24,0 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
£ J UNE, 
Shearing' Mis First Sheep. 
There are certain things in the life of the farmer boy 
that are events in his existence: places in his pathway 
up to manhood which, when passed, mark his progress. 
Just as in a school there are examinations through which 
the scholar must pass, so on the farm, there are practical 
tests to be applied to determine the ability and strength 
of the aspiring youth. In those places where wool-grow¬ 
ing is an important feature of the farm, the shearing of his 
first sheep is an accomplishment to which the boy looks 
together pleasant for the sheep; but when we remember 
what a relief it must be to them in the hot weather that 
follows, they are the gainers after all by the process of 
losiug their wool. Sammy is standing in the foreground 
and is evidently in the last stages of an animated speech 
in favor of his own ability to shear a sheep—a statement 
which the other shearers are not quick to accept. With 
a flourish of the shears, which he has selected for his 
work, he loudly declares his intentions, and the older and 
wiser heads, seeing that persuasion is of no use, give 
each other the wink, and the youth, aspiring for honors 
sweating and struggling of the still more unfortunate 
boy; but he has shown how matters shaped themselves 
in that final contest for freedom when the “ victim ” be¬ 
came the victor, and the young shearer literally took a 
back seat upon the floor. It was a hard struggle,—a bat¬ 
tle,—in which the odds were against the boy ; a conflict 
of muscle in which the weakest went to the wall, and the 
strongest to the open yard, dragging what little woo! 
with him that the ill-guided shears had imperfectly 
clipped from his much-cut skin. The fourth and last 
scene speaks for itself. The men, with a sense of min¬ 
forward as a sort of line which divides the youth from 
the man. Were it not for a seeming selfishness I would 
relate my first experience in this matter; but will step 
aside and let a near neighbor, Samuel Brown—“ Sammy ” 
we called him—be the hero of the story. Sammy was a 
boy with large ideas. He liked to do great things, pr at 
least was fond of talking of the wonderful things he 
would do some day. I like all this in boys if it does not 
make them dizzy—does not make them think they are 
wiser and bigger than they really are—does not make 
them at a rather early age think what they do not know 
is notof any very great importance. Failures in all ages 
of life have their good lessons, but perhaps at no time do 
they teach so much as in youth. Sammy, to use a home¬ 
ly expression, was “ growing very fast,” and talked—and 
that boastfully, of his ability to do great things. And 
now for the sheep-shearing trials of Master Brown. 
The artist has helped to make the matter plain with a 
Berics of four illustrations, showing as many different 
stages in the progress of the work—for it was work. In 
the upper left-hand corner we have a familiar scene on 
many a barn-floor in June. The shearers are at work 
busily taking the coat of a year’s growth from the sheep, 
some of which may have become used to the uncomfort¬ 
able situation through the experience of former years, 
while others find it • a new and unenjoyable process 
through which they are forced to pass. Sheep-shearing, 
though done by the kindest and best shearers, is not al¬ 
at the point of the shears, boastfully selects out his 
“victim” from the flock. The next scene lets ns into 
the struggles which Master Brown experiences in bring¬ 
ing his sheep to the proper place upon the floor. Sheep, 
as well as other animals, are more powerful and less easi¬ 
ly controlled sometimes than it would at first sight ap¬ 
pear—and it is on this account that some of the most 
important instruction—the most useful knowledge— 
comes from personal contact—a grappling with the sub¬ 
ject. The young shearer was, even in this stage of the 
shearing process, gaining a knowledge of the strength of 
sheep muscle, guided by a stubborn sheep’s will, that he 
never had before, tinder the circumstances it would 
not be expected that Sammy would receive any assist¬ 
ance from the men, so long as it was so loudly and boast¬ 
fully disclaimed but a few moments before. From the 
third picture it is evident that the unwilling sheep was 
finally brought to a convenient place for shearing, and 
the process of unrobing the frightened animal was be¬ 
gan, doubtless under a number of serious difficulties 
which Samuel never before saw in their true light. “ A 
looker on may see most of the game,” but it is one thing 
to see and another to play the game. The process of 
sheep shearing had been observed so many times that the 
youth felt he knew it all, and had not been slow to make 
the feeling known. Of course the artist cannot repre¬ 
sent and do full justice to the kicking and pulling and 
squirming on the part of the unfortunate sheep, and the 
gled mirth and pity, appreciate the miserable state of 
mind and body of the beaten boy as he sits in sadness 
and silence, and watches without a word the easy stroke 
of the skilled shearer as he finishes the sheep that would 
not be sheared by a boy. 
This account of Master Brown’s trouble may seem 
hard on the boys; but there is a lesson in it, and that is 
just the reason why I tell it to the many boys—and it 
may not hurt the girls—of the American Agriculturist 
family. Sammy was made better by his unsuccessful at¬ 
tempt to shear a sheep before he was old enough to hold 
one. The experiment was a great success, because it 
taught him his strength and his place in the distribution 
of farm labor. I have been a boy, and, just like the 
great mass of them, and I know that when a boy gets 
above his work, he must come down, and the higher he 
gets the greater the fall must be. I could plow as well 
as the hired man until—the plow struck that stone. 
Don’t I remember it well I and then I could do little else 
than cry. The desire to rise to the dignity and strength 
of manhood is worthy of only the highest praise—and 
every effort should point in that direction. It is only 
when the youth over-estimates his powers, and that to 
the annoyance of those of whom he might, but will not, 
learn, that the experience of Sammy will come. Sammy 
got a great deal that was of value to him out of his sheep 
shearing struggle. In some shape or other we all try 
to shear our first sheep. Uncle Hal. 
