ng
the subjects become clear as we think of them. It is evident that early
lessons should be designed to create interest:

(1) In the world of things immediately around us; in the land and what
grows and lives upon it; in the water, its relation to the land, its
motions, and the life that it contains; in the air, its phenomena and
its denizens; in human beings, their feelings and all their activities.

(2) In the great earth as a whole and its parts; in foreign animals and
plants; in humanity in other lands.

It appears that so broad an outline as the one just given can never be
filled in, that the study of geography and history, the study of the
world and its peoples, can never be completed. If such is the case, it
follows that the teacher who creates the most vital interest in the
subject, who leaves with her pupils the most ardent desire to study and
know, has been of greatest service to them.

Now, the great interests of life have their inception in early years
when the mind is active, curiosity strong, and instruction accepted
without question. Then should be created that abiding interest which
will make good students of geography and history, good citizens, good
men and women. If too many formal lessons are given them, and pupils are
set to work at dreary tasks and are asked to memorize dry facts, it is
probable that they will never become good students. How, then, shall an
abiding interest be created?

The entrance to the field of geography is through nature study, which is
discussed elsewhere under that title. For the first two years of a
child's school life he will hear nothing of geography, and even in the
third year there will be little formal reference to it, but all the time
he is quietly mastering facts and developing interests that are
geographical in their character.

When systematic lessons begin, there should be presented only real facts
and genuine things, that bear some close and direct relation to
ourselves and that should be matters of personal observation, as far as
possible. Day and night in summer and winter, the seasons, the weather,
wind, rain, snow, sleet, foods, clothing, the occupations of the
neighborhood, the brooks and bodies of water about the school, hills,
valleys, plains, plants and animals of the locality, each in turn
serves its purpose. We cannot here show how these various subjects
should be treated, but to illustrate the use of literature in elementary
geography lessons w