GOAT BREEDING AS A VOCATION FOR WOMEN 71 



long, hard day's work, drop into bed for an hour or so, 

 be roused by the sudden need of some sick animal, and 

 spend the rest of the night in her care, and then take up 

 the next day's schedule with unabated energy. For such 

 crises are recurrent in any large gi-oup of animals, and 

 one must be able to meet them. Besides strength, the 

 goat breeder must have the surgeon's steady hand, some- 

 thing of a physician's instinct for diagnosis, and a con- 

 siderable knowledge of the remedies with which disease 

 and sickness are to be fought. She must have endless 

 patience and self control, courage to face losses and dis- 

 appointments and the vision and faith to carry on in the 

 face of them. 



Love of Animals. — But aboye all she must have that 

 inborn quality which cannot be attained and for which 

 there seems to be no name, an instinctive understanding 

 of animals, of their needs and of their possibilities, a 

 quality akin to the creative genius of the poet or artist, 

 a gift that is indeed creative, and builds from its living 

 materials the homogeneous beauty of the herd. With- 

 out this gift all the labor of the daily task is drudgery 

 only, and success will never come as its reward — with 

 this gift almost any obstacle will be surmounted, the 

 drudgery will be illuminated with delight and crowned 

 with success. For this peculiar quality no better name 

 seems offered by our language than our homely phrase 



