The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-07-02

"Can you help rs Mt sheep-washing next
Monday ?" asked the farmer; and the Irish
man, who has work enough Of his own, but
who never yet declined TO labor for another
if be were but asked, puzzled a moment
about the engagements he had already made
and then said he thought he could fix it,
and how many sheep were there to wash
anyway?
We'll, tba amt many" said the farmer.
"Sheep amt what they used to be in war
| time though they have to be washed just
| the same as they ever did. Why, sheep run
hwild in the roads and-made a five-pound
fleece, and wool was 40 cents pound them
times My father used to have 30 head on
his farm and it took four men days job to
drive them sheep TO the lake aud wash them
and get them home again. Them was the
times when man could make money"
And so they talked on and on about the
Cotswold and the effect of his finer fleece,
and the Southdown and his better mutton.
But all the time the blacksmith was ham,
mering away at stubborn plowpoint, and
remembering a sheep-washing in wartime.
The blacksmith was boy then, barefoot
ed, of course, and just big enough to puff
around when news of Donelson came, and
! Just little enough to cry for Resaca. All
the men in the neighborhood were gone it
seemed. He was the biggest of four boys,
and he was but II, and his mother called
| him Dan. There were few old men, and
one or two who were younger, but by no
4 means well. And there were one or two
more who were young enough to have fought
and strong enough to have been Drawer, yet
who dalied away the Summers at home
when even the children knew that men
should have been in the army.
Dams mother had 40 sheep, and Mrs. Tap
| ley, whose farm adjoined, had DO more; and
old man Bent lmped and grumbled about
| his pastures and counted half hundred.
| Dan had two sisters, both young women
grown, and his father was away off there
at the front, filling the ranks that Kenesaw
was to shat:er presently. Mrs. Tapley's
husband had gone down at Pittsburg Land
ing, and the world was so full of lamenta-
| tion that she only wept while she worked
| and the farm went on.
June came that year, and the sheep needed
washing One of the Tapley girls came over
with q bowl of early cherries, and asked
Dams mother how they were going to get
the sheep washed.
II reckon yon girls will have to wash them
yourselves said the soldiers wife.
We'll, 1 reckon we girls can," said the
other soldiers daughter. and right there the
plan was laid.
Dams two sisters and the two Tapley
girls and Mrs. Pelton, the daughter of limp
ing and grumbling old man Bent-aud 10
one knew where Mrs. Pelton's husband was,
for he went away when the war broke out,
and sent no word-these four with the help
o! the little boys, were to wash the sheep
that Spring.
Dan-grown, big Dan, now bearded and
gnarled as q blacksmith should be-leaned
his hammer on the anvil and told what he
remembered OF that wonderful day.
O. was the biggest boy" said he, "and
they expected me TO do good deal of run
ming. I mind them girls went down the
road in a little crowd, and cut across
corners, and headed off the sheep aud let
down the bars when we come TO Pelton's,
and started along old man Bent's flock when
we come to them, and by 8 o'clock the whole
herd was in the straight road to the bank of
the lake
The little boys held them in a sort of
bunch while the girls and me went on and
fixed up the pen at the bend of the lake. and
there we drove in the sheep, and they hud-
died away IN the corner farthest from the
wafer, as sheep will, and crowded there
without saying word, while the girls went
into Mrs. Stevens's house and slipped on
some old calico dresses that didE't matter
much. Be you in hurry for this plow
pint, Sam?"
"No-go on go on" Every man in the
shop had composed himself to listen
though all the voices of the season were
calling on them to hasten.
"And then they came out barefooted and
laughing q little, though was the biggest
boy there, and / reckon tha wasn't girl
in The crowd that hadn't rocked me TO sleep
They made me 20 into the pen and ketch a
sheep and pull him down into the lake till |
he foated, and show them how the men
kinda supported the sheep on one knee, out |
there in the water-waist deep-while they |
washed with both hands in the wool.
But them girls learned-Lord, how quick |
they learned And when they had caught |
one or two apiece it was easy for them, aud |
they washed blame sight cleaner than the |
men ever had. OF course, they talked some |
while they was washing, and laughed a |
little now and then. And one time Betty |
Tapley went down heels over head in four |
feet Of water because she got mighty big |
sheep that she couldn't manage very well |
and didn't know where the shallow places |
was.
"And Mrs. Pelton caught one sheep, and |
he backed off and hunted her one, and she |
keeled over in about knee deep. Aud my |
sister, Aldaret, hurt her foot on a sharp piece |
of stone, and it bled. Oh, of course, il wasn't |
easy-that sheep washing wasn't. / mind / |
set there on the fence and felt sorry for them.
But them girls was game. ,
They hadn't been washing very long when |
along comes Press Green and Bill Erb and |
they wanted TO come in and help wash sheep |
And mabby tina wasn't spat right there.
You better be down South, there, fight |
in',' said Betty Tapley. They need you
there a heap worse than we need you here.
And you two had better go long about your
business tell you thati' o, Betty was a |
Captain-and she is to this day, they tell me-
Well, sir them girls all give the fellers
fits, and the last / seen of them was Press
Green's white hat away up there in the |
bluff road. / had a sort of boy notion they
would hide in the hazel bushes and watch |
the girls, but they didn't dare do that.
AFTER awhile came noon, and there |
wasn't any dinner ready. My sister Al |
daret said she was hungry, but not one of |
them would stop till the sheep was half |
washed and that time was long way |
ahead
And then John Covert come along. / |
knowed him as soon as i see his blue coat |
coming down the road, and a minute after |
knowed it was John Pence with him. |
They had gone out with the first call for |
troops and had 'veteraned,' though We all |
sl. u 4 Al l. Il A