240 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



"Just to change the straw and fill the rack with 

 hay, they went censer in hand and with bent knees I" 

 Emile asked with incredulity. 



"Yes, my friend." 



"Then times are greatly changed for the ox. 

 Nowadays the ox-tender lets the animal go disgrace- 

 fully dirty with dung and lie on a miserly allowance 

 of straw; and he is n't at all sparing of the goad to 

 quicken the ox's pace." 



"On great fete-days, when the bull Apis went out 

 escorted by its retinue of servants, the crowd pros- 

 trated itself to the ground along the way, with fore- 

 heads in the dust. At its death, mourning was gen- 

 eral throughout Egypt. An im- 

 mense granite coffin, master- 

 piece of art and patience, the 

 work of a thousand artisans, re- 

 ceived the sacred remains, which 

 Mummy of the Buii Apis were then placed in a sepulchral 

 chamber hollowed out in the heart of a mountain 

 and sumptuously adorned with the finest examples 

 of sculpture and painting." 



"And did other domestic animals receive like 

 honors 1 ' r asked Jules. 



"All were honored, but none so signally as the 

 ox. In regard to the cat, for instance, it was deemed 

 sufficient to embalm it with aromatics after its 

 death, swathe it in bands of fine linen, and place the 

 body thus prepared in a chest of sweet-scented 

 wood adorned with gildings, paintings, and inscrip- 

 tions. These chests were then arranged on shelves 



