Thinking black; 22 years without a break in the long grass of Central ...

BLACK MAN = BLACK MANNERS 443
you set the camp logs blazing in the forest if not by first
of all coaxing a few tiny twigs to catch fire, the six-feet-
long logs soon flaming furiously from this humble initial
ignition ? " iV. B. : The young teach the old, the twigs
lead up to the branches, and the chips of the old blocks
will send the said old blocks blazing. It's coming, oh, it's
coming
This packing of the domicile into one den, remember,
is only an enlarged photo of the domicile packing itself
with mush at supper-time. The same family who crowd
each other out in one tiny hut is likewise seen crowding
round one tiny pot, the big paws and the little paws all
digging into the thick porridge in the same ratio as a
soup-ladle and a salt-spoon. The negro argues that God,
in perfect design, has dieted mankind according to the
divine gradation in the size of human hands. Baby
cannot eat too big spoonfuls if he uses his own little fists :
"Little meat gives little sauce" is the native apology on
this score. There is probably a moral in all this peculiarly
pertinent to our poor prayers, to wit, what God gives us
is better than what we can take. A Luban child asks
her aunt for some pea-nuts. *' Take a handful," says the
elder. " Yow. give me a handful, auntie ; your hand is
bigger "—to which we say, Bravo 1 for little Miss Salt-
spoon, who scores an easy first against Mrs. Soup-ladle.
Here, then, once again, you have a fruitful source of
disease—a common pot with a dozen fists of varying
degrees of cleanliness all putting the public health in
jeopardy. Like the little beehive roof of his hut, with
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