418 



RECREATION. 



I wonder what it will be like ? Will 

 Mother be there ? Will the sun shine 

 as bright and the streams be as clear 

 and the berries be as thick and the 

 deer and antelope as plentiful as they 

 were in my cub days back at the foot 

 of Hoosier pass, before the hand of 

 man turned our earthly heaven into 

 hell? Who knows? 



Then I look down over the big 

 snow bank below my den, across the 

 big timber and the wonderful pile of 

 rocks where Nature once built a big 

 temple and tipped it over just to see 

 it fall ; farther down on the little flat, 

 where the cedars and soap weed 

 grow ; down over the calf pasture and 

 past the big feeding corralls ; still far- 

 ther down to the beautiful meadow 

 in the valley below, and what do I 

 see? Just a little spotted Indian 

 pony running with the bunch of 

 Stirrup cow ponies ; and I know they 

 are coming back ! 



It may be in a few days or it may 

 be weeks, but they are coining. They 

 will bring the Savage and the 30-30, 

 and life will again be a burden to 

 poor old Mose. 



Well, it doesn't matter much. I 

 have lived about long enough. Every 

 bone in my body aches, day and 

 night. I have been driven from hill 



to hill and from cave to cave for 

 many years. My parents, my broth- 

 ers and my sisters have been killed, 

 and I am left alone in my old age. 



I am no longer active and power- 

 ful as I once was. I can not make 

 the great leaps, nor strike the terrific 

 blows necessary to kill a big steer. 

 My teeth are broken so it is difficult 

 for me to eat a steer, even if I could 

 kill it. I am therefore reduced to a 

 diet of roots, grubs or carrion. I 

 have outlived the days of my 

 strength, my prowess and my cun- 

 ning; so, come to think it all over, I 

 don't care how soon some fellow puts 

 one of those Savage bullets into me. 



>fc >f; ifc >fc >fc :fc if. 



A prospector who was working on 

 the mountain, a year later, found a 

 skull and a few of the other large 

 bones of a big silvertip, evidently 

 a very old bear, just in front of 

 the cave where old Mose hung out. 

 The teeth were worn away and there 

 were several enlargements about the 

 joints, such as result from rheuma- 

 tism. No doubt those were the bones 

 of old Mose. 



Thus the king of Battle mountain 

 had at last passed in his checks, and 

 none of his kind is left to mourn 

 his departure. 



"We had a delightful time last week," 

 said the city cousin, who was describing 

 the joys of metropolitan life. "One even- 

 ing we trolleyed out to a suburban home 

 and ping-ponged until nearly midnight, and 

 next day we automobiled to the country 

 and golfed until dark." 



"Well, we had a pretty good time last 

 week, too," ventured the country cousin, 

 with a sarcastic smile. "One day we bug- 

 .gied over to Uncle Josiah's, and we boys 

 got out in the back lot and baseballed all 

 the afternoon, and after we had dinnered, 

 some of the men cidered and tobaccoed a 

 while." — Baltimore American. 



