The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-11-16
BACH WOODS SPECIMEN.


(Forest and Stream.)
Sometimes. though rareiy,a woods ME
tends 20 make q man careless OF bis per-
sonai nppearance. Old Am washburn 10
a type OF this kind He has always
fished and hunted, and knows and cares
for nothing else. barring perhaps cnew-
ing tobacco and food. As for clothes, be
would far rather live Tin bears hide
than his own, for then heiwould have bis
bodily covering renewed py nature in
tead OF unsympathstio fellow beings.
Am Washburn spsnds his wi ntsrs in the
poorhonse. but long before the Ice is out
in the spring he boards freight train
and travels TO Kainnow lake. He knows
that Jim Wardner has soft spot In bis
heart for woodsnan, even though his
beard Is in ropes like the tag-iocks OF
sheep, and the tobacco juice runs down
to his knees, so he packs along his
crutches and turns up at the back door
about the same time each spring. Thsre
Mrs. Wardner meets him, and while she
holds him OF at broom's length. she
sends tor the hired help, and by promises
of divers quarters and good cigars. finally
secures volunteerssto wash up Am.
The old hunter is taken out OF sight
and tubbed and soaped, and his ropy
beard and hair are cut, and he is iathered
and combed and brushed till he doesn't
know himself. Last year two pairs Of
shears were spoiled quitting his hair. On
this occasion one Bill Williams was sent
to bury the clothes which had been forci-
bly, removed from old Am, and for weeks
afterward Am bswailed the fact that 10
cents had been buried with tn EN- VIII
Iisms absolutely refused TO dig mp the
clothes, but finally Mrs. wardner discoy :
cred the true cause OF his trouble and
msde good the loss
Am knows what good manners are, and
is always polite to the ladies, On one
occasion Mrs. Mardner sent one OF the
girls to get her piece OF pie after all the
PIE had been accounted for. and Am,
seeing the shortage, politely proffered the
piece he had been eating, When Mrs.
Warinsr was told the fact, she got up
hastily and left the .able.
Perhaps the most thrilling OF Ward
ner's hunting experiences is that relat-
ing to his killing . bear In Its den.
Wardner tells the story In a very matter
of fact way. lie tracked the bear Ia the
snow to q ledge on the point OF Loon
Lake mountain, and saw where 1t had
disappeared in dark crevioe under the
ledge. His brother and he had been
hunting in company, but the brother had
gone around the other side OF the noun
tain and wardner was unwilling to take
the time to summon him. He followed
the bear In under the rock in total dark
ness and Travelled on his handsand knees
upward OF 60 feet before he located the
animal by the sound OF Its breathing.
Drawing a Colts revolver and placing
It beside him on the ground, Wardner
iaY down on his face and leyeled his rifle
partly by the feeling Of the walls of the
den and partly by the sound OF the
breathing, and fired. Dropping this rifle.
he Instantly seized tins revolver, holding
1t before him, with the intention OF
firing It the moment he felt the bears
body In Its outward charge. He stee led
his mind to pun quickly, for II the bear
carried the revolver back In Its dash over
his body he might shoot into his own
heels. Fortunately for the hunter, how
ever, the first shot killed the bear, anu
the revolver was not cal led into play.