GEOGRAPHY.
_Its attraction for children--Sacred Geography-Geographical song--and
lesson on geography_.
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"From sea to sea, from realm to realm I rove."--_Tickell_.
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Geography is to children a delightful study. We give some idea of
it at an early period in infant schools, by singing, "London is the
capital, the capital, the capital, London is the capital, the capital
of England," and other capitals in the same way; and also by pictures
of the costumes of the various people of the world. To teach the four
quarters of the globe, we tell children the different points of the
play-ground, and then send them to the eastern, western, northern, or
southern quarters, as we please. A weathercock should also be placed
at the top of the school, and every favourable day opportunities
should be seized by the teachers to give practical instructions upon
it.[A]
[Footnote A: If the lesson is on objects it will shew how children are
taught the points of the compass, with which we find they are very
much delighted, the best proof that can be given that it is not
injurious to the faculties.]
Sacred geography is of great importance, and children are much pleased
at finding out the spots visited by our Saviour, or the route of the
apostle Paul.
THE EARTH.
The earth, on which we all now live,
Is called a globe--its shape I'll give;
If in your pocket you've a ball,
You have it's shape,--but that's not all;
For land and water it contains,
And presently I'll give their names.
The quarters are called, Africa,
Europe, Asia, and America;
These contain straits, oceans, seas,
Continents, promontories,
Islands, rivers, gulfs, or bays,
Isthmusses, peninsulas,--
Each divides or separates
Nations, kingdoms, cities, states,--
Mountains, forests, hills, and dales,
Dreary deserts, rocks, and vales.
In forests, deserts, bills, and plains,
Where feet have never trod,
There still in mighty power, He reigns,
An ever-present God.
THE CARDINAL POINTS.
The _east_ is where the sun does rise
Each morning, in the glorious skies;
Full _west_ he sets, or hides his head,
And points to us the time for bed;
He's in the _south_ at dinner time;
The _north_ is facing to a line.
The above can be given as a gallery lesson, and it will at once be
seen that it requires explanation: the explanation is given by the
teacher in the same way as we have hinted at in former lessons, though
for the sake of those teachers who may not be competent to do it, we
subjoin the following:
Q. Little children what have we been singing about? A. The earth on
which we live. Q. What is the earth called? A. A globe. Q. What is the
shape of a globe? A. Round, like an orange. Q. Is the earth round,
like an orange? A. Yes. Q. Does it always stand still? A. No, it goes
round the sun. Q. How often does it go round the sun in a year? A.
Once. Q. Does it go round anything else but the sun? A. Yes, round its
own axis, in the same way as you turn the balls round on the wires
of the arithmeticon. Q. What are these motions called? A. Its motion
round the sun is called its annual or yearly motion. Q. What is its
other motion called? A. Its diurnal or daily motion. Q. What is caused
by its motion round the sun? A. The succession of summer, winter,
spring, and autumn, which are called the four seasons, is caused by
this. Q. What is caused by its daily motion round its own axis? A. Day
and night. Q. Into what two principal things is this earth on which we
live divided? A. Into land and water. Q. Into how many great parts is
the globe divided? A. Into five. Q. Which are they? A. Europe, Asia,
Africa, America, and Australia. Q. Which part do you live in? A. In
Europe. Q. We sung that those great parts contained
Straits, oceans, seas,
Continents, promontories,
Islands, rivers, gulfs, or bays,
Isthmusses, peninsulas.
Q. What is a strait? A. A narrow part of the sea joining one great sea
to another. Q. What is an ocean? A. A very large sea. Q. What is a
gulf or bay? A. A part of the sea running a long way into the land.
Q. What is a continent? A. A very large tract of land. Q. What does a
continent contain? A. Nations and kingdoms, such as England. Q. What
more? A. Many cities and towns. Q. What more? A. Mountains. Q What are
mountains? A. Very high steep places. Q. What more does a continent
contain? A. Forests, hills, deserts, and valleys. Q. What is a forest?
A. Many large trees growing over a great deal of the land is a forest.
Q. What are hills? A. Parts of the ground which rise higher than the
rest. Q. What is a desert? A. A part of the earth where nothing will
grow, and which is covered with hot sand. Q. What is a valley? A. A
part of the earth which is lower than the rest, with hills at each
side. Q. Who made all that we have been speaking of? A. Almighty God.
I can remember the time when no national school in England possessed
a _map_. It was thought dangerous to teach geography, as in fact
anything but cramming the memory, and reading and writing. With regard
to the reading I will say nothing as to how much was understood,
explaining then, was out of the question. What a change have I lived
to see!