THE HISTORICAL STORY
As the one widens the circle of connection
with other kinds of life, the other deepens the
sense of relation to past lives; it gives the sense
of background, of the close and endless connection
of generation with generation. A good
historical story vitalises the conception of past
events and brings their characters into relation
with the present. This is especially true of
stories of things and persons in the history of
our own race. They foster race-consciousness,
the feeling of kinship and community of blood.
It is this property which makes the historical
story so good an agent for furthering a proper
national pride in children. Genuine patriotism,
neither arrogant nor melodramatic, is so generally
recognised as having its roots in early
training that I need not dwell on this possibility,
further than to note its connection with the
instinct of hero-worship which is quick in the
healthy child. Let us feed that hunger for the
heroic which gnaws at the imagination of every
boy and of more girls than is generally admitted.
There have been heroes in plenty in the world's
records,—heroes of action, of endurance, of
decision, of faith. Biographical history is full
of them. And the deeds of these heroes are
every one a story. We tell these stories, both
to bring the great past into its due relation with
the living present, and to arouse that generous
admiration and desire for emulation which is
the source of so much inspiration in childhood.
When these stories are tales of the doings and
happenings of our own heroes, the strong men
and women whose lives are a part of our
own country's history, they serve the double
demands of hero-worship and patriotism.
Stories of wise and honest statesmanship, of
struggle with primitive conditions, of generous
love and sacrifice, and—in some measure—of
physical courage, form a subtle and powerful
influence for pride in one's people, the intimate
sense of kinship with one's own nation, and the
desire to serve it in one's own time.
It is not particularly useful to tell batches of
unrelated anecdote. It is much more profitable
to take up the story of a period and connect it
with a group of interesting persons whose lives
affected it or were affected by it, telling the
stories of their lives, or of the events in which
they were concerned, as "true stories.'' These
biographical stories must, usually, be adapted
for use. But besides these there is a certain
number of pure stories—works of art—which
already exist for us, and which illuminate facts
and epochs almost without need of sidelights.
Such may stand by themselves, or be used with
only enough explanation to give background.
Probably the best story of this kind known to
lovers of modern literature is Daudet's famous
La Dernière Classe.[1]
The historical story, to recapitulate, gives a
sense of the reality and humanness of past events,
is a valuable aid in patriotic training, and stirs
the desire of emulating goodness and wisdom.
[[1]]
See The Last Lesson, page 238.
