American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-11-01
GRANDMA'S BEAR STORY.
by ELINOR BROOKS.

| by ELINOR BROOKS.
Grandma liked old-fashioned ways and
things, and never would consent to have
| q grassy coalstOve" in her room, but in
sisted on keeping her own old "Franklin'
there, with big folding doors ready for g
fire inside of them, summer as well as
winter for, as she said, "There is often a
| cool evening in summer when little fire
is pleasant" She always had plenty OF
company such evenings, for when twi-
| light came the little ones f1ocked in there
| from their outdoor play, delighted to
cuddle down before the pleasant open
fire and listen to grandma's stories of old
times. When the Franklin" doors were
wide open the bright freight glanced in
every corner of the room, so that grand
mas fingers, aided by the practice of
many years, could easily guide her knit
ting needles around the little stocking
that was always her evening work.
"Grandma," said Jason, one evening,
when they quieted down after a very
noisy romp, "Grandma, tell us about the
time when you were little girl and used
to go after the cows through the woods,
and chased the bear"
"Oh," said grandma, Twill you never
be tired hearing that old story You
must know it all by heart by this time /;
you had better tell it to me-
ooh, no, no, grandma, please do tell
us that one" cried the other children,
knowing from experience that coaxing
would bring grandma to terms.
And grandma commenced: "When l
was little girl it was all woods around
here, there were no houses except the log
house we lived in, and there was not an
other one nearer than the Cooper settle
ment, which was three miles away. | re-
the dav ue cama here I Was
ten years old then, about as old as some
of you are now; my brother Alex was two
years younger than l. My father had
come on few weeks before the family, to
build house for us to live in. He and
Uncle John had cut down trees and built
a house of the logs, and had made Chin
ney of wooden Stats. The side next the
fire was plastered with clay. The hearth,
of large, flat stones, was not laid yet, but
father built roaring fire on the ground
at the bottom of the chimney, and soon
there was nice bed of Goals for mother
to put the supper over. Uncle John had
caught a nice spotted trout in the creek
to have ready for our suppers, when, all
tired and hungry, we reached our new
home. Mother put the fish in the frying
pan on the hottest Goals, and some pota-
toes to roast in the ashes, and a short-cake
in the bake kettle. Oh, nothing will ever
taste so good to me again." said grandma,
as 1.-The supper did that night. We were
to be altogether again. | can remember
just how the fish smelled as l sat on the
board floor, with my feet hanging down
to the bare ground where the stone hearth
was to be, watching mother as she moved
the frying-pan from one place to another,
on the Goals, so that it would get the best
heat
Il remember, too, looking up through
the roof that still lacked several boards at
one end, and seeing the great branches of
the forest trees waving against the blue
sky far above our house. They seemed so
high, so far away, that thought Heaven
would be very near if one could but climb
to their tops"
Grandma here lapsed into reverie
which lasted so long that the boys became
impatient, and were greatly relieved when
she reused herself with a sigh, and con-
tinued: There were but few Indians here
then; they had mostly gone farther west;
those that still fingered along our creek
lived by hunting and fishing. They would
not work, and they aoouid steal, SO we were
all glad when they wandered off in search
of their tribe-I think they were Cayugas.
The deer and bears were mostly gone,
too; they retreated, Is did the Indian, be-
fore the white man. Father and Uncle
John shot two deer and bear the first
year we lived here, but they never saw
any after that first year. l never saw
bear in the woods but once, and I'll tell
you about that now.
"My brother Alex and had 10 go for
the cows every night. They were pastured
in the woods, and sometimes strayed
mile or two from the house. One of them
had Il bell on her neck, so that, hearing 1t,
we might know in what direction to look
for them, as they always kept together
two cows and little black heifer.
lone night Alex and were so busy at
play that we forgot all about the cows,
until we were startled by fathers voice,
asking us where they were. Great was
our CONSERVATION TO find that it was past
shutdown, and getting darker every mo-
ment. We begged of father TO go with
us; we were afraid. But he said, No, this
will teach you Il lesson you will not Tor
get; you must go alone. There VIII moth
ing hurt YOU
ave hurried off through the woods,
starting at every shadow we saw and every
sound we heard. BY the time we found
the cows it was so dark that we could not
have told old 'whitetaCe' from the other,
only that she had the bell The black
heifer was missing; we hunted awhile,
and not finding her, concluded to go back
without her, as it was getting SO dark we
were afraid we could not find our
way home. We started the cows
along, and had gone but a few
rods when black object started out from
Il clump of under brush and followed on
behind the cows.
"'Hailoo,' said Alex, there's the heiier
after all I'm glad she's come; father
would have scolded us for leaving her
When the heiter heard his voice she
stopped, turned, and looked al, us, as II
she was inclined to come toward us in
stead of going home; but we shouted at
her with al OH M rht for We diln'l want