My guest author today is my Dad as he tells the story of the bear that climbed the “bear tree.” He was just a little kid, but it made a lasting impression.
Then came the episode with the bear. Cousins Sydney and Margaret were visiting with Ellen and Barbara. The girls decided to play in the hay shed, which was about 300 yards from the house and through a patch of woods. Mother’s tomcat, Nimmy Not, followed them to the shed. Sometimes they’d spook a mouse out of the hay for the tomcat. This time they spooked out a bear!
A yearling bear had come down to the corrals to help himself to some awful offal that had been left over from butchering a beef. The bear saw the children, and the children saw the bear. The bear ran for a tree. The children hid in the shed and peered through a knot hole in the side of the building. When the bear came down from the tree, he started to grow. He sniffed his way toward the shed getting larger every step. The children began to get nervous. Our fearless cousin, Margaret, who thought that all cats were females, said, “I know what let’s do. Let’s throw out Minnie.”
The girls pushed Nimmy Not out of the shed. “Go get him,” they said. Then they crawled through a hole on the backside of the building and circled their way back to the house.
“You threw my cat out?” Mother asked when she heard about their adventure.
“She said to.” Sister Ellen pointed to our fearless cousin.
A big tear came to Margaret’s eyes. “We didn’t mean to, but it was her or us.”
About that time there was a yowling at the kitchen door. It was Nimmy Not come home. The girls picked him up.
“Oh, Minnie!” Cousin Margaret exclaimed. “This is your lucky day!”
It was really my lucky day. If I’d have been at the shed, they’d have pushed me out instead of the cat.
When Daddy came home we walked over to the corral. Spot came along. When we saw the bear, Father said, “Sic ‘im!”
The hound raced across the meadow. The bear headed for the tree. Spot leaped in the air like he was catching a pancake. He came down with a mouthful of fur.
The next morning the bear was gone. Likely Spot saved the day. No more bears came around the sawmill where a leaping hound snatched them bald on the wrong end.