In similar way, if the experiences in the Sunday school and the church continuously yield satisfaction, enjoyment, and good feeling, the child’s loyalty and devotion are assured; if, on the other hand, these experiences come to be associated with dislike, reluctance, and aversion, loyalty is in danger of breaking under the strain.

The response of interest.—­Are the children interested? While, as we have seen, the atmosphere or spirit of the classroom supplies the condition necessary to successful work, interest supplies the motive force.  For interest is the mainspring of action.  A child may politely listen, or from a sense of courtesy or good will sit quietly passive and not disturb others, but this does not meet the requirement.  His thought, interest, and enthusiasm must be centered on the matter in hand.  He must withdraw his attention from all wandering thoughts, passing fancies, distracting surroundings, and concentrate upon the lesson itself.  There is no substitute for this.  There is no possibility of making lasting impressions on a mind with its energies dispersed through lack of attention.  And there is no possibility of securing fruitful attention without interest.

Interest therefore becomes a primary consideration in our teaching of religion.  The teacher must constantly ask himself:  “What is the state of my pupils’ interest?  How completely am I commanding their enthusiasm?  Suppose I were to grade them on a scale with complete-indifference as the interest zero, and with the ’exploding-point’-of-enthusiasm as the highest interest mark, where would the score mark of my class stand?  And if I cannot reasonably hope to keep my class at the high-water mark of interest at all times, what shall I call an attainable standard?  If one hundred per cent is to represent the supreme achievement of interest, shall I be satisfied with fifty per cent, with twenty-five per cent, or with complete indifference?  If the minds of my pupils can receive and retain lasting impressions only under the stimulus of the higher range of interest, in how far am I now making lasting impressions on my class?  In short, is the interest attitude of my class as good as I can make it?”

The sense of victory.—­Is there a feeling of confidence and mastery? Do the children understand what they are asked to learn?  Without this the attitude toward the class hour cannot be good, for the mind is always ill at ease when forced to work upon matter it cannot grasp nor assimilate.  Nor is it possible to secure full effort without a reasonable degree of mastery.  The feeling of confidence and assurance that comes from successful achievement increases the amount of power available.  The victorious army or the winning football team is always more formidable than the same organization when oppressed and disheartened by continued defeat.