big one and they went on with their walk.

Next they saw Brindle Bess, but Mary Jane didn't like her as well as
the little pigs. She switched her tail and looked around at Mary Jane
so pointedly that Mary Jane was really relieved when Grandfather
slipped around and opened the door and let her wander out to pasture.

"She's an awful _big_ cow, isn't she, Grandfather?" said Mary Jane, as
the cow ambled off.

"Oh, I don't know about that," said Grandfather, not understanding.

"Well, she's lots bigger than me when I'm five," said Mary Jane
positively. "I think I like little things best."

"Then I've the very creature to show you," said Grandfather, "and we
might as well see him now because your grandmother will want to show
you the chickens when she comes out. We'll lock this door so Mrs. Pig
can't get out into the front barn yard again, and then we'll cross the
road and I'll show you something you'll like."

"Will it be big?" asked Mary Jane as she skipped along beside him.

"Middling big and middling little," answered Grandfather.

"Will it be brown or gray?" asked Mary Jane, thinking of the cow and
the pigs.

"Neither," said Grandfather.

That puzzled Mary Jane, but she couldn't think of anything else to
guess so she kept her eyes carefully ahead as they went down the yard
and across the road, in hopes she Would see the surprise quicker that
way.

Across the road from Grandfather's house was a strip of wooded land
which Grandfather had let grow wild. Grandmother loved the trees and
the wild flowers and liked to feel that they were near to her.

"Oh!" exclaimed Mary Jane as they crossed the road, "see those trees!
Are those the surprise?"

"My, no!" replied Grandfather; "those are only a couple of wild crab
trees--they do look pretty full of bloom as they are, don't they? But
the surprise is a real, live, running around surprise. Here, let me
boost you over the fence; that's more fun than a dozen gates." He set
Mary Jane over the fence and then came in the gate and locked it
carefully behind him.

"Are you 'fraid it'll get away, is that why you lock the gate?" asked
Mary Jane.

"Well, it's pretty little to run away," said Grandfather, "but you
never can tell, so I lock it to be sure." He took hold of Mary Jane's
hand again as he added, "now just behind these trees; and around these
bushes; and--"

"I see it myself," exclaimed Mary Jane, "and I know what it is--it's a
little sheep!" She dro