Getting Children to Love the Book by Mrs. T. H. Hageman

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 4, 1916

Getting Children to Love the Book

By Mrs. T. H. Hageman

Merely telling a Bible story does not necessarily do a child any good at all. It may be told so as to give him no truth. It may convey an unsuitable truth; it may teach an untruth; or it may convey to him a truth suited to his needs, and so become a vital help to his life. Here are some instances of the various results of telling Bible stories to children:—

AN UNTRUTH.—A tiny hunchback boy with a nasal, treble voice sat on a pile of boards in the big new church next to his home. A primary teacher who was there on some errands in regard to finishing the rooms, sat down to rest and talk with the boy. “No,” he said, “I never went to Sunday school ’cause I can’t walk far, but I am coming to this Sunday school the first day ’cause it’s near. But I know lots of Bible stories. Grandma, who takes care of me, tells ’em. Once there was a boy, and he slept in the church, and he was just a little boy. God spoke to him one night, and he was scared and didn’t answer. Then God spoke again, and the little boy was scared, and didn’t answer. Then God spoke again, and the boy answered, and God said, ‘It’s a good thing you answered me this time, or I would have done something awful to you and this whole house.’”

The teacher listened attentively, and said, “Do you know any more Bible stories?”

“Oh, yes, ’bout when God was mad at Moses, and made him go up a mountain and die. And I know another, ’bout when God was mad at the Egyptians, and drowned ’em ’cause they tried to walk in a wide path he had made through the Red Sea.”

So this shrinking, frightened soul rambled on like a little heathen, telling of a powerful, vindictive god like an ogre, whose main attribute was wrath. The Bible stories had told him nothing of a loving heavenly Father, who is a friend to little children.

NO TRUTH.—A sturdy, round-faced seven-year-old came and sat down to join this story-telling group of two. Yes, he knew Bible stories, too. His Sunday-school teacher had told him a great many. “Once there was a boy named Davis, and he took care of sheep. All around the hills were lions and bears. The bears were worser than the lions, and the lions were the meanest kind. One day Davis saw a lion with a lamb in his mouth, and Davis came along and jerked the lamb out of the lion’s mouth. And he took that lion and flung him down.”

His voice trailed off with the satisfied tone of having finished a good story.

“Well, what then?” asked the primary teacher.

“That’s all,” answered the boy.

David the shepherd and the beautiful shepherd psalm were strangers to him. He had got no truth. He only knew “Davis,” who could fight a lion like a modern animal trainer in the circus.

UNSUITABLE TRUTH.—Harry is five years old, and goes to a small Sunday school in the neighborhood. The children of varying ages all listen to one story told by a woman who knows her Bible, but does not know the nature and needs of children.

Harry’s mother said to a caller one Wednesday afternoon, “What do you suppose Harry could have heard at Sunday school to have frightened him? For three nights he has wakened from his sleep trembling and sobbing, and each time he has said, ‘Mamma, mamma, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die.’”

The visitor, who was deeply interested in children’s problems, took the trouble to find out what story had been told the class that Sunday. The little children under six had heard all the harrowing details of the beheading of John the Baptist and the carrying of his head on a tray into the banquet hall.

The story of a great hero who gave his life for his Master would have stirred the admiration in boys of the teen age, but only frightened a little five-year-old. The truth the story conveys was unsuited to the needs of a little child.

SUITABLE TRUTH.—A little girl was walking across a vacant lot where many flowers were bending in the wind. She picked a golden yellow poppy, and held it at arm’s length while the sun made it look like silk. “This is Jesus’ little poppy. He sent the bright spring sun to make the flowers grow. I love him. Don’t you?”

Those were the happy, loving thoughts of Jesus which the bright spring day brought to this child who had been given the truths and the stories suited to her needs by a wise teacher.

To tell a good story requires knowledge of the needs of the child, knowledge of the story material, and then one definite aim in telling the story. One who will master the simple fundamental principles of story-telling will be more than repaid for her trouble.—Mrs. T. H. Hageman, in the Sunday School Times.