The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-10-05
Ghildren's Column.
On the Edge of a Precipice.

in fine weather and broad daylight than
the slopes Of the Higher Alps. A little
below the snow-line, the great ridges
widen out here and there into the little
green terraces of the smoothest turf,
covered with soft rich grass; and at
height of six or seven thousand feet
above the sea you come upon haymakers
at their work, or focks of sheep and
goats feeding, and sun-burned men in
broad hats eating their bread Land cheese
In the shade as comfortably as if they
were on firm ground in the valley below,
instead Of being up. above the clouds,
with frightful precipices all around them.
In such place did Paul Laland find
himself, on fine Autumn afternoon, with
flock of sheep under his own special
charge. And he was not little proud
of his trust for hitherto he had been
merely helping his father, and this was
his first day of having the whole flock to
himself.
During the first part of the day he
stuck to his post like Roman sentinel,
and ate his dinner in the very midst of
the sheep, with one eye on his food and
the other on his flock But toward after
noon he got tired of this, and seeing
them all feeding quietly, and showing no
sign of straying, he began to amuse him
self.
First he set up his cap on boulder,
and tried how many times running he
could hit it with stones. Then he turned
head over heels upon the smooth warm
grass, till he was quite giddy. Then he
picked out steep slope of turf, and slid
down it again and again; TIL finding him
self rather hot with all this exercise he
went to have battle in the tiny stream
that flashed and sparkled through its
deep, narrow channel a little way below.
Suddenly he remembered his flock,
which all these occupations had put quite
out of his head. Suppose some OF the
sheep should have got lost while he was
amusing himself? The very thought sent
him flying up the slope at a pace which
no one but mountain-boy could have
kept up.
Hurrah there they all were-not one
missing And yet, when he looked again.
1CaSn't there one missing? Yes, there
was one of the lambs was nowhere to
be seen.
Now this would have been bad enough
of itself, on the very first day of Paul's
shepherding, but it happened that this
particular lamb was the special pet Of
his sister Louise, who had fastened a
blue ribbon round its neck, and called it
Bebe, by which name it was known to
the whole village.
For moment poor Paul was quite
overwhelmed; and then, like brave boy
as he was, he set about doing his best to
to repair the mischief
Afternoon had already faded into
evening, and if the lost lamb was to be
found that night there was no time to
lose. Down the hill it could not have
gone, or it must have passed him on the
way; and to right and left of the pasture
ground stood walls of rock which no
lamb could have climbed Plainly it
must be somewhere among the heights
overhead so soon as he had penned the
other sheep safely, up the hill he started.
But even for such climber as our
hero this was no easy matter. Beneath
the action of wind and weather, the
higher rocks had crumbled away into
vast sheets of gravel and rolling stones,
over which his progress was almost
literally two steps backward for one
forward Moreover, the big stones
above disturbed by his advance, came
laundering down on every side of him
as he mounted Not without more than
one narrow escape of being killed out
right, did he at last reach the foot of the
main cliff But look as he might, there
was no sign of the missing Bebe and
every moment the sun was sinking nearer
and nearer to the horizon. What was to
be done?
Suddenly thought struck him. Skill
full in imitation, like all Alpine shepherds,
he mimicked the bleat of the eve calling
to her young, repeating it again and
again. A faint cry at length answered
him, far away to the left; and following
the sound, he came to little grassy
spot between two tremendous crags, in a
nook of which, safe and sound, lay his
lost pet.
The little creature seemed quite as
glad of the meeting as himself, and frisked
around him like dog; but Paul was far
too anxious to get back to his flock before
darkness fairly set in to waste any time
in rejoicing He drew stout cord from
his pocket, tied it around the lambs neck,
and turned to descend.
Just at that moment the sinking sun
threw out one final blaze of glory, illu-
mipating the whole landscape. Grim