THE EXILE'S DREAM OF HOME

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 194, 2 August 1940, Page 3

THE EXILE'S DREAM OF HOME

On the shores of the Firth of Forth lives a sheepdog exiled from his native hills, spending his old age with his mistress on the lower levels of Fife. He is getting blind, but.; this dog has still one definite aim in life. This is to round up and bring to the fold the white-capped tumbling waves rolling in on the sands and among the rocks, for they vividly recall the familiar sight of flocks on distant pastures and remind him of his old vocation. One has only to stand and watch the turn of the white surf with the grey-green waters of the Firth of Forth behind it, to understand the old dog's illusion. His mistress may stand whistling and calling; he turns a deaf ear, and when at last she descends to the shore to take him home he goes off at his best trial speed to ihe opposite end of the bay, there to round up the recalcitrant waves of the flock before returning. All who have watched through; field glasses the white sween of a j flock of sheep rolling across the downs with their indefatigable pursuer behind them will realise the pathos of this perpetual chase by the tireless animal. No matter how cold the water, regardless of the rheumatic pains with which he is afflicted, this old sheep dog, true to this calling, plunges in after the white sheep of the sea,v seeking to bring the wanderers to the fold. It is the exiled sheepdog's dream of home.