Harper's Round Table, January 24, 1882

The wind may blow the snow about, For all I care, says Jack, And I don't mind how cold it grows, For then the ice won't crack. Old folks may shiver all day long, But I shall never freeze; What cares a jolly boy like me For winter days like these? Far down the long snow-covered hills It is such fun to coast, So clear the road! the fastest sled There is in school I boast. The paint is pretty well worn off. But then I take the lead; A dandy sled's a loiterer, And I go in for speed. When I go home at supper-time, Ki! but my cheeks are red! They burn and sting like anything; I'm cross until I'm fed. You ought to see the biscuit go, I am so hungry then; And old Aunt Polly says that boys Eat twice as much as men. There's always something I can do To pass the time away; The dark comes quick in winter-time— A short and stormy day. And when I give my mind to it, It's just as father says, I almost do a man's work now, And help him many ways. I shall be glad when I grow up And get all through with school, I'll show them by-and-by that I Was not meant for a fool. I'll take the crops off this old farm, I'll do the best I can. A jolly boy like me won't be A dolt when he's a man. I like to hear the old horse neigh Just as I come in sight, The oxen poke me with their horns To get their hay at night. Somehow the creatures seem like friends, And like to see me come. Some fellows talk about New York, But I shall stay at home.
Any one who is well acquainted with boys knows what a common thing it is for them to get up a circus. So there is nothing extraordinary in that to write about. But some of the things that happened at Todd and Ketchum's Grate Show were a little out of the common way.
One of these things was that the Giant fought and fell apart. How he managed to do it will be explained further on.
Rufus Todd was twelve, and Harry Ketchum eleven; but they felt very much grown up, because each was the eldest of several brothers and sisters, and the younger ones were always spoken of as the children. Rufus's brother San (his name was Alexander, and it seemed too much of a name for so small a boy) always wanted to do the things he did; but Rufe was very apt to frown, and tell him he was too little.