Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-02-24
CHAPTER u.
Tho Beginning Of the Emo.
~ - A41~ A--ny,

What 1S mill1OnS!" Edwin inter.
rupted.
Granser looked at him kindly.
Il know you cannot count beyond
ten, 30 will tell you. Hold up your
two hands. On both Of them you have
altogether ten fingers and thumbs.
Very we'll. now take this grain Of
sand-you hold 1t. Hoo-Hoo." He
dropped the grain Of sand into the
lads palm and went on: "Now that
yrain Of sand stands for the ten
fingers Of Edwin. ! add another
grain. That's ten moro fingers. And
/ add another. another. and another.
until l have added as many grains
as Edwin has fingers and thumbs.
That makes what cali one hundred.
Remember that word-one hundred.
Now I put this pebble in HareLip's
hand. It stands for ten grains Of
sand, of ten tens Of fingers, or one
hundred fingers. I put this pebble in
Hare-Lip's hand. It stands for ten
grains. Take mussel shell, and 1t
stands for ten pebbles. or one hun
dred grains Of sand, or one thousand
IuSerD.
And so on, laboriously, and with
much reiteration, he strove to build
up in their minds q crude conception
OF numbers. As the quantities in
creased, he had the boys holding diff
erent magnitudes in each of their
hands. For still higher sums. he laid
he symbols on the log of driftwood;
and for symbols he was hard put, be-
ing compelled to use the teeth from
The skull for millions, and the crab
shells for billions. It was here that
he stopped, for the boys were show
ing signs of becoming tired.
There were four million people in
San Francisco-four teeth"
The boys eyes ranged along from
the teeth and from hand to hand.
down through the pebbles and sand
grains to Edwin's fingers. And back
again they ranged along the ascend.
ing series in the effort to grasp such
Uncomfortable numbers.
That was . lot of folks. Granser."
Edwin at last hazarded.
Like sand on the beach here, like
sand on the beach. each grain Of sand
a man, or woman, or child. Yes. my
boy. all those people lived right here
in San Francisco. And at one time
or another all those people came out
ON this very beach-more people than
there are grains of sand. More
more-more. And San Francisco was
a noble city. And across the bay
where we camped last year. even
more people lived. clear from Point
Richmond. on the level ground and
on the hills, all the way around to
San Leandro-one great city Of seven
million people. Seven teeth i
there. that's It, seven millions"
Again the boys eyes ranged up and
down from Edwin's fingers to the teeth
on the log.
: 1.-THE world was full Of people. The
census Of 2o1o gave eight billion for
the whole world-eight crab shells
yes, eight billions. It was not like to-
day. Mankind knew 4 great deal more
about getting food. And the moreI
food there was, the more people there
were. In the year 1900. there were
of sand, Hoo-Hoo-one hundred and
seventy millions in Europe alone. One
hundred years later-a grain OF sand,
Hoo Hoo-one hundred years later, IN
1900, there we're FIVE hundred millions
in Europe-fve grains Of sand, Hoo
Hoo, and this one tooth. This shows
how easy was the getting Of food,
and how men increased. And in the
year 1000, there were fifteen hundred
millions in Europe. And it was the
same all over the rest of the world.
Eight crab shells there. yes, eight bill.
lion people we're alive on the earth |
when the Scarlet Death began.
ri was a young man when the
Plague came-twenty-seven years old;
and l lived on the other side Of San
Francisco bay, in Berkeley. You re-
member those stone houses, Edwin, ,
when we came down the hills from
Contra Costa? That was where
lived, in those stone houses. was
professor Of English literzture."
Much Of this was over the heads
Of the boys, but they strove to COM
prehend dimly this tale Of the past.
ssWhat was them stone houses for?"
Hare-Lip queried.
"You remember when your dad
taught you to swim?" The boy nod !,
ded. well, in the University Of Cali
fornia-that Is the name we had for
the houses-we taught young men
and women how to think, just as
have taught you now, by sand and peb-
bles and shells, to know how many |
people lived in those days. There
was very much to teach. The young
men and women we taught were called
students. We had large rooms In
which we taught. talked to them.
forty or fifty at time, just az am
talking to you now. told them about |
the books other men had written be.
fore their time, and even. sometimes.
In their time"
WAS that all you did?-just talk. |
talk. talk?" Hoo-Hoo demanded. "Who
hunted your meat for you, and MIXED
tho goats. and caught the fish?"
]. "A sensible question, Hoo-Hoo, .
sensible question. As have told you,
in those days food-settins was very
easy. We were very wise. A few men
got the food for many men. The 9th
or men did other things. Aslyou say.
/ talked I talked all the time. and