This all suggests that one of the responsibilities resting upon us as teachers of religion is to guide the child in the forming of his ideals.  We must help him form his notion of what is worthy and admirable in character.  We must see that he develops high standards of truth, honesty, obedience, and the other moral virtues which lie at the foundation of all vital religion.  We must make certain that his ideals of success and achievement include a large measure of service to his fellows.  We must ground him in right personal ideals and standards of purity and clean living.  We must make him feel a deep sense of responsibility for the full development and fruitful use of his own powers and abilities.  In short, we must with all the wisdom and devotion we possess bring him to accept the life of Jesus as the ideal and pattern for his own life.

Fine appreciations.—­What one admires is an index to his character.  More than this, the quality and tone of one’s admirations finally build themselves into his nature and become a part of his very being.  Life is infinitely enriched and refined by responding to the beauty, the goodness, and the gladness to be found around us.  In Hawthorne’s story of The Great Stone Face, the boy Ernest dwelt upon and admired the character revealed in the benignant lines of the great face outlined by the hand of the Creator on the mountainside until the fine qualities which the young boy daily idealized had grown into his own life, and Ernest himself had become the “wise man” whose coming had long been awaited by his people.

It is not enough therefore to learn the facts about the lives of the great men and women of the Bible or of other times.  The story of their lives must be presented in such a way that admiration is compelled from the learner:  for only the qualities the child appreciates and admires are finally built into his own ideal.  It is not enough that the child shall be taught that God created the world and all that is therein; he must also be brought to appreciate and admire the wonders and beauties of nature as an evidence of God’s wisdom, power, and goodness.  It is not enough that our pupils shall come to know the chief events in the life of Jesus and the outline of his teachings; they must also find themselves lost in admiration of the matchless qualities of his great personality.

And so also with music, art, architecture, with the fine in human life and conduct, or with great and noble deeds.  Inherent in them all are spiritual stimulus and food for the young life, manna upon which the growing soul should feed.  But here again the law holds:  in order to assimilate them to his life the child must appreciate, enjoy, admire.  To bring this about is one part of our task as teacher.

Worthy loyalties and devotions.—­Every worthy character must have in it a certain power of resistance, a quality that makes it able to withstand hardship for the sake of an ideal or a cause.  It is easy enough to be heroic when it costs nothing of effort or sacrifice.  There is no trouble in securing supporters for a cause that is popular, or workers when the work called for is interesting and attractive.  We are all willing to stand for the right if to stand is agreeable and exhilarating, and does not bring us too much of unpleasantness, pain, or suffering.