188 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Aug. 



THE SHEPHERD'S DOG, &c. 



Years have passed over our head since in youthful 

 elee we wandered among green pastures, admiring 

 the flocks of sheep quietly feedinjj on the gentle 

 slope, watching the gambols of the playful Iambs, and 

 the faithful dog obeying even the slightest motion of 

 his master, and gently turning the flock when dis- 

 posed to wander. It is "long, long ago," that under 

 the shade of some white-thorn hedge or ancient oak, 

 we listened to the shepherd's wonderful story of the 

 sagacity of his favorite dog, — more pleasing than 

 fairy tale, or even shepherd's lute. And yet these 

 scenes have left their impress. The shepherd, with 

 his dog quietly dozing by his side, and the flock 

 peacefully grazing or listlessly reposing on the green, 

 is to us the brightest, most beautiful picture of rural 



life. It is a picture of peace, and contentment, and 

 affection. When the interest of the flock requires 

 it, tlie shepherd makes known his wishes, and the 

 dog is ever delighted to obey — ever ready to do his 

 work with zeal and fidelity, and when done, lays 

 himself down with evident and well expressed satis- 

 faction, at his masters feet. The sheep obey the 

 dog almost as readily as the dog obeys the shepherd, 

 and seem to look to him as a protector. The shep- 

 herd loves his dog and his sheep, and the dog is 

 equally attached to his master and his flock. The 1 

 Almighty has chosen this beautiful scene to illustrate / 

 his love for his creatures, and his care over them, i 

 Modern customs and modern improvements may, in j 

 some respects, have changed the shepherd's life ; but f 

 in our imagination, we must ever hold this picture « 

 of our early days as the poetry of rural life. \ 



^^^^ 



'""'^r;.! 



THE SCOTCH SHEKP-DOG. 



We might tell many facts illustrating the more 

 than human sagacity of the shepherd's dog, but one 

 or two will suffice, and we think will not fail to be 

 interesting : 



Mr. Jamks Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, living in 

 his early days among the sheep and their quadruped 

 attendants, and an accurate observer of nature, as 

 well as an exquisite poet, gives some anecdotes of 

 the colley, (the Highland term for sheep dog,) with 

 which the reader will not be displeased. "My dog. 

 Sirrah," says he, i!i a letter to the Editor of Black- 

 wood's Edinburgh Magazine, "was, beyond all com- 

 parison, the best dog I ever saw. He had a somewhat 

 surly and unsocial Temper, disdaining all flattery, and 

 refusing to be caressed ; but his attention to my 

 commands and interest will never again be equalled 

 by any of the canine race. When I first saw him a 

 drover was leading liini with a rope. He was both 

 lean and hungry, and far from being a beautiful 

 animal ; for lie was almost black, and had a grim 

 face, striped with dark brown. I thouglit I perceived 

 a sort of sullen intelligence in his countenance, not- 

 withstanding iiis dejected and forlorn appearance, 



and I bought him. He was scarcely a year old, and 

 knew so little of herding that he had never turned a 

 sheep in his life ; but, as soon as he discovered it 

 was his duty to do so, and that it obliged me, I can 

 never forget with what anxiety and eagerness he 

 learned his diflferent evolutions, and when I once 

 made him understand a direction he never forgot or 

 mistook it." 



On one night, a large flock of lambs that were 

 under the Ettrick Shepherd's care, frightened by 

 something, scampered away in three difl'erent direc- 

 tions across the hills, in spite of all he could do to 

 keep them together. " Sirrah," said the shepherd, 

 " they 're a' awa ! " 



It was too dark for the dog and his master to see 

 each other at any considerable distance, but Sirrah 

 understood him, and set off after the fugitives. The 

 night passed on, and Hogg and his assistant traversed 

 every neighboring hill in anxious hut fruitless search 

 for the lambs ; but he could hear nothing of them 

 nor of the dog, and he was returning to his master 

 with the doleful intelligence that he had lost all his 

 lambs. " On our way home, however," says he, " we 



I 



