THE WISE DAY`S OF ARRAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2651, 4 January 1905, Page 72

THE WISE DAY`S OF ARRAN.

A 1 very,, pretty function* took .place atn Maehrie, in the Isle/of Arran," one day-' 1 recently. •. - The sheep dogs.'in-training "are ' annually collected -for; '-the trials," when, 1 tli':, puppies which;haye- passed the anxious-'dt-ys of their pupilage^ 'show -what they can" do, 'against the veterans \£hp nave . kept- , sheep for years. ' Strangers and visitors rarely hear much about it, and it' is gene- ■ rally a very select little gathering, which; goes out on the -bills' to watch the fasci-"j nating ' work. - This year the Duchejjs 1 ■ Dowager qf Hamilton, accompanied by her daughter, Lady. Mary Hamilton, was on t-he ground from the to the_ end, anew she' had invited Lord -Charles -Beresford and I ' j some of, his bluejackets',and Marines, Iq. view 1 ! the .proceedings. r ' •* [ '" '" j The 'wise beasts c dashed off ■ over the < mountains, driving their .woolly charges ' LitlSer and thither just as' their masters, ordered* picking, aside the lamb's/ and sue- i oe^sfully keeping thejn'fionf their mothers . — no easy task when t hundreds of lambs ■ are doing all they know to evade the dogs and rejoin the- ewes, which, on their side, \ ! we, frantic to get .across fo, 'tlieir -bereaved i. I ones. . '-.„,', 'I The special In-?---;} *? "*>,»£» o dog preferred j in. Arran is tiie, oid-fasMoned qollie. v.-r i its sharp, wel[-siiA.ped,hea I d' a'lmqst hidden » ia the huge outstanding Vu'ff that- encircles . its throat; "tLaHy;. 'Mary Hamilton, the ; girlish proprietor ,of' tie Mand^is devoted' | to dogs. During the trials .she followed : j eveiy manteuvre with Tier ex- i plaining to', Xord Cliarles' and her other ' ! guests all the many intricacies .of the pretty scene. Dougarie .Lodge, the chooting-box where the Duchess and 'Lady- Mary aie . i staying just now, is on the island's . j side, opposite, the coast of Kintyre. The i i scenery about here is exceedingly fine. The. i ■huge peaks of Ben Goil and the '•thundiar'- | | spitten" ridges fibove Glen Rosa and Glen. S'annox are picturesque in thfe extreme. In the sandstone cliffs by the shore is the King's Cove, .where Robert the Bruce } is said to have watched the spider and to I have gathered courage from, its ultimate i success after having failed six times in its efforts to reach its goal. Bruce also had failed six times. Six times had he -flung himself .igainst the English Army and beeu beaten back, until, in 4 that dreary cave, the hero had laid down despairing. The j success of the spider nerved liim anew, as i Edward of England found to liis cost." To j this .day the spider is the emblem of good ! luck in Scotland ; and as for the Arranmen, they would not kill a spider for the world !