river; he will have become familiar with many plants, animals, reptiles, and insects; and with the general appearance of rain, hail, snow, ice, and frost; and possibly may have learned the names of some of the rocks and soils. This and other knowledge like this is what the pupil knows when he begins the study of Geography, and nothing can be more evident than that his instruction must start at this point.

If the proper place of beginning has now been found, it remains our task to arrange the objectmatter of Geography, and exhibit the proper methods of making pupils acquainted with it. I know no better way of doing this than by presenting a classified series of lessons. These lessons are intended to follow a natural order of progression, and to include all the essential parts of the science of Geography. Each class of lessons may embrace matter sufficient for many individual lessons.

FIRST CLASS OF LESSONS.-On Objects relating t› Geography, which Pupils can observe for themselves.The lessons to be given here are designed to extend the knowledge already in possession of the pupils by a method but little different from that by which it was acquired. Nature is the only text-book needed. Lessons may be given about the general aspects of a neighborhood-its hills, valleys, watercourses, forests; and, if, perchance, the school-house is located near a mountain, lake, river, or the ocean's shore, these objects will be an unfailing source of interest. The attention of pupils may be directed to the different kinds of land-farm-land, wood.

land, meadow-land, level, hilly, and rolling land; to the different objects composed of water-springs, brooks, creeks, ponds, dams; to the different kinds of soils-clay, sand, gravel, vegetable mould; to the different kinds of stone-quartz, sandstone, granite, slate, limestone, iron-ore; to the different kinds of trees-pine, oak, hickory, chestnut, poplar, ash; to the different kinds of productions of the neighborhood-corn, potatoes, rice, cotton, wheat, grass; to garden flowers and wild flowers; to domestic animals and wild animals; to reptiles and insects; to rain, snow, dew; to the changes of the seasons; to villages and towns; to the employments of the people; to shops, mills, manufactories, stores, schoolhouses, and churches.

It is the design of this enumeration of particulars to indicate to the teacher the sources from which he may obtain the materials for his first class of lessons in Geography. His own ingenuity must suggest which subject of those mentioned, or of other like subjects not mentioned, is most appropriate for any particular lesson. In giving this kind of instruction to young pupils, no strictly scientific discussion is expected or desirable. They should be taught those things in which they can be made to feel an interest; and this interest can be greatly increased by placing the object of the lesson before them in the school-house, or them before the object out of the school-house. Minerals, flowers, shells, fossils, &c., may be brought into the schoolhouse; and the teacher and pupils may visit woods, meadows, mines, quarries, gardens, ruins, &c. These lessons, indeed, are Geographical Object

Lessons, and they should be given in the same mode and with the same spirit as other Object Lessons.

SECOND CLASS OF LESSONS.-On similar Objects which can be found only in Localities distant from the School.-Lessons on objects which they can see would prepare children to receive lessons on similar objects which they cannot see. In imparting such lessons, the teacher must rely upon comparisons made with things known, descriptions, and pictorial illustrations. The names of the countries in which the objects are found may be given; but the time has not come for formal instruction in regard to the relative positions of countries as exhibited upon

maps.

Suppose the school-house in which these lessons are given is in Pennsylvania; then, the teacher may describe the natural features of countries unlike Pennsylvania-deserts, prairies, countries very cold or very warm, mountains covered with snow, hot springs, volcanos, &c.; such animals as the lion, ostrich, elephant, reindeer, camel, whale, &c.; such vegetable productions as the coffee-plant, the teaplant, rice, bread-fruit, cotton-plant, banian-tree, palm, &c.; such people as the Esquimaux with their dogs and their houses of snow; the Chinese with their strange peculiarities of food, dress, and mode of life; the Arabs with their tents and horses; the Turks with their long beards and their clumsy clothing; the Hottentot in his hut, the Indian in his wigwam, the European lord in his stately castle. If given in simple language children will eagerly read accounts of travels and voyages, descriptions

of countries and their inhabitants, and biographical sketches of distinguished men. Let a teacher tell his pupils of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, Columbus on his way to America, Bonaparte at St. Helena; and if he does not interest them he will accomplish less than others have done.

Admit that in all these lessons much of the knowledge imparted cannot assume a definite shape in the mind of the child, admit that some of his impressions will be erroneous, and it is no valid objection against this mode of teaching; because children learn nothing in any other way. On the contrary, such teaching will impart many valuable ideas to children which they could obtain in no other manner so agreeable to them, and, what is of more consequence, it awakens a desire for knowledge and a taste for study which will render comparatively easy the task of learning formal Geography.

Pictures of the objects upon which the lessons are given are a valuable aid; and a Magic Lantern or a Stereoscope could be used to great advantage.

THIRD CLASS OF LESSONS.-On the Topography of the neighborhood about the School.-The two preceding classes of lessons, while they are intended to relate to Geographical subjects, are introductory in their character. It is proposed now to place the objects more definitely before the mind of the pupil by localizing the most important Geographical facts and introducing more system into the study of them. For this purpose the pupil must have communicated to him correct ideas of a map, and this cannot be very well done unless he is acquainted

with the points of the compass. In this latitude, the direction of the sun at rising and setting marks with sufficient accuracy the points East and West; the direction of the sun at noon and of the north polar-star, or of a magnetic needle, indicates correctly the points South and North. A teacher can readily draw on the floor with a piece of chalk a line running east and west; another crossing it at right angles will run north and south. The respective

ends of these lines can be marked with the letters E, W, N, S; and pupils will soon learn to name any point of the compass thus represented, or when drawn upon a blackboard. The class can stand up and point toward where the sun rises, toward where it sets, in what direction the sun is at noon, and in what direction the north polar-star is, if the teacher has previously taken the trouble to show them. Some questions should then be asked in reference to the direction from the school-house of certain prominent objects in the neighborhood. This done, the design and construction of maps must be explained.

Maps are intended to represent the earth's surface; but the various means made use of for this purpose, require considerable power of imagination to make them significant. The teacher must make his pupils realize the meaning of the marks, dots, and lines that are used in map-drawing. To begin, let the teacher draw, in the presence of his class, upon a slate or a blackboard laid horizontally, a plan of the school-house. He may make a line of a given length, and let it represent one end of the schoolnouse, and then he may inquire of the pupils as to the length and direction of the other lines and the