The Blackberry Adventure
THE AUGUST SURPRISE
Ever since the Surprise Book had come to Marjorie, she had been wondering what was in that first very lumpy big pocket that was marked for August first. She had felt of it repeatedly and guessed all manner of things that Dotty said weren’t at all right. Indeed, it would have been hard to guess for Dotty had put the first August surprise into a flat box. When the box was opened, there lay a bright penny. Whoever would have guessed it! That was a splendid surprise! The August story was directed to be opened
“On a warm summer afternoon.”
As there were no other directions, Marjorie opened it upon the first of August. That truly was a hot day—a day to make one wish to sit still and read of the happy adventures of the little girls who went berrying in “The Blackberry Adventure.”
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The Blackberry Adventure
They came upon the old house one day when they were out blackberrying in vacation time. It was the kind of house that people used to build long ago. It had a long, sloping roof behind and the roof ran down almost to the ground. The house was very weather-beaten and out of repair. It looked battered and forlorn. Of course, it had long been deserted. Weeds grew rank in its front yard. It was far away from any neighbors. Solita and Sue had wandered far from the village. They hardly knew just how they had reached the place where so many berries grew, but they knew it was far from where they were boarding that summer.