•-U0 THE STRAWBERRY PARTY. 



he dared not take off because he was ashamed of his hands, 

 hardened by rural labor. Her last stroke of policy was directed 

 against the hat, which in obedience to her commands he filled 

 with water, to serve as a basin for the ablution of her taper 

 fingers. Lionel lay quietly watching the movements of the 

 spoiled beauty, until thoroughly disgusted with what he believed 

 to be her selfish vanity, he rose and sauntered away. 



No sooner had he gone than Alice instantly returned to her 

 natural character, and rising from her seat, she came round the 

 base of the rock, to join me in my labors. The rock formed 

 a sort of barrier at the entrance of a narrow glen which looked 

 so wild that we determined to explore it, and, forcing our way 

 through the brush-wood, we found ourselves completely shut 

 within one of the loveliest dells I have ever beheld. Straw- 

 berries were abundant and very large, in this sylvan retreat ; 

 and pleasing ourselves with the idea that we were the first 

 visitants of this garden of sweets, we went on gathering the 

 fruit. We were scarce conscious of the space we had traversed 

 when we found the glen opening into a wild and rugged part 

 of the forest. We were about to retrace our steps, when we 

 saw, at a little distance before us, a child apparently engaged 

 in the same pursuit with ourselves. Feeling in that mood 

 when every thing seems like an adventure, we approached the 

 little girl to ask questions. She had entered the wood from 

 the other side for the purpose of gathering strawberries, but 

 she had met with little success, for some one had been 

 before her, and she dared not go very far into the recesses of 

 the forest. The poor child was in great distress, for, as she 



