Hills, Mountains, Valleys

T HE land is not always level like a plain. In some places it is high and uneven. We all know what a hill  is. It is land a little higher than the surrounding country.

Is there a hill near where you live? Let us walk to the top,  and stand on its summit.  We will start from the foot  or base  of the hill. Now we have climbed its steep, rough sides  or slopes.  Was the ascent difficult? Is the view from the top fine?

What can you see from the top of the hill—meadow, river, lake, town? What grow on the hill? What live on the hill?

What can you see from the top of the hill?

Which part of a hill is called the base, or foot? The slope, or sides? The top, or summit?

Give two names for the lowest part of a hill. Two for the highest part. Two for the part between the highest and lowest parts.

Parts of the land 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.

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.

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.