The Sunday School child's mistake is rather akin to that of the old
Sussex shepherd who had never had a day's illness in his life. When at
last he did take to his bed, it was quite obvious that he would never
leave it again. The vicar of the parish visited him almost daily to
read to him. The old man always begged the clergyman to read him the
hymn, "The roseate hues of early dawn." At the tenth request for the
reading of this hymn the clergyman asked him what it was in the lines
that made such an appeal to him. "Ah, sir," answered the old shepherd,
"here I lie, and I know full well that I shall never get up again; but
when you reads me that beautiful 'ymn, I fancies myself on the downs
again at daybreak, and can just see 'Them rows of ewes at early
dawn'!"
Had the old shepherd lived in Bermuda instead of in Sussex, that is a
sight which he would never have seen, for the local grass, though it
appears green enough to the eye, is a coarse growth which crackles
under the feet and contains no nutriment whatever as pasture; so all
cows have to be fed on imported hay, rendering milk very costly. For
the same reason all meat and butter have to be imported, and their
price even in pre-war days was sufficiently staggering.
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