nd louder. The only people who did not laugh were
Teshumai Tewindrow and all the Neolithic ladies. They were very polite
to all their husbands, and said 'Idiot!' ever so often.

Then the Head Chief of the Tribe of Tegumai cried and said and sang, 'O
Small-person-with-out-any-manners-who-ought-to-be-spanked, you've hit
upon a great invention!'

'I didn't intend to; I only wanted Daddy's black-handled spear,' said
Taffy.

'Never mind. It is a great invention, and some day men will call it
writing. At present it is only pictures, and, as we have seen to-day,
pictures are not always properly understood. But a time will come, O
Babe of Tegumai, when we shall make letters--all twenty-six of 'em,--and
when we shall be able to read as well as to write, and then we shall
always say exactly what we mean without any mistakes. Let the Neolithic
ladies wash the mud out of the stranger's hair.'

'I shall be glad of that,' said Taffy, 'because, after all, though
you've brought every single other spear in the Tribe of Tegumai, you've
forgotten my Daddy's black-handled spear.'

Then the Head Chief cried and said and sang, 'Taffy dear, the next time
you write a picture-letter, you'd better send a man who can talk our
language with it, to explain what it means. I don't mind it myself,
because I am a Head Chief, but it's very bad for the rest of the Tribe
of Tegumai, and, as you can see, it surprises the stranger.'

Then they adopted the Stranger-man (a genuine Tewara of Tewar) into the
Tribe of Tegumai, because he was a gentleman and did not make a fuss
about the mud that the Neolithic ladies had put into his hair. But
from that day to this (and I suppose it is all Taffy's fault), very few
little girls have ever liked learning to read or write. Most of them
prefer to draw pictures and play about with their Daddies--just like
Taffy.

THERE runs a road by Merrow Down--
A grassy track to-day it is
An hour out of Guildford town,
Above the river Wey it is.

Here, when they heard the horse-bells ring,
The ancient Britons dressed and rode
To watch the dark Phoenicians bring
Their goods along the Western Road.

And here, or hereabouts, they met
To hold their racial talks and such--
To barter beads for Whitby jet,
And tin for gay shell torques and such.

But long and long before that time
(When bison used to roam on it)
Did Taffy and her Dad