ussion on trite themes of
personal hobbies. Or if the teacher happens to be fluent and the class
more patient than talkative, he makes the teaching purely homiletic, and,
like the apostles of old, "takes a text and then goes everywhere preaching
the gospel!"

About 90% of churches in the open country have only one room. This means
utter lack of adequate Sunday-school equipment, and often ten to twenty
classes jostling elbows in the same room. There is seldom intentional
disorder, but the _noise_ is often very distracting, as all the teachers
indulge in loud talking simultaneously in order to be heard.

The country Sunday school surely has a great future. It has the field and
the loyalty of its people. It is gradually being rescued from the monotony
of fruitless routine. The teaching is becoming less a matter of
parrot-like reciting and weak moralizing and more a matter of definite
instruction. The teachers are here and there being trained for their task,
not only in a better knowledge of the Bible but of boy life and girlhood
at different stages. Definite courses of study are more and more
introduced, planned to run through a series of years, culminating in a
graduation at about the age of seventeen, with annual examinations for
promotion; making due allowance for graduate classes and teacher training
groups. So thorough is the work, in some places practically the entire
population of a rural community is connected with the Sunday school.

_Bible Study in the Country_

It is an unfortunate fact that most Sunday-school quarterlies and lesson
studies are produced in the city; yet the Bible itself is a book of rural
life, with the exception of some of the writings of Paul. No wonder
country folks appreciate it. As Dr. Franklin McElfresh well says, "The
Bible sprang from the agonies of a shepherd's soul, from the triumph of a
herdsman's faith, and the glory of a fisherman's love. Its religion keeps
close to the ground, and interprets the daily life of sincere men who live
near to nature. One of the great days in the history of religion and
liberty is on record when a vine-dresser named Amos stood up before the
king of Israel to speak the burden of his soul. 'Prophet,' said he; 'I am
no prophet, only a plain farmer, but I came by God's call to tell you the
truth.' This was the day-dawn of Hebrew prophecy.

"The Bible can best be interpreted in the country. It sprang from a
pastoral people. It is full of the figures of