The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1898-01-27

! Heaps Of Fun for a Bear. |
THAT 1T WAS UNTIL MRS. PM /;
LEY BREATHED HARD.


g LEY BREATHED HARD. s.
~ WAS spending a day last fall with
my old friend, Potts Banker, up in
the Pennsylvania hemlock belt, and
Uncle Potts and his jolly old wife, - said
John Gilbert, the travelling groceryman,
"and l had just sat down 10 dinner when
q stub-and-twist. of a boy, about ten
years old, with a very moist and much
turned-up nose, came in, shifted, ran his
nose over the whole length of his sleeve,
and piped out:
"'Aunt Thankful ~ now mother
wants to know if you won't-now-lend
her one O. your-now-milk pans till
pap hin-now-go to town an git her
one.'
'"Then the boy shifted again and
swabbed his nose once more with his
sleeve.
Zone o~my milk pans!' said Aunt
Thankful. 'Sakes, alive, Benny!
What's come O. your mammy's?"
"Sniff, swab. by the boy, and then:
What's come of it? Well, won
der If the bear didn't scrunch it? (Sniff,
swab.) An mothers got to have milk
pan till pap kin-now-go to town an
git her one.'
""Fhe bear scrunched it, said Aunt
Thankful, getting up and moving in a
dazed sort of way toward Benny, who
simply bobbed his head, said huh, huh,
and shifted and swabbed. Aunt Thank
full went and got milk pan, handed it to
Benny as if she didn't exactly under.
stand why she was doing it, put her
hands on her hips, and, in soliloquy, re-
peated:
""The bear scrunched it!'
Huh, huh said Benny, and went
out of the door, shifting and swabbing
Aunt Thankful gazed at the door, still
dazed, when it opened again, aud in
came Benny.
"'An' you ought to see how he serum.
bled the beeskip. Gosh!'
"Then he went out and didn't come
back. Aunt Thankful returned to he,
place at the table by and by, but still
not ather ease.
"'Drat that boy!' said she. Whats
he drivin' at, anyhow
"'Drivin' at?' said Uncle Potts, who
hadn't lost second during all this con-
versation between his wife and Benny
but had kept right on with his dinner
without apparently hearing either OF
them. 'Drivin' at? Why nothin' par.
tic'lar, except that s'pose there's been
HOY Sns
at Pimley's an has sort O. mummixed
things little
THAT was the end of the incident fo1
the time, but after dinner was through
and Uncle Potts had lit his pipe and
walked out to the barn and back a
couple of times, he said:
"'Come on, John. Well 20 down to
Pimley's and see how good time the
bear actu'ly had with 'em. Pimley an
his folks amt used to bear, an il
wouldn't s'prise me none if bruin had
been havin' regular Fourth o. July
celebration with 'em.'
80 we went down to Pimley's, a mile
distant. FINLEY was home-a thin,
gawky, stoop-shouldered man with the
inevitable hemlock belt yellow whis-
kers.
'Hullo, Pim!' shouted Uncle Potts. j
don'tssee nothin'"of your beeskip. What
you done with it?'
"Pim raised himself up on his toes
craned kis long neck and gazed oil
toward field that stretched away be-
low the house. Then he got off his toes
and turned to Uncle Potts.
"'Git up on the fence an you kin
see it, said he. It's kind O. sheltered
about some, though. Down yender il
the turnip patch
":Do you think that's better place
for it than up here in the yard?'
1.-THE bear 'peared to think so,' re
Piled PIN. Il didn't have no say about
1t, not in partic'iar.'
"'Bear2' said Uncle Potts, as if sur
prised.
"'Potts,' said PIN, there's been the
consarndest commotion on these prem
Uses durin' the past few days that
there's been anywhere sence Pharaoh's
hosts was swamped in the Red sea. My
wife is mebbe the peacefu1est woman
there is in the hull ZENITH an breadth
O. the belt; consistently, she wasn'1
'spectin' trouble when she took he1
tablecloth to the back door to shake il
t'other day; but there it was. Least
ways, she had an idee that it was, fol
1t was smollickin' big bear, an it was
swaggerin' right t'ord her from the
lane yender, 'twixt the house an the
turnip field. My wife's the politest
woman there is anywhere in the belt
but she was just onpolite enough to
slam the door almost plum in that
bears face an run to the front door
on t'other side O. the house yender an
hOller to me, Benny bein' to school. My
wife's got the best lungs of any woman
'twixt here an Little Kittle, an con.
sekently heard her holler, though
was in the buckwhit field, clean on
s'other side o. them woods yender.
"'"It's either the house afre OF
lightnin' rod peddlers," l says to my
self, "or Samantha wouldn't never open
up like that!" an SO struck it lively
FOR home. never thunk O. bear, cause
! only come here last year, an hadn't
no idea that the country was so fer
lyle in bear. wasn't long in gittin'
home. could hear Samantha yclpin'
every foot of the way, but the fust thing
I see when I hove in sight was q bear
standin' 'twixt them two apple trees
yender, sniffin' at the beeskip, which
xayoo ofnr1ins honoh <horo ~ =