only an
imitative race, and wholly lacking in original perception. 'They never
invent anything,' I said; 'never study into causes, never get down to
principles, as it were. It requires a purely occidental intellect to
master the problem before me. This cow has a strong disinclination to be
milked. Why? What is the motive of her conduct? If I could only answer
that!' All at once it came to me,--came like a flash. The reason was
plain. 'This cow is a mother. The maternal instinct in her case is
beautifully developed. Her reasoning faculties less so. She has a calf.
To her mind, we are trying to rob her beloved offspring of its
nourishment. She naturally resents this injustice on our part. Beautiful
development of maternity,' I apostrophized, as I looked at the cow in
the light of this new revelation. 'Thy instincts are those that sweeten
the world, and remind us of the benignity that planned the universe. I
will bring thy calf to thee. I will show thee that I am not devoid of
the spirit of equity; that I am ready to go shares and play fair, as it
were. Thy calf shall take one side of thee. I will take the other, and
thy soul will come forth to me in gratitude!'

"I was delighted. I went directly to the pen, and gazed benevolently at
the calf. The little imp was blacker, if possible, than its mother.
There was that same peculiar look also in its eyes. 'You're all hers!' I
joyfully cried, 'you are your mother's own child!' I seized hold of the
neck-rope. I opened the pen-door and I went out through that door
quicker than a vagrant cat ever got round a corner of a house where a
Scotch terrier boards. The calf went under the cow and I struck her,
head on. But I had come to stay. I grabbed the pail with one hand and a
teat with the other. I tugged it, pulled it, twisted it. Not a drop
could I start. A suction pump of twenty horse-power would have found it
drier than Sahara, and all the while the calf's mouth, on the other
side, was actually running over with milk! In two minutes he looked like
a black watermelon. Then the cow, with a kind of back action,
suddenly reached out one foot, and when I came to I found myself
facing a mulberry tree, with one leg on each side of it.

[Illustration: "AND WHEN I CAME DOWN."]

"By this time I had reached a decision, and I had the courage of my
convictions. I felt it to be my duty to milk that cow. I reminded her in
plain, straightforward language that I was the son of a deacon, and that