Home Geography for Primary Grades Part 4

What can you see from the top of the hill--meadow, river, lake, town?

What grow on the hill? What live on the hill?

Which part of a hill is called the base, or foot? The slope, or sides?

The top, or summit?

Give two names for the lowest part of a hill. Two for the highest part.

Two for the part between the highest and lowest parts.

Parts of the land very much higher than the surrounding country are called _mountains_. Mountains are much higher than hills. Have you ever seen a steeple one hundred feet high? A mountain is as high as twenty such steeples, one on the top of the other. How high the mountains must be!

Some mountains reach away above the clouds. Their white tops seem to touch the sky. A man on the summit of one saw the clouds beneath his feet, while the sun shone where he stood. When it lightened he saw the flash far below him.

Is it warm or cold at the tops of mountains? With what are many high mountains covered, even in summer?

The land between mountains or hills is called a _valley_. Is there a valley near here? What do you call the ground on either side?

Would you like best to live on the mountains or in the valley? Why?

Are mountains of any use?

Yes, hills and mountains are of very great use. They make the earth more beautiful. Tops of high mountains are so cold that they turn the clouds into drops of water which fall as rain or snow. Then mountains give rise to rivers which make the valleys beautiful with gra.s.s and flowers.

Mountains do much good to some countries by keeping off cold winds. They also give us coal and iron and other minerals which we find so useful.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "THINK OF A REAL VALLEY BETWEEN MOUNTAINS."]

Here is a picture. What do you call the very high land on the right and on the left? The long, narrow piece of land between the two mountains?

When you look at this picture you must think of a real valley between mountains.

Bring pictures of hills and mountains to school; if you can find them.

If you had a molding-board and a few quarts of sand; you might represent hills and mountains with valleys between. Think of a real hill while you mold.

Draw on your slate a hill you have seen with a little of the surrounding country.

_Write:_

A long, narrow piece of land between hills and mountains is called a valley.

A hill is land a little higher than the country about it.

A mountain is land that rises to a very great height above the country about it.

LESSON XIII.

RAIN, WIND, AND SNOW.

Do you see the dropping rain, Pitter-patter on the pane?

How it runs along the street!

And it wets our little feet; But it makes the green gra.s.s grow, And the tiny streamlets flow.

Listen to the wintry blast Moaning, shrieking, howling past, Striking with tremendous force Rocks and forests in its course; But it blows the windmills strong, And it sends big ships along.

Watch the pretty snowflakes fall, Some are large and some are small; Look, they cover all the ground, Miles of dazzling white around; But this covering, I am told, Keeps the earth from frost and cold.

Ah! and I must work alway, Life's not meant to spend in play; Every moment's fleeting fast, And our day will soon be past; If our work is truly done, It will last though ages run.

Of what use is rain? Of what use is snow? Of what use is wind?

LESSON XIV.

HOW WATER IS CHANGED TO VAPOR.

What happens when a kettle of water is put on a hot stove?

The water gets hot and boils away.

Where does it go? Is it destroyed?

The water is changed, but it is not destroyed. Coal burns, but we do not get rid of it altogether. It is changed into gas and smoke and ashes.

What is the water changed into?

It is changed to vapor. If we let the kettle remain on the fire long enough, the water it contains will all pa.s.s away as vapor.

Where does the vapor go? The water, though turned into vapor, must be somewhere.

It is floating about in the air of the room, though we cannot see it.

The air holds the vapor, just as a sponge holds water.

Heat expands or swells air. Warm air, therefore, can contain more vapor than cold air. On a warm day there may be many times as much moisture in the air as on a cold day.

Moisten your slate with a damp sponge. Observe the disappearance of the moisture.

Dip your hand in water, and wave it in the air. The water on your hand disappears. Where has it gone?

When wet clothes are hung on the line, they soon become dry. What becomes of the water in the clothes?

If we set a plate of water out in the sunshine, what happens? Is the water lost?

The streets and roads were wet and muddy, now they are dry. What has become of the water? Has it all sunk into the ground?

Sometimes we see leaves and gra.s.s sparkle with water-drops, early in the morning, When the sun shines out and warms the air; what happens?