Animals -- Juvenile fiction; Boys -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Farm life -- Juvenile fiction; Obedience -- Juvenile fiction
After working more than two hours, and laying two courses, they shoveled
out all the broken snow that remained inside, and then sat down on the
sled to eat their luncheon and rest.
"How do you like the looks of it, Rollo?" said Oliver.
"_Well_," said Rollo; "only I don't see how we can make a roof."
"Jonas will help us do that," said Oliver, "if we do the rest of the
work well."
The boys, however, were now pretty tired. They had worked very hard.
They pulled off their caps, and with their handkerchiefs wiped the
perspiration from their foreheads.
"Don't let us work any longer now," said Nathan, rubbing his hands, and
knocking one foot against the other. "I think we have done enough for
one day; and my feet are _so_ cold!"
"_We've_ done enough!" said Oliver. "I think Rollo and I have had the
principal _doing_ to do. You and Franco have been looking on."
"'What you've to do
Get done to-day,
And do not for to-morrow stay;
There's always danger in delay'"--
said Rollo. "I think we had better finish it now. Come, Nathan, jump
about here on the sled, and you will soon be warm."
So they went briskly at work again, Rollo taking the command. They found
it very hard, after the second course, to get the snow-blocks up on the
snowy wall. Often they would slip away out of their hands, just as they
were lodging them safely on the top, and fall over on one side of the
wall, and break to pieces.
"Let us cut them in two," said Oliver; "we can handle them better so."
Before they got through the fourth course, they were glad to cut all
their materials into pieces of one foot square.
"How high are the walls now?" said Rollo, as they stopped to look at the
appearance of the last course.
"Between five and six feet," said Oliver. "The foundation is at least a
foot and a half high, and we have laid four courses."
Oliver, Rollo, and Nathan went to work together, then, stopping up all
the chinks in the wall, inside and out, with soft snow.
When this was well done, Oliver took the hoe, and with the sharp edge
shaved down all around on both sides, making the walls look even and
true.
"Well," said Rollo, "that is the best snow fort I ever saw. Jonas does
know how to do things, doesn't he, Oliver? But I don't see how we are to
get a roof on."
"I don't care about a roof," said Oliver. "We don't want to play in it
only in pleasant weather."
"I'll tell you what we might do," said Rollo. "We could make a partition
through the middle, and put a roof over half of it."
"So we can," said Oliver. "We'll do that this afternoon. It's time to go
to dinner now."
The boys then gathered all the tools, &c., and laid them together, as
Jonas had taught them to do, when they finished work, and then started
for home.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account