firmness
of surface which does not let the glamour rub off; but stories in which
there is a hint of the beauty just beyond the palpable--or of a dignity
suggestive of developed literature--are sorely hurt in their
metamorphosis, and should be protected from it. They are for telling
only.

Another point on which it is necessary to exercise reserve is in the
degree to which any story can be acted. In the justifiable desire to
bring a large number of children into the action one must not lose
sight of the sanity and propriety of the presentation. For example, one
must not make a ridiculous caricature, where a picture, however crude,
is the intention. Personally represent only such things as are
definitely and dramatically personified in the story. If a natural
force, the wind, for example, is represented as talking and acting like
a human being in the story, it can be imaged by a person in the play;
but if it remains a part of the picture in the story, performing only
its natural motions, it is a caricature to enact it as a role. The
most powerful instance of a mistake of this kind which I have ever seen
will doubtless make my meaning clear. In playing a pretty story about
animals and children, some children in a primary school were made by
the teacher to take the part of the sea. In the story, the sea was
said to "beat upon the shore," as a sea would, without doubt. In the
play, the children were allowed to thump the floor lustily, as a
presentation of their watery functions! It was unconscionably funny.
Fancy presenting even the crudest image of the mighty sea, surging up
on the shore, by a row of infants squatted on the floor and pounding
with their fists! Such pitfalls can be avoided by the simple rule of
personifying only characters that actually behave like human beings.

A caution which directly concerns the art of story telling itself, must
be added here. There is a definite distinction between the arts of
narration and dramatization which must never be overlooked. Do not,
yourself, half tell and half act the story; and do not let the children
do it. It is done in very good schools, sometimes, because an
enthusiasm for realistic and lively presentation momentarily obscures
the faculty of discrimination. A much loved and respected teacher whom
I recently listened to, and who will laugh if she recognizes her
blunder here, offers a good "bad example" in this particular. She said
to an attentive audien