[i]

WORTH WHILE STORIESFOR EVERY DAY

ARRANGED, COMPILED, AND EDITED
BY

LAWTON B. EVANS, A.M.

WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE TEACHERS OF THE
PRIMARY GRADES OF THE PUBLIC
SCHOOLS OF AUGUSTA, GA.

1923
MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY
SPRINGFIELD, MASS.

[ii]

Copyright, 1917,
By MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY,
Springfield, Mass.

Bradley Quality Books

Printed in the United States of America

[iii]

A WORD TO STORY TELLERS

In order to make story-telling most effective, the story-tellershould bear in mind certain conditions that are imposed by thosewho listen.

1. Know the story. Know it well enough to tell it in your ownlanguage, and in the language of the children who hear it. Know itwell enough to amplify, vary, improve, make all kinds of excursionsand side incidents, and yet return easily to the main body of thestory.

2. Tell the story. Do not read it. The speaker is free andunbound by book or words; the reader is held by the formal pagebefore him. The stories in this book are condensed, too condensedfor reading and need the addition of words to make them of theright consistency. Those words should be the narrator’s own; thestory then becomes the narrator’s story and not the author’s, andthat is as it should be.

3. Act the story. Do not be afraid of the dramatic side ofnarration. Imitate all the sounds that belong to the story, suchas the winds blowing, the thunder rolling, a bear growling, a dogbarking, etc. Change your voice to meet the requirements of youthand age. Throw[iv] yourself heart and soul into the spirit of thenarrative and do not be afraid to take all the parts, and to acteach one in turn.

4. Impress the story. Remember that the story is the main thingand that the moral point is secondary. Do not make the story asermon, and do not dwell severely upon its ethical features. If thestory is amusing let it be without moral value. If it is historicallet it remain so. Generally speaking you can bring out the moralfeatures in a few words at the close. Children do not like too muchsermonizing.

5. Use the story. If the story lends itself to dramatization, byall means let the children act the parts; if it is a good languageexercise, let them tell it or write it in their own words; if itcan be illustrated let them draw pictures on the board or at theirseats; if it can be used for handwork in any way, let them makewhat they can.

6. Enjoy the story. Make it worth while for pupils to be punctualin order to hear the story; recur often to past stories whenoccasion recalls them to mind; let the imagination play around allthe incidents so that the mind will be filled with those imagesthat have been the joy of childhood since the world began.

Augusta. Ga.Lawton B. Evans.

[vii]

CONTENTS