From the Editor’s Study

The revival of interest in story telling on the part of educators today is due perhaps more to scientific men than any other group. The old conception of the child was that he was born in depravity and therefore his natural impulses were bad, and he should be repressed. Methods of suppression resulted; the child had no rights. If the things he was compelled to study were meaningless and obnoxious to him, well and good. The things he was interested in were ignored.

But with the coming of the biologist, geologist, and psychologist, we have seen a world of growth and change, reaching back into the immeasurable past, and man in this order, not fallen and depraved, but natural and normal with his face to the morning, ever moving upward and onward. The students of history, primitive art and folk-literature have traced for us the path-way along which the soul of the race, ever growing into self-realization gave expression to its beliefs, its hopes, its prayers and its religion, in myth, fairy story, folk-lore and folk epic. As one who travels through low land and forest yet ever climbing reaches an upland peak and looking back sees path, forest, field and rim of sea all in the perspective of beauty, so we today looking back have an infinitely larger and deeper view of life and its meaning. It is this view that has changed our attitude toward the child and will result in our setting him, “the last serf of civilization free.”

This new valuation of the child, respect for his rights and a better understanding of his needs has brought story telling to the front again. It is true that the race and the individual of all races have had stories told them more or less by troubadour and rhapsodist—the old story tellers, chief among them Homer, but not until modern times have educators so seriously studied this story as a means of education. For many centuries literature lived orally and was handed down by the story tellers; but when printing was invented the teacher began to busy himself with grammar for young and old alike, until language form became an end instead of a means.

Man in his development did not invent letters and language with the hope that he might have something to say, but he had so much to say he was compelled to invent language in order to express himself. So with the child, we must feed the springs of imagination and emotion if we would give him something to express. As a tree puts forth leaf and blossom in obedience to the laws of life within, so will the child give back in vital expression the things that nurture his inner life. Expression is life, suppression is death. It is the recognition of this truth that has given us the pedagogical basis for the story, whether it be re-telling, dramatization or illustration of the story; modelling into clay, carving into wood or motiving in life.

Man becomes like that which he admires, therefore, stories of noble deed and great heroes are used in school and Sunday-school for character building in place of memorizing abstract statements.

Young people will read books from which interesting stories have been told them, therefore many of the public libraries have a story teller for the children’s room, who by story telling, directs the reading of the children for a whole community. Story telling is a means of recreation and pure pleasure, therefore the public playgrounds throughout the land have their story tellers for the young people. Parents who tell in their homes the right kind of stories make an atmosphere in which a soul can grow and bind their off-spring to them with spiritual ties, the most lasting of all.

Story telling is an alluring subject for study, a means of delightful social intercourse and reinforcement for life, therefore many have organized themselves into the National Story Tellers’ League and its local branches.

It is to deal with this work of story telling in all of its aspects that the Storytellers’ Magazine is founded. It is our purpose to point out as far as we can the vital principles that underlie the whole movement.

The question of what stories to tell is supremely important. We cannot tell or read one-hundredth part of the good stories. In order to answer this question, we propose to re-tell in the pages of the magazine some of the best stories recognized by educators the world over; and by articles from specialists, point out the stories most worth while from the standpoint of literature. It is true we shall deal as do the oral story tellers with much of the old literature but with a creative touch that will give it the breath of life, making it a living literature and a new expression of American life and art.

We propose to answer the question of what stories to tell by a study of the child and his needs in the various periods of his development. Stories that contribute most to the making of ideal womanhood and manhood, in the last analysis, are the stories to emphasize.

The ancient story teller who by fireside or in royal court told stories of their nation heroes like King Arthur, Siegfried or Ulysses had quite a simple and direct use for the story compared to the situation today. With the complexity of modern life the use of the story becomes far more rich and varied. We expect through short articles from authorities in this work to point out all legitimate uses of the story.

Many a one has a gift for story telling but knows not how to use it. We shall have an occasional article by those who have made a success of story telling and can speak from experience.

When we think of the many educational institutions and individual workers taking up this work of story telling, and when we see the many young men and women who could, if they but knew how, become evangels of the fine art of story telling, and when we hear the voices of the great multitudes of children in neglected country districts as well as cities, saying “tell us a story” surely there is an opportunity and a call to service for The Storytellers’ Magazine.

American thought is in a creative period. Old forms in education, art, religion and government are assuming new forms to fit new conditions. The story telling movement is one with this growing life. Let us make it a true expression of the Nation’s best life. We are still young; much lies ahead of us. In the spirit of the great heroes of the old story books let us spread every sail, make for the mid-seas and discover lands not laid down in any chart.

In this issue of The Storytellers’ Magazine will be found the initial number of Miss Martin’s admirable King Arthur Series, composed of twelve stories, as follows:

At least one story will appear in each succeeding issue of the Magazine until the series is finished, and should space permit, possibly two stories will appear in some of the numbers.