In the Forest; Or, Pictures of Life and Scenery in the Woods of Canada: A Tale

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, John R. Bilderback, Charles
Franks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. This file was produced from images generously made available by the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions.
Editorial note: This book is essentially identical to LADY MARY AND HER NURSE, by Mrs. Traill, Project Gutenberg EBook #6479, but the two come from different sources.
or, PICTURES OF LIFE AND SCENERY IN THE WOODS OF CANADA
1881
List of Illustrations.
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 gray feather! Is it a little beaver? asked the Governor's 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 gray-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.