SO KEEPING COWS. [No. 



months old cannot be equal to the half of the value of 

 the two months' milk. It is pure weakness to call it 

 " c pity." It is a much greater pity to see hungry 

 children crying for the milk that a calf is sucking to 

 no useful purpose ; and as to the cow and the calf, the 

 one must lose her young, and the other its life, after 

 all ; and the respite only makes an addition to the suf- 

 ferings of both. 



136. As to the pretended unwholesomeness of milk 

 in certain cases ; as to its not being adapted to some 

 constitutions, I do not believe one word of the matter. 

 When we talk of the fruits, indeed, which were for- 

 merly the chief food of a great part of mankind, we 

 should recollect, that those fruits grew in countries 

 that had a sun to ripen the fruits, and to put nutritious 

 matter into them. But as to milk, England yields to 

 no country upon the face of the earth. Neat cattle 

 will touch nothing that is not wholesome in its nature ; 

 nothing that is not wholly innoxious. Out of a pail 

 that has ever had grease in it, they will not drink a 

 drop, though they be raging with thirst. Their very 

 breath is fragrance. And how, then, is it possible, 

 that unwholesomeness should distil from the udder of 

 a cow? The milk varies, indeed, in its quality and 

 taste according to the variations in the nature of the 

 food ; but no food will a cow touch that is any way hos- 

 tile to health. Feed young puppies upon milk from, the 

 cow, and they will never die with that ravaging disease 

 called " the distemper." In short, to suppose that 

 milk contains any thing essentially unwholesome is 

 monstrous. When, indeed, the appetite becomes vi- 

 tiated : when the organs have been long accustomed 

 to food of a more stimulating nature ; when it has been 

 resolved to eat ragouts at dinner, and drink wine, and 

 to swallow " a devil," and a glass of strong grog at 

 night ; then milk for breakfast may be "heavy " and 

 disgusting, and the feeder may stand in need of tea or 

 laudanum, which differ only as to degrees of strength. 

 But, and I speak from the most ample experience, 

 milk is not " heavy" and much less is it unwholesome, 

 when he who uses it rises early, never swallows 



