For answers to these questions, turn first to Bible study. Take for instance a minister"s treatment of a Bible text. Selecting a verse or two as his Answers to theme for a sermon, he recalls the conditions that called forth the words; builds the concrete picture by the addition of reasonable detail; makes comparisons with corresponding views or customs of the present time; states and answers queries that may arise; calls attention to the peculiar beauty or force of certain expressions; draws inferences or corollaries suggested in the text; and, finally, interprets the thought or draws the practical lessons.
The words in his text may number less than a dozen, while those that he utters reach thousands; and the thoughts that he expresses may be a hundred times the number directly visible in the text.
Leaving the minister, take the layman"s study of the parable of the Prodigal Son. This is the story as related in Luke 15:11-32:
11. And he said, A certain man had two sons:
12. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
13. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
14. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
15. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him
17. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father"s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
19. And am no more worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants.
20. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compa.s.sion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
22. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.
23. And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat and be merry.
24. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
25. Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing.
26. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.
27. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
28. And he was angry, and would not go in; therefore came his father out, and intreated him.
29. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment; and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends;
30. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
81. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
32. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad; for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
How simple the story! Even a child can tell it after very few readings, and one could soon learn the words by heart. Is one then through with it? Or has the study then hardly begun?
Note some of the questions that need to be considered:--
1. What various thoughts probably induced the young man to leave home?
2. What pictures of his former life does he call to mind when starving? Why did he hesitate about returning?
3. What were his thoughts and actions as he approached his father; those also of his father?
4. What indication of the father"s character is given in the fact that he saw his son while yet "a great way off"?
5. Which is perhaps the most interesting scene? Which is least pleasing?
6. How would the older son have had the father act?
7. Did the father argue at length with the older son? Was it in place to argue much about such a matter?
8. Describe the character of the elder son. Which of the two is the better?
9. Is the father shown to be at fault in any respect in the training of his sons? If so, how?
10. How do people about us often resemble the elder son?
11. Is this story told as a warning or as a comfort? How?
These are only a few of the many questions that might well be considered. Indeed, whole books could be, and probably have been, written upon this one parable. Yet neither such questions nor their answers are included in the text. It seems strange that almost none of the great thoughts that should be gathered from the story are themselves included with the narrative. But the same is true in regard to other parts of the Bible. The conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4) is, perhaps, the greatest conversation that was ever held. Yet one must discover this fact "between the lines"; there is no such statement included in the account.
Evidently both to the minister and to the layman the Bible contains only the raw materials for thought. It must be supplemented without limit, if one is to comprehend it and to be nourished by it properly.
_2. As suggested by the study of other literature_
Does this same hold with regard to other literature? For answer, recall to what extent Shakespeare"s dramas are "talked over" in cla.s.s, both in high schools and colleges. But as a type--somewhat extreme, perhaps--take Browning"s
MY LAST d.u.c.h.eSS
That"s my last d.u.c.h.ess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a wonder, now: Fra Pandolf"s hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will"t please you sit and look at her? I said "Fra Pandolf" by design, for never read Stranger like you that pictured countenance, The depth and pa.s.sion of its earnest glance, But to myself they turned (since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I) And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst, How such a glance came there; so, not the first Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, "t was not Her husband"s presence only, called that spot Of joy into the d.u.c.h.ess" cheek; perhaps Fra Pandolf chanced to say, "Her mantle laps Over my lady"s wrist too much," or "Paint Must never hope to reproduce the faint Half-flush that dies along her throat": such stuff Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough For calling up that spot of joy. She had A heart--how shall I say--too soon made glad, Too easily impressed; she liked whate"er She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
Sir, "t was all one! My favor at her breast, The dropping of the daylight in the West, The bough of cherries some officious fool Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule She rode with round the terrace--all and each Would draw from her alike the approving speech, Or blush, at least. She thanked men,--good! but thanked Somehow--I know not how--as if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybody"s gift. Who"d stoop to blame This sort of trifling? Even had you skill In speech--(which I have not)--to make your will Quite clear to such an one, and say, "Just this Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss, Or there exceed the mark"--and if she let Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse, --E"en then would be some stooping; and I choose Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt, Whene"er I pa.s.sed her; but who pa.s.sed without Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands As if alive. Will"t please you rise? We"ll meet The company below, then. I repeat, The Count your master"s known munificence Is ample warrant that no just pretense Of mine for dowry will be disallowed; Though his fair daughter"s self, as I avowed At starting, is my object. Nay, we"ll go Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though, Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity, Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!
How much the word last in the t.i.tle of this poem suggests! Note how many, and how different, are the topics in the last dozen lines. Yet there is no paragraphing throughout. The page should show things as they exist in the Duke"s mind, and he runs from one thought to another as if they were all on the same plane, and closely related.
Was there ever a more vain, heartless, haughty, selfish, bartering gentleman-wretch? Note how single short sentences even surprise one by the extent to which they reveal character. Whole volumes are included between sentences. One can scarcely read the poem through rapidly; for it seems necessary to pause here and there to reflect upon and interject statements.
There is no doubt about the need of extensive supplementing in the case of adult literature. Is that true, however, of literature for children? Is not this, on account of the immaturity of children, necessarily so written as to make such supplementing unnecessary?
For a test let us examine Longfellow"s The Children"s Hour, which is so popular with seven- and eight-year-old boys and girls.
THE CHILDREN"S HOUR
Between the dark and the daylight, When the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day"s occupations, That is known as the Children"s Hour.