United States or Equatorial Guinea ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !


Back in the old days I used to invade those mirrored and carpeted salons where a trained and deferential saleswoman would slip sleazy and satin-lined moleskin coats over my arms and adjust baby-bear and otter and ermine and Hudson-seal next to my skin.

There was no mistaking it now: it was a baby-bear, a mere suckling, it was true, a helpless roll of fat and fur, but unmistakably a grizzly cub! I cannot recall any thing more irresistibly ludicrous than its aspect as it slowly raised its small, wondering eyes to mine.

He felt himself in the position of a man who has stolen a baby-bear, and who hears the roar of an approaching parent through the woods; to throw away the cub and walk off as though he had no idea there were any bears in that forest would be the inclination of a man so situated, and to get rid of the great pirate without provoking the vengeance of his friends was the natural inclination of the Governor.

Bartholomew was just about to go up after him to ascertain who it was, when a large dark animal of some kind darted in through the door and with an awful growl went bowling up stairs after the man. It suddenly flashed upon the mind of Mrs. Bartholomew that the man was her husband, and that that was the little baby-bear.

Bartholomew was out in Colorado for a few months, and just before he started for the journey home he wrote to his wife concerning the probable time of his arrival. As a postscript to the letter he added the following message to his son, a boy about eight years old: "Tell Charley I am going to bring with me a dear little baby-bear that I bought from an Indian."

After he had greeted his family, Mrs. Bartholomew asked him what was the matter, and he said, "Why, you know that little baby-bear I said I'd bring Charley? Well, I had him in a box until I got off the train up here at the depot, and then I thought I'd take him out and lead him around home by the chain.

When Charley came, he rushed up to Bartholomew and said, "Oh, pa! where's my little baby-bear?" Then Bartholomew gazed at him severely for a moment, looked around to see if Mrs. Bartholomew had left the room, and then gave Charley the most terrific spanking that he ever received. The Bartholomew children have no pets at present but a Poland rooster which has moulted his tail.