Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1914-12-04

to operate on this editor of ours to
remove slight eXcrescence caused
by a kink in his cerebral anatomy.
This kink is localized on the bump
that presides over the study of geog-
raphy. 1t is harmless operation but
may not result in permanent cure.
However, we shall operate, and before
doing so, maybe we had better adj
minister soothing lotion in the form
of little Ito all of us) palatabie
communication, just to make the pa
tient comfortable. This editor of ours
is an exceptionally good editor and
has what many folks, near and far,
say is the best county paper they ever
saw. He is Interested i'm everything
and everybody, Il quality found in all
really useful folks. He is IL versatile
editor, that is to say, he writes about
Il great many things, and gives his
readers food for thought" in his
many feeble remarks" He deserves
the praise and thanks not only of the
community OF Tazewell county, but of
the commonwealth of Virginia for the
good work he has done for schools.
roads, temperance, Sunday-schools,
agriculture, democracy, buckwheat
cakes, etc. About all these things he
writes well, interestingly, even arts
tically. But the best thing about the
Clinch Valley News is its tone. It's
attitude toward people and subjects
is, with the single exception of the
study of geography, optimistic and
fine. 1t is the attitude of seeker af-
ter truth. A philanthropic spirit to-
ward the ignorant and the errng runs
through its pages. Its columns do
not TEEN with murders and scandals
but are filled with things of vital hu-
man interest. Now if you think he
has responded to the anesthetic, we
shall proceed to operate.
Here's our farmer-editor, with all
his love of nature and enthusiasm for
agriculture, his almost reverence for
the soil and the plants and animals
that maglcally spring from it, max
ing boog-a-boO of the very study
of the things he loves, and saying it
isn't necessary" to teach children
much political geography, and that
physical geography is too difficult"
for children to understand. Why,
more of their puzzling little why's"
are on the subject of geography than
anything else. They want to know
about it. They are continually asking
where places are, what people do
there, where and why things grow.
and about the wind and the clouds
and the stars and the hunder: the
light and shadows and colors of the
beautiful earth. And about the peo-
pie Of the earth; the cities, the great
nerve-centers; the farms, the bones
and sinews; the railroads and tele-
graph wires, the veins and arteries of
TINS great living organism called the
earth. Why you can't tell children
too much about these things, nor too
soon, and it is all geography, too. They
want to know about The earth and
they ought to know The study of
geography is necessary" What is
the meaning of the word geography
1t comes from the two Greek words
"ge,' meaning the earth, and "grap-
helm" meaning to write and means 4
written description of the earth. In
its broadcast sense it means not only
written description of the earth bu,
OF the heavens, for we cannot learn
all about the arth without learning
something about at least the sun and
moon.
Also, in its wide and correct nppli-
all the sciences, and we might 90 fur
Their and say to all the governments
and all the languages and all the arts
and all the businesses men are en-
gagged in. Why, old man, you can't
teach children too much geography
Instead of too much time being spent
on geography in school, there prob
ably isn't half enough. You'd spend
months teaching child how to count
interest when in every little pocket
handbook may be found interest
tables giving you the amount of in
come from any sum Mt any rate for
any time and then say that Il "few
weeks" is all that is necessary" for
n child to study geography, the study
that tells him where and how all the
business of the great world is carried
on The correlations in the study of
geography are endless. No other
study in the curriculum is half so fer
tile. You can't teach geography with
out teaching physics and chemistry
and plants and animals and geology
and governments. You've even got to
teach those two greatest words i'm the
whole of our industrial life-conserv-
alton and transportation. You may
not call it by those big names but
you've got to tell the children about
conserving" the timber and the rains
and the minerals and when you tell
them where things are manufactured
you've got to tell them how they are
transported" from those who make
them to those who use them.
Your real quarrel, MIR. Editor, is
probably with the method by which
the study of geography is presented
and not with either the subject mat
ter or the time assigned in the cur
riculum. Most of the late textbooks
on the subject are good enough
tools" in the hands of competent
teacher, by which we mean one who
knows her subject who is interested
in it, and who knows how to teach
1t. 1t is impossible to keep a text
book literally up-to- date, as impossible
as 1t is to keep your paper up-to- date,
the news in which is already old and
out of date before you can get the
paper off your press. But these text
bool.s undergo continual revision TO
describe the shifting scenes of
great stage-"all the
world" Don't he too Savoro on +bo