The Washington weekly post., 1900-10-02
BLACK BEAR STORIES.
The Bear Tells How He Paid a Visit 20 a
school.

I suppose you know that when cold
| weather comes the bear curls himself up
in his den and sleeps for many weeks.
That is. the black bear does this. The
reason is that the snow would make his
feet sore If he wandered about, and the
cold weather cuts of his supply of food
There are no berries for him 10 eat, aad
he cannot dig up the frozen earth for
roots
One fall. when I was looking around
for a place to take my winter snooZe,
discovered a school house. 1t was out in
the country, of course, and | don't think
the scholars numbered over a dozen
The teacher was a farmers daughter,
and the pupils all seemed very fond Of
her. One afternoon / went close up to
the school house and heard the scholars
reciting their lessons, and 1 got the idea
that | should like to be a school teacher
myself. 1t was queer idea for a bear TO
get wasn't it? but l hurried OF to the
woods and met the fox and said:
II will be teacher and you shall be pu-
pill What is the capital of New York
State?"
"Sing Sing" replied the fox
mo: it's Albany. l heard one of the
school boys say so. and the teacher prais-
ed him for his smartness''
Il think 1 know as much as any boy
around here said the fox, "and / tell
you the capital is Sing Sing My grand
father was born up that way, and he used
to see the assemblymen looking out
through barred windows"
Those were men who had been sent to
prison.
Very we'll. If you think don't know
what I'm talking about you can find some
other pupil"
l tried to teach the coon and 'possum
and woodchuck, but they We're very
stupid Not one of them could tell me
whether four or forty pecks make a
bushel. Besides that they made fun of
me and called me 'Old Spectacles." 1 got
mad and discouraged, and then the
thought came to me to become a pupil
myself to the school ma am. The fox said
I'd get into trouble, but one morning I
started for the schoolhouse 1 got close
up TO II without being seen, and l heard
the class in geography talking about the
Rocky Mountains, the Mississippi River.
the five Great Lakes, and the different
oceans. Pretty soon ] made up my mind
TO go in. l pushed on the door and :.
opened, and as / walked in the children
jumped up and cried out:
ITS bear! It's bearr'
Keep quiet, everybody called the
teacher as she looked at me with a very
pale face. Perhaps the bear has come
TO school, and if We keep quiet he will
soon go away"
The children stopped their screaming.
and l went farther in and sat down near
the stove. l wasn't afraid of them, and
didn't mean TO harm any one.
Now. then" said the teacher 10 a boy,
"how do you spell 'bear?"
Bare" he answered.
"You are wrong, Samuel" she said. at
is bear. bear. and here is one before US.
l am sure he is good-natured and will not
molest US"
Then she asked another boy 10 spell
goose" and girl to spell "robln." and
tried hard to remember how they did it
so that 1 might tell my friends. The class
in arithmetic said that twice two were
four, twice five were ten, and that If John
had two apples and gave one away he
would still have one left. There was one
boy who was very stupid. He kept an
swe-ing that two and two were five, and
the teacher finally called him out and
gave him two cuffs on the ear and two
IdpS with HeT TuleT On lHe ldud, anu
made him understand that he had go;
only four. l was in the room for nearly
an hour, and l must say l never enjoyed
myself better. found that was very
ignorant bear had been after pigs all
my life, and yet didn't know that three
pigs and four pigs made seven pigs. By
and by the teacher said:
Boys, you have apples in your dinner
baskets Give the bear two or three and
let him go away.
Five apples were rolled across the floor
to me. and when had eaten them l made
my best bow all around and backed out
and was soon out of sight in the woods,
soon met the wolf and told him where
had been, and he opened his eyes In as
tonishment and said:
so you've been TO school, eh, and learn
ed how 10 spell bear? Why, If you keep
on like this perhaps you can teach school
yourself next winter and wear shoes and
a hood. If you do promise 10 be one Of
your best scholars"