The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-07-10
THE TRUE BO-PEEP.

About the year 1760, gentleman in
passing through part of England ia
nous for its fine sheep, stopped one night
at an inn where there was placed upon
| the table roast of fine fat mutton. The
talk of the landlord turned from the NUT
ton to the sheep and the great sheep own
ers Of the country; and he amused the
guests with an account of great quarrel
between two neighboring gentlemen, each
of whom had brought suit against the
other, one for the manning Of his sheep,
and the other for what he called unlaw-
full seizure of part of his flock The
affair, said the landlord, was widely
known, and had excited considerable in
terest, and been made the subject of
many jests, songs and riddles; the point
being as to how certain flock of sheep
could have lost their tails and gotten
them back en- again the same day. The
story Of the affair, as related by the land
lord, was as follows:
Each of the gentlemen in question was
fed in large focks on the unenclosed
downs or commons. They were all of
breed remarkable for their short legs and
broad, fat, heavy tails, on which the wool
grew 30 long and thick that it literally
dragged on the ground. They we're divid-
ed into various large hocks, each of which
was under the charge of a particular
shepherd who appointed others, chiefly
boys and girls, to lead them about in
smaller companies, and watch lest they
should get mixed up with those of their
neighbors. The shepherds of the two
sheep owners were very jealous of each
other, and there was between them good
deal of quarreling and even at times
fighting, concerning pasture, boundaries
and the ownership Of stray sheep.
One day, simple young country girl.
who had about forty sheep in her charge,
sat down under shady hawthorn bush
to watch her flock, and there, unfortu-
nately, fell asleep. Some of the animals,
finding themselves unchecked, strayed
off to distance and trespassed upon the
territory of the rival focks, where the
shepherds cruelty cut off their tails and
then drove them back to their own pas
lures.
The girl meanwhile had awakened, and
in sore dismay searched for her missing
charge, which she at length to her great
| joy espied coming toward her, but alas,
as she soon discovered without their tails
Iihereupon her lover, a young shepherd,
went in great wrath with some of his COM
panions, and had fierce battle with the
perpetrators of the outrage, whom they
compelled to keep the MANNED animals
and give up instead an equal number of
their own flock. Hence the lawsuits and
the bitter enmity between the two neigh.
boring families, owners of the sheep.
When first came across this account,
in an old book, ga Jauut through En-
gland" was Immediately struck with the
similarity of incident. to the we'll known
ballad of "Bo-Peep." Indeed, / can
hardly doubt that this must have been
the origin of the pretty little pastoral
with which every child in the land is
familiar, and the explanation of that puz-
zling riddle as to how Bo-Peep's flock
lost their tails and found them again. The
ballad was first popularity known about
the time that the book in question was
written-nearly one hundred years ago
and was then not nursery rhyme used
to amuse children, but fashionable song
sung by ladies to the music of spinet.
1t has since been altered somewhat, but
was originally as we find it in an old
collection of "SoDgs and Ballads" as
follows:
Little Bo.Peep
| Lost her sheep
| And didn't know where to find them;
Let THEM alone
And they will come home,
Dragging their tails behind them.
So little Bo-Peep
A watch did keep,
Nor troubled herself TO find them;
And they all came back.
But alas, and alackl
They had left their tails behind them,
Then she sighed and wept,
And at last she slept
And dreampt that she heard them a-bleating;
But when she awoke
She found it joke
For again they were affecting.
Then her true love took
His staff and crook
| And Travelled abroad TO find them;
And she saw them soon
By the light OF the moon,
Dragging their tails behind theml
June Vide Agdke.
| WANTED TO GO DOWN STAIRS.
Daring terrific thunderstorm a little