"In this little book I have sought, in a series of stories or sketches, to present only the first steps in human progress. Man has risen from a stage of lowest savagery, little higher than the apes, buffeted by the hand of Nature, dependent upon the wild game he might kill or the food he found ready to hand, a fearing and a furtive creature of the forests and of the plains, preyed upon by a thousand stronger foes, to a being able to provide warmth and clothing and shelter against the rains and the cold and food against the seasons. He has become a master instead of a plaything of the elements. In a large measure he has become arbiter of his own food supply and, hence, his own destiny. He has subjugated, in a marvelous degree, the forces of Nature and harnessed them to his needs." - Summary by the author