Next morning the August haze lay soft on the landscape, but in a short time it went off, and Father, learning that we girls were going to spend a part of the day in the woods, quietly told the boys that they must escort us to the pleasantest place, and not wander very far off. They pouted considerably, and had a talk at the corner of the barn; they then came back, smiling, and apparently good-natured.
Our brothers did not intend to be unkind, but they had the common failing of humanity—selfishness. But Lib matched them in a dozen ways with her good-humored retaliations; and many a tilt she had with William Pitt since we had arrived at the farm. In the city she was abreast of him in all his studies; and I noticed that Lib could get out her Latin, and write a composition much faster than he, and often he had been obliged to come to her for aid. It nettled Lib not to be able to hunt and fish. We two younger ones modeled after her; she was the leader, and when she said we would go with the boys, we went.
“Hello Fred,” said Hugh, as a neighboring boy, a city boarder, came through the gate, attired in base-ball cap and knickerbockers, “we can’t go to Duck Inlet to-day. Father says the girls must have a good time, too, and that we must devote one day to them, at least.”
“All right,” said Fred, “can I go with you? I’ll go and get my butterfly net, and we can go over to Fern Hollow mill, the winter-greens and berries are as thick there! Gracious! you can get a quart pail full in no time. The mill-wheel is a beautiful sight,” said Fred, turning to Lib, “and you can sketch it, Miss Gaylord.”
Lib looked upon Fred with a little more toleration, after he had said “Miss Gaylord,” and went and ordered an additional ration to be put into the lunch basket. We were glad to have Fred along with us, for he was very funny, and made jokes on every thing.
Lib would allow no one to carry the lunch basket but herself, as she remarked, “It is safer with me.”
We started, and were tempted to loiter at all the little nooks on the leaf-shadowed road, and investigate the haunts of the curious dwellers in the rocks and bushes, and especially were we interested in the ducks on Fern Hollow creek. Dora insisted upon feeding them a piece of bread. “Calamity,” the dog, was along, of course, and as he belonged to William Pitt, who called him “Clam,” he was always in that boy’s company. It was, “Love me, love my dog,” with William; and as he was a professional of some kind, he was greatly prized by the boys.
We reached the woods and the old mill early; I think I never was in a more delightful place. Every thing seemed to grow here. Winter-greens, with their crimson berries, shining in the moss, and blueberries, where the sun came; tall, white flowers that grew in clusters in the shade, sent their perfume all about. Back of the mill, on some sandy ledges, grew pennyroyal and spearmint; raspberries and blackberries grew everywhere.
