h are drawn from a corresponding pioneer epoch in those
countries; for example, Siegfried in Germany, Alaric in Italy, and
Ulysses in Greece. A selection of reading material along these lines
would exhibit much variety of prose and poetry, history, and geography.
Unity would be given to it by the spirit and labors of a typical age
and an intimate relation to history at all points established.

_Geography_ has an equally close relation to history stories. For
these grades geography and history cover the same geographical regions.
Instead of being totally isolated from each other they should be
purposely laid out on parallel lines with interlacing topics. North
America and the Atlantic ocean are the field of action in both cases.
These maritime explorers opened up the geography of this hemisphere at
its most interesting stage. No part of the Atlantic ocean or of its
North American coasts was overlooked by the navigators. The climate,
vegetation and people upon its islands and coasts were curious objects
to European adventurers. The first pioneers surveyed the eastern coast
and the adjacent interior of a new continent, with its bays, rivers,
forests, and mountains. The stories themselves are not intelligible
without full geographical explanations, and the personal interest in
the narratives throws a peculiar charm upon the geography.

The _Mississippi valley_ is a great field for both history and
geography. It is one of the striking physical features of North
America and the best of stories find their setting in this environment.
Not a great river of this region but is the scene of one of the
stories. The lakes and streams were the natural highways of the
explorers and settlers. The mountains obstructed their way, presenting
obstacles but not limits to their enterprise. The great forests housed
their game, concealed their enemies, and had to be cut down to make
space for their homes and cornfields. The prairies farther west were a
camping ground for them as well as for the deer and buffalo. There are
no important physical features of the great valley that are not touched
more or less in detail by the stories. It is the work of the geography
of this year to enlarge and complete the pictures suggested by the
stories, to multiply details, to compare and arrange and to associate
with these the facts of our present political and commercial geography.

The relation between history and geography is so intimate that