The Washington times., 1912-07-22
OLD FAIRY TALES /.
ARE BEST LOVED
At PLAY CENTERS
Professional Story Teller of
Washington Finds Children
True to Fairy Princess.

And the prince swung the princess
up beside him on his milk-white steel,
and gaIloped away over hill and dale
to the princes palace beyond the hillp."
A score or more of children, saucer
eyed ana expectant crowd about a
slip Of a girl who Is telling them tho
old story of the fairy prince with
golden locks, and fieeter footed than a
fox" who came over the hills from his
home and woke the Sleeping Beauty
with a kiss.
"D'd they get married and live hap
pily ever afterward, Miss Lena" pipes
up little Saucer-Eyes.
And Miss Lena answers the question
In the affirmative to the eminent sat
lsfaction of the child who asks the ques-
tion, and who is one of the little group
W whiSh tSa gathers tSiee week @ to M listen
ington's only professional story teller,
Miss Lena wilkins
Old Tales Best Loved.
Miss Lana tells them other stories,
too. old Morse legends, folk stories fr,m
the English, stories from the juvenile
classics, and the more modern stories
from Kipling. all of which she adapts
for youthful minds by eliminating the
big words, and subtly hiding too obvi-
ous-therefore tiresome-mcral She
gives for good measure, all the fairy
stories they demand, and II is really
surprising, she confided to the writer
yesterday, how the small people clirg
to the old-fashjoned fairy story-the
girls and the boys. too.
My audiences range in age anywhere
from babies In baby carriages to boys
and girls of twelve years OF age. or
course. the babies are brought by older
sisters or brothers, and the chill
dren sit about me on the ground while
I tell them the stories. II is all vety
Informal and sociable, and the children
are encouraged to ask questions about
the stories. We observe no rules as
children are compelled to do in school.
II suppose this is one of the reasons
why they enjoy the storytelling hour
50 much:" Miss wilkins continued, the
tired Of sitting still. some one suggests
song or dance or game and ev.
erybody joins in. II I happen TO be
telling a story that doesn't appeal to
group and pitch horseshoes-without
any noise, so that they will not disturb
the others. until that particular story
Is finished"
Adventure for Boys.
do the big boys like fairy stories.
too7' asked her.
mo; the older boys have graduated
from the fairy-story stage, and prefer
tales Of adventure, of knights, and sol-
diers; but up until the age of eight
the boys, as well as the girls. like to
listen to fairy stories or tales of mys-
terry"
Story telling, as a profession. is new
| to Washington, though 1t has been tried
with wonderful success in connection
| with playground and vacation school
work in other cities. Some time ago
1t was decided to give this branch of
playground work a trial in Washington,
and at the suggestion and under the
auspices of the Georgetown Citizens AS
sociation, the experiment of hiring
should be done in connection with the
playground work, was tried.
To date the work has been eninently
satisfactory and decidedly successful.
Of which there is an average attendance
of twenty-four children twice each
week. There are two storytelling peri
DDS daily, from $3.50 to 1880, and from
wilkins are five volunteer workers.
some of whom are Normal School girls
who are specializing in playground work.
Story Telling Picnics.
The story telling ''picnics," as the
children call them, are held in some
| cool, shady spot, usually beneath the
shelter of a tree. The children take
great pleasure in tidying up their pic
nic'' plots, devoting many hours to
pulling weeds, picking up debris, and
removing papers therefrom. Concerted
effort, combined with wise but not over
| strict supervision from their leader. has
made these gatherings something to
which the children look forward with
| pleasure.
The salary of the only official story
teller in Washington is paid by volun-
tary contributions. which were collected
] by the Georgetown Citizens Association
and turned over to the Fairgrounds As:
ISOLATION to be used for this special
purpose. The children who attend are
those whose, homes are so remotely 10.
Gated from the regular Fairgrounds that
they can not attend the regular ses-
| sions.
For this reason. the story-teller visits
! the neighborhoods, and gathers the chill
dren into little groups, giving them
one of the privileges of the regular
Fairgrounds. Sometimes the little
groups are taken on visits to the play
grounds, there to take advantage Of the
game equipment. JULIA MURDOCH.