can they do? The time is short, and while the lessons are admirable, they often seem to the child dull and formal - too much like the task at school. What is needed is a fresh point of view. We must always remember that the Bible originally was life, and not only life but life at its most intense and dramatic moments. Jesus was an out-of-doors man. Jesus' teaching for the most part with very few exceptions indeed, was out of doors, with the flashing waters of the lake, the eternal hills, the birds, the flowers, the daily human life of the people for a background. The Bible as it stands is literature. It is a book, and children often feel that they have enough of books at school. In order to gain the attention of the child, to interest him vitally, we must restore the background of life. This is what The Book of Life by pictures, by various suggestions for arousing interest, aims to do. How may the teacher use The Book of Life as an aid to Bible study?

1. In the Class-Room. The most simple and obvious way is to take it to the class and use its splendid pictures and its attractive text to illustrate the lesson. Have the text read, not as a short extract of a few verses of the quarterly, not in a fine print Bible, but in full, in the attractive print of The Book of Life. Almost every lesson will be found to have not one but many pictures which can be shown. Learn how to interpret the pictures and how to impart that knowledge. For the Primary and Junior Departments, Volume 1 will be found especially useful. Here will be found stories which even the younger children may read for themselves and a great wealth of pictures to arouse their interest. Practical suggestions in telling stories and long lists of stories which may be told will be found at 8:19. 2. Supplementary Reading. All public schools now use attractive books of supplementary reading. The Book of Life may be used for the purpose. When the lesson drags, perhaps toward the close of the hour, ten minutes of wisely chosen reading from The Book of Life by the members of the class will arouse new interest.

3. Dramatic Representations. This method of illustrating the Bible life and times is becoming more and more a useful method. Special suggestions will be found at 8:47.

4. Unexplored Regions of the Bible. For older classes, the study of a book which has perhaps never been touched in the standard lessons will be found very helpful. The Book of Life is very rich in material for such study. See suggestions for home study for young

people of high school age, 8:181, and introductions to "The Prophets," "The Epistles," "The Life of Paul."

5. Coöperation with the Home. One great difficulty with Sunday school teachers is lack of sympathy and coöperation in the home. The Sunday school teacher sometimes feels that the home cheerfully shifts the burden of all responsibility to the Sunday school. The mother feels that the teacher is indifferent to the home. The object of the Sunday school is to teach the Bible and to develop character. Here plainly is the point of contact: The Bible, the precious book, knowledge of which both home and school earnestly desire the child to possess. Through the suggestions for home study and supplementary study to be found in the "Bible Educator," parent and teacher may find a common ground of interest, conference and mutual service. What is the problem of the home with respect to this study of the Bible and character building? This the teacher should know. What are the difficulties and problems of the teacher? This the mother should know. Here is a large opportunity for new acquaintanceship and larger success in dealing with these great problems. The editors feel that an intelligent study and comprehension of the problem of the Bible as related to the child and the home will go far toward solving not only problems of the home but of society and the nations as well.

6. The Bible in Current Literature. One of the most valuable methods of enforcing the practical value of the Bible in actual life is the making of lists of quotations from the reading of newspapers and magazines. A special course of study for Sunday school and public school teachers will be found at 8:290.

VI. The Bible in the Public and Private School.

In all public schools the study of Greek and Latin and the mythologies of classic countries may be studied with perfect freedom. In some states the use of the Bible, the greatest literature of the world, translated into the most majestic and beautiful English, is prohibited! This is a very short-sighted policy. All the great souls of the English-speaking race have been nurtured on the Bible; yet American children must be deprived of its precious and potent influence. This throws a greater responsibility upon the home and the school. In some states the Bible may be read by the teacher without comment; the arrangement of The Book of Life makes it most available for such

a purpose. There is no law against the inclusion of the Bible in any school library. Every such library should possess the Bible in its most attractive and readable form for reference and private reading. The teacher may profitably direct such reading. The telling of simple Bible stories and little dramatic representations are permitted in many public schools. If there is any objection to the use of the school building for such purposes, it will be very easy to secure the use of a house, a public hall, or a church. Public school teachers in small towns and country districts will find such material an inexhaustible resource. It will be remembered that the majority of the men and women of influence and power in America have come from the small towns and the country districts, and most of them have been familiar with the Bible.

If the influence of the best and greatest souls in our nation is to continue, the knowledge of the Bible must continue. In the old days men like Lincoln read the Bible through sheer force of will, without guidance, but the number of men of the Lincoln type may be increased and their service to the nation stimulated and enlarged by the direction and encouragement of the teacher. For this purpose the teacher will find The Book of Life most admirably adapted. The suggestions made in the chapters on "Bible Stories and How to Tell Them," "Biblical Dramas and Pageants," "The Bible and Religious Art" and "The Bible in English and American Literature” are of special value. The course of study at 8:290 is intended for public school teachers as well as Sunday school teachers.

Leisure Hours with the Bible

T

HE Bible is not a book so far from common life that it has no place in the leisure hour. In the home, simple ways of making the Bible familiar should be welcome. "Familiarity breeds contempt" only when true nobility is lacking. We expect the familiarity of family life to result in love, not in contempt. The Bible may be trusted to win its way by its nobility of language, its loftiness of thought, and its appeal to the religious needs of the human soul. It should not be made the subject of unseemly jestings, but reverent treatment is compatible with familiar knowledge.

There is great gain in a familiar knowledge of the Bible. It is worth much to a young person to know it so well that he moves at ease along its paths. He knows its great characters as friends, he is at home in its cities, the names of tribes are familiar, and mountains and valleys have their proper associations in his mind. A large part of what makes the Bible uninteresting to many a reader is to him only an element of greater interest. To expect the stranger in the Bible to find an immediate interest in its stories is like expecting the average American to be fascinated with an intimate story of life in central Tibet. Such a thing may happen, but it is not to be expected. The person who has been brought up to familiarity with the Bible finds its stories like the tales of his native village. Every name of person and place bears with it a wealth of association.

Now such a familiarity, if it is to be attractive, must come from choice, not from compulsion; it must be won in pleasure, not in grim requirement. For this reason the pleasure of leisure hours may profitably be found with the Bible. Rainy days, long Sunday afternoons, the early evening, times of quiet for various reasons, may all be used for gaining a little further knowledge of the Bible.

Then comes the problem of how this familiarity may be gained. The adult may do it by reading. On the lowest ground of estimation it is the world's greatest classic. Why not read it?

For children, the knowledge must be made attractive. They ought to be encouraged to read the Bible, but there are also other

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ways of coming to know it. Children love to do things together; why not use devices by which they can learn about the Bible together? Bible games have a place in any household of children.

In the following pages a few simple ways of using the leisure hour are suggested. They are adapted to persons of different ages and varying familiarity with the Bible. Many of them have been the "Sunday occupations" of families, changing as the ages of the children change. They are not an exhaustive list, but only suggestive of the possibilities of the use of the Bible. Parents and children will be able to devise many variations and new plans.

BUILDING VERSES

Here are some Bible verses to learn.

We will not learn them all at once. We will learn a part of each verse at a time:

The first part of each verse is short and easy. Very little children can learn that, if they try to learn nothing more.

The next part of the verse makes it a little longer. The larger children can soon learn to add that to the easy first part.

Sometimes there is a third part, and those who learn the first two can then add this.

So here is a sort of Bible game. We will call it Building Verses.

I. Here is an easy one to begin with:

1. "We love God."

That is so easy that all the little children can learn it. It is as easy as to say, "We love father," or "We love mother."

Why do we love mother? Here is one of the great secrets, which some people never learn till they grow up, but which you can learn right now. We love mother because mother first loved us.

Now we are ready to build our verse. We build it on the question about God. Why do we love God?

2. "We love God because he first loved us."-I John 4:19. See 7:410.

II. The first and easy part of the next verse starts from the last part of the verse we just learned.

1. "God so loved the world."

That means that God loved you and me and everybody.

What did God do for the world to show his love?