Boy Blue and His Friends | Page 4

in the yard.
"Now," thought Fleecy, "she is going to stay at home with me."
But no, on Monday Mary went away again.
At last Fleecy could bear it no longer.
"I must go to school, too," he said.
"I must see what Mary does all day.
"If she goes to school to play games, I can play with her."
The next day Fleecy watched Mary go through the gate.
Then he followed her very quietly.
Mary ran along with the other little girls and boys.

They were playing tag and they did not see Fleecy.
Soon he heard a bell ring.
Then how the children ran!
They all ran into a little house and shut the door.
"Oh!" thought Fleecy, "What shall I do? I can never open that door."
Just then he saw a little boy running very fast.
The boy ran up to the same little house.
He opened the door and went in, but he did not shut it.
Fleecy climbed up the steps.
He put his head in at the door and looked around.
He could see no one, so he walked in.
There was another door, and that was open, too.
Fleecy stood still and listened.
The children were singing as if they were very happy.
Then he put his head against the door and pushed it wide open.
What a room-full of children he saw!
And they were all sitting very still, and not playing at all.
"I don't think I shall like school," thought Fleecy.
Just then the children saw him.
How they did laugh to see a lamb at school!

The moment Fleecy saw Mary he ran up to her.
[Illustration]
The children laughed and laughed.
The teacher laughed, too.
Of course the lamb could not stay in school all the morning.
The children could not work because they liked to watch him.
So Mary put him out and shut the door.
But Fleecy nibbled some sweet clover and waited for Mary.
When the children came out he trotted home with them.
After that day Fleecy often went to school with the children.
But he never went in again.
I think he liked clover better than books.
Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep,
And can't tell where to find them;

Leave them alone, and they'll come home,
And bring their tails
behind them.
Little Bo-peep fell fast asleep,
And dreamed she heard them bleating;

But when she awoke she found it a joke,
For they were still
a-fleeting.
Then up she took her little crook,
Determined for to find them;
She
found them, indeed, but it made her heart bleed,
For they'd left their
tails behind them.
LITTLE BO-PEEP

Alice is seven years old to-day.
She is going to have a birthday party.
Alice's aunt wrote the invitations, and Alice gave them to all her little
school friends.
The invitation said:--
"Little Bo-peep is to have a birthday party. She would like to have you
come and help her take care of her sheep. Please come Friday afternoon
after school."
Of course the children asked Alice about her party.
"Are you little Bo-peep?" they said.
"Have you lost your sheep?
"Are we going to help you find them?"
"No," said Alice, "But my sheep have lost their tails, I think.
"You'll know all about it on Friday."
At last it was Friday afternoon.
The children came to school all dressed for the party.
It was very hard to wait.
How slowly the clock ticked!
Two o'clock! Three o'clock! Four o'clock, at last!
The children ran almost all the way to Alice's house.
When they were all ready Alice put on a tall cap.

Then she took a long crook and stood in the middle of the floor.
As she called the names of the children they stood in a line behind her.
Then they began to march and sing:
"Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep,
And can't tell where to find them;
Let them alone, and they'll come
home,
And bring their tails behind them."
The children marched around the room, and through the hall into the
dining-room.
There they saw a big green curtain, and there they found the sheep.
"She found them, indeed, but it made her heart bleed,
For they'd left
their tails behind them."
Sure enough! There was a sheep on the curtain, but it had no tail.
There were some tails in a box on the table.
Bo-peep's mother gave one of them to each of the children.
"Now," said Bo-peep, "I will try first to pin a tail on the sheep."
So her mother tied a handkerchief over her eyes, turned her around
three times, and said, "Go."
Bo-peep started off bravely, and pinned the tail to her mother's apron!
How the children laughed! and Bo-peep laughed too, when she saw
what she had done.
Boy Blue was sure he could