The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1899-03-22
BRUINS LITTLE JOKE

new iOIk CITY itttutil TRUTHFUL iioh
weeks hunting in the mountains Of Penn
sylvana lie met with an adventure on
this trip that was almost as uncomfortable
as one that he had in Alaska, but not quite
SO dangerous to life and limb
Gramer has had many an exciting expert
ence with all kinds of wild animals, from
the tame bears of Alaska to the tigers. ele
plants and lions OF India and Africa. and
his stories of these experiences are both
thrilling and interesting. People who know
him are very anxious to get him to talk of
his own life and its adventures, and work
many ingenious schemes TO accomplish this,
but are not always successful.
While entertaining party OF friends at
one of the clubs Gramer told the story OF his
experience with Pennsylvania black bear.
81 have often heard it asserted" said he.
"that the American black bear has keen
sense of the humorous, and now ! believe 1t.
When a bear feels that he is in no immed'-
ate danger he loves his little joke almost as
well as he loves a dinner of fat mutton or
pork.
"There are plenty of black bears in the
Pennsylvania mountains this season, as well
as deer, turkey and other game, and had
good sport every day was out, except one.
That day bear had the sport, and | was
the victim.
81 started out early one morning, and be
fore noon / had tramped more than ten
miles over the toughest hills i ever saw,
without catching a glimpse OF any larger
game than gray squirrel. From the tracks
and other signs | found from time TO time
| knew that there were bears and deer all
about, and | was getting Disguised with ms
luck In addition to that | was pretty well
tired out from the walking and climbing,
and coming to large mountain creek sat
down on the bank TO eat the lunch OF
cheese and crackers that / had in my
pocket.
Placing my gun against a tree l sat
down on large stone some 20 feet from the
bank of the creek and began to devour my
lunch. i had almost finished, when ! was
startled by loud rustling of the bushes
right behind me, followed by terrific growl-
ing and swapping. ] sprang to my feet and
ran forward half dozen steps before
turned When ! wheeled around found
myself facing as viliainous looking and
shaggy black bear as ever saw.
1.-The animal was within ten feet of me,
and without thinking of what | was doing
j had run right away from my gun when
first sprang up. The bear was nearer to the
gun than / was when | turned.
"The old fellow stopped for minute, and
in that time he seemed to take IN the whole
situation. He glanced to where my gun was
leaning against the tree, took one sniff at the
remains of my cheese and crackers, and then
he looked up at me with an expression on his
face that seemed to say as plain as words;
We'll, We got you this time, and I'm going
to have fun with you.
81 knew that it was useless to try to
reach my gun, as three steps in that direc-
ton would have carried me right into the
embrace of the bear.
II glanced around, looking for tree to
climb, but there was none near except the
one against which had left my rifle. With
a grin that brought two long rows of sharp
teeth into view the bear rose on his hind
feet and started toward me with another
vicious grown.
"There was nothing to do but to run fog
it, | was unarmed and fighting was out or
the question. Turning around / started to
run, but there was the creek right before
me. 1t was at least 60 feet wide and did
not know how deep. | looked up and down
the stream for log, but there was none in
sight. Another angry growl close behind me
warned me that had no time to lose.
IL was Il COlu udy, Dul hutW lIdl d DtdI
would not take to water unless forced into
it, so, with a shiver, plunged into the creek.
The water came up to my waist at the first
plunge and three steps further out into the
stream brought it up to my arm pits The
water was bitter cold and set my teeth chat
tering. / did not want to get beyond my
depth, because | knew that | could not
swim far with my clothes and heavy boots
on.
Il stopped and turned around to see what
the bear was doing. He had seated himself
on the bank close to the ed,e of the water
and if ever a bear laughed that old fellow
did. He was grinning all over his face and
licking his jaws to express his JOY at my sit.
uation. lie would look down at me with a
quizzical sort of expression as though he
wanted to ask me how liked it,
For a minute | was so mad and exasper-
ated that forgot how cold the water was
and ! did some of the hardest swearing of
my life. | threw water with my hands at
the bear and shouted at him, but lac only
moved back step or two and grinned all
the harder.
Then my teeth began to chatter, my
hands were blue and quickly made up my
mind that i must get out of there some way
or freeze. My first thought was to swim
across the creek, but | was already so cold
that | was afraid of cramps if attempted it.
"The current was so swift that j could
make no Roadway up stream, so | turned
and started to wade down. The bear sim
ply walked along the bank, keeping even
with me, and the first time l stopped to
swear at him again he just lay down and
rolled over, he was so tickled 1t was un-
doubtedly the funniest thing he ever saw,
and there was no doubt that he was enjoy
ing it fully.
MY situation was getting desperate. i
was chilled to the bone and had to keep
struggling through the water as hard as !
could to keep my blood circulating. For
time it looked as if the bear meant to Keep
me there in the water while froze, but for.
tunately for me an accident upset his plans.
"a short distance down the stream the
bank became very steep. 1t was also partly
covered with loose stones, and the bear
found it little difficult to keep his footing.
] had stopped and was slapping my numbed
hands together to keep the blood in them
circulating. The bear evidently thought
that was part of the circus was provd-
- g. II L = =.