Emilie Van Beil Jacobs

“ From what country did each of these people come?
Here they are all living together, people from all over the great wide world. Our homes stand side by side. We work and play together. Truly we are brothers and sisters, for we are all children in the great human family. It matters not from what distant land our people may have come, we should all be bound together like one family by human love and kindness. ”

“ What is the name of our town or the nearest town? Who first settled in the place which has grown to be a town? It is hard for us to believe that two hundred and fifty years ago there were no houses, churches, schools, streets or roads where we now live. All this land was wild country, mostly woods. The early settlers were strong and brave men. They had to cut down the forests and build their first homes of rough logs. Then they planted fields with corn, wheat and vegetables. They killed the wild animals for food, using the skins for clothing. ”

“ From the school we gradually widen out our teaching to include the immediate neighborhood with its buildings, and finally the whole town or community.
We study the various types of people whom we meet every day, and the industries in which they engage in their efforts to obtain the three main necessities of human life,—food, clothing and shelter. The animals and plants sharing the world with man and contributing to his sustenance next focus our attention. ”

“ Many Chinamen have come to our country from their distant homes in China. Their country is so crowded, and it is so hard to earn a living there, that most of the people are very poor.
The Chinese living in our country are peaceful and quiet. They work very hard in their laundries and other places of business; yet there are many white people so cruel and thoughtless as to ridicule a Chinaman whenever they see one. These white people should remember that God made the Chinaman and that he is a stranger here in our country. Is it not even worse to ill-treat a stranger than one who is at home? ”

“ The earth is entirely covered with ice and snow all of the year. The water is filled with masses of floating ice and snow. Our coldest winter days are not nearly so cold as the climate of the North and South Frigid [p90] Zones. It is even hard to tell which is land and which is water.
ESKIMO BOY.
Of course no trees, nor grass, nor plants, nor animals, nor people of any kind can live in that intense cold. At the parts near the Temperate Zones, where it is slightly warmer, there are some very small dwarfed trees not more than a foot or two high, and perhaps a little moss. ”

“ Some streets and roads are flat and level. Others slope like hills. Can you name a street which is level, and one that slants or slopes? Which road is easier to walk on? Why? Do you prefer the level or the sloping street when roller-skating? Why? Which is the best when you are coasting?
You may have noticed that some of the fields in the park or in the country are nearly flat. Other fields lie on slopes or hills. We call the flat part of the land a plain, whether it is in the city or in the country. The sloping part of the land forms a hill. ”

“ One great chain or range extends the entire length of North America from the Arctic Ocean down into South America. Great forests grow on these mountains. In many places are huge masses of rock on which nothing grows, so this range has been called the Rocky Mountains. It is always bitter cold at the top of some of these mountains because they reach so high. Even in summer they are capped with snow. Nowhere in the world can more magnificent scenery be found.
West of the Rocky Mountains is the Pacific Mountain System. ”

“ Why are some of the buildings in the Zoological Gardens so warm?
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The Torrid Zone was the first home of the negroes before they were brought to America. There are many [p88] negroes and Indians living in the Hot Zone now. Many are but half-civilized. Some are savage. As they do not need large warm homes like ours, some live in small huts made of the branches of trees, earth and straw. A few of these homes together make a village. These people get their food by hunting in the forest and fishing in the rivers and ocean. They also eat the fruits that grow wild in the forests. ”

“ The world is the home of mankind. We can best understand the larger world by a preliminary consideration of our own small intimate home. We therefore begin to study geography with an account of the child’s immediate environment. ”

“ Our climate is good, for we are in the North Temperate Zone. Our soil is very fertile. The Great Central Plain of North America passes through the central part of the United States. We raise fruits, vegetables, corn, wheat, rice and sugar for food. We have immense ranches for raising cows and sheep too. Our clothing is supplied by the thousands of sheep we raise and from the cotton we grow here. The Western and Eastern Highlands pass through our country.
[p100a]
POATES CO., N.Y.
We have a great quantity of lumber, stone, coal and iron for making our comfortable homes. ”

“ When you are in the street, the school, any public building, or in a park, say to yourself, “This is mine.” Then look around and see whether you like the way it looks. Think how you can help to keep it looking well or make it look even better. ”

“ People can work better here where we do not have either intensely hot or intensely cold weather all of the time. There are two Temperate [p84] Zones, the North Temperate Zone and the South Temperate Zone. In which do we live?
Some plants grow best in the Temperate Zones, while others live best in the Torrid Zone. Scarcely any grow in the Frigid Zones. Name all the plants you can think of that live in our zone. These plants grow during the summer and rest or die when winter comes. ”

“ Now we have our fine towns which have grown from the early work of these first sturdy settlers. All of the people should love our dear home town and try to make it beautiful, healthful and comfortable. ”

“ How do we get our food, our clothing and our homes? How did people get them when there were no stores and no money? Do you know of any people who were compelled to get things in this way?
In a school reader, read about how primitive people lived.
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THE SOIL
We have two kinds of food, vegetable food, which grows from the ground, and animal food. Name some foods of each kind. All plants grow out of the earth or soil. The soil is necessary to produce our animal food also. The meat we eat comes from sheep, cows, chickens and other animals. These animals all live on vegetable food. ”

“ Some products are taken from the country to the town in wagons. You have seen the big hay wagons which go a long way from some farm to take food for the city horses.
How else are products carried? Coffee, rubber, pepper, chocolate and much silk are brought here from distant lands in ships. If you go to the harbor of a large city you can see hundreds of busy men unloading the big steamers.
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Ships and railroads carry not only foods but people too. There are many ways of carrying people and products. ”

“ Of all the many kinds of buildings in town or country, the houses are the most important. It is more necessary to have good homes to live in than to have the other buildings large or beautiful. What makes a good residence? There must be enough room for the whole family. It needs plenty of light, air, sunshine and water. It must have a good roof to keep it dry in stormy weather. It should be well heated in the cold winter. ”

“ Most of the white people who came in those early days to other parts of our land did not act in this noble way. When they wanted land on which to build their homes they drove the Indians away, killing many of them. Thus these unjustly treated Indians became the enemies of the white men, and often treated them very cruelly in return. Let us remember that the Indians were the first owners of this land of ours and that they should be treated as William Penn showed us, with kindness and justice. ”

“ They live in snow houses in the winter. In summer, which is also very cold, they live in skin tents. These Eskimos dress in warm furs. They have no schools nor churches, but they are a kind and peaceful people. They are very good to the white explorers in the north.
The Eskimo travels mostly on foot, but carries loads on sledges drawn by dogs. The Eskimo’s dogs are his best friends. Without them he could not manage to carry home the animals he kills for food and clothing. ”

“ How are the streets in our town arranged? Name some of our best business streets. Which streets have the finest homes in which people live? Name some streets or roads with trolley lines upon them. Are our streets paved?
A MODERN COUNTRY SCHOOL.
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Perhaps you live in the country where there are very few streets or none at all. How different is your walk to school each day from that of the city boy or girl! In town, children walk on paved streets and pass many buildings. What kind of roads do the country children walk upon? What buildings do they pass? A country school. ”

“ Much so-called teaching of geography leads to just such incomplete and fantastic ideas about geographical concepts. Very many children have only vague, incomplete and incorrect conceptions of the things they see. Like these physically and mentally blind men we are too often satisfied with mere wordy descriptions of subjects when we might study the subject at first hand if we would. ”

“ The trees which grow in the soil give us all the wood. Much iron, steel, copper, brass and nickel are used in our homes. Stones and bricks form part of many houses. All of these things come out of the earth. What a wonderful thing is the soil! Out of it come our food, our clothing and our shelter!
In one of your books read the wonderful story of how we obtain a loaf of bread.
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Write a list of all the kinds of work you can think of which people do.
Copy this list of industries and place a cross beside the ones at which any persons you know work:
Which are town industries? ”

“ Find where we live on the map of North America. Locate our home on all of our maps and globes.
North America is a very large portion of land. You could sail along its shores for thousands of miles. At its widest part you could not cross it in a fast express train in less than five days and nights. There are thousands of cities in this great grand division, for there are millions of people here. Most of them are white or Caucasian. There are also many Indians, negroes, Eskimos and Mongolians.
Much of the land is dense forest, and much is fertile farm land. ”

“ Where there is no moisture there can be no rain, for the air cannot draw up moisture to form clouds. Where there are many rivers there has been much rain, and the soil is kept fertile. Plants will grow in it. Do you see how our food, our clothing and our shelter are dependent upon rainfall? ”

“ Map study is based entirely upon the child’s experiences as he makes plans of his schoolroom, schoolhouse, streets and city. The suggestions regarding the study of things foreign to the child are based entirely upon his experience in the study of the types with which he has become familiar in his study of his surroundings. ”

“ Men go to the Frigid Zones and catch seals and other animals and bring back the skins for the Temperate Zone people.
The whale, which lives in the ocean of the Frigid Zone, is also very useful. From it we get the whalebone, oil and also a fertilizer to help our farm crops to grow. Great quantities of whale meat are eaten by some people of the Temperate Zones. ”

“ What season do we have when the warm summer is over, and before the cold winter has set in? How do the city streets look then? How do you think the farm looks then?
Autumn or fall is a busy time on the farm. The last of the vegetables must be taken in and stored away for the winter. The ripe apples and nuts must be gathered too. The corn is brought in from the fields and stored in the barns for the winter food of the farm animals. ”

“ The climate is so warm in the valleys that the people living there cannot work so hard as they do in the United States. So they do not have large factories and many fine schools, hospitals and libraries as we have. Why do they not build these on the mountains where the climate is pleasant? ”