Man's efforts are, first, to overcome nature. Food, shelter, and clothing are his primary wants. After these are supplied, he rises to higher realms of thought and action. Then he nourishes his intellect, exercises his sensibilities, and provides nutriment for his soul, that it, also, may grow. In this book the above logical order is followed.

It is painfully evident that many schoolchildren dislike the study of history. The authors of this book believe that this need not be. It is clear that the study should be undertaken at an earlier age than is usually the case in our public schools. It is not necessary, and oftentimes not desirable, that the books of history should be studied as text-books. Frequently they should be used as reading books. Such use is more likely to develop in the minds of the younger children a love for history.

This book, while adapted to older persons, has been prepared with special reference to the needs and capacities of children from ten to twelve years of age. It is commended to teachers and parents with full confidence that they will find it useful, and that the children will be both interested and profited by its perusal.

CONTENTS.

HEAT.
CHAPTER PAGECHAPTER PAGE
I.Fire[11]V.Fuel[37]
II.Indian Homes[17]VI.Coal[44]
III.Colonial Homes[24]VII.Matches[51]
IV.Chimneys[31]
LIGHT.
I.Torches[61]V.Illuminating Gas[81]
II.Candles[67]VI.Electric Lighting[85]
III.Whale Oil[72]VII.Lighthouses[90]
IV.Kerosene[77]
FOOD.
I.Uncultivated Foods[99]IV.Implements for Harvesting[117]
II.Cultivated Foods[104]V.Soil[124]
III.Implements for Planting[111]VI.A Modern Dinner[131]
CLOTHING.
I.Colonial Conditions[143]V.Leather[164]
II.The Cotton Gin[148]VI.Needles[172]
III.Cotton[153]VII.The Steam Engine[178]
IV.Wool[158]
TRAVEL.
I.By Land[187]V.Canals[215]
II.By Water[194]VI.Railroads[223]
III.Stagecoaches[200]VII.Modern Water Travel[229]
IV.Steamboats[207]VIII.Modern Land Travel[235]
LETTERS.
I.Language[247]V.The Telegraph[270]
II.The Printing Press[252]VI.The Atlantic Cable[278]
III.The Postal System[258]VII.The Telephone[286]
IV.Signaling[265]VIII.Conclusion[292]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FrontispiecePage
Count Rumford[9]
A New England Kitchen One Hundred Years Ago[10]
A Train Leaving the Station[11]
A Vestal Virgin[14]
Iroquois Long House[20]
Indian Method of Broiling[22]
Plying the Axe[25]
A Colonial Fireplace[27]
Hauling in a Backlog[29]
Cooking in a Colonial Kitchen[30]
A Franklin Stove[34]
In a Coal Mine[42]
Blacksmith at His Forge[48]
Thomas Carrying Fire[52]
Tinder Box, Flint, and Matches[53]
Thomas A. Edison[59]
Minot Ledge Light, Massachusetts Bay[60]
Indians Traveling at Night[62]
Ancient Lamps[65]
Franklin Making Candles[69]
Reading by Candlelight[70]
Whale Fishing[73]
Oil Wells[79]
A Gasometer[83]
Edison's Heroic Act[86]
Grace Darling[94]
Cyrus H. McCormick[97]
Cutting Sugar Cane in the Hawaiian Islands[98]
Indians Hunting Game[102]
The Corn Dance[104]
Captain John Smith[106]
An Ancient Plow[109]
Mowing with Scythes[118]
A Reaper and Binder[120]
The McCormick Reaper[121]
Threshing with Flail[123]
Colonists in a Shallop[124]
An Irrigating Trench[128]
A Rice Field[129]
A Dinner Party[131]
Loading Fish at Gloucester[134]
A Cattle Train[136]
Drying Coffee in Java[139]
Eli Whitney[141]
A Quilting Bee in the Olden Time[142]
Tailor and Cobbler[145]
Flax Wheel[146]
An Old-Fashioned Loom[147]
A Cotton Field[149]
A Cotton Pod[150]
The Cotton Gin[151]
President Jackson and Mr. Slater[156]
The Interior of a Modern Cotton Mill[157]
Sheep-Shearing[162]
Dr. Whitman Starting on His Journey[168]
Sewing by Hand[173]
An Old Windmill[178]
A Corliss Engine[181]
Robert Fulton[185]
An Ocean Steamer[186]
A Man and His Wife Traveling on Horseback[191]
The Bay-Path[193]
Pilgrim Exiles[195]
A Birch-Bark Canoe[197]
Old-Style Calashes[202]
An Old-Fashioned Stagecoach[204]
Munroe Tavern, Lexington, Mass.[205]
Fitch's Steamboat[209]
Collision of the Clermont and the Sloop[217]
The Erie Canal[221]
Old-Style Railroad Train[227]
A River Tunnel[234]
A Pullman Sleeper[237]
Brooklyn Bridge[239]
The Boston Subway[242]
Electric Car, New York City[243]
Samuel F. B. Morse[245]
Modern Printing Presses[246]
Ancient Implements of Writing [249]
An Ancient Scribe[251]
A Franklin Press[255]
Postage Stamps[261]
Assorting Mail on the Train[262]
Signaling by Beacon Fires[266]
Electric Wires[270]
Morse Hears of His Success[274]
Laying an Ocean Cable[282]
The Great Eastern[283]
A Telephone[287]
Alexander Bell Using a Long-Distance Telephone[288]