32 The Collie or Sheep Dog. 



in the North of England, and in Scotland, where each farm, 

 according to the size of the flock kept, had dogs in propor- 

 tion. As a rule, on the smaller holdings, when such were 

 not at work, they accompanied their owner to the market 

 or wherever he went, even to the extent of following him 

 to church on a Sunday. The story is told that a stranger 

 visiting a portion of the Cumberland lake district, asked a 

 shepherd he met on the fells what kind of a congregation 

 they had at the little chapel down below on the Sunday ? 

 " Why," replied the native, " t' parson's a rare good sort, 

 an' last Sunday, when I went past, thar war ten sheepdogs 

 liggin' int' porch and t' churchyard/' The shepherd so 

 judging the size of the congregation, and leaving his 

 questioner to infer likewise. Odd men were some of these 

 shepherd dalesmen, writing of forty or fifty years ago 

 mostly the farmers themselves or the farmers' sons. 

 They are not yet honoured or distinguished by being 

 placed on canvas as ideals of manly beauty and figure, 

 with their plaids gracefully thrown round them and sitting 

 on a heather-clad bank, playing upon some impossible 

 looking instrument, with their dog gazing up in surprise. 

 Still, the Cumberland and Westmoreland shepherd is in 

 many cases a character, and by no means without his share 

 of retort when anything of the kind is required. 



One there was who had given his parson cause to com- 

 plain of his neglect in attending church on a Sunday. On a 

 certain occasion, when morning service had been concluded, 

 the minister met his parishioner returning from the fells 

 with his dog at his heels, and judged this a proper time to 

 administer a little fatherly advice as to the neglect of 

 religious observances. " Good day, John," said the parson. 

 " Good day to you, sir," said the farmer. " And," con- 



