Suppose this road to be converted into a good stone road at a cost of $3,000 a mile, a total cost of $30,000. On this road, with the larger and heavier wagons that could now be used, the farmers could easily double the size of the load. This would mean that, instead of 3,000 loads being necessary, 1,500 would be sufficient. At the same rate as before, the cost of haulage would be $3,750, an annual saving of $3,750; so that the whole cost of the road would be saved in eight years, to say nothing of the greater ease and comfort of travel to both man and beast. Better roads would also give the farmer access to market for a greater part of the year and thus enable him to take advantage of higher prices at certain seasons. It is believed that these figures are quite within the bounds of probability.
In large towns and cities the cost of public utilities may be calculated; for example, the expense of a fire-station in buildings, equipment, horses, men, etc., to show how the money raised by taxes is spent for the good of the whole community, and helps to keep down the rates for fire insurance. The kinds of taxation may also be discussed—direct and indirect; also the sources from which direct taxes are derived—customs, excise, etc.; methods of levying and collecting taxes; how taxes are spent for the various educational and charitable institutions—schools, libraries, hospitals, asylums, homes for the poor and neglected, etc.; for the protection of life and property; for the administration of justice, etc. The distribution of taxes among public institutions may be studied from the public accounts printed for the use of ratepayers.
The lessons learned about the fairness of taxation may be used to illustrate certain periods of history when people struggled against unjust and arbitrary taxation; for example, Wat Tyler's Rebellion, the Civil War in England in the seventeenth century, the American and French Revolutions, Acts of Parliament in Canada from the Quebec Act to the Act of Confederation.
A Dominion or Provincial election offers a good opportunity for a lesson on how to vote and how we came to have the right to vote; on the constitution of Parliament; on the sanctity of the ballot, etc.
A trial by jury in which the people of the district are interested may be used to introduce the history and purpose of the jury.
THE TEACHER OF HISTORY
The teacher of history must know his subject. This does not mean that every school teacher must have an expert knowledge of the whole subject, but he should know the history that is to be taught thoroughly enough to be able to teach the lesson orally without referring constantly to the text-book or to notes. This, at least, is the ideal to strive for. To accomplish this, the teacher is earnestly recommended to read at least one book in addition to the authorized text-book, which does not usually contain much more than the important facts of history. To clothe the skeleton of facts with flesh and blood so as to make history what it really is, a record of human beings who not only did things but had also thoughts and feelings like our own, it is necessary to be able to supply the personal details that make the figures of history real, living, men and women. (See the Story of Florence Nightingale, p. [62].) The teacher who does this will himself come to have a more lively interest in history.
The teacher must also know children. For the understanding of history, pupils are dependent on their previous knowledge of life and its interests. They must be led by timely suggestions or questions to see the connection between their own knowledge of life and the experiences of the actors in history. Without this connection, the facts of history remain meaningless.
To present history to the pupils in an interesting way, the oral method is the best. It is not necessary for the teacher to have a special gift for narration; any one who is really interested in the story to be told is able to tell it well enough to hold the attention of the class. In narration, mere fluency is not the chief requisite; it is more important that the pupils should feel the teacher's interest in the topic. The narration must also be confined to the facts and details that count; the teacher needs to know what to omit as well as what to narrate. If the matter has been well thought out and clearly arranged in topics with due regard to the relation of cause and effect, the telling of the story will be an easier matter, and the pupils will be trained also in a clear and logical way of treating history. The oral method should be supported by the free use of devices for making the story real. (See p. [34].) While it is quite true that certain important topics are to be thoroughly mastered as centres of connection for the less important facts, yet it must be insisted on that a more important aim of the teacher is to arouse and stimulate an interest in history so that the pupil's study of it may continue after the close of his school-days. No mastery of facts through memorization alone will counterbalance the lack of interest in, and liking for, the subject.