2.  What hymns do you remember from childhood?  In what way are these
     hymns valuable to you?

     3.  What changes would you like to see in the hymns the children
     learn today?

     4.  What difficulties do you find in training children to sing in
     the home?

     5.  Is it worth while to teach children to play?  What games have
     special educational value?  What games have religious significance
     or value?  Give reasons for your opinions.

FOOTNOTES: 

[15] One of the best collections of suitable religious songs is Worship and Song.  Pilgrim Press, $0.40.

[16] An excellent plan is worked out in The Children’s Hour of Story and Song by Moffat and Hidden, Unitarian Sunday School Society, in which children’s stories are given and following them suitable songs and hymns with the music for each.

CHAPTER X

STORIES AND READING

If we would teach religion to our children we must adopt the method of Jesus; that of telling stories.  The story has the advantage, first, of its natural interest, and, then, of the indirect manner of its presentation of the truth, together with the fact that that truth is embodied in a statement of life and experience.  Besides, story-telling to any person of active interests is one of the easiest and most stimulating methods of teaching.

Sec. 1.  STORY-TELLING

So much has already been written on the art of telling stories that only a few suggestions are needed here.  First, understand why you tell the story.  Normally a double motive enters in, namely, the conveyance of truth in life, at the same time affording real pleasure to the listeners.  Either motive alone will be inadequate.  You cannot convey the truth without the desire to give pleasure; you cannot make the pleasure worth while without the truth.  But this is the place to insist that the truth which you desire to convey must find its way to the conviction of the child through the story and not through any moral or preface or particular statement which you may make.  The moral or lesson must be clear to you but carefully held in reserve to direct the matter and manner of the story.

Secondly, be prepared to pay the price of this most effective method of instruction.  It will cost the reservation of a certain amount of time both for acquiring the story and for relating it.  It will require careful thought and planning, especially to be sure that the story is told in sympathy with the child’s world.  People who are too busy to tell their children stories are, perhaps fortunately, coming to realize that they are too busy to have children.  If it looks like a waste of time to turn off the lights and sit by the firelight for from twenty to thirty minutes, we shall need to revise our estimates of the value of child-character.  Nor must we shrink from the investment of time in preparation for the narration of the story; if it is worth telling, it is worth telling well.