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.
* * * * *
PART I
[Illustration: LADY MARY READING HER PICTURE-BOOK.]
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 gray 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 gray 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 gray squirrels called him cousin, and invited
him to dinner. They very civilly set before him some acorns and beechnuts;
but he proved a hungry visitor, and ate as much as would have fed the
whole family for a week. After the gray 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 gray 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 gray 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 gray 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 gray 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 gray 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 gray 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 started 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 Nimble-foot, 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 Vehret-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 gray 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
could 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 gray 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.
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 up-turned 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 gray squirrels, and their fur was short,
without the soft, thick glossy look upon it of the gray 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 windfalls, and had their granaries and winter houses
too underground, 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 gray 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 gray 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.
[Illustration: THE GRAY SQUIRREL AND THE CHITMUNKS.]
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 gray 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 gray 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 gray 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
Nimble-foot and Velvet-paw to forsake her in such a time of need; nor was
this the only danger that befell 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 gray 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 be 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 all day long for her brother
Nimble-foot, or sister Velvet-paw, 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.
[Illustration: THE PET SQUIRREL]
* * * * *
"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."
* * * * *
PART III.
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 ran 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 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, harking 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 gray 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 gray 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 tomcat, 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 gray—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 gray 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, which 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 waggon 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 gray 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 of 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 gray
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 feel 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 gray 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 gray 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.
[Illustration: NIMBLE RECOVERING HIS SISTER.]
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 fruit 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, no 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 dulness; 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 continued reading 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. 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 deathlike 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 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 woodthrush, 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 their 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 intrap the unwary moth or musquito 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 treetops, 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 stop up 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 aged 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 recommence 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 daresay 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 gray squirrels, though full of grief and vain regret, were obliged to
take care of themselves. There was, indeed, no time to be lost; so
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 gray ones, which belong to 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."