Drill lessons in the church school.—­While the church-school teacher will not require so much use of drill as the day-school teacher, it is highly essential that drill shall not be omitted at points where it is needed.  There are some things which the child should learn very thoroughly and completely in his study of religion.  He should know a few prayers by heart, so that their words come to him naturally and easily when he desires to use them.  He should know the words and music of certain songs and hymns suited to his age.  He should learn certain Bible passages of rare beauty, and other sentiments, verses, and poems found outside the Bible.  He should come, as a matter of convenience and skill, to know the names and order of the books of the Bible.  In some churches he is required to know the catechism.  Whatever of such material is to be mastered fully and completely must receive careful drill.

Principles for conducting the drill.—­The first step in a successful drill lesson is to supply a motive for the drill.  This is necessary in order to secure alertness and effort. Mere repetition is not drill.  Monotonous going over the words of a poem or the list of books of the Bible with wandering or slack attention will fail of results.  The learner must be keyed up, and give himself whole-heartedly to the work.  Let the child come to feel a real need of mastery, and one great motive is supplied.  Let him desire the words of the song because he is to sing in the chorus, or desire the words of the poem because he is to take part in a pageant, and there will be little trouble about willingness to drill.

Again, the competitive impulse can often be used to motivate drill.  The child is ambitious to stand at the head of his class, or to beat his own record of performance, or to win the appreciation or praise of teacher or parents, or he has a pride in personal achievement—­these are all worthy motives, and can be made of great service in conducting classroom or individual drills.  The posting of a piece of good work done by a pupil, or calling attention to the good performance of a member of the class can often be made an incentive to the whole number.

Drill, in order to be effective, must not stop short of thorough mastery.  The matter which is barely learned, or the verse which can be but doubtfully repeated is sure to escape if not fixed by further drill.  It is probable, as suggested in an earlier chapter, that we attempt to have our children memorize too much Bible material which is beyond their understanding and too difficult for them.  On the other hand, there can be no doubt that we fail to teach them sufficiently well the smaller amount of beautiful sentiments, verses, poems, songs, and prayers which should be a part of the mental and spiritual possession of every child.  Our weekly lessons provide for the memorizing of Bible matter week by week, yet surprisingly few children can repeat any sensible amount of such material.  Better results would follow if we should require less material, select it more wisely, and then drill upon it until it is firmly fixed in the mind as a permanent and familiar possession.