In the Forest | Page 2

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.
[Illustration: THE FLYING SQUIRREL]
"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, 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