The Lucknow Sentinel, 1979-06-13, Page 14• ;
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Page 14--Lneknow Sentinel, Wednesday, June 13, 1979
That Langside Bear
To the Editor:
This is a true poem --1 am the "Bill" .mentioned in it.
It was done as a hoax.
Harvey was having animals stolen from his trap line
so to scare the culprit away 'he made up casts to
represent bear tracks.
He had the neighbours so scared they seldom went
outside after dark. Parents would not let their children
go to school alone. One farmer said he lost two turkeys;
another said he heard his horses making a fuss. He
went to the stable the next morning, sure enough, there
was the scratching at the door.
The sad part of it was Harvey was reported missing
one day in March, 1934. The neighbours again turned
out to hunt for him. He was found in a brush pile about
five rods from the road.
The folks around •Langside at that time questioned as
to how he met his death.
I thank you in advance.
Walter Scott,
Lucknow.
Wm.. Kennedy,
Kindardine.
THAT LANGSIDE BEAR
The Fenian Raid, many years ago, put Canada in
turmoil;
A World War came and took our men, leaving few to till
the soil;
An earthquake struck California and scared the people
out;
Typhoons raged in sunny Japan and wiped a province
out;
But all these things seem very mild, when compared
with recent date,
For a great Big Bear got running wild, leaving settlers
to their fate.
And many are the tales we hear, of courage to do and
dare,
Performed by Langside citizens, to capture that Big
Bear;
Old rifles were resurrected, cleaned and polished well,
And every time the trigger snapped, the shot was going
to tell.
'• Archie, red with exciternent, dug up a thirty-eight
fifty-five
He said he knew that it would kill, the biggest bear
alive.
An old-fashioned gun, they called a Zulu, was hanging
up at Neil's,
He claimed that it would kill the4 beast, across
one -hundred acre fields.
Shotguns were more plentiful, they were out in force,
Jack took the only one at Dan's, so Donald rode .a horse;
But some expressed their doubts of firearms for
attacks,
Consequently Bill and John each travelled with an axe.
All armed and ready on they went, willing to do or die,
Meeting a foe of this description, no hunter must be
shy;
Mobilization got underway, reaching substantial
numbers,
For in such trying times as these, no red-blooded
person slumbers,
But some had doubts and tried to say, that we might all
be mistaken.
But Vic spoke up, just come with me, and see his nest
forsaken,
So Whit and Jick both said, we'll stick and see the
battle thru,
Until the country is safe again, no work will either do.
Mac says, yes, I'll prove it too, I believe its worth my
while,
So he explained how he found his nest back"on his stone
pile.
Now all convinced, it must be right, they settled down
to think
Until the bear is captured, we'll never sleep a wink..
The women now are on the air, and getting all excited,
Claiming they will kill that beast, if they're the ones
who sight it,
For what's the use of working on, trying to make a
living,
If our children, turkeys, pigs and cows as a sacrifice
we're giving.
Tears dropped down one lady's face, when she thought
about huckleberries
Stay home, exclaimed a neighbour fair, and can your
own red cherriek
All worried about the turkeys; he'll eat every flock,
We won't have enough left to buy ourselves a crock.
One lady weeping, stopped sobbing for awhile,
He'll get her two children - they go to school a mile.
Sure thing, says Billy, sad be our fate, •
For I expect nothing else but all mine will be ate.
The teacher in the public school,' Andy is his name,
Attended daily to his school, but children never came,
Unless some person came along -. someone with a heart,
And drove the children to and fro, in a buggy ora cart.
But jokes are jokes and fun is fun, we must always keep
in mind,
So if this beast, is not a beast, a solution we'll have to
find
So a little man with fertile brain, came forward to the
rescue,
And said to all warriors, there's a question I'm going to
ask you,
What would you do if I told you the whole thing was a
plot,
And that Great Big Bear, you wish to kill, is simply
HARVEY SCOTT.
•
• NO HANDICAP
Being weighte4Lipwn with
money seldom 'hihders one
from swimming in the sea of
life.
Walter Se -oft, Lncknow, a nephew of Harvey ScOtt, his the wooden casts. Harvey made to
make the bear tracks. The back paws were made by attaching the cast to his boot, left and
the front paws were made with a cast attached to along pole, right. [Sentinel Staff Photo]
A
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at: The Bedford Hotel, Goderibh
EVERY TUESDAY
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R. R. 5 Lucknow
528-2299
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