rd, pointing their spire-like minarets far up toward the
blue-vaulted roof. It inspires the very soul to worship in these unbuilt
cathedrals with wilderness of aisle and pillars, which for elegance and
beauty have never been equalled by the architects of any age. And the
music of the trees combined with the notes of the bird songsters, give a
joy which is unknown in listening to a city choir."

Bible Study

The Bible becomes a new book to boys when studied under such an
environment. As one boy wrote home to his father after a Sunday spent in a
camp where Sunday was observed in this manner, "Dad, it is so different
here, from a Sunday at home; I understood the talk and the Bible study was
great; it was a bully day!"

The following Bible course was worked out by the author and has been used
in scores of boys' camps. These lessons were taught to groups of boys at
eventide when nature seemed to quiet down and the boys were most
responsive to good, sensible suggestion. The camp was divided into tent
groups, each group being taught by their leader or an exchange leader, one
group occupying a big rock, another the "Crow's Nest," or "Tree House,"
another getting together under a big tree, another in their tent. No
leader was permitted to take more than twenty minutes for the lesson. It
is unwise to take twenty minutes for what could be said in ten minutes.
The boys all had a chance to take part in the discussion. Each lesson was
opened and closed with prayer, many of the boys participating in volunteer
prayer. In teaching a lesson don't spend too much time in description
unless you have the rare gift of being able to make your scene live before
your hearers. Talk plainly and to the point. Naturalness should
characterize each lesson. Boys hate cant[1] and apologies and lack of
definiteness. Your best illustrations will be drawn from the life of the
camp and from nature.

[Transcriber's Footnote 1: Monotonous talk filled with platitudes.
Hypocritically pious language.]

In some camps these lessons were taught in the morning directly after
breakfast, while the boys were seated at the tables.

There are "Sermons in stones, and good in every thing," therefore the
purpose of these lessons should be to help boys hear these sermons and
learn nature's lessons of purity, strength and character.

A COURSE IN BIBLE STUDY

LESSON 1. THE HILLS-PRAYER

Psalm 121.
Christ going into the mountains to pray.
Matt. 14:23; Mark 6:46; Luk