Fourth.—The stories offer opportunity for inculcating moral truths and sometimes it is possible to teach by stories truths that would be difficult to teach in any other way.
Kinds of Stories.—(a) Stories of Real Life—of events which have actually happened, or would be likely to happen. It is in this kind of story that moral truths can be illustrated most frequently.
(b) Fairy Tales.—Some people object to fairy tales, but innocent fairy tales feed the imagination, and often point a moral. Stories of horror and cruelty should never be recounted. Children soon learn to take delight in this class of story, and as a consequence, their moral tone deteriorates. Such stories as “Bluebeard” have this effect, but “Cinderella,” “Sleeping Beauty,” and many others, show that right is victorious in the end, and cannot have any bad effect on the children.
(c) Stories of Nature.—Flowers, rocks, trees, and other objects in nature may be made the subject of pleasant stories, interesting as a fairy tale, and many important truths may be taught in this way. A story of the kind is given as an example.
(d) Stories for Very Little Ones.—These should be exceedingly simple. A dog, a kitten, a bird, anything that comes into the life of a little child, he is delighted to hear about. Many such stories are given in the chapters on Numbers and Reading, and others will suggest themselves to the teacher. They should all be told in baby language, i.e., in language that the child can comprehend. Pictures often suggest a story, which is all the more interesting for being thus illustrated.
The children should sometimes be encouraged to tell what they can remember of the story. In this way they learn to express themselves.
The Story-Teller. (a) We have said before that the language should be simple and easy to understand.
(b) The voice should be modulated, and the story-telling is much more effective when gesticulations are used. The flying of birds, the rustling of leaves, etc., should be accompanied by hand movements on the part of the Teacher.
(c) The story-teller should be in sympathy with the subject of the story, and also with the listeners, otherwise the interest will be lost.
(d) Just as pictures add interest to a story, so do illustrations on the blackboard and these should be frequently given. Sometimes the children may be allowed to draw for themselves objects which have been mentioned in the story.