AS A HUMORIST. 109 



gathered up her babies and made safe exit 

 up a gulch. Boone, now in Arizona, was 

 so badly crushed and bitten that his life 

 was long despaired of, but he finally got 

 well. The bear, he informed me, showed 

 no disposition to eat him while turning 

 him over and tapping him with her foot 

 and thrusting her nose into his bleeding 

 face to see if he still breathed. 



Story after story of this character could 

 be told to prove that the grizzly at home 

 is not entirely brutal and savage; but 

 rather a good-natured lover of his family 

 and fond of his sly joke. 



