XXVII 



"B'ARS AND POSSUMS" 



ERHAPS ^Mammy Bun %¥ill tell us a 

 story about ' Possums and Bears,' " 

 said Mr. Blake, as they gathered by 

 the campfire before supper one Satur- 

 day evening in February, and Rap, on 

 through the portfolio, had chosen these 

 imals of widely different sizes and fami- 



" Perhaps she will," echoed Dodo, clapping her 

 hands ; " for she's promised to cook supper for us to- 

 night, — ' ole-time supper,' she calls it, with hoe-cakes, 

 eggs, frizzly bacon and rice done up somehow with 

 pickle sauce. We had it once before, and it was 

 dreffly good ! " 



"It says Opossum on the picture," said Nat, "but 

 everybody calls them Possums, from Mammy even to 

 Uncle Roy. Mammy knows lots about them, and she 

 sa\'s they are nicer to eat than spring chicken or little 

 roast pig." 



" But how can she tell us about Bears ? " said Dodo. 

 " They are great savage beasts of cold countries and big 

 mountains. Mammy never lived in any such places ! " 



"You are thinking of the Grizzly Bear and iiis great 

 white brother who tramps along the shores of Arctic 



370 



