The Lost Mothers

After the sheep had their big coats off it was difficult to identify them, they looked so different. The lambs would not know their mothers, but the mothers would know their lambs. The lambs would run about bleating pitifully for their mothers, while the mothers ran after them trying to make themselves known. This reminds us of the old woman in Mother Goose Stories, who had changed so that the

people did not recognize her. She was sure that when she got home her dog at least, would know her,

"But the dog howled at her as at an unwelcome .stranger. He began to bar/e and she began to cry, Law/e a mercy on us

This is none of I ”.

It was pleasing to see how happy they were when they got together again. It was like a human mother getting her child to recognize her after a separation, and the child finding a lost mother.

Mar/(in g the Lambs

The sheep of the neighbourhood were turned out to feed on the commons, or the roadside, in summer. The flocks mingled, so we had to have the sheep marked. Each owner had a special mark by which he could identify his sheep. Our mark was: the top off the right ear and a hole in the left one, and the top off the tail. We marked the lambs at shearing time. It was pitiful to see the mothers trying to identify their lambs; the wounds would bleed freely and the lambs’ heads would be so covered with blood that the mothers would not know them. When they did recognize them they seemed to try to ease their pain and comfort them. The operation was not very pain- ful. The wounds soon healed, but the marks never grew out.

Boys and Girls in Sheep’s Clothing

We did not hurt the sheep in getting their clothing as we did the fur-bearing animals, which we killed and skinned for their clothing. The birds too had to suffer and die, that someone might wear their

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