Geography, of course, has its educative influence in a
counterpart connection of natural facts with social events and
their consequences. The classic definition of geography as an
account of the earth as the home of man expresses the educational
reality. But it is easier to give this definition than it is to
present specific geographical subject matter in its vital human
bearings. The residence, pursuits, successes, and failures of
men are the things that give the geographic data their reason for
inclusion in the material of instruction. But to hold the two
together requires an informed and cultivated imagination. When
the ties are broken, geography presents itself as that
hodge-podge of unrelated fragments too often found. It appears
as a veritable rag-bag of intellectual odds and ends: the height
of a mountain here, the course of a river there, the quantity of
shingles produced in this town, the tonnage of the shipping in
that, the boundary of a county, the capital of a state. The
earth as the home of man is humanizing and unified; the earth
viewed as a miscellany of facts is scattering and imaginatively
inert. Geography is a topic that originally appeals to
imagination -- even to the romantic imagination. It shares in
the wonder and glory that attach to adventure, travel, and
exploration. The variety of peoples and environments, their
contrast with familiar scenes, furnishes infinite stimulation.
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