Year: 1877

The Springfield Republican, man goes
strawberrying. See what it did to him


"And in the old country days the
strawberry season was marked by fine,
liberal delights in Natures wide garden
of the hill-sdes or the meadows, which
are worth more in the remem brance
than anything that can be got out of the
rich patch among the corn and beans
and tomatoes, where the fattened berry
of the fruiterer grows. The dew yet
bows down the long grasses at the edge
of the thicket, and sparkles in splendid
color from the upper half OF the hill in
the sunlight when you reach the field.
The cows look up from their eager
morning cropping, and slowly wander
over the turn of the slope, and disap-
pear. The wood-thrush MARBLES, and
the Phpbe-bird calls in curious, in
tereSted tone which finally becomes eX-
asperating, - it is so Obtrusive, and
amounts to nothing, after all. The bob
olink may perhaps fling himself off the
wild apple tree in delirium of glee,
and there will surely be an undertOne
from that bouncing basso, the humble
bee. as he leases the clover heads and
butter cups.


Your basket does not fill very fast,
especially if you cOnscientiously refuse
to pick the stems, with all their burden
of green berries on,-even if you don't
come for the second crop, others may.
The wild strawberry is not always OBJ
vious it is shy, given to hiding under
Il red clover OF a dock, or at the edges
of the ledge, and ever and anon you
gather one of the tiny fruit and find
only Il red leaf in your fingers, "a verit-
able fairy trick, such as might well hap
pen to YOU in this wild scene. When
YOU lay hands upon mammoth of the
fields, berry actually as much as half
an inch in diameter, then what ii sense
you feel of treasure trove, and admira-
ton for the benignity of Nature in so
prosperous a growth On the strength
of finding "A half-dOzen such in success
sion, YOU venture to taste the ripest
one, and, if your palate is blessed with
Il memory, as many Il palate is not, you
will never in after years match that per
feet melting union of perfume and fla
vor. an aroma of the clean earth and
wild grass, free airs and woodland Odors,
blent with the essence of hOneyed spices.
Nature, where she has her way, is wont
to indulge in such projections.


As the heat thickens, the murmurOus
pine wood invites to rest on the brown
carpet its fallen needles form. The
slender, elegant woodberry one finds
here beside the path,-a curious invalid
| look it has, and its taste is lightly acid
and attracts one more than its sharp
neighbor, the bright young winter
green At the borders of the wood the
mountain laurel blooms, each bush a
glorious bouquet of pink and white, fit
for kings parterre. Thus seated and
surrounded, with all things rejoicing in
the hight of the years beauty and life
without, you may feel deeper feeling,
yet one not inharmOniOus with the gen
eral happiness, stir and strengthen i'll
your heart and brain.


There is a great deal more to be got
from strawberry picking than the ber-
ries,-for is there not the bird-song and
the insect chirp and chatter, the dew
and the sun, the waving grass with its
daises, the grapevine over the gray
ledge, the laurel, and now those solemn
sounding pines, with so many free
pure, worshipful thoughts in them all
that are as good food as the best of ber-
ries These are the angels that talked
with men in the fields of old, and TOLD
them of God and themselves. There il
indeed no priest or shrine wanted fOl
you, if you discover, such ways as this
that


IMAM in the bush with God may meet'''