Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1921-07-20
STORIES THAT MY
CHILDREN LOVE BEST.

Grandmother Grindle and the Bear.
(By Mrs. M. r. Limeburner, North
Brooksville, Me.)
When Great Grandmother Grindle
was young woman, she lived in
log house near the Bluehill copper
mines. Near the house was a
stream, and just back of it a piece
of woods. In warm weather, grand
mother used to go down to this
stream and do the family washing.
One lovely morning in June, in the
year of 1928, grandmother hustled
around and did her homework early;
then she took the dirty clothes
bag" as she called it, and, with her
two little girls, Hannah and Jane,
running by her side, she went down
to the brook. Hannah and Jane
were soon busy. They had a doll
that grandmother had made for
them out of stick of wood, and
with this and few pieces of broken
dishes they would play happily for
hours.
Grandmother quickly washed,
boiled, and spread out her white
clothes, and was about to wash Han
nah's little not rompers, for no
OAO A0u AOAApOAo III tAO0O udyS--Uut
Hannah's little red flannel petty"
when she was startled by the sound
Of something crashing through the
nearby woods and the believing of
frightened cattle. The little girls
were between grandmother and the
woods, and the house was behind
her. She was not long in reaching
her little ones, and with them both
in her arms, she startled for the
house.
Just as she reached the door she
turned and saw the cattle coming
from the woods. First came the
four-year-old steers, then the young
stock, then, behind the others, bleed
ing and frightened, came grand
mothers especial pet-a two-year-old
heifer named Molly, and on her back
was big black bear.
Grandmother was courageous
woman. She went quickly into the
house and closed the door; then she
took grandfather's gun from its
place on the wall and went up into
the loft, a sort of low chamber over
the kitchen. There was small
window here that looked out upon
the barnyard, where grandmother
knew that the cattle would run for
safety. Almost at once, she saw
them run in, poor Molly already
weak from loss of blood. with the
big brute still clinging to her. The
taste of warm blood made him ig-
more the danger of coming out into
the open.
Grandmother rested the gun on
the window sill, took careful aim,
and fired. The old gun "kicked"
and nearly knocked the breath out of
the body of this plucky woman, but
when she recovered enough to look
out, the bear was lying dead in the
yard, and the cattle had reached
nearby shed.
Then grandmother took the old
conch shell that her father had
brought home from sea years before,
and, going to the door, gave one long
blast. Grandfather and Uncle Steve
soon came hurrying from the fields,
anxious to know what grandmother
could want at that time of day.
They were soon to know, and while
grandfather doctored poor Molly,
Uncle Steve took care of the bear.
When dressed it weighed 396 pounds.
The hide was sent to "Wild-Cat
Jerry" of Sedgwick, who tanned it
and made it into rug that was cher
ished in the family for many years.
This was not the only time that
grandmother saw bruin at close quar-
ters. Several years after, she was
surprised when she opened the back
door to see on a fiat rock nearby, a
young bear sound asleep. Grand
mother-so the story goes-clapped
her hands and holloed. The bear
woke up slowly, stretched himself,
walked off into the upper pasture and
was never seen again.
Even now, grandmother's great
grandchildren, who have heard the
story many times, are careful, when
they go after raspberries in the up
per pasture, to keep in sight of the
house, though they take pains to as
sure each other that the old bear
must be dead long ago.