“Yes, I thought there were bears in the woods, and that they would come out and eat me up; so I came to shoot one.”
WHAT ARE YOU SHOOTING MY COAT FOR?—Page 144.
“You silly man,” said the wood-cutter. “There are no bears in the woods near such towns as we live in. Besides, if there were, they never would come out of the woods and eat people up. Nobody is afraid of bears but silly little children.”
JACK HILDIGO.
Jonas used to sit down with Rollo very often and amuse him by telling him stories. The story which Rollo liked the best was the story of Jack Hildigo. The story of Jack Hildigo was a very curious one. The reason why I put it in this book is because it is very hard to read right, and you must read it aloud and distinctly, till you learn to read it well.
When Jonas told this story, they called it playing Jack Hildigo. It took several children to play it well. Sometimes when John and Samuel, who lived in another house, came over to play with Rollo, they would all sit down together, on the platform, in the garden-yard, and have a fine time playing Jack Hildigo.
Jonas would begin telling the story thus, the other children sitting all around him:—
“Once there was a boy, and his name was Jack Hildigo. One day he went round behind his father’s house, and found there a great hole leading under the house. So he thought he would go into that hole, and see what was there. He went in under the house, but he found nothing. So he stood there, and began to growl like a bear, so,—
“U-r-r, u-r-r, u-r-r.”