CHAPTER II.

THE SHEEP-SHEARING.

"Plain living and high thinking ...
The homely beauty of the good old cause,
...our peace, our fearful innocence,
And pure religion breathing household laws."

"A happy youth, and their old age
Is beautiful and free."


The sheep-shearings at Up-Hill Farm were a kind of rural Olympics.
Shepherds came there from far and near to try their skill against each
other,--young men in their prime mostly, with brown, ruddy faces, and
eyes of that bright blue lustre which is only gained by a free, open-air
life. The hillside was just turning purple with heather bloom, and along
the winding, stony road the yellow asphodels were dancing in the wind.
Everywhere there was the scent of bog-myrtle and wild-rose and
sweetbrier, and the tinkling sound of becks babbling over glossy rocks;
and in the glorious sunshine and luminous air, the mountains appeared to
expand and elevate, and to throw out glowing peaks and summits into
infinite space.

Hand in hand the squire and his daughter climbed the fellside. They had
left home in high spirits, merrily flinging back the mother's and
Sophia's last advices; but gradually they became silent, and then a
little mournful. "I wonder why it is, father?" asked Charlotte; "I'm not