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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6479.txt b/6479.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f062fb --- /dev/null +++ b/6479.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4750 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lady Mary and her Nurse, by +Catharine Parr Strickland Traill + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lady Mary and her Nurse + +Author: Catharine Parr Strickland Traill + +Posting Date: April 4, 2011 [EBook #6479] +Release Date: September, 2004 +[This file was first posted on December 20, 2002] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY MARY AND HER NURSE *** + + + + +Produced by Avinash Kothare, Tom Allen, Juliet Sutherland, +Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +This file was produced from images generously made available by the +Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions. + + + + + + + + +LADY MARY AND HER NURSE; + +OR, + +A PEEP INTO THE CANADIAN FOREST. + +by + +MRS. TRAILL + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE FLYING SQUIRREL--ITS FOOD--STORY OF A WOLF--INDIAN VILLAGE--WILD RICE + +CHAPTER II. + +SLEIGHING--SLEIGH ROBES--FUR CAPS--OTTER SKINS--OLD SNOW-STORM--OTTER +HUNTING--OTTER SLIDES--INDIAN NAMES--REMARKS ON WILD ANIMALS AND THEIR +HABITS + +CHAPTER III. + +PART I.--LADY MARY READS TO MRS. FRAZER THE FIRST PART OF THE HISTORY OF +THE SQUIRREL FAMILY + +PART II.--WHICH TELLS HOW THE GREY SQUIRRELS GET ON WHILE THEY REMAINED +ON PINE ISLAND--HOW THEY BEHAVED TO THEIR POOR RELATIONS, THE CHITMUNKS-- +AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM IN THE FOREST + +PART III.--HOW THE SQUIRRELS GOT TO THE MILL AT THE RAPIDS--AND WHAT +HAPPENED TO VELVET-PAW + +CHAPTER IV. + +SQUIRRELS--THE CHITMUNKS--DOCILITY OF A PET ONE--ROGUERY OF A YANKEE +PEDLAR--RETURN OF THE MUSICAL CHITMUNK TO HIS MASTER'S BOSOM--SAGACITY OF +A BLACK SQUIRREL + +CHAPTER V. + +INDIAN BASKETS--THREAD--PLANTS--MAPLE SUGAR-TREE--INDIAN ORNAMENTAL WORKS +--RACOONS + +CHAPTER VI. + +CANADIAN FLOWERS--AMERICAN PORCUPINE--CANADIAN BIRDS--SNOW SPARROW-ROBIN +RED-BREAST + +CHAPTER VII. + +INDIAN BAG--INDIAN EMBROIDERY--BEAVER'S TAIL--BEAVER ARCHITECTURE--HABITS +OF THE BEAVER--BEAVER TOOLS--BEAVER MEADOWS + +CHAPTER VIII. + +INDIAN BOY AND HIS PETS--TAME BEAVER AT HOME--KITTEN, WILDFIRE--PET +RACOON AND THE SPANIEL PUPPIES--CANADIAN FLORA + +CHAPTER IX. + +NURSE TELLS LADY MARY ABOUT A LITTLE BOY WHO WAS EATEN BY A BEAR IN THE +PROVINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK--OF A BABY THAT WAS CARRIED AWAY, BUT TAKEN +ALIVE--A WALK IN THE GARDEN--HUMMING BIRDS--CANADIAN BALSAMS + +CHAPTER X. + +AURORA BOREALIS, OR NORTHERN LIGHTS, MOST FREQUENTLY SEEN IN NORTHERN +CLIMATES--CALLED MERRY DANCERS--ROSE TINTS--TINT-LIKE APPEARANCE--LADY +MARY FRIGHTENED + +CHAPTER XI + +STRAWBERRIES--CANADIAN WILD FRUITS--WILD RASPBERRIES--THE HUNTER AND THE +LOST CHILD--CRANBERRIES--CRANBERRY MARSHES--NUTS + +CHAPTER XII + +GARTER SNAKES--RATTLE SNAKES--ANECDOTE OF A LITTLE BOY--FISHERMAN AND +SNAKE--SNAKE CHARMERS--SPIDERS--LAND TORTOISE + +CHAPTER XIII + +ELLEN AND HER PET PAWNS--DOCILITY OF PAN--JACK'S DROLL TRICKS-- +AFFECTIONATE WOLF--FALL FLOWERS--DEPARTURE OF LADY MARY--THE END + + + + +A PEEP INTO THE CANADIAN FOREST. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE FLYING SQUIRREL--ITS FOOD--STORY OF A WOLF--INDIAN VILLAGE--WILD RICE. + + +"Nurse, what is the name of that pretty creature you have in your hand? +What bright eyes it has! What a soft tail, just like a grey feather! Is it +a little beaver?" asked the Governor's [Footnote: Lady Mary's father was +Governor of Canada.] little daughter, as her nurse came into the room +where her young charge, whom we shall call Lady Mary, was playing with her +doll. + +Carefully sheltered against her breast, its velvet nose just peeping from +beneath her muslin neckerchief, the nurse held a small grey-furred animal, +of the most delicate form and colour. + +"No, my lady," she replied, "this is not a young beaver; a beaver is a +much larger animal. A beaver's tail is not covered with fur; it is scaly, +broad, and flat; it looks something like black leather, not very unlike +that of my seal-skin slippers. The Indians eat beavers' tails at their +great feasts, and think they make an excellent dish." + +"If they are black, and look like leather shoes, I am very sure I should +not like to eat them; so, if you please, Mrs. Frazer, do not let me have +any beavers' tails cooked for my dinner," said the little lady in a very +decided tone. + +"Indeed, my lady," replied her nurse, smiling, "it would not be an easy +thing to obtain, if you wished to taste one, for beavers are not brought +to our market. It is only the Indians and hunters who know how to trap +them, and beavers are not so plentiful as they used to be." + +Mrs. Frazer would have told Lady Mary a great deal about the way in which +the trappers take the beavers, but the little girl interrupted her by +saying, "Please, nurse, will you tell me the name of your pretty pet? Ah, +sweet thing! what bright eyes you have!" she added, caressing the soft +little head which was just seen from beneath the folds of the muslin +handkerchief to which it timidly nestled, casting furtive glances at the +admiring child, while the panting of its breast told the mortal terror +that shook its frame whenever the little girl's hand was advanced to coax +its soft back. + +"It is a flying squirrel, Lady Mary," replied her nurse; "one of my +brothers caught it a month ago, when he was chopping in the forest. He +thought it might amuse your ladyship, and so he tamed it and sent it to me +in a basket filled with moss, with some acorns, and hickory-nuts, and +beech-mast for him to eat on his journey, for the little fellow has +travelled a long way: he came from the beech-woods near the town of +Coburg, in the Upper Province." + +"And where is Coburg, nurse? Is it a large city like Montreal or Quebec?" + +"No, my lady; it is a large town on the shores of the great Lake Ontario." + +"And are there many woods near it?" + +"Yes; but not so many as there used to be many years ago. The forest is +almost all cleared, and there are fields of wheat and Indian corn, and +nice farms and pretty houses, where a few years back the lofty forest grew +dark and thick." + +"Nurse, you said there were acorns, and hickory-nuts, and beech-mast in +the basket. I have seen acorns at home in dear England and Scotland, and I +have eaten the hickory-nuts here; but what is beech-mast? Is it in +granaries for winter stores; and wild ducks and wild pigeons come from the +far north at the season when the beech-mast fall, to eat them; for God +teaches these, His creatures, to know the times and the seasons when His +bounteous hand is open to give them food from His boundless store. A great +many other birds and beasts also feed upon the beech-mast." + +"It was very good of your brother to send me this pretty creature, +nurse," said the little lady; "I will ask Papa to give him some money." + +"There is no need of that, Lady Mary. My brother is not in want; he has a +farm in the Upper Province, and is very well off." + +"I am glad he is well off," said Lady Mary; "indeed, I do not see so many +beggars here as in England." + +"People need not beg in Canada, if they are well and strong and can work; +a poor man can soon earn enough money to keep himself and his little ones." + +"Nurse, will you be so kind as to ask Campbell to get a pretty cage for +my squirrel? I will let him live close to my dormice, who will be pleasant +company for him, and I will feed him every day myself with nuts and sugar, +and sweet cake and white bread. Now do not tremble and look so frightened, +as though I were going to hurt you; and pray, Mr. Squirrel, do not bite. +Oh! nurse, nurse, the wicked, spiteful creature has bitten my finger! See, +see, it has made it bleed! Naughty thing! I will not love you if you bite. +Pray, nurse, bind up my finger, or it will soil my frock." + +Great was the pity bestowed upon the wound by Lady Mary's kind attendant, +till the little girl, tired of hearing so much said about the bitten +finger, gravely desired her maid to go in search of the cage, and catch +the truant, which had effected its escape, and was clinging to the +curtains of the bed. The cage was procured--a large wooden cage, with an +outer and an inner chamber, a bar for the little fellow to swing himself +on, and a drawer for his food, and a little dish for his water. The +sleeping-room was furnished by the nurse with soft wool, and a fine store +of nuts was put in the drawer; all his wants were well supplied, and Lady +Mary watched the catching of the little animal with much interest. Great +was the activity displayed by the runaway squirrel, and still greater the +astonishment evinced by the Governor's little daughter, at the flying +leaps made by the squirrel in its attempts to elude the grasp of its +pursuers. + +"It flies! I am sure it must have wings. Look, look, nurse! it is here, +now it is on the wall, now on the curtains! It must have wings, but it has +no feathers!" + +"It has no wings, dear lady, but it has a fine ridge of fur, that covers +a strong sinew or muscle between the fore and hinder legs; and it is by +the help of this muscle that it is able to spring so far, and so fast; and +its claws are so sharp that it can cling to a wall, or any flat surface. +The black and red squirrels, and the common grey, can jump very far, and +run up the bark of the trees very fast, but not so fast as the flying +squirrel." + +At last Lady Mary's maid, with the help of one of the housemaids, +succeeded in catching the squirrel, and securing him within his cage. But +though Lady Mary tried all her words of endearment to coax the little +creature to eat some of the good things that had been provided so +liberally for his entertainment, he remained sullen and motionless at the +bottom of the cage. A captive is no less a captive in a cage with gilded +bars, and with dainties to eat, than if rusted iron shut him in, and kept +him from enjoying his freedom. It is for dear liberty that he pines, and +is sad, even in the midst of plenty! + +"Dear nurse, why does my little squirrel tremble and look so unhappy? +Tell me if he wants anything to eat that we have not given him. Why does +he not lie down and sleep on the nice soft bed you have made for him in +his little chamber? See, he has not tasted the nice sweet cake and sugar +that I gave him." + +"He is not used to such dainties, Lady Mary. In the forest, he feeds upon +hickory-nuts, and butter-nuts, and acorns, and beech-mast, and the buds of +the spruce, fir and pine kernels, and many other seeds and nuts and +berries, that we could not get for him; he loves grain too, and Indian +corn. He sleeps on green moss and leaves, and fine fibres of grass and +roots; and drinks heaven's blessed dew, as it lies bright and pure upon +the herbs of the field." + +"Dear little squirrel, pretty creature! I know now what makes you sad. +You long to be abroad among your own green woods, and sleeping on the soft +green moss, which is far prettier than this ugly cotton wool. But you +shall stay with me, my sweet one, till the cold winter is passed and gone, +and the spring flowers have come again; and then, my pretty squirrel, I +will take you out of your dull cage, and we will go to St. Helen's green +island, and I will let you go free; but I will put a scarlet collar about +your neck before I let you go, that, if any one finds you, they may know +that you are my squirrel. Were you ever in the green forest, nurse? I hear +Papa talk about the 'Bush' and the 'Backwoods;' it must be very pleasant +in the summer, to live among the green trees. Were you ever there?" + +"Yes, dear lady, I did live in the woods when I was a child. I was born +in a little log-shanty, far, far away up the country, near a beautiful +lake, called Rice Lake, among woods, and valleys, and hills covered with +flowers, and groves of pine, and white and black oaks." + +"Stop, nurse, and tell me why they are called black and white; are the +flowers black and white?" + +"No, my lady; it is because the wood of the one is darker than the other, +and the leaves of the black oak are dark and shining, while those of the +white oak are brighter and lighter. The black oak is a beautiful tree. +When I was a young girl, I used to like to climb the sides of the steep +valleys, and look down upon the tops of the oaks that grew beneath; and to +watch the wind lifting the boughs all glittering in the moonlight; they +looked like a sea of ruffled green water. It is very solemn, Lady Mary, to +be in the woods by night, and to hear no sound but the cry of the great +wood-owl, or the voice of the whip-poor-will, calling to his fellow from +the tamarack swamp; or, may be, the timid bleating of a fawn that has lost +its mother, or the howl of a wolf." + +"Nurse, I should be so afraid; I am sure I should cry if I heard the +wicked wolves howling in the dark woods, by night. Did you ever know any +one who was eaten by a wolf?" + +"No, my lady; the Canadian wolf is a great coward. I have heard the +hunters say, that they never attack any one, unless there is a great flock +together and the man is alone and unarmed. My uncle used to go out a great +deal hunting, sometimes by torchlight, and sometimes on the lake in a +canoe, with the Indians; and he shot and trapped a great many wolves and +foxes and racoons. He has a great many heads of wild animals nailed up on +the stoup in front of his log-house." + +"Please tell me what a stoup is, nurse?" + +"A verandah, my lady, is the same thing, only the old Dutch settlers gave +it the name of a stoup; and the stoup is heavier and broader, and not +quite so nicely made as a verandah. One day my uncle was crossing the lake +on the ice; it was a cold winter afternoon; he was in a hurry to take some +food to his brothers, who were drawing pine-logs in the bush. He had, +besides a bag of meal and flour, a new axe on his shoulder. He heard steps +as of a dog trotting after him; he turned his head, and there he saw close +at his heels, a big, hungry-looking grey wolf; he stopped and faced about, +and the big beast stopped and showed his white sharp teeth. My uncle did +not feel afraid, but looked steadily at the wolf, as much as to say, +'Follow me if you dare,' and walked on. When my uncle stopped, the wolf +stopped; when he went on, the beast also went on. + +"I would have run away," said Lady Mary. + +"If my uncle had let the wolf see that he was afraid of him, he would +have grown bolder, and have run after him and seized him. All animals are +afraid of brave men, but not of cowards. When the beast came too near, my +uncle faced him, and showed the bright axe, and the wolf then shrank back +a few paces. When my uncle got near the shore, he heard a long wild cry, +as if from twenty wolves at once. It might have been the echoes from the +islands that increased the sound; but it was very frightful, and made his +blood chill, for he knew that without his rifle he should stand a poor +chance against a large pack of hungry wolves. Just then a gun went off; he +heard the wolf give a terrible yell, he felt the whizzing of a bullet pass +him, and, turning about, saw the wolf lying dead on the ice. A loud shout +from the cedars in front told him from whom the shot came; it was my +father, who had been on the look-out on the lake shore, and he had fired +at and hit the wolf, when he saw that he could do so without hurting his +brother." + +"Nurse, it would have been a sad thing if the gun had shot your uncle." + +"It would; but my father was one of the best shots in the district, and +could hit a white spot on the bark of a tree at a great distance without +missing. It was an old Indian from Buckhorn Lake, who taught him to shoot +deer by torchlight, and to trap beavers." + +"Well, I am glad that horrid wolf was killed, for wolves eat sheep and +lambs; and I dare say they would devour my little squirrel if they could +get him. Nurse, please to tell me again the name of the lake near which +you were born." + +"It is called Rice Lake, my lady. It is a fine piece of water, more than +twenty miles long, and from three to five miles broad. It has pretty +wooded islands, and several rivers or streams empty themselves into it. +The Otonabee River is a fine broad stream, which flows through the forest +a long way. Many years ago, there were no clearings on the banks, and no +houses, only Indian tents or wigwams; but now, there are a great many +houses and farms." + +"What are wigwams?" + +"A sort of light tent, made with poles stuck into the ground, in a +circle, fastened together at the top, and covered on the outside with +skins of wild animals, or with birch bark. The Indians light a fire of +sticks and logs on the ground, in the middle of the wigwam, and lie or sit +all round it; the smoke goes up to the top and escapes. In the winter, +they bank it up with snow, and it is very warm." + +"I think it must be a very ugly sort of house; and I am glad I do not +live in an Indian wigwam," said the little lady. + +"The Indians are a very simple folk, my lady, and do not need fine +houses, like this in which your papa lives. They do not know the names or +uses of half the fine things that are in the houses of the white people. +They are happy and contented without them. It is not the richest that are +happiest, Lady Mary, and the Lord careth for the poor and the lowly. There +is a village on the shores of Rice Lake where the Indians live. It is not +very pretty. The houses are all built of logs, and some of them have +gardens and orchards. They have a neat church, and they have a good +minister, who takes great pains to teach them the Gospel of the Lord Jesus +Christ. The poor Indians were Pagans until within the last few years." + +"What are Pagans, nurse?" + +"People, Lady Mary, who do not believe in God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, +our blessed Saviour." + +"Nurse, is there real rice growing in the Rice Lake? I heard my governess +say that rice grew only in warm countries. Now, your lake must be very +cold if your uncle walked across the ice." + +"This rice, my lady, is not real rice. I heard a gentleman tell my father, +that it was, properly speaking, a species of oats, [Footnote: Zizania or +water oats.]--water oats he called it, but the common name for it is wild +rice. This wild rice grows in vast beds in the lake, in patches of many +acres. It will grow in water from eight to ten or twelve feet deep; the +grassy leaves float upon the water like long narrow green ribbons. In the +month of August, the stem that is to bear the flower and the grain rises +straight up, above the surface, and light delicate blossoms come out of a +pale straw colour and lilac. They are very pretty, and wave in the wind +with a rustling noise. In the month of October, when the rice is ripe, the +leaves turn yellow, and the rice-heads grow heavy and droop; then the +squaws--as the Indian women are called--go out in their birch-bark canoes, +holding in one hand a stick, in the other a short curved paddle, with a +sharp edge. With this, they bend down the rice across the stick, and strike +off the heads, which fall into the canoe, as they push it along through the +rice-beds. In this way they collect a great many bushels in the course of +the day. The wild rice is not the least like the rice which your ladyship +has eaten; it is thin and covered with a light chaffy husk. The colour of +the grain itself is a brownish green, or olive, smooth, shining, and +brittle. After separating the outward chaff, the squaws put by a large +portion of the clean rice in its natural state for sale; for this they get +from a dollar and a half to two dollars a bushel. Some they parch, either +in large pots, or on mats made of the inner bark of cedar or bass wood, +beneath which they light a slow fire, and plant around it a temporary hedge +of green boughs, closely set to prevent the heat from escaping; they also +plant stakes, over which they stretch the matting at a certain height above +the fire. On this they spread the green rice, stirring it about with wooden +paddles, till it is properly parched; this is known by its bursting and +showing the white grain of the flour. When quite cool it is stowed away in +troughs, scooped out of butter-nut wood, or else sewed up in sheets of +birch-bark or bass-mats, or in coarsely made birch-bark baskets." + +"And is the rice good to eat, nurse?" + +"Some people like it as well as the white rice of Carolina; but it does +not look so well. It is a great blessing to the poor Indians, who boil it +in their soups, or eat it with maple molasses. And they eat it when +parched without any other cooking, when they are on a long journey in the +woods, or on the lakes. I have often eaten nice puddings made of it with +milk. The deer feed upon the green rice. They swim into the water, and eat +the green leaves and tops. The Indians go out at night to shoot the deer +on the water; they listen for them, and shoot them in the dark. The wild +ducks and water-fowls come down in great flocks to fatten on the ripe rice +in the fall of the year; also large flocks of rice buntings and red wings +which make their roosts among the low willows, flags, and lilies close to +the shallows of the lake." + +"It seems very useful to birds as well as to men and beasts," said little +Lady Mary. + +"Yes, my lady, and to fishes also, I make no doubt; for the good God has +cast it so abundantly abroad on the waters, that I dare say they also have +their share. When the rice is fully ripe, the sun shining on it gives it a +golden hue, just like a field of ripened grain. Surrounded by the deep +blue waters, it looks very pretty." + +"I am very much obliged to you, nurse, for telling me so much about the +Indian rice, and I will ask mamma to let me have some one day for my +dinner, that I may know how it tastes." + +Just then Lady Mary's governess came to bid her nurse dress her for a +sleigh-ride, and so for the present we shall leave her; but we will tell +our little readers something more in another chapter about Lady Mary and +her flying squirrel. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +SLEIGHING--SLEIGH ROBES--FUR CAPS--OTTER SKINS--OLD SNOW-STORM--OTTER +HUNTING--OTTER SLIDES--INDIAN NAMES--REMARKS ON WILD ANIMALS AND THEIR +HABITS. + + +"Nurse, we have had a very nice sleigh-drive. I like sleighing very much +over the white snow. The trees look so pretty, as if they were covered +with white flowers, and the ground sparkled just like mamma's diamonds." + +"It is pleasant, Lady Mary, to ride through the woods on a bright +sunshiny day, after a fresh fall of snow. The young evergreens, hemlocks, +balsams, and spruce-trees, are loaded with great masses of the new-fallen +snow; while the slender saplings of the beech, birch, and basswood are +bent down to the very ground, making bowers so bright and beautiful, you +would be delighted to see them. Sometimes, as you drive along, great +masses of the snow come showering down upon you; but it is so light and +dry, that it shakes off without wetting you. It is pleasant to be wrapped +up in warm blankets, or buffalo robes, at the bottom of a lumber-sleigh, +and to travel through the forest by moonlight; the merry bells echoing +through the silent woods, and the stars just peeping down through the +frosted trees, which sparkle like diamonds in the moonbeams." + +"Nurse, I should like to take a drive through the forest in winter. It is +so nice to hear the sleigh-bells. We used sometimes to go out in the snow +in Scotland, but we were in the carriage, and had no bells." + +"No, Lady Mary: the snow seldom lies long enough in the old country to +make it worth while to have sleighs there; but in Russia and Sweden, and +other cold Northern countries, they use sleighs with bells." + +Lady Mary ran to the little bookcase where she had a collection of +children's books, and very soon found, in one of Peter Parley's books, a +picture of Laplanders and Russians wrapped in furs sleighing. + +"How long will the winter last, nurse?" said the child, after she had +tired herself with looking at the prints; "a long, long time--a great many +weeks?--a great many months?" + +"Yes, my lady; five or six months." + +"Oh, that is nice--nearly half a year of white snow, and sleigh-drives +every day, and bells ringing all the time! I tried to make out a tune, but +they only seemed to say, 'Up-hill, up-hill! down-hill, down-hill!' all the +way. Nurse, please tell me what are sleigh-robes made of?" + +"Some sleigh-robes, Lady Mary, are made of bear-skins, lined with red or +blue flannel; some are of wolf-skins, lined with bright scarlet cloth; and +some of racoon; the commonest are buffalo-skins: I have seen some of +deer-skins, but these last are not so good, as the hair comes off, and they +are not so warm as the skins of the furred or woolly-coated animals." + +"I sometimes see long tails hanging down over the backs of the sleigh and +cutters--they look very pretty, like the end of mamma's boa." + +"The wolf and racoon skin robes are generally made up with the tails, and +sometimes the heads of the animals are also left. I noticed the head of a +wolf, with its sharp ears, and long white teeth, looking very fierce, at +the back of a cutter, the other day." + +"Nurse, that must have looked very droll. Do you know, I saw a gentleman +the other day, walking with papa, who had a fox-skin cap on his head, and +the fox's nose was just peeping over his shoulder, and the tail hung down +his back, and I saw its bright black eyes looking so cunning. I thought it +must be alive, and that it had curled itself round his head; but the +gentleman took it off, and showed me that the eyes were glass." + +"Some hunters, Lady Mary, make caps of otter, mink, or badger skins, and +ornament them with the tails, heads, and claws." + +"I have seen a picture of the otter, nurse; it is a pretty, soft-looking +thing, with a round head and black eyes. Where do otters live?" + +"The Canadian otters, Lady Mary, live in holes in the banks of sedgy, +shallow lakes, mill-ponds, and sheltered creeks. The Indian hunters find +their haunts by tracking their steps in the snow; for an Indian or +Canadian hunter knows the track made by any bird or beast, from the deep +broad print of the bear, to the tiny one of the little shrewmouse, which +is the smallest four-footed beast in this or any other country. + +"Indians catch the otter, and many other wild animals, in a sort of trap, +which they call a 'dead-fall.' Wolves are often so trapped, and then shot. +The Indians catch the otter for the sake of its dark shining fur, which is +used by the hatters and furriers. Old Jacob Snowstorm, an old Indian who +lived on the banks of the Rice Lake, used to catch otters; and I have +often listened to him, and laughed at his stories." + +"Do, please, nurse, tell me what old Jacob Snow-storm told you about the +otters; I like to hear stories about wild beasts. But what a droll surname +Snow-storm is!" + +"Yes, Lady Mary; Indians have very odd names; they are called after all +sorts of strange things. They do not name the children, as we do, soon +after they are born, but wait for some remarkable circumstance, some dream +or accident. Some call them after the first strange animal or bird that +appears to the new-born. Old Snow-storm most likely owed his name to a +heavy fall of snow when he was a baby. I knew a chief named Musk-rat, and +a pretty Indian girl who was named 'Badau'-bun,' or the 'Light of the +Morning.'" + +"And what is the Indian name for Old Snow-storm?" + +"'Be-che-go-ke-poor,' my lady." + +Lady Mary said it was a funny sounding name, and not at all like +Snow-storm, which she liked a great deal better; and she was much amused +while her nurse repeated to her some names of squaws and papooses (Indian +women and children); such as Long Thrush, Little Fox, Running Stream, +Snow-bird, Red Cloud, Young Eagle, Big Bush, and many others. + +"Now, nurse, will you tell me some more about Jacob Snow-storm and the +otters?" + +"Well, Lady Mary, the old man had a cap of otter-skin, of which he was +very proud, and only wore on great days. One day as he was playing with +it, he said:--'Otter funny fellow; he like play too, sometimes. Indian go +hunting up Ottawa, that great big river, you know. Go one moonlight night; +lie down under bushes in snow: see lot of little fellow and big fellow at +play. Run tip and down bank; bank all ice. Sit down top of bank; good +slide there. Down he go splash into water; out again. Funny fellow those!' +And then the old hunter threw back his head, and laughed, till you could +have seen all his white teeth, he opened his mouth so wide." + +Lady Mary was very much amused at the comical way in which the old Indian +talked. + +"Can otters swim, nurse?" + +"Yes, Lady Mary; the good God, who has created all things well, has given +to this animal webbed feet, which enable it to swim; and it can also dive +down in the deep water, where it finds fish and mussels, and perhaps the +roots of some water-plants to eat. It makes very little motion or +disturbance in the water when it goes down in search of its prey. Its coat +is thick, and formed of two kinds of hair; the outer hair is long, silky, +and shining; the under part is short, fine, and warm. The water cannot +penetrate to wet them,--the oily nature of the fur throws off the +moisture. They dig large holes with their claws, which are short, but very +strong. They line their nests with dry grass and rushes and roots gnawed +fine, and do not pass the winter in sleep, as the dormice, flying +squirrels, racoons, and bears do. They are very innocent and playful, both +when young and even after they grow old. The lumberers often tame them, +and they become so docile that they will come at a call or whistle. Like +all wild animals, they are most lively at night, when they come out to +feed and play." + +"Dear little things! I should like to have a tame otter to play with, and +run after me; but do you think he would eat my squirrel? You know cats +will eat squirrels--so mamma says." + +"Cats belong to a very different class of animals; they are beasts of +prey, formed to spring and bound, and tear with their teeth and claws. The +otter is also a beast of prey, but its prey is found in the still waters, +and not on the land; it can neither climb nor leap. So I do not think he +would hurt your squirrel, if you had one." + +"See, nurse, my dear little squirrel is still where I left him, clinging +to the wires of the cage, his bright eyes looking like two black beads." + +"As soon as it grows dark he will begin to be more lively, and perhaps he +will eat something, but not while we look at him--he is too shy for that." + +"Nurse, how can they see to eat in the dark?" + +"The good God, Lady Mary, has so formed their eyes that they can see best +by night. I will read you, Lady Mary, a few Verses from Psalm civ.:-- + + "Verse 19. He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his + going down. + + 20. Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts + of the forest do creep forth. + + 21. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from + God. + + 22. The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them + down in their dens. + + 23. Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the + evening. + + 24. O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made + them all: the eath is full of thy riches. + +"Thus you see, my dear lady, that our heavenly Father taketh care of all +his creatures, and provideth for them both by day and by night." + +"I remember, nurse, that my dormice used to lie quite still, nestled +among the moss and wool in their little dark chamber in the cage, all day +long; but when it was night they used to come out and frisk about, and run +along the wires, and play all sorts of tricks, chasing one another round +and round, and they were not afraid of me, but would let me look at them +while they ate a nut, or a bit of sugar; and the dear little things would +drink out of their little white saucer, and wash their faces and tails--it +was so pretty to see them!" + +"Did you notice, Lady Mary, how the dormice held their food?" + +"Yes, they sat up, and held it in their fore-paws, which looked just like +tiny hands." + +"There are many animals whose fore-feet resemble hands, and these, +generally, convey their food to their mouths--among these are the squirrel +and dormice. They are good climbers and diggers. You see, my dear young +lady, how the merciful Creator has given to all his creatures, however +lowly, the best means of supplying their wants, whether of food or +shelter." + +"Indeed, nurse, I have learned a great deal about squirrels, Canadian +rice, otters, and Indians; but, if you please, I must now have a little +play with my doll. Good-bye, Mrs. Frazer,--pray take care of my dear +little squirrel, and mind that he does not fly away." And Lady Mary was +soon busily engaged in drawing her wax doll about the nursery in a little +sleigh lined with red squirrel fur robes, and talking to her as all +children like to talk to their dolls, whether they be rich or poor--the +children of peasants, or governors' daughters. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +LADY MARY READS TO MRS. FRAZER THE FIRST PART OF THE HISTORY OF THE +SQUIRREL FAMILY. + + +One day Lady Mary came to her nurse, and putting her arms about her neck, +whispered to her,--"Mrs. Frazer, my dear good governess has given me +something--it is in my hand," and she slily held her hand behind her-- +"will you guess what it is?" + +"Is it a book, my lady?" + +"Yes, yes, it is a book, a pretty book; and see, here are pictures of +squirrels in it. Mrs. Frazer, if you like, I will sit down on this cushion +by you and read some of my new book. It does not seem very hard." + +Then Mrs. Frazer took out her work-basket and sat down to sew, and Lady +Mary began to read the little story, which, I hope, may entertain my +little readers as much as it did the Governor's daughter. + +THE HISTORY OF A SQUIRREL FAMILY + +It must be a pleasant thing to be a squirrel, and live a life of freedom +in the boundless forests; to leap and bound among the branches of the tall +trees; to gambol in the deep shade of the cool glossy leaves, through the +long warm summer day; to gather the fresh nuts and berries; to drink the +pure dews of heaven, all bright and sparkling from the opening flowers; to +sleep on soft beds of moss and thistle-down in some hollow branch rocked +by the wind as in a cradle. Yet, though this was the happy life led by a +family of pretty grey squirrels that had their dwelling in the hoary +branch of an old oak-tree that grew on one of the rocky islands in a +beautiful lake in Upper Canada, called _Stony Lake_ (because it was +full of rocky islands), these little creatures were far from being +contented, and were always wishing for a change. Indeed, they had been +very happy, till one day when a great black squirrel swam to the island +and paid them a visit. He was a very fine handsome fellow, nearly twice as +large as any of the grey squirrels; he had a tail that flourished over his +back, when he set it up, like a great black feather; his claws were sharp +and strong, and his eyes very round and bright; he had upright ears, and +long, sharp teeth, of which he made good use. The old grey squirrels +called him cousin, and invited him to dinner. They very civilly set before +him some acorns and beech-nuts; but he proved a hungry visitor, and ate as +much as would have fed the whole family for a week. After the grey +squirrels had cleared away the shells and scraps, they asked their greedy +guest where he came from, when Blackie told them he was a great traveller, +and had seen many wonderful things; that he had once lived on a forked +pine at the head of the Waterfall, but being tired of a dull life, he had +gone out on his travels to see the world; that he had been down the lake, +and along the river shore, where there were great places cut out in the +thick forest, called clearings, where some very tall creatures lived, who +were called men and women, with young ones called children; that though +they were not so pretty as squirrels--for they had no fur on them, and +were obliged to make clothes to cover them and keep them warm--they were +very useful, and sowed corn and planted fruit-trees and roots for +squirrels to eat, and even built large grain stores to keep it safe and +dry for them. + +This seemed very strange, and the simple little grey squirrels were very +much pleased, and said they should like very much to go down the lakes +too, and see these wonderful things. + +The black squirrel then told them that there were many things to be seen +in these clearings: that there were large beasts, called oxen, and cows, +and sheep, and pigs; and these creatures had houses built for them to live +in; and all the men and women seemed to employ themselves about, was +feeding and taking care of them. + +Now this cunning fellow never told his simple cousins that the oxen had +to bear a heavy wooden yoke and chain, and were made to work very hard; +nor that the cows were fed that they might give milk to the children; nor +that the pigs were fatted to make pork; nor that the sheep had their warm +fleeces cut off every year that the settlers might have the wool to spin +and weave. Blackie did not say that the men carried guns, and the dogs +were fierce, and would hunt poor squirrels from tree to tree, frightening +them almost to death with their loud, angry barking; that cats haunted the +barns and houses, and, in short, that there were dangers as well as +pleasures to be met with in these clearings; and that the barns were built +to shelter the grain for men, and not for the benefit of squirrels. + +The black squirrel proved rather a troublesome guest, for he stayed +several days, and ate so heartily, that the old grey squirrels were +obliged to hint that he had better go back to the clearings, where there +was so much food, for that their store was nearly done. + +When Blackie found that all the nice nuts were eaten, and that even +pine-kernels and beech-nuts were becoming scarce, he went away, saying that +he should soon come again. + +The old grey squirrels were glad when they saw the tip of Blackie's tail +disappear, as he whisked down the trunk of the old oak; but their young +ones were very sorry that he was gone, for they liked very much to listen +to all his wonderful stories, which they thought were true; and they told +their father and mother how they wished they would leave the dull island +and the old tree, and go down the lakes, and see the wonderful things that +their black cousin had described. + +But the old ones shook their heads, and said they feared there was more +fiction than truth in the tales they had heard, and that if they were wise +they would stay where they were. "What do you want more, my dear +children," said their mother, "than you enjoy here? Have you not this +grand old oak for a palace to live in; its leaves and branches spreading +like a canopy over your heads, to shelter you from the hot sun by day and +the dews by night? Are there not moss, dried grass, and roots beneath, to +make a soft bed for you to lie upon? and do not the boughs drop down a +plentiful store of brown ripe acorns? That silver lake, studded with +islands of all shapes and sizes, produces cool clear water for you to +drink and bathe yourselves in. Look at those flowers that droop their +blossoms down to its glassy surface, and the white lilies that rest upon +its bosom,--will you see anything fairer or better if you leave this +place? Stay at home and be contented." + +"If I hear any more grumbling," said their father, "I shall pinch your +ears and tails." So the little squirrels said no more, but I am sorry to +say they did not pay much heed to their wise, old mother's counsels; for +whenever they were alone, all their talk was how to run away, and go +abroad to see the world, as their black cousin had called the new +settlement down the lakes. It never came into the heads of the silly +creatures that those wonderful stories they had been told originated in an +artful scheme of the greedy black squirrel, to induce them to leave their +warm pleasant house in the oak, that he and his children might come and +live in it, and get the hoards of grain, and nuts, and acorns, that their +father and mother had been laying up for winter stores. + +Moreover, the wily black squirrel had privately told them that their +father and mother intended to turn them out of the nest very soon, and +make provision for a new family. This indeed was really the case; for as +soon as young animals can provide for themselves, their parents turn them +off, and care no more for them. Very different, indeed, is this from our +parents; for they love and cherish us as long as they live, and afford us +a home and shelter as long as we need it. + +Every hour these little grey squirrels grew more and more impatient to +leave the lonely little rocky island, though it was a pretty spot, and the +place of their birth; but they were now eager to go abroad and seek their +fortunes. + +"Let us keep our own counsel," said Nimble-foot to his sisters Velvet-paw +and Silver-nose, "or we may chance to get our tails pulled; but be all +ready for a start by early dawn to-morrow." + +Velvet-paw and Silver-nose said they would be up before sunrise, as they +should have a long voyage down the lake, and agreed to rest on Pine Island +near the opening of Clear Lake. "And then take to the shore and travel +through the woods, where, no doubt, we shall have a pleasant time," said +Nimble-foot, who was the most hopeful of the party. + +The sun was scarcely yet risen over the fringe of dark pines that skirted +the shores of the lake, and a soft creamy mist hung on the surface of the +still waters, which were unruffled by the slightest breeze. The little grey +squirrels awoke, and looked sleepily out from the leafy screen that shaded +their mossy nest. The early notes of the wood-thrush and song-sparrow, with +the tender warbling of the tiny wren, sounded sweetly in the still, dewy +morning air; while from a cedar swamp was heard the trill of the green +frogs, which the squirrels thought very pretty music. As the sun rose above +the tops of the trees, the mist rolled off in light fleecy clouds, and soon +was lost in the blue sky, or lay in large bright drops on the cool grass +and shining leaves. Then all the birds awoke, and the insects shook their +gauzy wings which had been folded all the night in the flower-cups, and the +flowers began to lift their heads, and the leaves to expand to catch the +golden light. There was a murmur on the water as it played among the +sedges, and lifted the broad floating leaves of the white water-lilies, +with their carved ivory cups; and the great green, brown, and blue +dragon-flies rose with a whirring sound, and darted to and fro among the +water flowers. + +It is a glorious sight to see the sun rise at any time, for then we can +look upon him without having our eyes dazzled with the brightness of his +beams; and though there were no men and women and little children, in the +lonely waters and woods, to lift up their hands and voices in prayer and +praise to God, who makes the sun to rise each day, yet no doubt the great +Creator is pleased to see his creatures rejoice in the blessings of light +and heat. + +Lightly running down the rugged bark of the old oak-tree, the little +squirrels bade farewell to their island home--to the rocks, mosses, ferns, +and flowers that had sheltered them, among which they had so often chased +each other in merry gambols. They thought little of all this, when they +launched themselves on the silver bosom of the cool lake. + +"How easy it is to swim in this clear water!" said Silver-nose to her +sister Velvet-paw. "We shall not be long in reaching yonder island, and +there, no doubt, we shall get a good breakfast." + +So the little swimmers proceeded on their voyage, furrowing the calm +waters as they glided noiselessly along; their soft grey heads and ears +and round black eyes only being seen, and the bright streaks caused by the +motion of their tails, which lay flat on the surface, looking like silver +threads gently floating on the stream. + +Not being much used to the fatigue of swimming, the little squirrels were +soon tired, and if it had not been for a friendly bit of stick that +happened to float near her, poor Velvet-paw would have been drowned; +however, she got up on the stick, and, setting up her fine broad tail, went +merrily on, and soon passed Nimble-foot and Silver-nose. The current drew +the stick towards the Pine Island that lay at the entrance of Clear Lake, +and Velvet-paw leaped ashore, and sat down on a mossy stone to dry her fur, +and watch for her brother and sister: they, too, found a large piece of +birch-bark which the winds had blown into the water, and as a little breeze +had sprung up to waft them along, they were not very long before they +landed on the island. They were all very glad when they met again, after +the perils and fatigues of the voyage. The first thing to be done was to +look for something to eat, for their early rising had made them very +hungry. They found abundance of pine-cones strewn on the ground, but, alas +for our little squirrels! very few kernels in them; for the crossbills and +chiccadees had been at work for many weeks on the trees; and also many +families of their poor relations, the chitmunks or ground squirrels, had +not been idle, as our little voyagers could easily guess by the chips and +empty cones round their holes. So, weary as they were, they were obliged to +run up the tall pine and hemlock trees, to search among the cones that grew +on their very top branches. While our squirrels were busy with the few +kernels they chanced to find, they were startled from their repast by the +screams of a large slate-coloured hawk, and Velvet-paw very narrowly +escaped being pounced upon and carried off in its sharp-hooked talons. +Silver-nose at the same time was nearly frightened to death by the keen +round eyes of a cunning racoon, which had come within a few feet of the +mossy branch of an old cedar, where she sat picking the seeds out of a dry +head of a blue flag-flower she had found on the shore. Silvy, at this +sight, gave a spring that left her many yards beyond her sharp-sighted +enemy. + +A lively note of joy was uttered by Nimblefoot, for, perched at his ease on +a top branch of the hemlock-tree, he had seen the bound made by +Silver-nose. + +"Well jumped, Silvy," said he; "Mister Coon must be a smart fellow to +equal that. But look sharp, or you will get your neck wrung yet; I see we +must keep a good look-out in this strange country." + +"I begin to wish we were safe back again in our old one," whined Silvy, +who was much frightened by the danger she had just escaped. + +"Pooh, pooh, child; don't be a coward," said Nimble, laughing. + +"Cousin Blackie never told us there were hawks and coons on this island," +said Velvet-paw. + +"My dear, he thought we were too brave to be afraid of hawks and coons," +said Nimble. "For my part, I think it is a fine thing to go out a little +into the world. We should never see anything better than the sky and the +water, and the old oak-tree on that little island." + +"Ay, but I think it is safer to see than to be seen," said Silvy, "for +hawks and eagles have strong beaks, and racoons sharp claws and +hungry-looking teeth; and it is not very pleasant, Nimble, to be obliged to +look out for such wicked creatures." + +"Oh, true indeed," said Nimble; "if it had not been for that famous jump +you made, Silvy, and, Velvet, your two admirers, the hawk and racoon, +would soon have hid all your beauties from the world, and put a stop to +your travels." + +"It is very well for brother Nimble to make light of our dangers," +whispered Velvet-paw, "but let us see how he will jump if a big eagle were +to pounce down to carry him off." + +"Yes, yes," said Silvy; "it is easy to brag before one is in danger." + +The squirrels thought they would now go and look for some +partridge-berries, of which they were very fond, for the pine-kernels were +but dry husky food after all. + +There were plenty of the pretty white star-shaped blossoms, growing all +over the ground under the pine-trees, but the bright scarlet twin-berries +were not yet ripe. In winter the partridges eat this fruit from under the +snow; and it furnishes food for many little animals as well as birds. The +leaves are small, of a dark green, and the white flowers have a very fine +fragrant scent. Though the runaways found none of these berries fit to +eat, they saw some ripe strawberries among the bushes; and, having +satisfied their hunger, began to grow very merry, and whisked here and +there and everywhere, peeping into this hole and under that stone. +Sometimes they had a good game of play, chasing one another up and down +the trees, chattering and squeaking as grey squirrels only can chatter and +squeak, when they are gambolling about in the wild woods of Canada. + +Indeed, they made such a noise, that the great ugly black snakes lifted +up their heads, and stared at them with their wicked spiteful-looking +eyes, and the little ducklings swimming among the water-lilies, gathered +round their mother, and a red-winged blackbird perched on a dead tree gave +alarm to the rest of the flock by calling out, _Geck, geck, geck,_ as +loudly as he could. In the midst of their frolics, Nimble skipped into a +hollow log--but was glad to run out again; for a porcupine covered with +sharp spines was there, and was so angry at being disturbed, that he stuck +one of his spines into poor Nimble-foot's soft velvet nose, and there it +would have remained if Silvy had not seized it with her teeth and pulled +it out. Nimble-foot squeaked sadly, and would not play any longer, but +rolled himself up and went to sleep in a red-headed woodpecker's old nest; +while Silvy and Velvet-paw frisked about in the moonlight, and when tired +of play got up into an old oak which had a large hollow place in the crown +of it, and fell asleep, fancying, no doubt, that they were on the rocky +island in Stony Lake; and so we will bid them good night, and wish them +pleasant dreams. + + * * * * * + +Lady Mary had read a long while, and was now tired; so she kissed her +nurse, and-said "Now, Mrs. Frazer, I will play with my doll, and feed my +squirrel and my dormice." + +The dormice were two soft, brown creatures, almost as pretty and as +innocent as the squirrel, and a great deal tamer; and they were called +Jeannette and Jeannot, and would come when they were called by their +names, and take a bit of cake or a lump of sugar out of the fingers of +their little mistress. Lady Mary had two canaries, Dick and Pet; and she +loved her dormice and birds, and her new pet the flying squirrel, very +much, and never let them want for food, or water, or any nice thing she +could get for them. She liked the history of the grey squirrels very much; +and was quite eager to get her book the next afternoon, to read the second +part of the adventures and wanderings of the family. + + + + +PART II. + +WHICH TELLS HOW THE GREY SQUIRRELS GET ON WHILE THEY REMAINED ON PINE +ISLAND--HOW THEY BEHAVED TO THEIR POOR RELATIONS, THE CHITMUNKS--AND WHAT +HAPPENED TO THEM IN THE FOREST. + + +It was noon when the little squirrels awoke, and, of course, they were +quite ready for their breakfast; but there was no good, kind old mother to +provide for their wants, and to bring nuts, acorns, roots, or fruit for +them; they must now get up, go forth, and seek food for themselves. When +Velvet-paw and Silver-nose went to call Nimble-foot, they were surprised +to find his nest empty; but after searching a long while, they found him +sitting on the root of an upturned tree, looking at a family of little +chitmunks busily picking over the pine-cones on the ground; but as soon as +one of the poor little fellows, with great labour, had dug out a kernel, +and was preparing to eat it, down leaped Nimble-foot, and carried off the +prize; and if one of the little chitmunks ventured to say a word, he very +uncivilly gave him a scratch, or bit his ears, calling him a mean, shabby +fellow. + +Now, the chitmunks were really very pretty. They were, to be sure, not +more than half the size of the grey squirrels, and their fur was short, +without the soft thick glossy look upon it of the grey squirrels'. They +were of a lively tawny yellow-brown colour, with long black and white +stripes down their backs; their tails were not so long nor so thickly +furred; and instead of living in the trees, they made their nests in logs +and wind-falls, and had their granaries and winter houses too under +ground, where they made warm nests of dried moss and grass and +thistledown; to these they had several entrances, so that they had always +a chance of refuge if danger were nigh. Like the dormice, flying +squirrels, and ground hogs, they slept soundly during the cold weather, +only awakening when the warm spring sun had melted the snow. [Footnote: It +is not quite certain that the chitmunk is a true squirrel, and he is +sometimes called a striped rat. This pretty animal seems, indeed, to form +a link between the rat and squirrel.] + +The vain little grey squirrels thought themselves much better than these +little chitmunks, whom they treated with very little politeness, laughing +at them for living in holes in the ground, instead of upon lofty trees, as +they did; they even called them low-bred fellows, and wondered why they +did not imitate their high breeding and behaviour. + +The chitmunks took very little notice of their rudeness, but merely said +that, if being high-bred made people rude, they would rather remain humble +as they were. + +"As we are the head of all the squirrel families," said Silver-nose, "we +shall do you the honour of breakfasting with you to-day." + +"We breakfasted hours ago, while you lazy fellows were fast asleep," +replied an old chitmunk, poking his little nose out of a hole in the +ground. + +"Then we shall dine with you: so make haste and get something good for +us," said Nimble-foot. "I have no doubt you have plenty of butter and +hickory-nuts laid up in your holes." + +The old chitmunk told him he might come and get them, if he could. + +At this the grey squirrels skipped down from the branches, and began to +run hither and thither, and to scratch among the moss and leaves, to find +the entrance to the chitmunks' grain stores. They peeped under the old +twisted roots of the pines and cedars, into every chink and cranny, but no +sign of a granary was to be seen. + +Then the chitmunks said, "My dear friends, this is a bad season to visit +us; we are very poor just now, finding it difficult to get a few dry +pine-kernels and berries, but if you will come and see us after harvest, we +shall have a store of nuts and acorns." + +"Pretty fellows you are!" replied Nimble, "to put us off with promises, +when we are so hungry; we might starve between this and harvest." + +"If you leave this island, and go down the lake, you will come to a mill, +where the red squirrels live, and where you will have fine times," said +one of the chitmunks. + +"Which is the nearest way to the mill?" asked Velvet-paw. + +"Swim to the shore, and keep the Indian, path, and you will soon see it." + +But while the grey squirrels were looking out for the path, the cunning +chitmunks whisked away into their holes, and left the inquirers in the +lurch, who could not tell what had become of them; for though they did +find a round hole that they thought might be one of their burrows, it was +so narrow that they could only poke in their noses, but could get no +further; the grey squirrels being much fatter and bigger than the slim +little chitmunks. + +"After all," said Silvy, who was the best of the three, "perhaps, if we +had been civil, the chitmunks would have treated us better." + +"Well," said Nimble, "if they had been good fellows, they would have +invited us, as our mother did cousin Blackie, and have set before us the +best they had. I could find it in my heart to dig them out of their holes, +and give them a good bite." This was all brag on Nimble's part, who was +not near so brave as he wished Silvy and Velvet-paw to suppose he was. + +After spending some time in hunting for acorns, they made up their minds +to leave the island; and as it was not very far to the mainland, they +decided on swimming thither. + +"Indeed," said Silver-nose, "I am tired of this dull place; we are not +better off here than we were in the little island in Stony Lake, where our +good old mother took care we should have plenty to eat, and we had a nice +warm nest to shelter us." + +"Ah! well, it is of no use grumbling now; if we were to go back, we +should only get a scolding, and perhaps be chased off the island," said +Nimble. "Now let us have a race, and see which of us will get to shore +first;" and he leaped over Velvet-paw's head, and was soon swimming +merrily for the shore. He was soon followed by his companions, and in half +an hour they were all safely landed. Instead of going into the thick +forest, they agreed to take the path by the margin of the lake, for there +they had a better chance of getting nuts and fruit; but though it was the +merry month of June, and there were plenty of pretty flowers in bloom, the +berries were hardly ripe, and our little vagrants fared but badly. Besides +being hungry, they were sadly afraid of the eagles and fish-hawks that +kept hovering over the water; and when they went further into the forest +to avoid them, they saw a great white wood-owl, noiselessly flying out +from among the close cedar swamps, that seemed just ready to pounce down +upon them. The grey squirrels did not like the look of the owl's great +round shining eyes, as they peered at them, under the tufts of silky white +feathers, which almost hid his hooked bill; and their hearts sunk within +them, when they heard his hollow cry, "_Ho, ho, ho, ho!" "Waugh, +ho!"_ dismally sounding in their ears. + +It was well that Velvet-paw was as swift afoot as she was soft, for one +of these great owls had very nearly caught her, while she was eating a +filbert that she had found in a cleft branch, where a nuthatch had fixed +it, while she pecked a hole in the shell. Some bird of prey had scared +away the poor nuthatch, and Velvet-paw no doubt thought she was in luck +when she found the prize; but it would have been a dear nut to her, if +Nimble, who was a sharp-sighted fellow, had not seen the owl, and cried +_"Chit, chit, chit, chit!"_ to warn her of her danger. _"Chit, +chit, chit, chit!"_ cried Velvet-paw, and away she flew to the very top +of a tall pine-tree, springing from one tree-top to another, till she was +soon out of the old owl's reach. + +"What shall we do for supper to-night?" said Silver-nose, looking very +pitifully at Nimble-foot; whom they looked upon as the head of the family. + +"We shall not want for a good supper and breakfast too, or I am very much +mistaken. Do you see that red squirrel yonder, climbing the hemlock-tree? +Well, my dears, he has a fine store of good things in that beech-tree. I +watched him run down with a nut in his teeth. Let us wait patiently, and +we shall see him come again for another; and as soon as he has done his +meal, we will go and take ours." + +The red squirrel ran to and fro several times, each time carrying off a nut +to his nest in the hemlock; after a while, he came no more. As soon as he +was out of sight Nimble led the way, and found the hoard. The beech was +quite hollow in the heart, and they went down through a hole in the branch, +and found a store of hazel-nuts, with acorns, hickory-nuts, butter-nuts, +and beech-mast, all packed quite close and dry. They soon made a great hole +in the red squirrel's store of provisions, and were just choosing some nuts +to carry off with them, when they were disturbed by a scratching against +the bark of the tree. Nimble, who was always the first to take care of +himself, gave the alarm, and he and Velvet-paw, being nearest to the hole, +got off safely; but poor Silvy had the ill luck to sneeze, and before she +had time to hide herself the angry red squirrel sprang upon her, and gave +her such a terrible cuffing and scratching, that Silvy cried out for mercy. +As to Nimble-foot and Velvet-paw, they paid no heed to her cries for help; +they ran away, and left her to bear the blame of all their misdeeds, as +well as her own. Thieves are always cowards, and are sure to forsake one +another when danger is nigh. + +The angry red squirrel pushed poor Silvy out of her granary, and she was +glad to crawl away, and hide herself in a hole at the root of a +neighbouring tree, where she lay in great pain and terror, licking her +wounds, and crying to think how cruel it was of her brother and sister to +leave her to the mercy of the red squirrel. It was surely very cowardly of +Foot-foot and Velvet-paw to forsake her in such a time of need; nor was +this the only danger that befel poor Silvy. One morning, when she put her +nose out of the hole, to look about her before venturing out, she saw +seated on a branch, close beside the tree she was under, a racoon, staring +full at her, with his sharp cunning black eyes. She was very much afraid +of him, for she thought he looked very hungry; but as she knew that +racoons are very fond of nuts and fruit, she said to herself, "Perhaps if +I show him where the red squirrel's granary in the beech-tree is, he will +not kill me." Then she said very softly to him, "Good Mister Coon, if you +want a very nice breakfast, and will promise to do me no hurt, I will tell +you where to find plenty of nuts." + +The coon eyed her with a sly grin, and said, "If I can get anything more +to my taste than a pretty grey squirrel, I will take it, my dear, and not +lay a paw upon your soft back." + +"Ah! but you must promise not to touch me, if I come out and show you +where to find the nuts," said Silvy. + +"Upon the word and honour of a coon!" replied the racoon, laying one +black paw upon his breast; "but if you do not come out of your hole, I +shall soon come and dig you out, so you had best be quick; and if you +trust me, you shall come to no hurt." + +Then Silvy thought it wisest to seem to trust the racoon's word, and she +came out of her hole, and went a few paces to point out the tree, where +her enemy the red squirrel's store of nuts was; but as soon as she saw +Mister Coon disappear in the hollow of the tree, she bade him good-bye, +and whisked up a tall tree, where she knew the racoon could not reach her; +and having now quite recovered her strength, she was able to leap from +branch to branch, and even from one tree to another, whenever they grew, +close and the boughs touched, as they often do in the grand old woods in +Canada; and so she was soon far, far away from the artful coon, who waited +a long time, hoping to carry off poor Silvy for his dinner. + +Silvy contrived to pick up a living by digging for roots, and eating such +fruits as she could find; but one day she came to a grassy cleared spot, +where she saw a strange-looking tent, made with poles stuck into the +ground and meeting at the top, from which came a bluish cloud that spread +among the trees; and as Silvy was very curious, she came nearer, and at +last, hearing no sound, ran up one of the poles, and peeped in, to see +what was within side, thinking it might be one of the fine stores of grain +that people built for the squirrels, as her cousin Blackie had made her +believe. The poles were covered with sheets of birch-bark, and skins of +deer and wolves, and there was a fire of sticks burning in the middle, +round which some large creatures were sitting on a bear's skin, eating +something that smelt very nice. They had long black hair, and black eyes, +and very white teeth. Silvy felt alarmed at first; but thinking they must +be the people who were kind to squirrels, she ventured to slip through a +slit in the bark, and ran down into the wigwam, hoping to get something to +eat; but in a minute the Indians jumped up, and before she had time to +make her escape she was seized by a young squaw, and popped into a birch +box, and the lid shut down upon her: so poor Silvy was caught in a trap; +and all for believing the artful black squirrel's tales. + +Silver-nose remembered her mother's warning now, when it was too late; she +tried to get out of her prison, but in vain; the sides of the box were too +strong, and there was not so much as a single crack for a peep-hole. After +she had been shut up some time, the lid was raised a little, and a dark +hand put in some bright, shining hard grains for her to eat. This was +Indian corn, and it was excellent food; but Silvy was a long, long time +before she would eat any of this sweet corn, she was so vexed at being +caught and shut up in prison; besides, she was very much afraid that the +Indians were going to eat her. After some days, she began to get used to +her captive state; the little squaw used to feed her, and one day took her +out of the box, and put her into a nice light cage, where there was soft +green moss to lie on, a little bark dish with clear water, and abundance of +food. The cage was hung up on the bough of a tree, near the wigwam, to +swing to and fro as the wind waved the tree. Here Silvy could see the birds +flying to and fro, and listen to their cheerful songs. The Indian women and +children had always a kind look, or a word to say to her; and her little +mistress was so kind to her, that Silvy could not help loving her. She was +very grateful for her care; for when she was sick and sulky, the little +squaw gave her bits of maple-sugar and parched rice out of her hand. At +last Silvy grew tame, and would suffer herself to be taken out of her +house, to sit on her mistress's shoulder, or in her lap; and though she +sometimes ran away and hid herself, out of fun, she would not have gone far +from the tent of the good Indians, on any account. Sometimes she saw the +red squirrels running about in the forest, but they never came very near +her; but she used to watch ail day long for her brother Nimble-foot, or +sister Velvet; but they were now far away from her, and no doubt thought +that she had been killed by the red squirrel, or eaten up by a fox or +racoon. + + * * * * * + +"Nurse, I am so glad pretty Silvy was not killed, and that the good +Indians took care of her." + +"It is time now, my dear, for you to put down your book," said Mrs. +Frazer, "and to-morrow we will read some more." + +"Yes, if you please, Mrs. Frazer," said Lady Mary. + + + + +PART III. + +HOW THE SQUIRRELS GOT TO THE MILL AT THE RAPIDS--AND WHAT HAPPENED TO +VELVET-PAW. + + +Nimble-foot and Velvet-paw were so frightened by the sight of the red +squirrel, that they ran down the tree without once looking back to see +what had become of poor Silver-nose; indeed the cowards, instead of +waiting for their poor sister, fled through the forest as if an army of +red squirrels were behind them. At last they reached the banks of the +lake, and, jumping into the water, swam down the current till they came to +a place called the "Narrow," where the wide lake poured its waters through +a deep rocky channel, not more than a hundred yards wide; here the waters +became so rough and rapid, that our little swimmers thought it wisest to +go on shore. They scrambled up the steep rocky bank, and found themselves +on a wide open space, quite free from trees, which they knew must be one +of the great clearings the traveller squirrel had spoken of. There was a +very high building on the water's edge, that they thought must be the mill +that the chitmunks had told them they would come to; and they were in good +spirits, as they now expected to find plenty of good things laid up for +them to eat, so they went in by the door of the mill. + +"Dear me, what a dust there is!", said Nimble, looking about him; "I +think it must be snowing." + +"Snow does not fall in hot weather," said Velvet; "besides, this white +powder is very sweet and nice;" and she began to lick some of the flour +that lay in the cracks of the floor. + +"I have found some nice seeds here," said Nimble, running to the top of a +sack that stood with the mouth untied; "these are better than pine-kernels, +and not so hard. We must have come to one of the great grain-stores that +our cousin told us of. Well, I am sure the people are very kind to have +laid up so many good things for us squirrels." + +When they had eaten as much as they liked, they began to run about to see +what was in the mill. Presently, a man came in, and they saw him take one +of the sacks of wheat, and pour it into a large upright box, and in a few +minutes there was a great noise--a sort of buzzing, whirring, rumbling, +dashing, and splashing;--and away ran Velvet-paw in a terrible fright, and +scrambled up some beams and rafters to the top of the wall, where she sat +watching what was going--on, trembling all over; but finding that no harm +happened to her, took courage, and after a time ceased to be afraid. She +saw Nimble perched on a cross-beam looking down very intently at +something; so she came out of her corner and ran to him, and asked what he +was looking at. + +"There is a great black thing here," said he, "I cannot tell what to make +of him at all; it turns round, and round, and round, and dashes the water +about, making a fine splash." (This was the water-wheel.) + +"It looks very ugly indeed," said Velvet-paw, "and makes my head giddy to +look at it; let us go away. I want to find out what these two big stones +are doing," said she; "they keep rubbing against one another, and making a +great noise." + +"There is nothing so wonderful in two big stones, my dear," said Nimble; +"I have seen plenty bigger than these in Stony Lake." + +"But they did not move about as these do; and only look here at the white +stuff that is running down all the time into this great box. Well, we +shall not want for food for the rest of our lives; I wish poor Silvy were +with us to share in our good luck." + +They saw a great many other strange things in the mill, and they thought +that the miller was a very funny-looking creature; but as they fancied +that he was grinding the wheat into flour for them, they were not much +afraid of him; they were more troubled at the sight of a black dog, which +spied them out as they sat on the beams of the mill, and ran about in a +great rage, barking at them in a frightful way, and never left off till +the miller went out of the mill, when he went away with his master, and +did not return till the next day; but whenever he saw the grey squirrels, +this little dog, whose name was "Pinch," was sure to set up his ears and +tail, and snap and bark, showing all his sharp white teeth in a very +savage manner. + +Not far from the mill was another building: this was the house the miller +lived in; and close by the house was a barn, a stable, a cow-shed, and a +sheep-pen, and there was a garden full of fruit and flowers, and an +orchard of apple-trees close by. + +One day Velvet-paw ran up one of the apple-trees and began to eat an +apple; it looked very good, for it had a bright red cheek, but it was hard +and sour, not being ripe. "I do not like these big, sour berries," said +she, making wry faces as she tried to get the bad taste out of her mouth +by wiping her tongue on her fore-paw. Nimble had found some ripe currants; +so he only laughed at poor Velvet for the trouble she was in. + +These little grey squirrels now led a merry life; they found plenty to +eat and drink, and would not have had a care in the world, if it had not +been for the noisy little dog Pinch, who let them have no quiet, barking +and baying at them whenever he saw them; and also for the watchful eyes of +a great tom-cat, who was always prowling about the mill, or creeping round +the orchard and outhouses; so that with all their good food they were not +quite free from causes of fear, and no doubt sometimes wished themselves +safe back on the little rocky island, in their nest in the old oak-tree. + +Time passed away--the wheat and the oats were now ripe and fit for the +scythe, for in Canada the settlers mow wheat with an instrument called a +"cradle scythe." The beautiful Indian corn was in bloom, and its long pale +green silken threads were waving in the summer breeze. The blue-jays were +busy in the fields of wheat; so were the red-winged blackbirds, and the +sparrows, and many other birds, great and small; field-mice in dozens were +cutting the straw with their sharp teeth, and carrying off the grain to +their nests; and as to the squirrels and chitmunks, there were scores of +them, black, red, and grey, filling their cheeks with the grain, and +laying it out on the rail fences and on the top of the stumps to dry, +before they carried it away to their storehouses. And many a battle the +red and the black squirrels had, and sometimes the grey joined with the +red, to beat the black ones off the ground. + +Nimble-foot and his sister kept out of these quarrels as much as they +could; but once they got a severe beating from the red squirrels for not +helping them to drive off the saucy black ones, who would carry away the +little heaps of wheat, as soon as they were dry. + +"We do not mean to trouble ourselves with laying up winter stores," said +Nimble one day to his red cousins; "don't you see Peter, the miller's man, +has got a great wagon and horses, and is carting wheat into the barn for +us?" + +The red squirrel opened his round eyes very wide at this speech. "Why, +Cousin Nimble," he said, "you are not so foolish as to think the miller is +harvesting that grain for your use. No, no, my friend; if you want any, +you must work as we do, or run the chance of starving in the winter." + +Then Nimble told him what their cousin Blackie had said. "You were wise +fellows to believe such nonsense!" said the red squirrel. "These mills and +barns are all stored for the use of the miller and his family; and what is +more, my friend, I can tell you that men are no great friends to us poor +squirrels, and will kill us when they get the chance, and begrudge us the +grain we help ourselves to." + +"Well, that is very stingy," said Velvet-paw; "I am sure there is enough +for men and squirrels too. However, I suppose all must live, so we will +let them have what we leave; I shall help myself after they have stored it +up in yonder barn." + +"You had better do as we do, and make hay while the sun shines," said the +red squirrel. + +"I would rather play in the sunshine, and eat what I want here," said +idle Velvet-paw, setting up her fine tail like a feather over her back, as +she ate an ear of corn. + +"You are a foolish, idle thing, and will come to no good," said the red +squirrel. "I wonder where you were brought up?" + +I am very sorry to relate that Velvet-paw did not come to a good end, for +she did not take the advice of her red cousin, to lay up provisions during +the harvest; but instead of that, she ate all day long, and grew fat and +lazy; and after the fields were all cleared, she went to the mill one day, +when the mill was grinding, and seeing a quantity of wheat in the feeder +of the mill, she ran up a beam and jumped down, thinking to make a good +dinner from the grain she saw; but it kept sliding down and sliding down +so fast, that she could not get one grain, so at last she began to be +frightened, and tried to get up again, but, alas! this was not possible. +She cried out to Nimble to help her; and while he ran to look for a stick +for her to raise herself up by, the mill-wheel kept on turning, and the +great stones went round faster and faster, till poor Velvet-paw was +crushed to death between them. Nimble was now left all alone, and sad +enough he was, you may suppose. + +"Ah," said he, "idleness is the ruin of grey squirrels, as well as men, +so I will go away from this place, and try and earn an honest living in +the forest. I wish I had not believed all the fine tales my cousin the +black squirrel told me." + +Then Nimble went away from the clearing, and once more resolved to seek +his fortune in the woods. He knew there were plenty butter-nuts, acorns, +hickory-nuts, and beech-nuts, to be found, besides many sorts of berries; +and he very diligently set to work to lay up stores against the coming +winter. + +As it was now getting cold at night, Nimble-foot thought it would be wise +to make himself a warm house; so he found out a tall hemlock-pine that was +very thick and bushy at the top; there was a forked branch in the tree, +with a hollow just fit for his nest. He carried twigs of birch and beech, +and over these he laid dry green moss, which he collected on the north +side of the cedar-trees, and some long grey moss that he found on the +swamp maples, and then he stripped the silky threads from the milk-weeds, +and the bark of the cedar and birch-trees. These he gnawed fine, and soon +made a soft bed; he wove and twisted the sticks, and roots, and mosses +together, till the walls of his house were quite thick, and he made a sort +of thatch over the top with dry leaves and long moss, with a round hole to +creep in and out of. + +Making this warm house took him many days' labour; but many strokes will +fell great oaks, so at last Nimble-foot's work came to an end, and he had +the comfort of a charming house to shelter him from the cold season. He +laid up a good store of nuts, acorns, and roots: some he put in a hollow +branch of the hemlock-tree close to his nest; some he hid in a stump, and +another store he laid under the roots of a mossy cedar. When all this was +done, he began to feet very lonely, and often wished no doubt that he had +had his sisters Silvy and Velvet-paw with him, to share his nice warm +house; but of Silvy he knew nothing, and poor Velvet-paw was dead. + +One fine moonlight night, as Nimble was frisking about on the bough of a +birch-tree, not very far from his house in the hemlock, he saw a canoe land +on the shore of the lake, and some Indians with an axe cut down some +bushes, and having cleared a small piece of ground, begin to sharpen, the +ends of some long poles. These they stuck into the ground close together in +a circle; and having stripped some sheets of birch-bark from the +birch-trees close by, they thatched the sides of the hut, and made a fire +of sticks inside. They had a dead deer in the canoe, and there were several +hares and black squirrels, the sight of which rather alarmed Nimble; for he +thought if they killed one sort of squirrel, they might another, and he was +very much scared at one of the Indians firing off a gun close by him. The +noise made him fall down to the ground, and it was a good thing that it was +dark among the leaves and grass where the trunk of the tree threw its long +shadow, so that the Indian did not see him, or perhaps he might have loaded +the gun again, and shot our little friend, and made soup of him for his +supper. + +Nimble ran swiftly up a pine-tree, and was soon out of danger. While he +was watching some of the Indian children at play, he saw a girl come out +of the hut with a grey squirrel in her arms; it did not seem at all afraid +of her, but nestled to her shoulder, and even ate out of her hand; and +what was Nimble's surprise to see that this tame grey squirrel was none +other than his own pretty sister Silver-nose, whom he had left in the +hollow tree when they both ran away from the red squirrel. + +You may suppose the sight of his lost companion was a joyful one; he +waited for a long, long time, till the fire went out, and all the Indians +were fast asleep, and little Silvy came out to play in the moonlight, and +frisk about on the dewy grass as she used to do. Then Nimble, when he saw +her, ran down the tree, and came to her and rubbed his nose against her, +and licked her soft fur, and told her who he was, and how sorry he was for +having left her in so cowardly a manner, to be beaten by the red squirrel. + +The good little Silvy told Nimble not to fret about what was past, and +then she asked him for her sister Velvet-paw. Nimble had a long sorrowful +tale to tell about the death of poor Velvet; and Silvy was much grieved. +Then in her turn she told Nimble all her adventures, and how she had been +caught by the Indian, girl, and kept, and fed, and tamed, and had passed +her time very happily, if it had not been for thinking about her dear lost +companions. "But now," she said, "my dear brother, we will never, part +again; you shall be quite welcome, to share my cage, and my nice stores of +Indian corn, rice, and nuts, which my kind mistress gives me." + +"I would not be shut up in a cage, not even for one day," said Nimble, +"for all the nice and grain in Canada. I am a free squirrel, and love my +liberty. I would not exchange a life of freedom in these fine old woods, +for all the dainties in the world. So, Silvy, if you prefer a life of +idleness and ease to living with me in the forest, I must say good-bye to +you." + +"But there is nothing to hurt us, my dear Nimble--no racoons, nor foxes, +nor hawks, nor owls, nor weasels; if I see any hungry-looking birds or +beasts, I have a safe place to run to, and never need be hungry!" + +"I would not lead a life like that, for the world," said Nimble. "I +should die of dullness; if there is danger in a life of freedom, there is +pleasure too, which you cannot enjoy, shut up in a wooden cage, and fed at +the will of a master or mistress." + +"Well, I shall be shot if the Indians awake and see me; so I shall be off." + +Silvy looked very sorrowful; she did not like to part from her newly-found +brother, but she was unwilling to forego all the comforts and luxuries her +life of captivity afforded her. + +"You will not tell the Indians where I live, I hope, Silvy, for they +would think it a fine thing to hunt me with their dogs, or shoot me down +with their bows and arrows." + +At these words Silvy was overcome with grief, so jumping off from the log +on which she was standing, she said, "Nimble, I will go with you and share +all your perils, and we will never part again." She then ran into the +wigwam; and going softly to the little squaw, who was asleep, licked her +hands and face, as if she would say, "Good-bye, my good kind friend; I +shall not forget all your love for me, though I am going away from you for +ever." + +Silvy then followed Nimble into the forest, and they soon reached his +nice comfortable nest in the tall hemlock-tree. + + * * * * * + +"Nurse, I am glad Silvy went away with Nimble, are not you? Poor Nimble +must have been so lonely without her, and then you know it must have +seemed so hard to him if Silvy had preferred staying with the Indians, to +living with him." + +"Those who have been used to a life of ease do not willingly give it up, +my dear lady; thus you see, love for her old companion was stronger even +than love of self. But I think you must have tired yourself with reading +so long to me." + +"Indeed, nurse, I must read a little more, for I want you to hear how +Silvy and Nimble amused themselves in the hemlock-tree." + +Then Lady Mary went on and read as follows. + + * * * * * + +Silvy was greatly pleased with her new home, which was as soft and as +warm as clean dry moss, hay, and fibres of roots could make it. The +squirrels built a sort of pent or outer roof of twigs, dry leaves, and +roots of withered grass, which was pitched so high that it threw off the +rain and kept the inner house very dry. They worked at this very +diligently, and also laid up a store of nuts and berries. They knew that +they must not only provide plenty of food for the winter, but also for the +spring months, when they could get little to eat beside the buds and bark +of some sort of trees, and the chance seeds that might still remain in the +pine-cones. + +Thus the autumn months passed away very quickly and cheerfully with the +squirrels while preparing for the coming winter. Half the cold season was +spent, too, in sleep; but on mild sunny days the little squirrels, roused +by the bright light of the sunbeams on the white and glittering snow, +would shake themselves, rub their black eyes, and after licking themselves +clean from dust, would whisk out of their house and indulge in merry +gambols up and down the trunks of the trees, skipping from bough to bough, +and frolicking over the hard crisp snow, which scarcely showed on its +surface the delicate print of their tiny feet, and the sweep of their fine +light feathery tails. Sometimes they met with some little shrewmice, +running on the snow. These very tiny things are so small, they hardly look +bigger than a large black beetle; they lived on the seeds of the tall +weeds, which they, might be seen climbing and clinging to, yet were hardly +heavy enough to weigh down the heads of the dry stalks. It is pretty to +see the footprints of these small shrewmice, on the surface of the fresh +fallen snow in the deep forest-glades. They are not dormant during the +winter like many of the mouse tribe, for they are up and abroad at all +seasons; for however stormy and severe the weather may be, they do not +seem to heed its inclemency. Surely, children, there is One who cares for +the small tender things of earth, and shelters them from the rude blasts. + +Nimble-foot and Silver-nose often saw their cousins, the black squirrels, +playing in the sunshine, chasing each other merrily up and down the trees, +or over the brush-heaps; their jetty coats, and long feathery tails, +forming a striking contrast with the whiteness of the snow, above which +they were sporting. Sometimes they saw a few red squirrels too, but there +was generally war between them and the black ones. + +In these lonely forests, everything seems still and silent, during the +long wintry season, as if death had spread a white pall over, the earth, +and hushed every living thing into silence. Few sounds are heard through +the winter days, to break the death-like silence that reigns around, +excepting the sudden rending and cracking of the trees in the frosty air, +the fall of a decayed branch, the tapping of a solitary woodpecker, two or +three small species of which still remain after all the summer birds are +flown; and the gentle, weak chirp of the little tree-creeper, as it runs +up and down the hemlocks and pines, searching the crevices of the bark for +insects. Yet in all this seeming death lies hidden the life of myriads of +insects, the huge beast of the forest, asleep in his lair, with many of +the smaller quadrupeds, and forest-birds, that, hushed in lonely places, +shall awake to life and activity as soon as the sun-beams shall once more +dissolve the snow, unbind the frozen streams, and loosen the bands which +held them in repose. + +At last the spring, the glad joyous spring, returned. The leaf-buds, +wrapped within their gummy and downy cases, began to unfold; the dark +green pines, spruce, and balsams began to shoot out fresh spiny leaves, +like tassels, from the ends of every bough, giving out the most refreshing +fragrance; the crimson buds of the young hazels, and the scarlet blossoms +of the soft maple, enlivened the edges of the streams; the bright coral +bark of the dogwood seemed as if freshly varnished, so brightly it glowed +in the morning sunshine; the scream of the blue jay, the song of the robin +and wood-thrush, the merry note of the chiccadee, and plaintive cry of the +pheobe, with loud hammering strokes of the great red-headed woodpecker, +mingled with the rush of the unbound forest streams, gurgling and +murmuring as their water flowed over the stones, and the sighing of the +breeze, playing in the tree-tops, made pleasant and ceaseless music. And +then as time passed on, the trees unfolded all their bright green leaves, +the buds and forest flowers opened; and many a bright bell our little +squirrels looked down upon, from their leafy home, that the eye of man had +never seen. + +It was pleasant for our little squirrels, just after sunset, in the still +summer evenings, when the small silver stars came stealing out, one by +one, in the blue sky, to play among the cool dewy leaves of the grand old +oaks and maples; to watch the fitful flash of the fireflies, as they +glanced here and there, flitting through the deep gloom of the forest +boughs, now lost to sight, as they closed their wings, now flashing out +like tiny tapers, borne aloft by unseen hands in the darkness. Where that +little creek runs singing over its mossy bed, and the cedar-boughs bend +down so thick and close, that only a gleam of the bright water can be +seen, even in the sunlight--there the fireflies crowd, and the damp +foliage is all alive with their dazzling light. + +In this sweet still hour, just at the dewfall, the rush of whirring wings +may be heard from the islands, or in the forest, bordering on the water's +edge; and out of hollow logs and hoary trunks of trees come forth the +speckled night-hawks, cutting the air with their thin sharp wide wings, +and open beak, ready to entrap the unwary moth, or moskitoe, that float so +joyously upon the evening air. One after another, sweeping in wider +circles, come forth these birds of prey, till the whole air seems alive +with them; darting hither and thither, and uttering wild shrill screams, +as they rise higher and higher in the upper air, till some are almost lost +to sight. Sometimes one of them will descend with a sudden swoop, to the +lower regions of the air, just above the highest tree-tops, with a hollow +booming sound, as if some one were blowing in an empty vessel. + +At this hour, too, the bats would quit their homes in hollow trees and +old rocky banks, and flit noiselessly abroad, over the surface of the +quiet star-lit lake; and now also would begin the shrill, trilling note of +the green-frog, and the deep hoarse bass of the bull-frog, which ceases +only at intervals, through the long, warm summer night. You might fancy a +droll sort of dialogue was being carried on among them. At first, a great +fellow, the patriarch of the swamp, will put up his head, which looks very +much like a small pair of bellows, with yellow leather sides; and say in a +harsh, guttural tone, "Go to bed, go to bed, go to bed." + +After a moment's pause, two or three will rise and reply, "No, I won't! +no, I won't! no, I won't!" + +Then the old fellow, with a growl, replies,--"Get out, get out, get out," +--and forthwith, with a rush, and a splash, and a dash, they raise a chorus +of whirring, grating, growling, grunting, whistling sounds, which make you +hold your ears. When all this hubbub has lasted some minutes, there is a +pop, and a splash, and down go all the heads under the weeds and mud; and +after another pause, up comes the old father of the frogs, and begins +again with the old story--"Go to bed, go to bed, go to bed," and so on. +During the heat of the day, the bull-frogs are silent; but as the day +declines, and the air becomes cooler, they re-commence their noisy chorus. + +I suppose these sounds, though not very pleasant to the ears of men, may +not be so disagreeable to those of wild animals. I dare say neither Nimble +nor Silvy were in the least annoyed by the hoarse note of the bull-frog; +but gambolled as merrily among the boughs and fresh dewy leaves, as if +they were listening to sweet music, or the songs of the birds. + +The summer passed away very happily; but towards the close of the warm +season, the squirrels, Nimble and Silvy, resolved to make a journey to the +rocky island on Stony lake, to see the old squirrels, their father and +mother. So they started at sunrise one fine pleasant day, and travelled +along, till one cool evening, just as the moon was beginning to rise above +the pine-trees, they arrived at the little rocky islet where they first +saw the light; but when they eagerly ran up the trunk of the old oak-tree, +expecting to have seen their old father and mother, they were surprised +and terrified by seeing a wood-owl in the nest. + +As soon as she espied our little squirrels, she shook her feathers, and +set up her ears--for she was a long-eared owl--and said, "What do you want +here?--ho, ho, ho, ho! + +"Indeed, Mrs. Owl," said Nimble, "we come hither to see our parents, whom +we left here a year ago. Can you tell us where we shall find them?" + +The owl peered out of her ruff of silken feathers, and after wiping her +sharp bill on her breast, said, "Your cousin the black squirrel beat your +father and mother out of their nest a long time ago, and took possession +of the tree and all that was in it, and they brought up a large family of +little ones, all of which I pounced upon one after another, and ate. +Indeed, the oaks here belong to my family; so finding these impudent +intruders would not quit the premises, I made short work of the matter, +and took the law into my own hands." + +"Did you kill them?" asked Silvy, in a trembling voice. + +"Of course I did, and very nice tender meat they were," replied the +horrid old owl, beginning to scramble out of the nest, and eyeing the +squirrels at the same time with a wicked look. + +"But you did not eat our parents too?" asked the trembling squirrels. + +"Yes, I did; they were very tough, to be sure, but I am not very +particular." + +The grey squirrels, though full of grief and vain regret, were obliged to +take care of themselves. There was, indeed, no time to fee lost, so they +made a hasty retreat. They crept under the roots of an old tree, where +they lay till the morning; they were not much concerned for the death of +the treacherous black squirrel who had told so many stories, got +possession of their old nest, and caused the death of their parents; but +they said--"We will go home again to our dear old hemlock-tree, and never +leave it more." So these dear little squirrels returned to their forest +home, and may be living there yet. + + * * * * * + +"Nurse," said Lady Mary, "how do you like the story?" + +Mrs. Frazer said it was a very pretty one. + +"Perhaps my dear little pet is one of Nimble or Silvy's children. You +know, nurse, they might have gone on their travels too when they were old +enough, and then your brother may have chopped down the tree and found +them in the forest." + +"But your squirrel, Lady Mary, is a flying squirrel, and these were only +common grey ones, which are a different species. Besides, my dear, this +history is but a fable." + +"I suppose, nurse," said the child, looking up in her nurse's face, +"squirrels do not really talk." + +"No, my dear, they have not the use of speech as we have, but in all ages +people have written little tales called fables, in which they make birds +and beasts speak as if they were men and women, it being an easy method of +conveying instruction." + +"My book is only a fable then, nurse? I wish it had been true; but it is +very pretty." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SQUIRRELS--THE CHITMUNKS-DOCILITY OF A PET ONE--ROGUERY OF A YANKEE +PEDLAR--RETURN OF THE MUSICAL CHITMUNK TO HIS MASTER'S BOSOM--SAGACITY OF +A BLACK SQUIRREL. + + +"Mrs. Frazer, are you very busy just now?" asked Lady Mary, coming up to +the table where her nurse was ironing some lace. + +"No, my dear, not very busy, only preparing these lace edgings for your +frocks. Do you want me to do anything for you?" + +"I only want to tell you that my governess has promised to paint my dear +squirrel's picture, as soon as it is tame, and will let me hold it in my +lap, without flying away. I saw a picture of a flying squirrel to-day, but +it was very ugly--not at all like mine; it was long and flat, and its legs +looked like sticks, and it was stretched out, just like one of those +muskrat skins that you pointed out to me in a fur store. Mamma said it was +drawn so, to show it while it was in the act of flying; but it is not +pretty--it does not show its beautiful tail, nor its bright eyes, nor +soft silky fur. I heard a lady tell mamma about a nest full of dear, tiny +little flying squirrels; [Footnote: Tame flying squirrels may be purchased +at the Pantheon, in Oxford Street.] that her brother once found in a tree +in the forest; he tamed them, and they lived very happily together, and +would feed from his hand. They slept in the cold weather like dormice; in +the day-time they lay very still, but would come out, and gambol, and +frisk about at night. But somebody left the cage open, and they all ran +away except one, and that he found in his bed, where it had run for +shelter with its little nose under his pillow. He caught the little +fellow, and it lived with him till the spring, when it grew restless, and +one day got away, and went off to the woods." + +"These little creatures are impatient of confinement, and will gnaw +through the woodwork of the cage to get free, especially in the spring of +the year. Doubtless, my dear, they pine for the liberty which they used to +enjoy before they were captured by man." + +"Nurse, I will not let my little pet be unhappy. As soon as the warm days +come again, and my governess has taken his picture, I will let him go +free. Are there many squirrels in this part of Canada?" + +"Not so many as in Upper Canada, Lady Mary. They abound more in some +years than in others. I have seen the beech and oak woods swarming with +black squirrels. My brothers have brought in two or three dozen in one +day. The Indians used to tell us that want of food, or very severe weather +setting in, in the north, drive these little animals from their haunts. +The Indians, who observe these things more than we do, can generally tell +what sort of winter it will be, from the number of wild animals in the +fall." + +"What do you mean by the fall, nurse?" + +"The autumn in Canada, my lady, is called so from the fall of the leaves. +I remember one year was remarkable for the great number of black, grey, +and flying squirrels; the little striped chitmunk was also plentiful, and +so were weasels and foxes. They came into the barns and granaries, and +into the houses, and destroyed great quantities of grain; besides gnawing +clothes that were laid out to dry; this they did to line their nests with. +Next year there were very few to be seen." + +"What became of them, nurse?" + +"Some, no doubt, fell a prey to their enemies, the cats, foxes, and +weasels, which were also very numerous that year; and the rest, perhaps, +went back to their own country again." + +"I should like to see a great number of these pretty creatures travelling +together," said Lady Mary. + +"All wild animals, my dear, are more active by night than by day, and +probably make their long journeys during that season. The eyes of many +animals and birds are so formed, that they see best in the dim twilight, +as cats, and owls, and others. Our heavenly Father has fitted all his. +creatures for the state in which he has placed them." + +"Can squirrels swim like otters and beavers, nurse? If they come to a +lake or river, can they cross it?" + +"I think they can, Lady Mary; for though these creatures are not formed +like the otter, or beaver, or muskrat, to get their living in the water, +they are able to swim when necessity requires them to do so. I heard a +lady say that she was crossing a lake, between one of the islands and the +shore, in a canoe, with a baby on her lap. She noticed a movement on the +surface of the water. At first she thought it might be a water snake, but +the servant lad who was paddling the canoe, said it was a red squirrel, +and he tried to strike it with the paddle; but the little squirrel leaped +out of the water to the blade of the paddle, and sprang on the head of the +baby, as it lay on her lap; from whence it jumped to her shoulder, and +before she had recovered from her surprise, was in the water again, +swimming straight for the shore, where it was soon safe in the dark pine +woods." + +This feat of the squirrel delighted Lady Mary, who expressed her joy at +the bravery of the little creature. Besides, she said she had heard that +grey squirrels, when they wished to go to a distance in search of food, +would all meet together, and collect pieces of bark to serve them for +boats, and would set up their broad tails like sails, to catch the wind, +and in this way cross large sheets of water. + +"I do not think this can be true," observed Mrs. Frazer; "for the +squirrel, when swimming, uses his tail as an oar or rudder to help the +motion, the tail lying flat on the surface of the water; nor do these +creatures need a boat, for God, who made them, has _given them_ the +power of swimming at their need." + +"Nurse, you said something about a ground squirrel, and called it a +chitmunk. If you please, will you tell me something about it, and why it +is called by such a curious name?" + +"I believe it is the Indian name for this sort of squirrel, my dear. The +chitmunk is not so large as the black, red, or grey squirrels. It is +marked along the back with black and white stripes; the rest of its fur is +a yellowish tawny colour. It is a very playful, lively, cleanly animal, +somewhat resembling the dormouse in its habits. It burrows under ground. +Its nest is made with great care, with many galleries which open at the +surface, so that when attacked by an enemy, it can run from one to another +for security." + +[Footnote: The squirrel has many enemies; all the weasel tribe, cats, and +even dogs attack them. Cats kill great numbers of these little animals. The +farmer shows them as little mercy as he does rats and mice, as they are +very destructive, and carry off vast quantities of grain, which they store +in hollow trees for use. Not contenting themselves with one, granary, they +have several in case one should fail, or perhaps become injured by +accidental causes. Thus do these simple little creatures teach us a lesson +of providential care for future events.] + +"How wise of these little chitmunks to think of that!" said Lady Mary. + +"Nay, my dear child, it is God's wisdom, not theirs. These creatures work +according to his will; and so they always do what is fittest and best for +their own comfort and safety. Man is the only one of God's creatures who +disobeys Him." + +These words made Lady Mary look grave, till her nurse began to talk to +her again about the chitmunk. + +"It is very easily tamed, and becomes very fond of its master. It will +obey his voice, come at a call or a whistle, sit up and beg, take a nut or +an acorn out of his hand, run up a stick, nestle in his bosom, and become +quite familiar. My uncle had a tame chitmunk that was much attached to +him; it lived in his pocket or bosom; it was his companion by day and by +night. When he was out in the forest lumbering, or on the lake fishing, or +in the fields at work, it was always with him. At meals it sat by the side +of his plate, eating what he gave it; but he did not give it meat, as he +thought that might injure its health. One day he and his pet were in the +steam-boat, going to Toronto. He had been showing off the little +chitmunk's tricks to the ladies and gentlemen on board the boat, and +several persons offered him money if he would sell it; but my uncle was +fond of the little thing, and would not part with it. However, just before +he left the boat, he missed his pet; for a cunning Yankee pedlar on board +had stolen it. My uncle knew that his little friend would not desert its +old master; so he went on deck where the passengers were assembled, and +whistled a popular tune familiar to the chitmunk. The little fellow, on +hearing it, whisked out of the pedlar's pocket, and running swiftly along +a railing against which he was standing, soon sought refuge in his +master's bosom." + +Lady Mary clapped her hands with joy, and said, "I am so glad, nurse, +that the chitmunk ran back to his old friend. I wish it had bitten that +Yankee pedlar's fingers." + +"When angry, these creatures will bite very sharply, set up their tails, +and run to and fro, and make a chattering sound with their teeth. The red +squirrel is very fearless for its size, and will sometimes turn round and +face you, set up its tail, and scold. But they will, when busy eating the +seeds of the sunflower or thistle, of which they are very fond, suffer you +to stand and watch them without attempting to run away. When near their +granaries, or the tree where their nest is, they are unwilling to leave +it, running to and fro, and uttering their angry notes; but if a dog is +near, they make for a tree, and as soon as they are out of his reach, turn +round to chatter and scold, as long as he remains in sight. When hard +pressed, the black and flying squirrels will take prodigious leaps, +springing from bough to bough, and from tree to tree. In this manner they +baffle the hunters, and travel a great distance over the tops of the +trees. Once I saw my uncle and brothers chasing a large black squirrel. He +kept out of reach of the dogs, as well as out of sight of the men, by +passing round and round the tree as he went up, so that they could never +get a fair shot at him. At last, they got so provoked that they took their +axes, and set to work to chop down the tree. It was a large pine-tree, and +took them some time. Just as the tree was ready to fall, and was wavering +to and fro, the squirrel, who had kept on the topmost bough, sprang nimbly +to the next tree, and then to another, and by the time the great pine had +reached the ground, the squirrel was far away in his nest among his little +ones, safe from hunters, guns, and dogs." + +"The black squirrel must have wondered, I think, nurse, why so many men +and dogs tried to kill such a little creature as he was. Do the black +squirrels sleep in the winter as well as the flying squirrels and +chitmunks?" + +"No, Lady Mary; I have often seen them on bright days chasing each other +over logs and brush heaps, and running gaily up the pine-trees. They are +easily seen from the contrast which their jetty black coats make with the +sparkling white snow. These creatures feed a good deal on the kernels of +the pines and hemlocks; they also eat the buds of some trees. They lay up +great stores of nuts and grain for winter use. The flying squirrels sleep +much, and in the cold season lie heaped upon each other, for the sake of +warmth. As many as seven or eight may be found in one nest asleep. They +sometimes awaken, if there come a succession of warm days, as in the +January thaw; for I must tell you that in this country we generally have +rain and mild weather for a few days in the beginning of January, when the +snow nearly disappears from the ground. About the 12th, [Footnote: This +remark applies more particularly to the Upper Province.] the weather sets +in again steadily cold; when the little animals retire once more to sleep +in their winter cradles, which they rarely leave till the hard weather is +over." + +"I suppose, nurse, when they awake, they are glad to eat some of the food +they hare laid up in their granaries?" + +"Yes, my dear, it is for this they gather their hoards in mild weather; +which also supports them in the spring months, and possibly even during +the summer, till grain and fruit are ripe. I was walking in the harvest +field one day, where my brothers were cradling wheat. As I passed along +the fence, I noticed a great many little heaps of wheat lying here and +there on the rails, also upon the tops of the stumps in the field. I +wondered at first who could have placed them there, but presently noticed +a number of red squirrels running very swiftly along the fence, and +perceived that they emptied their mouths of a quantity of the new wheat, +which they had been diligently employed in collecting from the ears that +lay scattered over the ground. These little gleaners did not seem to be at +all alarmed at my presence, but went to and fro as busy as bees. On taking +some of the grains into my hand, I noticed that the germ or eye of the +kernels was bitten clean out." + +"What was that for, nurse? can you tell me?" + +"My dear young lady, I did not know at first, till, upon showing it to my +father, he told me that the squirrels destroyed the germ of the grain, +such as wheat or Indian corn, that they stored up for winter use, that it +might not sprout when buried in the ground or in a hollow tree." + +"This is very strange, nurse," said the little girl. "But I suppose," +she added, after a moment's thought, "it was God who taught the squirrels +to do so. But why would biting out the eye prevent the grain from growing?" + +"Because the eye or bud contains the life of the plant; from it springs +the green blade, and the stem that bears the ear, and the root that +strikes down to the earth. The flowery part, which swells and becomes soft +and jelly-like, serves to nourish the young plant till the tender fibres +of the roots are able to draw moisture from the ground." + +Lady Mary asked if all seeds had an eye or germ. + +Her nurse replied that all had, though some were so minute that they +looked no bigger than dust, or a grain of sand; yet each was perfect in +its kind, and contained the plant that would, when sown in the earth, +bring forth roots, leaves, buds, flowers, and fruits in due season. + +"How glad I should have been to see the little squirrels gleaning the +wheat, and laying it in the little heaps on the rail fence. Why did they +not carry it at once to their nests?" + +"They laid it out in the sun and wind to dry; for if it had been stored +away while damp, it would have moulded, and have been spoiled. The +squirrels were busy all that day; when I went to see them again, the grain +was gone. I saw several red squirrels running up and down a large +pine-tree, which had been broken by the wind at the top; and there, no +doubt, they had laid up stores. These squirrels did not follow each other +in a straight line, but ran round and round in a spiral direction, so that +they never hindered each other, nor came in each other's way: two were +always going up, while the other two were going down. They seem to work in +families; for the young ones, though old enough to get their own living, +usually inhabit the same nest, and help to store up the grain for winter +use. They all separate again in spring. The little chitmunk does not live +in trees, but burrows in the ground, or makes its nest in some large hollow +log. It is very pretty to see the little chitmunks, on a warm spring day, +running about and chasing each other among the moss and leaves; they are +not bigger than mice, but look bright and lively. The fur of all the +squirrel tribe is used in trimming, but the grey is the best and most +valuable. It has often been remarked by the Indians, and others, that the +red and black squirrels never live in the same place; for the red, though +the smallest, beat away the black ones. The flesh of the black squirrel is +very good to eat; the Indians also eat the red." + +Lady Mary was very glad to hear all these things, and quite forgot to +play with her doll. "Please, Mrs. Frazer," said the little lady, "tell me +now about beavers and muskrats." But Mrs. Frazer was obliged to go out on +business; she promised, however, to tell Lady Mary all she knew about +these animals another day. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +INDIAN BASKETS--THREAD PLANTS--MAPLE SUGAR TREE--INDIAN ORNAMENTAL WORKS-- +RACOONS + + +It was some time before Lady Mary's nurse could tell her any more +stories. She received a letter from her sister-in-law, informing her that +her brother was dangerously ill, confined to what was feared would prove +his deathbed, and that he earnestly desired to see her before he died. The +Governor's lady, who was very kind and good to all her household, readily +consented to let Mrs. Frazer go to her sick relation. + +Lady Mary parted from her dear nurse, whom she loved very tenderly, with +much regret. Mrs. Frazer told her that it might be a fortnight before she +could return, as her brother lived on the shores of one of the small +lakes, near the head waters of the Otonabee river, a great way off; but +she promised to return as soon as she could, and to console her young +mistress for her absence, said she would bring her some Indian toys from +the backwoods. + +The month of March passed away pleasantly, for Lady Mary enjoyed many +delightful sleigh-drives with her papa and mamma, who took every +opportunity to instruct and amuse her. On entering her nursery one day, +after enjoying a long drive in the country, great was her joy to find her +good nurse sitting quietly at work by the stove. She was dressed in deep +mourning, and looked much thinner and paler than when she had last seen +her. + +The kind little girl knew, when she saw her nurse's black dress, that her +brother must be dead; and with the thoughtfulness of a true lady, remained +very quiet, and did not annoy her with questions about trifling matters; +she spoke low and gently to her, and tried to comfort her when she saw +large tears falling on the work which she held in her hand, kindly said, +"Mrs, Frazer, you had better go and lie down and rest yourself, for you +must be tired after your long long journey." + +The next day Mrs. Frazer seemed to be much better; and she showed Lady +Mary an Indian basket, made of birch-bark, very richly wrought with +coloured porcupine-quills, and which had two lids. + +Lady Mary admired the splendid colours, and strange patterns on the basket. + +"It is for you, my dear," said her nurse, "open it, and see what is in +it." Lady Mary lifted one of the lids, and took out another small basket, +of a different shape and pattern. It had a top, which was sewn down with +coarse-looking thread, which her nurse told her was nothing but the sinews +of the deer, dried and beaten fine, and drawn out like thread. Then, +taking an end of it in her hand, she made Lady Mary observe that these +coarse threads could be separated into a great number of finer ones, +sufficiently delicate to pass through the eye of a fine needle, or to +string tiny beads. + +"The Indians, my lady, sew with the sinews of the wild animals they kill. +These sinews are much stronger and tougher than thread, and therefore are +well adapted to sew together such things as moccasins, leggings, and +garments made of the skins of wild animals. The finer threads are used for +sewing the beads and quill ornaments on moccasins, sheaths, and pouches, +besides other things that I cannot now think of. + +"They sew some things with the roots of the tamarack, of larch; such as +coarse birch-baskets, bark canoes, and the covering of their wigwams. They +call this 'wah-tap,' [Footnote: Asclepia paviflora.] (wood-thread,) and +they prepare it by pulling off the outer rind and steeping it in water. It +is the larger fibres which have the appearance of small cordage when +coiled up and fit for use. This 'wah-tap' is very valuable to these poor +Indians. There is also another plant, called Indian hemp, which is a small +shrubby kind of milk-weed, that grows on gravelly islands. It bears white +flowers, and the branches are long and slender; under the bark there is a +fine silky thread covering the wood; this is tough, and can be twisted and +spun into cloth. It is very white and fine, and does not easily break. +There are other plants of the same family, with pods full of fine shining +silk; but these are too brittle to spin into thread. This last kind, Lady +Mary, which is called Milk-weed flytrap, I will show you in summer." +[Footnote: Asclepia Syriaca.] + +But while Mrs. Frazer was talking about these plants, the little lady was +examining the contents of the small birch-box. "If you please, nurse, will +you tell me what these dark shining seeds are?" + +"These seeds, my dear, are Indian rice; an old squaw, Mrs. Peter Noggan, +gave me this as a present for 'Governor's daughter,'" and Mrs. Frazer +imitated the soft, whining tone of the Indian, which made Lady Mary laugh. + +"The box is called a 'mowkowk.' There is another just like it, only there +is a white bird,--a snow-bird, I suppose it is intended for--worked on the +lid." The lid of this box was fastened down with a narrow slip of +deer-skin; Lady Mary cut the fastening, and raised the lid,--"Nurse, it is +only yellow sand; how droll, to send me a box of sand!" + +"It is not sand; taste it, Lady Mary." + +"It is sweet--it is sugar! Ah! now I know what it is that this kind old +squaw has sent me; it is maple-sugar; and is very nice. I will go and show +it to mamma." + +"Wait a little, Lady Mary, let us see what there is in the basket besides +the rice and the maple-sugar." + +"What a lovely thing this is! dear nurse, what can it be?" + +"It is a sheath for your scissors, my dear; it is made of doe-skin, +embroidered with white beads, and coloured quills split fine, and sewn +with deer-sinew thread. Look at these curious bracelets." + +Lady Mary examined the bracelets, and said she thought they were wrought +with beads; but Mrs. Frazer told her that what she took for beads were +porcupine quills, cut out very finely, and strung in a pattern. They were +not only neatly but tastefully made; the pattern, though a Grecian scroll, +having been carefully imitated by some Indian squaw. + +"This embroidered knife-sheath is large enough for a hunting-knife," said +Lady Mary, "a '_couteau de chasse_,'--is it not?" + +"This sheath was worked by the wife of Isaac Iron, an educated chief of +the Mud Lake Indians; she gave it to me because I had been kind to her in +sickness." + +"I will give it to my dear papa," said Lady Mary, "for I never go out +hunting, and do not wish to carry a large knife by my side;" and she laid +the sheath away, after having admired its gay colours, and particularly +the figure of a little animal worked in black and white quills, which was +intended to represent a racoon. + +"This is a present for your doll; it is a doll's mat, woven by a little +girl, aged seven years, Rachel Muskrat; and here is a little canoe of red +cedar, made by a little Indian boy." + +"What a darling little boat, and there is a fish carved on the paddles." +This device greatly pleased Lady Mary, who said she would send Rachel a +wax doll, and little Moses a knife, or some other useful article, when +Mrs. Frazer went again to the Lakes; but when her nurse took out of the +other end of the basket a birch-bark cradle, made for her doll, worked +very richly, she clapped her hands for joy, saying, "Ah, nurse, you should +not have brought me so many pretty things at once, for I am too happy!" + +The remaining contents of the basket consisted of seeds and berries, and +a small cake of maple-sugar, which Mrs. Frazer had made for the young +lady. This was very different in appearance from the Indian sugar; it was +bright and sparkling, like sugar-candy, and tasted sweeter. The other +sugar was dry, and slightly bitter: Mrs. Frazer told Lady Mary that this +peculiar taste was caused by the birch-bark vessels, which the Indians +used for catching the sap as it flowed from the maple-trees. + +"I wonder who taught the Indians how to make maple-sugar?" asked the child. + +"I do not know;" replied the nurse. "I have heard that they knew how to +make this sugar when the discoverers of the country found them. [Footnote: +However this may be, the French settlers claim the merit of converting the +sap into sugar.] It may be that they found it out by accident. The +sugar-maple when wounded in March, and April, yields a great deal of sweet +liquor. Some Indians may have supplied themselves with this juice, when +pressed for want of water; for it flows so freely in warm days in spring, +that several pints can be obtained from one tree in the course of the day. +By boiling this juice, it becomes very sweet; and at last, when all the +thin watery part has gone off in steam, it becomes thick, like honey; by +boiling it still-longer, it turns to sugar, when cold. So you see, my dear, +that the Indians may have found it out by boiling some sap, instead of +water, and letting it remain on the fire till it grew thick." + +"Are there many kinds of maple-trees, that sugar can be made from, +nurse?" asked the little girl. + +"Yes, [Footnote: All the maple tribe are of a saccharine nature. Sugar has +been made in England from the sap of the sycamore.] my lady; but I believe +the sugar-maple yields the best sap for the purpose; that of the +birch-tree, I have heard, can be made into sugar; but it would require a +larger quantity; weak wine, or vinegar, is made by the settlers of +birch-sap, which is very pleasant tasted. The people who live in the +backwoods, and make maple-sugar, always make a keg of vinegar at the +sugaring off." + +"That must be very useful; but if the sap is sweet, how can it be made +into such sour stuff as vinegar?" + +Then nurse tried to make Lady Mary understand that the heat of the sun, +or of a warm room, would make the liquor ferment, unless it had been +boiled a long time, so as to become very sweet, and somewhat thick. The +first fermentation, she told her, would give only a winy taste; but if it +continued to ferment a great deal, it turned sour, and became vinegar. + +"How very useful the maple-tree is, nurse! I wish there were maples in +the garden, and I would make sugar, molasses, wine, and vinegar; and what +else would I do with my maple-tree?" + +Mrs. Frazer laughed, and said,--"The wood makes excellent fuel; but is +also used in making bedsteads, chests of drawers, and many other things. +There is a very pretty wood for furniture, called 'bird's-eye maple;' the +drawers in my bedroom that you think so pretty are made of it; but it is a +disease in the tree that causes it to have these little marks all through +the wood. In autumn, this tree improves the forest landscape, for the +bright scarlet leaves of the maple give a beautiful look to the woods in +the fall. The soft maple, another species, is very bright when the leaves +are changing, but it gives no sugar." + +"Then I will not let it grow in my garden, nurse!" + +"It is good for other purposes, my dear. The settlers use the bark for +dyeing wool; and a jet black ink can be made from it, by boiling down the +bark with a bit of copperas, in an iron vessel; so you see it is useful. +The bright red flowers of this tree look very pretty in the spring; it +grows best by the water-side, and some call it 'the swamp maple.'" + +This was all Mrs. Frazer could tell Lady Mary about the maple-trees. Many +little girls, as young as the Governor's daughter, would have thought it +very dull to listen to what her nurse had to say about plants and trees; +but Lady Mary would put aside her dolls and toys, to stand beside her to +ask questions, and listen to her answers; the more she heard, the more she +desired to hear, about these things. "The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, +are two things that are never satisfied," saith the wise king Solomon. + +Lady Mary was delighted with the contents of her Indian basket, and spent +the rest of her play-hours in looking at the various articles it +contained, and asking her nurse questions about the materials of which +they were made. Some of the bark boxes were lined with paper, but the +doll's cradle was not, and Lady Mary perceived that the inside of it was +very rough, caused by the hard ends of the quills with which it was +ornamented. At first, she could not think how the squaws worked with the +quills, as they could not possibly thread them through the eye of a +needle; but her nurse told her that when they want to work any pattern in +birch-bark, they trace it with some sharp-pointed instrument, such as a +nail, or bodkin, or even a sharp thorn; with which they pierce holes close +together round the edge of the leaf, or blade, or bird they have drawn out +on the birch-bark; into these holes they insert one end of the quill, the +other end is then drawn through the opposite hole, pulled tight, bent a +little, and cut off on the inside. This any one of my young readers may +see, if they examine the Indian baskets or toys, made of birch-bark. "I +have seen the squaws in their wigwams at work on these things, sitting +cross-legged on their mats,--some had the quills in a little bark dish on +their laps, while others held them in their mouths--not a very safe nor +delicate way; but Indians are not very nice in some of their habits," said +Mrs. Frazer. + +"Nurse, if you please, will you tell me what this little animal is +designed to represent," said Lady Mary, pointing to the figure of the +racoon worked in quills on the sheath of the hunting-knife. + +"It is intended for a racoon, my lady," replied her nurse. + +"Is the racoon a pretty creature like my squirrel?" + +"It is much larger than your squirrel; its fur is not nearly so soft or +so fine; the colour being black and grey, or dun; the tail barred across, +and bushy,--you have seen many sleigh-robes made of racoon-skins, with the +tails looking like tassels at the back of the sleighs." + +"Oh, yes, and a funny cunning-looking face peeping out too!" + +"The face of this little animal is sharp, and the eyes black and keen, +like a fox; the feet bare, like the soles of our feet, only black and +leathery; their claws are very sharp; they can climb trees very fast. +During the winter the racoons sleep in hollow trees, and cling together +for the sake of keeping each other warm. The choppers find as many as +seven or eight in one nest, fast asleep. Most probably the young family +remain with the old ones until spring, when, they separate. The racoon in +its habits is said to resemble the bear; like the bear, it lives chiefly +on vegetables, especially Indian corn, but I do not think that it lays by +any store for winter. They sometimes awake if there come a few warm days, +but soon retire again to their warm cosy nests." + +"Racoons will eat eggs; and fowls are often taken by them,--perhaps this +is in the winter, when they wake up and are pressed by hunger." + +Her nurse said that one of her friends had a racoon which he kept in a +wooden cage, but he was obliged to have a chain and collar to keep him +from getting away, as he used to gnaw the bars asunder; and had slily +stolen away and killed some ducks, and was almost as mischievous as a fox, +but was very lively and amusing in his way. + +Lady Mary now left her good nurse, and took her basket, with all its +Indian treasures, to show to her mamma,--with whom we leave her for the +present. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CANADIAN BIRDS--SNOW SPARROW--ROBIN RED-BREAST--CANADIAN FLOWERS-- +AMERICAN PORCUPINE. + + +"Spring is coming, nurse! Spring is coming at last!" exclaimed the +Governor's little daughter, joyfully. "The snow is going away at last. I +am tired of the white snow, it makes my eyes ache. I want to see the brown +earth, and the grass, and the green moss, and the pretty flowers again." + +"It will be some days before this deep covering of snow is gone. The +streets are still slippery with ice, which it will take some time, my +lady, to soften." + +"But, nurse, the sun shines, and there are little streams of water +running along the streets in every direction; see, the snow is gone from +under the bushes and trees in the garden. I saw some dear little birds +flying about, and I watched them perching on the dry stalks of the tall +rough weeds, and they appeared to be picking seeds out of the husks. Can +you tell me what birds they were?" + +"I saw the flock of birds you mean, Lady Mary; they are the common +snow-sparrows; [Footnote: Fringilla nivalis.] almost our earliest +visitants; for they may be seen in April, mingled with the brown +song-sparrow, [Footnote: Fringilla melodia.] flitting about the garden +fences, or picking the stalks of the tall mullein and amaranths, to find +the seeds that have not been shaken out by the autumn winds; and possibly +they also find insects cradled in the husks of the old seed-vessels. These +snow-sparrows are very hardy, and though some migrate to the States in the +beginning of winter, a few stay in the Upper Province, and others come back +to us before the snow is all gone." + +"They are very pretty, neat-looking birds, nurse; dark slate colour, with +white breasts." + +"When I was a little girl, I used to call them my Quaker-birds, they +looked so neat and prim. In the summer you may find their nests in the +brush-heaps near the edge of the forest; they sing a soft, low song." + +"Nurse, I heard a bird singing yesterday, when I was in the garden; a +little plain brown bird, nurse." + +"It was a song-sparrow, Lady Mary. This cheerful little bird comes with +the snow-birds, often before the robin." + +"Oh, nurse, the robin! I wish you would show me a darling robin +redbreast. I did not know they lived in Canada." + +"The bird that we call the robin in this country, my dear, is not like +the little redbreast you have seen at home; our robin is twice as large; +though in shape resembling the European robin; I believe it is really a +kind of thrush. It migrates in the fall, and returns to us early in the +spring." + +"What is migrating, nurse; is it the same as emigrating?" + +"Yes, Lady Mary, for when a person leaves his native country, and goes to +live in another country, he is said to emigrate. This is the reason why +the English, Scotch, and Irish families who come to live in Canada are +called Emigrants." + +"What colour are the Canadian robins, nurse?" + +"The head is blackish, the back lead colour, and the breast is pale +orange; not so bright a red, however, as the real robin." + +"Have you ever seen their nests, nurse?" + +"Yes, my dear, many of them. It is not a pretty nest; it is large, and +coarsely put together, of old dried grass, roots, and dead leaves, +plastered inside with clay, mixed with bits of straw, so as to form a sort +of mortar. You know, Lady Mary, that the blackbird and thrush build nests, +and plaster them in this way." + +The little lady nodded her head in assent. "Nurse, I once saw a robin's +nest when I was in England; it was in the side of a mossy ditch, with +primroses growing close beside it; it was made of green moss, and lined +with white wool and hair; it was a pretty nest, with nice eggs in it, much +better than your Canadian robin's nest." + +"Our robins build in upturned roots, in the corners of rail fences, and +in the young pear-trees and apple-trees in the orchard. The eggs are a +greenish blue. The robin sings a full, clear song; indeed he is our best +songster. We have so few singing-birds, that we prize those that do sing +very much." + +"Does the Canadian robin come into the house in winter, and pick up the +crumbs, as the dear little redbreasts do at home?" + +"No, Lady Mary, they are able to find plenty of food abroad, when they +return to us; but they hop about the houses and gardens pretty freely. In +the fall, before they go away, they may be seen in great numbers, running +about the old pastures, picking up worms and seeds." + +"Do people see the birds flying away together, nurse?" + +"Not often, my dear, for most birds congregate together in small flocks +and depart unnoticed; many go away at night, when we are sleeping; and +some fly very high on cloudy days, so that they are not distinctly seen +against the dull grey sky. The water birds, such as geese, swans, and +ducks, take their flight in large bodies. They are heard making a +continual noise in the air, and may be seen grouped in long lines, or in +the form of the letter V lying on its side, (<), the point generally +directed southward or westward, the strongest and oldest birds acting as +leaders: when tired, these aquatic generals fall backward into the main +body, and are replaced by others." + +Lady Mary was much surprised at the order and sagacity displayed by wild +fowl in their flight; and Mrs. Frazer told her that some other time she +would tell her some more facts respecting their migration to other +countries. + +"Nurse, will you tell me something about birds' nests, and what they make +them of?" + +"Birds that live chiefly in the depths of the forest, or in solitary +places, far away from the haunts of men, build their nests of ruder +materials, and with less care in the manner of putting them together; +dried grass, roots, and a little moss, seem to be the materials they make +use of. It has been noticed by many persons, my dear, that those birds +that live near towns and villages and cleared farms, soon learn to make +better sorts of nests, and to weave into them soft and comfortable things, +such as silk, wool, cotton, and hair." + +"That is very strange, nurse." + +"It is so, Lady Mary; but the same thing may also be seen among human +beings. The savage nations are contented with rude dwellings made of +sticks and cane, covered with skins of beasts, bark, or reeds; but when +they once unite together in a more social state, and live in villages and +towns, a desire for improvement takes place; the tent of skins, or the +rude shanty, is exchanged for a hut of better shape; and this in time +gives place to houses and furniture of more useful and ornamental kinds." + +"Nurse, I heard mamma say, that the Britons who lived in England were +once savages, and lived in caves, huts, and thick woods; that they dressed +in skins, and painted their bodies like the Indians." + +"When you read the history of England, you will see that such was the +case," said Mrs. Frazer. + +"Nurse, perhaps the little birds like to see the flowers, and the +sunshine, and the blue sky, and men's houses. I will make my garden very +pretty this spring, and plant some nice flowers to please the dear little +birds." + +Many persons would have thought such remarks very foolish in our little +lady, but Mrs. Frazer, who was a good and wise woman, did not laugh at the +little girl; for she thought it was a lovely thing to see her wish to give +happiness to the least of God's creatures, for it was imitating His own +goodness and mercy, which delight in the enjoyment of the things which He +has called into existence. + +"Please, Mrs. Frazer, will you tell me which flowers will be first in +bloom?" + +"The very first is a plant that comes up without leaves." + +"Nurse, that is the Christmas-rose; [Footnote: Winter Aconite.] I have +seen it in the old country." + +"No, Lady Mary, it is the colt's-foot; [Footnote: Tussilago Farfara.] it +is a common looking, coarse, yellow-blossomed flower; it is the first that +blooms after the snow; then comes the pretty snow-flower or hepatica. Its +pretty tufts of white, pink, or blue starry flowers, may be seen on the +open clearing, or beneath the shade of the half-cleared woods, or upturned +roots and sunny banks. Like the English daisy, it grows everywhere, and +the sight of its bright starry blossoms delights every eye." + +"The next flower that comes in is the dog's-tooth-violet." [Footnote: +Erythronium.] + +"What a droll name!" exclaimed Lady Mary, laughing. + +"I suppose it is called so from the sharpness of the flower-leaves +(petals), my lady, but it is a beautiful yellow lily; the leaves are also +pretty; they are veined or clouded with milky white or dusky purple. The +plant has a bulbous root, and in the month of April sends up its single, +nodding, yellow-spotted flowers; they grow in large beds, where the ground +is black, moist and rich, near creeks on the edge of the forest." + +"Do you know any other pretty flowers, nurse?" + +"Yes, my lady, there are a great many that bloom in April and May; white +violets, and blue, and yellow, of many kinds; and then there is the spring +beauty, [Footnote: Claytonia.] a delicate little flower with pink striped +bells, and the everlasting flower, [Footnote: Graphalium.] and saxifrage, +and the white and dark red lily, that the Yankees call 'white and red +death.' [Footnote: Trillium, or Wake Robin.] These have three green +leaves about the middle of the stalk, and the flower is composed of three +pure white or deep red leaves--petals my father used to call them; for my +father, Lady Mary, was a botanist, and knew the names of all the flowers, +and I learned them from him. + +"The most curious is the mocassin flower. The early one is bright golden +yellow, and has a bag or sack which is curiously spotted with ruby red, +and its petals are twisted like horns. There is a hard thick piece that +lies down just above the sack or mocassin part; and if you lift this up, +you see a pair of round dark spots like eyes, and the Indians say it is +like the face of a hound, with the nose and black eyes plain to be seen; +two of the shorter curled brown petals look like flapped ears, one on each +side of the face. + +"There is a more beautiful sort, purple and white, which blooms in +August; the plant is taller, and bears large lovely flowers." + +"And has it a funny face and ears too, nurse?" + +"Yes, my dear, but the face is more like an ape's; it is even more +distinct than in the yellow mocassin. When my brother and I were children, +we used to fold back the petals and call them baby flowers; the sack, we +thought, looked like a baby's white frock." + +Lady Mary was much amused at this notion. + +"There are a great number of very beautiful and also very curious flowers +growing in the forest," said Mrs. Frazer; "some of them are used in +medicine, and some by the Indians for dyes, with which they stain the +baskets and porcupine quills. One of our earliest flowers is called the +blood-root; [Footnote: Sanguivaria.] it comes up a delicate white folded +bud, within a vine-shaped leaf, which is veined on the under side with +orange yellow. If the stem or the root of this plant be broken, a scarlet +juice drops out very fast--it is with this the squaws dye red and orange +colours." + +"I am glad to hear this, nurse; now I can tell my dear mamma what the +baskets and quills are dyed with." + +"The flower is very pretty, like a white crocus, only not so large. You +saw some crocuses in the conservatory the other day, I think, my dear +lady." + +"Oh, yes, yellow ones, and purple too, in a funny china thing with holes +in its back, and the flowers came up through the holes. The gardener said +it was a porcupine." + +"Please, nurse, tell me of what colours real porcupine quills are?" + +"They are white and greyish-brown." + +Then Lady Mary brought a print and showed it to her nurse, saying, +"Nurse, is the porcupine like this picture?" + +"The American porcupine, my dear, is not so large as this species; its +spines are smaller and weaker. It resembles the common hedgehog more +nearly. It is an innocent animal, feeding mostly on roots [Footnote: There +is a plant of the lily tribe, upon the roots of which the porcupine feeds, +as well as on wild bulbs and berries, and the bark of the black spruce and +larch. It will also eat apples and Indian corn.] and small fruits; it +burrows in dry stony hillocks, and passes the cold weather in sleep. It +goes abroad chiefly during the night. The spines of the Canadian porcupine +are much weaker than those of the African species. The Indians trap these +creatures and eat their flesh. They bake them in their skins in native +ovens,--holes made in the earth, lined with stones, which they make very +hot, covering them over with embers." + +Mrs. Frazer had told Lady Mary all she knew about the porcupine, when +Campbell, the footman, came to say that her papa wanted to see her. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +INDIAN BAG--INDIAN EMBROIDERY--BEAVER'S TAIL--BEAVER ARCHITECTURE--HABITS +OF THE BEAVER--BEAVER TOOLS--BEAVER MEADOWS. + + +When Lady Mary went down to her father, he presented her with a beautiful +Indian bag, which he had brought from Lake Huron, in the Upper Province. +It was of fine doeskin, very nicely wrought with dyed moose-hair, and the +pattern was very pretty; the border was of scarlet feathers on one side, +and blue on the other, which formed a rich silken fringe at each edge. +This was a present from the wife of a chief on Manitoulin Island. Lady +Mary was much delighted with her present, and admired this new-fashioned +work in moose-hair very much. The feathers, Mrs. Frazer told her, were +from the summer red bird or war bird, and the blue bird, both of which, +Lady Mary said, she had seen. The Indians use these feathers as ornaments +for their heads and shoulders on grand occasions. + +Lady Mary recollected hearing her mamma speak of Indians who wore mantles +and dresses of gay feathers. They were chiefs of the Sandwich Islands, she +believed, who had these superb habits. + +"Dear nurse, will you tell me anything more about birds and flowers +to-day?" asked Lady Mary, after she had put away her pretty bag. + +"I promised to tell you about the beavers, my lady," replied Mrs. Frazer. + +"Oh, yes, about the beavers that make the dams and the nice houses, and +cut down whole trees. I am glad you can tell me something about those +curious creatures; for mamma bought me a pretty picture, which I will show +you, if you please," said the little girl. "But what is this odd-looking, +black thing here? Is it a dried fish? It must be a black bass? Yes, nurse, +I am sure it is." + +The nurse smiled, and said, "It is not a fish at all, my dear; it is a +dried beaver's tail. I brought it from the back lakes when I was at home, +that you might see it. See, my lady, how curiously the beaver's tail is +covered with scales; it looks like some sort of black leather, stamped in +a diaper pattern. Before it is dried, it is very heavy, weighing three or +four pounds. I have heard my brothers and some of the Indian trappers say, +that the animal makes use of its tail to beat the sides of the dams and +smoothe the mud and clay, as a plasterer uses a trowel. Some people think +otherwise, but it seems well suited from its shape and weight for the +purpose, and, indeed, as the walls they raise seem to have been smoothed +by some implement, I see no reason to disbelieve the story." + +"And what do the beavers make dams with, nurse?" + +"With small trees cut into pieces, and drawn in close to each other; and +then the beavers fill the spaces between with sods, and stones, and clay, +and all sorts of things that they gather together and work up into a solid +wall. The walls are made broad at the bottom, and are several feet in +thickness, to make them strong enough to keep the water from washing +through them. The beavers assemble together in the fall, about the months +of October and November, to build their houses and repair their dams. They +prefer running water, as it is less likely to freeze. They work in large +parties, sometimes fifty or a hundred together, and do a great deal in a +short time. They work during the night." + +"Of what use is the dam, nurse?" + +"The dam is for the purpose of securing a constant supply of water, without +which they could not live. When they have enclosed the beaver-pond, they +separate into family parties of eleven [Transcriber's Note: Lengthy +footnote moved to end of chapter] or twelve, perhaps more, sometimes less, +and construct dwellings, which are raised against the inner walls of the +dam. These little huts have two chambers, one in which they sleep, which is +warm and soft and dry, lined with roots and sedges and dry grass, and any +odds and ends that serve their purpose. The feeding place is below; in this +is stored the wood or the bark on which they feed. The entrance to this is +under water, and hidden from sight; but it is there that the cunning hunter +sets his trap to catch the unsuspecting beavers." + +"Nurse, do not beavers, and otters, and muskrats feel cold while living +in the water; and do they not get wet?" + +"No, my dear; they do not feel cold, and cannot get wet, for the thick +coating of hair and down keeps them warm; and these animals, like ducks +and geese and all kinds of water-fowls, are supplied with a bag of oil, +with which they dress their coats, and that throws off the moisture; for +you know, Lady Mary, that oil and water will not mix. All creatures that +live in the water are provided with oily fur, or smooth scales that no +water can penetrate; and water birds, such as ducks and geese, have a +little bag of oil, with which they dress their feathers." + +"Are there any beavers in England, nurse?" asked Lady Mary. + +"No, my lady, not now; but I remember my father told me that this animal +once existed in numbers in different countries of Europe; he said they +were still to be found in Norway, Sweden, Russia, Germany, and even in +France. [Footnote: The remains of bearer dams in Wales prove that this +interesting animal was once a native of Great Britain.] The beaver abounds +mostly in North America, and in its cold portions; in solitudes that no +foot of man but the wild Indian has ever penetrated; in lonely streams and +inland lakes,--these harmless creatures are found fulfilling God's +purpose, and doing injury to none. + +"I think if there had been any beavers in the land of Israel, in +Solomon's time, that the wise king, who spake of ants, spiders, +grasshoppers, and conies, [Footnote: The rock rabbits of Judaea.] would +have named the beavers also, as patterns of gentleness, cleanliness, and +industry. They work together in bands, and live in families and never +fight or disagree. They have no chief or leader; they seem to have neither +king nor ruler; yet they work in perfect love and harmony. How pleasant it +would be, Lady Mary, if all Christian people would love each other as +these poor beavers seem to do!" + +"Nurse how can beavers cut down trees; they have neither axes nor saws?" + +"Here, Lady Mary, are the axes and saws with which God has provided these +little creatures;" and Mrs. Frazer showed Lady Mary two long curved tusks, +of a reddish-brown colour, which she told her were the tools used by the +beavers to cut and gnaw the trees; she said she had seen trees as thick as +a man's leg, that had been felled by these simple tools. + +Lady Mary was much surprised that such small animals could cut through +any thing so thick. + +"In nature," replied her nurse, "we often see great things done by very +small means. Patience and perseverance work well. The poplar, birch, and +some other trees, on which beavers feed, and which they also use in making +their dams, are softer and more easily cut than oak, elm or birch would +be: these trees are found growing near the water, and in such places as +the beavers build in. The settler owes to the industrious habits of this +animal those large open tracts of land called beaver meadows, covered with +long, thick, rank grass, which he cuts down and uses as hay. These beaver +meadows have the appearance of dried-up lakes. The soil is black and +spongy; for you may put a stick down to the depth of many feet; it is only +in the months of July, August, and September, that they are dry. Bushes of +black alder, with a few poplars and twining shrubs, are scattered over the +beaver meadows; some of which have high stony banks; and little islands of +trees. On these are many pretty wild flowers; among others, I found +growing on the dry banks some real hare-bells, both blue and white." + +"Ah, dear nurse, hare-bells! did you find real hare-bells, such as grow on +the bonny Highland hills among the heather? I wish papa would let me go to +the Upper Province, to see the beaver meadows, and gather the dear +blue-bells." + +"My father, Lady Mary, wept when I brought him a handful of these +flowers, for he said it reminded him of his Highland home. I have found +these pretty bells growing on the wild hills about Rice Lake, near the +water, as well as near the beaver meadows." + +"Do the beavers sleep in the winter time, nurse?" + +"They do not lie torpid, as racoons do, though they may sleep a good +deal; but as they lay up a great store of provisions for the winter, of +course they must awake sometimes to eat it." + +Lady Mary thought so too. + +"In the spring, when the long warm days return, they quit their winter +retreat, and separate in pairs, living in holes in the banks of lakes and +rivers, and do not unite again till the approach of the cold calls them +together to prepare for winter, as I told you." + +"Who calls them all to build their winter houses?" asked the child. + +"The providence of God; usually called instinct, that guides these wild +animals; doubtless it is the law of nature given to them by God. + +"There is a great resemblance in the habits of the musk-rat and the +beaver. They all live in the water; all separate in the spring, and meet +again in the fall to build and work together; and, having helped each +other in these things, they retire to a private dwelling, each family by +itself. The otter does not make a dam, like the beaver, and I am not sure +that it works in companies, as the beaver; it lives on fish and roots; the +musk-rats on shell-fish and roots, and the beaver on vegetable food +mostly. Musk-rats and beavers are used for food, but the flesh of the +otter is too fishy to be eaten." + +"Nurse, can people eat musk-rats?" asked Lady Mary, with surprise. + +"Yes, my lady, in the spring months the hunters and Indians reckon them +good food; I have eaten them myself, but I did not like them, they were too +fat. Musk-rats build a little house of rushes, and plaster it; they have +two chambers, and do not lie torpid; they build in shallow, rushy places in +lakes, but in spring they quit their winter houses and are often found in +holes among the roots of trees; they live on mussels and shell-fish. The +fur is used in making caps, and hats, and fur gloves." + +"Nurse, did you ever see a tame beaver?" + +"Yes, my dear; I knew a squaw who had a tame beaver, which she used to +take out in her canoe with her, and it sat in her lap, or on her shoulder, +and was very playful." Just then the dinner-bell rang, and as dinner at +Government-house waits for no one, Lady Mary was obliged to defer hearing +more about beavers until another time. + + +[Relocated Footnote: I copy for the reader an account of the beavers, +written by an Indian chief, who was born at Rice Lake, in Canada, and +becoming a Christian, learned to read and write, and went on a mission to +teach the poor Indians, who did not know Christ, to worship God in spirit +and in truth. During some months while he was journeying towards a +settlement belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, he wrote a journal of the +things he saw in that wild country; and, among other matters, he made the +following note about the habits of those curious animals the beavers, which +I think is most likely to be correct, as Indians are very observant of the +habits of wild animals. He says,--"The country here is marshy, covered with +low evergreens. Here begins an extensive beaver settlement; it continues up +the river for sixty miles. When travelling with a row-boat, the noise +frightens the timid beavers, and they dive under water; but as we had a +light birch-bark canoe, we saw them at evening and at day-break going to +and fro from their work to the shore. They sleep, during the day, and chop +and gnaw during the night. They cut the wood that they use, from slender +wands up to poles four inches through, and from one to two fathoms long (a +fathom is a measure of six feet). A large beaver will carry in his mouth a +stick I should not like to carry on my shoulder, for two or three hundred +yards to the water, and then float it off to where he wants to take it. The +kinds of trees used by the beavers are willow and poplar--the round-leaved +poplar they prefer. The Canada beavers, where the poplars are large, lumber +(_i.e._ cut down) on a larger scale; they cut trees a foot through, but in +that case only make use of the limbs, which are gnawed off the trunk in +suitable lengths. The beaver is not a climbing animal. About two cords of +wood serve Mister Beaver and his family for the winter. A beaver's house +is large enough to allow two men a comfortable sleeping-room, and it is +kept very clean. It is built of sticks, stones, and mud, and is well +plastered outside and in. The trowel the beaver uses in plastering is his +tail; this is considered a great delicacy at the table. Their beds are made +of chips, split as fine as the brush of an Indian broom; these are disposed +in one corner, and kept dry and sweet and clean. It is the bark of the +green wood that is used by the beavers for food; after the stick is peeled, +they float it out at a distance from the house. Many good housewives might +learn a lesson of neatness and order from the humble beaver. + +"In large lakes and rivers, the beavers make no dams; they have water +enough without putting themselves to that trouble; but in small creeks +they dam up, and make a better stop-water than is done by the millers. The +spot where they build their dams is the most labour-saving place in the +valley, and where the work will stand best. When the dam is finished, not +a drop of water escapes; their work is always well done. + +"This part of the country abounds in beavers. An Indian will kill upwards +of three hundred in a season. The skin of the beaver is not worth as much +as it used to be, but their flesh is an excellent article of food." +--_Journal of the_ REV. PETER JACOBS, _Indian Missionary_.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +INDIAN BOY AND HIS PETS--TAME BEAVER AT HOME--KITTEN, WILDFIRE--PET +RACOON AND THE SPANIEL PUPPIES--CANADIAN FLORA. + + +"Nurse, you have told me a great many nice stories; now I can tell you +one, if you would like to hear it," and the Governor's little daughter +fixed her bright eyes, teaming with intelligence, on the face of her +nurse, who smiled, and said she should like very much to hear the story. + +"You must guess what it is to be about, nurse." + +"I am afraid I shall not guess right. Is it 'Little Red Riding Hood,' or +'Old Mother Hubbard,' or 'Jack the Giant Killer?'" + +"Oh, nurse, to guess such silly stories!" said the little girl, stopping +her ears. "Those are too silly for me even to tell baby. My story is nice +story about a darling tame beaver. Major Pickford took me on his knee and +told me the story last night." + +Mrs. Frazer begged Lady Mary's pardon for making such foolish guesses, +and declared she should like very much to hear Major Pickford's story of +the tame beaver. + +"Well, nurse, you must know there was once a gentleman who lived in the +bush, on the banks of a small lake, somewhere in Canada, a long, long way +from Montreal. He lived all alone in a little log-house, and spent his +time in fishing, and trapping, and hunting; and he was very dull, for he +had no wife and no child like me to talk to. The only people whom he used +to see were some French lumberers, and now and then the Indians would come +in their canoes and fish on his lake, and make their wigwams on the lake +shore, and hunt deer in the wood. The gentleman was very fond of the +Indians, and used to pass a great deal of his time with them, and talk to +them in their own language. + +"Well, nurse, one day he found a poor little Indian boy who had been lost +in the woods and was half starved, sick and weak, and the kind gentleman +took him home to his house, and fed and nursed him till he got quite +strong again. Was not that good, nurse?" + +"It was quite right, my lady. People should always be kind to the sick +and weak, and especially a poor Indian stranger. I like the story very +much, and shall be glad to hear more about the Indian boy." + +"Nurse, there is not a great deal more about the Indian boy; for when the +Indian party to which he belonged returned from hunting, he went away to +his own home; but I forgot to tell you that the gentleman had often said +how much he should like to have a young beaver to make a pet of. He was +very fond of pets; he had a dear little squirrel, just like mine, nurse, a +flying squirrel, which he had made so tame that it slept in his bosom and +lived in his pocket, where he kept nuts and acorns and apples for it to +eat, and he had a racoon too, nurse,--only think! a real racoon; and Major +Pickford told me something so droll about the racoon, only I want first to +go on with the story about the beaver. + +"One day, as the gentleman was sitting by the fire reading, he heard a +slight noise, and when he looked up was quite surprised to see an Indian +boy in a blanket coat,--with his dark eyes fixed upon his face, while his +long black hair hung down on his shoulders. He looked quite wild, and did +not say a word, but only opened his blanket coat, and showed a brown +furred animal asleep on his breast. What do you think it was, nurse?" + +"A young beaver, my lady." + +"Yes, nurse, it was a little beaver. The good Indian boy had caught it, +and tamed it on purpose to bring it to his white friend, who had been so +good to him. + +"I cannot tell you all the amusing things the Indian boy said about the +beaver, though the Major told them to me; but I cannot talk like an +Indian, you know, Mrs. Frazer. After the boy went away, the gentleman set +to work and made a little log-house for his beaver to live in, and set it +in a corner of the shanty; and he hollowed a large sugar-trough for his +water, that he might have water to wash in, and cut down some young +willows and poplars and birch-trees for him to eat, and the little beaver +grew-very fond of his new master; it would fondle him just like a little +squirrel, put its soft head on his knee, and climb upon his lap; he taught +it to eat bread, sweet cake, and biscuit, and even roast and boiled meat, +and it would drink milk too. + +"Well, nurse, the little beaver lived very happily with this kind +gentleman till the next fall, and then it began to get very restless and +active, as if it were tired of doing nothing. One day his master heard of +the arrival of a friend some miles off, so he left Mister Beaver to take +care of himself, and went away; but he did not forget to give him some +green wood, and plenty of water to drink and play in; he stayed several +days, for he was very glad to meet with a friend in that lonely place; but +when he came, he could not open his door, and was obliged to get in at the +window. What do you think the beaver had done? It had built a dam against +the side of the trough, and a wall across the door, and it had dug up the +hearth and the floor, and carried the earth and the stones to help to make +his dam, and puddled it with water, and made such work! the house was in +perfect confusion, with mud, chips, bark, and stone; and, oh nurse, worse +than all that, it had gnawed through the legs of the tables and chairs, +and they were lying on the floor in such a state, and it cost the poor +gentleman so much trouble to put things to rights again, and make more +chairs and another table! and when I laughed at the pranks of that wicked +beaver, for I could not help laughing, the Major pinched my ear, and +called me a mischievous puss." + +Mrs. Frazer was very much entertained with the story, and she told Lady +Mary that she had heard of tame beavers doing such things before; for in +the season of the year when beavers congregate together to repair their +works and build their winter houses, those that are in confinement become +restless and unquiet, and show the instinct that moves these animals to +provide their winter retreats, and lay up their stores of food. + +"Nurse," said Lady Mary, "I did not think that beavers and racoons could +be taught to eat sweet cake, and bread and meat." + +"Many animals learn to eat very different food to what they are +accustomed to live upon in a wild state. The wild cat lives on raw flesh; +while the domestic cat, you know, my dear, will eat cooked meat, and even +salt meat, with bread and milk and many other things. I knew a person who +had a black kitten called 'Wildfire,' who would sip whiskey-toddy out of +his glass, and seemed to like it as well as milk or water, only it made +him too wild and frisky." + +"Nurse, the racoon that the gentleman had, would drink sweet whiskey-punch; +but my governess said it was not right to give it to him; and Major +Pickford laughed, and declared the racoon must have looked very funny when +it was tipsy. Was not the Major naughty to say so?" + +Mrs. Frazer said it was not quite proper. + +"But, nurse, I have not told you about the racoon,--he was a funny +fellow; he was very fond of a little spaniel and her puppies, and took a +great deal of care of them; he brought them meat and anything nice that +had been given him to eat; but one day he thought he would give them a +fine treat, so he contrived to catch a poor cat by the tail, and drag her +into his den, where he and the puppies lived together. His pets of course +would not eat the cat, so the wicked creature ate up poor pussy himself; +and the gentleman was so angry with the naughty thing that he killed him +and made a cap of his skin, for he was afraid the cunning racoon would +kill his beaver and eat up his tame squirrel." + +"The racoon, Lady Mary, in its natural state, has all the wildness and +cunning of the fox and weasel; he will eat flesh, poultry, and sucking +pigs, and is, also very destructive to Indian corn. These creatures abound +in the western states, and are killed in great numbers for their skins. +The Indian hunters eat the flesh, and say it is very tender and good; but +it is not used for food in Canada. The racoon belongs to the same class of +animals as the bear, which it resembles in some points, though, being +small, it is not so dangerous either to man or the larger animals. + +"And now, my dear, let me show you some pretty wild flowers a little girl +brought me this morning for you, as she heard that you loved flowers. +There are yellow mocassins, or Ladies'-slippers, the same that I told you +of a little while ago; and white lilies, crane-bills, and these pretty +lilac geraniums; here are scarlet-cups, and blue lupines, they are all in +bloom now, and many others. If we were on the Rice Lake plains, my lady, +we could gather all these and many, many more. In the months of June I and +July those plains are like a garden, and their roses scent the air." + +"Nurse, I will ask my dear papa to take me to the Rice Lake plains," said +the little girl, as she gazed with delight on the lovely Canadian flowers. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +NURSE TELLS LADY MARY ABOUT A LITTLE BOY WHO WAS EATEN BY A BEAR IN THE +PROVINCE OP NEW BRUNSWICK--OF A BABY THAT WAS CARRIED AWAY, BUT TAKEN +ALIVE--A WALK IN THE GARDEN--HUMMING-BIRDS--CANADIAN BALSAMS. + + +"Nurse," said Lady Mary, "did you ever hear of any one having been eaten +by a wolf or bear?" + +"I have heard of such things happening, my dear, in this country; but +only in lonely, unsettled parts of the country, near swamps and deep +woods." + +"Did you ever hear of any little boy or girl having been carried off by a +wolf or bear?" asked the child. + +"No, my lady, not in Canada, though similar accidents may have happened +there; but when I was a young girl I heard of such tragedies at New +Brunswick; one of the British provinces lying to the east of this, and a +cold and rather barren country, but containing many minerals, such as +coal, limestone, and marble, besides vast forests of pine, and small lakes +and rivers. It resembles Lower Canada in many respects; but it is not so +pleasant as the province of Upper Canada, neither is it so productive. + +"Thirty years ago it was not so well cleared or cultivated as it is now, +and the woods were full of wild beasts that dwelt among the swamps and +wild rocky valleys. Bears, wolves, and catamounts abounded, with foxes of +several kinds, and many of the fine furred and smaller species of animals, +which were much sought for, on account of their skins. Well, my dear, near +the little village where my aunt and uncle were, living, there were great +tracts of unbroken swamps and forests, which of course sheltered many wild +animals. A sad accident happened a few days before we arrived, which +caused much sorrow, and no little fright, in the place. + +"An old man went out into the woods one morning with his little grandson, +to look for the oxen, which had strayed from the clearing. They had not +gone many yards from the enclosure when they heard a crackling and +rustling among the underwood and dry timbers that strewed the ground. The +old man, thinking it was caused by the cattle they were looking for, bade +the little boy go forward and drive them, on the track; but in a few +minutes he heard a fearful cry from the child, and hurrying forward +through the tangled brushwood, saw the poor little boy in the deadly grasp +of a huge black bear, who was making off at a fast trot with his prey. + +"The old man was unarmed, and too feeble to pursue the dreadful beast. He +could only wring his hands and rend his grey hairs in grief and terror; +but his lamentations would not restore the child to life. A band of +hunters and lumberers, armed with rifles and knives, turned out to beat +the woods, and were not long in tracking the savage animal to his retreat +in a neighbouring cedar swamp. A few fragments of the child's dress were +all that remained of him; but the villagers had the satisfaction of +killing the great she-bear with her two half-grown cubs. The magistrates +of the district gave them a large sum for shooting these creatures, and +the skins were sold, and the money given to the parents of the little boy; +but no money could console them for the loss of their beloved child. + +"The flesh of the bear is eaten both by Indians and hunters; it is like +coarse beef. The hams are cured a led, the woods disappear. The axe and +the fire destroy the haunts that sheltered these wild beasts, and they +retreat further back, where the deer and other creatures on which they +principally feed abound." + +"Nurse, that was a very sad story about the poor little boy," said Lady +Mary. + +"I also heard of a little child," continued nurse, "not more than two years +old, who was with her mother in the harvest field; who had spread a shawl +on the ground near a tall tree, and laid the child upon it to sleep or +play, when a bear came out of the wood and carried her off, leaping the +fence with her in its arms; but the mother ran screaming after the beast, +and the reapers pursued so closely with their pitchforks and reaping-hooks, +that Bruin, who was only a half-grown bear, being hard pressed, made for a +tree; and as it was not easy to climb with a babe in his arms, he quietly +laid the little one down at the foot of the tree, and soon was among the +thick branches out of the reach of the enemy. I dare say baby must have +wondered what rough nurse had taken her up; but she was unhurt, and is +alive now." + +"I am so glad, nurse, the dear baby was not hugged to death by that +horrid black bear; and I hope he was killed." + +"I dare say, my lady, he was shot by some of the men; for they seldom +worked near the forest without having a gun with them, in case of seeing +deer, or pigeons, or partridges." + +"I should not like to live in that country, Mrs. Frazer; for a bear, a +wolf, or a catamount might eat me." + +"I never heard of a governor's daughter being eaten by a bear," said Mrs. +Frazer, laughing, as she noticed the earnest expression on the face of her +little charge. She then continued her account of the ursine family. + +"The bear retires in cold weather, and sleeps till warmer seasons awaken +him; he does not lay up any store of winter provisions, because he seldom +rouses himself during the time of his long sleep, and in the spring he +finds food, both vegetable and animal, for he can eat anything when +hungry, like the hog. He often robs the wild bees of their honey, and his +hide being so very thick, seems insensible to the stings of the angry +bees. Bruin will sometimes find odd places for his winter bed, for a +farmer, who was taking a stack of wheat into his barn to be threshed in +the winter time, once found a large black bear comfortably asleep in the +middle of the sheaves." + +"How could the bear have got into the stack of wheat, nurse?" + +"The claws of this animal are so strong, and he makes so much use of his +paws, which are almost like hands, that he must have pulled the sheaves +out, and so made an entrance for himself. His skin and flesh amply repaid +the farmer for any injury the grain had received. I remember seeing the +bear brought home in triumph on the top of the load of wheat. Bears often +do great mischief by eating the Indian corn when it is ripening; for +besides what they devour, they spoil a vast deal by trampling the plants +down with their clumsy feet. They will, when hard pressed by hunger, come +close to the farmer's house and rob the pig-sty of its tenants. Many years +ago, before the forest was cleared away in the neighbourhood of what is now +a large town, but in those days consisted of only a few poor log-houses, a +settler was much annoyed by the frequent visits of a bear to his hog-pen. +At last he resolved to get a neighbour who was a very expert hunter to come +with his rifle and watch with him. The pen where the fatling hogs were was +close to the log-house; it had a long low shingled roof, and was carefully +fastened up, so that no bear could find entrance. Well, the farmer's son +and the hunter had watched for two nights, and no bear came; on the third +they were both tired, and lay down to sleep upon the floor of the kitchen, +when the farmer's son was awakened by a sound as of some one tearing and +stripping the shingles from the pen. He looked out; it was moonlight, and +there he saw the dark shadow of some tall figure on the ground, and spied +the great black bear standing on its hinder legs, and pulling the shingles +off as fast as it could lay its big black paws upon them. The hogs were in +a great fright, screaming and grunting with terror. The young man stepped +back into the house, roused up the hunter, who took aim from the doorway, +and shot the bear dead. The head of the huge beast was nailed up as a +trophy, and the meat was dried or salted for winter use, and great were the +rejoicings of the settlers who had suffered so much from Bruin's thefts of +corn and pork." + +"I am glad the hunter killed him, nurse, for he might have eaten up some +of the little children, when they were playing about in the fields." + +"Sometimes," continued Mrs. Frazer, "the bears used to visit the +sugar-bush, when the settlers were making maple sugar, and overturn the +sap-troughs, and drink the sweet liquid. I dare say they would have been +glad of a taste of the sugar too, if they could have got at it. The bear is +not so often met with now as it used to be many years ago. The fur of the +bear used to be worn as muffs and tippets, but, is now little used for that +purpose, being thought to be too coarse and heavy, but it is still made +into caps for soldiers, and worn as sleigh-robes." + +This was all Mrs. Frazer chose to recollect about bears, for she was +unwilling to dwell long on any gloomy subject, which she knew was not good +for young minds, so she took her charge into the garden to look at the +flowerbeds, and watch the birds and butterflies; and soon the child was +gaily running from flower to flower, watching with childish interest the +insects flitting to and fro. At last she stopped, and holding up her finger +to warn Mrs. Frazer not to come too near, stood gazing in wonder and +admiration on a fluttering object that was hovering over the full-blown +honeysuckles on a trellis near the greenhouse. Mrs. Frazer approached her +with due caution. + +"Nurse," whispered the child, "look at that curious moth with a long bill +like a bird; see its beautiful shining colours. It has a red necklace, +like mamma's rubies. Oh, what a curious creature! It must be a moth or a +butterfly. What is it?" + +"It is neither a moth nor a butterfly, my dear. It is a humming-bird." + +"Oh, nurse, a humming-bird--a real humming-bird--pretty creature! but it +is gone. Oh, nurse, it darts through the air as swift as an arrow. What +was it doing? Looking at the honeysuckles,--I dare say it thought them +very pretty; or was it smelling them? They are very sweet." + +"My dear child, it might be doing so; I don't know. Perhaps the good God +has given to these creatures the same senses for enjoying sweet scents and +bright colours, as we have; yet it was not for the perfume, but the honey, +that this little bird came to visit the open flowers. The long slender +bill which the humming-bird inserts into the tubes of the flowers, is his +instrument for extracting the honey. Look at the pretty creature's ruby +throat, and green and gold feathers." + +"How does it make that whirring noise, nurse, just like the humming of a +top?" asked the child. + +"The little bird produces the sound from which he derives his name, by +beating the air with his wings. This rapid motion is necessary to sustain +its position in the air while sucking the flowers. + +"I remember, Lady Mary, first seeing humming-birds when I was about your +age, while walking in the garden. It was a bright September morning, and +the rail-fences and every dry twig of the brushwood were filled with the +webs of the field-spider. Some, like thick white muslin, lay upon the +grass; while others were suspended from trees like forest lace-work, on +the threads of which the dewdrops hung like strings of shining pearls; and +hovering round the flowers were several ruby-throated humming-birds, the +whirring of whose wings as they beat the air sounded like the humming of a +spinning-wheel; and I thought as I gazed upon them, and the beautiful lace +webs that hung among the bushes, that they must have been the work of +these curious creatures, who had made them to catch flies, and had strung +the bright dewdrops thereon to entice them, so little did I know of the +nature of these birds; but my father told me a great deal about them, and +read me some very pretty things about humming-birds; and one day, Lady +Mary, I will show you a stuffed one a friend gave me, with its tiny nest +and eggs not bigger than peas." + +Lady Mary was much delighted at the idea of seeing the little nest and +eggs, and Mrs. Frazer said, "There is a wild flower [Footnote: _Noli me +tangere_, Canadian Balsam.] that is known to the Canadians by the name +of the Humming-flower, on account of the fondness which those birds evince +for it. This plant grows on the moist banks of creeks. It is very +beautiful, of a bright orange-scarlet colour. The stalks and stem of the +plant are almost transparent; some call it Speckled Jewels, for the bright +blossoms are spotted with dark purple, and some, Touch-me-not." + +"That is a droll name, nurse," said Lady Mary. "Does it prick one's +finger like a thistle?" + +"No, my lady; but when the seed-pods are nearly ripe, if you touch them, +they spring open and curl into little rings, and the seed drops out." + +"Nurse, when you see any of these curious flowers, will you show them to +me?" + +Mrs. Frazer said they would soon be in bloom, and promised Lady Mary to +bring her some, and to show her the singular manner in which the pods +burst. "But, my lady," said she, "the gardener will show you the same +thing in the greenhouse. As soon as the seed-pods of the balsams in the +pots begin to harden they will spring and curl, if touched, and drop the +seeds like the wild plant, for they belong to the same family. But it is +time for your ladyship to go in." + +When Lady Mary returned to the schoolroom, her governess read to her some +interesting accounts of the habits of the humming-bird. + +"'This lively little feathered gem--for in its hues it unites the +brightness of the emerald, the richness of the ruby, and the lustre of the +topaz--includes in its wide range more than one hundred species. It is the +smallest, and at the same time the most brilliant, of all the American +birds. Its head-quarters may be said to be among the glowing flowers and +luxurious fruits of the torrid zone and the tropics. But one species, the +ruby-throated, is widely diffused, and is a summer visitor all over North +America, even within the Arctic Circle, where, for a brief space of time, +it revels in the ardent heat of the short-lived summer of the North. Like +the cuckoo, she follows the summer wherever she flies. + +"'The ruby-throated humming-bird [Footnote: _Trochilus rubus_.] is +the only species that is known in Canada. With us it builds and breeds, +and then returns to summer skies and warmer airs. The length of the +humming-bird is only three inches and a half, and four and a quarter in +extent, from one tip of the wing to the other. When on the wing, the bird +has the form of a cross, the wings forming no curve, though the tail is +depressed during the time that it is poised in the act of sucking the +honey of the flower. The tongue is long and slender; the bill long and +straight; the legs are very short, so that the feet are hardly visible +when on the wing. They are seldom seen walking, but rest on the slender +sprigs when tired. The flight is so rapid that it seems without effort. +The humming sound is produced by the wing, in the act of keeping itself +balanced while feeding in this position. They resemble the hawk-moth, +which also keeps up a constant vibratory motion with its wings. This +little creature is of a temper as fierce and fiery as its plumes, often +attacking birds of treble its size; but it seems very little disturbed by +the near approach of the Truman species, often entering open windows, and +hovering around the flowers in the flower-stand; it has even been known to +approach the vase on the table, and insert its bill among the flowers, +quite fearless of those persons who sat in the room. Sometimes these +beautiful creatures have suffered themselves to be captured by the hand. + +"'The nest of the ruby-throated hummingbird is usually built on a mossy +branch. At first sight, it looks like a tuft of grey lichens; but when +closely examined, shows both care and skill in its construction, the outer +wall being of fine bluish lichens cemented together, and the interior +lined with the silken threads of the milk-weed, the velvety down of the +tall mullein, or the brown hair-like filaments of the fern. These, or +similar soft materials, form the bed of the tiny young ones. The eggs are +white, two in number, and about the size of a pea, but oblong in shape. +The parents hatch their eggs in about ten days, and in a week the little +ones are able to fly, though the old birds continue to supply them with +honey for some time longer. The Mexican Indians give the name of Sunbeam +to the humming-bird, either in reference to its bright plumage or its love +of sunshine. + +"'The young of the humming-bird does not attain its gay plumage till the +second year. The male displays the finest colours--the ruby necklace being +confined to the old male bird. The green and coppery lustre of the +feathers is also finer in the male bird.'" + +Lady Mary was much pleased with what she had heard about the humming-bird, +and she liked the name of Sunbeam for this lovely creature. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +AURORA BOREALIS, OR NORTHERN LIGHTS, MOST FREQUENTLY SEEN IN NORTHERN +CLIMATES--CALLED MERRY DANCERS--ROSE TINTS--TINT-LIKE APPEARANCE--LADY +MARY FRIGHTENED. + + +One evening, just as Mrs. Frazer was preparing to undress Lady Mary, Miss +Campbell, her governess, came into the nursery, and taking the little girl +by the hand, led her to an open balcony, and bade her look out on the sky +towards the north, where a low dark arch, surmounted by an irregular +border, like a silver fringe, was visible. For some moments Lady Mary +stood silently regarding this singular appearance; at length she said, "It +is a rainbow, Miss Campbell; but where is the sun that you told me shone +into the drops of rain to make the pretty colours?" + +"It is not a rainbow, my dear; the sun has been long set." + +"Can the moon make rainbows at night?" asked the little girl. make what +is called a _lunar_ rainbow. Luna was the ancient "The moon does +sometimes, but very rarely, name for the moon; but the arch you now see +is caused neither by the light of the sun nor of the moon, but is known by +the name of Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. The word Aurora means +morning, or dawn; and Borealis, northern. You know, my dear, what is meant +by the word dawn; it is the light that is seen in the sky before the sun +rises." + +Lady Mary replied, "Yes, Miss Campbell, I have often seen the sun rise, +and once very early too, when I was ill, and could not sleep; for nurse +lifted me in her arms out of bed, and took me to the window. The sky was +all over of a bright golden colour, with streaks of rosy red; and nurse +said, 'It is dawn; the sun will soon be up.' And I saw the beautiful sun +rise from behind the trees and hills. He came up so gloriously, larger +than when we see him in the middle of the sky, and I could look at him +without hurting my eyes." + +"Sunrise is indeed a glorious sight, my dear; but He who made the sun is +more glorious still. Do you remember what we read yesterday in the +Psalms?-- + + "Verse 1. The Heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament + sheweth his handywork. + + 2. One day telleth another, and one night certifieth another. + + 3. There is neither speech nor language where their voice is not + heard. + + 5. In them hath He set a tabernacle for the sun, which cometh forth + as a bridegroom from his chamber, and rejoiceth as a giant to + run his course." + +"The Northern Lights, Lady Mary, are frequently visible in Canada, but +are most brilliant in the colder regions near the North Pole, where they +serve to give light during the dark season, to those dismal countries from +which the sun is so many months absent. The light of the Aurora Borealis +is so soft and beautiful, that any object can be distinctly seen; though +in those cold countries there are few human beings to be benefited by this +beautiful provision of nature." + +"The wild beasts and birds must be glad of the pretty lights," said the +child thoughtfully; for Lady Mary's young heart always rejoiced when she +thought that God's gifts could be shared by the beasts of the field and +the fowls of the air, as well as by mankind. + +"Look now, my dear," said Miss Campbell, directing the attention of her +pupil to the horizon; "what a change has taken place whilst we have been +speaking. See, the arch is sending up long shafts of light; now they +divide, and shift from side to side, gliding along among the darker +portions of vapour, like moving pillars." + +"Ah! there, there they go!" cried the little girl, clapping her hands her +hands with delight. "See, nurse, how the pretty lights' chase each other, +and dance about! Up they go! higher and higher! How pretty they look! but +now they are gone. They are fading away; I am so sorry," said the child +despondingly, for a sudden cessation had taken place in the motions of the +heavens. + +"We will go in for a little time, my dear," said her governess; "and then +look out again. Great changes take place sometimes in these aerial +phenomena in a few minutes." + +"I suppose," said Lady Mary, "these lights are the same that the peasants +of Northern England and Ireland call the Merry Dancers." + +"Yes, they are the same; and they fancy that they are seen when war and +troubles are about to break out. But this idea is a very ignorant one; for +were, that the case, some of the cold countries of the world, where the +sky is illumined night after night by the Aurora Borealis, would be one +continual scene of misery. I have seen in this country a succession of +these lights for four or five successive nights. This phenomenon owes its +origin to _electricity_, which is a very wonderful agent in nature, +and exists in various bodies, perhaps in all created things. It is this +that shoots across the sky in the form of lightning, and causes the +thunder to be heard; circulates in the air we breathe; occasions +whirlwinds, waterspouts, earthquakes, and volcanoes; and makes one +substance attract another. + +"Look at this piece of amber; if I rub it on the table, it will become +warm to the touch. Now I will take a bit of thread, and hold near it. See, +the thread moves towards the amber, and clings to it. Sealing-wax, and +many other substances, when heated, have this property. Some bodies give +out flashes and sparks by being rubbed. If you stroke a black cat briskly +in the dark, you will see faint flashes of light come from her fur; and on +very cold nights in the winter season, flannels that are worn next the +skin crackle, and give sparks when taken off and shaken." + +These things astonished Lady Mary. She tried the experiment with the +amber and thread, and was much amused by seeing the thread attracted, and +wanted to see the sparks from the cat's back, only there happened, +unfortunately, to be no black cat or kitten in Government House. Mrs. +Frazer, however, promised to procure a beautiful black kitten for her, +that she might enjoy the singular sight of the electric sparks from its +coat; and Lady Mary wished winter were come, that she might see the sparks +from her flannel petticoat, and hear the sounds. + +"Let us now go and look out again at the sky," said Miss Campbell; and +Lady Mary skipped joyfully through the French window to the balcony, but +ran back, and flinging her arms about her nurse, cried out in accents of +alarm, "Nurse, nurse, the sky is all closing together! Oh, Miss Campbell, +what shall we do?" + +"There is no cause for fear, my dear child; do not be frightened. There +is nothing to harm us." + +Indeed, during the short time they had been absent, a great and +remarkable change had taken place in the appearance of the sky. The +electric fluid had diffused itself over the face of the whole heavens; the +pale colour of the streamers had changed to bright rose, pale violet, and +greenish yellow. At the zenith, or that part more immediately over head, a +vast ring of deep indigo was presented to the eye; from this swept down, +as it were, a flowing curtain of rosy light, which wavered and moved +incessantly as if agitated by a gentle breeze, though a perfect stillness +reigned through the air. The child's young heart was awed by this sublime +spectacle; it seemed to her as if it were indeed the throne of the Great +Creator of the world that she was gazing upon; and she veiled her face in +her nurse's arms, and trembled exceedingly, even as the children of Israel +when the fire of Mount Sinai was revealed, and they feared to behold the +glory of the Most High God. After a while, Lady Mary, encouraged by the +cheerful voices of her governess and nurse, ventured to look up to watch +the silver stars shining dimly as from beneath a veil, and she whispered +to herself the words that her governess had before repeated to her, "The +heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handywork." + +After a little while, Mrs. Frazer thought it better to put Lady Mary to +bed, as she had been up much longer than usual, and Miss Campbell was +afraid lest the excitement should make her ill; but the child did not soon +fall asleep, for her thoughts were full of the strange and glorious things +she had seen that night. + +[Footnote: Singularly splendid exhibitions of Aurora Borealis were visible +in the month, of August, 1839; in August, 1851; and again on the 21st +February, 1852. The colours were rosy red, varied with other prismatic +colours. + +But the most singular feature was the ring-like circle from which the +broad streams of light seemed to flow down in a curtain that appeared to +reach from heaven to earth. In looking upwards, the sky had the appearance +of a tent narrowed to a small circle at the top, which seemed to be the +centre of illimitable space. + +Though we listened with great attention, none of the crackling sounds +that some Northern travellers have declared to accompany the Aurora +Borealis could be heard; neither did any one experience any of the +disagreeable bodily sensations that are often felt during thunder-storms. +The atmosphere was unusually calm, and in two of the three instances warm +and agreeable.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +STRAWBERRIES--CANADIAN WILD FRUITS--WILD RASPBERRIES--THE HUNTER AND THE +LOST CHILD--CRANBERRIES-CRANBERRY MARSHES--NUTS. + + +One day Lady Mary's nurse brought her a small Indian basket, filled with +ripe red strawberries. + +"Nurse, where did you get these nice strawberries?" said the little girl, +peeping beneath the fresh leaves with which they were covered. "I bought +them from a little Indian squaw, in the street; she had brought them from a +wooded meadow, some miles off, my lady. They are very fine; see, they are +as large as those that the gardener sent in yesterday from the +forcing-house, and these wild ones have grown without any pains having been +bestowed upon them." + +"I did not think, nurse, that wild strawberries could have been so fine +as these; may I taste them?" + +Mrs. Frazer said she might. "These are not so large, so red, or so sweet +as some that I have gathered when I lived at home with my father," said +the nurse. "I have seen acres and acres of strawberries, as large as the +early scarlet that are sold so high in the market, on the Rice Lake +plains. When the farmers have ploughed a fallow on the Rice Lake plains, +the following summer it will be covered with a crop of the finest +strawberries. I have gathered pailsful day after day; these, however, have +been partly cultivated by the plough breaking up the sod; but they seem as +if sown by the hand of nature. These fruits, and many sorts of flowers, +appear on the new soil that were never seen there before. After a fallow +has been chopped, logged, and burnt, if it be left for a few years, trees, +shrubs and plants will cover it, unlike those that grew there before." + +"That is curious," said the child. "Does God sow the seeds in the new +ground?" + +"My lady, no doubt they come from Him; for He openeth his hand, and +filleth all things living with plenteousness. My father, who thought a +great deal on these subjects, said that the seeds of many plants may fall +upon the earth, and yet none of them take root till the soil be favourable +for their growth. It may be that these seeds had lain for years, preserved +in the earth, till the forest was cleared away, and the sun, air, and rain +caused them to spring up. Or the earth may still bring forth the herb of +the field, after its kind, as in the day of the creation; but whether it +be so or not, we must bless the Lord for his goodness and for the +blessings that He giveth us at all times." + +"Are there many sorts of wild fruits fit to eat, nurse, in this country? +Please, will you tell me all that you know about them?" + +"There are so many, Lady Mary, that I am afraid I shall weary you before +I have told you half of them." + +"Nurse, I shall not be tired, for I like to hear about fruits and flowers +very much; and my dear mamma likes you to tell me all you know about the +plants, trees, birds and beasts of Canada." + +"Besides many sorts of strawberries, there are wild currants, both black +and red, and many kinds of wild gooseberries," said Mrs. Frazer: "some +grow on wastes by the roadside, in dry soil, others in swamps; but most +gooseberries are covered with thorns, which grow not only on the wood, but +on the berries themselves." + +"I would not eat those disagreeable, thorny gooseberries; they would +prick my tongue," said the little girl. + +"They cannot be eaten without first being scalded. The settlers' wives +contrive to make good pies and preserves with them by first scalding the +fruit and then rubbing it between coarse linen cloths; I have heard these +tarts called thornberry pies, which, I think, was a good name for them. +When emigrants first come to Canada, and clear the backwoods, they have +little time to make nice fruit-gardens for themselves, and they are glad +to gather the wild berries that grow in the woods and swamps to make tarts +and preserves, so that they do not even despise the thorny gooseberries or +the wild black currants. Some swamp-gooseberries, however, are quite +smooth, of a dark red colour, but small, and they are very nice when ripe. +The blossoms of the wild currants are very beautiful, of a pale yellowish +green, and hang down in long, graceful branches; the fruit is harsh, but +makes wholesome preserves: but there are thorny currants as well as thorny +gooseberries; these have long, weak, trailing branches; the berries are +small, covered with stiff bristles, and of a pale red colour. They are not +wholesome; I have seen people made very ill by eating them; I have heard +even of their dying in consequence of having done so." + +"I am sure, nurse, I will not eat those wild currants," said Lady Mary; +"I am glad you have told me about their being poisonous." + +"This sort is not often met with, my dear; and these berries, though they +are not good for man, doubtless give nourishment to some of the wild +creatures that seek their food from God, and we have enough dainties, and +to spare, without them. + +"The red raspberry is one of the most common and the most useful to us of +the wild fruits. It grows in abundance all over the country, by the +roadside, in the half-opened woods, on upturned roots, or in old neglected +clearings; there is no place so wild but it will grow, wherever its roots +can find a crevice. With maple sugar, the farmers' wives never need lack a +tart, nor a dish of fruit and cream. The poor Irish emigrants' children go +out and gather pailsful, which they carry to the towns and villages to +sell. The birds, too, live upon the fruit, and, flying away with it to +distant places, help to sow the seed. A great many small animals eat the +ripe raspberry, for even the racoon and great black bear come in for their +share." + +"The black bears! Oh, nurse, oh, Mrs. Frazer!" exclaimed Lady Mary, in +great astonishment. "What! do bears eat raspberries?" + +"Yes, indeed, my lady, they do. Bears are fond of all ripe fruits. The +bear resembles the hog in all its tastes very closely; both in their +wild state will eat flesh, grain, fruit, and roots. There is a small red +berry in the woods that is known by the name of the bear-berry, +[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote moved to end of chapter.] of which +they say the young bears are particularly fond." + +"I should be afraid of going to gather raspberries, nurse, for fear of +the bears coming to eat them too." + +"The hunters know that the bears are partial to this fruit, and often +seek them in large thickets, where they grow. A young gentleman, Lady +Mary, once went out shooting game, in the province of New Brunswick, in +the month of July, when the weather was warm, and there were plenty of +wild berries ripe. He had been out for many hours, and at last found +himself on the banks of a creek. But the bridge he had been use to cross +was gone, having been swept away by heavy rains in the spring. Passing on +a little higher up, he saw an old clearing full of bushes; and knowing +that wild animals were often to be met in such spots, he determined to +cross over and try his luck for a bear, a racoon, or a young fawn. Not far +from the spot, he saw a large fallen swamp elm-tree, which made a capital +bridge. Just as he was preparing to cross, he heard the sound of footsteps +on the dry crackling sticks, and saw a movement among the raspberry +bushes; his finger was on the lock of his rifle in an instant, for he +thought it must be a bear or a deer; but just as he was about to fire, he +saw a small, thin, brown hand, all red and stained from the juice of the +ripe berries, reaching down a branch of the fruit; his very heart leaped +within him with fright, for in another moment he would have shot the poor +little child that, with wan, wasted face, was looking at him from between +the raspberry bushes. It was a little girl, about as old as you are, Lady +Mary. She was without hat or shoes, and her clothes were all in tatters; +her hands and neck were quite brown and sun-burnt. She seemed frightened +at first, and would have hid herself, had not the stranger called out +gently to her to stay, and not to be afraid; and then he hurried over the +log bridge, and asked her who she was, and where she lived. And she said +'she did not live anywhere, for she was lost.' She could not tell how many +days, but she thought she had been seven nights out in the woods. She had +been sent to take some dinner to her father, who was at work in the +forest; but had missed the path, and gone on a cattle track, and did not +find her mistake until it was too late; when she became frightened, and +tried to get back, but only lost herself deeper in the woods. The first +night she wrapped her frock about her head, and lay down beneath the +shelter of a great upturned root. She had eaten but little of the food she +had in the basket that day, for it lasted her nearly two; after it was +gone, she chewed some leaves, till she came to the raspberry clearing, and +got berries of several kinds, and plenty of water to drink from the creek. +One night, she said, she was awakened by a heavy tramping near her, and +looking up in the moonlight, saw two great black beasts, which she thought +were her father's oxen, and so she sat up and called, 'Buck,' 'Bright,'-- +for these were their names,--but they had no bells, and looked like two +great shaggy black dogs; they stood on their hind legs upright, and looked +at her, but went away. These animals were bears, but the child did not +know that, and she said she felt no fear--for she said her prayers every +night before she lay down to sleep, and she knew that God would take care +of her, both sleeping and waking." [Footnote: The facts of this story I +met with, many years ago, in a provincial paper. They afterwards appeared +in a Canadian sketch, in Chambers' Journal, contributed by me in 1838.] + +"And did the hunter take her home?" asked Lady Mary, who was much +interested in the story. + +"Yes, my dear, he did. Finding that the poor little girl was very weak, +the young man took her on his back,--fortunately he happened to have a +little wine in a flask, and a bit of dry biscuit in his knapsack, and this +greatly revived the little creature; sometimes she ran by his side, while +holding by his coat, talking to her new friend, seemingly quite happy and +cheerful, bidding him not to be afraid even if they had to pass another +night in the wood; but just as the sun was setting, they came out of the +dark forest into an open clearing. + +"It was not the child's home, but a farm belonging to a miller who knew +her father, and had been in search of her for several days; and he and his +wife were very glad when they saw the lost child, and gladly showed her +preserver the way; and they rejoiced much when the poor little girl was +restored safe and well to her sorrowing parents." + +"Nurse," said Lady Mary, "I am so glad the good hunter found the little +girl. I must tell my own dear mamma that nice story. How sorry my mamma +and papa would be to lose me in the woods." + +The nurse smiled, and said, "My dear lady, there is no fear of such an +accident happening to you. You are not exposed to the same trials and +dangers as the children of poor emigrants; therefore, you must be very +grateful to God, and do all you can to serve and please Him; and when you +are able, be kind and good to those who are not as well off as you are." + +"Are there any other wild fruits, nurse, besides raspberries and +strawberries, and currants and gooseberries?" + +"Yes, my dear lady, a great many more. We will begin with wild plums: +these we often preserve; and when the trees are planted in gardens, and +taken care of, the fruit is very good to eat. The wild cherries are not +very nice; but the bark of the black cherry is good for agues and low +fevers. The choke-cherry is very beautiful to look at, but hurts the +throat, closing it up if many are eaten, and making it quite sore. The +huckleberry is a sweet, dark blue berry, that grows on a very delicate low +shrub, the blossoms are very pretty, pale pink or greenish white bells, +the fruit is very wholesome; it grows on light dry ground, on those parts +of the country that are called plains in Canada. The settlers' children go +out in parties, and gather great quantities, either to eat or dry for +winter use. These berries are a great blessing to every one, besides +forming abundant food for the broods of young quails and partridges; +squirrels, too, of every kind eat them. There are blackberries also, Lady +Mary; and some people call them thimbleberries." + +"Nurse, I have heard mamma talk about blackberries." + +"The Canadian blackberries are not so sweet, I am told, my lady, as those +at home, though they are very rich and nice tasted; neither do they grow +so high. Then there are high bush cranberries, and low bush cranberries. +The first grow on a tall bush, and the fruit has a fine appearance, +hanging in large bunches of light scarlet, among the dark green leaves; +but they are very, very sour, and take a great deal of sugar to sweeten +them. The low bush cranberries grow on a slender trailing plant; the +blossom is very pretty, and the fruit about the size of a common +gooseberry, of a dark purplish red, very smooth and shining; the seeds are +minute, and lie in the white pulp within the skin; this berry is not nice +till it is cooked with sugar. There is a large cranberry marsh somewhere +at the back of Kingston, where vast quantities grow. I heard a young +gentleman say that he passed over this tract when he was hunting, while +the snow was on the ground, and that the red juice of the dropped berries +dyed the snow crimson beneath his feet. The Indians go every year to a +small lake called Buckhorn Lake, many miles up the river Otonabee, in the +Upper Province, to gather cranberries, which they sell to the settlers in +the towns and villages, or trade away for pork, flour, and clothes. The +cranberries, when spread out on a dry floor, will keep fresh and good for +a long time. Great quantities of cranberries are brought to England from +Russia, Norway, and Lapland, in barrels, or large earthern jars, filled +with brine; but the fruit thus roughly preserved must be drained, and +washed many times, and stirred with sugar, before it can be put into +tarts, or it would be salt and bitter. I will boil some cranberries with +sugar, that you may taste them; for they are very wholesome." + +Lady Mary said she should like to have some in her own garden. + +"The cranberry requires a particular kind of soil, not usually found in +gardens, my dear lady; for as the cranberry marshes are often covered with +water in the spring, I suppose they need a damp, cool soil, near lakes or +rivers; perhaps sand, too, may be good for them. But we can plant some +berries, and water them well; in a light soil they may grow, and bear +fruit, but I am not sure that they will do so. Besides these fruits, there +are many others, that are little used by men, but are of great service as +food to the birds and small animals. There are many kinds of nuts, too-- +filberts, with rough prickly husks, walnuts, butternuts, and hickory-nuts; +these last are large trees, the nuts of which are very nice to eat, and +the wood very fine for cabinet-work, and for firewood; the bark is used +for dyeing. Now, my dear, I think you must be quite tired with hearing so +much about Canadian fruits." + +Lady Mary said she was glad to learn that there were so many good things +in Canada, for she heard a lady say to her mamma, that it was an ugly +country, with nothing good or pretty in it. + +"There is something good and pretty to be found everywhere, my dear +child, if people will but open their eyes to see it, and their hearts to +enjoy the good things that God has so mercifully spread abroad for us and +all his creatures to enjoy. But Canada is really a fine country, and is +fast becoming a great one." + + +[Relocated Footnote: Arbutus ursursi--"Kinnikinnick," Indian name. + +There is a story about a bear and an Indian hunter, which will show how +bears eat berries. It is from the Journal of Peter Jacobs, the Indian +Missionary:-- + +"At sunrise, next morning," he says, "we tried to land, but the water was +so full of shoals, we could not without wading a great distance. + +"The beach before us was of bright sand, and the sun was about, [Footnote: +We find some curious expressions in this Journal, for Peter Jacobs is an +Indian, writing not his own, but a foreign language.] when I saw an object +moving on the shore; it appeared to be a man, and seemed to be making +signals of distress. We were all weary and hungry, but thinking it was a +fellow-creature in distress, we pulled towards him. Judge of our surprise +when the stranger proved to be an enormous bear. + +"He was seated on his hams, and what we thought his signals were his +raising himself on his hind legs to pull down the berries from a high +bush, and, with his paws full sitting down again to eat them at his +leisure. + +"Thus he continued daintily enjoying his ripe fruit in the posture some +lapdogs are taught to assume while eating. On we pulled, and forgot our +hunger and weariness; the bear still continued breakfasting. + +"We got as close on shore as the shoals would permit, and John, (one of +the Indians,) taking my double-barrelled gun, leaped into the water, gun +in hand, and gained the beach. Some dead brushwood hid the bear from +John's sight, but from the canoe we could see both John and the bear. + +"The bear now discovered us, and advanced towards us; and John, not +seeing him for the bush, ran along the beach towards him. The weariness +from pulling all night, and having eaten no food, made me lose my presence +of mind, for I now remembered that the gun was only loaded with duck-shot, +and you might as well meet a bear with a gun loaded with peas. + +"John was in danger, and we strained at our paddles to get to his +assistance; but as the bear was a very large one, and as we had no other +firearms, we should have been but poor helps to John in the hug of a +wounded bear. The bear was at the other side of the brush-heap: John heard +the dry branches cracking, and he dodged into a hollow under a bush. The +bear passed, and was coursing along the sand, but as he passed by where +John lay, bang went the gun.--The bear was struck. + +"We saw him leap through the smoke to the very spot where we had last seen +John. We held our breath; but instead of the cry of agony we expected to +hear from John, bang went the gun again--John is not yet caught. Our canoe +rushed through the water.--We might yet be in time; but my paddle fell from +my hand with joy as I saw John pop his head above the bush, and with a +shout point to the side of the log on which he stood, 'There he lies, dead +enough.' We were thankful indeed to our Great Preserver."--_Peter Jacob's +Journal._ + +Though fruit and vegetables seem to be the natural food of the bear, they +also devour flesh, and even fish,--a fact of which the good Indian +Missionary assures us; and that being new to my young readers, I shall +give them in his own words:-- + +"A few evenings after we left the 'Rock,' while the men were before me +'tracking,' (towing the canoe,) by pulling her along by a rope from the +shore, I observed behind a rock in the river, what I took to be a black +fox. I stole upon it as quietly as possible, hoping to get a shot, but the +animal saw me, and waded to the shore. It turned out to be a young bear +fishing. The bear is a great fisherman. His mode of fishing is very +curious. He wades into a current, and seating himself upright on his hams, +lets the water come about up to his shoulders; he patiently waits until the +little fishes come along and rub themselves against his sides, he seizes +them instantly, gives them a nip, and with his left paw tosses them over +his shoulder to the shore. His left paw is always the one used for tossing +ashore the produce of his fishing. Feeling is the sense of which Bruin +makes use here, not sight. + +"The Indians of that part say that the bear catches sturgeon when spawning +in the shoal-water; but the only fish that I know of their catching, is the +sucker: of these, in the months of April and May, the bear makes his daily +breakfast and supper, devouring about thirty or forty at a meal. As soon as +he has caught a sufficient number, he wades ashore, and regales himself on +the best morsels, which are the thick of the neck, behind the gills. The +Indians often shoot him when thus engaged."--Peter Jacob's Journal, p. 46_] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +GARTER-SNAKES--RATTLESNAKES--ANECDOTE OF A LITTLE BOY--FISHERMAN AND +SNAKE--SNAKE CHARMERS--SPIDERS--LAND-TORTOISE. + + +"Nurse, I have been so terrified. I was walking in the meadow, and a +great snake--so big, I am sure"--and Lady Mary held out her arms as wide +as she could--"came out of a tuft of grass. His tongue was like a scarlet +thread, and had two sharp points; and, do you know, he raised his wicked +head, and hissed at me; I was so frightened that I ran away. I think, Mrs. +Frazer, it must have been a rattlesnake. Only feel now how my heart beats" +--and the little girl took her nurse's hand, and laid it on her heart. + +"What colour was the snake, my dear?" asked her nurse. + +"It was green and black, chequered all over; and it was very large, and +opened its mouth very wide, and showed its red tongue. It would have +killed me if it had bitten me, would it not, nurse?" + +"It would not have harmed you, my lady or even if it had bitten you, it +would not have killed you. The chequered green snake of Canada is not +poisonous. It was more afraid of you than you were of it, I make no doubt." + +"Do you think it was a rattlesnake, nurse?" + +"No, my dear; there are no snakes of that kind in Lower Canada, and very +few below Toronto. The winters are too cold for them, but there are plenty +in the western part of the province, where the summers are warmer, and the +winters milder. The rattlesnake is a dangerous reptile, and its bite +causes death, unless the wound be burnt or cut out. The Indians apply +different sorts of herbs to the wound. They have several plants, known by +the names of rattlesnake root, rattlesnake weed, and snake root. It is a +good thing that the rattlesnake gives warning of its approach before it +strikes the traveller with its deadly fangs. Some people think that the +rattle is a sign of fear, and that it would not wound people, if it were +not afraid they were coming near to hurt it. I will tell you a story, Lady +Mary, about a brave little boy. He went out nutting one day with another +boy about his own age; and while they were in the grove gathering nuts, a +large black snake, that was in a low tree, dropped down and suddenly +coiled itself round the throat of his companion. The child's screams were +dreadful; his eyes were starting from his head with pain and terror. The +other, regardless of the danger, opened a clasp-knife that he had in his +pocket, and seizing the snake near the head, cut it apart, and so saved +his friend's life, who was well-nigh strangled by the tight folds of the +reptile, which was one of a very venomous species, the bite of which +generally proves fatal." + +"What a brave little fellow!" said Lady Mary. "You do not think it was +cruel, nurse, to kill the snake?" she added, looking up in Mrs. Frazer's +face. + +"No, Lady Mary, for he did it to save a fellow-creature from a painful +death; and we are taught by God's word that the soul of man is precious in +the sight of his Creator. We should be cruel were we wantonly to inflict +pain upon the least of God's creatures; but to kill them in self-defence, +or for necessary food, is not cruel; for when God made Adam, He gave him +dominion, or power, over the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, +and every creeping thing. It was an act of great courage and humanity in +the little boy, who perilled his own life to save that of his helpless +comrade, especially as he was not naturally a child of much courage, and +was very much afraid of snakes; but love for his friend overcame all +thought of his own personal danger. [Footnote: A fact related to me by an +old gentleman from the State of Vermont, as an instance of impulsive +feeling overcoming natural timidity.] + +"The large garter-snake, that which you saw, my dear lady, is +comparatively harmless. It lives on toads and frogs, and robs the nests of +young birds, and the eggs also. Its long forked tongue enables it to catch +insects of different kinds; it will even eat fish, and for that purpose +frequents the water as well as the black snake. + +"I heard a gentleman once relate a circumstance to my father that +surprised me a good deal. He was fishing one day in a river near his own +house, but, being tired, seated himself on a log or fallen tree, where his +basket of fish also stood; when a large garter-snake came up the log, and +took a small fish out of his basket, which it speedily swallowed. The +gentleman, seeing the snake so bold as not to mind his presence, took a +small rock-bass by the tail, and half in joke held it towards him, when, +to his great surprise, the snake glided towards him, took the fish out of +his hand, and sliding away with its prize to a hole beneath the log, began +by slow degrees to swallow it, stretching its mouth and the skin of its +neck to a great extent; till, after a long while, it was fairly gorged, +and then slid down its hole, leaving its neck and head only to be seen." + +"I should have been so frightened, nurse, if I had been the gentleman, +when the snake came to take the fish," said Lady Mary. + +"The gentleman was well aware of the nature of the reptile, and knew that +it would not bite him. I have read of snakes of the most poisonous kinds +being tamed and taught all manner of tricks. There are in India and Egypt +people that are called snake-charmers, who will contrive to extract the +fangs containing the venom from the Cobra capella, or hooded snake; which +then become quite harmless. These snakes are very fond of music, and will +come out of the leather bag or basket that their master carries them in, +and will dance or run up his arms, twining about his neck, and even +entering his mouth. They do not tell people that the poison-teeth have +been extracted, so that it is thought to be the music that keeps the snake +from biting. The snake has a power of charming birds and small animals by +fixing its eye steadily upon them, when the little creatures become +paralysed with fear, either standing quite still, or coming nearer and +nearer to their cruel enemy, till they are within his reach. The cat has +the same power, and can by this art draw birds from the tops of trees +within her reach. These little creatures seem unable to resist the +temptation of approaching her, and, even when driven away, will return +from a distance to the same spot, seeking, instead of shunning, the danger +which is certain to prove fatal to them in the end. Some writers assert +that all wild animals have this power in the eye, especially those of the +cat tribe, as the lion and tiger, leopard and panther. Before they spring +upon their prey, the eye is always steadily fixed, the back lowered, the +neck stretched out, and the tail waved from side to side; if the eye is +averted, they lose the animal, and do not make the spring." + +"Are there any other kinds of snakes in Canada, nurse," asked Lady Mary, +"besides the garter-snake?" + +"Yes, my lady, several; the black snake, which is the most deadly next to +the rattlesnake, is sometimes called the puff-adder, as it inflates the +skin of the head and neck when angry. The copper-bellied snake is also +poisonous. There is a small snake of a deep grass green colour sometimes +seen in the fields and open copse-woods. I do not think it is dangerous; I +never heard of its biting any one. The stare-worm is also harmless. I am +not sure whether the black snakes that live in the water are the same as +the puff or black adder. It is a great blessing, my dear, that these deadly +snakes are so rare, and do so little harm to man. Indeed, I believe they +would never harm him, were they let alone; but if trodden upon, they cannot +tell that it was by accident, and so put forth the weapons that God has +armed them with in self-defence. The Indians in the north-west, I have been +told, eat snakes, after cutting off their heads. The cat also eats snakes, +leaving the head; she will also catch and eat frogs, a thing I have +witnessed myself, and know to be true. [Footnote: I saw a half grown kitten +eat a live green frog, which she first caught and brought into the parlour, +playing with it like a mouse.] One day a snake fixed itself on a little +girl's arm and wound itself around it; the mother of the child was too much +terrified to tear the deadly creature off, but filled the air with cries. +Just then a cat came out of the house, and quick as lightning sprang upon +the snake, and fastened on its neck, which caused the reptile to uncoil its +folds, and it fell to the earth in the grasp of the cat; thus the child's +life was saved, and the snake killed. Thus you see, my dear, that God +provided a preserver for this little one when no help was nigh; perhaps the +child cried to Him for aid, and He heard her and saved her by means of the +cat." + +Lady Mary was much interested in all that Mrs. Frazer had told her; she +remembered having heard some one say that the snake would swallow her own +young ones, and she asked her nurse if it was true, and if they laid eggs. + +"The snake will swallow her young ones," said Mrs. Frazer. "I have seen +the garter-snake open her mouth and let the little ones run into it when +danger was nigh; the snake also lays eggs: I have seen and handled them +often; they are not covered with a hard, brittle shell, like that of a +hen, but with a sort of whitish skin, like leather; they are about the +size of a blackbird's egg, long in shape, some are rounder and larger. +They are laid in some warm place, where the heat of the sun and earth +hatches them; but though the mother does not brood over them, as a hen +does over her eggs, she seems to take great care of them, and defends them +from their many enemies by hiding them out of sight in the singular manner +I have just told you. This love of offspring, my dear child, has been +wisely given to all mothers, from the human mother down to the very lowest +of the insect tribe. The fiercest beast of prey loves its young, and +provides food and shelter for them; forgetting its savage nature to play +with and caress them. Even the spider, which is a disagreeable insect, +fierce and unloving to its fellows, displays the tenderest care for its +brood, providing a safe retreat for them in the fine silken cradle she +spins to envelope the eggs, which she leaves in some warm spot, where she +secures them from danger; some glue a leaf down, and overlap it, to ensure +it from being agitated by the winds, or discovered by birds. There is a +curious spider, commonly known as the nursing spider, who carries her sack +of eggs with her, wherever she goes; and when the young ones come out, +they cluster on her back, and so travel with her; when a little older, +they attach themselves to the old one by threads, and run after her in a +train." + +Lady Mary laughed, and said she should like to see the funny little +spiders all tied to their mother, trotting along behind her. + +"If you go into the meadow, my dear," said Mrs. Frazer, "you will see on +the larger stones some pretty shining little cases, quite round, looking +like grey satin." + +"Nurse, I know what they are," said Lady Mary; "last year I was playing in +the green meadow, and I found a piece of granite with several of these +satin cases. I called them silk pies, for they looked like tiny mince-pies. +I tried to pick one off, but it stuck so hard that I could not; so I asked +the gardener to lend me his knife, and when I raised the crust, it had a +little rim under the top, and I slipped the knife in, and what do you think +I saw? The pie was full of tiny black shining spiders, and they ran out, +such a number of them,--more than I could count, they ran so fast. I was +sorry I opened the crust, for it was a cold, cold day, and the little +spiders must have been frozen out of their warm air-tight house." + +"They are able to bear a great deal of cold, Lady Mary--all insects can; +and even when frozen hard, so that they will break if any one tries to +bend them, yet when spring comes again to warm them, they revive, and are +as full of life as ever. Caterpillars thus frozen will become butterflies +in due time. Spiders, and many other creatures, lie torpid during the +winter, and then revive in the same way as dormice, bears, and marmots do." + +"Nurse, please will you tell me something about tortoises and +porcupines?" said Lady Mary. + +"I cannot tell you a great deal about the tortoise, my dear," replied her +nurse. "I have seen them sometimes on the shores of the lakes, and once or +twice I have met with the small land-tortoise, in the woods on the banks of +the Otonabee river. The shell that covers these reptiles is black and +yellow, divided into squares--those which I saw were about the size of my +two hands. They are very harmless creatures, living chiefly on roots and +bitter herbs: perhaps they eat insects as well. They lie buried in the sand +during the long winters, in a torpid state: they lay a number of eggs, +about the size of a blackbird's, the shell of which is tough and soft, like +a snake's egg. The old tortoise buries these in the loose sand near the +water's edge, and leaves them to be hatched by the heat of the sun. The +little tortoise, when it comes out of the shell, is about as big as a large +spider--it is a funny-looking thing. I have heard some of the Indians say +that they dive into the water, and swim, as soon as they are hatched; but +this I am not sure of. I saw one about the size of a crown-piece that was +caught in a hole in the sand; it was very lively, and ran along the table, +making a rattling noise with its hard shell as it moved. An old one that +one of my brothers brought in he put under a large heavy box, meaning to +feed and keep it; but in the morning it was gone: it had lifted the edge of +the box and was away, nor could he find out how it had contrived to make +its escape from the room. This is all that I know about the Canadian +land-tortoise." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +ELLEN AND HER PET FAWNS--DOCILITY OF FAN--JACK'S DROLL TRICKS-- +AFFECTIONATE WOLF--FALL FLOWERS--DEPARTURE OF LADY MARY--THE END. + + +One day Lady Mary came to seek her nurse in great haste, to describe to +her a fine deer that had been sent as a present to her father by one of +his Canadian friends. She said the great antlers were to be put up over +the library-door. + +"Papa called me down to see the poor dead deer, nurse, and I was very +sorry it had been killed; it was such a fine creature. Major Pickford +laughed when I said so, but he promised to get me a live fawn. Nurse, what +is a fawn?" + +"It is a young deer, my lady." + +"Nurse, please can you tell me anything about fawns? Are they pretty +creatures, and can they be tamed; or are they fierce, wild little things?" + +"They are very gentle animals; and if taken young, can be brought up by +sucking the finger like a young calf or a pet lamb. They are playful and +lively, and will follow the person who feeds them like a dog. They are +very pretty, of a pale dun or red colour, with small white spots on the +back like large hailstones; the eyes are large and soft, and black, with a +very meek expression in them; the hoofs are black and sharp: they are +clean and delicate in their habits, and easy and graceful in their +movements." + +"Did you ever see a tame fawn?" asked Lady Mary. + +"I have seen several, my dear. I will tell you about a fawn that belonged +to a little girl whom I knew many years ago. A hunter had shot a poor doe, +which was very wrong, and contrary to the Indian hunting law; for the +native hunter will not, unless pressed for hunger, kill the deer in the +spring of the year, when the fawns are young. The Indian wanted to find +the little one after he had shot the dam, so he sounded a decoy whistle, +to imitate the call of the doe, and the harmless thing answered it with a +bleat, thinking no doubt it was its mother calling to it. This betrayed +its hiding-place, and it was taken unhurt by the hunter, who took it home, +and gave it to my little friend Ellen to feed and take care of." + +"Please, Mrs. Frazer, will you tell me what sort of trees hemlocks are? +Hemlocks in England are poisonous weeds." + +"These are not weeds, but large forest trees--a species of pine. I will +show you some the next time we go out for a drive--they are very handsome +trees." + +"And what are creeks, nurse." + +"Creeks are small streams, such as in Scotland would be termed 'burns,' +and in England rivulets." + +"Now, nurse, you may go on about the dear little fawn; I want you to tell +me all you know about it." + +"Little Ellen took the poor timid thing, and laid it in an old Indian +basket near the hearth, and put some wool in it, and covered it with an old +cloak to keep it warm; and she tended it very carefully, letting it suck +her fingers dipped in warm milk, as she had seen the dairy-maid do in +weaning young calves. In a few days it began to grow strong and lively, and +would jump out of its basket, and run bleating after its foster-mother: if +it missed her from the room, it would wait at the door watching for her +return. + +"When it was older, it used to run on the grass plot in the garden; but +if it heard its little mistress's step or voice in the parlour, it would +bound through the open window to her side; and her call of 'Fan, Fan, +Fan!' would bring it home from the fields near the edge of the forest; but +poor Fan got killed by a careless boy throwing some fire-wood down upon +it, as it lay asleep in the wood-shed. Ellen's grief was very great, but +all she could do was to bury it in the garden near the river-side, and +plant lilac bushes round its little green-sodded grave." + +"I am so sorry, nurse, that this good little girl lost her pretty pet." + +"Some time after the death of 'Fan,' Ellen had another fawn given to her. +She called this one Jack,--it was older, larger, and stronger, but was +more mischievous and frolicsome than her first pet. It would lie in front +of the fire on the hearth, like a dog, and rub its soft velvet nose +against the hand that patted it very affectionately, but gave a good deal +of trouble in the house: it would eat the carrots, potatoes, and cabbages, +while the cook was preparing them for dinner; and when the housemaid had +laid the cloth for dinner, Jack would go round the table and eat up the +bread she had laid to each plate, to the great delight of the children, +who thought it good fun to see him do so. + +"Ellen put a red leather collar about Jack's neck, and some months after +this he swam across the rapid river, and went off to the wild woods, and +was shot by some hunters, a great many miles away from his old home, being +known by his fine red collar. After the sad end of her two favourites, +Ellen would have no more fawns brought in for her to tame." + +Lady Mary was much interested in the account of the little girl and her +pets. "Is this all you know about fawns, nurse?" + +"I once went to call on a clergyman's wife who lived in a small log-house +near a new village. The youngest child, a fat baby of two years old, was +lying on the rug before a large log-fire, fast asleep; its little head was +pillowed on the back of a tame half-grown fawn that lay stretched on its +side, enjoying the warmth of the fire, as tame and familiar as a spaniel +dog. This fawn had been brought up with the children, and they were very +fond of it, and would share their bread and milk with it at meal times; +but it got into disgrace by gnawing the bark of the young orchard-trees, +and cropping the bushes in the garden; besides, it had a trick of opening +the cupboard, and eating the bread, and drinking any milk it could find; +so the master of the house gave it away to a baker who lived in the +village; but it did not forget its old friends, and used to watch for the +children going to school, and as soon as it caught sight of them, it would +trot after them, poking its nose into the basket to get a share of their +dinner, and very often managed to get it all." + +"And what became of this nice fellow, nurse?" + +"Unfortunately, my lady, it was chased by some dogs, and ran away to the +woods near the town, and never came back again. Dogs will always hunt tame +fawns when they can get near them, so it seems a pity to domesticate them +only to be killed in so cruel a way. The forest is the best home for these +pretty creatures, though even there they have many enemies beside the +hunter. The bear, the wolf, and the wolverine kill them. Their only means +of defence lies in their fleetness of foot. The stag will defend himself +with his strong horns; but the doe and her little fawn have no such +weapons to guard them when attacked by beasts of prey. The wolf is one of +the greatest enemies they have." + +"I hate wolves," said Lady Mary; "wolves can never be tamed, nurse." + +"I have heard and read of wolves being tamed and becoming very fond of +their masters. A gentleman in Canada once brought up a wolf puppy, which +became so fond of him that when he left it to go home to England, it +refused to eat, and died of grief at his absence. Kindness will tame even +fierce beasts, who soon learn to love the hand that feeds them. Bears and +foxes have often been kept tame in this country, and eagles and owls; but +I think they cannot be so happy shut up, away from their natural +companions and habits, as if they were free to go and come at their own +will." + +"I should not like to be shut up, nurse, far away from my own dear home," +said the little girl, thoughtfully. "I think, sometimes, I ought not to +keep my dear squirrel in a cage--shall I let him go?" + +"My dear, he has now been so used to the cage, and to have all his daily +wants supplied, that I am sure he would suffer from cold and hunger at +this season of the year if he were left to provide for himself, and if he +remained here the cats and weasels might kill him." + +"I will keep him safe from harm, then, till the warm weather comes again; +and then, nurse, we will take him to the mountain, and let him go, if he +likes to be free, among the trees and bushes." + +It was now the middle of October; the rainy season that usually comes in +the end of September and beginning of October in Canada was over. The soft +hazy season, called Indian summer, was come again; the few forest leaves +that yet lingered were ready to fall--bright and beautiful they still +looked, but Lady Mary missed the flowers. + +"I do not love the fall--I see no flowers now, except those in the +greenhouse. The cold, cold winter will soon be here again," she added +sadly. + +"Last year, dear lady, you said you loved the white snow, and the +sleighing, and the merry bells, and wished that winter would last all the +year round." + +"Ah! yes, nurse; but I did not know how many pretty birds and flowers I +should see in the spring and the summer; and now they are all gone, and I +shall see them no more for a long time." + +"There are still a few flowers, Lady Mary, to be found; look at these." + +"Ah, dear nurse, where did you get them? How lovely they are!" + +"Your little French maid picked them for you, on the side of the +mountain. Rosette loves the wild flowers of her native land." + +"Nurse, do you know the names of these pretty starry flowers on this +little branch, that look so light and pretty?" + +"These are asters; a word, your governess told me the other day, meaning +starlike; some people call these flowers Michaelmas daisies. These lovely +lilac asters grow in light dry ground; they are among the prettiest of our +fall flowers. These with the small white starry flowers crowded upon the +stalks, with the crimson and gold in the middle, are dwarf asters." + +"I like these white ones, nurse; the little branches look so nicely +loaded with blossoms; see, they are quite bowed down with the weight of +all these flowers." + +"These small shrubby asters grow on dry gravelly banks of lakes and +rivers." + +"But here are some large dark purple ones." + +"These are also asters; they are to be found on dry wastes, in stony +barren fields, by the corners of rail-fences; they form large spreading +bushes, and look very lovely, covered with their large dark purple +flowers. There is no waste so wild, my lady, but the hand of the Most High +can plant it with some blossom, and make the waste and desert place +flourish like a garden. Here are others, still brighter and larger, with +yellow disks, and sky-blue flowers; these grow by still waters, near +milldams and swampy places. Though they are larger and gayer, I do not +think they will please you so well as the small ones that I first showed +you; they do not fade so fast, and that is one good quality they have." + +"They are more like the china asters in the garden, nurse, only more +upright and stiff; but here is another sweet blue flower--can you tell me +its name?" + +"No, my dear, you must ask your governess." + +Lady Mary carried the nosegay to Miss Campbell, who told her the blue +flower was called the Fringed Gentian, and that the gentians and asters +bloomed the latest of all the autumn flowers in Canada. Among these wild +flowers, she also showed her the large dark blue bell flowered gentian, +which was indeed the last flower of the year." + +"Are there no more flowers in bloom now, nurse?" asked the child, as she +watched Mrs. Frazer arranging them for her in a flower-glass. + +"I do not know of any now in bloom but the golden rods and the latest of +the ever-listings. Rosette shall go out, and try to get some of them for +you. The French children make little mats and garlands of them to ornament +their houses, and to hang on the little crosses above the graves of their +friends, because they do not fade away like other flowers." + +Next day, Rosette, the little nursery-maid, brought Lady Mary an Indian +basket full of Sweet-scented everlastings. This flower had a fragrant +smell; the leaves were less downy than some of the earlier sorts, but were +covered with a resinous gum, that caused it to stick to the fingers; it +looked quite silky, from the thistledown, which, falling upon the leaves, +were gummed down to the surface. + +"The country folks," said Mrs. Frazer, "call this plant Neglected +everlasting, because it grows on dry wastes by road-sides, among thistles +and fireweed; but I love it for its sweetness; it is like a true friend-- +it never changes. See, my dear, how shining its straw-coloured blossoms +and buds are, just like satin flowers." + +"Nurse, it shall be my own flower," said the little girl, "and I will +make a pretty garland of it, to hang over my own dear mamma's picture. +Rosette says she will show me how to tie the flowers together; she has +made me a pretty wreath for my doll's straw hat, and she means to make her +a mat and a carpet too." + +The little maid promised to bring her young lady some wreaths of the +festoon pine; a low-creeping plant, with dry, green chaffy leaves, that +grows in the barren pine woods, of which the Canadians make Christmas +garlands, and also some of the winter berries, and spice berries, which +look so gay in the fall and early spring, with berries of brightest +scarlet, and shining dark green leaves, that trail over the ground on the +gravelly hills and plains. + +Nurse Frazer brought Lady Mary some sweetmeats, flavored with an extract +of the spicy winter green, from the confectioner's shop; the Canadians +being very fond of the flavor of this plant. The Indians chew the leaves, +and eat the ripe mealy berries, which have something of the taste of the +bay-laurel leaves. The Indian men smoke the leaves as tobacco. + +One day, while Mrs. Frazer was at work in the nursery, her little charge +came to her in a great state of agitation--her cheeks were flushed, and +her eyes were dancing with joy; she threw herself into her arms, and said, +"Oh! dear nurse, I am going home to dear old England and Scotland. Papa +and mamma are going away from Government House, and I am to return to the +old country with them; I am so glad, are not you?" + +But the tears gathered in Mrs. Frazer's eyes and fell fast upon the work +she held in her hand. Lady Mary looked surprised, when she saw how her +kind nurse was weeping. + +"Nurse, you are to go too; mamma says so; now you need not cry, for you +are not going to leave me." + +"I cannot go with you, my dearest child," whispered her weeping +attendant, "much as I love you; for I have a dear son of my own. I have +but him, and it would break my heart to part from him;" and she softly put +aside the bright curls from Lady Mary's fair forehead, and tenderly kissed +her. "This child is all I have in the world to love me, and when his +father, my own kind husband, died, he vowed to take care of me, and +cherish me in my old age, and I promised that I would never leave him; so +I cannot go away from Canada with you, my lady, though I dearly love you." + +"Then, Mrs. Frazer, I shall be sorry to leave Canada; for when I go home, +I shall have no one to talk to me about beavers, and squirrels, and +Indians, and flowers, and birds." + +"Indeed, my lady, you will not want for amusement there, for England and +Scotland are finer places than Canada. Your good governess and your new +nurse will be able to tell you many things that will delight you; and you +will not quite forget your poor old nurse, I am sure, when you think about +the time you have spent in this country." + +"Ah, dear good old nurse, I will not forget you," said Lady Mary, +springing into her nurse's lap, and fondly caressing her, while big bright +tears fell from her eyes. + +There was so much to do, and so much to think about before the Governor's +departure, that Lady Mary had no time to hear any more stories, nor to ask +any more questions about the natural history of Canada; though, doubtless, +there were many other curious things that Mrs. Frazer could have related; +for she was a person of good education, who had seen and noticed as well +as read a great deal. She had not always been a poor woman, but had once +been a respectable farmer's wife, though her husband's death had reduced +her to a state of servitude; and she had earned money enough while in the +Governor's service to educate her son, and this was how she came to be +Lady Mary's nurse. + +Lady Mary did not forget to have all her Indian curiosities packed up +with some dried plants and flower seeds, collected by her governess; but +she left the cage, with her flying squirrel, to Mrs. Frazer, to take care +of till the following spring, when she told her to take it to the +mountain, or St. Helen's Island, and let it go free, that it might be a +happy squirrel once more, and bound away among the green trees in the +Canadian woods. + +When Mrs. Frazer was called in to take leave of the Governor and his +lady, after receiving a handsome salary for her care and attendance on +their little daughter, the Governor gave her a sealed parchment, which, +when she opened, was found to contain a Government deed for a fine lot of +land, in a fertile township in Upper Canada. + +It was with many tears and blessings that Mrs. Frazer took leave of the +good Governor's family; and, above all, of her beloved charge, Lady Mary. + + + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lady Mary and her Nurse, by +Catharine Parr Strickland Traill + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY MARY AND HER NURSE *** + +***** This file should be named 6479.txt or 6479.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/7/6479/ + +Produced by Avinash Kothare, Tom Allen, Juliet Sutherland, +Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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