The four routes of Christ's principal journeys are given as follows: Bethlehem to Jerusalem, 6 miles north; Bethlehem to Egypt, 250 miles southwest; Nazareth to Jericho, 60 miles southeast; Nazareth to Jerusalem, 65 miles south. Trace these routes on a sand map and on the blackboard. Describe the country passed through, the occupations of the people, the mode of travel, the length of time required.
Account for the roughness of the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.
What kind of place was Cæsarea Philippi, and what kind of stream is the Jordan at that point?
Sketching. The teacher should practice until he can make, with the flat crayon, something that looks like a mountain, a road, a tree—a scumble for the foliage and a stroke or two for the trunk, a man—two strokes will do for him (some teachers prefer to cut out pictures and pin them on the board). It must be admitted that this method of trial and error is dangerous. But there are self-taught teachers who do pretty well.
Map-drawing. To learn to sketch a map is a more hopeful task. Every one should be able to follow on pad or blackboard a campaign, a flight into Egypt, and a march up into Canaan; and to trace the journeys of Jesus and of Paul.
The following directions will be found helpful in drawing, free-hand and with only two construction lines, the map of Palestine:
Draw a horizontal line, and on it with the span of the hand, or with any convenient unit, measure three units, indicating their extremities by the figures 1, 2, 3, 4, from left to right. At the right extremity of this line, which we designate 4, draw a vertical line five units in length (4-9). From the upper extremity of this line draw to the left a line parallel to 1-4, one unit in length (9-10). Join points 1 and 10 with an irregular line, thus indicating the coast. A perpendicular let fall from 10 to 3 would indicate the course of the Jordan, the source lying nearly opposite 8, the Sea of Galilee opposite 7, the Dead Sea between 4 and 5; and Judæa, Samaria, Galilee, and Phœnicia will each occupy, roughly speaking, one and a half units. The principal mountains, cities, routes, may be indicated by initials, signs, or in any other appropriate ways. Each unit being 40 miles in length, the dimensions of Palestine and its parts may be derived. This same system may, of course, be used in drawing any map.
Miss Lucy Wheelock says that "the most satisfactory map is one which the teacher makes herself, drawing the outlines with a blue marking crayon on a sheet of white silesia, or finished cotton cloth, and putting in thin strips of wood or rollers at top and bottom, so that it will hang easily."
The sand table, especially with work for younger children, is indispensable. This every one can learn to make and manage and can fit out with the needed materials. Let no one shrink from the simple task of getting together the equipment and learning to model a map of Palestine.
The following description of the way of making a sand map of Palestine has been kindly furnished by Miss Juliet E. Dimock of Elizabeth, N.J., whose theory and practice in primary classes are alike admirable: