THE MAKING OF A VAEKEY. 
57 
The Making of a Valley. 
BY WIKKIAM H. HUSE. 
There is a story, that is now somewhat classic, of a boy 
who had faithfully familiarized himself with all the defini¬ 
tions in his geography and declared that he had never seen 
a peninsula although he had passed one every day on his 
way to school. Such an incident is typical of the old geo 
graphy. The new is sure that the boy knows things from 
nature or pictures though he may never learn a definition. 
There is no better way to interest a class in geography than 
to study, on the spot, all the earth forms that can be found 
in the vicinity. I might say, that is the only way to teach 
geography. 
Of more interest than present forms are the examples of 
present forces that are at work carving the face of the earth 
into wrinkles to show its age or smoothing the rugged places 
that show their youth by their roughness. An example of 
such carving, that is not only a valuable source of informa¬ 
tion for pupils in geography, but of interest to older pupils 
of nature, is the little, eroded valley that may be seen in 
almost any gravel or sand bank. There was first the steep 
bluff of a river or 
brook or an ex¬ 
cavation made 
by man. In the 
beginning, for 
there must have 
been a beginning 
the melted snow 
of a spring-time 
trickled over the edge and as the earth thawed a trough 
was made that soon became the outlet for all the water that 
accumulated back of it. The flowing water carried with 
