emil caught his arms. "Stop, Amedee. You're knocking the wind out of me. I brought him cups and spoons and blankets and moccasins enough for an orphan asylum. I'm awful glad it's a boy, sure enough!"
The young men crowded round emil to admire his costume and to tell him in a breath everything that had happened since he went away. emil had more friends up here in the french country than down on Norway Creek. The french and Bohemian boys were spirited and jolly, liked variety, and were as much predisposed to favor anything new as the Scandinavian boys were to reject it. The Norwegian and Swedish lads were much more self-centred, apt to be egotistical and jealous. They were cautious and reserved with emil because he had been away to college, and were prepared to take him down if he should try to put on airs with them. The french boys liked a bit of swagger, and they were always delighted to hear about anything new: new clothes, new games, new songs,new dances. Now they carried emil off to show him the club room they had just fitted up over the postoffice, down in the village. They ran down the hill in a drove, all laughing and chattering at once, some in french, some in english.