Mountain region, the grizzly bear is found, and he is a very different
animal from his black relations.
He is the most savage and formidable animal on this continent, and
very seldom is it that he runs away from a man. He is glad enough to
get a chance to fight one. He is so large and powerful that he is very
difficult to kill, and the hunter who has slain a grizzly bear may
well be proud of the exploit.
Washington Irving tells of a hunter who accidentally fell into a deep
hole, out in the prairies, and he tumbled right on top of a great
grizzly bear! How the bear got down there is not stated, and I don't
suppose the hunter stopped to inquire. A fight immediately commenced
between these two involuntary companions, and after a long struggle,
in which the man had an arm and leg broken, and was severely bitten
and torn besides, he killed the bear.
The hunter had a very hard time after that, but after passing through
adventures of various kinds, he floated down the Mississippi on a log
and was taken in at a fort. He recovered, but was maimed for life.
[Illustration]
I think it is probable that no other man ever killed a grizzly bear in
single combat, and I also have my doubts about this one having done
so. It is very likely that his victim was a black bear.
Few men care to hunt the grizzly bear except on horseback, so that if
they have to run away, they may have better legs than their own under
them.
The other great bear of this continent is the white or Polar bear, of
which we have all heard so much. Up in the regions of ice and snow
this bear lives just as comfortably as the tiger in the hot jungles of
Asia, and while he is not quite so savage as the tiger, he is almost
as hard to kill. But, in speaking of his disposition, I have no
intention whatever to give him a character for amiability. In fact, he
is very ferocious at times. He has often been known to attack parties
of men, and when wounded can make a most soul-stirring defence.
The Polar bear is a big fellow, with long white hair, and he lives on
seals and fish, and almost anything he can pick up. Sometimes he takes
a fancy to have a man or two for his supper, as the following story
will prove.
A ship, returning from Nova Zembla, anchored near an island in the
Arctic Ocean, and two of the sailors went on land. They were standing
on the shore, talking to each other, when one of them cried out, "Stop
squeezing me!"
The other one looked around, and there was a white bear, very large
but very lean and scraggy, which had sneaked up behind the sailors,
and now had clutched one of them, whom he very speedily killed and
commenced to eat, while the other sailor ran away.
The whole crew of the ship now landed, and came after the bear,
endeavoring to drive him away from the body of their comrade; but as
they approached him, he quietly looked at them for a minute, and then
jumped right into the middle of the crowd, seized another man, and
killed him. Upon this, the crew ran away as fast as they could, and
scuttling into their boats, rowed away to the ship.
There were three of these sailors, however, who were too brave to
stay there and see a bear devouring the bodies of their friends, and
they returned to the island.
The bear did not move as they approached him, and they fired on him,
without seeming to injure him in the least. At length one of them
stepped up quite close to him, and put a ball into his head just above
his eye.
[Illustration]
But even this did not kill him, although it is probable that it
lessened his vigor, for he soon began to stagger, and the sailors,
falling upon him with their swords, were able to put him to death, and
to rescue the remains of their comrades.
After these stories, I think that we will all agree that when we meet
a procession of bears, be they black, white, or grizzly, we will be
very wise to give them the right of way, and to endeavor to drive from
our minds, as far as possible, such ideas of the animals as we may
have derived from those individuals which we have seen in rural
menageries, nimbly climbing poles, or sedately drinking soda-water.
[Illustration]
AN OLD COUNTRY-HOUSE.
[Illustration]
Here is a picture of a handsome summer residence. It apparently
belongs to a rich man, and a man of taste. The house is large and
commodious; the grounds are well laid out; there is a garden,
evidently a fine one, close at hand; there is shade, water, fruit,
flowers, and apparently everything that a country-house ought to have.
But yet there is a certain something strange and unusual about it.
There are handsome porticos, but they are differently arranged from
those to which we have been accustomed. Such as those in front we have
often seen; but the upper one, which appears to go nearly around the
house, with short pillars on the sides, is different from anything
that we see in our country neighborhoods. Those long pillars at the
rear of the house seem very peculiar. We have never noticed anything
like them in such positions. There seems to be scarcely any portico at
the back, and those slim pillars are certainly useless, and, to our
eyes, not very ornamental. The windows, too, are remarkable. They are
not only very small, but they are wider at the bottom than the top--a
strange idea of the architect to make them in that way. The upper
story of the house does not appear to have any windows at all, but we
suppose that they must be in the back and front, or the artist may
have accidentally left them out. Even if that floor was used for
lumber-rooms, there ought to be windows.
The garden has a very high wall for a private estate. It is evident
that there must be great fear of thieves in that neighborhood.
But it is no wonder that some things about this house and its grounds
strike us as peculiar, for it was built more than three thousand years
ago.
It was the country residence of an Egyptian gentleman, and was, no
doubt, replete with all the modern conveniences of the period. Even in
the present day he might consider himself a very fortunate man who had
so good a house and grounds as these. If the windows were made a
little larger, a few changes effected in the interior of the
establishment, and some chimneys and fire-places built, none of our
rich men need be ashamed of such a house.
But, handsome as it is, it is not probable that this house cost the
Egyptian gentleman very much.
It is very likely, indeed, that it was built, under the supervision of
an architect, by his own slaves, and that the materials came from his
own estates. But he may, of course, have spent large sums on its
decoration and furniture, and it is very probable, judging from the
outside of his house, that he did so. Some of those old Egyptians
were most luxurious fellows.
If you wish to see how his slaves worked while they were building his
house, just examine this picture.
To be sure, it is a temple which these men are building, but the
bricklayers, hod-carriers, etc., worked in the same way when they were
putting up a private house.
[Illustration]
These poor men whom you see toiling here were probably not born
slaves, and it is very likely that many of them are equal in birth and
education to those who own them.
A great proportion of them are captives taken in war, and condemned
for the rest of their lives to labor for their victorious enemies
That will be a vast temple which they are building. Look at the
foundations--what enormously thick walls! It is probable that several
generations of slaves will labor upon that temple before it is
finished.
They do not work exactly as we do in the present day. The hod-carrier,
who is bringing bricks from the background, has a very good way of
carrying them; but those who are bearing a pile of bricks between them
seem to make a very awkward business of it. And the man who is
carrying mortar on his shoulder, as he ascends the ladder, might very
profitably take a lesson from some of our Irish hod-carriers. An
earthen pot with a round bottom is certainly a poor thing in which to
carry mortar up a ladder.
The man who is apparently squaring a stone, and the one who is
smoothing or trimming off some bricks, are using very peculiar
chopping tools. But they may have answered their purpose very well. At
any rate, most magnificent edifices were built by the men who used
them, although it is probable that the poor fellows progressed very
slowly with their work.
It may be, when three thousand years more have elapsed, that our
country-houses and our methods of building may appear as strange as
this mansion of the Egyptian gentleman, and the customs of the
Egyptian bricklayers, seem to us.
But then we shall be the ancient Americans, and it will make no sort
of difference to us what the future moderns say about us.
FAR-AWAY FORESTS.
[Illustration: PINE FOREST.]
I have no doubt that you all like to wander in the woods, but suppose
we ramble for an hour or two in forests so far away that it is
probable none of you have ever seen them.
Let us first enter a pine forest.
We have plenty of pines in our own country, and it is probable that
most of you have walked in the pine woods, on many a summer's day,
when the soft carpet of "needles," or "pine-shatters," as some people
call them, was so pleasant to the feet, the aromatic perfume of the
leaves and trees was so delicious, and everything was so quiet and
solemn.
But here is a pine forest in the Eastern hemisphere.
These woods are vast and lonely. The ground is torn up by torrents,
for it is a mountainous district, and the branches have been torn and
broken by many a storm. It is not a pleasant place for those who love
cheerful scenery, and moreover, it is not so safe to ramble here as in
our own woods at home. Companies of bandits inhabit many of these
forests, especially those that stretch over the mountainous portions
of Italy. It seems strange that in this enlightened era and in one of
the civilized countries of Europe, bandits should still exist to
terrify the traveller; but so it is.
Let us get out of this pine forest, so gloomy and perhaps so
dangerous.
Here, now, is a very different place. This is a forest in the tropics.
You will not be likely to meet with bandits here. In fact, it is very
improbable indeed that you will meet with any one. There are vast
portions of these woods which have never been trodden by the foot of
man, and which you can never see unless you cut your way, hatchet in
hand, among the thick undergrowth and the interlacing vines.
[Illustration]
Here are ferns as large as trees--great masses of flowers that seem as
if a whole garden had been emptied down before us--vast wildernesses
of green, which we know extend for miles and miles, and which,
although apparently so thick and impenetrable, are full of all kinds
of life, vegetable and animal. The trees are enormous, but many of
them are so covered with vines and creepers that we can scarcely
distinguish the massive trunks and luxuriant foliage. Every color is
here, rich green, royal purple, red, yellow, lilac, brown, and gray.
The vines, which overrun everything, are filled with gorgeous flowers,
and hang from the branches in the most graceful forms. Monkeys chatter
among the trees, beautiful parrots fly from limb to limb, butterflies
of the most gorgeous hues flutter about the grass-tops and the leaves
near the ground, and on every log and trunk are myriads of insects,
lizards and little living things of endless varieties, all strange and
wonderful to us.
[Illustration]
In some parts of this interminable forest, where the light breaks
through the foliage, we see suspended from the trees the wonderful
air-plants or orchids. They seem like hanging-baskets of flowers, and
are far more beautiful and luxuriant than anything of the kind that we
have in our hothouses at home.
But we shall not find it easy to walk through all these beauties. As I
said before, we shall often be obliged to cut a path with our
hatchets, and even then we may be unable to penetrate very far into
this jungle of beauties. The natives of these countries, when they are
compelled to pass through these dense forests, often take to the
small streams and wade along in the water, which is sometimes up to
their shoulders, occasionally finding shallower places, or a little
space on the banks where they can pick their way along for a few
hundred yards before they are obliged to take to the stream again.
[Illustration: GIANT TREES OF CALIFORNIA.]
Everything is lovely and luxuriant here, but it will not do to stay
too long. There are fevers and snakes.
Let us now go to the greatest woods in the whole world. I do not mean
the most extensive forest, but that one where the trees are the
grandest. This is the region where the giant trees of California grow.
Nowhere on the face of the earth are there such trees as these. Some
of them stand over four hundred feet high, and are thirty feet in
diameter!
Their age is believed to be about eighteen hundred years. Think of it!
They have been growing there during the whole of the Christian era!
One of them, the very largest of all, has been lying on the ground for
about one hundred and fifty years. When it was standing its diameter
was about forty feet.
Another trunk, which is lying on the ground, has been hollowed out by
fire, and through this great bore or tube a whole company of horsemen
has ridden.
One of these trees was cut down some years ago by a party of men, who,
I think, should have been sent to prison for the deed. It took five
men twenty-five days to cut it through with augers and saws, and then
they were obliged to use a great wedge and a battering-ram to make it
fall.
These are the kings of all trees. After such a grand sight, we will
not want to see any more trees to-day, and we will leave the forests
of Far-away and sit and think of them under our humble grape-vines and
honeysuckles.
BUILDING SHIPS.
[Illustration: BOAT BUILDING.]
It is a grand thing to own great ships, and to send them over the
ocean to distant countries; but I will venture to say that few men
have derived so much pleasure from their fine vessels, laden with all
kinds of valuable freight, as many a boy has had in the possession of
a little schooner, which would be overloaded with a quart of
chestnuts. And it is not only in the ownership of these little crafts
that boys delight; they enjoy the building of them quite as much.
And a boy who can build a good ship is not to be laughed at by any
mechanic or architect, no matter how tall or how old he may be.
The young ship-builder who understands his trade, when he is about to
put a vessel on the stocks--to speak technically--first makes up his
mind whether it is to be a ship, a schooner, a sloop, or merely a
sail-boat, and determines its size. Then he selects a good piece of
solid, but light wood, which will be large enough for the hull. Pine
is generally used; but if he can get a piece of well-seasoned white
willow, he will find it to work very easily. Then he shapes his hull
with knife and saw, according to the best of his ability. On this
process the success of the whole undertaking depends. If the bottom is
not cut perfectly true on both sides, if the bow is not shapely and
even, if the stern is not rounded off and cut up in the orthodox
fashion, his ship will never sail well, no matter how admirably he may
execute the rest of his work. If there is a ship or boat builder's
establishment anywhere within reasonable walking distance, it will
well pay our young shipwright to go there, and study the forms of
hulls. Even if he should never build a ship, he ought to know how they
look out of the water.
When the hull is properly shaped it must be hollowed out. This is
done by means of a "gouge," or chisel with a curved edge. A small
vessel can be hollowed by means of a knife or ordinary chisel, but it
is best to have a "gouge," if there is much wood to be taken out. When
he has made the interior of his vessel as deep and wide as he thinks
proper, he will put a deck on it, if it is a ship or a schooner; but
if it is a sail-boat or sloop, he will probably only put in seats (or
"thwarts," as the sailors call them), or else half-deck it.
Then comes the most interesting part of the work--the rigging. First
the masts, which must be light and tapering, and standing back at a
slight angle, are set up, and the booms and yards are attached. A
great deal of ingenuity can be displayed: in making the booms work
well on the masts. The bowsprit is a simple matter, and the stays, or
ropes which support and strengthen the masts, are very easily
attached, as they are stationary affairs. But the working-tackle and
the sails will show whether our young friend has a genius for
boat-building or not. If his vessel has but a single mast, and he
merely makes a mainsail and a jib, he will not have much trouble; but
if he intends to fit out a schooner, a brig, or a ship, with sails
that will work (and where is the boy with soul so dead as to have any
other kind?), he will find that he will have a difficult job before
him. But if he tries hard, and examines the construction and working
of sails in real ships, he will also find that he can do it.
If the vessel is a fine one, she ought to be painted (this, of course,
to be done before the sails are finally fastened to the booms and
yards), and her name should be tastefully painted on her stern, where
of course, a rudder, carefully working on little hooks, is already
hung.
It will be very difficult to tell when the ship will be actually
finished. There will always be a great deal to do after you think all
is done. Flags must be made, and little halyards running nicely
through little pulleys or rings; ballast must be provided and
adjusted; conveniences for storing away freight, if the ship is large
and voyages are contemplated, must be provided; a crew; perhaps a
little cannon for salutes; an anchor and windlass, and I am sure I
cannot tell you what else besides, will be thought of before the ship
is done.
But it will be done some time, and then comes the happy hour!
If the owner is fortunate enough to live near a pond or a brook, so
that he can send her right across to where his partner stands ready to
receive her, he is a lucky boy indeed.
What a proud moment, when, with all sails set and her rudder fixed at
the proper angle, she is launched!
How straight she sits in the water, and how her little streamer begins
to float in the wind! Now see her sails gradually puff out! She moves
gently from the shore. Now she bends over a little as the wind fills
her sails, and she is off! Faster and faster she glides along, her
cutwater rippling the water in front of her, and her flags fluttering
bravely in the air; and her delighted owner, with laughing eyes,
beholds her triumphantly scudding over the surface of the pond!
I tell you what it is, boys, I have built a great many ships, and I
feel very much like building another.
THE ORANG-OUTANG.
[Illustration]
The Orang-outang and the Chimpanzee approach nearer to man in their
formation and disposition than any other animals, and yet these Apes
seldom evince as much apparent sense and good feeling as the dog or
elephant. They imitate man very often, but they exhibit few inherent
qualities which should raise them to the level of many of man's brute
companions.
I do not wish, however, to cast any aspersions on an animal generally
so good-tempered and agreeable in captivity as the Orang-outang. What
he might become, after his family had been for several generations in
a condition of domestic servitude, I cannot tell. He might then even
surpass the dog in his attachment to man and his general intelligence.
At all events, the Orang-outang has a certain sense of humor which is
not possessed by animals in general. He is very fond of imitating
people, and sometimes acts in the most grotesque and amusing way, but,
like many human wits of whom we read, his manner is always very
solemn, even when performing his funniest feats.
An old gentleman once went to see a very large and fine Orang-outang,
and was very much surprised when the animal approached him, and taking
his hat and his cane from him, put on the hat, and, with the cane in
his hand, began to walk up and down the room, imitating, as nearly as
possible, the gait and figure of his venerable visitor.
There was another Orang-outang, who belonged to a missionary, who
performed a trick even more amusing than this. His master was
preaching one Sunday to his congregation, when Mr. Orang-outang,
having escaped from the room where he had been shut up, slipped very
quietly into the church, and climbed up on the top of the organ, just
over the pulpit, where his master was delivering his sermon. After
looking about him for a minute or two, the ape commenced to imitate
the preacher, making all his gestures and motions. Of course the
people began to smile when they saw this, and the minister, thinking
that they were behaving very improperly, rebuked them for their
inattention, and preached away more earnestly than before. The
Orang-outang, of course, followed his example, and commenced to
gesticulate so earnestly and powerfully that the congregation burst
into laughter, and pointed out the irreverent ape.
When he turned and saw the performance of his imitator, the preacher
could not help laughing himself, and the Orang-outang, after a good
deal of time had been spent in catching him, was put out of church,
and the services went on as usual.
Nobody likes to be made an object of ridicule, and it is probable that
this disposition of making fun of people, which seems so natural to
the Orang-outang, would prevent his becoming a domesticated member of
our families, no matter how useful and susceptible of training he
might prove to be.
Nearly all of us have some comical peculiarity, and we would not want
an animal in the house who would be sure, at some time, to expose us
to laughter by his imitative powers.
So I am afraid that the Orang-outangs, intelligent as they are, will
have to stay in the woods.
LITTLE BRIDGET'S BATH.
Little Bridget was a good girl and a pretty one, but she had ideas of
her own. She liked to study her lessons, to mind her mother, and to
behave herself as a little girl should, but she did despise to be
washed. There was something about the very smell of soap and the touch
of water which made her shrink and shiver, and she would rather have
seen the doctor come to her with a teaspoonful of medicine than to
have her Aunt Ann approach with a bowlful of water, a towel, and a
great piece of soap.
[Illustration]
For a long time little Bridget believed that there was no escape from
this terrible daily trial, but one bright morning, when she awoke very
early, long before any one else in the house, she thought that it was
too bad, when everything else was so happy,--when the birds and
butterflies were flying about so gayly in the early sunbeams, and the
flowers were all so gay and bright, and smelling so sweet and
contented, that she should have to lie there on her little bed until
her Aunt Ann came with that horrible soap and towel! She made up her
mind! She wouldn't stand it; she would run away before she came to
wash her. For one morning she would be happy.
So up she jumped, and without stopping to dress herself, ran out among
the birds and flowers.
She rambled along by the brook, where the sand felt so nice and soft
to her bare feet; she wandered through the woods, where she found
blackberries and wild strawberries, and beautiful ferns; and she
wandered on and on, among the rocks and the trees, and over the grass
and the flowers, until she sat down by a great tree to rest. Then,
without intending anything of the kind, she went fast asleep.
She had not slept more than five minutes, before along came a troop of
fairies, and you may be assured that they were astonished enough to
see a little girl lying fast asleep on the grass, at that time in the
morning.
"Well, I never!" said the largest fairy, who was the Principal One.
"Nor I," said the Next Biggest; "It's little Bridget, and with such a
dirty face! Just look! She has been eating blackberries and
strawberries--and raspberries too, for all I know; for you remember,
brother, that a face dirtied with raspberries is very much like one
dirtied with strawberries."
"Very like, indeed, brother," said the Principal One, "and look at her
feet! She's been walking in the wet sand!"
"And her hands!" cried the Very Least, "what hands! They're all
smeared over with mixtures of things."