Of all dark nights! And then a speck—

A light! a light! a light! a light!

It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!

It grew to be time's burst of dawn.

He gained a world; he gave that world

Its grandest lesson: "Oh! sail on!"

CHAPTER VII

WEAPONS AND GUNPOWDER

Man's weapons of warfare, offensive and defensive, have been many and curious. David slew Goliath with a stone from a sling. The Scriptures tell us that Samson, the mighty man of the Bible, killed a thousand Philistines at one time with the jaw-bone of an ass. The study of the development of arms makes one of the most significant chapters in the history of civilization.