The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-15
VALUE OF STORY TELLING.
child's Appreciation of the Bible
 Heightened By This Method.

University, July 14.-(Special )--Yester- day two very fine lectures were delivered before the summer school, Mr Wyche iiaVing spoken in the morning and Mrs. Ligon of Mobile in the evening.
 MT. Wyches subject was Bible stories. though he did not stick very closely to his subject as he went deep into the art of storytelling and outlined the fundamental principles which underlie all narration. If was the speakers disappearance be- lore the summer school, and it seemed ttat he had saved his best effort for the last, for his talk was full of yalu- able suggestion to the teachers.
 MT. Wyche began his lecture by soealx ing of the methods in vogue in Sunday school teaching, first that of making the children commit to memory a dry mass or philosophical definitions, and second. that of telling to them Bible stories and making the subjects real to them so that they are kindled to love the Bible. He said that in telling the great hero stories we make the child see that the world has always been religious and, conse- quently he will be religious. The child does not love the heroes of the Bible because we have of it an unreal world and have not followed pedagogic methods in teaching 1t to them. We should make it real to them by telling them stories showing that the actors were men who actually lived on earth and acted largely as other men do; then we have a solid groundwork on which to base religion
 After this talk on teaching the Bible, MT. Wyche outlined the following gen. eral principles underlying all narration:
 You must have vision-that is, know clearly what you are going to say and see clearly the picture which you in- tend to- produce; you must feel deep ly the force of what you are saying; your voice must express the emotions which you feel in order that you may teach the child to feel great emotions, and, fin ally, you must have faith in yourself and be what you are.
 He closed his talk by showing that Jesus, the mightiest teacher of the world, taught by telling stories.
 Last night Dr. Ellen Barret Ligon, member of the special committee of the Alabama Federation of Womens clubs to look into the improvement of the rural schools of the state addressed a large
 
 the work of that committee. In her lec- ture she pointed out the deplorable con dition of the rural schools and advised the formation of local association for the improvement of the schools. outlin- ing plan for the working of these as- sociations.
 The lecture was an eloquent appeal for the betterment of present conditions and was full of food for thought, both on the part of the teacher and the patron
 After Mrs. Ligon's lecture last night a delightful and strictly informal social was held in the dining hall of the uni- versity. During the evening readings were given, songs sung and stories told by various members of the summer school Towards the end of the evening refreshments consisting of delicious ices were served, after which the throng of guests departed.
 Under the stimulating influence of MT. Wyche an Alabama Story-Tellers' league was formed Thursday evening with membership numbering about fifty. Inn mediately the organization vas effected. the following officers were elected: Pres ident. Miss Luther of Opedka; secretary, Mr. Braswell of Elba; temporarily of the university Hereafter until the close of the summer school. meetings will be held twice a week, at twilight on the campus.
 This league is the product of MT. Wyches lectures here during the past week. It is a great work which he has undertaken and the success accorded his efforts and the enthusiasm which he has aroused furnish ample evidence of his capability in his chosen line of work.