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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... SPIDER 58 PROSPECTING , AND WHAT I FOUND IN MY DIGGING THE ROBIN AND THE MIRROR 65 IN THE CANADIAN WOODS 67 THE FIRST DEATH IN THE CLEARING 82 ALONE IN THE FOREST 90 62 ON THE ISLAND OF MINNEWAWA 99 THE CHILDREN OF THE CONTENTS.
... woods , far from the noisy haunts of men . " She goes on to implicate pioneers in the tanager's disappearance : During my first year's residence in the Douro backwoods , I used to watch eager- ly for the appearance of these beautiful ...
... destruction , " coupled with Traill's obvious love of the bush as it was , move her writing beyond factual reporting into ecological elegy . " In the Canadian Woods " concludes with a section EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION xix.
Catharine Parr Traill Elizabeth Helen Thompson. " In the Canadian Woods " concludes with a section on winter , where , rather belatedly , there is an obvious and somewhat awkward shift in point of view , as Traill modifies her position ...
... woods , under last year's sheltering bed of fallen leaves , they have bloomed because protected from the chilling winds ; but here in the open borders of my garden they are late , very late . But why quarrel with the delay , since I now ...
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 |