[Illustration: A flint knife; found in Australia]
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS
The teacher who wishes to make the most of this work will take her class to visit a museum, if a museum is available; or, if not, she will do what she can to show her class actual specimens of the things described in the story.
In a museum primitive implements should be observed, and specimens of animals and birds. Pictures of caves, pieces of stalactites, stalagmites, of limestone, quartz, and flint would be of value, either seen in the museum or, better still, looked at and handled in the classroom as the story is read. A tendon procured from the butcher and dried for a few weeks and then pulled to pieces would show primitive thread.
Out of doors a limestone cliff showing stratification would be the best kind of illustration to explain both the formation of caves and the gradual burying and preservation of animal bones and other primitive relics.
In the schoolroom, again, on a large stand might be made a model of a hilly country. A cave could be shown, shaped of two upright stones and a crosspiece, the whole covered with sods and earth; and animals and men might be made of paper or of clay.
Various scenes from the story are adapted to dramatization; for instance, the visit of the cave bear, the making of fire, work in the stone yard, or the feast of mammoth's meat.
For those who wish to read further in a subject so suggestive along the lines, not only of social life, but of history, geography, and nature study, the following books will be full of interest:
The Story of Primitive Man. Clodd. D. Appleton & Company, 50 cents. (If only one book on the subject is purchased, this is the most valuable for the price.)