Various

“ Whether the knowledge of this literal truth is to be more true or less true than the belief in the myth depends upon the parents, teachers and adult friends in whose care the children are. It rests with them to transform the myth into a symbol filled with meaning. The best things in life are such things as faith, love, kindness and generosity. These we cannot touch, hear or see. They exist primarily as soul experiences, and in order to make them more palpable and give them a base of reference we symbolize them. Now one of these symbols is Santa Claus. ”

“ What do you suppose was in the room? It was all dark; the little boy could see nothing. He had his hand on the knob and it seemed to him that his hand was caught between the knob and key, and somehow, as the door opened, it pulled him in. When he stepped into the room, he felt a breeze blowing and, more than that, as he stepped down, he found the room did not have any bottom; just a dark hole.
Well, as the little boy stepped over into the room, he felt himself falling, away down, down, down yonder. He shut his eyes, expecting every moment to strike something and be killed. ”

“ EDITOR’S AND PUBLISHER’S NOTES With this issue The Story Hour has the pleasant privilege of wishing all its readers a Merry Christmas. That the Christmas spirit may everywhere prevail, and prevail abundantly, is its sincerest wish; and if the stories herein told and retold will contribute their mite in enhancing this spirit, it will indeed feel that it is fulfilling its mission.
Among the many elements of cheer at Christmas time is the Santa Claus myth. Belief in this myth adds greatly to the enjoyment of Christmas in early childhood. ”

“ Her broom went into all the corners, poke, poke,—and of course the spiders had to run. Dear, dear, how the spiders had to run! Not one could stay in the house while the Christmas cleanness lasted. So, you see, they couldn’t see the Christmas Tree.
Spiders like to know all about everything, and all there is to see, and they were very sad. So at last they went to the Christ-child and told him all about it.
“All the others see the Christmas Tree, dear Christ-child,” they said; “but we, who are so domestic and so fond of beautiful things, we are cleaned up! We cannot see it, at all.” ”

“ There are many homes that cannot afford libraries and the rich adornments of art, but no home is so humble that parents cannot gather the children around the fireside on a winter’s evening or about the doorsteps in the twilight of a summer’s day and tell them stories. A simple fireside is a greater stimulant to the creative imagination than the wealth of a palace. ”

“ Anyone can take a catechism and have a class memorize and repeat the answers, but it takes a teacher to so read the Bible that he can tell in a creative way the story of its great heroes. That is what we must do if we base our methods on true psychology. And the story should be studied connectedly to the close and not by piecemeal, beginning as some do with one character and before the life-story is done dropping him and skipping to another, in order to conform to a certain doctrinal theme which may interest the adult but not the child. ”

“ The publisher has no apology to offer for adopting so excellent a title, but does disavow any intention, inclination or necessity for “borrowing” for this or any other literary purpose. The Story Hour magazine is for the benefit of a worthy educational movement—for the good of children—and there is room for both it and the book of the same name to be a blessing to the rising generation. In doing good, time and priority are not factors, but the will and the deed. ”

“ These teachers represent all the grades of the Public Schools and every school in the city. Their purpose is to cultivate the art of story-telling so that they may make use of it in the school-room for ethical instruction, as an aid to composition, both oral and written, to enliven the teaching of history and geography, and to stimulate nature-study. There is filed with the editor of this league the source, the outline, the purpose of each story told, so that the members who may have use for it in their work may have ready access to it. ”

“ The children who believe in it, and pass out of the literal belief without a shock to their faith, are to be congratulated. They never forget looking back to the time when they watched, waited and listened for Santa Claus, animated by an expectancy tinged with a happy fear.
But this belief naturally cannot persist through life. Near the beginning of the school period it must be replaced by a knowledge of the literal truth, which the children get usually from their associates. ”

“ We have our meetings in different homes and serve very simple refreshments. Those not on the program bring their needle work.
I have had in mind these ends in keeping up the organization,—First, A good time together;—Second, A better knowledge of Story material; and Third, An opportunity to tell stories.
We have as yet no Junior organization. I have thought of it, but am not quite sure whether it is the best thing for us. All teachers should feel indebted to the National League. I have this year for the first time told stories to “grown-ups” and am amazed at their delight in them. ”

“ Mothers are becoming interested in the new story-telling as a means of home education and even discipline. They are making inquires as to methods and materials. The Story Hour will be a helpful counsellor for them.
A Query Page will be useful to many, especially to those who live remote from the cities and their large libraries. Any who desire information of any kind regarding stories, or the literature of stories, or anything at all related to the subject of story-telling, or the League movement may feel free to write to The Story Hour. ”

“ This little boy has saved me,” she continued, pointing to Harald. “The merciless Loki, enraged at the love I bore humanity, changed me into an ash tree, but he had no power to keep me so forever, and was obliged to make a condition. He made the hardest he could think of. Said he: ‘Since you so love mankind, none but the child of man shall free you from your enchantment. You shall remain a tree until you feel the touch of a child who is generous enough to share his last loaf with a stranger ”

“ To hear other children tell a story is a better model for a child than the criticism of an older person who cannot tell a story.
(4) Reciting a story is not telling a story.
Last December Miss Anna C. Tyler formed a “Junior Story-Tellers’ League” in the children’s room of Pratt Institute Library, in Brooklyn. Out of an audience of from forty to sixty children, two Junior Leagues were formed. They all assemble regularly to hear the evening story, and the leagues meet afterward.
Each league elects its own officers and conducts its own meetings. ”

“ The children of Corinth, Miss., under the supervision of Susie E. Blitch, were the first to organize a Junior League. The League began with the children of the fifth grade. They had the usual officers, and a program of stories, songs and games, meeting out of doors when possible.
Those who have had charge of Junior Leagues report the following principles for the guidance of those who wish to organize Leagues among the young people:
(1) Help the children to make the organization thoroughly democratic.
(2) The supervisor has no right to stop or correct a member in telling a story. ”

“ In Hiawatha we have an Indian Messiah who worshipped the Great Spirit, and prayed and fasted for his people. In the Norse we have the worship of Odin, and Balder, the God of Light, Gladsheim and the Life Beyond the Grave. In the Greek we have the gods in their relations to man, the upper and lower world, immortality, rewards and punishments. Saint George was a protector of the faith, while King Arthur had heaped upon him the attributes of a divinity, until his life-story reminds one of the Christ story. ”

“ The shepherds who beheld this glorious and beautiful sight woke those who were asleep and told them what they had seen. When the other men heard the wonderful news that the angel had brought, they all went at once to Bethlehem as fast as they could. They soon found the cave where Mary and Joseph were. ”

“ The work of story-telling covers a much larger field than the school. It does not matter whether we are kindergartners, teachers or preachers, every adult owes to the rising generation of children something of the culture that has been given to him. ”

“ Many excellent story-tellers were developed, and one genius was discovered. The latter was a girl, who, at fifteen, gave promise of becoming a rival to Uncle Remus, himself, in telling, in dialect, the folk-tales of the South. Our National President, after hearing her, saw fit to invite her to tell stories before the Knoxville Convention of 1907.
In May, 1908, a public meeting was held, to which the parents, teachers, and friends of the story-tellers were invited. No successful evening’s entertainment was ever so easily prepared. ”

“ In the old Norse mythology the first human beings were represented as having sprung from the ash tree; hence the use made of the ash in this story.
A continual state of warfare existed among the tribes of the ancient Scandinavians, and valor in war was regarded the supreme virtue, and prowess in battle the supreme achievement of men. ”

“ Some of the people went ashore and so did the little boy. But what a funny land it was to the little boy, all the people were little people. The grown men were not taller than the little boy, and they rode little ponies that were not larger than dogs. Then the little boy asked, “What land is this, does Santa Claus live here?” ”

“ And none the less are we giving him the great truths that are common to all religions, making him tolerant and charitable, and teaching him that religion is as broad as life itself and that it is natural for every human heart to go in quest of the Eternal. With this broad outlook we can then better help our young people interpret the old truths in terms of modern thought and contribute much toward that larger religious life and thought which must inevitably come. ”

“ Some of the best Norse, Greek, and Indian myths; animal and nature stories by Kipling, Seton-Thompson, Charles Dudley Warner, and John Burroughs; “Macbeth,” “Evangeline,” “The Lady of the Lake,” “A Yankee at King Arthur’s Court;” stories of adventure, and some of the most famous of the fairy-tales have been told—and nearly always well told—by boys and girls from ten to fifteen years old. The children are learning to read—the careful search through book after book for the story they think will be the best to tell. The final selection is always their own. ”

“ The dark-skinned Arabs, who lived out in the desert, called this town the House of Meat, but all children know it by the Bible name, Bethlehem, in the country of Judea. Some of these people were riding, and some were walking, toward this town of Bethlehem. Among them, seated on a donkey, was a beautiful young woman by the name of Mary, the donkey being led by her husband, a Jew, named Joseph, who, though a poor carpenter, was related to King David, and belonged to what was called the royal family. ”

“ To make children memorize these dogmatic statements expecting them to grow religiously or morally thereby, would be like feeding them on bone meal, expecting therefrom an increase in the bony tissue of the body. ”

“ On this door Santa Claus’ little boy knocked, and a great voice said, “COME IN.” He opened the door and walked in, and who do you suppose was there? Santa Claus? Yes, there was Santa Claus himself; a great, big fat man sitting by the fire, with long white beard, blue eyes and the merriest, cheeriest face you ever saw. Then Santa Claus’ little boy said, “Father, here is a little boy who has come to see you.” Santa Claus looked down over his spectacles and said, “Well, how are you? ”

“ Since then she has written enough stories to make a small volume, and so popular is she as a story-teller that the children in her neighborhood flock to her home to hear her tell stories. Several years after that the writer saw this same girl, now passing into young womanhood, stand before a thousand teachers and tell in the same easy, natural way some of her stories. ”

“ The heroism and prowess in these stories is the main point of interest to the child, but none the less does the religious life of the race come out; and to have religion associated with physical strength as well as moral heroism is an advantage. ”

“ That method may account for the fact that Bible heroes have not always been as popular with children as some others. If the story of Ulysses and Hiawatha were taught in a similar way they would lose much of their charm and interest for the child.
The day school in its literature courses is incidentally giving the child a comparative course in religion, greatly to the advantage of the Sunday School worker. ”

“ This, with some musical selections furnished by the school glee-clubs, formed the program of the evening, which an enthusiastic audience voted a success. The outcome of that meeting was a demand for two more leagues, one of which has recently been organized.
Mankato, Minn. Our organization is very simple. The club membership changes from term to term of our school year. Three times a year a group of from fifteen to twenty-five comes to me as student teachers. We then organize a Story Club which meets once in two weeks. We elect an Executive Committee. ”