Cheyenne record., 1916-02-24
CHAPTER II-Contlnued.


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 :.
there that's It. seven millions"
Again the boys eyes ranged mp and
down from Edwin's fingers to the teeth
on the log.
THE world was full OF people. The
census Of 2010 gave eight billion for
the whole world-eight crab shells
yes. eight billions. 1t was not like to-
day Mankind knew a great deal more
about getting food. And the more
food there was. the more people there
we're 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 we're fifteen hundred
millions In Europe And 1t 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.
Il was a young man when the
Plague came-twenty-seven years old:
and ! lived on the other side OF San
Francisco bay. in Berkeley. You re-
member those stone houses. Edwin.
Contra Costa? That was where
lived. in those stone houses. was a
professor Of English literature"
Much OF this was over the heads
Of the boys but they strove to CON-
prehend dimly this tale Of the pest
What was them stone houses fort"
Hare-l-ip oueried
you remember when your dad
taught you to swim?" The hoy nod
ded We'll. 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
4
students. We had large rooms in
which we taught talked to them.
forty or fifty at a time. just as | 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?" HooHoo demanded. who
hunted your meat for you. and MIXED
the goats. and caught the fish?"
"A sensible question. Hoo-Hoo, a
sensible question. AS have told you.
in those days food-getting was very
easy. We were very wise A few men
got the food for many men. The 9TH
er men did other things. AS you say.
talked talked all the time, and
for this food was given me-much
food. fine food beautiful food, food
that have not tasted in sixty years.
and shall never taste again. I some
times think the most wonderful
achievement OF our tremendous civil.
zation was food-its inconceivable
abundance. its infinite variety, its
marvellous delicacy."
This vas beyond the boys. and they
let 1t slip by. words and thoughts. as a
mere ,enile wandering In the nara
tive.
Our food-getters were called free
men. This was joke. We OF the rul-
ing classes owned all the land. all the
machines. everything These food.ge
ters were our slaves. We took almost
all the food they got. and left them a
little so that they might eat. and work.
and get us more food"
I'D have gone into the forest and
got food for myself" Hare-Lip an.
nounced; "and II any man tried to take
1t away from me I'D have killed him /"
The old man laughed.
Did ! not tell you that we OF the
ruling class owned all the land, all