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.