LONGSHORE MEMORIES 197 
autumn, just before the first frosts came, the trees 
were covered up for the winter by stout reed screens ; 
great sedge litter covered their roots. When the 
winter had fairly set in, and the marshes were covered 
with snow, the farm was a beacon by night and a 
landmark by day for those who were compelled to 
travel over them. 
A noted stock-breeder was the master. Horned 
cattle and sheep he turned his attention to, and with 
great success. Where beasts range through sedges 
and willow-scrub thickets, and are out night and day 
from the late spring till early autumn, they are apt to 
get into very primitive ways, and the ' lookers ' required 
all the assistance their strong intelligent dogs could 
give them, as well as to use freely their leaping-poles. 
These were of ash-wood, and they had a circular piece 
at one end to prevent the pole from bending, when a 
leap over the wide dykes was taken. Some of these 
dykes the dogs grey, rough-coated, bob-tailed sheep- 
dogs with great brown eyes had to swim across. In 
gadfly time it was a fine sight to see a herd of cattle 
charging along, bellowing, tails up and heads down, 
their horns rattling against each other like great 
sticks. A fine sight, at least, if you happened to 
be in the adjoining marsh, with a broad dyke between 
you and that herd. Otherwise you did well to climb 
