The sun., 1909-01-23
CHILDREN NEED THE DRAMA
WIEN THEY BEGIN TO PRETEND.
SAYS DIR. q. STANLEY HALL.
The Juvenile Theatre . Great and Useful
schooi--Teifs OF . Girl VINO Fooled
Her Father Into Quitting His Bus.
ness-Sugsests Plays on sunday.


To illustrate the instinct for acting in
the adolescent child DR.. q. Stanley Hall
president Of Clark University, who has
written extensively on the psychology
| Of education, told story in his lecture
under the auspicies OF the Educational
Theatre at the Lyoeum Theatre yester-
day afternoon about thirteen-year-old
girl who played part in her everyday
! life. She reported to her parents many
! interviews which she had had with the
wife of the President of the United States,
told Of kindnesses which had been heaped
upon her. and finally persuaded her father
to give up his business in order to he
ready for an executive appointment
II was not until then that her father
and mother learned that their usually
truthful and rel liable child had been play
ing part. The only truth in the e1-
perience was that she had seen the Presi-
dent and his wife drive past her home
This was only an instance, DR.. Hall
explained in the course Of his address on
The Activity Of the Dramatic Instinct
During Adolescence. of the latent crav-
ing. most active in the early teens, to
have experiences and to initiate persons
and qualities beyond their sphere Of life.
He had gathered score of examples
Of this sort Of deception, which he asserted
was not due 10 N desire to deceive but
was developed through the dramatic in
stinct Of the child.
The childs first lesson in psychology.
DR.. Hall declared. is the observation of
isolated single human traits in animals.
They learn that the goose stands for
stupidity. the fox for craftiness, the lion
for bravery. and so on through the zoolog-
ical list. When the child "pretends
that he il q certain animal he is in reality
gropihg after the human quality which
il represents in his mind. Then with
adolescance comes an interest in adult
pers ,ns and the desire to initiate thou.
At this period comes tho most useful
function Of the drama. For in II more
than in any Of the arts can the simplt-
fed. elemental qualities of human nature
be brought to the child's attention.
"Who could say that it would not ho
beneficial il some of the best theatrcs
should produce their best plays on Sunday
afternoons and overings?' he Gsked, and
there were manifestations of hearty Gp-
proval from his audience.
DIR. He'll compared the Juvenile thosirc
with the method of physical training
which does rot try to MIKE professional
winners, but rather seeks to prescribe
for the weak and 10 stinulCt" nCture's
fs gcing Intentions by bringing men up
10 standard, 1t j. this he said, "thst
tho Educational Theatre secxs - do for
the fcnlngs. sentiments, instincts, in
t,Iitions. so often dazed. d1arfed rnd
repreasad One advantage IL th2t by
acting the characters Of others they come
IS realize that their commonplace lives
may be changed into something better.
higher and larger.
Tho cha 5m between WHIT they ere and
what they would be, that seemed so
wide becomes narrower end less I'M /
psssible," said Dr. Hall AT this stage
adult life seems but little moro substsntiGl [
than q play. and thus the will to believe
that character and disposition can be
changed, recast into new and better
molds. is not hard.
THE hoodlum who can be over so
tedously drilled into once acting the
gentleman for an evening can never
again be quite so rowdy even IN his most
abandoned moments. II
As to the possibility that the Educa-
tional Theatre might create q desire
for acting rs q profession, DR.. Hall sald
that he thought il would rather show
those who we're stagestruck that their
symptoms were nothing but the normal
growing pains of the SOUL end thst by
supplying an outlet for pent up feeling
rather its influence was to make the
sta ge career lose its charms.