AS A HUMORIST. 109

gathered up her babies and made safe exit
up a gulch. Boone, now in Arizona, was
so badly crushed and bitten that his life
was long despaired of, but he finally got
well. The bear, he informed me, showed
no disposition to eat him while turning
him over and tapping him with her foot
and thrusting her nose into his bleeding
face to see if he still breathed.

Story after story of this character could
be told to prove that the grizzly at home
is not entirely brutal and savage; but
rather a good-natured lover of his family
and fond of his sly joke.