FABLES FOR GOOD OLD BOYS AND GIRLS. 143 



Here, also, were the charred bones of some of these extinct animals and of the 

 young of Man's own species, split lengthwise, showing that to his taste the marrow 

 was a fooffisoTne ruxu'ry. It was plain that -Man had robbed those bones of their 

 contents, since no tooth-mark of any beast was upon them. — albeit the Tumble- 

 Bug intruded the remark that " no beast could mark a bone with its teeth, anyway." 

 Here were proofs that Man had vague, groveling notions of art; for this fact 

 was conveyed by certain things marked with the untranslatable words, ' Flint 

 Hatchets, Knives, Arrow-Heads, and Bone-Ornaments of Primeval Man.' 

 Some of these seemed to be rude weapons chipped out of flint, and in a secret 

 place was found some more in process of construction, with this untranslatable 

 legend, on a thin, flimsy material, lying by : 



" Jones, if you don't want to be discharged from the Musseum, make the next pri- 

 meaveal weppons more careful— you couldn't even fool one of these sleapy old syentiffic 

 grannys from the Coledge with the last ones. And mind you the animles you carved on 

 some of the Bone Ornaments is a blame sight too good for any primeaveal man that 

 was ever fooled. — Varnum, Manager." 



" Back of the burial place was a mass of ashes, showing that Man always had a 

 feast at a funeral — else why the ashes in such a place ? arid showing, also, that he 

 believed in God and the immortality of the soul — else why these solemn ceremonies "i 



To sum up. — We believe that man had a written language. We know that he 

 indeed existed at one time, and is not a myth; also, that he was the companion of 

 the cave bear, the mastodon, and other extinct species; that he cooked and ate 

 them and likewise the young of his own kind ; also, that he bore rude weapons, and 

 knew something of art ; that he imagined he had a soul, and pleased himself with 

 the fancy that it was immortal. But let us not laugh ; there may be creatures in 

 existence to whom we and our vanities and profundities may seem as ludicrous." 



END OF part second. 



