read the book
download book
audio book
about linda
home
Essays & Articles
condolences e cards Recommend Reading
Bereavement Links
Counseling Services
condolences e cards Condolences e-cards
 
 

An Indian and his wife went out from the village to work their Chakra, carrying their infant with them. The woman went to the spring to get water, leaving the man in charge of the child, with many cautions to take good care of it. When she arrived at the spring, she found it dried up, and went further to look for another. The husband, alarmed at her long absence, left the child and went in search. When they returned, the child was gone; and to their repeated cries, as they wandered through the woods in search, they could get no response save the wailing cry of this little bird, heard for the first time, whose notes, their anxious and excited imaginations syllabled into pa-pa, ma-ma (the present Quichua name of the bird). The Spaniards heard this story, and with that religious poetic turn of thought which seems peculiar to this people, called the bird 'The Lost Soul.'

In the Monkey House, there was a little dainty monkey named "Babs." A little flowered dress was hanging near her window. It was just her size. Many dresses were made for her by her radio friends. She was on television with Mr. Watson on the program called "This is your Zoo," over WAAM.

I loved to watch Babs. I always watched the program, and I could look at her for hours. It was fun every minute.

She had little hops and skips and jumps, and she had pouting, dainty manners, and she was dressed in her fancy new outfit every week with a bonnet and everything.

All the time, she ate the bananas that she loved so much, and she poked her delicate monkey fingers into the sawdust to find food tidbits. She liked lettuce and greens, and she picked very carefully every little piece of food. I wanted Mommy to buy me a pet monkey, and she said she'd try. Babs would get jealous of the attention Mr. Watson gives some of the other monkeys. "Dr. Tom" is a favorite of all the children too.

One day Mommy started to talk about a man named Darwin who said we come from monkeys.

She said, "When I look at these monkeys, I know positively that Darwin is wrong in calling them the origin of our species. If we're descended from monkeys, why are there monkeys still, and why haven't they kept on evolving? We'll believe in Adam and Eve, Linda. God put lots of different kinds of animals and humans here, but He made us like Him and He made us perfect first, in the beginning. Then sin changed us. I don't think there ever was a 'Missing Link'."

"What's a 'Missing Link'?" I asked.

"That's a skull of a half-man, half-monkey creature the scientists say they found. I don't believe there ever was one. They say they found it in Sussex, England, and call it the "Piltdown Man," and they call it an extinct human species, Linda."

I was glad to agree with Mommy, for I think monkeys are cute and I wanted one to make a pet out of, but I wouldn't want to think we ever really were one

I liked the Reptile House too. Mommy didn't, but I liked the crocodiles and the huge snakes and the terrapin and all the other crawling things.

Page 17

Home | About Linda | Audio Book | Download Book | Read The Book | Sitemap