The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-20

water belched up into the air a hum dred feet, that all 1t wanted was for the lid to be taken off, and h-l would be yawning right there, and he was going to try to lead a different life. and if he ever got out of that park alive he should go home and join every church in town, and he should advise ministers to get the sinners to take a trip to the park, If they wanted to work religion into them. Dad would wake up in the night, at the hotels in the park. when a geyser went off sud- denly. and groan, and cross himself, as he had seen religious people do. and tell me that in a few days more we would be safe out of the d-n place, and you would never catch him in it again.
 Well, there is one hotel where a lot of bears come out of the woods in the evening to eat the garbage that Is thrown out from the hotel. They are wild bears, all right. but they have got so tame that they come right near folks, and don't do anything but eat garbage and growl. and fight each other. The cook told me about it, and said there was no danger, cause you could take a club and scare them into the woods.
 I've got to the hotel in the after noon, and dad went to our room to
 
 had his supper taken to the room, and he was so scared at the awful sur roundings in the park that he asked blessings on the supper, though 1t was the bummest supper I ever struck. After dark I told dad we better go out and take walk and inspect the scenery, cause 1t was all in the bpl, and if you got bum supper and didn't get the scenery you were losing money | . |. a aVaNNF fFa er the garbage and I knew the bears would be getting in their work pretty soon, so I took dad and we walked away off, and he talked about how God had prepared that park as a warning to sinners of what was to come and I knew his system was sort of running down, and I knew he need ed excitement. a shock, or something. to make a reaction, so I steered him around by the garbage pile.
 Say, before he knew 1t we were right in the midst of about nine bears, grizzlies, cinnamon bears, black bears. and all of them raised up and said. "Whoof" and they growled, and. by gosh, just as quick as 1 could run this knife into your liver. I missed dad He just yelled "Hennery. this is the limit, and here is where your poor old dad sprints for tall timber" and he made TOT tree, anu yelleu . Hurry up. dad," and he said: 'I ain't walking, am I?' and you ought to have seen his short legs carry him to the tree. and help him skin him up 1t. I have seen squirrels climb trees, when a dog was after them, but they were slow compared to dad. When he got up to a limb he yelled to me to come on up. as he wanted to give me few last instructions about settling his estate. but ! told him was going to play. was Daniel in the lions den, so l studied the bears for a while and let dad yell for the police. and then I picked up an armful of tomato cans and made a rush for the bears, and yelled and threw cans at them, and pretty soon every bear went off into the woods. growing and scrapping with each other, and I told dad to come down and I would save him at the risk of my life. Dad came down as quick as he went up, and I took his arm and led him to the hotel, and when we got to the room he would have collapsed. only I gave him q big drink of whisky. and then he braced up an d said r.: "Hennery. when 1t comes to big game, you and l are the wonders of the world. You are brave, and I am dis erect. and we make a team hard to i beat" l told dad he covered himself with glory, but that he left most of his pants on the tree but he said he didn't care for a few pants when he had a boy that was the bravest that ever came down the pike. When we got home alive he didn't join the church, but he gave me a gold watch We'll. I'll have to depart" and the bad boy went out and left the old grocery man thinking of the hereafter.