needle's eye.
And then they began to make finer needles with very small eyes.

[Illustration: _A flint comb used in shredding fibers._]

These fine needles were used at first in sewing the softest skins.
They were used, too, in sewing trimming on beautiful garments. But
when the women sewed the hard skins, instead of a needle they used a
bone awl.

[Illustration: _A long fine needle of bone._]

At the meeting of the clans in the salmon season, the Cave-men wore
their most beautiful garments. And soon the clans began to vie with
one another in wearing the most beautiful skins. And the women hunted
for the choicest sands to use in polishing their needles. They still
gave the first polish with a piece of sandstone or a gritty pebble.
But when they gave the last polish the women used a powder of the
finest sand.

Instead of beeswax, the women used marrow which they kept in little
bags. Instead of a thimble, they used a small piece of leather. And
instead of pressing the seams with a hot iron, they made them smooth
with a rounded stone.

From the tough sinews of the large animals, every Cave-man made his
own thread. All the children learned to prepare sinew and to shred the
fibers with a jagged flint comb.

#THINGS TO DO#

_Find bones which you can make into needles. See if you can find a
piece of flint for a saw._

_Find a piece of sandstone with which you can polish your needle._

_Make a collection of the different kinds of sand in your
neighborhood and tell what they can be used for._

_Make a collection of needles and find out how they were made._

XXXVIII

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

If the animals went away in search of shelter from the storms, do
you think the Cave-men would know where they went? What do you
think they would say when they noticed that the animals had gone?

[Illustration: _Two views of a curved bone tool used by the
Cave-men in polishing skins._]

How did the Cave-men learn what they knew? Why did they make more
mistakes than people do to-day?

What changes did the Cave-men see take place in the buds? in seeds?
in eggs?

When they found shells in the hard rocks instead of in the water,
what do you suppose they would think?

Have you ever heard any one say "It rained angleworms?"

Have you ever heard any one say that cheese or meat had "changed to
maggots?"

Can you