228 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 



THE SAGE OF SITTYTON 



89. The saga of the silent sage of Sittyton has been so stir- 

 ringly sung, the secrets of his rent-paying Shorthorns so stren- 

 uously studied, and the shrewdness of his Scotch soul so cele- 

 brated in its sturdy simplicity, that modem tribute can add 

 little to his laurels. Amos Cruickshank vivified the problems 

 of the Northern Scot, sought incessantly to energize his native 

 granites, and through his single mindecl idealism resuscitated 

 the red, white and roan when its standard was wavering under 

 the combined assaults of doddie and whiteface. A half cen- 

 tury since, the disciples of Bates and Booth were shirking the 

 obvious in the quest of that which was not obvious. The royal 

 pedigree an4 the showyard glamor that bequeathed the latent 

 values of each, blinded the masters' followers to the lesson of 

 feedpail and paddock, and the whim of landed fanciers too often 

 obscured the need of the humble beef artisan. To the north 

 of the hills of Lammermoor, where straw supplement replaced 

 the luxuriance of the shire pastures, the descendants of Kirk- 

 levington, Killerby an4 Warlaby fared often ill, though prime 

 beef was the need. So with the tenant's necessity ever in his 

 eye, the loved "herdsman of Aberdeenshire" fashioned a breed's 

 destiny in the plastic heritage of the thick-cutting beeves he 

 moulded in the Northland. 



Two brothers husbanded the Aberdonian treasure. Amos 

 Cruickshank's face alone reposes on the Club walls, but the 

 Shorthorn debt is equal to both. Amos lived with the cattle, 

 Anthony builded the business, christened the calves and man- 

 aged the sales. The heritage of Amos, a bachelor, died with 

 him, Anthony passed on the family virtues to the sequent gen- 

 eration. Popular verdict accords Amos the greatest honor, 

 though, because his hand selected root and cake and his feet 

 tread quest for bloods and beasts to build on, in the herd. 

 Amos Cruickshank was born in 1809 and laid the Shorthorn 



