The Shepherder's Wagon

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Six of us in a sheep wagon no more than seven by eight feet! If there were hardships, mother never complained or told me about them. For three young hooligans ranging from five to ten years in age, it was wild, hilarious adventure from sunup-when we were fed and pushed out the door - until dark when we were hand-scrubbed in the same bucket of warm soapy water and tucked into the big bed roll on the hard ground underneath the sheep wagon. After we were bathed, baby sister's diapers were put to soak in the same bucket of water. When you had to carry water half a mile you saw to it that every drop got full mileage.

The secret of sheep wagon living can be easily summed up: Order and spic-and-span cleanliness. There were herders who turned their wagons into rat-holes and lived in a mess a hog would shun. The good herders kept everything tidy and ship-shape, eliminated non-essentials and followed Thoreau's dictum to "Simplify! Simplify!" With bed neatly made, floors, benches and oil-cloth inner wall scrubbed and spotless there was always room and a welcome for company.

Occasionally, neighboring couples could leave the dogs in charge for a spell and ride their saddle horses over for cake and coffee, music and a game of Hearts or OldMaid. Before radio, every herder had some kind of instrument . . . a fiddle, banjo, guitar, flute or mouth-harp . . . and, though most of them played by ear, it all sounded like music to us.

There was even dancing after a fashion when Uncle Jim and his bride showed up. The table would be shoved back under the bed, we boys would be up on top out of the way, baby sister snug in her basket, and mother bending over the stove to make sure the taffy syrup didn't scorch.

Pa would tune a few notes on the fiddle and launch into an Irish reel that would tingle from toes to ears. Then Jim would tap out a jig step that set the floor boards rattling and the dogs howling, while Jessie - with hands on hips - replied in kind.

By the time I was old enough to have my own wagon, radio was coming in and with crystal sets and ear `p hones we could sometimes get high-brow music and some of the big dance bands. Progress!

Building the modern sheepwagon. Note rubber tired wheels inset under wagon and five bows over top. The rope line down the center served no purpose except to hold the bows until the canvas was stretched. Patchwork quilts and wool batts were used for insulation over an inner wall of oil cloth. No stove pipe was necessary because a butane gas plate was used for cooking.
The wagon on the road (above) behind an antique 7930 model A Ford . . . for "old time sake."

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