The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1908-07-09
A DEBATE ON
;. ~, 4 PRIMITIVE MAN.
IOrigina..


(OriginH.]
Professor Edmonds was so wrapped
in the study Of primitive man, his ORR
gin and the savage traits he transmit
ted to his descendants, that he had no
eyes, ears or any other perceptive or
gans for anything else. Indeed, he.
was more familiar with the gibbon,
orang outang, chimpanzee and gorilla.
mans nearest relatives, than the mem
bers of his own family. Absorbed in
dreams of these kinsmen he would
pass his own children on the street
without recognizing them.
Kate Edmonds alone Of all his chill
dren sympathized with him in his
studies and was consequently his ia
vorite. Kate worshiped her father,
and it is questionable If her enthusi-
asm for fossils was not assumed for
the purpose of pleasing the dear old
man. At any rate, when she was
eleven years old her mother met her
one morning on the street with a neck
lace Of bones around her neck and or
dered her to 60 home and take off "the.
horrid' thing.
AS Kate grew older she Joined her
father in his studies and on one occa-
sion delighted him by discovering
similarity in the big toe bone Of two
animals which he had previously con-
sidered to belong to different species.
From this time forth he made her an
assistant instead Of pupil and she
worked with him continuously.
But, unfortunately for her father,
Kate became a woman Not that the
professor noticed change which oc-
Cured in a brief season. He took no
note Of changes except those that only
ages could effect. When Kate took his.
hand and told him that she was about
to be married he was thunderstruck.
what have you done with your doll?"'
he nloaned.
Kate went with her husband to live
In distant city. For brief season,
after her departure the professors.
bones failed to interest him. Then
some one sent him bone of an ami
NAL unlike anything he had ever seen,
and straightway the old man forgot
his daughter in his efforts to construct
the creature Of which 1t had been a
part. After that the only evidence that
he remembered her at all was occa-
! siohal inquiries why she was not in
her seat at table.
| AT the end of year Kate wrote her
mother that she was coming home for
visit, but asked her not to inform
her father, since she wished to sur
prise him. Kate arrived at the CON-
mencement season and at the hour
when the president was holding a re-.
ception with Professor Edmonds in.
attendance. So. Kate arrayed herself
in reception costume, went over to the
president and, taking position behind
a portiere in room adjoining the one
where her father was, began to talk
prehistoric man in his hearing.
upon my word" said the professor,
there is a lady in there who knows
more about the tertiary period than
any woman have ever heard talk.
But she is making one egregious blum
der. Introduce me to her.
The professor was introduced to his
daughter, but whether he had forgot
ten her entirely or was too deeply en-
crossed in his subject to recognize her
or had on his reading instead of his
distance glasses doesn't matter. He,
plunged right into the work of cor
recting her error.
Il heard you say, madam" he began,
that evidences of the existence of
mans progenitors are not found in the
tertiary period. During the eocine sys-
TEN, division of the tertiary, several
orders Of mammals were developed
including the ancestors of lemurs,
monkeys. anthropoid or manlike apes"
but these are only the germs. SO to
speak, not man himself" Kate replied.
There is no beginning, no stop in
development. The anthropoid apes are
simply continuation in the develop
ment of man."
"And do you think, professor, that
man of the present day will develop
into something higher?'
Observation-Disclosures is, if our planet
is not in the meanwhile knocked into
dust or burned by conclusion at meet
ing some one of those opaque bodies
known to be plunging through space"
"Or comet" said Kate, with
twinkle in her eye.
Nonsense. madam. Comets are gas
eous. The earth has passed through
their tails often
ITO return to man-man in his par
ent stage of development What would
you think Of father who would for
get his own child ~
"Such a failure of the faculty of
memory would undoubtedly be inner
tied from his british ancestors. we
have no evidence that lions, tigers,
cats, dogs and other brutes remember
their cubs after they are grown and
have passed away from their parents
| do you refer to man in the present
stage-to yourself, for instance-as
brutal and to your child as cub?'
"Ry no means have nasSad thn