THE BOYAND THESUNDAY SCHOOL

A Manual of Principle and Method forthe Work of the Sunday Schoolwith Teen Age Boys

JOHN L. ALEXANDER

_Superintendent Secondary DivisionInternational Sunday School AssociationAuthor and Editor "Boy Training, " "The SundaySchool and the Teens, " "Boys' HandBook, Boy Scouts of America""Sex Instruction for Boys, " etc_. 

=Introduction by=MARION LAWRANCE

_General Secretary, World's andInternational Sunday School Associations_

ASSOCIATION PRESSNEW YORK: 347 MADISON AVENUE1920

COPYRIGHT, 1913, BYTHE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OFYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS

THIS LITTLE BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEN WHO MUST FACE ALL THE PROBLEMSOF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL--TO THE MEN WHO HOLD THE KEY TO ALL THE LIFE ANDPROGRESS OF THE SCHOOL--THE SUPERINTENDENTS OF NORTH AMERICA. 

INTRODUCTION

The Sunday school chapter of Church history is now being written. Itcomes late in the volume, but those who are writing it and those who arereading it realize--as never before--that the Sunday school is rapidlycoming to its rightful place. In the Sunday school, as elsewhere, it isthe little child who has led the way to improvement. The commandingappeal of the little ones opened the door of advance, and, as a result, the Elementary Division of the school has outstripped the rest in itsefficiency. 

Where children go adults will follow, and so we discover that the AdultDivision was the next to receive attention, until today its manlystrength and power are the admiration of the Church. 

Strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true, that the middledivision, called the Secondary, and covering the "Teen Age, " has beensadly neglected--the joint in the harness of our Sunday school fabric. Here we have met with many a signal defeat, for the doors of our Sundayschools have seemed to swing outward and the boys and girls have gonefrom us, many of them never to return. We have busied ourselves to suchan extent in studying the problem of the boy and the girl that the realproblem--the problem of leadership--has been overlooked. 

The Secondary Division is the challenge of the Sunday school and of theChurch today. It is during the "Teen Age" that more decisions are made_for_ Christ and _against_ him than in any other period of life. It ishere that Sunday school workers have found their greatest difficulty inmeeting the issue, largely because they have not understood the materialwith which they have to deal. 

We are rejoiced, however, to know that the Secondary Division is nowcoming to be better understood and recognized as the firing line of theSunday school. 

What has been needed and is now being supplied is authoritativeliterature concerning this critical period. Indeed, the Sunday schoolliterature for the Secondary Division is probably appearing more rapidlynow than that for any other division of the school. 

This book is a choice contribution to that literature. It comes from aman who has devoted his life to the boys and girls, and who is probablythe highest authority in our country in this Department. The largestcontribution he is making to the advancement of the whole Sunday schoolwork is in showing the fascination, as well as the possibilities, of theSecondary Division. We are sure this little book will bring rich returnsto the Sunday schools, because of the large number who will beinfluenced, through reading its pages, to devote their lives to thebright boys and fair girls in whom is the hope, not only of the Church, but of the World. 

=Marion Lawrance. =

Chicago, June 1, 1913. 

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

Foreword 13

I The Home and the Boy 23

II The Public School and the Boy 32

III The Church and the Boy 37

IV The Sunday School or Church School 41

V The Boy and the Sunday School 48

VI Fundamental Principles in Sunday School Work with Boys 57

VII Method and Organization 62

VIII The Organized Sunday School Bible Class 74

IX Bible Study for Boys 93

X Through-the-Week Activities for Boys' Organized Classes 104

XI The Boys' Department in the Sunday School 120

XII Inter-Sunday School Effort for Boys 135

XIII The Older Boys' Conference or Congress 138

XIV The Secondary Division or Teen Age Boys' Crusade 158

XV Sex Education for Boys and the Sunday School 176

XVI The Teen Boy and Missions 193

XVII Temperance and the Teen Age 202

XVIII Building up the Boy's Spiritual Life 208

XIX The Teen Age Teacher 215

XX Danger Points 265

XXI The Rural Sunday School 268

XXII The Relation of the SundaySchool to Community Organizations 277

FOREWORD

A great deal of material has come from the pens of various writers onboy life in the last few years. Quite a little, also, has been writtenabout the Sunday school, and a few attempts have been made to hitch theboy of the teen years and the Sunday school together. Most of theseattempts, however, have been far from successful; due, in part, to lackof knowledge of the boy on the one hand, or of the Sunday school on theother. Generous criticism of the Sunday school has been made by expertson boy life, but this generally has been nullified by the fact that thecritics have had no adequate touch with the Sunday school or itsproblems--their bread-and-butter experience lay in another field. 

"The Men and Religion Forward Movement, " in its continent-wide work, discovered not a few of the problems of the Sunday school, andattempted a partial solution in the volume on boys' work in the"Messages" of the Movement. It was but partial, however, first, becausethe volume tried to deal with the boy, the church and the community alltogether, and second, because it failed to take into account the factthat there are two sexes in the church school and that the boy, howeverimportant, constitutes but a section of the Sunday school and itsproblems. 

In view of this, it may not be amiss to set forth in a new volume a moreor less thorough study of the Sunday school and the adolescent or teenage boy, the one in relationship to the other, and at the same time toset forth as clearly as possible the present plans, methods and attitudeof the Sunday school, denominationally and interdenominationally. 

In the preparation of this little book I have utilized considerablematerial written by me for other purposes. Generous use has also beenmade of the Secondary Division Leaflets of the International SundaySchool Association. A deep debt of gratitude is mine to the members ofthe International Secondary Committee: Messrs. E. H. Nichols, Frank L. Brown, Eugene C. Foster, William C. Johnston, William H. Danforth, S. F. Shattuck, R. A. Waite, Mrs. M. S. Lamoreaux, and the Misses Minnie E. Kennedy, Anna Branch Binford and Helen Gill Lovett, for their great helpand counsel in preparing the above leaflets. Grateful acknowledgment isalso made to Miss Margaret Slattery, Mrs. J. W. Barnes, Rev. Charles D. Bulla, D. D. , Rev. William E. Chalmers, B. D. , Rev. C. H. Hubbell, D. D. , Rev. A. L. Phillips, D. D. , Rev. J. C. Robertson, B. D. , and the Rev. R. P. Shepherd, Ph. D. , for their advice and suggestions as members of theCommittee on Young People's Work of the Sunday School Council ofEvangelical Denominations. The plans and methods of these leaflets havethe approval of the denominational and interdenominational leaders ofNorth America. I wish, also, to make public mention of the greatassistance that Mr. Preston G. Orwig and my colleague, Rev. William A. Brown, have rendered me in the practical working out of many of themethods contained in this volume. Two articles written for the "Boys'Work" volume of the Men and Religion Messages, and one for "MakingReligion Efficient" have been modified somewhat for this present work. The aim has been to set forth as completely as possible the relationshipof the Sunday school and the boy of the teen years in the light of thegenius of the Sunday school. 

No attempt has been made in this volume to discuss the boypsychologically or otherwise. This has been done so often that thesubject has become matter-of-fact. My little volume on "Boy Training, "so generously shared in by other writers who are authorities on theirsubjects, may be referred to for information of this sort. "The SundaySchool and the Teens" will, likewise, afford valuable technicalinformation about the Sunday school, it being the report of theInternational Commission on Adolescence. 

This book is largely a volume of method and suggestion for leaders andteachers in the Sunday school, to promote the better handling of theso-called boy problem; for the Sunday school must solve the problem ofgetting and holding the teen age boy, if growth and development are tomark its future progress. Of the approximately ten million teen age boysin the field of the International Sunday School Association, ninety percent are not now reached by the Sunday school. Of the five per centenrolled (less than 1, 500, 000) seventy-five per cent are dropping fromits membership. Every village, town and city contributes its sharetoward this unwarranted leakage. The problem is a universal one. 

The teen age represents the most important period of life. Ideals andstandards are set up, habits formed and decisions made that will make ormar a life. The high-water mark of conversion is reached at fifteen, andbetween the ages of thirteen and eighteen more definite stands are madefor the Christian life than in all the other combined years of alifetime. 

It marks the period of adolescence, when the powers and passions ofmanhood enter into the life of the boy, and when the will is not strongenough to control these great forces. Powers must be unfolded beforeability to use them can develop, and instincts must be controlled whilethese are in the process of development. The importance of systematicadult leadership during this period of storm and stress cannot be toostrongly emphasized. 

The teen age boy is naturally religious. Opportunity, however, must begiven him to express his religion in forms that appeal to and areunderstood by him. In other words, his religion, like his nature, is apositive quantity, and will be carried by him throughout the day, todominate all of the activities in which he engages. 

The problem also reaches through the entire teen years and must beregarded as a whole, rather than as a series of successive stages, eachstage being separate and complete in itself. 

The great problem, then, which confronts us is to keep the boys in thechurch and Sunday school during the critical years of adolescence andto bring to their support the strength which comes from God's Word andtrue Christian friendship, to the end that they may be related to theSon of God as Saviour and Lord through personal faith and loyal service. 

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alexander, Editor. --Boy Training (. 75). The Sunday School and the Teens. (The Report of the International Commission on Adolescence) ($1. 00). 

Alexander, Editor. --The Teens and the Rural Sunday School. (The Reportof the International Commission on Rural Adolescence. ) _In preparation_. 

Boys' Work Message (Men and Religion Movement) ($1. 00). 

Fiske. --Boy Life and Self-Government ($1. 00). 

Hall. --Developing into Manhood (Sex Education Series) (. 25)

Hall. --Life's Beginnings (Sex Education Series) (. 25)

Secondary Division Leaflets, International Sunday School Association(Free). 

1. Secondary Division Organization. 

2. The Organized Class. 

3. State and County Work. 

4. Through-the-week Activities. 

5. The Secondary Division Crusade. 

Swift--Youth and the Race ($1. 50). 

THE BOY AND HIS EDUCATION

Three institutions are responsible for the education of the adolescentboy. By "education" is meant not merely the acquisition of certain formsof related knowledge, but the symmetrical adaptation of the life to thecommunity in which it lives. The three institutions that cooperate inthe community for this purpose are: the _home_, the _school_, and the_church_. There are many organizations and orders that have a largeplace in the life of the growing boy, but these must be viewed solely inthe light of auxiliaries to the home, school and church in theproduction of efficient boyhood and trained manhood. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON EDUCATION

Draper. --American Education ($2. 00). 

Payot. --Education of the Will ($1. 50). 

I

THE HOME AND THE BOY

The greatest of the three institutions affecting boy life, from the veryfact that it is the primary one, is the home. The home is the basis ofthe community, the community merely being the aggregation of a largenumber of well-organized or ill-organized homes. The first impressionsthe boy receives are through his home life, and the bent of his wholecareer is often determined by the home relationships. 

The large majority of homes today are merely places in which a boy mayeat and sleep. The original prerogatives of the father and mother, sofar as they pertain to the physical, social, mental and moraldevelopment of boyhood, have been farmed out to other organizations inthe community. The home life of today greatly differs from that ofprevious generations. This is very largely due to social and economicconditions. Our social and economic revolution has made vast inroadsupon our normal home life, with the result that the home has beenseriously weakened and the boy has been deprived of his normal homeheritage. 

To give the home at least some of the old power that it used to haveover the boy life, there must needs be recognized the very definiteplace a boy must have in the family councils. The general tendencytoday, as far as the boy is concerned, is an utter disregard on the partof the father and mother of the importance of the boy as a partner inthe family. He is merely the son of his father and mother, and theirobligations to him seemingly end in providing him with wholesome food, warm clothing, a place to sleep and a room in which to study and play incommon with other members of the household. Very little thought is givenon the part of the father and mother to the real part the boy shouldplay in the direction of the family life. Family matters are neverdetermined with the help of his judgment. They are even rarely discussedin his presence. Instead of being a partner in the family life, doinghis share of the family work and being recognized as a necessary part ofits welfare, he is only recognized as a dependent member, to be caredfor until he is old enough to strike out and make a place for himself. This sometimes is modified when the boy comes to the wage-earning age, when he is required to assist in the support of the family, but eventhen his place in the family councils to determine the policy of thefamily is usually a very small one. 

In the home of today few fathers and mothers seem to realize the claimthat the boy has upon them in the matter of comradeship. The parentlooks upon himself very largely in the light of the provider, and butvery little attention is paid to the companionship call that is comingfrom the life of his boy. After a strenuous day's work the father isoften physically incapacitated for such comradeship and only thestrongest effort of will on his part can force him to recognize thisfundamental need of his boy's life. It is just as necessary that thefather should play with and be the companion of his boy as it is for himto see that he has good food, warm clothing, and a comfortable bed tosleep in. The father generally is the boy's hero up to a certain age. This seems to be an unwritten, natural law of the boy's life, and thefather often forfeits this worship and respect of his boy by failing toafford him the natural companionship necessary to keep it alive. Inaddition to a place and a voice in the councils of the family, it isnecessary that the boy should have steady parental companionship tobring out the best that is in him. 

The ownership of personal property and its recognition by the parent inthe life of the boy is fundamental to the boy's later understanding ofthe home and community life. Comparatively few fathers and mothers everrecognize the deep call of the boy life to own things, and frequentlythe boy's property is taken from him and he is deprived of its use as ameans of punishment for some breach of home discipline. In many familiesthe boy grows up altogether without any adequate idea of what the rightof private property really is, with the result that when he reaches theadolescent years and is swayed by the gang spirit, whatever comes in hisway, as one of the gang, is appropriated by him to the gang use. Thismeans that the boy, because of his ignorance, becomes a ward of theJuvenile Court and a breaker of community laws. The tendency, however, today in legal procedure is to hold the parents of such a boy liable forthe offenses which may be committed. Instead of talking about juveniledelinquency today we are beginning to comprehend the larger meaning ofparental and community delinquency. Out of nearly six hundred caseswhich came before the Juvenile Court in San Francisco last year onlynineteen, by the testimony of the judge, were due to delinquency on thepart of the offender himself. The majority of the remaining cases weredue to parental delinquency, or neglect of the father and mother. Areal part in the home life may be given to the boy by recognizing hisindividual and sole claim to certain things in the home life. 

Failure on the part of the father and mother to recognize the growth ofthe boy likewise tends to interfere with normal relationships in thehome. Many a father and mother fail to see and appreciate the fact thattheir boy really ceases to be a child. Because of this, parents veryoften fail to show the proper respect for the personality of the boy, riding rough-shod over his feelings and will. There follows in mattersof this kind a natural resentment on the part of the boy which sometimesmakes him moody and reticent. This, in its turn, causes the parents totry to curb what they consider a disagreeable disposition on the part ofthe boy. Sometimes this takes the form of resentment at the fact thatthe boy wishes at times to be alone, and so fathers and mothers arecontinually on the watch to prevent the boy from really having any timeof his own. All of these things put together have but one logicalresult, the ultimate break between the boy and the home, and thedeparture of the boy at the first real opportunity to strike out forhimself, thus sundering all the home relationships. 

Perhaps one of the saddest things in the home life today is the neglectof the father to see that his boy receives the necessary knowledgeconcerning sex, that his life may be safeguarded from the moral perilsof the community. This is not always a willful breach of duty on thepart of the father, but usually comes from ignorance as to how to broachthis subject to the boy. A great many growing lives would be saved frommoral taint and become a blessing instead of a curse if the fatherdischarged his whole duty to his growing son, by putting at his disposalthe knowledge which is necessary to an understanding of the functions ofthe sex life. 

To recapitulate, several things are necessary to bring about realrelationships in the home life between the parents and the boy. Theseare: a place for the boy in the family councils as a partner in thehome life, the boy's right to companionship with his parents, theprivilege and responsibility of private ownership, the right a boy hasto his personality and privacy, and tactful and timely instruction inmatters of sex. This might be enlarged by the parents' privilege ofcaring for and developing social life for the boy in the home, acarefully planned participation in its working life, instructions inthrift and saving, and a general cooperation with the school and thechurch, as well as the auxiliary organizations with which the boy may beconnected, so that the physical, social, mental and spiritual life ofthe boy may become well balanced and symmetrical. Add to this theChristian example of the father and mother, as expressed in the everydaylife of the home, and especially through family worship and arecognition of the Divine Being at meal time, and without any cant orundue pressure there will be produced such a wholesome home environmentas to assure the boy of an intelligent appreciation of not only hisfather and mother, but of his home privileges in general, and of thevalue of real religion. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE HOME

Allen. --Making the Best of Our Children. Two vols. ($1. 00 each). 

Field. --Finger-posts to Children's Reading ($1. 00). 

Fiske. --Boy Life and Self-Government ($1. 00). 

Kirkpatrick. --Fundamentals of Child Study ($1. 25). 

Putnam. --Education for Parenthood (. 65). 

II

THE PUBLIC SCHOOL AND THE BOY

Of the primary institutions that are cooperating in the life of the boytoday, without a doubt the public school is the most efficient and mostserviceable. Today the school offers and compels a boy to get certainrelated courses of study which will make him a better citizen by fittinghim in a measure for the procuring of an intelligent and adequatelivelihood. The school by no means is perfect in this matter, and aslong as over fifty per cent. Of the boys fail to graduate even from theeighth grade in the grammar school, and but one per cent. Go to college, there will be great need of a reconstruction of its methods of work. Without question, the curricula of the public school should be modifiedso as to meet the needs of all the boys in the community and vocationaland industrial training should have larger place in our educationalplans. The boy who is to earn his livelihood by his hands and headshould receive as much attention and intelligent instruction as the boywho aims at a professional career. However, with all its limitations, the public school is the only institution which has a definite policy inthe education of the boy. The leaders of the public school system knowwhither they are going and the road they must travel to reach the goal. 

Perhaps the greatest weakness of our public school system today is theinability, because of our division between church and state, to give theboy any religious instruction in connection with what is styled "seculareducation. " For the first time in the history of the world has religiousinstruction been barred from the public school, and that in our freeAmerica. Most intelligent Christian men now realize that, because of thedivision between church and state in our country, religious instructionin the public school is impossible, as the school is the instrument ofthe state in the production of wealth-producing citizenship. The men whowith clear vision see these things also see this limitation of thepublic school system and recognize that the church has a larger missionto fulfill in America than in any other country, it the education of theboy is to be symmetrical and well balanced. 

Perhaps the problem of our public school system of education which hasnot yet been solved is the vast possibility of the directed play life ofour boys. It is well known by students of boy life that the character ofthe boy is very largely determined by the informal education which comesfrom his part in sports and play. In some cities the public school hassought to give partial direction to the play life of the boy throughpublic school athletic leagues, but even these leagues touch but a smallpart of the boy life of any community. Besides the injection ofindustrial and vocational training in large quantity in public schoolcurricula, more thought and place will have to be given to theexpression of the boy life in play than is now provided for. 

In addition to this, the home and the church must render a unitedcooperation to make the school life of the boy what it ought to be. TheParents' and Teachers' Association in the public school is doing much tobring this about between the home and the school, and it may be that aTeachers' Association, consisting of officials and teachers of thepublic school and the officials and teachers of the Sunday school, mightbring about a closer cooperation in the secular and religious educationof the boyhood of the community. Both these associations, if fostered, would certainly tend to create a wholesome school atmosphere, whichwould render a tremendous service in safeguarding the moral life of theboy. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON PUBLIC SCHOOL

Baldwin. --Industrial-social Education ($1. 50). 

Bloomfield. --Vocational Guidance of Youth (. 60). 

Brown. --The American High School ($1. 40). 

Crocker, --Religious Freedom in American Education ($1. 00). 

--Religious Education (. 65). 

III

THE CHURCH AND THE BOY

If the foregoing facts considering the home and school life areabsolutely true, and the consensus of opinion of the students of boylife would have it so, it means that the church has a larger opportunitythan formerly supposed to influence the boy life of the community. 

The investigator into the life of boyhood has revealed to us the factthat a boy's life is not only fourfold--physical, social, mental andspiritual--but is also unified in its process of development. If this beso, there must be a common center for the boy's life, and neither thehome nor the school can, because of social or economic or politicalconditions, become this center. The only remaining place where the boy'slife can be unified is the church. 

The life of the church, generally speaking, is largely manipulated inthe services of worship, the Sunday school, and such auxiliaryorganizations as the Brotherhood, Christian Endeavor, Missionarysocieties, and other like organizations. At the present time the churchorganization itself is but little adapted to the needs of the growingboy, the church being a splendidly organized body for mature life. Onthe other hand, until lately, the Sunday school has been recognized as aplace for children under twelve years of age. With the Adult Bible Classmovement of the past few years, there has come a revival in the Sundayschool in adult life, so that the place of adults and children in theSunday school has been magnified. There still remains, however, the needof a modification of Sunday school organization to meet the need of theadolescent boy. 

The opportunity that faces the church and the Sunday school in thisadaptation is tremendous. Investigations of the past few years havedemonstrated beyond a doubt that the time to let loose impulses in thelife for the development of character is between the ages of fourteenand twenty, or the plastic years of early and middle adolescence. Recentstudies have shown that the break in school life occurs at aboutfourteen and a half or fifteen years, and that the majority of cases inthe juvenile courts fall in the same period. More souls are born intothe Kingdom of God in the early years of adolescence than at all otherages of life put together, and the vantage ground of the church lies atthese ages, the effort necessary being the minimum and the results beingthe maximum that can be attained. 

The problem of the church in touching these adolescent years is to makethe right use of all the facts of boy life. Too long has the churchlooked upon the boy as a mere field of operation. Too long has sheconsidered the boy as a dual personality and regarded life as bothsecular and spiritual. Today she is beginning to understand that allboyhood life is spiritual; that there are no secular activities inboyhood, but that every activity that a boy enters into has tremendousspiritual value, either for good or for bad. It is especially true in aboy's life that the spiritual finds expression through the physical. Itshould be true of all life, but a boy especially lives by physicalexpression. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE CHURCH

Foster. --The Boy and the Church (. 75). 

Gray. --Non-Church Going, Its Reasons, and Remedies ($1. 00). 

Hodges. --Training of Children in Religion ($1. 50). 

Hulbert. --The Church and Her Children ($1. 00). 

IV

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL OR CHURCH SCHOOL

The Sunday school is the biggest force of the church in the life of theboy. At times he refuses to attend the stated worship of the church, butif the Sunday school be in the least interesting he will gladly attendit. Its exercises and procedure must, however, be interesting, andrightly so. The boy has the right to demand that the time, his own time, which he gives to the Sunday school, should be utilized to some decentlyprofitable, pleasurable end. Education, even religious education, is notnecessarily a painful process. Discipline of mind or body has ceased tobe a series of disagreeable, rigid postures or exercises. Medicine hasno virtue merely because it is bad to the taste, and modern medicalusage prescribes free air and warm sunshine in large doses in place ofthe old-time bitter nostrums. Even where the boy spirit needsmedication, the means employed need not be sepulchral gloom, solemnwarning, other-world songs, and penitential prayers, with great moralapplications of the non-understandable. The germs of spiritual diseasegive way before the sunshine of the spirit, just as fast, if not faster, than the microbes before the sun. The Sunday school, then, should be ahappy, joyous, sunny place, brimful of ideas, suggestion and impulse;for these three are at once the giants and fairies of religiouseducation, and are the essential elements of character-making. 

To produce all of the above, three things are needed: adequateorganization, careful supervision, and common-sense leading. The firstis imperative, because all education is a matter of organization. Thesecond is part of the first, as supervision is the genius oforganization. The third is fundamental, for all expression--trueeducation--depends on the teacher or leader, whose innate idea of thefitness of things keeps him from doing, on the one hand, that which isjust customary, or, on the other hand, that which may appear to be justscientific. The science of yesterday should be the tradition of today;that is, if we are making progress in educational processes. Today'sscience also should be fighting yesterday's for supremacy. Common senselies somewhere between the two. 

The only two of these three Sunday school essentials that this chapterdeals with are organization and supervision. 

The Sunday school should be a kind of a religious regiment, martial bothin its music and its virtues for its challenge to the adolescent boy. Now, every regiment, in peace or war, is properly organized withbattalions, companies, and squads. Everything is accounted for, arrangedfor, and some one definitely held responsible for certain things--noteverything. The organization covers every member of the regiment; soshould the Sunday school. 

In Sunday school nomenclature the regimental battalions are"Divisions"--Elementary, Secondary, and Adult, by name. The companieslikewise are named "Departments, " each division having its own as in the"Elementary"--"Cradle Roll, " "Beginners, " "Primary, " and "Junior. " Thesquads in each case are the "Classes" that make up the Departments. _Itis essential that the Secondary, or Teen Age Division, which enrolls theadolescent boy, be adequately organized. _

Regiments, Battalions, Companies, and Squads must be properlyofficered--must be supervised. Colonels, Majors, Captains, Lieutenants, Sergeants and Corporals are the arteries of an army. In Sunday schoollanguage, the head of the regiment is the General Superintendent, andall the heads of divisions and departments are likewise namedSuperintendent. The leader of the squad is the Teacher. Then a properlysupervised Sunday school is organized not unlike an army, and would be, according to a diagram, like the following:

 General Superintendent |------+-----------------+----------+------+-----------------+--- | | | | Elementary Secondary Adult SpecialSuperintendent Superintendent Superintendent Superintendent

Cradle Roll Intermediate Organized BibleSuperintendent Superintendent Class Superintendent

Beginners' Senior Home SuperintendentSuperintendent Superintendent orPrimary Teen AgeSuperintendent Superintendent orJunior Boys'Superintendent Superintendent and Girls' Superintendent

Thus the modern school of the church would have at least twelvesuperintendents to oversee its work, to say nothing of the specialworkers, such as Training, Missionary and Temperance. This may seem likean unnecessary array of officers, but the experienced will admit thatthey are essential to good results in teaching boys and girls of varyingrequirements. _Not until the Secondary or Teen Age Division isadequately supervised, will the teen age boy or his religious educationbe properly cared for_. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

Frost. --The Church School (. 65). 

Cope. --Efficiency in the Sunday School ($1. 00). 

Lawrance. --Housing the Sunday School ($2. 00). 

--How to Conduct a Sunday School ($1. 25). 

Meyer. --The Graded Sunday School in Principle and Practice (. 75). 

SCHEME OF ORGANIZATION OF THE MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL

 DIVISIONS AND DEPARTMENTS============================================================ ELEMENTARY | SECONDARY | ADULT | SPECIAL--------------+---------------+--------------+--------------Cradle Roll | (A) | Adult | Missionary(1 Minute-3 | Intermediate | Bible |years) | Department | Class |--------------| (13-16 years) | Department | TemperanceBeginners' |---------------| (21 years +) |Department | Senior |--------------|(4-5 years) | Department | Home[1] | Purity--------------| (17-20 years) | Department |Primary |===============| Visitation |Department | (B) | Department | Training(6-8 years) | Teen Age or | |--------------| High School | |Junior | Department | | ParentsDepartment |===============| |--------------| Girls' | | | Department | | Parents and | (13-20 years) | | Teachers | | | | (C) | | | Boys' | | Etc. | Department | | | (13-20 years) | |============================================================

V

THE BOY AND THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

There are two factors in the above subject--the factor of the boy andthe factor of the Sunday school. 

The factor of the boy is the more important of the two, as the Sundayschool exists merely for the purpose of serving the boy. The boy, therefore, should be thought of first, and the Sunday school should beplanned to meet his needs. 

What then is the factor of the boy? "The boy is a many-sided animal, with budding tastes, clamorous appetites, primitive likes and dislikes, varied interests; an idealist and hater of shams, a reservoir of nerveforce, a bundle of contradictions, a lover of fun but a possible loverof the best, a loyal friend of his true friends; impulsive, erratic, impressionable to an alarming degree. " Furthermore, the boy ismaturing, traversing the path from boyhood to manhood, is unstable, notonly in his growth, but also in his thought, is restless because of hisnatural instability, and sometimes suffers from headiness andindependence. Between boyhood and manhood he travels swiftly, thescenery changes quickly as he travels--_but he is traveling to manhood_. No railway train or vehicle can keep pace with his speed. Morning seeshim a million miles farther on his way than night reckoned him but halfa day before. And yet, in all of it, he moves by well-defined stages inhis journey towards his destination of maturity. Today he isindividualistic, tomorrow heroic, a little later reflective and full ofthought, but in all of it is progressively active, moving forward byleaps and bounds. His needs also increase with his pace, and must befully and timely met, if he is to reach symmetrical maturity. He needsbut three things to attain his best: proper sustenance, unlimitedactivity, and careful guidance. Given these three rightly and at theproper time, the quality of his manhood will go beyond our fondest hope. The sustenance must be in keeping with his years, the activity in linewith his strength, and the guidance adapted to the needs of hisspirit--firm, compelling, but not irksome. In it all the boy is to beencouraged in self-expression, resourcefulness, and independent manhood. Such is a partial appreciation of the boy and his wonderful capacities, a passing glimpse into a treasure house of wealth and possibility. 

What now is the Sunday school? In the days that are past, it was lookedupon merely as a weekly meeting of boys and girls. Today it is regardedas an institution for the releasing of great moral and religiousimpulses into life. Of late there have even crept into its life thenames and some of the methods of our public school system. Grading andtrained teaching have also come into its life to stay; the modern Sundayschool is but little like that of a decade ago, and the changes are notyet done with. Some of the innovations will be proved by experience andretained with modification, while others doubtless will be eliminated asworthless for the purposes of the Sunday school in its ideals of moraland religious education. Improvement, however, is in the schoolatmosphere. 

However, with all the change, past, present and contemplated, the schoolproper has but little time for the doing of its work. Fifty-two sessionsa year, of an hour's or an hour and a half's duration at best, fifty-twoor seventy-eight hours a year, only one-third of which is given to Biblestudy, furnish a meager opportunity to accomplish its aim. Compared withtwelve hundred hours a year in the public school, or the twenty-eighthundred hours a year a boy may work, it seems pitifully small, for theaim of the Sunday school is bigger than the other two. The Sunday schoolpurposes to fit the boy to play the game in public school and work andlife. It seeks to give him impulses that will help him to keep clean, inside and outside, to work with other boys in team play, to renderChristian service to his fellows, and to love and worship God as hisFather and Christ as his Saviour. The means it employs for these greatpurposes are Bible study, Christian music, the association of the boysin classes, and Christian leadership. To these the school is beginningto add through-the-week meetings for what have been called its secularactivities. All this has come after a great deal of campaigning on thepart of groups of devoted men and women interested in boy life andwelfare. The Sunday school has had to overcome many handicaps inreaching the boy of teen age, among which were the lack of efficient, virile teachers, a misunderstanding of boy nature, lessons not adaptedto the boy's needs, music that was not appealing, and the indiscriminategrouping of boys with members of the other sex. These, however, havebeen rapidly overcome, and today the school is fairly well organized tomeet the needs of the boy. 

There are yet some definite things to be written into the life of theSunday school to win and hold the boy of teen age in its membership forlife. 

The first of these is the incorporation into the Sunday schoolactivities of those things that interest and touch and mold every phaseof a boy's life. It means the allotment of a definite part of the schoolperiod for the discussion of the things the group of boys will engage induring the week, and a through-the-week meeting as a real part of theschool work. This allows and provides for the athletic, outdoor, camping, social, and literary outlet for the boy spirit. 

Another forward step is graded Bible study, graded athletics, gradedservice, graded social life, and graded mental activities. The work ofthe school, to hold the boy, must be new and diverse in its interests, and big enough and broad enough to command his constantly changingattention. As his years so shall his interest be. To his years the workof the Sunday school must correspond. 

The Organized Bible Class that is self-governing must be added to theabove. Better have the gang on the inside of the church with aChristian-altruistic content, than to permit the boys to organize underself-direction on the outside. The Bible Class, too, has advantages overevery other form of organization. It has the Bible at its heart, the onething necessary to assure permanence, and never allows the thought ofgraduation. Other boy organizations meet the need of certain specifiedyears; the Bible Class meets all the needs of all the years, and isflexible enough to include all the special needs that are met by otherforms of organization. 

The greatest need of the Sunday school is capable teaching. By it theBible Class becomes efficient or the reverse. For the boy the teachershould be a man, a Christian man, who has personality enough to commandthe boy's respect, and ability enough to direct the boy in doing things. This means a comrade-relationship of work and play, Bible study andathletics, spiritual and social activity, Sunday and week-day interest, and a disposition on the part of the leader to get the boy to doeverything--government, planning, presiding, achieving--for himself. This is true teaching and leadership. The greatest thing in the Sundayschool is the teacher. For now abideth the Lesson, the Class, and theTeacher, but the greatest of these is the Teacher. 

In view, then, of all that has gone before, what shall be said of theSunday school and the boy? Each to each is the complement; the twotogether form a winning combination. On the one hand, the modern Sundayschool should meet the boy's need at every stage of his development in aphysical, social, mental, and spiritual way. It should give him varietyand progression in the processes of his maturing, and suitableorganization and trained leadership for character-building andman-making. On the other hand, the boy will render the Sunday school andchurch his service, and through both give his heart's thought, devotion, and worship to his Lord. This is the whole matter of the Sunday schooland the normal boy, and is our vision of the future of the church. Thepast did not do it! The past is dead!

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE BOY AND THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

Boys' Work Message (Men and Religion Movement) ($1. 00). 

Foster. --The Boy and the Church (. 75). 

Lewis. --The Intermediate Worker and His Work (. 50). 

--The Senior Worker and His Work (. 50). 

Robinson. --The Adolescent Boy in the Sunday School (_American Youth_, April, 1911) (. 20). 

VI

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES IN SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK WITH BOYS

Five fundamental principles must be kept in mind when work with boys inthe Sunday school is attempted, and without these five principles verylittle will be accomplished:

1. _The first of these is the Fourfold Life_. A boy lives physically, socially, and mentally, as well as spiritually. He lives seven days aweek, twenty-four hours a day, not merely an hour or an hour and a halfon Sunday. His spiritual impulses are received and find their expressionin the physical, social and mental activities in which he is engagedduring the week. Any work that is attempted with a group of boys whichignores this fourfold life of the boy cannot be a success. The man, then, who plans to work with boys must plan to touch the various phasesof the boys' lives as he works with them, and he must also do this workin proportion, not putting too much emphasis on any one phase, butallowing equal emphasis on all. The ideal for a perfect work with boysis that which is gleaned from a study of the boyhood of Christ, for theboy Jesus, "grew in wisdom" (mentally), "and in stature" (physically), "and in favor with God" (spiritually), "and with man" (socially). Thesecret of the life of the Christ as a boy lies in his symmetrical andwell-balanced growth. 

2. _The second principle is Progression. _ In a successful church workwith boys the activities must be graded and progressive. The publicschool could not command the presence of a boy if the work which it gavehim today was the same as that of last week, and that of last week thesame as that of a year ago. The inherent interest of the public schoolto a boy is that he is discovering new things for himself, or beingtaught new things all the while. This principle must be incorporated inchurch and Sunday school work to keep the continued interest of the boy. It must be observed, not only in Bible study (and this should begraded), but also in the physical, social, mental and service activitiesin which the boy finds himself engaged. 

3. _The third principle is Service_. Too long has the church bribed herboys and expected them to remain with her and in her service afteroffering them wages for doing the thing which they ought to have donefor sheer love of it. Socials and clubs and athletic organizations andother devices have been used as a bid to hold the boy, instead of beingused because the church owed these things to the boy as part of hisall-round development. "Where the treasure is, there will the heart bealso"; and it stands to reason that the heart of the boy will be wherehe is giving most of himself. If he is investing himself heavily in theinterest and service of the church, that is where his interest will be. 

4. _The fourth principle is Organisation_. 

The law of the boy life in adolescence is organization, or the gang. The church has its choice, either to let the boys organize themselves onthe outside, under self-directed and therefore incompetent leadership, or to organize the boys on the inside of the church, provide a definiteplace for this organization, and so permeate the gang instinct with thespirit of Christian altruism. Every church organization for boys, theorganized Bible class, the church club, and other church forms oforganization, are aiming to do just this thing. The law of the boy'slife is to associate with his fellows and the expression of his purposesis team work. The church, through suitable organization, can meet thisneed of the boy life. 

5. _The fifth and last principle is Leadership_. Leadership isinseparable from organization, and organization is useless withoutleadership. The leadership which is necessary for a group of adolescentboys is that of a man, and the problem which is presented to a leaderwith a group of boys in the adolescent years is not that of teaching, but of awakening virile ideas and purposes in the boy life. The leadermust be able to enter into sympathy with and in at least a partial wayinto participation with all the activities of the group. Everything thata boy does is just the thing that the man used to do. There is, therefore, little hardship, but instead the joy of living again, when aman becomes the leader of a group of boys. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES

Alexander (Editor). --Boy Training (. 75). 

Boys' Work Message (Men and Religion Movement) ($1. 00). 

Robinson. --The Adolescent Boy in the Sunday School (_American Youth_, April, 1911) (. 20). 

VII

METHOD AND ORGANIZATION

=Organization=

By organization is meant, of course, boy organization, the form oforganization that attempts to keep the adolescent boy tied up to theinterests of the church. Today the forms of organization for thispurpose are legion, and strangely enough every such form but one has itsheadquarters outside of the local church it seeks to serve. The oneexception is the form known as the Boys' Organized Bible Class, anintegral part of the Sunday school with no allegiance of any sort orkind to any organization but the local church of which it is apart--bone of its bone, flesh of its flesh, muscle of its muscle. 

These organizations that flourish in our modern church life naturallyfall into three classes: religious, semi-religious and welfare. Othernomenclature, characterizing them might be used, and would be by theirfounders, but these words classify them for the purpose of ourinvestigation. The _religious_ organizations have for their sole aim thedeepening of the religious impulse, and the missionary objective ofcarrying this impulse to others. The _semi-religious_ are built aroundreligious and symbolic heroes, make a bid for the heroic and the gangspirit, and seek to inculcate more or less of religious truth by thesugar-coat method. The _welfare_ type aims at the giving of all sorts ofactivity in order to keep the boy interested and busy, and so raise thetone of his life in general. 

The religious type of organization includes the forms that may beclassed under the church brotherhood idea--the junior brotherhoods ofvarious sorts. They originated because of the need of some kind ofexpression for the religious impressions that were continually coming tothe boy in his church life. The idea was good, but its release poor. Senior forms of organization were imitated, adult forms of worship andservice diminutized, and juvenile copies of mature experienceencouraged. Junior brotherhoods and junior societies thus have tended todestroy the genuine, natural, spontaneous religious life of boys, andhave unconsciously aided the culture of cant and religious unreality. 

The semi-religious organizations have gone a full step beyond those ofthe religious type. Societies like the Knights of King Arthur, Knightsof the Holy Grail, Modern Knights of St. Paul, and others of such ilkhave in symbolism sought to teach and find expression for the religiousimpulse. The method has been more or less the religious type indisguise--ancient titles, elaborate ritual, initiations, and degrees, red fire, fuss and feathers, and something doing all the time to attractthe boy. The result has been and is a play-idea of organization and amake-believe environment on the part of the boy. In his thought it neverclassifies with his school or home or general church life. It is athing apart, some thing or place to retire to, to forget the everydaything for a moment of romance. The mature mind that is responsible forall of this, however, seeks to bend and use this make-believe world forthe inculcation of religious truth; and the product is an astonishingvariety of results. Most of it is beyond the grasp of the ordinary man, the only man who at present or at any time will do this work in thechurch; and where set programs or ritual are followed the work itselfloses its fire and misses its effectiveness. 

The welfare type of organizations has multiplied in the past few years, _and their less religious activities have served to keep the religiousand semi-religious types alive_. The Boys' Brigade, the National FirstAid Association, the Woodcraft Indians, Sons of Daniel Boone, BoyScouts, and others of like type, are in season and out of seasonappealing to American boyhood. Their aim is not specific, but generaland vague: "Something to do, something to think about, something toenjoy, with a view always to character-building. " Their appeal ismostly to the physical and the out-of-doors; their philosophy that ofthe recapitulation of the culture epochs. Their promoters do not claimthat they touch all of life. They seek to dominate the leisure timeonly, and to produce goodness by affording no free time for positivewrong-doing. The domination is also physical expression, and the mentaland spiritual in the boy and his home, school, and church life are notvitally affected directly. 

All three types, however, have done splendid work in the past, and arerendering good service in the present as they will in the future. Thesuccess of each depends entirely on its leadership. If a leader besteeped in the Idylls of the King, the Knights of King Arthur will bepopular with the boys and the church. If the superintendent of thebrotherhood or society be human and magnetic, the church and the boywill sing its praises. If the scoutmaster is an out-of-door man and hasa point of contact with the boy, the Boy Scouts will be the solution ofall our difficulties. Here lies the crux of the whole matter. If boysare added to the church through any organization, it is not because ofthe method, but because of the worker of the method. The method countsbecause it is part of the worker--is in his blood. 

=Method=

The aim of all church work should be the production not merely ofmanhood but _Christian manhood_. The vision is to see the boy aChrist-like boy--a physically, socially, mentally and spirituallybalanced man in the making. The organizations used, then, in boys' workshould be selected with this aim in mind. 

Again, modern psychology has demonstrated to us that all boy activitiesmust be graded according to each stage of a boy's development, and thatthere are several such stages. In the adolescent boy these may roughlybe classed as the heroic and reflective stages, or as early, middle, andlate adolescence. Boy activities, then, must group themselves tominister to the needs of each separate stage in order to workeffectively. But psychology has also shown us that the activities of anyone stage must also be graded to meet the needs of that one stage. Thusthe heroic may run from the twelfth to the fifteenth year, and theactivities of this phase should be graded to meet the development of thephase. This is well illustrated by the Tenderfoot Second Class Scout andFirst Class Scout degrees of the Boy Scouts which operate in thisperiod. 

The factors of the problem, then, to be considered in the method are:First, Christian Manhood; second, the fact that there are distinct andseparate stages of growth in a boy's development, each stage having itsown well-defined steps of growth; and third, the selection of existingboy organization activities to meet the need and produce the aim ordesired result. 

By way of illustration, let us consider a group of boys just past theirtwelfth year. All their physical, social, mental, and spiritual needsare to be met. The boys are just adolescent and their outlook because ofthat is altruistic. They have reached the "ganging" period, and so musthave some form of organization. What organizations can be used to leadthem into Christian manhood between the twelfth and fifteenth year?There are the Knights of King Arthur, the Boy Scouts, the JuniorBrotherhood, the Christian Endeavor, and the Sunday School Bible Class. There are others--hosts of them--but these widely known forms will suitthe purpose. For physical purposes we have the Scouts, for socialpurposes the Scouts, Knights, and the Bible Class; for mental purposesthe Knights, and for spiritual purposes the Knights, Brotherhood, Endeavor, and the Bible Class. To see a boy get his own full developmentunder this plan he must needs belong to at least five organizations; and_the principle of association among boys is not gangs but the gang_. However, much can be done under difficulties. The Scouts will affordfree, physical, outdoor expression, without which there is no boy. TheKnights will furnish mental ideals and objectives; for the Knights ofKing Arthur is the mental expression of the Boy Scouts and the BoyScouts is the physical expression of the Knights of King Arthur. Both ofthem, with the Bible Class group, will furnish social stimulus and theBible study, and the more or less valuable devotional expression of theEndeavor and Brotherhood will take care of the spiritual. In using anorganization, a clearly defined idea of the end sought should always bein view. 

=Efficiency=

In all church work for boys, efficiency should be sought. _It shouldalso be kept in mind that it is church work for boys_. 

In all our discussion two things must seem striking: first, that we mustat present use at least five organizations to meet the boy need, fivegangs, when the principle of boy association is not gangs but the gang;and second, that all of these organizations, with the exception of theBible Class, have their headquarters outside of the local church itself. The headquarters are in New York, Detroit, Boston, Cincinnati, Baltimore, etc. , while the work they seek to do is the local church'sbusiness. Further, they have all had their birth in the misunderstandingof the church as to her mission for boys. The church, however, has now anew vision of her mission, as manifested by her patience and forbearancein trying out and listening to the voices of all these organizationsthat would help her from the outside. The church is awake to the need, but is confused in the method, because she recognizes that no singleorganization that knocks at her door is sufficient and complete enoughfor her task. She needs all their methods without their organization. She cannot assume their organization, because it is not of her own fleshand blood. 

_A boy's allegiance cannot be split up among gangs. He must be a memberof the gang. _ One organization is all that he can comprehend withloyalty at one time. _This organization must be also of the localchurch. _ But the church needs no new organization. All she needs isactivities suitable to the boy's growth. _She has an organization thatthe boy cannot outgrow--the Organized Bible Class. _ At fifteen he isthrough with the Scouts and the Knights, and at eighteen or twenty he isthrough with fraternities and orders, or ought to be; for, if a boy benot starved for these things when a boy, he will outgrow them as heoutgrows a suit of clothes. Graduation from these orders very oftenmeans graduation from the Sunday school and church; for no singleorganization can be conceived, that with ritual and form can bindtogether the activities of twelve to fifteen, fifteen to twenty, andtwenty to thirty. However, there can be no graduation from the OrganizedBible Class, flesh of the church's flesh, blood of her blood, muscle ofher muscle; and the Organized Bible Class is flexible enough for anadjustment to every stage of boy development, and to all its physical, social, mental and spiritual needs. The organized class between twelveand fifteen can include all the interests of those years, and when thenext stage of growth is on, can discard these for the interests thatlie between fifteen and twenty, and so on to the end. 

The Organized Bible Class is simple in organization, is modern andelastic, affords the minimum of organization and the maximum ofefficiency, is big enough to meet all the boy's needs, and is thechurch's own. Into it can be poured all the activities of all theorganizations ever known, and it can be made the richest and bestadapted organization to the boy life of the Church that has yet beenconceived. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON METHOD AND ORGANIZATION

Alexander (Editor). --Boy Training (Chapter on Auxiliary Organizations)(. 75). 

--Sunday School and the Teens (Chapter on Organizations) ($1. 00). 

Foster. --The Boy and the Church (Chapter on Books and Notes) (. 75). 

VIII

THE ORGANIZED SUNDAY SCHOOL BIBLE CLASS[2]

When all the plans and methods of work are reduced to a minimum, thereis but one. This finds expression in the gang or club life. Boys gettogether in a group, elect their own officers and select a man who is tobe their adviser. Then they go out and do the thing they have organizedfor in what is to them the simplest and best-known way. It may be stampcollecting, or star studying, woodcraft, or camping, or the hundred andone other forms of boy activity which are so common today. Seventy-fiveper cent. Of these clubs are formed solely for the purpose of physicalexpression in athletics. Hundreds of such clubs exist today to meet thevarious needs of the growing boy. The Knights of King Arthur, the BoyScouts, the Woodcraft Indians, the Sons of Daniel Boone, the Knights ofthe Holy Grail, the Knights of St. Paul, and dozens of others have beenconceived and born for the purpose of meeting the needs of boys, as thefounders of the organizations saw them. 

In harmony with all the other boys' organizations, and yet bigger thanall of them put together, is the Sunday school organization forboys--the Organized Bible Class. It is purely and simply a churchorganization, and owes no allegiance to any organization outside of thelocal church. It is also a distinct part of the church life and anorganic part of the Sunday school, which is large enough to hold theboy's interest from the cradle roll to the grave. The otherorganizations serve their day in the life of the boy and cease to be. Itis difficult, almost an impossibility, to get normal boys, after fifteenyears of age, to take much interest in the so-called boys'organizations, because their lives have outgrown these activities andthere is no longer any need of them. The Organized Bible Class presentsa method that can never be outgrown. _It also has at its heart Biblestudy, which is the one essential to permanence in any work with boys_. 

=Class Organization=

_Objective_. --Class organization is of no value unless the class hasdefinite objectives. The members should be made to feel that there issome great purpose in the organization. The objectives for a teen ageclass should be:

1. The winning of the class members to personal allegiance to JesusChrist as Saviour and Lord; and

2. The proper expression of the Christian life in service for others inthe name and spirit of the Christ. Thus one strengthens one's self andhelps others. 

_Why Organize_. --(a) It is natural for a boy to want to get into anorganization of some kind. Seventy-five per cent. Of the boys of acommunity are, or have been, connected with some sort of organization. These organizations, rightly controlled, and dominated by strongChristian leadership, can be made a power for good in the community andin the lives of their members. It matters not what the organization maybe connected with, it is the activities that appeal. 

Why should not the Sunday school take advantage of this natural, God-given instinct, to plan such organization in the church as willpresent the strongest claim for the loyalty of the boys in the teen age?

(b) The organization is in the hands of the members of the class, activities are planned by them, and discipline, when necessary, isadministered by them. The position of the teacher is therebystrengthened. Instead of being an "autocrat" or "czar" in dealing withthe class, the function is that of counsellor and friend. 

(c) It develops initiative, self-reliance, self-control, and the abilityto do things; character is thereby developed, and strong Christiancharacter is what the church needs today. 

(d) The Organized Boys' Bible Classes will, without a doubt, become asuniversal in their scope as Organized Adult Bible Classes. To beaffiliated with the biggest teen age organization in the world will, initself, appeal to every teen age boy and girl. 

(e) Organization increases class spirit. The organized class becomes"our class, " not the "teacher's class. " The unorganized class suffersgreatly if the teacher is removed, and sometimes is obliged to disband. The organized class helps to secure another teacher, and, in theinterim, maintains its class work and is thus kept together. Though muchdepends upon the teacher, the permanency of the class should not restwholly upon his personality and work. Changes must necessarily come. 

(f) Organization enables the class to do things. The appointment ofspecial committees, the assignment of definite work to each committee, and the introduction of various class activities does much towardrealizing the ideal--"an adequate Christian service for every member. "Large and permanent success is assured when this ideal is attained. 

=Standard of Organization=

1. The class shall have at least five officers: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Teacher. It shall also have asmany committees as necessary to carry on its work. 

2. The class shall be definitely connected with a Sunday school. 

3. A Sunday Bible session and, if practicable, week-day session oractivities. 

4. The age limits of the class shall be not less than thirteen or morethan twenty years. 

=How to Organize=

Secure Secondary Division Leaflet No. 2, of the International SundaySchool Association. 

Study this leaflet carefully, noting especially the standard oforganization and the suggestive constitution, which seek to define anorganized class. Distribute leaflets among those whom you wish tointerest and enlist. Organization should not be forced on the class. Donot go at it as though you were laying a trap. Observe the following:

(a) Think it through yourself; then put yourself in the pupil's placeand ask yourself the question, "How would I like to have this presentedto me?" This will give you the viewpoint of your class, and you are thenready to go ahead. You must believe in it thoroughly, enthusiastically, before you can hope for the interest and enthusiasm of your class. 

(b) Next, get two or three of your "key" pupils, and talk it over withthem. Show them the possibilities of the organization, emphasizing thephysical, mental, social and spiritual activities. 

(c) Follow this with a special meeting of the class, to be held eitherat the home of the teacher or one of the class. 

(d) Make the organization genuine, and show that you mean business. Theteen age abhors shams, and will readily detect any weak spots in theorganization. Impress upon them the necessity of selecting capableofficers. Adopt the class constitution, which follows, select class nameand motto, and elect the officers. 

(e) Then let the officers conduct the meetings, both in the Sunday andthe mid-week sessions. The teacher is one of the class and is thedirector of activities; the officers and committeemen do the work. 

(f) In all things keep in close touch with the general superintendentand the departmental superintendent of the school. Seek the strengththat comes from advice and cooperation. 

=Constitution=

A class constitution is not essential, but is often helpful. Thefollowing form of constitution is merely suggestive and may be changedto conform to the needs of the class. 

_Article I_--Name. 

Our class shall be known as ____________________________ and shall be connectedwith, and form a part of, the______________Sunday school of_______. 

_Article II_--Object. 

The object of the class shall be the training of Christian character forChristian service in the extension of Christ's Kingdom by means of Biblestudy, through-the-week activities, mutual helpfulness, and socialfellowship, in addition to the winning of its members' allegiance toChrist as Saviour and Lord. 

_Article III_--Class Spirit. 

To create an individuality in class spirit, loyalty and enthusiasm, theclass shall have an emblem, a motto and a color. It may also have aflower, a song, a yell, a whistle, or such other additions as may seemwise. 

_Article IV_--Membership. 

Any boy may become a member of this class on invitation of the class. 

_Article V_--Officers. 

The class officers may include the following: Teacher, President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. The officers shall be electedby ballot semiannually by the class, and no officer shall serve in thesame position more than two terms in succession, except the teacher, whose election or appointment is governed by the church or Sundayschool. The teacher may be elected by the class from a list provided bythe church authorities. 

_Article VI_--Committees

There shall be as many committees in the class as necessary, such asSocial, Literary, Music, Athletic, etc. 

_Article VII_--Meetings. 

The class shall meet at ____o'clock each Sunday for its regular Biblestudy session. Week-day meetings may be held each week. Special meetingsmay be called at any time by the president, and the presence ofone-fourth of the enrolled membership shall be necessary for thetransaction of class business. 

_Article VIII_--Duties of Officers and Committees. 

Sec. 1. The teacher shall teach the lesson, shall be an ex officiomember of all committees, and shall work cooperatively with thepresident in promoting the interests of the class. 

Sec. 2. The president shall preside at meetings of the class, shall havegeneral supervision over the officers, and shall see that the work ofthe class is pushed in accordance with its object. 

Sec. 3. The vice-president shall take the president's place in case ofabsence, and shall render such assistance to the president as may berequired of him. 

Sec. 4. The secretary shall make class announcements, keep minutes ofall meetings, write to absent members, and report any information to theteacher which may be desired. 

Sec. 5. The duty of committees shall be defined by the activity eachcarries on, said committee being responsible to the class for the workentrusted to it. 

_Article IX_--By-Laws. 

From time to time the class may amend this constitution and pass suchby-laws as seem wise in carrying forward the work of the class. 

A careful study of the Organized Class diagram on another page (86) willfurnish the teacher with a workable plan. In all cases it should beadapted to local conditions. 

Mid-week activities should be planned as a part of the weekly program, keeping in mind the fourfold life of the pupil. The planning of theseactivities should be left almost entirely to the class; any plans thatthe teacher may have should be turned over to the class by way ofsuggestion. Place the responsibility on the members of the class, andonce they have caught the idea there will be no lack of suggestions ontheir part. 

 THE TEEN AGE BOYS' ORGANIZED CLASS | ORGANIZATION | +---------------+-------------+ | | | OFFICERS | COMMITTEES | | |President [A] | AthleticVice-President [A] | SocialSecretary [A] | Membership[3]Treasurer [B] | Program[4]Teacher [B] | Etc. | CLASS MEETING | +----------------+--------------+ | | |SUNDAY SESSION | THROUGH-THE-WEEK SESSION | | |Opening Services | |Class Lesson | DETERMINED BY ACTIVITYDiscussion of | | Through-the-Week | | Activities | ACTIVITY COMMITTEE IN CHARGEClosing Services | | RANGE OF CLASS ACTIVITIES |+------------+--------+--------------+----------+| | | | |PHYSICAL MENTAL SOCIAL SPIRITUAL SERVICE

 [A] Older Boy [B] Adult

Prepared by John L. Alexander, Superintendent Secondary DivisionInternational Sunday School Association. 

The class session on Sunday should be in charge of the president of theclass. The opening services may consist of a short prayer by the teacheror pupil volunteering; reading of brief minutes, covering the mid-weekactivities and emphasizing the important points brought out by theteacher in the lesson of the previous Sunday; collection and otherbusiness. The president then turns the class over to the teacher for theteaching of the lesson. The closing services of the class should by allmeans be observed. 

_Committees. _--Short-term committees are the more effective, coveringthe activities when planned. The short-term committee plan, however, need not be suggested to the class until it discovers that the long-termor standing committee has failed. They will doubtless be the first tosuggest the new plan. 

=Class Grouping and Size=

It should be sane and natural and not too large. This should bespecially borne in mind in working with boys; a "gang" usually consistsof from seven to fourteen. The girls' class is different, and the sizeof the group does not materially matter. The class, however, should notbe so unwieldy as to make it impossible for the teacher to give personalattention to each individual. 

It is impossible to get the best results when pupils of twelve andeighteen are members of the same class, for they are living in twodifferent worlds of thought. A teacher cannot hope to hold together agroup in which there is such disparity of age. A working basis is(13-14), (15-17), (18-20). This is but a foundation on which to work. The correct grouping should be on a physiological basis instead ofchronological. A pupil ofttimes will not fit into a group of his or herown age; physiologically, they may be a year or two in advance of therest of the class, and are mingling through the week with an oldergroup. Adjustments in such cases should be made so that the pupil ispermitted to find his or her natural grouping. Like water, they willfind their level. 

Under no ordinary circumstances should classes be mixed (boys and girlstogether). 

=Class Names and Mottoes=

_Names. _--A class name will help to create a strong and healthy classspirit, and is valuable as a means of advertising the class and itswork. 

Some prefer to take class numbers or letters, thus recognizing theirrelationship to the Sunday school; others select names from the Bible toindicate their relation to Bible study; others choose names thatindicate some kind of Christian service, thus committing the class toChristian work; while others take names of heroes or use Greek letters. 

_Mottoes. _--A motto is perhaps more important than a name. It will helpto place and keep before the class a definite purpose. If often repeatedit will aid in producing in the class the spirit expressed in the motto. The following well-known mottoes may be suggestive: We're in the King'sBusiness--We Do Things--The World for Christ--We Mean Business--TheOther Fellow--Every Man Up--Quit You Like Men. 

=International Teen Age Certificate of Recognition=

The International Sunday School Association, through its SecondaryDivision, issues a certificate, or charter of recognition. 

This certificate represents a minimum standard of organization forclasses, which is considered practical for scholars of these ages. Itgives the class the recognition of the International, State orProvincial Associations; and to the schools whose denominations addtheir seal and signature, or provide a joint certificate, denominationalrecognition as well. The certificate of the Secondary Division isbeautifully lithographed, and is suitable for framing for the classroom. For classes of the Intermediate age (13-16 years) an Intermediateseal is affixed, and a Senior (17-20 years) or Adult seal may be addedupon the advance of the class to these departments. It can be secured byfilling out the application blank at the end of this leaflet, and bysending the same, together with twenty-five cents to cover the cost, toyour State or Provincial Association, or Denominational headquarters. Seals may be secured from the same sources. 

This certificate and registration links the class to the Sunday schoolteen age brotherhood throughout the world. 

[Illustration: =Emblem=]

The royal blue and white button (white center with blue rim) has beenadopted for both the Intermediate (13-16 years) and Senior (17-20 years)Departments, the blue indicating loyalty and the white purity. 

 =Application Blank= for=International Certificate of Recognition=

 =Secondary Division= Years 13-20. 

Name of Class ________________________________Name of Sunday School ________________________Name of Denomination _________________________Town or City ________________ County _________State or Province ____________________________Has the class the following officers: President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer? ___________Is the class of intermediate age (13-16), or senior age (17-20)? ______________What is the average age of the members of your class? __________Name of Class Teacher __________Post-office address __________Name of Class President __________Post-office address __________Does the class use the Secondary Division Emblem? ____________________________________Class motto _______________________________________Date of organization ______________________Present Membership _______________________Date of Application ___________ 19__Filled out by: Name ________________________________________ Post-office address ____________________________________Kindly fill out this blank carefully. Detach andsend same with twenty-five cents to your State SundaySchool Association office. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE ORGANIZED CLASS

International Leaflets on Secondary Adult Classes (Free). 

Pearce. --The Adult Bible Class (. 25). 

IX

BIBLE STUDY FOR BOYS

The study of the Bible that contributes to the boy's education is nowgenerally accepted to be that which is adjusted to the knowncharacteristics of boys. At one time, not so very far distant, allScripture was supposed to be good for a boy's moral and spiritualcharacter-building. One part of the Bible was held to be as good as anyother, the important thing necessary being to get the Bible into thelife of the boy, somehow. It did not matter much whether the boyunderstood all he read and was told, or not. It would prepare him forsome future crisis and enable him some time to better meet a possibletemptation. It was to be a sort of preventive application, very much asvaccination now is administered to ward off dreaded disease. And, totell the exact truth, it often did, and the treatment proved moreefficacious than some of the present-day Bible study methods, where mereknowledge is attempted. The mistake was the misunderstanding (formisunderstanding it was, and not a desire to merely plague the boy) ofthe fact that boys were developing creatures, spiritually as well asphysically, and that Bible study could be made pleasant as well asprofitable. It was a mistake due to a purely mature point of view and afailure to know that the boy mind needed different treatment from thatof the adult. Lately we have discovered, thanks to general education, that a boy's Bible study can be adapted to a specific purpose, and to apresent, clear, distinct and practical need of boy life. 

A recent writer has said, "We have come to a fairly definiteunderstanding that we must take the boy as he is; we must inquire intohis needs; we must consider the conditions of his religious development. We must ask, then, of the Bible, how far it can be effective to meetthese needs and this development. The fixed factor is the boy, not theBook. At the same time, we are not obliged to begin always as if theBible were a new thing in the world, and its claim to value as religiousmaterial were to be considered afresh. We know that the Bible has proveditself good. We know that it has been effective in the life of boys. Thequestion, then, really before us is, What parts of the Bible are reallydesirable for the boy, and how are they to be presented so as to be mostuseful?"

This, in other words, is Graded Bible Study, and, possibly, were we togive a Bible to the boy and induce him to read it, the parts which hewould read would help us a lot in determining the material that wouldchallenge his interest. The parts he skipped over would also fix ourproblem for us. 

The writer had a unique experience in his boyhood. His folks weremembers and officers of a church where long doctrinal sermons were therule. These had little interest for the growing boy, but parentalpersuasion kept him in the pew for hours at a stretch. The boy, underthese circumstances, had to do something in self-preservation, so hespent the long hours in reading the Bible. The stories of thePatriarchs, the Judges, the Kings, and the Acts were his peculiardelight. The sermon period ceased to be tiresome and often was not longenough. He never read Leviticus, or the Prophets, or the Gospels, or theEpistles, however. They had no meaning for him. As well as he can nowremember, between his ninth and twelfth years, his favorite Scripturewas the Patriarchs and Judges. Between his twelfth and sixteenth yearshe was passionately fond of the Kings and the Acts. After that he beganto feel interested in the Gospels. He was pretty well grown up before hecared either for the Prophets or the Epistles; they were too abstractfor him. 

The writer's experience corresponds fairly well with the growing modernusage in Bible study with boys. The philosophy underlying Graded BibleStudy is merely to meet the present spiritual needs, as indexed by thecharacteristics of the period of his development. 

At present there are many schemes of Graded Bible Study for boys on themarket. Some of it has been prepared to meet a theory of religiouseducation. The University of Chicago Series of textbooks and the BibleStudy Union (Blakeslee) Lessons are examples of this trend. Both of themare exceptionally good. Other courses have sprung up, being written andused among boys here and there, and later worked together into a Biblestudy scheme. The Boys' Bible Study Courses of the Young Men's ChristianAssociation are recognized as such. Then there is the present system ofGraded Bible Study of the International Sunday School Association. Fifteen complete years of Graded Bible Study, from the fourth to theeighteenth year, may now be used in the Sunday school. Great care hasbeen exercised in the selection of the material with the aim of fixingdefinite ideals of Christian life and service. These courses are dividedas follows:

=Possible Present Use of the Graded Lessons=

=Departments Years Courses of Study=

Beginners | Four | | Five | A Unit of two years. 

 | Six |Primary | Seven | A Unit of three years. | Eight |

 | Nine | Lower--A Unit of two | Ten | years. Junior | | Eleven | Upper--A Unit of two | Twelve | years. 

 | Thirteen | Lower--A Unit of two | Fourteen | years. Intermediate | | Fifteen | Upper--A Unit of two | Sixteen | years. 

 | Seventeen A Unit of one year. |Senior | Eighteen | A Unit of two years. | Nineteen | | | Twenty

Lesson Committee Leaflet No. 2, International Sunday School Association. 

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE PUPILS OF A SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND CHARACTEROF GRADED LESSONS FOR EACH DEPARTMENT

=Divisions Departments Age or Grade Themes of Lessons=

 / /Four --1st year --God the Heavenly Father, | BEGINNERS / our Provider and Protector. | \ Five --2d year --Thanksgiving, prayer, helping E | \ others. L | /Six --1st year --God's power, love and care, E | | awakening child's love, trust M | | and confidence. E | | Seven --2d year --How to show love, trust and N | PRIMARY / obedience, in Jesus' love and T | \ work for men; how to do God's A | | will. R | | Eight --3d year --People who choose to do God's Y / | will; how Jesus revealed the \ \ Father's love and will. | /Nine --1st year --Stories of beginnings, three | | patriarchs, Joseph, Moses and | | Jesus. | | Ten --2d year --Conquest of Canaan, stories of | | New Testament, life and | JUNIOR / followers of Jesus. | \ Eleven --3d year --Three Kings of Israel, divided | | kingdom, exile and return, | | introduction to New | | Testament. | | Twelve --4th year --Gospel of Mark, studies in | | Acts, winning others to God, \ \ Bible the Word of God. / / /Thirteen --1st year--Biog. Studies in Old | | | Testament, religious leaders | | Lower / in N. A. Salvation and service S | | \ Fourteen --2d year--Biog. Studies in New E | INTERME- / | Testament, Christian leaders C | DIATE \ \ after New Testament times. O | | /Fifteen --3d year--Life of the Man N | | Upper / Christ Jesus. D / | \ Sixteen --4th year--Studies in Christian A \ \ \ living. R | /Seventeen--1st year --World as a field for Christian Y | | service; problems of youth in | | social life; Ruth; James. | | Eighteen --2d year --Religious history and | SENIOR / literature of the Hebrew | \ people--Old Testament. | | Nineteen --3d year --Religious history and | | literature of the New | | Testament. \ \Twenty --4th year --

ADULT Grading and Classification and Courses now being studied by aSpecial Committee of the International Association. 

Prepared by Professor Ira M. Price, Secretary International SundaySchool Association Lesson Committee. 

These International Lessons are undoubtedly the best on the market atthe present time, although they are very far from being perfect. Gradualchanges, coming from experience in the local Sunday school, will modifythem considerably in the next few years, and they may actually prove tobe forerunners for an almost entirely new series of courses and lessons. They have been generously received by the eager workers in the localSunday school, as an advance on the Uniform Lessons, and where they arenow being tried satisfaction, for the most part, is being evinced. Agreat deal of dissatisfaction has been found with the treatment of theseGraded Lessons in some quarters, the Lesson Helps being too mature forteen age boys. _However, in appraising the value of these GradedLessons, two things should be kept in mind, viz. : the selection of theLesson Material, and the Lesson Help Treatment of the selectedmaterial. _ Opposition to the lessons should never be taken because ofthe Lesson Helps. These can be remedied by the denominational publishinghouses, if their attention is called to the weakness or mistake oftreatment, and the teen age teacher can give great assistance to thedenominational editors by counseling with them. 

Here and there the suggestion has sprung up for a Graded Uniform Lesson. That is precisely what the treatment of the Uniform Lesson was for anumber of years, and is yet. It is not adaptation of treatment that isneeded, but adaptation of material that is demanded--courses of studythat fit the religious, spiritual need of the various stages ofdevelopment. This much is positively settled. 

There is, however, some good reason and very strong ground for uniformcycles, based on seasonable development rather than on chronologicalyears and intellectual rating. In some places the present ElementaryInternational Graded Lessons are being used just this way, although theydo not yield themselves readily to this usage. Cycles of four coursesfor the three main divisions of boyhood, nine to twelve years, thirteento sixteen years, and seventeen to twenty years, four courses to eachperiod, based on the general, seasonable development of each period, have much in their favor. Thus we might have four courses built onIndividual Heroism, four on Altruistic Heroism, and four on the SocialAdaptation which marks the reflective period between seventeen andtwenty. Boys do not mature by years. Growth and development is a jumpfrom plateau to plateau. 

This would fit in also with the general objective of the Sunday school, and is not the mere impartation of information, but the letting loose ofmoral and religious values in life. The latter is produced more bycontact of personality with personality than by intellectual processes. Should such a plan ever be adopted the courses of study must bepedagogically arranged and in keeping with the best findings ofpsychological usage. 

At any rate, whatever be the course of study, the teen age boy needs tohave his life and activity center about the dynamics of the Bible. "TheArt of Living Well" can only be learned out of the textbook of theexperience of the ages. The ordinary tasks and interests of boys, aswell as daily conduct, can be made great channels for life's bestachievement only in proportion to the dynamic throb of the Word that hasinspired men to heroism amid the commonplace and the uncommon, toself-sacrifice and peace. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON BIBLE STUDY

Alexander. --Sunday School and the Teens ($1. 00). 

Horne. --Leadership of Bible Study Groups (. 50). 

Starbuck. --Should the Impartation of Knowledge Be a Function of theSunday School? (. 65). 

Use of the Bible Among Schoolboys (. 60). 

Winchester. --The International Graded Sunday School Lessons (_AmericanYouth_, April, 1912) (. 20). 

X

THROUGH-THE-WEEK ACTIVITIES FOR BOYS' ORGANIZED CLASSES[5]

The Sunday school has at last begun to realize that a boy demands morethan spiritual activity to round out his life into symmetricaldevelopment. It also comprehends that religion is more than a set ofbeliefs--_that religion is a life at work among its fellows. _ "For to meto live is Christ"--to live, play, love, and work. Because of these tworeasons, the Sunday school assumes its obligation to direct and fosterthe through-the-week life of its boys, as well as the Bible period ofthe Sunday session of the school. 

_Contact_. --Of course, for a long time the leaders and teachers of Boys'Organized Bible Classes have felt the need of a through-the-weekcontact with the members of the class. The school period of one hour oran hour and a half has been found by most teachers to be too meager fora healthy class life. Then, too, most teachers are realizing that reallyto touch the life of the boy more contact than the teaching of the Biblelesson is necessary. Some teachers are taking an interest in the schoolor working conditions of the teen boy. Quite a few teachers are nowdeeply interested in the leisure time of their pupils, and have begun todirect the physical, social and mental activities of the teen years, aswell as the spiritual. They have realized that the teen age is not madeup of disjointed and disconnected activities, but is in a continualprocess of development, and that its growth is normally symmetrical andits activities intertwined. 

_The Organized Class. _--The great majority of Sunday school teachershave no desire to try any auxiliary organization in combination withtheir classes. They are somewhat dubious of the machinery, ritual, etc. , which are concomitants of these schemes. Again and again they havevoiced a demand, not for new organizations, but for activities to deepeninterest in the organization that the teacher understands--the BibleClass. 

The Organized Boys' Bible Classes operate in the Secondary Division orteen years of the Sunday school, from 13 to 20, and include both theyounger and older boys. The earlier and later adolescent periods areseparate and distinct groups. Plans and activities that have provensuccessful with one group will prove to be ineffectual with the other. All things should be planned to meet the development of the group. Inthe following list of activities the group interests have not beenseparated as they intermingle with each other. _If the class be allowedto choose and voice its sentiment, the right activity will always beselected. _ Besides, if the members make their own choice, there can belittle complaint at results, and they will work harder for the successof their own plans. All this develops character, which is one of thereal reasons for these through-the-week activities. 

=Activities for Teen Boys' Organized Bible Classes=

#Physical#

ATHLETICS

Free Hand and Calisthenic Drills Fire, Ambulance, Life-saving DrillsSingle Stick and Foil, Boxing Swimming Water Polo Water Sports Jumpingand Running Shot Put Discus Throwing Baseball, Indoor and OutdoorBasket-ball Football Volleyball La Crosse, Bowling Tennis

GAMES

Observation, Agility, Strength, Fun--Indoor and Outdoor Quoits

SIGNALING

Semaphore Wig Wag Heliograph Wireless

WOODCRAFT

Tracking and Trailing Bird, Plant, Tree, Grass and Flower Lore Star, Wind and Water Knowledge Stalking with Camera Wild Life

CAMPING

Tent and Tepee Making Moccasin Making Huts, Lean-to, Shacks Grass MatWeaving Map Making Knot Tying Fire Lighting Boat Management Boat andCanoe Building Canoeing Fishing Camp Cooking Week-end Camps Indian CampsOver-night Camps Hikes, Tramps, Walks, Gypsy and Hobo Hill Climbing

HYGIENE

Care of body, eyes, nails, teeth, etc. Laws of recreation, Hiking, etc. Kite Making and Flying Gliding and Aeroplaning Circus Stunts SportCarnival Corn, Apple, Clam Roasts, etc. Moonlight Trips, Rides, etc. Cycling Skating Hockey Skiing

#Social#

Home Socials: Stag Ladles' Nights Parents' Nights

Entertainments: Playets Minstrel Show Lincoln Night Washington NightStunts and Skits Mock Trial Declamation or Oratorical Contest GleeConcert

Game Tournaments: Checkers Caroms Chess Ping-Pong Bowling

Hayseed Carnival Parlor Magic Athletic Stunts Independence Day PoliticalCampaign Town Meeting Sex Instruction Practical Citizenship

Exhibition: Pet Show Mandolin and Guitar Fests Fireside and Joke NightsSpelling Bee History Bee Geography Quiz Hallowe'en Night Pop-cornFestival Masked Partners Library Party Supper or Banquet Father and SonSpread Class Guest of Class Calendar Exhibit Coin Exhibit Stamp ExhibitArts and Crafts Photographs Wild Flower Tree and Plant Sea ShellPost-cards

Social Sing: Popular Songs Old Familiar Songs School Songs PatrioticHymns Church Music

#Mental#

Practical Talks: Elementary Mechanics Applied Electricity WirelessChemical Analysis Natural Science Mineralogy Nature Study First AidThrift and Property Use of Library

Life-work Talks: Ministry Law Medicine Teaching Business

The Trades: Blacksmith Carpenter Plumbing Printing Painting BricklayingMasonry Farming Seamanship Architecture Art Chemistry Forestry

Engineering: Mechanical Electrical Surveying

Citizenship: The Township or Municipality--Town Meetings Select andCommon Councils Commission Government

The State--The Legislature The Courts The Governor's Staff

Literary Stunts: Declaiming Extemporaneous Speech Editing Paper

Educational Trips: Community Visitation--Shops and Factories Fire HousesCity or Community History Public Buildings Public Utilities, etc. 

Neighborhood Visitation--Famous Places Great Industries Coal Mines, etc. 

Arts and Crafts: Drawing Bent Iron Work Clay Modeling Basket MakingHammock Weaving, etc. Stamp Collecting Coin Collecting Sketch CollectingKodaking and Photographing Debating Reading Night and CoursesDiscussions Congress and Senate Poster Making Travel and Science TalksStereopticon Moving Pictures

Literary Stunts--Essay Writing and Reading

The Nation--Congress Army and Navy Civil Service Diplomatic and ConsularService

Duties of Citizen--Elections Jury Service Maintenance of Law

Current Topics

#Spiritual#

Graded Bible Study

Daily Readings

Systematic Instruction: Church Membership Benevolences MissionaryOperations

Supplemental Talks: General Church History Denominational History LocalChurch History

Church Organization: Denominational Local Church Sunday School AuxiliarySocieties

Teacher Training Class

Cooperation in Church Activity Personal Evangelism Directed Reading

NOTE: Of course all the activities enumerated in this leaflet areSpiritual. This list merely emphasizes a few activities usuallydesignated spiritual. 

=Service Activities=

Christ challenged men to self-sacrifice. He said: "He that would begreatest among you let him be the servant of all. " In this wayadolescent boys must be challenged to lives of unselfish, altruistic, Christ-like service. There is no other test for the teacher. It is hisbusiness to get teen age boys to serve. This the boy does, first by thedesire to help another, then by right living, doing right for the sakeof right; then by religious belief, which forms a cable to bind him backin simple faith on God, until he comes face to face with the Master ofmen, living right, doing right, thinking right, loving right, servingright, with all his life, because of his love for Christ. 

Physical Service--

Organize and manage Boys' Baseball Nine. 

Organize and manage Boys' Football Eleven. 

Organize and manage Boys' Basket-ball Five. 

Organize and manage Boys' Track Team. 

Organize and manage Boys' Tennis Tournaments. 

Coach younger boys in baseball. 

Coach younger boys in basket-ball. 

Coach younger boys in football. 

Coach younger boys in track athletics. 

Coach younger boys in tennis. 

Train younger boys in free-hand gymnastics. 

Train younger boys in life-saving drills. 

Assist in the running of inter-class athletics. 

Assist in the running of inter-school athletics. 

Lead gymnastic groups for the local school. 

Teach boys to swim. 

Assist in the running of aquatic meets. 

Leaders to encourage boys to get into athletics. 

Leaders to encourage boys in outdoor life. 

Leaders to encourage boys in camps and hikes. 

Leaders to encourage boys in woodcraft and scouting. 

Lead a gymnastic class in Social Settlement. 

Manage and coach athletics in Social Settlements. 

Assist as Play Leader in public playground. 

Organize, manage, and umpire Boys' Twilight Ball League. 

Assist in sport carnival, circus, exhibits, etc. 

Make a specialty of some form of camp life and teach it to boys. 

Social Service--

Become responsible for some boy. 

Plan a social time. 

Assist in planning an entertainment. 

Manage and coach musical activity. 

Teach games to backward boy. 

Assist in exhibit. 

Manage celebration. 

Promote class and school picnics. 

Secure home for boy from country. 

Take boys home for meal and social time. 

Promote musical and dramatic entertainments in settlements andorphanages. 

Visit sick boys in hospital. 

Arrange outings for needy mothers, and children, crippled andunfortunate boys. 

Automobile party for above. 

Play Santa Claus to poor families. 

Lead in keeping school and shop morally clean. 

Stand for clean thoughts, clean speech, clean sport. 

Seek leadership in public school clubs. 

Get interested in the boy life of the community. 

Help boys to find employment. 

Help enforce minor laws. 

Take an interest in the delinquent boy. 

_Mental Service. _--

Secure speakers for practical talks. 

Secure speakers for life-work talks. 

Lead in some mental activity. 

Promote an educational trip. 

Teach elementary arts and crafts. 

Conduct discussion of practical citizenship. 

Lead discussion of current topics. 

Lead younger boys as suggested under class activities--Mental. 

Teach English to foreign-speaking boys. 

Help wage-earning boys in elementary subjects, arithmetic, geography, etc. 

Encourage grade boys to stay at school by coaching them in studies. 

Organize civic nights. 

Organize debates. 

Organize camera trips and photo study. 

Organize Around-the-Fire and story nights. 

Lend books and guide the reading of boys. 

Edit class or school paper. 

Be foreman in printing room of above paper. 

Lead observation trips. 

_Spiritual Service. _--

Lead a Boys' Bible Class. 

Take part in Boys' Conferences. 

Lead Boys' Meetings. 

Teach in extension Sunday school. 

Serve on Sunday school Committees. 

Serve on Church Committees. 

Take an interest in every church organization. 

Promote systematic giving among boys. 

Lead a Mission Biography group. 

Lead an inner circle for prayer and Bible study. 

Promote a census of non-church boys. 

Visit homes to invite fellows to church services. 

Join a training class. 

Lead campaign to increase Sunday school membership. 

Promote inter-class relationships. 

Lead prayer groups or circles. 

Help in Home Department. 

Serve on Reception Committee at Church or Sunday school. 

Visit teen age Shut-ins. 

Visit prisoners in jails. 

Do chores for sick folks. 

Help the aged to and from church services. 

Support a bed in a hospital. 

The Organized Class, its officers, teacher and committees ought to findenough to do in the above long list. The service activities have beenlisted without any idea of order or grading. They are also forindividuals and the class as a whole. They are merely suggestive. Theclass and the teacher should do things as a real part of the class life. 

[Illustration]

ORGANIZED CLASS ACTIVITIES

BOYS' BIBLE CLASSES

JOHN L. ALEXANDER, Secondary Division Superintendent, International Sunday SchoolAssociation. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THROUGH-THE-WEEK ACTIVITIES

Adams. --Harper's Outdoor Book for Boys ($1. 75). 

Alexander. --Opportunity for Extension of Boys' Work to a Summer CampHeadquarters (_American Youth_, June, 1911), (. 20). 

--Using Nature's Equipment--God's Out-of-Doors (_American Youth_, August, 1911). Single copies out of print, but bound volume for 1911 maybe obtained for $1. 50. 

Baker. --Indoor Games and Socials for Boys (. 75). 

Bond. --Scientific American Boy at School ($2. 00). 

Boys' Handbook. (Boy Scouts of America) (. 30). 

Brunner. --Tracks and Tracking (. 70). 

Burr. --Around the Fire (. 75). 

Camp. --Fishing Kits and Equipment ($1. 00). 

Chesley. --Social Activities for Men and Boys ($1. 00). 

Clarke. --Astronomy from a Dipper (. 60). 

Corsan. --At Home in the Water (. 75). 

Cullens. --Reaching Boys in Small Groups Without Equipment. (_AmericanYouth_, February, 1911. ) (. 20). 

Dana. --How to Know the Wild Flowers ($2. 00). 

Ditmars. --The Reptile Book ($4. 00). 

Fowler. --Starting in Life ($1. 50). 

Gibson. --Camping for Boys ($1. 00). 

Hasluck. --Bent Iron Work (. 50). 

--Clay Modeling (. 50). 

--Photography (. 50). 

--Taxidermy (. 50). 

Job. --How to Study Birds ($1. 50). 

Kenealy. --Boat Sailing ($1. 00). 

Lynch. --American Red Cross First Aid ($1. 00). 

Parsons. --How to Know the Ferns ($1. 50). 

Pyle. --Story of King Arthur and His Knights ($2. 00). 

Reed. --Bird Guide. In 2 volumes. (Vol I, $1. 00, Vol. II, . 75). 

Reed. --Flower Guide (. 50). 

Scout Master's Handbook (. 60). 

Seton. --Book of Woodcraft ($1. 75). 

----Forester's Manual ($1. 00). 

Seven Hundred Things a Bright Boy Can Make ($1. 00). 

Warman. --Physical Training Simplified (. 10). 

White. --How to Make Baskets ($1. 00). 

XI

THE BOYS' DEPARTMENT IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL[6]

The Boys' Department in the Sunday school is the grouping together oforganized classes for the sake of unity and team work among theadolescent boys. Investigation proves that boys work together best whenseparated from men, women and girls. The Boys' Department contemplates achange from the usual organization in the Sunday school, in that theclasses of boys between twelve and twenty years of age shall meet as aseparate department of the school and have their own closing and openingservices, and the natural activities that would spring from a separatedepartmental life. The underlying idea of the Boys' Department is tomake the boys feel that they are a real part of the Sunday school, witha real purpose and actual activities. Where it has been tried, not onlyhas the attendance been increased, but the enrollment in the departmenthas been doubled and trebled. The department also presents anopportunity of interesting boys in all forms of church life through thecommittee work which the department inaugurates. The criticism that theBoys' Department may become a junior church is not borne out by theexperience of the men who have tried it. On the other hand, thetestimony is that the Boys' Department has increased the attendance atthe morning and evening services of the church, and has created ageneral interest and enthusiasm for the entire church life. The Boys'Department is not urged on any basis of sex segregation, although a goodmany educators are urging the segregation of the sexes in publiceducation. The underlying idea of the Department is to group the boystogether for team work and cooperation, with a clear understanding ofthe gang principle which clamors for a club or organization thatsatisfies the social and fraternal need. In fact, it is the neglect ofthe latter by the Sunday school that has brought the countless boys'organizations into existence, and the well-conducted Boys' Department, composed of well-organized, self-governing Bible classes, will mean muchto the general church life, as well as to the simplifying of the presentcomplicated scheme of work with boys. Nearly all of these auxiliary boyorganizations have had their birth in the Sunday school, through theattempt to meet the boy need, which the Sunday school hitherto has notseen its way clear to do. 

When departmental organization, however, is mentioned, the genius of theindividual leader and teacher must come into play. The form oforganization that may be successful with one leader may be a failurewith another. This chance does not lie or inhere in the organization, but in the leader; for the gifts, talents, equipment and adaptability ofleaders vary just as much in Sunday school organization as in theso-called secular forms of activity. The best form of organization, then, as well as the most successful form for the local school, is the"kind that works. "

_Three Proved Forms of Departmental Organization_

Successful organization is the result of experiment. None but the resultof experiment has a right to be exploited. Sunday school teen ageworkers have tried, proved and found satisfactory to their own liking, by its results, the following three kinds of teen age organization forthe local school:

_Intermediate and Senior Departments_

The first of these is known as the Intermediate and Senior Departmentalorganization. Its characteristic is the dividing of the teen age intotwo groups--Intermediate, 13 to 16 years, and Senior, 17 to 20 years. Insome schools these departments meet separately for Sunday school work. Wherever this is done there should be at least a superintendent andsecretary for each. While the general principles of the work are thesame, the problems and details of the classes are sometimes different. The department superintendent should have special charge of hisdepartment and be responsible for building it up; also for departmentteachers' meetings, and should be personally acquainted with everyscholar. The department secretary should keep an alphabetical andbirthday card index of scholars; send welcome letters to new scholars;provide the superintendent with a list of new scholars, that they may beproperly presented to the department; send lists of absentees toteachers; keep a record of correlated work accomplished by scholars, quarterly lesson examinations, etc. 

_Teen Age Department_

In some schools the custom is to combine the Intermediate and SeniorDepartments into one and to regard the years, 13 to 20, as a series ofeight grades. Several large schools are enthusiastic about this plan, and as the worship requirements are much the same in the teen years theOpening and Closing Services are acceptable to all grades. Thisarrangement also is adaptable to limited equipment, and affords acertain amount of hero-worship to the younger boy on account of theolder boy being present. It also offers the older boy a field of servicethrough helpfulness to the younger members of the department. In someschools this adaptation is known as the High School Department. 

_Boys' Departments_

During the last few years separate Boys' Departments have come intofavor with some Sunday school workers. These departments should not beattempted, however, until every class is organized (see chapter on TheOrganized Sunday school Bible Class), and there is efficient leadershipto guide them. A premature start may be ineffective and prejudiceparents and boys. 

=The Departmental Committees=

_Executive Committee_

The Executive Committee has direct oversight of the general affairs ofthe department and acts officially between sessions on matters needingprompt attention. It is made up of the officers, general superintendentof the school, the pastor of the church, and the president and teacherof each class. 

_Inter-Class Committee_

The Inter-Class Committee has the direction and supervision, throughsub-committees, of all the activities of the department, such as:

AthleticsOutingsCampingSocialsEntertainmentsLecturesLibraryVocational TalksPractical TalksCongress or Senate DebatesCurrent TopicsPractical CitizenshipService CouncilsDegrees and InitiationsEmployment BureauHome CooperationSchool Cooperation

_Committee on Sunday school Life_

This Committee has a twofold function, the planning of the departmentprogram for general school festivals and matters of general schoolbusiness. The diagram shows the activities of this committee. 

COMMITTEE ON SUNDAY SCHOOL LIFE

FEAST DAYS GENERAL BUSINESS

Children's Day Sunday School Board Meetings[7]Christmas Teachers' MeetingsNew Year's School ElectionsEaster Membership Campaigns for Entire SchoolRally Day School NeedsAnniversary PicnicsSpecials, Etc. Socials, Etc. 

_Committee on Church Life_

The Church Life Committee also has a double task. Its activities alongthe lines of church life are as follows:

=Committee on Church Life=

WORSHIP MEMBERSHIP AND BENEVOLENCES

Morning Preaching ServiceEvening Preaching ServiceMid-week Prayer ServiceSpecial ServicesInvitationCurrent ExpensesExtension SupportSocial LifeAuxiliary Organizations

_Committee on Inter-Church Life_

The Inter-church Life Committee, through its representatives on theInter-Sunday school Councils and Committees, cares for its part of thecommon teen age Sunday school life of the community. In this way theSunday school is made to loom large as the teen age organization in thetown or city. Some of its activities would be:

Inter-Church CouncilNormal InstituteTraining ClassesAthletic LeagueChurch CensusBoys' ConferencesGirls' ConferencesPublicitySpecial Cooperation. 

SUNDAY SCHOOL SECONDARY DIVISION

 THE TEEN AGE BOYS' DEPARTMENT |(Every class organized) | ORGANIZATION | ----------------------------------------------- | | |OFFICERS | COMMITTEES | | |Church Board [a] | ------------------------------------Sunday School Board [a] | | | | | |Sunday School | | | | | | Superintendent[a] | Executive | Sunday School Life | Church Life | | Inter-Class Inter-Church LifeSuperintendent [b] | | |Assistant Superintendent[b] | ------------- -------------Treasurer [b] | | | | |Advisory Superintendent[c] | Feast General Worship General | Days Interest Church | Life DEPARTMENT ACTIVITY | ------------------------------------------------ | |SUNDAY SESSIONS MASS WEEK MEETINGS | (Occasional when there is a motive) Opening Service Class Hour Department Affairs Closing Services

[a] Supervisory [b] Older Boy [c] Adult

Prepared by John L. Alexander, Superintendent Secondary DivisionInternational Sunday School Association

POINTS OF CAUTION!

The promoters of a Boys' Department in the Sunday school should not betoo hasty in pushing the organization. There are certain facts to bekept in mind in effecting a workable, durable department. 

1. The Boys' Department is merely one of the departments of the school, and nothing must be done that will cripple or weaken the remainder ofthe school. Where possible it is best to promote separate departmentsfor teen age boys and girls at the same time. This will reduceopposition and achieve efficiency. 

2. There is no use in trying to organize a Boys' Department, where thereis no adequate meeting place. The value of a Boys' Department liesalmost entirely in the unity produced by the worship of the opening andclosing services and the discussion of departmental common affairs. 

3. The Department cannot take the place of the Organized Class. Where itdoes, it is temporary, hurrah-in-character, inefficient and harmful. The Sunday school is educational in purpose. The Boys' Department mustbe likewise. 

4. Nothing should be advocated or promoted in the Boys' Department thatis not in accord with the Sunday school and Denominational policy. TheBoys' Department is part of the Church. 

_Class Organization_

The classes of the teen years should all be organized before any schemefor department organization is put in use. The Organized Class is basedon the so-called "gang instinct, " and is the unit of all organization. 

_Departmental Progressive Steps_

The steps in organizing a Teen Age Boys' or Secondary DivisionDepartment should be:

1. Appointment of Teen Age Superintendent. 

2. Every class organized according to Denominational and InternationalStandard. 

3. Two-session-a-week classes--Sunday and week-day. 

4. Trained teachers. 

5. Departmental organization. 

=Departmental Equipment=

_Separate Rooms_

There should be separate assembly rooms or divisions for thesedepartments where they meet apart from each other. There should also beseparate rooms or screened-off places for the classes to meet. 

_Equipment_

The outfit for the department and classes should include Bibles, tables, blackboards, charts, pictures, maps--including maps for mission study, also relief maps, mission curios, etc. 

_Promotions_

Much should be made of promotions to and from the grades within thedepartment. A certificate or diploma recognizing regular work should begranted on Promotion Day. Special work done is recognized by placing aseal upon the certificate. Promotion exercises should include somestatement of the work accomplished. 

_Sunday School Spirit_

In order to maintain a genuine spirit of Sunday school unity it isdesirable to have the whole school meet together from time to time forthe common tie and uplift of worship in the mass. The exercises offestival occasions also help to bring this about, and the commongatherings, regular or special, of the school, tend to magnify theunited leadership of officers and teachers. These should never interferewith the work of instruction, the main objective of the school, butshould supplement it. Departments should be made to feel theirpartnership in the Sunday school enterprise, and this may be broughtabout by the reading of the departmental and school minutes in eachdepartment. Continued emphasis should be placed on the oneness of theschool--"All one body, we. " Thus we may hope for Christian comradeshipand loyalty. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON BOYS' DEPARTMENT

Boys' Work Message. --(Men and Religion Movement) ($1. 00). 

Cope. --Efficiency in the Sunday School ($1. 00). 

Huse. --Boys' Department in Springvale, Maine (_American Youth_, February, 1911) (. 20). 

Stanley. --The Boys' Department in the Sunday School (_American Youth_, April, 1911) (. 20). 

Waite. --Boys' Department of the Sunday School (Free leaflet). 

XII

INTER-SUNDAY SCHOOL EFFORT FOR BOYS

This volume so far has discussed nothing save the work among teen ageboys in the local Sunday school, in Organized Class or Boys' Department. This is as it should be, "beginning at Jerusalem" and taking care firstof the local school. To magnify the church and church school, however, in the eye of the boy and to make it his central interest or the centerof his interests, it is necessary to view Sunday school effort in alarger way than the work of the local school. The Sunday school mustbecome city-wide in its scope and effort. Common town-wide activity, such as outings, athletics, camps, entertainments, lectures, campaigns, etc. , must be promoted jointly. Not only this, but the Christian boysof the community must be taught the democracy of Christianity and be ledto work together in Christian service for each other and with each otherfor all the boys of the city. Something of this has been attempted insome places, but always under adult rule. Adult supervision--notrule--is always necessary. Thus city camps and Sunday school athleticleagues have flourished as adult effort for boys. That which iscontemplated in the following two chapters is distinctly work _by_ boys_for_ boys in the Sunday school field. The need of adult help toorganize and set things going is recognized as necessary, good and theproper thing. The value of the work will consist in the enlistment ofthe boys themselves and the participation in and direction of theproposed work by the boys. Boys are not as exclusive, limited orprovincial as adults. Their interests are wider than the local church. The task is to couple those interests with the local church as thecenter of greater community-wide activity, and to direct them toeffective service. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON INTER-SUNDAY SCHOOL OR CHURCH WORK

Barbour (Editor). --Making Religion Efficient (Boys' Work Chapter)($1. 00). This volume also contains the Men and Religion Charts. 

Boys' Work Message (Men and Religion Movement) ($1. 00). 

XIII

THE OLDER BOYS' CONFERENCE OR CONGRESS[8]

This is one of the best forms of Inter-Sunday school work for boys. Ifit is rightly handled, it will add much to the Christian enthusiasm ofthe older boys of the Sunday schools. 

_It is to be noticed, however, that it is an Older Boys' Conference. _This means that the ages are to be confined to the stretch betweenfifteen and twenty years. Do not spoil your effort by "running in" boysunder fifteen. Of course the younger boy is important, but the type ofwork accomplished in these conferences is beyond him and his presencewill nearly neutralize your effort. 

The aim of the conference should be, not merely to put new Christianenthusiasm into the older fellow, but to get him to talk over theproblems of the Sunday school from his own point of view. Hundreds ofthese conferences have been held throughout the Continent, and scores ofboys have been led into Christian service thereby. The discussion atthese conferences is also most intelligent, being often above the gradeof adult groups. The boy gets to know the Sunday school by talking aboutit, sees its problems, his own needs and the way to meet them. Helikewise gets a new idea of his obligations. 

It is to be noticed again that it is an Older Boys' Conference. _Thismeans that the boys themselves should direct the work of the Conferenceas much as possible, and that the Conference should be officered byboys. _ I have no sympathy with the men who cannot trust boys to do thiswork. It is largely due to a fear that the boy will grow conceitedbecause of his new-found opportunity. It is due more, however, to thefear that the boy will act unwisely from an adult viewpoint. Both ofthese fears come from adult conceit and the inability to trust the boy. Such men should leave boys and boys' work severely alone. 

It is to be noticed for the third time that it is an Older Boys'Conference. _This means that the large part of the program and all thediscussion should be by the boys themselves. _ No man should take part inthe discussion save the man who leads it, and the future may alsoprovide a boy for the leadership of the discussion. The writer in over ahundred conferences would allow no man to take part, as the aim of theconference was to make it a boys' conference. If men may dominate andintimidate the boy, better settle the matter in an adult group. 

The officers of the Older Boys' Conference should be President, Vice-President (who in most cases should be Toast-Master at theConference Banquet) and Secretary. There should also be a committee ofthree boys appointed by the President (who may be helped to this end) toreport at the banquet session on the papers and discussions. In this waythe summary of the conference is as the boy sees it. This is the aim ofthe conference. 

Two ways are open for the election of the officers: by a NominatingCommittee and in open conference from the floor. _If a NominatingCommittee is the method, no man should be present to suggest ordictate. _ The committee should, however, have the right to consultwhomever they please, in order to get the information they may wish. _The writer prefers the Open Conference Nominations from the floor. Inover two hundred conferences he has never yet been disappointed in thechoice of the boys. _

The program should be distinctly a Sunday school one. The conference isin the interests of the Sunday school. Keep it to the purpose intended. Hundreds of good causes might be discussed, but the objective of theconference would be missed. Below are three different length programsused at different places. They may prove suggestive to those intendingto conduct such meetings. 

A. Afternoon and Evening Conference (One Day). 

PROGRAM

TORONTO

BOYS' WORK CONFERENCE

=December= 31, 1912

_Conference Theme:_--_Training and Service_

=St. James' Square Presbyterian Church=, Gerrard St. , betweenYonge and Church Sts. 

2:00 P. M. Registration of Delegates. 2:30 Music, in charge of Mr. W. R. Young, Choirmaster of St. John's Presbyterian Church. Devotional--Rev. E. W. Halpenny, B. D. , General Secretary, Ontario Sunday School Association. 3:00 The Message of the Galt Conference, N. W. Henderson, Robert Walker, Gordon Galloway. 3:20 Address--"Organized Sunday School Work, " by John L. Alexander, Chicago, Ill. , Superintendent Secondary Division, International Sunday School Association. 4:15 Group Conferences, led by Taylor Statten, Preston G. Orwig and A. W. Forgie. 

5:45 Recreation, Seymour Collings, Physical Director, Toronto Central Young Men's Christian Association. 7:00 Banquet to Delegates, on floor of Association Hall, Central Young Men's Christian Association Building, corner Yonge and McGill Streets. Chairman--John Gilchrist, President Toronto Sunday School Association. (a) Music. (b) Toasts--The King, --The Chairman "Our Country. " (c) Address--"The Crusade"--John L. Alexander. 

=St. James' Square Presbyterian Church=

9:00 Devotional--Rev. E. W. Halpenny. 9:15 Group Conferences. 10:00 Address, "In Training, " John L. Alexander, Chicago, Ill. 10:45 Report of Group Conference Committees. 11:15 Address, "The Challenge of the New Year, " Charles W. Bishop, Canadian National Secretary, Young Men's Christian Association. 12:15 Adjournment. 

B. Saturday and Sunday Conferences (One and a Half Days). 

PROGRAM

WICHITA OLDER BOYS' CONFERENCE

MEN AND RELIGION FORWARD MOVEMENT

=Saturday, February= 10

9:30 A. M. Song Service. 9:35 A. M. Election of Officers. 10:00 A. M. Address, "Second Brand Cartridges, " by Dr. David Russell, of South Africa. 10:30 A. M. Papers, read by boys, followed by discussion, led by John L. Alexander. "How Can We Help Increase the Number of Boys Attending Sunday School?" "Why Don't the Older Boys Attend Church Services? Should They Be There?" "Should an Older Boy Teach a Younger Boys' Sunday School Class?"11:45 A. M. Address, "Motive, " Dr. C. Barbour, Rochester, N. Y. 1:30 P. M. Recreation. 6:30 P. M. Address--Chairman Committee of 100. Address--Local Chairman Boys' Work Committee. Report of Committees on Conference Papers. 

6:30 P. M. Address, "The Set of a Life, " William A. Brown, of Chicago. Address, "Go to It, " John L. Alexander, Chicago, Ill. 

=Sunday=

3:00 P. M. Mass Meeting for Older Boys, Addressed by John L. Alexander, Chicago, Ill. 

C. Three Day (Part) Conference. 

PROGRAM

_Conference Theme, "Training and Service. "_

=Friday, December 13=

Beginning at 8:30 A. M. Addresses in seven High Schools, by John L. Alexander. 6:15 P. M. Supper for Delegates. 7:00 P. M. Address by Hans Feldmann, Chairman of Conference. Address by Rev. R. S. Donaldson. Remarks by Rev. F. H. Brigham and John L. Alexander. Close at 8:30 P. M. 

=Saturday=

9:00 A. M. Songs and Devotional, led by W. H. Wones. 9:30 A. M. Organization, to be led by John L. Alexander. 9:45 A. M. Papers by Delegates. Discussion led by John L. Alexander. 11:30 A. M. Address by Rev. F. H. Brigham. 12:00 to 2:00 P. M. Delegates home to lunch. 2:00 P. M. Concert by the Y. M. C. A. Boys' Glee Club. 2:15 P. M. Discussion by subjects in groups, led by John L. Alexander, F. H. Brigham, W. H. Wones, and F. C. Coggeshall. 4:00 P. M. Recreation period in Y. M. C. A. Building. 6:15 P. M. Banquet for delegates and men leaders at boys' invitation. Music by the Boys' Busy Life Club Boys' Orchestra. Toasts by three delegates. Report of the Committee on Inter-Church Program. Addresses by John L. Alexander and F. H. Brigham. 

=Sunday=

 3:00 P. M. Gospel Meeting for Older Boys, at Grand Avenue M. E. Church. Speaker, John L. Alexander. 

The following announcements were on the backs of these programs:

#ANNOUNCEMENTS#

CONFERENCE HEADQUARTERS--The Session of St. James' Square PresbyterianChurch has kindly granted the Conference the use of the church andschool rooms. With the exception of the Banquet and Addresses whichfollow, all sessions of the Main and Group Conferences will be held inthis Church. 

REGISTRATION--Admission to the sessions of the Conference will begranted only to those wearing the Souvenir Conference Badge, which willbe given to each delegate presenting a credential signed by theConference Secretary at the Conference Office, in St. James' SquareChurch, any time after 1:30 P. M. , Tuesday, December 31. 

DISCUSSION--Come prepared to take part in the discussion, and to askquestions regarding the particular needs of your school. An opportunitywill be afforded in the Group Conferences for this phase of the work. 

NOTES--Take careful notes. They will help you make a good report to yourSunday school after the Conference. 

REMEMBER--You are responsible to those you represent for getting themost out of every session. Be on hand promptly at the hour mentioned; itwill help. 

BOOK EXHIBIT--Copies of all the latest books on Sunday school and Boys'Work will be on exhibit in one of the Conference rooms. Teachers andleaders should not miss this opportunity to look over some of thesplendid literature that has come recently from the press. 

NOTE--Boys under 15 years of age will not be admitted. 

=Basis Of Representation=

The delegates are to be boys between the ages of 15 and 20 years, appointed by the officials of their Sunday school, on the basis of twodelegates for each boys' class (of the teen ages) and each boys' club, and, additional to these, two delegates at large from each church. Menleaders of clubs will also be registered as delegates. 

=Registration Fee=

The Registration Fee is to be 50 cents, including the cost of thebanquet Saturday evening. 

=Preliminary Arrangements For Older Boys' Conference=

I. Conference Committee:

1. Committee supervises, plans and is responsible for the conference. 

2. Committee should consist of at least five adult members, andprofitably more, selected from the various Sunday schools. 

3. Committee may appoint special sub-committees to take care of detailsand close supervision. 

II. Sub-Committees:

1. Publicity, Delegate and Registration. 

2. Meeting Place and Decoration. 

3. Program and Badge. 

4. Entertainment and Recreation. 

5. Banquet. 

6. Sunday Meeting (if held). 

III. Sub-Committee Duties:

1. Publicity Committee: This committee is responsible for press, pulpitand Sunday school notices. It also has the duty of discovering theleader of each Sunday school and of getting the delegates pledged andregistered. For this purpose three letters at least should be sent out(see IV). A Registration Card also should be filled out by each delegateand signed by Secretary of Publicity Committee before the conference. 

[Illustration]

TORONTOBOYS' WORK CONFERENCE

=December 31st, 1912=

This certifies that ____________________________________

 Address ________________________________________________

has been accepted as a Delegate to the above Conference, having made application and paid the RegistrationFee in due time. Upon presentation of this cardat the Conference Office, St. James' Square PresbyterianChurch, he is entitled to the Souvenir ConferenceBadge, Program, and Banquet Ticket. 

 _______________________________________________ Registration Secretary. 

The limit of accommodation for the main banquet on the floor ofAssociation Hall will be 600. Extra provision will be made elsewhere forthe balance if registration exceeds that number. 

Provision has been made for { Main Banquet } you at the {Auxiliary Supper}

This committee is also responsible for the Registration Table during theconference. 

2. Meeting Place and Decoration Committee: The duties of this committeeare obvious. Among them, however, are the following: Five chairs and twosmall tables should be on the platform, and a blackboard with eraser andabundant supply of chalk in _each_ meeting room. 

3. Program and Badge Committee: This committee should be responsible forthe preparation, printing and distribution of programs. An ample supplyshould be on hand during the conference sessions. A badge (delegate's)is a good thing for the conference spirit. 

4. Entertainment and Recreation Committee: Where delegates attend fromout-of-town, this committee arranges for their entertainment at thehomes of friends. At a local conference this committee is steadily onthe lookout for the purpose of making the conference and delegatescomfortable. Fresh air, telephone service, messages, etc. , all of theseare highly important. This committee also should be responsible foradequate plans for the conference recreation. 

5. Banquet Committee: The details for the conference banquet, theseating of the delegates and the serving of the food, all come underthis committee. If a special banquet menu and program are used, thisalso is the duty of the committee. An orchestra to play through theeating period is a splendid feature. 

6. Sunday Meeting Committee: This committee should give carefulattention to the following details:

(a) _That any boy over fifteen years and under twenty-one years beadmitted to the meeting. One leader to each group of boys may attend, but these must sit by themselves in the rear of the room_. 

To secure these arrangements it will be necessary to put a force ofdetermined adult watchers at every door. 

(b) Be sure to have a live organist, pianist or orchestra to lead themusic. A director to lead the singing, _with ginger_, will help. 

(c) Have four ushers to each double or central aisle, and have two toeach single or side aisle. 

(d) Everyone present at the meeting should have a song book or sheet. 

(e) Be sure to have a plain white card, 3x5, and a small sharpenedpencil for each one present. This is absolutely necessary for theForward Step part of the meeting. 

IV. Letters to be sent out (Publicity Committee):

1. _To Pastor_, _Superintendent_ or _Teacher_:

(a) Announcing the conference, its nature, purpose, etc. 

(b) That it is confined to older boys--15 to 20 years--and one adultleader from each school. 

(c) From three to five delegates (Christian boys). 

(d) Ask for name of adult leader. 

(e) Enclose Postal Card. 

2. _To Sunday School Adult Leader_:

(a) Send plan of conference and details. 

(b) Enclose Tentative Program. 

(c) Ask for names of boy (Christian) delegates, setting time limit andenclosing credentials. 

(d) Suggest that leader have a meeting of the delegates before theconference to consider what the conference may mean to their own localSunday school. 

3. _To Each Delegate_:

(a) Send a brief letter with program. 

(b) Emphasize the Christian nature of the conference; that it is fortraining and leadership, and that he has been chosen from his school forthis purpose. 

(c) Suggest daily prayer as preparation. 

V. Leaders' Meeting:

If possible, arrange for a luncheon or dinner conference for the Sundayschool adult leaders who are at the conference. Talk over the plans, programs and hopes of the conference. 

VI. Follow-Up After Conference:

1. A Second Leaders' Meeting. (Details at Conference)

2. Local Delegates' Meeting. (Details at Conference)

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON OLDER BOYS' CONFERENCE

Dunn. --What the State Boys' Conference Means to the Churches (_AmericanYouth_, April, 1911) (. 20). 

Hinckley. --The Unique Value of Conferences of Older Boys (_AmericanYouth_, April, 1912) (. 20). 

Scott. --Boys' Conference in Community and County (_American Youth_, April, 1911) (. 20). 

Smith. --The Maine Boys' Conference (_American Youth_, April, 1911)(. 20). 

XIV

THE SECONDARY DIVISION OR TEEN AGE BOYS' CRUSADE[9]

The Older Boys' City-wide Conference is outlined in the previouschapter. It is a good, but intermittent, form of Inter-Sunday schoolactivity for boys. The Secondary Division or Teen Age Boys' Crusade is apermanent form for such activity, and may be launched at the Older Boys'Conference. 

The idea of the Crusade germinated in the minds of the members of theToronto Secondary Division Committee in connection with a Sunday schoolOlder Boys' Conference in December, 1912. The objectives around whichthe idea grew were a campaign for Organized Classes in every school, aneffort to reach Toronto's 10, 000 non-Sunday school, teen age boys and atraining class for adolescent leadership. At the evening banquet, atwhich the Crusade was presented, 55 Sunday schools registered for thecampaign and 187 older boys signed up for training and the effort toreach the boys not in Sunday school. At a later meeting a plan of actionwas decided upon. 

_The Objective_

The aims to be kept in mind are fourfold: (1) To magnify the Christianlife and the preeminence of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord; (2) toorganize the teen Christian boys of the Sunday school for organizedservice; (3) to reach the teen non-Sunday school boys for Sunday schoolattendance; (4) to train the teen boy for Christian leadership. 

=The Crusade Outlined=

_Campaign of Bible Class Organization_

1. It is proposed that every class in the teen age or Secondary divisionof every Sunday school be organized according to the InternationalStandard, and that the boys of the schools be given the task. (SeeInternational Secondary Division Leaflet No. 2. )

_Campaign of Enlistment_

2. Coincident with the campaign of organization there should be asystematic effort to reach every boy of the teen age for membership inthe Sunday school. This may be accomplished through two methods:

(a) Census and Survey. The city should be divided into districts andmapped out by squares. Then the teen age campaigners should go two andtwo for the purpose of a census-taking. The two-by-two system willresult in more thorough work, and it gives the opportunity of helpingthe more timid boys by linking them with the bolder ones. An entiresquare should be worked by the partners, both making the same call, andevery teen age boy in the town, whether a Sunday school attendant ornot, can be located this way. For this purpose an ordinary filing cardmay be used, printed as follows:

Date ______________________

Name ______________________

Address ______________________

Religion (Catholic, Jew, Protestant)?

Attend Sunday school (yes or no)?

If yes, where? ______________________

Information gathered by________________________

________________________

NOTE. --Once this information is gathered it can be kept up-to-date byarrangement with the moving companies and the water, gas and electriclight companies. A monthly report from these companies, or a stock ofpost-cards kept with them, will do the work. Another method is an annualchecking up with the city directory. 

(b) Home Visitation for Enlistment. This is best accomplished bypersonal invitation, letter, attractive advertising, etc. Assign to teenage worker. 

_Training Classes_

3. A training class or training classes, central or by districts, shouldbe arranged to specialize for teen age leadership. 

(a) Adolescent Leadership Course (50 lessons) according to InternationalStandard. 

(b) Demonstration Course in physical, social, mental and outdooractivities. 

_Service Programs_

4. Practical programs should be prepared and offered to schools andorganized classes to stimulate the membership of the Crusade. 

"For none of us liveth to himself. " "For unto every one which hath shallbe given, and from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall betaken away from him. " "Service" is the magic word around which real lifeswings. By giving, one gets. The investment of service, as individuals, and as a class, will bring big dividends in the development of one'spersonal life. 

_Missions Program_

Promote (a) a course of study of "live" home and foreign missionmaterial; (b) systematic giving to missions; (c) the study of theforeign population of your city, particularly of your own neighborhood;(d) teaching non-English speaking men and boys to read and write; (e)the investigation, and, when possible, the handling of needy cases inyour community. Anything going out from the class to the other fellowcomes under this head. 

_Temperance Program_

Get information along the lines of: (a) bodily self-control; (b) theinjury of tobacco on the growing tissue; (c) the inroads of alcohol onthe growing and mature body; and (d) the economic, material and moralwaste of intemperance of every kind. 

_Purity Program_

Hit hard for (a) clean speech, clean thoughts, clean sports; (b) for asingle sex standard; (c) chivalry and cleanliness among the sexes; and(d) adequate education on sex matters. 

Programs along these three lines will be furnished on application to theState and Provincial Sunday School Association offices. 

=Preliminary Plans For Crusade=

To get things in motion, two lines of action are suggested: First, planfor a conference of older boys and workers with boys for the communitywhich you desire to cover. The program should aim to lay before theconference the plan of the Organized Secondary Division Class; methodsof work should be discussed at group conferences; the Crusade Challengepresented at the banquet; and the session should close with a rousinginspirational address. Second, formation of an _Inter-Sunday SchoolCouncil_, the purpose of which is to plan and promote work for SecondaryDivision Classes in the city. 

_Promotion of Conference_

The Secondary Division Committee, headed by the Secondary DivisionSuperintendent of the city, township or county, in which the conferenceis planned, should head the work, and representative men and older boysshould be chosen to form a Conference Committee. 

First Steps. Call a meeting of the General Conference Committee. Stateclearly the objective of the Conference and Crusade, then appoint thefollowing sub-committees: Program, Printing and Advertising, Banquet, Registration, Recreation and Promotion. 

=Duties Of Committees=

_Program_. --Plan program, secure speakers, organist and leader forsinging. 

_Printing and Advertising_. --To have charge of all printing, such asAdvance Notices of Conference, Registration Cards, Banquet Tickets, Tentative Program, Completed Program, Crusade Folder, NewspaperArticles, Conference Badges or Buttons. 

_Banquet_. --To arrange all the details of the banquet, the place whereit will be held, securing dishes and silverware, arrangement of tables, decorations, etc. 

_Registration_. --To arrange a simple system of registration, have chargeof distribution of programs and badges, tabulate record of registrationfor report to convention, etc. 

_Recreation_. --To plan for a period of organized recreation between theafternoon and evening sessions. 

_Promotion_ (perhaps the most important of all committees). Theresponsibility of securing "picked" members of teen age classes andworkers to attend the Conference rests on the shoulders of thiscommittee. All members of the General Committee should share with themthis responsibility. The Committee should arrange for a meeting ofSunday school Superintendents and every effort be made to have everyschool represented, by either the Superintendent or a substituteappointed by him. At this meeting outline carefully the plan of theConference and Crusade, enlist their cooperation, secure from each manpresent a promise to see that delegates are sent from his school; supplythese men with literature and registration cards. Be sure to have arecord of the name and address of all in attendance at this meeting. This is important. Make a special drive on this meeting, the objectbeing to line up a man in every last school who will make himselfresponsible for that school being represented in the Conference. TheSuperintendents not present at this meeting should be seen and writtento at once, urging upon them the importance of the work, apprising themof the results of the Superintendents' Conference and showing them thenecessity of their schools being included in this city-wide campaign forthe adolescent boy. Other plans of promotion may be adopted by theCommittee, as warranted by local conditions. 

_Meetings of General Committee. _--The General Conference Committeeshould arrange to meet at least once a week, for a month prior to theConference, and all plans of the sub-committees should be submitted tothis Committee for their approval before being put into operation. 

=The Conference Program=

Conference Theme--Training and Service. 

Temporary Chairman--President or Vice-President of Sunday SchoolAssociation, or acceptable substitute. 

2:00 Registration of Delegates. 2:30 Devotional and Music. 3:00 Address, "The Biggest Thing in the World. "3:20 Secondary Division Organization--The Bible Class. 4:15 Group Conferences (City divided into districts). 5:45 Recreation. 7:00 Banquet to Delegates. (a) Music--Orchestra. (b) Toasts--Two Older Boys. (1) Our Country. (2) Our City. (c) Address, "The Crusade. "8:45 Devotional9:00 Question Box and Conference. 9:20 Address, "In Training" (Inspirational). 10:00 Adjournment. 

=The Banquet Seating Plan=

The delegates from each Sunday school should sit together, and whenpracticable be also grouped by denominations. At the close of theaddress on the Crusade _the Inter-Sunday School Council should beformed_. 

This shall consist of two older boys and one man from each participatingSunday school. The Council is subject to the call of the Chairman of theSecondary Division Committee. 

_Method of Enrollment_

1. After the presentation of the Crusade, pass a colored card to eachdelegation, asking them to confer and to write on the card the names andaddresses of the two older boys they may choose to represent theirschool, the name of school, also the names and addresses of theteachers of the chosen delegates. 

_The Adult representative from each school should be selected later bythe committee in charge of the Crusade Conference_. 

2. Pass white cards, as soon as the colored ones have been properlyfilled; or, better yet, place a white card in each banqueter's programand challenge to service and training. 

3. Write to each chosen representative before the first called meeting, enclosing credential card to be signed by the superintendent of theschool, the pastor of the church, and write to each of these menenclosing the plan of the Crusade. 

=First Meeting of Council=

Do not allow more than two weeks to pass until the Council meets to layits plans. Strike, and keep on striking while the iron is hot. 

_The Follow-Up_. --Call at once a meeting of the older-boyrepresentatives on the Inter-Sunday School Council. Do not call in themen until later. This is an =Older Boy Movement=, and you aregoing to get the Older Fellows in the Sunday school to go after theOlder Fellows out of the Sunday school. Impress upon the Council thatthis is their job and whatever success is achieved will be due to theirefforts. Let a clean-cut spiritual atmosphere prevail at these meetings. You will find that the boys are there for business. 

It is suggested that the meetings be held Saturday evening, beginning at5:30 with supper, to cost not more than fifteen cents per plate. 

_First Meeting_. --Don't rush things. You will gain much by making thefellows feel that you are all working this problem out together and thatthe prayerful cooperation of every member is necessary. Don't stampedethe meeting with a lot of elaborate plans. If you have any plans, turnthem over to the Council by way of suggestion, and let that body use itsown judgment. Everything that is done by the Council should emanate fromits members. It is suggested that the purpose and program of thismeeting should be somewhat as follows:

(a) Statement of purpose of Council. 

(b) Trace connection of Council to International work (i. E. , Council, City Secondary Division Committee, City Secondary DivisionSuperintendent, County Secondary Division Superintendent, State orProvincial Secondary Division Committee, State or Provincial SecondaryDivision Superintendent, International Secondary Division Committee, International Secondary Division Superintendent, etc. --this to show themthat they are officially related to a world-wide movement). 

(c) Fellowship and "Get Together. "

Be sure to have Adult members at this meeting. 

_Second Meeting_ (two weeks after first). --

At this meeting discuss:

(a) Importance of class organization--each member urged to get to workat once in his local school. 

(b) Age limit of classes now in the organization. 

(c) Outline possibilities of Council for promotion and all-roundphysical, mental, social and spiritual activities of teen age fellows ofthe Sunday schools of the city. 

(d) Discuss the idea of the census survey. 

These two meetings will pave the way for the third and followingmeetings. Don't meet simply for the sake of holding a meeting. Let yourfellows feel that when a call to meeting is received it is important. 

_Third and Subsequent Meetings_

1. Lay your plans carefully for the census-taking, then complete the jobquickly. 

2. Analyze the cards and distribute to the organized classes. Their workthen begins. Encourage regular reports on the work of the classes ateach meeting of the Council, the school representatives reporting. 

3. Plan for the execution of the Missionary, Purity and TemperancePrograms. 

4. Extend the Council's field until it covers the common physical, social, mental and spiritual activities of the community teen age boys. 

5. Plan for regular Conference or Banquet Programs. 

6. Ultimately the entire common Sunday school athletic and social lifeof the community would center in the Inter-Sunday School Council. 

_Meeting of Superintendents_

It is suggested that at this juncture a meeting of Sunday schoolSuperintendents be called for the purpose of thoroughly acquainting themwith the plans of the Council. This will secure the cooperation of theSuperintendents, which is most essential. The effort to get theSuperintendents behind the work will be more successful if the city bedivided into sections and a Superintendents' meeting be held in eachsection. These meetings can be made very helpful. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON BOYS' CRUSADE

High School Student Christian Movement Series:

Bulletin No. 1. The Local Organization (. 05). 

Bulletin No. 2. Typical Constitution (. 05). 

Bulletin No. 3. The Inner Circle (. 05). 

International Secondary Division Leaflet, No. 5 (Free). 

XV

SEX EDUCATION FOR BOYS AND THE SUNDAY SCHOOL[10]

There can be no adequate comprehension of the physical side of boyhoodif the sex element be left out. In fact, we have discovered forourselves that this is the very element that constitutes the realproblem of boyhood; for until the idea of sex enters into the boy'sconsciousness we are only dealing with an infant. It is the gift andpower of self-reproduction that changes the selfish, individualexistence into the larger, altruistic life. It is this that compelsgangs and team-work and the instinctive desire to negate self in servicefor others. It is this that forms the basis for the tribal or communitydesire; and on it, understood or not, is built all further achievement. The real value of a brave to his tribe begins with the support of hissquaw, and the modern boy gets his importance among us, when, because ofbodily function, he awakens to the consciousness of the meaning of thehome. This comes gradually at puberty or adolescence with the knowledgeof the sex purpose. And it is the quality of this knowledge, its purityand fear and regard, that makes the lad a worthy member of the largerwhole, or a peril. 

Knowing this as we do, is it not a matter of some wonder that we havenever really made any systematic effort to instruct the boy concerninghis wonderful power? Very few fathers give their sons any guidance alongthis line, although they do so quite freely on every other subject. Ofcourse, it is a sacred, delicate subject from which we naturally shrink, but it is overmodesty to allow a lad to fall into the abuse of hismanhood, either alone or in twos, when a wise word, spoken in time, would save the smirch on two lives or more. In fact, we are beginningreally to understand that it is just as imperative for us to teach a boyhow to live his life with the utmost happiness as to show him how toprocure the wherewithal to feed his body. For this reason it is beingadvocated today that the boy should be given explicit instruction as tothe care of the organs of reproduction and detailed information as tothe functions of these organs, and many are doing this. 

Our boys today are eating freely of "the knowledge of good and evil, "and they are not as innocent as we could wish them to be. They are notignorant of the processes of life because we have said nothingconcerning them, but their knowledge is partial and faulty and cloudedwith misinformation. 

A few years ago a body of men were discussing this very thing in NewYork City, and one of them suggested that every one present write on apiece of paper the age at which he had his first sex knowledge and passit to the head of the table. The average age named by this group ofinterested men was six and a half years. Not one of these men, either, had ever had a single word spoken to him on this all-important subjectby any adult. Their knowledge was of the street. Is it any wonder, then, that boys stray, mar their own lives, betray confidences and innocenceand become moral lepers, feeding like parasites on the fairest of ourcommunities?

Instruction in the processes of the function of reproduction would helpmany a boy to a clean participation in and a happy understanding of thehome. The divorce evil and the necessity of a large number of surgicaloperations among women, to say nothing of the so-called social evil, would be greatly lessened by such instruction. The father, of course, isthe proper person to deal with this question. 

=Parents and the Sex Problem=

When parents understand sex influence they will more than half meet theproblems of the teen age. To rightly instruct along sex lines and soprepare boys and girls to meet the teen period is almost completely tomeet the teen problem. 

Social and economic changes have moved this generation a full hundredyears ahead of our fathers. The change, however, has a moral menace init, for the slow but sure ways of the old-fashioned home with itsgenuinely moral atmosphere have nearly slipped us. Today boys and girlsare herded together by the compulsion of the times and moral ideas arein danger of being warped and twisted. Everything about us today is morecomplex than formerly, and the more complex things become the more weherd together. Mass life is common and growing--in education, in theschools and in play life, in the big public playgrounds. Religiousactivity, in spite of the group tendency toward the small group, isstill in the mass--Christian Endeavor, Sunday school groupings, etc. With the growing assumption of week-day activities on the part of thechurch, the moral peril increases. 

To offset this increasing social danger sex instruction is an insistentnecessity. Boys and girls must be taught to see themselves as membersof society with all that that implies. To do so means a knowledge ofself and sex and their functions and responsibilities. The sources andprocesses of life must be intelligently understood and thus respected. Ignorance of life does not beget purity, respect and honor. A boy'sregard for a girl cannot proceed from lack of knowledge, although thislack may be termed innocence. A girl's love for the best for self andothers is impossible unless she has knowledge tinged with the awe ofGod's purposes. Too often have our boys and girls been merely innocent, such innocence causing their fall. The tree of knowledge sometimesdemands a high price for its fruit. To safeguard lives unblighted, thepurity and processes of life's mystery must be imparted throughinstruction to our growing youth. 

This can best be done by the parents--father or mother--for sincechildren (boys or girls) ripen and come to puberty, individually andindependently, the parent is God's choice for this task. To group boysand girls together for this instruction is terribly wrong, as the groupmust contain those whose need for information varies. To talk on thesematters in mixed groups of boys and girls is to incite wrong impulsesand is criminal. The parent is God's instructor in these things--afather to the son and a mother to the daughter. Anything else is secondor third best and only to be done under great necessity. Under unusualconditions a _Christian physician_ may instruct small groups of likephysiological age, but the parental way is best, because it is bothnatural and permanent and we seek both. 

=Sunday School and Sex=

Parents must be trained for this high duty. To this end Fathers' andMothers' Meetings should be promoted separately by the Sunday school. Not one merely but a series, so that every father and mother may be ableto attend. It would be well to promote these in small groups byinvitation and acceptance until every father and mother was reached. Aregular course of education might be arranged, viz. :

First Lecture--How to meet the questions of children. 

Second Lecture--How to prepare the boy and girl for the understanding ofpuberty. 

Third Lecture--Adolescence: The Physiology and Anatomy of the Sex Organsand Methods of Sex Instruction. 

Fourth Lecture--Hygiene: Personal, Public, Home, School and Church. 

These might be preceded by an address on the conditions that today makethe above necessary; such might be a Sunday evening sermon or week-nightaddress by the pastor of the church. 

The lectures should be delivered and instruction given by a _ChristianPhysician_. 

Meetings should be held for fathers by themselves and for motherslikewise; however, in either or both meetings the whole field--boys andgirls--should be discussed. 

The whole campaign should be carried out quietly without fuss, feathersor publicity. Shun the spectacular and remember it is the morality ofthe boy and girl that is in question. Keep away from muck-raking, beconstructive and pure and business-like in the whole matter. 

The need is great, for the sources of our life must be kept clean if wedesire social health among our boys and girls. The land is full of theplague, of open moral sewers and unholy cesspools. The street reeks withthe smut and filth of wrong sex knowledge, and our boys and girls aregetting experience in the laboratory of the immoral. The Sunday schoolcan help our common, public health by helping the parent. It shouldmajor on parental instruction and keep it up until the parents have beenhelped to the adequate fulfillment of their task. 

=Sex Instruction for Boys=

Great care should be exercised in the giving of sex instruction to boysof any age. In the first place, no one without expert knowledge has aright to approach the boy on the subject. Even a father should make ithis business to master the problem by extensive and wise reading beforehe becomes his boy's teacher. In the second place, books or pamphlets onthe subject are poor mediums for instruction on the sex functions. Nearly every one that I have seen so far is either too technical or toosentimental. There are a great many books on the market which had beenbetter left unpublished as far as their helpful influence is concerned. The treatment of this problem should be oral instead of in written form, and should be a straight, business-like talk, such as a father wouldhave with his son about his studies or work. The gush of sentiment playshavoc with the emotions of the boy and lures him to the edge of theprecipice, just to look over. First, there should be the spoken wordconcerning the function of the sex organs; and then, if the need isurgent, a choice book to guide him a little farther on the way. The lessa boy thinks about these things the better. The instruction should befor the purpose of teaching him the knowledge of himself in order thathe may see these things in their proper light and live purely, and notfor the purpose of giving him expert advice. 

Another thing is necessary for good sex instruction. Up till a littlewhile ago it was the custom of workers with boys to caution the ladsagainst self-abuse. They used all kinds of colored slides and fearfulexamples to impress on the boy the horror of the act, and very ofteninflamed the boy to exactly the thing they were shooing him from. Buttoday we are learning the fact that the positive is of more force thanthe negative, and that the "thou shalt" is better than the "thou shaltnot. " There is a real reason why the later adolescent boy should give noattention to the "thou shalt not, " and so fall into the snare of thenegative; for it is the law of his being to "prove all things. " It isfar better to lay emphasis on the legitimate purposes of the boy's sexlife, the glory it gives him and the beauty of the self-sacrifice itbegets, than to say a single word on the other side. 

I have found it a good thing to refer to the practice of self-abuse ofany kind as a sure sign of weak mentality, and this has produced agreater impression than anything else that I have formerly said. Boys, it should be remembered, have brains and are really able to think. Whenthey act wrongly it is so often from lack of knowledge or because ofwrong knowledge. If I were to teach a boy my business I should tell himeverything that would make the business better, and say nothing of howto put it "to the bad. " Now what would we all do if our business was tohelp boys to live clean lives, speak truth, bless the community withunimpaired manhood and honor God with their united physical powers?

=Methods of Instruction=

It is necessary to keep in mind the stage of development of the boy. Itcertainly would be foolish to tell a lad of eight years the facts thatshould be given to a sixteen-year-old. Great tact and intelligence, coupled with a knowledge of the stages of physical growth that a boy ispassing through, are necessary. 

A boy of under twelve years should be approached biologically: the sexelement in nature study should be gradually disclosed to him. In thisperiod, when the spirit of curiosity is strong in the boy and he iscontinually asking questions on the mystery of life--for instance, howthe stork or the doctor can bring the little brother or sister--it isthe best thing to answer the question with just enough truthfulinformation to satisfy. Great harm may be done by piling the mind of thechild with facts that cannot but be misunderstood. In the enthusiasm fordoing things right, there must be a guard against going too far. 

The second stage of a boy's physical development, the early adolescentstage--twelve to fifteen years--is the physiological. Puberty marks itsadvent, although the exact sign of its arrival is hard to determine. Ithas been easy to discover it in a girl's life, but it still remains amatter of some guessing in a boy. _A recent work of Dr. Crompton statesthat the kinking of the hair upon the pubic bone is a sure sign of thebeginning of the period_. Some physical directors have found this asatisfactory sign, and have made this the basis of a graded work withboys. It is in this period, then, that the boy should learn something ofthe anatomy and physiology of the male sexual organs. 

The third stage of sex instruction for boys is during the lateradolescent period--at least over fifteen years--and this should bepathological. A free discussion of the so-called social evil and theforms of venereal disease would certainly educate the boys to a properconception of the entire subject. All questions should be discussed inordinary language and business-like style. 

=Sources of Knowledge for Sex Instruction=

1. THE BIOLOGICAL PERIOD (UNDER TWELVE YEARS). 

--A Frank Talk with Boys and Girls About Their Birth (Free). 

--A Straight Talk with Boys About Their Birth and Early Boyhood (Free). 

Chapman. --How Shall I Tell My Child? (. 25). 

Muncie. --Four Epochs of Life (Chapters 7-12) ($1. 50). 

Thresher. --Story of Life for Little Children (Free). 

--When and How to Tell Children. (Oregon State Board of Health. )

2. THE PHYSIOLOGICAL PERIOD (TWELVE TO FIFTEEN YEARS). 

Hall. --From Youth Into Manhood (. 50). 

How My Uncle, the Doctor, Instructed Me in Matters of Sex (. 10). 

Lowry. --Truths (. 50). 

--The Secret of Strength (Social Hygiene Society of Portland, Oregon)(Free). 

--Virility and Physical Development (Social Hygiene Society of Portland, Oregon) (Free). 

--Address the Secretary of the Social Hygiene Society, 311 Young Men'sChristian Association Building, Portland, Oregon. 

3. THE PATHOLOGICAL PERIOD (OVER FIFTEEN YEARS). 

Educational Pamphlets, Nos. 1 and 6 (American Society of Sanitary andMoral Prophylaxis) (. 10 each). 

--Four Sex Lies (Oregon State Board of Health) (Free). 

Hall. --From Youth Into Manhood (Chapter on Sexual Hygiene) (. 50). 

Health and the Hygiene of Sex (. 10). 

The Young Man's Problem (. 10). 

=A Word of Caution=

Let it be repeated that sex instruction should be undertaken with greattact and thoughtfulness. The one who gives the instruction--whetherparent or teacher--should post himself thoroughly and he should bepractical, go slow, not forcing the lad's development by unnecessaryknowledge, avoiding gush and sentiment. He should not seek confession orallow the boy to confess to him, for confession will raise a barrierbetween the two later on; he should help the boy without invading thelad's innermost life, his soul; he should learn that there are recessesin the boy's self that are his own and that bear no invasion, and heshould respect this right of privacy. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON SEX

Alexander, Editor. --Sunday School and the Teens. (Chapter 14. ) This isthe official utterance of the Commission on Adolescence, authorized bythe International Sunday School Association in convention at SanFrancisco, and contains a complete, classified bibliography. ($1. 00. )

_American Youth_ (April, 1913. This entire magazine number deals withSex Education) (. 20). 

XVI

THE TEEN BOY AND MISSIONS

No more difficult subject faces the Sunday school today than that ofreally vitally interesting the teen age boy in the missionaryenterprises of the church. Missionary enthusiasts, here and there, havedoubtless had success in interesting numbers of boys, but, in spite ofthis, the average, red-blooded, everyday, wide-awake fellow thatinhabits our homes, fills our streets, and honors our Sunday schools, has little or no conception of missions, or even cares enough to makeany effort to discover what missions really signify. To the average boymissions spell heathen and a collection and little more. There is noreal life interest, or even contact enough to develop an interest in thesubject. This is a Hunt, harsh analysis of the situation, but it isboth honest and true. 

Giving money is not a genuine criterion of interest. I have known lotsof boys who contributed two cents a week to help the other fellow, notbecause it was a conviction, but because it was a necessary thing tokeep in good standing on the posted bulletin, and thus to maintain theregard and esteem of leader and comrades. 

Business men and social leaders have been known to hesitate insubscribing to funds until the subscription list had been perused bythem, when the list of names already secured has caused them to makegenerous additions to the fund. The Sunday school offering is a poorindex of Sunday school enthusiasm. Giving money--even more than one canafford to give--is not always real self-sacrifice. Sometimes it isself-saving. At any rate, it is not the reliable guide of a boy'sinterest. 

Maybe we shall never get boys to understand the word Missions. Perhapsit is hopelessly confused with heathen--a poor, unfortunate, know-nothing, worth-little crowd of black or yellow people--who cannever amount to anything, unless money be given to put grit enough intothem to get them to try to live right--a pretty doubtful investment, after all. Yes, this is the logic of the average boy, due to theinformation of the non-christian's degradation, lack of initiative, lowideals, and poor morals, as set forth by the returned missionary. Eventhe fact that one or two folks, by reason of the missionary's work, havebeen raised to better things, affords no promise of rejoicing on thepart of the boy. The American teen age boy shuns "kids, " "dagoes, ""hunkies, " and everything that seems to him to be inferior. He mayoccasionally give them a little pity, but he associates himself inthought and interest and conduct only with his peers. His gang is asexclusive as the traditions of Sons of the Revolution. Thenon-christians of other lands, like the non-christians of North America, somehow or other, have got to get as good as he is--not in morals, butin genuine worth-whileness. If they can "pull off a couple of stunts"that are beyond him, watch his real admiration and interest grow. Maybe, after a while, we will drop the word Missions and substitute anotherword--Extension. Perhaps! Then the fellow whom he teaches to "throw acurve" in the vacant lot, or the foreign-speaking boy, who can "shoot abasket, " to whom he gives a half-hour lesson in English, or the Hindoolad, who easily swims the Ganges, and who is being sent to school by hisgang, will all command his interest, because they are partners with himin the common things of his everyday life. The boy grows byever-widening circles of interest; first, the self, then the gang, thenthe school life, then his city, then the state, then the nation, and soon--out to humanity. And all of it must be on a par with his highestideals. That which falls below meets his contempt. Interest, then, innon-christian folks in foreign lands, will become the boy's interestonly when it reaches his admiration and the level of the worth-while. The pity and love that burns to help another is a mature passion, and isonly in germ in boyhood. It is capable, however, of great development. 

The interest of the early adolescent is primarily physical. Most of hislife centers in his play and games. Wise educators are using the playinstinct as a medium for his education. Manual training is increasing, the formal work of the class-room is taking on the nature of competitionand music, even music with its old-time monotony and routine of runningscales in the practice period under parental persuasion, has ceased tobe a thing of dread, and has become a delightful thing of play--abuilding of houses, a planting of seeds, etc. 

The heart of missions is a genuine regard for the highest welfare of thenon-christian, a real interest in the lives of others. Now interest isthe act of being caught and held by something. It is also temporary, aswell as permanent. This depends wholly on how much one is caught andheld. This fact is as true in boyhood as in manhood. Further, interestsare matters of association--one interest is the path to another. Perhaps, then, the boy's play may widen to embrace China. 

A group of boys, some time ago, were playing games in a church basement, and the time began to lag just a little. A young man, who happened to bepresent, was appealed to for a new game, and he taught them to "skin thesnake. " It "caught on" immediately, and the group of boys grew hilariousin their enjoyment. After a while, however, they stopped to rest, andone of the boys turned to the man who had taught the game, and said, "Where did you get that dandy stunt?" The reply was, "Oh, that's one ofthe games that the fellows play over in China. " There was silence for amoment or two, and then one of the older fellows said, "Gee, do theChinks over there know enough to play a game like that?" Questionsfollowed thick and fast for a little while about the boys of China, andthe admiration of the boys increased with their knowledge. The boys ofChina are a little closer, too, to the American boys of this particulargroup whenever "skin the snake" is played. It is altogether too badthat the play-life of the adolescent in non-christian lands is someager, for here in physical prowess is a real contact for the Americanboy. The bigness of life is the sum of its contacts. 

A boy between sixteen and twenty years is essentially social in hisinterests. It is then that the call of the community, business life, vocation, etc. , to say nothing of the sex and the home voice--make theirbig appeal. It is his own personal relation to these that makes themreal, and the closer his relation the deeper is his interest. The socialappeal stirs his thought and leads him to investigation. The similarityof problems at home and abroad gives him contact with other lands, andmakes for him "all the world akin. " The best approach to China's need isthe need of the homeland. Good government here is a link of Manchuriaand Mongolia. The underpaid woman in the shop, store and factory ofAmerica is the introduction to the limitations of the womanhood of Indiaand the Orient. The problem of Africa is real only through theeconomic, social and moral demands of Pennsylvania, Illinois, orCalifornia. The value of all of these in his thought is the relationwhich he holds individually to any one. The circle of his interestsgrows by the widening of his knowledge. The law of his being is toaccept nothing on hearsay. He must prove all things and cleave only tothat which he finds true. This, however, is the path to missionary andall other interests. 

How, then, shall all this be worked out in Bible class andthrough-the-week activity? The missionary lesson must not be just fact, but related fact. The through-the-week meeting that contemplates thedeepening of interest in other lands must be recreational and social. The contacts must be real, vital, and individual--expressed in theconcrete interests of the now. This is the principle. The method must bethe work of the lesson writer and the missionary expert, and, until thisis achieved, missions must still be but two uninteresting facts for theteen age boy--Heathen and Collection. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE TEEN BOY AND MISSIONS

Fahs. --Uganda's White Man of Work (. 50). 

Hall. --Children at Play in Many Lands (. 75). 

Johnston. --Famine and the Bread ($1. 00). 

Matthews. --Livingstone, the Pathfinder (. 50). 

Speer. --Servants of the King (. 50). 

Steiner. --On the Trail of the Immigrant ($1. 50). 

XVII

TEMPERANCE AND THE TEEN AGE

Temperance embraces the abstaining from everything that challengesself-control. The two deadliest foes of young life today are admittedlyalcoholic drinks and the cigarette, and any crusade against these forthe conservation of the boy in his teens should be welcomed. It is well, however, to keep in mind that profane language, the suggestive story, undue sex familiarity, athletic overindulgence, excessive attendance atthe moving picture shows, or entertainment places, the public dance, andother things of like ilk in the community, exert a doubtful influence onboy life. 

Liquor is the greatest plague in a community, and does more to curse thecommunity than any other one thing. It breaks up homes, causesdivorces, deprives children of their legitimate sustenance, ruins thelife of the drinker, increases taxation, lowers the tone and morals ofthe community, and is a detriment to our American life. Cigarettesmoking is bad for anybody. It harms the growing tissue, dulls theconscience, stunts the growth, and steals the brainpower of growingboys. In dealing with these facts in the Sunday school let us recognizethen, that they exist, that they are true; and then let us cease merelyto rehearse them from time to time. 

The day of exhortation is past. Temperance education today consists inthe presentation of absolute, scientific fact. Sentimentality and themultiplication of words no longer mean anything. In dealing with theteen age boy, spare your words, but pile up the scientific, concrete, "seeing-is-believing" data. By proved experiment let him discoverthrough the investigation of himself and others--through books, pictures, slides, etc. --that everything we take for granted isscientific truth. You do not need today to prove to a boy that liquoris bad. Physiology in the public school and the everyday occurrencesabout him have already furnished him with that knowledge. Furnish himnow with the actual facts of the effects of alcohol on the heartcenters, lung centers, locomotion centers, knowledge centers, andinhibitory or control centers. Make no statement that is not absolutelyscientific. You cannot afford to lie, even to keep the boy from thedrink habit. Show concretely--better yet through the investigation ofthe boy himself--the economic and moral waste of the liquor habit, but, in everything, let the hard, cold facts speak for themselves. Let theboy discover for himself that liquor not only would rob him of his bestdevelopment, if he should become a victim of the habit, but is loweringthe tone of his community and country now. 

In the matter of pledge-signing be sure the boy knows what he is doing. A written pledge may mean a different thing to you than to the boy. Itis better to discuss the subject minutely with the boy, then let himwrite his promise in his own language, without any written guide. Donot let the boy be anything but true to himself. Be scientific andeducational in all your methods. 

When you approach tobacco and cigarettes, do not assume that the boyregards these as bad. He will readily admit that liquor is harmful, butwill likely to refuse to recognize that the pipe, cigar, or cigaretteare immoral. Your education along this line must be absolutelyscientific. The appeal must be to the self and self-interest. They arenot good for an athlete; the best scholarship is threatened by them;growing tissue is harmed by indulgence. The appeal must be accurate andmust apply now. Do not quote what will happen forty years hence. Boys donot fear old age and its frailties. Present enjoyment is too keen. Donot say that the habit is filthy, etc. Lay the emphasis on health, physical fitness, the joy of present living. The appeal must be one ofbest development. Economic opportunity also may play a part. If businessopportunity is lessened by the habit, prove it. Do not, however, sayanything that cannot be supported with incontrovertible evidence. Stickto the scientific facts and the appeal to self-interest. 

One thing more! Little good comes from denouncing tobacco in general. Alot of good men, influential men, strong Christian men, use it. If youhave facts concerning the bad effects of smoking on mature men that arereliable, make use of them, but be sure you are right about it. Ignorance multiplied by forty or one hundred does not mean wisdom. It isstill ignorance. Keep yourself out of the crank army. Do not be sointemperate yourself in thought, speech, and action as to lessen yourinfluence. Temporizing will not do the work, but let us be wise in ourapproach to the subject before boys, whose viewpoint cannot be expectedto be that of adults. 

Liquor and the cigarette are national perils, and both of them, for thesake of the teen age boy, must be banished from the land. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON TEMPERANCE AND THE TEEN AGE

Chappel. --Evils of Alcohol (. 60). 

Horsely. --Alcohol and the Human Body ($1. 00). 

Jewett. --Control of Body and Mind (Concerning Cigarettes) (. 60). 

_Scientific Temperance Journal_ (Monthly) (. 60 per year). 

Towns. --Injury of Tobacco (Pamphlet, $1. 50 per hundred). 

XVIII

BUILDING UP THE BOY'S SPIRITUAL LIFE

The business of the Sunday school is the letting loose of moral andreligious impulses for life--the raising of the life, by information, inspiration and opportunity, to its highest possible attainment. Thevery highest reach that any boy's life can attain is the ideal of lifethat Jesus has set forth. Nothing less than this can be the aim of theSunday school. Analyzing this ideal, we find that this means that theboy must physically, socially, mentally, and religiously find the best, build it into his life, and attain unto the "measure of the stature ofthe fullness of Christ. " Anything that does not contribute to this end, in the principle or method of the Sunday school, is wrong. Likewise, anything, tradition or prejudice, that keeps the school from reachingthe boy for the Christ-ideal is a positive affront to the Lord of theChurch. The Sunday school deals with a living, breathing boy--not atheory, but a real combination of flesh, bone, muscle, nerve and blood. It must minister to the needs of this combination in a generous way, with physical, through-the-week activities, not to induce it to attendSunday school for worship and Bible study, but because the highest goodof the combination demands these things. The school also should see thatthis living, breathing boy, who, by God's law of life, thinks and movesby his thought, should receive the best opportunity to develop his mindby supporting the state institutions in the community for that purpose, and also in providing culture, recreation-education within the confinesof its own particular sphere. In addition to this, recognizing that theboy belongs to the social life of the community, and "that no man livethunto himself or dieth unto himself, " the Sunday school must recognizeits obligation to the community, as well as to the boy, and furnish himan opportunity for the best social adjustment. The Kingdom of God is asaved community of saved lives. It is best represented in the Scripturesas a city, a golden city, without death, crying, or sorrow, all of themintensely social things, as are their opposites, also. Every lesson theschool gives the boy socially, every chance it affords him to learn bycontact with his fellows of either sex, means just one more effort forthe Kingdom. Moreover, the Kingdom is a community of saved bodies, savedminds, saved social relations and saved spirits, or a place or groupwhere the best dominates--the will of God rules over all lesser things, changing and making them over into the best. Thus the Kingdom is wherelife appreciates, enjoys, respects, and honors all of God's gifts, whether it be body, mind, social relations, or material or spiritualthings. The task of the Sunday school, then, is to reach outunswervingly, enthusiastically after these ends for the adolescent boy. Like the commandments, he that transgresseth in one fails in all, inthe largest, truest sense. 

The work of the Sunday school, summed up briefly, is to round out theboy by all good things that he may see and know and acknowledge JesusChrist, the Master of Men, as the Master and Lord of his life, too. Anystep less than the joyous acceptance of the Son of God as Saviour of hislife is to miss the mark entirely. This is the end of all Sunday schoolprinciple and method. 

Further, Jesus Christ, as Saviour of Life, is not an idea, a theory, abelief, but a practical, everyday, every-minute influence. "For me tolive is Christ. " From this time forth everything in life is done in theChrist-spirit. The boy does not cease to be a boy in the acceptance. Heis now a Christian boy, not a mature, Christian man. He still lovesplay, but play is not marred now by the tricks that minister to self. Play ministers now both to self and others. It does not nor cannot leaveout self, however. It saves self. So, with all things else in life, reallife that is lived seven days in the week, twenty-four hours in the dayamong his fellows--and one week following without break the other. Saviour of Life means saviour of body, of mind, of social contacts, ofspirit. It means more than formal religion, the attendance of services, the saying of prayers, the observance of customs--these are allexcellent and necessary, but to be saved by the Saviour of Men means newlife, or life with a new, saved meaning: "I come that they might havelife and that they might have it more abundantly" (overflowingly). Thisis the great objective of the Sunday school. 

As soon as a life knows Jesus as Saviour, it asks the question, "Whatwilt thou have me to do, Lord?" Notice, it is not, what shall I believe, or what shall I cast out of my life? Doing regulates both of these, andthe "expulsive power of a new affection" settles nearly every problem bydisplacement. This, after all, is Christianity--to be "In Christ. " "Notto be ministered unto, but to minister. " "He that would be greatest, lethim be the servant of all. " The quality of Christianity is Service. Thetask of the Sunday school is the raising of the life by information, inspiration and opportunity to its highest possible attainment. Christian service is both the highest and the best. To theacknowledgment of Jesus as Saviour and Lord, then, must be added thefree, voluntary, loving service for others in His name. This is theUpbuilding of the Spiritual Life of the Boy. 

What shall be used, then, for this purpose? Everything that willminister to the result--Organization, Leadership, Bible Study, Through-the-Week Activity, Material Equipment, Teaching, Song, Prayer, Reproof, Inspiration, Guidance, and all else that the Sunday school mayknow or discover. Two factors in it all are preeminent: Christ and theBoy. All else are but means. The boy a loving, serving follower of hisLord! This is the endless end. 

What should the Sunday school do to achieve this? Reach to the utmost, strive to the uttermost, use every resource, redeem every opportunity, create, discover and harness every method, hold the boy to his best, patiently see him develop, give him the material and spiritual elementsfor his growth, afford him opportunity to find himself, help him tocrystalize his thought for life and lovingly aid him to meet, know andacknowledge his Lord. 

Thus the boy will be "built up in our most holy faith"--the faith thatloves and serves in healthy life for the joy of living. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE BOY'S SPIRITUAL LIFE

Alexander (Editor). --Boy Training (Chapter on "The Goal of Adolescence")(. 75). 

Sunday School and the Teens (Chapter on "The Church's Provision forAdolescent Spiritual Life") ($1. 00). 

Boys' Work Message, Men and Religion Movement (Chapters on "The Boy'sReligious Needs" and "The Message of Christianity to Boyhood") ($1. 00). 

XIX

THE TEEN AGE TEACHER[11]

The greatest problem that faces the Sunday school and Church as it seeksto meet the needs of the boys and girls of the teen age is leadership. The organized men's and women's Bible classes may meet that need. Infact, the success and ultimate value of these classes lie in theirresponse and ability to face and supply this growing need. 

God works best through incarnation. When he wanted to tell men who hewas, what he was, and how he wanted men to live, he spoke throughprophets, priests, patriarchs, and kings, and the Old Testament writingscame to us this way. However, men did not seem to understand themessage, and for nearly four hundred years he ceased to speak. Then, "in the fullness of time, " he came himself in the person of his ownSon--born in the womb after the fashion of a human baby, passed throughboyhood in the likeness of a boy and on into manhood as a man--to teachus who he was, what he was, and how he wanted us to live; and Jesus isjust God spelling himself out in human history in the language that menunderstand. This is incarnation, and as he was compelled to pour himselfout into man to reveal himself to men, so men and women who have seenhim must literally pour themselves out--incarnate themselves--into thelives of growing boys and girls if these boys and girls of the teen ageare to know him. 

Leadership has always been the cry of the world and the Church, and thehistory of both is written in biography. The Pharaoh, the Caesar, Charlemagne, Peter the Great, William the Silent, Henry of Navarre, Queen Elizabeth, Ferdinand and Isabella, Columbus, the Pilgrim Fathers, Washington, Lincoln, and the names of the great on the world's scrollof fame tell the world's story. The Christ, Peter, John, Paul, Augustine, Savonarola, Huss, Wycliffe, Luther, Zwingli, Knox, Roger, Williams, Wesley, Finney, Moody, Booth; and "what shall I more say? forthe time would fail me to tell of 'those' of whom the world was notworthy, " and whose splendid achievements fill out the glorious historyof the Church--these, all of these, in their life and effort constitutethe story of the Kingdom. 

The story is not yet complete. Still the world writes its progress inthe names of its great ones. And yet, as always, the Church must lookfor its progress to its Christ-kissed men and women. While teen age boysand girls escape us at the rate of one hundred thousand a year, the needfor leadership is among us. 

There is no boy problem. There is no girl problem. Boys and girls arethe same yesterday, today and forever. The processes of their developinglife are as the laws of the Medes and Persians, without change, eternalas the hills. Like the poor, they are always with us. There is neitherboy nor girl problem; it is a problem of the man and a problem of thewoman. Leadership is the key that unlocks the door of the teen age forthe Church. 

The need of the Sunday school in the teen age today is leadership. Theorganized classes for men and women can solve the problem of the Churchamong the teen age boys and girls. The number of teachers an organizedadult class produces is the measure of its ultimate usefulness in theKingdom. 

The problem of the Sunday school, then, can be solved by men teachersfor boys' classes. The more masculine the Sunday school becomes thedeeper will be the boy's interest. A virile, active Christianity willchallenge the boy; and all other things being equal, the man teacher canpresent such a Christianity. In some places this will not be possiblebecause of the dearth of men due to the lack of any sense of Christianobligation on the part of the males of the community to the growing boy. Where real men are missing, we will be forced of necessity to fall backon the big-hearted women that have so long stood in the breach. It maybe well, also, to add that merely being a male does not constitute a manor manhood. Some men will need to strengthen themselves to do their dutyas the leaders and teachers of boys in the Sunday school. 

None but the strongest teachers should be selected. A boy of high schoolage quickly detects weakness in a teacher. Selection of just "any one"to teach a class is sure failure. The most important element inorganization is leadership. The teacher should aim to become more of aleader than teacher. Boys' classes should be taught by men, and womenshould teach classes of girls. It is impossible for a man to lead girls, and just as impossible for girls to be led by a man. 

With the period of adolescence come problems which can be understood andsolved only by those who have passed through the same experience. ManlyChristian leadership will help boys to grow naturally into Christianmanhood, while only the kind, sympathetic touch of the conscientiousChristian woman leader can help the girl in developing normally intohonored and respected Christian womanhood. 

The conscientious Christian leader will keep in mind his obligation tothe individual members of the class. By reading and study he will becomeacquainted with the characteristics of the teen age life, with a view toplanning such activities, for both the Sunday and the mid-week session, as will eventually result in the development of stalwart Christianmanhood. 

The successful teacher of the teen age class--

(a) Always sees and plans things from the viewpoint of the pupil. 

(b) Teaches the scholar and not the lesson. 

(c) Knows personally every member of the class--the home, school, business, play, social and religious life of every member. This is oftenaccomplished through an invitation to dinner, a walk, a car ride, orsome other plan, which will bring the scholar and teacher togethernaturally. With this knowledge in hand, the teacher can prepare thelesson to fit the individual needs of the pupil. 

(d) Visits the parents. 

(e) Is always on hand, unless unavoidably prevented, in which case thepresident of the class is notified. 

(f) Has a capable substitute teacher to supply in the event of suchabsence. 

(g) Realizes that the function of his office is that of friend andcounselor. 

(h) Follows up an absentee (1) through the other members of the class;(2) Membership Committee; (3) telephone; (4) postcard or letter; (5)personal call. 

(i) Does not play favorites, nor neglect the less aggressive scholar. 

(j) Has a plan and an objective, with special emphasis on the trainingof older boys for leadership of groups of younger boys. 

(k) Always keeps in mind that the supreme task and privilege of theteacher are to win the boy to Christ for service in His church. 

=The Teacher and the Home=

The Teacher can do his best work when working in conjunction with thehome. It is a good plan to visit the father and mother of the boy. It isalso a pretty good thing to occasionally drop in to see the father andmother personally, telling them how the boy is getting along. Aninvitation extended to the parents through the boy himself to attend aweek-night meeting of the class will also afford a valuable means ofcontact with the home and parents. 

The Teacher should by no means try to become a father to the boy. Theresponsibility and duties of parents must not for one moment devolveupon him. The following editorial from a New York evening newspaper putsthis idea in a very clear manner, and it should be given carefulconsideration by every teacher:

"It takes time to point a boy right. The great merchant can touch a deskbell to give orders for a steamship or a draft of a million dollars. Butthe merchant's young son, age fourteen, cannot be touched off in thatway. The lad has just begun to move out among other boys. They do aworld of talking, these young chaps. The father must watch that talk, and he can, if he will take the time. 

"The older man has every advantage, for he is looked up to and beloved. It is not so much the 'don'ts' as the 'do's' that constitute his power. He can inspire with high resolve. He can narrate his own victories oversore trials and fiery tests of his integrity. He can draw the sting ofpoisonous suggestions, moral disheartenings and malice which his childhas been cherishing in his young heart. But this means time, and timemay be money. Yet no money can buy this sort of instruction, nor put aprice on it. The coin is struck in the soul. It is the costliest barter, the very exchange of the soul. 

"Boys who go right have invariably had a world of time spent on them inthis way. Boys go wrong because the father would not take the time fromthe market. In after years the same parent will take vastly more timeto try, in tears of sorrow, to straighten out that boy. "

=The Teacher and the School=

The Teacher must keep in mind that it is his business to work incooperation with all of the forces that are trying to help the boy tolive rightly in his community. The work of the public school mustcontinue to go on without a break if the ideals of our Americancitizenship are to be maintained, and it is the business of the Teacherto give his support, encouragement and cooperation for the carrying outof the idea for which the school stands. The public school seeks to givethe boy the necessary education toward his earning a livelihood, and thebusiness of the Sunday school Teacher is to give him the right impulsesfor his moral and religious life--to inspire him to seek the best ineverything. The Sunday school Teacher is in partnership with the publicschool teacher in the education of the boy. 

Several well-defined and exceedingly clear principles of actionunderlie the successful handling of groups of boys:

First, there must be a clear plan well thought out, progressive in itsstages with an aim for each stage. In other words, no man need try towork with a group of boys unless he knows what he wants to do, not onlyin outline but in detail. He must have these details in mind and so wellworked out in his thought, knowing exactly what comes next and just whatis to be added to that which he has already accomplished, as to bemaster of the situation at all times and to be the recognized leader. Not only this, but the boys must feel that he really knows what he isdriving at in everything that he attempts. 

Secondly, before the leader of a group of boys tries to do anything withthe group, if he is to be successful, it is necessary for him to make afrankly outlined statement of his plan. That is to say, he should tellthe boys what the game is and how it is to be played, getting theirapproval, and agreement to get in on the deal. He can explain this toall of the boys at one time or singly to each boy. There is no questionbut that he will succeed best if he will go over the matter first witheach individual boy personally, finding out his individual impressionsand opinions, and also having discussion before the group. This beingdone the boys know the plan, the leader knows what he is working toward, and the leader and the boys are partners in the work. Too often groupsof boys are brought together and the aim is so hazy in the leader's mindthat all the boys can possibly see in the scheme is a "good time. "

Thirdly, the best way to have boys accomplish things is to allow them todo the things. Many a leader of boys thinks out a plan, gives it to agroup of boys and then thinks that the boys are themselves doing it, whereas he is only trying to use the boys as his instrument. The mosteffectual way of getting boys to do things themselves is to let them doas much as they can and will do under adequate supervision. Lead bysuggestion, so that unconsciously the boys follow your advice anddictation, giving them the benefit of their decisions and impulses. Pureself-government in which the boys are entirely the dictators of theirpolicies and activities cannot be thought of, because such a course isso generally fatal to successful development. But self-governmentfostered and dealt with through suggestion by the adult mind is justwhat is needed, and should always be encouraged. 

Fourth, in letting the boys run their own affairs in this way theTeacher must become a real leader. A real leader never stalks in front, nor gives orders openly. The generals of today fight their battles andwin them twenty-five miles in the rear of the firing line. So it is withthe Teacher. He must be the power behind the throne, rather than thethrone itself. He must be as a conscience--to hold the boys back just alittle when they go too fast and to push just a little when they aregoing too slow. The Teacher must recognize himself to be the impetus, not the goal. The solution of each problem that comes before the classshould not only be considered by the whole group, but should be solvedby the boys. The important thing for the Teacher to remember in thesematters is that the method of practical American citizenship is themajority rule. But this boy majority rule should, of course, be temperedby governing leadership. Thus the Teacher will not do anything that theboy can do himself, and he will be continually placing responsibility onthe lad. Responsibility is the great maker of men. 

Fifth, there will be of course noticeable differences among the boys ofany class. The most serious differences arise even among men. The boyswill "scrap" at times, and there will sometimes be a tension andrigidity about their discussions that will approach the breaking point. Through it all it will be difficult for the Teacher to keep himselfpatiently aloof and allow the thing to work out its own way. Sometimesan appeal will be made to him to settle the dispute, and he will betempted to do so, but often such action will imperil the object forwhich he is working. It is best to allow the boys to discuss, and tryout all of their logic before he begins to make suggestions and, if hecan get the boys to settle the matter themselves, it is to his interestto do so. If a deadlock threatens to exist, then by wise counsel andjudicious suggestions he may be able to lead the boys out of a quandaryin such a way that it will look as if the boys had gotten out of thedifficulty themselves. This will certainly add strength to theirorganization, and they will settle their own quarrels with peace anddignity. Sometimes the break between the boys will be so bitter as tocause the formation of intensely hostile factions, and then the bestthing the Teacher can do is not to try any new patching or drawingtogether of the opposing forces. There is no use trying to make boys whoare bitterly antagonistic agreeable to each other. Let them make newalignments if necessary and in combinations of their own choosing, evenif the result should be the formation of new classes. 

Sixth, the boys should make their own rules for their own government, and they should also deal as a group with the infringement of theirrules. This will solve the discipline problem of the Teacher. Responsibility should be the keynote of government, and the awakening ofsuch a feeling in the boys should be the goal. 

=The Adolescent Change=

Until about the age of twelve the boy is distinctly individualistic andselfish. At about twelve years of age his whole nature begins to changebecause of the change in his bodily functions. This change occursanywhere from the twelfth to the sixteenth year and is really determinedby his physical development rather than by his chronological age. Thechange of bodily functions gives him a new outlook upon life. He beginsto see and understand that he is a part of the community in which he isliving and begins to understand that the community life is made possibleby a disposition on the part of his neighbors to help each other. Healso begins to understand the institutional life about him and thefamily and sex tie on which it is based. He sees also the need of theschool, the church and other public institutions. He also begins toappreciate the wider range of things. Nature has greater appeal to himnow than ever. The woods and streams and outdoor life get a newsignificance, and the question of livelihood, whether rural andagricultural, or in the line of the various industries, takes a firmhold upon his imagination, and gives him a life-compelling purpose. Hebegins to feel the mating call and at its first impression is attractedto the other sex, with the result that by and by he also becomes ahusband and father and a full-fledged citizen among his fellows. Up tothe age of adolescence, however, none of these emotions stir the boy. 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ADOLESCENT AGE

The interests of the adolescent boy are general and not specializedbetween the twelfth and eighteenth years. The boy gets his impressionsof the community objectively, in addition to increasing hisknowledge of the external world through his acquaintanceship withits phenomena. The Universe and the Community are extensive and manysided. The step also between twelve and eighteen years is short. Theboy's contact with these, then, must be rapid and general. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EARLY ADOLESCENT AGE

The early adolescent age from twelve to fifteen years is characterizedby a rapid and uneven growth during which vitality and energy alternatewith languorousness, and the boy is awkward and lazy, with bones greatlyoutgrowing muscle. The boy also begins to take a new interest in sex andsex relations, his features and voice change, and the inheritedtendencies begin to assert themselves. His health is usually at itsbest, and during his active moments he is boisterous and vigorouslyenergetic. He is selfish, but shows signs of altruism; his regard forlaw increases; the spirit of gang leadership begins to show itself; hislonging for friendship is noticeable; his sense of secretiveness isapparent; and his self-assertiveness first begins to be manifested. Heis creative in imagination, shows marvelous powers of inference, becomesstrongly intellectual, begins to manifest analytic reasoning, imitatesthe ideal, is uncertain in making decisions, is influenced bysuggestion, and possesses generally a strong but not a logical memory. He develops natural religious notions, has strong impulses to do bigthings, has definite convictions as to his belief in God and Heaven andthe understanding of traditional religious terms, shows a noticeablelack of interest in the forms of worship, but a keen appreciation of thespiritual, and is passing through a period when great resolves are mostoften made. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF LATER ADOLESCENCE

During the period of later adolescence from fifteen to eighteen years ofage, the body nearly attains its maximum growth, the mind begins to showits dominance over the body, and all the bodily impulses grow strongerand more vigorous. Altruism steadily increases; the consciousness ofsociety grows; an appreciation of individual worth and thought develops;the call of sex and the love emotion grows in strength; sentiment isinclined to become strong; boundless enthusiasm manifests itself; andorganization and cooperation begin to appeal and be appreciated more andmore. There is a growth in logic, independent thought, alertness inthinking, and quickness of receptive powers. The boy at this age is inthe period of highest resolves and greatest endeavor, is apt to showreligious skepticism, and reason often takes the place of his faith. 

=Classes of Boys or Boy Types=

In talking about boys either in the aggregate or as individuals it isbest to consider them as representative of certain definite types. Boylife can be more easily considered in this way by making special studyof particular boy types. In the first place there are the psychologicaltypes--the choleric, the sanguine, the phlegmatic, and the hybrid. There are also the types of real life with which we are mostfamiliar--the masterful, the weak, the mischievous, the backward, theshy, the bully, the joker, the "smartie, " the echo or shadow, the quietor reticent, the girl-struck, the self-conscious, the unconscious, andthe forgetful. Lastly, we should also consider the different types ofthe unfortunate boys, including the deficient, the delinquent, thecriminal, the dependent, the neglected, the foreign born, thewage-earner, the poverty-stricken, boys of very wealthy parents, overambitious boys who have overambitious parents, and street boys whoare either loafers or engaged in street trades, or are compelled to usethe street as a playground. 

THE CHOLERIC BOY

The choleric fellow who is always off at "half-cock, " running his headinto danger whenever he can, and who is extremely hectic in his make-up, is always a problem. He needs a strong hand. Sometimes he will needeven physical repression, but he always demands great care and patience. The Teacher should deal with each class of boys largely by suggestion, but in the case of the choleric fellow he will often need to use ordersand demonstrate that he himself is in the saddle. 

THE SANGUINE BOY

The sanguine fellow is the normal boy who, having a good digestion, agood home and no cause for worry, sees things as they are and is apt totake them as they come. He will be the easiest kind of a boy to getalong with, and the only thing that the Teacher will have to do may beto provide for stimulation of his interest and ambition. 

THE PHLEGMATIC TYPE

The phlegmatic chap requires patience more than anything else; generallyslow of body, he is usually slow of speech and thought. If the Teacheris not careful he will be apt to call him "dense, " and speak to himsharply and at times rather crossly. He cannot do this if he expects towin the fellow. Temperamentally, nature has made him what he is, and theTeacher will have to work harder, make things more concrete that hewants to teach, and hold his impatience in check. Phlegmatic though heis, he will prove solid in everything he does, and he will be either arock of strength or of weakness to the Teacher. If he likes the Teachernothing will shake his love, but if he has a dislike for him, then theTeacher is at the end of his endeavor as far as he is concerned. 

THE HYBRID BOY IS A PROBLEM

The hybrid boy always furnishes a guessing contest--impulsive today, hehas to be repressed; phlegmatic tomorrow, he has to be stimulated; andhe may be sanguine the next day. There never was a pleasanter boy towork with, but like the chameleon you are never sure of his color. 

 "Breath of balm and snow, June and March together, In an hour or so. "

Just because he is so changeable the Teacher should show him his bestthought and work. It is just such fellows who are inclined to beshiftless and who are generally crowded out in the fight for life. Somewhere in the boy's nature, if the Teacher is patient, he will findthe rock bottom upon which to build manhood and citizenship. Suchachievement, however, comes only by great patience and hard work. 

THE MASTERFUL BOY AND THE WEAK BOY

The masterful and weak boys represent the antipodes of boyhood. Themasterful boy will see things quickly, will be the leader of his gang, will instinctively dominate and run the class unless the Teacher is onhis job. The weak boy will follow anywhere, be the cause good or bad, and become either a devil or a saint. The masterful boy may be handledby appealing to his sense of leadership. Responsibility should be placedupon him. The Teacher should make him feel that he is leaning heavily onhim. The weak boy on the other hand should be tied up to some steadyphlegmatic fellow, the phlegmatic fellow being given the vision of howhe can be an older brother to the boy not as strong as himself. Theresult will be that the weak boy will catch some of the spirit of thephlegmatic chap, and gradually get some depth for himself. 

THE MISCHIEVOUS BOY

Of all the boy types, the mischievous boy furnishes the real pleasurefor the worker with boys. The fellow whose eyes can twinkle and who willplay a practical trick on the friend he most respects is always adelight. It is he that keeps the crowd in good humor, who is generallydeepest and most abiding in his affection, and who at the drop of thehat would fight to the last ditch for his friend. To handle him rightlydoes not require a six-foot rod, or a half-inch rule. But the Teachermust keep him so busy doing the things that he likes that he will haveno dull moments in which to vent his inborn sense of humor. 

THE BACKWARD BOY

The backward boy will need to be led out of himself. Give him things todo which will make him forget himself and, by careful utilization of histime, gradually he will develop into a normal boy. 

THE SHY BOY

The shy boy has merely become shy because of lack of association. Usually he has been brought up with his mother and sisters and merelylacks the touch of a man and a man's viewpoint. After he comes incontact with other boys, this will wear away. The problem of the Teacheris to get the other boys in his class to pilot the boy into the deeperwaters. 

"SMARTIE" AND JOKER TYPES

The "smartie" and the joker types are thorns in the flesh. Just asthorns when pressed in too deeply require a surgical operation to removethem, so it may be necessary for the Teacher to "sit on" both the"smartie" and the joker. If the other boys of the class make up theirminds to unite in the task, both the "smartie" and joker will becomenormal boys in less than one season's activities, and the Teacher willshow his generalship to be of the real sort by enlisting the other boysto do the job. 

THE ECHO OR SHADOW TYPE

The echo or shadow type is a serious problem. He it is who generallyhinders the good things in life and helps the bad. He can swear by theward boss in party politics, or he can prove himself an obstacle in theway of civic and national righteousness. The Teacher's task in his caseis to somehow or other strike the cord of independence, teach him to dothings by himself, think for himself and stand on his own feet. Alongthe coasts of the North Sea, they teach boys to swim by throwing themout beyond their depth. It may be necessary to awaken manhood andindependence in the echo by swamping him when he is alone. 

THE BULLY

The bully will be the worst type for the Teacher until the right boycomes along; there is no use in the Teacher worrying himself until hedoes, because of the bully's bluster and bluff. Usually the normal boywill accept him at his face value, and it is only when a lad withself-assertion comes along that the sparks will fly. Then the bully willhave to back down or take his medicine. A fight between boys is usuallynot a good thing, but when it comes to putting the bully in his place itis one of the greatest institutions that the savage man has invented. Once a bully has lost his place, he may bluster, but his bluff is over. 

THE QUIET OR RETICENT BOY

The quiet or reticent fellow is like the mighty sweeping river. He hasdepths which have been unsounded, and his life has promise of greatpossibilities. Just the opposite of the bully, he never blusters butthinks out everything as it comes to him. Every impression is storedaway and out of the countless impressions which are made upon him thereemerges a man of real and wide interests. The task of the Teacher in hiscase will be to discover his interests and help him to discover himself. 

THE GIRL-STRUCK BOY

The girl-struck fellow somewhat discourages the worker with boys, andyet it is natural that the boy should look with favorable eyes upon thegirl, just as the robin hears and answers to the call of his mate. Letno Teacher or any worker with boys of any organization that has everbeen founded dream for one moment that either he or his institutions canever block out the lure of the girl. The girl-struck boy will havenumerous cases of puppy love, and it will be the task of the Teacher tolead the boy into the kind of social relations that will enable him tobe a real value to those of the opposite sex whom he may meet. The boywill prove a much better husband and father because of his experience. 

THE SELF-CONSCIOUS AND THE UNCONSCIOUS BOY

The self-conscious and the unconscious boys are merely victims of theirsurroundings. The self-conscious fellow has no confidence in himself. Heis continuously measuring himself by others and is possibly the victimof parental teaching. The constant injunction to act like "LittleWillie" next door may have gotten on the boy's nerves, and if the ladhas a chance without undue embarrassment he will soon reach the normalstage, and be always a little more courteous and respectful andthoughtful than the fellow without this experience. The unconsciousfellow on the other hand will plug along doing all sorts of absurdthings, because of his lack of knowledge of the fitness of things. He isgenerally the boy who grows up without any sense of consistency, and whohas had very much his own way of doing things. He will need to be helpedto adjust himself to his environment and to the way that other fellowslive. He also will develop as a good man if the Teacher is a goodworker. 

THE FORGETFUL BOY

The same may be said about the forgetful boy and, in fact, about allboys. The forgetful boy has merely not been interested enough to givehis attention to the things that the Teacher wants him to do. Once a boyhas his interest aroused, the Teacher will have no need of complaint offorgetfulness or of any lack of interest in the boy. 

THE UNFORTUNATE BOYS

The types which have been discussed will generally work out all rightand find their places in the various social strata in the community inwhich they live. The unfortunate boys, however, are handicappedtremendously by their environment and surroundings, and it will oftenbecome a part of the Teacher's work to help secure a change in theseenvironments. Boys of very wealthy parents and boys from homes ofpoverty are usually sinned against by their parents. The parents ofboth are either so busy making money and spending it in the socialwhirl, or so pushed by the pangs of hunger and the fight for life, thatthe children who are brought into the world are left either very much tothemselves or to underlings who have very little interest in the boy'swelfare. It is these neglected boys that oftenest produce our greatcriminals. All boys of this type somehow or other are tied together. Theneglected boy generally becomes the delinquent and the delinquent boythe criminal, so that what might be said about one might also be saidabout all. This class constitutes our national deficit when we come toconsider our assets in manhood, and the Teacher can do a tremendousthing here by helping to form the undeveloped wills of these unfortunatefellows. 

THE DEFICIENT AND THE DEPENDENT

The deficient boy and the dependent are really out of the scope of theTeacher. The dependent class will have to be taken care of by thecharitable institutions of the State, and the deficient boy because ofhis lack of mental development will always be a ward of the community. 

THE WAGE-EARNER AND THE OVERAMBITIOUS BOYS

The wage-earning boys and the boys of overambitious parents or those whoare overambitious themselves need all the help and sympathy that theycan get from a Teacher. The father who is pushing his boy because of hisown ambition will very often need to be talked to by the Teacher or hisfriends, and given an understanding of the crime he is committingagainst his own child. The overambitious fellow who is pushingeverything aside for a definite thing in life will often have to betalked to in the plainest language by the Teacher to get him to see hisother responsibilities and duties in life. The wage-earning boy whoworks from early in the morning until late at night to keep bread in hismouth and breath in his body will compel the Teacher, if he is reallythoughtful, to give up some of the things which he has already helddearest and possibly lead his wage-earning boy into outdoor activities, even on the half holidays which he would naturally spend in the circleof his own family. 

THE STREET, FOREIGN-BORN AND NEGRO BOYS

The street, foreign-born and negro boys will furnish very much the samekind of problem; because of a general rule, they may be all groupedunder the wage-earning class. Some may be more shiftless than others andmay need more attention, while others may be merely awaiting the touchof sympathy and the helping hand to make strong men out of them. Agoodly percentage of our greatest Americans have been foreign-born boys, and, if there is any class that the Teacher should be more patient withthan others, it is the immigrant and the son of the immigrant. 

=Grouping Standards=

The Teacher will find it greatly to his advantage to group his boysaccording to some standard. Unfortunately, all standards, so far, aremore or less artificial, but approximate success may be secured by usingthe experience of boy workers in various parts of the country. Thestandard which is most generally used is that of age. It is also themost unsatisfactory. Boys mature physically rather than chronologically. This makes the age standard a poor guess, because a boy may bephysically fourteen when he is chronologically eleven, and vice versa. If the age standard be used, it would be preferable to group all theboys of twelve years together, then the thirteen-year-old boys inanother group, and the same with the fourteen, the fifteen, the sixteen, and the seventeen-year-old boys. This would be rather hard to do insmall places, although perfectly feasible in a larger town or city. Because of its impossibility, as far as the rural districts areconcerned, it might be well to divide the years from twelve to eighteeninto three standards--twelve to fourteen, fourteen to sixteen, andsixteen to eighteen. The age grouping, however, will never be reliablein achieving results, as the individual physical development varies somuch. 

The height and weight standard is more scientifically correct than theage standard, although it has not been tested out enough to warrant anyauthoritative declaration in its favor. If this method is used forgrouping, the standards for athletic competition among the boys might beused; that is, all the boys of ninety pounds and under might be puttogether, the same being true for those under one hundred and ten, onehundred and twenty-five, and one hundred and forty pounds. If height isused, boys of fifty-six and a half inches in height and classifyingunder ninety pounds in weight might be grouped together. Also boys ofsixty-three inches in height and coming within the one hundred and tenpound weight. This standard will doubtless become the real basis of allgroupings in the future, but as yet it needs more demonstration in orderthat the various classifications may be made accurately. 

A simple and rather satisfactory way of grouping is by the school boyor wage-earning boy standard. If the boy happens to be in the grammarschool he may be grouped with boys of his own educational advancement;so with the boys who are in the secondary or high schools, and the samemay be said of working boys who are forced to earn their own livelihood. 

Possibly the best and most satisfactory way of grouping boys is by theirinterest. Some boys will be mutually interested in collecting stamps, riding a bicycle, forming a mounted patrol, working with wireless, inmusic and orchestra work, etc. , and boys grouping together according tosuch kindred interests as they manifest has proven most satisfactory ingeneral boys' work. 

=Problems of Boy-handling Simplified by Natural StandardGrouping=

Grouping the boys according to natural standards makes the problem ofhandling them much simpler. Boys between twelve and fourteen are in theage of authority, and the word of the Teacher will settle mostdifficulties that arise. Boys between fourteen and sixteen are in theage of experience, and an opportunity must be given them to check upwhat they are told by what they are experiencing. Between twelve andfourteen authority may be rigid. Between fourteen and sixteen it must begiving way to reason. Authority will still continue to settle the boys'disputes, but it will be the authority that gives reasons for itsaction. Boys between the ages of sixteen and eighteen years can only behandled on the basis of cooperation. They have passed from the stage ofblindly following what they are told. They have experience enough toknow that they are able to do things themselves, and they havediscovered enough things to give them a basis of doing things on theirown account. The way to handle boys rightly in this group will be bytactful suggestion and cooperation on the part of the teacher. Therewill be very little difficulty with the groupings if the Sunday schoolsuperintendent or teacher respects the natural, group "ganging" of theboys. The boys themselves group, not according to mental efficiencytests, but according to physiological development. Thus we find boys ofvarious chronological ages in the same gang. A little common sense willprevent many blunders. 

=Securing Teen Age Teachers=

As soon as Sunday school teaching becomes a dignified, worth-while job, men will be attracted to the task and privilege. The unemployed malemembers of the church will then be led to see that there is somethingreal to be achieved. The vision of a symmetrically developed boy is allthat is needed to get most men. Of course, they demand a plan, and theorganized Sunday school class with through-the-week activities willsupply that. 

Sometimes it is a good thing to send the boys themselves after theteachers. This has been found to be of great profit in several places. The request coming from the boys means a lot more than coming from thesuperintendent. The following extracts from two letters of a teen agesuperintendent give point to this idea. 

"On Sunday a bunch of the younger boys came to Mr. Ball, and said, 'Wehave no teacher; will you get one for us?' Mr. Ball looked at them, andsaid, 'Who do you want, fellows?' They looked at each other--this wassomething new. 'Who do we want?' and the leader turned around and saidto the fellows, 'Say, fellows, who _do_ we want?' A hurried consultationrevealed the fact that they wanted, of course, one of the prominent menof the church. Mr. Ball said, 'All right; get hold of my coat-tail'; andthe crew got hold, and formed a snake line, and out of the school theywent, upstairs to one of the class-rooms, in search of Mr. B. They foundthat he had left for home, and the boys looked at Mr. Ball and said, 'Now, what shall we do?' Mr. Ball said, 'Well, fellows, you know wherehe lives. I can't go with you, but you fellows go to his home and campthere until he says yes. ' Off they started. Several men were telling methis story, and one is a neighbor of Mr. B's. He said that when he gothome from Sunday school last Sunday--a bitter cold day--he went out intohis back yard, and, glancing over the fences, he saw a bunch of twelveboys lined up on Mr. B's back porch, stamping their feet. He calledacross to them, 'Say, fellows, what's the matter?' 'We're looking for aSunday school teacher, ' they yelled back. He said he thought he'd drop. 

"The next morning Mr. Ball met Mr. B. In the street car, and he grinnedacross at him and said, 'Did a group of boys call on you yesterday, Mr. B. ?' 'They certainly did, ' he replied, with a broad grin. 'Well, didthey get you?' 'Did they get me? Yes, they sure got me, and from now onI'm going to teach their class; there was nothing else for me to do. '"

The story of another teacher acquired in this way reads as follows:

"Before the boys got to his house the man was getting ready for bed. Hehad fixed the furnace, and had his bath robe on when the door-bell rang. He had just said to his wife that he did not think any one would callthat night, and it was then about nine-thirty. When the bell rang hiswife snickered, ' as he put it. He went down stairs, turned the gas onlow, and opened the door. Three older fellows stood on the porch. Helooked at them and they at him and then he asked them in. They filedin--fellows 17 and 18 years of age. He led the way into the library, like a monk in flowing robes, and the three fellows followed. Seatingthemselves solemnly they stated the cause of their visit, and he startedto remonstrate, etc. They settled themselves comfortably in theirchairs, and said they had come to camp there until he 'saw it. ' This isthe man's own story. He said that when he saw they were in earnest hetold them he would like to teach a class of fellows such as they, andthat he would take the class if they would get on the job. "

=The Teen Age Older Boy as Teacher=

Increasing attention is being given in some places to the training ofolder boys for the teaching of younger groups in the Sunday school. On"Decision Day" volunteers are being asked to enter a Training Class, andchoice Christian boys are in this way being interested in the teachingwork of the school. In other places older boys are being put in chargeof younger boys' classes, and are meeting, either on Sunday or on aweek-night, for training. This latter plan affords real laboratory work, without which teacher-training courses are pure theory. We learn bydoing. 

The teen age boy as teacher will ultimately solve the problem of theteen age teaching force. As Japan, Corea, India and China musteventually be Christianized by native Christian forces, so the teen agein the Sunday school will, of necessity, in principle and practice, beled by the teen age. The duty of the missionary in non-christian landsis to train the native forces for the task of Christianizing theselands; likewise, the men of this Sunday school generation must lead andtrain the older adolescent in the Secondary Division of the school forthe leading of the teen age into the service of the church. 

PREPARATION FOR TEACHING

The really great task of the Christian adult and older boy in the Sundayschool is a real training for service. Stopping the leak from the teenage in the Sunday school will never be accomplished until workers arewilling to prepare and equip themselves to a point where their wisdom, ability and consecration will attract the active minds of the teen boys. Every teacher should be an International Standard Teacher Traininggraduate. Information concerning this course can be obtained from anySunday School Association. 

PATIENCE NECESSARY IN THE TEACHER

Things cannot happen in a day. Christianity itself is a growing, developing thing. "First the seed, then the blade, then the ear, thenthe full corn in the ear. " Have patience! Maybe you will have to win theboys yourself first, before you can win them for Him. Read this letterfrom a man who has the vision, the plan and a lot of common-sensepatience, and think it over:

"Very recently I came across your card, and it brought to mind thepromise I made to report progress with my class of boys. 

"You see so many people in the course of a week, to say nothing of acouple of months, that it may be well to remind you that I am the chapwho came to your room in ----, and afterward stuck to you all the wayto ---- when you were leaving town. 

"When I saw you I was having an average attendance of three, if one isallowed to stretch a fraction of a boy into a whole one, and amembership in the class of four. These boys had lost all interest in theSunday school, and it was only that 'Dad said you must' that any of themcame at all to the service. 

"Today I have done as well as the faithful servants, and behold my fourtalents have gained other four. There is no longer a membership andaverage attendance, for they all come when they are not sick or out oftown; and one thing which is a wonder to me is that a good many of theboys from other schools come to us whenever there is no service in theirown churches. 

"I have not said 'now boys' to this class once, but we have gone huntingcaves and are going again next Thursday, and we are all going camping ifwe can arrange a time during the summer. 

"These boys, who used to come to the church with a lurching walk andunderlip stuck out, now come in like men. They have covered the classroom walls with pictures from magazines, have brought rocking chairsfrom home and use their room as the place to plan the fun for thefollowing week. They have, after some pretty violent pushing from theteacher, petitioned the powers to give the basement of the church overto them and the other classes of intermediate grade for the purpose ofhaving a social evening once each week. The petition has been grantedand we will probably open up about May 16th. 

"None of my class show any violent signs of getting converted yet, butwhen one considers that this is a class who could not keep a teacherover three or four Sundays; who used to start a rough-house on allproper and improper occasions, and who had been known to throw books orany other handy article when they got sick of hearing any more Bible, Ithink I can report progress. 

"The most of my boys were arrested a couple of months ago for breakinginto summer camps and looking around. Today three of them came to myoffice with one of their friends who had cut his foot and told me allabout their trouble, owning up to the whole business and ending bysaying that if I would take their Boy Scout society they would cut allthat kind of business out. I wish to God I had the time to take up thisBoy Scout job, but I have not; but I will do the next best thing bytaking them hiking on Thursday, which is my day of rest. 

"One can't teach boys like these the beauties of religion any more thanhe can teach Greek to a puppy. They are not up to this kind of thing, soI am trying to teach them to be men, and when we get that lesson wewill try the higher one. Of course, I give them the moral side of everylesson and point out how God has worked through some mighty meanmaterial. 

"We still have a fight once in a while during class hours, and I calltime when they get too near the stove, but this is to be expected in aclass which is entirely self-governing. I never have said one word aboutanything they have done in the class, except to impress upon them thatthey should be men and the lesson is working slowly. 

"Now, my good sir, don't try to reply to this letter. I know you get agood many just like it, and I am writing just to give you my experiencein the hope that it may help some one else; also because I promised tolet you know what progress the class was making. 

"_If you will drop into ---- in a year from now I hope to be able to pointto a much larger class than the first six months has shown and to showyou the majority in the church_. 

 "Thanking you for reading this far and with kindest wishes, I am "Very truly yours. "

=The Boy the Main Issue=

The idea that must continually be kept in mind is the boy's good and theboy. A lot of our teachers in the public schools are trying to teach thesubject-matter of the book when they ought to be teaching the boy. Theyemploy static methods. You can get up a goal for attainment and the boywill reach the goal. Generally, however, he will go no higher than youpoint. Your teaching should be dynamic rather than static. 

Aim to secure balanced, symmetrical activities for your class. Rememberyour boy is four-sided, that he is physical, mental, social andreligious in his nature. Do not neglect any one side of him, but get theproper agencies to cooperate with you for these ends. _Let the boys dowhatever they can. Merely insist on adequate adult supervision_. Aboveall be patient, practical and business-like and remember that old headsnever grow on young shoulders. _The Sunday school Teacher should takehis place in the community by the side of the teacher of secularinstruction. He is an educator, and is dealing with the most plastic andmost valuable asset in the community--boyhood_. Let him take his taskseriously, look upon his privilege with a desire to accomplish greatthings, and always remember that the good of the boy is his ultimateaim. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE TEEN AGE TEACHER

Brumbaugh. --The Making of a Teacher ($1. 00). 

Foster. --Starting to Teach (. 40). 

James. --Talks to Teachers ($1. 50). 

Kirkpatrick. --Individual in the Making ($1. 25). 

McElfresh. --Training of Sunday-school Teachers (_in preparation_). 

Schauffler. --Lamoreaux-Brumbaugh-Lawrance. Training the Teacher ($1. 00). 

XX

DANGER POINTS

A real danger lies in boys' groups which are seemingly organized, yetwhich really have no organization. A few Bible classes have officers, such as president, secretary, and treasurer, and a few standingcommittees, all of whom take no real part in the class life, the teacherdoing everything himself and attempting to deceive the boys by givingthem a show of organization. Such classes are detrimental to the spiritof boys' work, and should not be tolerated. 

The teacher who cannot retire his leadership to the rear of the class, instead of posing at the front, is another serious damper to organizedwork with boys in the Sunday school. A leader should have a strongChristian character, have the quality of commanding the respect ofboys, have the ability to direct boys in doing things, be keen in hissympathy, have patience and persistence, and be absolutely natural inhis bearing. He encourages freedom of thought on the part of the boys, believes that a boy has brains enough of his own to think on any pointthat may be discussed, is open and above-board in his teaching, has astrong grip upon the practical truths of life, and tries to lead hisboys out of doubt and difficulty by the path of service. 

If dangers such as these be eliminated from boys' work in connectionwith the Sunday school, and if the spirit of sincerity and earnestnesspervades the work of the leaders, there should be little difficulty inraising the boy through the physical, social and mental to the largerspiritual expression for which the church stands. Every week hundreds ofboys of the adolescent years are lining up for Christian service allover our land, and if the ideas and directions given these boys are ofthe right sort, within one generation there will be no boy problem, forthe boy problem of this generation is not the problem of the boys, butthe problem of the men who are leading boys. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON DANGER POINTS

The Older Boy Sunday School Superintendent (_American Youth_, October, 1912). (. 20). 

Robinson. --The Adolescent Boy in the Sunday School (_American Youth_, April, 1911). Single copies out of print but bound volume for 1911 maybe obtained for $1. 50. 

Statten. --Danger Lines in Using Boys (_American Youth_, June, 1912)(. 20). 

XXI

THE RURAL SUNDAY SCHOOL

The problem of the rural Sunday school is its size and equipment. Theaverage number in the school is around eighty, and the building isnearly always a single room. Some very small villages, near greatcities, and even some struggling mission Sunday schools in these citieshave to contend with the same problem. Some of this volume will apply tothe rural Sunday school, and some will not. It is the province of thischapter to point out the parts that apply. 

Everything that has to deal with the Organized Class or group isapplicable. The Organized Class is the unit and beginning of allorganization. The boy gang, or group, is common to both city and ruraldistrict. There is no problem in either place, if there is no group ofboys. The Departmental groupings may not be feasible. Usually they arenot. There may not be enough groups of boys to form a club or Boy ScoutTroop or a chapter of a boy order. Generally this is true. And, afterall, it is a distinct gain to the Sunday school, as the grouping that ismade by force of compulsion is the Organized Class or group. The chapteron the Organized Sunday School Bible Class will apply itself to therural school, wherever there is a half dozen boys and it is given achance. 

The chapter on Bible Study will likewise fit into the rural situation. No matter whether the boys be urban or rural, they demand Bible Studythat will fit into their religious, developing needs. Perhaps BibleStudy courses with rural application need to be arranged, and I am ledto believe that the illustrative material should be vastly differentfrom that used for city boys, and of a rural character. However, therehas been too much written and spoken of the difference between rural andurban boys. The differences discovered by the writer seem to be all infavor of the country boy--more wholesome surroundings, more quiet andless nerve-destroying interests, and more time, because of fewercommercial amusements to really discover things for themselves. Theaverage rural boy has read more and knows more about current events thanthe city-bred lad. The country boy should not be provincialized by hisBible Study, or anything else. He should be given as large a touch withthe world of men and letters as any one else. The illustrations used inLesson Helps, etc. , should have some bearing on the life he leads, thatthe application of the study may germinate in his daily life, else thestudy will have little meaning, but he needs no separate, distinctcourses. It is not a different selection of material, but a differenttreatment that is needed. The Denominational Leaders will sooner orlater be forced to heed this cry from the largest section of the Sundayschool field. Until they do Graded Lessons will not gain materially inthe open country. 

On the other hand, where there is only one group of adolescent boys inthe Sunday school, Graded Lessons are practicable, as well as necessaryto the best religious development of boyhood. The grading is cut down toa minimum, and it merely means fewer classes studying the same lesson. It would mean just the one group, with a new course each year. Thedifficulty is not with the lessons, but with the school officials andthe teacher. 

The chapter on Through-the-Week Activities is very applicable. The gangwill get together some time, on Saturday night, if not at another time. The Young Men's Christian Association County Work Secretaries aregetting the boys of the open country together for week-night meetingswithout trouble. "Get something doing" and see how quickly the ruralboys will get together. These activities again will differ greatly fromthose of city boys. There will be great emphasis on the Social andMental as against the Out-of-Door doings of the urban adolescents. Theprinciple already laid down, to let the boys themselves decide theactivity, will settle this difficulty at the start. 

So as to the chapter on the Teen Age Teacher! Boys and men are the samepretty much, wherever they live. They may be more deliberate, lessshowy, and steadier in some places than others, but we cannot admitinferiority or lack of interest on the part of the splendid rural boy. He is filling the big jobs in our cities today, and will as long as thecities last. The teen age teacher in the rural school needs to masterhimself for his task. He is doing a bigger piece of work than hisbrother of the city school. He is preparing men for urban leadership. 

To make a long story short, the parts of this book that deal with thesmall group are applicable to the rural Sunday school. The teen ageteacher in the rural school should begin with these, and maybe after awhile he will see opportunities for larger groupings. The Young Men'sChristian Association County Work Secretary certainly is. Inter-Sundayschool work is possible by the Sunday school forces themselves. 

A fitting close to this chapter is the challenge to the teen ageteachers of the rural schools, which Mr. Preston G. Orwig has hurled atNorth America:

"Every rural school has its quota of workers who are, perhapsunconsciously, limiting their own usefulness, as well as retarding theprogress of the school, by meeting every new plan of work proposed withthe statement that, 'That plan is all right for the city, but it won'twork here because we have so few members and our people live so farapart. ' With the exception of the man who constantly reminds us that 'wedid not do it this way thirty years ago, ' and who, in some cases, isreally a menace to the work, there is no greater obstacle confrontingworkers in rural schools. 

"In a recent conference of Secondary Division workers in rural Sundayschools, a speaker was advocating the necessity of recognizing thefourfold--physical, mental, social and spiritual--life of the scholars, in planning for the work of the class. The tremendous opportunity ofteachers for reaching adolescent boys for Jesus Christ, through theirphysical and social instincts, was emphasized. Luke 2:52 was quoted toclinch the argument. In the discussion that followed everybody seemedsatisfied that a broader policy of work should be pursued. At thisjuncture a man in the audience arose, and, in a most uncompromisingmanner, attempted to show that it was useless to promote such methodsfor rural schools, as the scattered population and limited membershipmade it impossible to develop the work along the lines proposed. 

"Later in the day, two of the members in this man's own class wereinterviewed, and, in answer to direct questions concerning the above twopoints, stated that during the winter months older boys and girls, manyof whom attended that very school, went as often as three nights a weekto a small pond in the community to skate, some of them traveling fromthree to four miles to get there. Other sports were indulged in, according to the season, and, according to these boys, they seldomexperienced great difficulty in getting 'a crowd' together. Frequentlytheir games wound up in a grand free-for-all fight. 

"Now, had this teacher recognized the educative value of supervised playand planned to meet his fellows on the ice, as a class, he would haveformed contacts there which he could never hope to form by simplymeeting them in the Sunday afternoon session. In addition to that hewould have an opportunity to help the class to apply practically thetruths of the Sunday lesson in the activities of everyday life. 

"It would be well for such workers to remember that in some of ourlarger cities one must oftentimes travel from one to two hours oncrowded trolley cars, in distance, perhaps, eight or ten miles, in orderto meet with his class. Again, in some sections of the city, populatedmostly by foreigners, the Sunday schools are often smaller, in point ofmembership, than many of the rural schools. 

"It matters not whether the boy or girl lives in the city or country, the needs are the same. What is needed is 'Visioned Leadership. '

"It is, in a sense, pathetic, to note that these objections are alwaysof adult origin and are not the verdict of the boys. They, however, mustsuffer in a handicapped development, through the shortsightedness oftheir leaders. Where there's a will, there's a way. "

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE RURAL SUNDAY SCHOOL

Cope. --Efficiency in the Sunday School ($1. 00). 

Fiske. --The Challenge of the Country (. 75). 

The Rural Church Message--Men and Religion Movement ($1. 00). 

XXII

THE RELATION OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TO COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

The church school is not, by any means, the only force in the community, as far as the boy is concerned, but it is destined to be the biggestforce. The church, itself, is the most permanent institution of thecommunity, and will always be so, as long as humanity remains religious. In the church are all the conserving elements of the community--slow tochange, it stands for the best. Having adopted anything after approvedworth commends it, it tenaciously holds it in trust. Communities mayhave homes and schools, but, without the church, they are not goodplaces in which to live. The church, then, because it is most permanent, should tie the loyalty of the boy to herself. This she best doesthrough her school--the Sunday school. 

There are, however, other church forces in the community--organizationsfostered and supported by the material and moral enthusiasm of themembers of the church. Some of these organizations have been franklyformed for the purpose of assisting the church in some special field ofreligious education. This is essentially true of such boy organizationsas the Knights of King Arthur, Knights of St. Paul, Knights of the HolyGrail, and the Boys' Brigade. It is essentially true, also, of the YoungMen's Christian Association. The first of these--the boyorganizations--constitutes a method which is at the disposal of thechurch. The second--the Christian Association--has grown to be a mightyoperating force, with hundreds of employed officers and millions ofdollars of property. Save for the fact that church members compose thedirectorates, it is independent of the church. With this and otherorganizations what can the church's relationship be? The seeming answerwould be cooperation--a glad working together for the general bettermentof the community itself by tried and approved plans. However, a newcondition has arisen, which offers more than general cooperation betweenthe Church and these organizations for the teen age boy. Until recentlythe church school had no clear-cut method for working with the teen agelad, while the boy organizations referred to had such a method, and theYoung Men's Christian Association, after years of work, has a force ofmore or less experienced experts in boy life in its employ. The methodsof these boy organizations and the boy experts of the Young Men'sChristian Association must have a field of operation, and the bestfield, of course, is that of the church school, where boys should befound. The Young Men's Christian Association, in its own building, touches but a minute fraction of the boy life of the city in which itoperates, and, to touch the city boy life, must get out of its building. It then has a choice of fields, Public Playground, Public School, orCommunity Betterment. If, however, it is true to the principle of itsfounding--to be an arm of the Church among young men--that which itattempts to do should be tied up to the Church, or, in the case of teenage boys, to the church school. To accomplish the latter, what shall theprocedure be? Shall the Young Men's Christian Association win the boy, and then deliver him, saved for service, to the Church, or shall theYoung Men's Christian Association work with the Church as part of theChurch inside the church school? Common sense would say both ways, andall other ways possible, just so the boy stands saved and in the Churchfor service. And this is as it should be, and the employed experts ofthe Young Men's Christian Association should render service to theChurch, both within and without the Church--and this service may bethrough method, or organization, or both. At all times the weakness ofthe Church should be the Association's opportunity to help the Churchrealize herself, and this can best be accomplished by the constructivesuggestion that works its way out on the inside of the organization. Little help comes from battering a wall on the outside. At least it doesnot help the house inside any. Cooperation, then, must be understood asthe internal assistance given the Church herself to realize the need andthe plan to meet it. 

In this regard every organization must clearly understand the church itseeks to aid. Most organizations have singular aims and motives. TheChurch is a complex organization, with many needs. The church school hasmany divisions and departments, has two sexes to minister to, embracesall ages, from the cradle to the grave, and usually has no paidofficers. Through it all proportion has to be maintained--balance oforganization, fair opportunity for all, young or old, male and female. Aplan for the education of the teen age boy will no more solve theproblem of the Sunday school than it would the educational, physicalemployment, or social difficulties of the Young Men's ChristianAssociation. In proper relationship to the other factors of the problemin church school, or Young Men's Christian Association, it would helpthe whole organization. It surely takes more than plaster to make ahouse, important as is plaster. 

The Sunday school has its own problems of organization, sexes, ages, equipment, equality, fair-play, opportunity, leadership, etc. Noorganization can help these problems from the outside, or by emphasis onany one phase. Gain in one department may be loss in another. The Sundayschool needs proportionate gain. 

The Sunday school, therefore, should welcome any organization or methodthat bids fair to help in the solution of its problems. It shouldeagerly avail itself, especially, of the aid that the Boy Life Expert ofthe Young Men's Christian Association can give, thus reducing religious, economic duplication, and achieving united conservation of boy life. Onthe other hand, the Boy Life Expert of the Young Men's ChristianAssociation should thoroughly acquaint himself with the genius of theSunday school, the plan of its organization, and the pith of all itsproblems of sex and age, leadership and training, aims and objectives. He should also know thoroughly the policies of denominational andinterdenominational Sunday school bodies, and, where there aredenominations in plural quantity, this may mean a task worth while. Sometimes it is a slow process. Surely, so! The Kingdom, with all thewisdom of Heaven, has been twenty centuries in the building, and it hasbeen wrought out in the Church. The contribution that each man or womanmakes must be small, but likewise great in its possibilities, if wisely, patiently given. 

An organization cannot be permanently helped by introducing into itslife the methods of another without the process of assimilation; neithercan strength be given merely a part of the body to cure the whole. Organic tone is needed. Intelligent, Sunday school-wide cooperation!This is the invitation of the church school to all existingorganizations. The conditions of the challenge are not easy, but thetask is interesting and worth while, and the promise of increasedefficiency is great indeed. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON SUNDAY SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

Lawrance. --The Cooperation Sunday Schools Desire (_American Youth_, April, 1911) (. 20). 

Flood. --A Federation of Sunday School Clubs (_American Youth_, April, 1911) (. 20). 

Alexander. --Sunday School Use of Association Equipment (_AmericanYouth_, April, 1911) (. 20). 

FOOTNOTES:

[1: Makes provisions for sick and shut-ins but essentially meant foradults. ]

[2: A large part of this chapter is taken from Secondary DivisionLeaflet Number 2, International Sunday School Association. ]

[3: Older Boy]

[4: Adult]

[5: Much of this Chapter has been drawn from Secondary Division LeafletNumber 4, International Sunday School Association. ]

[6: Much of this Chapter has been drawn from Secondary Division LeafletNumber 1, International Sunday School Association. ]

[7: The Executive Committee of the Department should have membership onthe Sunday School Board. ]

[8: These conference may also be state wide in their scope. ]

[9: This Chapter is largely drawn from International Sunday SchoolAssociation, Second Division Leaflet Number 5. ]

[10: This Chapter is a compilation of articles written by the author inthe _Westminster Teacher_ and _Illinois Trumpet Call_. ]

[11: This Chapter is a blending of articles written for the Boy ScoutMaster's Handbook, the _Adult Magazine_ and hitherto unpublishedmaterial. ]