The post. [volume] (Middleburg, Snyder County, Pa.) 1864-1883, 1872-08-15

ers to join their fellows in search Of
food on the mountains. Tho boy
will thus gather forty or fifty goats,
which are placed in his special caro-
during the summer, to I've led out in
the morning and returning for milk
ing and shelter at night.
Whore tho herdsman with his cows
cannot reach. thither the nimblo
goat-boy, with his moro nimblo wards
will go with easo and safety, to
gather tho scanty herbs that spring
up among tho weather-beaten rocks
and from the most dangerous and
apparently inaccessible heights will
rcsopnd the loud goatcelE II il
then that the goat boy feels himself
a king--undisputed monarch OF tho
peaks. Yet he is in reality n poor
little waif--frequently an orphan or
or an outcast. Sometimes the boy
will seek his own customers again
he will hire himself to master from
whom he will receive II yearly reward
Of two dollars, besides his coarse
food, rough shirt and pants, old felt
hat. and heavy wooden shoes with
soles studded with nails
He acquires II wonderful facility in
the art of climbing, and will slip
boldly along on the sharp edges of
precipices to which it scarcely seems
possible that human foot can cling.
Indeed the mountainous believe That
goat y milk imparts magic skill in
scaling the giddiest heights. Tha
goat boys oyo is rs sure rs his feet
miles away he viii point out the cha.
mois to the hunter, or discover some
lost and vagrant member of his own
flock. His ear, too, grows rs sensi-
tive rs that of the game of the Alpine
wilds. He knows each one of his
own flock Ivy the sound of its bell.
and even by its cry of distress when
it has slipped into some chasm from
which it connot escape.
But above all does he recognize,
though far of, it's terrified cry when
the eagle or vulture pounces upon it.
Then he becomes II Variable hero.
Selling his Alpine staff, with his
steel point, he gives desperate battle
to the fierce and powerful foe and,
while his gonts and their kids arc
fleeing in terror to the shelter Of tho
nearest rock or thiclet, hc dispatch
es his enemy, or at least drives him
away. The highest ambition of tho
goat boy is to climb to the nests and
destroy the eggs or the young broods
of these birds, whom he justly con-
siders his natural enemies.
Sometimes goat searching for
food, leaps upon n narrow ledge,
from which it can neither advance nor
retreat, Seeing its danger it utters
! lamentable cries of distress, which
the goat boy hears and traces to
their source But he finds il nbso-
lutely impossible for him to follow
the animal and bring it back. Then
he hastens to hcrdsman's cabin for
help, and they repair with rope, to
some high crag ovcrhanging the mar
row ledge, when tho berdsman fas-
tens the rope around the body Of tho
boy and lowers him down over the
steep cliffs tin he has reached tho
goat, Tho most dangerous portion
of his duty has still to be done, how
ever. for he must bind tho goat on
his shoulders and be drawn up again
through the dangerous mid-air pass
age.
And yet Notwithstanding, his bra
very and TIE hardships he enduros,
the young goat-herd seldom has for
the day other food than piece of
hard, black bread, and q morsal II
cheese. II he is thirsty he goes to
tho nearest goat, and lying down uii-
der its udder, milks the refreshing
draught directly into his mouth,
without the Intervention of cup or
glass. Thus, early and late, durins
tho summer, he-is wondering over
the mountains, leading his goats
whore they can find the richest and
most convenient pasturage, and the
safest retreats from the midday sun
or the sudden tempest $50
But his familiar goat-call isNlways
welcome in the early evening, ~ no
descends from the heights to bring
safely home his mountain climbers,
thor udders hsayy- With tire rich
I gatherings OF the day. The goats
milk is often the only wealth OF the
4 only wealth Of the cabins Of these
solitary people, who hail it as a rich
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