"Many years afterward, when the cares of state weighed heavily upon him, President Lincoln spoke the words which tell us the secret of his wonderful calmness and steadfastness. Listen to them: 'All that I am and all that I hope to be, I owe to my mother. Blessings on her memory!'

"Do you understand, boys and girls, that it was the thing which this mother put into the life of her boy that made him a great and a good man? Do you now understand what Paul meant when he said that there is no other foundation on which to build your life 'than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ?'

"Let us, then place the word, Christ, upon this rock, the unseen foundation upon which this great life stood so steadfastly. I leave with you the picture as a memory of the secret of a wonderful life. [Draw lines of rock and lower portion of the lighthouse; add the word "Christ," completing Fig. 36.]



THE BLESSEDNESS OF WORK —Labor —Diligence

The Truly Happy Life is the One Filled With Honest Employment.

THE LESSON—That in childhood and youth we should train ourselves to work.

Work is the keynote of the successful life. "An idle brain is the devil's workshop." The talk is designed to catch the attention with a smile and then give an opportunity to present some valuable thoughts in the matter of diligence and the fulfillment of life's mission through honorable employment of the mind and the hands.

~~The Talk.~~

"Very often we read some very curious things. The manufacturer of one of the well-known breakfast foods, has placed this strange statement on the outside of each of the packages: 'Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.' It seems impossible to do this, and the writer of the words probably had an entirely different way of explaining how he would do it from the way we will demonstrate it here on the drawing paper today. Let us suppose that we make the statement that we can tell what a man is if we know what he eats. All right, then, here is a case: There is a certain man who eats three meals a day out of a dish shaped something like this: [Draw lines representing Step 1 of Fig. 37.]



"And then, let us suppose that the food he eats is heaped up like this: [Add lines to change the drawing to Step 2.]

"Now, what do you think this food is? Ice cream? Ah, no, because when I tell you that this is steam rising from the food you will know it isn't ice cream: [Add lines to change the drawing to Step 3.]

"But you will begin to see what it is when I tell you that these two lines represent chopsticks: [Add lines to change the drawing to Step 5.] What is it? Rice? Yes, it is rice, and we will label it in this way. [Add the letters, to change the drawing to Step 5.]

"And now, having found out what the man eats, let us see if we can find out who he is. [Remove the sheet from the drawing board, hold it up and turn it over, exposing Fig. 38 to the audience. With the attention thus centered upon your work, the boys and girls will listen with eagerness to whatever else you may have for them.]

"And so, I tell you of another thing that we can do.

"Listen! Tell me what a boy thinks about, and I will tell you what kind of a man he will grow up to be.

"The man who swears, thought of bad things and used bad words when he was a boy. The man who is a thief thought about dishonest things when he was a boy. The man who is happy and who finds it his delight to do good, formed the habit of thinking and doing good things when he was a boy. The man who loves his work learned to like to work when he was a boy.

"And it is work that I want to speak about today.

"There is no place in the world for a lazy boy or girl. Nobody wants them. Boys who hate to work are the kind that loaf around poolrooms and pollute the air with vile cigarette smoke and language which bespeaks an empty mind and a corrupt heart.

"As Jesus is our great example in every way, He stands out strongly as our example of how a workman should delight in his employment. We should first find the thing which God intends that we shall do, for we are all fitted to do some things better than others, and we should then put forth our best efforts to learn to do that one thing as well as we can. We must center our thoughts upon the things we want to do. Life will then become a delight, because the world is always crying for workers who know how to do their work. The other kind is always to be found but never wanted. The demand is for the ones who know how. It is a significant fact that the first recorded words of Jesus Christ are, 'Wist ye not that I must be about my father's business?' This makes of Jesus a Business boy, and it was God's work he began so soon.

"Gladstone, an inspiring example of the true workman, says, 'The thrift of time will repay in after life with usury of profit beyond your most sanguine dreams, and the waste of it will make you dwindle alike in intellectual and moral stature beyond your darkest reckoning.'

"The happiest people in the world are those who are busy at something worth while, and the most miserable are those who are in idleness for lack of ambition or else are engaged in work which they themselves loathe because of its baseness."



THE DOORWAY —Easter —Death

The Resurrection of Christ the Hope of the World—An Easter Thought.

THE LESSON—That death is but the doorway between the earthly life and the heavenly life of the believer.

There is no new thought or theory concerning the dead in Christ. The most profound thinkers of the ages consider death as the entrance to a future life. The illustration here presented has been employed in various forms, but is given with the hope that it may, at Easter, help someone to a clearer conception of the reward which awaits the faithful.

~~The Talk.~~

"James Russell Lowell, dwelling upon the darkness of the cloud of sorrow which death brings into the home, wrote:

"'Console, if you will, I can bear it, 'Tis a well-meant alms of breath; But not all the preaching since Adam Has made Death other than Death!'

"How true! And God intended it should be so. Surely, it is His desire that we should love to live in the earth which He has given us. Surely, it is His desire that we should love those who are about us, and that we should mourn when the earthly parting comes. And yet, 'it is impossible,' as Jonathan Swift has said, 'that anything so natural, so necessary and so universal as death should ever have been designed by Providence as an evil to mankind.' With this thought, we may lift our faces once more, and as we dry our tears, forget the problems, the sorrows and the triumphs of earth as we ask ourselves the question, 'What shall we be in the coming ages?' Compared with this question, all others sink into insignificance. Science, discovery, commercial achievement, social problems, the rise and fall of nations—all come to us and claim attention, but we brush them aside as we repeat, with passionate earnestness: What shall we be—we, ourselves—in the coming time?

"No matter how long we ask the question, no matter how earnestly we seek the solution, we shall not be satisfied with an answer, for God has not intended that we should know. The Apostle John, 'whom Jesus loved,' admits that 'it doth not yet appear what we shall be.'

"Does it mean, then, that we should look ahead, and see nothing before us but the grave—the end of all? [Draw the grave, the headstone, and the word, "Death," with black, completing Fig. 39.]



"Perhaps the disciples, their hearts bowed down with grief and disappointment, held this thought as they saw the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea sealed upon the body of their beloved Master. But three days pass, and lo!—all is changed! The stone is rolled away and Christ has risen! How the message spreads! He is with them once again, and blessed days they are! But it is not for long, for heaven receives Him from their sight. Clearly, then, came to them again His words, 'I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am ye may be also.' What! They, too? Yes, for did he not say, also, 'Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, in which all that are in their graves shall hear His voice and come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life.'

"Today, there comes to us anew the revelation of the truth which came to the disciples on that wonderful resurrection morn. True, it may be that our pathway may lead more quickly than we think to this place which we call the grave. [Draw pathway to the grave.] True, there is a wall between human vision and the mysterious beyond. [Draw the wall.] But true, also, and gloriously true, is it that the grave opens to us the mysteries beyond the wall. [Draw line to change headstone to door]—while the pathway leads to—what? We can only suggest it here, with a few feeble lines. [Draw distant city, in red, using orange for rays of light. Add the word "Life," completing Fig. 40.]



"Someone has said that the night of life is the dawn of peace. Browning says that 'you never know what life means till you die.' Another has said, 'The dead are glad in heaven; the living 'tis that weep.' And all, though they point to the pathway beyond the wall as that toward which we should push forward, are firm in the knowledge that the earthly pathway of peace and love is more essential than this, for without it we cannot reach the other. 'There is but one way to get ready for immortality,' says Van Dyke, 'and that is to love this life, and live it as bravely and cheerfully and faithfully as we can.' And I know it is our prayer that we may do this in the fullness of the meaning of the words."



THE PUZZLE PICTURE —God's Love —Nature

When We Have Solved It, Let Us Learn to Find God in All His Works of Nature.

THE LESSON—That we shall find the loving presence of God everywhere in nature, if we but seek Him.

This illustration, dealing with a popular pastime, points to a great lesson, the fact that God is to be found in all our natural surroundings, if we but seek for Him in the same manner that we endeavor to find the unseen in other ways.

~~The Talk.~~

"How many of the boys and girls are fond of puzzle pictures? Hold up your hands. Ah, I thought so. I believe nearly everyone likes puzzles; we are attracted to many things which possess an element of mystery. So I am going to draw a little puzzle landscape today and see if we can get a lesson from it. [Draw the landscape, naming the objects as you complete them—the tree, the land, the water, the distant foliage, and so on, finishing Fig. 41. This completes the drawing for the entire talk.]



"Here is the story: A farmer, living near this spot, came down to the shore of the lake, untied his boat from its fastening, and rowed out onto the lake to fish. With the approach of dinner-time, the farmer's son came down to the shore to call his father to dinner. It seems that the father had rowed so far away that he could not hear the lad's voice, so the boy is still waiting here for him. Can you see the boy? Ah, yes, here he is. [Remove the sheet from the drawing board, reverse it, and hold it up for the inspection of the school. Fig. 42. After all have discovered the face of the boy, do not return the sheet to the drawing board, but lay it on the floor or elsewhere out of sight, as it has served its purpose and should not be allowed to detract from the attention needed for the remainder of the talk.]



"Yes, it is interesting to study puzzle pictures to discover in them the persons and objects which we may not see at the beginning. But I wonder how many of us do a similar thing when we see the real woods, the real lake and the real flowers? As in the picture, the boy's face was made by the outline of the tree and the shrubbery, and the hair was shown by the shading of the grass, so also may we find great hidden truths in nature all about us. The poet Bryant, in Thanatopsis says that

"'To him, who in the love of nature holds Communion with her visible forms she speaks A various language.'

"And Shakespeare tells of finding 'tongues in trees, books in running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.'

"Greatest of all is the fact that God is there. Every tree, every bush, every blade of grass, every flower, speaks of His presence—of His love and care for us. Dr. Van Dyke, in many beautiful passages pleads with us to turn our thoughts from the things which make us unhappy—the wild rush for fame and fortune, for the attainment of that which disappoints and discourages—to the quietness expressed by nature. In his book, 'The Ruling Passion,' we find this beautiful sentiment: 'It is the part of wisdom to spend little of your time upon the things that vex and anger you, and much of your time upon the things that bring you quietness and confidence and good cheer. A friend made is better than an enemy punished. There is more God in the peaceful beauty of this little wood-violet than in all the angry disputation of the sects. We are nearer heaven when we listen to the birds than when we quarrel with our fellow-men. I am sure that none can enter into the spirit of Christ, His evangel, save those who willingly follow His invitation when He says, 'Come ye yourselves apart in a lonely place and rest awhile.'

"It is a most beautiful thought. Let us ponder it in our hearts. Let us seek to find God and His goodness to us in everything that He has placed about us. Many a man who says he has not found God in nature has failed to see the blessings which have come to him—which are his every moment of his life. The fruit, the flowers, the grains—everything that supplies him with the necessities of life and earthly happiness come from the hand of God. Let us feel that all nature is a sort of puzzle picture, and that by looking, looking, looking, we can find God in everything. And in finding Him, let us learn from nature the lessons of humility, of sacrifice, of joy and good cheer; for it is for this that God has given us these blessings. It is only when we thus seek Him that we may look 'through nature up to nature's God.'"



THE HEART of the TROUBLE —Temperance Day —Sobriety

A Temperance Talk in Acrostic—One Great Evil Power—Beware!

THE LESSON—That the deadly drink evil appears to its victims in the most alluring and deceptive form.

The following talk necessitates the use of lettering only, but it affords an opportunity for the audience to take a part, especially if the company of hearers is made up largely of children. The climax is not to be anticipated, and the effect cannot be other than lasting. The talk may be varied to suit local conditions; specific incidents make the best impressions. It is suggested that you watch your newspapers for a period preceding the talk and make clippings of incidents to fit the points of the first seven paragraphs. It is well to ask the children to repeat each word as it is placed on the drawing paper.

~~The Talk.~~

"The thing I am going to speak about today is not a pleasant one. The fact is that nothing good can be said about it, for it deals with sorrow and death. You may wonder, then, why we do not speak of something bright and happy; and I answer that if you learn the lesson about this thing of sorrow and death, your lives will escape its influence and you will be many more times likely to be happy; and if you do not learn the lesson, you may suffer distress and anguish all the years of your later life. This thing is known as a great evil power. Sometimes we hear of it coming into the home and making a brute out of a loving husband. Where there was happiness and joy there is now sorrow and despair. [Place the word Sorrow on the drawing paper. When adding the succeeding words, be sure to place them exactly as indicated in Fig. 43.]



"Again, this evil power creeps into a home and fastens itself upon a young man who had before him every promise of a bright, successful life. So relentless is it that the young man, in despair, takes his own life. [Add the word Death.]

"Again, we see a man, successful in business, with no seeming obstacle in the way of greater achievement, when, one day, we find his doors are closed. This evil power has come upon him and he is a bankrupt and a failure. [Add the word Failure.]

"Again, we hear of a man who has been a leader among men—a brilliant lawyer, a keen thinker—taken from his place and confined in a hospital for the insane. The same evil power has done this. [Add the word Insanity.]

"Again, we know of a young man who was strong and robust, a splendid specimen of physical manhood; now he has lost his health and strength. The same evil power has come upon him and has placed him on a bed of sickness from which he cannot rise. [Add the word Sickness.]

"Again, how often do we hear that a man, respected and honored, has in a moment of passion, taken the life of another man, just because this evil power came in and caused him to do it. [Add the word Murder.]

"But more common than all the other terrible things which this great evil power does is the bringing of wretchedness and want to the wives and the children of the men who are its victims. These innocent ones suffer for the common comforts of life, food and clothing. This we call poverty. [Add the word Poverty. This completes Fig. 43.]

"Many more words could be added to this list, representing the misfortunes which come to the victims of this great evil power. In every instance it deceived its victims into believing it was harmless—that in accepting it there was no danger or risk.

"What is this great evil power? [With red chalk draw the heavy line, completing Fig. 44, to bring out the word Whiskey.]



"Now, boys and girls, consider this not as a puzzle drawing. It represents a truth almost as old as the world. Concerning strong drink, the Bible cries out, 'Beware!' Remember that every drunkard believed he could taste liquor and then leave it alone if he wished. You, in your happy homes, may think you are safe from it. Beware! Some day, the temptation will come to you; someone will test you. Beware! 'Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.' 'Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine.' Beware! Be not one of these.

"No, let us keep our minds on the pure, the upright, looking ever to Jesus, who is our strength and who will keep us from the power of this evil thing. 'Then shalt thou walk in thy way securely, and thy foot shall not stumble.'"



IF WASHINGTON LIVED TODAY —Washington's Birthday —Character

The Principles Which Underlie Success Are the Same at All Times.

THE LESSON—That true success will attend those who found their lives on the principles which governed the life of Washington.

Properly handled, the illustration designed for the following talk will prove a revelation to young and old. The application fits the illustration so well that the talk should prove of absorbing interest and lasting impressiveness.

~~The Talk.~~

[Before beginning the talk, make the following preparations very carefully: Attach several thicknesses of your drawing paper to your board, leaving the outer sheet free at the bottom by tacking at the top only. Next, with a sharp pen-knife, cut a hole in the outer sheet, indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 45, and throw away the piece which has been cut out. The object of this preparation is this: When you draw the portrait of Washington, represented in Fig. 45, a portion of your drawing will appear on the outer sheet and part of it—the face—on the next sheet beneath. If your preparations have been well made, the outer sheet will lie flat against the one beneath, and the audience will not see the hole until the proper time comes.]



"I am going to draw first an outline portrait of George Washington, copied from the profile crayon sketch of St. Memin. [Draw Fig. 45, complete, being careful, in moving the crayon from one sheet to the other, not to tear the outer sheet.] This view shows plainly the style of wig and military clothing of a gentleman of the revolutionary days, and, as we look at it we note what a difference there is between this and the dress of the men of today. Do we also feel that there is a great difference between the men of colonial days and the present time—the same difference in character that there is in dress? If this thought has come to us, we have also asked ourselves, perhaps, this strange question, 'What kind of a man would George Washington be if he were living at the present time?'

"Of course, if he had not performed his great work in helping to shape the destiny of our nation, it is probable that America would have had a vastly different history. We will assume, however, that Washington were a product of the present day and that the present conditions prevailed. What, then, would Washington be like? How would he act? What would he do?

"Perhaps we can best transplant him to our day by dressing him in the clothing of the man of the present. [Slowly fold back the outer sheet, so the audience may see that you have already drawn on the under sheet a portion of the second "scene"—the most important part, in fact. As you continue the talk, add lines to complete Fig. 46.] In the first place, Washington, with his abundance of natural hair, would not wear a wig just for style, so we will draw his head as we think it would appear naturally. Nor would he wear the colonial style of clothing, so we will substitute the coat, collar and tie of an American gentleman of today. And here we have Washington as he would look if he lived in our own time.



"I do not believe Washington would be a military leader in this latter day. He was essentially a man of peace, and everywhere in his writings we find expressed a longing to return after the strife of battle and the weary days in the presidential chair, to his quiet, beloved Mount Vernon, to carry on his extensive private business and enjoy his friends and the sweets of home life.

"But we cannot doubt that he would be a great leader in the struggle for right against wrong in every form. From his childhood, he loved truth and honesty. He was a deep and careful student. He worked hard at his duties as a surveyor of the wilderness and then came the call from Governor Dinwiddie to carry a message to the French over hundreds of miles of unknown land, in the dead of winter. It was the most perilous undertaking ever entrusted to any man in the new land of America up to that time, but he met the task manfully. It was such victories as these in his youth that made him the Father of His Country. It is the meeting of our own problems in the same spirit that means our own success in life.

"If Washington lived today, his career would be vastly different from what it was, yet he would have made his place, and the world would have been eminently better for his work. Let us study to apply to our own lives the principles which made Washington truly great."

[In closing, restore the outer sheet to its first position, thus presenting the original portrait. It may be necessary to fasten it down with a thumb-tack.]



EVOLUTION OF THE JUG —Temperance Day —Slavery

While Strong Drink Makes "Poverty and Rags," the Pure Life Brings Earthly Prosperity.

THE LESSON—That intemperance is the chief cause of the world's poverty and misery.

This talk deals especially with the point that the use of strong drink consumes the income of the wage earner, unfits him for his work, and brings suffering and want to himself and those dependent upon him.

~~The Talk.~~



"It is a common belief that slavery was wiped out of America by the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln, sustained by the victory of the union armies in the war of the rebellion. And so it was as far as the negro is concerned; but there is in America today another form of slavery which no clash of arms can eradicate, and this is the picture of the slaveholder: [Draw Fig. 47 complete.] The 'little brown jug,' which we use as a type of the saloon power, holds millions of men and boys in its grasp, consuming their brains, their bodies, and their money, and bringing misery and hopelessness to them and to those who love them. From Europe comes many a cry of anguish, showing that the same powerful slaveholder holds sway across the ocean. Listen to the words of the great English statesman, Joseph Chamberlain:

"'If there is in this whole liquor business any single encouraging feature,' he says, 'it is to be found in the gathering impatience of the people at the burden which they are bound to bear, and their growing indignation and sense of shame and disgrace which this imposes upon them. The fiery serpent of drink is destroying our people, and now they are waiting with longing eyes the uplifting of the remedy.'

"Again, from the island of Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa, we hear the queen of that island declaring herself in bitterness of spirit, in these words:

"'I cannot consent, as your queen, to take revenue from the sale of liquor, which destroys the souls and bodies of my people.'

"The Hon. Carroll D. Wright, while United States commissioner of labor, tells, from observation, of the slavery of strong drink in his own country and in Europe. He says: 'I have looked into a thousand homes of the working people of Europe; I do not know how many in this country. In every case, so far as my observation goes, drunkenness was at the bottom of the misery, and not the industrial system or the industrial surroundings of the men and their families.'

"And so the testimony goes on. It is the same everywhere. There is no need of more proof that strong drink is the world's greatest curse. To every one of you boys, I am going to say that success in life cannot come to you in its fulness if you ever allow yourselves to get this deadly habit. Let it not break into the abode of your soul—and by this I mean your own bodies—and make you depraved captives for life. The first taste of strong drink, even though it may seem to be a very little thing, may mean that you will become banished from God forever. Remember, boys, that Satan is deceitful. He never tells you the truth. He is always trying to juggle you with his jug and to make you believe that black is white and wrong is right, and even that sorrow is joy and 'a good time.' It is against those who would tempt you that Jesus said, 'And fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him that is able to destroy both soul and body.' Such a destroyer is strong drink.

"As the years go by, you will find that you need all your energy, your brains, and your physical strength to enable you to meet the problems of life. You will find that your later years will be filled with battles; the defeats will be bitter; the victories sweet. One of the necessary victories is the successful earning of a living. Money is a splendid thing. It is the love of it and the wrong use of it that is 'the root of all evil.' In the later years, if you are a slave to strong drink, you may recall with bitterness the warning of the Psalmist who declares that 'the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.' But true prosperity comes most surely when the life is pure. I know you are resolved that yours shall be such lives, so we shall change the drawing to indicate something more acceptable to the life that well deserves a reward for right living. [Add lines to complete Fig. 48.]



"Paul pictures to us the successful man when he uses these words, 'Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.'"



THE CIGARETTE FACE —Temptation —Evil Habits

A Unique Presentation of a Truth Important to Every Child and Youth.

THE LESSON—That Indulgence in injurious habits undermines the moral and physical structure and is a barrier to true success.

The chalk talk here presented is certain to prove of enduring value in impressing upon young minds the truth of the deadly effects of the use of cigarettes. The talk may form a part of a program given on Temperance day, as the cigarette habit and liquor-drinking are very closely allied.

~~The Talk.~~

"We are going to talk for a few minutes about our food. Of course, we all know that when we are very young children our food consists very largely of milk, and the physicians say that boys and girls should not be allowed to drink tea and coffee or to eat meat and other solid foods until they have reached a certain age when their bodies demand such food. But ofttimes we find that parents do not know about this or else they try to please their children, for they frequently allow them to eat and drink the forbidden things. The result is that as they grow older, their bodies, having become accustomed to the foods which were too strong for them, demand still stronger food. So it is, often, that a young man possesses a craving for a stimulant which is unnatural at his youthful age, and we find him turning to drinking and cigarette smoking. But this does not satisfy the hungering and thirsting for stronger and more exciting things. Many times the life of the young man is ruined in his mad search for something to meet the demands of his physical nature and he goes down to the grave a physical, mental and moral wreck!

"And now, with this thought before us, I want to speak for a few minutes particularly about cigarettes. And in this, also, I want to speak only to the girls. Will every girl please listen and do as I ask? Now, then: I am going to ask you to take your paper and pencils, if you have them, and copy the picture that I shall draw, and, if you haven't them, carry the picture with you in your mind so that you may use it when the occasion comes.

"Here we go! Whenever you see one of your boy friends with a cigarette in his mouth, ask him if he ever saw the picture of the 'Cigarette Face.' Of course, he will say, 'No.' Then you will ask him to spell 'cigarettes' for you, very slowly, and as he pronounces the letters, you put them down, just like I shall do. Now, watch:



"'C' [Step 1, Fig. 49].

"'I' [Step 2].

"'G' [Step 3].

"'A-R-E-T-T-E-S' [Step 4].

"And now, we will draw the cigarette itself [Step 5].

"And finish the picture by drawing the encircling smoke. [Step 6, completing the final scene].

"Is it a true portrait? Go and ask any physician. Go and ask the warden of any insane asylum. Go and ask many a heartbroken mother.

"Does cigarette smoking make criminals out of boys? Magistrate LeRoy B. Crane, of New York City, says that three hundred boys were brought before him, charged with crimes. All but five of them were cigarette smokers, and that report ought to cure forever every boy in this town of the expensive curse.

"Does cigarette smoking make failures out of boys? Once, when he was asked about it, the late E.H. Harriman, one of the greatest railroad managers in the history of America, said that railroads might as well go to lunatic asylums for their employes as to hire cigarette smokers. Yet some boys I know haven't a bit more sense than to smoke them. Girls, isn't it a pity?

"Let us remember that habit is the very foundation of our lives. Everything that we do repeatedly becomes easier for us to do each succeeding day. This would be a most discouraging condition if it applied only to bad habits. But, thanks be to God, the rule applies equally well to good habits. Diligence, economy, perseverance, gentleness, pure thoughts—may all become the governing habits of our lives if we will but center our attention upon them repeatedly and crowd out the evil tendencies. We are so constituted that we must form habits. We cannot think or say or feel anything without leaving an effect which will influence every succeeding thought or action or feeling. Let us, therefore, look carefully to the forming of our own habits and to helping others form theirs."



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS —Prayer —Faith

Although He Died Believing His Mission Had Failed, His Prayer Was More Than Answered.

THE LESSON—That "the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

The life of Christopher Columbus contains much to inspire the present-day youth. In studying it, however, one should always take into account the prevailing superstitions, darkened by the bigotry of the times. But above and beyond all this shone the steadfast belief of Columbus that his every act was directed by God. The talk is suited to all ages, for the mere mention of the name of Columbus will excite the interest of young and old.

~~The Talk.~~

"Every one of us knows that Columbus discovered America, but unless we have studied the life of this wonderful man we do not know of the great difficulties and hardships he endured before he was able to do it. We know that Ferdinand and Isabella, rulers of Spain, furnished him with the ships with which he came to the new land; but we should also know that for years and years he worked and struggled through sickening discouragement until he finally succeeded in procuring the support of the Spanish monarchs. We know that he found a great continent, and that his name is honored above all others of his time; but we should also know that he himself never knew that he was the discoverer of a new land, and that he died a broken-hearted, ridiculed man whose mission had failed miserably.

"And what was that mission? What was Columbus trying to do when he discovered America? He was simply trying to find a short way to reach India. Ferdinand and Isabella provided him with the ships only with the hope that he would find rich deposits of gold for them in some strange land. Both missions failed! But God was directing the life of Columbus. He put into his heart the firm belief that the world is round, and made him anxious to prove his theory to be true. Finally, down through years of hardship and discouragement, God brought Columbus to the age of maturity and wisdom, fully equipped for the great task which was before him. Then the Spanish monarchs provided the required vessels for the voyage. Here we have one of these quaint caravels, the Santa Maria. [Draw Fig. 50 complete, or, on account of the detail, prepare it in advance.] There were two other ships, the Pinta and the Nina. What curious looking boats they were! They left the coast of Spain on Friday, August 3, 1492. Where were they going? Nobody knew. But there was one man in that company who, deep in his heart, believed that God was directing the course of those three little caravels across the vast ocean. Washington Irving, in his Life of Columbus, says, 'He was a devoutly pious man. Religion mingled with the whole course of his thoughts, and shone forth in his most private and unstudied writings. Whenever he made a great discovery, he celebrated it by solemn thanks to God. The voice of prayer and melody of praise rose from his ships when they first beheld the new world, and his first action on landing was to prostrate himself on the earth and offer thanksgiving.'



"Such a man was Christopher Columbus—a man of faith and prayer; He had prayed that God would direct him in the discovery of a new route to India. God answered that prayer in a richer, greater measure than Columbus ever knew, for to him whose life had been one of devotion and communion with God, was given a name above all other names written in the world's list of navigators and discoverers! He prayed for a great blessing. God gave him a greater one. As the Santa Maria entered the harbor of the little island of San Salvador and the crews of the three vessels, numbering 120 in all, knelt and thanked God for His great mercies, Columbus believed he had reached a distant coast of India. [Draw the ground and trees, Fig. 51.] But, in truth, it was infinitely more than that—he had found A NEW WORLD! [Add "A New World," completing Fig. 51.] Such was the blessing which God gave to Christopher Columbus. Such is the blessing he will give to all who trust Him and love Him. Always does the true Christian receive more than that for which he asks, for the human mind cannot know the thoughts of God or of His love for those who give their lives wholly into His keeping."



THE THIEF OF CHARACTER —Meditation —Conscience

The Unholy Thought Robs Life of Its Choicest Treasures—The Voice of Conscience.

THE LESSON—That as we use care in the selection of our confidential friends, so, also, should we guard the choice of our thoughts.

It was Lowell who said:

"Ah! let us hope that to our praise Good God not only reckons The moments when we tread His ways, But when the spirit beckons— That some slight good is also wrought Beyond self-satisfaction, When we are simply good in thought, Howe'er we fail in action."

The truth that good thoughts must be encouraged every moment of our lives, if we would really live, is expressed by every great mind that the earth has known. It is here reviewed once more.

~~The Talk.~~

"I am going to place on the drawing paper today the picture of a young man of the type which we admire—a young fellow of upright life, good habits and Christian principles. We want him for our friend. [Draw Fig. 52, complete.]



"But there is another type of man whose character we can well illustrate by changing the lines in this first portrait. [With the broad side of your black crayon make the changes needed to produce Fig. 53. Shade the face with a light touch of the broad side of the crayon.] He is a dishonest man—he is willing to risk his life in taking from us that which does not belong to him. Do we welcome such a man to our homes? No. The hand of every man is against a thief and a robber. He is an outcast. The law seeks to protect us from him by putting him in prison if he can be caught.



"I know that we agree that we should be very careful about the kind of people whom we welcome to our homes. But, nevertheless the hand of forgiveness and uplift should be extended to every repentant sinner, for Christ has so taught us. But if we should be so careful about the people whom we admit into our homes, why should we not be still more careful about those other visitors—our thoughts—when we admit them to our minds? Did you ever think of your thoughts as your visitors? No, I suppose not; but we are going to consider them as visitors today.

"Ah, here comes a nice-looking thought that wants to enter into your head. Fortunately, you have a faithful servant who answers the doorbell every time a visitor comes. It is your Conscience, and if it is well trained, it will admit to your mind only the pure thoughts, and it will slam the door in the face of all harmful intruders. But, alas! we are the master of the house and sometimes when Conscience would close the door to an unholy thought, we tell the servant to step aside, and we admit the visitor. It is a shame! And the worst of it is that Conscience, like an obedient servant, finally lets us have our own way and then we have thrust out our best friend!

"Here is a boy who has lagged behind in his school work. A nice-looking little thought comes along and says, 'Why not cheat just a little? No one would know anything about it.' In a jiffy, Conscience is on hand trying to shut the door. But the boy welcomes the thought into his head. Conscience, made bold by the threatened disaster, tries to show the lad that he can succeed more surely by remaining true and honest, but the thought prevails, and before the boy knows it, the door is opened to a multitude of other thoughts, and the ones which came last are worse than the little one which entered first. When such a boy is grown to young manhood he finds himself robbed of character, robbed of honors, robbed of noble ambitions. He is a failure. No one trusts him for he cannot trust himself. He is completely at the mercy of his evil thoughts, and Conscience can no longer serve him.

"How gladly, then, should each one of you boys and girls welcome good thoughts. Make Conscience your door-keeper. The same good thought will come again and again, bringing other splendid, helpful, delightful thoughts, and they will become the greater part of your life. Every one of you has a thinker in his head. Be careful to keep it clean and pure."



JENNIE CASSEDAY —Children's Day —Service

A Children's Day Story of What One Girl Did to Make Others Happy.

THE LESSON—That one little act may multiply to bless countless thousands.

The story of Jennie Casseday is one of the sweetest narratives of humble service that can be told to children and their elders. It is a chapter from real life which may be copied in varied form by each one of us. Its use is suggested for Children's day, but it is good for many other occasions.

~~The Talk.~~

"This morning, while we are surrounded by these beautiful flowers, and while our hearts are light as we think of all the beauty and brightness that God has given us, I want to tell you the story of Jennie Casseday and what she did to bring beauty and gladness into the world. You may think that Jennie couldn't do very much, because she was a poor little cripple girl. She lived at Louisville, Kentucky. When she was small, she was just as lively and happy as any other little girl; but one day she suffered from a terrible accident and from that time she was helpless. I am going to draw a picture of Jennie's crutch to represent her suffering and her helplessness. [Draw crutch with brown, Fig. 54.]



"Have I said she was helpless? Well, this is what I mean: She could not help herself, but she could help others, and this is how she did it: For several dark, painful years Jennie Casseday suffered and waited—waited for something which she could do to enable her to send some ray of light out into the world which would brighten other hearts. One day she read in the New York Observer how a young girl school teacher, who lived in the outskirts of the city of Boston and was employed in one of the down-town schools, was bringing brightness into the homes of many poor people by taking with her large baskets of beautiful roses and lilacs and snowballs and many other kinds of flowers from her suburban home and giving them to the children whom she met. It was a simple little act, but the reading of it by Jennie Casseday brought a transformation in her life. I wish I knew the name of this young school teacher in Boston, but I can't give it to you. But it was she who gave to Jennie Casseday the thought for which she had longed. Jennie's suffering was almost forgotten in her planning and determination to raise flowers and give them to the sick and the needy in Louisville. Her friends soon learned of her plans and there were many willing hearts and hands to help her. Under her guidance the Louisville Flower Mission was established, and it soon proved to be a great and growing blessing. It had been doing its beautiful work for four years when Miss Frances E. Willard, head of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, visited Louisville. There she heard of the mission and the noble young woman who founded it. Miss Willard visited Jennie Casseday in her sick room, and when the conference had closed, Jennie had been placed at the head of the Flower Mission department of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, which was at that time brought into existence. This was in 1882, and Jennie continued in this great work until the time of her death in 1893. June 9 is observed as the Red Letter day of the Flower Mission department of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, for this is the birthday of Jennie Casseday. Every year, thousands of bouquets of beautiful flowers find their way into homes of the sick and the poor throughout the land. And so, with the forgetting of the sufferings of Jennie Casseday and the remembrance of her beautiful life, I think we may well change this crutch to something more commemorative of her life. [With green chalk, change the crutch to a stem of a carnation, and with pink draw the blossom, Fig. 55.]



"In Louisville, the people have sought to honor the memory of this young woman by the establishment of the Jennie Casseday Infirmary and the Rest Cottage Home for Working Girls. The school children of Louisville erected a beautiful monument to her memory bearing an appropriate inscription.

"Some of us who have our health and strength may well wonder if we are fulfilling all of God's demands. Boys and girls, let me impress upon you the thought that it is not the great, showy thing that makes people love us, but the careful doing of the seemingly little things, which, when summed up, make a magnificent whole. Jennie Casseday did what she could. No more is required of us. But that much is certainly expected, and we will fall short if we fail to meet the expectation."

[A beautiful close to this talk would be the recitation or reading of Dr. Van Dyke's poem "Transformation," which may be found in "The Blue Flower" or in "The Builders and Other Poems."]



MOTHER —Mother's Day —Home Training

The Great Men of the World Pay Her the Highest of Tribute—A Carnation Day Thought.

THE LESSON—That the welfare of the church and of the home rests more with the mothers than with the Sunday School teacher.

It is interesting to read the recorded words of some of the world's greatest minds in tribute to motherhood. The following talk, quoting some of these, should be an impressive lesson to the young and to the mothers as well.

~~The Talk.~~

"Who are these mothers for whom we have decorated our school room and ourselves with these beautiful flowers? [Draw, in black outline the carnation blossom; add the stem in solid green, and place the lettering in purple, red or blue, Fig. 56.]



"Surely these mothers must be of great importance or we would not be having a special service for them today. I have been reading a little about mothers, to see if they are really of much value to the world, and I want to repeat some of the things I have read. [It is well to have all of these quotations in note form to be read with accuracy.]

"I find that John Randolph, one of America's greatest statesmen, said, 'I should have been an atheist if it had not been for one recollection—and that was the memory of the time when my departed mother used to take my little hand in hers and cause me on my knees to say, "Our Father who art in heaven."'

"I find that Abraham Lincoln said of his mother, 'All that I am and all that I hope to be I owe to my mother. Blessings on her memory!'

"I find that George Herbert said, 'One good mother is worth a hundred schoolmasters.'

"I find that Oliver Wendell Holmes said,

"'Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother's secret hope outlives them all.'

"I find that Coleridge said,

"'A mother is a mother still, The holiest thing alive.'

"I find that Beecher said, 'A mother's heart is the child's school room.'

"I find that Benjamin West, the great artist, said, 'A kiss from my mother made me a painter.'

"I find that General Wallace, in Ben Hur, said, 'God could not be everywhere, so he made mothers.'

"I find everywhere the great men of the world paying loving tribute to these mothers, and after all there is only one real perfect, true and faultless mother in all the world and that is our own mother, whether she be gone before or whether she be still with us. I am sure that every one of us older ones will find ourselves in tune with the expressive words of George Griffith Fetter, who wrote:

"'The noblest thoughts my soul can claim, The holiest words my tongue can frame, Unworthy are to praise the name More sacred than all other. An infant, when her love first came— A man, I find it just the same; Reverently, I breathe her name, The blessed name of mother.'

"And so, I answer the question that I asked at the beginning, who are these mothers? Really, it seems to me that the mothers of the world are the power which keeps it moving toward all that is good and high and holy. Mother love has been a power in the world since history commenced, and the scriptures are filled with beautiful demonstrations of it. How we love to read the story of the mother of Moses who hid her child in the bullrushes and then succeeded in being engaged as his nurse. How often has the heart thrilled at the hearing of the story of Samuel and his mother! How strongly the mother love manifested itself at the time of the judgment of Solomon who was called to determine the possession of the child claimed by two women. And what could be more beautiful than the pictures of the devotion of the mother of Jesus to Him who was to be the Savior of the world?

"Verily, 'the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world,' through the love of good which the mother hopes for her child. The mother of today in America has a greater problem than ever before. The boys of today are the men of tomorrow. The boys will be what the mothers make them; and with this thought, I want to change our drawing slightly to indicate the ever-present problem which is never safe except in the hands of the right kind of mothers of the boys of today and of the future generations. [Add the words to complete Fig. 57.]



"May God bless you, mothers, and help you to help these boys and these girls to meet the great problems which are before them. You must help them. Without you, they are on unsafe ground, treading perilous paths."



NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS —New Year's Day —Watchfulness

Most of Them May be Rolled into One—"Hold Fast to That Which Is Good."

THE LESSON—That the positive life, rather than the negative life, knows true happiness.

While this talk is planned for the special application to the opening of the fiscal or the school or church year, it may be revised very easily to fit many other occasions.

~~The Talk.~~

"Right now, at the beginning of the new year, we hear a great deal about making resolutions, 'turning over a new leaf,' and so on. In many cases, these things are spoken of lightly and laughingly, and yet, I know that many of us, away down deep in our hearts, are thinking of things which we are resolving to do during the new year and also of things which we have made up our minds not to do during the coming twelve months.

"What does it signify when we do this? It means that we have made mistakes and that we do not intend to make the same mistakes again. It is a strange thing to say, but it is true, nevertheless, that a man is a good deal like a fish in some respects. Whenever you go fishing, you use just the kind of bait which you think will fool the fish the most easily. You should know where a certain kind of fish is likely to abound and then use the style of bait which that kind of fish is most apt to mistake for something which it is not. Here, for instance, is a cork bobber on the surface of the water of a lake, with the line attached to it, and here, below, is the hook, nicely concealed from view by the bait in the form of an angle worm. [Draw the lines to follow the talk, completing Fig. 58.]



"It is evident that the fisherman who holds the line is not after the kind of fish which are to be captured by trolling or casting, for he is using the method known as still-fishing. And, sure enough, he has attracted a victim, a blue gill, which is making straight for what he thinks will mean more life to him but which probably means sure death unless he succeeds in getting away again. [Draw fish, completing Fig. 59.] So, the ingenuity of man is kept active in devising means of capturing game of all kinds.



"And are we not like the fish? Haven't you bitten into any baited hooks during the past year? Haven't you been fooled into thinking something was good for you when it turned out to be bad? Hasn't some alluring amusement or pastime brought disappointment or shame when you thought it would bring delight and satisfaction? Ah, yes. All of us have been fooled in one way or another, and when we come to this time of the year and decide to start anew we find that it isn't so easy as we thought, to get rid of many errors or vices which we would eliminate from our lives. Perhaps some have fallen victims to habits which grip us relentlessly, and if so we can doubtless agree with Pope that

"'Vice is a monster of so frightful mien As to be hated needs but to be seen: Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face. We first endure, then pity, then embrace.'

"As Shakespeare says, 'There is no vice so simple, but assumes some mark of virtue on his outward parts.' There's where the trouble starts. We're completely fooled. And when we come to purify our lives by eliminating this thing and that, we are discouraged with the result, and in many instances we give up in despair.

"How, then, are we to make our resolutions good? How are we to be sure that the new leaf which we turn over will not be blown back again by the first wind of passion or discouragement which comes?

"I believe we can do it by making our resolutions positive and not negative. Let me explain what I mean. We are normal human beings. We demand activity. There must be something doing. If we are giving our time wastefully to society, to the theater, to the many other forms of amusement we shall find ourselves most miserable if we simply resolve to eliminate these things from our lives. To do this is to make a negative resolution. No, the thing to do is to resolve that hereafter our time will be spent in busying ourselves at those things which are wholesome, helpful to others, and of such a character to bring delight to us because of the service we can render to the world. What can you do? Why, the field to do good is never overcrowded. The church and the Sunday school offer many avenues of activity. Find out the thing you can do best—uncover your talent. Get busy at good works, and then there will be no room for the objectionable things and they will die out because good habits are growing in their stead.

"To do this is the surest way to 'set your mind on the things that are above, not on things that are upon the earth,' and when this is done we need have little concern about our happiness."



THE MOUNTAIN CLIMBER —Light —Danger

All Light, Shining in the Darkness, Is Either a Guide or a Warning.

THE LESSON—That the Bible sends out two kinds of light, guiding and warning, and that all who neglect it are groping in the dark, "loving darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil."

The word Light, appears very frequently in the scriptures as a type of the highest human good. All of the most joyous emotions of the mental and physical natures of man are described in the imagery of light. Throughout the Book it is used to typify the true religion and happiness.

~~The Talk.~~

"When we go riding in an automobile after dark, we light the lamps at the front and at the rear. Why do we light the lamps? So the light will shine on the roadway and we will be able to see where we are going and thus avoid mishap and injury? Yes, but how about the lamp at the rear? Oh, we light that one so other people will not run into us. Yes, and that, too, is one of the great reasons why we light the front lamps. If we were to start out on a night journey with no lamps burning, there would be great danger of accident, and especially if we were to meet another automobile which had no lights burning. We would be apt to bump into each other. The law recognizes all this and compels us to keep our automobile lights brilliantly shining.

"Dwight L. Moody, the great evangelist, tells the story that as he was walking along a dark city street one night, he met a man, who carried an object in each of his hands. Something about the man's actions excited the curiosity of Mr. Moody, and he stopped to speak to him. The thing that caused Mr. Moody to wonder was this: The man held in one hand a lighted lantern, and in the other a cane with which he was feeling his way along the street. As he stopped, Mr. Moody saw that the man was blind. He was so much interested that he spoke to the man, saying:

"'Since you are blind, why do you carry a lantern? It doesn't help you to see your way.'

"'No,' replied the man, 'I carry it to keep people from running into me.'

"So, here, you see, was an instance of carrying a light, not to enable one to see his way but to guard himself against harm from those who would be warned thereby.

"Ofttimes, you have seen red lanterns placed along streets where dangerous obstructions are left in the pathway of travel. These lights are to warn people of possible harm.

"As Christians, we, too, must have a light on our pathway to guide us through life, and this same light will also guard us against harm. That light comes from Jesus Christ through his word. With the light of his love within us we can never mistake the way. If we have that light, temptations may come to us, but they cannot harm us because that light warns them away. This light is our guide and our guard. God's word, the Psalmist declares, 'is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.'

"The story is told of a traveler in the west who, separated from the other members of his party, was climbing slowly up the rocky side of a rugged mountain. [Draw the man and the lines of the mountain.] His progress was slow, not only because of the difficulty in climbing up the slippery and treacherous rocks, but because the mountain top was shrouded in a heavy mist or cloud, which made it impossible for him to see more than a few feet ahead of him. [Draw the cloud line to complete Fig. 60.]



"All at once, the bright sunlight broke through the mist, and the man was horrified to find that he was on the very brink of a high precipice and that a climb of a few more feet would have meant death and destruction to him. [Draw lines to complete Fig. 61.]



"Everywhere in life does our pathway lead toward danger. The saloon would claim the young man. The Light says, 'Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.' Perhaps the temptation comes to be dishonest in dealing with other people. The Light says, 'All things therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them.' Whatever the temptation, whatever the perplexity, however deep the darkness, this Light is ours, not only to brighten the way but to warn the evil thing to depart from us. And, having received this light, let us remember continually that Christ said, 'Ye are the light of the world. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.'"



THE OPEN SALOON DOOR —Temperance Day —Destruction

The Young Man Who Enters Therein Endangers His Whole After Life.

THE LESSON—That both the soul and the body are threatened with destruction by indulgence in strong drink.

This temperance lesson possesses one of the "surprise" features which are permissible only when they lose themselves in the greatness of the truth they present. In preparing for the talk, be sure that your guide lines are properly placed. You must be provided with a sharp penknife to use in cutting the "doors" in the picture. The dotted lines for enlarging the picture are omitted for fear of confusion, but these may be drawn over Fig. 62, with a hard pencil, and the desired purpose be accomplished.

~~The Talk.~~

"To us who realize the terrible results of the use of strong drink, and who are trying to do our part in protecting the boys and young men from the blighting influence of the saloon, there is something most discordant in the way in which these places parade their false attractiveness; for many there are who do not realize that they are a trap which, to enter, may prove fatal to life and hope.

"The great question is, why can they not see the danger? That is the mystery, for down through the ages has come the thunder of warning against this great enemy of mankind. 'Look not thou upon the wine when it is red,' cries out King Solomon. 'At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder.' 'Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine.'

"One look at the saloon door should cause the young man to recoil in horror, for he may see there, if he but heed, the very warning of death. Let him look upon it. Let us see what he may behold. [Draw the outline of the windows, the sign and the lower horizontal line of Fig. 62, omitting, for the present, the lettering.] This, let us suppose, is the front of the saloon which invites him to enter its doors. [Draw very lightly the lines indicated by the dotted lines A.] Prominently displayed are the evidences that intoxicating liquors are sold there. [Draw with red chalk the words, "Dealers in Wine, Porter, Whiskeys, Bourbon, Etc.," completing Fig. 62. There is no more drawing to do; the remaining step is taken by the aid of the penknife.] Here we have the front of the saloon.



"There is one thing about the drink habit that we can easily understand, and there is one thing about it that I suppose we shall never understand. We can realize why the man who is bound by this awful curse does not break his bonds; how willingly would he do it if he believed he could. But, as we have observed, it is a mystery why a boy or a young man, with numberless powerful and convincing proofs before him, will deliberately enter the doorway of a saloon. But once within, all may seem bright and happy and joyous—perhaps the victim is led to believe that father and mother are misinformed, since there seems to be nothing but gaiety there. But he finds, all too soon, that the liquor which seemed at first to make little difference in his life, is becoming his master, and never does he realize it so well as when he tries to free himself. Why and how has the saloon changed his life? The story is a simple one, and he should have seen the reason before he entered, because there it is, written plainly upon the outside of the place which has meant his ruin.

[With your penknife cut the paper along the lines A. Do not cut on the lines B. Fold back the two "doors," at B, as if they were hinged. It may be necessary to hold them back with thumb tacks or pins. To heighten the effect it is well to have placed a blackened sheet of paper beneath the top sheet, so as to produce the effect illustrated. Add "And Poison Kills!" This completes Fig. 63.]



"The saloon may try to hide its real self, but every time it opens its doors to allow one of its victims to come out, it proclaims to the world that it traffics in poison—poison fatal to happiness, fatal to hope, fatal to health, fatal to all the higher and nobler aspirations of life. Everywhere is this truth proclaimed. From the insane asylums come the testimony. The jails cry out that it is true. The poor houses tell of its blight. Poverty-burdened homes and broken hearts everywhere proclaim the awful truth.

"And yet, the land is cursed with these dram shops whose owners care only for the money which comes to them and which should go to the advancement of the happiness and the uplift of him who is their victim. Boys, may we plead with you today never to allow this thing to enter your life to keep you from being all that God wants you to be?"



THE SIMPLE LIFE —Haste —Quietness

The True Christian Life is the Safe, Sensible, Simple Life.

THE LESSON—That speed and greed must of necessity end in dire disaster.

It is a splendid thing to teach the boys and girls the lesson that true happiness attends the quiet, yet active life, while the race after vain things brings only bitterness and disappointment.

~~The Talk.~~

[Because of the details in the drawing of the boat, it is advisable, we think, to complete Fig. 64 before beginning the talk.]

"In these days the very air seems filled with the 'speed germ.' Automobiles whiz here and there, and many a hen which now tries to cross the country road never gets more than half way. We who live in town have to keep a sharp lookout or we are apt to share the fate of many a valuable Buff Cochin or Plymouth Rock. Trains speed along their glistening rails faster than ever before. Great ships skim across the ocean in days instead of weeks. The aeroplane, which needs neither steel rails nor water to glide upon, darts through space still more rapidly. Everybody seems to be in a hurry, whether he is or not. We are impatient if the street car is half a minute late, when we are fully aware that we have plenty of time to reach our destination.

"Again, we fret and work because we aren't getting rich fast enough. We get mad at our neighbor because he buys an automobile and despise him because we can't figure where he got the money with which to do it. We aren't satisfied with having $50,000. We want $500,000. And if we should get it, we would be just as dissatisfied and go chasing after a million. What's the matter with us? Are we crazy? Some women spend $50,000 a year on their clothes, whose mothers dressed better, looked better, felt better and were better on $500 or even a single hundred! In our mad chase after vain things how blind we are to the things of true worth and usefulness!

"Every little while we get a shock that ought to bring us to our senses. When we learn of a terrible railroad wreck, we may expect to find the blame placed on someone for disobeying orders, or for other carelessness, but the true cause in nearly every instance is the cry of the public—of you and me and the other fellow—for speed—more speed—and still more speed!



"The greatest marine disaster in the world's history was the staking of the magnificent White Star line steamship, the Titanic, in April, 1912. [Remove your cover sheet and display Fig. 64.] Larger, faster and more costly than any vessel ever before built, it left its docks with its hundreds of passengers and members of the crew—a floating city in itself. Among the passengers were many whose names are recorded on the rolls of the world's greatest scientists, financiers, artists and authors. With eager, happy hearts, they looked forward to the celebration in New York which awaited the arrival of this foremost of the world's floating palaces. Alas, it was never to be! The story is too horrible for repetition. The fatal collision with the great iceberg—the heroism, the sacrifice, the loss of hundreds of precious lives as the vessel plunged into the depths of the ocean, are known in all their horror. [Add lines to produce Fig. 65.] The few in the lifeboats, looking toward the sinking vessel, heard the ship's band playing 'Nearer, My God, to Thee,' as the great ship, with its living load sank from sight. Hundreds of broken hearts still mourn the loss of dear ones, and all because the big, loaded ship was forced to run a race with time! Those in charge knew of the presence of the icebergs. They could have saved the loss by changing their route or slackening their speed, but the cry was, 'Hurry! Hurry! Break the record!'



"Aren't we all doing the same thing! The speed mania possesses us. The senseless race for worldly wealth and honor blinds us to the presence of threatened disaster. Let us quickly change our course. Christ our Master, points the way of safety. He has gone that way himself, and he asks each humble follower to take the course which He has so plainly marked out. It is the way of truth and peace. If we take it, we shall avoid every danger of a spiritual crash, which may mean disaster for soul as well as body."



WARMTH AND COLDNESS —Sunday —Rest

A Talk on Sunday Observance and Its Relation to the Christian Life.

THE LESSON—That the things we think and do on the Lord's day are a true index of our character.

The importance of the matter of Sunday observance must not be underestimated by the teacher whose endeavor it is to mould into true manhood and womanhood the lives of the boys and girls in her care.

~~The Talk.~~

"How many of you boys and girls ever played the game called 'Hide the Thimble?' Ah, I thought so—nearly everybody. One person bides the thimble and all the others try to find it; the one who discovers it first gets the chance to hide it the next time. Sometimes, the one who has hidden it assists the others to find it by saying, 'You are warm' or 'You are cold,' depending upon the nearness to or the distance from the hidden thimble.

"When we stop to think about it, we find that many things in the world are just like this game. Your life and mine are a great deal like it. Sometimes there is something within us that tells us we are wandering away from God—that tells us we are growing cold. And then, if we heed the warning, we hear the same voice saying we are growing warmer, and we know it to be true for we feel the assurance that we are nearer to the Master than before.

"I am going to draw on the paper this morning a thermometer, and with this thermometer we shall make some tests to see just what it means to be warm Christians or cold ones. [Draw the thermometer, Fig. 66, complete, excepting the liquid in the bulb.]



"Now we are ready to make the test, and we are going to do it by finding out how we spend our Sundays. Why? Because if you can know just how a boy or girl or a man or woman spends the Lord's day, you can tell pretty nearly just what kind of a person that one is in the sight of Jesus Christ.

"God gave us this one day for our greatest good. He wants us to use it as a day which shall make us strong and well, bright and happy. If we use it any other way, we are sure to make one of the greatest mistakes of our lives. So certain is God that we must have a day of rest and upbuilding once in each seven days that he made a law concerning it. It is one of the Ten Commandments, which says that we must 'remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' God knows best. When He establishes a law, it must not be broken or the one who breaks it will suffer. If the child touches fire with his hand, after being warned by his mother not to do it, his suffering is the result of doing what the mother forbade. When God tells us to keep His day holy, every one of us who disobeys that command must suffer. Let us see how it works. Bishop Vincent says: 'Sunday is ill-spent if it sends us back to our weekly work irritated, weary and reluctant'—and Sunday will never do that for us unless we misuse the day which God has given us. If we spend the day in worrying about our everyday affairs, if we spend it in chasing around after senseless amusements which weary the body without enlightening the heart and the mind, if we allow ourselves to follow paths which lead away from truth and right, then we will show up Monday morning irritated, weary and reluctant and our Sunday observance temperature is low indeed. [With red chalk, fill the bulb and a portion of the thermometer tube, completing Fig. 66.]

"But Bishop Vincent also says, 'Sunday is well spent if it sends us back refreshed in body, mind and spirit to take up our duties with new inspiration of hope, patience and courage.' And we can all do this; and, as we do it, we shall find a growing delight in it. If we have been wasting our Sundays—spending them in such a way that when Monday morning comes we look back upon the Sabbath with regret—let us begin right now to form habits which shall make Sunday a delight—the brightest, the most restful, the most interesting, the most refreshing of all times. And let us be thankful that a day of this kind can come to us so often. It is then that our Sunday observance temperature will rise to its highest point. [With red chalk add lines to complete Fig. 67.]



"Dr. Lyman Abbott, like many others points out the folly of attending church services in the morning and then passing the remainder of the day in noisy or wearisome celebration. He calls it a 'weekly composite of Thanksgiving and Fourth of July,'—Thanksgiving in the quiet of the morning, and Fourth of July in the noisy afternoon.

"Such an observance of the day is displeasing to God who gave us the day for our greatest good and not to be wasted in idleness and folly.

"Keeping the Lord's day holy doesn't deprive us of activity, but it changes the course of our action from paths of wastefulness to fields of the greatest good. There are many things to do on Sunday, and in the doing of some of them right at your hands, you will have discovered the best way for you to get the most out of one of God's greatest gifts to his children."



THE DESERT and the MOUNTAIN —Decision Day —Conversion

A Decision Day Illustration From the Far West—"Living Water."

THE LESSON—That as the desert cannot become productive until it receives the waters of irrigation, so the arid soul, if it is to become fruitful, must receive the water of life.

While this illustration is especially applicable to the service of Decision Day, it is recommended for any occasion where there is opportunity to speak of conversion or a returning to Christ.

~~The Talk.~~

"A gentleman, a little past middle life, was traveling from the east in a luxurious passenger train crossing one of the far western states. As he gazed from the car window, his face wore an expression of interest, which developed into one of wonder and excitement.

"'Can it be,' he exclaimed, addressing the man who sat with him, 'that I am passing through the very same country which I saw but a few short years ago? It seems impossible!'

"Now, why did it seem impossible? Let us find out. It appears that when the man traveled the state before, he looked out of the car windows upon a scene of barrenness and desolation. [As you speak, draw Fig. 68 with brown crayon. Be sure to leave the mountain peaks white, but, in order to secure an impressive pastel effect use the broad side of your brown and your yellow crayons lightly over the entire area of desert and mountain side.] The earth was dry and parched, and in all directions, as far as the eye could see, grew only the sage brush—the mark of the desert. There was no life, excepting an occasional coyote, and the reflected heat and light made travel almost unbearable. The monotonous earth was composed of the leveled deposits of the mountains which the sun had baked for centuries.



[As you continue, change the scene by covering the brown with green. Draw the foliage of the trees with green and the trunks with brown. Life may be added by touching the trees with the red and the yellow and the orange to indicate the fruit. The thought is to transform the desert into a place of fruitfulness. This completes Fig. 69.]



"But now, all was changed as if by a magic touch. In place of the sage brush and the broad wastes of baking earth, the man beheld here great orchards, with hundreds of fruit trees, laden with glistening apples, oranges and pears, and wide fields were covered with bounteous crops of grain. The once arid wilderness was now the fertile dwelling place of many happy families.

"What had wrought this great change? Nothing but the hand and mind of man, guided by the maker of the universe, who seems to have stored rich treasures everywhere for those who will reach out for them. It happened in this way:

"One day, a certain man beheld the snow-capped mountains—cold and forbidding—and then he turned his gaze to the earth—parched and dead. He knew that if he could only unite the waters of the snow-capped mountains with the dead earth below them, 'the desert would blossom as the rose.' Before this thing happened, two-thirds of the entire area of the United States was a desert waste. But the waters were brought down, and the great transformation followed. Gradually, the arid waste is disappearing and the forces of irrigation are expanding; and the vast western country is unfolding to the millions who are spreading over its newly-discovered areas of wealth.

"Let us turn quickly to the application. There are, in every community, many human deserts—men and women, boys and girls, whose unproductive lives need the waters of life to make them blossom and bring forth fruit in His kingdom. Perhaps they have beheld Him only as a cold, forbidding mountain peak, and if this is true, they should catch the spirit of the Psalmist who cried, 'My soul thirsteth for thee; my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is.'

"In the case of the desert, it is conversion, pure and simple. May the heavenly waters of His grace come to each one of us today, whether it be a first decision to be united with Him, or whether it be a decision to return to Him whom we have deserted.

"Our duty toward our fellow men conies before us happily in these words from the prophet Isaiah, 'If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and afflicted soul, thou shalt be like a spring of water whose waters fail not.'"



REFLECTING AND BLESSING —Helpfulness —Testimony

Those Who Are "The Light of the World" Should be a Guide to Those Who Are in Darkness.

THE LESSON—That those who have received the light from God's Word should gladly reflect that light to those about them.

The central thought of this illustration is the responsibility which rests upon God's children in the spreading of the brightness of Christianity to those who must receive it through them. It is appropriate for many occasions and will fit audiences of all ages in which the children form a part.

~~The Talk.~~

"It is said that once upon a time a teacher asked a boy to tell her whether the sun or the moon is of the greater importance to the world.

"'The moon,' replied the boy.

"'Why,' inquired the teacher, 'do you think the moon is of more benefit to the world than the sun is?'

"'Because,' said the boy, 'the moon shines at night when we need it, but the sun shines only in the daytime when we do not need it.'

"That was certainly a strange kind of an answer; wasn't it? I will draw the earth and the moon to show more plainly just how mistaken the boy was. [Draw the earth circle and the moon circle, and show the shaded parts as you proceed.]

"Here we have the earth with one-half in darkness, and here is the moon with one-half in darkness. This side of the earth is light, while this other side would be very dark indeed if it were not for the rays of light coming from the moon, like this: [Draw dotted line showing rays of light going from the moon to the earth, completing Fig. 70].



"Now, then we ask, can the moon shine upon the earth all of itself without any help? Ah, no—and that is the thing the boy didn't know, or he never would have answered as he did. Where does the moon get its light from? Yes, from the sun. I will draw part of a circle to represent the sun. [Draw the sun.] And this dotted line [draw dotted line from sun to moon, completing Fig. 71] shows how the sun sends its brilliant light to the moon, so that the moon may reflect part of it back to the earth which would be enshrouded in darkness if it were not for the sun. The moon acts just like a mirror which you hold in your hand and use to reflect the sun's rays wherever you please.



"Sometimes the moon gets between the earth and the sun, and it is then that it does not reflect the sun's light and it is then that we have nights of inky blackness.

"I wonder if we have ever stopped to think how very much we Christian people are, or ought to be, like the moon. Just as the sun warms and lights everything about it, so the love of God lights and warms those who turn their faces toward him. We can truly say with the Psalmist, that 'the Lord is my light and salvation,' but we have not fulfilled our mission on earth if we are willing merely to receive this light of happiness, of contentment, of trust and of faith, without reflecting it in every possible practical way. When Jesus said to those about him, 'Ye are the light of the world,' he also said, 'Let your light shine,' and He pictured to His followers their duty of spreading the light of their blessings to the world of darkness about them. Paul touched upon the same great truth when he wrote to the church at Rome that its members should be 'a light to them which are in darkness.'

"How may we best reflect this light of heaven? It is for each of us to determine this for himself, being governed entirely by his circumstances, his abilities and his opportunities. But, first of all, we must be sure we have received that light as God would have us receive it. None of us can be perfect, but we can live close to our great ideal and by learning constantly from Him, we shall find the light coming to us more clearly and more beautifully as the days go by. We shall find a deeper sympathy for those who suffer, warmer love for those whom we may have condemned, and an increasing desire to be of greater help to those who really need help. When we have reached this condition—when we have truly received the light—we need give little thought to the manner in which we shall reflect it.

"Abraham Lincoln once said, 'I do the best I know, the very best I can, and I mean to keep right on doing so till the end.' Such a life sends its rays down through the generations that are to follow, and its reflected light never fades away."



HIDDEN SUNSHINE —Missionary Day —Love

How the Warmth and Brightness Stored Away Ages Ago Are Now of Service to Man.

THE LESSON—That the true missionary spirit is the spreading abroad of the warmth of God's blessings which we have received.

The principles governing missions are permeated with the elements of love, unselfishness and self-sacrifice. This talk may be used, therefore, as a missionary day topic or on any occasion in which it is appropriate to dwell upon any of its attributes.

~~The Talk.~~

"Once upon a time, long before there were any people on the earth and perhaps before there were any animals or birds or reptiles here, the world was covered with an immense, luxuriant growth of vegetation. How do we know it? The geologists tell us so. They have dug deep into the earth and they have examined what they found, and they have long ago determined that this condition is true. It would seem that in those ages of long ago the world must have been very different from what it is now, for the seas flowed over vast areas which are now solid ground. Immense trees grew in those times, and the great ferns and palms and tropical plants grew in portions where now they cannot grow because it is too cold. I want to draw some trees and bushes to represent this great growth. [Draw trees and bushes of Fig. 72 in green.] And also the bright warm sun which, together with the abundance of water, caused them to grow so profusely. [Draw the sun in orange, completing Fig. 72.] Then, the geologists tell us, there came a great change. There were awful volcanic disturbances which caused the sea to overflow great areas of these trees and bushes and ferns, and they were buried from sight by a vast expanse of water. Gradually, though, another change came. The waters receded into lesser areas and the ground arose from beneath the waves. But the trees and the bushes and the ferns were gone. Where? They had been buried deep beneath the mud and sand and stones which the waters had washed over them. Then, after that, God created the monster mastodon and the mammoth and many other beasts which have since disappeared from the earth, and finally man was created to have dominion over the earth. For many centuries afterward, no one knew that the earth was once the place of immense trees and ferns and rank vegetable growth which had since been buried beneath the surface. But one day, some of this old, buried vegetable matter was found and brought to the surface of the earth. By that time it was not green any longer. It was hard and compact and looked very much like black stone. Someone seemed to think it would burn if fire were applied to it. And, strange to say, it did burn.