The Romance of Modern Mechanism: with original illustrations

the beginning a man depended for his subsistence entirely upon his own efforts, or upon those of his immediate relations and friends. Life was very simple in those days: luxury being unknown, and necessity the factor which guided man's actions at every turn. With infinite labour he ground a flint till it assumed the shape of a rough arrow-head, to be attached to a reed and shot into the heart of some wild beast as soon as he had approached close enough to be certain of his quarry. The meat thus obtained he seasoned with such roots and herbs as nature provided-a poor and scanty choice
With the advent of the steam-engine all industry bounded forward again. First harnessed by Watt, Giant Steam has become a commercial and political power. Everywhere, in mill and factory, locomotive, ship, it has increased the products which lend ease and comfort to modern life; it is the great ally of invention, and the ultimate agent for transporting men and material from one point on the earth's surface to another.
Try as we may, we cannot escape from our environment of mechanism, unless we are content to revert to the loincloth and spear of the savage. Society has become so complicated that the utmost efforts of an individual are, after all, confined to a very narrow groove. The days of the Jack-of-all-trades are over. Success in life, even bare subsistence, depends on the concentration of one's faculties upon a very limited daily routine. "Let the cobbler stick to his last" is a maxim which carries an ever-increasing force.
The better to realise how dependent we are on the mechanisms controlled by the thousand and one classes of workmen, let us consider the surroundings, possessions, and movements of the average, well-to-do business man.