The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-03-30
Teachers Department.
Hints on Teaching Geography.
GBy p. H. Manning.l

!"All the world is q stage, and men
and women are merely players" 1t is
the province Of geography TO describe
this stage as it now exists !; to explain
in detail it's parts and their relation to
each other to sketch it's wonderfully
varied scenery, from the silent grandeur
of tho northern ice-burgs to the luxu-
riant wealth Of tropical vegetation {; and
finally to tell something of the manners,
customs, institutions Of it's occupants or
players. A more complete account of
the players on this magnificent stage,
aohat they play and how they play, is
more especially the province of history.
It is hard to tell where geography stops,
and where history begins. At the other
extreme geography is blended just as
intimately with geography and mineral
logy. All science is unit.
The best way for a person to get a
clear idea Of a thing they have never
seen, is to 60 and see it. A child will
get q clearer idea of ar elephant by
watching him five minutes than he
would by reading a description for an
hour. So the best way to study geog-
raphy is to travel aud see the world as
it is but since it is impossible for any
one mar to visit and study carefully all
parts Of the earth, we must do the
next best thing, we must study pictures
and representations. We must take the
parts we have seen, and with these us
elements, we must build in our imagi-
nation, by the help of oral or written
description, the parts WI haze not seen.
This building in the imagination should
be SO complete that the whole earth, it's
seas, continents and principal islands
should stand out in clear and bold re-
lief. Thus we see that geography ap-
peals emincntly to the powers Of imag-
ination. Since the Imagination is very
active in early childhood, it follows
that geography should be taught at u
very early age-not with books and
printed maps, as is too often the case,
but by ssctual sight and exploration.
The class will walk through the valleys
and over the hills of the immediate
vicinity with much more pleasure and
far more profit than they will cxpcr-
ience from a study Of books and maps.
The small boy, who imagines q stick to
be a gun, and himself to be a brave SOL
der leading on to battle, will not find it
hard to swell the hill on which his faith
er's house stands to the proportions of a
mountain large and high. He can with
equal facility imagine the meadow,
from which the COWS are driven, extend
ed to q vast prairie or a little sandy
waste to a Sahara. Take the class out
after a beautiful May shower, such az
we had last month, and allow them to
see the principles Of drainage illustrat-
cd. Let them see how the water washes
the soil, now little lakes are formed,
how small rivulets run together and
form large ones, how springs bubble up,
where all this water comes from, where
it is going, what good it does, what we
do without it, how the country would
look if we had no rain (deserts), and SO
on in endless variety. The child lives
in q world of fancy. He will exper-
fence no difficulty in seeing the world
as it is through this illustration.
Almost the whole round Of gcosraph-
ical information may be attained in this
manner without the aid Of books. All
these things cannot be accomplished by
q dozen Z; but if a pupil is taught in this
way, he will get these grand underlying
principles Of the science, one by one,
and he will comprehend them so COM
pletely that he cannot only write them
on examinations, but also apply them
in the varied experience Of life. This
is the kind Of training a pupil needs to
prepare him to use q book intelligently.
The proper place for this course of
is at home in the nursery; but
it is SO generally neglected there.
the primary teacher must supply this
deficiency by a series Of lessons. just
now | hear some n say this, is all very
well, but what are we to do with the
long, hard names-shall we memorize
Yes, some Of them. Next
month ! hope to be able to say what
should be done before memorising
them, and how the work is to be done.