Of course, some had to snicker, but the most of us, I
am thankful to say, were a credit to our bringing up, and never let
on we heard it. All the same it was a terrible thing to have to
speak right out loud before everybody. If any of the boys (let
alone the girls), had said that because he felt like saying it, he
would have been sent in to the principal, and that night his daddy
would have given him another licking.
Even now I cannot bring myself to write the line without toning it
down.
"'It snows!' cries the widow. 'Oh G - d!'"
At the beginning of winter, I will not deny, that the schoolboy might
have shouted: "It's snowin'! Hooee!" when he saw the first snow
flakes sifting down, and realized that the Old Woman was picking her
geese. A change is always exciting, and winter brings many joyous
sports and pastimes, skating, and snowballing, and sliding down hill,
and - er - er - I said skating didn't I? and - er - Oh, yes,
sleigh-riding, and - er - Well, I guess that's about all.
Skating, now, that's fine. I know a boy who, when the red ball goes
up in the street-cars, sneaks under his coat a pair of wooden-soled
skates, with runners that curl up over the toes like the stems of
capital letters in the Spencerian copy-book. He is ashamed of the
old-fashioned things, which went out of date long and long before my
day, but he says that they are better than the hockeys.
Pages:
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79