Boy Blue and His Friends Part 1

Boy Blue and His Friends.

by Etta Austin Blaisdell and Mary Frances Blaisdell.

~PREFACE~

This is a book of short stories for the youngest readers,--stories about old friends, which they can easily read themselves.

Here they will learn why Mary's Lamb went to school, what the mouse was looking for when he ran up the clock, why one little pig went to market, how one little pig got lost, and the answers to a great many other puzzling questions.

The stories are written around some of the Mother Goose rhymes because the children love to meet old friends in books just as well as we do.

The vocabulary is limited to words easily recognized by beginners in reading, and the sentences are made short and direct, so that they will be understood. The stories progress gradually from very easy to more difficult matter, keeping pace with the child's increasing knowledge and ability,--the book being carefully arranged for use as a supplementary reader, or for home reading for the little ones.

Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn, The sheep's in the meadow, The cow's in the corn.

Where's the little boy who looks after the sheep?

He's under the hayc.o.c.k, fast asleep.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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 gra.s.s 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."

s...o...b..LL

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

He could not find his s...o...b..ll.

You will laugh when I tell you who s...o...b..ll was.