In the earliest days, there were no separate countries or kingdoms.  Men gathered together in little bands, each of which had its leader.  This leader was generally chosen because of his bodily strength and courage.  He was the best fighter of the tribe.  The people did not have any lasting homes.  They moved around from place to place, wherever they could find the best hunting and fishing.  When two tribes wanted the same hunting grounds, they fought, and the weaker party had to give way.  Selfishness was supreme.  If a man wanted anything which belonged to his weaker neighbor, he simply beat this neighbor over the head with his club, and took it.  The stronger tribe attacked the weaker, without any thought of whether or not its quarrel was just.

Gradually, in the southern and warmer parts of Europe, the tribes began to be more civilized.  Towns sprang up.  Ships were built.  Trade came to be one of the occupations.  The fighting men needed weapons and armor; so there grew up artisans who were skilled in working metals.  In Egypt and Syria there were people who had reached quite a high degree of civilization, and gradually the Europeans learned from them better ways of living.  First the Greeks, then the Etruscans (E-trus’cans), a people who lived in Italy just north of where Rome now is, and finally the southern Italians learned that it was possible to live in cities, without hunting and plundering.  Grazing (the tending of flocks of animals) came to be the occupation of many.  The owners of sheep or cattle drove their flocks from place to place, as grass and water failed them where they were.  There was no separate ownership of land.

At last came the rise of the city of Rome, which, starting out as the stronghold of a little gang of robbers, spread its rule gradually over all the surrounding country.  By this time, the barbarians of northern Europe had gotten past the use of clubs as weapons.  They, too, had learned to make tools and arms of bronze, and those living near civilized countries had obtained swords of iron.  The club, however, still remained as the sign of authority.  The large bludgeon of the chief was carried before the tribe as a sign of his power over them.  You have all seen pictures of a king sitting on his throne and holding a wand or stick in his right hand.  It is interesting to think that this scepter, which the present king of England carries on state occasions to remind his people of his power, is a relic of the old, old days when his grandfather, many times removed, broke the head of his rival for leadership in the tribe and set up his mighty club for his awestruck people to worship.