THE FARMER AT HOME. 



371 



may the shepherd feel an interest in his dog ; he indeed it is that earns 

 the family bread, of which he is himself content with the smallest 

 morsel ; always grateful and always ready to exert his utmost abilities 

 in his master's interest. Neither hunger, nor fatigue, nor the worst of 

 treatment, will drive him from his side, and he will follow him through 

 every hardship without murmuring or repining. BufTon says, in his Na- 

 tural History, that the shepherd's dog. at the head of the flock, makes 

 himself better understood by the sheep than the voice of his master. 

 Safety, order, and discipline, are the fruits of his vigilance, intelli- 

 gence and activity. His sagacity in exercising control over a flock of 

 sheep, astonishes every one who may witness it. 



SHEPHERD'S DOGr. 



A Mr. Peters, a few years ago, in the Albany Cultivator, says, the 

 sagacity of the shepherd's dog is wonderful, and relates the following 

 anecdote from a Scotch paper he had then recently seen. It seems 

 that the master of a bitch of this breed, purchased at a fair, seventeen 

 miles from his own house, a flock of eighty sheep ; and having occa- 

 sion to remain a day longer, sent them on under the care of his faith- 

 ful dog. The poor bitch, when a few miles on the road, dropped two 

 whelps, but faithful to her charge, she drove the sheep on a mile or 

 two further ; then allowing them to stop, she returned for her pups, 



