Boy Blue had played all the morning and he was tired.
Little Sister had been making mud pies and she was tired, too.
Mamma was too busy to read to them.
"Come, Little Sister," said Boy Blue, "It is too hot to play. I will read my story-book to you."
"Where shall we go?" asked the little girl.
"Let us sit under the maple tree," said her brother. "It looks cool there."
Little Sister had her baby doll.
She rocked back and forth as Boy Blue read to her.
Soon Little Sister and her doll were fast asleep.
All at once Boy Blue heard a voice.
He listened. It seemed to be saying:--
"Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn, The sheep"s in the meadow, The cow"s in the corn."
[Ill.u.s.tration]
"Oh," thought the little boy, "I must hurry!"
He looked for his horn. There it lay in the gra.s.s.
But he was so sleepy,--he couldn"t run after the sheep.
In a moment he fell asleep.
Then he heard the voice again:--
"Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn, The sheep"s in the meadow, The cow"s in the corn."
Yes, he could see the cow eating the corn in the field.
And there was the sheep in the meadow, eating the fresh green gra.s.s.
He must call them away.
So he took up the horn and put it to his mouth.
Then he blew one loud call.
"Oh!" he said, as he opened his eyes, "What a loud noise that was!"
Then he laughed and rubbed his eyes.
"I guess I was dreaming," he said.
"I guess I was dreaming, too," said Little Sister, opening her blue eyes.
Then she waked up her doll, and Boy Blue went on reading from his story-book.
Mary had a little lamb, Its fleece was white as snow, And everywhere that Mary went The lamb was sure to go.
He followed her to school one day, Which was against the rule.
It made the children laugh and play To see a lamb at school.
And so the teacher put him out, But still he lingered near, And waited patiently about Till Mary did appear.
MARY"S LAMB
Of course you know all about Mary and her little lamb.
The little girl in this story was named Mary, and she had a little lamb, too.
Mary was Boy Blue"s cousin.
She lived in the city, and her father owned a big toy-store.
Mary liked to go to the store with him.
She liked to see all the dolls and toys and books.
Sometimes she played store with her own toys.
But I must tell you about her lamb.
One summer Mary went to the country to visit Boy Blue.
Of course there were cows, and pigs, and sheep, and lambs on the farm,
Mary liked the lambs best, and one of them was a great pet.
She called him Fleecy, and pulled sweet clover for him to eat.
Fleecy followed Mary all over the farm. Sometimes he even ran down the road after her.