Evening star., 1933-07-14
Betty Learns Too Late.
Those lessons that you learn through pain
You seldom have to learn agein.

Those lessons that you learn through pain
You seldom have to EoId ls5EH MGthar aGs5P Nature
Betty Bear, watching the stranger in
the tree Just above her. began to Won
der if the latter was afraid. Certainly
he was not at all friendly. In fact. he
was peevish and there was something
in his chattering which led Betty Bear
to believe that he was not only mucn
disturbed by her presence in the tree
with him, but was little fearful. Ger
tainlv the peevish one was not at all
playful.
Il do believe he is afraid of me-"
thought Betty Bear. He acts that
way" 1t gave her a queer and not un-
pleasant feeling. 1t made her feel
much bigger than she really was. 1t
gave her feeling of Importance. If
this stranger wouldn't play. and ne
showed no signs of doing that, she
would have some fun. anyway She
would tease him and try to scare him.
What are you doing IN my tree?"
she demanded. trying to talk way down
in her throat and make her voice sounc
rumbly grumbly like Mother Bears and
not succeeding at all. although she i'm
Tagined she did. This is my tree, and
you have no business in it." she con-
tinued. The sooner you get down out
of it the better it will be for you"
He wasn't afraid at all. He simply was
disturbed. He didn't like having that
little bear in the tree with him. He
preferred his own company. He wanted
to be alone. Had it been Mother Bear
instead of Betty Bear he might have
felt differently AS it was, he was
merely provoked, and this is what nc
was chattering about Suddenly he
began to back down.
lot c1ISIo,,1u nj,
mind She would make him climb up,
Sinstead of down. She would drive him
clear to the top of the tree. This would
be great fun. She growled the deepest
,growl she could manage, which wasn't
deep at all. She tried to make it sound
fierce.
Go up! Keep right on climbing
bp!" she ordered.
The peevish one looked down at her,
and for the first time she saw his teeth.
Never had she seen such teeth. They
were not pleasant to look at. Betty
Bear felt little doubtful.
I'm not going up. You go down.
was in this tree first, and I don't want
company" said the peevish one Grossly.
Betty Bear paid no attention. She
had noticed for the first time that this
fellow wore q, queer-looking coat. The
hair was long and black, but partly
hidden among the black hairs were a
lot of stiff hairs that seemed to stand
up. At least, Betty Bear supposed they
were hairs. What else could they be?
They were yellowish-W white. Betty Bear
stared rudely.
The peeViSh one continued to back
down. but very slowly. He didn't look
as if he could move quickly if he tried
Betty Bear. almost without knowing
1t, backed down a little. Inc peevish
one continued to back down. So did
Betty Bear. Presently she realized that
matters were net working out at all as
she had planned. Instead of driving
the peevish one up to the top of the
tree as she had planned, she was herself
being driven down.
Now. the tail of the peevish one was
hanging almost within Betty Bears
reach. She was tempted to nip the
end of it with her sharp teeth. Il guess
that would send him up in a hurry"
she chuckled.
But she thought better of this. In