Bears

“ In warm weather, during the heat of the day, bears stay in the shelter of thickets, among the brush by the water or under the shade of a fallen tree. As the sun sank we would move down to the stream, and lie all through the long evening in the shallows, where the cold water rippled against one’s sides. And along the water there was always something good to eat—not merely the herbage and the roots of the water-plants, but frogs and insects of all sorts among the grass. Our favourite bathing-place was just above a wide pool made by a beaver-dam. ”

“ I saw some of these young men from the country, with their sweethearts, leaning over the stone parapet, and looking into the pit of the bear-garden, where the city bears walk round, or sit on their hind legs for bits of bread thrown to them, or douse themselves in the tanks, or climb the dead trees set up for their gambols. ”

“ Here in these rocky, tree-clad fastnesses the bears have kinged it for centuries, ruling in right of descent for generation after generation, holding careless dominion over the coyote and the beaver, the wapiti, the white-tailed and the mule-eared deer. ”

“ For in the approach of winter, in the light of the first mystic, icicled moon, the night when it reaches its full, a grotesque pageant is afoot in that remote town of the bears, immemorially fabled to be hidden in the dense coverts of the Great Smoky Mountains,—the procession of the bears, each walking with his shadow, seven times around the illuminated spaces of the "beloved square." ”

“ We bears come out from our winter sleep when the snow is not quite gone, when the whole earth everywhere is still wet with it, and the streams, swollen with floods, are bubbling and boiling along [5] so that the air is filled with the noise of them by night and day.
Our home was well up one of the hillsides, where two huge cedar-trees shot up side by side close by a jutting mass of rock. In between the roots of the trees and under the rock was as good a house as a family of bears could want—roomy enough for all four of us, perfectly sheltered, and hidden and dry. ”

“ Sometimes they must watch in surprise as they see the bears chasing each other. There are one or two together in most of the big spaces, and they go through the most absurd antics, plunging in and out of their ponds, and eyeing one another cautiously as they stand with the water running off their fur. ”

“ What strange wild scenes he must witness in the gray morning, as the world begins to wake up to life, and the night-feeding things go back to their lairs, with the bears shuffling along in good-humored company, the slinking wolves, and the careless trotting boars ”

“ Now the bears rush down the hill, cross the stream, run in the gully, and race away; and dogs and men follow close and closer on their track. Now they worry up a difficult bank, and scuttle and wheeze away, away. ”

“ The descriptions contained in the grave historical records of the State, of encounters, with bears more particularly, are sometimes sufficiently amusing; and, indeed, whatever the peril to the man, there is a conventional drollery about the bear which throws a spice of fun into all his contests with mankind. ”

“ The Bear is then seen rambling singly through the woods to gather this harvest, not forgetting meanwhile to rob every Bee-tree it meets with, Bears being, as you well know, expert at this operation. You also know that they are good climbers, and may have been told, or at least may now be told, that the Black Bear now and then houses itself in the hollow trunks of the larger trees for weeks together, when it is said to suck its paws. You are probably not aware of a habit in which it indulges, and which, being curious, must be interesting to you. ”

“ At last the dawn grew into early day, and as they came over the brow of a bent, they looked down over a plain land whereas the trees grew scatter-meal, and beyond the plain rose up the land into long green hills, and over those again were blue mountains great and far away.
Then spake the Maid: Over yonder lie the outlying mountains of the Bears, and through them we needs must pass, to our great peril. ”

“ There is a widespread notion that bears are given to travelling in company; that they are sociable animals, and that bear families—father, mother, and children—are not only to be met with in the woods, but den up together for the winter. ”

“ Three Bears, once on a time, did dwell
⁠Snug in a house together,
Which was their own, and suited well
⁠By keeping out the weather.
'Twas seated in a shady wood, ⁠In which they daily walk'd,
And afterwards, as in the mood,
⁠They smok'd and read, or talk'd.
One of them was a great huge Bear,
⁠And one of a middle size,
The other a little, small, wee Bear,
⁠Withsmall red twinkling eyes.
These Bears, each had a porridge-pot, ⁠From which they used to feed;
The great huge Bear's own porridge-pot
⁠Was very large indeed. ”

“ Our bears, too, are creatures of vast physical power. Often, as I rode the mountain for cattle, have I come across a dead and fallen pine tree, which would have defeated the best efforts of a horse to move, completely torn from its bed in the earth and leaves, and either overturned or thrown one side by the mighty arms of a bear. He was in search of a dinner cf grubs—those white, helpless worms which make their dull homes under rotten logs—and Sir Bear made no more ado of lifting and laying aside a pine tree in his grub-hunt than would you or I of a billet of firewood. ”

“ When, however, in their struggles they came out on the bright, sandy shore, there was still enough of the western twilight in which to witness a good deal of terrific fighting. Bears have thick fur and tough hides, and so their battles are generally carried on until one side is shaken into exhaustion or knocked into submission. ”

“ It ran along the edges of cliffs, and through long snow-shed tunnels. "Now," said grandpapa, "you'll see bears that are bears. Don't the bears come down to the stations, and give you bear hugs, sometimes?" ”

“ A comical affair happened with the bears, which I shall relate to you, good reader. A party of my friend Irish's raftsmen, returning from Mauch Chunk, one afternoon, through sundry short cuts over the mountains, at the season when the huckle-berries are ripe and plentiful, were suddenly apprised of the proximity of some of these animals, by their snuffing the air. No sooner was this perceived than, to the astonishment of the party, not fewer than eight bears, I was told, made their appearance. Each man, being provided with his short-handled axe, faced about, and willingly came to the scratch ”

“ What about the time when the bears were caught short of N. P. Commons?"
"There you are talking. But are we big enough to run a corner? And do we know how to do it? You see, you've got to make your bears before you can trap them." ”

“ When you have wandered about in the purlieus for a long time you will hear a tremendous noise, a sort of combined snarling and roaring and legal conversation. When you hear that you will know that you are very near the bears. They are all snarling and roaring in a large preliminary arena, where the bears prepare themselves for the struggle ”

“ II. THE BEAR.
"HE is just like a bear!" That is a very common expression when we talk of some ill-tempered man or boy, who takes a pleasure in saying rude things, and who seems bent upon making every one near him as uncomfortable as he can.
But we may be unjust even to bears. Could you have gone to wintry Greenland, and seen Mrs. Bruin amidst her family of little white cubs, each scarcely bigger than a rabbit, you would have agreed that a bear can be a kind and tender mother, and provide for her four-footed babies a snug and comfortable home. ”

“ A bear of every known variety was to be killed and skinned—killed, too, in its own haunts and by their own hands; which, of course, meant that they were to visit every country where bears are to be found, and obtain a skin of each kind. Notwithstanding their youth both boys were skilled hunters, and excellent marksmen. ”

“ You are, perhaps, aware that bears, being of rather an indolent disposition, are not accustomed to hoard up a store of [Pg 6] provision for their wants in winter, but prefer—in their own country, at least—sleeping through the short dreary days and long bitter nights, and thus avoid the necessity of taking food for some weeks, although they grow very thin during their lengthened slumbers. ”

“ The man up the creek had the nerve to pretend that his favorite pastime was fighting Grizzlies with a butcher knife, and anybody acquainted with bears ought to size up that sort of a man easy enough, said Old Bill. ”

“ When they hunt for bears, they endeavour to find out their retreats; for, during the winter, these animals conceal themselves in the hollow trunks of trees, or make themselves holes in the ground, where they continue without food, whilst the severe weather lasts. ”

“ THE BEAR, WITH HIS WIFE AND SON, TAKES A WALK.
Said she to herself, “To rob bears is no sin;
The three bears have gone out, so I think I’ll go in.”
She entered their parlor, and she saw a great bowl,
And in it a spoon like a hair-cutter’s pole.
“That porridge,” said she “may stay long enough there,
It tastes like the food of the surly old bear,”
She tried Mammy Muff’s, and she said, “Mrs. B——,
I think your taste and my taste will never agree.”
GOLDENHAIR EATS UP TINY-CUB’S PORRIDGE.
Then she tried Tiny-Cub’s bowl, and said, “This is nice ”

“ But when she heard the little, small, wee voice of the Little, Small, Wee Bear, it was so sharp, and so shrill, that it awakened her at once. Up she started; and when she saw the Three Bears on one side of the bed, she tumbled out at the other, [Pg 140] and ran to the window. Now the window was open, because the Bears, like good, tidy Bears, as they were, always opened their bed-chamber window when they got up in the morning. Out little Silver-hair jumped; and away she ran into the wood, and the Three Bears never saw anything more of her.
[Pg 141]
THE STORY OF Little Goody Two-Shoes. ”

“ The leaves are nearly gone, and the fat old bears are slouching down from the high places to curl up in the holes, and the deer are moving down into the valleys, and pretty soon the hills will crawl under white blankets and go to sleep. ”

“ And I say surprising, because from his shambling gait, general deliberation of movement, and the clothing of long black hair which hides the powerful form and limbs, his activity and quickness of movement when aroused is astonishing to those who have no experience of bears. ”

“ The little chaps thrived and waxed strong under the cheerful conditions. Bears are very susceptible to their environment. If confined in gloomy places, they become dull and depressed. I got a young timber wolf and a mongrel dog to keep the little bears company. ”

“ Bears evince great sagacity as mountaineers, but although they are tireless and enterprising travelers they seldom cross the range. I have several times tracked them through the Mono Pass, but only in late years, after cattle and sheep had passed that way, when they doubtless were following to feed on the stragglers and on those that had been killed by falling over the rocks. ”

“ Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale;
And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet
Bears forward fierce, and guards his osier-isle, ”

“ You go along a battlefield, right atter the action, and you’ll find most o’ the dead faces pintin’ to the sky.”
“Bears is almost human, anyhow. A skinned bear looks like a great big-bodied man with long arms and stumpy legs.” ”

“ The bears are plenty, and they make themselves very much at home. It's only a few days since that one of them came out of the woods just back of the hotel and went to the hog-pen and took a pig and walked off with it into the forest. ”

“ One of our party, a simple-hearted and honest city editor, who was admitted into our little mountain colony because of his boundless good nature and native goodness, had never seen a bear before he came here. City editors do not, as a rule, ever know much about bears. ”

“ To give him a longer reach in catching the fish with his jaws—without tumbling into the water himself. Other bears, who live on dry land, do not need to reach out like that, and so they have shorter necks. ”

“ Bears are to a great extent diurnal mammals, whose haunts are chiefly the forests, although in late summer they resort in many localities, such as Kashmir, to the open mountain pastures, where they may be seen grazing at no great distance from flocks of sheep or goats. ”

“ Young Tiny-cub’s bowl, chair, and bed were the best,—
This, big bears and baby bears freely confessed.
Mr. B——, with his wife and his son, went one day
To take a short stroll, and a visit to pay.
He left the door open, “For,” said he, “no doubt
If our friend should call in, he will find us all out.”
It was only two miles from dark Hazel-nut Wood,
In which the great house of the three Bruins stood,
[2] That there lived a young miss, daring, funny, and fair,
And from having bright curls, she was called Goldenhair. ”

“ The forest is full of them, but they seem never to attack people unless when wounded, or much aggravated by dogs, or a she-bear thinks you are going to molest her young.
I dreamt of bears so vividly that I woke with a furry death-hug at my throat, but feeling quite refreshed. When I mounted my horse after breakfast the sun was high and the air so keen and intoxicating that, giving the animal his head, I galloped up and down hill, feeling completely tireless. Truly, that air is the elixir of life. I had a glorious ride back to Truckee. ”

“ To-morrow morning you can go outside and play a little while, providing you will promise not to go more than one jump away from the entrance to this home of ours. There are great dangers in the Green Forest for little Bears. ”

“ On the other hand, when a sufficient number of bears from widely separated regions are examined, the various distinguishing marks are found to be inconstant and to show a tendency—exactly how strong I cannot say—to fade into one another. ”