The Grizzly, Our Greatest Wild Animal — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The Grizzly, Our Greatest Wild Animal
John Stuart Mill · en
Johnny and Jenny enjoyed playing with people, with any one who did not
annoy them. Among the strangers who came was a man who made friends at
once and had a good romp. When he left them and went to lunch, Johnny
and Jenny followed and lay down near the door where he had disappeared.
As he came out, they rose up and started another romp.
To attract my attention or to ask for something to eat, Johnny or Jenny
would stand on hind legs and hold out fore paws like an orator. If I
came around the corner of the house a quarter of a mile away, they
instantly stood on tiptoe and gesticulated with enthusiasm. They were
the life of my home, and occasionally almost the death of it.
It was almost impossible to get these cubs filled up. They ate
everything,--scraps from the table, rhubarb, dandelions, bitter sage,
and bark,--but they were especially fond of apples. If I approached with
meat and honey upon a plate but with apples or turnips in my pockets,
they would ignore the plate and, clinching me, thrust their noses into
my pockets to find the promised treat.
One August evening I brought in a cluster of wild raspberries for Johnny
and Jenny. While still more than a hundred feet from the cabin, both
bears leaped to their feet, scented the air, and came racing to meet me
with more than their ordinary enthusiasm. No child of frontier parents
could have shown more interest in a candy package on the father's return
from the city than did Johnny and Jenny in those berries.
A number of people were waiting in my cabin to see me. The little bears
and I crowded in. I handed Jenny a berry-laden spray, and then one to
Johnny, alternating until they were equally divided. Standing erect,
each held the cluster under the left forearm by pressing it against the
chest. When browsing in a raspberry-patch bears commonly bite off the
tops of the canes together with the leaves and the berries. Johnny and
Jenny ate more daintily. One berry was plucked off at a time with two
front claws and dropped into the mouth. As one berry followed another,
the lips were smacked, and the face and every movement made expressed
immense satisfaction at the taste.
Every one crowded close to watch the performance. In the jostling one of
the berry-laden canes fell to the floor. Both little bears grabbed for
it at the same instant. They butted heads, lost their temper, and began
to fight over it. I grabbed them by the collars and shook them.
"Why, Johnny and Jenny," I said, "why do you do this? And such awful
manners when we have company! What shall I do with you?"
They instantly stopped quarreling and even forgot the berries. For
several seconds the little bears were embarrassed beyond all measure.
They simply stared at the floor. Then suddenly each appeared to have the
same idea. Standing erect, facing each other, they put fore paws on each
other's shoulders, and went "Ungh, ah, oooo." Plainly they were very
sorry that they had misbehaved.