What kind of clothes do you wear in winter? What do you think the
Cave-men wore? Can you think how they learned to fit skins to their
bodies? What part of an animal's skin could they use for sleeves?
What part could they use for leggings?
How do you think they learned to make mittens and gloves?
How many ways do you know of fastening garments? Which of these do
we use? Which of these do you think the Cave-men used?
What did they use instead of a needle? What kind of thread did they
have?
[Illustration: "_Greybeard asked Fleetfoot to drop the hot stones in
the water again._"]
_How the Cave-men Protected Themselves from the Cold_
One morning Fleetfoot started out of the cave, but a cold wind drove
him back. Snow had fallen during the night, and the air had grown very
cold. It was not fit for a bare-backed boy to go out on such a day. So
Fleetfoot stayed in the cave all day long.
All the Cave-men stayed in the cave nearly all the day. Once Chipper
went out and found fresh tracks. He followed the tracks until he came
within close range of a reindeer. But his bare arms shook with the
cold, and he missed his aim.
The next day was bitterly cold. The river was frozen almost into
silence. Only the ripples of the swiftest currents laughed aloud at
the frost. The snow was deep on the hillsides. It was deeper in the
valleys, and the narrow ravines were almost filled with snow.
The third day was still very cold and everybody was hungry and cross.
The children were crying for food, and since Antler had nothing to
give them, she was trying to get them to play.
At length the children began to take turns at playing they were
cave-bears. Now it was Fleetfoot's turn to be the bear, and when
Antler saw him she laughed.
The Cave-men looked up in surprise. Everybody was so hungry and cross
it seemed strange to hear any one laugh. But Antler really was
laughing.
Fleetfoot had found a cave-bear's skin on a ledge in the cave. He had
wrapped it around him so that he looked like a little cave-bear. The
children kept calling him "little bear," and he was trying to act like
one.
Soon all the people were laughing. They forgot, for the time, how
hungry they were. And the next day they had meat, for it was warm
enough to go hunting.
Many times after that the children played cave-bear. Many times the
people laughed when they saw the children dressed in cave-bears'
skins. Once when Antler looked at them, she got an idea about making
clothes.
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."
[Illustration: "_When the men saw the new garment, they wondered how
it was made._"]
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.
[Illustration: _A Cave-man's glove._]
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."_