Animal Husbandry
Despite her farming heritage, Mary Grant Bruce did not have much success with animal keeping. And she decided to let children reading The Leader newspaper know about that!
The stories in this category are:
‘How I Kept Poultry’
‘On Silk Worms’
‘Shepherding’
From ‘On Silk Worms’:
My sister went into violent hysterics one night on finding a silkworm on the cushion of the sofa on which she was lying. I don’t know how it got there. I only know, like poor little Ikey, it was “killed in the crush.” But that fact afforded only balm to my injured sister, and elicited no compassion from the rest of the family, who were supporting her shrinking form. My father said something about “a little beast.” I suppose he meant the grub. I hope so, anyhow.
* * *
Then the end came. It was just at the close of the grub life, when the things were too fat and lazy to move—for which I thanked my stars—and I had prepared little paper nests for them to spin in. I looked upon my fortune as within my grasp. And then the magpie got into my room. He was a happy bird when I found him, and I was a grubless owner. I said all I felt to the magpie, and it was several and vehement, and the magpie winked and said, “You old goat!” He was a highly educated bird.
The Trustee of The Mary Grant Bruce Family Trust owns the extant copyrights on Mary Grant Bruce’s short stories.