Article June 16, 1945 Issue

Our Beloved Leader

[Of Special Interest to Children]

MAREN P. MENDENHALL

One sunny morning a little girl and her daddy were standing on a hillside, watching a shepherd bring his flock of sheep down the hill into the town. Her daddy told her that in each flock there was one sheep which was the leader, that the leader would do as the shepherd directed and all the other sheep would follow the leader, and that they would not go where the leader had not gone first. Very soon she saw what he meant.

Some workmen had been digging in the road the day before and had left a big pile of earth and boards in the street. On one side there was a very small space where a man might walk past, but on the other side there was plenty of room for a wagon to pass. The shepherd, seeing that it would be safer, directed the leader to the narrow opening, and each one of the others waited its turn to get through the same place. Even though there was much crowding and pushing in their eagerness to get by, not one sheep attempted to go through the wider opening, although to the little girl that certainly looked like the easier thing to do.

When this little girl was a few years older, she used to play a game called "follow the leader," which doubtless many of you have played too. In this game one child is chosen the leader and each of the others must watch very closely and do exactly what the leader does, in order to keep his place. For if he fails in the least way to follow exactly, he drops to the end of the line.

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