II. THE SERVICES WE MAY EXPECT LITERATURE TO RENDER IN THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN 16 III. THE KINDS OF LITERATURE AND THE ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE SERVICEABLE IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 38 IV. STORY 55 V. THE CHOICE OF STORIES 77 VI. FOLK-TALE AND FAIRY-STORY 92 VII. MYTH AS LITERATURE 113 VIII. HERO-TALES AND ROMANCES 131 IX. REALISTIC STORIES 156 X. NATURE AND ANIMAL STORIES 170 XI. SYMBOLISTIC STORIES, FABLES, AND OTHER APOLOGUES 183 XII. POETRY 193 XIII. DRAMA 212 XIV. THE PRESENTATION OF THE LITERATURE 229 XV. THE RETURN FROM THE CHILDREN 242 XVI. THE CORRELATIONS OF LITERATURE 259 XVII. LITERATURE OUT OF SCHOOL AND READING OTHER THAN LITERATURE 277 XVIII. A COURSE IN LITERATURE FOR THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 292 CHAPTER I LITERATURE IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL According to the naïvely formal method of division of the old-fashioned homiletics, the title itself offers a quite inevitable outline for the discussion in this chapter--an outline that takes this form: (1) literature; (2) literature in the school; (3) literature in the elementary school; and while we may smile at the pat formality of the little syllabus, we cannot resist its logic. Perhaps we can retain the logic while we disguise the formality. When one proposes to enter for any purpose or from any point of view, a large field, especially a field that has already been much explored, he feels that he must hasten to define his bounds, to stake out his particular claim. But he makes a mistake if, in his haste to do this, he fails to make clear his understanding of the location of the large field and his conception of its nature. Any new discussion of literature must justify itself at the beginning by declaring from what point of view it will proceed and in what direction it will move. This seems a good place, then, to declare that this whole discussion will concern itself with literature as a part of the training of children. Yet this discussion must constantly proceed in the light of certain fundamental conclusions concerning literature in general, and in its essential nature, and it will help us to stand upon common ground to state these conclusions.