"Now throw off your hat," said Daisy. "It's shady enough, and you'll
feel cooler. Now Nora, how shall we do?--You try one and I'll try one;
that will be best; and then we can see. I want them to look very pretty,
you know; and they are to be filled with strawberries to send home to
the children; if we make them very nice they will go on the table, I
think, and help dress it up."

For a time there was comparative silence, while the little hands turned
and twisted the mosses and bits of larch and cedar and hemlock in and
out of the openings of the baskets. It was not found easy at first to
produce a good effect; hands were unused to the work; and Nora declared
after half an hour she believed the baskets would look best plain, just
as they were. But Daisy would not give up. She grew very warm indeed
with the excitement of her efforts, but she worked on. By and by she
succeeded in dressing a basket so that it looked rich with green; and
then a bit or two of rosebuds or heath or bright yellow everlasting made
the adornment gay and pretty enough. It was taken for a model; and from
that time tongues and fingers worked together, and heat was forgotten.

[Illustration]

"Isn't this pleasant!" exclaimed Daisy at length, dropping her work into
her lap. "Isn't it just as pleasant as it can be, Nora?"

"Yes," said Nora, working away.

"Just see the river--it's so smooth. And look up into the leaves;--how
pretty they are!--and every one of them is trembling a little; not one
of them is still, Nora. How beautiful the green is, with the sun shining