Volume XIX. 



RECREATION 



JULY, J903. 

 G. 0. SHIELDS, (COQUINA) Editor and Manager 



Number \. 



BEN; THE STORY OF A CUB. 



W. H. WRIGHT. 



N the spring of 

 1890 we went 

 into the Bitter 

 Root mount- 

 ains to hunt 

 bear. About 

 the second day 

 out we found 

 a female black 

 bear and 3 

 cubs, that 

 were only a 

 few days old. 

 We killed the 

 mother and 

 captured the 

 children. We at once divided the 

 latter among ourselves, Spencer tak- 

 ing one. O'Brien one and I the other. 

 O'Brien, whom I shall hereafter 

 call Jack, because he does not deserve 

 a better name, chose the female, the 

 other 2 cubs being males. Spencer 

 and I, of course, adopted a humane 

 system of treatment for our pets, but 

 O'Brien undertook to train his by 

 cussing and beating it. The little girl 

 rebelled at this from the start, and 

 learned to hate her master violently, 

 Fortunately for her, and for the peace 

 of the camp, she h ed only a few 

 weeks and never missed an opportun- 

 ity to bite and claw her keeper 

 viciously. It served him right ; for he 

 was a cruel brute and we should have 

 been glad if she had got him by the 

 throat some night while he was asleep, 

 and sent him over the divide. 



Her hatred of the biped freak 

 was really picturesque, and at the 

 same time pathetic. She would eat 

 or drink but little and was weak and 

 sickly all the time; but to the day of 

 her death she managed, at frequent 



intervals, to get in her work on the 

 Irishman. Not 10 minutes before she 

 breathed her last she tried to bite him, 

 and we were only sorry she did not 

 succeed in getting a good hold. 



Spencer, though kind and careful 

 of his charge, did not succeed in rais- 

 ing the little cub. It lived about a 

 month, and finally sickened and died. 

 We fed them all on canned milk for 

 a time, and my pet thrived on it. He 

 became at once the life and joy of the 

 camp. He learned to romp and play 

 with us like a kitten or a puppy, and 



LISTENING. 



