The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1894-04-28
wylie the Shepherd Dog.

Wylie was an exquisite shepherds
dog; fleet, thin-hanked, dainty and
handsome as a small grey hound, with
all the grace of silky, waving black
and tan hair. We got him thus of
Adam Cairns, the aged shepherd of
the Newbic hirsel of whom we knew
and who knew of us from his daugh-
ter. Nancy Cairns, n servant with
Uncle Aitken.
We had gone to Newbic heights to
look for rare moss which grew there,
shepherds cottage, says DR.. John
Brown in Spare Hours.
Adam, who was an old man and
frail and had made some money, was
going at Whitsunday to leave and
live with his son in Glasgow. We hap
been admiring the beauty and gentle
ness and perfect shape of Wylie, the
first colley | ever saw, and said:
'What are you going to do with Wy
lie?" Deed" says he, ~ hardly
ken. l Gamma think o. sellin' her,
though she's worth four pound, and
she'll no like the toun." | said:
Would you let me have here" and
Adam looked at her fondly-she came
up instantly to him and made of him
and said, 'Ay, / wull, if veil be
good to herr" and it was settled that
when Adam left for Glasgow she
should be sent into Albany street by
the carrier,
She came, and was at once taken TO
all our hearts, even grandmother
liked her; and though she was often
pensive. as if thinking of her master
and her work on the hills, she made
herself at home and behaved in all re-
spects like "A lady When cut with me,
if she saw sheep in the streets or road
she got quite excited, and helped the
work, and was curiously useful, the
being so making her wonderfully
happy. And so her little life went
on, never doing anything wrong, al
ways blithe and kind and beautiful.
But some months after she came there
was mystery about her; every Tues
day evening she disappeared; we tried
to watch her, but in vain, she was al
ways off by 0 p. m, and was away all
night, coming back next day, wearied
and all over mud, as if she had trav-
eled far. She slept all next day. This
went on for some months and we
could make nothing of it. Poor, dear
creature, she looked at us wistfully
when she came in, as if she would
have told us if she could, and was es-
pecially fond, though tired.
81 lo, I IL,
the Grassmarket, with Wylie at my
heels, when two shepherds started
and, looking at her, one said: That's
her; that's the wonderful wee bitch
that naebody kens." l asked him
what he meant and he told me that
for months past she had made her APP
pearance by the first daylight at the
"buchts" or sheep pens in the cattle
market and worked necessarily and
to excellent purpose in helping the
shepherds to get their sheep and
lambs in. The man said with a sort
of transport: ''She's perfect mecra-
Gle, fees about like n speerit and
never gangs wrang; wears but never
grups and beats a cor dawgs. She'sa
perfect meeracle and as soople as
maukin." Then they related how
they all knew her and said: There's
that wee fell yin; we'll get them in
noo." They tried to coax her to
stop and be caught, but no, she was
gentle, but off; and for many day
that "wee fell yin" was spoken of by
these rough fellows. She continued
this amateur work till she died, which
she did in peace.
"How about Simplxins' new story;