rm, won't it, Mother?" he asked
anxiously.

"Well, maybe so. But you don't want too big a storm, do you?"

"I want one big enough for us to go coasting on the hill and have
sleigh-rides. And we can skate, too, if the pond freezes and we scrape
off the snow. Oh, we'll have fun, won't we, Jan?"

Without waiting for an answer Ted ran upstairs to take a few of the
"wrinkles" out of his curly locks, while Nora Jones, who helped Mrs.
Martin with the housework, looked for the children's umbrella and
rubbers.

It was the first snowstorm of the season, and, as it always did, it
caused much delight, not only to the Curlytops but to the other children
of Cresco where the Martin family lived. Janet watched eagerly the
falling flakes as she put on her rubbers and waited for Teddy to come
down from the bathroom, where he had gone to comb his hair, though he
could not see much use in doing that.

"It'll only be all curly again," he said. But still he minded his
mother.

"The flakes are getting lots smaller," said Janet, as she and Teddy
started for school. "We'll have big heaps of snow, Ted, and we can have
fun."

"Yes, I think it will be more of a storm than I thought it would amount
to at first," said Mrs. Martin. "I'm glad we have plenty of coal in the
cellar, and an abundance of dry wood. Winter has started in early this
year."

"And pretty soon it'll be Thanksgiving and Christmas!" cried Ted. "Then
what fun we'll have!" exclaimed the excited boy.

"Now don't get any snow down inside your collars," called Mrs. Martin to
her children, as they went down the street.

"We won't!" they promised, and then they forgot all about it, and began
snowballing one another with what little snow they could scrape up from
the ground, which was now white with the newly-fallen crystals.

"I'm going to wash your face!" suddenly cried Ted to his sister.

"You are not!" she cried, and away she ran.

Meanwhile, Trouble Martin, which was the pet name for Baby William, the
youngest of the family, sat in the dining-room window and laughed at the
falling flakes and at his brother and sister going to school, romping on
their way.

"There, I did wash your face!" cried Ted, as he finally managed to rub a
little snow on his sister's cheek, making it all the redder. "I washed
your face first this year!"

"I don't care. You got some down inside my collar and my neck's wet and
I'm going to tell mother on you!"

"Oh, don't!" begged Ted. "I won