ht of the schoolroom? Of the schoolhouse? Of the
tallest tree near by? Of the nearest church spire?

About how long is the longest street in the town where you live? Do you
know how many blocks or squares make a mile? Name the nearest river or
creek. Give its direction from the school. In what direction does the
water run? Give the direction and distance of the nearest church. What
must you know to go to any place?

NOTE.--Have pupils estimate distances by the eye, then verify by actual
measurement. Continue the exercises until the work becomes quite
accurate. Correct ideas of distance are necessary in order to understand
how large the world is, and how far apart places are on its surface.

LESSON VIII.

PICTURES AND PLANS.

You all know what a picture is. But do you know what a plan is?

A little boy wanted to show his cousin, who lived some miles away; the
shape and size of his house, and how the rooms were arranged. How could
he do this?

On a large sheet of white paper, he placed lines of blocks in the form
of his house. Then, with a lead pencil, he drew a line on the paper
along the sides of the blocks. He next took up the blocks, and there, on
the paper, was a plan of his house.

[Illustration: "THE PICTURE SHOWS THE OBJECTS."]

Here is a picture of a schoolroom. We see desks, the teacher's table, a
chair, a clock, globe, and two maps, in the picture. The picture shows
these objects as they would appear if we stood at the door behind the
teacher's table and looked in.

This is a plan of the schoolroom, a picture of which is shown above.
You see, the plan and picture are quite different.

[Illustration: "THE PLAN SHOWS WHERE THE OBJECTS ARE."]

The picture shows the objects as we see them before us. The plan shows
where the objects are, and their direction from one another.

Now let us see if we can make a plan of the same schoolroom on the
blackboard.

The first thing is to measure the sides of the room. We will suppose the
two long sides are each forty feet long, and the two short sides each
thirty feet long. Now we will draw four straight lines on the board for
the four sides. Of course, the lines must be much shorter than the sides
themselves, else our plan will be too large.

Make one inch in the plan stand for one foot in the room. So the lines
for the long sides will each be forty inches long, and the lines for the
short sides thirty inches long.

The next thing is to make spaces in