with probably was his earliest tool. At first he simply found stones
of the right shape for his purpose. Then he began to chip a piece of
flint until it had a rough edge. Now he had a hatchet as well as a
hammer. Because he held this hatchet in his hand it has been called a
fist-hatchet. A great many of these fist-hatchets have been found. In
the course of time man learned how to use thongs of rawhide to bind
handles to his fist-hatchets. Now he had axes and spears.
It was a great day in the long climb toward civilized ways of living
when some unknown inventor made the first bow. With arrows tipped with
sharp bits of stone, man could now kill the larger animals. Stone knives
were used to skin the game. Flint scrapers and other implements were
very useful in scraping and softening the skins to fit them for use.
By using pieces of flint with rough edges as saws and files, men began
to make tools of horn, bones, and shells. They now possessed daggers
and hammers of horn and awls and needles of bone.
[Illustration: THE EVOLUTION OF THE HOUSE]
For many thousand years, stone arrow-heads, knives, and axes were made
with rough, chipped edges. This time is sometimes called the Old Stone
Age. When men had learned to make better tools of their stone knives
and axes by grinding and polishing them to a smooth, sharp edge, they
had entered upon the New Stone Age.
The next great forward step in human progress was taken when men
discovered metals and began to use them. Copper was the first metal
used, but it was soon found that it was too soft for making many
articles.
Presently it was discovered that if a little tin were mixed with the
copper it made a harder metal called bronze. So many weapons, tools,
and ornaments were made of bronze that the time when it was used is
called the Bronze Age.
Iron is the most useful of all the metals. It is much harder than
bronze and better suited in every way for making tools and implements.
It took man a long time to learn how to use it, because it is not so
easy to work as copper and bronze. When man made this "king of metals"
his servant, he traveled a long, long way on the road which leads to
civilization.
The men invented the weapons and some of the tools of the earliest
ages. But it is probable that the women first made many useful tools
and utensils. Women wove the first baskets to use in gathering and
carrying berries, nuts, and other articles of food. They used to cover
fish with clay in order to bake them in the coals and they noticed how
the fires hardened the clay. Then by molding clay over baskets so that
they could be hung over the fire, women gradually learned how to make
earthenware pots and bowls. Afterwards they cut spoons, ladles, and
drinking cups from shells, gourds, and the horns of animals. In these
ways our foremothers made their first cooking utensils and their first
dishes for holding and serving food and drink.
[Illustration: CLAY BOWLS AND WOVEN BASKETS]
Women were not only the first basket-makers and potters. They were
also the first spinners and weavers. They ground the first grain into
flour with mortars and pestles of stone. Later they made simple mills
for this purpose. In fact, women who lived before the dawn of history,
began nearly all the household arts and crafts and in this way helped
all the people who have lived since then.
Our earliest ancestors, like ourselves, found it necessary to carry
things from place to place. But they lived long before the days of the
railroad and the steamship. The first burdens were borne by the women.
They followed the men who hunted, and carried the meat and the hides
of the slain animals back to the camp. After the dog, the donkey, and
the horse had been tamed, articles to be transported were packed upon
their backs or dragged upon the ground behind them. Sleds were made in
the northern lands. Canoes and boats were built by the dwellers by the
rivers and the sea. Last of all, the wheeled cart was invented. All
these things are older than history.
We often call our own time the age of invention. The steam engine, the
telegraph, and the many uses of electricity are all modern. They have
made wonderful changes in our ways of living. But these changes in our
lives are not as remarkable as were those made in the lives of our
earliest ancestors so long ago by such inventions as the fishhook and
the bow and arrow, and such discoveries as how to make fire, how to
make pottery, how to domesticate animals and plants, and how to smelt
and work the metals.
Nowadays children have homes and are cared for by their parents. Among
the very earliest men there was nothing like our homes or our
families. Each person found his own food and took care of himself. Of
course, mothers cared for their babies, but nobody took care of a
child after he was large enough to find his own food. Then he had to
shift for himself. When he wanted his breakfast or his dinner he dug
roots or hunted for berries, nuts, or acorns. Sometimes he feasted
upon birds' eggs or upon a rabbit or a squirrel which he had caught.
The honey which he found in the nests of the wild bees was his only
candy and he was apt to get well stung in taking it. He lived in
constant fear of the wild animals around him and usually slept in a
tree for safety. He spent his entire life in this way.
There are many things that people can do better by working together.
It took many years for early men to learn to help one another. When
they became cave dwellers and learned how to make fire, the first
family group began to be formed. This group was called the clan. The
clan simply means those who were kin to each other; that is, a number
of men and women who believed that they were descended from a common
ancestor. At first the common ancestor was a woman, the clan mother.
In those days, relationship was always counted on the mother's side.
When a man married he went to live with the clan of his wife. In the
course of time groups of clans came to be called tribes.
[Illustration: THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORTATION]
A long time later, after the animals had been domesticated and men had
come to own flocks and herds and other things that we call property, the
father became the head of the family, as we know it today. Our kind of a
family with the father as its head existed before history began.
Words had to be invented, just as tools were. At first men had no
language. Very slowly they gave names to the things about them and
learned to talk to each other. Mothers sang jingles and lullabies to
their babies. Around the campfire at night men told how they had
hunted the wild beasts. Women talked as they gathered and prepared
food or dressed the skins of the wild animals. Mothers wanted their
children to be brave and wise, so they told them stories about the
bravest and wisest of their clan in the olden time. Perhaps this is
why children, and older people too for that matter, have always been
fond of stories. In these ways languages grew and the simple
beginnings of literature were made.
People have always been fond of ornaments. The earliest men wore
necklaces of teeth and claws. Later they made beads of bronze or of
gold. The women tried to make their baskets and their clothes as
beautiful as possible by coloring them with natural dyes. Some of the
men liked to draw pictures of wild animals upon pieces of bone or upon
the walls of their homes in the caves. People learned to count upon
their fingers, and to use various parts of their bodies, like the
finger, the hand, and the arm, as measures of length. For example, the
cubit of which we read in the Bible was the distance from the elbow to
the end of the middle finger. Our arts and sciences have grown from
such crude and simple beginnings.
Our early ancestors lived in fear of many things about them. They
thought that fire, the rivers, the sea, the sun, and many other
natural objects were alive and could harm them or help them. So they
offered gifts to all these things and prayed to them for help. Early
men also believed that the souls of their ancestors lived after death,
and that these ancestors could help them or harm them. They thought
that if they offered gifts of food, and drink at the graves of their
dead, the spirits of the departed would be pleased and would protect
the living members of their families. If, on the other hand, the dead
were neglected or forgotten they would become evil spirits who might
bring great misfortune upon the living. They also thought that if the
dead were not properly buried they would become ghosts, haunting the
places they had known when they were alive. Because of these ideas
early men were very careful to worship their ancestors. The first
religions of the world grew out of these beliefs and practices of
primitive men with reference to nature and to their own ancestors.
--_From "Our Beginnings in Europe and America",
by Smith Burnham.
Courtesy of The John C. Winston Co._
QUESTIONS
1. Make a list of the things in everyday life which we take for
granted as necessities which the earliest men had to learn how to
make.
2. What was the earliest important discovery made by man? Do you
think this was as important as the discovery of electricity? Why?
Name any inventions that have come into common use within your own
or your parents' lifetime.
3. Before man discovered fire, what did he eat? Mention two steps
by which he came to have better food to eat.
4. Mention in order five kinds of dwellings which the early men
lived in, and three kinds of clothing which they wore.
5. What useful things did women do in these early days?
6. Why is your hand more useful than the paw of an animal?
7. From what source did each article of food on your dinner table
to-day come? How many people had something to do with this food
before it reached you?
8. Compare the clothing of people to-day with that of primitive
man. Are we more or less dependent on others for food and clothing
than primitive man?
9. We are still making new words. Make a list of words that have
come into use since the World War began.
TRY THIS
This nonsense test must be worked out carefully or it may fool
you. You will need only a small piece of paper for your answers.
1. If your name is Geraldine, or if you are not yet past 37 years of
age, or
"If lollypops grow on butternut trees
And godgillies ride on the galloping breeze"--
sign your name anywhere on your paper. Then, if you have signed your
name, never mind the second paragraph, but skip to the third.
2. Rub out your name and write the name of the first president of the
United States in its stead. Then take the remaining paragraph.
3. Write your name again in some other part of your paper and hand it
in.
PUTTING WORDS WHERE THEY BELONG
Arrange your paper with your name on the first line and your grade on
the second line. Divide the rest of your paper into four parts with
lines drawn as shown below. Let the lines be drawn up as far as the
third line of your paper.
SHIP BUILDING | AGRICULTURE | MINING | MANUFACTURING
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
Write the words, SHIP BUILDING, AGRICULTURE, MINING, MANUFACTURING, at
the top of the four spaces on the fourth line, as shown above.
Below is a long list of words that is not very well arranged. On your
paper re-arrange the words so that every word that concerns SHIP
BUILDING is placed in the first list, and every word that concerns
AGRICULTURE is placed in the second list, and every word that concerns
MINING or MANUFACTURING is placed in its proper list. If you finish
before the others wait quietly for them to complete their work.
ore crane mast dock
mill loom bulkheads blast
weaving cultivation drill crop
irrigation keel fertilizer carpets
launch safety-lamp silk dyes
reaping lace soil rigging
riveter pick pump cave-in
shaft spinning anchor shuttle
miner steel plates elevator sowing
harvester grain textiles tractor
MAKING MONEY EARN MONEY
The table given below tells how much your savings will amount to at
four per cent interest compounded semi-annually. One dollar a month is
a little less than twenty-five cents a week. From this table, answer
the following questions:
1. If you save one dollar a month, how much will you have in three
years? Five years? Eight years? Ten years?
2. If you save four dollars a month--less than a dollar a week--how
much will you have in six years? Ten years?
3. If you save ten dollars a month, how much will you have in seven
years? Ten years?
4. If you save five dollars a month for ten years, will you have more
or less than if you save ten dollars a month for five years?
5. Can you explain to the class how to read the table?
------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------
Monthly savings. | 1 year | 2 years | 3 years | 4 years | 5 years
------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------
$1 | $12.24 | $24.98 | $38.24 | $52.03 | $66.39
$2 | 24.48 | 49.96 | 76.48 | 104.06 | 132.77
$3 | 36.73 | 74.94 | 114.71 | 156.10 | 199.16
$4 | 48.97 | 99.93 | 152.95 | 208.13 | 265.55
$5 | 61.21 | 124.91 | 191.19 | 260.16 | 331.94
$10 | 122.42 | 249.81 | 382.38 | 520.32 | 663.87
------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------
------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------
Monthly savings. | 6 years | 7 years | 8 years | 9 years |10 years
------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------
$1 | $81.32 | $96.87 | $113.04 | $129.83 | $147.35
$2 | 162.65 | 193.74 | 226.09 | 259.67 | 294.70
$3 | 243.97 | 290.61 | 339.13 | 389.50 | 442.05
$4 | 325.30 | 387.48 | 452.18 | 519.34 | 589.39
$5 | 406.62 | 484.35 | 565.22 | 649.17 | 736.74
$10 | 813.25 | 968.89 |1,130.45 |1,298.35 |1,473.48
------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------
--_From "Fifteen Lessons in Thrift"._
HEROES OF HISTORY
There were four children at the big second-story window that looked
out over the broad avenue where the historical pageant was to pass;
four children in very high spirits. Of course they were excited and
happy; it was a wonderful place for seeing, and it was a wonderful
parade that they were to watch--a celebration of the ending of the
great World's War. The procession was to take the form of a series of
groups of figures representing great persons from the history of the
five important nations that had been allies in the struggle. Alfred
and Betty and Francis and Dick had been talking for days about the
great event. They were sure that they would enjoy it, for though
Alfred, the oldest, was not thirteen yet, and Dick, the baby, was but
seven, they all thought they knew something about history. And if they
weren't able to recognize all the characters in the pageant, they need
only ask Aunt Eleanor, who sat with them in the group at the window.
From far up the street came the sound of a band, and all the watchers
stood on tiptoe or craned their necks to catch the first glimpse of the
marching lines. It was a regimental band, with the colors carried
proudly. How everyone cheered for the lines of khaki soldiers who
followed next! Then noisy enthusiasm gave place to eager and interested
questions about the first historical group. And nobody in all the
watching crowd had more questions to ask than our windowful of children.
The center of the strangely costumed company was a blonde, bearded,
kingly figure, wearing a crown of gold, a coat of mail, and a long,
flowing cloak. One hand was on the jeweled hilt of his sword; the
other clasped to his breast a parchment-bound book. Behind him were
two attendants. Aunt Eleanor, watching her charges with as much
interest as they watched the street, saw that they looked puzzled,
though Alfred was trying to pretend that he knew the name of the king.
"You ought to feel honored, Alfred," said Aunt Eleanor. "That splendid
looking Englishman has the same name as you."
"Of course," said the boy, pretending that he had understood all the
time. "It's Alfred the Great. He," turning loftily to the younger
children, who couldn't be expected to know so much, "was the first
really important king of England. He was a great fighter, and finally
conquered all his enemies. But once he had to run away, after a battle,
and hide in a peasant's hut in disguise. The woman there didn't know who
he was, and she went away and left him to watch some cakes that were on
the fire baking. He was so busy thinking about how to get his kingdom
back that he let them burn, and when she came back she scolded him."
"Those queer round things that the other man is carrying on that
wooden tray must be the cakes," exclaimed Betty.
"Yes," said their aunt. "And do you see the musician with the harp? That
is to remind us that King Alfred was fond of music, and did all he could
to help it flourish. He was more than just a fighter; he wanted his
people to learn all they could, so he started schools, and he founded
Oxford College, the oldest college in England. Don't you see the book in
his hand to show that he was fond of reading? It was very unusual in
those days, a thousand years ago, for even a king so much as to know how
to read. But right after him in the procession is another warrior king
who loved learning and music and all the arts of peace."
And sure enough, as King Alfred of England passed out of sight, there
followed another kingly figure, very tall and clad all in iron.
Helmet, shield, gloves, boots--all were iron, and the wearer was
terrible to look at, so strong and merciless he seemed. Behind him
came a group of horsemen carrying iron spears with glittering points
and with gay banners fluttering from their shafts.
"Well," said Betty, "he may have loved peace, but he doesn't look it.
Who is he, anyway?"
"He represents the first great king of France, Charlemagne, a name
that means Charles the Great. He lived at about the same time with
Alfred. He was a great conqueror and overcame all his neighbors. He
even led a huge army across the Alps and conquered the northern part
of Italy. There he had himself crowned with a famous Iron Crown that
was worn by the king of that country. But when he was not fighting he
was building beautiful palaces and chapels, and encouraging all the
learned men of the country."
"There seem to be a lot of soldiers in this parade," said
nine-year-old Francis, "Here comes another. Who's he?"
"He must be a Crusader," said Betty, "for he has a red cross on his
white cloak, and armor underneath it."
"He's a king, too," said little Dick. "He's got a crown on. What's a
Crusader, Auntie? And is he one?"
"The Crusaders lived about three hundred years later than Alfred and
Charlemagne. In that time the Turks--yes, the same kind of Turks whom
you have heard about as persecuting the poor little Armenian
children--had come into possession of the Holy Land in Palestine. All
the Christian countries wanted to drive them out, so that heathen
might not be in possession of Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulcher. So
from France and Italy and Germany and England great armies went out
to fight against the Saracens, as the Turks in Palestine were then
called. And they wore red crosses on their cloaks to show that they
were going on a holy war."
"Did they get the land back?" asked Francis.
"Why, no, silly," cried Alfred. "Don't you remember just last year
General Allenby conquered Jerusalem, in the big war? The Turks had
been there all that time. But wasn't that Crusader," nodding toward
the rider disappearing in the distance, "somebody special?"
"Yes, indeed. You aren't the only boy here that has a king's name.
This was a king with the same name as Dick--Richard of England, whom
his people loved to call the Lion Hearted, because he was so brave. I
could tell by the banner with the lion on it that floated above his
head. There are lots of fine stories about King Richard. One tells how
he was captured by an enemy on the way home from one of the Crusades
and kept shut up in a tower for a year; and how he was found and
rescued by a friend of his who was a sweet singer, and who went about
singing a little song that the king loved, until at last he heard the
king's voice sing in answer to him from the tower window. Then there's
a story of how he came back to England in disguise, and kept his
wicked brother John from stealing his throne. Some day you must read
Sir Walter Scott's famous novel, 'Ivanhoe,' which tells all about the
adventures of Richard in disguise."
A convenient gap in the procession had given Aunt Eleanor time to tell
the children this much about King Richard; but now another group, a very
soberly dressed company, too, claimed their attention. The central
figure was not a king in armor this time, but a grave, determined
looking man clad in black velvet, with a deep lace collar and a wide
black hat and feather. The children at once demanded his name.
"I must look at my program to find out who he is," said their aunt.
"Oh, yes; William of Orange. Both he and his little country, Holland,
have a wonderful story. Five hundred years ago the lands that are now
Belgium and Holland belonged to Spain. As time went on the Spanish
king, Philip, oppressed them more and more cruelly, and wouldn't let
them have any freedom at all, either in politics or religion. But they
were a liberty-loving people, and toward the end of the sixteenth
century they rose in rebellion against Spain. This stern-looking
Hollander was their greatest leader. He was called William the Silent,
because of an event early in his career. One day the French king, who
was in league with Spain, and who thought Prince William was in
sympathy with their side, betrayed to him all the details of a secret
plot. William was filled with horror and very angry, but he kept
perfectly still, and didn't even show by the movement of an eyelash
that he was anything but friendly and interested. He was called
'silent', you see, not because he didn't talk much, but because he
could keep a secret."
"And was that when Holland and Belgium got to be independent
countries? And why aren't they all one country, then?"
"Oh, the part that is Holland won its independence then, though poor
William was murdered before the fight was finished. It was one of the
earliest of European republics. But the part that is Belgium came to
terms with Spain after William's death, and wasn't a separate country
till long after. You see, the Holland part was made up of people of the
Protestant religion, while the Belgian part, like Spain, was Catholic."
"I suppose that's why he's in this procession, because when he lived
he really belonged to Belgium as well as to Holland," said Alfred
thoughtfully.
"Oh!" cried Betty, clapping her hands, "I know who that next lot are!
The lady in the ruff, with the little jeweled band in her hair, must
be Queen Elizabeth, and those are her courtiers. Now every one of us
has a namesake in the pageant, except Francis."
"If I'm not mistaken," said her aunt, "Francis has a namesake in this
very group. Yes, surely--do you see the man with the pointed beard and
the model of a ship in his hand? That is Sir Francis Drake, the great
seaman. Over and over his little ship went in chase of the Spaniards,
who were England's greatest enemies at this time. Elizabeth ruled at
the same time when the Dutch, too, were fighting Spain. There was
nothing too daring or dangerous for Drake to attempt. He was the first
Englishman to sail around the world, a voyage which took more than two
years. Once he sailed right into a Spanish harbor and burned all the
Spanish ships there, which were being made ready for an attack on
England. And he and his friends, bold adventurers like himself, laid
the foundation of the power of England on the sea."
"I suppose the man with the red velvet cloak is Raleigh, and that's
the cloak he spread down for Elizabeth to walk on."
"Yes. And do you see that kind, merry-looking man in black, with the
simple white collar, carrying an actor's mask in his hand? That must
be Shakespeare, the greatest writer of plays that ever lived. And I
believe the man beside him, holding a great roll of manuscript and a
quill pen, is Spenser, the poet who wrote a wonderful book called the
'Faerie Queen' in honor of Queen Elizabeth."
"We've had somebody from France and Belgium and England," said Betty.
"I wonder if there won't be an American pretty soon?"
"There couldn't have been an American yet, stupid," Alfred informed
her, "because there weren't any people in our part of America in Queen
Elizabeth's time."
"Oh, so there weren't. There comes a soldier with an Indian chief and
an Indian girl close behind him--he must be American, or the Indians
wouldn't be there."