`` There 's Gus Burton ; does n't he go it ? '' and such a very long boy whizzed by , that it looked almost as if his heels were at the top of the hill when his head was at the bottom ! `` Hurrah for Ed Devlin ! '' and a general shout greeted a sweet-faced lad , with a laugh on his lips , a fine color on his brown cheek , and a gay word for every girl he passed . `` Laura and Lotty keep to the safe coast into the meadow , and Molly Loo is the only girl that dares to try this long one to the pond . I would n't for the world ; the ice ca n't be strong yet , though it is cold enough to freeze one 's nose off , '' said a timid damsel , who sat hugging a post and screaming whenever a mischievous lad shook the fence . `` No , she is n't ; here 's Jack and Jill going like fury . '' `` Clear the track For jolly Jack ! '' sang the boys , who had rhymes and nicknames for nearly every one . Down came a gay red sled , bearing a boy who seemed all smile and sunshine , so white were his teeth , so golden was his hair , so bright and happy his whole air . Behind him clung a little gypsy of a girl , with black eyes and hair , cheeks as red as her hood , and a face full of fun and sparkle , as she waved Jack 's blue tippet like a banner with one hand , and held on with the other . `` Jill goes wherever Jack does , and he lets her . He 's such a good-natured chap , he ca n't say ` No . ' '' `` To a girl , '' slyly added one of the boys , who had wished to borrow the red sled , and had been politely refused because Jill wanted it . `` He 's the nicest boy in the world , for he never gets mad , '' said the timid young lady , recalling the many times Jack had shielded her from the terrors which beset her path to school , in the shape of cows , dogs , and boys who made faces and called her '' ` Fraid-cat . '' `` He does n't dare to get mad with Jill , for she 'd take his head off in two minutes if he did , '' growled Joe Flint , still smarting from the rebuke Jill had given him for robbing the little ones of their safe coast because he fancied it . `` She would n't ! she 's a dear ! You need n't sniff at her because she is poor . She 's ever so much brighter than you are , or she would n't always be at the head of your class , old Joe , '' cried the girls , standing by their friend with a unanimity which proved what a favorite she was .
Joe subsided with as scornful a curl to his nose as its chilly state permitted , and Merry Grant introduced a subject of general interest by asking abruptly , -- `` Who is XXXXX to the candy-scrape to-night ? ''
beset clung freeze gets go going greeted made proved whizzed