no NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



getting their bristles up, or of having the fur rubbed the 

 wrong way; of barking up the wrong tree. Ethnologists tell 

 us that half the words in any primitive language are derived 

 from association with animals. 



They have been long and intimately associated with man- 

 kind. They have learned some things from us, but we have 

 learned vastly more from them. We have learned fidelity 

 from the dog, chivalry from the horse, gentleness from the 

 cow, parental affection and cooperation and sympathy from 

 all of them. To our minds, the dog stands for fealty; he 

 represents many private virtues. The horse stands for 

 courage; he represents rather the public virtues. The ox 

 stands for docility. The sheep represents our commonest 

 social , the pig, our commonest personal shortcomings. 



How much we have been influenced in our' dealings with 

 them by their mental characteristics is well shown by the 

 horse: his flesh is excellent, but the thought of eating it is 

 repugnant to us. The milk of mares is good, but who would 

 drink it ? In lands where certain cattl e are regarded as sacred , 

 their flesh i s not considered good to eat. Their availability as 

 food is not determined by our judgment, but by our sympa- 

 thies. Furthermore, the mule, considered from a purely utili- 

 tarian standpoint, has much to commend him to our favor. 

 Though he is a hybrid between the horse and the ass, he is 

 stronger than either parent. He will live on coarser food 

 than the horse, and needs less careful handling. But he is 

 a sterile hybrid; his voice is a bray, his ears are long, he is 

 inelegant in outline and in his bearing, and his manners lack 

 all the pleasing little playful capers of the horse. He has 

 taken no hold on our affections. 



The domestication of all our important live stock antedates 

 history. Of the five most important mammals discussed in 

 the preceding pages, the ancestor of only the pig is known. 

 It is the wild boar of Europe. Selection has done its proper 



