110 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 codperation 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 tous. The milk of mares is good, but who would 
drink it? In lands where certain cattleare regarded as sacred, 
their flesh is not considered good toeat. 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 heis 
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 
