Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1901-07-03
w. A. Roe.

1 remember how the dogs freed q
wildcat and how my father and his
brother, c. b. Roe, who had also arriv-
ed in the early part of 1853 with his
family, went out with their gnns and
dogs and killed Mr.. Cat and brought
him in. 1 think the cat measured some
six feet from tip to tip.
We had much trouble with snakes of
various kinds, and l remember one came
into the room one day and frightened
us very much. Since my attention was
called to it, remember an incident
which is as follows: Ny sister, Mrs.
Morse, went to Daniel Roe's, neigh.
Dor, not far from our home, to borrow
some cornmeal. She took one of those
old fashioned tin pals to carry the
meal in. Just at the time she was near
ing our house large bear came out
from the brush at the roadside and it
was monster too. She did not wait
for exchange of GREETINGS, but dropped
the pail Of meal and ran for home, not
stopping for the creek, but with shoes
and stockings on ran right through the
water. Our folks went out to see what
had frightened the eight year old girl
and found it to be bear. 1t had eaten
most of the cornmeal and was moving
on 1t was supposed that the same
bear was killed short time afterwards,
near Colesburg.
l anticipate that my sister has not at
any time since gone to neigh
bors to borrow cornmeal, as she
was so badly frightened that she
most likely never forgot the fright
which she had, and i think it
would be a good idea to have q big
black bear overtake some of us who
make it practice Of borrowing so
much from our neighbors, and foget-
ting, perhaps, to return the same.
am reminded of little incident of
which wish to speak before closing.
The old log school house which my sis
ter and myself walked SO many times
to in winter whenit was so cold, through
the deep snow, and in the heat during
the summer, although the school house
was surrounded by heavy timber. Our
winter teacher was that we'll known
general gentleman, Albert Thompson,
who lived for SO many years just short
distance north of Manchester. The
floor was made of slabs, ss we'll as the
seats, and the cracks in the floor were
about an inch wide.
was watching the rabbits one cay
from my desk. They were coming un-
der the floor to pick up the crumbs and
scraps of dinner which had been drop
ped down through the cracks by school
children. was speedily called to &C.
count by Mr.. Thompson, the teacher.
He asked me why was wasting my
time and not attending to my studies. l
told him why. He said, we'll will
have to punish yon. was much fright
ened, but when found what the pun.
lshment was i soon recovered. He
knelt down by me and told me to bite
his ear. L obeyed and / had to tip-toe
in order to reach his ear, and my sharp
teeth shut down on his ear and
brought the blood, which frightened me
and think surprised him.
Mr.. Thompson, who has like SO many
others, gone to his final reward, seemed
to enjoy telling Of this episode and sci
dom failed to relate this story to his
friends when 1 was present.
And now in conclusion, let me say to
you, while am long way from you
and am unable to meet with you, as /
am in charge of an exhibit at the Pan
American at buffalo, N. Y, my heart
is with you, and wish each and every
member of your association a most