to think of any good thing you have done. The sins come out uncommonly strong. I recollected a newspaper subscription I had delayed paying, years and years ago, until both editor and newspaper were dead, and which now never could be paid to all eternity.

12. The bear was coming on. I tried to remember what I had read about encounters with bears. I couldn't recall an instance in which a man had run away from a bear in the woods and escaped, although I recalled plenty where the bear had run away from the man and got off. I tried to think what is the best way to kill a bear with a gun, when you are not near enough to club him with the stock. My first thought was to fire at his head, to plant the ball between his eyes: but this is a dangerous experiment. The bear's brain is very small, and, unless you hit that, the bear does not mind a bullet in his head that is, not at the time. I remembered that the instant death of the bear would follow a bullet planted just back of his fore-leg, and sent into his heart. This spot is also difficult to reach, unless the bear stands offside toward you, like a target. I finally determined to fire at him generally.

13. The bear was coming on; he had, in fact, come on. I judged that he could see the white of my eyes. All my subsequent reflections are confused. I raised the gun, covered the bear's breast, and let drive. Then I turned and ran like a deer. I did not hear the bear pursuing. I looked back. The bear had stopped. He was lying down. I then remembered that the best thing to do after having fired your gun is to load it. I slipped in a charge, keeping my eye on the bear. He never stirred. I walked back suspiciously. There was a quiver in his hind-legs, but no other motion. shamming bears often sham. To make sure, I approached

Still he might be

and put a ball into his head. He didn't mind it now; he minded nothing. He was calm in death. In order that he might remain so, I blew his brains out, and then started for home. I had killed a bear!

14. I sauntered into the house with an unconcerned air. There was a chorus of voices: "Where are your blackberries?" "Why were you gone so long?" "Where is your pail?” “I left the pail !" "Left the pail? what for?" "A bear wanted it." "Oh, nonsense!" "Well, the last I saw of it, a bear had it." "Oh, come! You didn't really see a bear?" "Yes, but I really did see a real bear." "Did he run?” 66 Yes, he ran after me." "I don't believe a word of it! What did you do?" "Oh, nothing particular-except kill the bear." Cries of "Gammon!” "Don't believe it!" "Where is the bear?" "If you want to see the bear, you must go up into the woods. I couldn't bring him down alone."

15. Having satisfied the household that something extraordinary had occurred, I went down into the valley to get help. The great bear hunter, who keeps one of the summer boarding-houses, received my story with a smile of incredulity; and the incredulity spread to the other inhabitants, and to the boarders, as soon as the story was known. However, as I insisted in all soberness, and offered to lead them to the bear, a party of forty or fifty people at last started off with me to bring the bear in. Nobody believed there was any bear in the case; but everybody who could get a gun carried one, and we went into the woods armed with guns, pistols, pitchforks, and sticks, against all contingencies and surprises-a crowd made up mostly of scoffers and jeerers.

16. But when I led the way to the fatal spot, and pointed out the bear, lying peacefully wrapped up in his own skin, something like terror seized the boarders, and

genuine excitement the natives. It was a no-mistake bear, by George! And the hero of the fight—well, I will not insist upon that. But what a procession that was carrying the bear home! and what a congregation was speedily gathered in the valley to see the bear! Our best preacher up there never drew anything like it on Sunday.

17. And I must say that my friends who were sportsmen behaved very well, on the whole. They didn't deny that it was a bear, although they said it was small for a bear. Mr. Drane, who is equally good with a rifle or rod, admitted that it was a very fair shot. But he needlessly remarked, after he had examined the wound in the bear, that he had seen that kind of shot made by a cow's horn. This kind of talk affected me not. When I went to sleep that night, my last delicious thought was, "I've killed a bear!" Charles Dudley Warner.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE BEAR IN FABLE AND STORY.

1. THE bear is so well known that he forms an important character in myth and fable, and enters largely into the common stories or folk-lore of the people in most countries and ages. In the mythology of the Norsemen he is made strong, majestic, and terrible, the god of thunder, the bear-king of storms. The tempest-demons, black-bearded, are his children, and the thunder-clouds go rolling and soaring and foaming overhead, bears every one of them, and close on the heels of their prey. In the East the bear is the shining one, the luminous sky. The Russian child hears, at the fireside, stories of the bear, in which he is shaggy and terrible, every hair of which is

of iron; and again he is "the old man in the fur cloak." In Lapland the bear is the "dog of God," and among the peasants of the South he is mild and friendly, "the honey-finder." Science finds the "Great Bear" the most majestic object of the northern heavens, making its nightly march around the pole.

2. The good qualities of the bear, and the amiable side of his character, are represented in the stories which have become classic in children's literature. In "Beauty and the Beast," the terrible-appearing monster who took such excellent care of Beauty, and was so generous to her family, was a bear. Then there is the delightful story of "Snow-White and Rose-Red." The bear, hungry and cold, knocked at the door of the cottage on a wintry night, and was admitted by the kindly little girls. He was treated to a supper and a warm bed by the fireside, and became a welcome guest until spring. Afterward, when his two little friends were in distress and persecuted by an ill-tempered and malicious dwarf, the bear made his appearance at just the right moment, and with one blow of his paw put an end to the spiteful little manikin and his persecutions.

3. From very ancient times tame bears have been led over the country, until their awkward appearance and gait have become familiar. This has led to the idea that the bear is stupid as well as clumsy, and in story he is often made the victim of more crafty animals, especially the fox. This is well illustrated in the following:

WHY THE BEAR HAS A STUMPY TAIL.

4. One day the bear met the fox, who along with a string of fish he had stolen.

you get those from?" asked the bear.

came creeping "Whence did "O my Lord

Bruin, I've been out fishing and caught them," said the