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ly enough explanation to give background. Probably the best story of this kind known to lovers of modern literature is Daudet's famous La Derniere Classe.[1]
[1] See The Last Lesson.
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.
CHAPTER II
SELECTION OF STORIES TO TELL
There is one picture which I can always review, in my own collection of past scenes, though many a more highly coloured one has been irrevocably curtained by the folds of forgetfulness. It is the picture of a little girl, standing by an old-fashioned marble-topped dressing table in a pink, sunny room. I can never see the little girl's face, because, somehow, I am always looking down at her short skirts or twisting my head round against the hand which patiently combs her stubborn curls. But I can see the brushes and combs on the marble table quite plainly, and the pinker streaks of sun on the pink walls. And I can hear. I can hear a low, wonder-working voice which goes smoothly on and on, as the fingers run up the little girl's locks or stroke the hair into place on her fore head. The voice says, "And little Goldilocks came to a little bit of a house. And she opened the door and went in. It was the house where three Bears lived; there was a great Bear, a little Bear, and a middle-sized Bear; and they had gone out for a walk. Goldilocks went in, and she saw"--the little girl is very still; she would not disturb that story by so much as a loud breath; but presently the comb comes to a tangle, pulls,--and the little girl begins to squirm. Instantly the voice becomes impressive, mysterious: "she went up to the table, and there were THREE PLATES OF PORRIDGE. She tasted the first one"--the little girl swallows the