E LANCASTER INTELLIGENCER,
E i tiBLISIIED EVERY WEDNESDAY BY
H. 0. SMITH dr CO.
G. SMITH. A. S. STEINMAN.
ERMS—T
e ll e r, per annum payable
111 a
lIE LANCASTER DAILY INTELLIGENCER IS
illshed every evening, Sunday excepted, at
ler annum In advance.
FICE-SOUTEIWEST CORNER OF CENTRE
RE.
Vortrp
pri I.g. !Ivo rohl I, from Ilii• warmer lands
it ura upon :in inatali• limb
/Wlllllll'l , 01111 by In}' W111,,W Slllllll
,
111 i I'VelY 111,11 they craistil toil ith IL
WIIOII a vertitin 1.1,1,011 away,
eggy lay
Vl• rusk uu , l 1.1:iller ,tr I lie ktri•el,
evott:llly NVoIN L',l/111.1:1,1 trumt.
I.IIP rcltin.l how ,
001,1 11,1,
Ilk iron lotlt II 1 , 1 , ,
tile +II , II , Ii•IL I.•
• dread day, before I lie sun wvlll
t•IIIIIIt 111 . 11,,,, IL 111/ark 111111 MO/ISL.., hand
crl ge.1,1 , •11 c 1,11511.
Ill• Irlulllelw , l land
• portal. i //.• , 1,111 ‘,..• 01,11,11 %dd..,
I iwa1111:4 I 11‘111 , Ivr ooti r•vg•ry
II 1t,...n0t• m1,11:011.41 rwillelims 1.; liNt.
Nrt:ly . VIM (list
111,11',
I 1., 11,,• II
1111,%11, SIIY 114 44.1 1' iht•
1.11 . 1.1'1. 4 I 11.14 S 1/14•11 . Ititloc
W114•111i114S 1144111/ 4 • Sylli•rr• 1,11 . 1
Si , . 11.1111 11111$1st.
•,rld•I Is hill 11,/11 .1 11;t•11 ;
111,4. IIII• 111;11 , 11 1,1111.• 11111 . 1 1 1114 J
11 illlli I 11 1 g:1111 .1 . 1111111,11•1 111111 1/I.SI
11,11 1 ilt• 111 l• 11i111 luy
11,
.E.l :1111111,111
id 111 llii• It% 1,110 I 1
III. • 1 /. i11111;11:.•111 /1111,- , 11/:1 •,.i'PhLY•
111
•Vii :Ili
1..11 lllii 11111..1
1.1
11.tti fill, h, 11:11:
11.1 1111 , 111,11:111 11.'1111, , 111 , 1
rti•• tpl
111.• •11.,,‘ 1111111 ',COI/
All I ~./,,i11,1. 1 1.11 111 , • ,1;1 1 11 11.IY
ir r. , 1111. t., 1..,111:
t, mud lull, 4 , 111 Flo i l l l li_ flan
.1, I'l'lllllHW 11.11i1111,4/1. ,, .
1,11 . 111 /111 , 1 t
11,i 31 . i 111,1
111 , 111,1. \ 111.1i,.1 , 1.111,i11111.1
Nllll , tllitilitirlllll,, ill •liitio•
11.1 rllcl.l
11:11,11,:111 11,:1111
I'lllll I h. ii•
1111 \I•1 111i1,1/1 I•il. lilt'
Atlli 1:11,1•• horl,.
11
,Phir II pt, 11.1 14
I[l,lll
Illr 1.1111. 1011 , 1•.1 ,,
11:1 I I ll' 1111,11111,1 • lc,
1111 I,.••1“ 11,1•111 Cillbil.•111111
1111111W/1:1H lii.• 1,11:11 \
lid • I 111:1111, litt• • r.l
E,tsTrAc tunr
. $lllll , 1.'1,14, s,llll
apth.• 11 , 11 1:1:.•,
(..1111.1 1.:11111
1J11,111 , /11 , 1 , • • I
111. ll' 111,1/11ti , 1• , 1". •
Ihrir 1.1“,
I'll.'l,llst IL H . ,. 111. hpluto.
A
'II id 111....1.111 , 1, , ..1
~,1 , 1 1
‘Vi11•1.• III.•1111 , 1[1.•11
illi• HPllll . lllll'2. ,01.14•:11i1.•
l'.1 . 1• 11111111111 /l:tliit•,
,‘ ,•1“
II.• 11. I• IL, IL. I, '
1;1.•,,,15,,N . 1.N111 . ! 0111 . 1..11 ,
, 1 , 1:11 , 1• %,i• 1,1 it,
All.l „hum 151111111 c II
111 , WI I.
T1.,3 411 I lo•
Ar.,l
jUiaccllancoua
C. 5,11,11
Slit iiil Rilerilla. New South
sales.
4 • Siwaring 1,1111111.111.1: ti I-1114.11%1W
heat. apparently wilds were
lailieti hy the manager
)1' :\ itateint•» ,tatinn, in I.lle tlict lilt ()I'
ttveriun, in 1111 1111 . 11 Y . i s lcw
Vales, nne :\ln»,lay morning in
uuulli (ir utterance had
Is 11,1111111 M,, 111 I'Vt•r . V 111 . a
t‘v:titing the hoin , l lint ihaffl» annul U.
perimalied.
11111 lew vial- ,inee haul
001iial nut “ver a ("et ur grey
a(venl t‘ith grass, partly with
al.in•rits and nail,. 'lll . ll ur
!tree hots built llt the trunk-“,r the
pine :mll ruined IVith the Karl: ur the
eallle
•ard l OW ila I itlt" galh.ws" is tulle
huller stage whereon 11l hang slang!).
ere(' ratlleo (thaw lir«lie the nnlnuluny
the effiliparatively
'wall herd aleatlle,•2,(.l)(l ( . ;;,aOll, faun('
cure than (-iillicient ine.turage during
he short \\ - 1111er awl Spring, hut 11ere
ways 111 tiligr(ite Li/ uallnt
ain 1111111 the \vamps whii•li
dime in 111() , I , days tnrinial the
rater-stares or f lit. run, were ilrirll up.
Ilia two 11r three, ill' al taut half - 8 - 111.M . 11
'1411 . k1111 . 11, \rare ever need al rm•th,ptir
p,,,,,if managing the herd,
ill 1111:111101' 11 11,1 prnlilaide
ueeupa
liuu 11 , (Ilk V:l,t Irae( el grazing (awn-
try.
Unt, n little later, one of the great
chiefs or the interest -a
shepherd-kind, sr, to meal:,
approved, :Mil plu•cha~etl the lease of
this %vast,. Itnost at once,
ns if by magic, the scene changed.
t; I va(appeared wend
ing their way aeross the silent plain.
/anis NViirii wade, W,•11,4 ‘viii dug.
Tons of \Vire 111111411 w!
lho sand by the 'Wig Lille of learn,
tired It arriving.
Sheep by thousands, and tens of thou
sands, Kogan to come grazing and crop
ping up to the lonely s —lllllv
swanning \vitt: earpetthqs,
engineers, leneers, shepherds,
t ill t h e plum 10010,1 lit,,'a fair
on the boarder , of Tartary.
Memi‘vhile everything «'1144 lllring
Wii the
" reign or la \V."
\vas merely the vein:wide truth of doing
uIl the `curt , al 1111,1 '• ratl'r
than l%r instalments. line hun
dred men for one day rather than
one man for a hundred days. It,
sully swirl ilenimistritte them
selves. lit twelve months the dams
were full, the wells seeding tip their l'ar
fetched prieeless \rater, the wire-fences
erected, the shepherds grille, and 17,11111)
sheep cropping the het hag(' A Italian
co. Tuesday WaS the day I . IXIII li.r the
actual I . olllllltiiii . iiiiitilit of the
pastoral I legi ra, so to monk, as the time
of most station events is calculated \4.1111
reference to it, as happening liefirri.‘ or
after shearing. I hit before the 111'st:shot
Is tired Nvldeli tells of the battle begun,
what raids and skirmishes, Nvliat recon
noitring and villette duty must take
phtee!
I , irst. arrives the reek-inkellief to the
shearers, with t(vo assistants, to lay ill tl
few provisions kir the'‘veelt's consump
tion of seventy alile-liotli_4l mom L must
here explain that the welt or a huge
shearing-shed is a highly paid Mill tol
erably irresponsible olllcitll. Ile is paid
and provided by the sl"'"rta's. l'aY
nient is generally arranged on the scale
of half-a-crown a heatl weekly front
each . shearer. For this sum he must
provide punctual and einietiVe
welt
ing, paying out of his pocltet as
many " mannikins" as may he needful
for that end, and to satisfy Inc tolerably
exacting, fastidious employers.
In the present, ease he confers with
the storekeeper, M. de Vere ; a young
gentleman of aristocratic connexions,
who is thus gaining an excellent pr:teti
tad Itilowledge of the working of a large
station,—and to this end has the store
keeping department entrusted to him
(luring sheering.
Ile does not ['crimps Molt quite lit for
a croquet party as he stands now, with
a flour-scoop in one hand and a pound of
tobacco in the other. Itut he looks like
a man at work, and :aso like a gentle
titan, as lie is. "Jack the Cook" thus
addresses Ili tit :
" Now, Mr. de Were, I hope there's
not going to be any humbugging about
myPrations and things! The men are
all up in their quarters, and Its hungry
as free selectors. They've been a-pay
ing for their rations for ever so long,
andof course, now shearing's on, they're
good fora little extra!"
"All right, Jack," returns do Vere,
good-temperedly ; " all your lot was
4ez 3,taittaWt
VOLUME 72
weighed out and sent away before break
fast. You must have missed the cart.
Here's the list. PH read it out to
you:—'Three large flour, half a bul
lock, two bags sugar, a chest of tea,
four dozen of pickles, four dozen or
jam, two gallons of vinegar, live llis.
Pelmet', a bag of salt, plates, knives,
forks, ovens, frying-pans, saucepans,
iron pots, and about a hundred other
things. Now, mind you, return all the
cooking things safe, or poy fur
flrrvn—
thut's the order. You don't want any
thing more, (Myra' You've got enough,
for a regiment or cavalry, I should
think."
" Well, I don't know 'There won't
he rtmeh left in It week if the weather
holds good," [oaken answer the chief as
one who thought nothing too stupen
dous to he accomplished by shearers;
" but I knew I'd forget son - tenting.—
As I 'ln here I'll take a few dozen
poxes of sardines, and a Case Of
The boys likes 'elm
and, murder alive! haven't we for
got the plums and currants; a hundred
weight of each, Mr. the Vert.. 'l'lley'll
be crying out for plurn-dull'and currant
lams for the afternoon ; and hullying
the life out Of tie, if I have'itt a few
Irides like. It's a hard life, surely, a
shearer's cool:. \Veil, good-h', sir, you
Lave 'ern all down iu the buuk. ,r
Lest the render should imagine that
the rule of Mr. ( lordon at Analiatico was
a reign of luxury and dna. (waste which
tendeth to penury, It•t him be aware that
1 sla•arers !it Iliverina are paid at a eer
lain rate, 11,41;1,11y that of ouc pound per
hundred sheep shorn. They ttgrce, uu
! the other hand, to pay for till supplies
consumed by them at Certain prices fixed
• before the sheering agre(mien t is signed.
Hence, it is entirely their own Minh!
\vhellicr their mess hills are ex travagant
! or economical. They can have anything
! tv it hie the rather iv lilt , raligli it the
101 l sure. Self foir ficet , ;,,rtolans,
lona ~'-11ieii, novels, top-howls, double
, 1.1'1 , 11 , 1 nuns, ij 11, y pII . II (Ni .
ue tciLh Otte exception. No wine, no
-pints! Neither are they permitted to
bring ,tinitilants"(in to thi•ground"
for their private use. I lrog al shearing?
I:itelies in a powder-mill! lis very
sad and had ; hot our Angle-Saxon in
dustrial or defensive champion cannot
be trmd, it with the lire-water, Navvies.
men ob‘var's 111(.11, soldiers um/ shearers
line lellmvs all. Ihtt though the
younger men :night only drink in mod
eration, the majority and the older men
are utterly ‘vithout self-control once in
the front. (o . temptation. And Wars,
NVillliiia cause," Ilia heads,
shaking hands, dclay and had shearing,
would he the inevitable results nl'spirils
trt 'Mir]] is this a
matter of certainty int,t exiterience,
that a clause is inserted and cheerfully
signed, in most shearing agreements,
" that :My man getting &Intl: or
brim:M.4 spirits on to the station dur
ing shearing, bee s Wll , ole mo
ney carned by hint." The men know
Mott. the restriction is for their bent•lit,
as well :IS 10f the inlerea of the inte.ter,
anti join in the prohibition heartily.
Let us give it giants. at themall army
working -nll'll 10,4,1111/It'd 111 A nabati
it, one Ital. of lunnlrcds ill stations in
100 oniony of New Sunlit wale,, rang
ing from Itimhoh sheep downwards.--
There are seventy shearers ; about ally
washers, including the men connected
with the steam engine, boilers, brick
layers, hr. ; ten or twelve boundary
riders, whose duty is to ride round the
large paildttel:s, seeing that the Mimes
are all intact, and keeping a g,encral
tool:-ttill over the condition of the sheep;
three iir four overseers ; hall-a-dozen
young gentlemen itetptiring a practical
I:nowledge of t.iteett-carnting, or, as it
is generally phrased, " colonial ex purl
ems.," a ruutprohcluivc (IX prv,.l.ln
enough ; It sem . e or two or teamsters,
wilt a couple of hundred horses or bul
locks, waiting her the high-piled wool
hales, Nvitich are loaded up Itllll still
,1011 as I-111/1•11 ;
IdClilln-I-1111, pressers, yartbonen, extra
shepherds. It may easily be gathered
lector this outline, what an "amts with
banners" is arrayed at Arndt:mem bile
statistically inclined, it may be added,
that, the cash title hot' the shearing
Mom. I less the mess-bill, amounts to
1,7111/1.; for the washing I roughly, bout.,
exclusive of provisions consumed, hut
ting, wood, water, cooking, the.
tinge or w.,1 Other Minds from
:lot. to 40/. per week. :\ II of which dis-
Itursisnents take place Ivithiti from
eight to twelve Neeel:s after the shears
are in the first sheep.
Tuesday curves " big with fate." As
the sun tinges the tar sky-line, the
shearers are taking a slight refection of
coffee anti currant-buns, to enable them
to withstand the exhausting interval be
tween six and eight o'clock, when the
serious breahfast occurs. t 4 liettrers
always diet themselves tut the principle
that the mere they eat the stronger they
must be. Ingestion, as preliminary to
muscular development, is left to take
its chance. They certainly do get
through a tremendous amount of work.
whole frame is at its utmost ten
sion, early and late. lint the preserva
tion of health is due to their natural
strength (It' constitution rather than to
their profuse and unscientific diet.
Half-an-limn alter sunrise Mr. I :onion
walks quetly into the vast, building
which contains the Anal, mill their
shearers called " the par
excellence. Everything is in perfect
eleanlitiess and order. The floor swept
and smooth, with its carefully platted
[amnia of pale-yellow aromatic pine.—
Small tramways, with baskets for the
thieves, run the wool up to the WOOl
- superseding the more general
plan of hand-picking. At each side of
the shed-floor ate certain small areas,
lour or Itve feet square, :such space being
found by experience to he sufficient for
the postures and gymnastics practised
during the shearing of a sheep. Oppo
site to each square is all aperture,
communicating with a long narrow
paled yard, outside of the shed.—
Through this (melt man pups Ilk sheep
when shorn, where he remains in
company with others shorn by the
sanw hand, until counted out. This
acing done by the overseer or manager
supplies a cheat[ upon hasty or mishit
fu' work. The holly of the wool-,lied,
Moored ballet's pliteed half an inch
apart,;bi filled with the wooly victims.
This enclosure is sub-divided into mi
nor pens, of which each fronts the place
of two shearers, who catch from it until
the pen is empty. When this takes
place, a man for the purpose refills it.
tliere :Ire local advantages, an
elui
tablc dist Ithullen of he
made by ltd.
On every sub-division stands a shear
er, as Mr. I/1/Nil/II Walk ,, , with all air of
('llllll authority, down the long :Lisle.
Seventy men, chiefly in their prime, the
dower of the workingmen of the eolony,
they are variously gathered. .England,
Ireland and SC./U:111d are represented in
the proportion Mime-half or the nlllll
- the oilier hall IS composed of Ila
live-born A ttstraliatis.
Among these last—of pure Anglo-
Saxon or Anglo-Cellic descent—are to
be seen some of tile finest men, physi
cally considered, the title IS Val , Of
Taller their British
born brethren, with softer voices and
more regular features, they inherit the
powerful frames and unequaled muscu
lar development of the breed. heading
lives chiefly devoted to agricultural la
bor, they enjoy larger intervals of leis
ure than is permissible to the laboring
classes of Europe. The climate is mild,
and favorable to health. have
been accustomed, from childhood, to
abundance of the best food ; opportuni
ties of intereolonial travel are frequent
and common. Metre( the Anglo-Aus
tralian laborer, without, on the one
hand, the sharpened ettgerness which
distinguishes his Transatlantc cousin,
111114 yet an air of independence and in
telligence, combined with a natural
grace of movement, wholly unknown to
the peasantry of Britain.
An idea Is prevalent that the Austra
lians are, as a race, physically inferior
to the British. It is asserted that they
grow too fast, tend to height and slen
derness, and do not possess adequate
stamina and muscle. 'rile idea is erro
neous. The men reared in cities on the
seaboard, living sedentary lives in shops,
banks, or eounting-houses, are doubtless
more or less pale and slight of form. So
are they who live under such conditions
all over the world. But those youngsters
who have followed the plough on the
upland farms, or lived a wilder life on
the stations oh' the far interior, who have
had their fill of wheaten bread and beef
steaks since they could walk, and snuff
ed up the free bush breezes from infancy,
they are sncn—
ets, and go to work " hammer and
tongs,"
with all the savage silence of the
true island type.
It is now about 7 o'clock. Mr. Gordon
moves forward. As he does so, every man
leans towards the open door of the pen in
front of which lie stands. The bell
sounds! With the first stroke each One
of tlict severity men has sprung upon a
sheep; has drawn it out—placed its
head across his knee, and is working Ii is
shears, as if the " last man out" was to
he flogged, or tarred and feathered at
the least. Four min utes—James Stead
man, who learned last year, has shorn
down oneside of his sheep; Jack Holmes
and Gundajai Bill are well down the
other sides of theirs ; when Billy
May raises himself with a jerking
sigh, arc rch , a,1.1;,1 his sheep, perfectly
clean-shorn front the nose to the heels,
somt of heart awl ready of hood,
.•'or drner prey from t'uniln•rland
—a business, I may remark, at which
many of them would have distinguish
ed themselves.
'Fake Abraham Lawson, as 'he stands
there in a natural..,and Ulistudied atti
tude, six feet lour in his stockings,
wide•chested, stalwart, with a face like
that of a Greek statue. Take Billy
May, fair-haired, mild, insouciant,
almost languid, till you see him at work.
Then, again, Jack Windsor, handsome,
saucy, and wiry as a bull-terrier—like
him, with strong natural inclination
filr the con] g o red fur :thy man of his
weight, or a tride over, with the gloves
or without.
It is curious to not(' how the old Eng
lish practice of settling disputes with
nature's weapons has taken root in Aus
tralia. It would "gladden the sullen
souls" of the defunct gladiators to watch
Iwo kuls, whose fathers had never trod
den England's soil, pull olk their jack
through the aperture of his separate
enclosure. \Vith the sante etl . .)rt appar
ently he calls out " Wool !" and darts
upon another sheep. Drawing this
second victim across his nee, he buries
his shear-points iu the long, wool of
its ?leek_ A ininnent after 11 HOW 111111
pager boy has gathered tip fleece number
one, and tossed it into the train-basket.
Ile is half-way down its side, the wool
hanging in one fleece like a great glossy
twit, before you have done Ivoiniering
whether lie did really shear the first
sheep, or whether he had nut a ready
shorn 000 in his 1.0:11 -Tepee--like it con
juror.
fly this time Jack I lohnes and Gun
d:6:o Hill tire " ‘ait," or finished; and
the cry " WOl/11" ho run
eon tinuously up and down the long
aisle, of the shed, like It Slogle jute llll-
.111 ,1,1110 rude instrument.' Now and
then the " refrain " is varied by ' . "l'ar!"
being shouted instead, when 0 !bet., of
+fain is snipped oil . as well us the Wool.
( treat healing, properties 1110 attributed
to this extraut in the shed. .kinl if a
,hcarer she.. ultra piece flesh front his
11) 1) person, as occasionally happens, lie
gravely anoints it Nvith the universal
remedy, and considers that thi otiu+
then lies with Providence, there being
110 1111OV (111111 111:111 1,111 110. l'hotigli
little time is lost, the 111e11 are by no
1111,1'8 up to the speed ovhicli they Neill
attain in a few days, when in full prac
tice and training,. Their nerve, 'muscle,
eye,endurance,wil I be all at, so to speak,
ceaceia-pileh,lolo.l sheep after sheep Neill
be shorn with a precision and celerity
even :twful to the unprofessional oh,er-
The unpastoral reader may lie inform
ell that speed and completeness of demi
dation are the grand desiderata ill shear.
ing ; the employer thinks principally of
the latter, the shearer pi incipally of
the fu ruler. To adjust equitably the pro
portion is am 1/1 . 01,17. e incomplete aspi
rations which torment humanity.—
I [once the contest—oldas hunian society
--between labor and capital.
This is the first day. According to
old-established custom a kind or truce
obtains. IL is behtre the bAttle,-1. he
" salut,” when 1111 hasty word or too de
monstrative :Lotion can be sull'ered iv
the Ca 11 4 ,11,1 I,i good taste. Red Bill,
1" lash Jack, Jem the : 4 cooper, and other
roaring blades, more famous or expe
dition than faithful manipulation, are
shearing to-day with a painstakiugpre
risinn, ay or men 10 terrain eilarael,f is
everything.
Mr. G,lllll/11 tuarciles softly up anti
down, regarding shearers with a pater
nal and gratified expression, occasion
ally hinting at slight improvements of
style, or expressing unqualified appro
val as a sheep is turned out shaven
rather than shorn. All goes on well.—
Nothing is heard lot expressions of
good-will and euthu>iasm t i n - the gen
eral welfare. It is a LI umph of the dig
nity of labor.
One o'clock. Mr. flordon moved on
to the bell and sounded it. At the first
stroke several men on their way to the
pens stopped abruptly all' began to put
on their coats. One felloa`Aof an alert
nature l Master Jack Windsor. had just
finished his sheep and was sharpen
ing his shears, when his eye mught
Mr. I lordon's form in proximity to
the final bell. With a bound, like a
wild-eat, he reached the pen and drew
tad his sheep a bare second Itefore the
first stroke, amidst the laughter and
congratulations of his comrades. An
other man hall his hand on the pen-gate
, at the same instant, but by the Median
1 1:1W (1 . :15 compelled to return sleepless.
was cheered, but ironically. Those
whose sheep were 111 1111 1111 kiled stage
quietly completed them ; the others
moving...ll' to their huts, where their
board literally smoked with abundance.
Ati hour passed. The meal was 1.1,11-
' Chided ; the smoke was over ; aud the
more cal eful men were back in (Joshed
sharpening their shears by two o'clock.
Punctually at that hour the bell repeated
its summons the The Wallin :11ter
-110011 gradually lengthened its shadows;
the shears clicked in tireless monotone;
the pens filled and became empty. The
wool-presses yawned for the nioull taill of
fleeces which lilted the bills ill Front of
them, divided into various grades of ex
cellence, :old continuously disgorged
them, neatly and cubically packed and
loranded.
At six the bell brought the day's work
to a close. The sheep of each Mall were
counted ill his presence, and noted down
with scrupulous care, the record being
written out ill full and hung up for
public inspection in the shed next day.
This important ceremony over, master
and men, manager, laborers and super
numaries, betook themselves to their
separate abodes, with such keen avoid
ance of delay, that ill live minutes not a
soul WIIS left in or nuar the great build
ing lately so busy and populous, except
the boys whowere sweeping Up the fluor.
The silence of ages seems to fail and
settle upon it.
Next morning at a rather earlier hour
every man is at his post. Business is
meant decidedly. Now commeneesthe
.lelicate and difficult part Or the super
intendence which keeps Mr. Gordon at
his lost in the shed, nearly from day
light till dark, for from eight to ten
weeks. During the first day he has
formed a sort of gunge of each man's
toll per :mil workmanship. For now,
out henceforth, the natural bias of each
shearer will appear. Some try to shear
too tlast, 111111 in their haste shear hadly.
Surd( are rough and savage with the
sheep, which do occasionally kick and
become unquiet 11l critical times; and
iL must, be confessed are provoking
enough. Some shear very fairly and
handsomely to a superficial eye, but
commit the unpardonable offence of
leaving; wool on." Some are deceit
ful, shearing (''trefully when overlooked
but " raving" and otherwise misbehav
ing directly when the eye of authority
in diverted. These and many other
tricks 11.11 d defects require to be noted
and abated, quietly but firmly, by the
manager of the stied,—it rally because
evil would develop and spread ruinously
i not checked; quietly, because im
mense loss ought be incurred by a strike.
Shearing differs from other work in this
wise; it in work against time, more es
pecially in ltiverina. If the wool be not
off the backs ot the sheep before Novem
ber, all sorts of drawbacks and destruc
tioun supervene. The spear-shaped
grass-seeds, specially formed as if in
special collusion with the Evil One,
hasten to bury themselves in the wool,
and even in the flesh of the tender vie
tims. Dust rises in red clouds from the
pnmoistened, betram pled meadows so
lately verdurous and flower-spangled.—
From snowy white to an unlovely "his
tre" turn the carefully washed fleeces,
causing, anathema from overseers and
depreciation from brokers. All these
losses of temper, trouble, and money,
become inevitable if shearing be pro
tracted, it may be, beyond a given week.
Hence, as in harvest with a short al
lowance of fair weather, discipline must
be tempered with diplomacy. Lose your
temper, and be over particular; off go
Billy May, Abraham Lawson, and half
a-dozen of your best men, making a
weekly difference of perhaps two or
three thousand sheep for the remainder
of the shearing. Can you not replace
them? Not so! Every shed in River
ina will be hard at work during this
present month of September and for
every hour of October. Till that time
LANCASTER, PA., WEDNESDAY MORNING APRIL 26, 1871
not a shearer will come to your gate ;
except, perhaps, one or two useles+,
characterless men. Are you to tolerate
bad workmanship? Not that either.—
But try all other means with your men
before you resort to harshness; and be
quite certain that your sentence is just,
and that you can afltml the defection.
So our frieml, Mr. (limbo], wise from
many tens of thosuands of shorn sheep
that have been counted out past his
steady eye, criticizes temperately, but
watchfully. He reproves sufficiently,
and no more, any glaring fault ; makes
his calculation as to who are really had
shearers, and can be discharged without
loss to the commonwealth, or who can
shear fairly and can be coached tip to a
decent average. thie division, slow, and
good only when slow, have to he watch
ed lest they emulate "the talent," and
so come to grief. Then "the talent," has
to be mildly admonished from time to
time lest they force the pace, set a had
example, mid lure the other men On to
"racing." This last leads to slovenly
shearing, ill-usage of the sheep, and
general dissatisfaction.
Tact, temper, patience, and firmness
are each and all necessary in that ('up
lain or industry, who has the very deli
cate and important task of superintend
ing a large wool-shed. Hugh Gordon
had shown all in such proportion as
would have made him a distinguished
man anywhere, had fortune not, adjust
ed for him this particular profession.
Cahn with theconsciousness of strength,
lie was kind and considerate in man
ner as in nature, until provoked by
! glaring dishonesty or incivility.—
. Then the lion part or his nature woke
on, so that it commonly went ill
with the aggressor. .\s this was mat
ter of public report, lie had little
occasion to spoil the repose of his
hearing. Day succeeds day, mid for
a fortnight the machinery goes on
smoothly andsuccessfully. Thesheep Lir
' rived at an appointed day and hour by
detachments and regiments it the
wash-pen. They depart thence, like
good boys on Saturday night, redolent
of soap and water, and victim to a fault;
—entering the shed white and flossy as
newly combed poodles, to emerge, on
the way back to their pasturage, slim, I
delivale, agile, with a bright, Mack A
legibly branded with tar on their paper
white skins.
The A nabanco world—stiffish but un
daunted- is turoitig out 01' bed one
morning. I la! what sounds are these?
and why does the look so (lark
11010, as I'm olive. " hurrah !" says
Master Jack Bowles, one of the young
gentlemen. Ile is learning i more or
less practical sheep-farming, prepar
atory to having I one of these days 1
ati A nabanco or his own. " Well, this
is a change, and I'm not sorry for
one," Mr. Jack. " still' all
over. No one can stand such work long.
Won't the shearers growl No shear
ing to-day, and perhaps none to-morrow
either." Truth to tell, Mr. Bowles' sen
timents are not confined to his ingenu
ous bosom. Some of the :-Iwarersgrum.
Me at being stopped "just as a man was
earning a few shillings." Those who are
in top pace and condition don't like it.
Ilia to many of the rank and tile—work
ing up to amt a little beyond their
strength—with whom swelled wrists
and other protests of nature are becom
ing apparent, it is a relief, and they are
glad the respite So at dinner-time
all the sheep in the sheds, put in over
night in anticipation of such a contin
geney, are reported shorn. All hands
are then idle for the rester the ,lay. 'The
shear,,, dress mi'l avail themselves of
various resources. Some go to look
at their horses, now in clover, or its
equivalent,in the Itiverinagraminetum.
Some platy t.ards, otherS wash or uncurl
their elothes. A large proportion of the
Australians having armed themselves
with paper, envelopes, and a shilling's
wortlt of stamps from the store, bethink
themselves of neglected or desirable
~,m,pontlents. Manly a letter for Mrs.
Wzlllaroo (*reek, nr Miss.lane
Sweetapple, honeysuckle Flat, as the
ease may be, will lied its way into the
post-bag; to-morrow. A pair of the
youngsters are having a round or two
with the gloves; while to complete the
variety of recreations compatible with
life at IL \co./1,11(41, a selected troupe are
busy iu t comparative solitude of that
building, at a rehearsal of a tragedy and
a farce, with which they intend, the
very next rainy day, to astonish the
population of A nabaneo.
At the home-station :t truce to labor's
" alarms ' is proclaimed except in the
ease - and person of Mr. De Vere. So far
is he from participation in the general
holiday, that he finds the store thronged
with shearers, - washers, and "knock-
about 111C11," \VIM being let loose, think
it would be nice to g.) and Luc something
"pour pos.sc Mps," 110 therefore
grumbles slightly at having, no rest like
other people.
"That's :ill very line,
' says 'Tr. Jack
•
BOWI , S, Who, ,e:10..11 iii a CaSe, lS
ing a large meerschaum and mildly re
gaining all thine; '• but what, have
you gut to do \Viten We're till le , rot ril
ercrk at the ,I1Cd':" with an air of great
important, and responsibility.
"'That's right, Air. llowles," chimes
in one (d . the ,hearers; Stand Hp for
the shed. I never see a young gentle
man work as hard as yiw do."
" Bosh !" growls De Vere
anybody couldn't gallop about. f i •nut the
shed to the wash-pen, and carry mes
sages, and give hall of them wrong'
hy, Mr. Gordon said the other day,
lie should have to take you ffir and put
ill' a —that he (1/011111 ' t
make more mi,takcs."
"All envy am! maliee, and rother
thing, De Ve7e, bee:luse you think
rising in the profession," returns the
good-natured I towles. " Mr. Gordon's
going to send 'O,Uii sheep, after shear
ing, to the Lik Lak paddock, and he
said 1 should go in charge."
" Charge be hanged !" laughs De Vere
(with two very bright-patterned ('rime•
:to shirts, and in each hand, which he
oll'ers to a tall young shearer for inspec
tion.) "There's a well there, and when
ever either of the two nom, ot whom
you'll have '•lut iyp, gets sick or runs
away, you'll have to work the whim in
his place, till another man's sent out, if
it's a month."
This appalling view of station promo-
Lion rather startles Mr. Jack, who ap
plies himself to his meerschaum, amid
the ironical cohim , Ws of the shearers.—
lowever, not easily daunted or "shut
up," according to the more familiar:sta
tion phrase, he rejoins, after a brief in
terval of contemplation, "that accidents
will happen, you know, De Vere, my
boy 'propos of which mural senti
ment, come and help you in your
try-gundsbusiness; and then, look here,
if you get ill or run away, I'll have a
profession to fall hack up:m." This is
held to be a Roland of sufficient pungen
ey for 1),.: Vere's ()liver. Every one
laughed. And then the two youngsters
betook themselves to a humorous pull ,
ing or the miscellaneous contents of
the store; tulip-beds of gorgeous Cri
mean shirts, hoots, hooks, tobacco,
canna -slipp e r, pocket-knives, hp-
soin salts, pipes, pickles, painkillers,
pocket-handkerchiefs and pills, sar
dines, saddles, shears Mid Sallee:4 ;
in fact everything which every kind of
man might want, and which apparent
ly every man did want, for large and
various were the purchases, and great
tile now of conversation. Finally, every
thing was severely and accurately deb
ited to the purchasers, and the store
wascleared and locked up. A large store
is a necessity of a large station ; not by
any means because of the profit upon
goods sold, but it obviously would be
bad economy for old Bill, the shepherd,
or Barney, the bullock-driver, to visit
the next township, from ten to thirty
'miles distant, as the case may be, every
time the former wan led a pound of tobac
co, or the latter a pair of boots. They
might possibly obtain these necessary
articles as good in quality, as cheap in
price. Buttherearewolvesin that wood,
oh, my weak brothers ! In all towns
dwells one of the "sons of the Giant"—
the Giant Grog—red-eyed, with steel
muscles and iron claws ; once in these,
which have held many and better men
to the death, Barney nor Bill emerges,
save pale, fevered, nerveless, and impe
cunious. So arose the station store.—
Barney befits hi mself with boots without
losing his feet; 13111 fills his pocket with
match-boxes and smokes the pipe of
sobriety, virtuous perforce till his car
nival, after shearing.
The next day was wet, and threatened
further broken weather. Matters were
not too placid with the shearers. A day
or two for rest is very well, but continu
ous wet weather means compulsory
idleness, and gloom succeeds repose ; for
not only are all hands losing time and
earning no money, but they are, to use
the language of the stable, "eating their
heads off" the while. The rather pro
fuse mess and general expenditure,
which caused little reflection when they
were earnink at the rate of two or three
hundred a Year, became unpleasantly
sucg.stive, now that all is going out and
nothing corning, in. Hence loud and
deep were the anathemas as the discon
tented men gazed sadly or wrathfully at
theinisayky.
.&" few• — days' showery weather having
therefore, well nigh driven our shearers
to desperation, out comes the sun in all
his glory. He is never faraway or very
faint in Itiverina. All the pens are till
ed for the morrow; very soon after the
earliest sunbeams the bell sounds its
welcome summons, and the whole force
tackles to the work with an ardour pro
portioned to the delay, every man work
ing as if for the ransom of his whole
family front slavery. How men work
spurred on by the double excitement of
acquiring social reputation and making
money rapidly: Not an instant is lost;
not a nerve, limb, or muscle doing less
than the hardest task-master could Hog
out of a slave. Occasionally you see a
shearer, after finishing his sheep, walk
quickly out, and not appearing for a
couple of hours, or perhaps not again
during the day. Do not put hint dawn
as a sluggard ; he assured that he has
tasked nature dangerously hard, and
Ilan only given in just before she does.
Look at that silent slight youngster,
with a bandage round his swollen
wrist. Every . " blow" of the shears
is agony to him, yet he disdains to
give in, and has been working " iu
distress" for hours. The pain is
great, as you can see by the flush which
occasionally surges across his brown
face, yet he goes on manfully to the last
sheep, and endures to the very verge of
fainting.
There was now a change in the man
ner and tone of the shed, especially tow
ards the end of the day. It was now the
ding of the desperate fray, when the
blood of the tierce animal man is up,
when mortal blows are exchanged, and
curses limit upward with the smoke all
dust. The ceaseless clicking of the
shears—the stern earnestness of the men,
lolling with a feverish and tireless en
ergy -the constant succession of sheep
shorn and let go, caught and com
menced -•t he occasional savage oath
or passionate gesture, as a sheep
kicked and struggled with perverse
delaying obstinacy the cuts and
stabs, with attendant effusion of blood,
both of sheep and shearers—the brief
decided [Ones of Mr. Gordon, in repres
sion or command—all told the spectator
that tragic action was introduct , d into
the performautce. Indeed, one of the
minor excitemen ts of shearing was then
and there transacted. Mr. tlordon had
more than once warned a dark sullen
looking man that lie did not approve of
his style of shearing. Ile was tempor
arily absent, and on his return found the
same man about to let go a sheep,Whose
appearance, as a shorn wool-bearing
quadruped, was painful and discredita
ble in the extreme.
" Let your sheep go, my man," sai I
he, in a tone which somehow arrested
the attention of nearly all the shearer,;
" but don't trouble yourself to catch
another!"
" \Vlfy nut:"' said the delinquent,
sultrily.
" You I:1111\V V t .ry well why not!" re •
plied (fordo!), walking closely up to
him, and looking straight at hint with
eyes that began to glitter. " You've
bud lair warning; you've not chosen to
take it. Nutt• you can go!"
" I suppose you'll pay a man for the
sheep he'sshorn " groNvled out the ruf
fian.
"Not oue shilling until utter shear
ing,. You l'llll eiiine then it' you like,"
aliwereil Mr. ;onion with perfect
OEM=
The cowed bully looked savagoly at
him; but the tall powerful frame and
steady eye were not inviting for per
sonal arbitration of the niatter in hand.
Ile put up his two pairs of shears, pat
on his coat, and walked out of the
'lied. The time was past when Red
I:ill or Terrilde Dick t runians whom a
sparse labor-market rendered necessary
evils would have !lung town his shears
upon the floor:it'd told the manager that
it' he didn't like that shearing he could
shear his ---.sheep himself and he
hanged to him : or, till refusal of instant
payment, would have. proposed tti bury
nis shears in the intestines of his em
ployer by way of adjusting the balance
between capital . and labor. :\lany wild
tales are told of wool-shed rows. I knew
of one squatter stabbed mortally with
that fatal and cunvenient weapon, a
shear-blade.
The man thus summarily dealt with
could, likeo o istof 11 iscompan ions, shear
very well if he took pains. K.eeping to a
moderate n u m be r oisheep,his work man
sldp could be good. But he 'oust needs
try and keep up with Billy May or Abra
ham Lawson, who can shear front MU to
1:10 sheep per day, and do them beauti
fully. So in "racing" he works hastily
and badly, cuts the skin of his luckless
sheep nearly as often as the wool, and
leaves wool here and there on them,
grievous :111,1 exasperating to behold.
So sentence of expulsion goes forth lolly
against him. Having arrayed himself
lan• the road he makes one 1110Ie eilbrt
for a settlement and some money where
with to pat• for hoard and lodging on the
road. Only to have a mad carouse at
the nearest township, however; after
which he will tell a plausible story of
his leaving the shed on account of Mr.
Gordon's temper, and avail himself of
the usual free hospitality of the bush to
reach another shed. he addresses Mr.
Gordon with an attempt at conciliation
and deference.
" it seems very 'ard sir, as It loan
can't gut the trifle of money coming to
I've worked 'ard for."
" It's very hard you Won't try and
shear decently," retorts Mr. thmlon,
by 00 11112 MIS conciliated. " Leave the
shed"
111-conditioned rascal as he is, he has
a mate or traveling-companion ill whose
breast exists some rough idea of fidelity.
lie now takes up the dialogue:
"I suppose if Jim's shearing don't
suit mine won't either."
" I did not speak to you. — answered
Mr. (1,,r,1im, as calmly as if he had ex
pected the speech ; but of course you
can go too." 11e said this with nu air
of studied unconcern, Its if he would
rather like a dozen more men to knock
oil work. The two men walk out: but
the epidemic does not spread; and sev
eral take the lesson home and mend
their ways accordingly.
The weather now was splendid ; not a
cloud specked the bright blue sky. The
shearer scontinue to work at the sameex
press-train pace ; fifty bales of wool roll
every day front the wool• presses; as
fast Its they reach that number they
are loaded Luton the numerous drays
and wagons which have been waiting
for weeks. Tall brown men have been
recklessly cutting up hides fur the last
fortnight, wherewith to lash the bales
securely. It is considered safer practice
to load wool as soon as may he; fifty
uhales represent about n t11.11:411.11111Y,1111LIS
sterling. In a building, howeversecure,
should a Ilre break out, a few hundred
hales are easily burned ; but once (in the
dray, this much-dreaded "edax-rerum,"
in a dry country has little chance. The
driver, responsible to the extent of his
freight, generally sleeps muter his dray;
hence both watchman and insulation
are provided.
The unrelaxing energy with which
the work was pushed at this stage was
exciting and contagious ; at or before
daylight every soul in the great estab
lishment was up. The boundary-riders
were starting off for a twenty or thirty
mile ride, and bringing tens of thou-
sands of sheep to the wash-pen ; at that
huge lavatory there was splashing and
soaking all day with an army of wash
ers; not a moment is lost from daylight
till dark, or used for any purpose save
the all-engrossing work and needful
food. At 9 o'clock I'. 31., luxurious,
dreamless sleep, given only to those
whose physical powers have been taxed
to the utmost, and who can bear without
iu,jury the daily tension.
Everything and every body were in
splendid working order,—nothing out
of gear. Rapid and regular as a steam
engine the great host of toilers moved
on ward daily within march which prom
ised an unusually early completion.—
Mr. (fordon was not in high spirits,—
for so cautious and far-seeing a captain
rarely felt himself so independent of
circumstances as to indulge in that
reckless mood—but much satisfied with
the prospect. Whew! the afternoon
darkens, and the night is delivered over
to water-spouts and hurricanes, as it
appears. Next day raw, gusty, with
chill heavy showers, drains to be cut,
roofs to be seen to, shorn sheen shiver
ering, washers all playing pitch-and
toss, shearers sulky ; everybody but the
young gentlemen wearing a most in
jured expression of countenance. Looks
as if it would rain for a month, says
Long Jack. " If we hadn't been delay
ed might have had the shearing over
by this." Reminded that there are
50,0r/0 sheep yet remaining to be shorn,
and that by no possibility could they
have been finished. Answers, "he
supposes so, always the same, every
thing sure to go again the poor Wall."
The weather did not clear up. Winter
seemed to have taken thought, and de
termined to show even this hind or
eternal summer that he had his rights.
The shed would be filled, and before the
sheep so kept dry were shorn, down
would come the rain again. Not a full
day's shearing for ten days. Then the
clouds disappeared as if the curtain of a
stage had been rolled up, and lo! the
golden sun fervid and itupatient to ob
literate the track of winter.
The first day •after the recommence
ment, matters went much as usual.
Steady work and little talk, as if every
one was anxious to make up for the lost
time. hut on the second morning after
breakfast, when the bell sounded, in
stead of the usual cheerful dash at the
sheep, every man stood silent and mo
tionless in his place. Some one uttered
the words " roll upl" Then the seventy
men converged, and slowly, but with
one impulse, walked up to the end of
the shed where stood Mr. tfordon.
The concerted action of any body of
men bears with it an element of power
which commands respect. The weapon
of force is theirs, it is at their option to
wield it with or without mercy. Atone
period of Australian colonization a su
perintendent in Mr. Oordon's position
might have had good ground for uneas
iness. Mr. Jack Bowles saw ill it all
entente "of a democratic and sanguin
ary nature, regetted deeply his absent
revolver, but drew up to his leader pre
pared to die by his side. That calm
i.enturionfelt no such serious m isgi vi ngs.
He knew that there had been dire
grumbling among the shearers in con
sequence of the weather. He knew that
there were malcontents among them.
He was prepared for some sort of de
mand on their part, and had concluded
to make certain concessions of a moder
ate degree. So looking cheerfully at the
men, he quietly awaited the deputation.
As they neared him there was a hesita
tion, and then three delegates came to
the front. These were Old Ben, Abra
ham Lawson, and Billy May. Rol
Thornton had been selected front his
age and long experience of the rights
and laws of the craft. He was a weath
er-beaten, wiry old Englishman whose
face and accent, darkened as the for
mer was by the Australian summers of
half a century, still retained the trace
of his native Devonshire. It was his
boast that he had shorn for forty years,
and as regularly " knocked down " or
spent in a single debaugh) his shearing
money. Lawson represented the sunull
freeholders, being a steady, shrewd fel
low, and one of the fastest shearers
Billy May stood for the fashion and
"talent," being the "Ringer," or fast
est shearer of the whole assembly, and
as such truly admirable:llol distinguish
ed.
"Well now, men," quotli Mr. Gordon,
cheerily meeting matters half-way,
" what's it all about?" The younger
delegate looked at old Ben, who, now
that it " was demanded of him to speak
the truth," or such dilution thereof as
night seem most favorable to the inter
ests of the shed, found a difficulty like
many wiser men about Inc exordium.
" Well, Muster Gordon," at length lie
broke forth, "look'er here, sir. The
weather's been awful bad, and clean
agin shearing. We've not been earning
our grub, and --"
" So it has," answered the manager,
"so it has ; but can 1 help the weather?
I'm as anxious as you are to have the
shearing over quickly. We're both of
one mind about that, eh
"'That's all right enough, sir," struck
in Abraham Dawson ; who felt that lien
was getting the worst of the argument,
;ind was moreover far less fluent than
usual, probably from being deprived of
the ant of the customary expletives;
'but we're come to say this, sir; that
the season's turned out very wet
indeed ; we've had a deal of broken
time. and the men feel it very hard
to be paying for a lot of rations,
and hardly earning anything. We're
shearing the sheep very close and clean.
You won't have 'em done no otherv, ays.
Not like some sheds where a man can
' run ' a bit and make up for lost time.
Now we've all conic to think this, sir,
that if we're to go on shearing the sheep
well, and to stick to them, and get them
done before the dust and grass-seed come
in, that you ought to make us sonic al
lowance. We know we've agreed for
so much a hundred, and all that. Still,
tne season turned so out-and-out bad,
we hope you'll consider it, and make it
up to us somehow."
"Never knew a worse year," corrobo
rated Billy May, who thought it indis
pensable to say something; "haven't
made enough, myself, to pay the cook."
This was 110 t strictly true, at any rate,
as to Master Billy's own earnings; lie
being such a remarkably fast shearer
and good withal), that he had always a
respectable sum credited to him for his
day's work, even when many of the
slower men came Mr short enough.
However, enough had been said to
make :\ Ir. Gordon fully comprehend the
case. The men were dissatisfied. They
hail come in a rounabout way to the con
clusion that sonic pecuniary concession,
not mentioned in their bond, should
come from the side of capital to that of
labor. 'Whether wages, interest of cap
ital, share of profits, reserve fund, they
knew• not. nor cared. This was their
stand. And being Englishmen they in
tended to abide by it.
'The manager had considered the situa
tion before it actually arose. He now
rapidly took in the remaining points of
debate. The shearers had signed a spe
cific agreement for a stipulated rate of
payment, irrespective of the weather.—
By the letter of the law, they had no
case. Whether they made little or much
profit, was not his affair. Ilut he was a
Just and kindly loan, as well as reason
ably politic. They had shorn well, and
the weather hail been discouraging, He
knew, too, that an abrupt denial might
cause a passive mutiny, if not a strike.
ll' they set themselves to thwart him, it
was in their power to shear badly, to
shear slowly, and to force him to dis
charge many of them. He might have
them lined, perhaps imprisoned by' the
police court. Meanwhile how could
shearing go on ? Dust and grass-seeds
would soon be upon them. Ile resolved
on a compromise, and spoke out at once
in n firm and decided tone as the me
enthered up yet more closely aroun
" Look here. all of you ; you know
very well that not bound to lied you
,Mill I am aware tlu
itt line weather
the season has been against you ; you
have shorn pretty well, so far, though
I've had to make examples, and ant
quite ready to make more. What lam
willing to do is thin: to everyman who
works on till the finish and shears to my
satisfaction, I will make a fair allow
ance in the ration account. That is, I
will oak no charge for the beef. Does
that suit you '.'" There was a cl.orus of
" All right, sir, we're satisfied," " Mr.
Gordon always does the fair thing,"
And work was immediately resumed
with alacrity.
The clerk of the weather, too gracious
even in these regions asfar as the absence
of rain is concerned, was steadily propi
tious. Cloudless skies and a gradually
ascending thermometer alone were the
signs that spring was changing into
summer. The splendid herbage ripened
and died; patches of bare earth began
to be discernible amid the late thick-
awarded pastures, dust to rise and cloud
pillars of sand to float and eddy—the
desert genii of the Arab. But the work
went on at a high rate of speed, out
pacing the fast-coming summer; and
before any serious disasters arose, the
last flock was " on the battens," and,
amid ironical congratulations, the "cob
bler," or last sheep was seized, and
stripped of his rather dense and dif
ficult fleece. In ten minutes the vast
wool-shed, lately echoing with the
ceaseless click of the shears, the
jests, the songs, the oaths of the rude
conirregation, was silent and desert
ed. J The floors were swept, the pens
closed, the sheep on their way to a dis
tant paddock. Not a soul remainsabout
the building but the pressers, who stay
to work at the rapidly lessening piles
of fleeces in the bins, or a meditative
teamster who sits musing on a wool
bale, absorbed in a calculation as tc
when his load will be made up.
It is sundown, a rather later timt of
closing than usual, but rendered neces
sary by the possibility of the " grand
finale." The younger men troop over
to the hut, larking like schoolboys.
Abraham Lawson throws a poncho over
his broad shoulders, lights his pipe, and
strides along, towering above the rest,
erect and stately as a guardsman. Con
siderably more so than you or I, dear
reader, would have been, had we shorn
1:“1 sheep, as 1i had
May Int.s shorn 142, :no le puts us
hand on the ti ye-feet fence of 111, ,
yard and vaults over it like a ,leer, iwe
paratory ton swim in the creek. AL
dinner you will see them all with fresh
Critneans and Jerseys, clean, com
fortable. ;LIM iie grand spirits. Next
morning is settling day. The book
keeping department at AliabaneO
being, severely correct, all is in
readiness. Each man's tally or num
ber of sheep shorn has been entered
daily to his credit. His private and per
sonal investments at the store have been
as duly debited. The shearers, as a
corporation, have been charged with
the multifarious Reins of their rather
copious mess-bill. This sum total is
divided by the number of the shearers,
the extract being tin , amount for which
each man is liable. This sum varies in
its weekly proportion at different sheds.
With an extravagant cook, or cooks,
the weekly bill is often alarming.
When the men and their functionary
study economy it may be kept very rea
sonably
The men have been sitting or stand
ing about the Lace for half-an-hour
when Mr. Jack Bowles rushes out, and
shouts " William May." That young
person, excessively clean, attired
in a quiet tweed suit with his
hair
cut very correctly, short, ad
vances with an air of calm intrepidity,
tad faces Mr. GIMIOII, 1111 W seated at a
long table, wearing a judicial expression
of countenance.
'Well, lay here's your account
So inan3 . .heed, al .1:1 po . lOU
ink, so many weeka
hearing store aventint
rivate store a c count
" Ii the tally of your sheep right ?-
1! I dare,ay it's :ill right, Mr. ( h -
u. I made it so and so; about ten
" \Veil, well ! ours is correct, no doubt.
Now I want to make up a good sub
scription for the hospital this year.—
How much NVil I you give? you've done
pretty well, I think."
'•
Jut me down a pound, sir."
" Very well, that's fair enough ; if
every one gives what they can alliird,
you uu•n will always have a place to go
to when you're hurt or lald up. No I
put your name down, and you'll see it
in the published list. Now about the
shearing, May. 1 consider that you've
done your work very well, and behaved
very well all through. You're a fast
shearer, but you shear closely, and don't
knock your sheep about. I therefore do
not charge you for any part of your
meat-bill, and I pay you at the rate of
half-a crown a hundred for all your
sheep, over and above your agreement.
Will that do?"
" Very well, indeed, and I'm much
liged to you, Gordon."
" Well, good-by, May, always call
lien you're pa.ssing, and if any work
is going on you'll get, your share. Here's
your cheque. Send in Lawson." Exit
May,. in high spirits, having cleared
about three pounds per week during the
whole term of shearing, and having
lived a far from unoleasant life, indeed
akin to that of a lighting-cock, front the
einieneemeet to the end of that pe
Lawson's interview may be described
as having very similarresults. I e,also,
was a first-('lass shearer, though not SO
artistic as the gifted filly. Jack Wind
sor's saucy blue eyes twinkled merrily
as he returned to his companions, and
incontinently leaped on the hack of his
wild-eyed coll. After theFe three
worthies Caine a shearer named Jacks ;
he belonged to quite a different class;
he c o uld shear very well jibe pleased,
it hail a rui tell 'disbelief that lon-
I.,ty was the hest policy, and a fixed
determination to shear so many sheep
11,4 he could get the manager to pass.
lly dint of close watching, constant
reprimand, and occasional " raddling "
( marking badly shorn sheep and refus
ing to count them 1, :%Ir. (lordon had
managed to tone hint down Or--average
respectability of execution ; still he was
always uneasily aware that whenever
his eye was not upon Lint , Jackson was
iiing what he might not to do with
light and main. He had, indeed,
ept him on from sheer mieei,sity, but
e intended none the less to mark his
iinion of him.
" Come in Jackson your tally is so.
Is that right ?"
J k son .—" I suppose so,"
" Cook and store account, so much ;
shearing account so witch:,
Jackson.—" Anil a good deal too."
"'That is your affair," said Mr. Gor
don, sternly enough. "Now look here;
you're in toy opinion a bad shearer and
a bad roan. You have given we a great
deal of trouble, and I should have kick
ed you out of the shell weeks ago, if I
had not been shorLof men ; I shit]; make
a difference between you and men who
have tried to (I() their best ; I make you
no allowance of any sort ; I pay you by
the strict . agreement; there's your
cheque. lio
Jackson goes out with a very black
countenance. lie mutters with a surly
oath, that if " he'd known how he was
going to he served he'd ha" blocked'
'cu a little more." is pretty well
believed to have been served right,
and he secures no sympathy what
ever. Workingmen of all classes
are shrewd and fair judges gener
ally. If an employer does his best to
mete out justice lie is al ways appreciated
and supported by the majority. These
few instances will serve as a description
of the whole process of settling with the
shearers. The horses have all been
got in. Great catching and saddling-up
has taken place all the morning. By
the afternoon the whole party are
dispersed to the four winds; some, like
Abraham Lawson and his friends, to
" higher up," in a colder cli
nate, where shearing necessarily com
nences later. From these they wil
>ass to others, until the last sheep it
he mountain runs are shorn. 'File)
hose who have not farms of their owl
Lemke themselves to reaping. Billy
May and Jack 'Windsor are quite as
ready to back themselves against time
In the wheat-field as on the shearing-
tloor. Harvest over, they find their
pockets inconveniently full, so they
commence to visit their friends and re-
pay themselves for their toils by a tol
erably liberal allowance or rest and re
creation.
Old lien and a tow choice specimens
of the olden time get no further than
the nearest public house. 'l' heir cheque
are handed to the landlord and
" stupendous and terrible spree " sets it
At the end of a week he informs them
that they have received liquor to the
amount of their cheques—something
over a hundred pounds--save the mark!
Th,y meekly acquiesce, as in their cus
tom. The landlord generously presents
them with a glassolgrog each, and they
take the road for the next wool-shed.
The shearer being despatched, the
sheep-washers, a smaller and less re
garded force, tile up. They number
some forty men. :Nothing more than
fair bodily strength, willingness and
obedience being required in their case,
they are more easy to get and replace
than shearers. They are a varied and
motley lot. That powerful and rather
handsome; man is a New Yorker, of
Irish parentage. Next to him is a
slight, neat, quiet individual. lie was
a lieutenant in a line regiment. The lad
in the rear was a Sandhurst cadet.
Then came two navvies and a Now
Zealander, five Chinamen, a French
man, twit Germans, Tin Pot, Jerry and
Wallaby—three original blacks. There
are no invidious distinctions as to caste,
color, or nationality. Every one is a
man and a brother at sheep-washing.
Wages, one pound per week ; wood,
water, tents, and food "a la discre
tion." Their accounts are simple: so
many weeks, so ninny pounds; store
account, so much ; hospital ? well, rive
shillings; cheque, good-morning.
The wool-pressers, the fleece-rollers,
the fleece-piekers, the yardsmen, the
washers, cooks, the hut cooks, the spare
shepherds ; all these and a few other
supernumeraries inevitable at shearing
time, having been paid off, the snow
storm of cheques which has been flut
tering all day comes to an end. Mr.
Gordon and the remaining "sous-oth
ciers" go to rest that night with much
of the mental strain removed which has
been telling on every waking moment
for the last two months.
The long train of drays and wagons,
with loads varying from twenty to
forty-five bales, has been moving off in
detachments since the commencement.
In a aay or two the last of them will
have rolled heavily away. The 1,400
bales, averaging three and a half hun
dred weight, are distributed, slow Jour
neying, along the road, which they
mark from afar, standi❑g huge and
columnar like guide tumuli, from Ana-
NUM BER 17
SEEM
tween the two points there is neither a
hill nor a stone. All is the vast mono
humus sea or plain—at this season a
prairie-meadow exuberant or vegeta
tion ; in the late sunnurr , or in thr tW-
CaSi, , ll:ll :Ind dreaded phenomena
dry trinfrr, dusty, and hertiless as a
briektield, for hundreds of miles.
Silence falls on the plains and waters
of inabanco for Llic next six months.
The wood-shed, the wash-pen, and all
the huts connected with them, art. lone
and voiceless as caravanserais in a city
of the plague.
Immured Children
A 4 11r1044 41 It 4.4•44r41 or St, pe rvl 1011%
There are numerous traditions still
prevalent in some parts of Ilermatty
that in aheient times, whenever it
church, a castle, all embankment, or
tiny great building, was commenced,
children, and even men, were forcibly
placed inside tile walls, and there im
mured alive, iu order, as the people
thought, to give stability to the founda
tion. It was the popular belief that
unless this was done nothing., in the
world would prevent the walls from
falling in ; and many traditions relate
the success attending this custom.—
" Mythology" says it was of
ten deemed necessary to immure in the
ground upon which a building W:L4 to
be erected living animals and even men
as a sacriliee to mother Earth, because
he stitrered the burden to be• placed
poll her. Through this cruel custom
4. was expected that the building would
Main immovable firmness.
The superstition has not been eXtilict
so very long. Daimler r,‘lates' that
in the year lsla, when the ice-iloods
broke through the embankment of the
Klbe, and the repairs cost an incredible
amount of labor, the water breaking re
peatedly through, an old man approach
ed the inspector of the works and said :
"nie embankment can never be
brought in order unless you bury all in-
, cent child in it." I;ritnni even men
n later ease: " .\ t the building of
EIC=II
feted In the year Ps43, Ittn
ed that a child Was needed fur immur
gin the foundation." 'l•hese eases
'o\l, that there still lingers here and
there the vague tradition of such a cus
tom once practiced in I lermamy and
similar traditions are vonnected with
tuy ancient buildings in the Father
id. A beautiful day in August, Ise:
led we to the little duchy of ()Ideilburg,
situated away up on the map of t ler
many, and bordering on oue side the
kingdom of Holland• The little capi
tal of the duchy, also
11:1 , , a very Dutch appearance ; thercam
the I)uti•li canals, the narrow sireet, , ,
the antiquated houses, and the
antiquated, solid people. This little
town and duchy are ruled by [lie eery
Good natured ( haunt 1)11111. Peter of Ol
denburg, who owns an old ,eliloss or
castle in the capital, but in which hr
awl his lady are seldom ur never known
to remain over flight_
The I
iiiicctcil with the tii which
I at 01100 paid a visit. gray,
somewhat dilapidated edi lice. The
boulder atones or the gmat court-yard
were covered with ino,s, weeds mid
grass. The schloss was never( heless oc
cupied. We entered the clean, wide,
long corridors and passages, and found
a stout, well-to-do porter, whose wily
occupation, judging by Ids rotundity,
was conducting strangers arounil the
rooms of the building, and relating the
legendsand stories con fleeted with them,
:11111 the history of the reigning family.
One of Iris stories was, as near as I can
remember his exact words, the follow
ing: "It is a remarkable fact," said he,
"that three or four of 1510 grand (Melt
.
esses have died when very young, all tif
them, and no good elitise was ever gi vuu
for their death. The present Grand
Duchess, who is a line, strong NV.111:01,
and able to ride a horse with any of her
sex, is fearful whenever she enters the
castle, and for the world cannot be in
duced to remain in it, over night, but til
ways drives home to her new chateau a
few miles away." '"l'ile ;rand Duch
ess," he added, "is very nervous on the
subject, and believes some children were
immured in the walls of the seldom at
the time it was built, and their screams
are said to have caused the death of the
former grand duchesses."
The latter effect may beattributed to
the narrator's imagination. The legend
itself is currently believed in, the city,
and may be found recorded in a book
lately published by an Oldenburg anti
quarian, " Aberglaube and Sage Olden
burgs," which also includes some super
stitions and traditions of the immediate
.neighborhood. In the church at ;San
del, near by, there is said to be one
place in the walls pointed out where,
net long ago, the figures of two children
were supposed to be discerned through
the discoloring of the plaster, and it is
the popular belief that as the church
was being built, the walk could not be
got to stand until two little children
were buried in them alive. The foun
dation walls of the church at filoler
kes.e would not stand at first until the
workmen had placed a little child with
in the walls. And at Itutjailingen the
people were once makine a embank
ment against the floods of the river
Jalide, when one place was swept away
time after time. An lirm ground could
be won on which to build, and it was
thought to give up the undertaking.
Itut the workmen bethought themselves
at last of the old tradition of immuring
children, and in order to :Lime:lse the
waters a boy named I lay. was brought
and buried alive. Ever since that tune
the embankment has stood as firm as t
rock, and the district in called to thi
day after the boy, Ilayoniloods,
When the people of Illexer wen, tlis
ussingus to where toerect their church
L till:Illy ru,)1v,•.1 th:it lwn eXel
1e,111,1 be tethered I.,)g,•ther, ilri 'e i nu
n the evening, and wherever they
honkd be found next running, there
hould the church stand. On the fnl-
o the LialikS of a dike and there th,
diureh was iwg,un. I:ut the work madi
cur progress at all ; as snort us OW' par
J 1 the \Valhi setts filiklitl, another wtiolt
have sunk into ruins, lieeause of the ha,
foundation. Yet the licople were deter
mined not to be frustrated ; soave (.1 thi
workmen accordingly cri,seil the We-,
to lirenierledie, where they purchased
eltihl from it,, inhuman mother, am
returning with it, buried it in the foun
dation of the elitireh, ‘viii, h, having
nun• a firm base, wa: speedily comple
ted. Another ease is recorded as having
taken place in the Duchy ul Oldenburg
in lit;, when Count Anton ( ;wither
was building the Elleinser darn., One
day the Count came upon his workmen
just as they were about to immure a
little boy, whom they had purchased
from his mother, for the purpose of giv
ing stability to the work. lint the
Count at once ordered the child to be
released :Ind the mother to be punished,
and the dam was completed without a
human sacrifice having been offered to
mother Earth.
Coming further south, to the fn•c city
of Bremen, not twenty miles distan
front the town of Oldenburg, we nice
with a similar tradition of an innncen
child having been buried alive in the
foundations of the old fortifications, in
order to make them impregnable. A
similar tradition is connected with the
old castle of Liebenstein, in Thuringia,
:hat ill order to make the foundations
firm, a little girl was immured. The
little innocent was obtained for blood
money from a cruel-hearted mother.
On being walked in, the child is said to
have been very happy at the !wise of
the masons working around her. To
wards the last the said, " Mother, I see
you just a wee hit;" and as the last
stone way placed above her she sail,
" Mother, 1 cannot see you ally noire
now !"
A similar legend Is connected with
Burg Persse, near Ciotti ngen. A peasant
woman sold her deaf and dumb child for
the sum of three hundred groschens for
the purpose of being immured. The
woman herself brought the child and
placed it in the stone grave. The little
being, which never before had uttered a
word, opened its mouth and said, "Soft
as a cushion of velvet was my mother's
breast, but harder than rock and stone
is my mother's heart." The people were
astonished and wept, but the mother re
mined cold and unmoved ; she took the
money, and only went away when she
was convinced that her child was se
curely immured.
AN UNHAPPY FATHER
Between Meiningen and Wurzburg is
situated the village of Henneberg, above
which the ruins of a castle of the same
RATE OF ADVERTISING
BUSINESS ADVERTIFIF.MENTM, 812 a year per
square of lea I he, ; per year far mall addi
tional square.
REAL RqTATE ADVERTISING, 10 cents n line for
the first, and 5 vents for each subsequent. Itl
Insert lon.
UP:NF.ItAt A DVF:wrignin, 7 rents n Mtn for the
first. lttot I cent:. ior each tottewlittent Insrl•
ton.
SPRCIAL NOTICES lIISCTI.CtI In LOCISI C0111n11 , 13
15 evll ls per line.
SPECIAL NOTWEA preceding tortrriattes snit
tl,alllo, 10 cents tier lino for first 111,ert1 , 01,
nut! 3 cents for every aubvrquout Inqertlon.
LF.GA T. AND OTHER NOTICES . —
F:Xec‘lCOrs' notices
A.I min 1 , 1 rators' nigh,
Assignees' notices
Anilitiirs'
tither" Not Ives," tett lines, or I••rs.
three times
a \%C)ot lei I, rt y 1
• whirls inwrsrn'
keep, d. still in a good state of pre,. r
vation, and now the ruins SerVe t :I
I . :LV.lite place of reamt furpienie parties
and excursionist,. grim story pet
haps only adds attraction to the place.
I lt I he gray, primitive period of (krill:in
history, the castle e':l, built for a rich
count. \Viten it was nearly
the architect one day went to the mviter,
tuid told hint llntt in order to make the
castle impregnable a little girl would
have to be buried alive within the walls,
and asked tic count to purchase tine.
The latter opposed the request fora long
time, but the architect insisted a,.
, trongly that tlw count finally gave way.
The architect then proposeti that a kin -
derfest should be held in the inner
courtyard of the Ilenitelieri.t . , all the
little children of the village should lie
invited, :Intl the !Intl little girl to pass
through the castle-gate should be con
sidered as the one selected by late for
the victim.
The morning of the festival came:
hundreds of happy children clambered
up the steep pathways leading to the
castle, and lo! the little daughter of the
architect himself is the tirst to reach the
castle !....ate and pass iii ! Hut the father
refused to immure his own child, plead
ing an excuse, and proposed that a sec
ond kinderfest should take place. Here
again fate decreed that the architect's
little laughter should enter the gateway
nest. 'llic count was again induced t o
overlook this decision, and as the archi
tect---or the mason, as he is called in
the Nvould have a girl for his
victim, a third kliiderfest NVll9ltrritilged.
Again the architect's little daughter
was the first to reach the summit and
enter the gateway. count would
`pot listen any more to the architect's
CX( . llSer , , uud he was CffilllllllllltiCti 10 1111-
inure his milt child. The little girl was
accordingly placed by its father In a
niche which had been lull high up In
he wall, and hr Ilion logos the tour(:
)f ill Nvalling opening Ilecann ,
ess with every stout.. At htst only n
renininol, and the child,
tlial her father was plug.
tic with her, Cried out pleasantly,
' lather, huts I can only stn. you Jost. n
lather tlwit played
he last stone in Hs position,
brie(:s of Ow child pierced his lir,•nsl
n dagger; he 1(.11 Iron, bite 1n,1111.1 .
old 1,r,11;,. 1110 sect:. struggles :m.l
of the chill were heard for a
lig tine•, awl eau even be lit . :l I 1.11
tia day. ; , qicli is the leguntl.
A 'Tit Fri, rt., rrit-i,o . rit ri:.
\l•hen the BurgHrt.ne, an Iho Kreirn
alio, in I is irk, wns Luilt, n child
is said to have been buried alive in 0
manner similar to the former. 011 the
eighth day follwing, however, when
the vault NV:tS 1 , 1 , 011 Cd tO nee if
Lim hud :-.Lwetinibed I. hunger, the ae
tonislum•nl of the people was gre:tt
find the child still !dive, lilting us lewd,
anti healthy us before, noel sitting con
tentedly 111.01 a stone, smiling upon
ever;liiiily. The people werecon\ • iored
lltat I here was ndi\•iue interference, the
child wine taken out, and lived many
years afterwards. 'l'he cantle, however,
uu at,outit ui the laughing the little
one• I greenpn, grienvii, to grin), e\•er
afte•ro:tnl+ retained the nana•ot
The Erichsittirg, Atuttted between the
villages tti: rtlarltnltlentlttrf and Inissel,
has a similar legend et ainectell with it,
bnrdering nn lIIC inirztetilttns. 'lllitt child
NV:IA to he immured,' he legend says, "in
t. render the f,.rtrem iniregita
He." A sticl:litw was cliosett
Vit•LIIII,Ile that '',llifilltl 'lever have tit
tered :1 wanl ut Speech. " A babe wan
11111•111'01, awl given In the care (d . the
whoa it slittuld
Le :t petty tdtl it Nvott be tletuatitletl of
her.
women nursed the child front her
own bireast, and thereby became so
much all:wiled to it that she determin
ed to try and prevent its beingsacrilieed.
this end she endeavored, night and
day, to teach We Child IL few words,
that it might be able to utter them Is
the fatal day arrived, when, in this
case, the immuring WOlll,l Inc rendered
valueless. Finally the day came when
the Child Was just twelve months old,
and many people were gathered in the
castle N . aril to see the child immured,
some standing around and sympathiz
ing with the afflicted foster-mother,
who wept bitterly at not having been
able to teach the child to speak. At
last the owner of the castle stepped
forth and asked, "Can the little
one .speak:"' I'llis being answered in
the negative by the foster-mother, he
turned to the little one itself and asked,
" loudly and distitmtly," " What is
softer than a cushion of velvet, little
one 7" Then a rosy smile overspread
the countenance of the child, and nod
ding its Lead in a friendly manner to
the lord of the castle, it said, " The
breast of my mother!" The lord asked
further: " \\lad is sweeter than milk
and 111111 Cy, little one'." And again it
answered: "The breast of my mother!"
Under these eireunistances the child
was unlit for immuration, and was re
turned to its foster-mother, with whom
it afterwards lived. Hut another child
was proeured for the purpose of inwall
ing ; aid, as it was really unable to
,peak ut the end ul the year, was buried
alive.
=OM
The resemblance of the latter legend
to the former one leads us to suspect the
same source for both. AS 11l how mind'
of truth lies :.t the bottom of them :tll,
we are, of course, unable to say with ally
degree of positiveness. Th., brothers
irinini appear to have adopted the le
gends as bearing truth with them, and
though they are in many
lishcd in have. uo
grounds for doubting the fact of r
ation. The tradition is a widespread
one, and likewise found in many other
European countries. In Copenhagen
we are told that as a rampart was be
ing erected the workmen became dis
contented bevause of the constant sink
ing of the foundation. Finally they tool:
au "innocent girl," placed it in a chair
nt a table, gave it playthings and sweet
meats, and while it was thus enjoying it
self twelve masons built a vault over it,
upon which the rampart wassuccessfully
erected. When the ,'lavers of the Dan
ube laid the foundations of their Ili .4
city they sent out their chief at sunrise,
and the first child happened to nice:
was to he immured in the foundation of
the first building. A tiervian legend
" For three years three hundred
mason; worked upon the foundations of
tient ari, but what they had built in the
'lay was torn down at night by the
Willi—night-ghosts. Finally the queen
said that secure foundations could only
be gained when two own sisters of the
same name were buried in the founda
tions. 'Then the Willi desired that of
the three wives of the king, the one
which should bring the 11111H011H SOlllO
- leg to eat on the following day should
Le immured. As the youngest wile of
the king happened to bring the masons
their food, the three hundred workmen
at (MCC surrounded her and began to
wall her in. Upon her supplications
they left 111.1' a small opening through
which she could pacify her eltild, which
was held up to her every day as long as
she lived.
The legendary tales of ;reeve abound
in narratives of 1111111 mi sacrifices to the
gods. Among the Romans, Augustus
anti Sex tus l'ompeitts committed whole
sale murders tei political blood ollbrings.
Among the ancient Scandinavians,
Germans, Gauls and Celts the slaugh
tering of men in the honor of God flour
ished to a great extent. Every ninth
year the Danes held a sacred sacrifice of
ninety-nine men, besides horses, dogs
and fowls; and the l erman tribes, even
aftertheintroductionofChristianity,still
continued to offer up their prisoners of
war as sacrifices to their ancient gods.
The same custom is essentially met with
in the Feejee Islands. A late traveller
mentioned the fact that as the dwelling
of a native chief became dangerous to live
in, another hail to be built; everything
was made ready for beginning the work,
first of all two slaves being offered up as
sacrifices. Holes were made in the
ground for the corner posts,
and in two
of these a slave was placed, alive; the
earth was immediately tilled in, and the
posts driven down. A German writer
has even gone so far as to trace the cus
tom prevalent among us of placing pa
pers, deeds, coins, &c., in the foundation
stone of a building, to the old heathen
custom of Immuring human beings un
derneath to give the structure stability.
The latest novelty in printing offices
is to pay tributes of respect to all type
setters leaving their case to go on
"bender." A piece of black muslin is
fastened to the gas-burner, over the de
serted case. and beneath the muslin, a
card containing the following:
" Not dead, but eleepeth!"
" Gone where the woodbine twineth.'