Johnny Bear 



Johnny nearly froze at the top of the post be- 

 fore he would come down and accept the warm 

 bed provided at the bottom. 



During the days that followed, Grumpy 

 came often to the garbage-heap, but soon 

 apparently succeeded in forgetting all about her 

 son. He was daily tended by Norah, and re- 

 ceived all his meals from her. He also received 

 something else ; for one day he scratched her 

 when she brought his food, and she very prop- 

 erly spanked him till he squealed. For a few 

 hours he sulked ; he was not used to such 

 treatment. But hunger subdued him, and 

 thenceforth he held his new guardian in whole- 

 some respect. She, too, began to take an inter- 

 est in the poor motherless little wretch, and 

 within a fortnight Johnny showed signs of de- 

 veloping a new character. He was much less 

 noisy. He still expressed his hunger in a whin- 

 ing Er-r-r Er-r-r Er-r-r, but he rarely squealed 

 now, and his unruly outbursts entirely ceased. 



By the third week of September the change 

 was still more marked. Utterly abandoned by 

 his own mother, all his interest had centred in 

 Norah, and she had fed and spanked him into 



189 





Wk*te 



'MET 



fc-mp 



