Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1890 — BE COULDN’T SLEEP. [ARTICLE]

BE COULDN’T SLEEP.

TH« OLD SETTLER* TUSSLE WITH BEARS AND CI EC UM STANCES. Ed Mott, in KeW York Sun. --- “The night o’ Sept. 1,1840, " said the Old Sett.er, musingly, “1 tumbled an’ tossed all night on my pillor. Th’ Wa'n’t no sleep to my eye nor slumber to my eyelids. The percecdln's of the day had ben too excitin', and I couldn't sleep no more’n a catfish ain saw wood. An’ ever sence that time th’ hain’t never ben a single Sept 1 rolled round th’t I hain’t tumbled an' tossed all night on my piller jist the same ez I done it fifty year ago. An’ if 1 live to be. ez old ez Methuzeller, ’Squire, things won’t never be no deffer’pt.” “Why so, Major?” said the ’Squire. “Azmy?” ••B’ars!" said the Old Settler. “No!" exclaimed the’Squirek “Did they hustle ye up ez bad ez that?” -- “WuH, twa’n’t so much b’ars, nuther, ez it were sarcumstances th’t went with ’em," replied the Old Settler. “Ez fur oz b’ars goes, b'gosb, th’ wa'n’t no b'ar ez ever lived ez k’d keep mu awake, er put me to sleep, nuther. But when it comes to handlin’ b’ar an’ ahull lot o’sarcumstances noth to wunst, I tell ye, ’Squire, a feller’s apt to bite off so much more’n he kin chaw th’t if he don’t choke tryin’ to swaller. it, he’s g'ot more luck th’n ayaller coon dog has fleas, an’ a feller th’t wants more luck th’n that ’ll hes to travel the len’th an’ breadth o' this vale o’ tears a lookin’ fer it, an’ then cross over Jordan, b’gosht’lmighty, a dissyp'inted man. ” “So he will. Major,” said the ’Squire. “But was the sarcumstances th't went along o' them b’ars p’tic’arly aggravatin'?" ••They ’peared to me that way, Squire," replied the Old Settler. “But I were young then. Mebbe they wouldn’t ’pear so aggervatin’ to me now. Them sarcumstances begun to happen 'long lo'ards thq middle o’ the arternoon o’ Sept. 1, 1840, ah’they kep’ on Happenin’ till the shades o’ evenin’ was cornin’ down. Two b’ars, both on 'em bigger'n th’were any kind o’ reason fer their bein’, had been snoopin’ ’round the pastur’s an’ the pig pens o’ Sugar Swamp affthat summer, an’ nobody k’d run ’em down. The b’ars ’d ben followed a dozent times or more clean to whar the north eend o' Squaw kee Hill chops off bz straight up an’ down ez the side of a barn or the edge o’ McGonigle’s Run, an’ ’round w’ich no enterprisin citizen O’ the deestric’ ever ben able to git. an’ thar the b’ars’d disappear ez •uddentez if they, were spook b’ars. Nobody know’d whar they got to so mddent, but they got some’rs. Th‘ wa'nt no way to git on top of ol’ Squawkee ’cept by goin’ round to the south eend, 'bout nine railed. The hili wa'n’t more'n a railed wide, but it were dum nigh ez high ez it were wide, figgr'tively speakin’. On the east side it run down pooty steep, an' MoGarigle's Run twisted along by it fer quite a piece, the west sde were straight up and down fer about two hundred fool from the top, an'then it pitched fer the rest o’the way down inter Welcome Holler, on a grade sumpin’ like the roof of a barn. Teat straight up an’ down piece were all rock, an’ it were split into openin’s here an' thar th’t ye k’d ha' druy a team o’ bosses in, an' folks said them openings didn’t bev no more bottom to ’em b’gosh, th’n the rollin’ sea. “Wull, them onreasonable big b'ars kep’ a worcyin’ the folks o’ the deestric’ to setch a pitch th't w’en I got thar from a job o’ hooppolin’ I’d ben doin’ over on Wild Gander Ridge, I found ev’rybody durn nigh crazy. That were Sept. 1, 1840. 1 felt sorry fer the deestric’ an’ I tol’ the folks to cheer up.

go out an’ red the land o’ them devourin’ b’ars!’ says I. “So I took my gun an’ my huntin’ knife, an'sot out to git the b’ars. I lived nine railed down McGarigle's Run, below old Squawkee. an’ I hadn’t more’n got to the south eend o’ the big hili ’fore I got sight o'one o’the or b'ars makin' tracks up lords the north eend., I follered him right up, but he were travertin’ like a streak, an’ he got w&y up to the highest part of ol’ Squawkee ’fore I ketched with him. I kim onter him kinder suddent an’ onexpected, an’ I jist had time to hang at him wunst an’ grab my huntin’ i knife, w’en he were on to me like a I hurrycane. Ez he landed agin me I; give him an all-wallopin’ slash with my j knife, but when he struck me ’twerej jist like a ton o’ hay failin' oh me. an’ down I went. The huntin' knife were . wrenched outen my hand, an’ when 1 j got up on my feet, specting to hev to act in a way to’rds that b'ar ez’d make him sorry th't me an’ him had ever met ez foes up thar on the mountain's frownin’ brow, b’gosh the bar were gone! I kid hear him tearin’ away' through the bush ez if lie were try into git outen the way of a locomotive. I were kind o’ s’prisen at fust, but w’en I got over my s’prise I had to larf. “ *1 mowt ha’ know’d it!’ I larfed. ' The durn ba’r reco’nized me ! I got to shave off my w'iskers or sumpin ,’ I says or I can't never git nigh that ba’r agin’!” ' | ••nut I didn't cal’c’late to let it get away if I k’d help it, an’ so I sfcrim■maged around in the bushes to finfi my Ihuntin’ knife fore I follered the b'ar. *1 looked an’ looked. but the knife were lost so I couldn't find it, and by that time the b’ar' had got out of bearin', loosin’ that knife made me madddr’n I’d been in a coon's age, an’ I jist made |up my mind th’t I'd lay low aroun’ ,tia-. kind of feelin’ th’t the b’ar ftaln’t made it’s way to that part o’ ol’ |Bquawkee fer nothin’, an' th't he'd be imore'n likely to show up ag’in 'fore (dark, an’ mebbe hev his partner with Shim. • ‘"Then,’ says I. Til fill ’em both

with lead, an’ settle the hull business? 7 “I walked over to'rds the.west side o’ the hili,.-an’ biraeby kim put on the ( edge o' the straight up an’ down two hundred feet o’ rock. Th’ were a big stun on top o' th’ rocks th’t we usety call the teeter stun. It hung twenty feet out over the edge o’ the straight up an’ down rocks, an* ye k’d walk out ■ i on it an’ it’d teeter with ye. but it Were hung so nice th’t it kep it’s balance. Th’ wan’t many folks though.' I kin tell ye, Sqiiir;, that keered to go out on ol’ teeter, fer they couldn't gitover the idee that it mowtgit a leetle over it’s b'iance some time an' start fer We’come Holler, half a railed dowq. A big oak tree stood right by this teeter stun, an’ one of its big branches stretched out over it, mebbe eight feet high. I stood out on the fur edge o’ the stun, teeterin’ an’ lookin’ down inter them Welcome Holler dep’s, an’ madder’n a hornet yit over losin’ my huntin’ knife. One o’ them big openin's in the straight up an down rocks run down fer a hunderd foot, an' whar it ended a shelvin’ piece o’ rock shot out six foot or more. I were wonderin’ whuther th’ act'ly were any bottom to the seam or not, w’en I felt the ol’ teeter stun movin’ off with me! Gosht'lmighty, ’Squire! I were oznigh skeert then ez I ever were in my life. The stun kep goin’ faster an’ faster. I slung both hands up, an’ they struck the limb o’ the oaktree. — I grabbed the limb, an’ away went the teeter stun. That stun must ha’ weighed more’n five hundred ton, an’ it went a biliu’ <1 own the—west side—o’ old Squawkee, tourin’ up trees an’ things, more noise th’n twenty c aps o’ thunder rolled-inter one. An’ thar I hung, ’Squire, over that west edge o’ S juawkee, with nuthin’ much Lut air betwixt me an’ Welcome Holler half a mile below. “Fer a minute I were Skeert. Then I begun to hitch my way, one hand at a time, back to'rds the tree, ’long the limb. I turned my head to see ho w fur I were away, an’ not ’spoolin' to see w'at I did see. I kim just as nigh lettin’ go that limb an’ startin’ fer Welcome Holler ez could be. At the but eend o’ the limb, settin’ with his back agin the trunk 'o the tree, were one o them bg.b’ars. He were grinnin’ at me ez if hethrot it were funny to be danglin’ over that big gap. Ez soon ez the b’ar see that I had diskivered him w'at does he db but start out on the limb to meet me. I give myself a swing an’ pulled myself up on the limb, too, an’ thar we both was. The limb begun to bend an’ crack, an’ I felt the oncomf’tablest kind. I crop to’rds the b’rd, an’ the b’ar crep to’rds me. W’n we was about two foot apart the b’ar a snappin’ an’ snarlin’ an’ showin' his teeth, an’ me a cussin' like a raftman ’cause I didn’t hev nothin’ to fight with I see sumpin’ th’t kim nigh makin’ my heart pop outen my throat I were so tickled. Stickin’ put o’-the b’ar’s shoulder were the handle o’ my huntin' knife! This were the ol’ b’ar 1 had tackled half an hour ago. W’en I found that out I got so mad th't. I forgot all about bein’ glad th’t I’d found my huntin’ knife. I mowt ha’ ben wil in’ to give tha b’ar a little show for hisself, but w’en I thort of of his diirn meanness in tryin’ to take advantage o’me a hangin’ thar with nuthin’ butaa half railed o’ air in under me I shet my heart ded agin him. I made one spring, an’ ketchin’ the - b’ar by one ear w Ith my left hand. 1 draw’d ray huntin’ knife outen his shoulder with ray right hand, an’ fore .the pesky ol’ bruin k’d git over his s prise I were sinkin’ that knife inter him ag'in at about the rate o’ nine t mes a second, up to the hilt ev’ry time. W’en the b’ar got his senses bach he natur’ly male up his’nrud th’t things was gittin’ middlin’ hot fer him, and concludin’ th’t h’s chances was better some’rs betwist thar an"

Welcome Holler th’n they was with -me,- -Ire k yelp- an* aTump; ah’ started in the same d'rect’on theteeter stun had gone. But in jumpin’ he bad my knife in him ag in, ffn’ ez I didn’t ca’e’lata to lose that knife a second time, I made a grab fer it ez the b’ar shot by me. I got my knife, but I lost my balanced an’ away I w.n arter the b’ar. Ez I were faffin’ I sea th't I were goin’ straight down to’ards the shelvin’ rock that struck out at the bo’.tom o’ the big seam in the rocks. An’ I see more’n that, too, ’Squire Standin’ on that shelvin’ rock, lookin’ up at the little circus th’t had been goin’ on, stood another big b'ar an’ I knowed to wunst that it were t’other bar’s pardner. I lit plumb stracd eon : that b’a -, an’ I don’t think -he were i ’speetin’ it of jngjjter hejjive'a sr.o t an---d5Ve inter the mouth o’ tliat hole I quicker, a good deal, thah““T kTn~tell !ye. I dug my fingers inter the b ars I hair an’ hung on like a burdock to a 'cow’s tail. By the time I got my breath back good that b'ar must hi’ galloped me inter the den’s o' old Squawkee m r’n a hunderd yards ai d were still agoin’, “Booty soon it got darker’n Eeypt. I had my huntin’ knife in my hand, and could ’a put an end to that bar h?n an’thar, but I thort I’d jist let him go an’see whar .we d wind up. iWe twisted an’ turned an’ jeed an* ■ hawed around in the dep's of ol’ Squawkee. -the b'ar evry now an’ then tryin.’ to chuck me ofTu bis back an’ takin’ it inter his head to balk. Ev’ry J time he'd do that, though, I'd give ’im a jab with the knife and give a yelp, an’ away he'd go, licketysplit. I J couldn’t seeno morn if Td been head- ; ed up tight in a bar’l, an’ it were colder’n ten ton o’ ice. Arter we'T~clr7 cv.ssed around down thar fer ’bout an hour 1 seen a little patch o’ light way on ahead. The patch got bigger an’ bigger, an’ arter a while I seen it were a openin’ in the rocks. The b'ar were goin’ so fast w’en we got thar that he coiildn’t stop, an’ he went o >t'n ol’ Squawkee likeashot, an'landed plumb in McGarrigle’s run. right at the northeast corner of the hil 1 . t “We both went under, nd when we kim do the top the fight were in. We

' fit as' we fit an* we fit till the Water ’ were so thjek with blood that one k'd a’ most walk pn it- l ark were jist cornin’ on we’n I give the b’ar the dig th’t ended him. I drawed him to shore an’looked up. 01’SqiMnvkee Bili we e gone, ’Squire, an’ all it s s’rroundin's was gone.’ An’ whar were I? Standin’ b’gosh, within ten rod p* my own cabin door. Me an’ that b’ar had fit an’ floated, an’ floated an’ fit, an’hadnV never noticed it, an’ we'n the fight were over we war just nine railed from whar it started. I didn’„ sleep none- th’l night, ’Squire. an’ I hain’t slep no night o’ Sept. 1, |from I that day to this. B’ar hain’t So much, ’Squire, but w’en ye ppt b ar an’ sarcumstances together, b’gosh, it’s a leetle tryin’ to the nerves.”