FACE TO FACE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVII, Issue I, 4 July 1896, Page 31

FACE TO FACE.

My mother’s great-uncle was Alexander Faith, of whom the following story has come down through three generations. He served in the Revolutionary War, and received a grant of land for his services, somewhere in what was then the West. It was in the woods, and wild animals, especially bears, were plentiful. My kinsman was a tailor. It was his custom to go from house to house, and do whatever lay in his line for the widelyscattered settlers.

One very dark night, as he was approaching a clearing, he suddenly tumbled into a pit which a farmer had dug as a bear-trap. Such traps were covered with rotten sticks and a little earth, and were pretty deep. The bruises from his fall and the prospect of spending the night in the pit were bad enough, but worse was to come. This was the advent of a big bear, which crashed through and tumbled in a few minutes after him ! Our friend had no weapons ; escape from the deep pit was impossible. It was a situation to make the bravest despair. But the tailor kept his wits about him. I have said that he had no weapons ; he had what proved to be quite as usefel in the emergency —his big tailor’s shears. Drawing back into a corner of the pit, he put his shears out in front of him, and kept them going snip, snip, snip, all night. The bear was dazed and hurt by his fall ; the sound of the great pair of scissors bewildered him still more ; he drew back into his corner—and there the two remained all night, each in his corner, facing each other, with no let-up in the savage and ominous snip, snip, snip, just in front of bruin’s nose.

And there the farmer’s sons found them at daylight ; when the bear was speedily killed, and the brave tailor rescued. His black hair had turned as white as snow.