TOLD TO THE CHILDREN.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 662, 12 November 1909, Page 4

TOLD TO THE CHILDREN.

There is nothing that delights a child more than tho continuous story told by ono of her adult belongings, tho story with one hero to whom d»} by day the most wonderful things happen, ana huppy b the child v.hoso lathu ot mother has ttio lare gift ot improvisation 'lho most ordinary ioira of improvised htorj is thnl with a moral to it, wncro tho Uciu or heroine does nil the wrong things that tho httlo libtcnoi has done, does them in <i more romantic and interesting waj, and falls, into all tbo trouble that wight reall) lwc hap pened If the colours arc lum on thickly enough, thi.j moral stor) will dolight the ynafl sinner whom it is designed towmh. 'lhon there is the continuous stoiy requiring less imagination, but much more ingenuity, where tho narrntoi finds his inspiration in tlie ntvels and newspapers tliat he reads, and where ho has> to bo very ingenious indeed to account for tho statements into which he rushes rather blindly. Tor instance when ho has just given a vivid account of the hero's adventiirLs )n South Africa with Jlr Koosc volt, it Is dufficult to explain how be also carno to ho peeping round tho North Polo tit tho very moment when l'cary armed and discovered traces of Dγ Cook Fortunately, children 'are apt to be go interested in tho story 05 it goes along, tint thoj do not etop to weigh evidence lho only rule to follow is this, go straight ahead as fast as you can, and nover repeat, and the child -mil bo so anxious to know what happened next, that he will no\or question how these amazing coincidences could occur The late Mr. Blackwell, pioneer of Women's Suffrage in Vmerica, who died a few weeks ago, was a super excellent improvisator, and a recent number of the ftoston " Women's Jour nnl," which his daughter edits, contains a specimen of his invention, one which for originality and ingenuity deserves a very high place indeed m its class

Referring to tho fact that reidors of tho journal had bnpn' curious about these 'gtonee told forty years ago, so Jong ago that only fragments can bo recalled, Miss Blackwell says " One was about a mermaid She had her nest undpr a bndro that crossed a rivet; not far from our New Joisoy home Tho next was lull of square eggs, which were pink at one cud and purple at the other, . ' , "lhe mormaid found it iatiguing to eit on the n?ijt all the time, both day and night bhe offered to reward my lather with'three fairv gifts—l hn\e iorgotten thoir liaturo— if ho would take her pheo on tho nest every night, and let her go away for rost and recreation livery night after supper he set off for tho bridge "The mermaid had enemies who were beut on breaking tho eggs Chief among these were her husband, the merman, and her step daugh< ter, tho mormaiden Sometimes they citme dropping down from the bndgo overhead, sometimes they bored up through the nest from below There was 110 end to their dovices to note my father lato for his appointment, which would have caused him to forfoit the reward " One evening, as he was about to set out for the bridge, hfl found pigs in our garden Ho opened the gate and started t6 dnvo thorn out, but they went round and round the garden, and would not go out at tho gate After ho had chased them for a long time in vain, it dawned upon him that they woro goblin pigs, and that they had been sent with the sole of making him lato, He started at full speed across the fields, and rtachod tho nest just in time On another occasion he was warned, that certain flour nulls which ho had to pass would bo grinding poisonous flotir, in order that the dust of it might kill him. When ho neared tho tell wooden mills ho could, see tbo poisoned flour streaming out upon tho air to a great distance, but he made a long detour, and escaped Every I night fhwo was a now attack or a new stratagem "U is impossible at this distance of time to reconstruct from memory the fantastic tales ■which filled me and all th.o other children ■who heard them with delight I would urge every family where there is anyono endowed, with the rare gift of the born im provioator to wnto down tho 'yarns' that Iα or she spins, and preserve them 1 for tho pleasure, of Suture generations of children."