These subjects are very intimately related, and each should be used in teaching the other. Geography, which is often called one of the "eyes of history," may be used in the teaching of this subject in two ways. In the first place, an account of an historical event lacks, to a certain degree, reality in the minds of the pupils if they do not know something of the place where it occurred. Accordingly, in studying or teaching history, reference should be constantly made to the map to give a local setting to the story. The voyage of Columbus, the operations of Wolfe, the coming of the Loyalists, are made more real if they are traced out on the map, and are therefore better understood and remembered by the pupils. For this purpose, it is better, in most cases, to use an outline map, which may be sketched on the black-board by the teacher or the pupils, because on the ordinary wall maps there are so many names and so much detail that the attention may be distracted. Many of the details on the map are, moreover, more modern than the events that are to be illustrated, so that wrong impressions may be given.
In the second place, it must be kept constantly in mind that many events in history have been influenced by the physical features of a country. For example: the lack of a natural boundary between France and Germany has led to many disputes between these countries; the fact of Great Britain being an island accounts for many things in her history (see p. [108]); the physical features of Quebec and Gibraltar explain the importance of these places; and the waterways of Canada account for the progress of early settlement. The climate and soil of a country affect its history; treaties are often based on physical conditions, and trade routes determined by them; a nation's commerce and wealth depend largely on the character of its natural resources.
Some easy problems may be given to the senior classes to be answered by reference to physical conditions:
Why are London, New York, Chicago, Montreal, and Halifax, such important centres? Why are certain places fitted for certain manufactures? Will Winnipeg become a more important city than Montreal? Will Vancouver outstrip San Francisco? What is a possible future for the Western Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan? What might have been the state of North America to-day, if the Rocky Mountains had run along the East coast, instead of along the West?
On the other hand, history contributes a human interest to geography; the places of greatest interest are often those associated with great events in history—Athens, Mount Sinai, Waterloo, Queenston Heights.
HISTORY AND LITERATURE
Literature gives life and human interest to both history and geography. By means of literature we are able to get a better notion of the ideals and motives of a people than the mere recital of the facts of their history can give. In this connection we naturally think of Homer's Iliad and its influence on the Greeks. It was their storehouse of history, morals, religion, æsthetics, and rules for the practical guidance of life, as well as their literary masterpiece.
It is often easy to interest pupils in a period of history by reading or quoting to them some ballad, poem, or prose narrative that colours the historical facts with the element of human feeling. Macaulay's Horatius gives a deeper impression of Roman patriotism than almost anything in pure history can; the various aspects of the Crusades are vividly shown by W. Stearns Davis in God Wills It, a story of the first Crusade. In fact, if stirring events can be linked in the child's mind with stirring verse, if the struggles and progress of nations can be presented in a vigorous narrative that echoes the thoughts, feelings, and interests of the time, we make an appeal to the interest of the pupil that is almost irresistible. The objection is sometimes urged against the reading of standard historical tales and novels, that these are somewhat exaggerated in sentiment and inaccurate in facts. Even if this be so, it may be said that they give in outline a fair picture of the period described, that the interest in history aroused by such tales begets a liking for history itself, and that such exaggerations and inaccuracies are soon corrected when the pupil begins to read history.
The course of history has been modified by songs, ballads, and stories. The influence on the national spirit and ideals of songs such as Rule Britannia and The Marseillaise, of stories such as Uncle Tom's Cabin, of novels such as those of Dickens and of Charles Reade is incalculable.
A few poems and prose compositions are given here as suggestions; a fuller list may be found in Allen's Reader's Guide to English History, Ginn & Co., 30c.