for Pardee. He helped to tend the corn. One morning, as they were going
up to hoe the corn, William Beal took his gun and started ahead; this he
frequently did very early. He said, when about half way to the corn, he
looked toward the creek and saw a black bear coming toward him. He stood
in the path, leading to the corn-field, which they had under-brushed.
The bear did not discover him until he was near enough, when he fired
and shot him dead. This raised quite an excitement among us. I went to
see the bear. It was the first wild one I saw in Michigan. They dressed
it, and so far as I know, the neighbors each had a piece; at all events,
we had some.

They hoed the corn once or twice, and then made up their minds it was no
use, as it would not amount to much, the land being too poor. The whole
crop of corn, gathered there, green at that, nubbins and all, was put
into a half bushel handle basket, excepting what the squirrels took.

The buckwheat didn't amount to much, either. Wild turkeys trampled it
down and ate the grain, in doing which, many of them lost their lives. I
began to consider myself quite a marksman. I had already, with father's
rifle, shot two deer, and had gotten some of the turkeys.

Father never cropped it any more on the openings, and his experience
there made him much more pleased with his own farm. That land is near
me, and I have seen a great many crops growing on it, both grain and
other crops, but never one which I thought would pay the husbandman for
his labor.

Father's partnership with Mr. Pardee was so unsuccessful on the openings,
and in having to take the oxen back, and buy hay for them when that
article was very high (their running out helped him some) that he