The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1878-05-16
KiLLED a BEAR


ptsred Aboui my casual encounter with
40 AdSpsdAtk bear. last iamntT, tha
f 10 justice 10 The public, 10 myself, and "a
The bear Il l. necessary 10 make plaiI
statement Of the facts Besides, u is q
seldom have occasion TO kIIl bear tha
I The celebration Of The exploit may be ex
cused. W VI
The encounter was unprecedented OF
both sides. vas no. bunIipg for bear
aud have 40 reason 70 suppose that a
bear was looking for me. The fact Il
that We were both out blaekberrying, and
met BY chance, the usual way. There II
among lbe Adirondack yisltors always =
gtead deal OF conversation about bears,
general expression Of the wish to see
one In the woods, and much speculation
as to how person would act II he or she
chAnced TO meet one. But bears are
scarce aud limid, aud appear only to !
favored few. #H00G4M g.
II was = wsrm day 10 August, just The
sort ofS day when 50 adventure OF any
kind seemed impossible. But Il occurred
TO the housekeepers at our cotiage-lhere
were four Of ll,em-to send one to the
clearing on the mountain back Of the
house TO pick laekberries. II was rather
= series OF small clesrings, running uI
into the forest, much oyergrown with
bushes and brisrs, and not unromanlic
Cowspastured there, penetrating through
the leafy passages from Que opening Il
another, aud browsing among the bushes
| was kindly furnished with a six-qusrt
pail, and told not to be gone long.
Not from any predatory instinct, buI
10 save appearances, ] took a gun. II
adds TO the manly aspect OF person witt
tin pail II be also carries gun. Il
was possible might start up partridge
though how was to bit him II be started
up instead of standing still puzzled me
Many people use ashotgun for partridges
! prefer the rifle ii makes clean job o.
death, and does not prematurely stuff the
bird with globules OF lead. Tho rifle was
Sbarp's, carrying ball cartridge, Ten
TO pound; an excellent weapon, be.
longing 10 friend OF mine who had In
tended for good many years back to
kill deer with It. He could bit tree
with it, ii the wind did not blow and the
atmosphere was just right and the tree
was not too far OIL, nearly every time; Of
course the tree must have some size.
Needless TO say that was at that time no
sportsman. Years ago killed robin
under the most humiliating circumstan.
ces. The bird was in low cherry tree
loaded big shotgun pretty full, crept
up under the tree, rested the gun7on the
fence, with the muzzle more than ten feet
from the bird, shut both eyes, and pulled
the trigger. When got up to see what
happened the robin was scattered about
under the tree In more than thousand
pieces, no one of which was big enough
10 enable a naturalist 10 decide from Il to
what species 1t belonged. This disgusted
me with the life OF a sportsman. men.
ton the incident to show that, although
went blackberrying armed, there was not
much inequality between me and the
bear.
In this blackberry patch bears had
been seen. The summer before, our col
ored cook, accompanied BY . little girl Of
the vincinage, was picking berries there
one day, when bear came out of the
woods and walked toward them. The
girl took to her heels and escaped. Aunt
Chloe was paralyzed with terror. In
stead Of attempting to run, she sat down
en- the ground where she was standing
and began 10 weep and scream, giving
herself up for lost. The bear was hewil.
dered by ttis conduct He approached
and looked at her; be walked around and
surveyed her. Probably be bad never
seen a colored person before, and did not
know whether she would agree with him.
AT any rate, after watching her :, few
moments, he turned about and went Into
the forest. This Is an authentic instance
OF The delicate consideration OF q bear,
and is much more remarkable than the
iorbearance toward the African slave OF
the well known lion, because the bear
had no thorn in his foot.
When had climbed the hill, set up
my rifle against tree and began picklpg
berries, Iured on from bush TO bush by
the black gieam OF fruit that always
promises more in The distance than il
realizes when you reach it; penetrating
farther and farther, through leaf-shaded
coE.pAlhs flecked with sunlight, into
clearing after clearing | could hear on
all sides the tinkle of bells, the cracking OF
sticks, and stamping Of cattle that were
taking refuge 10 tie thicket from the
flies. Occasionally, IS broke through q
covert, encountered meek COW, who
stared aI me stupidity for 3 second aud
then shambIed of into the brush; | be.
came accasleped p tbis damh society,
and picked on in silence, attributing all
The wood.noises to the cattle, thinking
nothing Of any real bear ln poias Oi
fact, however, was thinking all the time
l.of nice romantic bear, and, as picked,
was composing a story Of generous she
bear who bad losl her cub, and who
seized a small girl In this very wood
carried h~ set dssly uf 10 her cave, and
lbrooght berup Cd bears milk and honey.
When the girl got big enough to run
away, moved By her inherited instincts,
abe escaped aud came iuto the valley 10
/ her iather's house (lbis part Of the story
was TO be worked out, 30 that tho child
would know her father by some family