snow again."

"We have had more snowstorms than we usually do at this time of the
year," remarked Mrs. Martin. "I guess Grandpa Martin's old hermit told
part of the truth, anyhow."

"Come on, Jan!" cried Ted to his sister, as they left the table to get
ready for school. "We'll have a lot of fun in the snow to-day."

"Will we go coasting or skating?" Janet asked.

"There isn't any skating, unless we clean the snow off the pond,"
replied Ted. "And that's an awful lot of work," he added. "When we come
home from school we'll build a great big snow house, if the snow is soft
enough to pack."

"On your way home from school," said Mrs. Martin to Ted and Jan, "I want
you to stop at your father's store. He'll take you to get new rubber
boots. Your old ones are nearly worn out, and if we are to have much
snow this winter you'll need bigger ones to keep your feet dry. So stop
at daddy's store. He'll be looking for you."

"New rubber boots!" cried Ted. "That's dandy!"

"Oh, may I have a high pair?" asked Jan. "I want to wade in drifts as
high as Ted does, and I can't if you get me low boots."

"Your father will get you the right kind," said Mrs. Martin. "The boot
store is near his, and he'll go in to buy them with you."

Jan and Ted were very glad they were going to have new rubber boots, and
Ted was thinking so much about his that when his teacher in school asked
him how to spell foot he spelled "b-o-o-t!"

The other boys and girls laughed, and at first Ted did not know why.
But, after a bit, when he saw the teacher smiling also, he remembered
what he had done. Then he spelled foot correctly.

"Theodore was thinking more of what to put on his foot, than about the
word I asked him to spell," said the teacher.

Mr. Martin's store was not far from the school, and Ted and Jan hurried
there when their lessons were over.

"Where you goin'?" asked Tom Taylor, as he came running out of the
school yard. "Come on, Curlytop, and let's make another snow man."

"I will after I get my new rubber boots," promised Ted. "You can start
making it in our yard if you want to. But don't let Trouble make any
more little snow men. He put one in my sister's bed last night."

"He did?" laughed Tom. "Say, he's queer all right!"

"Well, Curlytops, did you come to buy out the store?" asked Mr. Martin
with a laugh as he saw his two children come in and walk back toward the
end, where he had his office.

"We want rubber boots," said Ted.