When these things have been done the teacher should turn away from all books and ask himself, “How can I best present this lesson to my class?” and with the needs of his own pupils in mind, plan the lesson for presentation. After the plan is settled the method of presentation as given in this book will not prescribe a method but may be helpful in the way of suggestion. The importance of individual preparation cannot be emphasized too strongly, for no ready-made lesson can be perfectly fitted to any class. The lessons for the first half of the quarter are taken from the “morning stories” in the first eleven chapters of Genesis. These stories nourish the soul of the child as few other stories can, because they keep the child in the presence of God. It is a God who not only creates, but guides, loves, reproves, walks, and talks with man as one friend with another. The nine-year-old child is hardly yet beyond the stage where the fancies of fairy tale and myth make a strong appeal. For that reason it seems to him perfectly natural that God in visible presence should meet and converse with his children. These stories, therefore, strengthen the God-consciousness within him, and awaken a response which results in the realization that he, too, may have personal relation with his loving, heavenly Father. “The ancient Hebrew had no notion of science. He did not ask for the immediate cause of physical events. It entirely satisfied his instinct for ultimate truth to assume that thunder was God’s voice; that God had planted those cedars whose life reached back before the memory of man. He related all mysteries to God, and in that relationship his mind rested and his heart was satisfied.”[2] This is equally true of the child. His heart is satisfied with God, and he is not troubled with any questions concerning whether these early stories relate actual happenings or not. They are gloriously true because they tell the truth about God. They give the child an axis for his universe, and that is what he is seeking. The teacher should not try to interpret the stories, but simply tell them as nearly as possible in the splendid simplicity of the Bible language. The Pupil’s Book for Work and Study This book guides the pupil in his Bible reading and study, indicates verses or passages for memorization, and through the handwork furnishes him an opportunity for making the lesson his own. There are several reasons why this book is of high educational value. One is that it serves to fix the facts clearly in mind and facts are the basis of ideas. Ideas cannot be clearly seen until the facts are mastered.