Chapter I: Preface

THE series, of which this is the second volume, is an attempt to meet a need that has been felt for several years by parents and physicians, as well as by teachers, supervisors, and others who are actively interested in educational and social progress. The need of practical activity, which for long ages constituted the entire education of mankind, is at last recognized by the elementary school. It has been introduced in many places and already results have been attained which demonstrate that it is possible to introduce practical activity in such a way as to afford the child a sound development—physically, intellectually, and morally—and at the same time equip him for efficient social service. The question that is perplexing educators at the present time is, therefore, not one regarding the value of practical activity, but rather one of ways and means by which practical activity can be harnessed to the educational work.

The discovery of the fact that steam is a force that can do work had to await the invention of machinery by means of which to apply the new force to industrial processes. The use of practical activity will likewise necessitate many changes in the educational machinery before its richest results are realized. Yet the conditions that attend the introduction of practical activity as a motive power in education are very different from those that attended the introduction of the use of steam. In the case of steam the problem was that of applying a new force to an old work. In the case of practical activity it is a question of restoring a factor which, from the earliest times until within the last two or three decades, has operated as a permanent educational force.

The situation that has recently deprived the child of the opportunity to participate in industrial processes is due, as is well known, to the rapid development of our industrial system. Since the removal of industrial processes from the home the public has awakened to the fact that the child is being deprived of one of the most potent educational influences, and efforts have already been made to restore the educational factor that was in danger of being lost. This is the significance of the educational movement at the present time.

As long as a simple organization of society prevailed, the school was not called upon to take up the practical work; but now society has become so complex that the use of practical activity is absolutely essential. Society to-day makes a greater demand than ever before upon each and all of its members for special skill and knowledge, as well as for breadth of view. These demands can be met only by such an improvement in educational facilities as corresponds to the increase in the social demand. Evidently the school must lay hold of all of the educational forces within its reach.

In the transitional movement it is not strange that new factors are being introduced without relation to the educational process as a whole. The isolation of manual training, sewing, and cooking from the physical, natural, and social sciences is justifiable only on the ground that the means of establishing more organic relations are not yet available. To continue such isolated activities after a way is found of harnessing them to the educational work is as foolish as to allow steam to expend itself in moving a locomotive up and down the tracks without regard to the destiny of the detached train.

This series is an attempt to facilitate the transitional movement in education which is now taking place by presenting educative materials in a form sufficiently flexible to be readily adapted to the needs of the school that has not yet been equipped for manual training, as well as to the needs of the one that has long recognized practical activity as an essential factor in its work. Since the experience of the race in industrial and social processes embodies, better than any other experiences of mankind, those things which at the same time appeal to the whole nature of the child and furnish him the means of interpreting the complex processes about him, this experience has been made the groundwork of the present series.

In order to gain cumulative results of value in explaining our own institutions, the materials used have been selected from the life of Aryan peoples. That we are not yet in possession of all the facts regarding the life of the early Aryans is not considered a sufficient reason for withholding from the child those facts that we have when they can be adapted to his use. Information regarding the early stages of Aryan life is meager. Enough has been established, however, to enable us to mark out the main lines of progress through the hunting, the fishing, the pastoral, and the agricultural stages, as well as to present the chief problems that confronted man in taking the first steps in the use of metals, and in the establishment of trade. Upon these lines, marked out by the geologist, the paleontologist, the archæologist, and the anthropologist, the first numbers of this series are based.

A generalized view of the main steps in the early progress of the race, which it is thus possible to present, is all that is required for educational ends. Were it possible to present the subject in detail, it would be tedious and unprofitable to all save the specialist. To select from the monotony of the ages that which is most vital, to so present it as to enable the child to participate in the process by which the race has advanced, is a work more in keeping with the spirit of the age. To this end the presentation of the subject is made: First, by means of questions, which serve to develop the habit of making use of experience in new situations; second, by narrative, which is employed merely as a literary device for rendering the subject more available to the child; and third, by suggestions for practical activities that may be carried out in hours of work or play, in such a way as to direct into useful channels energy which when left undirected is apt to express itself in trivial if not in anti-social forms. No part of a book is more significant to the child than the illustrations. In preparing the illustrations for this series as great pains have been taken to furnish the child with ideas that will guide him in his practical activities as to illustrate the text itself.

Mr. Howard V. Brown, the artist who executed the drawings, has been aided in his search for authentic originals by the late J. W. Powell, _director of the United States Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, D. C._; by Frederick J. V. Skiff, _director of the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago_, and by the author. Ethnological collections and the best illustrative works on ethnological subjects scattered throughout the country have been carefully searched for material.

I wish to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Professor Dewey for the suggestions he has given me with reference to this series, and to acknowledge that without the inspiration that has come through his teaching I should probably never have undertaken a work of this kind. Among the many friends to whom I am indebted for help and inspiration, I would mention especially, Professor W. I. Thomas and Professor Ella Flagg Young, _of the University of Chicago_; Superintendent F. A. Manny, _of the Ethical Culture Schools, New York City_; Mrs. Charlotte W. Williams, _of Chicago_; my sister, Miss Elspa M. Dopp, _of the State Normal School, St. Cloud, Minn._; and Mr. W. W. Charters, _of the University of Chicago_. To the late Director J. W. Powell, _of the United States Bureau of Ethnology_, and to Director Frederick J. V. Skiff, _of the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago_, I am under obligations for courtesies extended which have enabled me to gain access to illustrative materials. For the practical proof that work of this kind is feasible, and that it supplies a genuine need in elementary education, I am indebted to the hearty coöperation of students and fellow-teachers of several states.

K. E. D.

_February 1, 1904._

CONTENTS

PAGE
_Dedication_ 7
_Preface_ 8
_Contents_ 12
_Illustrations_ 13

THE EARLY CAVE-MEN

THE AGE OF COMBAT

PAGE
Why People Wanted to Live in Caves 15
How the Fire Clan Got a Cave 18
The First Night in the Cave 24
How the Fire Clan Got Rid of Sabre-tooth 27
Preparations for the Feast 32
The Feast 35
How the Cave was Made Ready for a Winter Home 40
How the Cave-men Bored Holes Through Their Trophies 43
Making New Weapons 50
How the Women Dressed Sabre-tooth’s Skin 55
How the Cave-men Made Clothing 58
The Fire Clan 60
How the Cave-men Spent the Winter 64
What the Cave-men Got from the Birch Trees 66
The Flood 71
What the Cave-men Lost in the Flood 79
The Council 82
The Way to the Fire Country 88
How Firekeeper Made the Skin Water Bag 92
Why Firekeeper Made a Door 96
The Stranger that Came Toward the Cave 100
The Journey to the Fire Country 103
The Return from the Fire Country 107
Strongarm Makes a Great Discovery 112
How the Cave-men Received Strongarm 115
The Thanksgiving Feast 118
What the Women Got from Spruce Trees 121
How the Women Made Splints for Baskets 126
How the Women Wove Splints 130
How the Women Colored their Baskets 134
How the Cave-men Carried their Burdens 139
A Mammoth Hunt 143
How the Cave-men Divided the Mammoth 147
Strongarm Tells Firekeeper His Secret 150
How People Know What the Cave-men Did 155
_Suggestions to Teachers_ 159

ILLUSTRATIONS

FULL PAGE

PAGE
_A map of the Cave-men’s country_ Frontispiece
“_They wished they might have his cave for a home_” 14
“_Sabre-tooth was going away_” 19
“_She stood trembling so that she could hardly speak_” 22
_The Feast_ 37
_The Flood_ 76
“_The old man arose in the silence, and thus he spoke to his
people_” 84
“_Then the old man and Sharpeyes took leave of their kinfolk
and started out on the long journey_” 91
“_They rushed upon him with their knives and spears_” 98
“_They carried him into the cave_” 102
“_They watched the fire dart up toward the sky_” 105
“_They shouted praises to the fire god_” 119
“_They broke off slender branches_” 124
_Making splints for baskets_ 127
“_They rested the strap upon the forehead_” 141
_A mammoth hunt_ 145
“_It was here that he showed Firekeeper how to make fire_” 151

TEXT
_Firekeeper carrying wood_ 25
_A flint point_ 28
_A hunting knife_ 28
_Fastening the shaft to a branch_ 30
_Sabre-tooth pinned to the ground_ 31
_The two large sabre teeth_ 33
_A stone hammer and stone ax_ 34
_A gourd_ 36
_A marrow spoon_ 38
_Children carrying moss and leaves_ 42
_Strongarm_ 45
_A weighted strap drill_ 48
_A bow drill_ 49
_Making bones into weapons_ 51
_Chipping the stones_ 52
_A hammer stone, with bone handle_ 52
_Putting handles on the spearheads_ 53
_A hammer made by Sharpeyes_ 53
_A handle made of a forked branch_ 54
_The women dressing skins_ 55
_Two sides of a scraper_ 56
_A bone awl_ 59
_A buckle_ 59
_A skin cradle_ 62
_How they rocked the babies_ 63
_A birch bark basket_ 68
_A basket with rim_ 70
_Cave-men watching the river_ 73
_The cave_ 78
_How the sandal was worn_ 88
_A sandal and a tool bag_ 89
_A gourd_ 94
_A rhinoceros_ 108
_Making fire with a strap drill_ 112
_A drill_ 114
_The hearth of a fire drill_ 114
_Strongarm making fire_ 115
_Cave-men dancing around the fire_ 116
_Pounding the stems_ 129
_Woven splints_ 131
_Firm and strong weaving_ 132
_A strong basket_ 133
_Methods of weaving and coloring baskets_ 135, 136, 137, 138
_How the Cave-men carried baskets_ 139
_A basket with a handle_ 140
_A pad for the forehead_ 140
_A bone whistle_ 143
_Returning from the feast_ 148, 149
_A bow drill made into a fire drill_ 153
_A fire drill_ 154
_A spearhead_ 157
_Mammoths_ 158
_Making a fire drill_ 183

THE EARLY CAVE-MEN

THE AGE OF COMBAT