CHAPTER IV.
MRS. WOODS'S TAME BEAR.
Mrs. Woods was much alone during this summer. Her husband was away fromhome during the working days of the week, at the saw and shingle mill onthe Columbia, and during the same days Gretchen was much at school.
The summer in the mountain valleys of Washington is a long serenity. Thedeep-blue sky is an ocean of intense light, and the sunbeams glint amidthe cool forest shadows, and seem to sprinkle the plains with gold-dustlike golden snow. Notwithstanding her hard practical speech, which was ahabit, Mrs. Woods loved Nature, and, when her work was done, she oftenmade little journeys alone into the mountain woods.
In one of these solitary excursions she met with a little black cub andcaptured it, and, gathering it up in her apron like a kitten, she ran withit toward her cabin, after looking behind to see if the mother bear wasfollowing her. Had she seen the mother of the cunning little blackcreature in her apron pursuing her, she would have dropped the cub, whichwould have insured her escape from danger. But the mother bear did notmake an early discovery of the loss in her family. She was probably outberrying, and such experiences of stolen children were wholly unknown tothe bear family in Washington before this time. The Indians would not havetroubled the little cub.
The black bear of the Cascades is quite harmless, and its cubs, likekittens, seem to have a sense of humor unusual among animals. For a whitechild to see a cub is to desire it to tame for a pet, and Mrs. Woods feltthe same childish instincts when she caught up the little creature, whichseemed to have no fear of anything, and ran away with it toward her home.
It was Saturday evening when she returned, and she found both Mr. Woodsand Gretchen waiting to meet her at the door. They were surprised to seeher haste and the pivotal turning of her head at times, as though shefeared pursuit from some dangerous foe.
Out of breath, she sank down on the log that served for a step, and,opening her apron cautiously, said:
"See here."
"Where did you get that?" said Mr. Woods.
"I stole it."
"What are you going to do with it?"
"Raise it."
"What for?"
"For company. I haven't any neighbors."
"But what do you want it for?"
"It is so cunning. It just rolled over in the trail at my feet, and Igrabbed it and ran."
"But what if the mother-bear should come after it?" asked Gretchen.
"I would shoot her."
"That would be a strange way to treat your new neighbors," said Mr. Woods.
Mr. Woods put a leather strap around the neck of the little bear, and tiedthe strap to a log in the yard. The little thing began to be alarmed atthese strange proceedings, and to show a disposition to use its paws inresistance, but it soon learned not to fear its captors; its adoption intothe shingle-maker's family was quite easily enforced, and the pet seemedto feel quite at home.
There was some difficulty at first in teaching the cub to eat, but hungermade it a tractable pupil of the berry dish, and Mrs. "Woods was soon ableto say:
"There it is, just as good as a kitten, and I would rather have it than tohave a kitten. It belongs to these parts."
Poor Mrs. Woods! She soon found that her pet did "belong to these parts,"and that its native instincts were strong, despite her moral training. Shelost her bear in a most disappointing way, and after she supposed that ithad become wholly devoted to her.
She had taught it to "roll over" for its dinner, and it had grown to thinkthat all the good things of this world came to bears by their willingnessto roll over. Whenever any member of the family appeared at the door, thecub would roll over like a ball, and expect to be fed, petted, andrewarded for the feat.
"I taught it that," Mrs. Woods used to say. "I could teach it anything. Itis just as knowing as it is cunning, and lots of company for me out herein the mountains. It thinks more of me than of its old mother. You caneducate anything."
As the cub grew, Mrs. Woods's attachment to it increased. She could notbear to see its freedom restrained by the strap and string, and so sheuntied the string from the log and let it drag it about during the day,only fastening it at night.
"There is no danger of its running away," said she; "it thinks too much ofme and the berry dish. I've tamed it completely; it's as faithful to itshome as a house-cat, and a great deal more company than a cat or dog orany other dumb animal. The nicest bird to tame is a blue-jay, and the bestanimal for company is a cub. I do believe that I could tame the whole raceof bears if I only had 'em."
Mrs. Woods had a pet blue-jay that she had taken when young from its nest,and it would do many comical things. It seemed to have a sense of humor,like a magpie, and to enjoy a theft like that bird. She finally gave itthe freedom of the air, but it would return at her call for food and eatfrom her hand. The blue-jay is naturally a very wild bird, but when it istamed it becomes very inquisitive and social, and seems to have a brainfull of invention and becomes a very comical pet. Mrs. Woods called herpet bear Little Roll Over.
One day a visitor appeared at the emigrant's cabin. A black she-bear cameout of the woods, and, seeing the cub, stood up on her haunches insurprise and seemed to say, "How came you here?" It was evidently themother of the cub.
The cub saw its mother and rolled over several times, and then stood up onits haunches and looked at her, as much as to say, "Where did you comefrom, and what brought you here?" In the midst of this interestinginterview Mrs. Woods appeared at the door of the cabin.
She saw the mother-bear. True to her New England instincts, she shook herhomespun apron and said: "Shoo!"
She also saw that the little bear was greatly excited, and under thestress of temptation.
"Here," said she, "roll over."
The cub did so, but in the direction of its mother.
Mrs. Woods hurried out toward it to prevent this ungrateful gravitation.
The mother-bear seemed much to wonder that the cub should be found in suchforbidden associations, and began to make signs by dipping her fore paws.The cub evidently understood these signs, and desired to renew itsold-time family relations.
"Here," said Mrs. Woods, "you--you--you mind now; roll over--roll over."
_In the midst of this interview Mrs. Woods appearedat the door of the cabin._]
The cub did so, true to its education in one respect, but it did not rollin the direction of its foster-mother, but rolled toward its own mother.It turned over some five or more times, then bounded up and ran toward theshe-bear. The latter dropped her fore feet on the earth again, and the twobears, evidently greatly delighted to find each other, quickly disappearedin the woods. As the cub was about to enter the bushes it turned and gavea final glance at Mrs. Woods and rolled over.
This was too much for Mrs. Woods's heart. She said:
"After all I have done for ye, too! Oh, Little Roll Over, Little RollOver, I wouldn't have thought it of you!"
She surveyed the empty yard, threw her apron over her head, as strickenpeople used to do in Lynn in the hour of misfortune, and sat down on thelog at the door and cried.
"I never have had any confidence in Injuns," she said, "since my sawwalked off. But I did have some respect for bears. I wonder if I shallever meet that little cre'tur' again, and, if I do, if it will roll over.This world is all full of disappointments, and I have had my share. MaybeI'll get it back to me yet. Nevertheless--"
Mrs. Woods often talked of Little Roll Over and its cunning ways; shehoped she would some time meet it again, and wondered how it would act ifshe should find it.