CHAPTER IV

THE PERIOD OF EARLY CHILDHOOD—Concluded

THE FEELINGS

A child receives a coveted toy and his face is aglow with delight. He is sharply reproved and anger or grief appears. Another child comes to play with him, and he may assert that all his guest desires "is mine," and tears, and even blows ensue before amicable adjustment can be made. And so through the hours of a kaleidoscopic day, the emotional pendulum keeps swinging from love to anger, from pride to humility, from selfishness to sporadic and angelic bits of generosity. What is the significance of it all in the life of the child?

Before considering this vital question, shall we note some characteristics of the feelings in Early Childhood?

They center about self, and instinctive feelings, such as hunger and thirst, pain and pleasure, fear, pride and anger, are strongest. Love is present in its first stages, not the self sacrificing sort, but love given in response to love and attention. The child's feelings are easily aroused, fleeting, and usually more or less superficial. Abstractions, such as beauty, duty, responsibility, and relationships in general have but slight effect upon his soul, and the lack of feeling in these directions is commonly expressed by saying that the higher feelings are not yet developed.

The child's feelings in response to religious truth can not, therefore, be those of the adult. He will feel love for God as he feels it for his mother, because of His love, provision and care for him. God's power and the mystery that envelops Him will awaken a response of awe and wonder in his soul, and absolute confidence that He can do anything. But this same power and majesty, carelessly presented, may call out fear, not the godly sort that is afraid of grieving Him by sin, but the physical fear that casts out love. He does not have the sense of moral obligation to God, for that again goes into the abstraction of thought. His religious life begins in feeling, pure and simple, and his creed is in I John, "We love Him because He first loved us."

Most interesting lines of discussion open out from the subject, but they are not pertinent to the chosen theme of this book. The only legitimate question is, "What is the work of nurture in connection with the feelings?"

Before this can be answered, the purpose of the feelings in character building must be clear. Then we shall know what nurture must do.

No feeling has a right to exist for itself. There is a task for it to perform, namely, to lead the soul to action. If unhindered it will always do this. The careful analysis of any action will reveal a motive power in some feeling, ranging from the lowest desires for self gratification to the sublime heights of love that denies self for the Master's sake. Knowledge alone does not suffice for action. A man may be familiar with the claims of Jesus and even acknowledge them, but until he feels a great need of Him, he will not become a Christian. The sermon may compel the admiration of the mind, but unless it move the heart no man will practice it. Jesus summed up his commands in "Love," not "Know," for He knew that loving meant God-like living. It is significant that the fruitage of the Spirit appears in the feelings of "love, joy, peace," before it can be manifest in the acts of "long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self control."

This indissoluble relation between feeling and action gives deep meaning to the words of Dr. W.H. Payne, "At least the half, and perhaps the better half of education consists in the formation of right feelings."

The work of nurture in connection with the feelings is now apparent. It must endeavor to develop right feelings in order to secure right actions and consequent strong character. This development is secured through repeatedly arousing the feelings, and giving them expression in action until they are habitual.

  1. How may the Feelings be Aroused? Passing by all the physiological and psychological processes involved, and using the term, feeling, as it is popularly understood, the law that governs its appearance may be stated thus: "A feeling is occasioned by the touch of an impression upon the soul." With older people, these impressions may come from without or from a thought within, but with little children they come almost entirely from without. The sort of feeling aroused will evidently depend upon the sort of impression that comes, as well as the condition of the soul that receives it. This difference in conditions, or difference in lives as we ordinarily say, explains why the Sunday School lesson has such varied effects in the same class, or even upon the same child at different times.
    1. They are not given through command.
    2. Common sense would recognize the absurdity of attempting to awaken anger by saying to a group of happy children, "Be angry." But why is the absurdity not equally apparent in saying, "Be loving," "Be sorry," "Be reverent?" Yet this is a method on which countless teachers and parents place their dependence. Suppose, for instance, reverence be the feeling desired; a thought of God's greatness and power and holiness must be given. If, to the sensitive soul of the child, the teacher bring the story of Sinai, or the story of Majestic Power as it is set forth in the 104th Psalm, or the glory of the Heavenly throne with the adoring multitudes, following with the words, softly sung,
      1. Care must be exercised not to over stimulate feeling, as an excess beyond that which can be expended in action has an after weakening and reactionary effect. This has its illustration in certain methods of evangelistic work with children, where results are measured by their hysterical condition when the meeting concludes. Contrast with this the gentleness which breathes through the story of the Master's touch, as He took them in His arms and blessed them, laying His hands upon them, when He had said, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me."
      2. It is as injurious to a child to attempt to force a feeling before its normal time, as to a bud, to pry open its petals to hasten God's processes. Even the Divine Child "grew." "That is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual," is God's law of unfolding life.
      3. But these consciously presented impressions form only a small part of the sources of suggestion to the child. The countless sights and circumstances of his everyday life all have a voice for him, and a feeling follows their message.
      4. Every mother who has suffered mortification over the unaccountable behavior of her child toward a guest, knows the sometimes untoward as well as helpful working of suggestion from personality. Atmosphere has the same power. "I don't know what there is in your home," said a visitor to her hostess; "I can't define it, but it makes me want to be good." Music may be suggestive, aside from what it actually says. It would seem as if no sane superintendent would prepare for prayer by a two step song, or follow the lesson on, "The Washing of the Disciples' Feet", by, "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean," but it was done. It would seem as though no primary teacher could be so insensible to suggestion from objects, as to try to teach worship in giving by taking the offering through a hole in the tail of a jointed tin rooster, but that self-same rooster is no myth.
      5. The subject expands into endless ramifications. True nurture essays the difficult task of analyzing the impressions that come from suggestion—guarding against the harmful, and multiplying the helpful.
    3. "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts,
      Heaven and earth are full of Thee,
      Heaven and earth are praising Thee,
    4. Oh Lord, most high."
    5. the result will be true reverence.
    6. Suggestion is a most effective way of conveying these impressions.
    7. Instead of saying to the child, "This is the thought you should have, and this is what you should feel, and this is what you ought to do," he is allowed to draw meanings and have feelings of his own, for then they are genuinely a part of his soul, not something foisted upon him.
    8. But even though the application is not made, nurture will consciously present impressions intended to suggest certain feelings. The Sunday School lesson, the missionary story, the visit to the poor family, the song carefully selected, all fall in this class. Special mention should be made of the great effect upon the child in making attractive in another, the feeling desired for him. A single incident will illustrate this: A frightened little candidate for the Beginners' Class and his stern mother stood one Sunday morning before the Primary superintendent. "He's got to stay in here by himself today," she said; "I won't have such nonsense. Look at him, with his first trousers on! I'm ashamed of him!" The superintendent did look and saw the new trousers, and in them the trembling little body, and a soul speechless with terror at facing for the first time, alone, the unknown experience of a great world, even though it was enclosed in four walls. There was no trace of relenting in the mother's face, and any plea for pity was useless. But the new trousers gave a possible key to the situation. "Why, so he has new trousers on!" the superintendent said. "I want to see them," and very thoroughly and enthusiastically they were inspected. "I didn't know that he was so nearly a man that he could wear trousers instead of dresses. I am sure he will stay alone today because men do and are not at all afraid." She waited. Gradually the little head lifted as the thought of bravery began to make its appeal. He put his hand into the hand of the superintendent, and without hesitation started on the perilous journey across the room to the Beginners' section, where no punishment could have driven him a few moments earlier, and proud and heroic sat by himself through the hour. Such is the power of suggestion.
    9. Two points, however, must be carefully guarded in deliberate effort to arouse a feeling.
    10. Impressions may be given and feelings aroused through doing the act which would naturally result from the feeling.
    11. This is the reason why a reverential attitude helps to arouse real reverence, and a smiling face and cheery tone actually bring cheerfulness in a case of the blues. Little children are so imitative that they quickly copy the outward manifestations of a feeling, and the inner state tends to follow. This is further a reason for leading them into acts of loving service, that love and kindred gracious feelings may gain strength through the reflex influence of the action upon the soul.
    12. One word should be spoken on the negative side. Since each recurrence of a feeling strengthens its power, nurture will seek to avoid the conditions which would arouse wrong feelings. "But should not the child control himself?" some one asks. Instinctive feelings are stronger than the power of self control in the beginning, and life needs shielding more than testing. God says, "Fathers, provoke not your children to anger," or, literally, "Fathers, irritate not your children beyond measure, but nourish them fully in the instruction and admonition of the Lord."
  2. Keeping in mind the law that some impression must precede a feeling, true nurture asks, "In what way can these impressions best be given, that desired feelings may be aroused?"
  3. The Expression of the Feelings.
  4. Every normal feeling tends irresistibly to express itself in action unless it is held in leash. The story of the poor family needs the addition of no impassioned appeal; the child is already wondering whether he can empty his bank for their help. If expression is denied to the feeling, it tends to die out, and continual repression means a lessening either in power to act or power to feel. "Sentimentalists" have lost power to act except in tears or ejaculations when their emotions are stirred, and "hardened" people have lost the power to feel under ordinary stimulation. Therefore nothing is more fatal to vigorous development of the feelings of the child than to allow them to be dissipated without expression in the action they naturally suggest.
  5. But nurture will see that little hands are allowed to hinder by "helping" to make the beds, or dust the room or carry the package, not simply that love may grow stronger, but that in after years there may be the desire to lift the burdens in reality from wearied shoulders, for the higher feelings of life develop from the instinctive feelings, if they have proper expression in the beginning. Love that is almost barter in early years, since it is bestowed for value received, if given constant expression in acts of helpfulness, will become the self-denying love of later years. Love for self, which is so strong in a child, can be developed toward its manifestation of self respect, by using it at first in childhood, "to help this good body grow both strong and tall." Childish hate may be directed against wrong things, in preparation for indignation against sin of future years. It must not be forgotten, however, that in God's economy every feeling, if properly used, has its work to do in character building in every stage of its development, so that even the foundation stones may be laid in beauty and strength.

THE WILL

The power of the soul to make deliberate choice of action, and unwaveringly to execute it, is undeveloped in this period of Early Childhood. The child does not balance reasons or desires. Instead, he acts impetuously and unthinkingly, as the feeling of the passing moment impels him. Often one desire so completely absorbs his mind as to obscure everything else, and he will make any effort to gain his end. His case is like that of a man who "sets his heart" on a thing, or who harbors an alluring temptation too long, until it overpowers him. This is the explanation of most cases of obstinacy and strong will, as is proven by the disappearance of the "will" when the mind is diverted.

One of the deepest desires of every parent and teacher is that there shall in truth be a strong will as the life matures, and so its training is sought. But just what is meant by it? We know there is no separate faculty to be strengthened as the arm is strengthened. What can be trained? The only training possible is in helping the soul to form the habit of choosing to do the right thing, or, analyzing still more closely, of following the promptings of the noblest feelings of the heart.

The inseparable relation between feeling and action has been noted. If the noblest feelings can be made the strongest, they will be followed. The previous discussion shows that their strength is increased every time they are aroused and acted upon, and this leads to habit in both feeling and action. The nurture of the will or executive power of the soul is seen, therefore, to be most intimately connected with the nurture of the feelings, and its work will consist in making the right course of action so appealing that the child will desire and choose it for himself, until it becomes habitual, and consequently, undebatable. Forcing him to follow it, secures the action; it does not arouse the feelings that would lead him to choose to do the act himself.

An act compelled is like an apple tied to a fruit tree; it did not grow there and has no connection with the life of the tree. A fruit tree that can not bear its own fruit is worthless, and a life that does not reach the point of producing its own right actions, independent of human coercion, is a failure. The comparison may be pressed still further. No quantity of apples tied upon a tree will ever make it produce apples, and even so, no number of right acts imposed upon a child will, in itself, make him do right things voluntarily. This can only come through strengthening in his own soul the processes that lead to right action. The truth of this is proven in the case of thousands of boys who did the right things at home because they were compelled to do so, but when they left home they went wrong. The one who should have nurtured was too busy, or too thoughtless, to take the time to lead into strength and uprightness the thinking and feeling and choosing of the soul while it was developing. It was easier to say peremptorily, "Do this," with the inevitable result, that when compulsion was removed character gave way because it was weak.

But some one is saying, "That is a very questionable doctrine; 'Let the child do as he pleases, if he don't want to do the right, don't force him.'"

Such a deduction from the argument entirely misses the point. The child must do the right, but, in a nutshell—which is the stronger constraint—outer or inner? Which makes character surer, the voice without, saying, 'You must,' or the voice within which says it? No external power could have made Paul's record of service, or Brainerd's or Paton's. All the force of the Russian government was powerless to obtain that which each Japanese soldier poured out upon his country's altar in the fight for supremacy in Manchuria. These deeds are the soul's response to the most irresistible power in the world—a consuming passion. It was such a passion, intense beyond earthly fathom, that led the Savior through Gethsemane to Calvary.

Because this is so, the Heavenly Father's effort to secure right action from His children is not evident in external compulsion. Through His favor and fellowship, the joy of His approval, the peace that passeth understanding, the "Well done," the eternal reward, He endeavors to arouse love for Himself and what He desires, in order that His will may be chosen.

According to this Divine pattern human nurture labors. At the very first, the parent must make choice for the child, but earlier than is usually appreciated, definite training may be begun. The loving smile of the mother and her known wish, her approval or disapproval, her recognition and encouragement, the knowledge that, "Whatsoever a man soweth that must he also reap," gained through bearing the penalty or enjoying the reward of each choice, the right course made attractive in the story of some one who chose it, or, most magnetic of all, in the life of the one who is nurturing, all these will begin to arouse the inner constraint that compels, and with glad acquiescence the soul will say, "Necessity is laid upon me."

When the life shall learn that the most blessed joy that inheres in right actions is not human approval but God's favor, and for His sake, with face steadfastly set, the right is followed, even though shorn of all external attractiveness, the highest development possible for a soul has been realized.

APPLICATION TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK

The Sunday School is such an important factor in religious training that a special application of the foregoing discussion to its methods and work seems wise. It is evident that plans can not be detailed, but only some principles underlying the methods be suggested.

THE CRADLE ROLL

In the first department known as the Cradle Roll, nurture can be given by the Sunday School only as it touches the parents. Any Cradle Roll work that culminates in the sentiment of securing the babies' names and calling them, "Our Sweet Peas", has missed its purpose. A peculiar opportunity comes with the flood tide of new parental love. "If I had not been a Christian when my boy was born, I could very easily have been led to Christ, my heart was so tender and full of gratitude," said the father of an only son.

The Sunday School will nurture its babes through choosing as Cradle Roll Superintendent, a consecrated Christian woman, trained in the school of life's experience, who can come close to other mothers because she, too, has known the valley of the shadow and the sacred joy of a new born life in her arms. A unique opportunity is hers to lead the parents to Christ or into closer fellowship with Him, and to help them understand the meaning of the life He has lent them.

THE BEGINNERS' DEPARTMENT

The Beginners' Department will care for the years between three and six. Nurture will be concerned first with the teacher.

The Teacher.—The child's conception of Christ will be what he sees in the teacher. He can not conceive of any love or tenderness or gentleness greater than appears in her. A mother came to the teacher of her little boy one day and said, "John was playing on the floor this afternoon, and all at once he stopped and watched me, and then said, 'Mamma, I wish you were as much like Jesus as my teacher is'" The lesson, the music, the prayer and all the differentiation of the day and place tend to elevate the teacher above those who share his daily life, and envelop her with an atmosphere more mystic and holy. She is connected not with clothes and bread and butter episodes, but wholly with the thought of Jesus, and stands by His side in the child's thought and love, and if he love not the teacher whom he has seen, he can not love God whom he has not seen. Even the physical charm of the teacher will make his picture of the Christ more beautiful. Nurture demands above all else that the teacher of a Beginners' Class suggest "One altogether lovely," to the sensitive, imaginative and imitative soul of the child, for her message to him is ever silently, but irresistibly, "Be ye imitators of me as I am of Christ."

The Place.—The place of meeting must fulfill certain conditions to give proper nurture.

Because of the restlessness of these years, it ought to afford opportunity for physical movement. Even if a separate room is not available, screens or curtains should make it possible for the children to change their position frequently. The separation will also remove the temptation for curiosity to obtain satisfaction through roving eyes. The place should provide comfortable seating arrangements, for impressions carried within from strained muscles and tired limbs are far stronger than from ideas that the teacher gives, and these will consequently receive the attention.

But it is not sufficient to plan for seclusion and comfort. Nurture thinks beyond and deeper than this. The child is gaining his first impressions of religious things during these years, and his ideas will be derived from what his senses give him. There is no way to give him the thought of the beauty of holiness, and the joy that the religion of Jesus Christ brings, except to make every thing associated with it as glad and beautiful as may be. Choice pictures, flowers, sunshine, order, all mysteriously transmit their beauty to the child's thought of God. The more attractive the visible things, the more magnetic the charm of the invisible. "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined."

The Equipment.—The equipment is not to be a heterogeneous collection of things, and yet the child must be taught through his senses. A Bible which can be kept before the children and reverently handled, to teach reverence by suggestion, is of first importance. Little chairs, or an equally comfortable substitute, a blackboard and an instrument, if possible, will give good working capital.

Since taste is forming at this time and every thing has an influence in determining its direction, the beautiful pictures in black and white are gaining favor through their artistic execution and subdued coloring. To this equipment may be added special objects designed to make the facts of special lessons clearer—the sand table occasionally, or models. Thoughtful teachers are more and more convinced that while Kindergarten principles should obtain, the Kindergarten should not be moved bodily into the Sunday School. Values must be balanced, and over against the reasons which might be given for bringing in all the equipment of the week-day environment, there is this great fact:—the child is to be taught that religion is the supreme thing in the world, and he can learn it only by differentiating it in a tangible way from other things. This means that the methods, music, material and beauty associated with it ought to make it distinctive, and more attractive than any of the week-day surroundings.

After he learns that it is the chief thing in the world, he can learn how to bring it down to the common things of life without sacrificing its supremacy, instead of dragging the every-dayness into it.

The Program.—The program must be varied, because self control is weak, and attention will be given to one thing only so long as interest is active. Music should have a prominent place, provided it is meaningful, choice, and suggestive of the thought desired, in music as well as words. Since this is the rhythmic and imitative period of life, motion songs can be occasionally used, provided the motions are not mechanical and artificial. The foot notes which say that at I the hands should be clasped, at 2 they should wave, and at 3 be raindrops, miss the point of a motion song. Unless the child spontaneously expresses the thought which the song suggests to him, the motions have no value, aside from a rest exercise.

The entire program should be planned around the thought of leading the child into a genuine love for God. Nature is beautiful, but its place in Sunday School is subordinate to Him. The most exquisite song that ends with birds and flowers falls below the highest nurture. Love must be both aroused and expressed during the hour's session. Music, Scripture, the enumeration of His blessings, the joy over birthdays and new scholars He has sent, the lesson, the carefully selected pictures and stories of what His love has done for other boys and girls unlike them, an atmosphere of gladness and reverence will kindle it; the offering service, the prayer, Scripture and music will express it. The suggestion from teacher, place, program and lesson combined, should be a great, wonderful God who loves little children, as well as a Christ who took the children in His arms.

The Lesson.—The course known as "The Two Years' Course for Beginners" affords the best subject matter for the lessons for the following reasons:

  1. Bible truths needed first in the life of a little child have been carefully selected and arranged in their logical order.
  2. As many lessons as are needed to make each truth clear and to fix it in memory are devoted to it.
  3. The setting for the truths to be taught is given in stories, not abstract statements.
  4. The same Golden Text is used for all the lessons teaching one truth, is simple, intelligible and, by repetition in connection with several lessons, can be fixed.
  5. The pictures accompanying the lessons are very choice both in theme and execution.

Since the only ideas the child will receive of the lesson must come through his senses and bodily activity, and since, of his senses, sight and touch make a clearer impression than hearing, large use should be made of them. Further, as this is the period of imitation of definite acts, the lesson should present forcibly and fascinatingly, an activity within his power to imitate.

The end sought, as a result of the nurture of this period, is that the child may become truly a child of God, and never know a time when he did not love Him.

This may be achieved, for the heart of a little child is open and peculiarly sensitized to the matchless story of Jesus Christ. When it is presented to him aright, he always responds in faith and love. In this response, the conditions upon which spiritual sonship is conferred are met, for, "As many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on His name."