The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-12-27
(ContinIIed)

if was stjl a formidable weapon and one which he meant to use to @4Fan- tage whenever the opportunity p@@@ent- ed itself He had in mind that no more would he run from the wanton attacks of old Tublat-
 In another moment he was at the cabin, and after a short time had again thrown the latch and entered. His first concern was to learn the mechanism of the lock, and this he did by examining 1t closely, while the door was open so that he could learn precisely what caused it to hold the door and by what means it released at his touch.
 He found that he could close and lock the door from within, and this he did So that there would be no chance of his being molested while at his in- Eestigations.
 He commenced a systematic search of the cabin; but his attention was soon rfvebed by the books which seemed to exert strange and powerful influence over him, so that he could scarce attend to augh4 else fer the lure of the won dFous puzzle which their purpose pre- scented to him.
 Among the other books were a pwimeE, some chiId's readers, numerous picture books and a great dictionary. All of these he examined; but the pie tures caught his fancy most, though the strange little bugs which covered the pages where there were no pie lures excited his wonder and deepest thought
 In his hands was a primer opened at a picture of a little ape similar to himself, but covered, except for hands and face, with strange colored fur, for such he thought the jacket and trous- CTS to be.
 Beneath the picture were three little bugs:
 And now he had discovered in the text upon the page that these three were repeated many times in the same 8equence.
 Another fact he learned, and that was that there. were comparatively few individual bugs. But these were repeated many times, occasionally alone, but more often in company with others.
 Slowly he turned the pages, scan ming the pictures and the text for repetition of the combination boy. Presently he found it beneath picture of another little ape and a strange animal which went upon four legs like the jackaI and somewhat resembled him. Beneath this picture the bugs appeared as
 A BOY AND A DOG.
 There they were, the three little bugs which always accompanied the little ape
 And so he progressed very, very slowly, for it was a hard and labor ious task which he had set himself without knowing it, task which might seem to you or to me impossible learning to read without having the slightest knowledge of letters or writ ten language or the faintest idea that such things existed
 He did not accomplish it in 8 day or in q week or in month or in year, but slowly, very slowly, he learned.
 By the time he was fifteen he knew the various combinations of letters which stood for every pictured figure in the little primer and in one or two of the picture books.
 Of the mea ming and use of the arti- cles and conjuncdons, verbs, adverbs and pronouns he had but the faintest and haztest conception.
 One day when he was about twelve he found a number of Ieadpencils in hitherto undiscove cred drawer beneath tue LdOA0s dLd III SCIdICH1uS dpOn Cn0 table with one of them he was delight ed to discover the black line it left be- hind it
 He worked so assiduously with this new toy that the table top was soon a mass of scrawly loops and irregular lines and his pencil point worn down to the wood. Then he took another pencil. but this time he had definite object in view.
 He would attempt to reproduce some of the little bugs that scramble over the pages of his book.
 It was a difficult task, for he held the pencil as one would grasp the hilt of a dagger, which does not add greatly to ease in writing nor to the legibiIity of the results
 But he persevered for months, at such times as he was able to come to the cabin, until at last by repeated ex- perimenting he found a position in which to hold the pencil that best per mitted him to guide and control it. so that at last he could roughly reproduce any of the little bugs
 Thus he made q beginning q t writing
 Copying the bugs taught him an- other thing. their number: and, though he could not cotnt as we understand It. yet he had an idea of quantity, the base of his calculations being the num- ber of fingers upon one of his hands.
 His search through the various books c0u vfU =ed him that he had discovered all the dit.~.ent kinds Of bugs most often repeated in com muination and he Rrr&ngad them i.i proper order with great ease be-ause of the frequency with which he had peruseG the fasci- hating alphabet picture book and the huge illustrated dictionary
 By the time he was seventeen he had learned to read the simple child's primer and had fully realized the true and wonderful purpose Of the bugs.
 No longer did he feel shame for his hairless body or his human features, for new his reason told him that he