FIFTH YEAR ETHICAL CENTRE: LOYALTY INTRODUCTION For the work of the fifth year, the central moral theme is loyalty. Loyalty is willing and thorough devotion to your accepted cause. The children are old enough to realize that without loyalty nothing great is achieved. The motto for the year might well be: "He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much." The occasions for loyalty are as many as the moments of conscious life. The examples of loyalty include every man, woman, or child who is doing his or her best. With grade five, the ethical questions asked of the class may include those in regard to which there is difference of opinion. The pupils can begin to be trained in accurate and fair-minded thinking. I have therefore suggested a number of questions for discussion regarding weak and strong types of loyalty. The teacher must of course know clearly just what she herself thinks on these points before she enters the class-room and guide the discussion to its true goal. Children often ask questions that would puzzle a sage, and it is well for the teacher to anticipate as many of these as she can. Some of the questions may be made the subject of a short composition, and in most cases it will be best to have the answers written and handed in before they are discussed in class. Bring out by the end of the year these truths: Loyalty is possible at all times; loyalty is contagious; loyalty makes us happy; loyalty gives us honor and self-respect. SEPTEMBER: LOYALTY TO OUR PROMISES Read: "The Story of Regulus," in Baldwin's Fifty Famous Stories. Questions: Would Regulus have been right to try to make peace? Ought he to have stayed at Rome with his wife? Why not? If a person never breaks his word, will he become honored in business? If he can make more money by breaking his word, ought he to do it? Ought we ever to break our word? If we haye promised something wrong? If we have agreed to do what is dangerous? If you are "dared" to do anything, is it wrong to break your word? Why? What good comes of always keeping any sensible promise? Learn: Longfellow's "Excelsior." 1 Bring out the duty that every one has of learning to say: No; because he has accepted an aim in life — the aim to go up higher. This aim is like a contract with ourselves. DAMON AND PYTHIAS More than two thousand years ago two young men who were intimate friends lived in Greece. Their names were Damon and Pythias. The ruler of the country, named Dionysius, was a cruel man. He put Pythias into prison and set a day 1 In The Children's Hour and Other Poems, Riverside Literature Series. for his death. Pythias had done nothing wrong, but he had convicted the ruler of wrong-doing. The father and mother of Pythias lived in another part of the country. 'May I go home to bid them good-by, and to arrange my affairs before I die?" he asked. The ruler laughed. "That is a strange request," said he. "Of course you would escape and you would never come back." At that moment Damon stepped forward. “I am his friend," he said. "I will stay in prison till Pythias returns." Then the ruler asked: "What will happen if Pythias does not return?" "I will die for him," said Damon. This surprised Dionysius very much. He put Damon in prison and Pythias went home. Weeks went by and Pythias did not return. At last the day of execution came, and Damon was led out to be put to death. He said: "Pythias will come if he is alive. I can trust him absolutely." Just then soldiers ran up, shouting: "Here he comes! Here he comes!" Yes, there was Pythias, breathless with haste. He had been shipwrecked on his journey and had been cast on shore many miles away. He had walked all those miles to get back in time. Dionysius was greatly moved. "You are both free," said he. "I would give all I have for one such friend. Will you let me become a friend to you both?" Learn: "The Overland Mail," by Rudyard Kipling. Read: "Bayard," in Little Stories of France, by Maude B. Dutton (American Book Co.). Read: "The Little Persian," adapted by Mrs. Charles A. Lane, in The First Book of Religion. Blue and crimson and white it shines The colors before us fly; But more than the flag is passing by. Sea-fights and land-fights, grim and great, Fought to make and save the state; Cheers of victory on dying lips; Days of plenty and years of peace; Equal justice, right and law; Stately honor and reverent awe, Sign of a nation, great and strong To ward her people from foreign wrong, Live in the colors to stand or fall. 1 Reprinted by permission of The Youth's Companion. Hats off! Along the street there comes A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums, The flag is passing by! Learn: "A Salute to the Flag," by Charles Sumner: "White for purity, red for valor, blue for justice, the flag of our country, to be cherished by all our hearts, to be upheld by all our hands." Learn: "An American in Europe," by Henry van Dyke. Read: Whittier's "Barbara Frietchie.”1 Read: "The Heroine of Fort Henry," in Baldwin's American Book of Golden Deeds. Let one of the class repeat and discuss the story next day. Read: "The Sanitary Commission," in the same book. Tell of the various pieces of good work done by loyal women during the Civil War. Read Lincoln's letter to Mrs. Bixby on the death of her five sons.2 Tell about the work done by Clara Barton and Dorothea Dix. Read: "The Red Cross," in Baldwin's American Book of Golden Deeds. NOVEMBER: LOYALTY TO WORK Give an account of the George Junior Republic from The Junior Republic, by William R. George (Appleton). Its motto is: "Nothing without labor." Poole's 1 See Mabel Martin, and Other Poems, Riverside Literature Series. 2 See Moores's Life of Abraham Lincoln for Boys and Girls, Riverside Literature Series. |