Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1887 — Sheep in the Early Days. [ARTICLE]

Sheep in the Early Days.

“He calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth (from the folder his own sheep, he goeth before them and the sheep follow him; for they know his voice. And a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.’—Johns. 3-5. In reference to this passage of Scripture, John Hartley, in his “.Researches in Greece and the Levant,” says: “I asked my man if itis usual in Greece to give names to sheep. He informed me that it was, and that the sheep obeyed the shepherd when he called them by their names.

I had an opportunity of verifying the truth of this remark. Passing by a flock of sheep, I asked the shepherd the same question which I put to my servant, and he gave me the same answer. I tlien bade him call one of his sheep. He did so, and it instantly left its pasturage and companions and ran up to the hand of the shepherd, with signs of pleasure and with that prompt obedience which I have never before observed in any other animal. It is also true of the sheep in this country, that ‘a stranger they will not follow, but wiH flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.’”—Exchange.