It was simply one of the things they
saw. It was life. So they made a picture
of it.
The folk tale so made, and of such
character, comes to the child somewhat as an
unprejudiced newspaper account of to-
day's happenings comes to us. It pleads
no cause, except through its contents; it
exercises no intentioned influence on our
moral judgment; it is there, as life is there,
to be seen and judged. And only through
such seeing and judging can the individual
perception attain to anything of power or
originality. Just as a certain amount of
received ideas is necessary to sane development,
so is a definite opportunity for
first-hand judgments essential to power.
In this epoch of well-trained minds we
run some risk of an inundation of accepted
ethics. The mind which can make independent
judgments, can look at new facts
with fresh vision, and reach conclusions
with simplicity, is the perennial power in
the world. And this is the mind we are
not noticeably successful in developing, in
our system of schooling. Let us at least
have its needs before our consciousness,
in our attempts to supplement the regular
studies of school by such side-activities as
story-telling. Let us give the children a
fair proportion of stories which stimulate
independent moral and practical decisions.
And now for a brief return to our little
black friend.
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