8 Hopkins's Pond. 



lasted, but it began to feel chilly when 

 Susie had chosen to go home with Dave, 

 and it became shivery when Ed had been 

 accepted as escort for Nellie. Pretty 

 brown-eyed Nellie with warm home- 

 knitted woollen stockings and glowing 

 cheeks, her mirthful eyes shining out 

 through a loosened lock of dark hair 

 under her fur-lined hood. We knew that 

 Ed would bashfully steal a cold-nosed, 

 hurried kiss at the gate, and that Nellie 

 would hit him with her skates, but not 

 very hard not as hard as we would have 

 done it. We knew what would happen 

 because Ed had looked sheepish for a 

 whole week after he had gone home with 

 Nellie the last time, but we told each 

 other that we did n't care if Nellie did 

 like Ed the best. We did n't care a 

 darn bit, 'cos he wa'n't nobody nohow. 

 Could n't set rabbit twitch-ups, nor snare 

 suckers, nor play mibs for fair, and he only 

 knew 'rithmetic and school things. A 

 feller like that wa'n't no good and nobody 

 'ceptin' the teacher and Nellie liked him. 

 How little did we realize in those early 



