The Portland daily press., 1880-02-11
Quaint Stories of Bears.
Land and Water.

During one of the bitter cold days we have
lately had there arrived very interesting ad-
dition to the Gardens, namely. little bear,
sent by Mr.. Cross, of Liverpool. on ''sale or re-
turn" Knowing my great liking for bears,
Mr.. Bartlett kindly brought this young gentle
man down to pay me visit. He was funny
| little fellow about the size of a large rough
| puppy, and very knowing customer. When
| I took him out of his box and put him before
the fire he sat down on his launches, turned
his head and inspected the monkeys in their
cage. The monkeys did not know what to
make of him. They did not show the same
symptoms of alarm rs when snake is brought
in, but they paid Mr.. Bear very great respect,
not even making face at him. When let out
of their cage they took good care not to come
on the ground, but invariably got on the chairs
cage or mantepiece, always keeping one eye
on the intruder. The bear was very inquis-
tive, and walked about the room on his short
handy legs and pryed into everything. What
amused him most was to scratch up the mat
ting forming the hearth rug and to hunt for
something. This is his natural habit, to turn
over stones. ETC., to catch beetles. worms, etc.
His great delight was to get somebody's finger
into his mouth he would then immediately
begin sucking most vehemently, making Pc
culiar noise all the time, as if much gratified.
1t was necessary, however, to keep ones fin
ger in the middle of his mouth, as otherwise
there was a chance of being nipped smaItly by
his canine teeth, which were quite large enough
to hurt He was intolerant of cold, aud would,
if he could, get under the CRATE and rake abou,
among the ashes, sometimes even getting his
fur snged.
I tried to teach him tricks, and began b.
making him stand upright in the corner of the
sofa. The little rascal, however, would moi
learn anything, and his education finished b.
his making fierce rush at me and my boxing
his ears.
To the servants bear was bear, and it was
very amusing to hear the shindy they kicked
up when in the course of his peregrnations
about the house, Mr.. Bear met them on the
stairs or went into the kitchen to warm himself.
He had very peculiar eyes. very pig-lFe and
cunning, and he was fond of coming up to
visitor staring him steadfastly in the face, as
much as to say, "Please give me something; |
think YOU had BETTER He would eat almost
anything, but his favorite diet was bread milk
and sugar. | am sorry to say was obliged tp
send him back to the Gardens or | should like
to have made companion of him. and am
certain. as lie was tame, he would soon nave
Become ohedient.
ADrOp0S of bears, do not think that | have
ever put on record the story about the bear
who managed to get loose at the Gardens. Al
daybreak one fine Summers morning the
watchman reported to Mr.. Bartlett that there
was something alive underneath the chairs.
which, as usual, had been piled up after the
visitors had left. When Mr.. Bartlett came to
look at the chairs it was quite apparent that
there was somebody or something alive i'll the
middle of the pyramid Watching carefully
among the legs of the chairs.at last two black
eyes were seen; these were apparently bears
eyes, so they counted the bears in the bear pit.
aud one of them was found to be missing. The
difficulty now was to get the bear back into the
pit. The chairs were removed one by one till
the bear remained unconcealed. My gentle
man then got up on his hind legs and showed
symptoms of becoming nasty.
The bear was then surrounded by the keep
in a half-circle The best thing in the world
to tight a wild animal is the stump end of a
broom. The bear, knowing his way back home,
went up the steps and ran along the parapet.
over the cages in which the lions at that time
lived. When he got home to his bear-pit he
evidently did not like the jump down, SO he
reared himself up on his hind-legs, and swing
ing himself backward aud forward began to
swear in bear-li&e manner. While the STU
MD old bear was making fool of himself in
this way, Mr.. Bartlett took run al him, and
knocked him clean over into the bear-pit with
the stump end of the bloom. He laid there
long time with all the wind knocked out OF
him. At last he got up, shook himself, and
smeaked off into his den, where he lay num-
bling for several days, but ultimately came ont
none the worse for his expedition among the
chairs or his tumble backward into the bear
pit
Though bears are very good climbers,
yet it is a mercy that they cannot jump, or
otherwise they would have long ago jumped
out of the bear-pit from the top of their pole.
Some years back young man, on sixpenn,
day, had an adventure with a bear. | suppose
the heat of the weather Tor other disturbing
causes) made him drop his best holiday hat
right into the bear-pit The stupid fellow AT
once got dowL iuto the bear-pt, alighting on
the top of big bear who was coled up sleep
ing in the sun. The bear got up, and taking
the man by the shoulders, began waltzing
round with him. Luckily the man kept his
feet, and nothing happened, as the keeper drove
off the bear and let the man out at the side
door. He forgot, however, to take his hat with
him, but left it in the cage; the bears, OF
course, tore it up. The cool impertinence OF
this man was greatly to be wondered at. as mex
day he actually sent in bill to the Society for
a new hat.
There is very curl )us bear at the Geological
Gardens now. He sits up when he sees anv
body coming, and begs for what he can get l
he is shown anything and does not get it, he
pretends to commit suicide, turning and biting
himself all over most furously. This is al,
amusing beast He cannot bear being laughed
at FRANK BUCKLAND.