The Cave Boy of the Age of Stone
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"I give you the eye of the eagle, To find the rabbit's heart. I give you the eye of the eagle, To find the rabbit's heart."
And the mother sings to the child:
"Though a baby, Soon a-hunting after berries Will be going."
Early men believed that since they themselves are alive and move, allother things that move also are alive, and have feelings and likes anddislikes as men have. The rustling leaves, the waving grass, a rollingstone, a drifting cloud, the rising moon--all are to them alive, andmany of them are to be feared.
The speech of the cave and the shell men was made up of few words, andthe meaning was helped out by motions of the hands and body. They knewlittle outside of their forest life, and probably could not countbeyond three. But the power to grow was in them, and from such rudebeginnings came the men who built the cities of Paris and London.
CHAPTER XIX
THE PEOPLE OF OUR TIME WHO WERE MOST LIKE THE CAVE MEN
Up to a short time ago, on the island of Tasmania, near Australia,there lived a people more nearly like the cave men than any people weknow about. Their weapons were made of limestone and were withouthandles, because they did not know how to fix handles to them. Theirboat was a raft of bark bundles and was pushed by a pole. They livedunder shelters made of boughs, and made fire by twirling a stick on apiece of soft wood. They drew rude pictures on bark; and they werequick and cunning about hunting, but knew little more. They believedthat the shadow of a thing was its other self--the self that traveledin dreams and that lived after the body died; and that the echo was thetalking shadow. Like the cave men these people were hunters, withoutany tamed animal to help them.
A flint knife; found in Australia]
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS
The teacher who wishes to make the most of this work will take herclass to visit a museum, if a museum is available; or, if not, she willdo what she can to show her class actual specimens of the thingsdescribed in the story.
In a museum primitive implements should be observed, and specimens ofanimals and birds. Pictures of caves, pieces of stalactites,stalagmites, of limestone, quartz, and flint would be of value, eitherseen in the museum or, better still, looked at and handled in theclassroom as the story is read. A tendon procured from the butcher anddried for a few weeks and then pulled to pieces would show primitivethread.
Out of doors a limestone cliff showing stratification would be the bestkind of illustration to explain both the formation of caves and thegradual burying and preservation of animal bones and other primitiverelics.
In the schoolroom, again, on a large stand might be made a model of ahilly country. A cave could be shown, shaped of two upright stones anda crosspiece, the whole covered with sods and earth; and animals andmen might be made of paper or of clay.
Various scenes from the story are adapted to dramatization; forinstance, the visit of the cave bear, the making of fire, work in thestone yard, or the feast of mammoth's meat.
For those who wish to read further in a subject so suggestive along thelines, not only of social life, but of history, geography, and naturestudy, the following books will be full of interest:
The Story of Primitive Man. _Clodd_. _D. Appleton & Company_, 50cents. (If only one book on the subject is purchased, this is the mostvaluable for the price.)
Early Man in Britain. _Dawkins_.
Cave Hunting. _Dawkins_.
Ancient Stone Implements. _Evans_.
Primitive Man. _Figuier_.
The Origin of Inventions. _Mason_.
Woman's Share in Primitive Culture. _Mason_.
Some First Steps in Primitive Culture. _Starr_.
Myths and Dreams. _Clodd_.
Primitive Culture. _Tylor_.
Prehistoric Times. _Lubbock_.
Animals of the Past. _Lucas_.
The Beginnings of Art. _Grosse_.
Prehistoric Europe. _Geikie_.
Materiaux. _Massenet_.
Phases of Animal Life, Past and Present. _Lyddecker_.
Royal Natural History. _Lyddecker_.
Ancient Quarry Sites. _Holmes_.
The Language of Paleolithic Man. _Brinton_.
Ancient Society. _Morgan_.
The Descent of Man. _Darwin_.
The Voyage of the Vega. _Nordenskjoeld_.
The History of America, Vol. I. _Payne_.
The Story of Ab. _Waterloo_.
THE AUTHOR