Tell Me Another Story

Me Another Story, by Carolyn
Sherwin Bailey

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Title: Tell Me Another Story The Book of Story Programs
Author: Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
Release Date: October 29, 2006 [EBook #19661]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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ANOTHER STORY ***

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TELL ME ANOTHER STORY

THE BOOK OF STORY PROGRAMS

BY
CAROLYN SHERWIN BAILEY

1918 MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
NEW YORK BOSTON PHILADELPHIA ATLANTA SAN
FRANCISCO

COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY,
SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
* * * * *

Preface
The reward of the story-teller who has successfully met the child's story
interest is the plea embodied in the title of this book: "Tell me another
story." The book meets this child longing on a psychologic basis. It
consists of groups of stories arranged so that their telling will result in
definite mental growth for children, as well as satisfied story hunger.
There has been a tendency in the past to group stories in a haphazard
way; there has been no organized plan of selecting stories to precede
and follow one another for the purpose of definite functioning of mind
processes. The effect of one story of distinctly differentiated theme
from one which has just been told is to break continuity of thought. On
the other hand, stories of similar theme, but contrasting form told in the
story-hour have a mental effect of concentration and will training. This
mental growth through stories is the aim of the book.
The instinctive and universal interests of all children form the themes

of the story programs; and these interests are presented in their natural
order for a year, beginning with home life, taking the child out into the
world, and carrying him through his school, industrial, seasonable, and
holiday activities. Three stories have been grouped in each program as
the number upon which children can most easily fix their attention.
The plan of grouping the stories in each program is very definite and
psychologic. The first story in a group is an apperceptive one; it secures
the child's spontaneous attention because, through its plot, it touches his
own life in some way. It brings him into close and intimate touch with
the interest theme of the program because it speaks of things that he
knows, and other things that he can do. The second story in each group
makes an appeal to the child's reasoning powers; having secured his
attention through the apperceptive story, the story-teller now takes the
child a-field, mentally, and secures his voluntary attention. It calls for
constructive thought; it presents the theme of the program in a broader
way, with wider application. It is, usually, the longest story of the
program. The third story is, invariably, the dessert of this story meal.
Through its brevity, humor, tenderness, or sharply contrasting
treatment of the program theme, it supplies the necessary relaxation,
the fitting climax for the program.
An analysis of the Trade Life program will illustrate the psychologic
appeal upon which the book is built. The story, The Holiday, opens the
program with its apperceptive appeal, showing the dependence of the
home upon the industrial life of the community and the possibility of a
child's coöperation in it. The second story in the trade program, Selma
Lagerloöf's Nils and the Bear, gives this wonderful Swedish writer's
presentation of the iron industry as a factor in our growth from
savagery to civilization. The third story, The Giant Energy and Fairy
Skill, by Maud Lindsay, gives the program its climax in fantasy and
contrast.
A similar analysis may be made of each program in the book.
It is not intended that the stories shall never be told to children
separately; on the contrary, each story is one of the best examples to be
found of the child interest which forms its theme. The book has been

prepared, however, to meet in an educational way the need expressed in
its title. It should be of value for the home, school, library, and
settlement.
CAROLYN SHERWIN BAILEY.
NEW YORK, 1918.
* * * * *

EDITORIAL NOTE
I am indebted for editorial courtesies in connection with copyrighted
material appearing in Tell Me Another Story to the following
publishers:
Frederick A. Stokes and the Butterick Company for The Country Cat