Sophy and Elsie were sitting under the trees one warm June morning dressing their dolls.  Fred and May were rolling marbles, and Harold lay on the grass with a book in his hand.

“There come Hetty Allen and Maggie Wilson,” said Sophy, raising her head.  “See how earnestly they are talking together!  I wonder what it is all about.  What’s the matter, girls?” she asked, as they drew near.

“Oh, nothing’s the matter,” replied Hetty, “but we are getting up a party to go strawberrying.  We’ve heard of a field only two miles from here—­or at least not much over two miles from the school-house—­where the berries are very thick.  We are going to-morrow, because it’s Saturday, and there’s no school, and we’ve come to ask if you and Elsie and Harold won’t go along.”

“Yes, indeed!” exclaimed Sophy, clapping her hands; “it will be such fun, and I’m sure mamma will let us go.”

“Oh, that’s a first-rate idea!” cried Harold, throwing aside his book; “to be sure we must all go.”

“Will you go, Elsie?” asked Maggie; adding, “we want you so very much.”

“Oh, yes, if papa will let me, and I think he will, for he allows me to run about here all day, which I should think was pretty much the same thing, only there will be more fun and frolic with so many of us together, and the berries to pick, too; oh, I should like to go very much indeed!”

Hetty and Maggie had seated themselves on the grass, and now the whole plan was eagerly discussed.  The children were all to meet at the school-house at nine o’clock, and proceed in a body to the field, taking their dinners along so as to be able to stay all day if they chose.

The more the plan was discussed, the more attractive it seemed to our little friends, and the stronger grew their desire to be permitted to go.

“I wish I knew for certain that mamma would say yes,” said Sophy.  “Suppose we go up to the house now and ask.”

“No,” objected Harold, “mamma will be busy now, and less likely to say yes, than after dinner.  So we had better wait.”

“Well, then, you all ask leave when you go up to dinner, and we will call here on our way home from school to know whether you are going or not,” said Hetty, as she and Maggie rose to go.

Harold and Sophy agreed, but Elsie said that she could not know then, because her father had gone to the city and would not be back until near tea-time.

“Oh, well, never mind! he’ll be sure to say yes if mamma does,” said Harold, hopefully.  And then, as Hetty and Maggie walked away, he began consulting with Sophy on the best plan for approaching their mother on the subject.  They resolved to wait until after dinner, and then, when she had settled down to her sewing, to present their request.

Mrs. Allison raised several objections; the weather was very warm, the road would be very dusty, and she was sure they would get overheated and fatigued, and heartily wish themselves at home long before the day was over.