of
the letter _B_, it was Yankee Doodle!

"I'll iron him with these flat-irons, anyhow," said Joe to himself, "if
he comes here to eat _me_." But whether the bear wasn't hungry, or
whether he didn't like the looks of the flat-irons, or whether Joe's
house was a little too near, or whether it was all three, I can't say;
all I know is that he never touched a paw to him, and Joe and his
flat-irons arrived home in perfect safety.

"I'm _so_ glad you are come, Joe," said his mother, taking the irons
and putting them over the fire to heat. "I've a heap of work to do, and
besides I felt uneasy like, after you went off alone through the woods,
for fear you might _possibly_ meet a bear."

"I did," said Joe, quietly whittling away at his arrow.

"_Did?_ Sakes alive! Where? how? when? Did he bite you?" and she caught
him up by the waistband and held him up to the light, and turned him
round to see where he was damaged.

Joe told her all about it, and she flew and bolted all the doors, and
every now and then she'd set down her flat-iron, and putting her arms
a-kimbo, say, "Sakes alive! 'spose that bear had ate him up?" That
night she insisted on his eating a _whole_ pie for supper, gave him two
lumps of white sugar, and put an extra blanket on his bed, and all
night long she was traveling back and forth in her night cap, from her
bed to his, to feel if Joe was safe between the sheets.

Now, while Joe's asleep, if you like that story, I will tell you
another about Aunt Elsie.

* * *

One day she went to her door and blew her horn, as if all creation was
let loose; (you know I told you that when frontier folks want to call
the neighbors together that's the way they manage.)

Well, there was a general stampede to see what was to pay with Aunt
Elsie. Some said the bears must have run off with her little
girl;--some said an Indian might have strayed into her log hut, and
frightened her;--some said the house might be on fire, and they all
said they'd stand by Aunt Elsie as long as there was a timber left of
them, _whatever_ was to pay. Zeke Smith said, (Zeke was an old
bachelor,) that "he'd thought for a great while, that it wasn't safe
for Elsie to live there alone without some _man_ to protect her;" and
Jim Brown who was a widower, said "it _was_ a lonesome piece of
business and no mistake;" and they all rushed through the woods to see
which should pitch into the house first and he