3　Fire！Fire！Fire！

The first things are usually the most interesting—the first baby,the first tooth,the first step,the first word,the first spanking. This book will be chiefly the story of first things；those that came second or third or fourth or fifth you can read about and study later.

Primitive people did not at first know what fire was. They had no matches nor any way of making a light or a fire.They had no light at night.They had no fire to warm themselves by.They had no fire with which to cook their food.Somewhere and sometime,we do not know exactly when or how,they found out how to make and use fire.

If you rub your hands together rapidly,they become warm. Try it.If you rub them together still more rapidly,they become hot.If you rub two sticks together rapidly,they become warm.If you rub them together still more rapidly,they become hot.If you rub two sticks together very,very,very rapidly,they become hot and at last,if you keep it up long enough and fast enough,are set on fire.Native Americans and Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts do this and make a fire by twisting one stick against another.

This was one of the first inventions,and this invention was as remarkable for them at that time as the invention of electric light in our own times.