by a person in the play; but if it remains a
part of the picture in the story, performing
only its natural motions, it is a caricature to
enact it as a role. The most powerful
instance of a mistake of this kind which I have
ever seen will doubtless make my meaning
clear. In playing a pretty story about
animals and children, some children in a
primary school were made by the teacher to
take the part of the sea. In the story, the
sea was said to "beat upon the shore," as
a sea would, without doubt. In the play,
the children were allowed to thump the
floor lustily, as a presentation of their
watery functions! It was unconscionably
funny. Fancy presenting even the crudest
image of the mighty sea, surging up on the
shore, by a row of infants squatted on the
floor and pounding with their fists! Such
pitfalls can be avoided by the simple rule
of personifying only characters that actually
behave like human beings.

A caution which directly concerns the
art of story telling itself, must be added
here. There is a definite distinction
between the arts of narration and dramatization
which must never be overlooked. Do
not, yourself, half tell and half act the
story; and do not let the children do it. It