Here is another of Aunt Totty’s stories about her pet animals. I shall tell it to my little readers as nearly as I can in her own words; and they must fancy Aunt Totty seated in the midst of her little nephews and nieces, who are all ready to listen. This is how she begins:—
“Now, my dears, I am going to give you an account of a pet I had whose name was Jacquot. I daresay you think from the name it must have been a monkey or a parrot. No such thing! it was a great brown bear, and this is how I made his acquaintance.
“I was not more than nine years old, and was travelling with my papa and mamma, and my brother, who was two or three years older than myself. We were making a tour in Switzerland, and stopped for a few days at a town of which I forget the name now; for you may suppose it was a great many years ago. However, what I do remember is that a fair was being held in the town at the time, and that is how it happened that the bear was there.
“On the morning after our arrival I came down early,—as I thought, before anyone else of the party—and seated myself at the open window of our sitting-room in the hotel. As I sat there watching all that was going on outside, I saw my brother cross the courtyard of the hotel, coming out from a long low range of buildings on the other side of it. A minute afterwards he entered the room, and coming up to me, said with an air of mystery,—‘Totty, I want to show you something: come with me before mamma and papa are down; you’ll see something curious.’
“‘What is it?’ I inquired, feeling quite excited.
“‘I won’t tell you what it is; but come along and see,’ answered my brother.
“As he spoke, he led me downstairs. We crossed the courtyard hand in hand, and entered the stables of the hotel. I could not help looking about rather nervously, as he led me past a number of horses and mules—keeping always, however, at a safe distance from their heels—till we came to the last stall of all. In a corner of this, I perceived a huge ragged hairy ball, but what it was I could not at first imagine. I saw that a strong chain attached it to a ring in the wall; then I discovered that it was some living creature, for its sides rose and fell with the breath as it slept. A man, who was lying on some straw close by, seeing my brother and me, rose up, and said in French,—‘You need not be afraid, he won’t hurt you.’ Then patting the creature with his hand, he added,—‘You wouldn’t hurt the young lady, would you, Jacquot?’
“The ball uncurled itself, growled, and rose upon four legs. It was a bear: but the saddest-looking, the thinnest, and most ragged you can imagine. It had twenty scars on different parts of its body, and one ear was almost torn away. I must have looked shocked and distressed, for the man seemed to understand my thoughts, and said,—‘Ah, well! what can you expect? poor Jacquot is not happy.’
“Then he went on to tell us the bear’s history. It appeared that he was himself only the keeper or attendant of the bear, not the owner. He told us that Jacquot was born in the Pyrènean mountains: he was caught when quite a baby, and received an excellent education, being able to dance and perform every trick a bear can learn; he was perfect also in point of docility. At one year of age, his education being considered complete, he had been sold to the man who was still his master. This man, at the time he made the purchase, was the owner also of other animals. Jacquot’s first companions were a camel, two monkeys, and a red and blue parrot. One of the monkeys passed the greater part of his time on the bear’s back, the other monkey and the parrot on the back of the camel. But they were not a happy family: the monkeys and parrot bit and scratched, and generally tyrannised over, the patient camel and the good-natured bear.
