Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1892-02-06
THE CAREER OF PEGGY ANN
a ROMANCE OF PIKE COUNTY, PA, DE
SCRIBING THE ADVENTURES OF
TAME BRUIN AND HER FOSTER
MOTHER.

II don't suppose it has got noised
around here yet about Jim Bonesett hav-
ing to shoot his trained bear. Sassy Sam,
has it 2" asked an innocent looking man
who had come in on the night train and
had been listening to some "reminiscences
and experiences of different members of
the Farchild House Circle, which was
sitting in informal session in HammOnds
port.
Not yet, replied Landlord Ross. I'VE
don't hear mnch news of that kind any
more since Stebbins got married and
Jake Lapham went to New York. So
Sassy Sam is dead, Ell? Well, where did
he live when he was alive?"
Down my way said the stranger.
"Ges, Sassy Sam is dead. Jim had to
shoot him. He got the big head, Sam
did, and Jim had to put bullet in it.
He was an ungrateful cub, that bear was,
but what a nice mother he had! His
mothers name was Peggy Ann. She
lived a number of years on Jim's farm,
and if ever bear had a romantic life
Peggy Ann did. Ten years ago next
spring fine Berkshire SOW belonging to
Jim gave birth to nine coaIblack pigs. This
interesting pig family was in an inclos-
ure 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 a
bear getting out of the pen with one of the
pigs under its arm. The mother of the
l., ,a1 hal do l,n f,,r H,,n 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 small build
ing that had been used as smokehouse,
where he could shut them in and preven.
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 smokehouse
When he. came home at night his wifo
told him that early in the afternoon she
heard the pigs squealng as if their lit
tie hearts were breaking, and going out
found the mother gone and the pigs
huddled together in one corner of tho
inclosure. The old SOW hadn't returned
to her family when Jim and his wifo
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 re joiced to sec
the old SOW lying in her place as comfort
able as ever, sucking her family. But
what was Jims 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 filled, and that 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 ad-
vantage 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,
lad 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 undying affection
seemed knit between the bear and Old
Blacky, as the SOW was called, and it
grew stronger as one by one the pigs
We're taken away and fattened and
killed. Jim named the bear Peggy Ann.
it being that kind of a bear. At tho
age of 2 years she was a whopping big
animal, and Jim trained her to work the
churning machine, take the COWS to pas.
ture, turn the cider mill, drag the har-
row, and make herself generally useful
about the farm. She was as 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 get
ting old and feeble. The first thing
Peggy Ann would do when Jim appeared
in the morning was to 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 mother, and she was
favorite with the whole family.
"When Peggy Ann was 6 years old
something happened that changed her
whole life. The old SOW, her foster
mother, died. / have heard Jim tell
about the frantic way in which Peggy
Ann took on when she found that she
was an orphan. Jim said her grief was
enough to make an undertaken weep
They buried Old Blacky under tree in
the orchard, and for weeks Peggy Ann
spent all her spare time at the grave
mourning for her beloved foster par
ent. While she did not neglect her
duties on the farm, Peggy Ann became
listless and apparently discontented. 1t
was noticed that she would stand for
minutes at time and gaze mournfully
at the woods, and frequently was seen
taking long walks along the edge of the
fields where the woods began.
THAT bars bar natur's comm back
to her sence Old Blacky died. Jim said
to his wife one day AN I'm afeerd she'll
go back to fust principles an git to be
bar agin one o these days
"One evening that fall Peggy Ann