It is not the purpose of the school to educate players or public readers, any more than to train carpenters or machinists. But the reading exercises in school should culminate in the ability to sympathetically interpret a considerable variety of human life and character as presented in our best literature. Modern educators, however, are not satisfied, in any important study, with theoretical knowledge derived from books. They demand that knowledge shall pass over into some sort of practice and use. Reading passes naturally and without a break from the interpretation of life to its embodiment in conduct. In this important respect it is the most practical of all studies. Its subject matter, derived from literature, consists largely of an interesting variety of typical and artistically beautiful character delineations from the hands of the supreme master of this art. Dramatic representation is the last and indispensable step in the art of reading; and the interest that naturally attaches to it, from early childhood up through all the stages of growth, removes one chief obstacle to its introduction.
Keeping in mind that wisdom, skill, and versatility in conduct are the natural and appropriate outcome of successful dramatic representation, it is not at all extravagant to say that the average child will have far more use for this result, both now and in all the vicissitudes of later life, than for skill in carpentry, or ironwork, or weaving, etc.
Nor have we any disposition to detract from the value usually attributed to manual training in its various forms by its advocates.
It is not uncommon for teachers generally to employ the dialogue form when the selection admits of it, and to assign the parts to different children. Our purpose, however, in the fuller discussion and emphasis of the dramatic element is to suggest a more liberal employment of dramatic selections, and to provide for a much fuller dramatic representation, using simple, inexpensive costumes and stage surroundings where possible.
When we examine in detail the number of dramatic selections in a set of readers, or among the masterpieces sometimes read in the classes below the high school, we shall find a number of purely dramatic works. "The Merchant of Venice" and "Julius Cæsar" are well adapted to seventh and eighth grades, and there are many selections in which the dialogue is an important feature, as in "The Cricket on the Hearth," "King of the Golden River," "Tanglewood Tales," "Lady of the Lake," "Marmion," "Pilgrim's Progress," "Grandfather's Chair," and many others.
"The Courtship of Miles Standish" has been published in a form specially adapted for school exhibitions by Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. Longfellow's "Giles Corey of the Salem Farms," in the "Riverside Series," is a drama well suited to sixth grade. The story of "William Tell," derived from Schiller's drama, is adapted to sixth and possibly to fifth grade.
Some of the ballads are cast in the form of the dialogue, and can be easily treated so in the school, as "Proud Lady Margaret," "Robin Hood and the Widow's Sons," "King John and the Abbot of Canterbury," and many others. The Robin Hood stories are full of dialogue and could be easily dramatized, and so with "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and others.
An examination of our literature from this point of view will discover a strong dramatic element in a large portion of it, and the cultivation of this spirit will qualify the children for a better appreciation of many of the great works.
5. Treatment of the "Odyssey."
The "Odyssey" is probably as well known as any masterpiece in the world's literature. For the sake of illustration, therefore, we will enter upon a brief discussion of the mode of handling it as a unit in the school.