AIM. PRACTICAL ENGLISH ADVANCED SERIES PART I- CIVICS AND CITIZENSHIP LESSON I HOW THE EARLY SETTLERS LIVED To show that one hundred and fifty years ago, most families in this country supplied their own wants with their own labor. There were few large villages or cities, and there was little chance for community life. The life of Americans one hundred and fifty years ago was very different from the life of to-day. Many years ago most of the people lived on farms. They had to work very hard to get a living. There were only a few large settlements or towns, and these were many miles apart. The method of travel was very slow. There were no railroads in those days. The narrow roads, over which the horses drew the wagons, were very rough. It took several days to go what would seem to us a short distance. For these reasons people did not travel much, and there was little trading done. People could not buy the things they needed. Instead they had to provide themselves with them. 1 They chopped and. hauled the logs to make their houses. They hunted and fished. They raised nearly all their own food. They made their own clothes. In this way they supplied themselves and their families with the necessaries of life. Each family worked alone, and was almost entirely independent of others. Questions and Topics for Discussion Was the life of Americans 150 years ago like that of to-day? How did they have to work on these farms? What can you say of the towns? Describe the method of travel. How did this affect trading? How did Americans of 150 years ago get the things they needed? Did they work together? Were they dependent upon each other for shelter and food? Tell why and in what ways men were independent of each other. Tell in your own words the story of "How the Early Settlers Lived." LESSON II HOW WE LIVE AIM. To show the present day relation of one citizen to another, and the dependence of each upon the other. Many changes have taken place during the last hundred and fifty years. The steam engine, the gas engine, and the automobile have come into general use. Electricity is used in hundreds of different ways. We buy much of our food. Many of the articles of food that we use come from various parts of the world, by means of railroads and steamships. Machines have been invented for weaving cloth. Factories have been built where these machines are used. Some of our large cities now stand where there was not even a settlement one hundred and fifty years ago. Instead of making a suit to-day, we buy it readymade. Instead of building a house, we have a carpenter build it. We go to a store and buy our furniture. Our clothes are made in one factory, our shoes in another, and our furniture in another. Several people in the same factory work on one pair of shoes or on one suit, making different parts of them. |