HOW OUR NATION GREW.

when your grandfather's grandfather was a small boy, that you would
think it was not possible for men to do without. When he was a boy,
the first spelling-book and the first geography had just been written
in America; the first brooms were made, the first city directory put
together, the first fire insurance company formed, the first iron
plough made, the first water carried in pipes under the city streets
and into the houses -and all these things were done by Americans
who were trying to do more and better than their fathers had
done.
 And before he grew to be a big boy other valuable things were
done. The first pins, the first pianos and the first carriages were made
in America; the first savings bank was founded, the first gas was made
for lighting streets and
houses; the first canal
was dug, the first fire-
bricks were made, the w
first numbering of houses
in city streets was done
the first paper from straw
and hay was made, the
first steam printing was
attempted, the first sew-
ing silk was made, the
first temperance society THE BEGINNING OF CHICAGO--THE FIRST HOUSES.
was formed, the first
steam railroad was built, the first telescope was constructed, and the
first axes and the first table knives were made steel knives with
forks of two tines.
 I do not mean to say that Americans first invented all these things.
Some of them had been known or tried in Europe before. But they
were all either invented or made for the first time in America by
Americans at the time of which I am writing.
 I need not tell you that because of these time and labor saving
inventions, and because of other inventions that have come later-
such as the telegraph, the sewing machine, the telephone, the electric