LITTLE BOYS AND LITTLE SHEEP.
JOE came home with his clothes, and even his little curls, all wringing wet. "Just knew the ice wasn't strong 'nough," he grumbled. "Then why did you slide?" asked auntie. "Cause all the other boys did," said Joe, "so I had to, or they'd laugh." His auntie gave him dry clothes, set him down behind the stove and made him drink hot ginger tea. Then she told him a story:- "When I was a little girl, Joe, my father had a great flock of sheep. They were queer things. Where one went, all the rest followed. One day a big ram found a big gap in the fence, and he thought it would be fun to see what was in the other field. So in he jumped, without looking where he was going, and down he tumbled to the bottom of an old dry well, where father used to throw stones and rubbish. The next sheep never stopped to see what had become of him, but jumped right after, and the next, and the next, and the next, altho father tried to drive them back, and Watch, the old sheep dog, barked his very loudest. But they just kept on jumping and jumping, till the well was full. Then father had to pull them out as best he could, and the sheep at the bottom of the well were almost smothered to death." "My, what silly fellows!" exclaimed Joe. Then he looked up at his aunt and laughed.—Youth's Companion.