Title: Mary's Little Lamb: A Picture Guessing Story for Little Children
Author: Edith Francis Foster
Release date: September 24, 2013 [eBook #43808]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Katie Hernandez, Jason Isbell and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was made using scans of public domain works in the
International Children's Digital Library.)
| Frontispiece | |
| Dedication | |
| How Mary found him | 9 |
| How they washed him | 15 |
| How they fed him | 21 |
| How he went to school | 27 |
| How he wouldn't jump | 33 |
| How Little Mary spun | 39 |
| How he went boating | 45 |
| How Dollabella took a ride | 51 |
| How Bossy bunted him | 57 |
| How they played hide-and-seek | 63 |
| How he saved Mary! | 69 |
| How he won a prize | 75 |
Copyright, 1901, By S. E. Cassino.
Copyright, 1903, By S. E. Cassino.
When little Mary Moffett's mother asked her to go up to the Clover Farm for some fresh
, Mary felt a little sorry, for she was very busy making her
a
, but she laid down her
and
and
, tied on her pink
, and set off up the hill, with her little
on her
. As she was coming home she heard a queer little patter, patter, behind her. She looked back and saw something white!
felt a wee bit afraid, and began to run but her
struck a
and down she tumbled on her
! Before she could get up something soft and woolly was rubbing gently against her
, saying "Ba-a-a!" "Oh you darling lamb!" cried Mary, hugging it—and the little
snuggled close, and said "Ba-a-a! Take me home with you, little Mary."
was astonished.
13"Whose lamb is it?" she asked. "Oh Mother,
I think it's just a wild lamb! Mayn't I keep it?" begged
. But Mother said she must ask Farmer Clover if it was one of his
, first. So back they went, and found
Farmer Clover mending his
and Mary asked him. But there were two big tears in her
—she did so want that dear
—and the kind old
saw them. "Well, yes," he said, "that's my lamb—but it's an extra one, that I haven't any room for. If I knew anybody who would be willing to take it and treat it well—" "Oh, Mr. Clover!" cried
, her eyes dancing, now, and her
dancing, too. "I'd be willing! I'd treat it well! May I have it?" So Mary and the little
went dancing home together. And kind old
watched them and laughed till his
danced in his
, and his
danced on his
.
|
II. |
"Mother! Mother!" cried little Mary, running into the
. "Mr. Clover says he doesn't
need this
—it's extra—and I may have it for my very own!" Yes, now it was Mary's little lamb—and how they loved each other! They went together everywhere—in the
and the
, and over to Grandfathers, to play with little Aunt Hannah. Mary's Aunt Hannah was only three years older than
herself and they played together all the time. The two little
thought the
was beautiful, but it was not very clean. "I don't want a dirty, dusty little lamb," said Mary; "I want a nice, clean, white lamb." "Then we must wash it." said little
. "Father washes all his
in the
every spring." Out by the
stood the
with the big wooden
19
where the
drank. The
was full of water, standing in the
. Mary leaned over the edge and dipped her
. "It's nice and warm," she said. "Now, dear little
jump right in!" But the lamb wouldn't jump—so Mary and little Aunt Hannah lifted him, and dropped him into the
. Then they rubbed him with
, and squeezed his
with their
. The poor little lamb didn't like it, and kept trying to get out—till, as
tried to hold him her
slipped and in she fell,
first! Oh, how she screamed! And
screamed, too, and the
cried "Ba-a-a!" as loud as he could. Little Aunt Hannah's mother came running from the
fished them out of the water, and carried them into her
one under each
. There she rubbed them dry, wrapped them both in
and set them by the
, to get warm.
 |
III. |
Mary's lamb was too young to eat
, as old
do. He wanted milk, but he did not know how to drink from a
. He was just a baby sheep, you see. So Mary's
found an old tin
and filled it with warm new milk. Then she tied a
over the
, and
held it while the little
sucked up every drop of the milk. Three times a day they filled the
, and he drank it all, while Mary tilted it up for him. One day
and little
went up Clover
to pick
for their mothers to put in
. They took their luncheon in the berry-
, and each had a tin
to pick into. Mary's
went too, and of course he would want his luncheon, so
carried the old
in a
. When the
and
were full
25 of
, they started home. Along the roadside grew white
, and they made a
for the lamb's
. Then Mary said "The
shines so, he must be hot. He shall wear my
." So they tied it snugly over his
. Then they sat under a
to finish their luncheon, and afterward Mary gave the
the rest of his milk. Two
came past, in a low
, and they laughed to see the little lamb drinking from the teapot. Mary did not notice that one
held up a little black leather
and pointed it at her. But next week a flat, square
came from the postoffice marked "For the Little Girl and Lamb who live near Clover Hill."
cut the
with her
, and unfolded the
—and what did she find inside it? A beautiful photograph of herself, feeding her
by the roadside!
|
IV. |
Mary didn't like to go to school and leave her lamb at home. She knew he would not be happy all alone; and how could she study her
and do sums on her
, without her dear little woolly
close beside her? But schooltime came, and she had to start. If she had looked back, she would have seen the
trotting along behind, all so pretty, with a blue
on his
. He loved to follow little Mary, and he didn't know
mustn't go to school. Before he caught up with her, the
rang, the
all ran in, and the
was shut; but he stood on the door-
and heard them singing. Then the arithmetic class began, and the
said: "Mary, if you had three
, and gave one
to Hannah, how many would you
31have left?" Mary was not thinking of
. "Four," she said, "but please teacher, did you know I had a
?" and the lamb heard her voice and called "Baa!" outside the
, as loud as he could. "Why, there he is!" cried
. "He must go home," said the teacher; and she opened the
to send him away. But the little
came right in, and ran to
, so glad to see her again! "Oh, please let him stay!" said she: "I am sure he will be good!" But all the other
laughed—it was so funny to see a lamb in school—and the
had to turn him out. But the
would not go home. He wanted to stay near Mary; So he waited on the
and every time he heard her voice he cried "Ba-a-a!" At last the
said
must take him home; so she put away her
, and the little
jumped and danced, he was so happy, as they ran home together.
|
V. |
All the week the little lamb had to stay at home while Mary went to
; but on Saturday they had such good times! First,
had her tasks to do. She wiped all the
and
and
, dusted the
and made her own
. Then she went out to play. The nicest place to "play house" was the
of a
by the
. Mary and little Aunt Hannah climbed up by the
, with their
and
but the
couldn't climb. They tried to carry him, but he was too heavy—and he kicked, too. So they took him up on the
in the
and dropped him out of a
onto the
. Then they all had a good time playing "party", with some caraway
and a little
of milk. But at noon, when
37Mary's Mother blew the dinner-
, the lamb couldn't get down! They couldn't lift him up to the
, and he was afraid to jump to the ground. Little Aunt Hannah stood on the
, but could not reach him. Then they brought out armfuls of
and made a big soft
and
stood on the
and tried to push him off into the
but he wouldn't budge. "Come to dinner, children," called Mary's
. "It is getting cold." "Oh dear!" said little Mary, almost crying. "He'll have to stay up here and starve! But he's had three
, anyway." At last
big brother came out to find them. He laughed when he saw the
and the
but he went for a
, and very quickly brought the little
safely down to the ground. Then they all went in and had their dinner together.
|
VI. |
"When my lamb is big enough" said Mary to little Aunt Hannah, "my father will shear him with the
, like the old
and Mother will teach me to spin, and knit the wool; and so my little lamb will give me my
and
." "Let's shear him now." said
. "I can teach you to knit." "Well." said Mary. "He is very little—but we will only take a little of his
." So she got the
, and they cut some wool from his
. But they found it must first be spun into
—and they didn't know how: so they went to ask Mary's
. She laughed at the poor little
with the big bare spots in his pretty white
. "If you are in such a hurry for
and
," she said, "we will begin them
43at once. First, you must learn to spin." So she brought out the big
and some tiny soft
of wool and showed her how to spin the rolls into
. Mary liked to walk backward and forward, and twirl the great
with a
; but her yarn was all uneven, and kept snarling and breaking. Soon she grew tired—and cross, too, and then the
snarled worse than ever. As last
gave the
a great whirl, as hard as she could, and ran off to the
. There she hid in the
and cried, until the little
found her and rubbed his
against her
. Then she stopped crying to laugh, his ragged
looked so funny! Pretty soon she went back to the
and said she was sorry for being cross. Then
gave her a nice
of yarn and some
and
taught her to knit a
.
|
VII. |
When the time really came to wash and shear the
, Mary's
said the lamb wasn't big enough to spare any more
—but he did get washed in the
. Mary and little Aunt Hannah went down in the meadow to gather cowslips—not for the pretty
but to boil in a
for dinner. They took off their
and
and splashed about in the wet
, filling their
with
. They picked some tall blue
too, and pulled sweet-flag to eat. To get the sweet
, they had to cross a little
over the brook. The
followed them, but he stepped on a loose
, and it tipped him off into the water! It wasn't deep enough to be over his
, but he waded the wrong way and scrambled out on a little
in the
49
middle of the
. They couldn't coax him to wade ashore;—he didn't like water, and would only shake his
and say "Ba-a-a! No-o-o!" "We must build a
for him" said
. "No," said
"we will get the boat. The
keep it at the mill." They followed the brook up to the
and untied the
. There were no
, but they found a long
and pushed it along to the
. The little
was very glad to jump in with them. But they could not push the
ashore, for the water ran too fast. So they floated along, dipping their
in the water, and watching the little
swimming below, till they ran into a
across the brook. Then they climbed ashore and went back for their
and
. "Oh, you funny lamb!" said Mary, "What good times you do make us have!"
|
VIII. |
Dollabella, Mary's biggest doll, had had the measles, but she was getting better. "When people get better" said
, "they always go to ride." So she tried to give her
a ride on the
's back, but he danced up and down and she fell off. Then Mary took a
and tied her on, so when the
danced again he couldn't shake
off. He didn't like that, so he thought he would run away from her, and off he went! The
was shut, but he squeezed through a gap in the
, and tore Dollabella's
on a
. Mary squeezed through the gap, too, and her
caught on the
, and tore a great big three-cornered
. The
ran across a field and jumped over a
into the
and Mary ran after him, laughing.
55
Dollabella's
fell off her
, and so did Mary's
. The
of the
caught her
and tangled them and almost pulled the
from the lamb's back. At last they came out into a
field and saw Farmer Clover at work with his
. "Hello!" said he. "Who's running away—you or your lamb?" "Oh, we aren't running away," said
, all out of breath. "We are just giving my
a ride. She is sick!" "Well, that's a pretty fast ride for anybody that's sick!" said
. "Now I am going to the
, to get a
of molasses. Don't you want to ride home in my
?" Mary and the
were tired, and glad to have a ride—and I think the poor sick
must have been just as glad. But when they got home
had to take a
and
out of her
and mend her
and Dollabella's too.
|
IX. |
As the lamb grew big and strong he got very frisky, too. He found out that when he ran at things with his hard little
down and bunted them, the things would fall down. He thought that was funny, so he bunted everything. In the
he bunted over
and the
and
, and nobody dared set a
or
on the floor. Outdoors, he ran at the
and
, to see them flutter and scream. Once he bunted little Aunt Hannah's
—but she didn't fall down; she stood up and cuffed him with her
, and scratched him! But
fell down when he bunted her, and so did
, although they were bigger than the
. One night he ran at Mary's father, bringing in the
, and spilled all the milk over his
. Then Mary's
said
61
if the
didn't stop bunting he must be tied up. So
tried to teach him better, but he didn't understand it was naughty, and kept right on bunting. At last one day, he bunted the
which was tied to the
by a long
. Now Bossy liked to bunt, too; so when the
ran at her she put her
down and ran at him! And she was the biggest, so it was the little
himself that fell down that time! First he flew right over the
and fell on his
,—then he rolled over and over into the duck-
. All the
began to flap their
and quack, and the big gray
hissed at him and chased him. The poor naughty little
was so frightened that he ran to
, all wet and muddy, and hid his
in her
. After that, he didn't bunt things any more!
|
X. |
One day Mary and her lamb were playing in the
. He would lie still as a
while she buried him in the
, but when she clapped her
he jumped up and ran to her like a
. Then
began to pull out
from the mow, and made a deep hole where they could both creep in out of sight. After supper they played hide-and-seek with
. So many nice hiding-places—under the
-bushes, behind the rain-
, and around the
by the
. At last
remembered her hole in the
and crept in, with the
which followed her everywhere. Then they waited, keeping very still, till by and by
grew sleepy—for it was almost
-time. She laid her
on the
's soft neck, as they cuddled down together in their
, and before they
67
knew it they were fast asleep!
hunted and hunted, till she thought
must have gone in the
, to play a trick on her; so she went into her own
a little vexed.
-time came and her
came to the
to call Mary in. "I guess she's gone home with Hannah," said
, as he came from the
with his
. The
often slept together, and Mary's mother didn't hear the "I guess," so she only said "It is naughty to go without telling me. She mustn't again." So nobody knew where
was, all night! But next morning she didn't come home—she was not at
's—and how frightened everybody was! They hunted everywhere, and at last started to drive to the neighbor's
. The noise of the
and of the
trampling on the
waked Mary—and how astonished everybody was, when she and the
came creeping out of the
!
|
XI. |
Once little Mary and her lamb really did get lost—and something dreadful almost happened! They had been picking
in the
up Clover
, and couldn't find the way out. The
was setting, and
thought of
and
! She was tired and hungry, too. She was eating
from her
, and crying, and the
, who would not eat
and wanted his milk in the old
was crying, too—"Ba-a-a!"—when a big, tall
with a
in his
broke through the bushes behind them. He sat down on a
and stared at them, looking so white and scared that
felt sorry for him. "Did a
chase you?" she asked. "Oh no," said he, "It's only I'm so glad you are alive!" He didn't dare tell her he had mistaken her little brown
bobbing among the
73
, for a
, and raised his
to shoot it when he saw a little white
bobbing beside it and stopped to look closer! So her little
had saved Mary's life—but she never knew it. "Now how came you up here?" the boy asked. "Are you lost?" "Oh no," said
, winking away the
, and smiling; "We aren't exactly lost—only we can't just find our
. And we want our supper, too." "You shall have it!" said the
. "You are little Mary—I know your
—and I'm going to carry you there, quicker than a
can trot!" So he took
in one
and the
in the other, and the
he left hidden in the
under a
. Then he quickly found the
(it was close by, after all,) and in ten minutes they were safe home again; and Mary's
thanked the big
and gave them all some supper.
|
XII. |
Now Mary and the big
with the
became great friends. He used to bring her
in his
; once he took her out in his
to gather
; and he promised to take her to the County Fair. Early on that day he came for her with his
and
. Mary was all ready, in her new
, with
on her
. "Where is the
?" he asked. "
says he mustn't go," said Mary sadly, "so I shut him up in the
". "Oh but he must go!" cried the
. "He's entered—they expect him."
didn't understand that, but she was very glad to take her dear
with her. They walked about the Fair grounds and saw the
and
and
and
in the
; and visited the
where the
and
were, in their
. And everywhere
79
that
went the
kept close beside her; and all the
looked at them and smiled. At last the
said, "Now we are going into the
so we will leave our
in this nice little
beside all the other
to wait for us." They looked at the
and
and the
and
in the
. Then they found Marys
and
and had dinner together; and afterward they saw the
race, and the
go up, and heard the
play. It was a long time before they went for the
. Some
were looking at him, and just as Mary ran up they fastened a blue
on his
. "Oh, thank you! How pretty!" she said. "Hurrah!" cried the
. "Our
has won first prize! That means he's the best
in town!" "Of course!" said little
. "He's the best
in the whole
!"
