The Later Cave-Men Part 10

They had such a merry time that Fleetfoot could not keep still. He was soon stamping and singing as well as any one.

When the skins were softened, Antler told Fleetfoot that once her people chewed the skins. But since they had found an easier way, they chewed only the edges they wished to sew.

And so Fleetfoot began to learn lessons of the Bison clan. But once he was the teacher. It was when he showed Flaker what happened the day Pigeon played with hot stones. Flaker told his mother, and Antler told Greybeard. And then Greybeard asked Fleetfoot to drop the hot stones in the water again.

All the Cave-men gathered around to see what Fleetfoot did. When the steam began to rise from the water, they stepped back. But when they saw that the child was not afraid, they came forward cautiously.

When the water began to bubble, they were all filled with fear. They looked upon Fleetfoot in silence. They called him a wonderful child.

#THINGS TO DO#

_Tell a story about dressing skins. Draw pictures which will show all that is done in dressing the skin._

_Dramatize the part of the story that tells what Fleetfoot taught the Bison clan. Draw a picture of it._

_Make a song that people might sing in stamping upon the skins._

_Make a song to sing while beating the skins._

XVI

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

What kind of clothes do you wear in winter? What do you think the Cave-men wore? Can you think how they learned to fit skins to their bodies? What part of an animal's skin could they use for sleeves?

What part could they use for leggings?

How do you think they learned to make mittens and gloves?

How many ways do you know of fastening garments? Which of these do we use? Which of these do you think the Cave-men used?

What did they use instead of a needle? What kind of thread did they have?

[Ill.u.s.tration: "_Greybeard asked Fleetfoot to drop the hot stones in the water again._"]

_How the Cave-men Protected Themselves from the Cold_

One morning Fleetfoot started out of the cave, but a cold wind drove him back. Snow had fallen during the night, and the air had grown very cold. It was not fit for a bare-backed boy to go out on such a day. So Fleetfoot stayed in the cave all day long.

All the Cave-men stayed in the cave nearly all the day. Once Chipper went out and found fresh tracks. He followed the tracks until he came within close range of a reindeer. But his bare arms shook with the cold, and he missed his aim.

The next day was bitterly cold. The river was frozen almost into silence. Only the ripples of the swiftest currents laughed aloud at the frost. The snow was deep on the hillsides. It was deeper in the valleys, and the narrow ravines were almost filled with snow.

The third day was still very cold and everybody was hungry and cross.

The children were crying for food, and since Antler had nothing to give them, she was trying to get them to play.

At length the children began to take turns at playing they were cave-bears. Now it was Fleetfoot's turn to be the bear, and when Antler saw him she laughed.

The Cave-men looked up in surprise. Everybody was so hungry and cross it seemed strange to hear any one laugh. But Antler really was laughing.

Fleetfoot had found a cave-bear's skin on a ledge in the cave. He had wrapped it around him so that he looked like a little cave-bear. The children kept calling him "little bear," and he was trying to act like one.

Soon all the people were laughing. They forgot, for the time, how hungry they were. And the next day they had meat, for it was warm enough to go hunting.

Many times after that the children played cave-bear. Many times the people laughed when they saw the children dressed in cave-bears'

skins. Once when Antler looked at them, she got an idea about making clothes.

When Antler took a large skin and wrapped it around her, Fleetfoot thought that she was going to play "bear." But Antler was not playing.

She was thinking of the cold days when the children had no food. She was thinking that if she could make a warm dress, perhaps she could go out in the bitter cold.

Antler talked with Birdcatcher about it, and Birdcatcher helped her fit the skin. Birdcatcher fitted the skin of the head over Antler's head so as to make a warm hood. Then she run a cord through the slits along the edges and tied the ends under Antler's chin.

Antler fastened the skin down the front with buckles. She covered her arms with the skin of the forelegs. She cut off the skin that hung below the knees, and afterward used it to make a pair of leggings.

When the garment was fitted, Antler took it off. Then the women sat down and worked until it was done. They punched holes through the edges with a bone awl. Then they threaded the sinew through the holes in an "over-and-over seam."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "_When the men saw the new garment, they wondered how it was made._"]

When the men saw the new garment, they wondered how it was made. So Antler and Birdcatcher showed them how it was done, and helped them to make warm garments of their own.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A Cave-man's glove._]

And so all the Cave-men soon had warm garments of fur. Sometimes they fastened them with buckles, and sometimes they used bone pins. They made long leggings of soft skins, and moccasins for their feet.

Perhaps you can think how they learned to make mittens and gloves. We know that they had warm mittens and gloves, for we have found pictures they made of them. When they dressed in their warm fur garments, the Cave-men did not fear the cold. If they wanted food, they put on their garments and went wherever they pleased.

#THINGS TO DO#

_If you can get a small skin, fit it to a doll the way you think the Cave-men fitted skins to their bodies. If you cannot get a skin, cut a piece of cloth so as to make it the shape of a skin, and show how the new suit was made._

_Find as many things as you can that you can use for pins, b.u.t.tons, and buckles._

_Find as many ways as you can of sewing a simple seam. When you go to a museum notice how the seams are sewed. Why do you think people invented new st.i.tches? Visit a shoemaker and notice how he sews._

_Draw one of these pictures:_-- _The cold wind drives Fleetfoot into the cave._ _Playing "Cave-bear."_

XVII

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT