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| Illustration of a Glengallan ewe from 1888. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71101050 Several years after the writing of the poem |
(Dedicated to her owner, James M'Intosh, Esq.)
BESSIE (running from the spring-cart to her mistress):
Oh, glad am I again to see your face, my mistress dear!
And, master, yours! It seems I've been away from you a year!
A feverish life I've led of late,—from spot to spot been hurl'd;
But still have found no place like this:—Glengallan 'gainst the world !
O'er land and sea they hurried me, whether I would or no;
And great the fuss they made of me at Sydney's Annual Show. .
Per train and steamer I was sped — had scarcely time to sleep.
And surely may henceforth be termed, in truth, a travelled sheep.
But why our " paragons " prefer this sort of jubilation
Seems odd to me, who much more love the calm and peaceful station.
Nathless, great kindness I have found:—warm words and genial faces
Have greeted me at every turn in those far distant places
And yet some sheep I saw passed by—few fondling them or feeding;
So I ascribed my happier luck to my superior breeding.
For which I'm grateful, master dear :— If bipeds met such care
As sheep and cattle for the Shows, a lovely world it were!
For one thing on my travels did almost make me weep—
The greater difference by far in men than seen in sheep ;
For, in the features of a flock, all might be ta'en as brothers,—
But, amongst men, some faces seem antipodes of others :
A fearful blame is somewhere, sure:—I'll tell you what I think—
T'would not be so if all the world would drink but what we drink!
—This from a silly sheep ... But now, a word or two I'll tell
Of what, on her eventful tour, your pride and pet befell.
Arrived in Sydney, as I said, they took me to the Show.
And on your Bessie much applause the many did bestow;
Bluff, bearded squatters bent o'er me, and judges not a few
Felt of my fleece, and straight exclaimed—" By Jove, a splendid ewe!"
And then—(a thing I dreaded much)—each most exuberant Thug
Snatch'd a thick sample from my fleece at one terrific tug.
Most glad was I when sunset came, and they all cleared away;
I'd rather be a goat than spend another such a day.
—Well, back to Brisbane I was sent; and in a paddock there
For twelve long weeks was fed and housed with tenderness and care :
No native-dog within those bounds could ever hope to pass;
Plenty of kindness found I there — but very little grass.
Then came one day a farmer wight, who took me to his place,—
(Where next? I thought)— Oh, how I longed once more to see your face !
For though, for all his friendly care, I towards that farmer leaned,
I yearned and hungered for the spot when I was bred and yeaned.
—Came then, at last, a happy morn, when to my throbbing heart
"Your going home!" the farmer said, and bore me to his cart;
And into Brisbane once again I came—and everywhere
People looked kind, and felt and praised my fleece so full and fair:
And one—a whilom shepherd wight—patted me on the head.
And—" You're a bonny, bonny ewe!" exultantly he said:
"O would," he cried (and at the thought his eye lit up with bliss) —
"That every farmer in the land had but a flock like this!
He then would aye impervious be to flood, or drought, or blight,
And his shearings and his lambings would fill him with delight,
And keep the eyes and faces of his household ever bright!
A cornucopia to his crops such fœcund flock would be,
Increasing, every month and year, his farm's fertility."
Thus spoke the wight, and once again patted my face and head.
Then to the homeward steamer's deck the eulogised he led.
. . . . . . .
And now, my dears, I've told you all:—And never, never more,
May I be hurried to and fro, and hurled from shore to shore;
But 'midst Glengallan's peaceful scenes, beneath your kindly care,
May I reside, and give each year a fleece and increase fair.
And when I'm old and toothless grown, I pray to yonder town
Never—oh never send your pet, to horrid Boiling-down !
—I see your eye—your heart—revolt! . . . . Well, well, my master dear,
'Twas wrong of me. I'll give you yet my likeness every year ;
So that, long after I am low, the Darling Downs shall see,
Sprung from my loins, afar and wide, a peerless progeny.
S. G. MEE
Brisbane, April 12.
Brief notes:
Samuel Gill Mee was an advocate for the Darling Downs ... his praise for the region having previously made it to my blog, see The Darling of the Downs.
He was also a campaigner for the temperance movement, this can probably be seen in the lines
For, in the features of a flock, all might be ta'en as brothers,—
But, amongst men, some faces seem antipodes of others :
A fearful blame is somewhere, sure:—I'll tell you what I think—
T'would not be so if all the world would drink but what we drink!
James M'Intosh to whom the poem is dedicated was overseer of Glengallan from 1859, having worked at the Watson Boiling Downs in Ipswich for several years after migrating from Scotland in the later part of 1854. [2] His previous employment may well have inspired the line
Never—oh never send your pet, to horrid Boiling-down !
Mee publishes his poem in the April of 1870. In May of the same year M'Intosh departs from his role at Glengallan ... I doubt the two facts are related.
Mr. James M'Intosh, the principal sheep overseer on Glengallan, Darling Downs, for 14 years, has been presented with a purse containing 36 sovereigns prior to his leaving his position. [3]
The observant among you will note that 1859 is not 14 years prior to 1870. The joy of working with newspapers as your source.
He died in 1899.
References:
WHAT "BESSIE" (A PET EWE) SAID ON HER RETURN FROM HER TRAVELS. (1870, April 16). The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), p. 8. Retrieved January 6, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27260499.
[2] DEATH OF AN OLD DOWNS RESIDENT. (1899, July 12). Darling Downs Gazette (Qld. : 1881 - 1922), p. 2. Retrieved January 6, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article177617718
[3] [?]. (1870, May 14). The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser (NSW : 1856 - 1861; 1863 - 1889; 1891 - 1954), p. 3. Retrieved January 6, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article189961229
