to get mad with Jill, for she'd take his head off
in two minutes if he did," growled Joe Flint, still smarting from the
rebuke Jill had given him for robbing the little ones of their safe
coast because he fancied it.

"She wouldn't! she's a dear! _You_ needn't sniff at her because she is
poor. She's ever so much brighter than you are, or she wouldn't always
be at the head of your class, old Joe," cried the girls, standing by
their friend with a unanimity which proved what a favorite she was.

Joe subsided with as scornful a curl to his nose as its chilly state
permitted, and Merry Grant introduced a subject of general interest by
asking abruptly,--

"Who is going to the candy-scrape to-night?"

"All of us. Frank invited the whole set, and we shall have a tip-top
time. We always do at the Minots'," cried Sue, the timid trembler.

"Jack said there was a barrel of molasses in the house, so there would
be enough for all to eat and some to carry away. They know how to do
things handsomely;" and the speaker licked his lips, as if already
tasting the feast in store for him.

"Mrs. Minot is a mother worth having," said Molly Loo, coming up with
Boo on the sled; and she knew what it was to need a mother, for she had
none, and tried to care for the little brother with maternal love and
patience.

"She is just as sweet as she can be!" declared Merry, enthusiastically.

"Especially when she has a candy-scrape," said Joe, trying to be
amiable, lest he should be left out of the party.

Whereat they all laughed, and went gayly away for a farewell frolic, as
the sun was setting and the keen wind nipped fingers and toes as well as
noses.

Down they went, one after another, on the various coasts,--solemn Frank,
long Gus, gallant Ed, fly-away Molly Loo, pretty Laura and Lotty, grumpy
Joe, sweet-faced Merry with Sue shrieking wildly behind her, gay Jack
and gypsy Jill, always together,--one and all bubbling over with the
innocent jollity born of healthful exercise. People passing in the road
below looked up and smiled involuntarily at the red-cheeked lads and
lasses, filling the frosty air with peals of laughter and cries of
triumph as they flew by in every conceivable attitude; for the fun was
at its height now, and the oldest and gravest observers felt a glow of
pleasure as they looked, remembering their own young days.

"Jack, take me down that coast. Joe said I wouldn't dare to do it, so I
must," commanded Jill, as they p