{"product_id":"2940013803183","title":"THE STORY HOUR","description":"CONTENTS.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eINTRODUCTION.  Kate Douglas Wiggin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePREFACE.  Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE ORIOLE'S NEST.  Kate Douglas Wiggin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDICKY SMILY'S BIRTHDAY.  Kate Douglas Wiggin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAQUA; OR, THE WATER BABY.  Kate Douglas Wiggin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMOUFFLOU.  Adapted from Ouida by Nora A. Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBENJY IN BEASTLAND.  Adapted from Mrs. Ewing by Kate Douglas Wiggin\u003cbr\u003eand Nora A. Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE PORCELAIN STOVE.  Adapted from Ouida by Kate Douglas Wiggin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE BABES IN THE WOOD.  E. S. Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE STORY OF CHRISTMAS.  Nora A. Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE FIRST THANKSGIVING DAY.  Nora A. Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLITTLE GEORGE WASHINGTON. Part I.  Nora A. Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGREAT GEORGE WASHINGTON. Part II.  Nora A. Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE MAPLE-LEAF AND THE VIOLET.  Nora A. Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMRS. CHINCHILLA.  Kate Douglas Wiggin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA STORY OF THE FOREST.  Nora A. Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePICCOLA.  Nora A. Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE CHILD AND THE WORLD.  Kate Douglas Wiggin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWHEN I WAS A LITTLE GIRL.  Kate Douglas Wiggin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFROEBEL'S BIRTHDAY.  Nora A. Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eINTRODUCTION.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStory-telling, like letter-writing, is going out of fashion. There are\u003cbr\u003eno modern Scheherezades, and the Sultans nowadays have to be amused in\u003cbr\u003ea different fashion. But, for that matter, a hundred poetic pastimes\u003cbr\u003eof leisure have fled before the relentless Hurry Demon who governs\u003cbr\u003ethis prosaic nineteenth century. The Wandering Minstrel is gone, and\u003cbr\u003ethe Troubadour, and the Court of Love, and the King's Fool, and the\u003cbr\u003eRound Table, and with them the Story-Teller.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Come, tell us a story!\" It is the familiar plea of childhood. Unhappy\u003cbr\u003ehe who has not been assailed with it again and again. Thrice miserable\u003cbr\u003eshe who can be consigned to worse than oblivion by the scathing\u003cbr\u003ecriticism, \"She doesn't know any stories!\" and thrice blessed she who\u003cbr\u003eis recognized at a glance as a person likely to be full to the brim of\u003cbr\u003ethem.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere are few preliminaries and no formalities when the Person with a\u003cbr\u003eStory is found. The motherly little sister stands by the side of her\u003cbr\u003echair, two or three of the smaller fry perch on the arms, and the baby\u003cbr\u003eclimbs up into her lap (such a person always has a capacious lap), and\u003cbr\u003efolds his fat hands placidly. Then there is a deep sigh of blissful\u003cbr\u003eexpectation and an expressive silence, which means, \"Now we are ready,\u003cbr\u003eplease; and if you would be kind enough to begin it with 'Once upon a\u003cbr\u003etime,' we should be much obliged; though of course we understand that\u003cbr\u003eall the stories in the world can't commence that way, delightful as it\u003cbr\u003ewould be.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Person with a Story smiles obligingly (at least it is to be hoped\u003cbr\u003ethat she does), and retires into a little corner of her brain, to\u003cbr\u003erummage there for something just fitted to the occasion. That same\u003cbr\u003elittle corner is densely populated, if she is a lover of children. In\u003cbr\u003eit are all sorts of heroic dogs, wonderful monkeys, intelligent cats,\u003cbr\u003enaughty kittens; virtues masquerading seductively as fairies, and\u003cbr\u003evices hiding in imps; birds agreeing and disagreeing in their little\u003cbr\u003enests, and inevitable small boys in the act of robbing them; busy bees\u003cbr\u003elaying up their winter stores, and idle butterflies disgracefully\u003cbr\u003eneglecting to do the same; and then a troop of lost children,\u003cbr\u003edisobedient children, and lazy, industrious, generous, or heedless\u003cbr\u003eones, waiting to furnish the thrilling climaxes. The Story-Teller\u003cbr\u003eselects a hero or heroine out of this motley crowd,--all longing to be\u003cbr\u003eintroduced to Bright-Eye, Fine-Ear, Kind-Heart, and Sweet-Lips,--and\u003cbr\u003espeedily the drama opens.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDid Rachel ever have such an audience? I trow not. Rachel never had\u003cbr\u003etiny hands snuggling into hers in \"the very best part of the story,\"\u003cbr\u003enor was she near enough her hearers to mark the thousand shades of\u003cbr\u003eexpression that chased each other across their faces,--supposing they\u003cbr\u003ehad any expression, which is doubtful. Rachel never saw dimples\u003cbr\u003elurking in the ambush of rosy cheeks, and popping in and out in such a\u003cbr\u003edistracting manner that she felt like punctuating her discourse with\u003cbr\u003ekisses! Her dull, conventional, grown-up hearers bent a little forward\u003cbr\u003ein their seats, perhaps, and compelled by her magic power laughed and\u003cbr\u003ecried in the right places; but their eyes never shone with that starry\u003cbr\u003elustre that we see in the eyes of happy children,--a lustre that is\u003cbr\u003edimmed, alas, in after years. Their eyes still see visions, but the\u003cbr\u003e\"shadows of the prison house\" have fallen about us, and the things\u003cbr\u003ewhich we have seen we \"now can see no more!\"","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47157518991600,"sku":"2940013803183","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013803183_p0.jpg?v=1763590481","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013803183","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}