January now is here, The first glad month of all the year; Get your sled and snowshoes out; The coasting is good without a doubt; We are so merry and glad, ho! ho! We like the winter’s ice and snow; I heard the Ink-Bottle Babies say, “Snow-men we’ve made all the day!” One Saturday in January it began to snow, and down came the flakes bigger and bigger. By noon the Ink-Bottle Mamma said, “There is enough snow now to make a snow-man!” “How can we make a snow-man?” asked Molly. “Please show us how to make a snow-man,” said Polly. The Ink-Bottle Mamma shook her head. She said, “I am too stiff and old to make a snow-man.” Then the Ink-Bottle Babies all began to talk at once and they said, “Will no one show us how to make a snow-man?” Then the Mamma said, “Hush! Listen! Stop your noise!” Then the Babies were still and they heard the far-off tinkle of sleigh bells. Molly cried, “Oh, is it the farmer again?” Polly cried, “Oh, are we going to have company?” Then the twenty-five little Babies were very still. They flattened their little noses against the windowpanes, and looked out into the great white world. Nearer, nearer, nearer, came the tinkle of sleigh bells, and very soon a cunning little sleigh came in sight. In the sleigh were seated two dwarfs. They were as much alike as two peas. They stopped right in front of the house and got out of the sleigh. They ran to the door and asked, “Can you tell us if we are on the right road?” The Ink-Bottle Mamma bowed and said, “It all depends on where you are going, gentlemen!” “It always depends on where we are going,” snapped the first little dwarf. The second little dwarf said, “We are not gentlemen at all, we are only dwarfs!” Just at that minute, the first little dwarf caught sight of the twenty-five Babies with their noses still flattened against the windowpanes, and he cried, “Excuse me, but I must have one of those Babies.” “Oh! oh! oh!” cried the Ink-Bottle Mamma. “They are not for sale. You cannot have one of my Babies.” Then she shut the door quickly and left the two little dwarfs standing on the doorstep. “I want one of the Babies!” howled the first little dwarf. The second little dwarf took him by the arm and led him down the walk back to their little sleigh. “I wonder if they live in the deep woods,” said Polly. “I wonder where they were going,” said Molly. The Ink-Bottle Mamma went and kissed every one of her Babies. She said, “They cannot have any of my Babies. I cannot spare one of you!” The old clock sang a new song. It sounded like this: “Tick, tock, tick, tock, They’re very sly, very sly, Tick, tock, tick, tock, They may return by and by.” [Illustration: “_A whole row of snow-men_”] The Ink-Bottle Mamma pretended that she did not hear the clock’s song, and she said, “Hurry, hurry into your caps and mittens and I will tell you how to make a snow-man!”