The earliest remains of man are very similar in all lands.
They consist of weapons of war and of the chase, implements of
domestic use, and articles of personal adornment. Few and simple
as they are, they are capable of imparting useful information as
to early times. By their aid we become eye-witnesses of the
daily life of primitive man. We learn that though lacking in
almost every thing we consider essential for comfort and
happiness, yet they were actuated by much the same hopes and
fears as the men of the present age. The great burden of life
was the same then as now. There was the same round of daily
labor made necessary by the same ceaseless struggle for
existence. Rude forts and warlike implements show there was the
same encroachment of the strong on the weak as now.

This is a wonderful age in many respects. In none, however, more
wonderful than in the wide-spread diffusion of knowledge.
The ordinary people now understand more of nature's secrets than
the wise men of old. They are to-day interested in researches
that a former generation would have relegated to the scholar and
the man of leisure. No department of knowledge is retained for
the researches of a favored few. The farmer, the mechanic, and
the man of business are alike interested in a knowledge of
prehistoric times. The rude implements of the past appeal to the
curiosity of all. We arise from a study of the past with clearer
ideas of man's destiny. Impressed with the great advancement in
man's condition from the rude savagery of the drift, to the
enlightened civilization of to-day, what may we not hope the
advancement will be during the countless ages we believe a
beneficent Providence has in store for his creature, man?