Lady Mary and her Nurse

e a grey feather! Is it a little beaver?" asked the Governor's [Footnote: Lady Mary's father was Governor of Canada.] littl

eeping from beneath her muslin neckerchief, the nurse held a s

covered with fur; it is scaly, broad, and flat; it looks something like black leather, not very unlike that of m

like to eat them; so, if you please, Mrs. Frazer, do not let me have any beav

you wished to taste one, for beavers are not brought to our market. It is only the Indians

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 n

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 h

rse? Is it a large city

rge town on the shores o

ere many wo

all cleared, and there are fields of wheat and Indian corn, and nice farms an

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

his pretty creature, nurse," said the little l

brother is not in want; he has a farm in

ady Mary; "indeed, I do not see so

and strong and can work; a poor man can soon earn

y 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, nur

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

nurse! it is here, now it is on the wall, now on 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

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

eat that we have not given him. Why does he not lie down and sleep on the nice soft bed you have mad

e 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 sleep

nter 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

anty, far, far away up the country, near a beautiful lake, called Rice Lake, among woods,

ey are called black and white; a

ke 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, t

I heard the wicked wolves howling in the dark woods, by n

he 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; a

me what a sto

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 stop

run away," s

eard 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 terrib

een a sad thing if the

ite spot on the bark of a tree at a great distance without missing. It was an old Indi

and I dare say they would devour my little squirrel if they could get him. N

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

are wi

th 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,

house; and I am glad I do not live in

ted 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

e Pagans

believe in God, and the Lord Je

y governess say that rice grew only in warm countries. Now, yo

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

rice good to

ney 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

birds as well as to men

y M

waters, that I dare say they also have their share. When the rice is fully ripe, the sun shining on it gives

h about the Indian rice, and I will ask mamma to let me have

ide, and so for the present we shall leave her; but we will tell our little re