24 THE COW 



have we do not yet know; and what traits of 

 ancient ancestry may come from the oriental coun- 

 tries will be an interesting observation for future 

 generations to make. 



When some day a great artist shall worthily 

 idealize on canvas the epic story of the American 

 pioneer as he lays the foundations of civilization 

 in the wUdemess, his trusty animal co-laborers and 

 messengers in the task will be pictured not as pranc- 

 ing steeds, champing the bit with distended nostril 

 and flashing eye — such as Ulysses had at the siege 

 of Troy — but they will be great beasts with placid 

 eyes and mighty shoulders and heaving flank and 

 wide-spreading horns, the glorious ox-team. 



A drowsy cow beside the bars again 

 Patiently waiting for the herdsman's call 

 With dim and far-off memories in her brain, — 

 What would she say if she could tell them all ? 



Comes to her visions of an ancient past 

 Before man's yoke upon her neck was laid 

 When thundering down aisles of forests vast 

 She made one of a sweeping cavalcade? 



Can she feel honor that she holds such place 

 In the world's need that unto her it clings ? 

 The burden bearer of the human race, 

 The foster mother of its proudest kings. 



The twilight comes — fades from the sky the light. 

 Low in the west the star of evening swings 

 And couched in fragrant pastures through the night,— 

 I wonder if she muses on these things ? 



