That Was The Character Of The Cow He Had Pointed Out; Even
When She Had Not Seen The Calf Of
Which she had been deprived
she made so great an outcry and was thrown into such a rage
and fever,
Refusing to be milked that, finally, to save her,
it was thought necessary to give her back the calf. Now, he
concluded, it was not attempted to take it away: twice a day
she was allowed to have it with her and suckle it, and she was
a very happy animal.
I was glad to think that there was at least one completely
happy cow in Devonshire.
After leaving the cowkeeper I had that feeling of revulsion
very strongly which all who know and love cows occasionally
experience at the very thought of beef. I was for the moment
more than tolerant of vegetarianism, and devoutly hoped that
for many days to come I should not be sickened with the sight
of a sirloin on some hateful board, cold, or smoking hot,
bleeding its red juices into the dish when gashed with a
knife, as if undergoing a second death. We do not eat
negroes, although their pigmented skins, flat feet, and woolly
heads proclaim them a different species; even monkey's flesh
is abhorrent to us, merely because we fancy that that creature
in its ugliness resembles some old men and some women and
children that we know. But the gentle large-brained social
cow that caresses our hands and faces with her rough blue
tongue, and is more like man's sister than any other non-human
being - the majestic, beautiful creature with the juno eyes,
sweeter of breath than the rosiest virgin - we slaughter and
feed on her flesh - monsters and cannibals that we are!
But though cannibals, it is very pleasant to find that many
cowmen love their cows. Walking one afternoon by a high
unkept hedge near Southampton Water, I heard loud shouts at
intervals issuing from a point some distance ahead, and on
arriving at the spot found an old man leaning idly over a
gate, apparently concerned about nothing. "What are you
shouting about?" I demanded. "Cows," he answered, with a
glance across the wide green field dotted with a few big furze
and bramble bushes. On its far side half a dozen cows were,
quietly grazing. "They came fast enough when I was a-feeding
of 'em," he presently added; "but now they has to find for
theirselves they don't care how long they keeps me." I was
going to suggest that it would be a considerable saving of
time if he went for them, but his air of lazy contentment as
he leant on the gate showed that time was of no importance to
him. He was a curious-looking old man, in old frayed clothes,
broken boots, and a cap too small for him. He had short legs,
broad chest, and long arms, and a very big head, long and
horselike, with a large shapeless nose and grizzled beard and
moustache.
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