XXXvi PREFACE. 



hope was ever before us, and the finding of shining 

 stones — red, yellow and white — bits of jet or amber, a 

 shell or lovely seaweed, to be deposited in bag or basket, 

 would send us home jubilant to add to the hoarded 

 store of fossils and other garnered treasures, or to show 

 to the dear mother, who would ^turn the treasures over 

 and say with a smile, " Let me see what precious pearls 

 my Katie has found among her many pebbles hardly 

 worth bringing home." 



Still the time was not wholly wasted. Health and 

 pleasure had been gained with my pebbles, and had 

 there been but one pearl among them, the simple heart 

 of the little maiden had been well content. 



So, my readers, if you glean but one bright glad 

 thought from the pages of my little volume, or add but 

 one pearl to your store of knowledge from the expe- 

 rience of the now aged naturalist, she will not think 

 the time wasted that has been spent in gathering the 

 pebbles from note-book and journals written during the 

 long years of her life in the backwoods of Canada. 



" Westove," Lakefield, 



September 20th, 1894. 



