824 How I Killed a Bear. 



at the time. I remembered that the instant death of the bear would 

 follow a bullet planted just back of his fore-leg and sent into his heart. 

 This spot is also difficult to reach, unless the bear stands off, side toward 

 you, like a target. I finally determined to fire at him generally. 



The bear was coming on. 



The contest seemed to me very different from anything at Creed- 

 moor. I had carefully read the reports of the shooting there ; but it 

 was not easy to apply the experience I had thus acquired. I hesi- 

 tated whether I had better fire lying on my stomach or lying on my 

 back and resting the gun on my toes. But in neither position, I 

 reflected, could I see the bear until he was upon me. The range was 

 too short, and the bear wouldn't wait for me to examine the ther- 

 mometer, and note the direction of the wind. Trial of the Creed- 

 moor method, therefore, had to be abandoned, and I bitterly regretted 

 that I had not read more accounts of off-hand shooting. 



For the bear was coming on. 



I tried to fix my last thoughts upon my family. As my family is 

 small this was not difficult. Dread of displeasing my wife or hurting 

 her feelings was uppermost in my mind. What would be her 

 anxiety as hour after hour passed on, and I did not return ? What 

 would the rest of the household think, as the afternoon passed and 

 no blackberries came ? What would be my wife's mortification when 

 the news was brought that her husband had been eaten by a bear ? 

 I cannot imagine anything more ignominious than to have a hus- 

 band eaten by a bear. And this was not my only anxiety. The 

 mind at such times is not under control. With the gravest fears 

 the most whimsical ideas will occur. I looked beyond the mourn- 

 ing friends, and thought what kind of an epitaph they would be 

 compelled to put upon the stone. Something like this : 



Here Lie the Remains 



OF 



Eaten by a Bear, 

 Aug. 20, 1877. 



It is a very unheroic and even disagreeable epitaph. That 

 " eaten by a bear " is intolerable. It is grotesque. And then I 

 thought what an inadequate language the English is for compact 

 expression. It would not answer to put upon the stone simply 

 "eaten"; for that is indefinite, and requires explanation; it might 



