Pass L ' Book Gipglit]^? /<:•? CQFXRIGHT DEPOSm Stories and Story-Telling IN Moral and Religious Education STORIES AND STORY-TELLING IN MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION REVISED EDITION By EDWARD PORTER ST. JOHN, A.M., Pd.M. Professor of Pedagogy in the Hartford School of Religious Pedagogy THE PILGRIM PRESS BOSTON CHICAGO Copyright 1910-1918 By Edward Porter St. John Enured at Stationers' Hall, London All rights reserved OCT 1 1 I9id ©aA50C153 TO ALL TEACHERS WHO ARE DISPOSED TO TAKE STORY -TELLING SERIOUSLY INTRODUCTION More and more, in these days, the leaders of educa- tional thought are coming to recognize the significance /^f nature's informal means of training her children. .Viodern psychology finds in natural play a more valu- able means of education than any pedagogical device ever formulated by a professional teacher, and points out that it is such because it is nature's own, because it leads to expression the mental and physical powers of the child and youth precisely as they mature, and in the exact ways that ages of racial experience have shown to be most valuable to man. So it begins to recognize in story-telling the earliest, the simplest, and so far as moral influence Is concerned, the most universally effect- ive means of impressing upon a new generation the les- sons that have been learned by those who have gone before. It has no charm of novelty, but it is only the shallow mind that discredits the old because it is old. Nature is chief of all conservatives. The things that had large influence in shaping man's individual nature or his social customs she never wholly discards. Man's old- est possessions are the really indispensable ones. The traits that served the race in its infancy arc the ones that mark the unfolding life of every child, and though they may withdraw themselves from casual notice dur- ing the active years of maturity the fact that they again force themselves into prominence in old age and are the last to fail in the final dissolution is evi- [ vii ] INTRODUCTION dence that, unnoticed, they have served their purpose during the intervening years. Such a place as this story-telHng has in the education of the race. Long before teachers or text-books appeared instruction v^^as given in story form to the children v^rho gathered about the mother's knee. Youths, grouped about their elders before the evening camp-fire, thrilled to the story of old deeds of valor and braced their souls to vie with the heroes who had won the admiration of their fathers' fathers. Modern mothers, not knowing why they do it, use the same magic to gain the same ends. The great German prophet of childhood gave the story a large and honored place in the rarely wise and successful institution which he founded. From time to time prophet and sage, preacher and statesman have made it their tool for the shaping of human conduct and character. So instinct and genius have made it their method in the past. Now, perhaps more consciously and thoughtfully than ever before, teachers are seeking to make it a part of their equipment. In the field of moral and religious education this movement is beginning to be felt, yet not as deeply or as widely as it should be. The Sunday- school, our special institution for moral and religious culture, has not made as large use of the method as has the home and the public school (at least in the kinder- garten), and in all three of these institutions what has been attempted has been chiefly with the younger chil- dren. With such it is almost the only method to be used. With the older pupils other means of influence are avail- able, but this one never loses its power if it be used with tactful adaptation to changing interests and motives. It has its large place in dealing with the adolescent, and with the adult as well. These brief chapters have been prepared with the [ viii ] INTRODUCTION desire to aid parents, teachers, and workers in settle- ments, vacation schools, and less formal agencies of moral education who are as yet unskilled in the use of stories. The instruction given is designedly elementary in its nature, and always keeps in mind the aim of character- building. The plans suggested are offered with less of diffidence because they have been tested in the class- room for a number of years with satisfactory results. More than a few, some of whom had never attempted to tell a story, have under their guidance developed un- usual skill as story-tellers, both as entertainers and as teachers. The writer has sought to acquaint himself with the readily accessible literature of the subject and with the desire to be helpful rather than to be original has availed himself of helpful suggestions wherever he found them. He desires especially to mention his personal indebtedness to Dr. Walter L. Hervey's Picture Work. The fact that no adequate discussion of the use of stories for purposes of moral and religious education has yet appeared is sufficient justification of the present modest effort. The chapters may be read in a few hours, and it is hoped not wholly without profit to those who have al- ready served their apprenticeship. To those who use the book in that way the writer offers no apology for hints at the close of each chapter which savor of the text- book; for beginners, for whom it is especially designed, can not afford to omit study and persistent practise. Since story-telling always implies an audience, co- operative work will be especially helpful. A teacher- training class or a story club will afford opportunity for mutual observation and criticism and for discussion and exchange of story material, and will multiply the value of study of the book. One of the best means of [ix] INTRODUCTION securing such an opportunity is through the organization of a local branch of the National Story-Tellers' League, information concerning which may be obtained by addressing The Story Tellers' Magazine which is pub- lished at the office of the League, 27 West 23 rd St., New York City. In such groups parents, Sunday-school and public school teachers, kindergartners, and young people often unite with advantage to all. After the first meetings, which should be made as easy as possible for the begin- ners, programs may be arranged which will lead the mem- bers into new fields and enlarge their repertories as their skill increases. In such a scheme successive meetings might be devoted, for example, to modern fairy-tales, hero stories, Norse myths, folk-tales of the East, Christ- mas stories, myths and folk-tales of the American In- dians, humorous stories, love stories, stories of the medieval saints, Thanksgiving stories, animal stories, fables, stories from history, etc. The interests of the members would determine the selection of the topics and their grouping in an orderly way. In every group so formed the writer wishes that he might have a listener's place. [x] CONTENTS I. The Educational Value of the Story . i II. What a Story Really Is 8 III. The Use of Idealistic Stories . . . i6 IV. Realistic Stories and How to Use Them . 24 V. Some Vital Characteristics of Good Stories 32 VI. Some Tricks of the Story - Teller's Trade 40 VII. Learning to Tell a Story .... 48 VIII. The Story - Interests of Childhood . . 54 IX. The Story - Interests of Early Adolescence 63 X. The Story - Interests of Later Adolescence 70 XI. How to Use Stories 78 XII. The Sources of the Story's Power . . 86 XIII. Where to Find Stories 93 The child's thirst for stories y — has it no significance y and does it not lay a responsibility upon us ? Walter L. Hervey. Stories and Story- Telling IN Moral and Religious Education CHAPTER I THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE STORY All the world loves a story, but, after all, few have' learned to take story-telling seriously. Every heart responds to the charm of a well-told tale, but even among teachers comparatively few have realized that usually there are moral forces among those feelings that are stirred. When stories have been told for any purpose beyond that of mere entertainment, commonly it has been as the first step in Hterary training, or simply to call back the wandering attention of the pupil to a lesson that is essentially dull. Still, such stories as have been \ased have had their secret influence, and character has been shaped for good or ill. In every age, however, really great teachers who have had character-building as a conscious aim have known the value of the story and have made it a most effective means of shaping the Hves of both old and young. Jesus, Plutarch, the monks of the Middle Ages, Froebel, and the kinder- gartners of to-day have not failed of accomplishing their aim. " Good story-telling is the best intellectual quali- fication of the teacher," our greatest educationist has said. If he had the teacher of children in mind there is no exaggeration. Of the teacher of youth and of the [ I ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING average of adults it is almost equally true, so far as moral influence is concerned. The very origin of story-telling was in the teaching impulse. Its chief significance throughout the long past of primitive life, when it v^^as almost the only form of literature, was certainly educational. Events which were fraught with meaning were kept alive in memory and handed down from one generation to another that they might help to shape the life of youth. In this way men gave the warning of the certain penalty which nature inflicts upon those who break her laws. So they sought to stir the sleeping spirit of hero-worship and aspiration. Aside from purely unconscious imitation the story is almost the only pedagogical means used by primitive men. And as we trace the development of human culture we find that it does not lose its place in the higher stages. Every race has its heritage of folk-tales and myths that have a far larger meaning than the mere enter- tainment of the young. Scientists study these stories of the past with painstaking care, because they reveal the genius of the people. Not only do they reflect the ideals which have shaped the social and religious Hfe. but they have shaped those ideals and have given them form and power. As factors in molding character the stories of the gods are not less important than the rites of worship. China, India, Arabia, Japan, honored the story- teller: they felt his charm and were molded by his magic. For centuries the stories of Homer formed the only literary content of education among the Greeks, and they kept their place through the succeeding years of a culture that we hardly equal to-day. When Roman education was at its best, stories of their national heroes and statesmen such as we find in Plutarch's Lives formed [ 3 ] EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE STORY one of the most important parts of the curriculum. How largely the Hebrew life was shaped by story a glance at the Old Testament will reveal. All the long line of skalds, jongleurs, and bards of the European peoples were story-tellers in the truest sense. All their songs were of the ballad-epic type. Music and verse were the adornments of the tale, and indeed served a more practical purpose than that, as they were an aid to memory before the songs were committed to writing — a device which many of us remember from the days when we sang the multiplication tables in the arithmetic class or the Palestine geography song in the Sunday-school. The minnesingers and troubadours sang chiefly of love and with them versification and music came to receive more emphasis. On the other hand the minstrels of the age of chivalry with their songs of noble deeds were honored for their influence upon character, and had a recognized place in the educa- tional system of feudahsm. In our own days and among our own people the story still manifests its power. In more lines than one Dickens was most eff'ectively a reformer. Uncle Tom's Cabin outweighed in influence thousands of sermons and tens of thousands of pages of antislavery tracts a generation ago. Ramona and Black Beauty have not been without their practical influence. Who will dare to say that all the books on ethics have influenced American life as much as the product of the novelist's pen ? From the very first the Christian Church has utilized this power. The stories of the Gospels have done in- finitely more to influence the lives of men than all the books of systematic theology that the Church has pro- duced in twenty centuries of time. The stories of the saints that arose during the Middle Ages were not with- out their meaning and their power. In the midst of bar- [ 3 ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING ren asceticism and scholastic wrangling they kept simple faith alive and stirred the longing for fellowship with God. The preachers of our own day who have had wide- spread popular influence have been those who have not scorned the story-teller's art. No one forgets the stories of a Moody, a Talmage, or a Spurgeon, and thousands have been unable to close their hearts against the mes- sages that those stories brought. Jesus was a master story-teller. He did not invent the parable; the rabbis used it constantly; but so skilful was his use of this device that in our thought it is asso- ciated almost wholly with his name. As we shall see, his stories were marvels of perfection both in form and use. When we study them we do not wonder that the common people heard him gladly. It is not strange that the stories impressed his followers so strongly that many of them found place in the record of his life and teaching. Nor was it only for those throngs that followed him among the hills of Palestine that those stories were voiced. Most of us feel that we have gained our clearest and most impressive knowledge of his teachings from those parables or from the simple account of his life which is The Story of the Gospels. When we wish to minister to a needy heart we commonly turn to that story of his life or to one of those other stones that he told. In other ways our own attitude toward the Bible is significant. A test as to the extent to which the content of the book has impressed itself upon the average mem- ber of the Sunday-school will give telling evidence. Ex- amine any class, old or young, on the concrete content and moral teaching of the book of Genesis; then repeat the test with the prophecy of Jeremiah. Or test the knowl- edge of I Samuel as compared with that of Isaiah or Colossians. The fact that many more of our Sunday- school lessons have been chosen from the historical than [ 4 ] EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE STORY from the prophetical or doctrinal books does not weaken the evidence, for that fact must be explained. Few would contend that the moral and religious teachings of Genesis and i Samuel are higher than those of the prophets and apostles. More lessons are chosen from those books because they contain more material of real educational value for the average mind. They are full of stories. The very fact of their selection is a strong, if unconscious, tribute to the value of the story as a peda- gogical device. The loss of a love for stories may be the result of so- phistication, but it is not an evidence of wisdom. To feel contempt for their use reveals ignorance of the art of education. The conscientious teacher will hardly be content to say, " I cannot tell a story.'' He will make himself a teller of tales. This is his duty and his oppor- tunity, and when he has mastered the simple art it will be his joy as well. WHAT OTHERS SAY Stories are the oldest form of transmitted culture, and the most formative. — Richard G. Moulton. The household story was the earliest ethical study in the edu- cational curriculum of the race. — Quoted by Nora Archibald Smith. Every fairy-tale worth reading at all is a remnant of a tradition possessing true historical value; historical at least in so far as it has naturally arisen out of the mind of a people under special circumstances, and risen not without meaning, nor removed altogether from the sphere of religious truth. — yohn Ruskin. The Pueblo child does not receive commands to do or to refrain from doing without the reason for the command being given in the form of a story, in which the given action is por- trayed with the good or evil resulting to the doer. — F. C. Spencer. [ 5 ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING The narrative which extends from Genesis to Esther is found, in its literary analysis, to be an alternation between two forms: a framework and connective tissue of history, with the high lights and spiritual essence of the whole given by brilliant stories. — Richard G. Moulton. I would rather be the children's story-teller than the queen's favorite or the king's counsellor. — Kate Douglas Wiggin. Let me tell the stories and I care not who writes the text- books. — G. Stanley Hall. HINTS FOR FIRST-HAND STUDY Consider what stories that you have heard or read have largely influenced your life. Do not overlook any whether long or short, whether fiction, biography, history, or the informal story of another life. Most stories that have deeply impressed you will be found to have had an appreciable influence. Ask your acquaintances for similar facts from their own experience. If you belong to a story-teller's league or to a club or class that is making a study of story-telling, discuss these facts freely. Notice how some stories that would now be re- jected because of literary imperfections were morally helpful to the members during their childhood. OUTLINE FOR STUDY OF THE TOPIC The value of the story attested by a. Its origin. b. Its use by many peoples. c. Its influence in social reforms. d. Its place in Christian teaching. e. Its use by Jesus. /. Its influence in our own lives. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING ON THIS TOPIC Sara Wiltse, The Story in Early Education^ pp. 1-3. G. Stanley Hall, Sunday-school and Bible Teachings Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. VHI, pp. 448-450. [ 6 ] EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE STORY Nora Archibald Smith, The Children of the Future, pp. 101-104. Ezra Allen, The Pedagogy of Myth in the Grades, Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. VIII, pp. 258-277. S. B, Haslett, The Pedagogical Bible School, pp. 241-244. William Byron Forbush, Manual of Stories, pp. 3-16. E. N. and G. E. Partridge, Story Telling in Home and School, pp. 3-23, 77-86, 117-147. Walter Taylor Field, Fingerposts to Children's Reading, pp. 9-36. Angela M. Keyes, Stories and Story Telling, pp. 4-12. t 7 1 CHAPTER II WHAT A STORY REALLY IS Nothing, one would think, is less in need of definition than a story; yet many fail of success in story-telling precisely because they do not know in what a story con- sists. Description and exposition are related literary forms with which the story is sometimes confused. Description deals chiefly with things, and seeks to give definiteness of impression by adding details to details. The story finds its material in events, and especially in action: it presents the movement as flowing toward one end and in its impression emphasizes the wholes of conduct. The purpose of exposition is to make clear by explana- tion. Accuracy and orderliness are the essential qualities. As in the case of description it lacks the consistent and unified action which characterizes the story. Both of these forms appear at times in the story, but always in a subordinate place. Sometimes substantially the same material may be presented in diff'erent literary forms. For example, the Twenty-third Psalm approaches description in its form, though it is expository in its nature. William Allen Knight's Song of Our Syrian Guest is an exposition of the psalm. Miss Cragin's Lost Lamb presents the same general material in story form. The very words suggest that history and story have much in common, but they are not the same. History [ 8 ] WHAT A STORY REALLY IS is a form of narrative, but it appeals especially to the sense of reality and of the connectedness of things. It is essentially a record of events that have an importance in themselves, and it makes much of their mutual relations and their causes and consequences. The story makes its appeal chiefly to the imagination and the feelings. Im- aginary events can never become history, but certain events of history may become story if they are so presented as to make their appeal to the feehngs. History suggests the clashing of nations, the progress of civilization, successive changes through long periods of time. The story implies unity, completion, and Hmitation to a comparatively narrov^ field. A story, then, may be said to be a narrative of true or imaginary events v^hich form a vitally related whole, so presented as to make its appeal chiefly to the emotions rather than the intellect. Each one of these character- istics, as w^e shall see, contributes directly to the pov^er of the story as an educational device. A closer analysis of the Hterary form that the story takes reveals certain essential elements that are common to every tale. All successful story-tellers, though they may be untrained, recognize them, and consciously or unconsciously observe certain rules in connection v^ith their use. Only as the teacher conforms to these natural requirements can he effectively use the story as a means to an end in moral education. Hov^ever strong he may be in argument or exposition, if he does not appreciate these fundamental characteristics of the story, he is at as great a disadvantage as the w^orkman v^ho knov^^s the qualities of no metals save copper and lead when he is asked to shape a tool from steel. In every story provision must be made for four ele- ments: the beginning, a succession of events, the climax, and the end. Each serves its peculiar purpose, and that [ 9 ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING it may do it effectively must be shaped with that end in view. Every story of necessity has a beginning; but though it cannot be omitted it may easily be bungled. And it is as true of story-telling as of racing that a bad start often means a handicap that cannot be overcome. It is be- cause so few persons consider the way a story begins a matter of importance that so many fail at just this point. The beginning of a story corresponds to the formal step of preparation in teaching a lesson. Its function is in part to introduce and characterize the leading person or persons, and sometimes to provide a back- ground for the action. But aside from this preparation for the facts of the story it is especially desirable that It should arouse interest, and often it adds much to the story's power if it gives a hint of the line of thought that is to be developed, or if it awakens the kind of feeling that the denouement is to stir. One invariable rule may guide the novice here, — the shorter this introductory step, the better, provided it accomplishes its purpose. Long explanations are tire- some, especially when they are given before there is anything to explain. We all remember how we used to omit not only the preface and introduction, but as well the opening chapters of certain historical novels. If our custom has changed, it is because we seek more than the story now. Let us not forget that the writer gives his audience an option here that one who tells his stories cannot. It is safest to assume that the story is what the hearer wants. In our youthful days we sometimes found stories of another sort. How we delighted in those that plunged us at once into the midst of excitement and mystery, and allowed us to gather by the way as much of explana- [ lO ] WHAT A STORY REALLY IS tion as the progress of the story demanded ! These are better models. In such stories as the teacher uses it is commonly best to begin where the story does. Much that is usually given in the form of introduction may better be conveyed by the use of adjectives and qualifying phrases or bits of description introduced in connection v^ith the action of the story. If it is not pos- sible to depend upon this method alone, a very few sen- tences will usually suffice for the introductory matter if the step has been thoughtfully planned. The sequence of events presents the movement of the story toward the climax which gives meaning to the whole. The great essential is that it shall be orderly, presenting the necessary facts step by step, and pre- paring for the climax without revealing it in advance. Here the beginner is often at fault. The story seems to be progressing smoothly when suddenly with evident confusion the narrator says, "Oh, I forgot to tell you," etc. The loss is not simply in artistic effect. Attention is directed to this particular item; it is evident that it is essential, and at once the hearer attempts to foresee the end. Whether the attempt is successful or not there is a distraction of attention and much of the force of the story is lost. The climax is that which makes the story; for it all that precedes has prepared the way. It is the point upon which interest focuses. If a moral lesson is conveyed, it is here that it is enforced. Hence failure here means total failure. The reason why the "good story" sometimes seems so dull when it is related by an appreciative hearer is that he has missed the point in retelling it. It is for this that the story exists, and skill in dealing with it counts more for success than at any other point. In each story the needs of the particular case will [ " ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING determine the mode of procedure, but some general hints may be given. The climax must not be missed, for without it there is no story. Whatever tends to obscure it or weaken its force lessens the story's power. Usually it is more impressive if there is something of surprise involved; with the humorous story this is absolutely essential. If the story is to leave a moral impression, the moral lesson must depend upon the cHmax itself. Important as the climax is, if one has the moral aim in view the way in which the story is to end needs careful consideration. First of all it should appear that the story has really arrived at the stopping place. Thus far event has succeeded event, and the outcome has been in doubt. Until the final issue of a course of conduct appears, no effective moral lesson can be based upon it. Again, while the attention is centered on an unsolved problem there can be no meditation on what has gone before. The nickel novel that closes with the hero cling- ing to a snapping branch that extends over a precipice two hundred feet in height does not defeat its purpose, for the aim is to sell another book; but if one would have a story teach a lesson, the mind must be left at rest, ready to turn back and think again of the deeper meaning of the tale. This ending of a story, however, must not be confused with the appending of a '* moral " : that would serve to put an end to the interest of the hearer rather than to the action of the tale. Every good model enforces the rule that is indicated above. The fairy-tale ends with the classic phrase, " And they lived happily ever after." In the average novel it is when the villain dies and the hero wins his bride that the story ends. True, there may be a strenuous life awaiting the wedded pair, but " that is another story." Sometimes the amateur's story wanders on and on simply because he feels that it has not come to an end. [ 12] WHAT A STORY REALLY IS It is related that a child developed remarkable skill as a story-teller, except that she did not know how to stop. When the climax had been successfully passed she would add inconsequential details because, while she had nothing more to say, she felt that the story had not ended. At last she discovered an effectual way of bring- ing her stories to a close, and in future they ended with some such formula as this, — ** And one beautiful morning, as they were walking down the path to the front gate, they all died." Most of us have at times wished that certain of our acquaintances had as keen and true a sense of the fitness of things as this child. Teachers who lack this instinct can improve their work by thoughtfully planning the story's end. In a short story in which few characters appear the climax may itself form the fitting close, but often a sentence or two must be added to give the sense of completion that enables the story to do its work. To summarize, every good story must have a beginning that rouses interest, a succession of events that is orderly and complete, a climax that forms the story's point, and an end that leaves the mind at rest. Or, to put it in another way, the story has a here, action, a plot, and a solution. The power quickly and accurately to analyze a story into these essential elements is the most fundamental and the most important part of the story-teller's theoretical training. It offers the certain means of determining whether a story is worth telling at all. It makes its reten- tion by the memory a comparatively simple matter. It makes it easy to condense a story that is too long, and facilitates the successful expansion of one that is too brief. The importance of persistent drill in the perform- ing of this process can hardly be over-emphasized. [ 13 ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING WHAT OTHERS SAY The chief reason why some people cannot tell stories is because they have no story to tell. — Anna Buckland. Historical narrative, for instance, usually has an explanatory purpose; it does not merely recite certain events; it explains their sequence, their relations, their causes and effects. We read Robinson Crusoe or Ivanhoe or Mrs. Gaskell's Cranford or Stevenson's Treasure Island, not for information, but in order to be stirred or aroused. — Gardiner, Kittredge, and Arnold, Merely to string a series of incidents together is not to tell a story. Much of the effect of the story depends upon the group- ing of the incidents; the setting of the telling points in strong light and duly subordinating minor details. — Marvin R. Vincent, The essential thing in narrative is to make something happen. — Gardiner, Kitiredge, and Arnold. HINTS FOR FIRST-HAND STUDY Study carefully half a dozen or more of good stories, analyzing them to determine the essential elements as indicated above. First of all decide what forms the climax. It will be difficult for the beginner to do this in some cases, but he should persist. Discuss difficult points at the story club or with your friends. Note the series of events leading up to the climax. Could any of them be omitted ? Is this order necessary f Note the way in which the story is introduced and the way it ends. Could either beginning or ending be improved ? Practise on condens- ing stories without omitting any essential points. Write out some short story from memory and then compare your version with the original, as to the way in which these four elements are dealt with in each case. OUTLINE FOR STUDY OF THE TOPIC I. The story distinguished from a. Description. [ H] WHAT A STORY REALLY IS b. Exposition. c» History. 2. The elements of the story: a. The beginning. b. The action. c. The dimax. d. The end. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING ON THIS TOPIC Gardiner, Kittredge, and Arnold, Manual of Composition and Rhetoric^ pp. 5-78. Richard G. Moulton, The Art of Telling Bible Stories. Report of Second Convention of the ReUgious Education As- sociation, p. 26. Sara Cone Bryant, How to Tell Stories, pp. 57-82. Walter L. Hervey, Picture Work, pp. 3^35. William Byron Forbush, Manual of Stories, pp. 28-35. Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, For the Story Teller, pp. 41, 104. Numerous books on the technique of the short story offer valuable hints as to the significance and management of the story-elements. Among those most likely to be helpful to the teacher are those named below. Evelyn May Albright, The Short Story, The Macmillan Co., N.Y., 1913, pp. 260, 3.90. J. Berg Eisenwein, Writing the Short Story, Hinds, Noble & Eldredge,N.Y. 1908, pp. 441, 31.25. Studying the Short Story, 1912, pp. 438, same publisher and price. Charles Raymond Barrett, Short Story Writing, The Baker & Taylor Co., N. Y. 1900, pp. 257, 31.00. Walter B. Pitkin, Short Story Writing, The Macmillan Co., N.Y. 1912,31.25. Leslie W. Quirk, How to Write a Short Story, The Editor Co., Ridgewood, N. J. 1911, pp. 77, 3.50 [ 15 1 CHAPTER III THE USE OF IDEALISTIC STORIES The stones which we may use for purposes of moral and reHgious education may be grouped in two great classes, with several subdivisions under each. These classes may be distinguished as the idealistic and the realistic stories. The first group includes those that are recognized as imaginary in origin or which take liberties with facts, but which embody and set forth principles or truths; the second is made up of those that are or profess to be strictly conformed to fact. The two kinds of stories make their impressions upon the moral nature in somewhat different ways, and that they may be most helpful the distinction between them must be kept clearly in mind by the teacher and certain points must be guarded in the use of each. Because they are untrue to fact many of the first group are often considered unsuitable for use bythe teacher of morals, but a very little thoughtful consideration will show that they have great moral value, and that a large part of their special power is due to this very character- istic. The departure from prosaic and temporary fact is that the ideal and eternal truth may be more strongly emphasized. Events are related that could not possibly have happened, but it does not follow that the tale must have a vicious influence. Among the important forms of idealistic stories are fairy- and folk-tales, myths, legends, fables, and alle- [ i6] THE USE OF IDEALISTIC STORIES gories. Most of these have a moral content, and indeed a moral aim was usually responsible for their origin. The others should be discarded by the teacher of morals, or should be carefully edited with the moral aim in mind. Most fairy-tales and folk-tales, whether they are modern in origin or, as is true with most of the children's favorites, have come down to us from a very distant past, have this distinctly moral quality, which appears in the fact that virtue is rewarded and wrong-doing receives its punishment. This, the critic will object, is true of real life as well. So much may be granted, but we must remember that ** the mills of God grind slowly," and that frequently the child is unable to trace the relation between cause and effect in such cases. Nature's penalties are sure, but often one must wait a lifetime to see their completion, while sometimes it is upon the next generation that they fall most heavily. When the retribution falls it is often of a kind that the child or untutored adult cannot appreciate in advance. In fairy-land, on the other hand, penalty quickly follows offense, and is of a kind that strongly appeals to the motives that influence a child. Hence oftentimes a fairy-tale points a moral more effectively than a story drawn from real life. If there is a valid principle back of the lesson taught there is no danger of moral loss when the child reaches the critical age, unless the story has been presented as one of the realistic type. Children find as much pleasure in stories which they know are the product of another's fancy as they do in playthings which by the power of their own imagination they transform into something very different from what they are. A myth is in its origin an idea which has been clothed with a poetic garb of fiction. While it is an interpretation of some phenomenon of nature, it is an explanation in terms of human motives and hence has a moral content. [ 17 ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING It is an attempt at scientific explanation by those who are so unsophisticated as to attribute anthropomorphic personaHty and motives to all objects about them, which means that it is really a search for principles underlying human conduct. In this sphere the judgments passed are usually true and of real importance. There is a peculiar charm about the classic myths that gives them special teaching power. This is largely due to the fact that they appeal to those elemental feehngs which are common to all men, and which have the dominant place in the Hves of primitive races and of children. There is also a special picturesqueness and charm of form which they owe to the fact that they were long preserved in oral form before they were committed to waiting. Handed down for many centuries by word of mouth, filtered through the minds of scores of genera- tions, they have been subjected to a continual process of testing and elimination of elements that do not appeal to interest and conform to popular ethical standards until a certain measure of perfection of form and content has been attained. So great is the charm of the Greek myths, for example, and so strongly do they appeal to the interests of children and youth, that it is with real regret that many teachers have put them aside because of the moral imperfections of the gods and the polytheistic conceptions with which they are filled. They are right in putting the moral and religious results above all others that are involved, and, from the days of Plato on, many educators have felt the same necessity and have reached the same conclu- sion. But the rejection of all these stories is not as essen- tial as it seems at first thought. The elimination of such of the stories as cannot be so edited as to remove accounts of the grosser forms of immoraHty and to emphasize the fact that vice and virtue meet their certain rewards meets [ i8] THE USE OF IDEALISTIC STORIES the ethical requirement. The gods of the Greeks were only men of superhuman powers, and the stories of their Hves have the same educational values as others of the ideal type. The polytheistic element still remains as an objection on the side of religious education, but it may be readily overcome. One may introduce the myth by saying, ** You know, children, that our Father in heaven made the earth and everything about us, and that he takes care of us all. Many years ago there were people who had never heard of this; but when they looked out upon the beautiful world and saw the sun rising every morning, and the stars shining at night, and the flowers blooming, and the fruits ripening in the trees, they knew that some one must care for all of these. Since they did not know of the one great God who can do all things they thought that there must be one god for the sun and one for the stars, another for the flowers and still another for the fruits. I am going to tell you of some of the things that they thought these gods did." When one has finished the story he may add, " That is the way they told it long ago, but we know that it is really our Father in heaven who cares for all the creatures that he has made." So the thought of those old days may stir the simple religious feelings of the child — the wonder and love and dread and trust that he shares with the men of that early age — and that without giving him wrong conceptions of God. Fables are stories in which animals, plants, and even inanimate things are given the characteristics of men, that lessons of a moral or utilitarian character may be presented in interesting and telling form. They usually point out the weaknesses and foibles of men, and are chiefly of value for purposes of warning. In allegory there is always a meaning which lies be- [ 19] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING neath the surface of the story, and which is never ex- plicitly stated. Usually the story is longer and more involved than in the case of fable, and it appeals to more highly developed intellectual powers. It may be distin- guished from the fairy-tale, the myth, and the legend by the fact that throughout the tale there is a substitution of one thing for another. For example, a human quality or characteristic may be personified as in Pilgrirns^ Progress or George Macdonald's Lilith. Some fables^ and some modern fairy-tales might be classed with allegory. Legend is story which is based upon fact, but in which event or personality has been magnified in the process of oral transmission through long periods of time. This change is unconsciously made, and usually is the result of the tendency to emphasize really impor- tant facts or truths. Hence it is usually true that the fictitious element is associated with the real point of the story and serves to strengthen the high lights and deepen the shadows, thus making the story more effective for its teaching purpose — provided the teacher does not insist that it is a relation of fact. Legend helps to bridge the gap between the fairy-tale and real history, and to bring about the correlation of feeling and fact. Stories in which human thought and feeling have been attributed to the lives of the lower animals have been branded as " sham natural history," and have been severely attacked by men of scientific spirit. If these are told as realistic stories the criticism is well warranted both from the standpoint of natural history and from that of pedagogy. But if treated as fiction, if presented as fairy-tales and legends should be, they may serve a useful purpose in moral edu- cation, for they appeal to the spontaneous interests of childhood, and they awaken sympathies that tend to [20] THE USE OF IDEALISTIC STORIES guide the child's conduct not only toward these creatures but toward human beings as well. In all the cases cited above^ unless it be the last, it will be observed that the departure from fact has been with the conscious or unconscious aim to set forth a truth with greater emphasis. If tactfully used such stories need not be misleading. Even a child can realize that a story may be fictitious without being false. If *-old with emphasis upon their inner meaning, and with no insistence upon literal fact or correctness of detail, they will often carry their messages more effectively than exact records of the actual happenings of life. So the teacher may seek with confidence for valuable ma- terial among the stories of this class. The one essential for idealistic stories is not that they should be true, but that they should clearly and impres- sively set forth a truth. WHAT OTHERS SAY The story of the Ugly Duckling is much truer than many a statement of fact. — Sara Cone Bryant. There is no more deadly enemy to spiritual truth than prosaic literalness. — Louise Seymour Houghton. Fact is at best but a garment of truth which has ten thousand changes of raiment woven in the same loom. — George Macdon- ald. The genuine fairy-tale always represents, in the play of the imagination, a deep moral content; for its root is the poetic side of the mind, which clothes a higher truth in visible shapes and delivers it in the form of a story. — William Rein. It is not the gay forms that he meets in the fairy-tale which charm the child, but a spiritual, invisible truth lying far deeper. — Friedrich Froehel. The proper function of fancy in intellectual life is spirituality. Spiritual truths are hidden in the precious honey of stories. — Colonel Parker. [21 ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING There are grown-up people now who say that the (fairy) stories are not good for children because they are not true . . . and because people are killed in them, especially wicked giants. But probably you who read these stories know very well how much is true and how much is only make-believe, and I never yet heard of a child who killed a very tall man merely because Jack killed the giants. ... I am not afraid that you will be afraid of the magicians and dragons; besides you see that a really brave child was always their master, even in the height of their power. — Andrew Lang. The mere fact that a thing has existed for a thousand or two thousand years is not always proof that it is worth preserving. But the fact that after having been repeated for two thousand years a story still possesses a perfectly fresh attraction for a child of to-day, does indeed prove that there is in it something of im- perishable worth. — Felix Adler. The moral ideas inculcated by the fables are usually of a practical, worldly wisdom sort, not high ideals of moral quality, -Tiot 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 chil- dren. — Charles A. McMurray. 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 entire attention to be fixed on that one. — Felix Adler. HINTS FOR FIRST-HAND STUDY Select five of the most popular fairy-tales and carefully study their moral influence. If it is harmful note whether the harm can be eliminated without weakening the force of the story. Study one of the most interesting myths that you know with a view to its possible use with children. If it seems suitable, try it and note the effect. Study Hawthorne's Wonder Tales and Kingsley's Greek Heroes to aid in adaptation. Re-examine iEsop's fables and test their value with children and adults. Recall your attitude toward Pilgrim's Progress. At what [22 ] THE USE OF IDEALISTIC STORIES age was it most interesting? Did you at that time realize its allegorical meaning ? Study one or two of the legends of the saints and one or two of the King Arthur stories, and test their value with youth and adults. OUTLINE FOR STUDY OF THE TOPIC 1. The nature of idealistic stories. 2. The source of moral influence in a. The fairy-tale. b. The myth, c. The fable and allegory. d. The legend. 3. The danger point in the use of idealistic stories. 4. The one essential pedagogical requirement. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING ON THIS TOPIC Felix Adler, The Moral Instruction of Children, Chapters 6, 7, 8, and 10. Edward Howard Griggs, Moral Education, pp. 236-247. Anna Buckland, The Use of Stories in the Kindergarten, pp. 8-12. Sara Cone Bryant, How to Tell Stories, pp. 13-25. Alexander F. Chamberlain, Folk Lore in the Schools, Pedagogi- cal Seminary, Vol. VII, pp. 347-356. (Includes bibliog- raphy.) William Byron Forbush, Manual of Stories, pp. 87-110. Richard T. Wyche, Some Great Stories and Hozu to Tell Them, pp. 11-39. Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, For the Story Teller, pp. 212-230. E. N. and G. E. Partridge, Story Telling for Home and School, pp. 44-57, 61-64. Edna Lyman, Story Telling, pp. 174—225. Edwin S. Hartland, The Science of Fairy Tales, pp. 2-173, Walter Taylor Field, Fingerposts to Children's Reading, pp. 81-114. Julia Darrow Cowles, The Art of Story-Telling, pp. 15-75. [ 23 ] CHAPTER IV REALISTIC STORIES AND HOW TO USE THEM Stories from history and biogra.phy, personal reml- niscences,true stories of animals, and all others that profess to be accounts of actual happenings belong to this class. They have a special value because besides suggesting a principle they also indicate how it may receive specific application in life. The deeds of the Christian martyrs and of the modest heroes of every-day life have a certain power which is beyond that of the most beautiful myth. The story of what Jesus did means more than all the visions of all the prophets. It is only because we cannot always find true stories that enforce the desired lesson effectively that those which are the product of the imagi- nation are sometimes preferred. In these studies attention was directed to the idealistic stories first because they often furnish better examples of the story type. Because they are stories from the first, and only stories, they are less likely to be compHcated with other Hterary forms. The fact that our reahstic stories are often taken from history, biography, or natu- ral history tends to favor the retention of facts that are not of value for our use, or leads to undue emphasis upon what should have only an incidental or subordinate place. Hence we must carefully guard the selection of material in planning a story of this type. A narration of facts is not necessarily a story. Here, as with stories of the other type, there must be a beginning, a succession of [ 24 ] REALISTIC STORIES events, a climax, and an end. The facts must be so pre- sented as to make the appeal to the emotions; and es- pecially the unity of the story must be observed. One choice must be traced to its result, one act to its out- come, one germinal impulse to its fruition. Each life is compounded of a thousand elements that will never appear in just that combination again; hence no man can order his Hfe after another. But the story brings before the hearer one of the little entities v^hich make up the complex. Certain elements, common to all lives, are isolated that they may speak their message to every mind and heart. Separated from the many non- essential or less significant circumstances, the lesson of one slowly growing passion or one unconsidered deed stands clearly forth. Valuable as realistic stories are, if the really significant facts are emphasized and the non-essential elements are eliminated, there is one caution that the teacher of morals must always keep in mind when they are used. If such stories are to be effective, they must not only be true but must seem to be true. It is not the startling and unusual, but rather that which does not test credulity that IS impressive here. In the idealistic story, which does not pretend to be true, the wildest extravagances may really add to its effectiveness, but when a story which claims to be true stirs a doubt in the hearer's mind, that element of dis- trust tends to be carried over to the lesson which it is designed to impress. An illustration will be more con- vincing than many arguments. The author of a popular book on personal religion emphasizes the necessity of keeping heart and mind in touch with God if the life is to possess spiritual power. In presenting the thought he uses an illustration which describes a town in the arid region of Colorado. [ 25 ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING " Some enterprising citizens/* he says, " ran a pipe up the hills to a lake of clear, sweet water. As a result the town enjoyed a bountiful supply of water the year round without being dependent upon the doubtful rainfall. And the population increased and the place had quite a Western boom. One morning the housewives turned the water spigots, but no water came. . . . The men climbed the hill. There was the lake as full as ever. They examined around the pipes as well as possible, but could find no break. Try as they might they could find no cause for stoppage. And as the days grew into weeks, people commenced moving away again, the grass grew in the streets, and the prosperous town was going back to its old sleepy condition when one day one of the town oflft- cials received a note. It was poorly written, with bad spelling and grammar, but he never cared less about writing and grammar than just then. It said in effect: * Ef you'll jes' pull the plug out of the pipe about eight inches from the top you'll get all the water you want.' Up they started for the top of the hill, and examining the pipe, found the plug which some vicious tramp had in- serted. . . . Out came the plug; down came the water freely; by and by back came prosperity." Having read the illustration, analyze your own mental reaction to it. The message which the author is trying to teach is an important one, but many will feel that its force is greatly weakened by the way in which it is pre- sented. Every intelligent person knows that no town was ever abandoned for so trivial a reason — that within twenty-four hours such a difficulty would have been located and reHeved. This feeling that the author is vouching for a fiction, a sham, is naturally carried over from the illustration to the religious truth. Or, if this is not the case, there may be a subtler effect — a feeling that a writer who will use so unsuitable an illustration [ 26] REALISTIC STORIES has hardly mastered the truth himself, and so is not qualified as a teacher. Beside this put Jesus' illustration of the same truth: " As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches." The effective- ness of the latter illustration is not simply because it deals with facts; the stories of Dives and Lazarus and of the Prodigal Son are as effective whether they are bits of actual biography or not. The weakness of the first illustration is not because it is untrue, but because what is manifestly untrue is vouched for as fact. Much of this unfortunate effect would have been avoided had the writer used the incident as an idealistic story, that is, if he had introduced it by saying, '' They tell in the West a story which is exceedingly improbable, but which clearly illustrates my thought." So important is it that the realistic story should carry the air of reality that the teacher may sometimes be led to present as if it were imaginary a story which he knows to be true, or at least to ignore the question of his-' torical accuracy if it is doubted by the class. Surely it is folly to sacrifice the opportunity to enforce an important truth by insisting upon non-essential fact. A teacher may spend thirty-five minutes in attempting to demon- strate that the story of Jonah and the fish is of the realistic type, and still fail to convince his class. Another, ig- noring that question, may center attention on the rehg- ous significance of the story, and so enforce a lesson that is of the greatest importance to his pupils in their daily lives. Jesus' teachings in the twelfth chapter of Matthew and the eleventh chapter of Luke are just as clear and just as impressive to those who believe that the story of Jonah is a parable. It is in the realization of these differences in the nature [ 27 ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING and pedagogical use of idealistic and realistic stones that the teacher finds help toward the solution of the prob- lem of how to use the early Old Testament stories in the religious instruction of children, in view of the con- clusions of modern Biblical scholarship. So largely have the conclusions of historical Bible study become a part of the teaching of the pulpit, the theological seminaries, and influential religious papers, and so deeply have they entered into the thought of the Christian home that many a teacher finds real difficulty at this point. The subject is introduced here not to make a plea for any method of Bible study or for any conclusions that have been reached by any school of students, but to aid the teacher to a solution of the pedagogical problem that arises out of the situation as it is. Those who have no difficulties will find no help in the suggestions ofl^ered. The difficulty arises not simply because the miracu- lous appears in these stories, but grows out of the fact that in Babylonian, Chaldean, and other records appear versions of these same stories which long antedate the writing of the Old Testament. In these older versions there is a much lower moral tone, and polytheistic con- ceptions are universal, yet the correspondence is so close, both in content and form, that a common origin is im- plied. These facts, together with many discoveries as to the history of the peoples mentioned in the Biblical records, suggest an uncertainty as to just how we are to regard many of the Bible stories on their historical side. If they are presented as absolutely correct state- ments of fact, and later the child comes to doubt them, v/ill he not be likely to lose faith in the Bible as a message from God ? In fact, as we all know, this has often been the result. What shall the teacher do .? The best answer to the question would seem to be [ 28 ] REALISTIC STORIES found by a study of the aims and methods of those who first used these stories. From such investigation it at once appears that the Old Testament historical books were given their present form by prophets who had not a historical but a rehgious aim. Their primary purpose was not to teach facts concerning the development of the Hebrew nation — which facts of course they did not have at first hand — but to teach that God rules his world, and that he punishes sin and rewards righteous- ness. Reverent students tell us that these men used these stories for the same purpose that a modern preacher uses illustrations in his sermon, and that like the preacher of to-day they used both the accurate records of history and the traditions and stories that had been orally trans- mitted from a distant past. If these latter gave perverted ideas of God and goodness, they were purged of their immorality and made to conform to the prophet's ideal of God. The chief aim was not to record past events, but effectively to influence future conduct by revealing God's relations with men; their concern was not that they should be true in a narrowly literal sense — the prophet may not have known as to that — but that they should teach The Truth. The teacher's part is not necessarily to accept the findings of these students, and surely not to teach them to the child, but may we not say that it is to use the stories for this moral and religious aim ? If the child asks, *' Is this story true ? " he may, as Mrs. Houghton suggests, reply, " Never mind. What is the truth that it teaches ? " And if the child responds to the inner meaning of the fairy-tale, the myth, and the legend, surely he will to the message of these stories that prepared the way for the fuller revelation that came in the Christ. Having found the meaning of the message he will not be disturbed by new conjectures as to its form. Whether one believes [ 29 ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING in verbal inspiration or not, " the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." WHAT OTHERS SAY What man has done, man can do. — Old Proverb. Men will not suffer martyrdom for an abstraction. — Marvin R. Vincent. The Old Testament made the Hebrews a peculiar people, by developing in them a unique God-consciousness. It will do the same for the people of the United States when it is freed from overloading convention and unintelligent interpre- tation. — Louise Seymour Houghton. Their main purpose is to make an impression. This is the purpose of every story-teller, whether he be inspired or not inspired, and therefore, in all story-telling questions of fact fall into the background and questions of method take precedence. — Ibid. And this is the tragedy of the book of Jonah, that^ book which is made the means of one of the most sublime revelations of truth in the Old Testament should be known to most only for its connection with a whale. — George Adam Smith ( .?). Nature can take liberties with facts that art dare not. — E. Fo Andrews. HINTS FOR FIRST - HAND STUDY Consider the effect upon your mental attitude when a speaker describes an incident, of which you read long ago, as a recent personal experience; has this a bearing upon the question in hand .? When the story of Jonah is mentioned, what are the associations which it brings up .? Would they be the same if it had been commonly presented as an idealistic story ^ Select several of the parables of Jesus and try to decide whether or not they would be more impressive if you could know thr^t they were accurate descriptions of what Jesus had seen. Is there any advantage in the use of a realistic rather than an idealistic story if it does not directly suggest conduct which you desire [ 30 ] REALISTIC STORIES to secure in the hearer ? From this point of view compare the story of the Fall, of the capture of Jericho, and of Jonah and the fish with the stories of the boyhood of Jesus, of Jesus and the woman taken in sin, and the feast at the house of Simon. OUTLINE FOR STUDY OF THE TOPIC 1. ReaHstic Stories. a. The various kinds. h. Their special value. c. A danger to be guarded in their use. 2. The Old Testament Stories. a. Difficulties in connection with their use. h. Was the original use idealistic t c. If used in the idealistic way, will they accomplish their purpose .? SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING ON THIS TOPIC Anna Buckland, Uses of Stories in the KindergarteUy pp. 12-14, Louise Seymour Houghton, Telling Bible Stones. .William Byron Forbush, Manual of Stories, pp. 111-121. Richard T. Wyche, Some Great Stories and How to Tell Them, pp. 40-43. E. N. and G. E. Partridge, Story Telling j or Home and School, pp. 58-60. Edna Lyman, Story Telling, pp. 162—173. Walter Taylor Field, Fingerposts to Children's Reading, pp. 104-114,158-161. [31 1 CHAPTER V SOME VITAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD STORIES Careful study of good models is one of the best guides to success in the story-teller's art. A few hints may serve to aid the student to discover the sources of their strength. The more clearly these are defined the more easily vs^ill he make the method of their authors serve him in his work before his class. Among the qualities that give value to stories that of suggestiveness or meaning is among the most important. It is surely legitimate to tell stories simply to entertain, but when we test them from the point of view of the teacher of morals this is invariably the prime requisite. If we depend upon the story method in our teaching we must be sure that the story has a message for the learner and one that cannot be missed. It is not enough that it be capable of such an explanation or interpretation that a truth may be implied; the moral must be embedded — or better still, embodied — in the story itself. In the best stories the narrative and the lesson are so fully one that it is impossible to eliminate the last with- out destroying the story itself It is because of this that some stories have had such power to influence many gen- erations of men, and this explains how a single phrase serves to call up their whole significance. The words "sour grapes," "dog in the manger," "Damon and Pythias," and "the cross" would not be so laden vdth meaning if the teachings of the stories which they bring [32] CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD STORIES up had been only incidental, instead of the very essence of the stories themselves. Louise Seymour Houghton calls attention to the great superiority of moral influence in the stories of Genesis as compared with those of Judges, and explains it by showing that in the Pentateuch the old traditions have been so worked over that the moral lessons are a part of the stories themselves, while the author of Judges merely gave them a didactic setting. Henry van Dyke's prayer that he may never tag a moral to a tale or tell a story without a meaning may well be adopted by the teacher. To add a moral application to a story is as complete a confession of failure as to append an explanation to a joke. This statement is, of course, not true where the aim is to reveal truth to some and conceal it from others, as in some of the parables of Jesus, or where the story is purely illustrative, being designed simply to aid the intellect to grasp an idea. If a good story is well told moralizing is not necessary; but that is not all. It has been clearly demonstrated that it weakens the moral influence. Psychologists have for- mulated the law that the power of normal suggestion varies inversely with the extent to which its purpose is definitely revealed. The mother who says to a child, "Why don't you go out on the lawn and see how many dandelions you can pick.?" is likely to secure a period of privacy, but if she adds, "so that I can be alone for a little while," the result will not be the same. Children resent the old-fashioned Sunday-school stories with their too obvious moral purpose, but are strongly influenced by transcripts of life in which the same duties are clearly implied, but not explicitly stated. So adults are often more strongly influenced by a play like The Servant in the House than by many sermons. [ 33 ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING Usually the story's lesson should be of positive type — that is, it should set forth what one wishes the hearer to do; still stories of warning have their place and many of the old favorites are of that kind. The familiar story of The Little Half-Chick is an excellent illustration of the type. It is entirely legitimate that the story should represent the violation of the precept that one would enforce, provided it chiefly emphasizes the fact that the wrong-doing meets a punishment which far overbalances the pleasure gained. The story still has its unmistakable moral meaning. Some painful stories are s?ved from immorality by the sad ending. Admitting the supreme importance of the stoiy's moral implications, one realizes that much otherwise attractive material must be rejected by the teacher. A considerable number of the old fairy-and folk-tales in which success follows dishonesty or unjustifiable selfishness at once come to mind. As in the case of the classic myths some of these can be so edited as to remove the objectionable features. In some cases the effort is unsuccessful, as it leaves the story so weakened that it is no longer of value. No teacher need waste time in such a fruitless attempt. A simple test will at once reveal whether such editing is possible or not. If the immoral element is essential to the climax of the story, the case is hopeless. If, on the other hand, it has to do with one of the less essential steps which lead up to or down from the vital turning- point of the tale, we may confidently hope to reconstruct that step without lessening the story's power. Thus we have here only the negative statement of the rule already affirmed, that the moral lesson should be the very es- sence of the story itself. Next in importance to the quality of suggestiveness is that of unity. Every good story exempHfies it. It im- plies limitation to one set of related events, the exclusion [34] CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD STORIES of unnecessary characters and incidents, emphasis upon one moral lesson, and usually, if the story is brief, the stirring of one kind of feeling. The story should be a logical unit and should be treated as such. Here the hand of a master is especially revealed. Some- times in the early chapters of an extended novel characters are introduced in a bewildering succession. They move in varying social strata, different lines of action appear in widely separated countries. The reader wonders how they can be brought into any relationship with each other, but as the plot unfolds the lines steadily converge, and when the end comes he finds that each person and each event has a natural and an essential place. With such a masterpiece compare a book like David Harurriy which may be used for illustration because it was so widely read not long ago. It really consists of a few ex- ceptionally good short stories which, in the attempt to convert them into a novel, are bound together by a thread of romance too weak to bear tKeir weight. We all remember David Harum and the hoise trade, and almost as many of us have forgotten the lay figure who passes for a hero, and his inconsequential love affair. But it is in the short story that the importance of unity most clearly appears. The novice tends to wandering and difFuseness, and labors with useless details. He fears that to cut out incidents, though they are not really essential, would lessen the interest of the tale; but the study of the best models reveals the contrary result. In them there is, indeed, no lack of incident, but here all is significant. Even the choice of a synonym, the turn of a phrase, the rhythm of a sentence is part of an artistic whole. Such beautiful examples as the charming alle- gorical stories of Laura Richards, in using which one is almost constrained to memorize lest he change a word, were not achieved by chance. They must be the result [ 35 ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING of patient and faithful effort after the choice of a definite aim and the selection of a consistent plan which has been ^o loyally followed that every smallest detail contributes to the one impression. The parables of Jesus are splendid illustrations. Almost without exception they are marvels of unity and condensation. The story of the Prodigal Son is excep- tional in that it carries a double lesson, but in our use of it we commonly ignore the lesser one. Who thinks of the elder brother when the story is mentioned ? An especially good example is found in the story of the rich man in Luke 12:16-20, which is not too long to quote in full. **The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: and he reasoned within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have not where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry. But God said unto him. Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be V^ It would be difficult to omit a single word; nor would it be easier to expand it without loss of effect. In its unity and conciseness its strength largely lies. The Bible stories generally, the fables of yEsop, and indeed most of the old classics, as well as the best modern examples, show the same characteristic. It is a safe rule which declares that what does not further the story's specific aim really lessens its power. Some apparent exceptions will upon careful study be found to enforce the rule. Uninteresting characters are introduced that the hero's qualities may be more effectively set forth. Descriptions of naturgl scenery [ 36 ] CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD STORIES not only give a local setting to the events, but may also be used to stir the feelings which forecast an approach- ing climax. Trivial happenings may reveal motives upon which the whole plot of the story turns. That this second principle reenforces the first is clearly apparent. If a story really has a meaning, the more closely the principle of unity is followed the less will be the tendency to supplement ineffective story-telling by moralizing. , "Do not make the story taper toward a single point, the moral point," says Felix Adler, but without doubt it is the moralizing habit that he has in mind. Really the principle of unity implies just that, though it is not to be advertised or revealed in advance. It is the clumsy and mechanical way in which it is often done that we must avoid. Given certain characters and certain situa- tions, the outcome is practically sure. In life the moral is always present; the story should simply present such facts as will permit it to appear. A third important characteristic of the effective story is action. It has been said that the story is a transcript of life, and in real life it is the things that are done that count. It is true that thought and feeling are the virgin ore, but they do not pass current until they have been coined into deeds. Words at best stand in the relation of a paper currency, and too often one that is unduly inflated. We distrust the sincerity of the man who talks much about his feelings. Tell us what he does and we can draw our own conclusions. So the story is most effective which presents life in the concrete and permits the hearer to make his own interpretation. Miss Vostrovsky's suggestive study shows that in young children the interest in what was done leads all others, and that they put several times as much emphasis upon action as upon moral qualities, sentiment, feeling, es- [37 ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING thetic details and dress combined, while the thoughts of the actors received no mention at all. It is well known that adolescent boys demand *' something doing " in their books, and in adults interest in action has hardly decreased. Again the best models reveal appreciation of these facts. A single example must suffice. Dr. Hervey has called attention to this in connection with one of the parables of Jesus. The one quoted above is a still better example. Of its one hundred and seven words, thirty- three are verbs. Its movement compels our interest. Miss Vostrovsky's study does not show that children do not respond to moral instruction, but that if the lessons are to be effective they must be put in terms of life. It is not otherwise with men. Ages ago the law said, This do, and thou shalt live, and men broke the law and paid its penalty. Then came Jesus, living a life, and saying, Follow me; and what the law could not do because it was weak, the story of the gospel has accomplished. It takes life to influence life, and life is action. WHAT OTHERS SAY Avoid moralizing, for if a story is good enough to tell it will do its own teaching. — Carnegie Library, Pittsburg. A story should move with directness and force, like an arrow to its mark. — Gardiner, Kittredge, and Arnold. The normal boy would rather read of a good boy than of a bad one, if the good one will only do something. He will have action, good or bad. — Warren F. Gregory. Explanation and moralizing are mostly sheer clutter. Every epithet or adjective beyond what is needed to give the image is a five-barred gate in the path of the eager mind traveling to a climax. — Sara Cone Bryant. The true artist never thrusts his purpose upon you in awkward fashion, but it pervades his whole work as the soul does the body. — E, F. Andrews. [ 38 ] CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD STORIES HINTS FOR FIRST-HAND STUDY Make a careful study along the lines indicated above of at least half a dozen good short stories. Choose them from different sources, such as the Bible, Homer, ^sop, Grimm's or Lang's Fairy-Tales, Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare, Laura Richards, and some of the best recent novelists and magazine writers. Note where their moral influence lies. Compare them with one of the old-fashioned Sunday-school stories. Study especially the way in which the principle of unity is applied. Find the most interesting passages and observe to what extent action appears at those points. Seek for other sources of interest and strength than those mentioned above. Choose familiar stories for the most part that you may discuss them with your friends or at the normal class or story club. OUTLINE FOR STUDY OF THE TOPIC 1. Suggestiveness. a. Its vital relation to the story's climax. h. The danger of pointing the moral. c. The positive and the negative forms. 2. Unity. a. Its meaning. b. How attained. c. The parables as illustrations. 3. Action. a. The source of its influence. b. Its place in good models. c. It is life that is influential. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING ON THIS TOPIC Gardiner, Kittredge, and Arnold, Manual of Composition and Rhetoric, pp. 32-34. Walter L. Hervey, Picture Work, pp. 31-63. Clara Vostrovsky, A Study of Children s Own Stories, Studies ' Education, Vol. I, pp. 1 5-1 7. Evelyn May Albright, The Short Story, pp. 84-90. Julia Darrow Cowles, The Art of Story-Telling, pp. 22— 3L [ 39 ] in CHAPTER VI SOME TRICKS OF THE STORY - Tl Certain devices are so commonly used by good Story-tellers, and are so effective in adding interest to the story itself, that v^e overlook them in our enjoyment of the tales. We respond to their influence, but do not analyze sufficiently to realize just v^hat gives the peculiar charm or force to the story that we enjoy. That it is more than the story itself v^e realize as soon as we listen to a favorite tale rehearsed without the omission of any essential element by one who lacks instinctive taste or the skill that training gives. For the most part these devices are simply successful methods of applying principles that have been suggested in connection with the discussion of the story itself They are so simple that any one who can tell a story at all can so use them as to add largely to the value of his work, while at the same time they aflFord opportunity for the display of the finest taste and the most perfect art. One of the most important of these literary devices is the use of direct rather than indirect discourse. Through its use a certain vivacity of style is gained, and it adds movement and lifelikeness to the tale. There is no easier way to give the semblance of reality to an imaginary tale than by letting the characters speak for themselves. The personality of the narrator is less intrusive, and the effect upon the hearer is that of looking on at a scene in r 40 1 TRICKS OF THE STORY-TELLER'S TRADE real life. On the other hand, in the most literally pro- saic tale characters who are not permitted to do their own talking seem but half alive. Here as at many other points the parables of Jesus are splendid models. Note the story of the unrighteous steward in Luke i6. " There was a certain rich man, who had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he was wasting his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, What is this that I hear of thee ? render the account of thy stewardship; for thou canst be no longer steward. And the steward said within himself, What shall I do, seeing that my lord taketh away the steward- ship from me ? I have not strength to dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. And calling to him each one of his lord's debtors, he said to the first. How much owest thou unto my lord .? And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him. Take thy bond, and sit down quickly and write fifty," etc. Translate this into indirect discourse and how much of interest and force is lost! It will be a description of life, indeed, but here it is life itself. An illustration of unconscious appreciation of the value of this method of emphasizing life and action in a story is found in the ** Says I " and ** Says he " of the illiterate person who defeats his end only because he needlessly obtrudes upon the hearer the device which he uses. The beginner in formal story-telling is almost sure, probably because of embarrassment and undue conscious- ness of his own personality, to fall into the way of describ- ing at long range the most interesting movement of his tale, instead of by this plan Hterally reproducing the parts of it which most fully reveal the personality of the leading characters. A glance at almost any example from our [41 ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING best writers of short stones will reveal illustrations of the method. The secret of its value is easily discovered. In indirect discourse you are necessarily conscious of the personality of the narrator; in direct discourse it is the personality of the actor that is stressed. Another very helpful device is the rhythmic repetition of certain significant words or phrases from time to time through the progress of the tale. In the fairy- and folk-tales this frequently appears, as in case of the " hoppity-kick, hoppity-kick " of the little half chick, the " trip-trop, trip-trop " of the three goats crossing the bridge, and the various remarks of the big bear, the middle-sized bear, and the little wee bear. In such cases the story gains an added quaintness of form which has value in itself. The little child, puzzled by much that is unfamiliar, remembers the rhythmic phrase and wel- comes it as we greet an old friend in a strange city. It has a further value, too, for the repetition of a descriptive phrase serves to identify a person or to point out identity of action or of feeling. Indeed it has, as Dr. Hervey has said, precisely the meaning of the leit motif in music. The child follows the story more readily and masters its meaning more surely. The artistic story-teller will use this device with great effectiveness and power. He will carefully choose the repeated phrase that it may suggest the denouement and point the lesson of the tale. So in the story of Blun- derhead, the thunder that first rumbles, then rolls, and finally crashes overhead prepares for the approaching climax. In several of the Psalms, notably in 46, 103, 118, and 147, unity is emphasized and the meaning is clarified by such a device. The poets use it frequently. Kip- ling's " A rag and a bone and a hank of hair " more than hints at the conclusion from the first, and indelibly impresses the lesson, while the Recessional affords a [42 ] TRICKS OF THE STORY-TELLER'S TRADE pleasanter example of a device which in sHghtly dif- ferent form may add much to the impressiveness of a tale. Some of the old stories in which action predominates and conversation is brief but very significant give the speeches in verse. This appeals to the child's interest as well as to the folk-mind, and in somewhat the same way as in case of the rhythmic repetition mentioned above. This device has been adopted by some of the best German writers of children's stories, and is very largely used by some of the most successful kinder- garten story-tellers. It is not as difficult to introduce this feature into the stories that we tell young children as it might at first seem, for they do not demand rigid formality in either rhyme or meter. In oral stories for children, and usually in the case of adults as well, the simplest grammatical constructions are preferable. In complex sentences words must be carried in memory and thought held in suspense until the end is reached. The use of short sentences and the avoidance of inverted forms except for special emphasis enables the listener to devote his whole attention to the story itself — and this means that it gains added power. For the same reason the terse Anglo-Saxon words are to be preferred. ColloquiaHsms are as appropriate in most stories as technical terms are in a scientific treatise. In short, whatever tends to shift attention from the form to the story itself, and to make that a faith- ful transcript of life is to be commended. Not only is action rather than thought to be empha- sized, but whatever gives concreteness to the presentation is of value. An argument can be framed from abstrac- tions, but the very conception of the story brings it into the field of realities of another sort. Even the choice of words and the use of figures that are based on material [ 43 ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING existences tend to increase the feeling of reality that the story should always convey. Another characteristic of a good style is worthy of special mention. This is brevity. Toward it most of the suggestions already given point. The principle of unity suggests it, the emphasis upon action and concrete statements favors it, and the choice of simple and straightforward language tends toward the same result. In exposition something of repetition and reiteration of fact are often appropriate, but not so in the story, lest movement and force be sacrificed. Here again all the Bible stories are models to be fol- lowed. As retold by the teacher or preacher who has neglected the art of narration, thought and feeling, as well as action, are often buried beneath an excess of verbiage. Andrew D. White says, " Dr. Eastburn was much given to amplification, and Oilman always insisted that he had heard him once, when preaching on the parable of Dives and Lazarus, discuss the prayer of Dives in torment for a drop of water, as follows : ' To this, my brethren, under the circumstances entirely natural, but at the same time no less completely inad- missible request, the aged patriarch replied,' " etc. It is unnecessary to comment on the result of such expansion of the story. Usually the first draft of the beginner's story needs condensation, though this is not always inconsistent with a certain amount of subsequent amplification of the really vital points. Careful comparison of unskilled work with the best models will show that the latter are as re- markable for what they omit as for that which they relate. A multitude of petty details is both annoying and un- necessary. It is safe to assume some power of imagination on the part of the listener. Another quality which is less commonly desirable is that [ 44 ] TRICKS OF THE STORY-TELLER'S TRADE of freshness of form. That children do not object to repeti- tion of their old favorites no patient mother orgood-natured uncle needs to be informed. Even the publishers realize that novelty is not essential here, as Dear Old Stories Told Once More and Twice-told Tales testify. The little child often resents the change of a word or phrase. But if a story v^hich is in advance of a child's interest is forced upon him, if it is repeatedly told in an unin- teresting way, and if too obvious moralizing has been associated with it, the child tires of hearing it, and its value, if so presented it ever had a value, is lost. If now it is allowed to be forgotten for a time, and then is presented in such a form that it is not recognized until interest has been aroused, it will again gain teaching power. Unfortunately many of the Bible stones have suffered in just this way. Hence the value of sometimes departing entirely from the classic perfection of the King James Version to what may be a less finished literary form. But if this be done it is but to overcome prejudice and let the story do its work. WHAT OTHERS SAY Let what he did tell what he was. — Walter L. Hervey. Bible stories are models in this respect. You are left to read as much between the lines as you choose, but the kernel of the message is soon revealed. You are in touch with real life from start to finish and essentials only are admitted. — Samuel B. Haslett. A vigorous style is almost always concise. . . . Good writers never encumber their stories with useless matter. They may introduce a multitude of details, but every one serves a definite purpose. — Gardiner^ Kittredge, and Arnold. There are no stories in any language of the world, which so aptly and precisely perform this function as the Bible stories, and this for a very simple reason, — the language in which they [ 45 ] STORIES AND STORY-TELLING were originally written, the Hebrew, like the child's language, has no abstract words. All Hebrew words are concrete, just as the little child's words are. — Louise Seymour Houghton. Good story-tellers deal very little in abstractions and are very liberal in the use of figures of speech. — E. Lyell Earl. HINTS FOR FIRST-HAND STUDY Try the effect of changing the direct into indirect discourse in one of the parables of Jesus, making no unnecessary changes in the language. Without telling what you have done read this version to a friend who is familiar with the original, and ask for criticism. Observe the value of this device in the stories told in the club or class. Make a list of the familiar stories that repeat significant phrases, and tell them to children and adults, noting the interest at these points. In one or two familiar stories give the conversation in verse, and observe the result in the children's interest. If this is too difficult, tell a story in which this device is used, but putting the conversation in prose. Later use the original version, and study the effect. If possible visit several kindergartens at the story hour and observe both the story-teller and the listeners with these sugges- tions in mind. Take some story which you have told without special success, and after effort to strengthen it along the lines of the suggestions above outlined, give it another test. Turn to some of the best collections of stories and see to what extent these simple rules have been followed and with what results. OUTLINE FOR STUDY OF THE TOPIC I. Literary devices of value. a. Direct discourse. b. Rhythmic repetition. c. Dialogue in verse. [ 46 ] TRICKS OF THE STORY-TELLER'S TRADE 2. Further suggestions as to form. a. Simplicity of language. b. Concreteness in content and form. c. Conciseness and brevity.