The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1916-04-20
PAGE SEVEN

watercreSS, ana no one ever dared
leave the caves at night for drink.
Another time l found dry gourd,
inside of which the seeds ratified.
had great fun with 1t for awhile. But
1t was plaything. nothing more. And
yet 1t was not long after this that the
using of gourds for storing water be-
came the general practice of the horde,
But was not the inventor. The hon
or was due to old Marrow Bone. and
II Is fair to assume that It was the ne
ccssity of his great age that brought
about the innovation.
At any rate. the first member OF the
horde to use gourds was Marrow Bone.
lie kept supply OF drinking water In
his cave, which cave belonged to his
son, the Hairless One. who permitted
him to occupy corner of It. We used
to see Marrow Bone filling his gourd
ut the drinking place and carrying it
carefully up to his cave. Imitation
was strong In the folk, and first one
and then another and another procured
gourd and used II In similar fash
ion. until IL was general practice
with all of MS so TO store water.
Sometimes old Marrow Bone had
sick spells and was unable to leave
the cave. Then II was that the Hair
less One filed the gourd for him. A
little later the Hairless One deputcd
the task to Long Lip, his son. And
after that. even when Marrow Bone
was well again, Long Lip continued
carrying water for him. BY and by,
except ON unusual occasions, the men
never carried any water mt all. leaving
the task to the women and larger chill
drcn Lop Ear and were indepcnd-
cnt. We carried water only for our
selves. and we often Knocked the young
water carriers when they were called
away from play to fill the gourds.
Progress was slow with u.s. We
played through life, even the adults,
much in the same way that children
play. and we played as none OF the
other animals played. What little we
learned was usually In the course OF
play and was due to our curiosity and
kecnness OF appreciation. For TINT
matter, the one big invention OF the
| horde during the time lived with 1t
| was the use of gourds. At first we
stored only water in the gourds, In i'm
| itation OF old Marrow Bone.
| But one day some one of the women
I do not know which one-fillcd n
gourd with blackberries and carried
| IL to the cave. In no time all the wo-
men We're carrying berries and nuts
and roots In the gourds. The idea.
once started, had to 90 on. Another
evolution Of the carrying receptacle
was due to the women. Without
doubt some woman's gourd was too
small. or else she had forgotten her
| eourd. But be that as 1t may, she
bent two great leaves together. PIN
ming the seams with twigs. and car
ried home bigger quantity Of berries
than could have been contained In the
largest gourd.
SO far we got and no farther In the
transportation Of supplies during the
years lived with the folk. II never
entered anybody's head to weave
bnslet out OF willow withes. Some
times the men and women tied tough
vines about the bundles OF ferns and
branches that they carried to the
caves to sleep upon. Possibly in ten
or twenty generations we might have
worked up to the weaving Of baskets
And Of this one thing is sure-if once
we wove withes into baskets the next
and inevitable step would have been
the weaving OF cloth. Clothes would
have followed, and with covering our
nakedness would have Gene modcsty.
Thus was momentum gained In the
younger world. But we were without
this momentum. We were Just getting
started. and we could not 20 far In
single generation. We were without
weapons. without fire and In the raw
beginnings OF speech The device OF
writing lay so far In the future that
am appalled, when think of 1t,
Even | was once on the verge OF
great discovery. To show you how
fortutous was development In those
days let me- state that had II no, been.
for the gluttony Of Lop Ear might
have brought about the domestication'
of the dog. And this was something
that the Fire People who lived TO the
northeast had not yet achieved They
were without dogs. This l knew from
observation. But let me tell You how
I.op Ears giuttony possibly set back
our social development many genera
lions.
Well 10 the west OF our caves was a
great swamp. but 10 the south lay u
stretch Of low, rocky hills. These
We're little frequented for two reasons
First of all, there was no food there OF
the kind we ate, and, next, those rocky
hills were filed with the lairs OF car
nivorous beasts.
But Lop Ear and | strayed over TO
the hills one day. We would not have
strayed had we not been teasing IL
, ger. Please do not laugh II was old
Saber Tooth himself. We were per
fectly safe. We CHANGED upon him In
the forest early in the morning. and
, from the safety of the branches over
head we Chartered down at him our
dislike and hatred. And from branch
to branch and from tree to tree we