The Mena weekly star., 1907-06-06
MAINE BEARS ARE
 WISE SURE EAOUCH

is sadly realized, there sat upon houcb in front of the post office a oh ny of villagers. They were just < - nn, inc grocery, the wise man, the s,s4orian and the boss hunter of the mace They had settled some points [ "snn the talk drifted to the question ', courage In a man and beast. and ~ .sav had to sit down on the post office 8 .anch and have it out.
 Irncle Penny, the wise man, said # ,so, beasts of the forest had no real z souyage-that they fought against < sosnerate odds merely through fig. & orance Sim Betts, tho historian, & sondered deeply to rake up some in x stance that would contradict this the hut before he could recall or in VI .or, anything, Peletiah Jones, the $ hoss hunter, declared that, while no agoor fool than the bull moose evei # talked the earth, bears had, on the # sverane. more brains than men. And # be proceeded to prove 1t.
 # aNow.v said Jones, you don't never # hear of bar a bucking injines on the raiIroad. do ve? Sartinly not. Moose # does an allers gifts tn wust of it. & Naturally. Injines is iron, an can make hash outen any critter that walks Moose ain't got brains enuff to E know it; bars has.
 # "Spose all you fellers recollect that & mess of old junk that I helped haul mn to the station here last summer? # well that was what was left of one # of them autymobiles after good, \ bright bar had a whack at 1t. Hap # nened down here couple of miles be- # low Passadunky. Twas an old she * bar that had two cubs, and one day & when the fambly of them was a crossin' the road to get into better # berry patch, what should come whiz- & am along but some sports in big N steam waggin an run over one of the & cubs an laid 1t out cold.
 "The old bar an t'other cub got # acrost all right an stood at the edge M of the road a-lookin' kinder dazed # was close enuff to drop the two of M them, UuJ l u llO sun NiAh iit, SO I M just sot there an watched
 # Pretty soon the old bar come out # an sniffed at the carcass of the dead # cub. rollin it over with her paw and # grunting around as though she ex- pected to wake it up. Seeing that the cub laid there stiff an still, the old 8 one hustled off into the bushes with & tother cub taggin' oD behind. & sposed that was the last of it. but # that's where 7 had something new to # larn bout bars.
 # Jest a few rods up from where the N old bar went into the bushes, an \ standin clost to the road, was a big VI spruce, with an old stub (dead & trunk, lodged ag'in it. That stub was N two feet through, if it was an inch. an < It was jest barely caught on the M spruce, SOS the least jolt would bring N 1t down. Well, sir, you can believe me or not, but it's gospel truth--that old bar she floundered up to that M there stub an, putin her shoulder & ag'in 1t, brought it down, slam bang. right across the road.
 Well, sir, never see the like, an 7 for some time I sot there, wonderin' what the old bar was up to. Then. Zgraierly, it began to leak through me that she was after revenge on the sports that Killed her cub. She was a-blockin of the road agin the time they'd come back.
 Well I says to myself, says l.
 There's no tellin' when the feilers'll ctme back; it may be week. An so hayin' other fish to fry, and it bein' none of my mess, anyway, kept on
 was gone a couple of hours, an when l come back along, cuss me if
 that old bar an her cub wasn't asset. tin there in the edge of the bushes as
 though they expected compny. When
 went past they never budged an,
 hayin' no gun, 1 come right along an
 leit them to tend to their own bis'ness
 T hadn't got more'n ten rods
 further long toward the village when
 heard the great tootin' an, looking
 ahead see the steam waggin a.
 sireakin 1t down the road. Now
 says l to myself; now. that there H masheen must a-cost a thousand dol.
 laFs an with all respec to the bars
 feelings twould be a cussed shame
 10 see it go to smash ag'in an old stub hot wuth ten cents so I hollered fer
 me sports to hold up, but I guess they
 ddnt hear me, for they flew past in
 cloud of dust.
 Here says I, is where the olG
 par gets square, an l hustled back # aller them down the road It's a |#'nlck growth along there, an hard to
 see anythin' 'cept in broad daylight.
 so Tore the sports knew it they were
 rlght onto that big stub. I was jest
 near enulf to see what happened with
 put gettin' hit with any of the wreck.
 lfst l heard a yell, then a bump. an
 men come a smashln' an crashin like
 ureakin jam on the West Branch.
 nay macheen jest rig up like bat
 'sau on rock, an in minute the air
 was full of 1t. The two sports. they
 snot out ahead an landed face down
 the road. One wheel sailed off into
 sne brush, an one of them rubbered
 noops they have on the rim hopped H " an hung on the branch. It was the
 ~ suuipietest wreck l ever seee of any. Emile away.
 
 Sest as come up could hear a
 .4snih away off in the berry patch.
 was the old bar an her cub, goin'