THE COW. 



A LTHOUGH the cow is always with us, we know but 

 -/X little about her beyond her likes and dislikes in the 

 matter of food. We have, indeed, by dint of long per- 

 severance, transformed the wild cow into an eating machine 

 a vehicle for the conversion of feeding stuffs into milk 

 and meat. Her brain is to us a sealed book, which so far 

 no sage has made it his business to open. No one, however, 

 can doubt that the cow does a great deal of thinking. In 

 this respect it is among beasts as is the owl among birds. 

 No one can watch a herd of cattle ruminating tranquilly, 

 without being impressed with the conviction that they are 

 thinking deeply. Whether they are meditating over the 

 legends that have been handed down to them of the time 

 when they wandered wild and free on mountain and moor, 

 or are wondering why man busies himself in supplying them 

 with the food most to their liking, while he requires no 

 active service in return, as he does from the horse, we 

 know not. 



The eye of the ox is soft and meditative ; it has not 

 inspired modern poets, but the ancients recognised its 

 beauty, and the Greeks could find no more complimentary 

 epithet for the Queen of the Gods than to call her ox-eyed. 



