PART ONE STORY-TELLING AND THE ARTS OF EXPRESSION—ESTABLISHING STANDARDS (continued 3)

The teacher in the ungraded school is particularly fortunate in opportunities for this kind of work, because she can correlate it with other subjects in ways that workers in schools using the departmental system cannot do. One country teacher had her eighth-grade history class give a pageant portraying the French exploration in the Mississippi Valley. The class devoted a term to the preparation; the subject was made the nucleus of their reading, language, history, and manual work, and the results were most gratifying. Boys who never had written a readable paper did some astonishingly good work in composition because of their interest in the play and their desire to contribute to it, and the standard of class scholarship was raised, to say nothing of the joy the children derived from it.

Many other historical subjects are equally rich in possibilities. The Spanish exploration in Florida, the Dutch in New York, the Spanish settlement of California, the framing and adoption of the Declaration of Independence, John Smith and Pocahontas, Ponce de Leon seeking the fountain of youth, the story of Columbus, and many similar themes afford good opportunities for class play-making and correlation of school subjects.

Sometimes a picture will suggest an entire scene in a dramatization, or even an entire play; the following are especially good for this purpose:

Bacon: The Burial of Miles Standish.

Balaca: Departure of Columbus from Palos.

Boughton: Pilgrims Going to Church; Pilgrim Exiles; The Return of the Mayflower; Priscilla.

Kaulbach: The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Piloty: Columbus on the Deck of the Santa Maria.

Van der Lyn: The Landing of Columbus.

Those wishing to make a specialty of dramatization will find the following books helpful:

Chubb: Festivals and Plays.

Craig: The Dramatic Festival.

Curtis: The Dramatic Instinct in Education.

The following are excellent stories for dramatic work with little children, and are included in so many books that they are available to every teacher:

Three Billy Goats Gruff; The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids; Chicken Little; The Old Woman and Her Pig; The Pig Brother; The Gingerbread Boy; The Boy Who Cried Wolf; The Town Musicians; Mother Goose Rhymes; The Three Bears; The Pancake; The Discontented Pig.

Many others will be found in the list of story collections for children in the rhythmic period, and in the bibliography on the following page.

Bibliography of Material for Dramatization

For Primary Grade Children

Bell, Florence E.: Fairy Tale Plays and How to Act Them.

Chadwick, M. L. Pratt-, and Freeman, E. Gray: Chain Stories and Playlets.

Nixon-Roulet, M. F.: Fairy Tales a Child Can Read and Act.

Noyes, M. I., and Ray, B. H.: Little Plays for Little People.

Perry, S. G. S.: When Mother Lets Us Act.

Stevenson, Augusta: Children’s Classics in Dramatic Form, Books 1-3.

Wells, Carolyn: Jolly Plays for Holidays.

For Intermediate Grade Children

Harris, F. J.: Plays for Young People.

Sidgwick, Ethel: Four Plays for Children.

Spofford, Harriet Prescott: The Fairy Changeling.

Stevenson, Augusta: Children’s Classics in Dramatic Form, Books 4-6.

St. Nicholas Book of Operettas and Plays.

For Grammar Grade Children

Frank: Short Plays about Famous Authors.

Lansing, M. F.: Quaint Old Stories to Read and Act.

Lütkenhaus, A. M., and Knox, Margaret: Plays for School Children.

Rucker and Ryan: Historical Plays of Colonial Days.

CHAPTER TWELVE Bible Stories

One of the glaring defects of our modern educational system is that almost no provision is made for the study of the Bible as a great classic, and as a result boys and girls complete grammar and high-school courses without sufficient knowledge of the epic of the Hebrews to enable them to understand the world’s best literature. The myths of Greece and Rome are studied because of their cultural value, yet from universities throughout the country comes the complaint that many of the works of famous authors are beyond the enjoyment of students because the Biblical allusions have no meaning for them. What should be as familiar as “Red Riding Hood” and “Cinderella” is known in name only, and the immortal book is regarded as a repository of golden texts and maxims instead of as a glorious artistic creation.

The masses of children know almost nothing of the story of Israel, because outside of the Sunday school and the exceptional home, it is rarely told. Yet educators emphasize its need in the intellectual as well as in the spiritual development of the child, and declare that the Old Testament tales should be as much a part of the school curriculum as are the myths of Greece and Rome and the northland. Rein, the great German educator, advocates using them in the third and fourth grades to the exclusion of all others, which is done in the state schools of Baden, while in America Dr. G. Stanley Hall pleads eloquently in behalf of Bible stories.

“To eliminate the Bible from education,” says this famous psychologist, “is as preposterous pedagogically as it would have been in the days of Plato to taboo Homer from the education of Greek youth. It is not only a model of English, but it is impossible to understand the culture history of Europe without it, as it has influenced the literature, history, and life of Western nations as no other book has begun to do.”

The secular narrator, as well as the teacher of religion, should use the Bible tales freely, that men and women of the future may have a broader knowledge of literature, history, and life than they can have without them. This is no impossible task, even for the amateur, because the Biblical narratives are perfect ones for telling. Nowhere else in literature do we find such thrilling tales of adventure, such exquisite idylls, such sublime ballads, such annals of high purpose and noble achievement, as in the epic of Israel. Nowhere else are there more spectacular, perfectly constructed plots. Ruskin said, “It would be pre-eminently the child’s book even though it had no religious value above other books”; and Dr. Fuchs of Vienna declares that we might, if we lacked material, give children nothing but Bible stories and yet satisfy every craving of their natures, because the Bible contains every type of tale that appeals to the child. From Genesis to Revelation it is an incomparable record of human desire, human endeavor, human failure, and human success. In the Old Testament we find myth, fairy tale, fable, romance, legend, and history, told in simple, elemental beauty by the Hebrew story-tellers, tinged with that varied color and imagery so characteristic of oriental literature and so fascinating to children,—stories that, as Mrs. Houghton says, “are the product of a child nation, and therefore very close to the heart of the child.”

The Old Testament, rather than the New, is the child’s storybook, because it is the expression of a primitive people, and its tales picture primitive, rugged heroes that boys and girls can understand, whereas the second division of the Bible, except that portion centering around the childhood and boyhood of Christ, is adult in character. But it is a mistake to think that all Old Testament tales can be presented with gratifying results. To tell the story of Ruth and Boaz to tiny tots would be as absurd as to give them the Decameron of Boccaccio or Goethe’s Faust, because the characters and incidents are remote from their interest. In using material from the Bible, as from any other source, it is necessary to keep in mind the story interests of childhood, and to remember that the skeletons of tales, not the style and vocabulary in which they are written, must be the test for selection. If the framework is suited to the period of mental development, the language can be adapted, while otherwise no amount of simplifying can bring it within the understanding and powers of enjoyment.

The Old Testament is particularly rich in stories for children, because it was formulated in a period when the Hebrew nation was a child nation. The men and women of Israel were grown to adult stature, but they had the hearts of children. They thought concretely, as the child thinks, and consequently their literary expression is concrete and illustrative. This, added to the facts that they, like all other orientals, loved the story and brought it to a high artistic point, and that the Old Testament heroes are not refined to the point of æstheticism, but are strong, rugged, elemental men, thoroughly human and far removed from goody-goodies, makes it an ideal book for the child. Gideon and Joshua possess virtues, but they possess faults also. They are punished and they are rewarded, and because they have much in common with children, the lessons learned through their victories and defeats are more valuable than a thousand admonitions.

In advocating the use of Bible stories a word of caution seems necessary, lest the narrator, actuated by the laudable desire to enrich the intellectual and spiritual life of the child, may harm instead of benefit. The Hebrew people were in a state of advanced barbarism when their tribal achievements grew into an epic, and the deeds of their heroes are often so bloodthirsty and revengeful that they cannot be reconciled with modern views. Boys and girls are quick to realize this, and consequently many of the Old Testament tales must be softened by the elimination of objectionable features, just as many fairy and epical tales must be softened.

Nor are gore and revenge the only elements we must cut away from these old tales. Those who give the narrative of Israel to boys and girls of twelve and fourteen should be careful to eliminate from it everything that may be suggestive of the vulgar, for which, at this age, many children are on the lookout. It is better to omit than to veil and modify questionable portions of a tale, because young people are very discerning, and to see through gossamer is to arouse curiosity. Dr. Bodley cites instances of youths in the romantic period reading the Bible because of lewd thoughts. This danger leads some persons to decry the use of Bible stories by the average narrator, in whose hands they believe them to be dangerous. However, if he uses judgment, if he makes it a rule to omit whatever awakens a doubt in his mind, even the amateur may tell Bible stories with beneficial results. It is possible to eliminate from many an Old Testament narrative without breaking the thread of the story, just as it is possible to give boys and girls a clear idea of the man Chopin without introducing the George Sand episode. So much of the Old Testament is pure adventure tale that the story-teller may use the portion that feeds the elemental hero love without touching upon what might arouse morbid curiosity or desire, or that which sanctions gore and revenge.

Those who have not had training in gathering and adapting story material from the Bible will be aided greatly in their work by Frances Jenkins Olcott’s book, Bible Stories to Read and Tell. Miss Olcott gives the stories as they are given in the King James Version, preserving all the beauty of language of the Hebrew story-tellers, but she has excluded everything that might prove objectionable; and with this book as a guide there is little danger of making a mistake in telling the Hebrew hero tales to children.

Bible stories should be graded as carefully as fairy stories are graded. In choosing for little children, select those whose heroes are children, and give to the boy who craves the heroic the incomparable tales of the Hebrew wanderers, those men whose lives were a varied succession of adventures. For the child of each period there is a wealth of material. The stories of the baby Moses, little Samuel, the boy Joseph, the boy Timothy, the boy David, and the baby Isaac are very appealing to six- and seven-year-olds. They love also to hear of the mother and the baby Samson, of Ishmael and Hagar, and those other mothers and babies of long ago, and especially dear to them is the story of the Babe of Bethlehem. This lovely narrative is a part of the birthright of every child, and is exquisite enough to merit careful preparation on the part of the story-teller. The Bible itself should be the storehouse to which the narrator goes for material, but those not especially gifted in visualizing and imagination will derive much help from the work of modern literary artists who have told again the story of the Christ Child. The eleventh and twelfth chapters of the first book of Ben Hur, the creation of a man whose reverence was as great as his talent, should be re-read by every one who attempts to tell of the song and the star in Judea, and the works of Henry van Dyke, Selma Lagerlöf, and John of Hildesheim will aid greatly in giving color and atmosphere. This means time and labor, but no amount of preparation is too great to put upon the world’s noblest stories. The narrator should approach them, not arrogantly, and satisfied of his ability to tell them because he has known them from childhood, but as the artist approaches the masterpiece he aspires to copy, willing to labor that he may be worthy of the task, willing to read them over and over again and count each reading a return to the fount of inspiration. This should be the attitude toward all great stories, but especially toward the immortal ones of the Bible.

For the child in the heroic period the Old Testament is a gold mine, and it is a pity that its superb adventure tales are so little used by story-tellers, since they are so fascinating to boys and girls. Even when told as separate stories they arouse interest and hold the attention, but they are most valuable when given in a sequence, because then the child regards the Old Testament as a great human drama, the epic of a people.

A good plan is to begin with the call of Abraham, as related in the twelfth chapter of Genesis. Picture the patriarch, with Lot and Sarah, going into exile out of the land of Haran, through Canaan to the plain of Moreh, building there the altar under the soothsayer’s oak, and journeying southward over the desert to Egypt. Tell of the banishment by Pharaoh and the return to Bethel, of the strife between the herdsmen and the survey of the land, of the captivity and rescue of Lot. Paint vividly the highway along which they traveled, now over the desert, now across the fertile plain skirting the sea, often footsore and weary, often suffering from heat and thirst as wanderers in the East suffered, and the story will cause children to turn from the cheap adventure tale of today as music lovers turn from ragtime to a Chopin prelude.

Then there are tales of those other Old Testament wanderers, Isaac, “the Ulysses of the Hebrews,” and Jacob, whose life was so eventful. Take the boys over the routes these men traveled. Let them share their exploits and adventures, resting in fertile places where the wanderers rested, now by the well outside Nahor, the servants praying beside the kneeling camels as Bethuel’s lovely daughter came down the hillside with the pitcher on her shoulder, now moving as the caravan moved, over roads the Hebrew armies traveled on their way to war, along which tradesfolk journeyed in times of peace. There is marvelous color and romance in these Old Testament thoroughfares, and they are highways of fascination even today. Still across their yellow sands turbaned Arabs go up and down, singing praise to Allah just as men sang to God in the remote time of Israel. They bear with them skin bags filled with water from the pools and streams, dates, figs, and dried goat’s flesh, such as formed the noontide repast of Isaac and his men, for in the changeless East life is today as it was in the beginning of things. When the caravans rest, they sit under the palm trees in some oasis, telling stories their fathers told, and using the Old Testament forms of speech. Still in that land of nomads to see is to “lift up the eyes,” and maidens go to draw water when the day’s heat is over just as Rebecca went to the well of Nahor.

The book of Joshua is a glorious adventure story. The siege and destruction of Jericho, the victories of Joshua, the slave boy from Egypt who became the first soldier of the Hebrews, the distribution of Canaan among the tribes of Israel, and Othniel’s valor and reward satisfy every desire of the child who craves hero stories. They satisfy now as they satisfied two thousand years ago, because they grew out of the life of a people and run the entire gamut of human emotion as only racial tales can do.

The book of Judges is a collection of incomparable narratives. The enslavement of Israel by Jabin, the defeat and death of Sisera, and Gideon’s deliverance and victory never fail to hold boys and girls who crave the heroic. Moreover, these stories will arouse interest in perhaps the finest ode known to any literature, the song of Deborah in the fifth chapter of Judges. Give the children some idea of what it has meant to the world. Ruskin said the memorizing of it in his boyhood shaped his taste for literature, and Macaulay declared it inspired him to write “Horatius at the Bridge.” Read the work of the English poet, and bring out the lovely pictures in the great Hebrew ode, for it is not fair to our young people that we allow them to go through life without knowing this gem, without leading them to see the beauty of these exquisite words:

Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment and walk by the way.

They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord.

Visualize the scenes in those lines: sumptuous, haughty Hebrews, traveling as only the prosperous traveled; men in the fine linen of lawgivers, holding places of power in the land; vagabonds lounging along the highways, begging alms of passers-by; husbandmen tilling fields far from the sound of conflict; men in every walk of life, widely separated by material conditions, yet brothers in a common weal, rejoicing in a common blessing, the victory of Barak over the foe of Israel. It is as rich in color as a canvas by Titian, and pupils in the upper grammar grades will grow to love it if it is presented as it should be, through the medium of the story.

The books of Samuel, with their tales of Saul and of David, of the shepherd boy from the Hebron hills making music for Israel’s king, his meeting and slaying Goliath, Saul and the Witch of Endor, and all the eventful life of David are glorious materials for the story-teller. Here again inspiration may be obtained from the work of a modern writer. Browning’s “Saul” will greatly aid the narrator in telling the story of the boy David, for the picture the poet gives of the afflicted monarch in his tent, the son of Jesse standing beside him singing the Hebrew gleaning songs, is as vivid as it is exquisite.

Where can we find a more splendid narrative than that of Solomon, in the second book of Kings? Where is the boy or girl who does not delight in listening to the account of the visit of Hiram, king of Tyre, when two sumptuous monarchs met; of the collection of materials and the building of the temple; of the visit of the Queen of Sheba, the adversity and death of Solomon, and that succession of events that led to the captivity of Israel? Here, too, we find the great story of the invasion of Judah and the destruction of Sennacherib; and Byron’s poem will vivify this tale just as Browning’s “Saul” vivifies that of the boy David.

The only reason why children look upon the Bible as a dull, ponderous book is that they are not familiar with the Old Testament adventure tales, and it is a mistake to think that present-day boys and girls will turn away from them. If playground and settlement workers would give more time and attention to the stories of the Hebrews, they would have less difficulty in reaching hoodlumish boys. It is necessary to use tact in presentation,—“sense,” as Lilian Bell says, “of the brand commonly known as horse,”—for to preface a narrative with, “Now I shall tell you a Bible story,” might mean an insurrection. The only way is to bring the hero on the stage and tell his tale so vividly that the listeners are held by it to the end. After they come to know such men as Gideon and Joshua, they will regard the Bible as a great storybook.

A settlement worker had this experience not long ago. She told the tale of Joshua to a group of young ruffians, who sat through it as if held by a spell, and at its conclusion the leader of the band remarked, “That was some story!” Other Old Testament heroes were then introduced with excellent effect, and the lads were amazed to learn that the Bible contained such stories. But results of this kind cannot be obtained without effort and preparation on the part of the raconteur.

Bible stories, being the perfect tales of the world, should be told as nearly as possible in the language and style in which they were written. Some modification is necessary for the purpose of clarifying, but the Biblical expressions should be used frequently. Quote freely from the original or follow the story with a Bible reading, that the child who hears the tales may catch something of the majestic beauty of expression of the Hebrew story-tellers. There can be no more pitiful mistake than to tell these matchless narratives in the vernacular of the street. To use modern slang in recounting the wanderings of Isaac or the passing of the Children of Israel through the Red Sea is to profane a marvelous artistic creation, even though it had no religious significance, and unfortunately story-tellers sometimes do this, thinking they will make the tales more interesting to children. That sort of narration will amuse and hold young folk only as long as it lasts, and leaders of children are not working merely for the here and now. Their effort is for time and eternity, and they should have sufficient vision to see beyond the present, sufficient sense of proportion to estimate values. The Old Testament tales need no modern strokes to make them attractive, because they abound in color and incidents that lead to superb climaxes, and never fail to fascinate when given with sincerity. Therefore they should be told in simple, dignified language, as the men of Israel told them when the world was young, and while they fire the imagination, they will lead children unconsciously to an appreciation of beautiful English, which is one of the cardinal aims of every story-teller who is worthy of the name.

The teller of Bible stories should draw from music and art, as well as from literature, because to follow a tale with a picture or musical number inspired by it is to heighten enjoyment and strengthen the impression already made. If children see Bendemann’s masterpiece, “By the Waters of Babylon,” after they have heard the story of the captivity of Israel, they will have a sympathy for the exiled Hebrews that they cannot have otherwise. Saul, David, and many other Old Testament heroes will seem more than ever like living, breathing men when viewed as Michelangelo portrayed them, while Giulio Romano’s frescoes, “The Story of Joseph,” or Pellafrino da Modena’s “Story of Solomon,” will intensify their color and romance and help to lead to an appreciation of art. Cheap reproductions bring these and other masterpieces within the reach of the narrator, and he should travel every bypath in which he may glean materials that will help children to love these old tales. He should keep ever before him the thought of how they have enriched the world, and how powerfully lives are influenced by stories heard in childhood. When Bertel Thorwaldsen was a blue-eyed boy in Copenhagen, he heard a tale that long afterward became the inspiration of “The Lion of Lucerne,” and young Richard Wagner, playing in a Dresden street one day, crept into a group to which a strolling bard was telling the medieval legend of “Parsifal.” It was a seed planted in a creative mind, and years afterward it flowered in two noble operas of the Holy Grail. So it was with Goethe, with Browning, with Byron, and many other great men. Perhaps in your group of youthful hearers there may be a boy or a girl who will listen as gifted children of the past have listened to an old, old story, and perhaps your telling it may result, long after your work is ended, in his giving to some branch of art a creation that will enrich the world through generations yet to come. But even though there be no budding genius among your auditors, sincere, artistic telling of the Bible stories cannot fail to produce great results. It will develop the emotional nature of the average child; it will broaden his sympathy and increase his capacity for feeling, make him more sympathetic, more responsive to the joys and sorrows of his fellow men, and better fitted to become a useful citizen.

Sources of Material for Bible Stories

Abbott, Lyman: Life and Literature of the Ancient Hebrews.

Aguilar, Grace: The Women of Israel.

Baring-Gould, S.: Lives of the Saints.

Canton, William: A Child’s Book of Saints.

Dearmer, Mabel: A Child’s Life of Christ.

Doane, T. W.: Bible Myths.

Fiske, John: The Myths of Israel; The Great Epic of Israel.

Hodges, George: A Child’s Guide to the Bible.

Houghton, Louise S.: Telling Bible Stories; Hebrew Life and Thought.

Kent, Charles Foster: Heroes and Crises of Early Hebrew History.

Lagerlöf, Selma: Christ Legends.

Olcott, Frances Jenkins: Bible Stories to Read and Tell.

Sangster, Margaret E., and Yonge, Charlotte M.: Stories from the Best of Books.

Smith, George A.: A Historical Geography of the Holy Land.

Smith, Nora A.: Old, Old Tales from the Old, Old Book.

Van Dyke, Henry, Abbott, Lyman, and Others: Women of the Bible.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN Story-Telling and the Teaching of Ethics

The function of education is not only to give the child knowledge and a capacity for acquiring further knowledge that shall equip him for the life struggle and make success a possible attainment, but also to give him an ethical standard that shall make him fit to live among his fellows and a respect for the rights and feelings of others, or, as Goethe says in Wilhelm Meister, “Reverence for what is above, reverence for what is beneath, reverence for what is equal.” He must be taught to realize that he is part of a great unit and that individual desires must often give way to the welfare of the many. He must be taught that as an individual he owes to society obedience to the laws that govern society and allegiance to the principles that make possible a harmonious family, civic, and national life. Consequently it is required of every teacher that she give ethical instruction, that she endeavor to bring children to an understanding of what is generally accepted as right and wrong, and implant in them convictions strong enough to cause them to adhere to those standards.

In establishing ethical standards, as in establishing standards in art, literature, or music, we must appeal to the emotional side of the child as well as to the intellectual side. We must lead him to feel that the right act is the one that he wants to do, and this cannot be accomplished by a presentation of dry facts and precepts. Every teacher knows that the time spent in admonishing a child what he ought to do brings no gratifying results. He is not swayed to repugnance for one act or to admiration for another by being told “Thou shalt,” or “Thou shalt not.” At the time the command is given, fear may cause him to obey it; but conduct that is the result of force does not strengthen the character or teach high standards of action. It tends instead to harden the child and make him determined to act differently at the first opportunity. Ethical training does not mean to attempt to control the child, but to enlighten him and direct his volition to the point where he will attempt to control himself. As Ella Lyman Cabot says, “Its aim is to make the best there is so inviting to the child that he will work eagerly and persistently to win it.” The ideal that is held up to him must be so beautiful that he will be willing to sacrifice and endure hardship in order to attain to it, and through story-telling he may be led to see this ideal more vividly than in any other way, because the story makes right acts appealing and wrong acts repugnant. Moreover, through the narrator’s art the child lives the experiences of the tales he hears. He suffers with the evildoer and is rewarded with the virtuous, and because he is powerfully moved by a narrative, his character is lastingly affected by it.

In giving ethical instruction, it is necessary to use the right material. Tales selected for this purpose should be suited to the child’s particular period of mental development, they should contain a lesson the boy or the girl ought to learn, and they should be strong and virile and true to life. Much harm is done by telling stories of unusually good children. Such young folk are unpopular with boys and girls, and the story about them is as distasteful as is the “goody-goody” that is met with in real life. Instead of being an influence toward commendable action and the acceptance of a higher standard of right and wrong, the over-idealistic tale antagonizes the child and goads him toward that from which we would have him veer aside. Perhaps this accounts for the fact that girls often enjoy boys’ stories more than those written especially for girls. The normal girl wants to read and hear about live, natural young folk, and the heroine who has drawing-room manners and nothing else is very far from her ideal. Story characters that influence children must be human, full of human faults and virtues. From their failures and successes young people will learn many valuable lessons, but they will learn no lesson from one who poses as an unnatural young saint.

Moral training should begin with the babe, and therefore the mother and primary teacher need stories that have ethical values as early as they need Mother Goose tales and jingles. Very early in life the child must be brought to realize that there is a higher law than that of its own will or desire. It must be taught obedience, cleanliness, kindness to animals, consideration for the rights of others, truthfulness, industry, honesty, and courtesy, and these lessons can be inculcated more effectively by means of story-telling than in any other way. The tale of “The Little Red Hen” doing the work and reaping the reward of her labor is a sermon on industry that little people do not forget. The story of the farmer boy who rolled the stone out of the highway because he feared it might cause injury to some one, and then of the compensation that came to him at the hands of the lord of the village who placed it there, will help to make children thoughtful and kindly.

In telling stories of this type, the narrator should emphasize the fact that the greatest reward is the mental satisfaction that follows a good action, because the child who hears much of material reward sometimes thinks chiefly of the money or picnic or good time commendable conduct may bring, and if it happens that he does not receive remuneration, decides it is useless to perform good deeds. A case of this kind that came under my observation was that of a boy in a country school, a lazy, thoughtless little fellow. One day when a man drove through the school yard, his brother, who was very considerate, ran to open the gate. The stranger tossed a penny to the child, and the teacher, thinking to give a lasting lesson in consideration to the thoughtless boy, dwelt at length upon the stick of candy the money would buy. Several days later another man drove through the school yard and the thoughtless boy ran to open the gate. He received a smile and a “Thank you” but no money, and he could not be persuaded to open the gate again.

It is well to give stories in which children are materially rewarded, but they should be taught to see that material reward is not the only reward, and that desire for it should not be the motive that prompts a good action. The fireman who risks his life in saving the property or life of another is not bountifully paid, and seldom does he receive a purse for bravery. But he is true to his duty. He is giving to society the thing that he owes it, service, and his greatest guerdon is the satisfaction that comes from being steadfast to a trust. Examples of this kind are of great value to the child who is inclined to be selfish, and they are very effective in bringing all children to realize the truth of Alice Cary’s words:

Very young children can be taught to realize that the true reward of right conduct comes from added self-respect and from winning the esteem of others, and whenever a child is given a tale in which a boy or a girl receives some wonderful treasure for kindness or courtesy or truthfulness, the narrator will do well to interpolate a sentence like this: “And the best part of it was that Albert was happy because he had done what was right. That thought gave him a glad feeling even more than the big, shiny dollar.”

Many fairy tales and fables are of particular ethical value for little children, and the narrator can draw much from the field of general literature; biography and history hold many good examples, while the Bible is a rich storehouse of material. Ella Lyman Cabot’s excellent work, Ethics for Children, discusses the ethical side of story-telling in such a detailed and complete way that it should be in the hands of every mother and teacher. The book gives valuable suggestions, not only to workers with little folk, but to those who have the training of grammar grade and high-school pupils also. Carolyn Sherwin Bailey’s Stories for Sunday Telling contains some good material for the mother and the primary teacher, while the several books by Sara Cone Bryant (listed in Chapter Seven, “Telling the Story”) will be helpful.

The following list is one that has been used with good results:

Stories to Develop or Stamp out Certain Traits and Instincts

Deceit

Æsop: The Fox that Lost Its Tail (Adams, William: Fables and Rhymes—Æsop and Mother Goose).

Malice

Æsop: The Dog in the Manger (Adams, William: Fables and Rhymes—Æsop).

Sympathy and Compassion

Cabot, Ella Lyman: A Lesson for Kings (Ethics for Children).

Sawyer, Ruth: The Gipsy Mother’s Story of Joseph and Mary (This Way to Christmas).

Honesty

Cabot, Ella Lyman: The Little Loaf (Ethics for Children).

Faithfulness to Duty

Bryant, Sara Cone: The Little Hero of Haarlem (How to Tell Stories).

Cary, Phœbe: The Leak in the Dike (Poems).

Inattention

Bryant, Sara Cone: Epaminondas and His Auntie (How to Tell Stories).

Grimm, Jacob: Stupid Hans (German Household Tales).

Obedience

Partridge, E. N. and G. E.: The Little Cowherd Brother (Story-Telling in the Home and School).

Generosity

Bailey, Carolyn Sherwin: The Boy Who Had a Picnic (Stories and Rhymes for the Child).

Bailey, C. S., and Lewis, Clara M.: The Woodpecker Who Was Selfish (For the Children’s Hour).

Bryant, Sara Cone: The Cloud (How to Tell Stories).

Bulfinch, Thomas: Baucis and Philemon (The Age of Fable).

Cabot, Ella Lyman: Margaret of New Orleans (Ethics for Children).

Cary, Alice: The Pig and the Hen (Poems).

Grimm, Jacob: The Star Dollars (German Household Tales).

Grimm, Joseph: The Elves and the Shoemaker (German Household Tales).

Wilde, Oscar: The Happy Prince.

Love and Sweetness

Bryant, Sara Cone: The Mirror of Matsuyama (How to Tell Stories).

Tolstoï, Leo: Where Love Is, There God Is Also (See Bryant: How to Tell Stories).

Forgiveness

Bible: The Prodigal Son.

Cabot, Ella Lyman: Lincoln and William Scott (Ethics for Children).

Hugo, Victor: The Bishop and Jean Valjean (Les Misérables).

Moulton, Louise Chandler: Coals of Fire (In Cabot: Ethics for Children).

Tolstoï, Leo: A Spark Neglected Burns the Whole House (In Cabot: Ethics for Children).

Cleanliness

Bailey, Carolyn S.: The Child Who Forgot to Wash (Story-Telling Time).

Kingsley, Charles: Tom, the Chimney Sweep (Water Babies).

Lindsay, Maud: Dust under the Rug (Mother Stories).

Richards, Laura E.: The Pig Brother (The Pig Brother and Other Stories).

Perseverance

Cabot, Ella Lyman: The Story of Helen Keller (Ethics for Children).

Cather, Katherine Dunlap: Old Jan’s Twilight Tale; The Joyous Vagabond; The Whittler of Cremona; The Border Wonderful; Jacopo, the Little Dyer (Boyhood Stories of Famous Men).

Holland, Rupert S.: The Boy of the Medici Gardens (Historic Boyhoods).

Industry

Bryant, Sara Cone: The Gold in the Orchard; The Castle of Fortune; The Sailor Man (How to Tell Stories).

Contentment

Browning, Robert: Pippa Passes (Poems).

Bryant, Sara Cone: The Rat Princess (How to Tell Stories).

Cabot, Ella Lyman: The Discontented Pendulum (Ethics for Children).

Cather, Katherine Dunlap: The Discontented Pig.

Menefee, Maud: Pippa Passes (Child Stories from the Masters).

Kindness

Æsop: The Lion and the Mouse (Adams: Fables and Rhymes—Æsop and Mother Goose).

Andersen, H. C.: Five Peas in a Pod (Wonder Stories Told to Children).

Bailey, C. S.: The Little Brown Lady (Story-telling Time).

Brown, Abbie Farwell: St. Francis of Assisi and the Wolf (Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts).

Bryant, Sara Cone: Prince Cherry (Stories to Tell to Children); Why Evergreen Trees Keep Their Leaves (How to Tell Stories).

Cabot, Ella Lyman: Dama’s Jewels (Ethics for Children).

Grimm, Jacob: Snow White and Rose Red; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; Queen Bee (German Household Tales).

Longfellow, Henry: The Bell of Atri (Poems); (see also Wiggin and Smith: The Children’s Hour).

Partridge, E. N. and G. E.: The Stone Lion; Little Paulina’s Christmas (Story-Telling in the Home and School).

Richards, Laura E.: Florence Nightingale and the Shepherd Dog (Florence Nightingale, the Angel of the Crimea).

Stockton, Frank R.: Old Pipes and the Dryad (Lyman: Story-Telling: What to Tell and How to Tell It).

Greed

Æsop: The Dog and His Shadow (In Adams: Fables and Rhymes—Æsop and Mother Goose).

Hawthorne, Nathaniel: The Golden Touch (Wonder-Book).

Courtesy

Cabot, Ella Lyman: A Four-Footed Gentleman (Ethics for Children).

History and biography offer a particularly rich field from which to draw material for older children, for nothing drives home with more force a lesson in patriotism, loyalty, faithfulness, heroism, or obedience than to read of some one who has been put to the test and has triumphed. Dozens of characters worth emulating will occur to any teacher, and the following books will be found of particular value:

Sources of Material to Use in the Teaching of Ethics

Baldwin, James: American Book of Golden Deeds.

Bolton, Sarah K.: Famous Leaders among Men; Lives of Poor Boys Who Became Famous; Lives of Girls Who Became Famous.

Lang, Andrew: The True Story Book.

Lang, Jeanie: The Story of Robert the Bruce.

Richards, Laura E.: Florence Nightingale, the Angel of the Crimea.