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.” 
