June 25, 1898. j 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
603 
Raspberrying in Danvis. 
"Wal, I do* know but what they be pretty tough on 
ol' folks wi' short laigs an' petticoats," Sam Lovel 
soliloquized, with unwonted sympathy for his mother- 
in-law, as he paused at the threshold after climbing 
the steep back stairs, and looked down at them consid- 
ering the helpful addition of a hand rail. "Wal, some- 
time, mebby," and so giving the matter present dismis- 
sal, he entered the kitchen with his carefully borne 
burden, an improvised basket of birch bark filled with 
raspberries. 
"My sakes alive, where did you git them?" cried 
Huldah, dropping her sewing upon her lap as he set 
them on the table before her. "Jest look. Aunt 
Jerushy. Mother, did 3'^ou ever see bigger rosbaries?" 
Sam, till now having no ej^es for any one but his wife, 
became aware of the dumpj^, inert figure of Mrs. Purington 
sitting in the easiest rocking chair, where the coolest 
draught of south wind came through the open door. 
"Why, mother Purington, you here? Hain't it cur'ous. 
I was jest a-thinking 'baout ye as I come up the steps." 
"An' naow I s'pose you're thinkin' the rest on't, 'the 
devil's allers nighest,' an' so fo'th," she said, in an in- 
jured tone, as she hoisted herself ponderously from the 
chair and waddled over to the tabic. "Hm-m-m, yes, 
tol'able decent baries, but they hain't so big as tame 
rosbaries, the biggest on 'em hain't." 
She searched her waist for the longest pin it held 
and spitted the largest and ripest berry upon it. "Naow ■ 
that hain't nothin' tu a tame rosbary, tu look at nor tu 
eat," and she tested the last quality with a critical 
smack. 
"Proper nice they be," said Aunt Jerusha, with hearty 
approval. 
"They'd ortu be, for a man tu spend his time a-pickin' 
of 'em," said Mrs. Purington, impaling another choice 
berry and casting a severe glance at Sam and I-Iuldah, 
who seemed as unconscious as the berry of the thrust. 
"I'm dreadful glad you did, Samwel," said Triuldah. 
"Where did j^ou find 'em?" 
"Over where we chopped two years ago. I come on 
tu 'em when I was a-lookin' for the young cattle, an' 
the' was more'n you can shake a stick at in a fortni't. 
I jest made me a basket and went at 'em. Antwine's 
womern's in there with her hull litter, a-pickin' wi' both 
hands. You women folks got tu hyper 'f you want tu 
git any for sass an' dryin'." 
Huldah held at arm's length the garment she was 
making, considering its proportions and the question of 
berry-picking together, yet separately, before she an- 
swered: 
"Why, I do' know but what we might go to-morrow, 
the hull toot on us. Don't them sleeves look long, or 
don't they? We can shet up he haouse an' all go, an' 
not git no dinner. Come here, Bub!" 
"Haow long be you goin' to Bub that boy?" Sam 
asked impatiently, and then. "Where is Bub anyway?" 
"Haow long be you?" Huldah asked, laughing. 
If Sam had listened he need not have asked the where- 
abouts of the child, for his shrill voice could be heard 
coming from the shop, mingled with the deep tones of 
Uncle Lisha, and the regular strokes of the hammer 
on awl and pegs. And now the two entered the kitchen, 
the child in response to his mother's repeated call. 
Uncle Lisha to learn the cause of the unusual commo- 
tion. 
"What's all the haowdelow abaout?" he demanded, 
regarding the company under his lifted glasses. 
"Oh, it's Bub's sleeves an' rosbaryin'," Huldah an- 
swered. "Come here, Samm}^, an' let mammy see. Wal, 
there, what it shrinks wi' washin' '11 make it all right," 
she declared triumphantly, after measuring the sleeve 
of the check apron by the child's arm. 
"I didn't s'pect nothin' but what you'd spilte it," said 
her mother, in some disappointment. 
"An' we're all goin' rosbaryin' tu-morrer," Huldah 
explained to Uncle Lisha. "Sani says the' is sights. 
See what he fetched. Hain't them beauties?" 
"Not ekal tu tame ones," Mrs. Purington protested, 
as she speared another fine specimen and conveyed it 
to her mouth. 
"If you'll pick 'em over we'll hev 'em for supper. 
Aunt Jerushy," said Huldah. 
"They'll needs lots o' sugar," said Mrs. Purington; 
"they're turrible sour." 
"An' we've got lots 'at was made a purpose tu sweeten 
things," her daughter cheerfully declared; "an' as I 
was a-sayin' we're all a-goin' to-morrer; you an' Aunt 
Jerushjr — an' you'll go, won't ye, mother?" 
Mrs." Purington shook her head doubtfully. "I don't 
b'lieve I feel well enough tu stan' the traipsin' an' the 
heat an' the muskeeters, an' ju' like as not run on tu 
a hornet's nest, an' I shouldn't wonder if it up an' thun- 
dered by tu-morrer an' give us a soakin' if the lightnin' 
don't strike us. Sis might go, mebby." 
"Good airth an' seas! Yes, I'll go if I c'n git the wax 
ofi'm my fingers so's't the baries won't stick tu 'em.- 
An' mother, she'll go," said Uncle Lisha, "she hain't 
so temptin' tu muskeeters an' wasps as what you be, 
FAinice. I do' know 'baout lightnin', but she won't 
water-soak." 
"Mebby Briggses folks an' Hillses would luf tu go," 
Huldah suggested. 
"Wal. if Gran'ther's goin' I don't want tu. The ol' 
torment!" Mrs. Purington declared. 
"Send word you're a-goin' if you don't want him tu," 
said Sam. 
"Me want to go, mammy. Can't me go, mammy?" 
- pleaded the child. 
"Of course, mammy's man's goin' tu ta' care of mam- 
my," his mother said, smoothing the curly pate with 
her fingers and stooping to kiss the . upturned earnest 
face. 
Word was sent to the chosen neighbors, and a general 
movement of the combined force upon the berry patch 
was planned for the next day. 
If these worthy people had deemed themselves such 
special objects of divine favor that they would be given 
the weather they prayed for, they could hardly have 
suggested to infinite wisdom atiy improvement on the 
day, which they thankfully accepted as a happy chance, 
tiot as one made to their order. 
Not one of Mrs. Purington's thunder heads lifted its 
pelitl and silver dome above the green barriers of the 
mountains; the only semblance of clouds were snow 
white shreds, drifting across the blue sky like thistle 
down, dissolving in the blue expanse, fleeting as their 
shadows on the green earth beneath. It was a north 
wind that blew these films of vapor across the azure 
dome, and it tempered the rays of the July sun to a_ de- 
gree of moderation that tempted forth even Mrs. Puring- 
ton. Shortness of breath and the presence of her de- 
clared enemy, Gran'ther Hill, kept her with the rear 
of the straggling column, where she claimed the frequent 
assistance of her daughter PoIl;y^and received encour- 
agement from Aimt Jerusha. * 
Now the company halted beside the little brook that 
divided the open fields from the frowsy, half-cleared 
border of the forest like a crinkled silver thread beaded 
with amber pools and carelessly dropped between pas- 
ture and woodland. Its liquid music, ever slightly 
changing with the rolling of a pebble, the sway of a 
dipping branch or the movement or stranding of some 
drifting twig, the plunge of a frog or scurry of a scared 
trout, chimed with the jangled melody of the bobolinks 
on one side and the tentative fluting of the hermit thrush 
on the other, distinctive voices of field and forest. 
Some one dipped up a tin pailful of cold water, and 
Sam was shaping a dipper of birch bark with a cleft 
stick for a handle, when Mrs. Purington arrived at the 
brookside with her youthful and aged escorts. 
"Dear me, sis! I hev got tu se' daown an' rest me!" 
she panted, surveying the ground critically, and pointing 
to a cradle knoll where native wintergrcen and foreign 
herdsgrass crowded each other for supremacy. "Sis, 
you poke in therej^ti' .see if that hain't a snake a-wig- 
glin' the grass." 
"Law sakes, Eunice, the' hain't no snakes 't would 
hurt ye," Aunt J'erusha, already comfortably seated, 
said, encouragingly, 
"I don't care, it 'd scare me tu death tu see one! It 
allers did!" 
"I don't like snakes nuther, an' I wish't one would 
git a mou'ful on her," Gran'ther Hill growled grimly, 
setting his toothless jaws till nose and chin almost met. 
"By the Lord Plarry, the'd be one sick sarpent!" 
If Mrs. Purington heard him, she affected ignorance 
of his unpleasant words, as she seated herself upon 
the knoll wdien Sis had threshed it Avith a stick, and 
fanned herself with her apron, blowing a stertorous 
counter blast from her puffed lips while she waited 
her turn at the passing pail and dipper. 
"When you kinder come tu think on't," said Joseph, 
with a view to giving the conversation a more pleasant 
ttirn, "it seem's 'ough it was kinder cur'us 'at the' wa'n't 
no ugly snakes here, that is to say, not rael pizen ugly, 
I mean. Eels is abaout the wust tu look at, erless 't 
is mud turkles." 
"Mud turkles! You must be a cussed smart boy," 
said his father, with withering contempt. 
"Wal, ye see, I was kinder takin' in all sorts o' rip- 
tjdes," Joseph explained, "crockerdiles, ye know, an' 
scomiuns, an' hippy Thomases, an' bats, an', an' — 
"Glams an' crows, mebby," his father suggested, with 
bitter sarcasm. 
"We hed ortu be thankful 'at we live in a free an' 
enlighted kentry," Solon Briggs remarked, "an' not 
in metropical desarts, where boar-constructors an' ' ani- 
mal condors, an' tigers, an' centerpedes haowl an' roam 
at large as frequent as they be in a mennygery, only 
not incarterated in waggins." 
"There's one adA^antage, you don' hafter pay a quarter 
tu see 'em," said Sam. 
"No quarter give or took an' childern throwed in 
where there's crockerdyles," said Solon, with unwonted 
levity. 
"There was here oncte Injins an' Tories an' Hessians," 
said Gran'ther Hill, "an' would be yit if it hedn't ha' 
b'en for John Stark, an' Ethan Allen, an' Seth Warner, 
an' Peleg Sunderlan', an' George Washin'ton, an' 
'mongst us." 
"Oh, Sam Hill, Ticonderogue an' Bennin't'n 's com- 
in'," Joseph groaned under his breath, and then audibly 
suggested, "It mos' seems 'ough we'd better be a-mog- 
gin' if we're a-goin' tu git many baries." 
"Oh, say, father, le's set here an' hear Gran'ther tell 
'baout fiehtin'," young Josiah whispered earnestly. "It's 
lots more fun 'an the plaguey baries." 
But the inclination of the majority was adverse, and 
he unwillingly attached himself to the rear as the party 
advanced to the berry patch, whither Maria Hill, Jane 
Briggs and Huldah had already proceeded, and where 
glimpses of their green and white stmbonnets and their 
shoulders could be seen as they arose from the thickets 
of raspberry bushes or emerged from clumps of lusty 
young saplings. 
Many acres were covered by briers and saplings, with 
which nature was hiding the ghastly wounds inflicted 
by axe and fire, here and there embroidering the green 
veil Avith white splashes of fireweed and pink sprigs of 
willow herb. Bees fared busily to and from these, and 
butterflies drifted idly among them like vagrant blos- 
soms. 
On the far side the stately wall of virgin forest stood 
a palisade of gray trunks, coped with deciduous trees 
and evergreen verdure. The bushy tract was thridded 
by a labyrinth of cattle paths, along which the party 
scattered singly and in couples, each engaging according 
to individual zest in the holida}^ labor that had brought 
them there. 
Josiah kept close to his grandfather in the hope that 
the environment might suggest some story of bush- 
fighting or hunting adventure, and both forgot berry, 
picking when they flushed a brood of partridges and 
watched the young birds, no bigger than robins, flutter- 
ing away in divers directions, as strong of wing as July 
woodcock, and then listened while the mother softly 
sounded her gathering call. Sam was more intent on 
noting whither the full-fed bees flew than in filling his 
basket. Uncle Lisha, more industrious, but awkward, 
wasted much time in comparing the contents of his 
basket with that of Aunt Jerusha's, till he bethought 
him of the old trick of boyhood and covered the bottom 
of his pail with a thick layer of leaves. Solon and 
Joseph fraternized on the basis of doing as little as pos- 
sible. Therefore the burden of the fruit harvest fell 
upon the womankind, to whose nimble fingers it came 
more naturally than to the clumsy digits of their lords, 
which seemed more than ever all thumbs. Even Mrs. 
l-unngton's hand flew with swift regularity back and 
forth between bush and basket freighted with berries 
that she confessed scarcely inferior to some she had 
seen jn the village garden of a bloomer, and became so 
interested in securing them that she grew indifferent 
tt> attacks of mosquitoes, and lost her fear of wasps 
and snakes. 
Polly Purington and Ruby Hill exchanged girlish 
confidences, but kept their fingers as busy as their 
tongues. Huldah, with her boy clinging to her skirt, 
and the wives of Solon and Joseph close at hand, led 
the van well up toward the old woods, where the bushes 
bent lowest with their burden of red, ripe berries. 
Suddenly Huldah became aware of the stooping figure 
of a woman at a little distance, who, becoming erect, 
disclosed beneath the wide-brimmed straw hat the broad 
brown face of Ursule Rissette, expressing first surprise, 
then annoyance quickly unmasked with effusive good 
humor, as she gave greeting in a deep masculine voice: 
Good mawny, Mees Lovel Ee naise mawny. a'n't 
ee? You fan' plenty berree?" 
"Good mornin', Ursuly. Tes, we find sights on 'cm, 
an' the further we go the thicker they be." 
"Ah, ee a'n't mos' any dees way," pointing toward the 
woods; and then unaware that Huldah had seen the 
large nearly filled milk pail before it was hastily hid- 
den behind a thicket, "Me, mah chillen a'n't gat mos' 
any lee'l one, oup dere, all dis morny. Me try for gat 
few for sell on de village for bought me clo's for mah 
chillen, mais, me a'n't gat honly tree, fotir quart mos'," 
and she sighed deeply. 
"Why, you can get a bushel of 'em down here 'most 
anywheres," said Huldah, exhibiting her half-filled bas- 
ket in confirmation. "But I'm goin' up nigher the 
woods to see what the' is, for I'm coming to-motrer wi' 
a bigger dish." 
"Oh, don' you go no furder. Mees Lovel." said Ursule. 
assuming a most horrified expression, "dere was oitrs 
up dere, w'at you call — awhh — bear! Oh, hoi' hugly! 
Me hear it gro'l lak t'under! Mah chillen hear it too. 
if you a'n't b'lieve. Pierre, Matilde. Joe, lee'l Antoine!" 
she called lustily. "Vien ici, fore bear gat you!" 
A girl and three boys varying from ten "to fourteen 
years old appeared from various quarters. Their mother 
spoke to them rapidly in French and then asked: 
"A'n't yon hear some bear in de hwood, lee'l whal 
'go? Hein?" 
The boys nodded a shame-faced assent, poking the 
mold with their naked toes and casting furtive glances 
at Huldah, but the_ girl, older and better trained, an- 
swered boldly, looking straight at her mother: 
"Yas, hear two bear — mos' see it." and volunteered 
further additions to the terrors of the place, "an un bete 
a grandcue. Oh, ee squeal, hugly!" 
Ursule . turned triumphantly to Huldah. "You see, 
mah chillen a'n't never tol' lie. You go, bear keel you. 
prob'ly!" , ' 
Huldah regarded her with an amused, half contemptu- 
ous smile. 
"Oh, I guess the' won't no bears tech us 'f we don't 
meddle wi' 'em. I'm a-goin' to resk it, anyways. Come, 
Marier, and Mis' Briggs!" 
"Oh, ee heat you lee'l boy, me tol' you. You see, 
bambye! Me goin'. Come, chillen, 'fore bear ketch 
youj" and marshalling her brood before her she took 
a divergent path down the long slope. 
''Le's go back," said Maria Hill, who, with Jane 
Briggs, had heard the conversation. "Don't yoii see 
she's gone?" 
"Yes, we'd better," Mrs. Briggs urged. 
"Sho! Be you goin' to let that critter scare ye to 
death wi' her bugaboo stories?" said Huldah scorn- 
fully. "Couldn't ye see she was lyin', an' her pail more'n 
half full o' baries? Gone? She jest scooted back up 
there as soon as she thought she was aout o' sight, but 
I see her straw hat floppin' along behind the bushes. 
All she wants is to scare us away from the best pickin'. 
Come on!" 
Thus assured, her companions followed her, though 
somewhat timidly, Maria declaring, "I can't help feelin' 
skeery after what she said." 
Presently Huldah, leading her boy by the hand, came 
into the old wood road, its ruts dried into stony beds 
of dry rivulets and half-healed scars of sled runners 
showing on the naked roots. Its low border of ferns 
was overtopped by a hedge of heavy-laden raspberry 
bushes and blackberry brambles not yet out of bloom 
that promised an abundant later fruit harvest. 
They followed the rough path but a little way before 
their baskets were filled, and as they halted to rest be- 
fore returning Huldah spied a broken sled, a forlorn, 
deserted wreck, with its beam pins on one side broken 
and one runner sprawled flatwise half buried in dead 
leaves and overgrown with ferns, and a saoling of two 
years' growth springing up through the socket that held 
the roller. 
"Wal, there, that's what I call shiftless, whoever left 
it a-layin' here," she declared, with a slight disgust. "If 
'twas Samwel, he ortu be ashamed. None o' the irons 
saved — wood shoes, though. And the stakes left in tew, 
good hardback ones, sound as ever they was." 
She drew one from its socket, and was examining it 
when the attention of all was attracted by an outcry 
of alarm that suddenly arose just beyond the turn of the 
road. Then Antoine's children broke into view, running 
at top speed, the long-legged girl in the lead, the mother 
crowding the rear at a remarkable pace for one of her 
build. 
"Tryin' another plan to scare us off," Huldah laughed, 
after the first surprise. But when the girl dashed by 
pale and gasping, her brothers closely following, catch- 
ing their breath in broken sobs, and Ursule pounding 
along at a pace that shook disjointed fragments of prayer 
from her lips at every step, it was evident that all were 
impelled by an unfeigned terror. 
An instant later its cause appeared in the form of a 
great p'aunt she bear, her beady little eyes twinkling 
viciously, her white teeth gleaming out of her open 
jaws and her ragged, faded coat flapping in jerky undu- 
lations as she plunged onward at an awkward gallop. 
