XIX. Our First Sheep 



A GREAT event has happened on the farm. 

 Obeying the urgent appeals of the Food 

 Controller, the littlest boys decided to go 

 into sheep-raising. Having ideas of my 

 own about sheep, I did not presume to advise them 

 in their plans. If I were going in for sheep my in- 

 clination would be to invest in the old pioneer va- 

 riety that were half goat and half greyhound. Those 

 sheep were entirely capable of taking care of them- 

 selves. You never had to worry lest the}' should get 

 cast in a furrow. They were much more likely to 

 get marooned on the ridge pole of the barn while pur- 

 suing some of their adventures. Fences meant noth- 

 ing in their lives, and no matter where they strayed 

 you could trust them to "come home, bringing their 

 tails behind them." But so many scientists call to 

 see us that even the children are getting high-toned 

 notions and nothing would do them but properly 

 registered, pedigreed sheep from a prize-winning 

 flock. They made their own negotiations, drew their 



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