5o8 



RECREATION 



bags. We placed ropes through the mouths 

 of the bags, and stooping down, ran our 

 heads through the ropes, which went across 

 our chests and supported the bags nicely 

 on our backs. A bag of pork, remember, is 

 a good load for a strong, able man, and I 

 was a mere stripling at the time. Now, you 

 know, there is nothing a bear likes better 

 than salt pork. A bear will leave his dessert 

 of honey, berries, or nuts at any time for 

 pork. My bag made a big load for me, and 

 it was all I could do to trudge slowly along 

 in the rear of my companion. I had 

 heard yarns of how bears, after emerging 

 in a famished condition in the spring, will 

 attack a man with provocation and make a 

 meal of him. I was silly enough at the time 

 to believe such yarns. I had up to this time 

 never seen a bear, and I had no great long- 

 ing for an introduction to one. However, 

 we had gone, perhaps, a few hundred yards 

 from the camp on our return journey, 

 burdened with the bags of strongly smelling 

 pork, when hearing a crackling noise, I 

 chanced to turn around. We were still in 

 the small clearing surrounding the camp, 

 and I had an unobstructed view on all sides. 

 My heart fairly stopped beating when I saw 

 a monstrous bear about ten rods away, run- 

 ning towards us with uncouth, ambling 

 strides. I must have made an ejaculation of 

 some kind, for my companion turned, and 

 seeing the bear making towards us, slipped 

 the rope off his shoulders and over his head, 

 dropped his bag of pork and started like a 

 racehorse towards the home camp. I tried 

 to follow suit, but I was not strong enough 

 to raise the bag so as to slip the rope from 

 my shoulders and over my head. I was so 

 scared that I tugged at the bag like a demon, 

 keeping my eyes glued on that bear running 

 towards me at a three-minute clip. I be- 

 came frantic when I could not get rid of the 

 bag so as to run, and seeing the bear not 

 over twenty feet away still making towards 

 me, I let out one of the gol-darndest yells 

 ever heard in these woods. Say, that bear 

 stopped as if he had been paralyzed by a 

 stroke of lightning. He stopped so abrupt- 

 ly he almost stumbled to the ground. I was 

 still laboring with might and main to get 

 rid of the bag so as to be able to run, and I 

 became so frightened at the near sight of 

 the bear that I shut my eyes awaiting my 

 end. Trembling, and with my brain a blank 

 from thought, I opened my eyes a few sec- 

 onds later to see the bear nearly 200 yards 

 away, running like mad. The bear was 

 then climbing a little side hill at the edge 

 of the woods, and going so fast that some- 

 times he would stumble and roll down the 

 hill a few steps. The last I heard of him, 

 he was going through the bushes leading to 

 the woods, making a fearful racket to get 

 to safer shelter. The bear was, judging by 

 his actions, evidently more frightened than 



I was. The only explanation I can give of 

 the whole affair is this : The bear, who was 

 rambling near the edge of the woods, likely 

 very hungry after his long winter's sleep, 

 smelled the pork. With his mind on noth- 

 ing but pork and the scent of it in his nos- 

 trils, he was making for the bag of pork 

 and never really saw me. With my head 

 and shoulders bowed, the bag behind would 

 be about the only thing in sight. When I 

 let out that frightened yell, the bear was so 

 surprised that he stopped so short — dead in 

 his tracks, he almost turned over. The bear 

 was so frightened at discovering he had a 

 man to deal with, and getting the scent and 

 sight of me, he was the most scared of the 

 two, and lost no time in getting out of sight 

 I overtook Worth about two miles up the 

 tote road, and he was still so scared, he 

 would not go back to get his bag of pork. 

 I had to leave my bag there with him (he 

 had to assist me to get the ropes over my 

 head) and trudge back the two miles for his 

 bag, and carry it to where I first met him. 

 This was the only time I was frightened at 

 a bear, and the brute was really more scared 

 than I was. 



J. J. Gallagher, Grand Falls, N. B. 



THE UNFORBIDDEN FRUIT. 



BY JOHN JORDAN DOUGLASS, DUNN, N. C. 



Hit's pow'ful hot in dis medder 

 Whar I'se fixin' fer ter mow, 



But I nebber minds de wedder 

 Wen de water-milions grow. 



Dere's er jooce in dem dar sweeters 

 (Bress dey sasy red sweet heaht!) 



Dat's bin ticklin' cullud creetures 

 Sence dis ole wu'l' fust staht. 



Ole mudder Ebe she e't de appul ; 



Fadder Adum e't de core — 

 But I'se glad dey didn't grappul 



Wid de water-milion, shore. 



"Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting,'' by 

 Hornaday, is a very practical book written 

 by a practical man. It has run through many 

 editions and will run through many more. 

 It is a classic on taxidermy, for what Horn- 

 aday does not know on this subject must 

 have been discovered since he laid aside the 

 skins and bones and began to handle live 

 creatures with good red blood in their necks, 

 for Mr. William T. Hornaday is now the 

 director of the New York Zoological Park. 

 This book is appropriately dedicated to G. 

 Brown Goode, LL.D., and published by 

 Charles Scribner's Sons. 



