GEOGRAPHY LESSONS. 



IT IS possible for a pupil to study 

 geography diligently everyday and 

 forget apparently nearly everything 

 he learns. Both geography and his 

 tory are studies which may be pursued 

 in such a way that nearly all that is ac 

 quired in any given month is lost in the 

 next month. Those who are inclined 

 to doubt this have but to test a class 

 where the text has been the subject of 

 acquisition. Test them on what they 

 learned a month previously and even 

 those inclined to believe this statement 

 will be astonished that so little is re 

 tained of what once seemed to be known 

 so well. 



Mr. A sweeps his barn with the doors 

 open and the wind blowing against his 

 work. He works with much energy 

 and some apparent efficiency; but the 

 wind brings back the chaff to such an 

 extent that there is never much clear 

 space on his floor. Mr. B takes ad 

 vantage of the direction of the wind, 

 and every stroke counts for success and 

 is more than doubled in effect by the 

 help of the wind. The chaff flies be 

 fore him and his floor is clear in a short 

 time. 



I have seen a steamer in waters open 

 ing upon the Bay of Fundy pouring 

 out black smoke, beating the water into 

 foam, and apparently making great 

 progress. But observation of the dis 

 tant shore proved that she was actually 

 standing still. The adverse tide was 

 such that she could not contend with 

 it successfully. So she dropped her 

 anchor and saved coal and the wear of 

 machinery. Two hours later she swung 

 with her cable, the anchor was hoisted, 

 pnd she moved rapidly in the desired 

 direction without the aid of a poundof 

 steam. In Passamaquoddy bay are so 

 many islands and channels and such 

 a great fluctuation of tide that the 

 waters are racing in various directions 

 at all times. Fishermen study their 

 courses and never tack against the tide. 

 Those who go out every day do not 

 leave home at the same hour Tues 

 day as on Monday, but just fifty 

 minutes later. They do not go and re 

 turn over the same courses, for many 



times the strongest flow of tide does 

 not run where there was the swiftest 

 ebb. With them the proverb, "The 

 longest way round is the shortest way 

 home," is often true, and I have heard 

 them quote those words frequently. 



In psychology there are both a wind 

 and a tide. The wind is what the pu 

 pil thinks of the subject as to its use 

 fulness in his future life. The tide is 

 his natural interest in the thing for its 

 own sake. 



Wind and tide are sometimes both 

 against us, and it is a poor skipper who 

 lacks the sense to tie up for a short 

 time or take another course when he 

 finds both set against him. 



But there are teachers who battle 

 fiercely against the desires and inter 

 ests of their pupils, bound to compel 

 them to learn, making a tremendous 

 fuss, filling families with tears and 

 tremblings, threatenings, scoldings, and 

 reviewings all with no permanent re 

 sults of value. 



There is a natural interest in children 

 for birds. It is so strong and absorb 

 ing that it amounts to a psychological 

 tide. The things of the bird-world act 

 upon the child-mind rather instinctively 

 than mentally. The whole child is 

 active and alert when the subject is 

 such that it fully interests him. A little 

 effective teaching just at that time is 

 worth more than hours of perfunctory 

 drudgery over a similar task presented 

 in the wrong way. 



There are birds wherever man live%. 

 They differ in color, form, and habit 

 according to environment. The pupil 

 who seems to be interested least in the 

 ordinary things of the text book in 

 geography is the very one, as a rule, to 

 be caught with the birds and animals 

 of the various parts of the earth. The 

 pupil who will not retain information 

 about the products of a country may 

 be induced to consider intelligently 

 something about the fauna of that 

 country and pass readily to an inter 

 ested study of the flora, and from what 

 grows there to what is shipped from 

 that place. 



