THE BEAR AND HER CUBS.
"Are there any people besides Esquimaux in the snow-country?" asked Harry, one day.
"Not many," said I. "There is a small Danish settlement in Greenland; but, with that exception, the Esquimaux and the bears have the country pretty much to themselves."
"Tell me about the bears," said Harry. "I saw a bear last summer at the White mountains. He was chained to a tree."
"But the bear that roams about over the snow and ice of the Arctic regions, is much larger and more savage than the common black bear that you saw. It is of a dingy white color. When full grown, it sometimes measures nine feet in length."
"Didn't I see one in Barnum's menagerie?"
"I think not, Harry; for the polar bear suffers so much from heat, even in our coldest winters, that it will not live long in this climate.
"There is one thing very interesting in the bear nature, and that is the affection of the female for its young. This has often been noticed. Here is a picture showing an instance of it.
"A Greenland bear with two cubs, was pursued across a field of ice by a party of armed sailors. At first she tried to urge the young ones along by running before them, turning around and calling them to her; but finding that the pursuers were gaining upon them, she pushed and threw the cubs before her, one after the other, until she effected their escape.
"Each cub would place itself across her path to receive the impulse, and when thrown forward, would run onward until overtaken by the mother, when it would adjust itself for another throw."
"Well, that shows that even a bear has some good feeling," said Harry, "and some common sense too. I'm glad that the sailors did not catch them. What would those cubs have done without their mother?"
Uncle Charles.
