Then, as he was afraid the Prince of Pomba would not come as quickly as he wished, he sent another note to this effect: I wish to see you. Do not delay in coming; but as the bird flies straight and quickly, so do you come as quickly, that I may see you face to face. When you come we will sit down and play together. Fig. 3 will show how he sent it. Now the young Prince of Pomba was as "I am drawn to you." FIG. 2. impatient as was the Prince of Youba, but he could not help laughing when he received this communication. However, he answered at once by the following message: Your plan pleases me. I agree. great. but that he must send a message to the young Fig. 5. will show how he sent it. The young Prince of Youba was angry at the Prince of Pomba, however, and, besides, was bent on making it seem that the latter was entirely at fault, so he sent this note: You owed me kindness, and yet you have kicked against me. I will cast you off because you have treated me thus. Fig. 6 will show how he sent it. I am sorry for what I have done. Let us be friends. The Prince of Youba was ashamed of his actions, and was glad enough to have his friend But the distance is take the first steps toward peace, but would not say it in so many words. What his message did say was: Fig. 4 will show how he sent it. The moment the young Prince of Youba received this, he ran with it to his head nurse, calling out (as even royal boys will do): "He is coming! Good! he is coming. After a while the Prince of Pomba arrived, and for a short time his host treated him as an honored guest, and everything was delightful. Presently the Prince of Pomba beat at the game of the Beans and the Board, which the young princes were playing, and the Prince of Youba was angry and made some very impolite remarks. The Prince of Pomba answered in a way to make matters worse, and finally threw the beans all over the ground and sprang up, saying angrily : "I won't play. So, now!" Then the Prince of Pomba and the Prince of Youba each waited for the other to say he was sorry for his rudeness; but neither would do this. So the Prince of Pomba sulked awhile, and then went and found his bearer, whom he ordered to take him home at once. But he still felt very much injured, and nothing would do by more than half of the savage peoples of the world. North American Indians used to send messages in this way, as anybody who has read Cooper's delightful Leather-stocking Tales will FIG. 4. a feather, the other knew that his friend wished to see his playfellow at once; for a feather always means haste. Then the Prince of Pomba had only to return the six cowries, meaning "your wish is mine." When two cowries have their curved surfaces face to face they mean, very obviously, a desire to see the person to whom they are sent, face to face. A feather added would mean a desire to see quickly, and that the person so addressed should come as a bird would come-straight and quickly. But, as a further incentive to speed, the young Prince of Youba added to these symbols two beans, which could mean but one thing: "When you come we will sit down and play together the game of the Beans and the Board." I agree. But the distance is great." know. When Pizarro conquered Peru, he found that the Incas had kept a sort of history by an ingenious system of knotted strings. The true symbolic writing, however, is that which consists in taking tangible objects and making them convey an unmistakable meaning. Of course certain objects, by frequent use for the same meaning, come to have a fixed significance; but the meaning of any message in symbols depends upon the relation the sender bears to the receiver. For example, if the Prince of Youba had been a young man, and the Prince of Pomba a young woman, and they had been lovers, the string of six cowry shells, all facing the same way, which the former sent, would have been an offer of marriage; and the string of eight cowries, all facing the same way, which the latter returned by way of answer, would have been an acceptance. When the Prince of Pomba answered by sending eight cowries turned the same way, it meant that the plan proposed was a pleasing one, and that he was willing to do as he was asked. But the Prince of Pomba lived some distance from the Prince of Youba, and he wished. the latter to remember that, and not be impatient if he was some time in coming; so he sent a long piece of cord with the eight cowries, because along string always means a long road or distance. "You owed me kindness, and yet you have kicked against me. I will cast you off because you have treated me thus." Two cowries placed with their curved surfaces looking outward convey the idea that the sender is angry and wishes to reprove his correspondent; and therefore it was that when the Prince of Pomba wished to tell the Prince of Youba that he was a mean fellow, he sent the two cowries placed with their faces out. .FIG. 6. An odd number of cowries always indicates to face. If two cowries face to face mean a friendly feeling and a desire to meet, then six face to face would be three times as strong a feeling, and the Prince of Youba would know that the Prince of Pomba was sorry and wished to be friends again. The Prince of Youba's answer to that message was a string on which were eight cowries all turned one way, a piece of spice, a shred of a mat, and a feather. See, now, how easily that is interpreted: The eight cowries mean agreement, the spice means a pleasant sensation, a thing of which one may be assured by burning the spice, the shred of mat is a re 000 "Your words agree with my thoughts. with you. This that you see is a piece of anxiously waiting to hear from you." spear on the threshold of his hut, he knows that his life is in danger from enemy, some who is, how ever, willing to give him time to run away. Sometimes novel symbols are sent, and then the receiver must exercise his ingenuity to study out the meaning. Thus one man received from his brother a stone wrapped up in some rags. He puzzled over the symbols for a while, and then decided that this was his brother's meaning: minder of the happy times they passed with each other, and the feather, as before, means haste. Eight cowries turned one way, "Your words agree with my feeling." Spice, "Something to be depended on "; or, " Deceive me not and I will not deal doubly with you." Shred of mat, "This that you see is a piece of the mat that man, promptly sent back a grain of corn and a feather, which was the same thing as saying: I will send you something to eat at once. The smile on the hungry man's face as he received this showed that he perfectly understood the message. Here's a little April Fool Who is on her way to school. As it's easy for to see by her .Looks, Looks,Looks. And I even dare to say, Than to fill her mind with knowledge from her 1 Most of our young readers know that every color and tint that has ever been, or ever can be, produced, is either red, yellow, or blue, or some combination of these three primary colors. But did you ever stop to think that the outlines of every form or shape or design or pattern or picture, no matter how complicated, is nothing but straight lines or parts of circles? Partly to gratify the wish to learn to draw in a short time, without much study, a mechanical method of producing different expressions in the human face, based upon the above truth, is here suggested. But, besides the amusement and entertainment to be derived from it, girls and boys will find that a little familiarity with the use of what I call the "mechanical alphabet" will give them some definite knowledge of facial expression. Whenever you hear some one say, "I cannot draw even a straight line," you may with a pencil, ruler, and paper prove how mistaken is the person who makes such an assertion. If you place the ruler upon the paper, the line drawn along the edge of the ruler must necessarily be straight. Do not think the use of the compass and rule inartistic. Question any professional artist upon this subject, and he will most likely tell you that he uses any methods by which he can best accomplish his purpose. If he wants a perfectly straight line or a perfectly true circle, he will use the ruler or compasses to make it. But some of you may think it impossible to draw a picture using only straight lines and circles. More can be done with the aid of a pair of compasses and a ruler than you will believe until you have experimented. We may think we cannot do a certain thing, but we do not know that we cannot until we have made the attempt, and failed. "Faith, an' I don't know; I niver thried!" exclaimed Paddy, when asked if he could play the fiddle. We may laugh at Paddy's conceit, but if we were not so easily frightened out of trying, we would accomplish more than we do. Many an artist has lived and died without touching a brush or a pencil; many a poet has plodded through life working over accounts or at the work-bench; many a musician has lived a barren, uneventful life because the technical skill to bring out his greatest possibilities has not been acquired. But do not suppose that any one can, without hard work, reach an exalted position in art. The would-be art student who says, "I do not expect to learn to paint great pictures, but I should like to be able to sketch free-hand' well enough to dash off something brilliant and telling," does not know of the years of hard labor, careful study, and close application that have enabled the artist to produce those telling, hasty little sketches. Nevertheless, the readers of ST. NICHOLAS, by following the instructions here given, can all learn to draw well enough to afford amusement to themselves and others. As a first step toward making the outline of a head, draw two straight lines with the aid of your ruler, crossing each other at right angles. |