Stories are the “spice” of childhood. The eager delight with which
children beg for a story, and listen while it is told, is in itself a
plea for stories, and the routine of lessons should be broken up by
setting apart five or ten minutes between them for this pleasant
exercise.
USE OF STORIES.--In the first place, story-telling may be made the means
of helping the children to acquire familiarity with good English. We all
know how limited is the child’s vocabulary, and how difficult it is for
a child to express his thoughts. Sometimes when a fact is perfectly well
known, the language is wanting in which he can express it.
_Second_, the child’s sympathy may be cultivated and developed by means
of stories. He becomes intensely interested in the subject of the story,
and for the time being almost lives the incident over again in his own
little life.
A very little child was one day listening to a story about “A lazy boy
who missed a school picnic because he was so slow in getting ready. The
school children were all on board the steamer, the bell rang, the
moorings were loosed, and away went the boat just as the late little boy
came running down to the pier.”
The little listener followed the story intently up to this point, and
then burst out, “Oh! Auntie, couldn’t they get a little row-boat and
take him out to the steamer? I don’t like him to be left behind.”
Stories, then, enlist the sympathy of the child.
_Third._--Story-telling strengthens the child’s power of imagination.
But, be careful to develop the imagination in a right direction, and not
to feed it with anything coarse or cruel.
_Fourth._--The stories offer opportunity for inculcating moral truths
and sometimes it is possible to teach by stories truths that would be
difficult to teach in any other way.
KINDS OF STORIES.--(_a_) _Stories of Real Life_--of events which have
actually happened, or would be likely to happen. It is in this kind of
story that moral truths can be illustrated most frequently.
(_b_) _Fairy Tales._--Some people object to fairy tales, but innocent
fairy tales feed the imagination, and often point a moral. Stories of
horror and cruelty should never be recounted. Children soon learn to
take delight in this class of story, and as a consequence, their moral
tone deteriorates. Such stories as “Bluebeard” have this effect, but
“Cinderella,” “Sleeping Beauty,” and many others, show that right is
victorious in the end, and cannot have any bad effect on the children.
(_c_) _Stories of Nature._--Flowers, rocks, trees, and other objects in
nature may be made the subject of pleasant stories, interesting as a
fairy tale, and many important truths may be taught in this way. A story
of the kind is given as an example.
(_d_) _Stories for Very Little Ones._--These should be exceedingly
simple. A dog, a kitten, a bird, anything that comes into the life of a
little child, he is delighted to hear about. Many such stories are given
in the chapters on Numbers and Reading, and others will suggest
themselves to the teacher. They should all be told in baby language,
_i.e._, in language that the child can comprehend. Pictures often
suggest a story, which is all the more interesting for being thus
illustrated.
The children should sometimes be encouraged to tell what they can
remember of the story. In this way they learn to express themselves.
THE STORY-TELLER. (_a_) We have said before that the language should be
simple and easy to understand.
(_b_) The voice should be modulated, and the story-telling is much more
effective when gesticulations are used. The flying of birds, the
rustling of leaves, etc., should be accompanied by hand movements on the
part of the Teacher.
(_c_) The story-teller should be in sympathy with the subject of the
story, and also with the listeners, otherwise the interest will be lost.
(_d_) Just as pictures add interest to a story, so do illustrations on
the blackboard and these should be frequently given. Sometimes the
children may be allowed to draw for themselves objects which have been
mentioned in the story.
THE AFTER-EFFECT OF STORIES.--It is well to remember that the child’s
taste for reading is largely influenced by the class of stories told to
him in early life, and in these days of plentiful, cheap literature, how
important it is that the youthful mind should be trained to appreciate
that which is good.
If a child has learned to gloat over horrible stories, he will gratify
this morbid taste by reading ghastly tales as he grows older, and if, on
the other hand, he has learned to love stories that are simple and pure,
he will choose reading that is good and elevating.