_Lesson I._ The inexperienced child may think of a cave as a dark, damp place, fit only for the habitation of wild animals. The cave as a habitation for man is a new idea and cannot be understood unless it is related to the natural and social conditions which prevailed during the earliest stages of culture. The child who has read _The Tree-Dwellers_ knows that before people learned to use fire, the caves were inhabited by the cave-bear, the cave-lion, the sabre-toothed _felis_, and by packs of spotted hyenas. He is prepared to understand why people were glad to live in caves. To help the child who has not had such a preparation understand this fact, ask him to think of a time when people had no shelter except the trees, no clothing except the skins of wild animals, no food except wild roots, fruits, and nuts, and no fire. After he has considered man’s life under such conditions, tell him of the conquest of fire, and of the changes effected in social life by its use. Help him to see that fire was man’s best means of protection at that time, for it was greatly feared by wild animals. By means of a free conversation about the points that the child may have difficulty in understanding, he will get a conception of man’s life before he lived in caves, and this is the best basis for understanding why people wanted a cave for a home. If the child is not familiar with wooded hills, grassy plains, and dense forests, make use of field trips, of views from windows in high buildings, and of pictures to get a conception of them, and provide an opportunity for him to express his idea by modeling in sand. (See _The Tree-Dwellers_, pp. 18-27.) Encourage the child to invent ways of getting a cave from a wild animal, but hold him responsible for the use of only such means as the cave-men had. The child who would use a gun, or even a bow and arrow, must learn that these devices were not yet invented, and that man had to use his mind to devise some way of conquering the wild beasts without the aid of such weapons. _References_: Katharine E. Dopp, _The Place of Industries in Elementary Education_, pp. 16-25. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1903. _The Tree-Dwellers_, pp. 89-101, 149, 150. Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co., 1903. _Lesson II._ Although the main point of interest in this lesson is the way the fire clan takes possession of the cave, this social interest may be used as a means of learning various facts regarding the changes that take place in the natural world during late autumn. When such phenomena are seen as forces affecting the activities of man and of animals, they become interesting to the child. But if isolated from all social interests, if learned at all, they are carried as a dead weight. Encourage the child to act out the simple movements depicted in the story. At first this may be done during hours of play, but as teacher and children become accustomed to it, it should become a regular feature of the school work.