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“There’s Gus Burton; doesn’t he go it?” and such a very long boy whizzed by, that it
looked almost as if his heels were at the top of the hill when his head was at the bottom!
“Hurrah for Ed Devlin!” and a general shout greeted a sweet-faced lad, with a laugh
on his lips, a fine color on his brown cheek, and a gay word for every girl he passed.
“Laura and Lotty keep to the safe coast into the meadow, and Molly Loo is the only
girl that dares to try this long one to the pond. I wouldn’t for the world; the ice can’t be
strong yet, though it is cold enough to freeze one’s nose off”, said a timid damsel, who sat
hugging a post and screaming whenever a mischievous lad shook the fence.
“No, she isn’t here’s Jack and Jill going like fury”.
“Clear the track for jolly Jack!” sang the boys, who had rhymes and nicknames for
nearly everyone.
Down came a gay red sled, bearing a boy who seemed all smile and sunshine, so white
were his teeth, so golden was his hair, so bright and happy his whole air. Behind him clung
a girl, with black eyes and hair, cheeks as red as her hood, and a face full of fun and sparkle,
as she waved Jack’s blue tippet like a banner with one hand, and held on with the other.
“Jill goes wherever Jack does, and he lets her. He’s such a good-natured chap, he
can’t say No”.
“To a girl”, slyly added one of the boys, who had wished to borrow the red sled, and
had been politely refused because Jill wanted it.
“He’s the nicest boy in the world, for he never gets mad”, said the timid young lady,
recalling the many times Jack had shielded her from the terrors which beset her path to
school, in the shape of cows, dogs, and boys who made faces and called her “Fraidcat”.
“He doesn’t dare 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 tonight?"
“All of us. Frank invited the whole set, and we shall have a tiptop 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.

1. Read the extract and match the characters with their descriptions, then make up
sentences about them. Finally explain the words in bold.
1. ___ Frank Minot a white teeth, golden hair
2. ___ Little Boo b short legs, round face
3. ___ Ed Devlin c tall, keen sparkle in his eye
4. ___ Jack d black eyes, red cheeks
5. ___ Jill e sweet-faced, rosy cheeks

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