i 3 o WAITING IN THE WILDERNESS 



upon a name for the black bear better than the 

 one given by a white hunter the "Happy Hooli- 

 gan of the Woods." A million or more false 

 stories have this bear ferociously chasing people 

 up trees. Such show of energy would be too 

 much trouble for the black bear and he is in- 

 finitely less dangerous than the old hen with 

 chicks and the alleged tame cow. 



The American black bear is a jolly loafer with 

 no evil intentions; has the care-free indifference 

 exhibited in Huckleberry Finn, and many of the 

 lazy, mischievous traits of a boy. That rollick- 

 ing farce, "The Arkansaw Bear," brings out bet- 

 ter than any story I know the real character of 

 this all-American animal. 



Once I saw a little black bear in a woods open- 

 ing; plainly he was lonesome. He did not know 

 just what to do; he was ready to play and 

 there was no one or anything to play with. A 

 prickly porcupine came waddling along and the 

 bear followed after, trying hard to play with 

 him; but porky, dully, indifferently, went on into 

 the woods. The bear sat down, dog-like, on 

 his haunches and watched around for something 

 to turn up. 



I was watching a number of mountain sheep 

 with a glass when a black bear came out of the 

 woods near by and shuffled along toward the 

 sheep, evidently following a wild-life trail in 





