But the task which so many homes lays down the
community must take up. The public school _cannot_ cultivate the spirit
of prayer, and if the home does not, the church remains the only
possible agent through which it may be done. The Sunday-school teacher
is the church's most potent instrument, therefore a large share of the
task is hers.
The teachers in the Beginners' departments realize the need of the
cultivation of prayer and pray simply and often during the session, baby
lips repeating the words. Through cards and memory verses prayers go
into homes where none are ever made. In Primary departments the
instruction is continued and children are led to express themselves in
simple words of worship. In the Junior departments there is the
superintendent's prayer--the appeal it makes depending upon the leader's
sympathy, and knowledge of childhood. Often both are lacking. These
Junior girls know the street, the moving picture show, the unsupervised
playground, the temptations of school life; they are beginning to show
the moral effect of poverty on the one hand and social ambitions and
false standards on the other. How many prayers for girls from ten to
twelve does one hear? How many can he find though he search ever so
diligently.
When we come to the girl in her teens we find often in large numbers of
classes that the only instruction in prayer is the indirect teaching
from the prayer at the desk.
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