1X7 R OD UC TOR Y PA GES. 3 



herself possessing the advantages of a highly cultivated mind, educated 



and trained in the society of persons of scientific and literary notoriety 



in the Old Country. Mrs. Stewart was a member of the celebrated 



Edgeworth family. " Pursh's Flora," unfortunately for me, was chiefly 



written in Latin. This was a drawback in acquiring the information I 



required ; however, I did manage to make some use of the book, and 



when I came to a standstill, I had recourse to my husband, and there 



being a dictionary of the common names, as well as one of the 



botanical, I contrived to get a familiar knowledge of both. My next 



teachers were old settlers' wives, and choppers and Indians. These 



gave me knowledge of another kind, and so by slow steps I gleaned 



my plant lore — but it was under difficulty. Having no resource in 



botanical works on our native Flora, save what I could glean from 



Pursh, I relied eniirely upon my own powers of observation, and this 



did very much to enhance my interest in my adopted country and add 



to my pleasure as a relief, at times, from the home longings that always 



arise in the heart of the exile, especially when the sweet opening days 



of Spring return to the memory of the immigrant Canadian settler, 



when the hedges put out their green buds, and the Violets scent the 



air, when pale Primroses and the gay starry Celandine gladden the 



eye, and the little green lanes and wood-paths are so pleasant to ramble 



through, among the Daisies and Blue-bells, and Buttercups; and all the 



gay embroidery of English meads and hedgerows put on their bright 



array. But for the Canadian forest flowers, and trees and shrubs, 



and the lovely ferns and mosses, I think I should not have been 



as contented as I have been, away from dear old England. It was in 



the hope of leading other lonely hearts to enjoy the same pleasant 



recreation, that I have so often pointed out the natural beauties of 



this country to their attention, and now present my forest gleanings 



to them in a simple form, trusting that it may not^ prove an 



unacceptable addition to the literature of Canada, and that it may 



become a household book, . as Gilbert White's Natural History of 



Selborne is to this day among English readers ; and now at the age of 



eighty-three years, fifty-two of which have been spent in the fair province 



of Ontario, in her far forest home on the banks of the rapid Otonabee, 



the writer lays down her pen, with earnest prayers for the prosperity of 



this her much beloved adopted country; that with the favour and blessing 



of our God it may become the glory of all lands. 



Lakefieli), Ont,, 1884. 



