[From Great Thoughts, London, England]

Learning the art of living together is the problem of the century in which we live. Class must live with class, race with race, and nation with nation. The developments of the century which has passed have brought people closer together. Lines of transportation and communication have been weaving a web about the world, so that people are closer together than ever before. Now we must learn to live together.

[Sir Gilbert Murray, in the New York Times, New York]

Practically all the schoolbooks, especially the history books, of the last generation were written from a point of view that is now superseded. They were written for a society in which every nation found its chief glory in the wars it had waged. Its heroes were the statesmen who had made the wars and the soldiers who had fought them. And its boys and girls were regularly and unconsciously trained in a patriotism which involved, among other things, a passionate faith that the leaders of their own people were good, brave, and chivalrous and that those of the people they fought against were bad and cruel and cowardly.

How can one hope to correct this tendency of the national history books? Not by foreign intervention. Foreign intervention does more harm than good. But in various careful and unaggressive ways attention may be drawn to the need of change. ... The admirable work done in the United States was, of course, widely known already; but we were not prepared for the movement among teachers in all countries, especially teachers of history, to get the teaching more in accord with facts and with a reasonable world outlook. ...

What is wanted in this suffering world, and what we supposed "experts" have to teach the youth of the world, is not pacifist propaganda or League of Nations propaganda, or any particular doctrine of dogma, but the power of looking at facts and learning from them. It is a hard task. It involves the eradication of prejudices and habits of thought which most of the younger generation, like the older, have sucked in with their mother's milk, and which are dinned into their ears day by day by the vast majority of their national newspapers and national politicians. ...

The Chinese Government has been for years faced with a problem not unexampled in history, though probably it has never before existed on so vast a scale. The old social and intellectual order of the vast empire has broken down; and twenty years of civil war have not permitted the building up of a new social order to take the place of the old. China wants help from outside in the building of a new order; she wants coöperation, technical, economic, educational. But she cannot apply to any single country; neither would it be wise to apply to one country for one adviser and to others for a second and a third; the result would be friction, and perhaps intrigue. China has done the obviously wise thing: it has applied for advice and help to the League of Nations. ...

In particular, the University of Nanking asked for three professors, of geography, geology, and English literature respectively, and we have been able to supply a Swiss geologist, a German geographer, and an English professor of English literature. It was not easy to get the right men. Not every young professor is ready to spend two years in the University of Nanking; nor yet has every competent university teacher the necessary sympathy and imagination and what we venture to call "League spirit," to be likely to succeed in revolutionary China.

Then came a still more important invitation, one thrilling in its responsibilities and almost frightening in the vastness of its scope. The Chinese Government has asked for an educational mission to advise about the establishment in that enormous and mostly illiterate population of a system of popular education which shall take the place of the great traditional system which has now fallen in ruins owing to its difficulty, its unpracticalness, and its association with the old régime.

Can any system introduced from abroad ever command the interest or loyalty of China's four hundred million? Can an alphabet be effectively introduced and people be taught to read? Or must they be taught by pictures and diagrams in cinemas? Will any discipline be tolerated by a generation which has been brought up to believe that the first of virtues is rebellion? Can the ancient and lovely Chinese art, the ancient and lovely Chinese courtesy and refinement of imagination be saved? A hundred such questions suggest themselves. The Committee of Intellectual Coöperation cannot answer them, but at least we have sent an exceedingly strong educational mission to make some tentative beginnings: Dr. Becker, the famous Prussian Minister of Instruction; M. Langevin, the French scientist and educationalist; M. Falski, who has had special experience in Poland in dealing with a people unable to read or write; and Mr. Tawney, the well-known leader of educational movements in England. Can they succeed in suggesting the first steps, or is the task beyond human capacity? One cannot tell; but at least it is a magnificent enterprise, and one for which there is an urgent practical need.

We included poetry, because to induce nations to enjoy one another's songs and poems is a useful road toward "moral disarmament"; we ended with a unanimous resolution in favor of the success of the disarmament conference because, unless the nations disarm, the military burdens they have to bear will crush out their intellectual life.

[Rev. William W. Sawin, in the Union-Star, Schenectady, New York]

It has been well said that "the world goes forward on the feet of little children." This is because each generation has the rare privilege of making a distinct advance. But in what do we need to advance most today? In science? We have more science now than the heart of man can wisely deal with. In finance? We are the richest nation on the globe. In secular education? This alone cannot solve the human problem.

Experience and study have convinced me that our greatest need today is Christian education, actuated by Christian motives, which can only come from the spirit and teachings of Christ [Jesus].

Home is the greatest institution on earth. More is done here to mold character than in any other place. The two unparalleled opportunities for Christian education in the home are after the evening meal, when the family is usually together, and at bedtime. Many interesting things can be done. Children often say, "Daddy, tell me a story." Here is your opportunity. Give them a Bible story. Ten minutes after the evening meal can do much to stimulate thought and to acquaint the growing mind with rare religious characters. Let the children read some passage of Scripture of their own choosing, or let them ask and answer questions. Whatever is done, let the children share in it. ... Create a family spirit, and enthrone Christ in the heart of your home.

Bedtime is prayer time, story time, good-night time—a beautiful time for a "God bless you," sealed with a kiss of love. What rare opportunities to direct the footsteps aright and woo the hearts of our children to God!

In conclusion, permit me to tell you a secret of the nature of religion. It is caught, as well as taught. Let your life shine through your teaching, so that what you say bears the weight of reality. Then, and only then, will you succeed.

[George C. Pidgeon, D. D., in the New Outlook, Toronto, Ontario, Canada]

The writer remembers a spiritual revival breaking out spontaneously in a Sunday school. The boys and girls moved by it were asked to meet the minister in the body of the church after the lesson period, and they came en masse. As long as he spoke to them about God and His love, Christ and his salvation, and the love and trust and obedience which they inspire, their attention riveted his soul; whenever he turned to any other subject their attention wandered.

[Thomas Tiplady, in the Christian Advocate, New York, New York]

We have a heart—that is, we have the capacity for love and friendship. We must spend time on our families and friends. ... Today men spend much money on their families, but little time. In material things their homes are rich, but in ... spiritual things their homes are poor. They feed the bodies of their children, but strave their hearts. Christian want more than money from their parents. They want their parents' love and companionship. In a word, they want their parents' time. If life is to be rich in the ... qualities that make happiness, we must give ourselves time to love and to be loved.

[Charles R. Watson, LL. D., President of the American University of Cairo, in the International Review of Missions, New York, New York]

Where mighty miracles are wrought in the transformation of human and world conditions, there you always find a sense of God's presence, a sense of Christ moving victoriously once again in the midst of his followers, who labor to realize his will and to enthrone him as Lord of love and life. To gain and enjoy that vivid sense of a living Lord, men and women will be willing to go to the ends of the earth.

[From a Correspondent in the Times Weekly Edition, London, England]

No community can prosper where the home is not the center of affection, fellowship, service, and faith. ... We may not hesitate to affirm that no community can rightly apprehend the Christian revelation of the divine nature and the character of human fellowship if it does not preserve the sanctities of the home.