The Washington herald., 1914-09-03
A Bear Hunt.
BIZ EMORY >. HAYNES.


1t was the farthest from my dream But sure
enough the bear hunt was organized and ready tc
start next morning. Over the backbone of the
Green Mountains, from valley to valley again. line
of men End boys would form early the next day
Bearsi The beasts had been catching sheep in the
mountain pastures. The farmers would not endure
the invasion longer. To exterminate the bears wa.
ostensbly the worthy object of the muster But
more was the farmers holiday vacation Affair.". in
which all city folk would join with delight There
must have been thousand farmers milking pande-
mon;um with an advancing column, or lying in am
bush to shoot the bears
Unucky brutes two of them fell Perhaps more
were frightened over to Canada. The two which
fell miserably outelassed by the small army of
humans 1t must be misfortune to be bear. To
arrive among the living beings inhabtant Of these
noble hills, and find every mans hand against YOU
No rights at all No peace here. No food lawfully
your own. No natural and useful vocation Al
ways IN the watch. For no good reason the world
ones enemy.
Why should there be tigers and lions? What
good purpose do they serve? What is the reason
for rhinoceros? The larger bear was still able
to talk when l looked into his big brown eyes. His
breath came slowly, for life was ebbing fast. He
seemed to take in the far view of stretching valleys
and distant mountains, all of the magnificent domain
that really was his home. He had been assaied on
his own mountains, and he like who dies
in his own house and in his own bed. seemed to
have been the intruder. Certainly, I must have
seemed to him the offender What crime had he
committed that a thousand men should attack him
on his native uplands? Must not bear eat? Did
not We men also eat sheep? Whose were these
cattle upon a thousand hiIls?" Was there not a
common Creator?
l could not deny that there was the reason
for bear that there was for There was not a
flaw in the logic He had not asked to come here
on the earth nor had I. He had shown splendid
courage end resources to defend his rights Even
now he not craven, but splendidly defiant He
had also been loyal to his brother and together they
twain had fought like heroes. They were ready to
fight even yet the splendid fellows finging hatred
at US all as we grouped around them. / very much
doubtcu if there was man of them who would have
been as true to me- had been in peril these two
conrad, had been to each other
Their weapons were no match for ours, but they
required more bravery in the using We could shoot
at a distance The bears must needs be bold as
eladiators in grapple Not OF US offered either
bear tie grapple. Indeed it was cowardly when a
hunter put rife to shoulder and finished of them
ten feet When that ceased to grow the lonely
survivor forgot for moment his pain to turn sad
glance toward the dead
What a pity to be shot to death amid these
mountain glories. The slowly closing eyes did seem
to lnger on the ranks beyond ranks of blue noun
tains, the flashing splendors of Lake Champlain in
the foreground. A free life among these hemlocks,
with hardy feet that could climb to any heights The
bear always camping out" that delight of city
men. He made friends with the winds, and the
gales of snow in August made him laugh.
He had seen thousand sunrises breaking over
the Presidential peaks to the eastward I had only
seen three OF these sunrises and these only after
mary failures To the big-eyed beast of the forest
sunrise the common Joy of half the days of the
summer. He awoke to it, he stepped forth into the
open saluting it with cheer.
His animal content of each morning was his
worship. And I cannot doubt that with such wor-
ship the Creator had been we'll pleased Indeed,
herein is the reason for the bear
Let us think of the bears that escaped There
must have been a score. Maybe the woods are full
of them ard these rugged masses of piled earth and
-ock which no plow turn and WHERE bread for
man nsver grows The dwelling place of eagles,
hawks and high-fying birds, but no snakes The
rightful domain of the bears.