The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-09-21
CLAM.

the French-Canadian boys of the quaint
Acadian settlement of Madawaska. Ii
answers to our Bill" and comes,
think, from the French Guillaunae, OF
William. The Madawaska children
pronounce it as if spelled glarm, very
broadly.
But Clam was not boy, though he
bore boys name. Neither was he q
dog-though | once saw coach-doe
named "Bill" Indeed, am afraid il
will disappoint the reader to learn that
Clam was a sheep, of the gender which
country children sometimes call a
knock-over;" sheep with great
curled horns and fearfully hard head.
Clam belonged to little bacon-faced
Madawaska lad named Maxine Lizotte.
His father called him " Marxeem," or
MARX" But his father, being lum-
herman, was at home but very little,
and the charge of the little clos, or
farm, situated a few miles from the
hamlet of St. Basil, was left mostly to
Maxine. The boy sowed buckwheat
and planted potatoes in the spring, and
in September harvested his crop, bury
ing his potatoes, like squirrel, deep
in a hole in the ground, that they
might be kept safely tor winter use.
The Madawaska people have no cellars.
If they did have them their houses
would be warmer, for the climate is
very severe, and winter lasts nearly or
quite seven months of the year.
Besides two cows, the boy had owned
a flock of twelve or fifteen sheep, and
Clam was lord of the flock. In his
Iambhood, he had been a great pet, a
sort of "cosset." No doubt he was
given his full share of provender and
other good things; and this, perhaps,
was the reason why he was so large.
At the age of five years, when the
writer saw him, certainly
weighed not less than two hundred
pounds. From the great length of his
wool, he even looked heavier. 1t was
said that the weight of his annual fleece
was fifteen pounds, which seemed to
me a pretty heary story.
When lamb, Clam was no doubt
gentle, like all of his race; but as he
grew older and larger, he became con-
scious of the forcible arguments that
lay in his big curled horns and hard
head, and used them to resent famil-
iarities from strangers. He became a
"knock-over" in good earnest to all
the neighboring boys. Maxine and
Clam, however, understood each other,
and avoided antagonisms that should
have no place between friends.
CLAIMS first exploit of note occurred
when he had reached his third year.
MaXime's sheep-pasture was on the
mountain-side, above his clos. 1t was
a tract of thirty or forty acres, that
were only partially cleared from trees
and brush. The public morals of that
district are probably no better than
those of other localities. At any rate,
farmers like Maxine, who owned lambs,
occasionally lost them, and the theft
was not unfrequently charged to their
neighbors, and not to the bears and
other wild beasts.
One foggy morning, as he was call
ing the sheep together, he was struck
by the appearance of Clam, who seemed
to be standing guard over something
red that was lying on the ground at a
distance from the rest of the flock.
Whatever the object was, it had life;
for while he looked, it rose partly up,
but Clam, drawing back, at once butted
it flat again.
Maxine ran to the animal, and 10!
the red object was red-shirted river
man, who was in sorry plight. He
could scarcely speak, but contrived to
stammer out the words that he thought
his back was broken.
Near by, lying on the ground, was
one of the best lambs of the flock, with
the tendons of his hind legs cut. The
would-be thief had dirk in his hand,
with which he had evidently made des-
perate efforts to quiet Clam, but had
only succeeded in wounding the sturdy
animal.
The fellow had little to say for him
self. He had caught and was carrying
off the lamb on his shoulders, when
Clam charged him from behind, strik-
ing him full in the back; and after
ward, when he tried to rise, offered
continual objection by knocking him
flat again.
There is little Catholic hospital at
st. Basil. The lamb-stealer was taken
there, and afterward recovered. So
Clam was not murderer; though if he
had been, in such case, for one
should have held him to be fully justi-
fed. 1t was his business to defend his
flock, and he did so at the risk of his
own life.
Next came what is to me less in
teresting event in CLAIMS life. The
following autumn, two Frenchmen
passed Maximes farm, driving before
them flock of sheep. With the flock
was large buck. Seeing Clam, and
noting his large size, the men chal-
lenged Maxine to match him against
their own buck for butting duel.
Max consented, am sorry to say,
and the two bucks were turned loose in
field. At first they merely eyed each
other suspiciously. Then Jealousy
seemed to seize them, and after some
menacing stamps of their hoofs, they
squared Off, as Max said.