Bear and forbear: or, The young skipper of lake Ucayga

About this book

"Bear and forbear" by Oliver Optic is a juvenile adventure novel written in the late 19th century. Set on Lake Ucayga, it follows young skipper Wolf Penniman, with friends Waddie Wimpleton and Tom Walton, through brisk nautical exploits that mix moral instruction (“bear and forbear”), friendship, and rivalry-turned-reconciliation. Early episodes involve a gifted tame bear, a daring lake rescue, and a troubled young woman, Edith Dornwood, entangled with a domineering guardian and a dubious “English lord.”

The opening of the story finds Wolf, now supervising a unified rail-and-steamboat line, taking a short vacation cruise in the sailboat Belle with Waddie and Tom. After a jovial bargain that transfers the Belle to Tom, they encounter a frightened girl in a grove—only to discover her menace is a tame black bear owned by Captain Portman, who then gifts the animal to Wolf. Tension rises when Edith Dornwood’s harsh guardian, Charles Overton, berates her, with the bear’s antics briefly thwarting his attempt to drag her away. That night the trio saves a hardware “drummer,” Schleifer, from a burning canal-boat, then later agrees to spirit Edith to friends in Ruoara after she recounts years of coercion and pressure to accept the suit of a so-called Lord Palsgrave. As they sail through the Narrows, they collide with a silent rowboat whose occupants flee toward Centreport, prompting Wolf and Tom to search ashore for signs of wrongdoing, where the episode breaks off with no immediate trace of the mysterious night rowers.