and evening; and when there is no lake, the Indian washes on the grass. There he gets his magnetism, there he is revived, and the Indian sees God in every phase of His creation." Some of the old Indians have a little philosophy-elementary philosophy, and it is clear as crystal. And there is something in the Indian's philosophy that we can use. There is no race that can discard sunshine and fresh air and live long. There is no race that can be godly if it discards sunshine and fresh air. We must put our children out-of-doors. Let the teachers be trained in the fresh air. They cannot give anything in the line of knowledge that will stick unless they have fresh air. That is the only place where you can find the true leaders again-out-of-doors. And they will be agile, supple, not only in physical action, but in mind and in soul, because they are saturated with fresh air and God's sunshine. They are flexible. They fit anywhere. They are magnetic.

One of the best Indian tribes that ever existed was developed in the Northwest, and was founded by children. Away up in the Lake Superior region, at the time of the advent of the Frenchmen in that part of the country, came the Algonquins with their clubs and hatchets and attacked the Indians living on an island in one of those lakes. The children of the tribe were playing on one of the nearby islands. The attackers killed all the grown persons of the tribe, but as the children were playing on the other island they did not find them. When the children came back, they found that their village was burned up and their parents were killed. The oldest, a girl, was about fourteen years old. The next in age was a boy about thirteen years old. The children elected a chief at once. She was the chieftainess, but they had an acting chief. To the girl came every matter for final decision. Those Indians are now on the Missouri River, above the mouth of the Yellowstone River. That tribe was founded by children, and they were, before civilization touched them, the noblest tribe that we ever knew.

And so the child is trustworthy. If you give him into the hand of God in the wilderness he will find philosophy, and with these teachings we are sure of a sound civilization.

Can the Story-Teller Contribute Anything

to Rural Community?

SARAH A. MARBLE, DIRECTOR OF KINDERGARTEN TRAINING, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, WORCESTER, KINDERGARTEN ADVISER,

M

SCHOOL DEPARTMENT, CITY OF WORCESTER.

ORE and more, in these days, the leaders of educational thought are coming to recognize the significance of nature's informal means of training her children. Natural play has been found one of the most valuable means of education, because it is nature's own way, and corresponds to the child's maturing mental and physical powers. Manual training has been increased, because it is the child's natural means of expression, as important to him as speech. Story-telling has come to be recognized as the earliest, the simplest, and one of the most effective means of impressing upon the new generation the lessons that have been learned by those who have gone before.

Long before teachers or textbooks appeared instruction was giveu in story form to the children. The mothers handed on whatever housewifely lore they possessed. The young boys, grouped about the evening campfire, thrilled to the story of old deeds of valor, and braced their souls to vie with the heroes who had won admiration of their fathers' fathers. In fact, among primitive peoples, the story was almost the only means of telling natural truths and promoting religious ideals.

Every race has its heritage of folk-tales and myths, which have a far larger meaning than just the entertainment of the young. Scientists study these stories of the past because they not only reflect the social and religious ideals of the people, but because they have shaped those ideals and given them form and power. Almost every country of the earth has honored its story-tellers.

The great stories of Homer and Plutarch formed most of the educational content of Greece and Rome at an early date, and the influence of the Old Testament stories upon Hebrew life can scarcely be computed. The Greatest Teacher of all made such skillful use of the parable, that we associate most of His teaching with the stories thus told.

In our own language and times, we acknowledge a debt of reform to the stories of Dickens, to Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Black Beauty, and to many of the modern novels which are social and ethical ideals expressed in story form.

Today many other agencies have recognized the value of storytelling, and are making use of it for educational, moral and social ends. Take, for example, our public libraries, which we obviously connect with the written form of language as an educational means. There is scarcely a public library today which does not use story-telling as its most effective means of interesting children in books. Librarians realized that the read story is not as impressive, not as vivid, not as surely directive, as the told story. And the told story has the additional advantage of being chosen by an adult and controlled by that adult, so that only the best reaches the child.

Art museums make a splendid contribution to our educational life, especially along cultural lines. How do we entice children into our art museums? By means of story-telling. The pictures and other works of art are interpreted for them in story form, until, when their adult judgment and appreciation have matured, we leave them to derive their own stories from the canvas and the statue. We trust them to do this, but it is surprising to find how many adults one finds at museum story hours.

Our playgrounds are one of the modern sources of story-telling. That splendid movement which seeks to provide opportunity for physical, educational, and moral development at times when the school doors are closed, has found that its work can best be rounded out and completed by stories. In plays and games and industrial work we have to meet conditions as they are. These are realistic

situations which have to be met in a practical way. In stories we may have, and often do find, a purely idealistic situation. We may control our characters and events so that they follow the best and highest lines of conduct. We may produce an environment different from the playground, and foretell how life should be led in this other environment. We may bring great and noble characters from the past to strengthen our everyday contacts with human nature. The story, because of its informality and its universal appeal, is the best way known of supplementing the activities of the playground.

Copying the playground, where there is no such designated space, and where there is an adult, inactive audience to consider, story-telling has been carried out in street groups, in community centers, and in club rooms. One of my most interesting experi ences was when, as a country teacher, and using a men's club house as a schoolroom, I was asked to hold a story evening for men. The mothers had visited the kindergarten and had heard stories told to the children. They asked if they might have a story afternoon all their own, and I suspect that they encouraged the fathers to ask for an evening of stories. It was a delightful occasion, principally because the audience was encouraged to add its own stock of stories, and in the end the guests provided most of the entertainment.

It is in such cosmopolitan, informal groups as these that the story makes its greatest contribution to good citizenship. An audience that cannot be preached at, that cannot take part in a common activity, that is not interested in the same business and profession, can always be held together by a good story-teller. Whether in town or grange hall, in the schoolhouse after hours, or better still, just out of doors in some quiet spot, I think that we cannot afford to miss the opportunity that such a gathering would give us, an opportunity to instill some fine lessons in citizenship through the oldest and most universal means of instruction, the story.

There are so many kinds of messages that can wing their way in story form. There are the facts, the realities of life, the truths of nature, which by disregard or misuse cause so much sorrow and misfortune. Clothed in story form, these facts or realities may be dramatically brought to attention, and without antagonism or dryness.

There are the ideals of life, the splendid high places in life, that we all should be striving to reach, but that so many of you find are a long way off. What is more inspiring or comforting than to hear a story where the characters really were good or really were rewarded? It matters not whether the characters themselves are real or not.

Then there is that great balance-wheel of life, our sense of humor. How badly that sometimes needs stirring up! Think how many tense moments have been relieved by a good laugh. I have often wished that the humorous story could be tried as a strike-breaker or averter. A good laugh breaks into our dark and grumbling thoughts like a ray of sunshine, and we feel better and more sane for the relaxation.

I have great faith in what a story may do for an audience. I know that a little search will reveal good story-tellers in every community. The problem may be how to catch your audience, but the other speakers of the day have shown us many ways of gathering people together. Let us break in on these grange and playground audiences with our stories of the past and visions of the future, with our tears and our laughter, and I know that we shall send them away better equipped to meet the realities of life, with higher ideals for the future, and with a friendlier feeling toward their fellow-men.