Elizabeth Ann rather hoped the snow would be up to the roof of the Bonnie Susie in the morning, but when she woke she found it had stopped snowing sometime during the night. Still, there was six inches or more on the ground, and every fence and tree was topped with a feathery trimming of white.
“Your Uncle Hiram is up sweeping the roof—I mean the deck,” said Aunt Grace, who tried hard to learn “sailor talk” as she called it, and never quite succeeded.
Elizabeth Ann and Doris put on their coats and hats and ran up the ladder to the “top deck.” There was Uncle Hiram making the snow fly with a broom.
“Hello,” he said when he saw them. “Looks as if we were in for more snow, doesn’t it?”—and he pointed with his broom toward the sky which was heavy and gray.
“It comes down right on top of the trees,” said Elizabeth Ann, staring at the sky which did seem nearer the earth than usual.
“Think you can walk out to the bus this morning, if we get pancakes for breakfast?” Uncle Hiram suggested, knocking his broom against the railing to free it from snow. “Let’s go down and see if the first mate will cook us hot cakes.”
The first mate had the batter already mixed, and if you know how good pancakes with butter and maple syrup taste on a snowy, cold morning, then you know how good they tasted to Elizabeth Ann and Doris. Uncle Hiram said he had been a little worried about them when he first saw the snow, but any two girls who could eat nine pancakes apiece, could certainly stand a little walk through snow. And Elizabeth Ann and Doris set out a few minutes later to find there was no wind, and that it felt almost warm.
“It isn’t as cold as it was yesterday and I don’t believe it will snow any more,” said Doris, watching her rubber boots (which were the pride of her heart) leave little criss-cross marks on the white snow.
“Miss Owen said yesterday it was too cold to snow,” Elizabeth Ann replied. “And it didn’t snow till afternoon and then it had turned warmer.”
Doris said it couldn’t be too cold to snow, and they were so busy arguing this question that they came to the cross-roads before they realized it.