"Come to me in the morning, my little man, and I will give you a
silver horn to blow, that you may call the sheep and the cows whenever
they go astray. What is your name?"

"Oh, never mind his name, papa!" broke in the Squire's daughter; "I
shall call him Little Boy Blue, since he is dressed in blue from head
to foot, and his dress but matches his eyes. And you must give him a
good wage, also, for surely no Squire before ever had a prettier
shepherd boy than this."

"Very good," said the Squire, cheerfully, as he pinched his daughter's
rosy cheek; "be watchful, Little Boy Blue, and you shall be well
paid."

Then Little Boy Blue thanked them both very sweetly and ran back over
the hill and into the valley where his home lay nestled by the
riverside, to tell the good news to his mother.

The poor widow wept tears of joy when she heard his story, and smiled
when he told her that his name was to be Little Boy Blue. She knew the
Squire was a kind master and would be good to her darling son.

Early the next morning Little Boy Blue was at the Hall, and the
Squire's steward gave him a new silver horn, that glistened brightly
in the sunshine, and a golden cord to fasten it around his neck. And
then he was given charge of the sheep and the cows, and told to keep
them from straying into the meadowlands and the fields of grain.

It was not hard work, but just suited to Little Boy Blue's age, and he