You must be infallible. You must be in
the secret of the mystery, and admit your
audience on somewhat unequal terms;
they should have no creeping doubts as
to your complete initiation into the secrets
of the happenings you relate.
Plainly, there can be lapses of memory
so complete, so all-embracing, that frank
failure is the only outcome, but these are
so few as not to need consideration, when
dealing with so simple material as that of
children's stories. There are times, too,
before an adult audience, when a speaker
can afford to let his hearers be amused with
him over a chance mistake. But with children
it is most unwise to break the spell of
the entertainment in that way. Consider,
in the matter of a detail of action or
description, how absolutely unimportant the
mere accuracy is, compared with the effect
of smoothness and the enjoyment of the
hearers. They will not remember the detail,
for good or evil, half so long as they
will remember the fact that you did not
know it. So, for their sakes, as well as for
the success of your story, cover your slips
of memory, and let them be as if they were
not.
And now I come to two points in method
which have to do especially with humorous
stories. The first is the power of initiating
the appreciation of the joke. Every natural
humorist does this by instinct and the
value of the power to story-teller can
hardly be overestimated.
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