--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Barnes, Claude T. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 21 number: 9 published: 1918-07 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Barnes, Claude T., "The Grizzly of the Idaho Woods," *Improvement Era* 21, no. 9 (July 1918): 793–798.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2109unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2109unse start_page: 793 end_page: 798 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1918-07) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2109unse publication_year: 1918 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1918, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Grizzly of the Idaho Woods THE GRIZZLY OF THE IDAHO WOODS 795 pine trees about a foot in diameter. I could not see through the balsams, and in going around them I stopped for a moment to examine a thistle-like plant which I recognized as the nightblooming mentzelia. I was pleased that its gleaming white flowers were already begining to open, for twilight was nearly upon me. I stopped to get a whiff of its delightful, heavy perfume. Upon looking up again I was startled to see a bear cub about twenty-five yards away walking around the balsams directly across my path. It did not see me, so, aiming rather low, as I habitually did when shooting close with the Springfield, I fired. It had not occurred to me for the moment that the she-bear would likely not be far off; but I had no sooner shot than the little fellow bit at his side and set up a squealing that could have been heard for a quarter of a mile. Simultaneously there came a "woof" from behind it and I scarcely had time to throw in a second cartridge before there loomed up before me what then appeared to be the largest monster I had ever seen loose. It looked as big as a cow ; and its size, its head and its color, quickly told me that it was a she-grizzly. For a second I was aghast and when she stood up her great claws looked longer than the fingers of a man. I know somewhat of the marvelous tenacity of the grizzly, and as it suddenly dawned upon me that at this short distance it would be almost impossible to stop the brute no matter where I hit her, a horrible sense of my extreme peril went all over me. Strange to say my first flush was succeeded by a calmness which I believe comes to most men when act- ually confronted with the jaws of death. I shot at her heart while she yet stood towering before me; but almost instantly thereafter she came at me on all fours with short, quick bounds and grunts, and with her great white teeth gleaming with hideous anger. I reloaded as quickly as I could and fired into her face. She was right on me; and as I turned and stopped to avoid the swipe of her great claws she grabbed the gun barrel with her teeth, knocked me down with her body, and rushed right over me before she could stop. In a flash thoughts of home went through me, and I was certain my end had come. I knew it was not only useless but also foolhardy to attempt either escape or defense, as I had no knife. Instinctively I felt that the more I struggled the less were my chances of survival. I was prostrated on my side on the ground with my face towards the cub. I expected to be torn to pieces; but determined that so long as I could endure I would lie perfectly still. The huge body turned on me almost as soon as I was down and her great jaws sunk into my side just below my right shoulder. The 796 IMPROVEMENT ERA pain was excruciating, but my thick coat and chamois vest offered considerable resistance before they tore away. Ahuge foot was placed on my shoulders and I could smell the hot breath of the tremendous brute above me. I surmised with despair that next bite would tear my ribs out; and though I lay quiet I wondered why there was an apparent delay in the sickening process. The bear put much of her weight on my shoulder, if I may judge by the feeling, and then silently peered toward the cub, which all the time had been bawling frantically, and getting further away up into the conifers. Its crying and bawling seemed to worry the big bear standing over me, for the next I knew she sniffed at my ear breathing a bloody, frothy spray before my eyes, walked over me, came back and sniffed again and then made off towards the noisy cub, the crying of which she apparently attributed to a new enemy. Lying as I was with my face towards her, I could, of course, observe everything though I hardly dared to wink. She got about forty yards away when she stopped, swung her head from side to side looking first towards me then towards the cub. Then she bounded towards me again when a few yards away slowly approached me snuffing and smelling. Frothy blood appeared at her mouth; and she looked more wicked and vengeful than words can describe. Seeing no movement she again walked towards the bawling cub now over a hundred yards away. She went directly to it this time, and for a moment the thick pines concealed her. I did not know where my gun was but a pine tree about a foot in diameter was only three yards away. I quietly, quickly arose, ran for it, and proceeded to climb, climb, climb, as I had never climbed before. Again I heard a "woof" and before I was out of danger the great bear came bounding back towards me. She rose with her great claws beneath me, grabbed my foot with her jaws and tore heel and sole completely off. She hesitated just long enough to give the leather a bite and a flip, and when she came after me again I mist have been beyond her teeth for her ugly claws tore the side of my trousers and cut gashes in my leg. One more effort and I was out of reach! I continued to climb and it seemed ages before I could reach a branch of sufficient size to permit a rest. I could hear the bear biting and breathing below me; but even though I knew that a grizzly cannot climb a tree, I knew not what the fearful monster might be capable of. Upon looking down I concluded that I was reasonably safe for a time at least, and I grew calmer. It was fast growing dark but I still could see the angry animal tearing at the tree below. I even thought that she might eat it in two so frantic she seemed; but at last she — THE GRIZZLY OF THE IDAHO WOODS 797 again walked away toward the cub whose cries were still constant but weaker. My leg and side were bleeding but I knew no ribs were broken, thanks to my heavy clothes. For a long time I could hear the whimpering of the little cub and the responsive sounds of the "tender" old grizzly. It grew pitch dark, and then at last the cries of the little one grew fainter and fainter, finally dying away; and I knew it had expired. I heard loud sniffing in about five minutes, then the sweep of bushes and the big she-grizzly again stood beneath me tearing at my tree. After a time the sounds ceased; and the — silence I could not understand. I dared not descend I simply had to sit and wait. The night was cold; the robins had long ceased to chatter in neighboring trees, and I feared I might fall. I thought surely the bear must have gone but after what seemed ; hours, I heard her expel her breath with what sounded like a guttural, spasmodic effort. Whether she was lurking for me or dying I could not tell; eo all night long I sat in the greatest of suspense, my side and my bones aching from my cramped position and the cold. My hands were sore from holding to the rough bark of the tree and once, to relieve them, I attempt- ; ed to fasten my belt around the trunk but it would not reach. I had had too narrow an escape to think of sleep and as I had ; not the slightest impression concerning the status of the vicious brute below me, I, of course, dared not go down. It was an awful night! How thankful I was when the first signs of dawn approached, and how I peered into the semi-darkness below to ascertain if the bear was still there! Finally the darkness began to gray, and I could make out the form of the monster below me, dead or alive I could not tell. When light came, I could see that the bear was sprawled out apparently dead. I waited for quite a while watching for any movement for many a hunter has met death by taking it for granted that a grizzly that did not move was dead — and then at last I slowly let myself down, threw cartridges at the bear and shouted to see if it would move; but it did not. Even then I hesitated to go down further; but upon looking closely and observing no breathing movemt^t I concluded she was surely dead. Cautiously I descended and more cautiously approached. She was dead, my first bullet having gone through her lungs and my second having glanced off from her skull behind her eye. I searched for my gun finding it in the bushes nearby. The wood was bitten clear through to the barrel; but otherwise it was in good condition. I found the cub dead in the pines from which its last sounds had come; the bullet had gone clear through its body. :9H IMPROVEMENT ERA How I trudged back to camp with my one bare foot hurting me and my mind troubled over my wounds can well be imagined; and the boys were horrified at my condition. They had been searching for me, shouting and firing guns all night long, they said. A doctor was quickly brought from a club house down the stream, and I was exceedingly relieved when he assured me that having received proper treatment so soon after my terrible experience I need have little fear of blood poisoning, or other complications. It turned out that he was right. In coming back from the scene of my adventure I had broken off pine limbs every fifty yards or so and left them on the ground for I valued my prize too highly to run the risk of never finding it in those impenetrable woods. I was provided with a saddle horse and the boys walked. It took a long time to do the skinning, as most of us were novices in this science, but at last it was accomplished. We had to blindfold the horse before he would let us place the hides on him, but finally we succeeded. As I sit now in my library and look at that pelt which is as big as a carpet, I sometimes shudder over again. Can you blame me? © Underwood & Underwood, New York GERMAN PRISONERS CAPTURED These Germans were captured by the French on the Somme front, and are shown being marched to the rear, guarded by two cavalry men. Prominent among the captives are four Red Cross men. Problems of the Age Dealing with Religious, Social and Economic Questions and their Solution. A Study for the Quorums and Classes of the Melchizedek Priesthood By Dr. Joseph M. Tanner XXII— Sexual Life Its — Importance in Life. One of the burning questions of the age, and at the same time one of the consuming evils, is the life-long story of man's sexual life. It protrudes in all the great historical events of the world, and now that there are in that life such alarming dangers to the happiness and continuity of the race, men and women have thrown off all disguise of modesty, and speak on the subject with a frankness that would have seemed shocking a generation back. Sexual life is fundamental in our family and social existence. One of the difficulties respecting it arises from the fact that we have come to view it from an entirely false point of view. We speak of it sometimes as a "carnal life," as a sort of necessary evil, as a fallen condition of which we ought to be ashamed and for which we apologize, and as a sin which we lay at the door of Adam and Eve. And why this shame, this apology? It is no doubt because that life has been the most shamefully abused and most ignorantly approached of all the conditions of our worldly existence. — Duty. God implanted in all life the powers of procreation, and all life has a three-fold duty: of birth, reproduction, and death. These are the general laws of our existence. Concerning the duty of reproduction, he made to Adam and Eve the announcement of the law that man should not live alone, that he should multiply and replenish the earth. Man, then, in his mortal condition, became a creator by reason of the sexual powers with which God had endowed him. He became in turn like his Creator— finite, it is true, yet he made a beginning to the powers of his creation, which must grow in perfection as man grows in attainments. — Blessings. God called Abraham forth from the valley of the Mesopotamia. The great object of that call was to make him the progenitor of a chosen people through whom the Messiah was to come. With that call there came a promise, which Abraham held choice above all other promises: that his children should be as numerous as the stars of the heaven or the sands of the seashore. Love is the first fruits of man's creative powers. I hardly need point to the Old Testament for evidence respecting the law of purity and the purposes of God. God taught it to Moses on the Tables of the Law; Christ preached it to his followers; he denounced his enemies because of their adulterous lives. Their fall from purity made it impossible for them to comprehend or follow him. — Relationship of Sexual Life and the Spirit of God. Let us come down to conditions and experiences of our own times; men go forth into the world as misionaries to expound divine laws, to preach repentance, and to warn. From their words, faith is implanted in the hearts of men. Those who are seeking divine truth are susceptible to the influences of these mis- 800 IMPROVEMENT ERA i aionaries. The purity of their lives gives effectiveness to their testimonies. On the other hand, digression from the law of purity robs them of their spiritual life, and often severs the relationship in them between the human and the divine. Men who digress from the higher mission of sexual life lose faith, grow in profanity, until it suits their conscience best to believe that there is no God, except the laws of nature, towards which they feel no very great responsibility. When the law of sexual life has been transgressed through sin, men and women suffer the loss of divine love. The sexual life is God-ordained, in the animal, vegetable, and human world. Its mission is the mission of life and progress. It carries with it joy and blessings, within its legitimate exercise. The exalted nature of this life, however, makes it a source of temptation, and the depravity of its sinful course is as debasing as its legitimate exercise is exalting. Exercise. It— is a life, and therefore susceptible to all the hidden greater dangers. a universal life, and therefore within universal re- It is quirements; but it is said that many of the failures of that life are not the result of man's preference or decision; they belong rather to the misfortunes of life, to disappointments, and impossibilities. But what is the attitude of all men toward such a life?Is it one of humble acknowledgment, or one of indifference andpronounced contempt? Into every man's and woman's life God has implanted sexual desires which have a legitimate mission that may be faithfully performed, rejected, or abused. It is a life that God intended should be filled in a legitimate manner, which he has pointed out to his children. The Fall. —We do not regret the Fall, for through it came the opportunities of Christ's redemption, which means immortality through the res- urrection, and eternal life through the gift of God. The question of our sexual life is the burning question of the age, but with it there comes the further question as to how the oncoming generation shall be taught to view and appreciate it. Shall fathers, mothers, and friends speak with frankness? Too much frankness may be harmful. Shall we make its teaching more general, and shall the knowledge of our sexual life be made more familiar to the rising generation? There is such a thin veil between its exalting and its sinful effects that the thoughts of those whom we may teach may dwell upon the evil side of it. "The knowledge of evil tempteth to its commis- sion," says Canon Farrar. The great war has revealed to us evil conditions in sexual life of which we have never dreamed. The revelations of what has been the secret lives of those in service and those unfit for service is but one phase of the evils of that life. They may be as poignant and as afflicting in the home as they are in the army. There can be little doubt that the evils of divorce, and the hatreds which spring up between men and women in the home are due in a large measure to the evil relationships there which are after all indirect revelations of excessive and perhaps debasing sexual lives. God alone knows; he must be, therefore, the Judge of our universe, and now that he is speaking in the thundrous tones of war, famine and pestilence, shall we not stand awed in the presence of those calamities which are rapidly spreading over the world? Duty to Teach. —We often leave our children to gain their first impressions of sexual life from street urchins and those whose vulgarities make them bold in presenting that life more from a debasing than an uplifting point of view. The first knowledge of sexual life should come from parents who may create in their children exalting views about it. Desires, thoughts and feelings may be carnal. If man "follows after his rn desires, he must fall and incur the vengeance f? ,f * of a just God upon him" (Doc. and Cov. 3:4).