in honeycomb, though fortunately the bees had forsaken the tree. The 

 rope had become loosened from my arm, and I saw no prospect of escap- 

 ing from my strange prison. Suddenly I heard a prodigious scratching 

 and scrambling outside, and looking up saw a large bear descending back- 

 ward into the hollow tree. I drew my knife, and as the bear came within 

 reach, grasping him firmly, made a sharp stab which had the effect of 

 starting bruin out again. As he reached the top, I took a firm hold with 

 one hand and with the other pushed the bear forcibly, overbalancing him 

 so that he fell to the ground, striking on his head, and his neck cracked with 

 a report like a pistol. 



I then gathered my scattered senses (together with the geese and fish), 

 and was delighted to find that my home was only a mile distant. By the 

 aid of my horses and wagon I collected the fish and game, shipped them 

 to the best market, and from the proceeds of this shipment and the money 

 received for a ton of first-class honey, I established myself in business. 

 From that day to this I have been able, whenever it was necessary, to 

 catch my fish with a silver hook. 



A STRANGE ARTIFICIAL GROWTH. 



Not many years ago, said Mr. Frank Alden, of Cincinnati, I owned 

 a private fish preserve, and was fond of making experiments of various 

 kinds in fish culture. A favorite hobby of mine was to observe and 

 record the growth of different species each year. In doing this I fastened 

 a metallic tag to the fish, describing the date, conditions and size of the 

 specimen. As a novelty I once attached a brass whistle to a small black 

 bass, weighing one pound, and one year later caught the same fish, and 

 was surprised to observe a most wonderful phenomenon. Not one of vou 

 could guess the remarkable change that had taken place in that length of 

 time. No, the weight of the fish had not increased so greatly as you 

 suppose, in fact, the fish still weighed one pound, but the whistle had 

 increased in size and tone to a large fog horn. 







