THE MILK MACHINE 323 



ness, and then replaced by others. Pushing to 

 the limit of capacity is in no sense cruelty. It is 

 predicated on the perfect health of the animal, 

 for without perfect condition, neither machine 

 nor animal can do its best work. It is simply 

 encouraging to a high degree the special function 

 for which generations of careful breeding have 

 fitted the animal. 



That there is gratification in giving milk, no 

 well-bred cow or mother will deny. It is a 

 joyous function to eat large quantities of pleas- 

 ant food and turn it into milk. Heredity impels 

 the cow to do this, and it would take generations 

 of wild life to wean her from it. As well say 

 that the cataleptic trance of the pointer, when 

 the game bird lies close and the delicate scent 

 fills his nostrils, is not a joy to him, or that the 

 Dalmatian at the heels of his horse, or the fox- 

 hound when Reynard's trail is warm, receive no 

 pleasure from their specialties. 



Do these animals feel no joy in the perform- 

 ance of service which is bred into their bones 

 and which it is unnatural or freakish for them 

 to lack ? No one who has watched the " bred- 

 for-milk " cow can doubt that the joys of her life 

 are eating, drinking, sleeping, and giving milk. 

 Pushing her to the limit of her capacity is only 

 intensifying her life, though, possibly, it may 

 shorten it by a year or two. While she lives 

 she knows all the happiness of cow life, and 

 knows it to the full. What more can she ask 1 



