Louis Albert Banks tells of a man who killed a she bear and brought her
young cubs home to train up as pets:
When they got to camp the motherless pets were put in a box and
given something to eat; but eat they would not and yelp they
would, making a distressing noise. He took a switch and whipt
them, but they only cried the louder. At first every one was
sorry for them; but by and by, as the crying was continued,
everybody began to scold on account of the noise. He thought
that on account of the noise they made he would have to kill
them. At length, however, he brought the mother-bearskin, and
covering this over something, he put it in a corner of the box.
The men stept back so that they could see without being seen,
and pretty soon each little cub had smelled the motherskin and
had nestled up close to it as contented as could be, and soon
they were sound asleep. (Text.)
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