242 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



exists of ricliDg out on horseback toward niglitfall to hunt 

 up the cows that are apt to be dilatory in returning in due 

 time to the pen. 



Just here begins the opportunity for the cruelty we have 

 referred to ; in nine cases out of ten, unless it is the owner 

 himself who goes forth to seek the '' bunch" (as a herd of 

 cattle keeping together are called), the cows are driven 

 home, not at the quiet, easy walk that is so necessary to 

 the preservation of their milking qualities, but with a 

 horse trotting fast behind them, a dog oftentimes barking 

 and biting at their heels, a voice shouting at its utmost, 

 and a long-lashed Avhip cutting and slashing across the 

 backs of any that may drop behind the frightened, flurried, 

 galloping herd. 



Thus they come rushing into the pen, heated, panting, 

 their heads drooping, their eyes staring with affright, the 

 foam dripping from their mouths — altogether as dejected 

 and weary a lot of cows as the most cruel heart could de- 

 sire to see. 



And then comes the milking and further opportunities 

 for brutality, and this time the calf is a victim as Avell as 

 the cow. If the two are separated, by the cow being 

 driven back to the outer pen after the milk has been 

 drawn down, the process is accompanied by kicks and 

 blows to hurry the cow and keep back the calf. 



If it is considered, as it usually is, too much trouble to 

 separate them, then, after the milk has come down, the 

 milker being provided with a stick, reaches under the cow, 

 and if the hungry calf, that sees itself being deprived of 

 its supper, ventures to come Avithin reach it is saluted with 

 heavy blows across its head and legs, till bruised, and oft- 

 times bleeding, it limps away. 



Then if the cow-, stung by a fly, dares to use the weapon 

 the Creator has given it to protect itself against its insect 



