A BONNY LASSIE.

Her name is Christy MacDon­ald.

She lives in the highlands of Scot­land.

Bonny is a Scotch word. It means pretty; it also means merry.

Little Scotch girls are called lassies.

Little Scotch boys are called laddies.

See how pretty Christy looks in her tartan petticoat, her green jacket and little cap!

Tartan is the name of the bright plaid that the Highlanders of Scot­land wear. Both the men and women wear it.

This is Christy's holiday dress. She carries a small English flag in her hand. She is going to a fair, perhaps.

See her pretty plaid stockings! When she is at home, she often goes barefoot in warm weather.

Christy can read; but she does not have many books to read.

She knows a great deal about some things.

She knows a great deal about flowers and birds and animals. Christy lives among the mountains.

She can climb like a little goat. Her father is a shepherd. He

takes care of great flocks of sheep. Christy often stays with him all day out on the hills.

When the sheep have eaten all the grass at one place he drives them to another.

He has many shepherd dogs.

These dogs help him drive the sheep. Sometimes a sheep is caught in a

thorn-bush. If the shepherd did not get it out, it would die there. Sometimes a hungry eagle tries to carry off a lamb. The shepherd drives him away.

Sometimes a fox comes prowling around.

He, too, wants a lamb.

In the winter, there are terrible storms in the Highlands of Scotland. The snow comes very fast.

The shepherd tries to find a shel­ter for his sheep.

Sometimes they are buried very deep under the snow.

Then the wise shepherd dog finds the sheep.

He runs about over the snow. He sniffs.

Pretty soon he stops and barks.

The shepherd digs down into the snow, and there is a sheep! It is alive!

Then he digs out another sheep.

Sheep can live many days under the snow.

Christy knows all about the sheep. She has a pet sheep. I will tell you about it.

There is a beautiful stream of water not far from Christy's home. The water runs fast; the banks are steep.

One day a sheep and lamb were walking by the side of the stream. The lamb fell in.

The swift water carried it away. The poor mother stood on the bank and bleated.

Bruce, the brave shepherd dog, heard her bleat.

He ran down the hill. He plunged into the water.

He seized the lamb in his mouth. He brought it out to Christy.

It was wet. It shivered.

Christy took it home. She warmed and fed it.

After that, it was a great pet.

It often puts its nose into Chris­ty's pocket for a cold bannock.

A bannock is the Scotch name for an oat-meal cake. The Scotch eat a great deal of oat-meal.

Sometimes when Christy is out on the hills, she sees the wild deer. Sometimes she sees wild goats. Sometimes she sees a great golden eagle up far above her head.

It is called a golden eagle because its head is a fine gold color. Its beak is dark blue.

On warm, sunny days, Christy likes to lie down on the heather. It is soft and fragrant.

The heather blossom looks like a tiny pink bell. The bees are fond of these sweet heather bells.

They come in great swarms to gather the honey that is in the pink bells.

The merlin builds its nest in the heather.

It is a large bird, with big round eyes.

Christy often finds a merlin's nest. She knows the reddish brown eggs. She knows where the chaffinches build.

She knows the nest of the red grouse.

The birds know Christy, too. They are not afraid of her.

When she is lying on the heather, they will come near to look at her. One day she saw a great snowy owl take a fish out of the loch.

A lake is called a loch in Scotland. 

Christy lives in a small cottage.

The walls are made of mud. They are whitewashed.

Its roof is thatched with dry heather.

Christy's mother keeps her house very neat. She does not burn wood in the stone fire-place.

She does not burn coal.

She burns peat.

Peat is found in swamps or bogs. 

It is cut out in thick square pieces. They are set up on one side to dry. 

Then they are turned over on the other side.

Almost all the people in the Highlands of Scotland burn peat.

You would not like the smell of the smoke, but they do.

Christy always goes with her fath­er and mother to get the peat.

They go in the summer. A great many other people go too.

Many little lassies and laddies go. They have good times.