one morning little boy ben came home from the pasture, where he had taken the cows, with so much to tell that he could not wait until he got to the house to begin.
"the wild grapes are ripe, the persimmons are sweet, and the chestnuts are falling out of the burrs. one dropped on my hat when i came through the wood; and i saw a little gray squirrel eating nuts," he called to brother fred as soon as he reached the big gate.
"hurrah!" said brother fred. "we can go and get some this very afternoon;" and when he went to take some corn to the mill for his father, he stopped at his cousin pen's house to tell her about it.
"the wild grapes are ripe, the persimmons are sweet, and the chestnuts are falling out of the burrs. we are going to get some this afternoon. don't you want to go, too?" he asked.
"yes, indeed," said cousin pen; "and i will bring mary sue with me."
mary sue was cousin pen's little friend; and as soon as brother fred had gone, cousin pen ran over to her house.
"oh, mary sue!" she cried. "what do you think? the wild grapes are ripe, the persimmons are sweet, the chestnuts are falling out of the burrs, and my cousin fred wants us to go to the woods to get some this very day."
"how nice," said mary sue; "let's go and tell dan."
dan was mary sue's neighbor. he lived next door to her; and he let cousin pen and her ride on his pony sometimes. he was in the barn feeding the pony when the girls went to his house; and they ran through the yard to find him.
"the wild grapes are ripe, and the persimmons are sweet—" cried cousin pen.
"and the chestnuts are falling out of the burrs. don't you want to go and get some?" asked mary sue.
"i'll go if larry brown will," said dan; and he climbed up on a ladder and put his head out of the barn window, and called as loud as he could:—
"larry, larry, don't you want to go to the woods to get some grapes and persimmons and chestnuts? i'll go if you will."
larry came running across the street from his house in a hurry to see what was the matter. he was as pleased as all the rest had been to hear the good news; and when he went home he told his little sister nan about it.
"the wild grapes are ripe, the persimmons are sweet, the chestnuts are falling out of the burrs, and i am going to bring you some," he said.
but little nan wanted to go, too. "i will carry her if she gets tired," said larry; so after they had eaten their dinner, mother gave nan a little basket, and she started out, holding larry's hand.
the others were ready and waiting; and away they all went to the pleasant wood.
brother fred, and little ben;
mary sue, and cousin pen;
larry brown, and neighbor dan;
and larry's little sister nan.
oh, what a good time they had! the grapes were ripe, the persimmons were sweet as sugar, the chestnuts dropped from the open burrs, and up in a tree, where they all might see, sat the little gray squirrel!
