I do love snow. There isn't anything except a bull-terrier that is as
beautiful as snow. Mr. Travers says that seven hundred men once wrote a
poem called "Beautiful Snow," and that even then, though they were all
big strong men, they couldn't find words enough to tell how beautiful it
was.
There are some people who like snow, and some who don't. It's very
curious, but that's the way it is about almost everything. There are the
Eskimos who live up North where there isn't anything but snow, and where
there are no schools nor any errands, and they haven't anything to do
but to go fishing and skating and hunting, and sliding down hill all
day. Well, the Eskimos don't like it, for people who have been there and
seen them say they are dreadfully dissatisfied. A nice set the Eskimos
must be! I wonder what would satisfy them. I don't suppose it's any use
trying to find out, for father says there's no limit to the
unreasonableness of some people.
We ought always to be satisfied and contented with our condition and
the things we have. I'm always contented when I have what I want, though
of course nobody can expect a person to be contented when things don't
satisfy him. Sue is real contented, too, for she's got the greatest
amount of new clothes, and she's going to be married very soon. I think
it's about time she was, and most everybody else thinks so too, for I've
heard them say so; and they've said so more than ever since we made the
snow man.
[Illustration: WE BUILT THE BIGGEST SNOW MAN I EVER HEARD OF.]
You see, it was the day before Christmas, and there had been a beautiful
snow-storm. All of us boys were sliding down hill, when somebody said,
"Let's make a snow man." Everybody seemed to think the idea was a good
one, and we made up our minds to build the biggest snow man that ever
was, just for Christmas. The snow was about a foot thick, and just hard
enough to cut into slabs; so we got a shovel and went to work. We built
the biggest snow man I ever heard of. We made him hollow, and Tom
McGinnis stood inside of him and helped build while the rest of us
worked on the outside. Just as fast as we got a slab of snow in the
right place we poured water on it so that it would freeze right away. We
made the outside of the man about three feet thick, and he was so tall
that Tom McGinnis had to keep climbing up inside of him to help build.
Tom came near getting into a dreadful scrape, for we forgot to leave a
hole for him to get out of, and when the man was done, and frozen as
hard as a rock, Tom found that he was shut up as tight as if he was in
prison. Didn't he howl, though, and beg us to let him out! I told him
that he would be very foolish not to stay in the man all night, for he
would be as warm as the Eskimos are in their snow huts, and there would
be such fun when people couldn't find him anywhere. But Tom wasn't
satisfied; he began to talk some silly nonsense about wanting his
supper. The idea of anybody talking about such a little thing as supper
when they had such a chance to make a big stir as that. Tom always was
an obstinate sort of fellow, and he would insist upon coming out, so we
got a hatchet and chopped a hole in the back of the man and let him out.
The snow man was quite handsome, and we made him have a long beak, like
a bird, so that people would be astonished when they saw him. It was
that beak that made me think about the Egyptian gods that had heads like
hawks and other birds and animals, and must have frightened people
dreadfully when they suddenly met them near graveyards or in lonesome
roads.
One of those Egyptian gods was made of stone, and was about as high as
the top of a house. He was called Memnon, and every morning at sunrise
he used to sing out with a loud voice, just as the steam-whistle at
Mr. Thompson's mill blows every morning at sunrise to wake people up.
The Egyptians thought that Memnon was something wonderful, but it has
been found out, since the Egyptians died, that a priest used to hide
himself somewhere inside of Memnon, and made all the noise.
Looking at the snow man and thinking about the Egyptian gods, I thought
it wouldn't be a bad idea to hide inside of him and say things whenever
people went by. It would be a new way of celebrating Christmas, too.
They would be awfully astonished to hear a snow man talk. I might even
make him sing a carol, and then he'd be a sort of Christian Memnon, and
nobody would think I had anything to do with it.
That evening when the moon got up--it was a beautiful moonlight night--I
slipped out quietly and went up to the hill where the snow man was, and
hid inside of him. I knew Mr. Travers and Sue were out sleigh-riding,
and they hadn't asked me to go, though there was lots of room, and I
meant to say something to them when they drove by the snow man that
would make Sue wish she had been a little more considerate.
Presently I heard bells and looked out and saw a sleigh coming up the
hill. I was sure it was Mr. Travers and Sue; so I made ready for them.
The sleigh came up the hill very slow, and when it was nearly opposite
to me I said, in a solemn voice, "Susan, you ought to have been married
long ago." You see, I knew that would please Mr. Travers; and it was
true, too.