Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1892-01-29

Bonesett having to shoot his trained
bear, Sassy Sam, has it?' asked
an innoce nt-lool1ing man who had
come in on the night train and had
been listening to some "reminiscences
and experiences of different members
of the Fairchild house circle, which
was sitting In informal session in Ham,
mondsport.
"Not yet" replied Landlord Ross.
1--WE don't hear much news of that
kind any more since Stebbins got mar
ried and Jake Lapham went to New
York. So Sassy Sam is dead, eh?
Well, where did he live when he was
alive?"
Down my way" said the stranger,
"Yes, Sassy Sam Is dead. Jim had to
shoot him. He got the big head, Sam
did, and Jim had to put bullet in 1t
He was an ungrateful cub, that bear
was, but what a nice mother he had!
His mothers name was Peggy Ann
She lived number of years on Jlm's
farm, and if ever bear had romantic
life Peggy Ann did. Ten years ago
next spring a fine Berkshire sow be-
longing to Jim gave birth to a litter of
nine coal black pigs. This interesting
pig family was kept in an Enclosure out
near the barn, and early one morning,
when the pigs were about three weeks
old, Jim heard great squealing among
them, and, hurrying out, he saw bear
getting out of the pen with one OF the
pigs under its arm. The mother OF the
kidnapped pig had made the fur fly out
of the bear, and it seemed glad to get
away without tarrying to capture more
than one of the family. After
that Jim moved the old sow
and her pigs to a small building
that had been used as smokehouse,
where he could shut them in and pre-
vent further raids upon them by bears.
Two or three days afterward Jim fed
his pigs and started for his work and
forgot to close the door of the smoke
house. When he came home at night
his wife told him that early in the
afternoon she heard the pigs squealing
as if their little hearts were breaking
and going out found the mother gone
and the pigs huddled together in one
corner of the inclosure. The old sow
hadn't returned to her family when
Jim and his wife went to bed and they
were at a loss to understand her
strange disappearance. AS soon as he
got up next morning Jim went out to
take look at the pigs. Everything
was quiet and when he got to the
smokehouse he was rejoiced to see the
old sow lying in her place as comfort
able as ever, sucking her family But
what was Jim's astonishment to dis
cover that the place at her maternal
fount which had been made vacant by
the heartless kidnapping raid of the
bear was filed and that a black
and furry baby bear occupied the
place. The thing was plain as day
to Jim. The sow, smarting for
revenge on the bear. had taken advan-
tage of her first opportunity to get
away, tracked the bear to its lair and
watching until the heartless marauder
went away on some similar expedition
had kidnapped the bears cub and
brought it home with her.
THAT cub thrived amazingly in
charge of its strange foster mother and
grew up and away beyond its foster
brothers and sisters. A feeling of un-
dying affection seemed knit between
the bear and Old Blaclzy, as the SOW
was called, and it grew stronger as one
by one the pigs were taken away and
fattened and killed Jim named the
bear Peggy Ann, it being that kind of
a bear. At the age of two years she
was a whopping big animal and Jim
trained her to work the churning ma
chine, take the cows to pasture, turn
the cider mill, drag the harrow and
make herself generally useful about
the farm. She was rs kind and gentle
as sheep and when she wasn't at
work spent most Of her time cheering
up her beloved foster mother, who was
getting old and feeble The first thing
Peggy Ann would do when Jim ap.
peared in the morning was 20 hurry to
meet him and put up one of her great
big paws to shake hands with him.
She liked Jim next to her foster moth.
er and she was favorite with the
whole family.
'When Peggy Ann was six years ole
something occurred that changed hel
whole life The old SOW, her foste,
mother. died. l have heard Jim tel
about the frantic way in which poor
Peggy Ann took on when she found
she was an orphan. Jim said her grie1
was enough to make an undertaken
weep. They buried Old Blacl>y under q
tree in the orchard and for weeks Peg
gy Ann spent all her spare time at the
grave mourning for her beloved foster
| parent While she did not neglect her
duties on the farm Peggy Ann became
listless and apparently discontented
| 1t was noticed that she would stand fol
minutes at time and gaze mournfully
at the woods, and frequently was seer
taking long walks along the edge o.
the fields where the woods began.
THAT bars bar natur's comm back
to her sence Old Blacky dieC,' Jim said
to his wife one day, 'au' I'm feerd shell
go back to fust principles an git to be
bar ag'in one O. these days
'One evening that fall Peggy Ann
went out to Old Blacky's grave without
eating her supper. When Jim went
to bed that night she was mourning or
the grave yet. He woke up in the
A