A Cow. 33 



Cushy had an excellent disposition ; she never ex 

 hibited but one evil passion, and that was for the 

 meal-tub : she would feed from the hand or a pail, 

 or, in fact, in any way, so long as she was fed enough. 

 Upon this regimen she waxed fat, until it became a 

 serious question whether she would ever again pass 

 out of the doors that it was at first doubtful whether 

 she would enter. Her stomach was of goodly size 

 when she came, and I did not wonder that it occu 

 pied so much of her thoughts ; but it grew prodig 

 iously, and she had a way of standing still by the 

 hour, with her head under the clothes on the lines, 

 when the sun began to grow hot in the spring, or of 

 lying at full length in their shade, that was evidently 

 conducive to corpulency. When she wanted her 

 meals, which she did not only at frequent intervals, 

 but whenever any one came into the yard, she would 

 go to the kitchen window, and, thrusting forward her 

 head as far as the bars permitted, would &quot; moo&quot; gen 

 tly to express her wants. If not attended to imme 

 diately, she would soon speak louder, and at last 

 would demand food in the most peremptory tone of 

 stentorian bovine lungs. She invariably had her de 

 sires gratified, and thus was this interesting evidence 

 of intelligence greatly developed. She had an amus 

 ing way of playing with whatever boxes or baskets 

 B2 



