Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1894-07-28
A MUSICAL BEAR.
The Novel Experience Of q Cali
fornla Girl.
Her Fia"o Playing Attracts the Attsn-
tien cf Eruin, and he Fails In Love
with The Young Lady and
the Instrument.

mary carter was prdctlclnT her music
and WIS all alone in The house But for
some reason she was always alone when
she did so A. soon as she struck the
drst note Of her exercises everybody
went outdoors and staid there regard
less Of the style with which she went
over the scales Mary. according to the
ElmIra IN " Telegram, was San
- Francisco girl who had gone to spend
the summer with her sister. who mar
RED rancher that lived away up in
the mountains near the hcadwatcrs of
American river Tier brother-in-law,
Mr. Matthew'S was well-to-do and fixed
the little house to which he took his
bride IN fine style Things were so ele-
giant it was hard To imagine that the
place was nearly fifty miles from civil
cation When he was buying furniture
he WAS persuaded To take u splendid
grand piano. which in due time arrived
at the ranch. and ii was on this that
Mary WAS practicing She did not like
the idea Of being alone at first, but us
she found il impossible to persuade her
sister to- stay with her she had to make
the best OF bad job She went over
the scales carefully every few minutes,
taking n look out into the garden to
see that her relatives did not get too far
away After finishing one piece she
rested a moment, thinking of what she
would play next Suddenly she heard
shutting sound. and. turning around,
she saw a large. brown bear standing in
the doorway leading TO the-back part of
the house. She was paralyzed with
fear and could neither move from her
chair nor scream.
She saw the bear come nearer, and she
trembled like leaf Oh, how she
. wished she could faint. But she was
strong girl and couldn't, and the bear
kept coming closer. and soon had his
paws around her. She gave herself upfor
lost as she felt the grip, which she
knew was deadly. tighten around her
and the warm breath of the creature on
her face Looking through the window
she could see her relatives lounging
around peacefully in the shade of the
pines and tried to call them. but her
tongue would not move and she closed
her eyes. expecting to open them In
that happy land of which she had been
taught from childhood But what was
this? The bear was not hurting her.
He held her gently but firmly in his
paws. and was actually licking her
face. like pet dog She opened her
eyes, and the world was the same as
usual She could not tell whether she
was frightened or not, but cc,nehow
she did not try TO scream. She just
kept quiet, hoping something would
happen to end the agony, whiah she
did not understand The bear cid not
hold her more than q second, although
It seemed ages to the girl He did not
want TO hold her. for he throw her on
the floor She was still frightened and
expected the beast to jump Gu her
and devour her at his leisure. Eat in
stead he turned around, commenced to
CLAW the piano and was evidently de-
lighted with his performance. fer he
kept time with his feet and looked
around approvingly The people out
side heard the clatter but did not pay
any attention to il. as they afierward
said il was not unusual Mary has
never forgiven them for this. The bear
began to play furiously. and Mary, see
ing way 70 escape. took advantage of
1t and ran away Streaming from the
room Her relations at FIRST refused to
believe her story, but hearing the clat-
ter ran to the window and looked in.
Bruin was still at it, and by this time
had become so entLuSed that he was
performing a sort OF can-can to his own
nc Compartment. He was in the height
OF ms glory and had found out where
the bass keys were, and with these he
was particularly delighted. The deep,
continuous rumble seemed to afford him
the greatest pleasure. and he would
execute bar that sounded like the ca
Genza of ~ Storm at Sea"
He howled and jumped and whined,
and at last concluded his Spncert by
getting on the piano Onsall fours and
executing jig AT this time Mr. Mat
thews thought he had better take a
hand. and he ran into the room
with an AK, as that was the
only weapon available. The bear
did not seem surprised, but got
out of the way. and had there been
room would have left the house. lie
was struck several times with the ak,
but did aot show fight. and the man
thought he must have found tame
bear. although he could not imagine
where it came from lie then changed
his tactics and tried to capture it, as it
did not appear dangerous. lie got hold
of it and tried to tie il IN the piano
cover But ct this the hrute's wild ma
ture showed itself. ard it got ready to
make an attack Before the man could
realize what was coming he heard
deep. angry growl. and the next mo-
ment was clutched argrily by the mon
ster The beast could have killed him
but it did not want to 1t Just gave
him good squeeze and threw him vio-
lently against the wall After looking
at him moment the bear went out the
door and walked leisurcly into the yard.
Mrs Matthews and Mary rushed in
and soon had Mr. Matthews back to
consciousness lie got up and looked
out of the window and saw the bear
walking quietly over the hill in the d.
rection of the mountain