82 SKETCHES OF RURAL AFFAIRS. 



the shearing, in different parts of the country ; but 

 however held, it should be done with the least possible 

 distress to the patient animal, whose perfect quietness 



MAEKING-IRON. 



under the hands of the shearer has furnished the sub- 

 ject of one of the most affecting texts of Scripture. 

 (See Isa. liii. 7.) 



No sooner does the animal find itself at liberty, than 

 it hastens to join its fellows in some enclosure outside 

 the barn ; and it is amusing to see the strangeness and 

 unsteadiness of its gait, after the loss of the heavy fleece. 

 The meeting of the ewes and lambs after the mothers 

 have lost their fleeces is also an interesting sight. The 

 loud bleatings of the lambs express their surprise at the 

 changed appearance of the ewes, and the latter not less 

 loudly express their feelings on the occasion. It is 

 doubtful whether the lambs would be able to recognise 

 their mothers, did not the ewes seek them out, and call 

 them, as it were, by name ; for you may easily imagine 

 a language between parent and child, if you listen to the 

 different tones in which each ewe addresses her offspring ; 

 one apparently using the language of affection, another 

 the trembling tones of anxiety, and a third, the gruff 

 voice of reproof. 



To return to the barn : The fleeces, as fast as they 

 are taken from the sheep, are laid singly and unbroken 

 upon a board. They are there examined; and any 



