You know that the country in which you live is an island? That means
there is water all round it, and that water is the sea.
England and Scotland are joined together in one large island; and if you
want to go to any other country, you must sail in a ship. A great many
ships come to England, bringing us tea, coffee, sugar, oranges and many
other things, and the towns they come to are called =ports=. London is a
port, so is Liverpool; and in the North of England is another port
called Hull. To get to Hull from the sea we have to sail up a wide river
called the Humber for more than twenty miles. This river has a great
many sandbanks in it, and there are men called =pilots= who know just
where these sandbanks lie, and they are the ones who can guide the ships
safely into port.
One day there was a captain who brought his ship into the river, and
said to himself, "I do not want the pilot on board, I can guide the ship
myself". So he did not hoist the "union jack" on the foremast head,
which means "Pilot come on board"; and the pilot did not come.
For a little time the good ship sailed along all right, but presently
they found that she was not moving at all. What had happened? The ship
was stuck fast on a sandbank, and the foolish captain wished now that he
had taken the pilot on board. First he had to go out in the little boat
and fetch a "tug-boat" to pull the ship off the sandbank, and then he
was glad enough to have the pilot on board, and to let him guide the
ship just as he liked. Why could not the captain guide the ship? Because
he did not know the way.
Have you ever known children who did not like to do as they were told?
who thought that =they= knew best--better than father or mother? They
are like the foolish captain, who tried to guide his ship when he did
not know the way. Fathers and mothers are like the pilot, who knew which
was the best way to take; and wise children are willing to be guided,
for =they= do not know the way any more than the captain did.
(Blackboard.)
=Why= do we obey?
Because we do not Know the Way.
The story and its teaching may be further
impressed on the minds of the children by a sand
lesson:--
Place a blackboard or large piece of oil-cloth on
the floor, and make an "island" in sand, and in
the "island" form a large "estuary," with little
heaps of sand dotted about in it, to represent
sandbanks. The sailors cannot =see= the sandbanks,
for they are all covered with water in the =real=
river, so we will take a duster and spread it over
these sandbanks. Now, take a tiny boat and ask one
of the children to sail it up the river, keeping
clear of the sandbanks. The children will soon see
that it cannot be done, and the "blackboard"
lesson may be again enforced.
(WHY WE SHOULD OBEY.)