rubber.

"All right, come on then," said Nelson crossly. "What are you waiting
so long for? Sunny Boy and I could have a lot more fun if you stayed
at home."

Sunny Boy was so afraid Ruth was going to cry at this unkind speech
that he tried to think of something to say that would make her forget
it.

"You sit on your sled and Nelson and I will pull you," he told Ruth.
"You can hold my sled for me."

This pleased Ruth very much, and she sat down on her sled and tucked
her coat around her and stuck her fat, short little legs, in their gray
leggings, straight out in front of her.

"Take my sled, too," said Nelson, forgetting to be cross. "Don't fall
off, because we are going to go fast."

"Let's play we are fire horses, going to a fire," suggested gunny Boy.
They had some automobile fire apparatus in Centronia, but the engines
were still pulled by horses. "Can you pull two sleds, Ruth?"

"Oh, my, yes," replied dear little Ruth.

If the boys had asked her to pull six sleds she would have tried her
best to do it. It did seem too bad that when she wanted to go with
them and tried so hard to please them, that they so often wished her to
stay in the house and play by herself. That is, Nelson did.