SHEEP-SHEARING.

 

ARY and Annie went out gathering wild flowers the next
day, and met. the Shepherd driving all the pretty sheep,
which were on the meadow next the house, down to the brook. He
stopped, and said,
“Would you like to see the sheep-shearing ?”
“Oh, yes,” said Mary, “very much.”
So they went with him, and soon afterwards George called me,
and said that he was going to take the horses to water, and would I
like to go also? I could not manage it just then, because Uncle
was showing me the glass bee-hives, but I said I would follow him
soon. By the time I reached the brook, a great many of the poor
sheep had lost their wool, and were running and jumping about,
looking very bare and naked: But the shearer told Mary that they
were glad to be relieved from their heavy coats, which would make
them very uncomfortable as the weather grew warmer.
The wool will be sold, and made into cloth, and linseys, and
blankets. I do not know what we should do for warm clothes in the

winter, if sheep were never sheared.

4.