The Project Gutenberg EBook of David the Shepherd Boy, by Amy Steedman

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Title: David the Shepherd Boy

Author: Amy Steedman

Release Date: May 16, 2008 [EBook #25486]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration: "There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he
keepeth the sheep." 1. Sam. xvi. 11.]

DAVID THE SHEPHERD BOY

By AMY STEEDMAN

[Illustration]

THOMAS NELSON & SONS
NEW YORK

BOOKS IN THIS SERIES

JOSEPH THE DREAMER
THE BABE IN THE BULRUSHES
DAVID THE SHEPHERD BOY
THE CHILD JESUS
THE GOOD PHYSICIAN
THE GOOD SHEPHERD

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The Story of David

[Illustration]

Up amongst the hills, perched like the nest of a bird on one of the long
low ridges, lies the little town of Bethlehem. It was but a small town
at the time this story begins, and there was nothing about it to make it
at all famous. It lay out of the beaten track, and any one wanting to
visit it must needs climb the long winding road that led from the plain
beneath, through olive groves and sheepfields, up to the city gate--a
steep, difficult road, leading nowhere but to the little town itself.

It was in these fields on the slope of the hills that David, the
shepherd boy of Bethlehem, spent his days watching his father's flocks.
That father, whose name was Jesse, was one of the chief men of the
town, and David was the youngest of all his sons.

There were seven big brothers at home, and it was no wonder Jesse was
proud of his sons. They were tall, splendid young men, all of them doing
men's work now, and taking very little notice of the youngest, who was
still only a small boy, chiefly useful in looking after the sheep.

But though David was but little thought of, no one could say that he did
not do his work well. There was not a more careful or watchful shepherd
on all the hills around Bethlehem. He knew each one of his sheep, and
never allowed one to stray. He always led them to t