twins with the snow house, as he had promised.

"See, this is the way," he said to them.

He took an unbroken patch of snow where no one had stepped. He
made a wide sweep of his arm and marked a circle in the snow with
his knife.

The circle was just as big as he meant the house to be. Then he
cut out blocks of snow from the space inside the circle. He
placed these big blocks of snow around the circle on the line he
had marked with his knife.

When he got the first row done Menie said, "I can do that! Let me
try."

He took the knife and cut out a block. It wasn't nice and even
like his father's blocks.

"That will never do," his father said. "Your house will tumble
down unless your blocks are true."

He made the sides of the block straight by cutting off some of
the snow.

"Now all the other blocks in this row must be just like this
one," he said. Koko tried next. His block was almost right the
first time. But then, as I have told you before, Koko was six.

Monnie tried the next one. I am sorry to say hers wouldn't do at