our
methods, or the matter we teach.

Interest depends on comprehension.--First of all we must remember that
_interest never attaches to what the mind does not grasp_. Go yourself
and listen to the technical lecture you do not understand, or try to
read the book that deals with matters concerning which you have no
information; then apply the results of your experience to the case of
the child. The matter we teach the child must have sufficient connection
with his own experience, be sufficiently close to the things he knows
and cares about, so that he has a basis on which to comprehend them. The
_new_ must be related to something _old and familiar_ in the mind to
meet a warm welcome.

If we would secure the child's interest, we must make certain of a
"point of contact" in his own life and meet him on the plane of his own
experience. God smiling in the sunshine, making the flowers grow or
whispering in the breeze is closer to the child than God as "Creator."
God protecting and watching over the child timid and afraid in the dark
is more real than God in his heaven as "protector." We must remember
that not what _we_ feel is of value, but _what the child feels is of
value_ is what will appeal to his interest and attention. And no
exertion or agonizing on our part will create interest in the child in
matters for which his own understanding and experience have not fitted
him. For example, probably no child is ever interested in learning the
church catechism or Bible verses which we prize so highly, but which he
can not understand nor apply; he may be interested in a prize to be had
at the end of the learning, but in this case the interest is in the
reward and not in the matter learned. _Empty words devoid of meaning
never fire interest nor kindle enthusiasm._

Interest attaches to action.--Children are interested more in action,
deeds, and events than in motives, reasons, and explanations. They care
more for the uses to which objects are to be put than for the objects
themselves.

No boy is interested in a bicycle chiefly as an example of mechanical
skill, but, rather, as a means of locomotion. No girl is interested in
dolls just as dolls, nor as a product of the toy maker's skill, but to
play with. It is this quality that makes children respond to the story,
for the story deals with action instead of with explanation and
description. In the story there is life and movement, and not reasoning
and mere assertion. The stor