The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1905-12-27
EAR MARKS ON a RAzoRRAcK
SOW EXPLAINED.


l have always been interested in
picturesque science OF heraldry. al.
through 1 could never see any sense
In treasuring the thing to this day,
just because some of our ancestors
made use of arms and e%scutcheons
and things of that sort in the days
when 1t really had a significance. l
ion't set a great deal of store by
what my ancestors did. although
probably l had as many who were Of
noble blood and who were cattle
thieves and geniuses and gallows
/ sirds, and all the other things as any.
body, for you know we trace our an
cestry back a few generations we have
about the same folks for remote fore
,ears that about every one else in the
country has. If we go back far enough
we will find that we are all through
our ancestors, and we do not have to
90 so many generations either.
But It is not to my ancestry that |
go for my interest in coats of arms.
{ is to my barn.
one day a long deer shaped razor
,ack SOW came prowling around the
arnyar&.
IsIram locked at the creature and
amarhsl: Pat Mistah Sandy Nc.
ircgor's SOW he been a-huntin' TO- a
aontr.'
"yvhat makes you think 1t is Nc
7regor's, 1sham?"
rat Mistah McGregor's mawks,"
aid the inri5ey. and he pointed to
me ear, which was decorated by varl-
Il bars, notches, etc. AS the Col
!eEe of Heraldry would say. the dex'
.er chief point was given over to
,hcyrons couchant, and a half moon
rampant nared out on the sinister
base-in other words, the ear of the
low was notchci and slltted as If a
log had been playing tag with her:
N my bcyhool days l used to get
he ~cyclopedia and sit down and look
at the pictures in cclOrs Of the an
Gent a~ralorial devices, and wonder
what people found in them TO make
SO much fuss abort. The pigs car
called the whole business back again
and Immediately l could see a use for
the science Of heraldry II We had some
one IN this country who could apply it
to hogs and cattle, which really. need
distinguishing marks more than PEG,
ole do.
Here the hogs and COWS u in the
woods. Unless a mans stock is
marked, some enterprIsing nave
Kicker Is liable to gather it up with
his W and put his mark on 1t.
That ends the question Of ownership,
unless the theft can be proven, and
that is troublesome. Hence every
maa has his armorlal bearings for
the use of his cows and hogs. Mr. old
roam is protected under the law in her
coat OF arms. for waen a certain com.
bination OF hieroglyphics is whitfield
On her ears she is lawfully Endorsed,
as the King of England, and the marks
that are registered on the records of
every country seat In the stock coun-
try In the country make as Interesting
and a far more profitable study than
the records of all the colleges of her
| aldry in the Old World.
1t is interesting to study the his
tory OF the COW that has changed
owners several times. She starts
with a modest collection of marks on
her ear to indicate the first man. Per-
haps he contents himself by trim
ming one ear on the top edge. The
next fellow who owns the COW may
have a sign on the other ear. He
may sell her to some man who puts
some notches on the bottom of both
ears. Possibly she will then go to a
man whose marks are at the end of
the ear, and before the GOV has been
the property of many different owners
she Is decorated mp and down each
ear and crossways, like a woman's
letter. Frequently so much of the ear
is Whitfield away that hardly enough
is left to tell the next owner.
The scheme acts as a sort of ped
iEree Of ownership. Let a %stockown-
err run across a stray COW in the