X A LITTLE BROTHER OF THE BEAR 297 



to the pioneer fur-traders ; and vast quantities of 

 it are consumed in Germany and elsewhere to-day 

 in the manufacture of hats. A 'coon-skin cap 

 used to be the common headgear of the Western 

 man of the early part of the century, and many of 

 Washington's hardiest soldiers wore them with 

 the ringed tail drooping behind as a barbaric orna- 

 ment. The fur of the South American species is 

 shorter and less dense. 



Let us bid the 'coon farewell in the pleasant 

 language of Rowland Robinson : 



"This little brother of the bear is one of the 

 few remaining links that connect us with the old 

 times, when there were trees older than living 

 men, when all the world had not entered for the 

 race to gain the prize of wealth, or place, or 

 renown ; when it was the sum of all happiness for 

 some of us to 'go a-'cooning.' It is pleasant to 

 see the tracks of this midnight prowler, this de- 

 spoiler of cornfields, imprinted in the mud of the 

 lane or along the soft margin of the brook, to 

 know that he survives, though he may not be the 

 fittest. When he has gone forever, those who out- 

 live him will know whether it was his quavering note 

 that jarred the still air of the early fall evenings, 

 or if it was only the voice of the owl if he, too, 

 shall not then have gone the inevitable way of all 

 the wild world." 



