Page:The New-Year's Bargain (1884).djvu/114

 a person for that. But just here it is really quite comfortable. I supposed I should find you all burnt up, like the people outside there," pointing to the wood; "so by way of a present I brought these," and she produced two palm-leaf fans.

The children were delighted. They had never seen any before. "Are they really made of leaves?" they asked.

"To be sure," said July. "How odd that you shouldn't know! Why, over in America every man, woman, and child has one. They are plenty as blackberries,—babies cry for them. And, speaking of blackberries, here is a pocketful I picked as I came along. You can be eating them to keep yourselves from getting impatient; for I'm all out of breath, and can't begin yet." Saying which, she turned the pocket inside out on the door-step.

This was good fun. Blackberries grew too far off to be things of every day, and these were the first of the season. One after another, the