THE UPS AND DOWNS. 219 



try, the purchaser encounters one very bad thing, and that is 

 this : all the wool that is pulled from the pelts of sheep that 

 die in the winter is stuck inside of the fleeces, and the buyer 

 has to pay full price for that when it is not worth one-half 

 what the outside might be. In buying wool, you cannot look 

 at every fleece, and you have to trust to the honesty of 

 the farmer in that respect, and I must needs say that you 

 sometimes feel that you are not getting what you bought. 

 And here is the difficulty when you buy wool on the sheep's 

 back. The buyer, whoever he is, who buys his wool in that 

 way, must not complain if he is cheated, because he buys 

 the wool on the sheep's back. 



I said a moment ago, that one year, the wool I bought 

 was worth a hundred thousand dollars more than I paid for 

 it before it was shipped east. The following year, another 

 person went and bought wool in the same way, and his wool 

 was worth a hundred thousand dollars less than what was 

 paid for it. This, you must remember, is a game that two 

 can play at. It is simply a matter of speculation, and we all 

 play at it to a greater or less extent ; and, if we would not 

 get bit, we must not play. Now, my friend Mr. Smith, last 

 year, would have done well if he had not bought any wool 

 at all : this year he would have done ten times better if he 

 had bought all the wool he bought on the sheep's backs. 

 That is the difference. Wool this year has been going up 

 from the very day it was taken off the sheep's back. Thou- 

 sands and thousands of pounds were bought on the sheep's 

 backs, and a great deal of money made out of it; and if 

 the same men play the same game next year, and buy wool 

 on the sheep's backs, they will lose fully as much as they 

 made this year. This thing is equalized one way or another. 

 When we have so far progressed that we can get a perfect 

 cow, a perfect breed of sheep, a perfect man, and a perfect 

 woman, we can safely trust one another ; but, until such time 

 as we do that, we shall be continually making mistakes in 

 buying and selling. 



If I were keeping sheep, and raising wool, I would find out 

 as near as I could what was likely to be wanted in the mar- 

 ket ; and, when I had ascertained that, I would try and raise 

 it. If you are going to raise and keep long-woolled sheep, I 

 want you to bear one thing in mind: Forget every thing 



