THE BLACK BEAR. 
27 
little boy, who being very cold, and seeing that Marco’s 
den was a snug and warm place, went into it, without 
thinking of the danger of doing so. Marco, however, 
instead of tearing the poor little fellow in pieces, as 
might have been expected, took him between his paws 
and hugged him up to his breast, and kept him warm 
and comfortable until morning; he then let him go to 
ramble about the streets of the city. At evening the 
boy returned to the Bear, who was glad to see him, and 
took him between his paws to keep him warm, as be¬ 
fore. For several nights the poor little boy had no other 
place to sleep, but with the Bear, and what was still 
more singular, the animal kept a part of his food, to give 
him for his supper when he came. The keeper of the 
Bear knew nothing of this for a number of days. At 
length, going one evening later than usual, to give the 
Bear his supper, he was surprised to see the animal roll 
his eyes in a very furious manner at him. The cause of 
this strange conduct, the keeper did not at first under¬ 
stand, but on looking more closely, he saw to his aston¬ 
ishment, that the Bear had a child clasped in his arms, 
fast asleep, and that his fierce looks were intended to 
warn him, not to awake the child by making a noise. 
The keeper found, when he placed the food before him, 
that the animal did not seize upon it as usual, but lay 
still without touching it, for fear, as he supposed, of 
awaking the child. 
A report of this strange story was soon carried to the 
Duke, who, with some of his nobles, wished to see so 
curious and interesting a sight with their own eyes. 
They therefore one night went and staid near the Bear’s 
hut, where they could now and then look in, and see 
what was doing. They saw with astonishment that the 
animal never stirred, so long as the boy lay still and con¬ 
tinued to sleep. The child awaked very early in the 
morning, and was much ashamed to find that the Duke 
and his gentlemen were looking at him; he was also 
afraid of being punished, for being found there. The 
Bear all this time, was trying to make the boy eat what 
had been brought to him the night before, and which he 
finally did, at the request of the gentlemen. The Duke 
was so much pleased with this singular friendship, that 
he had the little boy fed and taken eare of, but the poor 
little fellow died a short time after. 
Here we see an instance, where the Bear was much 
more kind to a little boy, than people sometimes are to 
each other. For how many people there are in the 
world, who would have sent the poor little boy awa)r, 
without giving him either food or lodging. But Marco, 
more kind than these, gave him both. Let us imitate 
the Bear when he does well, and when we see poverty 
in distress, let us always give relief, with a part of what 
we have. 
I PEAR HUNTING. 
The substance of this is from Dr. Godman’s book. A 
common mode of hunting the Black Bear, is to follow 
him with two or three dogs. When the creature finds 
that he is pursued, he will run straight forward, eight or 
ten miles, or farther, if not overtaken sooner. When 
the dogs come up with him, he turns and defends him¬ 
self with great ferocity, so that if they do not take care 
to avoid his grasp, he will kill them on the spot. To 
avoid the dogs, he often climbs a tree, before they over¬ 
take him, but here he has very little rest, for as soon as 
he sees that the hunter is coming, he throws himself to 
the ground and runs away as fast as he can, being still 
pursued and vexed by these animals. Again he finds 
himself obliged to climb a tree, to avoid his enemies, and 
goes up to the very top, where he tries to hide himself 
among the branches, so that the hunter cannot see him. 
But the dogs will show the hunter where he is, whether 
he can see him or not, and coming to the tree, he strikes 
against it with his hatchet, as though he was going to 
\ cut it down. The Bear hearing this, and knowing that 
l he cannot make his escape down the trunk of the tree, 
goes to one of the longest branches, and sliding down to 
its end, then gathers himself up in the form of a ball, 
and lets go his hold; thus falling from near the top of 
the tree to the ground. It is said that the poor creature 
sometimes throws himself in this way from such a height, 
J as to bound several feet high, when he strikes the 
) ground. He then jumps up, and if his bones are not 
broken, runs off as fast as he can. At length, the poor 
) beast becomes worn out with his constant exertions to 
escape, and finding that he can neither run away from 
the dogs, nor hide himself from the hunters, turns 
around, and defends himself against them as well as he 
can. The hunters now have time to come up, and while 
) the Bear is doing his best to keep the dogs off, or to hide 
himself behind some fallen tree, they shoot him with a 
rifle, and thus the meat and skin of the animal become 
the reward of the hunter’s toil. 
( The Bear is often mentioned in the sacred Scriptures, 
and always in such words as to show that he is a fierce 
( and dangerous beast. Men, who treat their neighbors 
\ with injustice, and who have no compassion on the poor, 
i are compared to Bears. Thus in the book of Proverbs, 
S it is said, “ As a ranging Bear, so is a wicked ruler over 
i the poor people.” 
God has sometimes made use of the Bear to punish 
J such persons as have broken his commandments, or 
J otherwise done wickedly. An account of a most striking 
case of this kind, is recorded in the second book of Kings, 
\ where it is stated, that as the holy prophet Elisha was 
( going from Jericho to Bethel, he was mocked by some 
