Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1895-07-27
BEN AND THE BEAR.

backwoods clearing, where there was
a house on one side of the road and a
corn and wheat field and big patch
of turnips on the other side. heard
some one hailing me. The sound came
| from down the In the turnip patch.
/ looked that way and saw a woman
standing at the lower end of the patch,
/ 200 feet or so away, waving her hands
above her head.
"'Hullo! she hollered. 1 guess ye'd
| better come down here an 81 me a
/ lift wi Benjamin.
/ Il saw a man in a half-sitting pos
/ ture among the turnips, looking very
| pale, and apparently disabled, so
| Jumped down from my blackboard,
| hurriedly tied my horse and FASTENED
to give the woman a lift. When
reached the spot l saw that the man
was looking about In a daZed way,
| that one arm hung limp at his side,
and that his right cheek was discolor-
| ed and swollen. About ten feet be
| hind him lay double barreled shot
gun.
"'What is the matter, my good
womanT l asked, somewhat alarmed
at the mans plight.
Partly bar" she replied, cool, but
| looking anxiously at the man on the
ground; but mostly cause Benjamin
| is so sot in his ways. Yander's the
| bar. This here is Benjamin
The woman waved one hand to-
ward the stone wall of to the left. l
glanced In that direction. In an angle
of the wall, not more than fifty feet
away, lay a huge bear, dead. Before
l could ask any more questions Ben
jamin had come around and made an
effort to get to his feet. and with the
aid of his wife and myself he got
there. He was little lottery, though,
and his arm panied him, and his right
cheek kept on swelling and getting
blacker and blacker.
Mother, said he, you was right!
Mined ben plenty
Benjamin is sOt in his ways said
Mrs. Benjamin to me. but when 1t
gifts plunked inter him that he's wrong
he owns up like a man
I'VE helped Benjamin back to the
house, and his wife blew a blast on
big tin horn out of the back door
Then she went to bandaging Benja-
min up. In the course of ten minutes
OAss hOOuSLAldAlf WIN utu
been at work somewhere about the
clearing, came hurrying to the house
in response to the blast on the horn
Pete says Mrs. Benjamin. 'Benja-
min has tumbled his bar, but he's
kind o disfggered hisself a doin' of
it, an mebbe We better scuffie over to
the mills and tell 'em to send the doc
| tor
Pete hurried away, and Benjamin,
having been made comparatively easy
by his wife's administrations, looked
at me and said:
"'You see it all come from
Benjamin. interrupted the good
wife, mildly but firmly, 1T all come
from you being so sot in your ways
Mother said Benjamin, 'admittin'
of it, an Acknowledge that you was
right, an that mined ben plenty; yet
supposin' | hadn't heerd the quail
whistlin' down on the fur hedge o. the
turnip patch?'
An supposin' you hadn't been so
sot in your ways as to be bound to 90
an hunt that quailY responded the
wife.
That's so, mother assented Ben
jamin. But this is how it started,
any way. l was standin' on tother
side of the road, yender, yistiddy.
lookin' over the turnlp patch fence,
when | heerd quail whistlln' down
on the fur side o the patch, on the
edge o the woods. | dunno, says |,
wuther it's ben predestinated fer me
TO hev that quail for supper or not,
but I'm gointer give the good O. doc.
trine a show for itself, says.
So ] come in the house an told
mother bout the quail an how had
an idee that I'd take the gun an 20
down in the turnip patch an mebbe
get the quail fer supper. Mother al
lowed that / was foolish to waste time
on the quail
It'll more'n likely be more'n three
mile from the turnip patch fore you
git down there with the gum" said
she.
But l argued that l thought
know'd quail an what quail was in
the habit O. dom an / took my shot
gun an went out
Powerful sotr said Mrs BenJa-
min.
I went down sly as a fox to'ards
where I'd heerd the quail whlstlin',
continued Benjamin, but / couldn't
NNAN - hO"hNitB an uiuu utEE III
no more.
Guess mothers right says /, an
l sot down on top O the stun wall,
ponderin' like.
I hadn't sOt there long when /
heered a noise in the brush an look
In round seen sausin' big bar come
slommixin along, as II he didn't heY
any idee where he come from and
didn't keer single ioty where he
was bound for. guess | must
opened my eyes considerable fer | was
not 'spectin' to seeb'arf an naturally
was took back. Socksr says |. L mus
git that bar! What's a quail 'longside
o. barr says /.
" i shot both barls o. my gun at
the bar, but he didn't drop. He list
stopped an looked around at me as If
he mowt be astin me what sot me up
TO do setch a thing. Then be started
ahead ag'iD as keerless as ever. |
watched him till he got out o. sight;
an then | happened to think that quail
shat wasn't calc'ated to tear many
holes In bar an / came back home
feelln' streaky.'
Benjamin is as good farmer as
they is In the hemlock belt said Mrs.
Benjamin, but his 'arly dedication as