THE SHEPHERD
Sheep, though by no means very wild in their natural disposition, yet require looking after by man, if he would be sure of possessing them in security. To guard these helpless animals from wolves and other wild beasts, was one chief duty of the shepherd in former times; and in foreign countries this is even now his needful care. Where, happily, there are few savage creatures to molest, and none big enough to hunt a sheep, the shepherd’s business is rather to watch his flock, and keep them from straying by day, and to guard them from the depredations of thieves by night. Sheep naturally herd in companies, and generally follow any one of their number in an outbreak, however sudden and difficult. They will on these occasions take surprising leaps, and gallop in huddled crowds very fast indeed. THE GOOD SHEPHERD is alluded to in these pretty lines:
My shepherd will supply my need,
JEHOVAH is his name;
In pastures fresh he makes me feed,
Beside the living stream.
He brings my wandering spirit back,
When I forsake his ways;
And leads me for his mercy’s sake,
In paths of truth and grace.
THE WASHING OF SHEEP
This needful operation is performed in summer time, generally in a large pond or stream of running water, a few days before the sheep are sheared. The wool is thus effectually cleansed, and takes the shears better. The poor sheep are rather roughly handled, and show no signs of comprehending the reason of the operation. It is their nature, however, to submit to washing, shearing, and even the butcher’s knife without resistance or complaint. It is probable that they suffer less than if their temper were perverse and unmanageable.
“ Now, gently, good master, you are rather rude!
To serve me so roughly without any feud ;
Pray, what have I done to be soused in this fashion ?
Tis enough to provoke any lamb to a passion”
“You gave me no warning, you give me no peace,
But plunge me, and roll me, and buffet my fleece;
You surely need not by a sheep to be told,
‘Tis the way to destroy one with cough or with cold.”
“Q dear! honest Mutton, forgive me, I pray,
And turn yourself round, with your shoulders this way ;
Yes, now again under—excuse my intent,
But I really must wash you without your consent!”
SHEEP SHEARING
“As a sheep before her shearers is dumb,” -thus we read in the Scriptures, and this truly represents the behavior of this patient animal under a very tormenting if not very painful operation. The shearer, pulling the sheep over and over with very little ceremony, plies his sharp shears with such amazing activity, that it seems as if flesh and ears and all would fly before them. I believe, however, it is not often that the sheep get wounded by a skilful hand. His object is to cut off the wool as close as he can, in as little time as possible, for this kind of work is generally paid for at so much a head.
The wool is perhaps of quite as much importance to man as the flesh of the sheep. Our garments, carpets, bedding, things essential to our comfort, are made of this most valuable material; and a great part of the commercial wealth of some countries is derived from the wool trade. The processes undergone by the wool from the time that it leaves the sheep’s back, till it gets upon our own, are very many; the wool-comber and spinner, and weaver, and dyer, and tailor, have all to take it in hand first.
Readers may be interested to learn that the poem included in The Shepherd, whose imagery echoes the familiar words of the Twenty-Third Psalm, is actually the hymn My Shepherd Will Supply My Need, preserved in The Presbyterian Hymnal.