Manual of stories

A MANUAL OF STORIES

A LITTLE nnvil MAIDEN.— The grandmother is instructing
child- in Bible stories which are shown on the tiles of the fireplace.

Manual of Stories

by
William Byron Forbush

Author of

THE "BoY PROBLEM"
"MANUAL OF PLAY," ETC.

PHILADELPHIA

GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO.

Publishers

Copyright, 1915
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHILD LIFE

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

There could be no good reason for adding another to
the many good books upon story-telling, unless a new book
should prove to have something that has not been said be-
fore. This manual is distinctive in several ways.

It is the most comprehensive book that has yet been
written. It covers all the aspects of the subject: the value
of stories; the kinds of stories children like at different
ages ; devices for making stories effective ; picture-stories ;
dramatized stories ; the relations of stories to play ; the use
of stories in building character ; stories in the home, the
school and the church ; professional story-telling, etc.

Part II is devoted to the first detailed description yet
printed of the remarkable system of bottle-doll story-
telling.

The list of sources for stories is the most extensive
yet compiled.

The first classified list of stories for character-build-
ing ever prepared is here.

The fullest list of story-plays for children is given.

Several helpful programs and special lists are fur-
nished. The most unique of these is a set of a dozen lists
of stories, especially prepared for the author by the best
story-tellers in America, which in their own experience
were most liked by children and were favorites of them-
selves.

It is of special value that the book is written from the
masculine standpoint.

The volume is enriched by the thoughts of the earlier
writers in this field, which are carefully acknowledged and
gratefully used.

526

CONTENTS

PART I
HOW TO TELL STORIES

PAGE

I THE VALUE OF STORY-TELLING — Responsiveness of the
Child; Physical Value; Educational Value; Emotional
Value; Stories in Character-Building; How Stories
Assist in the Development of Character; Social Helps;
Moral Value; Limitations of Story-Telling; It Takes
Both Work and Friendship to Make a Life; Why Tell

Stories 3

/ II VARIOUS KINDS OF STORIES — The Primitive Story;
Myths; Fairy Stories; Epic Stories; Biography and
Purposive Stories; Story-Telling Poems 17

III STORIES THAT CHILDREN LIKE — Stories with a Sense

Appeal; Fairy Stories; Hero Tales; Differing Tastes of
Boys and Girls; Story-Tastes Are Defined by Expe-
rience; Funny Stories and Sad Stories 21

IV How TO TELL STORIES TO CHILDREN — Plot of the

Story; A Good Beginning; Action and Sense Appeal;

Climax; Method; Results Are in the Future 28

V STORY-TELLING DEVICES — Getting the Attention; Direct
Discourse; Details; Repetition; Retouching; One's Self
and the Story; Leisure; Story-Telling with Chalk;
Shall One Memorize? Spontaneity; The Child's Part

in Story-Telling 39

VI CONTINUED STORIES — The Continued Story as a Drama;

Serial Stories Classified by Ages 50

VII PICTURE STORY-TELLING — Picture-Interests of Children;
Suggestions for Picture Study; Studying Pictures
through the Story; Choice of Pictures for Children;
Methods of Story-Telling through Pictures; Two Pic-
ture Stories: "Boy and Rabbit" — "The Age of Inno-
cence"; Permanent Value of Pictures; Moral Educa-
tion through Picture Stories; A List of Story Pictures 55
VIII RELATION OF STORIES TO PLAY — The Story Game;
Story-Playing on Sunday; A List of Stories and Play-
things 74

CONTENTS

PAGE

IX DRAMATIZING STORIES — Dramatizing Stories in School;
Stories that Are Easily Acted; The Puppet Theater;
Children's Dramatics 8 1

X THE STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING: IMAGINATIVE
STORIES — How to Grade Such Stories; Stories with a
Sense Appeal: "Monday" — "The Wee Hare and the
Red Fire"— Fairy Stories: "The Fairy Who Came to
Our House" — "Little Blue Gown and the Butterfly" ;
Myths and Legends: "The Knight with the Ill-Fitting
Coat"; Parables and Allegories: "The Magic Shirt"
—"The Closing Door" 87

XI THE STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING: REALISTIC STO-
RIES— Realistic Stories and Biography: "Jimmy and
the Sharper" — Plutarch's Stories; One of Lincoln's
Stories; Suggestions as to Telling Moral Stories ... in

XII How TO TELL BIBLE STORIES — Why the Bible Is the
Best Story Book; The Manner of Bible Story-Telling;
The Method of Bible Story-Telling; Method of Sub-
traction; Changing the Order of Incidents; Methods
of Reality; Bringing the Bible People into Pres-
ent Day Life; Selection of Bible Stories 122

XIII STORIES AND SCHOOL— The Story as a Help to Attention ;

The Story as a Help to Interest; The Story as a Help
to Thinking and Expression; The Story as a Help to
Literature; The Story as a Help to Writing and His-
tory; The Story as a Help to Nature Study; The Story
as a Social Unifier; The Story as a Help to Morals . . 135

XIV STORIES IN THE HOME— The Comfort and Contentment

of Stories; The Companionship of Stories; Imagi-
nativeness of Stories; The Story Helps More at Home
Than in School; The Story and Home Reading; The
Story and Home Handicraft; The Story and Home
Discipline; The Naturalness of Home Story-Telling;

Stories at Bed-Time 143

XV ORGANIZED STORY-TELLING — The Story-Hour in Libra-
ries; The Story-Hour on the Playground; The Story-
Hour in the Club for Street Boys; Suggestions for the A
Story-Hour; The Program in the Story-Hour; The '
Story-Tellers' League; The Story-Class 152

CONTENTS

PART II
THE BOTTLE STORY-PEOPLE

PAGE

XVI THE BOTTLE STORY-PEOPLE — Who the Bottle People
Are; The Advantages of Bottles; The Relation to
Handicraft ; A New Way of Developing the Imagination 1 75

XVII THE BOTTLE CHARACTERS — The Kingdom of Love; the
Kingdom of Law; The People Who Live in the En-
chanted Land; Changing Names Does not Change
Characters 179

XVIII THE ENCHANTED LAND — How the Characters Move
About; Uses for the Sand Table; Allegory of the
Enchanted Land 184

XIX How TO ENTER THE ENCHANTED LAND — Introductory
Suggestion for the Story -Teller; How the Story-Teller
Begins; Introducing the People — "Frank Enters the
Enchanted Land" 189

XX MARY LOWE'S PHILOSOPHY— The Importance of the
Education of the Heart; The Naturalness of Moral
Reflection to Children; Childhood's Need of a Mimic
World to Practice In; The Meaning of this Mimic
World; Significance of Some of the Characters; "The
Brew" ; "The Potion and the Lovely Lady " ; The Influ-
ence of the Plan in Will-Training 199

XXI SOME BOTTLE-DOLL STORIES — "When Ruth and Frank
Visited the Enchanted Land"; "The Fox and the
Farmer" ; Some Other Stories 212

How TO MAKE THE BOTTLE PEOPLE 226

How TO MAKE THE SCENERY AND ARRANGE THE ACCES-

228

XXII
XXIII

XXIV
XXV

SORIES

RULES FOR MOVING THE BOTTLE PEOPLE 231

WHAT THEY MEAN TO THE CHILDREN — How to Make
Children Originative; A Story Told by a Child of
Nine; A Story Told by a Seven- Year-Old ; Some of
Mary Lowe's Experiences; Harry's Story; Mary
Lowe's Story; Some Moral Results from Bottle-Doll
Story-Telling 233

8

CONTENTS
APPENDIXES

PAGE

I A List of Stories that Children Like, Selected by the

Best Story-Tellers 245

To Accompany Chapter III

II A List of Books on Story-Telling 252

To Accompany Chapter IV

III A List of Books Containing Picture-Stories or Descrip-

tions 253

To Accompany Chapter VII

IV A List of Books on Dramatics and of Story-Plays for

Children 257

To Accompany Chapter IX

V A List of Character-Building Stories 263

To Accompany Chapter X

VI A List of Bible Stories and of Bible Story-Books . . 278
To Accompany Chapter XII

VII A List of Story-Books Connected with School Subjects. 284
To Accompany Chapter XIII

VIII A Season's Program of Stories 288

To Accompany Chapter XV

IX A Program of Bottle-Doll Stories 291

To Accompany Chapter XXI

X A General List of Story-Books 293

PART I

HOW TO TELL STORIES
With many Story Devices

A MANUAL OF STORIES

THE VALUE OF STORY-TELLING

"Here are Hesperides more fair,
Here lovelier vales than Avalon."

— Thomas Walsh.

Of late we have come to take story- telling seriously. It
is one of the oldest of arts and one of the most valuable.
It is everywhere and in all ages an art that is favored and
enjoyed by children. All over the world and in all races,
listening to stories has been one of childhood's choicest
occupations, and the telling of stories has been one of child-
hood's earliest crafts. It has always been to children one
of the most effective doorways unto life and knowledge.

So natural is the story to children that it has made
them masters in fields wherein the knowledge obtained by
adults with painstaking reading and study cannot surpass
them. "The boy Coleridge," says Stephani Schiitze, "sitting
in his father's library, watching, half fearfully, the advanc-
ing sunlight, till it should touch the back of the 'Arabian
Nights/ when he would dare at last to take the enchanted
volume from the shelf and read, probably had a greater
appreciation of the immortal book, bountiful and wanton as
the outpourings of nature, natural and humorous as unper-
verted mankind, and as beautiful as the courts of dream-
land, than unimaginative men with all their stores of knowl-
edge."

: -MANUAL OF STORIES

THE RESPONSIVENESS OF THE CHILD

This is true because the child gives, during the telling,
all the intensity of his attention, which is inimitable. In
two realms, play and stories, a child becomes completely
immersed in the present. Charles Murray, in his charming
verse, "The Whistle," pictures a little Scotch dreamer set
to watch the cattle, who attained such self -absorption, in
his boy playcraft.

"He cut a sappy sucker from the muckle rodden tree,
He trimmed it, an' he wet it, an' he thumped it on his knee;
He never heard the teuchat when the harrow broke her eggs,
He missed the craggit herons nabbin' puddocks in the seggs,
He forgot to hound the collie at the cattle when they strayed,
But you should have seen the whistle that the wee herd made !"

A like absorption goes with the story, and this absorp-
tion is all the more potent because it is an absorption in
joy. The lesson which the Greeks teach us is the art of
making education joyous. Instead of regarding with aver-
sion the different subjects which they had studied in school,
the Greeks loved them and practiced and improved them-
selves in them joyously throughout their lives. The story
is such a subject, and its place in the school as well as in
the home is one of dignified and valuable educational import.

THE PHYSICAL VALUE

Story-telling has its physical value. At the end of the
day in the home or in the midst of confusion in the school,
it charms the mind, rests the perturbed spirit and even helps
prepare the body either for sleep or for renewed activity.

THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE

The story is of educational value. It is the very lan-
guage of childhood. It is childhood's most characteristic

THE VALUE OF STORY-TELLING 5

form of expression and our most direct and successful
means of conveying to it our ideas. It is the most con-
crete method of teaching. Stories are pictures of life —
moving pictures, talking pictures, colored pictures. Their
meaning lies on the surface. They reveal every phase and
principle of life. The story, not less than the drama, holds
a mirror up to nature.

The story reveals life broadly. Most of us, as a skilled
story-teller has remarked, live only one kind of life, and
have but little opportunity to come into contact with lives
spent under totally different surroundings. 'Tut yourself
in his place" has been said to be the most needed attitude
in the world to-day. The reason why the child is in-
capable of putting himself in the place of others is because
he has not had a wide experience with personal suffer-
ing, privation and adventure. Real experiences of such
sorts can come to him only gradually, some of them not
until maturity. Vicarious experience in the lives of others
may be offered him through stories. There is no more
potent method of broadening social imagination and thus
developing the spirit of generosity than through stories of
other races and of other lands.

Stories reveal not only the natural world but they
interpret the world of fancy. We are coming to recognize
the important value of imagination in education. The
imaginative man is the joyous man, and, as we have been
saying, the joyous man is the strong man. Says Seumas
McManus, the famous Irish story-teller, "Story-telling will
make the child father to a more kindhearted, a more en-
thusiastic, a more idealistic man than the one taught to scorn
story-telling. The story-telling nations of the world are
the cheerful, social, enthusiastic, idealistic nations, and this
because story-telling to the child brings out all the better
qualities, — sympathy, imagination, warm-heartedness, so-
ciability."

A story is of great value in training the memory.
We find this when we hear young children demanding

6 MANUAL OF STORIES

the repetition of familiar phrases or expressions. Later
they like to hear stories retold, even if the element
of repetition is not present. It has been noted that the
child who has been accustomed all his life to hearing good
stories well told has a larger vocabulary and a wider range
of intelligence and recollection than the child whose story-
telling has been neglected.

THE EMOTIONAL VALUE

The story as an emotional influence either stimulates
or satisfies the feelings. It awakens and educates real and
natural feelings, or it may satisfy feelings which are already
familiar. An instance of the education of feelings would
be a story in which a story-teller endeavored to excite sym-
pathy toward living creatures. An instance of satisfying
feeling would be a story in which a sympathy which he
knew to be already present was fully expressed by him-
self. Some years ago, Rufus Stanley, now director of
the Omega Club for boys in Elmira, New York, was asked
by Mr. Z. T. Brockway, then superintendent of the Elmira
reformatory, to take charge for a few Sundays of a group
of about 300 young men and older boys in the institution
who were somewhat defective mentally. The problem
of addressing them successfully was naturally a very diffi-
cult one. Mr. Stanley decided to tell them a story. In
order to do this effectively, it was necessary that he should
secure a live wild bird. Being himself in charge of the
grounds, he had opportunity to secure the co-operation of
a large force of inmates, but it seemed as if birds never
were so scarce upon the grounds as they were on that par-
ticular afternoon when he wanted one. About an hour
before the talk was to be given, a boy from the city brought
him a little blackbird which had flown through an open
window into his mother's kitchen. Attaching the little bird
to his hand, Mr. Stanley brought it into the hall where the

THE VALUE OF STORY-TELLING 7

young fellows were gathered. He attracted their attention
by holding it in plain view, and then he told them its story.
He pictured its migration to the north in summer and im-
agined its numerous adventures, the perils in its flight, its
home-making and its return. He made the suggestion that
the little bright bird would be an attractive companion for
them in a cage. He brought his story to a close with this
question: "Shall we keep the little bird or shall we let it
go free?" With one hoarse shout, the company responded
with the one word, "Free !" Mr. Stanley smiled and, re-
leasing the bird, it flew out through a window which he
had cleverly left open for the purpose, into the sunlight.
By means of this story, Mr. Stanley had both educated
their feelings and satisfied them. He recognized their love
for wild life and he expressed their own native desire for
freedom.

STORIES IN CHARACTER BUILDING

In answer to the query, Does story-telling help in build-
ing character ? the one obvious answer is, Men have always
thought so. I believe it is Partridge who says that the very
origin of story-telling was in the instinct to teach. It is an
interesting fact that the method of the story is still very
generally used among primitive peoples in the training of
their children. Spencer, in his book "The Education of the
Pueblo Child," tell us that Pueblo children do not receive
commands to do or to refrain from doing without a reason
for the command being given. "This reason is given in the
form of a story in which a given action is portrayed with
the good or evil resulting to the doer. These legends, or
folk-tales, are very numerous, so that one may be found
illustrating almost any case that may arise." He also says
that the Pueblos take story-telling as a form of training so
seriously that they often select impressive times and meth-
ods by which to lend force to these lessons. "In the eve-

8 MANUAL OF STORIES

ning, when the fire burns low and the room is dimly lighted,
is a favorite time for the repeating of those tales, and the
solemn, hushed tones in which they are told, together with
the striking postures accompanying them, give them a
weirdly dramatic effect." His testimony is that the method
is most effective. "They exercise a profound influence
upon the children, and the moral laws they prescribe are
seldom transgressed."

"The assertion that it is impossible to teach morals,
except by example or implication," says Professor Howard
Moore, "is an assertion that has been made by somebody
in the past and has been passed around ever since without
ever having been challenged or investigated, like a great
many of our other so-called truths. Kindness, honesty,
humanity, truthfulness, and moral courage can be taught to
young minds just as easily and effectively as Latin or arith-
metic. All that is necessary is to begin early enough, use
ingenuity, and keep at it. It is not possible to teach morality
to all with complete success. There are also boys and girls
who cannot learn geometry to save their lives. Yet we go
on teaching it for 200 hours every year, even though our
teaching often lands in stony places. As a general rule,
anything can be taught to the young mind. A child is a tin-
pail sitting out under the drip. It catches everything that
comes along. The power to choose, the power to accept
some things and reject others, is acquired later in life, if at
all. We have never tried to teach morals and humanity.
We have been content to preach them, which is a very dif-
ferent thing from teaching them. Everything else that has
ever been done or thought of, in the heavens above or in the
earth beneath, has been taught, and with the most brilliant
and appealing success. And with the same science and per-
sistence we can teach those truths and ways of acting
which are the very vitals of order and civilization."

THE VALUE OF STORY-TELLING

KOW STORIES ASSIST IN THE DEVELOP-
MENT OF CHARACTER

It has been customary tp consider that the mental life
of man has three phases, thinking, feeling and willing.
Story-telling makes each of these factors of the child mind
active.

The story is helpful, in the first place, because it helps
the child to know what is good. It encourages moral
thoughtfulness. Children are not born with a knowledge
of the Ten Commandments, and even if they were, this
"knowledge" would not be especially effective. Everything
the child really knows, he knows in terms of life. Truth,
to him, must always be concrete. To the child, "Every
boy's a fairy prince and every tale is true." The value of
dragons is that they make evil concrete and horrible and
the value of fairies is that they make goodness concrete and
beautiful. Fairy godmothers are ministers of justice, and
through the moral contests in the children's stories which
he hears the child visualizes his own struggles.

"There the sword Excalibur is thrust into the dragon's throat ;

Evil there is evil, black is black and white is white;
There the child triumphant hurls the villain spluttering in the moat ;

There the captive princess only waits the peerless knight."

Many a moral victory, like many a victory upon the
battlefield, is won or lost before the actual struggle has
begun. The battle is decided in the preliminary skirmish
of contending mental images. If the child is stocked up
with virtuous and inspiring mental images, through stories,
his imagination already is captured by goodness.

Stories not only help the child to know what is good,
but they help him to want to know what is good. The child
himself is morally alert, but stories make him even more
alert. They help him, as Prof. Frank C. Sharp has said,
to "try to develop the habit of asking and the power of

10 MANUAL OF STORIES

answering the question, What is the right course of action?"
As he brightly says, "They reduce the amount of moral
illiteracy."

The story is helpful, in the second place, because it
helps the child to feel what is good. The child is by nature
prepared to feel strongly in response to stories. The child
is essentially sympathetic. Innately, he seems to hate
a task and to love a story. As Partridge says, "the Sleep-
ing Beauty awakes, the Prince comes, the Fairy God-
mother prevails over the witch, at the earnest and urgent
demand of the heart of the child." And then he puts in
italics the following statement: "To make the child feel
intensely the strivings of others, and to make him feel the
light and shades of feeling in many a live situation is to
give him an opportunity for moral training and an exhorta-
tion to be good." When the story is told in such a way
that goodness triumphs and the child wishes goodness to
triumph, he is receiving a vivid experience of the value of
goodness. He believes that life and goodness are worth
while. Just as it is true, as Charles Eliot Norton used to
say, that "A book is dangerous if it makes life seem unin-
teresting," so a story is dangerous if it makes life seem
less worth while. On the contrary, if a story to a child adds
to his valuation of goodness in life, it has manifestly en-
riched his experience. When we do this, we do not appeal
merely to the child's sensitive feelings, but also to some-
thing deeper in his nature. We touch his most deeply
rooted admirations, his love of fair play, his love of loyalty,
the unselfish impulses of his nature, and when we recognize
and bring these to the surface, we are like the skilled
musician who opens an instrument and touches to beautiful
harmony strings that are already in tune. We are doing the
very important thing of educating the child's desires.

The very mood in which a child listens to stories is
helpful to our end. A good story makes the child happy ;
and joy is strength. A tale which has touched his better
feelings and given him a vicarious experience of being good

THE VALUE OF STORY-TELLING 11

himself sends him out with greater courage actually to do
good. Even the sweet sadness of the pathetic tale, if it
be not mawkish in its sentimentality, strengthens rather
than subdues the spirit. Brushing away the happy tears
that come in response to a tale of injured virtue or of
dramatic self-sacrifice, the child turns back to life invigor-
ated and cheered.

It is still true, as the old Hebrew sage told us, that "out
of the heart are the issues of life." It is really the heart
rather than the intellect that must be convinced if the hu-
man being is to be changed. It is not only much more en-
couraging, but it is much more effective to be able, through
a story, to persuade a child that such and such things have
been done rather than through command to tell him that
such and such things should be done.

The story is helpful, in the third place, because it helps
the child to will what is good. No child listens to a story
passively. He instantly personalizes himself as the hero
of the tale to which he is listening. In imagination, what
the hero does he does. Thus he really reacts to a moral
situation. This means that he is unconsciously taking sides,
choosing. If this be true in a single story, how much more
effectively is it true when the child has been in the habit
of listening to many inspiring stories. If it is a fact, as
psychologists tell us, that the mind works through grooves
of ideas furnished, and that, while it still has a certain free-
dom in choosing a lot of new grooves and in leaving out a
lot of old things, it chiefly runs along the rails of the ideas
which have already been laid down, then it is apparent that
to furnish the child a series of good stories is building a
road-way along which the will, as it develops, may most
easily run. So the battlefield of life may be used, through
stories, to show the child how to summon to his assistance
allies which will assist him in sweeping opposition from his
path. When he listens to such stories he signals his allies
to his side.

12 MANUAL OF STORIES

THE SOCIAL HELPS THE MORAL VALUE

The influence of story-telling upon the will is not only
in what the story incites the child to do, but in the relation
between the story-teller herself and the child. Miss Sara
Cone Bryant gives a very pretty little incident of her suc-
cessful endeavor by means of stories to win the confidence
and affections of a shy young niece. The evening effort did
not seem to succeed, but it was different in the morning,
after she had assisted at the little girl's toilet, with some
more stories. "When the curls were all curled and the last
little button buttoned, my baby niece climbed hastily down
from her chair, and deliberately up in my lap. With a
caress rare to her habit, she spoke my name, slowly and
tentatively, 'An-ty Sai-ry ?' Then, in an assured tone, ' Anty
Sairy, I love you so much I don't know what to do !' And
presently, tucking a confiding hand in mine to lead me to
breakfast, she exclaimed sweetly, 'I didn' know you when
you corned las' night, but now I know you all th' time !' '
The child, through the story, is brought sympathetically
near, not only to the virtue of which the story tells, but to
the story-teller herself. In discipline, a story is better than
scolding and clearer than a command. The personality of
the story-teller, not only kindly and good, but also strong and
wise, remains after the story is over to co-operate and thus
to help strengthen the will to make an effort toward virtu-
ous activities.

William T. Hornaday gives a beautiful reminiscence in
his "American Natural History" of this combined influence
of motherly teaching and fellowship upon conduct in later
life.

'To me the mourning-dove has always seemed a sacred
bird," says he, "and although I could have killed thousands
of them, I have never taken the life of one. When a very
small boy at my mother's knee she related to me the story
of the winged messenger sent out by Noah to look for real

THE VALUE OF STORY-TELLING 13

estate. She told me that doves were innocent and harmless
birds, and that I must never wrong one in the least. Had
my good mother issued an injunction covering the whole
animal kingdom, I think I would have grown up as harm-
less to animals as any Hindoo; for her solemn charge
regarding mourning-doves has always seemed as binding
as the Ten Commandments. I mention this in order to point
out to parents and teachers the vast influence they may
easily wield in behalf of our wild creatures, which are in
sore need of protection."

THE LIMITATIONS OF STORY-TELLING

There is no such thing as virtue per se. Character is
altogether a matter of a human being's relation to society.
What we are trying to develop is not abstract qualities of
will t)Ut real and living relationships. If we are not careful
we shall be doing what so many have done in the past,
teaching the "virtues" instead of bringing the children
face to face with concrete duties. "Let us," insists Prof.
George A. Coe, "stop studying the Virtues' and study in-
stead what men do and why they do it." J. Lewis Paton,
a successful English schoolmaster, criticizes the method of
moral instruction which has been made famous by F. J.
Gould of the British Moral Education League. "He tells
the story of the taming of Bucephalus, and draws out most
skilfully the appropriate moral: the pill with Mr. Gould
tastes almost as nice as the jam. But suppose you brought
me a boy lacking in self-control and asked me how he was
to learn self-control — I should not dream of suggesting Mr.
Gould's book. I should say: Let him play football with
the other boys, and see that he plays hard. When he has,
with the ball in his hands, broken through the opposing
lines, receiving in the process a whack on the head and a
kick on the shins, and then, triumphantly crossing the line,
and touching down the ball between the enemy's goal posts,

14 MANUAL OF STORIES

is recalled by the referee's whistle and his try is disallowed,
because the referee had thought he had run on to the touch-
line — that not being the case — then, I say, if the boy bears
all that without mentioning any towns in Holland, but
smiles genially at the referee and the full-back who hacked
him, and starts off again to play up and play the game as
hard as ever — then, I say, however ignorant that boy may
be of Bucephalus, he has learned in practice the lesson of
self-control; and I don't myself see how he could learn it
better."

IT TAKES BOTH WORK AND FRIENDSHIP
TO MAKE A LIFE

Stories cannot take the place of life. Recognize this
clearly and remember this lesson — that no story is of value
that does not relate the child directly to life, and we shall
continue to endeavor to tell stories skilfully and also en-
deavor to help children to live actively. "Let us agree at
once," Mrs. Ella Lyman Cabot concedes, "that stories are
not substitutes for right-doing, but only one among the rein-
forcements of right-doing. Character grows mainly in two
ways : through work well done, and through the contagious
example of people whom we love and admire. These two
influences, work and friendship, will always be the greatest
spurs to right-doing. Yet I believe that ethical teaching
can supplement them and can help to bring out their mean-
ing. A lover of birds haunts their favorite woods and
meadows ; but does he not also find it wise now and again
to enter a natural-history museum where, ranged in rows,
a little stiffly, are all his woodland friends? There he can
study thoroughly and quietly their characteristics ; there he
can compare one with another, noticing the variations in
color and distinguishing members of the same species.
When he goes back to the fields, it will be with keener eyes.
Ethical lessons may well bring this help. They will help

THE VALUE OF STORY-TELLING 15

us to see quietly, before temptation arises, what is the right
act. Many acts of dishonesty, discourtesy, cruelty, and
self-deceit are due primarily to lack of clear thought and
quickened imagination. I believe that ethical teaching at
its best is a quickening spirit, a call to the soul, a life creat-
ing life. Among the greatest citizens of my state, I number
one who from boyhood has saturated himself with all that
he can learn of Abraham Lincoln. That life is no biography
to him, nor is it a good example. It is a voice calling. He
has answered it. Every year he is finding new ways of
responding to it. I cannot conceive his life without that of
Lincoln his master, whom he never saw. If by any lessons
about the leaders of men, we can give a single child such
a sense of the presence of Lincoln as my friend bears about
with him, years of toil will not be too much."

WHY TELL STORIES?

But why tell rather than read stories? Seumas Mc-
Manus answers: ''Story-telling is superior to the written
story chiefly because the man who writes is not in touch
with the audience. The story-teller talks to you, and has to
make a story from beginning to end, and every sentence has
to be a part of the story, because he is within range of a
brickbat — and subject to the recall at any minute."

And why tell children stories rather than encourage
them to read them themselves ? Of course we do both, but
Mr. McManus answers again : "I think story-telling is to
story-reading what the eating of a meal is to reading the
bill-of-fare. The story-reading nations of the world are
the morose nations, because the reader's a selfish man who
goes away into a corner with his book, becomes oblivious
to the world around him, and gives back to the world
nothing. Talk about land hogs, car hogs, end-seat hogs— I
think the worst of them all is the book hog."

By means of the story, the story-teller adds to the in-

16 MANUAL OF STORIES

tellectual value of the tale the power of his own person-
ality. Of this we shall speak further in our suggestions
concerning methods of story-telling. Beyond this advantage
is the added charm of the personal element which forms
a kind of halo to the story. When you make a story your
own and tell it, the listener gets the story plus your appre-
ciation of it. It comes to him filtered through your own
enjoyment.

If one were asked how late in life stories seem to
charm, his answer might well be the same that he would
give if he were asked when old men cease to love. Grown-
ups seem to share, when they hear a story well told, the
feeling expressed once to the writer so sweetly by a Quaker
maiden of fourteen when he was apologizing to her for
assuming to interest her in a story that he had just told,
since it was only for children. She replied : "I am always
a child when thee is speaking."

II

VARIOUS KINDS OF STORIES

"World-old and beautiful stories,
Which I once, when little,
From the neighbors' children have heard
When we, on summer evenings,
Sat on the steps before the house-door,
Bending us down to the quiet narrative
With little listening hearts." — Heinrich Heine.

Story-telling is an art of such dignity that it has a his-
tory. Among each people a certain kind of story arises
at a certain stage of development and then at a later stage
is succeeded by another kind of story.

THE PRIMITIVE STORY

First comes the primitive story. It is chiefly a story
of the forest and of the animal world. It represents, so
Partridge thinks, the effort of early peoples, struggling with
their yet unmastered circumstances, to obtain some satis-
faction from their unyielding world. In the story, giants
are not wholly unconquerable. "The good fairy grants the
wish that nature denies." "The stories tell about the things
of nature; but beneath it all he is telling the story of his
own desires, hopes, fears and disappointments. In his story
it is he himself who is contending with and defeating the
giant ; who meets the god face to face ; who wins the super-
natural bride. ... It keeps him hopeful amid dangers and
the certainty of death and disaster." Also the primitive

18 MANUAL OF STORIES

story seems to hark back to the time when man felt a closer
kinship with the animals, and perhaps traced his descent
from them. We see these two ideas, kinship with the ani-
mals and satisfaction in personal conquest, in the Uncle
Remus tales, which are really primitive African stories in
which the negro race identifies itself with merry, shrewd
and ever triumphant Br'er Rabbit.

MYTHS

After the primitive stories come the myths. The myth
differs from the primitive story in containing more philoso-
phy. It is the primitive story adultized. Sometimes it has
been perpetuated into a civilized age and made sophisti-
cated, or polished into a parable, or filled full of adult
experience. For these reasons Partridge thinks the Greek
myths are too symbolic, too sexual, too subtle, less suitable
for the child than the Norse, which were cut off while
still nearer the nature stage.

FAIRY STORIES

Following myths are fairy stories. The fairy story is
what happens to a myth when people have ceased to believe
it. It is just this mood of half belief or pure fancy which
causes it to appeal to a child. The nature element is still
there, the feeling if not the faith is preserved and the play-
ful treatment brings it where the child can apprehend it.
For a time the child himself believes it. It has for him
some religious significance. As Partridge says, "It keeps
the supernatural alive and real to the child, shows the
world full of friendliness and exalts the good-will prin-
ciple."

THE EPIC STORIES

Next come the epic stories. The myths have gathered
about heroes, who often absorb into their mighty personali-

VARIOUS KINDS OF STORIES 19

ties the adventures of many brave men and the qualities
admired of all men. What once was attributed of glory
to the sun or to spiritual powers is now granted to man-
kind. "It is the story of man becoming self-conscious."
Without realizing it fully, the bard finds within himself
that which he awards to his hero.

BIOGRAPHY AND PURPOSIVE STORIES

By this time literature has appeared, and the epic story
takes the more careful and literal forms of biography and
history. The story-teller speaks now not solely for the joy
of creating but with the desire to improve others, espe-
cially children, and we have the purposive story, such as
the fable and parable, both usually amplifications of old
animal or folk-tales. Finally, we come to the portrayal of
real and modern life in the realistic story, in the forms of
romantic and photographic fiction.

STORY-TELLING POEMS

We did not mention among the literary forms that
may be used in story-telling, poetry. For story-reading
poetry is excellent, since the great myths and legends and
hero-tales have been sung in verse with the music of ring-
ing words and the accompaniment of tramping melodies.

"Bright is the ring of words

When the right man rings them;
Sweet is the fall of songs
When the singer sings them."

But for story-telling, except to those who memorize
readily, poetry is a limitation, because the teller is neces-
sarily restricted to the words and metres of the original
and can find scope for no imaginativeness or originality

20 MANUAL OF STORIES

of his own. As the story-teller is himself a bard rather
than a reciter, he is usually freer, except for an occasional
apt quotation, if he sticks to rhythmic prose.

Persons who have good verbal memories are to be
congratulated as having the capacity to give children stories
beautified by melody and rhyme. "I have seen a child of
three thrilled almost to ecstasy," is the testimony of Louise
Seymour Houghton, "by The Splendor Falls on Castle
Walls/ and even by 'Lady Clara Vere de Vere.' I am at a
loss for words to estimate what I consider the moral and
spiritual value of thus awakening and keeping alive the
faculty of intense joy. It is by means such as this that we
make our children grow up whole and all round characters,
able to appreciate the value of a 'wholesome artistic life/
as Professor Henderson puts it, referring at the same time
to Milton's fine phrase, 'simple, sensuous, passionate.' "

These constitute the story-teller's treasury, and as we
shall see in the next chapter, each has its place in its own
period in a child's life.

Ill

STORIES THAT CHILDREN LIKE

"That beautiful interest in wild tales which made the child a
man, while all the time he suspected himself to be no bigger than a
child."— Stepkani Schutze.

Children in a general way follow in their story tastes
the evolution of stories.

STORIES WITH SENSE APPEAL

They first like stories with sense appeal. They like
jingles because they gratify the sense for rhythm. They
like finger plays because they gratify the sense of touch
and the muscular sense. They like action plays because
they gratify the sense of locomotion. The mention of color,
sound, food and drink in a story brings back pleasant recol-
lections, stimulates the imagination and arouses sense asso-
ciations which it is especially desirable to stimulate in a
dormant child. The Mother Goose rhymes are not only
easily remembered, but the people in them, Bo Peep, Little
Boy Blue, Mother Hubbard and the rest, who pass through
familiar sense experiences and who are made individual
and real usually in books by bright illustrations, satisfy
that foreshadowing human interest which is in later years
to become the most potent attraction of any story.

FAIRY STORIES

Soon after the imagination becomes really active, say
by five or six, when the child is mature enough to throw

21

22 MANUAL OF STORIES

himself into a fanciful situation, he is ready for fairy
stories. Through fairy stories he may have access to the
primitive story, full of nature and animal interest and shorn
of part of its horror, because as Andrew Lang says, "You
will not be afraid of magicians and dragons" since "a really
brave child was always their master." We may learn some-
thing as to the enjoyable element in fairy stories from
certain facts of child nature. For instance, one of the well-
known characteristics of the child is his feeling of kinship
with the plant and animal world. You will hear a child in
the garden talking lovingly to the flowers, chasing the butter-
flies as if they were comrades, and thinking of the animals
as if they were almost human. This identification of man
with plant and animal life is one of the most familiar char-
acteristics of the fairy story and the fable. Such nature-
sympathy is particularly common in the German folk tales.
"They are pervaded," says Felix Adler, "by the poetry
of forest life, are full of the sense of mystery and awe,
which is apt to overcome one on penetrating deeper and
deeper into the woods, away from human habitations. They
deal with the underground life of nature, which weaves in
caverns and in the heart of mountains, where gnomes and
dwarfs are at work gathering hidden treasures. And with
this underground life children have a marvelous sympathy.
They present glowing pictures of sheltered firesides, where
man finds rest and security from howling winds and nipping
cold. But perhaps their chief attraction is due to their
representing the child as living in brotherly fellowship with
nature and all creatures. Trees, flowers, animals, wild and
tame, even the stars, are represented as the comrades of
children. That animals are only human beings in disguise
is an axiom in fairy tales. Animals are humanized — i. e.,
the kinship between animal and human life is still strongly
felt. Plants, too, are often represented as incarnations of
human spirits. Thus the twelve lilies are inhabited by the
twelve brothers, and in the story of Snow White and Rose
Red the life of the two maidens appears to be bound up

STORIES THAT CHILDREN LIKE 23

with the life of the white and red rosebush. The kinship
of all life whatsoever is still realized."

Another characteristic of childhood is its love for mas-
querading. This liking is satisfied in stories in which the
leading character is in disguise. The prince masquerades
as a toad ; the fairy godmother as a decrepit old lady ; the
heroine is dressed in rags, etc. Any "transformation
scene" in the solution of the mystery of a story is analogous
to the unmasking which children enjoy so much in their
masquerading play. The moral appeal of such stories, well
told, is that they are rehearsals of what the child is or would
like to be. Therefore he enters the situation of the story
with sympathy, and feels as its hero feels.

There seems to be reason to suppose that children like
fairy stories told in the old-fashioned way, such as was
commended a few years ago by a writer in Blackwood's,
who defines their style as that of the first quarter of the
nineteenth century, — a little stilted and filled with such ex-
clamations as, "Vastly well, madam."

A fable is a sort of desiccated animal story, and is not
the most successful kind of an imaginative story because it
is so short and contains so little plot and does not appeal
strongly to the fancy. It should be placed with fairy stories.
Parables and allegories, which appeal so strongly to the
adult liking for solving puzzles, are not usually so effective
with children, whose imagination tends to dwell upon the
literal details rather than to pass on to the deeper meaning.
They would be indicated, with the realistic stories, from
about the tenth year on.

HERO-TALES

By the seventh year, as Richard T. Wyche points out,
the child "discovers that the cow did not jump over the
moon, as the Mother Goose rhyme had it, and that Santa
Claus is not as he thought at first." But for a time he en-

24 MANUAL OF STORIES

joys hero-tales. Perhaps they are wonder-tales, but they
are not wonder-tales to him, for in every one of those
mythical or epical tales "he imagines himself," as Miss
Cowles says, "the hero of such wonderful and impossible
adventures that when he is told of Phaeton and his mad
ride, he accepts it with the same calm appreciation which
is accorded the imaginings of his own creative moods. The
slaying of the Gorgon is fully in harmony with his own
future plans."

By the later years of childhood, say from ten to twelve,
when imagination has become more sober, there is an
increasing demand for stories of actual heroes, of real
men and women, and of boys and girls of his own age.
The hero is the actual successor of the giant of the wonder-
tale. He satisfies the imagination which still pleads for
achievement but which is now irritated by the impossible.

"Ay, let us tell the generous tale

Of giants real and bold,
Who grew so great they would not stoop
To gather fame and gold;

"But hurled the mountains from our path,

And drained our quagmires dry,
And held our foes at bay the while
They bore our weaklings by."

THE DIFFERING TASTES OF BOYS AND
GIRLS

The tastes of boys and girls begin to differentiate just
before adolescence ; they have been summarized by Frances
J. Olcott as follows :

"As a boy's practical interest evolves, he being objec-
tive by nature, prefers stories of athletics, of daring adven-
tures, thrilling dangers and escapes, also of gregarious life,
such as the experiences of gangs, pirates and robber-bands,
and members of secret societies and clubs. He enjoys his-

STORIES THAT CHILDREN LIKE 25

i

tory, biography and books that show him how to make
and do things.

"A girl, with intense subjectivity, reads by preference
stones of play, home, and school life; the burden of which
too often is painful mental suffering over small sins, and
misunderstandings. As she grows older, she enjoys simple
love stories of a romantic nature.

"The natural instincts of a girl are narrower than a
boy's. They may be broadened, however, if some one whom
she admires takes an active part in directing her reading,
for the girl is a hero-worshiper, and is willing to be guided
by the judgment of one whom she likes. On the other hand,
a boy is cautious about taking advice from any one who
does not agree with his definite likes for things and actions ;
this is especially true of his reading/'

This realistic period acts as a boundary between two
eras of strong imagination and feeling, the childhood era
of fairy stories and wonder-tales and the adolescent era of
romance. During adolescence is the time for the epics and
the great story-books of the world. The time for love
stories does not come until the youth is partly through this
period, to girls a year or two earlier than to boys. Late in
the period those youths who form the reading habit grow
fond of biography and history.

STORY-TASTES ARE DEFINED BY
EXPERIENCE

The story-tastes of children are defined by their expe-
rience as well as by their development. Especially among
young children is it needful to endeavor to realize what
the limitations of their travel and observation are. Miss
Bailey records that she was once about to attempt Seumas
MacManus' humorous story of Billy Beg and His Bull
to some small people on the East Side of New York, when
it occurred to her to wonder whether any one of them had

26 MANUAL OF STORIES

ever seen a bull. Only one had, and this was his illumi-
nating description : "a bigger cow, with bicycle handle-bars
on her head !" The East Side would not appear to be the
best place in the world to tell the bull story. It is a ques-
tion whether the usual emphasis in the Primary Depart-
ments of Sunday schools upon the Twenty-third Psalm and
the Parable of the Good Shepherd is not misplaced, where
most of the children have never seen a sheep. To them
a story of a cat and her kittens would be more immediately
intelligible.

Miss Bailey sensibly propounds the following six ques-
tions to be asked by any story-teller before she addresses
her audience:

What do these children know?

Have they any experience other than that of the home?

Do they come from homes of leisure or homes of
industry ?

Have they had a country or city experience ?

Do they play with toys or games of chance?

Are they Americans or aliens?

"When she has satisfactorily answered these questions,
the story-teller will select her story having for its theme,
atmosphere and motif an idea or group of ideas that will
touch the child's mental life as she has discovered it and by
means of which it will find a permanent place in his mind
through its comfortable friendliness and familiarity." A
story that finds a child where he is at home is "like a
friendly hand-grasp."

This does not mean that every fact in a story must be
a familiar one. Take the Story of the Three Bears. The
child has never seen a bear, but he is familiar with every
other thing in the story, a house, a bed, porridge, chairs,
a little gir), and he has seen pictures of bears. In imagina-
tive stories all children from all circumstances in life find
a common ground of democracy. A beggar child as well
as a poor little rich girl can dream of a fairy and a princess.

STORIES THAT CHILDREN LIKE 27

FUNNY STORIES AND SAD STORIES

A word about funny stories and sad stories. As the
story-teller soon discovers, fun, especially for the young
child, consists chiefly in the situation. The story of Bre'r
Rabbit and the Tar Baby, which even adults enjoy, is per-
haps the finest illustration of a story which is excruciatingly
funny to the child.

As for sad stories, do not tell them. "But they like
sad stories. They ask for them," said a librarian who
thought she knew how to plan a story-program much better
than the story-teller. "Perhaps," acknowledges Mr. Schutze,
"but who are 'they'? We will venture to assert that they
are the future sentimentalists who cannot safeguard their
own lives ; the future neurasthenics whose nerves and moods
will be masters of their sickly bodies. It is more than likely
that these children are the ones who most need satiric hu-
mor and rough strength, or perhaps the brutal justice of
the folk-tale as rendered by Grimm." Of course we
wouldn't go so far as to maintain the literalness of our
statement that sad stories should never be told. They ought
certainly never to be the last story told in the day. If they
be stories of injured or heroic or prudent virtue, they have
their place, definite but small, in the variety of feeling-
influence which we are at liberty to bring to bear upon a
child's mind and heart. As Donald G. Mitchell said, "Little
Red Riding Hood may be eaten up by the wolf who has
put on her grandmother's cap; but the little Red Riding
Hoods who are left will look all the sharper on those who
are full of professions, and not judge people by their caps,
and not believe the lying words of the strangers they meet
upon the high-roads."

The writer is fortunate to present, in Appendix I, lists,
specially furnished him by some of the best story-tellers in
America, not of stories that children ought to like but of
those which, in their actual experience, children really do
most like.

IV
HOW TO TELL STORIES TO CHILDREN

"Folks say a Wizard to a Western King
At Christmas-time such wondrous things did show,
That through one window he beheld the spring;
And through another saw the summer glow;
And through a third the fruited vines arow ;
While all the while, and in its wonted way,
Piped the drear wind of that December day."

— William Morris.

What is the plan for a good story? A narrative which
has a definite beginning, continuous action and a definite
ending. If it begins with a rambling description, it does not
hold the interest and is not a good story. Unless some-
thing happens soon and frequently, the child does not think
it is a story at all. If it ends in a vague, indefinite way so
that we do not really know what happened to the hero,
even though that be like real life, it does not suit the child.
The child's invariable desire for a happy ending is a simple
outgrowth of his feeling for justice. "If the bad person
is not punished and the good person not rewarded, the
child feels that it is all wrong."

The classics that appeal to children teach us how to
tell them stories. Form and style to them are but little.
Long comments and descriptions are annoying interruptions.
First is personality. You must name and describe your
hero. He is the child himself personalized. Then comes
action. There must be a journey, a combat, a plot. Next
is mystery, suspense, surprise. Finally the solution. With
these simple elements anybody ought to tell a tale. They
are the elements of the classics.

28

How TO TELL STORIES TO CHILDREN 29

THE PLOT OF THE STORY

There are really only four plots in any good story.
These have been named by Angela M. Keyes as follows :

First, "a single line of sequence." This is illustrated
in such a story as "The Sleeping Beauty," in which the
action moves steadily along a single line from one exciting
event to the next. Second, "the three-parallel line." In
such stories, we are shown what the first did, what the sec-
ond did and what the third did, and the climax is usually
in the third, and often the stupid third member of the
family turns out to be the cleverest and most favored of
fortune. Third, "two contrasting courses of action placed
side by side." In such a story, we learn, first, what the
beautiful person did and then what the ugly person did;
what the industrious child did and what the idle one did,
as in "Diamonds and Toads," "Cinderella," etc. Fourth,
"the cumulative plan," illustrated in "The House that Jack
Built," in which there are repetitions and added incidents
and plots, and to each subject there is a new interest.

These distinctions are particularly interesting in pre-
paring to tell moral stories. In the first kind the story-
teller moves straight toward the goal of his application by
relating what was done by one person, the hero; in the
third kind he contrasts the deeds of his hero with those of
his villain. The second and fourth kinds are more elaborate
and artificial and are usually not for the amateur. In each
of these the goal is won through the pathway of suspended
interest. So to most of us either the line of sequence or
the method of contrast will be our choice in arranging our
plot.

A GOOD BEGINNING

All authorities are agreed that the first essential in
story-telling is to begin interestingly. The story must, as

30 MANUAL OF STORIES

Miss Bailey says, have in it all the qualities that charac-
terize a successful drama. "It must catch the attention of
the audience the moment the curtain rises." Even in school,
the social relationships of story-teller and listeners are such
that attention must be earned, not demanded. When we
are telling stories we must, like actors, court favor, for
we have to do with

"A court as of angels,
A public not to be bribed,
Not to be entreated,
Not to be overawed."

"In order to do this there must be no explanation, no
descriptive scene, no painful dragging in of the plot. The
child does not care a rap for the creating of atmosphere.
He does not care how long ago the story events happened
nor why they happened. What he is eager for is a quick
story appeal made the second that the story curtain goes
up." Therefore, she tells us, the story-teller must ask her-
self some such question as this. "Does the story interest be-
gin with my very first paragraph, my first sentence, my first
word?" She cites, as an admirable example of recognizing
this fact, a story-teller in a social settlement who had to deal
with some street boys whose usual method, upon entering
the room, was to throw down chairs and overturn tables
and produce a scene of bedlam. The story-teller made
no effort to control the boys. She simply stood in the cen-
ter of the room, and when there was an instant's lull as
they took breath for some more noise, she said, in a low,
even tone of voice : "There was once a little Indian boy
who rode fifty miles on the cow-catcher of an engine." This
is what Miss Bailey calls catching the involuntary attention
by appealing to a natural instinct. It would have been im-
possible to secure the voluntary attention of those boys.
She began just right, not with a man, not with a chieftain,
but with a boy like themselves who had to do with some-

How TO TELL STORIES TO CHILDREN 31

thing that could go, who did a deed that they in their wildest
dreams had never considered — he rode an engine.

The other day the writer turned to a new story-book,
which opened as follows :

"Once upon a time there was a boy. There, doesn't
that begin like a fairy story?"

Politely but emphatically, it does not. If you want to
know what a fairy story begins like, turn to Edmund
Leamy's "The Fairy Minstrel of Glenmalure" and this is
what you shall read:

"Kathleen and Emun were under the beech tree that
stood in the hollow down near the stream. Kathleen was
sitting against the tree trunk, stitching the sleeve of her
dolly's dress. Emun was lying on his back, his hands under
his head, his cap down on his forehead, and his eyes closed.

" 'Emun, do you believe/ asked Kathleen, 'that there
are any real live fairies now?'

" 'I don't know,' said Emun, scarcely moving his lips.

"Just then a beech nut fell and hit him on the nose.
He opened his eyes, started up, looked above him, and
saw, sitting on the fork of the tree, a little man, about
twice the size of your finger, with a little three-cornered
black hat with a red plume on it, and a little black coat and
a red waistcoat, and little yellow knee-breeches, and white
stockings, and little black shoes with gold buckles."

It is hardly worth while to point out the difference.
Leamy has something to say at once, he brings us immedi-
ately close to his characters, the scene is full of charm and
color, and we see at once that a lovely dream is just about
to come true.

ACTION AND SENSE APPEAL

Now as to action. Miss Vostrovsky's suggestive study
shows that in young children the interest in what was done
leads all others, and that they put several times as much

32 MANUAL OF STORIES

emphasis upon action as upon moral qualities, sentiment,
feeling, esthetic details and dress combined, while the
thought of the actors received no mention at all. It is well
known that adolescent boys demand "something doing" in
their books, and in adults interest in action has hardly de-
creased.

"For these reasons," says Edna Lyman, "let me urge
you, when you are looking for stories to tell little children,
to apply this threefold test as a kind of touchstone to their
quality of fitness : Are they full of action, in close natural
sequence? Are their images simple without being hum-
drum? Are they repetitive? This last quality is not an
absolute requisite, but it is at least very often an attribute
of a good child-story."

The analogy of the story to the drama has been spoken
of. It is often helpful to the story-teller to conceive of
his story as having scenes like a play. By doing this, he
sees his story more clearly, builds it up more logically and
brings it to a climax more effectively.

When he has chosen his dramatic story, let him not
decide that any arrangement is "good enough." Always
preserving the author's text, he must consider not only
rhythm, but the dramatic element, as he cuts the work to
fit his time. A comparison of two versions of a paragraph
from the "Thousand and One Nights" will illustrate the
difference that can be sensed by the ear, as well as under-
stood by the mind, and will serve to show how the improper
cutting of a description may reduce the story to the com-
monplace.

"We heard the sound of drums and trumpets, warriors
galloped about, and the air was filled with dust raised by
the horses' hoofs."

Sir Richard F. Burton renders as follows : "We heard
the tom-toming of the kettle-drum, and the tantara of the
trumpets, and the clash of cymbals, and the rattling of war-
men's lances ; and the clamours of assailants and the clank-
ing of bits and the neighing of steeds ; while the world was

How TO TELL STORIES TO CHILDREN 33

canopied with dense dust and sand-clouds raised by the
horses' hoofs.'*

The second, with its breathless hurrying to a pictorial
climax, gives us the sight and sound of battle ; the first is
colorless, and paints no picture for the inward eye.

This appeal to "the inward eye" by descriptions that
touch the senses is often the unrecognized but potent magic
that gives a story its charm. We spoke in an earlier chap-
ter of the interest of stories that have a sense appeal to
little children. But we who are older are by no means
insensible to this charm. We turn to the opening page of
Stevenson's most careful story, "Prince Otto," and lo!
how the skilful and crafty craftsman captures us at once
with his subtle suggestion of sound and color and smell
and even of taste.

"The hum of watermills, the splash of running water,
the clean odour of pine sawdust, the sound and smell of
the pleasant wind among the innumerable army of the
mountain pines, the dropping fire of huntsmen, the dull
stroke of the wood-axe, intolerable roads, fresh trout for
supper in the clean bare chamber of an inn, and the song
of birds and the music of the village-bells — these were the
recollections of the Griinewald tourist."

Perhaps the most lovely single page written in bur gen-
eration occurs in Edward Thomas' "Life of Richard Jef-
feries." It is a description of a hunt at evening. Note how
the appeal is almost entirely that of the sense of sound,
which the writer communicates in words of haunting melody
in which the cadence of the horns accords with the music
of the heart.

" 'Yander they goo, up to Barbriam Caastle !' says the
ploughman, checking his homeward jungling team. But
the March afternoon is at an end, and it is too late to follow
farther over the hill. The wind has fallen, and the black-
bird sings at ease; the far away missel-thrush is almost as
mild and sweet. A hare has stolen out, and in the still
moist air before frost the violet scent is expanding. Then,

34 MANUAL OF STORIES

suddenly, the huntsman's horn crackles upon the hill, splin-
tering and tearing the solitude; a full, rich note follows,
and goes to the heart of silence and into our hearts, too.
Again and again a shrewd victorious note that seems the
very essence of the red jackets that sprinkle the saddening
slopes of Barbury Hill. It is almost night — a most almighty
quiet night, folding all those hills as sheep into a pen;
yet the horn threatens it ; invades it, overthrows it, shooting
to and fro in its sombre texture threads of crimson and
gold. And the heart leaps up and is glad at this insult
to the night, at the stinging music, at the large scene, and
the horses and horsemen gigantic against the sky. To that
horn blown at the edge of night and the edge of the world
come all the hunters of the earth, as if out of the ground
or the sea of time that washes the base of the Down ; and
they are more than those dark hunters of the ridge, and
stand among them, weaving strangeness and solemnity
about them. The heart is a hunter still, and it has found
a long-desired quarry, and is bringing it home with melody
over the early world, as grim and illimitable as the level
cloud-land in the west. But the ploughman and his team
go on ; the horn has died away, and the hounds pass silently,
like dreams when night is over and day is not begun."

It is not claimed of course that children would listen
to just this; these pictures are too painstakingly wrought,
though there are some children who would be soothed by
their very music. But much may be done in this direction.
Hans Andersen knew this, and his stories are full of color
and music and soft sounds. Do you remember how his
"Wind's Tale" begins? "When the wind sweeps across a
field of grass it makes little ripples in it like a lake; in a
field of corn it makes great waves like the sea itself ; this
is the wind's frolic. Do you see how the wind chases the
white fleecy clouds as if they were a flock of sheep? Do
you hear the wind down there, howling in the doorway
like a watchman winding his horn ? Then, too, he whistles
in the chimneys, making the fire crackle and sparkle. How

How TO TELL STORIES TO CHILDREN 35

cozy it is to sit in the warm glow of the fire listening to the
tales it has to tell ! Let the wind tell its own story. Listen
now." See how the buttercup's story in "The Snow Queen"
fairly glows in buttercup color. "God's bright sun shone
into a little court on the first day of spring. The sunbeams
stole down the neighboring white wall, close to which
bloomed the first yellow flower of the season; it shone like
burnished gold in the sun. An old woman had brought her
armchair out into the sun; her granddaughter, a poor and
pretty little maid-servant, had come to pay her a short visit,
and she kissed her. There was gold, heart's gold, in the
kiss. Gold on the lips, gold on the ground, and gold above
in the early morning beams!"

THE CLIMAX

"The Climax," says Miss Bryant, "is that which makes
the story ; for it all that precedes has prepared the way.
It is the point on which interest focuses. If a moral lesson
is conveyed, it is here that it is enforced. Hence failure
here means total failure. The reason why the 'good story'
sometimes seems so dull when it is related by an apprecia-
tive hearer is that he has missed the point in re-telling it.
It is for this that the story exists, and skill in dealing with
it counts more for success than at any other point."

Just as important as a good beginning is a good ending.
The most difficult place for some story-tellers to find seems
to be a good place to stop. As Miss Cowles says : "Story-
tellers sometimes remind one of a man holding the handles ,
of an electric battery. The current is so strong that he can-
not let go. The story-teller must know when and how
to 'let go.' " You need not apologize for your ending and
you need not explain it. You need not tack on a moral —
just "let go" and "you will leave all the tingle and exhilara-
tion of the magnetic current still in the face of your lis-
tener."

"When yer git through pumpin' lave go th' ha-andle."

36 MANUAL OF STORIES

METHOD

Now as to the method of telling a story. "How to
tell a story?" says Mr. Wyche. "Tell it naturally, simply,
directly. The audience, the place, the occasion and the
story itself must in a large measure determine the way in
which a story is told. However, there are some funda-
mental psychological principles underlying all creative proc-
esses, whether it be telling a story or building a house. In
telling a story one must be able to see clearly the mental
pictures in the story and be able to create the picture anew
each time the story is told in words that are current with
his audience. If the story-teller sees clearly the picture, he
can make others see it. But the story has something more
than imagery. It has emotion and one must feel deeply
the truth in the story. Feeling more than anything else
will give one a motive for telling the truth. Frequently a
story is told more than anything else to impart feeling."

So important is directness as a method that the follow-
ing sentence from Miss Sara Cone Bryant seems to the
writer to be the most valuable one ever written upon the
subject :

"I like to think of the story-teller as a good fellow
standing at a great window overlooking a busy street or
a picturesque square, and reporting with gusto to the com-
rade in the rear of the room what of mirth or sadness he
sees; he hints at the policeman's strut, the organ-grinder's
shrug, the schoolgirl's gayety, with a gesture or two which
is born of an irresistible impulse to imitate ; but he never
leaves his fascinating post to carry the imitation farther
than a hint."

Someone speaks of "the artist telling the truth as if
he were listening to it." That is what the story-telling artist
must endeavor to do.

This power of -visualising is frequently emphasized by
Mr. Wyche : "We must be able to visualize, to see clearly

How TO TELL STORIES TO CHILDREN 37

the images, the mental pictures in the story. If we are to
tell the story of Ulysses we must see him."

Again he urges: "To the extent that the story-teller
can imagine these scenes, creating them anew as he tells
the story, to that extent can he make his audience see them.
He may rest assured if he does not see clearly the mental
pictures, his audience will not. If the picture is hazy and
dim his words will be doubtful, inaccurate, and inartistic,
but if he have a vivid mental picture his words will be
graphic, and his use of them will give just the right shade
and color, making the outward ring true to the inward.
Therein is the difference in reciting a story and telling a
story."

So important is this point that we will quote one more
authority, Partridge : "The story-teller must take his hear-
ers enthusiastically to the scenes of the story and allow
them to see for themselves and to share the vision with
him."

Story-telling is thus, incidentally, most educative to \
the story-teller. The story-teller is like the guide who at- /
tempts to show Europe. He finds that he must not depend
upon his haze of memories ; he must be able to state clearly,
definitely and accurately the exact facts. It makes him a
wiser man to be able to do it. So the story-teller discovers
that perhaps he does not know the classics as well as he
thought, that he has in fact forgotten the very point of
a certain famous story, that he must keep up with his
reading if he would keep in advance of his child. Story-
telling has made many an adult ashamed of his reading,
as he has noticed that his mental habits are to dwell in
realms which would not be respectable company to a good
story.

In Hervey's "Picture Work," he gives the story-teller
six sensible suggestions as to the story itself:
See it.
Feel it.
Shorten it.

38 MANUAL OF STORIES

Expand it.

Master it.

Repeat it.

These terse phrases need, perhaps, little elaboration.
There is no inconsistency between the advice to "shorten it"
and "expand it." Where to shorten is when to omit irrele-
vant details, where to expand is where details will touch
the fancy and appeal to the imagination.

THE RESULTS ARE IN THE FUTURE

The story-teller can never know her full success. When
she is telling a tale to a child she cannot see

"Each little drop of wisdom as it falls
Into the dimpling cistern of his heart,"

but she can perceive that the child is daily growing more
imaginative, more thoughtful, and the citizen of a wider
world than before.

"Lads go singing on their way
To Cambulo and far Cathay,
Weaving dreams of high emprise
Where cities strange shall meet their eyes.
'Go singing, merry masters.' "

"Gray-head Magi in amaze
Will list and marvel at the strays.
Emperor and mandarin
All vie their gratitude to win.
'Go singing, merry masters.' "

V

STORY-TELLING DEVICES

"O, grown-ups cannot understand

And grown-ups never will,
How short's the way to fairy-land

Across the purple hill;
They smile ; their smile is very bland,

Their eyes are wide and chill;
And yet — at just a child's demand —
The world's an Eden still."

—Alfred Noyes.

Following are some miscellaneous but useful "tricks of
the trade," each of which is given without much comment.

GETTING ATTENTION

If there is inattention it may be due to one of several
causes. Perhaps some cannot hear. The informality of
story-telling is such that the teller may move from the
platform at the end to the center of the room, where if he
will turn from side to side at times he will be nearer his
audience and hold them better. A story-telling audience
loves to sit on the edge of platforms, to double up in chairs,
to nestle about the teacher — anything that is unconventional
and homelike. Sometimes the temperature of the room
rises or the air becomes foul after the story-teller is part
through his narrative. Children when near asphyxiation
will keep attention to a good story better than to anything
else — but there are limits. Some children grow inattentive

39

40 MANUAL OF STORIES

if they do not see the story-teller's face. Miss Cowles
speaks of telling stories once when all the children but one
were grouped at one side of the room with the adults on
the other. The exception was a child of three who sat on
his grandfather's lap on the "grown-up" side. The story-
teller devoted her attention entirely to the children's side
of the room. The moment the story was finished, a small
voice from the neglected side of the room demanded, "Now
tell it to me!" Each child wants to feel that the story is
told to him, and this he does not feel if the story-teller turns
away her face. By singling out the inattentive child and
addressing him directly, even asking him a question after
his attention is caught and he has the thread of the story,
is an effective device.

The worst possible defect of a story-teller is to get
entangled in his story. It is this that makes the ignorant
gossip so tiresome. He makes so many diversions and in-
troduces so many irrelevant details that the listener is
tired out trying to keep track of him. The trouble may
be that the story-teller is really trying to tell two stories
instead of one, and he can't get them unbraided. It may
be that he hasn't a clear goal, that he thinks several bits
of narrative strung together make a story, in fact that he
hasn't a story to tell after all. It may be that he stops to
toss a stone of attention at every object beside the road
instead of plodding along through his story. At no time
is such dallying more inexcusable than when one is ap-
proaching an exciting place. It is a kind of going to sleep
at the switch which ought to have the extremest penalties
that are ever visited upon literary track-walkers.

DIRECT DISCOURSE

St. John says: "One of the most important of these
literary devices is the use of direct rather than indirect dis-
course. Through its use a certain vivacity of style is gained,

STORY-TELLING DEVICES 41

and it adds movement and lifelikeness to the tale. There
is no easier way to give the semblance of reality to an im-
aginary tale than by letting the characters speak for them-
selves. The personality of the narrator is less intrusive, and
the effect upon the hearer is that of looking on at a scene
in real life."

DETAILS

Miss Bryant says: "Explanations and moralizing are
mostly sheer clutter. Some few stories necessarily include
a little explanation, and stories of the fable order may
quaintly end with an obvious moral. But here again, the
rule is — great discretion."

In warning the story-teller not to introduce too many
irrelevant details, we must not go to the extreme of having
no details at all. Such items as to name, costume or char-
acter which attract attention or satisfy the sense of humor
are always liked and upon repetition are always demanded.
One woman declared that when she was a little girl the
story of the ugly duckling never seemed to her quite right
if the old Spanish duck with the rag around its leg was
left out.

REPETITION

The most important device, no doubt, is repetition.
Says Miss Bryant: "The charm of repetition, to children,
is a complex matter; there are undoubtedly a good many
elements entering into it, hard to trace in analysis. But
one or two of the more obvious may be seized and brought
to view. The first is the subtle flattery of an unexpected
sense of mastery. When the child-mind, following with
toilful alertness a new train of thought, comes suddenly
on a familiar epithet or expression, I fancy it is with much
the same sense of satisfaction that we older people feel
when in the midst of a long program of new music the

42 MANUAL OF STORIES

orchestra strikes into something we have heard before."
And Mr. St. John adds : "A very helpful device is the
rhythmic repetition of certain significant words or phrases
from time to time through the progress of the tale. In the
fairy and folk-tales, this frequently appears, as in the case
of the 'hoppity-kick, hoppity-kick,' of the little half chick,
the 'trip-trop, trip-trop' of the three goats crossing the
bridge, and the various remarks of the big bear, the middle-
sized bear, and the little wee bear. In such cases, the story
gains an added quaintness of form which has value in itself.
The little child, puzzled by much that is unfamiliar, remem-
bers the rhythmic phrase and welcomes it as we greet an
old friend in a strange city."

Of course the most valuable kind of repetition of a
story is by the children themselves. Using the repetitious
phrases as crutches to memory, they will be heard telling
the stories over to their dolls or to their young playmates,
who attend "with little listening hearts." Miss Meta Eloise
Beall, who has had successful experience with story-telling
hours for children, tells us how her method soon makes
the children not only unconscious of themselves, but eager
both to assist in the story-telling and to repeat and even go
on with stories of their own: "I ask my grown-ups to be
'little folks just for the time being/ and it never fails to
please. Then comes a story for the 'wee folks.' Whenever
this happens to be a 'repetition' story, before I'm half
through the children join in the part that repeats — perfectly
unconscious of the fact that there are many grown-ups
near. In the Story Hour given here some of the children
were so eager to tell themselves a story that I let them 'take
the floor,' and they delighted everybody."

The child's desire, through repetition, to be sure he
masters his favorite story leads him to read it. "Not long
ago I came upon a child with his head buried in the pages
of a story which I had told him many times, and upon
asking him why he was reading that story, he replied : Tm
reading the things I did not understand when you told it/

STORY-TELLING DEVICES 43

The little one had understood the tale from the first, but in
the intervening months his understanding had broadened to
a fuller meaning of many of the expressions."

RETOUCHING

It is the privilege of the story-teller, when he has to
do with a difficult subject or an objectionable incident, to
do what the photographer does — retouch. In the story
of Jack the Giant-Killer, for example, it has come down to
us through tradition that Jack is lazy, impudent to his par-
ents and generally worthless, but finds a fate much better
than he deserves. To children, however, he has always
appeared as one of their favorite heroes, chiefly, no doubt,
because they love the portrayal of great achievements by
youths of their own age. In order that this impression may
still be retained, it is certainly unnecessary to emphasize,
or even to mention, the unfortunate traits in Jack's charac-
ter. It detracts nothing from the story that he should be
loving to his parents, that he should have, as was natural,
shown some signs of manliness before his supreme test.
Many a bad story may be redeemed by revision and right
emphasis.

ONE'S SELF AND THE STORY

Says Miss Keyes:

"The story-teller must not allow any intruding mental
state or circumstance, any intruding 'self/ to come between
the story and the listener. Such a self may be

(1) The diffident or embarrassed self of the self-
conscious story-teller.

(2) The vain or affected self of the insincere story-
teller.

(3) The weakening self of the patronizing story-
teller.

44 MANUAL OF STORIES

(4) The non-seeing self of the non-spontaneous story-
teller.

(5) The non-sensible, or non-artistic, self of the
'sledge-hammer' story-teller.

(6) The non-communicating self of the 'acting' story-
teller.

(7) The misinformed self of the lifeless story-teller."
The parallelism between the art of the actor and that

of the story-teller is in matter rather than in manner. The
actor aj3£galgto the eye chiefly and only secondarily to the
jmagination, while the story-teller ^appeals chiefly to the
imagmalion and only secondarily to the eye. ChildrerT
al^u¥uaTly^anrioyed by elocution from a storyteller. Says
Miss Cowles : "One might suppose that the personality of
the story-teller must become aggressive ; that it is his work
to give to the hearer especially his interpretation of the
story. It is very easy to go wrong here. What is wanted
is the story, not the story plus one's personal reaction
to it. If the hearer becomes conscious of the teller's effort
to impress something upon his mind, the attention becomes
divided between the story and the teller." The actor shows
himself performing the story, but the story-teller takes his
hearers enthusiastically to the scene and allows them to see
for themselves the events, in which their imaginations make
themselves performers.

This does not mean that a story-teller may use no ges-
tures. Some persons cannot talk without gesturing, and
natural gestures, that are not distracting, may help make
the story vivid. But, if we may express it so, the listener
is to put in what he feels rather than what he is; whatever
he does is that he may become the interpreter, not the hero,
of the story. So rhythm, tone, song may, if they fulfil the
purpose just named, be helps in story-telling. Costumes
are used by some story-tellers. The robe of an Oriental
story-teller, the costume of a fairy godmother, a scholar's
gown, have some value. Seen before the story-teller be-
gins, they help create an atmosphere, and when it is ex-

STORY-TELLING DEVICES 45

plained that they are the garb of a story-teller of a cer-
tain nation or time they define that atmosphere and help
the story-teller to sink into his own background. But an
actor's outfit would be inappropriate and ineffective, be-
cause a story-teller is not an *rtvr

Mannerisms are unfortunate because they bring to the
fore the personality of the story-teller and are a distrac-
tion. Twirling a handkerchief, fiddling with rings or pencil
or arranging the dress may unconsciously lower the level of
attention and annoy the children.

LEISURE

>»

The most frequent mannerism and one that is oc-
casioned both by personal nervousness and by the contagion
of the audience is that of hurrying. Nearly all amateur
story-tellers speak too fast anyhow, not allowing for the
slow apprehensions of the children and forgetting that what
is familiar to themselves is entirely fresh to their hearers,
and there is always the temptation, for the sake of creating
an air of animation, or to carry the hearers enthusiastically
through an exciting scene, or to drown out a child with
whooping cough, or to be sure not to overstay the hour, to
become almost breathless with speed of utterance. The
result is that details get left out, points are not clearly made,
the children get irritated and the story is not well told.
A minister who was subject to this temptation used to write
"Plenty of Time" in red ink at the top of every page of his
manuscript. The story-teller having no manuscript cannot
do this, but if he can imagine the clock saying it or can put
a burdock in his pocket to remind him of the fact whenever
he thrusts his hand inside, he may do as well. By slow and
distinct utterance the tones become deeper and more modu-
lated, there is a chance here for a sentence of fine descrip-
tion, there to enhance the humor of the situation, and self-
mastery to put one's best and not one's worst into the

46 MANUAL OF STORIES

climax. "A story," says Miss Cowles, "should never be
hurriedly told, any more than it should be hurriedly pre-
pared/'

St. John says : " 'Take your time.' This suggestion
needs explaining, perhaps. It does not mean license to
dawdle. Nothing is much more annoying in a speaker than
too great deliberateness, or than hesitation of speech. But
it means a quiet realization of the fact that the floor is
yours, everybody wants to hear you, there is time enough
for every point and shade of meaning, and no one will
think the story too long. This mental attitude must under-
lie proper control of speed. Never hurry. A businesslike
leisure is the true attitude of the story-teller."

STORY-TELLING WITH CHALK

Story-telling by chalk talks is often effective. By this
is meant not the elaborate drawings in colored crayons
made by professional lyceum artists to the accompaniment
of frivolous patter, but the few honest lines by which the
amateur outlines his plot. It is. really only a more graphic
gesturing, and the simpler the better. If only the artist
will tell what his scrawls are meant for, the child will take
them more seriously than they deserve. The least artistic
can produce effects which enhance interest and encourage
memory. It is not necessary to be able even to draw a
face. A long perpendicular line will do for a man, a short
one for a child; a few level lines suggest scenery, a few
waving ones the sea, and so on. A more ambitious effort
at details would be grotesque, but lines, as simple as a cave-
man's drawing, are not grotesque but suggestive to imagina-
tion. In some medieval frescoes a saint is pictured at sev-
eral points in his career on one canvas. Here he is in
peril, there he is healing the sick, yonder he is being buried
and above he is in glory. The ancients saw no incongruity
in thus assembling events that were years apart and that

STORY-TELLING DEVICES 47

took place in more than one world. So it is well in telling a
story with crayon which involves several incidents not to
erase any "drawing" but to go on from point to point on the
board marking out successive incidents, leaving all the
sketches as an aid to reflection and memory. The child
finds no incongruity in this.

SHALL ONE MEMORIZE?

On the whole, it seems best not to memorize a story.
It is better to assimilate it. Assimilation allows full liberty
in the telling, while memorizing tends to cramp and hinder.
Having a certain story for your personal possession, you
can then begin to formulate it. Often as you begin to tell
it aloud you find yourself feeling for and discovering a
scene which conforms to the proper style for this story.
A happy phrase here, a pleasant turn of expression there,
some interesting details at another point will build a body
upon the skeleton with which you began.

SPONTANEITY

Perhaps some readers feel the fear which is some-
times expressed that training in story-telling is a dangerous
thing since what is gained in technique may be lost in spon-
taneity. Edna Lyman says of those who have this fear
that they fail to recognize what the real outcome of training
is. It does, as she acknowledges, lead out of unconscious
self-expression into a certain self-consciousness, but when
the training has gone a step further, it is possible to lose
self-consciousness again in the greatness of the art. Story-
telling is spoiled not by too much training but because the
story-teller needs more training.

We say that story-telling is an art. This does not mean
that it is to be taken so seriously that the story-teller loses

48 MANUAL OF STORIES

his enjoyment in the recital or the child in hearing. You
ask a child why he wants stories so often and he will an-
swer, "Because I like to hear them." The only purpose of
telling a story to a child is to give pleasure. Mr. Schiitze,
professional story-teller, says that when he is telling stories
he does not think of story-telling as a method of instruction
but as an art, and that he tries to realize that he can make
no real impression with a story, except through enjoyment.
It is encouraging to know that it is possible for anyone of
ordinary intelligence so to master the simple rules of story-
telling that to tell a story will be a delight both to the speaker
and to the hearer.

THE CHILD'S PART IN STORY-TELLING

It is just as important to notice what the child does as
what the story-teller does. Angela M. Keyes suggests eleven
possible responses which a given child may make to a story.
They are these :

"(1) It is listening.

(2) It is remaining silent.

(3) It is commenting.

(4) It is joining in.

(5) It is re-telling.

(6) It is partially re-telling.

(7) It is telling other stories.

(8) It is inventing stories.

(9) It is expressing sometimes story images in

other media.

(10) It is sometimes playing the stories.

(11) It is growing by the power and grace of the

story."

If a child is simply listening, he may catch as he listens
a wider and deeper vision of the story. If he is silent, he
may be simply content, which is result enough, but he may

STORY-TELLING DEVICES 49

be brooding and meditating, in which case it requires insight
to know whether to leave him to himself or to try to en-
lighten him further by explaining. If he is commenting by
question or remark, be encouraged to know that his mind
is active. It may be wholesome for that reason to have
the children argue out, during the telling of the story, the
moral issue which they see involved. If he is joining in by
repeating after you the rhymes or melodies, be even more
encouraged. If, when the story is over, he is willing to
re-tell it, be happier still. If he re-tells a little each day until
by and by he has mastered it, rejoice that, though his proc-
ess of absorption is slow, it is sure. If he is telling similar
stories or is expressing a story by dressing up or by enacting
it in play, so long as the action is spontaneous you should
be satisfied in realizing that he is practicing an art as beauti-
ful and telling as your own. If, finally, he is growing by
the power and grace of the story, then indeed you may
have reason to hope that, as all good stories tell us in con-
clusion, he will "live happy ever after."

VI

CONTINUED STORIES

"'Next time'—
'It is next time,' the happy children cry."

— Lewis Carroll.

It is a good thing, after awhile, to settle down to a
continued story. Beginning with Colonial times, I have
portrayed the adventures of a certain Colonel Lindsay, who
fought in the Revolution, and then went over the Allegha-
nies to the Western Reserve and met a series of unparalleled
adventures with the Indians in his home.

To-night, for example, I am describing an attack on
Marietta, that took place while our mythical hero was
away. The eyes brighten as the gathering of the tribes is
described. The children gather closer to me as Colonel
Lindsay's capture far from home is related. The brave
defense of the beleaguered garrison, under the lead of the
Colonel's young son, brings cheers of approbation , which
arouse the dog. Then there is the Colonel's skilful, silent
escape, and his return in disguise to the neighborhood of his
home. The children look into the fire as the great battle
day comes with its wild charges, the rolling up of the farm
wagons loaded with burning hay against the stockade, the
break at the gate, and the almost miraculous appearance of
the brave hero to save the day. We started with Lindsay
as a lad, a scout under Washington in New Jersey saw him
over the Alleghanies, stayed with his sons during the days
of early settlement, and at last accounts we were dealing
with his grandchildren in the times of 1812. We were over
a year, at intervals, telling this story.

So

CONTINUED STORIES 51

THE CONTINUED STORY AS A DRAMA

A continued story that is told should have a construc-
tion similar to one which the child reads in a magazine.
Each chapter should present a well-rounded incident upon
which the child's memory and fancy may love to linger,
but it must close with the suggestion of a still more inter-
esting incident which is to follow. It must, to a degree, be
complete, and, to a greater degree, be incomplete. If it is
too complete, there will not be much interest left over for
next time. If it is too incomplete, the children will insist
upon hearing the rest at once. Edna Lyman suggests that
the story of Joan of Arc may be successfully given in a
cycle of five stories as follows:

1. The girlhood of Joan, the call of the "voices" and
the visit to the Dauphin.

2. The attack and delivery of Orleans.

3. The defeat of the English and the crowning of the
Dauphin.

4. The treachery of Paris and the capture of Joan.

5. Joan's trial and death.

This arrangement resembles very much that of a five-
act play.

Similarly, she shows how the more difficult story of
the Odyssey may be given in a cycle of eleven stories.

1. The adventures of Ulysses with the Cyclops.

2. The adventure at the home of the winds and the
palace of Circe.

3. The Sirens and the monsters Scylla and Charybdis.

4. What happened in Ithaca and the search for Ulysses.

5. An island prison and a shipwreck.

6. Ulysses finds a princess washing clothes.

7. Ulysses at the court of Alcinous.

8. Ulysses' welcome at Ithaca,

52 MANUAL OF STORIES

9. Ulysses at home.

10. The trial by bow.

11. The end of the hero's adventures.

Still better, it seems to us, this story could be con-
densed to a five-act narrative. To do this, the first act would
consist of story No. 1, the second of stories 2 and 3, the
third of stories 4 and 5, the fourth of stories 6 to 8 and
the fifth of stories 9 to 11. The minor stories would be
reduced to incidents in the main current of action. Nearly
all continued stories lend themselves to the four-act or five-
act form.

SERIAL STORIES CLASSIFIED BY AGES

The author names below a few stories which seem to
be good to tell serially. If the reader is surprised to note
that certain tales which he thinks of as for adults are graded
for children, he must remember that a story that is told
may be simplified so as to apply to a much younger period
than as if for reading, and that it forms an introductory
acquaintance for later reading.

The great years for listening to stories are of course
the first three or four years after the child enters school,
when his mind is awakening but he himself reads with
difficulty. Accordingly, the largest number of stories listed
below is for the years between six and nine. Younger
children usually prefer a story complete in itself. Their
memory powers not being fully developed, they like a story
that is short, simple and full of repetition. There are a
few stories, however, which have these qualities and yet
which may be told serially. A few of these are listed
below. At about the tenth year, there is usually a veritable
fever among children for reading. There are, however,
some boys and girls who do not like to read. A score of
stories, full of action, wholesome in quality and stimulative
toward personal reading, is given herewith.

CONTINUED STORIES 53

Three to Six

The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Little Hare and Her Friends (Sykes)

The Story of Joseph

The Story of the Boyhood of David

The Story of the Boyhood of Jesus

Arabella and Araminta (Smith)

The Roggie and Reggie Stories (Smith)

The Brownies (Cox)

The Adventures of Pinocchio

Uncle Remus Stories

Peter Pan

Just So Stories

Alice in Wonderland

Six to Nine

Perseus

Theseus

Jason

Ulysses

Thor, Loki and Balder

Siegfried

Cuchulain

Hiawatha

Beautiful Joe

Robin Hood

The Magic Forest (White')

King Arthur

Indian Boyhood (Eastman)

The Faerie Queene

Don Quixote

William Wallace

Robert Bruce

Moses

Charlemagne and Roland

Saint Francis

Richard the Lion-Hearted

Henry of Navarre

Drake and Raleigh

George Washington

Davy Crockett

Daniel Boone

David Livingstone

54 MANUAL OF STORIES

Abraham Lincoln

Doctor Grenfell

The Arabian Nights

Gulliver's Travels

Robinson Crusoe

Swiss Family Robinson

Pilgrim's Progress

The Nurnberg Stove

Master Skylark (Bennett)

Captains Courageous (Kipling)

Little Women

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

Mother Carey's Chickens (Wiggin)

The Widow O'Callaghan's Boys (Zollinger)

Jack and Jill (Alcott)

Little Lord Fauntleroy

Jolly Good Times (Smith)

Castle Blair (Shaw)

The Prince and the Pauper

Treasure Island

Ivanhoe

Oliver Twist

Ten to Twelve

King Arthur's Round Table

The Story of Siegfried

Last of the Mohicans

Men of Iron (Pyle)

The Deerslayer

Rob Roy

Lorna Doone

Kidnapped

Tom Sawyer

Kenilworth

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Jean Valjean

To Have and to Hold

Helen Keller

Henry Esmond

The Story of Our Country (Based on Eggleston)

The Island Story (Marshall)

Scotland's Story (Marshall)

VII

PICTURE STORY-TELLING

"You hold a gift

That a mine of gold could not buy;
Something the soul of a man to lift
From the tiresome earth, and to make him see
How beautiful common things may be."

— Lucy Larcom.

Some of the world's greatest pictures are story-pic-
tures. The "Sistine Madonna," the "Assumption," Murillo's
"Beggar Boys" and the ''Gleaners" are not only good stones,
but they are good stories seized by the artists at the greatest
dramatic moments.

It is not enough to leave a picture with a young child.
"Usually," says Estelle M. Hurll, "their interest lasts only
a moment, unless guided by an older companion. The
child, untrained to concentration, flits from subject to sub-
ject as a butterfly from one blossom to another. But let
the mother begin to talk about the picture, and the child
fixes eager eyes upon it and follows every word with breath-
less attention. And 'talking about' a picture is simply letting
the picture talk, provided, of course, that it is a story-
picture."

The value of picture story-telling is very great. Do
you not recall the life-long interest and influence of some
picture which hung upon the wall of your home in early
childhood? Considering the strength of the influence of
pictures, their choice should not be by accident. If it is
ever right to look a gift-horse in the mouth, it is when

55

56 MANUAL OF STORIES

some one proposes to add a new picture by gift to your
home. And in choosing the pictures which you are going
to purchase, ought you not to be glad to buy those which
will be not merely bright spots or imitations of the choice
of your neighbors, but shall have a meaning to the souls
of your children as long as they live?

In this age of the moving-picture show, in the main
educational and even morally inspiring, there is all the more
need for emphasizing pictures that do not move, that are
still and silent and eternal. Both mind and heart that are
disturbed and distracted

"Like a tired child at a show
That sees through tears the mummers leap
Would now its wearied vision close"

upon pictures that are restful and that share in the peace and
shelter of home.

One of our best story-tellers has observed that a child
loves to have a picture which he can hold in his hand.
We notice this touch-instinct in the eagerness which children
have to handle every new object which is brought to their
attention. So she purchases the little reproductions which
can be bought for half a cent, and the children like them
more than the penny pictures because they can handle them
and love them. The picture-hour, therefore, need not be
expensive. Perhaps the best way to introduce little chil-
dren to pictures which they shall love is to get them one
of the tiny reproductions on Perry picture or postcard and
soon after buy a large framed reproduction for the wall.

Very much of value as to the best methods of educat-
ing children in good pictures may be learned from a study
of the picture-interests of the children. We shall, here as
elsewhere, be more successful if we work with Nature
than against her.

PICTURE STORY-TELLING 57

THE PICTURE-INTERESTS OF CHILDREN

Young children are known to have a practically unani-
mous interest in pictures of human beings. Ninety-nine per
cent, of the drawings of little folks are of people. They
have no conception of perspective, they do not notice de-
tail (they will not observe that a figure is armless unless
someone calls their attention to the defect) and they do
not care for ornaments, but they begin with the head and
face, they like to draw people in action, objects of daily
use and things close at hand, and as soon as they are old
enough to recognize pictures they so confidently expect
them to move that they are often surprised in coming back
to a loved picture to find that the positions of the figures
have not changed. "He hasn't got him yet !" exclaimed the
little fellow delightedly, when he saw that the crocodile had
not yet caught the negro boy in the picture.

Children between six and ten like to recognize in pic-
tures the things they know, such as people, plants, houses
and animals, and the hobbies in which they have begun to
be interested. No feeling for landscape has been discov-
ered before ten. They like narrative-pictures and good
strong colors.

Young people over ten begin to notice perspective and
they observe detail more carefully. Yet before having had
lessons they instinctively put human heads upon their ani-
mals when they begin to draw, as if the human interest
still dominated every other. They like now to portray
fanciful and dramatic scenes, such as incidents in the stories
they read and hear, battles, snow fights, fires, sports and
games, and all the scenic side of life.

With adolescence comes the first real love of beauty
and an accompanying interest in quiet pictures of nature.
There is still a strong liking for story-pictures, particularly
those of romantic and symbolical character. They love
now to trace out details and allegories, and to claim as their
own pictures which they begin to cherish.

58 MANUAL OF STORIES

This brief sketch suggests that at every age of child-
hood it is the human interest and the story that win atten-
tion. The subject is everything, the art with which it is
pictured is nothing. There is before high-school years no
technical criticism, little care for composition, selection or
tone, and still less any desire to know of the history of art.

SUGGESTIONS FOR PICTURE-STUDY

Some points which are emphasized in school art-study
are evidently unnecessary. We need have no care about
putting pictures before children in chronological order ; we
must not confuse picture-study with the history of art. We
must not try too early to get children to care for pictures
simply because they were painted by great artists. "Young
children's votes," says G. Stanley Hall, "are never for the
old masters, whose cult below the teens is only an air plant
without a single vital root that strikes into their souls.
It is a fool's paradise to fancy that there is anything in
Michael Angelo, Raphael, Rembrandt, or any of the classic
works of art that make much appeal to juveniles." In this
connection we may urge that certain subjects which seem
to be universally selected for children because of the con-
ventional choice of adults may properly be ignored as of no
actual interest to them. The Roman Forum in its ruins,
the "sixteen" Madonna as one child wearily called it, and
Prince Baltazar on (rocking) horse-back may be instanced.
One quite feels in sympathy too with a writer in the Fore-
runner who says, "To me, 'Mona Lisa' is a slimy-looking
creature, and I mentally cross myself every time I look at
her evil eyes."

We need not worry much about Scripture or historical
continuity, painters' biographies, appropriateness to season
or relation to other school work; if they like a picture at
all, they will like it at one time as well as another. It is
apparently useless to show Corot, Constable, Diaz, Ruisdael

PICTURE STORY-TELLING 59

to children under ten, who have no interest in landscape.
It is a question whether separate portraits, like the well-
known infant Stuart, the Penelope Boothby, the infant Sam-
uel, are anywhere near as interesting as much less famous
children in action. For a similar psychological (with no
regard to the religious) reason we have probably overdone
the Madonna, the Christ Child and pictures with people in
unknown costumes. Since children have so little apprecia-
tion of composition and tone, pictures whose chief charm
is their color ought not to be shown in monochrome.
Corot's "Springtime" may be instanced as a picture which in
carbon is quite meaningless to a child.

STUDYING PICTURES THROUGH THE STORY

All this points the way to a neglected and most fruitful
method of picture-study, the method of the story. Even
the writers of the many current books on story-telling have
hardly touched upon this union of literature and art in early
education. It is true that Carolyn Sherwin Bailey in her
"For the Story-teller" says that "It is to be questioned
whether or not the story of The Little Red Hen' would
have been awarded such immortality if its heroine had been
a plain hen and not red.'' But she does not follow up the
point by showing how much more graphic is the picture-
book showing the red hen than even the most animated
monologue about her.

Some of our school-book publishers have begun to
recognize picture-study in their reading books. The three
Cyr readers published by Ginn & Company and some art
readers, published by the Macmillan Company and the
American Book Company, are the first endeavors to bring
children into contact with good art by telling stories about
great pictures which are interesting to little children.

It may be objected that if we push forward the story-
interest in pictures we shall not do justice to the higher
artistic qualities. The higher artistic qualities will come

60 MANUAL OF STORIES

later, but just as we do not give our children Robert Brown-
ing and George Meredith until they come to them, so we
should not give them the masters who appeal to mature
minds until they are themselves mature.

We can do justice both to art and to letters. If we
bore the children with our picture-comment now, we shall
prevent their continuing any live interest in the picture-
world, but if we are as careful to give them the pictures
they can appreciate as we do the books they can appreciate,
we shall carry them with us up to the highest levels.

THE CHOICE OF PICTURES FOR CHILDREN

We may summarize our suggestions as to the choice of
pictures for children, as follows :

Give them pictures of people in action.

Let the action suggest a story within their own
experience or range of appreciation.

Use colored pictures whenever possible, if it is
reasonably good color.

Ignore for the present the history of art, chrono-
logical order, reference to technical details.

For the sake of later impression choose pictures
that are good if not great, honestly drawn, faith-
fully colored, sincerely conceived.

Avoid in the main the weakly sentimental, but post-
pone until adolescence explanation why a child
of Murillo is greater than one of Bouguercau,
why a Madonna of Raphael is finer than one of
Max, why a Botticelli is more beautiful than a
Landseer. All this will come better through the
work in drawing in the school, where honest
drawing and color and clear-cut purpose or
sentiment in the actual work of creating beauty
will give the child a good sound taste and the
power of discriminating for himself.

PICTURE STORY-TELLING 61

THE METHODS OF STORY-TELLING
THROUGH PICTURES

Let us hold firmly in mind this thought, — that the pur-
pose of helping children to love pictures through stories
about them is to create memories that shall last, as we hope,
all their lives. We wish to make our children feel the im-
portance of these pictures so much that they shall take
them seriously and we want to tell our stories so well that
ever afterward the story will recall the picture or the pic-
ture the story.

Let us suppose that the little child has come to our
arms at the close of the day. We give him a small colored
reproduction of a great picture to hold in his hand. As
he looks at it curiously, we tell the story in an animated
manner. We encourage him to ask questions about it.
We tell him all that we know, or if we think it better to
pique his curiosity, we promise to continue the story the
following evening. After a day or two we bring the picture
to him again and ask him to tell it to us. By this review
the picture is fixed in his mind. The picture is hung low
in the living-room or in the child's own room where he can
see it. It is often referred to by the mother and the child
is encouraged to show it to his playmates and to tell the
story of it to others. Finally this picture, or a large repro-
duction, is put in a permanent place and so becomes one
of the treasures of the home and of the child. If a choice
picture was introduced to a household after having under-
gone the same scrutiny and being accompanied by the same
tact and thought fulness as a human friend, it will take its
place as one of the permanent friends of the home.

With boys and girls between six and fourteen very
much the same method may be used. In addition, it is
often possible to refer the child to books, especially story-
books or poems in which the story of the picture is told
more in detail. It is the experience of public librarians that

62 MANUAL OF STORIES

this method often allures many children who are not fond
of books to read them with interest.

Adolescence is the golden age for picture-study. In
these days of idealism, it is Dr. G. Stanley Hall's opinion
that "Art should not now be for art's sake, but for the sake
of feeling and character, life and conduct. Such an oppor-
tunity for infecting the soul with vaccine of ideality, hope,
optimism, and courage in adversity, will never come again."
And in another place he says, "Pictures that represent every
noble passion writ strong and large should be shown and
impressed. Art thus taught is perhaps the best of all initia-
tions into adolescence. It is the chief regulator of the heart
out of which are the issues of life." With adolescent young
people a description of a picture may be left for their own
reading. "See how much you can find in this picture"
is also a good introduction by which parents may leave a
reproduction with a young person with no further prelude
or explanation. This opens the way to talk the picture over
later and to see how much the boy or girl has gotten out
of it.

The laws of story-telling do not differ materially,
whether one uses pictures or not "Introduce your thunder
clap, your story hero in the first sentence," urges Miss
Bailey. So with the picture, point at once to the central
figure and tell some active thing about him. A good pic-
ture, like a good story, generally starts in the middle, and
from that point it is easy, having aroused interest, to work
back to the beginning. In Leighton's "Captive Androm-
ache," for example, to be shown and told to older young
people, the beautiful, plaintive central figure at once appeals
to the interest of the listener to know what came before
which brought her into her present plight.

From the central figure we pass to the minor charac-
ters. They form successive chapters of the picture-story.
In "When Did You Last See Your Father?" the descrip-
tion of the sturdy lad in the center actually requires a de-

PICTURE STORY-TELLING 63

scription of each other character in the room before the
story is really concluded.

In a story-picture landscape is always secondary to the
human interest, and so this lesser attraction is dwelt upon
only to emphasize the dramatic situation. In Boughton's
pictures of the Pilgrims it is always the snow and the
winter that emphasize the bravery of our forefathers.
In "The Gleaners" the hot sun and the yellow fields, sug-
gested even in an uncolored print, give force to the mean-
ing of toil. Details also minister to the story or else they
are irrelevant. Adolescents are peculiarly fond of study-
ing out parables and analogies, and so Holman Hunt and
Watts and many of the Pre-Raphaelites seem especially to
belong to them. Attention is given to this interest in some
of the pictures selected in the list below. With adolescents
also we may show how composition or line or tone add even
to the story-interest or complete the meaning of the artist.
A high-school pupil can appreciate how the circles in the
"Madonna of the Chair" and the curves in the Botticelli Ma-
donna of the Louvre bring mother and child together and
symbolize the encircling and secluding love of the mother.
He can also see how the converging angles in "The Fighting
Temeraire" suggest the idea of a ship advancing toward the
right foreground of the picture.

TWO PICTURE STORIES

It may be helpful to give two short picture-stories
which were prepared by the writer to accompany reproduc-
tions of two well-known paintings. The pictures themselves
are so familiar that they need not be reproduced here.
The first of these is a story for little boys. The reader
will note that the writer took considerable pains to collect
all the facts concerning the picture and the painter which
would be interesting to children, and that, in the course
of the story, he calls attention to every possible detail of
composition or color in the picture.

64 MANUAL OF STORIES

"BOY AND RABBIT"

By SIR HENRY RAEBURN, R. S. A., R. A.

Sir Walter Scott was the most loved story-teller in
Scotland and Sir Henry Raeburn was the most loved
painter, and they were friends. Both of them lived in
Edinburgh when they were boys.

Sir Henry Raeburn was very fond of children and
of flowers. One morning when he was walking in his gar-
den, he saw over in one corner a little poor boy. When
he went near to him the boy was much frightened, but he
held up a piece of paper in his hand for Sir Henry to
look at. Upon the paper was a sketch of one of the beauti-
ful windows of Sir Henry's house, which this boy had
made. He told the boy to come again, but to come next
time through the gate and not over the wall. Afterward
he helped this boy, who was a poor shoemaker's son in
Edinburgh, by giving him lessons, and years later, when
he became a man, this boy became a celebrated artist him-
self.

It was one of the boys who wandered into his garden
that Sir Henry Raeburn was thinking of when he painted
this picture. Perhaps it was this little shoemaker's son.
Perhaps it was one of his own children, or grandchildren.
This boy in the picture has been out in the garden in the
early morning to pick some fresh leaves for his pet bunny,
and he has picked some roses, too, for his mother. The
rabbit, which is a white one with a brown spot on its back,
has come out from its home in the shed to have its break-
fast. The boy has put his arm around his pet because he
loves it, and he looks up to see who is coming. He is look-
ing right into the painter's face. This artist loved to paint
people with their faces in the light and full of joy and
health. He wanted to picture them at their best.

Do you notice in what beautiful clothes the painter has

PICTURE STORY-TELLING 65

dressed this boy? You see, he has on a shirt of some
soft white material, with a sailor collar that opens wide in
the front. His trousers are bright-colored and his black
cap is put on a little one side. Do you not think this lad has
a beautiful face and a pleasant smile ?

After he has fed his rabbit he will carry the flowers
in to his mother, and they will have their breakfast to-
gether.

When Henry Raeburn had become famous, King
George IV, who made Walter Scott a knight, came to Scot-
land and knighted his friend, the painter, too. The year
before that the artists of England gave him the highest
honor they could : they made him a member of their Royal
Academy. When anyone has this honor given him, he must
give the Academy one of his best paintings. Sir Henry Rae-
burn painted many famous people, but the picture he gave
the Royal Academy was this "Boy and Rabbit."

The second story will perhaps be more interesting to
girls. In this case, too, details as to painter, character and
purpose were collected. Color and composition are pointed
out with considerable care and the natural opportunity for
a sweet and simple lesson is taken advantage of in the
course of the story.

"THE AGE OF INNOCENCE"

»

By SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, P. R. A.

Does it seem possible that the most charming pictures
of children ever painted were made by an old bachelor?
Yet he was such a loving old fellow that Samuel Johnson
said to him once : "Reynolds, you hate no one living ; I like
a good hater !" We are told that his great house was often
full of children and that he kept special toys and sweetmeats
on hand with which to amuse them. It was certainly a

66 MANUAL OF STORIES

great honor when he chose one of his little friends as the
subject of one of his paintings.

This is said to be the picture of his little grandniece.
She must have been about six years old when this picture
was painted. The picture tells its own story. She has been
running about barefoot all the morning. She awoke with
the birds and went out among them, watching the sunshine
leap and play. The clouds were as white as curds and
the trees were like great bouquets. She knew where all
the flowers grew. She ran down through the meadow to
pluck some of them before breakfast. All the morning she
was in the garden and with her playmates, rolling her hoop,
tossing her ball and playing with her little friends. I
think they have been chasing her in a game and that she
has sat down under a tree, all breathless, to rest a minute.
When she puts her hands against her breast she can feel
her heart beating hard. As she sits there, she hears a sky-
lark, and the loving painter caught her just as she was
listening to its beautiful song.

To the picture of this little girl, with the sweet face
and the lovely, unspoiled nature, Sir Joshua gave the name,
"The Age of Innocence." He dressed her in a spotless
gown as simple as her purity. There is just a touch of pink
at her waist and in her hair to match the tint of her cheeks.
The dear painter no doubt agreed with the poet who said
of a little girl child like her, that she had "the- spirit of all
dews and flowers and springs and tender sweet wonders."
Or, perhaps, he had read the Lithuanian legend that when
the Lord God had made the first man and the first woman
and had set them in Eden, He grew lonesome because there
was no music from any soft, small throat. So

"He took of the sun a golden beam,

And He took the carol the red-breast sings;
The ripple He took of a clear, cool stream,

And the shining down from a ringdove's wings ;
And a rose and a lily He took, and smiled,
As He mixed them up and He made a child,"

PICTURE STORY-TELLING 67

And when the man and the woman went away from the Gar-
den, the child stayed, and he is singing in the Garden yet —
if we only knew the way to find him.

THE PERMANENT VALUE OF PICTURES

When the pictures, so studied and thus loved, have been
permanently placed in the home, they take their place as
part of its spiritual furnishing. Read earnestly this word
which Parker and Union say in their 'The Art of Building
a Home":

"Understanding something of the true meaning of art,
we may set about realizing it, at least in the homes which
are so much within our control. Let us have such ornament
as we do have really beautiful, something which it has given
pleasure to the producer to create and which shows this in
every line. Let us call in the artist . . . and bid him paint
on our walls landscapes and scenes which shall bring light
and life into the room; which shall speak of nature, purity
and truth; shall become part of the room, of the walls on
which they are painted, and of the lives of us who live
beside them; paintings which our children shall grow up
to love, and shall always connect with scenes of home
with that vividness of a memory from childhood which no
time can efface. . . . Let the floor go undecorated, and the
wood unpainted that we may have time to think, and money
with which to educate our children to think also. Let us
have rooms which once decorated are always decorated,
rooms fit to be homes in the fullest poetry of the name;
rooms which can form backgrounds, fitting and dignified, at
the time and in our memories, for all those little scenes,
those acts of kindness and small duties, as well as the scenes
of deep emotion and trial, which make up the drama of our
lives at home."

68 MANUAL OF STORIES

MORAL EDUCATION THROUGH PICTURE-
STORIES

The opportunity for direct moral training through pic-
tures has been neglected. Modern education is emphasiz-
ing the central importance of the feelings as the background
of interest, habit and will. The writer remembers a steel
engraving of "The Three Graces," which he has learned
later was from an artist named Hicks, a most unlikely pic-
ture to attract the attention of a boy ; yet it seemed to him
that the Charity with lambent eyes in the center was his
ideal of unimpassioned perfection, while the eager Hope
in the foreground held all that was winsome, and the whole
group was steadying and inspiring. Especially does the new
interest in detail cause the youth now to search out and
remember every moral implication in a picture. Says Miss
Hurll: "To search out all the charming accessories of a
Dutch interior is almost like unpacking a stocking full of
Christmas toys." And the parables of Holman Hunt and
the allegories of George F. Watts and the romantic sug-
gestions of Millais and Leighton seem almost evangelic
in their influence upon young people.

Particularly in its portrayal of the beauty in common
things does art teach us the great commonplace virtues of
fidelity and contentment. Lowell tells us :

"As with words the poet paints, for you
The happy pencil at its labor sings,
Stealing his privilege, nor does him wrong,
Beneath the false discovering the true
And Beauty's best in unregarded things."

We have all of us not only learned more about the de-
tails of the life of Jesus from pictures than we have from the
Bible, but we have perhaps absorbed fully as much about his
attitude, his ideals and his activities from the former source
as from the latter. Reproductions of sacred art have begun
to be used in teaching the story of Jesus and also the history

PICTURE STORY- TELLING 69

of the Old Testament. Why do we not go a step further
and study morals through well-selected pictures which illu-
minate the great cardinal virtues? If we can help the chil-
dren to love them, and if further they can own them, are
we not directly helping to give them those permanent in-
spirations which came to ourselves, largely through acci-
dent, by the old home-pictures ? Some of these pictures
they will no doubt outgrow, but they will hardly outgrow
their influence, and in later time they will love them over
again as relics of a cherished but an almost forgotten child-
hood.

The use of pictures for moral ends is not different from
that for artistic ends. The child in either case must love
the picture and understand it before it can influence either
mind or soul. A good picture, like a good story, should point
its own moral, and it is as sinful to "tag a moral" to a
picture as Dr. Henry van Dyke tells us it is to a story.
The very questions that bring out the artistic detail will
impress the lesson which the artist is teaching, and time
and reflection will do the rest.

A number of the pictures which have been named at
the close of this chapter are most useful in the suggestion
of heroic character, patient endurance or generous achieve-
ment. They are especially the pictures too that will last,
and so have a lasting influence. In collecting them for this
purpose it is helpful to reinforce their moral suggestive-
ness by choice quotations, easily memorized, which will be
remembered with the picture. The alert teacher of religion
will note how many such pictures have an important place
for use as comparisons in teaching Scripture biography.
By analogy of circumstance or virtue they may be help-
fully used in Bible study. A few of these suggested analo-
gies are as follows:

"When Did You See Your Father?" to accompany the
story of Daniel.

"Nathan Hale" to accompany the story of Stephen.

70 MANUAL OF STORIES

"The Fighting Temeraire" to accompany the story of
Paul.

"Christ or Diana" to accompany the story of the mar-
tyrs.

"Washington Laying down his Commission" to ac-
company the story of Moses.

"Angels in the Kitchen" and "Lavabo" to suggest the
topic, Religion in Common Life.

"Saint Christopher" to suggest the thought, Disciple-
ship.

"Christ in the Temple" to suggest the thought of the
religious committal of youth.

"Light of the World" to suggest the thought, Conver-
sion.

"King Arthur's Round Table" to suggest the thought,
Consecration.

"Is It Nothing to You ?" to suggest the thought, "nobler
loves and nobler cares."

"St. Ursula's Dream" and "The Gleaners" to suggest
the thought, Fidelity.

"The Lark" to suggest the thought, Worship through
Nature.

"Robert Louis Stevenson" to suggest the thought,
Friendship unto death.

"Feed My Lambs" to suggest the thought, Brother-
hood.

"The Angelus" and "The Never Ending Prayer" to
suggest the Lord's Prayer.

"Herakles Wrestling With Death" and "The Sea Gave
up Its Dead" to suggest Immortality.

As young people grow older, there is direct moral in-
fluence in causing them to realize the deeper meaning of
the struggle of the artist or of the history of the picture.
If a young person can come to see the obstacles of the times
in which the artist lived, the lack of appreciation which he
met, the seriousness of his effort, the conquest over his ad-

PICTURE STORY-TELLING 71

versaries, the beauty which shone through his primitive
technique, the great spiritual thought which was underneath
his work, then the very soul of the picture may enter into
his soul. In his chapter on "The Personal Element" in his
fine book "The Meaning of Pictures," Dr. J. C. van Dyke
assures us that "the man — be he weak or strong, good
or bad, noble or ignoble, serious or flippant — eventually
appears in his work." And he says further, "The frank
statement of personal feeling or faith in an artist, the candid
autobiography, has done more to show people how to
live than all the long volumes of scientific history." It does
a young person just as much good to come in contact
with a great life in a picture as in a biography, and here is
the moral inspiration that Ruskin believed in when he in-
sisted that admiration of great pictures helps us to "become
able to rejoice more in what others are than what we are
ourselves, and more in the strength that is forever above us
than in what we can ever attain."

A LIST OF STORY PICTURES

The following list is in no sense the "best one hundred
pictures" for the ages represented. It is simply a list that
illustrates the points which have just been made. It in-
cludes some pictures chosen partly because they are not so
well known as others.

The abbreviations in the third column indicate the pub-
lishers. Their names, addresses and the prices of their pic-
tures are as follows :

Institute, American Institute of Child Life, 1714 Chestnut St.,
Phila., 20c.

Perry, Perry Pictures Co., Maiden, Mass., Ic.

Cosmos, Cosmos Pictures Co., 119 West 25th St., New York,
25c. doz.

Reinthal, Reinthal & Newman, 106 West 29th St., New York, 5c.

Detroit Pub. Co., Detroit Publishing Co., Detroit, Mich., 5c.

Gross, Edward Gross Co., New York City, 5c.

Chicago Museum, Chicago Museum of Art, Chicago, 111., Sc.

72

MANUAL OF STORIES

Children Up to Six

Boy and Rabbit Raeburn

Feeding Her Birds Millet

Scene in a Courtyard De Hooch

Mother and Daughter Le Brun

The Blessing Chardin

The Pantry Door De Hooch

Bedtime J. W. Smith

The Shepherd's Chief Mourner Landseer

The Age of Innocence Reynolds

By-lo Baby Bunting Burd
Katinka, the Little Dutch Girl

Institute

Perry
/ Cosmos
\Reinthal

Reinthal

Reinthal

Reinthal

Cosmos

Institute

Institute

Institute

For Children Seven to Fourteen

Young Raleigh

When Did You Last See Your

Father ?

The Never-Ending Prayer
The Doctor
"I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes

Unto the Hills"

The Lion of Lucerne

Cinderella

Peter Pan

Making the First Flag

The Drums of the Fore and Aft

Frank and the Ponies

The Story of the Porringer

Millais

fYeames

Maes
Fildes

^Taylor

Thorwaldsen
Dulac

Mosler
Statz

Detroit

Gross

/Perry
\Cosmos
Institute
Institute
Institute
Institute
Institute
Institute

For Young. People Fourteen to Twenty

The Child in the Temple Hunt

The Fighting Temeraire Turner

Captive Andromache Leighton

Christ or Diana Long

The Angelus Millet

The Shadow of Death Hunt

The Gleaners Millet

/Perry
"^Cosmos
Reinthal
Institute
Perry
Cosmos
Perry
Perry

PICTURE STORY-TELLING 73

Sweet and Low Taylor Gross

The Song of the Lark Breton Chicago Museum

The Aztec Bride Leigh Institute

The Charge of the V. M. I. \ T .,

Cadets Institute

The Light of the World Hunt Perry

A list of books containing picture-descriptions and sug-
gestions for explaining pictures to children is given in Ap-
pendix III.

VIII
THE RELATION OF STORIES TO PLAY

"Once more the children throng the lanes,

Themselves like flowers, to weave
Their garlands and their daisy-chains

And listen and believe
The tale of Once-upon-a-time,

And hear the Long-ago

And Happy-ever-after chime

Because it must be so."

— Alfred Noyes.

The relation of a child's play to his favorite stories has
been made a special study by Prof. H. M. Burr of the
Y. M. C. A. Training College at Springfield, with the idea
of taking advantage of its possibilities in education. He
has planned a graded course in stories as follows:

"1. Race stories, especially Teutonic myths, legends
and folklore. Stories appealing to the imagination and
illustrating the attempts of the child race to explain the
wonders of the world in which he lives.

"2. Stories of nature ; animal and plant stories.

"3. Stories of individual prowess ; hero tales, — Sam-
son, Hercules, etc. Stories of early inventions.

"4. Stories of great leaders and patriots. Social
heroes from Moses to Washington.

"5. Stories of love, altruism, love of woman, love of
country and home, love of beauty, truth and God."

74

THE RELATION OF STORIES TO PLAY 75

He suggests the possibility of associating with these
stories, as appropriate means of expression, activities as
follows :

"With nature stones, myths, and legends would be asso-
ciated tramps in the woods and every variety of nature
study ; care of animals, plants, etc.

"With stories of individual prowess would be asso-
ciated the individualistic games, athletic and gymnastic
work for the development of individual strength and ability,
also, constructive work of the more elementary type, — work
with clay, knife work, basket weaving, etc.

"With the stories of great leaders and patriots would
be associated games which involve team play, leadership,
obedience to leader, and subordination of self to the group.

"With the altruistic stories would be associated altruis-
tic efforts in behalf of boys who are less favored."

We are convinced that some such correlation is uncon-
sciously attempted by many children between their play and
their reading. It may well be carried further by the con-
scious endeavor of parents and teachers.

THE STORY GAME

"Story motivates the child and play expresses him,"
says Mari Hofer. This is the deeper correlation, and the
one with which we are most familiar. In the home, in the
writer's observation, story-telling soon develops a particular
kind of self-activity, which might be called the story game.
A good story would be acted out as a play the next Satur-
day. If the children saw a good drama, they insisted on
adding some more acts to it at home.

They begin to write stories themselves. I have bor-
rowed the following account of an actual method from my
"The Coming Generation."

You should have a big blank book, on the title page
of which you may write, "The New Crusoe."

76 MANUAL OF STORIES

First, we imagine that we have been wrecked on an
unknown island, and while we are drawing a rough sketch
of the wreck, the children are deciding the best things to
take ashore. Of course, in the haste of leaving, it is hard
to think of everything, but as we cannot supply any needs
later, except by our own ingenuity, we must be as self-
possessed as possible. The leader's part all through is to
listen and put down what is decided upon. He makes no
suggestions himself, unless everybody else is cornered.
Indeed the story almost tells itself.

Each night the map of the country may be extended
as far as they have explored it. The children shall name all
the points of interest. Several maps will be needed before
we get through, to show particular districts more clearly.

We camp the first night close by the shore under a tent
of old tarpaulin. We are busy for a week in bringing our
goods ashore before the ship broke up. But our tent was
entirely unsheltered, and far from fresh water. As soon
as we had cleared the wreck of everything, even the bolts
and beams, we began to take short exploring trips. We
followed up wandering Wiggle Brook until we came to a
cool spring in the forest, on a considerable hill. This hill,
since we found in the mud near the spring a human foot-
step, we named Foot-step Hill. Here we pitched our camp,
hither removed our possessions.

After a while we pastured our flocks and herds in the
Grassy Meadow to the east of us, but being much troubled
by wild beasts, and still fearing wild men, we finally re-
moved our whole establishment to a Tree House and stock-
ade which we built on the higher hills farther from the
water. We still overlooked the sea, however, and our
American flag waved constantly aloft as a signal to any
passing ship.

There is not time to tell you of the strange way a young
Prince of the Island came and made his home with us, and
first made us aware of the bloodthirsty tribe that lived over
the lofty Donjon Mountains toward the south. Nor can I

THE RELATION OF STORIES TO PLAY 77

relate the life story of the venerable white hermit, believed
by those savages a demon of witchcraft, who dwelt at the
top alone, in his mountain cave. Are not all these written
in the Chronicles of the New Crusoe by Archie, Davie, and
Jack?

The story still goes on. Often we take up the book
and find, in a child's laggard handwriting, a new adventure
or a bold sketch of some fresh affray.

At any time of day or night, one needs only make
some such remarks as, "Do you remember what we did the
morning we found the charmed necklace at the foot of the
tree in the stockade?" and they are off like a shot. Some-
times they seem to live two lives alongside at once.

All this, as may be imagined, makes an introduction
not only to good books, but also to fullness of life.

The way stories run on into dramatic play is subject
for another monograph. The author once had an experi-
ence with a group of boys who became interested in Hia-
watha and wanted to dramatize it. He supposed it was to
be a month's task, but the preparations, involving all kinds
of handicraft in scene-making and costumes, took all winter.
There was, in his experience, hardly a lively story that did
not appear soon in his children's play, and sometimes in dis-
tinctive dramatic efforts in the way of "family shows," that
were both respectable and amusing.

STORY-PLAYING ON SUNDAY

This sort of dramatic-play-story telling is especially
appropriate to the quiet home occupations of Sunday. In
a little book by John T. Paris, entitled "Pleasant Sunday
Afternoons for the Children," published by the Sunday
School Times Co., two actual instances of such story-play
are given, one for outdoors and one for indoors.

"The children liked to illustrate Bible stories as they
gathered in the shade. Mother, sitting in her rocker, would

78 MANUAL OF STORIES

assign a little space in which they could fit up a Garden of
Eden, and while the children went here and there through
the yard to find little branches for trees and clover or other
wild blossoms for flowers, she could catch many moments
for her own reading. When these branches and flowers
had been set up in the grass in the place assigned, and the
children's imagination had transformed it all into a beautiful
Eden, mother would again come into demand to prepare
a whole menagerie of animals — all cut out roughly with
scissors from common newspapers, varying little in shape,
but easily transformed, by imagination, into creatures which
the children took pleasure in naming. A paper man and
woman were last made, and the whole story gone over care-
fully, the children themselves telling it.

"The story of David and Goliath was one they par-
ticularly enjoyed — the whole thing being made very vivid
by tents for the two armies (just points of paper with a
common base, which could be grouped in any desired shape
in the grass), soldiers galore (paper dolls cut as our mothers
used to cut them with hands and bodies joined), the tall
Philistine with his large spear and the diminutive David
with his sling.

''The baby Moses in the bulrushes furnished a beautiful
lesson of God's care for the children. How interesting to
weave the little basket from grasses gathered by the boys ;
to imagine the tiny flower placed within it to be the baby
Moses ; to set the ark among the imaginary rushes, in an
imaginary river; and to place another flower in hiding to
represent the devoted sister who daily watched the little ark
with its precious occupant!

"In stormy or wintry weather the game may be played
indoors as follows: Let two or three breadths of carpet
represent the Holy Land, while two strings running parallel
form the Jordan River; drawn apart, these may represent
the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Let the site of Jeru-
salem be marked by a temple made of building blocks. A
small rug or a piece of cloth will serve as a wilderness."

THE RELATION OF STORIES TO PLAY 79

Here is the indoor plan.

"Nearly every child has a box of blocks, and from
these a Noah's Ark can be constructed while telling the
story. Then, taking paper and scissors, fashion paper dolls
of various sizes to represent Noah's family, or you can
purchase the little wooden images of men if you desire.
In simplest forms cut as many different animals as you have
in mind. Clip the limbs and turn the leg pieces to right
and left, that they may stand, to form the procession as they
march into the ark.

"The building of Solomon's Temple is another block
device ; the picture of this may be found in any Bible dic-
tionary, or you can procure the special Temple building
blocks. So, too, one may help the little fingers to make a
sheepfold, a well, an Eastern house with flat roof, the Old
Testament Altar of Incense, the Ark of the Covenant (with
crochet needles for the staff handles) and other objects of
interest that will carry stories with them.

"Childish? Yes, it is for the little child."

The same animals, as the Sunday School Times book
points out, may be used to illustrate stories from other parts
of the Bible. Here is a list of a few of them. A little study
will suggest more incidents in connection with the different
animals. The children should always do their part, by find-
ing the different animals to illustrate the story :

A LIST OF STORIES AND PLAYTHINGS

Story of the Ark.

Story of Joseph.

Gen. 6:14, 18-21

" 7:13-16 ARK

" 8:6, 7.. RAVEN

" 8:8-12 DOVE

Gen. 37:2-36 JOSEPH

" 37:25 CAMELS

" 37:31, 32 GOATS

" 42:1-26 ASSES

" 42 :27, 28

" 41:2-4, 17-21, 26-31. .CATTLE

" 45:19-25

80 MANUAL OF STORIES

fl Sam. 16:1-12, 17:12-33. . .DAVID

Story of David -I LION

17:34-37 BEAR

Story of Queen of Sheba \ 1 Kings 10:1-10, 13 CAMELS

Story of Rebekah J Gen. 24:1-59

Story of Shunammite Woman, -j 2 Kings 4 : 18-37 Ass

, _,.. . Jl Kings 17:1-24 RAVENS

Story of Elijah j „ 18:17_39 BULLOCK

Story of Daniel 4 Dan. 6 :l-22 LION

Story of the Shepherds -j Luke 2 :8-20 SHEEP

Story of Wise Men -j Matt. 2:1-14 CAMELS

Story of Christ -f Matt 21:1-11 ^.Ass

IX

DRAMATIZING STORIES

Hamlet. What players be they? . . .

Rosencrantz. An aerie of children, little eyasses, that cry out
on the top of question, and are most tyrannically clapped f or't ; these
are now the fashion.

Hamlet. What! are they children? Who maintains them?
Will they pursue the quality no longer than they can sing.

— William Shakespeare.

Miss Bailey tells of a little girl of three who had been
told by her nurse the well-known tale of "The Old Woman
and Her Pig." A week later she was discovered, alone,
standing dramatically in the center of the room, holding
a toy broom under her arm, and shaking her finger at
a small china pig that stood on the floor in front of her.
She was saying over some words very energetically.

"What are you doing?" asked her surprised mother.

"I'm doing a story, mother," she replied.

This instinct to do a story is universal, and it is very
valuable. It illustrates again that axiom of education,
Learning by doing. The child apprehends and holds much
better that which he acts than what he merely hears.

We saw the earliest expression of this instinct in our
chapter on "Stories That Children Like," where ringer plays
and action stories were the first kinds of stories enjoyed
by babies. The baby himself was the rider on the cock
horse, his fingers were the mice or the birds that crept
or flew.

81

82 MANUAL OF STORIES

DRAMATIZING STORIES IN SCHOOL

This method is being employed in primary school, and
where the teacher selects not merely what may be drama-
tized but what should be dramatized the result is very
happy. Julia Darrow Cowles in her "The Art of Story-
Telling" gives a story entitled "A Lesson of Faith," and
then shows how naturally and pleasantly one child after
another will be selected to be the Caterpillar, the Butterfly,
the Lark, etc. She shows the possibility of correct repre-
sentation, which teaches close observation, when she re-
minds us that the child can learn to remember that robins
hop but crows walk. Dr. Arnold Gesell has shown how
the power and range of such representation in a primary
room develops:

"Very soon the class will not be content with one
player. The boy who is trying to represent the monkey
will suggest that he have a hand-organ man; the hen will
want chickens, and the scene will go naturally and easily
without dictation. It is interesting to see how the children
grow in power of representation and suggestion, and how
naturally language begins to be the necessary accompani-
ment of gesture. The language of the children will be
pictorial and full of unexpected terms and phrases. At
this stage of the work it will be found helpful to put a
screen between the player and the class. Such a device
adds a little mystery to the play. The effect that such
work may have upon voice culture is most significant."
The next step will be stories with simple plot. In perform-
ing these it is not necessary to memorize, and it is undesir-
able to do so. Miss Fry in her "Educational Dramatics"
describes in a vivid way how a story-play evolves. Here
is a bit of her monologue, in which we can easily imagine
the interruptions of the children. The play is a variant
of the Cinderella story:

"Good ! Let's begin with the Market-Place ! And the

DRAMATIZING STORIES 83

crowd is there, as the story says. What will the crowd
be doing? Buying and selling, and walking about and
gossiping, as crowds always do anywhere ! Yes ! We
can have chairs about, to be the shops, and Cicily will be
in the crowd, of course, shabby and shy, because she is
poor, and no one notices her. Oh, no! Not unhappy,
because she is a merry creature, even if she is poor ! Bare-
foot ? I s'pose so ! Rags ? Oh, let's plan the whole story
first and what they do, and then think about clothes and
other things, or we never shall be through and doing it !

"Now what happens? The Bellman's bell can sound
outside the Square just as in the story, and we can hear
him calling, 'Oh, Ye's! Oh, Ye's!' and the bell really
ringing. Then what will happen ? The Bellman will march
in, yes ! Ringing and calling, all the people of the place
will come running, as the story says. What a lot more
fun it will be to be doing it than just hearing about it! Oh,
yes! of course they chatter at him. The story does not
say that, but any one would know it."

STORIES THAT ARE EASILY ACTED

Mrs. Braucher recommends for story-playing the fol-
lowing stories, some of which lend themselves to a more
permanent form of acting:

Cinderella.

Sleeping Beauty.

Hansel and Gretel.

Jack and the Beanstalk.

Snow White.

The Elves and the Shoemaker.

Eleven Wild Swans.

Red Shoes.

The Cat and the Parrot.

The Golden Goose.

84 MANUAL OF STORIES

King Arthur and Excalibur.
The Hole in the Dike.

Mrs. Lillian Edith Nixon, in her "Fairy Tales a Child
Can Read and Act," recommends for children up to the
second grade several stories as suitable for dramatizing:

Little Red Riding Hood.

Peter and the Magic Goose (original).

The Blue Peacock.

The Ant and the Cricket.

Hansel and Gretel.

Stories from Pinocchio.

Scenes from Alice in Wonderland.

Scenes from Through the Looking Glass.

The following stories are so arranged as to bring first
on the list those for young children and those that may be
most easily dramatized and acted. They are furnished by
the Carnegie Library of Pittsburg.

Story of the Three Bears.

The Elves and the Shoemaker.

Epaminondas.

Bremen Town Musicians.

Cinderella.

Why the Chimes Rang.

The Sleeping Beauty.

Hansel and Gretel.

Piper Tom.

Snow White.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

How Good Gifts Were Used by Two.

Gudebrand on the Hillside.

Hans in Luck.

What the Gudeman Does is Sure to be Right.

How the Robins Came.

DRAMATIZING STORIES 85

Persephone.

Old Pipes and the Dryad.

The books containing the stories referred to in the
foregoing list are named in a special monthly bulletin of
the library for December, 1913, which may be secured for 5c.

By this time the play of the children begins to show
the tendency to dramatize stories. They make believe that
they are horses or heroes, they use their dolls as characters
in free play of a story sort, they make backgrounds and
accessories out of their playthings. They even carry on
the narrative from day to day, evolving and changing the
plot as they proceed. Instances of this are given in my
"Manual of Play." They very commonly create imaginary
playmates, and thus dramatize the actual life which they
live.

THE PUPPET THEATER

A completer expression of the desire to enter the world
of imagination and people it with tangible personalities will
be described in full in the story of Mary Lowe's bottle
people in Part II. Another method which would probably
seem a little more sophisticated than bottle-doll story-telling
is that of the puppet theater. Nobody knows how old are
the marionette theaters of Italy, which are attended still
by old and young. We cannot trace back the origin of
the Punch and Judy show, which represents an art well
worth perpetuating but almost lost to us. Thirty years
ago somebody put on the market a "Little Theater," with
its proscenium, its drop curtain, wings, scenes and actors,
furnished with play-sketches and adaptable to an infinite
variety of original dramas. To an experienced bottle-doll
artist such a miniature theater with its actors would be
an easy task, and the suggestion of mystery in the curtain,
the dramatic suspense occasioned by waiting for changes
of scene and the opportunity for assuming the voices of

86 MANUAL OF STORIES

several characters are tempting to a young Thespian. One
may wonder why adult story-tellers do not revive in some
form the puppet theater as an adjunct to some of their
more dramatic tales.

CHILDREN'S DRAMATICS

"Dressing up," pantomimes, "statues," dumb crambo,
charades, are familiar expressions among children from
eight to twelve of the dramatic instinct to do a story. Miss
Perry suggests groups of plays, each one acted by one
child only, which she names "Garlands." For instance,
when grandmother comes to make a visit, she may be wel-
comed with a garland of greetings. Each child represents
something that is glad to welcome grandma, and all encircle
her as they do so. One is a chicken, and struts and
flutters, and one is a flower and spreads her skirts and
acts like a flower. Miss Patten suggests that older children
should enhance the family reunions by acting together the
family history. One boy brings down his grandfather's
uniform and enacts his military record, or all dress in their
parents' wedding garments and impersonate their marriage
ceremony, or re-enact in a good-natured way some of the
family jokes.

Of amateur theatricals, which are of course the most
elaborate way of dramatizing stories, there is no need to
speak.

A list of story-plays for children and of books on
dramatics is given in Appendix IV.

THE STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING:
IMAGINATIVE STORIES

HOW TO GRADE SUCH STORIES

One mistake that is made by those who plot out charts
for the moral training of children is that of assigning certain
virtues to definite years. In a certain chart, for example,
obedience may be dated as appropriate to the fourth year,
when, as a matter of fact, it is a virtue necessary for
self-protection up to the age when the child matures to
the virtue of self-obedience. Loyalty has so many phases
that it would be an untruth to place it at any one era of
the child's life. The fact is that nearly all virtues are
various phases of goodness appearing in deeper and finer
manifestations as the years come on, and the endeavor
should be not so much to grade the virtues as to grade the
literary types of stories which appeal to the children of
different ages.

From what we know of child nature, stories, as to
their literary character, should be presented in the following
order :

Stories with a sense appeal,
Imaginative stories,
Fairy tales
Fables

Myths and legends
Parables and allegories
Realistic stories,

87

88 MANUAL OF STORIES

Biographical stories,
Romantic stories.

It has been thought helpful to present a good type-
story or two under each of these varieties, selected for
its excellence of construction and arrangement as well as
its moral forcefulness.

STORIES WITH A SENSE APPEAL

Some may doubt that finger plays and nursery rhymes
have any moral meaning. They recognize that the finger
plays help coordinate the muscles and that the nursery
rhymes encourage joy and fellowship between the mother
and the child. But we think they do more. Most of the
finger plays at the very least suggest that this is a world
in which even little hands may be lovingly helpful. In-
stance this one:

Monday

Here's a little wash-bench (fingers make the bench),

Here's a little tub (fingers make the tub),
Here's a little scrubbing-board (fingers made the scrubbing-board)

And here's the way to scrub (fingers start to rub).
Here's a little cake of soap (with the closed fist),

Here's a dipper new (fist with bent finger for handle).
Here's a basket wide and deep (both arms down and fingers
touching).

And here are clothespins two (two pairs of fingers for the prongs).
Here's the line away up high (pointing),

Here's the clothes all flying (flopping hands).
Here's the sun so warm and bright (round space between hands),

And now the washing's drying.

And so the nursery rhymes, and especially the nursery
songs, have their little lessons of kindness and gentleness
and cheerfulness. You will at once think of, "I love pretty
Pussy," "Tom Tom was a piper's son; he learned to play

STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING : IMAGINATIVE STORIES 89

when he was young," "This is the Mother so kind and
dear," etc., etc.

No one, in the special field of child-sympathy with
animals, has recently written with sweeter purpose and
simplicity than A. L. Sykes (Mrs. Stephani Schutze), whose
"Tiny Hare and His Friends," published by Little, Brown
& Co., Boston, ought to be known by all mothers of little
children. Here is a story of hers, called, "The Wee Hare
and the Red Fire." It is full of sense appeals, of color,
cold and warmth, light and darkness.

One day in the cold time when he lay snug and warm
by his Mama, Tiny Hare said : "Tell me of the hare who
went step, step, step in the snow till he came to the RED
FIRE." So his Mama gave him a hug and said :

Once upon a time was a wise Wee Hare who knew
how to run fast when MAN came by. He knew how to
hide when DOG was near, and when he saw the dark
spot in the sky that HAWK made, how fast he did jump
to his Mama! But Wee Hare did not like to go out and
run and jump and play in the sun.

"I do not want to run and jump and play in the sun.
I want to run far, far in the wood, and find the red bush.
I have seen it away off in the dark. It is good for me to
eat, I know."

"It is FIRE," said his Mama. "Only MAN can
make it, and it is not good for you. It can burn and hurt.
You may eat the good food that you can find near our
home," and she bit his ear for a kiss.

"I do not want to eat the good food that I can see
here. I want to do just as I like. I want to pick the red
food from the red bush. I know it is like buds in the
warm time."

"Hush!" said Papa Hare, very low and deep. "You
are not good. When you are good, and the moon is high
in the sky, and it is just like day, I will take you far out
in the wood, and you may run and jump and play and
eat the food that is best for you."

90 MANUAL OF STORIES

"I do not want to go out in the wood, and run and
jump and play when the moon is high in the sky. I want
to do just as I like. I want to eat the red buds from the
red bush," said the Wee Hare.

"Shut your eyes, and put your ears down, and take
your nap," said his Mama. ''You are too tiny to go
away from me. Now, hush, do not say one more word.
The red bush is the RED FIRE. It can hurt and burn.
MAN has it, and DOG is with man. They can hurt you,
and if you run too far in the wood, WIND may blow
too hard for a wee hare, and SNOW may come and bury
you. Shut your eyes, and put your ears down and take
your nap."

It was noon; the sun was high in the sky.

Good Papa Hare took his nap, and Mama Hare took
her nap. The Wee Hare shut his eyes, and put his ears
down, but he took no nap. By and by he went out of
the door, and ran and ran till he came to the wood. Then
he ran and ran in the wood, but he did not come to the
RED FIRE, and he ran and ran and ran till his feet were
sore, but he did not come to the RED FIRE, and he ran
and ran and ran and ran till he was not able to run any
more and no RED FIRE did he see. He lay down to
rest in a bush, and very soon his eyes shut, and he did
not see or hear, for it was long past the hour for his nap.
When he woke SNOW lay on all the open ways of the
wood. The Wee Hare gave a leap from his bush, for he
knew that SNOW can grow deep and deep, and a wee
hare cannot walk in it. How he did wish he was at home !

The sun was far down in the west, and its last rays
lay red on the SNOW. Step, step, step went the lame
Wee Hare in the cold SNOW. He went back into the
woods to try to find his way home. It grew gray, and
it grew dark, and SNOW grew so deep that Wee Hare
had hard work to walk. Then WIND came! Step, step,
step in the SNOW he went. The WIND blew more and
more.

STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING : IMAGINATIVE STORIES 91

"I cannot walk ; my feet are too lame," said the Wee
Hare, and just then he saw the RED FIRE. It grew in
the path in the wood, and by it sat MAN and DOG. Oh,
how the Wee Hare felt! His nose grew hot, and ears
grew cold, and he was not able to move. Then DOG said :
''WOW!" and put fiis ears up, but MAN said: "Lie
down," and DOG lay down by the RED FIRE. The Wee
Hare went into a tiny, tiny hole in a tree, and sat on his
feet to warm them. He saw the RED FIRE. He did
not like to see it. MAN and DOG did not let it come
too near them, and he saw them keep away from the
RED FIRE.

''They fear it, too," said the Wee Hare. "It is not
good for me. I must take care or it will come and hurt
me." He sat on his cold feet, and did not dare to take
a nap.

By and by MAN put SNOW over the RED FIRE,
and he and DOG went away, and the Wee Hare went step,
step, step in the snow, soft, soft, soft,. for fear.

"I wish I had been good," said the Wee Hare, and WIND
and SNOW were able to hear, and they felt sad for the
Wee Hare.

"We will help him," they said, but low and soft so
he did not hear. The moon came up high in the sky till
it was just like day, and it grew very cold. SNOW grew
hard as ice in the cold, and the Wee Hare did not sink
in it any more. WIND did not blow so hard. It came
back of Wee Hare now, push, push, push, to help the
Wee Hare over the SNOW. How fast he went — hop,
skip and jump! Soon he came to his home. How glad
he was ! He went in and lay down by his Mama.

"I have not been good, Mama," he said, very low in
her ear.

"Be good now, then," his Mama said, and he did not
know how glad she was to have him back.

"I want to be good," said the Wee Hare; and he

92 MANUAL OF STORIES

shut his eyes, and put his ears down, and they all took
a nap till the dawn came.

"Just like us," said Tiny Hare, and he was glad that
he lay snug and warm by his Mama, and he was glad she
had told him the tale of the Wee Hare and the RED FIRE.

FAIRY STORIES

It is not necessary for the success of a fairy story
as an aid in character-building that the incidents should
be distant and improbable. Indeed if they be taken from
the daily life of the child, and the only imaginative element
be the good fairy herself, we have sometimes a model story
for a purpose. Such an one is "The Fairy Who Came
to Our House," meant to help make a very helpful little
girl. The charming surprise at the close makes the story
all the more memorable.

THE FAIRY WHO CAME TO OUR HOUSE

There was once a dear little girl who lived in our
house. She was quite loving and sweet and truthful. She
would have been a dear, dear little girl, but for one thing —
she was a wee bit careless. It was just about little things,
you know. Perhaps it might be drying the cups until
they shone. Perhaps it might be dusting the undermost
places, like the rungs of the chairs and the piano legs.
Perhaps it might be giving fresh milk to Taffy, the black
pussy-cat. Perhaps it might be leaving the old rag doll
out in the weather all night. The old rag doll had rheu-
matism, and a night out in the dew made it worse. A dear,
dear little girl would have remembered these things, but
our dear little girl forgot.

One morning she woke very early, but the sun was
behind a cloud, and the fog crept into the nursery. She
began to forget things before breakfast.

STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING : IMAGINATIVE STORIES 93

"Oh, where is my red hair ribbon?" she said. "And
where is my shoe string?"

After breakfast she wanted to make a little saucer pie
with mother, in the kitchen. Just as she put it in the
oven she thought of her unmade bed upstairs. Before she
had half finished the bed she remembered that grandmother
was waiting to have her spectacles found. Then the door
bell rang, and she just had to run and see who it was. It
was just a short way to the end of the garden ; she really
had to run to the gate and see if next-door Helen were at
home.

Ah, the broken shoe string was in the way ! The dear
little girl tumbled down in the garden path and bumped
her poor little nose. And the saucer pie burned black in
the oven, the bed was not made, and grandmother had no
spectacles.

As she sat up in the garden path, crying two big tears,
who should she see on the stone beside her (there had been
no one there before) but a tiny old woman. I think she
was just three inches high, and she wore a long red cloak
and a little red hood, and she carried a crooked little cane.
Her face Was as brown and wrinkled as a last fall's oak-
leaf. She rapped on the stone with her cane, as she said:
"What are you crying about, little girl?"

"Oh," sobbed the dear little girl, "I want to not forget
so many things."

"Run right into the house," said the fairy — for she
was a fairy. "I am going to help you all day long."

The dear little girl rubbed her eyes. There was no
fairy upon the stone — only two wee footprints — so she
jumped up and ran into the house.

The first thing she spied was a pair of shiny spectacles
under the hall rack. Grandmother was so pleased to have
them. As the little girl came down stairs again she heard
a squeaky laugh. There was a red cloak on the staircase
and some one said:

94 MANUAL OF STORIES

"Hurry, hurry, kitchen trouble,
Kettle wants to boil and bubble."

So the little girl ran down to the kitchen and filled the
old copper tea kettle, who sat fussing upon the stove,
because he was empty. As she put on the cover, whom
should she see standing upon the spout but the little figure
in a red cloak, and this is what she heard:

"Run and set the plates for lunch,
Knives and forks are in a bunch."

Yes, the table did need setting. When it was all done,
there was the fairy on the sideboard, twirling around
like a Japanese top and saying :

"Dolly's things are such a sight !
Put the bureau drawers to right."

So the little girl flew up stairs to the nursery. She
packed the doll's dresses in the trunk. She folded all the
hair ribbons in the top drawer, and there was the lost red
one at the very bottom.

All day long, the fairy kept reminding her of things
to do. After lunch there she was sitting on the edge of
mother's darning basket, looking like a red Dutch cheese,
and saying:

"Holes to be mended, and darning begun ;
Find mother's needles and pins, every one."

Toward evening there she was on the arm of father's
easy-chair, saying:

"Father is coming. Now, quick as can be,
Lay out his slippers and book before tea."

The little girl was very tired by bedtime, but it had
been a busy, happy day. She sat in her little chair by

STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING : IMAGINATIVE STORIES 95

the nursery fire, and rocked, and wondered if it could all
have been a dream; when — pop — there was the little old
woman in the red cloak, dancing upon a red coal, and
saying :

"Look in the box on the bureau, my dear;
And try to remember as long as a year."

So the dear little girl looked in the box on the bureau,
and there, inside, was a little gold wishing-ring, and it said
on the bow : "From all the family in our house, for a dear,
dear little girl who tried to remember."

And the queer little fairy never came again; but that
was because she didn't need to.

If the purposive story is to be very helpful, it must,
of course, be remembered. There are one or two devices
by which a story may be made memorable. One of these
is the device of repetition, using a special phrase several
times in a narrative. Another common device is that of
arranging that there shall be three incidents before the
denouement. Both these devices are implied in the familiar
story of the three bears, in which the phrases "Who's been
eating of my porridge?", "Who's been sitting in my
chair?", etc., bringing forth replies in three tones of voice
from the three bears and in which each of the bears engages
in three experiments before they finally discover the little
girl. The following story of "Little Blue Gown and the
Butterfly," adapted from a set of rhymes that appeared
once in St. Nicholas, also illustrates the employment of
both of these devices. Everything in the story is "little"
and "blue," and that favorite color runs like a motif through
the narrative. Blue Gown also has three sad adventures
before she finally comes to the happy one.

LITTLE BLUE GOWN AND THE BUTTERFLY

In a dear little house with a little blue gate at the
foot of a grassy meadow there once lived a nice little

96 MANUAL OF STORIES

girl. She was called Little Blue Gown, because the only
frock she had to wear, week days and Sundays, was a little
old gown of blue. It was very ragged, because she had
worn it so long, and although she had mended it as best
she could, still it did not look very nice. She lived all
alone, except for a little old cat, and sometimes she was
very lonely; but she used to say, "I mustn't mind that."

One day the little blue gown girl heard a knock at the
door which frightened her very much, because nobody ever
came to her house. On the floor she found a little blue
letter which said: "Dear Little What's- Your-Name ; I
know how good you are, for I come and watch you every
morning and night, and I have got a beautiful new frock
for you with a sash to tie around it, only you have got
to go with me and find it. Whatever happens, don't lose
heart, and I will promise to help you and bring you safely
back. Follow my small blue messenger boy wherever you
see him. Wishing you great joy, Yours ever, The Fairy
Queen."

You can imagine how delighted Little Blue Gown was
when she finished this charming letter. She clapped her
hands and danced up and down. Then she washed up her
little plate and cup, tidied up her little room and brushed
up the fireplace, and then ran out-doors and looked around.
She couldn't spy any messenger anywhere, but on the
flowers at the gate was a small blue butterfly. So she
went out through the garden gate, saying to herself, "I
don't know where to go, but I will go on. I shall find
him soon, I am sure."

So she went right on and on until she came to the
mill. On the steps of the mill was the miller's boy, named
Will. She said, "Have you happened to see a fairy mes-
senger pass ? He has a pretty new frock for me."

But Will said, "You silly goose! Here is the only
frock you'll get," and he threw a flour sack down on her
shoulders. She was covered from head to foot with flour,
and Will burst into a loud laugh, and jeered with all his

STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING : IMAGINATIVE STORIES 97

might. "That is as pretty a new frock as ever I saw,"
he said.

Then Little Blue Gown turned sadly away. There was
nobody to guide her and she did not notice the butterfly,
although it kept close to her. So she went on and on until
she came to the house of the chimney sweep. The chimney
sweep boy, Mark, was at the window looking out. She
said, "Have you seen a fairy messenger in blue go by?
He has got a pretty new frock for me." But he cried,
"Here is a fine new suit for you," and he threw a sooty
sack down on her shoulders. So now she was all black
from head to foot, and Mark said, "How do you like the
soot?" Then Little Blue Gown again went her way, trying
to smile, and she never noticed all the time that the butterfly
was above her.

So she went straight on and on, and by and by she
came to the Four-Winds-Cross-Roads. Wasn't that a funny
name for a place? She sat down by the guide post and
cried, because she did not know which way to go. Down
the North Road, blue speedwell grew ; down the East Road
grew bluebells; on the South Road, blue succory, but in
the West Road nothing grew. At least, there was only a
little tiny brook. So Little Blue Gown sat there crying,
for she was speckled with soot and mottled with flour and
covered with dust. Finally she said, "I must stay here
for a half hour. I must get clean — I must. What would
the fairy queen say if she saw me now?" She took off
her frock and washed it in the brook. It took a long, long
time. Then she hung it up in a sunny place on a leafy
bough. She washed her hands and face and said, "Now
I feel better."

She had thought that no flowers grew along the West
Road, but now she saw a lot of them. There were masses
of blue along the brook and they were all forget-me-nots,
and down among the forget-me-nots, now flying high and
now low, was a little blue butterfly, just as blue as the
blossoms were.

98 MANUAL OF STORIES

She was just putting on her frock again when she
saw a boy, a Gypsy boy, in a ragged coat of blue. She
cried out, "Oh, oh, are you the messenger of the fairy
queen?" He answered, "I don't know what you mean by
that. I am just trying to catch this butterfly, and it has
led me such a chase." Pretty soon he caught it, and
would have killed it had not Little Blue Gown cried, "Oh,
what a pity! Don't hurt it! Give it to me." "Give me
your blue necklace," said the boy, "and I'll give you the
butterfly."

Now these blue beads were the only treasure that
Little Blue Gown ever had, but she said, although it made
her very sad, "Yes, I'll give you my necklace with pleasure
if you give me the butterfly." So she took it off and the
Gypsy lad ran away with the blue beads. But the little
blue girl felt very happy with the butterfly on her hand.

All at once the butterfly rose up bigger and bigger, and
by and by he said to her, "Mount and ride me. I am the
fairy messenger. I have been all the time close beside
you !" So she climbed on his back and rode away and
away, over hills and fields. When they went high and
she became dizzy she held all the tighter and shut her eyes
for fear she might drop. By and by they came to her
own little door. Had the messenger made a mistake? But
no. Little Blue Gown went in and her poor little room
was filled with the prettiest things. There were chairs and
curtains and carpets, all of blue, and little blue plates and
cups, and blue flowers in pots and blue tiles in the walls,
her bed was as blue as forget-me-nots, and hanging from
a chair was the very loveliest frock of blue that you
ever saw.

The butterfly said, "They are all for you. They were
sent by the fairy queen." And now Little Blue Gown was
indeed surprised. The butterfly had turned into a fairy
boy, ever so pretty and slim, and he said, "I hope you
are pleased !" and he seized both her hands in his and
merrily they danced around.

STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING : IMAGINATIVE STORIES 99

So Little Blue Gown will never be lonely any more.
She has fairy food to eat, fairy flowers in front of her
little door, and fairy furniture in her house, and the butter-
fly boy comes and brings her presents, and sometimes
gives her rides on his wings. Sometimes he stops to tea.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS

In a certain sense, mythical heroes are almost truer
than life itself, that is, they have gathered in the course of
the years so much of concreteness and definiteness that
they represent more distinctly certain types of character
than any actual individual, living or dead. They are also
skilfully simple. That has been done with them which we
shall find has to be done with a real biography in order
to make it morally effective: only so much is told as is
necessary to make one particular moral impression.

Of all legends none have been greater favorites
with or more helpful to young people than those of King
Arthur. Each of the Round Table Knights represents in
his ideals and adventures a separate type of character, the
King himself is Conscience, and the whole cycle is closely
parallel in spirit to the chivalrous, generous desires of boys
and girls. As a continued story, to be told in chapters and
with somewhat of the leisureliness and largeness of Malory,
it is matchless. It takes a good deal of it to build up a
total moral impression. We have selected a single incident,
however, somewhat unfamiliar, which deserves to stand
alone. It has been somewhat rewritten, in the interest of
better construction and directness.

THE KNIGHT WITH THE ILL-FITTING COAT

Once when King Arthur was sitting at court a tall,
sturdy youth made his appearance and asked for an
audience.

100 MANUAL OF STORIES

"I have come," he said, "to be made a knight. My
name is Breunor, and my father was a noble lord, so you
will do right to grant me this favor."

"Be that as it may," said the king, "but I must know
more of you before I make you a knight. Why wear you
this great coat of gold cloth?" he inquired, for over his
shoulders the youth had a richly embroidered coat of cloth
of gold, which was too large for him and which hung
awkwardly from his shoulders.

"This is the coat of my father. One day he was slain
treacherously while he was asleep, and I have sworn to
wear this cloak, with these sword strokes upon it, until
I have revenged his foul death. Now, O King, I pray you
again, make me a knight, so that I may go forth on my
life-quest."

Some of the older knights then made entreaty for the
young man, and at length the king promised to make him
a knight the following day. Breunor was then sent to
/Kay the Seneschal, the sharp-tongued knight who had all
the young squires in charge. When he saw the lad, at
once he began to laugh at him in the presence of the other
youths and promptly nicknamed him "Sir La Cote Male
Taile," or "Sir Ill-Fitting Coat."

The next morning while the king and his knights were
at the hunt and the fair ladies of the court were walking
on the terrace, a large lion that had been kept in a tower
at one end of the plaisaunce broke loose and began leaping
across the terrace. The queen and her ladies fled in the
wildest haste. Then a tall youth sprang out from the
company of squires that were seated by the wall, with
sword in hand, and cleft the beast's head at a single blow.

When the king returned he gave Breunor, for it was
he, high praise for his quickness and courage. "As I am
king," he said, "you shall prove a most noble and valiant
knight, and one of the most worthy to sit with me at the
Table Round." Then he commanded him to kneel, and
dubbed him knight and called him Sir Breunor.

STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING: .IMAGINATIVE STORIES 101

"Nay, an it please you," said the young man, "I will
be known by no other name than that of 'La Cote Male
Taile/ by which Sir Kay hath christened me, that my quest
may ever be in my mind." To this the king and his
knights agreed, and he was so called among them.

That very day a damsel rode into the court, bearing
with her a huge black shield, on one side of which was
painted a mailed hand holding a sword. Its owner had
been worsted by a still mightier knight, she said, and he
had committed his shield to her that she might find a
champion who should fulfil his quest. As the knights
thought of the strength and valor of -one who could carry
a shield greater than this one, there was a silence. Then
La Cote Male Taile strode forward and claimed his right,
as the latest made knight, to ride forth upon this quest.
She warned him that this would be no light summer day's
adventure. "Then it is all the more to my liking," he
replied.

The two had not gone far on their journey when they
saw Dagonet, the king's jester, speeding hard after them
on the back of a donkey. He bore in his hands a lath.
La Cote Male Taile understood at once that this was a
piece of Sir Kay's doings, to make him ridiculous in the
damsel's eyes. So he smote the fool lightly with his palm
and sent him headlong over the donkey's neck. But the
damsel laughed at him for jousting with a fool, and told
him he would be ashamed when Dagonet told the story
at the court. To this he made no reply.

Thrice that day knights from the court met him and
jousted with him. He entreated each of them to engage
with him in sword play on foot, since he had not yet learned
to handle himself on a horse. But they all declined, and
he was thrown by each of them in turn. These mishaps
caused the damsel to laugh at him more than ever, and
when Sir Modred> the king's nephew, joined them, she rode
by his side and quite ignored the young Cote Male Taile.

By and by they came to a famous stronghold known

102 MANUAL OF STORIES

as Castle Orgulous. As they approached, two knights
dashed across the drawbridge against them, with their
lances couched. The one who met Sir Modred smote him
off the bridge and into the moat. The other unhorsed La
Cote Male Taile, but, guarding himself as he fell, he jumped
upon the steed of Sir Modred and pursued his enemy into
the castle itself, and there slew him.

Then, standing by the body of the dead knight, La Cote
Male Taile found himself facing a host of knights who had
gathered around him. Leaping from the horse, he led the
animal through the gateway, and dashed back, sword in
hand, to meet his opponents. Against these terrible odds
he fought, until a score of knights fell around him, but it
seemed impossible that he should defeat them all. Then
the damsel, who had been holding his own horse, called
to him to escape with her through the postern gate. Throw-
ing her and then himself upon the horse's back, they made
for this gate, through which they passed unscathed. But
after a time their horse, doubly laden, was overtaken by
the knights of Castle Orgulous on fresh horses and La
Cote Male Taile and the damsel were taken prisoners.

Now when Sir Launcelot of the Lake had heard that
the older knights had allowed one so young to take upon
himself this terrible quest of the Black Shield, he was very
wroth, and he spurred after La Cote Male Taile, to see
whether he could be of any service to him. When he
reached Castle Orgulous he challenged each of the knights
of the castle to combat and having overthrown them one
after another he ordered that all the prisoners in the castle
should be released. Among them he found La Cote Male
Taile and the damsel.

As they rode away Sir Launcelot reproached the dam-
sel for the scornful words which he had heard that she
had spoken to her champion. "For," he said, "this youth
is one of the bravest knights I have ever known, and for
love of him I followed, to succor him in his hour of need."

Then the damsel confessed with many blushes and

STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING : IMAGINATIVE STORIES 103

tears that she had treated him so scornfully because she
loved him too, and had hoped by this means to dissuade him
from this quest, which she feared he would never live to
accomplish. At this La Cote Male Taile was exceedingly
glad, for he himself loved the damsel who was the fairest
he had ever seen.

And now the damsel and Sir Launcelot supposed that
Sir La Cote Male Taile would accompany them back to
the court, but when they came to a certain cross-roads he
started to leave them. When they both remonstrated he
pointed to the Black Shield on his arm and reminded the
damsel that this was the way she had pointed out to
Castle Surluse, where lived the knight who had overcome
the owner of this Black Shield, and that he could not
return until he had fulfilled his quest. Neither would he
permit the damsel or Sir Launcelot to go with him.

So he rode alone to Castle Surluse, where he sum-
moned forth the knight of the castle to combat. And after
a terrible fight on horse and foot, in which he received
many terrible wounds, but did not a whit abate the vigor
of his blows, he vanquished the knight who had slain
the owner of the Black Shield. And when he opened
the visor of his adversary he found that he had slain
the murderer of his father.

After the castle was thus delivered into his hands and
he had freed its prisoners, he rode slowly and fainting
back to the court. Here the damsel tenderly nursed him.
And now La Cote Male Taile was given great lands by
King Arthur, and after a time he wedded the damsel
for whom he had achieved the adventure of the Black
Shield.

When he was fully come to man's estate the young
knight filled out to the full the coat of his father, but he
still continued to be called La Cote Male Taile, in honor
of his courage when a lad. But there was one knight who
never called him La Cote Male Taile — and that was Sir
Kay the Seneschal.

104 MANUAL OF STORIES

PARABLES AND ALLEGORIES

As has already been intimated, parables and allegories
present the difficulty that many children insist on taking
them literally and see in them no more than the bare inci-
dents of the story. But they are such favorites with us
who are older and there are so many of them at hand
that we are tempted to use them if possible. And, with
skill, it is possible. Let us give some special attention to
the use of analogies in moral training, and to make our
suggestions concrete examine carefully a few unusually
good examples.

We have said that the inner meaning of the allegory
is not always appreciated by young children. Some of
them, however, have more insight than we give them credit
for, and this insight is stimulated if there be a touch of
humor in the narrative. A bit of humor is an antidote
both to false sentiment on the part of the parent and to an
untrue impression on the mind of the child. It has a
happy effect in bringing the child en rapport with the story-
teller. When he sees the twinkle in the narrator's eye he
gets ready for sympathetic listening. This element of the
unexpected is illustrated in the somewhat familiar parable
of 'The Magic Shirt." It would take only the shortest
questioning at the close to help the child to the answer, that
happiness does not necessarily depend upon the possession
of a shirt, Or indeed of many other supposed necessities.
The stimulus to the correct answer is given in the humor
that wakes up the mind and makes it intent and appreciative.

THE MAGIC SHIRT

Once a king lay dying. The doctors had done all they
could for him, and declared that nothing could save him.
The king was not willing to believe that his time was

STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING : IMAGINATIVE STORIES 105

come. He sent for a certain wise man, and asked him
what he must do to get well.

The wise man said, "O king, if thou couldst wear the
shirt of a truly happy man for one night, thou wouldst
recover." This was as much as to say that the king was
dying of discontent.

Hearing this, the officers of the king sent out to search
the kingdom for a truly happy man. They found none
for a long time.

Some men complained because they were poor, and
some who had riches felt their wealth a burden. Some
were "worked to death," as they said, and some were un-
happy because they had nothing to do. Some had none
to love them, and some had families larger than they could
support.

At last a man was found who complained of nothing
and confessed that he was always happy. But he had no
shirt !

When the king heard this, he arose from his bed, saying
he would live a simple life and never be discontented again.

Children have to be a little older in order to appreciate
analogies that are spiritual rather than material. Even
then we who tell them such stories are likely to err in
two ways : our analogy is not perfect or else it is indefinite.
The analogy is imperfect because we have not clearly
enough seen what we wish to teach and it is indefinite
because we are trying to teach several truths with one story.
Here is a story that was told by Maud Lindsay in "Mother
Stories," published by Milton Bradley Co., who desired
to show a girl, of perhaps twelve, the tragedy that comes
if a child breaks the bonds of confidence between her-
self and her mother. In the following beautiful para-
ble of "The Closing Door," the analogy is both definite
and complete, and the tenderness of affection manifested
in the story is bound to be deeply appealing to the feelings.

106 MANUAL OF STORIES

THE CLOSING DOOR

There was once a little girl (her best and sweetest
name was Little Daughter), who had a dear little room,
all her own, which was full of treasures, and was as lovely
as love could make it.

You never could imagine, no matter how you tried, a
room more beautiful than hers ; for it was white an4 shining
from the snowy floor to the ceiling, which looked as if it
might have been made of a fleecy cloud. The curtains at
the windows were like the petals of a lily, and the little
bed was like swan's down.

There were white pansies, too, that bloomed in the
windows, and a dove whose voice was sweet as music;
and among her treasures she had a string of pearls which
she was to wear about her neck when the king of the
country sent for her, as he had promised to do some day.

This string of pearls grew longer and more beautiful
as the little girl grew older, for a new pearl was given
her as soon as she waked up each morning ; and every
one was a gift from this king, who bade her keep them
fair.

Her mother helped her to take care of them and of
all the other beautiful things in her room. Every morning,
after the new pearl was slipped on the string, they would
set the room in order ; and every evening they would look
over the treasures and enjoy them together, while they
carefully wiped away any specks of dust that had gotten
in during the day and made the room less lovely.

There were several doors and windows, which the little
girl could open and shut just as she pleased, in this room;
but there was one door which was always open, and that
was the one which led into her mother's room.

No matter what Little Daughter was doing she was
happier if her mother was near; and although she some-
times ran away into her own room and played by herself,
she always bounded out at her mother's first call, and

STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING : IMAGINATIVE STORIES 107

sprang into her mother's arms, gladder than ever to be
with her because she had been away.

Now, one day when the little girl was playing alone,
she had a visitor who came in without knocking, and
who seemed, at first, very much out of place in the shining
white room, for he was a goblin and as black as a lump
of coal. He had not been there more than a very few
minutes, however, before nearly everything in the room
began to look more like him and less like driven snow;
and although the little girl thought that he was very strange
and ugly when she first saw him, she soon grew used to
him, and found him an entertaining playfellow.

She wanted to call her mother to see him, but he said :
"Oh! no; we are having such a nice time together, and
she's busy, you know." So the little girl did not call; and
the mother, who was making a dress of fine lace for her
darling, did not dream that a goblin was in the little white
room.

The goblin did not make any noise, you know, for he
tiptoed all the time, as if he were afraid; and if he heard
a sound he would jump. But he was a merry goblin,
and he amused the little girl so much that she did not
notice the change in her dear room.

The curtains grew dingy, the floor dusty, and the
ceiling looked as if it might have been made of a rain
cloud ; but the child played on, and got out all her treasures
to show her visitor.

The pansies drooped and faded, the white dove hid
its head beneath its wing and moaned; and the last pearl
on the precious string grew dark when the goblin touched
it with his smutty fingers.

"Oh, dear me!" said the little girl when she saw this.
"I must call my mother; for these are the pearls that I
must wear to the king's court, when he sends for me."

"Never mind," said the goblin, "we can wash it, and
if it isn't just as white as before, what difference does it
make about one pearl?"

108 MANUAL OF STORIES

"But mother says that they all must be as fair as
the morning/' insisted the little girl, ready to cry. "And
what will she say when she sees this one?"

"You shut the door then," said the goblin, pointing to
the door that had never been closed, "and I'll wash the
pearl." So the little girl ran to close the door, and the
goblin began to rub the pearl ; but it only seemed to grow
darker. Now the door had been open so long that it was
hard to move, and it creaked on its hinges as the little girl
tried to close it. When the mother heard this she looked
up to see what was the matter. She had been thinking
about the dress which she was making; but when she saw
the closing door, her heart stood still with fear; for she
knew that if it once closed tight she might never be able
to open it again.

She dropped her fine laces and ran toward the door
calling, "Little Daughter! Little Daughter! Where are
you ?" and she reached out her hands to stop the door. But
as soon as the little girl heard that loving voice she
answered :

"Mother, oh, Mother! I need you so! My pearl is
turning black and everything is wrong !" and flinging the
door wide open she ran into her mother's arms.

When the two went together into the little room, the
goblin had gone. The pansies now bloomed again, and
the white dove cooed in peace; but there was much work
for the mother and daughter, and they rubbed and scrubbed
and washed and swept and dusted, till the room was so
beautiful that you would not have known that a goblin
had been there — except for the one pearl, which was a
little blue always, even when the king was ready for Little
Daughter to come to his court, although that was not
until she was a very old woman.

As for the door, it was never closed again; for Little
Daughter and her mother put two golden hearts against it
and nothing in this world could have shut it.

While it is often said that "no parable will go on all

STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING : IMAGINATIVE STORIES 109

fours," and we appreciate that no analogy should be pressed
too far, yet especially when homely incidents are chosen
they should be true to facts, at least to the extent of reason-
able conviction to the audience. E. P. St. John cites, as
a failure in this respect, a parable in which someone, desir-
ing to emphasize the thought that goodness dries up unless
its sources are fed, told the story of a western town that
received all its v/ater from a cistern on a hilltop. Suddenly
the pipes ran dry, the inhabitants suffered and finally were
all getting ready to move aw*ay, when a tramp came along
and showed them how a pal of his had plugged the pipe
below the cistern. The trouble here, as St. John says,
is that we are so irritated by the unreasonableness of the
narrative that we lose its moral force. While the story-
teller is enlarging upon the distress of the citizens and
their decision to give up the town, our common sense is
telling us, 'That is not the way people would act; they
would send for a plumber." Our analogies should not
only be homely but they should be reasonable.

The trouble, too, with the parable often is that the
analogy is so far-fetched as to deal with such unfamiliar
incidents that they are not impressive to the child. One
reason why the parables of Jesus are the most perfect ever
told is because they had to do with the everyday occupa-
tions, the common occurrences of life, the birds, the beasts
and the blossoms. (The telling of Bible stories is reserved
for another chapter.)

What we have been saying about parables may be
summarized as follows:

1. With young children the analogy should be quite

literal, having to do with the child's familiar ex-
periences and occupations.

2. Later the analogy may be more spiritual, but it should

be complete and definite; that is, it should be true,
and it should bear but one application.

110 MANUAL OF STORIES

3. In all parables it is helpful if there may be the element
of humor, awakening the sympathy of the child with
the story-teller and the alertness of the child to
the meaning of the story.

XI

THE STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING: REAL-
ISTIC STORIES

REALISTIC STORIES AND BIOGRAPHY

A good realistic story is hard to find. When it is
interesting it is likely to fail in moral appeal, and if it
has a strong moral appeal it is likely not to be interesting.
In searching for realistic stories, it is especially important
that they should touch the actual life of the child. The
popular books which are intended for the moral uplift
of children usually dwell upon anecdotes taken from the
lives of great merchants or inventors.

The writer has recently been examining, in the search
for this sort of material, a handbook for teaching morals
through biography, which claims to have been sold to
over ten thousand public schools in America. In almost
every case the instances were drawn from such sources
as Roman history, Revolutionary patriotism or large intel-
lectual and commercial success. The cases in which the
ordinary occupations and situations of men and boys were
alluded to might be counted on one's fingers.

Dr. Coe very sensibly says: "Does anyone really
believe that Willie Green of the fifth grade will study his
lessons because John Wanamaker, Thomas A. Edison, and
Luther Burbank work hard in their respective occupations ?
Willie is engaged with functions which to him are different
from those of merchant, inventor, and naturalist. At some
point in his course it will, perhaps, be worth while for him

in

112 MANUAL OF STORIES

to study the career of Mr. Wanamaker in order to see
what a merchant does for society, and how he does it;
Mr. Edison's career, to see what an inventor does for
society, and how he does it; and Mr. Burbank's career, to
see how the breeds of plants and of animals can be im-
proved, and why they should be improved; but if you
wish to make eleven-year-old Willie Green enjoy hard study,
you must find your leverage in something that he can
recognize as his own present good."

It is the life with which the child is in contact that
constitutes primarily the material for his growth. Such
material is always at hand. At the corner is a policeman.
What does the policeman do, and why does he do it ? Down
the street is a grocer. What does the grocer do, and why
does he do it? What does a nickel theater, a bill-board, a
railroad, a newspaper do? "Here is the material upon
which the children are actually forming their character,
whether we will or no." Out of this material, near at
hand, and in which the child is already interested, we are
to build our realistic stories. Coe cites this instance: "A
boy was throwing stones at a street lamp. A passerby said,
'Why do you wish to break your father's lamp?' 'It isn't
my father's lamp!' replied the boy. 'Who pays for street
lamps, then?' was the rejoinder. A not less pointed exam-
ple of the effect of defining one's purpose to one's self is
this: Get a boy to tell you what he really wants in the
next game of baseball that he plays, and you will draw
out of him the right material for awakening indignation
and scorn, admiration and social purpose."

When we do find a realistic story that is good it makes
a legend look pale. Here is an incident, abridged from
some popular periodical, about

JIMMY AND THE SHARPER

A boy applied at a broker's office for a place as office
boy. He was not very strong-appearing, but his mother

STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING: REALISTIC STORIES 113

was with him, and she said he would be a good one — "or
just let her know."

The broker was just about to set the lad at work
when he happened to remember that there was a crowd
of other boys outside who had also applied for the job.

"Tell them to go," said he.

When the boy came in again there was a bump on his
lip where one of them had hit him, and his necktie was
gone, but he made no complaint and sat down quietly to
learn to copy letters.

Toward noon the business man went out to lunch.

"I shall be back at two; if anyone calls get him to
wait or to leave a message."

Pretty soon a young man came in from another office,
but he left no message and said he would call again.

Promptly Jimmy tackled him, though he was the
larger, and when the broker returned Jimmy was sitting
on his stomach.

The broker was surprised, to say the least, but Jimmy
said:

"He wouldn't wait and he wouldn't leave any message,
so I had to make him."

As this was just what he had been told to do, his
employer could only laugh and pay the young man for his
hurt feelings.

A day or two later the broker gave Jimmy a certified
check and told him to take it to another business office.
He also handed him an engraved bond and told him that
if the man there handed him forty-nine more like it, he
might give him the check in return. The check was for
fifty thousand dollars.

About ten minutes later a friend rushed into the
broker's office and convinced him that the man to whom he
had sent Jimmy was a sharper and that the bonds were
worthless.

But Jimmy had probably given up the check by this
time!

114 MANUAL OF STORIES

They hurried down the elevator to see if they could
overtake the thief.

When Jimmy reached his destination the sharper
wanted to seize the check at once, but Jimmy insisted on
seeing the bonds.

The sharper gave him one.

Jimmy asked for the others.

"Give me that check !" the sharper shouted.

But Jimmy would not do so, and the sharper had to
hand the others over.

Jimmy began to examine them, one by one.

The alarmed and impatient thief sprang at Jimmy.
Together they fell to the floor, and there they scuffled and
rolled. Not a word did Jimmy say, but he kicked and
fought the man with all his might. At length the brute
stunned him with his revolver.

Just then the broker and his friend rushed in, and as
they bumped together the sharper slipped past and escaped.

They picked Jimmy up, white and bloody, and asked
him anxiously if he was hurt.

"I ain't hoited," he said faintly.

Then he spat a little wad of paper from his mouth.

It was the check for fifty thousand dollars.

Don't you believe that broker appreciated Jimmy's
obedience ?

When we find a life that has imbedded in its ex-
perience a lesson for the young, we must remember that
we are engaged in the endeavor to help character-building,
not to furnish biographical information. That a child
should at some time or other have a fairly clear and ade-
quate idea of the career of Washington is desirable, but
the time to give him such an idea is not when we are
trying to inculcate honesty through the cherry-tree episode.
In moral training, biography is made for the child and
not the child for the biography. All endeavors toward
character-building through biography must evidently be

STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING: REALISTIC STORIES 115

discriminative. We may indeed praise Weems, who seems
to have invented the cherry-tree story, that if he was not a
wholly accurate biographer he was an excellent moralist,
for he chose a story which is one of the classics of truth-
fulness. So we may leave to the history books and to
later reading complete knowledge of the achievements of
any hero if only we may choose, what was very likely
his greatest achievement, a golden deed that shall inspire
our children.

PLUTARCH'S STORIES

Plutarch's stories of the Greek and Roman heroes have
generally been regarded as models for all time of tales for
a purpose. They are always short, and they excel chiefly
in the matter of a wise selectiveness ; they usually include
but one achievement or one sententious phrase. Let us
cite a few of them, to remind ourselves how this great
Grecian ever declined to aim at more than one mark at a
time.

OF FORTITUDE

When an express came out of the field to Xenophon
the Socratic as he was sacrificing, which acquainted him
that his son had perished in the fight, he pulled the garland
from his- head, and inquired after what manner he fell.
And it being told him that he died gallantly, after he had
paused a while to recollect his thoughts and quiet his first
emotion of concern with reason, he adorned his head again,
finished the sacrifice, and spoke thus to the messenger:
"I did not make it my request to the gods that my son
be immortal or long-lived, but that he might be a lover
of his country. And now I have my desire."

OF REAL WORTH

Being exhorted to hear one that imitated the voice of
a nightingale, ''I have often," replied Agesilaus, "heard
nightingales themselves."

116 MANUAL OF STORIES

OF GOOD HUMOR

Damonidas, being placed by him that ordered the
chorus in the last rank of it, said: "Well done! you have
found a way to make this place also honorable."

When Pandaretus was not chosen among the Three-
Hundred (the chief order in the city) he went away laugh-
ing and very jocund. When the Ephors calling him back
asked him why he laughed, "Why," said he, "I congratulate
the happiness of the city that enjoys three hundred citizens
better than myself."

ON REAL COURTESY

An old man in the Olympic games, being desirous to see
the sport, and unprovided of a seat, went about from place
to place, but none offered him the civility. But when he
came to the Spartans' quarter all the boys and some of
the men rose from their seats and made room. At this
all the Greeks clapped and praised their behavior; upon
which the good old man shaking his hoary hairs, with
tears in his eyes, said: "Good God! how well all the
Greeks know what is good, and yet only the Spartans
practice it!"

ON CONTENTMENT

Socrates hearing one of his friends crying out, "How
dear things are sold in this city ! the wine of Chios costs a
mina, the purple fish three, and a half pint of honey five
drachmas" — he brought him to the miller's, and showed
him that half a peck of flour was sold for a penny. " Tis
a cheap city," said he. Then he brought him to the oil
merchant's, and told him that he might have a quart of
olives for two farthings. " 'Tis a cheap city," said he.
At last he went to the clothier's, and convinced him that

STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING: REALISTIC STORIES 117

the price of a sleeveless jerkin was only ten drachmas.
' 'Tis a cheap city," he repeated.

Of course Plutarch's sentiments are generally too ma-
ture for children, but his directness was admirable. Abra-
ham Lincoln was truly one of Plutarch's men, and some
of his homely stones not only were pungent but are
believed, rightly, better to help men understand him than
have elaborate books of biography. This is one of his
lesser known tales :

A politician once went to him to get offices for himself
and his gang. Lincoln received him politely, said to him
that he was sorry he had no good offices for him and his
friends, but that he could tell him a good story.

ONE OF LINCOLN'S STORIES

"Once there was a king who kept an astrologer to
forewarn him of coming events, and especially to tell him
whether it was going to rain when he wished to go hunting.
One day he started for the forest with a train of knights
and ladies, when he met a farmer.

" 'Good morning, farmer,' said the king.

" 'Good morning, king,' said the farmer ; 'where are
you folks going?'

" 'Hunting/ said the king.

" 'Hunting ? You'll get all wet !'

"The king trusted his astrologer and kept on, but sure
enough there came up a tremendous storm at midday that
drenched the king and his whole party.

"As soon as he got back to the palace the king had
his astrologer dismissed and sent for the farmer to take
his place.

" 'Law sakes !' said the farmer, when he arrived. 'It
ain't me that knows when it is going to rain; it's my
donkey. When it's goin' to be fair weather, he always
carries his ears forward, so. When it's goin' to rain, he

118 MANUAL OF STORIES

puts 'em backward, so.' So the king appointed the donkey
court astrologer.

"But he always declared," Lincoln concluded, "that
that appointment was the greatest mistake he ever made
in his life."

"Why? Didn't the donkey do his duty?" asked the
office seeker.

"Yes," answered the President, "but after that every
donkey in the country wanted an office!"

When we can succeed in telling stories from real lives
convincingly we are doing children a great service. They
are incapable of seeing history, as we see it, as composed
of great movements and eras; to them it is simply the
sum of the lives of men whom they revere. When we
inspire them with great biography we bring them to see the
history of mankind as Pascal urged that it be seen, "the
whole succession of man during many ages to be considered
as One Man, ever living and constantly learning."

SUGGESTIONS AS TO TELLING MORAL
STORIES

A few special suggestions may be helpful.

In the first place, we must always be sure that what
we intend to give is a story. Henry van Dyke summed up
the whole word about story-telling for moral use in his
famous prayer: "Grant, Lord, that I may never tag a
moral to a tale, and that I may never tell a story without
a purpose." It is, of course, the first part of this petition
which we need especially to heed. We have so little faith
in the effectiveness of our own stories. Yet if a story is
really to be effective, it must be a story and not a sermon.
Let us never call it "an anecdote"; never in story-telling
use the word "character," "will power," "virtue," or any
of the names which go with a book of ethical lessons. A
child should go away from our story not feeling "in-

STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING: REALISTIC STORIES 119

structed," "improved," or depressed, but joyous, affectionate
and courageous.

^ Let us use at least the tact of a Pueblo Indian in our
choice of a time for story-telling. We must lie in wait
with our story as the hunter does with his gun if we are
going to hit the mark. This implies that we must have
plenty of ammunition. The parent, recognizing in a child
a besetting sin, should stock up with stories which will
inform, convince and inspire the child to conquer that
special frailty. In a quiet moment before going to sleep,
in the leisure of Sunday, during the confidential half hours
which come frequently, though unexpectedly, the skilful
mother will insert her story.

The manner of moral story-telling is of considerable
importance. Though preaching, we are not to adopt the
preacher's tone. We are to avoid the "high pulpit manner."
The story is to be told with evident enjoyment, if possible
with a touch of humor.

"Do not take the moral plum out of the fairy tale
pudding," says Dr. Adler, "but let the child enjoy it as a
whole. Do not make the story taper toward a single point,
the moral point. You will squeeze all the juice out of it
if you try. Do not subordinate the purely fanciful and
naturalistic elements of the story, such as the love of
mystery, the passion for roving, the sense of fellowship
with the animal world, in order to fix attention solely on
the moral element. On the contrary, you will gain the best
moral effect by proceeding in exactly the opposite way.
Treat the moral element as an incident; emphasize it,
indeed, but incidentally. Pluck it as a wayside flower.
How often does it happen that, having set out on a journey
with a distinct object in mind, something occurs on the
way which we had not foreseen, but which in the end
leaves the deepest impression on the mind. The object
which we had in view is not forgotten, but the incident
which happened by the way is remembered for years after.

120 MANUAL OF STORIES

So the moral result will not be less sure because gained
incidentally."

And when it has been told — let it alone. For this
reason it is usually well for the story-teller to depart sud-
denly after he has winged his arrow to the mark. May we
be delivered from the temptation of what Emerson once
termed, to "pound on an incident."

In our manner the finest virtue will be sympathy.
Sympathy with our subject and our hero. To quote Emer-
son again, his highest praise of Plutarch, the greatest pur-
posive story-teller of all time, was that "he never lost his
admiration," or, as he put it in another place, "He had that
universal sympathy with genius which makes all its vic-
tories his own." Sympathy, too, with the child. The -vice
of the teacher is contempt of his pupil. It is hard to tell
a child an improving story without looking down upon
him. But if Dr. Norton said that the worst book is the
one that makes life seem less interesting, he might have
added that the worst story is the one that makes the child
feel inferior. There is no special reason why we should
act superior to the child ; we are in many ways not so
sweet and pure as he, and we have by no means attained
all the virtues of which we prate so glibly. Our truest
mood toward the noble men of whom we tell is that We
should delight in them, sitting — to quote once more what
Emerson said of Plutarch — "as the bestower of the crown
of noble knighthood, and laureate of the ancient world."

And yet, with all our caution about preachiness, we do
want our children really to get the application of the story.
Nathan's tremendous parable to King David did not satisfy
the prophet until he was sure that the king received into
his heart the word, "Thou art the man." Especially per-
haps in the Bible stories are children likely to feel content
that what we tell took place a long time ago and related
to the sins of somebody else. The child, we have said,
tends to personalize himself as the hero of each, but he
may not do so unless the story is effectively told. Mrs.

STORY IN CHARACTER-BUILDING: REALISTIC STORIES 121

Louise Seymour Houghton had an experience once, which
she says was to a degree humiliating to herself. "I had
been telling the children the story of Paradise and the
Fall, and had tagged on a moral after the usual Sunday
afternoon fashion of those days. This done, I dismissed
the children for a game of romps on the lawn, before the
summer bedtime. But my little three-year-old presently
came back and climbed into my lap, as I sat enjoying the
sunset. For a while he sat silent, then with a deep sigh,
the words burst from his baby mouth, 'Oh, if Eve hadn't
eaten that apple, what a differenth to uth !' How my con-
science smote me! How differently I might have told
the story! My baby of three could have perfectly com-
prehended that when people have been naughty they may
not stay in God's garden, and he would simply have tried
with all the energy of his little will to be good, so that he
might stay there ; but what had he to do with Eve's trans-
gression ?"

One mother of our acquaintance used to be sure of
her application by making a point on Sunday to tell, under
the name of another child character, of dispositions and
incidents which she had noticed in her own children's lives
during the week. She did this so skilfully that they would,
in surprise, tell her that they had been in the same case.
The application was not difficult. It is possible to carry
along from time to time incidents concerning an imaginary
"Grumpy," or "Lazy Lawrence" or "Mary Quite Con-
trary," and promise to call some child by such a title of
reproach if he deserves it, or, still better, to tell of the
exploits of a hero and encourage the child to incarnate
him.

A long list of stories helpful for character-building
is given in Appendix V.

XII
HOW TO TELL BIBLE STORIES

"Our first duty to a Bible story is to love it ; its effect we may
leave to the divine artist." — Richard G. Moulton.

The Bible is the greatest story-book in the world.
It is first in order of use.

WHY THE BIBLE IS THE BEST STORY BOOK

When we ask ourselves, What parts of the Bible do
we most truly know ? we have to acknowledge that those
parts are, on the whole, not always the ones which are
of loftiest morality but those which embody keen story
interest. Jn^general. we are much more familiar with the
Pentateuch than with the Epistles, with the Old Testament
than with the New, simply because,, during childhood, those
parts, through stories, were first giv£n-.us. The Bible would
not be a book dear to children if it were not largely a
story book. It is the realization that it is a story book
which causes young parents, who have not had the fore-
sight to provide themselves with books of stories to tell
to the children, to turn to this book which they remember
was used in this way with themselves when they were
children.

The simplicity of the stories of the Bible helps account
for their power with the children. Dr. Felix Adler quotes
Professor Jebb, who remarked that Homer aims at the
lucid expression of primary motives and refrains from
multiplying individual traits which might interfere with

122

How TO TELL BIBLE STORIES 123

their effect. This charm exists in the Bible as well as in
Homer. The Biblical stories adopt a few essential traits
of human nature and refain from multiplying minor traits
which might interfere with the great effect. The Bible
tales are fascinating in outline and leave every age free
to fill them out so as to satisfy its own ideal.

Dr. Adler calls attention to the fact that such simplicity
is very difficult to use. If we keep our eyes fixed on the
universal essentials of character, we produce a set of
bloodless institutions, pale shadows of reality. If, on the
other hand, we try to keep as near as possible to reality,
we will probably produce more or less accurate copies of
the people around us, but the danger will be that the univer-
sal essential will be lost. This is possible because the Bible,
like Homer, was written in a time when life was much less
complex than it is at present, when the conversation, the
thoughts, the motives of men were simpler.

One reason why the Bible is a good story book for
children is because of its candor. Children, we know, love
truth and are naturally truth tellers. Our tendency in
story-telling is always to eliminate the disagreeable, to leave
out all that is bloodthirsty and cruel, to talk about none but
perfect characters. Such a method is not only untrue to
real life but it is a pale, bloodless and ineffective way of
story-telling. The Bible is not like the cemetery through
which the child is said to have passed and exclaimed as
he read all the eulogistic inscriptions, "Mother, where are
all the bad people buried ? There seem to be none of them
here." It is rather like a roofless city, like Pompeii, down
into whose streets and homes we are permitted to look
and see it inhabited by its people, living, loving, conquering,
playing, sinning and repenting. The moral strength of the
Bible is that it not only tells us that the wages of sin is
death but it shows us human persons earning those wages.

The richness of material in the Bible makes it an
admirable story book. It is, as we know, a massive collec-
tion, consisting really of sixty-six different volumes. In

124 MANUAL OF STORIES

these many pages many children are included. Persons
of every class are described, from the working folk with
whom children sympathize to princes and kings of whom
children love to hear. Though its stories are somewhat
defective in descriptions of nature, they are full of varied
animal life. They contain all the different types of stories
interesting to children of different ages ; fairy tales, fables,
folk lore and myths, as well as parables and biography.
^These stories maintain interest because they deal with

•(jL^j^x things which children wish to know. How often we forget
that the child is avid for knowledge and for knowledge
concerning great world questions. These are some of the
subjects of Bible stories: the origin of the world and of
human beings ; how things were made ; how men, women
and children are provided for ; what are the varied interests
and ambitions about which men have been busy; what our
relations are to God, to the world and to men; what is to
be our future beyond the grave.

We know, of course, that almost every story in the
Bible has a religious purpose. "This," says Louise Seymour
Houghton, "is the value of the Bible stories for the child :
that they give a religious meaning to all the experiences of
his early life, and furnish the bond of unity, the centraliz-
ing focus of all the processes, intellectual, moral and spirit-
al, of his maturing years. 'No other book finds me as the
le does,' said Coleridge, and this is superlatively true
* of the child of any age. The Bible stories find him as no

ft .Ky/'other stories do."

f* / A minor, but important, value of the Bible as a story

book is that even the order of the books as printed is
appropriate to the stages of the child's development. It
has been pointed out by others that the Bible represents
also a very significant genetic order. It is a spiritual history
of the race, and it is also the story of the inner development
of every individual. It begins with the story of the creation,
a wonder tale that appeals strongly to the mind of the
child. Next comes the period of pastoral life, affecting all

How TO TELL BIBLE STORIES 125

the child's out-of-door interests. Then is the heroic stage,
the story of the God of battles, the stern and just lawgiver
and inflicter of punishments like the parent, a narration full
of wonderful tales of which the child never tires. The
collection then moves on to pictures of civic splendor, to
the days of degenerate city life, in which the old ideals for
a time wane. Then comes the reign of Christ in the world,
the story of the regeneration of society by the spirit of love
and sctf-sacrifice. Last of all is the philosophic and the
theological stage, in which the story turns upon the doc-
trine of the church.

THE MANNER OF BIBLE STORY-TELLING

Some people seem tn think it necessary to assume a
peculiarly sacred manner when they tell a Bible story. Too
often, as Miss Cowles tells us, "Bible stories are told in a
truly awful manner, and children, without knowing why,
learn to dread them. They oftentimes seem to them some-
thing unreal, something which they cannot understand,
something which they fear. This is the last result the
story-teller has desired, but it is the inevitable result of
sanctimonious substitutes for love, joy and gentleness.
Rightly told, Bible stories arouse in the child keen interest
and deep pleasure." It may be that we would be more
likely to avoid this danger if we were to begin with the
more simple and agreeable narratives, such as the beautiful
story of Joseph, filled with wonder, with love, with forgive-
ness and moral steadfastness, the wonderful story of the
Creation, the Patriarch stories, hero-stories of the book
of Judges, the story of David up to his coronation and the
pastoral story of Ruth.

THE METHOD OF BIBLE STORY-TELLING

As to the general method, Dr. Richard G. Moulton,
himself a fine Bible story-teller, has given some suggestive
special hints as to the way to tell stories from the Bible :

126 MANUAL OF STORIES

"The proper preparation of the story-teller is that he
should, saturate himself with the Bible story, but it must be
story itself, not story and history mixed.

"When the story has been properly studied and as-
similated, then the freest play of imagination should be
used in the rendering. Like the actor, the story-teller is
the translator, with the translator's double fidelity — to his
original and to his audience. The question is not of trans-
lating out of one language into another. The question is
but out of one set of mental habits belonging to ancient life
into another set of habits characterizing the modern hear-
ers who are to be impressed. Greek drama, with exquisite
instinct, realized this double fidelity in its institution of
the chorus. Theoretically, a Greek chorus is a portion of
the supposed audience in the theater transported into the
age and garb of the story dramatized, which they follow
from point to point with meditations calculated to voice
similar meditations on the part of those watching the
representation of the drama. Every teller of a Bible story
must be his own chorusv 1no.vJng' thmngli thp Beetles of
the narrative with the outlook and emotions of the men
or the children of to-day.^*

THE METHOD OF ADDITION

Some special suggestions may be helpful as to method.
The first is as to the method of addition. It is often helpful
to add to the telling of a Bible story details as tn the
thoughts of the characters in connection with the incidents
which are told. For example, in the beautiful story of
Isaac and Rebekah, it would interest the child to tell
him what the old servant, Eliezer, was probably thinking^
ahouL after he left the home of Abraham and went forth
on his long journey to select a wife for his master's son.
It would also be attractive to the children if the story-
teller portrayed the thoughts of Rebekah as she came to

How TO TELL BIBLE STORIES 127

the well that day before she performed her pleasant act
of courtesy to the old servant, and especially as to the
thoughts which coursed through her mind after he had
made the proposal of marriage in behalf of his master's
son. Then it would be particularly attractive to consider
the thoughts which passed through the mind of the eager
^Isaac as_he_awaited the arrival of the old_servant with his
16ride. The addition of characters to a narrative often
makes a story more vivid. In the story of the Good Sa-
maritan, for example, it may be well to* give to the Priest,
the Levite, the Samaritan and the poor fellow who was
robbed, each a family with children. "How many children
do you suppose the. Good Samaritan had and what do you
suppose were their names?" is a good question. Mentally
accepting the children's suggestions, the story-teller will
begin with the decision of the man who was later robbed
to go down the Jericho road, the entreaties of his wife
and children not to take the dangerous road, his replies
and his affectionate departure. Similar dialogues in the
families of the other travelers will add interest to the
narrative and give opportunity for the selfish Priest and
the careless Levite to speak out their real characters. So
the conversation at the inn may be extended, and if the
dialogue that is added does not make more clear the inci-
dents and the moral purposes, the method is not only novel
but gives force to the verbal story.

Incidents may be added, but with caution, to certain
Bible stories, and should be those which, as far as possible,
we really get from the Scriptures themselves. Failure
here is easy. The story-teller-. tnay^^jec^me, ^arjubu^or
rambling, or he may so overload his story with fictitious
incidents that he gives a different or wrong impression.
"Ben-Hur" was truly a powerful and convincing narrative.
It adds something to the clearness of our conception of
the Roman world in the time of Jesus. Possibly it has
helped some readers to a clearer and more beautiful con-
ception of the character of the Christ. Most historical

128 MANUAL OF STORIES

novels, however, that have been written upon sacred themes
are untrue even to the life which they endeavor to delineate
and obscure the character and work of the sacred charac-
ters beneath the covering of a sentimental imaginativeness.
In a few cases it is possible to continue a story or a parable,
particularly if it carries the possibility of a second im-
pressive lesson.

THE METHOD OF SUBTRACTION

Subtraction as well as addition is a useful method to
apply in the telling of Bible stories. Some stories, particu-
larly in the Old Testament, do not contain moral lessons
for the young. Felix Adler says; "Sour milk is not proper
food for children, nor do those stories afford proper moral
food in which, so to speak, the milk of kindness has turned
sour." The attempted sacrifice of Isaac, the story of Jael,
the killing of Agag, are instances which immediately occur
to mind. In telling the story of Hagar, it is possible to
exclude what is repellent, only touching the picture of a
mother's love. In telling the story of David, it is unneces-
sary to speak in detail of David's sin and it is unwise to
carry the story beyond the death of Absalom. The story
of Moses is in great part unfit for children, not for moral
reasons but because it includes motives too complex and
mature to be within their comprehension. The childhood
of Moses is a drama with which children have been en-
tranced.

CHANGING THE ORDER OF INCIDENTS

It sometimes adds force to the Bible story to change
the order in which it is related in the Scriptures. This has
already been done for us by some of the Biblical writers,
since certain incidents in the Old Testament are told in

How TO TELL BIBLE STORIES 129

an order different in one source from that in which we
find them in another. The story of Mary and Martha may
begin, if we choose, with the beautiful sacrificial gift of
Mary, working back to the circumstances under which
Jesus has entered Martha's home. The story of Peter
would probably be given in chronological order but must
be separated out from the greater biographies of the Christ.
A similar process is necessary in giving the story of Saul.

METHODS OF REALITY

f\JL-*JL --

Many devices are at hand for making more real the^
characters and incidents of the far-away land and time of
tlie Bible. _Curios from Bible lands, pictures of Orientals
in costume and reproductions nf sarreH paintings are always
helpful. No device is more useful than the stereograph.
The stereograph consists, as we know, of two photographs
taken by two cameras set at about the distance apart of
our two eyes. The result is that the third dimension is
added to the scene, our eyes feel around, as it were, the
objects and the people, the animals and the foliage stand
out in the most vivid way from their backgrounds. To
most children such scenes appear life-size, since the eye
sees them as the camera does, in the most appropriate
distance. The isolation of the child's eyes within the hood
of the stereoscope enables him in imagination to traverse
instantly the leagues between his home and the Holy Land,
and many children have, at least for a brief time, actually
the sensation of being in Palestine. This gives the keenest
and most realistic sense of being set down in the midst of
Bible people and Bible lands. The sand table is a helpful
device for enabling children to work out the contour ol
which they have already seen through the

stereoscope, setting miniature people and objects on it to
realize the life and customs.

130 MANUAL OF STORIES

BRINGING THE BIBLE PEOPLE INTO PRES-
ENT DAY LIFE

A helpful way to make a Bible story real is to put
the characters into the child's life.

"Some very effective tellers of Scripture stories fill
in details of modern realism with slang up to date. I have
never myself felt the necessity of this; but it is a fault
in the right direction. The exact narrative of Scripture
must be freely handled ; we may expand where the original
is terse, emphasize clearly what the original takes for
granted, alter altogether the proportion of parts. The con-
dition is that we should first have been minutely faithful
in our study of the story, omitting no hint, and wresting
nothing out of proportion. This once secured, we become
free agents in the translation of what has been learned
into terms of modern thought."

Earl Barnes found, from some English source, the
story of Moses as it had been told by a Cockney boy. We
see here how the boy instinctively added his own experience
and observations and gave the result, which is good in its
main features though somewhat absurd in some of the
details, such as "the bulrushes which you have seen on the
wall," and "the king's daughter going in bathing," which
probably came from some Sunday school picture. The set-
ting, however, was a very real experience of his own. "The
cold grass" is a delicious transference of English sod to the
banks of the Nile. The last paragraph is right out of the
boy's own life. "Now little boy Moses had a sister about
sixteen, and a father and mother which was Jews. And
Moseses mother couldnt a bare to drownd her little boy, so
she made a cradle same as they used to make arks. Then
she put her little baby in this here cradle, and carried it
to the river, and put on the water amongst some bullrushes
so as it couldnt float down. And who do you think as it
was that used to sit on the grass all day long watching as it

How TO TELL BIBLE STORIES 131

didnt get loose? It was that there sister Mirium what I
said he had. She was a very good young woman an did
not mind the cold grass, because she knew as she was in the
right, and that the King would be perhaps slain.

"This wicked King had a daughter, as you would think
she was. She used to go out bathing same as boys, only
she didnt swim. She only just went in up to about her
knees and then used to put the water over her head and
down her body, and then used to tell the other women and
her father as she had been in. The women could not see
how far she had been in, because of the bullrushes which
you have seen on the wall.

"One morning she got undresst where Mirium was
sitting on the grass, and she walked straight in up to her
knees, to where the cradle was. When she saw him, she
took him up in her arms, and run back to the bank shout-
ing out as she had found a baby while she was swimming.
The women all came round, and Mirium edged in among
them. The lady was so well pleased as she had got a baby,
that she didnt get dresst till she had settled things. But
it was not hers, because it was not brought. Only found.

"And Mirium said, Tharoh's daughter, shall I go and
find a nurse for you ?' and if the lady didnt go and say yes
right off. Then Mirium run away as fast as you, and who
do you think she fetched for a nurse? Moseses mother,
as had had him brought to her.

"And Pharoh's daughter said unto her, 'I will actshully
give you wages for nursing this baby/ And so Moseses
mother nursed her own little baby without laughing, fear
she should be found out and not get good wages."

Dr. Adler tells the story of Adam and Eve in a way
which is somewhat startling and yet in a way which we
must acknowledge is good story-telling. "Adam was a fine
and noble looking lad. He was slender and well built and
fleet of foot as a young deer. Eve was beautiful as the
dawn, with long golden tresses and blue eyes and cheeks
like roses. They lived in the loveliest garden you have

132 MANUAL OF STORIES

ever heard of." He speaks of their relation to God in the
following beautiful manner. "But the children were not
alone in that garden; their Father lived with them. And
every morning when they awoke their first thought was to
go to Him and to look up into His mild, kind eyes with
loving gladness; and every evening before they went to
sleep He would bend over them. And once, looking at a
great star shining through the branches, Adam said to Eve,
'Our Father's eye shines just like that star/ " And then
he goes on and makes the story that of real children obeying
a father's love and reasonable commands. A rather in-
genious method of having Bible characters talk to children
has been worked out in a volume entitled "The Door in the
Book," by C. Barnard, published by Fleming H. Revell Co.
Joseph and David, Isaiah and Paul are visited by the author
with his readers, and these and others are asked to tell the
stories of their lives to the children.

THE SELECTION OF BIBLE STORIES

The question arises among those who tell Bible stories
frequently as to the order in which they had better be
given. Dr. Adler believes in adopting a chronological ar-
rangement. "It is expected," as he says, ''that the Bible,
as they grow older, will be given more comprehensive study
and for this they will be better prepared if they have been
acquainted with the chronological order from the outset."

On the other hand, many people prefer telling Bible
stories in the order of interest. This is a method which
is being more and more adopted" in the graded classes in
the Sunday schools. It is, of course, a great advantage to
reach children where they are at each period of their lives.

Concerning the grading and use of Bible stories for
purposes of moral education, we have our wisest word from
Mrs. Houghton : "First, at about three, the story in its
simplest outline, and as much as may be in the Bible words.

How TO TELL BIBLE STORIES 133

Then at about five an elementary unfolding of its spiritual
meaning, in answer to the child's importunate 'Why ?' This
is to be followed at about eight by careful co-ordination of
the story with the child's first elementary knowledge of
mythology and history. A year or two later the co-ordina-
tion of these stories with geography and elementary science
may be in order, and not very much later, with the child's
sense of language as illustrated in poetry and wonder tales.
At about twelve or thirteen the alert young mind, expanded
from its earliest activity by ever expanding apprehension
of spiritual truth, never having been confused by any con-
tradiction between its Biblical and its secular acquisitions,
always having been harmoniously active in its three func-
tions of imagination, emotion and will, is ready for the
theological and ethical interpretation of the story, in what
may be called the grammar school grade of these interpre-
tations, of which he has already had the elementary grade.
His more advanced historical work will enable him to put
the stories in their proper place in history, and his studies
in the classics and English literature to appreciate the liter-
ary character of the Bible, the place of each story in the
history of literature, its oriental diction and forms of
speech.

"There will be no difficulty if this method has been
pursued thus far, if neither the child's Bible nor his religion
has been kept as a thing apart, unrelated to his school work
or his weekday life, reserved for Sunday or forgotten en-
tirely— there will be no difficulty, when this method has
been pursued until his fifteenth or sixteenth year, in carrying
it farther, and relating it to his higher study of ethics and
philosophy, as well as of history and literature, and making
it an illumination of both, instead of, as too often sadly
happens, a stumbling-block and cause of blind bewilder-
ment."

Still another order for telling stories is to relate them
in connection with the virtues which they inculcate. We,
of course, do this instinctively and appropriately. This

134 MANUAL OF STORIES

method is to be advised especially in the home, though not
to the superseding of the other two methods which have
been mentioned. A list is given in Appendix VI of Bible
stories in relation to great moral problems and virtues.
It is understood, of course, that in some of these stories
elimination or adaptation is necessary in order that they
may bear the application here indicated.

XIII
STORIES AND SCHOOL

"The children must have something more than a good story;
they must have a good story-teller, — one with quick sympathies ; one
who loves the old stories, who feels the pulse of humanity throb-
bing through them all ; whose voice is clear, flexible, interpretive ;
whose language is simple, direct, pictorial ; who enters into a dra-
matic situation; who has a keen sense of humor; who is willing
to sow the seed and let it develop in its own good time."

— Arnold L. Gesell.

Something was said in the first chapter about the edu-
cational value of stories in general. In this chapter we
wish to speak of their special value in school-mastering
education.

THE STORY AS A HELP TO ATTENTION

The story helps develop the power of attention. It
was William James who told us that if we wish to insure
the interest of our pupils, there is only one way to do it;
and that is to make certain that they have something in
their minds to attend with when we begin to talk. That
something, said he, "can consist in nothing but a previous
lot of ideas already interesting in themselves." Into these
we must dovetail the related idea which we want to pre-
sent to them. Now of course children get their "previous
lot of ideas" from many sources, chiefly out of an inter-
esting home life, but the best source in school for such
ideas will be stories told by the teacher. In stories the
teacher can present a greater assortment of ideas done up

136 MANUAL OF STORIES

in attractive packages than by any other method of equal
economy and effectiveness. Professor James went on to
show that voluntary attention is intermittent, it comes in
beats. The aim of the teacher is to make the intervals
between the beats as brief as possible. This he may do
by making "the subject show new aspects of itself," and es-
pecially by finding and furnishing concrete examples of
abstract subjects. Whenever we do this, by an illustration,
a real instance, we are applying the story-method.

One device that is of peculiar value in prolonging the
periods of attention is suspense. One can hardly think
of any way of producing and maintaining interested sus-
pense that is as good as the well-told story.

THE STORY AS A HELP TO INTEREST

Behind the constant problem of classroom attention
is the larger problem of the attentive attitude, of expectancy
on the part of the pupil, of a real desire to become a master.
Education consists not in communicating facts to a child,
but in communicating power. To quote Mr. Lee again :
"All that real teaching is for is to say to a man, in countless
ways, a countless 'You can.' And all that real learning
is for is to say T can.' When we have enough T cans/
there will be a great society or nation." Can you think
of any better way to make a child say 'T can" than through
stories ? If you are beginning to teach a child a new science,
for instance, which will be the better way to begin, to order
him to memorize the first page in the textbook or to awaken
in him a love for the subject? Will you do better to turn
some small wheel in his machinery or to light the fire in
his engine?

A teacher was once upon a time about to begin a class
in plane geometry. Noticing that the textbooks were —
appropriately no doubt — bound in black, he decided not to
show them the first day. Instead, he opened the hour with

STORIES AND SCHOOL 137

a story, a story about some hero in mathematics. During
the period he made a sketch upon the board to show the
class something the hero had discovered, how to get the
height of a tree by its shadow, perhaps, without climbing it.
The next day he told a story about another hero-mathema-
tician, and drew another sketch, possibly showing how this
master had invented a way to get the area of a school-yard
without needing to measure off every square foot. Finally
some boy raised his hand. "Ain't there no book about this,
teacher; ain't there any way we could get to know how to
do some of these things ourselves?" With apparent re-
luctance the teacher produced the textbooks from beneath
his desk. The pupils fell upon them with avidity. Some
days later, when some pupil had made a peculiarly neat
demonstration of an original problem, the class broke into
spontaneous applause, the first time probably there had
ever been applause in a geometry recitation. Was not that
good teaching?

A group of men was once standing together, and each
was telling the kind of watch he carried. "I haven't any
watch," confessed Thomas A. Edison, who was among
them. "I never wanted to know what time it was." Are
we making that kind of men in school ? Is it not too often
a fact that a clock is the most conspicuous object in the
school room, what the altar is in the church, to which the
child turns as faithfully and as patiently "as the sun-
flower turns on her god, when he sets, the same look which
she turned when he rose?"

Someone has remarked that the ordinary school di-
ploma is a certificate for weariness, a testimonial that a
child has been consistently bored. Can we not devise some
certificate for joy, a testimonial that a child has regularly
done and learned what he has liked ? Evidence that he has
achieved something that he glories in? Proof that he has
often forgot what time it was in what he was doing?

138 MANUAL OF STORIES

THE STORY AS A HELP TO THINKING AND
EXPRESSION

But will not story-telling make children flabby and
indefinite in their thinking ? Gerald Stanley Lee once spoke
of education as "putting a nozzle on the stream of con-
sciousness." The definition is not a bad one. Is there not
danger that story-telling will be another addition to soft
psychology and predigested pedagogy? Will it help put
the nozzle on the stream?

It will, for while it is by no means the only teaching
method, it is of direct help in almost every subject in the
secondary school curriculum.

Take the matter of verbal expression. A child's own
story-telling is his best method for learning to speak well,
because it involves both his feeling and his imagination,
with a minimum of self-consciousness. And, unlike the
stilted "examples" given him by adults or the encyclopedic
summaries which he finds in books of reference, "the oral
story," as Partridge says, "contains better than any other
form the essentials of a good style." In a less degree story-
telling by the teacher helps the young pupil toward oral
expression, because, as Gesell tells us, "although he says
nothing himself, he is collecting the material of speech,
storing it somewhere, and sometime he will suddenly sur-
prise you with his accumulated possessions."

Stories help children to adequate and forceful expres-
sion. In the case of the foreign child who must be taught
English, or of the American born child who is shy and so
lacking in the power of expression, the old folk-tale, with
its familiar words and phrases, teaches the child to speak.
Encourage the child to tell a story with you. This brings
success in increasing his vocabulary. Stories which involve
repetition, and thus memorizing, force a child to repeat
phrases and to understand the words in them. Oftentimes
the phraseology which brings the story to a climax is itself

STORIES AND SCHOOL 139

so beautifully phrased that it cannot be told adequately ex-
cept in beautiful language. Some story-writers excel in the
use of pure and virile English. Among such are Laura E.
Richards, Eugene Field and Kipling, and, in the realm of
sacred story-telling, Dean Hodges. Hans Andersen was
skilled in matchless word painting, much of which has been
preserved in the best translations.

THE STORY AS A HELP TO LITERATURE

Good stories are a help in bringing literature to chil-
dren. We say good stories, because we must agree with
Gesell that "much of the story-work done in the grades
is as demoralizing as vaudeville music ; it is dissipating and
cheap." The stories that really take hold are so simple
and direct that they are capable of being put into an out-
line in one or two short sentences. And this is true of
stories that are literature, from Mother Goose to Hans
Andersen.

"Stories advertise books," as every children's librarian
knows, and hence the establishment of story-hours in public
libraries, where every such hour closes with an excited
drawing of books by the children, with the consequent
foundation of the reading habit.

The story not only leads a child to books, but, para-
doxically, it makes some children independent of books.
"Men whose lives are their own dime novels," says Gerald
Stanley Lee, "are bored by printed ones." The child of
imagination who is getting a lot out of life every day does
not have to read to escape boredom. We see the ex-
planation here of this curious situation, that one child will
be led through stories into the reading of books and another
into the execution of certain mechanical projects. The
latter may never become a reader.

140 MANUAL OF STORIES

THE STORY AS A HELP TO WRITING AND
HISTORY

Gesell believes that the story is a better introduction
to learning to write than more formal methods. "Stories
told in words can be retold by chalk or crayon." The
teacher will then have the children label their drawings
with words and phrases, and their words with drawings.
"She will have them fill out their sentences, rebuslike, with
sketches; and will allow them to illustrate in their own
way the readers which they will make." Thus stories, draw-
ing and writing will come into vital connection with each
other. Children will write compositions too in comparative
painlessness if they are encouraged to do so while the in-
terest in a story is still warm.

The story is an excellent introduction to history. It
helps the child to get away at once from the near and the
trivial, to be redeemed from the petty tyranny of dates, to
see the main heroic struggle of men and women who were
a people rather than the spectacular struggle in war of
their soldiers, to recognize how individuals played small
parts in a large spirit, and to be inspired by what men
have done, for his own present and future duties as a citi-
zen.

THE STORY AS A HELP TO NATURE STUDY

Stories are a good introduction to nature study. We
have already learned that nature-myths are congenial to
children. Some of them are better interpretations to young
children of natural and human origins than any others.
No scientist has succeeded in preparing for nursery pur-
poses a better account of creation than the double one that
is presented in the first two chapters of ,the book of Genesis.
The story-approach to geography is on the whole a more

STORIES AND SCHOOL 141

scientific as well as a more memorable one than that of
naming the capes and pointing to all the archipelagoes.
There is no doubt some peril in allegorizing animal life
by attributing to animals human traits and motives. The
"nature fakir" is the historical novelist of the animal world ;
he confuses by mingling fact and fancy. But where the
analogies are plainly playful, as in the Bre'r Rabbit cycle,
the child recognizes that he is in the field of literature rather
than that of nature study.

THE STORY AS A SOCIAL UNIFIER

Randolph S. Bourne has recently been revisiting the
schoolroom of his boyhood. He says that it impressed
him chiefly as a place of solitary confinement. The children,
though sociable and friendly outside, were here segre-
gated, isolated from each other. Since the chief method
of learning is by comparing notes, by sharing experience,
it seems to him that the school was losing its principal op-
portunity. There is something to this. Some of this in-
sulating may be necessary to the teaching of the indi-
vidual; some of it may be required so long as many chil-
dren are taught in one place at one time by one teacher.
But in such a situation a story would be an antidote to
such separation. It would bring the teacher and all her
pupils together into one intellectual and social experience.
Further, if Epicurus was right that "Education is friends
seeking happiness together," we are losing a mighty dynamic
of learning when we sacrifice the mutual enthusiasm of
pupils busy in a common task of investigation or mastery.

THE STORY AS A HELP TO MORALS

The greatest value of the story in the schoolroom, as
elsewhere, is its moral value. Of this we can speak here

142 MANUAL OF STORIES

but a word, since Chapters X and XI discuss the matter
so fully. Stories establish right relationships in school:
between the pupils and their teacher, as they learn through
these windows to look into her real nature, to understand
and to love her; they aid in establishing pleasant relations
between the pupils, as the teacher, in the guise of a story,
exposes the heart of some situation of malice, unkindliness
or snobbery, or pleads for co-operation, helpfulness and
loyalty. They take away the tension out of a difficult and
strained situation; they give rest when the air is hot or
sultry, the hours long, the strain severe. In short, they
give the pupils a wider and saner outlook, help make a
school code, and strongly affect conduct.

The story is specific in value for special types of chil-
dren. It encourages and brightens the dullard; it cheers
the pessimist or the discouraged pupil; it helps the intro-
spective one to look outside himself ; it soothes the nervous
child, and it steadies the unstable.

Not the least important result of story-telling in school
is its reaction upon the teacher. Even a tired, unloving
though conscientious schoolmarm can appoint a time and
tell stories, but only a self-poised, cheerful, kindly teacher
can tell them delightfully, and doing so will not only make
her more poised, cheerful and kindly, but will stimulate her
to keep in the condition and mood for being so constantly.
Like mercy, the story "blesseth him that gives and him that
takes."

A list of story books conected with school subjects is
given in Appendix VII.

XIV
STORIES IN THE HOME

"She would begin with a glow in her eyes and tell me their story.
All of their tales she knew, by the hundreds and hundreds she

knew them,

Tales of the beings divine. . . .

Mark! what I as a child picked up, the old man still plays with:
Pictures of heroes in sound that lasts, when spoken, forever,
Images fair of the world and marvellous legends aforetime,
All of them living in me as they fell from the lips of my mother."

— Denton T. Snyder.

Of all of the treasures of the home, none is more
beautiful than stories. They have many precious values.

THE COMFORT AND CONTENTMENT OF
STORIES

Stones give both joy and content. We have spoken
elsewhere of joy as a kind of power. There is a sane,
pure joy which comes from the mother's stories, both in
deepening affection and in cheering the disconsolate little
child. Children have frequent sorrows. These griefs are
often baseless and their causes are trifling or obscure.
Some of them can be cured with a kiss, a few of them with
an explanation; but best of all remedies usually is a good
story. In cheerful stories, especially fairy stories, a child's
dreams come true. One can turn almost at random to any
fairy story that is told in the good old-fashioned way and
find that at its close, the child, content with happiness, has
identified himself with some beautiful fulfilled dream. Ed-

144 MANUAL OF STORIES

mund Leamy, perhaps the sweetest of modern fairy-tale
tellers, illustrates this in a fascinating manner. One does
not need to read his story of "Princess Finola and the
Dwarf" all through, but only to turn to its last paragraph,
to realize its happiness-making effect upon a little child.
"The knight took her up in his arms and kissed her; then
he lifted her on to the horse, and, leaping up before her,
he turned towards the north, to the palace of the Red
Branch Knights, and as they rode on beneath the leafy
trees from every tree the birds sang out, for the spell of
silence over the lonely moor was broken forever." One
turns to his most famous story, "The Golden Spears," and
reads that delightful close in which he expresses his so
frequently expressed love for "mothereen." "And Connla
laid aside his spear and shield, and took off his golden hel-
met and his silken cloak. Then he caught the little mother
and kissed her, and lifted her up until she was as high as
his head. And said he :

' 'Don't you know, little mother, I'd rather have you
than all the world.'

"And that night, when they were sitting down by the
fire together, you may be sure that in the whole world no
people were half as happy as Nora, Connla, and the little
mother."

The story is a help to contentment as well as to happi-
ness. Children often become restless to get away from
home. Psychologists tell us that there are at least two
running-away periods in the life of the little child. The
prospect of a story is a great inducement to a child to stay
at home, a strong force in impelling him to return home
from play. It is often possible, through the suggestion of a
story, as in "The Golden Spears" just cited, to develop
a warm love for the home and the home folks. A good
illustration of the kind of story which would persuade a lit-
tle child of the safety and beauty of home life is "Little
Hare and the Red Fire" which was given in full in Chap-
ter X.

STORIES IN THE HOME 145

THE COMPANIONSHIP OF STORIES

The story strengthens the love between parent and
child. "Nothing else so intimately binds mother and child
together nor so fully secures the confidence of the child.
When they enter together the enchanted realm of story-
land, mother and child are in a region apart, a region from
which others are excluded. The companionship of story-
land belongs only to congenial souls. And so the mother,
by means of stories, becomes the intimate companion, the
loving and wise guide, the dearest confidant of her child."

In a fragment by Robert Louis Stevenson, the writer
found the other evening a pretty incident of his visit, when
a young man, to Cockermouth in the Lake Country. A
happy-minded hatmaker, who "had little things in his past
life that gave him great pleasure to recall," loaned him a
raft which he had afloat on the river "in order that I might
be able to look back, in after years, and get great pleasure
in the recollection." Stevenson then discusses whether it is
possible thus to manufacture recollections for young people
in advance. He thinks on the whole, Not so, and yet almost
proves the contrary by confessing that he wants a happy-
minded hatmaker "placed here and there at ugly corners
of my life's wayside, preaching his gospel of quiet and con-
tentment." If in any way it is possible to make recollec-
tions for our children that shall, like laid-up roseleaves, be
opened some later year with fragrance, I can think of no
surer means than by stories ; and if the story be forgotten,
I cannot but believe that the one who told them will be
remembered and longed for hereafter, just because he
wished something beautiful for the future.

THE IMAGINATIVENESS OF STORIES

The story in the home is a wonderful help in develop-
ing the child's imaginativeness. Some of us dimly remem-

146 MANUAL OF STORIES

her how, when we were children, we enveloped almost every
nook and corner of the home and grounds in the atmosphere
of fancy. The grown-up people were, as Kenneth Grahame
remembers them, Olympians who, "having absolute license
to indulge in the pleasures of life, could get no good of
them." Certain corners in the garden or certain rooms in
the house were haunted and all darkness was the abiding
place of terrors. The author remembers a closet irfhis
own home when he was a child which was entered by two
doors and which thus became a mysterious secret passage,
unfathomed by the neighbors* children, from one part of the
house to another. He had also persuaded himself, by knock-
ing on the walls, that there was an unaccounted for space
between two bedrooms which he was certain was a secret
room to be entered through a hidden panel. The hidden
panel, however, was never discovered. A chestnut cabinet
was minutely inspected because he was certain that behind
some of its pigeon holes and softly sliding drawers there
was a spring, a hidden drawer and treasure trove. Stories,
indeed, encourage children thus to make mysterious and
beautiful the house of their habitation. They gild com-
panions with glory and add to uninteresting places a con-
stant enjoyment. In thus idealizing people, the child gains
some reverence for humanity and is induced to look for the
sweeter manners and finer virtues of which he has been told
in the heroes of romance. What child, for example, could
be told of the Nicolete of medieval song-story without
discovering unexpected beauty in a hitherto prosaic sister,
and indeed in all womanhood?

"Her locks were yellow and curled, her eyes blue and
smiling, her face featly fashioned, the nose high and fairly
set, the lips more red than cherry or rose in time of sum-
mer, her teeth white and small ; so slim was she in the
waist that your two hands might have clipped her, and
the daisy flowers that brake beneath her as she went tiptoe
and that bent above her instep seemed black against her
feet, so white was the maiden."

STORIES IN THE HOME 147

And also dark places and difficult situations are robbed
of their terrors and their dread for the child who has
learned to become used to conquest through the habit of
fairy tales. Life itself becomes not only enjoyable but
full of ardor and tranquillity if it is seen imaginatively.
"No one," said David Starr Jordan once, "is really miser-
able who has not tried to cheapen life." It sometimes seems
as if some parents who never tell stories and whose con-
versation consists chiefly in complaints about the weather,
their neighbors or the high cost of living, have deliberately
endeavored to cheapen life. The art of the great masters
is that of enhancing life, and the imaginative mother who
has insisted upon making life a song, learns how to set her
children's lives to music.

THE STORY HELPS MORE AT HOME THAN
IN SCHOOL

All that has been said about the educational value of
the story in the school is true of the home, and more.
The story is more potent in the home than in the school
because it can always be especially chosen to suit the indi-
vidual child, while necessarily the story told in school must
be selected because of its supposed general interest.

In school, the teacher has to awaken interest before
starting to tell any story. In the home, the mother can seize
the moment when interest exists and take advantage of it.

In school there is very little opportunity for children
to talk. In the home they talk all the time. In fact, as
Mrs. Fisher says : "In undertaking to give a child a lan-
guage, a school really undertakes an enterprise for which
it is not fitted. Language can only be acquired by living
with and in it. A child's arithmetic reflects his teacher,
but his speech reflects his mother."

The best opportunity which a child ever has to learn to
express himself is when he tells the story of the day. Al-

148 MANUAL OF STORIES

though to us such narratives are often tiresome and we
foolishly act inattentive and restless during their repetition,
yet, as Mrs. Fisher says, with very slight direction the
child's story of his play may be coherent, sequential, vivid
and accurate. In such a story, we have three valuable ele-
ments : the subject matter wholly within the child's grasp,
the most intense interest, a favorable audience.

THE STORY AND HOME READING

We have spoken of the relation of story-telling to the
reading of books. The school teacher is limited in her
choice of books either to supplementary reading or to the
volumes which she feels sure are within the reach of the
comprehension of nearly all her pupils. The mother, how-
ever, deals only with the individual. She may have a pre-
cocious child who is ready for books far beyond her years
or she may have a backward child or a restless child who
does not like to read, to whom she would give just the right
access to books. When a story-book has come into the
home which the mother suspects to be a little beyond the
child's comprehension, the child's present tastes, it is often
well not to read it at once to the child or to encourage s
him to read it by himself, but to tell the most attractive por- *
tions of it in advance. Then the child will plunge with
eager curiosity into the book itself.

THE STORY AND HOME HANDICRAFT

The mother may also supplement and encourage the
love of reading by various simple methods of handicraft.
It is good to encourage children to make scrap books of
favorite stories and pictures which they find in newspapers
and magazines. She may use the interest in postage stamps
or in the new paster stamps to interest the child in the

STORIES IN THE HOME 149

stories with which they are connected. She may even be
able to go so far as to get them to make story-books of
their own in which they rewrite or illustrate the favorite
stories which she has told them; collections brought home
from the woods would be also suggestive of nature — nuts
and berries, seeds and seed pods, cocoons and bird nests,
feathers and flowers.

THE STORY AND HOME DISCIPLINE

The story is useful in the home for purposes of dis-
cipline. Surely the child is more likely to be spontaneously
obedient who has been in the habit of rinding obedience
beautiful in stories. He is more sure to be self-controlled
if he has listened to many stories of heroes. There are
certain special situations for which a story has definite
value. Many a childish task is robbed of its tediousness by
the telling of a story during its progress, or as a reward
when the work is finished. Many a desolate hour, on a
rainy day or after some other disappointment, may be made
happy by a jolly tale. Many a misunderstanding may be
made right or an explanation pungent by means of the com-
munion of spirit which arises in the enjoyment of a happy
understanding. An apology becomes unnecessary when
two have laughed together.

THE NATURALNESS OF HOME STORY-
TELLING

The naturalness of the mother's story-telling is one of
the secrets of its effectiveness. She need not wait, as must
the school teacher, for a special story-period. Her story-
telling is most delightful when it does not come by appoint-
ment. She strikes no pose, she has no gestures, needs no
oratory, is not removed by distance. Not only the mother,

150 MANUAL OF STORIES

but the guest in the home, is an effective and natural story-
teller. Often a curmudgeon of an uncle or a gorgon of an
aunt will unexpectedly soften at the interest of the child
and pour forth from a long-closed heart fascinating reminis-
cences of a far distant childhood. Nothing can be more
flattering to one who has thus come to think of middle
age as a burden than to find how enthusiastically young
folks respect his most unpretentious efforts at story-telling.
How eager they are to go back with him along the almost
forgotten paths of youth ! How undeservedly popular are
his elsewhere unappreciated narratives! Because of their
infrequency and freshness, the stories told by a transient
guest have an unexpectedly large influence in children's
lives.

STORIES AT BED-TIME

Above all seasons, bed-time, or at least evening time,
seums most sacred to stories. The close of the story is usu-
ally itself a cadence. It shuts softly like the glory of the
evening star. It breathes forth calm as do the dying breezes
at the close of the day. Let us instance Edmund Leamy
again and note how even the melody of the final words of
the story of "The Enchanted Cave" must give rest and satis-
faction to the heart of the child.

"And Cuglas never returned to the fair hills of Erin,
and ages passed away since the morning he followed the
hounds into the fatal cave, but his story was remembered
by the firesides, and sometimes, even yet, the herdboy
ws.tching his cattle in the fields hears the tuneful cry of
hounds, and follows it till it leads him to a darksome cave,
and as fearfully he listens to the sound becoming fainter
and fainter he hears the clatter of hoofs over the stony
floor, and to this day the cave bears the name of the prince
who entered it never to return."

The story is the cadence of the day. It lifts the re-
unions of the supper table to a higher level. It explains

STORIES IN THE HOME 151

the day's misunderstandings. It is the mutual expression
of common loves and common cares. It voices aspirations
as truly as a hymn. It sends the child, unwilling to depart,
with a smile to bed, and it leaves its echoes even after they
sleep. In one home which the writer knows the parents
go around to see that the lads are safe for the night. The
oldest has pinned a picture of Giant Grim out of "Pilgrim's
Progress" on his door as a guardian, and sleeps uneasily,
with his percussion-cap pistol in his grasp. In the next
room his younger brother still wears his baseball cap on his
head, while incongruously clasping his doll to his breast.
The bed of the youngest is empty. He is found on the floor
•nearby, stretched out in calm repose, with stains on his
cheeks that speak of ginger cookies, and an odor of sanctity
that suggests salt codfish.

XV
ORGANIZED STORY-TELLING

"I would rather be the children's story-teller than the queen's
favorite or the king's counsellor." — Kate Douglas Wiggin.

Let us now have something to say about organized
story-telling, under the following heads :

The Story-Hour.

The Story-League.

The Story-Class.

By the Story-Hour is meant a regular appointment, in a
library or elsewhere, with children, when stories are to be
told, either by a volunteer or a professional. By a Story-
League is meant a club of adults who meet periodically
to practice story-telling, for mutual enjoyment and perhaps
with some thought of telling stories to children later. By
a Story-Class is meant a group of adults who are being
trained by an expert for story-telling.

THE STORY-HOUR IN LIBRARIES

Story-telling has had a large development in connec-
tion with public libraries. The enormous outreach of such
story-telling is indicated by the single fact that 81,000
children listened to library story-tellers in the city of Cleve-
land alone in 1909.

Library story-telling has a specific purpose. That pur-
pose, as stated by Miss Engle of the Philadelphia Free
Library, is to bring children into contact with the best

152

ORGANIZED STORY-TELLING 153

books. The librarian story-teller does not deny that she
is a joy-maker; she would not flinch from being a moralist;
but her duty is to the particular organization to which she
belongs, and since the function of that organization is to
get books read, her work as a story-teller is to establish in
young people the reading habit. In order to do this well
she is not so anxious to have a mob of children who are
present because this chances to be the best excitement
available at the moment as to gather a' group who appreciate
the privilege and whom she can assemble frequently enough
and in close enough relation to the library to bring them
and the books together.

A library story-teller should be sharp to discover
whether the children whom the teacher sends her are those
who really need stories the most. Where story-telling in
the library is popular, tickets of admission are sometimes
given out to the children through the schools. It is very
natural for teachers to use them as rewards of merit, with
the result that the best-behaved children, those who read
and study most, those who come from homes where stories
are freely told, fill the library, while those who need to
learn to love to read and to have their imaginations and
ambitions awakened are left out. The audiences that
come are orderly, attentive and appreciative because they
are prepared audiences, but they are not inspiring and they
are a waste of time to a true story-teller.

The pleasure of telling stories and the fascination of
listening is such that the eager librarian sometimes tells
stories when it hardly seems necessary to do so. Why,
for instance, should a library appoint a regular Saturday
story-hour in a city where children hear stories regularly
in school every other week day ? Might it not be a better
use of the librarian's time to organize on Saturday a class
in story-telling for the school teachers? Wouldn't the li-
brarian's story-matter actually reach more children with
stories in this way than through the small number of young
people who could actually crowd the children's room?

154 MANUAL OF STORIES

There should at least be, as there already is in some cities,
an exchange of story-programs between teachers and chil-
dren's librarians, so that they will not duplicate each other's
work. Yet usually there is plenty of room for so valuable
a means as story-telling both in the library and the school.
And this is so because the teacher and the librarian are
telling stories for different purposes. The teacher tells
stories for their social and moral effect in the school life ;
the librarian tells them in order to bring children and good
books together.

Some library story-tellers rush in enthusiastically where
angels might fear to tread. It must be remembered that
it is sometimes more difficult to stop a story-hour than it is
to start one. In a small city where the library force is
small, a proposition for regular story-telling should wait
until at least three difficulties are disposed of : first, the fact
that it must necessarily take considerable regular time on
the part of somebody to prepare and tell stories; second,
that definite and adequate arrangements must be made upon
every occasion for taking care of the children comfortably
without absolutely shutting up the rest of the library ; third,
that in order to do this an extra assistant is usually abso-
lutely necessary during the time of the story-hour.

Miss Mary Conover has for many years done a beauti-
ful work in most crowded and unpleasant surroundings in
the Detroit central library, maintaining there for a long
time a story-hour almost literally in "the dens and caves of
the earth." It was necessary that the stories should be told
while the children's room was full of readers and even of
persons drawing books. There was, however, as she con-
fesses, one advantage. It became necessary to establish
there habits of courteous attention on the part of all in the
room, old and young. This helped in solving other prob-
lems in the administration of their department. The con-
sideration thus evoked seemed to spread over into the care
of the books and relations toward the children and the li-
brarians. Under such circumstances, attention could be

ORGANIZED STORY-TELLING 155

held in the crowded atmosphere for not more than twenty
minutes. It was also necessary to concede the presence
of many grown persons, but, as Miss Conover cheerily re-
members, "I fancy olden story-tellers had a very miscel-
laneous group before them sometimes."

The library story-hour sometimes fulfils a function of
peculiar value. The three following incidents are typical.

In Jamaica, Long Island, it was found that the girls
would read only the most pernicious fiction. The Girls'
Romance Club was organized in the public library for the
sake of finding an antidote to this disease. The result was
most encouraging. A unique and encouraging fact is re-
ported in Providence, R. L, where the voting booths, else-
where forlorn and neglected except for one or two days of
the year, are being used for story-telling. In Boston, stories
are told by the visitors in its famous home library system
whenever a fresh parcel of books is brought by a visitor
to a home. There are sixty such centers in Boston close to
the people where such stories are regularly told.

THE STORY-HOUR ON THE PLAYGROUND

E. B. DeGroot, one of our best known authorities in
play, concedes that "the only passive occupation that should
be given equal place with the other occupations" on the
playground is story-telling. "The place of the story here,"
he continues, "is definite, and comparable with any first-class
activity."

The following information concerning playground
story-telling is furnished the writer by the Playground
and Recreation Association of America.

Most of the playgrounds tell stories quite informally
between active games, when the children are too warm or
too tired to play, during sudden summer showers, or at
other opportune times. Probably every play leader ought
to be able to tell a story fairly well. In Pittsburgh, where

156 MANUAL OF STORIES

the regular weekly story-hour is conducted by trained chil-
dren's librarians, sent from the Carnegie Library, there is
also another period during the daily assembly at nine o'clock
in the morning or one o'clock in the afternoon when various
play leaders who are willing tell one or more stories to the
whole assembly, often five or six hundred children. There
is somewhat the same value in this common story-hour for
big and little that there is in choral singing. But there
should also be stories in smaller groups where the play
leader may definitely plan stories that will meet the moral
or emotional needs of the group in a way that it is not pos-
sible to do with the larger group.

On many playgrounds the children are asked to retell
the story told the day before for the benefit of those who
didn't hear it or in some cases individual children are made
responsible for a story themselves on certain days. Always
when this is done, the sharing motive should be emphasized.
Someone has said the greatest enemies to social efficiency
are shyness and bumptiousness, and the public schools are
past masters at the development of these qualities ! Let us
look out that the public playgrounds come not under a like
indictment. Here is one great opportunity to repress the
bumptious and help the shy to express, for if the motive
be strongly emphasized — not to show off but to share —
and a premium is always placed on "doing it so the other
children will enjoy it" — like magic the artificiality of the
over-bright and the timidity of the repressed melt away
and a child-like joy in sharing adds to the charm of the
story.

In Chicago and in Portland, Oregon, several times na-
tional holidays have been celebrated by sending story-tellers
to various spots in the parks and having stories appropriate
to the day told to the groups which spontaneously gather.
And it is never recorded that they lacked an audience.
In Reading, Pa., the beginning of the preparation for the
festival of "The Pied Piper" consisted of the telling of the
story through a megaphone to all that great throng which

ORGANIZED STORY-TELLING 157

gathers on the cement-covered city reservoir on a summer's
evening.

THE STORY-HOUR IN THE CLUB FOR
STREET BOYS

In clubs for street boys story-telling has for many
years been a highly prized method of work.

Mr. Frank S. Mason, founder and for many years
active head of the Bunker Hill Boys' Club in the Charles-
town District of Boston, "brings important testimony con-
cerning the real value of story-telling to newsboys : "I am
free to say that when we first instituted this it was my idea
that the great good that would come out of it would be the
bringing together of the boys and a nice woman who would
have the power to win and charm them through this means
of getting their interest ; but, like a great many other things
that finite minds conceive, that was one of the smallest
benefits. The great good, as I see it, is in the opening up
of the imagination, and the getting away of the boy from
merely speculating or passing judgment on concrete things,
to entering into the region of the unexplored and unknown.
In other words, we have found the boy capable of saving
himself through this means just as much as through the
carpentry classes and through his games and play."

Mr. Mason does not deny that the moral influence
of the good woman was effective. In another communica-
tion to the writer this was strongly stated, but the two con-
victions that surprised him were noteworthy: the response
of the city boy in a starved environment to the stimulation
of his imagination, and the self-saving power of his liberated
life.

Miss Cara W. Sprague, who was for several years the
story-teller in Mr. Mason's club, found some rather sur-
prising tests in her experience in telling stories to these
newsboys. "It has been a surprising fact to me to find that

158 MANUAL OF STORIES

again and again the boys who at first turned up their noses
at the idea of 'fish' tales are often most persistent in de-
manding giant and witch-tales in a very little while. Boys
from twelve to sixteen who have tumbled up somehow
without Mother Goose or Cinderella can safely stand many
and many a fantastic tale to try to make up in some small
degree for some of their precious lost time. I wonder, too,
if you will be surprised to hear that to the boys here (at
the Lyman School in Westboro, Mass.), in spite of the
craving for exciting tales, two of their favorites are quiet
little stories about — of all things in the world — a little
girl! The effeminate person, die namby-pamby sort, is
termed a 'Tessie.' I was afraid both of these stories might
be termed 'little Tessie' stories, but they have been ex-
ceedingly popular."

What do story-tellers think of this opinion of Miss
Sprague's? "I tell much of my story with sprinklings of
the boys' own language. I may be very shocking, because
, I am given to the use of slang myself, but I can't help feel-
ing that (as I can use it naturally) 'the prince' makes a
much more vivid impression because he says (apropos of
the fight with two fierce wild boars), 'Now you take the
little fellow and leave the big guy to me.' Maybe I am
absolutely wrong, but I feel very thoroughly that the boys
are much more apt to retain other language and to assimilate
new and elegant phrases (coming in frequently as they so
often do) if there are occasionally more stepping stones."

On the contrary Miss Caroline M. Hewins of the
Hartford Public Library reminds the writer that Miss
Faith Collins, who for years has told stories to newsboys
in the Good Will Club of that city, "has generations of
scholarly ancestry behind her, and has all her life been an
omnivorous reader of romance and folklore. Her manner is
so quiet when story-telling that it is hard to understand
how she holds the attention of boys, but I know that she
does from the books that they ask for from the library."
A librarian would thoroughly approve of Miss Collins, but

ORGANIZED STORY-TELLING 159

the superintendent of a club for street boys, while he too
would approve of Miss Collins, would think himself for-
tunate to get, for his particular purpose, so good a woman
as Miss Sprague, even if she were a wee bit given to the use
of slang.

Story-telling is not entirely for women. Some young
men in social settlements and boys' clubs have found they
could get a stronger hold on boys through stories than by
games.

Mrs. Lowe believes in developing the story-hour into
something of an organization. She would have listeners
who would become an active organization. There should
be, she believes, a club, committees, perhaps grades and
promotions. After the story, she would have discussions
and would let the organization grow into a society for doing
good. This is certainly in harmony with the fundamental
axiom of pedagogy — no impression without expression.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE STORY-HOUR

Apparently a minor yet really a very important detail
in a story-hour, whether for children or adults, is that the
place of meeting shall be a cheerful one. Such a place
ought not to be impossible to find. The writer has in mind
one story gathering whose gloomy meeting-place seemed
to be a perpetual and constantly perceptible barrier to the
work, which was intensified upon unsuccessful afternoons
until it distinctly got on the nerves of its members.

Miss Sprague sensibly states that in her judgment
two essentials stand out most conspicuously in such gath-
erings: fresh air and a keen desire to listen. "I have,"
she says, "visited so many schools and so many clubs and
classes where the bad air meant almost of a certainty in-
attention, that I cannot help emphasizing it just as strongly
as possible." Concerning the even more important matter
of the desire to listen, she calls attention to the sometimes

160 MANUAL OF STORIES

forgotten fact that in a boys' club there are some boys
who are bodily, but not spiritually, in the story-teller's
presence. They do not expect to be interested. To such a
boy, Miss Sprague would say, "You don't feel like listening,
Tommy. Go down and play some games." This sane sug-
gestion may make all the difference in the world to the
other forty or fifty Tommys and Johnnys who remain.

Miss Sprague too no doubt voices the sentiment of
most story-tellers when she says, "I am never quite com-
fortable and really ready for business unless they are al-
lowed to draw their chairs close to the story!"

Mrs. Lowe believes that almost any objective thing is
better than no object at all to illustrate and give reality to
the story. She would get empty bottles and pin about
them cloth of different colors and call them people, if neces-
sary ; a red cloth for an Indian and a blue one for a soldier.
To have a background, she would use a sheet or table cloth
to form hills and plains and trace the line of travel of
the characters with a finger. She has used corks for
brownies and pens for fairies and bottles for children.
The young folks readily value any of these home-made
substitutes. In an emergency, some child will actually say
excitedly, "Get the vinegar bottle. Let's have a giant!"
Of course these devices are practicable only in a small
group of children.

The best story-tellers do not try to "grade" their listen-
ers too closely. As one of them said to the writer some-
what tartly, "Nobody in the world tries to grade children
but school teachers, and that is all they know." If a story
has a big interest it will- reach children of many ages.
Some children who grade high in school are deficient in
imagination and will not enjoy a story as well as those
who have less acquisitive information. In library story-
hours children of about three consecutive grades in school
are often invited together.

Mrs. Lowe, from her large experience, has discovered
some essential differences in the mental attitude of the boy

ORGANIZED STORY-TELLING 161

and the girl which she believes ought to be studied carefully.
"The boy has an intense desire to build himself, to become
great enough to lead others. He has no innate desire to be
led; he does not like to follow. He is the sun and the
planets revolve about him. His idea of himself is that he
must draw — attract. This tendency of his ego must be the
basis of our teaching. It must be considered as his person-
ality and respected. His query is how he may become great.
Give him something to do like a man and he will be in-
terested.

"The tendency of the girl is to be directed. She will
follow. She is always willing to revolve about a greater
power. She is therefore more teachable than the boy but
more unreliable. She is more easily moved than the boy,
more easily influenced. Use influence with the girl and
argument with the boy. The girl is capable of doing big
things and of reaching great heights.

"The boy has great sentiments, more perhaps than the
girl, but the girl has too much emotion and she disgusts
the boy often with his own sentiment. Guard carefully a
boy's sentiment. It is the gradual crushing of these half-
formed things that ruins his life many times.

"The boy does not need you, however, so much as the
girl. There are infinite possibilities in the girl that will never
be developed if outside influences are not brought to bear
on her life. She will not build herself with a motive
strength within herself. She will be negatively good with
no other instrument than an innate desire to be so, but to
assert herself and come into possession of her inheritance,
she must feel an attraction outside herself and be more
or less influenced by it. The boy has an incentive within
himself to build and must only be given material, but the
girl, lacking this incentive, can more easily be led to per-
fection."

162 MANUAL OF STORIES

THE PROGRAM IN THE STORY-HOUR

At the Pittsburgh story-hour the story-tellers usually
use folk-tales but do not disdain to utilize good stories wher-
ever they find them. They believe in Pittsburgh that folk-
tales are especially useful, as are folk-crafts, in preserving
the traditions of the many countries from which the chil-
dren come. This helps explain why mothers are as in-
terested in the Pittsburgh story-hours as are the children.

There is a large place for what someone has brightly
called "stepping stone" stories, those which, without liter-
ary style or serious purpose, reach down where the child
is and help lift him up to a higher level. In Greenwich,
Conn., for example, the story-teller had to contend with
the moving picture shows, cheap vaudeville and unsuper-
vised play. She found it necessary to begin with very short
stories, with no literary flavor, containing lively and excit-
ing plots and dealing entirely with affairs of to-day. After
she had gotten hold of her audience, she was able gradually
to lengthen her tales, to turn to literary material and to
tell stories by cycles.

Edna Lyman claims that a successful story-hour is not
a vaudeville of "attractions." There are three things which
a person who talks to a large number of children should en-
deavor in the hour to attain. First, he must gain attention.
The^jirslLstory is to, the_restjQl_the^ program__wjial_tlie
^orchestra is to the play... It. carries thejstory-teller success-
fully through any opening confusion oFrioise to the jriind
ojLjtheJistenefs and puts thej^jjTlhe__attitude_of sympathy.
Next~c^mes~lfie""wmofe'Terious and thoughtful thing, often
a story which is most fuTTof inspiration and uplift. This
Miss Lyman calls "the symphony" of the hour. Finally
Is the climax, a story full oF~strength, full of purpose,
full of the light and shade of humor and pathos and in-
tended to leave the children eager to come again. These
three items do not necessarily imply that exactly three

ORGANIZED STORY-TELLING 163

stories should be told. Such a program, however, is by
no means a bad one, and Miss Bailey's story programs in
her excellent book "For the Story-Teller" are always ar-
ranged in cycles of three. The professional story-teller
will wish to scan them all, but one or two samples here
will be sufficient. As a "home" program she suggests this :

"How the Home Was Built," by Maud Lindsay in
"Mother Stories."

"The Little Gray Grandmother," by Elizabeth Harrison
in "For the Children's Hour."

"Sheep and Pigs," Scandinavian folk-tale.

Under animal programs, with the special caption of
"Rabbits," she suggests these:

"Raggylug," by Ernest Thompson Seton, adapted.

"Peter Rabbit," by Beatrix Potter.

"Bre'r Rabbit and the Little Tar Baby," by Joel Chand-
ler Harris in "Nights with Uncle Remus."

In arranging a story program some of the possible
systems are these:

By theme
By race
By period
By author.

With children the first is evidently the best. It gives the
opportunity for the simplest, clearest, most abiding impres-
sion. Within the motif of one theme there is plenty of room
for the overture, the symphony and the cadence that Miss
Lyman asks for. But the child has little care for sources,
Celtic or Scandinavian, for periods, ancient or modern,
or whether a story has a known author or is anonymous.
These should be reserved for story-periods of adults, with
their fully developed interest in literary sources, periods
and men. For them such special programs are instruc-
tive and valuable.

Miss Bailey illustrates more fully the way one typical
story group may be helpful by instancing three stories

164 MANUAL OF STORIES

which may be grouped about the central thought of indus-
try. ''The first story in the story group might be The
Sailor's Home/ by Laura E. Richards. This story catches
and holds the children's attention at once because its charac-
ters are familiar to them ; its setting is one they can quickly
see in their imagination. They have much in common with
the two children. And the climax of the story is a lesson
in industry. The second story in the group, 'Stone in the
Road/ makes the children think. It takes them further
afield and makes them see in imagination wealth, a castle,
gold, poverty. This story makes the children use their
dawning power of judging. The last story is 'Drakesbill/
a humorous folk-tale. This story makes a fitting climax,
while it still emphasizes the central thought of the story
group — industry."

In the Pittsburgh story-hours, two stories are gener-
ally told each hour. One is especially selected for the
youngest listeners and the other more general in character.

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh publishes, from
time to time an outline for cycle stories. This cycle sug-
gests choice of incidents for the individual story-teller
which will make each a dramatic unit; an arrangement of
stories to heighten the interest in science as a whole; best
sources for the story-teller and those for children ; read-
ing for the story-teller's background and supplementary
reading for the children. They include lists of books to
which reference is made. The following outlines are now
in print and may be obtained at 5c. each: Stories from
the Norse ; Stories from the Ballads of Robin Hood. Simi-
lar lists which will be helpful to the story-teller, published
at the same price, are Patriots, and Heroism. The first
of these is published by the Pittsburgh Library and the
second by the New York Public Library.

In regard to cycle stories, especially the long cycles that
are used in Pittsburgh, most experienced story-tellers will
probably agree with Miss Hewins when she says that the
cycle seems to be practical only where the story-teller

ORGANIZED STORY-TELLING 165

is sure of meeting nearly the same audience every week.
Children after all have some other things to do besides
attending story-hours, and to stake success with the indi-
vidual upon his desire or ability to attend every chapter
of the cycle would seem to tend to narrow the congregation
to a very exclusive group.

The program printed in the appendix, furnished the
writer through the kindness of Miss Julia Williamson, direc-
tor of story-telling for the Philadelphia Free Library, seems
to the writer admirable as a guide for a winter of organized
story-telling. The list is a composite, and represents the
likings of several intelligent and experienced story-tellers,
it is excellently classified and diversified, and it lends itself
either to the telling of complete stories or continued stories
or cycles of stories. From such a list any story-teller could
furnish herself for a whole season.

THE STORY-TELLERS' LEAGUE

^Miss Mary L. Shedlock, who came from England__tp
A£ierjcajn_1902 to tell stories to adults^as well as children,

Jias been credited as the founder of the story-telling move-.

jiient in America* Those who, like the writer, heard her at
Chautauqua, may well credit the story which is told of the
child who, after listening to her, wanted to know whether
she was a lady or a fairy. Costumed like a fairy god-
mother, she did much to revive the old bardic art and
groups of story-tellers rose in her train wherever she ap-
peared. Coming annually to this country until a very few
years ago, her influence was as continuous as it was charm-
ing.

At ^bojit_the__same time Richard T. Wyche, thgn__a,
cotmtrjjjrhoo!^ in *^e smith, caused his modest_biit

earnest voice to be heard as to the gospeLoLstory-telling;.
Beginning his public work in a southern university,^ has

166 MANUAL OF STORIES

gone quietly about the land, _bnngmgjnto ieing_and_power
the National Story-Tellers' League.

Concerning methods of organizing a local story-tellers'
league, Mr. Wyche writes us as follows :

"Call together a group of people who have the story-
telling work at heart, elect officers and appoint a program
committee to arrange a program of stories to study and
tell for six or eight months in advance. Let the meetings
be informal, social and free; all who join are expected to
take part. It is best to limit the membership to about
twenty-five or thirty. If others wish to come in, let them
form a separate organization. A number of towns have
three or four local leagues, each working out its own sal-
vation in a democratic way.

"Local leagues are affiliated with the National League
by the fee of ten cents for each local member, to be paid
to the National League.

"You will find quite a good deal of information in re-
gard to the movement in the World's Work, March, 1913 ;
Mother's Magazine, May, 1914; Literary Digest, July 1,
1913 ; Pedagogical Seminary, Clark University, about No-
vember, 1909; 'Some Great Stories and How to Tell
Them,' a book of mine published by Newson and Company,
New York. A number of leagues issue year books."

It may be questioned1 whether there is enough vitality
in the story-telling movement to keep alive interested or-
ganizations of persons who gather solely to tell stories to
each other. The best answer is the results. Since Richard
T. Wyche gathered the first Story-Tellers' League on the
grounds of the University of Tennessee in the summer of
1902 local societies have been established, some of which
have had from six to twelve years of consecutive existence.
Of course, not all have been successful. But there would
seem to be as much reason for the being and maintenance
of a story club as of a card club. The life of any organiza-
tion depends, of course, upon the existence of a group who
are genuinely interested in its purposes and upon the use

ORGANIZED STORY-TELLING**" 167

of the wisest methods. The successful Story-Tellers'
Leagues seem to have been those in which the members have
actually told stories. They may have passed, through
story-telling, into some study of literature, but wherever
they have become merely social organizations or where
they have depended upon professional story-tellers or ora-
torical or dramatic entertainments for their programs they
have failed. A story-tellers' league should be a story-
tellers' league. It is not a class in elocution; it is not an
audience for listening to elocutionists. It is not a group
gathered to hear memorized narratives nor to listen to a
garrulous person of unorganized mentality. The aberrations
which are possible to a story-tellers' league are illustrated
by one which was called to the writer's attention where,
during a series of folk-tales, a number of children from one
of the schools came in costume and illustrated Italian story-
telling by dancing the fandango, and where an "African
afternoon" was diversified by the appearance of forty cute
little "coons" from another school who sang plantation
melodies.

How shall we get participation by our members in the
story-telling? Answer: the very organization of the league
must be geared for this purpose. Much rests upon the
program committee. They should select programs which
involve such a variety of stories that no one person could
be expected to tell them all. They should assign far in ad-
vance the story-appointments, choosing perhaps an alternate
as well as a principal for each opportunity. A helpful de-
vice where a good speaker is expected is to ask him kindly
not to tell his stories himself but to suggest their titles to
the committee so that they may be assigned to individuals.
There are, of course, always those who enjoy coming in
and having an afternoon of entertainment by listening to
the others, but such are not desirable additions to the mem-
bership, and a small club in which all are friends and no
one feels embarrassed is much better than a big one, in
which "entertaining features" are expected.

168 MANUAL OF STORIES

There seems to be room for the story-telling method
in organizations where some other things are considered.
A Sunday school teachers' meeting, in the writer's own
experience, was much strengthened by giving a consecutive
series of eight meetings out of its winter's work just to
story-telling. The teachers appreciated the value of the
work for their own teaching, though they would have
shrunk from joining an additional society to tell stories
indefinitely. The attendance of the group was doubled for
that space of time. A short course or an occasional hour
for story-telling has been an agreeable means of help to a
club of public school teachers. Many summer normal
schools offer story-hours on the school lawn after the text-
book work and the lectures of the day are over. Those
who are interested in education are glad to see the method
used wherever it may strengthen the preparation of teachers
of the young.

THE STORY-CLASS

Story-telling is an art of such dignity that those who
practice it anywhere ought to be prepared for their worthy
calling. Miss Hewins, speaking for the librarians, states
their ideal and the too-frequent actuality, when she pleads
for a woman "who makes story-telling her profession,
and is one of the library's staff, as in New York, where
Miss Anna Tyler, a woman with background and dramatic
training, goes from branch to branch and meets clubs of
the older boys and girls. The difficulty is, however, in
finding a story-teller who has had all her life a knowledge
of the best stories for children. Half-baked young girls
are attracted by what seems an easy method of earning
money and pose as story-tellers without more material to
work on than a collection like Miss Bryant's 'Stories to
Tell to Children/ The same is true of some of the volun-
teer story-tellers who offer their services."

The Playground Association finds this same difficulty

ORGANIZED STORY-TELLING 169

among the volunteer story-tellers of the playgrounds. Too
often stories are left to the younger or volunteer leaders
who happen to have a gift of telling them rather vividly
but who often do not recognize the tremendous power they
wield. One such worker said she spent half an hour a
week looking up and preparing her stories ! How different
this from the work of the trained moral diagnostician who
watches for the evidences of sick or weak little souls and
administers the needed remedy — truly a sugar-coated pill
— or who plans even prayerfully the story which will open
the next logical step of development for the normal red-
blooded boys and girls.

Story-telling is now being taught in nearly all normal
and kindergarten training schools. Miss Latham and Miss
Moore at Teachers' College, Columbia University, and Miss
Gudrun Thorne Thompson at the University of Chicago
are doing particularly good work in university circles. Mr.
Wyche on his various itineracies gives helpful short courses.

A story-class differs from a story-league chiefly in
the degree of the seriousness of its members. The element
of entertainment is only incidental and it is understood
that the pupils themselves must, during every session, actu-
ally tell stories. A story-class ought to have a definite
program of work based both upon textbooks and upon
standard story collections. There should be regular re-
quired reading. Even when lectures are given, the story
demonstration should be by the pupils themselves. A story-
class without actual story-telling by the pupils themselves
is as aimless as a laboratory class in physics in which all
the demonstrations are performed by the instructor.

It is essential that the story-class should be composed
of serious-minded persons who not only love children
and stories, but who are willing to do hard work and
meet good-naturedly the candid criticism of their class-
mates and to perform their work, without loss of enthusi-
asm, in a true professional spirit.

Sane criticism is always helpful and can usually be

170 MANUAL OF STORIES

secured. The best method is to ask each person in the
room in turn to offer a word of comment after the story
is finished. Grammatical errors and lapses in style need
not be noticed. The best preliminary to good criticism is
for the story-teller to announce before he tells his story
for what age and sex it is intended, what atmosphere it is
desired to create and what purpose the story is planned
to fulfil. If the criticism can follow along these three
lines it will be most helpful. Wherever possible the criti-
cism should be constructive as well as kindly. "Could

Miss S have made herself more clearly understood if

she had shortened her approach to the climax in this

way ?" " Would she have done better to have used

the word at that point instead of to bring

out more decisively the character of Prince Charming?"
etc.

At Teachers' College, where classes in "Telling Stories
to Children" are most admirably conducted, training, which
is carried out thoroughly along theoretic lines, has a prag-
matic and highly effective side as well. After some months
spent in studying methods and in class practice, each girl
selects a long story — preferably one of her favorites —
studies it carefully, makes it her own, and in due time tells
it formally to her teacher and fellow-students. These, for
the time being, consciously play at being children again,
thus giving the girl on the platform a sympathetic audience
at the outset — something which every beginner at story-
telling needs sorely. Once the story is done, the teacher
calls upon various members of the class for criticism,
favorable, unfavorable, general, and specific ; and presently
everybody has added something of practical value to her
knowledge of this seemingly simple art. Always the criti-
cism brings out the fact that the girl who can forget herself
enough to be easy and natural, yet who is wholly dramatic
in the "high places," has played the game most successfully,
has told her story most effectively.

There are so many ways in which the trained story-

ORGANIZED STORY-TELLING 171

teller resembles the preacher that one almost feels like
pleading that a textbook in homiletics should be added to
the curriculum of the pupil in story-telling. As the writer
put down these words his eye fell upon a volume of the
Yale Lectures on Preaching in his library, by ex-president
William J. Tucker of Dartmouth College. It is entitled
"The Making and Unmaking of the Preacher," but it might
about as well have been called, 'The Making and Unmaking
of the Story-Teller." Doctor Tucker begins by pleading
for that mutualness and co-operation between speaker and
listener which we have been pleading for between story-
teller and child. "The preacher (story-teller) is the man
who is able to enlist other men in his work of persuasion" ;
these others he is to make "distributing agents of the
truth." That which makes the good preacher makes the
good story-teller, "the depth and breadth of his own hu-
manity"; that which unmakes the preacher unmakes the
story-teller, "unreality" of reason, imagination or feeling.
The success of preacher and story-teller alike is in humble
endeavor — "there is no fellowship so great or safe or assur-
ing as that into which we enter through humility."

Let us emphasize especially that phrase, "the depth
and breadth of his own humanity." The story-teller who
gets his stories entirely out of the women's page of the
evening paper does not get very far or strike very deep.
The story-teller who has simply a repertoire of memorized
and rehearsed stories somehow fails to hold. Everything
that one reads or feels or experiences, if it be treasured,
in some way gets sometime into our story-telling and
through us into the lives of our children. It might almost
be said that the two rules for making a good story-teller,
intellectually, are that he should live a large life and keep
a note-book. The conversation of almost any man who has
done things is an interesting story. The reason why the
garrulous are tiresome is that they are overwhelmed by the
confusion of non-essentials in their experience. The bards
and shamans of old were generally men who had travelled

172 MANUAL OF STORIES

widely, who had been among all kinds of people, who had
listened intently, and whose matter and art were both fine
because the matter was weighty and the memory of it was
enthusiastic.

If there are in this world persons who have frequent
privilege of feeling themselves fairy godmothers, they must
be you who have made story-telling a profession. To enter
a room full of children, with whom you have previously
made friends by stories, with so many eager "hearts ajar
for your arriving," is one of life's keenest pleasures. The
fact that everyone longs to touch you, to sit by you, to
look up adoringly into your face, shows that you have
their affections as well as their attention in your grasp.
You step into a mood, personal and social, which assures
you of a most potent influence. You take rank with the
world's best prophets and truth-tellers. You are one of
the makers.

PART II

THE BOTTLE STORY-PEOPLE
Introducing Some Friends of Mary Lowe

XVI
THE BOTTLE STORY-PEOPLE

"Lead onward into fairy land,
Where all the children dine at five,
And all the playthings come alive."

— Robert Louis Stevenson.

WHO THE BOTTLE PEOPLE ARE

Once upon a time the Fairy Godmother wanted to
find somebody who could show children the fairies. She
looked everywhere; in Germany the land of fairies, in
France and Chili and Hindustan, and finally in our own
country. And there at length she discovered a little white-
haired lady who still loved Bo Peep and Little Boy Blue
and who was always at home to children.

And when the Fairy Godmother told Mary Lowe what
she wanted to do, Mary Lowe nodded her head and just
laughed and said, "I understand." Mary Lowe is something
of a fairy herself, and she knows all kinds of magic. So
she took her scissors and her ragbag and some paper and
her pen and ink and some bottles! — and went to work.
And when she had got done working, she could show chil-
dren the fairies.

After she had led a great many children into Fairy-
land, Mary Lowe asked me to tell grown-up people how
she does it.

Bottle dolls have always been made, but they have
never been used to teach a new kind of story-telling until
now.

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176 MANUAL OF STORIES

The new kind of story-telling is: to create enough
dolls out of empty bottles to represent all the characters in
any story and then to tell the story by causing the bottle
people to enact the parts indicated by their characters.

THE ADVANTAGES OF BOTTLES

Every child loves to live in a mimic world and likes
to produce in his plays the dramatic activities of the char-
acters who are his imaginary companions. For such play
he does not require close adherence to actuality. It some-
times seems as if the cruder the objects of play the easier
it is for the child to crown them with the glamor of fancy.
The trouble with all endeavors to play dramatically has
been that the characters of the Noah's Ark are not sufficient
in number to portray any story, and doll characters con-
structed out of paper are too flimsy or destructible for
practical uses. So Mrs. Lowe, in making bottle dolls for
her story-telling, has solved one of the most difficult play-
problems. Bottle people are substantial and inexpensive,
and they are realistic enough to satisfy the imagination of
the children. They are fully as lifelike as rag dolls, and
these, as everybody knows, are much preferred by children
to the most artistic wax doll. They stand up better than
rag dolls. Wooden ten-pins or other turned wooden things
with broad bases would be practicable because they can be
pierced with tiny tacks, but bottles have the advantage of
coming in so many sizes.

One of the most desirable materials for the making of
character dolls in places where such material is common is
gourds. Cut off at the bottom they are as stable as bottles,
and Nature has furnished them with heads, very quaint and
often humorous.

Hard material is not very cuddly, but then, as Mrs.
Lowe reminds us, people do not hug kings and queens to
any great extent, nor put wet thumbs in their eyes. The

THE BOTTLE STORY-PEOPLE 177

idea is not to turn these into rag babies, to be handled in any
undignified manner. Most of the play, especially the dra-
matic play, of children is serious. Chessmen are not in
themselves fascinating, but they are used for playing one
of the most fascinating of games. Bottle dolls are the chess-
men of children, used for playing the serious game of Life.
One of the favorite values claimed by educators for the
use of dolls is that they cultivate the maternal instinct. No
such claim is made for Bottle Dolls. They are not made to
be cuddled. They develop respect rather than the warmest
affection of children, although children do get to have their
favorites and to think of them very warmly. The attitude
of the average child toward the average doll is the special
one of providential love for that which is little and helpless.
The average attitude of the ordinary child toward the Bottle
Doll is similar to that which he holds toward the adult world
into which he has begun to enter. It is a foreshadowing of
a recognition of the value of character and the variety of
personality. This is why Bottle Dolls appeal to boys as
much as to girls. The boy would be disgusted to see a girl
fondle a Bottle Doll. He would regard it as an evidence of
disrespect. The Bottle Doll is to the girl as well as to the
boy a valuable interpreter of life. Bottle Dolls are inter-
esting to children from six to fourteen years of age, to boys
as well as to girls. To young children the characters make
a charming Mother Goose Town. They do a very desirable
thing in keeping big girls playing dolls longer than they
otherwise would, for they offer them a miniature world of
grown-ups.

THE RELATION TO HANDICRAFT

Emphasis should be made at the beginning upon the
fact that this is more truly a system of toy handicraft and
of story-telling than of play. That is, the dolls are not
chiefly intended to play house with or to roll balls at,
but to work out real and imaginary stories, little dramas.

178 MANUAL OF STORIES

The handicraft comes into the making of the doll
characters and the scenery and accessories. As in much
other play of children, getting ready is about the most de-
lightful part. The story-playing is the climax of a delight-
ful afternoon with scissors and thimble.

Their successful use demands the leadership either
of an adult or of an imaginative child. Almost all children
turn out to be imaginative if they have a chance. Usually
children will make up their own stories with the dolls as
soon as they have heard one story told with them by an
adult. This story-playing presupposes an audience, but if
the audience is composed of ordinary dolls arranged in
appreciative attitudes it usually proves sufficient.

Mothers who have kept the child spirit tarrying in
their hearts will find bottle-doll story-telling an infinitely
delightful occupation with their children. The little folks
will enjoy making and arranging the characters; they will
retell the stories, they will actually enter the Enchanted
Land themselves and often find there new adventures and
fresh surprises. When other children come in they, too, will
be charmed, and there will never be any trouble about hav-
ing a party when the bottle characters are invited.

A NEW WAY OF DEVELOPING THE
IMAGINATION

The philosophers are telling us how necessary is the
element of make-believe in children's lives. Here is a
most skilful way of developing it, not in the merely passive
way of story-reading, but through the most active, self-
directing, serial play. There is also an even more important
opportunity — the moral element. But of this in Chapter
XX.

XVII

THE BOTTLE CHARACTERS

Mrs. Lowe says her first endeavor in her little pla>
was to make the children love the dolls. It helped, of course,
to do this when the children made them, but they learned
best to do it by knowing and feeling that every doll was a
personality. For this purpose Mrs. Lowe created a King-
dom of Dolls, establishing therein certain rulers and citizens
with fixed names and characters.

This Kingdom was constituted of the familiar charac-
ters in the classical children's books, turning most fre-
quently to that cornerstone of education, Mother Goose
Melodies. Mrs. Lowe has developed when she has played
with a group of children for several years as many as
three hundred characters, but it is necessary at first to
master only a few. The following are suggested, with hints
as to what they naturally represent in children's minds.
They are arranged in three classes.

THE KINGDOM OF LOVE

1. The Fairy Queen (or Godmother) — the Spirit of
Love, who has left Fairy Land to rule over the Kingdom.

2. Buttercup. This cheery fairy of brightness and
light, the blossom that is like a candle, who has never dis-
obeyed the King, is the untainted better nature that shines
in the heart of every child. She is the Queen's Messenger.

3. Alice of Wonderland — another Messenger of the
Fairy Queen ; "the only person the children know who has

179

180 MANUAL OF STORIES

been in the wonderful Land the children love." (Another
messenger might be Shakespeare's Ariel.)

4. Tiny Tots — who keep alive the mother love of the
Fairy Queen, for "it takes giving and not receiving, the
innocent faces and the light clasp of the little hands, to
keep love warm and unselfish."

5. Puck — the spirit of irresponsible mischief.

THE KINGDOM OF LAW

1. Old King Cole — a typical earthly monarch who
keeps the Kingdom in order. He puts anyone who hurts
another in a great north tower, where it is dreadful to
stay.

2. The Queen of Hearts — a lovely Queen who always
pleads for those who do wrong, because she knows that if
they did not drink the brew they would be good.

3. Jack o' Hearts — a boyish prince who likes the com-
mon people, and who is a messenger of the King and
Queen.

4. 5. The Master and the Dame, attendants of the
court, really school teachers, a childless couple who love
all children.

6. A High Sheriff or Policeman, a kindly soul who
tries to maintain order.

7. The Giant Killer, every boy's hero, an attendant at
the court.

8. Humpty Dumpty, a comedy character, round as a
ball, and unsteady on his feet.

THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN THE EN-
CHANTED LAND

1. Old Mother Hubbard — a gossipy soul who is fond
of pets.

2. The Farmer's wife — a good housekeeper.

THE BOTTLE CHARACTERS 181

3. Mary Contrary— an energetic school girl who is
fond of flowers.

4. Polly Flinders— a nice little school girl, who never-
theless sometimes gets into the cinders.

5. Little Miss Muffet — who is always afraid of things.

6. Bo- Peep— the Farmer's daughter; a shepherdess;
aggressive and sometimes naughty.

7. Red Riding Hood — a small girl who has many sur-
prising adventures.

8. Lena — a thoughtless child, who often listens to
Puck.

9. Bessie Brooks — who goes to walk on Sunday, and
thinks she is a young lady.

10. Johnny Green — who likes mischief, and who put
the cat in the well.

11. Jack Horner — the little boy who is greedy, and
who likes to brag.

12. Tom Piper — a little boy who takes things.

13. Little Boy Blue — a lovable little fellow, always
full of cheer; brother of Bo-Peep.

14. Wee Willie Winkie — who doesn't like to go to
bed.

15. Tommy Snooks — who thinks he is a man. "He
and Bessie Brooks are the only ones who are of the sweet-
heart size. No little world would seem complete to chil-
dren without the sweetheart element."

16. The Farmer.

17. A Giant.

18. Sister Marie — "She has no life of her own, but
lives for others."

19. The Witches — who try to kill love, and rule with
hate.

20. The Lovely Lady — anybody's mother.

21. Ruth — she represents any girl listener; daughter
of the Lovely Lady, visiting the Kingdom of Love.

22. Frank — any little boy listener.

Sometimes a child personalizes himself as "Frank"

182 MANUAL OF STORIES

or "Ruth," and sometimes he selects another for his favorite
character and thinks of himself as walking in that character
through the story. It is the experience of adults who have
become familiar with the dolls by name and character that
they find themselves loving certain ones, and these always
the ones whose names and histories they know and whose
personalities are impressed on their minds.

One can at once see the fascinating possibilities in the
way of adding other familiar Mother Goose characters to
this assortment.

The Crooked Man ought to be a winsome personality.
Tommy Tucker who sang for his supper should be a cheer-
ful lad. The Old Woman who lived in a shoe should be
very motherly. Bobby Shafto should be the sailor. Three
Wise Men of Gotham might represent the Would-Be Wise,
Simple Simon the fool who knows that he is not wise. The
Old Woman who brushed the cobwebs from the sky would
be a happy addition to the element of fancy.

CHANGING NAMES DOES NOT CHANGE
CHARACTERS

In actual bottle-doll play it is necessary sometimes to
give a doll a new name, but it is usually not necessary to
give it a different character. The child simply selects a doll
that has a similar character and gives it a temporary new
name and a permanent added experience. Thus the dolls
really live a consecutive life, though "each in his time plays
many parts."

If, for example, one wished to tell the story of Cin-
derella the bottle people might assume the characters, as
follows :

The Farmer's Wife as the mother-in-law

Bessie Brooks

Little Miss MurTet Us the proud sisters.

Mary Contrary

THE BOTTLE CHARACTERS 183

Ruth as Cinderella.

Jack o' Hearts as the Prince.

The Master

The Dame

The High Sheriff

as Courtiers.

Humpty Dumpty

The Giant Killer

The writer once saw the story of the Good Samaritan
told somewhat in this way:

The Master as the Priest.

The High Sheriff as the Levite.

The Farmer as the Man who went down to Jericho.

The Giant Killer as the Good Samaritan.

Humpty Dumpty as the Inn Keeper.

Johnny Green, Tom Piper and Tommy Snooks as
Robbers.

The Dame as the Priest's Wife.

Mother Hubbard as the Levite's Wife.

The Farmer's Wife as the Man's Wife.

Bo-Peep as the Samaritan's Wife.

The Child Characters as Children of the Levite, the
Man who went to Jericho and the Good Samaritan.

XVIII
THE ENCHANTED LAND

As soon as a child steps up to the dining-room table
upon which the action of the bottle play is to take place,
he is supposed to have entered the Land of Make-believe,
which encircles the Enchanted Land. The Enchanted Land
itself is a table or any raised surface about 6 feet by 3. The
idea of a Kingdom placed on the floor does not seem to give
satisfaction. There is a sort of inconsistency about it.
The child feels too large for the little world at his feet, but
when the mimic world is placed on the table, the idea of its
own completeness is unmixed with the bigness of the child's
person. The arrangement of the table itself, suggested in
the following diagram, is to be compared with the frontis-
piece.

The squares marked "platforms" are two levels, which
may be made by boards of lessening sizes, the smaller at
the top, set on glasses or blocks, or by boxes of different
sizes. Here stand the principal characters until they are
used in the story-games. On the top level are the Fairy
Godmother and her attendants, on the second level are the
King and Queen and the gentry, and on the table stand the
minor characters, the common folks. The "house" is where
the common story-characters usually live and perform their
indoor activities. The "lot" is yard, farm or playground,
as the case may be. The center space is the scene of action,
and the place marked "witches' brew" is where all the mis-
chief originates.

THE ENCHANTED LANI>

185

186 MANUAL OF STORIES

HOW THE CHARACTERS MOVE ABOUT

A simple way to get a stage effect is to set the table
on the porch against the window, use the window curtain
as the stage curtain and let the audience sit just inside.

When children play by themselves they usually place
all the characters in their appropriate stations at the begin-
ning and pick them up and move them about the vacant
space, as is indicated in the story. When an adult story-
teller is entertaining the children it is better to have the
stage vacant at the beginning and station the dolls one by
one, hinting at their characters and histories briefly as she
does so. She needs to place in view for a given story only
such dolls as are used in that story.

You can see at once how to tell any story by the use
of the dolls. Frank and Ruth "walk" and "talk," as they
watch the other characters in action. The story usually be-
gins with the characters stationed in front of the house
door. When they go to the hills the children come out to
the "lot," thence they may run down to where the witches
are. From there they may come back, tarrying in the center
space, to the house. Buttercup comes down from her shelf
when she talks with the children and remains near to watch
over them. When the dolls are "talking" they face each
other, and the real children give the dialogue.

USES FOR THE SAND TABLE

The sand table makes a valuable background for bottle-
doll story-telling. Already the publishers of Sunday school
supplies and the Missionary Education Movement have fur-
nished us with tiny character dolls, houses, etc., which,
mounted on the hills and valleys of the sand table, help
wonderfully in making real the background of a missionary
story. A small set of Bottle Dolls, thus arranged upon the

THE ENCHANTED LAND 187

sand tray, or, better still, upon a sandy beach, may enact
more satisfyingly out-of-door scenes than upon the flat
dining-room table. Mrs. Helen B. Paulsen, an expert story-
teller, who has found the story of the Good Samaritan es-
pecially attractive when told with Bottle Dolls, regards this
as her favorite for work with the sand background. She
heaps up the sand to represent mountains that are round
about Jerusalem, works out with her fingers the valleys that
lie along the Jordan and there gets the setting for the
dramatic tale, which she closes at the "Inn," which she sets
up in a level place at the foot of the valley. All the out-of-
door stories given in this Manual may be told with added
interest with sand for earth, twigs for trees, ribbons for
streams and window glass for lakes and seas.

THE ALLEGORY OF THE ENCHANTED LAND

Mrs. Lowe has added immensely both to the interest
and the moral value of her system by devising a simple
but beautiful framework of allegory against which all her
characters have their setting and by reference to which
all stories may be told. A lady who had the privilege of
hearing Mrs. Lowe tell her stories to an actual circle of
children describes the result as follows :

"First, she introduces the Gypsies in a scene suggestive
of the three witches in Macbeth and impresses the children
with the thought that when they drink of the 'brew* they
will commit evil deeds. Then she brings in the Buttercups
(representing the gold or good in our hearts), who were
created by the Invisible King, and at their own request were
later given human form. (All this is told in rhyme, legen-
dary style.) Perhaps a sweet little Dutch doll 'drinks of the
brew' (allows her evil thoughts to dominate), and instantly
the children catch their breath with sympathy. (Thus they
learn the lesson of charity rather than resentment toward
those who do wrong.) But the Invisible King sends Butter-

MANUAL OF STORIES

cup to the rescue. Each child understands that by the In-
visible King is meant the Great Power back of all things,
who created all things good, but somehow the Gypsies crept
in to do the deeds of the Devil. There is not enough theol-
ogy to cause criticism from any parent, just enough to lay
the foundation for working out the idea of right and wrong
in all the practical relations of everyday life in the child
world."

But lest we introduce confusion at this point, we will
not describe Mrs. Lowe's allegory until later. The descrip-
tion in Chapter XIX of "How to Enter the Enchanted Land"
explains it as it appears to children, and Chapter XX on
"Mary Lowe's Philosophy" gives the whole system.

XIX

HOW TO ENTER THE ENCHANTED LAND

After children have begun to understand the bottle
characters, they need only the dining-room table for a
stage. But the first time the characters are explained, either
by an adult or a child, it is well to have two tables — a small
one such as a serving table for placing the characters before
they are introduced, and a larger one such as a dining
table for the scenes of the stories. These tables should be
placed side by side about ten inches apart, and they may
be bridged by a shingle. All the doll characters should be
marshalled on the smaller table in the order in which the
story-teller intends to present them, those which are to
come in first in the front rank. On the larger table plat-
forms should be arranged in the one corner as on the chart,
the house in another, anil the kettle for the witch's brew in
a third.

INTRODUCTORY SUGGESTIONS FOR THE
STORY-TELLER

When the children have gathered and all is ready, the
story-teller should collect them about the larger table. There
is no harm in letting the children examine the dolls, as
they stand on the smaller table, before the story begins,
so long as they do not touch them. For if they touch
them, they are likely to knock them down or disarrange
them, and they will take greater interest if they are told
that they are going to be allowed to handle them just as

189

190 MANUAL OF STORIES

soon as the story is over. Interest may be excited by asking
them to try and guess whom each one of the dolls represents.
Thus they will be more intelligent in making suggestions
when you begin the story.

The story-teller should stand at the backside of the
two tables in such a position that she can readily take
the dolls from the front rank first, and lead them across
the bridge and place them in the Kingdom.

HOW THE STORY-TELLER BEGINS

Directions for moving the characters are given here
(in parentheses) and some of the dialogue is indicated
such as is likely to occur during the narrative. It is desir-
able to get the children to answer questions and talk as
much as possible. Making sure first that all are in a com-
fortable position to see and hear, the story-teller may pro-
ceed somewhat as follows:

How many of you have ever read "Alice in Wonder-
land"? Ah, I am glad to see that so many of you have!
You remember that it tells all about Fairy Land. Do
you remember the place where, after Alice has taken the
magic key, she suddenly finds herself becoming very little,
so small that she can go right through the key-hole ? These
two little people (taking Frank and Ruth in each hand and
carrying them across the bridge and placing them on the
side of the table near the children, facing them) are a
boy and girl, brother and sister, who have come over from
the land where you and I live into Wonderland, and who
have suddenly become small just as Alice did. The boy's
name is Frank, and his sister's name is Ruth. This (point-
ing to the small table) is where the doll people go to sleep.
But this (pointing to the large table) is the Wonderland,
where all sorts of strange things happen. It is a kingdom
all by itself, with its rulers, its nobles, and its common
people. And we are going to call it the Enchanted Land.

How TO ENTER THE ENCHANTED LAND 191

Now in order to get into the Land you see these
dolls have to cross this bridge. Before they cross the
bridge they are just common bottles, covered with paper
and cloth, but after they cross over the bridge of Make-
believe then they become fairy-like people. If you stand
real close about the table so that your shoulders touch —
that is right, stand a little closer— you will all be in the
Land of Make-believe, too, so that you can look right
into this Enchanted Kingdom.

INTRODUCING THE PEOPLE

A long time ago the Invisible King wanted someone
to rule over his Kingdom who would represent all the love
in the world. Who in the world loves us best? That's
right, our fathers and our mothers. So the King took
from his Fairy Land the Queen of the Fairies, because
she had in her heart the love of all the world. (Carry the
Fairy Queen across and place her in the center of the
upper platform, and as her attendants are mentioned, bring
them over and place them beside her.)

Now, of course, in order to love, it is necessary that
there should always be somebody to be loved. So in order
to be sure to keep her love alive, the King gave her these
Tiny Tots, always to be with her, for her to care for. Next
he remembered the flower that he loved best — the butter-
cup, and he said, "My children may sometimes forget to
do the things I want them to do, so I will have this little
flower, which is as bright as a candle, and have it to guide
the children in the right way." So cheery Buttercup, the
flower with the face of a child, became the Queen's mes-
senger.

And for her other messenger, there is Alice of Won-
derland— the only real child whom you know who has
visited the Wonderland that all the children love.

This is Puck. He is the spirit of mischief. He flies

192 MANUAL OF STORIES

about wherever he chooses. Some find him very charming,
but you will discover that he is very unreliable.

The people down below cannot see the Fairy Queen
and her court, but the Fairy Queen can always see all the
children. And Buttercup and Alice of Wonderland are
always ready to hasten down and do her bidding.

In our world we have all sorts of people, and so in
the Kingdom there are the high and the low. Here is
jolly Old King Cole. We must have a King who can be
happy as well as make the laws, but though he is happy
he is also stern. And when any one does wrong he shuts
them in his grim North Tower.

Here is the Queen — the Queen of Hearts. And she is
always teasing him to be merciful when he starts to put
any poor fellow in the prison.

Now come the attendants of the King and Queen. This
little fellow is Jack o' Hearts. Prince Charming is his other
name. Although he is a Prince he loves his people, and
they of course love him. And here is the Giant Killer,
brave although he is so little.

Now we come to the common people, and there are a
lot of them. I must bring in the ladies first. (Bring them
in three at a time, but separate each one and clearly explain
who she is before placing her on the table near the house.)
Here are some of the older ones. Can you guess who this
is? She lives all alone with her dog, and her cupboard is
often bare, because she is away gossiping so much. Yes,
this is old Mother Hubbard. And who is this who cut off
the tails of some mice with her carving knife? Yes, the
Farmer's Wife. She is the mother of Bo-Peep and Boy
Blue. She has to work very hard taking care of her house
and her children.

Lena is a little waif from the city. She is so thoughtless
and listens so much to Puck's mischief, that although she
means no harm she is often in trouble.

Mary Contrary — can you say the verse about her?
Yes, that's right. She is a good-hearted school girl who

How TO ENTER THE ENCHANTED LAND 193

loves her pretty garden. And can you say the one about
Polly Flinders? You can guess what she is like. She is
a school girl, too, and a friend of Mary's, but so slovenly
that sometimes she gets into the cinders. And here is
Little Miss Muffet, who is always getting scared to death
over nothing.

Who was it who lost her sheep and had to go back
to find them? Yes, Bo-Peep. Whose child do you think
she is — not the banker's nor the minister's. Yes, she is
the farmer's daughter. Who is it that is dressed in a red
cloak, and is always having surprising adventures? You
are right, it is Little Red Riding Hood. And here is a child
almost grown up, who goes to walk on Sunday. Her name
is Bessie Brooks.

Here are three men. First is the Farmer who married
the Farmer's Wife, and who is the father of Bo-Peep and
Little Boy Blue. Here is the policeman who arrests the
bad children, and brings them to Old King Cole. And here
is the Giant of whom everybody is afraid.

Here are three boys whom you know the policeman has
to watch. Do you remember what Little Johnny Green
did ? Yes, he is sometimes very cruel. And do you recall
the lad who sat in the corner, and who was so greedy,
and who boasted how big he was ? This, of course, is little
Jack Horner. And this boy sometimes takes things, "stole
a pig and away he ran." His name is Tom Piper.

Here are three more whom you may like better. The
little boy who blows his cheerful horn. Yes, Little Boy
Blue. And who is his sister? Yes, he is the brother of
Little Bo-Peep. Who is it that goes around in the night
at eight o'clock, and doesn't want to go to bed ? Wee Willie
Winkie. And this is the biggest of the boys — Tommy
Snooks. He and Bessie Brooks are sweethearts. Tommy
is supposed to work for the Farmer. These boys and girls
are never bad unless they drink of the Witch's brew.

This is Sister Marie. (She may be explained either
as a nurse or a deaconess.) She is always where there are

194 MANUAL OF STORIES

people in sickness or trouble. She lives entirely for others.
How beautiful she is!

But who is this ugly creature? She belongs over here
by the big kettle. This is the Witch. (Three witches may
be used.) She certainly does not belong in the Kingdom
of Love. In fact I must explain that all this corner around
the Witch's brew is known as the Lonesome Land. It is
very far, indeed, from the Enchanted Land, although as
you will see, sometimes the children stray down into it.

And last, with a tiny baby in her arms, comes the
Lovely Lady. She is the mother of Ruth and Frank. She
is your mother and mine, and when she comes into the King-
dom with her children, it is always to protect them and to
help them.

Now, I want to tell you a little story which shows
how a real boy and girl found their way into the Enchanted
Land. (The statements in parentheses which follow are
stage directions for the story-teller. Very few are given,
so as not to interrupt the current of the story, but wherever
action is suggested, the story-teller should imitate it by cor-
responding action with the dolls who are being named.)

FRANK ENTERS THE ENCHANTED LAND

Once there was a girl named Ruth (The story-teller
stands Ruth near the front of the table, where the children
can see her) who could see the fairies. She had a brother
whose name was Frank. (Stand Frank on the smaller
table or else upon the teacher's outstretched palm.) Frank
could never see the fairies. Often Ruth would say to
Frank, "Come over here through the Land of Make-believe
where the leaves have fallen, and I will show you real, live
fairies."

Frank would try to follow her, but there always seemed
to be a big white cloud between him and the Land of Make-

How TO ENTER THE ENCHANTED LAND 195

believe. He would get as close as he could to Ruth, and
then he would say, "Where are they?"

"Hush!" she would whisper. "Breathe softly. Fold
your hands so. Listen carefully, and I will tell you how
to look for them. They are so beautiful, and oh! so tiny
and sweet, dressed in green and brown, or sometimes in red
and yellow. Their faces are so cute and smiling, and every
minute they seem to change. When you know them, and
can see them, they will seem to you like a beautiful dream.
The brown and green will mix themselves so that you will
think they are fallen leaves, shaken down by the wind, for
they are continually dancing to the music of the breeze.
Listen!"

Ruth would clasp her hands, and sit very still, with a
happy expression on her face.

"There! Did you not hear them? Can you not see
them?"

But Frank would always say sorrowfully, "No, it's too
bad, but I can't see them, and I don't believe in them."

"What a pity for you, Frank. You believe in ugly
things, and some of them you never saw, either. Well,
I cannot lend you my eyes, nor make you love fairies, — you
do not understand what you miss. It is just as if you
were blind, and could not see the flowers or the blue sky."

One day when Ruth was at home (The story-teller sets
Ruth down on the small table.) Frank was playing alone
on the beach, building caves in the sand. He was lonesome.
There was no fun playing in the water without Ruth. After
a while he left the sand, and climbed the bank and found
the nook where Ruth had told fairy tales so often. The
leaves were scattered about. He gathered a mound of
them, and with his curly head lying on his cap, and his
round limbs half buried in the leaves, he decided that he
would wait until the fairies came. If he could not go where
the fairies were, perhaps they would come to him. "Ruth
will be so pleased if I should see them," he thought. Soon

196 MANUAL OF STORIES

Frank's eyes grew heavy. "I hope I am not going to
sleep," he said slowly.

All of a sudden Frank found himself in the Land of
Make-believe. Some unseen hand seemed to be leading
him forward. (The story-teller takes Frank across the
bridge from the small table, to the Enchanted Land, and
laying him down, covers him with leaves.)

As soon as Frank had crossed over into the Enchanted
Land, he felt a soft tap on his hand. Looking down, he saw
a very tiny person smiling at him.

"I am the Fairy Queen," she said. (Stand the Fairy
Queen close to Frank.)

Frank sat up, and found himself no larger than his
small visitor. Then he noticed that the fairy looked very
much like Ruth, only a thousand times smaller.

"How are you, Fairy Queen?" he said boldly.

"I am always well," she answered in a very sweet
voice. "Frank, you may come with me and see all the
fairies that visit these woods. They are all in Fairyland
to-day."

He took her little hand, and found himself able to
move with a thought. Light as air, free as a sunbeam,
happy as a bird, he floated through space with the Fairy
Queen. (Suit the action to the words.)

"Where is Fairyland?" he whispered softly. He had
lost his big boyish voice.

"Here we are !" said the Fairy Queen.

Frank found himself in a high and beautiful place,
which seemed to be above the clouds. Many bright colors
danced before his eyes. He was at first too dazed to
see clearly. When he became accustomed to the light
he saw a cloud of tiny creatures coming toward them,
merrily waving a welcome. (Move the Tiny Tots toward
the Fairy Queen.) Coming near, they knelt an instant
before the Queen, and then began the most bewildering
fairy dance conceivable. Frank's feet danced in spite of
himself.

How TO ENTER THE ENCHANTED LAND 197

I cannot begin to tell you of the adventures that fol-
lowed. The Tiny Tots took Frank to the bottom of the
sea, where he saw baby fairies, nestling among the sea-
weeds, soothed by all the tender lullabies that the happy
earth mothers sing to their babies. -They took him to
mountain tops, where the other baby fairies were playing
"Hide-and-Seek" among the clouds. They led him to the
fairy kitchen, where fairy cooks were laboriously rolling a
blue plum up an incline onto the edge of a table, preparing
to make an enormous plum pudding.

Finally, they took him to a broad meadow near a
clear, silvery river. Here fairy boys and fairy girls were
playing together. (Bring the Tiny Tots and Frank down
to the table.) Frank seemed to have lost sight of the
Fairy Queen. He played ball for a while with the fairy
boys. And then they sat down on the grass beside the
river, and told him about the wonderful moonlight feast
that was to be held that evening. It seemed that the girl
fairies would do the cooking, but some of the boy fairies
were jealous, because they wanted to show that they were
better cooks than the girls.

"Why don't you rebel?" said Frank, in a bold voice
as much as possible like that he had used before he came
to the Enchanted Land.

"What is 'rebel'?" asked one of the fairy boys.

"I will show you," said Frank, throwing out his chest ;
he wanted to show off a little to the boys. "It is like this :"
and he opened his tiny mouth, and called as loud as he
could, "Ha, ha! old Fairy Queen, we boys will make the
cake to-night for the midnight party. Don't think you can
command us"

Before he had quite closed his naughty lips, he found
himself as large as life. (The story-teller suddenly snatches
Frank and the leaves, and holds them up in the air.) He
looked about frightened. Not a fairy boy in sight! He
ran as fast as he could to the edge of Fairyland. There
was the cloud that had brought him safely across. He

198 MANUAL OF STORIES

stepped upon it. He was too heavy, and went down, down.
(Drop Frank slowly.) Now he is going through a damp
fog that chills to the bone; then into glaring light, but
always down and down, swiftly whirling round and round.
Poor Frank ! He wondered if he would be crushed very
much when he hit the ground. Soon he heard Ruth calling :

"Frank ! Frank ! where are you ?"

He was back again in the woods above the beach (Lay
Frank down again among the leaves, and bring up Ruth.)
and Ruth was beside him. When she had heard his story,
and looked into his eyes, she saw that he was both happy
and frightened.

"I did see the fairies, Ruth," said Frank, "but I hol-
lered at the Fairy Queen, and I think she sent me out of
Fairyland. I guess the reason you are wiser than I is
because you believe things so hard it makes them come
true," Frank finished shyly.

"And the reason why you seldom see things is because
you doubt so strongly, they won't come true."

They both laughed contentedly, and began clearing a
space on the sand for cave building.

XX

MARY LOWE'S PHILOSOPHY

To Mary Lowe the bottle characters are not a mere
play, they are a life. She has given to them the same
painstaking experiment that Froebel and Montessori did
to the Kindergarten and the House of Childhood. She took
four boys to bring up, and their home education was with
the bottle people. For over a dozen years she has worked
with groups of children, large and small, with her plan.
In one instance at least, long enough so that the whole
village of children was making bottle dolls. A number
of these children had accumulated families of three hundred
of them, and several years after Mrs. Lowe had gone away
they were retelling her stories and telling their own.

Out of this experience a number of convictions came to
Mrs. Lowe.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE EDUCATION OF
THE HEART

One of these convictions was that a child lives in a
world of sentiment as well as of sense. She finds that the
sentiments rule the senses. She is in unconscious harmony
with G. Stanley Hall and other modern teachers who tell
us that the most important part of education is the educa-
tion of the heart and with that ancient philosopher of the
Hebrews who said that "Out of the heart are the issues
of life." She knows that the child will have to act in a
workaday world, but she believes that his spirit both now

199

200 MANUAL OF STORIES

and always may live in a world of fancy, not of disordered
fancy but of poetic insight. She sides with Froebel rather
than with Montessori in giving a distinct and large place
to imagination, and she goes further than Froebel, because
she shows how imagination may be cultivated until the
twelfth or fourteenth year. "Make-believe," said Mary
Lowe to me once, ' 'comes nearer to experience than any
other condition of mind. Every child formulates in his
imagination acts that he would never himself perform. But
if he imagines them he is more likely to be willing to
perform them. If we can devise a plan that will direct the
imagination in right channels, we are not only giving
the child imitation-experiences of what is good but we are
inclining him to do what is good. In other words, the imag-
ination should be as finely drilled as the reason."

THE NATURALNESS OF MORAL REFLEC-
TION TO CHILDREN

Another thing that Mrs. Lowe has noticed is that
children are serious-minded people. We adults separate
Sunday from the other days of the week, we distinguish
between the sacred and the secular, we live hours when we
are consciously good or bad and hours when we are uncon-
scious of moral attitudes. Mrs. Lowe finds that children
do not make these distinctions, which are wholly arbitrary.
To us moral reflection is unnatural when we play, but to
the child it is common. Indeed since he is playing most of
the time he would not have much chance for such reflection
otherwise. So for children to engage in play in which
they find themselves judging moral issues is not unusual,
but general. If you have listened to young children playing
together you must have noted how often they judge them-
selves or each other vocally. And this is the best way for
them to learn to judge, for it is the active way. It would not
be strange if a child would be advanced further in moral dis-

MARY LOWE'S PHILOSOPHY 201

criminations and demeanor by playing with bottle dolls
than by sitting and listening to or watching the most expert
Sunday school teacher.

CHILDHOOD'S NEED OF A MIMIC WORLD
TO PRACTICE IN

Mrs. Lowe's great contribution is that she has fur-
nished to children during their most imaginative and dra-
matic years a mimic world filled with people, in which they
can become partners in realistic experiences that involve
the principal problems of life. These experiences she
enables them to have, as they must have them later, in the
form of questions rather than of answers, and she depends
upon that inner voice which was given the child at the
start to tell for himself what those answers are.

This is the essential contribution that Mrs. Lowe has
made to education. The fact that her own characters are
made of bottles rather than of bisque is a non-essential
one. Bottles are common and cheap and it is an intellectual
stimulus that the child should be forced to clothe them with
life and with individual characteristics. But the material
is a matter of personal choice. The choice of characters
which she has made is non-essential. It was a happy
thought that she should have chosen the characters of the
best-known children's classics, associated already with
jingles which just suggest personalities, but other charac-
ters may be substituted or added, as she herself has done,
so long as the children accept them and understand them.
Her stories are the expression of her philosophy, but other
stories could contain and do contain a good philosophy, and
as the most valuable result in her experience has been that
children compose stories which express their own philoso-
phy, so she would be pleased if adult story-tellers should
make up stories which even better express their philosophy
or hers. Mrs. Lowe's stories are to be judged, as we judge

202 MANUAL OF STORIES

Froebel's verses, not by literary standards but by one
criterion only, whether they convey adequately to children
what she has to say. It seems to the writer that they do.
During the composition of this volume these stories, were
used by an expert story-teller for six months in a circuit
of a dozen towns, to which she returned at frequent and
regular intervals, and her testimony was of growing en-
thusiasm to the effect that no stories were equal to these
simple ones of Mrs. Lowe's for use with her system. This
story-teller herself has an unusual repertoire of child's
stories and she used them and still uses some of them, but
the stories of Mrs. Lowe proved after all to be fundamental
and essential. Mrs. Lowe does not claim, any more than
Froebel did, that her rhymes are poetry, but as she says,
"Children get an idea through jingling verses quicker than
any other way," and she just carries the Mother Goose
method a little further.

It seemed needful first to give the reader, for the sake
of clear apprehension, the scheme as it is presented to
children. Now for the philosophy which underlies the plan.
The reader may use it or not as he chooses, but here it is
and it is a good philosophy, and if it is absorbed in the
story-teller's mind and heart it will, whether it is ever put
into words or not to children, give a richer meaning to
every use of the bottle characters.

THE MEANING OF THIS MIMIC WORLD

Mrs. Lowe's cosmogony, if we may use such a pre-
tentious word, is this. The Enchanted Land represents
the imagination of a child. This Land is entirely sur-
rounded by the Land of Make-believe, because the En-
chanted Land is a condition into which nobody can enter
who cannot "believe." Outside this lies the everyday world,
where we spend most of our time. In a special corner of
the Land of Make-believe is the Lonesome Land, or the

MARY LOWE'S PHILOSOPHY 203

Land of Negation, as Mrs. Lowe sometimes has to call
it, the land of wrong fancy and evil desire. It is in the
Land of Make-believe because, as Mrs. Lowe says, "A real
unbeliever makes believe more than anybody else." This is
the land where the witches and other evils come from.
Over all these lands is the Kingdom of Love, where the
Invisible King watches and the Spirit of Love, represented
by the Fairy Godmother, rules. In playing, the table repre-
sents the Enchanted Land and the upper platform is a part
of the Kingdom of Love. Just about the table is the Land
of Make-believe through which the children pass to the
Enchanted Land. From outside this boundary (perhaps
from another table) come the witches, from the Lonesome
Land, invading the Enchanted Land in that corner where
they make their brew. The idea may be represented by
chart (p. 204).

The smaller table where the dolls are assembled before
they are brought into action has no especial meaning in
the allegory. The children simply think of it as "The
place where the doll people go to sleep." Some story-tellers
dispense with this spare table altogether and always assem-
ble all the characters in their places in the Enchanted Land.

You remember the description of the Enchanted Land
(in Chapter XIX) before the witches entered. That Land
represented the imagination of a child who does not yet
know right from wrong. When the fire started that even-
tually brought forth the witches (Mrs. Lowe does not go
further into the question of the origin of evil) the innocent
children fled. In their place came the more matured chil-
dren of the Invisible King. These know the nature of the
brew. What happened to Adam and Eve in the second
chapter of Genesis happens to each individual of the race.
Note especially that the children in the Enchanted Land
have intelligent imagination. In the Land of Make-believe
people may believe anything, in the Lonesome Land they
believe in nothing. To believe in everything is bad, but to
believe in nothing is fatal. In the Enchanted Land, which

204

MANUAL OF STORIES

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MARY LOWE'S PHILOSOPHY 205

is Life, over which Love broods, we may use imagination
intelligently to choose the good and turn from the evil.

The great value of Mrs. Lowe's philosophy as it is used
with children is right here in helping them learn the first
lessons of life's great moral duel. Somehow much of our
moral and religious teaching of young children has no
blood and iron in it. It is sentimental rather than intelli-
gent. It makes excuses for children when they would
not make excuses for themselves, for they are more keen
about right and wrong than we know. In every story Mrs.
Lowe has this underlying thought: a child may do some
careless or foolish things, but he cannot do wrong unless
he has tasted of the brew, and he never tastes of the brew
unless he chooses to. So Mrs. Lowe from the start would
build a life on the old majestic doctrine of the freedom of
the will. Here is will training of the finest value.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SOME OF THE
CHARACTERS

Several of the characters have import beyond the
others. Frank and Ruth are Everyboy and Everygirl, and
through their personalities the children project their own
into the Enchanted Country. (Later some children prefer
to identify themselves with other characters whom they
learn to visualize even more strongly.) Frank and Ruth
are naturally usually spectators rather than actors, because
like the Greek Chorus they represent the attitude of the
onlookers, and the story-teller uses them skilfully to say
what he believes his real children are thinking. In their
viewpoint Frank and Ruth represent what is often known
as the masculine and the feminine attitude. Frank is the
natural doubter and Ruth has the intuitive feeling for truths
that are beyond human experience. At the close of one
of Mrs. Lowe's stories Frank says to Ruth: "The reason
why you are so wise is because you believe in things so

206 MANUAL OF STORIES

hard that you make them come true," and Ruth replies:
"And the reason why you so seldom see things is because
you doubt so strongly, that they won't come true." These
two attitudes are to be maintained in all their dialogues.
The slow acceptance of Ruth's ideas is perfectly natural
and impresses the child who follows the processes of
Frank's thoughts. In the end he leaves the doubts to
Frank and himself accepts the Ideal.

If the Bottle People had been invented by a man,
perhaps Frank would occupy a more glorious place in the
story. The endeavors of Frank after knowledge might have
had a more triumphant conclusion, because they were on the
whole so praiseworthy. Indeed when a man tells these
stories he may emphasize more strongly the masculine side of
virtue. The Fairy Godmother may turn out to show the
spirit of father-love as well as mother-love, King Cole may
become a very wise and vigorous parent and even the
Farmer may be vitalized to become quite a respectable and
thoughtful adult companion to the children. All this goes
to show that we each have our own world, and that what-
ever it is like we may reproduce it with the Mother Goose
kingdom.

Not much is said about the Invisible King. Beautifully
Mrs. Lowe tells us that because he has the hearts of all
children in his heart he of his own motion made the
Enchanted Land in which each child may live. The Fairy
Godmother or Fairy Queen has already been imagined by
children always as being all that we call Providence, and
we cannot better make the latter term vital.

Buttercup is the better nature of the child that always
speaks out when he is tempted to drink the brew. "It is
part of ourselves, the something that makes for righteous-
ness." Appropriately she lives close to the Fairy Queen.
"She is not th'e child's Ego, but his character," his truest
character. Ruth feels ; but Buttercup guides.

If the upper platform is the Kingdom of Love, then

MARY LOWE'S PHILOSOPHY 207

the lower one where King Cole reigns is the Kingdom of
Law. The children who will not be ruled by love must be
ruled by law.

The characters that are suggested and others that may
be invented represent the commonest types of child charac-
ter. The few adults give some chance for showing how the
child comes into contact with the adult world.

Literally, it must be confessed, each character is not
so much a complete human personality as a type or ten-
dency. Little Johnny Green, when under the influence of
the brew, throws the cat into the well and he simply echoes
that tendency to cruelty which a child recognizes as one
of his own tendencies. Wee Willie Winkie wants to sit up
after bedtime and thus represents the frequent wish in the
child's own mind. It would take all the children of the
doll characters to make one complete, well-rounded individ-
ual. The child recognizes this and selects each doll for a
special purpose somewhat as he selects a note upon the
piano, combining it with others into a tune.

Among all these Lena occupies a unique place. Lena
represents the situation in which a child most often finds
himself. She never drinks of the brew, but she often
listens to what Puck whispers (and we all know what Puck
is like) and so with perfectly good intention and complete
fearlessness she often does what is unfortunate. She repre-
sents the careless and inexperienced youngster who is con-
stantly being surprised by his own actions and their conse-
quences, and whose confession might well be that of the
notorious Boss Tweed, "I tried to be good, but I had hard
luck."

Mary Lowe once quoted Socrates to me, who said, "No
young man can be a philosopher." And she added : "You
can teach philosophy when you are young, but whether you
are a philosopher only the test of experience can prove."
Lena is, like other young people, learning through experi-
ence a philosophy of life.

208 MANUAL OF STORIES

"Lena is one of the characters who is never allowed
to drink of the brew. When she does wrong the children
all say, 'Oh, poor Lena! She doesn't mean to be bad/
No child really means to be bad, and only needs correction
that it may learn to do good. There is nothing to blame
a child or grown-up for but doing the wrong thing, in spite
of Buttercup."

Lena is evidently Mary Lowe's favorite. Indeed some-
where she has confessed that she often sees her own self
reflected in this eager, restless child. "Lena," she writes, "is
the character that I was going to base the book on. The
Lovely Lady goes with her. Because Lena was born with a
lack, and the only hope for her is that she must be brought
to realize herself and grow her own principles, the work of
such persons as the Lovely Lady must be done with children
like her." When Mary Lowe says that Lena was born with
a lack, she does not mean that she was mentally lacking, or
that, as Puck so often says, she is really "stupid Dutch
Lena." She is, like all young children, not immoral, just
unmoral, and the only reason Puck thinks her stupid is
because she is inexperienced. From the adult standpoint
little children often appear stupid ; they do need wisdom,
but it can come only with years and adult guidance.

Puck is the spirit of irresponsibility. He does not really
love Lena, though he claims to. How can he, since he has
never been willing to drink of the King's Potion ? He has
not the evil character of the witches, for he never tastes
their brew, but his mischief leads other people to drink it,
and so he hardly shines in any fairer light than they.

"THE BREW"

The witches are the avenue through which the child
is led to do wrong. They are the voice of temptation.
Their song is a chant in minor chords. Like the minor
chords that are heard in the storm wind this harmony kis

MARY LOWE'S PHILOSOPHY 209

a charm of its own. The words which the witches use are
good words, but they misrepresent and they are falsely
used.

When children learn about the brew in the stories and
the harm of it, they always suggest: "Take the witches
out." And when they insistently remain the children de-
mand that none of the characters shall drink of it. Mary
Lowe says that she is sure that if she ever allowed Frank,
the Everyboy, to drink of the brew she "would lose the
respect of many of her young friends." But, as in life,
the brew is there and the witches are there, and "how,"
asks Mary Lowe; "in any other way could the children
get anything more near to a real experience of life?"

The Lonesome Land is lonesome not only on account
of the lonely misery with which the child is familiar after
he has done wrong, but for a deeper reason. It is the
opposite of faith rather than of goodness. The lesson of
life, of the Enchanted Land, is that of teachableness. Those
in the Lonesome Land, who believe nothing, are the un-
teachable.

" They wrought in faith/ and not They wrought in doubt/
Is the proud epitaph inscribed above
Our glorious Dead who in their grandeur lie,
Crowned with the garland of Eternity.
Because they did believe, and conquered Doubt,
They lived great lives and did their deathless deeds."

So Mrs. Lowe thinks, and she would build a child's faith,
beyond creeds, in the basis of experiment and trust in the
practicability and joy of right living.

The brew is handled skilfully. The child may drink
of it, but it is something separate from the child. This is
important, for it helps the child to be less critical of others
and to feel less resentment at human ill-doing, and it gives
him hope to know that the brew is not his real self.

210 MANUAL OF STORIES

THE POTION AND THE LOVELY LADY

The King's Potion too is well stated. Buttercup is
incorruptible, she always guides aright, but after the child
has partaken of the brew she is helpless. Only Love can
devise a remedy, and she finds it from the King alone.

"There is nothing to fear.
Our King is greater than even black brew."

This thought needs no enlargement. The Potion completes
the lesson of hope.

One more point. The Lovely Lady is the mother or
the story-teller. She comes into the Enchanted Land with
Ruth and Frank, and like them she is mostly an on-looker,
though they may ask her 'to intervene with her mother love
when some of the bottle people need her. But note. She
is not there to interfere with Frank and Ruth. She watches
the way life moves in the Land, and is a learner as well
as her children. She helpes as a true learner can help,
not as a dictator. We cannot dictate character to our chil-
dren. They are made by their own choices. They may not
become just what she wants them to be, but if they are
guided aright they will become what their own best tenden-
cies and qualities make them. The attitude of the true
mother is that of a patient listener in the kingdom of life.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE PLAN IN WILL-
TRAINING

As to whether Mary Lowe's stories have really ever
done children good we get the best evidence in Chapter
XXV, where some actual instances are given as to what
they mean to the imagination, the constructive instinct and
the moral motive of some of the children with whom she
has lived.

MARY LOWE'S PHILOSOPHY 211

To-day we are pretty well agreed that the secret of
good living is in the heart and the will, that what the heart
loves the will will perform, and that the way to help the
will perform is to give it actual exercise in willing. The
finest road to right action is to give a child right actions
to perform. But clear back where the child learns to know
what the right is and to love it, much may be done. The
trouble with most of our moral education, even moral
education through stories, is that the child is perfectly
passive and accepts what we tell him. Mary Lowe has met
this difficulty and conquered it. In her system the children
are perpetually and enthusiastically active. Their activity
is not merely in making and moving the dolls — a merely
muscular activity, though that is something. But there is
activity of will. Each child's imagination actively identifies
himself with the hero of the story, much more than is
possible in a story that is simply told. Here is the actual
scene before him, here is the actual situation in the making,
here is he down in the scene acting, suffering, being tempted,
conquering or failing, and most of all — deciding. The deci-
sions of the character are his decisions. The judgment that
is passed upon those acts is one that he passes himself.
Mrs. Lowe says : "It has always been a notion of mine
to allow the child to form its own idea whether a given
act is wrong or not. If one of my boys asks me, 'Is that
wrong?' to do as he did, my answer would be, 'Well, is it
wrong — you know.' I would tell stories concerning the
nature of the act and compel them to decide for themselves.
You see that it is natural that the truth should seem clearer
to the mind that works it out for itself."

It is not necessary in this kind of story-telling to Uirow
in many moral observations. Children are as quick as
older persons to grasp the allegory, and if it doesn't make
itself clear as a story it isn't much of an allegory.

XXI

SOME BOTTLE-DOLL STORIES

WHEN RUTH AND FRANK VISITED THE
ENCHANTED LAND

NOTE: The characters in this story in the order of their ap-
pearance are as follows:

Ruth

Frank

Bo-Peep

Johnny Green

Boy Blue

Farmer's Wife

Witches

Buttercup

Fairy Godmother

It is suggested that all the characters upon the two platforms
be arranged in place before beginning the story, and that the chil-
dren be scattered about the meadow. The Farmer's Wife should
be at the house. When Frank and Ruth enter, they stop and look
up at the Kingdoms and then are met by Bo-Peep and Johnny
Green. The Witches are already stationed by the Brew. Buttercup
comes clown at the moment indicated and returns to confer with the
Fairy Queen. She brings down the Potion in a beautiful cup or
vase. The mixing of the Potion is a very interesting ceremony
to the children and they love to repeat the verse that is used at the
time until they have memorized it.

"Oh, Ruth! is this the Enchanted Land?"
"I am sure it is, Frank. Up there is the Fairy God-
mother. Below her is Old King Cole, and the Queen of
Hearts, and Prince Charming. And oh ! look at the dear
Tiny Tots, and all the people coming out of the house!

212

SOME BOTTLE-DOLL STORIES 213

I wonder if we know any of these other persons!" ex-
claimed Ruth excitedly.

"Here is Little Bo-Peep coming this way, I think,"
answered Frank.

Ruth waited for Bo-Peep and Johnny Green to come
near her. Frank heard Boy Blue call from a distance:

"Bo-Peep! Bo-Peep! Mother wants you to come
right away." And Bo-Peep ran home without saying a
word to disappointed Ruth.

The Farmer's Wife met her at the door. You know the
Farmer's Wife?

"Three blind mice,

They all ran up to the Farmer's Wife,
She cut their tails off with a carving knife.
You never did see such a time in your life,
As those three blind mice."

Well, she was the mother of Little Boy Blue and
Bo-Peep.

"Oh, Mother! Must we work this beautiful day?"
asked Bo-Peep.

"Tut, tut! my child. Why, out on the green hills
where the lambs frisk about among the daisies, and the rab-
bits play games all their own, is it not fine to be there?"
she asked. "Go get your sheep from the corral and drive
them to the hills and keep them there. Little Boy Blue
must go and keep the cows on the stubble down back of the
big barn. There are a few sheep among them that your
father will sell to-morrow."

The children laughing gayly went on their way. Com-
ing up to Ruth and Frank, who had been getting acquainted
with Johnny Green, they called cheerily:

"Come with us to the hills and gather daisies, won't
you?"

"No, no," shouted Johnny. "We will all go around
by the brown lane, and see the funny Witches who have

214 MANUAL OF STORIES

camped there. We may see some one drink of the black
brew — it will be fun."

Ruth and Frank did not like to go, and they said so.

"Then you and Boy Blue come, Bo-Peep; you can
return by the lower lane, and get your sheep out in plenty
of time."

"Well, it won't matter if we are a little late; Mother
will not care." So the children hurried to get a glimpse
of the wicked Witches. When they had come nearer to
the camp, the odor of the brew filled the air and made
them anxious to get nearer. Many persons were standing
about. A great kettle was steaming over a slow fire, and
queer Witches were stirring a very black-looking broth;
their grim faces were intent on the children and the mixing
of the brew. They mumbled as they worked.

Bo-Peep shivered slightly, and stood nearer Johnny.
Boy Blue was so young and small that he did not know
the danger as the others did.

"My, but it does smell nice !" he murmured wistfully.

Will no one save the children? Must they drink the
evil brew, and be poisoned?

Bo-Peep began to notice that the old Witches did not
look so horrible as they did at first, — and the brew did
smell nice — it wasn't so very black, either. Just then she
heard the Witches sing:

"Come, little children, dear little children —
Drink of the brew.
Everyone uses it,
No one refuses it,
Why should you?"

"Could we not take a tinty, weenty bit?" coaxed Boy
Blue.

Swiftly down the lane came Buttercup. The King had
given the children into her charge. Breathlessly she called
down to them:

SOME BOTTLE-DOLL STORIES 215

"Come, dearest, your mother is waiting for you.
Beware of the Witches— don't drink of the brew.
The birds and the flowers, the grass and the wood,
All filled with joy for love of the good,
Are calling for you."

The children thought it was a great pity to be disturbed
just when things seemed so happy. Bo-Peep turned to the
coming child, and said angrily :

"Oh, Buttercup, go,
You bother us so,
Just for this once,
Don't be such a dunce —
We will take only a drop of the brew,
No one will know of our drinking but you."

Then the Witches' enticing chant was heard again :

"Sweet children, partake of this liquid so rare,
Your hearts will be brave, to do and to dare ;
Your chains will be broken, your life will be free.
Come drink to your mother, your playmate, and Me."

The children crept still closer to the brew, and they
did not heed the cry of Buttercup who kept pleading:
"Dear little ones, come! Think of your homes!" Her
words were drowned in the louder chant of the Witches,
who sang:

"The Brew is like wine —
Like good, sweet wine,
Oh, it is fine !
Come taste it and use it,
Please don't refuse it!
There's nothing to harm,
It works like a charm.
Nice little children, drink of the Brew,
It makes all your wishes and dreams come true!'

216 MANUAL OF STORIES

And the children replied:

"Go away, Buttercup,
We are sorry for you,
But nothing will keep us
From drinking the Brew."

Crowding close to the kettle, the children each tasted
the brew that could bring nothing but evil to their hearts.
Frank and Ruth, who had watched them from the hillside,
turned away with tears in their eyes, for they understood.

At once Johnny looked about for some mischief to
do. He spied Mother Hubbard's dog chasing a cat down
the lane.

'There's Jack Spratt's little old cat— I'll kill it, -you
bet." He caught it as it came around the corner.

"Do not hurt it," pleaded Buttercup. "Please, Johnny,
put it down."

He would not listen. The black brew was taking
effect. Coming to a well (represented, perhaps, by a small
jar without a top), he threw the cat down into the water.
The poor kitty cried and cried, until she was almost
exhausted, before Jimmy Stout came that way after a while,
and nearly lost his life getting it safely out of the water.

Off in the distance the children could be heard singing :

"Ding-dong bell ! Pussy's in the well.
Who put her in? Little Johnny Green.
Who took her out? Little Jimmy Stout."

Bo-Peep hurried through the valley, and managed to
get the sheep out on the hills before her mother noticed
how long she had been doing her work. Boy Blue finally
got his cows and sheep together, but he felt so cross and
fretful that at last he lay down by a big hay-stack, and was
soon fast asleep.

In the meantime Johnny Green came to the place

SOME BOTTLE-DOLL STORIES 217

where the daisies grew. There he found Bo-Peep reading
a book full of witch stories.

"I believe I would rather be bad than good," she told
Johnny Green. "I am going to put on a red gown and
wear a funny tall cap, and be a witch, too. Then I will
coax all the children to drink of the brew until every one
of them has tasted of it. And when they are cross, I will —
Well, maybe I won't kill them — what could we do to
them?"

"Behead them!" answered Johnny promptly. "Then
they will go around headless. I was reading that wicked
queens always behead their unruly subjects. I guess I'll
be a Witch King. Say, Bo-Peep, I threw Jack Spratt's cat
in the well."

"Oh ! Johnny Green, — what will your mother do to
you?"

"Maybe I won't go back home any more — maybe I'll
just go away and see things."

This was a new thought to Bo-Peep.

"Let us both run away!" she said.

So Johnny and Bo-Peep climbed over the daisy-covered
hills, and left the sheep to stray where they would.

When the sun had tucked all the little birds and animals
into bed, and was about to snuff out his light, he noticed
Johnny and Bo-Peep sitting on a rock, lonely and weary.
Their little faces were tear-stained, and their tired eyes
turned to him frightened.

"Don't go down," they pleaded. "We are so afraid
in the dark." But the sun wouldn't stay one minute longer,
for he had not taken any of the brew, — he would not
disobey his King, who had told him to leave this land
every evening, and come back every morning. So the dark
came and covered the children like a veil. And one by.
one the stars came out, and then the moon sailed proudly
in sight. They had done no wrong ; they were not afraid —
they were shining patiently in their places.

As Johnny and Bo-Peep looked up at the stars they

218 MANUAL OF STORIES

thought of this, and the stain of the black brew seemed to
make their little hearts ache.

"Let's go home again, Bo-Peep; if my mother whips
me hard maybe the tears will help wash away the ache that
the brew makes in my heart."

"Maybe it would," answered Bo-Peep sorrowfully. So
they trudged all the dreary way back again over the daisy-
covered hills to their homes.

When Bo-Peep had come to her own door, she heard
her father say :

"Little Bo-Peep
Has lost her sheep,
And don't know where to find them."

And from outside the door Bo-Peep answered with
tears in her voice :

"Let them alone,
For they'll come home,
And bring their tails behind them."

You may remember how once upon a time Bo-Peep's
mother, the Farmer's Wife, cut off the tails of some mice
with her carving knife. She was a very decided person.
She was frightened because Bo-Peep was gone after dark,
and she was afraid that her little girl had been doing some-
thing even worse than neglecting her work.

"Did you go down the valley and drink of the Witch's
brew?" she asked.

"Yes, I did." You wouldn't be surprised if I told you
that Bo-Peep's mother gave her a shaking, and after a
supper of bread and milk, sent her right off to bed. But
Bo-Peep's heart was nowhere near so troubled by the shak-
ing as it was when she heard her mother downstairs sobbing,
"Oh ! where is Little Boy Blue — not home yet ; something
has happened to my little boy, I know."

Bo-Peep crept quietly out of bed, and slipped down

SOME BOTTLE-DOLL STORIES 219

to the barn to look for him, for she knew it was all her
fault that he had drank of the brew that day. And she
thought, too, that perhaps she could find him. In a little
while she heard the cow bell dingle-dingle in the corn field.
And she saw the white sheep her father was going to sell
bleating over in the green meadow. She was going to drive
them back where they belonged, when her troubled eyes
caught the shine of a little horn down beside the haystack.
Coming nearer, she found Boy Blue fast asleep. Then she
sang merrily :

"Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn,
The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn.
Is this the way to tend your sheep,
Under the haystack fast asleep?"

Just then Bo-Peep's mother, the Farmer's Wife, came
running up to them. She kissed Boy Blue, and threw her
arms about both her children and murmured, "What will
the Fairy Godmother say to me for not watching over my
little ones ?"

That night as they lay down to rest Bo-Peep said sadly,
"What can we do to take the ache out of our hearts, Boy
Blue?"

But neither of them knew. Although they had both
tried, still they felt the dark stain there.

But Buttercup did not forget the children. She had
gone to the Fairy Godmother and mournfully said :

"Oh! Fairy Godmother, the wicked old Witches

Have given our children a taste of the brew,
The cruel dark stain must ever remain,

No one can save them, dear mother, but you."

The Fairy Godmother looked lovingly at Buttercup,
and replied cheerfully:

"Oh ! Buttercup, dear, there is nothing to fear,
Our King is far greater than even black brew.

220 MANUAL OF STORIES

In every dark hour, he gives us the power
To wish for a blessing and make it come true."

"Call good little Alice to bring out the Chalice."
Buttercup flew to do her bidding. Then Alice of
Wonderland brought the King's Chalice, and set it before
the Fairy Godmother, who had the magic power to mix
the King's Potion. As she dropped into the golden vessel
the precious liquid, she was heard to say slowly, as she
mixed it:

"Pour Mercy, and Peace, and Justice herein,
We add to the Potion pure heartfelt Devotion,
Now put in the mixture much Sorrow for Sin,
The Chalice we fill with Love and Good Will.
Pour all in the jar you bring,
Now dip in a cup and each take a sup,
Then close with the Seal of the King."

Then the Fairy Godmother carefully gave the Chalice
into the hands of Buttercup, and told her quickly to give
it to the children, who had drank of the Brew, so that
the curse of the Witches might be removed.

Buttercup knelt down beside the little bed containing
the two sad, sleepless children, and said with a bright
smile :

"See! Here is the King's Potion. You may drink
of it, and your hearts will be white once more, and all
the pain and worry will be gone."

So they drank of the golden cup, and all the pain was
taken out of their hearts.

"Oh! Buttercup, please go to Johnny Green's house,
and let him drink, too," pleaded Bo-Peep.

Don't you think that Johnny Green was glad to drink
of the precious Potion?

When the good sun looked down on the Enchanted
Land the next morning, he saw three very happy children,
who were very careful to keep away from the valley of
the Witch's Brew.

SOME BOTTLE-DOLL STORIES 221

THE FOX AND THE FARMER

NOTE: Mrs. Lowe shows us in this story how one of the Old
Mother Goose rhymes may be made into a prose story, and told
with the aid of the bottle people.

This is what the moon saw. It all happened in the
Enchanted Land.

One evening the Farmer called Bo-Peep from the
meadow where she had been telling Boy Blue a story. They
promptly obeyed his call, and were both soon in bed fast
asleep. When the Farmer closed the shutters for the night
he thought that the moon had winked at him, but he could
not be quite sure. Soon the whole house was silent, and
every one slumbered.

Puck was standing beside the tent of the Witches, and
the four of them seemed to be plotting something. Finally,
it was agreed what the sport of the night should be. One
of the Witches was to turn herself into a fox, and visit
the Farmer's geese and make trouble.

(Since we are in the Land of Make-believe, a Witch
may look like a fox if she pleases. But a Witch is still a
Witch, so the children will see her as she is, but the Farmer
will be fooled.)

So pretty soon the Witch came to the edge of the
town. (She is a fox now.)

"The fox jumped up on a clear bright night,
The stars were shining — all things right.
'Ho, ho!' said the fox. 'It's a very fine night
For me to go through the town, heigho !' "

Now I see the fox creeping, creeping, sneaking, sneak-
ing over the stile, across the meadow, making his way
to the Farmer's house.

"The fox, when he came to yonder stile,
He lifted his ears, and he listened a while.

222 MANUAL OF STORIES

'Ho, ho!' said the fox. 'It's but a short mile
From this to yonder town, heigho !' "

Now the Fox- Witch goes to the children's play-house.
He would not dare do that if Boy Blue were awake. See,
he is looking in the window, and now he tries the door.
Ah! The Farmer built his house strong and well. The
Witch need not try to get in. I guess the Farmer knows !

Now the Fox- Witch goes back of the house. Here
are the geese all cuddled down to sleep on a flat board next
to the fence. The drake is roosting like a watchman on
the back gate, but he is beginning to sleep, too.

"The fox when he came to the farmer's gate,
Whom should he see but the farmer's drake;
'I love you so well for your master's sake,
And long to be picking your bones, heigho !' "

The drake did not want his bones picked, so he woke
up and tried to get away. All the other geese woke up and
hurried and scurried, too, and the fox after them, especially
after the biggest and fattest old gray goose.

"The gray goose ran right around the haystack.
'Ho, ho!' said the fox. 'You are very fat;
You'll do very well to ride on my back,
From this unto the town, heigho !"

Then oh, the cackling, the fussing and quacking! The
gray goose flew over the fence, and the fox leaped over
after her. The gray goose ran around a bush, and the fox
ran around the bush, too. The gray goose was getting
out of breath, but the fox was just as fresh as ever.

The Farmer's Wife, that staunch, brave woman, who
could calmly cut off the tails of three blind mice if neces-
sary, would never allow a mere fox such liberties. Boy
Blue half woke up, and wondered in a sleepy way if it
was Thanksgiving-time, and all of the geese and chickens
were going to lose their heads. He wasn't afraid, for there

SOME BOTTLE-DOLL STORIES 223

were Mother and Father to look after them. Little Bo-Peep
was so very tired that she did not wake up at all, and
knew nothing about it until morning.

"The farmer's wife she jumped out of bed,
And out of the window she popped her head.
'Oh, husband! Oh, husband! The geese are all dead,
For the fox has been through the town, heigho!'"

Then the Farmer quickly arose, and loaded the little
pistol that was always tucked over the door, and went
quietly out. Boy Blue drowsily heard the door crack, and
was just about to drop into a deep slumber when — Bang!

"The farmer loaded his pistol with lead,
And shot the old rogue of a fox in the head.
'Ah, ha!' said the farmer. T think you're quite dead,
And on more you'll trouble the town, heigho!'"

So the Farmer came back to the house and went to
bed again. But by this time Boy Blue was wide awake,
and he tumbled into his clothes, and hurried down to ask
his father what was the matter. The Farmer woke up long
enough to tell him how he had killed the old red fox, just
in front of the house. He did not know that the fox was
the wicked old Witch, for she could make people see
things just as she wanted them to. So back went the
Farmer and his boy to sleep.

The next morning when the Farmer opened the shut-
ters of his house before day-break, he fancied that the
moon winked at him again. She may have done so, for just
as soon as all was quiet the Witch got up on her feet and
ran straight back to her tent. When the Farmer came out
in the morning to pick up the fox's body, and nail the
skin to his barn door, there was no fox there. It seemed
to the old Witch that it was not a very good joke after
all for the Farmer to come put and frighten her half to
death when she was only trying to have a little fun, and
just to think that not one of the geese was hurt !

224 MANUAL OF STORIES

SOME OTHER STORIES

As has been suggested, not only may all stories be
told with bottle dolls, but nearly all can be told with refer-
ence to Mrs. Lowe's allegory. In Emilie Poulsson's collec-
tion there is a charming story by Raymond M. Alden,
entitled "How the Chimes Rang." It tells of a magic
country in which the church chimes would ring only when
an unselfish deed had been done. It pictures the people
meeting in church, and the rich, the wise and the proud
bringing their gifts, to all of which the chimes were silent,
because theirs were the gifts of self-seeking. But a little
poor boy who had been kind to his brother and to a lost dog
sets the chimes ringing when he enters the church. To
tell this story, "the church" and congregation are easily
arranged, and it remains only to suggest that the selfish
people had drunk of the "brew" and to suit the action to
the word to make the story wonderfully effective.

Sarah Cory Rippey has written a unique little story
book entitled "The Goody-Naughty Book," published by
Rand, McNally & Company, Chicago.

The "good side" of the book contains eight simple
stories which would be excellent to tell to young children,
to give the adventures of bottle characters who have never
forgotten to listen to the whispers of Buttercup, while the
"naughty side" contains as many simple and natural stories
which illustrate the mischances of little folks who have
so far forgot themselves as to drink the Brew.

A number of story-tellers have become very enthusiastic
about the possibility of telling some of the Bible stories
with the character dolls. This graphic use of material
figures would be suitable, for obvious reasons, chiefly with
the Old Testament stories. Perhaps the best of the Bible
stories for bottle character presentation is the favorite
story of David. The young shepherd is naturally placed
in the meadow of the Enchanted Land, and the home at-

SOME BOTTLE-DOLL STORIES 225

mosphere is given by a scene at the house. The child's own
favorite would be the hero, Boy Blue, who himself was a
shepherd, or Prince Charming or Frank. We have the
Giant Goliath ready to hand. The king is our Old King
Cole, who is kind until he drinks of the brew, when his
madness overcomes him. The story of Joseph, the finest
tale in all literature, may be told by these means, though it
may be hard to conjure up enough wicked brothers without
manufacturing some new characters for the purpose. But
a special set of bottle people, to play with only on Sunday,
embodying the leading types of character in the Old Testa-
ment, would not be a bad acquisition to any household.

Perhaps the most practical way to show how other
stories may be told with the bottle people is by turning to
the stories which children have actually told, given in Chap-
ter XXV; the programs in Appendix IX, also some of the
other familiar and favorite children's stories, which may
easily be told with the bottle people without special direc-
tions.

XXII
HOW TO MAKE THE BOTTLE PEOPLE

It is now time to tell how bottle dolls are made. The
only materials required are small-sized empty bottles
(round bottles should be used if possible, as these stand
better), white lawn, a little cotton batting for filling, scraps
of paper and cloth for garments, and some thread, glue, pen
and ink. Set a bottle before you ; then take a square piece
of cloth large enough to make the head and shoulders the
size the bottle suggests. To make the head, pack the cotton
firmly in the center of the cloth, and fold the cloth over
and tie it in the shape of a ball. Make the heads of different
shapes and sizes. Place cotton inside a small piece of
pink outing flannel to form the chin and the lower part of
the face. Over this lay a three-cornered piece of pink lawn
to give a flesh color effect. Bias the edge well under the
chin. Tie the long ends behind the head, and pull the
remaining end of the cloth over the top of the head and
sew tightly. Now tie the bias edge of the cloth firmly under
the chin, leaving no wrinkles.

Use paper to shape the shoulders and bust. Then tie
this head-and-shoulder piece on the neck of the bottle.
Paste over all but the head a strong piece of paper. Now
clothe the doll in paper or cloth, according to notion. Arms
may be empty if something is placed about the shoulders
to give the suggestion that arms are there. With a pen
sketch eyes, nose and mouth, trying to make different fea-
tures for different characters.

The following colors are appropriate for characters :
226

How TO MAKE THE BOTTLE PEOPLE 227

Fairy Godmother and her Tiny Tots, Mary Contrary,

Wee Willie Winkie, Mrs. Horner and Jack

o' Hearts, all in white.
King, purple and black.
Queen, red and gilt.
Guards, black and gilt.
King's Messenger and Jack Horner, gray.
Puck, and Little Miss Muffet, pink.
Alice of Wonderland, blue.
Buttercup, yellow.
Ruth, light blue.

Lovely Lady, white lawn, with small pink figure.
Policeman, dark blue or black.
Mother Hubbard, blue, with a light calico apron.
Polly Flinders, dark blue dress, with long white cape.
Farmer, Tommy Snooks and Little Boy Blue, dark

blue overalls and light shirts.
Little Bo-Peep, black and white check.
Farmer's Wife, brown and green.
Lena, and Red Riding Hood, red and white.
Frank, Jack the Giant Killer, Tom Piper, and Johnny

Green, brown.

Sister Marie, black and white.
Bessie Brooks, red check dress, with white apron.
Witches, green and red.

XXIII

HOW TO MAKE THE SCENERY AND ARRANGE
THE ACCESSORIES

Mrs. Lowe has made bottle-doll play even more fas-
cinating by planning for accessories and scenery. Mrs.
Lowe's boats were made of tiny boxes, also her sleighs,
wagons and trains of cars. She said it did not detract
from their value when wagons that were used to bring
a load of merrymakers to grandma's were turned upside
down to serve as their table to eat from. It will add
much to the interest of the play if simple backgrounds are
built up out of common nursery material, such as table
covers laid over blocks and boxes for undulating plains,
using boxes to represent houses and furniture, twigs for
shrubs and trees, and having carts, cars and doll furniture
take their silent part in building a scenic effect.

The house, which is essential to bottle scenery, may be
made of a shoe box, somewhat decorated with cut-out win-
dows and doors or of a toy house in the child's own collec-
tion. When the compiler of this book was trying out the
plan with some expert story-tellers a very elaborate doll
house was sent to them for this purpose. The story-tellers
already had a very simple contrivance which Mrs. Lowe
herself had fashioned out of pasteboard. When the chil-
dren were asked, as they were in several towns, which house
they preferred they always asked for Mrs. Lowe's. They
seemed to want to exercise their imaginations on something
that was not too complete and ready-made.

A novel book by E. Nesbit, published by George H.
228

How TO MAKE THE SCENERY 229

Doran^ Company, New York, entitled "Wings and the
Child," tells how to make an elaborate background which
would be most attractive for bottle doll play out of such
objects as nursery blocks, call bells, books, sand, and various
bright-colored junk such as is found in every child's toy
box and every attic.

The pot for the witches' brew should be a very homely
utensil. A small tin cup painted black inside is excellent,
because even clear water will look black inside it. The
Chalice should be a beautiful vessel. A bright copper
match safe or a small silver vase will do.

A river may be indicated by a bank made of paste-
board boxes, laid zigzag, over a space in the center. A
well may be made by placing square boxes as curbing.
When figures must go into the river they are taken over
the bank. If the object is to be unseen in the well, make
the curbing hig"h.

In order to fit the character dolls to every sort of story,
let us give some miscellaneous directions.

Do not keep too many animals or articles on the table.
Have a place provided to keep them. Use as needed.

Use twigs for trees, and place them in spools, wrapped
in green. They may stand where you want them.

A collection of toy-animals should be called for from
the children, who will take more interest if they are a
part of the little world.

The toys must fit the dolls in size.

Make it a point to have everything that can be procured
to fit any story. If a fire is needed where it can be seen,
use red and gilt paper. If a fence is spoken of, make a
fence of toothpicks.

If a figure needs disguising for a time, cut a half circle
of cloth, cut the neck out of the center of the straight side
and pin on the figure; then twist a bit of tissue paper
about the head to form hat and bonnet.

If a babe is needed to complete a family, take one
from the Fairy Godmother. If a ragged child is called

230 MANUAL OF STORIES

for, do the same; make two smaller circles for cloaks, and
have them ragged, and fasten at neck and waist line.

When soldiers are needed, put uniforms, cut poncho
style, over the shoulders of a lot of the male characters.

When an angel is needed, use Alice of Wonderland.
If more than one, use Buttercup, Puck or the Fairy God-
mother.

When a "store" is needed, pin a straight cloth above
the house and print the name on it. If store and house
both, then have one in stock, and be up to date.

When a story tells of the inside of a house, place
toothpicks to form plan of the house, with one or more
rooms. If a figure must go upstairs, lift it quickly and
place in the next room. This seems realistic.

If school or church are in a story, place the people in
rows, as in "meeting," and have the actors quite visible
to the audience. Omit no detail that it is possible to put
into the action of the story.

Make houses to represent a certain neighborhood, then
name the dolls for people living there. Tell of some inci-
dent that has happened there.

XXIV
RULES FOR MOVING THE BOTTLE PEOPLE

Learn the dolls by name.

When choosing a character for a new story tell the
name of the doll, and speak of the change something like
this : "In the story I will tell you, Jack the Giant Killer
will take the character of Tommy." They already love
Jack and are interested in his success.

When introducing a character, place it in the middle
of the space, holding by thumb and finger at its back, and
have it face the audience whenever possible.

Do not place a thumb over its face when holding it.
Some do.

Do not read a story and use the dolls at the same
time.

Make dolls move in the center space whenever pos-
sible. Anything may be moved on the table to another
position.

When hats are adjustable on dolls, remove them some-
times.

When, in being moved through space, a doll knocks
another out of place, have it excuse itself.

When a figure is to lift or hold any article, hold the
object so that it seems to be held by the doll. When any-
thing is thrown, this must be done the same way.

When the Giant steals one of the Tiny Tots, let him
slip up and take her under his arm when Lena is not
looking. This is an exciting moment for the children.
They love action when nothing is being said.

You may use a doll for the liveliest action in a given

231

232 MANUAL OF STORIES

story, and then suddenly say, "So he left them all, and
never returned." And just lift the little figure that was a
moment ago full of life, and set it over on a shelf. No
one finds any inconsistency in the action, because the doll
has simply left the Enchanted Land and gone back to the
everyday world.

When a good description is given in a story, do not
leave any of it out because the doll cannot be made to act
it. Just make a gesture with your own hand and go on.

Never forget that the story is of more importance
than the doll.

If you wish to tell a story in which there is practically
no action, or to recite a poem, use two solid boxes, one flat,
for platform, and one high, for the back of it; these will
form a mimic stage. Then place three or more figures on
it, as if sitting in a half circle. Allow each one of these in
turn to recite one of the little poems, taking care that each
"child" shall tell something suitable for her size and sort.
This will prove interesting, and there is no story that may
not be told thus, if it is not possible to tell it with the bottle
dolls in action.

Sometimes Mrs. Lowe lets little people just talk to
each other, and say the things the children are anxious to
know. Let Little Boy Blue get lost, and tell how he feels,
and how his mother worries over him, and the sadness
of Little Bo-Peep — and then let them find him.

You begin to see the vividness of this kind of play.
What is taking place mentally is very interesting. The
child is in a society of many imaginary companions to
whom he lends real attributes and powers. Since these
characters are constant, but their adventures vary, he can
and does take these mimic friends with him day after
day into every story and game he wishes to play.

XXV
WHAT THEY MEAN TO THE CHILDREN

When the writer first learned, quite by accident, of this
unique system of story-telling through play, it was through
a friend who came to the town where Mrs. Lowe had lived,
three years after she herself had removed, and found the
children to whom Mrs. Lowe had explained the bottle
characters, after three years' absence, retelling them and
telling some of their own.

This was gratifying to Mrs. Lowe, for she had said,
"You see, I want the children to create a little world of
their own. When you have made the plan their own, they
will have a real basis to their system. You do not teach the
children ; they catch the idea from you how to teach them-
selves. They will tell little stories, and begin to put out
their own ideas, and make characters to fit if they are
encouraged. All the teacher has to do is to fill the child
with faith in itself." Mrs. Lowe favors having the dolls
made by the children. They should create their world and
inhabit it. The characters are not to be mere playthings,
but an incentive to actual labor. They will not work half
so hard if they have all they want at the beginning.

HOW TO MAKE THE CHILDREN ORIGI-
NATIVE

While an adult tells the story she should be mindful
to ask her little crowd as many questions as they ask her.
The story-telling should always become a dialogue. To

233

234 MANUAL OF STORIES

encourage this even further, Mrs. Lowe says, "Whenever a
child asks me a question I find it always best to let another
child answer if possible, or to let the questioner figure out
some sort of answer to his own question, while I suggest
as little as possible/'

Mrs. Lowe has had many interesting experiences in
getting the children themselves to take part in this kind of
play. She finds only three rules necessary:

1. When a character has partaken of the brew, it
must afterward have a chance to partake of the King's
Potion.

2. The child must be allowed to use the most active
personages — the Fairy Godmother, the Buttercup, the
Witch, and Puck — at any time in the story, but must never
change their characters.

3. The older Playfellow may best help the child to
invent by selecting the characters, but not over five at first,
and beginning the story. In order that the mind of the
child shall have something to act with, small boxes or mis-
cellaneous chips may be laid upon the table to assist the
imagination.

When encouraging a child to tell stories who has no
special story in mind to tell it is well to put a number
of small articles on the tables with but a few characters.
He can manage to find uses for the things easier than for
the folks, and the former will suggest activities to him
for the latter.

Below is a story given word for word as it was told
recently to Mrs. Lowe by a child hardly nine years old.

A STORY TOLD BY A CHILD OF NINE

"I placed three empty boxes on the table beside Mother
Hubbard, Father Time, Wee Willie Winkie and Boy Blue.
I started the story:

WHAT THEY MEAN TO THE CHILDREN 235

"One day Wee Willie and Boy Blue went to visit their
grandma—" Maggie took up the theme :

" — in the country. Willie is a very little boy, so he is
in bed yet. (This white box will be the bed.) Now
Grandma says to Boy Blue, 'Call Wee Willie, and go wash
your hands and face, for breakfast is ready.' (I will use
this brown box for a table.) 'Come on, Wee Willie, you
lazy boy. Grandma won't care if you eat with your night-
gown on, for she is in a hurry to attend to the milk/
'Stand around this table. Here is Ruth — she is me — now
she is knocking at the door,' she is a lady, you know.

' 'Come in,' says Grandma. 'You are quite early this
morning, dear, how is your mamma?'

' 'She is very well, but she is having quite a time with
the baby, he is cutting his teeth now, and is dreadful cross.'

" That is too bad — have a cooky, Miss Ruth — (Play
this was a cooky) — that the baby has the measles, and
the whooping cough, and is all broke out with the hives,
she can't make any pies to-day.' Now Boy Blue has
eaten up all of the cookies, and Wee Willie has got milk
all over his nightgown, but Grandma does not care for
that, for she knows that the children haven't had a chance
to drink any brew this morning, and you know that a child
has got to drink brew before he can be bad on purpose.

"So now they all go out to play. First they play
'Puss in the Corner.' Wee Willie will stand here, Boy Blue
will stand in this corner, and these two boxes will be two
more children. Now Ruth will be Pussy — Ruth is me.
Tussy Wants a Corner/ (This is played until all change
corners.)

"Now they go to the barn and swing. This spool will
do for the barn. Now let Wee Willie swing first, he is
the littlest. ( She fancies the swing, and they are all swayed
back and forth for a while.)

" 'Oh, there is the horse all hitched up, we will go
riding/ That's what Boy Blue says. But Ruth says, 'Won't
your Grandpa be mad?' But anyway they all climbed in

236 MANUAL OF STORIES

this big box— play it was a new buggy— and then they go
down this street and this one — and then on into the world
of Make-believe, and on and on — but we do not see any
Ogres or Goblins, but we hurry back, and the horse goes
faster and faster until he gets all tired out, and then we
all go home. They put the horse in the barn — play this stick
was a horse — and we give him corn. Now they hear
Grandpa calling awful cross, for he has found out they had
the horse out, so now they — Oh, Mrs. Lowe, I forgot the
brew." "No matter, just finish anyway."

"Well, they go to the house, and Grandpa is angry
and so is Grandma. 'Ruth, you go straight home,' she
says, 'and these children must play on the back porch
the rest of the day. That's all, for I can't give Ruth any
potion, because she didn't take any brew.' Then one of
the boys, one with freckles, snorted, 'Well you had better
give her a sip of the potion anyway, for she must have
sneaked a little of the brew somewhere, for she knows she
did wrong, if she's got any sense.' ")

In actual use the told story will differ from these
written ones chiefly in this, that when a story is told there
is much more dialogue, not only between the characters
but between the story-teller and the children. The story-
teller should accept just as many suggestions from the
children as possible regarding word and action, so long as
they do not alter the trend of her story.

We certainly can do much for a child's development
if we help him become a creative story-teller. The char-
acter dolls give a child a good chance to bring in other
objects so that it seems to become easier for him to form
a plot of a story, and the telling will not only discipline
the child himself, but will give the listener a glimpse of
the child's tendencies that might otherwise remain a mys-
tery.

WHAT THEY MEAN TO THE CHILDREN 237

A STORY TOLD BY A SEVEN YEAR OLD

There is a simple little story told by Genevieve, seven
years old. It brings out a beautiful lesson of consideration
and helpfulness with a slight sense of humor.

Characters :

Farmer's Wife.
Boy Blue.
Tiny Tots.
Bo- Peep.
Ruth.

Articles used:

Stove, a square black box.

Table, a pasteboard box, with sides and ends cut out.

Couch, side of a long box cut out, and ends slanted,

resting upon an inverted lid.
Cupboard, a box with pasteboard shelves pressed

tightly into this.
Cradle, small box, with rockers cut in half circles and

placed in a slit at each end of the bottom.
Stand, small box.

"Dear me!" says the Farmer's Wife. "I have such a
dreadful headache — I must go and lie down a while." So
she will lie on this couch. Bo-Peep must get dinner now,
for her mamma is ill.

"Will you have some tea, Mamma?" said Bo-Peep.
No, Boy Blue says that, for little boys always worry when
their mamma is sick.

"Yes, I will take some tea, I think."

So Bo-Peep put this dish on the stove (play it was a
tea-pot) and the tea was soon done. Then she took it to
her mamma, and placed it on the stand beside her. Now

238 MANUAL OF STORIES

Bo-Peep goes and puts the baby to sleep, so Mamma will
not be disturbed. (Sings)

"By-O baby bunting, Daddy's gone a-hunting,
To get a little rabbit skin,
To wrap the baby bunting in."

"Now I will get dinner and clean up the house."

This is meat that Bo-Peep is putting on to fry. Now
she will set the table. She tells Boy Blue to get the kindling,
but he won't, for boys never do mind when their mamma
is sick. Bo-Peep wants to whip him, but he hollers so loud
when he is whipped that the whole neighborhood would
hear him. So she won't. Here is a table cloth. She will
spread it on the table, and here are the dishes. My, what
a sweet cupboard ! I wish it was mine. Now she has the
table set. Oh, I forgot Ruth ! Here she comes.

"Oh, I am so glad you came, Ruth — you are just in
time for dinner." So they all sit around the table (play
they are sitting), and Bo-Peep passes the bread. And Boy
Blue says, "Oh, give me some pie!" for boys are so rude.
Only Bo-Peep will not give him any until he eats some
bread. Now the baby is wide awake and Bo-Peep will
rock him again. If Bo-Peep didn't have to drink the Brew
before she could whip Boy Blue, I would have her do it,
for she feels just like it. (Sings to the baby and rocks
the cradle.)

"Yes, Boy Blue, you can have pie if you want it. Eat
it all, no one cares. Pass Ruth a piece, won't you?" That
is what Bo-Peep said.

"Now there is the school bell, and you will be late.
I am not going, for Mamma will need me."

So Boy Blue and Ruth went to school, this way, and
Bo-Peep said :

"Mamma, won't you have some more tea, and some
toast?"

The mamma wanted some more, so Bo-Peep put this

WHAT THEY MEAN TO THE CHILDREN 239

dish on. And, Oh yes, — she will fry some meat for Mrs.
Farmer. Now it is done, and she spreads some butter
on it, and it looks so good that she wants it herself — well,
play she was cooking some of it for herself, and the tea
is for her mamma. Now she sets it on the stand, and goes
over here and eats her dinner, and it is fine. Then Mrs.
Farmer got well, and Bo-Peep ran hard, and got to school
before the last bell rang. That is all.

SOME OF MARY LOWE'S EXPERIENCES

Here are some interesting incidents of the actual use
of the bottle characters.

These stories powerfully stimulate the imagination :

Once Mrs. Lowe's play club had a funeral. They had
a hearse, a coffin, a preacher to conduct the service, a grave
under the trees and a retinue of small people in attendance.
The children shed real tears, and a boy who saw the
burial and did not belong to -the club came next day and
shyly put some flowers on the grave !

Another time she turned a lovely night into a stormy
one by turning off all the lights but a small candle in a
doll house, and flashing the electric lights for lightning,
while they pulled a strong box in the shape of a canoe
filled with Indians toward a draw-bridge let down. ''Upon
that occasion nothing could be heard but the excited breath-
ing of the club."

One boy to whom Mrs. Lowe told stories, sometimes
with the dolls, sometimes with pencil pictures, up to the
time she began was below the average in English and draw-
ing. Within a month he always had 100 per cent in both.

The opportunities for friendly co-operation in bottle-
doll play are obvious. A group of children may volunteer
to make a certain number of character dolls apiece till the
set is completed, but a lively lot will usually not be content
to own a set conjointly, and soon each child will determine

240 MANUAL OF STORIES

to have a complete set of his own. The educative possibili-
ties of constructing such a variety of characters are almost

limitless.

Sometimes it is possible by sharing in a child s story-
telling to show him a side of the subject which otherwise he
would have missed seeing.

Harry Hall was a very bright child, six years old, un-
usually affectionate and sensitive. But he had a tendency to
crush everything that opposed him, no matter what the cost.

Having no character dolls, he and Mary Lowe piled
a white cloth on a couch in such a manner that hills and
mountains and valleys were formed. Harry began his story
first, tracing with his pudgy little ringers the movements of
his imaginary persons.

HARRY'S STORY

"In this valley beside this big river is a band of fierce
wild Indians. They have sharp tomahawks, and they are
going to kill animals now. They will march down this
valley, up over this hill, and around this cliff on toward the
big mountain here in the center.

"Up here on the other side of the mountain, high up,
is a cave (making a dent in the cloth) and in it a little boy
is hiding. He hears the Indians coming, and he thinks it is
white men, so he comes down this way. Then he hears a
cow bell dingle, and he tries to find the cow. (Lions don't
have bells, you know, so he knows it is a cow.) Then pretty
soon the whole crowd of Indians war-whooped — every one
of them at once — like this (giving a fair imitation). Then
the boy runs and runs, and falls down, and gets up, and
runs faster, until he gets to the cave. Now he digs in, and
hides away back.

"The Indians come this way, over this little hill, down
this valley, up this side of the mountain, and now they are
on the very top, where they camp.

WHAT THEY MEAN TO THE CHILDREN 241

\ •

"The boy heard them, and was afraid. But the Indians
did not know he was there. Then when the meat began to
cook, and the fire burned high, one Indian went to sleep,
then another Indian went to sleep, then all of the Indians
went to sleep, — all but one ; he didn't. He ate all the meat
up, and waked the other Indians and whooped :

' 'I smell the blood of an Englishman ! I smell the
blood of an Englishman !'

'Then all the Indians whooped, 'I smell the blood of an
Englishman F '

(At this exciting juncture Harry stopped and said, "I
guess I'll let them get the boy. No, I won't.")

Then he continued, 'The boy came out of the cave, and
ran swift as a deer down the side of the mountain until he
got to this river, and got in a boat, and went off. The In-
dians saw him, and ran, too, but when they got half way
down, an earthquake caved the mountain in, and swallowed
them all i<p. (And he flattened the center of the cloth to
suit.) That is all."

It was Mrs. Lowe's turn.

MARY LOWE'S STORY

So Mary Lowe continued :

"When the boy got home his father said, 'I am glad to
see you safe home, my boy, for your mother was worried
about you.'

"Under these high cliffs there are caves, and in them
live the wives and children of the Indians who are lying
dead under the mountain. A little Indian boy is standing on
the very top of this cliff, looking over the hills and far away
over the low valleys. His mother calls from the cave :

" 'Do you see them coming ? The fire is blazing high,
and we must have the game to cook soon, or we will all be
starved.'

" 'He does not come,' answered the boy simply. He

242 MANUAL OF STORIES

had stood for hours and hours, waiting for the father who
would never come. The heart of the little Indian boy was
brave, so he didn't complain, though he was cold and hungry.

"All along the side of this cliff are boys waiting for
their Indian fathers to come home. But how could they
come when they are lying cold and dead under the big moun-
tain?

" 'My father is brave !' called one of the boys. 'He has
killed big lions— he will bring us game to eat, and we will
divide with you.'

"But all of the Indian boys within hearing shouted to
him:

" 'We do not want the game that your father will bring,
for we have fathers over the mountain who are greater
chiefs than your father, and when they come we will have a
feast.'

"So the day passed, and when the evening came the
mothers and the boys marched down the long valley, over
this little hill, down this narrow valley, and stood at last
at the foot of the mountain that used to guard the hills
year after year. The fire burned high and hot in the caves,
and the big kettles of water boiled, waiting for the game
that was never to be cooked, and the grim faced woman
and amazed boys stood hungry and cold beside the ruined
mountain, wondering where the great chiefs were who had
gone from home so gaily that morning, looking so strong
and alive.

"Well, we know, you and I, that they were lying cold
and dead, crushed under the mountain, and they will never
come home any more."

Mrs. Lowe says that this sort of story can always be
depended upon to modify the savagery of the boy's next
story. This boy got the idea that besides himself there were
others in the world who were worth while.

WHAT THEY MEAN TO THE CHILDREN 243

SOME MORAL RESULTS FROM BOTTLE-
DOLL STORY-TELLING

You can see at once to how many fine things bottle-
doll play relates itself. It helps memory, as children retell
stories they have heard, whether they have seen them told
with bottle dolls or not, for the writer has seen children,
who have had the doll system explained to them within
the hour, immediately come forward and select doll-charac-
ters and proceed to tell and enact entirely fresh stories.
This develops freedom of expression. It brings out re-
sourcefulness, as the children make new character dolls,
invent backgrounds and compose new situations and stories.
These involve a variety of handicraft. It gives early exer-
cise in character analysis, as individual dolls are selected
to play new and appropriate parts. The moral value is
greatest of all, for Mrs. Lowe has slyly slipped into her alle-
gory that immemorial contest between "Mother Love" and
the witches' "brew," which is the very essence of moral liv-
ing, and thus has given moral meaning to every bottle-doll
story.

Evidences of alterations in ideals and conduct among
children have not been wanting in Mrs. Lowe's own experi-
ence.

One boy, a street boy, who was very rude to his mother,
never having a good word for her, came to Mrs. Lowe's
house one morning after four evenings of story-telling, and
said, "I got a big walloping this morning, but I just gritted
my teeth, and thought if the old girl could lick the stuffin'
out of me, she had a right to do it. 'Cause if she is all the
Lovely Lady I can have, I am going to stick to liking her. A
boy is mighty mean, anyway — I don't blame her for any-
thing she does to me." And he was in earnest. He grows
better every day.

Lucy had been in the habit of running away and play-
ing with the colored children on the next corner. Her

244 MANUAL OF STORIES

mother had repeatedly told her not to do so. (She is six.)
Suddenly, she stopped going. Later she confided to Mrs.
Lowe, "I do not go to Crawford's any more, because if I
did, I would have to drink the brew, and if we drink of the
witch's brew we cannot be happy, you know."

Jennie asked why the invisible King didn't have some
love mixed in the brew when the witches weren't looking,
so that it would not be all bad. Helen, ten years old, an-
swered, "If you want love, why not go to the Fairy God-
mother? She is always near. The good and bad get all
mixed up in the heart enough now without the Invisible
King bothering to make it worse."

Another little girl said, "I thought at first when the
stories were new to me that my mamma drank of the brew
when she switched me, and now I see it is because she is
anxious I shall not be burned by the brew that she punishes
me. If she didn't love me some, she would not care."

A little girl of six said, "My mamma called me to come
home, and I was not going to listen. And then I thought
'What would Buttercup say !' So I ran home, for I have a
dear little buttercup in my heart."

Buster, a bright boy of seven, asked, "How do I know
that I have a buttercup like that in my heart?" Helen, ten,
answered, "Why make believe that you have." "Well, what
if the make-believe buttercup tells me to do the wrong
thing?" "She won't tell you wrong. You will know by
what she says for you to do whether she is a witch or a
buttercup."

APPENDIXES

A LIST OF STORIES THAT CHILDREN LIKE

Selected by the Best Story-Tellers

To ACCOMPANY CHAPTER III

Richard T. Wyche, founder and president of the National Story-
Tellers' League :

Fairy Stories

Red Riding Hood
The Three Bears
Beauty and the Beast
Sleeping Beauty

A Boy's Visit to Santa Claus, by R. T. Wyche — Newson & Co.,
New York

Myths

Persephone Old Greek sources

Nimmy Nat Old English Fairy Stories by

Jacobs

Folk Tales and Legends

Uncle Remus Joel Chandler Harris

Hiawatha Longfellow

Hero Tales

Beowulf J. L. Hall

King Arthur Tennyson or Malory

Ulysses Bryant's Odyssey — Old Greek

Stories — Andrew Lang

Siegfried Jas. Baldwin— E 1 d e r Ed da-
Younger Edda — Madam Rogo-
zene's "Beowulf and Siegfried"

Stones of Real Life

Stories of Washington "Story Life of Washington"—

Daniel Boone, David Crockett, early pioneers.

245

246 MANUAL OF STORIES

Miss Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, author of "For the Story-Teller,"
"For the Story- Hour," etc.:

Stories with a Sense Appeal

The Three Bears Folk Tales

The Little Red Hen Scudder's versions are well told

Little Half Chick Sara Cone Bryant's version

Fairy Stories

Cinderella Any good version

The Ugly Duckling Hans Christian Andersen

The Legend of Claus Eugene Field

Myths

Persephone Hawthorne's version

The Adventures of Theseus. .. Greek Myths

The Golden Touch Myths Every Child Should Know

Folk Tales and Legends

The Gingerbread Boy For the Children's Hour

Bre'r Rabbit and the Tar Baby. Joel Chandler Harris
How the Camel Got His Hump.Rudyard Kipling— "Just So Sto-
ries"

Hero Tales

The Little Hero of Harlem.... In the Child's World
How Cedric Became a Knight. . Elizabeth Harrison
The Story of David and Go-
liath The Bible

Stories of Real Life

A Dog of Flanders Ouida

The Little Gray Pony Maud Lindsey "Mother Stories"

Grandfather's Penny For the Children's Hour

The Playground and Recreation Association of America:

Fifty Stories for the Playground

Aladdin and the Wonderful Diamonds and Toads

Lamp East of the Sun and West of
The Apple of Contentment the Moon (Dasent)

(Pyle) The Elephant's Child (Kipling)

The Brahmin, the Jackal and The Fisherman and His Wife

the Tiger (Tales of the Pun- The Forty Thieves

jab) The Golden Goose

The Bremen Town Musicians Goody Two Shoes

(Grimm) Hansel and Gretel

The Cat that Walked by Him- The History of Whittington

self (Kipling) and His Cat

Cinderella Jack and the Bean Stalk

APPENDIX

247

Fifty Stories for the Playground — Continued

Jack the Giant-Killer
John Gilpin's Ride (Cowper)
The King Who Was a Gentle-
man (MacManus)
The Little Red Hen and the

Fox

Little Red Riding Hood
A Midsummer Night's Dream

(Shakespeare)

Mowgli's Brothers (Kipling)
The Nose Tree (Grimm)
Old Man Kangaroo (Kipling)
Old Pipes and the Dryad

(Stockton)

The Pancake (Dasent)
The Pied Piper of Hamelin

(Browning)
The Princess Who Would Not

Be Silent (Asbjornsen)
The Punishment of the Stingy

(Grinnell)
Pu&s-in-Boots
Raggylug (Seton)
Rumpelstilzkin (Grimm)
The Shooting Match at Not-
tingham Town (Pyle)

Sindbad the Sailor
Sleeping Beauty in the Wood
Snow-White and Rose-Red
The Steadfast Tin Soldier (An-
dersen)

The Story of the Three Bears
The Story of the Three Little

Pigs

The Swineherd (Andersen)
The Three Golden Apples

(Hawthorne)
Thumbelisa (Andersen)
The Thundermaker and the
Showmaker (Grinnell) (In-
dian)

The Twelve Dancing Princesses
(Grimm)

Party (Eastman)

Eagle (Eastman)

The War

(Indian)
Waukewa's

(Indian)
Why the Sea Is Salt (Dasent)
The Wild Swans (Dasent)
The Wolf and the Seven Little

Goats (Grimm)

Mrs. Dorothy Canfield Fisher, author of "A Montessori Mother"
and "Mothers and Children":

Fairy Stories

The Shoemaker and the Three
Little Elves Grimm's Fairy Tales

Myths
Thor and Thunder Scandinavian Mythology

Folk Tales and Legends

Mowgli ." Jungle Book — Kipling

The Cat that Walked by Itself Just So Stories— Kipling

Hero Tales

Story of Joseph and His Breth-
ren The Bible

Story of Richard Coeur de Lion

Blandel English History

David and Goliath , . The Bible

248 MANUAL OF STORIES

Stephani Schutze, professional story-teller:

Why Tony Bear Went to Bed. . Sykes, Tiny Hare and His Friends

(Little Brown & Co.)

The Tale Tiny Hare Told Schutze, 'The Continent," Apr.

20, 1911

The Elephant's Child Kipling, Just So Stories

The Cat that Walked Kipling, Just So Stories

Mowgli's Brothers (adapted) . . . . Kipling, First Jungle Book

Raggylug * Seton, Wild Animals I Have

Known

The Snow Queen (adapted) Andersen

fPyle, Where the North Wind
Thor and the Frost Giants! Blows

(adapted) 1 Wilmot, Norse Heroes

[ Buxton

The Fisherman and His Wife.. Lang
The Shepherd Boy Who Became

King (adapted) Baldwin, Old Stories from the

East
Siegfried's First Journey (adapt- 1

ed) I Baldwin, The Story of Sieg-

Siegfried and the Dragon (adapt- f fried

ed) J

The Call of the Wild (adapted) . London

The White Seal (adapted), Kipling, First Jungle Book

M. D. Crackel, secretary of the West Side Y. M. C. A., Cleve-
land, Ohio:

The Dog of Flanders Ouida

Lobo (Wild Animals I Have

Known) Seton

Rollo Learning Not To J. S. C. Abbott

Chimes from a Jester's Bells Burdette

A Man Without a Country Hale

Timothy's Quest Wiggin

Christmas Eve in a Lumber

Camp Black Rock, by Connor (Chap. I)

Gallagher Richard H. Davis

700 Kipling

The Walking Delegate Kipling

Sonny (Chapters I and III) Ruth McEnery Stuart

Meko the Mischief Maker Long

Ways of the Woods Folks Long

APPENDIX 249

The Monkey that Would Not

Kill Drummond

Editha's Burglar R H. Burnett

Following the Deer Long

What a Boy Saw in the War. . . .

Rikki-tikki-tavi Kipling

The Boy Recruits (St. Nicholas) .Willis B. Hawkins
His Duty (The Missionary

Sheriff) Octave Thanet

Joel, a Boy of Galilee Annie Fellows- Johnston

Miss Julia W. Williamson, Director of Sory-Telling for the
Philadelphia Free Library:

Stories with a Sense Appeal
The Gingerbread Boy

The Tar Baby Uncle Remus

Three Goats Gruff Asbjornsen

Fairy Stories
Cinderella

Jack and the Beanstalk
Snow White and the Magic
Mirror

Myths

The Gorgon's Head Greek (Hawthorne's Wonder-
book)

The Three Golden Apples Greek

Thor's Hammer Norse

Baldur and the Mistletoe Norse

Folk Tales and Legends
William Tell
Rumpelstilzkin

Hero Tales

Ulysses - . Homer

David and Goliath The Old Testament

Lincoln
Jeanne d'Arc

Stories of Real Life
Tom Sawyer (whitewashing the

fence)
Rikki-tikki-tavi

250 MANUAL OF STORIES

Prof. John H. Cox, author of "Folk-Tales of East and West" :

Stones with a Sense Appeal
The Hollow Tree and Deep
Woods Book Albert Bigelow Paine (Harper)

Fairy Stories

The Bremen Town Musicians. . German — Grimm's Folk Tales
Cinderella Perrault

Myths

The Book of Nature Myths-
primitive races Holbrook (Houghton Mifflin)

Folk Tales and Legends

The Old Iron Pot. Swedish Folk Tale in "Folk Tales

of East and West" (Little,
Brown & Co)

The Tongue-Cut Sparrow Japanese Folk Tale in "Japanese

Fairy Tales" (Rand, McNally
& Co.)
Hero Tales

A Dog of Flanders Flemish — by Ouida

Some Merry Adventures of
Robin Hood English, by Pyle (Scribners)

Professor Edward Porter St. John, author of "Stories and
Story-Telling in Moral Education":

Fairy Stories
The Three Bears
Why the Sea Is Salt
Cinderella

Folk Tales and Legends
The Legend of St. Christopher
Legends of King Arthur and

His Knights

The Bre'r Rabbit Stories
The Jackall Stories — Sara Cone
Bryant's books

Hero Tales
Stories of David
Stories of Siegfried

Stones of Real Life
The "Little Women" Stories

APPENDIX 251

Julia Darrow Cowles, author of "The Art of Story-Telling" :
Stories with a Sense Appeal

"Raggylug," Seton-Thompson, in "How to Tell Stories to Chil-
dren," Bryant (Houghton, Mifflin, Boston)

"Lesson of Faith," Mrs. Gatty, in "Art of Story-Telling," Cowles
(McClurg, Chicago)

"Little Sister Kindness," Fox, in "Art of Story-Telling," Cowles
(McClurg, Chicago)

"Story of the Lilac Bush," in "Polly Oliver's Problem," by Wig-
gin (Houghton, Mifflin, Boston)

Fairy Stories

"The Three Lemons," Laboulaye, in "Favorite Fairy Tales Re-
told," Cowles (McClurg, Chicago)

"The Twelve Months," Laboulaye, in "Favorite Fairy Tales Re-
told," Cowles (McClurg, Chicago)

"The Queen's Necklace," Nyblom, in "Art of Story-Telling,"
Cowles (McClurg, Chicago)

"The Child's Wish" (orig.), in "Stories to Tell," Cowles (Flana-
gan, Chicago)

Myths
"Legend of the Arbutus" (N. A. Indian), in "Wigwam Stories,"

by Judd (Rand, McNally, Chicago)
"The Dun Horse" (N. A. Indian), Grinnell, in "Stories to Tell,"

Cowles (Flanagan, Chicago)

Folk Tales and Legends
"The Enchanted Wine- Jug, or How the Dog and Cat Became

Enemies," in "Stories to Tell," Cowles (Flanagan, Chicago)
"Enchanted Mead" (adaptation of above), in "Favorite Fairy Tale

Book" (McClurg, Chicago)

Hero Tales

"The Coming of Arthur," in "Some Great Stories and How to

Tell Them," Wyche (H. D. Newson, New York)
"Robin Hood and Sir Richard-at-the-Lee," in "Art of Story-
Telling," Cowles (McClurg, Chicago)

Stories of Real Life

"Hold-Fast Tom," in "Art of Story-Telling," Cowles (McClurg,
Chicago)

Horace Mann Kindergarten, New York, furnished by Patty
Smith Hill:

Stories with a Sense Appeal
The Little Pig

252 MANUAL OF STORIES

Fairy Stories
Shoemaker and Elves Grimm, adapted

Myths
Siegfried Guerber, adapted

Folk Tiles and Legends
Three Bears

Hero Tales
Siegfried

Stones of Real Life
Mrs. Tabby Grey Maud Lindsay

II

A LIST OF BOOKS ON STORY-TELLING
To ACCOMPANY CHAPTER IV

How TO TELL STORIES TO CHILDREN, by Sara Cone Bryant, published
by Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.

This was the first good American book on story-telling and
it has not been superseded nor surpassed. It is charmingly written,
thoroughly practical and contains a good bibliography and a num-
ber of the best stories gathered from various sources, personally
adapted by the author.

STORIES AND STORY-TELLING IN MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION,
by Edward Porter St. John, published by the Pilgrim Press,
Boston.

An excellent little manual going briefly but helpfully into the
philosophy of story-telling. It is intended for class use. No
stories are included.

STORY-TELLING IN SCHOOL AND HOME, by E. N. and G. E. Partridge,
published by Sturgis & Walton Co., New York.

Dr. George E. Partridge writes the first part of the book
giving a history of story-telling, analyzing story-forms and offer-
ing helpful suggestions as to methods. In the second part, Mrs.
Partridge offers an attractive collection of stories adapted by
herself.

SOME GREAT STORIES AND How TO TELL THEM, by Richard Thomas
Wyche, published by Newson & Co., New York.

Mr. Wyche, president of the National Story-Tellers' League,
believes in telling long stories and the distinctive value of this
book is that he shows how to do it.

APPENDIX 253

STORIES AND STORY-TELLING, by Angela M. Keyes, published by D.
Appleton & Co., New York.

A short, crisp introduction to the art of story-telling, with
200 pages of well written and adapted stories.
STORY-TELLING : WHAT TO TELL AND How TO TELL IT, by Edna Ly-
rnan, published by A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago.

Miss Lyman covers such helpful topics as reading aloud,
arranging a program, selecting biographical stories, telling ethnic
tales, etc. She interweaves with her chapters a catalog of stories
and gives the most helpful story programs we have seen.
FOR THE STORY-TELLER, by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, published by
Milton Bradley Co., Springfield.

Miss Bailey classifies stories helpfully, gives an excellent
story in each class and offers an excellent series of programs.
THE ART OF STORY-TELLING, by Julia Darrow Cowles, published by
A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago.

Some excellent and fresh suggestions on methods. Half of
the book is given to selected stories to tell.

TELLING BIBLE STORIES, by Louise Seymour Houghton, published by
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

A very careful analysis of the Bible as a book of stories,
showing how each of the ancient narratives may best be inter-
preted to children.
A MANUSCRIPT ON STORY-TELLING, by Stephani Schiitze.

Mr. Schiitze kindly gave the writer permission to read his
nearly completed manuscript before publication. It is an espe-
cially serious-minded treatment of the subject and is bound to
be helpful to the professional story-teller.

Ill

A LIST OF BOOKS CONTAINING PICTURE-STORIES OR
DESCRIPTIONS

To ACCOMPANY CHAPTER VII

How TO ENJOY PICTURES, 290 pp., by M. S. Emery, published by the
Prang Co., New York.

Although published fifteen years ago, there is still no better
book than this of Miss Emery's to learn how to appreciate all the
fine points of a good picture. She studies pictures by theme
rather than by period or school, which is the right approach for
children. There is a chapter upon magazine illustrations, one

254 MANUAL OF STORIES

upon the processes of reproduction and one upon school-room
decoration. There is an illustration with each picture studied.
How TO SHOW PICTURES TO CHILDREN, 138 pp., by Estelle M. Hurll,

published by Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, at $1.00.

Miss Hurll has become our most popular interpreter of art
to children. In this small volume she has collected a number of
useful articles showing the various ways of helping children to love
good pictures. Some of her suggestive chapter titles are these:
"How to Make Pictures Tell Stories," "Story Pictures," "Prac-
tical Suggestions for the Mother for the Child's Picture Educa-
tion," "The Use of Pictures in the School Room." Each chapter
closes with a short list of attractive pictures that are available to
the average mother.
THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF ART, 202 pp., by Agnes Ethel Conway

and Sir Martin Conway, published by Adam and Charles Black,

London.

Nothing better can be found for interesting young people who
are old enough to be thoughtful in good pictures. This is a most
simple and sensible book. It interweaves a sketch of the history
of art with illustrations typical of each period. It shows the
young scoffer the spirit that was behind the quaintness of the
thirteenth century art and reveals the possibilities which color,
composition and inspiration may achieve. The most noticeable
characteristic of the book is its wonderful reproductions in color
of paintings. The subjects selected are unusual ones hanging in
English galleries, and their choice is well suited to the apprecia-
tion of young people.
ART TALKS WITH YOUNG FOLKS, 110 pp., by Sophie M. Collmann,

published by The Ark, 224-6 E. Seventh St., Cincinnati.

Eight excellent art talks which a mother actually gave to her
children during the story-hour. Perhaps the subjects and artists
chosen were not those most suited to children, unless they were
unusually thoughtful ones, but the book shows how it is possible
for a mother to interweave all that she knows of pictures and
feels of romance into her familiar intercourse with boys and girls
of ten to fourteen years of age.
GUIDE TO PICTURES FOR BEGINNERS, 253 pp., by Charles H. Caffin,

published by the Baker & Taylor Co., New York.

Probably the best single book for the purpose indicated by its
title. Mr. Caffin is himself a respectable critic and his judgments
are usually sound. Composition, landscape, form and color are
the principal topics of the book. The mother herself will enjoy
his more advanced book, "How to Study Pictures," pp. 513, pub-
lished by the Century Co., New York, in which he ingeniously
places opposite each other paralleled or contrasting artists, schools

APPENDIX 255

and pictures. Even the amateur feels that she gets an insight
into some of the purposes and ideals of the artists by this carefully
worked-out method.

PICTURE STUDY IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, two parts bound to-
gether: xxviii 238 pp., and xxiii 190 pp., by L. L. W. Wilson,
published by the Macmillan Co., New York.

Two books, for primary and elementary grades. There are
interesting comment and good questions, with excellent book
and magazine references, upon the pictures and painters commonly
studied in school. The selection of pictures follows the seasons
and festivals of the year. They do not impress one as chosen
with much regard for the real interests of children. They are
the things that adults think children ought to like. There is a
smaller edition containing only the pictures with appropriate
mottoes and verses opposite.

THE MEANING OF PICTURES, 161 pp., by John C. van Dyke, published
by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York

A useful book by which the mother can learn to appreciate
pictures. The author discusses Truth in Painting, the Personal
Element, Pictorial Poetry, the Decorative Quality, Subject in
Painting, etc.

THE APPRECIATION OF PICTURES, 308 pp., by Russell Sturgis, pub-
lished by Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, New York.

Another helpful book for the mother. Mr. Sturgis tries to
show the mother how to appreciate pictures by telling what each
age of painters tried to do. The book is really a sketch-history
of art.

How TO LOOK AT PICTURES, 173 pp., by Robert Clermont Witt, pub-
lished by G. Bell & Sons, Limited, London.

This, too, is an excellent book, especially intended to prepare

adults to visit galleries, but equally useful to those who must

do their picture-study in their homes. The author discusses the

artist's point of view, the consideration of date, the influence of

race and country and the schools of painting. Then he takes up

the various kinds of pictures, the portrait, the historical painting,

the landscape, genre, and closes with simple chapters on drawing,

color, lights and shades, composition and treatment.

PICTURES THAT EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW, 387 pp., by Dolores

Bacon, published by Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, New

York.

A study of forty-five artists with seventy-five examples of
their work, the men and pictures that children when they grow
up will wish to know. There is a sketch of each artist's life and
short comment on each reproduction. The book is one for
high-school pupils.

256 MANUAL OF STORIES

FAMOUS PICTURES OF REAL BOYS AND GIRLS, 160 pp., by Lorinda
Munson Bryant, published by John Lane Co., New York.

A selection of fifty-five well-known children from the time
of the Medici to the present, with most interesting comment upon
their lives and the circumstances under which their portraits were
painted.

FAMOUS PICTURES OF CHILDREN, 144 pp., by Julia Augusta Schwartz,
published by the American Book Co., New York.

A book for supplementary reading in school. There are
seventeen reproductions. This little book is characterized by its
excellent descriptions in each case, of the circumstances under
which the child was painted, of the meaning of the picture and
of the after history of the child or the picture.
STORIES OF GREAT ARTISTS, 157 pp., by Olive Browne Home and
• Katherine Lois Scobey, published by the American Book Co.,
New York.

Incidents that would interest children in artists' lives with
reproductions of their famous works. The artists studied are
Raphael, Angelo, Rembrandt, Reynolds, Corot, Landseer, Bon-
heur and Millet.

CYR GRADED ART READERS, about 130 pp. each, by Ellen M. Cyr,
published by Ginn & Co., Boston, Mass.

There are three of these readers. Each one of them takes
up in a simple and pleasant way the lives of several artists and
gives charming reproductions in two-tone prints of such of their
works as are most interesting to children and also gives simple
descriptions of these reproductions.

PICTURE STORIES FROM THE GREAT ARTISTS, 128 pp., by Mary R. Cady
and Julia M. Dewey, published by the Macmillan Co., New
York.

Pleasant little sketches, for children just learning to read,
of artists, with interwoven descriptions of their pictures, which
are reproduced in half-tone. The artists are Bonheur, Van Dyke,
Landseer and Murillo.

DECORATIVE AND EDUCATIONAL PICTURES, 89 pp., Margary L. Gilson
and J. C. Dana, published by the Elm Tree Press, Woodstock,
Vt.

A manual intended for libraries but useful for the home,
upon large wall pictures, giving lists of such pictures, reproduc-
tions of a few and a list of the leading art publishers of America
with some idea of their respective stocks and prices.

APPENDIX 257

IV

A LIST OF BOOKS ON DRAMATICS AND OF STORY-
PLAYS FOR CHILDREN

To ACCOMPANY CHAPTER IX

The following lists are drawn largely from those compiled by
the Drama League of America, and are used by special permission.
Additions, however, have been made by the writer.

BOOKS ON FOLK-DANCING

THE HEALTHFUL ART OF DANCING. — Luther H. Gulick. (A discus-
sion of the value of folk-dancing through the school and
through society, with a list of over thirty books containing music
and descriptions of folk dances.) Doubleday, Page & Co.

CHILDREN'S SINGING GAMES. — Mari R. Hofer. A Flanagan Co.,
Chicago, 111.

FOLK DANCES. — Elizabeth Buchanal. G. Schirmer, New York.

FOLK DANCES AND GAMES. — Caroline Crawford. The A. S. Barnes
Co., New York.

POPULAR FOLK GAMES AND DANCES. — Mari R. Hofer. A Flanagan
Co., Chicago, 111.

BOOKS ON DRAMATIC PLAYS AND GAMES

EDUCATION BY PLAYS AND GAMES. — George Ellsworth Johnson.
(Our standard book on play, enumerating many dramatic games
and placing them where they belong in the child's development.)
Ginn & Co., Boston, Mass.

MANUAL OF PLAY. — William Byron Forbush. (Contains the first
graded and annotated list of playthings, naming and describing
many dramatic games and plays.) American Institute of Child
Life, Philadelphia, Pa.

GAMES FOR THE PLAYGROUND, HOME, SCHOOL AND GYMNASIUM. —
Jessie H. Bancroft. (Gives graded descriptions of many active
dramatic games for all ages.) The Macmillan Co., New
York.

EASY GAMES FOR LITTLE PLAYERS. — Margaret Boughton. (An Eng-
lish publication, showing how to turn the nursery rhymes into
dramatic form. This would be excellent for a children's party
or for any little circle that chances to be meeting in the home.

258 MANUAL OF STORIES

The suggested dialogue does not need to be memorized.)
Charles & Dible, London.

BOOKS ON THEATRICALS

WHEN MOTHER LETS Us ACT.— Stella G. S. Perry. (An excellent
series of suggestions about amateur acting for little children.)
Moffat, Yard & Co., New York.

AMATEUR THEATRICALS.— Charles Townsend. (General directions
for acting and making up for young people.) Dick & Fitz-
gerald, New York.

EDUCATIONAL DRAMATICS.— Emma Sheridan Fry. (The last forty
pages give careful directions for coaching young people for
theatricals.) Moffat, Yard & Co., New York.

YEAR BOOK, 1912. (Contains significant article on children's plays
and how to stage them.) Published by the Francis W. Parker
School, Chicago.

DRAMATIC READERS

FOR USE IN HOME AND CLASS-ROOM RATHER THAN FOR THE STAGE

CYR'S DRAMATIC READER. (6 to 8 years.) Ginn & Co., Chicago.
LITTLE PLAYS FOR LITTLE PLAYERS. — Mara L. Pratt- Chad wick. (6

to 8 years.) Educational Publishing Co., Chicago.
CHILD LORE DRAMATIC READER. — Katherine L. Bryce. (7 to 10

years.) Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

DRAMATIC READER. — Florence Holbrook. (7 to 10 years.) Ameri-
can Book Co., Chicago.
PLAYS FROM THE WONDER BOOK. — Grace Dietrich McCarthy. (10 to

13 years.) Educational Publishing Co., Chicago.
DRAMATIC READER. — Marietta Knight. (10 to 14 years.) American

Book Co., Chicago.
DRAMATIZATION OF SCHOOL CLASSICS.— Mary La Selle. (12 to 14

years.) Educational Publishing Co., Chicago.
CHILDREN'S CLASSICS IN DRAMATIC FORM. — Augusta Stevenson.

Book One. Book Two. Book Three. Book Four. Book

Five. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.
A BOOK OF PLAYS FOR LITTLE ACTORS.— Emma L. Johnston and

Madalene D. Barnum. (6 to 8 years.) The American Book

Co., New York.
LITTLE DRAMAS.— Ada Maria Skinner and Lillian Nixon Lawrence.

(5 to 6 years.) The American Book Co.
STORY PLAYS.— Alice Sumner Varney. (5 to 8 years.) Three

books, about 172 pp. each. The American Book Co., New York.

APPENDIX 259

DRAMATIZATION: SELECTIONS FROM ENGLISH CLASSICS ADAPTED IN
DRAMATIC FORM. — Sara E. Simons and Clem Irwin Orr.
(Twenty-two plays from the classics, for young people 14 to
18, with introductory suggestions.) Scott, Foresman & Co.,
Chicago.

FAIRY TALES A CHILD CAN READ AND ACT.— Lillian Edith Nixon.
(The good old fairy stories and Alice in Wonderland turned
into dialogue. The arrangement is suitable for children to
read in dialogue.) Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, New
York.

PUBLISHED PLAYS

KINDERGARTEN PLAYS (two volumes, containing five plays). — Clem-
entina Black. J. M. Dent & Son, London.
THE WILD ANIMAL PLAY. — Ernest Seton Thompson. (For very

small children; 7 girls, 10 boys; time, 45 minutes.) Doubleday,

Page & Co., New York.
BOOK OF PLAYS FOR LITTLE ACTORS. — Johnston & Barnum. (15

plays; 6 to 8 years.) American Book Co., Chicago.
ADAM'S DREAM AND OTHER MIRACLE PLAYS. — Alice Corbin. (3

plays; 4 to 12 characters each; 8 to 14 years.) Charles Scrib-

ner's Sons, New York.
LITTLE PLAYS. — Lena Dalkeith. (5 plays; 3 to 14 characters each;

10 to 12 years.) E. P. Dutton & Co., New York.
HARPER'S BOOK OF LITTLE PLAYS. — Selected by Madalene D. Barnum.

(6 plays; 5 to 18 characters each; 10 to 14 years.) Harper &

Bros., New York.
FAIRY PLAYS AND How TO ACT THEM. — Lady Bell. (14 plays; 3 to

15 characters each; 6 to 12 years.) Longmans, Green & Co.,

New York.
THE MAGIC WHISTLE AND OTHER PLAYS.— Frank Nesbitt. (6 plays ;

7 to 22 characters each; 7 to 12 years. ) Longmans, Green &

Co., New York.
FOUR PLAYS FOR CHILDREN. — John J. Chapman. (4 plays; 6 to 20

characters each; 10 to 14 years.) Moffat, Yard & Co., New

York.
LITTLE WOMEN PLAY. — Adapted by Elizabeth Lincoln Gould. (6

girls, 2 boys; time, 45 minutes; 10 to 14 years.) Little, Brown

& Co., Boston.
EFFIE'S CHRISTMAS DREAM. — Adapted by Louise Claire Foucher.

(40 characters; time, 40 minutes; 8 to 12 years.) Little, Brown

& Co., Boston.
THE HOUSE OF THE HEART AND OTHER PLAYS.— Constance D'arcy

Mackaye. (10 plays of an ethical nature; 8 to 14 characters

each; 8 to 12 years.) Henry Holt & Co., New York

260 MANUAL OF STORIES

THE SILVER THREAD AND OTHER FOLK PLAYS.— Constance D'arcy
Mackaye. (8 plays; 3 to 25 characters each, 10 to 14 years.)
Henry Holt & Co., New York.

PATRIOTIC PLAYS AND PAGEANTS.— Constance D'arcy Mackaye. (8
plays ; 15 to 45 characters each ; may be given as single plays or
as a complete pageant; 12 to 18 years.) Henry Holt & Co.,
New York.

HIAWATHA.— Florence Holbrook. (Adapted from Longfellow's
poem.) Houghton, Mifflin Co., Chicago.

HOME PLAYS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. — Edited by Cecil H. Bullivant.
(18 plays; 12 to 17 years.) T. C & E. C. Jack, London.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND, AND OTHER FAIRY PLAYS. — Kate Freiligrath-
Kroeker. (10 to 14 years.) Dick & Fitzgerald, New York.

SUCCESSFUL ENTERTAINMENTS. — Willis N. Bugbee. (Historic dia-
logues, holiday plays and literary exercises for young people.)
The Penn Publishing Co., Philadelphia, Pa.

HISTORICAL PLAYS FOR CHILDREN. — Grace E. Bird and Maud Star-
ling. (A series of historical dialogues, telling the story of
dramatic portions of the lives of notable people from Columbus
to Abraham Lincoln.) The Macmillan Co., New York.

HISTORICAL PLAYS FOR CHILDREN (two volumes). — Amice Mac-
Donell. (11 plays dealing with English history; 14 to 30 char-
acters each; mostly boys; 12 to 16 years.) George Allen &
Co., London.

SNOW-WHITE. — Florence Davenport Adams. (2 girls, 4 boys; time,
20 minutes; 10 to 12 years.) Dramatic Publishing Co., Chi-
cago.

WHEN KNIGHTS WERE BOLD.— Mar jorie Benton Cook. (1 girl, 7
boys; time, 30 minutes; 12 to 14 years.) Dramatic Publishing
Co., Chicago.

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING DINNER.— Mar jorie Benton Cook. (5
girls, 7 boys; time, 25 minutes; 12 to 14 years.) Dramatic Pub-
lishing Co., Chicago.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND. — Dramatized by Mrs. Burton Harrison. (14
girls, 16 boys; time, f hour, 30 minutes; 10 to 14 years.) Dra-
nmtic Publishing Co., Chicago.

THE DAME SCHOOL HOLIDAY (From "THE SCHOOLMASTER IN COM-
EDY AND SATIRE").— Marie Edgeworth. (8 girls, 5 boys; 10 to
14 years. A picture of old English school life.) American
Book Co., Chicago.

HOLIDAY PLAYS. — Marguerite Merington (5 plays ; 4 to 7 characters
each; 10 to 14 years.) Duffield & Co., New York.

HOME PLAYS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. — Arranged by Cecil H. Bullivant.
(27 plays; 6 to 30 characters each; 8 to 15 years.) Dodge Pub-
lishing Co., New York.

APPENDIX 261

THE ROSE OF PLYMOUTH.— Beulah Marie Dix, Evelyn Greenleaf
Sutherland. (4 girls, 4 boys; time, 1 hour, 30 minutes; 14 to
16 years. Picture of Colonial times.) Dramatic Publishing
Co., Chicago.

THE BLUE BIRD.— Maurice Maeterlinck. (10 to 16 years. Omitting
the Palace of Night, the Forest and the Graveyard scenes, this
play may be easily adapted to children.) Dodd, Mead & Co.,
New York.

THE NATIVITY.— Douglas Hyde. (!N POETS AND DREAMERS, com-
piled by Lady Gregory.) (3 girls, 7 boys; child angels; 12 to
16 years. (Out of print, but may be found in libraries.)

JUDAS MACCABEUS— Longfellow. (Heroic drama; 12 to 16 years.)

HANSEL AND GRETEL. — Libretto. (German folk tale; 7 main char-
acters, numerous children and angels; 10 to 16 years.) Pub-
lished by F. Rullman, 111 Broadway, New York.

THE BEN GREET SHAKESPEARE. (The Tempest; As You Like It;
Merchant of Venice; Midsummer Night's Dream.) Double-
day, Page & Co., New York.

PLAYS FOR OLDER GIRLS.— For older girls from 16 up, E. S. Werner,
45 East Twenty-ninth Street, New York City, publishes several
plays which appeal strongly to the girls, though their art may
be seriously questioned:
Anita's Trial. — A camp play of fourteen characters — Three

acts.

Two Little Rebels. — Two acts — Eleven parts — Two negro.
A Virginia Heroine. — Long — Must be cut.
Rebecca's Triumph. — Sixteen parts — One negro, one Irish —

Long.

After the Game. — Ten characters — All popular with girls.
Aunt Matilda's Birthday. — Nine parts — one act.
An Auction at Meadowvale. — Eight parts — One act.
The Return of Letty.
The Lost Prince. — A Christmas play.
Robin's Specific. — Christmas operetta.

PLAYS FOR OLDER BOYS. — Publications of Dick & Fitzgerald, New
York:

Wanted: a Confidential Clerk— A Holy Terror— April Fools-
Mischievous Bob.

Publications of Penn Publishing Co., Philadelphia :

Case of Smythe vs. Smith — Forget-Me-Nots — When Doctors
Disagree.

Publications of Walter H. Baker & Co., Boston :

The Revolving Wedge ; a football romance — A Town Meeting
— A New Broom Sweeps Clean — Wanted: a Male Cook —
Brother against Brother — Gentlemen of the Jury — Freedom of

262 MANUAL OF STORIES

the Press— The King of the Cannibal Islands— A Sea of
Troubles— What They Did for Jenkins— The Humors of the
Strike— My Lord in Livery.

Other entertainments that are good for boys only are:

Hiawatha Entertainments, by Edgar S. Werner & Co., 45 East
Twenty-ninth Street, New York— Roll Call of the Nation, by

the same Valley Forge, by the same — Sketches, Skits and

Stunts, by the Penn Publishing Co., Philadelphia, Pa.

A group of short plays are dramatizations by children's classes of
the Francis W. Parker School, Chicago, and may be purchased
from the School.

UNPUBLISHED PLAYS

MAY BE OBTAINED IN MS. FORM BY WRITING TO THE AUTHORS

Miss KATHERINE LORD, 10 Gramercy Park, New York City.

Miss HERMINE SCHWED, 34 Tomkins Avenue, Tompkinsville,
N. Y.

Miss FREDA DAVIDSON, 2 West Eighty-ninth Street, New York
City.

MR. MAURICE S. KUHNS, 4407 Berkeley Avenue, Chicago.

Miss FLORENCE HOLBROOK, 562 Oakwood Boulevard, Chicago.

Several plays have been written by or arranged under the direc-
tion of Mrs. Amelia D. Hookway, and have had successful stage
presentation. For typed manuscript, suggestions as to staging, etc.,
address Miss Katherine D. Jackson, 601 Independence Boulevard,
Chicago. Please enclose stamped envelope.

PLAYS IN GERMAN

May be purchased from Koelling & Klappenbach, 170 West

Adams Street, Chicago :

RASPER IM MARCHEN-LANDE. (Contains several plays, the best of
which is a simple version of Hansel und Gretel.)

ILLUSTRIRTES THEATER BUCHLEIN FUR KINDER. — Louise Pichler. a.
Dornroschen (11 characters; 5 acts; 30 minutes), b. Der
kluge Hans (5 acts; 8 characters; time, 20 minutes), c. Pre-
ciosa (in verse, 5 acts; 8 characters; time, 20 minutes), d.
Schatzhauer im griinen Tannenwald (5 acts; 8 characters; time,
40 minutes), e. Hans im Gluck (5 acts; 8 characters; time,
25 minutes).

APPENDIX 263

C. A. CORNER'S KINDER THEATER, a. Schneeweisschen und Rosen-
roth (5 acts; 12 characters; time, 1 hour), b. Aschen-brodel
(9 characters; time, 1 hour, 30 minutes), c. Schneewittchen
und die Zwerge (17 characters; time, 1 hour, 30 minutes).

DIE VERLORENE BRILLE.— Emma Iwa Schramm. (2 girls, 1 boy;
time, 9 minutes; 8 to 10 years.)

VERGESST DAS BESTE NICHT.— Emma Iwa Schramm. (5 girls, 5
boys; time, 20 minutes; 8 to 14 years.)

PLAYS IN FRENCH

LES DEUX FEES AND OTHER PLAYS.— Violet Partington. (6 to 12

years.) Published by Horace Marshall & Son, London, a. Les

Deux Fees. b. Le Petit Chaperon Rouge, c. Le Jour de Conge.

d. La Mendiante. e. La Journee des Fleurs.
DANS LE ROYAUME DES FEES.— Violet Partington. (6 to 12 years.)

Published by Horace Marshall & Son, London, a. Cendrillon.

b. La Belle et la Bete. c. La Belle au Bois Dormant, d: Les

Trois Ours.
Six SHORT FRENCH PLAYS. — A. S. Johnson. (12 to 14 years.)

Longmans, Green & Co., New York.

A LIST OF CHARACTER-BUILDING STORIES

A list of stones has been prepared with considerable care, es-
pecially for the purpose of helping mothers who wish what we
might call "moral prescriptions" for their children. It is understood
that these are all of story length, that is for telling aloud and not
for reading, either by the parents or by the child. We have sought
those which are generally unfamiliar and which we believe to be
already in effective form for the purpose. We have also graded
them. The parenthetical figures which are suggested (0-6) mean
that a given story is believed to be suitable to children up to six
years of age. This grading must necessarily be approximate.
The stories selected for the earlier grades are imaginative in char-
acter ; those for the older grades are realistic, and we have selected
few stories for the high-school years.

In the choice of these stories the endeavor has been made to
seek out most plentifully those which have to do with the common
and besetting sins of children. The more difficult the problem, the
more numerous are the selected stories.

264 MANUAL OF STORIES

The authors and publishers of the books referred to are gen-
erally given in full in the list of Story Books in Appendix X.

To ACCOMPANY CHAPTER X

Ambition (Aspiration)
Two Foolish Birds (0-6) ...... Fairy Stories and Fables

Gonard and the Pine Tree

(6-8) ...................... For the Children's Hour

Toad (6-8) .................. Wonder Stories

Whittington and His Cat (6-8) . Fifty Famous Stories Retold
Adventurous Life of an Acorn

Fairy (7-10) ........... ---- My Days with the Fairies

The New Partner (7-10) . . . . . .In the Heart of the Forest

The Ambitious Rose Tree

(7-10) ..................... Bimbi Stories

Lampblack (7-10) ............ Bimbi Stories

The Goblin and the Huckster

(11-12) .................... Golden Rule Series

He Aimed High and Hit the

Mark (12-15) .............. Stories from Life

Amiability (Gentleness)
Little Blue Gown and the But-

terfly (7-10) ............... Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf

Appreciation (See also Gratitude, Thankfulness)

What Bradley Owed (7-10) . . . Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf
Hans Schmelz ( 12-15) ........ Course in Citizenship

Attention

Minstrel's Song (6-8) ......... Mother Stories

Beginning with Small Things
The Fairy's New Year Gift

...................... Good Stories for Great Holidays

Three Questions ( 10-13) ...... Ethics for Children

Gareth and Lynette (12-15) ... Broadening Path

Gareth and Lynette (14-17) .. .Lord Tennyson
Businesslikeness (See Carefulness, Promptness, Shrewdness, Thrift)
Carefulness (See also Forgetfulness)

Beet (6-8) ................... Careless Jane

Untidy Amanda (6-8) ......... Careless Jane

Boisterous Ann (6-8) .......... Careless Jane

Careless Jane (6-8) ............ Careless Jane

Half-Done Polly (6-8) ........ Play Days

Blunder (7-10) ............... Broadening Path

Story of Alnaschar (7-13) ... .Stories and Story-Telling

APPENDIX 265

Charity (See also Generosity, Helpfulness, Service)

Child's Good Work (0-6) Bed-time Stories

Story of Childe Chanty (6-8) .Wonderful Chair
Abraham and the Old Man

(6-8) Book of Legends

Cheerfulness (Hopefulness)
Walnut Tree that Wanted to

Bear Tulips (0-6) Kindergarten Stories and Morn-
ing Talks

Christmas Cuckoo (6-8) Wonderful Chair

Making the Best of It (6-8) ... For the Children's Hour
Story of Merrymount (6-8) . . . Wonderful Chair
How Diseases and Cares Came

Among Men (6-8) Old Greek Stories

The Christmas Cuckoo (7- 10).. Good Stories for Great Holidays

The Magic Mask (7-10) Golden Rule Series

Horse that B'leeved He'd Get

There (7-10) Story-Tell Lib

Miller of the Dee (7-10) Fifty Famous Stories Retold

Pippa Passes (7-10) For the Children's Hour

Blind Man and the Talking

Dog (10-13) Golden Rule Series

Chivalry
How Cedric Became a Knight

(6-10) In Story Land

The Man Who Knows No Fear

(12-15) Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf

Cleanliness

Dirty Jack (0-6) My Picture Poetry Book

The Pig Brother (0-6) Golden Windows

Carl and the Earthworms

(0-6) Sjtories for Kindergartens and

Primary Schools
Tom, the Water Baby (7-10) . . For the Children's Hour

Common Sense

Epaminondas and His Auntie

(7-10) Stories to Tell to Children

Concentration
The Little Hero of Haarlem

(8-10) How to Tell Stories

What the Boy Saw (10-13) . . . .Moral Instruction

Conscientiousness (See Faithfulness, Beginning with Small Things,
Loyalty)

266 MANUAL OF STORIES

Consecration

Arthur and the Sword (6-9) . . How to Tell Stories to Children
How Arthur Became King

(9-12) King Arthur and His Knights

Quest Flower (10-13) Jewel's Story Book

The Sacred Flame (12-14) ... .Christ Legends (Lagerlof)
Search for the Holy Grail

(12-15) King Arthur and His Knights

Considerateness (See Appreciation, Gratitude, Tact)

Contentment

Country Mouse and the Town

Mouse (0-6) Fables and Folk Stories

Discontented Weathercock

(0-6) Boston Collection of Kindergar-
ten Stories

Fairy Gifts (0-6) Fairy Life

Tale of the Littlest Mouse

(0-6) For the Children's Hour

Fisherman and His Wife (6-8). Fairy Stories and Fables

Wonderful Traveler (6-8) Story in Primary Instruction

Galoshes of Fortune (6-8) Wonder Stories

Discontented Pendulum (6-8) . . Waste Not, Want Not
Discontented Guinea Hen (6-8) . Among the Farmyard People
Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red

Wings (6-8) For the Story Hour

Golden Windows (7-10) Golden Windows

Princess Orchid's Party (8-11). My Days with the Fairies
Magic Shirt (9-12) Character Building Readers

Co-operation (See also Friendliness, Loyalty)
Hans and the Four Big Giants

(6-8) Story in Primary Instruction

Courage

Stoorworm (6-8) Fairy Tales from Folk Lore

Limpetty Jack (7-10) Land of Pluck

The Little Princess of the Fear-
less Heart (7-10) Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf

The Boy Who Knew No Fear

(10-12) Stories from Life

Eyes of the Ring (10-13) In Story Telling Time

Madam Meynier (10-13) Moral Instruction

Knight with the Badly Made
Coat ( 10-15) King Arthur and His Knights

APPENDIX 267

Courtesy (Manners)

For the Little Boy Who Will

Not Say "Please" (0-6) Stories from Plato

Fairy in the Mirror (0-6) Boston Collection of Kindergar-
ten Stories
A Day with a Courteous

Mother (10-13) Course in Citizenship

Two on a Street Car (12-15) . .Broadening Path

Dependableness (Responsibility)

Geirald the Coward (10-13) .. .Golden Rule Series

Determination (See also Perseverance)
How the Princess Was Beaten

in a Race (6-8) Book of Legends

Little Claus and Big Claus

(8-10) Wonder Stories

Andrew Jackson, the Boy Who
"Never Would Give Up"

(9-12) Stories from Life

Vitai Lampada (12-15) Henry Newbolt

Columbus ( 12-15 ) Joaquin Miller

Efficiency (Skill)

Giant Energy and Fairy Skill

(6-8) Mother Stories

Two Ways (6-8) Golden Windows

Can and Could (8-11) Golden Rule Series

Energy (See also Courage, Determination)

"Westward Ho" (12-15) Stories from Life

Faith

Lesson of Faith (0-6) Boston Collection of Kindergar-
ten Stories

Faithfulness (See Fidelity)
Dora the Little Girl of the

Lighthouse (0-6) Boston Collection of Kindergar-
ten Stories

Firefly (0-6) Stories of Humble Friends

Dog Gellert (6-8) Book of Legends

Ivanoushka, the Simpleton

(6-8) Folk Tales from the Russian

Prince of Naples (6-8) Fairy Tales from Folk Lore

Beauty and the Beast (6-8) . . . Fables and Folk Stories
The Little Girl in the Light-
house (7-10) Stories for Little Listeners

268 MANUAL OF STORIES

Faithfulness (See Fidelity)— Continued
The Enchantment of Tara

( 10-13) Heroes of the Dawn

In the Snow (10-13) In the Heart of the Forest

The Lanthorn Bearer (12-15). The Inn of Tranquillity

Fidelity (See also Faithfulness)
Sir Lancelot and His Friends

(9-12) King Arthur and His Knights

Death of Roland (9-12) The Song of Roland

Adventure of King Pellenore

(9-12) King Arthur and His Knights

Forgetfulness (Carelessness: See also Carefulness)
The Kitten that Forgot How to

Mew (0-6) Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf

The Fairy Who Came to Our

House (7-10) In the Story Hour

Orpheus and Eurydice (7-10) . .Golden Rule Series

Forgiveness

Forgive and Forget (7-10) .... Golden Rule Series
A Great Repentance and a
Great Forgiveness (10-13) . .Golden Rule Series

Fortitude (See also Courage, Faith, Heroism)
Adrift on an Ice-Pan (12-15) . .Adrift on an Ice-Pan

Friendliness (Kindliness)
Wolves, the Dogs and the

Sheep (0-6) Fairy Stories and Fables

Good and Bad Apples (6-8) . . . Stories from My Attic

Pietro da Cortona (7-11) Golden Rule Series

The Snappy Snapping Turtle

(7-11) Golden Rule Series

The Fairy Who Judges His

Neighbors (7-11) Golden Rule Series

Friendship (See also Friendliness, Appreciation, Sympathy)
Drakesbill and His Friends

(6-8) Fairy Stories and Fables

Generosity (See also Charity)
Peter and the Magic Goose

(0-6) Fairy Stories and Fables

Maud Granger's New Dress

(6-8) Bed-time Stories

APPENDIX 269

Generosity (See also Charity) — Continued

The Wooden Shoes of Little
Wolff (6-8) Good Stories for Great Holidays

The Violet in the Valley (7- 10) . Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf

The Happy Prince (7-10) Happy Prince

The Wheat Field (7-10) Golden Windows

Margaret of New Orleans

(10-13) Stories to Tell to Children

Queen Louise (10-13).. Golden Rule Series

Genuineness (See also Truth)

Little Girl with the Light (0-6) . Mother Stories

Little Blessed Eyes (0-6) In Story-land

Search for a Good Child (6-8) . Mother Stories

White Dove (6-8) More Mother Stories

Knights and the Good Child

(7-10) True Fairy Stories

Goodness that Is Within (7-10) . Stories from Plato
Good Temper

Fairy in the Mirror (0-6) Boston Collection of Kindergar-
ten Stories

King and His Hawk (6-8) Fifty Famous Stories Retold

The Goddess of Light (6-8) . . . Fairy Tales from Folk Lore

King Lion and the Sly Little
Jackals (7-10) Moral Education

The Snapdragon (10) Golden Rule Series

Gratitude (See also Appreciation)

Great Surprise (0-6) For the Children's Hour

How Patty Gave Thanks (0-6) . In the Child's World

Ant and the Dove (0-6) Boston Collection of Kindergar-
ten Stories

Faithful John (0-6) German Household Tales

Lion and the Mouse (0-6) Boston Collection of Kindergar-
ten Stories

Wiltse (0-6) Kindergarten Stories and Morn-
ing Talks

Our Daily Bread (0-6) Kindergarten Stories and Morn-
ing Talks

First Thanksgiving Day (6-8) . . Story Hour

Janie Leech's Angel (6-8) Bed-time Stories

Story of the First Corn (6-8) . For the Children's Hour

The Candles (7-10) Andersen's Fairy Tales

Gifts of the Altars (9-12) Old Greek Stories

How It Happened (10-13) After Long Years

Cyrus and the Armenian King

(12-15) Broadening Path

270 MANUAL OF STORIES

X

Greed

Rumpelstilzkin (0-6) For the Children's Hour

The Jackal and the Spring

(0-6) Golden Rule Series

The Gingerbread Man (0-6) . . . Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf

Greedy Shepherd (6-8) Wonderful Chair

Fisherman and His Wife (6-8) . Children's Book

Fulfilled (6-10) How to Tell Stories to Children

Sir Cleges and His Gift (7-10) . Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf
The Greedy Antelope (7-10) .. .Golden Rule Series
The Sunken City (10-13) The Sunken City

Helpfulness (See also Service, Kindliness, Sympathy)

Sweet Rice Porridge (6-8) The Story in Primary Instruction

St. Rigobert's Dinner (6-8) Book of Saints and Friendly

Beasts

Heroism (See also Self -Sacrifice, Courage)
The Heroine of Vercheres

(10-15) Broadening Path

The Legend of Bregenz (10-15) Broadening Path
Battle of the Rafts (10-15) .. .Boyhood in Norway
French Soldier Boy (10-15) .. .Round-about Rambles

Hero Worship

The Red Thread (12-15) Broadening Path

The Heart of the Bruce(12-15). Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf

Honor (Honesty)

Under the Oak Tree (7- 10)... In the Heart of the Forest

Joan of Arc (10-13) Ethics for Children

The Man Who Refused a Bribe

(12-15) Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf

Regulus ( 12-15) Charlotte M. Yonge

Hospitality

Three Wishes (6-8) Pied Piper

Wonderful Traveler (6-8) Story in Primary Instruction

Baucis and Philemon (10-13) .. Broadening Path

Humility (Modesty)

Milkmaid and Her Pail (0-6) . Fairy Stories and Fables

Bragging Peacocks (0-6) Among the Farmyard People

Little Brown Bowl (0-6) For the Children's Hour

APPENDIX 271

Humility (Modesty)— Continued

False Collar (6-8) Wonder Stories

Frog and the Ox (6-8) How to Tell Stories to Children

Girl Who Trod Upon Bread

(6-8) Wonder Stories

Proud King (6-8) Book of Legends

Red Shoes (6-8) Wonder Stories

The Star Child (7-10) The Happy Prince

Emperor's New Clothes (8-10) . Wonder Stories

Shet-Up Posy (10-15) Story-Tell Lib

King Robert of Sicily (10-12) . . Longfellow
Captain Scott (12-15) Golden Rule Series

Independence

The Old Man and His Donkey
(12-15) Broadening Path

Industry (Laziness, Work)

Georgie-Lie-a-Bed (0-6) Careless Jane

Charlotte and the Ten Dwarfs

(0-6) Kindergarten Stories and Morn •

ing Talks

Giant Sloth and the Tiddly-
Winks (0-6) Cat-Tails

Little Girl Who Would Not

Work (0-6) For the Children's Hour

Little Red Hen (0-6) For the Children's Hour

Beaver Story (0-6) True Fairy Stories

Little Servants (0-6) In the Child's World

Mother Frost (6-8) Story in Primary Instruction

Sailor Man (6-8) Golden Windows

Wondering Tom (6-8) Land of Pluck

Tony and Teddy Looked for

Fairies (7-10) My Days with the Fairies

The Snail and the Rose Tree

(7-10) Golden Rule Series

Dust Under the Rug (7-10) ... Mother Stories

Silence (10-13) Folk Tales from Many Lands

Little Daffydowndilly (13) ... .Golden Rule Series
For Him Who Lifts the Stone

(12-15) Broadening Path

Initiative (See also Determination)
The Little Red Hen (0-6) Child Classics No. 1

272 MANUAL OF STORIES

Kindliness (Mercy: See also Sympathy, Friendliness, Service)
Mother Magpie's Mischief

(0-6) Queer Little People

Elder-Tree Mother (0-6) True Fairy Stories

St. John's Eve (6-8) Fairy Tales from Folk Lore

House in the Wood (6-8) For the Children's Hour

How Coronis Became a Crow

(6-8) Stories from Plato

Eavesdropper, the Ugly Dwarf

(6-8) For the Children's Hour

The Gif tie (6-8) Golden Windows

Lady Greensleeves (6-8) Wonderful Chair

Mrs. Chinchilla (6-8) Story Hour

Cosette (7-10) For the Children's Hour

Two Kinds of Fun (7-10) Character Building Readers

Why Violets Have Golden

Hearts (7-10) Golden Rule Series

Paulina's Christmas (10-13) ... Story-Telling
King of the Golden River

(12-15) Ruskin

John Stuart Blackie (14-17) .. .Broadening Path

Kindness to Animals

Barry (0-6) Stories of Humble Friends

Fido's Little Friend (0-6) Little Book of Profitable Tales

Hans and His Dog (0-6) More Mother Stories

Snow White and Rose Red

(6-8) Story in Primary Instruction

St. Gerasimus and the Lion

(6-8) Book of Saints and Friendly

Beasts
St. Cuthbert's Peace (6-8) Book of Saints and Friendly

Beasts
St. Francis of Assisi (6-8) Book of Saints and Friendly

Beasts

The Queen Bee (7-10) Grimm's Fairy Tales

The Yellow Jar (7-10) Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf

Simpleton (7-10) Character Building Readers

Love

House of Love (0-6) Golden Windows

Light in the Window (0-6) Bed-time Stories

Little Mother (0-6) Bed-time Stories

Kate Crackernuts (6-8) English Fairy Tales

Picciola (6-8) Fifty Famous Stories Retold

APPENDIX 273

Love — Continued

Robin of the Loving Heart

(6-8) Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf

Coals of Fire (6-9) Bed-time Stories

Paying Off Jane (7-10) Bed-time Stories

Ragged Robin (7-10) Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf

About Angels (7-10) Golden Windows

The Apron String (10-12) Golden Windows

The Golden Spears (10-12) ... .The Golden Spears

The Story of the Jipi (12-15) . .Self Culture for Young People

Loyalty (See also Co-operation, Faithfulness, Fidelity)
How the Home Was Built

(6-8) For the Children's Hour

Sir Thomas Moore (10) Golden Rule Series

Tarlton (10) Golden Rule Series

Modesty (See also Humility, Purity)

Obedience

Fairy Shoes (0-6) Kindergarten Story Book

John's Nap (0-6) Dream Children

Child Who Would Not Go to

Bed (0-6) Careless Jane

Wee Hare and the Red Fire

(0-6) Story in Character Building

Little Bat Who Wouldn't Go

to Bed (0-6) Among the Forest People

Raggylug (0-6) Wild Animals I Have Known

Old Mother Webtoes (6-8) Careless Jane

The Seven Little Goats (6-8) . . Story in Primary Instruction
Little Pink Pig and the Big

Road (6-8) Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf

Search for a Good Child (7-10). Mother Stories

Who Loved Best (7-10) My Picture Poetry Book

So-So (7-10) Golden Rule Series

Jimmy and the Sharper (10-13). Broadening Path
The Matsuyama Mirror (12-

15) Character Building Readers

Opportunity
The Hour that Maisie Lost

(7-10) My Days with the Fairies

The Loving Cup Made of Iron

(10-11) Golden Rule Series

The Day (10-13) Golden Windows

274 MANUAL OF STORIES

Order (See Cleanliness)

Patience (With Self and Others)

Wait and See (0-6) In the Child's World

Little Rooster (0-6) Boston Collection of Kindergar-
ten Stories

Diffent Kind o' Bundles (7-10). Story-Tell Lib
Little Lame Prince (8-10) ... .Little Lame Prince
The Artist's Masterpiece (10-

13) After Long Years

Patriotism (See also Loyalty, Heroism, Courage)
The Patriotism of Senator
Foelker (10-13) Ethics for Children

Penitence
The Broken Flower Pot (7-10) Ethics for Children

Perseverance (See also Determination, Energy)
Grasshopper and the Measuring

Worm Run a Race (6-8) Among the Meadow People

Bernard of the Tuileries (7-

10) Stories from Life

The Mouse's Tail (7-10) Character Building Readers

Cow His Capital (10-12) Stories from Life

Perseverance (10-13) Course in Citizenship

The Two Travelers (10-13) .. .Ethics for Children
Inspiration of Gambetta (12-

15) Stories from Life

Samuel Gridley Howe (12-15) .Course in Citizenship
Tribune of the People (12-15) .Stories from Life
Boy Who Said "I Must" (12-

15) Stories from Life

Pluck

Jones and Sausage (10-13) Course in Citizenship

The Boy from the Bottom

(12-15) Broadening Path

Promptness

Little Ten Minutes (7-13) Broadening Path

Purity

Closing Door (8-10) Mother Stories

Box of Dreams (10-13) My Days with the Fairies

Search for the Holy Grail (12-

14) King Arthur and His Knights

Judgment Seat of Vikramaditya

(12-15) Story-Telling

APPENDIX 275

Quarreling

Quarrel (0-6) Fairy Stories and Fables

Wolf and the Lamb (0-6) Fairy Stories and Fables

Why the Quarrelsome Men

Were Locked Out of the

Bird City (6-8) Stories from Plato

Self-Control (and Temperance)
Willie Fox and the Glass of

Wine (7-9) The House I Live In

Prince Cherry (7-10) Stories to Tell to Children

The Ring and the Courtier

(10-13) Moral Instruction

St. George and the Dragon

(10-13) Golden Rule Series

The Faithful Nurse (12-15). ..Moral Instruction

Self-Forgetfulness
The Holy Shadow (10-13) ... .Moral Instruction

Self-Reliance

Apron-String (6-8) Golden Windows

Lark and Her Young Ones

(6-8) Boston Collection of Kindergar-
ten Stories
The Black Prince (10) Golden Rule Series

Self -Sacrifice (Magnanimity)

Sacrifice (7-10) Seven Little People

Story of Long Ago (10) Golden Rule Series

Father Damien (10-13) The Red True Story Book

Story of General Gordon (10-

13) Ethics for Children

Race with the Wolves (10-13) .Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf

Forty Wrestlers (12-15) The Christian Race

Soldiers in the Snow Broadening Path

Service (See also Helpfulness)
Legend of the Great Dipper

(0-6) Kindergarten Stories and Morn-
ing Talks
Little Beta and the Lame Giant

(0-6) In Story-Land

Little Gray Grandmother (0-6). In Story-Land
Loving Cup (0-6) In Story-Land

276 MANUAL OF STORIES

Service (See also Helpfulness)— Continued
Elves and the Shoemaker

(0-6) For the Children's Hour

Old Pipes and the Dryad

(6_8) Fanciful Tales

The Pea Blossom (6-8) Golden Rule Series

Fair White City (6-8) In Story-Land

Iddly Bung's April Christmas

Tree (6-8) Stories for Kindergartens and

Primary Schools

Arthur and the Sword (10-12) .How to Tell Stories to Children
Where Love Is, God Is (10-13) . Ethics for Children
The Great Feast (10-13) Golden Windows

Shrewdness

Barmecide Feast (6-8) Fifty Famous Stories Retold

King John and the Abbott

(6-8) Fifty Famous Stories Retold

The Clever Geese (7-10) Stories and Story-Telling

Little Hero of Lucerne (10- 13) .Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf
Wisest Maid in Wessex (12-
15) Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf

Sympathy

What the Snow-Man Did (6-8). Land of Pluck

"Go" and "Come" (6-8) Golden Windows

Coming of the King (7-10) Character Building Readers

Trott Goes Driving (7-10) A Course in Citizenship

Robin Redbreast (10-13) Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf

Tact (See Kindliness, Sympathy)

Thoroughness (Doing One's Best: See also Faithfulness)
How to Build a Nest (7-10) . . . Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf

Thrift

Brides on Their Trial (6-8) ... German Household Tales
The Waste Collector (10) Golden Rule Series

Trust

Stairs (6-8) Golden Windows

Golden Pears (7-10) Stories and Story-Telling

Forest of Wild Thyme (10-

13) Alfred Noyes

Flower of Old Japan (10-13) . .Alfred Noyes

APPENDIX 277

Truthfulness (Sincerity)

' Honest Woodman (0-6) Boston Collection of Kindergar-
ten Stories

Fair Melusina (0-6) Book of Legends

Dove Who Spoke Truth (7-

10) Good Stories for Great Holidays

Lady Clare (12-15) Lord Tennyson

Unselfishness (Self-denial)

Benjie (0-6) Bed-time Stories

How Odin Lost His Eye (6-8) . In the Days of Giants
Dicky Smiley's Birthday (6-8) . Story Hour
Line of Golden Light (6-8) ... In Story-Land
Sad Story of Hog Caterpillar

(6-8) Dooryard Stories

Selfish Tent-Caterpillar (6-8) . . Among the Meadow People
Thirteen Jeweled Letters (7-

10) Course in Citizenship

Why the Chimes Rang (7-10). .Why the Chimes Rang
Legend of the Woodpecker (7-

10) For the Children's Hour

Selfish Giant (7-10) For the Story-Teller

Sir Philip Sidney ( 10-12) Fifty Famous Stories Retold

Coming of the King (10-13). ..Golden Windows
The Ugly Trinket (10-13) After Long Years

Usefulness (Helpfulness)

Johnny Appleseed (6-8) In Story Land

The Brownies (7-10) Golden Rule Series

Story of Pomiuk (10-13) Broadening Path

Hidden Servants (12-15) Stories to Tell to Children

Apple-Seed John (12-15) For the Children's Hour

278

MANUAL OF STORIES

VI

A LIST OF BIBLE STORIES AND OF BIBLE
STORY-BOOKS

To ACCOMPANY CHAPTER XII
A LIST OF BIBLE STORIES

This list is somewhat suggestive because it arranges one hun-
dred of the best Bible stories under the virtues which they illustrate.
The story-teller will find these and other Bible stories which will
readily occur to him helpful as supplementing the list of stories
for character building from secular sources given in the preceding
appendix.

Brother Love
Esau and Jacob
Joseph and His Brethren

Chivalry

Moses and the Midianite Girls
Jesse and Ruth

Courage

Moses and Pharaoh
Caleb

Nathan and David
Jonathan and His Armor

Bearer

David and Goliath
Elijah and Jezebel
Jesus in the Storm
Jesus and His Enemies
Jesus Cleansing the Temple
Peter in Prison
Paul at Ephesus
Paul in the Storm

Envy
Shimei
Sanballat

Faithfulness
Joseph

Father Love
Jacob and Joseph
David and Absalom
The Father of the Prodigal
Son

Filial Love
Japhet and Noah
Esau and Jacob
Ruth and Naomi

Forgiveness
Esau and Jacob
The Father of the Prodigal

Son
Onesimus and Philemon

Fortitude

Daniel in the Lion's Den
The Three Hebrew Children
The Maccabees
The Homeless Jesus
The Wanderings of Paul

APPENDIX

279

Friendship

David and Jonathan

Jesus and the Daughter of

Jairus

John and Jesus
Jesus and the Twelve
The Farewells of Paul

Generosity
Abraham and Lot
Abraham and the Kings of

of the

David and Mephibosheth
Jesus' Feast by the Lake

Gratitude
The Grateful Leper

Greed (Avarice)

The Wedge of Gold (Josh.

7 and 8)
Ananias and Sapphira

Heroism

David and Goliath

David's Mighty Men (1 Chron.

11, 12, 16 and 38)
Daniel in the Lion's Den
Esther
Stephen

Hospitality

Abraham and the Angels
Rebekah and Abraham's Serv-
ant

Abigail and David
The Widow and Elisha
Mary Anointing Jesus

Industry

The Great Ship (The Ark)
Nehemiah and the Re-build-
ing of Jerusalem

Jealousy

Cain and Abel

Kindness

Rahab and the Scarlet Cord

Elisha

The Little Captive Maid

Christ Blessing the Children

The Good Samaritan

Parable of the Lost Sheep

Dorcas

Wife

Isaac and Rebekah
Ruth

Magnanimity (Unselfishness)
Jonathan and David
David and Saul
John the Baptist
Jesus and Peter
Mary of Bethany

Mother Love

The Mother of Moses

Hagar

Hannah and Samuel

Mary and Jesus

Neighborliness
The Good Samaritan
The Friend at Midnight

Obedience
The First Garden
Abram's Call
Gathering Manna
Gideon's Soldiers
The Young Saul
Jonah

Patience

Noah and the Flood

The Patience of Moses with

the Israelites
The Death of Moses

280 MANUAL OF STORIES

Patriotism Reverence

Moses Abraham and the Angels

Joshua Uzziah

Deborah Josiah

D^d The Message that Came to

Jehu and Jezebel Job

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Judith Sister Love

Mordecai Miriam and the Child Moses

The Maccabees

Penitence Superstition

Jacob Micah and His Mother

Zaccheus (Judges 17)

A LIST OF BIBLE STORY-BOOKS

FIRST STEPS FOR LITTLE FEET IN GOSPEL PATHS, by Charles Foster,
published by the Charles Foster Publishing Co., Philadelphia.

We can think of no other book so successful in simplicity and
sweetness of language as this book for telling little children the
story of Jesus. There are one hundred stones with simple line
drawings, and each story concludes with a few easy questions for
review.

KINDERGARTEN BIBLE STORIES : OLD TESTAMENT, by Ella Cragin, pub-
lished by the Fleming H. Revell Co., New York.

The title of this book indicates the grade for which it is
intended rather than that it is especially for kindergarten use.
There are fifty-six short chapters, in very simple language, in
which the intent is to bring out those features in the life and
actions of men and women of the Bible that will be of deepest
interest to little children. The illustrations are mostly from
drawings of Dore.

THE STORY OF JESUS FOR LITTLE PEOPLE, by Edgar Leigh Pell, pub-
lished by Fleming H. Revell Co., New York.

A very good small book, in simple language, for the youngest
listeners.

THE STORY OF THE BIBLE FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION, TOLD IN
SIMPLE LANGUAGE, by Charles Foster, published by the Charles
Foster Publishing Co., Philadelphia.

This book is now forty years old. It has had a circulation
of 800,000 copies and still it maintains a deservedly high place
among story Bibles. Mr. Foster must have been a very childlike
man who loved children and this book has been enjoyed both by

APPENDIX 281

little ones and by those who are old enough to read. It has 300
rather quaint illustrations.

A BOOK OF THE CHRIST CHILD, by Eleanor Hammond Broadus, pub-
lished by D. Appleton & Co., New York

A group of legends of the Christ Child from many sources,
interwoven with ancient verses and illustrations from the masters.
The stories are beautifully told and, while not collected for the
purpose of religious instruction, they are full of spiritual sym-
bolism which little children can deeply feel even if they cannot
understand.

THE CASTLE OF ZION, by George Hodges, published by Houghton
Mifflin Co., Boston.

This is a collection of the best Old Testament stories told
with the same simplicity and vigor as the New Testament stories
by the same author in the book entitled "When the King Came."
This collection will be of especial interest to young children who
are for the first time reading and becoming acquainted with the
great Bible stories.

CHILD'S CHRIST TALES, by Andrea Hofer Proudfoot, published by
A. Flanagan Co., Chicago.

This little book contains a collection of pretty stories and
poems about religious subjects suitable for children, and it is
illustrated with copies of famous paintings of the Christ Child.
THE CHRIST STORY, by Eva May Tappan, published by Houghton,
Mifflin Co., Boston.

The retelling of the Christ story is very beautiful. The nar-
rative is natural, and the author tells the story of Jesus as she
would tell it of any great man, and lets the Christ life make its
own high appeal. The setting as to customs, environment, char-
acters is vivid and picturesque. The book is well adapted to boys
and girls 12 to 14, especially in the story-telling, because it gives
the rich background without really touching the original beauty
of the Bible story of the Christ.

AN OLD, OLD STORY BOOK, by Eva May Tappan, published by Hough-
ton, Mifflin Co., Boston.

This book is not an attempt to bring down the Scriptures to
children. It is simply a collection of Old Testament stories,
given in the words of the Bible, but arranged like other books in
paragraphs rather than in verses. It is the Bible story in its
original setting with the wise elimination of the parts not suited
to the interest or welfare of young people. It is the best
possible sort of an adaptation which can be made for Bible
stories.

SAINTS AND HEROES, by George Hodges, published by Henry Holt &
Co., New York.

282 MANUAL OF STORIES

STORIES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT FOR CHILDREN, by H. S. B. Beale,
published by Duffield & Co., New York.

This is a strong and simple narrative of the Bible, using very
largely the Bible language. It is profusely illustrated with colored
pictures.

TELL ME A TRUE STORY, by Mary Stewart, published by Fleming H.
Revell Co., New York.

Bible stories for the children told by a gifted story-teller.
Dr. Henry Van Dyke says: 'This little book does a useful and
much needed thing in a simple and beautiful way. It is written
for children by one who understands and loves them. It brings
the spirit and meaning of Christianity down, or I should rather
say up, to their level. It is not only plain in its language, but
clear and natural in its thought and feeling."

WHEN THE KING CAME, by George Hodges, published by Houghton,
Mifflin Co., Boston.

On account of its simple, picturesque style, its pure and beau-
tiful English, and its reverent attitude, this story of the life of
Jesus for young people is to be most highly commended. The
author's endeavor is to follow the order of the Gospel harmony,
and to approach as far as possible the Scripture attitude and
language.

BIBLE STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE, by S. E. Dawes, published by the
Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York.

This is a close paraphrase of the Bible language, but is per-
fectly simple and understandable. It is suitable for children just
a little older than those who would enjoy "First Steps for Little
Feet." The first story is of the Flood and the last that of John
the Beloved Disciple.

OLD STORIES FROM THE EAST, by James Baldwin, published by the
American Book Co., New York.

This well known writer of boys' stories has prepared a small
collection of Old Testament stories as supplemental reading for
boys and girls from eight to twelve years of age. The style is
that of the modern story-teller. The names of the Old Testa-
ment characters are given with their meanings, such as Gazelle
for Jael, Laughter for Isaac, etc. No attempt is made to follow
the stately language of the King James version but rather the
contrary. The result is that the stories have unusual strength
and vigor.

THE HEART OF THE BIBLE, edited by Ella Broadus Robertson, pub-
lished by Thomas Nelson & Co., New York.

An arrangement of selections from the American Standard
version of the Bible. The endeavor is to trace the "thread of
Providence and purpose" from the beginning to the end of the

APPENDIX 283

Scriptures. Each story narrative is graphic, the poets and
prophets are grouped about great sections of history, the epics are
presented as personal and vital letters and the effort of the editor
is to give proper perspective to the whole. The type is large and
the illustrations are in color, and the book is a most attractive
one to encourage a child to really read and master the contents
of the Scriptures.

BOYS OF THE BIBLE, by Norma Bright Carson, published by the
Fleming H. Revell Co., New York.

Short chapters of about 1,000 words each, in which the stories
of twenty-two different heroes of the Old and New Testaments
are told in simple language for children in the first two or three
grades of school.

THE BIBLE FOR CHILDREN, by H. Thiselton Mark, published by the
Fleming H. Revell Co., New York.

A selection of Bible stories told in the language of the Bible
itself, such as children up to ten or eleven years of age can
readily understand. The stories are chosen so as to give a gen-
eral view of the leading incidents in both the Old and New Testa-
ments. They are illustrated by a few photogravures from differ-
ent artists.

THE STORY OF THE BIBLE, by Jesse L. Hurlbut, published by the John
C. Winston Co., Philadelphia.

A big book of 750 pages, containing nearly 200 stories from
the Bible. The language follows quite closely that of the Scrip-
tures, but it is considerably simplified. It is the most lavishly
illustrated Bible story-book, in one volume, available. The pic-
tures are both photogravures and in colors. The book is not
well suited to too little children.

284 MANUAL OF STORIES

VII

A LIST OF STORY-BOOKS CONNECTED WITH SCHOOL
SUBJECTS

To ACCOMPANY CHAPTER XIII

NATURE STUDY

ALDIN, "Field Babies," George H. Doran & Co., Boston 3-6

TRIMMER, "History of the Robin," D. C. Heath & Co., New

York 4-6

BRYCE, "That's Why Stories," Newson & Son, New York 4-6

COOK, "Nature Myths," A. Flanagan Co., Chicago 4-6

GRIEB, "Glimpses of Nature for Little Folks," D. C Heath

& Co., New York 4-6

STICKNEY, "Pets and Companions" 5-6

AIKEN & BARBAULD, "Eyes and No Eyes," D. C. Heath & Co.,

New York 5-7

WRIGHT, "Seaside and Wayside," D. C Heath & Co., New

York 5-7

JORDAN, "True Tales of Birds and Beasts," D. C. Heath & Co.,

New York 6-9

DUGDALE, "Book of Baby Beasts," George H. Doran & Co.,

Boston 6-9

SAUNDERS, "Beautiful Joe," Griffith & Rowland, New York.. 6-9
BROWN, "Book of Curious Birds," Houghton Mifflin Co., Bos-
ton 6-9

HOLBROOK, "Book of Nature Myths," Houghton, Mifflin Co.,

Boston 6-9

FARMER, "Nature Myths of Many Lands," American Book Co.,

New York 6-9

MARKS & MOODY, "Little Busybodies," Harper & Bros., New

York 6-9

GRINNELL, "Our Feathered Friends," D. C. Heath & Co,

New York 6-9

SEWELL, "Black Beauty," Geo. W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia. . 6-9
CARTER, "Stories of Brave Dogs," Century Co., New York. . 6-9
BURN HAM, "Descriptive Stories for All the Year," Milton

Bradley Co., Springfield 6-9

ALLEN, "Stories for Wakeland and Dreamland," Milton Brad-
ley Co., Springfield 6-9

APPENDIX 285

STAFFORD, "Animal Fables," American Book Co., New York.. 7-8
ABBOTT, "A Boy on a Farm," American Book Co., New York. . 7-8
SETON, "Lobo, Rag and Vixen," Chas. Scribner's Sons, New

York 7-9

ANDREWS, "Stories Mother Nature Told Her Children," Ginn

& Co., Boston '. . 7-9

MILLER, "True Bird Stories," Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.. 7-9
PYLE, "Stories of Humble Friends," American Book Co., New

York 7-9

HARDY, "The Little King and the Princess True," Rand, Mc-

Nally & Co., Chicago 7-10

BRADISH, "Stories of Country Life," American Book Co., New

York 8-9

BINGHAM, "Merry Animal Tales," Little Brown & Co., Boston 8-9
BOURKE, "Fables in Feathers," Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New

York 8-9

LANG, "Animal Story Book," Longmans, Green & Co., New

York 8-10

LONG, "Ways of the Wood Folk," Ginn & Co., Boston 9-12

PORTER, "Stars in Song and Legend," Ginn & Co., Boston.... 9-12
STONE & FICKETT, "Trees in Prose and Poetry," Ginn & Co.,

Boston 9-12

PIERSON, "Among the Night People," "Among the Forest Peo-
ple," "Among the Meadow People/' "Among the Bird Peo-
ple," E. P. Button & Co., New York 9-12

BURROUGHS, "Bird Stories from Burroughs," Houghton, Mifflin

Co., Boston 9-12

SCUDDER, "Frail Children of the Air," Houghton, Mifflin Co.,

Boston 9-12

FUERTES, "True Bird Stories from My Notebook," Houghton

Mifflin Co., Boston 9-12

ENDIGN, "Lady Lee and Other Animal Stories," American Book

Co., New York 9-12

HOLDEN, "Stories of Animal Life," American Book Co., New

York 9-12

KELLY, "Short Stories of Our Shy Neighbors," American Book

Co., New York W-11

BALDWIN, "Wonder Book of Horses," Century Co., New York. 10- 12
JORDAN, "True Tales of Birds and Beasts," D. C Heath &

Co., New York n-12

HOLDER, "Stories of Animal Life," American Book Co., New

York n'12

SETON, "Animal Heroes," Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.. 12-14

286 MANUAL OF STORIES

HISTORY

PRATT, "Legends of the Red Children/' American Book Co.,

New York 6-9

BASS, "Stories of Pioneer Life," D. C. Heath & Co., Boston 6-9

DOPP, "Story of the Early Sea People," Rand, McNally & Co.,

Chicago 6-9

PUMPHREY, "Stories of the Pilgrims," Rand, McNally & Co.,

Chicago 7-9

EGGLESTON, "Stories of American Life and Adventure," Ameri-
can Book Co., New York 9-12

LIVINGSTON, "Glimpses of Pioneer Life," A. Flanagan Co.,

Chicago 9-12

BOOTH, "Wonderful Escapes by Americans," Houghton, Mif-

flin Co., Boston 9-12

BOOTH, "Old World Hero Stories," Houghton, Mifflin Co.,

Boston 9-12

HOPKINS, "The Indian Book," Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.. 9-12

ANDREWS, "Ten Boys Who Lived on the Road from Long

Ago to Now/' Ginn & Co., Boston k 9-12

PRATT-CHADWICK, "America's Story for America's Children,"

D. C. Heath & Co., New York 9-12

BLAISDELL & BALL, "Hero Stories from American History,"

Ginn & Co., Boston 9-12

HOLLAND, "Historic Boyhoods," "Historic Girlhoods," Geo. W.

Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia 10-12

SWEETZER, "Ten Girls from History," "Ten Boys from His-
tory," Duffield & Co., New York 10-12

BROOKS, "Historic Girls and Historic Boys," G. P. Putnam's

Sons, New York . ..10-12

INDUSTRIES

BINGHAM, "Little Folks' Land," Atkinson, Mentzer & Co.,

Chicago 4-6

PIERSON, "Among the Farm Yard People," E. P. Button & Co.,

New York 4-6

HOPKINS, "The Doers," Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston 5-7

SMITH, "The Railroad Book," Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.. 6-9

SMITH, "The Farm Book," Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston 6-9

SMITH, "The Sea Shore Book," Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston. 6-9

SHILLIG, "The Four Wonders/' Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago 6-9

APPENDIX 287

ABBOTT, "The Boy on the Farm," American Book Co., New

York 7-9

PARKER HELM, "On the Farm," D. Appleton & Co., New York 7-9
BRADDISH, "Stories of Country Life," American Book Co., New

York 7-9

ADAMS, "The Log of a Cowboy," Houghton, Mifflin Co., Bos-
ton 9-12

COE, "Heroes of Everyday Life," Ginn & Co., Boston 12-14

MOFFETT, "Careers of Danger and Daring," Century Co., New

York 12-16

GEOGRAPHY

"Around the World with Father," "Sunshine and Shower,"

Sully & Kleinteich, New York 5-7

SMITH, "Holland Stories," Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston 6-9

CHANCE, "Little Folks of Many Lands," Ginn & Co., Boston.. 6-9
BLAISDELL, "Child Life in Many Lands," Macmillan Co., New

York 6-9

ANDREWS, "Seven Little Sisters," Ginn & Co., Boston 6-9

WILLIAMS, "Romance of Modern Exploration," J. B. Lippin-

cott Co., Philadelphia 12-14

JENKS, "Boys' Book of Explorations," Doubleday, Page &

Co., New. York 12-14

LITERATURE

GROVER, "Folk Lore Readers" (2 Vols.), American Book Co.,

New York 4-6

"Chaucer Story Book," Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston 6-9

ADAMS, "Folk Stories and Verse," American Book Co., New

York 6-9

NIXON-BOULET, "Indian Folk Tales," American Book Co., New

York 6-9

GILBERT, "More than Conquerors," Century Co., New York 9-12

CIVICS

CABOT, ET AL., "Course in Citizenship," Houghton, Mifflin Co.,

Boston 5-14

ART

See Appendix III.

288 MANUAL OF STORIES

DOMESTIC SCIENCE

SCHWARTZ, "Five Little Strangers," American Book Co., New

York 6-9

WIGGIN, "Half a Dozen Housekeepers," Henry Altemus & Co.,

Philadelphia 9-12

RANKJN, "Dandelion Cottage," Henry Holt & Co., New York.. 9-12

VIII

A SEASON'S PROGRAM OF STORIES
To ACCOMPANY CHAPTER XV

1. INSPIRATIONAL VALUE

(a) Beauty of thought or language

"The Wild Swans," Andersen
"The Happy Prince," Wilde
"The Selfish Giant," Wilde
"Thumbelina," Andersen
"Old Pipes and the Dryad," Stockton
"The Little Lame Prince," Mulock
"The Nightingale," Andersen

"The Sacred Fire" (for older children or Library
Leagues), Lagerlof

(b) Truth, ethical or real

"The Little Hero of Haarlem"
"Prince Harweda," Harrison
"The Great Stone Face," Hawthorne
"The Fisherman and His Wife," Grimm
"The King of the Golden River," Ruskin
"The Stone Cutter," Japanese
"The Mirror of Matsuyama," Japanese
"Timothy's Shows," Ewing
"Waste Not, Want Not," Edgeworth
"Golden Windows," Richards
"The Pig Brother," Richards
"The Ugly Duckling," Andersen
[(c) Natural history stories
"The Busy Bees"
"The Spinner Family"
"The Ants and Their Houses"
"Rikki-tikki-tavi," Kipling
"Raggylug," Seton
"The Bell of Atri"
"The Wonderful Adventures of Nils," Lagerlof

APPENDIX 289

(d) Joy, laughter and a sense of real humor

"Peter Pan," Barrie

"Epaminondas," Bryant

"The Bremen Town Musicians," Grimm

"What the Good Man Does is Sure to Be Right,"

Andersen

"Uncle Remus Stories," Harris
"The Elephant's Child," Kipling
"The Donkey Cabbage," Grimm
"Why the Sea Is Salt"
"The Golden Goose," Grimm
"Big Claus and Little Claus," Andersen
"The Bee, the Harp, the Mouse and the Bum-clock,"

MacManus

"The Plaisham," MacManus
"Hookedy-Crookedy," MacManus
"The Emperor's New Clothes," Andersen
"Little Black Sambo," Bannerman

(e) Fairy tales

"The Goose Girl," Grimm

"Diamonds and Toads," Perrault

"Puss in Boots," Perrault

"Jack and the Beanstalk," Old English

"Cinderella," Perrault

"The Tinder Box," Andersen

"The White Cats," d'Aulnoy

"East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon," Asbjornsen

"Rumpelstilzkin," Grimm

"Snow-White ; or, the Magic Mirror," Grimm

(f) Christmas Stories

"Why the Chimes Rang," Alden

"The Little Shepherd of Provence," Stein

"St. Christopher"

"Babouscka," Russian

"The Fir Tree," Andersen

"The Christmas Cuckoo," Browne

"A Boy's Visit to Santa Claus," Wyche

"The Golden Cobwebs," Bryant

"The Christmas Masquerade," Freeman

LITERARY VALUE (to form reading taste)

(a) Classics which cultivate the imagination and raise the

standard

Stories from "The Odyssey"
Stories from "The Iliad"

290 MANUAL OF STORIES

Stories from "The Arabian Nights"

"Aladdin"

"Ali Baba"

"The Enchanted Horse"
Stories from Scott

"The Lady of the Lake"

"The Lord of the Isles"
Stories from Irving

"The Moor's Legacy"

"Rip Van Winkle"
Stories from Hawthorne's "Wonderbook" and "Tan-

glewood Tales"
Stories from Kingsley's "Heroes"

(b) Legends and myths belonging to the race

"Beowulf"
"Norse Stories"
"Volsunga Saga"
"King Arthur"

(c) Old and very famous stories which the child might

otherwise miss
Old Testament stories

"Joseph and His Brethren"

"David and Goliath"
"The Pied Piper," Browning
"The Nurnberg Stove," De la Ramee
"St. George and the Dragon," Spenser
"Una and the Lion," Spenser
"Dick Whittington," English
"Robert of Sicily," Longfellow
"Robinson Crusoe," Defoe

3. HISTORIC VALUE

(a) Picture of famous scenes or incidents

"William Tell"

"Pocahontas"

"Henry Hudson"

"Grace Darling"

"Florence Nightingale"

"Elizabeth Zare"

"The Great Locomotive Chase," Pittinger

(b) Patriotic sentiment: devotion to patriotic ideals

"Joan of Arc"
"Lydia Darrah"
"Molly Pitcher"
"Nathan Hale"

APPENDIX 291

"The Man Without a Country," Hale
"Peter of Switzerland"
"The Sardinian Drummer Boy," Amicia
(c) Biographical: to make great men real and human
Heroes of the sea

"Olaf"

"Columbus"

"Paul Jones"

"Drake"

"Lord Nelson"

"Little Jarvis"

"Cushing"
"Washington"
"Lincoln"

"Robert the Bruce"
"Livingstone"
"Daniel Boone"
"General Custer"

IX

A PROGRAM OF BOTTLE DOLL STORIES
To ACCOMPANY CHAPTER XXI

Story-tellers are already beginning to ask for programs of
stories suitable to tell with bottle dolls, extensive enough to last
for an entire season. Story-tellers and play-fellows in children's
libraries, public schools and playgrounds have already secured from
Mrs. Lowe sets of her charming character dolls, made by her own
hands. They are eager to know if there are enough stories to last
for the entire winter.

It is believed that to follow graded programs as below, inter-
spersed with doll stories originated or adapted by the story-teller
and by stories originated by children, will be quite satisfactory
for this purpose. The methods suggested in the previous chapters
will be sufficient as a guide to the alert teacher. The following
stories have been chosen because of their simplicity of plot and of
scenery, and because most of them suggest the spirit which is in
Mrs. Lowe's own stories.

STORIES FOR CHILDREN FROM 4 TO 8:

1. "Frank Enters the Enchanted Land," by Mary Lowe

2. "Frank and Ruth Visit the Enchanted Land," by Mary Lowe

292 MANUAL OF STORIES

3. "Silver Bells," by Mary Lowe

4. "Lena and Puck in the Enchanted Land," by Mary Lowe

5. "When Lena Hid from the Fairy Queen/' by Mary Lowe

6. "The Lovely Lady," by Mary Lowe

7. "The Fox and the Farmer," by Mary Lowe

8. "When the Chimes Rang," by Raymond M. Alden, in Emilie

Poulsson's "In the Child's World"

9. "The Pig Brother," in Sara Cone Bryant's "How to Tell

Stories to Children"

10. "Little Daylight," in "How to Tell Stories to Children"

11. "The Tale of Peter Rabbit," by Beatrix Potter

12. "The Children in the Wood," in "Stories Children Love"

13. "Little Goody Two- Shoes," in "Stones Children Love"

14. "One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes," in "Fairy Tales Every

Child Should Know"

15. "The Magic Mirror," in "Fairy Tales Every Child Should

Know"

16. "Hansel and Gretel," in "Fairy Tales Every Child Should

Know"

17. "Prince Cherry," in Sara Cone Bryant's "Stories to Tell to

Children"
STORIES FOR CHILDREN FROM 8 TO 12:

1. "Frank Enters the Enchanted Land," by Mary Lowe

2. "Frank and Ruth Visit the Enchanted Land," by Mary Lowe

3. "The Know Nothing Land," by Mary Lowe

4. "The King of the Golden River," abridged by Sara Cone

Bryant in "How to Tell Stories to Children"

5. "Timothy's Quest," by Kate Douglas Wiggin

6. "Editha's Burglar," by Frances Hodgson Burnett

7. "Raleigh's Cloak." in "Stories Children Love"

8. "The Story of Prince Scarlet," in "Once Upon a Time

Tales"

9. "The Princess Meadow Lark," in "Once Upon a Time Tales"

10. "Heather Fairies," in "Once Upon a Time Tales"

11. "Storm Swallows," in "Once Upon a Time Tales"

12. "The Enchanted Wood," in "Once Upon a Time Tales"

13. "Paulina's Christmas," in E. N. and G. E. Partridge's "Story-

Telling in School and Home"

APPENDIX 293

A GENERAL LIST OF STORY-BOOKS

'The best story-tellers are the poor," said Stevenson once, "for
they have to lay their ear to the ground every night." In this sense
most of us must acknowledge that we are to be numbered with the
poor. We are never found with full granaries.

"One's favorite story," as St. John tells us, "is usually the best.
Whatever one has deeply felt will appeal to many others, if it is
rightly presented. The stories that have moved you are the ones
through which you, if not another, can best stir other hearts. The
novels that you remember, the characters in history that stand out,
the incidents of every-day life that stirred your sympathy or admira-
tion, the friends that you have loved, these are the things that,
shaped into simple stories, will go from your lips to the hearts of
those that listen. With these stories you will give yourself."

We have spoken of the extraordinary charm which reminis-
cences of one's own life have, if they are told brightly and humor-
ously to children. Mr. St. John is right in saying that whatever
we have read as well as experienced shares in this power.

We who have many stories to tell ought to keep and file them as
they come to us out of the monthly magazines and the fugitive press.
Nobody can ever have too many apt funny stories; no parent can
ever have too many children's stories in pickle.

There are also whole sheaves of good story-books. Of these
a good list is given below. The list consists almost entirely of col-
lections of separate stories. A few books are mentioned containing
other lists of story-books. This list is of stories of some literary
quality. The lists at the end of previous chapters were for other
specific purposes and include few books mentioned here.

A LIST OF STORY-BOOKS

AFTER LONG YEARS AND OTHER STORIES, by Sophie A. Miller and
Agnes M. Dunne, published by A. S. Barnes & Co., New York.

Some old-fashioned stories with a moral purpose.
ALL THE YEAR ROUND, 3 vols., by Frances Lucia Strong, published

by Ginn & Co., Boston.

AUNT Jo's SCRAP BAG, by Louisa M. Alcott, published by Little,
Brown & Co., New York.

Good, sensible home stories of real life of the sort which
children from seven to ten ask to hear.

294 MANUAL OF STORIES

BALLADS AND TALES, by Haaren, published by the University Press,
Chicago.

BASKET WOMAN, by Mrs. Mary Austin, published by Houghton,
Mifflin Co., Boston.

BED-TIME STORIES, by Louise Chandler Moulton, published by Little,
Brown & Co., Boston.

BIMBI STORIES FOR CHILDREN, by Louise De la Ramee, published by
Ginn & Co., Boston.

BLUE BIRD FOR CHILDREN, THE, by Mme. Maurice Maeterlinck, pub-
lished by Silver, Burdett & Co., New York.

BLUE FAIRY BOOK, THE, by Andrew Lang, published by Longmans,
Green & Co., New York.

Of the score of collections of fairy tales made by Andrew
Lang, this and "The Red Fairy Book" are generally considered
the best.

BOOK OF BALLAD STORIES, by Mary MacLeod, published by F. A.
Stokes Co., New York.
Prose versions of 340 English and Scotch ballads.

BOOK OF FOLK STORIES, by Horace Elisha Scudder, published by
Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.

BOOK OF FRIENDLY GIANTS, by Eunice Foster, published by the Cen-
tury Co., New York.

BOOK OF LEGENDS, by Horace Elisha Scudder, published by Hough-
ton, Mifflin Co., Boston.

BOOK OF LEGENDS TOLD OVER AGAIN, by Horace Elisha Scudder,
published by Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.

BOOK OF LITTLE BOYS, by Helen Dawes Brown, published by Hough-
ton, Mifflin Co., Boston.

BOOK OF SAINTS AND FRIENDLY BEASTS, by Abbie Farwell Brown,
published by Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.

Charming tales of lovable saints and the animals for which
they cared.

BOSTON COLLECTION OF KINDERGARTEN STORIES, published by J. L.
Hammett Co., Boston.

BOYHOOD IN NORWAY, by Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen, published by
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

BRAIDED STRAWS, by Elizabeth E. Foulke, published by Silver, Bur-
dett & Co., New York.

BROADENING PATH, THE, by William Byron Forbush, published by
B. F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis.

A mammoth collection of stories with a moral purpose; now
out of print.

CARELESS JANE AND OTHER TALES, by Katharine Pyle, published by
E. P. Button & Co., New York.

APPENDIX 295

CAT-TAILS AND OTHER TALES, by Mary H. Howliston, published by

A. Flanagan Co., Chicago.

CHARACTER BUILDING READERS, published by Hinds, Noble & El-
dridge, Philadelphia.

Nine volumes of well chosen stories, mostly having a moral
purpose, intended for school reading-books.
CHILD LIFE IN PROSE, by J. G. Whittier, published by Houghton,

Mifflin Co., Boston.

CHILDREN'S BOOK, by Horace Elisha Scudder, published by Hough-
ton, Mifflin Co., Boston.

One of the best collections of stories for children of all ages
in the home.
CHILDREN'S BOOK, THE, by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Cupples and

Son Co., New York.

CHILD'S CHRIST TALES, by A. H. Proudfoot, published by A. Flana-
gan Co., Chicago.

CHILD'S TREASURE TROVE OF PEARLS, by Mary W. Tileston, published
by Little, Brown & Co., Boston.

An excellent compilation of stories of thirty to sixty years
ago, of varied sorts and for all grades.
CHRISTMAS EVERY DAY, by W. D. Howells, published by Harper &

Bros., New York.
CROOKED OAK TREE, by Carter & Field, published by Frederick

Warne, New York.
CRUIKSHANK FAIRY BOOK, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New

York.
CURLY HEAD AND His NEIGHBORS, by Carter & Field, published by

Frederick Warne, New York.
DANISH FAIRY TALES, from Svend Grundtvig, published by Duffield

& Co., New York.

DESCRIPTIVE STORIES FOR ALL THE YEAR, by Maud Burnham, pub-
lished by Milton Bradley Company, Springfield.

A collection of stories for little children, indexed according
to the seasons of the year.

DONEGAL FAIRY BOOK, by Seumas MacManus, published by Double-
day, Page & Co., New York.

DON QUIXOTE, edited by Mary E. Burt and Lucy L. Cable, published
by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

A simplified version.

DREAM CHILDREN, by Horace Elisha Scudder, published by Hough-
ton, Mifflin Co., Boston.

EACH AND ALL, by Jane Andrews, published by Ginn & Co., Bos-
ton.

296 MANUAL OF STORIES

EAST o' THE SUN AND WEST o' THE MOON, by Gudrun Thorn Thorn-
sen, published by Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago.

Norwegian folk-tales.

ENGLISH FAIRY TALES, by Joseph Jacobs, published by G. P. Put-
nam's Sons, New York.

This, and its sequel, "More English Fairy Tales," is the best
collection of stories indicated by the title.

ETHICS FOR CHILDREN, by Ella Lyman Cabot, published by Hough-
ton, Mifflin Co., Boston.

Well chosen stories with a moral purpose.

EYES AND No EYES, by J. Aiken and others, published by D. C.
Heath & Co., New York.

Old-fashioned stories intended to awaken the intelligence of
children.
FABLES AND FOLK STORIES, by Horace Elisha Scudder, published by

Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.

FAIRY LIFE, by Haaren, published by the University Press, Chicago.
FAIRY RING, THE, by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith,
published by Doubleday, Page & Co., New York.

Designed by its editors to be a standard fairy book for
children.
FAIRY STORIES AND FABLES, by James Baldwin, published by the

American Book Co., New York.

FAIRY TALES, by Hans Christian Andersen. Illustrated by Thomas
C. and William Robinson. Translated by Mrs. E. V. Lucas.
Published by Doubleday, Page & Co., New York.
FAIRY TALES, by Jacob K. L. and W. K. Grimm. Illustrated by
Arthur Rackham. Translated by Mrs. E. V. Lucas. Published
by Doubleday, Page & Co., New York.

FAIRY TALES A CHILD CAN READ AND ACT, by Lillian Edith Nixon,
published by Doubleday, Page & Co., New York.

Especially helpful for encouraging children to retell and
enact the stories they have listened to.
FAIRY TALES CHILDREN LOVE, by Charles Welsh, published by the

Dodge Publishing Co., New York.
FAIRY TALES FROM THE FAR NORTH, by P. C. Asbjornsen, published

by A. L. Burt & Co., New York.
FANCIFUL TALES, by Francis R. Stockton, published by Charles

Scribner's Sons, New York.

FIFTY FAMOUS STORIES RETOLD, by James Baldwin, published by the
American Book Co., New York.

An unusually fine collection of stories of heroism and ad-
venture.

FINDING LIST OF FAIRY TALES AND FOLK STORIES, Boston Public
Library.

APPENDIX 297

FIRELIGHT STORIES, by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, published by the
Milton Bradley Company, Springfield.

A group of old folk tales from many lands.

FIVE MINUTE STORIES, by Laura E. Richards, published by Dana
Estes & Co., Boston.

This and her "More Five Minute Stories" and her "Three
Minute Stories" are nice little tales, moral in character, for small
children.
FIRST BOOK OF STORIES FOR THE STORY-TELLER, THE, by Fanny E.

Coe, published by Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.
FOLK TALES FROM MANY LANDS, by Lillian Cask, published by

Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York.
FOLK TALES FROM THE RUSSIAN, by V. X. K. Blumental, published

by Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago.

FOLK TALES OF EAST AND WEST, by John Harrington Cox, pub-
lished by Little, Brown & Co., Boston.
FOR THE CHILDREN'S HOUR, by Carolyn S. Bailey and Clara M.

Lewis, published by Milton Bradley Co., Springfield.
FORGOTTEN TALES OF LONG AGO, by E. V. Lucas, published by F. A.
Stokes Co., New York.

A valuable collection of twenty quaint and stilted tales of the
period of 1790-1830.
FORTY-FOUR TURKISH FAIRY TALES, translated by Ignacz Kunos,

published by T. Y. Crowell & Co., New York.
GERMAN HOUSEHOLD TALES, by Jacob K. L. and W. K. Grimm,

published by Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.

GOLDEN RULE SEsi^sTTby E. Hershey Sneath, George Hodges and
Lawrence EdwaTcT^teyens, published by the Macmillan Co.,
New York.

An excellent series of school readers in several volumes,
composed of stories with a moral purpose, mostly of fine literary
quality.

GOLDEN SPEARS, THE, by Edmund Leamy, published by D. Fitz-
gerald, New York.

The finest collection of fairy stories which has been written
in our generation. Another is his "The Fairy Minstrel of Glen-
malure," by the same publisher.

GOLDEN WINDOWS, THE, by Laura E. Richards, published by Little,
Brown & Co., Boston.

An especially fine selection of stories for little children.
GOOD STORIES FOR GREAT HOLIDAYS, by Frances Jenkins Olcott, pub-
lished by Houghton, Miiflin Co., Boston.

HALF A HUNDRED STORIES, published by Milton Bradley Co., Spring-
field.

298 MANUAL OF STORIES

HASSLER'S GRADED LIST OF STORIES FOR READING ALOUD, E., Public

Library Commission of Indiana, 1908.
HEART OF OAK BOOKS, by Charles Eliot Norton, published by D. C.

Heath & Co., New York.

A series of school readers of fine literary quality, including
some stories intended for character-building.
HERAKLES, THE HERO OF THEBES, by Mary E. Burt and Z. A.

Ragozin, published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
HEROES, by Charles Kingsley, published by Ginn & Co., Boston.
HEROES OF THE DAWN, by Violet Russell, published by the Mac-

millan Company, New York.

Irish folk-tales.

HOLIDAYS : ST. NICHOLAS, published by the Century Co., New York.
HOUSE I LIVE IN, THE, by Brown, published by the American Book

Co., New York.

HOUSEHOLD STORIES, by Annie Klingensmith, published by A. Flana-
gan Co., Chicago.
How TO TELL STORIES TO CHILDREN, by Sara Cone Bryant, published

by Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.
IN STORY-LAND, by Elizabeth Harrison, published by the Central

Publishing Company.

Is not a new book, but is a very good one.
INDEX TO SHORT STORIES, by Grace E. Salisbury and Marie E. Beck-

with, published by Row, Peterson & Co., Chicago.
IN THE CHILD'S WORLD, by Emilie Poulsson, published by Milton

Bradley Co., Springfield.
IN THE DAYS OF GIANTS, by Abbie Farwell Brown, published by

Houghton, Mififlin Co., Boston.
IN THE HEART OF THE FOREST AND OTHER STORIES, by Sophie A.

Miller and Agnes M. Dunne, published by A. S. Barnes & Co.,

New York.
JAPANESE FAIRY TALES, by Teresa Peirce Williston, published by

Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago.
JAPANESE FAIRY TALES, by Yee Theodosia Ozaki, published by A. L.

Burt & Co., New York.
JEWEL'S STORY BOOK, by Clara Louise Burnham, published by

Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.

JIMPY STORIES, THE, by H. Grace Parsons, published by E. P. But-
ton & Co., New York.

A collection of "bed time stories" inspired by the jingles of

Mother Goose, with Jimpy as the hero; quaintly simple, but

possessing a form of philosophy that appeals to little children.

JUNGLE BOOKS, by Rudyard Kipling, published by the Century Co.,

New York.

APPENDIX 299

JUST So STORIES, by Rudyard Kipling, published by Doubleday,

Page & Co., New York.

Unique plots and unique humor. They need to be told in
the author's own words.
KINDERGARTEN STORIES AND MORNING TALKS, by Sara Eliza Wiltse,

published by Ginn & Co., Boston.
KINDERGARTEN STORY BOOK, by Jane Lincoln Hoxie, published by

Milton Bradley Co., Springfield.

KING ARTHUR AND His KNIGHTS, by Maude Lavinia Radford, pub-
lished by Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago.
LADY LEE AND OTHER ANIMAL STORIES, by Heiman Lee Ensign,

published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
LAND OF PLUCK, by Mary Mapes Dodge, published by the Century

Co., New York.
LEGENDS OF THE RED CHILDREN, by M. L. Pratt-Chadwick, published

by E. S. Werner & Co., New York.

LEGENDS OF THE SPRINGTIME, by R. Hoyt, published by the Educa-
tional Publishing Co., Chicago.
LITTLE BOOK OF PROFITABLE TALES, by Eugene Field, published by

Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
LITTLE FIG TREE SERIES, by Mary Hallock Foote, published by

Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.
LOBO, RAG AND VIXEN, by Ernest Thompson Seton, published by

Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
MAGIC CASEMENTS, by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith,

published by Doubleday, Page & Co., New York.
MORAL INSTRUCTION, by F. J. Gould, published by Longmans, Green

& Co., New York.

A description of Mr. Gould's method of developing character
through stories, illustrated by a number of actual tales.
MORE ENGLISH FAIRY TALES, by Joseph Jacobs, published by G. P.

Putnam's Sons, New York.
MORE FIVE MINUTE STORIES, by Laura E. Richards, published by

Dana Estes & Co., Boston.
MORE MOTHER STORIES, by Maud Lindsay, published by Milton

Bradley Co., Springfield.

This and her "Mother Stories" are skilfully wrought moral
stories interesting to children from five to nine.
MOTHER GOOSE VILLAGE, by Madge A. Bingham, published by Rand,

McNally & Co., Chicago.
MOTHER. STORIES, by Maud Lindsay, published by Milton Bradley

Co., Springfield.
MY DAYS WITH THE FAIRIES, by Mrs. Rodolph Stawell, published

by Hodder & Stoughton, New York.

300 MANUAL OF STORIES

MYTHS AND MOTHER PLAYS, by Sara Eliza Wiltse, published by

Milton Bradley Co., Springfield.
MYTHS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW, edited by Hamilton Wright

Mabie, published by Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, New

York.
NATURE MYTHS AND STORIES, by Flora J. Cooke, published by A.

Flanagan Co., Chicago.
NIGHTS WITH UNCLE REMUS, by Joel Chandler Harris, published by

Houghton, Miflflin Co., Boston.

One of the universal books of humor. Peculiarly adapted for
reading aloud.
NORSE FAIRY TALES, by P. C Asbjornsen, published by J. B. Lippin-

cott & Co., Philadelphia.
NORSE STORIES, by Hamilton Wright Mabie, published by Dodd,

Mead & Co., New York.
ODYSSEUS, THE HERO OF ITHACA, by Mary E. Burt and Z. A. Rago-

zin, published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
OLD GREEK STORIES, by James Baldwin, published by the American

Book Co., New York.
OLD INDIAN LEGENDS, by Zitkala-sa, published by Ginn & Co.,

Boston.

ON A PINCUSHION AND OTHER TALES, by Mary De Morgan, pub-
lished by T. Y. Crowell & Co., New York.
Novel stories, with wood engravings by William De Morgan,

the novelist.
ONCE UPON A TIME TALES, by Mary Stewart published by Fleming

H. Revell Co., New York.

PIED PIPER AND OTHER STORIES, by Banta, published by A. Flana-
gan Co., Chicago.
PLAY DAYS, by Sarah Orne Jewett, published by Houghton, Mifflin

Co., Boston.
QUEER LITTLE PEOPLE, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, published by

Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.
QUOTATIONS AND SELECT STORIES FOR OPENING EXERCISES, by Geo.

F. Bass, published by A. Flanagan Co., Chicago.
RAB AND His FRIENDS, by John Brown, published by D. C. Heath

& Co., New York.
RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS, by Mrs. Kate Patch, published by

Milton Bradley Co., Springfield.
ROUND ABOUT RAMBLES, by Francis R. Stockton, published by

Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
RUSSIAN GRANDMOTHER'S WONDER TALES, by Louise Seymour

Houghton, published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

APPENDIX 301

SAM; OR, OUR CAT TALES, by C. Louise Schaffner, published by
Atkinson, Mentzer & Co., New York.

An extraordinary book for little children.

SANDMAN : MORE FARM STORIES, by William John Hopkins, pub-
lished by L. C. Page & Co., Boston.

SEED BABIES, by Margaret W. Morley, published by Ginn & Co.,

Boston.
SEVEN LITTLE PEOPLE, by Horace Elisha Scudder, published by

Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.
SEVEN LITTLE SISTERS, by Jane Andrews, published by Ginn & Co.,

Boston.
SHORT STORIES OF OUR SHY NEIGHBORS, by M. Kelly, published by the

American Book Co., New York.
SLEEPY TIME STORY BOOK, THE, by Ruth O. Dyer, published by

Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co., Boston.
SOLOMON CROW'S CHRISTMAS POCKETS, by Ruth McEnery Stuart,

published by Harper & Bros., New York.
SONGS AND STORIES, by Haaren, published by the University Press,

Chicago.
SPINNING WHEEL STORIES, by Louise M. Alcott, published by Little,

Brown & Co., Boston.
ST. NICHOLAS CHILDREN'S BOOK, published by the Century Co., New

York.

STAR JEWELS AND OTHER WONDERS, by Abbie Farwell Brown, pub-
lished by Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.
STORIES AND POEMS FOR CHILDREN, by Celia Thaxter, published by

Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.
STORIES CHILDREN LOVE, by Charles Welsh, published by the Dodge

Publishing Co., New York.
STORIES FOR KINDERGARTENS AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS, by Sara Eliza

Wiltse, published by the American Book Co., New York.
STORIES FOR LITTLE LISTENERS, by Margaret Boughton, published by

Charles & Dible, London.
STORIES FOR WAKELAND AND DREAMLAND FOR KINDERGARTEN AND

PRIMARY CHILDREN, by Anne Elizabeth Allen, published by the

Milton Bradley Co., Springfield.

A collection of stories based almost entirely upon nature
motives and following the round of the year.
STORIES FROM FAMOUS BALLADS, by Sara Jane Lippincott, published

by Ginn & Co., Boston.
STORIES FROM LIFE, by Orison Swett Marden, published by the

American Book Co., New York,

302 MANUAL OF STORIES

STORIES FROM MY ATTIC, by Horace Elisha Scudder, published by
Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.

STORIES FROM OLD FRENCH ROMANCE, by Ethel M. Wilmot-Buxton,
published by Frederick A. Stokes Co., New York.

STORIES FROM PLATO AND OTHER CLASSIC WRITERS, by Mary Eliza-
beth Burt, published by Ginn & Co., Boston.

STORIES MOTHER NATURE TOLD HER CHILDREN, by Jane Andrews,
published by Ginn & Co., Boston.

STORIES OF BRAVE DOGS, by H. M. Carter, published by the Century

Co., New York.
STORIES OF HUMBLE FRIENDS, by Katharine Pyle, published by the

American Book Co., New York.

STORIES OF MY FOUR FRIENDS, by Jane Andrews, published by Ginn
& Co., Boston.

STORIES TO READ OR TELL, by Laura Claire Foucher, published by
Moffat, Yard & Co, New York.

STORIES TO TELL TO CHILDREN, by Sara Cone Bryant, published by
Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.
Following her "How to Tell Stories to Children."

STORY HOUR, by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A Smith, published
by Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston.

STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION, by S. B. Allison and H. A. Purdue,
published by A. Flanagan Co, Chicago.

STORY-LAND, by Effie Seachrist, published by the A. S. Barnes Co.,
New York.

Upon alternate pages are charming pictures of child life.
Upon the page opposite each picture is an outline of a composition
indicating in each case, the place, time, the actors, the intro-
duction, the incident and the climax of the story, with suggestive
phrases and questions. The purpose, of course, is to help the
children to tell or write stories based upon these pictures.

STORY-TELL LIB, by Mrs. Annie Slosson, published by Charles
Scribner's Sons, New York.

SUNKEN CITY AND OTHER STORIES, THE, by Marie H. Frary and
Charles M. Stebbins, published by Milton Bradley Co, Spring-
field.

TALES OF LAUGHTER, by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith,
published by Doubleday, Page & Co, New York.

TALES OF MOTHER GOOSE, by Charles Perrault, published by D. C.
Heath & Co, New York,

APPENDIX 303

TALES OF WONDER, by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith,
published by Doubleday, Page & Co., New York.

TANGLEWOOD TALES, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published by Hough-
ton, Mifflin Co., Boston.

THE TEACHER'S STORY-TELLER'S BOOK, by Alice O'Grady and Frances
Throop, published by Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago.

Gets its name from the fact that the stories, selected from
many sources, are adapted to the first five grades in school.
They are arranged in the order of the grades.

TEN BOYS, by Jane Andrews, published by Ginn & Co., Boston.

THIRTY MORE FAMOUS STORIES RETOLD, by James Baldwin, published
by the American Book Co., New York.

Somewhat more advanced than his "Fifty Famous Stories
Retold."
THREE FAIRY TALES, by Jean Ingelow, published by D. C. Heath

& Co., New York.

THREE MINUTE STORIES, by Laura E. Richards, published by the
Page Co., Boston.

There are not many good books containing stories for little
children under school age. This is a good one; in fact, it is one
of the best.

TOLD BY THE CAMP FIRE, by F. H. Cheley, published by the Asso-
ciation Press, New York.

Is a collection of short stories which have been told to older
boys in camp. Each one is the story of some adventure in camp
life.

TRUE BIRD STORIES, by Mrs. Harriet Miller, published by Hough-
ton, Mifflin Co., Boston.
TRUE FAIRY TALES, by M. E. Bakewell, published by the American

Book Co., New York.
TRUE TALES OF BIRDS AND BEASTS, by D. Jordan, published by D. C.

Heath & Co., New York.
UNCLE REMUS : His SONGS AND SAYINGS, by Joel Chandler Harris,

published by D. Appleton & Co., New York.
WASTE NOT, WANT Nor, AND OTHER STORIES, by Maria Edgeworth

and others, published by D. C. Heath & Co., New York.
WIGWAM EVENINGS, by Charles A. Eastman, published by Little,
Brown & Co., Boston.

Sioux Indian tales.

WINGS AND STINGS, by Mrs. Agnes McClelland Daulton, published
by Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago.

304 MANUAL OF STORIES

WONDER BOOK, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published by Houghton,
Mifflin Co., Boston.

The Greek myths told in beautiful language but needing some
adaptation in giving to children.

WONDERFUL CHAIR AND THE TALES IT TOLD, by Frances Browne,
published by D. C. Heath & Co., New York.

A delightful collection of fairy stories written by a woman
born blind.

INDEX

Accessories for the Bottle Dolls,

228

Acting Stories, 81
Action in Story-telling, 31
Addition, 126
Adler, Felix, 22, 119, 122, 128,

131

Admiration, 12
Adolescence and Pictures, 62
"Age of Innocence, The," 65
Alden, Raymond M., 224
Allegories, 23, 104
Allegory of the Enchanted Land,

The, 187

Amateur Theatricals, 82
Arrangement of the Story, The,

29

Art in Story-telling, 165
Attention in Story-telling, 30, 39,

135

Bailey, Carolyn Sherwin, 25, 30,
59, 62, 81, 163

Barnes, Earl, 130

Beall, Meta Eloise, 42

Bed-time Stories, 150

Beginning, The, 29, 190

Bible and Present Day Life,
The, 130

Bible as a Story-book, The, 122

Bible Stories, 109, 122, 278

Bible Story Books, 280

Bible Story Play, 224

Biographical Stories, 99

Biography, 19, 111

Books and Stories, 139

Books Containing Picture De-
scriptions, 253

Books of Dramatics, 257
Bottle Characters, The, 179
Bottle People, The, 175
Bottle Story Program, A, 291
Bottles, The Advantage of, 176
Bourne, Randolph S., 141
"Boy and Rabbit, The," 64
Boys' Tastes, 24, 160
Braucher, Howard S., 83
"Brew, The," 208
Bryant, Sara Cone, 12, 36, 41
Burr, H. M., 74
Buttercup, 206

Cabot, Ella Lyman, 14
Candor, 123

Chalk and Story-telling, 46
Character-building Stories, 7, 92,

264

Charades, 86
Chart of the Bottle Characters,

A, 204
Chart of the Enchanted Land, A,

185

Child, Responsiveness of the, 4
Children's Dramatics, 86
Child's Part, The, 48
Clearness, 36
Climax, The, 35, 162
"Closing Door, The," 106
Coe, George A., 13, 112
Color, 35

Comfort of Stories, The, 143
Companionship of Stories, The,

145

Conover, Mary, 154
Contentment of Stories, The, 143
Continued Stories, 50, 76

305

306

MANUAL OF STORIES

Continued Stories as Drama, 51
Costumes and Story-telling, 44
Cowles, Julia Darrow, 24, 40, 44,

82, 125

Criticism in Story-telling, 169
Cycle of Stories, A, 51, 163

De Groot, E. B., 155

Details, 41

Devices for Story-telling, 39

Direct Discourse, 40

Directness in Story-telling, 36

Discipline through Stories, 149

Drama and the Story, The, 30,

44,83

Dramatic Stories, 32
Dramatizing Stories, 81
Drawing and Story-telling, 46

Education of the Child, The, 136

Education of the Heart, The, 199

Educational Value of Stories,
The, 4

Emotional Influence of Story-
telling, The, 6

Enchanted Land, The, 180, 184,
189

Ending, The, 36

English and Stories, 138

Epic Stories, 18

Ethical Stories, 14

Experience Defined by Story
Tastes, 25

Experiences in Story-telling, 30

Expression through Stories, 138

Expression through Story-tell-
ing, 15

Fables, 22, 87

Fairy Queen, The, 206

Fairy Stories, 18 21

Fairy Tales, 92

"Fairy Who Came to Our

House, The," 92
Faris, John T., 77

Feeling, 44

Feeling Training by Stories, 6
Fisher, Dorothy Canfield, 147
"Fox and the Farmer, The," 221
"Frank Enters the Enchanted

Land," 194
Friendship, 14
Funny Stories, 27

"Garlands," 86

General List of Story-books, A,

293

Gesell, Arnold L, 82, 138, 140
Gestures, 43
Getting Attention, 39
Girls' Tastes, 24, 161
Gould, Frederick J., 13
Grading Bible Stories, 124
Grading Stories, 87, 160
Grahame, Kenneth, 146

Handicraft and Story-telling,

148, 177

Hall, G. Stanley, 58, 199
Hero Tales, 23
Hervey, William I, 37
Hewins, Caroline M., 158, 164,

168

History, 19

History and Stories, 140
Hofer, Mari, 75
Home and Stories, The, 143
Home Discipline and Stories, 149
Home Handicraft and Stories,

148

Home Pictures, 55
Home Reading and Stories, 148
Hornaday, William T., 12
Houghton, Louise Seymour, 20,

120 124, 132

Hov to Tell Stories, 29
Kuril, Estelle M., 55

Imagination and Story-telling,
178

INDEX

307

Imagination in Stories, 145

Imagination Trained by Stories,
5

Imaginative Stories, 87

Importance of Bible Stories,
The, 122

Interest, 136

Interest in Stories, 17, 30

Introducing the Bottle Doll Peo-
ple, 191

James, William, 135
Jesus in Pictures, 68
Jesus, Parables of, 109
"Jimmy and the Sharper,"

112

Jordan, David Starr, 147
Joy of the Child, 143
Joy through Story-telling, 5

Keyes, Angela M., 29, 43, 48
Kinds of Stories, 17
Kingdom of Law, The, 180
Kingdom of Love, The, 179
"Knight with the Ill-fitting Coat,

The," 99
Knowledge of Good through

Stories, A, 9

Leamy, Edmund, 31, 144, 150
Lee, Gerald Stanley, 136, 138
Legends, 99
Leisure, 45
Lena, 207

Librarians as Story-tellers, 152
Library Story-hour, The, 152
Limitations of Story - telling,

The, 13

Lincoln Stories, One of, 117
Lindsay, Maud, 105
List of Bible Stories, 278
List of Bible Story-Books, 280
List of Books Containing Pic-
ture Descriptions, 253

List of Books on Dramatics, 258

List of Books on Story-telling,
252

List of Stories Children Like,
245

List of Story-books Connected
with School Subjects, 284

Listening, 48

Lists o f Character-building
Stories, 264

Lists of Stories and Playthings,
79

Lists of Story-pictures, 71

Lists of Story-plays for Chil-
dren, 257

Literature and Stories, 139

"Little Blue Gown and the But-
terfly," 95

Lonesome Land, The, 202

Lovely Lady, The, 210

Lowe, Mary A., 85, 159, 160, 175,
179, 187

Lyman, Edna, 32, 47, 51, 162

MacManus, Seumas, 5, 15

"Magic Shirt, The," 104

Making the Bottle Dolls, 226

Manner of Bible Story-telling,
125

Mannerisms, 45

Mary Lowe's Philosophy, 199

Mason, Frank S., 157

Memorizing, 47

Memory Training through Sto-
ries, 5

Method of Story-telling through
Pictures, The, 61

Methods of Bible Story-telling,
125

Methods of Story-telling, 36

Mimic World, The, 176, 201

Mitchell, Donald G., 27

"Monday," 88

Moore, Howard, 8

Moral Education, 9

308

MANUAL OF STORIES

Moral Education through Pic-
tures, 68

Moral Education through Sto-
ries, 12, 141

Moral Reflection, 17

Moral Results from Bottle Doll
Story-telling, The, 243

Moral Stories, Suggestions for
Telling, 118

Moral Value, The, 141

Moral Value of Stories, The, 12

Moses, The Story of, 130

Mother and Story-telling, The,
145

Mother Goose, 21

Moulton, Richard G., 125

Moving the Bottle People, 186,
231

Murray, Charles, 4

Myths, 18, 99

Naturalness of Home Story-tell-
ing, The, 149

Nature Interpreted by Stories, 5
Nature Stories, 22
Nature Study and Stories, 140
Nixon, Lillian Edith, 84
Norton, Charles E., 10

Olcott, Frances J., 24
Omega Boys' Club, The, 6
One's Self and the Story, 43
Order, 29

Order, Changing the, 128
Order of Bible Stories, 128
Organized Story-telling, 152
Originativeness through Story-
telling, 233

Pantomimes, 86
Parables, 23, 104
Partridge, George E., 7, 10, 17,
18, 37, 138

Paton, J. Lewis, 13
Patton, Cora Mel, 86
Period Stories, 163
Perry, Stella G., 86
Personality in Story-telling, 16,

44
Physical Value of Stories, The,

4

Picture Interests of Children, 57
Picture Story-telling, 55
Picture Study, 55
Picture Tastes of Children, The,

Pictures for Children, Choice of,
60

Pictures in the Home, 55

Plan for a Story, The, 28

Play and Stories, 74

Playground Story-hour, The,
155

Plot of the Story, The, 29

Plutarch's Stories, 115

Potion, The, 210

Present Day Life and the Bible,
130

Primitive Story, The, 17

Program in the Story-hour, The,
162

Program of Bottle Doll Stories,
A, 291

Programs of Stories, 288

Programs for a Season of Or-
ganized Story-telling, 288

Pueblos, Stories Among the, 7

Puppet Theater, The, 85

Purposive Stories, 19, 92

Racial Stories, 163

Reading and Stories, 136, 148

Reading versus Telling Stories,

Realistic Stories, 19, 87, 111
Reality, 129

Relation of Stories to Play, 74
Repetition, 32, 41, 95

INDEX

309

Results of Story-telling, The, 38
Retelling Stories, 42, 156
Retouching, 43
Rhythm in Story-telling, 20
Rules for Moving the Bottle
People, 186, 231

Sad Stories, 27

Sand Table, The, and Story-tell-
ing, 186
Scenery for the Bottle Dolls,

The, 228

School and Stories, 135
School Dramatics, 82
Schiitze, Mrs. Stephani, 89
Schiitze, Stephani, 2, 27, 48
Selection of Bible Stories, 132
Self and the Story, 43
Sense Appeal, 21, 33, 88
Serial Stories, 52
Sharp, Frank C, 9
Shedlock, Mary L., 165
Simplicity, 122
Sociability and Stories, 141
Social Unifier, The Story as a,

141
Social Value of Stories, The, 12,

88, 112
Sound, 33
Spontaneity, 47
Sprague, Cara, 157, 159
St. John, Edward Porter, 40, 42,

109

Stanley, Rufus, 6
Stepping Stone Stories, 158
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 33, 145
Stories and Books, 139
Stories and Discipline, 149
Stories and Education, 135
Stories and Expression, 138
Stories and History, 140
Stories and Interest, 136
Stories and Literature, 139
Stories and Nature Study, 140
Stories and Play, 74

Stories and Playthings, 79
Stories and School, 135
Stories and Thinking, 138
Stories and Writing, 140
Stories at Bed-time, 150
Stones Children Like, 21, 245
Stories to Act, 83 •
Stories with a Sense Appeal, 21,

88
Story as a Revelation of Life,

The, 3
Story-books Connected with

School Subjects, 284
Story-books, A General List of,

293

Story-class, The, 168
Story-game, The, 75
Story-hour, The, 152
Story-hour in Libraries, The,

152
Story-hour in the Club for

Street Boys, The, 157
Story-hour in the Home, The,

143
Story-hour on the Playground,

The, 155
Story in Character-building,

The, 7, 87, 111
Story of the Bottle Dolls, The,

179, 212

Story-playing, 75
Story-plays for Children, 257
Story Tastes, 25
Story-teller, The, 36
Story-tellers' League, The, 165
Story-telling as an Art, 48
Story-telling Devices, 39
Story-telling Poems, 19
Story-telling, The Value of, 3
Story-telling with Chalk, 46
Street Boys' Clubs, 157
Subtraction, 128
Sunday School Teachers as

Story-tellers, 168
Sunday Story-telling, 77

310

MANUAL OF STORIES

Sympathy and Story-telling, 120
Sympathy through Story-telling,
6

Tact in Story-telling, 114
Tastes in Story-telling, 25
Teachers' Club, Story-telling at

the, 169
Telling versus Reading Stories,

15

Thinking through Stories, 138
Thomas, Edward, 33
Truth and the Story, 123
Tucker, William J., 171

Uncle Remus, 18

Value of Bottle Dolls, The, 233

Value of Picture Stories, 67
Value of Story-telling, The, 3
Verbal Expression in Story-tell-
ing, 138

Visualizing, 36
Voskrovsky, Clara, 31

"Wee Hare and the Red Fire,
The," 89

"When Ruth and Frank Visited
the Enchanted Land," 212

Will Training through Story-
telling, 11, 210

Williamson, Julia, 165

Witches, The, 203

Work, 14

Writing and Stories, 140

Wyche, Richard T., 23, 36, 165

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
BERKELEY

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JAN 12 1948

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