Chapter IX: Familiar Surface Features

1. Hill and plain. 3. River
2. Mountain and valley. 4. Ocean
5. Island and peninsula.

_Note to the Teacher._--Consider at this time only such familiar
features as belong to the children's immediate environment in or
very near their neighborhood. Defer the study of the other land and
water forms until later, as suggested in the Introduction. For
further details of these features, see Chapters I and IV in Part II.

1

HILL AND PLAIN

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. Have we mostly hills or plains in the streets of our city?

2

Some plains and some hills are covered with trees. If you were in the woods, surrounded by trees, how would you know whether you were on a plain or on a hill?

Some hills look very different from others. Some slope very gradually, while some are very steep. Some hills have city streets on them. Others have great fields of grass for cows to graze upon. Still others are planted with corn, wheat, rye or vegetables. There are wooded hills covered with trees. How do we know that all of these very different forms are hills?

In the same way plains vary greatly. While some have been made into city streets, others are large, flat, grassy fields, with streams sometimes flowing through them. Some plains are covered with forests. Others are planted with grain and vegetables. How can you know when you see a plain if there are so many different kinds?

3

Look through the pictures in this book and decide which show hills and which show plains. Which is easier for a farmer to plow, a hill or a plain? Why?

If you were sent upon an errand, would you choose to go by way of a hilly road or by a level one? Which is the pleasantest place for a summer home, upon a hill or upon a plain?

How must a driver help his horses when they are pulling a heavy load up or down a hill?

4

MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS

Some hills are so very, very high that they have been called _mountains_. What are our neighboring mountains named? Have you ever been to the top of one of these mountains? Describe the beautiful view from the summit. Did you see any wild creatures along the way? Tell about any trees and other plants that you noticed.

When people build homes in mountain regions they generally place them in the low land between the high mountains. Why? This lower land is called a _valley_. The people in the valley town can often look beyond the fields and see the mountains rising high and steep beyond. Some mountains are covered with trees. At places you may see great bare, rough rocks on the mountain side. The scenery is very beautiful. There are often streams and broad rivers down in the valley.

Many lumbermen work on the mountains. Why do they cut down the trees? The mountains give the miners work too. The men go far into the mines to bring out the useful minerals. Are there any mines in the mountains near our home? What do the miners take from these mines?

5

RIVERS

What _river_ flows near our home? Have you ever seen it? Where were you when you saw it? How did it look? What did you notice along its banks? What was on the river? Was there any way of crossing over to the opposite bank?

Did you see where the boats land? Men have built many wharves on the banks of the rivers. If you stand on the wharf, you may see great ferry-boats crowded with people. Back and forth these boats go, carrying the people from one side of the river to the other.

Sometimes great steamers come up the river. They have carried people, food and clothing on a long journey. Some boats are loaded with coal or lumber. There are many pretty sailboats and rowboats too. In some you will see fishermen. They bring the fish back for the city people to eat.

Before the city was built there was beautiful country all along the banks. If you travel up the river, leaving the city far behind, you will see some fine scenery. Perhaps you will pass beautiful woods. Some of the trees bend over the river as if they were looking at their reflections in the clear water. At places there are broad fields where the cows come down to drink the cool water. Farther up there are hills or mountains rising far above the banks. You will notice that the river is growing narrower and narrower until it is but a small stream. If you go down the river again, you will see that it gradually widens as it flows on to the mouth.

6

Most cities get their water supply from a nearby river. Do you know where the water in your bath-room comes from? When you take a drink in our school-yard what water are you swallowing? How does this water get to our home and school? Pipes run under the streets from the river to all the buildings of the town. There are big pumping stations on the river bank to pump the water out of the river through pipes to the houses. Millions of gallons of water are pumped each day into the homes, schools, mills and factories. For what is this water used?

7

Plants need more than good soil to make them grow. They will wither and die unless they have plenty of rain to keep the earth soft and moist. There are many places in the world where no trees, nor grass, nor plants of any kind can grow. This is because there is no water to wet the earth.

We all know that clouds bring the rain; but how do the clouds get the water? Whenever there is water on the earth, as in the rivers, the air is continually drawing up the moisture in tiny invisible drops. This moisture rises in the air and forms clouds. When the clouds get very heavy, down comes the water which we call rain. In cold weather it is changed into snow.

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? Do you see how we are kept alive by rivers?

8

Think of the many, many uses of rivers. There are thousands of useful rivers in the world.

What are the three great necessities of human life? How do rivers help us to get _food_ and _clothing_ and to build our _homes_ and make them comfortable?

SOME USES OF RIVERS

1. Water supply; washing and drinking.

2. Water power; flour, textile and planing mills.

3. Commerce; transportation.

4. Life; fish, plants.

5. Fertility of soil, rainfall.

6. Beauty of scenery.

9

Look at the map of our neighborhood. See the lines that represent the river. Notice how it bends. Does it show where bridges cross it?

10

THE OCEAN

Have you ever stood on the beach and watched the big waves roll in? The great _ocean_ stretches away as far as you can see. It seems to meet the sky. The weaves roll and break, and roll and break from morning till night forever. Where there are rocks along the shore the ocean dashes against them. The sparkling snowy spray then leaps high into the air with a boom and a swish!

_Note to the Teacher._--See the details for studying about the
oceans in Part II, Chapter I.

11

ISLANDS AND PENINSULAS

As you sail up the river you may see large portions of land lying right out in the water. There are pieces of land lying out in the ocean too. The water lies around them on all sides. We call such portions of land _islands_. If you were standing on the shore how could you go to an island which you saw out in the water? How could you get there if you had no boat? Some islands are joined to the shores by bridges.

Many islands are no larger than this room. Others are so large that it would take days to travel around them. Whether they are large or small they have water entirely around them.

Some of us have been to a large island that has been built up into a city. When the New York boys and girls want to leave their city they must either go in a boat, or over a bridge, or through a tunnel far under a river. Why? When you visit Atlantic City your train goes over a bridge into the city. Why?

12

Look at some pictures of islands and notice how many kinds there are. Some are all wooded. Others are covered with fields. Notice one that is rocky and steep, and another that is level and built into a city.

Some islands are so large as to have many cities built upon them, and there are many farms and dense woods besides upon the same islands. Some have many rivers flowing through them.

If you were on a large island, how could you prove that it was an island? If you wanted to leave it, how could you do so? Notice on the map of our neighborhood whether a river with islands in it is shown.

13

Sometimes a piece of land has water flowing only part way around it. If you take a boat and try to go all around it, you will come to a place where the boat cannot go because there is land there. This land that is nearly an island, but does not have the water completely around it, is called a _peninsula_. Where have you seen a peninsula?