Winter Days and Winter Nights

The first snow came,and the bitter cold.

Every morning Pa took his gun and his traps and was gone all day in the Big Woods,setting the small traps for muskrats and mink along the creeks, the middle-sized traps for foxes and wolves in the woods.

He set out the big bear traps hop- ing to get a fat bear before they all went into their dens for the winter.

One morning he came back,took the horses and sled,and hurried away again.

He had shot a bear.

Laura and Mary jumped up and down and clapped their hands,they were so glad.

Mary shouted: "I want the drumstick! I want the drum- stick!" Mary did not know how big a bear's drum- stick is.

When Pa came back he had both a bear and a pig in the wagon.

He had been going through the woods, with a big bear trap in his hands and the gun on his shoulder,when he walked around a big pine tree covered with snow, and the bear was behind the tree.