The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-11-14
THE WONDERFUL MOTHER.

The WONDERFUL MOTHER.
A Large Brown Bear which Took Care of
. Little savoyard Boy.
The winter of the year 1709 was one
of extreme cold. Never was a colder
winter known in Europe. In France
many people froze to death in their
beds, not only among the mountains,
but even in the villages and cities.
The hottest fire was not sufficient to
keep room warm. While the stoves
were red hot, the water would freeze
but few feet from them. The trees in
the forest and by the roadside became
SO frozen that some of them burst, and
made a noise as if q small mine had ex-
ploded.
Sparrows and crows and jackdaws
sometimes fell down dead while flying
in the air. Large fiocks Vt sheep and
cattle froze in the barn yards. The
bats, which usually sleep during the
winter, were awakened out of their
torpid slumbers, fluttered around lit
tie while, and fell dead on the ground.
The deer in the forest could no more
run swiftly, but crept slowly out of the
woods and came near the dwellings of
men. Finally spring came, and null
titude of them were found dead in the
woods. The little lakes and brooks and
rivers, after they had been thawed by
the sun, emitted very unpleasant
odor, because nearly all the fish in them
hi been frozen to death. The people
suffered from extreme poverty, for the
cold had destroyed many of their means
of support. The wheat that had been
sown in the autumn, their sheep, fowls,
fish and vegetables that had been buried
in the ground, were completely destroy
ed by the frost.
During this winter a poor little Savoy
ard boy was wandering in the streets
of Luneville, in LOthringia. He was a
pitiable orphan. His older brother, who
had taken care of him, had now gone on
a message to the city of Nancy to earn
a few francs. But he suffered the fate
of many travellers. and was frozen to
death. Many of the passengers on the
stage and on horseback were frozen to
death, though covered with furs and
cloaks. The drivers lost their lives. and
still held the relns in their stiff hands.
The little Savoyard boy wandered
about from house to house to get little
employment or piece of bread. He
was glad to blacken boots or shoes, dust
clothes, clean dishes in the kitchen or
do anything that would give him sou.
But when night came on his suffering
became intense. He had slept with his
brother in carpenter shop, where the
two had covered themselves with an old
foot cloth, on which they piled shavings
very high. They lay very close to-
gether, and by this means managed to
be protected from the severity of the
cold. But now he was alone, and he
would certainly freeze if he should at
tempt to sleep in the carpenter shop.
The wife of the hostler took compassion
on him. She showed him little Sleep
ing place in one of the stalls in the
stable where the horses of certain
Prince were kept. In this stall there
stood an iron cage in which a large
brown bear was confined; for the beast
was very wild and angry. The little
Savoyard boy, who had come in the
darkness Of the night into the stable,
neither knew nor cared for any wild
beast that might be near by. He lay
down upon some straw and stretched
out his hand to pull more. As he
out his hand he put it be-
tween the wires of the cage in which
the beast was, and found that large
pile was there. Thinking it better to
get in where the straw was, he crawled
up to the cage and squeezed in through
the iron bars. The bear grumbled
little, but did no violence. She took
the little stranger between her paws and
pressed him near her warm breast and
against her thick skin so softly and
comfortably that he who had not SLEPT
for many nj ghts with any comfort now
forgot all fear and soon fell into sweet,
deep sleep.
In the morning the boy walked up
with renewed strength and crept out of
the cage and went forth to the city to
attend to his business and seek his
daily bread. At night he returned to
his strange mother. Beside the bear
there lay Il great many pieces of bread
which had been brought from the table
of the Prince; but the bear had eaten all
she wanted, and these were left. So
the Savoyard helped himself to all he
needed. He then lay quietly down
between the paws of his thick-clad
mother, who pressed him to her as she
had done before; and he slept there as
if in the warmest feather bed.
In this way he spent five nights with
out anybody knowing it. On the morn
ing of the sixth night he oversight him
self, so that when the hostlers went
around with lanterns in the early morn
ing to attend to the many horses in the
stable, they saw the boy lying between
the paws of the great bear. The old
bear grunted little as if she was very
much offended at any one seeing her
taking care of her little favorite. The
boy sprang up, and squeezed through
the cage. to the great establishment of
the bystanders.
The strange affair became widely
known, and created much wonder
throughout the city.-Good Words.