must like it, or else the effect for the most part is lost. If they will not take what is offered, we must find something else that will appeal to them. These general exercises which I have thought of as a kind of "religious service" for the young, have been held in part before the class-work, and in part afterwards. The study-time, during which we ask the young people to think, or be active with their minds, comes in, therefore, between the two series of general exercises. The foundation of our school is a short "catechism " or Responsive Exercise. I know the objection to what is termed a "catechism". We understand only too well what mischief has come from undertaking to teach children by rote. And yet, on the other hand, I am convinced that it is worth while to lodge at once in the minds of the young, the few main, fundamental principles underlying our whole scheme of instruction. Nearly all that we have to give throughout the long course from seven up to sixteen years of age, is but an illustration or working out of these few principles. I will submit this Responsive Exercise in order that our first principles may be understood at the outset. We place this catechism on a large scroll before the eyes of the members of the school where it can be read from time to time. It will be seen in what way we use it. Superintendent: RESPONSES. Let man's life be true." "Truth is the strong thing, The School: The Sense of Duty we should place above everything else in the world. Superintendent : "Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong, And the most ancient heavens through Thee are fresh and strong". The School:— The Good Life for its own sake, without thought of reward, is what we should most care for. The School: I. Thou shalt not lie. 2. Thou shalt not steal. 3. Thou shalt do no murder. 4. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 5. Thou shalt not covet what belongs to another. One of the Teachers : "The Eternal seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Eternal looketh on the heart". Superintendent:— The School:— "Whoever fights, whoever falls, COMMANDS WE ARE TO OBEY. 1. Thou shalt obey thy conscience. Thou shalt revere the soul in thyself and in all others. 3. Thou shalt honour thy father and thy mother. 4. Thou shalt respect the laws of thy country. 5. Thou shalt make thyself of service to thy fellow man. We are to love the Good with a supreme love. We are to love Knowledge, and to seek Truth wherever it may be found. We are to love the Beautiful; but even more we are to love the Good and the True. We are to love these as if they were one: the True, the Beautiful, and the Good. One of the Teachers : "The Soul itself is the witness of the Soul, and the Soul is the refuge of the Soul; despise not thine own Soul, the supreme witness of men". Superintendent : The School: One of the Teachers :— "I do nothing but go about, persuading old and young alike, to care first and chiefly for the greatest improvement of the soul". WHAT WE ARE TO DO. 1. We should think first of our father and mother. 2. We should labour for the welfare of our own home. One of the Teachers :— "He that is greatest among you shall be as one that serves". May we always be ready to serve. Superintendent : "Now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love". WHAT WE ARE TO STRIVE FOR. The School: To be true to ourselves, true to our home, true to our country, true to ou fellowmen. We are to strive to be true in everything. Superintendent : "Truth is the strong thing, Let man's life be true." The questions or citations are rendered by one or another of the teachers, the responses being read in concert by the children, the Superintendent beginning and ending the reading with the refrain : "Truth is the strong thing: let man's life be true ". We do not read this every Sunday, as we should not want the young people to grow tired of it; nor do we undertake to analyse it or explain it, but just let it stand for what it is worth in the minds of the pupils. We assume that little by little it will unfold itself in the course of instruction we give them, so that by the time they are fifteen or sixteen years of age they shall feel what it means, without anything definite by way of explanation having been said in regard to it. Along with this responsive exercise, or "catechism," as I term it, we have songs. We do not care to have a large selection. Forty or fifty songs ought to be enough for the school, as it is important that the children should gradually come to know them by heart and to sing them with spirit. Unfortunately, it is not an easy matter to find just the selections suitable for our purpose. For the most part they should grow out of our work. We use a portion of Dr. Adler's "City of the Light". Or we take such lines as The rose is queen among the flowers; None other is so fair; The lily nodding on its stem But sweeter than the lily's breath The tender love of human hearts Upspringing everywhere, which are sung to the air of " Auld Lang Syne," and the walls fairly ring with the music, as the words are rendered in that old tune which the children are so fond of. We may try a portion of the beautiful poem: : So here hath been dawning Another blue day: Think, wilt thou let it Slip useless away? To please the youngest we may have a song with the following words for a refrain, wanting in poetry, but with a ring to them that leads the little ones to sing them with a glee almost wild in its delight :— Do it, do it with a will, Do it right away; If you've anything to do, Do it right away. If we are perplexed in what way to arouse the children, we can always fall back on a song of that kind, and the little ones are always tempted to rise and |