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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... sight of mine host , whose keen , black eyes were bent on me with , as I thought , a sinister , inquisitive look , such that I shrunk affright- ed from before him . Second , poverty could dash the emigrant's hope for a better future ...
... by the female bird . Her bright eyes quickly caught sight of the scraps of muslin , and down she came from her * Yellow Warbler , or Summer Bird - Dendroica œstiva . perch in the bush and carried off the prize to 18 PEARLS AND PEBBLES.
... sight those maples present just now ! The leaves are only begin- ning to burst from their brown winter sheathing , but the tassels of pale yellow flowers hang pendent from every spray , dancing in the light warm air ; every breath sets ...
Catharine Parr Traill Elizabeth Helen Thompson. Truly the trees are a sight to gladden the eye and to lift up the rejoic- ing heart from earth to the throne of the glorious God who has given such beauty to His creatures to enjoy ...
... sight among the grass and herbage below the tree ; then , noiselessly gliding away , she reappeared on a tree beyond the garden and uttered a succession of loud angry cries , each a distinct syl- lable— “ Kow ! kow ! kow ! kow ...
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 |