HARD WICKE 'S S CIENCE - G OSSIP. 



Yet, when young, the Bear is not altogether devoid 

 of amiable qualities, as the following narrative will 

 prove. The account was communicated to the present 

 writer in 1867 by a Swedish acquaintance residing at 

 Mora, in Dalecarlia, the bear being then living, and 

 the property of a gentleman at Siknas, in Venjan, an 

 adjoining parish, having been taken when about three 

 weeks old from the adjacent forest in February, 1865. 

 Being fed with warm milk, young Bruin throve 

 satisfactorily, and when large enough to enjoy liberty 

 he usually sojourned in the yard with the bear-dog 

 " Jeppe," playing and springing about his companion 

 like a cat. He was also much attached to his master, 

 delighting to accompany him not only to the forest, 

 where he often clambered up trees, but also into the 

 house, where removing chairs and tables from one 

 room into another appeared to be his favourite oc- 

 cupation. Strangers who visited Siknas always 

 received his attentions ; but as these were somewhat 

 brusque, and expressed in a surly tone, they tended 

 rather to repel than attract. 



To Swedish punch (a luscious compound of arrack 

 and sugar) he was extremely partial, and partook of 

 it, whenever invited, out of a glass, like a well-bred 

 gentleman, but afterwards showing his loutish and 

 lumpish nature in a drunken fit, concluding with 

 heavy sleep and loud snores. 



One day, while Bruin was yet of tender years, a 

 kitten came into the yard and immediately drew his 

 surprised attention upon herself; but young Puss, not 

 admiring his looks, first cast upon him an angry glance, 

 and then sprang up and fixed her claws in his head, 

 exciting such alarm that he trotted off in a nervous 

 perspiration, and ensconced himself in an outhouse. 

 Subsequently he always fled at the sight of this cat, 

 though she was the only one of which he showed fear. 



Bruin took a daily bath in the river, which flows 

 within a stone-throw of the house ; swimming across 

 and back again. He then trotted to an ice-cellar, the 

 roof of which was easily accessible and covered with 

 deal boards, one of which projected considerably 

 beyond the rest ; towards the end of this he used to 

 ci"eep warily, to enjoy the swinging motion that 

 resulted. It was a mode of recreation of which he 

 frequently availed himself. 



Whenever he could intrude into the kitchen he 

 bemeaned himself like an officious and meddlesome 

 husband, disordering affairs, greatly to the vexation 

 of the domestics, to whose castigations with a stout 

 knob stick he payed little regard. One day he laid 

 hold of a coffee-pan that stood on the hearth, and was 

 conveying it in his paws to the yard, when the hot 

 contents, overflowing on his bosom, provoked him to 

 cast it on the ground and flatten it with a stroke of 

 his paw. He would also, when opportunity occurred, 

 smuggle himself into the larder (a detached building), 

 looking round first to see that he was not observed, 

 then bring out some article, especially a cheese, which 

 he found convenient to carry ; but on one occasion he 



made free with a tub of clouted milk and cream, 

 handling it, however, so awkwardly that the ropy 

 tenacious contents streamed down the front of his 

 erected corpus, and, as in the case of the coffee-pan, 

 brought vengeance on the tub. After fruitless en- 

 deavours, with tongue and claws, to clear the viscous 

 mass from his best fur coat, he betook himself to the 

 river, and then solaced himself with a swing. 



This partiality for swinging or rocking rendered 

 him an undesirable companion in a boat ; yet he 

 constantly followed his owner to the river-side, and if 

 not admitted as a passenger, would swim after the 

 boat, grunting like a hog. During one river excur- 

 sion which he had been allowed to share he enjoyed 

 as usual his rocking, till the boat, gliding down the 

 river, entered a stormy rapid, when he became quite 

 agitated with fear, trembling in every limb and hold- 

 ing on each side of the boat so long as it remained in 

 the weltering force. When indulged with a ride by 

 land, he would sometimes leap on the shafts of the. 

 vehicle, and placing a hind leg on each, rest his fore 

 paws on the horse's back. 



As he grew older it was found necessary to impose 

 some check upon his movements, and for this purpose 

 a chain, with a log at the end of it, was attached to a 

 collar round his neck. Such badge of servitude and 

 interference with the liberty of a free-born bear was- 

 not to be borne. At first he tried to strike off the 

 log with his paws ; then he dragged it to the river, 

 but was vastly irritated to find that after every attempt 

 to sink it, the audacious log came to the surface again. 

 Finally he dug a hole, put the log into it, and re- 

 placed the earth, stamping or pressing it down ; then 

 apparently satisfied with his work he attempted to 

 move off, but found himself in a worse fix than before; 

 however, after sundry curvets and angry jerks the 

 chain broke and he regained his freedom, leaving his 

 encumbrance in the grave. 



In concluding his ursine anecdotes my Swedish 

 friend remarked : ' ' These are but a few of Bruin's 

 traits and droll tricks, which must be seen to be fully 

 enjoyed. At present he lies quietly in his winter lair, 

 but imagine his humour when he leaves it in spring ; 

 he is then no agreeable companion, especially for the 

 kitchen-maids, towards whom, and the fair sex in 

 general, he shows the greatest disregard." 



Poor Bruin ! he must indeed have got up on the 

 wrong side of the bed, for he became so unbearably 

 troublesome and subject to such angry moods, that, 

 as I afterwards learned, at the early age of about 

 three years he was doomed to death, and executed 

 accordingly. 



Another young bear, captured in the winter of 

 1869, was kept for about two years at Eksharad, in 

 Wermland ; but as it grew older it became danger- 

 ously ferocious, and, consequently, was also shot. A 

 tame bear, kept at Sno-an, had accidentally one 

 Saturday evening got locked up in the smithy, and 

 not liking to remain in a workshop on a Sunday, 



