while they command success, and the end of their toil is an old age of competence, and in the closing years of life, quiet and repose.  Well, he was enjoying these pleasant visions when he saw, some thirty rods ahead of him, a huge bear, with her cubs, ‘travelling his way,’ as the saying is, in other words coming directly towards him.  He was no hunter, and had with him no weapon.  He had heard strange stories of the ferocity of the bear when her cubs were by her side, and to say that he was not horribly frightened would be a departure from the strict requirements of truth.  He had heard, too, that a bear could not climb a small, straight tree, and he could.  The question then was between climbing and running.  He was not much in a race, and he decided to climb; so selecting a smooth-barked, perpendicular ash sapling, he started with might and main towards the top.  He went up, as he supposed, till he was out of the reach of the bear, and held on, all the time keeping his eye on the animal, and making as little noise as possible.  The bear, doubtless seeing that he was beyond her reach, passed on out of sight, and after he remained till the danger was over, he concluded to come down.  He was astonished to find that his efforts to descend were powerless.  He seemed to have frozen to the tree.  Upon looking around, to his utter amazement, he found himself sitting on the ground, with both legs and arms locked fast around the, tree!  He had not climbed an inch, and the bear had not been aware of his presence in the woods!

“That ash sapling was safe from that day.  It stood then in the old forest.  The woodman’s axe spared it.  It stands now in the open field, a majestic tree; its great trunk, eight feet in circumference, its long arms covered with foliage, casting a broad shadow over the pasture beneath, in which cattle and sheep seek for coolness and ruminate in the heat of the summer days.  It is pointed out as the tree which the man who was frightened by a bear didn’t climb, and is referred to as evidence of the truth of my story, as the Dutchman proved the authenticity of his Bible, ‘by the pictures.’”

“And that,” said I, “puts me in mind of a bear story, which has this merit over both of yours—­it is true.  I can speak of it as a thing of personal knowledge, occurring within my own personal experience.  I began the study of law in Angelica, the county seat of Alleghany county, and as it was a good many years ago, it is fair to assume that I was a good many years younger than I am now, and that the country in that region was younger too.  Everybody knows that Alleghany county is, or used to be, a great place for whirlwinds and tornadoes.  If they do not, they may understand and be assured of the fact now.  A few years (less than twelve) ago, a black cloud came looming up in the northwest, and started on its career towards the southeast.  As it swept along, it sent its fierce winds crashing, and howling, and roaring, through