CHAPTER XVI 



A Show Yard Idyll The Sunday Service The Power of Human 

 Sympathy The Y.M.C.A. in the Show Yard. 



OF course, the herdsmen and shepherds who 

 are to be found in a show yard are mostly 

 of a superior type, and necessarily so 

 because they have the care of very valuable animals 

 requiring experienced and trusty attendants to 

 minister to their wants and generally to keep a 

 watchful eye upon them. How well and con- 

 scientiously these duties are performed, and how 

 well-conducted a body of men are those who 

 perform them, anyone connected with show yards 

 can testify. A little show yard story seems worth 

 a place among my recollections, because it is some 

 testimony to the character of the men of whom 

 I have been speaking. 



It happened thus. Two days previous to the 

 opening of the Bath and West Show at Newport 

 (Mon.) a little lad a town waif very ragged and 

 ill-shod, obtained admission to the show yard by 

 concealing himself among a waggon load of sheep, 

 so escaping the notice of any gate-keepers. It 

 was adventurous to say the least. When in the 

 yard he seems to have justified his presence there 

 by making himself generally useful, and soon 

 earned a character among the stockmen of being 

 " a real handy lad." The men, taking quite a 

 fancy to him, not only let him remain with them, 



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