Year: 1869

understands it not. His knowledge o.
Geography becomes extinct as the Ian
! guage OF the author slips the memory.
Should the study of Geography be IA.
mlllarIzed to a greater extent. and the
greater the better, the more fixed would
Geography become in the pupils mind.


Familiarize more; for instance explain
the natural divisions Of land and water
by objects, that every day become in
the pupils way. Explain to him what
a mountain is, by showing bill through
the schoolbouse window. Tell him
how much higher the bill must be to bt
called mountain. Tell him the esti
mate height Of that Hill, and then the
distance from that schoolhouse TO GER
tain place, known to the scholar; tell
that if that distance was put on end on
top Of that hill il would be as high as a
certain mountain marked on the map.
Such an explanation will make an i'm
preston on the child's mind that will
be of long duration. Whenever after
ward be will read of the hight of a
mountain, the first thing he will do,
will be to compare it with that distance,
iflonger than that he will extend it from
that place where he lives to some other
place known to be that distance, and
place that distance, imaginariIy, per-
pendular, and he has an idea of magni-
tude fixed in his mind. BY that very
process the child.has an idea of noun
tains. How much better and easier it
is to explain rivers, hills, plains, val
leys &c, by objects that are in sight
Of every schoolhouse, such as hills,
creeks, meadows, defiles &c. But
there are other natural divisions of land
that are not in sight of most school
houses, such as islands, peninsulas,
capes &c, yet all these may be explain
ed much easier than by the questions
and answers ofthe textbooks. Il once
asked class in the Second Reader
what an island was, after studying a
moment the face of six year old boy
frightened with exultation, anxiously
waiting to be called upon; said it was
a big bank with water all around it.
How simple! yet how comprehensive!
Had he not excelled the universal de-
finition Of the authors, ga body of land
entirely surrounded by water?" All
the definition of the natural divisions of
land and water may be familiarized to
greater or lesser extent, should the
teacher only set his wits and talent to
work. A peninsula may be explained
by taking certain field and consider
ing water to be all around it except a
certain portion on a certain side. A
lake may be explained by certain mead
ow between hills, and considering that
to be filled with water, a cape-by the
point of a certain hill projecting out to
that meadow, promontory-by an alb
rupt projection of some point to some
meadow, or plain, &c.


A political division can be simplifed
just as easily by explaining that the
township in which they reside is po-
litical division for the sake of a govern.
ment, town agaiH, to represent cities,
and what officers are found in cities
more than in towns and villages. Then
the counties TO represent larger diVi-
sions. Explain by the relation of a
township to county, the relation of a
state to the general government. The
obligation OF a state to the government
and the protection of the government
over the state.


Again, great care and pains should
be taken to explain the zones to the
pupil. These are very unintelligible
to the beginner, he can not get it right
ly impressed on his mind, the circles
and the tropics, the parallels and merid-
ians. He divides the earth into so
many parts and gets an idea that these
imaginary lines do bona fda exist, that
such lines do exist in the form of some
bitches or ridges on the face of the
earth.


But must forbear. and will stop by
asserting that when a teacher is awak-
ened up to the sense of his duty in this
line, Geography will no longer be con-
sidered dull and dry study.


Moses MORGAN.