Sunny Boy took several pieces of coal from the scuttle standing near
the kitchen range and a piece of apple skin Harriet gave him and the
basket of apples. The boys ate the apples right away and let the snow
man wait for his eyes and mouth.
"You put in his eyes, Sunny Boy," said Oliver, when his apple was eaten
and even the core had disappeared. "You put in his eyes and I'll fix
his mouth."
"Let me put on his hat," begged Harry Winn, when eyes and mouth were in
place. "Get out the way, fellows, and let me put on his hat."
They all wanted to put the snow man's hat on for him, all except Sunny
Boy. He had several broken bits of coal left over and he wanted to put
those down the front of the snow man so that they would look like
buttons on his coat.
"I'm going to put the hat on," said Harry.
"I'll fix the buttons now," Sunny Boy said happily.
Harry snatched the old felt hat Harriet had given to the snow man from
Oliver, who held it. Oliver made a dash for Harry and the other boys
tried to trip him. Around and around the yard they went, laughing and
shouting, while Sunny Boy calmly stuck pieces of coal down the white
front of the snow man and pretended they were buttons on his coat.
[Illustration: Sunny Boy calmly stuck pieces of coal down the white
front of the snow man.]
"I said I'd do it!" shouted Harry, jumping for the snow man and landing
half way up his back.
He meant to clap the hat on the snow man's head and jump back. But,
before he could do this, the other four boys tumbled on top of him and
the snow man. Over went the whole statue, and the two huge balls of
snow fell squarely on Sunny Boy, just as Daddy and Grandpa Horton, who
had come home from the office early, stepped out on the back porch.
Sunny Boy was too surprised to be frightened, and before he had time to
wonder what had struck him, Daddy had him out and was brushing the snow
out of his ears and eyes.
"Are you hurt, Sunny Boy?" asked Harry. "I didn't mean to knock the
snow man over, honestly I didn't."
"There's snow down my neck," said Sunny Boy, wriggling. "But nothing
hurt me. Only the snow man is all gone."
There he lay, that beautiful snow man, in two pieces, several pieces in
fact, for the balls had broken apart when they fell.
"Never mind," said Daddy Horton cheerfully. "You can easily build
another snow man. And the boys will help you, perhaps tomorrow."
"To-morrow is New Year's," announced Oliver Dunlap. "I have to go to
see my grandma. But I can help build a snow man the day after that."
The other boys promised to help build another snow man whenever Sunny
Boy asked them to, and then, as they were going into the house, Mrs.
Baker called to Daddy Horton.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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