Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Our Home and Its Surroundings: A First Book of Modern Geography
Necessity for other basal norrons.-home ex perience alone, however, cannot afford a complete basis for the later study of geography, because no one locality presents all the features required. From this it happens that the best books have contained some definitions and illustrations, as of mountain, river, valley, harbor, and factory, and have planned to build the later text with the ideas these gave as a foundation. Such conceptions are certainly necessary in the early part of geography; but mere definitions fail to produce vivid, accurate pictures. The average pupil who has pursued geography for a year has little notion of the great importance of soil, of what a mountain or a river really is, of the value of good trade routes, and why a vessel cannot find a harbor wherever it will cast anchor along the coast. Yet such ideas are the proper basis for the study of geography in the higher grades. The fact that they are so often wanting is proof that our geography still lacks foundation.
How these needs are met. - In this first volume the attempt is made to supply this foundation by treating first such common things as soil, hills, valleys, products, animal life, people, industries, climate, and government, which are part of every child's environment; and sec ondly, other features, as mountains, rivers, lakes, and the ocean, which, though absent from many localities, are still necessary as a preparation for later study. Definitions, however, are not relied upon for giving the child this extra knowledge, but detailed descriptions and discus sions instead. This by no means involves neglect of the child's-own environment from the time the unfamiliar matter is introduced, for references to home experiences in this regard are frequently used. We believe that our plan gives a fuller guarantee of fitness for advanced study than has heretofore been furnished.
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