# Sheep-shearing - Source: McGuffey's Second Reader (second-reader.gutenberg.org), Public domain, William Holmes McGuffey, 1879, via Project Gutenberg - Reading level: Grades 1 and 2 - Subjects: Animals - Topics: sheep, time, wool, before, comes, month - Length: 183 words, about 1 min - Original: - Page: - Open in Sprouts: SHEEP-SHEARING. - Sheep are washed and sheared some time in the month of June. This should be done quite early in the month, before the hot days begin. - It is fine sport for those who look on, but not much fun for the sheep. - It is best for the sheep to have the wool taken off; otherwise they would suffer in the summer time. - When the time comes for washing the sheep, they are driven to a pond or a little river. - Then they are thrown into the water, one at a time. The men who are in the water catch them, and squeeze the wet wool with their hands to get the dirt all out of it. - Then the wool is thoroughly dried, the sheep are taken to the shearer; and he cuts off the wool with a large pair of shears. - It is then dyed, spun, and woven into cloth. - In a short time, before the cold winter comes, new wool grows out on the sheep. By the corning of spring there is so much, that it must be cut off again. ## Picture credits - illustrator not named in this edition, Public domain () - illustrator not named in this edition, Public domain ()