Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-08-09
The Love of Bears for Melons.

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| once worked on a watermelon Dlanta.
tiOn where we had 100 acres under vines
at one time. The curious thing about the
business was that our hardest fight wasn't
agln weeds. 1t was agin bears-bIack
! bears. We'd got the vines all shooting
along, some of them with melons on 'em
as big as pumpkin. and the old man was
getting the road to the river cleared out
so as to be ready for shipping, when one
morning III came one OF the boys and says
he:
something has broke down the worm
fence and battered up about an acre OF
the vines in the clearin'."
We'd just cleared about ten acres of
woodland the past winter, and melons
were doing amazingly well in that field.
So you may know the old man was mad
when he heard this. Him and | went
down to see what was up, and we saw in
minute that it was bears.
There were tracks, just as they were
made by men walking on their hands, in
the soft earth all over the field, and the
vines was torn up and ripe and green
melons mashed to flinders in a way that
nothing but bear could do.
''They'll be back tonight" said the old
man. You and Josh and Henry clean
out your rifles and be ready for 'em''
There was full moon that night, and |
tell you things loOkedpurty, il sh and Hen
ry and l setttn' behind stumps. with orr
rifles across our laps, waiting. The fence
was still tore down at the point nearest
the woods, and the moonlight shining on
the dark forest, where we expected the
bears to come from, and then on the field
OF watermelon vines, whose white ten
drills glistened like silver, looked mighty
purity.
Now and then we heard a screech owl
yelling down in the woods, but we didn't
pay no attention to that; and presently [
saw bear come out and walk slowly into
| the field. He was a big fellow, as black
as coal in the moonlight, and he wasn't
In any hurry either. He sauntered along
as SLOW as you please over to a big striped
| Georgia melon, and settin' down on his
hams, he just picked that melon up in his
two fore paws and smashed It between
'em like paper. In half a minute his
whole head was dripping with juice, and
could near him smacking his lips like a
hog.
We let him alone, according to the old
/ mans instructions, waiting until there
should be bear apiece for us. for the
tracks showed that at least six of 'em had
been around the night before.
In few minutes along came another
one, and then there walked in an old she.
with two little ones at her heels. We had
three bears now, but nary one of us fired.
W atchlng them bears was the biggest
picnic ever | saw. Sometimes they'd
catch up melon just as you'd take up
baby, and, holding it close to 'em, travel
| across the field on their hind legs until
they'd see bigger one, and then smash
would go the rind, and juice would drip
OIL 'em like they had just come out of a
bath.
L was watching the old she teaching her
young ones Ihow to break into the juicy
part, when crack went Josh's rifle, and
the whole gang started ON run. The
vines tripped 'em up so that they couldn't
go very fast, and we each bagged one of
,em, NINE being one of the young Ones
we watched every night after that till the
season was over, but they were kind of
wary now, and we never shot more than
one in night. While we'd be sitting in
one field waiting for them. they'd be rip-
snortIng away at the fruit on the other
side of the plantation
"Bears are keener after watermelons
than a negro, and l can say no more than
that"