“I call this real jolly,” said the big Plush Bear, who had given the Wax Doll the bed quilt to keep her feet warm.  “I’d like to be out in this storm.  But this is the next best thing.  Hi there!” he called to the Flannel Pig, “look out where you’re throwing snowballs!  You nearly hit the Wax Doll.”

“Oh, if he did that my complexion would be spoiled!” cried the beautiful toy, who was not, as yet, quite finished.

“I’ll be careful,” promised the Flannel Pig.  “Don’t you want to have fun in the snowball fight, Mr. Teddy Bear?”

“I am not a Teddy Bear!” roared the big plush creature.  “Many people take me for one; but I am not, though I do look like a Teddy.  But I am a real Plush Bear, and when I am wound up I can move my head and my paws and I can growl.  Listen!  I am wound up now!”

There was a whirring sound inside the Plush Bear as the clock work wheels began to turn, and soon his head moved slowly from side to side, he raised his paws and lowered them, and out of his red mouth came a growling voice saying: 

“To be sure, I’ll join the snowball fight!”

“Hurray!” cried the Woolen Boy Doll.  “Now for some fun!” For though the Plush Bear had spoken with a growl he was not at all cross.  That was just his way.  He was really most jolly, though he had a very wise look on his plush face, as though always thinking of hard examples to solve and hard words to spell.  But though he was wise, and growled when he talked, the Plush Bear was most delightful.

“Come on!  We’ll move over to one side where we shall not get any snow on the toys who don’t like it,” said the Plush Bear.  With his warm coat, almost like fur, he loved to roll in the snow.  So did the Flannel Pig and the Woolen Boy Doll.  But the Wax Doll, who, as yet, had no shoes, the Celluloid Doll, who was only partly dressed, and some of the others did not like the cold.

Faster and faster the snow came down, and more and more white flakes blew in through the open windows of the shop of Santa Claus at the North Pole.  The Plush Bear caught up a paw full of the white crystals from the bench, made them into a ball, and tossed them at the Flannel Pig.  The Flannel Pig turned quickly and chased after the Woolen Boy Doll, crying: 

“I’ll wash your face!  I’ll wash your face!”

Then such fun as there was!  The Wax Doll, covered up now so that her feet were no longer cold, and in a safe corner where no balls could hit her, watched the sport.

“I’m glad Santa Claus and his men took a little resting spell,” said the Plush Bear, as he quickly stooped down to get out of the way of a snowball thrown by a Teddy Bear, almost like himself.

“Yes, if they were here we could have no fun,” said the Flannel Pig.

And this was very true.