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CHILDREN'S STORIES
"To be a good story-teller is to be a king among children."
The business of story-telling is carried on from the soundest of
economic motives, in order to supply a constant and growing demand.
We are forced to satisfy the clamorous nursery-folk that beset us on
every hand.
Beside us stands an eager little creature quivering with expectation,
gazing with wide-open eyes, and saying appealingly, "Tell me a story!"
or perhaps a circle of toddlers is gathered round, each one offering
the same fervent prayer, with so much trust and confidence expressed
in look and gesture that none but a barbarian could bear to disappoint
it.
The story-teller is the children's special property. When once his
gifts have been found out, he may bid good-by to his quiet snooze by
the fire, or his peaceful rest with a favorite book. Though he hide in
the uttermost parts of the house, yet will he be discovered and made
to deliver up his treasure. On this one subject, at least, the little
ones of the earth are a solid, unanimous body; for never yet was seen
the child who did not love the story and prize the story-teller.
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