ELISHA AND THE CHIL-

 DREN.


 DID you ever see a bear ? How would it feel to have
those sharp teeth bite your arms and cheeks ? How long
would it take those claws to tear a child in pieces ? There
was a prophet named Elisha. He was passing through
the edge of a town near a wood. There was a crowd of
children playing there, and as they saw him coming they
called out mockingly, Go up, thou bald-head! Go up, thou
bald-head !"
 He turned back and looked, and cursed them in the
name of the Lord. Then those two great hungry bears
came out of the wood. What could the children do?
They were too frightened to run; they fell down; some
were pale with fear; some held their breath and spoke not
one word; some hid their eyes, and no doubt some
shrieked in fright. But it made no difference to the fierce
bears what they did; the great overgrown boys and the
little children were all alike when the bears had them.
They made sure and quick work of it too, for forty-two
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