for her meekness. I am well enough acquainted with Jeroboam to know that he is as obstinate and self-willed as his illustrious namesake.”

“Isaac says little Abner is a thief,” exclaimed Minnie, laughing.

“So he is, and steals his supper from the ewes whenever he can get it, at the expense of many a poor lamb.”

“I saw Minnie again, mother, and I knew her in a minute.”

“You’d make a capital shepherdess,” added Mr. Sullivan; “you’d govern them all by love.”

“That is the way you do,” remarked his mother.

“Well, there is no other way. Sometimes they are rather provoking; but I always feel ashamed of myself when I lose my temper with a brute. There is nothing like kindness to conquer even the most obstinate animal. Last winter, I had a man to help me. He was giving one of the ewes a dose of medicine, and she struggled so hard to get away that she threw over the cup three successive times. I found he could do nothing with her, and so I myself undertook the job. The poor creature was by that time so frightened, that when I forced the spoon between her teeth, she bit my finger to the bone. I said nothing of the pain until I had accomplished my object—”

“And then you came near fainting,” interrupted his mother. “The finger was a long time in healing.”

“The man was terribly angry,” added the shepherd, “and showed so much spite to the innocent cause of his rage, that I told him he was unfit for the care of animals; that he degraded himself to a brute when he revenged on them his own awkwardness. I dismissed him, and took Isaac, who is worth a dozen such fellows.”

The next morning, Minnie arose in season to help Isaac drive the sheep from the fold to the pasture; and then, having received a promise from Mrs. Sullivan to save some of the lamb’s wool, and knit Minnie a pair of stockings, she took leave of the farm, exclaiming, as she rode off, “O, I do love sheep, and I wish we lived on a farm!”