Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-09-19

cause. The story was an admirable
means Of education both in teaching |
facts and self expression, but its in.
fluence was entirely too great to be |
used carelessly or indifferently.
Perhaps the first department OF edu-
cation to adopt the story in its system |
was the kindergarten. and here today |
may be found the best example Of its !
use in the education Of children. There !!
is the story of the caterpillar for ex-
ample, who turned into a butterfly and
many Of Aesop's Fables, which teach |
! the children natural history as well as
norals. Here, also, the dramatic in
stinct SO paramount in the young child
Is utilized and he Is made to play the
parts Of characters. One child crawls
! along the floor in correct imitation of
lar. and another child stands up and
flaps his arms about in what is sup
posed to be the natural motion of the
butterfly. The next day the same
child sees butterfly and begins to
! note the way he actually flies SO that
he may the better initiate It. "A
child who tries to act horse" says
one child authority. will be much
more apt to notice all the different &C
tivities and habits Of the horse than
a child who observes passively"
| This dramatic instinct in the child
was recognized by Stevenson as =
vital factor in his education and bring
ing up. In writing his impressions OF
his own childhood. he said: When
my cousin and took our porridKe OF
morning we had a device to enliver
the course of the meal He ate his
with sugar and explained It to be
country continually buried under snow.
l took mine with milk and explained
1t to be country suffering gradual
inundation. The food was Of altogeth-
err secondary Importance and might
even have been nauseous so long as
we seasoned It with Dreams Many
mothers today are grateful to this tin
from Stevenson and are making up
stories Of the most desperate and ad-
venturous character about a plate Of
shredded wheat or mush for which the
young son or daughter of the family
cherishes loud voiced antipathy.
When the child leaves the kinder
garten and enters the grades higher
up. the story Is still the sugar coated
lining around the knowledge pill. IN
the fourth grade. for example, the chill,
dren read Hiawatha. After they fin
ish reading it. they are taken to the
! museum in different part OF the CITY
and shown the Indian exhibits Al
most everv city has few samples of
Indian pottery and one or two plaster
statues. After this, they return to the
/ school room and build an Indian vii.
lage. such as is pictured in Hiawatha
1 in the sand. including the trees and
/ tents and animals. In this way they
! they have had a lesson in history.
primitive architecture, in pottery.
basketry and. although they may not
realize it themselves. they know by
sight everv tree mentioned in the
poem and the habits of every animal
in one school in an eastern city the
children were told a story about lit
, tie girl who halDed her mother make
bread. Then the children went to 4
large bakery near the school where
factory guide took them through. ex-
Dlaining each process of bread making
TO them. All the time the teacher
kent pointing ont the difference he.
tween the way the machinery made
bread and the wav Mary Jane. the
little eirl in the book did it. The next
dav she brought all the eouipmant for
waking bread to school and showed
the children the home made methods.
! According to the teachers in this
school. not one of these children has
forgotten a single fact brought out In
the trip through the bakery and many
of them have given their mothers
pointers in the scientific principles Of
bread making.
The use of the story, however. is not
confined entirely to teaching facts to
the child. The summer story telling
, classes. for example. do not aim to
teach any one thing but merely to en-
terrain and stimulate the imaginations
OF the audience. The best chi1dren's
stories and books are selected by the
story tellers. who memorize the i'm
Dortant features of the plot and then
tell them in the best wav for children.
| Hundreds Of very good children's stor-
les have been written and quite re-
Gently under the stimulus OF the story
telling movement there is a great de-
mand for them at the publishing
house. Lists Of the best childrens
literature will be furnished gladly by
the public libraries of the cities at the
requests of parents desirous of obtain
ing books for their children.
The mere telling Of story seems
small matter. but it has It's technique
the same as any other profession. Un-
fortunately, however. the nation is still
full Of great number of amateurs in
the form Of parents who tell their
children all sorts and varieties OF
stories without any thought as to their
effect upon them. The story is one of
the greatest influences in the life of
the child TODAY. and it is the purpose
of the story telling movement to make
every parent and educator realize this
fact.