The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-08-23
ideas for dMo1nen

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A short analysis of children's literature
may, perhaps, be helpful in guiding the
choice of stories for the kindergarten. We
will divide it into the usual classes of
ideal. or purely imaginative literature and
realistic. or having a form taken from
life in the actual world. Under the head
of imaginative literature, WI place fairy
stories, allegorics and fables. We will
take the composition of a fairy story
first, not only because a fairy story has
the greatest charm for children, but also
because it is really one of the higher
forms of literature. The idea in the minds
of many stcry-tellers and story-writers,
too. is tina a fairy story means any jun
BILE of incidents, in which for no distinct
purpose or design natural laws are set at
defiance. But the very meaning of the
WORD ..faerie'' is spiritual; and if We an
alyze one of the genuine old fairy stories,
we shall nearly always find that there is
at the heart of it some great spiritual
truth. which forms the soul, as it were,
of the story. The incidents of the story
are all designed for the purpose of show
ing this truth in action; and what makes
it '.faerie' is that in order to give the
freest scope for the working out of the
truth, fancy may create a world for the
action of tia world in which there is no
restriction from natural laws and mater
il necessities. 1t is, in fact. a kind OF
superior action gwen to spirit over mat
ter.
We may Illustrate the composition of a
true fairy story by a brief analysis of
."The Sleeping Beauty The inner truth
at the heart of this story is. that hatred
works death-"he that hateth his brother
is a murderer'-but love is stronger than
hatred, and it is through love. alone, that
the works of hatred are to be destroyed.
First, there is the christening of the new
child; at the very beginning its life is
threatened by the hatred of the malignant
fairy. out of revenge because she was not
invited to the feast. The child is to die,
though the curse is afterward changed
into the death-like sleep, which is death
as regards all the purposes of life. The
King tries to defeat the course of hatred
by the unspiritual means of destroying all
the spindies of his Kingdom; but this, of
course, is of no avail.
*s
The day comes when, in spite of this
precaution, the maiden finds the wicked
fairy spinning. She takes the spindle,
prieks herself, and Immediately sinks,
with all the world around her, into the
deathlike sleep. Around the castle grows
the thick hedge of thorns and briers, as
high as the towers, SO that it cannot be
leapt over, and his is set by hatred to
prevent the entrance of love into the
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the Princes come; they wish to see the
beauty of the sleeping maiden; but this
desire cannot carry them through the
thorns and briers. A hundred years pass
away, and the curse of hatred still works;
time. that all things else destroys. has,
in itself. no power to impair the strength
of the curse.
All last, in due time. the true Prince ap-
pears. He is ~counselled Sy nrudent people
not to try to enter the castle, for he can
not do so but through suffering, and the
end may be only death. But the prospect
of suffering or death cannot daunt him;
love is stronger than fear and the in
stincts of self-preservation. He APP
proaehes the hedge, and the thorns and
briers are to him but as fragrant roses
this is the first victory of love over the
obstacles placed by hatred in the way of
its ultimate triumph. The roses close
behind him and become again thorns and
briers; love can carry him forward. but
there is no smoothing of the way for re-
treat. At length he enters the castle.
The whole world within shares in the
sleep of death. The dogs in the castle
yard, the pigeons on the roof, the flies on
the window panes, the servants IN the
kitchen, the courtiers, the King and the
Queen. all lie under the power of hatred.
At the FIRST expression of love which
can 'Igfve and hazard ali" the whole world
of death wakes to life, with the freshness
and vigor of a new spring day. The dead
ly curse of hatred is destroyed; thought
and work are filled with energy, every
thing is in action. And they all lived
happily to the end is the conclusion of
the fine old story.
If we analyze in the same way any
other of the genuine old fairy stories,
such as cinderella" or Mrs. Holle.'' we
shall find tina the play of fancy is not
the mere irregular wandering of a dream,
but that there is distinct unity of design
in the incidents, while at the heart of all
Of them lies some great immortal truth,
winch gives lnem llelT uOiO Oh 6citctdlioH
after generation, and will preserve them
in the perpetual freshness of child-like
beauty as long as the world shall last.
Realistic stories are those best flied for
illustrating the law by which life is gov
erned, and thus showing to children that
the consequences which follow conduct
ars as sure as the sequence of cause and
effect. A good realistic story should con-
sist of one general law of life, shown in
its ordinary legitimate action. The scenes
for the action must be the real world of
human character and life. Though a
realistic story is nus a sketch from ma
tire, it must be a picture, and not a mere
photograph. The attempt to initiate ex-
actly the sayings and doings of children,
as in the books called -Helen's Babies"
and 'sTotty's Book" though very anus
ing to read. is not real literature, because
there is no artistic purpose or design in
them. Jane Austen's novels are some of
the best examples in literature of good
realistic stories. There is in each a dis
tinct, intelligent purpose, which is artis-
tically worked out in characters and
scenes, drawn entirely from the living
around her.
AS one object for realistic stories for
children is to accustom them to expect