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THE RISE OF MAN. 



thus the pot was invented not by the wisdom of man but 

 by nature, who, as it were, taught him the object lesson ; 

 and man's merit consists only in having attained through 

 previous object lessons the ability to understand the lesson. 

 How long it sometimes took men to learn a lesson 

 taught by nature is difficult to say. But certain it is that 



AN AMERICAN INDIAN MAKING FIRE. 



even to-day all inventions are made in the same way. 

 Nature teaches the lesson, and we are her disciples. The 

 higher we rise, the more quickly we can climb ; and this 

 produces the impression that we could climb in any direc- 

 tion we please ; but we can not, and our inventive gen- 



