"OLD SNOOKS."
THUS the boys built of the snow what they pleased. Sometimes it was "Old Snooks." He was the village drunkard, with a big brandy nose and ragged coat.
THE BOYS AT WORK.
When it was done and declared to be a good likeness, each fellow armed himself with snowballs, and, standing a little way off, the command was given to fire, and "Old Snooks" received a merciless pelting, one ball hitting him squarely in the eye, another on the nose, another knocking off an ear, until the image was completely demolished amid shouts of triumph.
Then somebody else was set up for a mark. But usually the most fun was in building a fort and laying siege to it—or rather storming and taking it.
Once the real "Old Snooks" himself came staggering by while the boys were raising the breastworks. He stopped a moment to swear as he usually did, when one of the little "rascals" took deliberate aim and fired, and Snooks' old hat was lifted into the air and landed over the fence into a big snowbank.