OXTR RURAL DIVINITY 121 



peoples, to the region of the good, green grass. She 

 is the true grazing animal. That broad, smooth, 

 always dewy nose of hers is just the suggestion of 

 greensward. She caresses the grass; she sweeps off 

 the ends of the leaves; she reaps it with the soft 

 sickle of her tongue. She crops close, but she does 

 not bruise or devour the turf like the horse. She 

 is the sward's best friend, and will make it thick 

 and sinooth as a carpet. 



"The turfy mountains where live the nibbling sheep " 

 are not for her. Her muzzle is too blunt; then she 

 does not bite as do the sheep; she has not upper 

 teeth; she crops. But on the lower slopes, and 

 margins, and rich bottoms, she is at home. Where 

 the daisy and the buttercup and clover bloom, and 

 where corn will grow, is her proper domain. The 

 agriculture of no country can long thrive without 

 her. Not only a large part of the real, but much 

 of the potential, wealth of the land is wrapped up 

 in her. 



Then the cow has given us some good words and 

 hints. How could we get along without the para- 

 ble of the cow that gave a good pail of milk and 

 then kicked it over 1 One could hardly keep house 

 without it. Or the parable of the cream and the 

 skimmed milk, or of the buttered bread? We 

 know, too, through her aid, what the horns of the 

 dilemma mean, and what comfort there is in the 

 juicy cud of revery. 



I have said the cow has not been of much service 

 to the poets, and yet I remember that Jean Ingelow 



