THE SIGN OF THE RAM.
OAKES v. SPAULDING. (40 Vermont, 347.)
By Irving Browne.
[The owner of a ram, knowing its propensity to butt persons, is bound to keep it under safe restraint.]
I DO not sing of Jason's golden fleece,
Nor of the celebrated Darby ram;
My quadruped is humbler far than these,
And for his curious history I am
Indebted to a volume bound in sheep,—
Appropriate such ram's-horn lore to keep.
One Mrs. Oakes, a humble farmer's wife—
(He had but one)—lived in the fair Green State,
And helped her husband in his toilsome life
By dairy work from early morn till late;
She brought the cows from pasture every night,
And milked them all, and thought her labor light.
One Spaulding, owning an abutting field,
Harbored therein a ram of temper high,
Which never would to soft persuasion yield,
But causelessly at any one would fly,
Demolish him with capital Ionic,
And stand above him with a grin sardonic.
One evening unsuspecting Mrs. Oakes
Had gathered in her moollies from the field,
When Spaulding's ram comes rambling by, and chokes
With rage, and threateningly his horns doth wield,
Then dashes 'gainst the busy woman,—slam!—
This terrible assault-and-battering-ram!
From what direction came this fierce attack
Is not recorded in the law report;
But I infer it must have been the back.
Because, if from the front, she had a fort
Of strong defence in gingham apron light
With which she could have "shoo'd" him into flight;—
Weapon provided by kind Providence
Against attacks of venomous wild beast,
Of which by pristine disobedience
The woman's danger is so much increased;
