The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1897-11-19
ABS GREAT DISCOVERY,

ms removal to Chicago. His story ha:
d ~pretentiOus motive. It's object is IL
supply material for completing a linl
IN the chain OF the worlds history. Sci.
entltc men have held that there was 6
mysterious a between the Paleolthi,
and Neolithic ages. Waterloo. amateu,
scientist though he be, denies this. H.
says - 's
Men write of wonder at the strange
zap petWeen what's are called the PaleO.
lthlc n Neolithic ages, that is, be
aMeen .he ages when spearheads and
cnlpped roughly into shape, and the age
VI stone ever edged and smoothly pol
ls1leu. Inere was really no gap worth
speaking of. The paleolithic ace
mango as suddenly into the Neolithic
as the age OF horse power changed into
h han, " steam ana electricity, allowance
oelng always made for the slower trans
mission OF new intelligence in the days
When men lived alone, and when a hun
dred years in the diffusion of knowledge
was as a year of today"
Inc principal characters in Mr.. Wat
elloos DOCK are Alb, a young cave man,
ana Mok, an old man skilled beyond
otner caVe-men in the making of spear
heaus: lhey lived in the mysterious
gap OF history, and in the valley of the
River Thames.
Ab became the Edison of his time.
WIN FAX his playfellow, he made !
plttall for a rhinOcerOS, and caught
baby pachyderm. Under Mok's teach.
ing, ne became the most expert make
OF spearheads. He devised many in
proVements in eapon and FASHIONED
out OF stone a marvellous kettle, pbs-
session OF which emphasized the SUI
periOrity Of his family over the lesser
aristocrats of the hills. He was mot
yet grown when he invented the bow,
Whlch places him above all devisors and
d~lscoVerers of his era. MI. Waterloo
tells of the discovery with mucl de-
tall, as though indeed he had WITNESSED
WIN MS own eyes or followed the chron-
lcle OF some f~act-loVing historian,
Some one must have invented the
DOW, and indeed some one must have
invented the Whee! on which civilization
rolled forward. Marvelously important
TO man were these inventions, and it is
peasant to read n chronicle that may
pass Tor their history. Below is printed
mr.. Waterloo's story of ABS discovery,
the pivotal point and the mos striking
feature of his book:
1t may be that never in what was das-
tined to be a life of many changes was
Ab happier han in this period of his
lusty bOyhoOd and early manhood,
when there was SO much that was new,
when he was full of hope and confidence
or ambition regarding what a
mighty hunter and great man he would
become in time. AS the years passed
ne was not less interchangeable in his eX-
perlments, and the day came when d
marvellous success followed one of them,
although, like most Inventions, it was
suggested in the most trivial and acct
dental amer.
1t hanced n afternoon that Alb, a
young man OF 20 now, had returned ear
~ from the wood and was lying lazily
upon the sWard near the caves en-
trance, while not far away, Bark and
the still chubby Beechleaf were rolling
about. The boy was teasing the girl at
times and then doing something To
amuse and awe her. He had found Il
stiff length of twig and vas engaged in
idly bending the ends together and then
letting them fly apart with a snap,
meanwhile advancing toward and
threatening with the impact the half
harmed but wholly delighted Beechleaf
Tired OF this, at last, Bark, with no
particular intent, drew forth from the
pouch in his skin cloak a string Of SineW
and, drawing the ends of the strong
tWlg somewhat nearly together, at
tached the cord to each, thus producing
accidentally a bow of most rOtund pro-
portions. He found that the string
tWanged ~joyOusly, and, to the delight of
Beechleaf, kept twanging it for such
time as his bOyish temperament would
allow a single occupation. Then he
picked from the ground a long, slender
pencil Of white wood, a silver, perhaps,
from the making of a spear shaft, and
began stunning with it upon the taut
SineW string. This made d tWang of a
new sort, and the boy and girl We're in
terestei temporarily. But, at last, even
this riatiO of amusement with the
new toy became monOtonOuS, and Bark
ceased stunning and began d series
Of bOyiSh experiments with his play
thing. He put one end Of the stick
against the string n pushed it back
till tie ether end would press against
the inside of the tWig, and the result
would he q taut, new figure in wood and
strirg which would keep it's form even
when laiQ upon the ground. Bari made
and unmade the thing a time or two and
then came & great disaster. He had
ravn the little stick, so held in the
Way we now call arrOWWise, nearly back
to the point where it's head would co1nc
inside the bent twig and there fix itself,
the slight thing escaped his hands
and flew away.
The quiet of the afternoon was broken
by a piercing childish yell which lacked
no lemen Ct earnestness. Alb leaped
TO his feet n was by the youngsters
in a 1aoment. He saw the terrified
Bcechleaf standing, screaming still.
with a fat arm outheld, from which
dang.ed a little half of wood which
had pierced the flesh just deeply enough
to give it a hold. Bari stood looking at
her, astonished and alarmed. Under
standing nothing of the circumstances,
and surprising the girls hurt came from
BarlI's careless t1inging of sticks toward
her, Alb started toward his brother TO
administer one of those Bullets which
were SO easy to get Or give among
C9Va children Rllt R9rk 19 rta6 habin6