Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1888-03-31
A PET BEAR
And His Peculiar Franks While Left
Alone ON Sunday.
A Story of Pioneer Days in Which
Bear and syrup arc Badly
Mixed UP.

The old pioneer was besieged by the
children the other night, who insisted
upon bear story, and after some show
OF resistance he consented 70 tell of pet
he had when boy in the pioneer days
of the West.
"l he'd bar myself, once" said he
SO little Teller. Father'n my big broth
ers brought him home from big hunt
they took one time, after they'd killed
the old mother'n the other cub. He
wuz bout ez big es q big puppy, an
looked lots like one, Jest ez fst's butter,
with nice black shaggy hide'n the fun
NEST face you ever saw. He wuz ez cute
ez a kitten, an bout ez mischsvious.
on's he got to know our ways he'd get
into more mischief than tn whole FAM
lily could keep him out NV, an II he
had MT been SO blamed comical he'd q
gone into tn meet barrel ez fresh meat
long before he did. Mother'd say doz.
en- times . week tibet she'd enough ter
do 'thout watchin' bar, an it wouldnt
be more'n an hour afore she'd
be laughin' at n pettin' him like tn rest
Nv us. He'd watch, n If ever she'd lesv'
the milk-house, SOS he could git the
AQOT OPSn no " Rky AVOh VIA h0 "a XII lue
then he'd go for tn butter n lap upa
whole crock o. milk fore you could say
Jack Robinson. N 81 she'd come after
him n slap him over, he'd turn sum-
merset n come up right side foremost
IN paddle after her, oryin' like child
till she'd stop n pet him n ned seem to
think IL wuz all right n 60 OIL & find
somethin' else ter do. Then he'd 90
down by tn pond n watch tn young
ducks n geese till he'd catch one, N he'd
paw it over N over n play with 1t till
tn old mother'd Jest raise tn biggest
kind o. rumpus n fly at 'un i'm fury.
1t till some o. Us d como down
n make him quit, n then he trot Oft T
find somethin' else. By the mex sum-
NOR Bruno, ez we called i'm, got TO be
right smart bar, n more full o. mischief
N ever. One Sunday they wuz big
meetin' few miles of N we all went
/ shst Bruno up In til corn-crib d
thought he'd stay there ell right. He
cried N whined when he see us all goin'
q leave him-he liked company better'n
most people n hated worse'u pizen be
shet up. We stayed till most night 2
when we got homo mother opened tn
door-she wuz ahead o. the rest Nv US
n Jest stopped n held up her hands n
sed: "Mercy on mel Who's bin hereW
n there wuz TIL awfullest mess
you ever saw. Looked like they
bin tornado turned loose a
tn house. All the chairs were turned
over N layin' every which way, n every
thin else Ia tn room wuz mixed up n
some OF them broke. N all over the
floor wuz marks o bars feet, n the
the marks wuz all sticky. One O. tn
windows wuz open, n all round II wuz
marks o. bars feet. They went upstairs,
too, n mother knowed in minute
W hose feet he'd bin there; n soon's abe
got over her surprise abe begin ter git
mad, u Jest few upstairs. Things there
wuz bout ez they wuz down stairs, but
she didn't see any Bruno, till presently
she heard o kindly groan, n looked
ronn', n finally she see big bunch in
one o. tn beds n turned down tn covers
IN thare wuz Bruno, sure 'nough, Jess
plsstsred all over 18th maple strip, n
lcokin' 10 shamsd and kinder sorry .
mother ID q laughed Y she hadnt bin
70 mad ct tn state she found
things, specially her best bed fer corn-
pany. 1t az Jest nacberly ruined, tween
III naple-sirup n tn bar. When We
come to cipher IL all out IL NJ plain 'nough.
Thst blamed baird got out o. tn corn-
crib. Then he come moseyin' round tn
house g. find somebody q play it'll him,
m not fndin' nobody he'd gon' down
sulier O. muse himself. He'd got & fool
In round TIL barrel o. maple syrup till
he got the faucet loose m tn strip come
a-pourin out. Then he'd jest put his
mouth q Il m drunk till he'd got plum
hull, m all the time he'd been paddlin'
In tn syrup a-runnin' out on tn door
ill he'd go daubed all over with IT.
Bimeby he'd got sick 18th 30 m och sweet
nin', ~ then he'd climbed in through
thet open window fer sympathy,
N he'd pulled down bout everythin' In
III house tryin' g find doctor. N
" hen he couldn't End anybody he'd
nacherly gone up stairs O. bed, like any
nvalid-he'd tuken many q nap In
beds afore, n no amount o
whippin' ever cured him o. tn trick
n so mother found him there, the sick
sst bear you ever saw. Well, that wuz
III last o. Bruno. TIL rest o. tn family
led he made most uncommon good
satin', bein so nice n fat, but I never
mad tn heart = End out, n / never had
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