very much higher than the surrounding country are
called _mountains_. Mountains are much higher than hills. Have you ever
seen a steeple one hundred feet high? A mountain is as high as twenty
such steeples, one on the top of the other. How high the mountains must
be!

Some mountains reach away above the clouds. Their white tops seem to
touch the sky. A man on the summit of one saw the clouds beneath his
feet, while the sun shone where he stood. When it lightened he saw the
flash far below him.

Is it warm or cold at the tops of mountains? With what are many high
mountains covered, even in summer?

The land between mountains or hills is called a _valley_. Is there a
valley near here? What do you call the ground on either side?

Would you like best to live on the mountains or in the valley? Why?

Are mountains of any use?

Yes, hills and mountains are of very great use. They make the earth more
beautiful. Tops of high mountains are so cold that they turn the clouds
into drops of water which fall as rain or snow. Then mountains give rise
to rivers which make the valleys beautiful with grass and flowers.
Mountains do much good to some countries by keeping off cold winds. They
also give us coal and iron and other minerals which we find so useful.

[Illustration: "THINK OF A REAL VALLEY BETWEEN MOUNTAINS."]

Here is a picture. What do you call the very high land on the right and
on the left? The long, narrow piece of land between the two mountains?

When you look at this picture you must think of a real valley between
mountains.

Bring pictures of hills and mountains to school; if you can find them.

If you had a molding-board and a few quarts of sand; you might represent
hills and mountains with valleys between. Think of a real hill while you
mold.

Draw on your slate a hill you have seen with a little of the surrounding
country.

_Write:_

A long, narrow piece of land between hills and mountains is called a
valley.

A hill is land a little higher than the country about it.

A mountain is land that rises to a very great height above the country
about it.

LESSON XIII.

RAIN, WIND, AND SNOW.

Do you see the dropping rain,
Pitter-patter on the pane?
How it runs along the street!
And it wets our little feet;
But it makes the green grass grow,
And the tiny streamlets flow.

Listen to the wintry blast
Moaning, shrieking, howling past,
Striking with tremendous force
Rocks a