144 



Success with Small Fruits. 



purchase the privilege of keeping step to the music for two cents, or one 

 strawbe-rry ticket. Business was superb, and every shade of color and 

 character was represented. In the vernacular of the farm, the mulatto girls 

 are called " strawberry blondes," and one that would have attracted atten- 

 tion anywhere was led out by a droll, full-blooded negro, who would have 

 made the fortune of a minstrel troupe. She was tall and willowy. A 

 profusion of dark hair curled about an oval face, not too dark to prevent a 

 faint color of the strawberry from glowing in her cheeks. She wore neither 

 hat nor shoes, but was as unembarrassed, apparently, in her one close- 

 fitting garment, as could be any ball-room belle dressed in the latest mode. 

 Another blonde, who sported torn slippers and white stockings, was in 



Rushing the Last Lot. 



danger of being spoiled by much attention. As a rule, however, bare 

 feet were nothing against a " lady " in the estimation of the young men. 

 At any rate, all who could spare a berry ticket speedily found a partner, 

 and, as we rode away from the farm, the last sounds were those of music 

 and merriment, and our last glimpse was of the throng of dancers on the 

 green. 



The confused uproar and rush of business around the Old Dominion 

 steamship made a marked contrast. To the ample wharves every species 

 of vehicle had been coming all day, while all kinds of craft, from a skiff to 



