El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-30

the bears affection for the girl would
cause him to take care of her.
One afternoon when Maria was
ABOUT SIX years old, they went out for
ramble in the woods, and from some
cause L was never able to learn lust
what, Maria became displeased with
the bears actions and spoke cross and
finally slapped him:-this was more
than his bearship could stand, and he
came home, leaving the girl where she
was. After being deserted by the
bear she started towards the noun
tainS in a potlt
Inc little child was not missed I'M
I'll we sat down to supper, when my
wife suddenly recollected that she mad
not seen the little one all the after
noon, but the bear was in his accus-
toned corner of the kitchen, and that
lent greater mystery to the situation.
for they had never been separated be-
fore We ran about the place calling
and looking for Maria, but could not
ind her anywhere.
There are four t-eiIs leading from
our home yard, to different points in
the mountains, and 1 finally mounted
horse. and taking a light. for it was
now almost dark. l started up one of
the trails. calling every few minutes.
L travelled this trail for over a mile
without any success. Returning. I
traverseG another with the same re-
suit and then another with equal re-
suit. By this time it was quite late
and my poor wife was almost frantic
with grief as she was sure that some
wild animal had carried our daughter
away There was then just one more
trail to follow. but as that was so rug
ged and dangerous, 1 felt it useless to
look in that direction; but my wife
insisted.
Some time during the commotion
his bearship was missing, but we did
not paw much attention to him, for we
considered him as of small consequence
in comparison for the lost child.
When 1 started up the remaining
trail, my wife insisted on following
and as it was a lonesome path to fol-
low l readily asserted-I taking my
rife. while my wife carried the lantern.
We had not travelled over one half a
mile. when 1 heard something coming
down the trail ahead. on it's drawing
nearer l could make out the form of a
bear. and 1 quickly brought my rifle
to bear, as did not feel called upon at
that time to encounter a bear without
being ready. l he'd not much more than
aimed at the beast when my wife
caught me by the arm and asked me to
desist. for she said she could see some
then / too. noticed something white
across the middle of his back, and it
seemed to raise up above his back, and
the animal seemed to have strangely
familiar gait
When the animal drew close
enough that We could get a good
glimpse of him in the dim light, we
saw that it was our own pet bear. with
the lost Maria on his back We were
MI foly OF fhn
rescue. The bear up to this time had
never been named, but we right there
christened him 'Providencio,' in honor
of his exploit
Since that time the two have been
almost inseparable, as one seems to
think that life is not worth living
without the other. and we all think
Providencio was sent to us by an act
of Providence" And I thought so too.
II Immediately took Providencio's
picture with my kodak, and I esteem
I'VE procured supply of provisions
from the Mexican rancher and spent
few days time catching fish in the Ba-
vispe river. which flows not far from
his home. and then returned to our
field of labors.
"A few DAYS after our return to the
mountains. l found just what I had
been looking fora vein that carried
% per cent copper and 80 ounces silver
and a trace of geld. This I am now
having developed and as depth is con-
tinued it increases in value.
THAT is certainly a great country
from a mineral, hunting. or agricul-
tura1 standpoint, and 1 would like to
see the American people get in and
take advantage of the hume rous in
wiling offers that are being made to
capital there