Boy Blue and His Friends

Excerpt

LITTLE BOY BLUE

Little Boy Blue was not his real name.

Oh, no! His real name was Richard Snow.

But his mother always called him "Little Boy Blue."

His father called him "Boy Blue," too.

Every one called him "Little Boy Blue," and so I will.

Boy Blue's eyes were as blue as the sky on a summer day.

When he was a baby he always wore a blue ribbon in his hair.

When he was five years old he wore a blue blouse and a blue cap.

Now he wears a blue suit and a blue tie.

For Boy Blue is seven years old now, and is a big boy, you see.

Boy Blue lives on a large farm in the country.

There are horses, and cows, and sheep, and pigs, and ducks, and hens and chickens on the farm.

Of course, Boy Blue likes the cows and sheep best.

He likes to drive the cows to the pasture in the morning.

Sometimes, at night, he drives them home again.

He likes to watch his father milk the cows and feed them.

"When I am a big boy," he says, "I shall milk my own cow every day."

Sometimes he goes with the boy to watch the sheep.

Shep, the dog, always goes with them. He watches the sheep all day long.

They like to get into the meadow where the grass is green and sweet.

But Shep drives them out every time.

Boy Blue and Shep play together in the fields. They run and jump and chase each other.

Boy Blue hides, and Shep finds him. "Bow-wow!" Shep says. "Here you are! Now for a frolic."

And off they go again.

Boy Blue likes to feed the chickens.

He likes to drive the ducks down to the brook and watch them swim about in the water.

Sometimes he helps his mother take care of Little Sister.

Then she calls him her "Little Helper."

"No," he says, "I am your Big Boy Blue."

One morning Boy Blue had tears in his big blue eyes.

He could not find his Snowball.

You will laugh when I tell you who Snowball was.

She was not hard and cold.

She was soft and warm.

Snowball was a pretty, white hen.

She was Boy Blue's very own, and she would follow him all over the yard.

She would eat grain from his hand, and let him smooth her white feathers.

But now Boy Blue could not find her.

He had looked in the hen-house and all over the yard.

"Have you looked in the barn?" asked his mother.

"Oh, no!" said Boy Blue, "and I saw her coming out of the barn yesterday."

"So did I," said his mother. "I think you will find her in the hay."

Boy Blue climbed up on the hay.

There in a corner he found his Snowball.

When she saw her little friend, she began to scold.

"Why, Snowball, what are you doing here?" said Boy Blue.

"Cluck, cluck," said Snowball. "Do not come too near."

"I have some eggs in this nice warm nest.

"Soon I shall have some little chickens for you.

"Oh, oh!" cried Boy Blue, "I must tell Mamma."

"You must feed Snowball," said his mother.

"Give her some corn and a drink of water."

Boy Blue took very good care of his pretty, white Snowball.

He gave her corn and fresh water every morning.

Three weeks seemed to him a long time to wait.

But Snowball did not seem to think so.

One morning Boy Blue went out to feed her, and she would not leave her nest....