CHAPTER XXIII 

 A SUSSEX SHEEP-WASHING 



A pleasant scene — The country in its prime — An ancient custom — The 

 Haven at Pevensey — 5,000 sheep washed — Method of washing — 

 Across the stream — The washers — Sheep as swimmers — A typical 

 May da}' — The marshes — Buttercups in their glory — Two ancient 

 castles — Sheep-shearing — An important function — The feast — The 

 Winters Tale — The clown and his fairing — A pleasing picture — 

 Merry England. 



OF all English rural scenes, sheep-washing seems 

 to me one of the most typical and the most 

 pleasant. It takes place at the very fairest season of 

 the year, when the meadows are golden with butter- 

 cups and pied with daisies, when the grass is at its 

 greenest, the may-flower lies like snow upon the haw- 

 thorn trees, and pink-and-white apple blossoms show 

 in all their loveliness amid the orchards near. Sheep- 

 washing, one of the most ancient of all country customs, 

 is pursued to-day exactly as it has been pursued for 

 hundreds of years past. Trains may come and go, 

 motor-cars may hustle past, but the shepherds conduct 

 their simple operations just as did their forefathers in 

 pre-Reformation — nay, in pre-Norman times. In South 

 Sussex there are various streams and small rivers where 

 this picturesque and most necessary business is carried 

 on amid the pleasantest of surroundings. Perchance 

 it may be that the washing is done in some little marsh- 

 dyke, or stream, set in a very ocean of flat, far-spreading 



grass meadows. 



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