ce Nightingale_.

Riis, Jacob, _Making of an American_.

Roosevelt, Theodore, and Lodge, Henry Cabot, _Hero Tales from
American History_.

Scudder, Horace E., _George Washington_.

Shaw, Anna Howard, _The Story of a Pioneer_.

Tarbell, Ida M., _Life of Abraham Lincoln_.

Thwaites, Reuben G., _Daniel Boone_.

Washington, Booker T., _Up from Slavery_.

White, John S., _Boys' and Girls' Plutarch_. [Preserves parallel
arrangement.]

Yonge, Charlotte M., _A Book of Golden Deeds_.

SECTION XI. BIOGRAPHY AND HERO STORIES

INTRODUCTORY

_Biography and its value._ The great charm of biography for both young
and old is in its perfect concreteness. Nothing fascinates like the
story of a real person at grips with realities. Nothing inspires like
the story of a hard-won victory over difficulties. Here are instances of
men and women, our own kindred, facing great crises in the physical or
moral realm with the calm courage and the clear mind of which we have
dreamed. Here are others who have fought the brave fight in opposition
to the stupidities and long-entrenched prejudices of their fellows. Here
are still others who have wrested from nature her innermost secrets, who
have won for us immunity against lurking diseases and dangers, who have
labored successfully against great odds to make life more safe, more
comfortable, or more beautiful. All these records of real accomplishment
appeal to the youthful spirit of emulation, and there can be no stronger
inspiration in facing the unsolved problems of the future. "What men
have done men can still do."

_The material and its presentation._ Most teachers will find the
biographical or historical story easier to handle than the imaginative
story, because there is a definite outline of fact from which to work.
Only those life stories with which the teacher is in sympathy can be
handled satisfactorily. For that reason no definite list of suitable
material is worth much, except as illustrating the wide range of choice.
Keeping these limitations in mind, we may venture a few practical hints:

1. There is a large list of heroic figures
hovering on the border line between reality and
legend of whose stories children never tire. In
such a list are the names of Leonidas, who held
the pass at Thermopylae, William Tell and
Arnold von Winkelried, favorite heroes of
Switzerland, Robert Bruce