TAKING REINS IN HAND 



ject better; God did n't make cows' legs to be 

 tied. The position was a humane one, if not 

 logical. And the thong was discarded. 



"Well, Patrick," said I, two days after, "how 

 fares the cow ?" 



"And begorra, it 's the same ould baste, 

 sir." 



A few days later I inquired again after the 

 new regimen of gentleness and firmness. 



"Begorra," said Patrick, "she 's kicked him 

 again !" 



A week passed ; and I repeated the inquiries. 



"Begorra, she 's kicked him again!" screamed 

 Patrick; "and it 's a divil's own bating he 's 

 been giving the ould baste." 



Sure enough, the poor cow was injured 

 sadly; her milking days were over; and in a 

 month she went to the butcher. And this ad- 

 vocate of gentleness and firmness was one of 

 the warmest and most impassioned philan- 

 thropists I ever met with. 



The moral of the story is, — if a cow is an 

 inveterate kicker, tie her legs with a gentle 

 hand, or kill her. Beating will never cure, 

 whether it come in successive thuds, or in an 

 explosive outbreak of outrageous violence. I 

 suspect that the same ruling is applicable to a 

 great many disorderly members of society. 



121 



