Year: 1879

looked so inviting ho wasn't to be afraid OF bears


"The stopped TO her husband fell bic beech
that he cutting and then back to the house
but just before she got there she the oldest boy
ing Of the woods on the other side He was alone he
was VIII as Sheet and frightened at first that he
couldn't speak


"Johnuy says She catching hold of him, what the
matterT


"a bear !" he gasped out at last.


Where is your little brohere her next question


81 don't know, said he much frightened to know
anything just then


where did YOU leave yodr brothere said She


'Then he seemed to have gotten his wits together it
tie. "a bear took him y said he.


You can guess what sort Of agony the mother


'.Oh johnny tell me true Think Where was it9


"In the woods, he said. Bear come along-I run


''Shc caught him up and hurried with him into the
woods She begged him TO show her where he with
his little brother when the bear along. He pointed
ont two or three places In one OF them the earth was
soft There fresh tracks crossing it-bear tracks
There doubt about it,


SIT terrible situation for poor She
with him after her, to where her husband choppng


Well continued the eyed hostler needn't try
describe what followed They went back to the house
and Rush took his rifle and started the track Of the
BEAR vowing that he would back without either
the child or the bears hide.


The went like wild-fre through the settlement
In an hour and half dozen with their dogs
the track with Rush. 1t much trouble for him
to follow the trail that they soon overlook him. with the
help of the dogs.


But in spite of them the bear got into the mountains
Two of the dogs up with him. and one the only
that could follow scent had his back broken BY stroke
of his paw. After that it almost impossible to track
him, and after other the hunters gave up and
turned home.


At last Rush was left alone but nothing could induce
him to turn back. He shot small game in the
mountains which he cooked for his supper slept the
ground and started on the trail again in the morning


Aong In the forenoon he in sight of the bear
he crossing stream. He had good shot at him as
he was climbing the bank ON the other side;


The bear kept but easier tracking him after
that by his blood


THAT evening hunter haggard his clothes all in tat
tiers, found his way backwoodmans hut in Whites
n Valley. 1t Rush He told his story in few words
as he rested on stool He had found traces of his
child but he had killed the bear. 1t was Old Two Claws.


He had left him the hills, and come TO the settlement
for help.


The hunt had taken him roundabout course, and he
was then than miles from home The
next day. gun i'll hand, with the bearskin strapped to his
backthe had been given to his FRIEND the back
woodsmanhe started to return by easier through
the woods.


sIt was sad revenge he had had but there grim
sort of satisfaction in Juggling home the hide OF old Two
Claws


'As he came in sight of his log house. his wife
to meet him. withwhat do you suppose ?-ltte Johnny
dragging at her skirts, and the lost child in her
Then for the first time, the man dropped, but he
ddnt get down any further than his knees He cung TO
his wife and baby and thanked God for the miracle.
''But it wasn't much of miracle, after all.


Little Johnny had been playing around the door, and
himwhen he strayed into the woods and the bear
Then he remembered all that he had heard of the danger
of being carried of and eaten and of course he had


terrible fright. When asked about his little brother he
didn't know anything about him, and suppose really inn
agined that the bear had got him.


But the baby had crawed into snug place under the
side of the rain trough and there he fast asleep all
the while Then he woke three hours after, and
his mother heard him cry her husband was far away on
t the hunt


True this story I've told? added the one-eyed host
ler as some one questioned him. every word OF it !"


'tBut your name is Rush, isn't 1t ~ i said
2 The one eye twinked humorousy.
> 'sAly name is Rush My unce's brother-in-aw was
j my own father


'sAnd you = exclaimed bystander
81" said the one-eyed hostler sam the very who
u warn't eaten by the bear when was baby ~
d


~ Genuine Nerve.


Nerve the blending of the mental and ply scal stay
p ing power is generally termed is not at all novel quail
ity with the majority Of men, but like al other attributes
comparative and esoute character Many wh


would hesitate TO follow in the lead ofa fororn hope
I'd ride i'll the front ranks cavalry dash shrinks will
ne painful from dentist while who wou,


run the sight of the meekest in the meadows vii
70 go through the ordeal with Spartan fortitude
d. The nerve that supplemented by speculative nteec
and calculating shewdness is the most valuable wei