Do anything but squabble for a place,

Or push or shove or scrouge, or breathe out loud,

Or chew wet, or knead taffy in my beard!—

Do anything almost—act anyway,—

Only keep still, so I can hear myself

Trying to tell you "just one story more!"

One winter afternoon my father, with

A whistle to our dog, a shout to us—

His two boys—six and eight years old we were,—

Started off to the woods, a half a mile