Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-06-20
WILD STRAWBERRIES.


Wylde, with a perplexed contraction
OF her brows.
Yes said old Phillis, the cook
I've made two short cakes an pie
! an dar amt nigh enough left to fl
I de big glass dis for tea
Dear me ? said Mrs. Wilde. swha
shall we do? Lisette is dressing ant
Maude never could endure the sun
Barbara'-to slender young cir
who was curled up in one of the dee,
window-seats, reading-'you'u have
to co.
Barbara Wylde reused herself ou
of an Arcadian dream of Dickcns's
Little Nell, and fixed pair of big
blue eyes on her mothers troubled
face.
sGo where, mamma p
Down to the south pasture lot fol
wild strawberries. The ground is
crimson with them there, and
Barbara Wylde scrambled dowr
out of her high perch.
Mamma said she, swhat nuts
ance all this is {! / don't belive Cap,
tain Ellwood Severn is worth all this
trouble. don't believe he'll fall in
lovewith either Maude or Lisette. And
| think preserved gooseberries are
quite good enough for him.
Hold your tongue, child Z said Mrs
Wylde, sharply Take the basket
and go tor the strawberries at once.
But it's so hot, mamma
Put on your broad-rimmed straw
fiat
'And haven't finished my novel;
pleaded Barbara, with her mind re
verting longingly to little Nell.
Nonsense said Mrs. Wylde you
read too many novels, deal, for a
child of your age
And Barbara disappeared, unwil-
lingly enough, into the apple orchard,
across which sinuous path ,bordered
with buttercups and red clover, led
direct to the velvet slopes Of the
south PASTURE where the ripening
fruit of the wild strawberry shone
like tiny rabies along the course of a
musical little brook, all tringed with
reeds and alders and tall growing
ferns. af
Strawberries, indeed L said Bar
bara to herself. Its dreadful to be
the youngest of family of girls, and
have to pick strawberries for ones
elder sisters beaux.'
And she pushed the yellow curls
out of her eyes, and went to work in
lugubrious earnest, popping the larg-
est and sweetest of the berries into
her little rosebud of mouth, stain
ing her dress as she knelt down to
seek the shy treasures under the clus.
tering green leaves, and crimsoning
her hands with the haste she made.
Il wonder which of 'em he'll mar
ry,' said Barbara to herself, as she
paused a minute to listen to a robin
which, perched on the boughs of a
feathery elm beyond the brook, trilled
out his barcarolle of glad music Iii.
settle is the prettiest, of course, and he
can't know what dreadful temper
she's got But Maude is literary, and
bas read all the new books, and can
talk so well. Gentlemen like intellec.
tual ladies. / wish'-with sigh
that l was intellectual.
And our little maid fell to work at
the strawberries again for full FIVE
minutes. And then she shook her
basket, and peered down into its
depths with eyes of azure despair.
Not half full said she to herself
mot a quarter full Oh, dear me
how wish some one would come to
help me! And there is some one
stretched provokingly in the shade
under Squire Dallas's big oak by the
stone wall where the sweet-briers
grow. People have no business to lie
in the shade when other people have
to be working hard in the sun And
| do believe it's Squire Dallas's new
hired man, and he ought to be at work
in the bayfield, instead of lying there
under the trees with book. And,'
Barbara added, surveying tie distant
faineGnt with resolute blue eyes from
beneath her uplifted hand, 'he shall
work; he shall help men
Young man ! she called out. The
robin trjlled on, the brook made a
cool, tumultuous splashing over the
messy stones that formed its bed, and
no answer came back to Barbara save
the fiutter of the leaves in the hazel
copse under the hill.
Young man, / say pshe called out
again, this time with certain accent
of the imperious in her voice. The
recumbent figure under the oak tree
Strengthened itself up at once, and
made haste towards the stone wall
that separated Squire Dallas's domain
from Deacon Wylde's pasture lot.
Il beg your PARDON said he; 'but
did you call?
'Uf course l Called said Barbara,
thinking within herself how tall and
straight and darkly handsome Squire
Dallas's new hired man was. Don't
you think, young man, you ought to
be at work p
AT work p repeated the Spanish.
browed stranger. 'Well, perhaps l
ought
There's no perhaps about it, said
Barbara, brusquely. OF course you
ought. And since you don's choose
to work for your master, you may as
well be working for me-
sMv-rnastar -
Squire Dallas, of course said Bar
bar. Dear me, how stupid you are
'And how may l venture to ask, did
you know who ! was p he questioned,
in an amused sort of way.
ooh, it didn't require any great ex-
ercise of brilliance for that, responded
Barbara, with wise little nod of the
head. Il know Squire Dallas has got
new hired man; and if you're not
he, who are you?'
That is the question: said the
stranger, gravely.
But we mustn't stand talking here.
went on Barbara, in a business-like
sort of way. Take the basket and
60 to picking strawberries just as fast
as ever you car, because we're to have
company at our house-Tm Barbara
Wylde, you know, young man-and /