Excerpt from Stories and Story-Telling: In Moral and Religious EducationSuch a place as this story-telling has in the education of the race. Long before teachers or text-books appeared instruction was given in story form to the children who gathered about the mother's knee. Youths, grouped about their elders before the evening camp-fire, thrilled to the story of old deeds of valor and braced their souls to vie with the heroes who had won the admiration of their fathers' fathers. Modern mothers, not knowing why they do it, use the same magic to gain the same ends. The great German prophet of childhood gave the story a large and honored place in the rarely wise and successful institution which he founded. From time to time prophet and sage, preacher and statesman have made it their tool for the shaping of human conduct and character.So instinct and genius have made it their method in the past. Now, perhaps more consciously and thoughtfully than ever before, teachers are seeking to make it a part of their equipment. In the field of moral and religious education this movement is beginning to be felt, yet not as deeply or as widely as it should be. The Sunday school, our special institution for moral and religious culture, has not made as large use of the method as has the home and the public school (at least in the kinder garten), and in all three of these institutions what has been attempted has been chie¿y with the younger chil dren. With such it is almost the only method to be used. With the older pupils other means of in¿uence are avail able, but this one never loses its power if it be used with tactful adaptation to changing interests and motives. It has its large place in dealing With the adolescent, and with the adult as well.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.