The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-10-12
BESS AND THE ORPHAN.
True Tale from the Logging

Camps
One of the most novel spectacles thai
| has ever been presented in northwestern
| Minnesota, or anywhere else for that
matter, was that of an ordinary bossy
cow bringing up a moose calf just as
carefully and tenderly as if 1t were her
own and not wild little orphan out of
the forest The COW and moose calf
might have been seen at the camps of
the Tower Logging Railway company
until recently, but new the calf is dead,
having recently been run over by spe
cial arain. d. Wittenburg, jr., secretary
and treasurer of the company, was very
sorry to hear of the accident, as was
every man in the camp. Mr.. Witten-
burg promptly discharged the two men
| to whose neglect the death Of the moose
was responsible.
| The story of the moose calf Is very
interesting. Last May, when the
forest fires were raging In many places
on the ranges, wild game suffered Sc
verely in some sections. One day the
fire was very close to the Tower Log
going company's camps, though they
We're at no time I'm danger. But out Of
the smoke and fire of the dense forest
IbGT dt manu- CHU1t Il bl& CUW tpDSS,
followed by a calf, which seemed very
weak Both. in fact. were quite ex-
hausted. They stopped on the railroad
track and it was necessary for train,
which approached at the time, to check
down to drive them off from between
the rails. The COW moose was afraid
of the men, there being several Of them,
and she retreated into the forest leav-
ing the calf behind. The mother SEEM
ed to realize that the little one could not
follow. She looked back beseechingly
toward the men who surrounded the
calf, but made no attempt to defend her
young.
1t seemed almost as if she realized
that the best she could do was to leave
the offspring to the tender mercies Of
man. 1t Is a well known fact that a
deer in q moment of peril will run
direct to man for protection. They
have been known to do so when pur-
sued by wolves. 1t Is possible that the
wild moose, an animal that under ordi-
nary Circumstances will defend it's
young with courage and fierceness of
attack, was displaying the instinct of
the deer In this emergency A moose
does not desert it's offspring carelessly,
and this particular mother moose was
not seen again.
The little walf of the forest was
taken to the cook shanty and a bottle
of cows milk given 1t. The weary
moose calf drank the milk greedlly and
after few hours of unremitting care
was as frisky as could be- Mr., Witten
burg gave orders that an attempt be
~ aaIr 30 ;to y
err, so that on the evening of the same
day that 1t came to the camp big
woodsman lifted the moose calf tender
ly up and carried 1t half mile to the
lake shore and set it down. It was
thought that the calf would bleat and
thus call It's mother, who was supposed
to be lowering in the vicinity. The lit
tie moose resented the Idea OF being
taken out into the cold world again,
and when the men tried to run away |
from him he tried to run after them.
The calf did bleat a few times, but it's
mother did not appear. The men lis
tened in vain for the crashing of under
brush, which would announce her APP
proach.
There was nothing to do apparently
but take the moose back to camp. In
few days the little fellow was so popu-
lar about the camp that there was mob |
a man there but would have fought for
him. The cook saved the choicest milk
for him and fed him out of a bottle, ,
as was done the first day when the
moose was brought to the camp Inc !
moose would carer about the grounds !
and run races with himself through the |
grounds
one morning there was a great COM
motion in the COW stable. One OF the |
men ran down, and when he looked i'll |
the building found the little moose try