It so happened that the great man was walking in his garden with his daughter Madge that morning, and was feeling in an especially happy mood, so that when he suddenly looked up and saw a little boy before him, he said, kindly,

“Well, my child, what can I do for you?”

“If you please, sir,” said the boy, bravely, although he was frightened at meeting the Squire face to face, “I want you to give me some work to do, so that I can earn money.”

“Earn money!” repeated the Squire, “why do you wish to earn money?”

“To buy food for my mother, sir.  We are very poor, and since she is no longer able to work for me I wish to work for her.”

“But what can you do?” asked the Squire; “you are too small to work in the fields.”

“I could earn something, sir, could n’t I?”

His tone was so pleading that mistress Madge was unable to resist it, and even the Squire was touched.  The young lady came forward and took the boy’s hand in her own, and pressing back his curls, she kissed his fair cheek.

“You shall be our shepherd,” she said, pleasantly, “and keep the sheep out of the meadows and the cows from getting in to the corn.  You know, father,” she continued, turning to the Squire, “it was only yesterday you said you must get a boy to tend the sheep, and this little boy can do it nicely.”

“Very well,” replied the Squire, “it shall be as you say, and if he is attentive and watchful he will be able to save me a good bit of trouble and so really earn his money.”

Then he turned to the child and said,

“Come to me in the morning, my little man, and I will give you a silver horn to blow, that you may call the sheep and the cows whenever they go astray.  What is your name?”

“Oh, never mind his name, papa!” broke in the Squire’s daughter; “I shall call him Little Boy Blue, since he is dressed in blue from head to foot, and his dress but matches his eyes.  And you must give him a good wage, also, for surely no Squire before ever had a prettier shepherd boy than this.”

“Very good,” said the Squire, cheerfully, as he pinched his daughter’s rosy cheek; “be watchful, Little Boy Blue, and you shall be well paid.”

Then Little Boy Blue thanked them both very sweetly and ran back over the hill and into the valley where his home lay nestled by the riverside, to tell the good news to his mother.

The poor widow wept tears of joy when she heard his story, and smiled when he told her that his name was to be Little Boy Blue.  She knew the Squire was a kind master and would be good to her darling son.

Early the next morning Little Boy Blue was at the Hall, and the Squire’s steward gave him a new silver horn, that glistened brightly in the sunshine, and a golden cord to fasten it around his neck.  And then he was given charge of the sheep and the cows, and told to keep them from straying into the meadowlands and the fields of grain.