1856.] Reflections hy a Resident of tJie Rill Side. 153 



claim a due proportion of the luscious fruit ; and vre never allow their 

 demands to be abridged or curtaiLd. We should as soon think of 

 driving our little children from under the paternal roof as to drive one 

 of these little warblers away from the strawberry bed. That cat-bird, 

 and those little pe-wees at first seemed to go about the beds on the slj, 

 or rather to work by stealth. At last, however, when they learn how 

 we duly appreciate their soft notes of morning music, they gain confi- 

 dence. Oar sense of obligation once acknowledged, for the early song, 

 these little birds soon become inspired with fresh courage, and min- 

 gle in the strawberry beds, and among the boughs about our window, as 

 familiarly as if we had given them special invitation. 



At last, when the fruit is fast ripening, we look over the beds and 

 behold the cheering sight. The fragrance of the rich strawberry is 

 inhaled at every turn. Our heart begins to expand. We thank the 

 Good Being that He has bestowed upon us such bounteous luxuries, and 

 think of our friends in the city, who are dej^rived of such blessings as 

 we are about to enjoy. A few of the mgst intimate flit across the imagi- 

 nation. They must be invited to the feast ! 



"We set about picking the ripest fruit, the birds bearing us company, 

 though they do not add any to our swelling plate. Evening arrives, 

 our little company comes in ; the oldest boy is dispatched to Madam 

 Louderback's for some of her choicest ice cream, and then what a sight ! 

 How delightful to the eye and the taste ! Ice cream and strawberries ! 

 And how well the vanilla scented cream seems to harmonize with the 

 "Longworth Prolific" and the " McAvoy Superior." One, at such an 

 hour, would scarcely think there should be such a thing as " strawberry 

 quarrels," or even a difference of opinion on the delicate subject. It 

 would seem a fitting occasion to have Hovey, Prince, Longworth, Warder, 

 Stoms, and all the quarrelsome gentry together, that their difficulties 

 might be settled without even a sour look of one at the other. On such 

 an occasion just imagine the cheerfulness of one's friends ; their abso- 

 lute mirthfulness ! At the same time the fragrance of a trumpet honey- 

 suckle is wafted through the open window as we partake of the voluptu- 

 ous fruit which, with every thing around, conspires to make the time 

 and place quite an elysium. But stop, says one of your cold, stoical, 

 calculating individuals, " your berries cost more than if you were to buy 

 them in market." Very well, we admit all you say, and more too; but 

 don't you see that our berries are not soured from having been picked 

 some twenty or thirty hours, and carried eight or ten miles to market? 

 And then, we have just recited a list of pleasures in their growth and culti- 

 vation which we take especial pains to inform you, that money can not buy. 



