Part 21

When Antler took a large skin and wrapped it around her, Fleetfoot thought that she was going to play "bear." But Antler was not playing. She was thinking of the cold days when the children had no food. She was thinking that if she could make a warm dress, perhaps she could go out in the bitter cold.

Antler talked with Birdcatcher about it, and Birdcatcher helped her fit the skin. Birdcatcher fitted the skin of the head over Antler's head so as to make a warm hood. Then she run a cord through the slits along the edges and tied the ends under Antler's chin.

Antler fastened the skin down the front with buckles. She covered her arms with the skin of the forelegs. She cut off the skin that hung below the knees, and afterward used it to make a pair of leggings.

When the garment was fitted, Antler took it off. Then the women sat down and worked until it was done. They punched holes through the edges with a bone awl. Then they threaded the sinew through the holes in an "over-and-over seam."

When the men saw the new garment, they wondered how it was made. So Antler and Birdcatcher showed them how it was done, and helped them to make warm garments of their own.

And so all the Cave-men soon had warm garments of fur. Sometimes they fastened them with buckles, and sometimes they used bone pins. They made long leggings of soft skins, and moccasins for their feet.

Perhaps you can think how they learned to make mittens and gloves. We know that they had warm mittens and gloves, for we have found pictures they made of them. When they dressed in their warm fur garments, the Cave-men did not fear the cold. If they wanted food, they put on their garments and went wherever they pleased.

#THINGS TO DO#

If you can get a small skin, fit it to a doll the way you think the Cave-men fitted skins to their bodies. If you cannot get a skin, cut a piece of cloth so as to make it the shape of a skin, and show how the new suit was made.

Find as many things as you can that you can use for pins, buttons, and buckles.

Find as many ways as you can of sewing a simple seam. When you go to a museum notice how the seams are sewed. Why do you think people invented new stitches? Visit a shoemaker and notice how he sews.

Draw one of these pictures:-- The cold wind drives Fleetfoot into the cave. Playing "Cave-bear."

XVII

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

How do you think the children played in the winter? What do you play in the winter?

How do you think the Cave-men would hunt when there was only a light fall of snow?

How would they hunt when the snow was deep?

How would they hunt when there was a hard crust on the snow?

How the Children Played in Winter

When the children saw their fathers and mothers go out of doors, they, too, wanted to go. But they had no warm clothing, so their mothers tried to keep them in doors.

Sometimes Fleetfoot and Flaker teased to go out and play in the snow. And when the days were warm enough, Antler let them go out and play. But on very cold days they had to stay in the cave.

The children had good times in the cave. They played many animal games. They played they were grown men and women, and they made believe do all sorts of work. They peeked out of the cave many times each day. They heard their fathers and mothers talk. And they listened to Greybeard's stories.

And so the children always knew what the men and women were doing. After a heavy fall of snow, they knew they would trap the animals in the drifts. When a hard crust formed, they knew they would dig pitfalls.

Antler often wished that the children might play out doors every day. Greybeard wanted the boys to learn to make pitfalls and traps. But neither Antler nor Greybeard had thought of making clothing for little children.

The day Antler thought of making clothes for the boys, was the day they ran away to the pitfall. It was soon after Chipper came to the cave and said that two reindeer were in the pit.

When the boys heard what Chipper said, they were playing they were Bighorn and Chipper. They had tied the skins of wolves' heads over their heads, and they let the rest of the skins hang down as if they were capes.

When the news came about the reindeer, everybody was excited. Everybody hurried to the pitfall so as to see the reindeer. Nobody noticed the boys steal out of the cave. Nobody noticed them run to the pitfall.

But soon after she started, Antler saw the tracks of their bare feet. She guessed at once where the boys had gone. And it was then that she thought of making them clothing.