FOR THE YOUNG. TOLD FROM AN ETHICAL STANDPOINT. BY W. L. SHELDON, Lecturer of the Ethical Society of St. Louis. S. BURNS WESTON, PUBLISHER, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 1895. A WORD TO TEACHERS AND MOTHERS: It should be explained that the manuscript from which this volume is published was prepared in a rather peculiar manner. Some years ago the writer had a class of teachers and mothers to whom he read the story chapter by chapter. Those who were present made criticisms and offered further suggestions as to the best method by which to present the subject to the minds of the young. Some of them took the manuscript with them and read the chapters to the children in their home in order to see how it would be appreciated. Then the chapters were all written over again with the help of those suggestions and criticisms. Mothers have taken the story in its complete form and read it to their children in order to judge of its effect. Again, after a number of years the writer has once more revised the entire manuscript and submitted it for criticism to one of the most experienced teachers of St. Louis. It is in this final form that the work is now published. Those who use it in the home or school need bear in mind that the story is written exclusively from one special aspect. No attempt has been made in this volume to give a complete Life of Jesus. The writer's desire has been to tell this life in such a way as not to awaken in the minds of the young any questions about problems of theology. That other aspect has been entirely omitted. There is no attempt to antagonize it, but simply to be neutral in regard to it. The same life could be written over again, and on the other hand be told exclusively from the stand-point of theology. It will be observed that the sayings of Jesus are in italics. This is done for a definite reason. There would be little or no purpose in giving to a story of this kind only a single perusal. All these sayings of Jesus ought to be committed to memory by the young. The writer hopes therefore that there will be some who will read the story often enough so as to be able to recite every one of these sayings in italics from memory. It may be that even those who are no longer young in years will find it worth their while to read the story of this life as written in this special form. If those who do so, have any further suggestions to make in regard to it the writer will always be glad to receive them, considering the possibility that it may undergo another revision at some future time. W. L. SHELDON, St. Louis, Mo. Feb. 13th, 1895, |