36 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN^ ASSOCIATION. 
could or did “ cry over spilled milk,” and probably she did 
not, for people with such forsight as she manifested are not 
the’ones to sit down and whine. It is more reasonable to 
suppose she picked up the pail, vowing mentally that she 
would give the lads and all thoughts of them the go-by 
for one while, and walked to the dairy-house a wiser if not a 
sadder woman. Very likely she sang somewhat louder than 
usual, and to one passing might have been only, 
“ The clattering dairy-maid immersed in steam, 
Singing and scrubbing midst her milk and cream.” 
If she was the “ hired girl ” of a century ago, more 
or less, there is reason to think that she properly and hon¬ 
estly accounted to her employer for the deficiency in that 
day’s quota of milk, and though it was deducted from 
her wages, she was too good a girl to be dismissed lightly, 
and knowing “ which side her bread was buttered on” she did 
not walk off in a huff, but set to work to excel in her de¬ 
partment of service. 
She did all this and more. When the men desired to 
“deacon” the calves, and “wouldn’t be bothered with 
them anyhow,” she raised them by hand. She was particu¬ 
lar about the stripping every time, and gave unexpected 
treats and cosset greetings to the cows, so that they favored 
her at milking time, and somehow she secured richer milk 
and more of it, more cream, and yellower butter, than they 
did at other farms. The butter she made was more than 
“ gilt-edged,” it was golden. 
When it came to make cheese, she put just enough 
rennet in the milk, had delicious curds, turned the cheeses 
carefully in due time, knew the difference between a “full 
cream” and a “white oak ” cheese, now and then made a 
“ sage cheeee ” and became wise in all the cheese-paring 
economy of those days. Her cheese had a bouquet of its 
own, which could not be approximated by any attempt of 
imitators, and was known and sought, from far and wide. 
The farmer in whose employ she remained year after 
year, drew out his wallet weighed down with those shining 
coins, irreverently called the “ dollars of our daddies, so 
many of which her thrift had gathered there, told with sat¬ 
isfaction how much he was going to be able to lay up that 
