The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1878-02-21
Playing Horse with a Bear.

bSSh cPNAs " bS'b
father aud mother moved from New
England to Michigan when he was a
baby, and settled six miles from any
neighbor. But before the farm was all
cleared, other settlers came, and the
family moved on. Don't want 10 be
crowded." the old nan said, al heard
a rifle and an AK that wasn't mine yes.
terday." And he went farther and
farther West every year, TIL by the time
theboy Pm telling you Of wa a grown up
man, they had got clear to the west part
Of Oregon, on the Pacific coast. And
as the old man couldn't move West any
farther, without getting into the ocean
and neigbbors had moved within two
miles Of him, he gave 1t up, went to bed
sick, and died. "Tain't no nse," he
said, They're bound TO crowd an old
man onter tho world. i can't a-bear 10
tech elbows with folks, no-how." And
SO he Gied, with his nearest neighbor
two miles away.
But | was going to tell you of his
sons scrape with a bear. They built
their first log house at the foot of a hill;
but 1t was so low and damp that James
for that was his name-started to
build a bigger n higher up, half a
mile of, neal a mountain brook, with
grand old trees around the spot, and a
fine view of the country. He took off
the two front wheels ofthe old emigrant
wagon that they had crossed the great
plains in, and made him a good strong
two-wheeled cart, with a box on it. And
in this he drew back and forth his car
penter tools, and his dinner, and chips
for the fire, over a rough road that he
had cut through the woods.
He used to take a little nap after his
noon-day meal; and one day when he
was sleeping, on a splendid bed of ever
green boughs that he had fixed near the
timbers he was at work on, he was
wakened by a loud rafting of the tin
dishes in his cart. He looked around
quickly, and what do you suppose he
saw A big black bear, paving Over
the luncheon he had left, and smacking
his chops over a piece of wild honey
and some corn cakes that James hadn't
eaten up.
" This is a pretty fix" said James to
lfungalf nt,fnly Al . N Aoph Nc efRn
and AK are both in the cart, and that
ugly beast would claw me to pieces
before | conld get 'em out" He was
afraid the bear would chase him if he
ran, and corner him If he stayed, and
so he set his wits at work to find a way
out of the scrape. Good bright wits
are too much for bear, or a hard lesson
or a tough job of any sort, if they are
only kept at work, with no 81 can't"
or 81 don't want to-" or "Oh dear"
to hinder them. 1t didn't take James's
wits so long as L have been telling it to
you TO make a plan for him
He jumped to his feet quick as a flash,
grabbed the tongue of the cart before
the bear could say "Jack RObinsOn,"-
If he had known hOw-and started on a
keen run downthe hill, drawing the
cart and the bear in it after him.
Well l s'pose there never was a bear
so astonished since the pair saved from
the flood stepped out Of Noah's ark and
found the whole world drowned. He
had never had a ride before, and didn't
want one now But the cart was going
so fast that he daren't jump out; and so
he just chung on, and looked from n
side to the other, and fairly hOwled as
the cart bumped over the roots and
stones. James had been to the city
once and seen the street cars, and when
he found he had the bear caught, the
fun of the thing made him laugh.
When the bear roared once he halloed
back: "All fnll inside take the next
carl" And when the bear gave a terri
fc growl, he said; "Move up in
front, please,-and don't grumble.
This is a through car, Git up therew
and he buckled down to it and ran
just the way the car drivers make the
horses do, when they are late, and pre-
tend they don't see a little boy ~crooking
his fingers for 'em to stop OF the cross
ing. The tin-dishes in the bottom of
the cart ratified like a peddler's wagon
on the pavement; the AK and gun boun-
ded on to the bears toes, and he looked
as If he didn't know which was the
worst-his mad or his scare.
Down the steep hill James ran straight
for the corner of his Lighthouse, He had
his plans all made, and as he turned the
corner he ran the cart against a log, and
it right over, bottom side up,
with MIR. Bear on the under side. His
other rife hung over the door, in the
and he grabbed that down in q
and as the bear stuck his head
out from under the cart he shot him
between the eyes, saying "There, that
the question
"Wha question:" asked his wife,
who came running out to see what the
noise meant.
why, the question whether l had
caught a bear or he had caught me-"
"Mercy sakesp" she said, as she saw
the dead bear. Then he told her the
story, and she kissed him, and laughed
and cried at the same time, And he
had an overcoat made of the skin, to
remember the time when he "gave a
bear a free ride
AhnnI MnAnIninnr.