ad never before
trod. Fallen trees were everywhere, and over these they often had to
climb.

"Getting closer," whispered Roosevelt's companion, and pointed to some
fresh claw scratches on the bark of fallen trees.

They now moved forward as silently as Indians, sure that the bear could
not be far off. Suddenly Merrifield dropped on his knee as if to take
aim. Roosevelt sprang to the front, with rifle raised. The bear was
there, standing upright, only a few paces away. Without hesitation
Theodore Roosevelt fired. His aim was true, and the great beast fell
with a bullet straight between the eyes. The leaden messenger had
entered his brain, and he died with scarcely a struggle.

"The whole thing was over in twenty seconds from the time I caught sight
of the game," writes Mr. Roosevelt, in his book "Hunting Trips on the
Prairies" (Part II of "Hunting Trips of a Ranchman"). "Indeed it was
over so quickly that the grizzly did not have time to show fight at all
or come a step toward me. It was the first I had ever seen, and I felt
not a little proud as I stood over the great brindled bulk which lay
stretched out at length in the cool shade of the evergreens. He was a
monstrous fellow, much larger than any I have seen since, whether alive
or brought in dead by hunters. As near as we could estimate he must have
weighed about twelve hundred pounds."

There is a bear story for you, boys. And the best of it is, it is every
word true. In later years Theodore Roosevelt brought down many more
grizzlies, but I doubt if he was as proud of them as he was of that
first capture.

While Theodore Roosevelt was spending a large part of his time in
hunting and in literary work, and in studying political economy, Grover
Cleveland's first term as President came to an end, and Benjamin
Harrison was inaugurated to fill the office of Chief Magistrate.

At that time the question of Civil Service was again being agitated.
Theodore Roosevelt was a warm advocate of the merit system, and knowing
this, President Harrison appointed him, in 1889, a Civil Service
Commissioner, and this office he held for six years, until his
resignation in 1895. When Benjamin Harrison's term of office was up, and
Grover Cleveland was reelected to the Presidency, it was thought that
Roosevelt would have to go, but his friend, the newly elected President,
wished him to remain as a commissioner, and he did so for two years
longer, thus serving both under a Republican an