The Discovery of Fire

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Part of The Young Citizen: The Magazine for Young People

Title: The Discovery of Fire
Year: 1941
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Fulltext: 202 THE YOUNG CITIZEN ]UNE, 1941 THE DISCOVERY OF FIRE An Imaginative True Story THE MAN was a savage-a prehistoric savage who lived thousands and thousands of years ago. He crouched on the rock beach, intent on his work. He had found a piece of dark, smooth stone, almost the right shape for a hand ax. With a rock which he held in his right hand he was chipping the dark stone to a thinner, sharper· edge. It was slow work, but the man knew of no other way to make tools and weapons. And these a man must have, for otherwise how could he eat, or even protect himself and his children from being killed by the great ·cave bear, or eaten by the terrible saber-toothed tiger? The man shivered a little, for the wind was very cold, and jie felt the chill even through the thick, shaggy bear-skin that he was wearing. The stone with which he was hammering did not work as well as he wished; so he looked around him, selected another that fitted his hand better, and returned to his work of patient pounding and chipping. Then a strange thing happened .. When he struck the dark stone with the new stone rock that he had picked up, suddenly little bright points of light flew from. it. The man dropped the rock, a bit frightened. There must be magic in this! But after. a while, curiosity overcame his fear, and he picked up his hammer, eager to see whether the same thing would happen a second time. Again spar ks flew as he struck the stones together. His cour"age ~ose. He crashed the rocks, and a shower of sparks flew from them. One spark happened by. chance to hit a crumpled dry leaf that lay near by, and at once it flamed into· orange light. The man had never seen fire before, .except once during a great storm, when flame from the sky struck a tall tree iri the forest, and with a terrible roar one tree after another had vanished in heat and choking smoke and red glare. But this was a little tame fire, not at all like the monster that had devoured the forest. Tlie tiny flame paled and went out, and the leaf was gone. But no other harm was done, so this magic could not be too terrible. The man gathered several dry leaves, heaped them into a little pile, and, somewhat frightened by his own daring, he struck his magic stones together again and again. He had to try a number of times before one of the points of light hit his little leaf pile. Then the miracle happened once more. . This time the orange"light flamed higher and gave a warmth pleasant to the man's chilled fingers. The man jumped up and picked up his two precious stones. He would go back and show the others the great feat he could do. He· was almost as proud of it as if he had been able to kill one of the great beasts that crashed through the forest at night, shaking the earth with thei"r weight, and making men tremble in their caves. He could show the tribe something which none of them had ever seen before, .and they would honor him as a great man. In silent wonder, mixed with fear, the men watched his excited gestures and }UN•, 1941 THE YOUNG CITIZEN 203 listened to his halting story. He used grunts and signs more· than· words, because he could not talk as we do. He showed them'. the magic of the crashing rocks. From that time the tribe treated him with great r.espect. The man was now something.more than a good worker -he was a magician. After awhile in what is now France where this tribe lived, the days grew colder and the length of daylight shortened. Dark clouds were in the sky, and white flakes of snow fell. .. Again and again during the cold days that followed he tried to work his magic, and one day he succeeded. The pile of leaves flamed into sudden warmth and brightness. Shouting with joy, the man heaped more leaves on the first ones. There were a few small twigs inixed in with the leaves, and these snapped and crackled in the blaze. A wa·rmth like sunshine spread from this beautiful, leaping creature. The man had done another great magic. Then the other tribesmen began to search for 1I1agic stones like those of this man. They spent many weary days striking pieces of rock together in their hunt for the kind that could summon heat and light and beauty. Finally they found a few of the magic stones. Late. one day when it was beginning to· get dark, the man returned to the cave. The air inside seemed even colder than the world without. Somehow into the mind of the man came the thought' o f h is ·magic st ones and the pleasant warmth that had flared up for a moment when the spark fired the dry leaves. How good Man's Fiqt Mastery of Fire But all of the tr i bes me n had very much to learn about the strange creature they had it had felt to his cold fingers! Could he do it·again? He went and got his treasured ston.es from their hiding place, and gathered a few leaves. At first the man did not. succeed in his attempt. The dead le. aves which he had collected were wet from ·the melting snow. The bright shower of sparks that flashed from the stones he struck together vanished. They left no orange glow from the wet leaves.· But the man knew.how to be patient. managed to bring into their caves. If the pile Of leaves ·and twigs were- small, the creature would be gentle and warm their hands, but if the pile were large, the flames were angry and filled the air with a whiteness that hurt the• eyes and stung the throat. And never must they .try to touch this creature. If they stood at'a tittle distance from the flames, their bodies were pleasantly warmed, but if ·one was too greedy (Pltast Jurn to page 223.) ]UNE, 19+1 THE YOUNG CITIZEN 22j of fire for warmth. AN HOUR GLASS (Continued from page 215) DISCOVERY OF FIRE· (Continued from page 203) ly in a fine but constant for the heat, the fire leaped, il. What things did these men learn about fire? How? stream. Turning this bot- and terribkpain struck the 9. Did this story interest tie upside down on the top hand that dared to touch 1t. you? Why? of the other, as shown in It must b~ a sacred _thing 10. Tell this story in your the picture, we let the sand 1 . not to be treated without own word·s. respect 11. Why will the stone run for an hour and then Afte~ this all the tribes- called "flint" make a spark take the top bottle oft We men used the strange when struck?. (See the remove the rubber cover- brightness for warmth on word "flint" in the encycloing, and tie it on the second cold days. But they soon pedia.) bottle, into which the sand learned that almost any- 12. Was flint useful iri has run for exactly an hour. thing they left near it making a fire before matchThen, after removing the would be destroyed by the es were invented? surplus sand from the first leaping flames, and noth- 13. How were the first bottle, we invert the other ing would be left behind guns fired? ·(See the encyover it, and let the sand but a gray powder. So clopedia.) slowly run back, checking whatever they cared for 14. What causes the fire it carefully to see that it they kept out 0f the fire's to burn? takes exactly an hour io run reach, and little by little 15. Why must a small fire through. th_ey learned haw ~0. hve have air in order to burn? Then, keeping the bottles with the strange spmt. 16. Wh will coal burn? h h . Thus probably occurred Y . one over t e ot er m the h d" f fi h 17 Why will a rock not "t" h . · h . t e 1scovery o re t ou- · pos1 wn s_ own m t e p_1c- sands and thoµsands and burn? ture, we bmd some adhesive thousands of 'years ago by 18. Make a·Jist of the usetape round and round the h · t · ful purposes of fire, such as necks to keep them togeth- pre is one man. heating, cooking, etc. er, and our hour-glass is 19. If fire gets beyond complete and ready for use. REVIEW QUESTIONS control, what is the result? I. Why is this called "an 20. Have you heard the imaginative true" story? old saying that "fire is a 2. Tell how the prehis- useful servant, but a cruel · toric man secured a spark master"? A JUMPING FROG (Continued from pagt 215) as in the picture. Having of fire. 21. Is this true? How is pulled the stick over, lay 3. Wha_t did he think of it true? the bone, or frog on a table, it? Why? . 22. Do you know how to and in a moment or two the 4. What happened next start a fire with bamboo glue will cease to hold, and probably? sticks? Tell about it. the springiness of the 5. Had the man ever 23. Why will a magnifytwisted string will cause seen a forest fire? ing glass start a fire? the boire to jump quite a 6. What had caused it? 24. Why will wat¢r "put distance. 7.' Tell of the discovery out" fire?