Telling Is Not Teaching
By H. Clay Trumbull
WHO would think of teaching an apprentice to shoe a horse, or to set type, or to make a watch, by simply telling him how? Who would expect artists, or authors, or soldiers, to be taught in their profession by the mere telling of their duties? If men and women knew all the valuable truths which have been told them, from the lecture platform, in social converse, and by direct personal instruction, how wise the world would be! If children had been taught all the good things that have been told to them at home and elsewhere, how much more they would know than their parents—who have not always been taught by simply being told! And what learned congregations we should have, if all that some of these wise and venerable preachers have told their people had been learned by their people! That telling has not been teaching in every case, all will see at a glance, whether they are ready or not to agree that telling is never teaching, nor ever can be.—H. Clay Trumbull.