THE FARROW COW AND OTHERS 



citement on the farm as there was for the next few 

 minutes. The boy kept the red cow from going 

 through the fence, and I opened the door of the 

 drive-shed and hurled the calf under the buggy, 

 where it lay down once more with a little grunt of 

 satisfaction. Then I went after the farrow cow to 

 see how much she was damaged. It seems incredible, 

 but there was not a scratch visible on her silly car- 

 case. Now, will some learned man please explain 

 how that could be possible. Whenever I try to go 

 through a barbed wire fence, even though I go at it 

 with the greatest circumspection and care, the barbs 

 catch in my hat, coat, trousers and stockings, and 

 even catch the rag on my sore finger — not to men- 

 tion the bias patches they tear out of the most sen- 

 sitive skin in Middlesex County. And yet that cow 

 ripped through that fence by brute force and didn't 

 get a scratch that was visible to the naked eye. Be- 

 fore I got peace restored on the place I had to cap- 

 ture each cow and lead her into the stable. I had to 

 put in the three of them before they would stop 

 threatening to commit hari-kari on the barbed wire 

 fence. As I think over the occurrence the lesson that 

 sticks in my mind is that the farrow cow was won- 

 derfully like a professional reformer. Though her 



47 



