Part 16

7. Q. What description is given of the physical appearance of the majority of the girls in any of our cities or towns, as seen passing to and from school? A. Instead of high chests, plump arms, comely figures, and a graceful and handsome mien, you constantly see flat chests, angular shoulders, often round and warped forward, with scrawny necks, pipe-stem arms, narrow backs, and a weak walk.

8. Q. What does a distinguished surgeon say as to the ability to endure protracted brain-work without ill result? A. It is not brain-work that kills, but brain-worry.

9. Q. What does our author state there ought to be in every girls’ school in our land, for pupils of every age? A. A system of physical culture which should first eradicate special weaknesses and defects, and then create and maintain the symmetry of the pupils, increasing their bodily vigor and strength up to maturity.

10. Q. What is the first thing most women should do in order to get health and strength and the bloom of perfect physical development? A. The first thing is to bring up the weaker muscles by special effort, calling them at once into vigorous action, and to restore to its proper position the shoulder, back, or chest which has been so long allowed to remain out of place.

11. Q. What is the next step after the symmetry is once secured? A. Then equal work for all the muscles, taken daily, and in such quantities as are found to suit best.

12. Q. In our Christian lands what do we find in regard to the fathers and mothers of the great men? A. We find that the great men have almost invariably had remarkable mothers, while their fathers were as often nothing unusual.

13. Q. What does our author say as to the means of getting a vigorous and healthy body kept toned up by rational, systematic, daily exercise, by every girl and woman? A. The means of getting it are so easily within the reach of all who are not already broken by disease, that it is never too late to begin, and that one hour a day, properly spent, is all that is needed to secure it.

14. Q. Had the lungs and also the muscles of the man had vigorous daily action to the extent that frequent trial had shown best suited to that man’s wants, of what is there very little doubt? A. That a large majority of the ailments would be removed, or rather would never have come at all.

15. Q. What is well nigh essential to attain success and length of service in any of the learned professions, including that of teaching? A. A vigorous body.

16. Q. To win lasting distinction in sedentary, in-door occupations which tax the brain and the nervous system, what does all professional biography teach? A. Extraordinary toughness of body must accompany extraordinary mental powers.

17. Q. What are all that people need for their daily in-door exercises? A. A few pieces of apparatus which are fortunately so simple and inexpensive as to be within the reach of most persons.

18. Q. What appliances can be readily fitted up for the home gymnasium? A. A horizontal bar, a pair of parallel bars, or their equivalent for certain purposes, a pair of pulling-weights, and a rowing-weight, to which may be added a pair of dumb-bells.

19. Q. What may be accomplished with these few bits of apparatus? A. Every muscle of the trunk, nearly all those of the legs, and all those of the arms, can, by a few exercises so simple that they can be learned at a single trying, be brought into active play.

20. Q. To what extent should these articles of the home gymnasium be used? A. Every member of the family, both old and young, should use them daily, enough to keep both the home gymnasium and its users in good working order.

21. Q. What is said of the shaping power of teachers with children in school? A. When children are with their teacher in school is almost the best time in their whole lives to shape them as the teacher chooses, not morally or mentally only, but physically as well.

22. Q. With what should prompt and vigorous steps be taken to acquaint every school teacher in this country? A. With such exercises as would quickly restore the misshapen, insure an erect carriage, encourage habits of full breathing, and strengthen the entire trunk and every limb.

23. Q. What did President Eliot of Harvard say a few years ago of a majority of those coming into that university? A. That they had undeveloped muscles, a bad carriage, and an impaired digestion, without skill in any out-of-door games, and unable to ride, row, swim or shoot.

24. Q. What do both the physician and experience tell us rest the tired brain? A. Nothing rests a tired brain like sensible physical exercise, except, of course, sleep.

25. Q. When exposure to out-of-door air is associated with a fair share of physical exertion, what does Dr. Mitchell say it is an immense safeguard against? A. The ills of anxiety and too much brain work.

26. Q. In a country like ours, where the masses are so intelligent, concerning what does our author consider the ignorance of the people as marvelous? A. As to what can be done to the body by a little systematic physical education.

27. Q. Of what do few people seem to be aware on this subject? A. That any limb, or any part of it, can be developed from a state of weakness and deficiency to one of fullness, strength, and beauty, and that equal attention to all the limbs, and to the body as well, will work like results throughout.

28. Q. What course of exercise with many has resulted in largely reducing superfluous flesh with fleshy people? A. Vigorous muscular exercise, taken daily and assiduously.

29. Q. What contributes to keeping some people thin? A. Most thin people do not keep still enough, do not take matters leisurely, and do not rest enough; while, if their work is muscular, they do too much daily in proportion to their strength.

30. Q. What is the character of the physical exercises the late William Cullen Bryant continued up to the last year of his life? A. Immediately after rising he began a series of exercises performed with dumb-bells, a pole, a horizontal bar, and a light chair swung around his head, continued for a full hour and sometimes longer.

31. Q. What does a former business associate of Mr. Bryant, who knew him intimately, say of his health? A. “During the forty years that I have known him, Mr. Bryant has never been ill—never been confined to his bed except on the occasion of his last accident. His health has always been good.”

32. Q. What two classes of men are there in our cities and larger towns that more than almost any others need daily and systematic bodily exercise in order to make them efficient for their duties, and something like what men in their line ought to be? A. The police and firemen.

33. Q. What are some of the ways of developing the muscles of the leg below the knee? A. Walking, and at the same time pressing hard with the toes and the soles; running on the soles and toes; hopping on one foot; jumping.

34. Q. What are some of the methods of developing the muscles of the front thigh? A. Holding one foot out, either in front or back, and then stooping down wholly on the other; jumping, fast walking and running.

35. Q. What exercise is especially recommended for strengthening the sides of the waist? A. Hopping straight ahead on one foot, and then on the other.

36. Q. What kind of a walk does a man usually have who is not strong in the abdominal muscles? A. A feeble walk.

37. Q. What is said of the development of men generally above the waist? A. It is not an uncommon thing, especially among Englishmen, to find a man of very strong legs and waist, yet with but an indifferent chest and shoulders, and positively poor arms.

38. Q. With the use of what can the muscles above the belt be nearly all thoroughly developed? A. With the use of dumb-bells.

39. Q. What is a simple method for improving the ordinary grip of the hand? A. Take a rubber ball in the hand, or a wad of any elastic material, even of paper, and repeatedly squeeze it.

40. Q. What will expand the chest? A. Anything which causes one to frequently fill his lungs to their utmost capacity, and then hold them full as long as he can.

41. Q. What practice of breathing is a great auxiliary to enlarging the lung room? A. The practice of drawing air slowly in at the nostrils until every air-cell of the lungs is absolutely full, holding it long, and then expelling it slowly.

42. Q. Beside light gymnastic exercises in school, what should a teacher insist upon with his pupils? A. He should insist upon the value of an erect position in school hours, whether the pupils be standing or sitting.

43. Q. What care should be taken in regard to school chairs? A. That they should have broad and comfortable seats, and that the pupil never sits on a half of the seat or on the edge of it, but far back on the whole of it.

44. Q. What weight of dumb-bells should be used in ordinary exercises with them by pupils? A. Dumb-bells of a pound each would be fit for pupils under ten years of age. For older pupils the same work with two pound bells will prove generally vigorous enough.

45. Q. What are some of the daily exercises recommended for girls and women? A. The use of dumb-bells, walking, riding, and, with girls, running.

46. Q. Beside these things, what ought a girl or woman to determine to do while sitting? A. To sit with the head and neck up, trunk erect, and with the shoulders low.

47. Q. How ought every man in this country whose life is in-door to divide his time? A. So that come what may he will make sure of his hour of out-of-doors in the late afternoon, when the day’s work is nearly or quite done.

48. Q. What two things ought consumptives to determine to do when sitting? A. To sit far back on the chair, and to sit at all times upright.

49. Q. To what does a great German anatomist attribute the principal cause of pulmonary diseases? A. To the breathing of foul air.

50. Q. What is it far from uncommon for delicate persons to do who take good care of the small stock of vigor they have? A. To outlive sturdier ones who are more prodigal and careless.

CHAUTAUQUA NORMAL COURSE.

Season of 1884.

LESSON V.—BIBLE SECTION.

_The World of The Bible._

By REV. J. L. HURLBUT, D.D., AND R. S. HOLMES, A.M.

Upon a map of the world mark out a section between 42° and 27° north latitude, and 54° and 12° east longitude (Greenwich). This will include a rectangle having the Black Sea on the north; the Caspian and Persian Gulf on the east, the Sinaitic peninsula on the south, and Rome on the west; a section of 1050 miles north and south, by 2400 east and west; an area of 2,520,000 square miles, about two-thirds the size of the United States. Within these limits were transacted all the events of Bible history. This area should be considered in connection with two maps, overlapping each other in the center, those of the Old Testament, and the New Testament world.

I. The Old Testament world will embrace the lands between 54° and 31° east longitude, or from the Nile to the Persian Gulf; and between 42° and 27° north latitude, or from the Black Sea to the Red Sea.

1. Observe the location of the following _Seas_, and draw such portions of them as are included in the map. 1. The Caspian, in the northeast corner. 2. The Persian Gulf, southeast corner. 3. The Red Sea, on the south. 4. The Mediterranean Sea, on the west. 5. The Black Sea on the north. 6. The Dead Sea, due north of the eastern arm of the Red Sea.

2. Locate the following _Mountain Ranges_: 1. Mount Ararat, the nucleus of the mountain system, situated between the Caspian, Black, and Mediterranean. 2. The Caspian range, branching from Ararat eastward, and following the border of the Caspian Sea. 3. Mount Zagras, running from Ararat southeasterly, toward the Persian Gulf. 4. Mount Lebanon, from Ararat southwesterly, toward the Red Sea. (Anti-Lebanon, the mountains of Palestine, Mount Seir and Mount Sinai, are all parts of this great range.) 5. Mount Taurus, from Ararat westward, following the northern shore of the Mediterranean.

3. Next draw the important _Rivers_, nearly all following the line of the mountain ranges. 1. The Araxes, from eastward into the Caspian Sea. 2. The Tigris, called in the Bible Hiddekel, from Ararat, following the Zagras Mountain, into the Persian Gulf. 3. The Euphrates, from Ararat westward to Mount Taurus, then southward, following the course of Lebanon, then southeasterly through the great plain, until it unites with the Tigris. 4. The Orontes, between two parallel chains of the Lebanon range northward into the Mediterranean. 5. The Jordan, between the same chains of Lebanon southward into the Dead Sea. 6. The Nile, in Africa, northward into the Mediterranean.

4. This world has its great Natural Divisions, somewhat like those of the United States. 1. The eastern slope, from Mount Zagras eastward to the great desert. 2. The central plain, between Zagras and Lebanon. 3. The Mediterranean Slope, between Lebanon and the great sea.

5. These natural divisions suggest the arrangement of the _Lands_. 1. Locate the lands of the eastern slope; Armenia, Media, Persia. 2. The lands of the central plain, as follows: Between Mount Zagras and the river Tigris. Assyria and Elam; between the Tigris and Euphrates. Mesopotamia and Chaldea; the great desert. Arabia; between the desert and Lebanon, Syria. 3. The lands of the Mediterranean; Egypt, the wilderness, Palestine, Phœnicia, Asia Minor, though the last does not appear in Old Testament history.

6. Locate the following cities, and name the Bible events associated with them. 1. Eden, the original home of the human race, probably at the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates. 2. Babylon, the capital of Chaldea, on the Euphrates. 3. Shushan, or Suza, the capital of Persia, and the place of Esther’s deliverance. 4. Nineveh, on the Tigris, the capital of Assyria. 5. Haran, in Mesopotamia, a home of Abraham. 6. Damascus, the capital of Syria. 7. Jerusalem, in Palestine. 8. Tyre, in Phœnicia. 9. Memphis, on the Nile, in Egypt.

II. _The New Testament World._ This extends from Asia Minor to Italy, and from the Black Sea to Mount Sinai, between the same parallels as the last map, and from 12° to 42° east longitude; and represents the lands of the eastern Mediterranean.

1. Upon this map locate five _Seas_. The Mediterranean; Dead Sea; Black Sea; Ægean Sea (between Asia Minor and Europe); Adriatic Sea, between Greece and Italy.

2. Locate also five _Islands_. Cyprus, in the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean; Crete, south of the Ægean; Patmos, in the Ægean; Sicily, southwest of Italy, and Melita, now Malta, south of Sicily.

3. Arrange and bound the lands by their continents. 1. African lands. Egypt, Libya, and Africa proper. 2. Asiatic lands. Palestine, Phœnicia, Syria, Asia Minor. 3. European lands. Macedonia, Greece, Illyricum, Italy.

4. Locate definitely the provinces of Asia Minor, which may be arranged thus: Three on the north, bordering on the Black Sea. Pontus, Paphlagonia, Bithynia; three on the west, bordering on the Ægean Sea. Mysia, Lydia, Caria; three on the south, bordering on the Mediterranean; Lycia, Pamphylia, Cilicia; four in the interior; north, Galatia; east, Cappadocia; south, Pisidia; west, Phrygia; central, Lycaonia.

5. Notice the location of several important _Cities_. Alexandria, in Egypt; Jerusalem, in Palestine; Damascus and Antioch, in Syria; Tyre, in Phœnicia; Tarsus, in Cilicia; Ephesus, in Lydia; Philippi and Thessalonica, in Macedonia; Athens and Corinth, in Greece; and Rome, in Italy.

6. Notice with regard to the New Testament world. 1. There were many lands, yet but one government, the Roman Empire. 2. There were many tongues, yet one language everywhere spoken, the Greek. 3. There were many races, but one people found everywhere, the Jews. 4. There were many religions, yet no deep-seated belief, and consequently, everywhere a hunger for the Gospel.

SUNDAY-SCHOOL SECTION.

LESSON IV.—THE TEACHER’S WEEK-DAY WORK.

I. _Its Necessity._—The teacher’s purpose is the conversion and spiritual education of the scholar; a purpose too great to be compassed in the session of the Sunday-school. Consider the following facts:

1. _The brief time which the Sunday-school affords; a half hour_ to the lesson; fifty-two half hours in a year; less than one school week of the secular school. What progress could be expected from a year’s study, in which the school time is only a week?

2. _The difficult subjects of Sunday-school teaching_; upon themes which are the loftiest contemplated by the human mind; worthy of the ablest intellects; yet to be simplified to the understanding of childhood and youth by the teacher.

3. _The lack of preparation on the part of the pupil._—The teacher can not take for granted _any_ study at home by the class, but must supplement their absolute neglect by his own increased diligence and skill.

4. _The natural aversion of the scholar’s heart to the teacher’s efforts._—The pupil does not desire to be saved and to learn about salvation; all his unregenerate nature is hostile to the subject, and the teacher has dull hearts as well as unprepared minds to contend against.

5. _The intervening time of a week between the sessions of the school_ is sufficient to efface even what impression is produced by the lesson.

With all these hindrances it is plain that the teacher who is to succeed, must supplement his Sunday with week-day work.

II. The next question is, _What shall the week-day work of the teacher be?_ Our space forbids more than a mere outline.

1. _A daily study by the teacher of teaching methods_, in order to best employ the brief time at command for actual work. It is said Napoleon’s battles were fought in detail in his own mind before even the enemy were in sight, and his force, will and genius were sufficient to carry out the details. A study of the methods employed by the best secular teachers would furnish means for planning all the details of any Sunday half hour.

2. _A daily study of the lesson itself._—The teacher’s preparation will occupy another lesson in this series; but when once that art has been learned, a part of the teacher’s week-day work should be to practice it daily.

3. _A daily watching the methods of life of the class of society from which one’s pupils come._—If they are children or youth or adults, if from the lower, middle or higher walks of society, the teacher should know the influences which surround the life and the methods which govern it, in order to rightly fit the teaching to the life.

4. _A sedulous scrutiny of the face of every child met in daily life._—Such care will prevent ever passing a scholar of the class without notice, and will reveal the workings of the child heart, and give an insight into child nature that will be of great value.

5. _A careful listening to the conversation of children, and entering into conversation with them whenever practicable._

6. _Earnestly seeking an interest in the things which are of interest to the pupil._—It will furnish a common ground of meeting in the class on Sunday. _Community of interest will result._

7. _Daily seeking contact with the pupil, either personal or by some means which will recall the teacher to the pupil’s mind._—If the teacher is daily present with the pupil there is hope that the teacher’s influence and teachings will be also.

8. _Daily endeavoring by all means in the teacher’s power to render the pupil’s daily life pleasanter._

III. But how can all these things be accomplished?

1. By a regular attendance on the weekly teachers’ meeting. That is an essential part of a teacher’s week-day work.

2. By systematic visiting of pupils in their homes. This will insure an acquaintance which could in no other way be obtained.

3. By cultivating the reading habit in the pupil. How? By giving some good weekly paper or magazine which you have finished; by loaning good books; by interesting the family in such organizations as the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.

4. By inviting pupils to entertainments, to the teacher’s home in winter, and to the woods and fields in summer.

5. By establishing little class Normal classes, and teaching some of the many interesting things parallel to the general work of the Sunday-school.

This brief outline may serve as a nucleus for thought by the student, and may suggest a general plan, of which the details can be wrought out by the individual teacher.

LESSON V.—THE TEACHER’S PREPARATION.

I. _The Necessity of Preparation._—All that was adduced in the last lesson to show the importance of the week-day work, might well be repeated as arguments for the preparation of the lesson.

1. _It is necessary from the limitation of time._—The teacher must study his subject thoroughly, in order to employ to the utmost that precious half hour of the lesson.

2. _It is necessary from the nature of the subjects._—No one should venture to instruct upon the all-important, the profound, the difficult themes of the Gospel, who has not given them special and intense thought.

3. _It is necessary from the condition of the pupil._—Because the scholar is unprepared, careless, unthinking, the teacher must be alert, able, equipped. Any one can teach a genius, but it requires a genius to teach a dullard.

II. _The general aims of preparation._—In the teacher’s study of the Scripture three aims should at all times be kept in view.

1. _His first aim should be to interpret the meaning of the Word._—We should study, not to interject into the Scriptures our own views, or the doctrines of our school of thought, but to ascertain what God meant in the Book, to learn “the mind of the Spirit.”

2. _His second aim should be to satisfy the needs of his own spiritual nature._—No man can feed others unless he has himself been fed. Let the teacher fill his own heart with the Word of life, and then he will be able to inspire his class with hunger for the truth.

3. _His third aim should be to supply the needs of his class._—He is a teacher as well as a learner, and must ever study with the full knowledge of his scholar’s needs, seeking in the lesson for that which is especially fitted for them and can be adapted to them.

III. _The Departments of Preparation._—(We condense here the outline of Dr. Vincent, in the “Chautauqua Normal Guide.”) There are five lines of investigation and preparation to be followed by the teacher; not necessarily in this order, but embodying these departments.

1. _The Analysis of the Lesson-Text._—The teacher who seeks to know the contents of the lesson will find them under the following seven elements. 1. The _time_ to which the lesson belongs, year, period, relation to last lesson, etc. 2. The _places_ referred to in the lesson, or where its events occurred; their location, history, associations. 3. The _persons_, who they were; what is known of them; the characters displayed. 4. The _facts_ or _thoughts_ of the lesson; facts if historical; thoughts if ethical or doctrinal, as the Epistles. 5. The _difficulties_ encountered in the explanation of the lesson, whether in its statements, or their relation to other parts of Scripture. 6. The _doctrines_ or general principles taught. 7. The _duties_ inculcated in the lesson or to be drawn from it.

2. _The Collation of Parallel Passages._—Every text which will shed light upon a fact or a thought in the lesson should be searched. Spurgeon says: “The best commentary on a passage of Scripture is the spirit of God;” and that it reveals itself in the parallel passages.

3. _The Exploration of the Lesson-Text_, for its central topic; the underlying spiritual thought which runs through it and is to be presented from it.

4. _The Adaptation of the Lesson to the Class._—This subject receives more full and suggestive treatment in Lesson vii. The teacher must prepare his lesson with the condition and characteristics of his pupils in his mind.