The black was strange to the boy. He thought the lower orders here disrespectful.
"Josiah's our barber," said Leila. "He saved me once from a dreadful accident. You'll like him."
"Will I?" thought John, but merely remarked, "They all seem rather intimate."
"Why not?" said the young Republican. "Ah! here's the gate. I'll get out and open it. It's the best gate to swing on in the whole place."
As she tossed the furs aside, John gasped, "To swing on—"
"Oh, yes. Aunt Ann says I am too old to swing on gates, but I do. It shuts with a bang. I'll show you some day."
"What is swinging on a gate?" said John, as she jumped out and stood in the snow laughing. Surely this was an amazing kind of boy. "Why, did you never hear the rhyme about it?"
"No," said John, "I never did."
"Well, you just get on the gate when it's wide open and give a push, and you sing—
"If I was the President of these United States,
I'd suck molasses candy and swing upon the gates.