Special Method in Primary Reading and Oral Work with Stories

by Charles A. McMurry

And the Jossakeeds, the Prophets,
The Wabenos, the Magicians,
And the Medicine-men, the Medas,
Painted upon bark and deer-skin
Figures for the songs they chanted,
For each song a separate symbol,
Figures mystical and awful,
Figures strange and brightly colored;
And each figure had its meaning,
Each some magic song suggested.

One of the most striking features of this story is its setting in nature. More than any other piece of literature now used in the school, it is redolent of fields and forest.

Should you ask me, whence these stories,
Whence these legends and traditions,
With the odors of the forest,
With the dew and damp of meadows,
With the curling smoke of wigwams,
With the rushing of great rivers,
With their frequent repetitions,
And their wild reverberations,
As of thunder in the mountains?
I should answer, I should tell you,
"From the forests and the prairies,
From the great lakes of the Northland,
From the land of the Ojibways,
From the land of the Dacotahs,
From the mountains, moors, and fenlands,
Where the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,
Feeds among the reeds and rushes."

Should you ask where Nawadaha
Found these songs, so wild and wayward,
Found these legends and traditions,
I should answer, I should tell you,
"In the birds'-nests of the forest,
In the lodges of the beaver,
In the hoof-prints of the bison,
In the eyry of the eagle!
All the wild-fowl sang them to him,
In the moorlands and the fenlands,
In the melancholy marshes;
Chetowaik, the plover, sang them,
Mahng, the loon, the wild-goose, Wawa,
The blue heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,
And the grouse, the Mushkodasa!"

This description of primitive man is as complete an absorption into his natural surroundings as is possible. His food and clothing, his tents and boats, his weapons and war gear, are drawn directly from nature's first supplies, and man, in this case, seems almost a part of nature, so completely are his thoughts and activities determined and colored by his environment. Like the animals, in their protective coloring, he becomes an undistinguishable part of his surroundings. His nature myths and superstitions are but phases and expressions of the contact of his crude mind with forces and objects in nature. In this respect there are many interesting suggestions of similar interpretations among the Norse and Greek mythologies.

The close and friendly contact of Hiawatha with trees and animals, his companionship with the squirrel, the woodpecker, and the beaver, his talking acquaintance with trees of the forest, with the fishes in the Big-Sea-Water, and with the masters of the winds, the storm, and the thunder, make him an interesting guide for the children among the realms of nature.

Ye who love the haunts of nature,
Love the sunshine of the meadow,
Love the shadow of the forest,
Love the wind among the branches,
And the rain-shower and the snow-storm,
And the rushing of great rivers
Through their palisades of pine-trees,
And the thunder in the mountains,
Whose innumerable echoes
Flap like eagles in their eyries;—
Listen to these wild traditions,
To this Song of Hiawatha!

A happy, sympathetic love for the sights and sounds in nature is a fortunate beginning of nature lore. The imaginative interpretations are common to all the early races and in full harmony with the temper of childhood. Even from the standpoint of nature study, this early poetic joy in nature descriptions is profitable. The matter-of-fact, analytic study of natural science in succeeding years need not begrudge the children this happiness, this interpretative play of the imagination, this music of field and forest. In early childhood, nature and poetry are one, and as Lowell says, "Let us not go about to make life duller than it is."

The simplicity and beauty of the language and figure of speech make many parts of this poem especially appropriate for children.

Young and beautiful was Wabun;
He it was who brought the morning,
He it was whose silver arrows
Chased the dark o'er hill and valley;
He it was whose cheeks were painted
With the brightest streaks of crimson,
And whose voice awoke the village,
Called the deer, and called the hunter.