The Mountain Sheep 219 



term them thought or instinct, she left her child 

 to meet one of the natural difficulties of life, and 

 so gain self-reliance. 



Do you think this fanciful ? That is because 

 you have not sufficiently thought about such 

 things. The mamma did undoubtedly not use 

 the words " self-reliance " or " natural difficulties 

 of life " ; but if she had not her sheep equivalent 

 for what these words import, her species would 

 a long while ago have perished off the earth. The 

 mountain sheep is a master at the art of self- 

 preservation ; its eye is tenfold keener than 

 man's, because it has to be, and so is its foot ten 

 or twenty fold more agile ; every sense is devel- 

 oped to an extreme alertness. It measures foot- 

 hold more justly than we do, because it has had 

 to flee from dangers that do not beset us. That 

 the maternal instinct (which these mothers retain 

 until their young can shift for themselves) should 

 fail in a matter so immediate as the needs of its 

 young to understand rock climbing, is a notion 

 more unreasonable than that it should be con- 

 stantly attentive to this point. But — better than 

 any talk of mine — the next step taken by the 

 ewe will show how much she was climbing this 

 mountain with an eye to her offspring. 



