Continued Association. 33 



tinued the parson, " I see, John, you have been looking 

 after your flock, as I have been looking after mine ! " 

 " Aye, aye, sir," came the retort ; " I hope, parson, as you 

 found none o' your flock int' wicks, as I found some of 

 mine ?" John rather rudely turning on his heels and walking 

 away. But there was a great deal of pleasant familiarity 

 between the dalesmen and their " priest," as he was called a 

 few generations ago, and one is not quite sure whether the 

 increased prudishness and pedantry of the times have been 

 much to the religious improvement of such localities. 



The continued association of the dog and the man was 

 naturally likely to improve the sensibility of the former, 

 and when the two, as it were, came to be seldom separated, 

 the animal's rare instinct and sagacity were sure to be 

 developed to an extraordinary extent. The shepherd has 

 but to wave his hand in a certain direction, and away 

 gallops his faithful friend to seek what is to be found, and 

 the little flock is quickly gathered and brought right up to- 

 their master. One sheep may be missing. The dog goes 

 back to seek it. The last one may be hurt and lame. The 

 dog by its manner lets the shepherd know such is the case. 

 " Bring in the cows," said a farmer friend of mine to his 

 dog, which lay dozing at his feet, by the kitchen fire. Up 

 jumps the fine old chap, and, darting through the door and 

 the farmyard, is out across two or three fields, and, barking 

 behind the kye, soon brings them to the shippon, where the 

 farm-servants await to fodder them up for the night, or 

 milk them, as the case may be. Such is the everyday 

 work of the farm-dog, and he is almost always a collie now. 



Away in the mountains of Scotland, on the fells of the 

 North of England, and upon the hills of Wales the shep- 

 herd's dog becomes the most useful. There a couple of 



D 



