This chapter is simply a study for the object worker. It is an
illustration of how ponderous and unusual objects can be used to
teach religious truths. It is a far swing from the smaller and common
objects which are available for the regular teacher who employs the
eye appeal. Yet it is well to remember that ponderous things talk for
God, for it is written that the heavens declare the glory of God, and
there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
It is our big business to interpret the language of things in terms
the people can understand. Translate the voice of the heavens into
English. Some starlit night use the sky as an object-lesson. Gather
the children around you and ask them to look up at the sky. Tell them
a few things that astronomy has told you, concluding with the story
of the Wise-men and the Christmas Star and other Biblical star
stories. By so doing you will make the stars a golden path to Jesus
and the objects in the heavens will preach of righteousness. If some
day you can stand with the children by the side of the sea you can
use the ocean as an object-lesson. Tell them stories of the wonders
in the deep.
Tell them the tales of sea adventures by the hardy mariners. Talk
about the ocean shells and sands at their feet. Conclude by telling
them Bible sea stories; how a runaway prophet was cast into the sea
during a great storm and what happened to him. Tell them about the
storm on the sea of Tiberias, and how Jesus commanded the winds and
the waves to obey his word. Tell them about Paul's sea journeys, and
the wreck of the prison ship, and how they all escaped to a friendly
island. In concluding tell them about the heavenly land where there
shall be no more sea, and of the mercy of God which is like the
wideness of the sea.
You will note that you have used ponderous object-lessons, the sky
and the sea.
Sometime when it is possible use household pets as object-lessons.
Tell them how to be kind to animals. Explain to them the habits and
needs of the little creatures. Tell them when possible Bible stories
in which these animals figure. A bird in a cage, a fish in the bowl,
etc., will make most interesting and fascinating object-lessons.
When this is not possible use pictures of the animals you want to
talk about. Let me tell you how once upon a time I gave an
object-lesson extraordinary by using living wild animals. From
childhood I have been a lover of wild beasts. I could sit up all
night and read about wild animals, I loved these stories more than I
loved my play. As I grew older I made them my special study. In later
life it was my good fortune to study them at close range which
finally enabled me to go into their cages with them. They became my
good friends. They treated me with the greatest consideration. It
seemed to them I was their second keeper. Let me tell you about the
wild animals that I have met, and whose pictures you will see on the
following pages.
="ATLAS" THE BIG LION=
Atlas was four years old and as friendly and gentle as the house dog.
Wild animals, like humans, differ as to their dispositions; some are
snarling and cross, others are gentle and winsome. Atlas belonged to
the latter class.
One evening I invited 1,000 children to come to his winter quarters
and see him. In the center of a large room there was a great cage
into which the animals were taken one by one for their daily exercise
and run about. Into this big cage Atlas was brought, and I went in
with him. While we were together in this great cage he was as
friendly as any of my little pets. He purred away like the family cat
behind the kitchen stove on a snowy day. He would take his meat from
my hand, displaying at all times great concern lest he should in any
way harm me. I did not use a whip or a gun, simply a little rod to
urge him on a bit, but controlled him by tones, persuasive tones to
which he made quick response. I told the children to use kind words
with animals as well as humans, as these were very winsome powers. A
lion of docile disposition was dangerous only when sick, hungry, in
temper, or acting in self-defense. When the lion is seeking food he
displays great intelligence. The monkey is a mimic, and can only do
what it is taught to do, and even this he cannot in turn teach to its
offspring, but a lion seems to think out its problems.
A man in Central Africa was once out late in the day and far from
home. He saw a lion at some distance from him. The lion saw him and
also followed him slowly.
[Illustration: Atlas, the Big Lion--A Docile, Friendly Beast
Performing for the Children]
When the man walked fast, the lion walked fast; when the man stopped,
the lion stopped also. The big idea in the lion's head was to follow
him all day until dark, and then in the dark spring upon him. This
was the way the man outwitted the lion. When he came to a high cliff
below which there was a deep hollow in the rock, he climbed down into
this cleft where the lion could not see him. Here he fixed a stick on
the rocks and put on it his hat and coat so as to make them look like
a man, and then hid under the rock to watch results. Soon the lion
came creeping slyly along, and seeing the coat and hat he made a
sudden spring at them, and falling down on the rocks below, was
killed. But you see I was safe in the cage with Atlas, because they
took good care of him and he was _not hungry_.
I concluded by telling the little folks about the story of Daniel who
was cast into a den of lions, which is the most remarkable lion story
in the world, for in those days they kept the lions in a state of
hunger so that they might destroy their victims with haste. Daniel
was saved from the hungry beasts because God sent his angel, and they
could not open their mouths and had no desire for food. Our God is
able to deliver his children.
=THE BABY LION=
One morning when I went to see my friend Atlas in the winter quarters
the friendly keeper said to me, "Doctor, look into the lions' cage,
in yonder corner." When I did so, what do you think, children, I saw
there? Lying close to its big mother lion I saw a little baby lion
fast asleep. The big mother seemed very proud of it, for she looked
at me with her big eyes and seemed to say, "This is the most
wonderful baby of the lion kingdom." And when the little baby opened
his eyes I thought so too. After a few days the little fellow would
play on the floor with me. He looked just like a big cat, and often
when he went after the ball I sent rolling over the floor, he seemed
to be a big cat and had the cat's way when he played.
I took him to my church one day. The first lion who ever went to
Sunday school--and as it was an anniversary day with the school I
gave an object-talk with the little fellow in my arms. I told the
children that this lion, so docile and harmless, had a wild nature,
and in a short time when that nature was fully developed it would not
be safe for the boys and girls to come near him. The little paw which
I held in my hands would soon be so strong and wild that it could
bring down in death the strongest man alive. I then permitted a few
little girls to come to the platform and hold the little fellow for a
few moments, which they did with great glee and will tell their
children's children of the day when they held a real living baby lion
in their arms. I then told them that we all like lions have an evil
nature. While we are young we are like this little lion, gentle and
mild, but later on when our wild nature develops we do very wicked
things and become sinners. The little lion must always be a lion,
there is no power on earth that can change its nature. But although
we have an evil nature, Jesus has come to take away the evil within
us and make us his gentle, obedient, and loving children. I then told
the children how much the mother lion loved her little baby. Mother
love is so strong that she is most dangerous when she has little cubs
of her own; she so greatly fears the stranger will do them harm.
[Illustration: A Baby Lion, Six Weeks Old, Receiving the Name of the
Youngest Baby in the Audience]
Then I told a baby lion story. A circus was in progress at Woodbury,
N.J., one afternoon in May, 1919, when the keeper of a lioness named
Lucy and her two cubs entered her cage. He succeeded without
difficulty in driving the mother lion into a compartment at the other
end of the cage, thus separating her from her cubs. All would
doubtless have gone well had he not stopped to fondle the cubs. This
aroused the wild anger of the mother, and she sprang with all her
might against the separating door, burst it open, and seized the
keeper by the neck and killed him instantly. She was transferred into
a mad lion when she thought her cubs were in danger. This story shows
us how much the mother lion loves her little ones.
About this time the baby lion grew restless and wanted to go home, so
when we had named the little cub Norman after the youngest child
present that afternoon, we took him back to his mother.
=THE BABY LEOPARD LESSON=
From the wild animal market one day I borrowed a little baby leopard.
He was timid as a baby rabbit. He trembled with fear all the time I
held him in my arms. The little folks did not seem to be afraid of
him, because he looked just like a big cat, and indeed he was the
cat's wild brother. As I held him in my arms I recited Jeremiah
13:23: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?
Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil." The great
lesson this passage of Scripture draws forth from the leopard is that
none of us by our own effort can change our hearts and make them over
into good hearts. Jesus must do this. The leopard can never change
his spots nor can we alone ever change our hearts.
=THE LITTLE BEAR STORY=
One day when I was thinking out a talk which I was to give to 1,000
children in my Happy Hour Service for them, I learned that a rich man
in my city had purchased a little bear for his children to play with.
I said to myself here is a new and different object-lesson. At once I
called on the owner, and he very gladly sent me the little fellow and
his keeper with him. He was a restless little bear and wanted to play
all the time. When I took him into the meeting I had placed on the
table by his side a tub of water, for it was Teddy's delight to get
into the water and set up a great splash, which hugely amused the
children. The bear is the clown of the animal kingdom. He is not an
imitator like the monkey, but thinks out his own stunts. He has more
intelligence by far than the monkey and is more human in his head.
They are often quite droll in their fun, they play leap frog, have
wrestling-matches, and play bo-peep. This is the reason why they are
called the "Clowns of the Animal Kingdom."
This little bear, I said to the children, teaches us how foolish it
is to be self-willed and stubborn. He must have his own way. You can
punish him with a whip and hit him so hard he cannot for a few
minutes stand upon his feet, yet when he does get his strength back
he will stand up and do the same thing over again. When wounded by
the hunter with a deadly shot he seems to be stronger in resisting
power than ever. He cannot be taught to give up himself. That is the
reason we say "as stubborn as a bear." Sometimes boys and girls have
the will of a bear. Be stronger than a bear by giving up when you are
in the wrong. So you all see now that ponderous unusual objects can
be used for teaching great religious lessons. This is a good chapter
to read to the little folks.
[Illustration: A Baby Leopard, Seven Months Old, Used to Illustrate
the Scripture Reference to the Leopard's Spots]
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