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“Yes, yes, Pa!” Laura would say, bouncing up and down on Pa’s knee “And then what did he say?”

He said, “If you’d obeyedWoods after dark, and you wouldn’t have been scared by a screech-owl”

Chapter 4

Christmas

Christ

The little log house was alainst the walls and s, and in thewhen Pa opened the door, there was a wall of snow as high as Laura’s head Pa took the shovel and shoveled it away, and then he shoveled a path to the barn, where the horses and the coere snug and warm in their stalls

The days were clear and bright Laura and Mary stood on chairs by theand looked out across the glittering snow at the glittering trees Snoas piled all along their bare, dark branches, and it sparkled in the sunshine Icicles hung froreat icicles as large at the top as Laura’s arhts

Pa’s breath hung in the air like s the path from the barn He breathed it out in clouds and it froze in white frost on his mustache and beard

When he caht Laura up in a bear’s hug against his cold, big coat, hisfrost

Every night he was busy, working on a large piece of board and two small pieces He whittled them with his knife, he rubbed them with sand-paper and with the palm of his hand, until when Laura touched them they felt soft and smooth as silk

Then with his sharp jack-knife he worked at thee one into little peaks and towers, with a large star carved on the very tallest point He cut little holes through the wood He cut the holes in shapes of s, and little stars, and crescent moons, and circles All around them he carved tiny leaves, and flowers, and birds

One of the little boards he shaped in a lovely curve, and around its edges he carved leaves and flowers and stars, and through it he cut crescent moons and curlicues

Around the edges of the s vine

Hevery slowly and carefully, ht would be pretty

At last he had the pieces finished and one night he fitted thee piece was a beautifully carved back for a se star was at the very top of it The curved piece supported the shelf underneath, and it was carved beautifully, too And the little vine ran around the edge of the shelf