XIII. — Cow Character 



IT is when a fellow settles down to do the chores 

 twice a day and every day that he gets thor- 

 oughly acquainted with his livestock. When 

 the cattle are in the pasture field they look 

 pleasant and pose for their pictures when people 

 come along with cameras, but when they are put in 

 stalls and waited on hand and — I mean foot and 

 mouth, they develop all sorts of little meannesses — 

 just like human beings. One little cow starts to 

 shake her head until her horns are simply a dan- 

 gerous blur every time I go to loosen her chain to 

 let her out to water. I have had several narrow 

 escapes from being prodded, but it is useless to yell 

 at her, or even to use the whip on her. She will 

 start shaking her head as soon as I lay my hand on 

 the chain, and she keeps it up until the chain drops 

 from her neck. Another brute has the habit of 

 swinging quickly towards me as soon as she feels 

 the chain loosen, and I have to side-step like a prize- 

 fighter to get out of the way of her horns. But I 



61 



