For Those Holding Classes in Sociology for Children.

I

THE FIRE BEAST

1

In what sort of a climate may we expect to find prehistoric man during the period of Lower Savagery, when he was without tools or weapons except of the most primitive kind? Why?

2

Since agriculture in that early day was wholly unknown and unnecessary, on what did the people subsist?

3

Did they cook their food? Why not?

4

Imagine yourself placed upon an uninhabited island without food, clothing or shelter in answering these questions. What sorts of shelter did the tribes possess, if any?

5

What sorts of weapons can you fancy people would be able to make without tools, metals or fire?

6

What would you consider the very greatest discovery made by early man? Why?

7

How was man able to protect himself from the wild beasts during the periods of Savagery?

8

How were the enemies of man captured and slain in these days?

9

Why do we find the tribes of this period always dwelling close to lakes, rivers or other bodies of water?

10

How do we gather that people in the period of Lower Savagery must have lived either in tropical or semi-tropical regions?

II

THE ORNAMENT OF BIG NOSE

1

How did primitive man convey his wants and his ideas to his fellow creatures before he possessed a wide articulate language?

2

Can you suggest any sharp weapons the Cave Men could make without the use of tools? Name some.

3

Do you imagine the Cave People possessed longer arms than civilized men? Why?

4

Was this period the Golden Age of Peace and Plenty that some people suggest?

5

Do you imagine Cave Men were care free or that they were forced to be cunning and furtive creatures of the forests?

6

Were the early savages superior to the other animals of that period in running? In swimming? In fighting?

7

Had they longer teeth? Sharper claws? Greater physical protection for the soft and delicate portions of their bodies?

8

To what do you attribute man’s survival amid a world of savage enemies?

9

Was man more cunning? Was he more social?

10

If you have classes of children, suggest pantomime plays in which they can convey ideas or desires to the others by means of gestures.

III

WHEN RUN-FAST WENT HUNTING FOR A WIFE

1

Suggest ways for catching fish during this period.

2

Do you imagine that at this time man had any method for preserving meat?

3

Would the low order of man’s tools and weapons restrict him in his wanderings from place to place over the earth’s surface? Why?

4

Did primitive man first ornament or first clothe himself?

5

What were ornaments used to signify?

6

Which men would you imagine secured wives during early savagery?

7

Would you expect to see the strong and brave men win wives, or the weak and cowardly?

8

How far were the Cave People able to count?

9

Did men gradually learn to use, first all their fingers, and then their toes, to reckon with?

10

Primitive man must soon have discovered the use of sails for boats. Out of what do you supposed they fashioned the first sails?

IV

LITTLE LAUGHING BOY

1

During what season would you imagine the Cave People learned, invented, discovered most? Why?

2

What was the season of greatest danger? Why?

3

Were the feet of the Cave People prehensile? Were the Cave People agile? Why?

4

Can any of the children of to-day walk up a slanting tree by encircling its trunk with their arms?

5

What is a boomerang? Make one.

6

Why did wise Cave People always travel in groups?

7

Why was extreme individuality discouraged among the members of the tribes?

8

What happened to the youth who was determined to “go it alone” in those days?

9

Was the Cave Man the King of the Forests, Monarch of all he surveyed that we sometimes read about? Why not?

10

It is true that the Cave Man was weaker than most of his enemies and yet he has managed to outlive and outthrive them all. Give some reasons for this.

V

HUNTING AN ECHO

1

Did the Cave People know what an Echo is?

2

Could they explain their reflections in the rivers and lakes?

3

What was their idea of a shadow?

4

What was the origin of their belief in spirits?

5

What made them think the dead came back again; that they were not really dead, but lived in the spirit world?

6

How did they explain their dreams?

7

How would a primitive man explain the rain? Or Fire? Floods? Give some suggestions of your own.

8

How did the Cave People probably first secure a fire?

9

How did they learn to keep a fire going?

10

What were one or two ways by which they first learned how to make a fire?

VI

THE FLOOD

1

What were some of the great early catastrophes?

2

What was probably the earliest sort of power used to propel a boat or raft?

3

What would we naturally expect the first boats or floats to be? Why?

4

Would it be possible to build a raft with nothing but stone tools?

5

How would you fasten such a raft together?

6

What were the first natural paddles?

7

Can you propel a boat through the water with your hands?

8

How could a boy live in a great banyan tree for several days?

9

Where would he secure food?

10

Could you make a hollow in a log without steel knives or saws or other modern tools? How?

11

Would such a hollow log serve as a crude boat?

1

Did fire enable the savage tribes to preserve their meat?

2

Did fire bring any greater degree of security to the tribes? How?

3

Do the animals you know fear fire?

4

Have any other animals besides man learned to use a fire?

5

Does a cat or a dog ever make use of a fire? How?

6

Has any animal besides man ever learned to keep a fire going or to build a fire?

7

Could a dog build a fire even if he knew how? Why not?

8

Has the thumb of man, which was probably once a toe like the great toe of your foot, been a help in his struggle for existence?

9

Without thumbs would we have ever learned more than to push things about?

10

Did fire equip man so that he would wander more freely over the earth’s surface? How?

VIII

THE FIRST PLANTING

1

How did man probably discover the use of flint?

2

How can you build a fire without matches and without flint?

3

In what other ways may flint be used?

4

What is cannibalism?

5

How did the people first discover agriculture?

6

In what kind of a climate would sowing and reaping be necessary?

7

Name several ways by which we might discover that seeds sprout, and bear.

8

How would primitive man probably explain a garden?

9

What would make him eager to possess a garden?

10

Why do people progress more in a temperate climate than in a tropical region? Explain.

11

Why did the Cave People believe in miracles?

12

What is a miracle?

13

Did savage and barbarous men like to work?

14

What makes people remember things?

15

When do we learn by doing things?

16

What things are we most likely to forget?

IX

THE FIRST POT

1

What did the very first men do when they wanted a drink of water?

2

How did they first carry water into their caves?

3

Of what did they weave baskets?

4

Of what are our dishes made to-day?

5

How did prehistoric folks learn to make pots?

6

Which did they need to learn first, pot-making or fire-building?

7

How did men probably learn to cook things to eat?

8

How did they undoubtedly learn to bake clay pots?

9

Why did savage tribes decorate themselves?

10

Can you tell how to make a hollow clay pot without a form to make it over?

X

THE ARROW THROWERS

1

With what did the early men tip their arrows?

2

Where did they get strings for their bows?

3

And of what were bows made?

4

Can you suggest a way by which they chanced to invent the bow and arrow?

5

What advantage did a bow and arrow possess over a bone javelin?

6

Will an arrow travel farther?

7

Name half a dozen early weapons.

8

Why did the Cave People want to possess the weapons of strong and brave men?

9

Did they think a man’s weapons possessed the characteristics of the man?

10

Did they believe the dead heard what you said about them?

XI

THE FIRST PRIEST

1

Why did a dead man’s enemies speak well of him?

2

Did the Cave People believe that a dead man could injure them?

3

Or that he could help them?

4

Did they, very naturally, exaggerate the virtues of the dead until the dead seemed superhuman?

5

When the Cave Dwellers were driven to a colder climate did they learn to plant? To clothe themselves? Why?

6

Who was generally chief of the tribe? Why?

7

If a Cave Man told the people that the spirit of a dead chief had laid commands upon him, would they believe him?

8

How did ancient priests happen to happen?

9

Might not people sometimes fabricate stories of their interviews with the spirits of dead chiefs?