San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-09-12
ONE HOUR OF LAMB LIFE.
PITFALLS THAT LIE IN THE PATH
OF THE YOUNG MUTTON.


About five minutes after the lamb is born
he is on his feet The unsteady earth under
him now heaves TO the right, slrges up and
then down, and it whirls and it twirls with
him while he staggers and struggles, and
twists one beg around the other like vine
around a tree; or else he spreads those MEM
bers all out until they look like the forks
under weather yane. He thnbles down
for tA fiftieth time, and for the fiftieth time
renews the fight to secure that footing in the
great world from which only can he reach
the life giving milk. His mother-particu-
larly if it is her first-in her crazy anxiety to
help, knocks him down, steps on him, and
does-without leaving out a possible eXcep-
tion-everything she should not do, while
she leaves nearly everything undone that
might help the little fellow to get the desired
nouCishment.
"0h, the poor, dear little thing; isn't it too
bad" says the sympathetic sthAger. 1.-THE
COMPOUNDED pair of idiotSI' frets the i'm
patient shepherd, who does not care to drive
them until the lamb finds milk and "gets
filled up"
CHANGES HIS MIND OFTEN
In half an hour his milk can is full; his
article warranted to stand the most rigid
test for admixture of water. And as the
shepherd slowly urges the old eve toward
home, the lamb goes reeling and rolling
along like an old tar just ashore from a
years voyage.
About the first error the lamb makes in life
is to mistake the shepherd or his dog fog its
mother, aud many are the maneuvers that
hn tn no
arrival follow the right party. His next err
ror is likely to be an attempt to walk on air
when he comes to place where he should go
down hill. His ten minutes experience in
life has made him believe that all the earth
is a level plain, and in broad daylight he steps
off the top of hill just as serenely as man
steps off the top landing Of the stairs in total
darkness when he is certain that the stairs
are yet twenty feet away. Fhe result is a
great surprise to man and lamb in each in
stance.
The lamb picks himself up, and continues
down the hill; he soon comes to the conclu-
sion that everything is down the hill in this
life, and not on a dead level Upon getting
10 the foot of the hill he still tries to continue
downward, and as a result runs his nose into
the ground and looks surprised again. He
now comes to a place to get up hill, and goes
up just as our man starts to go up stairs in
total darkness when he thinks the stairs are
still twenty feet away.
Our lamb is now getting very suspicious.
He was pushed over and growled at for fol
lowing the dog when he thought it was his
mother; the shepherd kicked and abused him
for following him. he tumbled down hill
when he saw nothing unusual in the looks of
the ground, and up hill again under similar
circumstances. In this frame of mind he
comes to a shadow cast by a neighboring hill.
This is the most appalling thing he has yet
seen in life. He stands in the bright sunshine;
twelve inches ahead of him all the world is
black How shall he get over that terrible
luei 1t must be worse than going down hill
or u hill or running after.a dog that growls
or a man that kicks 1t surely looks much
more frightful than any of these things His
mother is in the shadow, and cOaxes him to
come along, but he will not risk it-he stands
OH the edge and bawls at the top of his pow
erS. The shepherd with his big foot comes to
the rescue and our poor lamb is lifted from
sunlight to shadow on the end of a number
nine boot.
He trotS along after his mother for few
yards and meets new difficulty. This time
it is from shadow to sunlight. 1t looks tough;
the situations seems to present no eud of diff
cufties. He walks across the line with fear
and trembling, only to find it very simple and
easy, and concludes 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 TO disaster, aud forbidding things often
present no real danger.
THERE'S NOTHING FUNNIER
At this time he Is about one hour old; for
a whole hour he has been running his reSpira-
tive, Circulative and locomotive powers as an
independent being, and has become quite
lamb. just at that instant a carriage drives
rapidly along the road. His quick eye sees it;
he thinks perhaps it is his mother, and that
she is running from danger. He strikes out
after it. 1t Is wonderful what an hour has
done for him in the way of development; he
runs faster than the shepherd, faster than his
mother, and is in imminent danger of getting
under the horses feet or the wheels of the
carriage
1t il here that the dog comes in play, if he
understands his business He runs up along
side OF the lamb, pushes it over with his nose,
jumps upon it and holds it down upon the
ground with his nose until the shepherd comes
up The shepherd takes the lamb and stands
it upon its feet so that it can see its mother,
who has come TO within few feet. He holds
it until it sees its mother on move and then
lets it go. The old eve lieks off the face Of a
sadder and wiser lamb-lets him have another
dose of liquid nourishment, and together they
get homo
There is only one thing that is 500 times as
funny and provoking by turns as a lamb, and
that is 500 lambs together when they are