THE STRAWBERRY DECEMBER 1906 



of the way of observation, back of the 

 barn, and so she labored faithfully and 

 quietly all through the summer, and by 

 the last of October, when it was time to 

 lay by the strawberry bed, she looked 

 upon the result of her summer's work 

 with pride and satisfaction. The plants 

 had grown luxuriantly and the long straight 

 rows of thrifty, growing plants was really 

 a fine sight to see. 



Late in the fall she had two more acres 

 of sod turned over and paid a neighboring 

 farmer to cover it well with stable ma- 

 nure. The winter was a long one to 

 Mrs. Ellis, but she improved her time in 

 reading up on her favorite topic, and 

 along toward spring she joined the Fruit 

 Growers' Association in the city some 

 twenty miles distant. 



In the spring the new land was disked 

 and harrowed until in good condition and 

 then set to plants, and this time she or- 

 dered late strawberries. 



Harry and Hazel and a neighbor's boy 

 helped her set the plants, and to say that 

 she was weary when the task was done 

 but feebly expresses her bodily condition. 

 But her fatigue was nothing when com- 

 pared to her delight and satisfaction at 

 the appearance of her last year's straw- 

 berry bed. She had had it well mulched 

 with her part of the straw from Mr. 

 Brown's rye and oat crop and by the 

 middle of Juie the plants were white 

 with blossoms. 



Mr. Ellis came home the first of May, 

 staid only one day and then left for a 

 distant part of the state to be gone for 

 three months. He did not seem to be 

 quite so much elated over his new busi- 

 ness as at first, and told his wife that his 

 expenses were much more than he had 

 calculated on, and that it would be a 

 tight squeeze for him to save the money 

 to pay the interest on the mortgage. 



Mrs. Ellis felt rather discouraged by 

 this information, but when the strawber- 

 ries began to ripen she found she had 

 business on hand which caused her to 

 forget her perplexities. She worked hero- 

 ically at the picking and the children 

 helped her during vacation. Her berries 

 were shipped through the Fruit Growers' 

 Association, and when at last the vines 

 were denuded and she counted up the 

 proceeds she was more than satisfied 

 with the results of her venture. She had 

 made enough to pay all expenses with a 

 neat little oalance which, instead of pla- 

 cing in the bank, she put out at interest to 

 be paid on demand. 



She had now three acres of strawberries 

 to tend and care for. But a new sense 

 of elation and independence seemed to 

 have taken possession of her. Her health 

 had improved since she had taken up 

 work in the open air, and was now superb. 

 All fear-thought seemed to have left her 

 and all the forces of her being were pro- 

 jected forth into God's great, prosperous 

 universe, to return laden with success. 

 Her venture meant plenty of hard work. 



but this she was willing and able to give, 

 and she wisely resolved to hire all needed 

 help CO as not to impair her own health 

 or neglect her home and children. The 

 winter gave her a much needed rest, and 

 the third spring, with three acres of plants 

 in splendid condition, she decided to en- 

 large her field of operation. 



The garden was moved to the back 

 yard and the remaining two acres were 

 set to plants, and when Mr. Ellis came 

 home he joked his wife rather sarcas- 

 tically about her big strawberry patch and 

 asked her if she expected to sell enough 

 to pay the interest on the mortgage the 

 coming fall. 



She very decidedly told him that such 

 a thing did not enter into her calculations, 

 at which he patted her kindly on the 

 shoulder and very indulgently assured 

 her that he thought he should be able to 

 make ends meet, and that he was perfect- 

 ly willing that she should put in her time 

 playing in a strawberry bed. He also 

 assured her that he considered her a pretty 

 good manager, but that women were not 

 expected to have a head for business. 



Mrs. Ellis turned away with closed 

 lips and an inscrutable look upon her 

 face, and nothing more was ever sai \ be- 

 tween her and her husband about her 

 playing in the strawberry bed. 



Of course, it was necessary for her to 

 hire pickers for the three acres of berries. 



The season was a favorable one and the 

 crop was immense. But this immense 

 crop did not come entirely through the 

 favorable season, but from plenty of good, 

 hard work and an unlimited amount of 

 faith and enthusiasm projected into the 

 crop. And too, as women are naturally 

 careful and painstaking and especially 

 adapted to such work, her berries went to 

 the market in such fine condition that the 

 sum she realized from their sale was far 

 beyond her most sanguine expectations. 

 This money also was put out at interest 

 and Mrs. Ellis was now launched out as 

 a capitalist and a business woman in a 

 very quiet way. She decided not to en- 

 large her operations for the next two 

 years, but to give all her time and atten- 

 tion to her five acres of growing plants. 



We need not go into details of the next 

 two years only to say that when Mrs. 

 Ellis saw that her strawberries were likely 

 to be injured by the drouth the fourth 

 year of her venture, she promptly had a 

 well driven near the field of fruit and 

 moved the windmill from near the house 

 to the scene of action and, with an inex- 

 pensive contrivance of her own, her berries 

 were watered and she had an abundant 

 crop, for which she received the top price 

 in the market because of a general short- 

 age of fruit. 



The twins, Harry and Hazel, were 

 now nearing their fifteenth birthday and 



ST. JOSEPH. MICH. 



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Page 239 



