The second great guarantee of interest is preparation.  The teacher needs to have his subject matter so thoroughly in mind that, free from textbook and notes, he can reach out to a real contact with his boys and girls.  If his eyes are glued to his book, he cannot hope to arouse keen interest.  The eye is a great force in gripping the attention of a class or audience.  They want nothing to stand between them and the speaker.  Not long ago one of the most forceful and eloquent public speakers in Utah failed miserably, in addressing a thoroughly fine audience, because he was lost in the machinery of his notes.  His material was excellent—­his power as an orator unquestioned—­yet he was bound down by a lack of preparation that cost him the mastery of his audience.

Not only does adequate preparation enable a teacher to reach out and take hold of his pupils; it makes it possible for him to capitalize on the situations that are bound to arise in class discussion.  A concrete illustration to clear up a troublesome question, an appropriate incident to hit off some general truth, a happy phrase to crystallize a thought—­all these things are born only of adequate preparation.

Not long ago a candidate for the presidency of the United States delighted an audience of ten thousand or more in the Salt Lake Tabernacle by his remarkable handling of questions and comments thrown at him from that vast audience.  There was no hesitancy or uncertainty.  He spoke “as one who knew.”  He was prepared.  He had so lived with the questions of the day that they fairly seemed to be part of him.  The interesting teacher never teaches all he knows.  His reserve material inspires both interest and confidence.  A class begins to lose interest in a teacher the moment they suspect that his stock in trade is running low.  The mystery, “how one small head could carry all he knew,” is still fascinating.  Thorough preparation, moreover, minimizes the likelihood of routine, the monotony of which is always deadening.  A class likes a teacher—­is interested in him—­when it can’t anticipate just what he is going to do next and how he is going to do it.

A further aid in holding interest is to know intimately the life of the boys and girls taught.  To appreciate fully their attitude—­to know what sort of things in life generally appeal to them—­is a very great asset to any teacher.  If a teacher knows that a boy’s reaction to the story of the Israelites’ crossing the Red Sea is that that story is “some bunk,” he is fortified in knowing how to present other subjects which are similar tests to a boy’s faith and understanding.  To know pupils’ attitudes and mode of life is to know what sort of illustrations to use, what emphasis to put upon emotional material, what stress to lay on practical application.  In short, it is to know just how to “connect up.”  It stimulates to a testing of values so that a teacher selects and adapts his material to the needs of the boys and girls whom he teaches.