Part One

The fame of the “Uncle Remus” stories, according to Joel Chandler Harris, himself, was an accident. But it is quite possible, that the fame has not been quite as much of an accident as his modesty declares it to be.

Mr. Harris was the son of a very poor woman in Georgia. She had very little to give her children, and very early Joel Chandler was put out to work. When, but a mere lad, he went to work as printer boy on the plantation of Mr. Joseph A. Turner. Mr. Turner was a well educated and cultured gentleman, who spent his leisure hours in publishing (on his own plantation) a small paper, voicing the sentiment of the times.

Mr. Turner became very much interested in the Harris boy. He recognized the lad’s ability, for very frequently he found unsigned paragraphs, quite good in quality, in his paper, which had been composed by the printer boy Harris, who inserted them as he set up the type. Mr. Turner gave the boy free access to his very large and splendid library. When Joel Chandler was not seated, during leisure hours, in the chimney corner of a cabin in the negro quarters, listening to negro folk-lore, he was delving deep into the best literature of all ages. He lived so completely with the great masters in the library, that it is said, that this quite largely influenced his charming literary style in years to come.

Here on the plantation, in the negro cabins, he came, through the stories, to feel the emotions of the negro. No one has ever been so capable of putting himself in another’s place as has Joel Chandler Harris. He became possessed of all the curious knowledge of the negro, he learned of dogs and horses, he knew the path of the red stream in the swamp, and the way of the wild folk in the woods. In fact, one writer has gone so far as to say, that had Joel Chandler Harris not spent these boyhood days in the plantation home of Joseph A. Turner, there would have been no “Uncle Remus” with all that he now means to literature.

In 1876, Mr. Harris was invited to take a place on the paper called “The Constitution,” published at Atlanta, Georgia. Samuel Small was then writing humorous sketches for this paper. Small suddenly resigned. His sketches had been very popular, and the editor immediately looked around for some one who could continue the work. Mr. Harris was given the place. He went about his new task with much foreboding. He was steeped in the quaint stories of the plantation, but would the people accept these? He resolved to make the attempt, and then came the Uncle Remus stories for their first appearance.

The stories grew in popularity, and for the same reason that made Æsop’s fables an imperishable classic, these stories have taken their permanent place in literature. They were the simple stories that had been linked with the thoughts and emotions since earliest time, and have now, for the first time, been put in artistic form, by one who had so entered into the life of the negro, that he was able to express the negro’s emotions in the negro’s way. In quoting from an article on Joel Chandler Harris in “The Bookman,” Volume 27, the author says, “When Mr. Harris chose for his subject, the plantation negro, he had a character of much subtility to deal with. His subject is a creature of extremes, carelessly happy one day, deeply despondent the next, which characteristic has sprung from his very helplessness; with a never failing sense of humor, which acts as a continual balance wheel. He is a being, whose mystical side has been highly developed, and one to whom the “creeturs” have become brothers and sisters, being endowed by him, with human virtues and vices.”

“Uncle Remus” gave to literature and the world a new type of negro, that of a good kind-hearted, sympathetic old man, who was willing to spend hours in telling stories to a little boy. So little is said of Uncle Remus himself. He is merely the teller of the stories and yet one feels him to be just such an old man, for his character is interpreted by the stories he tells. Indeed, some one once asked the author, “Mr. Harris, really, don’t you suppose that Uncle Remus would steal chickens if he had a chance?” and Mr. Harris replied, “If I follow Uncle Remus all day, you surely can’t expect me to know what he does all night.”

Joel Chandler Harris in writing his “Uncle Remus” stories, did not labor to place them in logical sequence. He cared little about their value to students of comparative folk-lore, and had little notion of their evolution when he wrote them. The series cannot be placed into one great cycle that follows a hero through a number of incidents and at last brings him to the end, victorious. Mr. Harris told them for the pure enjoyment, and he was much surprised to find such a demand for a thing that was all pleasure and no work to him. He loved the simple tales because they were so near to nature’s heart, because they were full of primitive wonder, quaint flashes of humor, homely philosophy, and simple goodness.

The stories, however, readily group themselves into four classes.

I. Those that account for Certain Animal Traits, or Characteristics.
II. Stories with Brer Rabbit as a Hero.
III. Those stories told to the little Boy for their Ethical Value.
IV. Stories that attempt to Account for some Natural Phenomena.

Under the first group, Stories that account for certain animal characteristics, I have placed the following:

The stories that show the shrewdness of Brer Rabbit, might be taken as a small cycle which has Brer Rabbit as a hero.

The following are examples:

The third group of stories that were told to the little boy for their ethical value, presents quite a modern idea of the purpose of a good story; namely, that in order to teach, a moral must be tacked on. When Uncle Remus found the little boy in mischief, he straightway told him a story with a homely moral. As for example the story of “Brother Bear and the Honey Orchard.” Uncle Remus caught the little boy eating a great piece of cake, while his little brother stood by, crying for some. ’Tis then that he relates of the selfishment of Brer B’ar with his own conclusion, that “to his membrence stingy folks nevah come to no good ’een.”

The following stories were told with this idea in mind:

Under the fourth heading I have grouped such stories as:

No one can doubt but that these simple stories were first told when the human race was very young. The things that are at present accomplished by science were then met by magic. Whether or not we believe that the child in his development passes through much the same experience as the race has in its development, there are certain things that are evident: the child makes human and holds conversation with everything in his backyard world. The same voices speak to him that spoke to his cave dwelling ancestors. To him the wind is a person of might and power, that moans when in anguish and sighs when weary.

(To be concluded in next issue)

The Three Goats
By Jessica Childs

This story, contributed by Miss Jessica Childs of the Pittsburgh (Pa.) Training School for Teachers, is a translation from the Norse Folk Lore. It is very popular, Miss Childs finds, with children in the first school year.

Now you shall hear!

There was once a Boy who had three Goats. All day they leaped and pranced and skipped and climbed up on the rocky hill, but at night the Boy drove them home. One night, when he went to meet them, the frisky things leaped into a turnip field and he could not get them out. Then the Boy sat down on the hillside and cried.

As he sat there a Hare came along. “Why do you cry?” asked the Hare.

“I cry because I can’t get the Goats out of the field,” answered the Boy.

“I’ll do it,” said the Hare. So he tried, but the Goats would not come. Then the Hare, too, sat down and cried.

Along came a Fox.

“Why do you cry?” asked the Fox.

“I am crying because the Boy cries,” said the Hare; “and the Boy is crying because he cannot get the Goats out of the turnip field.”

“I’ll do it,” said the Fox. So the Fox tried, but the Goats would not come. Then the Fox also sat down and cried.

Soon after, a Wolf came along. “Why do you cry,” asked the Wolf. “I am crying because the Hare cries,” said the Fox; “and the Hare cries because the Boy cries; and the Boy cries because he can’t get the Goats out of the turnip field.”

“I’ll do it,” said the Wolf. He tried, but the Goats would not leave the field. So he sat down beside the others and began to cry too.

After a while, a Bee flew over the hill and saw them all sitting there crying. “Why do you cry?” said the Bee to the Wolf.

“I am crying because the Fox cries, and the Fox cries because the Hare cries; and the Hare cries because the Boy cries; and the Boy cries because he can’t get the Goats out of the turnip field.”

“I’ll do it,” said the Bee.

Then the big animals and the Boy all stopped crying a moment to laugh at the tiny Bee. He to do it, indeed, when they could not! But the tiny Bee flew away into the turnip field and lit upon the ear of one of the Goats and said,

“Buz-z-z-z-z!” And out ran the Goats every one!

“The child makes human and holds conversation with everything in his backyard world.

”The same voices speak to him that spoke to his cave-dwelling ancestors.

“To him the wind is a person of might and power, that moans when in anguish and sighs when weary.”Josephine Leach.

Story Telling in Washington, D. C.
By Marietta Stockard

To the Kindergarten perhaps more than to any other department of education, must be conceded the credit for having recognized the power of the story in the life of the child. The best Kindergarten training schools would no more omit a well organized course in story telling than they would a course in psychology or child study, so it is with no claim of something new or different that I respond to the invitation of the Storytellers’ Magazine to tell of the work as it is done in the Washington Normal School.

We are fortunate in having a Principal who has been willing to allow a full two years’ course in stories. This makes possible a broader literary basis, better developed principles of selection, more of adaptation and practical story telling than could be accomplished in a shorter time. It also makes possible a more leisurely, more psychologic approach to the subject, and therefore launches us upon the actual story telling with much of the beginner’s painful self-consciousness eliminated.

My first question to a new class is, “What have you read and really enjoyed during your past summer?” Next, “What are your favorite books?” Through a careful study of the students’ responses to these questions I gain a knowledge of the literary background and taste of each individual of whom I shall strive to make a successful story teller.

Discussion of these books which the students know and like leads us into the field of basic principles of selection in literature. Brief studies of a few typical short stories, analysis of purpose, structure, and style follow.

Realizing that the two absolute essentials in a successful story teller are, on the one hand, a sympathetic knowledge of the best in literature, and on the other, real understanding of the child, we read together as much of the best literature about children as time permits.

Our first approach to the story for the child is through a discussion of favorite fairy tales, remembered from the student’s own childhood. Comparison shows that there are many common favorites, further study reveals these same stories as favorites of generations of children.

Re-telling and enjoying these we gradually search out the secret of their universal appeal and come to formulate a standard embodying the essential characteristics which all stories for children should contain.

This knowledge of type stories is further developed by a brief study of Norse Myths and Folk Tales. No other literature gives quite so well the fundamental characteristics of action, simplicity and embodiment of ideals as does the Norse. The student who has read Mabie’s Norse Myths, Dasent’s Popular Tales from the Norse, Stories from Bjornstern and Selma Lagerlof, absorbs the essential characteristics of the best story and can scarcely help telling a story with vigor, simplicity, directness and imaginative appeal.

Sympathetic attitude toward child and story and basis for selection of stories in the light of fundamental principles of literature having been developed, we next formulate the requisites of a good story teller and methods of story telling. This is done through story telling in class under criticism and a study of such books as: Voice and Spiritual Education, by Corson; How to Tell Stories to Children, by Sara Cone Bryant; Stories and Story Telling, by Porter St. John. We study, re-tell, adapt, and collect in a manuscript story book such stories as are particularly suitable for use in the kindergarten.

The demand for story tellers in the schools, in playground and library work, in social centers and Sunday schools, led to the establishing of a course in story telling and children’s literature at George Washington University. This course is credited both in the teacher’s department and in the English department of the University.

The work consists of lectures, required readings and reports. The history of the story, its relation to literature, its relation to the child, the story as a moral force, methods of story telling, including adaptation, preparation, and presentation are a few of the topics discussed. Studies of groups of animal stories, folk and fairy tales, hero tales, Bible stories, Christmas and Thanksgiving stories, spring stories and humorous stories constitute the content of the course.

Every student of children’s stories not only gains a deeper appreciation of the best in literature and an added sympathy with and understanding of the child, but also discovers an inexhaustible source of usefulness and joy.

Story Telling for Camp Fire Girls
By Ellen Kate Gross
Chief Guardian, Children’s Playground Association of Baltimore, Md.

Apropos to our conversation at the Richmond Congress in regard to stories for Camp Fire Girls, the following plea is submitted to your editorial board with the hope that your splendid magazine will help us in one phase of our work.

In furthering the development of the Camp Fire Girls, there arises the necessity for a supply of Indian folk tales well told and embodying the out-of-door spirit of the Indian and his ideals. Moreover the various points of the law of the Camp Fire can best be exemplified through stories which develop the ideal held up. This law is to

The following suggestive list may illustrate how this method can be carried out,—the thought and meaning of each precept being developed through one of the stories named.

SEEK BEAUTY

GIVE SERVICE

BE TRUSTWORTHY

GLORIFY WORK

BE HAPPY

If some of these stories or similar ones, and also some Indian legends could be published in your magazine from time to time, it would be a great help to those who are working with Camp Fire Girls.