THE RED COW 



process it used to be. The legs of the creatures 

 were not tied up in a bunch with a hame-strap to 

 keep them quiet. The shearer merely made the sheep 

 sit on her hind-quarters, while he tucked her head 

 under his arm. He had a contrivance that looked 

 like a small mowing machine, and was busily cutting 

 swaths of wool along her sides. It was doubtless 

 a great improvement on the old shears — the kind 

 that memory associates with boyish haircuts. I 

 have always thought of the shears by its Gaelic 

 name, but it is past my power to spell it. It was 

 imitative of the sound made by the shears when in 

 use. If you take a pair of shears, close and open 

 them and then try to pronounce the sound you hear, 

 you will have the Gaelic name. It sounds some- 

 thing like "dwnguist." Pronouncing it is just as 

 hard as it looks. One needs to be born to it. I 

 found that they had an old-fashioned shears with 

 them to clip off spots that the mower could not be 

 put over safely, but it was very little used. I 

 noticed that the new method of shearing leaves the 

 sheep free from the ridges that used to be prominent 

 features of old-time shearings — and haircuts. I 

 shouldn't wonder but they could cut hair with these 



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