The National tribune., 1901-08-29
4llesy IAooO'
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By Capt. Nj. H. MCNAMARA, 9Th Mass.

One day, while at Sharpsburg, a mum
Der of us were seated around large 10;
fire in an adjoining camp to that of ours
and conyersing on a variety of subjects
Finally one of the party related Jerr0ld!
bit of humOr on Presence of Mind
Said he: The subject arose in Jer
roId's presence as to the value of that
faculty, and someone said, Yes, II was
very valuable, especially when attacked
by 4 mad bull or dog 'Ay,' returned
JerTold, in that case presence of mind Is
very good, but absence of body is bet,
ter
In a little while presence of mind" be
came the subject matter Of conversation;
and one OF the party, Il large, fat, Jolly
Captain, noted for telling "whopping big
stories," remarked that he exhibited that
valuable faculty in a most wonderful
manner.
THE CAPTAINS STORY.
How? let's hear it, Captain" Gueried
the party. with i great deal of interest.
The fat Captain pulled forth an immense
volume of smoke, and, settling himself
more comfortably on his "hardtack" box,
proceeded to unburden himself to the fol-
lowing effect:
gu may know, boys that l trapped
and hunted for a considerable time III the
Canadas; and a most exciting life | led,
/ tell you. Many time I've camped
a heavy coat of buffalo skin for extra
covering, making myself as comfortable
as | could i'll a log hut of my own con-
struction, living principally on dried
meatS-trapping, killing foxes, and other
animals L could find, and now and then
capturing a bear, whose skins at that
time were very valuable. We'll, one morn
ing l got up pretty early, and started out
to lock at my traps. left my rifle be-
hind me, and with my snOw-shoes on,
hurried as rapidly as | could over the
snow-cOyered hills. The morning was
very cold, and my muller was closely
wrapped around my head, almost covering
my eyes, and obstructing my vision. l
had walked about a mile, and had just
reached an immense shelf of rock, form
ing 4 precipice several hundred feet deep,
when | heard a deep growl, and, turning
about beheld a huge black bear within
few feet of me. l tell you, boys, | was
rather astOnished, and somewhat skeered.
Before l could make up my mind what
to do the bear leaped upon me; and the
first thing | knew distinctly was that l
was clinging on the edge of the rock,
and hanging over the frightfui precipice.
Boys, | tell you it was fearful predica-
ment for man of my rotundity, and l
thought | was gone up"
Gone up" cried one of the listeners;
'gOne down, you mean"
Hush, Sammy" quoth the Captain, re-
provingly; you don't understand these
things. Well, as / was saying, l thought
was gone up. However, l made up my
mind to hang on as long as l could, when
the bear, who had been looking at me,
turned about and was going off.
IAN idea struck me. With wonderful
presence of mind l seized the bear by the
hind leg-he gave howl, bounded for
ward, and dragged me to the top of the
ledge, and left me there safe and sound,
Talk of presence of mind-pshaw! show
me anything equal to that" and the fat
Captain pulled away more vigorously
than ever, whilst a look of gentle salts
faction stole across his plump physiog-
Monty.
We listened to him with mingled ad-
miration and interest, wishing to ask him
what he and the bear did when he came
so Unexpectedly back to the top of the
ledge; but we feared more tremendous
whOpper, so deemed it prudent TO remain
silent. At last one daring fellow had the
temerity to put the query.
What did we dog" repeated the Cap
tain, in a slight state of bewilderment:
what did we do? Why, you don't sup
pose | would hurt a hair of that bears !
head, do you, after saving my life? No |
no; ] just let him go-I Just let him 60 |
/ didr'
We all knew that Munchausen was |