The bear, to begin with, is a strict vegetarian. While he can find
abundance of vegetables and fruit he is little disposed to go far in
varying his means of subsistence. His teeth are formed for the purpose.
Unlike those of the lion or tiger, which have a scissor-blade
appearance, and are incapable of any but an up-and-down motion, the
teeth of the bear are true grinders or molars, and the hinge of the
lower jaw is so constructed that it can be worked from side to side, so
that the bear can actually _chew_ its food.
It is said to be very fond of strawberries--like some little boys we
know--and like the blackbird it can walk daintily along the rows and
pick out the ripest. But if there be one thing more than any other that
throws the bear into an ecstasy of excitement it is the prospect of a
feast of honey. A nest of ants is nothing in comparison. The long nose
is thrust into the delicious comb, though it be stung and stung again by
the infuriated inhabitants.
It is not till other food fails that the bear becomes carnivorous. But
then, driven by hunger, it will even descend into the lower pastures and
seize upon the goats and the sheep. This habit is referred to by the
youthful David in 1 Samuel xvii. 33. King Saul was trying to dissuade
him from matching himself against the gigantic Philistine; but David
answered: "Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion,
and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: and I went out after him,
and smote him, and delivered it out of his hand.... Thy servant slew
both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be
as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God."
And all the young people know the result. One smooth stone from the
brook was placed in David's sling, and yon huge mass of human arrogance
was hurled to the ground. They who fight for Jehovah need never fear.
A stone cast in His name becomes a thunderbolt.