A STRANGE BEDFELLOW
Around and around in the back yard, near what had once been a snow house, but which was only a big drift now, went Ted and Tom, rolling balls to make the snow man. Finally Ted's ball was so large that he could not push it any more.
"What'll I do?" he asked Tom. "Shall I leave it here and make the snow man right in this place?"
"No. I'll help you push it," Tom said. "We want that for the bottom part of the snow man, so it will have to be the biggest ball. Wait, I'll help."
The two boys managed to roll the ball a little farther, and it kept getting larger all the while, for as it rolled more snow clung to it and was packed on.
"There, I guess it's big enough," panted Tom, after a while. "Now, we'll pile my ball on top and then we'll put a head on our man."
"Where's his legs goin' to be?" asked Jan, who came out of the house just then to look on for a while, bringing Trouble with her.
"Oh, we'll carve them out of the lower part of the big snowball," answered Ted. "I'll show you."
With a shovel he and Tom cut away some of the snow, making big, fat, round, white legs for the man, who, as yet, had neither eyes, a nose nor a mouth, to say nothing of ears.
"Now we've got to have some buttons for his coat and some eyes for his head," said Tom, when the legs were made. On them the snow man stood up very straight and stiff.
"What do you want for eyes?" asked Ted.
"I saw a snow man in Grace Turner's yard last year," said Jan, "and that one had pieces of coal for eyes."
"That's just what we'll use!" cried Tom.
"I'll get the coal in our cellar," offered Ted, as he ran away to get the black lumps.
"Bring a lot and we'll make some buttons for his coat," called Tom.
"I will," Ted answered.
"Don't get the lumps too big!" shouted Jan.
"No, I won't," replied Ted; then he ran on to do his errand.
Two of the largest chunks of coal were stuck in the snow head of the man, and now he really began to look like something. The rest of the coal was stuck in the larger snowball and the black lumps looked just like coat buttons in two rows.
"There's his nose!" exclaimed Tom, as he fastened a lump of snow in the middle of the man's fat face. "And here's his mouth," he went on as he made a sort of cut in the snow with a stick.
"Oh, that doesn't look like a mouth," cried Janet. "I know a better way than that."
"Pooh! girls don't know how to make snow men!" exclaimed Ted. "You'd better go and get your doll, Janet."
"I do so know how to make a snow man, Theodore Martin! And if you think I don't I won't tell you the best way to make a mouth! So there!" and Janet, with her head held high in the air, and her nose up-tilted, started away, taking Trouble with her.
"Oh, I didn't mean anything!" protested Ted. "I was only foolin', Jan!"
"That's right!" added Tom. "Go on, tell us how to make a good mouth. Mine doesn't look much like one, but that's the way I always make 'em when I build a snow man."
"Well, I'll tell you," said Jan, turning back. "You want to take a piece of red flannel or red paper. Then it looks just like the snow man had red lips and was stickin' out his red tongue. I mean sticking," she added, as she remembered to put on her "g."
"Say! that is a good way to make a mouth, Ted!" cried Tom. "We'll do it. But where'll we get the red flannel?"
"I've got a piece of red cloth left over from my doll's dress," went on Janet. "I'll get that for you."
"Thanks," murmured Ted. "I guess girls do know something about snow men," he added to Tom.
"Course they do," the other boy agreed. "I like your sister Janet."
Ted began to feel that, even if Janet was a year younger than he, she might be smarter in some ways than he was. He was sure of it when he saw how well the snow man looked with his red tongue and lips which Tom made from the scarlet cloth Jan gave him.
"Now if we only had a hat for him he'd look great!" cried Ted, when the last touches were being put on the snow man, even ears having been given him, though, of course, he could not hear through them.
"I know where there's an old hat—a big stovepipe one," said Jan. She meant a tall, shiny, silk hat.
"Where is it?" asked Tom.
"Up in our attic. Daddy used to wear it, mother said, but it's too old-fashioned now. Maybe she'd let us take it."
Mrs. Martin said the children might have the old tall hat, which was broken in one place, but the snow man did not mind that. It was soon perched on his head and then a very proper figure indeed he looked, as he stood up straight and stiff in the yard back of the house.
More than one person stopped to look at what the Curlytops had made and many smiled as they saw the tall silk hat on the snow man. He even had a cane, made from a stick, and he was altogether a very proper and stylish snow man.
Trouble seemed to think the white man with his shiny black hat, was made for him to play with, for no sooner was it finished than Baby William began throwing snowballs at "Mr. North," as Mrs. Martin said they ought to call the gentleman made from white flakes.
"Oh, you mustn't do that!" cried Ted, as he saw what his little brother was doing. "You'll hit his hat," for one of Trouble's snowballs came very near the shiny "stovepipe" as Jan had called it.
"Trouble 'ike snow man," said the little fellow, laughing.
"Well, we like him, too," answered Janet, "and we don't want you to spoil him, baby. Don't throw snowballs at Mr. North."
"Here, I'll help you make a little snow man for yourself," offered Ted to his brother.
"Oh, dat fun!" laughed the little fellow. "I want a biggest one."
"No, a small one will be better, and then you can throw as many snowballs at it as you want," went on Ted.
Jan helped Ted make the snow man for Trouble, for Tom and Lola were called home by their mother. In a short while Trouble's white image was finished. Jan found more red cloth to make the lips and tongue, Ted got more coal for eyes and coat buttons and then he made a paper soldier hat for the small snow man.
"Do you like it, Trouble?" asked his brother, when it was finished.
"Nice," answered Baby William. "Bring it in house to play wif!"
"Oh, no! You mustn't try to do that!" laughed Janet. "If you brought your snow man into the house he would all melt!"
"All melt away?" asked the little fellow.
"Yes, all melt into water. He has to stay out where it's cold. Play with him out here, Trouble."
So Trouble did, making a lot of snowballs which he piled around the feet of his man, so that they might be ready in case the snow man himself wanted to throw them.
Then Teddy and Janet went coasting just before supper, coming home with red cheeks and sparkling eyes, for it was cold and they had played hard.
"Well, Trouble, is the snow man all right?" asked Ted, as he and Jan sat down to supper a little later.
HE WAS ALTOGETHER A VERY STYLISH SNOW MAN.
"Iss. Big snow man in yard," answered Baby William.
"He'll take care of your little snow man all night," added Janet. "Then your little snow man won't be afraid to stay out in the dark, Trouble."
"Trouble's snow man not be in dark," was the answer. "He gone bed. Trouble's snow man gone bed."
"What does he mean?" asked Ted.
"Oh, I presume he's just pretending that he put his snow man to bed in a drift of snow," said Mrs. Martin. "The poor child is so sleepy from having played out all the afternoon that he can't keep his eyes open. I'll put you to bed right after supper, Trouble."
"Trouble go to bed—snow man go to bed," murmured Baby William. He was very sleepy, so much so that his head nodded even while he was eating the last of his bread and milk. And then his mother carried him off to his room.
Ted and Janet sat up a little later to talk to their father, as they generally did.
"Did you hear any more from Grandpa Martin?" asked Ted, after he had finished studying his school lesson for the next day.
"What about?" asked Mr. Martin.
"About the big snowstorm that's coming."
"Oh, you mean about what the hermit said," laughed his father. "No, we haven't had any more letters from grandpa."
"But we will have enough to eat even if we are snowed in, won't we?" Jan queried.
"Oh, yes, I guess so," answered Daddy Martin. "Don't worry about that."
"Can those hermits really tell when there's going to be a big storm with lots of snow?" asked Ted.
"Well, sometimes," admitted Mr. Martin. "Men who live in the woods or mountains all their lives know more about the weather than those of us who live in houses in towns or cities most of the time. Sometimes the hermits and woodsmen can tell by the way the squirrels and other animals act and store away food, whether or not it is going to be a hard winter. But don't worry about being snowed in. If we are we'll make the best of it."
A little later Ted and Jan, still thinking what would happen if a storm should come heavy enough to cover the house, started for their bedrooms. As Janet undressed and turned back the covers of her bed she gave a scream.
"What's the matter?" asked her mother from the hall.
"Maybe she saw a baby mouse!" laughed Ted.
"Oh, no. Mother! Daddy! Come quick!" cried Jan. "There's somebody in my bed!"
Mrs. Martin ran into her little girl's room, and there, on the white sheet, half covered, she saw a strange bedfellow.