ag the tun to the wine-cellar at the farm-house. But you may lead,"
he added. "It is a straight road along the base of the hill and
across the brook, to the gate of the vineyard."

So they sped along in the automobile, and soon reached the busiest,
merriest place that Edith had ever seen. Men and women, boys and
girls, all dressed in the brightest, gayest colors, were cutting
grapes from the vines which hung in long festoons from tall trees.
They were constantly coming and going, with full baskets or empty
ones, and some of the boys had climbed ladders to pick the grapes from
the tree-tops.

There was much shouting and laughter, with happy calls to one another
about the number of baskets of grapes each had picked, and the number
of lire the work would bring.

"See how carefully that boy is cutting the grapes from the vines,"
observed Edith, pointing to a lad about Rafael's age, who sang as he
worked, and who lifted the luscious, purple clusters of fruit into his
basket as lovingly as if they could feel the touch of his hand.

Mrs. Sprague called attention to some of the vines, which had already
been stripped of leaves as well as fruit.

"Why do they pick the leaves also?" she had Rafael ask one of the men.

He answered that the grapes grew so thickly that it was necessary to
pick off the leaves in order that the fruit might get the full
benefit of the sun. "There is much to do for the grapes before they
can be picked," he added. "We must see to it that neither hail nor
wind spoils the clusters before the vintage."

Then he explained that the grapes would soon be taken to the house and
poured into great vats, where they would be made into wine.

Before Edith could ask about this process, Rafael shouted, "The oxen!
Here come the oxen!" and she turned to see the gaily decorated, white
oxen moving slowly across the field, drawing a big wagon.

The driver led the oxen to the farther end of the vineyard, and the
boys and girls climbed upon the wagon with their baskets, and were
carried under the festoons of vines, picking clusters of grapes here
and there as they rode slowly along.

"I should like to help pick the grapes," said Edith wistfully, as she
watched the merry pickers at their task.

Rafael asked one of the men if she might be allowed to do so. He
smiled and nodded, pointing to an empty basket on the ground, and soon
the two children were filling it together, and laughing and shouting
with the others.