rate its meaning only degradingly or
misleadingly! And just as the life of the spirit is the gift of that
divine fatherhood, so for us the gift of our lives, ourselves, is the
largest and richest contribution we can make to the religious lives of
our children.

The father as a teacher teaches by what he is. The classes in the home
have no set lessons, for the text is written in lives and the word is
spoken and taught in personality. You effect the religious education of
your children in the degree that you give yourself as a simple religious
person to them.

I. References for Study

Hodges, _Training of Children in Religion_, chap. vii. Appleton,
$1.50.

K.G. Busby, _Home Life in America_, chaps. i, ii. Macmillan,
$2.00.

II. Further Reading

E.A. Abbott, _On the Training of Parents_. Houghton Mifflin Co.,
$1.00.

Allen, _Making the Most of Our Children_. 2 vols. McClurg, $1.00
each.

Wilm, _The Culture of Religion_, chap. ii. Pilgrim Press, $0.75

III. Topics for Discussion

1. Which do you remember best, your teachers or your lessons? Why?

2. Describe, from your memory, some of the influences of
personality?

3. Are these influences greater or less with parents on children?

4. What are the causes that separate parents and children?

5. How shall we define duties to business, to society, and to the
family?

6. Under what circumstances is one justified in refusing time to
the church for the sake of the family?

7. What are the best times and opportunities for the strengthening
of the personal bonds between children and parents?

8. How shall we overcome the apparent difficulty of maintaining the
confidence of children?

CHAPTER XXIV

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Whether we can remedy the ills of family living today or not, we can
determine the character of the family life of the future. The homes of
tomorrow are being determined today. The children who swing their feet
in schoolrooms and play in our gardens will control family living very
soon. We can do little to reconstruct the old order; we can do
everything to determine the new. When the mountain sides have been made
bare, forest conservation cannot save the old trees, but it can prepare
for new growths. Ours is the larger opportunity because we can determine
the ideals of our children. Today we can determ