By the process of evaporation, it is transformed into vapor and is carried
over the land by currents of air. As it comes into contact with colder
currents, condensation ensues and then precipitation, and our raindrop
descends to earth once more. Sinking into the soil at the foot of the tree
it is taken up into the tree by capillary attraction, out through the
branches and then into the fruit. Then comes the sunshine to ripen the
fruit, and finally this fruit is harvested and borne to the market, whence
it reaches the home. Here it is served at the breakfast table and the
curtain of our drama goes down with our raindrop as orange-juice on the
lip of the little girl.
When we come to realize, in our enlarged vision, the possibilities of
geography in fostering the quality of appreciation, our teaching of the
subject will be changed and vitalized, our textbooks will be written from
a different angle, and our pupils will receive a much larger return upon
their investment of time and effort. The study of geography will be far
less like the conning of a gazetteer or a city directory and more like a
fascinating story. In our astronomical geography we shall make many a
pleasing excursion into the far spaces and win stimulating glimpses into
the infinities. In our physical geography we shall read marvelous stories
that outrival the romances of Dumas and Hugo. And geography as a whole
will reveal herself as the cherishing mother of us all, providing us with
food, and drink, and shelter, and raiment, giving us poetry, and song, and
story, and weaving golden fancies for the fabric of our daily dreams.
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