Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/465

 ETHICAL INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOL AND CHURCH 44S

is given bv only two boys and one girl. These generali- zations have been made more striking by introducing transparen- cies. If the wording of the lecture were changed to make these more emphatic, probably we should bore the children. The children will willingly listen more than once to the lecture, and will discover the generalizations.

To complete the statement of this suggested method I have but to include one of the shorter discussions of an episode. The test of this method is its availability for the younger grades. I therefore give the story " Six Boys and a Cart." For use in the schools this lecture ought to be enlarged to include about twenty pictures illustrative of its various points.

SIX BOYS AND A CART.

I was walking one day on the sidewalk of a street in Boston, that famous city by the sea, where the colonists under Governor Winthrop settled in 1630, and now one of the largest cities in the United States. My camera was under my arm, and 1 was looking for boys. The boys have just as fine a time where there are no elegant houses and the people are not rich, and there may be a splendid playmate under some poor clothes. My eyes were wandering all around ; not a boy escaped me. I want to show you the boys that were having the most fun. They are just boys with ordinary clothes, and they know how to have a good time. See this picture.

Here is a strong-wheeled cart just large enough to hold the driver. If I were driver, I would not ask a better team than these four stout boys. One of them has his hat off, and the driver has it on his cart. When the word comes, " Get up there," this boy-horse ducks his head, and off they all go like the wind. You cannot break the cart, and it would take a long drive to tire the team.

This picture shows them halted at the street corner ; you can imagine how they looked when they came dashing along the sidewalk. What would have happened if the team had not stopped when the driver said " Whoa ! " ? There is a sudden drop from the sidewalk to the driveway, and this would have given the driver a hard jolt, had the team kept its break-neck pace. I saw them come prancing up to the jolting place, and heard the driver call out, " Whoa ! " These boys stopped.

But I know some two-legged horses that would not have stopped. I know some big boys that would have invited this little fellow with the round cap, who seems to be watching the fun, to have a fine ride, and then, when he accepted the invitation, supposing that he was dealing with gentlemen, they would have turned and dashed up to the jolting place, given the cart a jerk