STORY-TELLING IN THE KINDERGARTEN. 353 
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sympathy with what is going on in the present.” Following Mother 
Goose’s example. occasional rhvmes are enjovable, and produce a greater 
effect. 
The following suggestions have been given regarding methods of telling 
stories. The younger the children, the greater the difficulty in telling the 
story, and the greater preparation required ; for them an easy plot and a 
short thread of circumstances are necessary. Be explicit; give a name to 
sverything. Use the tone of voice necessary to the circumstances, and 
change the tone to suit the occasion. Have the story as graphic as 
sossible. ave clearly in your mind the object of your story ; then adorn 
with details. Let the story depict virtues to be emulated rather than 
vices to be shunned. Emphasize the positive rather than the negative. 
Tell the best stories repeatedly, rather than frequent poor ones. Take 
great care to repeat the facts the same each time; otherwise we cannot 
sstimate the confusion arising in the child-mind. Do not have the child 
teel too deeply over imaginary woes, for ¢¢ overtaxed intellect brings on 
disease.” 
Most important of all, be sure that your stories have a happy ending, 
for the child’s moral being is largely affected by these endings. Harmony 
mn music is only attained when each individual instrument expresses its 
peculiar sound perfectly.” So in a story; the aim is reached only when 
each part receives due emphasis, and the relation of incidents is clearly 
seen. “No future can be interpreted, except in the light of the past.” 
Stories must in some way be connected with the past life, that the child 
may realize their worth and take them to himself. Stories should be told 
‘n the purest English, with careful enunciation. With the child-mind in 
she receptive condition caused by joyful anticipation, the teacher cannot 
be too careful of all the details connected with his art. The beauties and 
possibilities of the language are shown to the child, representing to him 
che art of speech, and giving him a taste for good literature. 
Other qualifications of a good story-teller are ‘culture in its truest, 
oroadest sense, meaning education, refinement, ideality; to see ideally 
humdrum facts; fancy to embellish these facts, so that some principle 
may be impressed on the child ; to make common things beautiful with 
poetic ideas and symbolic truths; then, lastly, to have sufficient common 
sense to keep one from extravagance.” 
One great danger of children is confounding the real and the fanciful, by 
which the whole aim of the story is lost. We must enter into the child- 
vorld, and become one with them ; must see with their eyes and hear 
with their ears. No story is effective if the child shows no enjoyment 
of it. This, however, may not be the fault of the story, nor of the child. 
Children are the severest critics, and the beauty of their criticism is its 
spontaneity, though it is sometimes too truthful to be flattering. Dramatic 
power is one of the most essential things in a good storv-teller—who is a