Interesting accounts were recently published in the _Herald_, _Sun_ and
other New York papers of Miss Georgene Faulkner’s story telling for
mothers and children at the Waldorf-Astoria, New York and St. Mary’s
Parish House, Brooklyn.
The story telling at the Waldorf-Astoria was given under the auspices
of Mrs. William Rogers Chapman, President of the Rubenstein Musical
Club, to an audience of fourteen hundred, of which about seven hundred
were children.
Miss Faulkner, in Mother Goose attire, told the children Mother Goose
stories, assisted by singers who presented ballads to accompany the
stories. Much to the amusement of the children, Miss Faulkner would
sometimes change the text of the Mother Goose rhymes, and the children
were not backward about crying out corrections of these errors. Miss
Faulkner would say:
“Jack and Jill went up the hill,
Like a dutiful son and daughter;
Now Jack is sick, and Jill is ill,
They did not boil the water.”
This would be greeted by a chorus of, “No, No, that isn’t the way it
goes!” and other exclamations.
Later, Miss Faulkner, in German costume, told the fairy story of
“Hansel and Gretel.”
The “Gingerbread Man,” otherwise known as “Johnny Cake” and “The Wee
Bunnock,” gave more pleasure to the children than any other story,
perhaps because it was accompanied by Gingerbread Men in neat boxes,
which were given to the children as souvenirs of the occasion.
Through the courtesy of Mrs. Chapman and with the assistance of Mrs.
Arthur Elliot Fish, one hundred crippled children, from the Industrial
School for Crippled Children, participated in the delights of the
“Mother Goose” matinee.
The story telling at St. Mary’s Parish House, was arranged primarily
for mothers, under the auspices of Miss Mabel McKinney, Superintendent
of the Kindergartens in the Borough of Brooklyn.
“What kind of a story,” said Miss Faulkner, “should the mother tell
to her children? Any good interesting story will lend itself to the
spoken narrative. Many mothers are so careless about what their
children read —thinking that almost any book which they get from the
library will answer the need. This is a great mistake. If the mother
will only take care to direct the young mind into the right channels
at the impressionable period she would lay a firm foundation on which
to build the future life of the child. Not only are many books from
Public Libraries pernicious, but from the Sunday-School Libraries as
well. Many mothers make a practice of filling the minds of their little
children with a hodge-podge of information, superstition, fear and
other ideas which have had a bad effect upon the children’s mind. They
think it makes little difference what they put into the child’s thought
so long as it is a story. In reality it makes all the difference in the
world.
“With the great storehouse of classical and folk-lore stories within
easy reach; stories of brave deeds well done; of self-sacrifice; of
love and duty and other high ideals, the mind of the child is easily
guided into channels of right thinking, and if mothers only realized
it more fully, it is in their power through the medium of these
stories to fill the little mind with ideals, which will have a most
important bearing through life in the development of character. Through
the simple art of story telling the mother possesses the key to the
hidden nature of the child if she could only be made to appreciate and
understand the value of the story influence.”
* * * * *
The Story Tellers’ League at the Alabama Girls’ Technical Institute,
Montevallo, is divided into chapters: The Poe Chapter; the Uncle Remus
Chapter, and the Wyche Chapter. The Poe Chapter deals with the Edgar
Allen Poe stories, Kipling, Hawthorne, and Irving, while the Uncle
Remus Chapter deals with the Arabian Nights, Robin Hood, Uncle Remus,
Folk and Fairy Tales. The Wyche Chapter deals with the Stories of King
Arthur; the Opera stories—Magic Flute, Hansel and Gretel; the Beowulf
Story, and Stories of Knighthood by J. H. Cox. The Chapters meet once
a week separately, throughout the school year, and occasionally they
have a joint meeting. The programme of the League as well as other
societies in the school are published by the Institute, and may be had
for the asking. The Story Tellers’ League, with its three chapters, has
a combined membership of one hundred and twenty-five, making it one of
the strongest organizations in the school. One Chapter of the League
devotes time to the playing of folk games at the recreation hour, in
the afternoon, on the lawn.