Minnie's Pet Lamb Part 4

The shepherd turned smilingly to Minnie: "Have you any more questions to ask, Miss?"

"O, a great many! But as we are going to stay all night, I shall have time."

"Then, my dear, I will go in," said her mother, laughing. "I think you have catechised Mr. Sullivan quite enough for the present."

The next hour was spent by the child in wandering all over the farm. In company with her father and the good-humored shepherd, she examined the neat continuous racks all around the sheep-house, which, in winter, were filled with hay or husks for their food. Long troughs were underneath, into which, as night approached, she was much amused to see the boy, Isaac, pour the scalded meal.

In the centre of the house was a large, shallow box or trough, filled with clear water from a neighboring hill. This, Mr. Sullivan a.s.sured them, had not frozen during the winter.

Minnie stood for a long time watching the pearly drops as they trickled slowly through the pipe, wondering why the water never rose any higher in the trough. At length her father showed her a little pipe which carried off the waste water into the ground.

They were sitting at the supper table, and Minnie was giving a glowing account of her discoveries, when they were startled by a loud shouting: "Stop, Israel! Go along, Moses! Ss.h.!.+ hi! there, Obadiah! Here, Jonah, Amos, Nebuchadnezzar, Moses! what are you about?"

"What is the stupid fellow bringing up the sheep at this time for?"

queried Mr. Sullivan, glancing at the clock; and then, seeing the look of merriment on the faces of his visitors, he burst into a hearty laugh.

"I believe you'll have to excuse me," he said, rising hastily. "Isaac will never be able to get them into the fold alone."

"I want to go, too," whispered Minnie.

She was rather frightened at first at the loud bleating of the ewes, and the responsive cries of the lambs; but keeping close to the shepherd, had the satisfaction of feeling that she was of great a.s.sistance in driving them into the enclosure.

The moment they began to enter the sheep-house, the boy, Isaac, commenced a loud, shrill whistle, which the sheep seemed to understand, and which her friend informed her directed them to the troughs for their supper.

"I didn't mean to shelter them for an hour yet," exclaimed the lad, when his master blamed him for driving them to the fold so early; "but Jeroboam b.u.t.ted down a rail in the fence, and before I knew it, the crazy creatures were all out in the garden."

"We must kill that fellow if he does much more mischief," Mr. Sullivan said; and taking Minnie's hand, they returned to the house.

"It speaks well for Isaac's knowledge of Scripture," remarked Mr. Lee, archly, "that he has chosen the names so appropriately."

"O! He goes to mother for that," was the ready answer; "but it does surprise me to see how he recognizes every one. I believe he is as well acquainted with the name and character of every sheep and lamb as a pastor is with his congregation. I often hear him talking to one for being selfish, or praising another for her meekness. I am well enough acquainted with Jeroboam to know that he is as obstinate and self-willed as his ill.u.s.trious namesake."

"Isaac says little Abner is a thief," exclaimed Minnie, laughing.

"So he is, and steals his supper from the ewes whenever he can get it, at the expense of many a poor lamb."

"I saw Minnie again, mother, and I knew her in a minute."

"You'd make a capital shepherdess," added Mr. Sullivan; "you'd govern them all by love."

"That is the way you do," remarked his mother.

"Well, there is no other way. Sometimes they are rather provoking; but I always feel ashamed of myself when I lose my temper with a brute. There is nothing like kindness to conquer even the most obstinate animal. Last winter, I had a man to help me. He was giving one of the ewes a dose of medicine, and she struggled so hard to get away that she threw over the cup three successive times. I found he could do nothing with her, and so I myself undertook the job. The poor creature was by that time so frightened, that when I forced the spoon between her teeth, she bit my finger to the bone. I said nothing of the pain until I had accomplished my object--"

"And then you came near fainting," interrupted his mother. "The finger was a long time in healing."

"The man was terribly angry," added the shepherd, "and showed so much spite to the innocent cause of his rage, that I told him he was unfit for the care of animals; that he degraded himself to a brute when he revenged on them his own awkwardness. I dismissed him, and took Isaac, who is worth a dozen such fellows."

The next morning, Minnie arose in season to help Isaac drive the sheep from the fold to the pasture; and then, having received a promise from Mrs. Sullivan to save some of the lamb's wool, and knit Minnie a pair of stockings, she took leave of the farm, exclaiming, as she rode off, "O, I do love sheep, and I wish we lived on a farm!"

CHAPTER VII.

THE SHEPHERD'S DOG.

A few mornings after this, Minnie went out at an early hour to see her pets in the stable, when she found the sheep lying on its side, quiet and still. She did not, as usual, spring forward to eat the corn which Minnie was sure to have for her, but only raised a feeble, plaintive cry.

As her father was already gone to the city, Minnie flew to the house, for Anne to come and tell her what was the matter with poor Nannie.

Anne looked very sober after examining the sheep, and then said, "It must have a dose of medicine at once."

Poor Minnie was dreadfully excited, and looked really pale, though, like a brave little girl, she insisted on holding the cup from which nurse was feeding sick Nannie. Star, too, seemed really anxious, and he was quite careful to keep his own side of the stall, for fear he should hurt his favorite.

Through the day, Minnie visited the barn as often as twice in an hour, and always insisted that Anne should accompany her. Before her father returned, she had the satisfaction of knowing that Nannie was much better. She was still very weak, but her eyes looked brighter, and she chewed her cud, which Anne said was a good sign.

To turn her mind from her trouble, Mr. Lee took his book again, and said,--

"Minnie, did you ever hear of a sheep that had so fat a tail that it weighed more than fifty pounds?"

"O, no, sir," answered the child, laughing; "how funny they must look!"

"They are called the fat-tailed sheep," added her father, "and are natives of Africa."

"Are there as many kinds of sheep as there are of dogs?"

"More, if all the inferior qualities are counted. They are constantly multiplied, too; and there are many very greatly improved varieties. Now I suppose you would like to hear about the sheep-dogs, and how they are trained to take care of the flocks."

"Yes, sir, I should like that."

"In many parts of the world, where there are immense flocks, it is very important to have dogs to a.s.sist in taking care of them. But as a sheep considers the dog an enemy, and is more afraid of him than of almost any other animal it meets, it is necessary, in the first place, to get these animals acquainted, that they may feel friendly.

"In order to do this, when one of the ewes has a lamb, the shepherd takes it from her, and puts a young puppy in its place.

"After being held two or three times while the puppy suckles her, the ewe will generally adopt the little creature, and love it as well as if it was her own lamb.

"All this time, the puppy has a bed of wool to lie on, to accustom him to the smell of the animal; and by the time he is weaned, he becomes so attached to his new friends, that he will never forsake them, nor leave the particular drove with which he has been brought up. Not even the voice of his master can entice him out of sight of the flock. No hunger and thirst can do it. There he remains, constant and true to his charge, ready even to lay down his life for them, while they regard him not only as a dearly loved friend, but as a protector and guide, whom it is their duty to obey. Did you ever know, Minnie, that the Italian wolf dog has short wool under his hair? This is the case, the wool resembling the Leicester and Lincoln breeds.

"One of these faithful, n.o.ble animals takes charge of a thousand sheep, going out with them in the morning, and bringing them all back at night.

"If one of the sheep strays from its companions, the dog follows it, even into a strange flock, takes it carefully by the ear, and leads it back.

"When a stranger approaches the flock, the dog advances, barking, and the sheep all close in his rear, as if round the oldest ram, while they are so fierce with other dogs and wolves, that it is said a whole pack of hungry wild dogs will not venture to attack them.

"The only trouble with the sheep-dog is, that when they are young, they like to play with the sheep, and sometimes run them unmercifully; but when they are older, they seem fully to understand their duty, and walk up and down continually on the outer side of the flock, ever watchful for the approach of danger.