Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-10-27
rns rnUoE OF TIE nsAn.
From Literature published Dy Harper q Bros.
copyright, $685. by Rudyard Kipling. In tho
United States OF America.l

United States Of Americs-l
Yearly, with tent and rifle, our careless
white men 70
BY tie Pass called Muttianee. to shoot in
Yearly by Muttianee he. follows our white
men in
Matun. the old blind beggar, bandaged from
brow to chin.
Eyeless, noseless and lipless-toothless,. of
broken speech,
Seeking dole Mt the doorway, he mumbles
bis tale to each
Over and over the story. ending as he began:
Make We no truce with Adam-2ad--the
bear that walks like mani
''There was a flint in my musket-pricked
and primed was the pan
When went hunting Adam.zad-the bear
that stands like man.
/ looked my last on the timber, looked my
last OH the snow,
When went hunting Adam-zad fifty sum
mers ago.
II knew his times and seasons as he knew
mine that fed
by night in the ripened maizefield and
robbed my house of bread W
knew his strength and cunning, as he
knew mine that crept
AT dawn to the crowded goat pens and
plnndered while slept
,'Up from his stony playground-down
from his well-digged lair
Out on the naked ridges ran Adam.zad the
bear,
Grooming. grunting and roaring, heavy
with stolen meals,
Two long marches to northward, and was
at his heels
''Two full marches to northward at the fall
of the second night,
| came ON my enemy. Adam-zad, all weary
from his flight, aa
| There was charge in the musket-pricked
| and primed was the pan t
My finger crooked on the trigger-when he
reared up like man.
Horrible, hairy. human, with paws like
hands in prayer,
| Making his supplication, rose Adam-zad the
| bear
I looked at the swaying shoulders, at the
| pauuch's swag and swing.
| And my heart was touched with pity for the
| monstrous, swaying thing
Touched with pity. and wonder, did not
l have looked no more ON women-I have
| walked no more with men.
Nearer he tottered and nearer, with paws
| like hands that pray
From brow to. jaw the steel-shod paw, it
| ripped my face away.
Sudden, silent, and savage, soaring as
| Faceless fell before his feet fifty sum mers
| ago.
heard him grunt and chuckle-I heard
| him pass TO his den,
| He left me blind to the darkling years and
| the little mercy of men.
Nov We go down in the morning with the
guns of the newer style,
| That load Il have felt) in the middle and
range Il have heard) mile?
Luck to the white mans rifle, that shoots
so fast and true, r
But-pay. and l lift my bandage and show
| what the bear can dop'
| (Flesh like Stag in the furnace, sknobbed
and withered and gray
Matun the old blind beggar, he gives good
worth for his pay),
"Rouse him at noon in the bushes, follow
and press him hard
| Not for his raging and roarings finch We
from Adam-zad.
"But (pay and put back the bandage) this
i. the time to fear,
When he stands up like tired man, totter-
ing near and near;
When he stands uD as pleading, In mon
strous, man-brute guise.
When he wells the hate and cunning Of the
little swinish eyes.
"When he shows as seeking quarter, with
paws like hands in prayer.
That is the time of peril-the time of the
Truce of the Bear!
Eyeless, noseless and lipless. asking a dole
at the door,
Matun. the old blind beggar, he tells it DER
and DER;
Fumbling and feeling the rifles, warming
his hands at the flame,
Hearing our careless white men talk of the
morrow's game
Over and over the story, ending as he be.
gan:
"There is no truce with Adam-zad, the
bear that looks like mani
RUDYAED KIPLINo.
This poem was written to express Its
authors distrust of the motives which
prompted the Gear of Russia's recent proc.
| lasnatinp In ,beba1f of pniuarra1 d;aar,,,e