CONQUERING NATURE When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, And hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field ; And whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea. THE BIBLE. Man is the only creature who walks erect, who smiles and laughs, who can speak and write, who has a sense of right and wrong, and who is able to think and plan. It is probably the possession of these five powers which has made man superior to the beasts, and which has enabled him to conquer nature's forces and materials. His ability to walk erect left his arms and hands free to meet dangers which he could not have overcome if he had been forced to go on all fours like a dog; his smile, his sense of humor, helped him to get along with his companions; his ability to speak and write made it easy for him to work with other people; his sense of right and wrong, causing him to respect the rights of others, promoted good feeling and co-operation; his power to think and plan enabled him to master difficulties and to conquer obstacles far beyond the capacity of the lower animals. Indeed it is hard to see how man could have solved the problems he faced if, like the beasts, he had lacked these five marvelous possessions. The story of man's progress is largely the story of the use of his unique powers in the conquest of nature. Slowly and patiently he found out the secret of nature's laws, learned how to tame the wild grasses and the wild animals, discovered how to build a shelter from the storm, and learned how to master the winds and to compel even fire and air to do his bidding. The fascinating story of victories like these is told in the following selections. CHOOSE A BOOK (Select the book you think you will like best and read it at home while the class is studying this unit.) 1. Bullen, Frank T., The Cruise of the Cachalot. Appleton. The story of the adventures of the crew of a New England whaling-vessel on the hunt for "ile" in the old days of sails, hand harpoons, and hand lances. 2. Hugo, Victor, Toilers of the Sea. Crowell. Man's struggle with nature the winter, the sea, the hurricane, the octopus-occupy the centre of the stage in this stirring novel, whose scene is laid in the little Isle of Guernsey, just off the coast of France. 3. Knowles, Joseph, Alone in the Wilderness. Small. The story of a man who, on a wager, goes to live alone for two months in the Maine woods, taking with him neither food, clothing, nor utensils of any kind. 4. Leith, C. K., and Leith, A. T., A Summer and Winter on Hudson Bay. Cantwell Printing Co., Madison, Wis. The adventures of two men in the wilds of the Hudson Bay country. 5. London, Jack, The Cruise of the Snark. Donohue. The account of a cruise around the world, in a forty-three-foot boat, by the author, his wife, and three other people. 6. Nansen, Fridtjof, The First Crossing of Greenland. Longmans. The adventurous journey across Greenland on skis and snow-shoes of the Arctic explorer Nansen and five companions, illustrated with many drawings and pictures. Nansen's Farthest North is also a stirring narrative of victories over nature in polar latitudes. 7. Newbolt, Henry, The Book of the Long Trail. Longmans. This book contains true stories of contests with nature, of struggles against odds and obstacles, of the daring and the heroism of nine great explorers: John Franklin, David Livingstone, Henry M. Stanley, Robert Burke, William J. Wills, Francis Younghusband, Robert F. Scott, and Alexander Wollaston. 8. Reynolds, Minnie J., How Man Conquered Nature. Macmillan. The author describes the most important steps in the conquest of nature by primitive man. 9. Roosevelt, Theodore, Episodes from the Winning of the West. Putnams. This book is made up of dramatic pages from the conquest of the West by such pioneers of courage as Daniel Boone, John Sevier, and David Robert son. 10. Schultz, James W., With the Indians in the Rockies. Houghton. The adventures of two boys in the Rocky Mountains, as told by a man who knows much about woodcraft and nature. II. Slocum, Joshua, Around the World in the Sloop Spray. Century. The adventures of Captain Slocum, who sailed alone around the world in a small sloop rebuilt by himself. 12. Slusser, Effie Young; Williams, Mary Belle; and Beeson, Emma Burbank, Stories of Luther Burbank and His Plant School. Scribner. The childhood, school days, discoveries, and creations of Luther Burbank, "lover of plants and lover of children." 13. Stewart, Elinor P., Letters of a Woman Homesteader. Houghton. Work and fun and romance on a Western ranch as pictured with humor by a woman who with her small daughter went to Wyoming as housekeeper for a well-to-do Scotchman. 14. Tappan, Eva March, Diggers in the Earth. Houghton. The digging of coal, the quarrying of stone, the mining of gold, silver, iron, and copper, and the obtaining of petroleum and salt, are among the topics treated in a simple and concrete way in this book. The author's Farmer and His Friends is an equally vivid picture of man's cultivation of the soil and his use of domesticated animals. 15. Verrill, Alpheus Hyatt, Marooned in the Forest. Harper. The experiences of a man who, owing to the death of his guide, found himself alone in a wilderness. The book tells how he won his struggle for life and finally made his way back to civilization. 16. White, Stewart Edward, The Blazed Trail. Grosset. A story of the hard and adventurous life of lumbermen and log-drivers in the logging-camps of Michigan in the days when the State was a centre of the lumber industry. 17. Wyss, Johann David, The Swiss Family Robinson. The adventures and victories over nature of a Swiss family who were shipwrecked on a lonely island in the South Pacific. |