[Lesson XXX.] There are enough suggestions in this lesson to occupy the child for several days. Encourage him to experiment in natural methods of dyeing straw, grasses, reeds, and splints, by burying them in mud or in mud mixed with charcoal, by soaking them and exposing them to the warm sunshine, or by covering them in leaf mold. Let him test the natural materials in his environment that will yield color and invent ways of extracting it. If red chalk, ochre, hematite, or other mineral matter that may be used as a paint is found in its native state in the vicinity, let the child procure a small quantity and grind it to a fine powder. When mixed with water or with a fatty substance, it is ready to be used. The child may use it in decorating basketry, pottery, or some article that he may wish to have in his playhouse. If the child can see the paintings of primitive people, or illustrations of the same, it will serve to stimulate him to express his own ideas.
References: Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1884-5, pp. 216-217. Alice Morse Earle, Child Life in Colonial Days, p. 398. New York: The Macmillan Company. Otis Tufton Mason, Origins of Invention, pp. 226, 255. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
[Lesson XXXI.] Most of the primitive methods of carrying have survived to the present day and may be seen if one will take the trouble to look for them. The cave-men carried the smaller animals that they killed on their backs. The larger ones were too heavy to be carried in this way, and so the custom arose of dividing the carcass. The most desirable portions were cut out and carried home, while the remainder was left for the wolves and hyenas. Encourage the child to make a carrying strap that he can use in carrying his books or other objects.
References: Otis Tufton Mason, Origins of Invention, pp. 325-48. “Primitive Travel and Transportation,” Smithsonian Report, 1894, pp. 237-593.
[Lesson XXXII.] Until man had gained a mastery of the more dangerous animals, it is not likely that he hunted the mammoth. The cave-man must have longed, however, to capture one of these powerful beasts, and it is very probable that he would be quick to take advantage of a situation that offered him the opportunity for so doing. This lesson portrays such a situation.
The use of the bone whistle referred to is typical of the first use of musical instruments. The origin of the bone whistle was doubtless associated with the habit of sucking bones. Let the child experiment with whistles so as to discover ways of producing tones of different pitch.
[Lesson XXXIII.] The capture of such a large animal as the mammoth was the occasion for calling all of the people who were represented in the capture of it to the spot for a feast. The tusks at this time were prized as trophies; later they were used in the manufacture of tools and weapons. The examination of a mammoth’s skeleton will convince one that the tusks were not removed without many hard blows. An idea of the size of the head may be gained from the fact that a single tooth weighed seventeen pounds. This fact will mean little to the child until he tries to lift an object of nearly that weight.
The skin of the mammoth was so heavy that ten men could carry it with difficulty. It was a dark gray color, covered with three coats. The inner coat was a soft reddish wool about five inches long, which protected it from the cold. The second coat was a close-set, tolerably fine, fawn-colored hair. The third or outermost coat was long, black, bristle-like hair which protected it from sharp branches of trees and from heavy blows. This long coarse hair gave the mammoth a more formidable aspect than he otherwise would have had.
References: Katharine E. Dopp, The Tree-Dwellers, pp. 143-144. Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co.
[Lesson XXXIV.] While the child is studying the habits of the cave-men in respect to the use of fire, train him to be careful in the use of it.