"That reminds me," said Mr. Sullivan, "of the flocks in the Island of Cyrnon, which, on the landing of a stranger, always flee away into the interior of the country; but as soon as the shepherd blows his horn, they scamper around him, and forget every fear.
"But all this time I am quite unmindful of my young friend, who has not yet asked one question."
"I want to know whether it"s easy to be a shepherdess," said Minnie, blushing; "because I should like to be one; only I should want the kind of sheep that would own their lambs, and love them."
Both Mr. Lee and his visitor laughed heartily.
"Sheep have one trait, and a very marked one," said Mr. Sullivan, "which makes it difficult to keep them in order. That is, their habit of imitation. On my farm, the boundary one side is a stone wall, and it seems almost impossible to keep them from going over it. There is no better feed in my neighbor"s pasture; but for some reason the leader runs over, and then the whole flock follow. They know better, and they seldom attempt it when Moses, the dog, is in sight; for sheep soon learn the exact boundaries of their enclosure: from being driven back so often, they find how far they can roam, and remain in peace.
"So, Miss Minnie, unless you can run very fast, and like to keep on the chase pretty much all day, I think you would find it easier to take care of your pets at home than to be a shepherdess."
"Will you please tell me a story about sheep?" said the little girl.
"If you like a laughable story, I can tell you one which I was thinking of not a minute since. It ill.u.s.trates their habit of imitation. It is often exceedingly difficult to drive a flock of sheep through a narrow pa.s.sage to which they are unaccustomed; but if one of them can be got through, the rest follow without the slightest trouble.
"A butcher"s boy was driving some fat sheep through Liverpool; but they ran down a street where he did not wish them to go. The boy saw a man before him sweeping the street, and called loudly to him,--
""Stop them! Turn them about!"
"The man began to run from one side of the street to the other, always opposing himself and his broom to them when they tried to force a pa.s.sage through; but the sheep became more and more excited, and pressed forward with increasing impetuosity.
"At last, one of them came right up to the man, who was stooping down, as if he were going to jump over him, which so frightened the fellow that, instead of rising, he seized the short broomstick, with one hand on either end, and held it over his head. He remained a few seconds in this position, when the sheep made a spring, and jumped fairly over him, without touching the broom.
"The first had no sooner done this, than another followed, and then another, in quick succession, so that the man, perfectly confounded, seemed to lose all recollection, and remained in the same att.i.tude until the whole flock had jumped over him, not one of them attempting to pa.s.s on either side, though the street was quite clear.
"All this took place just after a wet day, so that the man was entirely bespattered with mud and dirt before they had all pa.s.sed; and it would be impossible to conceive a more ludicrous appearance than the poor fellow made on that occasion."
CHAPTER IV.
ATTACHMENT TO HOME.
"That"s a real funny story," exclaimed Minnie, her eyes sparkling with mirth, "only I can"t help pitying that poor man."
"I can recall another, though a sadder incident," continued Mr.
Sullivan, "ill.u.s.trating the same quality."
"In 1808, an accident happened in England to some sheep belonging to Mr. Cooper, of Huilston Hall, who had intrusted them to the care of a boy for that day, in the absence of the shepherd, who was a.s.sisting in getting in the harvest.
"About the middle of the day, the sheep broke from their pasture, when the thoughtless boy drove them back in great haste over a narrow and deep ditch. The leading sheep fell in, and the remainder, pa.s.sing over them, smothered twenty-five sheep and forty lambs, the whole being worth near four hundred dollars.
"In the same book, there is also an account of a flock near Guildford, consisting of more than eight hundred sheep, in one pasture. A dog one day jumped the hedge, and so frightened them that one of them jumped into an adjoining field, which was on a great descent, when the rest of the flock followed each other over the gap of the hedge so fast that one hundred and twenty-three of them were killed."
"There is one quality or characteristic of the sheep which will interest you, Minnie," said her father, "and that is their love of home. Perhaps Mr. Sullivan will tell you some stories about that."
"I should be very glad to hear them, and about the little lambs."
"A great deal can be said upon that," returned the shepherd, cheerfully.
"So strong is their attachment to the place where they have been bred, that I have heard of their returning to the Highlands of Scotland from a distance of three hundred miles. When a few sheep accidentally get away from their acquaintance in the flock, they always return home with great eagerness and perseverance.
"The most singular instance that I know of is that of a black ewe, that returned from a farm in the head of Glen Lyon to her home in Tweeddale, and accomplished the journey in nine days. She was soon missed by her owner, and a shepherd was despatched in pursuit of her, who followed her all the way to Crieff, where he turned and gave her up. He got intelligence of her all the way, and every one told him that she absolutely persisted in travelling on--she would not be turned, regarding neither sheep nor shepherd by the way.
"Her poor little lamb was often far behind, and she had constantly to urge it on by impatient bleating. She unluckily reached Stirling on the morning of a great annual fair, about the end of May, and judging it imprudent to venture through the crowd with her lamb, she halted on the north side of the town the whole day, where she was seen by hundreds, lying close by the roadside.
"But the next morning, a little before the break of day, when all was still, she was seen stealing quietly through the town, in apparent terror of the dogs that were prowling about the street. The last time she was seen on the road was at a toll bar near St. Ninian"s; the man stopped her, thinking she was a strayed animal, and that some one would claim her. She tried several times to break through by force, when he opened the gate for travellers; but he always prevented her, and at length she turned patiently back. She found some means of eluding him, however; for she reached home on a Sabbath morning early in June, having left the farm at Glen Lyon either on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning, a week and two days before.
"I suppose her former owner thought she had earned a right to remain on her native farm, for he paid the Highland farmer the price of her, and she remained with him till she at length died of old age, in her seventeenth year."
At this moment, company was announced, who remained till evening, so that poor little Minnie, after waiting a long time for her stories, was obliged to go to bed without them.
"Never mind, dear," whispered her father, noticing her look of disappointment; "I have a book with beautiful anecdotes of sheep and lambs, which I will read to you when I come home to-morrow night."
In the morning, Mr. Sullivan found time to pay Nannie a visit, and p.r.o.nounced her in a thriving condition. He recommended Mr. Lee to have her wool sheared off, as it was so long as to make her uncomfortable during the heat of summer.
Nannie was now a year old, and was a fine, large lamb, with her speckled face looking very bright and intelligent, and, as the gentleman said, did credit to the care of her shepherdess.
Soon after breakfast, Mr. Lee and his visitor went to the library on business, and Minnie did not see them again until just as they were getting into the carriage to drive away. She waited with some impatience for her father to return, and wished she knew what book her father referred to as having the stories in it, so that she might have it ready for him.
Her mother, finding that she was restless and discontented, advised her to apply herself to her letters, which she was beginning to learn.
If the truth must be told, the little girl was not fond of study; but when her mother reminded her that most children of her age could read and spell with ease, and that, if she was diligent, she herself would soon be able to read stories, and not be dependent on any one else, she thought it would be a good thing to learn. For half an hour, she forgot her desire for her father"s return in finding A"s and E"s in books to match letters on her cards.
Evening came at last, and Mr. Lee with it. He looked very smiling, and told his wife his sister was in the city, and was coming in a few weeks to visit them. The moment he saw Minnie"s expectant face, he told her he would be ready in five minutes to attend to her, and then invited Mrs.
Lee to accompany them to the library, to hear some stories from the Shepherd"s Calendar, and other books.
In a few moments, Minnie was seated on her father"s lap, her whole countenance beaming with pleased antic.i.p.ation.
CHAPTER V.
AFFECTION FOR ITS YOUNG.
The gentleman began:--
"The marked characteristic of the sheep is that of natural affection, of which it possesses a great share. At the present time, there is in Regent"s Park a poor sheep, with very bad foot rot. Crawling along the pasture on its knees, it with difficulty contrives to procure for itself subsistence; and the pain which it suffers when compelled to get on its feet is evidently very great. At a little distance from the sufferer was another sheep, which, after close observation, I found was always the same. As I pursued my regular morning walk through the Park, I commonly sought out the friends, and, after two or three days, they seemed to be aware that no harm was intended them, and they suffered me to come near enough to observe their signals, and fully to satisfy myself that it was always the same faithful adherent by whom the cripple was solaced and watched.
"When a sheep becomes blind, it is rarely abandoned to itself in this hapless and helpless state. Some one of the flock attaches himself to it, and by bleating calls it back from the precipice, and the lake, and the pool, and every kind of danger to which it is exposed."
"Isn"t that good of them?" cried Minnie, eagerly. "I like those sheep."
"There was once a gentleman living in Inverness," Mr. Lee went on, "who was pa.s.sing through a lonely and unfrequented district, when he observed a sheep bleating most piteously, and hurrying along the road to meet him; on his approaching nearer, the animal redoubled its cries, and looking earnestly in his face, seemed to implore some favor or a.s.sistance.
"Touched with a sight so unusual, he alighted, and leaving his gig, he followed the sheep in the direction whence it had come. There, in a solitary place, the ewe stopped, and the traveller found a lamb, completely wedged in between two large stones, almost exhausted, but still continuing to struggle very feebly.