interest, for actual contact with nature is the child's chief
interest. But it makes the story, because it is an organized
experience marked by the values of human life, the unity of the
child's return or reaction to his environment. The tale thus may bring
about that "living union of thought and expression which dispels the
isolation of studies and makes the child live in varied, concrete,
active relation to a common world."

In the home fairy tales employ leisure hours in a way that builds
character. Critical moments of decision will come into the lives of
all when no amount of reason will be a sufficient guide. Mothers who
cannot follow their sons to college, and fathers who cannot choose for
their daughters, can help their children best to fortify their spirits
for such crises by feeding them with good literature. This, when they
are yet little, will begin the rearing of a fortress of ideals which
will support true feeling and lead constantly to noble action. Then,
too, in the home, the illustration of his tale may give the child much
pleasure. For this is the day of fairy-tale art; and the child's
satisfaction in the illustration of the well-known tale is limitless.
It will increase as he grows older, as he understands art better, and
as he becomes familiar with the wealth of beautiful editions which are
at his command.

And finally, though not of least moment, fairy tales afford a vital
basis for language training and thereby take on a new importance in
the child's English. Through the fairy tale he learns the names of
things and the meanings of words. One English fairy tale, _The Master
of all Masters_, is a ludicrous example of the tale built on this very
theme of names and meanings. Especially in the case of foreign
children, in a tale of repetition, such as _The Cat and the Mouse_,