`` And so do your sisters and your cousins and your aunts , '' hummed Ed , for Gus was often called Admiral because he really did possess three sisters , two cousins , and four aunts , besides mother and grandmother , all living in the big house together . The boys promptly joined in the popular chorus , and other voices all about the yard took it up , for the `` Pinafore '' epidemic raged fearfully in Harmony Village that winter . `` How 's business ? '' asked Gus , when the song ended , for Ed had not returned to school in the autumn , but had gone into a store in the city . `` Dull ; things will look up toward spring , they say . I get on well enough , but I miss you fellows dreadfully ; '' and Ed put a hand on the broad shoulder of each friend , as if he longed to be a school-boy again . `` Better give it up and go to college with me next year , '' said Frank , who was preparing for Boston University , while Gus fitted for Harvard . `` No ; I 've chosen business , and I mean to stick to it , so do n't you unsettle my mind . Have you practised that March ? '' asked Ed , turning to a gayer subject , for he had his little troubles , but always looked on the bright side of things . `` Skating is so good , I do n't get much time . Come early , and we 'll have a turn at it . '' `` I will . Must run home now . '' `` Pretty cold loafing here . '' `` Mail is in by this time . '' And with these artless excuses the three boys leaped off the posts , as if one spring moved them , as a group of girls came chattering down the path . The blue cloud floated away beside Frank , the scarlet feather marched off with the Admiral , while the fur cap nodded to the gray hat as two happy faces smiled at each other . The same thing often happened , for twice a-day the streets were full of young couples walking to and from school together , smiled at by the elders , and laughed at by the less susceptible boys and girls , who went alone or trooped along in noisy groups . The prudent mothers had tried to stop this guileless custom , but found it very difficult , as the fathers usually sympathized with their sons , and dismissed the matter with the comfortable phrase , `` Never mind ; boys will be boys . ''
`` Not forever , '' XXXXX the anxious mammas , seeing the tall lads daily grow more manly , and the pretty daughters fast learning to look demure when certain names were mentioned .
fitted floated joined laughed looked moved preparing returned trooped walking