BONY, THE BEAR.

Otago Witness, Issue 1934, 19 March 1891, Page 35

BONY, THE BEAR.

Not a very long time ago I got a letter from a little boy. The little boy's mamma wrote the letter, but Bho wrote just what the little boy told her to write, and this is what the letter Baid :— " If you pleaße, won't you tell Borne of the Btorieß for little boys, and not all of them for little girls, because I like 'em about bears beat and monkeys and white elephants, and some about going fishing." So this is a true story of a bear. He was a performing bear, and bis coat, which had once been black, was ragged, and faded to a raßty brown. His name waa. Napoleon Bonaparte, and all through the long hot summer days he went tramping about from village to village with a hand organ and a man and a little girl. The man played the organ, and the little girl, whose name was Lieette, shook her tambourine, and the bear danced and presented arms, and went through with bis broom drill and all hia droll tricks a good many times in a day— so many times that it was no wonder the three got very birad of it all. Some days they reaped rich harvests of pennies, and some other days, when everything seemed out of joint, they tramped long distances without getting a pleasant word or the smallest gift of money. It was at eueh timoß that Ltsette'a black eyes would grow big and wistful, and her father's face would wear a scowl, and Bony, the bear, would tug restlessly at hiß chain, as if he knew that things were not going just as they should, and as it he were longing for the Bbady foreßts and a taste of frendom. Then the father would give his chain into Lisefcte'B wee brown hand, becauss Bony would always mind Lisette's voice, and fellow where she led. They wore such good friends— the big black boar and the little brown girl. At night Bhe often slept with her curly head resting on hia shaggy coat. But times were not often bo hard. Oae day the three oame to a little village between two hills where very few baud-organs, and never a dancing bear, had found tbe way before. And when Bony came with Lisette and her father and the tambourine and hand-organ, the children all flocked to aoe, and the fathers and mothers came to look after tha children. So Bony, feeling the cheering preapect, danced aa he hadn't danced for a long, long time j aad Lisetfca shook her tambonrine with a great deal of spirit -, and her father turned tha organ crank vigorously ; and just aa Bony with his wooden musket was presenting arms in his very beat style, a dreadful cry waa ""The dog is mad 1 Ma-a-a-d d-o-g 1 Olear Lisette'a father waa oolleoHng pennies. The little crowd parted and soattered here and there, until in less time than I can tell you of it, little Lisette and Bony, the bear, stood all alone in the midst of the gr»B3y village squareall alone with a great savage dog, almost as big as Bony himself, coming among them. Bony dropped hia musket, and Lisette crept dose to him as he stood upon his haunoneß, aa straight as a soldier. And when the dog sprang, with a fierce snarl, at Bony'a throat, the old bear caught him in a mighty squeeze";' and he hugged him tighter and tighter, and the people cheered. And Lisette's father shouted, "Run, Lisetta I " But she did not. , It was over in a minute, and of course Bony —brave ojd Bony— had the beat of it. He had hardly a aoratoh to show for hia battle, either, thanks to the thick leather collar about his neck. . And of oourae, 1 too, Bony waa praised and Liaette was petted, and they were all treated bo kindly that they haven't gone away from the little village between the hills yet— neither Lisette nor her father, nor Bony, the bear. I Baw Bony laafc summer while I was staying in that little village, and he lioked my hand with hia rough tongue, and seemed very well pleased with his new home in the innkeeper^ orchard, where every day Lisette cornea to play with him for a while.— Youth's Companion,