MERINO SHEEP 151 



soft places, the young fellows had trials of 

 strength at "pulling sticl^" or lifting "stiff legs." 

 The skillful wool-tier was rarer than the skillful 

 shearer, and in much demand in his own and 

 neighboring townships. He tied the fleeces quickly 

 and compactly, showing the best on the outside, 

 but with no clod of dirty locks in the middle; for 

 in those days wool had its place and dirt its place, 

 but the fleece was not their common place. The 

 catcher was a humble but not unimportant mem- 

 ber of the force. He must be alert and with a sheep 

 ready for each shearer as wanted, and was never 

 to take up a sheep by the wool, but with his left 

 arm underneath, just behind the fore legs, and his 

 right hand grasping a hind leg. And there was 

 the boy to pick up locks, discarding the dirty 

 ones, which were swept outdoors. One's back 

 aches as he remembers this unpleasant duty of his 

 boyhood, when he was scoffed by shearers and 

 scolded by the wool-tier, and often had the added 

 labor of carrying the wool to its storage. Four- 

 teen fleeces tied up in a blanket was the load, 

 which, if they had been of nowadays weight, would 

 have burdened a strong man; but a five-pound 

 fleece was a heavy one then. I have never 

 been present at one of the modern public shear- 

 ings, which come before the swallows do, while 

 winter is still skirmishing with spring, and are 

 celebrated in the local papers; but I doubt if they 



