70 OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES. 



mals are not always the best domestic animals, as 

 some of your recently married friends may possibly 

 be able to testify. 



" But a man who, like yourself, comes to the 

 country for a leisurely enjoyment of all country boun- 

 ties, does not wish an animal that must invariably be 

 kept under the best possible condition ; he Avishes a 

 docile, adaptable creature. Even a snug native beast 

 might meet all the ends you would have in view, 

 without figuring largely upon the cash book. 



" Or, still better, a sleek Ayrshire, that shall carry 

 in her air and horn a little show of better breeding 

 and full returns to the milk pail. But if you have a 

 fancy for cream that is fairly golden, and for occa- 

 sional conversion of excess of milk into a little patk 

 of golden butter, nothing will suit your purpose bet- 

 ter than a dainty Alderney, with her fawn-like eyes 

 and yellow skin. 



" I am aware that the short-horn people who can 

 see nothing good in a cow, except her figure show 

 mathematical straightness of line from tail to the set- 

 ting of her horn sneer at the comparatively diminu- 

 tive Alderneys. It is true, moreover, that there may 

 be in them a hollow of the back, and an undue droop 

 to the head, and possibly an angular projection of the 

 hip-bones; but their nose is of the fineness of a 

 fawn's, their eyes bright and quick as a doe's ; their 



