Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE WHITE REINDEER1 Ernest Thompson Seton Ernest Thompson Seton (1860- ), an American artist and writer of animal stories, was born in South Shields, England. From his sixth to his ninth year he lived in the quiet of the backwoods of Canada, and from his eleventh to his sixteenth year his 5 home was on the Western plains. Thus the young observer of nature had ample opportunity to begin the study of wild animals and their ways. This opportunity was greatly enlarged later when he was appointed official naturalist of Manitoba. As a result of studies made while holding this office, he wrote Birds of Manitoba 10 and Animals of Manitoba. In order that he might the better draw the birds and beasts in which he delighted, he spent six years in Paris studying art. On his return to America he was one of the chief illustrators of the Century Dictionary. 15 The freshness and interest of such stories as Wild Animals that I Have Known, the Biography of a Grizzly, and Wild Animal Play make this author popular with both old and young. Many a little calf reindeer had been born that spring, and had drifted away on the moss barrens, 20 to come back no more; for some were weaklings and some were fools; some fell by the way, for that is law; and some would not learn the rules, and so died. But the White Calf was strongest of them all, and he was wise, so he learned of his 25 mother, who was wisest of them all. He learned 1 From Animal Heroes. Copyright, 1905. Charles Scribner's Sons, Publishers. that the grass on the sunny side of a rock is sweet, and though it looks the same in the dark hollows, it is there worthless. He learned that when his mother's hoofs crackled he must be up and moving, 5 and when all the herd's hoofs crackled there was danger, and he must keep by...