As a farmer and butter-maker I want to condense a dissertation on The
Intellectual Cow, taken from the London Spectator:
The writer resents the general impression that the cow is merely a food
machine, and proves that she never yet has had justice done to her
mental qualities, and is entitled to more respectful consideration.
Cows certainly possess decided individuality, and in every herd will be
found a master mind which leads and domineers over the rest or acts as
ringleader in mischief. They soon learn their own names, and will answer
to them, and seldom make mistakes as to their own stalls. They are also
undoubtedly influenced by affection, and will give down milk more freely
to a friend than to one who is brutal in his manner.
Moreover, they enjoy petting just as much as humans, and will greet with
delight those who bring offerings of potatoes or apple-parings or bits
of bread, or who will give their heads and necks the luxury of a good
rub.
Charles Dudley Warner, in Being a Boy, pays a glowing tribute to the
Martial Turkey:
“Perhaps it is not generally known that we get the idea of some of our
best military manœuvres from the turkey. The deploying of the skirmish
line in advance of an army is one of them. The drum major of our holiday
militia companies is copied exactly from the turkey gobbler: he has the
same splendid appearance, the same proud step, and the same martial
aspect. The gobbler does not lead his forces in the field, but goes
behind them, like the colonel of a regiment, so that he can see every
part of the line and direct its movements. This resemblance is one of
the most singular things in natural history. I like to watch the gobbler
manœuvring his forces in a grasshopper field. He throws out his company
of two dozen turkeys in a crescent-shaped skirmish line, the number
disposed at equal distances, while he walks majestically in the rear.
They advance rapidly, picking right and left, with military precision,
killing the foe and disposing of the dead bodies with the same peck.
Nobody has yet discovered how many grasshoppers a turkey will hold; but
he is very much like a boy at a Thanksgiving dinner—he keeps on eating
as long as the supplies last. The gobbler, in one of these raids, does
not condescend to grab a single grasshopper—at least, not while anybody
is watching him. But I suppose he makes up for it when his dignity can
not be injured by having spectators of his voracity; perhaps he falls
upon the grasshoppers when they are driven into a corner of the field.
But he is only fattening himself for destruction; like all greedy
persons, he comes to a bad end. And if the turkeys had any Sunday
school, they would be taught this.”
Josh Billings, in his Animile Statistix, proved that he had been a close
observer. He says in this comical medley:
“Kats are affectionate, they luv young chickens, sweet kream, and the
best place in front of the fireplace.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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