The Chickasaw messenger., 1888-03-15
MUSIC HATH CHARMS.

MUNlJ llAIH J1AhMO.
wonder if any Uf those down east
bear hunting chaps that write letters
from the backwoOds Of Maine and Penn
sylvania ever tumbled 10 the fact that
br7Iin il one Of the most musical varmints
in all creation. / remember hearing
Parsou Pete, who used TO be a down east
sky pilot years ago, tell about a bear ne
once saw in the streets Of New York
dancing to the music Of hurdy gurdy,
and another one, a small black bear. he
said. he saw in a theatre beating a gong.
Old e.es pretty wnite, and SO / reckon
be must have seen all this; bat I'm a
talking of real varmint. not bears that
have beer born and brought up in a
circus.
/ don { know whether l mentioned it
in any Il my other letters, but Sage
brush Bill is one Of the slickcst musicians
in Montana. He can get more music
ont of little one horse mouth organ
that he bought a year ago up IN Boze-
man than most people could out of a
grand piano Every evening after sup
per Sapebush used 10 amuse himself by
playing on this mouth organ, sometimes
keeping it up till near midnight. We
used 10 get kinder weary Of il at times.
but now and then we allowed him to
keep il up as long as he wanted, only
requiring him 20 take his camp stool
some distance away from the tent and
play more gently after we turned in.
By and by we came TO notice that
whenever Sagebrush kept his music
going pretty late the mules that were
mcketed close by always betrayed signs
If measiness shortly after he had quit
playing and gone to bed. Sometimes
they went so far as to snort and try to
break loose, and once or twice when we
turned out to see what was up, we
caught sight of some object moving
about in the shadow of the pines that
fringed the little mountain park in which
We had pitched our camp.
This object we naturally supposed 10
be a bear. After the night we got treed
by the seven grizzlies, however, we were
all-fired careful about chasing bears
through the timber by moonlight. AT
first We never thought of associating the
appearance Of this bear with Sagebrush 5
music. any more than thinking perhaps
it might have been attracted by the
noise. But one evening the Englishman,
who hailed from India. was telling about
the way the Hindoos cause the saIpiuts to
come a-winding and kissing out of their
holes, swaying their heads for JOY at hear
ing the music Of flute. In talking this
over. il then dawned upon us that Sage
brushs music might have had something
to do with attracting the bear to the
edge Of the park.
We poked a good deal Of fun at Sage
brush about his power of fascinating
bears with the mouth organ, and none Of
Us, at the time, regarded the matter as
anything more than good Joke. Il
/ happened, however, a day or two later,
that we struck first rate opportunity to
put it 10 the test, and 50 found out that
music hath charms even to bear;
charms that if properly used, may easily
( lure him to destruction.
One night the mules broke loose and
/ cleared out, In the morning Sagebrusi
and / followed their trail down through
/ the timber and on out into the prairie,
/ While crossing a sort Of a level inlet oi
prairie between two spurs we saw a fam
/ iIy Of five cinnamon bears playing to
/ gether right out on the open. There wa.
no cover but few knee high clumps oi
/ grease wood and one sinuOus little dry
watercourse, a mere washout barely
sufficient to hide a person crawling on al
/ fours.
We were half a mile or more from the
I bears when we first saw them. They
/ were having a quiet game Of tag, nov
/ you We got me and now you amt all tC
/ themselves, and had no idea Of anybody
being within 100 miles. Dropping down
into the washout. we held a brief con
sultation as to what we had better do
/ Plainly there was only the one thing
which was tocrawl along the watercoursC
until it should ing us near enough tC
/ Use our Winchesi IS with good effect.
Looks Ike pity to spoil their play
though, don't it7r suggested Sagebrush
so it does, " | agreed; "but it would
be a still greater pity to let them gel
away" and so we started on up the
washout. The bears were so absorbed IN
their play that we had no difficulty in
creeping up unperceived to within 20(
| yards. At this point was a slight pocket
or depression in the ditch, with a couple
of powders IN the bottom. It seemed al
most as if the hollow had been scooped
out and the two bowlders placed therein
for our special benefit. BY sitting on the
bowlders we could just peep over a little
fringe Of greasewood that ran around the
edge and watch the bears at play.
Bears are as playful as so many kittens
among themselves, and it Is one Of the
prettiest sights imaginable to see four Of
five Of them playing tag. In this party
there were five bears, three old timer.
and two cubs. The way they lodged
around one another, rolled over, stood up
sashayed, twiEled around, Nhinnied,
laughed and oaved around generally was
heap the prettisst thing ] had seen foI
some time in bread daylight. We cal
there and enjoyed the circus 3 while,