Part 8 (2/2)

In presenting such passages (and it ht me that we should take the children into our confidence by telling the to happen, so that they well be free to listen to the ht occasionally bethe children some weeks afterwards to tell you in their oords what pictures werefroe at once, the danger of which proceeding I speak of later in detail[31]

We now come to the question as to what proportion of _dramatic exciteroup of children Personally, I should like, while the child is very young, I mean in main, not in years, to exclude the eleh this may be possible for the individual child, it is quite Utopian to hope that we can keep the average child free from what is in the ative it to theitimate form, they will take it in any riotous form it presents itself, and if froestion by a moderate supply of what they deerly the raw material they can so easily find for the on this question in the story of the small Scotch boy, when he asks leave of his parents to present the pious little book--a gift to hi probably that the friend's chastened condition will make him more lenient towards thisout to their son how ungrateful he is, and how ungracious it would be to part with his aunt's gift Then the boy can contain hi the nore of developets kilt ent I like stories about folk gettin' their heids cut off, or there's nae wile beasts I I like stories about black ers an' bears an'---”

Then, again, we have the passage froe Eliot's ”Mill on the Floss”:

”Oh, dear! I wish they would not fight at your school, To up the hooks again, taking out a large pocketknife, and slowly opening the largest blade, which he looked atit Then he added:

”I gave Spooner a black eye--that's what he got for wanting to leather o halves because anybody leathered me”

”Oh! how brave you are, To at ht hi at you, you silly thing? There's no lions only in the shows”

”No, but if ere in the lion countries--I mean in Africa where it's very hot, the lions eat people there I can show it you in the book where I read it”

”Well, I should get a gun and shoot hione out, you know, not thinking, just as we go out fishi+ng, and then a great lion et away from him What should you do, Tom?”

To: ”But the lion _isn't_ coe illustrates also the difference between the highly- developed iy prosaical temperament of the other To his schoolfellow a black eye, but could not possibly enter into the drainary arrival of a lion He was sorely in need of fairy stories

It is to this element we have to cater, and we cannot shi+rk our responsibilities

Willias that savor of danger or blood, that have a dra to childhood, to the exclusion of al children, until rown up, will keep in touch with his pupils by constant appeal to such er and blood is only _one_ of the things to which we should appeal, but I give the whole passage to make the point clearer

This is one of the most difficult parts of our selection, nah exciteh constructive eleiness” is slaked

And here I should like to say that, while wishi+ng to encourage in children great ade and other fine qualities which have been displayed in tiated its horrors, I think we should show that so to do with their profession as soldiers Thus, we have the well-known story of Sir Philip Sydney and the soldier; the wonderful scene where Roland drags the bodies of his dead friends to receive the blessing of the Archbishop after the battle of Roncesvall;[33] and of Napoleon sending the sailor back to England There is a moment in the story of Gunnar when he pauses in the hter of his enemies, and says, ”I wonder if I aly than they”

And in the ”Burning of Njal,”[34] we have the words of the boy, Thord, when his grand house

”'You proo from you till I wished it of myself And I would rather die with you than live after you'”

Here the e is so splendidly shown: none of these heroes feared to die in battle or in open single fight; but to face death by fire for higher considerations is a point of vieorth presenting to the child

In spite of all the dramatic excitement roused by the conduct of our soldiers and sailors, should we not try to offer also in our stories the ro life?

I would have quite a collection dealing with the thrilling adventures of the Lifeboat and the Fire Brigade, of which I shall present exaht to include a certain nu with death, especially with children who are of an age to realize that it must come to all, and that this is not a cala At present the child in the street invariably connects death with sordid accidents I think they should have stories of death coreat cause, in which he has opportunity of ad as a result of treachery, such as we find in the death of Baldur, the death of Siegfried, and others, so that children may learn to abhor such deeds; but also a fair proportion of stories dealing with death that coone, which has noof a leaf froive children the first idea that the individual is so much less than the whole

Little children often take death very naturally A boy of five met two of his older companions at the school door They said sadly and solemnly: ”We have just seen a dead ht We've _all_ got to die when our work is done”