268 ANECDOTE. 



thumb and fingers, the dairy maid follows more 

 closely the principles which instinct has taught the 

 calf. She firsts takes a slight hold of the teat with 

 her hand, by which she merely encircles it ; then 

 lifts her hand up, so as to press the body of the 

 udder upwards, by which the milk escapes into the 

 teat, or if (as is generally the case when some hours 

 have elapsed between the milking times) the teat is 

 full, she grasps the teat close to its origin, with her 

 thumb and forefinger, so as to prevent the milk 

 which is in the teat from escaping upwards ; then, 

 making the rest of the fingers to close from above 

 downwards in succession, forces out what milk may 

 be contained in the teat through the opening of it. 

 The hand is again pressed up, and closed as before ; 

 and thus, by repeating the action, the udder is com- 

 pletely emptied without that coarse tugging and tear- 

 ing of the teat, which is so apt to produce disease." 



The following anecdote, which dates seven or eight 

 years since, may serve to exemplify the nature of 

 these animals, and to show the necessity of both their 

 kind and careful treatment. Mrs. Bell, a widow in 

 Annan, N. B., went to milk her cow, when another 

 cow, which was grazing in the same meadow, ran at 

 her, threw her down, and was in the act of goring her, 

 when her own cow came running up, attacked the 

 other with great fury, and succeeded not only in 

 relieving, but in all probability saved the life of her 

 mistress. This act in the cow may indeed be re- 

 ferred to mere instinctive impulse urging her to 

 attack the other cow, but with equal reason to the 

 motive of defending her mistress, since the instances 



