Front Matter

Preface

F OR THE CHILDREN'S HOUR is the result of an effort to collect and edit as many as possible of the stories referred to in the story lists of the daily Program of Gift and Occupation work. Through the courtesy of authors and publishers, a longer list is presented, and a book of stories is offered containing material which has not appeared heretofore in one volume.

The scheme of compiling has been to gather from many sources; old myths, folk-tales, magazines now out of print, and the best of literature, old and latter-day, such stories as relate to the child's every-day experience, and find a place in his education because of this point of contact.

In nearly every case it has been found necessary to adapt the stories to the immediate use of the storyteller, whether kindergartner or mother. They have been shortened, and only such salient facts retained as will result in clear mental concepts, and make the stories easily told without undue taxing of the child's attention.

A large place has been given to the fanciful tale, which has a direct educational value in the training of the imagination; and the accumulative repetition story, which develops the child's sense of humor, and appeals to his instinctive love of rhyme and jingle.

The book is offered to kindergartners, teachers, and mothers who realize the large part the story plays in the development of the little child, mentally and morally.

Note

G RATEFUL acknowledgment is due the following authors and publishers for their permission to use the copyrighted material appearing in For The Children's Hour:

Laura E. Richards, Harriet Prescott Spofford, Elizabeth Harrison, Lucy Wheelock, Sarah Arnold, Maud Lindsay, Alice E. Allen, Kate Whiting Patch, Alice J. Patterson, Bertha Johnston (editor of Kindergarten Magazine), Clifton Johnson, Charles Battell Loomis, James E. Tower (editor of Good Housekeeping).

Little, Brown & Co.; Dana, Estes & Co.; D. C. Heath & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin & Co.; Silver, Burdette & Co.; Phelps Publishing Co.; Ginn & Co.; Perry Mason Co.; Outlook Co.; A. Flanagan Co.; University Publishing Co.; Educational Publishing Co.; Milton Bradley Co.; The Churchman Co.; The Christian Register; Home Kindergarten Co.; George S. Hurlburt Co.; Richard G. Badger.