^ ,^^ 3"* f'Kf E. 4^ A >>>., ' I i/;-/ -'.y /*^ ' r,^ri#i ,^i f^ ^7 fi \ and FiWmers' Reading Go. COLLEGE OF AGRICULTL IlUnivcrity, Ithaca, I»tat6 Olallege of Agriculture At Qfotncll Mntacrattij atljata. W. 5. Slihratg Date Due v:^ 1 1PR1 DEC 3 5 1977 P 1 f) Cornell University Library G 73.F94 The child and nature; or, Geography teach 3 1924 014 016 996 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014016996 THE Child and ]SrATURE GEOGRAPHY TEACHING WITH SAND MODELLING ALEXIS EVERETT EEYE Author of "Brooks and Brook Basins," "Primary Geography; "Complete Geography," "Home and School Atlas," "Teachers' Manual of Geography," etc. BOSTON, U.S.A. GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 1898 (^l^Y' ' (fbc ettor^ of tbe pajrt arc tbe tuiji&nm of tbc pKjsent." COPYHIGHT, 1888, By ALEXIS E. FEYE. All rights reserved. PREFACE. Geography spans a lifetime ; but as a common-school study, it consists of a natural sequence of subjects beginning in the primary grades and unfolding along the entire course. Every branch in the advanced work springs from a root in the elementary, and it is this unity of growth which alone merits the name of science. The series of relations which link man to the mother earth can be properly traced only by considering the land masses, not as mere areas, but as solid forms, possessing not only length and breadth, but also the very important dimension of height. By this term is meant, not the mere location of plateaus and mountain ranges, but the varying elevation of the whole land surface above the sea- level, resulting in continental slopes. Is it not the threefold extension, or rather the relation of elevation to area, which conditions the distribution of life? and is it not the dimen- sion of height alone, which divides the surface into the great slopes that form the river-basins, determine rainfall and drainage, distribute soil as food for plants, and thus prepare the earth to become the home of man? Any system of IV PREFACE. geography, therefore, which omits the study of the great slopes of the earth, lacks a very essential element. The aim of this work is, — 1. To grade and apportion the subject-matter of natural geography to tbe successive stages of development of the child's mind, and rid the study of its myriads of worthless details. 2. To direct attention to the laws of mind-growth which condition methods of teaching, and to suggest devices for stimulating and directing mental energy. 3. To review the literature of geography, and indicate lines of study for teachers. It is sincerely hoped that what is here given will prove suggestive of something far better, and that the seal of individuality will be stamped on every teacher's own work. Let no man's ideal be slavishly followed, lest it become an idol ; but use only what seems best fitted to stimulate a growing ideal. In preparing this subject, much important geographical information was obtained from the excellent works of Eitter, Guyot, Humboldt, Wallace, Johnston, Huxley, Maury, and others ; and grateful acknowledgment is now made them. This book is sent out with the hope that it may lighten the work of teachers, and make the school-days of childhood happier and more profitable. ALEX E. FRYE. Cambbidqb, Mass., Jan. 1, 1888. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION, CHAPTER I. PAGE Shokt History of G-eogkaphy 1 CHAPTER II. Value of Studying Continental Slopes 11 PART I. HOME GMOGBAPHY. CHAPTER III. Sand Modelling in Elementary Geography 26 CHAPTER IV. Primary Lessons. — First Two Tears 34 CHAPTER V. District Relief 44 FoKMs OF Land and Water 48 Illustrative Lessons 52 Mapping the Distbict 70 V vi CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. PAUE fOKCES 80 "Water 82 Soil-Making 87 Am 89 FOKM, Size, and Motions op the Earth 94 Climate 102 CHAPTBK VII. Life 106 Plants 106 Animals 112 CHAPTER VIII. Man. 117 Occupations ..,...., 117 Commerce 118 Kaces ... 118 Religions 120 Governments 121 PART II. FOREIGN GEOGIIAPUY. CHAPTER IX. Globe OK _CoNTiNENT. — Which First? 123 CHAPTER X. Sand Modelling m Foreign Geography 131 CHAPTER Xt. Relief of the Globe 137 The Continents 140 Modelling 14.) Coast-Line Drawing 15] CONTENTS. vil CHAPTER XII. , PAGE POKCBS 165 Motions of the Earth 165 "Winds 170 Ocean-Currents 174 Rainfall 176 Climate 178 Soil 181 • CHAPTER XIII. Life 183 Plants 183 Animals 186 CHAPTER XIT. Man 192 Races 193 Religions 194 Governments 195 Occupations 196 Commerce 198 Conclusion - 199 APPENDIX. Graded Coukse of Study 201 Teacheks' Libbary of Geography 206 supplembntaby readers fob children 209 Library op Travel , 211 "Nature, the old nurse, took The child upon her knee, Saying : - Here is a story-book Thy Father has written for thee.' " ' Come, wander with me,' she said, ' Into regions yet untrod ; And read what is still unread In the manuscripts of God.' " And he wandered away and away With Nature, the dear old nurse, Who sang to him night and day The rhymes of the universe. " And whenever the way seemed long, Or his heart began to fail. She would sing a more wonderful song. Or tell a more marvellous tale.'' Longfellow to Agassiz. THE CHILD AND NATURE. INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER I. SHORT HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHY. The "nest places" of civilization were the fertile valleys and peninsulas about the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf. In early times the natural surroundings of mountains and deserts shut out invasion of hostile tribes, while the many arms of the sea fostertfd commercial inter- course. Nature produced abundantly the necessaries of life, and at a very early period these great garden spots became the homes of the classic nations. Here we must look for the first records of geography. Here the sailor, the traveller, the soldier, brought together their accounts of foreign lands, people, winds, ocean currents, and apparent motions of the heavenly bodies ; and gradually from these centres of learn- ing the clouds of ignorance were rolled back. The early history of every science must be an account of the gathering of the facts from which its laws are deduced. The mass of knowledge thus accumulated does not constitute the science. Not until some jmaster-mind comprehends the unity in all, correlates the parts, and reveals the laws, is 2 THE CHILD AND NATURE. the science unfolded. The world has had many recorders, but few geographers. The early attempts to advance the study to a science met with but partial ' success, owing to insufficient data. Not until the great Humboldt had given to the world his "Cosmos," could the master-mind of Carl Eitter gather up the almost countless threads of past research, and weave them into the beautiful science of geography. This sketch, with its series of maps, is intended to indi- cate in a general way the growth of geographical knowledge among civilized nations, and thus suggest a system of ele- mentary study ; for the elements of all sciences should lead along the lines of original investigation and discovery. Inci- dentally, the rise and decline of a few of the great empires may be noticed, together with the important historical events which have influenced exploration and discovery. The first little map (p. 3) pictures the woi-ld as known to Homer about 900 B.C. Greece is represented in the middle of a great round plain, surrounded by the river Ocean. It is difficult to trace the history of discovery before this time, as the records are not authentic. It is believed, however, that during the "heroic age," the Argonauts explored the Black Sea, and that, a little later, the siege of Troy made known the countries of Asia Minor. During several centuries before the time of Homer, the hardy PhcBnician sailors had explored the islands and coasts of the great sea, planting colonies, and carrying on an exten- sive commerce. In the south, Egypt had already passed the most splendid period of her history (1500-1200 B.C.) ; but Ethiopia was still one of the most powerful states of the known world. The Greek minstrel was acquainted with the countries bor- dering the eastern half of the Mediterranean, including Asia 4 THE CHILD AND NATURE. Minor, Phoenicia, and Egypt ; but his knowledge does not appear to have extended to the great monarchies in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates. The map (II.) of Herodotus (450 B.C.) shows a marked increase in geographical knowledge. The intervening period witnessed the establishment of large and flourishing colonies all around the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The Phoenicians, pushing boldly westward, had discovered England and Ireland, and had even sent their hardy sailors by way of the Red Sea to the Indies. The caravan trade had opened the eastern countries as far as India. Carthage had extended her sway westward to the Atlantic, and Rome was rapidly gaining the ascendancy in Italy. The three great Persian invasions of Greece, ending disastrously in the shipwreck off Mount Athos and the defeats at Marathon, Salamis, and Platsea, marked the beginning of the decline of the Persian Empire. The "age of Pericles" had begun in Athens, and that city was at the height of her glory. The "Father of History" had travelled through Asia Minor, Phoenicia, Lower Egypt, and Mesopotamia, which, with his own country, he has accurately described ; but he knew very little of the discoveries to the westward, and has not even mentioned the name of Rome. The known world was divided into Europe and Asia, around which he placed the Atlantic Sea. The far-away people of the North were called "Hyperboreans " (dwellers beyond the north wind), and the distant lands of the East were termed " Unknown Deserts." The period of the map (III.) of Strabo is about the beginning of the Christian era. Geographical discovery had long before sounded the knell of mythology ; for the supposed HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHY. b dwelling-places of the gods had been explored, and their myths exploded. The victorious army of Alexander, after conquering the lands bordering the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, and all Lower Egypt, had broken the power of the Persians, and lifted the veil from all India as far as the Ganges. The latter part of the third century B.C. marks the date of the first glimmer of the dawning science. Eratosthenes (276-194 B.C.) of the school at Alexandria began to explore the heavens for the key to mathematical geography, and is accredited with having been the first to discover the process, employed at the present time, of determining the magnitude of the earth by the measurement of an arc of a great circle. Nor was that all ; for, as Ritter has indicated in "Die Gesehichte der Erdkunde," he also studied the relation of irregular coast- lines to continental areas, together with the effects of great natural features upon climate ; and used parallels and meri- dians in his maps to locate important places. Ancient records tell us that about this time also the first globe was made by Crates, so that this period may be truly said to have foreshadowed the work of nearly twenty centuries later. Before A.D. 1, Rome had extended her sway, in the Punie wars, over Spain and the smaller possessions of Carthage ; subdued Algeria ; annexed all the Macedonian Empire west of Persia to her dominions ; and in Csesar's campaigns had conquered Gaul and invaded Britain. During this period, geographical knowledge advanced southward almost to the sources of the Nile, eastward to China, and northward to the Baltic Sea. Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria (about A.D. 150) was the greatest geographer of ancient times. His maps con- 6 THE CHILD AND NATUBE. tained all the important places of the known world, located by parallels and meridians. He computed the different alti- tudes of the sun in the various cities at the time of the equinoxes and solstices, from the proportion of an upright pole {gnomon) to its shadow ; and from these calculated the length of the longest day in each place, thus determining its distance from the equator. The meridians were, of course, the lines having mid-day at the same time. His books of "Universal Geography," summing up the knowledge gained through travel, military expeditions, and the great survey of the Roman Empire, constitute the master- piece of the age. His system of astronomy which fixed the earth in the centre of the universe, and revolved all the heavenly bodies around it from east to west, ruled the scien- tific world all through the Dark Ages, save when the ban of the church made it heresy to hold any belief at variance with that of a flat round earth whose centre was Jerusalem. Considering the period in which he lived, the labor per- formed by this great man stands almost without parallel in the annals of science. The map on p. 3 (IV.) indicates a marked advance in geographical research. It also illustrates the odd belief that Asia and Africa joined in the south, inclosing the great sea of India. This probably arose from mistaking the large islands of the East Indies for a continuation of the mainland. The accuracy with which many of the mountains and rivers are drawn is evidence of a fair knowledge of relief as well as of location. But little advancement was made in geography during the Dark Ages. It is claimed, however, that about the year 1000 A.D., the Greeuland colonies sent out an expedition BISTORT OF GEOGBAPHY. 7 under Leif, son of Eric the Red, who discovered Newfound- land, Nova Scotia, and Martha's Vineyard. At the dawn of the new ei'a, the discoveries of Columbus, Vasco de Gama, and Magellan, completely overturned the Ptolemaic system, and forced the scientific world to adopt the theory of a solar system. It is asserted that Pythagoras of Samos taught the rotundity of the earth, and its position in the solar system ; but little notice was taken of this doctrine -until it was revived by Copernicus, and still later by Galileo. Waldsee-Miiller, a German professor, was the first to publish a map of the New "World, in which he gave it the name Amer- ica, in honor of Americus Vespucius, whose journeys afforded the data for the map. About 1556 a Flemish mathematician named Mercator constructed the first map of the whole world, upon the pro- jection which bears his name. Such is the chart used by navigators to-day, and no invention before or since, except the mariner's compass, has given such impetus to ocean travel. The sailor can now mark the shortest routes by straight lines, whereas before he was obliged to use compli- cated curves. The principal use of a Mercator's map is to indicate directions. The comparative areas of the continents and oceans are much more accurately represented by another projection, known as the spherical, first used by Philippe de la Hire (1640-1718). This distorts the hemispheres a little near the edges, but is superior to Mercator's in preserving the proportions of the great natural divisions. Other plans have been devised ; but these two, or slight modifications of them, are generally used in representing the whole or any large portion of the globe. The conical projection is employed in mapping small sections only. The opening of the present century marks a new era in 8 TME CHILD AND NATURE. the history of geography. The scientific researches of Humboldt, followed by the skilful unfolding of the study by Ritter, soon placed it on " an equal footing with the sister sciences." The journey of Humboldt (1801-1805), which won for him the title of " Scientific Discoveret of America," and his later travels through Central Asia, are too well known to need repetition here. He was the first to teach geogra- phers to indicate climate belts by means of isotherms; to divide the world into natural regions, basing the divisions upon natural features, for showing the distribution of life ; to group the plants in a few great geographical families, and refer them to climatic conditions. We are, moreover, in- debted to him for the first accurate descriptions of the basin of the Orinoco, the plateau of the Andes, Mexico, and Cuba ; all of which are based upon personal observation and inves- tigation. He was also the first to discover the value of studying plateau masses in their influence upon drainage ; and his cross-section of Mexico, from Acapulco to Vera Cruz, was the first cross-section of a continent ever made. His journey to Central Asia was followed by the first accurate description of the plateau portion of that continent, and later by his estimate of the average elevation of the continents above the sea. To him belongs the honor of the discovery of the in- dividuality of the earth, which is the foundation of compar- ative geography. In such a sketch as this we can only glance at the chief features of his life work for geography, although every department of science was stimulated b^ his discover- ies. It may be truly said of him, that under his touch chaos became cosmos. It is difficult to decide which merits the higher honor, the man whose researches and generalizations lay the foundation HISTOBY OF GEOGRAPHY. 9 of a science, or the master-mind which adds the superstruc- ture. They are one, and the names of Humboldt and Ritter must ever be placed side by side on the titlepage of geography. ' ' The individuality of the earth ' ' became the ' ' watchword of the new science." From the mere location of a mountain range to the great movements of nations, all became a series of living relations. Bitter's intellect was a touchstone to nature, and geography became " The Science of the Earth in Relation to Nature and the History of Man." To him the earth was " the theatre of human actions ; " and the great migrations of nations over its surface or across its stage were the direct outgrowth of their own inner natures, influenced by their natural surroundings. He thus became the founder of the true philosophy of history which places it " within the domain of nature," and refers its laws to geographical rela- tions. The trends of the great mountain systems, the com- parative areas of highlands and lowlands, the proportions of continental surfaces to coast lines, the disposition of land aud water areas, were studied in their influence upon climate, the distribution of life, and the intellectual development of the races. The lives and works of these two noble men should be familiar to every child. To their marvellous powers of observation and generalization, we are indebted for the study of natural science in the public schools. Every geography, every map, every history, bears the impress of their great geniuses. One day, at least, each year should bring to the children the stories of their early lives, travels, discoveries, and the influence of their work upon our own daily happi- ness in school. As if the destinies of these great men were bound up in each other, they passed away at almost the same time, — Humboldt in May, and Bitter in October, of the same 10 THE CHILD AND NATURE. year, 1859, — bequeathing to the world the fruit of their labor which will ever associate their names in the memory of a grateful people. Nor should we forget our own Arnold Guyot who has labored so faithfully to introduce this science in America. The most illustrious representative of Ritter's work, he has not only stimulated the better teaching of geography, but his personal research has given him high rank in the world of science. By his recent death, the teaching profession lost its ablest exponent of comparative geography. Much remains to be done. The science is still in its infancy, and the steps by which the minds of children can rise to its generalizations have not yet been designed. The great lines of observation are as yet merely indicated. But societies are being organized to promote geographical re- search. Teachers are rapidly awakening to the necessity of basing their work upon a more rational method than the mere memorizing of isolated details, and the movement seems destined to sweep all over our land. Hasten the day when the minds of our little children, instead of being warped and narrowed by dependence upon the generalizations and beliefs of others, may rise into full and natural activity by original investigation and independence of thought. Then, like Eitter, may they " find truth not in a single phase of truth, but in the union of all truth." THE GLOBE RELIEF. 11 CHAPTER II. VALUE OF STUDYING CONTINENTAL SLOPES. The life of the earth springs from its slopes. Wherever we examine the land surface, we find that it consists of slopes. It may be the almost imperceptible rise in the prairies or marine plains leading to the high plateaus, or even the abrupt mountain sides ; but travel where we may, we shall find the surface everywhere changing its level. Slope is the unit of relief, and in its multiple combinations limits every form that gives variety to landscapes. Its simplest limitations are the hill and valley, and all other land forms are but modifications of these common types. The surface of the globe consists, in general, of two immense slopes, the upper edges of which meet along the great continental water-partings, extending in the form of a loop or horseshoe from Cape Horn to the Cape of Good Hope (see map on p. 13) ; and the lower edges of which mark the line of deepest channels in the sea. Within this great globe water-parting, the slope is very gradual, its lower half only being covered with the waters of the Atlantic ; but without, it descends very abruptly, thus allowing the Pacific to flow in nearly to the foot of the primary highlands. For this reason, the Atlantic has a, much larger basin but correspondingly smaller bed. These great slopes are so related to the wind-ljelts that 12 THE CHILD AND NATURE. the trade-winds with their monsoons are forced to precipi- tate rains alternately upon the broad plains of the eastern and western hemispheres, within and a little beyond the tropics ; while the return trades perform a similar work for the slopes in the temperate zones. The globe relief, there- fore, determines the rainfall and general direction of drain- age ; but the plan for collecting the water into basins, and for giving the exact direction to rivers is found in the continent. This is accomplished by placing secondary high- lands upon the long slopes. Thus, Fig. 1 is a cross section of the globe relief, and Fig. 2, of the continent. Each secondary highland sends Fig. 1. Fig. 2. back a slope toward the primary, and the line along which their lower edges meet becomes the bed of the river which then follows the general slope to the sea. To illustrate, let us examine the surfaces of the conti- nents : In South America, for example, we find on the west the plateau of the Andes, — a portion of the globe water-parting. From this, the long slope stretches to the Atlantic, the short one to the Pacific. Its position within the tropics opens its great plain to the moist trade-winds as far south as the mouth of La Plata. Hence the heavy rainfall east of the Andes, and the long strip of rainless coast on the west. South of 30° S., the return trades briug copious rains to Chili, but leave Patagonia on the east a sandy plateau. The fertile strip of Pacific coast near the equator results from the land and sea breezes in the belt of calms, and from a light THE GLOBE BELIEF. 13 Ptlmaiy HIgbland of the 'World. monsoon from Central America. The wet and dry seasons of the Orinoco result from the alternate north and south positions of the sun, whose heat turns the trade-winds here into monsoons. Along the eastern coast, on the long slope, there is a sec- ondary highland broken into two parts, Brazil and Guiana, which turn the water into three great basins, Orinoco, Ama^ zon and La Plata, and thus determine the individuality of the continent. Every basin has three slopes ; and here each pair of highlands furnishes the two whose place of meeting locates the river-bed, while the great plateau causes all these great rivers to flow eastward to the Atlantic. Any change in the position of the primary highland would produce a corresponding change in rainfall and drainage. 14 TUE CHILD AND NATURE. Transfer the Andes to the eastern coast, and the great forest of the Amazon would give place to a second Sahara. Stretch the western plateau of North America east and west across the southern part of the United States, and it would shut out the moist Gulf-wiuds that now sweep up the Mississippi valley. Place the Alps north and south along the west coast of Europe, and they would not only intercept the moist south- west winds flowing in from the Gulf Stream, but such an arrangement would also remove the great rain-condenser of the southern slopes, and let in upon those historic peninsu- las the cold north wind. Alter the position of the plateau of Abyssinia, and the Nile and Congo would disappear. It is thus seen that primary highlands, to be of greatest value to a continent, must be placed along its lee side, so as to admit the moist winds to its great plains. A large part of the moisture is then precipitated by lightning, cold currents of air, and other causes, upon the lower as well as the upper portions of the slopes. Likewise any change in the location of secondary high- lands may turn the waters of a continent, with their load of rich silt, toward the equator or toward the poles ; to produce like the Mississippi, or lie waste like the IMackenzie. Re- move the low height of land across Central Russia, and that country would lose its great natural highway of commerce down the Volga to the Orient. A slight elevation would turn the Nile into the Congo basin, and give back to the desert the little strip of fertile land which the river has worked so many centuries to redeem, and which has exerted such influ- ence in history. Join the table-lands of Brazil and Guiana, and the drainage of all Central South America would be modified. Thus, while the general rainfall results from the simple THE GLOBE RELIEF. 15 plan of placing the great plateaus across the wind circuits, the wonderful variety in continental drainage is determined by the relative positions of primary and secondary slopes. The lesser jiighlands tend also to equalize the distribution of rain upon the different parts of the long slopes, and prevent ocean-currents from washing away alluvial plains in process of formation. The position of the plateaus, by locating rainfall and giving direction to drainage, also regulates the distribution of soil. Water is the great leveller. Falling upon the moun- tain sides and the slopes farther down, it immediately begins its work of disintegrating the rocks, and grinding still finer the pebbles and sand, while it tends to sweep all before it into the valleys. As the water deposits this rock material in the order of weight, beginning with the heaviest, we may readily understand why the finest and richest deposits have been made in the lower courses of rivers, and how the soil has been carefully graded throughout the river-basins of the globe. Thus we find that slope, as determined by the placing of the highlands, is nature's means of supplying the food which water prepares and distributes for vegetation. The distribution of life over the globe is, of course, greatly influenced by temperature, as well as by soil and moisture. But while the spherical form of the earth tehds to establish great belts of temperature, varying only with their distances from the equator, the relative positions and elevations of the natural features determine the many modifications that characterize portions of the surface in the same latitude. Chief among these modifiers is the arrangement of the great slopes. The gradual elevation from the Arctic coast to the plateau of Thibet gives to Central and Northern Asia a temperature 16 THE CHILD AND NATURE. far below that of the corresponding latitudes in the other continents ; and the same highland, with its desert belt, in- fluences the flow of the warm monsoons to India. The Alps which in former years were a greater barrier than distance would have been between the tropical and temperate belts, have new, by means of the mountain-tunnels and passes, placed side by side the sunny fruit-lands of the South, and the colder grain-fields of Middle Europe. These mountains, aided by the Gulf Stream and the Sahara, also give to Italy a tropical climate in the same latitude that witnesses in Chili great glaciers winding toward the sea. Mexico and the northern Andes serve to illustrate how a perpetual springtime may exist within the great tropical heat-belt. Slopes then influence the distribution of vegetation, and through it the animal life, in various waj^s ; e.g., by precipi- tating moisture, supplying soil and modifying temperature. To slope, in connection with the zones of heat resulting from the form of the earth, is mainly due the arrangement of plant life in great natural regions. In travelling northward from the equator, we pass successively through belts of tropical forests with their valuable woods and fruits ; cotton, rice and canes ; cereals and temperate fruit ; pine forests ; and finally into the frozen regions about the pole. But on every side we see the influence of relief. By climb- ing a high plateau and mountain-range within the tropics, we may witness the same order of production as in our longer journey to the north. Again, in the same latitude, deserts and grazing-tracts often alternate with rich agricul- tural lands ; and the reason for these modifications may be generally traced to the relative positions and elevations of the highlands. The animals are quite as dependent as the plants upon the THE GLOBE RELIEF. 17 continental slopes. Any feature affecting the distribution of food must prove an aid or a barrier to their dispersal. The oceans are, of course, the greatest limitations, and in one Instance, Australia, have effectually cut off great families from the rest of the earth. Nest in effect are the great plateaus and deserts. In the western hemisphere, the high- lands of Mexico separate the families of the North and South. In the eastern, the cold table-land of Thibet and the desert plateaus of Sahara and Arabia set apart the fauna common to Northern and Western Asia, all Europe and Northern Africa, from that of India and also of tropical Africa. The great Sahara sea (of sand) is a much more formidable barrier than the Mediterranean. In the natural regions thus marked out, the range of smaller groups of animals is also limited by lesser elevations. On our own continent, for example, according to Wallace, the western plateau has a group distinct from that in the western valley reaching from California to British Columbia ; and also from that in the broad valley of the Mississippi. The height of land which parts the north and south drainage sep- arates also the fauna of British America from that of the United States. The same influence of physical conditions is likewise obsen^able in the other continents. We are thus led to the conclusion that a knowledge of the great slopes of the earth is essential to the intelligent study of the distribution of life. Commercial intercourse is largely based upon the differ- ences in production of the various parts of the earth, and its overland routes of trade are generally located by physical features. For how many centuries have the caravan routes from the Mediterranean countries to India converged upon the famous passes of the Suliman Mountains? The lower 18 THE CHILD AND NATURE. cataract of the Nile, being the head of river navigation, has for a long period been a centre of caravan-trade with Central Africa. The remarlfable valley of the Hudson and Mohawk through the Appalachian highlands led to the construction of the Erie Canal, and became the highway between East and West. Later, the railroad took advantage of the same natu- ral feature. Then other passes were found over the moun- tains farther south, and new routes were followed. In the beautiful Keystone State there is scarcely a stream whose work of ages in carving those wonderful water and wind gaps has not already influenced the location of one or more lines of railroad. Even the vast western highlands opened that the two oceans might be joined by great trunk lines. The directions of nature's greatest inland highways, the rivers and lakes, are the sheer result of relief. The termini and junctions of all these routes became the depots for the produce of the surrounding districts, and thus the great commercial cities of the world were developed. The grain and cattle products naturally centre in Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City, for the lake, river and railroad traffic which terminates or passes through New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New Orleans. The cities about the Mediterranean Sea that formerly flourislied in their ex- tensive East-India trade date their decline with the voyage of Vasco de Gama which opened a new route and turned the trade to England, — the centre of distribution for Europe. Now we find London and Liverpool at one end ; Calcutta, Bombay and Melbourne at the other. But not only is man, as well as the lower animals, restricted to the food-producing regions of the earth : his occupations are also directly determined by the possibilities of natural production. Nature has allotted to each region certain voca- TEE GLOBE RELIEF. 19 tions, and set their bounds in the structure of the earth. The fertile valleys have developed the farmer ; the poorer grass-lands, the shepherd ; the forests, the hunter and trap- per ; the mountains, the miner, etc. The influence of different occupations is an essential ele- ment in the study of the growth of civilization. Man owes his culture largely to work as determined by his physical sur- roundings. Geographers have long since shown that not in the frozen regions where his whole energy is bent upon securing even scanty food and shelter, nor yet in the torrid belt where all necessary products come as the gift of a lavish nature, do we find the highest type of man. The nations of culture and history have inhabited the middle climate where moderate labor and forethought have been rewarded by abun- dant harvests, and where nature has gradually yielded only before the unfolding intelligence of man. Even here each kind of labor has greatly influenced the progress of its followers. The shepherd, wandering hither and thither in search of good pasturage, could have no fixed habitation. His social ties were few. He could not dwell in close communities. Schools and churches were unknown. He knew no law but his own will. His occupation awakened but little inventive genius. Having little, if any, communi- cation with civilized nations, his progress was slow. Alone he could not master the great problems of cause in nature ; and the mysterious, implying volition, became objects of worship. Not so, however, with the tiller of the soil. He built a permanent home. Others settled about him, till the commu- nity grew to a village and perhaps a city. His labor tended to develop steady habits. Agricultural implements lightened his work, and invention was thus encouraged. He learned to 20 THE CHILD AND NATUliE. respect the rights of others ; social ties were formed, schools and churches established, and laws- became a necessity. He exchanged his produce with other nations, and learned their customs and laws. The early impulse to worship the mysterious was. gradually developed into investigation of causation Volition gave place to law, and his idols gradu- ally dissolved before a developing intelligence, and the dis- covery of natural cause and effect. Knowledge purified his belief ;, and while the wandering tribes continued in their early instincts, customs and forms of worship, he rose rapidly to higher and higher planes of civilization. Thus mankind may be divided into great classes whose culture varies largely with the demands made by physical surroundings upon their energies. When we turn from geography to history, we find that the relief of the globe still remains a very important factor. A glance at a physical map of the eastern hemisphere must convince any thoughtful person that (as Ritter and Guyot have already shown) the great migrations which have taken place from Central Asia into Europe were predestined by the relief to follow two lines of progression and settle- ment : the one to spread over the great grazing plains north of the mountain-axis stretching from the Pamir Plateau to Spain, the other to occupy the fertile valleys and slopes south of it ; the former to become a succession of incursions of barbarous shepherd tribes, the latter the steady invasion of a rapidly developing civilization. History has long recognized the stimulating influences which these advancing columns exercised over each other, wherever the structure opened and permitted them to flow together. Many times were the enervated nations of the THE' GLOBE BELIEF. 21 South inspired with new life by the hardy Northmen, just as China has received its strongest progressive impulses from the incursions of the fierce Tartar tribes, and more recent contact with western nations. The passes through the plateau wall by the Caspian Sea, across the plains of the Danube and in France were the scenes of the great race conflicts ; and the struggle ceased only when North and South were blended into a brotherhood of nations. If we would know why Babylonia, Egypt, Palestine, Greece and Italy became the seats of the most powerful empires of antiquity, we must seek our answer in the physi- cal surroundings of those historic sites. Ancient Babylonia may be compared to a vast oasis, so completely is it hemmed in by desert plateaus. On the east and north, lie the barren table-lands of Persia and the mountainous district of Kur- distan ; on the west and south, the great Syrian and Arabian deserts. No other portion of all Western Asia was, at that time, so well adapted by nature to support a populous nation ; and thus this beautiful valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, with its mild winters, well-irrigated soil and ex- traordinary productive capacity, witnessed within its borders the rise of at least three great empires before the time of its conquest by Alexander. Another of nature's great garden spots was Egypt, "the gift of the Nile." The fertile strip which the river has set free from the desert, by its annual inundation resulting from the rainfall in the highlands of equatorial Africa, is shut in on both sides by deserts and mountains ; while its rich delta lands are in like manner protected from Asiatic invasion. This narrow valley, only about five miles in width and five hundred in length, not only supported a dense population within its own confines, but by a simple process of irriga- 22 THE GUILD AND NATURE. tion, became the granary of the civilized world. While Greece was yet in her infancy, and many centuries before Eome was founded, this wonderful country reached the culmination of a civilization which, in many respects, was never surpassed by a classic nation. Turning next to Palestine, we find another narrow tract lying between the Mediterranean Sea on the west ; the valley of the Jordan, Dead Sea, mountains of Gileadand Syrian desert, on the east ; the desert of Paran on the south ; and open to invasion only across the narrow plains in the north. The great fortress which nature had erected about the home of Christianity and the Jewish civilization defeated every attempt of the invader to gain footing on this territory. Not until Jewish history had reached its most splendid period in the reign of Solomon, and civil discord had rent asunder the once magnificent kingdom, could the invading Babylonians conquer Palestine, destroy the " Sacred City," and lead away its inhabitants into captivity. In no other country has the relief exerted a more marked influence over its people than in ancient Greece. Asia and Africa afford examples of wide-spread civilizations conform- ing to the vastness of the structure of their great natural regions. But Greece is the type of variety. By the mutual influences of its parts, it was enabled to rise far above the obelisk civilizations of Egypt and China. The Pindus range, with its many spurs sending their small peninsular headlands far out into the sea, and even continuing in the form of islands to the coast of Asia Minor, gave to this beautiful land, made almost sacred by its history, an internal structure favoring the formation of many independent states with different customs, laws, dialects etc. ; also a coast-line en- abling it to take advantage of its location in the middle of THE GLOBE RELIEF. 23 the then civilized world, to develop the commercial inter- course which brought to its shores not only the wealth of the more ancient kingdoms, but also the culture of all the preceding centuries. Greece thus became the type of later European history, not alone in its entirety, but likewise in the development of such states as Spain, Austria and Germany. Moreover, its structure protected it from the invasion of Northern tribes and Asiatic hordes, except through the narrow passes by Mount Olympus and Thermopylae which were easily de- fended. Not until civil dissension had severed the bonds of union between the little sister states, did this civilization, which had withstood the pressure of the whole Eastern worla, fall an easy victim to internal decay. Then the hardy Gauls, pressing across the plains of the Danube and through the mountain passes, destroyed the city which both Neptune and Minerva claimed, but which became the rich inheritance of the whole world. It is not necessary to multiply examples. The mere men- tion of Rome will suffice to recall the protection afforded Italy by the Alps. Not until the legions in their conquests had pointed out the highway of invasion to their barbarous foe, and not until the seeds of dissolution had been sown in horrible licentiousness and civil strife, could the hardy tribes of the North, retracing the footsteps of their oppressors, sack the " Eternal City." Likewise the southern shore of the Mediterranean and the western coast of Arabia, each protected by its sea and desert plateau; India, cut oif from the wandering tribes by its surrounding structure, yet containing within its bounds the variety essential to development ; China whose empire in itself resembles an almost isolated continent ; Mexico and 24 THE CHILD AND NATURE. Peru in their plateau fortresses, — each has bequeathed to the world a share of the culture of to-day, bearing the impress of the many characteristic physical features of its centre of origin. What an important part the Pyrenees and Balkan Moun- tains have performed in the religious and intellectual de- velopment of Europe ! When the Mohammedan invasion through Spain threatened to flood all Christendom with the " religion of the sword," and the crescent went down before the cross at Tours, the Pyrenees became the natural boun- dary for at least three centuries between the Franks and Saracens. Nor were they finally separated by the Mediter- ranean till the year that marks the first voyage of Columbus to America. The culture of South-western Europe received powerful stimulus from the arts and sciences of these learned Moors, but the mountains saved Christendom from their religious oppression. History is, in part, repeating these events around the Balkan range. Already has the Mohammedan invasion from the East been turned back from Austria by Sobieski ; and although the mountain- fortress of the Balkans has been a natural boundary between the Turks and their Christian foe, the pressure of a higher civilization is steadily forcing the alien ( ?) religion from European soil ; for even in our day the golden rule of state diplomacy is, " Might makes right," when territorial acquisition is the reward. Turning from examples of national progress to the impor- tant battles that have perhaps decided the fates of nations, we canaot fail to agree that the structure of each of the great scenes of conflict has very often determined the result. Miltiades recognized this when he tools: possession of the little plateau overlooking the crescent-shaped valley of INIarathon ; and so also did Leonidas when he posted his men in the Pass THE GLOBE RELIEF. 25 of Thermopylae. The terrible ravines in which the Eoman legions under Varus were annihilated ; tlie hidden gully that opened under the Emperor's guards at Waterloo ; Bun- ker Hill, Little Round Top and Cemetery Hill are other familiar illustrations. The Helvetians in their mountain-home were invincible ; but when they descended to the plains, they were quickly forced to yield before Caesar's legions. The Welsh of to-day owe the preservation of their language and customs to tlie mountains of their country. The highlands of Scotland sheltered a free people for a long time after the lowlands had passed under the yoke. How much of English and Scottish history centres about the Cheviot Hills ! The great natural highway between Canada and New York decided the plan of the campaign that ended in the surrender of Bur- goyne ; and the structure of the States lying east of the Mississippi Eiver determined the three great lines of inva- sion of the South during the late Civil War. How necessary, then, to the intelligent study of history is a knowledge of the general features of relief of the earth's surface which have greatly influenced the movements of nations. Not only are they the best possible aid to the memory of those events, but because of their influence they also become an essential element in the philosophy of history. 26 THE CHILD AND NATURE. PART I. home: qeoqraf'hy. CHAPTER III. SAND MODELLING IN ELEMENTARY GEOGRAPHY. The study of relief has given rise to many devices for aiding the imagination to picture the surfaces of the conti- nents. Maps made of papier-mach6, layers of cardboard or leather, stamped paper, carved wood, putty, clay, plaster of Paris, and various glue and whiting mixtures have been used with success ; but the device best known and most exten- sively used is sand modelling. The excellent results obtained from this natural language of form seem to insure its general adoption. Before discussing its practical value in the school- room, it may be well to consider the laws that condition the development of form perception. Although psychologists and physiologists may differ widely as to the perception of extension or the first and second dimensions, by sight, binocular vision, touch, or the muscular sense, they agree that the original sense of solid form or the third dimension is touch or rather the muscular sense of grasp, just as that of color is sight, and of sound, hear- ing. Sensations of roughness, sharpness, roundness, surface SAND MODELLING. 27 slope, relief and the like are occasioned by touch primarily. But from early childhood, in seeing and feeling objects at the same time, we have learned to associate the light and shade perceived upon an object with the sensation of touch, and thus acquired the faculty of judging of form by sight. For example, we feel carefully the surface of a ball, occasion- ing the sensation of roundness. At the same time, we per- ' ceive the gradual blending of light and shade upon the surface. The touch sensation is associated with that of sight, so that either may readily recall the other ; and a similar light and shade perceived elsewhere may suggest the sensation of roundness. In the same manner, a uniform shade may be associated with a flat surface ; and a sudden change of shade, with a sharp edge. Thus we acquire the capacity to cognize solid form, or the third dimension, through the medium of sight ; or, to state it more clearly, the natural light and shade upon an object enable us to judge its form. In fact, after suffi- cient experience, the eye almost displaces the hand as the organ of foi.n perception, and the mind unconsciously inter- prets sight percepts as form percepts. In matters of doubt, however, as to solidity, we invariably confirm our judgment by the original sense of touch. The acquired sense may be deceived, but the original never errs. A painted disk may represent to the eye a ball or an orange, but to the hand it must reveal its flatness. And yet the acquired sense is of far greater practical value than the primary. By it we can discern forms near by or at great distance, in rapid succession and multiple combinations, without going through the slow and laborious process of touch. But the accuracy and value of the sight in perceiving form depends upon the distinctness of the 28 THE CHILD AND NATURE. sense products of sight aud of the muscular sense, and the consequent clearness of the association of these products. This necessitates the education of touch and sight simulta- neously. The hand and eye must work together in order tliat the sensations may become parts of the same mental state. Each of the parts thus associated will ever after tend to suggest the other. Moreover, knowledge of a form is more quickly acquired by perceiving it with two senses at the same time, for each is verifying and recalling the sensations of the other, thus making the knowledge more certain. At the same time, the sensation of light and shade is becoming ever more closely associated with its corresponding touch sensation, making the acquired sense of sight more accurate and useful. A necessary condition in the acquirement of distinct sense products is repetition and intensity of perception. In the rapid play of any sense, e.g., sight, it rests but a moment upon a form, and then seeks another unless some stimulus holds it to a particular form. This may be natural curiosity or a supplied requirement. In order to rivet the attention closely upon a bird, we ask the pupils to describe it, thus supplying the incitement which necessitates many acts of perception of this particular object. An accurate description implies clearness or intensity of perception. Again, we ask them to draw the bird, and by this means direct the mental activity to the relative lengths aud direc- tions of portions of its outline. But to require a class to model a bird in any material insures a closeness and repeti- tion of perception attainable by no other device, inasmuch as it calls for the reproduction of the exact form and outline in detail, and brings both sight and touch into activity at the same time. The modelling or reproducing is in itself merely SAND MODELLING. 29 expressing what is already in the mind ; but by constantly stimulating sight and touch to perceive the perfect object, it corrects and adds to the concept. This leads us to the first use of sand modelling in teaching the land and water forms. It is a means of stimulating the attention, or of. securing close and repeated acts of percep- tion of forms in nature, thus enabling pupils to obtain accurate knowledge of the elementary forms, in the shortest possible time. The little models in sand become a language or means by which the teacher may aid the pupils to bring most vividly into consciousness, with least effort, any forms to be compared, or upon which a force like running water is to be set to work. Later, it may be used as a means of aiding to imagine or read the surfaces of the continents. As the forms in sand are a natural language, perfectly symbolic, any child can model the geographical forms of which he has distinct mental pictures. Hence, to the teacher, modelling becomes an excellent means of examining the forms in the child's mind, whether they be simple hills and valleys, or the more complicated forms of continents. Here no lack of technical training in language hinders the full and free expression of thought, and no time is required to memorize symbols. The moulding sand has been criticised as presenting life- less and minute forms in place of the real forms of nature teeming with life. The criticism should not stand against the device, but against one manner of using it. In geog- raphy, as in other studies, we may find teachers who are teaching the language of the thing instead of the thing itself. Modelling is merely a language of natural forms, and any one who attempts to teach nature through its symbols com- mits a radical error. The sand should not be used as a 30 THE CHILD AND NATURE. means of preseuting bat of representing the forms of land and water to pupils. We should teach directly from nature which is everywhere present, and use the sand merely to stim- ulate perception of the reality by requiring its reproduction by modelling. Then, like any other language, it may be used to recall the concepts of these forms in new relations when a foreign land is to be imagined. The child's ideas should come from the field, the forest, the river, and will then have the size, coloring and life of nature, unless the teacher tries to supplant the thing itself by a mere language. Pictures and stories should also be used as a means of leading out to observe the real forms. But whether as a means of securing attention, or of aiding the imagination of distant forms, the language of sand has this great advan- tage : viz., its signs are types of the forms to be represented or imagined ; and the attempt to reproduce is the best pos- sible incitement to observation of the natural forms. The teacher may fall into some errors in modelling, just as in using any other device. There comes a time when its further use must hinder rather than aid the development of the imagination. The time is clearly indicated by a state of the mind, so that the error may be easily avoided. As soon as the pupils can recall the natural forms distinctly without the assistance of the moulded forms, they should be required to use the imagination, and the sand should be laid aside. Just as in teaching number, we put away the objects as soon as they can think numbers without them ; and as in teaching reading, the objects used at first to aid in making the association between the words and their appropriate ideas are dispensed with as soon as the names will recall tlie ideas with sufficient distinctness : so we give up the modelling as soon as pupils have clear concepts of SAND MODELLING. 31 foims, and can imagine them in new relations witliout its aid. Ability to model all the forms accurately and quickly from memory may be made the test of distinct concepts, pro- vided the children have learned the forms from nature. After the forms are known, however, if a lesson is to be given in which form is secondary to some other subject of the work, the sand may again be used to advantage as a means of aiding the imagination, and of securing attention to the real object of the lesson. Thus we may wish to rep- resent the wearing of water upon a slope. The pupils know the form, and can model it readily. Nevertheless, as our primary object is to teach the wearing of water, we make the slope in sand, and pour the water upon it as a means of inciting them to observe the effect of a force upon a form. Again, if we are reading about the camel, we model a desert to aid the mind in associating the animal with its liome. In teaching a battle, e.g., Bunker Hill, we model the hills and harbor to aid in picturing the relative position of the contending armies, and the natural advantages which the structure afforded the Americans. This is analogous to using the blocks or other objects to aid pupils to see relations or conditions in problems in arithmetic, even though the numbers themselves are known. Not numbers themselves, but the conditions of a business transaction, are to be thus vividly portrayed. That is, although in the study of forms the sand should be laid aside as soon as the imagination can picture distinctly without it, yet when the main object of the lesson is to observe the effect of a force or any thing related to a particular form, the sand should again be used as the means by which the forms may be most vividly recalled with the least mental effort, thus setting the mind free to concentrate its full power upon the study of relations. 32 THE CHILD AND NATURE. Every Scylla has her Charybdis. While trying to avoid the over-use of sand, great care should be exercised never to require a child to reproduce a form that is not distinct in his mind, unless the real form is near by for comparison. No good can come from such reprodhctiou, while evil results may attend it. The imperfections will be more firmly fixed in memory, and the child will be forced to a false and care- less habit of expression. The same danger exists in teach- ing other subjects. We should not require him to speak or write a sentence until the thought stimulates it. In teaching spelling, if he is not sure that he can write a word correctly, set a copy or send him to the dictionary. The attempt to reproduce in any manner, without a copy, that which is vague in the mind, develops a habit of hesitancy, and as a natural out-growth, carelessness that no amount of training can completely eradicate. Herein is the economy of giving the early modelling exercises in the fields where nature supplies an endless variety of forms for study and comparison. Another and perhaps the chief error consists in trying to use the sand in the place of nature. We should guard very carefully against this. Let the device merely incite interest in the reality. Pupils should not study the objects in the sand, but through it. Fill the mind with forms in nature of , which the models are but signs, and thus prepare them to see the whole world in the school district. One device should not take the place of others, but should only supplement them. Each has its value in arousing cer- tain activities ; and sketching, painting, reading, describing, pictures etc., all have work to perform. The special application of sand modelling to the various subjects will be shown in the " Illustrative Lessons." SAND MODELLING. 33 SUMSIAItr. 1. Modelling is a means of gaining concepts of form through touch or the muscular sense ; and, by the association of these concepts with the corresponding sight products of light and shade, of cultivating the acquired judgment of form by sight. 2. It is the best device for securing attention or repeated acts of perception, and thus develops observation and memory of form. 3. It is the simplest and quickest means of leading pupils to acquire knowledge of geographical forms from nature. 4. It is the means of bringing forms most vividly into con- sciousness, and so conditions accurate comparison, reasoning, and judgment. 5. It lays the basis in a natural language for leading pupils to imagine the continents. 6. It is the most natural means of form examination, as ability to model quickly and accurately from memory may be accepted as evidence of clear concepts. 7. Lay aside the sand as soon as pupils can readily imagine without its aid. 8. The sand may again be used when the main object of the lesson is to study the relations of one form to others, or of a force to a form. 9. Until the form is distinct in the pupil's mind, he should never be required to model it, unless the real object or a cor- rect type of it is near by for comparison. 10. In learning outlines, use drawing ; in studying relief or surface slope, use modelling. 34 THE CHILD AND NATUBE. CHAPTER IV. PRIMARY LESSONS. -FIRST TWO YEARS. The study of geography begins as soon as the senses are awakened to nature. The delight that the little ones take in gathering pretty objects is the capital for the teacher's work. How interested they are in bright-colored flowers, insects, birds and pretty pebbles which cover the first few pages of the wonderful book of nature ! How they enjoy Its bright pictures and pretty stories ! and when they enter school after a few years of freedom, the chief work of the teacher is to deepen and broaden this interest. Their tender minds are not yet ready to be harnessed to an inflexible course of study. They must be gently and gradually trained to habits of con- secutive work. Play is the natural device for developing little children, and should be encouraged till they grow away from it. Let them play with nature, and it remains their friend and teacher instead of becoming their taskmaster. If they cannot go out into the fields to study, let them bring in the pretty leaves, pebbles etc., and use these little gifts, when possible, in orai language, drawing, reading and number lessons. S.INI>-TABI,E. Let the pupils Lave a large sand-table upon which to play, Modelling is the simplest means of expressing form, and naturally precedes drawing. The same delight that children FIRST TWO YEARS. 35 take in digging sand by the seashore, or in making ' ' mud- pies," may be made a means of mental growth in the school- room, as it has already been in nature. In the dry or slightly moistened beach-sand, they will make hills, valleys, roads, houses, farms, rivers, ponds etc. With little strips of wood or splints, they will put in fences, bridges and trees. Tell or read to them simple descriptive stories, allow- ing them to make the pictures in the sand, and draw upon the blackboard or paper what they model. Every attempt to express leads to closer observation. Try to appreciate the best effort of the child, however im- perfect the result may be. His concepts of form are not distinct, neither is his skill to express developed ; and herein lies the opportunity for growth. He is not conscious of his shortcomings. The picture or model approximates his ideal, and he is therefoi'e not ashamed of his work, but is ready to try again and again. Now let skill to express keep pace with the concept growth, and he will delight to picture to others what he has in mind. Development of skill in any form of expression implies concentratio'n upon an object of thought ; i.e., skill re-acts to awaken tJiought. To the child, the little forms in sand are pictures in nature just as the bundle of rags is a beautiful doll. The imagina- tion readily supplies what is wanting in size and color, because the little model is only a sign of the concept gained from nature. The fact that this power of the mind is exercised is the real source of his delight, for a toy so perfect that nothing is left to the imagination is soon cast aside. It is not the real but the "play" horse that pleases. He will call the little pile of sand a hill, the little hollow a valley, and will think of them as such unless the teacher breaks into this beautiful imatrinary world, and makes him conscious of its deficiencies. S6 THE CHILD AND NATURE. Let the acts of association between tlie forms in nature and their signs in sand be, in so far as is possible, uncon- scious ; i.e., let the child select, as he naturally will, the little representations or models. He will then associate the signs with his ideas, and thus prepare a natural language of his concepts which may be afterwards used by the teacher to aid him in imagining the relief and life of foreign lands. CLAY MODErLING. Potter's clay may also be used to advantage in training the child to perceive and reproduce form. Modelling apples, pears, peaches, cherries, cucumbers, in fact any fruit or vege- table ; dishes, tables, leaves, crystals, animals, and lastly the geometric forms, — not only develops the senses of touch and sight, but also affords an excellent opportunity to lead the child into the " Fairy-land of Science." During the first year, have the objects before the class for imitation. Occasionally during the second j-ear place a simple form before them for a short time, then remove it and let them model from memory. Allow them to make from memory things they have seen at home or elsewhere. To teach comparison, let each make some object shaped nearly like a ball, cube or other regular form. As a rule, have the objects to be modelled near at hand, to avoid forcing the memory, and training to careless forms of expression. Call for the names of objects similar in form to each other, .thus leading them to classify. Give opportunity for the imaginative and inventive faculties to express fi;eely, and so stimulate them to activity. Keep in mind that the object of the work is not the perfect ball or orange, but accuracy in seeing and skill in expressing form. As all concepts of solid form come originally through the FIRST TWO YEARS. 37 touch, or rather the muscular sense of grasp, and as the accurate seeing of form depends upon the association of light and shade with sensations of touch, it is of the utmost importance that children use only the sense-organs in model- ling. Patting and rolling the clay upon the desk, or cutting and smoothmg it with a knife or stick result in about as much development of power to perceive, form, as pouring lead into a bullet-mould, or making bricks in a press. Let us ever keep in mind that the clay form in the child's hand is merely a means of directing his observation to a perfect model set before him. Therefore do not consider that device the best which enables him to reproduce the model most quickly and accurately ; but rather, that which stimulates his attention most often and most closely to the perfect form set before him. All forms which are to be imitated should be handled as well as seen ; in fact, the former is, in the beginning, more important than the latter. It is a very interesting experiment to blindfold pupils occasionally, and let them model by the sense of touch un- aided by sight. Place a form, such as a fruit or vegetable, where the children can touch and handle it with eyes closed. Ask them to make it in clay, thus requiring them to perceive its form through the touch (or muscular sense of grasp aided by the sensitive finger-tips) This tends to intensify the percepts of form, and cultivates a very delicate sense of touch. The models made under these conditions are usually quite perfect. The practice of destroying the work of the children as soon as the lesson is finished tends to discourage careful work. If the clay must be immediately packed or wedged for use next day, the forms should not be destroyed in the presence of the class. 38 THE CHILD AND NATURE. coijOB Color is taught in geography as an aid to seeing and imagining forms as they appear in nature. Place upon a table a collection of bright-colored objects, such as flowers, feathers, fruits, worsteds, ribbons and splints. Let the pupils sort them by putting like colors together. This exer- cise trains them to distinguish readily. 3Iatching should be made the test for color-blindness. Place a color before the pupils, and ask them to name objects of the same color in the schoolroom, or to bring something like it the next day. This will develop observa- tion and memory, and cultivate habits of classification. When pupils recognize a color readily, give its name. To aid the association of names with colors, ask pupils to select from the table, e.g., all the red objects; then, to name any others they can see. When the names recall, present various articles and require pupils to name the colors. Thus they learn to recognize, compare, classify, select upon hearing the names, and to use the names. Use but few colors at first, and these as near the standard as possible. The most important part of the work is to lead pupils to observe them in clothing, animals, fruits, leaves, sunsets, rainbows etc. Even the youngest pupils may learn much from the box of ordinary water-colors, using them in painting leaves, birds and fruits. This device presents an excellent opportunity for teaching tints, shades and hues later on. Obtain from a glazier bits of colored glass for pupils to look through. In some respects this is superior to paints in teaching combinations. Holding blue glass (or gelatine paper) towards the light, and placing with it red, violet is FIRST TWO YEABS. . 39 produced. Likewise red and yellow give orange ; blue and yellow, greeu. Placing the green and orange together results in citrine ; green and violet, olive ; orange and violet, russet. The glasses have the advantage that, after any color is produced, it may be analyzed by noting what glasses are combined. By using them in a small solar camera or magic- lantern, and projecting the colors upon a screen in a darkened room, intense interest may be awakened. Tints and shades may be very easily produced by placing few or many pieces of the same color together. Although natural sensibility may enter somewhat into the discernment of the beautiful, taste is largely the result of cul- ture. Indeed, it may be questioned whether what is termed natural sensibility is not in reality hereditary culture. We see only harmony of colors in nature, and therefore take it for our guide in matters of taste. Because combinations in nature have ever been the same, may not harmony be the result of ages of presentation of the same combinations to the sentient nerve of sight, thus developing that sense to receive with less and less resistance the waves of stimula- tion of so-called harmonious colors, just as repetition of stimulation of any sense renders that sense more susceptible to succeeding sensations of a similar kind? However that may be, the fact remains that taste in arrangement of colors may be developed by studying coloring in nature. Let pupils name the combinations of colors on sweet-peas, pansies, pinks, autumn leaves, begonias, birds, butterflies etc., and make similar combinations with colored crayon, paints, worsteds and paper forms. Cultivate taste, not by trying to explain the law of harmony which requires the presence of certain complementary colors, but by leading pupils to observe combinations in nature. Taste is ability to 40 .THE CHILD AND NATURE. discriminate harmony, rather than mere memory of combina- tions that harmonize ; and should be developed by allowing pupils to judge which are the most beautiful of many com- binations made by nature, themselves and the teacher. The nature study should in all cases precede. This work can, of course, only be begun during the first two years, but it should be continued through all the grades. No work is more practical ; and yet it may all be incidental to language, number and reading lessons. FIEJ.D JLESSOXS. Whenever it is possible, take short field trips with the pupils. Have number and language lessons where the little ones can gather numbers of beautiful things to talk about. The first work in language is to lead children to talk and write fluently by giving them something to stimulate thought ; and when they have acquired an easy flow, to correct faults, or rather cultivate correct habits of seeing and expressing. In the fields there is food for thought, and the clatter of busy tongues — evidence of active minds — gives the teacher the opportunities for correcting errors that require so much hard work in the schoolroom. The corrections will be the more lasting from the fact that they are made while the mind is in this highly active state. Not only may the forms of land and water be taught in this manner, but also directions and locations of objects ; and the cardinal points of the compass may be determined by the sun. PZANTS. If the school is in the country, have little flower-beds in the yard. Let the pupils prepare the soil, plant the seeds, pull out wcH'ils, water and take general care of them. Citv FIRST TWO YEABS. 41 schools can have a few boxes of loam and sand. But whether inside or outside the schoolroom, use only the seeds of plants which, either by their modes of growth or commer- cial value, will aid the pupils in their future studies. For example, plant corn, beans, melons, acorns, oranges, cotton and rice ; also set out an onion and a potato. Encourage the children to make little wooden hoes, spades, ploughs and rakes, and use them in the gardens or boxes. Give language lessons upon the leaves, stems, roots and flowers, as soon as they appear, and in this way arouse an interest in observing growing plants. The children may be led, very slowly of course, to discover the simple relations between soil, moisture and heat that regulate the distribu- tion of vegetation. This kind of work will also cultivate the excellent habit of patiently studying an object through successive stages of growth, AtflMALS. Language and drawing lessons may be given about com- mon animals that are types of orders or families ; e.g., cat, worm, clam, starfish, duck, frog and perch. The object should be to develop an interest in animal study, and this can best be done by leading them to discover something. They should study the parts which are the basis of classifl- tion ; also name other animals having similar parts, thus cultivating observation and classification. The work should be very simple, and the only classification should result from the pupils' own discoveries. MINERA.ZS. Teach them to recognize a few common minerals by using them in number and language lessons. Let them make a collection of the minerals of the district for a school cabinet. 42 THE CHILD AND NATURE. SEASON TEACBING. Another line of work may be begun by leading pupils to observe the wonderful phenomena of changing seasons, — snowflakes, hailstones, frost, dew, rain, varying colors of leaves and grass, ripening fruit etc., at times when nature best illustrates them. Draw the clouds and watch their motions. Watch for the first returning birds and the earli- est opening buds. Note which birds remain with us all win- ter, and which fly away ; in what direction they go, and when. SU3IMART. No extra time is needed for the work here outlined. It may be made supplementary to the other studies. These first steps may be woven into the number, language, drawing and reading lessons ; and the increased interest which natural objects will arouse in those subjects will greatly lessen the work of the teacher. Moreover, upon what objects can more practical lessons be given than upon such as help to prepare the pupils for the work of the higher grades, and at the same time afford the best possible training for the senses ? "When it is more generally understood that the mind is primarily the product of sensation, — that without sensation there can be no mind, — more importance will be attached to giving direct attention to the cultivation of the senses. Touch and sight are of far more impoi'tance in intellectual training than hearing, yet the latter sense is the one usually relied on by teachers to produce impressions. When sight and touch are called into action, children observe and think, while by hearing they are led to listen and remember. Ob- servation and thought bring knowledge, habits of self-reliance FIRST TWO YEARS. 48 and investigation ; while mere listening and remembering foster belief, imitation and dependence." — W. W. Speer. Let our aim be, first, to interest our pupils in natural objects and forms ; second, to quicken the senses ; third, to lay a foundation in knowledge for future study. The highest test of good teachina will be the increased love our little ones have for nature. 44 THE CHILD AND NATURE. CHAPTER V. ^.-DISTRICT RELIEF. First Steps. — The first work in elementary geography is to lead the pupils to acquire distinct mental pictures of the forms of land and water about home, and to study the forces of water, air etc., which act upon these forms to prepare the surface to support life. The imagination of form is limited to sense products. Our concepts of foreign lands and phenomena which we have never seen are made up purely of our sense products, grouped, perhaps, in new relations in imagination. We may never have seen the great desert in Africa, — its vast stretch of burning sands, its oases and terrible sand-storms, — and yet we have mental pictures of all these. Some field of sand, a meadow spring, and the whirling dust in the street, aided by pictures inter- preted by means of our sense products, have formed for us the great Sahara. Every school district is a world in miniature, for it repeats the structure and story of its life in pictures so vivid and language so simple that every child may see and read. All forms of land and water, the forces at work building and wearing, the conditions that regulate the distribution of plant and animal life may be discovered before every school door, repeated in endless variety. Often we must seek the greater through the lesser, but the imagination readily eulai-ges a DISTRICT RELIEF. 45 picture. Thus we study the hillside as a basis for imagin- ing the great slopes of the earth's surface ; also, the brook basin that we may imagine the drainage of the great river- basins. The little deltas formed in the street-gutters show how the great alluvial plains of the world have been formed ; while about us on every side are plants and animals, types of the great families that cover the earth. "Every little nook and shaded corner is but a reflection of the whole of nature." This, then, is fundamental: The first step in geography is to study that part of our district which may be seen and travelled over. What to Teach. — We should teach nothing for the sake of the thing itself, but as a preparation for what lies beyond. We present our district, not that the child may become familiar with the hills and valleys of his own town, but that through them he may be enabled to imagine the surface of the globe. Neither should we teach a form or a force merely because it affords an opportunity to develop mental power. While the highest aim of all teaching should be power or character, we should ever keep in mind that the greatest power is developed from right study and use of those things which are most practical, and which, by their repeated use, are continually arousing mental activity. In deciding what to use, we have a sure guide : Teach those forms, forces and conditions only that should make up the child's world picture. Sand-Table. — Make a table-top (see frontispiece) about three by four feet, with a rim raised two inches. Place this on a small table or stand about thirty-two inches in height, and fasten at one end by hinges so that it may be inclined toward the pupils. Strips of wood, such as are used to hold up piano-tops, may be used to support it at any desired angle. A zinc-lined drawer placed under* the table for 46 THE CHILD AND NATURE. holding sand will be found convenient, altiiough it may be kept in any common box or bucket. The table-top should be made of pine or whitewood, well seasoned or kiln-dried to prevent warping and cracking. A coat or two of blue paint to represent water on the table will also tend to preserve it. Model Tins. — These tins may be obtained from any tin- smith, and should be made of a good quality tin, fourteen by twenty inches, hemmed, rimmed one-half inch, with the hem turned out, and corners soldered. So far as is known, " model tins " were first used in 1881 by the pupils whose lessons are reported on p. 52 et seq. It is gratifying to note that many thousands are now in use in various sections of the country. This device supplements the sand-table, and insures individual attention ^ and work by requiring all the pupils of a class to model at the same time. Care of the Sand. — Fine sand of any kind may be used in modelling. An excellent quality may be obtained from any iron-foundry. Order the finest sifted moulding-sand. Fine beach-sand is also good. Keep it moist by sprinkling on it a little water each day after using. Do not attempt to stir or mix the sand while wet. Let it stand over night, and the water will filter evenly throughout, preparing it in the best possible way for use next day. If kept in a covered box, it will require but little water. The exact amount must be learned by experience, as the quantity will vary with the temperature and humidity of the atmosphere. It retains its form best when only moistened, and should never be wet enough to stick to the hands. Always put the sand in the box, and cover it as soon as possible after using. Use of Devices.' — Distinct mental pictures of forms can be acquired by continued observation or attention only. To stimulate attention, we use various devices, e.g., modelling, DIHTlilCT BELIEF. 47 drawing, experiments, questions and pictures. Tiie carefully moulded forms, the accurate drawings, the correct answers to questions should not be the end sought, and can never supply the place of nature. If the device be made the end, pupils will never see beyond the mere form of expression. Devices are merely means by which the teacher may give direction to investigation, and rivet the attention upon the object of thought or study. As the aim of the lesson is to awaken mental activity, count that device best which demands closest observation and original investigation, and which for the longest time incites the mind to exercise. Wait patiently for the children to grow to the answers. Let them have the joy that springs from the discovery of a truth by their own efforts. The best lesson is not that which elicits the greatest number of answers, but is that which stimulates the deepest thought. The District. —To illustrate the study of a district, a neighborhood has been selected whose hills, valleys and brook-basins have become familiar from having so often tramped over them with little pupils. The elementary work on land and water forms, here outlined, should extend through at least two years., as indicated by the course of study in the appendix, and may be begun in the third grade or beginning of third year in school. Although the class may have had simple lessons upon hills, ponds, clouds etc., and may have learned to state the direc- tion of one body from another, together with other lines of work indicated in the chapter on the First Two Years, these steps should be gone over once more to find out just what has been done. The best way to examine a class is by teaching it a new lesson, and observing what power and knowledge the pupils can bring to bear. The aim will be to 48 THE CHILD AND NATURE. develop the perceptive faculties and expression together, each re-acting to strengthen the other ; and thus lay the basis for vivid imagination and accurate reasoning. Moreover, they may at the same time study such facts as will best prepare them to imagine the surface of the whole earth with the forces at work upon it. The following list of forms was suggested by the school district on p. 73. It is not intended as an order to be followed, but rather to indicate what types are to be found in a small district. A valuable rule, however, which the teacher should observe is this : JEacJi lesson should be based on those that have already been given. I. — FOMMS OF LA.T!fT> jlND WA-TEIt. Hill or Mountain. — Side, slope, gradual, abrupt, length, height, top, summit, peak, bluff, precipice, group, range, system. Valley. — Meadow, marsh, swamp, plain, marine plain, gorge, pass, canon. Brook or Rivee. — Banks, right and left, bed, channel, current, rapids, waterfall, spring, hot spring, geyser, glacier, moraine, source, mouth, delta, estuary, alluvial plain, bottom land, tributary, system, water-parting or divide, basin. Pond or Lake. — Bed, basin, shore, head, foot, inlet, outlet. Table-land or Plateau. — Desert. Volcano. — Crater, lava. Coast. — Shore, beach, cape, promontory. Island. Pen- insula. — Isthmus, neck. Harbor. — Port, haven, road. Bay. — Gulf, sea. Channel. — Strait, sound. Ocean ( ?) — Tide, current. Continent ( ?) . Immediately a,fter presenting a form of land or water, some teachers {Prefer to give the various names applied to that form in different countries : e.g., when "• plain " has been taught, the names prairie, savanna, steppe, lande, llano and pampas are given ; and with " marsh ", they teach the words DISTRICT RELIEF. 49 moor, bog, fen, morass and tundra. As the pupils know little, if any thing, of the countries in which these are found, and do not at present need the foreign names, would it not be better to merely mention at this time the fact that other people use different names, and defer teaching them till they are required ? The aim at first is rather to teach the thing itself than its many names. Suggestions.— The first lesson at least upon each form should be given where the pupils can distinctly observe it in nature. If it is absolutely impossible to take a field-trip, use a sand-table and solar camera with blackboard sketches and many pictures. Let the pupils discover the answers, and be careful to include no part of them in the questions. Let all questions be definite, that the children may know what to look for ; and as our object is to lead them to observe, require as many different answers as possible to each, as evidence of individual observation. Concert recitation is an excellent means of "showing off" quick pupils, and depriving slow ones of all opportunity for thought ; but it has no place in a teacher's work who seeks to reach the individual. Wait for the slower minds to work, and as a rule allow them to state the answers, for the ready intellect needs not this stimulus. Avoid training to stilted form of expression. Let it be perfectly natural. If the question calls for a complete statement, require the same, but if it suggests the omission of a portion, allow it. Look rather to the manner of asking the question, and so frame it that the child's thoughts will call for complete sentences in expression. Errors in spoken as well as in written language should be corrected while the picture is in consciousness, in order that the correct expression may be associated with its correspond- ing mental state. 50 THE CHILD AND NATURE. Pupils should take note-books into the fields for the purpose of sketching and recording their discoveries, thus tending to fix them in memory. Teach but few facts in each lesson, and those few thoroughly. Give new names as soon as the forms are clearly perceived. Show the written form of each new word, and pronounce it distinctly when first used. This should be the rule in all subjects, as it prevents wrong or invented spelling from becoming lodged in memory. Decide what objects to teach before going on a field-trip, but allow the class to direct the observation as far as possible by their own questions. Let pupils who have discovered facts question the others, to lead them to observe the same. This is an excellent device for inciting to original seeing. More- over, the framing of the questions greatly intensifies accurate perception. Definitions of all geographical forms should be discovered hy the pupils, and never told them. Leading a class to discover a definition of, e.g., a hill, is a very valuable device for supplementing the work of modelling and drawing the same form. Defining or describing necessitates careful observation and comparison of forms. As well may the teacher or rather teller model, draw and write every thing for a child, as make such descriptions. The proper use of defining is not to train parrots, but to develop the perceptive, generalizing and descriptive powers of our pupils. Effort alone is the soil of growth. Too great importance cannot be attached to the value of carefully preparing each lesson before presenting it to the class. The teacher's efficiency is thereby more than doubled. Moreover, children have a right to expect carefully prepared mental food, and it is a mark of intelligence that they rebel against a daily fare of cold, dry facts. A few lessons are here reported in full to illustrate one way of presenting the DISTRICT RELIEF. 51 subject, and a manner of using the various devices. It is not intended that the forms of land and water shall be taught in the order outlined above. This arrangement was suggested by the school district which has been selected for a model. The more familiar forms should be presented first ; but we should aim to preserve as far as possible a natural sequence of subjects, and yet to introduce sufficient variety to maintain interest. It may be noticed that the chief aim of these illustrative lessons is not to associate names with forms and forces, for that would be mere language work which, although im- portant, should be, made secondary to leading the pupils to discover the simple laws of drainage. Each lesson should groiv out of the preceding one, in order that continuity of thought may be developed. Give ample opportunity for the imagination to express its forms and combinations by model- ling and drawing, that the synthetic or inventive power may be cultivated with the analytic or critical; e.g., after pupils have modelled a particular hill or valley, let them make any other similar forms which they can find in their district or in pictures, and also combinations of the same. Just as soon as a common form has been carefully studied, the pupils should be led to think of larger and grander forms of the same kind in distant lands. Thus, when they have studied the brook-basin, the teacher should tell stories, show pictures and let them read of some great river-basin, e.g., the Amazon, to cultivate the imagination, and to prepare for the study of the unseen world. This is one of the most im- portant steps in all the 'work, and should not be neglected. (Seep. 67.) Attention is once more called to the suggestion that the questions on water, soil-making, plants, animals etc. be 52 THE GUILD AND NATURE. studied in connection with the lessons on the forms of land and water. Let all the elementary work centre in the slopes as illustrated in the various district forms. The geography of the whole earth is graven in every broolf-basin. ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. Lesson on Slopes. Aim. — To lead the pupils to discover that the surface of the earth is composed of gradual and abrupt slopes. Preparation. — Pupils have studied a hill, and modelled it during a previous field-trip. Each now has a model-tin and sand. The teacher uses a large sand-table. Teacher. — -"We will all model the hill upon which the schoolhouse stands. Down which side of our hill would you rather slide on your sleds ? ' ' First Pupil. — "I'd go down the steep side, because I could go swifter." — ■ " Could go more swiftly," corrects the teacher, and the pupil repeats the sentence. Second Pupil. — "I would rather slide on the long side, because I could go farther." Tliird Pupil. — " We shouldn't have so far to walk back on the steep side." Fourth Pupil. — " But it would be harder to climb there." Fifth Pupil. — '-On the steep side we could slide oftener." Teacher. — " Can you give me another name for the side of a hill? " After waiting a moment, as no answer is given, the word " slope " is written upon the blackboard by the teacher, and pronounced by the pupils. The teacher then asks, " How many slopes has this hill?" Pupiils. — "It has two, the long and the short one." ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 53 " There are slopes between them two." — " Between those two," is repeated. " It has slopes all around it." " It slopes in every direction." " One slope goes all around the hill." Teacher. — "Have you ever seen any land that doesn't slope?" Pupil. — " Mr. J.'s meadow is just level." Teacher. — "What becomes of the rain that falls upon this meadow ? ' ' Pupil. — "It must flow into the brook." Teacher. — " What causes it to flow there? " Pupil. — " The land must slope just a little, but we can't see that it does." Teacher. — " What becomes of the water after it reaches the brook ? ' ' Pupil. — "It flows out across the marshes." Teacher. — " Are there any other places which you think are level?" Pupil. — ' ' The marshes must be level because the water stands in ponds and does not flow off." Teacher. — "Wliy doesn't the water spread all over the marshes, and make one large pond?" Pupils. — " The ponds are in little hollows." " The land between the ponds is too high." " The surface must slope a little towards the ponds." Teacher. — "Slopes like those in the marshes, meadow and street in front of the school, we call 'gradual slopes.' You may copy the words into your note-books from the blackboard. Now tell me where you have seen other gradual slopes." The pupils name many of the fields and streets in the vicinity. 54' THE CHILD AND NATURE. Teacher. — "Now model, please, a field having only gradual slopes and a brook. With your ruler cut the field into two parts across the brook, and remove one part. Now see if the water from the slopes would run into the brook." After seeing that all have modelled it correctly, the teacher requests them to model the school hill again. This is to direct the thoughts of all back to the two slopes. Teacher. — ' ' What name shall we give to the other slope ? " Pupils. — " It's a sudden slope." " We may call it a ' steep slope.' " Teacher. — "Yes, or an ' abrupt slope.' Copy this word also, please, as I write it. Where have you seen abrupt slopes? " They give many illustrations. Teacher. — "Each may model a perfectly level field. What would be the result if all the fields were like these? " Pupils. — " There wouldn't be any slopes." " We couldn't slide down hill." " The rivers would stand still." " The water couldn't form rivers." " The land would be covered with water." " It would be muddy everywhere." " The ocean would flow over the laud." " There wouldn't be any land to live upon." Teacher (modelling a group of mountains). — "What if the surface were made of abrupt slopes? " Pupils. — "We shouldn't have any meadows and marshes. ' ' " All the rivers would be very rapid." " Ships cou'ldn't sail upon them." " The water would soon make great gullies in the slopes." To close the lesson, the teacher took the class on a very simple imaginary trip up the Ganges to the Himalaya Moun- tains, telling that it lies far to the eastward, nearly half way ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 55 round the earth ; modelling, describing the river-basin, and pointing out its location upon a wall-map. Although the pupils had not, of course, studied Asia, and could remember but little of what was told, they gained in power to enlarge the seen into the unseen. Two Lessons on Brooks. FIELD LESSON. — Class, with note-books, near the brook. Aim. — To interest the pupils in observing brooks, and to teach current, and uj) and down stream. Teacher. — "In what direction does the brook flow? " Pupils. — " Towards the pond." " It runs away from us." — " Does it? ", asks the teacher, pointing up stream. " Oh, it runs towards us, too." " It flows towards the south-west." " It flows under Pitt Street." " It runs down hill." Teacher. — ' ' Where did the water come from ? ' ' Pupils. — " The rain brought it." "It come from Mr. K.'s meadow." — "It came," addf? the teacher. " It flows from a little spring near Squantum Street." " There are two little springs near those trees." " The clouds brought the water." " I think it came from the sides of the hill all around us." Teacher. — ' ' Where is it going ? ' ' Pupils. — "It flows into the pond." " But it flows out on the other side." " I think some of it dries up." " It flows through the salt marshes." " The brook empties into the Neponset River." 56 THE CBILB AND NATURE. " And that flows into the ocean." Teacher. — " What moves that little stick in the brook ? " Puj}ils. — " It floats along on the water." ' ' The water carries it. ' ' " It swims on the water." " The motion of the water makes it go." Teacher. — ' ' What do we name this motion of the water ? ' ' No pupil knows, so the teacher gives the name "current," and tells them to write it in their note-books as he spells, " c-u-r-r-e-n-t." Looking at tlie written word, the pupils pronounce it. The teacher directs them to throw several sticks or leaves into the water, and then asks, — ' ' Is the current the same in all parts of the brook ? ' ' Pupils. — " The sticks hardly move near the shore." " See how swift they go out there." — " See how swiftly," suggests the teacher quietly. ' ' The current is swiftest in the middle. ' ' "There ain't much current near the shore." — "Isn't much," etc. Teacher. — "We will follow the sticks a short distance, and see how swift the current is. Does the water flow up, or down ? ' ' "Down," sings the chorus. Teacher. — "Point down stream; up stream. Now you may all sketch the brook from the little spring to the pond, and show the direction of the current by an arrow." When this is finished, the class is dismissed, as it is now noon. Long after the teacher has returned to the school, the children linger by the brook, throwing in sticks, or watching the water bubble from the little spring; and he knows that the chief object of the lesson is accomplished, — the children are interested in running water. ILL US TBA TIVE LESSONS. 57 In the afternoon, the pupils write what they saw and learned while on tlieir field- trip. The words "current" and "stream" are written upon the board. When finished, the stories are read aloud and discussed. This constitutes their language and reading lesson for the day. INDOOR LESSON. — The teacher has modelled a brook-bed in clay, sketched several brooks upon the blackboard flowing in various directions, and collected a number of pictures of large and small streams. Aim. — To review the former lesson, and to teach hed and right and left banks. Review. — Water is poured into the brook-bed, and the name "current" again applied to it as it flows. Up and down stream are also recalled by the direction of the current. The teacher then asks, — " What remains here after the water has flowed out? " Pupils. — " The place where it flowed." " There's a long trough." " The bottom of the brook is there." Teacher. — ' ' What shall we call this pai't in which the water lies ? ' ' Pupil. — " We might call it a ' bed.' " Teacher. — " That is its real name. What holds the brook iri its bed ? ' ' Pupils. — "It's in a little valley, and can't flow over the sides." "The sides hold it in." "It would overflow if you should make a dam across it." " Sometimes it does flow over after a rain-storm." " There isn't enough water now." " The banks are too high," 58 TBE CHILD AND NATURE. As the word "bank" is so common, it is only necessary to use it before the class to fix it as the name of the land along the brookside. Teacher. — " How many banks must a brook have? " PttpjL — "Two." Teacher. — "Point up the brook, — down," referring to the one in clay. " Point down each brook upon the black- board, — in these pictures. If you were facing down stream, which banks in the pictures would be on the right? " The pupils indicate them by pointing. Teacher. — " We will always call these the ' right banks.' How can you decide which is the right bank of a stream? " Pupil. — "Face down stream, and name the one on the right hand, the right bank." Teacher. — " Point to all the right banks in the pictures ; the left banks. Draw four brooks flowing in different directions ; make arrows pointing down stream, and write the names of all the banks in their proper places." The teacher closes the lesson by reading to the class Tennyson's beautiful idj'l of " The Brook." First Lesson on Brook-Basins. Aim. — To lead the pupils to discover in the brook-basin how the rainfall of a continent is gathered into rivers, and returned to the sea. 1'reparation. — The teacher has modelled two adjoining brook-basins in clay, and covered them with a thin layer of loam. In the presence of the class, water is poured upon the basins ; and as the little streams follow tile slopes, the eager faces and bright eyes announce that the minds are active and ready. The simple device has secured close attention. ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 69 Teacher. — " lu what direction must a brook flow? " Pupils. — "It must flow down hill." " It must follow the valley." " It always flows from the high places to the low ones," " It runs down the steepest slope." Teacher. — ' ' Where does it make its bed ? ' ' Pupils. — " Just between two slopes." " It must be the lowest part of the valley." " Where the slopes from both sides meet." " The bed must lie along the bottom of a slope." Teacher (sprinkling more water into one of the basins) . — " How much land does a brook drain? " Pupils. — "It drains 'iie whole valley." " It drains all the land that slopes towards its bed." " The water flows from the sides of the hills to its bed." Teacher (sprinkling water upon the top of the ridge that separates the two basins). — "Into which brook does this water flow? " Pupils. — " It flows into both." " A part flows into each brook." Teacher. — " Why doesn't it all flow into one? " Pupils. — " Because it can't flow up hill." " It must flow down the slope." " The land is too high between them." The teacher now points to different parts of the highland, and asks to which brooks the slopes belong. The pupils answer readily until the finger rests upon the water-parting, and the class is in doubt. One little girl suggests, " It might flow down either side." Teacher. — "Can you point to any other places like this? " and eager fingers begin to trace the line. Teacher. — " To which valley does that line belong? " 60 THE CHILD AND NATUBE. Pupils. — " It doesn't belong to either." " It belongs to both." " It separates the valleys." " Both valleys begin at that line." Teacher. — " On which slope isthis line ? " Pupils. — "It comes just between the slopes." " It is on both slopes." '■' This line is just whore the slopes meet." Teacher. — " Does any one in the class know what we call such a line as this? " As no one answers, the teacher writes the word "divide" upon the blackboard, at the same time pronouncing it, and then asks, ■' Why is it called a divide?" Pupils. — " Because it divides the land into two valleys." " Because it separates the slopes." " It turns the rain in two directions." Teacher. — "For this reason we sometimes call it a 'water-parting.'" This name is also written. After indicat- ing on the map, and describing the low water-parting between the Amazon and La Plata, the class is dismissed. Second Lesson on Brook-Basins. Aim. — Same as in previous lesson. Preparation. — Each pupil has a model-tin and sand. Teacher. — "Make three valle3's, please, side by side, and trace a brook-bed in each. Now trace the water-parting around the middle valley." The teacher passes up and down the aisles to see that all understand, and then adds, "We often call a valley a 'basin.' If it is small, and contains a brook, what kind of a basin might we name it?" " Brook-basin," suggest the pupils. Teacher. — " If it contains a river? pond? lake? ocean?" ILLUtiTEATIVE LESSONS. 61 The pupils readily name them. Teacher. — " Look at your brook-basins, and tell me the difference between a water-parting and a brook-bed." Papils. — "The bed is in the bottom of the basin; the water-parting, at the top." "The water-parting separates the water; the brook-bed collects it." "The upper edges of the slopes are water-partings; the lower edges, brook-beds." " The water-parting runs around the basin ; the brook-bed cuts across." "The water-parting surrounds the valley; the brook-bed runs around the base of the hill." " The water-parting is a ridge ; the brook-bed, a trough." Teacher. — " Make now, please, a basin containing a brook and three tributaries." ("Tributary" has been taught.) "Trace the water-parting around each tributary. How many streams drain the whole basin? " After some discussion, the class decides that, as the tribu- taries join the brook, there is really but one main stream with many branches, like a tree-trunk and branches. The teacher then adds, " All the streams within one basin we call a ' system,' a ' brook-system,' or a ' river-system.' " Teacher. — "What is the diflPerence between a basin and a system? " Pupils. — ■ " A" basin is land ; a system is water." " A basin is made of slopes ; a system, of streams." " The system drains the basin." The pupils make cross-sections of their models (see map on p. 73), and draw them in their sketch-books, placing the names "water-parting," "brook-bed" and "slope" in their appropriate places. 62 THE CHILD AND NATURE. For imagination woi'k, the teacher gives a short account of the voyage of Marquette down the Mississippi. To awalcen the sensibilities and link them to nature, the following beautiful poem by Longfellow is read in closing the lesson : — THE BROOK AND THE WAVE. " The brooklet came from the mountain, As sang the bard of old, Running with feet of silver Over the sands of gold ! " Far away in the briny ocean There rolled a turbulent wave, Now singing along the sea-beach, Now howling along the cave. " And the brooklet has found the billow. Though they flowed so far apart, And has filled with its freshness and sweetness That turbulent, bitter heart ! " This beautiful gem is well worthy of a place in memory's casket. Third Lesson on Brook-Basins. Aim. — To study in detail a particular brook-basin, and to correct erroneous ideas if any have crept in. Preparation. — Class with model - tins down by the meadow brook. Teacher. — "Point toward the north, south, east, west; north-east, south-east, soutli-west, north-west. Describe the slope west of the brook, please, Maude." ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 63 Maude. — " The slope is at first gradual. Then it is very steep for about fifty feet, and on the hill is gradual again. " Teacher. — " Describe the slope toward the south, please. Flora." Flora. — " The slope to the south is gradual just as far as we can see it." Teacher. — " The northern slope, Helen." Helen. — "The northern slope is gradual also, almost to the head of the brook. There it becomes more abrupt near Squantum Street." Teacher. — " The eastern, Grace." Grace. — ' ' The eastern is like the western, except that it is longer." Teacher. — ' ' You may all follow the west slope until you reach the water-parting. Now you may follow the water- parting around the basin to the opposite side." This journey completed, the pupils take positions along the abrupt slope, overlooking the valley, and model the entire brook-basin. This completes the lesson. On the way back to school, the teacher describes the water-parting of the Mississippi basin. Fourth Lesson on BrooJc-Basins. Aim. — To study the slopes of the basin. Preparation. — Each pupil has a sketch-book, model-tin and sand, in the class-room. Teacher. — " You may model the brook-basin just as you did yesterday. Mark the water-parting and brook-bed on your models. Now show the water-parting by a dotted line in your note-books ; also draw the brook. Show all steep places in the slopes, by shading " (see map on p. 73). This was the drawing lesson for the day. 64 THE CHILD AND NATURE. First Lesson on Delta. Note. — Before leaving the school, the teacher, in the presence of the class, stirs some mud in a glass of water, and sets it on a table. AiMi — To teach how deltas are formed. Preparation. — Class with note-books near a part of the broolf where the current is rapid, while just above and below it is very slow., Teacher. — ' ' "What difference can you see between the brook here and down there? " Pupils. — " The water is swifter here." " The brook is wider below, and the water hardly moves." " The bed is steeper here." " Here the bed is rocky, but down there it is muddy." Teacher. — "You may stir this yellow clay in the water above, and watch it carefully. Tell me all that takes place." Pupils. — " The water is all muddy now." " It is so muddy that we can't see the pebbles where it is so rapid." " Down there the muddy water moves very slowly." " It is spreading toward both banks." " The mud is settling to the bottom below the rapids." " The water is clearer now." " The clay is covering the black bed all over." Teacher. — " Now look at the rapids." Pupils. — " The water is clear again." " The clay couldn't stop there." Teacher. — " Why not? " Pupils. — " The water washed it down." "It is too swift there." Teacher. — " Now stir some gravel into the rapids." ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 65 Pupils. — "The pebbles sink, but the sand goes down stream." " The sand is settling down there." " It is making a little bank just below the rapids." "It don't go so far as the clay went." This is corrected by "It doesn't go." Teacher. — " Our time is past, and we must retm-n now." On the way back, the teacher threw a handful of gravel into the wind, merely exclaiming, " Look ! " Pupils. — " The pebbles came straight down." " The wind carried the sand a little way." " The dust is still blowing." Teacher. — ' ' Now the air is still. I will throw some more." Pupils. — "It all came straight down." " The dust staid in the air a little while." Eeturning to the schoolroom, they find the glass of water is clear again, and the mud spread in the bottom of the glass. Second Lesson on Delta. Tlie teacher takes the class to a street gutter near by, where a recent rain-storm has washed the sand from the banks, and formed little deltas all along the sides. Teacher. — " What made those little sand-banks? " Pupils. — "The water must uv made urn." " Must have made them," corrects the teacher, quietly. " It washed down from the sides." " They settled from the water." " Why, we made one in the brook like these ! " " Here is a little valley in the bank where the sand washed out." " It takes quite swift water to carry sand." 66 THE CHILD AND NATURE. " The water on these banks would be swift." " The water in the gutter don't flow swift enough to wash it away." "Don't" and "swift" are replaced by " doesn't " and " swiftly ; " then the sentence is repeated. Just as long as the children are looking and thinking, even though they are not speaking, the teacher remains silent. When the interest flags, another question is asked, " Are the banks all sand? " Pupils. — " The top is black loam." " Here are some pebljles, too." Teacher. — " Was any of the loam washed down ? " Pupils. — " There is some down there." "It is spread all along the bottom of the gutter." " That's just the way it was in the brook." " And there are the pebbles in the hollows where the sand washed out." Teacher. — "If I were to throw loam sand, and gravel into a stream of water, which would settle flrst? '" Pupils. — "The pebbles, then the sand, and then loam," comes the generalization. Teacher. — " The sand, clay, loam etc., in running water, we call 'silt, — s-il-t.' When must a stream lose all its silt?" Pupils. — " When it stops flowing." " When it moves very slowly." " When it flows into water that doesn't move." " After it has stood a long time like the water in the glass." Teacher. — " If a brook or river carrying a large quantity of silt flows into a lake, what becomes of the silt? " Pupils. — "It must settle in the lake." ' " It would settle when it reached still water." " The mud would make a bank there." ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 67 " It would spread about the mouth of the river." reac7(er. — " Land made of silt that has settled near the mouth of a stream, we call a ' delta.' Write it in your note- books as I spell, — ' d-e-1-t-a. ' In our next lesson, I will show you some pictures of deltas so large that cities have been built upon them. This has been a long lesson, and now we must hasten back to school." On the day following, the teacher tells of the wonderful deltas of the Po and Ganges. Suggestions. — The above lessons are intended to illustrate one way of unfolding child-character while leading pupils to observe and study the forms and system of natural drainage of their district. Much more about brook-basins and deltas remains to be discovered by the pupils under the guidance of the teacher ; but enough has been given to indicate how by the study of this one neighborhood they may be prepared for the study of foreign lands. Particular attention is again called to the importance of cultivating the imagination of great natural features of the earth's relief, by describing them to the children as soon as the types have been studied in nature. Thus the little pla- teau should lead to some greater one, e.g., Thibet; a lesson on the sandy field on a hot summer day should be followed by pictures and stories of the Desert of Sahara ; the little peninsula jutting into the pond should call to mind Italy extending into the Mediterranean ; the thick grove becomes a great Selva ; the meadow broadens to a La Plata valley ; the little ravine rises to a caiion of the Colorado, or a great Bolan Pass : in short, every little form becomes the repre- sentative of a family of greater natural features, till the whole world lies pictured in the school district. 68 THE CHILD AND NATURE. To prevent the pupils from imagining false location, as they naturally will for every place mentioned, the true one should be described as nearly as possible, — its direction at least from the school being indicated. It is perhaps advis- able to locate such places upon maps, as the children are, in a measure, thus taught to associate their concepts with the map signs. The suggestion is not that all the plateaus, deserts etc. should be described and located at this time, but only one or two of each. The chief aim should be to develop the power of imagining great unseen forms, and not the mere memory of locations. Another important element is worthy of especial notice here, viz., the use of gems of poetry as a means of leading the children to a more reflective and reffning study of nature. Little forms whose beauty and lessons lie hidden deep are oft unveiled at the touch of the poet mind. These lessons sink deepest when we are drawn nearest to nature in study. Thus that which first inspired the poet's thought becomes the language by which we interpret it. AVhat a companion we find in the moon when its full shining face calls up the voices of the past to tell how — "Hesperus, that led The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon, Rising in clouded majesty, at length Apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light, And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw." — Milton. " Heaven's ebon vault Studded with stars unutterably bright, Thro' which the moon's unclouded grandeur rolls, Seems Mice a canopy which Love hath spread To curtain the sleeping world." —Shelley. ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 69 " In full-orbed glory yonder moon divine KoUs through the dark blue depths; Beneath her steady I'ay, The desert circle spreads Like the round ocean girdled with the sky. How beautiful is night!" — Southey. How often have our thoughts been turned inward and backward when evening has recalled such beautiful lines as, — " Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels." Or,- " The night hath a thousand eyes, the day but one, And the light of the whole day dies with the setting sun. The mind hath a thousand eyes, the heart but one, And the light of the whole life dies when love is done." As the pupils study each form of land and water, read to them or have them read what the poets have said about it. This line of work affords an excellent opportunit3- to cultivate a taste for choice literature, which must surely aid greatly m shaping the pupil's whole life. Eeach out toward the minds of childhood, and mould the desires for that which is good and true. Draw this veil of purity about their young lives. Weave into their forming characters the noblest thoughts of the noblest men and women, and unless their miads are already warped and narrowed by years of low reading, they will naturally incline to that which is pure ; for to see truth is to love it. "What companions the children shall choose in life becomes then a question of grave responsibility with the teacher ; and there seems to be no better way to guide this choice than 70 THE CHILD AND NATURE. to give them early companionship with nature's poets and authors. A few of the purest gems should be committed to memory, as they will surely exert a beneficial iufluence in the culture of the sensibilities. Select only the simplest and choicest, and above all preserve the interest. g. MAPPING THE ZtlSTMICT. Map-reading is one of the most important objects of geographical teaching. Before a pupil can read a map, he must become familiar with the features represented, and must have associated with each of them its corresponding sign used on the map. As a preparation for such reading, the pupils should draw such a portion of their school district as includes the principal forms of laud and outlines of water in their various relations, making use of signs similar to those on their printed maps. Association is thus made between the concepts and their corresponding signs, so that the latter upon a map will recall the former, and enable the child to approxi- mate the reality. Then, too, the effort of measuring great distances by pacing, and of reducing to a very small scale aid greatly in comprehending the vastness of the area included in an ordinary map. During the study of the forms of land and water, the pupils have doubtless modelled and drawn much of the district; and the principal work now ^yill be to reduce all to a scale of representation. A simple explanation of the scale may have been fonnd necessary in the preceding work ; but not a ' detailed study of it, such as follows in this step. "We may map the district by both modelling and drawing. The former, being much the simpler, naturally precedes, and prepares chiefly for reading relief maps, while the latter paves the way to contour-reading. MAPPING THE DISTRICT. 71 The Scale. — Select two objects, and measure the distance between them, e.g., two trees eight paces apart. Call atten- tion to the difficulty of drawing so long a line upon paper, and ask the pupils to draw one, allowing one inch for each pace ; then one-half and one-quarter inch. G-ive many exercises of this kind, using different scales. Let an inch take the place of a yard, then four paces, etc. ; but let every drawing represent a real distance. Next combine distance and direction. For example, a fence runs due north and south, and is twenty-four paces long. Fix upon one side of the paper as north, and then draw the line, allowing one-eighth of an inch to a pace. Again, north-east from a certain tree there is a large stone, distant sixty paces. Draw the line joining them, upon the scale of oue-third of an inch to ten paces. Then represent the boundaries of surfaces : e.g., the top of a table eight by four feet, scale one-eighth of an inch to a foot ; or a field two hundred by sixty yards, upon the scale of forty yards to an inch. Finally give exercises combining lengths and relative directions of boundaries. One problem may be to draw the schoolroom, using the scale of one-eighth of an inch to a foot, locating doors, windows, desks, platforms etc. ; then re-draw upon a smaller scale, e.g., one-tenth or one-sixteenth of an inch for the same distance. Follow by a plan of the whole floor of the building on the scale of, for instance, one- eighth of an inch to a yard. As greater areas are included in the drawings, reduce the scale. In platting the yard and district, the pace may be made the unit of measure. Employ similar devices also in modelling groups of natural features of relief. When the use of the scale is understood, we may begin the work of mapping the neigliborhood. 72 THE CHILD AND NATURE. Modelling and Drawing the District. — As has already been stated, the modelling and drawing should be used together, the former leading rather to observe elevation and surface-slope, the latter, outlines of forms. The devices combined afford the necessary opportunity of associating the signs of the map-language with their appropriate ideas, — thus preparing the pupils to read foreign maps which are merely new relations of the familiar forms of our school district. This shows the necessity of employing the same map-language as that contained in the text-books. Such a part of our district has been selected as will include in our maps the two brook-basins in which we have already discovered how the laud is drained, and the types of all land and water forms. This accords with the previous statement (p. 45) that we should study such portions of our district as contain the forms, forces and conditions that should make up the child's world-picture. Lesson I. — To determine the bounds of the maps, the pupils first locate Squantum Street (see maps, p. 73), run- ning by the school-yard towards the north-north-east. They then walk north-north-east to Pitt Street which they find enters Squantum fifty paces from the school-yard. These facts are carefully recorded in the pupils' note-books. This junction of streets at A, we select for a starting-point. From A, we discover that Pitt Street extends towards the north-north-west, that Squantum Street bends to the north- east, and the portion that passes the school-yard runs towards the south-south-west. The pupils are now separated into three groups for pacing in the three directions. One party is instructed to pace Pitt Street to the water-parting, E, beyond the pond ; another, Squantum Street to the springs, D ; the third, to Hancock Quincy School District. — See p. 72. 74 THE CHILD AND NATURE. Street, B. All the pupils will not, of course, return the same number of paces for the same distance, but we may use the average. Every member of the class is required to pace one of these distances, in order that the maps which are to be made on a small scale may vividly recall the large area included. The efforts made in walking the distance, and the accompanying sense of fatigue are the best means of impressing the dimensions. It may not be amiss to note here, in the same connection, that muscular effort may often be made a means of attention to forms and motions. For example, a class of so-called "mischievous" boys, possessing such active minds and bodies that the teacher had not given them enough work to keep them busy, and to whom fun was merely a safety-valve to their pent-up spirit of activity, received many of their most impressive lessons by giving vent to their restlessness under proper guidance. Thus, when all other devices had failed to stimulate their observation to the degree of slope of a certain hillside, they were allowed to race at full speed from the foot to the top, aud then to walk slowly down. No further exercise was needed to impress them with a sense of the abruptness of that slope. At another time their atten- tion to the current of a brook was secured by requesting them to throw sticks into tlie water, and walk for a long distance down stream, keeping just abreast their tiny crafts, thus varying their own speed to correspond with the current in different parts of the brook-bed. An ounce of tact is worth a ton of rod. But to return to our mapping. The returns make Pitt Street four hundred aud fifty paces ; Squantum, six hundred paces to the springs, and four hundred paces to Hancock Street. The whole class now paces from B to the little MAPPING THE DISTRICT. 75 bluff C, beyond the brook, and find it to be six hundred paces. Hancock Street extends due north-west and south- east. Returning to the school, each pupil constructs an outline map of the included district, on the scale of twenty-five paces to one-eighth of an inch. First, a compass card is drawn in one corner of the paper, indicating at least the cardinal directions. A point is then fixed upon for A, and from it Squantum Street is drawn north-east (six hundred paces) three inches, south-south-west (four hundred paces) vtwo inches ; Pitt Street north-north-west (four hundred and fifty paces) two inches and a quarter. From B, Hancock is also added north-west (six hundred paces) three inches. A rectangle is next drawn, enclosing these streets by lines extending due north and south, and east and west. From measurements already made, the school-yard may be drawn fronting Squantum Street (fifty paces) one-fourth of an inch from A. The moulded map may be made on the scale of ten paces to one-eighth of an inch on tlie model-tins. Thus far we have located artificial bounds only, but in our next lesson the streets will serve as base-lines for measuring and locating the natural features. Lesson II. — Starting out again with note-books, on the next pleasant day, we record the following observations and measurements : Squantum Street slopes downward from A toward Hancock, two hundred and fifty paces to where a little brook flows under the road. From this point, the street rises gradually towards B. We follow the brook east-north-east three hundred paces to the spot where it turns abruptly to the right, continuing one hundred and fifty paces farther to a beautiful spring. A small tributary joins the brook .it the bend, flowing from 76 THE CHILD AND NATURE. the north-east about a hundred paces. After passing under Squantum Street, it widens into a little pond ; thence con- tinuing under Hancock a hundred paces from B, it finds its way across a broad salt-marsh to the Neponset River, which can be seen in the distance, flowing towards Boston Harbor. Our modelling and drawing lessons for the day consist in adding these observations to our maps. Lesson III. — On our third trip, we locate the second and larger of the two brooks. Pitt Street slopes two hundred and fifty paces to the middle of a little pond that lies along both sides of the road a hundred paces. From here, the brook extends north-east a hundred and fiftj' paces, then bends east-north-east for the same distance, and finally bears due east two hundred and fifty paces to its source near Squantum Street (D). Two little springs empty into the brook from the right bank, one seventy-five paces and the other a hundred and fifty paces above Pitt Street, both rising about twenty-five paces from the brook. After reducing all to the scale, these are also modelled and drawn upon the maps. Lesson IV. — After passing under Pitt Street, and out from the little pond by th^ roadside, the brook flows into a round basin, making another pond a hundred paces across. Finding an outlet on the south-east side of the pond, it runs toward the west-south-west across a narrow marsh, flows under Hancock Street a hundred paces from the ridge C, and finally, after winding about the broad salt-marsh, joins the other brook, and flows with it to the river. In tracing the brooks, we have now located the loioer edges of all the slopes in the map district. More careful observation and discernment are necessary in locating the upper edges or water-partings which next engage our attention. MAPPING THE DISTRICT. 77 Lesson V. — The pupils have studied water-partings in their previous lessons on the Forms of Land. Our work now is to trace them by careful comparison of slopes and levels, and then to locate them by direction and distance from some lines already fixed upon the maps. The water- partings are indicated by dotted lines. Starting once more from A, we find that Squantum Street follows the ridge (between the brook-basins) towards the north-east three hun- dred paces ; but that here the water-parting divides to admit a third basin which drains the land beyond this point east of Squantum Street, carrying the water into a large bay about a quarter of a mile distant. This latter basin is separated from the west brook by the parting which continues along Squantum Street, and from the east brook by the little ridge which extends due eastward from the same street. Lesson VI. — Eeturning to A, we next trace the upper edges of the slopes towards the south-west, across a field to the middle of the north side of the school-yard ; thence it follows the fence westward, and continues with a slight curve across Hancock Street, two hundred paces from the ridge C. After a sharp turn towards the south-south-east, a hundred and fifty paces, it bends again to the south-west, passing through a little wooded knoll a hundred paces long, and is lost in the great salt-marsh. The water-partings which separate these basins from others to the eastward and west- ward do not come within the limits of our map, except on the little ridge running from E to C. The pupils should, how- ever, trace them and discover the bounds of the two brook- basins, although they need not be included in the maps. Lessons VII and VIII. — "We have now completed the iines which mark the meeting of the slopes along their upper and tower edges, and thus determined the direction of drain- 78 THE CHILD AND NATURE. age. One other feature should be included, and then our maps will be completed as far as the general surface is con- cerned. On our many trips, we have observed that the slopes from the water-partings to the brook-beds are not all gradual. In fact, the highland is everywhere a low plateau, through which the brooks in past time seem to have worn their broad meadow basins. The edges of this plateau are marked by low abrupt slopes which it will be our next work to locate. This may be easily done by following the brooks from their sources, and making measurements to the low bluffs every fifty or one hundred paces, or wherever it is made necessary by any change of direction. The abrupt slopes may then be modelled, and represented on the outline maps in a simple manner by shading (JiacJiures) . Other features may now be added, e.g., the little pond along Hancock Street, south-west from the school ; the path leading to the school-yard from the same street ; the woods near the head of the east brook. The relief and outline maps on p. 73 serve to indicate what may reasonably be expected fro'm the class. After, modelling the district accurately, various cross-sec- tions sJiould be made and drawn. This is an excellent device for directing the attention more closely to the slopes and their limitations. It may readily be seen that every map including a large area must, of necessity, be constructed on a double scale of altitude and horizontal extension, to make slope perceptible to either touch or sight. Our plateaus being only about thirty feet above the marshes over which the tide-water flows, it would be very difficult to keep the true proportion of height to width ; hence, we have an excellent opportunity to illustrate the exaggerated scale upon which all maps of continents are constructed. MAPPING THE DISTRICT. 79 The relief map has been modelled on the scale of one- eighth of an inch to ten paces. The cross-sections may now be added on the scale of one-eighth of an inch to ten feet of altitude. These sections may be made from fleld-trip obser- vations, by cutting through the moulded map, or by the aid of both, and should be added to the district map. The section in the illustration is made from E to B. Finally, have each pupil write a careful description of the surface of the district, locating the principal slopes, highlands, basins etc. ; also noting the nature of the surface, whether covered with rocks, sand or loam, and whether wood, grass, or garden land. Attach the maps to the descriptions, and file away for further additions when studying vegetation and animal life. No portion of the whole system of geography is more important than that just completed ; for if rightly presented, the child now holds the key to the relief and drainage of the whole earth. Although the mapping has probably occut pied less than a month, the time would have been compara- tively profitably spent had it required a whole term for this work ; for if well done, it will save more than that length of time in future study. So far as relief and outline are concerned, the pupils are now ready to study the maps of the continents. They have not only become familiar with the forms represented, .but have also learned the map-language. Each foreign map is now a series of sentences ; each sign is a word to recall its corresponding geographical concept ; while the arrangement of the signs shows the relations of the forms to each other, and thus represents the continental relief or relations of slopes. 80 THE CHILD AND NATURE. CHAPTER VI. «.- FORCES. Suggestions in regard to teaching the forces and motions may perhaps be most clearly illustrated in the form of ques- tions. Nearly all of the forces can best be studied in the lessons upon the Forms of Land and Water. (See the Course of Study.) They are classified for convenience merely in selecting. Questions should not be asked for the sake of the answers, but to direct the investigations, and secure atten- tion to the objects of study. They do not outline a course, but only suggest lines of study. No teacher will, of course, follow the order given, or limit himself to the list, as each question involves many others. The best question is the one that leads to closest investigation, and thus becomes a means of mind-growth. Each question in these lists has in view a later application to the continents, and paves the way to the imagination of the same forces and motions upon a much grander scale, although the same principles are involved. The work should be purely elementary, and does not include the philosophy of the various phenomena, except in so far as the relations may be readily perceived or easily imagined. The answers are omitted here, as they are beautifully and plainly written in nature in every school district. , Allow the children time to make full observations. Dis- FORCES. 81 courage hasty answers and quick judgments as evidence of careless thought. Train pupils rather to weigh questions carefully, and judge deliberately. " Snap judgment," so common even among people of maturer years, is largely the product of their early school-training, when a quick answer was demanded as proof of a bright ( ?) intellect. The mind should never be forced. Give it a reasonable amount of time, and it will not acquire the habit of thinking carelessly, or of being satisfied with partial knowledge. The first and most important work is to draw upon the past experience of the pupils for the facts which are to be generalized. Where that experience is limited, they should be encouraged to make further investigations, and may be aided in this by questions and experiments. The simplest experiments, such as children can perform, are by far the most helpful. Great care should be taken not to deduce a law from too few facts. The law should grow out of the mass of observations, and should not be forced from a few. In directing the investigations of the pupils, the teacher should keep a definite end in view, some law or series of laws which he wishes them to discover, and should avoid wandering from the subject. The experiments, as well as the observations should be so conducted that the children may discover the truth by perceiving the relations of the objects, and not simply hear it in the explanation of the teacher. Aim to supplement the former experience of every child. The questions may occasionally be used to advantage as subjects for oral and written language lessons. Those upon Water in the Ocean are, of course, for children living near the seacoast. Encourage the pupils to ask questions. There is no law so simple that we may not learn much in regard to it by watching the minds of little children grow up to it. 82 THE CHILI) AND NATURE. Water Flowing over the Land. — Where does the water in brooks and rivers come from ? Where does it go ? In what direction must a river flow ? Have you ever seen any land that does not slope ? Why are some rivers rapid, others slow ? Why do rivers wind about ? Do rivers drain or water the land ? In what part of a basin must a river make its bed? Do brooks wind more in a plain or in a hilly country ? Which flow more swiftly, straight or. winding brooks? Why? How much land does a river drain ? Why are some brooks larger than others ? What makes them high or low ? Why do they sometimes overflow their banks ? What are dykes ? levees ? Do you know the story of " The Leak in the Dyke "? How many slopes must a river basin have ? What if the earth's surface. were perfectly level? What bounds every brook basin ? Why are some brooks broad and shallow, others narrow and deep ? Where are they generally widest? Why? Where do they get their water in dry seasons ? Where is the greater quantity of water, in the bed or banks V Why are dams built in rivers ? How do vessels pass them ? What kind of rivers are best for navigation ? manufacturing? Why do large rivers generally flow by large cities ? What are the uses of water flowing over the land ? Water Flowing through the Soil. — How deep into the ground does rain go? What stops it ? In what direction must it then flow ' WATEB. 83 Why do not the rains finally fill the soil ? What becomes of the water ? Where will it come out ? What is the place called ? What does it form ? Why is spring water so pure ? Which do you prefer to drink, spring, well or rain water i What do plants feed upon ? How is the food brought to them ? How far into the soil do roots penetrate ? Do we find the larger and longer roots in dry or wet soil? What do plants feed upon in dry seasons ? Which holds moisture longer, sand or loam? What would be the condition of the soil if the earth were level? Of what use is the slope of land to plants ? What are the uses of water moving through the soil ? Water in the Air. — "Why do ponds " dry up " ? Why do tea- kettles boil dry ? What becomes of a basin of water if set in the sunshine ? Do clothes dry more quickly on a win3y or a calm day ? In the sunshine or shade ? On a cold or warm day ? What is the meaning of " the sun is drawing water " ? Why do we sometimes blow upon hot water ? Where do the clouds from locomotives go ? Where do clouds come from ?' WTiere do they go ? What moves clouds? How fast can they travel? How high are the clouds ? Do you know the story of " Franklin and his kite " ? Were you ever above the clouds ? Have you ever heard of the " battle above the clouds " ? How can clouds above us be moving in many directions at the same time ? Has every cloud a " silver lining " ? Draw all the forms of clouds that you can see. 84 THE CHILD AND NATURE. Where does dew come from ? When does it form ? How long does it remain ? Where does it go? Does dew fall 9 Why does an ioe-pitoher " sweat"? Why does moisture (dew) collect on the windows in winter ? What forms the drops of water there ? When can we see our breath ? What part do we see ? Why does not moisture gather on hot stoves ? Are all raindrops equally large ? Do you know any signs of rainy and fair weather? Does it rain harder before or after a bright flash of lightning? Why is rain fresh when it comes from the ocean ? Why, then, should we bathe often ? When do rainbows appear? In what part of the sky do you always see morning rainbows? Of what is the rainbow a sign ? Does the bow form before or after it stops raining? Did you ever see one during a snowstorm ? Did you ever see one near a fountain? On which side of the fountain must you stand to see it ? Set a tumbler of water in the sun, and see what colors it gives. What colors can you see in a rainbow? What are the uses of water in the air? \ Water in the Ocean. (For puprls living near the sea.) — How does ocean water differ from river water ? , What are tides? How often is it high tide? Where is the moon during high tide ? low ? Of what use is salt in the sea ? How is it obtained from the ocean ? Why does not the river water make the ocean fresher each year? Do ponds have tides ? Of what uses are storms on the ocean ? What are the uses of the oceans ? WATER. 85 Conditions of Water. — Does it ever rain ija winter, or snow in summer? How many rays has every perfect snowflake ? Why do we sometimes bank our houses with snow? Is a snow house warm or cold inside V From what do Esquimaux build their huts ? Does the ground freeze deeper when bare, or covered with snow? Of what use is snow to trees ? Does it become warmer or colder during a still snow-storm? Is a thawing day warm or cold ? What makes crust form on snow ? When will snow make good balls? Does snow melt first in a forest or open plain ? Where, then, would floods from melted snow be more likely to occur ? In which seasons do we have hail-storms? What is in the centre of a hailstone? Are all hailstones of the same size and shape ? What damage is caused by hail ? What are the differences between frost and dew ? When and where does frost form? Does it form on windy or calm nights ? When the night is cloudy or clear? Why cannot frost form near cracks in a window-pane ? On which side of a building or wall will frost and snow remain the longest ? How can frost "heave " a building? What effect has frost upon the soil ? What fruits are improved by frost ? What harm is caused by frost? snow? rain? ice? At what temperature is water heaviest? Try it. Which is heavier, ice or water? Prove it. 86 TBS CHILD AND NATURE. What would result to rivers and lakes if ice were the heavier ? Why do pipes burst when water freezes in them ? Why are high mountain-tops covered with snow and ice ? How are icicles formed? What are the uses of ice? Uses of Water. — What are the uses of water : — In rivers, lakes and oceans ? In the soil ? In the air? In springs and wells? In the conditions of dew, frost, hail etc. ? In regulating tem- perature ? As a means of travel ? As a motive-power ? In mining? In purifying the atmosphere? To plants and animals? In the kitchen ? In the laundry ? etc. Intense interest may be aroused in the observation of the various conditions of water by performing a few simple ex- periments in the presence of the class. A test-tube or bottle of water, a saucer and a lamp are all the apparatus required. Heat the water, and allow the pupils to record the successive changes they perceive taking place. As the water heats, they may observe the rising of the air- bubbles, boiling, evaporation, the formation of clouds etc. ; then holding the cold saucer in the vapor or ''water-dust," they may see dew, raindrops, frost, icicles etc., in process of formation. The work should be very simple, and affords excellent opportunity for language lessons. Mould the expression while the mind is at " white heat" of activity. Young teachers especially should guard against the fatal error of trying to "explain" the visible effects produced. In nine cases out of ten this arises from a desire to impress their superior wisdom (?) upon the trusting pupils. We should not forget that, although we may seem to float over the explanation by the aid of a few names of forces, wc SOIL-MAKING. 87 know no more in reality about tlie strong deep undercurrent of causes than does the child who can wade in but a few steps. Tempt not the little one to trust himself too far on this great ocean of thought in the fragile shell of empty words. The following statement will bear repetition : viz., Experi- ments ought not to take the place of the child's past experi- ence, but merely supplement it, and stimulate keen perception and close attention. g. SOIL-MAKING. Kinds of Soil. — What is the difEerence between sand and gravel? What is the shape pf a grain of sand? of a pebble? What is dust? dirt? What are boulders? What is the difference between dust and mud? What colors have you seen in clay? Where do we generally find clay? Which is more useful, sand or clay? What becomes of the plants that die? What is leaf-mould? Why do farmers often plough grasses into the soil? What is the color of the richest earth you have seen ? Which allows water to pass through it more readily, sand or loam? Do plants ever grow upon bare rocks ? In what ways do farmers make the soil richer? How deep is the loam in your garden ? What is under the loam ? under that ? Distribution of Soil. — What makes water muddy ? Which will a brook carry farther, fine sand or pebbles? Which can carry the greater quantity of silt, a rapid or a slow river? Which can carry the coarser and heavier ? 88 THE CHILD AND NATURE. How f a,r can a stream carry silt ? What is in the beds of sluggish brooks ? rapid ones ? Why do river-banks sometimes cave in? Where do pebbles along the beach come from 'i Why are they smooth and rounded Y From what is sand made? How? What makes rocks crumble ? What cracks large rocks ? Why are coast-lines irregular? How do jetties deepen a river ? (Make one in the brook.) What becomes of the material washed out ? In what order does running water deposit its different kinds of sediment ? In what part of a brook basin do we find the finest and richest soil? Why are bottom-lands so fertile ? If a muddy brook empties into a pond, where will the sediment be deposited ? How are deltas formed ? Of what is the soil in a delta composed ? Agents at Work in the Soil. — Why do farmers plough before they sow? What is the action of frost in the soil? How deep does the ground freeze? How does nature loosen the soil each year? How far into the ground do roots penetrate ? Why do we loosen the soil about roots ? When it rains, does the fine or coarse soil settle below the sur- face ? What brings it back ? Where do the worms come from during or after a rain-storm ? Where do they live ? What do they feed upon? What do they constantly bring to the surface ? Do you know of any insects or bugs that improve the soil? Of what use ai'e little ant-hills all over a field? How do bugs and worms get air underground? AIB. 89 As we dig below the surface, does the ground appear to become warmer or colder in summer? winter? Of what use is the sun's heat in the soil ? Of what use is rain to the soil ? snow ? 3. jLIB. The causes which determine the general directions of 'the winds of the globe may be referred to a few well-known laws. The same forces are at work everywhere about us, and the daily experience of every child brings him constantly into contact with them. The observation of the motions of air, and the discovery of the laws controlling them, belong to the elements of geography ; the application of these laws to the globe, in explaining the causes of the great wind-belts and monsoons, forms a part of advanced work. Thus a child sees the smoke curl upward from the fire, or he feels a cold draught, and yet may not know or seek a cause. He has made hundreds of similar observations, yet he may not have discovered the simple law of the lighter fluid float- ing upon the heavier. Or if he has generalized, he may not know why hot air or water is lighter, bulk for bulk, than cold ; yet he has seen water boil over in the teakettle, the mercury rise in the thermometer, and many other proofs of expansion by heat resulting in difference in weight between equal bulks of hot and cold fluids. But lead him to classify his observa- tions, — to discover principles or laws, — and he may reason that because air expands when heated, and becomes lighter, bulk for bulk, than the surrounding air, it floats. Thus he, in part, answers the why. This may serve to indicate the order in which the subject should be studied. The teacher should clearly outline in his own mind the causes of the directions of the winds of the globe, that he 90 THE CHILD AND NATURE. may be able to decide which, among the many laws relating to winds in general, he must lead his pupils to discover. Those only should be selected which determine direction. He next decides what, in the experience of the pupils, illus- trates each of these laws, and frames his questions to recall these facts. He also directs them in new lines of investi- gation and experiment to add to their experience especially where it is quite limited. Thus tlie pupils are prepared in the elements which may be used later in the study of th? distribution. Thej- can inter- pret the great forces at work all over the globe only in so far as they have observed them about home, performing the same work in mmiature. When the globe, its motions and plan of heating have been studied in the advanced work, the children will readily apply the laws they have discovered, and explain the general circulation of the atmosphere. The following questions and experiments are intended to suggest one order and manner of presenting the elementary steps in the study of air. Causes of Motion. — Which is easier, to draw a wagon up hill or down? Why? Why can you not slide up hill in winter? Why will a ball roll down hill ? When you throw a stone into the air, why does it not go up forever? Why do not apples fall upward ? In what direction will water always flow? Of what use is a spirit-level ? What moves the air-bubble? What substances never fall to the earth? How large is a pound ? What do we really measure when we weigh any thing? Of what use is a thermometer? weather-vane? AIB. 91 What moves the clouds and raises dust in the street ? When does a windmill turn most rapidly ? What do we breathe in ? What is wind ? In how many ways can you discover which way the wind blows? In how many directions have you seen clouds moving at one time ? What is the difference between a gale and a breeze ? Name any substances that are blown about. Name any that float in the air. Which of the following will float on water ? lead, cork, iron, glass, ice, oil, wood. Which of these substances are heavier than water ? Why v/ill a cork float, and a piece of lead sink ? Why will not an empty (?) bottle sink ? How can you find out whether a substance will float or sink, without putting it in water? Which of the following fluids will float upon the other ? water and mercury ; oil and water ; water and air ; air and hydrogen ; warm and cold air. When two fluids are poured together, which will float ? When many fluids are mixed, — e.g., water, oil, air and quick- silver, — in what order will they come to rest ? Why ? When does a teakettle boil over? Why? What results when you put your thumb on the bulb of a thermometer ? Why are spaces left between the ends of rails on a railroad ? Why does a smith heat a tire before putting it on a wheel ? Cork and heat a bottle of ice-water, and what results ? Cork tightly a thin test-tube of air, and heat it. Result ? Balance two dippers of the same size ; fill one with hot and the other with ice water. Which is heavier ? Try the same with bottles of hot and cold air. Tie a piece of thin rubber over the mouth of a bottle of cold air, and then heat it. Result? 92 THE CHILD AND NATURE. What results to water, air, and iron, when heated ? Do you know of any other substances that expand when heated ? Which is heavier, bulk for bulk, hot or cold air ? water ? Which will float upon the other, the hot or cold ? When you press a stick into the water, what lifts it to the surface ? Why does heated air rise ? What lifts or floats it ? Do we generally find the colder air near the ceiling, or floor, of a room ? AVhy is it warmer over a hot stove than under it ? What turns the little " windmill " over a hot stove? In what direction do flames generally shoot? Why ? What causes the draught up a chimney ? Why do smoke and sparks rise ? What carries Santa Claus' letters up the chimney? What causes a draught when we open a window on a cold day ? Why do soap-bubbles rise? Vapor from the breath and tea- kettle? Which causes the better draught, a tall or aliort chimney ? Why does shaking the grate start the flre ? Where are ventilators placed in cars ? Why ? How are mines sometimes ventilated by fires ? With what are balloons filled? What floats them? How the Atmosphere is Healed. — Do we find the air warmer or cooler, as we ascend hills and mountains ? AVhy does it not become warmer as we approach the sun by climbing upward ? Why is the zinc on the wall behind a hot stove warmer than the air near it ? Hold a thermometer against a sunny sand bank, then one incli from it, one foot, three feet, ten feet ; top of a tree. 'NA'here is it warmest? coldest? AIR. 93 Which is wairaer, the air over a sand-bank or green iield in sunshine ? How is the atmosphere heated ? If the air were heated directly by the sun, what would result ? Where would it then be warmest ? Test the temperature of a pond and its sandy bank in sunshine, and again late at night. Result ? Which heats more slowly during the day, and which retains its heat longer after sundown ? Over which is the air lighter during the day ? night? When there is a difference in temperature between two places, what motion of the air results ? What, then, causes the land and sea breezes? Which do you think have more even temperature, places near the ocean or inland ? Why do we like to have it cloudy on hot days? Does all the sun's heat reach the earth's surface? Why does the air become cooler as it floats upward ? What becomes of its heat ? How high can heated air float ? What stops it ? When will it come down ? How high can a balloon rise ? a soap-bubble ? When must they come down ? What brings them down ? When you sift flour over a lamp chimney, or throw bits of paper over a hot-air register, where will they settle ? Why do they not come directly down ? Why does not the smoke above a hot stove settle down upon it ? Where, then, will air come down after cooling ? In what direction must it move after coming to the surface ? Upon what does the speed of wind depend ? What names do you know for winds of different rates of speed ? From what direction do your warm winds blow ? cold ones ? Which are oftener accompanied by rain ? 94 THE CHILD AND NATURE. Uses of Air. — Do fishes breathe? What brings our rain-clouds ? What becomes of the breath we exhale ? What animals travel in the air? Of what use is wind to sailors ? What machines are moved by air ? "W'hat makes waves V , What damage is caused by wind ? Have you ever been told what causes the twilights? Of what use are gales ? Is air of greatest use in motion or at rest ? Name all the uses of air that you know. Note. — Questions may also be added, if thought desirable, to lead the pupils to discover the simple laws of bodies in motion tending to maintain uniform motion, and also motion in straight lines, thus pre- paring for the influence of rotation in westing the trade-winds, and easting the return trades. But this may, perhaps, be better studied iu connection with the advanced work. 4. FORM, SIZE AND MOTIONS OF THE EAItTH. Too strong a plea cannot be entered against the pernicious practice of plunging little children into the book-study of mathematical geography without any previous training in the observation of the heavens. One of the simplest and most fascinating parts of the whole subject is thus made the most abstruse. The very manner of presenting it by defini- tions becomes a barrier to future observation. What the mind once conceives to be complicated, it can never after approach in its simple beauty. There is much in this line of work that the child can readily discover for himself, if the teacher will but direct his obser- vation, and allow him time. Jloreover, it affords an excellent opportunity to cultivate the habit of persistent observation of MOTIONS OF THE EARTH. 95 the same object through a long period of time, and no one will df ny the importance of this habit in every department of study and research. For example, the question is asked in September, "At what time of the year does the sun shine the shortest distance into the schoolroom at noon? " The limit of its shadow is then marked on the floor, and each sunny day the children observe that the sun runs lower, and that its light reaches in farther and farther till finally, in the latter part of December, it remains nearly the same for a few days. The limit of its shadow is then carefully marked and preserved. At the same time, attention is called to the changes taking place in nature, — the wonderful phenomena of changing seasons. Then the path of light becomes shorter and shorter, and the children readily discover that the sun is rising higher in the sky. Wliile it continues to shorten, we mark its limits once a week, putting the dates opposite their appropriate marks. Finally, in June, it reaches the same line, or moves appar- ently through the same path for a few successive days, and then begins its downward journey. "thus all through the school year the children have noted the varying path of the sun, and the influence of its position upon the seasons. They have learned that autumn ends and winter begins when the sun travels in its lowest arch, and that spring ends and summer begins when it moves along its highest path in the sky. Its middle arch travelling north- ward opened the spring, while the same path in its southward journey maifed the end of summer. Later in the course, when the children need to study the division of the earth into zones, we may base the work on these observations and records. We may then tell them that the lines on the earth directly under the highest and lowest 96 TUE CHILD AND NATURE. paths of the sun are the tropics ; and under the middle arch, the equator. Finding the difference in direction between the lines of light from the extreme paths, will show then approximately the width of the torrid zone. A little reasoning will show that the light shines just as far beyond the north pole as the sun travels north of the equator, and vice versa for the south pole. Thus all the circles and zones may be taught in the advanced work by means of these elementary observations. When the pupils have added to all this the apparently fixed position of the north star, they have laid the basis for the study of the inclination of the earth's axis. Many more facts may be drawn from this, but enough has been given to show how much lies in the path of simple observation. Considering the importance of such investi- gation, may we not justly conclude that this beautiful science should not begin with mere memory work of mystical circles, zones and motions, but with something full of interest and reality? Important lines of investigation are indicated by the following questions. As some of them must continue through whole seasons, it is essential that the pupils record their observations in their note-hooks throughotit entire seaso7is. These questions are to be answered by the children, and not by the teacher. The motions of a body can be discovered only by observing a change in position relative to at least two other bodies having different motions. If the earth and sun were the only heavenly bodies, man might still be ignorant of the earth's motions. He could, of course, discover motion, but would lack means of determining which moved, the sun or the earth. But by observing the motions of these two bodies relative to distant stars, and of the stars to each other, he MOTIONS OF THE EARTH. 97 has discovered that the earth has several motions. This explains why questions about the moon and stars, as well as the sun, have been included in these elements which are to prepare for the higher study of mathematical geography. Children should be led, as early as possible, to observe, not from the standpoint of appearance, but of reality. When their investigations warrant the comprehension of a simple explanation of rotation and revolution, is not that the proper time to make it, not a detailed description, but only such statements as will lead them to think of these two real motions ? Very full answers to these questions ought not to be expected from the pupils. Mere knowledge should be secondary in importance to the fact that the questions incite continued observation, and awaken interest in the subject. Apparent Form and Size of the Earth. — How far away is the horizon ? Could you ever> reach it by travelling westward ? What is the shape of the horizon on the water or on a plain? Do the clouds touch the horizon ? Why do they appear to ? What seems to be the shape of the sky ? How far can you see when you look upward ? Can you see as far along the surface of the earth? Why must you climb high to see a great distance ? From what part of a ship can sailors first see land? What part of a ship disappears last as she sails to sea ? Why are light-houses built high ? What is the shape of the earth's shadow on the moon during an eclipse ? Has any one ever found the edges of the earth ? If the earth were flat, upon what part would the sun shine when it first rises ? Could the sun then shine upon any part when it is night here? 98 THE CHILD AND NATURE. Is the time of day the same all over the world? Reason? If it were flat, and you did not live in exactly the centre, which would be longer, the forenoon or afternoon ? If it were flat, could all nations see the same or different stars ? In what direction do the sun and pole-star seem, to move as we travel south for many days? Who first sailed around the globe ? Do you know the story of " Copernicus and the Globe " ? Apparent Motions of the Sun. — What is the color of the sun? Has it always the same color and shape ? How large does the sun seem to be ? At what time of day does it appear largest ? Where is the sun on a cloudy day ? Which is farther from us, the sun or moon? Prove it. Which are farther away, the clouds or stars ? Who was Phoebus? ROTATION. Where is the sun at night ? Of what use is night ? What do we call the light just before sunrise? Of what use are dawn and twilight? Can you tell the story of Cinderella, and why the prince of light can never overtake the dawn ? Which is longer, day or night ? Are all days equally light, and all nights equally dark ? Why? When does day begin ? night ? What is the meaning of a.m., p.m. and m.? When is it evening? How long is noon? What changes occur in nature during evening? morning? Where does the sun seem to rise ? Does it always rise in the same place ? Does it always rise at the same time of day ? How often does the sun seem to travel around the earth? In what direction? THE MOON. 99 If the sun does not move around the earth, how else may day and night be caused ? Can you feel or see the earth turning ? If the earth turns (or rotates) in what direction must its rotation take place? How often? Do you know the story of Phaeton ? REVOLUTION. Does the sun rise earlier in summer, or in winter ? When does it rise exactly in the east, and set in the west? When does it rise farthest north ? south ? When do we have longest days ? nights ? When are day and night equal ? Is the sun always in the same place at noon? Does it ever come directly overhead? In what season do trees cast the longest shadow at noon? When does the sun travel highest in the sky at noon ? When does it move in its lowest arch ? Where is the sun's path when we have longest days ? How long time does it require to make the change from the highest to the lowest arch ? What season begins when the sun is in its lowest path ? Is the sun now travelling toward its high or low arch ? Mark the limit of the sunlight on your schoolroom floor or wall at least one day each week at noon, and discover which way the sun seems to travel, when it is farthest north and south, when it seems to stop, change direction, and travel most swiftly. What uses of the sun do the following -Words suggest? Day, summer, melt, dry, time-table, compass, dates, moon, fruit, eggs, force, scavenger, winds, rain, seed, tea, color, bleach, rainbow. Apparent Motions of the Moon. — How often does the moon rise? When does it rise? In what direction does the moon seem to travel ? Does it always move in the same path ? 100 THE CHILD AND NATURE. Do the moon and sun rise in the same place? When the moon is rising, could you not go to the horizon and touch it? Which is longer, a day measured by the sun or moon? When does the moon travel in its highest arch ? Which seems to travel faster, the sun or moon? Does the moon always appear near the same stars? In what direction does it seem to move among the stars ? Note its position near some bright star, and discover in how many days it will return to about the same spot at the same hour. Where is the moon during the day ? Why are not all nights lighted by the moon ? ■ What is the "harvest moon " ? Is there a man in the moon ? Do the spots on the moon ever seem to change? How often do we have a new moon ? Draw all the shapes and positions of the moon you have seen. Where is the sun when we have a full moon ? new moon ? Are the ends of the crescent turned toward or from the sun? Is the sun east or west from the moon when it is waxing? when waning? Where is the sun when the moon is gibbous? crescent? What part of the moon is always light ? What part of the earth is always light ? Where is the sun when we see an eclipse of the moon ? ^\'here is the moon when we have an eclipse of the sun ? Did you ever see an eclipse of the moon in the daytime ? What are the uses of the moon ? Apparent Motions of the Stars, Planets etc. FIXED AXIS. What becomes of the stars when the sun rises ? Where is the pole-star? Where is it in winter ? summer ? Where is it when the sun seems to travel northward ? THE STABS. 101 Where is it at night? early in the morning? at noon? Does it seem to move? (Pupils cannot discover the gyratory motion of the earth.) Put a stick in the ground, pointing to Polaris, and see if during any part of the year it moves out of line. (Although the axis of the earth will not point directly toward the North Star for about three hundred years, the stick set in the ground is approximately parallel to the earth's axis.) In what seasons does the sun seem to approach the North Star day after day? What use do sailors make of this star? Could they not as well use any other ? AVhy? Have you heard the story of Callisto? BOTATION. Does Polaris rise and set ? Where is the Great Dipper (Ursa Major) ? Which of its stars are called " pointers " ? Why ? Is the Great Dipper always in the same place? In what direction does it seem to travel? Does it move in the same direction as the other stars ? Does its handle ever point toward the North Star ? In what part of the Little Dipper (Ursa Minor) is the North Star ? Does the Little Dipper appear to move? In what direction? Does either dipper ever dip below the horizon ? Do they ever vary in distance from Polaris ? Can you find the W (Cassiopeia) and the Pleiades ? Do they rise and set? Who were Perseus and Andromeda ? EEVOLUTION. Is the Great Dipper in the same place every evening ? Can you see it every starlight evening ? Can you see the Northern Cross and the Pleiades every starlight evening ? 102 THE CHILD AND NATURE. In what season does the Little Dipper hang down from Polaris in the early evening ? In what season does the Great Dipper pass over Polaris in the early evening? Which is longer, a day measured by the sun or by a star ? How much ? Time it. In how long a time would this difierence amount to a whole day? Can you find Vega (in Lyra) and Thuban (in Draco) ? (These two stars should be indicated if the teacher wishes to explain in the advanced work the gyratory motion of the earth. Thuban may also enter later into the study of the history of Egypt, that having been the pole-star when the Pyramid of Cheops was built, about four thousand years ago. Vega will be the pole-star in about thirteen thousand years.) How can you distinguish the planets from the stars ? Try to count the stars. Where is the Milky Way ? Is it always in the same place ? What is the color of Mars ? Venus ? What do we mean by morning and evening stars? Which is morning star now? evening star? Do you know any stories or myths about the stars, clouds, moon, sun and earth ? What is a comet ? Does it rise and set like the stars ? Is its head or tail turned toward the sun ? What are meteors and shooting stars ? In what months do we generally see the greatest number ol " shooting stars " ? Draw a star, a comet and a planet. What are the uses of stars? planets ? B. CLIMATE. Heal and Moisture. — Which is warmer, day or night? Why? Is it generally warmer when the sun is rising or setting? Why? Why does it become warmer as the sun rises higher ? CLIMATE. 103 Where is the sun during the hottest part of the day? Why is it not hottest at midday ? At what time do we receive the most direct rays ? Which are warmer, long or short days? Will a square yard of surface receive a greater quantity of verti- cal or oblique rays ? Which rays travel through more atmosphere ? Which would be more easily thrown off ? Which would strike with greater force? What part of a ball, if held in the sunshine, would receive the most direct rays? the most slanting? Where, then, is the hottest part of the earth ? Where are the cold countries ? In what season are the rays most slanting «,t noon ? What changes take place in the seasons as the sun travels north- ward ? Which is colder, the forenoon or afternoon ? Why ? Which is colder, spring or autumn ? Why ? Which is the hottest month ? Where is the sun at that time? How many months of warm weather do we have? When are " dog-days " ? Why is it not the hottest part of the day when the sun is highest in the sky ? Why is it not the hottest part of the year when the sun moves in its highest arch ? Where is the sun during the coldest part of the year ? Is it coldest at midnight, or just before sunrise ? Why is it not the coldest month when the sun is in its lowest arch ? Where is the sun when each season opens ? South from us, are the sun's rays more direct or more slanting? Is it warmer or colder there than here ? Why ? Describe a winteT day, summer, spring, autumn. Which season do you like best? Why? What are the sports of each season? 104 THE CHILD AND NATURE. Which side of a building or hill is warmest ? On which side of an east-aud-west wall does the snow melt first? Which side of an east-and-west mountain-range would be warmer? Is it warmer at the top or bottom of a hill? Why are mountains good summer-resorts ? Where, then, in warm countries might we find cold weather? Can you think of one use of plateaus in hot countries ? Where might snow be found even with the sun overhead ? From what direction do our warm winds come ? cold winds ? Is it generally warmer or cooler on a windy or a calm day ? Is the air warmer or cooler after a rainstorm ? When do you like to have cloudy weather ? Did you ever see fog on a windy day ? Did it last long ? Do people like to build houses in swampy places? Why ? When do you feel more active, on dark and misty or clear days ? Why do people go to the seashore in summer ? Of what uses are land and sea breezes ? ' Upon what does the temperature of a searbreeze depend ? In what condition would wind come from a warm current of water ? When does water stagnate ? Which kind of country affords better drainage, high and hilly, or low and level? Which is the most unhealthful part of your own town ? Make a daily record of the temperature at noon for a year, and find the average. Eeeord the rainy, cloudy and sunny days, and compare the numbers. Set a tub or large pan out in each rainstorm, and measure the quantity of rainfall. Do the same in each snowstorm ; and having found the inches of snowfall, melt a quantity, and estimate how many inches of water are equivalent. CLIMATE. 105 Note the directions of the winds, and discover which pre- vail ; also, which precede rain or snow storms, and hot or cold waves. This personal observation and record, while occupying little, if any, of the regular school time, will prove of inesti- mable value in the advanced work. No true teacher will, of course, assign a certain number of these questions for each day's work, and expect the children to find the solutions in books. Not the mere answer, but the effort to discover, should be the aim. The answers are in nature, and there alone should the children read them. Let us make the same observations, keep the same records, and perform the same experiments, that we require of our little pupils ; or as Froebel has directed, " Come, let us live with the children." 106 THE CHILD AND NATURE. CHAPTER VII. C.-LIFE. It is a well-recognized fact that plants and animals are organized to correspond with their natural environments ; i.e., in their requirements of food, shelter etc., they are per- fectly adapted to the physical conditions of their habitats. Whether the form of life be a direct result of natural sur- roundings, or not, the fact of correspondence remains ; and it is evident that, as the flora and fauna of every country are determined by immutable conditions, a knowledge of these simple laws is essential to the proper study of distribution. 1. PLANTS. Every school should have a garden spot in which the chil- dren could work and study. But if we cannot go out into nature, we must bring nature into the schoolroom. Let us interest the children by being first interested ourselves. Give each child some work to do. One may plant grass- seed in wet cotton ; a second grow flaxseed in a sponge ; a third make a cup by digging out a sweet-potato, filling with water, and hanging in the sunshine ; a fourth put a sweet- potato in a tumbler of water, and allow the beautiful vine that will soon shoot out to grow about the wall ; another make a flower-pot from a common potato, being careful not to injure the "eyes," and plant in it a German ivy or a PLANTS. 107 small onion. One or two air-plants will also interest and instruct the children. A few vegetables should be sprouted in a dark cellar, and their sprouts compared with those grown in the sunlight. Have the pupils make boxes about a foot square by six inches deep, filling some with loam, others with sand and clay. In each box plant, e.g., corn, beans, acorns, rice, cotton, wheat, coffee and oranges. Set one box in the sun- shine, another in the shade ; keep one wet, another dry ; put one in a warm room, another in a cold one. Mark the spot where each kind of seed is placed, with date of planting. Now the race begins. Which plant will appear first? Mark its date, and watch for the next. Let the children make notes of all they ol)serve, for language lessons. As soon as new names are needed, give them. By this device, the pupils will discover that some plants grow best in sand, others in loam or clay ; some in wet soil, others in moist ; some in cool places, others in warm. They may also discover that grain-stalks growing in one kind of soil are larger and stronger than in another. Why? They may compare the color and strength of plants growing in light and dark places, in wet and dry soil etc. One fact discovered is worth a hundred told by the teacher. The power to discover is a constant source of pleasure to every one possessing it. Let us not destroy this means of happi- ness in the children by telling them what their own efforts may reveal with delight. Thus they are led to observe that different kinds of vegeta- tion are dependent upon the conditions of soil, moisture and heat. A basis is thereby laid for the intelligent study of dis- tribution. Occasional visits should be made to greenhouses to see foreign plants. Encourage the children to make a 108 THE CHILD AND NATURE. collection of as many staple products as possible, and procure pictures of others. Give language lessons upon their uses, and tell interesting facts relating to their growth. Then lead the pupils to classify them according to their various uses, e.g. : food, rice, wheat; luxuries, spices, tea; clothing, cott07i, fiax ; homes, pine, bamboo; fuel, ^ine, oak; medicines, poppy, cinchona; manufactures, mahogany, maple. Also classify according to parts used, e.g. : trunks, ebony, walnut; leaves, tea, tobacco ; roots, manioc, sassafras; barks, cork-oak, cinchona; seeds, rice, wheat; saps, maple, pine; fruits, orange, grape; buds, cloves, poppy. Again, group them as plants that grow in hot, warm, temperate and cold countries ; then in very wet, moist and dry climate. Study the important ones only, and thus prepare also for commerce. After the pupils have studied the relief and heating of the globe, with their effects upon drainage, they can locate the great natural garden-spots, and cover them with plant-life. When reading or giving descriptions of plants, if the names of any places arise, try to give the pupils some idea of their true location ; do not leave them floating. It is also impor- tant that pupils discover the means by which plants are dis- persed, and the barriers to their dispersal in the variations of the surface. The following questions are intended to suggest lines of observation. They should, of course, be varied to suit diflferent localities. Relation to Soil, Moisture and Heat. — ■ What plants gi'ow in swamps? in sandy fields? In what kind of soil are the best potatoes raised? wheat r corn ? Where do water-lilies grow ? thistles ? What plants are often seen growing from ashes? Where do cranberries grow ? rice ? Why do fanners " hill " their corn? PLANTS. 109 How does nature loosen the soil each year? What are weeds ? Name three. What does the expression, " The soil has run out," mean? How do farmers " rest " the land ? On what part of a farm can the heaviest crop of grass be grown? What soil produces the coarsest grass and corn-stalks ? Which house-plants require the richest soil? Will corn grow better in loam or sand, if well watered ? What covers the outside of a corn-stalk ? of bamboo ? When is the best time to water out-door plants ? Which of your house-plants need the most water? Sprinkle water upon the leaves, but not on the soil, then vice versa; which prevents withering? Why does putting the ends of flower-stems in water keep the leaves and blossoms fresh ? Why not put the leaves and blossoms in the water? Which plants sprout most quickly in water? What brings food to the roots of plants ? When seeds grow in wet cotton, where do they get food? Which plants best endure a drought ? What trees or plants have no leaves ? What vegetables and fruits ripen in early summer ? What ones ripen in late autumn ? Which are often destroyed by early frost? What is winter wheat? When is it sown ? Of what use is snow to plants ? Why have trees generally long roots ? How deep into the ground do they penetrate ? What plants grow better in the shade ? What ones die every autumn ? Live all winter? Which house-plants need most sunlight ? What seeds must be sown in early spring ? Why? What ones may be sown in late summer? 110 THE CHILD AND NATURE. Name three plants that bloom in early spring. What ones will yield two crops a year ? How long does it take potatoes to ripen from the seed? In what season does sap flow into the trees ? Does it ever flow back ? What are evergreen trees ? How are the seeds of the pine protected ? What trees drop their leaves in autumn ? When do the leaves change color ? fruits ? What trees are often injured by early spring weather followed by frost ? Why are many buds covered with pitch, and partly filled with ■woolly fibre ? Means of, and Barriers to, Dispersal. — What plants send out runners or shoots ? How far can such plants spread ? Can they cross rivers, meadows, mountains or deserts ? Of what use is the little tuft (pappus) in the dandelion blossom? Draw a maple seed ; an ash seed. What animals scatter grain and nuts ? What birds feed upon seeds ? In what seasons do birds carry seeds farthest? Name three common plants that will grow from slips. What seeds are so light that they may be blown about ? Where do the seeds of the pine grow ? What seeds will float in water ? Where might such seeds be carried? ^ In what ways may seeds be scattered over a plain? How may they be carried across rivers, mountains etc. ? Of what materials do birds build their nests? What weeds are destroyed with greatest difiiculty ? What harm is done by weeds? Name an enemy of the potato, apple, tomato, wheat, grape. What birds feed upon corn ? rice ? berries ? What plants can survive a long drought ? PLANTS. Ill If a fruit requires a long, warm season for ripening, where can it not survive? What kind of plants can grow in cold countries ? What prevents oranges, sugar-cane and pine-apples from growing in northern lands ? When were potatoes and tobacco first used in Europe ? From what country did we first obtain tomatoes ? Where was the first wheat brought from to this country? Which of our common grains are not native here ? Uses of Plants. — What are the most important six food- plants ? What kinds of cloth are made from plants ? From what is linen made? Name six important medicine plants. What is tar? turpentine? oakum? jute? What use is made of hemlock-bark ? What is tapioca, and how is it prepared ? How is India-rubber obtained ? Name six important cabinet wdods. What are the uses of bamboo ? pine? What articles are made from bark ? sap ? buds ? leaves ? blos- soms? seeds ? roots ? osiers ? What plants supply valuable oils? What common animals feed upon plants? Of what use are leaves to the atmosphere ? What plants are used to flavor drinks ? Name four ornamental trees. What animals would die if all the trees were cut down ? Groups for Special Lessons. — Rice, wheat, maize, rye, oats; pine, maple, teak, cork-oak, palms (oil, date, rattan), mahogany ; cotton, flax, hemp, jute ; sugar-cane, bamboo ; tea, coffee, cocoa, tobacco ; poppy, cinchona ; orange, lemon, bread-fruit, yam ; pepper, nut- meg, clove, cinnamon. 112 THE CHILD AND NATURE. Food and Structure. — What do the following animals feed upon ? Horse, sheep, hen, duck, rabbit, squirrel, bee, fly, butterfly, spider, mosquito, mouse, eagle, whale, bear, camel, deer, elephant, giraffe, lion, silkworm, monkey. What use does the cat make of her claws? Compare a cat's paw with a dog's. How does a dog seize its prey? What is the difference between a duck's bill and an eagle's beak ? How is each used ? Write a careful description of a duck's bill. Why is the eagle's beak curved ? How do the feet of the heu and duck differ? Can ducks roost? geese ? pigeons? Has a hen teeth ? Has any bird ? Why do not the horse and cow bite (?) off grass in the same manner ? How does the spider capture its food ? Draw a spider's web. Where do long-legged birds generally live ? What birds have long necks? Where do they obtain their food ? Why do some birds fly about in the night ? What do they feed upon ? Would a short neck be as useful to a giraffe as a long one ? What fish uses a gun ? a line and bait ? DraiW a woodpecker's foot and tongue. Where do bii'ds get their food in winter ? Why do some fly away ? \Vhere do they go ? What are birds of passage ? Name three. What animals feed upon grass ? grains ? fruits ? flesh ? Where do sheep and goats like best to feed ? What animals chew the cud ? What enables the camel to travel so long a time without (?) water ? Of what use is the hump to the camel ? ANIMALS. 113 Why were our front teeth made sharper than our back ones ? What would result if the cat had hoofs, the horse wings and a beak, the mouse horns, the dog a bill, the woodpecker web-feet ? Ought not squirrels to have wings ? Why were not the feet of all animals made alike ? the mouths ? Describe as many kinds of feet and mouths as you can, and teU their particular uses. What animals get their food from the water ? How ? How does an elephant drink ? camel ? hen ? horse ? dog ? mos- quito ? man ? Covering and Climate. — Do clothes make or keep us warm ? What animals are covered with fur ? feathers ? What covering has the lobster ? oyster ? snake ? codfish ? butterfly ? frog ? cat ? What do we call the hair on a sheep ? beaver ? pig ? Of what use is hair to animals ? Have all animals hair ? Of what use is the horse's tail and mane ? Why is a girl's hair longer than a boy's ? Which are warmer, feathers or furs ? Which are lighter ? Which shed water more readily ? What are live geese feathers ? What is down ? From what part of the ostrich are plumes taken ? Do " birds of a feather flock together " ? Why ? Have all fishes one kind of covering ? Draw a fish-scale. What animals live both on the land and in the water? Would not scales make a better covering than fur for seals V What animals need the warmest covering? Where would you go to find good fur-bearing animals? What animals shed their furs? Why? When? What animals shed their skins ? When do birds moult? Why ? Do oxen sweat ? dogs ? Do insects need warm coverings? 114 THE CHILD AND NATURE. Hoot are the feet and knees of the camel protected ? the eyes and nostrils? Compare the feet of the ostrich and camel. Do animals in cold countries have dark or light coverings? How is the whale protected from the icy waters V Name all the kinds of coverings that animals have, and the particular use of each. What animals sleep during the winter? What birds remain with us during the winter? Do animals migrate to escape cold weather, or to obtain food ? Where are the frogs and snakes during the winter? Why do bees store honey ? What other animals store food for winter use ? Means of Defence. — How do the following animals defend them- selves? Snake, cow, horse, dog, bee, crab, bear, deer, mouse, fly, goat, turtle, elephant, ostrich. Of what use is color to animals ? What animals use poison ? Why is it difficult to catch young partridges? What animals defend themselves by means of swords ? saws ? quills? How does the squid elude its enemies ? Where do young alligators go as soon as hatched ? Why? What animals depend upon speed for safety ? What ones hide ? change color? feign death? AVhat ones are tamed by hunger ? by fear ? Why do beavers dam brooks? What plan of escape have they from their houses ? How many eyes has the fly? What animals have keen scent? sight? hearing? Have fishes ears? How do hens warn their chicks of danger ? How do they protect them ? What animals follow leaders V post sentinels ? How do little sparrows drive ofi large birds ? ANIMALS. 115 What fishes elude their pursuers by leaping into the air? What bird defends itself by kicking ? \Vhat ones seek to escape by diving and swimming ? Why do sea-birds fly in the trough of the sea during gales? What birds strike with their wings and spurs ? What animals have bony coverings ? Name an enemy of each of the following : hen, rabbit, robin, rat, cat, deer, elephant, fly, rattlesnake, lion, monkey. Means of, and Barriers to, Dispersal. — In how many ways can birds travel from place to place ? What birds cannot fly ? What animals have no legs ? How do they move about? How might animals living near the sea be cari-ied far from home? What land animals can cross rivers ? What animals are often blown to great distances from home? What ones cannot swim ? Are frogs ever found in salt-water? What animals can live in cold countries only ? What ones live in deserts? forest? on mountains? in swamps? Can clams and oysters move about ? Can fresh-water fish live in salt-water ? Why cannot a robin fiy around the globe ? Will turtles, seals and frogs live if kept out of water a great length of time? What birds feed upon grains? Can they live in very cold countries? What do silkworms feed upon ? Where only can they live ? What animals must live near bodies of water ? Where must each of the following make its home? Beaver, duck, squirrel, hen, deer, horse, fly, bee, camel, seal, eagle, mosquito. What wild animals prey on sheep ? deer ? rabbits ? Can beavers and otters cross mountains and deserts ? Why cannot monkeys live in open plains ? What animals cannot live long in forests ? What ones would starve if set free in cold countries? 116 THE CHILD AND NATURE. Why cannot the polar bear leave the cold regions ? What animals cannot cross broad valleys ? What ones can cross oceans ? deserts ? When were the horse, cow, sheep and hen first brought to this country ? By whom ? Uses of Animals. —Vfhat animals supply food to man? cloth- ing? shelter? fuel? light? medicine? What paks are used for each purpose ? What animals are employed as beasts of burden ? Which is more useful, the horse or the cow ? Does leather grow ? How is it prepared ? What animals yield valuable skins? What ones are kept as pets ? What are domestic animals? Name four. Where is whalebone obtained ? sperm oil ? What uses does man make of the cow? reindeer? hen? sheep? elephant? horse? dog? camel? rattlesnake? cat? whale? What articles are made from skins? horns? hoofs? hair? Groups for Special Lessons. — Cat, lion, tiger; dog, wolf, hyena;. horse, zebi'a, quagga ; ox, buffalo, bison, musk-ox, yak, zebu ; deer, cashmere goat, elk, reindeer, eland, gnu, chamois ; hog, tapir, hip- popotamus, rhinoceros, elephant ; camel, dromedary, llama, alpaca ; various apes and monkeys ; ant-eater, armadillo, echidna ; opossum, kangaroo ; giraffe ; alligator, crocodile ; ornithorhynchus ; beaver, otter ; ostrich, nandu, apteryx ; eagle, condor ; goose, swan, flamingo ; pheas- ant, lyre-hird, bird-of -paradise ; boa, python; seaZ, walrus; whale; mackerel, cod, salmon ; corals and sponges. It will be readily inferred that no scientific classification is at- tempted in the above list, but only a convenient order of study. Pupils should learn at least the characteristics of each group, and become familiar with the species through pictures, stories, descriptions etc. The solar camera will be found an excellent device in the study of animals. The work may take the form of oral and written language lessons. OCCUPATIONS. 117 CHAPTER VIII. Z).— MAN. 1. OCCUPJ.TIONS. Every child may be led to see the necessity for work, by calling attention to the manner in which food and clothing are obtained and prepared. He will readily understand that we must build houses, obtain fuel, provide defence, and pro- cure food ; that we cannot keep good health without labor which earns us rest and sleep. He may also discover that a man's immediate surroundings often determine his occupa- tion. The rich soil, the swift stream, the mine and quarry, the forest, the ocean, all suggest what labor he shall per- form. The principle of division of labor leading to the social life of man is everywhere illustrated : in the home, on the play- groufid, on the farm, in the workshop, and in the relation of each occupation to all others. Its value may be clearly shown by trying to trace a foreign product back to its native soil, by even naming the variety of occupations that combine to bring it to our homes. We should be lost in the maze. In this elementary step, the child should study the work of the farm, shop, mine, forest, sea etc. , and discover the simple relations of the kind of labor to the productions of the surrounding districts. 118 THE CHILD AND MATURE. «. COMMERCE. It is but a step from production to exchange, — a natural outgrowth of division of labor. The work under this head may centre in the study of means of transportation and routes of trade ; e.g., the railroad, steamship, river, canal and cara- van. The relative cost of carrying, the speed, safety etc. may be discussed in a simple manner. The grocery, and nearest city to which produce is taken to exchange for other commodities, may be studied as types of centres of trade. Discover to what the city owes its growth, what its natural and artificial advantages are, and the economy of using it as a medium of exchange. Study also the means of transporta- tion to and from it, and what determines the route of each. 3. RACES. The highest aim in the study of man should be to develop a love for our fellow-beings. If we would make a child nar- row in his sympathies and beliefs, keep from him all knowl- edge of the modes of life and forms of worship of little children in other parts of the world. If we would have our children grov? up with an ever-broad- ening love for humanity, both at home and abroad, we should early lead them to think of self as belonging to a great brotherhood of families. They should be told that they have little friends living in cold countries, wearing only the skins of animals for clothing, feeding on the flesh and blubber of the seal, having few if any pretty playthings, no fruits nor vegetables, no pleasant schools, and where the sun is some- times not seen for many weeks. They should learn how these little children spend their long days and nights, what kin