Cows and Courtship on the Farm 35 



trip over the double trail, sucH a gift has 

 some advantages over casseroles, cut-glass vases 

 or goblets, sunbursts, mantel-clocks and other 

 bric-a-brac. It really wouldn't be a bad idea to 

 revive that old custom but it would be costly with 

 cows worth a hundred dollars per. 



'twas ever thus in childhood *s hour 



I recall that the first agricultural or pastoral 

 possession that came my way — that is, that I called 

 my own, was a wee, red wobbly calf. Most every 

 boy bom on a farm has a calf presented him by 

 his fond parents — later on when the calf has horns 

 — well, as Kipling says, that's another story. The 

 other story is that when that calf becomes merged 

 into the farm herd, as full-grown, its ownership 

 somehow changes, and the aforesaid parent *' takes 

 back the calf he gavest thee. ' ' Ah, well, 'tis ever 

 thus in childhood's hour, we see our fairest hopes 

 decay, the calves we fondly claim as ours, are 

 always sure to stray away — into the general herd. 

 That's where mine went. If I'd been born a girl 

 and married in the good old days, of course I'd 

 have led away the cow. 



Before dairying became the main business of 

 the farmers of Old Ontario, and when grain was 

 the chief product of the farm, the cheese factory 

 cheque and the butter money, usually, were looked 

 upon as the rightful property of the farmer's wife 

 and daughters. 



