But  as  savagery  gives  place  to  civilization,  man  frees  himself  more  and
more  from  those  bonds  which  bound  him  so  closely  to  nature.  Slowly
and  painfully  at  first,  and  then  far  more  rapidly  and  easily,  he  learns
to  control  his  material  surroundings.  He  breaks  the  prairie  with  the
plow,  makes  the  beasts  of  the  field  his  servants,  strikes  the  pick  into  the
mountain  and  the  axe  into  the  veteran  of  the  forest.  He  now  no
longer  waits  upon  the  seasons.  He  builds  himself  a  house  against  the
cold  and  warms  himself  to  the  point  of  comfort  in  the  midst  of  the
winter  blast.  Instead  of  passively  accepting  the  wild  fruits  as  they
ripen  he  compels  the  soil  to  yield  a  harvest  a  millionfold  more  abundant,
and  this  harvest  he  stores  up  against  days  of  want.  Instead  of  migrat-
ing with  the  birds  he  fixes  his  home  where  he  will,  and  pursues  his
work  and  his  pleasure  in  his  own  time.
Discovery  and  invention  place  new  implements  in  his  hands.  With
his  intelligence  quickened  and  his  body  trained  by  new  experience  and
new  occupations,  he  continues  to  increase  his  mastery  over  time,  tem-
perature, and  place.  New  material  riches  become  available.  He  is  able
to  satisfy  his  wants  more  readily  and  more  certainly  than  ever  before.
The  standard  of  his  living  is  raised.  He  now  possesses  and  enjoys,
besides  all  that  his  fathers  required,  a  host  of  things  of  which  they  knew
nothing.  Wants  multiply  with  prosperity,  till  his  life  becomes  highly
complex.  He  is  lord  of  nature,  because  he  has  learned  how  to  appro-
priate her  resources.
