Chapter I: Preface

A school history should set forth such facts, and in such an order, as to show the progress of civilization. The great lessons of history are found in that line of events in the past which exhibits the progress of mankind--the uplift of humanity. The record of no other country can present a more startling array of forward movements and upward tendencies than that of our own land, and in no one direction does this upward movement appear quite so clearly as in the line of inventions.

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 PAGE

I. FIRE, 11

II. INDIAN HOMES, 17

III. COLONIAL HOMES, 24

IV. CHIMNEYS, 31

V. FUEL, 37

VI. COAL, 44

VII. MATCHES, 51

LIGHT.

I. TORCHES, 61

II. CANDLES, 67

III. WHALE OIL, 72

IV. KEROSENE, 77

V. ILLUMINATING GAS, 81

VI. ELECTRIC LIGHTING, 85

VII. LIGHTHOUSES, 90

FOOD.

I. UNCULTIVATED FOODS, 99

II. CULTIVATED FOODS, 104

III. IMPLEMENTS FOR PLANTING, 111

IV. IMPLEMENTS FOR HARVESTING, 117

V. SOIL, 124

VI. A MODERN DINNER, 131

CLOTHING.

I. COLONIAL CONDITIONS, 143

II. THE COTTON GIN, 148

III. COTTON, 153

IV. WOOL, 158

V. LEATHER, 164

VI. NEEDLES, 172

VII. THE STEAM ENGINE, 178

TRAVEL.

I. BY LAND, 187

II. BY WATER, 194

III. STAGECOACHES, 200

IV. STEAMBOATS, 207

V. CANALS, 215

VI. RAILROADS, 223

VII. MODERN WATER TRAVEL, 229

VIII. MODERN LAND TRAVEL, 235

LETTERS.

I. LANGUAGE, 247

II. THE PRINTING PRESS, 252

III. THE POSTAL SYSTEM, 258

IV. SIGNALING, 265

V. THE TELEGRAPH, 270

VI. THE ATLANTIC CABLE, 278

VII. THE TELEPHONE, 286

VIII. CONCLUSION, 292

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Frontispiece

PAGE

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

AMERICAN INVENTIONS AND INVENTORS.