A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 117 



landlady ; I like the girls who wait on the table (as you may 

 renumber); I like the boy who tends to the horses in the stable; 

 yes, and I like pretty well the folks who lounge around the 

 door and bar.* I should like them better, however, if they 

 were busy in something good in the line of our text,f for in- 

 stance. These country hotels are homes for homeless people ; 

 and I always enjoy seeing how well they carry out this idea. 



" My good friend, we want some supper just as soon as our 

 horse can eat his feed. We have quite a piece to drive yet, and 

 we wish to get there before the people have gone to bed." 



I was pleased to see how quickly he moved to the kitchen 

 to tell the women-folks to start it going. Then he directed in 

 regard to the care of the horse, and stepped briskly to the 

 meat-shop ; and almost before the kitchen door was shut we 

 heard them pounding steak. Before I had time to become im- 

 patient or nervous, we were called to partake of the nice steak 

 and potatoes, with a couple of fried eggs, nice sweet butter, 

 good bread, and a good saucer of strawberries. If you want to 

 see me have a good appetite, just let me ride twenty miles 

 across the country. For serving us thus handsomely, the 

 whole charge was only 25 cents apiece. The horse counted 

 the same as a man. Now, when I get promptly served, and yet 

 on such short notice, and at so small a price, do you wonder 

 that I thank God for hotels, and that I feel kindly toward hotel- 

 keepers ? 



Just a little before nine o'clock I had the pleasure of telling 

 my companion, Mr. W., that this was friend Terry's home. I 

 watched him as he looked at the bright pretty barn and tool- 



* When I use the term " bar " I do not mean a place where drinks are 

 sold, as used to be the custom forty years ago. A good many of our coun- 

 try hotels here in Ohio do not sell any thing at the bar not even cigars or 

 tobacco. Perhaps the term " bar " had better be changed for "office." 

 I wonder how it is with you, friends. Do the hotels in your small towns 

 nowadays sell drinks of any kind? 



t The text alluded to is, "I/ay up for yourself treasures in heaven, 

 where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break 

 through nor steal." 



