The Shepherd's Memory. 87 



fish ' and the gathered odor of years so the shepherd 

 recalls his books, the fields ; for he, in the nature of 

 things, has to linger over them and study every letter : 

 sheep are slow. 



AY hen the hedges are grubbed and the grass grows 

 where the hawthorn flowered, still the shepherd can 

 point out to } T OU where the trees stood here an oak 

 and here an ash. On the hills he has often little to 

 do but ponder deeply, sitting on the turf of the slope, 

 while the sheep graze in the hollow, waiting for hours 

 as they eat their way. Therefore by degrees a habit 

 of observation grows upon him always in reference 

 to his charge ; and if he walks across the parish off 

 dut} r he still cannot choose but notice how the crops 

 are coming on, and where there is most ' keep.' The 

 shepherd has been the last of all to abandon the old 

 custom of long service. While the laborers are rest- 

 less, there may still be found not a few instances of 

 shepherds whose whole lives have been spent upon 

 one farm. Thus, from the habit of observation and 

 the lapse of years, they often become local authori- 

 ties ; and when a dispute of boundaries or water rights 

 or right of wa}' arises, the question is frequently 

 finally decided by the evidence of such a man. 



Every now arid then a difficulty happens in refer- 

 ence to the old green lanes and bridle-tracks which 

 once crossed the country in every direction, but get 

 fewer in number year by year. Sometimes it is de- 

 sired to enclose a section of such a track to round off 

 an estate : sometimes a path has grown into a valu- 

 able thoroughfare through increase of population ; 

 and then the question comes, Who is to repair it? 

 There is li ttle or no documentary evidence to be found 



