Principal Cairns | Page 7

duties of a very
multifarious kind to discharge, and part of his shepherd work had been

done for him for some time by his eldest son, Thomas. But Thomas
was now old enough to earn a higher wage by other work on the
home-farm or in the woods, and so it came to be John's turn to take up
the work among the sheep. When his father told Mr. M'Gregor that
John would have to leave school, the schoolmaster was so moved with
regret at the thought of losing so promising a scholar, that he said that
if John could find time for any study during the day he would be glad
to have him come to his house two or three nights in the week, and to
go over with him then what he had learned. As Mr. M'Gregor had
become more and more solitary in his habits of late--he was a bachelor,
and his aged mother kept house for him--this offer was considered to be
a very remarkable proof of his regard, and it was all the more gratefully
accepted on that account.
It fortunately happened that the work to which John had now to turn his
hand allowed him an opportunity of carrying on his studies without
interfering with its efficiency. That work was of a twofold character.
He had to "look" the sheep, and he had to "herd" them. The looking
came first. Starting at six o'clock in the morning, accompanied by the
faithful collie "Cheviot," he made a round of all the grass-parks on the
home-farm, beginning down near the sea and thence working his way
round to a point considerably higher up than the mansion-house. His
instructions were to count the sheep in each field, so that he might be
able to tell whether they were all there, and also to see whether they
were all afoot and feeding. In the event of anything being wrong, he
was to report it to his father. The circuit was one of three or four miles,
and the last field to be looked was that in which were gathered the fifty
or sixty sheep that were to be brought out to the unfenced lawns round
the mansion-house and be herded there during the day.
These sheep were generally to be found waiting close to the gate, and
when it was opened they could quite easily find their own way down to
their feeding-ground. As they passed slowly on, cropping the grass as
they went, John was able to leave them and go home for his breakfast
of porridge and milk. Breakfast having been despatched, and Cheviot
fed, he once more wrapped his shepherd's plaid about him,
remembering to put a book or two, and perhaps a piece of bannock, into

the neuk of it, and set out to find his flock. There was usually little
difficulty in doing so, for the sheep knew the way and did not readily
wander out of it; while, even if they had deviated a little from the direct
route, no great harm would at this stage of their passage have resulted.
It was quite different when they came down to the lawns near the house.
These were surrounded by ornamental shrubbery, and it was to keep the
sheep from invading this and the adjacent flower-borders that the
services of the herd-boy were required.
What he had to do, then, after he had brought the sheep down, was to
take his place on some knoll which commanded the ground where they
were feeding, and keep an eye on them. If nothing disturbed them they
would feed quietly enough, and a long spell of reading might be quite
safely indulged in. If any of them showed signs of wandering out of
bounds, a stroll in their direction, book in hand, would usually be quite
sufficient, with or without Cheviot's aid, to turn them. And if a leading
sheep were turned, the others would, sheep-like, follow the new lead
thus imparted. This was the usual state of things in fine weather. In wet
weather there were not the same possibilities of study, unless the
feeding-ground happened to be in the neighbourhood of the old church,
where sufficient shelter could be found for reading and the sheep could
be watched through the open doorway. About four o'clock--in winter
somewhat earlier--it was time to take the sheep back to the fold-field,
and then the parks had to be again looked, this time in the reverse order,
the shepherd's cottage being gained in time for supper.
After supper, John would go into Cockburnspath to recite the lessons
he had prepared to Mr. M'Gregor. The schoolmaster never prescribed
any definite section to be learned; he left this to his pupil, in whose
industry and interest in his work he had