OUK EUEAL DIVINITY 127 



COW, and that is how to get into your garden. She 

 catches glimpses of it over the fence or through the 

 pickets, and her imagination or epigastrium is in- 

 flamed. When the spot is surrounded by a high 

 board fence, I think I have seen her peeping at the 

 cabbages through a knothole. At last she learns 

 to open the gate. It is a great triumph of bovine 

 wit. She does it with her horn or her nose, or may 

 be with her ever-ready tongue. I doubt if she has 

 ever yet penetrated the mystery of the newer patent 

 fastenings; but the old-fashioned thumb-latch she 

 can see through, give her time enough. 



A large, lank, muley or polled cow used to annoy 

 me in this way when I was a dweller in a certain 

 pastoral city. I more than half suspected she was 

 turned in by some one ; so one day I watched. Pres- 

 ently I heard the gate-latch rattle; the gate swung 

 open, and in walked the old buffalo. On seeing me 

 she turned and ran like a horse. I then fastened 

 the gate on the inside and watched again. After 

 long waiting the old cow came quickly round the 

 corner and approached the gate. She lifted the 

 latch with her nose. Then, as the gate did not 

 move, she lifted it again and again. Then she 

 gently nudged it. Then, the obtuse gate not taking 

 the hint, she butted it gently, then harder and stiU 

 harder, till it rattled again. At this juncture I 

 emerged from my hiding-place, when the old villain 

 scampered off with great precipitation. She knew 

 she was trespassing, and she had learned that there 

 were usually some swift penalties attached to this 

 pastime. 



