| "Important purebred dual purpose sheep."*
The romney is a longwool sheep that originated in England, where it developed an inherited ability to resist foot
rot and keep quality fleeces over long, wet winters. Characteristics: docile, somewhat slow maturing,
adaptable to different pastures. Bred in New Zealand and the United States.
* Okay, so wool is one purpose. I can't begin to imagine, or choose not to, imagine the other one. Romney presumably be used as a surname, which I am inferring from Ella Wheeler Wilcox's poem-- I'm fairly certain she is not writing about a sheep:
Romney
Nay, Romney, nay---I will not hear you say
Those words again: "I love you, love you sweet!"
You are profane---blasphemous. I repeat,
You are no actor for so grand a play.
You love with all your heart? Well, that may be;
Some cups are fashioned shallow. Should I try
To quench my thirst from one of those, when dry---
I who have had a full bowl proffered me---
A new bowl brimming with a draught divine,
One single taste thrilled to the finger-tips?
Think you I even care to bathe my lips
With this poor sweetened water you call wine?
And though I spilled the nectar ere 'twas quaffed,
And broke the bowl in wanton folly, yet
I would die of my thirst ere I would wet
My burning lips with any meaner draught.
So leave me, Romney. One who has seen a play
Enacted by a star cannot endure
To see it rendered by an amateur.
You know not what Love is---now go away!
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Poetical Works, (1917) | 
