The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-08-10
HOW KITTY WENT BLACK
BERRYING. .

the boys have eaten them all off these
bushes. Besides, there's the dinner
bell; we must go back to the house.
said Susie, taking her little sisters
hand, and starting down the hill
Now Kitty loved blackberries dear
ly, and was dreadfully disappointed
that Susie had not found more among
the bushes by the old stone wall, and
her little heart was so full of grief that
some of it ran out of her eyes, as she
stumbled over the grass, sobbing out:
"Oh, Susie. you're Il dretful, drefful
bad diTl; you said you'd Diet me lots
and lots, now l tan't love you any
more, Susie.'
What's the matter with my little
Kitty?' asked Mr.. Riley, coming out
from the back porch, where he had
been trying to wash the red from his
hot face.
"Why, father, she's crying because
| didn't get her but few blackberries
by the old stone fence, and found all
| could, father" cried Susie, indig-
nantly.
MY little girl you must not cry"
said Mr.. Riley, as he lifted Kitty into
her high chair at the dinner-table, Il
know where there are plenty of black
berries up in the wood-lot, and you
and Susie can go there after din
ner."
Kitty's sunshiny smile at this dried
all the tears in her brown eyes in a
minute, and when dinner was over she
and Susie, with each basket, set off
for the wood-lot. There was the CORP
field to pass through first, and that was
hard walking for kitty's little four
year-old feet, and then they came to
the rye-field, where the rye stood high
above her head, then the turnip field,
and last of all, the wood-lot, with its
hickory and butternut trees, the brook
down in the bottom, and the cave
which Susie used to think must have
bear in it, when she was small as
Kitty. But Susie was ten years old
now, and knew there We're no bears
any where near except in cages. All
along the fence and in the edge
of the woods, were the bushes, and
"lots and lots of berries, and now
Kitty did not need any one to feed her,
her own little hands could keep her
mouth busy. 1t was only when she
could eat no more that she began to
think how hot and tired she was, and
how her little basket had not one black
berry in it yet
Il dess you can Diet my bakset full
too she called to Susie, who was bus
lily picking.
LET me see," said Susie, coming
up. "Why you lazy little thing, you
haven't got any, l wish l hadn't
brought YOU
81 want to do home" announced
Kitty, abruptly.
"Well, you can go alone, I've got to
pick berries" said her sister, begin
ming work again. Kitty stood swing
ing her sunbonnet and shaking her
curls Indignantly for a while, and then
walked off.
"Fll dit lost and tighten bad Susie,'
she thought in her naughty little heart.
The wood-lot was very large, covered
with little hollows and groups of trees
besides the great wood where the
brook ran. Kitty was soon lost to
sight between one of these clumps of
trees, and when after some time Susie
looked up from her work, she could
see nothing of her. She went to the
bars and looked through the fields
toward the house. Nothing was seen
of Kitty, and, supposing she had real
ly gone home, Susie went back, filled
her own basket and kitty's, too, and
then started home. On her way
through the t,lrnip-feld she spied her
father and the men making the new
pond in Mr.. Wheeler farm, and Susie
resolved to go over and look on. So
she crossed the fields, and setting the
berries under tree, soon forgot every
thing else in watching them letting on
the water 1t was half-past six before
the men were through. Susie and her
father went home together. Where's
Kitty" he asked, us they walked
along. ooh! she got tired and went
home long ago." said Susie. When
they reached the house Mrs. Riley
came out to meet them. Glow long
you have been gone, SUSSEX she said.
"Where's Kitty?''
"Why-she came home hours ago."
cried Susie, in surprise. "She wouldn't
pick berries. '-"Oh, James, the child
is lost" exclaimed Mrs. Riley, in
alarm, show could you let her come
alone, Susie?
Poor Susie did not know what to say,
she had not thought of any danger to
Kitty, and when she saw her father
and Sam, the hired man, start up
through the fields to look for her little
sister, she felt as if She must go too.
But her mother would not let her go. |
It seemed as though week had passed |
by to Susie and her mother, when at |
last, when it was nearly eight o'clock,
they saw Mr.. Riley and Sam coming
down the hill, and yes! Mr.. Riley
carried Kitty in his arms. The tired
little girl was fast asleep, and her
mother wept tears of joy as she took
her in her arms and kissed the little
stained face again and again. The
kisses woke Kitty from her nap,
which she had been taking for hours
away down in the woods. What's
this tied up In your apron % said her
mother. "1t's some berries for you,
mamma, l dot 'em all myself, tause
the bakset was so big" There in
corner of the little apron was mass
Of berries, mashed and squeezed until
The juice had run way down to Kitty's
feet, but Mrs. Riley thanked her all
the same, not for the blackberries, but
for the love which went with them.