A BUSINESS BOY.

Their houses, having been of perishable materials, such as reeds and palm-
leaves, nothing remains to show us what they were; but some of the implements
they used, have been found, and even some articles of their household furniture.
The most numerous specimens that have been recovered are those small stones
carved and chipped in the shape of chisels, gouges, spear-heads, and even hoes and
knives, known to collectors as “celts,” and these have been found everywhere.

In addition to these celts, we note mortars and pestles, the latter with carved
heads that have been taken for idols, beads of stone and oyster shell, and frag-
ments of pottery. The Indians, it is believed, made fairly good pottery, and
cooked their food by heating stones and throwing them into the water till it
boiled. Not alone the pottery, but all the articles yet discovered, indicate that
these Indians were in a very low state of civilization, and it must have required a
painful stretch of the imagination of Columbus to perceive in these simple people
the rich and civilized inhabitants of Cathay he had dreamed of discovering.

These simple folk, without thought of harm, early felt the evil effects of
Spanish domination. Having no gold to tempt the cupidity of the conquerors,
they for a time escaped their attention, but when slaves were needed for the
mines of Hayti, then the Spaniards snatched them from their homes. Even the
very people whom Columbus praises as the most loving and gentle on earth,
and who welcomed him and his crews as Heaven-descended men, were carried
by these same men into a slavery worse than death.

Ah, well! We know not why it was that the strong should ever have
oppressed the weak, and ever stain their swords with innocent blood, in those
first fierce days of America’s beginnings.

They are gone now, all of them. We know the Spaniards’ fate; but no
one can tell when, where and how perished the last of Guanahani’s gentle tribe.

Frederick A. Ober.

Ar BU SHUNGE Ss Sier On.

i fs “hallooing” through the telephone ;
I put the thing to my ear,
Of course I know the way it is done,
But never a sound I hear.
Why don’t it talk? Tl louder call ;
The storm is hindering ;
Halloo! You birds that flew last fall,
Fly back, and make it spring.

Lavinia S. Goodwin,