een carrying
away other baskets into the city, so that during the season the demand
was evidently unintermitted.

We had often heard these strawberries spoken of as being of superior
size and quality. Indeed, we one day read a notice of them in our penny
paper, representing them as being nearly as large as eggs, and
describing the garden. It also spoke in very extraordinary terms of the
richness of the cream. But I never could understand how this could be,
as we knew that old Tetchy kept only one cow, and it was impossible for
one cow to make cream enough--real cream--for even a quarter of the
people who came to eat his strawberries. I thought so strange of this
piece that I ventured to show it to Miss Belinda, and inquired very
innocently how they could get so much cream, and if it were not wrong in
the newspapers to publish such mistakes. But, what was very unusual with
her, she was wonderfully pleased with the matter, and said they had two
cows,--one that they kept in the stable, and another in the kitchen.

"How?" I inquired, in amazement,--"keep a cow in the kitchen? Why, is it
not very inconvenient?"

"Not at all," she replied. "The greatest convenience possible. But the
kitchen cow has an iron tail!"

"But did the newspaper man know this?" I asked, not being familiar with
the tricks of trade, and utterly ignorant how such things were managed.

"No, indeed!" she replied,--adding, with what I considered great
superciliousness, "we sent him a basket of strawberries, and invited him
down last week to take some with cream, and when he came it _was_ cream
that _he_ got,--our best. That was well done; and ever since he
published that piece we have been so crowded that the new cow in the
kitchen supplies more milk than the old one in the stable."

I had never known either her or any of the family to be so
communicative before. It was an entirely new idea to me, and rather
shook my confidence in the newspapers, not supposing they were ever
deceived.

But Tetchy's berries were unquestionably very superior ones. We had
frequently seen them, and on one occasion my sister and I had gone in
with the evening throng and called for saucers of them, merely to learn
for ourselves how the business was carried on and what prices were
obtained. I am sure that not near so much civility was shown to us as to
the other customers. No doubt, as we were neighbors, and had been very
inquisitive, they suspected our object in coming.