flesh, just as there are men who eat decayed
cheese and "high" game, but the gustatory sins
of such perverts may not be visited justly on
the species. There are few animals so
depraved in taste as to dine off man except under
stress of famine, and Bruin is not one of the
few. He is no epicure, but he draws the line
at the lord of creation flavored with tobacco.

I have a suspicion that some of the tales
told around campfires and here set down
might be told differently if the bears could
talk. It is a pity they can't talk, for they are
very human in other ways and have a sense
of humor that would make their versions of
some "true bear stories" vastly amusing.
What delightful reading, for example, would
be the impressions made by a poet of the
Sierra upon the bears he has met! Perhaps no
bear ever met a poet of the Sierra, but mere
unacquaintance with the subject should be no
more of a disadvantage to a bear than to a man
of letters.




BEARS I HAVE MET--AND OTHERS.