Two Indian Children of Long Ago

We are proud of being Americans. But we must not forget that the Indians once owned all America, north and south and east and west.
The Indians were the first Americans of whom we read. No people ever had a greater love for their land, and no race has ever taken more pleasure in out-of-door life.
After Columbus found the New World, white men came from Europe to make their homes here. As time went on they drove the Indians farther and farther west and took away their hunting grounds.
Let us try to imagine our country as it was when the Indians owned it. Can we picture our land without a house or a store or a railroad? Can we think of great rivers with no cities on their banks and with no bridges on which to cross from one side to the other?
Every boy we know likes to go camping. But who would be willing to set up a camp far away in the deep woods without taking with him tent or food or blankets?
Before trade with the white men began, the Indians found everything they needed in the wild land about them. They could make their own weapons and tools, their canoes and paddles, their houses and clothing, and even build a fire without matches.