to the summons of the telephone, "is that it is lucky
Christmas comes only once a year. Otherwise, Aunt Trudy, you'd have
us completely demoralized."

Spending their Christmas money gave the three girls a good deal of
pleasure during holiday week and a letter from their mother was
another pleasant incident. Mrs. Willis wrote that the fur coat and
the kimona had made her the envy of the whole sanatorium and she was
so proud of them both that she cried whenever she looked at them!

"--But, of course, I know you don't want me to do that, so I have
stopped, really I have," ran one paragraph of her letter. "I am so
proud of you all, my darlings and it seems such a short time ago
that you were all babies. How could I look ahead and see that my son
would grow up so soon and buy his mother a fur-lined coat, or that
my three girl babies for whom I sewed so happily would make me a
kimona and such a beautiful garment? I am wearing it now...."

The clear cold weather came to an end during holiday week and a
heavy storm set in a few days before New Year's. For two days and a
night it snowed steadily and Sarah was almost beside herself to
think that now she could play in the snow as long as she liked with
no school to interfere. Shirley suffered from cold and did not like
to play out long at a time, but Rosemary was not too old to enjoy
snow ball fights and coasting and she joined Sarah on the hill as
often as she felt she could leave her beloved practising. Nina
Edmonds did not care for coasting, but Fannie Mears and several of
the girls in the grade above the seventh liked to coast on Fred
Mears' bob-sled.

Late in the afternoon of the second day, when the snow had almost
stopped, except for a few large flakes, Rosemary set out to find
Sarah and bring her in in time for dinner. She was ploughing along
through the snow when Jack Welles hailed her.

"'Lo, Rosemary!" he called. "Where you going--home?"

"I'm going to the hill to get Sarah," Rosemary explained. "Hugh says
she'd coast till breakfast time if no one stopped her and I believe
she would. Where's your sled? Haven't you been out to-day? They say
the coasting is fine."

"I know it is, but I haven't had time to try it, worse luck!"
growled Jack, falling into step beside Rosemary as they walked on.
"The Common Council has sent out a call for the snow cleaning gangs
again and I've been trying to round the fellows up."

"Yes, I suppose the streets are piled up," agreed