MOttRNSUNDMSCl. 
 
 CJJARLFS FOSTER KENT 
 EDITOR 
 
 
 PRANIdJN : McEl.FRESIi 
 
BV 1530 .M3 1914 
 McElfresh, Franklin. 
 The training of Sunday 
 school teachers and 
 
illoliern ^unbap ^cfjool i$lanua\^ " ^° 
 
 Edited by CHARLES FOSTER KENT in 
 Collaboration with JOHN T. McFARLAND 
 
 ^ncAL sy 
 
 The Training of Sunday School 
 Teachers and Officers 
 
 McE 
 
 FRANKLIN McELFRESH 
 
 Secretary of the Committee of Education 
 International Sunday School Association 
 
 NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS 
 CINCINNATI: JENNINGS & GRAHAM 
 
CopjTight, 1914, by 
 FRANKLIN McELFRESH 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. The New Demands upon the Sunday School 
 
 Teacher 1 
 
 II. The Aims and Present Status of Teacher 
 
 Training 12 
 
 III. Training the New Recruits 23 
 
 IV. Training Teachers Already Enlisted in the 
 
 Service 37 
 
 V. Training by Schools of Methods, Corre- 
 spondence, AND Graded Union 50 
 
 VI. The City Institute or Training School. ... 63 
 VII. Training for Work in the Country Sunday 
 
 School 72 
 
 VIII. The College Training for Religious 
 
 Leadership 87 
 
 IX. The Training op the Elementary Teacher. . 98 
 X. The Training of the Teacher of Junior 
 
 Pupils 112 
 
 XI. The Training of the Teacher of Girls 124 
 
 XII. The Training of the Teacher of Boys 134 
 
 XIII. The Training of the Teacher of Senior 
 
 Pupils 146 
 
 XIV. The Training of the Teacher of the 
 
 Women's Class 158 
 
 XV. The Training of the Teacher of the Men's 
 
 Class '169 
 
 XVI. The Training of Officers 182 
 
 XVII. The Training of the Minister for the 
 
 Sunday School " 195 
 
 XVIII. The Next Step in Teacher Training 208 
 
 Appendix 220 
 
THE NEW DEMANDS UPON THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 TEACHER 
 
 The Magnitude of the Demand. Three hundred 
 thousand new teachers and officers will be enlisted 
 within the coming year in the ranks of Sunday 
 school workers. Many of these are young men 
 and women of education, but many more are 
 urged into service with little information or 
 training for the duties before them. While 
 many training schools and classes are offered 
 them through the varied agencies, denominational 
 and interdenominational, yet all of these united 
 fail to meet the need for a trained teaching force. 
 Even were all of these new teachers well equipped, 
 they are not sufficient for the great work. A full 
 half million are needed to meet the responsibilities 
 pressing upon the churches for the religious teach- 
 ing of childhood and youth. Within the last 
 three years there has been an increase of one 
 million in enrollment in North America, and even 
 this number could be enlarged by hundreds of 
 thousands if a sufficient number of competent 
 teachers would answer the call of the Church. 
 Childhood, quickened by all the alertness and 
 
 I 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 eagerness of the modern life, stands eager and 
 expectant at the door of the Sunday school. Boy- 
 hood and girlhood, trained in the freedom of the 
 spirit of the day, are willing to enter when we 
 offer them the friendships and leaders that appeal 
 to their restless hearts. Men and women turn 
 to the Sunday school as never before. The adult 
 classes must find social and intellectual leader- 
 ship which will put them face to face with life's 
 problems in a way to command their deepest 
 loyalty, or they will turn back again. The Sunday 
 school of the past, with its great services and its 
 noble spirit, cannot command the situation of 
 to-day. United Protestantism must awake to the 
 fact that the old order has changed, giving place 
 to the new. 
 
 A World-Wide Demand. A recent editorial in 
 the Sunday School Journal says : ''Nor is the 
 movement confined to our own country. In 
 England there is an agitation in favor of better 
 church schools through the gradual waning of 
 religious education in the day schools. The 
 Bishop of London has recently issued a manifesto 
 on this subject, and the London Times has taken 
 the matter up, being clearly impressed that the 
 complete command of the educational machinery 
 of the public schools once possessed by the Estab- 
 lished Church has gone forever. We are behold- 
 ing the striking phenomenon of this great secular 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 newspaper (perhaps the greatest in the world) 
 calling on the people of the Church to arouse and 
 undertake with enthusiasm the work of teacher 
 training and Sunday school organization. It 
 says : 'Church people must be prepared to spend 
 money on their Sunday schools. Besides the 
 expenses incident to the improvement of the 
 plant, the preparation and printing of syllabuses, 
 and other necessary literature, there must be 
 found adequate stipends for qualified inspectors 
 or instructors, and possibly for a nucleus of fully 
 trained professional teachers. The zeal and devo- 
 tion of amateurs, upon which the Church has 
 hitherto relied for her Sunday schools, is no 
 longer sufficient in itself.' It is felt in England 
 that there is to be a forward movement for better 
 schools all along the line, and that the Free 
 Churches are ready for it now. We have seen 
 this coming for years, and are more than ready to 
 welcome it. We are glad to know that there is 
 an awakening in the mother country as well. 
 When 'The Thunderer' begins to hurl its big 
 bolts, something has begun. A grand overhaul- 
 ing and reenforcement of the whole work of reli- 
 gious education would do more for our churches 
 in this country, and for the country itself, than 
 any other work that we might undertake." 
 
 The Educational Demand. "The most important 
 phase of education is now left to the Church and 
 
 5 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 the home/' says Monroe, ''neither of which is 
 doing much to meet the demand." The return 
 of education to the Church in recent years past 
 has found it unprepared for so great a responsi- 
 bility. Neither the ministry nor the laity has 
 been ready for this task. Men and women have 
 entered upon the work of teaching with great 
 eagerness, and noble results have been attained. 
 But the loss and waste from neglect and ineffi- 
 ciency have been far be3"ond our reckoning. Now 
 the effort is being made to do this work in a truly 
 educational way. Great wisdom and energy are 
 required to organize the school to meet its full- 
 est possibilities and to train officers and teachers 
 to real fitness for this service. "Of all subject 
 matters," says Professor Home, "religion is both 
 the most important and the worst taught; most 
 important because it brings men into relation 
 with the most real Being; worst taught, perhaps, 
 both because least understood and requiring most 
 from the teacher. The opportunity confronting 
 the Sunday school is unique among educational 
 institutions." 
 
 The Graded Lessons. The attempt to adapt the 
 lesson material to the age and spiritual need of 
 the pupil is the most significant response of the 
 Church in recent years to the educational demand. 
 The success of these lessons has been beyond the 
 hope of their friends, and their practical use is 
 
 4 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICEKS 
 
 creating a uew educational standard throughout 
 all types of schools and in all sections of the 
 country, and yet, while the principle is almost 
 universally accepted, the one great hindrance is 
 the need of the graded teacher. This better food 
 for the child's religious want is often denied 
 because teachers cannot be found ready to use 
 the Graded Lesson system, and in many schools 
 where the lessons have been introduced they have 
 been dropped because the teachers were not pre- 
 pared to use them with skill and thoroughness to 
 insure success. 
 
 The Challenge of the Western States. The 
 demand for a higher educational standard is put 
 in a concrete form in two of the Western States. 
 The leaders in education face the need, becom- 
 ing more plainly evident everywhere, of moral 
 education among high-school students. In North 
 Dakota, in response to the action of the State 
 Teachers' Association, credit in the high-school 
 course is offered for Bible study which may 
 be pursued in the Sunday school. The exam- 
 ination is given by the State. In Colorado 
 also the State Teachers' Association has taken 
 action favorable to high-school credit for Bible 
 study work done outside the school; but if 
 this work be done in the Sunday school, they 
 demand that the teaching be of as high grade 
 as that in the high school. The high-school 
 
 5 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 teacher in Colorado must have an education 
 equivalent to a college degree. This is at once a 
 challenge and an opportunity, for many States 
 are looking upon these experiments with great 
 interest and are ready to adopt some like methods 
 if these prove successful. It is a demand upon 
 the Sunday school to provide a teaching force 
 whose work shall be on a level with the best high- 
 school instruction and it is an opportunity to 
 give Bible-teaching a new dignity and an impor- 
 tance because it has both the approval of the State 
 and the sanction of the Church. The striking 
 feature in the discussion in both these States is 
 the criticism of the Sunday school, made in 
 friendly spirit, by the leaders of education. They 
 have spoken sternly of the slack and easy methods 
 characteristic of the Sunday school teaching and 
 have been earnest in the demand that it should 
 be elevated to an efficiency comparable with 
 public education. 
 
 The Greatest Need of the Church To-day. From 
 the oldest centers of religious teaching in our 
 Eastern cities to the frontiers of the mountain 
 States one demand arises above all others in the 
 churches: the call comes for trained, efficient 
 teachers to direct the religious education of our 
 children and youth. Within a few rods of the 
 spot where Horace Bushnell did his lifework a 
 man coming from a convention said, ''It is well 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 enough to talk about trained teachers, but with 
 us, we are glad to get anybody." Within sight 
 of the place where Jonathan Edwards preached 
 his famous sermons, a Sunday school leader, a 
 widely known layman, said, ''Three out of four 
 of our teachers are not the ones we would choose ; 
 but we must take whom we can get." There is no 
 place in all education where the gap between the 
 possible service and the actual work is as wide as 
 in the Sunday school. Moreover, conditions in 
 the social and educational world are changing so 
 rapidly that the demand of to-morrow will be far 
 more urgent than it is to-day. 
 
 The Fatal Omission. Religion left out of edu- 
 cation will be left out of character. If we expect 
 religious knowledge and Christian faith, we shall 
 not get them simply because our children study 
 chemistry. We shall have as a race marked abil- 
 ity only where we have strong training. Wher- 
 ever there is constant neglect and omission there 
 will be weakness and indifference in later life. 
 The powers which demand expression in the child, 
 and are denied their natural right, become blood- 
 less by disuse. We have elementary schools in 
 which even the singing of Christmas songs is 
 challenged. We have States in which the Bible 
 cannot be read in the schools, even as literature. 
 We have splendid high schools where people do 
 not know even the names of the great Bible char- 
 
 7 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 acters. We have universities in whicli philosoplij' 
 is taught from Plato to Bergson, and the words 
 of Jesus are excluded. We have colleges in which 
 literature is taught from Homer to Browning, 
 but Isaiah and Luke cannot be admitted. Shall 
 we not agree with President Eliot that intellec- 
 tual training is no guarantee of character? "Fifty 
 years ago," said Professor William James, "the 
 schools were supposed to free us from crimes, but 
 we do not indulge in any such sanguine hopes to 
 any extent to-day. The intellect is the servant of 
 our passions, and sometimes education only 
 makes the person more adroit in carrying out 
 these impulses." 
 
 The one question that above all others con- 
 fronts Americans to-day in politics, in business, 
 in the field of labor, and in social relations is the 
 moral issue. The moral integrin' of the city, the 
 family, the business world, and the social order 
 is the supreme problem. We as Christians agree 
 that moral character is primarily determined by 
 religious convictions and motives. These are 
 largely the result of education, hence the educa- 
 tional conditions in America to-day are a chal- 
 lenge to the best Christian manhood and woman- 
 hood. They challenge, first, the home, then the 
 Church. They demand a teaching body in 
 numbers, in skill, in intelligence, and in convic- 
 tion fully equal to the truly heroic task of 
 
 8 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 training the rising generation so tliat it will be 
 truly Christian. 
 
 Return to Teaching. What does this demand 
 imply? A recognition by the ministry and lead- 
 ers of the churches that the day has come to 
 establish real schools for religious teaching. Prot- 
 estantism has allowed the ancient function of 
 the lay religious teacher to fall into neglect. It 
 has stood in the forefront of intellectual progress. 
 It has debated all great problems of the age with 
 open mind. It has rightly magnified the work 
 of the preacher. It has been creative and aggres- 
 sive in thought; but it has neglected the teaching 
 of religion. The Roman Church grows rapidly 
 to the utmost frontiers because it has been true 
 to the child. Mormonism, with its grotesque 
 claims to divine origin, spreads fast even in the 
 intelligent communities of the West because it 
 is true to the principle of teaching. Protestant- 
 ism, with all its culture and freedom, falters in 
 the great race because it has neglected the child 
 and failed to recognize the preeminent impor- 
 tance of the religious teacher. 
 
 The noble ideal of voluntary service has been 
 both the strength and the weakness of the Sun- 
 day school. Teaching has been regarded as a 
 duty that anybody might assume or anyone might 
 neglect. Many noble men and women have made 
 this divine task a matter of conscience, but in 
 
 9 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 order to fill the ranks many careless and unpre- 
 pared teachers have been pressed violently into 
 the service of the Sunday school. The result has 
 been loss of respect for religious teaching and 
 many sad failures in its practice. The Protestant 
 ministry, hearkening to the stern demand for 
 preaching, occupied with the task of organiza- 
 tion, distracted by frequent changes of pastorate, 
 has too often regarded the teaching and the 
 school as comparatively unimportant institutions 
 of the Church. Such neglect is no longer possible 
 to the minister who surveys his field and measures 
 his forces. 
 
 The Dignity of This Demand. This is the call 
 for leaders, for strong men, for young men of 
 education. It is the call to the woman in her 
 new day of opportunity. No waste scatters such 
 woeful disasters as neglect and incompetence in 
 religious teaching. No conservation of resources 
 nurtures such riches as the preservation of the 
 spiritual nature of the child. These are days of 
 doubt, times of unrest, an age of luxury; the 
 problems are stern. The very fiber and heart of 
 American life are in danger of moral degeneration. 
 Are the lay teachers of religion broad enough and 
 strong enough to meet the crisis ? Can they teach 
 the Bible in the full light of modern scholarship 
 with a loving reverence? Can they interpret 
 social living, amid the fierce struggles of the 
 
 10 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 present daj, in the spirit of Christ? Then only- 
 can they mold the new type of Christian char- 
 acter : the man of clear faith in God who sees this 
 world as the kingdom of Christ. Religious 
 teachers with this strength and skill will give to 
 America its Christian masters. 
 
 11 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 II 
 
 THE AIMS AND PRESENT STATUS OF TEACHER 
 TRAINING 
 
 The Leader. Dr. H. M. Hamill is authority for 
 facts regarding the early history of the teacher- 
 training movement. In 1857 John H. Vincent, a 
 pastor at Joliet, Illinois, organized the first dis- 
 tinctively teacher-training class in America. At 
 that early date he called the attention of the 
 pastors of Chicago and the Central West to the 
 need and possibility of the trained teacher. A 
 little later there was a diminution of interest on 
 account of the Civil War, as there was in all 
 matters affecting the Church and Sunday school. 
 The first institute was held at Freeport, Illinois, 
 and another in Detroit, Michigan, in 1861. In 
 1864 Dr. Vincent appeared before the Cook 
 County Sunday School Association and urged 
 the formation of a permanent Sunday School 
 institute for the Northwest, to be called the 
 Northwest Sunday School Institute. His sugges- 
 tion was adopted, and in the winter following, 
 in Chicago, a course of lectures was given. The 
 same year R. G. Pardee, one of the Sunday school 
 pioneers, with Ralph Wells, held an institute in 
 New York. 
 
 12 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 The First Normal Class. In 1876 a committee 
 composed of representatives of ten denomina- 
 tions formed the Chautauqua Sunday School 
 Normal Lesson Course. The Teacher Training 
 Assembly hekl its first session at Chautauqua in 
 August, 1874. It was called the Sunday School 
 Teachers' Assembly. For three years it was held 
 annually for two weeks, with a course of forty 
 lessons and everything necessary to make a most 
 excellent course. In 1884 the Assembly Normal 
 Union was organized. Books were issued and a 
 definite attempt made to standardize and unify 
 the work of teacher training. The Chautauqua 
 Assembl}', having grown strong, took up the 
 Normal Union course. It was issued in two 
 books, comprising a four years' course. Diplomas 
 were issued and much was done to extend the 
 work throughout the United States and Canada. 
 This movement has been greatly honored, and is, 
 in a sense, the real mother of teacher training in 
 the United States. In 1886, at Rockford, backed 
 by the Executive Committee of the Illinois Sun- 
 day School Association, a Normal Department 
 was organized and Dr. H. M. Hamill was put in 
 charge. It was the first Sunday School Associa- 
 tion in the world to establish a distinctive Normal 
 Department. 
 
 It is very interesting in this connection to 
 note the recommendations published by John H. 
 
 13 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 Vincent in 1866 regarding a course of study in 
 institutes and normal classes: 
 
 "First: A series of about fifty exercises, to 
 extend through one or two years, as circum- 
 stances may determine, as follows: 
 
 "1. Five lectures by a professional and expe- 
 rienced teacher on the principles and art of teach- 
 ing. 
 
 "2. Ten lectures on the Bible, its history, 
 writers, inspiration, original languages, style, 
 evidences, etc., with some simple statements con- 
 cerning biblical criticism and interpretation. 
 
 "3. Ten specimen lessons for infant, advanced, 
 and adult classes. 
 
 "4. Ten exegetical exercises from the Old and 
 New Testament history, from the Psalms, Proph- 
 ecies and Epistles. 
 
 "5. Ten catechetical lessons for concert recita- 
 tion on Bible history, geography, chronology, 
 ancient manners, and customs, etc., covering in 
 comprehensive lessons the field of biblical archae- 
 ology. 
 
 "6. Five lectures on the organization, objects, 
 history, management, church relations, and de- 
 velopment of the Sunday school work. 
 
 "Second : A prescribed course of reading, which 
 shall insure the careful perusal of the best books 
 on teaching." 
 
 The Committee on Education. In 1903, the Com- 
 14 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 mittee on Education was organized at Winona, 
 Indiana, as a regular committee of the Interna- 
 tional Sunday School Association. In 1008, 
 through the influence of Mr. W. C. Tearce, then 
 Teacher Training Superintendent of the Inter- 
 national Sunday School Association, a confer- 
 ence of denominational leaders and International 
 secretaries was called to meet in Philadelphia. 
 At that time many organizations were offering 
 courses in teacher training and giving diplomas 
 or certificates. There were at least twenty-eight 
 such courses in the fields, but they lacked unity 
 of standards or methods. After several sessions, 
 in which there was much earnest discussion, the 
 conference expressed its judgment in the follow- 
 ing findings, which have since been the basis of 
 the work of the Educational Committee, and 
 which have been accepted with practical una- 
 nimity by the Sunday school boards of the differ- 
 ent denominations : 
 
 "It was unanimously voted as the sense of the 
 conference that the standardization of teacher- 
 training work is desirable. 
 
 "It is the sense of this conference, in defining 
 the minimum requirements for the Standardized 
 Course for Teacher Training, that such minimum 
 should include: 
 
 "Fifty lesson periods, of which at least twenty 
 should be devoted to the study of the Bible, and 
 
 15 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY kSCHOOL 
 
 at least seven each to the study of the pupil, the 
 teacher, and the Sunday school. 
 
 "That two years' time should be devoted to this 
 course, and in no case should a diploma be 
 granted for its completion in less than one year. 
 
 "That there should be an Advanced Course, 
 including not less than one hundred lesson 
 periods, vrith a minimum of forty lesson periods 
 devoted to the study of the Bible, and of not 
 less than ten each to the study of the pupil, 
 the teacher, the Sunday school, church history, 
 missions, or kindred themes. 
 
 "That three years' time should be devoted to 
 this course, and in no case should a diploma be 
 granted for its completion in less than two years. 
 
 "We declare it to be the responsibility of each 
 denomination to promote to the utmost the train- 
 ing of teachers for the Sunday school; and that 
 it is vital to the uplift of this work that the 
 denominations have the cordial cooperation and 
 support of the International Sunday School Asso- 
 ciation." 
 
 Progress of the Work. There was reported at 
 Louisville in 1908 an enrollment of 79,086 stu- 
 dents in the International office, and an enroll- 
 ment of 28,491 from four denominations. Enroll- 
 ment reported by State and provincial associa- 
 tions to the International office during the trien- 
 nium 1908-1911 shows l.'',r),270 students. In addi- 
 
 16 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 tion to this, an aggrej^ate of 50,000 students has 
 been reported by various denominational boards 
 as enrolling directly with them. This indicates 
 that in 1905 one student has been enrolled in 
 teacher training to every sixty-four officers and 
 teachers; 1908, one student to twenty officers and 
 teachers, and at this time, 1911, one student to 
 twelve officers and teachers through the Interna- 
 tional office alone. Including the enrollments in 
 the denominational offices, the ratio was one to 
 eight. Reports received show that 27,100 First 
 Standard and 570 Advanced Standard diplomas 
 have been issued to students who had j^assed 
 examinations by the State and provincial asso- 
 ciations during that last triennium. The report 
 of the previous triennium showed 10,016 grad- 
 uates. 
 
 Courses of Study. Several courses, varying in 
 length of time, in thoroughness of treatment, and 
 in point of view, are needed to meet the varied 
 conditions found in the Sunday school life of 
 America. There are many pupils in the Inter- 
 mediate Departments of the Sunday schools who 
 have never advanced so far as the high school. 
 There are many in the country churches whose 
 only training has been in the district school. And 
 there are many adult teachers who in their busy 
 lives have found little time for books, and who 
 are especially fearful of written tests, examina- 
 
 17 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 tions, and the methods of the classroom. And 
 yet, when country and city, frontier and mission 
 school are all taken into account, these persons 
 of meager education must form a large part of 
 the teaching force. It is useless to place before 
 them long and difficult courses of study. It is 
 too late to scoff at limited courses offered under 
 conditions favorable to home study. Universities 
 and educational leaders are frankly sympathetic 
 with extension work that can be taken by those 
 denied the privileges of high schools and colleges. 
 To supply the rapidly increasing demand for 
 Sunday school teachers will soon require two 
 million persons in America. This can be done 
 only as constant attention is given to elementary 
 courses of study. The work must begin with 
 many young students whose earlier training has 
 given them little thorough knowledge of the 
 Bible and who have no acquaintance with methods 
 of teaching or the psychology of childhood. A 
 great part of the teaching in the small school is 
 done by busy people with limited education and 
 without habits of study. Under these conditions, 
 plain courses of stud}* and clearly stated meth- 
 ods are essential to enlist interest and secure 
 results. 
 
 Criticism of These Courses. This First Standard 
 Course was never intended to be merely a one- 
 year course. Fifty lessons is stated as a min- 
 is 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 imum; but two hours of preparation are asked 
 from each student. Where there is discussion of 
 principles, the teacher in charge of the work 
 strives to lead each one to think for himself. 
 Where a workers' library is provided and utilized 
 for reference reading, and there are reports of 
 reading, of practice teaching, and of observation 
 both of child life and of methods of work by good 
 teachers, this will prove not only a valuable 
 course in itself but will lead many of the stu- 
 dents to more advanced work. 
 
 At the Teacher Training Conference, held dur- 
 ing the San Francisco Convention in 1911, there 
 were representatives of the leading denomina- 
 tional boards of Canada and the United States. 
 The question was asked: "Is the First Standard 
 Course, with its minimum requirements of fifty 
 lessons and one year of time, adapted to our pres- 
 ent needs, or has the time come to advance the 
 standard?" There was well-nigh unanimous 
 agreement as to the need of a simple and ele- 
 mentary course. It is valuable as a clear and 
 simple outline of essential things. It represents 
 not real Bible study, only a brief introduc- 
 tion to Bible study; but it gives a bird's-eye view 
 of the great biblical epochs that many faithful 
 readers of the Scriptures have failed to see. The 
 brief sketch of the unfolding of the child's life, 
 as revealed by modern psychology, and the out- 
 
 19 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 line of the teaching art, are suggestive and highly 
 instructive to those who have read little. Such 
 a course does two things at least for the untrained 
 teacher: it forms a habit of regular week-day 
 study in anticipation of the work of the Sunday 
 school, and it prepares one to be an intelligent 
 reader of the best Sunday school literature. 
 Such a course may be abused, as all courses can 
 be, by a mechanical and hurried skimming of 
 pages and a cramming of dates and headlines for 
 examination. But it is intended that it shall be 
 enriched by real Bible study, reference reading, 
 map-drawing, observation and practice work, re- 
 quiring the diligent use of two years, with at 
 least two hours a week of preparation for each 
 lesson period. The simpler books have been used 
 by hundreds of earnest teachers in this more 
 thorough way, and at the end there has been 
 hunger for larger and better things. "I can 
 induce my teachers to take a course of twenty 
 lessons in the winter," said the scholarly pastor 
 of a New England church of high intelligence, 
 "but I cannot succeed with a larger number." 
 
 The Advanced Courses, with minimum require- 
 ments of one hundred lesson periods, have called 
 out many excellent textbooks, and are available 
 either for the training class in the Sunday school 
 or for the class meeting at a week-day hour. The 
 great value of the First Standard, and especially 
 
 20 
 
TEACHEKS AND OFFICERS 
 
 the Advanced Courses, is their tiexibility and 
 adaptability. In actual practice they are proving 
 important stepping-stones by which the great 
 body of untrained teachers may advance to higher 
 ideals and standards of efficiency. 
 
 Promotion of Work, (a) The work of promo- 
 tion has heretofore been largely carried out by 
 the International Sunday School Association. 
 Each State and provincial association, under the 
 guidance of the educational committee, main- 
 tains a teacher-training department with a super- 
 intendent, who enrolls students in that State or 
 province, is responsible for the examinations, 
 and through whom certificates and diplomas are 
 issued to classes from the central office. The State 
 officers, in turn, secure the ai)pointment of 
 teacher-training helpers in each city and county. 
 Many of these voluntary workers are men and 
 women in high educational positions, whose work 
 is done at personal sacrifice and whose services 
 are most efficient, (b) The promotion of the 
 work is through conventions, institutes, corre- 
 spondence, and the work of alumni associations, 
 (c) Wherever denominational boards desire to 
 enroll and train the students of their own church, 
 it is the duty of all Association officers to pro- 
 mote the organization of classes and to forward 
 the names to their respective denominations. 
 
 Denominational Boards. (a) With the new 
 
 21 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 Sunday school conscience denominational boards 
 have recognized religious education as a duty. 
 Heretofore the Sunday school board has been the 
 poor relative among the benevolent societies of 
 the churches. It has had neither money, men, 
 nor equipment to carry forward aggressive work 
 in any manner befitting its great duties, (b) 
 But with the awakening sense of responsibility 
 has come within the past five years a reorganiza- 
 tion, and educational superintendents have been 
 named in nearly all of the denominations. 
 Strong committees, well-equipped offices, and 
 aggressive policies are becoming the order of the 
 day, but as yet these things are only in the begin- 
 ning. 
 
 Five Gee at Needs 
 
 I. That the leaders of the Church should drive home 
 to the consciences of its members the aims and signifi- 
 cance of religious education. 
 
 II. An adequate number of thoroughly trained men 
 and women for leadership as secretaries, field workers, 
 and college teachers. 
 
 III. A financial support commensurate with the im- 
 portance and dignity of the work. 
 
 IV. The advance of courses of study and methods of 
 Instruction in accord with modern educational standards. 
 
 V. The cooperation of the teaching and promoting 
 agencies, both denominational and interdenominational, 
 with freedom in details and unity in essentials, for the 
 establishment and maintenance of a system of religious 
 education. 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 III 
 TRAINING THE NEW RECRUITS 
 
 The Training Class in the School. Every school 
 should provide for its own future. It should 
 offer a definite course of study for students who 
 give promise of ability to teach. The natural and 
 effective way to provide such training is in a class 
 of carefully chosen students meeting at the reg- 
 ular session of the school itself, and pursuing a 
 definite teacher-training course. A more regular 
 attendance can be secured at the Sunday school 
 hour than at a week-day study period. The Sab- 
 bath hour is already set apart by long custom. 
 The class is in the school itself, in the midst of 
 its activities, and receives the necessary encour- 
 agement and stimulus from the life and move- 
 ment of the school. The regular hour of meeting, 
 the constant call to service, the atmosphere of 
 worship, and close relation to teachers and 
 oflScers, prove great incentives to careful prepara- 
 tion. This class should take its definite place in 
 the life of the school, and look forward to a rela- 
 tion to the school as regular and as important 
 as that of the primary or adult department. If 
 the value of this work is clearly seen by its lead- 
 ers, no hindrance will be allowed to stand in the 
 
 23 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 way of its success. It should be considered essen- 
 tial, and eveiy means necessary to its success 
 and permanence should be used. The regular 
 selection of students, the steady class work, the 
 examination, and the graduation every year will 
 become as much a part of the school as the enroll- 
 ment and advancement in any of its departments. 
 
 Committee on Education in Local Church. One 
 of the regular committees in every well-organized 
 church should be a committee on education which 
 is intrusted with the whole educational work of 
 the church, of its Sunday school, and young 
 people's societies. The pastor should be ex officio 
 a member of this committee. The courses of 
 study and general policy of its Sunday school 
 work, the training of its teachers, and promotion 
 of religious education through the agencies of 
 the church, should be determined by this commit- 
 tee. Through its guidance, the advancement of 
 plans and ideals for Sunday school work can be 
 promoted and the whole church acquainted with 
 the results. This committee should bear the 
 same relation to the church that the school board 
 does to the community. Intrusted with this re- 
 sponsibility, it can establish a far-reaching policy 
 and maintain efficiency through the authority and 
 confidence given it by the church. 
 
 Awakening Interest. Before such a class can 
 be organized it is frequently necessary to awaken 
 
 24 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 interest among the officers of the school itself. 
 It is seldom necessary to present the need of a 
 larger number of trained teachers; but the 
 method by which this need can be supplied should 
 be very clearly placed before the minister, super- 
 tendent, and other officers. They should be led 
 to a careful study of the whole question. It is 
 better to defer action than to begin the work 
 without adequate preparation. A class cannot 
 fill its true place until the heart and brain of the 
 church is ready to give it support. A sermon 
 from the pastor upon the educational and evan- 
 gelistic value of the Sunday school, setting forth 
 the high calling of the teacher of religion in the 
 school of the church, has often proved the most 
 efficient method of awakening interest. Then the 
 need of this class and the method of its work 
 should be discussed fully at a regular meeting 
 of all the officers and teachers. When their 
 cordial and intelligent support is given, failure 
 will be rare. It is not uncommon, when such 
 dignity and importance is given the class, to find 
 the number of students wishing to take a course 
 larger than the number desired for efi'ective work 
 in classroom. 
 
 Selection of Students. Students from fifteen or 
 sixteen to iwenty years of age will be the ones 
 naturally selected for this class. They are then 
 at the climax of hope and courage. It is the age 
 
 25 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 of most brilliant mental powers. It is the time 
 when youth longs for some kind of service and 
 feels equal to great tasks. These young people 
 are now students in schools or colleges, or they 
 are entering employment and are out in the 
 world. They have not yet felt the heavy burdens 
 of life upon their shoulders, nor have they 
 become so entangled in many interests or pleas- 
 ures that they are distracted from important 
 study of this character. We may also assume 
 that, through the faithful teaching of the Junior 
 and Intermediate years, they have already made 
 the great decision, and are now standing on the 
 threshold of the Christian life. If they have been 
 prepared by the Elementary and Intermediate 
 years of the Graded Lessons, they should continue 
 the Senior lessons supplementary to the regular 
 training course. 
 
 Personal Appeal. Dr. Frederick B. Moorehead, 
 a successful leader of teacher training in Chicago, 
 says : "The next step, and one of the most impor- 
 tant, is to talk the matter over personally with 
 each member. This should be done by the pastor, 
 or superintendent, and teacher. It will make a 
 great impression upon the young man or woman 
 to have his pastor come to him personally and 
 inform him that the church has laid hands upon 
 him, and that he has been honored by being 
 selected to membership in the training class. 
 
 26 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 The parents should also be consulted, and their 
 consent and hearty cooperation secured. In 
 speaking to the one who is to enter the class the 
 matter ought not to be made too solemn. Some 
 may be frightened in this way. The great honor 
 and privilege should rather be emphasized. Be- 
 ing chosen by his church, after much prayer and 
 in the manner indicated, the individual will be 
 much impressed with the dignity of his call, and 
 the responsibility attending it. He will be con- 
 scious of the fact that the eyes of the church and 
 school are upon him." 
 
 Enrollment. After the roll of the class is made 
 up and work definitely begun, it is important to 
 send the names to the office of the denomina- 
 tional board or of the State Association. In this 
 way the students are properly recognized, and 
 their examinations and certificates or diplomas 
 will be sent from the same office. Enrollment 
 implies a certain obligation, enlists the class with 
 the great bodies of students following the same 
 lines, and lifts their work out of the merely local 
 conditions. They are much more likely to pursue 
 their studies faithfully and to complete the course 
 when they are thus aligned with the great move- 
 ments of the churches and are working toward a 
 definite goal. 
 
 The Teacher. Often, when the importance and 
 permanent character of the training class is made 
 
 27 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 clear, a teacher who is both a Bible student and 
 versed in educational methods can be secured. 
 If the thoroughly equipped teacher is not at 
 hand, the school should secure the best avail- 
 able and make a beginning in preparation for a 
 permanent class. An earnest student of the 
 Bible will often be led, under the sense of respon- 
 sibility, to make a careful preparatory study of 
 religious psychology and pedagogy. Under the 
 leadership of such a teacher, the work will be at 
 least helpful and suggestive. On the other hand, 
 when the call of dutj^ comes to a teacher who 
 has gained skill by study and experience, he will 
 often be found turning with great eagerness to a 
 more careful study of the Bible. 
 
 Equipment. Each student has a Bible of his 
 own. A textbook, containing the course of study 
 chosen, is the next essential. A modern Bible dic- 
 tionary will be found of great value. The class 
 itself should possess maps, a blackboard, and 
 should begin the building of a workers' library. 
 The number of books of gi'eat value to teachers in 
 the Sunda}' school is constantly increasing. A 
 few of these are of general character, and should 
 be familiar to all teachers. They should be used 
 as reference books throughout the study of the 
 courses. The First Standard Course is a course 
 of outlines, simple and plain. It represents only 
 a beginning in each of the important subjects 
 
 28 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 treated, aiul it is essential for the teacher to have 
 at hand these additional books that present wide 
 range of information and discussion. Students 
 should also be strongly encouraged to purchase 
 books for themselves. Their interest will be far 
 deeper in books they buy than in books they 
 borrow or take from a library. Our students 
 should not be considered too poor or too listless 
 to buy books upon lines of work to which they are 
 to devote an important part of their lives and for 
 which the Church has intrusted them with such 
 high responsibility. The workers' libraiy thus 
 built up should belong to the class. It should be 
 its permanent possession, in the care of an officer 
 of the class who faithfully guards its use. In 
 addition to these books of a general nature, such 
 a library should be slowly builded by selecting 
 books for the si)ecial departments of the school. 
 Periodicals, also a few of the monthlies issued by 
 the great religious publishing houses for Sunday 
 school workers, and the Journal of Religious 
 Education should be upon the table in the class- 
 room. The fresh discussions appearing upon 
 these pages will prove very suggestive, and the 
 teacher will find constant opportunity for refer- 
 ence to the writings of experts and practical 
 workers. 
 
 Method of Teaching. The lecture method is one 
 of the surest means of killing the teacher-training 
 
 29 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 class. Careful questioning, thorough discussions, 
 supplemental readings, the drawing of maps, 
 reports from personal observation, and some 
 practice teaching, will give abundant variety. 
 This is not a class for Bible study alone, nor does 
 it aim simply to add to the intelligence of the 
 students. It is to be a real class for training 
 teachers, hence the problems of the teacher's 
 work should have prominence throughout. Ex- 
 aminations have their place, but they are the 
 mere by-products of the work. Frequent written 
 tests, drills, and reviews are essential to thorough 
 teaching, and will remove all fear of examination 
 when students have been true to their obligations 
 in preparing the lessons. The effort of the teacher 
 should constantly lead to thought and expression. 
 Mere memory tests do not train teachers. The 
 just criticism against the short courses is that 
 they too often attempt simply to impart informa- 
 tion, and make no provision for calling the teach- 
 ing ability into action or guiding it toward real 
 service. Facts about the Bible and facts about 
 the child are important, but they come far short 
 of true preparation of the teacher. The great aim 
 should be to develop the personality of the stu- 
 dent, to turn him to the investigation of child 
 life, to thought upon the problems of the Sunday 
 school as an organization, to inquire regarding 
 the methods of teaching, and to a deeper consid- 
 
 30 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 eration of the questions of personal religious 
 influence. 
 
 Training for Special Work. Not many months 
 will pass before members of the class will begin to 
 show special aptitude for different departments 
 of Sunday school work. Then the work of spe- 
 cial training should begin and should receive 
 attention along with the regular study. Assign- 
 ments of reference reading can be made so as to 
 direct the future primary teacher. Under this 
 personal direction far more thorough study of 
 the younger child should be made than was pos- 
 sible in the class hour. Or the young man can 
 be directed to the study of the adolescent years 
 and of boys' work in particular, and given assign- 
 ments of reading and investigation that will 
 enable him to see the possibilities of usefulness 
 in that particular field and prepare him, in a 
 measure, to be a real boys' teacher. Such aids in 
 specialization should be carefully selected, as the 
 desire or ability of the individual members of the 
 class develop. Nor should the teacher wait for 
 spontaneous expression from the pupils, but 
 should study them carefully with the immediate 
 field of work and its future development in view, 
 and should take time for careful interviews with 
 the members regarding a congenial department 
 of service. Reports of special studies should 
 receive careful attention, because they will mean 
 
 31 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 not only the expression of the pupils' interest but 
 will rapidly extend the sympathy and insight of 
 the class. Let the teacher comment upon these 
 reports and praise whatever is done well, but 
 also discuss frankly those aspects of the subjects 
 which may need fuller treatment or emphasis. 
 The reading must be followed closely by the 
 teacher to see that it is done and that it awakens 
 within the student a deeper interest in the spe- 
 cial departments of the school or in the methods 
 suggested. The books should be chosen for each 
 department of the school, and should be supple- 
 mented by a few of wider scope. The Graded 
 Lessons used by the school should be studied care- 
 full}', and their defects and virtues discussed. 
 The several lesson series published could also be 
 studied and compared to advantage. If the In- 
 ternational Graded Lessons are used, the treat- 
 ment of the lessons by the writers of the several 
 denominations or publishing houses will likewise 
 be found instructive. 
 
 Conventions and Institutes. The modern Sun- 
 day school has derived such great inspiration 
 and received so many of its advanced methods 
 through conventions and institutes and schools 
 of methods that they are now found essential to 
 the successful teacher. The young student will 
 find in these gatherings not only abundant sugges- 
 tion for thought but will get a new conviction 
 
 32 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 and fresh joy in the work. The attendance of the 
 class in a body at such large gatherings, whenever 
 it is possible, will often give them a new vision 
 of the possibilities of the service and of its rela- 
 tion to the problems of the Church and moral up- 
 building of the nation. 
 
 Observation Work. Professor George A. Coe in 
 an address at the San Francisco convention said : 
 "The mark of the best method will be observation 
 work, with individual analysis of what is ob- 
 served. The school itself thus becomes the essen- 
 tial object that the class endeavors to understand. 
 With definite problems in mind, each student 
 will, in the course of two years, observe and report 
 upon the w^ork of the kindergarten, a primary 
 class, a juuior class, an intermediate class, and 
 adult class, the organization of the school and of 
 its departments, the records, the finances, and the 
 methods of recruiting. After a time each student 
 will specialize upon the grade, department, or 
 function that is to be his own. He will prepare 
 lesson plans, questions, and stories, all of which 
 will be carefully criticized by the leader. After 
 considerable experience — not less than a year — 
 in this preparatory work, he may become a cadet 
 teacher, occasionally assisting in a class or tak- 
 ing entire charge of it for a Sunday, first prepar- 
 ing a plan and receiving criticism upon it; and 
 always a report upon one's experience in substi- 
 
 33 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 tute teaching should be made and criticized. 
 This scheme of training assumes, of course, that 
 the normal class is a permanent and continuous 
 part of the school. In many schools, however, a 
 less complete scheme must suffice for the present. 
 But the essentials of method are the same." Miss 
 Slattery's Guide for Teachers of Training Classes 
 suggests clearly the method and value of observa- 
 tion work. She says: "Ask the class to meet on 
 Sunday promptly ten minutes before the Sunday 
 school hour to visit a given department in your 
 own school or the best that can be found. Give 
 out notebooks to be used by the students. Mem- 
 bers must in no way interfere with the work of 
 a department or attract attention to themselves. 
 Use your own notebooks freely. Be sure to ex- 
 press your gratitude and that of your class for the 
 privilege of the visit." At the next meeting of the 
 class questions and topics like the following 
 occupy the hour: "What are the characteristics 
 of the child in this department studied? De- 
 scribe the equipment of the room visited. Was it 
 satisfactory or unsatisfactory? Why? What 
 value was there in the music? What was the 
 effect of the prayer upon the children? What 
 was the subject of the lesson? Was it fitted to 
 their needs? What was the value of the story 
 told? Have you anything to say about the clos- 
 ing session? If you were to become superintend- 
 
 34 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 ent or become a teacher in it, what change, if 
 any, would you make?" 
 
 Suggestions Based on Practical Expeeience 
 the equipment and work of the class 
 
 1. Each pupil should be provided with notebook. 
 Uniform size is desirable and a substantial book, that 
 notes may be kept for later reference. 
 
 2. Students should be encouraged to buy their own 
 reference books, especially along the line of their par- 
 ticular interests. One receives far more value from 
 book owned than from book borrowed. 
 
 3. There should be a Worker's Library owned by the 
 church — a few carefully selected books relating to each 
 department of the Sunday school. This library should 
 be kept alive, and be in charge of some one who will 
 guard it faithfully, and, above all, see that the books 
 adapted to the needs of students are brought to the at- 
 tention of the officers and teachers. 
 
 4. Reading should be assigned by the teacher — 
 definite chapters and pages. 
 
 5. The teacher should see that reading is done, and 
 should require regular reports stating number of pages 
 read. 
 
 6. State what chapters were most helpful. 
 
 7. What article in Sunday school weeklies or month- 
 lies have you read with special help? What suggestion 
 was of particular interest and value? 
 
 8. Put in your own words the best thought regarding 
 Sunday school work that you have read within the last 
 month. 
 
 9. The object is to learn how to read books and get 
 at the heart of them rapidly; to learn how to make the 
 best of them one's own. 
 
 35 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 10. Reading with a direct object in view is easy and 
 interesting. A brief, clear summing up is fine dis- 
 cipline. 
 
 11. Blackboard, maps, Bible dictionary should be 
 available. 
 
 12. Learn the use of the stereoscope and stereograph. 
 (N. B. — Note list of approved books in Appendix.) 
 
 36 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFIGEKS 
 
 IV 
 
 TRAINING TEACHERS ALREADY ENLISTED IN 
 THE SERVICE 
 
 Starting to Work. The training class for the 
 teacher already at work meets necessarily at some 
 midweek hour. It may be the class of teachers 
 connected with a single church or with a group of 
 churches; it is frequently an interdenominational 
 class. The organization of the teacher-training 
 class requires strong and persistent effort. The 
 lifting power of some earnest heart is often 
 needed to carry the teachers and officers of the 
 school past the fatal dead center. Leaflets are 
 important for giving accurate information, but 
 the personal appeal supplies the inspiration that 
 more frequently secures action and organization. 
 Absent treatment is rarely eft'eotive. The public 
 meeting is sometimes a valuable means of kin- 
 dling interest, but its impressions must be fol- 
 lowed by careful enrollment and explanation. The 
 teachers, officers, and friends of the school should 
 be called together and a broad view of the work 
 and the responsibility of teachers clearly stated 
 by some one capable of speaking effectively 
 and of furnishing practical information. The 
 value of preparation for the work of teaching can 
 here be presented in a more definite way. A loose 
 
 37 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 and careless beginning invites failure. The effort 
 to organize a class by mere announcement from 
 pulpit or superintendent's desk is seldom suffi- 
 cient. Where the class is large, it should be 
 organized according to the plan of the Adult 
 Bible Class, with a president, vice-president, 
 secretary, treasurer, teacher, and three commit- 
 tees. The membership committee will enroll new 
 members, look after the laggards, and help sus- 
 tain interest in the attendance. The social com- 
 mittee can do much to maintain class spirit and 
 provide delightful social hours for the group 
 working together. The devotional committee can 
 sustain the finer religious spirit of the class, and 
 bind them together by emphasizing the deeper 
 purpose that underlies all true teaching in the 
 Sunday school : the winning of souls and build- 
 ing Christian character. 
 
 The Time Problem. The time problem is always 
 a serious one. Teachers are busy people. The 
 Lord has little use for people who have no work 
 of their own. The majority of our teachers come 
 from stores and offices and schoolrooms, from 
 factories and farms and kitchens. Many of them 
 are teaching at great personal sacrifice. And yet 
 it is the busy and capable people who are willing, 
 in answer to the call of duty and with the pros- 
 pect of a great service, to undertake new tasks. 
 The gold supply has been vastly increased in the 
 
 38 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 past ten years not so much by large diggings from 
 Alaskan fields and African mines as by the newer 
 refining process which saves the gold from the 
 dump heap. Christian workers must use to-day 
 this fine application of method to time values. 
 "Time is money," and if ever time yielded rich 
 assay of golden hours, it is in the service of reli- 
 gious education. The results of the refiner's test- 
 ing for refuse minutes, the careful weighing of 
 wasted hours in the balance, seldom fail to 
 remove all excuses. It is a question of three hours 
 a week or a little more — two hours of faithful 
 study and another hour for recitation and review 
 and study of methods. 
 
 The Consecration of Time. There is a still higher 
 ideal of the use of time than merely the careful 
 assortment; this is to give it freely, to give it at 
 a sacrifice, to take it away from some valued and 
 yet lesser call, and to bestow it as an offering. 
 We approve the sacrifice when a man devotes his 
 entire life to some great service; but there may 
 be just as true a value and as high a motive in 
 giving a part of the time. The finer spiritual dis- 
 cernment that is cutting aw^ay the partition be- 
 tween the sacred and the secular helps us to see 
 that it is not the missionary to foreign lands, or 
 the minister in the pulpit, or the worker in the 
 slum, who is to win this world, but that by far 
 the largest part of the work must be done by those 
 
 39 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 who give some time week by week from busy lives. 
 This is not a dragging down of the sacred, nor a 
 belittling of the Christian ministry, but the up- 
 lifting of the service of the layworker. The dis- 
 paragement of gifts and efforts by those who can 
 only give something in everyday service is one of 
 the pathetic things about religious life. How 
 often have we seen the earnest man who longs to 
 serve but thinks that all real work for God 
 belongs to the ordained ministry'! Or how often 
 the woman is found whose heart is heavy because 
 she could not go as a missionary or take some 
 far-away task ! And yet there is service for them 
 in the community right at hand and they see it 
 not. The recognition of the dignity of the tasks 
 at one's own doors is a sign of advanced Christian 
 enlightenment. Work that costs nothing brings 
 little joy. In even heavy and hard-pressed lives 
 fragments of time can be saved. If some of the 
 hours spent in the blustering and nerve-racking 
 activities called church work be devoted to 
 thoughtful preparation for a higher type of serv- 
 ice, we shall have far greater joy in the effort and 
 a far larger number of sheaves at the harvest 
 time. The hours spent in ordinary church 
 suppers, which often bring nothing but a little 
 money and a passing satisfaction to an overfed 
 crowd, may profitably be devoted to a course of 
 study that will lift the standard of the Sunday 
 
 40 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 school aud chauge the life of scores of young 
 people in the community. 
 
 The Choice of a Teacher. The choice of a 
 teacher is sometimes a perplexing question. The 
 pastor is ordinarily chosen because he is the 
 natural leader in religious work and the most 
 scholarly student of the problems involved. 
 Sometimes, however, a teacher trained in public 
 school or college work is found to be the natural 
 leader, or, again, some teacher who is eminently 
 successful in the Sunday school is immediately 
 selected. The work is essentially cooperative. 
 All are seekers after knowledge together; no one 
 needs to be driven. Much of the benefit is derived 
 from discussion and from exchange of views. In 
 these conditions the class can derive great ad- 
 vantage from the work even without a skilled 
 and well-trained teacher. The immediate inter- 
 ests and responsibilities are an incentive to work. 
 The great need is ever before tlieni. The constant 
 practical application is at hand. The deep sym- 
 pathy and unity of spirit give a unique tone to 
 the class of teachers and make the problem of a 
 leader for this class far less serious than it first 
 appears. It is often well worth wliile to secure 
 the services of a teacher of skill and experience 
 from outside the local church. In such a case 
 the work of this teacher should be ]>aid for with 
 promptness and liberality. 
 
 41 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 Examination. In a class of teachers and older 
 students there is often found a large number who 
 hesitate to prepare written work or who fear the 
 examinations. Some of these teachers have been 
 long out of school, and a written test is looked 
 upon with dread. If there is a large number of 
 such persons, it may seriously hinder the work of 
 the class. They lack definite aim, and do not 
 feel the same call to study or to regular attend- 
 ance. They are apt to seek the benefit of the class 
 only for the instruction given by the teacher and 
 the discussion, and to give little attention to the 
 study of the textbook or supj)lemental reading. 
 If they drop out of the work, attention is called 
 to the diminishing attendance of the class; the 
 effort is discouraging to the more faithful stu- 
 dents. If they remain, they impede the regular 
 progress of the class. A definite goal is necessary 
 for the runner. A carefully laid course of study, 
 examinations, and recognition at the end are of 
 great value to most students. The certificate or 
 diploma is a powerful incentive to work. Fre- 
 quent short written tests, review^s, and drills will 
 prepare the way for examination and prove a 
 valuable discipline. The fear of examination in 
 any of the more elementarj^ courses is quite need- 
 less for the careful student. 
 
 The Actual Work of the Class. Encourage care- 
 ful use of notebooks and a reasonable assignment 
 
 42 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 of reference reading for each week. See that the 
 reading is done, and ask for reports and for sig- 
 nificant results. Expect students to know when a 
 lesson is well taught. Lead them to formulate 
 clearl}' the main objectives of teaching. Study 
 how to reach the pupil's point of view and how 
 to plan a lesson. Give time to the subject of illus- 
 tration, to examples, and to practical application. 
 Study how to describe vividly and to make the 
 vital elements in the narratives clear. Learn how 
 to use the dramatic illustrations and climactic 
 situations in the great biblical narratives. Give 
 much time to the study of characters, not only 
 describing them, but making comparison between 
 biblical characters and the great characters of 
 Christian history. Learn how to analyze a spe- 
 cific character, and by studying the historical 
 surroundings, motives, and spirit of the time, to 
 enter into sympathy and gain some estimate of 
 the value of the lifework. Story-telling may be 
 made an effective feature of class work, so that it 
 will become far more than practice work; it will 
 become fascinating and delightful as a relief 
 from severe drill and the harder study in the ordi- 
 nary class routine. Cultivate the use of the im- 
 agination, and especially the power to draw word 
 pictures. Use the direct narrative and the pres- 
 ent tense. Let each one be asked to tell the favor- 
 ite Bible story and other carefully chosen stories 
 
 43 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 taken directly from life, from literature, and from 
 history. 
 
 Develop Teaching Power. Discuss freely ex- 
 pressional activities. Report experiments in 
 simple methods of securing activities from the 
 pupils. Be careful that siich activity is really an 
 expression of the religious nature. The Sunday 
 school cannot do ever^'thing, and we should recog- 
 nize that its opportunity' for genuine laboratory 
 work is very limited. Teach how to use the Bible. 
 Guide the class in teaching how to pray, in show- 
 ing the relation of the pupil to the Church, and 
 in inciting a love for it. Study how freedom and 
 reverence can be attained together. A love for 
 the Church and a joyful appreciation of the 
 duties as well as the privileges of the Church 
 should be a definite part of the instruction. Abil- 
 ity to teach is not limited to a few; it may be 
 cultivated, and by careful attention it may be 
 developed. The results of specific types of teach- 
 ing in the individual, in the class, and in the 
 school as a whole should be carefully studied. 
 There may be splendid machinery and skilled 
 workmen with little product. It should also be 
 made clear that team work and the unity of spirit 
 in striving constantly toward the one main end 
 are essential to effective teaching. 
 
 The Direct Aim. Valuable as the study of child 
 nature and methods of teaching is. it must be 
 
 44 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 clearly understood that the chief objective of 
 Sunday school teaching — the winning to Christ 
 and building up of Christian character — must 
 always be kept in view, or the teaching fails. 
 These studies are important, but they are only 
 important as they are used as a means to an end. 
 Whenever the teacher becomes lost in the process 
 the teaching fails. Dr. J. M. Rice, in Scientific 
 Management in Education, says: "It is possible 
 to attain ninety per cent in pedagogy and ten per 
 cent in ability to teach, because pedagogy and 
 psychology may be mere memory studies. Suc- 
 cess in teaching does not, after all, depend upon 
 the ability of the teacher, nor even on the train- 
 ing of the teacher, nor yet on the size of the class, 
 nor on the time spent in study, nor on the equip- 
 ment, but depends upon something inherent in 
 the teaching." And this one thing needful he 
 finds is to aim at definite results. Failure in this 
 directness means failure in awakening in pupils 
 the power to think for themselves. The new 
 methods of education call for the power to think, 
 not merely to remember what was said in the 
 book. If teaching must be measured by its 
 results and not by its methods, then Sunday 
 school teaching is to be measured by its results 
 in Christian conduct. Winning to Christ is at 
 once the end and the beginning of the Sunday 
 school teacher's task. It is the aim, never lost 
 
 45 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 until the consent is given in unconditional sur- 
 render to Christ. It then yields to the great task 
 of helping the growing Christian to build a char- 
 acter in Christ. Every strong, clear-minded man 
 turns to some one and says with gratitude, "He 
 was my teacher." Everyone who has truly found 
 Christ has felt a handclasp and followed in con- 
 fidence a footstep on the upward way toward the 
 cross. 
 
 Privileges of Service. Teaching in the Sunday 
 school is the highest opportunity offered to many 
 busy men and women for expressing their own 
 deepest convictions about what is worth while 
 in life. The inspiring and constructive value of 
 this influence, as the complement to the duties of 
 home and business, has seldom been estimated 
 at its true spiritual worth. The teacher has 
 often failed to appreciate the meaning of such 
 expression to his own life. It is an avocation, a 
 higher calling, running alongside the daily 
 struggle for bread. It is a consecration of leisure 
 to the noblest ends of religious education. The 
 value of teaching to the teacher will mean more 
 and more thorough the years as greater skill is 
 gained and fruit in the lives of others is seen. 
 Groszman, in The Career of the Child, says: 
 "Indeed, teaching is esentially a spiritual thing. 
 All depends upon the spirit in which information 
 is imparted, upon the ideal toward which knowl- 
 
 46 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 edge is directed ; upon the educator's power to 
 strengthen the will, to inspire the heart, to en- 
 noble the aspirations of his pupil. ... It is not 
 so much a matter of what ideals a teacher teaches 
 as of what ideals are in his own heart. These 
 ideals will influence his entire manner. There 
 must be absolute fairness and self-control, unfail- 
 ing cheerfulness and sympathy, a readiness to 
 appreciate the pupil's side of the problem and to 
 forget his own ; a loving interest in the individual 
 needs of each child, a wise discernment of causes 
 and effects, physical, moral, and intellectual ; a 
 tactful attitude toward the parents whose co- 
 operation must be secured, the influences of 
 heredity and environment having been discreetly 
 studied ; a ready heart and a willing hand to help 
 the most forlorn and abandoned little soul and 
 neglected body even more promptly than the 
 dainty child of wealth and winning manners. 
 'Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy 
 laden, and I will give you rest.' We must be 
 meek and lowly and glorify ourselves by service." 
 
 Observation Work for Teachers in Charge of Classes 
 
 Report in writing to be discussed in class, with sug- 
 gestions by the teacher of training class, as a basis for 
 practice wcrk, or observation of one's own teaching. 
 
 1. Age and number of pupils taught? 
 
 2. What are the special needs of these pupils? 
 
 3. What was the aim of the lesson taught? 
 
 47 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 4. What particular need in their lives did it meet? 
 
 5. How did you secure a point of contact with the 
 class and win attention? 
 
 6. How did you retain this interest? How did you 
 secure variety and movement in use of subject matter? 
 
 7. What special difficulties did you have in teaching 
 this lesson? 
 
 8. What story did you tell? Was it successful? 
 
 9. Give one or more questions that you asked last 
 Sunday? Did they work well? If not, why? 
 
 10. What forms of expression did you secure from 
 
 class besides talking, last Sunday? 
 
 * 
 
 Reixforcing the Persoxality Of THE Teacher 
 Professor W. C. Bagley secured from one hundred 
 school men the qualities each believed to be implied in 
 the term "Personality." These in order of their im- 
 portance were: 
 
 1. Sympathy. 6. Enthusiasm. 
 
 2. Personal appearance. 7. Scholarship. 
 
 3. Address. 8. Vitality. 
 
 4. Sincerity. 9. Fairness. 
 
 5. Optimism. 10. Reserve or dignity. 
 
 Ask each student to study these qualities with care. 
 Then ask which we especially need to cultivate, and in 
 what way can we strengthen the personal teaching 
 power? Which can be modified by the person himself? 
 
 Suggestions for the Week-Day Class of Teachers and 
 Students 
 
 1. Ask from each one a pledge of at least one year's 
 work. 
 
 2. Enroll as many teachers as will come; do not wait 
 for all. 
 
 48 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 3. Do not burden the teacher of the training class with 
 anything but the teaching. 
 
 4. Secure a businesslike organization. A card record 
 should be kept with accuracy. Reports of all committees 
 should be submitted in writing, and put on record. 
 
 5. Find a real business leader for president. More 
 classes fail from lack of clear-cut organization than from 
 poor teaching. 
 
 6. Do thorough work. Demand definite preparation 
 of the lesson from every one. 
 
 7. As the work progresses let each one select some 
 special department for individual study. Organize, 
 wherever possible, study groups for specialization. 
 
 8. In teaching, avoid mere memory tasks. Go slowly. 
 It takes time to assimilate important subjects. 
 
 9. Take time to study the Bible itself. Study about it 
 will never make Bible students. 
 
 10. Guard the time of class work jealously. Do not 
 allow interruptions, 
 
 11. A prompt beginning and a prompt ending are alike 
 of great value. 
 
 12. Examinations are to give proof that one has a 
 certain amount of knowledge in a definitely organized 
 form. It is valuable in giving aim and accuracy to study. 
 
 13. Let the teacher constantly suggest reading and 
 assign definite chanters and pages in the workers' 
 library. Encourage research work. Make much of ob- 
 servation during week, followed by careful discussion 
 and application of principles studied in the course. 
 
 (N. B. — Note List of Approved Books in Appendix.) 
 
 49 
 
THE TKAINI^^G OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 TRAINING BY SCHOOLS OF METHODS, CORRE- 
 SPONDENCE, AND GRADED UNION 
 
 History of the School of Methods. In July, 1894, 
 *'The Summer School of Primary Methods" met 
 at Asbury Park, New Jersey, under State Asso- 
 ciation auspices. It invited none but graded 
 teachers, and offered them only graded help. At 
 its third annual session the need was felt for 
 making distinctions by grade among the many 
 subjects of Primary Sunday school instruction 
 which had hitherto been taught to the children 
 indiscriminately. The attendance of numerous 
 Junior teachers and superintendents at Asbury 
 Park led, in 1899, to the holding of a separate 
 Junior Section for their benefit, with Mrs. M. J. 
 Kennedy as leader. Since those early days the 
 multiplication of summer schools for graded Sun- 
 day school teachers has gone on. Many of the 
 schools held have been noteworthy and influential 
 far beyond the localities to which they have min- 
 istered. The rapid assimilation of the Graded 
 Lessons is traceable, in part, to the silent influ- 
 ence of these seminnries of graded thought and 
 rallying points of graded fellowship. The name 
 "Summer School" has been associated with this 
 
 50 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 work almost entirely, but owing to the fact that 
 many schools are now held in the winter in the 
 cities, the name "School of Methods" has been 
 adopted by the International Committee on Edu- 
 cation. There has been a steady development of 
 the schools until, in 1913, there were about thirty- 
 six, and every section of the country is repre- 
 sented in one of these. 
 
 The Aim of the School of Methods. First, to 
 offer instruction in the principles of teaching, 
 the material, and methods for specialized Sun- 
 day school work. Its work has been confined in 
 large measure to Primary teachers and almost 
 exclusively to elementary workers, but with the 
 growth of departmental organization, instruction 
 in all grades and departments of the Sunday 
 school has now become necessary, and the 
 stronger schools invite also teachers of the more 
 advanced grades. Another aim is to initiate 
 teachers into the goodly fellowship of Sunday 
 school workers and especially into the grade in 
 which their own teaching is done. 
 
 Organization. In order to promote and main- 
 tain such a school successfully, it is necessary to 
 find a few men and women of real vision and 
 determination, and to enlist them. It is essential 
 to develop a local nucleus, however small; but 
 it is also important to secure the support of some 
 State Association, city organization, or denomi- 
 
 51 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 national board, which will guarantee the support 
 and promote the interest of the school. Amid 
 the many calls to recreation and the multitude of 
 religious and educational interests, attendance 
 at such schools can be secured only by most care- 
 ful and persistent methods of securing enroll- 
 ment. 
 
 Committee. An independent committee which 
 represents the interests that are to be served is 
 essential. It is the duty of the committee to de- 
 termine the policy of the school, to outline its 
 program, to secure its instructors, and to further 
 its interests with unceasing energy. In the 
 Asbury Park School it is said that the meetings 
 of this committee are held once a month through- 
 out the year, and that at least forty hours a year 
 are given to the preparation of the program. 
 
 Four Types of School. Three of these types are 
 described by the Rev. E. Morris Fergusson as 
 follows : 
 
 ''The first, which may be called the New 
 Jersey type, is interdenominational, week-long, 
 supported by a State Sunday School Association, 
 but drawing together an inter-State body of stu- 
 dents, emphasizing specialization, maintaining 
 itself as a permanent annual institution, and 
 gathering around itself an ever-increasing body 
 of alumni, loyal not so much to the institution as 
 to the principles and ideals for which it stands. 
 
 52 
 
TEACHERS AND OEEJCEKS 
 
 Such a summer school is far more than an insti- 
 tute for local workers; it is a seminary of prog- 
 ress, a club of idealists, a base of operations for 
 the continuous carrying on of a campaign of 
 reform. Every one of the summer schools which 
 have reached this standard of institutional life 
 for as much as three consecutive years has been 
 a positive factor in the development and a special 
 force in the guidance of North American Sunday 
 school progress. 
 
 ''The second type is either denominational or 
 interdenominational and is held on the grounds 
 of a summer assembly, occupying ten days or two 
 weeks of its program, adding some of the as- 
 sembly's attractions to its own scheme of lectures 
 and section work and placing large emphasis on 
 recreation, popular attractions, and famil}^ vaca- 
 tion life. 
 
 "The third type is the institute summer school, 
 which may be either denominational, interde- 
 nominational, or personal. The essential char- 
 acteristic of this type of school is direct control 
 on the part of the supporting interest. The Exec- 
 utive Committee, through the general secretary 
 or a small subcommittee of business men, decides 
 where and when the school shall be held, engages 
 a force of lecturers and section leaders, gets out 
 the advertising, and holds the school. The speak- 
 ers chosen represent the Executive Committee's 
 
 53 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 ideas as to what the students of that school 
 ought to be given. No serious effort is made to 
 elicit, develop, and organize the public opinion 
 of the student body, or to encourage the sur- 
 rounding churches to think of the summer school 
 as their own Sunday school university, and to 
 make it from year to year a part of their regular 
 Sunday school life." 
 
 The fourth type is the school of methods held 
 in the city in the autumn or winter. Within the 
 last two or three years a number of cities have 
 tried the organization of schools of methods in 
 the autumn or winter. They have found it pos- 
 sible to call together during a week two or three 
 hundred, or even more, of their officers and teach- 
 ers. They have secured specialists in each de- 
 partment of the school from the best talent of the 
 land, and have developed a unity of purpose for 
 the schools of a city, and have elevated the stand- 
 ards for each department, and have sent back 
 many workers to the local churches with far 
 higher ideals of service. The late afternoon and 
 evening hours are often the only ones in which 
 it is possible to secure a large attendance ; but by 
 providing dinner or luncheon at reasonable 
 price, the busy teachers from stores, offices, shops, 
 and homes assemble for four or five hours of 
 earnest work. 
 
 Enrollment and Expenses. Plans for enrollment 
 54 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 should begin some months in advance, through 
 the announcements of the school and corre- 
 spondence. It is, however, usually' impossible to 
 obtain a full list of prosj)ective students until 
 the opening of the school. The expenses are met 
 in part by fees paid by students, usually one 
 dollar each. As these will not meet all expenses, 
 however, the committee must be prepared to 
 stand financially responsible. 
 
 The Program. The first important step is to 
 determine the needs of the field. There must be 
 a clear objective and a careful survey of actual 
 condition. With this information and these high 
 ideals in mind, the program should be carefully 
 outlined some months in advance, and the sub- 
 jects should be placed before speakers. It should 
 be determined with great care who should meet 
 the Beginners, the Primary workers, and offer 
 real leadership for each department of the school. 
 Hard work should be expected and the program 
 made so complete that there shall be no waste 
 time. This is not a time for lectures and 
 speeches, but a school for earnest work. The 
 central aim has always been to fit teachers for 
 the different departments of the school, to de- 
 velop teaching talent, and to fit local leaders for 
 the responsibility^ in their churches. No appeal 
 is so strong as the assurance that there will be 
 thorough lesson planning and real study, and 
 
 55 
 
THE TRAIN1:N'G of SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 that the instruction will be iu the hands of tried 
 and successful teachers. 
 
 General and Special Periods. There should be 
 one or more hours each day in which the school 
 meets together. The Bible study, which must be 
 part of every school program, is best adapted to 
 this assembly hour, and this should be not only 
 inspirational and devotional in spirit but have 
 especially in view the use of the Bible in teach- 
 ing. With this specific study, the profit which 
 always comes from thorough and devout atten- 
 tion to its pages will be found, but there will be 
 the more direct object offered teachers, and they 
 will go away enriched with a view of the use of 
 the Bible in their own departments given them 
 by a master interpreter. 
 
 The following is the standard adopted by the 
 Educational Committee for a School of Methods : 
 
 1. That the faculty and program of the proposed school 
 
 be taken up for approval by this committee on 
 recommendation of the State Association. 
 
 2. That the program of the school provide for each 
 
 student not less than four hours of work daily, for 
 five days. 
 
 3. That the subjects on which instruction shall be given 
 
 shall be at least the three following: 
 The Bible; 
 
 The science and art of teaching; 
 Sunday school management and methods; and 
 That there shall be at least five periods of forty 
 minutes each. 
 
 56 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 4. That the program provide instruction for at least two 
 
 of the recognized grades of the Sunday school. 
 (This is interpreted by the committee to mean that 
 instruction shall be offered in these grades during 
 five days.) 
 
 5. The standard for the certificate shall be: 
 
 (a) Attendance of the student on at least fifteen hours 
 of the work. (In order to secure certificate, the 
 student shall complete work of five periods in 
 at least two departments other than Bible 
 study; one of these, however, may be taken in 
 general study of child nature.) 
 
 (&) Recommendation by the management of the 
 school, based upon approval of notebooks or 
 such other examinations as they may require. 
 
 (c) Report by the management of enrollment by 
 grades and attendance, according to form fur- 
 nished by the committee. 
 
 This standard is considered only tentative, not 
 final nor satisfactory. With the more careful 
 work in the establishment of schools upon a 
 better basis, it will be found advisable to offer a 
 course extending through three or four years in 
 the schools which have attracted a regular at- 
 tendance. Indeed, in a number of cases, there 
 has been a falling off on account of the fact that 
 there has been no advance in the program of 
 the school — the same courses are offered year 
 by year and the attempt is made to attract 
 students simply by a change of teachers. A 
 steady development in the course alone will 
 
 57 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 command the interest of those who are sincere 
 students. The work heretofore has been nearly 
 all confined to the elementary teachers. To 
 develop interest in the Intermediate and Senior 
 departments and the adult work, a far wider 
 range of instruction must be offered. Classes 
 for teachers of Intermediate boys and girls, 
 for Senior students and various types of adult 
 classes are everywhere needed. Coaching classes 
 under expert leaders for teachers of training 
 classes should be formed where instruction re- 
 garding the methods of work and discussion of 
 problems could be offered. 
 
 COEEESPONDENCE COUBSES 
 
 Teaching by correspondence has proved successful by 
 actual experiment to such a degree that more than 
 thirty universities are now offering extension work by 
 this method. Classroom work has certain marked ad- 
 vantages, and yet teaching by mail employs the spare 
 time of the student, enables him to work at home, and 
 develops self-reliance. Each lesson can be criticized by 
 the teacher. Many students and teachers in the Sunday 
 school who cannot attend training classes, or who are 
 unable to secure instruction in the more advanced work, 
 can now avail themselves of courses by correspondence. 
 A number of denominational boards are offering ex- 
 tended courses with careful supervision of the work. 
 Full information will be given on application. 
 
 The Board of Sunday Schools of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church is offering six courses of study by cor- 
 
 58 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 respondence to meet the wants of teachers in the dif- 
 ferent departments of the school, including a special 
 course for superintendents. Each course consists of 
 three textbooks, and the courses are conducted by means 
 of printed instruction sheets. The department of Edu- 
 cation of the American Baptist Publication Society offers 
 its courses by the correspondence method under the 
 direct instruction of the secretary of the board. The 
 Sunday school boards of other denominations make 
 provision for special cases, but have not as yet announced 
 definite plans for correspondence work. They stand 
 ready, however, to assist students who can take work 
 only by correspondence. 
 
 The American Institute of Sacred Literature is a de- 
 partment of the Chicago University, and offers a full 
 series of teacher-training courses. These are: (1) A 
 course upon the Origin and Religious Teaching of the 
 Old Testament Books, giving a careful, rapid survey of 
 the Old Testament; (2) A similar course on the New 
 Testament; (3) A course in Pedagogical Principles for 
 Sunday School Teachers. 
 
 The Hartford School of Religious Pedagogy, Hartford, 
 Connecticut, offers correspondence courses for Sunday 
 school workers, ministers, and others. It is intended 
 that these courses shall stand for real work and furnish 
 that which will be both a benefit in itself and a sugges- 
 tion of the greater advantages that are available in the 
 full course of study at the school. Twenty lessons are 
 offered in each course, and these are so planned that, 
 if a student can give four or five hours a week to the 
 subject, he may finish the course within the school year. 
 For the completion of not less than three courses a year, 
 through a period of two years, a diploma will be given. 
 The courses offered are: The Bible; Christian Doctrine; 
 Church History; Psychology (covering Genetic Psy- 
 
 59 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 chology and the Psychology of Religion); Pedagogy 
 (covering Elements of Religious Pedagogy and Stories 
 and Story-Telling in Moral and Religious Education) ; 
 and Home Economics. 
 
 Graded Unions 
 
 A Graded Union is an organization of the Sunday 
 school teachers of a city or town, and is usually affili- 
 ated with the city or county Sunday school association. 
 Its object is to provide mutual acquaintance by Chris- 
 tian fellowship and prayer, to study courses recom- 
 mended for specialization, to stimulate active interest 
 in the study of children and all that pertains to their 
 development, physical, mental, moral, and spiritual, to 
 discuss topics relating to the work and to confer about 
 problems and needs, to provide for the exposition and 
 presentation of Sunday school lessons for the various 
 departments represented, and to assist in all movements 
 which will further the work of the Sunday school. 
 
 There are at the present time two hundred such unions 
 in the United States, enrolling about seventy-five hun- 
 dred teachers. The elementary teachers alone were in- 
 terested in these unions until recently. Now teachers of 
 Intermediate classes, and in a few instances teachers 
 of adult classes have united in the work, and the scope 
 is continually enlarging. These unions meet once a 
 week, except during vacation season; a few are biweekly, 
 and in certain of the smaller towns only a monthly 
 meeting is held. In several of the larger cities, in ad- 
 dition to the regular afternoon meeting, an evening 
 session of the union is provided to accommodate those 
 who cannot attend the afternoon hour. 
 
 The usual type of graded union has officers and five 
 permanent committees — Devotional, Membership, In- 
 struction, Music, and Social — in addition to the Execu- 
 
 60 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 tive Committee. It is expected to hold an institute each 
 year. Since the adoption of the Graded Lessons, interest 
 in unions has been constantly growing. In many of 
 them one period is given to a teacher-training lesson, 
 and specialization in story-telling and practice teaching 
 are part of the regular program. 
 
 61 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
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TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 VI 
 THE CITY TRAINING SCHOOL 
 
 History. Within the past four years the city 
 training school has passed the experimental 
 stage and become a definite institution for the 
 training of Sunday school officers and teachers. 
 This movement began in Cleveland, Ohio, in 
 response to the need of a large number of teach- 
 ers of training classes, and proved so effective 
 that it was soon taken up by a number of other 
 cities. Des Moines, Denver, Lincoln, Seattle, 
 Hartford, Cincinnati, Fort Worth, New Orleans, 
 and Edmonton are among the cities in which 
 schools have been organized and conducted with 
 success. 
 
 Aims. Its chief purposes are: 
 
 (1) To fit teachers of training classes for spe- 
 cific duties in their own churches, 
 
 (2) To present the most efiicient plans of or- 
 ganization and methods of management to super- 
 intendents and officers. 
 
 (3) To place the most practical methods of 
 teaching approved by modern education, so far 
 as they apply to the Sunday school, within the 
 reach of the teachers. 
 
 (4) To provide special training for the teach- 
 ers of each department of the Sunday school. 
 
 63 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 Organization. The preliminary organization of 
 the Training School is effected : 
 
 (1) Through a Council composed of one or 
 more representatives from each Sunday school 
 of the city. This Council is a permanent body, 
 holding meetings at least once a quarter, and 
 determines the general policy and plans of the 
 school. The existing organizations, such as the 
 County or City Sunday School Association, the 
 Ministers' Union, the Graded Union, the Young 
 Men's Christian Association, and the Young 
 Women's Christian Association, should be con- 
 sulted and asked to cooperate. 
 
 (2) Through the oi3Scers of the school. The 
 Council shall name the Executive Committee of 
 five who shall be representative of the best inter- 
 ests of religious education, and a principal, or 
 dean, who shall be a member of the Executive 
 Committee. In addition, there shall be a presi- 
 dent, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer. 
 This Executive Committee shall choose the 
 faculty of the school, and in consultation with 
 its teachers select all text and reference books. 
 
 Instructors. These may be: College professors, 
 public school teachers, successful Sunday school 
 teachers, ministers, Bible students, and men and 
 women of marked fitness and interest. There is 
 little difficulty in finding instructors in any city 
 
 64 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 or town. The work of these instructors in the 
 school itself is usually voluntary. 
 
 Expenses. A fee of |1 or |2 for each student is 
 charged to meet the incidental expenses of the 
 Institute. The Sunday schools in some cases pay 
 the fees for their own students. 
 
 Place of Meeting. The school is held at some 
 central church, Association building, or other 
 convenient place. It is necessary that there 
 should be a central hall with a number of con- 
 venient classrooms which can be readily equipped 
 for teaching purposes. In the equipment each 
 room should be provided with blackboard and 
 facilities for use of maps. Students should be 
 expected to purchase textbooks and provide 
 themselves with notebooks of uniform size. 
 
 Reference Library. Books for reference are 
 absolutely essential. If owned by individual 
 members, they should be made available in some 
 systematic way to all. If purchased by the 
 school, they should be under the care of a faithful 
 librarian. The city library will frequently place 
 the needed books at the disposal of students. 
 The careful choice of books is more important 
 than the purchase of a large number. 
 
 Time. Either the term or semester periods may 
 be used. The school should open with the begin- 
 ning of the public school year, and should plan 
 for at least thirty weeks of work aside from exam- 
 
 65 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 inations and general exercises. The year may 
 either be divided into three terms of eleven or 
 twelve weeks each, or into two semesters of six- 
 teen weeks each. Careful provision should be 
 made for vacations at holidays and summer sea- 
 son. It should be made clear that this is a 
 school with regular sessions, and that nothing 
 is allowed to interfere with its regular program. 
 Its work is steady, not incidental. 
 
 Periods. The meetings are held one evening a 
 week, and the work of each evening is divided 
 into two periods. The first is the lecture period 
 of forty-five minutes in which the school meets 
 in a body. The program consists of opening wor- 
 ship, announcement, and the lecture of the eve- 
 ning. The lecturer should be expected to submit 
 outlines wherever possible; this should be done 
 at the expense of the school. The lectures should 
 be educational and in series, with occasional in- 
 spirational lectures. Lecturers of reputation in 
 the denominational or undenominational work, 
 with other educational leaders, should be invited 
 from time to time to give general views of move- 
 ments and methods in religious education. The 
 second is the classroom period, also of forty-five 
 minutes, in which the members of the school meet 
 in the classes in which they haA'e enrolled. The 
 number of classes is determined by the size of the 
 school, the needs of its members, and the available 
 
 66 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 instructors. The aim should be (even though the 
 classes are small) to offer instruction for each 
 department of the Sunday school. 
 
 Courses of Study. In the first period the lec- 
 tures should be given upon the historical aspect 
 of the Old and New Testaments, principles and 
 methods of education, study of child nature. In 
 the classroom work the different departments of 
 the school should receive careful attention. If 
 possible, the three departments of the elementary 
 division should be represented — Beginners, Pri- 
 mary, and Junior. In the secondary division there 
 should be classes for teachers of Intermediate 
 boys and Intermediate girls and classes of Senior 
 pupils. There should also be one or more classes 
 for teachers of adult classes. A separate class 
 should be organized for officers and superintend- 
 ents. This should be a class especially devoted 
 not only to study but to free discussion of school 
 problems. One of the most important classes 
 which should be maintained in every school is the 
 coaching class for teachers of training classes. 
 In this the teachers of the young students 
 meeting at the Sunday school hour can be 
 trained in normal methods, and given opportunity 
 for careful study and free discussion. Classes 
 should also be organized in Bible study for the 
 study of the Bible, not only its historical out- 
 lines, its characters and messages of its books, 
 
 67 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 but also for a study of the teaching values of 
 the Bible. 
 
 Use of Graded Lessons. In all of these classes 
 the different series of the Graded Lessons should 
 be used as illustrative material, but no class 
 should be devoted to the study of the next Sun- 
 day's lesson. This is a school for the study of 
 methods and their proper principles, and should 
 not be conducted as a teachers' meeting. 
 
 Enrollment. Care and diligence in securing en- 
 rollment are essential to the success of the school. 
 The committee appointed by the Council should 
 begin this work some weeks in advance and secure 
 the interest of some person in each Sunday school 
 in the city. 
 
 The Duty of the Secretary. He should keep a 
 record for each member of the school as follows : 
 
 1. Name and address and church. 
 
 2. Position and present work in Sunday school. 
 
 3. Record of attendance on training school, 
 grades, etc. 
 
 Curriculum, Examinations, and Grades. The 
 school will usually succeed best by conforming to 
 the standards which have been adopted by other 
 schools. While there must be Avide variety, still 
 an approach to a standard curriculum which has 
 been wrought out with care and from the expe- 
 rience of many schools will give strength and 
 stability to the work of the school. A definite 
 
 68 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 goal in certificates or diplomas will be found an 
 invaluable incentive to regularity and thorough- 
 ness of work. Examinations should be given at 
 the close of each term or semester. Seventy per 
 cent is the passing grade on the whole course. 
 Examinations should be conducted by the teach- 
 ers under the supervision of the principal and 
 Executive Committee. 
 
 Suggestions for Leaders. Begin and end 
 promptly. Nourish the religious spirit. Let 
 every meeting open with prayer and every class 
 close with prayer. Set high standards. Lay con- 
 stant emphasis upon home study. The work can 
 never be done successfully without systematic 
 consecration of time for preparation each week. 
 Make careful assignments of reading by pages or 
 chapters; call attention beforehand to matters of 
 special importance or difficulty, and then make 
 certain that the reading is actually done. Re- 
 ports on practice and observation work should 
 be regularly assigned and discussed in class. 
 Appeal to the higher motives. Let the dignity 
 and value of the work of the teacher of religion 
 to the Church and the nation ever stand forth in 
 its true nobility. 
 
 Value of the School. This plan for giving sys- 
 tem and common strength to the work of reli- 
 gious education is not for the large city alone. 
 The large city is the very difficult field, but the 
 
 69 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 smaller cities and the towns may carry out its 
 work with equal value if only the leadership and 
 unity of spirit are available. Fifty persons who 
 will enroll with a pledge of fidelity in their 
 hearts can give their own schools a higher edu- 
 cational rating, and their own lives the joy that 
 comes from a new vision of success in labor for 
 the Kingdom. The fresh impulse from new books, 
 counsel, and study with fellow workers will give 
 a zest to many a tired teacher and new courage 
 to many a lagging leader. 
 
 The Professional Spirit should be cultivated 
 among Sunday school teachers. The dignity of 
 their work and pride in its success should be nour- 
 ished through the studies and discussions of the 
 school. The fellowship of workers separated by 
 location and denomination will be found one of 
 its most helpful features. The sense of unity in 
 a great work should always be inspiring. The 
 study of community problems in the assembly 
 period should give the united body of workers a 
 chance to view the whole city as a field of service 
 and to discuss prayerfully the best methods of 
 enabling the Sunday school to reach its full re- 
 sponsibility for the religious education of all 
 childhood and youth. 
 
 Extension Work can sometimes be carried on to 
 advantage in various parts of the city under the 
 direction of the Executive Committee of the 
 
 70 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 school. Classes may thus be organized which 
 meet at a separate time and place. It should also 
 promote plans for advancing the standards and 
 uplifting the ideals of Sunday school work in the 
 whole city. 
 
 71 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 VII 
 
 TRAINING FOR WORK IN THE COUNTRY SUNDAY 
 SCHOOL 
 
 The Country Sunday School an Overlooked Force. 
 ''There is no single factor of righteousness in 
 civilization which can be more effective than the 
 country church," says Gifford Pinchot. "In the 
 coming reconstruction of country life," it is said 
 by another writer, ''there is no agency that can 
 fill the place of the church." The remarkable 
 interest in the country problem which has been 
 manifested in recent conventions, commissions, 
 and volumes indicates the seriousness of the 
 problem and the earnestness of the men who are 
 seeking answers for its difficulties. It is agreed 
 by leaders in this movement in recent years that 
 the country church is rather a conserving force 
 than an active one, that in the rapid changes in 
 social and industrial life the country church has 
 suffered very serious loss. In many communities 
 this amounts to paralysis. In many it is the loss 
 of numbers, in many it is the loss of vitality and 
 leadership. It is a singular thing that in study- 
 ing the many volumes and numerous articles 
 written by earnest students of the country-life 
 problem, the Sunday school is almost overlooked. 
 
 72 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 In the volume on the Rural Church, in the report 
 of The Men and Religion Movement, one will find 
 a few allusions to the Sunday school, and in the 
 last article there is mention of a teacher-training 
 class, of which the author has a record, which 
 ten years ago did some really effective work; 
 but the Sunday school as the teaching agency of 
 the Church is passed by in neglect; scarcely once 
 in fifty pages is it even mentioned. Why is this 
 blindness? Because these men have not given 
 practical study to the working of the Church, 
 because they have not considered carefully the 
 forces of religious education, because they have 
 thought of the Church simply as an organization 
 for preaching and have been fertile only in sug- 
 gesting social possibilities. 
 
 The Sunday School Holds the Key to the Country 
 Church Problem. It has a complete organization 
 for reaching the whole country life. It has the 
 Home Visitation Department for survey and 
 gathering information, the Home Department, 
 the Cradle Roll, organized classes for boys and 
 girls with week-day activities, and adult classes 
 for men and women with opportunity for discus- 
 sion and organization for leadership. It has the 
 spirit of devotion and the method of instruction. 
 The true Sunday school is the most flexible, 
 adaptable, and aggressive institution of the com- 
 munity. It uses the Sabbath and the week day, 
 
 73 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 it appeals to all ages and is organized both to 
 study the problems of the Christian life and to 
 apply them straightway in daily living. The 
 Sunday school is readily brought into unity with 
 other organizations. The lesson studied is com- 
 mon to all churches, the form of organization is 
 fairly uniform throughout the chuches, and there 
 is in every State and in nearly every county an 
 interdenominational association. In no other 
 form of activity have churches ever worked to- 
 gether with such harmony and success as in the 
 conventions, institutes, and social gatherings of 
 the Sunday schools. 
 
 Why the Training Class Should Lead the Way. 
 The training class is, in most country churches, 
 the only group organized for the study of prob- 
 lems within the local church. Its true scope is, 
 therefore, far wider than the mere training of 
 Sunday school teachers. It may include, with 
 great profit, a survey of the conditions in local 
 life which hinder religious education, and an 
 endeavor to suggest the best remedies for the 
 evils and to inspire and train leaders for specific 
 service in the various Christian activities that 
 have suffered by neglect. 
 
 It must be a class with a broad purpose. It 
 should study the Bible, but also how to teach the 
 Bible to particular ages and under special condi- 
 tions. It must study the child, for the knowledge 
 
 74 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 of child life is just as much needed for the teacher 
 of the small as for the teacher of the large class. 
 But it must study also the home, the community, 
 the public school, and local religious problems 
 as a whole, for its aim is to change conditions by 
 broad-minded, intelligent leadership. 
 
 The Class of Students. Every country church 
 should have a training class of students meeting 
 at the Sunday school hour. This may be a small 
 class, possibly only four or five in number, but 
 it may be a real class upon whose work much 
 of the future of the school depends. Their work 
 will be an elementary course, using the usual 
 Bible outlines and studies in child life and 
 methods of teaching, but, in addition, the appro- 
 priate task for such a class is the study of the 
 organization and occupations of boys and girls 
 in their teens. Let them begin with a survey, 
 that is, a careful counting of numbers and study 
 of real conditions about them. Let them ask how 
 many boys there are in the neighborhood between 
 thirteen and eighteen, how many are members of 
 the church, how many attend Sunday school, how 
 many are in day school, how many are at work 
 away from home, how many are living in their 
 own homes? Then let them ask the same ques- 
 tions regarding girls: the number of girls in the 
 neighborhood, the number in Sunday school, the 
 number in day school, the number away from 
 
 75 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 home, the number living in their own homes. In 
 this way, they really tind the most important 
 problems with which they have to deal. Then let 
 them ask what recreation, what amusements, 
 what moral influences surround these young 
 people? How do these boys and girls of the teen 
 age spend their Sundaj^s? Then let them make 
 a study of possible activities, such as baseball, 
 basketball, football, tennis, camps and picnics, 
 boating, fishing, bird study, winter sports, cam- 
 eras, singing schools, lectures, concerts, and the 
 like. Let them ask what the churches are 
 doing, what the day schools and other organiza- 
 tions are doing for the young. By correspond- 
 ence, by inquiry, and by careful study of the 
 local situation, let them be prepared to make 
 recommendations to the church and to assume 
 some positive leadership in such work. They 
 can suggest to the organized classes or depart- 
 ment for the teen years possible lines of activities 
 and offer guidance and friendship. All of this 
 lies within the real scope of a training class, for 
 this is a class whose work is far more than the 
 studying of lessons from a book. It is a class 
 that is studying how to win to Christ and build 
 up Christian character, how to make the church 
 efficient and how to promote Christian living in 
 the whole community. 
 The Class of Teachers and Officers. Can a train- 
 76 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 ing class of teachers and officers prosper in a 
 country church? The question is, Is it prac- 
 ticable? It is always needed; that is conceded 
 everywhere. It is not easy. The country is a 
 busy place. There are special difficulties, but 
 they are not greater difficulties than city people 
 meet, who out of intense lives take time for spe- 
 cial preparation in religious leadership. This 
 training class should study the country life, be- 
 cause it is frequently the only adult group study- 
 ing the problems of the church, and it must study 
 the things that are vital to the church. In addi- 
 tion to the ordinary studies of a training course 
 to which it should give careful attention, there 
 should be some time — a part of each evening, or 
 a number of the evenings — devoted to the study 
 of country-life problems. To this end, there 
 should be a small library of carefully chosen 
 books. Literature upon this important subject is 
 growing, and assignment and report of reference 
 reading will make every session full of interest. 
 Begin the study in order to recommend service 
 to the whole church. Make a study of the com- 
 munity and ascertain facts by use of the home 
 visitation plan for neighborhood, township, and 
 county. This brings exact facts of church mem- 
 bership, the number of children and adults, 
 within the possession of the class. Then let them 
 ask such questions as these: What are the church 
 
 77 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 conditions compared with ten or twenty years 
 ago? Why? What are the social and moral con- 
 ditions compared with ten or twenty years ago, 
 and why? How many people within the neigh- 
 borhood live in their own homes ? How many are 
 members of churches? What are the community 
 problems in which the church is vitally inter- 
 ested, and in which it ought to lead? What are 
 the conditions of law enforcement? What is the 
 condition of the roads? What social center is 
 there? What is the efficiency of the public 
 school? What can the church do alone? What 
 can it do in federation with other churches? 
 What can the churches do in cooperation with 
 other agencies? The problems of the individual 
 church — its finances, its grounds, its furnishings, 
 its Sunday school equipment, its music — all these 
 problems should be studied, with recommenda- 
 tions to the church and to the adult class or 
 classes. This would represent the work of months, 
 but once entered upon, these topics would prove 
 of fresh and ever-increasing interest. 
 
 The Small School. The country churches them- 
 selves must furnish the men to lead the way to 
 this moral and spiritual betterment. The country 
 is not deficient in strong characters. Of that 
 vigorous and versatile life which wins success 
 in all lines of business and professions the 
 country has furnished far more than its share. 
 
 78 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 It has sent to the city great numbers of men who 
 have reached wealth and power. Ofttimes, how- 
 ever, the country life is sadly deficient in organ- 
 ization. The churches are small and struggling; 
 they are doing much, but many of the citizens 
 even in small communities are not reached. The 
 churches do not unify the interests, nor meet the 
 needs for social life. The buildings are open one 
 or two hours a week, and the workers have little 
 thought of adapting to the country the methods 
 for the church or the Sunday school which are 
 found essential in town and city churches. "I 
 hold," says Professor Butterfield, "that the prob- 
 lem of the country church is the most important 
 aspect of the rural problem. And yet," he adds, 
 "I do not happen to know a rural church with a 
 program of work that represents a really live 
 attack upon the problems of rural civilization." 
 The betterment of country life can come only 
 through those who find it a congenial and satis- 
 factory field for service. The Country Life Com- 
 mission was wise in placing a large responsibility 
 upon the country minister, but a larger vision of 
 Christian service must be given to the layman 
 as well. The i)roblem is, at last, the training of 
 leaders. The need is felt, the material is at hand, 
 but aim, vision, and organization are wanting. 
 
 The Training Class Must Study the Problem of 
 the Small School. The small school offers so many 
 
 79 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 distinct questions that it may be considered as a 
 problem in itself. Much of the literature regard- 
 ing Sunday school methods and organization is 
 adapted to the larger schools and better-equipped 
 buildings. Many of the addresses heard in con- 
 ventions and institutes are applicable to the larger 
 numbers and more favorable conditions of Sun- 
 day school life. From them the teacher in the 
 small Sunday school frequently turns away in 
 despair. Too often the worker considers all plans 
 suggested impracticable, or, indeed, impossible in 
 the school of smaller numbers, and yet the average 
 enrollment of the schools of America is ninety-five. 
 Three fourths of the Sunday schools of America 
 are in the country or in villages of less than 
 twenty-five hundred population. According to 
 the best available statistics, more than half the 
 Sunday schools have not more than ten officers 
 and teachers. The average attendance cannot 
 be more than sixty; so that no plans for the 
 betterment of the Sunday school will prove effi- 
 cient unless they take into consideration the 
 schools where the organization must be simple, 
 and it must be made very plain that the adapta- 
 tion of methods is as practical for the small 
 group as for the large one. 
 
 Adaptation of Methods. There are no special 
 difficulties in the small school. All of the 
 methods wrought out in modern Sunday school 
 
 80 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 development can be applied in the small school. 
 They cannot, however, be utilized by mere imita- 
 tion; nor can they be imported and mechanically 
 applied. If the school has only one room, the 
 question of grading will require skill and thought- 
 fulness to meet the conditions. Where the 
 number of classes is small the adaptation of the 
 lesson cannot be made in any arbitrary way, 
 but must be carefully thought out in considering 
 the pupils who are actually there. The same 
 holds true of the general exercises of the school, 
 its period of worship, and all of its activities. 
 There are few things worth while that cannot be 
 utilized, but they must be used with common 
 sense, cleverness, and forethought. Those who 
 are not willing to approach the problem of their 
 own school in this sane, thoughtful way and make 
 the adaptations to meet the actual conditions will 
 meet with disappointment. 
 
 The Small School Should Aim at Completeness. 
 It should never be satisfied with small numbers 
 when around may be found children, young 
 people, or men and women without religious 
 instruction. But let us assume that it has met 
 the full measure of its duty in enrolling the 
 people around it. "Our school" should be a noble 
 name, although its numbers be small. Its welfare 
 and successes should incite enthusiasm as richly 
 and abundantly as the swelling numbers and 
 
 n 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 larger returns of any large school. The small 
 school may fill its place just as completely in the 
 community, accomplish the full measure of its 
 responsibility, and be just as truly an educa- 
 tional and spiritual success as the school with 
 numbers beyond the thousand mark. The type 
 of the small school is a school with five classes: 
 a Beginners, a Primary, a Junior, an Intermedi- 
 ate, and an Adult Bible Class. In this three 
 things are of supreme importance — the close, per- 
 sonal relation of the teacher to each pupil, the 
 general meeting of the school, and the teaching 
 or review by the superintendent. Where there is 
 only one room much may be done in the way of 
 class improvement, but the superintendent's 
 words, the concert reading, and the meetings of 
 the school as a large family must continue. 
 When the numbers are large enough the younger 
 children will be divided, giving two or more 
 classes to the Primary, two or more to the Junior; 
 then there is opportunity for organized classes 
 among the Intermediate boys and girls with 
 their week-day activities. A Senior class may 
 be added with a study of leadership and activ- 
 ities in addition to the training class. The men 
 and women in the adult class may also be divided ; 
 but if there be ten or more classes, the type is not 
 changed, it is only developed. 
 
 A Call to Sacrifice and Service. The country 
 82 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 church needs social service as much as the 
 country community needs the help of the church. 
 So long as preparation for a higher type of service 
 in the church is considered an irksome duty, 
 there will be little progress, but with the larger 
 vision, service and leadership will be counted a 
 privilege, and the strong characters, the bright 
 young men and women, will be ready to give the 
 time for preparation for skilled leadership. 
 There can be no healthy growth in the country- 
 church life until there is a fuller and richer 
 organization, and the training classes must form 
 strong friends within the church and without for 
 uplifting and awakening. They should appeal to 
 ministers and teachers, to public-spirited and 
 successful men and women. Courage and aggres- 
 siveness must come from the young. This class 
 must catch a vision of work that no one church 
 can do and thus plan for united activities. They 
 must open their hearts to childhood and con- 
 sider the fact that even the country child 
 needs a larger play-life. They must study both 
 the social and intellectual life of the young 
 people, and breathe through all their activities 
 the spirit of Christ. How noble a mission lies 
 before them is indicated in the following quota- 
 tion from Dr. Henry Wallace: "Of all classes the 
 farming class is undoubtedly the most susceptible 
 to religious impressions; and yet from fifty to 
 
 83 
 
THE TKAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 sixty per cent of the country people on the 
 prairies and in the uplands the nation over have 
 no church connection, and send for the preacher 
 only for the solemnization of marriages and the 
 burial of the dead. Never was there a finer field 
 for missionary effort. Seldom has there been one 
 so poorly occupied." The power of a Christian 
 church to transform the life of a community has 
 been proven a thousand times. Such high en- 
 deavor will be carried forward with noble zest 
 when once the method and its object are clear to 
 earnest young Christian leaders. When once a 
 group of serious students ask themselves, "How 
 can we enrich the home life and the personal reli- 
 gious life? How can we give proper reading? 
 How can we bind together in fellowship those 
 around us? How can the church be made truly 
 joyous and helpful and build up in Christian char- 
 acter?" then the training class will be aglow with 
 discussion; books and papers will be eagerly 
 sought, and the spirit of sacrifice will pervade 
 its meetings. The students will cease to ask, 
 "How little can we do?"' as those bearing a bur- 
 den, but they will give themselves to such work 
 with a noble enthusiasm that scorns to count 
 days and hours. Professor Earp, in speaking of 
 a recent conference of the Young Men's Christian 
 Association, says, "It was the consensus of opin- 
 ion of a select group of educators from colleges 
 
 84 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 of agriculture, theological seminaries and uni- 
 versities, and also men of affairs in home mis- 
 sionary and church federation work in the rural 
 communities, and superintendents of central 
 country schools, that the problem of the uplift of 
 the rural life of America depends on the kind of 
 trained social leadership we can put in the field." 
 Why should not the teacher training class, work- 
 ing together with the adult organized class, meet 
 this want and be competent to give the needed 
 training for service? 
 
 Suggestions 
 
 The correspondence course will be found available for 
 earnest students who cannot enter a class. 
 
 A neighborhood class can often be organized to best 
 advantage. 
 
 A union class, drawing together students from several 
 churches, will often prove a most helpful organization. 
 
 Well-planned social events will add much to the 
 popularity of the class. 
 
 Each member of the class should visit, whenever 
 possible, successful schools in country and city alike, 
 take notes, and report to the class. 
 
 The teacher-training commencement can be made an 
 annual event of widespread interest and the time for 
 setting new standards for the Sunday school. 
 
 County Alumni Associations should hold annual ban- 
 quets and picnics, and be constantly aggressive in pro- 
 moting advanced studies and new classes. 
 
 Teachers in district or village schools will often be 
 found most willing helpers. 
 
 85 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 Representation at State and county conventions will 
 amply repay time and money spent. 
 
 Attendance on a Summer School of Methods offers a 
 delightful outing and an insight into methods of work 
 and personal acquaintance with Sunday school leaders. 
 
 The class should lead or assist in a religious census 
 through home visitation and social survey of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 The class should use great care in finding the best 
 methods of adapting room and gradation, and suggest 
 the best possible organization for its own school. 
 
 The county work of the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
 ciation offers many valuable suggestions. Cooperation 
 between it and the training class will be of great value 
 to both. 
 
 The rural welfare movements of the State universities 
 should be studied with great care, and their institutes 
 should afford well-filled notebooks for the students. 
 
 86 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 VIII 
 
 THE COLLEGE TRAINING FOR RELIGIOUS 
 LEADERSHIP^ 
 
 The Appeal of the Sunday School to the College. 
 The Church and its chief educational agency, the 
 Sunday school, are looking to our American 
 colleges, the great majority of which were 
 founded pro Christo et ecclesia, for trained 
 officers and teachers. It is perfectly obvious 
 that these organized agencies of religious educa- 
 tion can never satisfactorily solve their funda- 
 mental problems without the cooperation of the 
 colleges. Not until our American colleges and 
 universities begin to send out a large body of lay 
 religious leaders, possessed of a definite, system- 
 atic knowledge of the Bible, and of the important 
 principles and methods of religious education, 
 will the Sunday school become the efficient edu- 
 cational agency that our modern civilization 
 needs. The future of the Church in America 
 depends largely upon whether or not the colleges 
 supply this crying need for trained lay as well 
 as professional leaders. The reasons, therefore, 
 why the Bible should be thoroughly taught in the 
 
 * This chapter is taken by permission in large measure from the report 
 of Professor Charles Foster Kent on "The Bible in the College Curriculum." 
 
 87 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 college curriculum are many and cumulative. 
 They appeal to every serious-minded college stu- 
 dent as well as instructor, for they are educa- 
 tional as well as religious, individual as well as 
 social, philosophical as well as practical. They 
 concern not merely the church, but the nation, 
 for the foundation of all that is best in the civil- 
 ization of the present, as well as of the past, is 
 derived largely from the Bible, and the Bible 
 can be made effective only as it is thoroughly 
 taught to each rising generation. 
 
 The Denominational College. Professor Coe has 
 aptly said : ''The endowments of the denomina- 
 tional colleges were obtained upon the theory 
 that these colleges were to impart a religious 
 form of education. I think it not too severe to 
 say that, as a rule, these institutions have 
 swerved from the purpose to give such education. 
 I believe that we could carry through with con- 
 siderable success an agitation for the fulfillment 
 of an implied contract on the part of these insti- 
 tutions. I do not know why the churches should 
 give their money to colleges that do not assist the 
 churches directl}^ in carrying out their own func- 
 tions." The denominational colleges have been, 
 in the years of rapid educational advancement, in 
 hard financial straits. The vast endowments of 
 a few great universities, the splendid liberality 
 of the States toward their own institutions have 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 placed the church colleges at a great disadvan- 
 tage. The cost of laboratories for scientific 
 investigation and the great sums needed for 
 engineering departments have been beyond the 
 means of the small college. It has tried to keep 
 up the struggle and win students by maintaining 
 such scientific laboratories and departments and 
 athletic grounds as it could afford. In this com- 
 petition it has been frequently led to neglect the 
 more definite religious training as a less popular 
 appeal in winning students. 
 
 The Rev. John B. Magee, writing in The Chris- 
 tian Student, makes this criticism on the Method- 
 ist colleges after examining the catalogues of 
 forty-five: "Our next step was to select all the 
 courses which might be considered not only inti- 
 mately, but even remotely related to religious 
 education. These courses were grouped under 
 ten heads ranging from general psychology to the 
 Bible and including child study, denominational 
 history, etc. We now calculated the number of 
 hours of recitation per year in each of the sub- 
 jects named and in each of the several colleges. 
 A study of the chart resulted in the following sur- 
 prising facts: Only twenty colleges out of the 
 forty-five provided for religious education other 
 than Bible study. Only seven offered courses in 
 the psychology of religion; eight offered peda- 
 gogy as applied to the Sunday school; four pro- 
 
 89 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 vided for a study of denominational history; 
 eleven offered a study in Christian missions. It 
 was next observed that, with the one exception of 
 Bible study, the more remote the subject from 
 religion the larger the scheduled hours seemed to 
 grow." In conclusion, he asks these pointed ques- 
 tions: "Is there any possible connection between 
 what has just been said and the present poverty 
 of our churches in religious workers? Should 
 our churches longer be compelled to depend upon 
 mere novices, when other fields are demanding 
 experts? Again the question comes, does not God 
 have a right to the best?" 
 
 What the College Student Needs. The proposed 
 courses here outlined are those presented at the 
 Cleveland Convention of the National Religious 
 Education Association by Professor Kent, of 
 Yale, in behalf of a joint committee. Obviously, 
 the detailed number of hours, the exact titles, and 
 the order of courses will be worked out differently 
 in different institutions. 
 
 The following outline indicates briefly the gen- 
 eral character and relations of the different 
 courses : 
 
 FRESHMEN AND SOPHOMORES 
 
 1. Aim of Courses: Religious adjustment and point of 
 
 view; systematic knowledge of the background and 
 
 vital personalities and teachings of the Bible; a 
 
 historical basis for individual religious thinking 
 
 90 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 and for later curriculum study; preparation for 
 intelligent and efficient religious leadership. 
 2. Suggested Courses of Study: (a) OLD TESTAMENT 
 HISTORY (3 hours 1st semester or 2 hours 
 throughout the year). 
 
 A brief but comprehensive survey of the chief 
 personalities and events in Israel's history from 
 the days of Moses to the end of the Maccabean 
 struggle, giving special attention to the work of 
 the prophets, to the way in which they met the 
 political, social, and religious problems of their 
 day, and to the meaning and present significance 
 of the universal principles which they proclaimed. 
 (6) NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY (3 hours 2nd 
 semester or 2 hours throughout the year). 
 
 The Jewish and Roman world in which Jesus 
 lived; a constructive study of the personality and 
 work of Jesus and of his fundamental teachings, 
 and of their practical interpretation in the activity 
 and preaching of the apostles, especially of Paul, 
 and in the growth and extension of Christianity 
 during the first Christian century. 
 
 JUNIORS AND SENIORS 
 
 1. Aim of Course : Detailed acquaintance with the litera- 
 
 ture and the social and religious teachings of the 
 Bible. Their interpretation in modern terms. 
 Training for effective social and religious activity 
 in the church, the Sunday school. Christian Asso- 
 ciations, social and civic organizations. 
 
 2. Suggested Courses of Study: (a) THE BIBLE AS 
 
 LITERATURE (2 hours throughout the year, or 3 
 hours one semester — after Old and New Testa- 
 ment History). 
 The purpose is to gain an intimate acquaintance 
 91 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 with the chief masterpieces of biblical literature 
 and to interpret them in the light of their histori- 
 cal setting and their literary form, and to lay the 
 foundations for an intelligent study of modern 
 literature. 
 
 (&) ISRAEL'S SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS (2 or 3 
 hours 1st semester — after Old and New Testament 
 History). 
 
 Evolution of the Hebrew family, tribe, and state; 
 social relations and the customs and laws regulat- 
 ing them; the religious and humanitarian princi- 
 ples underlying the Old Testament legislation and 
 their modern application. 
 
 (c) SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF JESUS AND THE 
 PROPHETS (2 or 3 hours 2nd semester — after Old 
 and New Testament History). 
 
 Historical study, classification, and interpretation 
 of the social principles and teachings of Israel's 
 prophets and sages; comparison with those of 
 Jesus and of the primitive Christian Church; in- 
 fluence upon modern institutions and conditions. 
 
 (d) DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS IDEAS (2 
 or 3 hours throughout the year). 
 
 Origin, chief characteristics, distinctive teach- 
 ings, historical development and social value of the 
 world's great religions, especially of Judaism and 
 Christianity. 
 
 (e) HISTORY AND AGENCIES OF RELIGIOUS 
 EDUCATION (2 or 3 hours 1st semester— after 
 general course in Psychology). 
 
 Aims and methods of the Jewish and Christian 
 systems of religious education; the modern reli- 
 gious education movement; its history, aims, and 
 agencies, with special emphasis on the equipment, 
 organization, and eflaciency of the Sunday school. 
 92 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 (/) PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF RELI- 
 GIOUS EDUCTION (2 or 3 hours 2nd semester 
 — after general course in Psychology). 
 
 Study of the significant psychological character- 
 istics and the religious and moral interests and 
 possibilities of the individual at each stage in his 
 development; educational values of the biblical 
 and extra-biblical material and of the different 
 types of expressional activity; the way to utilize 
 them most effectively in the work of religious edu- 
 cation. 
 
 History, Principles, and Methods of Religious 
 Education. Already courses in the history and 
 theory of teaching have found a place in the 
 curricula of the majority of our American col- 
 leges. At least one three-hour semester course in 
 general education, as well as in psychology, should 
 be made the basis for the more advanced study in 
 the field of religious education. The detailed 
 courses outlined in the chart are presented with 
 some hesitation, for we are still in the pioneer 
 stage. They embody, however, the results of five 
 years of experimentation at Yale and other insti- 
 tutions. They are developed purely from the 
 point of view of the undergraduate. If offered to 
 graduate students, they would naturally be de- 
 veloped into a series of courses. They are in- 
 tended primarily for the leaders of voluntary 
 classes in connection with the Christian Asso- 
 ciations and to train lay as well as professional 
 
 93 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 teachers for the Sunday school and the organized 
 agencies of religious education. The first semes- 
 ter course considers briefly the aims and meth- 
 ods of the Jewish and Christian systems of reli- 
 gious education and, above all, those of the Great 
 Teacher, whose example and message are the 
 guide and inspiration of the modern movement. 
 The major part of the semester is devoted to a 
 study of the history, the aims, and the organiza- 
 tion of the modern agencies of religious educa- 
 tion, with especial emphasis upon the home, the 
 public school, the college, the Christian Associa- 
 tion, and the church school. The second semester 
 course will doubtless at first appeal to a larger 
 number of students. It is intended to bring to 
 the study of the peculiar problems of religious 
 education the practical contributions of modern 
 psychology and education. It aims to investigate 
 first the significant psychological characteristics 
 and the religious and moral interests and possibil- 
 ities of the individual at each stage in his develop- 
 ment; then to approach and evaluate the biblical 
 and other available material from the educational 
 point of view and to estimate the relative values 
 of the different types of expressional activity. 
 Finally it endeavors to make clear the best meth- 
 ods of combining the results of religious psychol- 
 ogy? pedagogy, and biblical scholarship in the 
 work of the teacher and of developing effective 
 
 94 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 Christian character and activity. The success of 
 these courses also depends upon the character of 
 the supplemental clinical work that is done by 
 the students in connection with the local 
 churches, Sunday schools, and Christian Associa- 
 tions, and under the general direction of the 
 instructor in charge of the curriculum courses. 
 In institutions where the proper instruction is 
 available, an independent course in the psychology 
 of religion may profitably be added, but it has not 
 been tabulated in the outlines, for it was felt that 
 it belonged more properly among the courses 
 offered to graduate students. 
 
 The Minimum and Maximum Requirements in 
 College Training for Religious Leadership. At this 
 stage in the history of religious education a half 
 loaf, or even a quarter loaf, is better than none 
 at all. With the united cooperation of the college 
 instructors in the Bible, of the leaders in the Reli- 
 gious Education Association and in the college 
 Christian Associations, and of the officers of our 
 more progressive colleges, the time is not far dis- 
 tant when the great majority of our college stu- 
 dents will elect at least one or more of the courses 
 here outlined. They have been outlined in part 
 with a view to meeting the various needs and 
 interests of different classes of students. To the 
 majority the elementary courses in Biblical his- 
 tory, if properly developed and taught, will 
 
 95 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 doubtless make, as they should, the strongest 
 appeal. To this should be added the one-seuiester 
 course in the principles and methods of religious 
 education, with the background of the general 
 college course in psychology. To these courses is 
 added the clinical experience in connection with 
 the work of the Christian Associations or local 
 Sunday schools. 
 
 A reasonable standard, which it is to be hoped 
 the Christian Associations will set up for their 
 college and general secretaries, and the church 
 schools for official and teaching positions, may 
 be defined in terms of semester hours : 
 
 Old Testament History 3 hours 
 
 New Testament History 3 hours 
 
 The Bible as Literature or Israel's 
 Social Teaching's and the Social 
 Teachings of Jesus and the Prophets . 4 hours 
 
 Development of Religious Ideas 4 hours 
 
 General Psychology 3 hours 
 
 History and Theory of Education 3 hours 
 
 History and Agencies of Religious Edu- 
 cation 2 hours 
 
 Principles and Methods of Religious 
 
 Education 2 hours 
 
 Electives in Philosophy, Ethics, and 
 the Social Sciences 6 hours 
 
 Total semester hours 30 
 
 96 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 One third, if not one half, of these courses 
 would naturally be elected by the average stu- 
 dent. The attainment of this special equipment 
 for the work of religious education, therefore, 
 requires a comparatively small proportion, at the 
 most not more than one sixth, of the total number 
 of hours in the average college course. The next 
 logical step is for the colleges not only to pro- 
 vide for these courses, but also to give special 
 credit or certificates to students selecting them. 
 Recognition of such certificates by the different 
 denominations, the Christian Associations, and 
 the International Sunday School Association, and 
 insistence that candidates for responsible posi- 
 tions in these different organizations hold these 
 certificates will immediately give the much-needed 
 definiteness to the demands of the various organ- 
 ized agencies of religious education and at the 
 same time present to the colleges and to the stu- 
 dent body a clearly defined yet attainable goal 
 for which to work. 
 
 97 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 IX 
 
 THE TRAINING OF THE ELEMENTARY TEACHER 
 
 The Little Child. ''The little child is God's most 
 wonderful creation." The mind of the little child 
 is the only entrance to the inner life of the child 
 world. No one may hope to know the mind of 
 the adult who has not come by the pathway of 
 the child's mind. Child study is absolutely essen- 
 tial to any intelligent idea of mental develop- 
 ment. It becomes a fascinating and delightful 
 study when its importance is seen and its meth- 
 ods understood. A new world opens and an 
 endless field for research and inquiry is suggested 
 by the face of any child. While the teachers of 
 Beginners and Primary children have distinct 
 problems, and there are differences in methods, 
 yet suggestions and literature available for these 
 departments are so ample that for the sake of 
 brevity they will considered together in this 
 chapter. The teacher will find the child needs 
 reverent and loving guidance regarding God and 
 duty, prayer and faith. The teacher does not 
 bring these ideas as a surprise to the child, but 
 finds the child eagerly and frankly asking the 
 great questions out of his own heart. 
 
 The Beginners' Department. The importance of 
 98 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 the Beginners' Department should be clearly 
 recognized in the teacher-training class. The 
 teacher who enters into sympathy with a little 
 child will soon find the open door to the home. 
 She will receive from the intelligent Christian 
 mother appreciation and assistance, for every 
 mother is eager for suggestions about the home 
 teaching of her child. The teacher may find the 
 home life ignorant or unhappy, but the oppor- 
 tunity for making it better, and so improving the 
 life of the child itself, is ofi'ered more freely to 
 her than to any other. Her unpaid interest in 
 the child, her success in winning its love, and, 
 above all, her religious purpose will win the heart 
 of the mother and the respect of the father, where 
 all other attempts have failed. 
 
 The Teacher the First Object Lesson. With little 
 cbildren sight and touch are the ruling senses. 
 Their world is within the range of the eye and 
 reach of the finger. Object lessons, pictures, 
 motions, bright colors, and varied forms always 
 attract them. But the child cannot be left alone. 
 It must always be in some one's company. Edu- 
 cation is given by personal touch. The immediate 
 impress of the mother above all others molds its 
 life. But the teacher also is the object of intense 
 interest. Not what she shows and handles, but 
 what she herself is, makes the deepest impression 
 in that Sunday school hour. 
 
 99 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 The Ideal for the Beginner's Hour. The atmos- 
 phere of joY, of happiness and beauty, is the 
 teacher's first and great contribution to her work. 
 It goes forth from her. She will plan equipment, 
 decorate the room, secure chairs, carpet, pictures, 
 and the delightful surroundings fitted for the 
 children's hour. Her appeal for such equipment 
 will seldom be in vain, even in the plainest 
 church. She can, at least, secure a corner, dis- 
 place the high pews with small chairs, and by 
 some screen or curtain secure a nook for the chil- 
 dren. The most conservative on the board of 
 trustees will hardly refuse her appeal. With the 
 separation, songs and prayers and the little activ- 
 ities, not only delightful but essential to the Pri- 
 mary work, are all within her control. She wins 
 instantly the quick sympathy of the children by 
 her loving attention, and by rapid suggestions she 
 leads them through graceful movements, happy 
 songs, and a moment of prayer into the very spirit 
 of the kingdom. Kindness, love, and reverence 
 are there, not in theory, but in the very atmos- 
 phere of that delightful hour. The child feels it, 
 and what the child feels influences its character. 
 She is not to repeat the lesson of the kinder- 
 garten or of the home, but through the picture, 
 the song, and the story to make a distinct reli- 
 gious impression. To do this calls for rare deli- 
 cacy and restraint. It is hard to see through a 
 
 100 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 child's eye. It requires a refined touch to teach 
 religion to the little child. One. is apt to do too 
 little or too much. The child is interested to 
 know the world story. God as the Creator of all, 
 the Father of all, the kind provider, satisfies the 
 deeper questioning of the little mind. The sun, 
 the wind, and the rain, the animals and their good 
 shelter are all rich story material in which the 
 religious lesson finds its natural setting. Then 
 the teacher can direct the work of .character- 
 building through the impressions she makes upon 
 the plastic mind of the child. Undisguised envy, 
 anger, and jealousy even now often appear in 
 the child's heart. The child is inherently neither 
 good nor bad, but presents undeveloped capacity 
 for either. In a very simple way the teacher 
 should give direct, as well as indirect, religious 
 lessons. Jesus, the kind Friend, should be re- 
 vealed to the child with reverence and loving faith. 
 This will be no difficult task. The teacher who 
 finds him real in her own hour of prayer can 
 make him real to the children in Bible story and 
 in her word pictures. 
 
 Preparing- to Teach the Beginner and the Pri- 
 mary Child. The effective teacher of the Beginners 
 is a woman. Her fine sympathy, the instinct of 
 the mother heart, her richer poetical nature espe- 
 cially fit her for this task. But the teacher of 
 Beginners, if she have not the natural aptitude 
 
 101 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 for this work, will find little delight in it and 
 develop little skill. It must be a labor of love, 
 and with this joy of the heart the labor itself 
 becomes a delight. She should love nature. 
 She should love God and speak out of a sincere 
 joy in her interpretation of the world as divine. 
 She should love children enough to care for 
 them one at a time, with a painstaking study 
 of the individual child. If the children are 
 simply children to her, she will fail to do the 
 finer type of work, because no two are alike. Her 
 work is, first, to see them as they are, and then 
 to call forth the finer possibilities in each individ- 
 ual. This can be done only through that sym- 
 pathetic insight which reads the secret of each 
 particular life. 
 
 The Primary Child, from six to nine years of 
 age, is in many respects like the Beginner. The 
 power of emotion is very strong. The child is 
 exceedingly susceptible to suggestion; the intel- 
 lect is rapidly developing, and the will is growing 
 stronger. Toward the latter part of this period 
 there is a marked intellectual development. The 
 child has begun to go to school and has much 
 wider interests, but the opportunity of the Sun- 
 day school teacher and the methods are practi- 
 cally the same as with the Beginners. 
 
 Study of Child Nature. Teachers and students 
 to-day hear much about child study and psychol- 
 
 102 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 ogy. It sounds alarming. They are busy men 
 and women who do not care to take up studies 
 of an abstract nature or are not impressed with 
 the need or value of this study; but it is in real- 
 ity very practical and helpful. Professor Wil- 
 liam James sa^^s: "A complete knowledge of the 
 pupil, at once intuitive and analytic, is surely 
 the knowledge at which every teacher ought to 
 aim. Fortunately for teachers, the elements of 
 this knowledge can be clearly apprehended. The 
 amount of science which is necessary to all 
 teachers need not be very great. For the great 
 majority a general view is enough, provided it be 
 a true one; and such a general view, one may 
 say, might almost be written on the palm of one's 
 hand." Child study is a study of the mind's 
 growth, the study of the unfolding of the inner 
 life — the most fascinating quest in the world. 
 The key to modern education is found in its sym- 
 pathetic effort to study and understand child 
 nature. 
 
 The Hour of "Instinctive Readiness." The child 
 is no longer regarded as mere undeveloped man. 
 Childhood is a full life in itself, rich and well- 
 rounded at any period, but characterized by swift 
 transitions. Each period must be given its full 
 nurture, or the next will be dwarfed. "In all 
 pedagogy," says James, "the great thing is to 
 strike while the iron is hot and seize the wave of 
 
 103 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 the pupil's interest in each successive subject 
 before its ebb comes. To detect the moment of 
 instinctive readiness for the subject is, then, the 
 first duty of the educator." The intelligent 
 teacher sees that the powers of the growing life 
 develop in a definite order. In the primary child 
 the imagination reaches its climax. The teacher 
 must use picture words. There is an hour of "in- 
 stinctive readiness," and there is one magical 
 word, as in the Arab tale, at which the door will 
 open. And if the teacher stand and shout other 
 words, they may be good words, but there is no 
 magic in them, and the gates do not open. We 
 may shout important definitions or wise abstrac- 
 tions at the little child, but he hears them not. 
 We must come with the magic of the intelligible 
 story, the appeal to the emotional life, with just 
 the words and pictures for which this child in- 
 stinctively yearns, or there will be no open doors. 
 The imagination keeps the door, and the eager 
 little soul sees and hears the big world on every 
 side. The senses are keen, the brain is eager; 
 but the time for reasoning closely has not come. 
 No Oriental story-teller could speed faster on 
 magic carpet, and no wand in the enchanter's 
 hand can transform common stufif so fast as this 
 cunning little juggler works. The boy bestrides 
 the stick with all the horseman's joy, or the little 
 girl clasps a bit of rag to her breast and sings 
 
 104 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 to it with all the delight of a mother's heart. The 
 corner of the yard becomes an enchanted forest, 
 and, with a wave of the hand, the dining room 
 is transformed into a fairy palace. 
 
 The Imagination. The teacher must come, then, 
 with words that paint pictures, with words that 
 are songs and poems in themselves. Teaching 
 can be no dull routine, if it is to fit this brilliant 
 fancy and meet the wants of this eager little 
 mind. The simple wonder of the child is gratified 
 by meeting fact pictured in lines the eyes see 
 clearly. As the rapt story-teller sees and de- 
 scribes vividly, it is for the child a real experi- 
 ence, so strong is the power of imagination. The 
 finer culture of the imagination, the development 
 of fear and wonder into reverence, the disclosure 
 of the heart-life in nature, and the personal power 
 behind nature — this teaching requires the very 
 purity of heart and noble simplicity of intellect 
 that unite to form the loftiest type of instruction. 
 What portrait painter has ever been true to the 
 color of the cheek of the little child? What artist 
 has ever drawn curves and outlines that compare 
 with the grace and beauty of the child's face? 
 And yet the inner life is more subtle than the 
 outer, and the soul of the child waits to be molded 
 by some one's hand. The teacher is writing on a 
 sensitized plate. The words may not be exposed 
 to the light for long years, but the very lightest 
 
 105 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 touches are indelible. Colonel Parker says, "The 
 rankest materialism in its worst form has never 
 struck harder blows at the true spiritual life 
 than the ignorance of misguided parents who 
 keep their children from fairy life and fairy- 
 land." 
 
 The Bible Story. The teacher of the child must 
 be an attractive story-teller. The Bible is the 
 story book of the world. Professor Mutch says: 
 "There should be two hundred Bible stories so 
 mastered in their narrative and dramatic features 
 that they can never be forgotten, but are on tap 
 for any emergency. These stories cannot be used 
 if known only by titles; but there must be a 
 wealth of detail, which will admit of selection 
 to suit the age and attainment of those taught. 
 To master two hundred Bible stories in this way 
 is an ideal limit; but it is also a practical goal 
 toward which one may be actually working, and 
 there is no kind of preparation open to the 
 teacher that is so rewarding as this, and none so 
 easily within the reach of all." The Bible has the 
 dew of the morning, the sweet, poetical simplic- 
 ity of early life. No Greek mythology, no Norse 
 legends, and no folklore anywhere appeals to the 
 child more than the Bible story. It is true to life, 
 it has movement and action, and yet the light of 
 God's love and God's justice shining upon every 
 deed. The pith and power of its poetic freshness 
 
 106 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 possess a charm that captures the child. The 
 child feels its subtle spell and listens with beat- 
 ing heart. The element of mystery is there, and 
 not the flat matter-of-fact of the modern style. 
 Our story-tellers are ransacking the literature of 
 the world and coming back with new apprecia- 
 tion of the Bible story. The teacher cannot take 
 these stories out of their setting and tell them 
 effectively, but they must be studied in their 
 native home. They must be presented with fidel- 
 ity to the text. There must be a reverent and 
 thoughtful knowledge of the whole book in order 
 to appreciate their value. The child, with open- 
 eyed wonder, seeks larger pictures of the world 
 than his eyes can see. The Bible stories are true, 
 and yet they satisfy the imagination and come 
 with the answer in poetic words to the questions. 
 Who is God? What am I? W^hat is this world? 
 Child-Welfare. Child-welfare is a word that 
 has now, in all Christian lands, and in them only, 
 a magic appeal. It suggests the practical pro- 
 gram for the grades of the Sunday school. From 
 the hour when the little beginner pushes or 
 strikes a tiny neighbor up to the day when the 
 men in the adult class discuss, "What is a fair 
 wage?" the work of forming social ideals goes 
 rapidly forward. The teacher, with open Bible 
 in hand, can make real to all classes from child- 
 hood to manhood that these streets, these homes 
 
 107 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 and shops and farms and stores are all to come 
 under the laws of the kingdom of Christ. 
 
 The training of the teacher in regard to the 
 welfare of child life develops a noble concern and 
 reaches out, when rightly guided, far beyond class 
 and school and embraces the neglected, the ill- 
 treated child, the one surrounded by poverty and 
 vice. Then the opportunity for helpfulness can 
 be presented to the children in the Sunday school 
 classes. The primary classes may receive their 
 lessons in social help as they make real sacrifices 
 to meet actual needs. The glow of joy in the 
 face of the child who has done something gener- 
 ous for a weaker one is ample reward. But the 
 result does not end with the action ; for in this 
 practical way the teacher is develoj)ing in the 
 child a habit and an appreciation of social service. 
 
 The Development of Child Keligion. In The 
 Training of Children in Religion Dean Hodges 
 summarizes admirably the religious truths which 
 meet the needs of the child's nature. He describes 
 what the consciousness of the presence of God 
 means to a child, how religious teaching answers 
 the desire for knowledge, and the quick response 
 of the child's heart to summons to loyalty. "The 
 child who has been so trained that the constant 
 presence of God is a sure conviction can be 
 trusted anywhere. He has within him a defense 
 against evil and an inspiration to do good. His 
 
 108 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 own, native, independent desire is to please God. 
 He has a talisman of protection and strength 
 which no amount of moral teaching can give him. 
 He has been given a spiritual endowment which 
 will make him rich as long as he lives. . . . We 
 are by nature inquisitive. Satisfying answers to 
 the elemental questions about life and death can 
 be given only in the language of religion. . . . 
 The spirit of loyalty which makes a child en- 
 deavor to be like some great person about whom 
 he has heard, and which impels a child to say to 
 himself, 'I cannot do this or that because my 
 father or mother would not like it,' produces a 
 similar allegiance of admiration and of affection 
 to Jesus Christ. To develop such loyalty in child- 
 hood is to render a service of inestimable value. 
 It is to do the greatest thing that can be done for 
 the shaping of character." 
 
 Aims. What aims should be kept in view by 
 students preparing to teach Beginners and Pri- 
 mary children? (1) To quicken the powers of 
 observation, so that it may become a delight to 
 be accurate and true in observing children at 
 their play. (2) To make the mind alert and eager 
 regarding child life. (3) To recall one's own 
 childhood and return across the bridge of the 
 years to one's own playground. (4) To incite 
 such an interest in child psychology that it will 
 become a fascinating subject for reading and 
 
 109 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 study, (o) To awaken the social interest in the 
 home life of children and suggest the reaction of 
 the child upon the home and the possibility of the 
 sympathetic relationship between home and 
 school. (6) To learn such reverence for the child 
 as will lead to perfect frankness, so that no deceit 
 shall destroy the child's trust in the teacher. 
 
 How Will the Training Class Help the Teacheb of 
 Beginners and Primary Pupils? 
 
 It will induct her into the fine art of story-telling 
 and give her inspiration and skill in using it. 
 
 It will reveal to her the brilliancy and many-sided- 
 ness of the child mind. 
 
 It will unfold to her the dignity of the elementary 
 teacher's work. 
 
 It will unfold the wealth of poetic and sacred litera- 
 ture at her command. 
 
 It will explain the value of action in the presence of 
 children and the impression made by acts on their 
 religious nature. The teacher will learn to think far 
 more about what is seen by the eye than what Is 
 heard by the ear. 
 
 It will suggest the value of dignified yet animated and 
 fitting religious ceremony. 
 
 It will show that seeds of reverence for God, the 
 Bible, the Church, for prayer and praise are best sown 
 early in the child's life. 
 
 It will disclose the fact that the supreme Interest 
 of the child is in a person, and that the teacher may be 
 the most important person. 
 
 It will suggest the most helpful books for her de- 
 partment. 
 
 110 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 It will lead her to become a student of nature in its 
 happiest moods, because she cannot teach unless she go 
 to the trees and the fields, the flowers and the sky for 
 story and illustration. 
 
 It will disclose the true teacher's delight in studying 
 the individual child. 
 
 It will put her in close and sympathetic touch with 
 the group of teachers who are doing some of the finest 
 and most effective teaching in the world. 
 
 It will lead her to a study of child welfare in the 
 community, with suggestions and plans for active work. 
 
 It will guide the young teacher in developing and 
 directing the emotional life of children so that it will 
 find normal expression in acts and habits. 
 
 It will call attention to the value of the child's play. 
 
 It will lay stress upon first-hand observation of 
 children. 
 
 Ill 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 THE TRAINING OF THE TEACHER OF JUNIOR 
 PUPILS 
 
 Characteristics. The best teaching to-day in the 
 Sunday school is done in the Primary Depart- 
 ment. We all rejoice that this is true. This 
 noble result has come through the self-sacrifice 
 and insight of many devoted and highly intelli- 
 gent women. But while the primary teacher is 
 watching eagerly the progress of her pupil, a 
 wonderful thing takes place — even before she is 
 aware of it her pupil has gone. The imaginative 
 child is there no more, but another has taken its 
 place. As the wicked witch in olden time was 
 ever bringing the changeling child, to the dismay 
 of parents and the delight of romantic story- 
 tellers, so this thing happens to-day to the dis- 
 may of the teacher. The child has made the 
 journey from six to ten. Fairyland and all its 
 rapt wonder are of the past, and the matter-of- 
 fact child, hungry for information, eager for 
 action, longing to do and to dare, is before the 
 teacher. Repeated actions are hardening into 
 habits with strange rapidity. As the sculptor 
 with mallet in hand works upon his marble, just 
 so are the brain tracts fashioned and the char- 
 
 112 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 acter made, and shape is given to the life in the 
 rapid movements of these months. The child is 
 submissive, yet it is selfish, lacking in finer senti- 
 ment, and the teaching cannot be the same as it 
 was in the other years. 
 
 The Teacher's Special Tasks. A true teacher 
 now insists upon repeated acts of courtesy and 
 kindness, demanding, with strong emphasis, 
 promptness and thoroughness, for habit now fas- 
 tens itself for life. The teacher should now store 
 the brain with the noblest hymns, Bible chapters, 
 the dramatic incidents in the history of the 
 Church, "the things a Christian ought to know 
 and believe for his soul's health." The hand is 
 given a chance to work, to make something of its 
 own, that brings the far-away names into the 
 circle of real knowledge. Jerusalem and Bethle- 
 hem put on the map by a girl's own hand have a 
 definite location. The Jordan and its deep gorge 
 come almost as near as the river running by the 
 house, when they have been molded by the lad's 
 own hand. The story of Joseph or incidents from 
 the life of Christ written out and illustrated by 
 rough sketch or pasted picture, now become facts 
 grasped and held within the circle of definite 
 ideas. The teacher has, by tactful suggestion, 
 led the inquisitive brain into choice storehouses 
 to gamer the treasures. She has, by insistence, 
 trained to the noblest forms of action and led the 
 
 113 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 way to the self-activity of the spiritual nature 
 through forms of song and prayer. She has pre- 
 sented the Church in its dignity and power and 
 put the duty of reverent attendance among the 
 essentials of conduct. She has supplemented the 
 teaching of the Christian home, and reenforced, 
 so far as she may, the work of the public school. 
 Real teaching demands an energy that outruns 
 the restless mind of the boy and a cleverness that 
 forecasts the swift workings of the girl's emo- 
 tions. She has dealt with her pupils one at a 
 time. A union of firmness and love, of authority 
 and comradeship, has bound them to the teacher. 
 But it has required a particular knowledge, 
 applied with tact and common sense and deep 
 prayerful earnestness to each individual child, 
 to call forth the finer elements of strength in the 
 character and to find just what each is willing to 
 seize and to hold of the precious stones of in- 
 formation lying within reach of this particular 
 age. 
 
 How to Use the Bible. The mind receives im- 
 pressions like wax. The facile brain grasps 
 words with rhythm, fire, and beauty in them. The 
 child of this age delights not only in deeds of 
 power, but in the poetic expression of them. In 
 the Bible is the matchless English style. The dig- 
 nity and simplicity of our tongue reach their 
 height in the translation of this book. The great 
 
 114 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 chapters of the Bible once taken by this eager 
 brain, are stored in its treasure vaults for the 
 days of need. Much is said to-day about fasten- 
 ing upon the child's mind words it cannot under- 
 stand, and a just protest is made against demand- 
 ing mechanical action of the memory; but the 
 classic pages of poetry and chapters of the Bible 
 are not included in this criticism. Their beauty 
 and eloquence do attract the child. Much of 
 their moral and spiritual value is already within 
 the reach of his mind. The teacher who has not 
 felt the spell of the Bible writers in times of quiet 
 and thoughtful study, who has not read again 
 and again the matchless chapters that have 
 carried the message of inspiration to so many 
 thousand hearts, cannot hope to impress any 
 class of restless and play-loving children with 
 the need of committing its pages to memory. 
 
 Storing the Memory. Rote teaching, after all, 
 has power. The Mohammedan uses no other 
 method. His education is not the highest, but he 
 accomplishes what he sets out to do. He fixes 
 not only the words of the Koran, but a reverence 
 for it and a sense of its value so deep that not 
 one in ten thousand ever rejects its pages. It 
 is not a broad education, but it is intense enough 
 to achieve its purpose. The Chinese student has 
 not discussed Confucius; he has simply learned 
 the words. A distinct type of mind has been 
 
 115 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 produced. The teaching has wrought exactly 
 what it desired. The character is on a level with 
 the precepts of the shrewd old sage. A change- 
 less type was produced, because that was the 
 thing sought, and until the present the people 
 have been held stationary through the centuries 
 by the memory method. Men who learn the words 
 of the New Testament with reverence will have 
 this reserve power, and as much more as Jesus 
 is above Mohammed or Confucius. A few mem- 
 ory verses are not a mental store rich enough for 
 Christian knowledge and character. In a conven- 
 tion in a far Western State, at the morning devo- 
 tional hour, the leader asked for quotations of 
 Scripture. It was a large, intelligent audience, 
 responding freely. The familiar verses of Scrip- 
 ture were repeated over and over. The range was 
 very narrow, and but few were able to give even 
 these verses with accuracy. The ear constantly 
 detected guesswork, instead of precise quotation. 
 They had the idea and many of the phrases, but 
 not the exact words of Scripture. Had these 
 persons committed some of the great chapters of 
 the Bible to memory in the years of childhood, the 
 words of Scripture in their power and beauty 
 would have been a mental treasure always at 
 command and a never-failing store for the hour 
 of spiritual need. 
 
 The child at this age loves rime and rhythm, 
 116 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 and the poetical cadences of the Bible and the 
 beauty of its imagery are the finest aids to the 
 memory. The memoi-y of the child at this period 
 should be treated with as great care as is be- 
 stowed upon the eyes. Its unusual power should 
 be treated with the same regard as that given to 
 a special faculty. Not alone should the injury and 
 false use of its extraordinary vigor be averted, 
 but the neglect to give it the classic words of 
 inspiration impoverishes the life and leaves gaps 
 in the veiy foundations of religious character. 
 The choice words of the poet and evangelist, of 
 the prophet and apostle, and, above all, the exact 
 words that Jesus spoke should be a part of the 
 mental treasure of every child as he faces the 
 years of youth. It will require some discipline 
 and sometimes much tact in the way of incentives 
 and inducements to lead the careless boy and girl 
 to give the attention necessary, but if line upon 
 line and precept upon precept is the practice in 
 these four years, we shall detect it in character 
 formation in later years. 
 
 Character Building. Children of this age have 
 the practical bent of mind. Their feet are on the 
 earth; the sweet wonder of childhood has left 
 them. They crave the swift action, the vigor of 
 fighting men, the daring and romance of intense 
 life. Again the Bible fully meets, in the hands 
 of a skilled interpreter, the needs of this stage 
 
 117 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 of mental development. It is a book of deeds and 
 of forlorn hopes turned to victory: the sling 
 against the giant's sword, the three hundred 
 against the Midianites, and the twelve men who 
 went out to conquer a land. Here, in very fact, 
 one does chase a thousand and two put ten thou- 
 sand to flight, and even then "the battle is not to 
 the physically strongest." The Bible has had 
 power to steel brave hearts to fight even unto 
 death for the sake of righteousness. The early 
 martyrs from Polycarp to Huss, the Luthers and 
 the Knoxes, the Cromwells, the Wesleys and the 
 Livingstones have all found here chapters for 
 their hours of discouragement that inspired lofti- 
 est hopes within them. These words of the his- 
 torian, the psalmist, the prophet, and the apostle 
 hare the same power yet to stir the heart and 
 insfjire the soul. Our work is not to entertain 
 classes of restless boys and girls, but to breed a 
 race with dauntless moral courage. Our work is 
 to teach self-denial, loyalty to conscience at any 
 cost, and faith in the God of battles as a living 
 God. There has been no other power like this 
 book to shape men of heroic mold. If we fail 
 to-day, it is the fault of the teaching. No men 
 with this book in their hearts have ever been 
 defeated. To-morrow may have no sound of 
 cannon, nor smell of powder, but it will call for 
 deeds just as brave, for men and women just as 
 
 118 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 strong to face new issues as were those who con- 
 fronted the hosts of Assyrians or saw the fires of 
 the martyr days. The Bible is the book to inspire 
 heroic deeds and self-denying lives, but it can 
 be taught only by those who have absorbed its 
 spirit and who, in deep sympathy and clear faith, 
 reveal its teaching in their own lives. 
 
 Junior Age Less Attractive than Others. The 
 physical vigor and the noise turn many teachers 
 away from Junior pupils. There is something 
 lovable about the little child, but boys and girls 
 of this age are not so attractive, nor do they dis- 
 play affection as in the earlier childhood. There 
 is not the apparent promise that belongs to later 
 years. Discipline is required. It is sometimes 
 difficult, nearly always unpleasant. The subject- 
 matter is not so interesting. There must be much 
 of repetition and drill. There is less of the joy of 
 story-telling than in the Primary, less freedom of 
 mind than in the Intermediate years. For these 
 reasons the teacher will often choose the younger 
 or the older pupils to the neglect of the Junior 
 Department. 
 
 The Importance of the Junior Department. The 
 importance of the Junior Department has never 
 been fully appreciated. This is the formative 
 stage; "habit is making permanent pathways of 
 nervous discharge." The impressions are often 
 lost to the teacher's view, and the effort seems to 
 
 119 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 end in failure. There is need of a faithful study 
 and painstaking observation of these fateful 
 years, that their true importance may be judged 
 aright. This is the seed-sowing time, and the 
 homes, the schools, and the teachers who fail in 
 careful choice of the seed, or skillful preparation 
 for its lodgment in the soil, will be sadly disap- 
 pointed in seeking later harvests. 
 
 It has been taken for granted that the Junior 
 child will stay in the school. Dr. A. H. McKinney 
 calls attention to a fact that may be verified by 
 a direct investigation. He says the leakage is far 
 greater in the Junior Department than has been 
 thought. We have marked the Intermediate as 
 the time for breaking away, but the secretary's 
 books will show sad losses in the later Junior 
 years. And those who remain are often, in their 
 own minds, on the point of departure. Though 
 still on its roll, they are really lost to the school, 
 because their interest is lost. 
 
 Some Things the Junior Teacher Ought to Know. 
 The Juniors are boys and girls ; they are not little 
 children. The pupils know this fact, and know 
 it with pride. If the teacher does not know it, so 
 much the worse for the teacher. Eestlessness is 
 changed to activity and demands something to 
 do that is worth the doing. Handwork should 
 be thoroughly studied by the teacher. Thorough 
 study means that it will be made absorbingly 
 
 120 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 interesting, and jet never be an end in itself. It 
 is a true means of expression, a priceless educa- 
 tional method, which should never be used except 
 to convey a definite lesson, and because it is the 
 best means of expressing that lesson. Bible-read- 
 ing is now in the teacher's keeping. If each pupil 
 owns a Bible, brings it to the school and finds 
 the lesson and quotations in his own book; if the 
 hero stories and golden chapters are all located 
 on pages that are well known, then a Bible stu- 
 dent is receiving his first training. A firm founda- 
 tion will then be laid; but it can be done only 
 because the teacher has planned and taught with 
 loving foresight and skill and has given a stand- 
 ard of action to the Junior Department that has 
 impressed the boys and girls as the noblest thing 
 to do. 
 
 Giving. If giving is to be a life-long service 
 joyfully rendered, this is the time for its begin- 
 ning. The boys and girls are handling small 
 sums, for the first time, often earned by their own 
 hands; and they now begin to grasp or to give. 
 The strong appeal of the teacher should guide the 
 impulses to generous conduct by suggestions. 
 The spirit of benevolence and the missionary 
 spirit can now be cultivated. It is the hour for 
 first insight into the working plans of the cburch. 
 The practical mind of the Junior pupil asks, How 
 is it done? What is it for? Where does the 
 
 121 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 money go? Who pays the minister? Wkj buys 
 the coal? Who helps the poor? These are the 
 morning hours of Christian stewardship. Mrs. 
 M. J. Kennedy says: "Long ago I had some boys 
 who used laughingly to say that I expected them 
 all to become deacons, trustees, or superintend- 
 ents. Every one of that group has become one 
 or other such officer." 
 
 Right and Wrong. The keenest inquiry of the 
 Junior is about the certainties of life. He wants 
 to know its laws ; what is really true, what is not 
 true. ''What is right and what is wrong?" are 
 the questions he often asks, and the answer from 
 the teacher who holds his respect is never for- 
 gotten. "As a matter of fact," says McKinley, 
 "conscience is formed and fixed for life in most 
 persons before they are twelve years old. Only a 
 great revolution can change it after that." 
 
 How May the Training Class Help the Teacheb of 
 JtTNioB Pupils? 
 
 Present the characteristics of the Junior age clearly. 
 
 Suggest the best books obtainable, chapters in large 
 volumes, and special articles in periodicals. 
 
 Encourage an attentive study of boys and girls in 
 the Junior age, with close observation of their games, 
 friendships, reading, and other interests. 
 
 Suggest plans for week-day entertainments and com- 
 panionships with boys and girls. 
 
 Outline plans for special classes, with a report to 
 training class, concerning success or failure. 
 
 122 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 Encourage teacher to use manual work as an ex- 
 pression of the pupil's ideas. Impress the thought that 
 the hand is ever leading the brain at this age. 
 
 Encourage careful teaching of the great hymns, the 
 classic chapters of the Bible, and its hero narratives. 
 
 Advise the constant study of history and of current 
 records of deeds of bravery, charity, and unselfishness 
 that may be presented to pupils. 
 
 Study delicate and effective ways in which cleanliness 
 and purity and the refinements of life may be set be- 
 fore the pupil. 
 
 Give special thought and study to the troublesome 
 pupil, and secure a story of personal observation that 
 may help solve particular problems. 
 
 Advise regarding discipline and the kind of activity 
 that makes discipline unnecessary. 
 
 Suggest how reverence for parents, for church, and 
 the great truths of religion may be impressed. 
 
 Study the most tactful and successful manner of 
 leading the pupil to accept and live in accord with the 
 teachings of Jesus. 
 
 Study the value of appeal to the sense of fairness 
 and right in the pupils themselves as aids in securing 
 order and gaining attention. 
 
 Recall that at twelve Christ was about his Father's 
 work. The Junior should be a conscious worker with 
 God. 
 
 Make use of the stereoscope and stereograph to bring 
 science, customs, and great pictures within the real grasp 
 of the questioning, fact-loving mind. 
 
 Drill and review for the Junior are absolutely essen- 
 tial. They should be conducted with spirit and anima- 
 tion, but the essential lessons must be fixed by vigorous 
 repetition. 
 
 123 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 XI 
 
 THE TRAINING OF THE TEACHER OF GIRLS 
 
 The Young Girl. The mother who keeps the 
 heart of the young girl safe in her affections, and 
 the teacher who wins her life for pure w^oman- 
 hood are laying up treasures the most costly and 
 precious this earth contains. On the one side, 
 the young girl of to-day is idealized and idolized. 
 She has education, wealth, pleasure, freedom 
 offered her as never before in the world. But, on 
 the other side of the account, the most tragic 
 and heart-breaking stories of modem sin find 
 their victims in the young girl. Industry bids 
 greedily for the toil of her swift fingers; vice, 
 rich and organized, seeks her youth and beauty; 
 luxury appeals to her love of the beautiful ; pleas- 
 ures that awaken the wildest emotions are con- 
 stantly appealing to her sensitive and eager 
 nature. Whoever walks within the glow of the 
 cluster lights of the city highways notes that the 
 most striking feature, in the earl}^ or late eve- 
 ning, is the number of young girls abroad with 
 gay clothing and excited faces. Many are clean 
 in life, but all are bent on pleasure. They, like 
 true daughters of Eve, scatter joy and sorrow 
 with both hands. No one can see them without 
 
 124 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 saying, "Here is the call for the true mother, and 
 here is a mission for the strong woman with deep 
 and tender love for her kind who can draw these 
 to her and be, indeed, their teacher." 
 
 The Girl in Her Teens. The study of the years 
 between twelve and twenty has brought to atten- 
 tion problems in education which demand keen 
 insight and research. The boy problem has meant 
 the bad boy, with the implication that it included 
 nearly all of them. The girl problem has usually 
 suggested the silly, frivolous girl. But this prob- 
 lem of the teens, this question of youth, is the 
 problem of all education ; it is the puzzle of the 
 home, the perplexity of the public school, the dis- 
 may of the Sunday school. It is the age of oppor- 
 tunity, the natural time of conversion, and yet 
 the age when our religious teaching has been the 
 poorest. It is the age that registers the largest 
 number of criminal arrests. It is the age when 
 the missionary, the scholar, the saint, and hero 
 make their life choices. Youth passes the most 
 attractive and most brilliant period of life in the 
 middle years of adolescence, and yet right here 
 have been the saddest failures. If you are a 
 visitor in the Sunday school, they sometimes 
 press you into service. It is to teach "a class of 
 boys just now without a teacher, and a little hard 
 to manage" ; or you are asked to try "a class of 
 girls, whose teacher is rather irregular and 
 
 125 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 happens to be absent to-day." It is the ragged 
 part of the Sunday school organization. It is 
 treated with shrugs and sighs. It is now time 
 to approach with full intelligence and deep ear- 
 nestness this, the largest problem and the great- 
 est opportunity in religious education. The fact 
 that two, and often three, out of four leave the 
 Sunday school in these years has been regarded 
 as natural and to be expected, something for 
 which there is no remedy. We have talked as 
 though we were no more responsible for it than 
 we are for frost and midnight. ''We can't change 
 human nature, and it is the nature of the boy and 
 the girl to dislike the Sunday school at that age." 
 But the fact is that it is the nature of the vigor- 
 ous and overflowing life to demand sympathetic 
 guidance and leading, and to turn away from the 
 home and the school that meets this demand in a 
 way that is feeble or blundering or cold. The 
 very thing we are set to do is to cooperate with 
 God in molding human nature, to correct the 
 downward bent and to give the youth at this crit- 
 ical age help toward that which is highest. 
 
 Sympathy and Guidance. The cry of the girl's 
 heart is for sympathetic and confidential friend- 
 ship. "Nobody understands me," is the frequent 
 complaint; and how often this appeal must lie 
 unspoken beneath the frivolous and apparently 
 defiant attitude. And there is no nobler task 
 
 126 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 assigned to the woman than to reveal Christian 
 womanliood in its purity and in its refinement to 
 girls in this formative period of life. Only one 
 who can read the deep secrets of the heart and 
 who in patience and the swift insight of love can 
 search out the finer qualities and see the possible, 
 yet unmolded, character in the growing life is 
 equal to the task. The abundance of life, the 
 splendid energies that press on heart and brain 
 for exercise, the daydreams, the ideals, the ambi- 
 tions and yearnings for a life mission, the wild 
 desire for joy, make youth, with its new sense of 
 personality, a mystery. To the true teacher this 
 is a challenge; but to the idle and untrained it is 
 a provocation. Sympathy, when the hunger of 
 the heart is so intense, is the first demand, then 
 guidance, not control; for the hand on the helm 
 of the new boat just putting out is now that of 
 the owner, almost delirious with the new sense 
 of power and adventure, ready to face and, if 
 needs be, fight the world for freedom. But guid- 
 ance, if by one strong enough to lead and to call 
 forth admiration, may be complete. It is the time 
 of the new birth of spiritual powers. All that has 
 been taught and all that has been believed must 
 be confirmed now by the personal will, and must 
 come to the test of the mind's own judgment. 
 The day has come for settling life missions. It 
 is the time when a single hour may be the hour 
 
 127 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 of all hours. At this age too doubts come as a 
 natural phase in the struggles of the developing 
 mind. No longer are statements accepted on 
 authority. This is not the egotism of youth, but 
 the coming into a mind of one's own, the facing 
 of questions as personal questions, and the ask- 
 ing for reasons because the mind cannot be satis- 
 fied without them. Who is sufficient ? Who dare 
 come with untrained hand? Yet who dare 
 neglect and leave them unguided? The highest 
 privilege offered the young men and women of 
 Christian character in America is to impress the 
 youth with a faith that is warm and a belief that 
 is simple and clear, and yet strong enough to 
 meet the demands of to-morrow. Having won 
 the affection, and given frank, open answers to 
 the questions that are sure to come, the real 
 teacher enters the pupil's very soul and strives by 
 all urgencies and strong counsels to secure the 
 action that will bind the will to the Christian 
 ideal and the heart to Christ. 
 
 The Social Nature. The girl now seeks the most 
 intimate and confidential friendships in very 
 small groups among her girl companions. These 
 influences rule here unless the mother be wise 
 enough to hold her with supreme affection. The 
 teacher must win the heart that is charged with 
 such intense emotions, or she will count for little 
 in the girl's life. There is no middle way. The 
 
 128 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 teacher will be a confidential friend or nothing. 
 She will appeal so finely to the nobler feelings 
 and show herself so true a friend as to call forth 
 admiration and stand as a sort of heroine, or she 
 will fail utterly. This is the day of the passion 
 and the whirlwind, and no mild and formal 
 moralizing will suffice for the teacher's place 
 with lad or lass. The heart's best blood must be 
 poured out to win and keep their love during 
 these years. There is no guidance without in- 
 sight, and no true insight without a sympathy so 
 deep and eager that its true name is love. 
 
 The Helping Hand. A superintendent of public 
 schools of one of the prosperous cities of the 
 Central West made the statement in public 
 recently that two girls out of three leaving the 
 high school before graduation did so because they 
 could not afford to dress as well as the small 
 group from well-to-do families. This suggests bit- 
 ter disappointment and mental suffering of these 
 girls that cannot be known. To some of them it 
 doubtless meant the lowering of life's ideals in 
 despair. The mission of the religious teacher is 
 here made plain. She can make her class a center 
 of new hopes and higher ambitions. Her delicate 
 appreciation of the longing for beauty and the 
 yearning for elegance that is right and natural 
 in the life of the young girl will give her insight 
 into the wounded feelings of those who are 
 
 129 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 turned aside by want of money and will enable 
 her to give the help that only a woman of refine- 
 ment and Christian sympathy can render. A 
 door of hope is needed for many a girl who has 
 never fallen into the mire, but who is over- 
 whelmed by her intense love of amusement or 
 embittered by the social disappointments which 
 she meets in the conditions of society where 
 extravagant expenditure of money offers oppor- 
 tunity to the few and shuts the door to many. 
 The heart of the teacher, the friendship of the 
 class, and the spirit of the Church should be the 
 inspiration to a nobler life. For such service 
 the finest types of Christian womanhood are re- 
 quired. 
 
 Studying Conditions. Mrs. Lamoreaux (in the 
 Westminster Teacher) thus describes her own 
 early teaching and her surprise as she entered 
 into the wider experiences of life in searching for 
 the real conditions surrounding the girls in her 
 class: "While the fundamental thing was done 
 for these girls, a vital thing was left undone, be- 
 cause a young teacher living in an ideal Christian 
 home could not know the need for doing it. There 
 was no careful study of conditions in home, 
 school, and office where these girls were to build 
 their Christian characters. The teacher had 
 never seen a home where the mother told her 
 daughter she 'was not worth the powder it would 
 
 130 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 take to blow her into eternity.' She did not 
 know that countless girls have mothers who 'do 
 not understand.' She did not know of that vast 
 multitude of girls who 'can't tell mother.' She 
 had never listened to stories told in tones vibrant 
 with intensity of the struggles to be true and 
 pure and womanly in the business world. That 
 a girl's position could be in danger, if she clung 
 to her high ideals; that there might be perhaps 
 in her very class a girl who did not earn enough 
 to live upon and be good, she had never dreamed. 
 But the sad knowledge has come since; and if 
 again the opportunity were hers with that class 
 of girls, the teacher would go downi into the 
 depths of every life. She would know the con- 
 ditions surrounding every girl day by day, she 
 would enter into her pupils' lives, and hand-in- 
 hand they two would battle, teacher and pupil, if 
 battle there had to be." 
 
 Miss Jane Addams says : "For youth is so vivid 
 an element in life that unless it is cherished, all 
 the rest is spoiled. The most praiseworthy 
 journey grows dull and leaden unless compan- 
 ioned by youth's iridescent dreams. Not only 
 that, but the mature of each generation run a 
 grave risk of putting their efforts in a futile direc- 
 tion, in a blind alley as it were, unless they can 
 keep in touch with the youth of their own day 
 and know at least the trend in which eager 
 
 131 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 dreams are driving them — those dreams that 
 fairly buffet our faces as we walk the city 
 streets." Another recent writer says : ''When all 
 has been said and done, there is nothing that will 
 give you quite such a hold ujjon the girl as to 
 make her feel that between you and her there is 
 some personal bond of which no one else knows. 
 This does not mean special favorites or teacher's 
 pets ; it is possible for the teacher of any class of 
 moderate size to establish some personal relation 
 between herself and each member of the class. 
 But the thing to be gained? Just this: you will 
 have ojjened the way for that which may some 
 day mean everything for the girl. If she feels 
 that there is an understanding between you and 
 her, she will not be afraid to come to you when 
 she is in real need of counsel. It is because the 
 girl does not always know there is some one 
 whom she has no reason to fear that some of our 
 work ends in heartbreaking failures." 
 
 What Can the Training Class Do for the Young 
 Girl's Teacher? 
 
 It can lead her to study the adolescent girl, physi- 
 cally, mentally, spiritually. 
 
 It can direct her to the value and methods of class 
 organization. 
 
 It can suggest the activities and methods approved 
 by the various girls' clubs and societies. 
 
 It can gather and outline information regarding local 
 needs in charity hospitals. 
 
 132 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 It can give lists of best books for social activities. 
 
 It can direct the study of life problems suitable to 
 girls. 
 
 It can bring the young teacher into close friendship 
 with teachers rich in experience. 
 
 It can awaken and sustain her enthusiasm in the face 
 of discouragements. 
 
 It can lead her to study the work of the Young Wom- 
 en's Christian Association, the Camp Fire Girls, and 
 other organizations that are enriching girl life. 
 
 It can interest her in attention at girls' conferences, 
 where the large groups of girls give expression to their 
 needs and wants under skillful guidance. 
 
 It can direct attendance to the need of study by leaders 
 in the Church of fields of employment open to girls. 
 
 It can enlist the interest of competent women in dis- 
 covering and meeting actual difficulties in the life of 
 employed girls. 
 
 It can secure and place in an available workers' li- 
 brary the books especially fitted to answer the questions 
 of girl life. 
 
 133 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 XII 
 THE TRAINING OF THE TEACHER OF BOYS 
 
 The Young Man as a Teacher. "It is the expe- 
 rience of our men," says a leader in the Young 
 Men's Christian Association, "that we can get 
 just as many boys in Bible study as we can 
 supply older boy leadership." One of the graver 
 responsibilities resting upon those who are look- 
 ing to the future of the Sunday school is the selec- 
 tion and training of teachers for classes of boys. 
 Many teachers have failed with these trying 
 problems because they were unfitted for the 
 task. There should, first, be careful selection of 
 those who are naturally adapted for the leader- 
 ship of boys. The necessary qualities of sym- 
 pathy, cordiality, patience, and alertness of mind 
 should be carefully considered. The ideal teacher 
 undoubtedly is the young man who is willing to 
 give time, whose character will inspire confi- 
 dence, whose interest is intense enough to lead 
 him to a careful study of the problems of boy 
 life. He should prepare with a view to some years 
 of service. No offhand or easy answer to the 
 questions which have often been found so serious 
 will avail. The relationships established should 
 be very close and cannot be easily broken with- 
 
 134 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 out serious loss. For intermediate boys the best 
 teacher is often a young man two or three years 
 older than themselves who, under the careful guid- 
 ance and with the supervision of well-trained, 
 older teachers, can, like a brother, secure the con- 
 fidence and love of the boys. 
 
 The Woman as a Teacher. While in theory the 
 man is the best teacher for the boy, the work done 
 by women as teachers has produced such rich 
 result in thousands of lives that no theory should 
 lead us to depreciate the value of her service. 
 Indeed, woman often makes an appeal to the 
 boy's heart which can be made by no other. She 
 awakens all the chivalry of his nature. She looks 
 upon him with a faith that a man can seldom 
 bestow. She has a patience and tact which do 
 not belong to the man. Many a boy has not 
 found in his home life or in any associations the 
 restraining and refining power of a Christian 
 woman's affection and guidance. Often the boy 
 has been surrounded by men and boys whose 
 coarse and careless words he has heard all the 
 days of the week, and a woman, with her refine- 
 ment, delicacy, and faith, comes as a sweet and 
 gracious influence in his life, calling to expres- 
 sion all that is best within him. She cannot join 
 in athletic games and take part in the sports as 
 a man may do at times, but she can do what is 
 often even more important: she can inspire by 
 
 135 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 her presence, put to shame all meanness, and 
 demand the highest manliness of conduct. But 
 here the difference between teaching and training 
 must be considered. The woman is nearly always 
 the better teacher, but training comes rather from 
 the outdoor and week-day life, and by example. 
 The attitude of a manly Christian toward amuse- 
 ment, sport, daily habits, industry, honesty, and, 
 finally, toward religion, is the most important 
 influence that can come to boys at this age. 
 
 Youth as a Problem. Manj' teachers have 
 sadly failed through the past j'ears with classes 
 of boys because ignorant of certain important 
 things that are essential to successful manage- 
 ment. Many of these teachers were faithful and 
 earnest and were bitterly disappointed over their 
 failures. The new knowledge of youth that has 
 come to us has been wrought out by the most 
 accurate and scientific research. This investiga- 
 tion has been as thorough and valuable as any 
 inquiry which science has made, and it is now 
 available in such practical form that all who 
 would assume the high responsibility of guiding 
 the lad must at least be acquainted with its more 
 important contributions. Adolescence was a word 
 unknown in popular usage ten years ago, but it 
 has now come into the range of general knowl- 
 edge, and suggests that physical and intellectual 
 and moral awakening of which the teacher must 
 
 136 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 be aware who is to understand what transpires 
 in the heart of a lad during the fateful years 
 from thirteen to sixteen. 
 
 Positive Leadership. The relation of the Church 
 to youth has often been that of continual reproof 
 and repression. In after years intense efforts 
 have been made at rescue and reformation. It 
 is now seen that intelligent teaching in the early 
 years, with sympathy and insight, is a far more 
 economical expenditure of strength than any pos- 
 sible effort for reconstruction after follies and 
 mistakes have been made. Medical science now 
 expends its strength on preventive measures. Its 
 advance has been far more rapid in the field of 
 preventive science than in securing new knowl- 
 edge of remedies. Cholera and yellow fever and 
 tuberculosis are almost as dread diseases to med- 
 ical science to-day as they were of old, but the 
 advance has been made in prevention. Many 
 details regarding sanitary conditions of life, 
 which were formerly regarded as too insignificant 
 to engage attention, are now proven the most 
 effective measures for preserving public health. 
 In the same manner the more dramatic and 
 intense efforts to secure the conversion of the 
 adult are far less effective in results than true 
 work for the upbuilding of moral and religious 
 character in boys and girls. 
 
 New Social Interests. The boy is an individual 
 137 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 now, claiming his own freedom, strong in the use 
 of his will. If it is always necessary to consider 
 the question of interest in regard to the child, 
 it is even more essential to ask, "What are the 
 interests of a hoyT' Whoever is preparing to 
 teach boys must take notice at once of the rapid 
 development of the social nature. The boy's 
 interest is in team work. With intense yearning 
 for companionship, he seeks boys with interests 
 like his own, and, wherever opportunity is given, 
 groups of a dozen or fifteen will be found 
 cemented together in close friendship. A careful 
 study of these groups has been made by many 
 workers in educational and religious fields. The 
 Young Men's Christian Association and many 
 social workers have given great thought and care 
 to it. The results of their practical experience 
 and their experiments, running through many 
 3'ears, can be readily secured by the student. 
 Books on the boy are now abundant, and nearly 
 all of them contain some helpful suggestions, and 
 a few of them are rich in information and true 
 to the best educational standards. Knowledge of 
 the possibility of self-government in boys' clubs 
 and groups, gangs and societies, and the many 
 forms in which the boy's love for his fellows may 
 be given natural expression under the direction 
 of older persons interested in him, will save the 
 coming leader from many mistakes and enable 
 
 138 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 him to do effective work. The Sunday school 
 should avail itself of organization. Often the 
 whole Intermediate Department should be organ- 
 ized, with one of its strongest boys as president 
 and a full corps of boy officers and committees. 
 Each class too, under the guidance of a skillful 
 and sympathetic supervisor, can use name, badge, 
 and full organization to its delight and profit. 
 But it is easy to blunder in this, and mistakes 
 are hard to correct. If the prejudice and antag- 
 onism of the boys is once aroused, it is difficult 
 to recall them or kindle new interest. 
 
 In addition to this social spirit, there is an 
 intense love for sport. The romping, vigorous 
 nature of the boy demands athletic exercise. He 
 wants games and recreation ; and if he finds them 
 in a good way, he will be satisfied. If not, he 
 is apt to find them with evil or less helpful com- 
 panions. Wherever the Sunday school teacher 
 can give an evening a week and wisely guide the 
 boys' games and recreation, or their athletic 
 sports, he will have immediate access to their 
 hearts and be able to bind them to him in very 
 close friendship. The boy has an intense love 
 for nature. Fields and woods, animals and 
 flowers and growing things fill him with delight. 
 Wherever it is possible to take Saturday after- 
 noons or half days in strolling and investigation, 
 the way is often prepared for far more valuable 
 
 139 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 meetings at the Sunday school hour. The teacher 
 can learn much from the Boy Scout movement 
 and other boys' organizations in their appeal to 
 the boy's love of exercise and his desire for 
 power, adventure, and willingness to serve. 
 
 New Mental Interests. In these years the boy 
 is often a most greedy reader of books. All sorts 
 of hero tales are read with avidity. He takes in 
 wide sweeps of history and much that is 
 romantic; but he worships strength and daring. 
 So the teacher's use of the Bible will demand 
 wide range of Old Testament heroes, and the 
 strong characters in patriotic and religious his- 
 tory will bring never-ceasing delight to his class 
 and afford him abundant illustration for the 
 lessons he strives to impress. This is a time of 
 the beginning of questions and doubts. The boy 
 is no longer a child under authority. He may be 
 still compelled in a way by physical necessity, 
 but his mind demands freedom and the older 
 boy asks the great and fundamental questions 
 about God and the Bible and the essential facts 
 of right and wrong in life and wants an answer 
 for them. His asking must be met with prompt 
 and fair statement that will put at his command 
 in short words the great truths that are known. 
 The heritage of the race in morals and religion 
 should be placed within his reach, that he may 
 take it to heart and ponder it. 
 
 140 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 The Joy of Service. The teachers of Interme- 
 diate classes have good reason to make careful 
 study of social service, for the day comes when 
 the spirit of altruism bursts forth like a moun- 
 tain spring in the adolescent classes, and they 
 come asking, with the glow of eagerness on their 
 faces, "What is there for us to do?" They scorn 
 the little sentimental oflerings and ask for s(mie 
 tasks and surrenders that demand heroic en- 
 deavor, or, at least, actual service and hard work. 
 They want to take part in a movement that is not 
 mere play, but accomplishes something in better- 
 ment that is worth while. It is a sad day for the 
 leader of impulsive youth who is called upon to 
 direct their steps into some line of the world's 
 real battle, and who, with silent lips, drops the 
 standard in ignorance, or plays the coward before 
 these ardent young soldiers. It must be made 
 clear to them that the work of the Kingdom is 
 not always on far-away mission fields nor in some 
 heroic age long i)ast. They should, rather, be 
 acquainted with needs in their own town or city. 
 But especially should the Christian spirit of fair 
 play, of social opportunity and real justice be 
 made plain to them. Their intense longing for 
 amusement and personal power should be re- 
 strained from selfsh expression by clear teaching 
 regarding the rights of the less fortunate. They 
 must learn through Christian teaching to note the 
 
 141 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 effect of their actions upon the happiness of 
 others. A certain fine respect for other people, 
 a true Christian chivalry, can be taught in the 
 early adolescent years. But they should learn 
 that true adventure, the righting of wrongs, the 
 service to the poor and troubled can be found 
 close at hand. The cruel prejudices of social 
 caste, the pride and greed in regard to money, are 
 temptations right before them in the pathway. 
 Appeal bravely to the unselfish spirit. 
 
 The Spiritual Awakening. Under the rough and 
 careless outer form^ the noise and slang, there 
 will be found a heart open for the spiritual 
 messages. Frequently this will require a close 
 personal relationship and intimate conversations 
 between teacher and pupil ; but where the teacher 
 has tact and a real desire to develop the highest 
 character and serve the nobler needs of the boy, 
 he will quickly detect this spiritual hunger. Boy 
 conferences, frequently held of late, have shown 
 the boy ready to respond to the leader who knows 
 how to make the straight religious appeal in the 
 terms of the boy's own needs and experiences. "I 
 didn't know there were so many Christian boys" 
 is a frequent expression at such conferences. 
 
 A Question of Personality. Teaching is, in a 
 large measure, during these years, a question of 
 personality. The teacher who can really be the 
 confidential friend of his pupils can wield an in- 
 
 142 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 fluence that will make an impression for life that 
 nothing outside the home circle can rival. And 
 yet much of this work is indirect. It is often not 
 the question of what is taught, but how it is 
 taught; not so much what is said, even, as who 
 said it. And so, where the teacher's life is guided 
 by the idealism of a true Christian faith, where 
 Christ himself is the object of the heart's deepest 
 loyalty, this inner life will be felt and appreci- 
 ated by the boys, though they will seldom express 
 it. These are the days when life comes to 
 climaxes, when the will makes its great decisions. 
 Bible-teaching should now center, after the study 
 of older Bible heroes, in the life of Christ; and 
 he should be presented as the hero and leader of 
 men, and one whom, throughout all ages, the 
 strongest and noblest have found stronger and 
 nobler than themselves. If the teacher fail to 
 win the boy to Christ, to the Church, to the clean 
 life, and to a noble purpose, he has lost the days 
 of richest opportunity; for never again will the 
 boy be so free from prejudice or influence from 
 without. These are the days of supreme oppor- 
 tunity, and to use them rightly the teacher must 
 prepare himself as for a task which demands the 
 highest powers and consecration of manhood. 
 The boy thinks about religion ; he has often some 
 religious experience. He has some kind of creed. 
 He needs help in his thinking, guidance in form- 
 
 143 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 ing his faith, and warm, manly sympathy in 
 bringing his will into the center of life. 
 Suggestions 
 
 Let the Intermediate Department have separate 
 organizations for boys and for girls. 
 
 Let all the officers in the boys' department be boys; in 
 the girls' department, girls. 
 
 Organize each class in the department with officers. 
 
 Give each class in the department real liberty under 
 careful supervision. 
 
 Find the right man as teacher, and there is no "boy 
 problem." 
 
 Let the teacher develop groups in his class according 
 to the special interests of the boys. 
 
 The grouping of boys should be fixed around some 
 common interests, rather than by exact age. 
 
 The success of the older boy as a Bible teacher has 
 surprised many a trained worker. 
 
 The boy is religious, but it is expressed more in activ- 
 ity than in words; he fears sentiment. 
 
 Some teachers have found ten minutes opening, 
 twenty to thirty minutes for lesson, and twenty minutes 
 for discussing the activities of class and groups for the 
 ensuing week the most valuable division of time. 
 
 The boy's keen sense of justice makes self-government 
 effective. 
 
 The boy loves to defy or test authority, but self-gov- 
 ernment gives him a sense of responsibility. 
 
 The boy has no respect for feeble, sentimental at- 
 tempts at authority. 
 
 The nonequipment type of athletics is often the most 
 successful; a good room, with a leader, is often of more 
 value to the boy than an expensively equipped gym- 
 nasium. 
 
 144 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 The leader should know the Young Men's Christian 
 Association and its methods of work for city or country. 
 
 He should study the Boy Scout movement and learn 
 how to cultivate self-reliance and a high sense of honor. 
 
 In a city he should know something of the juvenile 
 courts and the causes of delinquency. 
 
 He should spend a week with his boys in camp, if 
 possible. He will find woodcraft interests the country 
 boy as much as it delights the city boy. 
 
 He should expect to win the heart of every lad to 
 Christ and see him brought into the membership of the 
 church before sixteen years of age. 
 
 Federation of the boys' departments of a city may 
 be made a powerful organization. 
 
 There should always be something ahead, in lessons, 
 organization, and service. 
 
 Failure in grouping as to characteristics and con- 
 genial spirit has been the cause of many losses. 
 
 There should be a room, with some periodicals, pro- 
 vided by the church for social features, under proper 
 control. 
 
 The school session that is made attractive to boys by 
 its promptness, vigor, and directness will be alike at- 
 tractive to girls. 
 
 Worth-while services for boys of the different grades 
 should be carefully studied by the leaders. 
 
 The training, instruction, and organization of the 
 boys' classes and department should receive the careful 
 consideration of the pastor and officials of the church. 
 
 Boys' conferences have awakened many a lad to a 
 new life, and sent him home with a zest for leadership 
 in noble things. 
 
 The best organization of a school may be a "Teen Year 
 Department," with officers of their own choosing, rather 
 than separation of Intermediates and Seniors. 
 
 145 
 
THE TRAINI:NG of SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 XIII 
 
 THE TRAINING OF THE TEACHER OF SENIOR 
 PUPILS 
 
 Demand for a Separate Department. Every 
 modern and well-equipped Sunday school should 
 have a well-developed Senior Department. The 
 numbers representing this important age of six- 
 teen to twenty too often constitute but a small 
 part of the school. The more willing have been 
 drawn into service as teachers or officers in the 
 school; those less interested have dropped out of 
 its ranks; those who remain are often scattered 
 among the adult classes. AVhile here and there a 
 strong teacher holds a class of Senior students, 
 a definite department that recognizes the dignity 
 and possibilities of the years of later adolescence 
 is seldom found. Wherever the problem is fairly 
 stated it comes at once a challenge to the alert, 
 intellectual young manhood and young woman- 
 hood of the church to prepare themselves to be 
 friends and teachers of youth in these years rich 
 with promise yet fraught with temptation. 
 
 Characteristics. In the larger schools classes 
 should be organized from groups of similar ages 
 and interests. The rapid changes following the 
 Intermediate years demand careful organization 
 and a full recognition of new interests and new 
 
 146 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 relations in life. Teachers should be very care- 
 fully chosen for these different classes of stu- 
 dents, with a view to their social, intellectual, 
 and moral needs. A thorough study should be 
 made of the week-day life and occupations of the 
 students. Only teachers of the finest character, 
 of positive faith, and willing to sacrifice time and 
 put forth abundant effort, can possibly hope to 
 meet the demands in these critical and important 
 years. The Senior scholars will not be held as 
 passive students. They are not only willing to 
 assume duties; they delight in tasks that call 
 forth strength. They enjoy freedom and seek 
 large social groups. The organization and man- 
 agement of the department should be in their 
 own hands. They can elect its officers, provide 
 for its committees, and outline the activities. 
 This fresh life and hope, the fertile suggestions 
 and daring plans for aggressive movements that 
 come from a group of senior scholars once awak- 
 ened in interest make it one of the most effective 
 and inspiring departments of the whole school. 
 
 The High School Student. The pupils of the 
 high school form so influential a group and are 
 under such distinct conditions of life that they 
 demand teachers fitted to meet their own special 
 needs. There is a marked tendency to desert the 
 church altogether in the high school years. They 
 easily become absorbed in social pleasure, which 
 
 147 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 is often allowed far too early. They are busy 
 with the taxing work of the school, and, unless 
 they have been trained in previous years to give 
 definite time and service to the church, consider 
 themselves exempt from all regular duties. Only 
 the teacher who can command respect and inspire 
 love can secure from them that cooperation and 
 loyalty which draws them away from the duties 
 and fascinations which crowd upon them. These 
 are the children of privilege and many of them 
 are on the way to college and positions of highest 
 influence. They should be the object of great 
 interest and attention at this time, not only for 
 the sake of their own characters, but for the 
 power they will wield in the years to come. If 
 they are neglected now, it will be exceedingly 
 difficult to enlist them later in religious work. 
 Their departure from the church and its work at 
 this time often means their final loss of interest 
 in its tasks and teachings. 
 
 The teacher must hold their confidence implic- 
 itly. They are merciless critics, but devoted 
 friends, and whoever commands their intellectual 
 respect and their allegiance of heart at this time 
 will be able to make a powerful impression upon 
 their character. Frankness, sincerity, and cor- 
 diality must characterize the teacher. The ques- 
 tions of recreation and amusement now hold such 
 an important place in their esteem that the 
 
 148 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 teacher must deal with them with great tact and 
 patience. Doubts, which come with new knowl- 
 edge, must be met with an intelligent open-mind- 
 edness. These doubts, which are usually honest 
 and entirely sincere, are often serious unless the 
 teacher has the assuring power of a clear and pos- 
 itive faith and is able to convince the student that 
 this is only part of the life struggle and is to be 
 faced bravel}'' and fairly. The effort to gain a 
 faith that meets the need of enlarging experiences 
 of life is often attended by hard struggle. The 
 teacher must be prepared to guide with sympathy 
 and respect these strivings for a personal state- 
 ment of religion. The wise teacher seeks the 
 exf>ression of high ideals in conduct, using little 
 argument. 
 
 The College Student. A class consisting of col- 
 lege students demands particular attention. 
 Wherever the Sunday school is related to the col- 
 lege, there is the opportunity for special classes 
 for Bible study which will quickly open the way 
 to larger Christian service under inspiring leader- 
 ship. The groups in the Young ^Men's Christian 
 Associations, connected with these institutions, 
 are doing work of great value. But in addition 
 to these the Sunday' school should offer classes 
 for instruction, with close organization and most 
 careful and thorough teaching. Sometimes there 
 is a wide gap between the college and the Sunday 
 
 149 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 school, and students do not regard it as an insti- 
 tution in which, they are especially interested; 
 yet no Sunday school in close relation to the col- 
 lege, with its groups of young men or young 
 women who promise so much for future leader- 
 ship, should allow them to pass through these 
 formative years without finding instruction 
 within the walls of the church itself. To attract 
 and hold them it must command their highest 
 respect and their truest loyalty. Teachers from 
 college ranks and talented men and women in 
 the college community should be asked to under- 
 take this work and to give the Sunday school 
 class a high educational and social rank. Often 
 the college students should be organized in a de- 
 partment by themselves, but it should never be 
 attempted until the courses of study, teaching, 
 and organization are of a character to command 
 their respect. 
 
 The Student in the Oflfice or Store. While much 
 attention is given to high school and college stu- 
 dents, it must not be forgotten that only one in 
 five enters the high school, and only two out of a 
 hundred attend the college. The problem of the 
 eighty or ninety is, after all, the great question 
 confronting the Church. A large number of 
 these hold positions in oflSces and stores. They 
 require special attention. They are busy through- 
 out the week. Heavy demands are made upon 
 
 160 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 their time and strength. They often fret under 
 the confinement and severe duties placed upon 
 them early in life. Many of them are carrying 
 heavy burdens, oftentimes with small wages. 
 They have the desire for pleasure, for dress, and 
 for the high standards of living. The church 
 must be made very attractive to them, if it is to 
 command their interest and attention. Carefully 
 organized classes, mixed at times, or with a sep- 
 aration of young men and women, will be neces- 
 sary. Leaders of their own number should be 
 chosen as officers. The teacher will not find here 
 the same problems of doubt and intellectual 
 unrest. The questions are not those of higher 
 criticism or the relation between science and 
 religion, but the practical questions of Christian 
 morality. The sharp, shrewd spirit of the world 
 asks whether the church is of any value, and the 
 restlessness of youth wants freedom. Hence the 
 teacher must have social tact, positive convic- 
 tions, great sympathy, and a clear knowledge of 
 the conditions of life in which each one lives and 
 works in order to give them that view of life and 
 Christian character which they most need at this 
 time of life. Here too class organization will aid 
 in making the church a social center for them. 
 The forming and guidance of social groups will 
 be one of the highest offices of the church. 
 
 Workers in Factories and Shops. Another group, 
 151 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 with a dififerent mental and social outlook, in- 
 cludes the great number who work with their 
 hands in shops and factories. The Church has, 
 as a rule, signally failed to reach these. The 
 spirit of unrest in the working man to-day is a 
 story told in thousands of pages of intense dis- 
 cussion. The problem of the employed boy and 
 of the working girl is one which the Church can 
 handle more readily than that of the man at 
 work. If it can offer something in the way of 
 athletics and social life, if it can group in real 
 friendship and offer something for the loneliness 
 and restlessness of life at this age that is really 
 gratifying and uplifting, it will accomplish a 
 work worth great expense and sacrifice. No 
 teacher can hope to meet this problem without 
 expenditure of heart and hand. The toil will be 
 a heavy draft upon his energies, but the returns 
 will be rich in life values, for all of the coarser 
 amusements, all of the glamour of vice, all of 
 the tremendous unrest regarding wages and labor 
 appeal to these young people. Their week-day 
 surroundings are seldom conducive to high mo- 
 rality or to true religious life. If they are drawn 
 together on Sunday and are really instructed and 
 inspired, it will be done only by the teachers who 
 are willing to pay the price. 
 
 The Christian Spirit in Service. Many young 
 men and women are now devoting their lives to 
 
 152 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 work in social settlements, in the service of 
 organized charities, and other endeavors of a 
 non-religions character to relieve the misery of 
 the world about them. Often they are out of 
 sympathy with the church because they have not 
 found it active in practical work and in a critical 
 attitude toward all formal statements of Chris- 
 tian faith, and yet they are giving their lives in 
 the most unselfish way for the betterment of 
 humanity. They are striving to do essentially 
 Christian work without the inspiration of the 
 gospel. Many of these hearts will grow sad under 
 the great burden, and shoulders weary under the 
 heavy tasks. One of the privileges of the true 
 teacher will be to search for students with high 
 ideals and strive to meet their intellectual diffi- 
 culties and to unfold to them the essential charity 
 and uplifting power in the gospel of Christ. It 
 will often require great patience, insight, and 
 love to guide these daring, restless young lives. 
 No service for humanity can be so true, so fine, 
 and so strong as that which is close to the heart 
 of Christ; and it is worth while for the teacher 
 to labor long to prevent this sei)aration between 
 the yearning to serve and the acceptance of es- 
 sential Christian faith. 
 
 Vital Question?. The sterner questions of life 
 will call for an answer: What is prayer? What 
 is the value of the Bible? the reality of the spirit- 
 
 153 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 ual life? Many quastions about moral standards 
 will also arise. General and often personal ques- 
 tions about aims in life will be put to the Sun- 
 day school teacher as to no one else. This teacher, 
 then, must be counselor and confidant, must be 
 ready to suggest books and reading, to give 
 counsel about companionship, about school, and 
 work, and profession. He must be a companion 
 in the outdoor life and a friend to the heart, be- 
 cause often no one will be so near and have so 
 rich an opportunity for influence. The teacher 
 must face the questions of doubt with students 
 of books. Tennyson's story of the inner life of 
 his young friend Hallam is a noble instance: 
 
 He fought his doubts and gathered strength, 
 He would not make his judgment blind, 
 He faced the specters of the mind 
 
 And laid them: thus he came at length 
 
 To find a stronger faith his own; 
 
 And Power was with him in the night, 
 Which makes the darkness and the light. 
 
 And dwells not in the light alone. 
 
 Some of them will be interested in the histor- 
 ical study of the Bible and in the history and 
 date of its books. To them the question of in- 
 spiration and revelation will be a subject of 
 intense interest. A far larger number will be 
 troubled about tlie scientific and religious ques- 
 
 154 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 tions. All the books they read and all the classes 
 they attend spur them on to a critical search for 
 the laws of the material world around them. 
 The teacher who can show them God behind the 
 law and the realities of spiritual things will be 
 able to render an inestimable service in these 
 days of anxiety and unsettlement. 
 
 For these out in the business and workaday 
 world, the questions will be of a most immediate 
 and practical nature. There will be questions of 
 the shop and the street and the office, of the 
 amusement park and of the gayer life of pleasure. 
 How to exalt the Bible, put it in its true place, 
 how to reveal the truth about prayer, how to pre- 
 sent Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour command- 
 ing the absolute loyalty of the heart, and how to 
 reveal the immanent God will be the subject of 
 much thought and prayer on the part of the 
 teacher who faces this responsibility to heart and 
 brain with a full sense of responsibility and 
 privilege. 
 
 Discussion. Professor F. C. Sharp says: "The 
 power and habit of reflecting upon moral issues 
 of life can be developed only by exercise. The 
 procedure employed will, accordingly, be system- 
 atic class discussion, a discussion led, but never 
 dominated, by the teacher. These discussions 
 should be preceded by careful preparation on the 
 part of the pupil. Ordinarily, the subject-matter 
 
 155 
 
THE TEAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 will be supplied by a series of questions distrib- 
 uted to the pupils in advance. The pupils should 
 be urged not merely to reflect upon them seri- 
 ously by themselves but to talk them over with 
 friends, classmates, and parents." 
 
 The Call of the Church. Is joining the Church 
 a duty? Dr. Charles E. Jefferson says: "Almost 
 all the virtues and graces urged in the New Testa- 
 ment are social graces and virtues. Man is 
 human only in society: a Christian is genuinely 
 Christian only in the Church, A Christian out- 
 side the Church is abnormal, stunted, maimed. 
 The Church is the home of the Christian life, and 
 it is only in fellowship with believers that the 
 soul comes to know the dimensions of that love 
 which passes knowledge. The Christian is also 
 a worker^ a soldier, a savior. He must be a profit- 
 able servant, an effective soldier, a loving savior. 
 Group strength is the only form of strength suffi- 
 cient to solve the problems or overcome the evils 
 of this world. An isolated man is impotent. A 
 detached Christian is unprofitable. Soldiers who 
 really mean to fight march with the army. 
 Workers who want their work to count work 
 together. If the Church is indeed the body of 
 Christ, the organ through which he speaks, the 
 instrument by which he works, then it is certainly 
 the duty of every soul desiring to fulfill its destiny 
 to become an integral part of that body." 
 
 156 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 Practical Suggestions 
 
 Develop types of study classes fitted to the character- 
 istics of the older pupils. Take up such subjects as 
 Christian history, missions, social service in forms of 
 activity related to the community and country, town or 
 city. 
 
 Training classes for those who give promise of being 
 "apt to teach." 
 
 Classes in evidences for pupils who are asking ques- 
 tions regarding the fundamentals of faith. 
 
 Denominational history. Christian polity, and social 
 activities for maturer pupils. 
 
 Discussion should be encouraged, and every effort 
 made to provoke and guide original expression. Help- 
 ing them to think for themselves is one of the great 
 objectives. 
 
 A full understanding of the methods of work, organi- 
 zation, responsibilities, and opportunities of the local 
 church should be attained. Study "Our Church." 
 
 The church that finds nothing for its young people to 
 do will have to find a way of doing without them. 
 
 One of the best magazines dealing with the problems 
 of social life, like the Survey, should be at hand for the 
 use of the class. 
 
 A free, but carefully guided discussion of the problems 
 of the day upon which the Christian conscience should 
 be alert is essential to the true work of a Senior class. 
 
 157 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 XIV 
 
 THE TRAINING OF THE TEACHER OF THE 
 
 WOMEN'S CLASS 
 
 The Disproportionate Emphasis. We have had 
 the Laymen's Missionary Movement and the Men 
 and Religion Forward Movement, and organized 
 boys' work. All these things we ought to have 
 done ; many of them we have too long left undone. 
 But it has been assumed all along that, if we 
 could only induce men and boys to take larger 
 interest in religion and Bible study, the essential 
 part of religious teaching would be accomi)lished. 
 The interest of women and girls was too much 
 taken for granted. 
 
 The Need of a New Guidance. The Church, as a 
 result, has failed to appeal to the full nature of 
 women. She has been asked to serve at its tables 
 and has given her strength without limit. She 
 has assumed a large share of the interest in mis- 
 sionary work, and her organizations have been 
 most effective in their educational results. She 
 has also been interested in charities and benev- 
 olences. From her carefully organized societies 
 she has sent vast sums to the frontier and to the 
 foreign field. The administration of her trust 
 has been careful as a savings bank. The mission- 
 
 158 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 aries she has sent forth guided by her faith and 
 directed by her insight, have gone on quests dar- 
 ing as the polar expeditions. But the Church has 
 failed to offer to her proper opportunities for 
 training, for instruction, and for study that are 
 essential to the development of the strongest reli- 
 gious character and the highest efficiency in 
 Christian service. The result has been a great 
 loss. With all the freedom offered American 
 women, she shares the intellectual unrest of the 
 time. It reaches her, however, in a way differ- 
 ent from the doubt and indifference to religion 
 shown among many classes of men. Many reli- 
 gious fads and fancies, Oriental cults, and pecul- 
 iar forms of mysticism have found fertile soil 
 in the emotional life of certain types of American 
 women. When she has strong religious longings 
 and little religious training, the occult and some- 
 times the novel forms of religious beliefs, with 
 their bold assertions, prove so attractive that 
 many almost unconsciously have turned away 
 from Christianity, hoping to find a deeper satis- 
 faction in some new teaching. Whatever criti- 
 cisms we may offer regarding these efforts to 
 solicit the faith of womanhood or regarding her 
 departure from the churches, the remedy must 
 be found in a teaching at once so attractive and 
 so positive that it will establish her in Christian 
 faith and doctrine. No one who knows the his- 
 
 159 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 tory of Christianity can doubt the success of such 
 teaching. Any just criticism must ultimately 
 fall upon our failure to present in its fullness and 
 richness the truth that has so fully satisfied both 
 heart and brain throughout the Christian ages. 
 
 The Teacher's Intellectual Opportunity. The first 
 need is a thorough knowledge of the Bible itself. 
 In order to attract interest and to maintain a 
 class of students throughout a series of years, 
 there must be a comprehensive plan of study. 
 No richer opportunity is offered than a study of 
 the great books and passages of the Bible in the 
 light of their historical setting. Then its great 
 messages may be practically applied to special 
 needs. The poetry of the Bible, with its profound 
 appeal to the emotions, stands unique. Nothing 
 has ever so touched the human heart, nothing has 
 ever so appealed to the sense of reverence, noth- 
 ing has ever met the demand of the aesthetic 
 nature in its loftiest yearnings as the mystical 
 and profound words of the Scriptures. The rich 
 and varied pictures of home life throughout the 
 Bible are attractive and delightful and lend 
 themselves most freely to practical teaching. The 
 descriptions of character are so true to life that 
 every heart recognizes in them our common hu- 
 manity. There are no literary studies that equal 
 in interest the historical, the poetic, and pro- 
 phetic portions of the Bible ; and no appeal to the 
 
 160 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 religious nature is so profound as that made by 
 the words of Jesus. Intelligent womanhood must 
 recognize its debt to Christianity, and amid all 
 the aspirations and ambitions for better things 
 that throb in the heart of the modern woman, 
 there is no such answer as that found in the Book 
 of books, and in the results it has wrought in 
 the uplifting of her sex. The Orient everywhere 
 guarded the purity of woman, but the ancient 
 customs veiled her face or deformed her feet and 
 made her house a prison. She was always held 
 under suspicion. The Bible, however, demands 
 the same purity from man as from woman. There 
 is no sex in the Ten Commandments, and in the 
 New Testament the body is the temple of the 
 Holy Ghost. The Oriental life made the home 
 safe, because the sword was hung by a thread 
 above it. In Christian society the home is safe 
 because it is sacred. This sacredness of home 
 life and this pure morality, flowing from the 
 fountains of the gospel, should be taught just as 
 forcibly and passionately to-day as ever in the 
 world's history, and no authority will be found 
 giving such weight to the appeal as the teachings 
 of the Bible. 
 
 The Bible Must Be Interpreted Through Personal 
 Faith. After all, nothing is so attractive as the 
 gosj)el of Christ interpreted through a heart 
 aglow with love and a mind that clearly grasps 
 
 161 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 its central truths. This does not imply wide 
 range of doctrinal teaching, but it does mean 
 definite knowledge and religious experience. The 
 finer emotional nature of woman refuses to be 
 satisfied until the heart has felt intensely. The 
 power of a satisfied heart is absolutely essential 
 to wide influence in teaching, and when the 
 teacher meets the doubts and perplexities that 
 come to the educated woman, she must be able to 
 say, in the words of the Christian mystic, "I 
 know that I know." Mrs. Lamoreaux truthfully 
 says : ''The supreme question concerning the stu- 
 dent is not, 'Does she know about God, the Bible, 
 the Church, and Christian service?' but 'Does 
 she love them?' The supreme question concern- 
 ing a teacher is not, 'Does she hold a teacher- 
 training diploma?' but 'Can she teach so as to 
 lead the student to love the things of God?' Per- 
 sistently ask, 'What do they love, these students 
 of mine?' Knowledge of God plus love of him, 
 attention to the lesson plus love for it, regular 
 attendance plus love of coming, acts of service 
 plus love for the doing — these are the teacher's 
 goal." 
 
 The Teacher Needs an Intelligent Standard of 
 Christian Service. Womanhood of to-day cannot 
 face the suffering and poverty of the world with- 
 out yearning to minister to it. Multitudes of 
 them are blind to it because they know so little; 
 
 163 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 and the first qualification must be an intelligent 
 survey of actual conditions. This knowledge of 
 life near at hand has been so far from us in the 
 past that the most ardent spirit has often found 
 it impossible to find a practical task. But to-day 
 no group of earnest, thoughtful women can meet 
 week by week and ask the questions regarding 
 their own city or town or country community 
 without finding some service that will demand 
 all the strength of their hearts and minds. The 
 hospital and the cases of acute poverty have 
 always been open, but other pressing needs just 
 as important have been overlooked, because 
 unknown. Let this group of women investigate 
 the opportunities for homelike comforts offered 
 to homeless women. Let them ascertain what 
 wages are paid, where girls in employment 
 find rooms and recreation. Let them determine 
 what amusements are really offered and what 
 opportunities for advance in life are open to 
 eager and earnest girls seeking education. 
 Let them ask what the industrial conditions 
 are for children and girls in factories and 
 shops. They need not go into the very haunts of 
 sin and the lowest places of iniquity, though their 
 influence and prayers will extend over these; but 
 where information is gained, thorough and exact, 
 where tasks are assigned and the strength of a 
 united force of workers offered, there will be 
 
 163 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 abundant outlet for the unselfish heart. Charity 
 by cheek has long been proven unsatisfactory. 
 It is the personal contact that counts. The 
 ''friendly visitor" is absolutely essential to the 
 United Charities. The Christian woman at the 
 doorway, beside the bed of suffering, face to face 
 with the lonely and the discouraged, heart to 
 heart with the aspiring and the earnest of her 
 own sex, will prove to them an angel of light. 
 When this service opens to her, her faith will find 
 richer interpretation and her place in the sister- 
 hood of those with whom she labors will be richly 
 appreciated. 
 
 Social Problems. Every community has social 
 problems which none but Christian women can 
 solve, and the object of a class of women united 
 for the study of the Bible should be to establish 
 Christian standards in the whole community. 
 The woman, in the home, in the school, in the 
 church, and in social life, after all, sets the stand- 
 ard. The tragedy of life comes where she is only 
 a pleasure-seeker and living merely for the luxury 
 and beauty of life and the gratification of her 
 aesthetic nature. Our day of material abundance 
 offers temptations known only among small 
 groups of people before in the history of the 
 world. And so the final aim of the Christian 
 woman as a teacher is not to give a little informa- 
 tion about the Bible, nor merely to confirm in 
 
 164 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 Christian doctrine and ciiurcli allegiance the 
 group which she may gather around her, but to 
 establish through Christian living, through the 
 serenity and attractiveness of her spirit the 
 Christian ideal of society. Dr. Luther H. Gulick 
 says: ''To serve the community in ways in 
 which she is the creator and specialist is the 
 end, and toward this service the women of 
 the world are pressing, most of them uncon- 
 sciously — a few of them consciously, but all of 
 them inevitably. The deepest need of woman is 
 the need of being needed. This is why she re- 
 sponds to the sick or crippled child. If ever 
 woman was needed, she is to-day. The very riot 
 of our material riches is the peril of our souls. 
 Woman is already taking hold of the present 
 material world, giving to it and bringing into it 
 the love and service and spiritual relations which 
 in the old days created the home and which to- 
 day are changing the man-made workhouse into 
 a place adequate to the glorious future life of 
 human beings." 
 
 The Value of This Teaching. The cheering fact 
 is that vast numbers of cultivated, intelligent 
 women are asking, "What is there worth while 
 for me?" They have been offered a sphere of 
 service as teacher of the child and teacher of the 
 boy and girl ; but woman, as the teacher of adults, 
 has not been offered her sphere of influence in the 
 
 165 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 development of social standards and maintenance 
 of Christian ideals. To-day women of leisure, of 
 wide reading, and careful training can be found 
 in nearly every community adequate for these 
 tasks when once the way is pointed out to them. 
 To bring together in a true sisterhood for thor- 
 ough study and with the holiest social purposes 
 large groups of women, is worthy of the most 
 painstaking endeavor. The woman outside the 
 home and schoolroom has not been offered service 
 in the constructive and preventive work of 
 society. Too often there has been no open door 
 until a dramatic appeal of suffering and disaster 
 demanded her presence. She came to jjity and to 
 heal, but too late to guide and inspire. 
 
 A Practical Instance. The story of what one 
 woman is doing is but an illustration of what 
 hundreds of others could do. Mrs. C. F. Men- 
 ninger is the teacher each week of four different 
 classes in Topeka, Kansas. The enrollment of 
 these classes all told this year is four hundred. 
 In the Tuesday night class, which meets at the 
 Young Women's Christian Association rooms, 
 there is an enrollment of one hundred and sixty- 
 six. One evening in December one hundred and 
 sixty-four of them were present. Only fifteen of 
 the whole number are at home ; all the rest have 
 definite occupations. Forty of them are public- 
 school teachers ; as many more are stenographers. 
 
 166 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 "They are fine material with, which to work," says 
 their teacher, and adds, ''I do not see why more 
 women do not teach women's classes, it is such 
 interesting work." This teacher is a wife and 
 mother, with the care of her own home, and yet 
 finds time for this far-reaching work among the 
 women of her own city. 
 
 FuBTHEB Suggestions 
 
 The woman's class should promote extension classes 
 for week-day study. 
 
 It should consider the value of group work in which 
 eight or ten may profit by a closer study along particu- 
 lar lines. 
 
 A class of mothers studying the problems of "child 
 nature and child nurture" has proven valuable in some 
 schools. 
 
 The class should have a list of non-attending members 
 enrolled in the Home Department. 
 
 It should be the older sister to one or more classes 
 of girls. 
 
 Its success will depend, in large measure, upon busi- 
 nesslike organization and management. 
 
 It should gather with care a library of books regard- 
 ing fields of social service for women. 
 
 It should be active in promoting women's classes in 
 other schools, especially small schools and country 
 schools. 
 
 It should form a federation of women's Bible classes 
 for aggressive work. 
 
 The class should be on cordial relations with the 
 Young Women's Christian Association, the social serv- 
 ice workers of the women's clubs, and other organiza- 
 
 167 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 tions of women working for the higher welfare of their 
 sex. 
 
 It should make a survey of particular activities needed 
 in definite lines of social service. 
 
 It should study the special rights of children, aban- 
 doned children, orphanages, and children's homes, 
 truancy laws, child-labor laws. 
 
 It should study the child's play life, playgrounds, the 
 street life of children, and the amusements offered them. 
 
 The big problem — wages of working girls and the con- 
 ditions surrounding their lives — should be of intense 
 interest. 
 
 The purpose and ideals of the home life will prove of 
 rich value in this class. 
 
 The object of this class is to render, personally and 
 collectively, definite service toward a truly Christian 
 order of society. 
 
 168 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 XV 
 
 THE TRAINING OF THE TEACHER OF THE MEN'S 
 CLASS 
 
 Men. More than thirty-eight thousand organ- 
 ized Adult Bible Classes have been reported at 
 the office of the International Sunday School 
 Association during the last seven years. There 
 are many thousands of classes besides these; 
 those enlisted in the Baraca Movement enroll the 
 largest number. The plan of developing adult 
 classes has worked a marvelous change and, as 
 never before, has carried the Sunday school into 
 the arena of mature life. When six thousand men, 
 carrying Bible-class banners, marched through 
 the streets of Harrisburg, the public saw that it 
 was something more than a child's school. When 
 thirteen thousand men marched, eight abreast, 
 on the evening of a state convention down the 
 broad avenues of Cleveland, all northern Ohio 
 knew that a new power had come in religious life. 
 At a recent state Sunday school convention in 
 Philadeli)hia twenty-five thousand men marched 
 proudly under the Bible-class banner. Stronger 
 proof of the readiness of men for Christian serv- 
 ice has seldom been given in America. The evi- 
 
 169 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 dence of marching manhood brings the fact home 
 as no statement of the printed page could reveal 
 it. The simplicity of this plan is very encourag- 
 ing. Each class is a club with five officers and 
 three committees. It is a little Christian republic, 
 meeting in the spirit of rare comradeship. The 
 division of responsibility, the assignment of 
 definite tasks and duties, the free discussion, and 
 the noble object inspiring it all, bind these men 
 together in close fellowship. The club plan is 
 attractive to men, the class idea far more attrac- 
 tive to the teacher. 
 
 Bible Study. The second inspiring note is that 
 these men find the Bible intensely interesting, 
 and the study of it binds them together as no 
 other course of instruction has ever been able to 
 do. In a great national meeting of one of the 
 church Brotherhoods, a leader from one of the 
 largest cities reported, "No Brotherhood has 
 failed which was organized for Bible study." 
 What does this mean in the solution of the teach- 
 ing problems? To interest men through the ur- 
 gency of an energetic membership committee is 
 one thing; to build up the class with a fine spirit 
 of friendship is a splendid accomplishment; but 
 when we have gathered these men and they are 
 knit together in a group, how shall we keep them ? 
 We can hold them only by giving them oppor- 
 tunity for growth in Christian character and 
 
 170 
 
TEACUEKtS AND OFFICERS 
 
 actual achievement. They expect much; their 
 standards for the church are high. Many of them 
 have been negligent, yet friendly in their atti- 
 tude; now they are called by such urgent and 
 enthusiastic solicitations that they think some- 
 thing is about to be done. They expect the teach- 
 ing of the Bible in the church, and this teaching 
 by one of the foremost laymen of the church to 
 mean something of great value to each man's life. 
 The whole range of civic duties, the burning ques- 
 tions of reform, the ethics of business and the 
 peculiar temptations they face in the active life 
 — all these arise as practical questions. They 
 demand in the teacher the strong hand of a leader 
 and a definite grasp of the problems ever arising, 
 The search for truth is there, frank and earnest. 
 These men want to know the truth plainly and 
 sincerely, or they would not be there. For this 
 reason the Bible class must be more than a 
 friendly club; it must be religious and must 
 regard life from the spiritual point of view. The 
 prophets and the evangelists will be studied with 
 the windows open to factories, workshops, offices, 
 and voting booths. The lesson will not end in 
 Jerusalem, but will be brought to the home city. 
 The plumb-line of Amos will be found as true to 
 the pull of moral gravity as when he held it to 
 the sins of an ancient city. The parables of Jesus 
 will be found as true to life in modern streets as 
 
 171 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 they were beside a Galilean lake. Bible study 
 brought up to date by a true teacher is a sacred 
 use of Scripture. 
 
 The Practical Man as Teacher. The professional 
 man, the business man, and the man with scien- 
 tific training, have here their opportunity to 
 shape the ideals and direct the energies of men. 
 These leaders know the spirit of the day; they 
 meet men on the street; they are accustomed to 
 hard questions and the practical aspects of life. 
 Now, if such a man be a student of the Bible, 
 a man of positive life, and have a brother's heart, 
 the way of influence is open before him to mold 
 the lives of scores of men. But often much of 
 this splendid opportunity is thrown away. The 
 class hour is used rather as a lecture platform, 
 or with loose teaching it runs to aimless talk 
 and rambling discussion. Sometimes the class 
 suffers from the pedantry of the learned teacher 
 who spends thirty-five or forty minutes on a bit 
 of history or some abstruse problem. Sometimes 
 it suffers from the ignorant teacher who leads 
 into doubts and difficulties for which he has no 
 solution that will satisfy thinking men. Here is 
 the place for strong men. Such men as Judges 
 Hughes and Harlan and Brewster of the Supreme 
 Court, and Mr. Bryan and ex -President Harrison, 
 have been successful Bible-class teachers, and 
 many strong men, leaders and thinkers, are to- 
 
 172 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 (lay finding an open door of influence through the 
 Bible class that has never been given them before. 
 Three Evidences. The plain teacher becomes a 
 mighty man, if he will but use the agencies at his 
 command — the Bible, his own Christian expe- 
 rience, and the facts of Christian history — and 
 transfer these into conduct. The "unlearned and 
 ignorant men," as they are termed in the book of 
 Acts, *'who turned the world up side down" 
 demonstrated for all time what can be accom- 
 plished through these means by those trained to 
 use them effectively. There are in every com- 
 munity hungry men ; they have the inborn long- 
 ing for truth; they stand on no solid foundation; 
 neither heart nor brain is satisfied. They need 
 some closer approach than the sermon. They 
 have questions and vague doubts and peculiar 
 personal problems; and the teacher, in the free 
 scope of class discussion, can meet these difficul- 
 ties. He can go far beyond that : he can discover, 
 through the confidence thus evoked, the weakness 
 and lurking hindrances in the lives of these men 
 and can seek opportunities to meet them alone 
 face to face. He can arouse a spirit of inquiry 
 and eagerness to know the truth in their minds 
 and set them on the noble quest for truth in the 
 Book that has guided countless thousands in the 
 past. Mr. Charles M. Alexander tells the story 
 of a conversation with Mr. William Stead in one 
 
 173 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 of the English cities. It lasted until long after 
 midnight. The brilliant London editor had come 
 to study and report the revival. He wanted to 
 find a way of explaining the revival. He could 
 not be content until he had a psychology in mind 
 that fitted the whole phenomenon before him. 
 Mr. Alexander is a plain man, and not equipped 
 for debate with the versatile Mr. Stead, but he 
 simply said, "I can bring a hundred men who 
 were weak, wrecked, helpless victims, who are 
 now clean and strong, brought out into this new 
 manhood in our meetings here two years ago." 
 It was the old reasoning sure and swift, leaping 
 over some unbridged gaps : "Seeing the man that 
 was healed, they could say nothing against it." 
 
 The Teacher Should Be a Student. The teacher 
 of the adult class must be informed. Men respect 
 the teacher who is prepared. They admire the 
 solid and thorough preparation that brings ten 
 times as much into the class as can be used in 
 the hour. The teacher's readiness wins the 
 respect that is given a minister who comes to 
 his pulpit with a clear, strong sermon, or the 
 physician whose diagnosis gives evidence of 
 mastery of medicine, or the business man who is 
 prepared with careful thought to meet the prob- 
 lems of his office. The teacher must be a system- 
 atic student to meet the expectations and guide 
 the thinking of earnest men. This does not 
 
 174 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 require the exact and particular learning- of the 
 scholar, but that well-rounded information and 
 analysis of the lesson in hand which comes only 
 from hours of reading and solid thought. This 
 varied information and wealth of detail should 
 all be held in check and the one main truth of 
 the lesson ever kept in view. Sidelights and illus- 
 trations are of value only as they illustrate the 
 one great theme. 
 
 Preaching and Teaching. One trouble with the 
 sermon is that it is a linished thing. It reaches 
 a definite conclusion and closes the chapter. 
 That is, in a measure, essential to its very struc- 
 ture and purpose. But teaching is conversa- 
 tional; it invites questions. It does not aim to 
 do a man's thinking for him, but the very reverse. 
 The preacher satisfies his audience with a well- 
 rounded climax. The teacher thrusts questions 
 into the mind to arouse its activity. The sermon 
 may raise many questions, but they often die 
 away, because there is no time for answer. The 
 true teacher can get quick returns, while the 
 mind is stirred. He has at the command of his 
 lips the most efi'ective method for advancing 
 truth ever used by a human being. It was the 
 method of Socrates; it was the method of Jesus 
 and the early Church ; it is the simple method of 
 question and answer in which personality 
 touches personalit}' and truth passes direct from 
 
 175 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 mind to mind. The preacher carries the great 
 congregations by the swing and sweep of swift 
 emotional utterance, the rapid rush from premise 
 to conclusion, to levels of thought never reached 
 otherwise. But the searching of hearts, the 
 insight into special needs and the word fitly 
 spoken, are the opportunities of the teacher. 
 Christianity is not a philosophy, but a religion. 
 It is quick and powerful. It can be efifectively 
 taught only by a heart aflame and impressed b}' 
 burning conviction. Often the Sunday- school 
 ends in failure and the Sunday school teacher's 
 work in disaster because the teaching is not reli- 
 gious ; it is merel}' something about religion. The 
 teaching is only about the pathw^ay of Jesus and 
 does not find a direct approach to him for the liv- 
 ing heart. Teaching from the soul aglow with 
 the faith of a Christian is surrounded with 
 mystery. It begets something akin to awe in 
 the mind of the most careless men. Thus a spirit 
 of reverence is developed; the classroom becomes 
 a sacred place, and something holy attaches to 
 that hour. The breath of prayer is in the air. 
 The deep undertone of manly pleading runs 
 through the teaching, and a sense of responsi- 
 bility to God gives dignity to the plainest 
 teacher's message. 
 
 Cultivate the Art of Winning Men. The Bible 
 class is like an army; it cannot retain its spirit 
 
 176 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 and remain in camp ; its must live by conquest. 
 The delicate and diliicult question of personal 
 work is one of the i)roblems ever seeking solution 
 in the teacher's mind and heart, and he should 
 strive to educate the smaller group of men who 
 are capable of personal effort in winning men to 
 Christ. This is one of the neglected arts in the 
 Christian Church to-day, and it is an art which 
 can be taught to man}' who are themselves men of 
 prayer and faith ; but it will never be an easy 
 task. Drummond, who was a master in winning 
 men, says, "To draw souls one by one, to button- 
 hole them and steal from them the secret of their 
 lives, to talk them clean out of themselves, to 
 read them oft" like a page of print, to pervade 
 them with your spiritual essence and make them 
 transparent — this is the spiritual science which 
 is so difficult to acciuire and so hard to practice." 
 The brusque and businesslike approach will not 
 avail much, but the kind, gracious, and truly 
 solicitous desire of a man to help his brother man 
 is proving the most effective way to-day of build- 
 ing up the Kingdom. A group of men capable of 
 such service should be carefully selected and 
 brought together in i)rayer and council. They 
 should understand one another's pur})oses and be 
 continually alert \o add to the number who come 
 to know Christ as a t^aviour. 
 Brotherhood. This class must be a real brother- 
 177 
 
THE TKAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 hood. There are numbers of lonely men every- 
 where. They look to the church for friendship 
 and find it divided in parties sometimes and 
 often exceedingly formal. The men's class should 
 be a true brotherhood, with warm handclasp and 
 open face and readiness to welcome all kinds of 
 men. Distinctions of rich and poor, of learned 
 and ignorant must be cast away, and that spirit 
 of the gospel which astonished and fascinated 
 the world in the first centuries may permeate this 
 class to its very heart until it glows with the 
 kindliness of a sincere love for men. All social 
 service and surveys become mechanical unless 
 impelled by the dynamic power of love. Bible 
 study itself may become mechanical, class organ- 
 ization may smack of business ideas and a greed 
 for numbers, but the spirit of brotherhood gives 
 power and joy and is more attractive to men than 
 all other forces in teaching or organization. 
 
 Diiferent Types of Classes. No one type of class 
 will satisfy all conditions. The large class, gath- 
 ering men several hundred strong, has a tremen- 
 dous power. It must perforce be a lecture class, 
 as there will be little opportunity for discussion. 
 Other classes will do the most effective service 
 by group work, meeting for class activities at a 
 week time and dividing for more careful study on 
 the Sunday hour. Some classes will find another 
 hour than the time of the Sunday school session 
 
 178 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICEKS 
 
 most convenient. If this be necessary, there 
 should be a close tie binding it to the Sunday 
 school. Some classes will come without study 
 of the lesson and the teacher's insistence on study 
 would drive many away. The teacher must pre- 
 pare himself to make the best of this hour even 
 under these adverse conditions. Other classes 
 will come prepared for vital and thoughtful dis- 
 cussion. In some classes the free and frank 
 discussion will be the greatest power, and the 
 teacher is rather a leader than teacher in the 
 ordinary acceptance of the word. This elasticity 
 and adaptation to the needs and conditions must 
 be carefully studied by those directing the organ- 
 ization and policy of men's classes to-day. 
 
 The Adult Class and Social Service. Let anyone 
 accustomed to the discussion of abstract and 
 doctrinal questions that have so often been the 
 meat and drink of the Bible class, compare them 
 with the intense and informal discussions regard- 
 ing actual human needs in the world which char- 
 acterize many of the modern adult classes, and 
 he will see how eager men are for an earnest and 
 thorough application of the gospel to the needs 
 of to-day. The classes of men and women now 
 organized in such large number are entitled to a 
 short, clear statement of the conditions that 
 cause unrest and the proposed remedies. They 
 should be invited to think, and should be expected 
 
 179 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 to do some work that will have a telling effect for 
 the betterment of the whole social order. The 
 attitude of a hundred earnest men, or women, 
 organized to think and pray, toward intemper- 
 ance, toward social vice, toward business dishon- 
 esty is an immense moral asset. The atmosphere 
 of many of the smaller towns has been purified 
 by the men's and women's Bible classes. The 
 adult class is one of the half-developed agencies 
 of the Church. 
 
 Suggestions 
 
 With a teacher trained to meet his leadership prayer- 
 fully, the class should be a permanent class, built on 
 strong foundations. 
 
 It should lay out work for four or five years ahead. 
 
 It should give a true Christian welcome to all who 
 come. 
 
 It should follow the week-day work and plans of its 
 young men. 
 
 It should study the history and activities of its own 
 denomination. 
 
 It should have a broad outlook upon Christian mis- 
 sions. 
 
 Its committees should report in a businesslike way 
 and have it made clear that they are expected to have 
 something to report. 
 
 Its officers should perform their duties with the busi- 
 ness fidelity and promptness of a store or a bank. 
 
 It should have power and influence in the community 
 as the noblest type of Christian manhood multiplied 
 twenty, fifty, or one hundred fold. 
 
 180 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 It should seek men and train them for special service 
 in the home church. 
 
 It should be the older brother to boys' classes. 
 
 It should have an inner group trained for personal 
 effort in winning men to Christ. 
 
 It should provide for future leadership by training 
 in careful group work. 
 
 It should organize classes in other churches and 
 nourish them to vigorous life. 
 
 It should join in the federation of classes for offensive 
 and defensive Christian service. 
 
 It should assist or lead in a religious census. 
 
 This census should prepare the way for surveys in 
 which particular lines of activity needed in the com- 
 munity can be assigned to men and groups of men best 
 fitted for them. 
 
 It should make itself felt as a power in Christian 
 citizenship; its voting strength should tell at primaries 
 and elections. 
 
 It should know about laws, primaries, and elections, 
 and be intelligent and aggressive in regard to the en- 
 forcement of laws. 
 
 181 
 
THE TKAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 XVI 
 THE TRAINING OF OFFICERS 
 
 Administrative Ability. The problem of effi- 
 ciency in the teaching force of any school is 
 largely a problem of supervision and administra- 
 tion. The administrative work of the Sunday 
 school calls for executive ability of the highest 
 order. It is a challenge to men of business expe- 
 rience to use their gifts and training in a 
 voluntary service to the advancement of the 
 Church and its aims. The organizing brain is 
 an essential factor, directing and supervising 
 in this work. One of the objects of the train- 
 ing class should be to find young men and 
 women who have the native gifts and begin 
 their training for leadership in the official duties 
 of the Sunday school. ''Thousands of men have 
 the qualifications necessary to make them most 
 successful Sunday school superintendents, but 
 they are to be sought out, and encouraged, and 
 trained, and assisted, in order to develop the 
 powers that are within them. God always pro- 
 vides workmen to cany on his work. If any 
 place be vacant, it is because the leaders of the 
 Church do not go into the market place and 
 employ those who wait for a call and an oppor- 
 tunity" (Vincent). 
 
 182 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 Cooperation. There must be the most complete 
 unity in the management of the Sunday school. 
 The time is so short, the work must be done in 
 such close contact, the relations of the officers 
 and teachers are so open and yet so delicate, that 
 complete understanding is absolutely essential 
 to effective service. The earnest teacher is often 
 not appreciative of the work done outside the 
 narrow limits of the classroom, and is not inter- 
 ested in the activities that affect the whole school. 
 The teacher is often devoted to one task and fails 
 to appreciate the importance of the school as 
 related to the church. The woman is frequently 
 interested in her own class of girls and is reluc- 
 tant to see them pass into a teacher-training class. 
 The man who teaches an adult class regards its 
 work as the end of all activity and fails to train 
 workers for the larger interests of the school or 
 for the wider service to the community. The 
 officer, busy with his own cares, overrides the 
 rights of the classes. The librarian distributes 
 books and papers in the midst of the class hour, 
 regardless of interruption to the teacher. The 
 treasurer often becomes a disturbing influence, 
 at one time hurrying about the school, or at 
 another taking much time with details of the 
 report which could be far better stated in a sum- 
 mary, or by use of blackboard or chart. No 
 teacher can hope to give the best service or 
 
 183 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 receive the largest good from the school whose 
 interest and intelligence are confined to one corner 
 of it. The school is a machine, intricate and deli- 
 cate, in which eveiy cog and wheel must fi.t per- 
 fectly and work noiselessly in order to attain the 
 largest result from the energy expended. It is 
 said that the first and most important five min- 
 utes connected with any school are the five min- 
 utes before the school opens. Much of the dis- 
 order arises from the romping and playing of the 
 children who have arrived before the teacher and 
 ofiQcers. 
 
 It is not uncommon to find a school which 
 loses fifteen minutes of its time at the opening, 
 in which much of the energy is used after the 
 opening hour upon details of work which should 
 have been done before. There should be no uncer- 
 tainty about the program nor about the duty of 
 any officer, and each teacher should contribute 
 directly by readiness, promptness, and reverence 
 to the spirit and direction of the school as a 
 whole. 
 
 Each Officer Responsible for His Own Department. 
 Each officer of the school should be trained for 
 his place with the conviction that his particular 
 work should be done with the accuracy and thor- 
 oughness demanded by any business house. This 
 is as true of the small as of the large school. 
 These matters may seem so slight that the details 
 
 184 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 may be readily iieo;leoted, and yet only with care- 
 ful attention to all of these can the school attain 
 order and avoid friction, waste of time, and loss 
 of energy. The training of the secretary, the 
 librarian, the treasurer, and the chorister should 
 be such as to bring them into complete harmony 
 with the working of each department of the 
 school, and enable them to understand the plans 
 of the superintendent and to carry them out 
 swiftly and without interruption of the time of 
 instruction or worship. The reports of the school 
 should also be definite and businesslike. Guess- 
 work and vague estimates do not comi)ort with 
 the dignity of work so important as that of the 
 Sunday school. "I receive from my head secre- 
 tary at the end of every week," said a successful 
 superintendent, "a report as complete as the one 
 I receive from the cashier of my bank." 
 
 The School and its Departments. In the course 
 of training for teaching, each student should de- 
 termine the particular department in which he 
 can find his most congenial work and render his 
 highest service. Some special training for this 
 particular work can be given in the class; some 
 of it must be sought by the student outside. 
 Then, interested in this one department, he finds 
 it a school in itself. Though it be a small Sun- 
 day school, with possibly only two or three 
 classes in a department, the essential ideal of 
 
 185 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 the department should be carried out as com- 
 pletely as in a large school. The superintendent's 
 work is to make that one department complete in 
 itself, to give it organization and activities of its 
 own. The superintendent who is a real leader 
 directs the general policy of the school and leaves 
 the responsibility of each division and depart- 
 ment with the superintendent. His consultation 
 with them, and general supervision, is sufficient 
 to give unity and thoroughness to the whole 
 school, and department officers appreciate their 
 own opportunity for initiative and independence. 
 Then the problem for the intelligent teacher or 
 superintendent of the department is to relate that 
 to the whole school, so that, while complete in 
 itself and absorbed in its own ends, it shall, never- 
 theless, be a loyal and harmonious i)art of the 
 larger school. This department may have its own 
 rooms and be completel}' separated, be able to 
 use its own opening and closing exercises and 
 thus see little of the rest of the school, or it may 
 be separated merely by a curtain or screen ; yet, 
 whatever be the equipment, nothing can com- 
 pensate for the loss of unity, and nothing can 
 secure it except a oneness of purpose and clear 
 understanding in the minds of teachers and 
 officers. 
 
 Worship. The Sunday school is unique in this 
 respect: it has a period of instruction and a 
 
 186 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 time for worship. The teacher must be pre- 
 pared to enter into the spirit of worship as intelli- 
 gently as into the work for instruction. The gen- 
 eral exercises, as they are usually called, are too 
 often conducted with a lack of appreciation, be 
 cause their purpose and value is not clear in the 
 minds of teachers and officers. There is an im- 
 pression that it is necessary to call the children 
 to order and to impart good cheer to all and pre- 
 pare the way for teaching by singing. This is 
 often so lightly considered that the teachers and 
 scholars alike are found whispering and talking, 
 removing wraps, and moving about in the most 
 heedless way. Much of the singing, as conducted, 
 is a waste of time. It is either listless and 
 formal, to which but few pay heed, or it is simply 
 noisy and void of the finer religious impression. 
 The Sunday school is the teaching and training 
 department of the Church, and worship has as 
 true a place here as in the public service. The 
 appeal for emotional expression should be of the 
 highest character. The child is so responsive to 
 others and is so keenly sensitive to its surround- 
 ings that the worship in the Sunday school should 
 be counted a large element in its influence. 
 
 The first thing should be the song of praise, and 
 the school with all its leaders should join in this 
 with a spirit of J03' and of reverence. Then 
 should follow the expression of adoration and 
 
 187 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 love throngli prayer. No opportunity for the 
 culture of the emotional nature or expression of 
 that deeper mystical religious yearning is more 
 important. This must be the praise and prayer 
 of the school as a whole. Unity and order must 
 pervade the assembly that gives expression of its 
 faith and love to God in this hour. The child 
 loves mystery and ceremony, and the sacred and 
 reverent atmosphere, charged with a sense of the 
 Unseen and Eternal, teaches the most profound 
 and significant lesson that the Sunday school can 
 impart. If it be not the house of God, the place of 
 prayer, the time of praise, the Holy Book which 
 the child finds in that school, then something is 
 sadly amiss. The inspiring influence of this hour 
 must pass from the ofiicers to the school, from 
 the teachers to the scholars, and the preparation 
 of the officer for this hour should include not only 
 the completely prepared program and the well- 
 studied lesson, but also a period of quiet prayer 
 which enables him to come into the school with 
 uncovered head and the dignity of a deep reli- 
 gious purpose. These high standards will result 
 from a thorough study of the school as an organ- 
 ization, and from prayerful preparation for its 
 hour of worship and instruction. 
 
 The Sunday School Council. One of the most 
 important studies for the training class is work 
 of the monthly council of teachers and officers. 
 
 188 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 This is the business meeting which deals not only 
 with the details of the school but with the whole 
 question of its general policy, its management, 
 and its efficiency. The training class studying 
 these problems prepares each of its members for 
 broader outlook upon the plans of the school and 
 for a thorough investigation of its working meth- 
 ods. Its members should approach the question 
 of the individual school with freshness and vigor 
 that will enable them to offer many suggestions 
 and to assist in laj'ing far-reaching plans for 
 serious and successful work. They are studying 
 the Sunday school as an institution, and studying 
 ''our school" as a concrete example. Men test 
 educational results to-day by the spirit and 
 methods of science. The question to be written 
 over the door of every worker's council room is. 
 Is Our School an Efficient Sunday School? The 
 following suggestions, prepared by Professor 
 George A. Coe, could be studied with great profit 
 by a training class as a specimen of the work 
 that should occupy many meetings of the workers' 
 council : 
 Organizotlon 
 
 1. What is the end we have in view in this 
 
 work? 
 
 2. Are we using the best means at our com- 
 
 mand to accomplish this? Do we re- 
 ceive weekly reports from our teachers? 
 189 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 What does the Secretary's weekly record 
 
 show^ 
 
 (a) In regard to teachers? 
 
 (6) In regard to pupils? 
 
 (c) In regard to organizations within 
 
 the school? 
 
 (d) In regard to special events? 
 
 (e) In regard to activities and service? 
 
 3. What results are we really getting? 
 
 4. Have we a system of reports by which we 
 
 can measure our efficiency as a business 
 office does? 
 
 5. What is the enrollment? 
 
 6. Have we studied the community by a care- 
 
 ful survey? 
 
 7. What plan have we for recruiting new 
 
 pupils ? 
 
 8. How does average attendance compare with 
 
 enrollment? 
 
 9. How does it ditfer with regard to ages, de- 
 
 partments, and sexes? 
 
 10. Is the present plan for gradation of our 
 
 school satisfactory? 
 
 11. Is it carried out effectively? 
 
 12. Have we an officer who grades new pupils, 
 
 and assigns them to classes? 
 
 13. Is there a definite system of promotion? 
 
 14. Is it used to promote growth and interest 
 
 throughout the school? 
 190 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 15. Have we a follow-up system lor absent 
 
 pupils ? 
 
 16. Do we know what becomes of pupils who 
 
 leave the school? 
 
 17. How many organized classes — 
 
 (a) Intermediate boys? 
 
 (&) Intermediate girls? 
 
 (c) Senior classes? 
 
 (d) Adult classes? 
 Instruction 
 
 1. Are our lessons fitted to the pupils in each 
 
 department ? 
 
 2. Is the equipment adequate, maps, black- 
 
 board, pictures, etc.? 
 
 3. Can the conditions under which the teach- 
 
 ers work be made more favorable? 
 
 4. Have we a workers' library? Does it con- 
 
 tain the best selection of books for each 
 department? How far do our teachers 
 use it? How many books regarding 
 child study have been read this past 
 year? How many on adolescence? 
 
 5. Do the pupils receive definite instruction 
 
 in giving? 
 
 6. How many teachers are following a course 
 
 of study? 
 
 7. Have we a class of prospective teachers at 
 
 the school hour? 
 
 8. Are the future teachers chosen and trained 
 
 191 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 with regard to special fitness for differ- 
 ent departments of the school? 
 9. Are the Senior students given training for 
 Christian service? 
 
 10. How many of our teachers have visited 
 
 other schools to observe good teaching? 
 What reports? 
 
 11. How many of our teachers have attended 
 
 conventions, institutes, etc.? 
 
 12. How many of our teachers have attended 
 
 training schools for Sunday school 
 workers ? 
 
 13. Is there a definite and permanent system 
 
 for bringing new pupils into church 
 membership? 
 
 14. How many of our pupils are now members 
 
 of the church? 
 
 15. Is there wise and careful attention to the 
 
 spiritual needs of the younger pupils? 
 Is this instruction such as to prepare 
 them for church membership later? 
 10. Do our teachers confer with the pastor re- 
 garding the spiritual welfare of the 
 pupils? 
 
 17. Is there any definite plan of personal evan- 
 
 gelism for winning the older pupils to 
 Christ? 
 
 18. Is there any method of training them to 
 
 assume Christian duties? 
 192 
 
TEACHERS AND OFEICEKS 
 
 Worship 
 
 1. Does our school give intelligent attention 
 
 to its worship? 
 
 2. Are the hymns suitable and worthy? 
 
 3. What changes of program would improve 
 
 the spirit of reverence and devotion both 
 in the classes and in the whole school? 
 4. Is there instruction in regard to prayer and 
 Scripture reading ? 
 
 5. In cases of confusion and disorder, how far 
 
 are the teachers themselves careless? 
 
 6. Do our pupils take active part in the wor- 
 
 ship, or do they look on ? 
 
 7. Can we vary the form and order of our wor- 
 
 ship to advantage? 
 
 8. Is our worship closely related to life? 
 
 9. Does it give proper relation of thought and 
 
 devotion to the great days of the Church? 
 Is it related to the activities of the King- 
 dom, missions, charitj^, etc.? 
 
 10. What is the estimate in which our school 
 
 is held in the community? 
 
 11. Does it command the resi)ect and exert the 
 
 influence it should? 
 
 12. What is the relation of the school to the 
 
 church board? How much time, atten- 
 tion, supervision, and support does the 
 board bestow upon the school? 
 
 13. Under what conditions do our teachers 
 
 193 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 work? What can be modified immedi- 
 ately? What in time by change in build- 
 ing, etc.? 
 To Sum It All Up: Is our school promoting by all 
 its agencies a high type of Christian 
 character ? 
 
 194 
 
TEACHEKS AND OFFICEKS 
 
 XVII 
 
 THE TRAINING OF THE MINISTER FOR THE 
 SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 He Should Be a Student of Child Psychology. A 
 Canadian minister Avas asked to deliver a series 
 of addresses at a Sunday school convention. He 
 had taken high rank as a student in college and 
 seminary, and had made deep study of Kant and 
 German theology. But this invitation found him 
 unprepared. Securing a number of books on the 
 subject of child psychology, be made his prepara- 
 tion. Speaking with scholarly accuracy and prac- 
 tical effect at the convention, he told the story of 
 the new interest that had come to him and said 
 he should consider religious teaching from a new 
 standpoint and should remain a student of child 
 nature all his life. 
 
 The interest of the child is the guide to educa- 
 tional method. This is universally recognized in 
 the day schools, but its application to religious 
 teaching cannot be universal until the minister 
 becomes a student of child nature. The child's 
 religious nature demands its true culture and 
 expression as really as do its physical and mental 
 powers. The fine adaptability of Bible truth to 
 the child's particular needs, as well as the study 
 
 195 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 of nature as the work of the Creator, should be 
 considered subjects worthy of the pastor's most 
 studious attention. He cannot hope to find the 
 entire group of his teachers willing to give the 
 care and attain the insight into true educational 
 method, if they find no encouragement in the one 
 who stands at the head of all the intellectual 
 interests of the church. In this epoch-making 
 time, when the Graded Lessons are offered to the 
 school, the question of their adoption or rejection 
 depends largely upon the minister's attitude. 
 Many ministers have rejected them without read- 
 ing or investigation ; others have given the time 
 and thought to find their value and to foresee the 
 rich educational harvests possible from such seed- 
 sowing, and have prevailed upon reluctant super- 
 intendents and busy teachers to adopt the new 
 lessons. Not only is it the minister's relation to 
 the Sunday school which demands a knowledge 
 of the psychology of child life, but his relation to 
 the home and parental influence alike require it. 
 If those are right who are ever telling us to-day 
 that the home fails to teach religion as it did at 
 an earlier time, then there is reason for it. It is 
 found in part, no doubt, in the stress of the busy 
 life ; it is found also in the fact that the day school 
 and the Sunday school are supposed by the par- 
 ents to be sufficient to relieve them of the more 
 direct reponsibility. If tliere is to be any measure 
 
 196 
 
TEACHEKS AND OFFICERS 
 
 of return to the more careful religious instruc- 
 tion in the home, no influence can lead to it more 
 effectually than true teaching- from the pulpit. 
 The child's religious life, his hunger for true reli- 
 gious instruction, his ability to receive it, and 
 some measure of suggestion regarding what is 
 appropriate and fitting should be taught. How 
 shall we expect real stud}^ of ''child nature and 
 child nurture" unless the minister be qualified 
 as an instructor? 
 
 The Minister Should Be a Thorough Student of the 
 Psychology of Adolescence. Often there is a wide 
 gap between the youth of the church and com- 
 munity and the minister. His severer studies have 
 removed him from sympathy with them, while 
 they, in the jollity and eagerness of youth, stand 
 somewhat aloof from him as an austere man. 
 Were he a true student of the problems of the 
 boy and girl in the years of the teens, were he to 
 enter by a study of theory and by close observa- 
 tion into the delicate and taxing problems that 
 confront them, he could often prove himself a 
 friend and counselor and far oftener a winner of 
 souls. His study of conversion and all of the 
 questions of religious life has in most cases been 
 from the standpoint of an abstract and dogmatic 
 theology. If he can come to them in the light of 
 modern ])sychology and sociology and understand 
 the s])iritual crisis through which in some way 
 
 J97 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 all youth passes^ he will see new opportunities 
 and recognize with fresh hope responsibilities 
 which he had associated with far later years. The 
 ministers of the liturgical churches undoubtedly, 
 through preparation for confirmation, live much 
 closer to young life than those of the Protestant 
 churches who have followed a more indefinite 
 method and have waited in order to appeal to 
 reason later. 
 
 Eveiy minister desires to see his church the 
 center of young life; but can he hope to attain 
 this if he fail to consider the valuable informa- 
 tion brought by scientific study and worked out 
 by the most careful experiment of religious work- 
 ers within the last few years? Both from the 
 standpoint of scholarship and of practical sociol- 
 ogy there have been immense gains regarding the 
 problems of youth. Over these the minister 
 should ponder long and pray much. 
 
 Familiar with the Ideals and Organization of the 
 Sunday School. The true minister will come to 
 study his church work from the intensive point 
 of view more than ever before, and he must ask 
 regarding every organization connected with his 
 church, "Is it effective?" "Is it yielding the best 
 possible results?" He must study it as care- 
 fully as the man in the press of business studies 
 his oflSce force, or the manufacturer demands effi- 
 cient machinery. Take the outside organizations 
 
 193 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 of the Sunday school as an example. The Cradle 
 Roll may seem a slight affair to a busy minister, 
 and yet under the loving guidance of consecrated 
 womanhood, it has often won whole families to 
 the Church and to Christ. The little child's hand 
 opens many a door which has been closed to all 
 ministerial knocking. The Home and Visitation 
 Departments, too, have been able to reveal, at the 
 slightest expense, many families, and in some 
 cases scores of individuals, within reach of the 
 church, having preference for that particular 
 denomination, whom the minister himself had 
 been unable to find. It is the most economical 
 and effective form of religious census and has met 
 the approval of leading ministers of many prom- 
 inent cities. 
 
 He should know the organization of the Sun- 
 day school thoroughly. His superintendent is 
 often a very busy man, frequently without train- 
 ing in educational methods. If the Sunday 
 school have the true departmental organization 
 demanded by modern educational standards, it 
 will often require the minister's guidance and 
 oversight. It will certainly prosper far better 
 with his kindly and intelligent supervision than 
 it can possibly do without it. Promotion Day 
 and Decision Day, the great Easter and Christ- 
 mas festivals should all be the subjects of his 
 careful consideration. They not only promote the 
 
 199 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 most vigorous expression of Sunday school life, 
 but they make the largest appeal to the com- 
 munity. If these days be used for mere careless 
 and spectacular eventvS, their deeper significance 
 and teaching will, in a large measure, be lost. 
 
 He Should Be a Student of Teaching-. More than 
 half of the teacher-training classes reported to the 
 office of the International Sunday School Asso- 
 ciation have been taught by ministers. The 
 advance of thorough Bible study will not outrun 
 the work of the minister. He must be its leader. 
 It will find many earnest students and noble 
 teachers, but the minister is the natural leader, 
 and he must inspire much of the work. Its en- 
 during success will come from his enthusiasm and 
 intelligent guidance. For this end he must be a 
 tireless organizer; for this he must labor in sea- 
 son and out of season; for this he must learn 
 teaching as well as x^reaching methods; for this 
 he must keep pace with the best books in peda- 
 gogy. It will mean sacrifice of time taken from 
 pressing duties, require rare tact and constant 
 study to maintain the interest of many of his stu- 
 dents, but the rewards will be ample in the de- 
 velopment of love for the Bible among his people, 
 and he will find that with his increasing skill 
 there is a growing interest in the Book itself. It 
 is said that the Rev. J. Campbell Morgan, during 
 two and a half years, was preaching expository 
 
 200 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 sermons every Sunday evening to crowded con- 
 gregations in his London parish in the study of 
 the book of Acts. This sustained interest is a 
 proof of the freshness and vitality of the Bible. 
 Had Campbell Morgan lectured on Hamlet for 
 two years and a half, would there have been a 
 crowded audience to hear the last lecture? The 
 Bible is, by far, the most interesting book in the 
 world, and the minister who supplements the 
 work of his pulpit by systematic teaching will 
 not only feed his own soul, but he will nurture a 
 sturdy and aggressive church. For the sake of 
 this, he can afford to lay careful plans for the 
 economy of time and strength that he may be 
 permitted to be the teacher of teachers for his 
 people. 
 
 Ministers in large numbers are doing this very 
 thing in connection with successful pastoral 
 duties. Ten years ago the State of Pennsylvania 
 had only one hundred and fifty persons taking a 
 teacher-training course; but under the leadership 
 of the Rev. Charles A. Oliver, of York, a min- 
 ister who has not neglected his own parish, the 
 work has grown until during the year ending 
 June 1, 1911, the State reported twenty-eight 
 hundred graduates. Another minister in the 
 same State has seen his own church constantly 
 growing in strength and power, as he has taught 
 year after year a training class for his teachers, 
 
 201 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 until the teachers of the school, enrolling nearly 
 a thousand, have all passed under his training. 
 
 The Class the Minister's Laboratory. Nothing 
 will bring the minister in such vital relation to 
 the Sunday school and all its problems as teach- 
 ing itself. Let him take the training class, and 
 he catches a far wider view than though he were 
 teaching an adult class, because he has all the 
 problems of specialization in view, and at the 
 same time he is ever searching in the class for the 
 workers to meet instant needs. Can he find any 
 better preparation for his pulpit than this labor- 
 atory or experimental station for Christian 
 methods right in his own church? The minister 
 who does this work knows who teaches religion 
 among his children and his people and what is 
 taught. The number of teachers who come to 
 the Sunday school hour unready and untrained 
 are in the minority ; but they are a large enough 
 company to account for the bloodless and feeble 
 condition in many a school. They have never 
 been led by a strong hand through the pathway 
 of the Scripture; they have never had the spirit- 
 ual power of its great pages revealed to them. 
 They have heard sermons that were homilies on 
 texts, and they feel quite helpless in trying to 
 grasp the meaning of a book, a chapter, or even a 
 selected group of verses. They read the lesson 
 helps, most of which are excellent, but lack the 
 
 202 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 vital and awakening power that comes from the 
 living teacher. The minister can set up a stand- 
 ard of high excellence, and in a few years see it 
 attained by the young men and women under 
 his own tutorship. He is thus reaching the 
 inmost life and thought of his whole congrega- 
 tion. No Christians grow so fast, it is said, 
 as Bible teachers; none enter into sympathy 
 with the lives of those about them as do true 
 teachers. The minister can best instruct in the 
 art of personal religious effort, for by his own 
 close contact in weekly class drill and instruc- 
 tion, he can meet the doubts and difficulties of 
 his teachers or of the prospective teachers and 
 lead them out to clear, rich experiences. In no 
 other way can he come in such frequent and 
 frank intercourse with the active leaders of 
 thought in his church as in a teacher-train- 
 ing class. The problems about the Bible, of the 
 child life, and methods of instruction, and of the 
 management and organization of the school itself, 
 are brought forward for answer, and the advant- 
 age in this respect is great. The problems are 
 right at hand; they are not abstract; they are 
 intensely concrete. This class is not formed to 
 discuss the formation of coral reefs, or the 
 theories of astronomy, or the abstractions of 
 theology, or even pedagogy ; it meets to help "our 
 school." The problems are then not a week old. 
 
 203 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 The problems of adolescence are not the vague 
 questions of psychology, but they are real flesh 
 and blood problems. It is the question of how to 
 keep our boys, that come from two or three very 
 anxious teachers, and these boys are tied by the 
 heartstrings to the fathers and mothers and sisters 
 whom he is seeking to help. Theory and practice 
 come very close together in a working class like 
 this. The final task is to meet the responsibility 
 of the teacher and of the Church to these young 
 lives, for no one will ever have so good a chance 
 to win them to Christ. At no other time will 
 there ever be such an open door. With a true 
 minister and real teachers, then, the questions do 
 not remain long in the cloudland; they soon come 
 down in the form of actual problems about deal- 
 ing with people in the swiftly flowing stream of 
 life. It is like teaching agriculture on a farm 
 at sowing or harvest time. It is more like a clinic 
 for busy doctors than for medical students, for 
 even the prospective teachers are members of the 
 school and were taught in its classes yesterday. 
 They are to take up its work, and the work is 
 awaiting them to-morrow, and is constantly be- 
 fore their eyes. 
 
 The Minister is the Leader of the Church. The 
 minister is the authorized and responsible teacher 
 of religion. Criticism of ministers and restless- 
 ness of congregations are common to-day, yet the 
 
 204 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 minister holds a place of immense influence. To 
 him, in common with the church, is intrusted 
 the religious education of the community. Hence 
 he must become a teacher of teachers. Thereby 
 he does not lose prestige, but comes into closer 
 and warmer fellowship with the people as he 
 receives the confidence and gives the help that 
 belongs to a real instructor in things of deepest 
 moment. To many who have felt the joy of this 
 sustained effort and reaped its fruits, this teach- 
 ing ministry- has become increasingly precious. 
 
 A Sunday School Day. Why should not the min- 
 ister give one day a week to his Sunday school? 
 Let the forenoon of this day be spent in the study 
 of methods, literature, new books, and the prob- 
 lems of his own school. Let the afternoon be 
 taken up with personal interviews with superin- 
 tendent, officers, and teachers. Many of the large 
 churches are employing Sunday school pastors, 
 or educational directors (the names now pre- 
 ferred to assistant pastor). But only the favored 
 few can afford this: the average minister must 
 bear his own burden. He insists that he has no 
 time for such work, but it is a question of invest- 
 ment. "Where can he put his time to the highest 
 advantage?" must be every man's practical ques- 
 tion. "The Sunday school is the supreme evan- 
 gelistic opportunity of the Church." Herman 
 Harrell Home truly says in his Psychological 
 
 205 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 Principles of Education: "The head and heart of 
 the educational work of the Church is the min- 
 ister. Sooner or later all the educational move- 
 ments of his individual church are inspired and 
 directed by him. In conference with his fellow- 
 ministers an educational policy of his branch of 
 the Christian Church is determined. Within the 
 circle of his immediate influence, his first busi- 
 ness is to organize the educational work of 
 his church in the interest of economy and eJQQ- 
 ciency." Is it a wise use of time to enter the 
 open door of such opportunity? "The Sunday 
 school is the institution where there is to-day 
 the greatest gulf between possibility and per- 
 formance," said Dr. Faunce in a recent address. 
 How shall we close this gulf unless the minister 
 throw himself into its chasm? He cannot do 
 more things than he is doing now, but he can 
 put first things first and leave lesser values 
 to secondary time. By a careful division of 
 time he can obtain this day, and, using it, can 
 transform his Sunday school into a real school 
 with true pedagogical methods, with thorough 
 study of the Bible, and with aggressive per- 
 sonal evangelism in its classes, and make it a 
 complete and powerful organization, throbbing 
 with young life in the very heart of the church. 
 No man leading such a work can fail in his 
 ministry. 
 
 206 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 Suggestions 
 
 The teaching function of the ministry has been held 
 in high esteem in the days of most substantial religious 
 development. 
 
 The minister can be a special counselor to each 
 teacher. 
 
 He can be an educational adviser for each department. 
 
 He can be an honorary member of each class. 
 
 He can be the friend and confidant of the superin- 
 tendent. 
 
 He can receive reports from teachers month by month 
 regarding the religious interest of the pupils ol their 
 classes. 
 
 He can be on the outlook for teaching ability and for 
 future leaders. 
 
 He can keep a list of new books for the workers' 
 library. 
 
 He can report to training class observations and sug- 
 gestions after visits to schools, conventions, and con- 
 ferences. 
 
 He can gain close acquaintance with boys and girls 
 and find their actual ideal of character. 
 
 He can learn from the teachers who among the pupils 
 are in special doubt or difficulty, and who can be es- 
 pecially helped by a frank religious conversation. 
 
 He can learn how far the teachers are meeting the 
 spiritual wants of the children. 
 
 He can find who are strong enough to lead the boys 
 and girls to Christ by careful personal work. 
 
 He can guide and inspire the spirit of reverence and 
 joy in the period of worship. 
 
 He can make sure that the Committee on Education 
 and the Workers' Council of the Sunday school have 
 grasped its real purpose and keep it steadily and prayer- 
 fully in view. 
 
 207 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 XVIII 
 
 THE NEXT STEP IN TEACHER TRAINING 
 
 The Awakened Church. The Church is awak- 
 ening to her new responsibility in regard to reli- 
 gious education. Mighty forces have been com- 
 bining for this enlightenment. She has felt the 
 advancing tides of education moving throughout 
 the civilized world. The call for vocational train- 
 ing, the demand for practical results, the unrest 
 in regard to methods of modern education are 
 voiced in every magazine and newspaper and in 
 every group of educators. Method and material 
 of education are challenged from the kinder- 
 garten to the graduate courses. The Church has 
 felt the stir and movement of this mighty intel- 
 lectual awakening, and is now aroused and eager 
 to respond. The Church has accepted the results 
 of the scientific study of child nature which have 
 revolutionized educational methods during the 
 last two decades. She no longer regards the mind 
 of the little child as a blank white tablet, but, 
 rather, sees in each little soul an heir of the ages, 
 with an energy awaiting expression which will 
 in itself determine character. So she accepts the 
 responsibility for the teaching of the child, no 
 longer as a minor duty but as a priceless trust. 
 
 208 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 Then, again, the Church faces the demand, heard 
 throughout the business world to-day, for eflS- 
 ciency. She is asked to give an account of the 
 riches at her command, and to employ the talents 
 in her keeping, with definite answers regarding 
 the wisdom and care of their investment. The 
 good intentions in use of money and time in 
 sacred institutions no longer suffice, but, with all 
 the thoroughness of modern business systems, she 
 is asked to give an account of her stewardship. 
 Also the Church faces to-day a definite change 
 of method in recruiting her ranks. The revival 
 methods of pioneer society and of simpler condi- 
 tions must give way to definite training and real 
 religious education. Moved by these forces, she 
 is impelled to seek educational leaders and teach- 
 ers who will face the responsibility of the new 
 day. 
 
 The New Ideals of Service. The spirit of modern 
 democracy asks every man to find a place of 
 service, and the Church can no longer be satisfied 
 with the work of its ministry and the group of 
 willing and earnest ones known as "workers"; 
 but Christian living in fellowship with the entire 
 community and a readiness to help whenever and 
 wherever opportunity offers is to be the mark of 
 all who have made a confession of Christ. In 
 seeking the highest opportunities for personal 
 investment, many talented men and women will 
 
 209 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 find their richest field for social service in exert- 
 ing a wholesome influence over childhood and 
 youth. The struggle for the soul of American 
 youth is fierce and wild on the part of devotees 
 of vice and luxury. In the face of such appeals, 
 the heart of the boy can be won only by the type 
 of manliness that invites hero-worship ; and the 
 girl can be drawn away from the fascination of 
 the world in which she lives to-day only by the 
 charm of a womanliness dowered with the full 
 warmth and beauty of a Christian soul. The 
 hardest tasks are coveted. Ten thousand men 
 offered themselves for the perils of antarctic expe- 
 dition. Medical science continually finds heroes 
 ready to make sacrifice of life for the saving of 
 the hodj. When once the full idea that it is 
 noble to serve and brotherly to help possesses the 
 Church to its very core, then Christian teaching 
 will be relieved of its littleness and removed from 
 its narrow restraints. When once the saving of 
 the moral life and the development of the spirit- 
 ual nature is seen in its true dignity, it will 
 appeal as an heroic task worthy of any sacrifice. 
 The bo}- and girl demand the strongest. 
 
 A New Era of Christian Education. The work 
 upon which the Church is entering cannot be 
 accomplished by the assumption of a few more 
 duties and the expansion of existing organiza- 
 tions. It is a new stage in the development of 
 
 210 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 the history of the Church. We face to-day a 
 dual system of education. What has happened? 
 Has a calamity fallen upon us, that the Church 
 is asked to do definite and thorough work in 
 teaching religion to childhood? It is quite com- 
 mon to lift up holy hands in horror at the exclu- 
 sion of religion from the public school. Shall we 
 take it so, or regard it as a sacred trust, com- 
 mitted to the Church of Jesus Christ, to do a 
 definite work the public school can never do? Is 
 it not our mission to raise up a stronger genera- 
 tion who shall be clean in heart and clear of brain 
 and able to rule this world in righteousness? 
 This system of Christian education must be as 
 broad as the needs of Protestant childhood. Its 
 teachers must have the thoroughness and skill 
 that will enable them to lift their heads in all 
 educational assemblies. They must have a pa- 
 tience and earnestness that will fire them to stand 
 among reformers and missionaries inspired by 
 the joy of their high calling. They must lift 
 teaching out of the little routine of a Bible lesson, 
 and above satisfaction with the small technical 
 methods of the normal worker into the broad 
 purposes and the sublime ideals of an unpaid yet 
 efficient profession. In completeness of organ- 
 ization, in freedom of investigation, in skill in 
 the use of methods, in broad scholarship, and in 
 aggressive faith, the Church's system of religious 
 
 211 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 education must be able to command universal 
 respect. 
 
 The Basis in the Local Church. The system of 
 religious education must find its roots in the 
 individual church. An aroused religious public 
 opinion will give to the church a new esti- 
 mate of her duty to the Sunday school. She will 
 then prepare for it rooms and equipment, give 
 time, money and supervision, and consider the 
 training of teachers a part of her main work. In 
 many of the stronger churches, the director of 
 religious education will be a thoroughly trained 
 and generously paid associate to the minister. 
 His particular responsibility will be the young 
 life of the congregation and community. The 
 week-day activities of its boys, the play and work 
 life of its girls, the organization and management 
 of the Sunday school, the training of its teachers, 
 and the expression of this training in social life 
 and well-being will be the field of a social and 
 educational ministry which w^ill invite the finest 
 talent. 
 
 The Denominational Sunday School Board. In 
 the central organization of the churches, the Sun- 
 day School Board has been a minor afifair. For- 
 eign missions and extension throughout the 
 frontier have occupied the attention of great com- 
 mittees and have been conducted under wise ad- 
 ministration and supported with liberality, but 
 
 212 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 the education of childhood in religion has been 
 considered either so well cared for as to need 
 little attention or of such slight importance that 
 it could be readily put aside. The central man- 
 agement and leadership in each denomination 
 must to-day share the general awakening and 
 make preparation for the new, far-reaching re- 
 sponsibilities that the changing times have thrust 
 upon them. They will be under obligation to use 
 their influence for. the training and selection of 
 professors in the seminaries and colleges whose 
 special' duty it will be to train ministers and lay 
 leaders in religious education, and to provide 
 generously for field workers and experts in reli- 
 gious education who can guide and supervise the 
 larger movements throughout the churches, 
 
 A Unity of Religious Forces. ''A divided 
 Church,'' said Dr. John R. Mott recently, "means 
 a lost world." There can be no successful and 
 nation-wide system of religious education unless 
 there be a unity of the forces at work. Common 
 standards, common purposes, and a willingness 
 to work side by side with loyalty to the Master, 
 are essentials to victory. The township, the 
 county, and the State form groups which have 
 their own problems and, for certain great ends, 
 must work in unison. The religious poverty of 
 childhood in the city demands a study of its 
 problems and a leadership of its forces as one 
 
 21.3 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 mighty, united organization. Is it too much to 
 expect that we shall have a superintendent of city 
 Sunday schools, and that we shall unite the 
 rather loose city organizations into compact 
 form and give thorough training to an adequate 
 number of teachers and leaders to meet the con- 
 ditions of ignorance and immorality? Can the 
 country problem be solved except through a 
 Christian unity in education? Should not the 
 teachers and officers be brought together for 
 training, for study of rural problems, and drawn 
 into closer fellowship for the upbuilding of 
 country life? All of these suggestions of united 
 work imply a far larger number of salaried men 
 and women, skilled in the different departments, 
 specialists by fitness and long training, who shall 
 enable each church to meet its own problems and 
 to be thoroughly efiflcient in its own field. But all 
 of this effort will fall far short of the great object, 
 and will be accompanied by loss and failure 
 unless these agencies are federated, for essential 
 standards and activities, in a vital system of reli- 
 gious education. 
 
 The New Patriotism. The religious problem 
 holds the future of America. If Christianity fail 
 here, it is because multitudes of men have played 
 the coward in their Master's sight. Christian 
 patriotism calls upon strong men. busy men, the 
 young man from the college, and the young 
 
 214 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 woman of rare talent, to serve the Church and the 
 nation. There never was a time when such num- 
 bers of young people were asking for an oppor- 
 tunity to serve, and when the appeal for the un- 
 selfish life has evoked a response from so many 
 hearts. The Church has lacked a stimulating 
 interest and intellectual breadth in her appeal. 
 She has invited to small fidelities : she has been 
 too much occupied in saving herself. Now the 
 call comes to make schools of religion a mighty 
 force in the Church and a saving agency in the 
 nation. New ranges of moral energy are at her 
 command; new foes and difficulties stand on 
 every side; but it is her duty to offer a work so 
 rich and varied, so to breathe the Christian motive 
 into everyday life, so to interpret the full mes- 
 sage of the Bible, so to guide the social activities 
 and instincts, that the most daring and eager 
 spirits will say, "Here is a distinct field of service, 
 and a definite mission for the strongest." 
 
 The Outlook. 1. More than sixty theological 
 seminaries have lectureships or professorships in 
 religious psychology and education. Seven years 
 ago there were not six offering such instruction. 
 The minister of to-morrow will be a leader in reli- 
 gious education. 
 
 2. There is marked increase in the number of 
 colleges offering courses in religious education 
 and in the training schools for religious teaching. 
 
 215 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 There are many inquiries for teachers qualified 
 for professorships in such courses. The number 
 specially trained is not sufficient to fill these 
 chairs. 
 
 3. Graduate courses in religious education in 
 a few of the great universities are now offered 
 for the first time. From them, we shall have 
 scholars whose study of the Bible and of the psy- 
 chology of religion and of child life will fit them 
 to give this department its true rank. 
 
 4. The development of the denominational Sun- 
 day School Boards gives promise to place their 
 activities side by side with the great aggressive 
 movements of the Church. 
 
 5. The periodical Sunday school publications 
 recognize the departments of the school, the 
 need for teachers for each grade and age, and 
 offer scholarly, practical help far in advance of 
 the material seen upon their pages five years ago. 
 
 6. The response to the Graded Lessons has 
 evoked the sympathetic cooperation of many 
 trained teachers from public schools and colleges ; 
 and these lessons are revealing to the thoughtful 
 teachers new possibilities in religious teaching. 
 
 7. Textbooks and reference books for Sunday 
 school workers are coming from the press almost 
 daily, and many of them reveal a scholarly study 
 of child nature and practical skill in methods of 
 teaching. 
 
 216 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 8. The number of employed workers in the 
 denominational and interdenominational fields is 
 increasing rapidly. The salaries and the dignity 
 accorded them in their work now give them rank 
 with the secretaries and field workers of the 
 boards of the great benevolent organizations. 
 Here too the educational demand is insistent. 
 
 9. The conventions and institutes of the Sun- 
 day school are attended by larger numbers than 
 ever before, and these conventions are passing 
 from the insj)irational to the educational type. 
 Many of them are really schools of methods, in 
 which help is offered by experts for each depart- 
 ment of the Sunday school. 
 
 10. The city training schools in many cities 
 are calling together scores of teachers and 
 officers, where the study of the latest textbooks, 
 with reference reading, is pursued under compe- 
 tent teachers, and the teachers of the city are of- 
 fered training in the special departments and 
 advanced studies. 
 
 11. In several cities a university extension type 
 of work has been established, where teachers of 
 training classes and other studious teachers may 
 receive instruction by lecturers from the univers- 
 ities and seminaries. 
 
 12. The interdenominational organizations for 
 the promotion of religious education in the estab- 
 lishment of standards and in the advancement of 
 
 217 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 the Sunday school as an institution are moving 
 forward with great success in a united purpose. 
 The work was never so vigorous as now. 
 
 (a) The American Sunday School Union con- 
 tinues its missionary activity in the establish- 
 ment of Sunday schools in needy places, and is 
 now becoming active in the training of teachers 
 for the country Sunday school. 
 
 (&) The Religious Education Association, 
 through its conventions, its Journal, and reports 
 of commissions, is exerting a great influence in 
 the advancement of standards and in the promo- 
 tion of ideals for the Sunday school. 
 
 (c) The International Sunday School Associa- 
 tion, working through the State Associations, 
 with more than two hundred salaried officers and 
 thousands of volunteer workers, continues its 
 success as an inspirational and promoting 
 agency. It is advancing the standard for graded 
 instruction and efficient teaching with increasing 
 earnestness. 
 
 (cZ) The Sunday School Council of Evangelical 
 Denominations unites the officers of the Sunday 
 school boards of more than thirty churches, and 
 its great aims are a better literature, more thor- 
 ough teaching, and more efficient organization. 
 It presents a fine ideal of religious team work. 
 
 All of these forces are dominated by a deep 
 conviction and are moving toward a common end. 
 
 218 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 The teaching of the Bible and the religious cul- 
 ture of the child, through the home and the Sun- 
 day school, must take its place as the supplement 
 and crown of the educational energies of the age, 
 in the making of character. 
 
 219 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 LIST OF BOOKS APPROVED BY INTERNATIONAL 
 COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION 
 
 First Standard Course 
 
 Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Prepara- 
 tion for Teaching, by Charles A. OHver. 
 
 Baptist Churches. Baptist Teacher-Training Manual. 
 H. T. Musselman. Published by the American Baptist 
 Publication Society, Philadelphia, Pa. Cloth, 50 cents; 
 paper, 35 cents. 
 
 Canadian Churches. Canadian First Standard Teacher- 
 Training Course. Published by Wilham Briggs, Toronto, 
 Ontario. Five booklets, 5 cents each. Chosen for use by the 
 Baptist Churches, EvangeUcal Association, Methodist, and 
 Presbyterian Churches in Canada. 
 
 Congregational Churches. Pilgrim Preparatory Course, 
 published by the Pilgrim Press, Boston. Price, 50 cents per 
 volume. 
 
 Talks with the Training Class. Slattery. 
 
 Biographical Studies in the Bible. Three volumes. Sidney 
 and Anna Strong. 
 
 The History of the Bible. Mutch. 
 
 The Teacher That Teaches. Wells. 
 
 The Guide to Teachers of Training Classes. Slattery. 
 (For the class teacher.) 
 
 Church of the Brethren. Training Course. 
 
 Churches of Christ (Disciples). Training for Service. 
 Herbert Moninger. Published by the Standard PubUshing 
 Company, Cincinnati, O. Cloth, 50 cents; manila, 30 cents. 
 
 Teacher Training Handbook. Shepherd and Stevenson. 
 220 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 Published by the Christian Board of PubUcation, Saint 
 Louis, Mo. Manila, 25 cents. 
 
 Free Methodist Church. Course in two volumes. 
 Handbook for Sunday School Workers, by W. B. Ohnstead, 
 and The Pupil and How to Teach Him, by E. G. Burritt. 
 PubUshed by W. B. Rose, Chicago. Price, 50 cents per 
 volume. 
 
 German Evangelical Synod of North America. Vor- 
 bereitungskursus fiir Sonntagschullehrer. PubUshed by the 
 Eden PubUshing House, Saint Louis and Chicago. Three 
 volumes. 
 
 Lutheran Course. Special edition of Preparation for 
 Teaching, by Oliver, adapted to the needs of Lutheran 
 teachers. Published by the Lutheran PubUcation Society, 
 Philadelphia, Pa. Cloth, 40 cents; paper, 25 cents. 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. The Worker and His 
 Work Series. Six courses by correspondence for Sunday 
 School workers — Elementary, Junior, Intermediate, Senior, 
 Adult, and Superintendent. Each course covers three books. 
 PubUshed by The Board of Sunday Schools, 1018-24 S. 
 Wabash Avenue, Chicago. Correspondence study is also 
 offered by the Board in Elementary, Secondary, and Adult 
 Division SpeciaUzation. 
 
 Teacher Training Lessons for the Sunday School. Jesse 
 Lyman Hurlbut. PubUshed by The Methodist Book Con- 
 cern, New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago. Cloth, 50 cents; 
 paper, 35 cents. 
 
 First Standard Manual of Teacher Training. Barclay. 
 PubUshed by The Methodist Book Concern, New York, 
 Cincinnati, and Chicago. Price, cloth, 50 cents. 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Revised Legion 
 of Honor. H. M. HamiU. Published by W. B. Jacobs 
 8 South Dearborn Street, Chicago. Cloth, 40 cents; manila, 
 25 cents. 
 
 221 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 Methodist Protestant Church. Training the Teacher. 
 A. F. Schauffler, A. A. Lamoreaux, Martin G. Brumbaugh 
 and Marion Lawrance. Published by The Sunday School 
 Times Company, Philadelphia, Pa. Cloth, 50 cents. 
 
 Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. Preparation for Teach- 
 ing. Charles A. OUver. Published by the Westminster 
 Press, Philadelphia, Pa. Cloth, 40 cents; paper, 25 cents. 
 
 Presbjrterian Church, U. S. The Westminster Standard 
 Teacher Training Course. A. L. PhilUps. PubUshed by the 
 Presbyterian Committee of Pubhcation, Richmond, Va. 
 Price, 25 cents. 
 
 Protestant Episcopal Church. Sunday School Teach- 
 ing. William Walter Smith. PubUshed by Young Church- 
 man Co., Milwaukee, Wis. Manila, 50 cents; or The Ele- 
 ments of Child Study and Sunday School Pedagogy. W. W. 
 Smith. 75 cents. (In preparation.) (Cover sections of the 
 Pupil, the Teacher, and the School. Selections of Bible 
 work may be made from any approved course.) 
 
 Reformed Church in the United States. Preparation 
 for Teaching. Oliver. Published by the Westminster Press. 
 Philadelphia, Pa. Cloth, 40 cents; paper, 25 cents. 
 
 United Brethren. This Church recognizes any approved 
 course, but recommends its students to make choice from 
 one of the following: Training the Teacher, Schauffler, 
 Lamoreaux, Brumbaugh, and Lawrance; Teacher Training 
 Lessons for the Sunday School, Hurlbut; or Training for 
 Service, Moninger. 
 
 United Presbjrterian Churches. Teacher-Training 
 Manual. W. B. Smiley. In two parts: First part oovering 
 the Scriptm-es. Price, 20 cents; second part covering the 
 Pupil, the Teacher, and the School. Published by The 
 United Presbyterian Board of Publications, Pittsbiirgh, Pa. 
 
 Evangel First Standard Course. Published by F. M 
 Barton Company, Cleveland, O. Price, 35 cents. 
 
 222 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 Advanced Standard Course 
 
 Baptist Churches. The regular Teacher-Training Course, 
 pubUshed by the Griffith & Rowland Press, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 The Sunday School Teacher's Bible. Price, 40 cents and 
 25 cents. 
 
 The Sunday School Teacher's Pupil. Price, 40 cents and 
 25 cents. 
 
 The Sunday School Teacher's Pedagogy. Price, 40 cents 
 and 25 cents. 
 
 The Sunday School Teacher's School. Price, 40 cents and 
 25 cents. 
 
 Missionary Methods for Sunday School Workers. Trull. 
 
 50 cents. 
 
 The Early Church. Conley. 50 cents. 
 
 Baptist Churches of the South. Both First and Ad- 
 vanced courses are in use by this Church, the textbooks for 
 which have been carefully selected by recognized experts of 
 the Church. No official report, however, has been made to 
 the office of the International Teacher Training Superin- 
 tendent. 
 
 Baptist Churches in Canada. Course pubUshed by R. 
 Douglas Fraser, Toronto, Ontario. Price, 10 cents each. 
 
 The Books of the Old Testament. Scrimger. 
 
 The Life and Times of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Falconer 
 and Ballantyne. 
 
 A Summary of Christian Doctrine. Kilpatrick. 
 
 From One to Twenty-One. Murray. 
 
 The Teacher and the School. Tracy. 
 
 Books of the New Testament. Kennedy. 
 
 Missions. Mackay. 
 
 Chvirch History. Falconer. 
 
 Churches of Christ (Disciples). Course published by 
 the Standard Publishing Company, Cincinnati, O. 
 
 223 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 First Year: 
 
 A Bible School Vision. Welshimer. 
 
 Common Sense. Thornton. 
 
 From Eden to Jordan. Medbury. 
 Second Year: 
 
 From Jordan to the Throne of Saul. Medbury. 
 
 From the Throne of Saul to Bethlehem. Medbury. 
 
 The New Testament Chm-ch. Moninger. 
 Third Year: 
 
 Epistles and Revelation. Taylor. 
 
 Missionary Mountain Peaks. Vol. I. Paul. 
 
 Missionary Mountain Peaks. Vol. II. Paul. (In prepara- 
 tion.) 
 
 Price, each, cloth, 50 cents; manila, 30 cents, postpaid. 
 
 In lots, not postpaid, each, cloth, 40 cents; manila, 25 cents. 
 
 Course published by the Christian Board of Publications, 
 Saint Louis, Mo. Cloth, 50 cents; paper, 25 cents. 
 
 Studies in the Books of the Bible. Stevenson. 
 
 Psychology in ReUgious Culture in the Modern Sunday 
 School. Shepherd. (In preparation.) 
 
 ReUgious Pedagogy in the Modern Sunday School. Shep- 
 herd. 
 
 The Modern Sunday School. Pearce. (In preparation.) 
 
 Missions in the Modern Sunday School. Corey. 
 
 Church History in the Modem Sunday School. Coleman. 
 
 Christian Doctrine in the Modern Sunday School. (In 
 preparation.) 
 
 Christian Churches. Course published by J. O. Atkin- 
 son, Publishing Agent, Southern Christian Convention, Elon 
 CoUege, N. C. 
 
 Preparing the Teacher. In two volumes. 
 
 Congregational Churches. Plans for an advanced 
 course are under consideration by the Congregational Board. 
 Lutheran Teacher Training Series. Published by the 
 224 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 Lutheran Publication Society, Philadelphia, Pa. Price, per 
 volume, cloth, 50 cents; paper, 35 cents. 
 
 Book 1. The Book and the Message. Alleman and 
 Dunbar. 
 
 Book 2. The Pupil and the Teacher. Weigle. 
 
 Book 3. The School and the Church. (In preparation.) 
 
 Book 4. The Lutheran Church and Child Nurture. 
 Smith. 
 
 (Books covering Missions and Church History to be pre- 
 pared later.) 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. PubUshed by The Meth- 
 odist Book Concern, New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago. 
 
 The Worker and His Bible. Eiselen and Barclay. 55 cents, 
 postpaid. 
 
 Elements of ReUgious Pedagogy. Pattee. 83 cents, post- 
 paid. 
 
 The Graded Sunday School. Meyer. 75 cents. 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Course pub- 
 hshed by Smith & Lamar, Nashville, Tenn. Price, $L70 for 
 entire course, in cloth. 
 
 The Bible and Its Books. Hamill. 
 
 The Sunday School Teacher. Hamill. 
 
 The Organized Sunday School. Axtell. 
 
 The Sunday School Pupil. Musselman. 
 
 Manual of Southern Methodism. (Covers Church History 
 and Missions.) 
 
 Methodist Protestant Church. An Advanced Standard 
 course for this Church is being prepared and will be issued 
 in the near future by the Board. 
 
 Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. Westminster Advanced 
 course. Books can be procured from any depository of the 
 Presbyterian Board. Main office, Witherspoon Building, 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 225 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 The Old Testament and Its Contents. Robertson. Cloth, 
 40 cents; paper, 25 cents. 
 
 The New Testament and Its Writers. M'Clymont. Cloth, 
 40 cents; paper, 25 cents. 
 
 The Pupil and the Teacher. Weigle. Cloth, 50 cents; 
 paper, 35 cents. 
 
 Landmarks of Church History. Cowan. Cloth, 40 cents; 
 paper, 25 cents. 
 
 Missionary Methods for Sunday School Workers. Trull. 
 50 cents. 
 
 The Organized Sunday School. Axtell. Cloth, 50 cents. 
 
 (Other books alternative to these will be announced later.) 
 
 Presbyterian Church, U. S. Books for sale by the 
 Presbyterian Committee of Publication, Richmond, Va. 
 
 History of the English Bible. Thomson. 20 cents. 
 
 Bible Study by Books. Sell. Cloth, 60 cents; paper, 35 
 cents. 
 
 The Teacher and the Child. Mark. 75 cents. 
 
 Studies for Personal Workers. Johnston. 66 cents. 
 
 Bible Study by Periods. Sell. Cloth, 60 cents; paper, 35 
 cents. 
 
 Seven Laws of Teaching. Gregory. 50 cents. 
 
 The Organized Sunday School. Axtell. 50 cents. 
 
 Bible Study by Doctrines. Sell. Cloth, 50 cents; paper, 
 25 cents. 
 
 Landmarks of Church History. Cowan. 40 cents. 
 
 Missionary Methods for Sunday School Workers. Trull. 
 50 cents. 
 
 Presbyterian Churches in Canada. Course pubUshed 
 by R. Douglas Fraser, Toronto, Ontario. Price, 10 cents 
 each. 
 
 The Books of the Old Testament. Scrimger. 
 
 The Life and Times of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Falconer 
 and Ballantyne. 
 
 226 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 A Summary of Christian Doctrine. Kilpatrick. 
 
 From One to Twenty-One. Murray. 
 
 The Teacher and the School. Tracy. 
 
 Books of the New Testament. Kennedy. 
 
 Missions. Mackay. 
 
 Church History. James W. Falconer. 
 
 Protestant Episcopal Church. ReUgious Education. 
 W. W. Smith. Published by Young Churchman Co., Mil- 
 waukee, Wis. (covers sections of the Pupil, the Teacher, and 
 the School); also The Sunday School of To-day. W. W. 
 Smith. Pubhshed by F. H. Revell Company, New York 
 and Chicago. $1.25. (Other subjects to be selected.) 
 
 Reformed Church in the United States. Advanced 
 Heidelberg Teacher Training Course. Pubhshed by the 
 Publication and Sunday School Board of the Reformed 
 Church in the United States, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Vol. I. Outhne Studies on the Bible. Part 1. The Old 
 Testament (in preparation); Part 2. The New Testament 
 (now ready). W. C. Schaeffer. 
 
 Vol. II. OutUne Studies on the Sunday School and Sunday 
 School Pedagogy. (In preparation.) 
 
 Vol. III. Outline Studies on the Chvu-ch, Including Ten 
 Lessons on Missions. (In preparation.) 
 
 United Brethren. Books can be procured through the 
 Denominational Secretary, Colonel Robert Cowden, Day- 
 ton, O. 
 
 The Old Testament and Its Contents. Robertson. 40 
 cents. 
 
 The New Testament and Its Writers. M'Clymont. 40 
 cents. 
 
 The Sunday School Teacher. Hamill. 50 cents. 
 
 From One to Twenty-One. Murray. 
 
 The Origin and Expansion of the Sunday School. Tnmi- 
 bull. 30 cents. 
 
 227 
 
THE TRAINING OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 How to Conduct a Sunday School. Lawrance. $1.25. 
 Landmarks of Church History. Cowan. 40 cents. 
 Handbook of the United Brethren in Christ. Shuey. 
 (Book on Missions to be selected.) 
 
 United Presbyterian Churches. Advanced course will 
 be announced soon by the Board. 
 
 The following is a hst of Advanced Course books approved 
 by the Committee on Education which are not mentioned in 
 any Denominational course. Each book meets the require- 
 ments of study in its section. 
 
 Outline Studies in the Old Testament. Hurlbut. 40 cents 
 and 25 cents. 
 
 Analytical OutUnes of the Old Testament. Haig. 
 
 Normal Class Manual of Old Testament History. Good- 
 rich. 50 cents. 
 
 Great Teachers of Christianity and Judaism. Kent. 
 75 cents. 
 
 OutUne Studies in the New Testament. Hurlbut. 40 cents 
 and 25 cents. 
 
 Books of the Bible. Hazard and Fowler. 50 cents. 
 
 The Unfolding Life. Lamoreaux. 75 cents. 
 
 A Primer on Teaching. Adams. 20 cents. 
 
 The Making of a Teacher. Brumbaugh. $1.00. 
 
 The Modern Sunday School in Principle and Practice. 
 Cope. $1.00. 
 
 The Model Sunday School. Boynton. 50 cents and 30 cents. 
 
 The Teaching of Bible Classes. See. Y. M. C. A. Press, 
 New York. 
 
 The Efficient Layman. Cope. Philadelphia. $1.00. (To 
 be used in connection with other text-books on Sunday 
 School Organization and Management.) 
 
 A Short History of the Christian Church. Moncrief. $1.50. 
 
 Outlines of the Life of Christ . Worden and Haig. 
 228 
 
TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 
 
 Sunday School Experience. Henry Edward Trallc. 
 Sunday School of To-day. William Walter Smith. $1.25. 
 
 The Evangel Advanced Standard Teacher Training Course. 
 PubUshed by F. M. Barton Company, Cleveland, O. Price, 
 $1.00 for entire course. 
 
 The Books of the Old Testament. Scrimger. 
 
 The Books of the New Testament. Kennedy. 
 
 The Life and Times of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Falconer 
 and Ballantyne. 
 
 From One to Twenty-One. Murray. 
 
 Sowing the Seed. Tracy. 
 
 Sabbath School Methods. Tracy, Fergusson, and Knapp. 
 
 Conquests of the Cross. Wilson. 
 
 Winning the World. Wilson. 
 
 ADDITIONAL BOOKS— RECOMMENDED 
 BY AUTHOR 
 
 Elementary 
 Fundamentals of Child Study. Kirkpatrick. $1.25. 
 The Dawn of Character. Mumford. $1.25. 
 The Training of Children in Rehgion. Hodges. $1.50. 
 The Child in His World. Chamberlin and Kern. $1.00 
 
 Secondary 
 Youth. Hall. $1.50. 
 
 The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets. Jane Addams. 
 50 cents. 
 
 Youth and The Race. Swift. $1.25. 
 
 Moral Education. Griggs. $1.00. 
 
 The Boy and The Sunday School. Alexander. $1.00. 
 
 The Girl and Her Religion. Slattery. $1.00. 
 
 Adult 
 Education in Religion and Morals. Coe. $1.35. 
 Social Service: Men and Religion Messages. $1.00. 
 229 
 
TRAINING SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS 
 
 Social Creed of the Churches. Ward. 
 Christianizing the SociaJ Order. Walter Rauschenbusch. 
 $1.25. 
 Higgins, A Man's Christian. Norman Duncan. 
 A Man's Religion. McDowell. 50 cents. 
 
 Teacher Training 
 
 The Making of Character. MacCunn. SI. 25. 
 
 Use of the Bible in the Education of the Young. Raymont. 
 $1.50. 
 
 The Bible as EngUsh Literature. Gardner. $1.50. 
 
 Biblical Geography and History. Kent. $1.00. 
 
 Landmarks of Church History. Rowe. 75 cents. 
 
 The Conquering Christ (Study of Missions). Boone. 
 76 cents. 
 
 Human Behavior. Colvin and Bagley. $1.00. 
 
 The Genetic Philosophy of Education. Partridge. $1.50. 
 
 Worship in the Sunday School. Hartshorne. $1.25. 
 
 The Teaching Process. Strayer. $1.25. 
 
 How to Study and Teaching How to Study. McMurry. 
 $1.25. 
 
 The Sunday School At Work. Edited by John T. Faris. 
 $1.25. 
 
 Talks to Teachers. James. $1.50. 
 
 The Unfolding of Personality. Mark. $1.00. 
 
 These books may be procured from your denominational 
 pubhsher or bookseller. 
 
 230 
 

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