Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/51

 least once every season; and when word was passed that he was in sight, what a hubbub it created among the visiting sportsmen! How prompt they were to seize their guns and run out after him, and how sure they were to come back empty-handed! Uncle Joe used to say that he believed the managers of the hotels would close their doors against the man who was lucky enough to shoot that bear, for unless Bruin had a companion to take his place, his death would spoil their advertisements. For years the proprietor of the Mount Airy House had been accustomed to tell the public, through the New London papers, that bear could be seen from the piazza of his hotel, and the announcement had brought him many a dollar from sportsmen who came from all parts of the country to shoot that bear. Why didn't Uncle Joe shoot him? He owned the hotel.

We have said that Mount Airy was acquiring some fame as a watering-place; but that must not lead you to infer that it was like other places of resort—lively enough in summer, but very dull in winter, for such was by no means the case. The village was lively at all