The attendance at the story hour is not confined to students in the Summer School—many of the leading citizens and summer visitors make it convenient to drop around at that time and join the magic circle. We have been able to discover some splendid story-tellers each summer, and the great myths and classics of the race have been splendidly told and added much to the lives of many.
Kipling, Van Dyke, Dickens and other masters have been quoted and several interesting, original stories and adaptations of translations have been given. The type of story has been the very highest. Much folk-lore study and legendary investigation has been the outcome of it all. And if the writer had done nothing else during the four years he was a member of the Faculty of Wooster Summer School than to organize and keep alive the Story Tellers’ League, he would have no reason to be ashamed.
It is now finally established on a high level, and will live as long as the Summer School. It will serve as the inspiration to many teachers to learn the fine art, thus placing within the reach of the little children of the Republic the golden key to the world’s great Literatures, and will give to teachers the secret of making children feel at home when at school and keeping them in touch with the heart strings of the future citizens of our country. So mote it be.
J. E. McKean.
FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
Among the pleasantest hours of the week at the University of Virginia Summer School, last July, were the twilight story-telling hours on the campus. Somehow there was the true Golden Age atmosphere, perhaps enhanced by the beautiful old academic building and grounds; the trees and the birds; the soft air and genial spirit of the South. At any rate, men and women listened rapt to the “Once upon a time,” and lost themselves in forgotten fairy tales, portions of the old epics, folk-lore, personal anecdote, funny stories, and ghost stories. Of course, there were good story-tellers present, among them being Mr. Woodley of New Jersey, Miss Wiggins of North Carolina, Miss King of Virginia, Mr. Ruediger of Washington, D. C., and Mr. Augsburg of California. Best of all were the biblical and folk-lore stories by Mr. Wyche, president of the Story Tellers’ League. It is Mr. Wyche’s distinction to tell his stories with a simple Homeric directness impossible to describe but which appeals alike to the child listener and to the jaded professor of English.
Occasionally, when the spirit moved, old songs were sung out of the hearts of those present,—Maryland, My Old Kentucky Home, Carry Me Back to Old Virginia, Annie Laurie, Suwanee River. Then more stories, and, finally, dispersal over the campus in singing, chatting groups.
A. S. B.
FROM EMPORIA, KANSAS
Meetings were held at Emporia, Kansas, in the State Normal Summer School during the second week in July. Sometimes as many as six hundred would gather on the Campus just at sunset, play games for a while and then sit on the grass and steps of the main building that opened to the glow of the west. Here for an hour or more stories and songs were rendered. The stories were told largely by members of the faculty, while the students interspersed the program with the popular national airs and melodies. From this large audience, a small group have organized themselves into a League.