Chief of all discoveries theirs to learn
How the thing we call “Fire” will flame and burn.
First, lightning brought it, darting from above;
Though men might watch its birth in any grove,
For when gales blow, the old trees sway about,
And from the boughs in friction sparks flash out.
The sun taught many uses; how the heat—
Repeated rays—will gradually beat
Hardness mellow, and, with fire’s aid, prepare
The soil’s crude fruits and grain for human fare.