Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1875-09-29
Chr family Circle.
About Shepherds.
UNCLi. JOHN

About Shepherds.
UNCLL JOHN
My Dear Children:-I suppose you know
little or nothing about shepherds. except
what Won have learned from books. or
from what people have It'd You. Sheep
culture is not much practiced in the parts
Of our country where You live, and if it
were, our fashion Of fencing in our farms
and of dividing them into small enclosed
lots. would make the service of shepherd,
pretty near >upertluous. If u farmer has
Il lock of sheep. he puts them into an en-
closed pasture. and there they are. When
il becomes necessary, he changes them in
to another enclosed pasture, and there
they arr again. There Is no danger that
they will will % astray. or get into mis-
chief. All the care they require can easily
be given to them by the ordinary people Of
the farm. Still. when | read. as | have
lately, IN some paper, OF the great mum Der
of sheep that every year, IN our country,
are killed by dogs. l am inclined 10
think it would be good economy for Us, if
we try to keep sheep at all, 10 have shcp
herds.
In some other parts Of the world where
sheep culture i common. the necessity for
shepherds is imperative. In German for
example. the country that | have written
50 much about already, sheep could not
possibly be kept without them. There is
no fencing there, except about private
parks and gardens, but the entire land lies
open. Farms are separated from each
| other only by roads. or rows of trees, or
mere foot ptths; and rs for the division Of
farms into enclosed lois. such a thing Is
never thought Of Here is a field Of wheat
there Of barley, there of rye, there "f
grass. there Of turnil~. or of something
else, and between these fields i nothing
bat Il mere furrOw. or perhaps a wagon
WAY \ flock Of sheep left to themselves
in Germany would have a pretty wide run
of it, and be likely to destroy more than
their wool would pay for, with their prlt>
and mutton thrown in. All animals sent
| to pasture must be tended. If there is n,
solitary COW to f. ed. she must have a keep
II. Some little boy. or girl, or old woman
who can do nothing else, must spend III"
entire day watching that COW. At night
all animals are housed or pcnned- Sheep
are put INTO folds. OF cotes, and there they
remain until they are taken out again in
| the morning TO feed in the meadows or
wherever pasture can be found for
| them.
Come with me, We will take a walk in
the country. You may imagine Yourselves
in almo>t any part of Germany you Xix"
We shall have Il pleasant walk. assure
vou-but bring Your umbrellas, for there
i no telling here ut what moment it may
rain. How smooth and hard the roads
are. and now nicely they are shaded by
! these endless rows of old poplars. and
birche>. and Gins. and liaden> Isn't il
grand to have such good foot-,ath along
ne WAY >idc. out of the dust. with these
great arms of the trees swinging over our
heads and casting down their cool shadows
upon Us, How tidy and clean the farms
are, and how abundant the growth upon
hem Of all kinds of grain and grasses :
DO You see stump any where? guess
not. nor a stone. except where it has been
placed for some useful purpose. TheSt
farms were cultivated long before Ameri-
ca was discovered, and f,r aught know
even before Christ WAS born. After all
there are some things to offend US See,
there is a woman ploughing, and upon my
word, the plough is drawn by a COW
The Germans. with their great army of
seven or eight hundred thousand men to
support cannot afford to let any body. or
any creature. live in idlene>s and if a
woman holds the plough. why should not
the COW draw it? | don't think, for my
part that 4 cow Is any better than Il wo-
man,
Bat we must not stop to notice all the
hings we see. or we shall lose the main
object that we are in search Of. We are
looking for Il shepherd. and we must push
on. Hank. Did Won not hear a whistle?
Shepherds often use whistles for calling
their dogs. Come along-vonher are the
sheep, and see the shepherd now. stand
ing under n tree in the bend of the little
stream that comes ru>tlng down from
those high grounds. He is leaning on q
long staff, or rod. the end of which is over
his shoulder. having upon it Il three prong
ed fork, the prong> so curved that it look,
as if he ight put it under the body of Il
sheep and lift her with it. That is inst
what he would do if there was any occ.-
! sion for it, though he more commonly uses
it for separating the sheep when they
crowd too much upon one another His
! flock is all around him. and should think
would count four hundred at least See
how diligently they feed One would
think, from the way they crop the rras.
that each sheep was afraid the day might
come to an end before she had filled her
self Perhaps there is an acre of grass land
here, and all around, except on the
stream-side, is wheat, and barley. and oats.
things that sheep are more than partial TO-
Yet, though the shepherd stands perfectly
quiet, and does rot say one word, t!ir
wheat and oats and barley are rs safe as if
| there were no sheep in GERMANY How
is it? How doyou account for the good
behavior Of this great flock? Do YOU OBJ
serve that Unlocking dog that appears to
be sleeping at the Shepherds feet? Well
it is not that dog that keeps the sheep in
order just now. He has had his turn. and
is off duty at present. taking his rest but
there is another dog in the field whose
conduct is worth noticing. Do YOU not
see him? Yonder he goes on the outskirt
of the little pasture ground, now this way,
now that way. now all the way round, max
ing circuit Of it.and then back apain--ney-
er stl!.except when, occasionally, he stops
just moment apparently to ask question,
or TO make some remark to the shepherd
For all the world. it looks like that, and 7
do believe this shepherd and his doc I'M
derstand each other as well as YOU and I
do. and. in their way, keep up some sort
Of talk all the while. Sometimes he runs
furiouslv for little distance, and then sud.
denly turns and retraces his steps, as if he
hal seen something that needed looking
after at that particular point. He never
stops to rest. Never. for one instant of
time does he neglect his business. It is
evident that he feels his responsibility and