“Not now,” said Marjorie; “I’ve only two dollars to spend, and I want to see the other tables—trees, I mean—before I decide what I’ll buy.”
“And we must go on, and see the trees, so we can go to our own,” said Delight.
Hand-in-hand, the two girls went round the room, looking at the novel sights.
In a grove of Rubber Trees, many sorts of rubber goods were sold.
Under a beautiful tree, loaded with cherry-blossoms, Japanese maidens dispensed tea, and sold fans and paper parasols.
The Cork Tree was most amusing. Corks dangled from its branches, and stuck on the ends of its twigs. On its counter were sold bottles of perfume, of ink, of shoe dressing, of mucilage, everything, in fact, which could be corked in a bottle.
Also, there were some funny little curios and toys which had been cleverly carved out of cork, and some grotesque dolls with cork faces.
Under the Pine Tree were many things of wood. Matches, skewers, and kitchen implements, as well as picture frames, book-racks, and carved wooden boxes. Not all of pinewood, perhaps, but much latitude was allowed in this market. Here, too, were pillows of pretty silks, filled with balsam of pine, and little trinkets made of pine cones or pine needles.
A funny tree was the Weeping Willow. It was cleverly contrived, and looked almost like a real willow tree. Beneath it was a sale of nothing but handkerchiefs and onions!
The two merry girls in charge of this pretended to be weeping as they sold their wares, and so funny were their lamentations that soon they had no wares to sell.
The Beech Tree had all sorts of seashore goods—shells, coral, postcards of watering places, little pails and shovels—all reminiscent of the beach.
The Ash Tree was, of course, the stand for cigars and ash trays, or other smokers’ utensils.
The candy was sold in a sugar-cane plantation, and refreshments were served in a thicket of trees called the Peach Orchard, because the pretty waitresses were said to be “Peaches!”
Altogether, it was a beautiful scene, and after a walk round it all, Marjorie and Delight reported at Miss Merington’s Orange Tree.
This was one of the prettiest, for the tree was a real one, and large enough to present a fine appearance.
It was loaded with orange blossoms and with the “oranges” that the girls had made. There was also a crate of the paper oranges to sell from and, too, there was a crate of real oranges to be sold.