Grin and bare it

I much enjoyed the article in the February-March issue on pet bears. It reminded me of a wonderful true story in Lesley McKnight’s history story book Vancouver Kids, “The Bear that Saw Lace Underwear.”

A very proper minister’s wife braved the mud and dust to visit the Stanley Park ranger and his family in 1898. There was the requisite pet bear on a chain. She poked it with her umbrella. In a second, the bear grabbed the

umbrella, the good lady reached to retrieve it, and in another second, according to the story, the “bear saw his opportunity and … had ripped the minister’s wife’s skirt right off and now she was standing in the Vancouver sunshine in her undergarments.”

Michael Clague

Vancouver