e all the candy I want, and ice cream----"

"Me too!" burst in Freddie. "I'm going to have a candy store, an' be a
fireman, an' a soldier, all together!"

"Dear! dear!" laughed Dinah. "Jess to heah dat now! It's wonderful wot
yo' is gwine to be when yo' is big."

At that moment the front door bell rang, and all rushed to the hallway,
to greet their mother, who had been down-town, on a shopping tour.

CHAPTER II

ROPE JUMPING, AND WHAT FOLLOWED

"Oh, mamma, what have you brought?" Such was the cry from all of the
Bobbsey twins, as they gathered around Mrs. Bobbsey in the hallway. She
had several small packages in her hands, and one looked very much like a
box of candy.

Mrs. Bobbsey kissed them all before speaking. "Have you been good while
I was gone?" she asked.

"I guess we tried to be good," answered Bert meekly.

"Freddie's boiler got broke, that's all," said Flossie. "Dinah swept up
the dirt."

Before anything more could be said all were in the dining room and Mrs.
Bobbsey was called upon to admire the row of houses. Then the box of
candy was opened and each received a share.

"Now you had better go out and play," said the mother. "Dinah must set
the table for dinner. But be sure and put on your thick coats. It is
very cold and feels like snow."

"Oh, if only it would snow!" said Bert. He was anxious to try a sled he
had received the Christmas before.

It was Saturday, with no school, so all of the boys and girls of the
neighborhood were out. Some of the girls were skipping rope, and Nan
joined these, while Bert went off to join a crowd of boys in a game of
football.

"Let us play horse," suggested Freddie to Flossie. They had reins of red
leather, with bells, and Freddie was the horse while his twin sister was
the driver.

"I'm a bad horse, I'll run away if you don't watch me," cautioned
Freddie, and began to prance around wildly, against the grape arbor and
then up against the side fence.

"Whoa! whoa!" screamed Flossie, jerking on the reins. "Whoa, you naughty
horse! If I had a whip, I'd beat you!"

"If you did that, I'd kick," answered Freddie, and began to kick real
hard into the air. But at last he settled down and ran around the house
just as nicely as any horse could. Then he snorted and ran up to the
water bucket near the barn and Flossie pretended to give him a drink and
some hay, and unharnessed him just as if he was a real steed.

Nan was counting while another girl named