down the gutter under the bridge, the meeting with the fierce rat who
demands the soldier's passport, the horrible sensation in the fish's
body, etc. Last of all, perhaps, will come the appreciation of the
best qualities of the hero: his modesty, his dignity, his reticence,
his courage and his constancy. He seems to combine all the qualities
of the best soldier with those of the best civilian, without the more
obvious qualities which generally attract first. As for the love
story, we must _expect_ any child to see its tenderness and
beauty, though the individual child may intuitively appreciate these
qualities, but it is not what we wish for or work for at this period
of child life.

This method could be applied to various stories. I have chosen the
"Tin Soldier" because of its dramatic qualities and because it is
marked off, probably quite unconsciously on the part of Andersen, into
periods which correspond to the child's development.

In Eugene Field's exquisite little poem of "The Dinkey Bird," we find
the objects familiar to the child in _unusual_ places, so that
some imagination is needed to realize that "big red sugar-plums are
clinging to the cliffs beside the sea"; but the introduction of the
fantastic bird and the soothing sound of amfalula tree are new and
delightful sensations, quite out of the child's personal experience.

Another such instance is to be found in Mrs. W. K. Clifford's story of
"Master Willie." The abnormal behavior of familiar objects, such as a
doll, leads from the ordinary routine to the paths of adventure. This
story is to be found in a little book called "Very Short Stories," a
most interesting collection for teachers and children.