 Suggestions for Teachers from the Tree-Dwellers by Catherine Elizabeth Dopp, Part 2 Recorded for LibriVox.org Supplementary Facts The child asks many questions, some of which are difficult to answer, since what has been ascertained regarding the period during which the tree-dwellers lived is not contained in books that are generally available. It has seemed best to present at this time such summarized statements as will furnish the teacher with the facts that she may need. Animal Life Extinct Species Among the animals of the mid-Pleastocene period that have since become extinct were the Irish deer, the big-nosed, the small-nosed, and the woolly rhinoceros, the mammoth, the cave-bear, and a saber-toothed felus, Macarodis latidens, sometimes though incorrectly referred to as the cave-tiger. The Rhinoceros The big-nosed and the small-nosed rhinoceros came to western Europe from the south. The former came the earlier and stayed until the late Pleastocene period when the later cavemen hunted the reindeer. During this period it became extinct. As the climate became severe, both species may have migrated south each winter. It would have been possible, however, for them to remain, for they were well adapted to a cold climate. It is interesting to know that many of our popular tales of dragons originated in connection with the discoveries of the huge bones of these creatures, which could be accounted for in no other way. Our information regarding these creatures is exceedingly meager. They are characterized as dull-witted creatures with dim eyesight, exceedingly impulsive, and dangerous. They rarely attacked other animals, for they lived upon vegetable food, but if they were molested they were formidable creatures. At such times they would root up young trees with their tusks, and pierce and rend the bodies of their most powerful assailants. A full-grown rhinoceros was seldom attacked by even a mammoth or the saber-toothed felus. Its thick skin served as an impervious shield, protecting it from the most powerful blows of the fiercest animals. It is quite probable that packs of hyenas and wolves learned to take advantage of precipices, and that they frightened the rhinoceros over the brink, thus disabling him so that he became an easy prey. The woolly rhinoceros came down from the north during mid-pleastocene times, and was protected from the cold by a fine inner coat which resembled wool and a coarse hairy outer coat. This species was abundant until the close of the Pleistocene period when it became extinct. What is stated above with reference to the characteristics of the rhinoceros applies equally well to this species. Very little has been written concerning these extinct species that is satisfactory for the teacher's use. Brief accounts can be found in Hutchinson's Extinct Monsters, page 225, in Stanley Waterloo's The Story of Ab, page 71, and in an article by E. D. Cope on Extinct American rhinoceroses in The American Naturalist, volume 13, page 771a. The Mammoth Professor Owen, the eminent paleontologist, writes, The mammoth is better known than most extinct mammals by reason of the discovery of an entire specimen preserved in the frozen soil of a cliff at the mouth of the River Lena in Siberia. The skin was clothed with a reddish wool and with long black hairs. It is now preserved at St. Petersburg together with the skeleton. The mammoth was not so large as it has sometimes been pictured. The largest was not more than 13 feet high and many were not higher than 9 or 10 feet. Its body was heavier than that of the elephant and its legs were shorter. It had enormous tusks, which it is thought were sometimes used as crowbars in rooting up young trees in order to get the branches for food. It is thought that several mammoths cooperated in this work. Professor Owen writes, The tusks of the extinct Elephus primigenius, or mammoth, have a bolder and more extensive curvature than those of the Elephus indicus. Some have been found which describe a circle, but the curve being oblique, they thus clear the head and point outward downward and backward. The numerous fossil tusks of the mammoth which have been discovered and recorded may be ranged under two averages of size, the larger ones at 9 feet and a half, the smaller at 5 feet and a half in length. The writer has elsewhere assigned reasons for the probability of the latter belonging to the female mammoth, which must accordingly have differed from the existing elephant of India and have more resembled that of Africa in the development of her tusks, yet manifesting an intermediate character of smaller size. Of the tusks assigned to the male mammoth, one from the newer tertiary deposits in Essex measured 9 feet 10 inches in length and 2 feet 5 inches in circumference at its thickest part. Mammoth tusks are collected in Siberia as an article of commerce. The ivory is little altered. From the examination of the contents of the stomach of a mammoth that was found frozen in a marsh, it has been proved that the mammoth ate not only the buds, cones, and tender branches of trees, but the wood itself. Professor Owen shows that the mammoth was independent of the seasons on account of being able to live upon such a diet. The teeth of the mammoth, one of which weighs 17 pounds, were well adapted to grinding food that was hard and tough. The cave bear. The cave bear differed from the grizzly of today chiefly in its greater size and strength. An interesting story of the cave bear is found in Stanley Waterloo's The Story of Ab, chapter 22. Ernest Thompson Seaton's Biography of a Grizzly in the Century Magazine, volume 59, pages 27 through 40 will be interesting to read in this connection. The Sabertooth Felis Macarodis Latidens This animal has usually been spoken of as the cave tiger, but Professor W. Boyd Dawkins has shown that it was no more closely allied to the tigers than to other felines and that the very tempting name of Sabertooth Tiger must therefore be given up as implying a relationship that does not exist. It differs from the genus Felis in the enormous development of the serrated upper canines as well as the presence of a third lobe on the sectorial edge of the upper premolar. It was a peculiarly destructive animal, its teeth being described as uniting the power of a saw with that of a knife. The canine tooth of this animal is the most perfect instrument for piercing and dividing flesh known. It belonged to the southern group of Amalia and as the winters became cold it probably migrated each fall. Although it was never abundant it was much feared. Remains of similar animals have been found in the United States, mingled with the bones of the mammoth. Living Species Of the living species there were present in mid-plestiusen times the brown bear, the grizzly bear, the wolf, the fox, the stag, the roe, the urus or the wild ox, the oryx or the European bison, the hippopotamus, the horse, the wild boar, the beaver, the water rat, the lion sometimes spoken of as the cave lion and being the same species as the felus leo of today, the lynx, the panther or leopard, the wild cat, the spotted hyena, the otter, the must sheep and the marmot. No animal was domesticated at this time. The urus The urus which is the representative of the wild cattle of this period is the ancestor of our long horn cattle and should be distinguished from the short horn cattle that appear in western Europe in the prehistoric period in a domesticated state. The wild bulls were formidable antagonists when enraged. It is thought by some that the chilling ham cattle are descendants of the urus. The color of the urus is not known. Some think that it was white but others doubt that the species would have been able to survive with such a conspicuous covering. On account of their fear of the beasts of prey the wild cattle probably kept under the cover of trees during the day and went out to the grassy uplands only when darkness came on. The grounds of the grass-eating animals determined the haunts of the beasts of prey. When wild cattle are attacked the larger animals in the herds surround the younger and weaker so as to present a wool of horns to the assailant. This habit is not peculiar to wild cattle but is quite characteristic of all grass-eating animals. The wild horse The steps in the evolution of the horse are stated so fully in the text that it is not necessary to repeat them here. Almost any good text in geology it should be remembered that horses with more than one toe on each foot did not live when the tree-dwellers did but during earlier periods. The teacher who wishes to read further regarding the wild horse will find materials in the Century Dictionary under horse in Chambers Encyclopedia in H. N. Hutchinson's Creatures of Other Days in N. S. Shaler's Domesticated Animals and in McClure's magazine Volume 15, page 512. The Musk Sheep The appearance of the musk sheep in Western Europe during the mid-Pleastocene period marked the change that was beginning to take place in the climate. As the climate increased in severity, all the arctic species came down from the north and occupied the land during the late Pleastocene period. The musk sheep is the most arctic in its habits of any of the herbivores and at the present time is restricted to the high latitudes of North America. It thrives in desolate, treeless, barren grounds not even being driven from its haunts in the extremist cold. It is closely allied to the species which is the parent of our domestic sheep although that species did not appear in Western Europe until prehistoric times. The musk sheep goes in herds from 20 to 30 individuals and when alarmed, the animals huddled together like frightened sheep. Its food is grass, lichens, moss and tender shoots of the willow and pine. It is much sought after for its skin which makes a fine robe. It is sometimes known as the musk ox and occasionally as the musk bison. Plant Life The characteristic trees of the mid Pleastocene period were evergreen. Of these the most abundant forms were the spruce, the fir and the yew tree. The trees which shed their foliage were represented by the oak and the birch. The banks of rivers were shaded by thickets of laurel and by the slow the original form of the wild plum tree. The marshes afforded rich pastures for grass-eating animals as well as hiding places for they were partly covered by a heavy growth of alders. Wild peas, beans, stringy-rooted carrots, rutabagas and turnips grew on the hillsides. The cabbage with its thick leaves, which had not yet developed into a head, was present. Seeds of grasses were available but not used, for man had not yet learned to gather them and convert them into nourishing food. The teacher may be interested in referring to candles, origin of cultivated plants and darwins, plants and animals under domestication. End of section. This recording is in the public domain. Suggestions for Teachers from the Tree Dwellers by Catherine Elizabeth Dopp, Part 3. Recorded for LibriVox.org Special Suggestions If possible, read the entire book, including the preface, carefully before beginning the work. If in addition to this, you can read parts of the following books and articles, do so, for in this way it will be easier to grasp the full significance of the work. References. Catherine E. Dopp, The Place of Industries in Elementary Education, Chicago The University of Chicago Press Some Steps in the Evolution of Social Occupations 1, 2, 3 and 4 The Elementary School Teacher, Chicago December 1902 January, March and April 1903 A new factor in the elementary school curriculum, the American Journal of Sociology, Chicago September 1902 Dewey and Runyon, The University Elementary Record, Chicago The University of Chicago Press Lesson 1, The Child has the right to know what the book that he is beginning to read deals with. This lesson is an attempt to answer the question that naturally comes to his mind when opening the book. It is hoped that it will serve as a means of enabling the child to gain a clearer insight into the practical activities presented in the following pages than would be possible without a consciousness at all toward which they tend. Although this lesson embodies a great deal of the philosophy of life, it is a philosophy that the child needs and one which he can readily understand when presented in a simple form and when related to his own experience. Unless it arouses questions from the child, it may be passed over somewhat superficially at first, but refer to again and again as occasions for its use present themselves. Assist the child to get the real thought from the lesson by conversing with him and encouraging him to converse with his parents and friends regarding the way in which they lived when they were children and the improvements that have been made since then. Find out from what countries the forefathers of the children of the class came originally and something of the way that they lived before they came to this country. In this way the child will gradually see that what we have and what we know we owe largely to the efforts of our forefathers who have lived and worked for many long ages. If you can get the child to gain the right appreciation of the privileges that he enjoys and a respect for honest labor, you will be doing a much needed work. This lesson should not be passed without noticing the meaning of these three sentences. Each animal knew how to do one thing well, but the people could do a great many things. They could remember to what had happened before. These three sentences contain the key to man's superiority over the brutes. Man at this time had a mind but he was only beginning to use it. We have no other ground for thinking ourselves superior to our forefathers, the tree-dwellers, than this. We live at a time when it is possible to take advantage of what has been accomplished during many long ages. Where we deprived of the opportunities thus presented, we should find it difficult to account for any superiority. Reference Catherine E. Dopp The Place of Industries in Elementary Education pages 16 to 24. Lesson 2 The two questions raised served to show the child that the tree-dwellers needed some of the things that we need. We feel the need of much that they did not have but we as well as the tree-dwellers need food the most of all. Next to food we feel the need of shelter, clothing, and means of protection. The child is ready to understand that Sharptooth is a woman who differs from women today, chiefly in the fact that she did not have as good an opportunity to learn. Help him to be alert to see the admirable traits in Sharptooth's character. The children of Sharptooth have her described, tell him that she was shorter and probably more thick-set than women of today, that she probably walked with a bend at the knee, that her forehead sloped backward, that her jaw bones were large and strong, her chin small, and that probably her hair was a reddish color. These points were omitted from the lesson because they are not regarded as essential and their introduction might lead to many questions which the teacher ought not to be expected to be able to answer. Next to the teacher who may be questioned concerning these points. Should the teacher desire further information on this subject, she will find it in the references given below. In places where it is impossible for the children to go to an uncultivated place, the teacher may substitute for the suggestions at the close of the lesson other work, but she should in some way give the child an idea of grassy plains, wooded hills, and dense forests. Unless he has such an experience as this, he will not be able to deal with a finding a place where the tree-dwellers might have lived. The teacher's problem at the close of this lesson is the one that constitutes the central thought of the next two lessons. It is this. How can the child get such an experience as will enable him to select a place where the tree-dwellers might have lived? In these days of cheap transportation, there are few schools where it is not possible for some of the children to visit places that are sufficiently wild to answer the purpose. By making use of the children in uncultivated places as they have, or they can easily get, and by supplementing these by means of pictures, stories, and sand modeling, very satisfactory results can be obtained. References Catherine E. Dopp, the place of industries in elementary education, pages 18, 19, 126, 127, some steps in the evolution of social occupations, the elementary school teacher, January 1903. Lesson 3 The problem of this lesson has already been stated. The questions at the beginning of the lesson serve to help the child to interpret what he has observed, or what has been illustrated to him. The scene of this lesson need not be definitely located in space, for this book is a generalized account of progress, not a description of a particular locality. Should the teacher need assistance in getting a more adequate notion of a river valley, she will do well to read the following references, as well as the chapters of any good textbook on geography or physiography. References N. S. Shaler, first book in geology, pages 1-4 Frye, Brooks and Brook Basins, Aspects of the Earth, chapter on river valleys. Winchell, walks and talks in a geological field. Rollin D. Salisbury, and Wallace W. Atwood, the geography of the Devil's Lake region, Wisconsin, pages 36-58. Note, this pamphlet may be obtained by writing to Professor E. A. Burge, State University, Madison, Wisconsin, and in closing 30 cents. It is bulletin number 5, educational series number 1. R. S. Tarr, Elementary Physical Geography, pages 262-82. Lesson 4. This lesson serves merely to bring out the striking contrast that the geographical features mentioned in the last lesson present. The child can readily see why it was necessary for sharp tooth to swing from branch to branch instead of walking on the ground. Lesson 5. Although the father was always more or less attached to the primitive group, it was the mother and child that constituted the original family. Not until the development of the patriarchal system in the pastoral stage of culture was the relation of the father recognized as of as great importance as that of the mother. The data from which the part of the story that deals with the way in which sharp tooth character baby was constructed was derived from the practices of contemporary tribes in the lowest stages of culture. It is a well-known fact that all young infants during the first few hours after birth possessed the power to grasp and to hang suspended by the hands for several minutes. References. Lesson 6. This lesson is important as marking the beginning of the textile industry. Undoubtedly the motive that prompted the first weaving was the love of the mother for her child and her desire to keep it safe from harm. The materials were inevitably such as the immediate environment could afford, vines slender branches or other fibrous plants. The process at first must have been crude, but savage women very early developed a skill in basketry that we are not able to find among civilized peoples. By encouraging the child to think of the different articles that he uses that were made by weaving and by examining the beauty of the work he will be prepared to grasp something of the significance of the simple act of sharp tooth which was an expression of the same kind of mother love which he enjoys, but which he accepts as a matter of course. Explain to the child that the tree dwellers did not have such music as we have, but mothers as they held their babies in their arms would gently sway back and forth, uttering a soothing sound. The little girls will no doubt enjoy making such a level by in their hours of play. Lesson 7. If no child in the class knows what kind of banks a river has at the drinking places and if there is no opportunity to go to a brook or river to find out do not state that the banks are low. The fact presented in that way would be almost devoid of meaning. But let the child model a river valley in the sandbox or out on the playground showing steep banks in places and in others banks that slope gently. Then let him think of a herd of cattle feeding on the hillsides. The cattle need water. Suppose they come up to the steep banks. Can they reach the water? How can the cattle get down to the stream? When the cattle have found a good drinking place, will they be apt to come to it again? By means of such questions as these the child can picture the conditions and the relation of living creatures to them. Such knowledge as this means something to him. He did not try to remember it, for it is his. Give the child plenty of time in reading the short sentences that picture the cattle in the stream to allow him to actually see the different steps in the process. By considering each point by itself, but yet in relation to the preceding step, the child can get a vivid picture. For information concerning the wild cattle see the Urus, page 145. Lesson 8. This lesson is introduced to give the child a faint suggestion of the struggle for existence among wild animals. It also suggests something of the dangers to which the tree dwellers were exposed. Pass slightly over these dark pictures and emphasize the fact that it was possible even in those times for Sharptooth and her baby to sleep safe from harm. In contrast to this wild life, let the children draw pictures that will illustrate the security and comfort of their own homes. Lesson 9. If possible, let the child visit a cave. If not, he may take advantage of the tiny streams that may be seen everywhere after a heavy rain or during the thawing of snow. A careful examination of such a miniature stream will enable the child to get all the experience he needs in order to understand the geographical ways of this lesson. Do not try to teach the child much more than he can observe regarding the way in which caves were formed. A much better opportunity to teach him this lesson is presented later. Ask the child why Sharptooth dipped up the water with her hand. Do not be discouraged if some child thinks that she might have used a tin dipper. It is only by discovering the misconceptions of the child that we are able to correct them. The language of the tree dwellers was probably in a very undeveloped state. That fact is merely suggested in the story. Lessons 10 and 11. The first of these lessons conveys the truth that people have taken many suggestions from animals in order to better their condition in life. This does not imply that man is inferior to the animal, but merely that he is inferior in some one respect, or that he depends less upon instincts and thus has a greater need of training. If the child learns at this early stage that there is no person or no creature too insignificant to teach him something, he will have learned one of the most valuable lessons in life. The child may not be able to tell why the wild hog has lost its tusks, but he will enjoy thinking about it. He can observe or find out in other ways that the domesticated hog no longer has them and by comparing the difference in the mode of life of the animal in the wild and in the domestic state, he can see that the wild hog needed tusks and used them, while the domestic hog of today does not have them. They can be seen in their thought that they can soon get the relation that exists between the use of an organ and the state of its development. This point, introduced here, paves the way for the lesson of the wild horse. Let the children represent by pantomime the way in which the wild hogs protected their young. Lesson 12. The only point that is libel to need explanation here is the fact that sharp tooth required Bodo to take care of himself when he was only a child. This can be if it is taken into consideration that mothers frequently had another child to take care of at that time and so of necessity were obliged to let the older child take care of himself. The fact that sharp tooth took pains to teach Bodo all that she knew and that she left him only when he was able to take care of himself justifies the act sufficiently. The slow development of father love is less easy to explain and will not be attempted at this time. Lesson 13. Read the general suggestion pages 133 and 134 before attempting to teach this lesson. Lesson 14. Supplement this lesson by facts which the child has observed regarding bees or by pictures and stories that are almost universally available. Lesson 15. Wild horses usually associate in large herds, sometimes numbering several hundred. This large herd is subdivided into several smaller herds, each of which is led by the handsomest and strongest stallion of the group. Younger and smaller horses keep on the outskirts of the herd. If the paper animals which the children cut are mounted in groups upon the blackboard, or on a large sheet of manila paper, it will greatly add to the vividness of the child's image. See the Wild Horse page 146. Lesson 16 and 17. The fact that we possess the records which reveal the story of the evolution of the wild horse, while the complete account of many other species is not yet made, accounts for the frequent horse when discussing the history of physical development. Read the suggestions here offered and as much of the suggested reading as possible before teaching this lesson. Notice that the four-toed horse, the size of a fox, live not when the tree dwellers did, but at a much earlier period. It is not necessary for the child to get a clear conception of the time required for the changes pictured in these lessons. No adult can have a perfect conception of this, but even the child can get an idea of development, of change, which will prevent the formation of such static conceptions of life as are still only too prevalent in many of our institutions of learning. For further information regarding the Wild Horse, see page 146. Lessons 18 and 19. Before the child is able to use tools, he deals with objects through a direct use of the various organs of his body. No better preparation can be given the child for an intelligent use of tools and machinery than to let him practice a great variety of activities that furnish him with the muscular sensations necessary to interpret the more complex processes. Encourage the child to collect natural forms in wood, stone, bone, horn, shells, and other materials that may be available and preserve the best of them, thus forming the nucleus of an industrial museum. References Catherine E. Dopp, the place of industries in elementary education pages 19 through 21, 32, 33, 134 through 140. Some steps in the evolution of social occupations 3, the elementary school teacher, March 1903. Lesson 20. The purpose of this lesson is to show the way in which man began the conquest of the animal world. Lead the child to see that it has taken a long time to make the earth a good home for man and that one reason why we learn more than the lower races knew is because they spent their time in making the earth a better place in which to live. See pages 147 and 148. Lesson 21. This lesson is based upon well authenticated facts supplied by Professor Boyd Dawkins. It portrays not merely the intelligence of animals but man's alertness to take suggestions. It also suggests to the child a relation that exists between him and the larger world to which he is already looking with expectancy. See supplementary facts page 142 through 144 for information regarding the rhinoceros, the mammoth, and the saber tooth felis. Lesson 22. This lesson, together with the two following in which the probable method of subduing fire is portrayed, marks the climax of interest in the story of the tree dwellers. No greater conquest has ever been made. In writing of this subject, Mr. Geiger says, and if we admire ingenious not only superior intellectual endowment but the boldness of attempting to think of what has never been thought of by anyone before but has never been done before, it was surely an active genius when man approached the dreaded glow when he bore the flame before him over the earth on the top of an ignited log of wood, an active daring without a prototype in the animal world and its consequences for the development of human culture truly immeasurable. Only the first step in the conquest of fire is portrayed in this lesson. That is fear. References. Mason. Origins of Invention 3. Catherine E. Dopp. The Place of Industries in Elementary Education p. 22-24 Lesson 23 This lesson shows how man first through fear and then through the desire to make friends with a dreaded object in order to secure its protection subdued fire. Its significance with reference to social life is portrayed in this and in the following lessons. Lesson 24 The purpose of this lesson is to enable the child to see the way which simple societies were formed the necessity for the division of labor and an early if not the earliest form of worship. This lesson also illustrates a step in advance in the development of the primitive family. Lesson 25 This lesson illustrates the first efforts of man to make a shelter. Previous to this he was protected by such shelters as nature afforded. Now he begins to adapt nature's gifts to his own needs. The construction of the rude shelter illustrates what is probably the second step in the evolution of the textile arts the first being the weaving of a cradle. In both cases the motive was undoubtedly the desire on the part of the mother to protect her child. Lesson 26 The suggestions in this lesson together with those under basketry p. 138-139 are probably all that are required. Lesson 27 Let the child suggest other uses to which fire might have been put or what was named here. Let him also suggest other ways in which food might have been cooked accidentally. Encourage him to make a connected story which will embody what he has thought. Lead him to discover some of the advantages that arise from the use of cooked food. Reference Catherine E. Dopp Some steps in the evolution of social occupations 3 and 4 The elementary school teacher March and April 1903 Lesson 28 The purpose of this lesson is to supply the experience that will pave the way to an understanding of cooperative action. Lesson 29 This lesson illustrates the way in which leisure hours were used so as to secure not merely recreation but a training for the serious activities of life. The child will readily appreciate the significance of the primitive dance for it is closely related to his own spontaneous play. Reference Catherine E. Dopp The place of industries in elementary education in 1934 Lesson 30 This lesson explains one very important reason for wearing ornaments. The child's instinctive love of ornaments may be utilized to train him in habits of industry just as easily as the same process took place in the development of the race. Really beautiful necklaces and bracelets may be made by children if they take pains in stringing the seeds of various sorts and such alternations as to give pleasing effects. It is worth the while to encourage the child to do the beautiful in nature and to train him to adapt nature's forms so as to secure still more pleasing effects. Reference Catherine E. Dopp The place of industries in elementary education Pages 25, 27 and 115 Lessons 31 and 32 These lessons serve the purpose of making the transition from the mild, equitable climate which characterized the early part of the mid Pleistocene period to the colder climate of the later part of that period. The early part is the age which is characterized in this book. The latter part will be treated in the next book. For information regarding the animals referred to see supplementary facts Pages 143 and 146 Lesson 33 This lesson is intended to still further satisfy the child regarding the questions which will probably arise in his mind from the first and which were partially satisfied then. The attempt has been made in all cases where it seemed possible to speak frankly and directly to the child. Had the aim been merely to please him to excite him by dramatic stories it could have been done in a much easier way. The simple and plain statements of fact have been made so as to enable the child to understand. They suggested activities together with other normal forms of work and play furnish sufficiently rich emotional reactions. In the light of the racial experiences embodied in the stories these emotional reactions maintain their normal function and the most powerful factor in the education of the child. End of section End of The Tree Dwellers by Catherine E. Dopp This recording is in the public domain.