Upstairs they all went again; much talk and another half hour passed when each made the declaration, "Well, I am ready, are you?" with much emphasis on the personal pronoun I.
"Are you coming with me?" said Mary, and she started in the direction of the pasture with great animation, when Jane inquired, in a loud voice, if she were not going to take something along to put the berries in.
"To be sure I am. In my hurry I entirely forgot it. What shall I take?" asked Mary.
"We ourselves have not yet decided. Which do you think would be better, Mary, a basket or a pail?"
"I don't know and I don't care what you take, I am going to take a paper bag," replied Mary. "It is light and convenient, and we can easily destroy all evidence of failure in case we fail to get any berries."
"Thank you, Mary, for the happy suggestion. We will take paper bags. What size will be suitable?"
"I think," said Jane, "that if we each fill a flour sack, that will be sufficient for once. It is such a job to carry so many or to make them into jam."
"To obviate any chance for envy as to which shall gather the greatest amount of berries, let us take along a common, large receptacle, into which each of us shall deposit as often as our smaller vessels shall be filled."
"That is a thoughtful and wise plan for an unambitious person. I assent to the proposition," smilingly answered Mina.
A bushel basket was found and all agreed to take turns in carrying it to the pasture. At last, the procession was formed, after several more short halts for consultation and criticism, and was finally under way for the pasture. But when in the highway, which they had to cross to reach the same, they were accosted by two ragged boys with, "Say, girls, do you want to buy any berries; only five cents a quart; twelve quarts—all there were in the pasture, every one, and it's the last picking of the season."