unday Schools, having selected one of the
most talented persons in his ward to teach a Second Intermediate Class
was astonished some months later to receive a request from the class for
a change of teachers. The class could assign no specific reasons for
their objections, except that they didn't get anything out of the class.
A year later the superintendent learned that the teacher was living in
violation of the regulations of the Church, on a particular principle,
and it was perfectly clear why his message didn't ring home.

The sincere teacher not only believes what he teaches--he consecrates
his best efforts to the task in hand. He urges no excuse for absence or
lack of preparation--"he is there." He lets his class feel that for the
time being it is his greatest concern. He meets with boys and girls
because he loves to and reaches out to them with an enthusiasm that
cannot be questioned.

3. OPTIMISM

is the sunshine of the classroom. It is as natural to expect a plant to
develop when covered with a blanket as it is to expect a class to be
full of activity and responsiveness under an influence of unnatural
solemnity. Lincoln is quoted as having declared, "You can catch more
flies with a drop of honey than with a gallon of vinegar"--a homely
expression, but full of suggestion. A grouch is no magnet.

A little girl when questioned why she liked her Sunday School teacher
said, "Oh, she always smiles at me and says, hello." There is contagion
in the cheeriness of a smile that cannot be resisted. Children live so
naturally in an atmosphere of happiness and fun that teachers of
religious instruction may well guard against making their work too
formally sober. Frequently teachers feel the seriousness of their
undertaking so keenly that they worry or discipline themselves into a
state of pedagogical unnaturalness. There is very great force behind the
comment of the student who appreciated the teacher who could be human.
The experience is told of a teacher who continued to have difficulty
with one of her pupils. He so persisted in violating regulations that he
was kept in after school regularly, and yet after school hours he was
one of the most helpful lads in the school; in fact, he and the teacher
seemed almost chummy. Struck by the difference in his attitude, the
teacher remarked to him one afternoon, as he went about cleaning the
blackboard, "Jimmie, I have just been wondering about you. You're one of
my best worker