Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-05-23
By +.
JACK
LONDON

! sounds Then it was that he fell back
on pantomine. illustrating the thought
wherever possible and at the same
time repeating the new sound over
and over again.
Thus language grew. By the. few
sounds We possessed We were enabled
to think short distanc beyond those
sounds; then came the need for new
sounds wherewith to express the new
thought Sometimes, however, We
thought too long a distance in advance
of our sounds, managed to achieve alb
/ stractions (dim ones, grant,. which
we failed utterly to make known to
other folk. After all, language did not
grow fast in that day.
Oh, believe me, we were amazingly
simple. But We did know lot that is
not known today. We could twitch our
ears, prick them up and fiatten them
down at will. And we could scratch
between our shoulders with case. We
could throw stones with our feet.
have done II many a time. And for
that matter, | could keep my knees
straight, bend forward from the hips
and touch. not the tips of my fingers,
but the points of my elbows, to the
ground. And as for bird nesting-well,
| only wish the twentieth century boy
could see us. But we made no collec.
ton of eggs. We ate them.
| remember-but outrun my story.
First let me tell of Lop Ear and our
friendship. Very early in my life sep
arated from my mother Possibly this
was because after the death of my
father she took to herself a second
husband. have few recollections of
him, and they are not of the best He
' as light fellow. There was no soil
dity to him. He was too voluble. His
internal chattering worries me even
now as think of it, His mind was
too inconsequential TO permit him to
possess purpose. Monkeys in their
cages always remind me of him. He
was monkeyish. That is the best de-
scription can give of him.
He hated me from the first And
quickly learned to be- Jafraid of him
and his malicious pranks. Whenever
he came In sight l crept close to my
mother and chung to her. But was
growing older all the time, and it was
inevitable that | should from time to
time stray from her and stray farther
and farther. And these were the op-
portunities that the Chatterer waited
for. Q may as well explain that we
bore no names in those days; were
not known by any name. For the sake
of convenience have myself given
names to the various folk was more
closely in contact with and the Chat
terer" is the most fitting description
can find for that precious stepfather of
mine. As for me, have named my
self big Tooth" My eye teeth were
pronouncedly 1arge.) ..--.... 49,
But to return to the Chatterer. He
persistently terrorized me. He was al
ways pinching me and cutting me, and
on occasion he was not above biting
me. Often my mother interfered, and
the way she made his fur fly was joy
to see. But the result of all this was
a beautiful and unending family quar-
rel, in which ! was the bone of con-
tention. !.
No, my home life was not happy.
smile to myself as l write the phrase.
Home life! Home! had no home in
the modern sense of the term. My
home was an association, not habi-
tation. | lived in my mothers care,
not in house. And my mother lived
anywhere, so long as when night came
she was above the ground. .:-:.....
My mother was old fashioned. She
still chung to her trees. 1t is true, the
more progressive members of our
horde lived in the caves above the riv-
er. But my mother was suspicious
and unprogressive. The trees we're
good enough for her OF course, we
had one particular tree in which We
usually roasted, though we often roost-
ed in other trees when nightfall
caught US. In convenient fork was
a sort of rude platform of twigs and
branches and creeping things, 1t was
more like a huge bird nest than any
thing else, though it was thousand
times cruder in the weaving than any
bird nest. But it had one feature
that l have never seen attached to
any bird nest-namely, a roof.
Oh, not roof such as modern man
makes. Nor roof such as is made by
the lowest aborigines of today. 1t was
infinitely more clumsy than the clum-
siest handiwork of man-of man as