152 W. B. Powell — Geographic Instruction. 



ing purpose of their Avork in school is the knowledge of the 

 geography of man, of what he is, of what he has been, of what 

 he is doing, and of how he is related to the activities of the world, 

 and to the ever and constantly changing geographic phenomena 

 of the world. 



Later in the school course, if I may speak definitely, in the 

 eighth grade, the children have a study of the essential outlines 

 of physical geography from a logical and scientific standpoint, 

 during which study there is opportunity for relegating the vast 

 amount of phenomena with which they have become acquainted 

 during their study of geography into categorical series, and thus 

 classifying them sequentially and logically. 



I must not omit one other point. I have stated from time to 

 time that our children do much reading from standard authors, 

 accounts of travels, descriptions of peoples and of countries, ex- 

 positions of processes etc, which they are able to understand 

 because of the character of their preparation for such reading, 

 namely, their contact with things first hand. I have stated 

 also that the teacher and children avail themselves of charts 

 and maps and pictures or graphic representations almost with- 

 out number or limit for the purpose of explanation, elaboration 

 or more definite view, some school-rooms being veritable mu- 

 seums or picture galleries. For instance, when a city like Lon- 

 don or Philadelphia is being studied, these pictures hang side by 

 side with Washington pictures, with which they are compared. 

 But there is one other class of reading for which we have been 

 preparing our children, which without this preparation could 

 not be appreciated by them, even if it could be made intelligible 

 to them. I mean pure literature that has for a part. of its con- 

 tents, facts of nature, all of which when properly studied, is a 

 part of the study of geography. I do not refer to that valuable 

 literature used largely in getting information, of wdiich I have 

 spoken so much in this paper, a^ that for instance, by Bayard 

 Taylor, in his account of other lands ; Washington Irving, in 

 tales of travel, such as his voyages, Italian scenes, description 

 of London ; John Burroughs, in his fascinating accounts of 

 animals and their haunts, and other similar authors. This 

 is studied as a means of getting information. I refer to a body ■ 

 of pure literature, whose office is to please and cultivate rather 

 than to instruct and cultivate. Alhambra by Moonlight ; A 

 Description of Niagara ; A Description of a Storm at Sea ; Oli- 



