young gentleman or lady; yet I have no doubt Master Bruin is much more
at his ease in it than he would find himself if he were compelled to
conform to the usages of human society, and behave as a gentleman ought
to do.

But there is a quality that is quite as necessary to adorn one home as
the other, without which the most delightful mansion and the warmest
cavern can never be happy, and with which the simplest cottage and the
meanest den may be truly blest; and that one quality is, good temper. Of
what avail are comforts, or even luxuries, when there is no seasoning of
good temper to enjoy them with? How many deficiencies can there not be
overlooked, when good temper is present to cover them with a veil?
Perhaps you have not yet learnt what a valuable treasure this good
temper is; when you have read the history of my bear, you will be better
able to form an opinion.

I cannot tell you when this bear was born, nor am I quite sure where;
bears are born in so many parts of the world now, that it becomes very
difficult to determine what country heard their first growl, and they
never think to preserve a memorandum of the circumstance. Let it suffice
that our bear was born, that he had a mamma and papa, and some brothers
and sisters; that he lived in a cavern surrounded by trees and bushes;
that he was always a big lump of a bear, invariably wore a brown coat,
and was often out of temper, or rather, was always _in_ temper, only
that temper was a very bad one.

No doubt his parents would have been very willing to cure this terrible
defect, if they had known how; but the fact is, they seemed always too
much absorbed in their own thoughts to attend much to their family. Old
Mr. Bruin would sit in his corner by the hour together sucking his paw;
and his partner, Mrs. Bruin, would sit in her corner sucking her paw;
whilst the little ones, or big ones, for they were growing up fast,
would make themselves into balls and roll about the ground, or bite one
another's ears by way of a joke, or climb up the neighbouring trees to
admire the prospect, and then slip down again, to the imminent
destruction of their clothes; not that a rent or two would have grieved
their mother very much, for she was a great deal too old, and too
ignorant besides, to think of mending them. In all these sports Master
Bruin, the eldest, was ever the foremost; but as certain as he joined in
the romps, so surely were uproar and fighting the consequence. The