THE RED COW 



his leg broken. The dog was promptly chased away. 

 None of the family had seen him before, and they 

 did not know who owned him. Evidently he was 

 a stranger. I was distressed to hear the news, 

 for there is something so gentle about lambs that 

 one hates to think of them suffering. In spite 

 of his belligerent name, Strafe is an unusually 

 gentle creature that is ready to stand and be petted 

 whenever any one is in the humour to fuss with him. 

 It almost seemed as if one of the family had been 

 hurt. 



My first thought was that the lamb might have 

 to be killed to put him out of his misery. That is 

 what usually happens to a colt that gets his leg 

 broken, and having heard of several that had suf- 

 fered in this way — or was it that they had a tendon 

 cut on a wire fence ? — I began to see the gloomy side 

 of the matter at once. Still, on second thought, I 

 reflected that a lamb with a limp might raise just 

 as much wool and mutton as one with the use of all 

 jhis legs, but it was quite evident that his prospects 

 of figuring in the blue-ribbon class at the Fall Fair 

 were profeably ended. This was quite a calamity in 

 itself, for he is purebred and the children had hopes 



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