he bell that was hung round her neck shook and rang as she leaned over
him),--"why did you leave the field with the black sheep?"

"He did it first," said the white one in a faint voice.

"Then why did you jump down that steep place? Could you not see that it
was a pit?"

"I did not stop to see. He did it first," said the white sheep. Then,
with a groan, he went on to ask, "How _is_ the black sheep? Is he here
too? And what does the man think who comes to see us?"

"I grieve to say," said the cow, "that he thought you were both far too
much hurt to live. The poor black sheep has just died, and I fear that
you must die too."

"He did it first," said the white sheep. And with those words he died.

AUTHOR OF "DICK AND I."

[Illustration: Musical Score.]

THE CATS AND THE MOUSE.

T. CRAMPTON.

1. All the cats con-sult-ed,
What was it a-bout?
How to catch a lit-tle mouse
Running in and out.
The cat with the black nose,
She made this re-mark;--
I will eat the mouse up,
Be-cause my nose is dark.

2. Pus-sy with the long claws,
Curl'd with pride her lip--
You can on-ly snip snap;
I'm the one to grip,
And I'll stretch my long claws,
And hold mous-ey tight;
Then within my strong jaws,
Whisk him out of sight.

3. Lit-tle mous-ey listen'd.
Heard all that was said;
Felt her limbs shake with af-fright;
Thought she'd soon be dead.
But time may be wast-ed.
If cats have much to say;
And while they con-sult-ed,
Mous-ey ran away.

[Illustration: COLGATE & CO. NEW YORK]

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[Illustration]

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