The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-05-03
LAMB CHOPS.
George w. Peck Tells what He Knows
About the sheep Family.

George w. Peck Tells what He Knows
About the Sheep Family.
FELLOW SPRING LAMBS The sub !
ject OF sheep culture is one that may |
well arrest the attention of the truly |
good. There is no branch of horticult-
ure that is 80 neglected as the raising of
sheep. And there is DO other garden
vegetable that is so early brought to
maturity as the lamb The transition
from the early bunting period, when the
little creatures scratch fieas off their
foreheads by bunting their heads against
the front part of another lamb, to the
time when they are hung up by the hind
leg, at the market, to be sold for gar
nishing with mint sauce. is indeed
short, and every moment should be
made use OF to prepare the mind of the
lamb for the great change, for death and
what follows.
The sheep family is made up Of four
classes. The lamb is the little baby of
the family that has to be looked after
by ell the rest, that has to be learned to
walk, to talk, to say "ma," and to tip
over the furniture in the sheep pen.
The lamb has to go through all the dis
eases children have, only we do not
notice it, At first the lamb has to cut
teeth, then have the measles, and the
whooping cough, the itch, and it gets in
love, just like human beings. 1t is
sad sight to see lamb in love, and to
see the unrequited affection, to see its
cheeks pale, as the object of its affec-
ton passes along unmindful of its suf-
ferings, to see it lose its appetite, and
.r,b D,,k 81, al
about love affairs, the lamb never gets
to drinking or playing baseball. 1t
takes it's heart troubles to its mother,
and unburdens itself to the old lady,
and lays down at her feet and goes to
sleep, and the old lady shuts her eyes
and chews, her cud, and thinks, hour
after hour, how to help the lamb out of
the difficulty.
The mother of the lamb is called the
eve. do not know why the mother of
the lamb is called eve, but maybe ei0e
do. Anyway she answers to that name,
and performs the part allotted to her in
this life without murmur, and she
never talks back. You never see the
eve gossipping over the fence with a
neighboring eve, and talking about other
ewes while hanging out clothes, or max
ing fun of another ewes last falls hat,
| which she is compelled to wear all the
spring, because her husband was "long"
on wheat when he should have been
"short." You never hear of eve get
of the house has to go down town to at
tend the Lodge of Royal Arch Masons,
and she never sits up till IL o'clock to
see if she can smell beer when he comes
home. When a eve meets another eve
on the street, she never looks back to
see how her polonaise sets, or to see if
her cloak is circular, or short seal
skin heightened out with mink. The
eve never gets up first in the morning
and goes through pantaloons pockets
and takes out ali the change, so her pro-
tector has to walk down town, not hav-
ing nickel to pay car fare. The eve
never gets mad and pulls hair, 80 that
the one who has sworn to love, hon.
or and protect has to wear his hair bald
headed. She never asks for new
dress the very day the rent has to be
paid. No, the eve is good, kind, do
nestle wife, an indulgent parent, and q
good neighbor, who also pays back the
tea and sugar she borrows.
The next branch of the sheep family
is the wether. The wether is the uncle
of the lamb, bachelor uncle, and he
don't amount to any more than any old
bachelor. They are useful, ornamental,
and good to carry shawls and baskets to
picnics, and to go home with the sheep
from festivals, and to talk nonsense, but
they never mean business. They may
be attentive, and monopolize the time Of
young sheep just beginning to go into
society, and just as you are beginning to
think OF orange blossoms, and wedding
cake, and, a bridal trip to Wauwatosa,
you are startled by the announcement
that the affair is postponed on account
of the wether." The bachelor sheep are
useless, entirely, except for mutton, like
those of the human family.
AS an emblem OF purity, innocence
and tenderness, the lamb cannot be ex-
celled-in the spring. But in the fall,
when it arrives at the age of discretion,
it is tough. The sheep is one of the
most constant, devoted animals. 1t can
constantly be found on the table of
boarding houses There is sympathy
between the housekeeper and the sheep
WhlCh 10 oOuChiiSs lHouSu buo
ers may abhor mutton, the friendship
between the sheep and the landlady is so
firm that she will not go back on her
old-time friend. Scoffers will say that
this is because mutton is cheaper than
any other species of horned cattle, but
that cannot be true. There is no other
meat that will stand the hard usage that
mutton will unless it be India rubber in
its native state. Rubber, Just as it
comes from the mint, will compare IA
vorably for toughness with boarding
house mutton, but after the rubber is
manipulated into overshoes. or betting,
or car springs, it loses much of its te-
nacity of purpose, and mutton takes the
chrome for elasticity, durability and
ornament.
SlOvenly Manuscript.