recalled are really similar to the ideas you wish to teach, and do not let the first step consume too much time or run into irrelevant channels. This step ends by calling attention to the fact that from the student's standpoint additional knowledge is desirable. "We must see now how the gos- pel seed grew on European soil," or "Paul was expelled from Antioch, assaulted at Iconium, stoned at Lystra; we must find out now whether his treatment at Philippi was more encouraging." 2. Presentation. In this step we get the new material of the lesson for the day be- 230 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM fore the class. We bring the new and place it beside the old which was called up in the "preparation." The method will vary with the different ages. With the primaries the new material will be presented by stories, with the juniors and intermediates by question and answer, and with the adults by the combination method of recitation and lecture. Make the presentation vivid by keeping close to the facts. Weave in a wealth of detail, and em- ploy a lively manner. This is the place for facts and plenty of them and for the use of objects, maps, pictures, and models. If the lesson is on the "Biot at Ephesus,' , the teacher will bring out the chief facts re- garding the size, importance, and history of Ephesus; the ancestors, intelligence, and occupations of the inhabitants; the temple of Diana — its history and wealth. Locate Ephesus on the map and exhibit some speci- men images or pictures of the temple of Diana and the shrines. Present in detail the seizing of Paul's companions, the great con- fusion, and the speech of the town clerk. Draw out by questions what knowledge the METHODS OP INSTRUCTION 231 pupils have, and supplement it by additional information. 3. Association. This step involves the relating, connecting, or interweaving of the new facts with the old. The new facts un- related would have no value for memory or comprehension. We recall at this point that knowledge is a web. The new must be knit up or woven into the old or it will be lost. The new is therefore associated with other facts and ideas, and relations are discovered and emphasized. This is the place for illus- trations and comparisons. The teacher must be continually in search of good illus- trations. Here is where the teacher of wide general knowledge has the advantage. He can draw from many sources for his illus- trative material. In teaching the last lesson referred to we compare the antagonism to Paul of the mas- ters of the soothsayer at Philippi with that of the silversmiths at Ephesus; Paul's rela- tion to civil authority on various occasions j his courage in different places; how the up- roar raised by the enemies of the gospel in various localities widened the sphere of its influence. 232 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM 4. Generalization. If the foregoing steps have been well taken, this step is natural and easy. It consists of drawing a general principle from the individual facts which have been treated in the presentation and association. The pupil should draw the con- clusion for himself, and state it in his own words. The teacher can then restate it more clearly if necessary. Generalization will be in the form of judgments. They should be short and clear. For example, "The gospel faithfully preached stirred the opposition of wicked men." "The religion of Jesus dis- turbs false religions." Generalization is the step that gathers up the rays of lesson teaching and brings them to a burning focus of general truth, in which form knowledge is held in memory and is ready to be applied. 5. Application. Generalization leaves us with a general law. But knowledge to be of value must be applied. Application carries the law into the field of practise. The teacher should take this final step so that the pupil will not only assent to the truth, but feel it, and feel it in such a way that it moves him to action. The truth must be applied so that METHODS OP INSTRUCTION 233 it stirs the conscience, moves the will, and becomes a controlling principle in the life. To make effective application, the teacher must know intimately his pupils, their needs, their struggles, their aspirations. Launched by a man who is sincere, who teaches out of a heart of sympathy and love and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the applica- tion comes with moving energy and great power. If forty minutes were given to the lesson period, the time might be allowed to the dif- ferent steps as follows: preparation, five minutes; presentation, fifteen minutes; as- sociation, ten minutes; generalization, five minutes; application, five minutes. Some- times the last three steps are combined with the second, the final appeal being reserved for the close. The Use of Illustration We have seen from the third step of Her- bart's plan of teaching how important is the law of association. As the teacher presents new ideas to the class, if they are to become the permanent possession of the pupils, he must establish associations and relations be- 234 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM tween the new ideas and those already known and mastered. To establish these as- sociations between the new and the old the teacher collects and uses illustrations. Illustration Explained Our experience is with a world of things — with objects of sense; with coins, sheep, roads, trees, seed, food, and other concrete material. Our knowledge is made up largely of such concrete experiences. Truth, how- ever, is abstract. To understand abstract truth it must be comprehended in terms of the concrete. The teacher brings in the new idea or truth from the dark region of un- known knowledge, and illuminates it in the focus of light gathered from the common, every-day, familiar experience of the pupil. Doctor Trumbull quotes an illustration which sets in the light of the familiar the abstract truth of Paul's teaching that we are saved by faith and also by grace : "A man has fallen from the deck of a moving steamer. The captain instantly orders the engines stopped ; a boat is lowered ; a rope is thrown to the struggling man; the man clutches at the rope; he is saved — saved by the loving- METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 235 kindness of the captain; saved also by his clutching at the proffered rope." Definition To illustrate is to make lustrous; to make clear or comprehensible through compari- sons and examples. Illustrative material is usually stories, parables, similes, and figures of speech. A Caution In the use of illustrations care must be taken that the story or simile really sheds light rather than shadows it. After some effort to illustrate the words of our Lord, "By their fruits ye shall know them," a par- ent succeeded only as follows: "By what does Jesus say we may know people?" "By their fruits." "What do you mean by their fruits?" "Apples and pears." Trumbull's "Teaching and Teachers" gives a good example of an unsuccessful effort to use illustration. A clergyman was explain- ing in an address to children, that Christian ministers are the salt of the earth. After he had shown the value of salt in its power to keep food from spoiling, he told how minis- ters aided in preserving the world from cor- 236 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM ruption. He concluded by asking, "Why then are ministers the salt of the earth?" and received the suggestive answer, "Be- cause they keep victuals from spoiling." Importance of Illustration The old lady who said she enjoyed best the "likes" of Scripture is not alone in her pref- erence for simile and parable. We all like the parables of Jesus, and never get too old to appreciate the illustrations in sermon or address. Good illustration aids in securing attention. A short story finds its place in the lesson introduction. Illustration sustains attention. It rests the reasoning faculties. It stimulates the imagination, and develops the power of memory. Illustration also arouses conscience, as it makes truth that pertains to duty and destiny blaze and burn in the red light of a sinful life. Jesus* Use of Illustration Jesus was continually using comparisons. How the truth of God's fatherly love is made lustrous in the parable of the Prodigal Son. In the story of the Marriage Feast how base and inexcusable it seems to ignore God's invi- tation and to reject His honor and blessing. METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 237 Miss Slattery refers to Christ's use of illus- tration: "He was talking with shepherds. The roekj slopes, the thorns, the sheepfold with its ninety and nine, the missing one, the joy of friends when the shepherd, after weary hours of searching, returned bearing the lost one on his shoulders, were all famil- iar. They made a well-defined group of asso- ciated ideas. Into this group Christ intro- duces the new idea, 'As the friends of the shepherd rejoice with great joy over the find- ing of the sheep, so the angels of heaven re- joice over one sinner that repents/ "One day He walked through a vineyard. It was- in good condition, the vines trimmed and pruned; here and there were large clus- ters of grapes, and He taught His disciples : 'I am like the vine, you are like the branches. The branch separated from the vine is use- less; it can never bear fruit; it is thrown into the fire and burned. Neither can you do anything apart from me; you must abide in me if you would live and bring forth fruit.' A simple, natural, powerful lesson. I am sure that scores of times in after years as the disciples passed the ripened clusters in the vineyard His words came back to them." CACHING SUGGESTIONS. Individuality Important as the study of psychology and child-study is, it is a mistake to suppose that a knowledge of these branches will insure good teaching. Any science is primarily gen- eral. It seeks the discovery and statement of general truths. The generalizations of child- study are important and useful. Pupils are seen to pass through certain well-defined stages and to possess certain characteristics, but a teacher must deal with individuals. Each pupil seems to be an exception to all the rules. He is a unit by himself. The aver- age child or normal pupil described in the books is not present. Child-study and the study of methods therefore are only a part of the preparation to the actual contact with real pupils. The Sunday-school teacher will need to TEACHING SUGGESTIONS 239 make careful study of each individual child. There is something that attaches to each one which constitutes individuality. Each one is unique. Every pupil must be studied as a separate problem, and requires a separate treatment. It is impossible therefore to suc- ceed in trying to adapt truth to a class as a whole without knowing intimately the indi- vidual units. In order to reach the individual the class must be small. Adults seem to thrive in larger classes. With adults there is the en- thusiasm of members and the cohesive power of organization. But with younger pupils the small class — six or eight in number — should be the rule. In small classes the teacher can know each pupil as a friend, and secure in each those habits of thinking, feeling, and doing which each most needs. The personal touch is all-important in leading to a life of faith and love. It is the influence that comes from personal contact that leads to spiritual life and growth. The Point of Contact This expression is used to indicate the point at which the pupil's experience and the 240 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM truth he is to learn come together. To truly know anything is to know it through a "self- active personal experience." Activity in the pupil is the law of the mental and the spirit- ual growth. To secure this activity the teacher must begin on the plane of the pupil's natural experience. He must commence in his teaching where the pupil touches life in concrete and objective experience. He must try to get the pupil's view-point and begin the lesson there. Patterson DuBois enunciates and applies this principle. A teacher was unexpectedly asked to teach a class of frisky boys. The lesson was on the Golden Rule. He found the point of contact with an ivory foot-rule, and from their knowledge and curiosity he led them on to the Golden Rule. "Golden texts, theological doctrines, ethical abstrac- tions, taken in themselves, would have been hurled at these bright minds in vain ; but the contact with a tangible rule such as a boy would use, or, at all events enjoys handling, was the successful departure for his spirit- ual instruction. The lesson developed nat- urally from the material to the moral rule." Miss Harrison tells of another teacher in TEACHING SUGGESTIONS 241 a mission school who found the point of con- tact with a class of "toughs" in the blacking- box which one of the boys had, and was about to precipitate a row by using on an- other boy's nose. From the box the teacher led them on to the interesting facts of lumber manufacture and of logging-camps, from the nails to the mining and the working of ore; and after reaching the mysterious world be- yond their knowledge she secured in them a feeling of reverence and "built up in them an altar to the unknown God, which altar was necessary before the God of righteousness and of mercy and love could be preached unto them." "The Salvation Army reaches the outcasts of the slums not by a map of Palestine and the Catechism, but through that which is common in their experience — noise and racket, the bass drum and the brass horn." The loud music and the bright colors are the "lines of least resistance over which this species of human nature passes into the first contemplation of a clearer, better, and nobler life." A study of the teaching of Jesus shows the importance of this principle. In His par- 242 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM ables He began on the plane of His hearers' experience. The Use of the Blackboard The use of the blackboard in teaching de- pends upon the principle that the eye is one of the chief senses in the acquisition of knowledge. For most persons visual images are more natural than auditory images. What can be imaged is more likely to be re- tained. Children need the use of this meth- od; adults are fond of it. Teachers use it constantly in the public schools. The blackboard is not so much for the dis- play of artistic talent, for carefully drawn pictures of landscapes, ships, trees, crosses, and anchors, but for work done rapidly in the presence of the school or class. The su- perintendent will find it a pleasure to use it in the lesson review. The lesson can usually be reduced to five or six words giving the very gist. These words printed in bold type may be the pegs on which to hang the les- sons of truth. It is not easy at first to talk and draw at the same time, but practise be- forehand will give confidence and skill. Some teachers find a small board useful TEACHING SUGGESTIONS 243 for class work. It is indispensable for analy- ses, tabulations, drills, and reviews. The use of the blackboard never fails to secure at- tention; it stimulates the imagination and strengthens the memory. To omit its use is to neglect one of the greatest aids in impart- ing truth. The Teaching of Missions The teaching of missions is perhaps one of the most important problems which the mod- ern church has to face. And it is in the Sun- day-school — the church's most progressive or- ganization — that this work should be persis- tently and systematically carried on. If it is true that a very large per cent, of church members are the product of the Sunday- school, how important it is that they should be fired with missionary zeal when their hearts are most receptive and their minds most unprejudiced and open to truth. One of the first and most fundamental les- sons to be taught is activity. Sluggishness is the bane of any enterprise. Children should be taught that whole-hearted service is not only a duty but a privilege. They should be made to feel that they have part and lot in 244 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM the great work of bringing the heathen to Christ, and that earnest effort on their part is essential to the welfare of the unfortunate both in their own land and in heathen dark- ness. In presenting the subject of missions to Sunday-schools some definite plan must be followed out. All ages and classes can not be taught alike. The child tinder eight years must be taught different phases of the sub- ject from the one who is older. Lessons of unselfishness, the joy of giving, the pleasure of making others happy through self-sacri- fice, are especially adapted to the understand- ing of children of this age. This is the time of life when habits of mind are in the process of formation, hence the necessity for careful training. Generalizations appeal more to the child's mind than particulars. Notions of geography, of history, and of the degrees of civilization are very indefinite. The funda- mental principles of all missionary enter- prise — duty. unselfishness, self-sacrifice — easily take root in the young and untrained mind. After the age of eight more definite work can be given. Children under twelve are in- TEACHING SUGGESTIONS 245 terested in adventure. The experiences of pio- neer missionaries are as fascinating to them as hero tales in fiction. The history of for- eign nations with its diversity of details at- tracts and holds the attention. Their activ- ities in mission work can be increased and diversified. They can become messengers of service, run errands, distribute books and papers, carry flowers or baskets of provisions to the sick. Pupils between the ages of twelve and eighteen appreciate biography. They can understand, to some degree at least, the sac- rifice which the great missionaries have made in devoting their lives to others. The beauty of a life surrendered to Christ makes a deep impression on their hearts and moves them to set apart for the Master's service the most that life holds dear to them. With the maturity of later years comes the climax of missionary teaching. The altruis- tic principles of the gospel may reach their final expression in lives consecrated to mis- sionary work. The call can be made now for volunteers to the mission field. Prayer cir- cles can be organized which will stimulate interest in the work. Classes may be formed 246 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM for the study of the field and for determining the most pressing needs and the way in which they should be met. There is scarcely any study in the whole curriculum from which a broader intellectual training may be derived than the study of missions. It includes a knowledge of the com- mon branches of learning, geography, litera- ture, language, customs, institutions, govorn- ment, and religion. It leads to a knowledge -of our duty to our neighbors, to our city, to our state and nation, and to the whole world. It investigates the principles of sacrifice and service, of altruism in its most noble form. It brings us into contact with all the nations of all times, with the different grades of civ- ilization and the formation of institutions. It is a study without which no education, however broad in other lines, is complete. Every earnest and thoughtful Christian can- not but see the importance of studying a sub- ject which embraces so much and leads to a true Christian culture. Teaching of Temperance Temperance instruction Is an important part of the Sunday-school teacher's work. It TEACHING SUGGESTIONS 247 may be introduced at any time, but comes in for special emphasis on the particular days set apart for the quarterly temperance les- sons. To succeed the teachers must make special preparation. Fresh material must be introduced to keep up interest. This material must be facts. General statements on the evils of intemperance, will fail to hold the attention. These facts may be gathered from various sources. Collect and classify from the daily papers for a week the crimes due to drink. Report the victories for prohibition and local option which have occurred durng the last year. Exhibit a map showing the dry coun- ties in the state, or the dry states in the United States or the dry territory in the Uni- ted States. Collect statistics showing the rela- tion of drink to crime. Mention any encour- aging signs which have been reported in the press, such as stricter rules for the employees of railroads or business houses. Give one Sunday or more to the thorough study of the tobacco habit, its effect on the system, the testimony of educators as to the effect of cigarettes on the minds of students. Give> the facts as found from the analysis of cer- 248 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM tain so-called patent medicines and soft drinks. With the older classes give the facts regarding the results of impurity — the white slave traffic, the divorce evil. Discuss the question of temperance in its larger aspect of personal self-control, and moderation in all things, even those that are legitimate. Collect the teachings of Scripture, in certain books, on the subject, or the teachings of Christ or of Paul. It will be seen that facts of near-by places and of recent occurrence are worth more than those of other countries or of past his- tory. A temperance rule of the shop in your native town, or the testimony of a leading order or teacher in the neighborhood is of the greatest importance. It will be well to verify your facts and figures and be accurate and particular. Topics like the above may be assigned for home study to pupils in the upper classes. With children pledge-signing is important. Pledges should be presented frequently, and the signing be a solemn matter, and the time an important occasion. It may be well to let them wear temperance badges. Make use of them in a no-license campaign to distribute TEACHING SUGGESTIONS 249 literature, and in giving recitations. Organ- ize them as soon as possible against the sa- loon and the rum traffic. The teaching of temperance will be very interesting and effective if it is definite. Do not preach, but give facts and let the facts preach their own truths. Biblical Geography Bible facts as well as historical events, to be well understood, must be localized. Sacred history has been too long suspended in mid- air. It should be pinned to the earth. Ignor- ance in regard to the facts of the Bible has often been due to a neglect of the study of the geography of the Bible. To many Sun- day-school pupils Bible stories are not read. The personalities do not stand out as vivid characters, simply because the background of the picture is lacking. A short time ago, a lady en route to the Holy Land was heard inquiring of a minister who had made the trip before, if he could tell her how far Jerusalem was from Palestine. Such ignorance is inex- cusable, as well as embarrassing. Pupils who are old enough to study geography during the week, are surely old enough to under- 250 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM stand a little Bible geography on Sunday. Every pupil in the junior department should be quite thoroughly familiar with the map of Palestine; and should be able to locate its chief bodies of water, its mountains, and its cities. The feeding of Elijah, the death of Saul, the feeding of the five thousand, the transfiguration, the home of Lazarus and his sisters, should suggest instantly to the pupil places upon the map. Every Sunday-school should have good wall maps, and should use them every Sunday. There should be small outline maps to be traced and filled in by the younger pupils- Older pupils can make their own outlines, and fill in the details as the lessons progress from week to week. This work will be of lasting benefit. To pupils thus trained, Mount Oarmel will stand out as a great land- mark two-thirds the distance from north to south on the west and directly opposite the Sea of Galilee. The location of Jerusalem a little west of the northern end of the Dead Sea is firmly fixed on the mind. The journey of Jesus from Nazareth to Jerusalem is made real. A study of contour maps is also very valuable. Then will the pupil understand TEACHING SUGGESTIONS 251 why Christ was thirsty when He arrived at the well of Samaria. Then also will He be- gin to understand why Jesus removed from Nazareth to Capernaum. Importance of Drills, ReVietfs and Examinations 1. Drills. Impressions whether weak or strong may be greatly strengthened by repe- tition. By repetition we do not mean a mere going over of the same words, but a conscious and attentive repeating of the truths we wish to retain. In studying the life of Paul the number of chapters which contain the ac- count of his conversion; the principal cities visited on his three missionary journeys; the place and purpose of writing each epistle, should become the valued possession of every pupil. The importance of repetition is shown by Christ in His method of work. Three times to Peter He said, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?" Could Peter ever forget that? 2. Reviews. It is only the incompetent teacher who dreads review Sunday. Every Sunday should be a review Sunday. The motto of a thorough teacher is Review, re- 252 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM view. Reviewing not only shows what the pupil has learned, but what the teacher has taught, and also serves to bring before teacher and pupil what has been learned and taught in a new light or new view. Suc- cessful Sunday-school teaching depends upon successful reviews. A skilful teacher will use various methods in review work, according to the age and training of the pupils in the class. One way is to choose sides as in a spelling match. Another good way is to have review ques- tions written on slips of paper, distribute them evenly among the members of the class, then let them ask the questions one of an- other, the slips going to the pupils who suc- cessfully answer them. At the close the one ihaving the most slips wins. A half hour thus spent is attended with pleasure as well as profit. 3. Examinations. Examinations in the Sunday-school are just as valuable as exam- inations in the secular school. Oral ones may be used, but the teacher is likely to talk too much. A class that has done faithful work for three months, and has had oral reviews, is usually willing to take a written examina- TEACHING SUGGESTIONS 253 tion. In this way each pupil has a chance to answer all the questions. It is only fair that a class should have something definite and tangible to show for faithful work. The papers should be corrected by the teacher and handed back to the pupils. Only those teach- ers who have tried written work know of the interest that it will create. ■ We know one man over fifty years old, who recently in Sun- day-school took the first examination of his life. He rises an hour earlier than usual every morning in order that he may have time for study, as his hours at the factory during the day are long. He says that the Bible to him has become a new book. Tested truth is real truth and abiding truth. Suggested Books for Reference and Supplementary Study, etc, 1. The Unfolding Life, A. A. Lamoreaux 2. Training the Teacher, M. G. Brumbaugh 3. Pedagogical Bible School, 8. B. Haslett 4. Talks with the Training Class, Margaret flattery 5. Teaching and Teachers, H. Clay Trumbull 254 THE PUPIL AND HOW TO TEACH HIM 6. Teacher Training with the Master Teacher, C. 8. Beardsley 7. Seven Laws of Teaching, John M. Gregory 8. How to Conduct a Sunday-school, Marion Lawrance 9. Front Line of Sunday-school Work, A, N, Peloubet 10. The Study of the Child, A. R. Taylor 11. Fundamentals of Child Study, E. A. KirTcpatrick 12. The Educative Process, W. 0. Bagley 13. The Boy Problem, W. B. Forlush 14. The Sunday-school Teacher, E. H. Hamill 15. Sunday-school Success, A. R. Wells 16. Handbook for Sunday-school Workers, W. B. Olmstead f£y 19 1910 One copy del. to Cat. Div. i'£M 18