MAY-TIME IN THE FOREST 43 
was no disobedience in that little family, and never 
a harsh word did I hear spoken. 
_Mrs. Weldon had taken some schoolbooks into 
the woods with her, and now she was teaching the 
little ones to read and write. Not only from books 
did she instruct them; she taught them also, by 
example, good manners, politeness, and kindness. 
No favors were ever shown to her own children in 
which the adopted ones did not share. Many 
times she had related to them the Bible story of 
the Prophet Elisha, who had been mocked and in- 
sulted by the children of Bethel. Very seriously 
she told them how Elisha, when these children had 
shouted at him, “Go up, thou Baldhead,” had 
called from the woods two great mother bears. 
With a solemn face she emphasized the moral of 
the story, as she told how the great beasts rushed 
out from the forest, and, as a punishment for the 
children’s rudeness, tore some forty of them into 
bits. 
Whenever Bruno got a chance, he crawled into 
the cradle and went to sleep beside little Ursula. 
Snuggling close to her, he poked his soft woolly 
muzzle under her chin, and, crooning a lullaby in 
bear language, joined the baby in dreamland. 
Mrs. Weldon had begun to wean the cub in 
March. At first he did not like the condensed milk 
that I had brought in; and for a time he was made 
