XXVII 



'B'ARS AND POSSUMS" 



ERHAPS :Mammy Bun Avill tell us a 

 stoiy about ' Possums and Bears,' " 

 said Mr. Blake, as they gathered by 

 the campfire before supper one Satur- 

 day evening in February, and Kap, on 

 ig through the portfolio, had chosen these 

 two animals of Avidely different sizes and fami- 

 lies. 



" Perhaps she will," echoed Dodo, clapping her 

 hands ; " for she's promised to cook supper for us to- 

 night, — ' ole-time supper,' she calls it, with hoe-cakes, 

 eggs, frizzly bacon and rice done up somehow Avith 

 pickle sauce. We had it once before, and it was 

 dreffly good ! " 



"It saj^s Opossum on the picture," said Nat, "but 

 everybody calls them Possums, from Mammy even to 

 Uncle Ro3^ Mammy knows lots about them, and she 

 sa3^s they are nicer to eat than spring chicken or little 

 roast pig.'' 



" But how can she tell us about Bears ? " said Dodo. 

 " They are great savage beasts of cold countries and bi 

 mountains. Mamm}^ never lived in an}^ such places ! 



"You are thinking of the Grizzly Bear and liis great 

 white brother who tramps along the shores of Arctic 



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