St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1871-03-10

Consult any number of boys aS TO then
favCrite animal, and nine out of tcl will
east .hcir free suffrage in favor of Bruin
There is somcthin" about the bear thai
laScinatcs Il boy. The little four-ycar
old, climbing upon your knee, will cal
for 4 story about bears, and after lcarine
the thrilling recital he will gc: down be.
hind chair and act the part, TO III,
mute amazemcnt of his little sister
This interest i'll the clumsy creature
seems to he as instructive as our horror
of snakes. My earliest adventure, that
had consequences of sufficient importance
to procure me Il patcrnal thrashing, and
leave lifelong remembrance, came OF
an attempt 10 play bear. Surrcptitious-
ly possessing myself Of a hair rug that
ordinarily graccd the hall, | pulled il
over my back and head and hid behind
the gate, where Il beautiful hawthorn
hedge afforded superb concealment, and
solemny determined to .'scare some one
into fits" That ''somc one happened
to be old Uncle Shack's horse Gunpow-
der, so called from tkc difficulty cxper-
fenced in getting him to 20 off.
Now This Uncle Shack was an Amer
lean citizen of African descent, sort OF
commissary attached to our family head
quarters He had become superannua-
ted at the age Of forty, and devoted the
remainder of his cJlorcd existence to 4
light pursuit of vegetables. At the time
| proposed to make his aged horse &C,
quainicd with bears, Uncle Shack wa:
about sixty, gray-haircd, blear-eyed, and
with we'll settled convictions, the most
prominent of which appeared 10 be that
boys, rs Il general thing, ought to be kill,
cd. On this occasion, having gathered
an assortment Of vegetables, he stood uE
in his crazy vehicle, such only as Il ncgr,
can devise, and drove slowly to his doom
His Eorse had "a tradition ATTACHED Il
him, that at one time i'll his past life h,
had been spirited animal. Wild storic
were ailolt of deeds on the road tina
were positively incredible TO the observer
lie was, at the time referred to, livin.
hat-racli, with nothing left Of his forme
activity but an eccentric movement il
his right hind leg, that came of the string
halt, and, while the animal seemed TO b,
moving with tine solcmnity of Il funeral
this lee continued the famous old trot o
the road.
When directly opposite my ambush,
moved out, will head covered, on IN,
hands and knees, growing in approved
bear fashion. Gunpowder at first seem
cd lost in amazcment. He stopped alb
rupily, stared, and then, us approachc,
making lidcous noises, lie gave fcrc,
snort, and actually broke into Il gallop
Uncle Shack attempted to arrest this by
wild orders of "Whoa , whoa" an,
drafts upon the rcins. These last wer,
old and dccayed; in the midst of the eff
fort they snapped, and the aged African
came down in Il sitting position upon hi
vegetables.
The tates then took command. From
the gate to a bridge below the mill til,
road WAS descending. Along this | saw
and heard the doomed vehicle roll ant
rattle. The race WAS not swift, but il
was portentous in its noise, and grave il
its consequences. The wild horse of th,
vegetable garden, unguided, missed tn,
wooden structure, and saw wagon, rid
cr, horse, and all disappear down E;
dreadful abyss of six feet. Then follow
cd silence fearful in its contrast to th,
late uproar. The wagon, horse, anC
man, 50 full Of Vi gorous life and sense
seemed 10 drop through a hole and van
ish from the earth.
With that diplomatic ability that ba.
since distinguished me, | ran into the
house, replaced the rug, and was anon.
the fist TO give the alarm. Indeed, IL,
proof could be adduced that L had beer
guilty of this outrage on bears and AT
ricans, but was subsequently thraslet
on presumption.
The vehicular convenience for vegeta
blcs was fishcd out. The horse died sooI
alter from oycr-cXertion,an and Uncle SHACK
survived the shock only twenty years
lie dated from that event his decline ant
death, and, retiring from business, exist
ed on the charity of the family, and de
tailed account OF the dreadful affair
Locked at from an intellectual point
of view, Bruin can scarcely be con.
sidcred success He lacks the keen i.
stinct of the dog and the ponderous sa
gacity of the elephant. lie has no sense
of fun in his composition. He is as Sc
rious as an ass, and far more stupid. M
merous stories were told us in early you'll