The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-09-26
A BEAR AS A MUSICIAN.
The Fun Bruin Got Out of a Bass
Drum That He Wrecked.

Drum That He Wrecked.
ST used to play bass drum in little
brass band down in the village six miles
from here" said Sullivan County
mountaineer to a correspondent of the
New York Tribune at Summit Level,
Pa, land one afternoon in the black
berry season put my drum in the wagon
and started for the village to play at po-
1tlcai meeting in the evening. L was
going to pick pail of berries to sell in
the village, so l drove to the head of the
gull, ran the wagon to q shady place
lew yards from the road and hung the
drum on the dead limb of a tree, SO as to
let the horse iced out of the hind end of
| the wagon. The berry field was half
mile up the hill behind the woods, and
hadn't been picking long before | heard
someone humping on the drum. L i'm
aglned that some boys were fooling with
1t, and the beating continued SO long that
cut switch and ran down to the woods
TO make the urchins stop. / stole through
the woods as still as | could, and when |
got IN sight of the rig | had to stop and
laugh at the way I'd been fooled.
"A large bear was standing upright in
front of the drum and tapping on it with
his right paw, as though he had found a
plaything that pleased him immensely.
decided to let the amused animal have
ms I'LL OF Jun with the drum, so long as
he wasn't doing any damage to it, and /
squatted in the bushes and watched him.
The bear beat the drum for several sec
onds and then he put his paws on it,
pressed 1t against the tree, poked his nose
through the strap and worked and wrig
gled I'LL the strap slipped off the limb
ana Slid over his head to his neck. That
was something | wasn't expecting, but |
still had desire to see the bear perform,
and SO kept quiet in the bushes.
when the bear saw that he had the
\ ff h al.
his hind feet and beat both heads with
his paws, as tickled as a child with new
playthlng. He was the happiest bear
that L ever saw till he backed against the
horse. He didn't seem to be thinking
about anything but the drum when he
came in contact with the rear end OF the
horse, and the horse let fly with both feet
and kicked the bear on the rump. The
blow made him slagger and brought him
10 MS senses IN hurry. lie stopped
beating the drum, faced about, snorted at
the horse, and then went to rubbing his
| back against the trunk of a tree. All at
once he shook his head at the horse and
started Tor the ravine, placing his paws
on the ends OF the drum, and not trying
| to thump it.
II then realized that the bear was 90
ing to ruin my drum, and l grabbed
! club, headed him Off and drove him out
| to the road. Instead of daShing across
the road the bear backed down it, kept
his front toward me and began to play on
the drum again. L ran around and got
behind him, intending to cut the strap
with my Jack-knite, but the bear COM
| PEELED me TO lace the music by wheeling
| about every time he saw me circle out of
| the road. Once / came near getting be-
! hind him, but the bear turned like a
flash, backed up the road and played
away on the drum as though he knew
that he was annoying me. After l had
tried more than dozen times to get
slash at the strap, the bear danced from
one side of the road to the other and
added insult to insult by snorting at me.
FINALLY found piece of wagon tire
| in the ditch, and rushing up to the tanta-
| llzIng brute, i hit him between the ewes
with it. That was the most foolish thing
L could have done, but / was hopping
| mad, and l didn't stop to consider The
| bear dropped on all tours with grunt the
moment l hit him, crushed my drum
! into shapeless mass under him. and
dashed off toward the ravine, dragging
my ruined drum between his legs AS
the bear plunged forward he left parts Of
the drum in the brush, and before | could
! get to him the strap broke and left the
rest of 1t, and the political meeting down
in the village had to get along without a
| bass drum that night. The bear looked
over his shoulder at me as he went can
1oIihS InlouSi tue WoouS, anu was mao
enough to kill him.
! "A few days afterward / was telling the
story to lot of mountain men over at
SHUTDOWN, and when L had got through
jeff Botsford accused me of mortaiiv
wounding his tame bear Ned. He said
that Ned had come home that night with
frightful cash in his forehead, that he
would never have known how the bear
got the wound If / hadn't told the story.
and that Ned died the third day after.
| The bear had been taught to perform lots
of tricks, and he had taken possession of
my drum because it was something new
to him, and therefore pleased him i'm
mensely. Botsford said that he wouldn't
have sold the bear short of $40, and when
L convinced him that the destruction of
my drum was a loss of more than $40 to
me, he set up the drinks and agreed to
let the matter drop"