There were no books, pens, paper or ink, and no glass in the openings they believed to be windows.
It is a little thing--glass is--until it is absent, then it becomes a big thing.

But perhaps the worst of all was, that there wasn't any sugar, coffee, tea, or tobacco.

I saw that I was just another Robinson Crusoe cast away on an uninhabited island, with no society but some more or less tame animals, and if I wanted to make life bearable I must do as he did--invent, contrive, create, reorganize things; set brain and hand to work, and keep them busy.

Well, that was in my line.
One thing troubled me along at first--the immense interest which people took in me.

Apparently the whole nation wanted a look at me.