enterprise considered by the world unsuited to my sex, unfeminine
because uniformly undertaken by men, hazardous because untried by women,
but practically within the power of all having taste and courage to
venture upon it,--here was I about to realize the dream of a whole year,
the reward of untold anxieties, the solution of the great problem
whether the garden were better than the needle.

The very day I made the discovery that the first berry had begun to
change color, I hastened to my friend the market-woman, intending to
tell her how finely I was coming on, and that she must be prepared to
sell my crop. As I had no acquaintance with other strawberry-growers, I
had little opportunity of ascertaining by comparison with them whether
my fruit would come earlier or later into market than that of others,
but took it for granted that mine would be first. It was the mistake of
an ignorance which subsequent reading and observation have corrected.
Thus, when I came up to the widow's stand in the market, I was
confounded at seeing her sitting beside a huge wooden tray heaped up
with ripe berries. No doubt I had seen the same thing as early in the
season, years before, but, having no interest in the subject as a
fruit-grower, I had never consulted dates. But now, being deeply
interested, the effect of this prematurely early display of fruit was
that of astonishment and disappointment. I knew that being early in the
market was a vital point, and supposed that I was as early as the
earliest; but here was evidence that I had been forestalled. I had
hardly courage to inquire where these berries came from, or what price
she was getting for them. But the crowd of purchasers around the stand
was so great that no one would have noticed my appearance, even if my
emotions had been written on my face. They were contending with each
other to be served, and at seventy-five cents a quart! This much could
be seen and heard without the trouble of inquiry. How I envied the
grower of the precious fruit in which so many were indulging at this
extravagant price! How the sight dismayed me,--I had been so completely
anticipated by some more skilful cultivator! I did not even seek to
catch the widow's eye, nor to ask a single question. The spectacle so
discouraged me that I moved off with a heavy heart to my accustomed
avocations.

It was but dull practice on my sewing-machine during the whole of that
day. It is true I thought a thousand times of m