tic form. In reality, they lie in
my mind as open questions urgently in need of answers. But I do not hope
much from the answers of adults,--from the deaf and blind writers to the
hearing and seeing children. The answers must come from the children
themselves. We must listen to children's speech, to their casual
everyday expressions. We must gather children's stories. Mothers and
teachers everywhere should be making these precious records. We must
study them not merely as showing what a child is thinking, but the _way_
he is thinking and the way he is enjoying. It is the hope that these
stories may be tried out with children, the hope of reaching others who
may be watching and listening and working along these lines, the hope
that we may gather records of children's stories which will become a
basis for a real literature, the hope that somewhere among grown-ups we
may find an ear still sensitive to hear and an eye still fresh to
see,--it is this hope that has given me the courage to expose these
pitifully inadequate adult efforts to speak with little children in
their own language. Some one must dare, if only to give courage to the
better equipped. And if we dare enough, I am sure the children will come
to our rescue. If we let them, they will lead us. Whatever these stories
hold of merit or of suggestiveness is due to the inspiration and
tolerance of the courageous group of workers in the City and Country
School and in the Bureau of Educational Experiments and in particular to
Caroline Pratt without whom these stories would never have been dreamed
or written; and above all to the children themselves, for whom the
stories were written and to whom they have been read, both in the
laboratory school and in my own home. To those then, who wish to follow
the lead of little children, to those who have the curiosity to know
into what new paths of literature children's interest and children's
spontaneous expression of those interests will lead, and to the children
themselves, I send these stories.

LUCY SPRAGUE MITCHELL.

New York City
July, 1921.

MARNI TAKES A RIDE
IN A WAGON

The refrains in this story were first made up during the actual ride.
Later they served to recall the experience with vividness. This story is
given only as a type which any one may use when helping