Pearls and PebblesHow fitting to close out the 20th century with a brand new edition of Pearls & Pebbles by the noted chronicler of pioneer life, Catharine Parr Traill. Published in 1894, Pearls & Pebbles is an unusual book with a lasting charm, in which the author's broad focus ranges from the Canadian natural environment to early settlement of Upper Canada. Through Traill's eyes, we see the life of the pioneer woman, the disappearance of the forest, and the corresponding changes in the life of the Native Canadians who have inhabited that forest. Editor Elizabeth Thompson reminds us of the significance of the writings by Traill, the aged author/naturalist, who felt that the hours spent gathering the pebbles and pearls from her notebooks and journals written in the backwoods of Canada was not time wasted. |
From inside the book
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... lovely valley of the Waveney , most of my young life was spent at Reydon Hall , an old Elizabethan mansion in the eastern part of the county of Suffolk , and within easy walk of the sea - coast town of South- wold , now a much more ...
... lovely spot into view . Visions of pleasant rustic homes to be made by forest , lake and riv- er rose to my mental vision as our vessel threaded her way among those fairy islands ; and with almost childish delight I would point out wild ...
... lovely it was ! My husband smiled at my enthusiasm . Had he ever beheld so glorious a sunset before ? " Yes , many a time , in Italy and in Switzerland : often quite as beautiful . ” I wished to claim all the loveliness for Canada , the ...
... lovely , so also was the dawn , as the sun rose in robes of the most exquisite colors . The boat was now bearing in nearer to the shores of what appeared to be a rolling country , all clothed with forest green . Hill rising above hill ...
... lovely living gem is the Ruby - throated Hummingbird , * 2 , with its bril- liant ruby , green and gold colors flashing in the sunlight . The rapidity of its flight is greater than that of any other bird . A dart and it is gone ; we ...
Contents
3 | |
5 | |
9 | |
14 | |
21 | |
MORE ABOUT MY FEATHERED FRIENDS | 32 |
A DEFENSE | 45 |
NOTES FROM MY OLD DIARY | 49 |
THOUGHTS ON VEGETABLE INSTINCT | 109 |
SOME CURIOUS PLANTS | 115 |
SOME VARIETIES OF POLLEN | 120 |
THE CRANBERRY MARSH | 123 |
OUR NATIVE GRASSES | 126 |
INDIAN GRASS | 132 |
MOSSES AND LICHENS | 136 |
THE INDIAN MOSS BAG | 141 |
THE SPIDER | 58 |
PROSPECTING AND WHAT I FOUND IN MY DIGGING | 62 |
THE ROBIN AND THE MIRROR | 65 |
IN THE CANADIAN WOODS | 67 |
THE FIRST DEATH IN THE CLEARING | 82 |
ALONE IN THE FOREST | 90 |
ON THE ISLAND OF MINNEWAWA | 99 |
THE CHILDREN OF THE FOREST | 103 |
SOMETHING GATHERS UP THE FRAGMENTS | 144 |
APPENDIX A | 151 |
APPENDIX B | 181 |
APPENDIX C | 183 |
ENDNOTES | 187 |
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS | 199 |
INDEX | 203 |