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The Bear Cubs.

A female bear, with two cubs, approached near a whaler, and was shot. The cubs not attempting to escape, were taken alive. These animals, though at first evidently very unhappy, became at length in some measure reconciled to their situation, and being tolerably tame, were allowed occasionally to go at large about the deck. While the ship was moored to a floe, a few days after they were taken, one of them having a rope fastened round his neck, was thrown overboard. It immediately swam to the ice, got upon it, and attempted to escape. Finding itself, however, detained by the rope, it endeavoured to disengage itself in the following ingenious way. Near the edge of the floe was a crack in the ice of considerable length, but only eighteen inches or two feet wide, and three or four feet deep. To this spot the bear turned; and when, on crossing the chasm, the bight of the rope fell into it, he placed himself across the opening; then suspending himself by his hind feet, with a leg on each side, he dropped his head and most part of his body into the chasm; and with a foot applied to each side of the neck, attempted for some minutes to push the rope over his head. Finding this scheme ineffectual, he removed to the main ice, and running with great impetuosity from the ship, gave a remarkable pull on the rope; then going backward a few steps, he repeated the jerk. At length, after repeated attempts to escape this way, every failure of which he announced by a significant growl, he yielded himself to his hard necessity, and lay down on the ice in angry and sullen silence.

Noble Perseverance.

Elephants were, of old, employed in India in the launching of ships. It is related of one, that, being directed to force a very large vessel into the water, the work proved superior to its strength; his master, with sarcastic tone, bid the keeper take away the lazy beast, and bring another: the poor animal instantly repeated his efforts, fractured his skull, and died on the spot.

The Catcher Caught.

During a sudden inundation of the Rhine, a hare, unable to escape through the water to an eminence, climbed up a tree. One of the boatmen rowing about to assist the unfortunate inhabitants, observing puss, rowed up to the tree, and mounted it, eager for the game, without properly fastening his boat. The terrified hare, on the approach of its pursuer, sprang from the branch into the boat, which thus set in motion floated away, leaving its owner in the tree in dread of being washed away by the current. After several hours' anxiety, he was perceived, and taken off by some of his companions.

Deceiving the Fowler.

A young pointer, out with his master hunting, ran on a brood of very small partridges. The old bird cried, fluttered, and ran trembling along just before the dog's nose, till she had drawn him to a considerable distance; when she took wing and flew farther off, but not out of the field. On this the dog returned nearly to the place where the young ones lay concealed in the grass; which the old bird no sooner perceived, than she flew back again, settled first before the dog's nose, and a second time acted the same part, rolling and tumbling about till she drew off his attention from the brood, and thus succeeded in preserving them.

Old Habits.

An eminent Scotch lawyer, having cause to visit London, decided to perform the journey on horseback in preference to posting, for this was before the days of railways. He therefore purchased a horse before starting, and on his arrival at the metropolis, following the usual custom, disposed of his nag, deciding to purchase another for the return journey. When he had completed his business, and had decided to set out for home, he went to Smithfield to purchase a horse. About dusk, a handsome horse was offered to him at so cheap a rate, that he was led to suspect the animal to be unsound; but as he could discover no blemish he became the purchaser. Next morning he set out on his journey; his horse had excellent paces, and the first few miles, while the road was well frequented, our traveller spent in congratulating himself on his good fortune. On Finchley Common the traveller met a clergyman driving a one-horse chaise. There was nobody within sight, and the horse by his manoeuvre plainly intimated what had been the profession of his former master. Instead of passing the chaise, he laid his counter close up to it, and stopped it, having no doubt that his rider would embrace so fair an opportunity of exercising his vocation. The clergyman, under the same mistake, produced his purse unasked, and assured the inoffensive and surprised horseman that it was unnecessary to draw his pistol. The traveller rallied his horse, with apologies to the gentleman, whom he had unwillingly affrighted, and pursued his journey. The horse next made the same suspicious approach to a coach, from the windows of which a blunderbuss was levelled, with denunciations of death and destruction to the rider, who was innocent of all offence in deed or word. In short, after his life had been once or twice endangered by the suspicions to which his horse's conduct gave rise, and his liberty as often threatened by peace officers, who were disposed to apprehend him as a notorious highwayman, he found himself obliged to part with the animal for a mere trifle, and to purchase at a dearer rate a horse of less external figure and action, but of better moral habits.

A Philosophic Cat.

A young cat, which sometimes was permitted the indulgence of taking her place in the domestic circle, upon the carpet before the fire in the parlour, one day came in when one of the party was spinning upon a line wheel. Having never seen such a thing before, she became extremely alarmed by its appearance and motion. She couched down in an attitude of fear and of investigation; and yet at such a distance as would admit of a speedy retreat if it should prove to be alive, and an enemy. She crept slowly all along the wheel, with her eyes steadily fixed on it, and with a very singular expression of countenance, till at length, not being able to satisfy herself, she retreated towards the door, impatiently waiting to make her escape; which she did the moment it was in her power, with great precipitation.

The next morning, when she came into the room, the wheel then standing still, she advanced courageously towards it, and after an apparently careful examination, walking all round, ventured upon the further experiment of endeavouring to ascertain with her paw whether there was really anything to be apprehended from it. Still not finding any motion, our philosopher of the Newtonian school, satisfied that she had nothing to fear, seated herself quietly by the fire; and the next time she saw it in motion, she sprang gaily forward, and enjoyed her triumph, by playing with the object of her former terror.

An Ass Cast Away.

An ass, belonging to a captain in the Royal Navy, then at Malta, was shipped on board a frigate, bound from Gibraltar for that island. The vessel struck on some sands off the Point de Gat, and the ass was thrown overboard, in the hope that it might possibly be able to swim to the land; of which, however, there seemed but little chance, for the sea was running so high, that a boat which left the ship was lost. A few days after, when the gates of Gibraltar were opened in the morning, the guard were surprised by Valiant, as the ass was called, presenting himself for admittance. On entering, he proceeded immediately to the stable of a merchant, which he had formerly occupied. The poor animal had not only swam safely to the shore, but without guide, compass, or travelling map, had found his way from Point de Gat to Gibraltar, a distance of more than two hundred miles, through a mountainous and intricate country, intersected by streams, which he had never traversed before, and in so short a period, that he could not have made one false turn.

Honours Paid to Living and Departed Worth.

ANECDOTE C.

A Child Saved.

A shepherd, in one of his excursions to look after his flock, took with him one of his children, an infant of three years old. After traversing his pastures for some time, attended by his dog, he found it necessary to ascend a summit at some distance, to obtain a more extensive view of his range. As the ascent was too fatiguing for the child, he left him on a small plain at the bottom, with strict injunctions not to stir from it till his return. Scarcely, however, had he gained the summit, when the horizon was darkened by an impenetrable mist. The anxious father instantly hastened back to find his child; but owing to the unusual darkness, he missed his way. After a fruitless search of many hours, he discovered that he had reached the bottom of the valley, and was near his own cottage. To renew the search that night was equally fruitless and dangerous; he was therefore compelled to go home, although he had lost both his child and his dog, who had attended him faithfully for many years. Next morning, by break of day, the shepherd, accompanied by a band of his neighbours, set out in search of his child; but after a day of fatigue, he was obliged to return home disappointed. He found that the dog which he had lost the day before had been to the cottage, and on receiving a piece of cake, had instantly gone off again. For several successive days the shepherd renewed the search, and on his return in the evening he found that the dog had been home, and, on receiving his usual allowance of cake, had instantly disappeared. Struck with this singular circumstance, he remained at home one day; and when the dog, as usual, departed with his piece of cake, he resolved to follow him, and find out the cause of this strange procedure. The dog led the way to a cataract at some distance from the spot where the shepherd had left his child. Down a rugged and almost perpendicular descent the dog began, without hesitation, to make his way, and at last disappeared by entering into a cave, the mouth of which was almost level with the torrent. The shepherd with difficulty followed; but, on entering the cave, what were his emotions, when he beheld his infant eating with much satisfaction the cake which the dog had just brought him, while the faithful animal stood by, eyeing his young charge with the utmost complacency! The child had apparently wandered to the brink of the precipice, and then either fallen or scrambled down till he reached the cave. The dog had traced him to the spot; and afterwards prevented him from starving, by giving up to him his own daily allowance. He appears never to have quitted the child by night or day, except when it was necessary to go for food; and then he was always seen running at full speed to and from the cottage.

UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME

A Hundred Fables of AEsop

Price 6s. Foolscap 4to. Price .50.

#Times.#--"Got up with great taste, each fable is illustrated by a drawing by Mr. Percy Billinghurst. Mr. Billinghurst lends most comical expression to the faces of the beasts. The fox with the grapes, the dog with the shadow, the wolf with the lamb, are their own dumb but eloquent interpreters. We even distinguish a gleam of profound disgust in the eye of the snake biting at the file."

#Daily News.#--"The seventeenth-century version of the fables, by Sir Roger l'Estrange, with its pleasant quaintness of language, lends itself, and how delightfully, to its setting of illustration; and it would surely be a child hard to please who would cavil at this book."

JOHN LANE, PUBLISHER, LONDON AND NEW YORK

UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME

A Hundred Fables of La Fontaine

Price 6s. Foolscap 4to. Price .50.

#Truth.#--"Is it not the duty of parents to make their children acquainted with La Fontaine? Well, then, no better opportunity of so doing could possibly be afforded them than is given by the new Bodley Head edition. It is a metrical version of the time-honoured favourites, and every fable has a picture filling the page opposite. The child would be hard to please who did not find hours of amusement in the artist's work alone."

#Times.#--"It is pleasant to turn to a taking edition of La Fontaine's Fables, with Mr. Billinghurst's exceedingly clever drawings; he throws a world of expression into the faces of his beasts."

#Pall Mall.#--"There is some excellent drawing in the handsome volume of One Hundred Fables of La Fontaine, for which Mr. Percy Billinghurst has done the pictures. His bold pencil gives expression to original ideas, some of them wrought with skill, and all with a correct eye to effect. For the drawings alone this handsome book should be prized."

#British Weekly.#--"A most elegantly-bound collection of well-known fables re-told in rhyme, and illustrated with many fine and masterly drawings."

#Bookman.#--"We have nothing but praise for Mr. Billinghurst's work.... We know no pictures of fable-beasts that we like better. The whole arrangement of the book is excellent."

JOHN LANE, PUBLISHER, LONDON AND NEW YORK

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