The Tree-Dwellers Part 1

The Tree-Dwellers.

by Katharine Elizabeth Dopp.

PREFACE

The series, of which this is the first 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 const.i.tuted 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 partic.i.p.ate 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 c.u.mulative results of value in explaining our own inst.i.tutions, 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 archaeologist, 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 partic.i.p.ate 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 ill.u.s.trations. In preparing the ill.u.s.trations 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 ill.u.s.trate 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 ill.u.s.trative works on ethnological subjects scattered throughout the country have been carefully searched for material.

I wish to take this opportunity to express my grat.i.tude 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. To Dr. W. I. Thomas, _professor of sociology and anthropology in the University of Chicago_, I am indebted for suggestions upon anthropological phases of many of the subjects presented. To Dr. S. W.

Williston, _professor of paleontology in the University of Chicago_, I am indebted for a careful examination of the book from the standpoint of the paleontologist. Among the many friends who have given me help and inspiration, I would mention especially, 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 ill.u.s.trative materials.

K. E. D.

THE TREE-DWELLERS

THE AGE OF FEAR

I.

_A Story of Long Ago_

This is a story of long ago.

It will tell you of the first people we know anything about.

It will tell you how they lived before they had fire.

It will tell you how they worked before they had tools.

Many wild beasts lived then.

They were fierce and strong.

All the people feared them.

The cave-bear could strike with his big paws.

The tiger could tear with his sharp teeth.

The rhinoceros could trample one under his feet.

Each animal knew how to do one thing well.

But the people could do a great many things.

They could remember, too, what had happened before.

They learned to profit by their mistakes.

You will learn how they became brave and strong.

You will learn how they used their bodies and minds.

They began the work we are doing to-day.

They took the first steps.

People who lived after them were able to do a little more.

The next people could do still more.

Many people have lived and worked since then.

The work they have done helps us to-day.

We have something to do, too.

We can do our part better if we know what others have done.

We can do it better if we learn to use our hands.

We can do it better if we learn to use our minds.

That is why we have this little book.

II.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

What do you need in order to live?

What do you think that the Tree-dwellers needed?

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A Tree-dweller chasing a young rabbit_]

_Sharptooth_

Sharptooth was a Tree-dweller.

She lived a long, long time ago.

She did not have any home.

n.o.body had a home then.

People wandered from place to place.

They had no shelter except the trees.

Each night Sharptooth slept in the branches.

Each day she hunted for something to eat.

Sometimes she was very hungry.

She had hard work to find enough food.