33 
ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
The frolicsome yearlings frisk and jump, 
While the pleasant dews are falling ;— 
The new milk heifer is quick and shy, 
But the old cow waits with tranquil eye, 
And the white stream into the bright pail flows 
When to her task the milkmaid goes, 
Soothingly calling, 
‘ So, boss! So, boss! So ! So ! So. 
The cheerful milkmaid takes her stool 
And sits and milks in the twilight cool, 
Saying ‘So ! So, boss so! So ! So ! ’ ” 
Later : 
“The household sinks to deep repose, 
But still in sleep the farm-boy goes, 
Singing, calling,— 
‘Co’ boss! Co’ boss! Co’! Co’! Co ! 
And oft the milkmaid in her dreams, 
Drums in the pail with the flashing streams, 
Murmering ‘ So, boss! So! ’ ” 
“ Mute is the voice of the rural laborer, hushed the 
plough-boy’s whistle and the milkmaid’s song, for the oc¬ 
cupant of the sulky plough never stops impelled, to mourn 
the fate of a “wee modest crimson-tipped flower,’’ to catch 
the wild melody that fills the woods adjoining the field, or 
to whistle as if his heart were too full of music to contain 
itself. Instead of the mower whetting his scythe, or the 
company of mowers swinging their scythes to the music 
of the falling swaths, perchance breaking the ranks out of 
sympathy with the piteous plaints of bereft mother-birds, 
or scattered by the furious buzz of molested bumble-bees, 
the driver of sleek horses moves monotonously and with 
mathematical precision around “ meadows trim with daisies 
pied ” to the discordant click and rattle of restless rasp¬ 
ing blades, but too rapidly to note with ear or eye the fall 
in death of majestic grasses or of tearful and crowned 
beauties. 
Instead of the milkmaid’s song, is heard the whoop 
of the big, bearded Hibernian, with a burr on his tongue, an 
oath hot on his lips, and no suggestion whatever of “ in¬ 
cense breathing morn ’’ or the sweet breath of kine, but 
rather the all-permeating perfume of the ancient but indis¬ 
pensable Dudheen. 
Little wonder that some one thus voiced the incredulity 
