The San Francisco call. [volume], December 04, 1910, Page 3, Image 3

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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THE SAH FRANCISCO CALL, SUNTDAV^DECEMBER 4, 1910,-THK JUMOR CALL
HOW FIVE LETTLE BEARS EARN THEIR DAILY BREAD
Just Before the Battle.
FAR away in the stato of Maine, in
the midst of the great forest, five
little bear cubs awoke one morning*
to find themselves in strange * quar
ters. Their eyes were not yet opened,
but they knew by their never falling
animal instinct that they were no
longer In the warm old cave under the
big rocks which had been their home
since their birth. It was a strange
world into which they had been
brought while they were sleeping, and
naturally they did not like it, so they
lifted up their voices in a queer whine
that was something like the cry of a
human baby and something like,-a
bear cub's infant growl.
Then a voice spoke -to them— it was
a kind voice, the voico of a person
who likes baby bears; but it frightened
the little strangers still more, for it
was the first time they had ever heard
a human being speak,
"What shall we give them to eat?"
said the strange voice. 1 .
"Let's try them on bread and milk,"
replied another person.
The little bears listened with all
their ours; bttt the human language
meant nothing- to them, and when the.ir
heads were thrust iuto bowls filled
with good bread and milk, with which
'any baby, bear or human, should have
been delighted, instead of being grate
v ful the five little chaps flew into a per
fect rage and fought -and spluttered
.'and struck out with their tiny claws'
•in a way that was so ridiculous that
it set the men who Were trying to feed
them into roars of laughter. ,
Such fighters as they- were! Al
though they were not yet two weeks
old, and pot much larger than kittens,
they never stopped tussling with their
keepers for *a single minute. They
didn't want to be washed or combed;
they didn't want to be put to sleep
in their comfortable beds; they didn't
want to be taken up in the keepers'
arms.
But their not knowing how to eat ,
was the worst part. 'That was danger
ous, and it didn't seem possible to teach
them ordinary table manners, either.
They would put their heads down into
the pans of bread and milk, when they
were not too cross to. submit to being
held for a little while; but instead of
eating ihey would nose around in a
puzzled way and then sigh and draw
uway from the food in disgust.
"We'll have to try another way," said
the bear's, nurse. He got a bkby's
bottle, filled witli mflk and offered It
to the biggest bear cuo.
"Ah, now, that is 'something like,"
-the bear seemed to, say in his cub lan
guage, and he took a good, strong hold
of tho rubber nipple and never stopped
pulling until' the bottle was completely
. drained. All his bcotherH 'and' sisters*
look to this method of feeding quite aa
readily as he did, and the cubs looked
so funny and so like real babies when
they were feeding that Mr. nnd" Mrs.
Spellman, who had bought them from
their eaptortf; decided 'that it would be
• interesting to have a troupe of baby
.bears who would go around the country
.• showing other children how very nicely
well bred liMUv cubs can do tricks and
'what eliarming table manners they may
have., •\u25a0*''," :'•
S'j il^f babjf' bear .troupe started out
o"h tlu* road with the reyj of the circus
! performers who .go a'vound from Jown
t'» town giving shows. When they were
two weeks old their "ryes opened and
they stopped fighting * everybody who
Hunting for
a Lump of
Sugar.
tried to food them or pet them and
began to love their nurse and Mr. and
Mrs. Spellman, and to be more tract
able. \u25a0 .. \u25a0 '
Just as soon as their eyes were
opened and they had censed to be ter
ribly cross the baby bears were chris
tened. The smallest" ono was named
Lulu, the largest one Flip and the three
others Buster, Teddy and Kitty. That
was about five months ago, and since
then each of the bear cubs has devel
oped strong individual characteristics.
If you happen to be out among the
spectators when the baby bears are
performing -you may" think that they
are all very much alike, but when you
know them as do their nurse and own
ers you will find that they are as dif
ferent from each other a« brothers, and
sisters in any family of human chil-
dren arc apt to be.
Lulu, true very smallest of the bears,
in also the cleverest; she learns very
rapidly and isi .very affectionate «and
docile. Flip is tin* moat affectionate,
and covers his nurse with kisses when
he in being washed and combed, but
he la also very naughty at times and Is
believed to bo at th« bottom of a good
deal of the mischief that the baby
bears are v responsible for. Kitty is a
good little thing:, not at* clever as Lulu
or*' as affectionate as Klip, but much
more obedient than some of the others.
Hester is another of the cub* who love
kisses, and if hl.s nurse caresses him
sufficiently while his toilet for tlte day
is being made he goes* through the
operation very nicely, but if t lie. nurwe
ia, in a .hurry a.nd .does not want to
stop to be hugged and kissed the> af
fectionate Jiiißter begins a frightful
•\u25a0squealing and dawiny (hut luttuiYi t-s
very much with his proper grooming.
Teddy, who is one of the largest an»l
strongest of the. little bears, very much
disiik.'.s being waked up in the morn-
Ing and when tho nursw rout»«a him b«
fore his usual time he absolutely re
fuses to have his face washed.
The first trick the. baby bears learned '
to perform in public was to drink out
of bottles while standing on their hind
legs. This took quite a good deal 'of,,
training and, would have taken much
more if the bears had not already
known, so well how to take food from
a bottle. After they had passed from
the bottle stage in real life they were
•put on a diet of bread and milk, car
rots, green corn, apples and sugar, but
in public they still continue to drink
from their bottles all standing up and
•balancing themselves very beautifully
until every drop of the sweetened milk
with- which the bottles are filled is
gone. They love this drink so much ,
that before "Yellow," as their nurse. is
called, is ready to give it to them they
stand on their : hind legs and beg for
it so prettily that it is almost impos
sible to keep it from them a moment,,
longer. Often they fly at each other
and a brotherly scuffle takes place, es
pecially when, as sometimes happens, :
• there-'; arc'' not \u25a0 enough 'milk bottles to
go' around. <
By the time they reached the New
York Hippodrome, where they have a, •
long engagement, the bears had be
come.very fond of performing and. also
had; become so mischievous that they
have to be watched all the time. In
the Hippodrome building the little,
bears have. a small sleeping apartment
next to that of the big- bears on one
side and next; to a dressing room on
the other. The partitions between the
. rooms do not go quite up to the ceil-?
• ing, and there is space -enough at th<!
top for the little pears to go over into
the other, rooms. This fact has caused
no end of trouble to the bears' nurse.'
. for thft little bears are terribly curious
to know What is on the other side of
the partition, and when they do find
out they ure, delighted if it is some
thing that can be torn up or damaged,
in any way. They have a. great liking
for getting hold of something, that is
not their own.
One day when the nurse,
was very busy getting, fresh hay for
the little bears' bed and 'the cubs had
been left alone for a fow mirrutes, with
only Jack, their faithful friend, a bull
terrier, to look after them, all was
quiet in the nursery and the keeper
outside the door was thinking whiit
nice little bears they were. But sud
denly he heard a cry from Mrs. Spell
man, who had gono in to see how the
babies were getting on. The keeper
ran to the nursery, but not a baby
was there. They were not far away,
however. Looking through the door of
t the dressing room he saw them-tdtting
there amidst a heap of pink silk, tat*
lerar They had all climbed up to the
top of the partition and over into the
dressing room and had lorn up yards
and yards of pink ribbon, which had
been made into liugo bows "for the
decoration of tho big bears during their
performance on the stage. The big
bears, looking through the barred door
of their room into the dressing room,
saw > the little ones in the very act of
destroying their finery, but they w«re
powerless to prevent' It. The little
bears destroyed nearly $12 worth of
ribbon. When there happens to* bo tx
•number of tilings within tlieir reach
which they can tear up they always
prefer the aoft ailk things to the
heavier woolen ones. Another day Flip
•got over tlie partition on a tsolitary
adventure and tort* up Mrs. Bpellman's
dressing gown.
Flip, who is the most Independent
and perhaps t the 'most spoiled of all
the bears, doesn't care for his own
sleeping quarters at the hippodrome,
and. xo. every night when the keepers
«o to bed he climbs out of the bed
which he shares with the other cubs
and' climbs up the ladder, to the keep
ers' bunk, where he peacefully cuddles
down for the night..
I Unlike human: children,' little bears
are given, their; breakfasts, first and
their, baths afterward. ..It' must be ad
mitted that the ; five cubs frequently
appear at the breakfast table' in a de
cidedly touselled state, such as'would
cause any well regulated human child
to be- sent from the table. But .then,
some concessions must be made to
hard working 1 little bears -who give
two .performances a day all through
the, winter ins tead r of idling away their
time sound asleep in their :. native
caves. "•\u25a0' So no. one ever says n. word \
when Flip's face isn't washed or Lulu's
hair, combed when they appear at the
table..;,/ \ ". . ''\u25a0' . ' • : \ - \u0084 :
After breakfast , the baby bears are
combed most carefully and every other
day they are 'given a bath. They; have
their hair combed four times : a : day,
after 'breakfast and dinner, and just
before the' performances.' ' . They ; love
dearly- to^go on i the stage and: scamper"
up the runway from their quarters to
the footlights, as ifl a whole pot "of
honey wereJat the other end. of the
journey. Besides their, milk drinking
trick the bears havequite a little;pro
gram which . they, have learned by
themselves from \u25a0'\u25a0". imitating the older \u25a0
bears. . Lulu* rolls a ' ball and Flip
stands on i top of a, pyramid' of older
bears. So fond are the bears of their;
stage -life that when one of 'them hap-;
pens to get loose he is very apt to
take to the runway and appear long
before' his time; in the wings in -breath-,
less haste: to go on; . . \u25a0 \u25a0'..
The, boars have a faithful friend and
guardian in Jack, a bull terrier, who
lives: in the "nursery, and watches over
them like a most conscientious older
brother. "Jack brought up those
bears," said Mrs. Spellman to a visitor
the other day, and Jack never* forgets
his charge. When tho little bears' beds
are made .thSy. are sometimes put in
the room with the big bears, who like
the little fellows very, well, ; but they
are apt to play so roughlywlth them
and to hug them so hard that it isn't
very comfortable for the cubs. Be
sides, Jack has never forgotten what
happened to Flip and he very much
distrusts the big bears. So when the
cubs are put into the room of the big
fallows Jack gets thoroughly excited
and races In ahead of them to see that
they are not harmed. This one small
dog charges on the' big bears— five
huge creatures, any one of which
would make a dozen of him — and
herds them into 'a corner away from
the little bears. He stands guard .over
the puzzled big bears and does not let
one, of them out of the corner until
the cubs' nursery has had Its morning
cleaning and they are safe at home.
The cubs have some excellent habits,
which should be an example to all
children, among' them the habit of
going sound asleep after each meal.
Twenty minutes after they have had
their dinner and their supper they all
go to sleep and do not wake until
time for th» performance to open. But
then this very nice habit Is counter
acted.by others which perhaps It would
be better for children not to copy.
The little- bears like to pry Into pock
ets to see If there is anything to cut
there, and if there is they get it out
at once without so much as saying by
your leave and eat it up in a twink
ling, Sometimes they find sugar in
Mr. .Spellman't) pockets, which delights
them more than anything else. Hears
like candy quite as much as children
do, and they usually get more than Is
good for children, as sugar cubes four
times a day are considered quite a
moderate allowance of sweeta, accord
ing to cub standards.
3