Mamma will see how very beautiful she is; but papa will say, 'Nonsense! Come in out of the cold!' "Let us call mamma to look out," said Peony; and then he shouted lustily, "Mamma! mamma!! mamma!!! 5 look out and see what a nice little girl we are making!"

The mother put down her work for an instant and looked out of the window. Through all the bright, blinding dazzle of the sun and the new snow she beheld a small white figure in the garden that seemed to have a wonderful deal of human likeness about it. And she saw 5 Violet and Peony — indeed, she looked more at them than at the image-still at work, Peony bringing fresh snow, and Violet applying it to the figure as scientifically as a sculptor adds clay to his model. Indistinctly as she discerned the snow child, the mother thought to herself that 10 never before was there a snow figure so cunningly made, nor ever such a dear little girl and boy to make it.

"They do everything better than other children," said she, very complacently; "no wonder they make better snow images."

15

She sat down again to her work, and made as much haste with it as possible, because twilight would soon come. The children, likewise, kept busily at work in the garden, and still the mother listened, whenever she could catch a word. She was amused to observe how their little 20 imaginations had got mixed up with what they were doing, and carried away by it. They seemed positively to think that the snow child would run about and play with them.

"What a nice playmate she will be for us all winter 25 long!" said Violet. "I hope papa will not be afraid of her giving us a cold. Shan't you love her dearly, Peony?"

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Oh, yes!" cried Peony; "and I will hug her, and she shall sit down close by me, and drink some of my warm milk.'

"Oh, no, Peony!" answered Violet, with grave wisdom; 5"that will not do at all. Warm milk will not be wholesome for our little snow sister. Little snow people, like her, eat nothing but icicles. No, no, Peony; we must not give her anything warm to drink."

There was a minute or two of silence, for Peony, whose 10 short legs were never weary, had gone on a pilgrimage again to the other side of the garden. All of a sudden Violet cried out loudly and joyfully:

"Look here, Peony! Come quickly! A light has been shining on her cheek out of that rose-colored cloud, and 15 the color does not go away! Is not that beautiful!"

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"Yes, it is beau-ti-ful!" answered Peony, pronouncing the three syllables with deliberate accuracy. "O Violet, only look at her hair! It is all like gold!"

"Oh, certainly," said Violet, with tranquillity, as if it 20 were very much a matter of course; "that color, you know, comes from the golden clouds that we see up there in the sky. She is almost finished now.

Just then there came a breeze of the pure west wind sweeping through the garden and rattling the windows. 25 It sounded so wintry cold that the mother was about to tap on the window pane with her thimbled finger to summon the two children in, when they both cried out to her.

The tone was not a tone of surprise, although they were evidently a good deal excited; it appeared rather as if they were very much rejoiced at some event that had now happened, but which they had been looking for, and had reckoned upon all along.

"Mamma! mamma! we have finished our little snow sister, and she is running about the garden with us!"

5

"What imaginative little beings my children are!" thought the mother. "And it is strange, too, that they make me almost as much a child as they themselves are. 10 I can hardly help believing, now, that the snow image has really come to life."

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"Dear mamma," cried Violet, pray look out and see what a sweet playmate we have!"

THE SNOW IMAGE-II

The sun was now gone out of the sky, and there was 15 not the slightest gleam or dazzle, either on the window or on the snow, so that the good lady could look all over the garden, and see everything and everybody in it. And what do you think she saw there? Violet and Peony, of course, her own two darling children. Ah, but whom or 201 what did she see besides? Why, if you will believe me, there was a small figure of a girl, dressed all in white, with rose-tinged cheeks and ringlets of golden hue, playing about the garden with the two children! The mother thought

that it must certainly be the daughter of one of the neighbors, and that, seeing Violet and Peony in the garden, the child had run across the street to play with them. So this kind lady went to the door, intending to invite 5 the little runaway to come in.

But, after opening the door, she stood an instant on the threshold, hesitating whether she ought to ask the child. to come in, or whether she should even speak to her. Indeed; she almost doubted whether it were a real child 10 after all, or only a light wreath of the new-fallen snow, blown hither and thither about the garden by the intensely cold west wind. There was certainly something very singular in the aspect of the little stranger. Among all the children of the neighborhood, the lady could remem15 ber no such face, with its pure white, and delicate rose color, and the golden ringlets tossing about the forehead and cheeks. And as for her dress, it was such as no reasonable woman would put upon a little girl when sending her out to play in the depth of winter. It made 20 this kind and careful mother shiver only to look at those small feet, with nothing in the world on them, except a very thin pair of white slippers. Nevertheless, airily as she was clad, the child seemed to feel not the slightest inconvenience from the cold, but danced so lightly over the 25 snow that the tips of her toes left hardly a print in its surface, while Violet could but just keep pace with her, and Peony's short legs compelled him to lag behind.