Ephraim Holding's homely hints : Chiefly addressed to Sunday-school teachers

Front matter

Ni

EPHRAIM HOLDING'S

HOMELY HINTS.

Contents

5. Do you Study the Habits of Young People ?

6. Do you look Backwards and Forwards 1 .

7. Are you Prayerful, Hopeful, and Trustful 1 .

II

If you could at all enter into the spirit with which I put the question, Do you learn while you teach ? you would gladly allow me to catechise you with kindness, for I speak to myself while addressing you,

16 BO YOU LEARN WHILE YOU TEACH?

It is an humbling thing to feel ignorant when we have the credit of being wise, and to lack information while we communicate instruction. Alas ! how often do I stand in this unpleasant attitude. What would I not give in my age, to have more diligently improved my youthful opportunities of becoming" wise %

But thoughts like these are idle now, And soothe my spirit never ;

For time has deeply marked my brow, And youth has flown for ever !

I have known many people with too little wisdom and useful knowledge, but I never met with one who had too much. Unsuitable knowledge is not useful to its possessor : were a farmer to learn the art of ship-building, and a sailor to study agriculture, it would be throwing time away to attain what would be useless. It is when seeking knowledge and wisdom suited to our situation here and our prospects hereafter, that the injunction of the wise man comes with additional weight, " Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom, and with all thy getting get understanding." Prov. iv. 7.

On a certain occasion a party lost themselves in a wood, when one of the company undertook to guide them out of it ; this he would no doubt have done had he known the way out of it himself, but being equally ignorant with his companions, though more corndent, he only involved them in greater difficulty by leading them farther and farther into the leafy labyrinth.

In another case, the driver of a stage coach being taken ill, one of the passengers, a thoughtless, daring young man, boldly occupied the place of the coachman, but being altogether ignorant of the art of driving, he handled the whip and the reins so awkwardly, that instead of setting down his fellowtravellers at the accustomed inn, he set them down half a dozen miles short of it, by overturning them on the road, breaking the bones of some, bruising others, and terribly alarming them all.

A year or two ago, a holiday party took an excursion up the river Thames, in a boat which had a sail to it, on which occasion they unfortunately committed themselves to the pilotage of one who knew very little about rowing a boat, and still less of the management of a sail The consequence of this ignorance was, that a sudden gust of wind upset the boat, and several of the party found a watery grave. All these instances plainly declare that the best intentions in the world, without knowledge, are not enough to enable us to attain our ends. The guide in the wood, the driver of the coach, and the pilot of the boat, all intended to act kindly, yet their want of knowledge brought about disappointment, affliction, and death. " If the blind lead the blind," said the Redeemer, < ; both shall fall into the ditch. ' Matt. xv. 14.

In the days of my youth, young people had not

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IS DO YOU LEARN WHILE YOU TEACH?

the advantages they now possess in obtaining- knowledge ; for not only were books of instruction comparatively few and defective, but schoolmasters were, in many cases, very ignorant.

Had my schoolmaster, who kept a village boarding school, been satisfied in giving lessons in reading, writing, and the earlier rules of arithmetic, he might have done justice to those under his care, being thus far, but no farther, very well qualified as an instructor ; but no, he was of too enterprising a spirit to be thus restricted. Vulgar Fractions and Decimals, Algebra, Grammar, History, Geography, Astronomy, the use of the Globes, and Latin, were only a part of that knowledge he fearlessly undertook to communicate.

You will wonder how, with so slender a stock of attainments, he contrived to keep up a reputation for learning and knowledge, for like the schoolmaster in the Deserted Village, he was regarded as an oracle.

" While words of learned length and thundering sound, Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around ! And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew, How one small head could carry all he knew."

The way in which he kept up his credit was this : he was quick to discover an error, and w r oe was the portion of the poor unhappy urchin who committed one. He never attempted to give us information, if we required it, but with a frown sent us back again, that we might obtain it from our

DO YOV LEARN WHILE YOU TEACH? 19

books ; and then he was so fearfully severe, that however apparent his ignorance might be, no one durst call his knowledge in question. Had it not been for the ushers he employed, we should have left school with very little addition to our mental treasury.

Occasionally he used to mount his horse to attend an establishment for young ladies at a distance of some miles, and now and then I accompanied him. As he knew very little, you will readily suppose that I knew still less. Imagine him, then, up to his knees in high-topped boots sitting on his saddle, and I, a boy of ten or a dozen years, straddling his horse behind him, trotting forward on our hopeful enterprize. A pretty pair truly to communicate instruction !

On one of these occasions, my schoolmaster being called away, LJiad tQ-give a lecture on the globes, and as well might I have attempted a lecture on rope-dancing, being about as much at home on one subject as on the other. To afford any useful information to those around me was altogether out of the question, all that I attempted was to prevent their finding out that I knew no more about the matter than they did.

With this object in view, I told them over and over again, which was the top of the globe and which was the bottom ; explained clearly that the latitude was different from the longitude, and the longitude different from the latitude. I turned the fytM*^ it globe round and round, and allowed them to turn it round too, to gain time, and then I assured them that the world was divided into four parts, and that the four parts and the four quarters were precisely the same thins*.

In treating on the celestial globe, I was, if possi ble, in a still greater difficulty than before, and only kept floundering on from one senseless remark to another. I told them that the odd forms on the globe were not to be seen in the skies, and, that being the case, advised them not to look for them, as it would be all time thrown away. That stars and planets were heavenly bodies, altogether distinct in their character, but I did not venture to explain wherein one differed from another. After ming-lins* together for some time, latitude and longitude, and the signs of the Zodiac, stars, planets, and constellations, in admirable confusion, to my great relief I came to a close ; what my pupils thought of my lecture I never knew ; but for myself, even now, when it occurs to my memory, I could hide my face with both my hands. Perhaps, on the whole, my young friends had no cause to complain, for if I had not made them wise, it was from lack of ability, and not from want of inclination. If I had not communicated to them much knowledge, at any rate I had given them all that I possessed.

Now this w r as, to say the best of it, a very lamentable piece of business, and my only reason for alluding to it now, is that you may never by want of knowledge, be placed in so humiliating a situation. Do you feel a desire to be equal to your duties ? Do you learn while you teach ? for unless you do, your power to benefit others will be very limited. A writer, well known for his usefulness among Sunday schools, has said to Sunday school teachers, " You should prepare the lessons for your children before hand. Nothing can be done well without taking pains. You should fear to offer to children that which costs you nothing. You should be like bees continually gathering sweets from every flower to bring home honey to the young swarm in your Sunday school hives. Seek to gain information, and diligently peruse works on education, such as the Teachers' Magazine. Take this as a maxim which I cannot too powerfully enforce : i He who leases to learn, soon becomes unfit to teach. 1 "

My present object is not to point out to you how you are to learn, or what you are to learn, but rather to increase your desire to gain information. When once you fully resolve to get knowledge, you will find that in this as in other things, " where there is a will there is a way." Learning without a determination to improve, is like winding up a watch with a broken main-spring. A kite will not fly without wind. A balloon will not rise without gas. A hackney coach will not run without horses, neither will you ever become wise without a resolution to improve. " Do you learn" then, u while you teach ?"

It is said that u men are but children of a largei growth ;" and it is certain that the wisest man has very much to acquire. Instead of regarding scholars as learners, and teachers as those who have nothing to attain, I rather look on scholars, teachers, and superintendents, as only different classes in the same Sunday school. All have need to make progress in useful knowledge, and especially to learn lessons of Him who has said, " Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Matt. xi. 29.

The question was once asked, u Where shall we find God ?" The reply given was, " Where shall we not find Him ?" Something like the same 'observation may be made of knowledge, when once a thirst to obtain it has taken possession of the heart. Ask you where knowledge is to be acquired % u The heavens declare the glory of God. and the firmament sheweth his handy work." Psa. xix. 1. " The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord," Psa. xxxiii. 5 ; and they who ]ook around with a hearty desire to improve, cannot fail to

" Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks. Sermons in stones, and good in evei^'thing."

The Bible is within the reach of every hand ; libraries are abundant, and fresh sources of information are continually being opened around. The difficulty is not in obtaining knowledge, but in making up our minds to become wise.

Every Sunday school teacher may rest satisfied, however limited his experience and humble his qualifications, that if he is in earnest to become useful to his class, he cannot altogether fail in his object, for he will then gladly avail himself of every means to qualify himself for his office. Did Hutton, a poor homeless, moneyless, friendless lad, who was reduced so low as to sleep, for the want of a better bed, on a butcher's block in the open street, did he become a wise man and an eminent writer % Did Ferguson, a poor shepherd boy, without books or instructions lay the foundation of his future knowledge as a famous astronomer % Did Saunderson and Huber, though blind, led on by a thirst of science and a spirit of determination, become eminently wise, the latter as a naturalist, and the former as a professor of mathematics % and shall the lowliest Sunday school teacher, blest with the use of all his faculties, and favoured with facilities, be discouraged in obtaining knowledge % Never ! Never ! I hold it as an axiom, that he who tied and bound with a sense of his own deficiencies, looks above for heavenly aid, with a heart humble enough to feel his own ignorance, and a spirit ardent enough to pursue after wisdom,

Who pants for knowledge, labouring to be free, And says, c I will be wise 1' wise he will be.

Again, I ask, " Do you learn while you teach ?" For your own comfort, and for the good of your

24 DO YOU LEARN WHILE YOtf TEACH?

class, and for the glory of that gracious Redeemer, under whose banner you have enrolled yourselves, this should be the case. One of the most apostolic ministers of the gospel that ever I knew, once addressed me after this fashion : (I was then about five and twenty, and he somewhat more than threescore years and ten :) " How are you in your body, soul, and spirit ? Are you humble, and willing to learn as you go on your way to heaven ; or, are you proud and puffed up, and think that you know enough already ? There is plenty to learn. At least I find it so. If you are not learning, you are cheating yourself of great good, and robbing God of his glory. The more you learn of his word and will, the better you will be able to serve him ; the more you learn of his goodness and grace, the better will you love him, and the more gladly will you glorify him. Learn, then, every day, and all day, and never cease learning till you cease living! Learn for yourself! learn for all around you ! Learn for life and death ; learn for time and eternity."

As these remarks suited me then, they may possibly suit you now, and should they dispose you to " learn while you teach" they may do you even more good than they did me.

St. Paul, the great apostle, though brought up at the feet^of Gamaliel, highly educated, learned in languages and full of faith and christian experience,

DO YOU T*^N WHILE YOU TEACH? 25

was a learner all his days. Hear how anxious he is for future attainments :—

" Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that [ may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended : but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Phil. iii. 13, 14.

If thus apostles onward press, For knowledge, faith, and righteousness, Now doubly prompt should we be found, To gladly learn of all around.

I have somewhere met with the remark, that the beginning of an address to Sunday scholars should be made to fix their attention, the middle of it to instruct their minds, and the end to impress their hearts ; and as I hardly think that a better plan than this can be laid down in addressing Sunday school teachers, I shall endeavour to bear it in my mind. Whether my present Homely Hints will either interest, instruct, or edify, I cannot tell. With a hallowed influence they may do all three. At any rate, I must now bring them to a close, encouraging the hope, that as I r yself have often profited by humble productions, your minds also may be moved to learn while yoit teach, by my common-place observations.

III

I did intend to take for my present heading, the question, "Are you glad to see your scholars ?" and in many respects it might have suited my purpose very well ; but, on maturer consideration, after pondering the thing in my mind, a more important question occurred to me : instead, therefore, of asking you, Are you glad to see your scholars ? I will now inquire, Are your scholars glad to see you ?"

But do not hastily suppose, if your scholars are glad to see you, that every thing of necessity must be going on well, for that is a consequence which by no means follows. It would be an easy thing to gain the good will of your school by improper means, Were a teacher to load his pockets with apples, oranges, macaroons, and gingerbread-nuts, he would always be a welcome visitor at the ( school, and his arrival would be hailed with every demonstration of joy ; or were he to be imprudently kind and indulgent in other ways, he might, no doubt, enlist the affections of his young friends ; but all this might be done without conferring upon them one single real and permanent benefit. Outward signs are often deceitful things : the ruddy glow that is the symbol of life in the cheek of health, is frequently in the cheek of disease, the hectic harbinger of approaching death. Before, then, we venture to decide whether the pleasure manifested by your scholars on your arrival be a good sign, we must know on what account it is that they are glad to see you.

But though I thus speak, it does appear to me to be a thing of first rate importance to gain, by proper means, the good will, and if possible, the warm affections of your scholars. It is much easier to hold a boy by his heart than by his ear. Let a boy know that you will not deceive him, and he will trust you — let him know that you are in earnest, and he will not trifle with you — let him know that you are consistent, and he will respect you — let him know that you are not severe, and he will not be afraid of you — and let him know that you are considerate and kind-hearted, and he will lovejpu. Two persons, it is said, once went to a masquerade, the one drest up from head to foot with roses, the other stuck all over with stinging-nettles ; the consequence might easily have been foreseen. Rosyposy was followed wherever he went, every one endeavoring to obtain from him a flower ; while the whole company fled from NettJetop in the greatest confusion. To apply this to my present purpose, a cheerful and a kind demeanour is a flower that is sure to attract young people ; and a reserved, churlish, and severe aspect is a stinging-nettle which is equally certain to drive them away. I am somewhat afraid that after all the plans and contrivances which ingenuity has devised to render book-learning pleasant to young people, the time never will arrive when it will be any other than a trouble to them. Pretty books, and pictures, and rhymes, and pleasant tales are all very excellent in their way. but we must not be out of temper if children do not find learning quite so entertaining a thing as wo wish to make it ; a pill is a pill to a child, even though it be rolled in sugar ; and a school book is a school book, in spite of the picture m the inside, and the red or blue cover on the out. Admitting this to be the true state of the case, it will be better to hold out inducements to the young mind to overcome a difficulty, than to endeavour to persuade it that a difficulty does not exist. If we cannot say the hili is not steep, we can at any rate speak of the fair prospect which is to be seen from the top of it. Whatever impediments there maybe in the path of education, the most likely way to overcome them — to make the crooked straight, and the rough plain, is for the teachers to be orv good terms with those they instruct. If a t?aeher he regarded more as an enemv than a friend, the mole hill will become a mountain, and the streamlet a rushing river ; so that it is no unimportant question that I ask — " Are your scholars glad to see you f %

Different kinds of fish are caught with different baits ; and nothing can be plainer than the propriety of treating children according to their different dispositions : some are bold and callous, others are timid and susceptible : — one boy will laugh at a reproof that would almost break another's heart. A knowledge of the character is, therefore, essentially necessary ; for, without it time will be wasted, and effort misdirected. I knew a severe schoolmaster, who had so little discrimination, that a boy who could not, received the same punishment at his hands as the boy who ivould not ; and on one occasion he lightly reproved a stubborn scholar, while he caught one, to whom a word would have been sufficient, by the hair of his head, and struck him on the ribs with his clenched fists. Such an instructor might compel obedience, but he was not at all likely to win the good will or the good opinion of his scholars, and whether he was glad or not to see them, certain it is that they were never glad to see him.

The poet tells us that it is a

" Delightful task, to rear the tender thought,

To teach the young idea how to shoot,

And pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind !"

and so it must be to a fond parent, who has suffi* cient leisure to attend to the instructions of an affeo

3* donate child ; but it is quite another thing to go through the routine of an extended school, to instruct the often-times wayward children of strangers. A high tone of benevolence is required to make such a path appear a path of roses, and perhaps, a still higher sense of duty and christian zeal to persevere therein, when it is found to be a path of thorns.

As it is a mark of wisdom to be humble enough gladly to pick up a useful hint, however lowly may be the source whence it is obtained, so you must not despise the homely hints of Ephraim Holding, even though they be scattered loosely throughout his observations, and at times but slenderly connected with the subject on which he treats. Give, then, a moment's consideration to the following points : —

Amuse your scholars when you can, ever keeping in view their improvement and real good. As a carpenter drives a nail, where he has bored a hole with his gimlet, so should you follow up a cheerful remark with a lesson of instruction.

Aim often at the heart ; better foster one good affection, than impress two good lessons on the memory. A heart is like a house, once get the key of it and take possession, and you may put into it what furniture you please.

Never fail to give encouragement to the tractable and timid. A well timed word will sometimes

ARE YOUR SCHOLARS GLAD TO SEE YOL 1 ? 31

work a wonder. •" A word fitly spoken, is like apples of gold in pictures of silver," Prov. xxv. 11.

Reprove with kindness, but never with levity j let it be seen that bad conduct afflicts you. i; You droll boy, I am very angry with you," will be a bounty for future misconduct. You may as well trifle with the cub of a tiger as with a bad propensity, for when fully grown it will turn again and rend you.

Speak a word now and then, in private, to such of your scholars as you wish to impress ; you may do more in the way of correction and encouragement, by this mode, in five minutes, that by an hour's public exhortation,

Draw a wide distinction between a want of talent and a want of attention, and try to make your scholars draw it too. All the reproof in the world will fail to make a feeble boy carry a heavy burden, or a weak intellect accomplish a difficult task.

Often look under your own waistcoat, for it will tell you what is going on under the waistcoat of another. Often consider how you felt and reasoned when a boy ; it will tell you what are the feelings and thoughts of the boys under your care, and this knowledge will enable you to act with more comfort to yourself, and advantage to them.

Learn what you can from those below you, as well as from those above you : be not too humble to look up, nor too proud to look down, as you may lose much that you might otherwise attain. When a boy goes nutting, he climbs for the brown clus ters, but when he goes mushrooming, he stoops to the very grovmd.

I might go on in this way for an hour, scattering my homely hints for you to pick up or pass by, according to your inclination ; but in walking through the world, we must think of others as well as ourselves. That which may be very pleasant to me, may be very irksome to you. To offer a few points now, and a few another time, may be a much better plan, than that of wearying you with a redundance of advice. I think, however, that some attention to what has fallen from me, will not be time thrown away, as it may render you more serviceable to your scholars, and also make them more glad to see you.

If it so happens that your scholars are glad to see you that their countenances brighten up at your approach, that nothing in short can be clearer than the fact that you have won their affections, I would then just suggest that you should put the question to yourselves, How have I contrived to secure their good opinion ? You cannot ask this question honestly, and reply to it truly, without advantage, for the response will either afford you satisfaction, or convince you of an error. If you have secured the love of your scholars, without compromise of a faithful discharge of duty — without losing sight of their intellectual improvement and spiritual welfare, much cause have you fc* joy ; but if, on the

ARE YOUR SCHOLARS GLAD TO SEE YOL ? 33

contrary, you have secured their attachment by imprudent concessions and injudicious kindness, neither really effectually aiding them in the acquirement of useful knowledge, nor earnestly helping them on their way to heaven, reason enough have you for serious reflection. Ephraim Holding has made in his time (to his sorrow be it spoken.) as many mistakes as his neighbours, and as they never imparted to him anything else than vexation and regret, so he feels the more anxious to play the beacon to his friends, warning them away from evil and error.

But what shall I say if your scholars are not glad to see you % This is a bad sign truly ; for though it is very possible the fault may be on the part of your scholars, it is much more probable that it rests with yourselves. Nay, my advice tc you in such a case is, to take it for granted, at once, that the error is your own, and set about its correction in right earnest. So long as a workman loses his time in complaining either of his tools, or of the materials on which he is employed, he makes no progress ; but the moment he is determined to do his very best with the one and the other, his eyes become brighter and his work becomes lighter. If your scholars are not glad to see you, something is going on wrong, and the sooner that something is discovered the better. Try yourselves on this point ; for as I said before, so I say again, as a generai rule, Let a boy know that you will not

34 AJEtE YOUR SCHOLARS GLAD TO SEE YOU?

deceive him, and he will trust you — let him know that you are in earnest, and he will not trifle with you — let him know that you are consistent, and he will respect you — let him know that you are not severe, and he will not be afraid of you — and let him know that you are considerate and kindhearted, and he will love you.

As you are so much my juniors, you must allow me to point out a common error in young people ; it is this — they have frequently a stronger inclination to enter on duties which do not belong to them, than to discharge thoroughly those which do. I have often run into this error in my younger days — not contented with doing little things, I have been ambitious to effect great ones. In many cases such an error is a great obstacle to usefulness. Think of this, and remember that you -are not superintendents, nor ministers, but Sunday school teachers. Assume not undue authority ; enter not on duties appertaining to others, but in an humble, earnest, ardent, prayerful, hopeful spirit, work manfully in your vocation, discharging the commonest duty that devolves upon you with christian cheerfulness. This is the way to obtain your own satisfaction ; this is the way to do good to your scholars, and a very likely way to make them always glad to see you.