THE LIFE OF A BEAVER COLONY 109 
days, the young had grown and thrived on the 
vast insect life which abounds in those northern 
woods. The trees had flowered and fruited, that 
new seeds might be sown and young trees grown 
to fill the ranks of the old and fallen. Smaller 
plants had gladdened the woods with their minute 
spots of colour and furnished fruits and seeds to 
feed many creatures during the coming winter. 
The wild meadows were filled with new grasses 
to feed the deer and others that were dependent 
on such simple diet, and everything had gone along 
in its wonderful, orderly way, arranging supply 
and demand with supernatural accuracy, leaving 
the annual balance-sheet audited by the unseen 
power that takes charge of all our accounts, 
whether it be the tiny and apparently insignificant 
chickadee whose duty it is to protect the forests 
against the ravages of certain insects or man whose 
responsibilities are so far-reaching. 
The young beaver family had thrived and grown, 
and were ready to assist their parents to the best 
of their small ability, and even if their help was of 
little account they could at least learn, by watching, 
how the various tasks were accomplished. Not 
intentionally did the parents undertake their 
education. That only happens in story-books in 
which the authors try to humanise the animals and 
make them follow our own further advanced and 
complicated methods which change as our lives 
become more and more complex. The animals 
