The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-10-07
HE INTERESTING BLACK
 BEARS OF LAKELAND
Scraping Acquaintance With Them in Summer
 Camp.
DESIRABLE NFIGHBORS
Perhaps The Summer Visi- tors Were Amusing
 to Them.

It has been said somewhere that ev- cry complete animal biography must end in a tragedy; but I doubt if this broad statement would have held good regarding the black bears of Lakeland. From what l learned concerning them, during a long residence in the North country, the only enemies they seemed to fear were men, and if they had only known it, the inhabitants of those parts really considered them most desirable as neighbors. You see, it was these peoples occupation to take care of the city folk in search of recreation, who tarried at their lodgings, and the sight of real wild bear would richly com 1 pensate these town-bred folk for days and weeks of rather poor angling, As few strangers came into these parts excepting the peaceably inclined city people, the bears were in little danger even from mankind
 After all 1t is possible that the anil mals got a certain amount of amuse- ment from these visitors. We know a bears inqulsitiveness is highly devel- l oped. And as a man was reasonably sure to be winded or sighted, long be- i fore we had anyknowledge of the bears whereabouts, what an easy matter 1t was for them to scuttle noiselessly through the brush, and from a vantage point to the rear of some log or rock safely to contemplate the actions of the 1 queer two-legged animal.
 For the entire summer that marked the cubhood of the young members of a certain bear family, my home was a comfortable "A" tent, pitched in a sheltering cluster of pines and hem locks. From the front door one could cast "spoon" the bosom of shichaboga lake, and through the tiny window in the rear I could see high above me, an eagles nest on the brow of the big hill, called by the In- dians Long Look"
 That summer I had very little to do in the way of duty, and months of sunshine in which to do it. So at odd
 times, I struck up sort of one-sided acquaintance with Mrs. Bear and her children. It could scarcely have been
 called close acquaintance, for, until weeks passed, I never came nearer to
 the entire family than some 200 feet. However binoculars worked such mag ic on this occasion as to enable me to imagine myself removing fat cockle- bur that adorned Madam Bruins left ear, and with the aid of the glasses and by studying their tracks and the signs left by them in their travels, I learned almost as much concerning the | habits of these animals as from watch 1 ing them with my own eyes.
 My first meeting with the bears oc- cured while padding home from fish ing one evering-at the hour of yellow sunset and purple silhouets. As | rounded a wooded point, the canoe sliiSng softly through the still water, saw the family on the beach some 75 yards distant. The mother bear had lifted hugo fog that must have weighed nearly half ton, and with 1t balanced in her arms, was telling her cubs-in bear language-to stand from under. The little creatures, intent on the good things entombed in the rot ten wood, were dancing and tunfbllng around beneath, in great danger of be- ing fattened into fur mats. Seizing an opportune moment, the mother allowed the log to crash to the sand My How the cubs did poke their little black noses and slender tongues into every crevice and worm hole, and | how they did slap and tear the soft wood, and growl and smack their purs- | ed up lips over the larvae and insects | that rewarded their efforts.
 Unheeded the canoe had drifted against a scraggy, half-submerged log, from whom dangerous embrace I freed dle. When I glanced up, the beach l before me was perfectly bare of animal life. There was not a glimpse of the | big bear or the little ones.
 l I rubbed my unbelieving eyes and looked and looked but not sign of any bear could be seen. Nothing but the broken log, and--when came to numberless tracks, to prove it was not a dream. Not even a distinct sound from the bears quick scramble for cov- CT had disturbed the evening quiet, though later I fancied could remem-
 Der the echo of grunt from the old
 one.
 One day I shouldered my canoe along
 an ancient lumber road, bound for a
 small river of hard-fghtlng bass and whopplng musalonge. In the big tim ! ber things appeared in a half-gloom though the sun shohe fervidly in the open. Here and there, where it's rays filtered fltfully through the lesser inter- lacing of branches above the winding
 roadway, lay warm, irregular spots of
 yellow. The canoe resting upon my neck and shoulders hid from my view l objects to the right and left of me, but
 in front the trail was open, as all trails | should be. The day smelled fresh and fragrant with the growing of green
 things. Through the deep forest lay the penetrating silence of a big cathedral;
 only the high strain of insects to make
 the silence felt the more.
 As we sometimes suddenly become
 aware of a far-off sound of music
 that creeps but slowly into our l thoughts, became aware of a new voice in the forest stiffness. Rather a
 faint confusion of many small voices;
 more piercing, though of less volume
 than the note of any instrument. Now | if I had been a grade higher in the
 school of w0odcraft, 1 should, no doubt
 have dropped my canoe and crept for
 ward to investigate if recognized thu
 sound as coming from swarm oi
 bees, fighting mad. IA few yards farth- D I 4...... l..