THE FARROW COW AND OTHERS 



The calf belonged to the purposeful and strong- 

 minded red cow. Of course, she was very proud of 

 her calf, and mooed solicitously when we approached 

 to examine it. But strange to say she was not nearly 

 so excited about it as her oldest daughter, a quiet 

 and hitherto well-behaved cow that has been milking 

 all winter and is farrow this season. Judging from 

 her actions she had adopted the new calf, and had 

 taken out adoption papers before we arrived on the 

 scene. She ran around and bawled and acted silly 

 as soon as I began to push the calf towards the barn. 

 By the way, pushing a young calf that braces its 

 front legs and insists on lying down every couple of 

 rods while its real mother and an idiotic farrow cow 

 are threatening to run over you all the time, is a 

 job that is rather trying on the temper. But 1 

 finally got it through the gate, and proceeded to 

 push it along towards the drive shed where I could 

 get it out of sight. The mother objected, of course, 

 and bawled her protest as loudly and ineffectively 

 as a loyal Opposition when a Government is putting 

 through a railway subsidy. But the farrow cow 

 made as much noise as a self-elected reformer. She 

 stood by the gate and pumped up basso-profundo 

 bawls from her second or lower stomach. Every 



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