es that the earth is not flat.

Did you ever see an eclipse of the moon? The big curved shadow was the
earth's shadow. Why was the shadow round?

A globe shows the shape of the earth.

2

Look at all of the globes and maps in the room. Find how the land and
the water are shown. Can you see any islands, any peninsulas? A tiny dot
may mean the whole city with hundreds of homes, factories and other
buildings. Do you remember how we looked down on our town from a great
height and saw the many houses? Just think of a tiny dot meaning all of
our town.

[Illustration: WESTERN HEMISPHERE]

[Illustration: EASTERN HEMISPHERE]

3

How are the rivers drawn? Think of the great wide flowing river with its
wharves and its boats. It flows on for miles and miles. Some day all
of its water will reach the ocean. This little black line means all of
that great broad river.

Why do we have such tiny things to represent such great things?

See this land called North America. It would take five days and nights
in a fast express train to travel straight across it.

4

We can cut the globe in half and make a flat picture of the two parts as
they look when placed side by side.

Another name for the globe is sphere. "Hemi" means "half," so each half
of the globe is called a "hemisphere."

One half is called the Eastern Hemisphere and the other half the Western
Hemisphere.

In the Western Hemisphere we have the Western Continent, which is
America. This Western Continent is made of two grand divisions, North
America and South America. Why are they so named? We live in North
America. Find our city and the river nearest to it. North America was
joined to South America by a narrow strip of land called the _Isthmus of
Panama_. Look at the map and think why millions of dollars have been
spent through many years to cut through this isthmus. Now vessels can
pass through this Panama Canal.

Look at the map of the Western Hemisphere and notice what it contains
besides the Western Continent of America. There is more water than land.
This water forms the great oceans.

Perhaps you have been to Atlantic City or some other seashore place and
have seen the Atlantic Ocean. Do you remember the big waves which rolled
in on the sandy beach and the pretty white-caps far out? Did you see the
big nets drawn in full of hundreds of fish? Perhaps you bathed in the
ocean and got your mouth full of water. It did not taste like the water
we drink