king nor ruler; yet they work in perfect love and harmony. How pleasant it
would be, Lady Mary, if all Christian people would love each other as
these poor beavers seem to do!"

"Nurse how can beavers cut down trees; they have neither axes nor saws?"

"Here, Lady Mary, are the axes and saws with which God has provided these
little creatures;" and Mrs. Frazer showed Lady Mary two long curved tusks,
of a reddish-brown colour, which she told her were the tools used by the
beavers to cut and gnaw the trees; she said she had seen trees as thick as
a man's leg, that had been felled by these simple tools.

Lady Mary was much surprised that such small animals could cut through
any thing so thick.

"In nature," replied her nurse, "we often see great things done by very
small means. Patience and perseverance work well. The poplar, birch, and
some other trees, on which beavers feed, and which they also use in making
their dams, are softer and more easily cut than oak, elm or birch would
be: these trees are found growing near the water, and in such places as
the beavers build in. The settler owes to the industrious habits of this
animal those large open tracts of land called beaver meadows, covered with
long, thick, rank grass, which he cuts down and uses as hay. These beaver
meadows have the appearance of dried-up lakes. The soil is black and
spongy; for you may put a stick down to the depth of many feet; it is only
in the months of July, August, and September, that they are dry. Bushes of
black alder, with a few poplars and twining shrubs, are scattered over the
beaver meadows; some of which have high stony banks; and little islands of
trees. On these are many pretty wild flowers; among others, I found
growing on the dry banks some real hare-bells, both blue and white."