Publisher's Synopsis
It had been a late and merciful autumn. Till well into November the leaves still clung to their boughs, honeysuckles made shady coverts on trellises, and put forth now and then an orange and milk-white blossom full of frosty sweetness; the grass was still green where the snow allowed it to be seen. Thick and fast fell the wind-blown flakes on the lightly frozen ground. The patter and beat of the flying storm was a joyous sound to children who owned sleds and had been waiting the chance to use them. Many a boy's face looked out as the dusk fell, to make sure that the storm continued; and many a bright voice cried, "Hurrah! It's coming down harder than ever! To-morrow it will be splendid!" Stable-men were shaking out fur robes and arranging cutters. Already the fitful sound of sleigh-bells could be heard; and all the world-the world of Sandyport that is-was preparing to give the in-coming winter a gay welcome.Sarah Chauncey Woolsey was an American children's author who wrote under the pen name Susan Coolidge. She worked as a nurse during the American Civil War after which she started to write. Coolidge is best known for her classic children's novel What Katy Did. The fictional Carr family was modeled after her own, with Katy Carr inspired by herself. The brothers and sisters were modeled on her four younger siblings: Jane, Elizabeth, Theodora, and William.
