The Object of Questioning.
By J. A. Howe
IN the Sabbath-school as well as in the court-room, questioning is an art. But all art is achieved by working according to definite rules. In every stroke the sculptor has an aim, and for every chip that flies can give a reason. Questions are the strokes of the Sabbath-school teacher, and by them he best fashions character who directs his words according to these three primary principles of Scriptural catechism. Questions should aim rather to awaken thought than to secure assent to thought. That all sentences followed by an interrogation point are not questions, needs no proof. The nature of an object tells what it is; and the nature of a question is unlike that of an answer. Questions appeal to memory or reflection; answers are the product of that appeal. To put the substance of an answer into the form of a question is, however, a common fault of teachers. "Was it not fitting that the angels should announce the birth of Christ?" "Do shepherds watch their flocks by night?" "Would not the advent of Christ be miraculous?" All questions of this order are eggs of the cuckoo in the nest of the sparrow. They are answers in a borrowed garb, defeating, too, all the ends for which questions, instead of affirmations, are made use of by the teacher. It is erroneously supposed that questions designed to stir up thought must be hard questions. What we wish to escape is, not easy, but foolish, questions. Now that is ever a foolish question which a fool can as readily answer as a wise man. It is evident that the intelligence of a scholar may be lost sight of in two ways: by questions too profound, or by questions too simple for his understanding. In any case, the sure mark of a good question is that it is adapted to awaken and draw out the mind of the one addressed. If the proper answer has no nutriment in it, represents neither a quickened intellect nor heart, the question, though an epitome of the entire lesson, is worthless. For questioning is dropping into the brook a line, not with the trout on the hook, but with the bait on it, in order to catch the trout out of the brook.