The corn in the little valleys of the hill farm stood so thick that it seemed to laugh and sing as it danced with the wind. Apples grew in the orchard, and grapes in the vineyard. Morning and evening the cows came to be milked, and Jesse’s wife made the milk into cheese and butter. Sheep lay along the hillside, and she spun the wool into stout clothes for Jesse and their sons and daughters. There were eight sons, most of them grown into tall men; and one of the older daughters had three boys, who were sturdy lads, Joab and Asahel and Abishai. About of an age with these three boys was Jesse’s youngest son, whose name was David. There was a gleam of red in David’s hair and a glow of red in David’s cheeks, and he was as brave as he was handsome. His part of the farm-work was to tend the sheep. In the wild woods near by were lions and bears, who looked with hungry eyes upon the sheep, and David had to fight them. When he went out to the pasture he carried not only a bag which his mother had filled with things to eat, but a thick stick and a sling. Sometimes he fought the lions and bears with the stick, and sometimes with the sling; and if the boys of Bethlehem could throw as well as the left-handed sons of the Benjamin family near by, David could sling a stone at a hair and hit it. This was an accomplishment which he afterwards found useful. Most of the time, however, the tending of the sheep was an occupation so easy and peaceful that David found leisure to gaze at the clouds, and at the stars, and to make songs and sing them, to the great satisfaction of the sheep, accompanying himself upon a harp. He had his music lessons, and practiced several hours a day. One day, while David was out in the hill pasture, there came to the village an old man, driving a cow, and having in his hand a horn of precious oil. When the men of Bethlehem saw him they were as frightened as if the cow had been a red lion and the horn had been attached to a unicorn. For the old man was Samuel, the prophet, who, they thought, could call down thunder and lightning out of the clear sky. And they said, “Do you come peaceably?” And Samuel said, “Peaceably. Come with me, all of you, while I offer a sacrifice to the Lord.” So the men followed Samuel till they came to the village well. But David was minding the sheep. And after the sacrifice, Samuel held his horn of oil high above his head and looked about among the men. At first his eye lighted on Eliab, David’s oldest brother; for he looked like a king in the clothes of a farmer. But the Lord spoke in Samuel’s soul and said: “The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” So it was also with David’s other brothers. Then said Samuel to Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” And Jesse answered, “There is one more, the youngest. He is keeping the sheep.” “Send,” said Samuel, “and fetch him.”