un their search. Fred, who
preferred rowing to strawberry-picking, undertook to take charge of
Harry, who was as eager for the water as a young duck; while Mrs.
Steele, taking out her knitting, sat down beside the baskets under a
spreading oak, on a knoll overlooking the river, to wait until there
should be a demand for tea.

Very quickly the time sped away, while the children pursued their busy
but not laborious quest of the tempting berries, half hidden under
their spreading leaves; and many an exclamation, half of annoyance,
half of amusement, was uttered as one of them made a dart at a bright
spot of crimson, fancying it a rich cluster of berries, and finding
only a leaf.

"Why in the world do strawberries have red leaves, I wonder!"
exclaimed Harry, who, tired at last of boating, was pretending to help
them, though they all declared he ate as many as he picked.

"To inure you to the disappointments of life," responded Alick
oracularly. "You'll find, as you go along, there are more red
strawberry leaves than berries all through."

And Alick half sighed, as if he had already learned the lesson by
experience.

"There's one thing, Alick, of which that remark doesn't hold good,"
remarked Fred to his cousin in an undertone. "My father says _that_
sheet-anchor will bear us up through all the disappointments of life;
and I believe it."

"Well, very likely you're right,--well for those who can feel it so.
But at present I can't say I belong to that happy number. Some time or
other, perhaps. You know my head has been full of all sorts of ologies
except theology for a good while back."

"The 'more convenient season,' Alick," replied Fred, with a half
smile.

"Here, a truce to moralizing. Who's got the most strawberries? The
premium is to be the finest bunch in the collection," shouted Alick.

And after the prize had been with much ceremony and mirth adjudged to
Bessie Ford, it was time to think about tea.

"Come," said Alick, "shoulder arms, that is, baskets, and march!"

All were very ready to obey Alick's word of command, and the merry
party were soon collected around the snowy tablecloth spread on the
turf, on which Mrs. Steele had arranged the tempting repast of pies
and cakes, curds and cream, to which a fine large dish of
strawberries--a contribution from the farm--formed a tempting
addition.

Fred, at his aunt's request, asked a blessing, and then the good
things were welcomed by the appetites sharpene