ifferent from any I had ever heard. How different, indeed, from those
of the coarse and mercenary creatures it had been my fortune to
encounter elsewhere! It was impossible to overlook the contrast. What
wonder, then, that the softness with which they were modulated, when
conversing with me, should fall with grateful impressiveness on my
heart?

But this pleasant acquaintance occasioned no interruption of my labors
in harvesting my strawberry-crop. It was picked regularly every
afternoon, and I went with Fred every morning by daylight to see it
safely delivered to the widow. The sale kept up as briskly as ever,
though the price gradually declined as the season advanced,--not, as the
widow informed me, because the people had become tired of strawberries,
but because the crops from distant fields were now crowding into market.
Then, too, she said, as other delicacies came forward, buyers were
disposed to change a little for something different.

It was a striking feature of the business, that, however abundant the
strawberries might be, selected fruit always commanded a higher price
than that which went to market in a jumble just as it came from the
vines. This is a matter which it is important for all cultivators to
keep in remembrance, as attention to it is a source of considerable
profit. We all know that the large berries are no better or sweeter than
the smaller ones; but then we are the growers, not the consumers, and
the public have set their hearts on having the largest that can be
produced. In fruits, as in other things, it seems that "the world is
still deceived by ornament." Moreover, people are willing to pay liberal
prices for it, and thus the producer is sure of being rewarded for a
choice article. I never discovered that a pumpkin or a turnip possessed
any superior flavor because it had been stimulated to mammoth size. But
such being the public craving for vegetable monsters, the shrewd
cultivator is constantly on the alert to minister to it, knowing that it
pays.

Fred kept his usual tally of the number of baskets we took to market,
and how much money each lot produced. His ridiculous miscalculation, the
previous year, of what our profits would be, had so moderated his
enthusiasm, that during all this season his anticipations were confined
within very modest bounds. But as his column of figures lengthened, and
he ciphered out for us the average price for each day's sales, it was
remarkable how much high