hen inside the run which he had built outside the
hen house. He had put up a wire fence high enough, as he thought, to
keep in the most ambitious chicken. In fact, he argued that no hen could
fly over it. One hen persisted in getting out regularly, though the
farmer could never discover how she did it. Finally he decided to lay
for her (she laid for him regularly). To his great surprise, he watched
her walk around the run carefully surveying it as she proceeded. At
length she caught sight of a beam running along the top of the wire just
above the gate. With her eye fixed upon it she made one mighty effort
and was over.

The moral of the two stories is self-evident. Both hens and men can "go
over" if they have something to aim at. It is so in life generally, and
what is true of life generally is particularly true in the matter of
teaching. The aim is one of the most significant features in the
teaching process.

The teacher who knows where he is going can always get followers.

Important as is the aim in all educational endeavor, it is doubly so in
religious training. We teach religiously not merely to build up facts or
make for mental power; we teach to mold character. We should see through
facts, therefore, to the fundamental truth lying behind and beyond them.
Such a truth constitutes an aim in religious instruction.

One of the most regrettable facts connected with some of our teaching is
that teachers leave the preparation of their lessons until the few
minutes just preceding their recitation hour. They then hurry through a
mass of facts, rush into class and mull over these dry husks, unable in
the rush even to see the kernel of truth lying within. Little wonder
pupils tire of such rations. It is the teacher's obligation to "see
through" and discover the gems that really make lessons worth while.

Forty-five minutes once a week is so meagre an allotment of time for the
teaching of the greatest principles of life! Surely every one of those
minutes should be sacredly guarded for the consideration of vital
truths. The aim, coupled with careful organization, is one of the best
safeguards possible.

The aim is the great focus for a lesson's thought. It is the center
about which all else revolves. It specifies what shall be included and
what excluded out of the great mass of available material. A single
chapter of scripture may contain truths enough for a dozen lessons, only
one of which can be treated in any one r