Show U d i Z and the B Bear BearA al alt t J A Pike County Comity Story By Edwin J Webster te 1 ff Speaking of bees been be s said sId Deacon Dea on Tod gets gers es reminiscently to the crowd at the corner corer grocery store Did you ever hear her of Uncle Jabez Jab and his adventure with the bear be or rather with hL the drunk drunken en bees and the old bear None of the boys boy had so s the deacon decon begun began Uncle Jabez Sabez abe came over to my house b a spell s l us ago and blamed if he more kinds of a bunged up man than I ever had seen before belore His Hia Hi neck was scratched his hi arm ar was VOS a in a and all al over his hla h face and hand were marks mark like bee be or hornet stings iad What Wat particular form of f attempted suicide have you yu taken up for tor your lat latest latest latest est fad l I inquired Ive Ie been ben trying to catch a a bear growls owl Uncle Jabez like Ike a man out of humor humr with wIh the world word And did dd you rou trap a nest of hornets instead Or O have hae you been ne in a wrest a rest ling hag match with wih a buzz saw sw swI It I aint any laughing matter mater snarl el Uncle Jabez Jabe wild cats bears beara beM and drunken bees bee are responsible for lor this thi wreck areck c Well Wel I was mighty curious to know how one little old man could get mixed up UI with that tat combination and after a awhile awhile while he opened up his heart heart Dont tell me that a bear especially an old Pike county bear cant reason out things thing and plan pan how to get out of a scrape says Uncle Jabez sorrowfully You know that old bear which has been troubling people hereabouts hereabout for months month Well Wel that particular animal is i cut cutout out for a bank burglar and a good one at that Its Is my rj belief bele that thata a mistake was wa made when he was w born borna a bear be beThi This Thi fall after ater I had bad lost three val valued valued K ue pigs pIg and some honey I started out outto outto outto to make a d business of hunting that bear I caught his hi trail trai one morning and started in all the innocence of my heegt thinking I would come back at night with the skin sk of the old bear that ever lifted a pig pigMy pIgMy pigMy My dog followed the trail all right until we came to one of those little oil oU runs rUD and am there we lost it The dog nosed about for lor a long time but it was no good I was clean puzzled The ground was hard had there a hole or scarcely a bush near and how an old bear dog doS like mine could lose a plain I T could understand trail uan was waa na more than iu LuaU ui j v At last we gave up and ad came home a saddened and wiser dog do and man That evening while I was pondering over the problem all of a sudden an idea came to me me It I aint he ire dogs dogs fault faul I says to my myself m myself self sel That dogs been trained to chase bears not oil oi barrels That old bear I just trailed along the oil oU run and after a few yards yard that he would smell like a refinery not like a ely sly marauding old bear he really realy was He HeI may I be a mighty cunning bear but af after a after couple of ter he has bas experimented a o i times your our Uncle intellect I hell hel repent reent of stealing them pigs pIg So the next day I started out with wih I two of my dogs Instead of one on The first dog I let take up the trail to the or oK oil run Then I started dog No 2 on the trail trai after it i left lef the run Af After After After ter the dog got onto the fact that it was a n wily wiy old bear and not an oil oi I barrel that he was expected to run rundown rundOwn down he went along at a fast fat clip In my ignorance I was wa actually sorry for forthe forthe 11 the th hear be i 0 Petroleum bears beare may fool the ordinary i i nary run of hunters I says to myself m but this benighted bear will wI soon son realize Uncle Jabez is on his track track An easy death Is the best beet that poor old bear I Ican can hope for forI I I But I didt need to waste wate sym sympathy sympathy I pathy on that bear I needed it all al for paty myself That hat bear ber understood wildcat I he did the use of oil nature as well wel as a oi I runs The he minute Mr Bear realized those dogs had caught caugh his trail tri again he made og tracks track right for for a hole where a a mother wildcat and a couple of her kittens lived The bear ran right up to the mouth of the hole and then swerved to one side This routed out the mother i wildcat and when v hen my dogs reached the hole she ahe was nae wa right on hand and looking I for tor trouble in big bunches I A with wit a litter lter of young ones aint the sweetest tempered pet in the te I world My dogs were after aner bear but Mrs Wildcat thought it was her pre precious I cious clous kittens the doge dge were looking for forand forand and the second the dogs got near out I she rushed A mother wildcat is i the fighting limit for anything near her weight w I want to see my mr m two valued dogs dog all al torn tor up and not daring to shoot Moot at the mixed bundle I sailed in Ia with a club wily why wh I am wear wearing jag ing wih the top of my y head decorated with wih bandages and carry my right arm in ina ina Ina a sling sUng The Te dogs and arid I killed the wild wildcat wid wildcat cat but when hen we got go through h it was wa a I hospital arid and tender nursing not a big black hear an that we were looking for forin forina in in ina JI JIa a longing manner maner When Wen I got home I kept thinking to myself about the way that old bear had played it i on me Its Is by using his i brains I when Ive rye been bungling ahead aea with wih a dog and gun that enabled him to beat me If I bring my own top piece Into I acton action I ought to get ahead of a bear ber berven even ven if he is i the slyest old codger that tat ever meandered around roud the hills hil of Pike county I So I kept thinking over the weak weaknesses wea nesses flosses of bears and an men and all aU of a at t I sudden it occurred to me rue how fond a abear aO bear is of honey just lik p e men I of O with and that gave me an idea idea I Supposing I could get gt that bear good god and drunk I 1 thought thought to myself there be any arty difficulty in cat hing I him and avenging my m numero fv r p I a ui in i j j So I took tok abig lump of hone Tand and t tso soaked so ke it in applejack When Wen I got the te job lob finished there was wa enough liquor in that lump ot of of honey to get et a family famUs of I bears drunk And the te delicious taste i i of it was w e SCh that I certainly hated to feed fee it to the bear But the memory of I my wrongs and the way wy that tat big bear ber had bed hd fooled tooled me inc and my faithful dogs dog sort of reconciled me to the waste I knew koew the old bear be had had his h eye on my fY hives hiv so eo that tat night I 1 left lef the door in the th shed where I kept them them I put ray my y applejack honey on an the floor foor near the hives hive and went to bed a happy and contented man thinking g that all I would woud have to do in the morning would woud be to go out and cr corral one large arge intoxicated intoxicated bear That bear bea wont meddle with wih the hives containing my bees Hes too knowing an animal a Imal to do that Heli H l li libe be attracted by the delicious del ious smell of if the honey h oney on O n the floor foor which W combines the advantages of honey a jag and no I stings But hU et a temperance tempera e les las son sn will m test Mat him hint the remainder of h fe Just Jut Shout about out prea I heard he rd a a noise ni like something tumbling abut a t in I the shed where I 1 kept my honey hone hon Mr Ira Bear has ho found foun fo n l tha applejack and is i making mang merry mer over oer it r I says to my ray m wife wi but theres no hurry hur it I know the power of ot that tot applejack Ill ru rl just wait Il a couple of hours until It gets in m its is effects That That bear ba will wi be b deal dearl dei to t the world rd then then And Ad a t little while later Ifer Jabes alter after ater his interview with Uncle hell hel be b dead d d for good goo then having hav loaded lo e my m gun went wet down downto to the te hives hive confidently expecting to t see se one oe big bear be stretched out there tere dead drunk drank But instead lIte of this thi it was wasa a a pathetic sight that met my ray eyes eye My hives were overturned and ad all al my good honey gone gon while the floor fO was wa littered I with Kith wih bees bs A lot more mor were sticking to the te applejack honey while here and ard there was a abe bee trying tig to walk or fly f and falling falig to t the floor foor in a staggering I way wa It I was plain pai enough what had happened My bees bes had ha been ben attracted by DY the fragrant frt smell of that applejack k honey hones They The had bad flown fow over oyer to it dur during durIng during ing the night and a filled fled themselves with wih it until not one disreputable bee was leas i able to t move Then when the bees bee were wre I helpless that unscrupulous old bear had wandered in and without paying pang any II I t attention to the applejack honey o 1 5 w n a 4 AND KY t GUN WAS BY Y THE TEE SHED marched straight to to the hives hive over overturned overturned turned them and ad gorged himself What made me rae maddest war waa v to think he be had gotten gotte away aw y without a sting while my bees b were lying there thre drunk drank I If I I had been hen content to let lt it go goat goat at that my ray face look so s much I like a war map maD toddy today tod But I was sas as Indignant at the vagrant shiftlessness I of ot the b bees as a I was at the te beer bear ber If I they had been content to stay in their hives perhaps my plan would woul have worked all right and the bear be have have eaten the the applejack honey So instead istead a r rl rI I l I I 4 I X Heard a Noie Noise N oise Like Something Tumbling About About of o f letting my ray bees sleep their jag off of I II I r started to rouse r u them by throwing cold old c water on 0 them No intoxicated bees bes b ees that fill fl themselves up on honey meant for black b bar bears ars I said are going to t o be allowed to sleep all al day not ar while they hey t belong to Uncle Jabez These The bees have got to t get right up and ad start in t I repairing the damage dUO due d te th ce leess Now I r had known kow those thoe bees be alt all al their ther lives Ue and ad it never neve occurred ou to me m that they tey would sting me But in the fr place that tat applejack had bad aroused aou the the same soe bad temper tOmP te in them the that that it does dos in some sm men me Then the te bees b like having that water yate thrown on them thema a bit more than a man who wh is i sleeping oft off of a a drunk likes Ikes to be thrown into isto io a a pond As I kept on o throwing the te water on those thos bes b they got gt more mere and ad nd more mr I awake and the te livelier they tey got gt the madder they were were Finally Finaly most of those who had been lying on the floor fr were Wre fully awake and began b to buzz buz around the t shed she All AU of ofa a a sudden one au bee be that was a evidently feeling feln es cc especially pealY ugly flew at at me me Then Th all al the thebe bees be seemed to think I was wa the te author of o their misery ms and a the whole swarm swa settled down dow to t the t job of o making me settle unhappy They Te succeeded right up to the limit too t for by the time I escaped e p fr from tat that shed I was wa stuns stung stu hi In I fifty places The bees bes although they had been ben roused rued up by the t water I had bad ha thrown trow on them the were feeling felig too t languid lad to I chase chae me I hunted for far the t water bucket When e I finally lifted Ute nty my m faco f out of it and ad had hd opened my m bunged banged bUn up eyes e e with wih considerable difficulty I 1 saw sw a sight which added a pang to my 1 I misery mir There Te on the edge eg of ot the te clear clearing ce jag ing was that old bear bar He was wa sitting sW en o his h Is haunches hunche fairly hugging him himself h himself self sell with wit his hi front paws pw and ad chuckling to himself at the te fix f I was w in in My L I gun was over oyer by b the te shed she she By Bi the te time I could get it i the te bear br was w gone gme and all 1 1 that was wa left for me was my mournful thoughts That blamed blaed old bear b said Uncle j Jabez Jabz concluding his story str has h 1 fooled foole me three te tunes tiaras t s but I am sin a going goals gOig to t have my revenue revenge if it it i takes te me all al w wintel win winter tel ter te No big black bla bear er can c damage damge and ad insult old age me rue and a hope hP to live lve to good go I tried tre to console cne Uncle Jabez Jabea az said sd Deacon Deo Them bees baes be Warned blamed be ytm Yu for getting them drunk I told him but it comfort him hi the worst wo of if it it he h replied rp In sort of a a saddened way wy My char ebar character cr aster acter ao Is gone even with wt my own bees b f |