hipping on a New Bedford whaler
which had touched at one of the Puget Sound ports. The whaler went up to a
part of Alaska where bears were very plentiful and bold. One day a couple
of boats' crews landed; and the men, who were armed only with an
occasional harpoon or lance, scattered over the beach, one of them, a
Frenchman, wading into the water after shell-fish. Suddenly a bear emerged
from some bushes and charged among the astonished sailors, who scattered
in every direction; but the bear, said Woody, "just had it in for that
Frenchman," and went straight at him. Shrieking with terror he retreated
up to his neck in the water; but the bear plunged in after him, caught
him, and disemboweled him. One of the Yankee mates then fired a bomb lance
into the bear's hips, and the savage beast hobbled off into the dense
cover of the low scrub, where the enraged sailor-folk were unable to get
at it.

The truth is that while the grizzly generally avoids a battle if possible,
and often acts with great cowardice, it is never safe to take liberties
with him; he usually fights desperately and dies hard when wounded and
cornered, and exceptional individuals take the aggressive on small
provocation.

BALZAC'S VIEWS OF WOMEN.

Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) has been pronounced by many eminent critics
the most truly great of all the writers of fiction that France has
produced. This judgment has been questioned at times by admirers of Hugo
and Dumas, but on one point all students of French literature agree--that
as an analyst of human character Honore de Balzac never has had a peer.

As might have been expected of such a profound student of human nature,
Balzac on various occasions attempted to analyze the character of woman.
Many millions of men had essayed this task before Balzac's time and had
failed, as millions of other men have been failing ever since.
Philosophers have been the first to despair, for they contend that no
woman ever thoroughly understands herself or any other member of her
sex--in short, that she is to be understood only by the angels. But it is
generally believed that Balzac came nearer the truth in his estimate of
woman than any other novelist has done. Naturally his views were
conflicting. THE SCRAP BOOK herewith presents some of them.

When a woman pronounces the name of a man but twice a day, there may be
some doubt as to the nature of her sentiment--but three times!

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