General Outline THE BUILDING OF A CONTINENT-NORTH AMERICA... Discovering America as Columbus Did-Why Ships Must Have Harbors and Why Great Cities Grow Up On Them-Variety of Land Formation on America's Eastern Coast-Relation of Crooked Coasts to Straight Sailing by European Explorers-Every Map a Story of Adventure-The Different Kinds of Maps and the Language They Talk-How to Make a Products Map of North America-North America as a Bird Sees It and as a Boy Made It How Rivers Use Mountains to Build Sea Coasts-Why All LAND OF THE PILGRIM'S PRIDE-NEW ENGLAND... A Country That Was Born Poor and Became Rich-The Settlement of New England-Its Mountains, Rivers and Rocky Coasts-How Its Bays and Islands Were Made-How the Glacier Took Off New England's Coat -The Glacier's "Calling Cards"-How It Made the Lakes of New Eng- land-The Secret the Lakes Tell-What a Glacier Is and How It Acts- How the Glacier Dropped Cape Cod. THE KEYSTONE Group-MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES... The Great Trade Highway-The Harbor of New York-The Gateways to the Continent-Natural Resources-How the Mountain Wall Helped to Make New York the "Front Door" of America-The Building of the Railroads-Why They Follow Old Indian Trails. WAY DOWN SOUTH IN DIXIE-THE SOUTHERN STATES.. Beautiful Land of Sunshine-Over Mountain, River and Plain-The Island- Dotted Coast-The Appalachians and the Routes of the Song Birds- Beautiful Bathing Beaches-Curious Way of Making Islands-The Dismal Swamp and the Trees that Breathe with Their Knees-How Rivers Get to Wandering (Meanders)-Island-Guarded Harbors-Swamps as Coal Fac- tories-The Fairyland the Corals Built. THE RICHEST VALLEY IN THE WORLD-CENTRAL STATES.... The Mississippi, Greatest of Earth's Rivers-When the Mississippi Valley Was Below the Sea-A Trip Down the Mississippi From Its Source to the Gulf-Beautiful Scenery on the Way-The Big Gutter the River Built- The Pranks the River Plays-Mississippi and Hudson Compared-Why the Mississippi Was Not Discovered from the Sea-The Building of the Jetties, A Great Engineering Work-The Great Bridge at St. Louis-The BACKBONE OF OUR COUNTRY-ROCKY MOUNTAIN STATES... How to Study Mountain Systems-The March of the Mountain Ranges- The Appalachians and the Cordilleras Compared-Where the Giant Moun- tains Spring From the Plains-The Wild Skyline of the Rockies-The Vast Plateau and Its River Gorges-On the Firing Line of the Dead Vol- canoes-The Empty Bowl of a Vanished Lake-Great Work of Irrigation, The "Ghost" of the Mountain That Was-A Visit to Johnny Bear's Hotel-In the Cloud Land of the Giant's Bowl-Where Hot Water Spouts Out of the Earth (The Geysers)-Like Water on a Hot Stove Lid- Witches' Cauldrons Without the Witches-How Two Boys Made a Geyser -Different Dispositions of the Geysers-What Makes "Old Faithful" Spout so Faithfully-How the Paint Pots Got Their Names-Healing Nature's Various Ways of Making Islands-The Lovely Islands of Our Story Books-Why So Many People Live on the Islands-People Who Live on a Mountain Top (Porto Rico)-Why It Is Fortunate Porto Rico Produces No Gold-The Country Under Spanish Rule-Transformation Wrought by United States-A Fairy Land and Its Lake of Fire (Hawaii). THE ROMANTIC STORY OF ALASKA... How It Was Bought on the Bargain Counter-The Treasure House and Its Golden Key-The Rush of the Gold Seekers-The Grim Struggle for Wealth-Beginning of Alaska's Development-Few People but a Vast Trade-The Establishment of Government-Protecting the People's In- LITTLE PANAMA AND ITS BIG CANAL... How the Panama Canal Gives a Short Cut Across the World-The Con- struction of the Canal a Great Victory of Peace-Balboa's Discovery of the Pacific and Dream of the Canal-But It Was Easier to Dream than to Do; Mountains, Swamps, Jungles and Eleven Feet of Rain!-Spanish Traffic Across the Isthmus-The Sluggish River and the Jungle-A Light- Vast Empire of Natural Wealth-A Forest Four Thousand Miles Long- Heroes of the Great White North-Wild Track of the Ocean Liners- What the "Grand Banks" of the Ocean Are-Perce Rock, The Guardian of the St. Lawrence-The World's Greatest Sea Fisheries-The First Reap- ers of the Silver Harvest-New World Furs for Old World Buyers- OUR NEIGHBORS ON THE SOUTH-MEXICO AND THE CENTRAL Why Mexico Has Been Called the "Horn of Plenty"-A Land of Few Night All the Time in the Moon-Who the Man in the Moon Really Is— How the Earth Leads the Moon--What Makes the Moon's Changes- What the Sun Spots Tell Us-How You Can Measure the Moon-How the Moon Introduced Us to the Sun-Why the Sun Is Your Grandfather -Where They Only Have Christmas Every Other Year and Leap Year Once in Eight Years-Why Jupiter Is Like a Tea Kettle-What Would Happen to Saturn If It Should Fall Into the Sea-How the Little Bear METEOROLOGY WHAT IS THE "IT" THAT RAINS?... Myth Stories of the Weather-The Waltz of the Winds, Like Happy NATURE STUDY AND THE CHILD THE PURPOSE OF NATURE STUDY... The Child's Natural Interest in Nature-The Training of His Senses and 312 330 331 THE GREAT GRASS FAMILY... 335 Wonders You Can Find in the Grasses-Things We Look at But Do HOW TO KNOW THE WILD FLOWERS.. The Geography of Our Flowers-Flower Fairies Come First in the Woods HOW TO KNOW THE POISON PLANTS.. Poison Ivy Found Everywhere--Remember What Its Leaves Tell-A THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE SOME CURIOUS HOMES OF ANIMALS.. Birds' Nests That Are Good to Eat-A Bird Village in a Tree-A House SOME STRANGE WATER ANIMALS... The Big Fish with a Mouth as Wide as a City Street-Why a Whale is 344 353 360 375 THE BUSY HONEY BEE.. .. 393 The Royal Prisoner in Her Parlor-Where a Bee Line Is Crooked-Bad Temper of Bee Queens-How the Bees Do Without Electric Fans-Why the Old Queen Goes Into Exile-How a Bee Colony Prepares Its New Home-The Queen's Busy Work, Laying the Eggs in the Cells-The Market Baskets of the Bees and How They Go Marketing-How the Bee Drinks Through a Straw-The Bee's Life of Danger and Adventure. THE BUTTERFLIES AND THE MOTHS.. How to Tell Moths from Butterflies-The Beautiful Life of a Day-The Butterfly Whose Beauty Gave a Great Man the Headache-The Owl's Eyes of the Moth-The Old Lady Moth and Her Paisley Shawl-Raising Moths and Butterflies-Moths' Eggs Under the Microscope-Where to Look for Moth Eggs-Some Things the Microscope Tells About Moths and Butterflies-The Butterfly's Wireless Telegraph System. THE WISE ANTS AND THEIR WAYS... The Ant People and Their Buried Cities-Good Aunts Among the Ants- SOME OF THE WORLD'S HELPERS 407 419 DR. JORDAN ON LIVES THAT TEACH GREAT LESSONS. 431 JANE ADDAMS, THE NEIGHBOR LADY OF HULL HOUSE.. 433 A Little Girl's Dream of Doing Good and How It Came True-The COLONEL GEORGE WASHINGTON GOETHALS. 436 The Little World at the Isthmus-The "Boss of the Job"-The Com- COLONEL GORGAS, THE MAN WHO CONQUERED THE MOSQUITO...... 440 BENJAMIN BARR LINDSEY, THE "KID" JUDGE... Why the "Kid" Judge is Proud of the Name-An Appeal to a Boy's Honor. THE WRIGHT BROTHERS, CONQUERORS OF THE AIR.... 444 448 How the Air Man Steers His Way Through the Clouds-Boyhood of SIR WILFRED GRENFELL, THE DOCTOR KNIGHT OF LABRADOR.... LUTHER BURBANK, THE PLANT WIZARD.. .... The Boy Who Was Kind to Plants-How the Wizard Works in His Nur- 456 459 JAMES J. HILL, THE COLOSSUS OF ROADS.. 462 Little Jim Hill's Fondness for Good Books-The Hard Working Scotch LORD STRATHCONA, CANADA's Grand OLD MAN.... 466 Young Donald and the Books-How Donald Smith Came to Go to Canada were. JOHN BURROUGHS, PROPHET OF NATURE.. 469 Preferred Birds and Squirrels to Getting Rich-His Boyhood in the Ro- THOMAS A. EDISON, THE WIZARD OF INVENTION... 456 The Busy Boy Who Forgot to Get Hungry-The First Time the Phono- ROALD AMUNDSEN, DISCOVERER OF THE SOUTH POLE... 476 His Boyish Ambition and How He Carried It Out-Six Years' Study for His Work-The Great Dash for the Pole-Raising the Flag at the Pole. CLARA BARTON, THE ANGEL OF THE BATTLEFIELDS.. 480 The Bashful Little Girl Who Was Not Afraid of Battlefields nor Roaring MARY ANTIN AND THE PROMISED LAND.. 482 Why She Was Astonished that America Is Good to Strangers-"That Living in Darkness and Silence-The Dreadful Fever that Destroyed THE HOW AND WHY OF COMMON THINGS Where Do Our Winter Fruits Come From? 99; Where Do Some Big Why Do Cats Have Whiskers? Why Do We See "Stars" When We Get 1018. Why Do Cats and Dogs Lay Back Their Ears When Angry? Where Do How Does Water "Throw Stones?" Why Do Fish Have Air Bladders? 484 |