Produced by Emmy, Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by the University of Florida Digital Collections.) [Illustration: SHEEP AND LAMBS.] [Illustration: Violet Stories] Bessie's Country Stories. SIX VOLUMES. THE SHEEP AND LAMB. THE YOUNG DONKEY. THE LITTLE RABBIT-KEEPERS. THE COCK OF THE WALK. THE COWS IN THE WATER. THE YOUNG ANGLER. Bessie's Country Stories. THE SHEEP AND LAMB. BY THOMAS MILLER. _ILLUSTRATED._ New York: SHELDON AND COMPANY. 1871. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, By SHELDON AND COMPANY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. Electrotyped at the BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY, No. 19 Spring Lane. The Sheep and Lamb. THE PET LAMB. WHERE you see the square church-tower, in the picture of the "Sheep and Lamb," stands the pretty village of Greenham, hidden behind the trees. The sheep and lambs that appear so little, because they are such a way off, are grazing on Greenham Common. The two that are so near you, and the pet lamb, round the neck of which the little boy has placed his arm, are in a small paddock, often called a croft, close, or field, that is separated from the Common by a bank, on the top of which the little child sits who is feeding the sheep. The girl holding the child, and the boy looking over his shoulder, live at Greenham, and have come across the Common to ask how Johnny's father is, and to look at his pet lamb. You will notice that Johnny looks very grave and sad; and well he may, for his father has met with an accident, and has not been able to do any work for several weeks, and is so poor that he will be forced to sell his two sheep and Johnny's pet lamb to pay the rent of his cottage. You cannot see the cottage in the picture, nor anything but a bit of the little field that lies at the back of it, in which the boy sits fondling his lamb. That girl is servant in a great farm-house, though she does very little besides looking after the children and feeding the poultry, for they keep great strong servant girls where she lives, to milk, and brew, and cook, and wash, and clean, and make butter and cheese in the dairy. She is a girl with a very feeling heart, and the two boys she has brought across the Common are very fond of her, and many a merry romp do they have together.