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diff --git a/33923-h/33923-h.htm b/33923-h/33923-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b8ad78 --- /dev/null +++ b/33923-h/33923-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7501 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Special Method in Primary Reading and Oral Work with Stories, by Charles A. McMurry. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 18%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} + + .authnm { position: absolute; right: 80%; text-align: right;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:15%; margin-right:15%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i1 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i11 {display: block; margin-left: 11em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.ileft {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 0em; text-indent: -15%;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Special Method in Primary Reading and Oral +Work with Stories, by Charles Alexander McMurry + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Special Method in Primary Reading and Oral Work with Stories + +Author: Charles Alexander McMurry + +Release Date: October 14, 2010 [EBook #33923] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPECIAL METHOD IN PRIMARY *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h2>SPECIAL METHOD<br /> +IN PRIMARY READING</h2> + +<hr /> + + +<h2>SPECIAL METHOD<br /><br /> +<small>IN</small><br /><br /> +<big>PRIMARY READING AND ORAL<br /> +WORK WITH STORIES</big></h2> + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h2><span class="smcap">CHARLES A. McMURRY, Ph.D.</span></h2> + +<h4>DIRECTOR OF PRACTICE DEPARTMENT, NORTHERN ILLINOIS<br /> +STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, DE KALB, ILLINOIS<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<small>New York<br /> +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br /> +LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., <span class="smcap">Ltd.</span></small><br /> +1905 +<br /> +<br /> +<i>All rights reserved</i></h4> + +<hr /> +<h4><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1903.<br /> +By</span> THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.<br /> +<br /> +Set up and electrotyped July, 1903; reprinted<br /> +April, 1905.<br /> +</h4> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>This book attempts the discussion of two very +important problems in primary education. First, the +oral work in the handling of stories, and second, the +introduction to the art of reading in the earliest +school work. The very close relation between the +oral work in stories and the exercises in reading in +the first three years in school is quite fully explained. +The oral work in story-telling has gained a great +importance in recent years, but has not received +much discussion from writers of books on method.</p> + +<p>Following this "Special Method in Primary Reading," +a second volume, called the "Special Method +in the Reading of Complete English Classics in the +Grades of the Common School," completes the discussion +of reading and literature in the intermediate +and grammar grades.</p> + +<p>Both of the books of Special Method are an application +of the ideas discussed in "The Principles +of General Method" and "The Method of the +Recitation."</p> + +<p>Still other volumes of Special Method in Geography, +History, and Natural Science furnish the outlines +of the courses of study in these subjects, and +also a full discussion of the value of the material +selected and of the method of treatment.</p> + +<p>At the close of each chapter and at the end of the +book a somewhat complete graded list of books, for +the use of both pupils and teachers, is given. The +same plan is followed in all the books of this series, +so that teachers may be able to supply themselves +with the best helps with as little trouble as possible.</p> + +<p style='text-align: right'>CHARLES A. McMURRY.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="2" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Reason for Oral Work in Stories</span></td><td align='right'>1</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Basis of Skill in Oral Work</span></td><td align='right'>16</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">First Grade Stories</span></td><td align='right'>47</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Second Grade Stories</span></td><td align='right'>75</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Third Grade Stories</span></td><td align='right'>103</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>CHAPTER VI</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Primary Reading through Incidental Exercises and Games</span></td><td align='right'>137</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>CHAPTER VII</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Method in Primary Reading</span></td><td align='right'>173</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>CHAPTER VIII</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">List of Books for Primary Grades</span></td><td align='right'>190</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>SPECIAL METHOD IN PRIMARY<br /> +READING</h1> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 1]</span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h2><span class="smcap">The Reason for Oral Work in Stories</span></h2> + + +<p>The telling and reading of stories to children in +early years, before they have mastered the art of +reading, is of such importance as to awaken the +serious thought of parents and teachers. To older +people it is a source of constant surprise—the attentive +interest which children bestow upon stories. +Almost any kind of a story will command their wide-awake +thought. But the tale which they can fully +understand and enjoy has a unique power to concentrate +their mental energy. There is an undivided, +unalloyed absorption of mind in good stories which +augurs well for all phases of later effort. To get +children into this habit of undivided mental energy, +of singleness of purpose in study, is most promising. +In primary grades, the fluttering, scatter-brained truancy +of thought is the chronic obstacle to success in +study.</p> + +<p>The telling or reading of stories to children natu<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 2]</span>rally +begins at home, before the little ones are old +enough for school. The mother and father, the aunts +and uncles, and any older person who delights in +children, find true comfort and entertainment in rehearsing +the famous stories to children. The Mother +Goose, the fables, the fairy tales, the "Arabian +Nights," Eugene Field's and Stevenson's poems of +child life, the Bible stories, the myths, and some of +the old ballads have untold treasures for children. If +one has a voice for singing the old melodies, the +charm of music intensifies the effect. Little ones +quickly memorize what delights them, and not seldom, +after two or three readings, children of three +and four years will be heard repeating whole poems +or large parts of them. The repetition of the songs +and stories till they become thoroughly familiar gives +them their full educative effect. They become a +part of the permanent furniture of the mind. If the +things which the children learn in early years have +been well selected from the real treasures of the past +(of which there is a goodly store), the seeds of true +culture have been deeply sown in their affections.</p> + +<p>The opportunities of the home for good story-telling +are almost boundless. Parents who perceive +its worth and are willing to take time for it, find in +this early period greater opportunity to mould the +lives of children and put them into sympathetic touch +with things of beauty and value than at any other +time. At this age children are well-nigh wholly at<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 3]</span> +the mercy of their elders. They will take what we +give them and take it at its full worth or worthlessness. +They absorb these things as the tender plant +absorbs rain and sunshine.</p> + +<p>The kindergarten has naturally found in the story +one of its chief means of effectiveness. Stories, +songs, and occupations are its staples. Dealing with +this same period of early childhood, before the more +taxing work of the school begins, it finds that the +children's minds move with that same freedom and +spontaneity in these stories with which their bodies +and physical energies disport themselves in games +and occupations.</p> + +<p>It is fortunate for childhood that we have such +wholesome and healthful material, which is fitted +to give a child's mental action a well-rounded completeness. +His will, his sensibility, and his knowing +faculty, all in one harmonious whole, are brought +into full action. In short, not a fragment but the +whole child is focussed and concentrated upon one +absorbing object of thought.</p> + +<p>The value of the oral treatment of stories is found +in the greater clearness and interest with which they +can be presented orally. There is a keener realism, +a closer approximation to experimental facts, to the +situations, the hardships, to the sorrows and triumphs +of persons. The feelings and impulses of the actors +in the story are felt more sharply. The reality of the +surrounding conditions and difficulties is presented so<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 4]</span> +that a child transports himself by the power of sympathy +and imagination into the scenes described.</p> + +<p>There is no way by which this result can be accomplished +in early years except by the oral presentation +of stories. Until the children have learned to read +and have acquired sufficient mastery of the art of +reading so that it is easy and fluent, there is no way +by which they can get at good stories for themselves. +Average children require about three years to acquire +this mastery of the reading art. Not many children +read stories from books, with enjoyment and appreciation, +till they are nine or ten years old; but from +the age of four to ten they are capable of receiving +an infinite amount of instruction and mental stimulus +from hearing good stories. In fact, many of the best +stories ever produced in the history of the world can +be thoroughly enjoyed by children before they have +learned to read. This is true of Grimm's and Andersen's +stories, of the myths of Hiawatha and Norseland, +and of the early Greeks, of the Bible stories, +the "Arabian Nights," "Robin Hood," besides many +other stories, poems, ballads, and biographies which +are among the best things in our literature.</p> + +<p>In these early years the minds of children may be +enriched with a furnishment of ideas of much value +for all their future use, a sort of capital well invested, +which will bring rich returns. Minds early fertilized +with this variety of thought material become more +flexible, productive, and acquisitive.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 5]</span></p> + +<p>For many years, and even centuries, it was supposed +that early education could furnish children with +little except the forms and instruments of knowledge, +the tools of acquisition, such as ability to read, spell, +and write, and to use simple numbers. But the susceptibility +of younger children to the powerful culture +influence of story, poem, and nature study, was +overlooked.</p> + +<p>We now have good reason to believe that there +is no period when the educative and refining influences +of good literature in the form of poems and +story can be made so effective as in this early period +from four to ten years. That period which has been +long almost wholly devoted to the dry formalities and +mechanics of knowledge, to the dull and oftentimes +benumbing drills of alphabets, spelling, and arithmetical +tables, is found to be capable of a fruitful study +of stories, fables, and myths, and an indefinite extension +of ideas and experiences in nature observation.</p> + +<p>But the approach to these sunny fields of varied +and vivid experience is not through books, except +as the teacher's mind has assimilated their materials +and prepared them for lively presentation.</p> + +<p>The oral speech through which the stories are +given to children is completely familiar to them, so +that they, unencumbered by the forms of language, +can give their undivided thought to the story. Oral +speech is, therefore, the natural channel through +which stories should come in early years. The book<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 6]</span> +is at first wholly foreign to them, and it takes them +three years or more of greater or less painful effort +to get such easy mastery of printed forms as to gain +ready access to thought in books. A book, when +first put into the hands of a child, is a complete +obstruction to thought. The oral story, on the contrary, +is a perfectly transparent medium of thought. +A child can see the meaning of a story through oral +speech as one sees a landscape through a clear window-pane. +If a child, therefore, up to the age of +ten, is to get many and delightsome views into the +fruitful fields of story-land, this miniature world of +all realities, this repository of race ideas, it must +be through oral speech which he has already acquired +in the years of babyhood.</p> + +<p>It is an interesting blunder of teachers, and one +that shows their unreflecting acceptance of traditional +customs, to assume that the all-absorbing problem +of primary instruction is the acquisition of a new +book language (the learning to read), and to ignore +that rich mother tongue, already abundantly familiar, +as an avenue of acquisition and culture. But we +are now well convinced that the ability to read is an +instrument of culture, not culture itself, and primarily +the great object of education is to inoculate +the children with the ideas of our civilization. The +forms of expression are also of great value, but they +are secondary and incidental as compared with the +world of ideas.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 7]</span></p> + +<p>There is an intimate connection between learning +to read and the oral treatment of stories in primary +schools which is very interesting and suggestive to +the teacher. Routine teachers may think it a waste +of time to stop for the oral presentation of stories. +But the more thoughtful and sympathetic teacher +will think it better to stimulate the child's mind than +to cram his memory. The young mind fertilized by +ideas is quicker to learn the printed forms than a +mind barren of thought. Yet this proposition needs +to be seen and illustrated in many forms.</p> + +<p>Children should doubtless make much progress in +learning to read in the first year of school. But +coincident with these exercises in primary reading, +and, as a general thing, preliminary to them, is a +lively and interested acquaintance with the best +stories. It is a fine piece of educative work to cultivate +in children, at the beginning of school life, a +real appreciation and enjoyment of a few good stories. +These stories, thus rendered familiar, and others of +similar tone and quality, may serve well as a part of +the reading lessons. It is hardly possible to cultivate +this literary taste in the reading books alone, unrelieved +by oral work. The primers and first readers, +when examined, will give ample proof of this statement. +In spite of the utmost effort of skilled +primary teachers to make attractive books for primary +children, our primers and first readers show +unmistakable signs of their formal and mechanical +character. They are essentially drill books.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 8]</span></p> + +<p>It seems well, therefore, to have in primary +schools two kinds of work in connection with story +and reading, the oral work in story-telling, reproduction, +expression, etc., and the drill exercises in learning +to read. The former will keep up a wide-awake +interest in the best thought materials suitable for +children, the latter will gradually acquaint them with +the necessary forms of written and printed language. +Moreover, the interest aroused in the stories is constantly +transferring itself to the reading lessons and +giving greater spirit and vitality even to the primary +efforts at learning to read. In discussing the method +of primary reading we shall have occasion to mention +the varied devices of games, activities, drawings, +dramatic action, blackboard exercises, and picture +work, by which an alert primary teacher puts life +and motive into early reading work, but fully as +important as all these things put together is the +growing insight and appreciation for good stories. +When a child makes the discovery, as Hugh Miller +said, "that learning to read is learning to get stories +out of books" he has struck the chord that should +vibrate through all his future life. The real motive +for reading is to get something worth the effort of +reading. Even if it takes longer to accomplish the +result in this way, the result when accomplished is +in all respects more valuable. But it is probable that +children will learn to read fully as soon who spend +a good share of their time in oral story work.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 9]</span></p> + +<p>In discussing the literary materials used in the first +four grades, we suggest the following grading of +certain large groups of literary matter, and the relation +of oral work to the reading in each subsequent +grade is clearly marked.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Grading"> +<tr><th> </th><th><span class="smcap">Oral Work.</span></th><th><span class="smcap">Reading.</span></th></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>1st Grade.</i></td><td align='left'>Games, Mother Goose.</td><td align='left'>Lessons based on Games, etc.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Fables, Fairy Tales.</td><td align='left'>Board Exercises.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Nature Myths, Child Poems.</td><td align='left'>Primers, First Readers.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Simple Myths, Stories, etc.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>2d Grade.</i></td><td align='left'>Robinson Crusoe.</td><td align='left'>Fables, Fairy Tales.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Hiawatha.</td><td align='left'>Myths and Poems.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Seven Little Sisters.</td><td align='left'>Second Readers.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Hiawatha Primer.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>3d Grade.</i></td><td align='left'>Greek and Norse Myths.</td><td align='left'>Robinson Crusoe.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Ballads and Legendary Stories.</td><td align='left'>Andersen's & Grimm's Tales.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Ulysses, Jason, Siegfried.</td><td align='left'>Child's Garden of Verses.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Old Testament Stories.</td><td align='left'>Third Readers.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>4th Grade.</i></td><td align='left'>American Pioneer History Stories.</td><td align='left'>Greek and Norse Myths.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Early Biographical Stories of Europe, as Alfred, Solon, Arminius, etc.</td><td align='left'>Historical Ballads.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Ulysses, Arabian Nights.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Hiawatha, Wonder Book.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>This close dependence of reading proper, in earlier +years, upon the oral treatment of stories as a preliminary, +is based fundamentally upon the idea that +suitable and interesting thought matter is the true +basis of progress in reading, and that the strengthening +of the taste for good books is a much greater +thing than the mere acquisition of the art of reading. +The motive with which children read or try to learn +to read is, after all, of the greatest consequence.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 10]</span></p> + +<p>The old notion that children must first learn to +read and then find, through the mastery of this art, +the entrance to literature is exactly reversed. First +awaken a desire for things worth reading, and then +incorporate these and similar stories into the regular +reading exercises as far as possible.</p> + +<p>In accordance with this plan, children, by the time +they are nine or ten years old, will become heartily +acquainted with three or four of the great classes +of literature, the fables, fairy tales, myths, and such +world stories as Crusoe, Aladdin, Hiawatha, and +Ulysses. Moreover, the oral treatment will bring +these persons and actions closer to their thought and +experience than the later reading alone could do. +In fact, if children have reached their tenth year +without enjoying those great forms of literature that +are appropriate to childhood, there is small prospect +that they will ever acquire a taste for them. They +have passed beyond the age where a liking for +such literature is most easily and naturally cultivated. +They move on to other things. They have passed +through one great stage of education and have +emerged with a meagre and barren outfit.</p> + +<p>The importance of oral work as a lively means of +entrance to studies is seen also in other branches +besides literature.</p> + +<p>In geography and history the first year or two of +introductory study is planned for the best schools in +the form of oral narrative and discussion. Home<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 11]</span> +geography in the third or fourth year, and history +stories in the fourth and fifth years of school, are +best presented without a text book by the teacher. +Although the children have already overcome, to +some extent, the difficulty of reading, so great is the +power of oral presentation and discussion to vivify +and realize geographical and historical scenes that +the book is discarded at first for the oral treatment.</p> + +<p>In natural science also, from the first year on the +teacher must employ an oral method of treatment. +The use of books is not only impossible, but even +after the children have learned to read, it would +defeat the main purpose of instruction to make books +the chief means of study. The ability to observe +and discern things, to use their own senses in discriminating +and comparing objects, in experiments +and investigations, is the fundamental purpose.</p> + +<p>In language lessons, again, it is much better to use +a book only as a guide and to handle the lessons +orally, collecting examples and stories from other +studies as the basis for language discussions.</p> + +<p>It is apparent from this brief survey that an oral +method is appropriate to the early treatment of all +the common school studies, that it gives greater +vivacity, intensity, simplicity, and clearness to all +such introductory studies.</p> + +<p>The importance of story-telling and the initiation +of children into the delightful fields of literature<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 12]</span> +through the teacher rather than through the book +are found to harmonize with a mode of treatment +common to all the studies in early years.</p> + +<p>In this connection it is interesting to observe that +the early literature of the European nations was +developed and communicated to the people by word +of mouth. The Homeric songs were chanted or +sung at the courts of princes. At Athens, in her +palmy days, the great dramatists and poets either +recited their productions to the people or had them +presented to thousands of citizens in the open-air +theatres. Even historians like Thucidides read or +recited their great histories before the assembled +people. In the early history of England, Scotland, +and other countries, the minstrels sang their ballads +and epic poems in the baronial halls and thus developed +the early forms of music and poetry. +Shakespeare wrote his dramas for the theatre, and +he seems to have paid no attention at all to their +appearance in book form, never revising them or +putting them into shape for the press.</p> + +<p>This practice of all the early races of putting their +great literature before the people by song, dramatic +action, and word of mouth is very suggestive to the +teacher. The power and effectiveness of this mode +of presentation, not only in early times but even in +the highly civilized cities of London and Athens, is +unmistakable proof of the educative value of such +modes of teaching. This is only another indication<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 13]</span> +of the kinship of child life with race life, which has +been emphasized by many great thinkers.</p> + +<p>The oral method offers a better avenue for all vigorous +modes of expression than the reading book. +It can be observed that the general tendency of the +book is toward a formal, expressionless style in +young readers. Go into a class where the teacher is +handling a story orally and you will see her falling +naturally into all forms of vivid narrative and presentation, +gesture, facial expression, versatile intonation, +blackboard sketching and picture work, the +impersonation of characters in dialogue, dramatic +action, and general liveliness of manner. The children +naturally take up these same activities and modes +of uttering themselves. Even without the suggestion +of teachers, little children express themselves in such +actions, attitudes, and impersonations. This may be +often observed in little boys and girls of kindergarten +age, when telling their experiences to older persons, +or when playing among themselves. The freedom, +activity, and vivacity of children is, indeed, in strong +contrast to the apathetic, expressionless, monotonous +style of many grown people, including teachers.</p> + +<p>But the oral treatment of stories has a tendency to +work out into modes of activity even more effective +than those just described.</p> + +<p>In recent years, since so much oral work has been +done in elementary schools, children have been encouraged +also to express themselves freely in black<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 14]</span>board +drawings and in pencil work at their desks by +way of illustrating the stories told. Moreover, in +paper cutting, to represent persons and scenes, in +clay modelling, to mould objects presented, and +in constructive and building efforts, in making forts, +tents, houses, tools, dress, and in showing up modes +of life, the children have found free scope for their +physical and mental activities. These have not only +led to greater clearness and vividness in their mental +conceptions, but have opened out new fields of self-activity +and inventiveness.</p> + +<p>So long as work in reading and literature was confined +to the book exercises, nearly all these modes of +expression were little employed and even tabooed.</p> + +<p>Finally, the free use of oral narrative in the literature +of early years, in story-telling and its attendant +modes of expression, opens up to primary teachers +a rare opportunity of becoming genuine educators. +There was a time, and it still continues with many +primary teachers, when teaching children to read +was a matter of pure routine, of formal verbal drills +and repetitions, as tiresome to the teacher, if possible, +as to the little ones. But now that literature, with its +treasures of thought and feeling, of culture and refinement, +has become the staple of the primary +school, teachers have a wide and rich field of inspiring +study. The mastery and use of much of the +preferred literature which has dropped down to us +out of the past is the peculiar function of the pri<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 15]</span>mary +teacher. Contact with great minds, like those +of Kingsley, Ruskin, Andersen, the Grimm brothers, +Stevenson, Dickens, Hawthorne, De Foe, Browning, +Æsop, Homer, and the unknown authors of many of +the best ballads, epics, and stories, is enough to give +the primary teacher a sense of the dignity of her +work. On the other hand, the opportunity to give to +children the free and versatile development of their +active powers is an equal encouragement.</p> + +<p>Teachers who have taken up with zeal this great +problem of introducing children to their full birthright, +the choice literature of the world suited to their +years, and of linking this story work with primary +reading so as to give it vitality,—such teachers have +found school life assuming new and unwonted +charms; the great problems of the educator have +become theirs; the broadened opportunity for the +acquisition of varied skill and professional efficiency +has given a strong ambitious tone to their work.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 16]</span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h2><span class="smcap">The Basis of Skill in Oral Work</span></h2> + + +<p>Accepting the statement that skill in oral presentation +of a story is a prime demand in early education, +the important question for teachers is how to +cultivate their resources in this phase of teaching, +how to become good story-tellers.</p> + +<p>It may be remarked that, for the great majority of +people, story-telling is not a gift but an acquisition. +There are, of course, occasional geniuses, but they +may be left out of consideration. They are not +often found in the schoolroom any more than in +other walks of life. What we need is a practical, +sensible development of a power which we all possess +in varying degrees. Nor is it the fluent, volatile, +verbose talker who makes a good oral teacher, but +rather one who can see and think clearly: one who +knows how to combine his ideas and experiences into +clear and connected series of thought.</p> + +<p>We may proceed, therefore, to a discussion of the +needs and resources of a good story-teller.</p> + +<p>1. Without much precaution it may be stated that +he should have a rich experience in all the essential +realities of human life. This covers a large field of<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 17]</span> +common things and refers rather to contact with life +than to mere book knowledge. Yet it is the depth, +heartiness, and variety of knowledge rather than +the source from which it springs that concerns us. +Books often give us just this deep penetrating experience, +as soon as we learn how to select and +use them. We need to know human life directly +and in all sorts of acts, habits, feelings, motives, +and conditions,—something as Shakespeare knew it, +only within the compass of our narrower possibilities. +Likewise the physical world with its visible +and invisible forces and objects besetting us on every +side. These things must impress themselves upon +us vividly in detail as well as in the bulk. The hand +that has been calloused by skill-producing labor, the +back that aches with burdens bravely borne, the +brain that has sweat with strong effort, are expressions +of this kind of knowledge of the world. Clear-grained +perceptions are acquired from many sources: +from travel, labor, books, reflection, sickness, observation. +I go to-day into a small shop where heavy oak +beer-kegs are made, and watch the man working this +refractory material into water-tight kegs that will +stand hard usage at the hands of hard drinkers for +twenty years. If my mind has been at work as I +watch this man for an hour, with his heavy rough +staves made by hand, his tools and machines, his +skill and strong muscular action, the amount and +profit of his labor, that man's work has gone deep<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 18]</span> +into my whole being. I can almost live his life in +an hour's time, and feel its contact with the acute +problems of our modern industrial life. That is a +kind of knowledge and experience worth fully as +much as a sermon in Trinity Church or a University +lecture.</p> + +<p>The teacher needs a great store of these concrete +facts and illustrations. Without them he is a carpenter +without tools or boards. He needs to know +industries, occupations, good novels, typical life +scenes, sunsets, sorrows, joys, inventions, poets, +farmers—all such common, tangible things. Even +from fools and blackguards he can get experiences +that will last him a lifetime if they only strike in and +do not flare off into nothingness.</p> + +<p>Social experience in all sorts of human natures, +disposition, and environing circumstance is immediately +valuable to the teacher.</p> + +<p>Close acquaintance with children, with their early +feelings and experiences, with their timidity or boldness, +with their whims or conceits, their dislikes and +preferences, their enthusiasms and interests, with their +peculiar home and neighborhood experiences and +surroundings, with their games and entertainments, +with the books and papers they read, with their dolls +and playthings, their vacations and outings, with +their pets and playhouses, with their tools and +mechanical contrivances—all these and other like +realities of child life put the teacher on a footing<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 19]</span> +of possible appreciation and sympathy with children. +These are the materials and facts which a good +teacher knows how to work up in oral recitations.</p> + +<p>Of course the kindly, sympathetic social mood +which is not fretted by others' frailties and perversities, +but, like Irving or Addison, exhibits a liberal +charity or humorous affection for all things human, is +a fortunate possession or acquisition for the teacher.</p> + +<p>2. It may be said also, without fear of violent contradiction, +that a teacher needs to be a master of the +story he is about to tell. It may be well to spread +out to view the important things necessary to such a +mastery. The reading over of the story till its facts +and episodes have become familiar and can be reproduced +in easy narrative is at least a minimum requirement. +Even this moderate demand is much +more serious than the old text-book routine in history +or reading, where the teacher, with one eye on the +book, the other on the class, and his finger at the +place, managed to get the questions before the class +in a fixed order.</p> + +<p>Let us look a little beneath the surface of the +story. What is its central idea, the author's aim or +motive in producing it? Not a little effort and reflection +may be necessary to get at the bottom of this +question. Some of the most famous stories, like "Aladdin," +"Gulliver's Travels," and the "City Musicians," +may be so wild and wayward as to elude or blunt the +point of this question. The story may have a hard<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 20]</span> +shell, but the sharp teeth of reflection will get at the +sweet kernel within, else the story is not worth while. +In some of the stories, like "Baucis and Philemon," +"The Great Stone Face," "The Pied Piper of Hamelin," +"The Discontented Pine Tree," and "Hiawatha's +Fasting," the main truth is easily reflected +from the story and caught up even by the children.</p> + +<p>This need for getting at the heart of the story is +clearly seen in all the subsequent work. It is the +exercise of such a critical judgment which qualifies +the teacher to discriminate between good and poor +stories. In the treatment of the story the essential +topics are laid out upon the basis of this controlling +idea or motive. The leading aims and carefully +worded questions point toward this central truth. +The side lights and attendant episodes are arranged +with reference to it like the scenes in a drama. The +effort to get at the central truth and the related ideas +is a sifting-out process, a mode of assimilating and +mastering the story more thorough-going than the +mere memorizing of the facts and words for the purpose +of narration. The thought-getting self-activity +and common-sense logic which are involved in this +mode of assimilating a story are good for both pupils +and teacher.</p> + +<p>The mastery of a story needed by an oral teacher +implies abundance of resource in illustrative device +and explanation. When children fail to grasp an +idea, it is necessary to fall back upon some familiar<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 21]</span> +object or experience not mentioned in the book. +Emergencies arise which tax the teacher's ingenuity +to the utmost. Even the children will raise queries +that baffle his wit. In preparing a story for the +classroom it is necessary to see it from many sides, +to foresee these problems and difficulties. Oftentimes +the collateral knowledge derived from history +or geography or from similar episodes in other stories +will suggest the solution.</p> + +<p>It is a favorite maxim of college teachers and of +those who deal mostly with adults or older pupils, +that if a person knows a thing he can teach it. +Leaving out of account the numerous cases of those +who are well posted in their subjects, but cannot +teach, it is well to note the scope, variety, and thoroughness +of knowledge necessary to a good teacher +to handle it skilfully with younger children. Besides +the thorough knowledge of the subject which scholars +have demanded, it requires an equally clear knowledge +of the mental resources of children, the language +which they can understand, the things which +attract their interest and attention, and the ways of +holding the attention of a group of children of different +capacities, temper, and disposition. Any dogmatic +professor who thinks he can teach the story of +"Cinderella" or Andersen's "Five Peas in the Pod," +because he has a full knowledge of the facts of the +story, should make trial of his skill upon a class of +twenty children in the first grade. We suggest, how<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 22]</span>ever, +that he do it quietly, without inviting in his +friends to witness his triumph.</p> + +<p>No, the mastery of the subject needed for an effective +handling of it in oral work is different and is +greater than they have yet dreamed of who think +that mere objective knowledge is all that is needed +by a teacher. The application of knowledge to life +is generally difficult, more taxing by far than the +mere acquisition of facts and principles. But the +use of one's knowledge in the work of instructing +young children, in getting them to acquire and assimilate +it, is perhaps the most difficult of all forms of +the application of knowledge. It is difficult because +it is so complex. To think clearly and accurately on +some topic for one's single self is not easy, but +to get twenty children of varying capacities and +weaknesses, with their stumbling, acquisitive, flaring +minds, to keep step along one clear line of thought +is a piece of daring enterprise.</p> + +<p>The mastery of the story, therefore, for successful +oral work, must be detailed, comprehensive, many-sided, +and adapted to the fluttering thoughts of childhood.</p> + +<p>3. The chief instrument through which the teacher +communicates the story is oral speech, and this he +needs to wield with discriminating skill and power. +Preachers and lecturers, when called upon to talk to +children, nearly always talk over their heads, using +language not appropriate and comprehensible to<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 23]</span> +children. Those accustomed to deal with little folks +are quickly sensitive to this amateur awkwardness. +Young teachers just out of the higher schools make +the same blunder. They are also inclined to think +that fluency and verbosity are a sign of power. But +such false tinsel makes no impression upon children +except confusion of thought. Children require +simple, direct words, clearly defined in thought and +grounded upon common experience and conviction. +Facts and realities should stand behind the words of +a teacher. What he seeks to marshal before children +is people and things. Words should serve as +photographs of objects; instantaneous views of experiences. +In some social and diplomatic circles words +are said to conceal thought, but this kind of verbal +diplomacy has no place in schools.</p> + +<p>It is an interesting question how far the language +and style of the authors should be preserved by the +narrator. It would be an error to forbid the exact +use of the author's words and an equal error to +require it. It seems reasonable to say that the +teacher should become absorbed in the author's style +and mode of presenting the story. This will lead to +a close approximation to the author's words, without +any slavish imitation. In the midst of oral presentation +and discussion it would be impossible to hold +strictly to the original. The teacher's own language +and conception of the story will press in to simplify +and clarify the meaning. No one holds strictly to a<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 24]</span> +literary style in telling a story. Conversational ideas +and original momentary impulses of thought demand +their own forms of utterance. And yet it is well to +appropriate the style and expression of the writer so +as to accustom the children to the best forms. A +few very apt and forcible sentences will be found in +any good author which the teacher will naturally +employ.</p> + +<p>But the teacher must have freedom. When he +has once thoroughly appropriated the story he must +give vent to his own spontaneity and power. Later, +when the children come to read these stories, they +will enjoy them in their full literary form.</p> + +<p>4. The power of clear and interesting presentation +of a story is one of the chief professional acquisitions +of a good primary teacher. It involves many things +besides language, including liveliness of manner, +gesture, facial expression, action, dramatic impersonation, +skill in blackboard illustration, good humor +and tact in working with children, a strong imagination, +and a real appreciation for the literature adapted +to children.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the fundamental need is simplicity and +clearness of thought and language combined with a +pleasing and attractive manner. Vague and incomprehensible +thoughts and ideas are all out of place. +The teacher should be strict with himself in this +matter, and while reading and mastering the story, +should use compulsion upon himself to arrive at an<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 25]</span> +unmistakable clearness of thought. The objects, +buildings, palaces, woods, caves, animals, persons, +and places should be sharply imaged by the imagination; +the feelings and passions of the actors should +be keenly realized. Often a vague and uncertain +conception needs to be scanned, the passage reread, +and the notion framed into clearness. In describing +the palace of the sleeping beauty, begirt with woods, +the sentinels standing statuelike at the portal, the +lords and ladies at their employments, the teacher +should think out the entrance way, hall, rooms, and +persons of the palace so clearly that his thought and +language will not stumble over uncertainties. Transparent +clearness and directness of thought are the +result of effort and circumspection. They are well +worth the pains required to gain them. A teacher +who thinks clearly will generate clear habits of +thought in children.</p> + +<p>The power of interesting narrative and description +is not easily explained. It is a thing not readily +analyzed into its elements. Perhaps the best way to +find out what it is may be discovered by reading the +great story-tellers, such as Macaulay, Irving, Kingsley, +De Foe, Hawthorne, Homer, Plutarch, Scott, +and Dickens. Novelists like George Eliot, Victor +Hugo, Cooper, Scott, and Dickens, possess +this secret also, and even some of the historians, +as Herodotus, Fiske, Green, Parkman, Motley, and +others. It is not so important that a teacher should<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 26]</span> +give a cold analysis of their qualities as that he +should fall insensibly into the vivid and realistic style +of the best story-tellers. One who has read Pyle's +Robin Hood stories until they are familiar will, to +a considerable extent, appropriate his fertile and +happy Old-English style, the sturdy English spirit of +bold Robin, his playful humor, and his apt utterance +of homely truths.</p> + +<p>There are certain qualities that stand out prominently +in the good story-tellers. They are simple +and concrete in their descriptions, they deal very +little in general, vague statements or abstractions, +they hold closely to the persons of the story in the +midst of interesting surroundings, they are profuse +in the use of distinct figures of speech, appealing to +the fancy or imagination. They often have a humorous +vein which gives infinite enjoyment and spreads +a happy charity throughout the world.</p> + +<p>The art of graphic illustration on the blackboard +is in almost constant demand in oral work. Even +rude and untechnical sketches by teachers who have +no acquired skill in artistic drawing are of the greatest +value in giving a quick and accurate perception +of places, buildings, persons, and surrounding conditions +of a story or action. The map of Crusoe's +island, the drawings to represent his tent, cave, boat, +country residence, fortifications, dress, utensils, and +battles are natural and simple modes of realizing +clearly his labors and adventures. They save much<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 27]</span> +verbal description and circumlocution. The teacher +needs to acquire absolute boldness and freedom in +using such illustrative devices. The children will, +of course, catch this spirit, as they are by nature +inclined to use drawing as a mode of expression.</p> + +<p>A similar freedom in the teacher is necessary in +the use of bodily action, gesture, and facial expression +in story-telling. The teacher needs to become natural, +childlike, and mobile in these things; for children +are naturally much given to such demonstrations +in the expression of their thought. Little girls of +three and four years in the home, when free from +self-consciousness, are marvellously and delightfully +expressive by means of eyes, gestures, hands, and +arms and whole bodily attitudes. Why should not +this naive expressiveness be gently fostered in the +school? Indeed it is, and in many schools the little +ones are as happy and whole-souled and spontaneous +in their modes of expression as we have suggested.</p> + +<p>Dramatization, if cultivated, extends a teacher's +gamut of expressiveness. Our inability or slowness +to respond to this suggestion is a sign of a certain narrowness +or cramp in our culture and training. In Normal +schools where young teachers are trained in the art +of reading, the dramatic instinct should be strongly +developed. The power to other one's self in dramatic +action, to assume and impersonate a variety of +characters, is a real expression and enlargement of +the personality. It demands sympathy and feeling as<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 28]</span> +well as intellectual insight. The study and reading +of the great dramatists, the seeing of good plays, +amateur efforts in this direction, the frequent oral +reading of Shakespeare, Dickens, and other dramatists +and novelists will cultivate and enlarge the +teacher's power in this worthy and wholesome art.</p> + +<p>The use of good pictures is also an important +means of adding to the beauty and clearness of +stories. The pictures of Indian life in "Hiawatha," the +illustrated editions of "Robinson Crusoe," the copies +of ancient works of art in some editions of the Greek +myths, Howard Pyle's illustrated "Robin Hood," and +other books of this character add greatly to the vividness +of ideas. Such pictures should be handled with +care, not distributed promiscuously among the children +while the lesson is going on. The teacher needs +to study a picture, and discuss it intelligently with the +children, asking questions which bring out its representative +qualities.</p> + +<p>It is evident the skilful oral presentation of a story +calls out no small degree of clear knowledge, force +of language, illustrative device, dramatic instinct, and +a freedom and versatility of action both mental and +physical.</p> + +<p>5. A clear outline of leading points in a story is a +source of strength to the teacher and the basis later +of good reproductive work by the children. The +short stories in the first grade hardly need a formal +outline, and even in second grade the sequence of<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 29]</span> +ideas in a story is often so simple and easy that outlines +of leading topics may not be needed. But in +third and fourth grade it is well in the preliminary +study and mastery of a story to divide it up into +clearly marked segments, with a distinctive title for +each division. It is difficult to get teachers to do this +kind of close logical work, and still more difficult to +have them remember it in the midst of oral presentation +and discussion. If the main points of the story +as thus outlined are placed upon the blackboard as +the narrative advances, it keeps in mind a clear survey +of the whole and serves as the best basis for the +children's reproduction of the story. It compels +both teacher and pupils to keep to a close logical +connection of ideas and a sifting out of the story to +get at the main points. Without these well-constructed +outlines the memory of the story is apt to +fall into uncertainty and confusion, and the children's +reproduction becomes fragmentary and disorderly. +Experience shows that teachers are prone to be loose +and careless in bringing their stories into such a well-ordered +series of distinct topics. It is really a sign +of a thoughtful, logical, and judicious mastery of a +subject to have thrown it thus into its prominent +points of narration. Oral work often fails of effectiveness +and thoroughness, because of these careless +habits of teachers. Such an outline, when put into +the children's regular note-books, serves as the best +basis for later surveys and reviews.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 30]</span></p> + +<p>6. The oral narration and presentation of stories +has a curious way of being turned into <i>development +lessons</i>, in which the teacher deals in questions and +problematic situations and the children work out +many of the facts and incidents of the story by a +series of guesses and inferences. These are well +known as development lessons, and they are capable +of exhibiting the highest forms of excellence in teaching +or the most drivelling waste of time. The subject +is a hard one to handle, but it needs a clear and +simple elucidation as much as any problem in the +teaching profession. Generally speaking it is better +for young teachers not to launch out recklessly upon +the full tide of development instruction. It is better +to learn the handling of the craft on quieter waters. +Development work needs to be well charted. The +varying winds and currents, storms and calms, need +to be studied and experienced before one may become +a good ship's master. Let young teachers first +acquire power in clear, simple, direct narration and +description, using apt and forcible language and +holding to a clear-cut line of thought. This is no +slight task, and when once mastered and fixed in +habit becomes the foundation of a wider freedom and +skill in development exercises. The works of the +great story-tellers furnish excellent models of this +sort of skill, and teachers may follow closely in the +lines struck out by Scott or Hawthorne in narrating +a story.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 31]</span></p> + +<p>A book story cannot do otherwise than simply +narrate; it cannot develop, set problems and questions +and have children to find solutions and answers. +It must tell the facts and answer the questions. But +in oral narration there is room not only for all the +skill of the story-writer, but also the added force of +voice, personality, lively manner, gesture, action, and +close adaptation to the immediate needs of children +and subject. This is enough to command the undivided +effort of the young teacher at first, without +entering the stormy waters and shifting currents of +pure development work.</p> + +<p>Yet the spirited teacher will not go far in narrating +a story without a tendency to ask questions to intensify +the children's thought, or to quicken the discussion +of interesting points. Even if the teachers or +parents are but reading a good story from a book, +it is most natural, at times, to ask questions about +the meaning of certain new words, or geographical +locations, or probabilities in the working out of the +story. These are the simple beginnings of development +work, and produce greater thoughtfulness, +keener perceptions of the facts, and a better absorption +of the story into a child's previous knowledge.</p> + +<p>A sharp limitation of development work is also +found in the circumstance that a large share of the +facts in a story cannot by any sort of ingenuity be +developed. They form the necessary basis for later +development questions. Even many of the facts<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 32]</span> +which might be developed by a skilful teacher are +better told directly, because of the difficulty and +time-devouring nature of the process. There may +be a few central problems in every story, which, after +the necessary facts and conditions have been plainly +told, can be thoroughly sifted out by questions, answers, +and discussions. But to work out all the little +details of a story by question and surmise, to get the +crude, unbaked opinions of all the members of a class +upon every episode and fact in a story, is a pitiful +caricature of good instruction.</p> + +<p>The purpose of good development work is to get +children to go deeper into the meaning of a story, to +realize its situations more keenly, and to acquire +habits of thoughtfulness, self-reliant judgment, and +inventiveness in solving difficulties. These results, +and they are among the chiefest set for the educator, +cannot be accomplished by mere narration and description. +Their superior excellence and worth are +the prize of that superior skill which first-class development +work demands.</p> + +<p>With these preliminary remarks, criticisms, and +limitations in mind, we may inquire what are the essentials +of good development work in oral lessons.</p> + +<p>(1) Determine what parts of a story are capable of +development; what facts must be clearly present to +the mind before questions can be put and inferences +derived. In a problem in arithmetic we first state +the known facts, the conditions upon which a solu<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 33]</span>tion +can be based, and then put a question whose +answer is to be gained by a proper conjunction and +inference from these facts. The same thing is true +in reasoning upon the facts in a story.</p> + +<p>(2) In placing a topic before children it is always +advisable to touch up the knowledge already possessed +by the children, or any parts of their previous +experience which have strong interpretative ideas for +the new lesson. At this point apt questions which +probe quickly into their <i>previous knowledge and +experience</i> are at a premium. The teacher needs +to have considered beforehand in what particulars +the children's home surroundings and peculiar circumstances +may furnish the desired knowledge. The +form of the questions may also receive close attention. +For these words must provoke definite thought. +They should have hooks on them which quickly drag +experience into light.</p> + +<p>(3) In order to give direction to the children's +thoughts on the story's line of progress, <i>interesting +aims</i> should be set up. These aims, without anticipating +precise results, must guide the children +towards the desired ends and turning-points in the +story. The mind should be kept in suspense as to +the outcome, and the thoughts should centre and +play about these clearly projected aims. Such aims, +floating constantly in the van, are the objective +points, towards which the energy of thought is +directed. Every good story-teller keeps such aims<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 34]</span> +expressly or tacitly in view. Novelists and dramatists +hinge the interest of readers or spectators +upon this curiosity which is kept acutely sensitive +about results. Such an aim should be simple and +concrete, not vague or abstract, or general. It may +be put in the form of a question or statement or +suggestion. It will be a good share of the teacher's +work in the preparation of the lesson to pick out and +word these aims which centre upon the leading +topics of the lesson. For it is not enough to have +an aim at the beginning of a story, every chapter +or separate part of the story should have its aim. +For aims are what stimulate effort and keep up an +attentive interest.</p> + +<p>(4) Self-activity and thoughtfulness in working +out problems find their best opportunity in development +work. The book, in narrating a story, cannot +set problems, or, if it does, it forthwith assumes the +task of solving them. But in the oral development +of a story the essential facts and conditions may be +clearly presented and the solution of the difficulties, +as in arithmetic, left largely to the ingenuity and +reasoning power of the children. In the story of +Hiawatha's boat-building the problem may be set to +the children as to what materials he will use in the +construction of the canoe, how the parts were put +together, and how he might decorate it. Not that +the children will give the whole solution, but they +can contribute much to it. In "Robinson Crusoe"<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 35]</span> +many such problems arise. How shall he conceal +his cave and house from possible enemies? Where +can he store his powder to keep it from the lightning +and from dampness? In fact, nearly every step in +Crusoe's interesting career is such a problem or difficulty +to battle with. In Kingsley's "Greek Heroes" +and other renderings of the Greek myths, the heroes +are young men who have shrewdness, courage, and +strength to overcome difficulties. To put these difficulties +before children in such a way that they by +their own thinking may anticipate, in part at least, +the proper solutions, is one of the chief merits of +development work. The story of Ulysses is a series +of shrewd contrivances to master difficulties or to +avoid misfortunes, so that his name has become a +synonym for shrewdness. The story itself, therefore, +furnishes prime opportunities to develop resourcefulness. +How shall he escape from the enraged Polyphemos +in the cave? His invention of the wooden +horse before Troy; his escape from the sirens; his +battle with the suitors and others. The story of +Aladdin has such interesting inventions, and even +the fairy tales and fables have many turns of shrewdness +and device where the children's wits may +be stimulated. The turning-points and centres of +interest in all such stories are the true wrestling-grounds +of thought. To put them point-blank before +children in continuous narrative, without question +or discussion, is not the way to produce thoughtful<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 36]</span>ness +and inventive power. Merely reading or telling +stories to children without comment is entertaining, +but not educative in the better sense. Children will +have plenty of chances at home and in the school +library to read and hear stories, but it is the business +of the school to teach them how to think as they +read, to produce a habit of foreseeing, reviewing, +comparing, and judging. The serious defect of +much of young people's reading, from ten years on, +is its superficial, transitory character. It lacks depth, +strength, and permanency. It is not many stories +that can be orally treated in this thorough-going way, +but enough to give the right idea, and to cultivate +habit and taste for more thoughtful study.</p> + +<p>For skilled teachers, therefore, development lessons, +within certain limits, constitute a most important +phase of oral instruction. It has been sometimes +assumed that a child acquires greater self-reliance +and a stronger exercise in self-activity by learning +his lesson by himself from a book. This is probably +true in much of the arithmetic, where he works out +the solution of problems unaided; but in history and +literature the book work is chiefly memory work, and +oftentimes becomes of such parrot-like character +as to be almost destitute of higher educative qualities. +It is advisable, therefore, to strengthen the +educative value of story work by giving it, through +oral instruction, this problem-solving character, this +thought-stimulating, self-reliant attitude of mind.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 37]</span></p> + +<p>7. When the teacher has shown his best skill in +presenting and discussing a section of a story, it then +devolves upon the children to show their knowledge +and grasp of the subject by reproducing it. The +task of getting this well done requires, perhaps, as +much skill and force of character as all previous +work of oral instruction. Obstacles are met with at +once. It is dull work to go back over the same thing +again, and the children soon get tired of it. They +want something new and more exciting, and press +for the rest of the story. Many children are at first +deficient in power of attention and in language, so +that their efforts at reproduction are clumsy and poor. +The interest is weak, the attention of the children +scattering, and the class is apt to go to pieces under +the strain of such dull work. This is an emergency +where a teacher needs both skill and force of character. +(What a comfort it is to a writer to have such +a platitude as this to fall back upon, when he gets +a teacher into a place where nothing but his own +devices can save him.)</p> + +<p>There are, however, some hopeful considerations +which may encourage a teacher whose feet are not +already too deep in the bog of discouragement.</p> + +<p>Children enjoy the retelling of good stories with +which they are familiar. They will do it at home, +even if they are not very proficient at it in school. +In every class there are some talkative children who +are always willing to make an effort. Again, it is<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 38]</span> +not always difficult to interest boys and girls in doing +a thing that requires skill and power, such as memory, +attentiveness, and mastery of correct language. The +force of the teacher's influence and authority is worth +something in setting up high standards of proficiency. +Indeed, children respect a teacher who makes rigorous +demands upon them. The retelling of stories +is, after all, no harder nor duller than the reciting of +a lesson learned out of a book.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the whole effectiveness of oral +work depends upon the success of these oral reproductions. +If children know that the teacher is in +earnest they will be more attentive, so as to be +able to fulfil the requirement. Such a reproduction +reveals at once a child's correct or incorrect grasp +of the subject, and in either case the teacher knows +what to do next. Errors and misconceptions can be +corrected and such explanations or additional facts +given as will clarify the subject.</p> + +<p>In such reproductions it is praiseworthy to help +the children as little as possible, to throw them back +upon their own power as much as possible. If the +teacher constantly relieves them with suggestive questions, +they lean more and more upon her direction +and lose all self-reliant power of continuous narrative. +No, let the teacher keep a prudent silence, let +her seal her lips, if necessary, in order to teach boys +and girls to stand on their own power of thought.</p> + +<p>Under this sort of discipline, kindly but rigorous,<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 39]</span> +children will gradually acquire confidence in manner, +variety and choice of language, in short, the ability to +grasp clearly, hold firmly, and express accurately the +ideas which are presented to them.</p> + +<p>The whole purpose of this sort of instruction is not +so much to see how skilfully a teacher can present a +lesson (though that is a fine art) as to determine how +well a boy or girl can master or express knowledge, +can learn to think and speak for himself.</p> + +<p>8. Some teachers despair of treating stories orally +in large classes of primary children. The task of +holding together such wriggling varieties of mental +force and mental inertia is great. Some children are +quick and excitable, others are unresponsive and dull. +Some are timid and sensitive, others bold and demonstrative. +Some are talkative and irrepressible, others +silent or listless.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to consider the function and value +of a good child's story to fit in to such varying needs +and personalities. If the purpose of the primary +school is simply to keep children busy at some kind +of orderly work, there are other tamer employments +than stories. But if the idea is to put children's +minds and bodies into healthy, vigorous action, it +would be difficult to find a more suitable instrument +than a fitting story.</p> + +<p>But a good primary teacher knows better than to +establish brusque and fixed standards of uniform +success for all children. It will take much time and<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 40]</span> +patience to get anything like good oral responses +from some children. Like budding flowers some +unfold their leaves and petals much quicker at the +touch of sunshine than others. But the sun does not +stop shining because all do not come out at once. +The crudest efforts of little children must be received +with kindness and encouragement. The power of +reproducing thought and language is very slowly +acquired by many children. They are timidly self-conscious, +distrustful of their own powers, and have +not learned to throw themselves with confidence upon +the good-will of their teachers. It may take months +with some children to overcome these obstacles, and +to bring them to a confident use of their powers, but +it is the highest delight of a teacher to reach this +result.</p> + +<p>Some children, on the other hand, are so talkative +and impulsive that they will monopolize the time of +the class to no good purpose. Their enthusiasm +requires tempering and their soberer thought strengthening.</p> + +<p>Another difficulty lies in the necessary effort to get +correct English, to gradually mould the language of +children into correct forms. The perverse habits of +children, the influence of home and playground, the +inveterate preference for slang and crude, crass +expressions, and their sensitive pride against unusual +refinements of speech, make the cultivation of good +English an uphill task. But roads must be laid out<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 41]</span> +through this wilderness of hills and valleys, stumps +and brush. And these roads must be gradually +worked down into smooth highways of travel. It is +pioneer toil, requiring the steady use of axe and +mattock and spade.</p> + +<p>There is no kind of school training where good English +can be cultivated to better advantage, where the +power of correct, independent, well-articulated speech +can be so well strengthened as in oral story. It is +in the close contact of this work that the teacher is +dealing directly with the original stock of experiences, +ideas, and words of every child, and with these as +instruments of acquisition, helping him to get a +spirited introduction to the world of ideas in books +and literature.</p> + +<p>It is here that we can get a glimpse of that vast +work which the elementary schools of the country +are doing in the way of Americanizing the children +of various nationalities and in giving them not only +a common language, but a common body of ideas +rooted in the earliest experiences of childhood and +already laying hold of many of the richest treasures +of American history and of the world's literature.</p> + +<p>9. As children advance from the first year into the +second and third years the character of the oral story-telling +gradually changes. Children should acquire +more power of attention, greater command of language +and ability to grasp and hold at one telling +a larger section of a story. The stories themselves<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 42]</span> +become more complex, the questions and problems +set by the teacher more difficult. The necessity for +sharp, logical outlines of leading topics increases as +one advances in the grades. Older children can +be held more rigidly to common standards of excellence +in thought and language. In this, however, +the teacher should always remember that children +differ greatly in their natural powers of expression, +and that a forcing process will not be so successful +as a stimulating and encouraging attitude in the +teacher.</p> + +<p>10. The good oral treatment of most stories leads +the children to much activity in material constructions. +Where the minds of children are brought to +a healthy activity their bodies and physical energies +are pretty sure to be called into play to work out the +suggested lines of thought. "Robinson Crusoe" invariably +leads the children to a multitude of building +and making enterprises, such as moulding vessels in +clay, constructing the barricade around his tent and +cave, the making of chairs and tables, etc.</p> + +<p>We have already noticed the readiness of children +to make blackboard or other drawings of interesting +objects in a story, or to cut them out with scissors +from paper. This effort to experience the realities +of life more directly by making objects of common +utility and necessity is a characteristic and powerful +tendency of childhood. It is commonly seen in +children about the house, when, for example, they<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 43]</span> +must have wagons, wheelbarrows, tools, or a set of +garden implements with which to imitate the employments +of their elders. Parkman and others often +speak of the constant practice of little Indian boys +with bow and arrows.</p> + +<p>Our purpose here is not to discuss this matter at +length, but simply to notice its prominent place in +connection with the oral lesson in story. The intense +interest awakened in stories leads quickly to these +efforts at construction. What shall the teacher do +with this powerful tendency of children to carry over +these ideas into the field of practical constructive +labor? To the thinker this tendency is perhaps +the surest proof of the value of the story. It does +not stop with words nor ideas. It pushes far into the +region of voluntary, physical, and mental labor and +application of knowledge.</p> + +<p>The teacher who will make good use of this enterprising +constructive desire of children must know definitely +about tools, boards, shops, various industries, +and technical trades, the special materials, inventions, +and devices of artisans in the common occupations, +such as farming, gardening, blacksmithing, the carpenter +shop, the baker, the quarry, the brick kiln, etc.</p> + +<p>It will not be strange if many teachers recoil, at +first glance, from this leap into industrial life. It +suggests that the schoolhouse must become a big +machine shop, agricultural station, etc. The trouble +is, of course, that teachers do not feel themselves<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 44]</span> +qualified in these things. They know almost as +little as the children about such matters, and have +much less inclination to know more.</p> + +<p>But our modern education is taking a decided turn +in this direction, and with good reason. The close +acquaintance of our teachers with the common occupations +of life, with their materials, tools, machines, +constructions, and skill would supply them with a rich +collection of practical, concrete, illustrative knowledge +of the greatest use in instructing children. It +is impossible to mention anything which would be +of more service to them in the details of instruction. +The advantages to the children of such teaching, re-enforced +by this concrete detail of common life, are +so numerous and important as to deserve a special +effort. The benefit to teachers would quickly more +than recompense them for the labor involved. By +occasional visits of observation in shops, fields, stores, +and factories, by assisting children in their constructive +efforts, the teacher will acquire knowledge, +strength, and confidence for such work. The unfamiliarity +of teachers with these everyday industrial +matters, and their feeling of helplessness as regards +things not in the usual routine of school, are the real +hindrances to be overcome.</p> + +<p>There are other subjects in the school course, like +home geography and the early lessons in nature +study, which deal more directly than stories with +these practical forms of industrial life and construc<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 45]</span>tive +activity. They will also demand and cultivate an +increasing knowledge of this practical phase of life +and education. The lessons in oral story-telling +stand thus closely linked with progressive experimental +knowledge in other studies.</p> + +<p>A brief retrospect and summary of the requirements +necessary as a basis of good oral treatment of +stories will impress us with the skill and resourcefulness +needed by the teacher.</p> + +<p>1. First-hand experience with the realities of life.</p> + +<p>2. Intimate knowledge and sympathy with child +life.</p> + +<p>3. The many-sided mastery of the story for teaching +purposes.</p> + +<p>4. Skill in the use of simple, apt, and forcible +language.</p> + +<p>5. Power of narrative and description, together +with various forms of graphic illustration, dramatic +action, etc.</p> + +<p>6. Clear and simple outline of leading topics.</p> + +<p>7. Acquired power in the use of development +methods, including question, problem, discussion, +aims, and the training of children to self-activity and +thoughtfulness.</p> + +<p>8. The successful oral reproduction of stories by +the children.</p> + +<p>9. Tact in the handling of large classes, with +children of differing temperament and capacity, and +the encouragement of timid children.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 46]</span></p> + +<p>10. Changing character of oral work in advancing +grades.</p> + +<p>11. The need of insight and ability to supervise +constructive activities.</p> + +<p>These things include a wide range of clear knowledge +and confident skill and resource. Teachers +need first of all to cultivate resourcefulness in the use +of their own knowledge and experience, and to add to +both of these as rapidly as circumstances permit.</p> + +<p>The mere reading of stories to children by the +teacher, at odd times, on Friday afternoons or on +special occasions, is also of much value as a means of +interesting children in a wide range of good books. +It is a source of entertainment and culture, which, +when judiciously and skilfully employed, adds much +to the educative power of the school.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 47]</span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h2><span class="smcap">First Grade Stories</span></h2> + + +<h3>FAIRY TALES</h3> + +<p>Young children, as we all know, are delighted with +stories, and in the first grade they are still in this +story-loving period. A good story is the best medium +through which to convey ideas and also to approach +the difficulties of learning to read. Such a story, +Wilmann says, is a pedagogical treasure. By many +thinkers and primary teachers the fairy stories have +been adopted as best suited to the wants of the little +folk just emerging from the home. A series of fairy +tales was selected by Ziller, one of the leading Herbartians, +as a centre for the school work of the first +year. These stories have long held a large place in +the home culture of children, especially of the more +cultivated class. Now it is claimed that what is good +for the few whose parents may be cultured and sympathetic, +may be good enough for the children of the +common people and of the poor. Moreover, stories +that have made the fireside more joyous and blessed +may perchance bring vivacity and happiness into +schoolrooms. The home and the school are coming +closer together. It is even said that well-trained,<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 48]</span> +sympathetic primary teachers may better tell and +impress these stories than overworked mothers and +busy fathers. If these literary treasures are left for +the homes to discover and use, the majority of children +will know little or nothing of them. Many +schools in this country have been using them in the +first grade in recent years with a pleasing effect.</p> + +<p>But what virtue lies concealed in these fairy myths +for the children of our practical and sensible age? +Why should we draw from fountains whose sources +are back in the prehistoric and even barbarous past? +To many people it appears as a curious anachronism +to nourish little children in the first decade of this +new century upon food that was prepared in the +tents of wandering tribes in early European history. +What are the merits of these stories for children just +entering upon scholastic pursuits? They are known +to be generally attractive to children of this age, but +many sober-minded people distrust them. Are they +really meat and drink for the little ones? And not +only so, but the choicest meat and drink, the best +food upon which to nourish their unfolding minds?</p> + +<p>Fairy tales are charged with misleading children +by falsifying the truth of things. And, indeed, they +pay little heed to certain natural laws that practical +people of good sense always respect. A child, however, +is not so humdrum practical as these serious +truth-lovers. A little girl talks to her doll as if it +had real ears. She and her little brother make tea<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 49]</span>cups +and saucers out of acorns with no apparent +compunctions of conscience. They follow Cinderella +to the ball in a pumpkin chariot, transformed by +magic wand, with even greater interest than we read +of a presidential ball. A child may turn the common +laws of physical nature inside out and not be a +whit the worse for it. Its imagination can people +a pea-pod with little heroes aching for a chance in +the big world, or it can put tender personality into +the trunk and branches of the little pine tree in the +forest. There are no space limits that a child's fancy +will not spring over in a twinkling. It can ride from +star to star on a broomstick, or glide over peaceful +waters in a fairy boat drawn by graceful swans. +Without suggestion from mother or teacher, children +put life and personality into their playthings. Their +spontaneous delights are in this playful exercise of +the fancy, in masquerading under the guise of a +soldier, bear, horse, or bird. The fairy tale is the +poetry of children's inner impulse and feeling; their +sparkling eyes and absorbed interest show how fitting +is the contact between these childlike creations of the +poet and their own budding thoughts.</p> + +<p>In discussing the qualities requisite in a fairy story +to make it a pedagogical treasure, Wilmann says:<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +"When it is laid down as a first and indispensable +requirement that a story be genuinely childlike, the +demand sounds less rigorous than it really is. It is<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 50]</span> +easier to feel than to describe the qualities which lend +to a story the true childlike spirit. It is not simplicity +alone. A simple story that can be understood +by a child is not on that account childlike. The +simplicity must be the ingenuousness of the child. +Close to this lies the abyss of silliness into which +so many children's stories tumble. A simple story +may be manufactured, but the quality of true simplicity +will not be breathed into it unless one can draw +from the deeper springs of poetic invention. It is +not enough that the externals of the story, such +as situation and action, have this character, but the +sensibilities and motives of the actors must be ingenuous +and childlike; they should reflect the child's +own feeling, wish, and effort. But it is not necessary +on this account that the persons of the story be +children. Indeed the king, prince, and princess, if +they only speak and act like children, are much +nearer the child's comprehension than any of the +children paraded in a manufactured story, designed +for the 'industrious youth.' For just as real poetry +so the real child's story lies beyond reality in the +field of fancy. With all its plainness of thought and +action, the genuine child's story knows how to take +hold of the child's fancy and set its wings in motion. +And what a meaning has fancy for the soul of the +child as compared with that of the adult. For us +the activity of fancy only sketches arabesques, as +it were, around the sharply defined pictures of reality.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 51]</span> +The child thinks and lives in such arabesques, and +it is only gradually that increasing experience writes +among these arabesques the firmer outlines of things. +The child's thoughts float about playfully and unsteadily, +but the fairy tale is even lighter winged +than they. It overtakes these fleeting summer birds +and wafts them together without brushing the dust +from their wings.</p> + +<p>"But fostering the activity of fancy in children is +a means, not an end. It is necessary to enter the +field of fancy because the way to the child's heart +leads through the fancy. The effect upon the heart +of the child is the second mark and proof of the genuine +child's story. We are not advocates of the so-called +moral stories which are so short-winded as to +stop frequently and rest upon some moral commonplace. +Platitudes and moral maxims are not designed +to develop a moral taste in the minds of +young children, for they appeal to the understanding +and will of the pupil and presuppose what must +be first built up and established. True moral training +is rather calculated to awaken in the child judgments +of right and wrong, of good and evil (on +simple illustrative examples). Not the impression +left by a moralizing discourse is the germ of a love +of the good and right, but rather the child's judgment +springing from its own conviction. 'That was +good.' 'What a mean thing!'</p> + +<p>"Those narratives have a moral force which intro<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 52]</span>duce +persons and acts that are simple and transparent +enough to let the moral light shine through, +that possess sufficient life to lend warmth and vigor +to moral judgments. No attempt to cover up or +pass over what is bad, nor to paint it in extravagant +colors. For the bad develops the judgment no less +than the good. It remains only to have a care that +a child's interest inclines toward the good, the just, +and the right."</p> + +<p>Wilmann summarizes the essentials of a good story, +and then discusses the fairy tales as follows:—</p> + +<p>"There are then five requirements to be made of +a real child's story: Let it be truly childlike, that is, +both simple and full of fancy; let it form morals +in the sense that it introduces persons and matters +which, while simple and lively, call out a moral judgment +of approval or disapproval; let it be instructive +and lead to thoughtful discussions of society and +nature; let it be of permanent value, inviting perpetually +to a reperusal; let it be a connected whole, +so as to work a deeper influence and become the +source of a many-sided interest.</p> + +<p>"The child's story which, on the basis of the aforenamed +principles, can be made the starting-point for +all others, is Grimm's fairy tale of folk lore. We are +now called upon to show that the folk-lore fairy tale +answers to the foregoing requirements, and in this +we shall see many a ray of light cast back upon +these requirements themselves.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 53]</span></p> + +<p>"Is the German fairy tale childlike? full of simplicity +as well as of fancy? A deeply poetic saying +of Jacob Grimm may teach us the answer. 'There +runs through these poetic fairy tales the same deep +vein of purity by reason of which children seem to +us so wonderful and blessed. They have, as it were, +the same pale-blue, clear, and lustrous eyes which +can grow no more although the other members are +still delicate and weak and unserviceable to the uses +of earth.' Klaiber quotes this passage in his 'Das +Märchen und die Kindliche Phantasie,' and says +with truth and beauty, 'Yes; when we look into the +trusting eyes of a child, in which none of the world's +deceit is to be read as yet, when we see how these +eyes brighten and gleam at a beautiful fairy tale, as +if they were looking out into a great, wide, beautiful +wonder-world, then we feel something of the deep +connection of the fairy story with the childish soul.' +We will bring forward one more passage from a little +treatise, showing depth and warmth of feeling, which +stealthily takes away from the doubters their scruples +about the justification of the fairy tale. 'It is strange +how well the fairy tale and the child's soul mutually +understand each other. It is as if they had been +together from the very beginning and had grown up +together. As a rule the child only deals with that +part of real life which concerns itself and children of +its age. Whatever lies beyond this is distant, strange, +unintelligible. Under the leading of the fairy tale,<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 54]</span> +however, it permits itself to be borne over hill and +valley, over land and sea, through sun and moon +and stars, even to the end of the world, and everything +is so near, so familiar, so close to its reach, as +if they had been everywhere before, just as if obscure +pictures within had all at once become wonderfully +distinct. And the fairies all, and the king's sons, +and the other distinguished personages, whom it +learns to know through the fairy tale,—they are as +natural and intelligible as if the child had moved its +life long in the highest circles, and had had princes +and princesses for its daily playmates. In a word, +the world of the fairy tale is the child's world, for +it is the world of fancy.'</p> + +<p>"For this reason children live and move in fairyland, +whether the story be told by the mother or by +the teacher in the primary school. What attention +as the story proceeds! What anxiousness when any +danger threatens the hero, be he king's son or a +wheat-straw! What grief, even to tears, when a wrong +is practised upon some innocent creature! And far +from it that the joy in the fairy tale decrease when +it is told or discussed over again. Then comes the +pleasure of representation—bringing the story upon +the stage. Though a child has but to represent a +flower in the meadow, the little face is transfigured +with the highest joy.</p> + +<p>"But the childish joy of fairy tales passes away; +not so the inner experiences which it has brought<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 55]</span> +with it. I am not affirming too much when I say +that he who, as a child, has never listened with joy +to the murmuring and rustling of the fresh fountain +of fairyland, will have no ear and no understanding +for many a deep stream of German poetry. It is, +after all, the modest fountain of fairy song which, +flowing and uniting with the now noisy, now soft and +gently flowing, current of folk song, and with the +deep and earnest stream of tradition, which has +poured such a refreshing current over German poetry, +out of which our most excellent Uhland has drawn +so many a heart-strengthening draught.</p> + +<p>"The spirit of the people finds expression in fairy +tale as in tradition and song, and if we were only +working to lift and strengthen the national impulse, +a moral-educative instruction would have to turn +again and again to these creations of the people. +What was asserted as a general truth in regard to +classical products, that they are a bond between large +and small, old and young, is true of national stories +and songs more than of anything else. They are at +once a bond between the different classes, a national +treasure, which belongs alike to rich and poor, high +and low. The common school then has the least right +of all to put the fairy tale aside, now that few women +versed in fairy lore, such as those to whom Grimm +listened, are left.</p> + +<p>"But does the fairy tale come of noble blood? +Does it possess what we called in the case of classics<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 56]</span> +an old title of nobility? If we keep to this figure of +speech, we shall find that the fairy tale is not only +noble, but a very royal child among stories. It has +ruled from olden times, far and wide, over many a +land. Hundreds of years gone, Grimm's fairy stories +lived in the people's heart, and not in Germany alone. +If our little ones listen intently to Aschenputtel, +French children delighted in Cindrillon, the Italian +in Cenerentola, the Polish in Kopcinszic. The fact +that mediæval story-books contain Grimm's tales is +not remarkable, when we reflect that traits and characteristics +of the fairy tale reach back beyond the +Christian period; that Frau Holle is Hulda, or Frigg, +the heathen goddess; that 'Wishing-cap,' 'Little +Lame-leg,' and 'Table Cover Thyself,' etc., are made +up out of the attributes of German gods. Finally, +such things as 'The Sleeping Beauty,' which is the +earth in winter sleep, that the prince of summer +wakes with kisses in springtime, point back to the +period of primitive Indo-German myth.</p> + +<p>"But in addition to the requirement of classical +nobility, has the fairy story also the moral tone which +we required of the genuine child's story? Does the +fairy story make for morals? To be sure it introduces +to an ideal realm of simple moral relations. +The good and bad are sharply separated. The wrong +holds for a time its supremacy, but the final victory +is with the good. And with what vigor the judgment +of good and evil, of right and wrong, is produced.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 57]</span> +We meet touching pictures, especially of good-will, +of faithfulness, characteristic and full of life. Think +only of the typical interchange of words between +Lenchen and Fundevogel. Said Lenchen, 'Leave +me not and I will never leave thee.' Said Fundevogel, +'Now and nevermore.' We are reminded of +the Bible words of the faithful Ruth, 'Whither thou +goest I will go; where thou lodgest I will lodge; +where thou diest I will die and there will I be +buried.'</p> + +<p>"Important for the life of children is the rigor with +which the fairy tale punishes disobedience and falsehood. +Think of the suggestive legendary story of +the child which was visited again and again with misfortune +because of its obstinacy, till its final confession +of guilt brings full pardon. It is everywhere a Christian +thread which runs through so many fairy stories. +It is love for the rejected, oppressed, and abandoned. +Whatever is loaded with burdens and troubles receives +the palm, and the first becomes the last.</p> + +<p>"The fairy story fulfils the first three requirements +for a true child's story. It is childlike, of +lasting value, and fosters moral ideas. As to unity +it will suffice for children of six years (for this is, in +our opinion, the age at which it exerts its moral +force) that the stories be told in the same spirit, +although they do not form one connected narrative. +If a good selection of fairy tales according to their +inner connection is made, so that frequent references<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 58]</span> +and connections can be found, the requirement of +unity will be satisfied.</p> + +<p>"The fairy tale seems to satisfy least of all the +demand that the true child's story must be instructive, +and serve as a starting-point for interesting +practical discussion. The fairy story seems too airy +and dreamy for this, and it might appear pedantry +to load it with instruction. But one will not be +guilty of this mistake if one simply follows up the +ideas which the story suggests. When the story of +a chicken, a fox, or a swan is told it is fully in harmony +with the childish thought to inquire into the +habits of these animals. When the king is mentioned +it is natural to say that we have a king, to ask where +he lives, etc. Just because the fairy tale sinks deep +and holds a firm and undivided attention, it is possible +to direct the suggested thoughts hither or +thither without losing the pleasure they create. +If one keeps this aim in mind, instructive material +is abundant. The fairy tale introduces various employments +and callings, from the king to the farmer, +tailor, and shoemaker. Many passages in life, such +as betrothal, marriage, and burial, are presented. +Labors in the house, yard, and field, and numerous +animals, plants, and inanimate things are touched +upon. For the observation of animals and for the +relation between them and children, it is fortunate +that the fairy tale presents them as talking and feeling. +Thereby the interest in real animals is in<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 59]</span>creased +and heartlessness banished. How could a +child put to the torture an animal which is an old +friend in fairy story?</p> + +<p>"I need only suggest in this place how the fairy +story furnishes material for exercises in oral language, +for the division of words into syllables and letters, +and how the beginnings of writing, drawing, number, +and manual exercises may be drawn from the same +source.</p> + +<p>"From the suggestions just made the following +conclusions at least may be reasonably drawn. A +sufficient counterpoise to the fantastical nature of +the fairy tale can be given in a manner simple and +childlike, if the objects and relations involved in the +narratives are brought clearly before the senses and +discussed so that instruction about common objects +and home surroundings is begun."</p> + +<p>In speaking of Shakespeare's early training in +literature, Charles Kingsley says:—</p> + +<p>"I said there was a literary art before Shakespeare—an +art more simple, more childlike, more +girlish, as it were, and therefore all the more adapted +for young minds, but also an art most vigorous and +pure in point of style: thoroughly fitted to give its +readers the first elements of taste, which must lie at +the root of even the most complex æsthetics.</p> + +<p>"The old fairy superstition, the old legends and +ballads, the old chronicles of feudal war and chivalry, +the earlier moralities and mysteries and tragi<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 60]</span>comic +attempts—these were the roots of his poetic +tree—they must be the roots of any literary education +which can teach us to appreciate him. These +fed Shakespeare's youth; why should they not feed +our children's? Why indeed? That inborn delight +of the young in all that is marvellous and fantastic—has +that a merely evil root? No surely! It is a +most pure part of their spiritual nature; a part of +'the heaven which lies about us in our infancy'; +angel-wings with which the free child leaps the +prison-walls of sense and custom, and the drudgery +of earthly life."</p> + +<p>Felix Adler says:<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> "But how shall we handle +these <i>Märchen</i> and what method shall we employ +in putting them to account for our special purpose? +I have a few thoughts on this subject, which I shall +venture to submit in the form of counsels.</p> + +<p>"My <i>first counsel</i> is: Tell the story; do not give it +to the child to read. There is an obvious practical +reason for this. Children are able to benefit by +hearing fairy tales before they can read. But that +is not the only reason. It is the childhood of the +race, as we have seen, that speaks in the fairy story +of the child of to-day. It is the voice of an ancient +far-off past that echoes from the lips of the storyteller. +The words 'once upon a time' open up a +vague retrospect into the past, and the child gets +its first indistinct notions of history in this way. The<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 61]</span> +stories embody the tradition of the childhood of mankind. +They have on this account an authority all +their own, not, indeed, that of literal truth, but one +derived from their being types of certain feelings +and longings which belong to childhood as such. +The child, as it listens to the <i>Märchen</i>, looks up with +wide-opened eyes to the face of the person who tells +the story, and thrills responsive as the touch of the +earlier life of the race thus falls upon its own. Such an +effect, of course, cannot be produced by cold type. +Tradition is a living thing and should use the living +voice for its vehicle.</p> + +<p>"My <i>second counsel</i> is also of a practical nature, +and I make bold to say quite essential to the successful +use of the stories. Do not take the moral +plum out of the fairy-tale pudding, 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<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 62]</span> +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....</p> + +<p>"The value of the fairy tales is that they stimulate +the imagination; that they reflect the unbroken +communion of human life with the life universal, as +in beasts, fishes, trees, flowers, and stars; and that +incidentally, but all the more powerfully on that account, +they quicken the moral sentiments.</p> + +<p>"Let us avail ourselves freely of the treasures +which are thus placed at our disposal. Let us welcome +<i>das Märchen</i> into our primary course of moral +training, that with its gentle bands, woven of 'morning +mist and morning glory,' it may help to lead our +children into bright realms of the ideal."</p> + +<p>A selection of fairy stories suited to our first grade +will differ from a similar selection for foreign schools. +There has been a disposition among American +teachers for several years to appropriate the best +of these stories for use in the primary schools. In +different parts of the country skilful primary teachers +have been experimenting successfully with these +materials. There are many schools in which both +teachers and pupils have taken great delight in them. +The effort has been made more particularly with first +grade children, the aim of teachers being to lead captive +the spontaneous interest of children from their first +entrance upon school tasks. Some of the stories used +at the first may seem light and farcical, but experi<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 63]</span>ments +with children are a better test than the preconceived +notions of adults who may have forgotten their +early childhood. The story of the "Four Musicians," +for example, is a favorite with the children.</p> + +<p>At the risk of repetition, and to emphasize some +points of special importance, we will review briefly +the method of oral treatment and the use of the +stories in early primary reading.</p> + +<p>The children have no knowledge of reading or perhaps +of letters. The story is told with spirit by the +teacher, no book being used in the class. Question +and interchange of thought between pupil and teacher +will become more frequent and suggestive as the +teacher becomes more skilled and sympathetic in her +treatment of the story. In the early months of school +life the aim is to gain the attention and coöperation +of children by furnishing abundant food for thought. +Children are required or at least encouraged to narrate +the story or a part of it in the class. They tell it at +school and probably at home, till they become more +and more absorbed in it. Even the backward or +timid child gradually acquires courage and enjoys +narrating the adventures of the peas in the pod or +those of the animals in the "Four Musicians."</p> + +<p>The teacher should acquire a vivid and picturesque +style of narrating, persistently weaving into the story, +by query and suggestion, the previous home experiences +of the children. They are only too ready to +bring out these treasures at the call of the teacher.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 64]</span> +Often it is necessary to check their enthusiasm. +There is a need not simply for narrative power, but +for quick insight and judgment, so as to bring their +thoughts into close relation to the incidents. Nowhere +in all the schools is there such a call for close +and motherly sympathy. The gentle compulsion of +kindness is required to inspire the timid ones with +confidence. For some of them are slow to open their +delicate thought and sensibility, even to the sunny +atmosphere of a pleasant school.</p> + +<p>A certain amount of drill in reproduction is necessary, +but fortunately the stories have something that +bears repetition with a growing interest. Added to +this is the desire for perfect mastery, and thus the +stories become more dear with familiarity.</p> + +<p>Incidentally, there should be emphasis of the instructive +information gathered concerning animals +and plants that are actors in the scenes. The commonest +things of the house, field, and garden acquire +a new and lasting interest. Sometimes the teacher +makes provision in advance of the story for a deeper +interest in the plants and animals that are to appear. +In natural science lessons she may take occasion to +examine the pea blossom, or the animals of the barnyard, +or the squirrel or birds in their cages. When, +a few days later, the story touches one of these animals, +there is a quick response from the children. +This relation between history and natural science +strengthens both.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 65]</span></p> + +<p>Many an opportunity should be given for the pupils +to express a warm sympathy for gentle acts of kindness +or unselfishness. The happiness that even a +simple flower may bring to a home is a contagious +example. Kindly treatment of the old and feeble, +and sympathy for the innocent and helpless, spring +into the child's own thought. The fancy, sympathy, +and interest awakened by a good fairy tale make it +a vehicle by which, consciously and unconsciously, +many advantages are borne home to pupils.</p> + +<p>Among other things, it opens the door to the reading +lesson; that is, to the beginning efforts in mastering +and using the symbols of written language. The +same story which all have learned to tell, they are +now about to learn to read from the board. One or +two sentences are taken directly from the lips of the +pupils as they recall the story, and the work of mastering +symbols is begun at once with zest. First is +the clear statement of some vivid thought by a child, +then a quick association of this thought with its written +symbols on the board. There is no readier way +of bringing thought and form into firm connection, +that is, of learning to read. Keep the child's fresh +mental judgment and the written form clearly before +his mind till the two are wedded. Let the thought +run back and forth between them till they are one.</p> + +<p>After fixing two or three sentences on the board, +attention is directed more closely to the single words, +and a rapid drill upon those in the sentence is fol<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 66]</span>lowed +by a discovery and naming of them in miscellaneous +order. Afterward new sentences are formed +by the teacher out of the same words, written on the +board, and read by the children. They express different, +and perhaps opposite forms of thought, and +should exercise the child's sense and judgment as +well as his memory of words. An energetic, lively, +and successful drill of this kind upon sentences drawn +from stories has been so often witnessed, that its +excellence is no longer a matter of question. These +exercises are a form of mental activity in which children +delight if the teacher's manner is vigorous and +pleasant.</p> + +<p>When the mastery of new word-forms as wholes is +fairly complete, the analysis may go a step farther. +Some new word in the lesson may be taken and separated +into its phonic elements, as the word <i>hill</i>, and +new words formed by dropping a letter and prefixing +letters or syllables, as <i>ill</i>, <i>till</i>, <i>until</i>, <i>mill</i>, <i>rill</i>, etc. The +power to construct new words out of old materials +should be cultivated all along the process of learning +to read.</p> + +<p>Still other school activities of children stand in +close relation to the fairy tales. They are encouraged +to draw the objects and incidents in which +the story abounds. Though rude and uncouth, the +drawings still often surprise us with their truth and +suggestiveness. The sketches reveal the content of +a child's mind as almost nothing else—his miscon<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 67]</span>ceptions, +his vague or clearly defined notions. They +also furnish his mental and physical activities an +employment exactly suited to his needs and wishes.</p> + +<p>The power to use good English and to express +himself clearly and fittingly is cultivated from the +very first. While this merit is purely incidental, it +is none the less valuable. The persistence with +which bad and uncouth words and phrases are +employed by children in our common school, both in +oral work and in composition, admonishes us to begin +early to eradicate these faults. It seems often as if +intermediate and grammar grades were more faulty +and wretched in their use of English than primary +grades. But there can be no doubt that early and +persistent practice in the best forms of expression, +especially in connection with interesting and appropriate +thought matter, will greatly aid correctness, +fluency, and confidence in speech. There is also +a convincing pedagogical reason why children in the +first primary should be held to the best models of +spoken language. They enter the school better furnished +with oral speech than with a knowledge of +any school study. Their home experiences have +wrought into close association and unity, word and +thing. So intimate and living is the relation between +word and thought or object, that a child really does +not distinguish between them. This is the treasure +with which he enters school, and it should not be +wrapped up in a napkin. It should be unrolled at<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 68]</span> +once and put to service. Oral speech is the capital +with which a child enters the business of education; +let him employ it.</p> + +<p>A retrospect upon the various forms of school activity +which spring, in practical work, from the use of +a good fairy story, reveals how many-sided and +inspiriting are its influences. Starting out with a +rich content of thought peculiarly germane to childish +interests, it calls for a full employment of the language +resources already possessed by the children. +In the effort to picture out, with pencil or chalk, his +conceptions of the story, a child exercises his fanciful +and creative wit, as well as the muscles of arms and +eyes. A good story always finds its setting in the +midst of nature or society, and touches up with a +simple, homely, but poetic charm the commonest +verities of human experience. The appeal to the +sensibility and moral judgment of pupils is direct and +spontaneous, because of the interests and sympathies +that are inherent in persons, and touch directly the +childish fancy. And, lastly, the irrepressible traditional +demand that children shall learn to read, is +fairly and honestly met and satisfied.</p> + +<p>It is not claimed that fairy tales involve the sum +total of primary instruction, but they are an illustration +of how rich will be the fruitage of our educational +effort if we consider first the highest needs and +interests of children, and allow the formal arts to +drop into their proper subordination. "The best is<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 69]</span> +good enough for children," and when we select the +best, the wide-reaching connections which are established +between studies carry us a long step toward +the now much-bruited correlation and concentration +of studies.</p> + + +<h4>BOOKS OF MATERIALS FOR TEACHERS</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Classic Stories for the Little Ones. Public School Publishing Co., Bloomington, Ill.<br /> + +Grimm's Fairy Tales (Wiltse). Ginn & Co.<br /> + +German Fairy Tales (Grimm). Maynard, Merrill, & Co.<br /> + +Grimm's German Household Tales. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> + +Stories from Hans Andersen. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> + +Andersen's Fairy Tales, two volumes. Part I and Part II. Ginn & Co.<br /> + +Fairy Stories and Fables. American Book Co.<br /> + +Fables and Folk Stories (Scudder). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> + +Rhymes and Jingles (Dodge). Scribner's Sons.<br /> + +Fairy Stories for Children (Baldwin). American Book Co.<br /> + +Songs and Stories. University Publishing Co.<br /> + +Fairy Life. University Publishing Co.<br /> + +Six Nursery Classics (O'Shea). D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> + +Grimm's Fairy Tales. Educational Publishing Co.<br /> + +A Book of Nursery Rhymes (Welch). D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> + +Verse and Prose for Beginners in Reading. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> + +Heart of Oak, No. I. D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> + +Heart of Oak, No. II. D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> + +The Eugene Field Book. Scribner's Sons.<br /> + +Moral Education of Children (Adler). D. Appleton & Co. Chapter VI. on Fairy Tales.<br /> + +Literature in Schools (Scudder). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. Chapter on Nursery Classics.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 70]</span></p> + +<h3>THE FABLES</h3> + +<p>No group of stories has a more assured place in +the literature for children than the Æsop's "Fables." +Some of the commonest have been expanded into +little stories which are presented orally to children in +the first school year, as "The Lion and the Mouse," +"The Ants and the Grasshoppers," "The Dog and his +Shadow," and others. They are so simple and direct +that they are used alongside the fairy tales for the +earliest instruction of children.</p> + +<p>As soon as children have acquired the rudiments of +reading the Æsop's "Fables" are commonly used in +the second and third school year as a reading book, +and all the early reading books are partly made up +from this material.</p> + +<p>If we inquire into the qualities of these stories +which have given them such a universal acceptance, +we shall find that they contain in a simple, transparent +form a good share of the world's wisdom. More +recent researches indicate that they originated in +India, and reached Europe through Persia and Arabia, +being ascribed to Æsop. This indicates that like +most early literature of lasting worth, they are products +of the folk-mind rather than of a single writer, +and it is the opinion of Adler that they express the +ripened wisdom of the people under the forms of +Oriental despotism. The sad and hopeless submission +to a stronger power expressed by some of the<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 71]</span> +fables, it is claimed, unfits them for use in our freer +life to-day.</p> + +<p>There are certain points in which their attractiveness +to children is clearly manifest. The actors in +the stories are usually animals, and the ready interest +and sympathy of children for talking animals +are at once appealed to. In all the early myths +and fairy tales, human life seems to merge into that +of the animals, as in "Hiawatha," and the fables +likewise are a marked expression of this childlike +tendency.</p> + +<p>Adler says: "The question may be asked why +fables are so popular with boys. I should say because +schoolboy society reproduces in miniature, to +a certain extent, the social conditions which are reflected +in the fables. Among unregenerate schoolboys +there often exists a kind of despotism, not the +less degrading because petty. The strong are pitted +against the weak—witness the fagging system in +English schools—and their mutual antagonism produces +in both the characteristic vices which we have +noted above." A literature which clearly pictures +these relations so that they can be seen objectively +by the children may be of the greatest social service +in education.</p> + +<p>Adler says further: "The psychological study of +schoolboy society has been only begun, but even what +lies on the surface will, I think, bear out this remark. +Now it has become one of the commonplaces of<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 72]</span> +educational literature that the individual of to-day +must pass through the same stages of evolution as +the human race as a whole. But it should not be +forgotten that the advance of civilization depends on +two conditions: first, that the course of evolution be +accelerated, that the time allowed to the successive +stages be shortened; and, secondly, that the unworthy +and degrading elements which entered into the process +of evolution in the past, and at the time were +inseparable from it, be now eliminated. Thus the +fairy tales which correspond to the myth-making +epoch in human history must be purged of the dross +of superstition which still adheres to them, and the +fables which correspond to the age of primitive +despotisms must be cleansed of the immoral elements +they still embody."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>The peculiar form of moral teaching in the "Fables" +suits them especially to children. A single trait of +conduct, like greediness or selfishness, is sharply +outlined in the story and its results made plain. "We +have seen nothing finer in teaching than the building +up of these little stories in conversational lessons—first +to illustrate some mental or moral trait; then to +detach the idea from its story picture, and find illustrations +for it in some other act or incident. And +nothing can be more gratifying as a result, than, +through the transparency of childish hearts, to watch +the growth of right conduct from the impulses derived<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 73]</span> +from the teaching; and so laying the foundations of +future rightness of character."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>The moral ideas inculcated by the fables are usually +of a practical, worldly-wisdom sort, not high ideals of +moral quality, not virtue for its own sake, but varied +examples of the results of rashness and folly. This +is, perhaps, one reason why they are so well suited +to the immature moral judgments of children.</p> + +<p>Adler says: "Often when a child has committed +some fault, it is useful to refer by name to the fable +that fits it. As, when a boy has made room in his +seat for another, and the other crowds him out, the +mere mention of the fable of the porcupine is a +telling rebuke; or the fable of the hawk and the +pigeons may be called to mind when a boy has +been guilty of mean excuses. On the same principle +that angry children are sometimes taken before a +mirror to show them how ugly they look, the fable +is a kind of mirror for the vices of the young." +Again: "The peculiar value of the fables is that +they are instantaneous photographs which reproduce, +as it were, in a single flash of light, some one +aspect of human nature, and which, excluding everything +else, permit the attention to be entirely fixed +on that one."</p> + +<p>But the value of the fable reaches far beyond +childhood. The frequency with which it is cited in +nearly all the forms of literature, and its aptness<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 74]</span> +to express the real meaning of many episodes in +real life, in politics and social events, in peace and +war, show the universality of the truth it embodies. +A story which engraves a truth, as it were with a +diamond point, upon a child's mind, a truth which +will swiftly interpret many events in his later life, +deserves to take a high place among educative influences.</p> + + +<h4>FABLES AND NATURE MYTHS</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Scudder's Fables and Folk Stories. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> + +Æsop's Fables (Stickney). Ginn & Co.<br /> + +Book of Legends (Scudder). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> + +Stories for Children (Lane). The American Book Co.<br /> + +A Child's Garden of Verses (Stevenson). Scribner's Sons.<br /> + +Æsop's Fables. Educational Publishing Co.<br /> + +The Book of Nature Myths (Holbrook). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> + +The Moral Instruction of Children (Adler), Chapters VII and +VIII. D. Appleton & Co.</p> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 75]</span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Second Grade Stories</span></h2> + + +<h3>"ROBINSON CRUSOE"</h3> + +<p>In selecting suitable literature for children of the +second grade, we follow in the steps of a number +of distinguished writers and teachers and choose an +English classic—"Robinson Crusoe." Rousseau gave +this book his unqualified approval, and said that it +would be the first, and, for a time, the only book +that Émile should read. The Herbartians have been +using it a number of years, while many American +teachers have employed it for oral work in second +grade, in a short school edition. In one sense, the +book needs no introduction, as it has found its way +into every nook and corner of the world. Originally +a story for adults, it has reached all, and illustrated +Christmas editions, designed even for children from +three years and upward, are abundant. To the +youth of all lands, it has been, to say the least, a +source of delight, but it has been regarded as a +book for the family and home. What would happen +should the schoolmaster lay his hand on this +treasure and desecrate it to school purposes! We<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 76]</span> +desire to test this classic work on the side of its +pedagogical value and its adaptation to the uses of +regular instruction. If it is really unrivalled as a +piece of children's literature, perhaps it has also +no equal for school purposes.</p> + +<p>In making the transition from the fairy tale to +"Robinson Crusoe," an interesting difference or contrast +may be noticed. Wilmann says:<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> "'Crusoe' is +at once simple, and plain, and fanciful; to be sure, +in the latter case, entirely different from the fairy +tale. In the fairy story the fancy seldom pushes +rudely against the boundaries of the real world. +But otherwise in 'Crusoe.' Here it is the practical +fancy that is aroused, if this expression appear not +contradictory. What is Crusoe to do now? How can +he help himself? What means can he invent? Many +of the proposals of the children will have to be rejected. +The inexorable 'not possible' shoves a bolt +before the door. The imagination is compelled to +limit itself to the task of combining and adjusting +real things. The compulsion of things conditions +the progress of the story. 'Thoughts dwell together +easily, but things jostle each other roughly in space.'"</p> + +<p>There are other striking differences between "Crusoe" +and the folk-lore stories, but in this contrast we +are now chiefly concerned. After reaching the island, +he is checked and limited at every step by the physical +laws imposed by nature. Struggle and fret as<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 77]</span> +he may against these limits, he becomes at last a +philosopher, and quietly takes up the struggle for +existence under those inexorable conditions. The +child of seven or eight is vaguely acquainted with +many of the simple employments of the household +and of the neighborhood. Crusoe also had a vague +memory of how people in society in different trades +and occupations supply the necessaries and comforts +of life. Even the fairy stories give many hints +of this kind of knowledge, but Robinson Crusoe is +face to face with the sour facts. He is cut off from +help and left to his own resources. The interest in +the story is in seeing how he will shift for himself +and exercise his wits to insure plenty and comfort. +With few tools and on a barbarous coast, he undertakes +what men in society, by mutual exchange and +by division of labor, have much difficulty in performing. +Crusoe becomes a carpenter, a baker and cook, +a hunter, a potter, a fisher, a farmer, a tailor, a boatman, +a stock-raiser, a basket-maker, a shoemaker, a +tanner, a fruit-grower, a mason, a physician. And +not only so, but he grapples with the difficulties of +each trade or occupation in a bungling manner because +of inexperience and lack of skill and exact +knowledge. He is an experimenter and tester +along many lines. The entire absence of helpers +centres the whole interest of this varied struggle in +one person. It is to be remembered that Crusoe is +no genius, but the ordinary boy or man. He has<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 78]</span> +abundant variety of needs such as a child reared +under civilized conditions has learned to feel. The +whole range of activities, usually distributed to various +classes and persons in society, rests now upon his +single shoulders. If he were an expert in all directions, +the task would be easier, but he has only vague +knowledge and scarcely any skill. The child, therefore, +who reads this story, by reason of the slow, +toilsome, and bungling processes of Crusoe in meeting +his needs, becomes aware how difficult and laborious +are the efforts by which the simple, common +needs of all children are supplied.</p> + +<p>A reference to the different trades and callings +that Crusoe assumes will show us that he is not dealing +with rare and unusual events, but with the common, +simple employments that lie at the basis of +society in all parts of the world. The carpenter, the +baker, the farmer, the shoemaker, etc., are at work in +every village in every land. Doubtless this is one +reason why the story acquires such a hold in the +most diverse countries. The Arab or the Chinese +boy, the German or American child, finds the story +touching the ordinary facts of his own surroundings. +Though the story finds its setting in a far-away, +lonely island in tropical seas, Crusoe is daily trying +to create the objects and conditions of his old home +in England. But these are the same objects that +surround every child; and therefore, in reading "Robinson +Crusoe," the pupil is making an exhaustive and<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 79]</span> +interesting study of his own home. The presence of +a tropical vegetation and of a strange climate does +not seriously impair this fact. The skill of a great +literary artist appears in his power to create a situation +almost devoid of common comforts and blessings +and then in setting his hero to work to create +them by single-handed effort.</p> + +<p>It will hardly be questioned that the study of the +home and home neighborhood by children is one of +the large and prominent problems in education. Out +of their social, economic, and physical environment +children get the most important lessons of life. Not +only does the home furnish a varied fund of information +that enables them to interpret books, and people, +and institutions, as they sooner or later go out into +the world, but all the facts gathered by experience +and reading in distant fields must flow back again to +give deeper meaning to the labors and duties which +surround each citizen in his own home. But society +with its commerce, education, and industries, is an +exceedingly complex affair. The child knows not +where to begin to unravel this endless machinery of +forms and institutions. In a sense he must get away +from or disentangle himself from his surroundings in +order to understand them. There are no complex +conditions surrounding Crusoe, and he takes up the +labors of the common trades in a simple and primitive +manner. Physical and mental effort are demanded +at every step, from Crusoe and from the<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 80]</span> +children. Many of his efforts involve repeated failure, +as in making pottery, in building a boat, while +some things that he undertakes with painful toil +never attain success. The lesson of toil and hardship +connected with the simple industries is one of +great moment to children. Our whole social fabric +is based on these toils, and it is one of the best +results of a sound education to realize the place and +importance of hard work.</p> + +<p>It scarcely needs to be pointed out that Crusoe +typifies a long period of man's early history, the age +when men were learning the rudiments of civilization +by taking up the toils of the blacksmith, the agriculturist, +the builder, the domesticator of animals and +plants. Men emerged from barbarism as they slowly +and painfully gained the mastery over the resources +of nature. Crusoe is a sort of universal man, embodying +in his single effort that upward movement +of men which has steadily carried them to the higher +levels of progress. It has been said with some truth +that Robinson Crusoe is a philosophy of history. +But we scarcely need such a high-sounding name. +To the child he is a very concrete, individual man, +with very simple and interesting duties.</p> + +<p>In a second point the author of "Robinson Crusoe" +shows himself a literary master. There is an intense +and naive realism in his story. Even if one were so +disposed, it would require a strong effort to break +loose from the feeling that we are in the presence of<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 81]</span> +real experiences. There is a quiet but irresistible +assumption of unvarnished and even disagreeable +fact in the narrative. But it is useless to describe +the style of a book so familiar. Its power over +youthful fancy and feeling has been too often experienced +to be doubted. The vivid interest which the +book awakens is certain to carry home whatever lessons +it may teach with added force. So great is this +influence that boys sometimes imitate the efforts of +Crusoe by making caves, building ovens, and assuming +a style of dress and living that approximates +Crusoe's state. This supplies to teachers a hint of +some value. The story of Crusoe should lead to +excursions into the home neighborhood for the purpose +of a closer examination of the trades and occupations +there represented. An imitation of his labors +may also be encouraged. The effort to mould and +bake vessels from potter's clay, the platting of baskets +from willow withes, the use of tools in making +boxes or tables may be attempted far enough to discover +how lacking in practical ability the children +are. This will certainly teach them greater respect +for manual skill.</p> + +<p>From the previous discussion it might appear that +we regard the story of Crusoe as technological and +industrial rather than moral. But it would be a mistake +to suppose that a book is not moral because it is +not perpetually dispensing moral platitudes. Most +men's lives are mainly industrial. The display of<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 82]</span> +moral qualities is only occasional and incidental. +The development of moral character is coincident +with the labors and experiences of life and springs +out of them, being manifested by the spirit with +which one acts toward his fellow-men. But Crusoe +was alone on his island, and there might seem to be +no opportunity to be moral in relation to others. Society, +to be sure, was conspicuous by its absence. +But the intense longing with which he thought of +the home and companionships lost is perhaps the +strongest sentiment in the book. His loneliness +brings out most vividly his true relation to home and +friends.</p> + +<p>His early life, till the shipwreck, was that of a wayward +and reckless youth, disobedient to parents and +seemingly without moral scruples. Even during the +first months upon the island there appears little moral +change or betterment. But slowly the bitter experiences +of his lonely life sober him. He finds a Bible, +and a fit of sickness reveals the distresses that may +lie before him. When once the change has set in, it +is rapid and thorough. He becomes devout, he longs +to return to his parents and atone for his faults. A +complete reformation of his moral disposition is +effected. If one will take the pains to read the +original "Robinson Crusoe" he will find it surprisingly +serious and moral in its tone. He devotes +much time to soliloquizing on the distresses of his +condition and upon the causes which have brought<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 83]</span> +him to misery. He diagnoses his case with an +amount of detail that must be tedious to children. +The fact that these parts of the book often leave +little direct impression upon children is proof that +they are chiefly engaged with the adventure and +physical embarrassments of Crusoe. For the present +it is sufficient to observe that the story is deeply and +intensely moral both in its spirit and in the changes +described in "Crusoe."</p> + +<p>We are next led to inquire whether the industrial +and moral lessons contained in this story are likely to +be extracted from it by a boy or girl who reads it +alone, without the aid of a teacher. Most young +readers of "Crusoe" are carried along by the interesting +adventure. It is a very surprising and entertaining +story. But children even less than adults are +inclined to go deeper than the surface and draw up +hidden treasures. De Foe's work is a piece of classic +literature. But few people are inclined to get at the +deeper meaning and spirit of a classical masterpiece +unless they go through it in companionship with a +teacher who is gifted to disclose its better meaning. +This is true of any classical product we might mention. +It should be the peculiar function of the +school to cultivate a taste, and an appreciative taste, +for the best literature; not by leaving it to the haphazard +home reading of pupils, but by selecting the +best things adapted to the minds of children and then +employing true teaching skill to bring these treas<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 84]</span>ures +close to the hearts and sympathies of children. +Many young people do not read "Robinson Crusoe" at +all; many others do not appreciate its better phases. +The school will much improve its work by taking +for its own this best of children's stories, and by +extending and deepening the children's appreciation +of a classic.</p> + +<p>The story of Robinson Crusoe is made by the +Herbartians the nucleus for the concentration of +studies in the second year. This importance is +given to it on account of its strong moral tone and +because of its universal typical character in man's +development. Without attempting a solution of the +problem of concentration at this juncture, we should +at least observe the relations of this story to the +other studies. Wilmann says: "The everywhere +and nowhere of the fairy tale gives place to the +first geographical limitations. The continents, the +chief countries of Europe, come up, besides a series +of geographical concepts such as island, coast, bay, +river, hill, mountain, sea, etc. The difference in +climate is surprising. Crusoe fears the winter and +prepares for it, but his fear is needless, for no winter +reaches his island." We have already observed its +instructive treatment of the common occupations +which prepare for later geographical study, as well +as for natural science.</p> + +<p>Many plants and animals are brought to notice +which would furnish a good beginning for natural<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 85]</span> +science lessons. It is advisable, however, to study +rather those home animals and plants which correspond +best to the tropical products or animals in the +lessons. Tropical fruits, the parrot, and the goat we +often meet at home, but in addition, the sheep, the +ox, the mocking-bird, the woodpecker, our native +fruits and grains, and the fish, turtles, and minerals +of the home, may well be suggested and studied in +science lessons parallel with the life of Crusoe.</p> + +<p>Following upon the oral treatment and discussion +of "Robinson Crusoe" the children are easily led to +like efforts at construction, as, for instance, the making +of a raft, the building of the cave and stockade, +the making of chairs and tables, the moulding of jars +and kettles out of clay, the weaving of baskets, the +preparation and cooking of foods, the planting of +grains, the construction of an oven or house, boat +building, and other labors of Crusoe in providing for +his wants.</p> + +<p>It is quite customary now in second grade to set +the children to work in these efforts to solve Crusoe's +problems, so that they, by working with actual +materials, may realize more fully the difficulties and +trials to which he was subjected. In close connection +with these constructive efforts are the drawings +of the scenes of the story, such as the shipwreck, +the stockade, the boat, the map of the island, and +some of the later events of the story. A still further +means of giving reality to the events is to dramatize<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 86]</span> +some of the scenes between Friday and Crusoe, and +to dress and equip these and other persons in the +story in fitting manner. The children gladly enter +into such dramatic action. These various forms of +drawing, action, and constructive work are in close +connection with the home studies of industries and +occupations,—farming, gardening, carpenter and +blacksmith shops, weaving, cooking, bakeries, and excursions +to shops—which follow the Crusoe story +in the study of home geography in the third grade.</p> + +<p>Although the story should be given and discussed +orally, the children should also read it later as a part +of the regular reading exercise of the course. +Instead of suffering from this repetition, their interest +will only be increased. Classical products usually +gain by repetition. The facts are brought out +more clearly and the deeper meaning is perceived. +To have the oral treatment of a story precede its +reading by some weeks or months produces an excellent +effect upon the style of the reading. The +thought being familiar, and the interest strong, the +expression will be vigorous and natural. Children +take a pride in reading a story which they at first +must receive orally for lack of reading power.</p> + +<p>The same advantageous drill in the use of good +English accrues to the Crusoe story that was observed +in the fairy tales. There is abundant opportunity +for oral narrative and description.</p> + +<p>The use of the pencil and chalk in graphic repre<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 87]</span>sentation +should be encouraged both in teacher and +in pupils. Thus the eye becomes more accurate in +observation and the hand more free and facile in +tracing the outlines of the interesting forms studied. +The use of tools and materials in construction gives +ideas an anchorage, not only in the brain, but even +in the nerves and muscles.</p> + +<p>In thus glancing over the field we discover the +same many-sided and intimate relation with other +school studies, as in the previous grade. In fact, +"Crusoe" is the first extended classical masterpiece +which is presented to the children as a whole. Such +parts of the story as are of most pedagogical value +should be simplified and woven together into a continuous +narrative. That part of the story which precedes +the shipwreck may be reduced to a few +paragraphs which bring out clearly his early home +surroundings, his disobedience and the desertion of +his parents, and the voyage which led to his lonely +life upon the island. The period embraced in his +companionless labors and experiences constitutes the +important part for school uses. A few of the more +important episodes following the capture of Friday +and his return home may be briefly told. We deem it +a long step forward to get some of our great classical +masterpieces firmly embedded in the early years of +our school course. It will contribute almost as much +to the culture and stimulation of teachers as of pupils.</p> + +<p>The method of handling this narrative before the<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 88]</span> +class will be similar to that of the fairy tales. A +simple and vivid recital of the facts, with frequent +questions and discussions, so as to draw the story +closer to the child's own thought and experience, +should be made by the teacher. Much skill in illustrative +device, in graphic description, in diagram or +drawing, in the appeal to the sense experiences of +the pupils, is in demand. The excursion to places of +interest in the neighborhood suggested by the story +begins to be an important factor of the school exercises. +As children grow older they acquire skill and +confidence in oral narrative, and should be held to +greater independence in oral reproductions.</p> + +<p>One of the best school editions of "Robinson +Crusoe" is published by Ginn & Co.</p> + +<p>A simple edition for second grade is published by +the Public School Publishing Co.</p> + +<p>The teacher should be supplied with one of the +larger, fuller editions of "Robinson Crusoe," like that +of Houghton, Mifflin, & Co., in the Riverside Literature +Series. It furnishes a much fuller detail of +knowledge for the teacher's use. It will also be of +great advantage for classroom use to possess an illustrated +edition like that of George Routledge & Sons.</p> + +<p>The full treatment of this story, first in simple, +oral narrative, later by its use as a reading book, +and later still by the child reading the complete +edition for himself in private, illustrates the intensive +concentration of thought and constructive activity<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 89]</span> +upon a great piece of literature as opposed to a loose +and superficial treatment. Such a piece of work +should remain for life a source of deeper thought, +feeling, and experience.</p> + + +<h4>OTHER EDITIONS</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. American Book Co.<br /> + +Robinson Crusoe. Lee and Shepard.<br /> + +Robinson Crusoe for Youngest Readers. Educational Pub. Co.<br /> + +Robinson Crusoe. University Publishing Co.<br /> + +De Foe's Robinson Crusoe (Hale). Ginn & Co.<br /> + +De Foe's Robinson Crusoe. Maynard, Merrill, & Co.</p> +</div> + + +<h3>"HIAWATHA"</h3> + +<p>The story of Hiawatha has been much used for +oral treatment in primary grades, and as a basis for +exercises in learning to read. Later the complete +poem has been much read in third, fourth, or fifth +grade as a piece of choice literature.</p> + +<p>A story which is growing so rapidly in favor with +primary teachers may explain our effort to determine +its educational value.</p> + +<p>That the story begins with the early childhood of +Hiawatha and describes his home and early training +at the feet of Nokomis, is at least one point in its +favor.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">By the shores of Gitche Gumee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the shining Big-Sea-Water,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dark behind it rose the forest,<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 90]</span><span class="i0">Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rose the firs with cones upon them;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bright before it beat the water,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beat the clear and sunny water,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There the wrinkled, old Nokomis<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nursed the little Hiawatha,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rocked him in his linden cradle,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bedded soft in moss and rushes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Safely bound with reindeer sinews.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The traditions and stories he learned from the lips +of Nokomis will remind children of their own home +life, while his companionship with birds and animals +will touch them in a sympathetic place.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">Then the little Hiawatha<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Learned of every bird its language,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Learned their names and all their secrets,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How they built their nests in Summer,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where they hid themselves in Winter,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Talked with them whene'er he met them,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Called them "Hiawatha's Chickens."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The games and exercises of his youth will remind +them of their own sports and introduce them to Indian +life. This home of Hiawatha, and the description of +his childhood, are a happy introduction to the simple +surroundings of Indian life on the shores of the +northern sea.</p> + +<p>Primitive Indian modes of life, traditions and myths, +appeal naturally to children, and the whole story has +this setting of early simplicity which adapts it in +many ways to child study. The Indian nature myths,<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 91]</span> +which in themselves are attractive, are here woven +into a connected series by their relation to Hiawatha +in the training of his childhood and in the exploits of +his manhood.</p> + +<p>The number of pure fairy tales scattered through +the story adapts it especially for young children, +while the descriptions of home customs, feasts, weddings, +merrymaking, and games, show the happier +side of their life.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">Ye who love a nation's legends,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Love the ballads of a people,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That like voices from afar off<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Call to us to pause and listen,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Speak in tones so plain and childlike,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Scarcely can the ear distinguish<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whether they are sung or spoken;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Listen to this Indian Legend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To this song of Hiawatha!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who have faith in God and Nature,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who believe, that in all ages<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Every human heart is human,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That in even savage bosoms<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There are longings, yearnings, strivings<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the good they comprehend not,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That the feeble hands and helpless,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Groping blindly in the darkness,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Touch God's right hand in that darkness,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And are lifted up and strengthened;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Listen to this simple story,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To this Song of Hiawatha!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The description of husking time is such a pleasing +scene, while the picture writing of the Indians, their<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 92]</span> +totems and rude drawings, are in harmony with their +traditions and religion.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">On the border of the forest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Underneath the fragrant pine-trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sat the old men and the warriors<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Smoking in the pleasant shadow.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In uninterrupted silence<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Looked they at the gamesome labor<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the young men and the women;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Listened to their noisy talking,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To their laughter and their singing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heard them chattering like the magpies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heard them laughing like the blue jays,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heard them singing like the robins.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And whene'er some lucky maiden<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Found a red ear in the husking,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Found a maize-ear red as blood is,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Nushka!" cried they all together,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Nushka! you shall have a sweetheart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You shall have a handsome husband!"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Ugh!" the old men all responded<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From their seats beneath the pine-trees.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">And the Jossakeeds, the Prophets,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Wabenos, the Magicians,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the Medicine-men, the Medas,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Painted upon bark and deer-skin<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Figures for the songs they chanted,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For each song a separate symbol,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Figures mystical and awful,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Figures strange and brightly colored;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And each figure had its meaning,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each some magic song suggested.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>One of the most striking features of this story is +its setting in nature. More than any other piece of<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 93]</span> +literature now used in the school, it is redolent of +fields and forest.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Should you ask me, whence these stories,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whence these legends and traditions,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the odors of the forest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the dew and damp of meadows,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the curling smoke of wigwams,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the rushing of great rivers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With their frequent repetitions,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And their wild reverberations,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As of thunder in the mountains?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I should answer, I should tell you,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">"From the forests and the prairies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the great lakes of the Northland,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the land of the Ojibways,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the land of the Dacotahs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the mountains, moors, and fenlands,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Feeds among the reeds and rushes."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Should you ask where Nawadaha<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Found these songs, so wild and wayward,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Found these legends and traditions,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I should answer, I should tell you,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">"In the birds'-nests of the forest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the lodges of the beaver,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the hoof-prints of the bison,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the eyry of the eagle!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">All the wild-fowl sang them to him,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the moorlands and the fenlands,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the melancholy marshes;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chetowaik, the plover, sang them,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mahng, the loon, the wild-goose, Wawa,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The blue heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the grouse, the Mushkodasa!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 94]</span>This +description of primitive man is as complete +an absorption into his natural surroundings as is +possible. His food and clothing, his tents and boats, +his weapons and war gear, are drawn directly from +nature's first supplies, and man, in this case, seems +almost a part of nature, so completely are his +thoughts and activities determined and colored by his +environment. Like the animals, in their protective +coloring, he becomes an undistinguishable part of his +surroundings. His nature myths and superstitions +are but phases and expressions of the contact of his +crude mind with forces and objects in nature. In +this respect there are many interesting suggestions +of similar interpretations among the Norse and +Greek mythologies.</p> + +<p>The close and friendly contact of Hiawatha with +trees and animals, his companionship with the +squirrel, the woodpecker, and the beaver, his talking +acquaintance with trees of the forest, with the fishes +in the Big-Sea-Water, and with the masters of the +winds, the storm, and the thunder, make him an interesting +guide for the children among the realms of +nature.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">Ye who love the haunts of nature,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Love the sunshine of the meadow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Love the shadow of the forest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Love the wind among the branches,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the rain-shower and the snow-storm,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the rushing of great rivers<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through their palisades of pine-trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the thunder in the mountains,<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 95]</span><span class="i0">Whose innumerable echoes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Flap like eagles in their eyries;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Listen to these wild traditions,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To this Song of Hiawatha!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>A happy, sympathetic love for the sights and +sounds in nature is a fortunate beginning of nature +lore. The imaginative interpretations are common +to all the early races and in full harmony with the +temper of childhood. Even from the standpoint +of nature study, this early poetic joy in nature descriptions +is profitable. The matter-of-fact, analytic +study of natural science in succeeding years need not +begrudge the children this happiness, this interpretative +play of the imagination, this music of field and +forest. In early childhood, nature and poetry are +one, and as Lowell says, "Let us not go about to +make life duller than it is."</p> + +<p>The simplicity and beauty of the language and +figure of speech make many parts of this poem +especially appropriate for children.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">Young and beautiful was Wabun;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He it was who brought the morning,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He it was whose silver arrows<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chased the dark o'er hill and valley;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He it was whose cheeks were painted<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the brightest streaks of crimson,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And whose voice awoke the village,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Called the deer, and called the hunter.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He meanwhile sat weary waiting<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the coming of Mondamin,<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 96]</span><span class="i0">Till the shadows, pointing eastward,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lengthened over field and forest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till the sun dropped from the heaven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Floating on the waters westward,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As a red leaf in the Autumn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Falls and floats upon the water,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Falls and sinks into its bosom.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And the pleasant water-courses,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You could trace them through the valley,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the rushing in the Spring-time,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the alders in the Summer.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the white fog in the Autumn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the black line in the Winter.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The simple music and rhythm of the poetic form +is so delightful to children that they absorb whole +passages into their memory without conscious effort. +The mere re-reading of parts of the poem to little +children under six years will often produce this +happy result. A little girl of three years picked up, +among others, this passage:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Dark behind it rose the forest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rose the firs with cones upon them;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bright before it beat the water,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beat the clear and sunny water,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The repetitions of the same or similar passages, so +common throughout the poem, is a successful appeal +to children's favor. It gives the story a sort of +Mother Goose flavor which is delightful.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 97]</span></p> + +<p>While the story centres in Hiawatha, it has a +variety of interesting personalities, giving expression +to the striking features of this primitive society. +Hiawatha's loved ones, Minnehaha and old Nokomis, +stand first, and his chosen friends are next.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Two good friends had Hiawatha,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Singled out from all the others,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bound to him in closest union,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And to whom he gave the right hand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of his heart in joy and sorrow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chibiabos, the musician,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the very strong man, Kwasind.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">And these two, as I have told you,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were the friends of Hiawatha,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chibiabos, the musician,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the very strong man, Kwasind.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Long they lived in peace together,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spake with naked hearts together,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pondering much and much contriving<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How the tribes of men might prosper.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In connection with these persons is a most pleasing +series of adventures, bringing to notice those +heroic qualities which children love to witness. The +very strong man, Kwasind, is a fitting companion in +their thoughts to Samson and Hercules; and Chibiabos,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He the best of all musicians,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He the sweetest of all singers,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>has had many a prototype since the days of +Orpheus.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 98]</span></p> + +<p>Pau-Puk-Keewis, with his dancing and tricks, will +also prove a curious character, something like Proteus +of old.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">You shall hear how Pau-Puk-Keewis<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He, the handsome Yenadizze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whom the people called the Storm Fool,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Vexed the village with disturbance;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You shall hear of all his mischief,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And his flight from Hiawatha,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And his wondrous transmigrations,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the end of his adventures.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The character of Hiawatha, as of the benefactor, +of one devoted, with high purpose, to the welfare of +his people, may be regarded as the deeper motive of +the author. It is the thought of ideal good in +Hiawatha which gives tone and meaning to the +whole poem.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">You shall hear how Hiawatha<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Prayed and fasted in the forest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not for greater skill in hunting,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not for greater craft in fishing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not for triumphs in the battle,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And renown among the warriors,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But for profit of the people,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For advantage of the nations.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The views of geography and history at the beginning +and close of the poem not only give a broad scope +to the story, but have an interesting bearing upon the +study of geography and history in those years of school +which immediately follow. The narrative reaches<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 99]</span> +from the Vale of Tawasentha in New York, across +the great lakes and shining Big-Sea-Water to Minnehaha +and the Upper Mississippi, and even to the +prairies and the distant Rocky Mountains beyond. +In the summoning of the tribes at the Great Pipe +Stone Quarry there is a broad survey of the Indian +tribes of the United States.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">From the vale of Tawasentha,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the Valley of Wyoming,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the groves of Tuscaloosa,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the far-off Rocky Mountains,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the Northern lakes and rivers<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All the tribes beheld the signal,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Saw the distant smoke ascending,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Pukwana of the Peace-Pipe.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">Down the rivers, o'er the prairies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Came the warriors of the nations.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>A map of North America is necessary for showing +the meaning of this description to the children.</p> + +<p>In the last part the coming of the white man +and the prophecy of his spreading over the land, +and the dwindling of the native tribes to the westward, +are given.</p> + +<p>Iagoo's description of the white men, their ships +and appearance, to his people on the return from +his travels, will greatly please the children.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">He had seen, he said, a water<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bigger than the Big-Sea-Water,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Broader than the Gitche Gumee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bitter so that none could drink it!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 100]</span><span class="i0">At each other looked the warriors,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Looked the women at each other,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Smiled, and said, "It cannot be so!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kaw!" they said, "It cannot be so;"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">"O'er it," said he, "o'er this water<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Came a great canoe with pinions,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A canoe with wings came flying,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bigger than a grove of pine-trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Taller than the tallest tree-tops!"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the old men and the women<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Looked and tittered at each other;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Kaw!" they said, "we don't believe it!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The story of Hiawatha has been used sufficiently +in primary grades to show how many are its suggestions +for drawing and constructive work. Little +children take delight in drawing the Indian tents, +bows and arrows, pine forests, Indian warriors and +dress, the canoe, the tomahawk, the birds and animals. +The cutting of these forms in paper they +have fully enjoyed.</p> + +<p>Pictures of Indian life, collections of arrow-heads, +the peace-pipes, articles of dress, cooking utensils, +wampum, stone hatchets, red pipe-stone ornaments, +or a visit to any collection of Indian relics are desirable +as a part of this instruction. The museums +in cities and expositions are rich in these materials, +and in many private collections are just the desired +objects of study.</p> + +<p>It is well known that children love to construct +tents, dress in Indian style, and imitate the mode of<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 101]</span> +life, the hunting, dancing, and sports of Indians. +Teachers have taken advantage of this instinct to +allow them to construct an Indian village on a small +scale, and assume the dress and action of Hiawatha +and his friends, and even to dramatize parts of the +story.</p> + +<p>It is only certain selected parts of the "Hiawatha" +that lend themselves best to the oral treatment with +children, and that, at first, not in the poetic form. +In fact, the oral treatment of a story in beautiful +poetic form demands a peculiar method.</p> + +<p>For example, in treating the childhood of Hiawatha +as he dwelt with old Nokomis in the tent beside the +sea, the main facts of this episode, or a part of it, +may be talked over by means of description, partly +also by development, question, and answer, and when +these things are clear, let this passage of the poem +be read to the children. The preliminary treatment +and discussion will put the children in possession +of the ideas and pictures by which they can better +appreciate and assimilate the poem. This mode of +introducing children to a poem or literary masterpiece +is not uncommon with children in later years, +at least in the middle grades.</p> + +<p>It has been customary to use nearly the whole +poem in fourth or fifth school year for regular reading, +and it is well suited to this purpose. Its use in +primary grades for such oral treatment as we have +described will not interfere with its employment as<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 102]</span> +reading matter later on, but rather increase its value +for that purpose.</p> + +<p>The method of handling such a poem as reading +has been discussed in the Special Method in the +Reading of Complete English Classics.</p> + +<p>A number of books have been written by practical +teachers on the use of "Hiawatha" in primary +grades:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"The Hiawatha Primer." Houghton, Mifflin, & +Co.<br /> + +"Hints on the Study of Hiawatha" (Alice M. +Krackowizer). A. Flanagan, publisher.</p> +</div> + +<p>The best edition of the "Hiawatha" is "Longfellow's +Song of Hiawatha," which is well illustrated. +Published by Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.</p> + +<p>Other editions are "The Song of Hiawatha." The +Educational Publishing Co.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"Longfellow's Hiawatha." The Macmillan Co.<br /> + +"Song of Hiawatha." University Publishing Co.</p> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 103]</span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Third Grade Stories</span></h2> + + +<h3>THE MYTHICAL STORIES</h3> + +<p>In the third grade we wish to bring a number of +the mythical stories vividly before the children. The +classical myths which belong to the literature of +Europe are the fund from which to select the best. +Not all, but only a few of the simple and appropriate +stories can be chosen. Only two recitation periods a +week are usually set apart for the oral treatment of +these old myths. But later in the progress of the +reading lessons other similar stories should be treated. +The few recitation periods used for oral work are +rather designed to introduce children to the spirit of +this literature, to get them into the appreciative mind.</p> + +<p>This body of ancient myths comes down to us, +sifted out of the early literature of the active-minded +Greeks. They have found their way as a simple and +charming poetry into the national literature of all the +European countries. Is this the material suited to +nine- and ten-year-old children? It will not be questioned +that these myths belong to the best literary +products of Europe, but are they suited to children?</p> + +<p>It is evident that some of our best literary judges +have deemed them appropriate. Hawthorne has put<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 104]</span> +them into a form designed especially for the young +folk. Charles Kingsley wrote of the Greek myths +for his children: "Now I love these old Hellens +heartily, and they seem to me like brothers, though +they have all been dead and gone many a hundred +years. They are come to tell you some of their old fairy +tales, which they loved when they were young like +you. For nations begin at first by being children like +you, though they are made up of grown men. They +are children at first like you—men and women with +children's hearts; frank, and affectionate, and full +of trust, and teachable, loving to see and learn all +the wonders around them; and greedy also, too +often, and passionate and silly, as children are."</p> + +<p>Not a few other authors of less note have tried to +turn the classical myths of the old Greek poets into +simple English for the entertainment and instruction +of children. Scarcely any of these stories that have +not appeared in various children's books in recent +years. Taken as a whole, they are a storehouse +of children's literature. The philosopher, Herbart, +looked upon poems of Homer as giving ideal expression +to the boyhood of the race, and the story of +Ulysses was regarded by him as the boy's book,—the +Greek Robinson Crusoe. For the child of nine +years he thought it the most suitable story.</p> + +<p>Kingsley says in his Introduction: "Now you must +not think of the Greeks in this book as learned men, +living in great cities, such as they were afterwards,<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 105]</span> +when they wrought all their beautiful works, but as +country people, living on farms and in walled villages, +in a simple, hard-working way; so that the greatest +kings and heroes cooked their own meals and thought +it no shame, and made their own ships and weapons, +and fed and harnessed their own horses. So that a +man was honored among them, not because he happened +to be rich, but according to his skill and his +strength and courage and the number of things he +could do. For they were but grown-up children, +though they were right noble children too, and it was +with them as it is now at school, the strongest and +cleverest boy, though he be poor, leads all the rest."</p> + +<p>In the introduction to the "Wonder Book" we find +the following: "Hawthorne took a vital interest in +child life. He was accustomed to observe his own +children very closely. There are private manuscripts +extant which present exact records of what his young +son and elder daughter said or did from hour to hour, +the father seating himself in their playroom and +patiently noting all that passed. To this habit of +watchful and sympathetic scrutiny we may attribute +in part the remarkable felicity, the fortunate ease of +adaptation to the immature understanding, and the +skilful appeal to the fresh imaginations which characterize +his stories for the young." Hawthorne himself +says: "The author has long been of the opinion +that many of the classical myths were capable of +being rendered into very capital reading for chil<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 106]</span>dren.... +No epoch of time can claim a copyright +on these immortal fables. They seem never to have +been made, and so long as man exists they can never +perish; but by their indestructibility itself they are +legitimate subjects, for every age to clothe with its +own garniture of manners and sentiment, and to +imbue with its own morality.... The author has +not always thought it necessary to write downward in +order to meet the comprehension of children. He has +generally suffered the theme to soar, whenever such +was its tendency. Children possess an unestimated +sensibility to whatever is deep or high in imagination +or feeling so long as it is simple likewise. It is only +the artificial and the complex that bewilder them."</p> + +<p>A brief analysis of the qualities which render these +myths so attractive will help us to see their value in +the education of children.</p> + +<p>The astonishing brightness of fanciful episode and +of pure and clear-cut imagery has an indestructible +charm for children. They can soar into and above +the clouds on the shining wings of Pegasus. With +Eolus they shut up the contrary winds in an ox-hide, +and later let them out to plague the much-suffering +Ulysses. They watch with astonishment as Jason +yokes the fire-breathing oxen and strews the field +with uprooted stumps and stones as he prepares the +soil for the seed of dragon's teeth. Each child +becomes a poet as he recreates the sparkling brightness +of these simple pictures. And when a child<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 107]</span> +has once suffered his fancy to soar to these mountain +heights and ocean depths, it will no longer be possible +to make his life entirely dull and prosaic. He +has caught glimpses of a bright world that will linger +unfading in the uplands of his memory. And while +they are so deep and lofty they are still, as Hawthorne +says, very simple. Some of the most classic +of the old stories are indeed too long for third grade +children; too many persons and too much complexity, +as in the "Tales of Troy." But on the other hand, +many of the most beautiful of the old myths are as +plain and simple to a child as a floating summer +cloud. High in the sky they may be or deep in the +reflection of some lake or spring, but clear and plain +to the thought of a little child. These stories in their +naive simplicity reflect the wonder and surprise with +which a person first beholds grand and touching +scenery, whether it be the oppressive grandeur of +some beetling mountain crag, or the placid quiet of +a moonlit stream. The stories selected for this grade +should be the simplest and best: "The Golden Touch," +"Perseus," "The Chimæra," of Hawthorne, the episodes +of the "Golden Fleece," with others similar.</p> + +<p>In one form or another they introduce us to the +company of heroes, or, at least, of great and simple +characters. Deeds of enterprise and manliness or +of unselfishness and generosity are the climax of the +story. To meet danger and hardship or ridicule for +the sake of a high purpose is their underlying<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 108]</span> +thought. Perseus and Jason and Ulysses are all +ambitious to prove their title to superior shrewdness +and courage and self-control. When we get fairly +into the mythical age, we find ourselves among the +heroes, among those striving for mastery and leadership +in great undertakings. Physical prowess and +manly spirit are its chief virtues. And can there +be any question that there is a time in the lives of +children when these ideas fill the horizon of their +thought? Samson and David and Hercules, Bellerophon +and Jason, are a child's natural thoughts or, +at least, they fit the frame of his mind so exactly +that one may say the picture and the frame were +made for each other. The history of most countries +contains such an age of heroes. Tell in Switzerland, +Siegfried in Germany, Bruce in Scotland, Romulus +and Horatius at Rome, Alfred in England, are all +national heroes of the mythical age, whose deeds are +heroic and of public good. The Greek stories are +only a more classic edition of this historical epoch, +and should lead up to a study of these later products +of European literature.</p> + +<p>Several forms of moral excellence are objectively +realized or personified in these stories.</p> + +<p>As the wise Centaur, after teaching Jason to be +skilful and brave, sent him out into the world, he +said: "Well, go, my son; the throne belongs to thy +father and the gods love justice. But remember, wherever +thou dost wander, to observe these three things:<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 109]</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Relieve the distressed.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Respect the aged.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Be true to thy word."<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And many events in Jason's life illustrate the +wisdom of these words. The miraculous pitcher is +one whose fountain of refreshing milk bubbled +always because of a gentle deed of hospitality to +strangers. King Midas, on the other hand, experiences +in most graphic form the punishment which +ought to follow miserly greed, while his humble +penitence brought back his daughter and the homely +comforts of life. Bellerophon is filled with a desire +to perform a noble deed that will relieve the distress +of a whole people. After the exercise of much +patience and self-control he succeeds in his generous +enterprise. Many a lesson of worldly wisdom +and homely virtue is brought out in the story of +Ulysses' varied and adventuresome career.</p> + +<p>These myths bring children into lively contact +with European history and geography, as well as +with its modes of life and thought. The early history +of Europe is in all cases shrouded in mist and +legend. But even from this historically impenetrable +past has sprung a literature that has exercised a +profound influence upon the life and growth of the +people. Not that children are conscious of the significance +of these ideas, but being placed in an<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 110]</span> +atmosphere which is full of them, their deeper meaning +gradually unfolds itself. The early myths afford +an interesting approach for children to the history +and geography of important countries. Those countries +they must, sooner or later, make the acquaintance +of both geographically and historically, and +could anything be designed to take stronger hold +upon their imagination and memory than these +charming myths, which were the poetry and religion +of the people once living there?</p> + +<p>It is a very simple and primitive state of culture, +whose ships, arms, agriculture, and domestic life are +given us in clear and pleasing pictures. Our own +country is largely lacking in a mythical age. Our +culture sprang, more than half-grown, from the +midst of Europe's choicest nations, and out of institutions +that had been centuries in forming. The +myths of Europe are therefore as truly ours as they +are the treasure of Englishmen, of Germans, or of +Greeks. Again, our own literature, as well as that +of European states, is full of the spirit and suggestion +of the mythical age. Our poets and writers +have drawn much of their imagery from this old +storehouse of thought, and a child will better understand +the works of the present through this contact +with mythical ages.</p> + +<p>In method of treatment with school classes, these +stories will admit of a variation from the plan used with +"Robinson Crusoe." One unaccustomed to the reading<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 111]</span> +of such stories would be at a loss for a method of +treatment with children. There is a charm and literary +art in the presentation that may make the +teacher feel unqualified to present them. The children +are not yet sufficiently masters of the printed +symbols of speech to read for themselves. Shall the +teacher simply read the stories to children? We +would suggest first of all, that the teacher, who would +expect to make use of these materials, steep himself +fully in literature of this class, and bring his mind +into familiar acquaintance and sympathy with its characters. +In interpreting classical authors to pupils, +we are justified in requiring of the teacher intimate +knowledge and appreciative sympathy with his author. +Certainly no one will teach these stories well whose +fancy was never touched into airy flights—who cannot +become a child again and partake of his pleasures. +No condescension is needed, but ascension to +a free and ready flight of fancy. By learning to +drink at these ancient fountains of song and poetry, +the teacher might learn to tell a fairy story for himself. +But doubtless it will be well to mingle oral narrative +and description on the part of the teacher with the +fit reading of choice parts so as to better preserve the +classic beauty and suggestion of the author. Children +are quite old enough now to appreciate beauty of language +and expressive, happy turns of speech. In +the midst of question, suggestion, and discussion between +pupil and teacher, the story should be carried<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 112]</span> +forward, never forgetting to stop at suitable intervals +and get such a reproduction of the story as the little +children are capable of. And indeed they are capable +of much in this direction, for their thoughts are +more nimble, and their power of expression more apt, +oftentimes, than the teacher's own.</p> + +<p>We would not favor a simple reading of these +stories for the entertainment of pupils. It should +take more the form of a school exercise, requiring +not only interest and attention, but vigorous effort to +grasp and reproduce the thought. The result should +be a much livelier and deeper insight into the story +than would be secured by a simple reading for amusement +or variety. They should prepare also for an +appreciative reading of other myths in the following +grades.</p> + +<p>After all, in two or three recitation periods a week, +extending through a year, it cannot be expected that +children will make the acquaintance of all the literature +that could be properly called the myth of the +heroic age in different countries. All that we may +expect is to enter this paradise of children, to pluck +a few of its choicest flowers, and get such a breath of +their fragrance that there will be a child's desire to +return again and again. The school also should provide +in the succeeding year for an abundance of reading +of myths. The same old stories which they first +learned to enjoy in oral recitations should be read in +books, and still others should be utilized in the regu<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 113]</span>lar +reading classes of the fourth and fifth grades. In +this way the myths of other countries may be brought +in, the story of Tell, of Siegfried, of Alfred, and of +others.</p> + +<p>In summarizing the advantages of a systematic +attempt to get this simple classic lore into our +schools, we recall the interest and mental activity +which it arouses, its power to please and satisfy the +creative fancy in children, its fundamental feeling +and instincts, the virtues of bravery, manliness, and +unselfishness, and all this in a form that still further +increases its culture effect upon teacher and pupil. +It should never be forgotten that teacher and pupil +alike are here imbibing lessons and inspirations that +draw them into closer sympathy because the subject +is worthy of both old and young.</p> + +<p>In addition to the earlier Greek myths we may mention +the following subjects as suitable for oral treatment:</p> + +<p>The story of Ulysses has been much used in schools +with oral presentation, and is one of the best tales for +this purpose in all literature. A somewhat full discussion +of the value of this story for schools is found +in the Special Method in Reading of Complete +English Classics.</p> + +<p>The Norse mythology has also received much +attention from teachers who have used the oral mode +of treatment. Several of the best books of Norse +mythology are mentioned in the appended list. Also +the great story of Siegfried.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 114]</span></p> + +<p>Some of the old traditional stories in the early history +of Rome, of France, Germany, and England, have +been used for oral narration and reading to children.</p> + +<p>The "Seven Little Sisters" and its companion book +"Each and All," and the "Ten Boys on the Road +from Long Ago to Now," by Jane Andrews, published +by Ginn & Co., have been employed extensively for +oral and reading work in the third and fourth years +of school. The "Seven Little Sisters" is valuable in +connection with the beginnings of geography.</p> + + +<h4>BOOKS FOR THIRD YEAR OF SCHOOL</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The Wonder Book of Nathaniel Hawthorne.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The following stories are especially recommended: The +Gorgon's Head, The Golden Touch, The Miraculous Pitcher, +and The Chimæra.</p> + +<p>One should preserve as much as possible of the spirit and +language of the author. Perhaps in classes with children the +other stories will be found equally attractive: The Paradise +of Children and the Three Golden Apples. Published by +Houghton, Mifflin, & Co., Boston.</p></div> + +<p>Kingsley's Greek Heroes.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The stories of Perseus, the Argonauts, and Theseus, especially +adapted to children. It may be advisable for the +teacher to abbreviate the stories, leaving out unimportant +parts, but giving the best portions in the fullest detail. Published +by Ginn & Co.; The Macmillan Co.</p></div> + +<p>Story of the Iliad and Story of the Odyssey (Church).</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Simple and interesting narrative of the Homeric stories. +The Macmillan Co.</p></div> + +<p>Jason's Quest (Lowell).</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The story of the Argonauts with many other Greek myths +woven into the narrative. This book is a store of excellent +material. The teacher should select from it those parts +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 115]</span>specially suited to the grade. Published by Sibley & Ducker, +Chicago.</p></div> + +<p>Adventures of Ulysses (Lamb).</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A small book from which the chief episodes of Ulysses' +career can be obtained. Published by Ginn & Co., Boston.</p></div> + +<p>The Story of Siegfried (Baldwin). Published by Scribner's Sons.</p> + +<p>Peabody's Old Greek Folk Stories.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Simple and well written. A supplement to the Wonder +Book. Published by Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.</p></div> + +<p>Tales of Troy (De Garmo).</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The story of the siege of Troy and of the great events of +Homer's Iliad. This story, on account of its complexity, +we deem better adapted to the fourth grade. Published by +the Public School Publishing Co., Bloomington, Ill.</p></div> + +<p>Stories of the Old World (Church).</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Stories of the Argo, of Thebes, of Troy, of Ulysses, and +of Æneas. Stories are simply and well told. It is a book +of 350 pages, and would serve well as a supplementary reader +in fourth grade. Published by Ginn & Co.</p></div> + +<p>Gods and Heroes (Francillon).</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A successful effort to cover the whole field of Greek mythology +in the story form. Ginn & Co.</p></div> + +<p>The Tanglewood Tales (Nathaniel Hawthorne).</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A continuation of the Wonder Book.</p></div> + +<p>Heroes of Asgard.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Stories of Norse mythology; simple and attractive. Macmillan +& Co.</p></div> + +<p>The Story of Ulysses (Agnes S. Cook).</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>An account of the adventures of Ulysses, told in connected +narrative, in language easily comprehended by children in +the third and fourth grades. Public School Publishing Co., +Bloomington, Ill.</p></div> + +<p>Old Norse Stories (Bradish).</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Stories for reference and sight reading. American Book Co.</p></div> + +<p>Norse Stories (Mabie).</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>An excellent rendering of the old stories. Dodd, Mead, +& Co.</p></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 116]</span></p> +<p>Myths of Northern Lands (Guerber). American Book Co.</p> + +<p>The Age of Fable (Bulfinch). Lee and Shepard.</p> + +<p>Readings in Folk Lore (Skinner). American Book Co.</p> + +<p>National Epics (Rabb). A. C. McClurg & Co.</p> + +<p>Classic Myths (Gayley). Ginn & Co.</p> + +<p>Bryant's Odyssey. Complete poetic translation. Houghton, +Mifflin, & Co.</p> + +<p>Bryant's Iliad. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.</p> + +<p>Butcher and Lang's prose translation of the Odyssey. The Macmillan +Co.</p> + +<p>The Odyssey of Homer (Palmer). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A prose translation.</p></div> + +<p>Myths and Myth Makers (Fiske).</p> + +<p>Moral Instruction of Children (Felix Adler). Chapter X. D. +Appleton & Co.</p></div> + + +<h3>THE BIBLE STORIES</h3> + +<p>The stories of early Bible history have been much +used in all European lands, and in America, for the +instruction of children. Among Jews and Christians +everywhere, and even among Mohammedans, these +stories have been extensively used. They include +the simple accounts of the patriarchs, Abraham, +Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and his brethren, Moses, Joshua, +Samson, Samuel, and David. It may be seen at a +glance that no more famous stories than these could +be selected from the history of any country in the +world. They stand preëminent as graphic descriptions +of the modes of life which prevailed in the early +period of civilized races. The old patriarchs lived in +what is usually called the pastoral age, when men +dwelt in tents and moved about from place to place<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 117]</span> +with their flocks in search of pasture. The patriarch +at the head of the family, and even of a whole tribe, +is the father, ruler, priest, and judge for the little +community over which he presides. In his person +there is a simple union of all the important powers +of the later Hebrew state. The dignity and authority +which centre in the person of Abraham, together +with a marked gravity and strength of character, +lend a distinct grandeur to his personality, so that he +has been recognized in all ages as one of the great +figures in the history of the world; the foremost of +the old patriarchs,—the father of the faithful. A +similar respect and dignity attaches to all these old +Bible characters, and in the case of Moses, rises to +a supreme height, while in David the warrior, statesman, +and poet are united in one of the most pronounced +and pleasing characters in the world's +history. These old stories are also unparalleled in +the simplicity and transparent clearness with which +the life of the pastoral age is depicted. Human +nature comes out in a series of pictures most striking +and individual, and yet unmistakably true to life and +reality. And yet while this life was so small in its +compass, it is almost wholly free from narrowness +and provincialism. The universal qualities of human +nature, common to men in all ages and countries, +stand out with a clearness which even little children +can grasp. The story of Joseph and his brethren is +probably the finest story that was ever written for<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 118]</span> +children from eight to ten years of age. The characters +involved in this family history are striking and +impressive, and the strength of the family virtues +and affections has never been set forth with greater +simplicity and power.</p> + +<p>The heroic qualities which appear in the old Bible +stories, especially in Moses, Samson, and David, would +bear a favorable comparison with the men of the +heroic age in all countries. Strength of character +combined with faith in high ideals, pursued with +unwavering resolution, is a peculiar merit of these +narratives. The heroes of the Hebrew race should +be compared, later on, with the most renowned +heroes of England, Scotland, Germany, and Greece, +and even of America, for they have common qualities +which have like merit as educative materials for the +young.</p> + +<p>This early literature of the Bible stories will be +found to contain a large part of the universal thought +of the world, that is, of the masterly ideas which, +because of their superior truth and excellence, have +gradually worked their way as controlling principles +into the life of all modern nations. It need hardly +be said that these stories have a peculiar charm +and attractiveness for children. The simplicity of a +patriarchal age, the strong interest in persons of +heroic quality, the descriptions of early childhood, +the heroic deeds of bold and high-spirited youth,—these +things command the unfaltering interest of<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 119]</span> +children, and at the same time give their lives a +touch of moral strength and idealism which is of the +highest promise.</p> + +<p>The oral treatment of these stories in the third or +fourth year of school is the only mode of bringing +them before the children in their full power, and they +are well adapted to easy oral narrative and discussion. +The language is the genuine, simple, powerful old +English, and the teacher should become thoroughly +saturated with these simple words and modes of +thought. The dramatic element is also not lacking +in many parts, and can be well executed in the classroom. +Many opportunities will be furnished to the +children for drawing pictures illustrating the stories. +Many of the most famous masterpieces of painting +and sculpture represent the persons and scenes of +these tales. The great heroes of Christian art have +exhausted their skill in these representations, which +are now being furnished to the schools by the large +publishing houses. Even the costumes and modes +of life are thus brought home to the children in the +most realistic yet artistic way.</p> + +<p>An acquaintance with such early stories of Hebrew +history is an introduction to some of the finest literature +of the English language. First, that dealing with +the Hebrew scriptures themselves, as the books of +Moses, the psalms of David, and second, a number of +the great poems of English masters, as the "Burial +of Moses" and Milton's "Samson Agonistes." In<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 120]</span> +short, we may say that these stories are the key to a +large part of our best English thought.</p> + +<p>Adler, in his "Moral Instruction of Children," says: +"The narrative of the Bible is fairly saturated with +the moral spirit; the moral issues are everywhere in +the forefront. Duty, guilt, and its punishment, the +conflict of conscience with inclination, are the leading +themes. The Hebrew people seem to have been +endowed with what may be called 'a moral genius,' +and especially did they emphasize the filial and fraternal +duties to an extent hardly equalled elsewhere. +Now it is precisely these duties that must be impressed +upon young children, and hence the biblical +stories present us with the very material we require. +They cannot, in this respect, be replaced; there is +no other literature in the world that offers what is +equal to them in value for the particular object we +now have in view."</p> + +<p>If we could only contemplate the patriarchal stories +as a part of the great literature of the world, on +account of its typical yet realistic portraiture of men +and women, we might use this material as we use the +very best derived from other sources. Mr. Adler +remarks that "this typical quality in Homer's portraiture +has been one secret of its universal impressiveness. +The Homeric outlines are in each case +brilliantly distinct, while they leave to the reader a +certain liberty of private conception, and he can fill +them in to satisfy his own ideal. We may add that<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 121]</span> +this is just as true of the Bible as of Homer. The +biblical narrative, too, depicts a few essential traits of +human nature, and refrains from multiplying minor +traits which might interfere with the main effect. +The Bible, too, draws its figures in outline, and leaves +every age free to fill them in so as to satisfy its own +ideal."</p> + +<p>Moreover, their use is not a matter of experiment. +For hundreds of years they have held the first place +in the best homes and schools of Germany, England, +and America, and their educative influence has been +profoundly felt in all Christian nations.</p> + +<p>We have several editions of the stories adapted +from the Bible for school use. In the Bible itself +they are not found in the simple, connected form that +makes them available for school use. One of the +best editions for school is that published by Houghton, +Mifflin, & Co., called, "Old Testament Stories in +Scriptural Language." A free and somewhat original +rendering of the stories is given by Baldwin in +his "Old Stories of the East," published by the +American Book Co. Both of these books have been +extensively used in the schools of this country. The +oral treatment of the Bible stories in the schools has +not been common in this country, but it has all the +merits described by us in the chapter on oral instruction. +In fourth and fifth grades these books may +serve well for exercises in reading.</p> + +<p>In a great many schools of this country they can<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 122]</span> +be used and are used without giving offence to anybody, +and where this is true, they well deserve recognition +in our school course because of their superior +presentation of some of the great universal ideas of +our civilization.</p> + + +<h4>BOOKS FOR TEACHERS OF BIBLE LITERATURE</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The Modern Reader's Bible, twenty-one volumes (Richard Moulton). +The Macmillan Co.<br /> + +Children's Series. Old Testament and New Testament Stories. +In two volumes. The Macmillan Co.<br /> + +Stories from the Bible (Church). The Macmillan Co.<br /> + +Story of the Chosen People (Guerber). The American Book Co.<br /> + +The Literary Study of the Bible (Moulton). D. C. Heath & Co.</p></div> + + +<h3>STORIES OF ROBIN HOOD</h3> + +<p>In the latter part of third grade or beginning of +fourth, the stories of Robin Hood are likely to prove +exhilarating to children.</p> + +<p>These stories of the bold, manly, good-natured +outlaw, with his band of trusty men in Sherwood +Forest, have been famous throughout England these +five hundred years, and the stories themselves, and +the ballads accompanying them, are a genuine part +of the treasures of the older English literature. +They have been worked by Howard Pyle into the +stout, hearty English style which is so appropriate +to the rendering of the deeds of this sturdy English +yeoman and his band.</p> + +<p>Their careless life and woodland sports under the<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 123]</span> +Greenwood Tree, and their merry adventures and +shooting matches, have been the delight of many +a generation of English children. But even their +woodland sports were a severe and rugged training +in hardy endurance and manly spirit. Pyle says +well in his preface: "For honest purposes manfully +followed and hard knocks courageously endured +must always interest the wholesome boy; while nature +is so closely akin to man in the golden days of +his green youth that tales of the Greenwood, where +the leaves rustle and the birds sing, and all the air +is full of sweet savors of growing things, must ever +have a potent charm for the fresh imagination of +childhood."</p> + +<p>One phase of this training, as manifested in the +stories, is not only the ability to take hard knocks +and keep a stiff upper lip, as the old saying goes, +but to master chagrin and anger and endure fun and +gibes at one's own expense; indeed, even with aching +bones and buzzing ears, to join in the merriment +over one's own discomfiture. This is an unusual +accompaniment of even good stories, which makes +them truly wholesome. The fun of the stories also +is of a light and rollicking sort which children should +have a chance to thoroughly enjoy. In fact it is +excellent material upon which to cultivate their early +sense of the comic and humorous. The literature +used in early school years has, unfortunately, too +little of the sportive and laughable, and the Robin<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 124]</span> +Hood adventures will help in no small degree to +remedy this defect.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to note, also, that brute strength +is not at a premium, but skill and quick-wittedness. +Not the least attractive and forcible part of Robin +Hood's character is the shrewd-witted versatility and +boldness with which he plays any part which circumstances +require him to assume. His foes are circumvented +by his shrewdness and keen wit even as much +as by his unfailing skill in archery or dexterous +strength in personal contest.</p> + +<p>Robin Hood's relation to the British government +was known as that of the outlaw, although the visit +of King Richard to him in Sherwood Forest and his +service under that prince and others gave him a certain +legal status. He has always been regarded as +a popular hero representing the rights of the common +people.</p> + +<p>After describing Robin Hood's first adventure +with the foresters and his outlawry, Howard Pyle +says: "But Robin Hood lay hidden in Sherwood +Forest for one year, and in that time there gathered +around him many others like himself, outlawed for +this cause and for that.</p> + +<p>"So, in all that year, five score or more good, stout +yeomen joined themselves to him, and chose him to +be their leader and chief. Then they vowed that +even as they themselves had been despoiled they +would despoil their oppressors, whether baron, abbot,<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 125]</span> +knight, or squire, and that from each they would +take that which had been wrung from the poor by +unjust taxes, or land rents, or in wrongful fines; but +to the poor folk they would give a helping hand in +need and trouble, and would return to them that +which had been unjustly taken from them. Besides +this, they swore never to harm a child, nor to wrong +a woman, be she maid, wife, or widow; so that, after +a while, when the people began to find that no harm +was meant to them, but that money or food came in +time of want to many a poor family, they came to +praise Robin and his merry men, and to tell many +tales of him and of his doings in Sherwood Forest, +for they felt him to be one of themselves."</p> + +<p>When we consider the stories which tradition has +handed down relative to the exploits of Robin Hood, +the Old-English ballads which celebrate them in +song, the stories of King Richard's visit to him in +Sherwood, and Robin's visit to the court of Eleanor +and King Henry at London town, to share in the +great shooting-match, and the story of Locksley in +Scott's "Ivanhoe"—we might almost say that +Robin Hood would bear favorable comparison with +any Englishman of his time. At any rate it would +be difficult to find among the kings and great lords +of that age one who had so much regard for justice +and fair dealing among men, to say nothing of his +kindness to the poor and needy.</p> + +<p>He stands distinctly for those rights of the com<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 126]</span>mon +people which were constantly violated by the +powerful and influential in that half-barbarous age +of feudalism. It is from this instinct for popular +rights that the body of English liberties has gradually +developed, and it is not strange that Robin +Hood has always been regarded as a hero among +a people who have preserved this instinct for liberty +and justice.</p> + +<p>The foresters of Robin Hood's band were lovers +of forest and glade; the song of the bird and fragrance +of wild flowers were sweet to them. In Pyle's +introductory chapter is this description of their retreat +under the Greenwood. "So turning their backs +upon the stream, they plunged into the forest once +more, through which they traced their steps till they +reached the spot where they dwelt in the depths of +the woodland. There had they built huts of bark +and branches of trees, and made couches of sweet +rushes spread over with skins of fallow deer. Here +stood a great oak tree with branches spreading +broadly around, beneath which was a seat of green +moss where Robin Hood was wont to sit at feast +and at merrymaking, with his stout men about him. +Here they found the rest of the band, some of whom +had come in with a brace of fat does. Then they +built great fires, and after the feast was ready they +all sat down, but Robin Hood placed Little John at +his right hand, for he was henceforth to be the +second in the band."<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 127]</span></p> + +<p>Little John's bout with the tanner of Blyth is +introduced thus:—</p> + +<p>"One fine day, not long after Little John had left +abiding with the Sheriff and had come back to the +merry Greenwood, Robin Hood and a few chosen +fellows of his band lay upon the soft sward beneath +the Greenwood Tree where they dwelt. The day +was warm and sultry, so that whilst most of the band +were scattered through the forest upon this mission +and upon that, these few stout fellows lay lazily +beneath the shade of the tree, in the soft afternoon, +passing jests among themselves and telling merry +stories, with laughter and mirth.</p> + +<p>"All the air was laden with the bitter fragrance of +the May, and all the bosky shades of the woodlands +beyond rang with the sweet song of birds,—the +throstle-cock, the cuckoo, and the wood-pigeon,—and +with the song of birds mingled the cool sound +of the gurgling brook that leaped out of the forest +shades, and ran fretting amid its rough gray stones +across the sunlit open glade before the trysting-tree."</p> + +<p>This delight in the beauty and music of all nature +about them is a sort of atmosphere which gives tone +to all the stories of this group.</p> + +<p>The language in which the stories are narrated is +rich in the quaint and vigorous phrases of Old +English, reminding one of the times of Shakespeare +and before. One could hardly give the children a +better introduction to the riches of our mother tongue.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 128]</span></p> + +<p>The description of English customs, the popular +festivities, the booths of the market town, the parade +of feudal lords and retainers, the constraints placed +upon hunting by kings and lords, and the hardships +of the poor are touched upon in significant ways. +The stories give an insight into the English character, +their love of rude sports, their ballad literature, +and their respect for honesty and courage and +shrewdness.</p> + +<p>The ballads associated with the Robin Hood +legends are often beautiful and striking expressions +of the English spirit, and have a special charm for +children. They should be read in connection with +the later reading of the stories in the third and +fourth school years.</p> + +<p>The bearing of these tales upon early feudal history +and the general literature of that age is of importance. +This is well illustrated in "Ivanhoe" in +the use by Richard of Robin Hood and his archers in +the attack upon Torquilstone, and in various exploits +of the men of the Greenwood when brought in contact +with knights on horseback. There is also a +kinship in these narratives with some of the best +stories and novels of early English history, as Scott's +"Tales of a Grandfather," Kingsley's "Hereward the +Wake," Jane Andrew's "Gilbert the Page," and a +number of Scott's novels.</p> + +<p>In the oral treatment of the stories in the third or +fourth school year, the teacher will find her powers<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 129]</span> +of presentation taxed in a peculiar way. The quaint +language and humorous tone, the occasional witty +conceits, will need to be appreciated and enjoyed, and +the mode of presentation suited to the thought. Let +the teacher first of all thoroughly enjoy the stories +and in rendering them to children in the classroom +lose herself in the tone and spirit of the account. It +requires great freedom and flexibility of body and +mind to do this well, but that is what a teacher most +of all needs. The humorous part, especially, will require +a certain unbending of the stiff manners of a +teacher, but no harm is done in this.</p> + +<p>The large volume of Robin Hood stories by Pyle +should be in the hands of the teacher, if possible, +although it is an expensive book. It is much fuller +in the special details of the stories needed by the +teacher, though the smaller book is far better adapted +as a reading book for schools.</p> + +<p>To illustrate the place which the Robin Hood +legends hold in English history and literature, the +following selections, quoted from Tennyson's "The +Foresters" and one of the old ballads, are given. +They are taken from "English History told by +English Poets," published by The Macmillan Company, +where the passage from "The Foresters" is +given at greater length.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 130]</span></p> + +<h4>KING RICHARD IN SHERWOOD FOREST<br /><br /> + +<span class="smcap">Lord Tennyson</span><br /> + +<small>(From "The Foresters")</small></h4> + +<p>Robin Hood and Maid Marian, Friar Tuck and +George-a-Green, Will Scarlet, Midge the Miller's +Son, Little John, and the rest are legendary characters +loved and sung from the fourteenth century +to modern times. The charm of these light-hearted +highwaymen was felt by Shakespeare himself: +"They say he is already in the forest of Arden, and +a many merry men with him: and there they live like +the old Robin Hood of England; they say many +young gentlemen flock to him every day, and fleet +the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world."—("As +You Like It," I, <span class="smcap">I.</span>) Tennyson adopts the +tradition that the generous outlaws dwelt in Sherwood +Forest in Cumberlandshire, and that their +leader, Robin Hood, was the banished Earl of Huntingdon. +The plot of the "The Foresters" turns +upon the sudden return of Richard from his Austrian +captivity and the consequent collapse of the intrigues +conducted by his crafty and cruel brother John.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Robin Hood.</i> Am I worse or better?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am outlaw'd. I am none the worse for that<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I held for Richard and I hated John.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am a thief, ay, and a king of thieves.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ay! but we rob the robber, wrong the wronger,<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 131]</span><span class="i0">And what we wring from them we give the poor.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am none the worse for that, and all the better<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For this free forest-life, for while I sat<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Among my thralls in my baronial hall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The groining hid the heavens; but since I breathed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A houseless head beneath the sun and stars,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The soul of the woods hath stricken thro' my blood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The love of freedom, the desire of God,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hope of larger life hereafter, more<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tenfold than under roof.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11">True, were I taken<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They would prick out my sight. A price is set<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On this poor head; but I believe there lives<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No man who truly loves and truly rules<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His following, but can keep his followers true.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am one with mine. Traitors are rarely bred<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Save under traitor kings. Our vice-king John,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">True king of vice—true play on words—our John,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By his Norman arrogance and dissoluteness,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hath made me king of all the discontent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of England up thro' all the forest land<br /></span> +<span class="i0">North to the Tyne: being outlaw'd in a land<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where law lies dead, we make ourselves the law.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i0"><i>King Richard</i> (to <i>Robin</i>). My good friend Robin, Earl of Huntingdon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For Earl thou art again, hast thou no fetters<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For those of thine own band who would betray thee?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Robin.</i> I have; but these were never worn as yet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I never found one traitor in my band.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Our forest games are ended, our free life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And we must hence to the King's court. I trust<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We shall return to the wood. Meanwhile, farewell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Old friends, old patriarch oaks. A thousand winters<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will strip you bare as death, a thousand summers<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Robe you life-green again. You seem, as it were,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Immortal, and we mortal. How few Junes<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 132]</span><span class="i0">Will heat our pulses quicker! How few frosts<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will chill the hearts that beat for Robin Hood!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Marian.</i> And yet I think these oaks at dawn and even,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or in the balmy breathings of the night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will whisper evermore of Robin Hood.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We leave but happy memories to the forest.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We dealt in the wild justice of the woods.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All those poor serfs whom we have served will bless us,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All those pale mouths which we have fed will praise us—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All widows we have holpen pray for us,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our Lady's blessed shrines throughout the land<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be all the richer for us. You, good friar,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You Much, you Scarlet, you dear Little John,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your names will cling like ivy to the wood.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And here perhaps a hundred years away<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some hunter in day-dreams or half asleep<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will hear our arrows whizzing overhead,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And catch the winding of a phantom horn.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Robin.</i> And surely these old oaks will murmur thee<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Marian along with Robin. I am most happy—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Art thou not mine?—and happy that our King<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is here again, never I trust to roam<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So far again, but dwell among his own.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Strike up a stave, my masters, all is well.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<h4>HOW ROBIN HOOD RESCUED THE WIDOW'S THREE SONS</h4> + +<p>Robin Hood and his followers were bandits and +outlaws, but the people loved them because they +defied the hateful forest laws and made light of the +sheriff. The king's officers were responsible for +the maintenance of order, but in these lawless times +they often used their power for their own advantage, +imposing heavy fines and penalties on the poor, and +extorting bribes from the rich. The following is<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 133]</span> +one of the oldest and rudest of the many Robin Hood +ballads:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There are twelve months in all the year,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As I hear many say,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But the merriest month in all the year<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Is the merry month of May.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With a link a down and a day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And there he met a silly<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> old woman,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Was weeping on the way.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"What news? what news, thou silly old woman?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">What news hast thou for me?"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Said she, "There's my three sons in Nottingham town<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To-day condemned to die."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"O, have they parishes burnt?" he said,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"Or have they ministers slain?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or have they robbed any virgin?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or other men's wives have ta'en?"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"They have no parishes burnt, good sir,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Nor yet have ministers slain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor have they robbed any virgin,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Nor other men's wives have ta'en."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"O, what have they done?" said Robin Hood,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"I pray thee tell to me."<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"It's for slaying of the king's fallow-deer,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Bearing their long bows with thee."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Dost thou not mind, old woman," he said,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"How thou madest me sup and dine?<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 134]</span><span class="i0">By the truth of my body," quoth bold Robin Hood,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"You could not tell it in better time."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With a link a down and a day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And there he met with a silly old palmer,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Was walking along the highway.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"What news? what news, thou silly old man?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">What news, I do thee pray?"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Said he, "Three squires in Nottingham town<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Are condemned to die this day."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Come change thy apparel with me, old man,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Come change thy apparel for mine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here is forty shillings in good silver,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Go drink it in beer or wine."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With a link a down and a down.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And there he met with the proud sheriff,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Was walking along the town.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"O Christ you save, O sheriff!" he said;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"O Christ you save and see;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And what will you give to a silly old man<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To-day will your hangman be?"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Some suits, some suits," the sheriff he said,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"Some suits I'll give to thee;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some suits, some suits, and pence thirteen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To-day's a hangman's fee."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then Robin he turns him round about,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And jumps from stock to stone:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"By the truth of my body," the sheriff he said,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"That's well jumpt, thou nimble old man."<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 135]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I was ne'er a hangman in all my life,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Nor yet intends to trade;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But curst be he," said bold Robin,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"That first a hangman was made!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I've a bag for meal, and a bag for malt,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And a bag for barley and corn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A bag for bread, and a bag for beef,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And a bag for my little small horn.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I have a horn in my pocket,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I got it from Robin Hood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And still when I set it to my mouth,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For thee it blows little good."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"O, wind thy horn, thou proud fellow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of thee I have no doubt.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I wish that thou give such a blast,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Till both thy eyes fall out."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The first loud blast that he did blow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He blew both loud and shrill;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A hundred and fifty of Robin Hood's men<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Came riding over the hill.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The next loud blast that he did give,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He blew both loud and amain.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And quickly sixty of Robin Hood's men<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Came shining over the plain.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"O, who are these," the sheriff he said,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"Come tripping over the lea?"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"They're my attendants," brave Robin did say;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"They'll pay a visit to thee."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They took the gallows from the slack,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">They set it in the glen.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They hanged the proud sheriff on that,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Released their own three men.<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 136]</span></p> + + +<h4>ROBIN HOOD BOOKS</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (Howard Pyle). Finely +illustrated, $3.00. Scribner's Sons.<br /> + +Some Adventures of Robin Hood (Pyle). Small school edition, +illustrated; Scribner's Sons.<br /> + +Tennyson's The Foresters.<br /> + +The Robin Hood ballads are found in many of the ballad books.<br /> + +Ivanhoe contains several scenes from the life of Robin Hood +(Locksley).</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 137]</span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Primary Reading through Incidental Exercises +and Games</span></h2> + +<h3>BASED ON SCHOOL MOVEMENTS, STUDIES, AND GAMES</h3> + + +<p>Before entering upon the discussion of the usual +methods of introducing children to the art of reading +we will give a treatment of the incidental opportunities +offered by the other studies, by school movements +and games in primary classes, for introducing +children to the written and printed forms.</p> + +<p>It is assumed that the more closely the written or +printed words and sentences are related to the children's +activities, or the more dependent these activities +are made upon a knowledge of the word-forms, +the quicker and more natural will be their mastery. +To put it briefly, the teacher abstains from the use of +oral speech to a considerable extent and substitutes +the written forms of the words on the blackboard in +giving directions, in games, and in treating topics +in literature and science. The following chapter is +taken wholly from the lessons given by Mrs. Lida B. +McMurry in the first grade. Many other similar +lessons were worked out, but these are probably +sufficient to fully illustrate the plan.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 138]</span></p> + +<p>The teacher's aim in the beginning reading is to +lead the child to look to the lesson, either word or +sentence or paragraph, to find what it has to say to +him—to present the lesson in such a way that the +child shall quicken into life in its presence—shall +reach forward to grasp this much-desired thing. The +attention of the child is centred on the thought; he +grasps the symbols because he must reach, through +them, the thought.</p> + +<p>Much of the early reading can be taught in a +purely incidental way—in the general exercises of +the school and in the literature and nature-study +recitations.</p> + + +<h3>READING TAUGHT INCIDENTALLY</h3> + +<p>(a) <i>In the General Management of the School.</i> The +directions which are at first given to children orally, +<i>e.g.</i>, <i>rise</i>, <i>turn</i>, <i>pass</i>, <i>sit</i>, <i>skip</i>, <i>fly</i>, <i>march</i>, <i>run</i>, <i>walk</i>, +<i>pass to the front</i>, <i>pass to the back</i>, are later written +upon the board. When the children seem to have +become familiar with the written direction, the +order in which the directions are given is sometimes +changed, as a test, <i>e.g.</i>, the following directions +are usually given in this order—<i>turn</i>, <i>rise</i>, <i>pass</i>. +Instead of writing <i>turn</i> first, the teacher writes <i>pass</i>. +If the children understand, they will rise at once and +pass without waiting to turn.</p> + +<p>The names of the children, instead of being spoken, +are often written; in this way the children become<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 139]</span> +familiar with the names of all the children in the +school. The teacher, writing <i>Clarence</i> upon the board, +says, "I would like this boy to erase the boards +to-night." The first time it is written the teacher +speaks the name as she writes it. It may be necessary +to do this several times. The teacher does not +look at Clarence as she writes his name. If he does +not recognize his name after it has appeared repeatedly, +his eyesight may well be tested. If heedlessness +is the cause of the failure, another name is +written at the board, and Clarence loses the opportunity +to do the service. No drill should be given on +these names. The repetition incident to the frequent +calling upon the child is all that is necessary to fix +the name.</p> + +<p>The names of the songs and of the poems which +the children are memorizing are written upon the +board as needed. The teacher says, "We will sing +this song this morning." If the children do not +recognize its title as the teacher points to it, she +gives it. After a while the children will recognize +the names of all the songs and the poems which +are in use in the room.</p> + +<p>The children become familiar with the written +form of the smaller numbers in this way—the +number of absent children is reported at each +session and written on the board. On Friday the +teacher records upon the board some facts of the +week, or of the month, which the children learned<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 140]</span> +from their weather charts—viz., the number of +sunny and the number of cloudy days. The number +of children in each row is ascertained and written at +the board that the monitors may know how many +pairs of scissors, pieces of clay, or pencils to select.</p> + +<p>The poems, after being partially committed to +memory, are written upon the board; when the +pupils falter, reference is made to the line in question +as it appears upon the board.</p> + +<p>The teacher sometimes writes her morning greeting +or evening farewell at the board—thus: "Good +morning, children," or, "Good-by for to-day." The +children read silently and respond with, "Good morning, +Miss Eades," or, "Good night, Miss Farr."</p> + +<p>Often she communicates facts of interest at the +board. If the pupils are unable to interpret what +she has written, she reads for them, <i>e.g.</i>, the teacher +writes, "We have vacation to-morrow." Quite likely +some child, unable to read at all, will say, "We have +<i>something</i>, but I can't tell what it is." (These same +words will occur again, when needed to express a +thought, and it is a waste of energy to drill upon +them.) When the children have interpreted the +above sentence at the board, the teacher writes, "Do +you know why?" The children read the question +silently and give the answer audibly, and say, "It is +Decoration Day." We too often allow children to +treat a question in their reading as if its end were +reached in the asking. To lead the children to form<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 141]</span> +a habit of answering questions asked in writing or in +print, such questions as the following are, from time +to time, written at the board: "Did you see the rainbow +last night?" "What color was it?" "Did you +see any birds on Saturday?" "What ones?" "Have +you been to the woods?" "What did you find there?"</p> + +<p>(b) <i>In Connection with the Literature.</i> The name +of the story which the teacher is about to tell is +placed upon the board. At the first writing the +teacher tells the pupils what it is, if necessary, <i>e.g.</i>, +the teacher says, "We shall have a story about '<i>The +Three Bears</i>,'" pointing to the title upon the board. +The next day she says, "I would like you to tell me +all you can about this story"—writing its name upon +the board.</p> + +<p>In the final reproduction of the story the teacher +assigns topics, <i>e.g.</i>: Chauncey may tell me about +this (writing at the board): <i>Silver-Hair going to +the woods</i>. Eva may tell about this: <i>Silver-Hair +going into the kitchen</i>. Jennie may tell about this: +<i>Silver-Hair going into the sitting room</i>. Willie may +tell about this: <i>Silver-Hair going upstairs</i>. Should +the child go beyond the limited topic, the teacher +points to the board and asks about what he was to +tell.</p> + +<p>At the close of each story that can be dramatized, +the teacher assigns at the board the part which each +is to take, thus: After the story of "The Old Woman +and the Pig" is learned, the teacher writes in a col<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 142]</span>umn +each child's name opposite the animal or thing +which he is to represent, in this way.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><i>Agnes</i>—the old woman.<br /> + +<i>Glenn</i>—the pig.<br /> + +<i>Sadie</i>—the dog, etc.</p> +</div> + +<p>(c) <i>In Connection with the Nature Study.</i> In the +spring the children are looking for the return of the +birds, the first spring blossoms, and the opening of +the tree buds. The teacher often makes her own discoveries +known through writing, upon the board, <i>e.g.</i>, +"I saw a robin this morning," or "I found a blue +violet yesterday," or "I saw some elm blossoms last +night."</p> + +<p>The class, by the aid of the teacher, make a bird, +a flower, and a tree-bud calendar, on which are recorded +the name and date of the first seen of each. +These names are put on the calendars in the presence +of the children, and they frequently "name their +treasures o'er."</p> + +<p>The mode of travelling is written beside the name +of each familiar bird as the children make the discoveries, +thus:—</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="10" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>Robin</td><td align='left'>hops.<br />runs.<br />flies.</td><td> </td><td align='left'>Crow</td><td align='left'>walks.<br />flies.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>Questions arise during the recitation which the +children will answer later from observation. That +the children may not forget them they are placed +high up on the board where they can be preserved.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 143]</span> +Frequent reference is made to them to see if the +pupils are prepared to answer them. When a question +is answered it is erased, making room for another.</p> + + +<h3>THE READING RECITATION</h3> + +<p>For the early reading, Games, Literature, and +Nature Study may form the basis.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><b>(I) <i>Games as a Basis for the Reading.</i></b> The child +enters school from a life of play. It is our purpose, +so far as possible, to make use of this natural bent of +the child to insure interest in his reading, as well as +to give him the free exercise, which he needs, of his +muscles. It may be urged as an argument against the +use of the games, that they are too noisy and attract +the attention of the children who are busy at their +seats. Often it would be a good thing for these children +to watch the younger ones at their games. It +would rest them and put them into closer sympathy +with the little ones. In a short time they will not +care so much to watch them. The little children +should be thoughtful of the older ones and move about +as quietly as is possible.</p> + +<p>The following are some of the games which we have +used in our primary school. They are given in the +way of suggestion only. They are played at first by +following spoken directions. When the children are +perfectly familiar with the oral direction, the written +direction is gradually substituted. The children do +not stay long enough on one game to become tired of<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 144]</span> +it. Two or three or even more are played at a single +recitation. It is not the plan to drill the pupils upon +the written directions, but by frequent repetitions to +familiarize them with them. The games are most +suitable for the very earliest reading lessons. The +plan for teaching one of them, the first one given +here, will be written out quite fully. The others will +be given with less detail.</p> + + +<h4>THE RING GAME</h4> + +<p><i>Material.</i>—Six celluloid rings, red, white, blue, yellow, +green, and black. Surcingle rings can be painted +the colors desired.</p> + +<p><i>Directions.</i>—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Take the red ring, Jennie.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take the blue ring, Eva.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take the yellow ring, Wallace.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take the green ring, Chauncey.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take the black ring, Gregory.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take the white ring, Lloyd.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>When the children are ready to hide the rings this +direction is given to the remainder of the class:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Close your eyes.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This to the pupils who hold the rings:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Hide the rings.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>When the children have all the rings hid they announce +it by lightly clapping their hands, upon which<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 145]</span> +the children open their eyes. Directions are then +given to those who did not hide rings, for finding the +rings, <i>e.g.</i>:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Find the red ring.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Find the blue ring, etc.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>No notice is taken of any ring but the one called +for. A limited time is given for the finding of each. +At the close of that time, if the ring is not discovered, +the one who hid it gets it. When the written directions +are first used the whole sentence need not be +put upon the board, <i>e.g.</i>, the teacher need write only—<i>the +red ring</i>. She says to the child, "find <i>this</i>"—pointing +to the board; or <i>red</i>, alone, may be written, +in which case the teacher points to the word, saying, +"You may find <i>this ring</i>." There is considerable +rivalry to see who will find the most rings.</p> + +<p>When the children seem to know the written directions +perfectly, a test is made of their ability, +actually, to read them; thus, instead of writing, +"<i>Take</i> the red ring," the teacher writes, "<i>Find</i> the +red ring." She writes "Hide the rings," before she +writes, "Close your eyes." If the children recognize +what is written they will set the teacher right.</p> + + +<h4>BALL AND CORD</h4> + +<p><i>Material.</i>—Small, soft rubber balls with short rubber +cords attached. The cords have a loop for the +finger.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 146]</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ball in right hand.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Toss up.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hold.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Toss down.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hold.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Toss to the right.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hold.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Toss to the left.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hold.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ball in left hand.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Toss up, etc.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In this and succeeding games it is left to the discretion +of the teacher as to when the written directions +shall be introduced.</p> + + +<h4>BALL GAME</h4> + +<p><i>Material.</i>—A soft rubber ball.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Form a circle.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take the ball, Roy.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Toss the ball.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Roll the ball.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bounce the ball.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Throw the ball.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Give the ball to Sadie.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In this game one of the children takes the ball to +the circle. Each, as the ball is tossed to him, tosses +it to another. At the direction of the teacher the +game of <i>tossing the ball</i> is changed to one of <i>rolling</i><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 147]</span> +<i>the ball</i>, the pupils squatting on the floor; this in +turn is changed later as the directions indicate. +Care must be taken that all children are treated +alike in this game. The children themselves will +look out for this if properly directed at the outset +of the game.</p> + + +<h4>HUNTING THE VIOLET</h4> + +<p><i>Material.</i>—Violets scattered about the room.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Find a blue violet, Glenn.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Find a violet bud, Edith.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Find a yellow violet, Lloyd.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Find a violet leaf, Sadie.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Find a white violet, Jennie.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Find a purple violet, Rudolph.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sing to the violets.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Children sing softly:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Oh, violets, pretty violets,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I pray you tell to me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why are you the first flowers<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That bloom upon the lea?" etc.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<h4>A TREE GAME—(SPRING OR FALL)</h4> + +<p><i>Material.</i>—Leaves of the different trees with which +the children are familiar.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Glenn may be a maple tree.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Choose your leaf.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wallace may be an elm tree.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Choose your leaf.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 148]</span><span class="i0">Chauncey may be a birch tree.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Choose your leaf, etc.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Make a little forest.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Toss in the wind.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>(The leaves are pinned upon the children as each +chooses his leaf, and they dance lightly about as if +tossed by the wind.)</p> + + +<h4>CARING FOR THE ANIMALS</h4> + +<p><i>Material.</i>—Wooden or paper animals. A portion +of the table is marked off by a chalk line for the +farmyard.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Drive in a pig, Willie.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lead in a horse, Gregory.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drive in a sheep, Sadie.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lead in a cow, Roy, etc.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>They are driven in at night, then driven out in the +morning. Sometimes they are hurried in because of +the approach of a storm.</p> + + +<h4>DOLL PLAY—(GENERAL)</h4> + +<p><i>Material.</i>—Penny dolls or larger ones.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Take a doll.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rock the baby.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pat the baby.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sing the baby to sleep.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Put the baby to bed.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 149]</span><span class="i0">Take up the baby.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wash its face.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Comb its hair.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Feed it bread and milk.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take it for a walk.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>At the direction, "Sing the baby to sleep," the +children sing very softly:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Rock-a-bye Baby,"—or some other lullaby.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The bed is the chair on which the child is sitting. +All stand and turn about together to put the +babies to bed. They go through the movements +only of washing the face and hands and combing +the hair, and of feeding bread and milk. They perform +these acts in unison.</p> + + +<h4>THE RAINBOW FAIRIES—(SPRING)</h4> + +<p><i>Material.</i>—Large bows of tissue paper with +streamers, of the various colors mentioned.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Eva may be a yellow fairy.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Roy may be a blue fairy.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Edith may be a green fairy.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Louise may be a red fairy.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lloyd may be an orange fairy.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sadie may be a violet fairy.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The others may be trees.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Join hands, fairies.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dance about the trees.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 150]</span></div></div> + +<p>As the first direction is given Eva steps to the +table and takes a yellow bow which is pinned to +her left shoulder: the others follow as called upon.</p> + + +<h4>THE LEAVES</h4> + +<p><i>Material.</i>—A leaf of one of several colors pinned +on each child. The wind calls:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Come yellow leaf.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come red leaf.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come green leaves, etc.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dance in the wind.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>At the last direction the children fly over a +small area, hither and thither; some one way, some +another, passing and repassing one another, simulating +the leaves in a storm.</p> + + +<h4>A FLOCK OF BIRDS</h4> + +<p>All the children are little birds.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Fly to the fields.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pick up seeds.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take a drink.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bathe in the creek.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Preen your feathers.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fly home.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Perch on a twig.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Sing.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>They sing:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"We are little birdies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Happy we, happy we.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We are little birdies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Singing in a tree."<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 151]</span></div></div> + + +<h4>HUNTING BIRDS</h4> + +<p><i>Material.</i>—Colored pictures of birds common to +the locality in which the game is used.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Find a robin, Rudolph.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Find a bluebird, Gregory, etc.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The child indicated finds the picture of the bird +called for and places it on the blackboard ledge +which serves as a picture gallery.</p> + + +<h4>HUNTING LEAVES</h4> + +<p>is a game similar to the above.</p> + + +<h4>MOVEMENT GAME</h4> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Frederick may be a pony.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Louise may be a kitty, etc.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>(Of the other children—one may be a boy; another, +a bird; another, a horse; another, a fish; another, a +girl, etc.)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Trot, pony.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Run, dog.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Skip, boy, etc.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>They perform singly, and also in a body.</p> + + +<h4>MAKING GARDEN</h4> + +<p><i>Material.</i>—Trays or box-covers of sand, and a toy +set of garden tools for each pupil.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 152]</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Take the spade.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spade the earth.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take the hoe.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hoe the ground.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take the rake.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Smooth the ground.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Make holes (or rows).<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Plant corn (or sow the seed).<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cover the seed.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Water the garden.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<h4>THE FARMER'S PETS</h4> + +<p>For this game the children are all seated in chairs +except one for whom no chair is provided. Each +child seated takes the name of some animal on the +farm, <i>e.g.</i>, a dog, cat, horse, chicken, duck, or cow. +The one standing is the farm-hand and says, <i>e.g.</i>, +"My master wants his dog." The dog must jump up +and turn around. If he fails to do so, he steps to one +side taking his chair with him. If when he is again +called upon he answers correctly, he resumes his seat +in the circle. Occasionally the farm-hand says, "My +master wants all of his pets." When all rise and +change seats quietly. The farm-hand tries to get a +seat, leaving another child to be the farm-hand. In +changing seats they change names as a single name +belongs to each chair.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><b>(II) <i>Literature as a Basis for the Reading.</i></b> The +stories in the form indicated below are given after<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 153]</span> +the children have become thoroughly familiar with +them through oral presentation, after, too, the children +have gained some facility in reading, through +the use of the games, and the directions, etc., used in +the general management of the school. Before the +board work is presented the children dramatize +the story which they are to read. They look to +the board to find out what to say that they may impersonate +the character in the story. Each mimics +in tone and action the one whose part he takes. As +no two mimic in the same way there is no lack of +variety and interest. If the children are thoughtful +they will know every time into whose mouth to put +each sentence. They need to be alert, however. The +names of the speakers, given in the margin, are for +the benefit of the readers of this article. They are +not put on the board. The children do not need +them.</p> + + +<h4>THE OLD WOMAN AND THE PIG</h4> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>I</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>The old woman.</i></span> I was sweeping my house.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I found this dime.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What shall I buy?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I know; I will buy a pig.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where is my sunbonnet?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where is my cane?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here I go.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tramp! tramp! tramp!<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 154]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>II</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Old woman.</i></span> Tap, tap, tap!<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>The farmer.</i></span> Come in.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Good morning, old woman.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Old woman.</i></span> Good morning, sir.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I want to buy a pig.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Farmer.</i></span> All right; I have some.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will you look at them?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here they are.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Old woman.</i></span> I like this one.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will take it.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Good morning.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Farmer.</i></span> Good morning.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>III</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Old woman.</i></span> Go on, pig.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That fence is low,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You can jump over.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Pig.</i></span> Grunt! grunt!<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Old woman.</i></span> What shall I do?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I must have help.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will go back.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>IV</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Old woman.</i></span> Dog, dog, bite pig.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Dog.</i></span> No, no. (<i>Shaking his head.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>V</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Old woman.</i></span> Stick, stick, whip dog.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Stick.</i></span> No, no. (<i>Shaking head as before.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 155]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>VI-XII.</b><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Similar to two above.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>XIII</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Old woman.</i></span> Cat, cat, kill rat.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Cat.</i></span> I will if you will give me some milk.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Old woman.</i></span> I will go to the cow.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>XIV</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Old woman.</i></span> Cow, cow, give me some milk.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Cow.</i></span> I will if you will give me some hay.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Old woman.</i></span> All right.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tramp! tramp! tramp!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here is the hay, cow.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Cow.</i></span> Chew, chew, chew, chew.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now you may have some milk.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Old woman.</i></span> Thank you, cow.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>XV</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Old woman.</i></span> Come, kitty, kitty, kitty.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here is some milk for you.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Cat.</i></span> Lap, lap, lap, lap.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Old woman.</i></span> Now catch the rat.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Cat.</i></span> Patter, patter, patter. (<i>Given softly—it is the cat running after the rat.</i>)<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<h4>THE THREE BEARS</h4> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>I</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>The papa bear.</i></span> That soup is hot.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It must cool.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We will take a walk.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 156]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>II</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Silver-Hair.</i></span> Tap! tap! tap!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No one at home.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will go in.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is that on the table?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is three bowls of soup.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am hungry.<br /></span> +<span class="ileft">(<i>Tasting of the soup in the big bowl.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That is too hot.<br /></span> +<span class="ileft">(<i>Tasting of soup in middle-sized bowl.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That is too cold.<br /></span> +<span class="ileft">(<i>Tasting of soup in little bowl.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That is just right.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is good.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will eat a little.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>III</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I am tired.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here are three chairs.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That is too high.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That is too wide.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This is just right.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will rest here.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, it broke!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>IV</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I am sleepy.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will go upstairs.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here are three beds.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That is too hard.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 157]</span><span class="i0">That is too soft.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This is just right.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will sleep here.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>V</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Papa bear.</i></span> <small>SOMEBODY HAS BEEN TASTING MY SOUP.</small><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Mamma bear.</i></span> <i>Somebody has been tasting my soup.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Baby bear.</i></span> Somebody has been tasting my soup.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is all gone.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>VI</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Papa bear.</i></span> <small>SOMEBODY HAS BEEN SITTING IN MY CHAIR.</small><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Mamma bear.</i></span> <i>Somebody has been sitting in my chair.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Baby bear.</i></span> Somebody has been sitting in my chair.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is all broken.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>VII</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Papa bear.</i></span> <small>SOMEBODY HAS BEEN LYING ON MY BED.</small><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Mamma bear.</i></span> <i>Somebody has been lying on my bed.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Baby bear.</i></span> Somebody has been lying on my bed.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why, here she is!<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Silver-Hair.</i></span> Oh, my!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will jump.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now I will run.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<h4>THE FIR TREE</h4> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>I</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I am a little fir tree.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I want to be tall.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I hate rabbits.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They jump over me.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 158]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>II</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I am three years old.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rabbit cannot jump over me now.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It runs around me.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I wish I were taller.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I hate to be so little.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>III</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now I am six years old.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here come the woodchoppers.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They will take me away.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here I go.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thump! thump! thump!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>IV</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What a fine house.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How beautiful this moss is.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What are these people going to give me?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am so happy!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>V</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Here are the children.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How they like me!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">See them dance about me.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Everybody looks at me.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Do not take away my beautiful dress.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Do not put out the lights.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>VI</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Here come the servants.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They will give me my beautiful dress.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 159]</span><span class="i0">Oh, oh, oh!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Don't put me up there.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is dark.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I want to be planted.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>VII</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I wish I were at home.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I want to see the rabbit.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It may jump over me.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will not care.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I want to see the other trees.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rats come. I do not like rats.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>VIII</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Out again!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I like the air.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now I shall be planted.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am glad to see the flowers.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am glad to hear the birds.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now I shall live.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>IX</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That boy called me ugly.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He took my beautiful star.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I wish I were in the woods.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I shall never be happy again.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pop! pop! pop! pop!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<h4>THE STREET MUSICIANS</h4> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>I</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>The donkey.</i></span> I am very old.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am very weak.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 160]</span><span class="i0">I can work no more.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My master will not keep me.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will run away.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will go to the city.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I can make music.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will join a band.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Trot! trot! trot!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>II</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What is that in the road?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is an old dog.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is the matter?<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Dog.</i></span> I am very old.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am very weak.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I cannot hunt.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My master will not keep me.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How can I live?<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Donkey.</i></span> Come with me.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You can play the bass drum.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Join a band.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Dog.</i></span> Good! good! good!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will go.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Dog and donkey.</i></span> Trot! trot! trot!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>III</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Donkey.</i></span> What is that in the road?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is an old cat.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is the matter, old whiskers?<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Cat.</i></span> I am very old.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am very weak.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 161]</span><span class="i0">I cannot catch mice.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My mistress will not keep me.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How can I live?<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Donkey.</i></span> Come with us.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You can sing.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Join a band.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Cat.</i></span> Good! good! good!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will go.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>All three.</i></span> Trot! trot! trot!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>IV</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Donkey.</i></span> What is that on the gate?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is a rooster.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is the matter?<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Rooster.</i></span> The cook will kill me.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Donkey.</i></span> Come with us.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You can sing.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Join a band.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>Rooster.</i></span> Good! good! good!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will go.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>All four.</i></span> Trot! trot! trot!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<h4>THE UNHAPPY PINE TREE</h4> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>I</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I am a little pine tree.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I do not like to be a pine tree.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My leaves are needles.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Needles are not pretty.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I wish I had gold leaves.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 162]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>II</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>In the morning.</i></span> Why do the trees look at me?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What has happened?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gold leaves! Gold leaves!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Just what I wanted!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Good! good! good!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>III</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>To the robber.</i></span> Do not take my leaves.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I want them.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They are beautiful.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Give them back.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No leaves! No leaves!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I wish I had glass leaves.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>IV</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>In the morning.</i></span> Oh, how beautiful!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glass leaves! Glass leaves!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No robber will take them.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I can keep them.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am so happy!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>V</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Cloud, do not come.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wind, do not blow.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Keep still, keep still.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A leaf is broken.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Another! Another!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All gone! All gone!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No beautiful leaves.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I wish I had bright green leaves.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 163]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>VI</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='authnm'><i>In the morning.</i></span> Oh, my pretty green leaves!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No one will steal them.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nothing will break them.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I shall not need to keep still.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will dance.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dance! dance! dance!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>VII</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Goat, do not come here.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These are my leaves.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I want them.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They are pretty.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, oh, oh!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All my pretty leaves are gone.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What shall I do?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I wish I had my needles.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11"><b>VIII</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, mother, mother, see!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have my old leaves.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I like them.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They are best of all.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No one will steal them.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nothing will break them.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nothing will eat them.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I can keep them.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My dear old leaves!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + +<p><b>(III) <i>Nature Study as a Basis for the Reading.</i></b> +The subjects in which the pupils are most interested +are made the basis for the reading lessons.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 164]</span></p> + +<p>Sometimes there is a guessing game like the following: +The teacher, holding a flower in her closed +hand, writes:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Guess what I have.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is a flower.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is white.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>It has a yellow centre.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>(The children answer—a daisy.) Or—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Guess what I have.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is a leaf.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is yellow.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is long.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is narrow.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>(The children answer—the willow.)</p> + +<p>After the pupils have made a careful study of a +few birds or flowers, the reading lesson describes +one of these, and the pupils are expected to name +it from the description. If a child gives the wrong +name, one of those who know better points out the +line or lines barring out this object, and reads to the +one making the mistake as proof of his error.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I live in the woods.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am not a bird.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am not a flower.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am not a tree.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I run up trees.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I eat nuts.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have a bushy tail.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is my name? (<i>Squirrel.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 165]</span><span class="i0">I am a little bird.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My back is brown.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My breast is white.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My bill is curved.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I go up a tree trunk.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I fly to another tree.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I like insects.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is my name? (<i>The brown creeper.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This is a big bird.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is blue.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It has black bands on its tail and wings.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It has a crest.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its bill is black.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It scolds.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is its name? (<i>The blue jay.</i>)<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The children sometimes play a game like the following: +All but one personify red-headed woodpeckers. +The <i>one</i> questions from the board. If a +red-headed woodpecker fails to answer the question +put to him, he takes the place of the interlocutor. +It is an honor to be able to answer all the questions +put:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What color is your head?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What color is your throat?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What color is your breast?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What colors on your wings?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What color is your bill?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What do you do?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where do you make your nest?<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 166]</span></div></div> + +<p>To a set of questions like the following, the children +give the answers, after reading the questions +silently:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What bird did you first see this spring?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What have you seen a robin do?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What flower did you see first?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What yellow flowers have you seen this spring?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What white flowers?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What blue flowers?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What bird builds a nest in a tree trunk?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What bird builds a nest on the ground?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<h4>THE BABY ROBIN</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>I saw two robins on the ground.</p> + +<p>One was a mamma robin.</p> + +<p>The other was a baby robin.</p> + +<p>The baby robin was as big as its mother.</p> + +<p>Its breast was spotted.</p> + +<p>Its mother gave it an earthworm.</p> + +<p>At first it dropped it, but its mother picked it up +and gave it to her baby again.</p> + +<p>This time it got a better hold. By several gulps +it swallowed the worm.</p> + +<p>The mother looked proud of her baby. (This is +the teacher's experience which she tells the children +from the board. Sometimes she writes the observations +which one of the children have made.)</p> + +<p>As no two teachers will have the same material<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 167]</span> +for Nature Study, the reading material will not be +multiplied here.</p> + +<p>Gradually, as the pupils can stand it, the sentences +are lengthened a little as necessary, and massed +into paragraphs.</p> + +<p>The use of the "Mother Goose Rhymes" as a means +of enlivening the first year reading lessons is also +treated as follows by Mrs. Lida McMurry. (Taken +from <i>School and Home Education</i> for October, 1902.)</p> + +<p>Many of the children on entering school are well +versed in Nursery Rhymes. They enjoy repeating +them. Other children may not know them so well, +but soon learn them from their classmates. Teachers +and pupils may have a happy time together with +Mother Goose, and at the same time the pupils are +learning to read without realizing that what they are +doing is something that they are not accustomed to.</p> + +<p>I will suggest a few ways in which these rhymes +may be made the basis for reading lessons:—</p> + + +<p>Take this rhyme—</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='linenum'>1.</span> Dance, Thumbkin, dance,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dance, ye merrymen, every one;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For Thumbkin he can dance alone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thumbkin he can dance alone.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>The second, third, fourth, and fifth stanzas are like +the first, only Foreman, Longman, Ringman, and +Littleman are in turn substituted for Thumbkin.</p> + +<p>The children first learn to act out each stanza as<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 168]</span> +they recite it together. The thumb is held up and +moved about as if dancing, as the first line is given. +All the fingers dance as the second line is recited. +The thumb dances alone as the third and fourth lines +are repeated.</p> + +<p>The teacher then repeats the stanza alone, and the +children's fingers accompany her.</p> + +<p>Later, when the children have learned to act out +the story well, as the teacher repeats it, the teacher +writes the first line at the board, and, pointing to it, +asks the children to do what the board directs. They +cannot tell what it is, so the teacher says, "The +board is talking to <i>Thumbkin</i>," writing the name on +the board as she says it. "What do you think it +wants Thumbkin to do?" pointing to <i>Dance</i> in the +line on the board. The next line is written on the +board. The children quite likely will guess rightly +what it says, because of its setting. If not, the +teacher will help them as at first. In the same way +they connect the third and fourth lines with the oral +expression of the same, and act them out accordingly. +That the children respond readily to the directions as +written is no proof, at first, that they know even most +of the words in the lines. The teacher's test is a part +of the play. To-day, instead of writing the first line, +she writes the second. Many get caught. They will +be more alert another time. As they can never tell +which line will appear first, they learn to discriminate +by giving closer attention to the form of the words.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 169]</span></p> + +<p>Sometimes the teacher writes the six names—Thumbkin, +Foreman, etc., and Merrymen, on the +board. She points to the name or names of the one, +or ones, that should dance. The children do not like +to make mistakes in responding with the fingers.</p> + +<p>Sometimes the teacher points to a name on the +board, as Foreman, and writes "dance alone," or +"dance every one." The alert children see that the +latter does not apply.</p> + +<p>The words are not drilled upon. The game, with +variations sometimes, is played quite frequently, but +never so long at a time that the children weary +of it. Three or four plays or games are given at +a single recitation. The interests of the children +are studied, and rhymes which they do not enjoy +as reading material are dropped, and others substituted. +The rhymes should often be repeated, +just as they occur in "Mother Goose," that the +children may not forget them.</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='linenum'>2.</span> Eye winker.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tom tinker.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mouth eater.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chin chopper.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chin chopper.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The children point to the parts of the face as they +are named. They first learn to give the rhyme with +its accompanying motion orally, then they respond to +it as written on the board (Tom tinker is the other<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 170]</span> +eye). When they do this readily the directions are +written out of their order. This tests the children's +ability to distinguish one form from another. No +child likes to give the wrong motion in response to a +direction, <i>e.g.</i>, point to his mouth when Eye winker +is called for.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='linenum'>3.</span> The children, we will suppose, know a number of rhymes, as, <i>e.g.</i>,<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A diller, a dollar, a ten o'clock scholar.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A little boy went into a barn.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Baa, baa, black sheep.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rain, rain, go away, etc.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The teacher writes the first line of one of these +rhymes on the board and asks a child to give the +rhyme. He cannot at first. Later he will learn to +recognize it; so with all the rhymes he knows. When +he can give any rhyme called for in response to the +first line as written at the board, another line (not +the first) is written, and the child asked to give the +rhyme of which it is a part.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='linenum'>4.</span> Is John Smith within?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yes, that he is.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can he set a shoe?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ay, marry, two.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here a nail and there a nail,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tick, tack, too.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>After the children have learned the above rhyme, +acting it out, by imitating the voices of the two<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 171]</span> +speakers, and by driving the nails, the two questions +are asked at the board, and the children +respond orally. Sometimes the second question, +slightly altered, is asked first, <i>e.g.</i>, "Can John +Smith set a shoe?" Sometimes "Who is within?" +appears on the board.</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='linenum'>5.</span> Old Mother Hubbard.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>There are many stanzas to this poem, a few of +which the teacher will wish to omit, as those referring +to the visits to the ale-house and the tavern. +The pupils become perfectly familiar with the jingle, +so they can with ease give it orally, then the teacher +writes the first line of a stanza at the board and pointing +to it asks a pupil to give the remainder of the +stanza. The mistake is ludicrous if the wrong lines +follow the first, and the pupils wish to avoid such +a mistake.</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='linenum'>6.</span> There were two birds sat on a stone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fa, la, la, la, lal, de.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One flew away and then there was one,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fa, la, la, la, lal, de.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The other flew after and then there was none,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fa, la, la, la, lal, de.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And so the poor stone was left all alone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fa, la, la, la, lal, de.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The children act out this rhyme at first as they say +it, later, silently, as they see what is called for at the +board.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 172]</span></p> + +<p>Any number may be substituted for <i>two</i> in the +first line, but when they come to the third line the +number substituted for one should be such that only +one will remain, <i>e.g.</i>, There were <i>eight</i> birds sat on +a stone, <i>Seven</i> flew away, etc. The children are +sometimes caught by the wrong number being told +to fly. The children should not fly until they are +sure that it is all right.</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class='linenum'>7.</span> What are your eyes for?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What are your ears for?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is your nose for?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is your tongue for?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is your mouth for?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is your hand for?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What are your fingers for?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What are your teeth for?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is your brain for?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is your heart for?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>These questions are read silently by the children, +then answered orally in complete sentences, one child +only answering at one time. The answers are so +absurd when wrong that each child is careful to +know what is asked.</p> + +<p>These are only a few of the ways in which "Mother +Goose" may be used as reading material. Each +teacher will think out for herself ways in which these +rhymes may be profitably and happily employed.</p> + +<p style='text-align: right'><span class="smcap">Mrs. Lida McMurry.</span></p> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 173]</span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Method in Primary Reading</span></h2> + + +<p>The problem of primary reading is one of the most +complex and difficult in the whole range of school +instruction. A large proportion of the finest skill +and sympathy of teachers has been expended in +efforts to find the appropriate and natural method of +teaching children to read. All sorts of methods and +devices have been employed, from the most formal +and mechanical to the most spirited and realistic.</p> + +<p>The first requisite to good reading is something +worth reading, something valuable and interesting to +the children, and adapted to their minds. We must +take it for granted in this discussion that the best +literature and the best stories have been selected, and +what the teacher has to do is, first, to appreciate +these masterpieces for herself, and second, to bring +the children in the reading lessons to appreciate +and enjoy them. In the primary grades we are not +so richly supplied with available materials from good +literature as in intermediate and grammar grades. +This is due not to difficulty in thought, but to the +unfamiliar written and printed forms. The great +problem in primary reading is to master these strange +forms as quickly as possible, and find entrance to the<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 174]</span> +story-land of books. For several years, however, primary +teachers have been selecting and adapting +the best stories, and some of the leading publishers +have brought out in choice school-book form books +which are well adapted to the reading of primary +grades.</p> + +<p>We should like to assume one other advantage. +If the children have been treated orally to "Robinson +Crusoe" in the second grade, they will appreciate and +read the story much better in the third grade. If +some of Grimm's stories are told in first grade, they +can be read with ease in the second grade. The +teacher's oral presentation of the stories is the right +way to bring them close to the life and interest of +children. In the first grade, as shown in the chapter +on oral lessons, it is the only way, because the children +cannot yet read. But even if they could read, the +oral treatment is much better. The oral presentation +is more lively, natural, and realistic. The teacher +can adapt the story and the language to the immediate +needs of the class as no author can. She +can question, or suggest lines of thought, or call up +ideas from the children's experience. The oral manner +is the true way to let the children delve into the +rich culture-content of stories and to awaken a taste +for their beauty and truth. We could well wish that +before children read mythical stories in fourth grade, +they had been stirred up to enjoy them by oral narration +and discussion in the preceding year. In the<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 175]</span> +same way, if the reading bears on interesting science +topics previously studied, it will be a distinct advantage +to the reading lesson. Children like to read +about things that have previously excited their interest, +whether in story or science. The difficulties of +formal reading will also be partly overcome by familiarity +with the harder names and words. Our conclusion +is that reading lessons, alone, cannot provide +all the conditions favorable to good reading. Some +of these can be well supplied by other studies or by +preliminary lessons which pave the way for the reading +proper. This matter has been so fully discussed +in the earlier chapters on oral work that it requires +no further treatment here.</p> + + +<h3>FOLK-LORE STORIES AS READING EXERCISES FOR +FIRST GRADE</h3> + +<p>Let it be supposed that a class of first-grade children +has learned to tell a certain story orally. It has +interested them and stirred up their thought.</p> + +<p>Let them next learn to read the same story in +a very simple form. This will lead to a series of +elementary reading lessons in connection with the +story, and the aim should be strictly that of mastering +the early difficulties of reading. The teacher +recalls the story, and asks for a statement from its +beginning. If the sentence furnished by the child is +simple and suitable, the teacher writes it on the blackboard +in plain large script. Each child reads it<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 176]</span> +through and points out the words. Let there be a +lively drill upon the sentence till the picture of each +word becomes clear and distinct. During the first +lesson, two or three short sentences can be handled +with success. As new words are learned, they should +be mixed up on the board with those learned before, +and a quick and varied drill on the words in sentences +or in columns be employed to establish the forms in +memory.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> +Speed, variety in device, and watchfulness +to keep all busy and attentive are necessary to secure +good results.</p> + +<p>After a few lessons one or two of the simpler +words may be taken for phonetic analysis. The +simple sounds are associated with the letters that +represent them. These familiar letters are later met +and identified in new words, and, as soon as a +number of sounds with their symbols have been +learned, new words can be constructed and pronounced +from these known elements.</p> + +<p>The self-activity of the children in recognizing the +elementary sounds, already met, in new words as fast +as they come up, is one of the chief merits of this +early study of words. They thus early learn the +power of self-help and of confident reliance upon +themselves in acquiring and using knowledge. The +chief difficulty is in telling which sound to use, as a +letter often has several sounds (as <i>a</i>, <i>e</i>, <i>s</i>, <i>c</i>, etc.). But<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 177]</span> +the children are capable of testing the known sounds +of a letter upon a new word, and in most cases, of +deciding which to use. The thoughtless habit of +pronouncing every new word for a child, without +effort on his part, checks and spoils his interest and +self-activity. It does not seem necessary to use an +extensive system of diacritical markings to guide him +in these efforts to discriminate sounds. It is better +to use the marks as little as possible and learn to +interpret words as they usually appear in print. +Experience has shown decisively that a lively and +vigorous self-activity is manifested by such early +efforts in learning to read. It is one of the most +encouraging signs in education to see little children +in their first efforts to master the formal art of reading, +showing this spirited self-reliant energy.</p> + +<p>In the same way, they recognize old words in +sentences and new or changed combinations of old +forms, and begin to read new sentences which combine +old words in new relations.</p> + +<p>In short, the sentence, word, and phonic methods +are all used in fitting alternation, while originality and +variety of device are necessary in the best exercise of +teaching power.</p> + +<p>The processes of learning to read by such board-script +work are partly analytic and partly synthetic. +Children begin with sentences, analyze them into +words, and some of the words into their simple +sounds. But when these sounds begin to grow<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 178]</span> +familiar, they are identified again in other words, +thus combining them into new forms. In the same +way, words once learned by the analytic study of +sentences are recognized again in new sentences, and +thus interpreted in new relations.</p> + +<p>The short sentences, derived from a familiar story, +when ranged together supply a brief, simple outline +of the story. If now this series of sentences be +written on the board or printed on slips of paper, +the whole story may be reviewed by the class from +day to day till the word and sentence forms are well +mastered. For making these printed slips, some +teachers use a small printing-press, or a typewriter. +Eventually several stories may be collected and +sewed together, so as to form a little reading-book +which is the result of the constructive work of +teacher and pupils.</p> + +<p>The reading lessons just described are entirely +separate from the oral treatment and reproduction of +the stories; yet the thought and interest awakened +in the oral work are helpful in keeping up a lively +effort in the reading class. The thought material in +a good story is itself a mental stimulus, and produces +a wakefulness which is favorable to imprinting the +forms as well as the content of thought. Expression, +also, that is, natural and vivid rendering of the +thought, is always aimed at in reading, and springs +spontaneously from interesting thought studies.</p> + +<p>Many teachers use the materials furnished by oral<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 179]</span> +lessons in natural science as a similar introduction to +reading in first grade. The science lessons furnish +good thought matter for simple sentences, and there +is good reason why, in learning to read, children +should use sentences drawn both from literature and +from natural science.</p> + + +<h3>READING IN THE SECOND GRADE</h3> + +<p>The oral lessons in good stories, and the later +board-use of these materials in learning the elements +of formal reading, are an excellent preparation for +the fuller and more extended reading of similar +matter in the second and third grades.</p> + +<p>When the oral work of the first grade has thus +kindled the fancy of a child upon these charming +pictures, and the later board-work has acquainted +him with letter and word symbols which express such +thought, the reading of the same and other stories of +like character (a year later) will follow as an easy +and natural sequence. As a preliminary to all good +reading exercises, there should be rich and fruitful +thought adapted to the age of children. The realm +of classic folk-lore contains abundant thought material +peculiar in its fitness to awaken the interest and +fancy of children in the first two grades. To bring +these choice stories close to the hearts of children +should be the aim of much of the work in both these +grades. Such an aim, skilfully carried out, not only +conduces to the joy of children in first grade, but<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 180]</span> +infuses the reading lessons of second grade with +thought and culture of the best quality.</p> + +<p>Interest and vigor of thought are certain to help +right expression and reading. Reading, like every +other study, should be based upon realities. When +there is real thought and feeling in the children, a +correct expression of them is more easily secured +than by formal demands or by intimidation.</p> + +<p>The stories to be read in second or third grade +may be fuller and longer than the brief outline sentences +used for board-work in the first grade. +Besides, these tales, being classic and of permanent +value, do not lose their charm by repetition.</p> + + +<h3>METHOD</h3> + +<p>By oral reading, we mean the giving of the +thought obtained from a printed page to others +through the medium of the voice.</p> + +<p>There is first the training of the eye in taking in a +number of words at a glance—a mechanical process; +then the interpretation of these groups of words—a +mental process; next the making known of the +ideas thus obtained to others, by means of the voice—also +a mechanical process.</p> + +<p>The children need special help in each step. We +are apt to overdo one at the expense of the others.</p> + +<p>1. Eye-training is the foundation of all good reading. +Various devices are resorted to in obtaining it. +We will suggest a few, not new at all, but useful.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 181]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>(<i>a</i>) A strip of cardboard, on which is a clause or +sentence, is held before the class, for a moment only, +and then removed. The length of the task is increased +as the eye becomes trained to this kind of +work.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) The children open their books at a signal from +the teacher, glance through a line, or part of one, +indicated by the teacher, close book at once and give +the line.</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) The teacher places on the board clauses or +sentences bearing on the lesson, and covers with a +map. The map is rolled up to show one of these, +which is almost immediately erased. The children +are then asked to give it. The map is then rolled +up higher, exposing another, which also is speedily +erased—and so on until all have been given to the +children and erased.</p> +</div> + +<p>2. The child needs not only to be able to recognize +groups of words, but he must be able to get thought +from them. The following are some devices to that +end:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>(<i>a</i>) Suggestive pictures can be made use of to +advantage all through the primary grades. If the +child reads part of the story in the picture, and finds +it interesting, he will want to read from the printed +page the part not given in the picture.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) Where there is no picture—or even where +there is one—an aim may be useful to arouse interest +in the thought, <i>i.e.</i> a thoughtful question may be put<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 182]</span> +by the teacher, which the children can answer only +by reading the story; <i>e.g.</i> in the supplementary +reader, "Easy Steps for Little Feet," is found the +story of "The Pin and Needle." There is no picture. +The teacher says, as the class are seated: "Now we +have a story about a big quarrel between a pin and a +needle over the question, 'Which one is the better +fellow?' Of what could the needle boast? Of what +the pin? Let us see which won."</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) Let all the pupils look through one or more +paragraphs, reading silently, to get the thought, +before any one is called upon to read aloud. If a +child comes to a word that he does not know, during +the silent reading, the teacher helps him to get it—from +the context if possible—if not, by the sounds +of the letters which compose it.</p> +</div> + +<p>As each child finishes the task assigned, he raises +his eyes from the book, showing by this act that he +is ready to tell what he has just read. The thought +may be given by the child in his own language to +assure the teacher that he has it. Usually, however, +in the lower grades, this is unnecessary, the language +of the book being nearly as simple as his own.</p> + +<p>The advantage of having all the pupils kept busy, +instead of one alone who might be called upon to +read the paragraph, is evident. Every child reads +silently all of the lesson. Time would not permit +that this be done orally, were it advisable to do so. +When the child gets up to read, he is not likely to<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 183]</span> +stumble, for he has both the thought and the expression +for it, at the start.</p> + +<p>While aiming to have the children comprehend the +thought, the teacher should not forget, on the other +hand, that this is the reading hour, and not the time +for much oral instruction and reproduction. There +are other recitations in which the child is trained to +free oral expression of thought, as in science and +literature. Such offhand oral expression of his own +ideas is not the primary aim of the reading lesson. +Its purpose is to lend life to the recitation.</p> + +<p>3. Steps 1 and 2 deal with preparation for the reading. +Up to this time, no oral reading has been done. +Now we are ready to begin.</p> + +<p>Children will generally express the thought with +the proper emphasis if they not only see its meaning +but also feel it. Suppose the children are interested +in the thought of the piece, they still fail, sometimes, +to give the proper emphasis. How can the teacher, +by questioning, get them to realize the more important +part of the thought?</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>(<i>a</i>) The teacher has gone deeper into the meaning +than have the children. Her questions should +be such as to make real to the children the more +emphatic part of the thought; <i>e.g.</i> in the Riverside +Primer we have, "Poor Bun, good dog, did you think +I meant to hit you?" John reads, "Do you think I +meant to <i>hit</i> you?" The teacher says, "I will be +Bun, John. What is it that you do not want Bun to<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 184]</span> +think?" ("That I <i>meant</i> to hit him.") "But you +did mean to hit something. What was it you did not +mean to hit? Tell Bun." ("I did not <i>mean</i> to hit +<i>you</i>.") Now ask him if he thought that you did. +("Did you think I <i>meant</i> to hit <i>you</i>?")</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) When the story is in the form of a dialogue, +the children may personate the characters in the +story. Thus, getting into the real spirit of the piece, +their emphasis will naturally fall where it properly +belongs.</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) Sometimes the teacher will find it necessary to +show the child how to read a passage properly, by +reading it himself. It is seldom best to do this—certainly +not if the correct expression can be reached +through questioning.</p> +</div> + +<p>Many a teacher makes a practice of giving the +proper emphasis to the child, he copying it from her +voice. Frequently, children taught in this way can +read one piece after another in their readers with +excellent expression, but, when questioned, show that +their minds are a blank as to the meaning of what +they are reading.</p> + +<p>In working for expression, a great many teachers +waste the time and energy of the pupils by indefinite +directions. The emphasis is not correctly placed, so +the teacher says, "I do not like that; try it again, +May." Now, May has no idea in what particular she +has failed, so she gives it again, very likely as she +gave it before, or she may put the emphasis on some<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 185]</span> +other word, hoping by so doing to please the teacher. +"Why, no, May, you surely can do better than that," +says the teacher. So May makes another fruitless +attempt, when the teacher, disgusted, calls on another +pupil to show her how to read. May has gained no +clearer insight into the thought than she started out +with, no power to grapple more successfully with a +similar difficulty another time, and has lost, partly +at least, her interest in the piece. She has been +bothered and discouraged, and the class wearied.</p> + +<p>Sometimes when the expression is otherwise good, +the children pitch their voices too high or too low. +Natural tones must be insisted upon. A good aid to +the children in this respect is the habitual example of +quiet, clear tones in the teacher.</p> + +<p>Another fault of otherwise good reading is a failure +to enunciate distinctly. Children are inclined to +slight many sounds, especially at the end of the +words, and the teacher is apt to think: "That doesn't +make so very much difference, since they are only +children. When they are older they will see that +their pronunciation is babyish, and adopt a correct +form." This is unsound reasoning. Every time the +child says <i>las</i> for <i>last</i> he is establishing more firmly +a habit, to overcome which will give him much +difficulty.</p> + +<p>In the pronunciation of words as well as in the +reading of a sentence, much time is wasted through +failure to point out the exact word, and the syllable<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 186]</span> +in the word, in which the mistake has been made. +The child cannot improve unless he knows in what +particular there is room for improvement.</p> + +<p>Children in primary grades should be supplied with +a good variety of primers, readers, and simple story +books. In the course of their work they should read +through a number of first, second, and third readers. +Much of this reading should be simple and easy, so +that they can move rapidly through a book, and gain +confidence and satisfaction from it. In each grade +there should be several sets of readers, which can be +turned to as the occasion may demand. It is much +better to read a new reader, involving in the main the +same vocabulary, than to reread an old book. This +use of several books in each grade adds to the interest +and reduces to a minimum the mere drills, which are +to be avoided as much as possible.</p> + + +<h3>SUMMARY</h3> + +<p>1. Let children read under the impulse of strong +and interesting thought.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>(<i>a</i>) The previous oral treatment of the stories +now used as reading lessons will help this thought +impulse.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) An aim concretely stated, and touching an interesting +thought in the lesson, will give impetus to the +work.</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) Let children pass judgment on the truth, worth, +or beauty of what they read.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 187]</span></p> + +<p>(<i>d</i>) Clear mental pictures of people, actions, places, +etc., conduce to vigor of thought. To this end the +teacher should use good pictures, make sketches, and +give descriptions or explanations. Children should +also be allowed to sketch freely at the board.</p> +</div> + +<p>2. Children should be encouraged constantly to +help themselves in interpreting new words and sentences +in reading.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>(<i>a</i>) By looking through the new sentence and making +it out, if possible, for themselves before any one +reads it aloud.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) By analyzing a new word into its sounds, and +then combining them to get its pronunciation.</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) By interpreting a new word from its context, or +by the first sound or syllable.</p> + +<p>(<i>d</i>) By using the new powers of the letters as fast +as they are learned in interpreting new words.</p> + +<p>(<i>e</i>) By trying the different sounds of a letter to a +new word to see which seems to fit best.</p> + +<p>(<i>f</i>) By recognizing familiar words in new sentences +with a different context.</p> + +<p>(<i>g</i>) See that every child reads the sentences in the +new lesson for himself.</p> +</div> + +<p>3. There should be a gradual introduction to the +elementary sounds (powers of the letters).</p> + +<p>The first words analyzed should be simple and +phonetic in spelling, as <i>dog</i>, <i>hen</i>, <i>cat</i>, etc.</p> + +<p>New sounds of letters are taught as the children +need them in studying out new words.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 188]</span></p> + +<p>Very little attention needs to be given to learning +the names of the letters.</p> + +<p>There need be little use of diacritical markings in +early reading.</p> + +<p>4. Many of the new words will occur in connection +with the picture at the head of the lesson. Place +these on the board as they come up.</p> + +<p>If the teacher will weave these words into her conversation, +they will give the children little future trouble.</p> + +<p>5. All the different phases of the phonic, word, and +sentence method should be woven together by a skilful +teacher.</p> + +<p>6. The close attention of all the members of the +class, so that each reads through the whole lesson, +should be an ever-present aim of the teacher.</p> + +<p>7. Children should be trained to grasp several +words at a glance:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>(<i>a</i>) By quick writing and erasure of words and +sentences at the board.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) By exposing for an instant sentences covered +by a screen.</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) By the use of phrases or short sentences on +cardboard.</p> + +<p>(<i>d</i>) By questions for group thought.</p> +</div> + +<p>These tests should increase in difficulty with growing +skill.</p> + +<p>8. Spend but little time in the oral reproduction of +stories. Practice in good reading and interpretation +is the main thing.<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 189]</span></p> + +<p>9. Children, from the first, should be encouraged +to articulate distinctly in oral reading. Let the +teacher begin at home.</p> + +<p>10. Let the teacher cultivate a pleasing tone of +voice, not loud or harsh. This will help the children +to the same.</p> + +<p>11. Vigorous and forcible expression is secured:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>(<i>a</i>) By having interesting stories.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) By apt questions to bring out the emphatic +thought.</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) By dramatizing the scenes of the story.</p> + +<p>(<i>d</i>) By occasional examples of lively reading by +the teacher.</p> + +<p>(<i>e</i>) By definiteness in questioning.</p> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 190]</span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h2><span class="smcap">List of Books for Primary Grades</span></h2> + + +<p>In selecting reading books for primary grades the +purpose is to find those which will give the readiest +mastery of the printed forms of speech.</p> + +<p>For this purpose books need to be well graded and +interesting. Primary teachers have expended their +utmost skill upon such simple, attractive, and interesting +books for children. Pictorial illustration has +added to the clearness and beauty of the books, so +that, with the rivalry of many large publishing +houses, we now have a great variety of good primary +books to select from.</p> + +<p>The earliest and simplest of these are the primers, +which, followed by the first readers, give the most +necessary drills upon the forms of easy words and +sentences. Great care has been taken to give an +easy regular grading so as to let a child help himself +as much as possible. But as soon as children, by +blackboard exercises and by means of primers, +have gained a mastery of the simpler words and the +powers of the letters, the Mother Goose rhymes, the +fables and fairy tales (already familiar to the children<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 191]</span> +in oral work) are introduced into their reading books +in the simplest possible forms.</p> + +<p>The use of interesting rhymes and stories in this early +reading is the only means of giving it a lively content +and of thus securing interest and concentration of +thought. Good primary teachers have been able in +this way to relieve the reading lessons of their tedium, +and, what is equally good, have strengthened the interest +of the children in the best literature of childhood.</p> + +<p>Besides the choicest fables and fairy tales, many +of the simpler nature myths and even such longer +poems and stories as "Hiawatha," "Robinson Crusoe," +and "Ulysses" have been used with happy results +as reading books in the first three years. There +are also certain collections of children's poems, such +as Stevenson's "Child's Garden of Verses," Field's +"Love-songs of Childhood," Sherman's "Little Folk +Lyrics," "Old Ballads in Prose," "The Listening +Child," and others, which may suggest the beauty and +variety of choice literary materials which are now +easily within the reach of teachers and children in +primary schools.</p> + +<p>There is no longer any doubt that little folk in +primary classes may reap the full benefit of a close +acquaintance with these favorite songs, stories, and +poems, and that in the highest educative sense the +effect is admirable.</p> + +<p>In the following list the books for each grade are +arranged into three groups:<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 192]</span>—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><i>First.</i> A series of choicest books and those extensively +used and well adapted for the grade as regular +reading exercises.</p> + +<p><i>Second.</i> A supplementary list of similar quality +and excellence, but somewhat more difficult.</p> + +<p>They may, in some cases, serve as substitutes for +those given in the first group.</p> + +<p><i>Third.</i> A collection of books for teachers, partly +similar in character to those mentioned in the two +previous groups and partly of a much wider, professional +range in literature, history, and nature. Some +books of child-study, psychology, and pedagogy are +also included. The problems of the primary teacher +are no longer limited to the small drills and exercises +in spelling and reading, but comprehend many of the +most interesting and far-reaching questions of education. +It is well, therefore, for the primary teacher to +become acquainted not only with the great works of +literature but with the best professional books in +education.</p> +</div> + +<h3>LIST OF CHOICE READING MATTER FOR +THE GRADES</h3> + +<h4>FIRST GRADE—FIRST SERIES</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +Cyr's Primer. Ginn & Co.<br /> +Cyr's First Reader. Ginn & Co.<br /> +Riverside Primer and First Reader. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Nature Stories for Young Readers (Plants), D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> +Hiawatha Primer. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 193]</span>Stepping Stones to Literature, Book I. Silver, Burdett, & Co.<br /> +Child Life Primer. The Macmillan Co.<br /> +Taylor's First Reader. Werner School Book Co.<br /> +Arnold's Primer. Silver, Burdett, & Co.<br /> +The Thought Reader. Ginn & Co.<br /> +Sunbonnet Babies. Rand, McNally, & Co.<br /> +Nature's By-ways. The Morse Co.<br /> +Graded Classics, No. I. B. F. Johnson Pub. Co.<br /> +Graded Literature, No. I. Maynard, Merrill, & Co.<br /> +First Reader (Hodskins). Ginn & Co.<br /> +Baldwin's Primer (Kirk). American Book Co.<br /> +</p></div> + + +<h4>FIRST GRADE—SECOND SERIES</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +Six Nursery Classics (O'Shea). D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> +Verse and Prose for Beginners in Reading. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Stories for Children. American Book Co.<br /> +Rhymes and Fables. University Publishing Co.<br /> +The Finch First Reader. Ginn & Co.<br /> +Baldwin's First Reader. American Book Co.<br /> +Heart of Oak, No. 1. D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> +Choice Literature, Book I (Williams). Butler, Sheldon, & Co.<br /> +Child Life, First Book. The Macmillan Co.<br /> +Fables and Rhymes for Beginners. Ginn & Co.<br /> +</p></div> + + +<h4>FIRST GRADE—FOR TEACHERS—THIRD SERIES</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +A Book of Nursery Rhymes (Mother Goose). D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> +The Adventures of a Brownie. Harper & Bros.<br /> +Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks (Wiltse). Ginn & Co.<br /> +Talks for Kindergarten and Primary Schools (Wiltse). Ginn & Co.<br /> +Hall's How to Teach Reading. D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> +Place of the Story in Early Education (Wiltse). Ginn & Co.<br /> +Methods of Teaching Reading (Branson). D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 194]</span>Lowell's Books and Libraries. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Ruskin's Books and Reading. In Sesame and Lilies.<br /> +Lectures to Kindergartners (Peabody). D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> +Mother Goose (Denslow). McClure, Phillips, & Co.<br /> +Boston Collection of Kindergarten Stories. J. L. Hammett & Co.<br /> +The Study of Children and their School Training (Warner). The Macmillan Co.<br /> +The Story Hour (Kate Douglas Wiggin). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Trumpet and Drum (Eugene Field). Scribner's Sons.<br /> +A Child's Garden of Verses (Robert Louis Stevenson). Scribner's Sons.<br /> +Treetops and Meadows. The Public School Publishing Co., loomington, Ill.<br /> +Songs from the Nest (Emily Huntington Miller). Kindergarten Literature Co.<br /> +The Moral Instruction of Children (Felix Adler). D. Appleton & Co.<br /> +Children's Rights (Kate Douglas Wiggin). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +The Story of Patsy (Wiggin). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +First Book of Birds (Miller). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +</p></div> + + +<h4>SECOND GRADE—FIRST SERIES</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +Nature Stories for Young Readers (continued). D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> +Easy Steps for Little Feet. American Book Co.<br /> +Classic Stories for Little Ones. Public School Publishing Co., Bloomington, Ill.<br /> +Verse and Prose for Beginners. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Cyr's Second Reader. Ginn & Co.<br /> +Stepping Stones to Literature, Book II.<br /> +Pets and Companions (Stickney). Ginn & Co.<br /> +Child Life, Second Book. The Macmillan Co.<br /> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 195]</span>Nature Myths and Stories for Little Ones (Cooke). A. Flanagan & Co.<br /> +</p></div> + +<p class="center">The preceding books are for second and third grades.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +Around the World, Book I. The Morse Co.<br /> +Graded Classics, No. II. B. F. Johnson Publishing Co.<br /> +Graded Literature, No. II. Maynard, Merrill, & Co.<br /> +A Book of Nursery Rhymes (Welsh). D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> +Book of Nature Myths (Holbrook). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +</p></div> + + +<h4>SECOND GRADE—SECOND SERIES</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +Heart of Oak, No. II. D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> +German Fairy Tales (Grimm). Maynard, Merrill, & Co.<br /> +Fables and Folk Lore (Scudder). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Nature Stories for Young Readers—Animals. D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> +Danish Fairy Tales (Andersen). Maynard, Merrill, & Co.<br /> +Baldwin's Second Reader. American Book Co.<br /> +Choice Literature, Book II (Williams). Butler, Sheldon, & Co.<br /> +Fairy Tale and Fable (Thompson). The Morse Co.<br /> +Fairy Stories and Fables (Baldwin). American Book Co.<br /> +Plant Babies and Their Cradles. Educational Publishing Co.<br /> +Æsop's Fables. Educational Publishing Co.<br /> +Story Reader. American Book Co.<br /> +Open Sesame, Part I. Ginn & Co.<br /> +</p></div> + +<p class="center">The above are excellent selections for second, third, and fourth +grades.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +Songs and Stories. University Publishing Co.<br /> +Love Songs of Childhood (Field). Scribner's Sons.<br /> +</p></div> + + +<h4>SECOND GRADE—FOR TEACHERS</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +Poetry for Children (Eliot). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +The Story Hour (Wiggin). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Story of Hiawatha. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Round the Year in Myth and Song (Holbrook). American Book Co.<br /> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 196]</span>Old Ballads in Prose (Tappan). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +St. Nicholas Christmas Book. Century Co., New York.<br /> +Asgard Stories (Foster-Cummings). Silver, Burdett, & Co.<br /> +Fairy Tale Plays and How to Act Them (Mrs. Bell). Longmans, Green, & Co.<br /> +Little Folk Lyrics (Sherman). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Readings in Folk Lore (Skinner). American Book Co.<br /> +Nature Pictures by American Poets. The Macmillan Co.<br /> +Squirrels and Other Fur-bearers (Burroughs). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Seven Great American Poets (Hart). Silver, Burdett, & Co.<br /> +Early Training of Children (Malleson). D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> +Comenius's The School of Infancy. D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> +Krüsi's Life of Pestalozzi. American Book Co.<br /> +Development of the Child (Oppenheim). The Macmillan Co.<br /> +The Study of Child Nature (Elizabeth Harrison). Published by +Chicago Kindergarten College.<br /> +Listening Child (Thatcher). The Macmillan Co.<br /> +History and Literature (Rice). A. Flanagan & Co.<br /> +</p></div> + + +<h4>THIRD GRADE—FIRST SERIES</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +Robinson Crusoe. Public School Publishing Co.<br /> +Golden Book of Choice Reading. American Book Co.<br /> +Æsop's Fables (Stickney). Ginn & Co.<br /> +Andersen's Fairy Tales, Part I. Ginn & Co.<br /> +Seven Little Sisters. Ginn & Co.<br /> +Heart of Oak, No. II. D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> +Fairy Stories and Fables. American Book Co.<br /> +Child Life, Third Reader. The Macmillan Co.<br /> +Grimm's German Household Tales. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Fables (published as leaflets). C. M. Parker, Taylorville, Ill.<br /> +Around the World, Book II. The Morse Co.<br /> +Graded Classics, No. III. B. F. Johnson Publishing Co.<br /> +Graded Literature, No. III. Maynard, Merrill, & Co.<br /> +Grimm's Fairy Tales. Educational Publishing Co.<br /> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 197]</span>Grimm's Fairy Tales (Wiltse). Ginn & Co.<br /> +Nature Myths and Stories for Little Ones (Cooke). A. Flanagan & Co.<br /> +Fairy Tales in Verse and Prose (Rolfe). American Book Co.<br /> +</p></div> + + +<h4>THIRD GRADE—SECOND SERIES</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +Arabian Nights. Houghton, Mifflin. & Co.<br /> +Hans Andersen's Stories. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Fairy Tales in Verse and Prose (Rolfe). Harper & Bros.<br /> +Stories Mother Nature Told Her Children. Ginn & Co.<br /> +Andersen's Fairy Tales, Part II. Ginn & Co.<br /> +Open Sesame, Part I. Ginn & Co.<br /> +Judd's Classic Myths.<br /> +Grimm's Fairy Tales, Part II. Ginn & Co.<br /> +The Eugene Field Book (Burt). Scribner's Sons.<br /> +A Child's Garden of Verses. Rand, McNally, & Co.<br /> +Little Lame Prince (Craik). Maynard, Merrill, & Co.<br /> +Prose and Verse for Children (Pyle). American Book Co.<br /> +Book of Tales. American Book Co.<br /> +</p></div> + + +<h4>THIRD GRADE—FOR TEACHERS</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +Stories from the History of Rome. The Macmillan Co.<br /> +Friends and Helpers (Eddy). Ginn & Co.<br /> +Little Lucy's Wonderful Globe (Yonge). The Macmillan Co.<br /> +Robinson Crusoe. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Arabian Nights, Aladdin, etc. Maynard, Merrill, & Co.<br /> +Bird's Christmas Carol (Wiggin). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Uncle Remus (Harris). D. Appleton & Co.<br /> +Fifty Famous Stories Retold (Baldwin). American Book Co.<br /> +Four Great Americans (Baldwin). Werner School Book Co.<br /> +Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans (Eggleston). American Book Co.<br /> +The Story of Lincoln (Cavens). Public School Publishing Co.<br /> +Among the Farmyard People (Pierson). E. P. Dutton & Co.<br /> +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 198]</span>The Howells Story Book (Burt). Scribner's Sons.<br /> +The Jungle Book (Kipling). Century Co., New York.<br /> +Old Norse Stories (Bradish). American Book Co.<br /> +Little Brothers of the Air (Miller). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Hans Brinker (Mary Mapes Dodge). Century Co.<br /> +Black Beauty. University Publishing Co.<br /> +Tanglewood Tales (Hawthorne). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Wonder Book (Hawthorne). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +The Story of the Wagner Opera. Scribner's Sons.<br /> +Thoughts on Education (Locke). The Macmillan Co.<br /> +The Education of Man (Froebel). D. Appleton & Co.<br /> +Childhood in Literature and Art (Scudder). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.<br /> +Waymarks for Teachers (Arnold). Silver, Burdett, & Co.<br /> +Hailman's History of Pedagogy. American Book Co.<br /> +</p></div> + + +<h4>SERIES OF SELECT READERS FOR THE +GRADES</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +Child Life. The Macmillan Co.<br /> +Around the World. The Morse Co.<br /> +Baldwin's Readers. American Book Co.<br /> +Graded Classics. B. F. Johnson Publishing Co.<br /> +Graded Literature. Maynard, Merrill, & Co.<br /> +Stepping Stones to Literature. Silver, Burdett, & Co.<br /> +Lights to Literature. Rand, McNally, & Co.<br /> +The Heart of Oak Series. D. C. Heath & Co.<br /> +Choice Literature. Butler, Sheldon, & Co.<br /> +</p></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="footnotes"> +<h3>FOOTNOTES</h3> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Wilmann, <i>Paedagogische Vorträge</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Moral Instruction of Children.</i> D. Appleton & Co.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Adler, <i>Moral Instruction of Children</i>, pp. 88-89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Introduction to Stickney's <i>Æsop's Fables</i>. Ginn & Co.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Wilmann, <i>Paedagogische Vorträge</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Jason's Quest</i> (Lowell), p. 55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> simple</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> First-class primary teachers claim that drills are unnecessary if the +teacher is skilful in recombining the old words in new sentences.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<h2>METHODS IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION</h2> + + +<p class="center"><b>A Series of Educational Books in Two Groups covering the General +Principles of Method and Its Special Applications to the +Common School</b><br /><br /> + +BY<br /><br /> + +CHARLES A. McMURRY, Ph.D.<br /> + +<i>Northern Illinois State Normal School, DeKalb, Illinois</i><br /><br /> + +WITH<br /><br /> + +F. M. McMURRY<br /> + +AS JOINT AUTHOR FOR METHOD OF RECITATION</p> + + + + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center"><br /> +<b>I. BOOKS OF GENERAL METHOD IN EDUCATION</b></p> + +<p>The three books in this group deal with the fundamental, comprehensive +principles of Education for the school as a whole, +and include both instruction and management.</p></div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center"><b>II. BOOKS OF SPECIAL METHOD IN COMMON SCHOOL +STUDIES.</b></p> +<p>Each school study is treated in a separate book, +and the selection and arrangement of material, and the method +of instruction appropriate to that study throughout its course, +are fully discussed. Illustrative lessons and extensive lists of +books of special value as helps to teachers and schools are +included.</p></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3><span class="u">GENERAL METHOD IN EDUCATION</span></h3> + +<p class="center"><b>THE ELEMENTS OF GENERAL METHOD</b><br /> + +BASED ON THE IDEAS OF HERBART<br /> + +By <span class="smcap">CHARLES A. McMURRY</span><br /><br /> + +New edition, revised and enlarged. Cloth. 12mo. 331 pp.<br /> +90 cents net, postage 10 cents</p> + +<p>This volume discusses fully the controlling principles of our progressive +modern education, such as The Aim of Education; The Materials +and Sources of Moral Training; The Relative Value of Studies in the +School Course; The Nature and Value of Interest as a Vital Element +in Instruction; The Correlation of Studies; Inductive and Deductive +Processes as Fundamental to All Thinking; Apperception, its Close +and Constant Application to the Process of Learning; The Will, its +Training and Function and its Close Relation to Other Forms of +Mental Action.</p> + +<p>The book closes with an account of Herbart and his disciples in +Germany, and a summary of their pronounced ideas and influence +upon education.</p> + +<hr /> +<p class="center"><b>THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION</b><br /> + +New edition, revised and enlarged<br /> + +By <span class="smcap">CHARLES A. McMURRY</span> and <span class="smcap">FRANK M. McMURRY</span><br /><br /> + +Cloth. 12mo. 339 pp. 90 cents net, postage 10 cents</p> + +<p>This book, as a whole, is designed to simplify, organize, and illustrate +the chief principles of class-room method in elementary schools. A few +important fundamental principles are carefully worked out as a basis. +The essential steps, in the acquisition of knowledge in all studies, are +worked out and applied to different branches. The developing method +of instruction so much used in the oral treatment of lessons is worked +out, and the method of careful and suitable questioning discussed.</p> + +<p>Two chapters are given, consisting of Illustrative Lessons selected +from the different studies and worked out in full, as examples of a right +method. In these examples, and also in the discussions, the application +of the principles of apperception, interest, induction, and deduction +to class-room work are shown. The peculiar application of these +various principles to different studies is carefully discussed.</p> + +<hr /> +<p class="center"><b>SCHOOL AND CLASS MANAGEMENT</b>—In Preparation</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><span class="u">SPECIAL METHOD IN COMMON SCHOOL STUDIES</span></h3> + +<p class="center"><b>SPECIAL METHOD IN THE READING OF COMPLETE +ENGLISH CLASSICS IN THE COMMON SCHOOLS</b><br /> + +By <span class="smcap">CHARLES A. McMURRY</span><br /><br /> + +Cloth. 12mo. 254 pp. 75 cents, postage 9 cents</p> + +<p>This discusses in a comprehensive way the regular reading lessons, +the choice of stories, poems, and longer masterpieces, adapted to the +needs of the various grades from the fourth to the eighth school year +inclusive; the value for school use of the best literature, including +complete masterpieces, both long and short; method in reading; and +principles of class-room work. A descriptive list of more than four +hundred books forms the last chapter. The list has been carefully +made, and is designed to assist teachers and superintendents in selecting +suitable reading material for the successive grades.</p> + +<hr /> +<p class="center"><b>SPECIAL METHOD IN PRIMARY READING AND +ORAL WORK IN STORY TELLING</b><br /> + +By <span class="smcap">CHARLES A. McMURRY</span><br /><br /> + +Cloth. 12mo. 75 cents net, postage 8 cents</p> + +<p>The relation of oral story work to early exercises in primary reading +is explained at length. A full discussion of oral methods in primary +grades and a detailed account of primary exercises in reading are given. +The use of games for incidental reading is also fully discussed and +illustrated.</p> + +<hr /> +<p class="center"><b>SPECIAL METHOD IN HISTORY</b><br /> + +By <span class="smcap">CHARLES A. McMURRY</span><br /><br /> + +NEW EDITION IN PREPARATION</p> + +<p>This book contains a course of study in history with a full discussion +of methods of treating topics. The value, selection, and arrangement +of historical materials for each grade are discussed, and illustrative +lessons given. The relation of history to geography, literature, and +other studies is treated, and lists of books suitable for each year are +supplied.</p> + + +<hr /> +<p class="center"><b>SPECIAL METHOD IN GEOGRAPHY</b><br /> + +By <span class="smcap">CHARLES A. McMURRY</span><br /><br /> + +NEW EDITION IN PREPARATION</p> + +<p>The entire course of study is laid out after a careful selection of +topics. Methods of class instruction are fully discussed, and illustrations +are given of geographical topics treated in detail. The close +relation of geography to other studies is shown, and the best lists of +books supplied.</p> + + +<hr /> +<p class="center"><b>SPECIAL METHOD IN NATURAL SCIENCE</b><br /> + +By <span class="smcap">CHARLES A. McMURRY</span><br /><br /> + +NEW EDITION IN PREPARATION</p> + +<p>The history of science teaching in elementary schools is given. The +basis for selecting the topics for a course of study, and the method of +class instruction suitable to object study, experimentation, etc., are fully +discussed. The book contains, also, a carefully selected list of the +best books for the use of teachers and pupils.</p> + +<hr /> +<p class="center"><b>A COURSE OF STUDY FOR THE EIGHT GRADES +OF THE COMMON SCHOOL</b><br /> + +IN PREPARATION</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center">THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br /> +66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Publisher"> +<tr><td align='left'>BOSTON</td><td align='left'>CHICAGO</td><td align='left'>ATLANTA</td><td align='left'>SAN FRANCISCO</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>100 Boylston St.</td><td align='left'>378-388 Wabash Ave.</td><td align='left'>Empire Build'g</td><td align='left'>319-325 Sansome St.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Special Method in Primary Reading and +Oral Work with Stories, by Charles Alexander McMurry + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPECIAL METHOD IN PRIMARY *** + +***** This file should be named 33923-h.htm or 33923-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/9/2/33923/ + +Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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