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When the months of spring are fled, 
Hither let us bead our walk ; 
Lurking berries, ripe and red, 
Then will hang on every stalk, 
Each within its leafy bower ; 
And for that promise spare the flower. 
It is, however, most delightful to find the 
fruit of the strawberry, at all seasons of the 
year, amid the glaciers of the lofty Alps. When 
the sun-burnt traveller, oppressed with fatigue 
upon those rocks, which are as old as the 
world,—in the midst of those forests, half 
destroyed by avalanches, he vainly seeks a hut 
to rest his weary limbs, or a fountain to refresh 
himself. Unexpectedly he sees, emerging from 
the midst of the rocks, troops of young girls 
who advance toward him with baskets of per- 
fumed strawberries; they appear on all the 
heights above, and in every dell below. It 
seems as though each rock and each tree were 
kept by one of these nymphs, as placed by Tasso 
at the gate of the enchanted gardens of Armida. 
As seducing, though less dangerous, the young 
Swiss peasants, in offering their charming baskets 
to the traveller, instead of retarding his progress, 
give him strength to pursue his journey. The 
strawberry has the property of not undergoing 
the acetous fermentation in the stomach. The 
learned Linneus was cured of frequent attacks 


