freight, and makes other rules about the management of trade and transportation among the states. The National Government takes care of the harbors of the country, and has charts made of the coasts for the guidance of sailors; it builds light-houses and displays signals to warn ships of dangerous places or of the approach of storms. It also makes rules about trade with foreign countries. Custom houses are built at certain seaports where foreign goods are brought in, and a tax or duty is collected on some of them to help support the government. legislature is called the Board of Aldermen, Council, or some other appropriate name. The county legislature is called the County Commissioners or the Board of Supervisors. The executive department usually consists of a single person. If there were several execu FIGURE 81. The state capitol at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The National Government carries on the post-office department by establishing offices in every city and village, and by employing men to carry the mail. It also has charge of the army, the navy, and a vast amount of public property consisting of mines, quarries, forests, lands, docks, forts, and buildings. The National Government also sends a man called a minister or ambassador to live at the capital of each foreign country, to represent our government and to transact any business between the two countries. Other officers called consuls are sent to important foreign cities to look after the interests of our merchants and to protect Americans traveling abroad. The Divisions of Government. The powers of government are usually divided into three classes, which we call the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial. The word legislative means lawmaking, and the group of people who make the laws are usually called a legislature, but many other terms are used. We have learned that the National Legislature is called the Congress, and that the city The judicial department consists of judges, who decide disputes about the laws. The place where a judge presides is called a court; and any person who thinks he has been unjustly deprived of his liberty, property, or privileges, may bring his complaint into court before a judge, and the person who has injured him may be punished if found guilty. Different Kinds of Government. In a few countries the officials are chosen by the king or other ruler, who is the head of the government. Such a government is called an absolute monarchy. In our country and in most other countries, the officials are chosen by the people themselves, or are appointed by those who represent the people. Such a form of government is called a republic. We sometimes call our FIGURE 82. The first President of the United States. . REVIEW. (1) Why is government needed? (2) Name some things that can be done better by the government than by each person for himself. (3) Describe the methods of voting. (4) Name the different units of government in which you live. (5) Why is it necessary for people to choose representatives to make laws? (6) What work is done by the legislatures? (7) Name several kinds of legislatures. (8) What are the duties of the executive department? (9) What are the executives of the different units of government called? (10) What are the duties of a judge? (11) Name some of the duties of the national government. (12) Name some of the duties of the state government and of the local governments. OBSERVATION WORK. (1) Tell how the officers are elected in some society to which you belong, such as a club or a Sunday school. What are the officers called? (2) Find out how officers are elected in the town, village, or city in which you live. Find out what they are called and what their duties are. (3) Examine a ballot that is used on election day. What political parties have the names of their candidates on it? (4) Are the candidates government a democracy, a word meaning government by the people, but a true democracy is a form of government where all the people actually meet together to make laws. In most countries where the chief ruler is a king or emperor, the people elect a legislature which helps to make the laws. We call such a government a limited monarchy. But there are some countries, such as England, where the King has very little power. The English people make laws through their representatives in the same manner as the people of the United States. There is still another kind of government called tribal government, because the people of the tribe meet together to elect a chief and to make laws. Tribal government is really a kind of democracy. running for national, state, or local offices? (5) Find out the name of some official in your town or city who is appointed by the president and tell what he has to do. Where does he conduct his business? (6) What form of government is a state government? City government? Town government? (7) Name any property in your vicinity which belongs to the United States Government. (8) What use is made of this property? (9) Tell something that the state does for the people living in it; something that the town, village, or city does for its citizens. (10) Do you think that election day should be a holiday? Why? (11) Why ought you to obey the laws of the place where you live? (12) Give the name of the president; of the governor of your state; of the mayor of your city; of the congressman of your district. (13) Give the name of any other public officer that you know. (14) What are his duties? SUPPLEMENTARY READING. Payne: Geographical Nature Studies, pp. 140-142. Lyde: Man and his Work, pp. 125-128. Winslow: The United States, pp. 17-21. King: The Picturesque Geographical Readers, Third Book, pp. 215-232. XVI. DIRECTION, DISTANCE, AND MAPS Ways of Finding Direction. We have learned how to tell east and west by noticing where the sun rises and sets; and we can find north and south by observing the position of the sun at noon. On a clear night, we may find the North Star by means of the "Pointers," or two stars which form the outer edge of the bowl of the group of stars called the Great Bear, or Dipper. When we are facing the North Star, south is behind us, east is on our right hand, and west on our left hand. The Compass. Sailors also may tell direction by observing the North Star and the sun; but in steering their ships, they generally make use of the compass. This instrument consists of a piece of steel called a needle, mounted on a pivot so that it will turn easily. Such a needle when magnetized will point north and south. To use the compass, place it on a level surface and turn the box slowly until the north mark on the card is directly under the north end of the needle; you can easily tell the north end because it has an arrowshaped point like the hand of a clock. On Take a few sewing needles and draw each shipboard, the compass is mounted in such a way that it will always be level, no matter in which direction the ship may roll. Measuring Distances. We have learned how to use a foot rule, a yard-stick, or a tape-measure, in measuring short distances. These measures are divided into inches, half-inches, quarter-inches, and eighthinches. In measuring longer distances, we sometimes "pace it off." A man usually steps about three feet, and such a step is a расе. Five paces make about one rod. The farmer sometimes measures his fields by pacing the length and breadth. Then FIGURE 83. Finding the North Star. one a few times across the end of a magnet; then thrust each needle through a small piece of cork and float the pieces in a pan of water. The needles will turn slowly about until all of them point north and south. These magnetized needles behave in the same way as the needle of a compass, which is, as we have said, a magnetized needle. M 50 60 70 80 90 FIGURE 84. A compass showing the direction taken by the magnetic needle in the eastern part of the United States. The needle does not point to the true north, but to the North Magnetic Pole, and the sailor steering by the compass, must allow for this variation. Beneath the needle of the compass is placed a card on which the different directions are marked. North, east, south, and west are called the cardinal points. Northeast, southeast, northwest, and southwest, are half-way between the cardinal points and are called the semi-cardinal points. he can tell very nearly how long it will take to plow them, and how much seed it will take to plant them. The surveyor, who must measure distances accurately, uses a steel tape four rods long, called a chain. Eighty chains, or 320 rods, make a mile, and ten square chains, or 160 square rods, make one acre. In measuring distances at sea, the sailor uses a measure called a knot, which is about one and oneseventh common miles. The knot is also called a geographical, or nautical, mile. Pictures, Plans, and Maps. In our study of geography we shall often find it FIGURE 85. Picture of a schoolroom. convenient to represent countries, cities, people, and other objects, by means of pictures, plans, or maps. We can visit the hills, valleys, streams, cities, and other places and objects which are near our homes, but most of us may never be able to visit distant countries; and we must therefore learn about them by means of maps, pictures, and descriptions of them written by travelers who have visited them. A picture shows things as they appear to the eye. Distant objects appear smaller than those that are near at hand. If you look at any of the pictures in this book you will notice that the objects in the foreground appear much larger than those in the background. This is because when the photograph was taken, they were nearer the camera, which is really a kind of eye. A plan is unlike a picture because it shows the size of objects without regard to their distance from us. In a plan, we represent objects as they appear to us when we look down upon them from above. Plan of Desk and Book. On this page you will find the plan of a school desk with a book lying upon it. Let us make a plan of our own desk similar to this one. Place a book upon the desk and then stand up and look down upon it. Draw on a sheet of paper the outline of the desk and also the outline of the book. Each will be represented by an oblong, or rectangle, like the plan on this page. These rectangles will be much smaller than the real desk and the real book, and each one of us has made oblongs of different sizes, although our desks and books are all alike in size. We must now find a method of drawing them so that all our drawings will be of the same size. To do this, measure the length and breadth of the desk. We find that it is two feet long and one and one-half feet wide. Now draw, near the bottom of the paper, a line one inch long. Below this line write one inch equals one foot. This line is our scale, and it means that for each foot of length and breadth length on our papers. of the desk, we must draw a line one inch in Since the desk is two feet long and one and one-half feet wide, we must draw our rectangle two inches long and one and one-half inches FIGURE 86. Plan of desk and book. О wide. Now measure the length and breadth of the book. Suppose it is nine inches long, and six inches wide. Then we shall have a FIGURE 87. Plan of a schoolroom. feet wide. If we use the same scale that we used in the plan of the desk, our paper would have to be twenty-four inches long and twenty inches wide. As our paper is not large enough for this scale, we shall use the scale one-fourth inch equals one foot. Then an oblong representing the room will be six inches long and five inches wide. We may now place in our plan the oblongs representing the teacher's desk, the piano, the pupils' desks, and whatever other objects the room contains. Plan of a School Yard. Figure 88 gives the plan of a school yard. The plan shows the position of the schoolhouse, the walks leading up to it, the entrance to the yard, and the roads or streets on each side. Let us now make a similar plan of our school FIGURE 88. Plan of schoolhouse and grounds. direction the schoolhouse faces; or you may find this by using a compass. When you have found out these particulars you are ready to make the plan. Direction. Another thing usually shown on plans and maps is direction. On which side of your schoolroom does the sun rise? This, as we have learned, is east. Draw a line upon your paper pointing in this direcThe tion, and mark the end of it “E.” opposite end will be west and should be marked "W." Place the paper before you so that the east is on your right hand, and draw a line at right angles to the first line and crossing it at the center as you see in the drawing in your book. The line will point north and south. Mark the end which is farther from you, "N," and the end nearer to you "S." Your plan now tells you which part of the room is toward the east and also the direction of the other parts of the room. The usual method of marking directions on a map is to draw an arrow pointing north. The position of this arrow may be found by means of a compass. |