The Children's Hour

Abstract

The Children's Hour Some Notes About Henrietta Child Henrietta Child, the daughter of the famous Harvard professor and ballad collector, Francis James Child, whose five volume English and Scottish Popular Ballads became recognized as authorative in the field, spent the greater part of the years between 1911-16 as worker at The Hindman Settlement School in Knott County, Kentucky. After her mother died, Miss Child inquired of President Frost of Berea College about a suitable place where she could donate her services and talent. She was directed to the Hindman Settlement School. In about 1916 Miss Child moved to Berea where she continued similar activities independently in southern Madison County for forty years and earned the title of "The Story-Telling Lady." In writing of Miss Child after her death in 1968, Dorothy Shearard reported: As her fame spread, Miss Child was invited to many other area schools. Soon she made regular monthly visits to schools in a ten mile radius of Berea, usually on foot, carrying a black umbrella and a large black satchel. Her tiny figure was a familiar sight on the country roads in the early morning. She wore men's work shoes to withstand the long treks on gravel roads, and her dresses were of heavy cloth used for men's workshirts. As she neared a school, one child would see her and pass the word that would electrify the school, "Miss Child is coming. " Henrietta Child was a small traveling center of cultural enrichment for both pupils and teachers in the Berea area. She recounted stories from the classics, stories of famous people, fairy tales, ballads, introduced the great in music and art, varying her program from year to year, drawing costume dolls and other objects from her black satchel for illustration. No record of her story-telling remains except in the memory of those who heard her—devotees. One recalled: She began the story of Lord Bateman. . .the blackboard erasers became castles surrounded by tissuß paper moats, guarded by lamp chimney towers and school book drawbridges. Twigs set in mudballs became the country side ofEngland and Turkey, divided by a sea of crumpled blue muslin. Suddenly ships with red and orange sails rode the waves. Lord Bateman, dressed in green velvet and gold silk, was leading his fleet. From the opposite direction came the Turkish fleet with the Lord ofSentipee. . .We heard the roar, the swords click, the cannon fire. Another remembered her voice as "mellow as the wind section of a symphony, as emphatic as the drums and as vibrant as the strings." And a girl of 17 recalled: "She was very old, and she told us the story of Odysseus, just as they did in The Story, leaving out some of the words so we could understand it. I recognized the story years later when I read it." 47 Miss Child with group during her years at the Hindman Settlement School, Knott County Kentucky—about 1911-12. Miss Child was also influential in other ways. She taught boys how to carve wooden animals and toys, and even though she had a reputation for frugality, she often gave aid anonymously to those in need. She composed delightful children's verses for group recitation. In 1967, years after Miss Child was retired and living with friends, the Berea Chapter of the American Association of University Women sponsored a play The Story (based on her life) to honor her on her 100th birthday. The proceeds were used to buy materials for the new community library to be named for her. Henrietta Child died in August 1968, just two and one-half months from her 101st birthday. Although no recordings of her story telling voice exist or copies of the stories as she told them, some of her children's verses showed up in some old files. It is a pleasure to present them for this Children's Hour. A good deal of the information about Miss Child was gathered from the Berea Citizen and Dorothy Shearard's Courier-Journal articles. 48 THE OLD APPLE TREE Oh, hurry children, come and see Green apples hanging on the old apple tree. As pretty green apples as...