of life to growing souls, his own pasturage must not be things, but in
reality, the living Christ.

The other message applies to his work. While every life that touches his
will always carry away something from the contact, the most helpful
human life can never suffice for another's nourishment. Each soul needs
the complete Christ for itself. The amazing thing among parents and
teachers is their unconcern over His absence from the lives of the
children. Years pass, and precept, lesson and admonition are given,
while Christ, the Life, is not definitely and personally offered.
"According to their pasture so were they filled." Is not this the
explanation of so many meagre lives?

(b) The second factor of unconscious nourishment is environment with
its subtle atmosphere.

The importance of environment is found in this great law, that life
tends to become like that which is around it. So strong is the tendency
that the only escape from conformity lies in real struggle. This a
little child rarely puts forth, and an adult not always, for it is far
easier to follow the line of least resistance and "be like other
people."

Growing out of this power of environment comes the problem of all
philanthropic and religious work--how to overcome the influence of
harmful surroundings. The need is obvious when the surroundings are
vicious, yet the home does not need to be in the slums to injure a
growing life. It only needs to be Christless. This may seem a very
radical statement, but it is nevertheless true. Arresting the highest
development is as truly an injury as giving to life wrong direction. Has