Evening star., 1937-07-23
Bedtime Stories

BY THORNTON W. BURGESS.
That commonplace to you OF me
TO some one else may thriiiins be
WHY is it 50 many people seek
w thrills? And vhy Is \ thrill
anyway? And what Is thrill? Be-
ginning With the last question. thrill
is 4 form Of excitement from which
usually . form Of pleasure is derived.
There are many kinds Of thrills, and
what gives one person . thrill, to an
other may give no thrill At all. Fa-
miliar things or experiences seldom
thrill, while that which Is wholly new
to US may give US decided thrill
Mother Bears two cubs, who never
had been outside the den in which
they were born, got q real thrill from
just looking outside. 1t was their first
glance Of trees and ferns and other
growing things. For a long time they
lay with their little noses as close to
the entrance as they could get them
without putting them outside. AS
they became accustomed to the things
within their short range Of vision
there was less and less thrill. Thrills
are that way; they seldom last.
At last the cubs became really hun
cry. Why didn't Mother come home?
Could something have happened to
her out there in the Great World she
had told them about? She was 50 big
and strong that they couldn't imagine
anything happening to her. No. sir,
they couldn't. Yet at the time they
had feeling Of uneasiness, and this
feeling grew. They wandered about
inside the den. returning again and
again to look outside.
At last they heard some one ap-
preaching. some one who wasn't try
ing to be quiet. A dry stick was
stepped on and mapped. The cubs
pricked up their funny little ears.
They stood perfectly still. watching in
the direction from which that sound
had come. They saw something NOV
ing. 1t was big and black. 1t was
coming toward them. They couldn't
see it clearly, merely black mass of
fur. At least 1t looked like Mothers
furry coat. It gave them . great
thrill to see Mother coming. You see
it was the first time the cubs ever had
watched for her.
Then something happened that
caused two little hearts almost to stop
beating. That black mass In the ferns
and brushes began to rise. It went
up and up, and above the brushes
appeared Z head It wasn't Mother
Bears head! No. sir. 1t wasn't
Mother Bears head at all. Can you
guess how these cubs felt when they
saw that stranger stand up? They
never had seen Mother Bear stand
up, for in the den there was no room
for her to stand up on her hind feet
as this bearswas doing Do you won-
der that they were thrilled by such
. sight?
And this thrill WAS followed by an
other and even more exciting thrill
when they discovered that this was q
stranger, some one they never had
seen before. Round-eyed they gazed.
Who could it be? It was . bear.
There was no doubt Of that. Being
a Bear. this stranger must be all right.
1t must be friend Of Mothers. A
big Bear wouldn't hurt another Bear,
even If the latter was very much
smaller. OF course, not. There
couldn't be anything to fear.
So reasoned the cubs, which shows
how innocent they were. They wanted
to run out and make the acquaintance
Of this great Bear and ask If he had
seen anything Of Mother Bear, yet
all the time they had = little feel
ing Of fear. Why they didn't know
They just had 1t. that was all. 50
they kept still and watched.
The stranger stood up 1T tree. He
reached up a high Is he could and
dug his claws in the bark The cubs
gasped. They hadn't dreamed that
there could be anybody % big. They
wondered II Mother Bear could stand
up like that and reach up as high as
that. More than ever they wanted
to make the acquaintance Of this great
stranger. They wanted to 60 out
where they could admire him openly.
The stranger was down on Ill fours
again. He was moving toward them.
Perhaps he would come right over to
them. They fairly danced with ex-
element. They watched the moving
Of the bushes Is the stranger ad-
vanced. He was shunding along slowly.
Suddenly his head appeared from
back Of = great old stump. In his
excitement one Of the cubs made
= funny little sound. Instantly the
head Of the big Bear was lifted and
his ears were set to listen. He stared
straight at the cubs. but at first
didn't see them. Then one Of them
moved and the light Of understanding
filled the big Bears eyss It was fol-
lowed by 4 hungry gleam and he
took . step forward. IN eager. hurried
step.
tCopyrisht. 1879