ng yawn,
and then all at once found that he was ravenously hungry; and no
wonder! for he hadn't had a mouthful to eat since he went to sleep for
the winter, months before.

As soon as he was wide awake, and his legs began to feel natural, he
started out to find something to eat. There were no berries in the
woods yet, no green things that he liked to eat, and, in fact, there
was a very poor prospect for breakfast.

Long he wandered about in the woods, finding nothing, and getting more
hungry every minute; and at last he started for the few scattering
houses of the village, where he had sometimes found food when it was
scarce in the woods.

He didn't like to go near the houses of men, for he generally got hurt
when he did so; but he was by this time so very hungry that he almost
forgot that all men were his enemies.

Shuffling quietly along on his soft-padded feet, he came to a little
house standing all by itself in the edge of the woods. All was quiet
about it, except a curious sort of humming noise, which may have
reminded him of bees and honey that he liked so well.

Nearer and nearer he came, snuffing the breeze as he came, till he
reached the open door of the little house. Into this he thrust his
great head, and surely now he smelled something to eat.

It was a schoolhouse, though he didn't know it.

At this moment a little girl looked up from her book, and a wild
scream rent the air.

"There's a bear coming in!" she cried.

Instantly all was confusion; books were dropped, school was forgotten,
screams and shouts filled the air, while the teacher--a stranger in
that wild country--turned white.

Some of the bigger boys ran towards the door, shouting and waving
their arms to frighten the great beast away, but he had smelled the
dinner baskets, ranged in the passageway, and he was far too hungry to
mind the shouting of boys. The next moment he was fairly in the
passage, and there was nothing to prevent his coming into the
schoolroom.

Now there is a very wrong impression abroad about bears. Most
people--especially children--think that a bear is always roaming
around seeking some one to devour; while the truth is that, unless
madly hungry or badly treated, a bear will always avoid a human being.
In fact, hunters call them cowardly, though a more truthful word would
be peaceable. In that schoolroom, however, a bear was the greatest
terror in the world.

There was nothing in the way of a door to keep him