The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1877-12-21


and brought her up on bears milk an
honey. When the girl got big enoug
J to run away, moved by her inherited il
stincts, she escaped and came into tn
valley to her fathers house (this par
of the story was to be worked out, 5
that the child would know her father b.
some family resemblance, and have som
language in which to address him), AM
told him where the bear lived. Tn
father took his gun, and, guided by tn
unfeelIng daughter, went into the wood
and shot the bear, who nevermade an,
resistance, and only, when dying, turneC
reproachful eyes upon her murderer
The moral of the tale was to be kindnes
to animals.
was in the midst of this tale, whe1
l happened to look some rods away Il
the other edge of the clearing, and there
was a bear He was standing on hi,
hind legs and doing just what 1 was do
ing,-picking blackberries. With one
paw he bent down the bush, while with
the other he clawed the berries into his
mouth, green ones and all. To say that
l was astonished is inside the mark. ]
suddenly discovered that 1 didn't want
to see a bear, after all. At about the
same moment the bear saw me, stopped
eating berries, and regarded me with a
glad surprise. 1t is all very well to i'm.
agine what you would do under such cir
cumstances. Probably you wouldn't do
it; didn't. The bear dropped down
on his fore feet, and came slowly towards
me. Climbing a tree was of no use with
50 good climber in the rear; if start
ed to run, / had no doubt the bear would
give chase, and although bear cannot
run downhill as fast as he can run up
hill, yet | felt that he could get over
this rough, brush-tangled ground faster
than l could.
The bear was approaching. 1t sud
/ denly occurred to me how | could divert
his mind until 1 could iall back upon my
military base. My pail was nearly iull
OF excellent berries,-much better than
the bear could pick himself. I put the
pail on the ground and slowly backed
away from it, keeping my eye, as beast
tanners do, on the bear. The ruse sue
ceeded
The bear came up to the berries and
| stopped; not accustomed to eat out of
pail, he tipped it over and nosed about
ip the fruit, CORNING" (if there is such
word) it down, mixed with leaves and
dirt, like pig. Whenever he disturbs
maple-sugar camp in the spring, he
always upsets the buckets of syrup and
tramples round in the sticky sweets,
wasting more than he eats. The bears
manners are thoroughly disagreeable.
As soon as my enemy's head was
down, l started and ran. Somewhat out
of breath and shsky, reached my faith
fui rifle. II was not moment TOO soon.
heard the bear orashing through the
brush after me. Enraged at my duplic-
ity, he was now coming on with blood in
his eye. felt that the time of one of
US was probably short. The rapidity of
thought at such moments of peril is well
known. l thought an octave volume,
had it illustrated and published, sold
fifty thousand copies, and went tc Eu-
rope on the proceeds, while that bear
was Looping across the clearing. As I
was cooking the gun, l made a hasty
and unsatisfactory review of my whole
life. noted that even in such a COM
pulsory review it is almost impossible to
think of any good thing you have done
The sins come out uncommonly str ing.
1 recollected a newspaper subscription l
had delayed paying, years and years ago,
until both editor and newspaper were
dead and which now never could be
paid to all eternity.
The bear was coming on.
l tried to remember what l had read
about encounters with bears l couldn't
recall an instance in which a man had
run away from bear in the woods and
escaped, although l recalled plenty
where the bear had run from the man
and got off. 1 tried to think what is
the best way to kill bear with a gun,
when you are not near enough to club
him with the stock. My first thought
was to fire at his head, to plant the ball
between his eyes; but this is danger
Gus experiment. The bears brain is very
small, and unless you hit that, the bear
does not mind a bullet in his head that
is, not at the time. l remember that
the instant death of the bear would fol-
low bullet planted just back of his fole
leg and sent into his heart. This spot is
also difficult to reach unless the bear
stands off towards you, like a target. l
finally determined to fire at him gener-
ally
The bear was coming on.
The contest seemed to me very differ
\ent from anything at Creedmoor. / had
carefully read the reports of the shoot
ing there, but it was not easy to apply
the experience I had thus acquired. 1
hesitated whether l had better fire lying
on my stomach, or lying on my back and
resting the gun on my toes. But in
neither position, l reflected, could l see
the bear until ne was upon me. The
range was too short, and the bear
wouldn't wait \tor me to examine the
thermometer and note the direction OF
the wind. Trial of the Creedmoor
method, therefore, had to be abandoned :;
and I bitterly regretted that had not
read more accounts of Ioff-ha1d shooting.
For the bear was coming on.
tried to fix my last thoughts upon
my family. As my family is small, this
was not difficult. Dread of displeasing
my wife or hurting her feelings was up
permost in my mind. What would be
her anxiety as hour after hour passed on
and did not returnl What would the
rest of the household think as the after
noon passed and no blackberries came
What would be her modification when
the news was brought that her husband
had been eaten up by bear? cannot
imagine anything more ignominious than
to have husband eaten by bear And
this was not my only anxiety. The
mind at such times is not under control.