B RAMPTON-AMONG-THE-ROSES.
 But the little lady and her companions were dry
 in comparison to some of the sturdy village boys and
 girls who had assisted to push the sheep into the
 water-especially the boys, for some boy would lay hold
 of a great fat strong sheep, that seemed determined
 not to go into the river, so the lad pushed with all his
 strength, and while so engaged the sheep seemed to
 have altered its mind and went in with a plunge, and
 the shepherd lad after it, over head and ears, and only
 got laughed at for his ducking. But considerate
 Christabel persuaded him to go home and dry his
 clothes, and it was very rarely that any of them dis-
 obeyed her, for she had always a smile on her pretty
 face, and I fancied that some of them went into the
 water purposely that she might notice them; for as the
 old gardener said, She had such a winning way with
 her that he often fancied she could coax a bird off
 the branch where it was singing if she liked, and sang
 too." There was music in her voice when she only
 talked to her girlish companions, for it was what
 Shakespeare has called soft and low," and old Jacob,
 the gardener, said he never heard her speak without
 thinking of the pretty little blackcap, which is one of
 our sweetest English singing-birds.
 The sheep-washers, who stood in the water all day,
had as much strong home-brewed ale as was good for
them, and which prevented them from taking cold;
for they had to wade nearly waist deep to give the
sheep a good swim before allowing them to escape; and
fine hardy fellows they were, with their shirt-sleeves
turned up above the elbows, showing their long brown
sinewy arms; and the one nearest the shore, who
stood not much above his knees in the water, seized
the sheep by the fleece with both hands, and rolling it
over and over, pushed it further out, and forced it to