The Litchfield County post., 1827-10-25

the hpdu Oh Uten-IIVOn. 10 the farm OF mar
hope, in Tweeddale and accomplished the
journey in nine days. She was soon missed
by her owner, and shepherd followed her
all the way to Cariff, where he turned and
gave her up. He got intelligence of her all
the way, aud every one told him that she alb
soIutely persisted in travelling on-She would
not be turned, regarding neither sheep nor
shepherd by the way. Her lamb was often
far behind, and she had constantly'tO urge it
on, by impatient Heating. She unluckily
came TO Stirling on the morning of great
annual fair, about the end of May, and judy
ing it imprndent to advance 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
| road side. But next morning when all grew
| quiet a little after the break of day. she was
observed stealing quietly through the town,
in apparent terror of the dogs that were Prov
| ling about the streets. 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 per force when he opened the
gate, he always prevented her. and at length
she turned patiently again. She had found
some means of eIUding him, however, for
home she came on Sabbath morning, the
4th of June and she left the farm of Loehs
in GIen-Lyon either on the Thursday after
noon, or Friday morning. the week previous
but one. The farmer of Harehope paid the
Highland farmer the price of her, and she
| lived on her native farm till she died of old
age, in her seventeenth year.
have heard of sheep returning from York
Shrn fn tho H1rhIaplc h,,t than I
suspected that they might have been lost by
the way. But this is certain, that when one,
or few sheep, get away from the rest of the
acquaintance, they return homewards with
great eagerness aud perseverance. have
lived beside drove road the better part of
my life, and many stragglers have | seen
bending their steps northward in the spring of
the year. A shepherd rarely sees these Jour
! neys twice; if he sees them, and stops them
in the. morning, they are COMO long before
night; if he sees them at night they will be
gone many miles before morning. This strong
attachment to the place of their nativity is
| much more predominant in our aboriginal
breed, than in any of the other kinds with
which am acquainted.
There is another popularity in their nature,
of which [ have witnessed innumcrable in
''"'NNo' Shub oiI ASi'SC Oh'' Ap' IilCy oIV
all alike, aud show how much the sheen is
creature of habit.
A shepherd in BIackhouse bought a few
sheep from another in Crawmel, about ten
miles distant. In the spring following. one of
the ewes went hack to their native place, and
yearned on wild Hill called Crawmll Craig.
On certain day, about the beginning of July
following, the shepherd went and brought
homo hic QUO and lamh---fonE thu Hooca
from the eve, and kept the lamb for one of
his stock. The lamb lived and throve be-
| came hog and glimmer, and never offered
| to leave home; but when three years of age,
and about to have her first lamb, she vanish
ed; and the morning after, the Crawmel
shepherd, in going his rounds, found her with
new yearned lamb on the very gair of the
| Crawmel Craig, where she was lambed her
self. She remained there till the first week
of July, the time she was brought lamb
herself, and then she came home with hers of
her own accord and this custom she contin-
ued annually with the greatest punctuality as
long as she lived. At length her lambs, when
they came of age, began the same practice,
and the shepherd was obliged to dispose of
the whole breed.
But with regard to the natural affection, the
instances that might be mentioned are with
out number, stupid and actionless creatures
as they are. When one loses its sight in
flock of short sheep, it is rarely abandoned to
itself in that hapless and helpless state. Some
one always attaches itself tn it, and by bleat-
ing calls it back from the precipice, the lake,
the pool, and all dangers whatever. There
is disease among sheep, called by shepherds
the Breaksbugh, sort of deadly dysentary.
| which is infectious as frei a flock. Whenev-
err sheep feels itself attacked by this it in
stantly absents itself from all the rest, shun-
ming their society with the greatest care; it
| even hides itself, andsis often very hard to be
found. Though this propensity can hardly be
attributed to natural instinct, sat all events,
provision of nature of the greatest kindness
and benifcence.
There is another manifest provision of ma
ture with regard to these animals, which is,
that the more inhOspitabe the land is on which
they feed, the greater their kindness and at
tentiOn to their young. once herded two
years on a wild and barren farm called VIII
lensIee, on the border of Mid Lothian, and of
all the sheep that | ever saw, these were the
kindest and most affectionate to their young.
| was often deeply affected with scenes which
[ witnessed there. We had one very hard
winter. so that our sheep grew lean in the
spring. and the thwarter-ll IA sort of paralyt-
iC affection) came among them, and carried Of
a number. Often have seen these poor vic
TINS, when fallen down to rise no more, even
when unab BILE to lift their heads from the ground
holding I'D the leg, to invite the starving lamb