26 
THE BLACK BEAR. 
mouth, and give it to his master. The master would > 
then give him a little piece of apple, and tell him to ‘ 
bring the next letter, which being done, he would give j 
him another piece of apple, and so on, until the word ) 
was spelled. 
The keeper said that his Bear could tell the time of ) 
day by a watch. The letters were therefore taken away, 
and figures were placed around him in their room. A 
watch was then held before the animal, and he was told 
by his master to bring the figures which would show the ) 
hours and minutes by the watch. He brought 2, and ; 
then 25. It was twenty-five minutes past two o’clock, ; 
so that the Bear told the time exactly. 
This little animal did many other things of the same ) 
kind, such as telling the days, hours and minutes in the > 
year, the ages of persons, and so on. These he did, by > 
bringing the figures, which made out the numbers re- ) 
quired, as already stated. ^ 
Now we must not suppose that the Bear knew either , 
the figures, or the letters, but that he was directed which j 
card to take by some secret sign, conveyed to him by his > 
master. But what this sign was, and how it was given i 
to the Bear, in so secret a manner, was quite unaccount- s 
able to those who did not know the mystery. The vis- v 
itors watched both man and beast in the most attentive ; 
manner, but could see no motion of the hand, or foot, s 
nor any other sign by which the master’s wishes could \ 
be conveyed to the animal. \ 
In whatever way this was done, it shows that the s 
Bear has a much greater degree of docility than is gen- l 
erally believed. For if this creature could have under- s 
stood a sign, conveyed to him in a manner so secret, as ( 
that not one of the numerous visitors who went to see ( 
him, could perceive any thing of it, we must at least , 
allow that he was capable of close attention, and of very 
quick perception. 
We see by the above anecdote, what can be done by 
perseverance, and long trial. If a stupid Bear could be ) 
taught to do things so much beyond the reach of ordi- ( 
nary animals, what might not a child be taught to do, ■ 
with the same industry and perseverance. And what a ( 
pity it is, that the man who has taken so much pains to \ 
learn a brute, a creature that cannot teach others any t, 1 
thing, should not rather have bestowed his labor on a ’ 
child, and taught him something useful, which he might ! 
then learn to others. The employment of teaching \ 
tricks, to a brute, merely for the purpose of carrying him <| 
about for a show, is but a poor and contemptible one, 
while that of instructing a child, a rational and an ? 
accountable being, is an employment as noble as it is ; 
delightful. ,) 
ANECDOTE II. 
At Berne, in Switzerland, two Bears were kept in a 
kind of domestic state, for thirty years. They were kept 
in a large square ditch, so deep that they could not 
climb out, and so wide as to allow them to run about for 
exercise. One end of the ditch was covered over on the 
top, so as to make a warm and comfortable place for the 
animals to go when it was cold, and in which they might 
sleep when they chose. In the middle of the ditch, 
there was a large hole in the ground, into which, every 
spring, a tree was cut green from the woods, and placed. 
There was also in the ditch a trough of fresh water, into 
which the animals could go in hot weather, and cool 
themselves. Thus pleasantly situated, these Bears 
seemed to enjoy themselves perfectly well, and to have 
the best of health. They did not, like other animals, 
which are kept tied up, and allowed no liberty, pine for 
their native woods. Every year, they reared a little 
family, of two or three cubs. The mother was exces¬ 
sively fond of her young, but the keeper always took 
care to shut the father away from them, when they were 
small, for fear he would do them some injury. The old 
bears seemed to take the greatest delight in climbing the 
trees, which were placed in their ditch for that purpose; 
and the young ones, when they became strong enough 
to climb, took great pleasure in doing the same, and 
seemed to be as proud of their performances, as a young 
child is of his, when he first begins to run alone. 
At one time, it became necessary to separate the par¬ 
ents, for the purpose of digging them a new ditch, so 
that they did not see, or come near each other, for many 
hours. When they met again, it was pleasant to see in 
such creatures, how much love and affection they had 
for each other. Both raised themselves up on the hind 
feet, and put their fore legs around one another, with the 
greatest kindness. 
After having lived about thirty-one years together, the 
male was killed by a fall from one of the trees, and thus 
this long and interesting friendship was destroyed. The 
female appeared for a time, fully sensible of her loss, 
and so great was her affliction, that for several days she 
took little or no nourishment. After this, however, she 
seemed to forget her former companion, and took her 
food, and became lively as before. 
ANECDOTE III. 
The following story is from the Percy anecdotes, but 
as no author’s name is mentioned, we should not have 
placed it here, did it not seem to be true, from the man¬ 
ner in which it is told. 
Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, had a Bear named Marco, 
which was kept in a small Jen, or hut placed in a barn. 
During the winter of 1709, some very poor people, who 
had liked to have perished with the cold, went into the 
barn for shelter. Among these poor people there was a 
