The Strange Story of Mr. Dog and Mr. Bear by Maud Van Buren

_Mabel Fuller Blodgett_

Mr. Bear was looking forward to the first real snowstorm because Mr. / Dog had made a fine double-runner, and they were both planning for / little housework, and a lot of coasting. Mr. Bear's fur suit was just / the thing for winter sports, but Mr. Dog had been obliged to go to the / village and buy himself a sweater. It was bright crimson and was very / becoming. Mr. Dog, who loved fine clothes, had also purchased a scarlet / and white skating cap, with a tassel that hung down over one ear in a / most engaging manner. So both Mr. Dog and Mr. Bear could hardly wait / for cold weather to set in, and they spent a great deal of time running / out to the porch and looking at the thermometer that hung there. When / they were not doing that, they were reading the weather reports in the / newspapers, or watching the clouds, and at last they were rewarded / late one afternoon by the sight of large feathery flakes of snow lazily / floating downward from a cold gray sky. But alas! there was to be no / coasting for either of them, for many days to come.[27]