244 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



person all work wherein the comfort of his cattle is con- 

 cerned, and if those who are now resting in the self-satisfied 

 belief that their own individual herds are receiving proper 

 treatment will but take the trouble to "make assurance 

 doubly sure," they will, in the majority of cases, be sur- 

 prised at the revelations awaiting them. 



Among our own cows is one that, when purchased, we 

 were told we could not milk, because the wife of the seller, 

 though used to cows all her life, was afraid to do so unless 

 her husband stood by with a whip in his hand, ready to 

 punish the cow for kicking. But we liked the looks of 

 the animal, a young one with her second calf, and had some 

 confidence in our newly acquired milking accomplishments, 

 chief among which we counted the banishment of clubs, 

 whips, and loud voices. 



Well, that cow kicked us pretty regularly for the first 

 few days, and we did not kick back ; we bewildered her 

 by patting her, speaking gently, and quietly persevering 

 in our intention to milk her. After the first five days she 

 thought better of the kicking business and decided to re- 

 sign in faA^or of her less kindly treated relatives. She 

 never kicked again. 



In one week she allowed us to stroke her head, and in 

 another she ate from our hand and gradually permitted us* 

 to " come up to the scratch," behind her ears. 



Then we invited the former owmer into the pen, and the 

 cow shrank into a corner the moment she saw him. He 

 retired further off, and she then allowed herself to be milked 

 as usual, never lifting her once too "jerky" leg, although 

 her calf nearly butted her off her balance. 



The latter too, wild and nervous when it first came into 

 our pen, soon became so familiar as to pick our pockets of 

 any tRing that might be fluttering therefrom, to take our 

 straw hat off" our head and a piece out of the brim if we 



