Part 1 (1/2)

In the Wilderness

by Charles Dudley Warner

I HOW I KILLED A BEAR

Soaccounts have appeared about my casual encounter with an Adirondack bear last summer that in justice to the public, to myself, and to the bear, it is necessary to make a plain statement of the facts Besides, it is so seldom I have occasion to kill a bear, that the celebration of the exploit may be excused

The encounter was unpre for a bear, and I have no reason to suppose that a bear was looking for , andthe Adirondack visitors always a great deal of conversation about bears,--a general expression of the wish to see one in the woods, and much speculation as to how a person would act if he or she chanced to meet one But bears are scarce and timid, and appear only to a favored few

It was a warust, just the sort of day when an adventure of any kind seemed ie--there were four of the, on the mountain back of the house, to pick blackberries It was rather a series of sroith bushes and briers, and not unroh the leafy passages fro the bushes I was kindly furnished with a six-quart pail, and told not to be gone long

Not froun It adds to the manly aspect of a person with a tin pail if he also carries a gun It was possible I h hoas to hit hi still, puzzled es I prefer the rifle: it makes a clean job of death, and does not prelobules of lead The rifle was a Sharps, carrying a ball cartridge (ten to the pound),--an excellent weapon belonging to a friend of ood many years back, to kill a deer with it He could hit a tree with it--if the wind did not blow, and the atht, and the tree was not too far off--nearly every time Of course, the tree must have some size Needless to say that I was at that tio I killed a robin under thecircu shotgun pretty full, crept up under the tree, rested the gun on the fence, with the muzzle more than ten feet froot up to see what had happened, the robin was scattered about under the tree in h to enable a naturalist to decide frousted me with the life of a sportsh I went blackberrying armed, there was not much inequality between me and the bear

In this blackberry-patch bears had been seen The suirl of the vicinage, was picking berries there one day, when a bear cairl took to her heels, and escaped Aunt Chloe was paralyzed with terror Instead of atteround where she was standing, and began to weep and screa herself up for lost The bear was bewildered by this conduct

He approached and looked at her; he walked around and surveyed her

Probably he had never seen a colored person before, and did not knohether she would agree with hi her a few moments, he turned about, and went into the forest This is an authentic instance of the delicate consideration of a bear, and is much more remarkable than the forbearance towards the African slave of the well-known lion, because the bear had no thorn in his foot

When I had clian picking berries, lured on froleam of fruit (that always promises more in the distance than it realizes when you reach it); penetrating farther and farther, through leaf-shaded cow-paths flecked with sunlight, into clearing after clearing I could hear on all sides the tinkle of bells, the cracking of sticks, and the stae in the thicket froh a covert, I encountered a meek coho stared at me stupidly for a second, and then shambled off into the brush I became accustomed to this du all the wood noises to the cattle, thinking nothing of any real bear In point of fact, however, I was thinking all the ti a story about a generous she-bear who had lost her cub, and who seized a sirl in this very wood, carried her tenderly off to a cave, and brought her up on bear's h to run away, moved by her inherited instincts, she escaped, and came into the valley to her father's house (this part of the story was to be worked out, so that the child would know her father by soe in which to address hiun, and, guided by the unfeeling daughter, went into the woods and shot the bear, who never , turned reproachful eyes upon her murderer The moral of the tale was to be kindness to animals

I was in the midst of this tale when I happened to look so, and there was a bear! He was standing on his hind legs, and doing just what I was doing,--picking blackberries With one paw he bent down the bush, while with the other he clawed the berries into his reen ones and all To say that I was astonished is inside the mark I suddenly discovered that I didn't want to see a bear, after all At about the saarded ine what you would do under such circumstances

Probably you wouldn't do it: I didn't The bear dropped down on his forefeet, and caood a climber in the rear If I started to run, I had no doubt the bear would give chase; and although a bear cannot run down hill as fast as he can run up hill, yet I felt that he could get over this rough, brush-tangled ground faster than I could

The bear was approaching It suddenly occurred to me how I could divert his mind until I could fall back upon my military base My pail was nearly full of excellent berries, much better than the bear could pick hiround, and slowly backed away fro my eye, as beast-tamers do, on the bear The ruse succeeded

The bear came up to the berries, and stopped Not accustomed to eat out of a pail, he tipped it over, and nosed about in the fruit, ”gor”

(if there is such a word) it down,The bear is a worse feeder than the pig Whenever he disturbs a , he always upsets the buckets of syrup, and tra reeable

As soon as my enemy's head was down, I started and ran Somewhat out of breath, and shaky, I reached my faithful rifle It was not a h the brush afteron with blood in his eye I felt that the tiht at such ht an octavo volume, had it illustrated and published, sold fifty thousand copies, and went to Europe on the proceeds, while that bear was loping across the clearing

As I was cocking the gun, I made a hasty and unsatisfactory review of my whole life I noted, that, even in such a coood thing you have done The sins co I recollected a newspaper subscription I had delayed paying years and years ago, until both editor and newspaper were dead, and which now never could be paid to all eternity

The bear was co on

I tried to remember what I had read about encounters with bears I couldn't recall an instance in which a h I recalled plenty where the bear had run froot off I tried to think what is the best way to kill a bear with a gun, when you are not near enough to club hiht was to fire at his head; to plant the ball between his eyes: but this is a dangerous experiment The bear's brain is very small; and, unless you hit that, the bear does not mind a bullet in his head; that is, not at the time I remembered that the instant death of the bear would follow a bullet planted just back of his fore-leg, and sent into his heart This spot is also difficult to reach, unless the bear stands off, side towards you, like a target I finally deter on

The contest see at Creed there; but it was not easy to apply the experience I had thus acquired I hesitated whether I had better fire lying on un on my toes But in neither position, I reflected, could I see the bear until he was upon e was too short; and the bear wouldn't wait for me to examine the thermometer, and note the direction of the wind Trial of the Creedmoor retted that I had not read

For the bear was cohts upon my family As my fa s, was uppermost in my mind What would be her anxiety as hour after hour passed on, and I did not return! What would the rest of the household think as the afternoon passed, and no blackberries came! What would be ht that her husband had been eaten by a bear! I cannot inominious than to have a husband eaten by a bear And this was not my only anxiety The ravest fears thefriends, and thought what kind of an epitaph they would be co like this:

HERE LIE THE REMAINS