Tales and Items of Interest And scouts were sent ahead Each lane and pass to guard Lest Bruin in his haste Should fail to leave his card. Back by the way they came, Their steps they now retraced By hill and mill and rill Far past each try sting place Thus on and on they go, With garments soiled and torn Each one determined that bear, Should cross the lines no more. Though evening shadows fell And night came on apace Unscathed by lead or steel Still Bruin led the chase; Past where the night before He killed the harmless sheep And feasted like a lord, He fled with flying feet, Across the public way O'er fences, bars and gates. With none to check his speed He fled at furious rate. Where are the sentinals now That guarded pass and lane That Bruin from the wood His exit thus should gain? How irksome is the task Alike to small and great, That other men should act Whilst we should watch and wait; Then gently judge the men Who from their post withdrew, And plunged into the wood, By Gibson's shady rill Midst reeds and rushes rank The bear had halted now And cooled his feet and drank. Before his mental eye The curtain rose and fell He saw in vision fair The forests ofMorell And from it's shady depths Upon his mental ear The feathered songsters notes, Fell soft and sweet and clear. And he the hunter now Beside some murmuring rill Grown weary from the chase Had stopped and drank his fill. Farewell to Marshfield now Each fertile field and plain Your brooks will run up-hill E'er I return again, Farewell, no more I'll roam Your forest dark and cool I'll quench my thirst no more By Crosbys' shady pool. But life's stern facts broke in Upon his reveries, And castles of the air Were buried in the sea, For while he tarried thus, That hardy hunting crew Had followed in his tracks Far faster than he knew. And women, men and boys Who joined not in the chase By some mischance had found Bold Bruin's hiding place. And shouts of "here's the bear" Rose from that motley crowd. 'Til every hill and wood Sent back an echo loud. And Bruin took the hint, And turning on his heel, Resolved once more to face The bullet and the steel. That cool refreshing draught Revived his hopes anew, And lent his weary limbs A speed they seldom knew; With flying feet he sought The forest shades again, Better a meeting there Than on the open plain. But vain is speed and courage now, The foe is closing in, This night they take thy life And strip thee of thy skin. Thy blood will dye the grass Thy feet have trampled o'er And Marshfield 's scattered flocks Will dread thee never more, And thy fleet limbs that tried The hunter's speed and skill, And lead by brake and brae Will soon lie cold and still. And thus it was ere night Had drawn it's curtain round, The lead from Wyatt's gun A vital spot had found, And Bruin's race was o'er His thieving days were past, Thus in the tracks of crime Came vengeance sure and fast. Let all who read this tale Be warned by Bruin's fate, Lest they should turn aside And miss the golden gate, Lest in their thirst for wealth, For power and worldly fame, They leave the narrow path And find it not again. By William Irving Thompson , Dunstaffnage , PEI -is*-