Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-10-11
LIFE OF A LAMB.
THE VICISSITUDE;S OF IT'S FIRST
HOUR ON EARTH.
An Amusing Dissertation on It's
Eccentric Gambols, Explaining
How It Acquires II PrOvcrbiaI
Reputation for Innocence.

ana struggles, and twists one leg around
the other like Il vine around Il tree; or
else he spreads those members all out un-
til they look like the forks under u
weather vanc. lie tumblcs down for the
iifticth time, and for the iifticth time re-
news the fight To secure that footing in
the great world from which only can he
reach the lilc-givng milk. His mother
particularly if it is her iirst-in her
crazy anxiety to help, knocks him down,
steps on him, and docs-without leaving
out II possible cXccption-cvcrythin she
should not do, while she leaves nearly
everything ndonc that might help the
little fellow TO get the desired nourish
mcnt.
ooh, the poor, dear little thing; isn't
it too bad, " says the sympathetic stranger.
"Thc COMPOUNDED pair Of idols!' frots the
impatient shepherd, who docs not care to
drive them until the lamb finds milk and
"gcts filed up"
In hall IN hour his milk can is full; his
sides bulge out with Il surfcit of the pure
article warranted to stand the most rigid
test for admiXturc of water. And rs the
shepherd slowly urges the old eve toward
home, the lamb goes rccling aud rolling
along like an old tar just ashore from Il
years voyage.
About the first error the lamb makes i'm
lille is to mistake the shepherd or his dog
for It's mother, and many are the ma
ncuvles that must be gone through with
To make the new arrival follow the rirht
party His next error is likely to be an
attempt To walk on air when he comes TO
n place where he should 20 down hill.
His ten minutes experience in life has
made him believe that all the earth is a
level plain, and i'll broad daylight he
steps of the top of a hill lust rs scrcnclv
As man steps off the top landing of the
stairs i'll total darkness when he is GER
ain that the stairs are twenty feet away.
The result is great surprise to man and
lamb i'll each instance
The lamb picks himself up and con
iimucs down the hill; he soon comes To
Inc conclusion that everything is down
hill in this life, and not on Il dead level.
Upon getting TO the foot of the hill he
siill tries TO continue downward. and rs
result runs his nose intn the ground
and looks surprised again He now
tonnes to place TO get up hill, and rocs
mp Just us our man starts 10 30 up stairs
in total darkness when he thinks the stairs
arc still twenty feet away
Our lamb is now getting very s,,s-
picious. lie was pushed over and
srowicd at for following the dog when
ac thought it was his mother; the shcp-
icri kicked and abused him for follow
hg him; he tumblcd down hill when he
Jaw nothing unusual in the looks of The
ground, and up hill again under similar
circumstances. In this frame of mind he
comes to shadow cast by ncghbornn
1ill. This is the most appalling. thing
ac has yet seen i'll life. He stands in the
bright sunshine; twelve inches ahead Of
him all the world is black How shall
so get over that terrible line? Ii must
be worse than going down hill, or up
ill, or running after dog that rrowls
Or Il man that kicks. 1t surely looks
much more frightful than any of these
'hings. lis mother is in the shadow and
'oaXes him 10 come along; but he will
lot risk it-hc stands ON the cdre and
'awls ut the top Of his powers. The
'hcphcrd with his big foot comes 10 the
'csc,c, and the poor lamb is lifted from
MnllSht To shadow on the end of II num-
DER nine boot.
lie trots along after his mother for q
lew yards and meets II new difficulty.
This time il is from shadow To sunlight.
It looks rough; the situation seems to
present no end OF difficulties. He walks
across the line with fear and TREMBLING.
only TO find it very simple and easy, and
concluded that things are not so bad as
they look. He has already begun to find
out that things which seem easy in life
lead often 10 disaster, and forbiddinr
Things often present no real danger.
AT this time he is about one hour old:
ior whole hour he has been running his
'cspirativc, circulativc and locomotive
powers AS an Independent being, and has
become quite Il lamb. Just ut that in
slant 81 carriage drives rapidly along the
toad. His quick eye secs it; he thinks
perhaps 1t is his mother, and that she is
running from danger. lie strikes out
After 1t. 1t is wonderful what in hour
has done for him in the way of develop
ment; he runs faster than the shepherd.
.aster than his mother, and is in immi
ncnt danger of getting under the horses
ieet or the wheels of the carriage.
1t is here that the dog comes to play,
II he understands his business. lie runs
up alongside of the lamb, pushes it over
WITH his nose, jumps upon it and holds
Il down upon the ground with his nose
nntll the shepherd comes up. The shcp-
nerd takes the lamb and stands it upon
ITS feet so that it can sec its mother. who
has come up to within few feet. He
holds 1t until it sees lis mother on n move
and then lets it go. the old eve licks
Oh the face of II sadder and wiser lamb
lets HIM have another dose OF liouid
nourishment, and together they gel home.
There is only one thing that is 500
times as funny and provoking by turns rs
lamb, and that is 500 lambs together
when they are about month old. The
shepherd sits down and watches the 500
lambs all in bunch by themselves,
playing, running and frolicking, and he
laughs. When Inc has tried, and tried
IN vain, to get the same 900 ocross tto