framework is but a means to an end, and if the conclusion to which it leads be true, the story is in the largest sense true. The story is a far more valuable medium for the teaching of spiritual truth than any mere didactic form, because it clothes truth with life, sets it in action as it were, and observes the result. It makes its appeal directly to the heart and imagination of the child, rouses his interest, fixes his attention, and so makes a far more lasting impression than could be made by mere moralizing.

The story lends itself to various uses. Most commonly, of course, it will be general in its application, and will be given to a child before he has had a consciousness of similar conditions in his own life. Then the mother, knowing that that story is stored away in her child's mind, has it to call upon in time of need. When a similar experience is upon him, and he is perhaps in its throes, she can recall to his memory that other child, it may be, who passed through an experience similar to his own, who perhaps committed the fault which he is in danger of committing, or who avoided or overcame it. Immediately the whole situation is illuminated for him. He sees in one field of vision action and result, and not only his judgment but his feeling is aroused to do the right. It is more true of children than of us who are grown, that when they are in the midst of an experience they cannot grasp its true meaning nor see its significance. They must be able to put it out from them, and see it as a whole, and in an impersonal way. This is the vicarious quality of all true literature.

Another use of the story is to give it to the child after the event. Then it throws its light back upon the experience which the child has had, and strengthens and clarifies in his mind the impressions made there by his own deeds. Sometimes a mother, who knows both the needs of her child and the realm of literature, can bring a story to him just when he needs it. Then indeed is it "like apples of gold in pictures of silver."

But whenever and wherever the story is used in the instruction of children, one rule must be observed: It must be allowed to do its own work without moralizing or suggestion of personal application on the part of the one who tells it. A symbolic story is an art expression, and as such it appeals to the child's heart only so far as the child is ready for the appeal, and beyond that point it should not be pressed, or there may result a premature stirring of deep emotions, which is from every standpoint bad. Moreover

an attempt at personal application not only destroys the child's pleasure by making him self-conscious, but it also tends to disturb his confidence in the story-teller, who, it appears has an ulterior. motive in the thing which seemed to be but an attempt to give pleasure.

Our literature has very many such stories. Myth and fairy tale are full of symbolism, and many modern tales are of that character, notably those of Hans Andersen. I wish to speak in this paper of two collections of stories for young children, written by two kindergartners, Miss Elizabeth Harrison and Miss Maud Lindsay. Miss Harrison's book is called "In Story-Land," Miss Lindsay has two volumes called "Mother Stories" and "More Mother Stories."

In the first volume there are several stories well suited to our purpose. The first one, "The Wind's Work," shows the child. that that force in nature which probably seems to him the most powerful, the wind, cannot be seen, but can be known only by its results. This can be used as one of the first steps toward a recognition by the child of the unseen forces in nature and the spiritual in life. It may well be followed by Robert Louis Stevenson's beautiful poem, "The Wind," from his "Child's Garden of Verse." This poem is well worth memorizing. It is charmingly set to music by Miss Eleanor Smith in her "Songs for Little Children," published by Milton Bradley, Springfield, Mass. The children will be interested also to know that Christ used this same fact in regard to the wind (John 3, 8) to teach Nicodemus that the work of God's spirit in our hearts can not be seen and can be known only by the things which it causes us to do.

Another story, "Mrs. Tabby Gray," is a sweet little picture of mother love, as shown by a mother cat for her baby kittens. Often the recognition of mother love in the animal world gives a child a fresh appreciation of its blessedness in the human relation.

Another story, "How the Home was Built," tells of the selfdenial and effort of each of the family, including the children, for the building of a home. It ought to make a child feel anew the joy of having a home, and the real pleasure of contributing his share toward keeping it.

"The Open Gate" is a telling picture of the far-reaching results of little Dick's carelessness in forgetting to shut the barn

yard gate. It has for a motto Froebel's suggestion, "Early teach your child, through play, to guard that which is dear to him from the danger of loss." It will surely make any little careless boy meditate upon the error of his ways.

The "Search for a Good Child" is based upon the Knight's game of Froebel's Mother Play. It is very sweet and natural and wholesome, and would surely stir in any child the desire to be good and unselfish.

"The Closing Door" is the gem of the collection, and will touch the mother as well as the child. It pictures that dangerous moment, when through some foolish little error or wrongdoing on the part of a dear little daughter, the door of perfect sympathy and understanding between her room and her mother's, which had always stood wide open, was almost closed, and nothing prevented the sad catastrophe but the mother's quick recognition of the danger and realization of the fact that if that door was ever really closed, it might be impossible to open it again. As she sprang to avert the danger, the little daughter fell into her arms crying, "Oh mother, I need you so!"

"Dust Under the Rug" is on the order of a German fairy tale, with the cruel step-mother and her wicked daughters left out. It pictures the reward for the faithful performance of duty.

In the second volume of "Mother Stories," "Wishing Wishes" is the most valuable story for our purpose. Its motto tells the story well

"Wishes are lost in empty air

Unless the wisher does his share;

And fairy gift will always be

But golden opportunity.

Early teach your child to see

That golden opportunity

Waits not for him, but he must be

Waiting for opportunity."

It follows the fortunes of two little boys, one of whom does sieze the golden opportunity which his fairy godmother offers, and finds all her promises realized; while the other, with plenty of good intentions, but lacking the power to make a little sacrifice of present comfort for the sake of future good, loses all, and doesn't even see in the end that he has no one to blame but himself,

Miss Harrison's stories, while written for little children, will hold the attention of older ones as well. They are longer and built about a more developed plot. They reveal the deep knowledge of child nature which Miss Harrison possesses. I have space in this paper to speak of only one, "The Line of Golden Light," with which the volume opens. It is the story of a little girl who, to secure sight for her blind sister, undertakes a long, hard, dangerous journey. In the reading or telling let each new difficulty that presents itself be described slowly and with a full sense of its hard, discouraging features, but as the little heroine resolves each time to overcome it, let the tone brighten and the words come more quickly. Then let the actual sinking in the mud, the fatigue in climbing and the other hardships be described. brightly and in a cheerful tone, that the children may feel that it is the inner resolution rather than the outer conditions that makes a task easy or hard. Of course the climax of the story comes when the little blind sister opens her eyes and sees. After expressing the joy of that happy outcome, very little should be said about the trials that have preceded it. It is the "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," and when rightly arrived at does away with any priggishness or self-satisfaction on the part of the listening child who may have resolved to do some like unselfish deed. It is the end to be attained that should always be kept before the child. His effort is only a means to an end. The joy of doing the right thing is the fullest and richest reward. After such a story has become a familiar part of a child's life, the mother may incidentally suggest that God's sunlight goes all around the world, also his purifying wind and refreshing waters. And then the roundation is laid for the further truth that human love can reach from New York and Chicago to San Francisco, from America to India. The spirit of love annihilates distance and overcomes difficulty.

Other stories in this collection will be spoken of in later papers. Meanwhile the Home Department of the Religious Education Association would be very glad to receive the names of stories or collections of stories that have been found interesting to children and helpful in their religious or moral training. Such titles may be sent to Mrs. Andrew MacLeish, Glencoe, Ill. There are continual calls for help of this sort, and parents who can give it from their own experience will be conferring a real benefit.

The Model Sunday School at

Teachers College

RICHARD MORSE HODGE, D. D.

Lecturer in Bible Literature, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York

The Model Sunday School at Teachers College marks the assumption of the Sunday school problem by a university. Five years ago Union Theological Seminary inaugurated an extension department for the training of Sunday school teachers and other lay students. The year following Teachers College, the educational department of Columbia University, by means of an arrangement with the Seminary, created a lectureship in biblical literature with courses in the subject-matter and method of Sunday school instruction.

Most opportunely a Sunday class of children of two or three families was started the same year in the parlors of a private house in the immediate neighborhood of the University. The children were attending Horace Mann School, the observation school of Teachers College, and the teacher was a kindergarten student at the College. The parents concerned desired as skillful and fearless instruction for their children in religious subjects as in the sciences. The idea of such a Sunday school originated with the wife of a member of the International Committee of the Young Men's Christian Association. Incidentally there was no church within half a mile of the University. Advantage was taken immediately of the evident interest of Teachers College in the Sunday school problem, and permission was obtained to hold the sessions of the Sunday class in the main building of the College. This step uncovered a real demand for the Sunday school contemplated. Other classes were added at once, and the School was formally organized.

The parents of the pupils constituted themselves the governing body of the School. They appoint annually an Executive Committee, which engages teachers and administers the School. A Committee of Supervisors superintends the instruction in detail. A Visiting Committee secures pupils. The chairman of the Executive Committee is a professor in Teachers College and the Superintendent of Speyer School, the experimental school of the College. The supervisors have included members of the