Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1910-06-30


face to face with this primeval norm.
Could she teach this man anything7
He seemed tractable, reverential, def
erential now. knowledge was power.
Would It be power with him? Could
she open those sealed doors of his
mind, what floods would outpour
therefrom, of power, of passion7
Would she be swept away? 1t mat,
tered not. She must try. The i'm
pulse seized her to begin now. Fixing
her dark eyes upen him, she pointed
directly at him with her finger.
Man." she said clearly and en-
phatically.
He was always looking at her. He
had scarcely taken his eyes from her
since she had seen him in the tall
grass by the shore, but at her gesture
and word his eyes frightened. There
was that little wrinkling of the brow
again which she had noticed, outward
and visible sign of.an inward attempt
at comprehension.
Mani" she said passlonately.
Man." she repeated over and over
again.
And then the unexpected happened.
After innumerable cultural attempts,
her unwilling pupil managed to ar
ticulate something that bore a dis
tiRct resemblance to the clearly cut
monosyllable.
Man" he said at last.
1t was a tremendous step In evolu-
ton, almost too great for any untu-
tored human brain, for at once the
man before her received a name and
the idea of name as well. In that
instant, on the heaven kissed hill,
he was differentiated from all the rest
of creation forever. His consciousness
hitherto vague, floating, incoherent, in
definite, was localized, given habita-
ton and name. He knew himself
in some way to be.
Mani" he cried, growing more and
more confident with every repetition
and more and more accurate in catch
ing the very information with which
she spoke.
Mani" he cried, laying his hand
upon his breast. Mani"
He leaped to his feet and stretched
out his arms. The doors we're open
little way. Ideas were beginning to
edge their way through the crack.
Man! Man! Mani" he cried again
and again, looking eagerly at her.
She rose in turn and patted him on
the shoulder encouragingly as she
might dog. And again the touch,
the second touch that she had given
him, affected him strangely, so
strangely that for a moment she felt
the soul within her shrink, but realiz-
ing instantly that her domination over
him was spiritual and immaterial and
that the slightest evidence of timidity
would be translated into universal Ian
guage which even the lowest creation
understands and that her dominion
would go on the instant, she mastered
herself and mastered him. Although
she was but q woman whom he might
have broken In his hands, she DOM
mated him as the conscious soul ever
dominates the unconscious soul
She essayed no more lessons. but
turned and retraced her way to the
shore where she had landed, which
because she had landed there. ahs
called home. On the way she attempts
ed an experiment. She plucked from
a low bush bright colored fruit OF
whose quality and characteristics she
was ignorant and slowly made as II to
convey 1t to her lips.
Mani" cried the voice behind her,
uttering its only word.
She turned to find her companion
looking hxedly at her and proRern1
other fruit which he had quickly gath
cred. She handed him that she had
plucked in exchange. He shook his
head, not in negation but rather in
bewilderment and threw 1t from him,
and then she understood In some way
that the fruit was not good for food,
How he had OWNED it, she could not
| tell. Some compromising instinct
sharpened by use into a protecting
quality, had taught him. She had no
such instinct. She had learned to de-
pend upon reason and observation.
and these failed her in the presence
of this unknown. She was humbled
q little In this thought
She craved meat and salt, having
been trained to these things, the arti'
fetal diet and stimulant to which abe
had become accustomed, and her cray
ing was the more insistent because she
had been without them all that time
in the boat. And yet when she had
eaten the fruit that nature had pro
vided In that tropio island, her crav-
ing was abated and she was satisfied.
She felt that she could soon grow 40
customed to such diet If 1t were neo-
essary. so musing she passed on I'M
der the trees and sat down on the