Mother Goose in Prose | Page 8

kissed him.
"Take the boat, dear," she said, "and fetch the doctor from the village. I
shall be patient till you return."
Little Boy Blue rushed away to the river bank and unfastened the little
boat; and then he pulled sturdily down the river until he passed the
bend and came to the pretty village below. When he had found the

doctor and told of his mother's misfortune, the good man promised to
attend him at once, and very soon they were seated in the boat and on
their way to the cottage.
It was very dark by this time, but Little Boy Blue knew every turn and
bend in the river, and the doctor helped him pull at the oars, so that at
last they came to the place where a faint light twinkled through the
cottage window. They found the poor woman in much pain, but the
doctor quickly set and bandaged her leg, and gave her some medicine
to ease her suffering. It was nearly midnight when all was finished and
the doctor was ready to start back to the village.
"Take good care of your mother," he said to the boy, "and do n't worry
about her, for it is not a bad break and the leg will mend nicely in time;
but she will be in bed many days, and you must nurse her as well as
you are able."
All through the night the boy sat by the bedside, bathing his mother's
fevered brow and ministering to her wants. And when the day broke
she was resting easily and the pain had left her, and she told Little Boy
Blue he must go to his work.
"For," said she, "more than ever now we need the money you earn from
the Squire, as my misfortune will add to the expenses of living, and we
have the doctor to pay. Do not fear to leave me, for I shall rest quietly
and sleep most of the time while you are away."
Little Boy Blue did not like to leave his mother all alone, but he knew
of no one he could ask to stay with her; so he placed food and water by
her bedside, and ate a little breakfast himself, and started off to tend his
sheep.
The sun was shining brightly, and the birds sang sweetly in the trees,
and the crickets chirped just as merrily as if this great trouble had not
come to Little Boy Blue to make him sad.
But he went bravely to his work, and for several hours he watched
carefully; and the men at work in the fields, and the Squire's daughter,

who sat embroidering upon the porch of the great house, heard often
the sound of his horn as he called the straying sheep to his side.
But he had not slept the whole night, and he was tired with his long
watch at his mother's bedside, and so in spite of himself the lashes
would droop occasionally over his blue eyes, for he was only a child,
and children feel the loss of sleep more than older people.
Still, Little Boy Blue had no intention of sleeping while he was on duty,
and bravely fought against the drowsiness that was creeping over him.
The sun shone very hot that day, and he walked to the shady side of a
big haystack and sat down upon the ground, leaning his back against
the stack.
The cows and sheep were quietly browsing near him, and he watched
them earnestly for a time, listening to the singing of the birds, and the
gentle tinkling of the bells upon the wethers, and the faraway songs of
the reapers that the breeze brought to his ears.
And before he knew it the blue eyes had closed fast, and the golden
head lay back upon the hay, and Little Boy Blue was fast asleep and
dreaming that his mother was well again and had come to the stile to
meet him.
The sheep strayed near the edge of the meadow and paused, waiting for
the warning sound of the horn. And the breeze carried the fragrance of
the growing corn to the nostrils of the browsing cows and tempted them
nearer and nearer to the forbidden feast. But the silver horn was silent,
and before long the cows were feeding upon the Squire's pet cornfield
and the sheep were enjoying themselves amidst the juicy grasses of the
meadows.
The Squire himself was returning from a long, weary ride over his
farms, and when he came to the cornfield and saw the cows trampling
down the grain and feeding upon the golden stalks he was very angry.
"Little Boy Blue!" he cried; "ho! Little Boy Blue, come blow your
horn!" But there was no