The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1881-02-18
SHEEP LORE.
An Interesting Review OF the Wool In
terest From tho Early Dawn of His
tory Up to the Present Time.

SHEEP LORE.
terest From tho Early Dawn of His
tory Up to the Present Time.
Tell him, he was a master KIM.
An ay was guild to rue and mine:
An now my dying charge gle him.
MY helpless lambs trust them wi him.
q, bid him save their harmless lives.
Frae dogs, an tods, am butchers knives
But gle them guild cow-milk their I'LL,
an Ihey be iit TO fend themsel
An tent them duly cen an morn,
W. tcats o. hay am rips o. corn
Robert Burns.-"The Death
and Dying words of Poor Msilie, the Authors
AS the season is almost ut hand when
the heart ofthe shepherd rejoiceth much,
and the voice of the young lamb is
heard abroad in the land, / have been
amusing myself with q little "sheep
lore" and fancy that review of some
fragments thereof may not be without
interest to the rapidly increasing num-
Der of those who have gone wool-gath-
eriBg in Kansas.
The history of the sheep dates back TO
the earliest period of recorded time. In
the 4th chapter o: Genesis, We find that
''Abel was keeper of sheep, and Cain
was tiller of the ground" And Abel
he also brought of the firstlings of of his
flock and the fat thereof. And the Lord
had respect unto Abel and his offering"
There is no evidence that the flesh of the
sheep was used for food previous to the
flood 1t appears that only after the ark
had rested upon the mountains of Ararat
and Noah had again gone forth upon
the earth, was man permitted to eat
meat. Then was it first said unto him,
EVERY moving thing that liveth shall be
meat; even as the green Ia erb have l Civ
en- you all things"
But for many centuries thereafter, the
flesh of animals generally were not used.
1t was first partaken of at periodical re-
ligious sacrifices, and subsequently as a
luxury, on some particular occasions
But ewes milk was used. in the manufac-
ture of cheese, long before there is any
record of its being made from the milk
of the COW. Homer thus alludes 10 this
custom in his Odyssey:
'sHe next bctakes him to his evening cares.
And, sitting down, to milk his ewes, prepares;
OF half their udders eases first the dams,
Then to the mothers teatS submits the lambs.
Half the white stream 10 hardening c. eese
he pressed,
And high in wicker bask ets heaped; the rest,
Reserved in bowls. supplied the mighty feast.
The Arabs use ewes, milk for making
butter. From hundred ewes they eX-
pect, in ordinary years, about eight
pounds of butter day, during the three
spring months.
the first Of the wandering shepherds
we are told of WAS Jabal, 1.-The father of
such as dwell In tents and have cattle.
After him came Abraham and Lot, who
chad flocks, and herds and tents" and
to them have succeeded in customs and
habits of life, the wandering shepherds
of Arabia and Tartary of the present
time. 1t is said that the name of "Meri-
nos'' is derived from "moedinos,"
signiGying wandering" the name of an
Arabian tribe, who shifted their place of
residence with the season.
We are told in the Bible of some large
focks in those ancient days. Job had
| $4,000 sheep. The Israelites brought
675, 600 from their incursion into Mid
| ian. The tribes of Reuben and CAT de-
| spoiled the Hagarites of 100000. The
king of Moab rendered a yearly tribute
of 100000 sheep, and Solomon offered
| 900 in sacrifice at the dedication of
| the temple.
The manner in which Jacob CON-
menced the change of the original dingy
black fleeces to lighter color, as told
in the Both chapter of Genesis, is well
! known; yet even now the comparison
by Solomon of the teeth of his mistress
| to flock of sheep Just come up from
| the washing, would hardly be proper
one for Kansas.
In the earliest times it is said that tie
fleece was removed by pulling, as 1t be-
came lOosened each year. But we are
| told of a royal sheep-shearing in the
| book of I'd Samuel, 1928: "And il
came TO pass after two full years, that
| Absalom had shee-shearers in Baal-hazor,
which is beside Ephraim; and Absalom
| invited all the kings sons"
| When we turn TO the domain of my
thology We find sheep and shepherds
occupying a very prominent position
therein.
| Among the ancient Greeks and RI.
mans, as we'll as the more barbarous
eastern nations, great portion of their
wealth consisted of sheep and cattle.
Gibbon, in his history of Rome, states
| that freedmen, under the rain of Au-
| gustus, though his fortune had suffered
| great loses during the civil wars, left be-
hind him, at his death, 5000 yoke of OK.
en-, 250,0o0 head of smaller cattle, and
4,116 slaves.
The god Pan, who, with his pipe OF
reeds, is as familiar to the reader as
Apollo with his Tyre, was the divinity
of the Grecian shepherds. We find in
! Dwight's Mythology, this account oil
| him:
t.Do,,, ,,r,,I>o1 oe Al, s,:..o, - -. -
| oquently expressive of natures divine
harmonious constitution, and of the or
der and measure that govern all heI
works, producing that solemn move
| ment called the music of the spheres
| imperceptible indeed to our material
organ, but 50 delightful and pleasing
10 the ear of the mind. This wonder
Gus reed on which he necessarily plays
is composed OF seven pipes, uneaqual
among themselves, but fitted together in
such just proportions rs TO produce the
most unerring and melodious notes, call
ing forth the echo, which poets have
made the object of his love
His person is a compound of man and
goat By the ArcadIans he was vener
nted as the chief of the rural deities
Herdsmen and shepherds are said tC
have dreaded the sight of Pan, yet they
regarded him as the tutelary deity o
themselves and Of their fiocks and herd.
and brought him frequent offerings O
milk and honey. Sacrifices were Offered
to him in a deep cave in the midst of 5
wood" Homer thus describes his &C
equations:
"He is lord Of the hills and dales; some
times he ranges along the tops of noun
tains, sometimes pursues the game il
the valleys, rOams through the woods
floats along the streams, or drives hi
sheep into cave, and there plays on hi.
reeds, music not to be excelled by thu
bird, who among the leaves of flower
full spring laments, pouring forth he
moan, a sweet sounding lay"
The music of the shepherds pipe, en-
iivening the solitudes of the ranges Will
its soft notes, is not heard among u!
here. But amid the rowing fiocks of til,
east, and those of the Alps, and portion!
and his pipe are still found in all thei
primitive simplicity.
There is now on the southern slope O
Mount HYmettus, near Athens, il
Greece, cave, with an inscription upoI
! marble slab at its entrance, Stain.
that over two thousand years ago, on
Archedemus, of Thessaly, had dedicateG
it to the worship of Pan, the nymphs
and the pastoral Apollo And to it, il
| tHOSe lar IckuOtc uoy TIC S0Sp0erQ
came and hung their pipes and reeds a
votive offerings upon its rocky walls
where still remain visible traces of thei
devotion Pan also afferward becam
the guardian of bees, and the .shoney O
Hymettus'' is still noted for its purit,
and delicious flavor.
: The Roman divinity, Lupercus, wa
identified with the GrecIan Pan.
There was yearly festival celebrated
in his honor ct Rome, which took pl,sc
on the 18th Of February, and was Gale.
: Lupercalia. 1t was to this festival tina