If we suppose it is Cinderella that has been read, we may begin our questioning in this manner:

“That’s a good story. I like it, don’t you?—It is rather long, though; I’ve almost forgotten how it began.—O, was that the first thing that happened?—Was the father a rich man?—Did the story say he was rich or did you just think he was?—If he had not married a widow could things have happened as they did?—How did the widow and her daughters treat Cinderella?—If Cinderella had not been mistreated would her fairy godmother have come to her aid?—If the fairy had not appeared could the story have been the same?—How did the fairy make the golden coach?—Could she have made it out of anything else?—If she had made one just as good out of something else, could Cinderella have gone to the ball just as well?—If Cinderella went to the ball in good style did it matter how she went?—If Cinderella had not gone to the ball, could she have met the prince?—Was it as important then that she should have a coach made from a pumpkin as that she should go to the ball and meet the prince?—Can you think of something else just as necessary to make the story come out right as that Cinderella should go to the ball?—Can you think of other things that must have happened just as they did to make the story come out right and just as it did?—Can you think of some things that might have happened differently and still not have hurt the story at all?—Let us put together all the things that must have happened to make the story right and leave out the things that could be changed. Now, what are they?—Now let us find a few things we could leave out or change. What are some of them?—If we left them out the story would come out the same, but would it be as good, as interesting?—Would you like Cinderella as well if these little things had been left out?—Would you think as much of the prince if he had found Cinderella right away as you do when he has to do so many hard things before he finds her?”

Every one must realize the impossibility of providing a scheme of questioning that would fit exactly any given case, but will not the above suggest a method that may lead to many a happy and profitable evening at the family round table? Even if there are older children in the group they will renew their interest in the old stories and get more good from them when it is seen that father and mother do not deem it beneath their dignity, nor outside the range of their interests, to read and study a fairy tale.

In Journeys Through Bookland are here and there outlines and questions designed to lead the children to see for themselves what it is hoped others will take pleasure in showing them. Examples of the selections which contain outlines, questions and comments designed to help in the study of the plot may be found as follows:

Volume I,page 264.The Twin Brothers.
Volume I,page 395.Something.
Volume II,page 124.The Snow Queen.
Volume IV,page 174.Incident of the French Camp.
Volume VIII,page 364.The Tempest.
Volume IX,page 232.The Gold-Bug.

B. The Persons

In most stories, be they brief and simple or as long and complicated as the two-volume novel, the interest centers in one or more persons whose character the reader learns to understand, and whose success or failure, joy or grief gives him pleasure or excites his sympathy. All events center about the hero or heroes, and while other persons may be mentioned, and even win the reader’s attention for a time, they finally subside into the background and are remembered only as they contribute to greater interest in the principal characters.

Every author tries to make his heroes and heroines speak and act like real human beings and show their characters by their actions and their words. Sometimes, however, he tells the reader just how his people look, feel and think, and describes their characters to give an interest in what happens to them. A more interesting method and a more artistic one is to leave the persons to disclose themselves as the story progresses, making them show by the way they act and by what they say under certain circumstances the strong and weak qualities in their natures. Nothing is more interesting than to watch the development of character in the hero of a story, particularly when it is accomplished under conditions which are themselves interesting.

In studying the persons in a story, then, the chief things to keep in mind are the following:

1. The principal person, or hero—the one, or perhaps the ones, in whose fortunes the reader is most vitally interested.