Did they take pity on the earth That looked so bare and brown, As if it needed a new birth, And so came fluttering down? Did they remember children small, Who longed to slide and coast, And so came down with a great fall In a glad, joyous host? I watch the people as they pass And snowflakes as they fall, I watch the puddle that’s like glass, I’m glad that I am small. For it is cozy in the house, Beside the kitchen stove, Watching to get a gliding mouse While my three brothers rove, And scamper through the falling flakes, No thought of verse have they, While kind Elvira brews and bakes, Upon this snowy day, Dishes that cats and kittens love, They are a pleasant sight; I let my brothers freely rove, I stay at home and write. Sally was much impressed by the verses of her ancestor. She wished he were here now, sitting by her on the window-sill, for Oxford Gray, Junior, was so tiresome at times. ‘Rice, indeed, or powder!’ What a way to speak of these marvelous fluttering things that came down to earth from another country as if bringing a message of peace and good will! There was a great deal to be seen from the windows of the house. Sally went at an early hour to the window in the hall and sat on the broad leather cushion looking out. Miss Harvey had let her come through when she went in to dust the parlor. Sally was greatly interested in watching Mr. Gardiner shovel out the board walk with his big wooden shovel. It seemed a foolish piece of work to her, for no sooner had he shoveled off the snow than more came. ‘Why not wait until the snowstorm was over?’ thought Sally. But people were so stupid compared with cats! Mr. Gardiner looked cold and tired, and as if he would like to take Sally’s advice. He kept on working though, and the snowflakes kept on falling. It was too bad that they would not let Oxford into this part of the house, but ever since the candlestick had been knocked off the study mantelpiece, they seemed to feel one cat inside was enough. They had given him one or two more trials when there was a mouse inside, but he had clawed a sofa cushion, and scratched a piano leg, when sharpening his claws. If he had only behaved well, he could have been sitting on this green cushion watching the snowstorm, for there were three windows and he could have had one to himself. Mr. Gardiner spied Sally in the window and he made a low bow. ‘He has the best manners of any man I ever saw,’ Sally thought. ‘Men usually do not stop to be polite to cats.’ [Illustration] Miss Harvey was standing in the hall just behind Sally, but Sally was sure the bow had been meant for herself.