"You'll be late for school, and be kept in!" warned Janet.

"We'll run," Tommie said, as he started at the top of the slippery
place.

He and Ted had their one-more slide, and then, taking hold of Janet's
hands, they hurried on to school.

Behind them and in front of them were other children, some hurrying to
their classes, others waiting for a last slide, some falling down in the
snow. Others were washing one another's faces and some were snowballing.

In school the teachers had hard work to keep the minds of their pupils
on their lessons. Every now and then some boy or girl would look out of
the window when his eyes ought to have been on spelling book or
geography. All wanted to see the snow sifting down from the clouds.

The flakes, that had been large at first, were now smaller, and this, as
most of the children had been told, meant that the storm would last. And
they were glad, for to them snow meant grand winter fun with sleds and
skates.

"We'll have some bobsled races all right," whispered Teddy Martin to
Tommie Wilson, and the teacher, hearing what Teddy said, kept him after
school for whispering. But she did not keep him very long, for she knew
what it meant to have fun in the first snow of the season.

Teddy found Janet waiting for him when he came out, for it was now
snowing hard and Teddy had taken the umbrella with him when he went to
his room. He was a year older than his sister and one class ahead of her
in school.

"Were you bad in class?" Janet asked.

"I only whispered a little. She didn't keep me in long. Come on now,
we'll have some fun."

And fun the Curlytops and their playmates did have on their way home
from school. They slid, they snowballed, they washed one another's faces
and some of the boys even started to roll big snowballs, but the flakes
were too dry to stick well, and they soon gave this up. It needs a wet
snow to make a big ball.

When Teddy and Janet got home, their cheeks red, their eyes sparkling
and their hair curlier than ever because some snow had gotten in it,
they found their mother reading a letter which the postman had just
left.

"Oh, what's it about?" asked Jan. "It's from Cherry Farm, isn't it,
Mother? I can tell by the funny black mark on the stamp."

"Is it from grandpa?" asked Teddy.

"Yes," answered Mrs. Martin. "The letter is from grandpa."

"Is he coming here to spend Christmas, or are we going there just as you
said we might?" asked Janet.

"I'm