THE EXILE'S HEAR OF HOME

Evening Star, Issue 23698, 4 October 1940, Page 3

THE EXILE'S HEAR OF HOME

On the shores of the Firth df Forth lives a sheep dog 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 greygreen waters of the Firth of Forth behind it, to understand the old dog’s illusion.

His mistress in ay 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 the opposite end of tho bay, there to round up the recalcitrant waves of the flock before returning. All who have watched through fieldglasses tho white sweep of a flock of sheep rolling across the downs witlj 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 ho is afflicted, this old sheepdog, true to his calling, plunges in after the white sheep of the sea, seeking to bring the wanderers to the fold. It is the exiled sheepdog’s dream of home.