The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-06-02
MISCELLANEOUS.
A LITTLE SECRET.

QUESTIONS Of the persevering (puf) Jones
overwhelming corrOoOration of the here
tOf,re Theoretical deterioration of the (puff
species, man Nothing can be more salts
factory. 1t is now (puff) kn0acn that W.
are descending, sir, at the rate of two
inches and an eighth per century"
81 don't see the fun Of that, though,
said l.
lit shows, at least, what we were," re-
Joined Mr Longchild, rather bitterly
"The indefatigane archie ologist, in dem
onstration of the indestructibility-
81 must be off in ten minutes, Dick,
/ remarked.
Dick took the hint, and, dropping from
his polysyllabic stills, came lightly to the
ground.
"Yes. Jones has put his thumb upon
chap, who might, in his lifetime, if in
condition, have whopped any amount of
authenticated bones we know of. In the
much -adnired, but carefully avoided,
island OF Sardinia, there was spot known
by the natives as the Giants Sepulchre.
II proved to be thirty-seven feet in length,
by six in breadth"
"The skeleton ?"
"No; the grave. And ditto in depth"
Thirty seven feet ~
NO. six. With enormous stones re-
clining on their massive bOsoms," con-
tinued M LOngchild, little obscurely
1t was upon raising one of these that
the Important discovery was made that
there was nothing beneath. Nay, / am
wrOngi Embedded in the soil, an object
was perceptible, strongly resembling, both
in form and volume, the drumstick of the
Cochin China iowl. You smile. Wait.
S light and incOnseque ntial as this success
may appear, it encouraged the party to
further explorations. These resulted, to
cut Iny story short, in the actual discovery
of the remains of d colossal human being,
who could not have been less than twenty
five feet six inches in staturei Jones'
amazement may be conceivedp
" 1t caHnGt exceed miner said l.
"But it was probably nothing" con-
tinued Dick" compared with that of Ser
toIins, if we may believe Plutarch. How
great, r, marks tnat usually cold and eau
ti0us writer (betrayed for moment into
enthGslasm), how great was his surprise
when, opening the sepulchre of the Phe-
nician An'eus, he beheld body of sixty
cublts lOGg ="
II should think sOr'
Now resumed my friend, brightly,
"what is tti pigmy compared with more
lCCSut GNNitlSlttOuS! w Hat HOulu OtIlO-
rius have said to the giant of Trapani-
sixteenth centdfy-described by Boccaccio;
who attained tie height of two hundred
cubits and one Of whose teeth, yet sound
and seryicsable, and weighing SIX pounds
four ounces syoirdupOis, is still preserved
III the museum at Berlin?"
Labelled, ignorantly, 'mastodon.' l
have s. eu ii" said J.
While" concluded Longchild, frown-
ing, remains even more stupendOus have
revealed themselves to the scientific inves-
tigatOr, [ cannot accept three hundred
fest, British measure, as the ordinary
stature of man at any definite epoch.
But, twenty FIVE is very different affair
Il is, III point Cf fact, hardly more than
double the height of well-developad indi-
viduals OF our own time, occasionally to
be seen-'
"Fcr shilling" put in.
"UndeteriOfated specimens" pursued
Mr.. Longchild, firmly, "of race that
peopled the earth in its august adolescence
To what may we attribute their present
rarity? Simply to this. That, nature, de
lighting IN contrasts, somewhere called
into existence new and puny race, in
tended probably as objects of curiosity
aud mirth to their mightier brethren.
That, never' heless, one of the latter, with
N orbid love of the opposite, and dis
regard of the general interests OF human
ity which cannot be too severely repre-
hended, took to wife some wretched little
fifteen loot thing, and inaugurated that
decadence, of which," concluded Dick,
striking his palm upon the table with a
force that made the glasses ring, "ace are
reaping the bitter and humilating
frUitsr
80 But' l observed, "to return to these
highly valuable Sandman remains Is
there no reason to apprehend that they
may be claimed by the country to which
they undoubtedly belong? There are
antiquarians in that island-Spano, and
others no less enthusiastic than our own
indomitable Jones'"
"Spano," replied Mr.. LoDgchild, hand.
somely declined TO advance any claim on
behalf of his government. II is true be
did not seem entirely satisfied that JOnes's
conjecture was correct.
"The skeleton was incomplete?"
ITO the uninitiated, yes" said Dick
"The non scientific observer demands that
everything should be revealed to his actual
senses Literally, then, these invaluable
relics consisted of most gratifying though
inc "A siderable portion OF the thigh-bOne,
fibula that left nothing to be desired,
and, 10 crown all, couple of grinders.
These, my friend, were all. But here
Science steps in 10 our aid. Through her
marvellous lens, we see these seemingly
discovered bones draw together, and,
united with their missing fellows, grow
into the mighty creature of which they
had once formed part. We gaze with
awe and rapture on those ship-iike ribs
liz Ion flof ~ h h<.nA
We look upon each other aud redden with
shame. as the fancy occurs to u.s. that, had
one of as to act as dentist to this gigantic
thing, he would have 10 bear the tooth
away upon his shoulder
Dick was silent f. moment, then re
sumed, more calmly
"All this, Harry, confirms me in tn.
belief that we all spring from one gian
stock IL comparison with the Temain
of our massive sires be painful to Ou
vanity, let us at least exult in the knOwl
edge, thus confirmed, of what we ono,
we're myself" continued Dick, draw
ing himself up with dignity, "as m,
name, Longchild, would seem tn imply
am a soon of race remarkable 70
length Of limb. If q baby could be de
scribed as colossal, deserved that appel
lation"
"The painful reflection, after all,
what we shall ultimately descend to- in
terrupted /.
"What, indeed! My dear fellow, if W
have already dwindled from three hun
dred feet to six, oan you blame me 70
dwelling on the glorious records of th
past, rather than on q coming perio
when the average height OF man will b
-psh. eighteen inches, with a tendenc
to further diuinutioni And | confess
derive but little comfort from the reflec
ton that our {hy that time) gigantic re