Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1889-09-11
GNE HOUR OF LAME LIFE.
PITFALLS THAT LIE IN THE PATH
or THE YOUNG MUTTON.

!
About five minutes after the lamb is born
! ne is on his feet The unsteady earth under
MIN now heaves to the right, surges up and
] then down. and il whirs and it twrls with
/ MIN while he staggers and struggles, and
twists one leg around the other like vine
around tree. or else he spreads those mem.
bers all out until they look like the forks
under a weather vane He tumbles down
/ for the fiftieth time, and for the fiftieth time
| renews the fight TO secure that footing in the
treat world from which only can he reach
| Tue life giving milk. His mother--particu
| arly il it is her first-in her crazy anxiety to
| help, knocks him down, steps on him, and
| docs without leaving out a possible excep
| tion--everything she should not do, while
sic leaves nearly everything undone that
might help the little fellow to get the desired
nourishment.
"Oh, the poor, dear little thing isn't it too
rad, says the sympathetic stranger. 1.-THE
COMPOUNDED pair OF diotsln frets the i'm
patient shepherd, who does not care to drive
them until the lamb finds milk and gets
| filed upn
CHANGES HIS MIND OFTEN
In half an hour his milk can is fun; his
sides bulge out with surfeit Of the pure
article warranted 70 stand the most rigid
test for admixture of water And al the
shepherd slowly urges the old eve toward
nome, 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 for its
mother. and many are the maneuvers that
must he gone through with to make the new
arrival follow the right party. His next er
for is likely to he nn attempt to walk on air
when be comes to place where he should go
down hill His ten minutes experience in
life has made him believe that al the earth
Is a level plain and in broad daylight he steps
Of the top of hill just as serenely as a man
steps of the top landing of the stairs in total
darkness when he is certain that the stairs
are yet twenty feet away. The 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 cunclu.
sion that everything is down the hill IN this
life, and not on a dead level Upon getting
TO 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 place TO get up hill and goes
up Just as our man starts TO 60 up stairs in
total darkness when be thinks the stairs art
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 biz
mother; the shepherd kicked and abused him
for following him; he tumbled doNxn hill
when he saw nothing unusual in the looks OF
the ground, and mp hill again under similar
circumstances. In this frame Of mind be
comes to a shadow cast by neighboring bill.
This Is the most appalling thing be has YET
seen in life BE stands in the bright sunshine,
twelve inches ahead Of him all the world is
black. How shall he get over that terrible
line4 II must be worse than going down hill
or ~ blu, or running after dog that growls
or man that kicks 1t surely looks much
MORE frightful than any Of these things. His
mother is in the shadow, and coaxes him &c
come along, but he will not risk 1.-THE stands
on the edge and hawls at the top Of his pow
era The shepherd with his big foot comes to
the rescue and our poor lamb is lifted from
sunlight 70 shadow on the end Of q number
nine boot.
He trots along after his mother for few
yards and meets a new difficulty. This time
il is from shadow 10 sunlight 1t looks tough
the situations seems 70 present no eud of diff
culties- 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 10 find
out that things which seem easy in life lead
often TO disaster, and forbidding things often
present no real danger.
THERE'S NOTHING FUEEIER.
At this time be is about one hour old; for
tnhgla hnttf ha
tive, circulative and locomotive powers as an
independent being, and has become quite a
lamb. Just at that instant carriage drives
rapidly along the road. His quick eye sees it;
no thinks perhaps it is his mother, and that
she is running from danger. He strikes out
after it, Il is wonderful what an hour has
done for him in the way Of development; be
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 is here that the dog comes in play, If be
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
il upon its feet 50 that it can see its mother,
who has come 70 within few feet He holds
it until it sees its mother on a move and then
lets it 60. The old eve ticks off the face Of a
sadder and wiser lamb-lets him have another
dose Of liquid nourishment, and together they
get home.
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
about month old The shepherd sits down
and watches the 500 lambs all in bunch BY
themselves, playing, running and frolicking,
and be laughs. When he has tried, and tried
IN vain, to get the same 500 across a bridge
or into a corral be sits down again, but he
does not laugh this time.
A young lamb has no way Of telling which
eve is its mother and the mother only knows
which lamb is her own by the scent Hence
while very young it is a bad plan TO have too
many together, for the eve may be confused
by 50 many lambs, or become partially indif-
ferent, and the lamb perish for want Of care.
When few weeks old, however, they know
each other by the sound OF the voice. In
band Of 1900 or 5000 ewes, a eve may call
her lamb, and the lamb win answer from tie
other side Of the 6ock They will 20 as
straight 10 each other, right through the
whole band, as they would if they were the
only two animals for mile around.-Mon.
tana Wool Grower.