THE ILLUSTRATIONS
The author wishes to make special acknowledgment to the following publishers for their courtesy in supplying illustrations:
The Macmillan Company for the pictures from Tarr and Martin's "College Physiography" on page [239]; Darwin's "Formation of Vegetable Mould" on page [77].
D. Appleton and Company for the pictures from Gilbert and Brigham's "Introduction to Physical Geography" on page [94]; "Picturesque America" on page [243].
J. B. Lippincott Company for the pictures from Beard's "American Boy's Book of Bugs, Butterflies, and Beetles" on page [229]; McCook's "Natural History of the Agricultural Ant of Texas" on pages [206] and [213].
McClure's Magazine for the pictures on pages [149] and [157].
Scientific American Publishing Company for the picture from "Scientific American Boy at School" on page [227].
Harper and Brothers for the pictures from McCook's "Nature's Craftsmen" on pages [98], [105], [109], [207], and [208].
Strand Magazine for the pictures on pages [165], [182], and [204].
Charles Scribner's Sons for the pictures from Yard's "Top of the Continent" on page [5]; "Country Life Reader" on pages [9], [64], [85], [114], [186], and [241]; Osborn's "Men of the Old Stone Age" on page [33]. Hornaday's "American Natural History" on pages [116], [117], [119], [123], [130], [144], and [225]; Seton's "Life Histories of Northern Animals" on pages [123], [129], [147], and [151].
Henry Holt and Company for the pictures from Beebe's "The Bird, Its Form and Function" on page [167]; Salisbury's "Physiography" on pages [55], [71], and [167].
Carnegie Institution of Washington for the pictures on pages [8] and [69].
University of Nebraska for the picture on page [37].
Columbia University Press for the picture from Wheeler's "Ants and Their Structure" on page [95].
Houghton Mifflin Company for the pictures from Sharp's "Year Out of Doors" on page [11]; "Riverside Natural History" on page [117]; Mill's "In the Beaver World" on pages [152] and [153].
Ginn and Company for the pictures from Breasted's "Ancient Times" on page [67]; "Agriculture for Beginners" on page [47]; Bergen's "Foundation of Botany" on pages [49], [190], and [197]; Bergen's "Elements of Botany" on pages [193] and [195]; Beal's "Seed Dispersal" on page [51].
U. S. Geological Survey for the pictures on pages [21], [22], [23], [30], [31], and [59].
New York Zoological Society for the pictures on pages [145], [159], and [216].
School Arts Magazine for the picture on page [221].
U. S. Department of Agriculture for the pictures on pages [125] and [189].
American Museum of Natural History for the pictures on pages [20], [24], [26], [139], and [162].
Cassell and Company for the pictures from "Popular History of Animals" on pages [118], [177], [179], and [217]; "Popular Science" on page [242].
Hutchinson for the pictures from "Marvels of the Universe" on pages [92], [101], [103], [141], [169], and [173]; "Marvels of Insect Life" on page [211].
The Dunham Company for the picture on page [45].
International Harvester Company for the picture on page [199].
Northern Pacific Railway for the pictures on pages [235] and [237].
It will be understood, as stated in the preface, that, like "The Strange Adventures of a Pebble," this is an autobiography. In other words, it is the grain of dust itself that tells the story of the life of the soil of which it is a part.
THE ADVENTURES
OF A GRAIN OF DUST
CHAPTER I
(JANUARY)
In truth you'll find it hard to say
How it could ever have been young
It looks so old and grey.
—Wordsworth.