MAY-TIME IN THE FOREST 43 



was no disobedience in that little family, and never 

 a harsh word did I hear spoken. 



Mrs. Weldon had taken- some schoolbooks into 

 the woods with her, and now she was teaching the 

 little ones to read and write. Not only from books 

 did she instruct them; she taught them also, by 

 example, good manners, politeness, and kindness. 

 No favors were ever shown to her own children in 

 which the' adopted ones did not share. Many 

 times she had related to them the Bible story of 

 the Prophet Elisha, who had been mocked and in- 

 sulted by the children of Bethel. Very seriously 

 she told them how Elisha, when these children had 

 shouted at him, "Go up, thou Baldhead," had 

 called from the woods two great mother bears. 

 With a solemn face she emphasized the moral of 

 the story, as she told how the great beasts rushed 

 out from the forest, and, as a punishment for the 

 children's rudeness, tore some forty of them into 

 bits. 



Whenever Bruno got a chance, he crawled into 

 the cradle and went to sleep beside little Ursula. 

 Snuggling close to her, he poked his soft woolly 

 muzzle under her chin, and, crooning a lullaby in 

 bear language, joined the baby in dreamland. 



Mrs. Weldon had begun to wean the cub in 

 March. At first he did not like the condensed milk 

 that I had brought in ; and for a time he was made 



