MARY’S LITTLE LAMB 129 
call attention to their wants or to be noticed, the 
lamb would be with them but would not cross the 
threshold since the dogs were not permitted in the 
rooms. Nor would she come to her mistress when 
called, and having discovered that grass was her 
proper food she wanted nothing that human 
beings could give her. Not even a lump of sugar! 
She was no longer a pet lamb; she was one of the 
dogs. The dogs on their part, although much given 
to quarrels and fights among themselves, never 
growled or snapped at Libby; she never tried to 
snatch a bone from them, and she made them a 
comfortable pillow when they slept and slumbered 
for hours at a stretch. And Libby, just to be always 
with them and to do exactly as they did, would 
sleep too. Or rather she would lie stretched out 
on the ground pretending to sleep, always with the 
head of one of the dogs pillowed on her neck. Two 
or three or four of the other dogs who had failed 
to secure the pillow would lie round her with their 
heads pressed against her fleece. They would form 
a curiously amusing group. Then if a shrill whistle 
was emitted by some one, or the cry of “Up and 
at ’em,” the lamb would spring like lightning to 
her feet, throwing the drowsy dog off, and away 
she would dash down the avenue to get outside the 
plantation and find out what the trouble was. 
Then the dogs, shaking off their sleep, would start 
off and perhaps overtake her a couple of hundred 
yards away. 
Most amusing of all the lamb’s acting was when 
