terary heritage. Here in the
Bible is the precipitation of the ideals of a people unique in the
place which religion held in their lives. Here is a literature which is
the source of much of the best in the language and reading of the
child's life. Its phrases are beautiful and convenient embodiments of
religious ideals; they will have a steadily developing richness of
meaning as life opens out to the child.[21]

Sec. 2. DIFFICULTIES

The difficulties in the way of the use of the Bible in the home are: the
crowded programs, or a lack of time due to the absence of any program
for the days; a feeling of unnaturalness in the special reading of this
book; the decay of the custom of reading aloud; parental ignorance of
the Bible and especially of its beauties for the young; and the
excessive amount of task-reading frequently required by the schools. The
Sunday school also sometimes offends in this respect by overemphasis on
academic tasks for home work.

Sec. 3. METHODS

First, let parents use the Bible themselves. Use the books as you wish
children to use them. This will be the longest step you can take toward
the solution of the problem.

Secondly, use the Bible naturally. When children have an aversion to the
Bible it is due usually to two causes: the peculiar place and use of
the book which makes it a thing apart from life, and often an object of
dread; and the practice of using it as a task-book, to be opened only in
order to prepare Sunday-school lessons. Just as it takes years to
overcome the aversion set up against English literature by its
analytical study in the schools, so that the child becomes a man before
he voluntarily reads Dickens, Thackeray, the poets, and essayists, in
the same manner we have succeeded in making the Bible undesirable to
youth. If you read passages aloud, use the tone of voice which would be
appropriate if this was a new book not bound in leather. Read it for
pleasure as one would read a literary masterpiece--not because opinion
might frown on you if you had not read the classic. Does someone object
that that would be to degrade the Bible to the level of secular
writings? You cannot degrade a literature; it makes its own level and
our labels do not affect it. Certain it is that a pious tone of voice
will not protect the Bible from the secular level. But to use it
unnaturally will degrade it in the opinion of those who hear us.

Thirdly, make its use a pleasure. All children enjoy