she began, the sort of room in which she slept, the
amount of real food she had. And because they were not concerned they
lost her. Today a teacher cannot teach religion if she does not care
about life. She attempts it but she fails. Jesus astonished the Scribes,
Pharisees, Doctors of the Law and Priests of the Temple by His intense
interest in the physical needs of men. He took into account the _whole_
man and set body, mind and spirit free.
When one considers how little mental stimulus and training comes to the
average girl after leaving school and is aware of the vast majority who
leave school at any early age, she is not surprised at the lack of power
to think on the part of so many, and at the very limited knowledge she
finds when attempting to teach. The girls of today need to be informed
on matters of public welfare and political and economic affairs as never
before. Where shall they go for that information and how shall they be
led to desire it? Girls need to know the meaning of religion and in
simple fashion the history of creeds and denominations. They need
instruction from the Bible which cannot be given in a half hour a week
of more or less regular study.
Once those who were teachers of religion were not deeply concerned with
what the girl read and the things about which she thought. Now one
cannot teach religion truly unless she _knows_ what a girl reads, about
what she talks and thinks, whether she is in touch in any way with that
which can broaden her mind and give her food for thought.
No girl is safe, no girl can be her best or get the most out of life who
is weak on the third side of the triad. Unless she has the help of a
well developed spiritual nature how the littlenesses, the routine, the
difficulties, the jealousies and envyings, the gossiping and petty
dishonesties of life dwarf her.
Long ago, when I first began to print pictures, I tried to print a
picture of a beautiful rail-boat against long lines of sand dunes, on a
postal card. I couldn't. They explained to me that I must have
sensitized cards, then the imprint could be made. The girls of today
need to be developed and sensitized spiritually that the imprint of
purity and righteousness may be made upon the whole life. The spiritual
life, as well as the mental and physical, is as we shall see in a later
chapter, a matter of cultivation.
If the girl herself reads this chapter she will stop a moment to examine
the triad which makes up
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