CHAPTER II.

IDLERS DRIVEN OUT.

IN the spring, Mr. Beaver took a very long journey, as beavers are used to do at that time of the year; and when he came home he found that his wife had a nice little family of five young ones, big enough to run about and help in the work of the house. That summer two more pairs of beavers came and set up housekeeping on the banks of the stream. They were very good-natured, helpful people, willing to do their share of all the work which was going on, and Mr. and Mrs. Beaver gave them a warm welcome, showing them where the best bark grew, and where the white lily roots were sweetest, for beavers are usually very polite and kind to one another.

The next year there were many young beavers frisking about the dam and in the water, and in the course of time the colony grew to be a very large one. They had not been disturbed by hunters or trappers; they always had plenty to eat; they were kind to one another, and upon the whole, they were very happy.

However, nobody gets through the world without some trouble, and the beavers had their share. One year three or four of the young beavers refused to work at the dam, or at bringing in bark and branches for food. They did not like rooting in the mud, they said, or gnawing at branches till their jaws ached. They were made perfect slaves of, and they would stand it no longer. And with that they set up their backs, and showed their teeth, and tried to look very grand and independent, but they only succeeded in looking cross. Their fathers and mothers talked to them kindly about their faults, and then tried punishing them, but all did no good. They were just as idle and naughty as before.

When the other beavers saw this, they called a council to consult as to what was to be done; and after talking the matter over, they agreed that unless the idle beavers came to their senses, and were willing to do their fair share of the work, they must be driven from the village, and live by themselves as they best could.

The idlers said they did not care; they could live well enough anywhere. So the old beavers drove them out of the village, and would not let them come back any more. They also warned the other young beavers to have nothing to do with them in any way, for they were wise enough to know how soon good manners are spoiled by bad company.

So these idlers went away and lived in the woods, not very far from the beaver dam. They were too lazy and stupid to build nice houses, so they just scratched holes in the ground to sleep in, and spent their whole time in doing nothing at all, which is just the hardest work in the world when one has too much of it.

It was about two years after the idlers were driven from the village that Binney was born. As soon as he was able to notice anything, he found himself lying on a nice bed of hay with three other little beavers just like himself. They all had bright black eyes, short stout legs, very long strong fore-feet, and hind-feet webbed like those of a goose, having long claws, with which they soon learned to comb their soft fur, and keep it in nice order. They had also broad, flat tails, shaped like a mason's trowel, and clothed with scales instead of hair. They were merry little things, and soon began to have fine games of play with the other little beavers in the town. With these little friends they swam in the pond, dived from the dam, and ran about the banks of the stream all day long.

But they soon found out that life was not to be all play. As soon as they were big enough, their mothers began to teach them to work. First they learned to bring grass and straw for the nest, holding the load under their chins with one paw, and walking with the other three. Then they were taught to dive for mud and moss at the bottom of the pond, and at last to gnaw down twigs and sticks for the dam.

At first Binney thought it would be a fine thing to work like a grown-up beaver, but he soon found out that work is not as easy as play. After a time he began to be idle, and would slip away from his work to play in the woods on the bank of the stream. His mother talked to him very kindly about his fault, and told him what would be the consequence of it—that he would be driven from the town, and forced to live in the woods, where he would often be cold and hungry, and where none of his friends and relations would visit him, or speak to him.

Binney promised to be more industrious, and for a time was very good; but he pretty soon forgot his loving mother's advice and grew idle again, and the others began to look coldly upon him, and to forbid their children to play with him, for it is thought very mean and disgraceful in a beaver to be idle.

One day he was hanging about in the woods, whither he had been sent for some birch twigs with which to mend the house. His was not a hard or disagreeable task, for the twigs were small and tender, and the bark was sweet and pleasant to the taste; but Binney had learned to hate the very name of work. Still he did not dare to return without the twigs which he had been sent for, as his father had been angry with him that very morning, and said he would punish him severely unless he did better.

So he was hanging about the woods, as I have said, feeling cross and low spirited, wishing that his work was done, and yet unable to make up his mind to go about it. All at once, as he walked along, he came upon a beaver whom he had never met before.