The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1873-10-16
TIFFIN TRIBUNE.
rInn, FhursdsJ Eve. Get. fsth. 1873
GrandmG's Bear Story.
An ACTUAL OCCURREYCg
BY ELINoR BROOKS.

company such evenings, for when
twilight came, the little ones fiocked
in there from the outdoor play. de-
lighted to cuddle down before the
pleasant open fire and listen to grand
mas stories of old times. When the
Franklin" doors were wide open the
bright fire-light glanced in every cor
ner Of the room, SO that grandma's
fingers, aided by the practice of many
years, could easily guide her knitting
needles around the little stocking that
was always her evening work.
"Grandma," said Jason, one even
ing, when they had quieted down az
ter a very noisy rOmp, Grandma,
tell us about the time when you were
a little girl and used to go after the
cows through the woods, and chased
the bear.n
"Oh," said grandma, "wiIl you
never be tired of hearing that old
story? You must know il all by
heart by this time; 7 you had better
tell it to me-"
-"Oh, no, no, grandma, please do
tell US that one" knowing by expert
ence that coaxing would bring grand
ma to terms.
And grandma commenced: isWhen
was a little girl it was all woods
around here, there were no houses eX-
cept the log house we lived in, and
| there was not another one nearer than
the Cooper settlement, which was
three miles away. 1 remember the
day we came here L was ten years
old then, about as old as some Of you
are; my brother Alex was two years
younger than L My father had come
on few weeks before the family, to
build a house for US TO live in. He
and Uncle John had cut down trees
and built house Of the logs, and lad
made chimney of wooden Stats.
The side next the fire was plastered
with clay. The hearth, of large. fiat
stones was not laid yet, but father
built roaring fire on the ground at
the bottom of the chimney, and soon
there was ready a nice bedof Goals for
mother to put the supper over. Un-
Gle John had caught a nice spotted
trout in the creek to have ready for
our supper, when, all tired and hum
CRY, 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 short
cake in the bake-kettle. "Oh, moth
ing will ever taste so good to me
again." said grandma, Has the sup
lper did that night" We were all Sc
hungry, and so happy, and so glad te
be altogether again. l can remember
lust how the fish srnelled as / sat Oh
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.
"I remember, too, looking up
through the roof that still lacked sew
eral boards at one end, and seeing the
great branches of the forest trees wa
wing against the blue sky far above
our house. They seemed so high, so
far away, that l thought Heaven
would be very near if one. could but
climb to their tops.n
Grandma here lapsed into rever-
lie which lasted so long that the boys
became impatient, and were greatly
relieved when she reused herself with
sigh, ana continued: "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 1UOilld steal, so we
were all glad when they wandered of
in search of their tribe. 1 think they
were Cayugas. The deer and bears
were mostly gone, too; they retreat
ed, as did the Indians, before 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 a
bear in the woods but once, and 1 will
tell you about that now.
My brother Alex and l had to 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 a bell on her neek, 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.
zone night Alex and were so busy
at play that we forgot all about the
cows until we were startled by fa-
theirs voice, asking US where they
were. Great was our CONSERVATION to
find that it was past sundOwn, and
getting darker every moment. We
begged father to go with Us; we were
afraid. But he said, "No, this will
teach you will not forget, you must GO
alone. There will nothing hurt your
1--WE 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 "White-
facep from the other, only she had
the bell. The black heifer was miss
ing; we hunted awhile, and, not
finding her, concluded to go back
without her, as it was gettiDgso dark
that We were afraid we could not find
our way home. We started the COWS
along, and had gone but q few rods
when black object started out from
clamp of underbrush and followed
on behind.the cows.
"HalloO," said Alex, there's the
heifer after all I'm glad she's come ;
father would have scOlded US for leav-
ing herr When the teifer heard his
voice she stopped, turned, and looked
at US, as if she was inclined to eome
toward US instead of going home; but
We shouted at her with all our might,
for We didn't want to lose her again,
and she turned and trotted after the
cows. Several times she stopped in
the same way, and We mad 10 stop
and drive her along, 1 remember
that Alex said, ''Nan, what does all
that heifer? seems to me she acts
queer" When we came to the clear
ed land, the heifer stopped again, and
when we tried to drive her farther,
she growled at us, and, turning sud-
denly, climbed right over the top of a
high rail fence, and we-heard her run,
growing, off into the woods
TITS q bear " exclaimed Alex;
"let's run :" and run we did. We
raced the COWS home at such a rate
that the jingling bell brought mother
out of the house to "Wonder what in
the world those children were racing
the cows for; it would just ruin the
butter" But telling cur adventure
soon cut short her reproOfs she hUr-
ried US into the house and fastened
the door and windows, and as soon
d5 ldiuCI anu OAStC OOlu CUulls LlEN
started off with guns and lantern to
see if it really had been a bear. Sue
enough, by the light Cf the lantern
they found bear tracks just where We
told them to lock, and they tracked it
a couple of miles. into the woods,
then losing the track, they came
home. A few days after, we heard
that neighbor, who liYed several
miles away, had shot 4 young black
bear, and l always felt sure it was the
one Alex and / tried 20 drive home
with the cows
Grandma paused, but the children
said, "Oh, don't stop, do tell another
story: tell about the TattIesnske that
Uncle Alex killed.n But grandma
said, "No; no more this time. Good
night.n
But Jason was not to be dfsrn issed
in such summary manner. "Was
that true story, grandma ?p he said.
certainly it was true,D grandma
onaNunrah Gfif hnnraFaasa